Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Republicans in disarray!

Tick tock motherfuckers!

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

All your base are belong to Tunch.

The revolution will be supervised.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

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

Everybody saw this coming.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

No one could have predicted…

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Inauguration Night Open Thread

Inauguration Night Open Thread

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I had a lovely time today watching the inauguration festivities- up until my phone died and I had to rush off and get a new one. It was 5-6 years old and several models back, so I suppose it was time, but still irritating. Once I got that done, I got home and thought I would take a quick nap while the new phone updated.

Three hours later I woke up, and it was pitch black outside, and it was one of those naps where I had no idea if it was 6am or 6pm. The kind of deep, dreamless slumber where you wake up with no memory from your sleep- the kind where you think “That must be what it is like when you die- just nothingness.”

I think all of America feels that way. We got a zoom meeting tonight?

Reader Interactions

446Comments

  4. 4.

    Nicole

    Have a good Zoom meeting!  I’m off to… a different Zoom meeting.  Because life becomes a series of Zoom meetings.

    And I think there were a lot of celebratory naps today.  I know I lied down at 2PM.

  9. 9.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Punchy: There should be a rule that a new thread can’t be created until the last thread reaches 200 comments. It would also force us to discuss the virtues of for-profit healthcare.

  10. 10.

    cmorenc

    In an alternate future where we instead lost those two Georgia senate seats (but Biden won) – R committee chairpersons would fire up a couple of protracted Hunter Biden investigations conducted to be as distracting to Biden’s efforts to get anything done as possible.  It wouldn’t just be that those results would also have enabled McConnell to try to undermine and block Biden at every step except getting the vaccine out.

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    Exhaling a bit.  We have President Biden and VP Harris.  The inauguration came off flawlessly, without violence.

    And Trump’s ordering his adult children receive Secret Service protection for the coming six months:  maybe it will make it that much easier to find and serve some of them.

  12. 12.

    dmsilev

    @Baud:

    First press briefing at 7 pm.  Let’s see how the media behaves

    ‘Having failed to solve the COVID crisis since taking office, when can we expect Joe a Biden to resign in disgrace?’

  13. 13.

    Baud

    MSNBC reporter didn’t see too excited about having to be in Wilmington for the last three months.

  16. 16.

    MomSense

    I just got home from work and I have to feed mom, kid and dog. Also too this is one of those nights when I wish I didn’t have to walk a dog.

    Sleepy Joe was supposed to be a dis but the sane part of the country was craving some decent sleep.

  20. 20.

    jl

    I had to go into the office today. Listened to the prayers and warm up in the car. Lightly jogged (don’t want to get out breath indoors, so very lightly jogged to keep those aerosols down!) to my office. But on my floor the entry system was broken, so missed the rest waiting for maintenance.

    I’ll watch whatever they have on tonight.

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    Press briefing begins.

    Pronounced “Saki.”  “Truth and transparency” is mentioned in first 40 seconds.

  22. 22.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: heh, I caught that same tone

    funny they’re all talking about Spicer. I saw in the tubes the other day he’s re-applied for credentials for whatever website he’s now “reporting” for. Most ex White House press secretaries are “Vice President of Communications” for large corporations. Now I’ve got myself wondering who Jethrene is flacking for

    ETA: Sorry, you pedants: For whom the Jethrene flacks.

  23. 23.

    lamh36

    OMG! It’s an actual PRESS BRIEFING form the current administration! Ya’ll remember press briefings in the BEFORE TIMES!

  25. 25.

    debbie

    @lamh36:

    Thanks for the link to the photos. I had to work all day and could only listen.

    I must also say that Melania’s going away outfit is the first thing I’ve seen her wear that I like.

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:   Watch C-Span instead.  Psaki about to discuss the executive actions from today.

    One hundred day masking challenge.  Mask mandate for all federal buildings and land and federal transportation.

    We’re back in the World Health Organization.

  37. 37.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Really a shit first question from a press that basically felched Trump for four years.

  38. 38.

    Elizabelle

    First foreign leader call Friday with PM Trudeau.  Early calls will be with partners and allies.  He feels it’s important to rebuild those relationships …

    Q:  Is PB planning to call Trump?  Is there any attempt to put the two in touch?  From some critter named “Peter”, not Baker.

    For fuck’s sake.

  41. 41.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Wow, another ridiculous question @ number two. I’m getting nostalgic for when we didn’t have press conferences.

  47. 47.

    West of the Cascades

    @dmsilev: Meh questions, real answers. Maybe someday we will have good questions to go with the real answers. But I am not holding my breath – the White House press corpse is well-named.

  48. 48.

    jl

    Biden replaced the pic of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office with Ben Franklin.

    Signal that science is back, or that a more relaxed attitude towards sexy time is OK, or free thinking exploration of the essence of religion is Constitutional again, or compassionate signal that bigots can reform themselves. I dunno.

     

    @71m

    andrew jackson has been replaced with ben franklin

    https://twitter.com/3YearLetterman/status/1352024857911951360

  49. 49.

    Elizabelle

    @dmsilev:   She’s not lying with a cross at her throat, either.

    All those fake ass blondes and whatever, with long hair (except for Spicer).  We’re past that!!

  51. 51.

    Baud

    @jl:

    Signal that science is back, or that a more relaxed attitude towards sexy time is OK, or free thinking exploration of the essence of religion is Constitutional again, or compassionate signal that bigots can reform themselves

     
    Por qué no los quatro?

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    re $1.9 billion:  “Designed with the components to give people the relief they needed.”

    Notes that Biden is “no stranger to the process of bill-making.”

  55. 55.

    Ken

    @cmorenc: enabled McConnell to try to undermine and block Biden at every step except getting the vaccine out.

    You’re being kind to McConnell, in assuming he wouldn’t try to block the vaccine to harm the Democrats.

  56. 56.

    jl

    @Baud: “Will President Biden commit to not wearing a tan suit?”

    That nonsense is starting again. They seem to be out of gas though. The claim that the VP’s husband emasculated himself when he tweeted that his wife was great didn’t get any traction. No wonder, that was probably just too random, damn weird and toxic even among your run-of-the-mill absurdly sexist US voter.

  57. 57.

    lamh36

    actual PRESS BRIEFING form the current administration! You remember press briefings in the BEFORE TIMES! How dare she stand up there with those rosey cheeks and tell us NO LIES!

    Who does she think she is…LOL

  58. 58.

    ByRookorbyCrook

    @jl: Inflation is already starting under a Biden presidency! All about the benjamins.

    I thought I was done with these bricks of anxiety falling off, but hey look another one. A press conference with matters of substance not a tantrum on the size of the crowd.

  59. 59.

    Elizabelle

    LA Times breaking news headline:

    President Biden reverses Trump’s travel ban.

    Trump.  Just Trump.  LOL.

  60. 60.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    So apparently our vaunted press corpse didn’t forget how to ask ridiculous gotcha questions over the last four years. They just chose a different standard when it was President Shitbag.

  62. 62.

    jl

    @Baud: Will BaudXXXX!! promise to always drink wine out of a carton?

    Need to study Big Biden Deal Joe carefully, prepare for the coming era of glory, avoid missteps.

  66. 66.

    Elizabelle

    Describes PB as having “an incredible sense of calm.”  “Eager to get to work, asking questions about policy…”

    Yeah, we are under new management.

  67. 67.

    Elizabelle

    Q re the “potentially divisive impeachment process.”

    Don’t know which tool dropped that one into the press conference.  A male.  A blonde male with a nice haircut.

  68. 68.

    dmsilev

    ‘In the name of unity, should the Senate let Trump go without a trial?’

    How about we all unify under the banner of hating and punishing Trump?

  70. 70.

    Elizabelle

    This tool’s second question is “has Biden already filed to run for re-election.”

    This one practically brought his own oats to the horse race.  Fucker.

  71. 71.

    JustRuss

    Holy damn, Press Sec. Psaki just apologized to a reporter for neglecting to call on him.  I need to go lay down.

  72. 72.

    jl

    @ByRookorbyCrook: I think you may be on to something. Franklin was a fiat currency person. He’d be great testifying with Yellen to debunk the newly converted and fake GOP debt alarmists.

    Franklin would do some great sock puppet to ridicule his opponents too. The way Trump  did sock puppets was corrupt and dishonest. Franklin stuck to writing anonymous screeds, which I think is OK.

    But if things got rough, he might go Truman and threaten to punch out a music critic and sign his name at the bottom.

  75. 75.

    Martin

    Jen Psaki shouldn’t be ‘um’ dropping at this level. I think Karine is a better extemporaneous speaker. We can usually knock that out of undergrads after a semester. But, it’s a big day, she’s probably nervous. This does feel like a government run by people who give a fuck and want to get this right.

  76. 76.

    jl

    @Baud: @Ken:

    I just looked it up and wiki says Biden doesn’t drink alcohol. So ixny anyo the oozbay.

    You guys will have to practice out tinkering with Joe on the muscle car in front of the portico with soda or Hawaiian punch or something.

    Edit: Hawaiian punch, you can sneak a little seasoning in that easier.

  77. 77.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I have worked my entire life to get in this seat and ask a representative of the most powerful person on the planet questions. So let me ask a ridiculous question about unity.

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    Jen Psaki is a terrific spokesperson.  No surprise, but she is professional and a calm voice.

  79. 79.

    West of the Cascades

    @dmsilev: I’d like to hear these jackasses ask McConnell and especially McCarthy, daily, “what are the Republicans going to respond to the President’s calls for unity? What past statements and policies are you personally going to repudiate in the name of unity?”

  80. 80.

    lamh36

    Lordt ya’ll, it’s been so long, I ain’t got the stamina for these press briefings no mo’.

    I gotta build my stamina back up…LOL

  81. 81.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I’d like to see Jen Psaki add “That’s a really ridiculous question” to her repetoire.

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    @Just Some Fuckhead:   And the next one asked about will Biden retain trump’s planned colors for Air Force One.

    In happier important matters:  has anyone seen Champ or Major today??

  87. 87.

    jl

    @Baud: A touch of Trans Am?

    Edit: oops, sorry, I meant Corvette. I gotta look this stuff up before I type.

    Sorry Joe, please pardon me!

  88. 88.

    West of the Cascades

    “Why didn’t President Biden mention the guy who didn’t have the decency to be at the inauguration by name in his inauguration speech?” I think I am done with watching these briefings already, despite Jen Psaki’s competence and honesty.

  91. 91.

    Joe Falco

    @jl:

    Signal that science is back, or that a more relaxed attitude towards sexy time is OK, or free thinking exploration of the essence of religion is Constitutional again, or compassionate signal that bigots can reform themselves. I dunno

    Or Biden is going to make the Post Office great again!

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    ABC News @ABC · 23m
    BREAKING: Senate confirms Avril Haines as director of national intelligence by a vote of 84 to 10. She is the first member of Biden’s Cabinet to secure confirmation.

  95. 95.

    HumboldtBlue

    What a day of emotions, quite a rollercoaster. Start out waking and realizing it really is happening. Watch the the thing happen. Worry about how badly they have screwed our government and how obstinate GOP will be. Watch amazing people at peaceful transition of power ceremony. Laugh at the Twitter wits. Try and keep up with post after post here.

    Then, watching a series of short video clips from my brother in East County San Diego as Cal Fire contained and extinguished a fast-moving wind-blown brush fire as it raced up the hill behind their house.

    Hell, I haven’t had a beer yet.

  96. 96.

    There go two miscreants

    And it’s done. Mostly vapid questions! I thought Psaki did a good job of deflecting the gotchas.

  97. 97.

    jl

    @Joe Falco: Thanks, I forgot about that.

    That Franklin pic is a great choice. Covers a lot of ground, touches all the bases, and there are at least two dozen to get over after the Trumpster madness.

    Edit: a lot of hot button issues, and when GOPers come in and stink about whatever, Biden can point to Franklin and say ‘Take it up with Ben over there, OK?”

  98. 98.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Too many “ums” for me but I’m sure Psaki wasn’t expecting that number of ridiculous questions. Good reminder of what absolute assholes our press corpse can be when there’s a Democratic president.

  99. 99.

    natem

    Tomorrow is the 4 year anniversary of Inauguration-Crowd-Gate/Spicer-Gate/Dear-God-the-next-four-years-are-going-to-be-insane-Gate

  101. 101.

    Calouste

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: 
    Jethrene is not going to flack for anyone, as Forbes said that if any company hired one of the shitgibbon’s flacks, they would assume that anything that company said was a lie until proven otherwise. And the job of a VP of Communications is not to generate bad press with one of the most prestigious business magazines in the world.

  103. 103.

    lamh36

    if the greatest critique is her saying “um”…then she def did a good job.

    I rather a bunch of  “um” instead a bunch of lies like her predecessor…but hey, that’s just me.

  104. 104.

    Alison Rose

    According to Vox, before today, Amanda Gorman had about 48,000 Twitter followers. She’s now up to 846,000, and you can literally refresh once a minute and it goes up another few thousand. I’ve pre-ordered her book and hope the publisher has the sense to move the pub date up!

  108. 108.

    Elizabelle

    Does anyone know if President Biden is hosting the attending former Presidents at any event tonight?  That would be sort of cool.  A show of unity, which the press so desperately needs to see.

  109. 109.

    CapnMubbers

    I want him convicted so that his picture never appears in the line of previous presidents. And NO PORTRAIT.

  112. 112.

    jl

    Franklin also first person to understand the Gulf Stream and role it played in moderating European climate, and did pioneering work in heat transfer.
    So, Environment and Global Warming!

    So, wow, Franklin’s pic is awesome.

    Is his pic a signal Biden might favor Franklin over Harris for 2024? I figure the press might ask that.
    Franklin has been doing great work lately, and more and more people are talking about him, people tell me.

  113. 113.

    Delk

    After the press conference someone should tweet out the question that was asked and exactly how much money that journalist got paid to ask it.

  114. 114.

    Mike in NC

    I hope they send Vice President Harris on a goodwill tour to let our NATO allies know that we will stick up for them and never suck up to Putin and the other despots like Trump did every day of the week.

  115. 115.

    Blackcatsrule

    I am so grateful to everyone on this site.  Without you I would have thought I was losing my mind more than once over the past four hellish years.  Many commenters here made me realize that I was not alone in my anxiety, stress, and feelings of unreality.  Special thanks to Watergirl for her unfailing cheerfulness, Tamara for sharing her feelings of being broken, and Steeplejack for his comments a few weeks ago about battle fatigue.

  119. 119.

    JustRuss

    @West of the Cascades:

    I’d like to hear these jackasses ask McConnell and especially McCarthy, daily, “what are the Republicans going to respond to the President’s calls for unity? What past statements and policies are you personally going to repudiate in the name of unity?”

    Whatever you’re running for, you got my vote.

  121. 121.

    karen marie

    I just listened to an entire WH press conference, and my head didn’t explode! I’m delighted to have sanity restored, even if only for today.

  122. 122.

    jl

    I’m going to send in suggestions for WH pix in prominent places.

    Sojourner Truth, Ida Tarbell, Abigail Adams, Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain.

    Let’s  see… Smedley Butler. US Grant. I’ll think of some more.

    Put them in the waiting room where the GOP Congresscriminals have to cool their heels before meetings.

    Edit: and yeah, Sherman too, thanks to commenter for that idea.

  124. 124.

    Blackcatsrule

    @Baud: Thank you; I love your incredibly witty remarks and your air of mystery…I am behind Joe and Kamala but you have my vote for 2024!

  125. 125.

    dmsilev

    @Elizabelle: Biden and Harris will be at that primetime “Celebrating America” thing that starts soon (8:30 Eastern), though I have no idea if they’ll be on live or will have pre-taped whatever parts they’re playing.

  127. 127.

    Elizabelle

    @debbie:  A few years ago, The Barnes Museum in Southern California had a wonderful exhibit on Benjamin Franklin.

    Some heavyset guy with a Glenn Beck tee shirt and his wife were touring through a bit ahead of me.  And it seemed to me that he was paying attention and learning.

    Franklin did a lot to develop community services; fire protection, etc.  Some of these rugged individualists need reminding that we do best working together.

    Benjamin Franklin was also no spring chicken when in government service.  Respect the experienced!

  131. 131.

    jl

    @Blackcatsrule: Don’t know whether you missed it, but Baud is 100 percent virtual. The difficult issues involved in that were worked out in detail in some comment thread, but I  forget what they were.

  132. 132.

    NotMax

    Quite a few more pressing priorities but the ceremony for adding Obama’s official portrait to the White House is also something to be done belatedly.

  135. 135.

    WaterGirl

    I started wondering today… was Beto given any sort of position in the party or in the administration?

    He didn’t get the results that Stacey Abrams did in Georgia, but his group registered an amazing amount of people in TX, and I’m wondering why there is nothing for Beto.

  136. 136.

    jl

    @Elizabelle: Some commenter here reminded me that Franklin wrote a great piece about the place of property rights in a modern society.

    Anyway, you owe society some of your property that you couldn’t acquire without its help. So pay your damn taxes, OK?

    I say ‘modern’ advisedly, I think Franklin and Hamilton are two founders who only would take a day or two to adapt to life today and be fired up and read to go.

    Anyway, Franklin is an inspired choice.

  137. 137.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    So day one, is the Biden presidency being unity enough? I will ask that question every day for the next four years.

  139. 139.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Attention fellow nerds, the icon we’ve been looking for = Ella Emhoff (aka Kamala’s daughter) is the one (photo)

  141. 141.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ” Media analyzing 2021 as if it the same as 2009.  Kind of vapid. ”

    Saying ‘um’ might be a carefully chosen placeholder for cuss words elicited by crapass press questions. Sign that the professionalism of the new administration runs silent and deep.

  143. 143.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @WaterGirl: Because Beto didn’t deliver Texas! And why should he have? He spent his 2018 Senate race pretending Democrats were too icky to campaign on his behalf.

  144. 144.

    NotMax

    OT.

    Woo-hoo! All four of the Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple movies today on TCM, starting right now.

    Followed by two of the Edna May Oliver Miss Withers films.

  145. 145.

    lamh36

    @WaterGirl: Beto is gonna be teaching politics in Tx.

    IDK bout you, but I think Beto like Stacey wants to focus on changing Tx like Stacey changed Ga.

    Might be as simple as maybe Beto just doesn’t want a position in the administration?

  148. 148.

    Amir Khalid

    @Blackcatsrule:

    When the movement control order (i.e. lockdown) eases enough, I hope to visit an animal shelter, and maybe meet another cat who wants to come home with me. Who knows how long it will be until then. In the meantime I will do what we all do: shed a tear or two, give thanks for the love, cherish the memories, and live in hope.

  150. 150.

    lamh36

    @KateBennett_DC

    ·
    56m

    White House chief usher Timothy Harleth has been let go by the Biden’s, says a source. Harleth was hired by Melania Trump in 2017. He was previously a manager at the Trump Hotel DC.

    Yes Joe…time to clean house!

  152. 152.

    Mike in NC

    @Elizabelle:  I just heard that Clinton, Bush, and Obama will do some sort of public service address to stress their oaths to the Constitution and the importance of democracy.

  156. 156.

    Abnormal Hiker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The BJ pedants have been so successful in deprecating ‘who’ that I seldom see a post where there isn’t at least one post that hypercorrects by using ‘whom’ when it should be ‘who’. I have to literally bite my tongue to refrain from commenting on these.

  157. 157.

    jl

    @Blackcatsrule:

     ‘ Virtual is fine as long as the pants less ness is real! ‘

    I’ve never followed which commenters are part of the John G Cole pantsless club and which not.

  162. 162.

    frosty

    Missed the Zoom, but glass of champers raised to the Juicitariat and the transition. Breathe!

  163. 163.

    jl

    @Just Some Fuckhead: In a significant way, Trump finally became presidential today. Should be memorialized in those little capsule history things they do in DC in various places: ‘Trump left’.

  167. 167.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36:

    I think Beto like Stacey wants to focus on changing Tx like Stacey changed Ga.

    I agree with that, but how can he do that when he’s tied to a teaching position?

  170. 170.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @lamh36: Me too. Butterflies over lies.

    I don’t “um” when nervous, I “you know”. I need to learn how to “um”, because truth be told, I barely noticed.

  171. 171.

    Butter Emails

    @Elizabelle:

    Secretly, a portrait of William Tecumseh Sherman will be somewhere on the premises.

    I’d veto that. Love Sherman’s work with the Confederacy, but the fact that he also brought total war to the Native Americans should keep him off the White House walls and relegated to anti-confederacy memes.

  172. 172.

    karen marie

    @lamh36: Apparently it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision.

    Stephen Rochon, who was the chief usher from 2007 to 2011, said the Individual-1 transition team asked him to come back “to run the house,” but he declined due to family reasons.

    Oh, wait. I thought it said “Biden transition team.” Now i’m confused.

  174. 174.

    Another Scott

    @lamh36: (roughly) “Well have press briefings every day, except the weekends – I’m not a monster.”

    An actual human being.  What a refreshing change.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  179. 179.

    lamh36

    @karen marie: oh I’m sure it wasn’t spur of the moment.

     

    dont’ Biden folks didn’t want any of them Chump folks any where near the Biden WH if they could help it

  181. 181.

    frosty

    @Blackcatsrule: Second all of that on the  value of this site and the great front pagers.

    It’s like I have a social life despite staying inside because of COVID.

  182. 182.

    lamh36

    Kamala and Doug not moving into VP residence yet, because it needs repairs. So Kamala and Doug are staying in their own DC digs until the repairs are done.

  183. 183.

    Elizabelle

    @debbie:   I liked the jacket.  It was vaguely Jackie Kennedy-esque (as was Melania’s 2017 inauguration ensemble), although the skirt was really long.

    Betting pool on how soon we hear rumors of a divorce in progress.

  184. 184.

    lamh36

    @HumboldtBlue: meh…I woudn’t say “awkward”

    I thought it was endearingly “weird” like she VP Harris said.

    Kinda like when Hoyer having to say to POTUS Biden, “No Joe, your the President” cause Biden is so used to his Senate colleagues calling him Joe.

    Plus I do kinda love her nervous laughter…LOL

  185. 185.

    There go two miscreants

    @jl: …Baud is 100 percent virtual.

    Hey, if the Japanese can do it (e.g. – Hatsune Miku) who can doubt? We don’t even need the video part here.

  186. 186.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @lamh36: Kamala and Doug not moving into VP residence yet, because it needs repairs. So Kamala and Doug are staying in their own DC digs until the repairs are done.

    Is it the Mike and Karen torture room featuring the giant cross Mike hangs from when he’s repenting?

  187. 187.

    Calouste

    I like that President Biden said that he was left a nice note (or something along those lines) by the shitgibbon. I’m sure it was actually a self-centered whinefest (what else would you expect), but why respond to the trolling? What’s the shitgibbon going to do, come out and say “hey, I was an asshole in that letter”? Or shut up and make his cultists think that he is caving in to Biden?

  188. 188.

    jl

    @HumboldtBlue: ” Kamala with an awkward moment in Senate chambers. ”

    Weird? She’d just doing her new damn job…. so… yeah, that does seem weird from the executive branch after four years. She’s right about that.

  191. 191.

    StringOnAStick

    Oops, forgot about the time difference being 1 hour more than I am used to, so I missed the Zoom; next time though!

  192. 192.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL: many years ago, Dan Amira, once and maybe still a writer for the Daily Show, responded to a tweet from trump attacking the show with a simple: “Your wife is waiting for you to die”

    trump did not take it well, to say the least

    maybe it’s still true, in spite of that renegotiated pre-nup that I really want to see

  193. 193.

    Blackcatsrule

    @Amir Khalid: I hope you can do so; your love for Bianca will only be multiplied by being passed on to another kitty.  When Buddy passed away in July we went ahead with a virtual adoption which was definitely a different experience but we weren’t sure when the shelters would reopen for in person visits and didn’t want a new addition to be in a shelter any longer than necessary (not a diss of our local shelter which is truly wonderful).  Maxx (two x’s because he’s x-tra bad ?) is settling in nicely.

     

     

    @Amir Khalid:

  196. 196.

    Baud

    NPR with the first Cletus safari of the Biden era?

    Biden Is President, But Some In Rural West Still Cling To False Notion That Trump Won

    NPR: Top Stories / by Kirk Siegler / 24min

    President Biden has been sworn in, but some people in conservative parts of the U.S. say they still believe the false notion that former President Donald Trump is the winner of the 2020 election

    No link.

  199. 199.

    Mike in NC

    Drinking Champagne, smoking a little weed, and watching Springsteen perform on this special night. Life is good again.

  200. 200.

    burnspbesq

    @Elizabelle:

    First foreign leader call Friday with PM Trudeau.

    That could be interesting. Our northern neighbors are pissed off about the cancellation of Federal permits for the Keystone XL pipeline.

    Proposed answer for Joe: “Look, Justin, it’s real simple: if you want to move that disgusting shit to market, move it across your own damn country.”

  202. 202.

    MisterForkbeard

    @lamh36: Aww, too bad.

    There was a tweet from a reporter a few days ago where they noted that this guy REALLY wanted to stay on. As would I, if I’d worked for the Trumps for 10 years and then got a chance to work for the Bidens.

  204. 204.

    dmsilev

    So now the primetime special “All The Celebrities Who Wouldn’t Be Caught Dead Associating With That Guy.”.

    It’s going to be a long show.

  206. 206.

    Baud

    Hahahaha.

    National Security Agency General Counsel Michael Ellis, who was installed by former President Donald Trump during his final days in office, was put on administrative leave Wednesday because his appointment is now the subject of a Department of Defense inspector general investigation, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

     

  209. 209.

    MisterForkbeard

    I’m getting into a bottle of 18 year Highland Park tonight. Never tried it before, but I figure it’ll be nice to explore it thoroughly :)

  212. 212.

    lamh36

    @kylegriffin1

    ·
    26s

    Brayden Harrington, the 13-year old who bonded with Joe Biden over their shared experience with stuttering, just appeared in the Biden inaugural special reading JFK’s inaugural address.

  219. 219.

    Another Scott

    @lamh36: He’s the kid that Biden bonded with over their shared stuttering.  (I saw a story somewhere that said he was basically mute until he met Biden.)

    Well done.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  220. 220.

    Blackcatsrule

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: My uploaded consciousness will be casting a vote for him.

    Your DC pictures this morning were perfect for this day…the seat of democracy and the immigrants who believe in and continue its promise.

  221. 221.

    JPL

    @lamh36:  He should be so proud of his performance, and we should be also.   Just wow.

    I love this.

    Now the tears are flowing again.

  223. 223.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    President Biden has been sworn in, but some people in conservative parts of the U.S. say they still believe the false notion that former President Donald Trump is the winner of the 2020 election

    Yawn. Even Trump does not believe it.

  231. 231.

    West of the Cascades

    Like the readings from the previous inaugural addresses, but the best part of Lincoln’s Second almost never gets quoted, and seems pertinent this month:

    “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether”

  232. 232.

    CaseyL

    “Here Comes the Sun,” and I puddled up on the opening chords.

    I think the next few weeks are going to be like that, bursting into tears whenever something reminds me that we’re not living in a shit fountain anymore.

  235. 235.

    Jay

    @burnspbesq:

    yeah, we’re not. There is a tiny, loud, racist “western” group that has bought into the pipeline and rammed it through. It’s a boondoggle.

    in Calgary, they get a 20 truck (balls) convoy flying Confederate Flags in support of the pipeline, all white dudes.

    In Vancouver you get 3,000 people of all races, creeds, sexuality showing up and risking arrest and death threats to stop it.

    The rest of us are happy, happy that it’s dead and President Joe Biden had the guts to kill it.

    Now let’s just go back and rip it’s veins out.

    Trudeau has an issue because with out Keystone, the Trans Mountain is just a $21 billion dollar boondog that has royally pissed everybody off, west of Alberta.

  236. 236.

    Another Scott

    News: NSA General Counsel Michael Ellis, who was installed by Trump during his final days in office, was put on administrative leave Wednesday, a source tells me, adding his appointment is now subject of a DoD IG investigation.

    Background: https://t.co/DvA5qm1zuW— Zachary Cohen (@ZcohenCNN) January 21, 2021

    Biden’s people aren’t messing around, wasting time.

    Good, good.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  237. 237.

    FelonyGovt

    Sorry I missed the Zoom. I’m exhausted, but good exhausted. It’s sinking in that the country is being run by competent people who are normal and not monsters.

  239. 239.

    bluefoot

    @dmsilev: There definitely should be a penalty box for the press corps. Ask a vapid question or one in bad faith and you don’t get a chance to ask a question again for a month. Hell, the administration should do that anyway unofficially and make it known they are keeping a list. Maybe the media would learn….

  240. 240.

    Brachiator

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Kamala and Doug not moving into VP residence yet, because it needs repairs. So Kamala and Doug are staying in their own DC digs until the repairs are done.

    Is it the Mike and Karen torture room featuring the giant cross Mike hangs from when he’s repenting?

    Ha! I can just imagine.

    More seriously, the government has spent tons repairing this place. It might be time to consider demolishing and rebuilding the place, or choosing some other property to be the VP home.

  245. 245.

    hueyplong

    @Elizabelle: Amazing Grace, 2nd movement of New World Symphony (Dvorzak), Appalachian Spring

    Made me a little misty

    I’m a fan of all of them, so it was easy for me to make the call.  Ask Cole about that last one.  I was at the 1988 WVU-Penn State game in which Major Harris went off.  At halftime the WVU band came out and did the Appalachian Spring thing and I cried like a baby.

    He’d understand.

  249. 249.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Brachiator: It’s the fucking tenants. They don’t own it so they don’t take care of it. I have this problem with some of my rental properties.

  252. 252.

    Patricia Kayden

    Good

    NEW: White House official confirmed for me that Joe Biden just fired Peter Robb after he refused to resign as NLRB general counsel.— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson) January 21, 2021

  254. 254.

    lamh36

    @jamieson

    NEW: White House official confirmed for me that Joe Biden just fired Peter Robb after he refused to resign as NLRB general counsel.

    Joe aint’ fuq’n round

  256. 256.

    Jay

    @bluefoot:

    in a Hockey rink there are a total of 4 penalty boxes,

    the White House lawn, in the beginning would need maybe 30 or 40,

    Each with a referee,

     

    Infrastructure Week, gotta love it.

  258. 258.

    Another Scott

    @Brachiator: The VP residence is at the Naval Observatory because of the ease of securing the location.  There aren’t too many other suitable locations in DC.

    The federal government has a long history of taking care of old buildings.  They’ll continue to take care of that one.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  259. 259.

    West of the Cascades

    These “celebrating America” virtual inaugural festivities are 10,000 times better than the inaugural balls that would ordinarily have been going on. Hopefully Biden and Harris will continue this tradition in 2025, 2029, and 2033.

  264. 264.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    People are comparing new White House press secretary Jen Psaki to CJ Cregg, the fictional Press Secretary portrayed by Allison Janney in the hit political drama The West Wing

  271. 271.

    Jay

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    in Canada the Federal Government does the care and maintenance, not the “tenants”.

    there was a “scandal” about Stormount, that eventually died down when the point was, and early 18th Century house with few modernizations, really doesn’t support a 21st Century Life.

    they found connected but tapped off gas lines meant to run the lighting.

    Basically Wall Bombs.

  273. 273.

    Elizabelle

    To being able to go to concerts again.  It will happen faster, with President Biden and science at the helm.

  274. 274.

    lamh36

    Inaugural Concert thanking the nation’s teachers!!!

     

    I love me some Foo Fighters! 90s teens represent!!!

  275. 275.

    Kristine

    @Elizabelle:

    In happier important matters: has anyone seen Champ or Major today??

    I’d read that they weren’t going to be moving into the WH right away in order to give them time to adjust. I’m sure they must be wondering where their people are and why no one has time to play.

  289. 289.

    Marcopolo

    This virtual inaugural celebration is the bomb! Loving both the format & content. Been group texting friends about it & there are now 4 more folks watching as a result. Now if only the had Amanda Gorman on to read another poem.

    Really OT but I just learned Mike Flynn has a bro who is also a General—it’s just come out that he was in the room when the head of the CH Police called begging for National Guard help & downplayed the situation. Huh.

  293. 293.

    Quiltingfool

    @karen marie: I read a book written by a White House Chief Usher (free Prime book).  I’d tell you the title, but my Kindle is recharging.  This guy worked at the WH starting with FDR and ending in the first term of Nixon.  The focus was on the First Ladies, as the Chief Usher mainly worked with them.  Very respectful to each First Lady.  All had different styles and personalities.

    It seems like a Chief Usher (and other WH house staff) would stay through multiple presidencies.  He had some amusing anecdotes about each family.

  294. 294.

    Elizabelle

    @Amir Khalid:  Yea!

    This day has been one long time coming, and one to savor.  Look forward to seeing all the highlights again.

    Chef Jose!!  “We need longer tables, not higher walls.”

  296. 296.

    Mary G

    OMG I fell into bed at 2 pm and got the best four hours of sleep I’ve had since the Obama administration. I hate missing so much, but it was wonderful.

  301. 301.

    Suzanne

    I flashed back to Trump’s inaugural address and his invocation of “American carnage”, which he then went on to promptly deliver as if we had called in an order for pizza. It was and has been terrible.

    And this is filling me with so much optimism. What a difference four years makes.

  302. 302.

    Elizabelle

    @Suzanne:   Never listened to that speech, or any speech by Individual 1.  Never will.  Unless it’s, like, from a courtroom.  Then I might tune in.

  303. 303.

    West of the Cascades

    I like how they’ve kept coming back throughout this celebration to the people whose lives were lost to covid (and the memorial lights around the Reflecting Pool) and to the heroes who’ve stepped up. And clear that Biden is now promising that our federal government will, too. So important to have that front and center to the inauguration “festivities.” It gives me so much hope that we have leadership now that won’t ignore difficult problems or pretend that everything’s OK when it’s not (on the pandemic, on systemic racism, on white supremacy, etc).

  313. 313.

    Amir Khalid

    What is that fanfare they play for Kamala Harris? For some reason, the beginning makes me think of Itsy-Bitsy Spider.

  315. 315.

    Suzanne

    @Elizabelle: She’s so lovely.

    I know it’s shallow, but the entire aesthetic of the last four years has just been utter garbage. All of the people around him were as gross as he was.

    Today everyone looks fresh, modern, different, smart, interesting. I love it.

  317. 317.

    Elizabelle

    @Denali:  My guess is that Barron and his grandparents were already on the airplane, and deplaned separately.  But who knows?

    John Legend!

  321. 321.

    PsiFighter37

    Tuned in a bit late, but enjoying this – and glad to see that it is being broadcast live, so that ordinary folks can partake in festivities that are usually reserved for the well to-do and connected.

  323. 323.

    trollhattan

    @Denali:

    Hopefully hiding in a closet, waiting for Dr. Jill to show up and get him some deprogramming help. I want to think it’s not too late.

  325. 325.

    Elizabelle

    @Suzanne:   Thinking about the rigid dress code for the Barbie Doll womens in Individual 1’s orbit.

    It’s like they were a bizarre kind of sect, with rules for women as stringent as the Amish or any group that demands feasance from its females.  The long hair, hard look, dresses, the high high heels that are a modern version of bound feet.  The artificiality.  The surgical enhancements.

    The mediocre, trifling men in their orbit.

    Occupying and oppressing us, for four long long years.  But that is over.  We are free of them.

  329. 329.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Amir Khalid:

    It’s “Hail, Columbia,” the personal anthem for the Vice President (just as “Hail to the Chief” is the President’s personal anthem).  It seemed to fall out of use for a number of years, but I’ve always liked it and am very glad they’re using it fairly lavishly for VP Harris.

  336. 336.

    West of the Cascades

    I love the America we’re seeing in this celebration. I want to live in this America. It’s not perfect, just good, and capable of becoming better. I’d lost hope in that latter bit until the last couple of month.

  345. 345.

    Kristine

    @Elizabelle:

    The long hair, hard look, dresses, the high high heels that are a modern version of bound feet. The artificiality. The surgical enhancements.

    I call it the “Real Housewives of Insert Place Here” look. Long hair extensions, parted in the middle, and either four shades too dark or too light. Tennis balls under their cheeks and bubble lips from injections. Spray tans. It’s garish and boring at the same time.

  346. 346.

    Jay

    @Kristine:

    Joe promised a rescue cat.

    there will be a First Cat.

    sane, left twitter is trending “Where’s the Cat” along with their cats wearing Biden/Harris gear.

  349. 349.

    PsiFighter37

    Former presidents now on screen. Bush is starting to look more like his old man with age. Bill sounds ever older.

  350. 350.

    Elizabelle

    Did they film this today at Arlington National?  The slight delay in departing from the ceremony there?

    The wind is out.  That is from today.

  351. 351.

    trollhattan

    If Trump told 30,573 lies while in office (on the record), that’s about 21 lies/day and Joe better get busy, because it’s not easy to keep up and a few days of slippage means intensive lie carpet bombing to catch up.

  352. 352.

    aliasofwestgate

    @Jay:  Pretty sure they’ll get a First Cat after they settle Champ and Major in first. Then the search for a feline will begin. *grins

  353. 353.

    dmsilev

    “The Former Presidents, except for He Who Will Not Be Named”

    (and not including Jimmy Carter, but he has a reasonable can’t-easily-travel excuse)

  354. 354.

    PJ

    Bush talking about “loving your neighbor like you love yourself” after making torture a policy.  Jesus F*cking Christ.

  359. 359.

    zhena gogolia

    I made it through John Legend, but I’m exhausted! I assume I’ll be able to watch the rest tomorrow. Too much joy can be exhausting.

  363. 363.

    MomSense

    My son and I have a rule that Nina Simone and Bill Withers should never be covered, but we are happy tonight so we are not going to make too much of a fuss about it.

  368. 368.

    HumboldtBlue

    Bill Withers wrote the song “Just one look at you (lovely day)”. He was born in Slab Fork WV.

  369. 369.

    Another Scott

    Biden’s census EO both requires Commerce Secretary to report apportionment numbers based on total population and rescinds July 2019 Trump EO instructing bureau to use existing govt records to collect citizenship information pic.twitter.com/CU1gNH5XBS

    — Sam Levine (@srl) January 21, 2021

    Good, good.

    My state Senator expects that Virginia is going to have to have 3 House of Delegates elections in the next 3 years because of Donnie’s messing with the Census.

    Of course, the state Constitution didn’t envision a problem with the Census, so has hard-and-fast language about drawing districts and holding elections by certain dates. So, of course, there’s an opportunity for mischief by bad actors.

    It’s good that Biden is putting down a quick marker that it’s vitally important to get the Census right. It is in the Constitution after all…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  370. 370.

    burnspbesq

    @Elizabelle:

    Black Pumas were one of our best kept secrets. No longer, and they deserve everything they get.

    Next up, Jackie Venson and Hardened and Tempered.

  378. 378.

    Kent

    @PsiFighter37:Former presidents now on screen. Bush is starting to look more like his old man with age. Bill sounds ever older.

    They are both younger than Biden.

  379. 379.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Joe looked like a little kid on Christmas morning, watching those fireworks! Just pure joy!

  382. 382.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: They need to take a page from Warnock’s ads. The one where he preemptively laughs at them is a classic. Just throw their incompetence in their faces and laugh them out of the room. And then only call on serious journalists.

  383. 383.

    Elizabelle

    Fabulous.  And no one was dumb enough to wear a green dress.  (That was so funny, the viewers’ embellishments.)

    Let’s use this energy and win us some more statehouses and Senate/House seats in the upcoming elections, for a few years.  Let the people vote, and we can win fair elections.

  384. 384.

    dmsilev

    Lovely fireworks display, and great shots of Pres and Veep watching with their spouses.

    I said it before, but: Today was a good day.

  386. 386.

    Kent

    @Kristine:I call it the “Real Housewives of Insert Place Here” look. Long hair extensions, parted in the middle, and either four shades too dark or too light. Tennis balls under their cheeks and bubble lips from injections. Spray tans. It’s garish and boring at the same time.

    And very not sexy.  I think women do it in competition with each other, not to attract men.

  392. 392.

    Suzanne

    @Kristine: The round cheeks are also from filler injections.

    I confess that I wouldn’t mind getting whatever that injectable is that keeps your chin from looking like Mitch McConnell’s.

  398. 398.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Anya: This is the most delusional take I’ve seen. Imagine being so let down that the coup didn’t happen that you have to make up something like this:

    “The plan was enacted over the weekend… Only your never saw it.

    Biden, his cabinet and tons of both Dem and Republican senators and other officials were arrested. Proof of their vast crimes were shown. They were court martial and found guilty.

    However, it was decided this was too much for the American people to accept. Overturning the election and showing the crimes of these politicians could lead to Civil War.

    So an agreement was reached: Biden and other deep state elements will be allowed to move freely and serve their terms. President Trump would “concede” and leave office. But this is all for appearances.

    Behind the scenes, Donald J Trump is still President. This plans, know as ShadowPrez, was seen as a last resort. But it worked.

    Anything that happens in the next 4 years is actually President Trumps doing.”

    That’s some next-level cray-cray.

  399. 399.

    Suzanne

    @Kent: Some dudes like that look. It’s a very status-y look. I mean, I think it’s gross, but I am not representative of many people. Patriarchal beauty standards are a thing that some people do better with than others.

  400. 400.

    PsiFighter37

    @Martin: Schumer has said he is introducing HR1 as S1 in the Senate. However, I am sure that the GOP is going to filibuster it right off the bat – I would be happily surprised to be proven wrong.

    I hope that Schumer, Pelosi, and Bernie (ugh) are working closely together to figure out what items they can fit into a reconciliation bill. Romney signaling today that he is not interested in more stimulus means that we have no realistic shot at 60 votes for another stimulus package as is…so I hope that they get all the big-ticket coronavirus items into reconciliation package #1 (that passes sometime in the next month or two), and then they get a lot of the lower-profile but just as important items into reconciliation package #2 this fall (along with any further stimulus). That will give them one last shot at using reconciliation in fall 2022 for anything else. The GOP is not going to suddenly learn how to compromise here, so the Democrats in Congress need to be in a place to act quickly. Stuff it full of pork as well, frankly.

  402. 402.

    PsiFighter37

    @West of the Cascades: Michael Ellis (the lackey put in as general counsel at the NSA) is already on leave and is apparently being investigated for mishandling classified materials. He is going to wish he never took that job, and he’s had it for all of 2 days.

  409. 409.

    Jay

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone:

    Little Bit came into the house as a 8 week old kitten, with a bottle brush tail, that fit in my hand.

    Casey, high energy Pit X who desperately loved cats.

    Digger, Belgian Shepard X with superhero energy.

    she pfffifted her way to dominance and setting the rules.

  411. 411.

    L85NJGT

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Governors mansions are dumpsters.

    When VP, Biden let it fly that Cheney had installed some post apocalyptic bunker after 9/11. I wonder if “repairs” means the place didn’t pass a security sweep. Pence is the sort that wouldn’t get that Trump was keeping tabs on him.

  412. 412.

    Elizabelle

    Gonna head to bed in a few and tuck into The Splendid and the Vile.

    The Vile departed DC today.

    The Splendid was inaugurated and more happiness tomorrow, and a lot of tomorrows.

  413. 413.

    Kent

    @Suzanne:@Kent: Some dudes like that look. It’s a very status-y look. I mean, I think it’s gross, but I am not representative of many people. Patriarchal beauty standards are a thing that some people do better with than others.

    I’m not talking about looking dressy.  I’m talking about the fake lips, fake hair, fake boobs, etc.  The Kellyanne Conway and Kimberly Guilfoyle look.   I’m sure some guys are into it. But I suspect most find it somewhat scary.

  415. 415.

    Kent

    @Sister Golden Bear:@Kent: The Foxbots wouldn’t do it unless the network thought lots their men viewers would love that look.

    The median age of the Fox viewer is 68 so half are older than that.   So they are appealing to a very narrow slice of very old white Republicans men and women, and not normal people.

  416. 416.

    PJ

    @Kent: Roger Ailes sure seemed to like it.

    The plastic/cookie-cutter look def seems to be a conservative thing.  I don’t know what they find attractive about it, except that maybe if these women don’t look like real people, they feel like they don’t have to treat them like people.  They are for display only.

  418. 418.

    Suzanne

    @Kent: The fake look is gross to me, but it’s a visual indicator of wealth. Like I said: status-y. Some dudes like it. Some dudes date strippers. ***shrug

  420. 420.

    Suzanne

    @PJ: What they find attractive about visible plastic surgery and high-maintenance beauty stuff like fake lashes, bleached hair, etc. is that it is a sign of being rich among their cohort. All that work is expensive and time-consuming, and therefore a status symbol.

  421. 421.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: Someone probably answered this already, but if you look in the sidebar in the Biden-Harris section at the top… you will see “Biden-Harris Inauguration Webstite”.

    Click on that, find the event and press play.

  423. 423.

    Kristine

    @Suzanne:

    I confess that I wouldn’t mind getting whatever that injectable is that keeps your chin from looking like Mitch McConnell’s.

    Yeah, I feel the same way about the injectable that fills out lines around the lips. I have those smoker’s lines, and I’ve never smoked.

  425. 425.

    Barbara

    @Suzanne: It occurred to me that since the Inaugural Committee didn’t have to raise money for balls and more traditional events they might have been able to spring for things like fireworks.  Yeah, that was more impressive than the 4th of July in DC, though not for as long.

  426. 426.

    Brachiator

    @L85NJGT:

     I wonder if “repairs” means the place didn’t pass a security sweep.

    Over the years they have spent substantial sums for structural repairs, water seepage, as well as additions (pool, bee hive, etc). The Wikipedia entry is fascinating. Mondale was the first VP to move into the house which, oddly enough was meant to be the temporary residence until an official VP residence could be built. Harris and family are not moving in until more repairs have been done.

  428. 428.

    PJ

    @Barbara:  I wouldn’t be suprised if, when the pandemic is over (gods willing, this year), Biden has some kind of celebration in DC that will be even bigger.

  429. 429.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    While I’m obviously thrilled that the Trumpenstein monster has been kicked out of the White House, I regret that our long national nightmare is not truly over because the toxins Trump has unleashed into the bloodstream of this nation will be around for years to come.  Nonetheless, Trump’s removal is undeniably a step in the right direction and calls for a celebration.

    This was the first music I cranked up to 11 after Trump officially became an ex-president

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7nSjwRMOog

  430. 430.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Suzanne: Exactly.

    I had a friend who grew up as part of the Beverly Hills elite (fortunately she turned into the bohemian black sheep daughter) and the expense involved was exactly the appeal.

    There were even distinctions based on which plastic surgeon you went to, which the apparently the insiders could tell by that surgeon’s “look.”

    (Which I can believe. There was a facial feminization surgeon in SF, whose work was readily identifiable by the Barbie-style ski-jump noses of his former patients.)

  431. 431.

    Anya

    @Sister Golden Bear: It’s insane. It’s so hard to tell between lunatics who believe this and the parodies. I just don’t understand why anyone want to be this delusional because that’s clearly a choice.

  434. 434.

    jonas

    Can I just say how beautiful it is to have a President and Vice President again clearly so grounded in their spousal relationships and in love with their partners? I don’t know what Pence and his wife had going on other than the no-being-alone-in-a-room-with-other-women rule and the “Mother” thing, but Trump and Malaria were clearly not the least bit interested in each other, slept in separate quarters, and aside from being terrible human beings, really had nothing in common and obviously gained nothing from their marital relationship. Our new president, like Obama before him, will clearly draw on the strength and intelligent counsel of his wife in what is certainly the world’s toughest job. Same with Kamala and Doug Emhoff.

  436. 436.

    Suzanne

    @Sister Golden Bear: For sure. There’s some people who get plastic surgery who don’t want anybody to know. But there’s also a cohort of exhibitionistically rich people who want their plastic surgery to be apparent, no different than a flashy car.

    Boob jobs are a perfect example. When really big boobs are fetishized, they’re usually fake big boobs. Most boob-havers, if they gain weight, will get bigger boobs and they’ll fall somewhat. But that’s not the goal: the goal is skinny with big boobs, and perky. So the boobs are specifically designed to look fake. That’s literally the point.

  438. 438.

    dww44

    @Kent: by about 4 years. I’ve always thought it interesting that Bush, Clinton and Trump  were all  born  in 1946 within a few months of each other and part of the inaugural baby boomer year.

  440. 440.

    jonas

    @Sister Golden Bear: Anything that happens in the next 4 years is actually President Trumps doing.”

    That’s just a riff on the old “how do you know you’re not just asleep right now and reality is, like, when you’re dreaming?” question from when you were lying around getting really high in college.

  446. 446.

    catatonia

    @Butter Emails: Grant is the guy to put up there. Everyone talks about what a failure he was at business. But he was pretty much a success at everything else: soldier, memoirist, father, husband. Legendary horseman. His presidency is very underrated, thanks to of course the Lost Cause goons. After his presidency, Grant did an around-the-world tour where he performed admirably as an unofficial diplomat. He developed a bromance with Otto von Bismarck, for crying out loud.

    Grant had two weaknesses. Booze, of course, but that never interfered with anything important. More crucially, he was often a poor judge of character– see Ward, Ferdinand and Gould, Jay–which generally cost him personally more than the nation. He admired Halleck and Adam Badeau, both of whom schemed behind Grant’s back. And he was way, way ahead of his time on race issues: both Native and Afro Americans. (And Grant hated animal abuse; when he was in the Army, he once had someone whipped who was mistreating a horse.)

    He did not like war, he just knew how to fight one, and Vicksburg and the disengagement of the AoTP after Cold Harbor to lay siege to Petersburg are among the most brilliant maneuvers any American general has ever pulled off. He beat Lee because he was BETTER than Lee, not because of a preponderance of resources. Again, that’s a lie perpetuated by the Redeemer assholes.

    Grant’s personal qualities–decency, modesty, level-headedness, a sharp if uncharismatic intelligence, and an empathy for the underdog since for so long he was one–are among the finest of any president we’ve ever had, IMO.

    Sherman, as much as I love how he carved up the innards of the Confederacy like so much Thanksgiving Turkey, wasn’t nearly as impressive a man as Grant.

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