I’ve been offline most of the afternoon, so waaay late to this, but I think it’s a good one. Rewind to the beginning to hear Biden’s remarks.
Open thread
by TaMara| 96 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Politicans, President Biden
I’ve been offline most of the afternoon, so waaay late to this, but I think it’s a good one. Rewind to the beginning to hear Biden’s remarks.
Open thread
Comments are closed.
germy
Steeplejack
@germy:
cain
@Steeplejack:
Yes, we could use a vaccine to cure us of “Trump”. Luckily that just happened. It’s called Joe and Kamala.
Villago Delenda Est
It’s the Trump Disease. It’s the American vaccine for the Trump Disease.
It’s so great that we’ll have adults in the White House again on January 20th.
dmsilev
@germy: Geraldo must be feeling very proud of himself for floating that suggestion a week or two ago.
geg6
@germy:
Boy, I sure wish there was a Trump vaccine. Sadly, the prion disease seems to be immune to any and all treatment.
I saw people in another thread talking about Lin Wood today. And I really had no idea who he was. And lo and behold, I open up TPM and this is what I see:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/pro-coup-trumpist-lawyer-lin-wood-seems-to-be-legit-bonkers
Mary G
? ?
Leto
@dmsilev: we need him to go back to searching for vaults, and what’s in them.
geg6
So, my BIL’s oldest brother died of COVID yesterday. He contracted it a few weeks ago and has been hospitalized in MI, where he lives. They put him on a ventilator a week or so ago and he never came out of it. So sad, but totally predictable. He was a Trumper, though not of the Q variety. Just of the stubborn asshole variety. Poor BIL has lost two brothers in 7 months (the first was non-COVID related, but another stubborn right winger who thought he didn’t need to listen to his doctors about his diabetes). I will never understand these wingnuts. Happily, BIL seems to have escaped contracting the prion disease from them. But I’m very, very sad for my BIL.
geg6
@Mary G:
That made my day!
Villago Delenda Est
@Leto: With no cameras and no ‘net connection. Also, too, close the vault after he goes in.
LuciaMia
@geg6: I’m really sorry, greg
Villago Delenda Est
@geg6: Please pass my condolences on to the family. What a tragic waste, all because Donald is too stupid to understand anything about contagious disease.
Steeplejack
@geg6:
Condolences to your BIL and his family.
geg6
@LuciaMia:
@Villago Delenda Est:
I will tell him. Thanks so much. Just too much horror this year, in every way. I know 2021 will only be slightly better because of the time it will take for the vaccines to do their jobs, but I’d take slightly better any day.
Leto
@Villago Delenda Est: pretty sure we can start a Go-Grift-Me to make it happen.
mrmoshpotato
@geg6: “Legit Bonkers” LOL
Also (too) – Bonkers intro
geg6
@Steeplejack:
Thanks, I’ll pass it along. He is aware of Balloon Juice, so it won’t be some long, crazy explanation I have to give about all my “online friends.”
J R in WV
@Mary G:
I dunno if that’s really the Biden folks, but whoever it is, it’s hilarious.
“It was smol accident. I sorry!”
. . . ;~)
Leto
@geg6: I’m so sorry, geg6.
rikyrah
@geg6:
Sorry for you BIL.
J R in WV
@geg6:
So sorry to hear of your family’s loss. Even worse that had he worn a mask more, and been more careful, it may not have happened.
Sad~!!~
You take care out there working with the public students!!!
rikyrah
There was a tweet yesterday that said..
‘ How come nobody is coming out saying..
2021 is gonna be my year!’
Folks were like..
Mannnnn…we’re just trying to make it through these next 30 days ALIVE.
Thinking about 2021 is too much to contemplate right now.
Elizabelle
@geg6: I am so sorry.
May your BIL’s loss save some other lives. As in, may some of his friends and associates may wise up before they’re on ventilators themselves.
Elizabelle
I put up on an excerpt on previous thread. Blood red Campbell County in SW Virginia wants to declare itself a “First Amendment Sanctuary” county.”
No tyrant, like our Democratic governor (once an Army physician) is going to tell these God-fearing patriots to wear masks!
SiubhanDuinne
@geg6: This is so sad. The daily statistics are horrifying, but I think it’s hard to grasp the impact until it comes down to hurting or killing people we know. Condolences to your BIL and the whole family.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: I read the whole thing in the last thread, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?
Mike in NC
The Washington Post put up an article speculating on whether Princess Ivanka will try her hand at politics after January. The comments thus far are about 6000 variations on “Die in a fire, bitch!”
Martin
@Elizabelle: Reminds me of the town in New Hampshire that was taken over by libertarians and then shortly thereafter by bears.
NotMax
@Elizabelle
Just as freedom of speech is not a shield for shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater, freedom of assembly does not include doing so to set fire to the theater.
//
geg6
@J R in WV:
Students are all gone until end of January. And I’m only going into the office one day a week until then, then back to two days a week. I feel safer at work than I do at Walmart.
rikyrah
I had written earlier about how 90% of our office had been out due to contact with COVID.
I was feeling better because the three initial people were doing better.
One was good enough to come back to work.
One got out of the hospital. He’s a walking testimony that you can catch COVID again. He was in the hospital, but, from what it sounds, he’s going to be one of those with long-time lasting effects.
The last was said to be doing better and waiting for the results of his second test so that he can come back to work.
So, why do I hear this afternoon that someone else had gotten it from one of the first three. The only person who caught it from someone else. Everyone else had tested negative. And, she’s in ICU. I’m just…..
Edited to add: did another push for laptops this morning. Was shot down again. Will continue to make the case.
rikyrah
@Mike in NC:
Politics, where?
scribbler
@Elizabelle: They should have to sign a waiver that they refuse all medical/hospital aid should they (gasp!) come down with Covid.
trollhattan
Our English house guest just left to fly home, interestingly, to the country that just rapid-approving the Pfizer vaccine and so her mum could get her jab as soon as next week. She’s a psychiatric nurse who will also be administering it. Told Emily, “Say, since you know somebody, maybe you can, you know….” using my best NJ mob accent.
The county infection numbers here are ghastly high, nearly 2x last summer’s peak. They sync perfectly with Halloween and I’m leery of the two weeks following Thanksgiving, which are just now populating the graph. Hoping we don’t see Fauci’s “peak of the peak” happen here.
geg6
Thanks all. I will pass on all your condolences to my BIL. It will help him to know that there are people out there thinking about him and his family. It’s been a rough year for him, poor guy.
raven
@rikyrah: Tijuana.
Martin
@?BillinGlendaleCA: The ‘rugged individualist’ is pretty deeply entrenched in US culture, and the GOP having been brainwashed that any government is ‘big government’ (well, anything outside of the military and ICE) have gone all in on it. Every single one of them convinced that they are solely equipped to take on the zombie apocalypse.
I’m in favor of relocating these idiots to northern Alaska where gun ownership is nearly mandatory, and where they can test out their theories. I’d worry about the environmental impact, but they’d certainly all die and corpses are an important component in the circle of life.
bluehill
@Villago Delenda Est: Unfortunately, there’s no cure for stupid.
dmsilev
@Martin: Since, as we all know, the right to arm bears is sacred, I assume the problem eventually took care of itself.
cain
@mrmoshpotato:
Do they still have that candy ‘Bonkers’? That was some yum stuff.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@rikyrah: I imagine she thinks it’s like that “cute” lemonade stand story from her memoir. Daddy will send the servants, all those grubby people from the rallies.
Who’s the spoiled girl from Willy Wonka? Veruca Salt?
Martin
@geg6: Sorry to hear that. I learned this morning of another colleague to pass due to covid. That’s the 5th I know of. I wonder how many I don’t know of yet. All work in higher ed around the country.
Stay safe.
Elizabelle
@Martin: Would take the pressure off seals, which are better creatures.
Let the polar bears hunt the patriots (successfully, please). I’d watch a pay per view of that.
Martin
@dmsilev: Yeah, the town has mostly collapsed under its own ineptitude. Not sure how many people are left for the bears to eat.
Amir Khalid
Trump is live on YouTube right now talking all kinds of crazy about the election. It’s billed as an address to the nation, but I don’t see coverage of it anywhere else.
NotMax
@rikyrah
No place outside a ten mile radius from a Bloomingdale’s.
//
Martin
@NotMax: You think Ivanka stoops down to Bloomies?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax:
Gee, you’re no fun at all.
Ramalama
Thought B Juicers would appreciate a diversion.
Today is William Wegman’s birthday.
Not sure why I have his birthday on my calendar – I’m normally not organized like that at all. But I do! His Weimaraners are put into ridiculous poses and costumes and the result is something so enjoyable. I attended a show of his in Boston in maybe the 1990s – and I loved everything about it. He even made some videos of himself, sans les chiens, that are also really deadpan perfect.
Fun things to read in case anyone needs a palette cleanser:
Playing hockey on his rooftop in Manhattan (might be behind a paywall in WSJ)
Pretty pictures in Architectural Digest.
TaMara (HFG)
@Mary G: It does seem to be their official account. Which is completely adorable.
Ramalama
@Amir Khalid:
— Michael Scott, The Office
Elizabelle
@Ramalama: Happy birthday, William Wegman. Love those dogs.
NotMax
@Martin
Any haute in a storm.
:)
MomSense
@rikyrah:
I’m so sorry and I’m furious. You are trying to do the right thing and you should be supported and commended for it. It feels like employers are just going with this deadly flow instead of trying to protect their employees.
I was talking to my son about it because he had a confrontation with the owner/director of his firm because senior people were not wearing masks and were holding meetings without requiring masks. He knew the support staff were upset so he said something. It worked in his case but he said he used up all his social and political capital to do it and feels like he is sort of on the outside now.
We shouldn’t be treated like complainers or trouble makers when lives are on the line. It seems like the whole understanding of the common good and our obligations to each other have eroded beyond repair.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Veruca Salt was a decent band. And my memory from when I was nine or so is the actress who played Ms Salt was rather cute.
MomSense
@geg6:
I’m really sorry. Sending my condolences to your family.
trollhattan
@Ramalama: @Elizabelle:
William Wegman Weimaraners=fabulous furry friends.
HBDTY good sir.
Elizabelle
@TaMara (HFG): And their self-description, per their twitter account:
Sm*t Cl*de
@Mike in NC:
Have any of the maggots thought about the optics of trying to go into politics if their biggest life accomplishment is being pardoned by Daddy for unspecified criming?
Yarrow
@geg6: So very sorry for your BIL’s loss. So hard for everyone, especially during the holiday season.
Elizabelle
@Martin: Thank you. Gonna read that article tonight. And root for the bears.
Yarrow
@Mike in NC: None of the traitor tots have anything near Daddy’s charisma. Sure, he’s awful but he knows how to read the room and give his people what they want to hear. He’s a fantastic con man. The kids have none of that. They’ll go nowhere.
zzyzx
@Elizabelle: there are enough shots of them in the feed that I think it’s real.
I retweeted the post and they replied in character. It’s weird to see actual competence.
trollhattan
@Sm*t Cl*de:
Ambassador to USP Florence, CO Supermax.
Yarrow
@MomSense: That sort of thing is so infuriating. One of the things I so appreciate about Biden is that he models good behavior as far as Covid precautions are concerned. He wears a mask unless speaking at a microphone. Everyone else does too. They are social distanced. When the leaders model good behavior the people down the ladder are more likely to do it too.
NotMax
@Yarow
She may have a future as third assistant emergency back-up hostess on the Home Shopping Network’s graveyard shift.
//
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
But Don Jr. yelled at us real good during the RNC and even uttered the magic phrase, “radical Islamic terrorism” which gives him superpowers. Also Kimberly on coke.
The Thin Black Duke
@Yarrow: I see a reality TV show in their future. Unfortunately.
Frans
@Amir Khalid: Absolutely horrifying. And he has so many weeks to get worse. And he will.
Yarrow
@NotMax: She’s going to roll in her money from the Chinese patents until the lawsuits make that more difficult.
@trollhattan: Can you imagine the oppo on Don Jr.? File’s gotta be a five feet thick.
@The Thin Black Duke: Maybe. Mark Burnett may have something in mind. They’re all so dull, though. I don’t know if they’ve got the fans that Daddy. does.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
Heh, yup. Dude’s not smart enough to cover his tracks, I suspect. Nevertheless, of all the Trump spawn he’s the one who gives off the most “I deserve to be elected” vibe. Ivanka wants to be rich and worshiped more than she wants to be in office and I suspect now knows the difference. Now Jared is another story.
Gin & Tonic
@trollhattan: Didn’t somebody here (or elsewhere, I dunno) point out that the last POTUS to lose a second term went on to watch his son be inaugurated 8 years later? I’d bet real folding money that Don Jr is acutely aware of that factoid.
germy
Dan B
@geg6: Sorry about your BIL’s loss. Among other emotions is he feeling regret like, What if I had done or said XYZ? I’ve had that for 25 years about people I lost to AIDS. I seems to be connected to seeing people die young and horribly.
I hope he finds some measure of peace.
Yarrow
@trollhattan: Agree that Jr.’s got that swag. But he’s also lazy and not that bright and doesn’t have his dad’s con man touch. He’d never get the devoted following his dad has.
Dan B
@germy: Lots of onions and dust in here all of a sudden. Mark Kelly lifting Gabby’s spirit and desire for empathetic public service.
trollhattan
Just learned our asshole Trump-loving gun-permit broadcasting county sheriff, the one who refuses to enforce the curfew mandate, has COVID.
Thoughts & prayers.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
Donny Jr. has the personality of a 5# tub of lard. I doubt any of the spawn has “The One” tattooed on them. Here’s hoping, anyway.
Brachiator
@Martin:
The myth of it, anyway.
I’ve recently been reading about homesteaders who came out West. No one would have made it five yards from their former homes without scouts, the Army and all kinds of support infrastructure.
trollhattan
@germy:
Oh man, what a journey for those two.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
And smallpox!
germy
@trollhattan:
I love them. I was so glad when he won.
germy
Leto
@Brachiator: The first couple of chapters of Rick Perlstein’s book, “Before the Storm” (about Goldwater), talks about the same thing. All of the help the federal government provided to everyone out there including, perhaps most importantly, water rights and access to water. They love to talk about just how rugged they are, how it was all their own grit and fortitude, but as with most myths, it’s a lie.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: Tots and Pears.
germy
This has to be the weirdest car commercial I’ve ever seen. And they’re all pretty strange.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUtE3QlTpKI
The Moar You Know
@MomSense: Owners of my company are hardcore Trumpers and high risk. And I’ll say this for them; if you decide to show up and “stand on your rights” and not wear a mask, you’re fired. If you show up sick, you are fired. And they’ve made it very clear that is the case in both our East Coast offices as well.
And we’re doing the preliminary discussions but we’ve already cleared it with our California HR lawyers and are waiting for the East Coast; when a vaccine is available, if you choose, for whatever reason, not to get vaccinated, you will be fired. And if you have a medical exemption, we cannot accommodate that and we can back that up 100% in court (I can’t get into why without talking about what it is we do, which I won’t go any further than “military”) and you will no longer have a job.
Our CEO is an asshole and Trumper, but she’s also a former nurse. She’s not willing to fuck around with this. And she’s old enough that if she got this, she would die. Which is helpful
We are an exception and for that, I am truly grateful. My wife is a schoolteacher and the new board wants to end distance learning and send her back in five days a week. She’s got three years to retirement. So she’s going to be taking a full leave of absence. It is appalling that they’re even being asked to do that, given that six months from now we’ll have a vaccine. What exactly is the rush?
debbie
@rikyrah:
A lot of companies have had surprising (to them) success with switching to remote working. You might find something in the WSJ or similar about this and pass it along to the stubborn cahoots in your organization.
trollhattan
@Leto: I’ve delayed reading the others in the Perlstein…tetrology? to start with “Before the Storm” and am not sorry to be investing the time. Joe McCarthy? Check. Daddy Koch? Present. John Birch Society? Right there. Brent Fucking Bozell? Had no idea he wormed his way so deeply into The Movement.
So far it’s an education. How little I once knew–I thought the crazy stuff just dropped from the sky.
debbie
@geg6:
So sorry for your poor BiL’s losses. Even asshole siblings leave their marks on us.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
also, unlike the elder generation/s, Fredo’s status as a trust fund baby is too well known for him to pass himself off as a “self-made man”, a fictional part trump plays even better than Rodney Dangerfield, if the audience is limited to people who found Caddyshack too highbrow and complicated (and I am not dissing Caddyshack, like most of my cohort, I can quote it extensively, even though I probably haven’t watched it in twenty years)
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
Oh yeah, I got some thoughts for him.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@trollhattan:
Hopefully he dies painfully.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
I have decided to continue to prepare for the worst case scenario. Going to continue to get the work scanned. Getting it all done.
I look at the trends. I don’t think that our Governor will have a choice. He is going to have to shut us down. We will probably be scrambling to get the laptops for staff, but the work will be ready for them
Barbara
@geg6: That really is sad and I am sorry.