‘If we don't act now, the future will be very bleak’: President-elect Joe Biden urged the U.S. Congress to pass a coronavirus relief bill immediately and to follow up with ‘hundreds of billions of dollars’ in more aid in January https://t.co/GzAZJ0wScL pic.twitter.com/Re4ME5n4dn
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 5, 2020
I love this thing where Joe Biden wins the presidency at least once a week for the last six weeks. https://t.co/vHBuqetqAi
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 5, 2020
Sure, it’s a minor disappointment that we won’t be able to contrast the singing, dancing crowds at Biden’s inauguration with the pathetic 2016 turnout for the GOP figurehead. On the other hand, we already have the videos from November 8th…
Biden expects a quieter-than-normal inauguration because of the coronavirus, without crowds filling the National Mall or a series of evening celebrations. Festivities may look more like Dem convention, which was almost entirely virtual.@EmmaKinery https://t.co/Qgc8D4RsxA
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) December 4, 2020
… Not to mention, the DNC put together a pretty impressive online / socially-distanced convention this year; I suspect we’ll be able to come up with a stellar package for Joe and Kamala’s inauguration as well!
Baud
Along with the virtual inaugural on inauguration day, we should have a delayed real inaugural after everyone is vaccinated.
Immanentize
I wish we could organize some massive inauguration event online for Joe and Kamala. Maybe everyone dancing or just moving for 30 seconds to some song?
Maybe I Can See Clearly Now?
TS (the original)
But imagine the numbers watching the inauguration online! Given how well the convention was planned & executed this will be the same – or better – and millions will be watching world wide.
Immanentize
I have to go into the office today for the first time since April to pick up some materials I need for my final exam. I had to download a specific app that either clears me or restricts me from going into any building. I think my Uni. is doing pretty good, but Boston is starting to do worse.
Amir Khalid
Is Cornel West going to have hurt feelings again, because he wasn’t offered tickets to the inauguration?
CliosFanBoy
The 2021 calendars look GREAT!! ! Thank you Watergirl!!!!!
OzarkHillbilly
Christian group tears down mysterious monolith on California mountain
No no, Ms Mayor, these are Christians. Don’t you understand how superior they are to all others and how we must defer and cater to their special feelings?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m not particularly religious, but now I want to spread the message of the monolith to all nations.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: In the name of the Church of Janus Karst, I am going to erect one here.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
I was disappointed that when the monolith first showed up in Utah, a crowd of Utahans did not gather around it and start beating their chests.
debbie
@Immanentize:
Let the kids go nuts on TikTok.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Puts me in mind of when the Taliban destroyed those huge Buddhas in Afghanistan.
Immanentize
@Amir Khalid: I think West already got invited — to Sanders’ inauguration party at the third villa in Burlington….
But seriously, I remember when I considered West a brave academic when he took a public stand against Harvard and moved to Princeton. One of my hero/mentors, Charles Ogeltree, thought West was in the right vis a vis Harvard and what he did publicly was helping black profs everywhere. But that event seemed to turn CW into a media maven and now, he is a real crank.
Chyron HR
@OzarkHillbilly:
Awww now we’re never gonna get to Jupiter.
debbie
I’m sure he won’t, but part of me would like Joe to call attention to all of the undermining going on with the Trump administration and how they’re focusing on that rather than helping in any way with the pandemic. I know people know that, but some things must be spoken out loud.
sab
@Amir Khalid: I missed the yesterday thread. I just want to offer my condolences to you for Miss Bianca.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: How come these He-Rows all have such a burning expressed desire for the love of the man, Jesus? Seems to be counter their particular brand of manlimanness. I know, I know…. God, guns and love of men. Err, “man.”
Meanwhile, gay orgy for right wing bigots in Southern California or Hungary scheduled for this evening. Police attendance optional.
raven
@debbie: Ans somewhere the Buddha smiled.
Immanentize
@debbie: I need a kid to get me in the door! The Immp haughtily disdains such pursuits. But a little online gaming? Bueno!
mrmoshpotato
You’ll be able to hear the cheering and horn honking throughout the land. :)
Immanentize
@debbie: One of my favorite things that a commenter ever said here — it was raven — was something to the effect that no one would have laughed more at taking target practice at those statues than the Buddha himself. I think of that when I get pissed about the foolish acts of men.
mad citizen
Wanted to say a huge thanks for Anne for doing the hundreds of COVID updates this year. I was reading this morning’s post on my cell earlier and it just kept going and going going. So much information compiled in one place. I know we all appreciate the massive effort that it takes.
Re: Monolith. This weird fear by a few seems strange considering one of our nation’s symbols is monolithic, but an obelisk: the Washington Monument. We have a 100 feet high obelisk in Indianapolis in our war memorial area (erected 1930) (I was once told by a visitor that Indy has the nation’s second most war memorials outside of D.C.). Obama made two campaign stops there in 2008.
Immanentize
@debbie: Biden will tell that tale, once he is President and can get no more value from the current admin whose cooperation he needs right now to get ready for his job.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Delayed party. We’re not postponing swearing in Biden and Harris, and kicking out Dump and Dense on their fascist fucker asses.
Immanentize
@raven: ha! You were invoked.
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize:
Guzzling champagne.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato: Right. Real as in real life.
debbie
@raven:
I know you’re right, but it’s still a loss to history.
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
I too missed your sad news and am so sorry.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly:
Offending their taste buds. Red Bull – it tastes like puuuuuuke!
“Brah! Do you even lift?”
Zzyzx
I’ve been reading Free Republic lately to see how they’re dealing with the loss and it’s amazing what happens when you never deal with people who challenge you. The current argument is that we need to defend “freedom” by declaring martial law and arresting – and sometimes executing – people we don’t like, mainly journalists and opposing politicians.
Salty Sam
PERFECT!
Baud
@Zzyzx:
Rendering neither free nor a republic.
TS (the original)
@debbie:
I think it is implied every time Biden speaks of what he will do or what should be done in regard to the pandemic.
Biden also spoke very clearly when asked about trump attending the inauguration.
I doubt Biden will ever get into a discussion as to trump preferring golf to addressing the pandemic, but the concept is there whenever he speaks to the issues, while trump stays silent.
Betty Cracker
I’m pleased to hear Biden doesn’t plan on a big to-do for the inauguration, not just because of the coronavirus but because so many Americans are out of work and hurting. Trump sweeps all the misery under the rug for his own glorification, but Biden centers it. I think that’s really important, not just for Biden but for the Democratic Party. Master class in competence and empathy coming up, and what a contrast it will be.
stinger
@Amir Khalid: I was so sorry to read that your beloved cat died. You have my condolences — may your memories soon be only happy ones.
raven
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Agree. I just wish it would earn him some credit from people who don’t already support him.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: The Trump humpers won’t turn over a new leaf. But they will open another barrel of toxic waste and take a bit slurp.
Immanentize
@Zzyzx:
Better you than me!
OzarkHillbilly
The Abuser and the Terrorist
The under recognized web of shame, honor, and twisted masculinity that connects domestic violence and political violence.
Food for thought. She has a lot to say, more than can be put into an article, hence it’s an excerpt from a book.
Geminid
trump’s campaign organization is calling today’s rally in Valdosta Ga. a “Victory Rally.” This is going to be weird.
Amir Khalid
Thank you all for the kind words. It’s been quiet here today without Bianca. She was always a talkative cat, and she liked to start conversations with me.
Zzyzx
@Immanentize: I always find it fascinating and I do believe it’s important to read things that I find massively wrong just in case there’s something I’m missing. That’s what brought me here at first, back when Cole was a sane conservative.
But yeah, this is more akin to reading the blogs of sports rivals after they had a bad loss.
Spanky
@Immanentize:
Buddha may not care, but Mama Monolith is gonna kick some christianist ass.
NotMax
The only reading possible through Occam’s spectacles is that the military took a look at crowd restrictrions in place in Philly and basically said, “Screw it. We’re taking our ball and going home, where we can pack people into the bleachers like sardines, all the way to the top.” Which in today’s world is an idiotic decision.
Meanwhile, in other current events, this ought to fry a few more of what’s an extremely endangered species, namely Dolt 45’s brain cells.
Immanentize
@Spanky:
Steeplejack (phone)
Grr.
I know it’s about 103rd on the new administration’s priority list, but I really would like for them to audit the PPP loans, name and shame the undeserving and claw back the money.
That’s a fantasy, became I’m sure it was all done “legally.”
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
Louisville’s all-rapacious, business connection megachurch (Southeast Christian, the one attended by McConnell) has build campuses all over the Metro and decimated dozens of smaller Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist congregations by raking off the Chamber of Commerce types, along with their families. Part of their rise was fueled by anti-Catholic, anti-Orthodox animus and criticism from the pulpit.
They bought a plot of ground in Southern Indiana to use as a teen camp and retreat center; the plot adjoined a number of large private lots. Apparently, in the course of the kids’ rambles, they’d stumbled upon a Marian shrine that was on a ridge line owned by a neighbor. The counselor whipped his campers with proper evangelical zeal to go trash the shrine.
As it turned out, the devotional shrine had been erected by the owner in honor of his deceased wife at a point where they liked to hike and catch the view and the pastoral nature of the spot.
Megachurch muttered an insincere apology and provided some funds to restore the spot, but didn’t terminate the idiot counselor and refused to identify him.
Spanky
@Immanentize: My first electric guitar was a Silvertone. I think that was the Sears brand back in the day. I bought it from my friend Donnie for $12 and a tank of gas for his truck.
sab
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Interestingly yikes!
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
I would love it????
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
sab
@Amir Khalid: My husband says cats don’t talk to other cats unless they are oversocialized among humans. Cats only talk to humans.
ETA Apparently they realize we can’t understand their eyeblinks and ear positionings.
debbie
@raven:
The Buddha is never wrong, but I will never be able to separate out the sadness of the loss. No doubt I’d have made a crap monk.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Zzyzx:
As a Free Republic refugee, I apologize.
lowtechcyclist
@Immanentize:
Or maybe New Morning
raven
@NotMax:
“It is unlikely there will be fan attendance allowed at Michie Stadium beyond the Corps of Cadets and Brigade of Midshipmen”
rikyrah
@Amir Khalid:
{{{HUGS}}}??
Immanentize
@Spanky: Cosmic convergence.
The tank of gas is an excellent detail in that story. Probably around the same time I got a Norma electric from my brother’s friend for a double sawbuck. But I never kept up with the instrument, skill wise or possession wise.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Betty Cracker:
Carter’s “Malaise” speech was about competence and empathy, but a demented, gaslit populace was conditioned to accept conservative manipulation of a fantastic message as one of weakness, and the media was ripe to play along.
raven
@raven: It’s also the first time it won’t be the only game played that weekend as most conferences have had to use it and the 19th for postponed games. Go Dawgs!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Back from our bi-weekly grocery run. It’ll be interesting to see what Trump coughs up in Georgia today.
Honus
@Salty Sam: at one point when I was in high school in 1972 my mother, father, aunt and grandfather were in the hospital at the same time with various ailments. I’ll never forget the day I was driving to the hospital and that song came on the car radio.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m hoping Trump spews bile on the GA GOP. Loeffler and Perdue must be pooping masonry right now.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid:
Oh no! Bianca has joined Steep’s housecat with the heated throw, in the sky?
Sad to hear that. I hope another lucky kitty joins Amir’s House o’ Guitars, when the time is suitable. It will be too quiet without a pet, talkative or otherwise.
Immanentize
@Honus: That song also has the benefit of honoring Kamala’s Caribbean roots.
NotMax
@raven
Citation, please.
Regardless, that’s still a potential total of about 10,000.
e julius drivingstorm
Concerning the 905 billion Covid relief bill, it doesn’t contain the 1200 dollar individual and 500 dollar dependents provision, nor anything to extend unemployment. I wish somebody who still has a democrat representative would suggest to them that stand alone bills to address each of these (two separate bills) would really pressure McConnell if Pelosi passes them in the house.
sab
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I remember Carter’s Malaise speech and I thought it was a good speech. Then Ted Koppel got in with his late night countdown thing and the press rewrote the reaction.
I had an amazing boss years ago (CPA accounting) who had a client who was one of those hostages in Iran. He missed an important tax filing because he was a hostage and couldn’t sign his return. So he missed an important tax election deadline. Cost him a bundle.
My boss, who had thought he was politically well connected, could do nothing to help his client. Reagan and Congress (Republican) did not actually care at all about all those US embassy and other employees in Iran. The Republicans in office just wanted the headlines.
Steeplejack (phone)
@rikyrah:
Good morning! ?
raven
Check out THIS trick play!
raven
@NotMax: Citation, it’s in EVERY story about the game on the dman internet. I googled and so can you.
Chyron HR
@e julius drivingstorm:
Now that the citizens of Kentucky have seen fit to inflict their sociopathy on the nation for another 6 years, the only thing that can “pressure” Mitch McConnell is actual physical violence. Maybe.
sab
@e julius drivingstorm: That’s why Pelosi is relenting in her opposition to any relief if it’s not perfect. She thinks with Biden we can get more relief soon. This bill is just the first step, not the last gasp as it would have been with Trump.
TS (the original)
The party of no facts, no responsibility and a blind allegiance to Donald Trump (to steal the title of a book about Sarah Palin)
Link
Think I have more consideration for the two who said trump won – than the 222 who mumbled a non reply.
NotMax
@raven
It was in neither of the twos stories I read before heading to Wikipedia.
dmsilev
Just 25 congressional Republicans acknowledge Biden’s win, Washington Post survey finds
Ten percent of elected Republicans are willing to acknowledge reality. TEN PERCENT. It’s not that they’re actively denying reality, oh no only two loons are willing to say “Trump actually won”, it’s that ninety percent of them are such moral pygmies that they refuse to actually answer the very straightforward and very easy question. And if you read through the rest of the article, you find that about a quarter of those reality-adjacent Republicans are retiring at the end of the month.
raven
And Army is using the Electric Strawberry uni’s!\
There’s a citation for ya bubba.
NotMax
@NotMax – @raven
And will stand firm in calling it an idiotic decision, which I feel sure can be traced straight to the Pentagon.
NotMax
@NotMax
Quite possibly also straight to the White House, as Philly did not exactly vote for you know who.
sab
@Chyron HR: Didn’t work with Rand Paul. Just got a neighbor jail time.
Danielx
@Immanentize:
::::::Firing up memory banks::::::
Jesus’ General would have had great commentary on these nitwits, along with how each and every one of them was due an appointment with the Terrible Spatula of Redemption.
artem1s
“The monolith was something unique and fun in an otherwise stressful time.”
the artist or whomever put it up is going to be pretty amused by all of this, I bet. If aluminum wasn’t so expensive I could see art students all over the country trolling these asshats into displays of ‘religious’ suppression, by coordinating building hundreds of them, documenting the constructions, online reactions, and tear down frenzy, and turning the whole thing into a giant performance piece. Great MFA thesis, IMO. great way to demonstrate how autocrats and fascists always draw attention to the thing they are trying to keep quiet and suppress by massively overreacting to it.
OzarkHillbilly
@sab: Meh, 8 months in Club Fed and 6 more at home. He probably thinks it was worth every second of it.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Chyron HR:
Mitch really loves to eat well, and there are some fantastic restaurants around. I’ve been trying to pipe some information out to bubble back to him that if he doesn’t do something to aid workers and small business, he won’t be able to trust that a single plate or glass he ever gets in any eatery is untainted with spittle or other bodily fluids.
The only places I want him to feel safe eating at are diners and Cracker Barrels in Somerset, Pikeville or Hazard.
Spanky
@Danielx: I had thought the same thing earlier, and in a moment of “whatever happened to …” went a-Googling. Hard to believe it’s been about 7 years since he lost the muse.
sab
@OzarkHillbilly: I might send him a Christmas card.
O. Felix Culpa
@Amir Khalid: I had a talkative cat too and loved our conversations. May her memory fill the silence and give you comfort.
raven
@NotMax: Oh my
O. Felix Culpa
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
For a certain definition of *interesting.* :)
NotMax
@O. Felix Culpa
Yooge slice of lemon harangue pie.
//
Ken
@Geminid: I know some are hoping to see Trump escorted out of the White House in handcuffs, but a straitjacket would be acceptable.
O. Felix Culpa
@NotMax: Shouldn’t that be orange? //
ETA: the harangue is a nice touch. :)
Luciamia
@Zzyzx: And anyone who dares A different opinion is immediately part of the conspiracy. Barr is now an enemy.
Free Republic also has a creepy religiosity that gives it its own icky vibe. But if Christ himself appeared an declared the election valid, they’d denounce him.
SiubhanDuinne
@sab:
The so-called “Malaise” speech was in July 1979. Koppel’s “late night countdown thing” didn’t begin until November of that year, first as America Held Hostage and subsequently (after the release) as Nightline.
I don’t deny, however, that framing Carter’s thoughtful address as “malaise” was totally on the media of the day, cheerfully abetted by the Republicans.
Immanentize
@raven: oh they practiced that many times over and over. So good.
sab
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I had a roommate in boarding school probably back before you were born(1968-1969). She was from Louisville. Very Republican. (Weird then. She should have been a Dixiecrat.) Relatives working all over DC as Senate staffers.
Last picture I have seen of her was in a pink pussy hat with her elderly aunt who had been chief of staff to a Republican senator, Aunt also in a pink pussy hat.
stinger
@artem1s: “I am the monolith.” “No, I am the monolith.” “I am the monolith!”
sab
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks for the correction. Doesn’t help us for me too get my forty years ago timeline wrong.
Suzanne
@OzarkHillbilly: That was excellent, definitely going to read that book. Thank you for sharing that.
Amir, hugs and condolences. And many best wishes.
lowtechcyclist
@OzarkHillbilly:
According to the Daily Beast story, they were shouting “Christ is King” and “America first”. Apparently they couldn’t make up their minds.
But speaking as a born-again, Jesus-freak sort of person, people like this piss me off no end. I’m sure that in their heads, they believe that if actual persecutions ever came, and they were forced to choose between death and denying their faith, they’d choose death. Yet they can’t seem to bear the least inconvenience in the name of the Lord without endless whinging about their rights.
It’s almost like an anti-witness – if they’ve got something special to share with the world, it sure isn’t very special.
SiubhanDuinne
@sab:
Memory is an unreliable guide to history. Don’t ask me how I know this.
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne: hmmmm. It seems I was going to ask you something, but I forgot what it was.
OzarkHillbilly
@lowtechcyclist: Your comment puts me in mind of this from the movie Kingdom of Heaven:
Faithful Lurker
@Amir Khalid: I also missed the notice of your cat’s death. I’m very sorry. Losing them leaves a huge hole. It’s surprising how much space a little animal can occupy, in our lives and in our hearts.
germy
They seem to be terrified.
Matt McIrvin
@Zzyzx:
The experience of the Bush years burned the impulse out of me to actively seek out right-wing perspectives on things. They got into my head too much and helped convince me to support bad things. Never again.
(But the same experience convinced me that it actually was incumbent on me to seek out radical left experiences on things, and ever since then I’ve been disappointed over and over by how stupid they can be, too.)
Uncle Cosmo
Screw “online” – at 12 noon I intend to be sitting parked in my auto with the radio tuned to a broadcast of the swearing-in. And once Joe says “I do” I intend to honk the living shit out of the horn for about a minute & IMHO every decent American with access to an auto or an air horn or for that matter a big pot they can bang with a big steel spoon ought to do the same. Let’s make some friggin’ noise!
zhena gogolia
@Uncle Cosmo:
Good idea! I don’t do fireworks.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@germy: They’re scum.
germy
OzarkHillbilly
Wish I’d had this Doc growing up.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m so old I remember our family doctor making a housecall one afternoon when I was sick.
Uncle Cosmo
Baltimore erected the first major monument to Washington from 1815 through 1829, and it remains a central landmark in the city at the intersection of Mt Vernon and Washington Squares on north Charles St. In lieu of a tree, the Monument is strung with lights every Christmas season.
(A glance at a photo suggests that this first monumental effort honored Washington’s role as “The Father of His Country” maybe just a tad too literally…;^D.)
germy
Lip sync testimony:
Faithful Lurker
@germy: Me too. I had forgotten that. I had a very bad case of the German measles, temps over 104. The hallucinations were a lot of fun.
germy
@Faithful Lurker:
In my case it must have been around 1963 or so. My parents didn’t own a car. My mother didn’t know how to drive anyway. My father took a bus to work.
I remember it was our regular doctor (not a pediatrician, just a general practitioner) and his doctor bag snapping open. I think he gave me an injection of something.
Imagine calling your doctor’s office nowadays and saying “Yeah, I’m gonna need you to come over today.”
germy
RandomMonster
@Amir Khalid: My sincere heartfelt sympathies. We just lost our cat, Chuck, last weekend. He was the most vocal animal in the house, always offering a greeting when he strolled in the room.
Uncle Cosmo
I’d guess that (absent any unforseen problems with the vaccines) we should be out of the woods by the VeRonal Equinox ;^) and would suggest in that case repurposing Columbus Day as a National Day of Deliverance in which we express our gratitude to health care workers, scientists, and everyone who helped by following the science and cooperating with the public health authorities for the good of all. (Italian-Americans can still celebrate it as Columbus Day, as misguided as that seems to many of us, while the rest of us will celebrate something else.)
O. Felix Culpa
@Faithful Lurker: @germy: I remember a doctor’s visit at home too. Similar timeframe. It was either the measles or German measles. I had all the delightful childhood diseases except for polio thanks to the vaccine. While sick with one of them, my eyes had gotten encrusted shut during the night and I couldn’t open them when I awoke. I thought I had gone blind and started screaming. Probably scared the bejeezus out of my parents. I was certainly terrified.
Emma from FL
@Amir Khalid: Damn. I am so, so sorry.
O. Felix Culpa
@Uncle Cosmo: Columbus Day has been changed to Indigenous Peoples Day in New Mexico.
Uncle Cosmo
Many years ago, when I still had aspirations of writing the Sorta-Not-All-That-Bad American Novel, I was plotting one of suburban politics set in the 1972-74 period, whose working title was I Can See Clearly Now, taken from that song. (I hoped to come up with a pithier title and write it in two parts, headed I Can See Clearly Now and Bright Sunshiny Day.) Ah, the egotism of youth…
westyny
@stinger: We are all monoliths.
Steeplejack
Report from the coronasphere:
Last night I drove out to Tysons Corner, the fancy mall here in NoVA, to pick up something I had reserved at L.L. Bean (sold out on line). The store is big, has a direct entrance from the parking lot, so you don’t have to go through the mall. I thought I needed to get out anyway, and it would let me run the doughty Kia a bit and keep the battery charged up. (Hadn’t been anywhere since last Saturday or Sunday, I think. The days run together.)
I saw a lot of Christmas lights on the streets in downtown Falls Church (I mean the elaborate ones put up by the city), which was simultaneously cheery and a bit sad. Traffic was normal/busy (about 6:00-6:30). When I got to the mall the parking lot was pretty crowded, at least the open parts near the mall. I didn’t venture down into the parking decks.
The entrance to the L.L. Bean store was locked, but some guy said you could “still get in through Bloomingdale’s.” I walked around there, went through the store and around to L.L. Bean’s mall entrance, which was also locked. Later I found out that they had closed early because of a minor fire or some other problem. Mentally kicked myself for assuming the guy meant I could get into L.L. Bean, not just the mall.
The mall was fairly populated, although I’m sure not as much as on a normal Friday night. (I hardly ever went there even in the before times.) All the kiosks were closed, and a number of the regular stores were too. The Apple store was locked and completely empty, with notices on the glass about appointments.
The anchor stores seemed to be business as usual, although I’m sure with less than usual foot traffic. Mask usage in Bloomingdale’s was good. I saw one employee with his mask under his nose and a nine- or ten-year-old girl with her mask completely off. (Her mother was masked.) Slightly nervous-making to realize that even through my mask I could smell the perfumes at the makeup counters. Irrational but true.
I walked back to my car and drove home. Stopped to get a few things at the grocery and to get a takeout burger and onion rings from my local pub. Somewhat of a pleasant outing, even though a logistical failure. I think I might get out more and just drive around now and then.
In other developments, my brother the doctor is tensing up, because at his HMO three optometrists (at another facility) tested positive for coronavirus and yesterday he learned that a pharmacy tech at his facility (big outpatient clinic) had died from the virus. No further information yet. First occurrences they’ve had, I think. On the plus side, I think my brother said his medical group may start getting the vaccine as soon as Christmas. He is still seeing 20-30 patients a day and doing cataract operations once a week.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: You too, eh?
OzarkHillbilly
@westyny: Speak for yourself, I am a pluralith.
Steeplejack
@germy:
One thing about that story: the 222 includes those who simply didn’t reply, for whatever reason, which is not quite the same as refusing to say who won. But, yeah, definitely not profiles in courage.
germy
@Steeplejack:
they’re complicit
debbie
@Uncle Cosmo:
I intend to crank up the Who’s I’m Free on my stereo (or whatever they’re called now).
danielx
@germy:
Calling Dr. Feelgood…..
…the doctor says he’s coming, but you have to pay in cash….
Steeplejack
@RandomMonster:
Sorry to hear about Chuck. Condolences.
O. Felix Culpa
@Steeplejack:
I suspect that’s a distinction without a difference. As you say, not exactly profiles in courage. Exemplars of cravenness? Models of cowardice? Specimens of pusillanimity?
CliosFanBoy
@Amir Khalid: I am so sorry. :(
CliosFanBoy
4 Ps???
germy
Steeplejack
@CliosFanBoy:
I don’t get it.
patrick II
@TS (the original):
Since it’s going to be an online inauguration and millions will be watching world wide it would be cool to have pictures of them too — like New Years’. “And now Fireworks from Tokyo Tower”, “and now from London” “and now from the Eiffel tower”. Make clear it is a worldwide celebration. Congratulations President Biden!
CliosFanBoy
@Steeplejack: Did you go to 4 Provinces in Falls Church? (AKA, 4Ps).
WaterGirl
@CliosFanBoy: Thank you!
I was just the supporting player, though… Beth did the design. :-)
Steeplejack
@CliosFanBoy:
Ah, got it. No, my local is the Dogfish Head Alehouse at Seven Corners. Right across the parking lot from the new (since March) mega Giant that is almost Wegmans quality. All conveniently located less than a mile from my rooms in Threadkill Lane.
I think I’ve been to Four Provinces only once. It was okay, just mildly inconvenient and a little heavy on the faux-Irish malarkey. Dogfish is much more convenient. In the before times I used to slide in there once every couple of weeks to have a late lunch at the bar and be around humans for a bit.
J R in WV
@germy:
I saw that, evidently she also did 12 months of probation for some sort of “computer” fraud case. A great witness, lawyer doing cross-examination would have had her demolished after a long series of questions about that illegal action.
Maybe not inebriated, maybe just cray-crayz…
germy
@J R in WV:
“Why not both?” as Adam S. would ask…
Wolvesvalley
@Amir Khalid:
Oh, no — I missed your news about Bianca, too! I am so, so sorry. This has been a terrible year for the loss of pets.
I know how much you miss her. I hope she sends you a new kitty at the right time — not to fill place in your heart, but to quell the silence.
Uncle Cosmo
@O. Felix Culpa: And once the Biden Administration moves our hard-hit indigenous peoples up toward the head of the queue for vaccination, and the Rona has been beaten down to the level of nuisance, the Land of Enchantment will have two reasons to celebrate next October. That work for you?
Miss Bianca
@sab: Errr…*waves paw*…I am still here. Amir’s Bianca, on the other hand, has indeed gone where the good kitties go. : (
@Amir Khalid: Was far too late to the original thread where you posted to post my condolences, but I will now. I still miss my wonderful calico cat, Queen Mab, and I had her for 18 years, from fuzzy scrappy kitten to gracious elder beldame, so believe me…I feel your pain.
CliosFanBoy
@Steeplejack: Love Dogfish, and that’s my wife’s favorite Giant.
lowtechcyclist
@germy: Either terrified, or just no integrity and no backbone.
But man, only 25 out of 249 GOP Congresscritters are willing to acknowledge that Biden won – days after all the swing states had certified, and over a month after the election itself. Profiles in courage.
@Steeplejack:
Gotta agree with O. Felix Culpa on this one. If they had acknowledged publicly that Biden won, the people answering their phones would know this and have the OK to share it. So ‘no reply’ means not willing to acknowledge that Biden won.
Glad someone took the trouble to do this, though. I’d been wondering if the elected GOPers were finally willing to acknowledge reality. Apparently not.
ETA: They apparently updated it. Now the count is 26 say Biden won, 2 say Trump won, and ‘only’ 221 aren’t willing to take a stand on this rather factual matter.
cain
@Amir Khalid:
So sorry to hear this. RIP Bianca – my condolences.
O. Felix Culpa
@Uncle Cosmo: Indigenous Peoples Day worked for me before and works even better under the conditions you describe.
cain
Why would trash a shrine devoted to the virgin mary? I mean isn’t that like trashing the nativity scene? It’s all devoted to same set of people.
Omnes Omnibus
@cain: Veneration of, and building shrines to, Mary is very much a Catholic thing.
cain
I never understand this whole competition thing between all Christian and Muslim groups. It’s like fighting over chairs that have different woods. But it’s still basically a chair.
RandomMonster
@Steeplejack: Thank you.
2020 continues to serve up grief and sorrow. Let’s all wish for a more hopeful 2021.
sab
@Miss Bianca: Oops. Glad you are well.
Omnes Omnibus
@cain: You asked. I answered.
Ken
Plus, they can be tagged as not supporting Trump.
Ken
@cain: It’s attitudes like yours that prevent us from having a proper auto-da-fé in this country.
Uncle Cosmo
You probably need to understand this in a highly “Christian” and significantly “Catholic” nation:
One of the major bones of contention in the Reformation was the massively hierarchical structure of Catholicism. The laity went to the priests for the sacraments that would allegedly save their immortal souls from an eternity of Hell; the priesthood deferred to their superiors, the bishops & archbishops, who in turn deferred to the Bishop of Rome, bka the Pope.**
If you needed something from the temporal Church, you went up the clerical ladder. If you needed something from God, you had another ladder to ascend, because Big-Daddy-In-The-Sky doesn’t pay much attention to the peons; you have to get his attention by getting someone in tight with him to plead your case. Enter “the communion of the saints,” holy types now deceased who Holy Mother Church says are sitting up in Heaven with the Big Guy. “Patron saints” have specific areas of “miraculous expertise” for bending the Big Guy’s ear, e.g., St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless causes. The BVM (“Blessed Virgin Mary”), who bypassed Purgatory & ascended directly into Heaven, is the closest of all not-God entities to the Big Guy and is the go-to gal for females in general & pretty much any- and everything.**
The Reformation begged to differ. You didn’t need priests and bishops and popes – you had someone who ministered to the well-being of the congregation, with no one above him but God. You didn’t need “saints in heaven” to pray to – you prayed directly to God, and he would hear your prayer and answer it (sometimes with “No”). This notion of a personal relationship with the Creator unmediated by any other entity is central to Protestantism and the Reformation.
Also FTR, this is the reason that in Protestant churches**** he crucifixes are unadorned – no Jesus hanging from them – and there are no statues or paintings or stained-glass windows showing saints, as this would tempt the faithful to venerate those representations as idols.
That help?
** A fundamental difference between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy is the role of the Bishop of Rome. For the RCs he is Christ’s Vicar on Earth, and when speaking ex cathedra (from the throne of Peter, the first BoR) is considered infallible in matters of faith. For the Orthodox, he’s just the Bishop of Rome – each Orthodox church is attached to a different national grouping with its own “metropolitan” or chief archbishop, who has no overweening connection to the Big Guy.
*** My first-generation italo-american mother never prayed to God but frequently to the Holy Mother. When I came home from a trip to Italy I brought her a copy of a Raphael Madonna and a very nice rosary [also a prayer to the BVM as it’s mostly Ave Marias strung along like, well, beads on a chain]. Carlo Levi, in his barely-fictionalized memoir Cristo s’e fermato ad Eboli, asserts that Christianity per se never made it lower in the Boot than Eboli, a town just south of Naples (“Christ Stopped At Eboli”) – farther south, Mary was more important than Jesus because it was really the prehistoric earth-mother religion repurposed for patriarchal control and profit.
**** Excluding the Anglicans, who are mostly Catholics with no Pope, priestly marriage, and divorce, who broke away at Henry VIII’s displeasure when Il Papa would not grant him an annulment of his first marriage so he could marry Anne Boleyn.
Citizen Alan
@OzarkHillbilly: Fucking American Taliban.
Baud
@Uncle Cosmo:
I used to have a personal relationship with God, but then He got a restraining order.
Citizen Alan
@lowtechcyclist: Can someone to has a subscription to the Washington Post please check for me and see where Roger wicker and cindy Hyde smith are on that list? I’m curious timer but I refused to give a penny to the Washington Postc while they still employ Marc Thiessen.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Baud too crazy for God!
mad citizen
@Uncle Cosmo: Interesting, will have to check it out if I can get back to Baltimore in the After Times (was there 3 times in the last several for meetings).
zhena gogolia
@Citizen Alan:
Neither responded to the WaPo.
Same for Wicker.
SWMBO
@OzarkHillbilly: You misspelled Jibbers Crabst. Heretic.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ_BtZ-5O60
Sm*t Cl*de
@J R in WV:
As I understood it, the ‘computer fraud’ aspect was using work WiFi to send the abusive sex tapes, for the sake of deniability.
Then there was her history of making a false complaint to police, which seems most relevant to her claims of witnessing voter fraud.
Quiltingfool
@Citizen Alan: I skimmed the article; Wapo really didn’t name names except that Paul Gosar and Mo Brooks are the 2 that believe Trump won. We all know they are idiots, so no surprise. My guess is that the two you mentioned were in the “not gonna say” group. Fred Upton went the furthest of all Republicans by announcing on Nov 7 that he would work with Biden.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: I am also was way late to this. May she be beloved in her next existence as you loved her in this one. Rest well dear kitteh.
Steeplejack
@Citizen Alan:
Neither Hyde-Smith’s nor Wicker’s office responded to the Post’s request. They were two of the “five members of the Mississippi delegation who issued a joint statement days after the election calling for investigations. ‘Any allegations of voting irregularities, including ballot tampering or voting by ineligible persons should be investigated and adjudicated to the fullest extent of the law,’ they wrote. ‘Neither the media nor states should rush to declare a winner in closely contested states until all legally-cast ballots have been counted and all legal challenges and required recounts have been resolved.’ Attorney General Barr said Dec. 1 that the Justice Department has not found evidence of widespread fraud that would overturn Biden’s victory.”
tl;dr: They are among the 221.
SWMBO
@Amir Khalid: So sorry to hear about Miss Bianca. She was a much loved kitty and will be missed. Peace and comfort to you and may it ease your grief.
SWMBO
@O. Felix Culpa: I had chicken pox with fever up to 106. The doctor came by every few hours to give me a shot to lower the fever. He would have put me in the hospital but *all* the hospitals were full or nearly full of Asian flu patients. He didn’t want me to catch that and he didn’t want me to spread the chicken pox to those people. They bathed me in alcohol in between doctor’s visits to help bring the fever down. This would have been around 1964-5.
SWMBO
@RandomMonster: So sorry to hear about Chuck. It’s always the noisy ones we remember by the silence. Peace and comfort to you as well.
evodevo
@cain: Talibangelicals LOATHE anything to do with statues of Mary (or the saints, for that matter). When I was clerking at the PO, the local fundagelical preacher’s wife recoiled in horror when I proffered the usual medieval art Madonna and Child Xmas stamps as one of the holiday choices…was very put out about it…”Idolatry!11!!!”
So the story about the vandalism doesn’t surprise me in the least. Intolerance is one of the fundagelical tenets…
satby
@RandomMonster: Condolences to you and yours on the loss of your Chuck kitty. Sounds like he had a long well-loved and happy life with you; that’s all they ask of us, and you gave him that joy.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@sab: Indeed, when trying to tame down feral cats, who often want to pretend humans don’t really exist and the food appears by magic, being talked to is a very good sign, since it means they are recognizing you and want to communicate (usually “feed me”).
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Steeplejack: My maternal grandmother was born in Falls Church, VA in 1887 so in my head it is always an old-fashioned town with dirt streets and horses pulling wagons. In spite of my fantasies, It was probably a busy town even them since her father worked for the railroad and was stationed there.
Another Scott
@germy: Or, they see no upside in responding to the WaPo. So they don’t. And they know their constituents mostly won’t care.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: Thanks for the report. We haven’t been out to Tyson’s in ages – maybe January? I remember it being a big deal when the LLBean store opened – what with them having trout in their little ponds by the stairs and all (the fishies didn’t last long).
We got our Xmas tree and wreaths today – the local spots are already pricked over pretty aggressively. I guess that’s good, economy wise.
Stay safe.
Cheers,
Scott.
thalarctosMaritimus
@Amir Khalid: @sab:
I was still laughing at the 2001 reference when I came across Sab’s comment. I, too, missed the news, and am really sorry to hear it.
Your love came through in your comments, and–while I always enjoy what you have to say–I especially liked the comments in which you mentioned her.
I hope that soon you will find solace in your memories of her. Thank you–terima kasih–for sharing her with us.
rikyrah
@RandomMonster:
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