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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Thursday Evening Open Thread: Everyone Exhales

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Everyone Exhales

by Anne Laurie|  December 3, 20204:15 pm| 318 Comments

This post is in: Election 2020, Open Threads, Trumpery

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people are transitioning from bad election tweets to just generally bad opinions and i feel like we are already mending and it’s not even january 20th. upward and onward.

— Normie Transition Team (@CalmSporting) December 1, 2020

It’s only just becoming clear how much the squatting misadministration has kept even the ‘neutral arbiters’ stressed. You may no longer consciously notice the jackhammer chorus next door, but it’s a pure physical relief when they finally stop…

in some ways the last four years have been gearing up for this moment, where the president clearly lost and his party is so ground into dust that they can't even state this obvious fact. it is forbidden to say the thing everyone knows. tremendous stuff.

— Normie Transition Team (@CalmSporting) December 1, 2020

“The only question left open is whether the media will give up their addiction to him or not — that will determine a great deal." https://t.co/NUn4fPXZK3

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) December 2, 2020

if trump hadn’t broken the needles off all the gages everyone would be fascinated with joe biden breaking the right’s brains by pulling shit like stepping out of the way as trump sets himself on fire with rudy & the moron gang while also getting them to shriek about neera tanden

— kilgore trout, tiny desk carpenter (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 2, 2020

We know, we were there. https://t.co/jnbVsYcXY4

— Four Seasons Total Manscaping ?️‍?? (@SJGrunewald) December 2, 2020

(Also you will hear lots of sanctimonious rationalizations like, “How dare you, he’s a potential 2024 candidate, it’s news!!!” There are lots of potential 2024 candidates—this is about eyeballs and clixxxx and feeding a beast that Biden is less likely to feed.)

— James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) December 2, 2020

Biden isn’t horrifying the world. No one is desperate to see Democrats who are rejecting Biden. https://t.co/lypTx3WNAl

— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) December 2, 2020

At some point it’s no longer infighting, it’s just fighting. https://t.co/beyggMJBHo

— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) December 2, 2020

the problem with weigel’s premise here is that the neverbidens aren’t like, “normal” moderate democrats, they’re closer to the “own the libs” ideology of trump supporters. they’re incongruous comparisons, dave, and your friends seem to be making plenty of money on their own.

— special interest machine (@golikehellmachi) December 2, 2020

Let's put some people who have been absolutely wrong about everything and who represent even a smaller part of the electorate than Never Trumpers on TV.

— staying home stan account?? (@Convolutedname) December 1, 2020

On the quickly growing irrelevance of ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩: “To a remarkable degree, people have already stopped paying attention to the 45th president.” https://t.co/tyqsIo1l3G

— Joy WE VOTED!! WEAR A MASK!! Reid ?) (@JoyAnnReid) December 3, 2020

… The past few weeks have offered a preview of what Donald Trump’s post-presidency might look like: The president fulminates at length, playing pundit, but is a practical nonfactor in policy discussions. He can still command the affection of millions—and raise millions of dollars from them—but the balance of the country has already moved on and tuned out. Trump’s ability to command the news cycle has been eclipsed by the virus he couldn’t be bothered to stop and the rival candidate he couldn’t beat.

This is not license for the nation to let down its guard. There is still much damage that the outgoing president can do, and is doing, to democratic institutions, governance, and policy. Yet the odd atmosphere over the past few days, in which Trump ramps up his rhetoric yet seems to have an ever more tenuous hold on the nation’s attention, represents a shift even from the initial days after November 3, when his attempt to steal the election was still headline news…

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318Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    December 3, 2020 at 4:23 pm

    Fox and other cable

    Interesting how he sees the world.

    ETA: Did Fox have a bunch of NeverTrumpers on?

  2. 2.

    Edmund Dantes

    December 3, 2020 at 4:25 pm

    Man. A lot of these reads like “trump was the problem, glad that’s all solved”.

    I hope people understand (mostly DC elite I worry the most about) Trump is only a symptom of a much more broken party that will continue to do damage long after he is gone.

  3. 3.

    MattF

    December 3, 2020 at 4:25 pm

    Yup. Power is leaking out of the Trump White House, and the Orange Menace can’t stop it. Failing downwards will be a novel experience for Trump, and it’s about time. The limited behavioral repertoire is drained. There’s a noisy, vehement, and bonkers cheering section, a larger mute peanut gallery, and a majority who are looking forward to a more normal existence in around a year.

  4. 4.

    Bruce K in ATH(GR)

    December 3, 2020 at 4:26 pm

    This whole lame-duck period is like … well, imagine you’ve been diagnosed with something that requires surgery, and you know that once it’s done you’ll be better, but there isn’t an open operating room ready yet, so you’ve just got to wait and endure until then.

  5. 5.

    Bruce K in ATH(GR)

    December 3, 2020 at 4:27 pm

    @Edmund Dantes: No kidding. I’m convinced that a lot of the kids who voted for the first time this year are going to live to see the end of either the GOP or the USA. I’m convinced there’s no longer a future in which both survive.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    December 3, 2020 at 4:28 pm

    @Bruce K in ATH(GR): I think every comment has to be manually approved if you have an  ( or ) in your name.

  7. 7.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    December 3, 2020 at 4:28 pm

    @WaterGirl: Oops! I’ll change my nym then

    (Oops again. Maybe the hyphen? Or the fact that I was just using “Bruce K” up until now?)

  8. 8.

    Jeffro

    December 3, 2020 at 4:33 pm

    It’s a dynamic situation – boring orange moron can’t hog the mic forever! – and there’s a long-overdue GOP civil war a-comin’.  Let’s help the media find their way to THAT story.

  9. 9.

    gene108

    December 3, 2020 at 4:33 pm

    It will take you just one second to watch this video. It will brighten up your day.

    https://twitter.com/TheRealDWoo/status/1334558645439393798?s=20

  10. 10.

    gvg

    December 3, 2020 at 4:36 pm

    @Edmund Dantes: Well we all know the whole GOP has been a problem for some time BUT a President as stupid and malicious as Trump is actually a serious problem in a way that a GOP senate isn’t.  The worst GOP governors are also a similar issue.  We still have problems but we are escaping a frightening burden and it’s OK to celebrate that isn’t it?

    I also wonder of some of the media are striking back at Trump in spite and rubbing it in that he lost and he is a nut. He threatened them, why shouldn’t they enjoy hurting him back?

    Yeah there are still other problems but a malignant kook in the Presidency is special. Hope we don’t let it happen again.

  11. 11.

    gene108

    December 3, 2020 at 4:38 pm

    @Jeffro:

    The GOP’s had a few “civil wars” over the last few decades.

    This round won’t amount to much.

    Republicans will become more radically conservative. A few people, who still have some principles left will exit the party. The rest of the Republicans will carry on becoming more radical.

  12. 12.

    different-church-lady

    December 3, 2020 at 4:39 pm

    i feel like we are already mending and it’s not even january 20th.

    Yeah, I feel that, but then every once in a while a time-kill tweet I’m reading leads me down the rabbit hole, and the kind of crazy happening down there does not inspire any kind of calm feeling about anything at all. There’s a lot of people who fully believe Trump won because HE JUST DID!! No logic, no evidence, no nothing, just raw screeching about the impossibility of him not winning. An complete alternate universe, and it’s not going to ever go away entirely.

  13. 13.

    Bill Arnold

    December 3, 2020 at 4:41 pm

    @gene108:

    Baby bat ? is the only thing you need to see right now pic.twitter.com/cIZGIfgWUH— ? Ceres ? (@ceresisaplanet) December 2, 2020

  14. 14.

    Mike in NC

    December 3, 2020 at 4:41 pm

    The Bidens won’t get invited to the White House, but Putin probably will be. He’ll most likely decline.

    Trump joins Andrew Johnson as a seditious, impeached, one term loser who sympathized with the enemies of democracy and churlishly refused to meet with his successor.

  15. 15.

    germy

    December 3, 2020 at 4:42 pm

    He’s got top shelf talent working for him.

    "…a review of her professional history, as well as interviews with more than a half-dozen lawyers who have worked with her, show that Ms. Ellis, 36, is not the seasoned constitutional law expert she plays on TV." @jwpetersNYT + @alanfeuer https://t.co/ZAQuqdi3R0

    — Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) December 3, 2020

  16. 16.

    Cameron

    December 3, 2020 at 4:42 pm

    Trump has been living in hell for the last four years?  Shows how out of date my theology is.  I didn’t know they have golf in hell.

  17. 17.

    Chyron HR

    December 3, 2020 at 4:44 pm

    @Cameron:

    I didn’t know they have golf in hell.

    I think it’s the only sport they have.

  18. 18.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 3, 2020 at 4:44 pm

    The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up sensitive information. https://t.co/9bKn2T9KpM— Detroit News: Nation (@dn_nation_world) December 3, 2020

  19. 19.

    different-church-lady

    December 3, 2020 at 4:45 pm

    @Cameron: Kinda makes you wonder why he wanted to re-enlist.

  20. 20.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 3, 2020 at 4:45 pm

    @Baud: Weigel was a big promoter of Chapo Traphouse, as I recall. I actually think he’s a good reporter, but his own politics seem a bit…. erratic. He seems drawn to the fringe

    ox and other cable should bring on more left voices like @briebriejoy. Democratic/left/liberal infighting is going to be a big story for the next four years, you need credible people to explain it!

    Imagine promoting BJG as “credible”.

  21. 21.

    gene108

    December 3, 2020 at 4:46 pm

    @Bill Arnold:

    Baby bat dah de do do do do baby bat

  22. 22.

    Bill Arnold

    December 3, 2020 at 4:46 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    An entire alternate universe, and it’s not going to ever go away entirely.

    The oh-so-curious thing about the mainstream election fraud conspiracies involving rigging is that they just as easily explain why polls were so wrong in battleground states; perhaps the election was rigged for Trump (and in 2016 too, and 2018 in Florida! :-), just not quite enough to overcome the larger than expected Democratic turnout.
    Since what hand-recounts there were found nothing, it’s (probably) bullshit, to be clear. It’s just that the theory is a retread of election fraud conspiracy theories promoted by Democrats to explain weird Republican wins. But Republican conspiracy theories live forever. We still hear Bircher theories, and about the 1960 election and voting by the dead.

  23. 23.

    different-church-lady

    December 3, 2020 at 4:47 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I thought he meant bring her in to provide the infighting.

  24. 24.

    Jeffro

    December 3, 2020 at 4:48 pm

    @gene108: The GOP’s had a few “civil wars” over the last few decades.  This round won’t amount to much.

    They did?  When?  (1964, maybe?)

    Nickel bet on this round!  ;)

  25. 25.

    Ken

    December 3, 2020 at 4:49 pm

    Trump ramps up his rhetoric yet seems to have an ever more tenuous hold on the nation’s attention

    That’s not the only thing he’s got an ever-more-tenuous hold on…

  26. 26.

    West of the Rockies

    December 3, 2020 at 4:50 pm

    @gvg:

    I would think it irresistible for some of the media to strike back. Especially at Trump, Pompeo, McAninny, and others who were gleefully hateful and dishonest.  Then again, Spicer was allowed onto DwtS ad Palin on whatever that masked singer show is.

  27. 27.

    different-church-lady

    December 3, 2020 at 4:50 pm

    @Bill Arnold: In 2016 my gut was quite certain the vote totals were hacked in Trump’s favor.

    The difference is (a) I knew I had no evidence of it, I was just hoping it was true, and (b) I was never Clinton’s lawyer.

  28. 28.

    sdhays

    December 3, 2020 at 4:51 pm

    The real reason that no one will hire Democratic Biden critics is that if they criticize Biden from the left, they run the risk of making Biden seem even more moderate and reasonable. Regardless of the sincerity of their critique, giving prominent voice to those kinds of critiques just might move the Overton Window, and then where would the corporate masters be? Taxes!? Regulation?! Safety net???!!!!! Terrifying!!

    It doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not, it only matters if hiring managers think it might be true. Best not to risk it. We’re a “center-right” nation, after all

    ETA: I don’t know anything about the people Dave W. is promoting. I’m just speaking generally.

  29. 29.

    West of the Rockies

    December 3, 2020 at 4:51 pm

    @germy:

    Giuliani farts in her general direction.

  30. 30.

    different-church-lady

    December 3, 2020 at 4:51 pm

    @Ken: PHRASING!

  31. 31.

    Spanky

    December 3, 2020 at 4:52 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Sensitive information? So many questions …

    Washington – The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up sensitive information about election fraud and other matters she could relay to the White House, three people familiar with the matter tell The Associated Press.
    Heidi Stirrup, an ally of top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, was quietly installed at the Justice Department as a White House liaison a few months ago. She was told within the last two weeks to vacate the building after top Justice officials learned of her efforts to collect insider information about ongoing cases and the department’s work on election fraud, the people said.

  32. 32.

    PJ

    December 3, 2020 at 4:54 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Weigel was/is a libertarian Ron Paul fan who became a Bernie Bro.  As you say, his reporting is generally solid but his personal opinions tend to be terrible. He is also a huge prog rock fan, which kind of goes without saying with the libertarian stuff.

  33. 33.

    gene108

    December 3, 2020 at 4:55 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Latest one I recall was the Tea Party rise, which caused Arlen Spectre to change parties, same with Charlie Christ.

    Like I said, their “civil wars” never amount to much. They are authoritarians, who follow whoever is leading them at any given moment. It also helps that they have no actual policies or principles, other than to stay in power.

    I would not expect to see anything much coming, after Trump leaves office, in terms of a party publicly fighting with itself. Most will remain loyal to whatever it is they are ordered to believe at the time.

  34. 34.

    Matt McIrvin

    December 3, 2020 at 4:58 pm

    I would love for the country to be in a situation where I felt safe enough to spend all my time sniping at Joe Biden from the left. But I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.

  35. 35.

    Bill Arnold

    December 3, 2020 at 4:58 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    In 2016 my gut was quite certain the vote totals were hacked in Trump’s favor.

    Well, your gut could be quite certain that the vote totals were hacked in Trump’s favor in 2020, too. (just not enough.) I mean, why not? It’s more consistent than that they were hacked for Trump in 2016 and for Biden (or not at all) in 2020.
    Minnesota polling error 2 percent, Wisconsin polling error 7.7 percent. Explain that, wingnuts! :-) (I need to update my spreadsheet, though, done several days after election.)

  36. 36.

    Ken

    December 3, 2020 at 4:59 pm

    @different-church-lady: I meant a hold on his sanity, but on re-reading I can see other ways it could be read. For example, I understand his golf game is slipping too.

  37. 37.

    geg6

    December 3, 2020 at 5:02 pm

    So, apparently they’ve had phone numbers for the parents of children separated from their parents.  And just started turning them over to lawyers for the children.  Jesus fucking Christ, I despise these fuckers so much.  Just saw it on Nicolle Wallace’s show.

  38. 38.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 3, 2020 at 5:03 pm

    hey, I am not really involved in vaccine policy but it seems sorta goofy that TX is getting 1.4M initial doses https://t.co/YyP8oglYSgand CA is only getting 327K initial doses https://t.co/2Qq7acZE2T— RL Miller (@RL_Miller) December 3, 2020

  39. 39.

    Jeffro

    December 3, 2020 at 5:04 pm

    @gene108: the Tea Party was just rebranding, we all know that now ;)

    The GOP has never had a berserk post-WH, will-he-run-again??!?  lunatic like trumpov stirring up their base and refusing to get out of the way (except, perhaps, to anoint Don Jr or Ivanka as his successor) so that he can keep the grift going.

    There’s a whole crop of ambitious GOP pols like Hawley, Rubio, Haley, Crenshaw, and worse and they’re already having to deal with the push-pull of accepting reality (like election results) or backing trumpov.  trumpov WILL make it into a loyalty test and WILL actively and publicly go after anyone who tries to move on.

    Sooner or later, a Hawley or a Haley has to ask the GOP base, “while we thank trumpov for showing us the way, standing tall, etc etc…are we ready to move on?”

    I guess we’ll see…

  40. 40.

    Ken

    December 3, 2020 at 5:05 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears

    Doesn’t Russian have a single word for that? Chekist, maybe?  (sound of googling*)  Perhaps politruk, though that’s a military position.

    * Curious that Hollywood hasn’t settled on a sound effect for that. For a while we were getting modem noises any time anyone touched a computer, but thankfully that’s passed.

  41. 41.

    Lyrebird

    December 3, 2020 at 5:06 pm

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: It was cool to get to wave hello all the way to ATH GR on one of the Zoom chats!

    and as far as seeing…

    the end of either the GOP or the USA.

    During the 2016 primary I could laugh at the jokes like,

    Trump was sent from the future to destroy the Republican Party.

    After 11/9/2016, couldn’t laugh about it.

    Now it’s like you said, let’s get this whole business done with already!

  42. 42.

    Ken

    December 3, 2020 at 5:07 pm

    @Jeffro: Sooner or later, a Hawley or a Haley has to ask the GOP base, “while we thank trumpov for showing us the way, standing tall, etc etc…are we ready to move on?”

    ANNOUNCER:  “We warn parents that the following video may be too graphic for children.”

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 5:09 pm

    Thought it inconceivable to be subjected to a more atrocious finale of Lost.

    I was wrong.

  44. 44.

    danielx

    December 3, 2020 at 5:10 pm

    Relief at election results, but…he’s still there. Still running his mouth, still running government agencies into the ground, still ignoring the pandemic while thousands die every day, still…just pissing into the soup in general. It’s exhausting and I can’t relax, like somebody turned off my joy meter.

    I want him gone and we are still stuck with him for weeks, flinging shit to see what sticks and creating havoc on general principles like a toddler denied his wishes.

  45. 45.

    VeniceRiley

    December 3, 2020 at 5:10 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Texas was one of the dry run practice states for cold supply chain.

  46. 46.

    MomSense

    December 3, 2020 at 5:11 pm

    @Bruce K in ATH(GR):

    Kalispera!

  47. 47.

    geg6

    December 3, 2020 at 5:12 pm

    @Jeffro:

    I read, I think at TPM, about some “leadership” summit or something like that that the RNC and and Ronna Romney McDaniel are planning.  Supposedly, it’s to feature their idea of who will be in the 2024 field for their nomination, like Pence and Haley and Pompeo and the like.  They are trying to keep it on the down low but did say, of course they will invite Trump.  They always planned it that way!  Really!  It’s not like they’re terrified that he found out and decided on a last minute invite so he doesn’t set his rabid wolverines on them!  Really!

  48. 48.

    Ksmiami

    December 3, 2020 at 5:13 pm

    @gene108: stop calling what the GOP is “conservative.” Radical revanchist /reactionary is a more apt moniker. The Rt has been stark raving mad since the late 90s but it’s much worse now

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 5:14 pm

    @danielx

    “Are we there yet?
    Are we there yet?
    Are we there yet?
    Are we there yet?”
    .

    :)

  50. 50.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 3, 2020 at 5:15 pm

    @Cameron:

     

    I didn’t know they have golf in hell.

    Yes, a PUBLIC course [shudder]

    [Hi, BillinGlendaleCA!]

  51. 51.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    December 3, 2020 at 5:16 pm

    @Lyrebird: I never saw it as a joke, actually – I’ve been thinking about it for a few years now, but 2020 brought it into sharp relief – the GOP will destroy America within the next couple of generations unless the GOP itself is destroyed, the entire rotten edifice torn down to the ground, the foundations shattered, and the ground salted.

    The former National Security Advisor, freshly pardoned by the President, is calling for a coup d’etat, and the GOP is fbeeping letting it happen.

  52. 52.

    Brachiator

    December 3, 2020 at 5:17 pm

    In rambling video posted on Facebook and YouTube, Trump says the last four years have been like “living in hell.”

    Yes, this is what the Trump administration has been for us.

  53. 53.

    Anne Laurie

    December 3, 2020 at 5:17 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, Weigel’s been a real disappointment over the past year or so.  He used to be a good reporter, but getting some ego-strokes from the ‘dirtbag left’ seems to have broken his brain.  I was hoping the Biden/Harris win might break the spell, but so far Dave’s fighting to *stay* on the alt-left Titanic!

  54. 54.

    Miss Bianca

    December 3, 2020 at 5:19 pm

    @Chyron HR:

    I think it’s the only sport they have.

    No…*watching* it is the only sport they have.

  55. 55.

    WaterGirl

    December 3, 2020 at 5:19 pm

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: They hyphen should be fine, but it was the first time with that new nym with the hyphen, and the first one always has to be manually approved.

  56. 56.

    trollhattan

    December 3, 2020 at 5:20 pm

    @gene108:

    I totally got this!

  57. 57.

    JustRuss

    December 3, 2020 at 5:21 pm

    Once Trump slithers out of the White House, the media won’t be hanging on his every tweet.  His adoring fans will get their fix straight from the source, and the rest of us won’t care what his thumbs are saying.  That leaves no eyeballs for the media (except OANN and maybe Fox), too bad, so sad.

  58. 58.

    Cameron

    December 3, 2020 at 5:22 pm

    @different-church-lady: Many are thawed, but few are frozen.  Or something like that.

  59. 59.

    different-church-lady

    December 3, 2020 at 5:22 pm

    If I remember correctly, at this point four years ago there were a lot of people saying “WHY WON’T HILLARY JUST GO AWAY???”

  60. 60.

    trollhattan

    December 3, 2020 at 5:22 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Uhhhh, wha? There’s more of us. A LOT more.

  61. 61.

    different-church-lady

    December 3, 2020 at 5:23 pm

    @JustRuss:

    Once Trump slithers out of the White House, the media won’t be hanging on his every tweet.

    Oh you kidder you!

  62. 62.

    Nora

    December 3, 2020 at 5:24 pm

    @trollhattan: Ah, but you’re in a BLUE state.  Not a real U.S. State that went for Trump.  You understand the difference, right?  Speaking as someone from another BLUE state (NY), I figure we’ll get pushed to the bottom of the distribution list regardless of our numbers.

  63. 63.

    JustRuss

    December 3, 2020 at 5:24 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Oh, Trump will get to play in Hell alright….but he won’t get to cheat.

  64. 64.

    Cameron

    December 3, 2020 at 5:25 pm

    @Ken: He’s sitting at the Resolute desk flogging his dog?  Egad!

  65. 65.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 5:25 pm

    @Chyron HR

    “Warned ya the seventh hole’s a bitch. That dogleg is attached to Cerberus.”

  66. 66.

    Ken

    December 3, 2020 at 5:26 pm

    @Cameron: @Chyron HR: @Miss Bianca: In Dante’s Inferno, there are several sports.  Well, forms of exercise, or at least running, generally away from… things.  Though the souls in the vestibule chase after banners.

  67. 67.

    Brachiator

    December 3, 2020 at 5:26 pm

    @Cameron: 

    Trump has been living in hell for the last four years? Shows how out of date my theology is. I didn’t know they have golf in hell.

    The Fourth Circle of Hell is where they put sinners who cheat at golf.

  68. 68.

    trollhattan

    December 3, 2020 at 5:27 pm

    California’s new COVID policies.

    Regions of California where hospitals are in danger of overload will be subject to a new stay-at-home order, with some parts of the state projected to reach that point later this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.

    The new order will apply in regions where available intensive care unit capacity drops below 15%, according to the Newsom administration.

    Newsom said four out of five regions in the state, including the Greater Sacramento Region, are on track to hit that threshold early this month. The fifth region, the Bay Area, is on track to meet that threshold by the middle of the month.
    [5 regions]

    • Greater Sacramento: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba
    • San Joaquin Valley: Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne
    • Northern California: Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity
    • Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma
    • Southern California: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura

    In regions where intensive care unit capacity falls below the threshold, the new stay-at-home order will bar nonessential gatherings and require people to stay at home as much as possible to avoid transmitting the virus. It will allow people to continue with essential activities like going to the doctor, buying groceries and picking up takeout. It also allows distanced outdoor exercise, like hiking, and outdoor religious ceremonies.

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article247546405.html#storylink=cpy

    Heard our county infection rate is around 10% of all tests. IIRC that’s almost an order of magnitude higher than early fall.

  69. 69.

    debbie

    December 3, 2020 at 5:28 pm

    NPR ran a report on the RWNJ rush to Parler. It sounds like it will be a real pool of insanity. I hope those non-existent agencies keep an eye on the goings-on.

  70. 70.

    Kent

    December 3, 2020 at 5:28 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:I would love for the country to be in a situation where I felt safe enough to spend all my time sniping at Joe Biden from the left. But I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.

    In politics you are either on offense or defense.  For every moment of the last 4 years we have been on defense.  On immigration, environmental affairs, judges, taxes, health care.  On every damn issue under the sun, 100% of our energy has been to simply prevent backsliding from the Obama era.

    It will be an enormous enormous relief to finally be on offense.  Biden and the Dems aren’t going to win nearly every battle.  But every single win will push some metric further in the right direction.  Every single one.

    As for the sniping from the left?  Sure, hold the Biden Administration’s feet to the fire.  That’s what they actually want because it give them cover.  But the performative lefty grievance bullshit is useless.

    But it will be good to finally be on offense for a change.  Just never forget that the fucking Orcs are always right outside the door.

  71. 71.

    rikyrah

    December 3, 2020 at 5:28 pm

    @Edmund Dantes: 

    Man. A lot of these reads like “trump was the problem, glad that’s all solved”.

    I hope people understand (mostly DC elite I worry the most about) Trump is only a symptom of a much more broken party that will continue to do damage long after he is gone.

    That’s what they wish. They are just glossing over the crazies that we’re seeing all over the place who are now threatening GOPers that they deem ‘ traitors’- look at Georgia.
    They don’t have an explanation for it.

    We still have the horror of the GOP who is blocking everything. They were fine with the intransigence of the GOP, as long as it was wrapped up in packages like Moscow Mitch. Remember all the Villagers who assured us that Bill Barr was Old School GOP, and thus a grownup?

    They don’t want to admit that the deplorables that they have spent 4 years trying to normalize, while we don’t buy it….are, in fact, phucking deplorable.

  72. 72.

    Mo MacArbie

    December 3, 2020 at 5:29 pm

    @Spanky: Heidi Stirrup? Her name is Heidi Stirrup? Freakin’ writers on this show. Fake names!

  73. 73.

    Mary G

    December 3, 2020 at 5:30 pm

    Referencing the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory at a meeting with Sen. Mitch McConnell and other aides, President Trump said QAnon consists of people who “basically believe in good government,” which led to silence in the room, a source saidhttps://t.co/AUzQfWor8x— CNN (@CNN) December 3, 2020

  74. 74.

    Ken

    December 3, 2020 at 5:30 pm

    @Brachiator: Fourth Circle is another exercise: greedy sinners roll giant balls at one another.  Probably as close to golf as anything in hell.

  75. 75.

    debbie

    December 3, 2020 at 5:30 pm

    @trollhattan:

    While my county has just gone from purple to red (a small but good thing), my state is now on its own quarantine list. States on this list require a 2-week quarantine upon return home. I can’t figure out how this will work.

  76. 76.

    Kent

    December 3, 2020 at 5:30 pm

    @debbie:NPR ran a report on the RWNJ rush to Parler. It sounds like it will be a real pool of insanity. I hope those non-existent agencies keep an eye on the goings-on.

    From what I read somewhere, the online porn hubs are all flooding into Parler as well.  Nothing like a new internet wild west upon which to stake a claim!  Plus, they know their market.  It’s probably largely pasty white conservative incel types full of fury and flop sweat who are flooding to Parler in the first place.

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    @debbie

    Lemmings. Cliff. ’nuff said.

    (Yes, I know it’s not quite like that in real life animal world. Snarktistic license.)

  78. 78.

    Kent

    December 3, 2020 at 5:37 pm

    @rikyrah: We still have the horror of the GOP who is blocking everything. They were fine with the intransigence of the GOP, as long as it was wrapped up in packages like Moscow Mitch. Remember all the Villagers who assured us that Bill Barr was Old School GOP, and thus a grownup?

    Biden needs to play hardass just like Trump.  Fuck with Kentucky if he has to.  Redeploy the 101st Airborne out of Fort Cambell to a blue state and shut the damn place down.  That will cost Kentucky a billion or so dollars. Convince the Europeans to leave the massive tariffs on Bourbon when they negotiate the rest of them down.  Stuff like that.    That’s what Trump would do.

  79. 79.

    KSinMA

    December 3, 2020 at 5:37 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: That story–and the list of jobs that woman has held–is hair-raising.

  80. 80.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 5:37 pm

    @Kent

    the online porn hubs are all flooding into Parler

    “My god, it’s full of stars tissue and socks ads!”

    //

  81. 81.

    JMG

    December 3, 2020 at 5:38 pm

    @Kent: Some Parler users have returned to Twitter complaining it was no fun being on a site where everyone agreed with them. Translation: They couldn’t be trolls anymore.

  82. 82.

    Brachiator

    December 3, 2020 at 5:39 pm

    people are transitioning from bad election tweets to just generally bad opinions and i feel like we are already mending and it’s not even january 20th. upward and onward.

    We are getting close to the endgame. California should be the last state to certify votes on December 11. Then, unless Trump finds a way to drag this out further…

    The Electoral College Votes will be cast and counted on 14 December, which must then be delivered to Vice President Mike Pence, in his capacity as Senate president, by 23 December. When the new Congress is sworn in on 6 January 2021 one of their first tasks will be to officially count the vote and Pence will declare the winner

    I am looking forward to another Trump freakout on December 14.

  83. 83.

    Matt McIrvin

    December 3, 2020 at 5:40 pm

    @Kent:

    It will be an enormous enormous relief to finally be on offense.

    We’re not going to be on offense. The last time the Democrats were really on offense was about 1965. Before I was born. Vietnam + the Southern Strategy ended that.

  84. 84.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 5:41 pm

    @Kent

    That’s what Trump would do.

    A more cogent argument against doing something would be a Herculean task to craft.

  85. 85.

    West of the Rockies

    December 3, 2020 at 5:41 pm

    So this may be a meh kind of observation, but it strikes me that the Trump GOP is sort of like the old TV show Dallas. Trump is JR. As far as I recall, no one really liked JR Ewing (except maybe men who wanted power
    money, and to constantly cheat on a beautiful wife). JR was vile and corrupt but people tuned in. Eventually the revolving cast and repetitive conflicts wore thin, I guess. One hopes that this Trump episode will soon collapse under it’s own diseased weight.

  86. 86.

    Roger Moore

    December 3, 2020 at 5:42 pm

    One of the things I find most obvious is how much Twitter itself has changed since the election.  I think I’ve seen more non-political hashtag games and funny chain tweets in the past month than I did in the previous 4 years.  Maybe that’s just me being overly sensitive, but it sure feels as if Twitter especially has been twisted by Trump’s presence, and his suddenly diminished importance is being felt most acutely there.

  87. 87.

    m.j.

    December 3, 2020 at 5:44 pm

    No one does interviews like the BBC.

    It was interesting to hear Gabriel Sterling say that no one else had bothered to ask him if he had voted for Trump.

  88. 88.

    Kent

    December 3, 2020 at 5:46 pm

    @NotMax:

    @Kent

    That’s what Trump would do.

    A more cogent argument against doing something would be a Herculean task to craft.

    I didn’t make the rules, the GOP did.

  89. 89.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    December 3, 2020 at 5:48 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building

    Die Kommissarin is no longer back in town.

  90. 90.

    Cacti

    December 3, 2020 at 5:48 pm

    Really?

    I don’t feel like we’re mending at all.

    Covid deaths are topping 3,000 per day, a widely available vaccine is still months away, and the right wing of this country has fully embraced fascism. It’s great that Trump lost, but I don’t see calm seas ahead in the coming months.

  91. 91.

    oatler.

    December 3, 2020 at 5:48 pm

    @JustRuss:&nbsp
    “Eating pool food!” -Lucille Bluth

  92. 92.

    opiejeanne

    December 3, 2020 at 5:48 pm

    @Mary G: I just saw an ad during Nicole Wallace’s show for “Save the Children”. They showed pictures of starving and sick kids in Africa, but isn’t that the name of Q-Anon’s phony charity?

    “…Save the Children — a century-old, London-based humanitarian organization that aided 144 million children worldwide last year with a mission of ensuring kids grow up healthy, educated and safe — found its trademarked name coopted on social media. The charity has repeatedly said it is not associated with the SavetheChildren hashtag used to spread conspiracy theories….”

  93. 93.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    December 3, 2020 at 5:49 pm

    @Spanky: There’s Secret, Top Secret, and then Stuff That Lawyers Consider Confidential.

    On my last job I dealt with both classified and legally-sensitive stuff, and the precautions they took with the legal stuff were WAAY beyond the merely-classified stuff. Classified stuff they threaten you with firing or jail if you spill it. With the legal stuff the main threat was, “would you like to end up on the witness stand in a lawsuit?”

  94. 94.

    Frank Wilhoit

    December 3, 2020 at 5:49 pm

    @Ksmiami: No, it is exact and perfect conservatism. Forget everything you ever read about the published tradition of conservative pseudophilosophy; all that is now tl;dr . The only thing that can be conserved is privilege and the only way to conserve it is by violence. Reagan’s people were in it for the headbreaking(*) and nothing has changed since 1980.

    (*) …apart from the few who were in it for the opportunities to steal; probably fewer then than now, as there are now somewhat more opportunities — but also more gatekeepers.

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    December 3, 2020 at 5:50 pm

    @gene108: The “tea party” people are still here. In Virginia they call themelves “constitutional conservatives” now. It’s a real civil war in the Virginia republican party, and right now the more traditional chamber of commerce types who used to call the shots are losing to an alliance of “constitutional conservatives” and Christian dominionists. My guess is that the radicals will walk away after getting thrashed by the Democrats a few cycles. Then the chamber of commerce types will reclaim a hollowed out Republican party.

  96. 96.

    Roger Moore

    December 3, 2020 at 5:50 pm

    @Bill Arnold:

    The thing about Republican attempts to steal the election is that they’re done in broad daylight in the form of disenfranchisement and voter suppression.  Those have been successful enough that they haven’t necessarily had to resort to outright ballot box stuffing.  That said, effective ballot box stuffing wouldn’t show up as a difference in a hand recount, since the hand recount would wind up counting the same ballots.

  97. 97.

    Frank Wilhoit

    December 3, 2020 at 5:51 pm

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: The Republican Party destroyed America in 1980.  Structures so large take a long time to fall.  As for what is next, see Rwanda.

  98. 98.

    Kent

    December 3, 2020 at 5:51 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:We’re not going to be on offense. The last time the Democrats were really on offense was about 1965. Before I was born. Vietnam + the Southern Strategy ended that.

    Of course we will be on offense on many policy fronts.

    Take climate change, for example.  Every fight for the past four years has been trying to limit the damage done by Trump.  I fully expect Biden to wield the considerable power of the executive branch to push the needle back as far as in can go in the other direction.  We won’t win every battle, but we will win some of them starting with rejoining the Paris Accords, revamping some form of Obama’s Clean Power plan and re-imposing mileage requirements on cars and trucks.

    Health care is another area for offense.  Instead of undermining the ACA I expect the Biden Administration to put considerable effort into improving it.  They may not get any legislation through, but there is a lot more that can be done, starting by reining in a lot of the obnoxious stuff states red are doing with Medicaid

    Civil rights and racial justice is another area of offense.  The DOJ wields tremendous power.  I expect them to start investigating police violence once again, rather than aiding and abetting it.

  99. 99.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 3, 2020 at 5:52 pm

    Sidney Powell released the Kraken. And it turns out the mythological sea beast can't spell, is terrible at geography and keeps mislabeling plaintiffs in court.https://t.co/geBzjaoid2— POLITICO (@politico) December 3, 2020

  100. 100.

    Mary G

    December 3, 2020 at 5:52 pm

    Covid numbers are fucking awful today – WaPo is already at 203,264 new cases, a new record. Deaths 2,555.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 5:55 pm

    @Kent

    If we’d sought a continuation of Trumpism then we’d have voted for the real thing.

    The ‘rules’ are not etched in carbonite. Adopting, obeying and following the GOP playbook is neither democratic nor Democratic.

  102. 102.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    December 3, 2020 at 5:57 pm

    @Kent: Take climate change, for example. Every fight for the past four years has been trying to limit the damage done by Trump. I fully expect Biden to wield the considerable power of the executive branch to push the needle back as far as in can go in the other direction.

    We have a new Special Envoy for Climate (John Kerry). That’s a pretty good start.

  103. 103.

    theturtlemoves

    December 3, 2020 at 5:57 pm

    @PJ: I’m a prog rock fan myself.  And I work in IT for one of the hated giants of the industry.  And yet I have managed to not become a libertarian. I will not dispute, however, that both tech conferences and Rush concerts can be hotbeds of libertarian douche-bros.

  104. 104.

    Kent

    December 3, 2020 at 5:59 pm

    @NotMax:

    @Kent

    If we’d sought a continuation of Trumpism then we’d have voted for the real thing.

    The ‘rules’ are not etched in carbonite. Adopting, obeying and following the GOP playbook is neither democratic nor Democratic.

    Nothing about the Senate is Democratic or democratic.  How do you propose convincing Mitch of anything, short of bringing down pain on Kentucky and every one of Mitch’s financial supporters?

    I mean yes, winning the Senate would have been great.  But I’m not hopeful of that after the damn Maine fiasco and the guy in NC who couldn’t keep his pants zipped.

    I’m not saying be Trump.  I’m saying that he pushed the limits of executive power and the GOP and courts were fine with with it.   Or do those rules only apply to GOP presidents?

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 6:01 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Place your bets now on how many days until the MSM begins routinely referring to him as Climate Czar.

  106. 106.

    Fair Economist

    December 3, 2020 at 6:02 pm

    @Bill Arnold:

    The oh-so-curious thing about the mainstream election fraud conspiracies involving rigging is that they just as easily explain why polls were so wrong in battleground states; perhaps the election was rigged for Trump (and in 2016 too, and 2018 in Florida! :-), just not quite enough to overcome the larger than expected Democratic turnout.
    Since what hand-recounts there were found nothing, it’s (probably) bullshit, to be clear. It’s just that the theory is a retread of election fraud conspiracy theories promoted by Democrats to explain weird Republican wins. But Republican conspiracy theories live forever. We still hear Bircher theories, and about the 1960 election and voting by the dead.

    Paper ballot and their counting have proved secure, but there are still electronic voting machines where the votes can’t be verified. Those need to go.

  107. 107.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    December 3, 2020 at 6:03 pm

    I’m sick and tired of people describing Dump as a lame duck – that’s an insult to ducks.

    To be more accurate, this is the Führer Bunker period.

  108. 108.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    December 3, 2020 at 6:04 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Typing with tentacles is HARD. Also, the dry, cold air really messes up my sense of direction. If only the NHL season would get started, I could hit Seattle for my new gig, but I’m stuck with this gawdawful temp job while Bettman and the owners sort it out with the NHLPA.
    signed/
    KRAKEN

  109. 109.

    Luciamia

    December 3, 2020 at 6:04 pm

    @West of the Rockies: Noone on the show liked him, but he was presented to the tv audience as this lovable rogue. And God help us, that’s how a lot of his base still sees him.

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 6:06 pm

    @Kent

    We could go back and forth on this for hours, days, weeks. Better to agree to disagree on this, methinks.

  111. 111.

    Fair Economist

    December 3, 2020 at 6:06 pm

    @Mary G: I think those numbers are from yesterday. Worldometer had 206,000 cases yesterday (the numbers are always somewhat different; I’ve never bothered to reconcile). Today Worldometer is still “only” 178,000 and it updates pretty fast, so I doubt the numbers for *today* are to 203,000 by anybody’s count.

    But, yeah, really bad, and the Thanksgiving cases and their subsequent chains are just starting.

  112. 112.

    danielx

    December 3, 2020 at 6:06 pm

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    But no Russian artillery fire. So far.

  113. 113.

    PJ

    December 3, 2020 at 6:07 pm

    @Ken: Every business or organization of any size, military or not, had a politruk.

  114. 114.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    December 3, 2020 at 6:08 pm

    @m.j.:  England prevails

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    December 3, 2020 at 6:10 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    They wanted him to win, because they are delusional, probably not as delusional as he is, and because they think they want the same things he does, but they are wrong. What shitforbrains wants is to be the person he’s always thought he is, wealthy, above the law, and liked by everyone. So as usual, he’s batting zero.

  116. 116.

    debbie

    December 3, 2020 at 6:10 pm

    @Luciamia:

    Trump has never been presented anywhere as a lovable rogue. Rogue, yes, lovable, never.

  117. 117.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 3, 2020 at 6:10 pm

    @Edmund Dantes: I hope people understand (mostly DC elite I worry the most about) Trump is only a symptom of a much more broken party population that will continue to do damage long after he is gone.

    FTFY. When ~40% of the electorate is prepared, even eager, to believe, in the face of all rational testimony and the utter lack of evidence, that the election was rigged against their beloved Shitgibbon, we have a problem that goes waaaaay deeper than one political party.

  118. 118.

    Ruckus

    December 3, 2020 at 6:10 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    They wanted him to win, because they are delusional, probably not as delusional as he is, and because they think they want the same things he does, but they are wrong. What shitforbrains wants is to be the person he’s always thought he is, wealthy, above the law, and liked by everyone. So as usual, he’s batting zero.

  119. 119.

    Lyrebird

    December 3, 2020 at 6:10 pm

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Totally agreed.

    Since I spent a few years living near the Pentagon, I take some comfort in the traitors having turned VA so blue.

  120. 120.

    Dan B

    December 3, 2020 at 6:11 pm

    @Kent: Reminds me of the phenomenon that occurs every GOP Convention.  Hustlers and prostitutes arrive in great numbers just before the speeches and workshops decrying the moral decay in the USA and proposing new methods of arresting our way to purity.

    Now it’s online on Parker.  Like the anti-gay Fidesz rep caught with ecstasy at an all male orgy in Brussels.

  121. 121.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 6:12 pm

    @PJ:

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Weigel was/is a libertarian Ron Paul fan who became a Bernie Bro.  As you say, his reporting is generally solid but his personal opinions tend to be terrible. He is also a huge prog rock fan, which kind of goes without saying with the libertarian stuff.

    I’m a huge prog rock fan, (eg Rush, Porcupine Tree, etc) the new generation of prog rockers are not libertarians. Most of Rush’s music is humanistic and nothing to do with Ayn Rand other than 2112. Just sayin.

    Now the classic big hair bands are all conservative (no shit,given their misogynistic videos, behavior, and sometimes music) – I would put Metallica as your libertarian standard right there.

  122. 122.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 3, 2020 at 6:14 pm

    We just had the covid equivalent of another 9/11 yesterday, and the guy who's fighting tooth and nail to stay in office hasn't said a word about it.That's disgraceful.— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) December 3, 2020

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    December 3, 2020 at 6:14 pm

    @geg6:

    Evil azz demons.

  124. 124.

    PJ

    December 3, 2020 at 6:14 pm

    @PJ: It is interesting to see how the Republicans ended up adopting so many Communist practices.  I guess if you are going to be anti-democratic and authoritarian, best to go with the proven methods.

  125. 125.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 6:14 pm

    @debbie

    Overheard chez Kushner:

    “Look, grandpa presented you with a bill for the time he spent visiting. Isn’t that adorable? Say ‘thank you very much, sir.’ Now run and get your piggy bank.”

  126. 126.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 6:14 pm

    @Jeffro: Sooner or later, a Hawley or a Haley has to ask the GOP base, “while we thank trumpov for showing us the way, standing tall, etc etc…are we ready to move on?”

    The problem for them is that they can’t be the odorous asshat that Trump is – outward projecting racism for the masses. Can you imagine Haley trying to do that? It’s not what she is.

  127. 127.

    rikyrah

    December 3, 2020 at 6:14 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    And, yet, we’re supposed to trust anything that comes out of this Administration?

     

    Phuck.Outta.Here.

  128. 128.

    rikyrah

    December 3, 2020 at 6:15 pm

    @Jeffro:

     

    There’s a whole crop of ambitious GOP pols like Hawley, Rubio, Haley, Crenshaw, and worse and they’re already having to deal with the push-pull of accepting reality (like election results) or backing trumpov.  trumpov WILL make it into a loyalty test and WILL actively and publicly go after anyone who tries to move on.

     

    See, you see it too. I don’t see how they can put aside their own savage ambitions to placate Dolt45.

  129. 129.

    Kent

    December 3, 2020 at 6:16 pm

    @NotMax:

    @Kent

    We could go back and forth on this for hours, days, weeks. Better to agree to disagree on this, methinks.

    I’m sure.

    I just hate the learned helplessness and unilateral disarmament that some Dems want to revert to simply because Mitch is a meanie.

    Just like I’m sick to death of having to bend over backwards because rural white “Christian” folks might get offended about something.

    The GOP never gives an inch. Ever.  I’m not sure why we need to do it unilaterally because of “norms” that no one else follows and that they will abandon again in a nanosecond once they regain power.

  130. 130.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 6:18 pm

    @Kent:

    It would not surprise me that porn operators are conservatives and would vote conservative.

  131. 131.

    Captain C

    December 3, 2020 at 6:18 pm

    @Ken: I would go with stukach, perhaps.

  132. 132.

    Ruckus

    December 3, 2020 at 6:19 pm

    @Cameron:

    The devil makes you play golf, especially if you are as bad as shitforbrains is. It’s actually the penalty for being such a shitty person. But you never have a decent shot, can’t putt worth a damn, and all the caddies spit on your balls and club grips, just to insure you can’t play well and are always dropping balls and the club always slips. Makes it even more fun….

  133. 133.

    Kent

    December 3, 2020 at 6:20 pm

    @Jeffro:There’s a whole crop of ambitious GOP pols like Hawley, Rubio, Haley, Crenshaw, and worse and they’re already having to deal with the push-pull of accepting reality (like election results) or backing trumpov.  trumpov WILL make it into a loyalty test and WILL actively and publicly go after anyone who tries to move on.

    They should have ripped off the band-aid on November 4th and moved on from Trump.   Every day they let this fiasco continue just strengthens Trump’s hand in 2021 and beyond.

    But fuck them.  It’s their party.  They made their bed.

  134. 134.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 6:21 pm

    @cain

    Primary objective is market – um, er, uh – penetration.

    ;)

  135. 135.

    theturtlemoves

    December 3, 2020 at 6:22 pm

    @cain: You are my brother, sir.  The Porcupine Tree reference sealed it.  And Metallica has just turned into metal for conservatives who want to appear edgy at this point.  And yeah, while Neil dabbled in Ayn Rand in the 70s, he did grow out of it.

  136. 136.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 6:23 pm

    @theturtlemoves:

    @PJ: I’m a prog rock fan myself.  And I work in IT for one of the hated giants of the industry.  And yet I have managed to not become a libertarian. I will not dispute, however, that both tech conferences and Rush concerts can be hotbeds of libertarian douche-bros.

    yeah, but those douche-bros only like old Rush (eg the first 4 albums) – I think the interesting bit is that everything is always open to interpretation on the lyrics. But it’s hard to say “libertarian” with songs like ‘Animate” which talk about how men ceding power to women.

  137. 137.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 6:23 pm

    @Ruckus

    The greens and the balls are covered in Velcro.

    :)

  138. 138.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 3, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    @Kent: Not sure if copying Trump and being divisive is a good way to be a President. Biden can play hardball by expanding the courts and passing substantive legislation if we win the two runoffs in Georgia. Fixing the ACA is hardball to the max. Ditto fixing the Voting Rights Act and DACA.

  139. 139.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 6:25 pm

    @Kent: Nothing about the Senate is Democratic or democratic. How do you propose convincing Mitch of anything, short of bringing down pain on Kentucky and every one of Mitch’s financial supporters?

    I think it’s interesting to play that kind of hardball – certainly it would be an interesting threat to use against McConnell – but we are not good at messaging and absolutely our own side in the Senate and the House will start making noises.

    We are a very squishy mess.

  140. 140.

    Just One More Canuck

    December 3, 2020 at 6:25 pm

    @Bill Arnold: goth baby bird

  141. 141.

    The Thin Black Duke

    December 3, 2020 at 6:26 pm

    @Kent: I have a feeling that Kamala won’t be shy about kicking Republicans in the junk.

  142. 142.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 6:30 pm

    @theturtlemoves:

    If forgot to add Dream Theater, Opeth, and a host of others – none of them talk about anything related to libertarian values – all humanitarian or just telling good stories.

    BTW clockwork angels seems like an entire essay on Trump’s America. I would say the Clockmaker is definitely Trump.

    Losing Neil this year was such a loss. :/ Fuck 2020.

  143. 143.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 3, 2020 at 6:31 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: The problem with sniping from the left is that it will lead to Democratic voters staying home in the midterms and turning Congress over to the Republicans.  We’ve already seen that movie in the Obama years.

  144. 144.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 3, 2020 at 6:32 pm

    @Ken: Doesn’t Russian have a single word for that? Chekist, maybe?

    Bunch of slang words for the security apparati. One that comes to mind is gehbist, a State Security person, from the Г (“geh”) and Б (“beh”) in КГБ, Комитет государственной безопасности (KGB: Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, Committee for State Security). Pronounced “gay beast”…

  145. 145.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 3, 2020 at 6:32 pm

    @Bruce K in ATH(GR):

    so you’ve just got to wait and endure until then.

    But now you know it’s not terminal.

  146. 146.

    Baud

    December 3, 2020 at 6:33 pm

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    If they charged, they could pay down the debt.

  147. 147.

    Glidwrith

    December 3, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    @Bruce K in ATH(GR): This whole lame-duck period is like … well, imagine you’ve been diagnosed with something that requires surgery, and you know that once it’s done you’ll be better, but there isn’t an open operating room ready yet, so you’ve just got to wait and endure until then.

    You’ve just described pregnancy

  148. 148.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 6:36 pm

    If you ever wondered about how the song Spoonful of Sugar came to be well here’s your answer.

    When I was a kid we got the polio vaccine. My dad, working on Mary Poppins, asked how my day was. I told him about the vaccine. “Didn’t it hurt? I said they put it on a sugar cube and you ate it. He called my uncle Dick and the next day they wrote “A Spoonful of Sugar.” (1 of 2)

  149. 149.

    Dan B

    December 3, 2020 at 6:38 pm

    @NotMax: I feel that Gov Bevin would be blamed for any hardship in KY.  Perhaps investigating Mrs. McConnell via a probe of Chinese oligarchs.  Even that is tricky because China has ways to retaliate strategically.  First we need to root out the Trumpist plants in our institutions so they can’t assist in torpedoing our efforts to hamstring McConnell.  It’s hard to play hardball when you’re being attacked from the outside and undermined from inside.

    Maybe after getting the Federal government back in order we can threaten to investigate and ramp it up to prosecute and then possibly retaliate.

  150. 150.

    sab

    December 3, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: So extremely anachronistic. Kind of like the huge American thrush robins in London

    ETA English robins are cute and tiny. Same red breast, but they look like wrens.

  151. 151.

    West of the Rockies

    December 3, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    @Kent: 

    Why do we Dems keep playing by the rules? I’m sure you know this. We have basic integrity and honor. We are Gryffindor and Republicans are Slytherin.

  152. 152.

    Matt McIrvin

    December 3, 2020 at 6:42 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: I remember that by the time I got the polio vaccine, it was a liquid oral solution. Apparently these days they use an injected vaccine, inactivated virus instead of weakened virus.

  153. 153.

    West of the Rockies

    December 3, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    @theturtlemoves:

    Any love for King Crimson?

  154. 154.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I remember the sugar cube vaccine and I remember getting vaccines in elementary school with the whole class.

  155. 155.

    Dan B

    December 3, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    @NotMax: With Cholla, scorpions, murder Hornets, and Iguanas on the fairways.

    For starters.  The water hazards have their own hazards.  Did I mention Sand Worms in the sand traps?

  156. 156.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 6:47 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    I associate “chekist” with Tito’s Yugoslavia.

  157. 157.

    debbie

    December 3, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    @rikyrah:

    You’re far too kind.

  158. 158.

    debbie

    December 3, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    @NotMax:

    “And don’t forget I get half.”

  159. 159.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 3, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    Shhhh. Don’t tell Trump that Blacks live in the suburbs. He thinks we all live in the inner cities. **rolls eyes**

    One reason turnout in heavily Black central city precincts didn't look all that impressive: tons of Black voters (Atlanta, Philly, Detroit, etc.) have moved to the suburbs since Obama was last on the ballot. https://t.co/A0ztw8sbSe— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) December 3, 2020

  160. 160.

    Dan B

    December 3, 2020 at 6:49 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: So true!  A flanking assault that rallies our base is a vastly superior strategy.

  161. 161.

    Baud

    December 3, 2020 at 6:49 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    We need them to move to Wyoming.

  162. 162.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 3, 2020 at 6:50 pm

    @geg6: So they had this information but held it back. Why?  Evil pricks.

  163. 163.

    rikyrah

    December 3, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    ???

    SCOOP: Donald Trump Jr. and his tight-knit team have been pondering taking control of the NRA, Trump advisors told Insider. by @tomlobianco ($) @Politicsinsider https://t.co/GJ2a0a9RKz— Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) December 3, 2020

  164. 164.

    debbie

    December 3, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I remember getting the polio vaccine. My doctor used a dropper to place several drops on my tongue. I remember my disappointment at not getting the sugar cube.

  165. 165.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 6:52 pm

    Blaire Erskine asks if you all can please stop making fun of her grandma, Heidi Stirrup.

  166. 166.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 3, 2020 at 6:53 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Biden can play hardball by expanding the courts and passing substantive legislation if we win the two runoffs in Georgia. Fixing the ACA is hardball to the max. Ditto fixing the Voting Rights Act and DACA.

    In the best case scenario, if we take both seats in GA, Biden can play as hard as Joe Manchin and Angus King will play, and I think both are on record as opposing court expansion. I think the other three issues you mention would actually be easier in terms of getting to fifty. I’m actually cautiously optimistic on voting rights even if MM is still majority leader.

  167. 167.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 6:56 pm

    @debbie:

    One thing I know about anti-vaxxers is that none of them served in the military. During the intake medical process you are stood in line with the sleeves of your t-shirt rolled up over your shoulders. You then walk down the hallway and get stuck with a series of vaccines in both arms.

  168. 168.

    TS (the original)

    December 3, 2020 at 6:57 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I am feeling very old. When I got the polio vaccine – it was three injections. In a rural school – we all lined up in the paddock  that was the school playground & stood in mortal fear as to what was going to happen.

    Then we found out we had to do it again … and again.

  169. 169.

    Dan B

    December 3, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: We got the shot – Salk, and then the sugar cube – Sabin.  If I’d been the kid the song might have been “The sugar beats the hell outa the stab!”

  170. 170.

    Jeffro

    December 3, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    @rikyrah: yet another reason the GOP is going to have it out with the trumpov family: the latter is going to try and keep the grift going no matter what (whether via the NRA, RNC, or other GOP-leaning organizations).

    SOMEone’s going to have to call them out, or they’ll never stop.  Your move, Republicans!

  171. 171.

    germy

    December 3, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    Lin Wood and Sidney Powell are totally destructive. Every Georgia conservative who cares about America MUST vote in the runoff. Their dont vote strategy will cripple America

    — Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) December 3, 2020

    I know, man. Totally agree. Whichever political group that encouraged this for years must be real fucking stupid https://t.co/W5xSrkaIl9

    — Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) December 3, 2020

  172. 172.

    Roger Moore

    December 3, 2020 at 7:00 pm

    @cain:

    Now the classic big hair bands are all conservative

    With the notable exception of Woke Axl Rose.  Who knew?

  173. 173.

    Brachiator

    December 3, 2020 at 7:00 pm

    @West of the Rockies:

    Why do we Dems keep playing by the rules? I’m sure you know this. We have basic integrity and honor. We are Gryffindor and Republicans are Slytherin.

    Even a small degree of integrity is a burden. If the Democrats set up a propaganda channel like Fox News I would never watch it. If a Democratic president was as incompetent as Trump in handling the pandemic, I would never support him or her. The Republicans have only disdain for their base. Who needs that kind of bullshit?

  174. 174.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 7:03 pm

    Phillip Springer is now 94-years old and he’s the man who wrote Santa Baby. Here he is playing Moonlight Sonata.

  175. 175.

    KenK

    December 3, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    I love Kyle Griffin’s tweet:

    “Trump is not expected to attend Biden’s inauguration. He also does not plan to invite Biden to the White House or even call him. Biden officials said Trump won’t affect their plans, regardless of what he does.” https://nbcnews.to/3lr3Bon

    Biden: You do what you gotta do… I’ve got a country to rum.

  176. 176.

    Yarrow

    December 3, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    @Jeffro:  The Republican party is the party of Trump now. Republicans who can’t see that are going to be tossed aside. You either get on the Trump train or get run over.

  177. 177.

    Roger Moore

    December 3, 2020 at 7:07 pm

    @Dan B: 
    The biggest thing is that you’re in a foursome with other people who are in Hell for the same things you’re there for.

  178. 178.

    R. Jamie Langa

    December 3, 2020 at 7:07 pm

    So when are the self-promotion open threads for mystery authors? I finally self-published mine, and I’d like to promote it, if that’s okay.

    (I am a semi-regular here at Balloon Juice; “R. Jamie Langa” is my pen name.)

  179. 179.

    Dan B

    December 3, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    @Brachiator: There are means of mass communication that get eyeballs and have integrity.  It just takes well reimbursed staff that inspires and leverages volunteer journalists and trains people to be effective on media platforms, you know, like Think Tanks, Fox, etc.  But with integrity and transparency.

  180. 180.

    Roger Moore

    December 3, 2020 at 7:10 pm

    @rikyrah:

    SCOOP: Donald Trump Jr. and his tight-knit team have been pondering taking control of the NRA, Trump advisors told Insider.

    Good luck with that, Jr. Even if he manages to wrest control from LaPierre- which I sincerely doubt- he’d be taking over a group that’s cash flow negative and facing major legal problems.  He knows less about business than his dad, which is saying something.

  181. 181.

    Jeffro

    December 3, 2020 at 7:11 pm

    @Roger Moore: I think even Sebastian Bach got in on that.

    Then again, he always did follow Axl’s lead  ;)

  182. 182.

    West of the Rockies

    December 3, 2020 at 7:11 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: 

    I just do not understand how a Manchin (or McConnell or Feinstein) can cling so, so desperately to power. Joe M. is 73. He won’t run again until he’s 75, I think. How much is he worth? How much more power and cash does he need? Can’t he just do the right thing and let the next election shake out how it must? I am constitutionally unable to grasp the need for power after a certain age. Aren’t Feinstein and McConnell worth enough that they could just walk away and live their final short few years in comfort and tranquility?

    A younger politician making such calculations to retain power I understand, but after 70?

  183. 183.

    Geminid

    December 3, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) went on record this summer opposing an end to the filibister; it seems likely she would oppose expansion of the Supreme Court as well. And I bet there are other Democratic Senators who are reluctant to do this. But I don’t  see Sinema, King, or Manchin standing in the way of expanding the Federal Circuit and District Courts, which would be a very positive move.

  184. 184.

    germy

    December 3, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    Haven't conservatives noticed that the only ones caught committing voter fraud have been Republicans?

    — David Lazarus (@Davidlaz) December 3, 2020

  185. 185.

    Jeffro

    December 3, 2020 at 7:14 pm

    @Roger Moore: yeah but a) the NRA always does fine when there’s a Democratic president in office, and b) the trumpovs just need a veneer of an organization from which to fundraise/grift (preferably, in their view, one not named ‘trump’ – at least for a while)

  186. 186.

    WaterGirl

    December 3, 2020 at 7:15 pm

    @R. Jamie Langa: I should do that again soon.

    In the meantime, you can send me email with all your information and I can get you added.

    If you don’t know my email, check contact us up top for more information.

  187. 187.

    Roger Moore

    December 3, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    @West of the Rockies: 
    What kind of Senator do you expect WV to elect if Manchin retires? Here’s a hint: it’s not going to be a better Democrat than him.

  188. 188.

    Jeffro

    December 3, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    @West of the Rockies: Avoiding irrelevancy is a helluva drug

    (also, many of these way-older Senators are basically ‘run’ by their long time staffers, who in many ways are closer to the Senators than their own families.  Step down and all those folks are out of jobs)

  189. 189.

    mrmoshpotato

    December 3, 2020 at 7:18 pm

    @KenK:

    Biden: You do what you gotta do… I’ve got a country to rum. 

    Hot! Dog!  Plans to combat the virus, fix the economy, and here’s a case of spiced!

    Cheers President Biden!

  190. 190.

    coin operated

    December 3, 2020 at 7:19 pm

    @cain:

    If forgot to add Dream Theater, Opeth, and a host of others – none of them talk about anything related to libertarian values – all humanitarian or just telling good stories.

    <snip>

    Losing Neil this year was such a loss. :/ Fuck 2020.

    This.  Most of the prog out there is just that…progressive.  Glad to see others here with the same taste in music.

    And 2020 can go straight to hell for taking Neil

  191. 191.

    Yarrow

    December 3, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    This will really get under Trump’s skin. Heh.

    The Obamas are producing a Netflix comedy series about the ‘chaos’ that occurred when Trump came into power

    Barack and Michelle Obama are set to produce a new Netflix comedy series based on the “chaos”, which ensued when Donald Trump became US president in 2016.

    Called “The G Word,” the series is due to start filming in early 2021 and is based on Michael Lewis’ book “The Fifth Risk,” the rights to which the Obamas bought in 2018, according to Deadline.

    “The Fifth Risk” is a non-fiction book that examines “the Trump administration’s botched presidential transition,” as per Goodreads.

    “The G Word” is set to be part-documentary, part-sketch comedy. It will pull back the curtain on government, examining whether it is “a dirty word or a trusted institution,” according to Deadline.

  192. 192.

    Emma from FL

    December 3, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    @West of the Rockies: We need to recruit some Hufflepuffs. And before you mock, remember that the Hufflepuff mascot is a badger. To quote the author, he badger is “an animal that is often underestimated, because it lives quietly until attacked, but which, when provoked, can fight off animals much larger than itself, including wolves.”

  193. 193.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    The website is back to long delays in loading pages.

  194. 194.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    FYI. Raising the hammer in preparation of bringing it down.

    A federal watchdog agency has found “a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing” by Trump administration appointees who oversee the Voice of America and other U.S.-funded media outlets.

    The finding from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent government agency charged with safeguarding federal employees’ rights, marks the latest rebuke of Michael Pack, who President Donald Trump appointed to run the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the parent agency to VOA and other broadcasters.
    [snip]
    NBC News obtained one of the letters, which was signed by Karen Tanenbaum, an attorney in the retaliation and disclosure unit of the Office of Special Counsel.

    The long list of allegations from the whistleblowers includes accounts of Pack and his deputies violating the legal “firewall” meant to protect the editorial independence of VOA and the other media outlets under his agency, including Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The whistleblowers also alleged that Pack and other officials “illegally repurposed, and pressured career staff to illegally repurpose, congressionally appropriated funds and programs without notifying Congress,” and disrupted media operations and endangered the safety of foreign national employees by refusing to renew their U.S. visas, according to the letter. Source

  195. 195.

    mrmoshpotato

    December 3, 2020 at 7:23 pm

    @Yarrow:

    The Obamas are producing a Netflix comedy series about the ‘chaos’ that occurred when Trump came into power 

    Oh. Shit. :)

    Bring it!

  196. 196.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    December 3, 2020 at 7:24 pm

    @Yarrow: Meanwhile, Dump is set to produce a series of dumpster fires and bankruptcies.

  197. 197.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    @HumboldtBlue

    520 error popped up between clicking Post Comment and the page returning, maybe half an hour ago. Haven’t seen it again since.

  198. 198.

    burnspbesq

    December 3, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    It might be instructive to go back and look at how the Hungarian media treated Orban after he lost.

  199. 199.

    Geminid

    December 3, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    @West of the Rockies: Personally I hope Joe Manchin keeps clinging, because when he lets go another Josh Hawley will probably take his place.

  200. 200.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    @NotMax:

    I’m strongly suspecting it’s the number of tweets and links embedded in the post. They take a while to load, at least for me.

  201. 201.

    burnspbesq

    December 3, 2020 at 7:31 pm

    @Jeffro:

    1964, maybe?

    I’m just barely old enough to remember the 1964 Republican convention. It was wild.

  202. 202.

    Mike in NC

    December 3, 2020 at 7:35 pm

    @KenK:

    Biden: You do what you gotta do… I’ve got a country to rum.

    The past four malignant years have taken enough of a toll on my poor liver. In 2021, I hope to be imbibing a lot less rum and vodka.  Weed, on the other hand…

  203. 203.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    December 3, 2020 at 7:36 pm

    BREAKING: Biden’s national popular vote lead just surpassed 7 million (4.5%)…

    Biden 81,264,673 (51.3%)
    Trump 74,210,838 (46.9%)

    — Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) December 3, 2020

  204. 204.

    CaseyL

    December 3, 2020 at 7:38 pm

    @Roger Moore: That’s funny – what I heard is that Don Jr and Kimberley Guilfoyle want to dump Romney McDaniel and take over the RNC.  “They don’t want the ride to end,” is how the article put it.

    If I had my druthers, I’d druther they took over the RNC. I think turning that organization into a pure grift would hurt the GOP more than doing the same thing to the NRA.

  205. 205.

    germy

    December 3, 2020 at 7:40 pm

    The star witness in Trump's 'voter fraud' case only finished probation a few months ago for committing computer crime.

    Mellissa Carone was sentenced to 12 months of probation for the offense in September 2019, stemming from an incident in November 2018.https://t.co/FpND3C6rxC

    — Travis Akers (@travisakers) December 3, 2020

  206. 206.

    germy

    December 3, 2020 at 7:41 pm

    my very first thought watching the antics of Mellissa Carone in Michigan this week was whether she's an actor of some kind

    welp, here's her Acting/Modeling Profile for "Explore Talent" and whoa boy

    https://t.co/j46Z1L8LMV pic.twitter.com/RdzmoqlNH4

    — j.d. durkin (@jiveDurkey) December 3, 2020

  207. 207.

    Roger Moore

    December 3, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    @CaseyL:

    If I had my druthers, I’d druther they took over the RNC. I think turning that organization into a pure grift would hurt the GOP more than doing the same thing to the NRA.

    From the sounds of it, the NRA was already a pretty big grift; that’s the essence of the NY lawsuit against it.  I agree that turning the RNC into a grift would hurt the Republican Party, and it would also likely ensure a Trump would lead the ticket in 2024.

  208. 208.

    Brachiator

    December 3, 2020 at 7:43 pm

    The rats know that it’s time to scurry away from a sinking ship.

    White House communications director Alyssa Farah is resigning, a sign of acknowledgment among Trump administration officials, if not President Donald Trump himself, that Joe Biden’s incoming administration will soon take charge.

    Trump can wallow in his delusions, but other folks gotta put food on the table, gotta pay the rent.

  209. 209.

    theturtlemoves

    December 3, 2020 at 7:44 pm

    @coin operated: Yeah, I’m going to go out on a limb and assume Peter Gabriel is not a Tory.

  210. 210.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 3, 2020 at 7:47 pm

    @Geminid:

    But I don’t  see Sinema, King, or Manchin standing in the way of expanding the Federal Circuit and District Courts, which would be a very positive move.

    Yup, I think court reform has to grow from below, so to speak. It’s never gonna be, and never was gonna be, the “we’ll just name eleven more justices!” giddiness we were seeing in October

  211. 211.

    Geminid

    December 3, 2020 at 7:54 pm

    A poll of the two Georgia Senate runoff races was released today. Taken by SurveyUSA, commisioned by WXIA-TV, Atlanta. Results: Warnock 52%, Loeffler 46%; Ossoff 50%, Perdue 48%.

  212. 212.

    Keith P.

    December 3, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    @KenK: I’d like something like Biden saying “Whatever, but whatever shit of yours is here at noon on the 20th is going on the curb for trash pickup.”

  213. 213.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    Life pro tip: If you buy an advent calendar the day after Xmas it will count down to inauguration day.

    Jus’ sayin’.

  214. 214.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 3, 2020 at 7:56 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: She got confoozled by the labels in the freezer & thawed out the Turducken instead…:^p

  215. 215.

    Roger Moore

    December 3, 2020 at 7:56 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I think Supreme Court expansion is going to have to wait for the Court to make some egregious rulings.  Honestly, though, I think half the purpose of the “expand the Supreme Court” talk was to try to scare Roberts and maybe Gorsuch into putting their worst impulses on the back burner.

  216. 216.

    Booger

    December 3, 2020 at 7:56 pm

    @Geminid: Those are the plump white goobers who squeal that anything that comes out of Richmond is ‘tyranny.’ Eff ’em. What has Campbell County done recently except suck down tax dollars from NoVa?

  217. 217.

    Roger Moore

    December 3, 2020 at 7:58 pm

    @Keith P.:

    I’m worried in the opposite direction, that when Biden gets there the whole place will have been stripped to the plaster.

  218. 218.

    Yarrow

    December 3, 2020 at 7:59 pm

    @Geminid:  After the last couple of elections I want to see Dems up by 15 points in a poll before I start to breathe a little easier. Still, better than the other way around.

  219. 219.

    Booger

    December 3, 2020 at 7:59 pm

    @theturtlemoves: And didn’t Neil Peart–the libertarian heart and soul of Rush–renounce his early views as naive and ill-informed?

  220. 220.

    Ksmiami

    December 3, 2020 at 8:00 pm

    @Frank Wilhoit: I guess I just don’t see the average rural Magat as privileged – racist, I’ll-educated yes but of a different milieu than a Romney or McCain- they’ve definitely latched onto a herrenvolk populism though

  221. 221.

    sab

    December 3, 2020 at 8:04 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: That is worth knowing.

  222. 222.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 3, 2020 at 8:05 pm

    @Roger Moore: I think changing the USSC makes people nervous, but I seem to recall Rhenquist appearing before the Senate and saying the federal judiciary was too small and overworked, and Roberts after him. Starting there could make the big ask seem smaller, but it’s a much longer term project than a lot of people had persuaded themselves. And even now, even after Kavanaugh and Barrett, the broad left doesn’t seem very engaged on the matter. Not since the early nineties. I don’t get it.

  223. 223.

    zhena gogolia

    December 3, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    @Geminid:

    Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease

  224. 224.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 3, 2020 at 8:07 pm

    @Roger Moore: Just send the Federal Marshals down to Mar a Lago and take back our stuff.

  225. 225.

    FlyingToaster

    December 3, 2020 at 8:08 pm

    @Cameron:

    @Chyron HR:

    I didn’t know they have golf in hell.

    I think it’s the only sport they have.

    All sports in Hell originated in Scotland.

    Golf.  Papingo.  Curling.  Caber Toss.  Sheaf Toss.  Maide-leisg.  Shinty.  Backhold.  Water Polo.

    I rest my case.

  226. 226.

    sab

    December 3, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: That is how my dad got hepatitis in Korea. One big syringe, so everyone in line behind the guy with hepatitis got it.

  227. 227.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    @Roger Moore: From the sounds of it, the NRA was already a pretty big grift; that’s the essence of the NY lawsuit against it. I agree that turning the RNC into a grift would hurt the Republican Party, and it would also likely ensure a Trump would lead the ticket in 2024.

    That will make a lot of Republican presidential aspirants quite unhappy. Bwahahaha.

    The devil has forced his way into the house, and he’s not leaving and bad shit is going to continue to happen. The Trump family taking over the party is going to end into an epic grift mess.

  228. 228.

    zhena gogolia

    December 3, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    Very nice Olive & Mabel:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bgn_3eHP-g

  229. 229.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 3, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Really? Hard to imagine why. The Russian Cheka was long gone before the Communist ascendancy there, and the various permutations of names for the secret police don’t seem to have any relation to it. (Source)

  230. 230.

    Geminid

    December 3, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    @Booger: Well, Campbell County did give us Congressman-elect Bob Good.

    I’m waiting to see Governor Northam send ABC agents to shut down Campbell County bars, and to watch those Liberty University Baptists stand up for the right to sell booze in their First Amendment Sanctuary County.

  231. 231.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 3, 2020 at 8:14 pm

    @debbie: I remember getting the Salk injection ca. 1956, & a couple of years later the Sabin sugar cube.

  232. 232.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    December 3, 2020 at 8:14 pm

    @Roger Moore: I’m sure Ivanka will be stripping the copper pipes

  233. 233.

    mrmoshpotato

    December 3, 2020 at 8:16 pm

    @cain:

    The Trump family taking over the party is going to end into an epic grift mess. 

    MWHAHAHAHAHAFuck ’em!

  234. 234.

    Delk

    December 3, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    Shocking news Jenna Ellis padded her resume.

  235. 235.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 3, 2020 at 8:21 pm

    @West of the Rockies: Manchin retires & his seat is 99.99% certain to be taken by a Republican.  Most of the WV Democratic Party is still trying to find the keys to let them out of the bunker where they’ve been cowering for the last 20 years.

    Joe has been a damn sight better Democrat than we have any right to expect from his benighted state & I guaranfuckingtee ya we will miss the bejeezus out of him when he’s gone.

  236. 236.

    Ken

    December 3, 2020 at 8:22 pm

    @germy: That explains how she came to Giuliani’s attention.

  237. 237.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 8:25 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Pretty sure it goes back to a WW2 movie I saw as a kid about partisans in Yugoslavia and ever since then I have connected the two.

    The Bond villain with the steel teeth was a bad guy chekist.

    @zhena gogolia:

    Those are brilliant.

  238. 238.

    mrmoshpotato

    December 3, 2020 at 8:26 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Just send the Federal Marshals down to Mar a Lago and take back our stuff. 

    And throw the Kremlin’s bitch out on the sidewalk.

  239. 239.

    debbie

    December 3, 2020 at 8:29 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    That could be why we haven’t seen Trump in the Oval Office. He’s tearing it down to take with him!

  240. 240.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 8:29 pm

    @Booger:

    @theturtlemoves: And didn’t Neil Peart–the libertarian heart and soul of Rush–renounce his early views as naive and ill-informed?

    I don’t think he was ever libertarian. I think he was an avid reader and found her book interesting and some of its ideas showed up in writing. 2112 wasn’t supposed to be Ayn Rand – but he ack’d it all the same since it did appear to be close enough.

    Regardless, Rush reached cult status and there will always be some kind of debate about them. But I appreciate the lyrics and the musical talent!

  241. 241.

    mrmoshpotato

    December 3, 2020 at 8:30 pm

    @Delk: Water is also wet, and it’s cold in the northern hemisphere now. :)

  242. 242.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 8:31 pm

    @sab:

    By my time they had figured out that using those injection shooter-taser-looking things.

    They are no longer used due to concerns about contamination.

  243. 243.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 8:32 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    This is where we need that 50 state strategy. They can at least find that key – they just need to get the right Democrats in position. They need a Beto.

  244. 244.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 8:33 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: The Bond villain with the steel teeth was a bad guy chekist.

    Hah, that was Jaws. It did end well for him – he found love with a young woman who had bracers. :D

  245. 245.

    Aleta

    December 3, 2020 at 8:33 pm

    Starting now: No Tears Suite: Live from New Orleans
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvryBzFiPfc&feature=youtu.be
    In partnership with the National Park Service, Oxford American is proud to premiere a full concert video of No Tears Suite, recorded live at Marigny Studios in New Orleans in November 2020. Performing the suite are composer/pianist Christopher Parker, lyricist/vocalist Kelley Hurt, percussionist Brian Blade, bassist Roland Guerin, tenor saxophonist Bobby LaVell, trumpeter Marc Franklin, and alto saxophonist Chad Fowler.

    Made possible by Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative, Stella Boyle Smith Trust, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, and Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. The No Tears Suite is available as a studio album (released by Mahakala Music) for purchase at OxfordAmericanGoods.org.

  246. 246.

    mrmoshpotato

    December 3, 2020 at 8:35 pm

    @cain:

    and there will always be some kind of debate about them 

    Debate about Rush – the band – being awesome or super awesome! ?

  247. 247.

    Brachiator

    December 3, 2020 at 8:36 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Honestly, though, I think half the purpose of the “expand the Supreme Court” talk was to try to scare Roberts and maybe Gorsuch into putting their worst impulses on the back burner.

    The new Court appointees may be smelling blood. Gorsuch directed some barbs at Roberts in his opinion for the wrongheaded “no separation between church and pandemic” ruling. He has not been consistent, but at times Roberts seemed to signal that he was going to try to steer a moderate path on some issues. But I don’t know. This Court may be hot to do some right wing freaky, with or without Roberts.

  248. 248.

    zhena gogolia

    December 3, 2020 at 8:41 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I think you’re thinking of “chetnik.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chetniks

  249. 249.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 8:42 pm

    @David Merry Christmas Koch

    Eyes urgently request the words “Ivanka” and “stripping” never appear in the same sentence again.

    :)

  250. 250.

    zhena gogolia

    December 3, 2020 at 8:43 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    What do you mean it was gone before Communism? It was created by Lenin.

    People still call the secret police the Cheka. It never disappeared, even after it wasn’t the official name.

  251. 251.

    zhena gogolia

    December 3, 2020 at 8:44 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Oh, I guess you mean the Communist ascendancy in Yugoslavia.

    I think he’s thinking of “chetnik.”

  252. 252.

    Cameron

    December 3, 2020 at 8:44 pm

    @germy: That, BTW, is Newt “I’m a carpetbagger from Central Pennsylvania” Gingrich trying his best to be relevant, and, secondarily, to pimp Trump.

  253. 253.

    Benw

    December 3, 2020 at 8:45 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Rush = super awesome, of course. Even with the awkward Objectivist phase lyrics! :)

  254. 254.

    Cameron

    December 3, 2020 at 8:47 pm

    @West of the Rockies: Do you really want to know who or what would replace Manchin?

  255. 255.

    BruceFromOhio

    December 3, 2020 at 8:53 pm

    @Mike in NC: I support this comment and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  256. 256.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 8:54 pm

    @zhena gogolia

    “Strewth, you heard what’s going ’round about the new Soviet ambassador in Canberra?”

    “Yep. He’s Cheka, mate.”

  257. 257.

    Matt McIrvin

    December 3, 2020 at 8:54 pm

    @cain:

    Hah, that was Jaws. It did end well for him – he found love with a young woman who had bracers. :D

    Here’s the weird thing–she didn’t! She totally didn’t! Everyone remembers it that way because the joke is so obvious that it seems like it should be there (in a movie that was packed solid with goofy-ass stuff on that level), but it’s not.

  258. 258.

    J R in WV

    December 3, 2020 at 8:56 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I remember that by the time I got the polio vaccine, it was a liquid oral solution.

    I remember getting a shot at the folk’s employer. My little brother was quite small, yet willing to fight so that it took 4 grown adults to hold him still for the shot after he saw me get one.

    Some years later we all stood in line at an elementary school for the Sabin vaccine, a pink drop on the sugar cube. Mom and dad, me and bro. They wanted to do all the vaccines, because the alternative was so, so horrible.

    Even if you didn’t die, you could be really, really disabled, for the rest of your life. I had classmates in grade school with bent limbs, writing oddly, walking with crutches, because of that virus.

    Vaccinations were a blessing for everyone. Not like the nutjobs today.

  259. 259.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 8:57 pm

    @Cameron:

    Dream replacement would be Richard Ojeda.

  260. 260.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 8:59 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I think you’re correct.

  261. 261.

    Matt McIrvin

    December 3, 2020 at 9:02 pm

    @J R in WV: Roald Dahl lost a daughter to measles shortly before the vaccine was available, and whatever his other moral deficiencies (and he had many), he was a ferocious pro-vaccination advocate his whole life.

  262. 262.

    Lapassionara

    December 3, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    @J R in WV: my younger sister had polio. It has affected her life for sure. The vaccine changed so much for the better.

  263. 263.

    J R in WV

    December 3, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Dream replacement would be Richard Ojeda.

    Just no!! I tried to work for Ojeda in the previous cycle, he’s crazier than any other politician I know of. Really strange!!!!! Keep him away + he won’t win a statewide election here or anywhere.

    Teaching shop is his best shot at a civilian job.

  264. 264.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 9:05 pm

    Olbermann today:

    “…that woman who is either drunk Karen from Kalamazoo or the next Mrs. Rudy Giuliani.”

    :)

  265. 265.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 3, 2020 at 9:06 pm

    POTUS-elect Biden and VPOTUS-elect Harris are on CNN in a joint interview.

  266. 266.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Debate about Rush – the band – being awesome or super awesome! ?

    I loved the early 80s, when we talked about Rush we meant the band, not the fucking asshole oxycontin fueled peddler of lies. :D

    So glad to see so many of my fellow fans here :D

  267. 267.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 3, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    @NotMax:

    L?L

  268. 268.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    @J R in WV:

    OK, he was praised by my very active Dem sister, so that’s all I know. He is working in Georgia for Dems as well.

  269. 269.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 3, 2020 at 9:08 pm

    OMG there was Indian  ? in Giuiliani’s clown show yesterday. She said all Chinese people look the same so we need Voter ID

  270. 270.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 9:09 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Yes, and the movie I was thinking of was Force 10 From Navarone.

  271. 271.

    J R in WV

    December 3, 2020 at 9:12 pm

    @germy: 

    my very first thought watching the antics of Mellissa Carone in Michigan this week was whether she’s an actor of some kind

    welp, here’s her Acting/Modeling Profile for “Explore Talent” and whoa boy

    First thing I noticed was “Friends: 0” — big surprise there!!

  272. 272.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne

    He’s in efgoldman mode today. The linky.

  273. 273.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 3, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    @NotMax:

    I watch him every day. He’s been in a Goldmanesque NMFTG space for several weeks now.

  274. 274.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Huh..  interesting, I wonder why i remember it that way then.

  275. 275.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 9:21 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I saw that – I was like ‘Lawd..” racist Indian. I wonder how that’s gonna working out for her. The other guy next to him looked like he needed to apply some hemorrhoid medication he was moving around so much.

  276. 276.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 9:23 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Hey Rush has a song called “Force 10” I wonder if that was where they got that.

  277. 277.

    Ruckus

    December 3, 2020 at 9:24 pm

    @NotMax:

    That’s too obvious.

    The greens, actually the entire course is made up of Legos so the ball never goes where it looks like it should and any terrain change is in steps. Also every green has a subtle wall around it, not really high, maybe 3-4 blocks high, just so you can’t putt onto the green.

    Now if the balls and some of the Legos had velcro………

  278. 278.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 9:24 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Me too. Today is the first I remember him emphatically dropping F bombs.

  279. 279.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 9:27 pm

    @Ruckus

    And the hole turns out to be a trompe l’oeil painted circle.

  280. 280.

    Matt McIrvin

    December 3, 2020 at 9:28 pm

    @cain: The average person watching the scene in Moonraker where Jaws and Dolly first meet will inevitably hallucinate braces on her, because them not being there seems so incorrect.

  281. 281.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 3, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    @NotMax:

    emphatically dropping F bombs

    Ah! I shall watch, then, with particular pleasure (after the Joe’n’Kamala show is over).

  282. 282.

    The Moar You Know

    December 3, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    And yeah, while Neil dabbled in Ayn Rand in the 70s, he did grow out of it.

    @theturtlemoves:  Thankfully.  Fan of theirs for decades.

    Neil died on my birthday this year.  I got the news right before going on stage for one of my now long-gone twice a week cover band gigs.  That was rough.  And i thought, wow, this year started off so nice and already it’s turned to shit.  Well, at least it’s pretty unlikely anything worse can happen.

    I had no idea that this year was going to teach me, with utter unrelenting savage brutality (as it has to most all of us) the meaning of a “bad year”.

  283. 283.

    frosty

    December 3, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    @Yarrow: The Obamas working on a show about the chaos Trump brought in? Whether funny or documentary, there is nothing I want to watch less. I’m moving on. Hard pass.

  284. 284.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 9:46 pm

    @cain:

    No clue, although I do enjoy Rush and never understood the animosity to a clearly excellent trio of musicians and songwriters. I also was only interested in the music and not the backstory.

  285. 285.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 9:48 pm

    @frosty

    Only if they title it T*R*A*S*H.

    ;)

  286. 286.

    frosty

    December 3, 2020 at 9:53 pm

    @NotMax: Maybe then.

  287. 287.

    catclub

    December 3, 2020 at 10:01 pm

    @NotMax: porque no los dos?

  288. 288.

    WaterGirl

    December 3, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: @NotMax:

    Services were being updated and restarted, which caused the momentary 520 error.  So that one is nothing to worry about.

  289. 289.

    catclub

    December 3, 2020 at 10:03 pm

    @Brachiator: I am looking forward to another Trump freakout on December 14.

     

    ANOTHER date in December that will live in infamy!

  290. 290.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m pretty sure some of this is on my end and could be some issues with Firefox and my shitty Windows 10.

  291. 291.

    Yutsano

    December 3, 2020 at 10:15 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: I have noticed some performance issues with Firefox lately as well. Granted I also need a new computer desperately but that’s not happening until at least January.

  292. 292.

    planetjanet

    December 3, 2020 at 10:19 pm

    @West of the Rockies: Manchin’s successor is most likely not a Democrat.

  293. 293.

    Mary G

    December 3, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    @germy: I looked at the first couple of lines, where she says she’s 5’2″ and does a lot of modeling. Not in this universe, you don’t.

  294. 294.

    Jackie

    December 3, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    WaterGirl, could we have a new post to discuss the Biden-Harris interview on CNN?

  295. 295.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    December 3, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    @West of the Rockies:

    Dallas: That show where you’ve got insane wealth and power, but live in mom’s house with your wife, your brother, his wife and your sister well into your 40s…..

  296. 296.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    December 3, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Twitter was kind of fun pre-Trump. There were some cute comedy and pet threads….

  297. 297.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    December 3, 2020 at 10:28 pm

    @Kent:

    Kentucky needs the infliction of pain, and lobbyists for various Kentucky-centric industries need to be expressly told “want the pain to stop? Tell McConnell to stop”.

  298. 298.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 10:40 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    I think this will be a lot easier to do than figuring out the logistics of moving the military out of Kentucky. Never mind that you have to put that in the budget and it still has to pass the Senate.

  299. 299.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 3, 2020 at 10:43 pm

    @cain: and you have the Democratic gov who wants to be reelected, and whom presumably we would like to be reelected, lobbying like hell to stop you, and that AG who refused to fully investigate the Breonna Taylor case being handed a platform to run against Beshear.

  300. 300.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 10:44 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    It’s kind of funny but this blog has been historically anti-Rush (not that one!) because of that short tryst with Ayn Rand. But yes, Neil did grow out of it and from the late 70s onwards have had some great stuff. I still enjoy the earlier period pieces – but I really really dig clockwork angels – it was the album for these asshole times.

  301. 301.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 3, 2020 at 10:47 pm

    @Jackie:

    Seconded.

  302. 302.

    rikyrah

    December 3, 2020 at 10:48 pm

    @R. Jamie Langa:

    How can we find the book?

  303. 303.

    debbie

    December 3, 2020 at 10:50 pm

    @germy:

    Compare the photos in your two tweets. One of them is not like the other.

  304. 304.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 3, 2020 at 10:55 pm

    @cain: If it make you feel any better, my opposition to the band Rush is purely due to the fact that I can’t stand their music.

  305. 305.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 3, 2020 at 10:55 pm

    @cain:

    because of that short tryst with Ayn Rand.

    No, that’s not it.

  306. 306.

    Yarrow

    December 3, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    Tick tock…

    Breaking NYT: DOJ investigated as recently as this summer the roles of Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for Trump, and Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Jared Kushner, in a suspected scheme to offer a bribe in exchange for clemency for a tax crimes convict.https://t.co/WPnbexW2t7— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 4, 2020

  307. 307.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 3, 2020 at 11:10 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Firefox has had a lot of updates lately and there have been some wonky issues and I’m not sure of the cause, but I still sense the dozen or so Twitter embeds in a front page post may play a role as well.

    My ignorance is nearly complete on how to fix any of it for the record.

  308. 308.

    Bill Arnold

    December 3, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for Trump, and Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Jared Kushner,

    :-)
    I’m wondering if a truth-and-reconciliation process can be concocted to make public all evidence for crimes that have been “preemptively pardoned”. Because there would be no legal jeopardy for one so pardoned, such as (hypothetically) young faux MotU Jared Kushner.

  309. 309.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 11:17 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    All good points. Yeah, I think we need to try something else. I think what we want is to be able to have more on the ground folks there and get the word out.

    Maybe McConnell won’t last his 5 years – the man is already dead inside, so it’s likely that the rest of his parts will also die.

  310. 310.

    NotMax

    December 3, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    @HumboldtBlue

    Firefox has had a lot of updates lately

    This is so. Still have not noticed any difference or degradation in performance. But then, my preferences in settings (and in add-ons) keep it pretty well locked down anyway.

  311. 311.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 3, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    @Bill Arnold: Rachel Maddow went into this case in some detail, and IIRC (I was only half paying attention) Lowell and Broidy were lobbying on behalf of a SF billionaire real estate developer (those fuckers) on further behalf of a shady-sounding doctor who had been indulging in  convicted of SS fraud

    IANAL or a scholar, but I believe Congress can issue subpoenas to just about anyone? and there may be enough buzz about pardons to give Pelosi the clout to do this, and to put some heat on Lowell, who will want to be a big shot lawyer when Jared goes back to his desk next to his daddy’s. And Lowell was Al Gore’s lawyer before he was Jared’s. He didn’t need that file

  312. 312.

    cain

    December 3, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    And that’s perfectly fine. :-) Many don’t and that’s fine. There is no standard for good music, like what you like. It’s when people bring up the band when it comes to “Ayn Rand supported music” that I must object strenuously.

  313. 313.

    Yarrow

    December 3, 2020 at 11:35 pm

    @Bill Arnold: One would think it could be possible…

  314. 314.

    BruceFromOhio

    December 4, 2020 at 12:09 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: This made me lolol and reminded me of Tbogg ripping on them. Loomis at LGM hates them, too. You are in fine company!

    I’ve seen them six times in concert, and it was glorious.

  315. 315.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 4, 2020 at 8:21 am

    @zhena gogolia: I think you’re thinking of “chetnik.”

    Bangalore! My brains must be turning to mush – I know enough about Yugoslavia that I should’ve seen that instantamundo.

  316. 316.

    Uncle Cosmo

    December 4, 2020 at 8:30 am

    @zhena gogolia: What do you mean it was gone before Communism? It was created by Lenin.

    The name Cheka had been retired in the CCCP long before Yugoslav communism was anything but a gleam in the eye of a handful of malcontents – before the end of 1923 it was the OGPU, then NKVD in 1934. (You could look it up.) Tito & his merry men didn’t amount to diddly before June 1941 at the earliest. That’s what I meant.

  317. 317.

    Matt McIrvin

    December 4, 2020 at 9:38 am

    @cain: I mentioned this exchange to a friend of mine last night, and HE remembered the character as having braces too–and he’s seen the movie many times. Everyone does! It’s the most intense “Mandela effect” sort of phenomenon I’ve ever encountered.

  318. 318.

    R. Jamie Langa

    December 4, 2020 at 10:49 am

    @rikyrah:

    Hey, I was going to wait until the mystery book self-promotion thread, but it’s on Amazon, and the title is “The Dream of the White Elephant”.

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