There’s a high-souled, pure-minded joy in considering the installation of a working (Democratic, of course) government. There’s also much schadenfreude!
LOL I love that as a last gesture of fealty to Trump the bitter-enders will have to get up at five in the morning to be ready to see him off. https://t.co/TpdpvxDA5l
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) January 18, 2021
… Because, rumor has it, if he leaves early enough, he’ll still be ‘President’ when the helicopter lands at Marred-A-Largo. Also, he refuses to be in DC when Biden is inaugurated, for reasons. Sad, cranky alte kaker reasons.
ETA:
Trump is leaving White House early enough Wednesday morning that he's still president when he lands in Florida and motorcades to Mar-a-Lago, aides told me last week.
Departure events on South Lawn before he boards Marine One and at airport before he boards AF1 for final time. https://t.co/4FX6OVcIaf
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 17, 2021
‘Forty-two gun salutes, because I’m *special*’
There’s no one left https://t.co/qmp0Co5cuW
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 18, 2021
are you threatening me with a good time https://t.co/u4IK8QOo1i
— kilgore trout, brad r’s brother (@KT_So_It_Goes) January 16, 2021
(Yeah, it’s Rand Paul, so you know it’s pure BS.)
I’m glad I haven’t gotten used to the capacity of people to abase and humiliate themselves over this ludicrous old man. https://t.co/YYy6gp8IgP
— KochBroHat (@Popehat) January 18, 2021
— Michael Huggins (@MichaelHugg2591) January 15, 2021
You Have Questions, I Have Answers (You Probably Didn’t Want): NSA General Counsel Edition
NotMax
Speculation is split on whether Jared and Ivanka, when they appear at an airport to take their leave, will attempt to pass unnoticed by donning Groucho glasses or by showing up in blackface.
//
leeleeFL
My finger isn’t pointing……
it’s a kind of salute.
Yutsano
@NotMax: As the old saying goes: fuck ’em.
NotMax
With enough minutes to spare to sign an order declaring it a national monument in perpetuity.
//
Amir Khalid
sounds like the bargaining stage of the Kübler-Ross model.
Luciamia
And exactly how has Biden been addressing the nation these last few weeks? He says he has an announcement, the networks carry it, he talks. Its just that simple, Donald.
Brachiator
I didn’t watch any news or view many Trump related stories on Sunday. And I have decided that I may be alert to some significant BS the Orange Beast might pull during his last days, but otherwise I have written him and his wretched maladministration off. I get the impression that a core of his supporters will be loyal to him forever. These people are dopes, and I have no more time for them as long as they behave themselves.
I am looking forward to the Biden administration.
mrmoshpotato
Michael Huggins sums it up.
But if I may add – 2021: Fuck you, you traitorous orange Soviet shitpile party! Fuck YOUR feelings! You lost! Get over it! (h/t RudePundit on the second half)
Poe Larity
This doesn’t give him enough time to order a divert to Moscow, but Havana would work. Question is if Vlad has enough pull there to let him open a casino/Presidential Library.
JAFD
Note on the Saturday morning thread:
Mr. Harry Litman – of the LA Times, and the weekend’s notorious typo – is highly likely to be using a Dvorak keyboard, on which the ‘R’ and ‘L’ keys are adjacent
Yours truly is going to skip the 1/20 Zoom meetup. The way electronic equipment has been misbehaving around here lately, I sometime hesitate to turn a light on…
To ease eyestrain after cataract removal (‘everything’s so bright...’) have gotten wraparound polarized sunglasses to wear at the screens. Quite helpful, but clash with the ‘civil-war-general beard’ I’ve grown during ye pandemic…
Happy MLK Day, and Inauguration Day, fellow jackals, civilians, everyone !
NotMax
@JAFD
You could always follow Mr. Cole’s and WaterGirl’s examples and not enable video.
;)
mrmoshpotato
“Excuse me! Excuse me! Yo! Soybeans! No! Donald! Trump! I’m so tremendous bigly, believe me! I! Am! Donaldo! Trumpo! Your! Fellow! Comrado, Cubanios! Did I do that right? I’m tremendous! Everyone loves me!”
Bruce K in ATH-GR
Damn, I missed it – there’s a Zoom meetup on 1/20? Sounds very appropriate. The oaths will be going down around the dinner hour for me, so I’m meeting up with my parents at my aunt’s place and bringing a bottle of bubbly for the occasion, but I’ve got to be back at my place by 2pm Eastern (9pm curfew is still in effect in Greece).
What does the timing of the Zoom thing look like?
mrmoshpotato
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: I’m sure WaterGirl will have details out beforehand. Maybe we can raise a glass multiple times to President Biden and (Madame) Vice President Harris.
thalarctosMaritimus
@JAFD:
What did I miss? Google is not forthcoming.
jl
To crush their political hacks, drive them from office before you, hear the self-owning of their pundits. That is what is best in life.
JAFD
@thalarctosMaritimus: It is covered in
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2021/01/16/saturday-morning-open-thread-moving-along/#comments
at comment #170, et al
(I would be more verbose here, but this has been one of those evenings when you think at 9:15 ‘eh, I’ll just finish this up and be in bed at 10’, but you get burst of energy, look at clock and you realise you’re writing blog comments at quater to two… and then you realize that you’ve used up your energy points and can barely crawl to bed…)
jl
@Poe Larity: Havana? I think they’d show Trump that Cuba is surrounded by water, big water.
Mary G
I’m still happy that the lady from Scotland told him not to come there.
Martin
@Luciamia: It funny – you tell your supporters that everything they see on TV is fake, and suddenly you wonder how to tell them the truth.
Bruuuuce
Gizmodo nails the return of Parler:
Chetan Murthy
@Bruuuuce: I ain’t gon’ look, but is it more than a landing-page? Is the site operational again?
lgerard
I have heard that many people are talking about having their own tremendous, beautiful sendoff celebration, the kind that has never been seen before.
I suspect that a few moments before 12 noon on Wednesday we may get the an answer to the age old question:
What happens when everyone flushes their toilet at the same time?
Bruuuuce
@Chetan Murthy: AFAICT, not yet. But do go and read the Gizmodo article; they land more shots on Parler than Muhammed Ali would have in his prime against a flyweight entering the ring for the very first time.
Chetan Murthy
@Bruuuuce: Oh, I read it … albeit quickly. I couldn’t find any statement that it was -just- a landing page. Hence my question. And yeah, they do a good job of dragging Epik. Those guys deserve it.
David 🎅🎄Merry Christmas🎄🎅 Koch
@NotMax: why not both, as Gene Wilder did in “Silver Streak”
Bruuuuce
@Chetan Murthy: I’m sure we’ll hear all about it when their “civil discourse based on free speech” resumes fully. I wonder whether it will be the TikTok kids or some other group that kicks their legs out from under them this time.
David 🎅🎄Merry Christmas🎄🎅 Koch
Sick burn!
TS (the original)
Reasons being his insane ego won’t accept that so many US citizens don’t want him around. To the end it is all about me me and me.
David 🎅🎄Merry Christmas🎄🎅 Koch
Sarah is a field goal kicker for Vanderbilt
Joey Maloney
@JAFD: After my dad had his cataract surgery, the morning the eye patch came off he was yelling from the bathroom for Mom to call 911. His pee looked so bright and vivid yellow he was sure he was in kidney failure.
Mary G
STRONG CONTENDER for stupidest insurrectionist ever:
cain
@NotMax:
It will likely be his old shriveled dick. A weapon of mass repentance.
cain
@Mary G:
That’s one dumb motherfucker.
JWR
I don’t know if this has been covered here today, but boy, this adds a whole ‘nother level to the outrage I feel towards one Donald fucking Trump:
rikyrah
Was watching LarryO last night , and Eugene Robinson said something that made me happy.
That though, the Senate’s time will be split between work and impeachment,
Nancy Smash’s House will be working hard.
The joy I felt knowing that Nancy would be passing bills that weren’t automatically doomed to die🤗🤗🤗on Moscow Mitch’s desk
lowtechcyclist
@JAFD:
Now I’ve got Emily Litella going through my head. :^)
lowtechcyclist
@Amir Khalid:
Next up (with any luck): depression. They’re welcome to wallow there as long as they want.
Not expecting them to ever reach acceptance, of course.
lowtechcyclist
The House leadership has kicked Katie Porter off the House Financial Services Committee, where she did such a great job over the past two years.
Nancy, that’s not the ‘smash’ we’re looking for. Put her back where she belongs.
satby
@NotMax: Isn’t the entire point of Zoom to video conference? Otherwise it’s just another teleconference, and why bother?
Butter emails
@lowtechcyclist:
Did you bother to actually read the article?
SFAW
@Butter emails:
I did. While it was (technically) not the Speaker’s decision, I would tend to think that she could “suggest” to the Steering Committee that they keep Rep. Porter on Oversight.
Or am I missing your point?
zhena gogolia
@SFAW:
She was supposed to be on only that committee so as to give it her full attention. She gambled that she could get an(other) exception. She lost the gamble. It has zero to do with Pelosi.
debit
@lowtechcyclist: Porter had a choice to give up her other committee assignments. But sure, go ahead and blame Nancy.
satby
@zhena gogolia: Oversight is a pretty powerful committee too, and considering how many GOP members joined the sedition caucus, it’s going to be a very busy next few months for it.
Butter emails
@SFAW:
They were willing to grant Porter a waiver for an exclusive committee assignment + 1 last year but not for an exclusive + 2 this year. This makes sense as committees are exclusive for a reason (power, prestige, amount of work) and there are other Representatives out there besides Porter who want those committee assignments. I suspect thar Porter was given the option to remain on the committee, but opted to go with serving on the two committees instead.
Woodrow/asim
See, this is what I do not get.
Rep. Porter made [EDIT: fixed the committee name] Financial Services a lesser choice. House Leadership decided someone else could fill that slot.
Now the reporting is that Porter is…unhappy?
The person who we’re lauding for clearly explaining numbers and rules…failed to read the rules correctly? Thought herself, an exception — or easily able to get one?
Am I the only one who sees an irony around this?
BC in Illinois
” . . . unity, not finger-pointing . . . ”
SFAW
@zhena gogolia:
Understood. Not blaming the Speaker. My attempted point was that it seems not-unreasonable for the Speaker to ask the Steering Committee to modify their business-as-usual decision. Maybe she doesn’t have that power (although she certainly has enough influence).
Either way: I’m sorry to see Porter off Oversight, but “them’s the breaks,” and not losing sleep over it.
sdhays
@Woodrow/asim: From what I read, she’s disappointed, but she knew this was a possibility and isn’t suggesting anything untoward. Like zhena goglia said at #43, she took a gamble and lost. It kind of sucks, but she’s not raising a stink – at least that’s not how I read it.
debbie
@satby:
Yes, this. I cannot wait to see her exchanges with Cruz and Hawley.
sdhays
I wonder if Dump’s desire to be at Mar-a-Crapo before Biden’s inauguration has more to do with fear over what the new President might be able to order regarding his flight than any symbolism. Since it’s an Air Force plane, theoretically, Biden could order it back before it arrives. Biden wouldn’t do that, but I can imagine old Dumpy Dump being worried about the kind of pettiness he’d be itching to indulge in.
karen marie
@sdhays: My theory is that in Trump’s mind, if he’s still president when he arrives, he will never stop being president.
Uncle Cosmo
One of Mr Manilow’s better excursions IMHO
**Pace the Triassic Sandcrab (see thread above), should be “whom”…
Uncle Cosmo
You’re likely to be waiting for years, if not decades – since they’re Senators and Katie is in the House.
(The level of misunderstanding and/or ignorance re the Federal government that is routinely displayed on this blog by allegedly intelligent posters – it ain’t just one or even a small handful of yinz – routinely boggles the mind.)
artem1s
And no fetish items to keep them safe! Honestly, I’m glad they are all being segregated away from DC, but will there be time for Cult45 to get to the Capitol by noon if Dolt45 decides to try to pull a re-enactment of the Trump Insurrection? Not saying they could get thru the Guard, but the citizen’s of DC don’t deserve another round of these deplorables invading their communities and causing another riot.
artem1s
anyway the military can confiscate all the sharpies on AF1 so he can’t sign pardons non-stop on the way to FL?
debbie
@Uncle Cosmo:
Oops. I’ll take Jordan and Brooks, then. The House is a target-rich environment for her
P. S. Go fuck yourself, asshole.
dfh
I don’t know if someone else has thought of this, but I’ve been using Mag-a-lardo in conversation for some time.
Starboard Tack
@debbie:
Ahhh. Simple abuse. Now that’s refreshing.
J R in WV
@lowtechcyclist:
I’ve seen this tidbit of information before –ya’ll act like Congresswoman Porter can only do one things well, Financial Services oversight. She’s pretty successful at everything she does, a fellow Californian of Madame Speaker Pelosi, former student of Senator Professor Warren, I suspect “kicked off” is not the correct descriptor.
Just maybe Madame Speaker needs a former prosecutor looking at some other arena of crime? Like Fomenting Insurrection, Just Maybe? Or other things Trump’s minions were up to the past 4 years?
J R in WV
@Uncle Cosmo:
If Cruz and Hawley are expelled from the Senate for fomenting Insurrection, they may well be required to testify before House Committees, perhaps even if they aren’t expelled. After all, House Committees don’t routinely question members of the House, either.
And regarding “misunderstanding and/or ignorance” there appears to be enough of that, along with condescending arrogance on your part, to go all around.
Plain Dave
@debbie:
Amen sister.