Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Let there be snark.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

He really is that stupid.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Not all heroes wear capes.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

I was promised a recession.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Monday Morning Open Thread: The Democrats Are Grownups

Monday Morning Open Thread: The Democrats Are Grownups

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The current Oval Office Squatter and his enablers, not so much…

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177Comments

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    2020 sucks more donkey ass.

    John le Carre – RIP.

    “Out of the secret world I once knew I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit,” he wrote. “First comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to the imagining, and to the desk where I’m sitting now.”

    The first book of his that I read was A Perfect Spy. In it he describes a childhood so sick and twisted that it was truly horrific to behold. At the time I wondered what kind of demented mind could even imagine such a thing. Years later I learned that there was no imagining involved. That part was autobiographical:

    “Although I’ve never been to a shrink, writing A Perfect Spy is probably what a very wise shrink would have advised me to do anyway.”

    We will not see his like again.

  6. 6.

    Matt McIrvin

    I think it’s really surprising–and this is inspired by some recent talk on LGM along these lines–that there’s been such a split between even very conservative judges appointed by Trump, and Republican politicians. I would have expected either more politicians to defect from pushing the obviously absurd line that Trump was robbed, or for the judges to be bigger party hacks and play along. But the judges seem to have some professional values that the politicians don’t.

    It’s possible that the judges realize that if they become mere organs of a dictator, they’re personally irrelevant. But then you might expect legislators to realize that too.

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    Electoral College Vote Schedule10a: NH, VT=711a: IL=2011:30a: DE, NV=912p: AZ, CT, GA, MD, NY, PA, RI, VA=1101p: MN, NM, WI=252p: CO, DC, ME, MI=313p: MA, NJ, WA=373:10p: NE=14:30p: OR=75p: CA=55 (we pass 270 here)7p: HI=4306.— Scott Dworkin (@funder) December 14, 2020

  8. 8.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I mentally gamed out the only scenario that plays out nonzero chances in his attempted autogolpe.

    1. He invokes the legal authority he handily granted himself by EO in 2018 (wingnuts are proudly saying that this kingly decree is “The Law”.

    2. He’s got “actings” in a lot of key points in DOD and DHS. He sends out some DHS/DOJ security contractors to round up recalcitrants like Milley, other chiefs who might get off the fence.

    3. Rely on Senate Rs to be sufficiently cowed to not move on him. Use his new kingly powers to stifle opposition voices.

    4. He then rules effectively by decree, hoping that most of the populace takes the view of my wife, who recently said “millions of people figure out how to live under autocracy – we’d just have to be quiet and live”.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The politicians think they’re behavior will be forgotten in short order.  And it probably will be as society begins focusing on the corporate ties of his nominee for the Deputy Assistant Undersecretary for Transportation.  Judges know that their antidemocratic behavior will not be forgotten.

  11. 11.

    The Oracle of Solace

    The Democrats have been the party of grown-ups ever since Carter asked us to put on a sweater, and it’s gotten worse ever since. The GOP threw a fit when Michelle Obama asked us to eat our vegetables.

  15. 15.

    John S.

    @Matt McIrvin: It’s really quite simple. Most of these judges don’t ever have to worry about satiating the blood lust of rabid constituents, and have pretty decent job security. The GOP politicians have to bend a knee, or end up getting primaried by some Qanon nut job waiting in the wings.

  18. 18.

    PST

    Marc Elias is pretty reliable, but I think there is still an appeal in the Wisconsin Supreme Court to worry about.

  24. 24.

    Phylllis

    Working from home this week, with the holiday break through 1/4 starting Friday. No choice, due to being on quarantine until 12/22 because of an exposure at work. No symptoms, and tested negative. I’m getting as much done here as I would at the office, as this is my least busy time of year. Don’t feel a damn bit guilty reading or watching Netflix either.

  25. 25.

    Cameron

    We should find out within the next six months if the Democrats are grownups or not.  A ‘grownup’ lesson would be that ‘actions have consequences.’  This would (in theory) lead to investigation of the misconduct of the current administration.  If we get another dose of look-forward-not-back, I’d have a hard time getting on board with the ‘grownup’ designation.

  26. 26.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Watch, on Jan 20th Dump will hold his own swearing-in ceremony in Florida and insist he’s still prezdit.

  29. 29.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Rob:

    I’m assuming that this is related to the Treasury attack, which is why I’d love Snowjob to be executed – as I’m convinced that it was a development off of the toolkit he lifted.

    I think the same penalty should apply to his co-conspirator, Greenwald.

    Were it up to me, Russian Federation SWIFT access would be finished for about 10 years as a penalty. If it were feasible, there’d be a block on any Russian packets coming through the Internet.

  33. 33.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Cameron: They will look into stuff they can fix to reestablish a functioning government.  But Dump is going to pardon everyone for everything, which will preclude criminal indictments.

  35. 35.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    Greenwald, Tracey et al are busy screaming about warmongering corporatist elitist democrats, the evils of scorning those who inspire stochastic violence from the right, the Russia probe and the crimes and sins of Hunter Biden while begging Trump for pardons for Snowjob and Asshat (Reality Winner somehow escapes their mention).

  39. 39.

    PST

    @rikyrah:  The WSJ should apologize and move on as fast as it can. This was the furthest thing imaginable from a “strategic coordinated response from the Biden campaign”. At least among my friends, especially women, the reaction was immediate and sarcastic. And since this Epstein guy is a nobody, they just call it the WSJ op-ed.

  41. 41.

    Chyron HR

    I’m still baffled that Crunty Barret’s blank notepad was meant to be a display of legal gravitas rather than complete disinterest in the proceedings.

  42. 42.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud:

    The politicians think they’re behavior will be forgotten in short order.  And it probably will be as society begins focusing on the corporate ties of his nominee for the Deputy Assistant Undersecretary for Transportation.

    Except that insisting he was robbed is going to be the centerpiece of the Trump 2024 campaign, and they’re all going to be required to agree to get reelected. This isn’t going away.

  46. 46.

    PST

    @Baud: I do worry a bit about Wisconsin. If the court there grants the relief sought and enjoins the electors there, which is unlikely but not totally implausible given the split among justices there and their ruling in the prior case, it won’t deny Biden an EC majority. However, it will add an additional talking point to the coming January 6 Congressional offensive. The Trumpists will cite it as proof there is something fishy about the election.

  47. 47.

    Spanky

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: While I agree with you about Snowden’s final disposition, 2 years is an eternity in the cyber world, let alone the decade that’s passed since his heist. There are any number of companies with valuable cyber IP, and FireEye is one of the most popular. My guess is that the rooskies have been planning to pull this off as soon as they were sure Trump was of no further use to them, and after he had weakened our defensive posture.

    It’s Trump that really needs to swing for all the harm he has done us.

  55. 55.

    Cermet

    @PST: Not possible; the consitituion clearly states that after the EC meets (today!), congress and ONLY congress can address EC votes – period. That ship sails today. Also, the Inferior court has ruled that all furthet court issues relating to the election are moot. So state courts can’t rule in such a manner that it leads to confusion on this later point. In other words, state courts basicly have to shoot down any/all arguments unless it can be shown clearly that it doesn’t in any mnanner affect the SC decision. Otherwise, it is DOA.

  57. 57.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    I look forward to congratulating Biden for his victory yet again today. 

    And then on January 6 and 20.

    So. Much Winning.  You traitorous orange bitchass motherfucking LOSER!

    I really hope they have to drag his orange ass out by the feet.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    @PST:

    However, it will add an additional talking point to the coming January 6 Congressional offensive. The Trumpists will cite it as proof there is something fishy about the election.

    And we would have a talking point that conservatives are irretrievably corrupt and racist and can never be trusted.

  60. 60.

    MattF

    @Baud: Sure— but I’d guess that without party affiliations, judicial races get fewer votes and are more vulnerable to manipulation. I know that I rarely cast a vote in the MD judicial races, and feel appropriately guilty about it.

  61. 61.

    debbie

    @sab:

    She was most loudly condemned by other women sitting behind desks and in front of cameras with bare arms. With zero senses of irony.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    @MattF: I seem to recall that Wisconsin Supreme Court races have been highly partisan.  We won one of the seats a few months ago in a hotly contested race.

  65. 65.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I just scanned wikileaks, and it’s so odd that an outfit that’s so loud about transparency blah blah never seems to obtain any hacked material from Russia, multinational corporations, hedge funds or even billionaire personal email accounts.

    Its as if the only entities worthy of their attention are western governments with functional regulatory systems when they aren’t under right wing populist control(and of course, liberal party functionaries).

    So coincidental….

  66. 66.

    SFAW

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    perhaps some fiendish plot of Wo Fat

    Ah, the often-overlooked Kenneth Dickerson. Who, like our own NotManx, moved from the East Coast (born in Joisey) to be in Hawaii. [Not that he actually lived there, of course.]

    The 5-0 episode where he stuck Jack Lord in a sensory-deprivation tank for a day or two was interesting.

  71. 71.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    Well last night someone stole our Biden-Harris yard sign. I had been saying to Mrs. S. I was going to leave it up until either the Orange Seditionist Crybaby conceded or the inauguration, whichever came first. I really expected it to happen sooner here in SE Pennsylvania in a semi-rural area with a lot of MAGAts around. Many of those (but not all!) are still our in yards althogh some have been moved back by their houses. This timing actually is upsetting me a little more than I think a pre-election theft would have.

  72. 72.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The funny thing is, I never used Dr. except in professionally relevant settings. My undergrads called me Professor and my grad students called me Dorothy. I was Dr. if I was speaking at a conference or something.

    But I still defend Jill Biden’s right to use the title. For one thing, doctors of education use it more than most fields do (a fact that, I must admit, sometimes draws mockery from other fields). But if her colleagues are using it, she pretty much has to. No sense undercutting herself.

  73. 73.

    SFAW

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I wondered why my Gmail was down this morning. It was odd because Mr DAW’s was fine.

    It’s because you’re one of those “libbers” who thinks it’s OK if the wimmins with a PhD (or EdD or PharmD etc) use “Dr.” as an honorific.

    ETA: And your one-back reply is even worse! YOU are one of those “Doctor” persons. I need my nitro pills, STAT!

  74. 74.

    Marc McKenzie

    @OzarkHillbilly: Even though I never read Le Carre, I knew of his work and also remember seeing the SMILEY’S PEOPLE miniseries as a child.  And a day after Le Carre, we lose Ben Bova, perhaps one of the best science fiction editors and a solid writer in his own right.

  78. 78.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @SFAW:

    The 5-0 episode where he stuck Jack Lord in a sensory-deprivation tank for a day or two was interesting.

    I only saw that episode once as a kid, but found that sort of short timespan as plausible as the green space lady in “Lost in Space” (not to mention the choice to stay lost in order to save him).

  81. 81.

    JML

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    One of the reasons Doctors of Education use it more is the about of crap they take from teaching faculty with Ph.Ds who act like an Ed.D isn’t a “real” doctorate. I had cause to witness this in action when one of the finalists for our next university president had an Ed.D and the faculty lost their collective minds over the idea that a non-Ph.D might get to tell them where to go and what to do.

    That WSJ piece was pathetic. Dr. Jill Biden should slap the smirk off all those losers, but she has far too much class.

  84. 84.

    Baud

    @JML:

    the faculty lost their collective minds over the idea that a non-Ph.D might get to tell them where to go and what to do.

    Why do they keep making it harder for us to fight the conservative war on tenure?

  86. 86.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m still working on my Spanish and just found this. Just what kind of tourist activity does Duolingo expect me to engage in?

    “Tu eres muy guapo. Estas ocupado ahora?” (You are very good-looking. Are you busy now?)

  88. 88.

    PST

    @Baud:

    Why do you think Wisconsin judges are so much worse than every other judge that has rejected Trump’s cases?

    I don’t, which is why I am not very worried, just a little worried. However, when plaintiff’s tried to file directly in the Supreme Court, three of seven justices voted to take it. The other four said it had to come to them as an appeal. The court has three hard-core conservatives and a Roberts type. Press reports about oral argument made it sound like some of the justices were sympathetic. And last but not least, plaintiffs actually have an argument in this case. All across the state, local election officials did fill in addresses and other information in a way that is well established there but not set out in statutes. That gives plaintiffs something to argue, as opposed to the usual nothing. By asking for recounts only in the two most Democratic counties, and then seeking to have only ballots from those counties thrown out, plaintiffs have made this facially neutral argument work to their advantage. I wonder if that might not have been a clever strategy from the start, not just cheapness about the recount cost. Asking for relief only in selected counties should evoke Bush v. Gore. In addition, this practice has been in place for years across the whole state, so waiting until after an unwanted election result to sue should clearly constitute laches. This is weak stuff indeed, but not a complete illusion.

  95. 95.

    PST

    @Cermet: Not possible; the consitituion clearly states that after the EC meets (today!), congress and ONLY congress can address EC votes – period.

    First, I worry that the court will rule at open of business today before the EC vote. Second, I worry about the use that could be made in an upcoming Congressional fight of a successful challenge whether or not it has any legal effect. I would simply hate to see any state supreme court rule that the election in that state produced an invalid result because of violation of election laws. We need a nice 7 to 0 slapdown, but I worry we won’t get it.

  97. 97.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I try to imagine a situation where that would make sense and fail.

    Also maybe it’s just me but it sounds weird to me that a sentence said to an apparent stranger uses “tú”. But maybe that’s deliberate, to add  to the general creepiness.

  98. 98.

    Immanentize

    @PST: Chill out.  Take drugs if you need to.  You are harshing the mello of Biden’s win.  Mostly just stop with this nonsense.  Go to LGM for doom approval.

  99. 99.

    Tony Jay

     

    To the surprise of absolutely no one Flobalob Johnson seems to have u-turned on yet another of his absolutely immovable red-lines and opened the way to a shitty deal between the European Union and the Autonomous Royalist Oblast of Lesser Brexitania-on-the-Wold.

    Very briefly, one of the main impediments to the UK leaving the EU with some sort of negotiated trade deal with the EU 27 was Johnson’s ranting insistence that his Government would never accept ‘Evolution’, a shorthand term for the legally binding mechanism by which the EU would be able to alter the terms upon which it traded with the UK depending on how far from EU regulatory standards the UK drifted over time. They obviously don’t trust Johnson in particular or British politicians in general to abide by a non-binding agreement on regulatory alignment so wanted to have all kinds of safeguards built into the trade deal for when – not if – the UK starts chucking 21st century safety standards overboard in its descent towards corporate fiefdom status.

    The Tory line was that this was an unacceptable infringement on British sovereignty and a slap in the face for freedom, claiming that an Evolution mechanism in the trade deal was just another way of maintaining legally-mandated and open-ended European control over the UK through the threat of vindictive punishment beatings whenever we tried to assert our independence from “Brussels red-tape”. Europe just had to grown up and realise that Britain had voted to leave the EU’s regulatory framework, so trying to chain us to any agreement on standards was fundamentally undemocratic. They shouldn’t, couldn’t and definitely, decisively and all-kinds-of patriotically wouldn’t be signing anything that had such a perfidious insult to British Pride included in it. No way. Uh Uh. Arms crossed and everything.

    So of course, Johnson agreed to it in his last phone call to the EU Commission President. Being the crappy little sneak he is, it appears Sir Chubby of Chequers didn’t tell his Cabinet what it was he’d agreed to, no doubt intending to keep it on the down low so that, once the trade deal was hurriedly signed off on (“No time to waste! Jobs at stake! Must move on!”) he’d be able to deny ever having made such a concession and pretend his Government wouldn’t be abiding by it (even though it would, mostly, until breaking the treaty looked profitable enough). The EU knows his tricks by now, however, and immediately announced just what Johnson had agreed to and what it meant for the chances of a trade deal actually being signed.

    So, probably a very shitty deal. The EU will get everything it requires out of it, the UK will… not. Just another complete capitulation for the Tories to blame on everyone else rather than admitting that Brexit was a monumentally bad idea that they’ve been lying about for years.

    Still, in happier news, no volcanoes have erupted in my back garden. So there’s that.

  101. 101.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Who, also, since we’re talking about it, had a doctorate in theology.

    I would have asked whether that’s a “real” doctorate, but he was a man, so it was OK. [But thanks for that info. I had overlooked it. I did remember that “Khigh Dhiegh” was his stage name, however, and that he was born in Joisey.]

  102. 102.

    germy

    If you’re wondering why the @WSJ ran that misogynist piece about Dr. Jill Biden, lets take a closer look at James Taranto, the man in charge of op-eds.

    He’s called efforts to stop military rape a “war on men” & “an effort to criminalize male sexuality”https://t.co/aROYRDhs8x

    — Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) December 13, 2020

    Thank you for your principled stand. As a former WSJ news editor who cringed at the Opinion side of the paper—and at having to share a building with Fox News—I am appalled (but not surprised) at this insulting, small-minded display of misogyny. There needs to be a reckoning.

    — Missy Sullivan (@MissySullivanNY) December 13, 2020

  106. 106.

    PST

    @Immanentize:

    Chill out. Take drugs if you need to. You are harshing the mello of Biden’s win. Mostly just stop with this nonsense. Go to LGM for doom approval.

    I’m not usually a doom and gloom guy, but I’m having stitches removed from my eyelids in a couple of hours. I can’t imagine that will be fun. Maybe I should take some drugs, but I’m afraid the doctor will smell my drug of choice on my breath. I raised this Wisconsin business because of the tweet that claimed there were no more active cases anywhere.

  108. 108.

    mali muso

    @JML: Yeah, this.  I too hold the designation and while I tend not to use the Dr. appellation, you had better believe I reserve the right to do so.  Snobbery in academia, sigh.  People are the worst.

  109. 109.

    PST

    @Baud: Oops. I guess it’s Emily Litella time. In my defense, I’m having a little trouble seeing with these stiches in my eyelids. The medicated goo I’m supposed to rub on them keeps getting in my eyes and blurring everything.

  110. 110.

    Cermet

    @PST: Again, can’t go to inferior court (SC); they have said clearly that all further appeals related to the election are moot. Also, the second the EC cetifirys the election, it is no longer even possible to get court relief no matter what – hence, moot as well. Stop worrying. Today marks the end of all court suits (states; fed courts are closed unless it is unrelated to the election; i.e. issues like is software ok for the next election.)

  111. 111.

    SFAW

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’ve always wondered how to pronounce that name.

    I assume it’s pronounced the way it’s spelled

    ETA: Well, either that, or “Throat-Wobbler-Mangrove.”

  112. 112.

    burnspbesq

    @Matt McIrvin: 

    Keep in mind that LGM’s two highest-profile front-pagers are non-lawyers who are hardcore legal realists. They hate it when judges and lawyers actually adhere to the norms and traditions of our profession, because it makes their fashionable cynicism look stupid.

  113. 113.

    Nicole

    I just watched the first person in New York get vaccinated against Covid. A critical healthcare worker in Queens. I started to cry. Feeling hopeful on a Monday morning is a good feeling.

  114. 114.

    germy

    Stephen Miller on Fox & Friends says “an alternative” group of electors is also voting today: “As we speak, an alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote and we are going to send those results to Congress.” pic.twitter.com/5kIkfsbOFw

    — Travis Akers (@travisakers) December 14, 2020

  115. 115.

    Immanentize

    @Cermet: Also, I watched the argument in the Wisconsin case and the lawyer for the Plaintiffs was crushed.  It was bad.  He had to admit that he and his wife’s votes should not count (because they were mail in).  He also had no reason why the votes should only be thrown out in the counties he chose as many Trump voting counties also used the same form.

    But my favorite part was when Judge K (can’t think of her whole name Karlofsky?) pointed out that the form is not a ballot and said “application” right on the form.  Then, she spelled out a-p-p-l-i-c-a-t-i-o-n for him.

  117. 117.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @sab: That must be it! I bet Tucker told them (him?) to do it to save the world from atheists like me.

  120. 120.

    germy

    Had another Covid stress dream last night, always the same: I find myself in a group of people indoors, having fun, without a mask. Then I remember there’s a pandemic and I freak out. Isn’t it weird that in real waking life tons of people actually DO this…..minus the freakout?

    — JEN KIRKMAN  (@JenKirkman) December 12, 2020

  124. 124.

    Immanentize

    Speaking of Dr. Jill:

    Together, we will build a world where the accomplishments of our daughters will be celebrated, rather than diminished.— Dr. Jill Biden (@DrBiden) December 14, 2020

  126. 126.

    germy

    People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary. I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020

  133. 133.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @burnspbesq:

    I remember happier times, when the only true uniting national hatred was of Grayson Allen sweeping the leg….

  134. 134.

    burnspbesq

    If it’s true that bad calls even out in the long run, Liverpool is due for a howler to go against them at the worst possible time.

  135. 135.

    Emma from FL

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: You think you’ve got problems? A friend that is “renewing” her German just told me one of her Duolingo phrases translated to “help, I’m being chased by a bear”.

  137. 137.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Tony Jay: Great news about the lack of erupting volcanoes in your back garden.

    On balance, I feel the odds are now slightly in favour of a fudged together “skinny” deal. Having failed to split the EU, BoJo was relying on getting a chlorinated chicken and NHS fire sale trade deal with the Trump administration that he could sell as a win.

    Now, that’s gone kaput and President Elect Biden is hinting that he’ll talk to the EU first and get around to little old England when he finds time and the only deals we have are (I think) with Japan and Singapore, neither of which are exactly major food exporters, he is faced with an insolvable problem, fresh produce shortages and big price hikes won’t exactly play well with the public, especially now with all the disruption of COVID-19.

    Add to this, Tory MP and ex Minister, Tobias Ellwood, Chair of the Armed Services Committee, publicly fulminating about the stupidity of threatening to use gunboats against our NATO allies and Sir Roger Gale saying BoJo should resign if he can’t deliver a deal adds to the pressure. OK, both of them voted Remain and are unlikely to garner much support in the Party but it is an early sign that Tory Remainers and pro-business types (not always the same) are prepared to put their heads over the parapet again.

  141. 141.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @germy:

    So far, they’ve been skirting the edge of sedition in terms of law. This is the real thing, and everyone participating in the decision to have them vote and “transmit” them is a coconspirator along with those “electors” themselves.

    Its an affirmative act in furtherance of the crime.

  145. 145.

    The Moar You Know

    I don’t think this hack (or the one a week or two ago) would have happened without Trump’s approval.

    @debbie:  IT security is what I do for a living. That’s not how it works.

  149. 149.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Emma from FL: I’m not sure I’d take time to spit that one out, assuming I really was being chased.

    One time my brother was walking his two dogs in a wooded area in Minnesota. The dogs were off in the woods and were chasing something back to him. He had time to wonder what they’d found now when he realized it was a bear. He’d read that what you’re supposed to do is play dead, but what he did was scream and run. The dogs shot past on either side of him and slowed down, since all they had to do was outrun him. Eventually the bear gave up.

  151. 151.

    Emma from FL

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ok, sorry to put it this way because in real life your brother could have been in serious trouble but my visual was classic screwball comedy. Maybe even classic cartoon.

  152. 152.

    PST

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I am not old enough to remember, but did Harvard freak out when Derek Bok became president without a PhD?

    I am. We were, in a sense, freshmen together. No one freaked. He’d already been dean of the law school for several years. I was in a dorm next to the building housing the president’s office, which was occupied by SDS. The occupiers feared being booted out by the police in the middle of the night if there was no surrounding crowd, so if warm bodies were needed, someone would pull our fire alarm. Those were the days!

  154. 154.

    hueyplong

    @germy: Going to have to call bullshit on Trump having ever sat through Citizen Kane.

    Interviewer:  What’s your favorite line from that movie?

    Trump:  All of them.

    Interviewer:  If you could just pick one for us…

    Trump:  I’m not going to do that.

  155. 155.

    Tony Jay

    @Sloane Ranger:

    Come on now, that deal with Japan is exceptionally good. We get to buy things from them for the same price while they promise not to put tariffs on things we – don’t – sell them. It takes a truly exceptional negotiating team to get that kind of 21st century mega-deal over the line. /s

    Seriously though, this exact whimpering fart of a conclusion has been very much on the cards since Biden’s win, with the only uncertainly being how bad the damage would be, and that dependent on how loony-tunes the Brextremists in the Tory Party would actually turn out to be. With noises coming out of Number 10 humming and hawing over whether MPs will get to vote on whatever heroin-chic whisp of a ‘deal’ Johnson is allowed to return home with we can assume that they’re gearing up to ‘generously’ allow democracy to take place in Parliament. Anything for the illusion of a ‘win’ with these people.

    Hopefully whatever passes tears the Tory Party in half, and hopefully the absolute geniuses sitting atop the Labour Party will buy a clue and either abstain or allow a free vote, because if they insist on chasing racist Tory votes by voting for this turd sandwich it’ll be the last nail in the Party’s coffin IMHO.

  156. 156.

    Anya

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’ve read all of his George Smiley books. My dad has a collection of his books and I’ve read and loved them all but I think A Perfect Spy is his best book. RIP

  158. 158.

    Tony Jay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Who knew there were so many adults who thought the world would conform to their fantasies?

    I know, it’s gobsmacking, isn’t it? There are genuinely people out there who thought that funny posh guy from the teevee was going to sort everything out and show the smelly foreign johnnies who was boss. That level of blinkered stupidity normally takes 10,000 hours of practice and at least three recent cases of incest in the family tree, but the UK has managed to produce it in bulk orders. Impressive.

    You made the right career choice writing fiction. It’s obviously an expanding market. 8-)

  164. 164.

    The Moar You Know

     

    Stephen Miller on Fox & Friends says “an alternative” group of electors is also voting today: “As we speak, an alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote and we are going to send those results to Congress.” pic.twitter.com/5kIkfsbOFw

    — Travis Akers (@travisakers) December 14, 2020

    @germy:  My alternate Senate just convicted Donald Trump of high treason.

  167. 167.

    Tony Jay

    @mrmoshpotato:

    The Dishonourable Member for Upper Styria unt der Carpathian Marches at least has the excuse that he’s preternaturally incapable of checking his appearance in a mirror.

    His Nanny, on the other hand, can make no such claims.

  169. 169.

    J R in WV

    Oh, Tony… it’s hard for me to imagine that both our historic nations have managed to completely bollix up our polity in the same general time period. While it is good (for us) that we have elected a sane person with common sense to manage our government, you all appear to have selected a total nut sack to manage yours.

    Not that having a sane fellow with common sense in the White House is bound to save us ultimately, but at least we have a shot at getting over the Q-nut jobs take charge.

    You Brits, though… Flobalob, indeed~!!~

  170. 170.

    Ruckus

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Judges don’t have to get politically re-elected every so often, they can be generally less obviously partisan. They also generally work within the scope of the law, politicians ferment the law. IOW politicians have to be elected based upon what they say and do, whose ass they suck, judges are rarely that open about their politics. How many judges do you know their political leanings – other than the top nine?

  171. 171.

    Tony Jay

    @J R in WV:

    We were doomed the moment Labour almost won in 2017. From that moment on a significant chunk of the political scene decided nothing was more important than keeping British History’s Greatest Monster out of Number 10.

    Has the alternative EC slate given President Pettygrift 250% of the vote yet? Surely a massive victory like that has to convince the SC to rethink their surrender to Cultural-Marxist ideology?

  172. 172.

    J R in WV

    @Tony Jay:

    While I generally like and admire your creative alternate names for the crazed politicians afflicting our society, I have to quibble about this one:

    Has the alternative EC slate given President Pettygrift 250% of the vote yet?

    Pettygrift is such a small part of this guy’s overall criminal activities. His real horror is the ongoing murder of, so far, over 300,000 fellow Americans, and his obvious intention to keep on killing “his constituents” for the rest of his term in office, or as long as he can steal more time in office.

    And I completely fail to come up with a funny nickname based upon the mass murder of people mostly helpless to protect themselves, or to prevent the death of their loved ones.

    President Wanna-be-Hitler ?

    President Coulda-been-Stalin?

    President … naw, I give up.

    You can take a swing at it if you want.

    Killer Trump? Killer Don? Donald J Bundy? I don’t think there’s any way to put Trump’s monsterous crime of mass murder into a funny joke nickname.

    Maybe I’m too close, as Wife pretty much has no immune system, and I’m in charge of trying not to infect her from a grocery/doctor/government interface run. PTSD is not the correct term, the trauma is ongoing and current and won’t be ending soon.

    Sorry your Island Nation is also having trouble with a totally deranged leader, hang in there, we will help as we can.

  173. 173.

    Tony Jay

     

    @J R in WV:

    I get your point, but while I’ve played around with other nicknames for Trump I settled on Pettygrift because, IMHO, it gets to the heart of the man. He’s a petty little weasel who only ever thinks about where he’s going to grift the next dollar from. Everything is secondary to that, especially the duties and responsibilities of the Presidency.

    Though President Plague-Rat Loser Fuck is always available.

  174. 174.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @Tony Jay:

    They obviously don’t trust Johnson in particular or British politicians in general to abide by a non-binding agreement on regulatory alignment so wanted to have all kinds of safeguards built into the trade deal

    UK: Reneges on Northern Ireland aspects of withdrawal treaty.

    Also the UK: Why don’t the Europeans just take our word for it?

  176. 176.

    J R in WV

    @Tony Jay:

    I’ll go with President Plague-Rat Loser Fuck, that’s OK by me…

    Glad we could have this talk. Imagine if the EU and GB could be so constructive~?~!!!~  ;~)

    You take care over there.

    I recommend you round up 6 or 8 giant SooperPaks of toilet paper, and 1,200 packets of Ramen Noodle soup mix.

    And at least a couple of gallons of your favored spirits, don’t forget that!

  177. 177.

    Mary Ellen Sandahl

    @mrmoshpotato:You got me, if not the internet, with that one.
    I’d be almost as pleased if he disintegrated, like Christopher Lee in Horror of Dracula.

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