Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

The revolution will be supervised.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

I was promised a recession.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Second rate reporter says what?

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Let’s finish the job.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Shut Up & Suck It Up, GOP Losers

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Shut Up & Suck It Up, GOP Losers

by | 236 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,


Reader Interactions

236Comments

  3. 3.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    I hate the two-time popular vote losing, impeached lame duck president even more because once again, he has me reading Always Wrong Bill Effing Kristol and nodding my head in agreement.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    they’re like a bunch of drunks trying to take down a skyscraper with a blowtorch.

    I wish Mythbusters was still on the air.

  7. 7.

    MattF

    Trump is doing exactly what he said he would do— exactly the specific half-dozen items in his behavioral repertoire, and no more. It’s the usual list, with ‘call in the lawyers’ added at the end.

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: and even then: would the state leges in Alabama, Kentucky and Wyoming to refuse to seat their Biden electors?

  9. 9.

    Felanius Kootea

    Can judges start slapping sanctions on Trump lawyers bringing “election fraud” cases with zero evidence?  Is there a precedent for fining them or threatening to disbar them for nuisance suits based on the vast number of dismissed cases?  That, more than media attention, might cause this to stop.  How many lawyers would be willing to throw away their legal career for a frivolous suit that might just have the side-effect of forever undermining peaceful transfers of power in US elections?

  10. 10.

    Chyron HR

    I dunno, maybe it’s better if we just let them go into overt rebellion against the legitimate government of the United States.  At least then we get to shoot them like in the good ol’ days.

  11. 11.

    MattF

    @Felanius Kootea:

    I get the impression that the real red line is at lying to a judge. That’s why the lawyers end up admitting they have no evidence— if they lied about that, it’s game over.

  17. 17.

    FelonyGovt

    @Felanius Kootea: Part of the problem with this is that it’s happening in different states. I think it would be difficult to get a judge in State C to dismiss based on similar, previous frivolous cases in States A and B

     

    ETA although now that I see the article Cheryl posted that says “Trump campaign has filed at least 10 different lawsuits in at least five different states” I’m thinking better of my answer. Some of these are multiples.

  19. 19.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: The theory here is that

    Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors

    means “the legislature can just pick the electors of their choosing at any time, even if the people already voted in the popular election that they themselves already decided would be used to choose the electors, as is the case in every state.”

    And basically we’re reduced to wondering if the Supreme Court are now radical enough hacks that they’d agree with that (and whether there would even be some mechanism to put it in their hands).

  20. 20.

    HumboldtBlue

    @trollhattan:

    Ouch. Damn.

    Also, And state legislators have no role in seating electors, the secretary of each state sends the results to the guv who then officially sends the results.

  21. 21.

    Sab

    Ohio Gov Mike DeWine just gave his talk, and he is getting tough again. Every county in Ohio is in covid trouble. Mask mandate will be enforced in all retail settings.Noncomplying businesses will be temporarily shut down, and for longer periods for repeat offenders. Enforced by Workers Comp people. Gyms, bars and restaurants will be closed if numbers don’t improve by next week. In banquet or other congregant type settings everyone must be seated. Masks unless actually eating or drinking. No singing or dancing or games. If numbers don’t improve higher education will be virtual come January.

    I am impressed. Also I take back everythimg bad I said about the new health director from BWC. She may not know health, but she does know enforcement.

  22. 22.

    RSA

    It’s a farce being played out for the rubes, obviously.

    Here’s one perspective: Trump has been telling us to expect fraud in the 2020 election since at least May, if not earlier. And by “us” I include the Justice Department, who have had six months to investigate and prepare and prevent such an eventuality. And yet they have nothing that stands up in court today, despite all of that lead time.

    Plausible explanations are easy and non-exclusive: (1) No fraud. (2) Incompetence at the highest levels. (3) Democrats are evil geniuses compared to Republicans, who might as well give up.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    But they don’t have a role under normal processes. They would have to get together and vote to undermine the election before any court case could even be teed up.

  24. 24.

    debbie

    @Sab:

    I liked how he brought up kids staying safe in school to shame the adult idiots. I didn’t realize we’d hit 6,000 new cases a day, though. That is very scary.

  25. 25.

    N M

    @Matt McIrvin: And yet I think each state has laws on the books already as to how select/etc their electors.  It would require changing those laws.  I don’t think that is a risk in any “deep blue” state as I believe all their legislatures/governorships are already in the hands of the Democratic party.  Most of the important “swing” states that Biden carried, e.g. WI/MI/PA have Democratic governors that would presumably veto any legislative action to change the method of selecting/etc their electors.  AZ and GA are likely the only risk in this regard, but they aren’t needed to win.

  28. 28.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Matt McIrvin:

    “I know what the Declaration of Independence and Constitution say. What it really means is that your vote for a a local state rep is the closest you get to choosing government, and that your future is really dictated by Representative Cletus from East Pigfuck. Now, stand for the flag and sing the Lee Greenwood lyrics, you filthy fucking liberal.”

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jamie Dupree @jamiedupree· 6m 
    Sen. James Lankford R-OK says it’s time for Biden to be getting access to intelligence briefings. Currently, the Trump Administration is blocking that normal transition step. 

    This is the third or fourth non-crazy thing I’ve seen James Lankford say. He’s gonna get primaried

  31. 31.

    Matt McIrvin

    @N M: Yes, indeed, there are state laws AND federal laws that say in great detail that it doesn’t work that way. (Also that, for God’s sake, you can’t change the rules of the election AFTER the election.) The theory is that all of these would be judicially overturned in a stroke by wacky moon logic.

  33. 33.

    Zzyzx

    My main fear is that everyone in the Republican Party knows how stupid this is but they want someone else to be the one who actually says no. It’s an endless series of, “Oh, I can do this because that person over there will stop it.”

  34. 34.

    geg6

    I’ll tell you, my Lt. Governor has been all over tv calling these assholes out in no uncertain and almost profane terms.  He just took down Patrick in TX, giving him the only verified instance of voter fraud in PA, which was…you guessed it, a Republican.  Told him to pay up his $1 million bounty to him in Sheetz gift cards. And also said, by the way, the Dallas Cowboys suck.  I LOVE him.

  35. 35.

    MattF

    @Zzyzx: My guess is that it’s one of those ‘slowly, and then quickly’ things. But precisely when the dam breaks, no one can predict.

  36. 36.

    Edmund Dantes

    @Matt McIrvin: well this is the same court that came up with the “equal dignitude” of the states as to why it was invalidating VRA. And you don’t even need the idiot that came up with that to be in the majority this time.

  37. 37.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Matt McIrvin: Yes, the state legislatures(all of them from what I’ve read) have pass LAWS that electors are awarded to the candidate that has the highest vote count in their state.  You know LAWS signed by the state’s governor and all.  Now if they want to change them…there is a Constitutional prohibition on ex post facto laws.  Might be a problem.

  42. 42.

    Ohio Mom

    Sab & Debbie:

    Thanks for the recap of DeWine’s address. I’m glad he is sounding the alarm but I don’t think his plan will be enough to get our numbers under control, especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas on the way. I don’t think he could another lockdown though, there would be an armed insurrection.

    I’ll admit it’s easy for me to say we need another lockdown. I am already living the lockdown lifestyle.

  43. 43.

    Roger Moore

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The legislatures of the states have explicitly passed laws turning over the appointment of electors to the popular vote.  They are not free to appoint someone else without passing a new law rescinding the old system.  It has as much likelihood of happening as the plan for unfaithful electors to overturn Trump’s election did in 2016.

  45. 45.

    Bill Arnold

    @gwangung:

    They also know they will get their guts exposed to the cold winter’s air if they reverse the voters in their state.

    I’m not actually sure that they know this. Their information sources are mostly right wing propaganda.
    It’s a populous country, with a lot of “elk rifles”[1] and a lot of people with skills to use them. They are insane if they think that a civil war started by a coup by them is survivable by them.

    [1] As they say in the right wing swamps where “elk” is code for “human”. When they don’t just openly talk about murdering Democrats.

  47. 47.

    piratedan

    at the point where the Media has to stop reporting on it as if they’re rooting for it to happen so they can generate some additional fucking clicks and simply state that continued attempts to manipulate an outcome that is not in doubt is in fact sedition and we have a President who is no longer obeying the results of a recently held election and the Constitution itself.

    My question is, if Trump indeed shot someone on 5th Avenue, who the fuck would arrest him? Who is going to stand up and tell the teletubby President that NO, YOU CAN”T DO THAT.

  48. 48.

    HumboldtBlue

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Yes.

    And a suggestion (not directed at you Bill) for all, stop calling it a lockdown.

    It’s social distancing and not gathering in crowds. If we can do that, wear masks, only got out when necessary to the store we can get through this. We can still go outside and enjoy ourselves we just don’t want to do it in crowds.

    @MattF:

    My guess is that it’s one of those ‘slowly, and then quickly’ things. But precisely when the dam breaks, no one can predict.

    As his former lawyer Michael Cohen said, the Trumps are gonna go to Mar A Lago for Xmas and never return.

  49. 49.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @Sab: Well, at least it gives Ohio BWC something to do.  Some years ago they instituted a policy whereby the victims of any workplace injury are presumed to have been under the influence of illegal drugs and therefore ineligible for any benefits.  Yes, this is actually black-letter state law.  If you get hurt on the job, unless you have your wits sufficiently about you to demand a full toxicology screen, at your own expense, first before anything else is done for you at the ER, you have no hope of getting anything covered.  Your private insurance will still insist upon subrogating to BWC.

    Since that law, BWC has done pretty much nothing except service legacy claims.

    I (one-person sole proprietorship, software architecture from an office in my home) once worked through a prime contractor who required me to enroll with Ohio BWC.  If I had fallen down my own God-damned stairs, I would have been in the trap described above.

  53. 53.

    LuciaMia

    Most judges ( no matter who appointed them) dont appreciate feeling theyre being lied to, manipulated or having their time wasted.

  54. 54.

    randy khan

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    My sense is that the state legislatures that might be wacky enough to try it all are in states that Trump won, so there’s no issue at all.  And legislative leaders in Pennsylvania already have said publicly that they wouldn’t overturn the results of the election.

  56. 56.

    matt

    What the hell do we have to do to convince these people we’re angry when they elect an absolute trashcan like Trump? Kill a bunch of people? We were mad as hell for the whole time he occupied the office.

  57. 57.

    Zinsky

    Trump is an utter embarrassment to this country.   An infantile, spoiled little prick who happens to also be a hideous, mottled-skin 74 year old degenerate.  Can’t accept defeat, can’t accept responsibility, can’t handle the world like an adult.  Pathetic and dysfunctional.

  58. 58.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I liked how he brought up kids staying safe in school to shame the adult idiots.

    They’re not really staying safe in school. There are lots and lots of infections and lots of lots of quarantines for kids or staff who are exposed. The quarantines are really disruptive because one infection could quarantine 10 or 20 or 30 kids. I think the quarantines are REALLY difficult for parents because it’s impossible to plan for them.
    I think school is absolutely essential so I was and am in favor of opening them but it’s hard. Opening is just the beginning.
    I am just thrilled that Biden put schools/covid on the top of his list. Millions and millions of kids are going to be behind. One of the things that made me feel most hopeless during the Trump Administration was them just bellowing ridiculous orders at public schools and doing NOTHING to help them. It enrages me because I see how hard they’re working to try to deal with this.

  59. 59.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I will say this for all the cavalier fucks out there – you’d better have a fucking plan to support the workers, owners, and vendors of all those fucking restaurants, and of all the people who work in air travel and the hotel industry. I say this because they’re getting really tired of corporate/right wing/goo goo rah rah talk of “I know it’s hard” without some plan to keep their skills, hopes and dreams somewhat alive.

    Back of the envelope calculation for my household is now at least $300,000 in lost pretax revenue between March 2020 and the end of 2021. That next year – 2022  – will be down, too – and that’s with the vaccine coming out soon. If the wealthy won’t crack their wallets, if government doesn’t step up, and if the elderly stop being cravenly greedy as they sit atop Medicare, SS and pensions, the truly crushed are going to want to start licking doorknobs, spitting in the water supply  and blowing shit up.

  61. 61.

    germy

    It’s like when you put flea medicine on your pet and the fleas get crazy for like 24 hours.

    Now until January 20th is the 24 hours, in this case.

    —  Josie “Mesa Verde Orange Grove” ? (@ladymugsi) November 11, 2020

  62. 62.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    @geg6: Sounds like a great guy. Maybe someone with a bright future in the Dem party? And what is his name?

  64. 64.

    Jim Appleton

    @MattF:

    Which is one good reason to tolerate the endless, pointless complaints, so that they exhaust legitimately.

    A precedent of shutting anything down based on limited discretion is probably not what needs to happen.  Much as I’d like to see the MFrs shot down on take off.

    The real harm is the mere fact of filing the bogus complaints, but our system is probably best protected by loudly and frequently reminding of the bogosity.  Even some RWNJ’s seem to grasp this in the whiff of loser stench.

  65. 65.

    geg6

    @Baud:

    Yes, I love him, too.  I want him to run for Toomey’s seat.  He’s a badass.  Took on the Catholic Church in a big way and made UPMC quit attempting to take over the entire health insurance industry here, among many other great legal feats.  I want Fetterman for governor and Shapiro in the Senate, hopefully on the Judiciary Committee.

  66. 66.

    Benw

    @Felanius Kootea: who ARE these lawyers willing to file frivolous lawsuits for freaking Donald Trump that are actually harming our democracy!? Are they the SAME lawyers that fought to keep migrant children in cages in squalid conditions or did they find a different crew? What the fucking fuck is wrong with these people

  69. 69.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    @Ohio Mom:  We, too, are already living the lockdown lifestyle and have been since March. Honestly, at some point those of us who are sacrificing to “do the right thing,” “save the hospitals,” “flatten the curve,” and so forth are going to start murdering the selfish bastards who are doing all the wrong things and contributing to the out of control spread of this damned virus. Out of desperation.

    Who knows, a jury might see it as justifiable homicide. Especially if they had been sequestered for 8 months.

  70. 70.

    Ksmiami

    @Bill Arnold: we would first cut off their internet then their medical supplies and drone strike them out of existence and we could do this from our bedrooms during the pandemic

  74. 74.

    Spanky

    I got directed over to the local (DC) Fox News website (was looking for a covid lockdown story) and their lead article headline is

    President Trump emerges from White House to mark Veterans Day

    which makes him sound like some kind of malignant groundhog who is going around pissing on his territory.

    And their next article that maybe Donald will read:

    Joe Biden’s lead in popular vote now more than 5 million over Donald Trump

  78. 78.

    germy

    @mrmoshpotato:  Rubio calls on GOP to rebrand as party of “multiethnic, multiracial, working class” voters

    United in the singular goal to help the wealthy get wealthier.

  79. 79.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @HumboldtBlue:

    It would help if there were some announcements of various plans. Other countries? They support the furloughed and support the businesses so that they’ll be there when we resume.

    We’ll be lucky to get an appreciation ribbon because our national motto is “fuck you, you’re on your own – this is America, Goddammit, and it’s your fault you weren’t born wealthy”.

    How dare people have skills they’ve honed, or lifetimes of investment in their businesses. It’s just your bad luck…

  83. 83.

    frosty

    @geg6: I need to watch more TV. I love Fetterman! (Just googled and found out he graduated from my high school!) How weird!

  85. 85.

    scav

    As though those O! so hapless & helpless GOP legislators don’t have constituents who voted for Biden or are grown up enough to lose with dignity while following the law and precedent.  Oh no, the only real Americans, the only real constituents worthy of being represented are the shouty pale pouters.

  86. 86.

    Tony Jay

    Trump’s just doing what he’s always done whenever a project has gone tits-up and he’s on the hook. Piss, moan, whinge, lie, and throw lawyers at the problem. Eventually the people he’s screwed over will give up, let him skate, and he can move on telling everyone that – he – never admitted blame so, obviously, he won and they lost.

    The problem he’s got is that this time, the project he’s screwed up is his re-election bid and all the bullshit and obfuscation in the world can’t make this one go away. Come January he’s out on the street and his creditors, financial and political, are going to come after him full-bore. They’ve nothing to gain by letting him skate, and they can afford the best lawyers.

    This isn’t the shady world of New York City construction anymore. You should never have come down that escalator, Donny. It’s cold and dark where you’ll end up.

  87. 87.

    Hoppie

    @Matt McIrvin: “In such Manner” will refer to law as of the election date.  “Ex post facto” should keep them from retroactive “fuckeri  leges”  (to use the technical Latin legal phrase).

  88. 88.

    mrmoshpotato

    Does anyone know if any of these judges slapping down Dump’s stupid-as-shit lawsuits are any of the 200+ massively-unqualifed, prepubescent, right-wing nut jobs that McFascist let get confirmed?

  89. 89.

    Jinchi

    The way I look at Trump and his minions’ nonsense is that they’re like a bunch of drunks trying to take down a skyscraper with a blowtorch.

    That’s a fair description of the original attempt to take down the WTC building in New York city, which failed because the underpowered explosive didn’t do nearly enough structural damage. The reports at the time described a comically incompetent team of terrorists who were caught, in part, because they attempted to get a refund on the deposit of the rental van they blew up.

    8 years later a smarter group finished the job.

    We were lucky that Trump’s administration was filled with morons. We might not be as lucky next time around.

  90. 90.

    J R in WV

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    … if government doesn’t step up, and if the elderly stop being cravenly greedy as they sit atop Medicare, SS and pensions, the truly crushed are going to want to start licking doorknobs, spitting in the water supply and blowing shit up.

    I was following with you until you started shitting on elderly sitting “atop Medicare, SS and pensions” from your wealthy viewpoint of $300,000 in lost income. You need to try living on $780/month social security and a non-existent pension stolen by a venture capital firm 25 years ago.

    Fuck you very much. We’re doing OK because we saved a ton of income for 30 years and worked at jobs that still pay a pension. A lot of luck in that proposition. But we have friends who have slaved to pay off their mortgage before they became too old to work, who get a tiny pension and not much more Social Security. One friend has RA, in her 70s, still planting a huge garden SO THEY CAN EAT FOOD! Fuck you very much!

    The most greed I have ever seen someone express here on Balloon Juice. Congratulations, first in something.

  92. 92.

    danielx

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Vision of every RNC member, Representative and Senator having “Obama Akbar!” branded on his or her ass with a redhot branding iron.

    Hey, I can dream.

  94. 94.

    frosty

    @geg6:  “I want Fetterman for governor and Shapiro in the Senate, hopefully on the Judiciary Committee.”

    Count me in for door knocking for both. A great plan!

  95. 95.

    germy

    If a South American leader had refused to accept the results of a an election, said the crazy sh*t Trump says, was building a wall around the WH, firing officials and getting party loyalists to go along with his lies, the CIA would be sending guns & advisors to the opposition.

    — NoelCaslerComedy (@CaslerNoel) November 12, 2020

  96. 96.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Baud: Well, it’s complicated.

    They choose how the electors are selected. Right now, all have chosen to use the popular vote. Hypothetically, they could choose to select Trump electors on the specified day of choosing.

    Congress chooses *when* they’re selected – November 3rd of this year. Seating an alternate set of electors is no longer authorized by the Constitution – it would be an ex post facto law.

    However, if the states *did* seat alternate electors, then Congress gets to fight it out over which slates to accept, and the courts might decline to intervene *or* rule in Trump’s favor, and either might play to his advantage. If Congress doesn’t agree on slates, and the courts don’t intervene (or intervene in Trump’s favor, in  certain contravention of the Constitution), we could end up with a refusal to grant Biden all 270 electoral votes.

    If they could deny Biden a clear majority of electoral votes, the House would vote, one vote per state delegation, and Trump would win.

    And if we got to that stage, there wouldn’t be any real legal recourse. (Though it’s been stated that Nancy Pelosi would never allow things to reach that point in the House – that said, if the Republicans are crazy enough to *try* this, I’d expect her refusal to lead to violence. Not because Republicans would get violent today, but we’d have to speculate that they would get violent, if they were already so batshit crazy, that all of this seemed reasonable.)

    And this is why I agree with those who say that this *must* be called a coup attempt. Mocking it as an attempt doomed to failure is reasonable, but pretending it’s nothing but a tantrum ignores that it’s *not impossible* for it to work.

  97. 97.

    Yutsano

    @geg6:  Noted. As a tangent, Bullock has to be a lock for Interior. He had to work with both BLM (the agency) and the Forest Service so he understands those issues inside and out.

  99. 99.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    @Tony Jay:

    You should never have come down that escalator, Donny. It’s cold and dark where you’ll end up.

    Actually, hoping he ends up in an extremely hot place. But dark is fine.

  100. 100.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @J R in WV:

    I’m probably joining them. I’ve never blown off a debt, but don’t see this sustaining past February. And yeah, I’m heated, and getting really sick of “I know it’s hard”.

  106. 106.

    Spanky

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    You do seem to be in the habit of stepping on your own dick, Dantes. Bold talk coming from a professional ramora who has repeatedly described his scuba dives in the tropics and foreign travels on this here blog. Now you want to shit on folks who depend on SS? What JR said.

  107. 107.

    CarolPW

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Who are the cavalier fucks you are ranting at? I hope you realize that there are a lot of families that have never, even at their peak earning, pulled down $150k a year pre-tax. We never did, even though I have a Ph.D. Wouldn’t be surprised if HumboldtBlue has not either.

    I understand that you are angry – we are all mad (and thinking about it perhaps we are mad in both definitions of the word). But you, and me, and HumboldtBlue are not yet living in our cars.

    And I am old, on Medicare and SS, but have no pension. Living large on $42k a year, oh wow!!! So you can fuck off.

  110. 110.

    slightly_peeved

    @Matt McIrvin:

    But doesn’t the House and Senate have to accept the slates of electors? Even if the Supreme Court ruled the legislature could submit a slate, it would have to then demand the Electoral College accept it – a demand which the House would practically and probably legally speaking have every right to ignore.

  114. 114.

    dm

    Brookings did a repeat of their 2016 look at the economies of the counties that went for Clinton (472) vs. the counties (2584) that went for Trump.  In 2016, the Clinton counties were home to 64% of the nation’s economy.

    This year, Biden won 477 counties to Trump’s 2497 (votes are still being counted), this time, 70% of the economy to 29%, along the way Biden flipped seven of the highest output counties that went for Trump in 2016.

    https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/11/09/biden-voting-counties-equal-70-of-americas-economy-what-does-this-mean-for-the-nations-political-economic-divide/

  115. 115.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @MattF: Yes – there are special obligations for officers of the court.

     

    @Felanius Kootea: Courts are *amazingly* protective of the rights to be heard, and the right to counsel. I’ve seen them bend over backward and sideways, crabwalking a dozen miles, trying to avoid having to declare a filing or argument to be made in bad faith.

    That said, the link above shows that it *is* a breach of ethics to knowingly bring forward an argument in bad faith. And it’s kind of like mobsters using lawyers to relay orders – it’s illegal as hell, but it’s illegal for all parties, so no one’s going to confess; without a confession, there’s almost no way to obtain any evidence of either offense, because of the necessary protections of attorney-client privilege.

  117. 117.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Chyron HR:

    I dunno, maybe it’s better if we just let them go into overt rebellion against the legitimate government of the United States.  At least then we get to shoot them like in the good ol’ days. 

    And we know how much these “originalist” “good ol’ days” shitstains love the “good ‘ol days.”

  118. 118.

    Kay

    Lara Jakes
    @jakesNYT
    ·1h
    US ambassador to Denmark
    @CarlaHSands
    claimed her vote wasn’t counted in the presidential race because she couldn’t find evidence of it on Pennsylvania’s election website. So we found it for her:

    Well, Denmark is soon rid of this moron.

  119. 119.

    germy

    Trump is broadcasting his next move which will be not to seat the Biden electors in key swing states and hope it goes to SCOTUS and they rule in his favor. GOP will go along with this like they do everything else. He still has kompromat over most of them. @realDonaldTrump

    — NoelCaslerComedy (@CaslerNoel) November 11, 2020

    Key word kompromat

  120. 120.

    Matt McIrvin

    @LongHairedWeirdo: Ah, BUT: the wording in the 12th Amendment doesn’t say you need 270 electoral votes, it says you need votes of a majority of the electors appointed. If Congress hasn’t agreed on who the electors are, have they been appointed?

  122. 122.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Sab: At this point enforcement is a critical thing to understand, since people are idiots.

    @Ohio Mom:  It’s certainly going to be ugly. But I can’t see what any other sane option might be.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    I must say I admire the Philadelphia and Detroit election workers who put up with the rude, disruptive and incredibly stupid Trump observers for hours and hours. Just amazing self discipline. I don’t think I could do it.

  125. 125.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @LongHairedWeirdo:

    Hypothetically, they could choose to select Trump electors on the specified day of choosing.

    They’ve done it by statute, so they’d have to pass another statute and have the governor sign it(or override a veto).  However, to apply to this election, it would be an ex post facto law which is prohibited in the Constitution.  They would also have to hire private security to keep themselves and their family safe.

  130. 130.

    Roger Moore

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Rubio calls on GOP to rebrand as party of “multiethnic, multiracial, working class” voters

    This is the GOP in a nutshell.  They see their problem as being one of PR, so the solution is to rebrand.  There’s no talk of reorienting itself so that brand aligns with reality.  It’s like McDonald’s trying to rebrand itself as the healthy alternative without changing its menu.

  134. 134.

    slightly_peeved

    @LongHairedWeirdo:

    IANAL, but I think there’s a strong argument the Court can’t intervene at that point. Practically speaking, the Court would be ordering Congresspeople to vote a certain way. I don’t think they have any more right to do that than they can, say, free someone from Contempt of Congress.

    Also, I’ve seen arguments on where the House vote by state delegation applies – the lawyer T. Greg Doucette argues it only applies in the circumstance of a tied electoral vote (or one with more than 2 candidates). If the House is still arguing over what slates to accept, no vote has happened and it doesn’t trigger. Alternatively, they reject the legislatures’ slates, accept the slates offered  by the SoS or governor, and Biden is elected.

  137. 137.

    Zzyzx

    The one thing that I like is Biden is doing things like naming Chief of Staff and the like to give the 24 hour channels something to cover and to further cement the idea of President-elect Biden in everyone’s head.

    Especially as Trump is starting to vanish as I’m guessing he’s too depressed right now or his handlers are too scared that he’ll blow up, it’s the sort of thing that serves the same purpose as norms.

  138. 138.

    jl

    I heard a news report of another survey that said 80 percent overall believe that Biden won.
    But, hey, your political party cannot be thugs, running a ruthless brutal regime, unless the majority of the population hates your guts. The GOP wants results, so why not get to the final glory of Mussolini, Ceausescu, or Mugabe asap?

  139. 139.

    Kay

    The United States ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands, claimed as recently as this past weekend that she was a “disenfranchised” voter because her absentee ballot was not counted in Pennsylvania.
    A search of Pennsylvania’s elections website shows that Ms. Sands’s ballot was counted in the state’s Cumberland County, where she spent at least some of her childhood. The state reported it mailed Ms. Sands her absentee ballot on Aug. 25 and that it was accepted after being returned on Oct. 15, although it is unclear when that information on the website was updated.

    Just a flat out lie. She probably thought no one would check. You would think she would know by now that no one outside the cult believes a single word any of them say.

  140. 140.

    Peale

    @Kay: “Why’d you do that. You scratched your nose. I’m telling! Nowhere in the manual does it allow you to scratch your nose and you did. And then you adjusted your mask after scratching your nose! It’s probably a gang symbol. Fraud! Fraud!”

  141. 141.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    MAGAt assaults elderly couple over anti-trump sign

    Mark Anthony Ulsaker, 50, was charged with one count of second-degree assault, one count of fourth-degree assault of a peace officer and one count of threats of violence, according to a criminal complaint.
    Multiple witnesses dialed 9-11 to report a man assaulting two people with a golf club on Sunday. When police arrived, witnesses told them that the suspect walked up behind the 80-year-old man and a 78-year-old woman and began to swing the golf club at their heads. After the club broke during the attack, the suspect then punched the man in the head.

    I hope second-degree assault is a lot tougher charge than it sounds like

  142. 142.

    Jim Appleton

    @LongHairedWeirdo:

    Yes.

    Our system relies on working things out according to law.

    That’s good, but also one reason the current challenges are so dangerous — the political effect comes way ahead of the more relevant countereffect.

    And a deliberately dumbeddown electorate is immune to a robust response from a media even more adept than what we now have.

  146. 146.

    Matt McIrvin

    @jl: How many of that 80 percent do believe Biden won, but are nevertheless perfectly OK with a putsch to replace him with Trump as Eternal President? I suspect it’s at least 20 percent.

  151. 151.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax: Somebody in the Republican party needs to smack these rogue republicans down – they truly don’t want a democracy if it means their guy loses.

    I don’t see how Biden comes in with a heavy hand on this – I think he’s counting on some sane Republicans to stand up for democracy.  There have to be some, right?  Bueller?  Bueller?

  153. 153.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    They were court-ordered to stay 6 feet away from the workers- thank goodness, they’re probably all covid infected- so they would lean forward as far as they could and breathe down the workers necks. I couldn’t have done it. I have so much respect for those people for not hauling off and smacking one of them.

    I quit as a poll worker because I could no longer abide Republicans either not understanding the voter ID requirements or deliberately and maliciously pretending to not understand the voter ID requirements.

  161. 161.

    Amir Khalid

    Is anyone else having this problem? I clicked on a YouTube video (on my recommendations page) and got to the page immediately, but the video itself took 14 minutes to load and begin playing. Videos on other websites are loading and playing for me as usual.

  163. 163.

    Bill Arnold

    @Ksmiami:

    we would first cut off their internet then their medical supplies and drone strike them out of existence and we could do this from our bedrooms during the pandemic

    Yeah, there are other relevant anti-coup skills (and tools), some of them … exotic. (Including the dark arts subclasses of influence operations.) Non-violent methods are usually the best (per academic literature) though coup plotters should understand that in some parts of the world, they would be executed.

  165. 165.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Amir Khalid: I just tried a couple of videos and I keep getting this message:  An error occurred. Please try again later. (Playback ID: XOCbJevQjpAeDVNw).  My guess is that YouTube is temporarily broken.

  166. 166.

    Kay

    A search of Pennsylvania’s elections website shows that Ms. Sands’s ballot was counted in the state’s Cumberland County, where she spent at least some of her childhood.

    Also – her Trump biography says she resides in California. Residency is (surprisingly) fluid but I don’t think you can stretch it this far and she tweeted that she RE registered in PA.
    So her voter registration in PA could be contested. She herself is an arguably fraudulent voter. This issue is actually litigated.

  167. 167.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Matt McIrvin: Fair point; I honestly don’t know.  Of course, that’s one reason why I’m nervous about this sort of scenario. None of us layfolk know, but I haven’t seen a legal claim so worthless that the Republicans can’t gin up an argument in favor of it (the gin probably helps).

    We know the Republican Caucus in congress can be brutally partisan; and we know that McConnell has been stacking the courts to make them brutally partisan; once they take the election truly off the rails, there’s no reason to trust that “our institutions will protect us”. (And they *have* protected us. For example, Bill Barr doesn’t open arbitrary criminal investigations every time Trump throws him a doggie-yummy. Yes, not much protection, but *some*.)

  170. 170.

    Calouste

    @mrmoshpotato: I think the Communist Party of Cuba is also “multi-ethnic, multi-racial, working class”.

    Btw, there’s no reason to talk about rebranding if you think you won. Which apparently Rubio doesn’t.

  172. 172.

    Kent

    @WaterGirl:

    @NotMax: Somebody in the Republican party needs to smack these rogue republicans down – they truly don’t want a democracy if it means their guy loses.

    I don’t see how Biden comes in with a heavy hand on this – I think he’s counting on some sane Republicans to stand up for democracy.  There have to be some, right?  Bueller?  Bueller?

    I’d love to see Biden troll some of these Republicans along with Trump and stir dissention in their ranks.  He could do that  by saying something like the following:

    “A growing number of Senators and other Republican leaders are congratulating us in private and apologizing for this embarrassment.  They will eventually find their courage.  Meanwhile we are moving forward with our transition.”

    And then let the internal firing squad and recriminations begin as reporters and Trump start trying to figure out which Republican Senators are secretly betraying him.

    But I suspect Biden has too much class to start playing those games now.  He’s going to need some of their votes for confirmation and such so playing the adult while they sort out their courage is probably the best call long-term.  They don’t have any actual roll in the election process anyway so this is all just for show.

  175. 175.

    Kropacetic

    @Amir Khalid: Is anyone else having this problem? I clicked on a YouTube video (on my recommendations page) and got to the page immediately, but the video itself took 14 minutes to load and begin playing. Videos on other websites are loading and playing for me as usual.

    A Youtube video failed to load on my xbox.  Granted, I didn’t give it 14 minutes to do so.

  180. 180.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    OMG, I should. “Some portion of her childhood” is REALLY stretching it. Did she use a FAKE ADDRESS!!!?

    This is right up my alley, Baud.

  187. 187.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Zzyzx:

    Especially as Trump is starting to vanish as I’m guessing he’s too depressed right now or his handlers are too scared that he’ll blow up, it’s the sort of thing that serves the same purpose as norms.

    I can’t  believe he hasn’t had a rally in the last week. What does depression look like in a narcissist?

  188. 188.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Baud: And the specific procedures already exist in the laws of each state. Changing them now, after the voting (& almost all the counting) is done, amounts to enacting an ex post facto law, which IIRC is specifically forbidden to state legislatures under Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution.

  192. 192.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Richard M. Nixon @dick_nixon
    Klain’s the catcher who you keep around for the way he sees the field. The main thing is he can’t be intimidated and will gladly go for your neck, though rarely in a public way.

    he was also the coordinator for the ebola response under Obama, and IIRC one of the heroes of The New New Deal, about the stimulus. Grunwald said if he had been in charge of the Obamacare website roll-out, it would’ve gone a lot smoother

  194. 194.

    Dan B

    This Carla from the Pacific coast of PA sounds like a treat.  The previous ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford, was much beloved.  He and his equally muscly handsome husband even had a movie.  Imagine the shock of getting crazed Carla.

  196. 196.

    Suzanne

    @geg6: I am enjoying some of the PA Dems. I also like Sheetz, but there isn’t one nearby. It reminds me very strongly of QT, which is one of the things I miss most about PHX.

    I love the city, but I was definitely creeped out to see so much rural Dump luv once I got outside PGH! They keep calling Allegheny County a “Democratic stronghold” and they are not kidding.

  197. 197.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Tony Jay:

    This isn’t the shady world of New York City construction anymore. You should never have come down that escalator, Donny. It’s cold and dark where you’ll end up. 

    Amen.  Your fucking orange, mobster ass should’ve stayed out of public life, and just gone about your life as the scumbag Obama said you were.

    SAD!  Donny dumbfuck.  SAD!

  199. 199.

    Kay

    @Dan B:

    He had a reality tv show. And Danes did love him. My son said they are “celebrity starved” :)

    Have you heard the one about the American ambassador with his own reality show? While we here stateside don’t know much about our diplomat in Denmark, Rufus Gifford, most Danes are on a first-name basis with the affable 41-year-old with leading-man looks, thanks to Jeg er ambassadøren fra Amerika—or The American Ambassador. Gifford’s reality show—which the ambassador prefers we call a documentary series “because, frankly, I’d like to have as much distance between me and the Kardashians as possible”—airs on the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s DR3.

  200. 200.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Blake News @blakehounshell 30m
    When I reported on the Obama administration’s Ebola response, one thing everyone told me was that @RonaldKlain was incredibly detail-oriented and skilled at keeping tabs on various government agencies and holding people accountable for getting stuff done on a daily cadence.

  202. 202.

    Bill Arnold

    Hm, not just US youtube users. I’m definitely using a mid-European VPN endpoint (checked routes to sites like youtube.com) and it’s broken this machine as well.  Firefox about:performance showed the youtube tab as 200 percent (2 cpus) for a while.

  203. 203.

    mrmoshpotato

    @danielx:

    Vision of every RNC member, Representative and Senator having “Obama Akbar!” branded on his or her ass with a redhot branding iron.

    Hey, I can dream.

    Pay-per-view – we’ll pay off the national debt.

  205. 205.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Rubio calls on GOP to rebrand as party of “multiethnic, multiracial, working class” voters

    Changing the name to “Democratic Party” while they’re at it.

  206. 206.

    Just One More Canuck

    @geg6: I watched him on CNN today. Biden should name him press secretary, just so he can say stuff like that every day

  209. 209.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @NotMax: If the Mississippi governor meant secede, his offer is acceptable. I could care less if they succeed at this point.

  211. 211.

    Miss Bianca

    @CarolPW: Wow, that is living large from my perspective! I live on about $21,000 per year. I have a tiny amount in the market, and I can just about eke out $100 per month to put into my IRA. My retirement plan? I depend on not living very long past my working years and/or pretty much dying in the saddle like my dad did.

    So, yeah – I got no truck with shitting on the olds squeaking by on SS and Medicare.

  212. 212.

    craigie

    @Spanky:

    I am convinced this is the only real voter fraud – rich republicans with homes in multiple states, voting absentee from all of them.

  219. 219.

    Carlo

    @Jinchi: On bad days, I have the same nightmare:”Trump, but not an idiot”.

    I have another take for good days, though. The thing about Trumpism is that while it exploits racial grievance to keep the base howling, it’s principally a personality cult, rather than a political movement. It trades a good deal on celebrity, which is currency in our celebrity-obsessed, tv-hypnotized nation.

    And that’s the disadvantage that Tom Cotton, Ron Johnson, and the rest of that zoo of wannabe heirs to the Trumpist “movement” labor under. They don’t have a decade of tabloid coverage followed by multiple seasons of Celebrity Apprentice to cement their fame, which is probably essential for any pretender to have a chance.

    I’m reminded of the reason Republicans look wistfully back to Reagan: no GOP leader who followed him could unify the mutually-loathing factions of the GOP coalition like he did. He left a void for the party when he left office.

    With luck, the same thing will happen with Trump, especially if the Manhattan DA, the NY AG, ad the SDNY mob-busters come fit him for an orange jumpsuit, and his creditors come break his legs. I doubt he could play much of a kingmaker role from Marion penitentiary, or from Moscow.

  220. 220.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Miss Bianca:
    Pretty much right there with ya. Aren’t the golden years grand

    Once upon a time I had a 401k, but when my current company bought my old company, they cashed it out because they couldnt find me (!?!?! I work for you idiots)  Took me 2 years to track it down, in the MN unclaimed funds account> By then I needed a car, so….ya.

  221. 221.

    Citizen Alan

    @NotMax: I saw that. He’s the rep for Mendenhall, MS, population 2500, 75% white. He’s also a chicken farmer, which makes me wonder how much Farmer Welfare he’s drawing down. Honest to god, I live here in this shit-hole state, and I wish the Dems would just go balls-on ruthless and zero out the farm budget for every district in the country that doesn’t have a Dem congressman. Let the motherfuckers starve.

  223. 223.

    Barbara

    @Kay: When I trained for election protection in 2008 the lawyer doing the training told me he had only objected to one voter based on residency when, by unbelievable coincidence, Ken Starr showed up at his polling station in Fairfax after he had moved to California. This guy knew that and confronted him, and Starr skulked away.

  225. 225.

    mrmoshpotato

    @WaterGirl:

    Somebody in the Republican party needs to smack these rogue republicans down 

    Mitt!  GOP Smackdown time!

    Oh wait, you voted to confirm Amy Cult Member Barrett, you little shit!

  226. 226.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JMG:

    Anyone who stills uses the word “kompromat” in 2020 is someone I automatically disregard. 

    Fine.  The Republican party are now “Suckers of Putin’s asshole.”

    That work for you?

  227. 227.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @J R in WV: Well said, JR-I first perked up when I read $300K, and THEN to read what followed? My husband and I are two of those “greedy” seniors who live on a tiny pension and SS. And … and … all right, I think I better shut up now.

  228. 228.

    Kay

    @Barbara:

    Ken Starr showed up at his polling station in Fairfax after he had moved to California.

    So funny. My one objection as a pollworker was when a board of public affairs candidate came into the polling place to campaign. It was in a Lutheran church, really quiet night, an off year election and I said (too loud) “OMG. You can’t be IN here!” I just couldn’t believe he was doing it.

  229. 229.

    J R in WV

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I took you out of my pie filter a couple of days ago, obviously this was a grave error on my part.

    The election is over, the votes have been counted, WE WON, so get over it.

    So long fear-mongering fool ~!!~

  230. 230.

    CarolPW

    @Miss Bianca: I absolutely know how lucky I am. As little as it might seem to some, my income is more than enough for my needs, so I can share some with others in more desperate situations.

  231. 231.

    trnc

    @Amir Khalid: Is anyone else having this problem? I clicked on a YouTube video (on my recommendations page) and got to the page immediately, but the video itself took 14 minutes to load and begin playing.

    I had the same problem on my laptop and my phone, but I only waited a few minutes before giving up.

  232. 232.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: I don’t think it’s more likely than not that these schemes to overturn the election will succeed. (Over on LGM, I’m trying to talk down some people who are 100% convinced it will. One commenter seems to think the Supreme Court basically has infinite power.)

    I am, however, TERRIFIED at the fact that a large fraction of elected Republican politicians right now seem to be OK with them or at least are staying noncommittal, and that Trump has managed to convince a substantial fraction of his supporters that they’re the right thing to do.

    The Secretary of State just flat-out stated on TV that Trump will be reinstalled as President. I can’t shrug that off. Does he know something?

    We shouldn’t be this close. The Constitution is ultimately just a piece of paper. Whether it means anything depends on whether people pretend it means something. Right now, the people who are actually in power aren’t acting like that.

  233. 233.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: …anyway. I’m trying to scope out all the possible bugs in the system, basically.

    The comment you were responding to was actually the result of me reassuring myself about another mechanism I was wondering about: that they could slow down the counting process so much that some states failed to make the deadline for certifying electors. I’d heard some speculation that this could be used to prevent anyone from getting a 270-vote majority, which would cause a House contingent election that Trump would win.

    But it turns out it won’t work, because you don’t have to get 270, you have to get a majority of electors seated. Do the math and it turns out they’d need to keep, like, six states from appointing anyone. Not going to happen.

  234. 234.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: 

    TheAtlantic from January:

    Coronavirus Is Coming—And Trump Isn’t Ready

    In order to combat the disease, the president will have to trust the kind of government experts he has disdained and dismissed.

    JANUARY 30, 2020
    Ronald Klain
    Former White House Ebola response coordinator

    We all knew the moment would come. It could have been over Iran or North Korea, a hurricane or an earthquake. But it may be the new coronavirus out of China that tests whether President Donald Trump can govern in a crisis—and there is ample reason to be uneasily skeptical.

    The U.S. government has the tools, talent, and team to help fight the coronavirus abroad and minimize its impact at home. But the combination of Trump’s paranoia toward experienced government officials (who lack “loyalty” to him), inattention to detail, opinionated rejection of science and evidence, and isolationist instincts may prove toxic when it comes to managing a global-health security challenge. To succeed, Trump will have to trust the kind of government experts he has disdained to date, set aside his own terrible instincts, lead from the White House, and work closely with foreign leaders and global institutions—all things he has failed to do in his first 1,200 days in office.

    […]

    Nailed it.

    :-(

    (via a Jake Tapper tweet via Popehat)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  236. 236.

    Karen in SoCal

    @J R in WV: Thank you for saying that.  I’m elderly, living on SS and Medicare which I earned my whole life and don’t appreciate being called craven and greedy.  Believe me, it’s not a life of luxury.

Comments are closed.