Here’s a clip from a Biden press conference today:
Biden on the problem of long-term unemployment: "The idea the president is still playing golf and not doing anything it is beyond my comprehension. At least you'd think he'd want to go out on a positive note. But what is he doing?" pic.twitter.com/VjYwT7gr63
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 16, 2020
Biden talks about Trump’s lazy pouting as captured in the text above, but he also mentions the Senate, where allegedly 20 Republicans have said they won’t vote for any stimulus bill. Biden says there may be some who will. I don’t know about that! But I’m encouraged that he’s throwing it back on the Senate because they’re the cause of inaction now, and McConnell is poised to reprise the Dr. No role he played when Obama was president, starting the second Biden is sworn in.
I know the two Dems in Georgia are running against their Republican opponents as crooks, which is good because Loeffler and Perdue really are a pair of repulsive grifters. I hope and trust the candidates are also framing the race as a referendum on a shitty Republican Senate that is hanging people out to dry during the worst public health crisis in a century. Want another stimulus check? Want PPP funds for your Georgia business? Vote for Ossoff and Warnock. Seems like a solid messaging strategy to me.
Open thread!
Roger Moore
If we can’t recognize how great he is by voting for him, he’s going to punish us by refusing to do his job.
different-church-lady
One small tactical advantage for Biden: as a long-time senator, if anyone knows where the secret buttons and levers are that would motivate just enough moderate GOP crossover to get vital things through, it’s Biden.
Whether those buttons and lever are still wired to anything is a question. But at least Biden could get his hands on them, where others wouldn’t even know where to look.
Martin
From McConnells perspective, he can afford to have everyone from 49 states die, and about 60% of Kentucky die, before this starts to impact him.
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: Well let’s be fair here: he hasn’t done his job in the previous 3.9 years either.
Josie
I would like to see Democrats get more specific and insistent on what is in the Heroes Act. Biden mentioned it, but he did not say exactly what is in the act and how long it has been sitting on Mitch’s desk. Every Democrat, especially those in the run-offs, should talk about this non-stop.
Martin
@Roger Moore: That’s how authoritarians work. Give me what I want or I’ll use the federal government to punish you. Alternatively, if you don’t want to be punished, give me what I want.
This is a genocide.
different-church-lady
@Martin: Based on recent photographic evidence, he needs to be worried about his own death well before any of that.
MomSense
Biden has been such a good candidate and now president elect. His messaging has been solid. He also has the benefit of being a white guy which means he can say things like shut up and bullshit.
different-church-lady
@MomSense: Malarkey!
Roger Moore
@different-church-lady:
As long as McConnell is majority leader, all those wires are wired to the black hole where a heart is supposed to be. It won’t matter if Biden can sweet talk a few Republican caucus members into supporting some of his policies; McConnell won’t allow a vote on the floor unless he wants it.
randy khan
If I were Ossoff and Warnock, that message about the Republicans in the Senate would include a heavy dose of protecting the airlines, too. Delta is hugely important in Atlanta, and it’s been hammered by COVID-19.
UncleEbeneezer
Just read a post by the woman managing the postcard effort for the San Gabriel Valley area saying that 42 of the 50,000 addresses for postcards to Georgia are already spoken for (we are gonna do 200 ourselves). Dems are pumped! Let’s do this.
Kay
I wonder if they refuse to give Biden intelligence briefings because Right wing terror threats are blinking red.
Kent
@MomSense: Honestly, he has been growing on me every time I see him going back to March. He truly has the right tone and gravitas for the moment I think.
MJS
@different-church-lady: He needs to hurry up with that.
patrick II
Half of me thinks of running against McConnell aggressively may result in a very vindictive response from the Senate leader. The other half says it doesn’t matter, he will be dedicated to Biden’s failure regardless. So go for it.
Also, I assume they have mail-in ballots for the run-off, but they will be used less because of time constraints. And distrust in the post office . I hate to have these Georgians run the in person gauntlet again given current circumstances .
condorcet runner-up
@Roger Moore: eh … he was going to go golfing either way.
condorcet runner-up
@randy khan: this is an excellent point. and delta is one of the airlines probably getting hammered harder because they refuse to pack passengers in their planes like sardines during all of this.
Ksmiami
My framing for Loeffler as amplified on Twitter is Princess Death Profiteer- extreme? Yes. True, also yes.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
No. The lights may be blinking red, but that’s not why they’re doing it. They’re doing it because they’re petty assholes who have adopted “rule or ruin” as a way of life. If they aren’t going to be in charge, they’re going to make life as difficult as possible for the people who are.
Jeffro
I am all for Dem messaging that helps focus people very clearly on the all-important WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM.
We should try it, just this once ;)
Also able to be phrased in the negative, as in HERE’S THE BAD THING REPUBLICANS WANT TO DO TO YOU: VOTE D TO STOP I
Eta: or, what Josie said:
Jeffro
@Kay:
@Roger Moore: both things are probably true
bbleh
@different-church-lady: True, and Harris too.
Were I in the Biden administration, I’d work both angles. Let Joe and Kamala take the high road and work the Old Boy network, and then have surrogates and media tear into the Trump administration and the Senate Republicans. Make sure the blame goes where it’s deserved while still getting credit for keeping the door open (which might actually yield some positive results).
Yes it’s cynical. It’s McConnell and Trump we’re dealing with.
bbleh
@UncleEbeneezer: Yes. Postcards are about out. Do PHONE-BANKING, especially in support of REGISTRATION, which can continue for the rest of this month.
Kay
@Roger Moore:
I think they’re hoping they can not let anyone from outside the cult in until they’re all closer to leaving because it’s an absolute shit show in there and no one does or has done any work and they don’t want professionals to get a look at it.
cope
I sure hope the Dems have the cajones to throw everything the Republicans have done and not done in their collective face in the coming couple of years. I would be just fine with some “no more Mr. Nice Guy” on their part.
artem1s
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/11/white-house-races-complete-regulations-trump-exits
Saw this interesting article this morning. Seems like the GOP is busy making sure we don’t use science to make regulatory decisions, while Twittler sits in his bathroom and whinges about losing his job.
Trump made deregulation a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign. Now the White House and political leaders at the different agencies have roughly 2 months to finish dismantling the regulatory state.
“I think it’s probably going to be an all-hands-on-deck to get as much accomplished as possible,” said Nick Loris, an energy policy expert at the Heritage Foundation.
geg6
@Kay:
I agree, this is a very large part of it.
bbleh
@Kay: Yes. Once they start turning over rocks, and the media get a look at what’s underneath, it’s going to be ugly.
And meanwhile, they’re shredding documents and stealing the silverware.
patrick II
@Kay:
One reason among many. But they won’t let him talk to the Covid response team either, so it’s not that alone. O ther reasons include: sore loser on the grandest scale ever, damaging Biden’s presidency, enhancing his own abilities by comparison,and general mean spirited sadism.
Kay
@Jeffro:
Please. The Top Secret Vaccine Distribution Plans. My ass those exist.
They’re going to find a pile of unpaid invoices for MAGA hats, and takeout boxes.
Kent
@artem1s: Former federal regulation writer here. My guess is that they will take too many legal shortcuts trying to ram all this through which will make it easier for the Biden folks to reverse them. But it will be a pain in the ass to deal with all this shit on top of everything else. Regulatory changes burn up lots of staff hours just doing all the analytical documents and such so Biden’s teams will have to prioritize and do triage
If I was still doing federal regulations in this environment, I’d be leaving all kind of little turds and landmines in the administrative record (memo’s to the file, emails, etc.) and then a little bird would be whispering in the ear of the Sierra Club or NRDC when they sue, telling them where all the weaknesses are and which documents to subpoena or FOIA to prove malfeasance and illegal acts.
Elizabelle
Make it clear: we have a Republican Senate full of Hoovers. Hoover did not know what to do in a time of great economic pain and disruption either.
(Albeit, Herbert Hoover was a better and more skilled man than any of our modern-day Republicans. Although most Americans will not know that about him. He was just entirely the wrong man for the Depression.)
MomSense
@Roger Moore:
I think they’re delaying so they can destroy as much evidence as possible. Brinks trucks full of shredding
MJS
Does the framing of the question in the clip get on anyone else’s nerves, or is just me? I don’t know who the reporter is, but it really gets me angry that the fucking President-elect, before he’s even on the job or permitted to begin his transition, is asked to provide, in specifics, exactly what he’s going to do to address long-term unemployment, while the current President* hasn’t been required to provide any specifics, on any topics, in over 5 years (between his campaign and time in office). I know there’s a double standard, and always has been, but Jesus Christ, do none of these reporters hear themselves?
Kay
@patrick II:
There is no “covid response plan”. Which has been perfectly clear for months. Literally everyone in the country knows there’s no covid response plan. It’s why Trump lost.
They don’t want to let professionals in there because the professionals will be shocked and horrified.
If people like this won’t let anyone in the building there’s a reason for that, and it has nothing to do with the Trump fans. They’re hiding.
HumboldtBlue
We’re not gonna make through 2021 at this rate. This is fucking absurd.
On a more positive note, I am using the Firefox worldwide radio app and listening to a Chicago jazz station.
So there’s that.
Firefox also has a language tool app that does what grammarly does but better.
I like Firefox.
trollhattan
@Ksmiami:
Am wondering if the league will force her to sell her WNBA ownership share now that’s she’s gone full Trump.
That would be a pity.
randy khan
@condorcet runner-up:
As a moderately frequent Delta flyer in the Before Times, I’ve also been impressed with what they’ve been doing. At one point, the CEO sent an email message to all frequent flyer members saying that, despite many requests from people who said they’d learned their lesson, Delta was going to continue to ban anyone who had refused to wear a mask on a flight.
Bruce K
@patrick II: McConnell is so far around the bend that “vindictive” would be a marked improvement. I’d say he couldn’t be trusted to keep to a bargain unless the counterparty had a knife to the throat of someone whose livelihood he cared about, but on second thought, I don’t know if there’s anybody on the entire planet who’d qualify.
Kent
@MomSense: I don’t think there is any master plan. There rarely is with this bunch. Trump just doesn’t want to concede so every agency is just falling in line. He has nothing but lackeys and yes men running all of them by now.
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue:
Only two yellow/minimal counties in the state. One is Alpine, which has about twelve people. The other contains Yosemite.
mad citizen
@Kent: Plus the trump team is just so damned incompetent, and I thought they never even filled out the hundreds of staff people, etc in the agencies (too lazy to google this). And I imagine those that were there have left or are leaving soon.
The Moar You Know
@patrick II: You thought he was a brick wall with Obama? Mitch is going to close the Senate and go on vacation. Might as well go after him as hard as possible. It won’t make one bit of difference.
Another Scott
@patrick II:
Cheers,
Scott.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
WaPo reports that Gov. Northam of VA supports marijuana legalization and will be working with the state leg to make it happen. VA will be the first southern state to legalize (DC doesn’t technically count – not a state, yet). They would also be one of the few to do so via the legislature.
Progress! Voting makes a difference.
Kay
@HumboldtBlue:
It’s really bad in Ohio. I feel like half this county is quarantined. They’ve now cancelled just about everything they restarted. We only have 7 ICU beds and they can barely staff them as it is.
Steeplejack (phone)
It would be great if the Lincoln Project would train their fire on McConnell now. Might be a good way to help in Georgia without coming across as “meddling outsiders.” Has anybody seen what they’re doing since the election?
HalfAssedHomesteader
@Martin: Idn’t that the truth. Actually, it would make his life a whole lot simpler. So if you plebs wouldn’t mind…
Ksmiami
@trollhattan: no pity from me. I hate these people.
HumboldtBlue
@trollhattan:
We were yellow last week, I posted a link to the NCJ pointing out we were yellow in a sea of red. Seems people wanted to change colors. Newsom fucked this up.
@Kay:
This is criminal negligence.
mrmoshpotato
@cope:
If Jon Ossoff and Reverand Warnock win, I’d be good with two years of “You assholes were 8 years of ‘NO!’. Get fucked you mass-murdering, Russkie traitors!”
Steeplejack (phone)
@HumboldtBlue:
I like Firefox too. I was surprised to read a month or two ago what a small market share it has. Bummer. I hope it survives.
I’ll look for the radio add-on; that sounds cool.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
Which is dumb even by Trump standards. Biden’s people are going to come in and see the wreckage sooner or later. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re busy trying to destroy records of their misdeeds, but that’s a different issue from the transition.
PPCLI
@Roger Moore: No amount of sweet talking or appeals to national well-being will move a Republican vote in the Senate. Obama learned that the hard way, and Biden had a front row seat.
Hopefully Biden will take the newly Trump-augmented powers of the executive and start playing serious hardball. Beginning with sanctions on McConnell’s Russian pal. And finding ways to route money away from Kentucky. Etc.
Certainly Grassley and Ernst can kiss their sweet socialist payments to farmers goodbye.
Biden won’t get anything unless he hits back hard. Hopefully under the gentle sweet unity talk there will also be a readiness to be ruthless against bad actors.
HumboldtBlue
@Steeplejack (phone):
I saw a similar article, but they seem to be hanging in there.
You’ll see the apps at the bottom of your home page, icons look like puzzle pieces.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
And human feces smeared all over the walls. I honestly expect something that awful.
raven
@Ksmiami: She’s fucking pig and I hope they run the carpetbagger label on her skanky ass. . .she’s from Illinois.
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue:
What station?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@different-church-lady: I think the only Senator who might be willing to compromise is one who wasn’t there when Biden was: Romney, Collins and Murkowski and maybe Portman might– might— follow along. And to make McConnell compromise you have to be willing to hurt his agenda, the Republican agenda. And Our Willard has never shown a willingness to do that, neither did would-be principled types like Flake and Corker
Roger Moore
@Elizabelle:
Hoover actually had a pretty good idea of what kinds of things needed to be done to help the economy. His problem was an ideological unwillingness to use government power to achieve those things.
mrmoshpotato
@Kay: Not takeout boxes – McTrashald’s wrappers and fry boxes.
catclub
I still say that McConnell is the agent of his caucus who can raise the most money. He serves at THEIR pleasure,
and he does not tell them to do things (and have them do) that they do not already agree with.
It may be politically more effective to target him, but it is the entire GOP senate caucus.
Mitt Romney is probably the best chance of GOP senator to peel off the caucus.
HumboldtBlue
@mrmoshpotato:
I forget, I switched off, it was smooth jazz but no station number. Listening to Philly sports right now and my gawd is sports radio even worse than when I listened 10 years ago.
Interesting, some of the stations redirect to their own website, makes sense.
satby
@Steeplejack (phone): since you asked: home page at their website talks about the race in Georgia and electing Ossiff and Warnock.
and there’s these
https://lincolnproject.us/video/
Ksmiami
@raven: yes I agree – she’s also a murderer for profit and I think we can make that stick
Roger Moore
@MomSense:
I think they will be much less successful than they expect, and quite possibly less successful than they believe they have been. The government is basically a gigantic record keeping machine. It’s designed to make it easy to save records and difficult to destroy them, and the long-term staff are unlikely to give them any help. I expect there are a lot of civil servants who have been keeping records and will be happy to provide them when real Inspectors General show up to find out what happened.
catclub
FTFY
patrick II
@Another Scott:
That is great to read.
mrmoshpotato
@raven:
And we don’t want that murderous, profiteering bitch back!
Betty Cracker
@raven: I remember when that label could really hurt a politician in the South, but it seems to have lost some of its sting, at least in my neck o’ the woods. The former he-man good old boys love a make-up and girdle wearing shitbag from [Pace Salsa commercial voice] New York City!
SiubhanDuinne
Once again, David Perdue — cowardly, craven, chickenshit David Perdue — has decided he won’t participate in a scheduled debate with Ossoff.
https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/perdue-ducks-debate-against-ossoff-ahead-of-january-runoff/6ZJ4LT7D2FB73MQ3EQ4SYP6XII/
To the great credit of the Atlanta Press Club, they’re going ahead with the televised event, which will feature an empty podium for Perdue. Ossoff plans to show. Given the national attention on this race, I hope the CNNs and MSNBCs of this world decide to carry it. Perdue deserves to be mocked and scorned by everyone in the country. Fucker.
Shana
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: I saw that about VA this morning and was pleased although I’m not sure how much indulging we’ll do at age 61 after mostly abstaining for the last 30ish years. We still haven’t finished the edibles our daughter gave us a few months ago.
Is DC still in its “you can possess but you can’t buy or sell” status? Anyone know?
schrodingers_cat
I love this idea. Make the Georgia elections a referendum on Moscow Mitch. And cosplay socialists shilling for FB can stay put in their boroughs and far away from Georgia. Thank you very much.
Martin
@HumboldtBlue: Most of the state is purple. We need a new tier above purple. Purple restrictions aren’t cutting it.
HumboldtBlue
@SiubhanDuinne:
I love it, saw that earlier today.
Steeplejack (phone)
@satby:
Thanks. Those two November 13 ones are pretty good.
mrmoshpotato
@Roger Moore:
I don’t know if any of us are ready for the horrors that’ll be unearthed. I imagine what we do know about is a small fraction of what this Soviet shitpile mobster crime family did.
J R in WV
@Roger Moore:
Perhaps McConnell should be given a blunt choice between having votes on critical legislation or spending the next four years being interviewed under oath with regard to a wide variety of hate crimes, genocidal policies, being extradited to The Hague, etc, etc.
Seriously, does anyone think McConnell isn’t guilty of serious criminal activity? Just look harder until you find it.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne: David Perdue should be pelted with chicken carcasses for the rest of his days.
ETA – Oh, and this past Friday’s Professional Left podcast had a great idea – Ossoff and Warnock should debate each other, but debate who has the more corrupt opponent.
Kent
Biden can actually do shit to fuck with McConnell. Like, for example, when he negotiates tariff reductions with the EU (which you know is coming) He can conveniently forget to include Kentucky Bourbon in the negotiations. Sorry…just slipped through the cracks there.
He can also put McConnell’s wife’s shipping empire under DOJ microscope. No doubt lots of wrong-doing there as well as sweetheart deals that need to be canceled.
Will he? I fucking hope so. Trump would.
trollhattan
Some Bond-villain escape shit, right here. Spoiler: unsuccessful but style points awarded.
Watched “Thunderball” once too often.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@J R in WV:
Actually, I don’t. I think he coordinates, probably through exactly enough cut-outs to make it legal, with people like the Kochs and the Mercers and Uilheins and a whole bunch of people we’ve never heard of, to tell them where to spread their money. Also, he and Willard and Collins and Murkowski– whatever the differences in the public images they cultivate– and 44 other elected Senators share a set of political goals far more important to them than any differences they may have.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: “Get a rope.”
artem1s
@MJS:
for that matter the media hasn’t worked as journalists either in the last couple of decades either. We should have much better stenographers IMO for what these incompetents are getting paid.
jonas
This was always going to be the Final Revenge of the WWC asshole: how can we pwn Obama? Elect a totally incompetent white idiot (who wears pancake orange makeup for some reason), and then ostentatiously not care when he goes golfing during a major national emergency. Of course if Obama had done the same, we would have demanded his dismemberment and display of head and limbs at the entrance to all major cities. Suck it, lib elites!!
Elizabelle
@mrmoshpotato:
That would be fabulous. John Oliver to moderate that debate. With slides and graphics.
J R in WV
@mrmoshpotato:
Everyone leaves out the important details! What state are you telling us about? What great station to listen to? Etc.
satby
@Steeplejack (phone): I think when analysis is done on the election, we’ll discover that the Lincoln Project did move some % of Republicans to vote for Biden at the top of the ticket, but then they voted the party in the lower races. That helps a little to explain Biden’s win and also the retention of several Republicans we thought we’d beat.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: Impressive, but beat him with the scooter.
HumboldtBlue
Sarah Cooper is representing Trump in his various election lawsuits.
geg6
@Elizabelle:
And mascots!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent: in the interest of promoting small craft distilleries all over the nation, enterprising entrepreneurs, like Jack Daniels. I like it. In part because it’s one of the most concrete proposals for hurting McConnell that I’ve ever seen.
Kent
His wife is Elaine Chao, who comes from a Chinese Shipping empire. That’s probably where the dirt is buried. Here’s where I would look. From Wikipedia:
mrmoshpotato
@J R in WV: Hahaha, there’s an Evanston, Wyoming. (Evanston is just north of us, home of Northwestern University.)
But do you know of another Chicago? :P
SiubhanDuinne
@mrmoshpotato:
Haha, that’s great!
I’m glad to see the coordination (not sure that’s quite the right word) between the Warnock and Ossoff campaigns. I’m not sure it exists, at least to the same extent, between Loeffler and Perdue. And there’s a lot of residual GOP bitterness on the part of Doug Collins’ loyalists. I’m hoping all these things will translate into fewer GA Republicans even bothering to vote in the runoff.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: There’s Chicago, Zimbabwe.
Yarrow
@Kent: Yep. That’s where the action is. You can also look at Russia, Deripaska and the Rusal aluminum factory in Ashland, KY.
Link.
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue: “Ten ballots that just don’t…smell good.”
ROFLMAO!
Steeplejack (phone)
@mrmoshpotato:
It was a general (and valid) complaint. You’re getting dinged for no station ID.
piratedan
@Steeplejack (phone): I was a previously faithful Firefox user but went thru roughly 30 months of craptacular updates from them before I threw in the towel and went to Chrome…. they had a significant stretch there where nothing they did and delivered worked worth a damn for me…. and their support consisted of “it’s you’re own fault or you’ll have to figure that out for yourself”
Another Scott
@trollhattan: s /Thunderball/Sea Hunt/
Sea Hunt
;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Haha, there is. No doubt the Zimbabwean Jazz capital.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
As well as Chicago, Kansas. Where social distancing isn’t a concern.
;)
Roger Moore
@Martin:
This. I’m not sure what else we should do, but it’s clear we need to do more. I think it would be counterproductive to go back to the degree of lockdown we had back in April and May, but it may come to that.
mrmoshpotato
@Steeplejack (phone): Humboldt, not me.
Gotta ding The Simpsons too for their hot jazz music too.
Also – Obligatory Sad Sax Guy
HumboldtBlue
@SiubhanDuinne:
They’re running a unity ticket.
Another Scott
@J R in WV:
As always, the margin is too small for the details.
HTH!!
Cheers,
Scott.
HumboldtBlue
@Steeplejack (phone):
There wasn’t a station id or number, just “Chicago smooth jazz”
SiubhanDuinne
Meanwhile, GA’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, is under pressure from Lindsay Graham to reverse the ballot count and turn things around in Trump’s favor, and he and his wife are getting death threats.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/brad-raffensperger-georgia-vote/2020/11/16/6b6cb2f4-283e-11eb-8fa2-06e7cbb145c0_story.html
I never thought I’d find myself in Raffensperger’s corner on any issue, but here we are.
rikyrah
@Josie:
This should be in ads running non-stop.
debbie
@Kay:
Oh, now Kay. They’re way up there on the tippy-top shelf, alongside his health care plan and his tax return.
SiubhanDuinne
@mrmoshpotato:
“Patchouli or … something.”
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
Most of the state is purple. We need a new tier above purple. Purple restrictions aren’t cutting it.
It looks as though more stringent measures are under consideration.
Related: this is just tragic. They really are a cult.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I have no idea what the actual state of Mitch McConnell’s health is, and of course I wish ill on no one, but from a coldly political perspective, it would be an interesting situation if Mitch died. His number two, as I understand it, is Thune. The rest of his team looks like Roy Blount, Joni Ernst, John Barrasso and Todd Young. An unprepossessing lot. I see a lot of ambition in that caucus, not a lot of brains or talent, and most of that ambition wants the White House, not a big office for a long time. Nobody that I can see who could take an jumped-up old ward heeler like Blount and do like Delay did with Hastert.
Kay
This is who they are. Trump just gave them an excuse to throw out ballots. It’s what they always wanted to do.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: Guy I used to work with killed off Bleeding Gums Murphy(Season 6, Episode 22).
Kay
Be clear about this-
WHILE we were being told that Republicans in Congress were just playing along with Donald Trump and did not actually intend to throw out votes and overturn an election, Republican Senators like Lindsey Graham were quietly working back channels trying to pressure GOP state officials to throw out votes.
They did intend to overturn the election. They just didn’t succeed.
Next time we may not be as lucky.
Kay
There should be an investigation into what Republicans in Congress did to try to pressure state officials and lawmakers to overturn the election results.
I doubt Lindsey Graham is the only one who was attempting to throw out ballots.
Mike in Pasadena
McConnel is already playing Dr. No. He isn’t waiting for president Biden to be sworn in.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax:
:P
Kay
The regime is sending a message to GOP state lawmakers- throw the election to Republicans or we’ll come after you.
HumboldtBlue
Something soothing.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: We call those “Ghost Towns” out here in the West.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne:
Dump has something horrible on Graham.
catclub
but needs the underwater cave to effect an escape.
Mary G
@HumboldtBlue: The OC has been on Tier 2 for weeks, but the numbers just exploded today, doubling, so we’ll be right behind you.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@catclub: “Missed it by that much…”
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Bastard!
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Spookeh!
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Thus the jape about social distancing.
;)
@BillinGlendaleCA
When McCain was running I got some small glee in pointing out the existence of the town of Maverick, Arizona. Which is a ghost town.
HumboldtBlue
@Mary G:
We fooled ourselves up here thinking we were doing so well.
I had a conversation with my landlord earlier today — or should I say when he started talking about Covid and how it wasn’t serious and that only old sick folks are at risk and kids can’t get it at all I was so gobsmacked I said little of note — and his proud intransigence when it came to addressing the virus was a sight to see. Told me I should be hugging people and hanging out.
Excellent landlord but a fucking right wing nutjob.
Mary G
@Kay: I’m kind of gobsmacked that the Republican SOS is being honorable and blowing the whistle on the cheating. You know his political career is toast. Bravo Mr. Secretary. You’re better than 99% of your party.
dmsilev
@Kay: While pointing out how national Republicans are soliciting outright electoral fraud and theft, let’s at least take a minute to praise people like Raffensperger who both seem to be doing an honest job and are explicitly telling Graham and the GA GOP Senate candidates and so forth to go piss up a rope. Not quite in that language, but not too far off.
daize
I was today years old when I learned this, thanks to Barack Obama — Aretha, along with Duane Allman, covered The Weight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGdxpnGK2o4 Just sublime.
(And hoo-boy, that whole Duane YouTube experience!)
(edited – not sure Duane has a channel)
debbie
When the Biden administration is able to get access and finds out how much has been trashed or destroyed, they’d better make all of it public knowledge. Otherwise, any and all failings will be pinned on Biden.
Baud
@dmsilev:
Yeah, now we know who that decent Republican is that Biden kept reaching out to.
dmsilev
@Mary G: According to the LA Times earlier today, Orange (county) is now Purple. Look on the bright side, you’re still doing better than LA County; we never left purple at all.
TS (the original)
@mrmoshpotato:
I’ve come to believe that being corrupt is a benefit to a republican candidate. They get votes from deplorables – because look how much money they made – smart people.
mrmoshpotato
@TS (the original): Probably true, but still disgusting to those of us who aren’t Trump humpers.
Roger Moore
@Mary G:
I think it’s a personal affront. He actually tried to run a good election, and he’s angry that he’s now being accused of doing a bad job because the votes didn’t go the way the party wanted.
Baud
@Mary G:
The other thing is that it’s easier to pressure someone to do the wrong thing than to be the person who does the wrong thing.
Roger Moore
@Mary G:
The basic problem all along has been that people have seen relaxation of guidelines as a license to go out and do whatever they please. I visited Newport Beach a few weeks ago, and they were businesses that were clearly flouting the rules. I remember walking by one bar that was obviously operating at 100% capacity indoors. It was only a matter of time before that caught up to them.
HumboldtBlue
@daize:
I may have the wrong song, but I think Clapton pointed out Duane’s playing on that song as something like “perfect” and “no one else could do that”Here it is.
debbie
@HumboldtBlue:
Duane sat in on all kinds of sessions. He was a prodigy for sure.
VeniceRiley
@HumboldtBlue: They deny as they die!
Unreal.
https://theweek.com/speedreads/950142/south-dakota-er-nurse-recalls-how-dying-coronavirus-patients-spend-last-minutes-insisting-virus-isnt-real
HumboldtBlue
@debbie:
I can’t listen enough.
debbie
@HumboldtBlue:
Right. I played Idlewild South until the grooves practically disappeared. He was that entire band.
TS (the original)
@dmsilev:
I find it utterly amazing that a republican with integrity gets lauded and praised for doing the right thing. He is doing the job he was elected to do. He is doing the job he is paid to do. The GOP has sunk so low under trump (and before trump to a lesser extent) that being a normal honest person is worthy of high praise.
smedley the uncertain
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: ummm… JD is in Tennessee. And, it’s hardly a craft distillery. On the other hand , it’s GREAT.
Signed, Tennessee Squire
debbie
@VeniceRiley:
Somewhere along the line today, I heard an NPR interview with a doctor from another Midwestern state. He confirmed the same thing, that patients refused to accept they were dying and accept that what they were dying of really did exist. He said he was totally dispirited by them.
HumboldtBlue
@debbie:
Pretty sure I can play the entire Eat A Peach album from memory on the kazoo.
Or Fillmore East.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@smedley the uncertain: yes, that is part of the Fuck You to Kentucky Mitch, Maker’s, Jim Beam, etc
debbie
@HumboldtBlue:
Impressive! Aren’t those both double albums?
debbie
Are my eyes exceedingly tired or has the size of the text been reduced here?
HumboldtBlue
@debbie:
Yup.
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue:
10-minute drum solos featuring two drummers, on kazoo, are the worst. //
WaterGirl
@Kay: I hope this backfires and pisses off the Dems in Georgia so much that they end up with even better Dem turnout this time around.
HumboldtBlue
@trollhattan: Wait until you hear me!
Elizabelle
@geg6: Mascots, for damn sure.
burnspbesq
Looking forward to seeing Elizabeth Williams (the captain of the Atlanta Dream, the WNBA team of which Loeffler is part owner) leading rallies for Warnock.
daize
@HumboldtBlue: Woah. Thank you for that. Hope you’re well.
daize
@HumboldtBlue: Hi, sir. This may be a duplicate message, but thank you for that!!! Stay safe.
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Are you feeling OK? You seem a little conciliatory towards Rethugs, so I’m a little concerned.
Bill Arnold
@Shana:
Plant/fungus-based entheogens for the Win in Washington DC! (76% of voters.) Not clear to me what effect it has, but nice.
LIVE RESULTS: Washington, DC votes to decriminalize psychedelic plants and mushrooms (Madison Hall and Rob Price, Nov 3, 2020, 11:30 PM)
Initiative 81 lowers the law enforcement priority for non-commercial cultivating, purchasing, distributing, or possessing psychedelic and hallucinogenic plants and fungi. These plants and fungus are known as “entheogens.”
The initiative also calls upon the DC attorney general and US attorney in DC to cease prosecuting activities related to entheogenic plants and fungi.
Initiative 81 text:
https://www.dcboe.org/dcboe/media/PDFFiles/Wards1356-GE2020.pdf
Oh, and don’t get caught by the Feds/DEA; some of those remain extremely illegal at the Federal level, sometimes depending on preparation methods.
The Lodger
@TS (the original): For a Repub secretary of state, Raffensperger is doing a remarkable job of playing it straight. Not at all what I expected from Brian Kemp’s successor. He must be driving the GOP nuts.
The Lodger
@smedley the uncertain: Jack Daniel’s is located in the Good Lynchburg.
206inKY
@randy khan: Yes x 100000000