Flooding the zone.

Remember in “Gone With the Wind,” after Bonnie is killed in the riding accident, and Rhett takes her body into his room and won’t let anyone bury her because, he says, she’s afraid of the dark?

That’s Trump right now.

We need to send Miss Melly in there to talk him down. But there is no Miss Melly. Miss Melania is playing her own position. Maybe Ivanka can make some progress, but I doubt it. Deep down, I bet she wants to stay in the White House as much as her father. When crowds pour into the street in spontaneous celebration that you’re losing your job, you can figure no one will invite you to even a middling-good New York party. So you can go to Florida and relax in the Mar-a-Lago spa for a while — six months to five years should to the trick — or you can fight to keep your West Wing office.

What a crazy few days. I’m not as surprised by the lying, because that’s what Trump does. I am surprised at the apparent size of the people yelling MORE LIES MOOOORRREEE. I guess they’re just rage/adrenaline junkies. I do know this: I’ve heard enough from these yahoos. As Don Draper says: My life moves in one direction — forward.

So let’s go forward. Biden has named a chief of staff, and this is good. Keep acting like an adult, and let the toddler run around stinking up the room. Speaking of which, what will be Trump’s final FU as he leaves? I figure he’ll ditch the swearing-in itself and steal something from the White House. Maybe leave a toilet unflushed. The traditional letter left in the Resolute Desk will be interesting, too. Assuming there is one.

Man, I’m beat. Fresh thread, and I’m off to bed.

Posted at 9:26 pm in Current events |
 

57 responses to “Flooding the zone.”

  1. A. Riley said on November 11, 2020 at 11:26 pm

    That scene is great because it all happens off-stage. Unemotional narrator doesn’t describe the scene or the dialogue between Rhett and Scarlett; grieving horrified Mammy tells Melly all about it, hoping that she of all people might be able to help.

    So. Who’s Mammy here? Who’s Melly? Who of all people might be able to help?

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  2. LAMary said on November 12, 2020 at 12:08 am

    He won’t leave a letter on the desk. What could he say? He’s not going to suddenly become gracious or eloquent. Those two words have never been associated with him. He’s a terrible human being. The only genuine affection I’ve seen him show is borderline inappropriate affection for his daughter. Certainly none for his wife or his previous wives. No pets. Nothing. There’s no generosity, no self awareness. Just lies, self pity, bullying.

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  3. Dexter Friend said on November 12, 2020 at 3:06 am

    The Pentagon is in crisis mode, out of control in several departments, nor sure which concentric ring, but it’s very serious. Once at work, our area manager was fired by a new plant manager because the new big boss didn’t like hearing the truth. He was replaced by a woman who knew nothing about the running of our area, and contracts were lost quickly, layoffs galore followed, and in the end the big boss and his hand picked woman were moved out . Trump fired at least 5 Pentagon bosses so far and replaced all with loyalist flunkies who know nothing about defense and what their job titles require. This is so dangerous , so much so our adversaries are liable to force our hand into some ill-advised troop movements which could lead to a war somewhere. This is my composite thought after watching many military commentators on television. These republican Congresspeople who are supporting a recall and recount of the election must stop the nonsense and get on with watching Trump, who is clearly positively out of his fucking mind.

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  4. David C said on November 12, 2020 at 5:41 am

    I wouldn’t doubt tRump stashing pallets of $100 bills or gold bars from Fort Knox at Mar-a-Lago. I’ve never known a small family businessman who didn’t steal from the business to pad his personal income. That’s what running the government like a business means to him.

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  5. ROGirl said on November 12, 2020 at 6:05 am

    I thought if he won the election he would end up destroying this country. He’s still on that path, and even when he finally vacates the White House he won’t be done. He will continue it and the sewer of filth that he has opened up won’t go away either.

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  6. Suzanne said on November 12, 2020 at 6:38 am

    And where is VP My Pants in all of this? Reportedly on vacation, which seems awfully…odd. My guess is he’s shipped off somewhere so when the theft and destruction goes down, he can honestly say he wasn’t there, didn’t know, had no part in it.

    If Trump has to go down, he’s taking the country with him. Of this, I have no doubt. Could cooler head Republicans step and stop it? Probably, but they won’t. They would rather burn the country down than admit they backed a losing horse.

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  7. Peter said on November 12, 2020 at 8:19 am

    I admit I have conflicting emotions right now – part of me is saying that this isn’t good, and someone ought to be watching the horizon at the Defense Department, and maybe somebody should let Dr. Fauci out of his cage so he can try to talk sense so we can try to address the rampant out of control coronavirus, but the other part of me is just enjoying the schadenfreude. President Babypants has hurt fees fees. He’s so mad he won’t talk to anybody. His toadies are so angry they won’t do anything to help the legitimate winners. Senators and administration officials are afraid to say anything because they don’t want to hurt their chances of running for President – well here’s a bulletin, guess who’s going to be the 2024 candidate. Gee, even some Nazis at the end turned decent because they knew it was over.

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  8. Julie Robinson said on November 12, 2020 at 8:44 am

    The Miss Melly role will have to be played by Sean Hannity. Who else will he listen to? Unfortunately Hannity is still in the enabler camp.

    Is Pence on vacation, or is he fighting Covid? With so many sick from his office, one wonders.

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  9. Suzanne said on November 12, 2020 at 8:54 am

    I did read in the morning paper, after I posted my comment, that My Pants was supposed to go on vacation but canceled.
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pence-cancels-vacation-in-florida-report/ar-BB1aTF8q

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  10. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 12, 2020 at 8:55 am

    The complication here is that Trump appears to be setting up a “heads I win, tails you lose” scenario in Afghanistan & Syria. His one weird trick to keep everyone politically off balance has been to echo Bernie’s “end these endless wars” and to withdraw US soldiers from overseas posting where (in his cramped and blinkered opinion, I’d add) he believes they shouldn’t be.

    So he has on multiple occasions tried to pull literally all American on-the-ground presence out of those two countries, plus Iraq once, and was maneuvered out of doing so. His latest moves on SecDef and elsewhere in the five sided puzzle palace look like he might try to simply force through a speedy withdrawal from at least Syria and Afghanistan. Is this because Putin told him to? Is it an actual personal belief that Trump has held consistently through his term? Or is he setting up Biden and the Ds to take responsibility for sending them back in post-Jan. 20?

    But that’s the echoing anxiety inside the military establishment. No one’s concerned that he’s going to ask the Marines to set up a cordon around 1600 Pennsylvania in current senior service. They’re worried that he’s trying to take some steps he’s been prevented from making in the last four years, whether for his/GOP political advantage over the next couple years, or personal sentiment, or (everybody’s favorite) because he’s a Manchurian puppet, with $70 million dollar strings.

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  11. alex said on November 12, 2020 at 9:14 am

    Julie, I was wondering the same thing about Pence.

    The media have been rather silent about it, but Trump’s going to face some music when he’s a civilian again. I think all of the talk about him starting a media empire is premature, unless he can wrangle it from inside a penitentiary. I’m disinclined to think that Putin would give him refuge in Russia because Putin doesn’t have any use for him at this point and wouldn’t suffer such a fool without any benefit.

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  12. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 12, 2020 at 9:42 am

    You can do a lot from a cell.

    https://www.easternstate.org/explore/exhibits/al-capones-cell

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  13. Randy said on November 12, 2020 at 9:46 am

    When will Trump go to work on all the pardons he gets to offer?

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  14. JodiP said on November 12, 2020 at 9:49 am

    Regarding the Pentagon appointments, I am concerned that hostile nations will take advantage of the confusion. I just listened to Mike Morrell’s podcast Intelligence Matters, and the guest, Graham Allison, was talking about the possibility of china doing something to take more control in Taiwan as an example of this.

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  15. alex said on November 12, 2020 at 9:50 am

    Jeff, it sure looks like you may be right about the turds Trump is leaving in the toilets:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/12/two-off-kilter-media-storylines-need-clarification/

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  16. Deborah said on November 12, 2020 at 9:57 am

    I found these numbers interesting:
    Population of US – 328+ million
    Number of voting age – 253+ million
    Number of votes counted so far – 145+ million

    The percentage of those who could vote and those who voted isn’t that high, but it’s a lot higher than it has been recently.

    Edit: the numbers of total population and voting age are based on 2018 data

    Of course Biden is ahead by 5+ million so far.

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  17. Deborah said on November 12, 2020 at 10:17 am

    Speaking of Trump’s cell, will he still get secret service protection in prison? I would guess, yes, but wonder how that works. I would not want to work that detail.

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  18. Heather said on November 12, 2020 at 10:20 am

    I hope the sprinklers in the WH are working, because I wouldn’t put it past him to literally try to burn it down. At minimum he’ll steal some of the treasures.

    I’m usually a worst-case-scenario worrier, but I just can’t get too upset over this attempted coup. Maybe I’m just burned on out fear and anxiety, but I just don’t think it will work. It is certainly destructive and weakens our norms and institutions, but that was the case already. If anything it just makes me more disgusted with the GOP, who are the ones who could speak out about this. Just blows my mind how frightened they are of a demented toddler and how they’re willing to perhaps further permanently damage this county to hold on to the tiniest chance that he could stay in power.

    I think Pence took off to distance himself from all the craziness he knew was coming. Perhaps Mother insisted.

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  19. alex said on November 12, 2020 at 10:30 am

    Haven’t heard from Pilot Joe lately, but this item called to mind his posts here in 2016 following the election. Instead of being happy with the result, he was angry that we weren’t genuflecting before the new king.

    https://www.salon.com/2020/11/11/trumps-sore-winners-make-even-worse-losers-why-his-loss-is-inflaming-an-already-delusional-base/

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  20. Heather said on November 12, 2020 at 10:51 am

    Don’t speak his name lest he be summoned!

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  21. Sherri said on November 12, 2020 at 10:53 am

    Where’s the money going to come from for this media empire?

    Republicans aren’t afraid of Trump. They don’t think Democrats ever win elections legitimately. It’s baked into their DNA at this point.

    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-election-fraud-biden-pennsylvania-lawsuit-voting-transition.html

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  22. Jakash said on November 12, 2020 at 11:36 am

    “he might try to simply force through a speedy withdrawal from at least Syria and Afghanistan”

    And if he does, in his mind he’ll be a shoo-in for the *Noble* Peace Price, which he surely covets. There’s a lot of crazier stuff he’s thought than that it’s the one thing he couldn’t undo of Obama’s that he desperately would like to match.

    Occam’s Razor, though: What parting gift would Putin like more in return for the investment in his stooge Donald than
    for him to fuck up the Pentagon while he still has the chance?

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  23. Suzanne said on November 12, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    Exactly, Jakash! I heard an interview with some pundit this morning about the possible withdrawal of troops from Syria and Afghanistan & the ramifications, and I screamed at the radio “This benefits Putin!! Duh. Just say it!!!”
    He didn’t say it.

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  24. Jakash said on November 12, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    Republicans aren’t afraid of Trump, but they sure as hell are afraid of alienating his voters. It’s one thing I didn’t quite get about all this until recently. I thought once he had clearly lost, they’d finally be willing to let him rot on the vine. His enablers — McConnell, Graham and the rest of the Senatorial toadies who have benefited from the charlatan’s bamboozling of the masses, have gotten everything they used him for — the tax cuts, the Supreme Court justices, etc. — and, surely in their hearts they know what a cynical game they’ve been playing and what a pathetic stooge their standard-bearer is. Not that they’d attack him, but that they’d just point to the vote and let democracy take its course, in the hopes of being done with him and his antics. They still can’t afford to upset the unimaginable 47.5% of the recent voters who backed him, though, since they desperately need them in the future.

    Alas, the future is too near. These runoffs in Georgia mean they can’t abandon him just yet, and must pay lip service to his transparently anti-democratic, un-American enterprise of claiming fraud in the election. They need to keep Cult 45 riled up. Shameful, of course, but the Conniving Turtle of Kentucky has become comfortable with shameful politicking at least since the day he vowed that his most important priority was to make Obama a one-term president.

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  25. ninja3000 said on November 12, 2020 at 12:19 pm

    The Resolute Desk is a nice piece of furniture. He’ll try to steal it on his way out. The mattresses too. And towels, of course.

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  26. David C said on November 12, 2020 at 12:35 pm

    If you were Joe and Jill, wouldn’t you prefer tRump steal the mattresses on his way out?

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  27. Icarus said on November 12, 2020 at 1:15 pm

    does anyone think the timeline on the SCOTUS nomination/confirmation would be much different if RBG held out 2-3 more weeks?

    would it be schadenfreude if Mitch McConnell succumbed to whatever is ailing him just before the Georgia special elections?

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  28. Sherri said on November 12, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    Assuming that Republicans are afraid of Trump voters requires assuming that they are different than Trump voters. I say the evidence suggests that they are not. This is who they are; they aren’t merely placating the crazies, they are the crazies.

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  29. Julie Robinson said on November 12, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    I’m listening to an interview with longtime Republican operative Stuart Stevens right now. He’s saying what Sherri’s saying. The party is not what he thought it was, he thought they were better people than that, he was naive, etc, etc.

    David C, zing!

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  30. Jakash said on November 12, 2020 at 2:11 pm

    Well, I’d need to see how they acted in an alternate universe where Republicans could maintain power with just the support of “reasonable” voters, minus the segment represented at the charlatan’s rallies. Sorry, but I don’t believe that all 47.5% are crazy. Many are terribly, willfully misinformed.

    I don’t imagine that Moscow Mitch believes QAnon conspiracy theories; I think that to maintain power he’s despicable enough to know he mustn’t knock the people who do.

    “he thought they were better people than that” Oh, I agree that the Senators are amazingly corrupt, hypocritical and unpatriotic. But you can be a very bad person without being crazy.

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  31. Sherri said on November 12, 2020 at 2:30 pm

    What’s the difference between crazy and willfully misinformed?

    Do I think Mitch McConnell believes that Q exists? No. Do I believe that Mitch McConnell has convinced himself of crazy things, because it’s in his interest to do so? Yes. Like that Democrats only win because they cheat.

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  32. Sherri said on November 12, 2020 at 2:58 pm

    I think Republicans believe, all evidence to the contrary, that most people really agree with them. At least, most people that matter. You all know what I think about things. I can’t tell you the number of conservative men who have told me that I really must be conservative. It’s inconceivable to them that someone as smart as me could possibly believe what I do. They honestly think I’m secretly conservative, even when I’m telling to their face what I believe.

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  33. LAMary said on November 12, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    The most hard core republican in my family of republicans deeply believes all Democrats are cheaters and liars. He’ll cite a lie LBJ told when I mention lies trump has told. The fact that LBJ was president 56 years ago is irrelevant. He was a Democrat and he lied about something once.

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  34. Bitter Scribe said on November 12, 2020 at 3:10 pm

    Newsmax TV has doubled or tripled its audience because it keeps clinging to the “it’s not over” line. Apparently a lot of those people are pissed at Fox News for acknowledging reality. I wonder how many will stay with Newsmax once Biden is inaugurated.

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  35. ROGirl said on November 12, 2020 at 3:28 pm

    The “what aboutism” is their dodge for any accountability.

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  36. alex said on November 12, 2020 at 3:31 pm

    I think Yertle knows fully well that Trump’s voters (and most of the GOP rabble) are a bunch of chumps and suckers and he knows that he’s cynically exploiting them and that it’s Republicans and not Democrats who are acting in bad faith. I’d say the same of Ted Cruz and numerous other high-profile Republican senators. At the same time, Indiana’s delegation is doubtless as stupid and crazy as the people who elected them, and this likely is the case with many of the newer members of Congress.

    I mean, consider that profile in courage known informally as Lady G, who went from being Trump’s most vituperative critic to his biggest brown-noser.

    I think it’s neither here nor there whether GOP legislators actually believe in their own snake oil. They’re terrified of their own voters.

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  37. Sherri said on November 12, 2020 at 3:32 pm

    It’s always the Democrats who started it, in the GOP worldview. Robert Byrd was a Klan leader, the dead voted for Kennedy in Chicago, LBJ lied and cheated to win elections, Bork was unfairly kept from the Court.

    Lindsay Graham said it plainly the other day, that Republicans win with their ideas and Democrats win because they cheat. This in a year when the Republicans didn’t even put forth a party platform!

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  38. Sherri said on November 12, 2020 at 3:51 pm

    Remastered video for the 50th anniversary of the exploding whale carcass!

    https://twitter.com/KATUNews/status/1326939061760700420

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  39. Deborah said on November 12, 2020 at 5:08 pm

    I’m usually a glass is half empty person, but I’m not worried about a coup. I’m disgusted with the behavior of Republicans and their dear leader who is just huffing and puffing as bullies do. He’ll get bored in a day or two and that may be the last we hear of it. The base on the other hand will be riled for a while, but I think that too will pass. They won’t go back to pre-2016 mode but they’ll knock off the extreme end of the spectrum. I really do think that, but what do I know, living in my bubble.

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  40. Jeff Borden said on November 12, 2020 at 5:23 pm

    I’ve been reading tRump may announce he is running for preznit in 2024 before the end of the year. This would allow him to continue his comic road shows –selling merchandise and keeping his orange mug before the cameras– while completely fucking over sycophants like Ted Cruz and Little Marco Rubio, who lust for the Oval Office and thought it in their best interests to smooch his ample ass. It also gives him a clear field of fire at Biden.

    The wild card may be all the charges and lawsuits he’s avoided by being preznit. The Southern District of New York has a laser sight on the guy and there are other charges including the rape allegation from the lady he allegedly assaulted in a dressing room at an NYC department store in the ’90s. Not all of these will be brushed away and, let us not forget, tRump is surrounded by fifth-rate talent. (Witness Rudy Ghouliani’s hilarious press conference outside the Four Seasons Total Landscaping site.)

    I suppose this is evil, but I wish he’d just have a heart attack and go away. I’m so fucking sick of him, his wife, his children and, most of all, his rabid fans.

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  41. Scout said on November 12, 2020 at 5:34 pm

    Scalzi wrote a very good piece about the current situation surrounding Toddler Tinyhands and his corrupt GOP footsoldiers. There are also really good bits in the comments with an in depth discussion about the possibility of a military coup on TT’s behalf. It definitely helped me to understand the possibilities, or lack thereof, of such an event, and what the recent military play might more likely signify.
    https://whatever.scalzi.com/2020/11/12/the-sore-loser-and-the-malign-loser/

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  42. Jakash said on November 12, 2020 at 5:53 pm

    “The wild card may be all the charges and lawsuits he’s avoided by being preznit.”

    I’m not necessarily counting on it, based on all the grifting he’s gotten away with in the past, but I’d love to wager a stack of chips based on that wild card.

    I just hope our beloved media has the discipline to ignore whatever attempts at a post-presidential carnival roadshow he might have in mind if he manages to stay out of prison. Of course, he could be bullshitting, as usual, and planning to skedaddle into the open arms of one of his dictator buddies before things get too dicey.

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  43. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 12, 2020 at 5:57 pm

    “The humor of the entire situation suddenly gave way to a run for survival, as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere.”

    You can hear and almost feel the impacts a few seconds after the detonation, as the slabs of meat slap closer and closer to the photographer’s position. 50 years ago today!

    https://twitter.com/ByMikeBaker/status/1326787041921785856

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  44. Sherri said on November 12, 2020 at 5:59 pm

    A team of international scholars has quantified the Republican lurch away from democracy, which began before Trump but picked up speed with Trump.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/12/republican-party-trump-authoritarian-data/

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  45. LAMary said on November 12, 2020 at 6:16 pm

    The Southern District of NY AND the State of NY both have gripes with trump. I hope at least one of those sticks.

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  46. David C said on November 12, 2020 at 6:23 pm

    I was a bit disappointed that the whale was blown up with dynamite. I was hoping for something along the lines of bloating until it exploded. Then I saw the gawkers’ cars destroyed by flying blubber and my disappointment lifted.

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  47. Dorothy said on November 12, 2020 at 8:34 pm

    Mr. and Mother Pants were at the wreath presentation that Dumpy did yesterday at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

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  48. Tajalli said on November 12, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    What interests me is the 108 million persons of voting age who did not vote, thereby making their own statement of sorts. Non-voters make up 42.7% of persons of voting age (Democrats 29.1%, Republicans 27.2%, and other voters 1.0%). This non-voting block is ~1.5 times larger than this election’s Democratic block. Who are they, where do they live, what do they do with their lives, what do they want? How can such a large portion of our voting age population be so … ?? With all the shenanigans and claims of a threat of fascism, what more would it take to get this population to vote?

    Also, given that Biden won by 50.8% of the raw vote and non-Biden voters were 49.2% of the vote, Biden won by only 1.6% of all votes cast, which is a pretty scarily narrow margin, a small plurality, not an overwhelming majority. And the Senate, even if Georgia goes two more blue in the runoffs, still has 2 senators who are not democrats or republicans.

    My numerical thinking is below the asterisks.

    ********************
    Total US Population 325 million
    Voting Age 253 million
    Voted in 2020 145 million
    Not Voting 108 million

    Republican Votes 47.5 %
    Democratic Votes 50.8 % (3.3% margin over Republicans, 1.6% overall margin))
    Other Votes 01.7 % (basically vanity votes for T)
    ———————
    Total Votes 100.0 % (just a double check of my work)

    Republican Voters 68.9 million 27.2 % total voting age
    Democratic Voters 73.7 million 29.1 % total voting age
    Other Voters 2.5 million 1.0 % total voting age
    ————— ———————
    Total Voting Age 145.1 million 57.3 % (another double check)

    NON-VOTERS in 2020 108 million 42.7 / 29.1 = 1.47 times larger than Dem vote.

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  49. LAMary said on November 12, 2020 at 9:53 pm

    Dorothy, that ceremony at the tomb of the unknowns was weird. Well, trump was weird. First saluting inappropriately,then touching the wreath strangely and walking away. He probably didn’t really want to go to the ceremony. He wanted to stay at the WH and be ragey, but someone convinced him that it was important he show up. Probably he was thinking, “why do I have to come here to put a wreath on some unknown losers’ tomb?”

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  50. Sherri said on November 12, 2020 at 10:18 pm

    Plus, Trump was late, because he didn’t grasp the importance of the ceremony happening at 11:11 on the 11th.

    And whew, this thread about Alito’s speech at the Federalist Society convention!

    https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1327055797176692737

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  51. Sherri said on November 12, 2020 at 10:22 pm

    Ron Johnson’s not going to be the dumbest guy in the Senate pretty soon; Tommy Tuberville is headed to Washington as the newest Senator from Alabama.

    https://twitter.com/jasonintrator/status/1327055524362334209

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  52. Sherri said on November 13, 2020 at 1:23 am

    Meanwhile, while Republicans do their best to destroy democracy, the pandemic marches on, as we continue daily to set new records. Not that everyone seems to believe that, either.

    https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2020/11/12/grapevine-hosted-a-600-person-conference-in-hopes-of-showing-how-to-hold-safe-events-during-covid-19/

    https://www.ksl.com/article/50047970/conspiracy-theorists-try-to-get-into-utah-valley-hospital-icu

    I think calling the 70 million or so who voted for Trump crazy is being generous to them, suggesting they aren’t responsible for their actions.

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  53. beb said on November 13, 2020 at 2:34 am

    Was the lie that LBJ told the one about the pig-fucker? That was a pretty gross one but par, I think, for politics even 56 years ago.

    Lawyer Lawrence Tribe make a couple points in a recent interview. One os that common Law says Trump can not pardon himself, though he can pardon everyone else in his family. The principle is that you can’t be the judge of your own trial. But I imagine that Trump would try it anyway and there would be a 6-3 change that the Supreme Court would turn history upside down and rule that the Constitution does not forbid the President from pardoning himself. Tribe’s other point is that if Trump were to spill state secrets after Biden is sworn in he would be in a world of hurt. He couldn’t pardon himself because he’s not president and spilling state secrets is a real crime with real punishment. So Trump who is a horrible gossip in many respects will have to watch what he says after leaving the Presidency.

    I think Pence is isolating himself either because has Covid and doesn’t want to admit that or just knows that he’s been exposured to a lot of people who have developed Covid. I think he’s too much of a sycophant to ever leave Trump’s side.

    does anyone think the timeline on the SCOTUS nomination/confirmation would be much different if RBG held out 2-3 more weeks? Not really. McConnell would have been more desperate to go through the motions but he would have the Senate in session right to Nov 3rd if necessary to get a replacement in.

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  54. Dexter Friend said on November 13, 2020 at 3:04 am

    You blogger contributors here are really on top of things. Congratulations just for keeping so informed, that we can educate each other. It’s like 63 days until we can get a plan rolled out to curtail C19. 159,000 new positives on November 12.
    Carla Lee had surgery Tuesday; I got her there on time after that all-night drive. A heretofore undiscovered strain of bacteria was discovered with cultured samples and now she is on an exotic antibiotic. This just has to work. If it does, a new knee can be inserted finally.
    I wear a surgical mask and on top of that an N95 mask. Covid19 is in Defiance Mercy; the staff are all on PPE and the best masks they can get. I just saw Dr. Gupta on TV condemning gaiter masks as worthless. He said to wear a cloth mask, or a cloth and synthetic mask, or a surgical blue mask, or an N95. N95s can be hard to get , still. Mine are from China, sent to me before daughter Lori got sick. She was back again in the ER with another infection in her wounds. She is home again recovering. Youngest daughter Vanessa had a long 4 hour reconstruction surgery and is home now, sore and recovering. 2020 rolls on. I am going to celebrate the new year like I have not in years, except no alcohol of course.

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  55. Deborah said on November 13, 2020 at 5:56 am

    Dexter, you and your family have been through the mill for sure. Thinking about you all.

    Tajalli, the number of voting age people who don’t vote is exasperating. My husband’s very wealthy and well educated sister and her husband don’t vote, haven’t for ages. I don’t understand that at all. It’s not like they don’t know better, it’s a conscious choice for them. They are conservative too.

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  56. David C said on November 13, 2020 at 5:58 am

    Dr. Gupta is wrong about gaiters. He should know better.

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-those-bogus-reports-on-ineffective-neck-gaiters-got-started/

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/well/live/coronavirus-gaiters-masks.html

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  57. Dorothy said on November 13, 2020 at 6:40 am

    A reporter on NBC did a story about 6 weeks ago about gaiters vs. cloth masks. She showed people blowing out candles wearing both kinds of masks. Those wearing a gaiter (single layer of stretchy knit fabric) were able to easily blow out the candle, which means the breath they expelled was strong enough to get through and extinguish the candle. Those wearing homemade cloth masks or the blue disposable ones were not able to blow out the candle. That was enough to convince me that single layer gaiters are not as safe as other kinds of masks. Still, if someone is wearing one, at least they are trying to be safe. I keep my distance from anyone wearing a gaiter, though. A lot of the maintenance guys in my office building wear them. Or they wear bandanas folded like they’re about to rob a bank. I’m not a fan of those face coverings, either.

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