(h/t commentor NotMax)
A candle or eight, in this season, is never amiss.
Speaking of lights in the darkness…
Biden plans to have the White House “meticulously sanitized” https://t.co/68TwqPJ3GF
— Blake News (@blakehounshell) December 10, 2020
https://t.co/jcUMAhHvak pic.twitter.com/WVu9QaeUyV
— counterfactual (@counterfax) December 10, 2020
… Still other changes aimed at keeping Biden and his team safe will be more cultural than logistical.
“It’ll be the polar opposite of what you’re seeing now,” said Nicole Lurie, a former HHS assistant secretary of emergency and preparedness under the Obama administration who has advised Biden’s Covid-19 response. “I think the social penalties for non-mask wearing will be great. Instead of people being ridiculed for wearing masks, they’ll be pressured in the other direction. It’ll be hard to be in a meeting and not wear a mask or social distance.”…
When Biden has given speeches introducing his top White House aides, national security team and economic advisers, the podium is sanitized between speakers. And when aides do meet in person in the transition office or with candidates for the Cabinet, they use rapid tests, temperature checks, masks and physical distancing to prevent transmission of the virus — practices they plan to implement in the cramped and poorly ventilated White House after Inauguration Day…
While the country is already seeing record levels of cases, hospitalizations and deaths heading into mid-December, Biden’s team is well aware that things could be much worse by the time of his inauguration — as colder weather drives people to gather indoors and the holidays spur people to travel and mix households.
Just as they’re stressing to the public they’ll have to keep up onerous social distancing, mask-wearing, frequent testing and remote work for several months after vaccines start to roll out, the incoming administration is preparing to do so themselves.
“We need to level with each other,” Biden said Tuesday. “We’re in a dark winter. Things may well get worse before they get better. … We didn’t get into this mess quickly, and it’ll take time to fix.”
But it will be fixed, because the grownups will be in charge now.
debbie
I love it that Biden’s being so vocal about disinfecting the White House. What a swarming mass of filth it’s been turned into. I’m even looking forward to the outraged tweets
ETA: The WH staff must be very pleased with this.
OzarkHillbilly
Not here in Misery they won’t.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Misery has to wait for the adult trickle down effect to reach it.
mrmoshpotato
Sweep for Russkie bugs, and burn the couch Kellyanne Conjob was kneeling on.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: That would be the older adult trickle down effect.
Punchy
How many states threaten seccession (sp?) by 01Feb? I’ll put the O/U at 4.5. Theres 10s of millions who simply cannot believe Trumps not going to be sworn in, so Biden as pres is going to be a legit shock for a shit-ton of people. State legys will need to appease the butthurt with calls to secede, methinks.
Cervantes
Let them secede then.
NotMax
Chappy Chanukah.
And while (more of less) on the subject, Jews in Space.
;)
Frankensteinbeck
@Punchy:
I don’t know. It would be interesting to compare it to how many threatened secession under Obama.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@mrmoshpotato: just for fun, Biden should fly in some Яussian escorts to pee on Dump’s bed.
Gin & Tonic
@Cervantes: Wasn’t there some disagreement about that back in the 1860’s?
The Oracle of Solace
Biden plans to have the White House “meticulously sanitized” is perhaps the most symbolic headline (and action) for marking the end of the Trump Regime.
mrmoshpotato
@Cervantes:
Stateless jackals will be welcome to move to the United States from Trumptrashland.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Punchy:
This is my fear as well.
One of the goals of an earlier stated Russian plot was a fantastical goal to affect US territorial integrity.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: People can learn from their mistakes.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@NotMax:
mrmoshpotato
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: No no. He should send the Russkie streetwalkers to Mar-a-Trasho to pee on Dump’s cheeseburgers.
Punchy
@Frankensteinbeck: I just dont think back then there were so many people living in a completely different universe. They hated Obama, but they understood he was Pres. Today, I have a neighbor who actually believes Trump won and has a 2nd term awating. When their reality crashes out, it’s going to be so…..fugly.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
I’m also glad that Biden is being absolutely straight that things are still going to be tough for a while. There is a bit of a (quite understandable) tendency* to think that everything is magically going to flip for the better at 12:01 pm on 1/20/21. Some things will, but people are still going to get sick/die for many weeks, there are still going to be a lot of annoying protocols to comply with, and of course god knows what booby-trap fuckery the Trumpers will have left in their wake government-wide that may cause great mischief.
All that said, I’m still looking forward with eagerness and joy to that moment 41 days 4 hours 0 minutes from now.
*Not so much here at BJ; we’re pretty clear eyed about what lies ahead.
Immanentize
@NotMax: It is comforting to know that however you spell Hanukah, you are correct!
schrodingers_cat
The ? ? knows his audience well. He knows how to scare white people. His scare tactics don’t work so well on those he classifies as the other.
Spanky
@Immanentize: And Qadaffy!
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Lucky for Misery, I understand that Biden intends to end the practice of ceaseless leaking.
Immanentize
@Spanky: How many derivatives of the word “fuck” are there? More than 112, I guess.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@OzarkHillbilly:
And not for the foreseeable future. Ten years ago I used to say that as the wingnuts in the state finally, effectively took over, that they’d try to Out Kansas Kansas in the RWNJ department.
Sad to say, they’ve accomplished that goal and then some.
Man am I glad I’m no longer there.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I anticipate that the people who resist mask mandates and deny the severity of COVID will be blaming Biden for deaths and the severity of shutdowns/mask mandates come January 21, 2020.
NotMax
BTW, you know who is under obligation to remove the concrete helipad installed while he occupied the presidency.
Color me skeptical about that obligation being honored, especially not on his dime. Let the ensuing lawsuits against him flow like wine.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Wag
@Immanentize:
Biden intends to end the
practice ofneed for ceaseless leaking.Fixed
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Even if everything were instantly solved, they’d invent something to blame Biden for.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
rikyrah
Not only clean the White House within an inch of its life..
But invite someone from every religion in the Democratic Party tent to do a blessing.
Not joking ??
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Agree.
rikyrah
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Uh huh ?
Baud
@rikyrah:
Biden is Catholic. He should do an exorcism.
rikyrah
Thread
HinTN
@NotMax: It makes me happy that more than one dreidel has been spun in space.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Sorry, but with everything Trump is pulling, we shouldn’t be endorsing the same game.
rikyrah
???
Immanentize
@rikyrah: There may not be enough sage stick in the land to smudge it clear of taint.
marklar
Get a puppy for Hanukkah, and experience the reverse-Hanukkah miracle!
Your kids will promise to walk it 8 times per week, but they will only do so once!
Chag Sameiach l’kulam!
debbie
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
And spellcheck recognizes none of them.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@marklar:
Pure gold.
Baud
Happy ?.
Baud
@marklar:
Congrats on the puppy!
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Agreed. It will be far worse than when that black man had the nerve to assume office. My stomach turns at that thought.
debbie
@Immanentize:
I know I haven’t reached the end of my list of equivalents.
debbie
Deleted for redundancy.
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
He’s always been like that. Freaking out the SI voters in NYC since back in the 1970s.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Love the video.
Given that it’s rich, white people who will be complaining about the helipad, maybe it really will be removed.
I can’t believe it’s still so long until January 20.
Amir Khalid
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Yes, but in the original Arabic there is only one way to spell his name.
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: SI?
cmorenc
I hope the “disinfecting” of the White House includes a thorough sweep by the NSA/CIA of any illicit surveillance bugs the previous occupant left behind, either on purpose or planted surreptitiously by the Russians during visits.
germy
Baud
@germy: ?
Baud
@cmorenc: I’m sure it will.
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: Why do you think Hawley is out there saying he wants stimulus checks in the COVID relief bill? I’m cynical enough to believe it’s just an excuse he’ll use to vote no on a bill he doesn’t really want anyway.
Oh, and our useless AG wrote a letter for that insane Texas suit. Not a bit surprised.
Chief Oshkosh
@BaudBothsiderism, Baud? Well, it’s never too early to start your next presidential campaign.
;)
SFAW
@rikyrah:
I don’t think McGrath was ever going to win, but the whole idea of “Rethugs screaming about Dem vote/voter fraud is just misdirection/projection” has been woefully un(der)examined. It would probably would far less fuckery to flip votes spread out across multiple unsecure precincts (for downticket races) than it took for the Russians (if they did) to do that to Hillary in 2016.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
Staten Island
SFAW
@rikyrah:
Well, those states probably counted each Black vote as being worth 1.67* times what they should be. That’s the Old White Guy Usurper’s margin right there.
*In case it wasn’t obvious, 1.67 = 5/3
Brachiator
Okay, this may take care of all the bullshit that Trump spewed. What are they going to do about the Coronavirus?
SFAW
@Baud:
Big difference between the thread linked and the lies promulgated by the Murderer-in-Chief and his minions. Including the recent “statistical analysis” (from the Traitors) purportedly “proving” that the chances of Biden legitimately winning the swing states was 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000 (as in quadrillion).
And, by the way, I would expect that part of their strategery was to poison the well for others (i.e., Dems) with legitimate beefs/questions about possible fuckery. Maybe not a large part, because Trump is a moron, but still not unreasonable to consider.
SiubhanDuinne
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’ve watched it easily a dozen times since it was released a few days ago. It never fails to charm me.
I think that video is going to be an instant holiday classic, to be hauled out of storage and shared year after year for generations to come. It’s for Jewish kids, and Christian kids, and little Muslims, and baby Wiccans, and infant atheists. I can’t imagine anyone* who wouldn’t love it.
*(Except you know who)
germy
I can’t imagine someone wearing a yarmulke and chanting Four More Years! But there it is.
Matt McIrvin
@SiubhanDuinne: It sure seems to me that a very large fraction of the US population is going to refuse to get vaccinated, and they’re the same people who are least likely to distance and wear masks. On the bright side, that does mean more for the rest of us.
SFAW
@Soprano2:
Does Hawley want it because Trump wants it? I figure the Grifter-in-Chief wants one-time checks — rather than extended unemployment — so that he can talk about “his” checks that each recipient gets.
debbie
Again with the redundancy.
Baud
@SFAW:
I didn’t read every tweet but when the first few were talking about how the vote totals made no sense. That sounds like the type of thing Trump people are pulling, even if her analysis isn’t as ridiculous (and how could it be as ridiculous?).
I will never be shocked to learn the GOP cheats, but I don’t want a conspiracy theory culture to take hold on our side, as it sometimes has in the past.
JAFD
@schrodingers_cat: SI = Staten Island (which we Do Not want to secede from NY and join with us in New Jersey. Def-eye-nite-lee.)
Baud
@Matt McIrvin: Yep. Vaccinate decent people first.
debbie
@JAFD:
I saw a couple of videos yesterday of chicks from Jersey roaming empty malls and bemoaning the theft of the Presidency. It was horrifying. They’re worse than I remembered.
Aleta
@germy: From your link:
So put me in your will and a check in the mail to me today… (s)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Matt McIrvin:
I had the same thought. Not that I’m proud of it.
JAFD
@Baud: Remember, no matter whom you have to stiff this month, first bill to pay is the one from your exorcist.
You don’t want to be repossessed.
Baud
@debbie:
It’s because there’s more video of them out there thanks to the Internet.
Baud
@JAFD:
Jeez, Dad.
SFAW
@Baud:
Understood. I don’t think we’re anywhere close to that. Of course, were any Dem anywhere on the face of the earth to investigate Rethug voter fraud even a little bit, the MSM would both-sides it to death.
SFAW
@Baud:
Nicely done.
OzarkHillbilly
@Soprano2: I think Hawley read his mail and recognized that 95% of his constituents were very happy to have an extra $1200 magically appear in their accounts and the other 5% never noticed because their tax cuts were far greater.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
“The power of Christ compels you!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNnrWJhZ7XM
Chief Oshkosh
@Punchy: Up to last night, I would’ve said that your statement was a little (only a little) overwrought. However, last night I attended a medical/safety/regulatory webinar for pilots. A recurring question from the audience was, to paraphrase, “why is the FAA saying that it will rescind certification of pilots who get a Covid vaccination?” The speakers all said that they’d never heard of that. The moderator mentioned that some audience members asking the question referenced an aviation website article that’d come out earlier this week. So, I googled and found the article, which of course said no such thing.
What the article said was that the FAA would look askance at airline pilots participating in clinical trials of non-FDA-approved drugs, including vaccines. This has been the FAA stance on non-approved substances since…forever. It obviously does not apply once a vaccine is approved. However, the very first reader comment at the end of the article was “oh noes! now I have to decide between surviving a pandemic by getting vaccinated versus losing my pilot certificate and thus my job!” Hysteria ensued in several follow-up posts, even after more level-headed readers with better reading comprehension walked the morons through what the article actually stated. Lots of bashing the government, “muh freedumbs are fixin’ ta be snatched away — agin!” and other asinine things, including anti-vaxxers checking in to give balance from the opposite end of the cray-cray spectrum.
So what happens two days later? A regulatory safety webinar that should’ve been button-down, almost ho-hum, is chock full of the drooling idiots bitching about something else that the federal government is screwing them over about.
After that very tiny taste of how a single article with reader commentary can amplify the lunacy, I can now readily see how millions of total fucking morons truly think that Mango Mussolini is going to be re-inaugurated in January. The complete lack of reasoning is pathetic.
I’m sorry your neighbor is one of the TFMs. Good luck.
zhena gogolia
@Amir Khalid:
Trying to explain transliteration is a lost cause.
zhena gogolia
@cmorenc:
It will be like the “new” US Embassy building in Moscow.
OzarkHillbilly
@JAFD: Ouch.
rikyrah
Chief Oshkosh
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Sadly, at our current kill rate, there’ll be about 126,000 more Cold deaths in the US by then.
Spanky
@Chief Oshkosh: The thing I take away from your comment is that a lot of pilots have poor reading comprehension. I am not comforted by that datum.
rikyrah
Thread
Jeffro
@germy: that’s a keeper! LOL
Baud
@Chief Oshkosh:
That’s weirdly backward. Crazies want to take the vaccine and are afraid because the FAA won’t let them?
Although it suggests Biden should ban Trump supporters from getting the vaccine if he really wants to achieve a 100% inoculation rate.
Chief Oshkosh
@Spanky: Poor reading skills, lack of critical thinking, and just plain “let’s mash down on the red panic button!” are all things I thought I’d never experience in a (virtual) room full of pilots. It makes me wonder if some humans just check their brains at the virtual door on their way in to the virtual meeting.
Jeffro
He really thinks that his peeps on SCOTUS are going to overturn the election because of that Texas + 18 suit? (or any other reason, for that matter)
Let him stay delusional, I don’t care. But for pete’s sake, media, keep pounding on the GOP all the way from now ’til Inauguration Day on how cowardly they are to not acknowledge Biden’s historic win.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud:
Yes, I experienced some mental whiplash reading through the commentary. I guess “crazy” is not consistent.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I note that Greenwald (who is on the Hunter Biden beat lately, when he’s not defending the fomentation of stochastic terrorism as “free speech”) hasn’t tweeted for 13 hours now.
Maybe Bolsonaro has him swinging from his heels in some filthy Brazilian jail while guards beat him with a hose. One can only hope.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Tough luck for people who can’t get vaccinated, for whatever reason, especially if they’re in plague-rat-infested areas. (At first, that category is going to include all children.)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Jeffro:
I’m hoping that Roberts is so eager to NOT go down in history as Roger Taney that he’s lobbying hard for a per Curia opinion drafted by him that dismisses the suit while scolding the lies as total horseshit.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
I had assumed most children are decent people.
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
If they wanted to interfere, they would have done it before now.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax:
Can it accommodate a rocket? Let’s fire all of this traitorous orange trash into the Sun.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
A good way for Elon Musk to rehabilitate his image.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah:
Satanists in the House!
Another Scott
@Baud: +1
1) Moscow Mitch has been horrible in his polls for decades but always wins because KY.
2) She (the Twitterer) seems to think that official party registration is important. It isn’t (lots of people don’t bother to change it).
3) Also, AFAIK, all of the ES&S machines (like all the other machines) have paper backup. It’s really hard to change those…
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Starship went boom on landing yesterday. :(
Chief Oshkosh
@mrmoshpotato:
Better yet, let’s get Elon to use it as the destination pad for his next Starship “landing.” Given yesterday’s outcome, if the timing is right wrt to holiday visitors, we could solve a lot of the world’s problems in one fell swoop.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: I have exorcised the demons.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: Sports Illustrated.
germy
Geminid
@Another Scott: I read that eastern Kentucky especially is full of people who are registered Democrats but who vote republican. I bet a comparison of Beshear’s vote totals with McGrath and Biden’s would be interesting. A different set of voters, but not too different.
mrmoshpotato
@Matt McIrvin: They’ll be free to die from what will literally be a preventable disease by then.
Betty Cracker
@Soprano2: I was reading yesterday about an organized plot afoot to remake the GOP in the post-Trump era as the party of working people. Hawley, Rubio and other ambitious pols are in on the deal. They’ve got a think tank and everything!
They’re trying to capitalize on Trump’s success with rural whites and his alleged gains among black and brown men in 2020. It’s an effort to camouflage the party’s true purpose, which is to deregulate and lower taxes for corporations.
They’ll make noise about stimulus funds and child tax credits and such. Probably nothing else will come of it.
Omnes Omnibus
Agreed.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Punchy: This is why those states (sort of) joined the Texas lawsuit – there of course isn’t enough support even on the right for succession, but there are enough crazys to make the lives of GOP elected officials hell when Biden is sworn in. So the point of the suite is so the Republicans can blame SCOUTS for not overturning the election. Buck passing.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
They should call it “Compassionate Conservatism.”
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Your proposal is acceptable.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@rikyrah: Interesting. Lindsey Graham is another one whose election victory miracle seems quite unlikely.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: You probably already know this but he’s moving to Texas because CA is just horrible.
Another Scott
Good, good.
(Lee Highway is US-29 in Arlington, VA, and continues west.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Aleta
@rikyrah: Here’s one reason IMO (includes Collins and Rs who kept their seats):
The article compares donations to Dem leaders. Dems do receive money, though much less.
But when I think of the size of the profits at stake, especially during the pandemic (for ex. in setting pricing on testing alone), I can imagine the desperation among investors of all kinds to avoid regulation. Secretive money and who knows other influences.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Fixed.
Anya
@The Oracle of Solace: They should put all the permanent staff on quarantine. The assholes currently infecting the White House are so cavalier about people’s health so they’ve all being exposed to someone positive.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Fixed?
different-church-lady
@rikyrah:
You mean exorcism, right?
Keithly
@mrmoshpotato: It’s more energy efficient to fire trash away from the Sun. Orbital mechanics can sometimes be counterintuitive.
germy
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
He must have slept late. He’s been tweeting like crazy for the past few minutes.
“Hunter Biden Hunter Biden Hunter Biden” etc.
Anya
@rikyrah: This is a garbage thread. It’s similar to what Trump is doing. McConnell won because Kentuckians would rather vote for a guy they despise than a democrat. It’s that simple. It’s like when the WV democratic primary voters in 2012 voted for a guy who was serving prison time rather than their party’s leader and the POTUS.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: It is certainly more accurate, but it’s not what he said.
debbie
@Baud:
The accent alone chilled my blood.
Kathleen
@debbie: It will be cleansed of droplets and I hope any other forms of “lets” will be disposed of as well (I’m thinking stench). God only knows what energies are lurking. Not enough holy water or sage to dispatch the Nazi/Rethug/Trump infestation. Biden’s Catholic – maybe he could engage an exorcist.
Jeffro
And also to lower the prominence of the (much deserved) white nationalist tag, post-trumpov.
I have no doubt they will offer piddly little tax “credits” and various health care “incentives” that don’t come close to the difference that could be made with some truly progressive tax rates (including taxes on capital gains and financial transactions). But sure, GOP, try and ‘market’ your way out of this mess…
Where was the article, Betty?
germy
@Kathleen:
Biden’s dogs and cat will chase away any lingering drumpf spirits.
(And maybe they’ll find an extra fake Melania or two)
germy
No, those are the Democrats.
[DUCKS]
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: “And such small portions!”
Elizabelle
@Chief Oshkosh: Do you think the first commenter who wildly misdirected subsequent commenters about COVID vaccines was on the level? I am wondering if that pilots’ health certification forum was open to any lunatic that looked in, and that it was not just pilots in the comments.
Mind you, plenty of crazy pilots out there. But … I have my doubts. Could have had some trolls in there too.
Will you share the thread? Would be interesting to look at something like that, after the fact.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@germy:
Damn. There goes that happy dream.
I’n cheered to notice, though, that the engagement on his tweets has really crashed of late.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: Is Lee-Jackson Highway next? There’s one of those too, I used to live there.
mrmoshpotato
While the Trump humpers are assclowning around…
Jeffro
@Another Scott:
That’s awesome on its own merits, and doubly so for the wingnut heads that are exploding ;)
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Oh, so NOW you want LITERAL accuracy?
germy
mrmoshpotato
@germy: No assclown, no assclown, you’re the assclown! SAD!
germy
A blitz.
J R in WV
@Baud:
Baud, you don’t think there’s a real difference between actual election fraud and fake voter fraud? ‘Cause I do.
SFAW
@germy:
Reminds me of “Kearsarge” by Hudson & Landry:
“How are radishes as a crop?”
“Oh, they’re a loser.”
“Well, then, why do you grow them?”
“Oh, you got to.”
“Why?”
“Well, to keep the wolverines away, dummy!”
“There are no wolverines around here!”
“You see, I told you they work!”
[The above, as it’s from memory, may contain errors.]
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: Levitz in NY Mag here. I read Rubio’s tweets since he’s unfortunately one of my two shitty senators and is kind of a weathervane for establishment Republican political strategy. I noticed when he started singing a different tune after the election since he’s as subtle as a rebranding document. Some of them are at least trying this new messaging campaign on for size.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: I have a rock that repels tigers.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jeffro:
At this point he’s worried and desperate, but yes, he has always assumed this was his ace-in-the-hole. It matches his entire worldview. You can say much the same for Republican voters, although in their case it’s much more based on desperation. They see the world as Us vs Them, so it’s natural that a conservative court would take their side. Facts are irrelevant. But most of them aren’t nearly as far into that as Trump, who feels he owns three justices outright. What they are is desperate to the point of psychosis because they need so bad for the thrill ride of watching Them suffer to not be over.
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I hated Greenwald before it was cool, but Christ almighty, dude.
J R in WV
@JAFD:
OK, JAFD, this is really funny, thanks!!!
Ruckus
@Immanentize:
I believe that the actual word fuck is pretty much known around the world. Sure there are linguistic variations, but it seems most people, no matter how they spell/say it know the english variation. It’s like the most known english word, I’d imagine
And of course I’ve been helping that learning curve for most of my life.
Jeffro
@germy: no need to duck! :) It’s true.
It has gone beyond being the ‘elephant in the room’, in my opinion. Where. Are. The. Tax. Increases. On. The. Rich??? This country needs a whole lot of funds to get a WHOLE lot of shit done and everybody knows who’s got it, too.
It’s a total winner with voters, too.
Just skip the ‘wealth tax’ stuff and go with highly progressive rates on all forms of income, and bring back a serious estate tax. BOOM! “YOU get health care and YOU get roads and YOU get a raise, teachers and YOU get to catch up maintenance, DoD, and…” and so on.
Jeffro
@germy: everyone needs to go read this, it’s hysterical.
“…so that it becomes undetectable…” LOL
It’s voter fraud all the way down with these people.
cain
@SFAW:
He wants the check so that he can tell his fans to give him the check instead of cashing it.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: yeah he went after AOC for not working hard the other day…Marco Rubio, out there breaking rocks for the people from dawn ’til dusk (eyeroll)
The photo ops are going to be priceless. Can’t wait to see Josh Hawley trying to hold on to a jackhammer, or Nikki Haley cooking in a Midwest diner somewhere.
Thanks for the link btw!
Chyron HR
@Frankensteinbeck:
Hey, we’re not the ones who actively participated in the Russian conspiracy to destroy the west by putting far-right nationalists like Bolsonaro in power. That was (checks notes) Glenn Greenwald.
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: @Chyron HR: Viciousness and cruelty aren’t confined to the right.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Um, you mean Lions, right? Although I’ve never heard of Aaron Rodgers — Hall-of-Famer-to-be though he may be — referred to as “a rock.”
Jeffro
@Frankensteinbeck: I think they want very badly to keep that good feeling of having a white supremacist president* in the WH.
“whew…I don’t have a good job, the local schools suck, my grandma died of Covid…but with trumpov in the WH, at least I don’t have to worry about being in a bad way/at the bottom or anything…”
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: We don’t really need a rock for that.
Patricia Kayden
Jeffro
@Jeffro: just skimmed through the article Betty referenced and sure enough:
Hey maybe they’ll also let us borrow from our own future Social Security benefits to cover prescription drug costs, wouldn’t that be awesome?
SFAW
@Patricia Kayden:
Jeri Ryan’s going to be there? OK, I’m packing my bags.
Chief Oshkosh
https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/faa-reviewing-whether-pilots-can-take-covid-vaccine/?MailingID=%CAMPAIGNID%
If the lead-off comment in the thread was intended to troll the readers, it achieved its intent. A lot of attendees at the webinar a few days later were citing this article as the basis for their questions to the expert panel. The last (and long) diatribe about how Covid is actually less worse than the flu is just the cherry on top.
Upon re-reading it in the cold light of day, it still seems asinine for what should be a forum of fairly non-idiotic readers. However, I will spot them the headline, which does seem to be clickbait as it leaves out the idea of FDA approved vs unapproved
@Elizabelle:
Hey! I resemble that remark!
Gravenstone
@Cervantes: One would to think that the flaming trainwreck into a nuclear waste facility that will be Brexit might inform some of the more zealous blockheads about the dangers of crashing out of an organized community of states and going it alone. Instead they’ll probably be encouraged, maybe even get the bright spark to rejoin Mother England. //
Of course, they’d never give it a moment’s thought. Those grievances aren’t going to express themselves after all.
Frankensteinbeck
@Omnes Omnibus:
And we should call it out and discourage it on our own side – politely, because we respect each other as good-faith arguers whose anger is Hella understandable. ‘What if Greenwald has been executed’ porn is just too far.
@Jeffro:
Yes. I think of it exactly like a drug addiction. They’ve been getting regular highs for four years, and no, no, the supply can’t have run out. There must be a mistake. The Supreme Court seems to be the last resort the base has fixed their hopes on, but it’s hard to tell when an addict will realize that it’s over.
J R in WV
@Omnes Omnibus:
My rock prevents infestation by elephants… I wish I could find one that prevents republicans!
catclub
…. ok.
Elizabelle
@Chief Oshkosh: Thanks for the link. To the skies!
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: I agree with you. I just lack your patience – with both doom and violence porn aficionados.
Jeffro
Jennifer Rubin has a good piece up on the WaPo site entitled “Do Not Forget How Insane It Has Been All Along”, which lists a couple dozen of the orange moron’s worst/wackiest moments.
I mentioned a day or two ago that the Biden White House would do well to mention at each news conference, with each press release, or other appropriate times exactly what was going on in the trumpov WH on that particular day of trumpov’s presidency.
Ex: Day 93, President Biden and his team roll out an initiative to raise teacher pay across the country as well as dramatically increase the number of pre-service teachers going into teacher ed programs, to help address the nation’s growing teacher shortage. At the start, or end of the press conference, Biden’s spokesperson goes, “Oh…on Day 93 of the trumpov presidency*, Mr. trumpov was out golfing for the 43rd time at one of his own properties. He also tweeting eighteen times that day.”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@germy: “The proof there is a conspiracy is because no one can find any proof of a conspiracy” argument, sounds like the Flat Eartherism has gone mainstream on the Right now.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Frankensteinbeck:Using your druggie metaphor I would argue the real problem isn’t the adicts are about to lose their pusher with Trump, it’s there is too much of a supply from way to many pushers and the addicts need bigger and bigger fixes to the point they are now at the point of overdose
Spanky
@mrmoshpotato: Nobody gives a shit about the Senators. Now if you’re talking about the MD AG suing the balls off of Indiana for stealing the Colts, …
Steve in the ATL
@SFAW: works on Bears too!
Miss Bianca
@Chief Oshkosh: I’m starting to wonder whether more articles appearing in newspapers and journals online should just fucking ban reader comments. Some of them already do.
J R in WV
@Chief Oshkosh:
Reading in the comments at the article about FAA advise actually hurt my mind, and made me fear loss of my ability to think logically and rationally.
A horrible feeling, like coming down with contagious Republicanism!!!
Ksmiami
@Cervantes: Take away their funding and build a wall
SFAW
@Steve in the ATL:
and Falcons?
Frankensteinbeck
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I do agree that they have needed bigger and bigger fixes. That process is clear looking backwards the last five decades. But Trump is by far the biggest fix they’ve ever had. He started with the ‘Mexicans are rapists and murderers’ and it’s been nonstop making liberals cry since. And Hell, they’re right about that. It’s been miserable. Meanwhile, actual Nazis have been able to be out and proud with a president supporting them. This has been the biggest bigotry and assholery high (ETA – modern) conservatives have ever gotten. But Trump is on his way out, and they will get way, way less validation, way, way less of seeing their enemies suffer, under Biden. They thought they were about to crush us permanently. That high is in the process of being yanked away. Withdrawal looms, after they’ve been pushing their drug binge to the point where death by plague is fine if it validates white supremacy. They still have excuses to deny the crash is about to happen, but the crash is about to happen. They’ll cling ever more desperately to those excuses until they run out and the crash has already started.
Kathleen
@Baud: As will the media.
Just One More Canuck
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: firm but fair
Jeffro
@Miss Bianca:
they should ban them, absolutely. they add nothing whatsoever to our ‘discourse’ in this country.
Jeffro
OT: Fox News dot com headline about Susan Rice appointment (this is just the headline, mind you):
“Controversial ex-Obama adviser, tied to alleged Benghazi cover-up, tapped to lead White House Domestic Policy Council”
Even their ‘news’ division is not a ‘news’ division. Hey Fox, don’t you trust your readers to at least check out the first paragraph? LOL “Controversial” “ex-Obama” “tied to alleged Benghazi cover-up” (that last one is really three stretches in one!)
“Former UN Ambassador and National Security Advisor tapped to lead White House Domestic Policy Council” just doesn’t have that same scary ring to it, I guess…
Kathleen
@germy: Ha! Oh Lord I totes forgot about the various iterations of Worst Lady v.2.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Attorney Bialystok has determined that you can make more money with a flop than with a hit.
There’s a lot of stupid old people with checks out there….
https://mobile.twitter.com/bradheath/status/1337072291637850113
oatler.
Another blessed month-plus that Meghan McCain has been absent from The View.
Nutmeg again
A friend of mine had four kids (yes, four!) They had a Hanukkah puppy, and his name was Latke. All years ago, kids grown, pupper has moved on to better things. Puppy was loved and doted on et cet. Latke was a Bichon, so it kinda fit.
artem1s
@rikyrah:
amen. that place is in need a really good smudging.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Ha!
oh, to see Zero Mostel as Ted Cruz in Recount! The Musical!
WaterGirl
I heard on one of my podcasts last night – Lawfare –
That the reason Susan Rice couldn’t be secretary of state wasn’t Benghazi – it was that Susan Collins is still mad because Susan Rice talked about challenging Susan Collins for her seat.
These fucking people need to grow up, and Susan Collins needs to be spirited away by aliens, the friendly ones, of course.
There was also discussion of not as many women as hoped for in the cabinet. Susan Rice out because of Susan Collins, or some other reason. The woman for Defense didn’t get that post (I forget her name) and males are up for the remaining ones.
They talked about Biden going for people he has experience with and is comfortable with, but Susan Hennessey pointed out that that’s what keeps women out of upper positions. So you haven’t been there, so they aren’t as comfortable with you or have the trust that’s based on shared work experience together, so you don’t get that position.
Rinse and repeat. She’s right.
Steve in the ATL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: alternative title:
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Supreme Court
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: I’m sure that may have played a factor, but Susan Rice makes a lot of conservatives– and I would bet, behind closed doors, certain kinds of Blob Democrats (rhymes with Neon Vanetta)– lose their shit
Matt McIrvin
@Chief Oshkosh: I know YouTube is a cesspit, but it’s still particularly dismaying to look at the comments on any big-media video about COVID vaccines. 100% of the top level comments will be people saying they’re never taking the vaccine, that vaccines in general are some kind of nefarious plot, or that the pandemic is a hoax. Mentions of chemtrails, microchips, etc.
(Then there are people mocking them in the replies, but it’s a decidedly secondary thing.)
If you got your impression of the American public just from those YouTube comments, you’d say we might get 20% of Americans to get vaccinated if we’re lucky.
StringOnAStick
@SFAW: One of the tweets further along in that chain shows a county where there were more votes for Mitch than there are registered voters. Also 3 counties that Mitch has never come close to winning going very hard for him this time. Seems odd. We know the R’s project like a cineplex, so…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Steve in the ATL: I am appealing!
Cause I’m appalling!
It’s Czar Trump for everyone!
An autogolpe, tonight!
I’ll let Subaru Diane come up with lyrics that scan better
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Interesting point.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl:
Michelle Flournoy. The episode around the Afghan surge debate in ’09 seems to have left a mark on Biden, I don’t know what role Flouroy played in that. Maybe Adam has some insights.
Biden opposed it from the get-go, and the generals (McChrystal, Mullen, Petraeus) and Bob Gates tried to do an end-run around Obama by going straight to the media. I’m listening to Obama’s memoir, and he’s as low-drama as you’d expect Obama to be, but you can hear (I think) that he’s still angry about that.
Matt McIrvin
@mrmoshpotato: The thing is, in areas where these people constitute a large fraction of the population, there will still be people relying on (real) herd immunity and low virus prevalence to protect them: people with allergies or other medical issues that prevent them from getting vaccinated, etc. They’re not even going to vaccinate any children in the first wave, since the vaccine hasn’t yet been tested on children (granted they are not the most vulnerable people).
So it’s hard to frame this purely as a morality play.
Woodrow/asim
Although it was 100% inadvertent and quite a painful situation for her, Mz. Ryan is –indirectly — how we got Senator, and thus President, Obama.
Another Scott
@StringOnAStick: I assume the “more votes than registered voters” is just a variation on this:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/voter-fraud-more-votes-voters-2020/
As always – “Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence.”
Cheers,
Scott.
WhatsMyNym
@Matt McIrvin:
I’ve been watching YouTube regularly for over 5 years. I’ve commented very few times. Rarely even look at the comments.
It would be interesting to do a study of who comments on different types of media and percentage of actual watchers/readers.
rikyrah
rikyrah
rikyrah
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@rikyrah:
Pennsylvania has pulled out the heavy lumber and is clubbing Texas like a baby harp seal.
https://twitter.com/bradheath/status/1337120215340027910?s=20
Captain C
@JAFD: 1) If Staten Island ever secedes from NYC, I suspect the inbound toll on the Verrazzano will go through the roof.
2) One of author Paul Zindel’s characters described Staten Island as ‘the geographical version of a detached retina.”
Gin & Tonic
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
“Seditious abuse of the judicial process…”
I like that.
evodevo
@Anya: Yep…and don’t discount the ‘bortion/immigration/BLM vote lol – even though in the hills there are almost NO black or Hispanic residents…the Fixed News fear factor outweighs any common sense these people might have ever had…
Calouste
@Betty Cracker:
Are they going to rename themselves the “Workers Party”? Ok, that sounds a bit socialist, what about “National Republican American Workers Party”?
Dan B
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s going to be more for us of fewer doses of vaccines since the Trump administration is refusing orders from other manufacturers. It’s a plan, among many, to make Biden look bad for all of 2021. People are expecting for things to look better on 12:01 January 20 but there are an enormous cohort who believe that government can be fixed in a few months.
We should be prepared for a combo of mass disappointment and purity ponies. Sigh…*
*We’ll manage but we desperately need civics comprehension and history in a larger percentage of the citizenry.
Another Scott
Here, so TaMara doesn’t cut me.
Nobody could have predicted…
Reuters:
(Emphasis added.)
So much
whingeingwinning.Cheers,
Scott.
Dan B
@Chief Oshkosh: Yep. Humans respond rationally in their own best interest. //s
Mass marketing is only marginally effective because facts* will prevail. ///s
We need to give people more facts and better data!!! That will fix things….
Sorry you got to witness how a few well placed bots can bring out our reactive emotional foundation, and the resulting “rational- lies” to justify the feelings. Social Psychology and recent Communication research shows us how to counter the craziness.
Dan B
@Spanky: Social Psychology predicts that people will react in precisely the way these pilots have, given the right circumstances and strategic priming.
The Russians, GOP, and others have understood this for decades. Himmler knew. The ancient Greeks knew, see: rhetoric.
pamelabrown53
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Fascinating thread. Thanks for the link. We really need a new post where we can discuss this more fully.
Geminid
The NY 22nd Congressional race will not be decided for a while. The final count had former Congresswoman Claudia Tenney with a 12 vote lead over De6mo Congressman Anthony Brindisi, with at least 600 disputed ballots uncounted. Rather than rule on the disputed ballots at a hearing Monday, State Supreme Court Justice DelConte noted the many reports of irregularities in the canvass and ordered a full recount. He said it was more important to decide the race correctly “than right now.” The Tenney campaign made a singular challenge to one ballot. They pointed out a brown smudge that they said was blood, although the Brindisi campaign said it could very well have been chocolate. The Tenney people said, no , it’s blood, and since the voter could now be identified the ballot was no longer secret and had to be thrown out. Some very creative thinking.
marklar
I love that Pennsylvania used the word “seditious” in responding to Texas’ filing to disenfranchise its voters. The penalty for sedition is up to 20 years in Federal prison. Since no prison is as big as Texas, we should build a wall around it, and make Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas pay for it (I’m letting New Mexico off the hook, since their Attorneys General aren’t supporting this)!
rikyrah
@Another Scott:
I have been looking for you.
I have missed you posting.
Your signature always makes me smile :)
rikyrah
@Dan B:
You are wrong.
This isn’t about Biden.
He fully intended to cheat his way back into the Presidency.
And then, he was going to use the vaccine to PUNISH BLUE STATES.
Also, this is the reason why the COVID Task Force didn’t want to share their ‘work’ with 46’s COVID Advisory Board:
it’s worse than what Kay said about them doing no work….
they were doing work…but, it was pure EVIL.
Can you even think about being on 46’s COVID Advisory Board…and reading this phuckery?
debbie
@WaterGirl:
Isn’t the entire communications team all women? Good grief, communications is key to the success of the administration.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Another Scott:
“Because meat, produce and finished goods transported over the course of weeks will be SO much cheaper and better…”
H-Bob
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Of course that was spun to make it seem that Khadafy couldn’t spell his name or was crazy, when the different spellings were due to the Western media using different transliterations.
Bill Arnold
@Geminid:
Seriously? Link?
Anything that’s handled without gloves might have human DNA on it. This might be a way to argue that one must throw away all paper ballots, yes?
ETA here: https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2020/12/blood-or-chocolate-stained-ballots-fate-decided-in-brindisi-tenney-house-race.html
Another Scott
@rikyrah: “Like ships that pass in the night…”
:-)
Thank you!
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@debbie: They were talking cabinet-level positions. I think that’s an important distinction.
I am super pleased that the communication team is all women!
SFAW
@Woodrow/asim:
Yes, I remember. I look forward to having the opportunity to console her. [NB: To be clear, I am not making light of what she had to go through when she was married to that sick motherfucker.]