Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Giving up is unforgivable. ~Joe Biden

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

So many bastards, so little time.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

In after Baud. Damn.

“But what about the lurkers?”

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Night Open Thread: Prolonging His Own Misery

Late Night Open Thread: Prolonging His Own Misery

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At least *we* have something pleasant to anticipate, come January. Rip off the damned bandaid, dude!

Reader Interactions

140Comments

  1. 1.

    different-church-lady

    SO MAYBE I HAD THE CORONA IN MARCH AND MAYBE I DIDN’T WHO THE FUCK KNOWS ALL I KNOW IS IT’S NINE MONTHS LATER AND MY LUNGS STILL AREN’T BACK TO NORMAL.

    (DCL +WHO THE FUCK KNOWS…)

  3. 3.

    Urza

    @cain: Personally i’m hoping each new day brings us a new scandal from the last 4 years and a new person going to prison very publicly.

  5. 5.

    different-church-lady

    @cain: THE NEXT FOUR YEARS ARE GOING TO BE BIDEN AND HARRIS AND THE REST OF US FIGHTING OFF A SHITSHOW OF STUPIDITY, JUST LIKE THE LAST GODDAMNED FOUR YEARS EXCEPT THE PSYCHOTIC BABY WON’T BE IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT I’M SO GODDAMEND… well, you know…

  6. 6.

    Sab

    Trump watching the construction makes me so happy. I would be even happier if he slunk back to Mar a Lago.

  8. 8.

    different-church-lady

    …Trump is watching Biden’s Inaugural stage being built on the White House North lawn.

    I thought traditionally the inauguration stage is at the Capitol building, yes?

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus

    If you think you are having a bad day just remember, Trump is watching Biden’s Inaugural stage being built on the White House North lawn.

    Sort of like hearing them construct and test the gallows just outside your cell window.

  10. 10.

    different-church-lady

    @Sab: I don’t want sympathy*. I want outrage directed at the deniers.

    (*…although it does not go unappreciated.)

  13. 13.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    No level of misery he might feel will make up for what the country has been through. I hope he lives a long time with this failure, and that in his mind that failure is compounded by the fact that he lost to Obama’s wingman. I hope it eats at the black hole masquerading as his soul.

  15. 15.

    featheredsprite

    If Trump announces his intention to run in 2024, it will paralyze the plans of several Republicans. That would be a good thing.

  16. 16.

    geg6

    That PA decision is brutal.  Jesus.  It is unbelievable to me that a former USA would be so sloppy and disdainful of the law.  Dismissed with prejudice.  Just brutal.

  21. 21.

    piratedan

    I’m perfectly okay with Biden trying to not fall into the trap of politicizing the DOJ. It’s just that the problem with that, is that the GOP has embraced the idea that crimes that exist for one political party; do not exist for the other and any attempt to enforce said laws will be met with shrieking tantrums of partisanship and we have a media that appears to be perfectly willing to accept that framing.

    I’m at the point where I want to accede to how they want to play the game, but they seem to think that if we are “forced to play” by their rules, which essentially comprise of “we win/you lose”; that someone isn’t going to just flip the board aside and beat the ever-loving shit out of them, complete with game pieces crammed into every available orifice.

  22. 22.

    geg6

    @Geoduck:

    He could not possibly care less about that Georgia race.  He’s too focused on his own situation.  Which may be a good thing.  His cult may also not be focused or enthused about it, too.

  23. 23.

    mrmoshpotato

    Here is a little more fleshed-out shot of Brad Heath’s tweet. Drink in this opinion. Savor it.

    It. Is. Delicious.

    And know that all of their feelings are being fucked with extreme prejudice.

    The federal court judge just EXCORIATES the Trump campaign for seeking to disenfranchise nearly seven million Pennsylvania voters with SHODDY legal arguments. We told you it would be this way: pic.twitter.com/dX8y2QuWSg— Rick Hasen, Mr. Practicing Attorney (@rickhasen) November 21, 2020

  24. 24.

    CaseyL

    Has Trump filed for 2024 yet?  IRRC, he filed for 2020 immediately after his inauguration.

    I look forward to the GOP being stuck with him for another 4 years.  Sucking up all the money, all the attention, and sending his flying monkeys after his rivals.

    It will be darkly amusing to see the GOPers who’ve been kissing his ass these last few years revive the nasty things they said about him during the 2015-16 primaries.   It will be highly amusing to see the RW mediaverse split between Trump (OANN, NewsMax) and not-Trump (Fox, Sinclair).

  26. 26.

    Patricia Kayden

    I don't understand how it’s considered radical for progressives to fight for an equitable society, but it’s accepted that Senate Republicans would rather take a vacation for Thanksgiving and let thousands of people die from the virus than pass relief.Who’s really radical here?— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) November 21, 2020

  34. 34.

    different-church-lady

    @mrmoshpotato: Well, look, first of all I’m drunk a seven skunks right now, so I’m being a dramatist.

    But to be serious: I had X-rays in June which came back clean, and check-up in August when my doctor said my lungs sound fine. Yet I still struggle a bit on humid days. Maybe it’s stress, maybe it’s allergies, maybe I’m developing asthma, I don’t know.

    All I fuckin’ know is that if it was COVID-19 (and I have reasons to suspect it was, despite two negative tests at the time) I don’t wish it upon ANYONE who isn’t a denier.

  35. 35.

    Another Scott

    @different-church-lady: Yup. Some garbled text, I assume.

    WTOP:

    Q: When is the inauguration?
    The 59th inaugural ceremonies are scheduled for Jan. 20, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.

    Q: Who is in charge of the inauguration?
    The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies has been responsible for the planning of the inauguration since 1901.

    Made up of a joint committee of House and Senate lawmakers, the JCCIC have been meeting since June, approving a budget of $1.5 million in July. They already established a theme for the ceremonies, titled, “Our Determined Democracy: Forging a More Perfect Union.”

    The JCCIC oversees the construction of the inaugural platform on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, the oath-taking ceremony and a luncheon for the president and vice president.

    The president-elect will create a committee of their own to raise money for events away from the U.S. Capitol, such as the inaugural ball.

    Q: When does construction for the inauguration start?
    The platform is currently being built and the National Park Service has closed off portions of Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House, and Pennsylvania Avenue to start construction and set up for the parade.

    The Associated Press reported that the Nuclear Security Administration, part of the Energy Department, has begun conducting low-altitude helicopter flights around the capital during the daytime with “state-of-the art radiation-sensing technology” as part of the public safety protocols.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  36. 36.

    different-church-lady

    @CaseyL: I don’t know how it all plays out, but i do know there is absolutely no way for the “normal” GOP to put this toothpaste back in the tube.

  40. 40.

    mrmoshpotato

    @randy khan: it would appear to reflect the quality of the lawyers representing the Republican Party in the case.

    “Quality” and “lawyers” is doing some heavy lifting there.

  44. 44.

    topclimber

    As the perspicacious TopClimber pointed out when the clown coup began (ok maybe not here), by the time the Electoral College meets December 14, even Moscow Mitch will have to call it for Joe. In the meantime, as the states certify results, more Toomey and Alexander types will peel off and DT will seethe some more.

    By mid-December, the GOP priority will be buying two Senate seats in Georgia. They need not to be seen as RINOs by the base, so they wait until the EC gives them coverage. They also need to appear reasonable to the low info voters in Georgia,  and what could be more so that having just “waited for the Constitutional mechanisms to play out” before they pledge allegiance to the democratic process.

  45. 45.

    different-church-lady

    @WaterGirl: At some point soon I need to sort fact from rumor about how reliable antibody tests are. I would LOVE to know if I had it. It would have to be a hell of a coincidence for me to get bacterial pneumonia combined with the seemingly newly diagnostic diarrhea at the same time as the pandemic was getting going.

    So… homework, I guess. And I’ll be first in line when vaccines are official (and they let me get in line behind all the supermarket worker and nurses…)

  52. 52.

    danielx

    @Another Scott:

    The Associated Press reported that the Nuclear Security Administration, part of the Energy Department, has begun conducting low-altitude helicopter flights around the capital during the daytime with “state-of-the art radiation-sensing technology” as part of the public safety protocols.

    Great – making sure nobody is sneaking in something nuclear.

    I am not having warm fuzzies right now. Not because of Republican machinations – these people couldn’t organize an orgy at Burning Man – but because of worry about something coming in on the freaky fluky vector. If one of those 3 am calls comes into the White House tonight, does anyone truly expect a timely and rational response?

    I hate to sound as paranoid as I no doubt do, but I don’t think this country has ever been as vulnerable as it is right now, this very minute.

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    @Geoduck:

    Now if he’ll just tell his followers to boycott the runoff election in Georgia due to insufficient GOP loyalty..

    Someone tweeted that loyal GA voters could help Trump win Georgia by writing him in for the Senate runoffs, instead of voting for Perdue and/or Loeffler

  58. 58.

    dmsilev

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Sort of like hearing them construct and test the gallows just outside your cell window.

    “Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind.”

    If this is what Trump is like when he’s concentrating…

  61. 61.

    dmsilev

    What if find impressive, in a way, is that Trump somehow managed to find a lawyer who is even more pants-on-head crazy than Rudy Giuliani. Here’s Sidney Powell claiming that Gov Kemp is part of the giant anti-Trump conspiracy that was set in motion by Hugo Chavez:

    Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell:

    “Georgia is probably going to be the first state I’m going to blow up … [the filing in the state] will be Biblical”.pic.twitter.com/pU8PVOobzr
    — Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) November 22, 2020

    (Also a bit heartwarming to see that the best Mark Halperin can do for a job these days is NewsMax TV…)

  64. 64.

    Geoduck

    @geg6: Right now he doesn’t care. As the results become (even) more and more of a forgone conclusion, the rest of the GOP will start inching for the exits, and he’s gonna want to punish them.

    And Loeffler evidently has COVID now. Won’t that make things interesting if she’s incapacitated or worse by voting time.

  67. 67.

    HumboldtBlue

    @different-church-lady: 

    Cussed out (mildly and lovingly) my Jersey-based 27-year-old nephew today on family Zoom.

    He tested positive for Covid today and when asked how he may have contracted it, responded, “I went to a party with some friends but there others whom I didn’t know and one of them tested positive as well.”

  69. 69.

    Another Scott

    @mrmoshpotato: Well done, but NSFW* language.  :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (* – if anyone is actually able to watch YouTube at work in PlagueTime, they should use headphones.)

  75. 75.

    Origuy

    @Another Scott: When I was was working in an office, I had my headphones plugged in all the time. No chance of a web page going into autoplay and startling everyone.

    I miss my office. I had two big screens and a view of San Francisco Bay.

  76. 76.

    Another Scott

    @oclib: Maybe Bibi asked for help?  The prosecutors must be breathing down his neck again, or something…

    Reuters:

    GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian militants fired a rocket into Israel, drawing Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said on Sunday.

    There were no casualties reported on either side of the border. Israeli police said the Gaza rocket fired on Saturday night damaged a factory in the southern city of Ashkelon.

    The Israeli military said its aircraft struck in response at several military sites belonging to Hamas, the Islamist armed group that controls Gaza.

    Reuters witnesses said the pre-dawn strikes hit targets in Gaza City and the southern Gaza cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, where flames and plumes of smoke could be seen rising from some sites.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility from any of Gaza’s military groups for firing the rocket. Israel and Hamas last fought a war in 2014 and have exchanged fire several times since though the border has been largely quiet in recent months.

    […]

    Dunno.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  79. 79.

    SFAW

    According to CNN, The Biggest Loser’s campaign has filed for (another) recount in Georgia, and Raffensperger has OKed it. [Apparently the one completed this week was an audit. Raffensperger appeared — to me, at least — to say that the recount will be functionally the same as the audit.

    Just another excuse for Psychophant Emily Murphy to delay signing the order.

  82. 82.

    HumboldtBlue

    Netflix just recommended Ocean’s Thirteen to me. I re-watched Ocean’s Eleven last week and it was really meh.

  83. 83.

    Ken

    @Omnes Omnibus: Sort of like hearing them construct and test the gallows just outside your cell window.

    Purim’s not until February 25 next year.

    (And though I don’t drink, I’m tempted to raise a glass next year to the fall of our twisted version of Haman.)

  84. 84.

    Mary G

    Thread about a country that dealt with Coronavirus differently than the US:

    At any point, if you break quarantine – which they can tell by the movements of your phone – you could be fined 10-30k. They are quite serious on this point. Then again, they haven't had a case in 200 days. And everyone has been living their lives freely since February./8— Alice Wu (@thatalicewu) November 21, 2020

  85. 85.

    Amir Khalid

    @SFAW:

    The result of this new recount will be about the same as the audit, which was about the same as the original count: it won’t get Trump any closer to winning Georgia. This amounts to doing the same thing a third time and hoping for a different result. A famous definition of insanity comes to mind.

  88. 88.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Mary G: Yeah, but that’s one of those inscrutable East Asian countries, where they do things differently from us, For Freedom!  USA! USA! USA!

    In Dunkirk, in France, a guy was repeatedly violating the lockdown rules, which require a permission form to be outside of the house.  After some number of violations, he was arrested, tried, and imprisoned for (drum roll) TWO MONTHS!

    I’ve read about pretty hefty fines in some European countries too.  They ain’t playin’.

    [Just to be clear: I think any bullshit about those “inscrutable Asian countries” is just that: bullshit.  South Korea and Taiwan are *democracies*, and their people would never stand for the shit we’re being put thru: which is why their governments had to act effectively to suppress and maintain suppressed, the virus.]

  90. 90.

    Ken

    @NotMax: Don’t forget the part about the emperor having his wife pose naked for the party guests.  And really, Stephen Miller is the one in the Haman role.

  93. 93.

    West of the Rockies

    @Ken:

    I wonder why Clump values Rudy.  There are so many bug-eyed Rudy pics, the Four Seasons Gardening and Dildo Emporium presser, the oozing Shinola appearance… he is an utter clown.

  94. 94.

    Roger Moore

    @Amir Khalid:

    I think their latest brilliant scheme is to try stalling until after the certification deadline and then claim that without certified election results, the state legislature can just appoint a slate of pro-Trump electors.  It won’t work any better than their previous schemes, but it will give Trump a reason to pretend it isn’t over yet, which is all they really care about.

  95. 95.

    Mike in NC

    I cannot recommend enough the new Borat movie, where toward’s the end horndog geezer Rudy sticks a hand down his pants thinking about having sex in a hotel room with a teen prostitute.

  96. 96.

    mrmoshpotato

    @cain: ‘I cant wait till they put Ivanka in jail. It will trigger that asshole to do illegal shit as president.

    Ummm…..what?  After January 20, Dump will be a private, traitorous Soviet shitpile.

  102. 102.

    Sab

    Totally OT. My sister is a moderately famous art historian. She is completely and utterly tone deaf  about music. Which is very sad becausue her children from their father’s side are extremely musical.

  104. 104.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Amir Khalid: The result of this new recount will be about the same as the audit, which was about the same as the original count: it won’t get Trump any closer to winning Georgia. This amounts to doing the same thing a third time and hoping for a different result. A famous definition of insanity comes to mind.

    Also (too) – Dump being a LOSER for the third time comes to mind.

  106. 106.

    Brachiator

    If you think you are having a bad day just remember, Trump is watching Biden’s Inaugural stage being built on the White House North lawn.

    It’s like a condemned man watching a scaffold being built. Only here the only thing that may be sacrificed is Trump’s colossal ego. But soon enough he will be sitting comfortably at Mar a Lago, sulking and complaining to toadies paid to listen to the same tired whining again and again.

  108. 108.

    Mai Naem mobile

    So Trumpov has asked for a second hand count of Jawjah which Jawjah apparently has to pay for because the margin was under 0.5%. I know this is a big if but if the Dems pick up both Jawjah seats under 0.5% can McConnell delay the seating by asking for 2 recounts until the rules for the incoming senate term are passed? Do you just pass new leaders and all new chairs etc once the two senators are seated?

  114. 114.

    Quinerly

    @dmsilev: I took a look at Powell’s Wiki page when I recognized her NC accent. She is originally from there… Entered law school at age 19 (UNC). She was sane and smart at one time…..then she started representing Michael Flynn and started buying into all the conspiracy theories. Her Wiki is worth a read.

  115. 115.

    Aleta

    (Post)

    …

    The report details a coronavirus outbreak linked through DNA analysis to one passenger on an 18-hour flight from Dubai to New Zealand in September. The traveler, who tested negative for the coronavirus with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 48 hours of the flight, was contagious but pre-symptomatic onboard the plane, and infected at least four other passengers.

    In total there were seven cases linked to the flight, which had 86 passengers onboard.

    “By combining information on disease progression, travel dynamics and genomic analysis, we conclude that at least four in-flight transmission events of SARS-CoV-2 likely took place,” the study states. “Four of these six related genome sequences were from Switzerland, the country of origin of the suspected index case.”

    New Zealand’s quarantine protocols make the study a unique analysis because all passengers were monitored and retested during their required 14-day quarantine lodging, which is managed by New Zealand authorities. Most flights, doctors have pointed out, have no way of monitoring passengers two weeks after their travel.

    “This case speaks to how hard it is to keep infected people off a flight, even if you do PCR testing in a narrow window of time before the flight,” David Freedman, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who has reviewed the report, told The Washington Post.

    “The original case most likely became infectious after he took the preflight test, but in fact was not symptomatic until 71 hours after the flight,” Freedman said. PCR coronavirus tests are estimated to be about 98 percent effective at detecting the coronavirus, which is why they are required by many countries for entry.

    Of the seven infected individuals, five had tested negative within 48 hours before the flight. The authors of the article say the “transmission events occurred despite reported use of masks and gloves in-flight,” and that stringent masking was required by the airline operating the flight.

    Freedman points out that the flight length might have impacted masking: “It would have been really hard for people to keep their masks on for the entire 18 hours.”

    The evidence contradicts an October Department of Defense study that suggested a contagious person would need to sit next to a passenger for at least 54 hours to infect them, and declared coronavirus transmission risk on planes “low.” It also raises questions about the efficacy of high-efficient air filtration on planes that airlines have credited as keeping passengers safe.

    …

  118. 118.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Mary G: So tired of these bratty children who think wearing a mask over their nose and mouth and following temporary curfews is TYRANNY.

  119. 119.

    Redshift

    @SFAW:

    Raffensperger appeared — to me, at least — to say that the recount will be functionally the same as the audit. 

    Normally an audit is a random sample of ballots to verify there are no systemic problems. For some reason I haven’t heard, this audit was a full hand recount, which is indeed exactly the same thing as a recount.

  123. 123.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Redshift: As I understand it, the audit would have had to be about 1 million ballots so the Georgia SOS just decided they might as well “audit” all the votes.

    So they did, and conducted a full hand recount but called it an audit. And now Trump wants to do it again.

  126. 126.

    lgerard

    @Redshift:

     

    For an audit they check the audit trail, from each machine to precinct and then to county and state total.That is how they discovered  that a few machines were not included in the original total. They also did a hand count of the paper ballots for some reason, which you would think would serve as pretty positive proof of the veracity of the official total.

    A recount is a formal reconstruction of the voting process, they scan the ballots through the original machines and replay the whole process.

  128. 128.

    opiejeanne

    @Another Scott: 
    Yes. Those are parade reviewing stands, and that photo is not from this year because Pennsylvania Avenue has been closed since Trump had those walls put up around the White House, including the Elipse and Lafayette Park.

  129. 129.

    Mo Salad

    @Mary G:  Well, that pissed me off enough to run downstairs, ready to take a sledgehammer to my toaster. At the last second, I noticed “HAMILTON Beach”. The toaster lives to see another day.

  131. 131.

    Luciamia

    @Brachiator: Or that sad figure at the end of the bar, mumbling his eternal list of grievances. Can you imagine how bad it would be if he actually drank?

  132. 132.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Luciamia: If Dump actually drank, someone would’ve been nuked years ago in an alcohol-induced rage.

    Or he would’ve drank himself to death decades ago.  I can’t imagine alcohol and narcissism go well together.

  133. 133.

    Sebastian

    This is absolutely brilliant. BRILLIANT.

    Bunch of bored historians made a series of mock-documentaries Ken Burns style (oh boy do they throw shade) and it’s a riot.

    I found six parts plus extras about Perdue&Loeffler, Barr, DJT Mob ties, …

    Check out episode one yourself (4m)

     

     

    Dumbest civil war ever… pic.twitter.com/VybbDwXSto— HISTORY FALLS APART (@historyfalls) May 2, 2020

  134. 134.

    SectionH

    @Mary G: JFC, The worst I’ve seen here in Hillcrest is one old dude who only put his mask on actually walking our drug store. Masks are normal. Wear a mask, it’s normal. Our places. It’s normal. I don’t think I sound like Kay yet but FFS, masks are the new normal here in Hillcrest. For like 6 months.

    Otoh, a few blocks over and north, FLIX (yes gay hangout) got basically shut down – and they deserved it.

    We can be (apparently) mostly in favor of Science. As in, wear your mask..

  135. 135.

    Brachiator

    @Luciamia:

    Or that sad figure at the end of the bar, mumbling his eternal list of grievances. Can you imagine how bad it would be if he actually drank?

    That’s it! Trump is like a pathetic drunk, but without any alcohol as an excuse.

    A double loser.

  137. 137.

    SectionH

    I’m just gonna leave a Mahalo nui to NotMax for his reccie of the MACC music yesterday. I was late-ish, bu t I listened to every minute. I really liked the slack key sweetie. And then there an IZ wannbe. (Sorry, not sorry.) And then there was Amy, and at least Josh did recognize.

    Mahalo

  139. 139.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Mary G:

    Interesting that @JJemiola’s posts are in Polish or not quite fluent English and she has a 59% BotSentinel rating (“disruptive”).

  140. 140.

    Keith P.

    @Redshift: It’s that projection again. A Trumpist hears “audit” and reflexively thinks, “Oh, I’ve got them now!”  Auditing holds all kinds of magical powers for Republicans because an audit even makes Trump piss his pants.

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