Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Petty moves from a petty man.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

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

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy Hanukkah!

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy Hanukkah!

by | 224 Comments

This post is in: ,


(h/t commentor NotMax)

A candle or eight, in this season, is never amiss.

Speaking of lights in the darkness…


… 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.

Reader Interactions

224Comments

  1. 1.

    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.

  6. 6.

    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.

  14. 14.

    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.

  18. 18.

    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.

  19. 19.

    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.

  21. 21.

    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.

  25. 25.

    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.

  26. 26.

    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.

  27. 27.

    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.

  32. 32.

    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 ??

  36. 36.

    rikyrah

    Thread

    On my continuing quest to understand how Mitch McConnell, who had an approval rating of 18%, managed to win reelection by 57%, I dug even deeper?The deeper I dig, the more I find the numbers out of Kentucky hard to swallow?Here's a follow up on Kentucky's election results?— Alison Greene (@GrassrootsSpeak) December 9, 2020

  39. 39.

    rikyrah

    ???

    18 States are suing, citing "unlawful & constitutionally tainted votes."Constitutionally tainted votes= Black votesThey just mad Black People voted.Despite all their voter suppression tactics, we still showed up & showed out Now they want to burn this joint to the ground!— Trust Black women *We tried to tell you* (@NicolasEdny) December 10, 2020

  41. 41.

    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!

  50. 50.

    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.

  53. 53.

    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.

  57. 57.

    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.

  59. 59.

    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.

  61. 61.

    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

  62. 62.

    Brachiator

    The Biden White House will have a private contractor provide “disinfectant misting services” to clear the air of lingering droplets after Trump moves out and before Biden moves in

    Okay, this may take care of all the bullshit that Trump spewed. What are they going to do about the Coronavirus?

  63. 63.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Sorry, but with everything Trump is pulling, we shouldn’t be endorsing the same game.

    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.

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Love the video.

    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)

  65. 65.

    germy

    VIDEO: Trump tells the crowd at the Hanukkah party that with the help of “certain very important people, if they have wisdom and if they have courage, we are going to win this election.” — remarks followed with loud chants of “four more years.” pic.twitter.com/FjCyFGOqPC

    — Jacob Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) December 10, 2020

    I can’t imagine someone wearing a yarmulke and chanting Four More Years! But there it is.

  66. 66.

    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.

  67. 67.

    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.

  69. 69.

    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.

  72. 72.

    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.

  73. 73.

    Aleta

    @germy:  From your link:

    Trump spoke for 6 minutes. Only mention about Hanukkah was at start when he said, “I want to wish everyone a very Happy Hanukkah.” The rest was about the election.

    So put me in your will and a check in the mail to me today…  (s)

  75. 75.

    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.

  78. 78.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    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.

    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.

  80. 80.

    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.

  82. 82.

    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.

  86. 86.

    rikyrah

    Cobb County, Georgia will add two more locations for the final week of early voting in the Senate runoff races after voting and civil rights advocates criticized changes they said would harm Black and Latino voters' access to the polls. t.co/MPyqnItLqx— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 10, 2020

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    Thread

    Watching the President-elect formally nominate Lloyd Austin, III as his Secretary of Defense was pretty emotional for me. I never thought I would see a Black person nominated to be the Secretary of Defense. Working for DoD, I never had a Black boss & rarely had Black co-workers.— Meg K. Guliford (@mkguliford) December 10, 2020

  91. 91.

    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.

  92. 92.

    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.

  93. 93.

    Jeffro

    @germy: with the help of “certain very important people, if they have wisdom and if they have courage, we are going to win this election”

    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.

  94. 94.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Baud:

    That’s weirdly backward. Crazies want to take the vaccine and are afraid because the FAA won’t let them?

    Yes, I experienced some mental whiplash reading through the commentary. I guess “crazy” is not consistent.

  95. 95.

    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.

  96. 96.

    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.)

  97. 97.

    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.

  100. 100.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax:

    BTW, you know who is under obligation to remove the concrete helipad installed while he occupied the presidency.

    Can it accommodate a rocket? Let’s fire all of this traitorous orange trash into the Sun.

  103. 103.

    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.

  105. 105.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Can it accommodate a rocket? Let’s fire all of this traitorous orange trash into the Sun.

    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.

  108. 108.

    germy

    Extra special appreciation for my son Andrew’s loving care, my friend and co-host Dr. Maria encouraging me to get the right treatment and @realdonaldtrump for his advice, support and friendship. He’s not only a great President, he’s a good friend. t.co/5Dz0nCaZNH

    — Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) December 10, 2020

    The “right treatment” and “support” here includes access to drugs that are not available to most of the general public and consultation with the White House physician. t.co/ATCe3AQVwU

    — Anthony Zurcher (@awzurcher) December 10, 2020

     

    “…the antibody treatments are so scarce that officials in Utah have developed a ranking system to determine who is most likely to benefit from the drugs, while Colorado is using a lottery system…[b/c] giving the powerful access was patently unfair.” t.co/Om8fbLny6K

    — Matthew Wynia (@MatthewWynia) December 10, 2020

  109. 109.

    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.

  111. 111.

    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.

  113. 113.

    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.

  114. 114.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    I was reading yesterday about an organized plot afoot to remake the GOP in the post-Trump era as the party of working people.

    They should call it “Compassionate Conservatism.”

  118. 118.

    Another Scott

    Lee Highway to be renamed for Mildred and Richard Loving, the Virginia couple in the 1967 case by which the U.S. Supreme Court struck state bans on marriage by interracial couples

    — Brian Devine (@briandevine) December 10, 2020

    Good, good.

    (Lee Highway is US-29 in Arlington, VA, and continues west.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  119. 119.

    Aleta

    @rikyrah:  Here’s one reason IMO  (includes Collins and Rs who kept their seats):

     (Aug 10, 2020)   STAT’s examination focused on 23 of the biggest drug makers and the two major trade associations: PhRMA  and BIO.  It includes a series of data visualizations that map the pharmaceutical industry’s spending and the lawmakers who’ve accepted its PAC donations.  [One map illustrating this is at the link.]  Pfizer’s PAC has been the most active, sending 548 checks to various lawmakers and other industry groups.

     

    Washington has responded with clear financial rewards for that work. (… )  A recent proposal from Senate Republicans would award BARDA, an agency largely tasked with funding drug companies’ Covid-19 efforts, an additional $20 billion — 14 times more money than it was allocated last year.

     

    
The (drug) industry’s congressional spending is also an attempt to avert something of a political armageddon in 2020:  If Democrats take control of the Senate and Biden defeats President Trump, Congress would be poised to enact unprecedented reforms to the way Americans pay for prescription drugs…. Democrats in the House have already advanced legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and … to cap U.S. prices based on what pharmaceutical companies charge for medicines in other countries. Biden, despite his reputation as a political moderate and an industry ally, has also campaigned on an aggressive drug pricing platform.

    “Big Pharma is trying to buy maintenance of the rigged status quo,” Ben Wakana, the executive director of the advocacy group Patients for Affordable Drugs Now, said when asked about STAT’s analysis. “The breadth of these contributions shows drug corporations have no intention of doing anything to lower their prices — they are lavishing millions in campaign contributions to protect their power to dictate high prices for prescription drugs.”

     

    Twenty-three of the 25 drug companies or trade group PACs in STAT’s survey contributed to Sen. Mitch McConnell…. The drug industry has showered $197,386 on McConnell this cycle, more than any other lawmaker. Its PACs have also thrown more than $100,000 each to five other Republican senators up for reelection, many of whom are seen as industry allies: Sens. Thom Tillis NC, Bill Cassidy LA, Cory Gardner CO, John Cornyn TX, (and) Steve Daines of MT. 
… 
(T)he race for Senate in 2020 represents something of a nightmare scenario for drug companies.

     

    “They seem to target officials that were sitting on key health care committees, so the Energy and Commerce and the Ways and Means committees, the Finance Committee in the Senate,” said Olivier Wouters, a professor at the London School of Economics who this year published a two-decade analysis of pharmaceutical campaign spending. “They appear to be giving this money quite strategically.”

    McConnell has expressed little interest in pursuing drug pricing legislation in the past four years — so much that he has ignored a major, bipartisan proposal that passed the Senate Finance Committee, declining to advance it to the Senate for a vote. In 2019, Cornyn, at drug lobbyists’ behest, softened patent legislation aimed at lowering drug prices. Tillis is a staunch industry ally who represents major biotech and drug manufacturing interests in NC, and who has authored intellectual property legislation supported by drug companies. 
… 
… 
The campaign finance landscape in 2020 paints an increasingly clear picture of the pharmaceutical industry’s view: Now, perhaps more than ever, it is Republicans who will support their agenda in Congress.

    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.

  121. 121.

    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.

  126. 126.

    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.

  129. 129.

    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.

  130. 130.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker: 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.

    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?

  132. 132.

    germy

    @Jeffro:  I have no doubt they will offer piddly little tax “credits” and various health care “incentives”

    No, those are the Democrats.

     

    [DUCKS]

  134. 134.

    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.

  135. 135.

    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.

  137. 137.

    mrmoshpotato

    While the Trump humpers are assclowning around…

    As we’re down to horseshit anyway, I will ask that the Maryland Attorney General fire up the office copier and sue the balls off Texas for the 1971 theft of the Washington Senators, for those clowny-ass, late ’70s Astro uniforms and for letting the Fabulous Thunderbirds break up.— David Simon (@AoDespair) December 10, 2020

  143. 143.

    J R in WV

    @Baud:

    @rikyrah:

    Sorry, but with everything Trump is pulling, we shouldn’t be endorsing the same game.

    Baud, you don’t think there’s a real difference between actual election fraud and fake voter fraud? ‘Cause I do.

  144. 144.

    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.]

  145. 145.

    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.

  147. 147.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Jeffro:

    He really thinks that his peeps on SCOTUS are going to overturn the election because of that Texas + 18 suit?

    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:

    Maybe Bolsonaro has him swinging from his heels

    I hated Greenwald before it was cool, but Christ almighty, dude.

  148. 148.

    J R in WV

    @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.

    OK, JAFD, this is really funny, thanks!!!

  149. 149.

    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.

  150. 150.

    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.

  151. 151.

    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.

  153. 153.

    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!

  154. 154.

    Chyron HR

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I hated Greenwald before it was cool, but Christ almighty, dude.

    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.

  156. 156.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I have a rock that repels tigers.

    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.”

  157. 157.

    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…”

  160. 160.

    Jeffro

    @Jeffro: just skimmed through the article Betty referenced and sure enough:

    “Hawley and Rubio’s ‘pro-worker conservatism’ is almost certain to end up more Bovard than Cass – all sound and fury, signifying slightly larger child tax credits”

    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?

  162. 162.

    Chief Oshkosh

    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:

    Mind you, plenty of crazy pilots out there.

     

    Hey! I resemble that remark!

  163. 163.

    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.

  164. 164.

    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.

  169. 169.

    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.”

  170. 170.

    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.

  171. 171.

    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

  174. 174.

    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.

  175. 175.

    J R in WV

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    @Baud:

    That’s weirdly backward. Crazies want to take the vaccine and are afraid because the FAA won’t let them?

    Yes, I experienced some mental whiplash reading through the commentary. I guess “crazy” is not consistent.

    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!!!

  178. 178.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    there is too much of a supply from way to many pushers and the addicts need bigger and bigger fixes

    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.

  182. 182.

    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…

  186. 186.

    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.

  187. 187.

    artem1s

    @rikyrah:

    But invite someone from every religion in the Democratic Party tent to do a blessing.

    amen. that place is in need a really good smudging.

  189. 189.

    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.

  191. 191.

    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

  192. 192.

    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.

  193. 193.

    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…

  194. 194.

    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

  196. 196.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WaterGirl:

    The woman for Defense didn’t get that post (I forget her name) and males are up for the remaining ones.

    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.

  197. 197.

    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.

  198. 198.

    Woodrow/asim

    @SFAW: Jeri Ryan’s going to be there?

    Although it was 100% inadvertent and quite a painful situation for her, Mz. Ryan is –indirectly — how we got Senator, and thus President, Obama.

  200. 200.

    WhatsMyNym

    @Matt McIrvin:

    …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,…

    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.

  202. 202.

    rikyrah

    CNN SCOTUS reporter @Arianedevogue reports close friends of Justices Samuel Alito & Clarence Thomas— lawyer Carter Phillips and John Danforth—have filed a brief in the TX election case arguing that AG Paxton's positions "make a mockery of federalism and separation of powers."— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) December 10, 2020

  203. 203.

    rikyrah

    Maybe the DSA should just suck it up and bend the knee.We're never going to believe Socialists are the real Democrats, so they're not going to take shit over.If they engage in a hostile takeover, we won't vote for that shit. They can't win unless they fall in line.— ? Neera Tanden Is Not Your Mommy, Commie.? (@RealKHiveQueenB) December 10, 2020

  205. 205.

    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.”

  207. 207.

    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…

  208. 208.

    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”?

  209. 209.

    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.

  210. 210.

    Another Scott

    Here, so TaMara doesn’t cut me.

    Nobody could have predicted…

    Reuters:

    LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday there was “a strong possibility” Britain and the EU would fail to strike a trade deal, but vowed to do whatever he could to avoid a tumultuous split in three weeks.

    The European Union and Britain are at loggerheads over fishing rights, economic fair play and dispute settlement, despite months of talks on a new deal to cover trade from Jan. 1 when the United Kingdom finally exits the bloc’s orbit.

    The two sides have set a deadline of Sunday to find agreement and prevent a chaotic break.

    After a meeting with his senior ministers, Johnson said they had agreed the treaty on the table did not work for Britain.

    “We need to be very, very clear there’s now a strong possibility, strong possibility that we will have a solution that’s much more like an Australian relationship with the EU, than a Canadian relationship with the EU,” Johnson said.

    Australia, unlike Canada, has no comprehensive trade deal with the EU, leaving its trade mostly subject to tariffs. Johnson uses the comparison to suggest a deal is not necessary, though Australia has only a fraction of Britain’s trade links to Europe.

    “I do think it’s vital that everybody now gets ready for that Australian option,” Johnson said.

    Under such a scenario Britain would see trade barriers imposed with the EU, its main economic partner, in just three weeks.

    […]

    (Emphasis added.)

    So much whingeing winning.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  211. 211.

    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.

  212. 212.

    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.

  214. 214.

    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.

  215. 215.

    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)!

  217. 217.

    rikyrah

    @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.

     

    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?

  219. 219.

    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…”

  221. 221.

    Bill Arnold

    @Geminid:

    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.

    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: syracuse.com/politics/2020/12/blood-or-chocolate-stained-ballots-fate-decided-in-brindisi-tenney-hou…

    Tenney’s lawyers said the mark on the back of the ballot could be chocolate or blood. If it was blood, her lawyers maintained, the ballot should be disqualified because it could be used to identify the voter and violate the person’s right to a secret ballot.

  224. 224.

    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.]

Comments are closed.