A film recommendation--"Beautiful Boy"

 

A profoundly moving film combined with acting excellence made for riveting viewing. I recommend it highly. It is a family drama surrounding their emotionally explosive encounter with a drug addicted son whom they love and try with all their might to help. It shows one the imprisoning grip that drug addiction can have on those whose personality traits and cerebral proclivities place the addicted in a solitary confinement prison out of which there seems to be simply no exit. The son, played by Timothée Chalamet with phenomenal expertise, is dependent on his family, especially his dad played with great depth by Steve Carell, to help him when he simply cannot help himself.

Even if one is not familiar with the problems of drug addiction one can still understand what it means to be held captive by an emotional situation the escape from which seems impossible. The drama is based on true life events of a family caught in the tornadic grip of a son whose imprisoning chains of addiction ultimately envelope them all.

Unemployment Benefits For Millions Expire As Trump Rages--bullpucky-- a crisis created

 

Dump​ creates a crisis. He won't sign the COVID relief bill allegedly because he wants $2000 instead of $600 to go to the people but really he does not give a damn about ​the American ​people suffering who need more than the $600 bucks Republicans would allow.​

​He held this so necessary bill up lying that he cared about the people getting more money. In reality he knew Republicans would not go along with that and under cover of wanting to increase the amount the American people get which is ​b​ullpucky​,​ Dump wanted to create a crisis and have his Republicans at whom he is mad get blamed. Now we have a crisis not only will this money ​people so desperately need ​be withheld but people will be getting kicked out of their homes​ as well​. DEPLORABLE!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/unemployment-benefits-expire-covid_n_5fe81686c5b64e442103e21d

Morning Shots -- a fun but serious piece

 

The following is long but entertaining. The post below is better than anything I could ever write and spans a whole panoply of outrage those of us who knew what the piece de resistance of fraud, mendacity and cruelty that was the character and modus operandi of the Maggot in Chief.

Try to keep the fires of liberalism burning and I will do the same.

Liberal to my dying day!

 

 

 

From the Morning Shots by Charlie Sykes

I’m sending today’s Morning Shots out to everyone, because I have something to get off my chest.

For years now, some of us have felt like we were in the political wilderness, but it turns out that we are far from alone. At the Bulwark, we are committed to telling you what we think, free of tribalism, or ideological blinders.

Please consider joining us at Bulwark+.

What Were You Thinking?

Don't pretend you're surprised

Pardons, threats, chaos, and coups. Merry Freaking Christmas

Welcome to the Countdown Journal. There are 14 days until January 6, when Congress counts the Electoral College votes, and 28 days until the Inauguration of Joe Biden.

Near the end of the miniseries, Band of Brothers, the guys from Easy Company are shown riding in a convoy of trucks past a bedraggled column of German prisoners, some of whom are riding in carts drawn by horses.

Private David Webster is appalled by the scene and shouts at them:

Hey, you! That's right, you stupid Kraut bastards! That's right! Say hello to Ford, and General fuckin' Motors! You stupid fascist pigs! Look at you! You have horses! What were you thinking? Dragging our asses half way around the world, interrupting our lives... For what, you ignorant, servile scum! What the fuck are we doing here?

I woke up this morning thinking about him.

Admittedly, the parallels are hardly exact, but as I’m looking over the clusterfuck of American conservativism on this almost-Christmas Eve, I feel a kinship with Webster.

What were you thinking? You cowardly, ignorant, servile scum?

It’s not like you were not warned. Again and again.

It’s not as if it wasn’t obvious from the very beginning who Donald Trump was. You had to know it would come to something like this.

Now look at you. You have Trump.

You’ve dragged this country into this place: more than 323,000 dead Americans, a president plotting to steal an election, whispers of military coups, pardons for crooks and war criminals, a potential constitutional crisis, and a possible government shutdown. And, after four interminable years, a nation that is dumber, crueler, and more divided.

For what? What the fuck are we doing here?

Let me repeat this: none of this is new. As far back as August 2015, I wrote that Trump was “a cartoon version of every left-wing media stereotype of the reactionary, nativist, misogynist right.”

Back then there was still time to say no. Some of us desperately made the case that he was a disaster. In May 2016, on the last appearance I will ever make on Fox News, I said:

Donald Trump is a serial liar, a con man who mocks the disabled and women. He’s a narcissist and a bully, a man with no fixed principles who has the vocabulary of an emotionally insecure nine-year-old. So no, I don’t want to give him control of the IRS, the FBI, and the nuclear codes. That’s just me.

But you went along with it. You thought you could ride it out. You thought the tradeoffs were worth it. You thought you could Make America Great with this ignorant, petulant man-child.

One conservative commentator after another torched their reputations, if not their consciences, polishing the orange turds.

The anti-anti-Trumpers sat it out, or spent their time assuring us it wasn’t so bad and that the real threat was radical woke socialists like… Joe Biden. When they weren’t actually concocting elaborate defenses for Trump’s mendacity, they rationalized, or played an endless game of whataboutism.

Back in June, my colleague, Sarah Longwell asked the same question that’s nagging me today:

Did they really think that putting a man bereft of character, decency, and empathy in charge of the country wouldn’t make a difference?Did they really think that dismissing each instance of his racism, bullying, fecklessness, megalomania, corruption, lies, and stupidity it wouldn’t have a cumulative effect?From the day he came down the escalator, Trump promised to burn it all down. And now Conservatism Inc. is surprised the country is on fire?What did they think was going to happen?

So don’t pretend you are really surprised. You may be appalled by what you are seeing, but nothing that is happening now — the reckless attacks on constitutional norms, the flood of lies and conspiracy theories, the bullying, insults, or chaos — is inconsistent in any way with what you have known for years.

But you truckled, wheedled, and hoped he’d eat you last.

And here we are, you miserable bastards.

We’ll keep sounding the alarm. As you know, we founded the Bulwark two years ago, with a commitment to tell you what we think. And we had a lot to say about where the conservative movement was headed. At times, I’ll be honest, it felt lonely. These have been difficult times and, unfortunately, things may actually be about to get worse.

So our mission is to continue to be a voice of sanity amid the farrago of nonsense that passes for political and cultural commentary these days.

If you have been following us, you know that we have assembled an amazing group of writers, editors, columnists, and artists. We would be very grateful if you would join us… or at least spread the word.

And seriously, Merry Christmas.

Big day for crooked pols and war criminals.

If you checked out early last night, you missed Trump’s pardons of two corrupt former GOP congressmen (both Trump supporters) and some war criminals.

One of them, Nicholas Slatten, had been sentenced to life in prison after the Justice Department had gone to great lengths to prosecute him. Mr. Slatten had been a contractor for the private company Blackwater and was sentenced for his role in the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square in Baghdad — a massacre that left one of the most lasting stains of the war on the United States. Among those dead were two boys, 8 and 11.

Trump throws his own deal under the bus.

Imagine being a Republican senator who just voted for the COVID relief bill and omnibus.

In a video that weird even by Trumpian standards, the defeated president demanded that Congress send out $2,000 checks.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi immediately called Trump’s bluff. Right now, it’s all show and kabuki theater… but no one knows what will actually happen now. Despite calling the bill a “disgrace” an calling for a bigger money-cannon, Trump did not actually threaten a veto.

As usual, Nicholas Grossman has a solid take:

Nicholas Grossman @NGrossman81

Trump’s not trying to get people more money. He’s trying to set up telling people he wanted them to have more money but the establishment wouldn’t do it.

December 23rd 2020

What could go wrong here?

Josh Barro @jbarro

If Trump did a pocket veto that would mean the government would be shut down from December 28 through the Georgia elections, into the swearings-in, and for the January 6 count of the electoral votes where he wants Republicans to vote to steal the election.

121 Retweets588 LikesDecember 23rd 2020

4D Chess. Politico doesn’t see how this is a wizard move for Trump.

IT’S DIFFICULT to see why the White House thinks it’s helpful to TRUMP to look as if he has no sway with the legislature.IF HE DOES VETO, can Congress come back and override it? Maybe -- probably! So, again,it’s difficult to see why it’s helpful to have TRUMP choose to lose another fight with Congress.IF TRUMP DOES VETO and Congress can’t override it, the Hill will just pass this again in January, and JOE BIDEN will get to take credit, and TRUMP will get none. 4D chess.AND WHAT ABOUT GOP Sens. DAVID PERDUE and KELLY LOEFFLER, who have been touting the bill in Georgia? Where does this leave them?

Trump turns on the Senate GOP.

ICYMI: Trump lashed out at GOP Senator John Thune for suggesting that senators should do their constitutional duty and recognize the winner of the election.

Charlie Sykes @SykesCharlie

The Trump vs Senate GOP divorce is going to be messy. https://t.co/MMz5T2KAUy

Republicans in the Senate so quickly forget. Right now they would be down 8 seats without my backing them in the last Election. RINO John Thune, “Mitch’s boy”, should just let it play out. South Dakota doesn’t like weakness. He will be primaried in 2022, political career over!!!Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

433 Retweets3,549 LikesDecember 23rd 2020

Charlie Sykes @SykesCharlie

Unclear who will get custody of Lindsey.

97 Retweets1,857 LikesDecember 23rd 2020

Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party Update:

Christian Vanderbrouk @UrbanAchievr

Sidney Powell openly attacking the WH Chief of Staff and Counsel...

December 23rd 2020

Quick Hits

1. A Scary Thread from BK

ICYMI it yesterday, our colleague Bill Kristol is alarmed:

Bill Kristol @BillKristol

1. This thread is based on recent conversations with people whose information and judgment I trust, who in turn have spoken candidly with Trump appointees still on the inside. Here's a question: Why did Trump and Barr, when they negotiated Barr's departure, settle on Dec. 23?

3,888 Retweets9,699 LikesDecember 22nd 2020

Here’s the whole thing:

It could, obviously, be kind of random--a date picked last week to allow Barr to get things in order, an accommodation of Barr's family schedule, etc. But it could also be that Barr very much wanted to get out before Dec. 24, and/or that Trump wanted him out by then.One obvious possibility discussed in the White House: Trump has spoken about a bunch of pardons on Christmas Eve. Some of the names may have been too much for Barr--so they agreed on his departure on Dec. 23.(Or the pardons will be a few days later, but the principle holds--Barr wanted out, or Trump wanted him out, first.) But it could be more than pardons. Yesterday Barr suggested there were several things he wouldn't do that Trump wanted him to do as ranging from appointing special counsels for Hunter Biden or election fraud, to giving a legal ok for seizing voting machines or for various types of Insurrection Act-type moves by the president. Can one be confident Barr's successor as AG, Jeffrey Rosen, will also say no?I'm told not. I'm told the very ambitious Rosen has pushed on earlier occasions for carrying out Trump's will only to be stopped by Barr. And people who've worked with Rosen say they wouldn't be surprised to see him, as AG, hasten to try to do Trump's will.In the past, Rosen has been allied with some in the White House counsel's office and others elsewhere in the White House who've been for going whole hog for Trump, as a friend put it. They've run up against resistance from Barr but also from WH Counsel Pat Cipollone.The departure of Cipollone would be a signal, as one person put it, that "all bets are off."I'm also reliably told senior military officials in the Pentagon are more, not less, alarmed than they were a few weeks ago when Mark Esper was fired. The new crew of Trump loyalists in the most senior civilian positions don't seem there only to burnish their resumes, as one person put it. They're trying to figure out, in coordination with people in the White House, "how to make things happen." The senior military obviously retain considerable clout, to say the least. But the discussions they're having among themselves are unprecedented-- .more sober and weighty than those of 1974 in the weeks before Nixon's resignation. And the difference is that Jim Schlesinger was then Secretary of Defense, committed to checking an unstable and desperate president, not to helping one.All of these alarms, one hopes and trusts, will come to nothing, or at least to not too much. And the coup, in the end, will fail. But that something more than we've seen so far won't be tried--of that people aren't so confident.The first thing to look for is what, if anything, happens on Dec. 24.END

The Ghost of Conservatism Future

Richard North Patterson asks: What now?

Do the Never Trumpers strive to reconstitute the GOP as a responsible political party? Do they join a moderate Democratic party led by Joe Biden? Or do they try to help Biden succeed for the larger good of the country while ultimately hoping, someday and somehow, to provide a new home for principled conservatives?A word about my perspective. Among my gifted and gutsy colleagues at The Bulwark, generally conservatives whose foundational loyalties lay with the Republican party, I’m a center-left Democrat who saw Trump as the continuation—not the cause—of a moral and intellectual decline wherein the GOP conflated “conservatism” with a Manichean white identity politics that demolishes fact, degrades political discourse, and promotes scorched-earth partisanship. So I’d be delighted to claim them as political coreligionists at this perilous national crossroads.But my colleagues and their siblings on the center-right are not of one mind. What unites us is the desire to help our country rebuild a collective comity.

The Ghost of Conservatism Future

Richard North Patterson asks: What now?

Do the Never Trumpers strive to reconstitute the GOP as a responsible political party? Do they join a moderate Democratic party led by Joe Biden? Or do they try to help Biden succeed for the larger good of the country while ultimately hoping, someday and somehow, to provide a new home for principled conservatives?A word about my perspective. Among my gifted and gutsy colleagues at The Bulwark, generally conservatives whose foundational loyalties lay with the Republican party, I’m a center-left Democrat who saw Trump as the continuation—not the cause—of a moral and intellectual decline wherein the GOP conflated “conservatism” with a Manichean white identity politics that demolishes fact, degrades political discourse, and promotes scorched-earth partisanship. So I’d be delighted to claim them as political coreligionists at this perilous national crossroads.But my colleagues and their siblings on the center-right are not of one mind. What unites us is the desire to help our country rebuild a collective comity.

Cheap Shots

Well, this is is awkward.

Christian Schneider @Schneider_CM

When you set yourself up as Trump's biggest suck-up only to have him back his 18 wheeler over you

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson blocks proposal to provide $1,200 coronavirus relief checks https://t.co/c7J0ZKBaMiJournal Sentinel @journalsentinel

77 Retweets502 LikesDecember 23rd 2020

Pence panders.

George Conway @gtconway3d

I'm not sure it's possible to adequately express how pathetic, mendacious, and disgraceful the vice president's conduct is here.

CROWD: "FOUR MORE YEARS!! FOUR MORE YEARS!!" PENCE: "And as our election contest continues, I'll make you a promise: We're going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted!" https://t.co/Q0Nj0DzPKQGeorge Conway @gtconway3d

1,774 Retweets11,602 LikesDecember 22nd 2020

Deep Thoughts

A Hunger for Dictatorship

Scary stuff from NBC’s Ben Collins.

Some QAnon followers believe Trump is left with no choice but to declare martial law, a belief based in part on a series of wildly false news articles that have claimed that Trump is in a secret, ongoing land war with China in parts of the U.S.A series of fake news articles, YouTube videos and tweets that went viral among QAnon acolytes last week led followers to believe Trump was conducting clandestine military operations on U.S. soil.The rumors, which started on the website of the conspiracy theorist radio host Hal Turner, claimed China was quietly sending tanks into Maine through Canada. After a small earthquake shook Maine in early December, the rumor evolved to say the earthquakes were the result of an aerial assault by the Trump administration.Maine’s National Guard said no such battle had taken place.“The Maine National Guard has no knowledge of any such troop movement or military action, and would undoubtedly have been made aware through military or emergency management channels if such a significant event were to occur in the state of Maine,” Maj. Carl J. Lamb, the public affairs officer for the Maine National Guard, said. “In addition to constantly maintaining a ready force, our focus right now is assisting our fellow citizens by responding to requests from Maine Emergency Management Agency and Maine CDC in response to COVID-19.”

Light's Seasonal Renewal

 

"Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber (linked below) is one of my favorite pieces of music. Theme song for the anti war film "Apocalypse Now," it makes me yearn for a higher power to rescue 1/2 of this nation from the grips of madness of a president gone insane trying to wrest the reins of power for himself in perpetuity obliterating a democracy and its duly elected President-Elect Joseph Biden.

At this time of light's seasonal renewal I yearn for a rational nation to crush this expert of cons fooling them to think he cares about them. This narcissistic sadist Trump cares for no one but himself. He is a cancerous growth curse on this country and needs to be exorcised before his poisonous grasp kills us all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAoLJ8GbA4Y

Still Waters

If there ever was a worse time in this nation I do not know what it is. Even the Great Depression although some say that was the worst time in American history at least the nation was united. With the exception of the Civil War there was not the intractable and insurmountable division one sees today.

What is the remedy? Will this nation ever return to some semblance of normalcy if climate change is not addressed now and if the majority in this nation do not take the vaccine as a sure way to fight and eventually overcome the horror of the QUOVID pandemic?

How does one argue with those who will not be persuaded and who dig their heels in despite truth being available to them within their grasp? How does one persuade a racist bigot to change their ways and become accepting? These are impossible odds now that did not exist in 1933. We had leadership in FDR who was eloquent, strong and in control at a time when intellect mattered. I hope Joe Biden, if he ever gets to take the oath of office, can lead this nation to calmer waters. 

Though I am not a religious person I am appreciative of beautiful Biblical verse.  The perilous times in which we live evokes in me the 23rd Psalm of David lovely in its expressiveness and hopeful in its end that there is something stronger than we that can be relied upon which will lead us to still waters:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Supreme Court Rejects Republican Challenge to Pennsylvania Vote--our democratic republic lives! (edited)

 "The Supreme Court on Tuesday, [Safe Harbor Day], refused a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to overturn the state’s election results. The justices said they would not block a ruling from Pennsylvania’s highest court that had rejected a challenge to the use of mail ballots in the state. The Supreme Court’s order was all of one sentence, and there were no noted dissents."

My Comment:  I believe this sign, seals and delivers the presidency of the United States to Joseph R. Biden!!! What a wonderful turn of events since Rep. Clyburn, Democrat from South Carolina, pushed Joe Biden into the presidential trajectory. It is beyond my wildest dreams so wonderful.  President Biden should be celebrating as we all should be. 

The threat by Donald J. Trump -- the worst president in American history -- to the entire system of checks and balances the Founders so presciently delivered in 1789 was averted.  Benjamin Franklin when asked what form of government was created he said "A republic if you can keep it."  Mr. Franklin, our nation as a democratic republic still lives!

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/us/supreme-court-republican-challenge-pennsylvania-vote.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20201208&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline&regi_id=75028030&segment_id=46387&user_id=85a8ac1c6f518c011d82f4864472cc9b

 

Supreme Court Rejects Republican Challenge to Pennsylvania Vote--our democratic republic lives

 

"The Supreme Court on Tuesday, Safe Harbor Day, refused a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to overturn the state’s election results. The justices said they would not block a ruling from Pennsylvania’s highest court that had rejected a challenge to the use of mail ballots in the state. The Supreme Court’s order was all of one sentence, and there were no noted dissents."

My Comment:  I believe this sign, seals and delivers the presidency of the United States to Joseph R. Biden!!! What a wonderful turn of events since Rep. Clayburn pushed Joe Biden into the presidential trajectory. It is beyond my wildest dreams so wonderful.  President Biden should be celebrating as we all should be. 

The threat to the entire system the Founders so presciently delivered in 1789 was averted.  Benjamin Franklin when asked what form of government was created said "A republic if you can keep it."  Mr. Franklin, our nation as a democratic republic still lives!

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/us/supreme-court-republican-challenge-pennsylvania-vote.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20201208&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline&regi_id=75028030&segment_id=46387&user_id=85a8ac1c6f518c011d82f4864472cc9b

 

Pfizer Declines Invitation To White House ‘Vaccine Summit’--A Prudent Choice

 One by one corporate higher ups see what the utterly destructive, horror filled attachment to Trump and his merry annihilators of truth would be. Science -- especially science -- should never be attached to a political agenda or attach themselves to a corrupt leader's coattails. It utterly compromises the essence of what science is -- an objective look and study of physical phenomena without the extraneous influences that would corrupt its purpose.

Kudos to Pfizer and to Moderna for refusing to be at the so called vaccine summit which would ultimately imprison themselves inside the jail cell of those who do not have the best interests of the subjects of the study at heart. Kick especially the narcissist Trump who cares only for himself to the side of the road and do not bow to his every corrupt whim. His power to exert influence is waning.  The faster the nation and indeed the world gets to his political demise the healthier it will be for all of us!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pfizer-vaccine-summit-trump-white-house_n_5fceb80bc5b6636e0927a92f

A lengthy and excellent summary of the corruption of the office of the presidency by the enablers of Trump and Trump himself by Robin Alperstein + My Comment

 

My Comment: Below is Robin Alperstein's lengthy and excellent post about the all inclusive actions of Trump's enablers assisting him in an unconstitutional attempt to overturn a presidential election and overthrow the US government to install Trump as permanent Marshall Law president. It is a summary of the poisonous mendacity of those who enable Trump as he attempts to overturn a resounding election placing Joe Biden at the center of the winner's circle against the loser Trump.  These unconstitutional acts to subvert the election are a cancer on democracy.  They are utterly deplorable as is Trump himself with all his delusions of power and his never ending monumental corruption of the office of president! His presidency bends towards monumental injustice, mendacity and treasonous subversion.  History's note will define Trump justly as that.  January 20, 2021 cannot come fast enough for me.

By: Robin Alperstein

Michael Flynn, newly pardoned for his lies to the FBI and anything and everything connected to the Russia investigation (thus ensuring his role in obstructing justice on behalf of Trump in connection with that investigation can never be prosecuted), has decided to up the ante on his demented jeremiads against Hillary and Obama from the 2016 presidential campaign and instead incite the violent overthrow of the United States Constitution, by urging Trump to "declare martial law" (a power he does not have) and hold a military-overseen "re-vote" (a power it does not have; the states run elections per the Constitution), i.e., a coup. He is joined in this sedition by Trump attorney Lin Wood.

The danger here lies in the seditious and destabilizing public calls to destroy our system of government. Uncowed by his prosecution and emboldened by the DOJ's corruption under Barr and Trump's corrupt abuse of the pardon power to reward Flynn for his loyalty and obstruction, Flynn demonstrates yet again why he should never ever have been put in place as National Security Advisor. He is an unhinged and corrupt disgrace, a menace whose every public statement is testament to the threat he poses to our national security and our struggling democracy.

If anything, the ongoing, Republican-led assault on our Constitution and the legitimacy of President-elect Biden, who won 51%-47%, demonstrates that Biden cannot just ignore the depredations of the Trump administration and the criminal actors who engaged in them.

They will never sideline themselves; they never slink away in shame or even ignominy -- instead, they become false heroes to the right and they double-down on their own vileness, and those who watch learn from them and plot their own next moves, while Trump supporters and their channelers in the rightwing ecosphere whip each other into escalating frenzies of rejection of democracy.

Whether they are murderous racist teenagers who slaughter protestors in the street or the attorney general who called on the U.S. military to potentially do the same, whether they are slick and shameless public liars like Kayleigh McEnaney or more demented and bumbling ones like Rudy Giuliani, whether they are the architects of grotesque human rights violations reminiscent of Nazi Germany like Stephen Miller or weasley apparatchiks like Emily Murphy, whether they are corrupt, nepotistic Hatch Act violators potentially trading, for personal gain, information obtained through security clearances that should never have been granted, like Jared Kushner, whether they are flagrant abusers of the public coffers like Scott Pruitt (remember him), or whether they are part of Trump's legal clownshow like the brazen disinformation-peddler Jenna Ellis or leopard-print-wearing loony Sidney Powell, these grotesque actors and the Republicans clamoring in the wings to support them with their lies -- such as Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Nikki Haley, and so many more, so very many, carrying the torch of lies, obstruction, and attacks on our system that will be its undoing -- THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO STOP. They will continue their normalization of lying attacks on Biden, their attacks on Democratic voters, their assault on the Constitution and democracy itself, unless they are prosecuted for their crimes under a Biden administration and STOPPED.

Republicans like Josh Hawley and Nikki Haley and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and their ilk -- well-heeled and highly educated elites who like to pretend they are god-fearing people, and who would never be so crass as Flynn in their demand for the overthrow of the U.S. government -- prefer to launder their assaults on our nation and the right to vote of people of color in coded letters to their constituents and lock-step talking points about letting "the process" play out or counting "legal votes" or newfound dog whistles like "ballot harvesting." The Hawleys and Tom Cottons and John Thunes and Mike Rounds of the world are quietly building on the rightwing conspiracy-complex-arsenal to attack our new president and vice president and wage war on the majority's right to self-governance by promising supporters to "restore" the very election integrity that they are still allowing their vile leader to undermine.

And meanwhile, their peers are not even quiet about their support for democratic overthrow -- sitting senators Perdue and Loeffler baselessly attacked fellow Republican and Trump supporter, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, for not illegally throwing the election to them or to Trump. These are sitting senators publicly lambasting an elected public official for refusing to fraudulently call a valid election a fraud to sow doubt about it for them and for Trump. This is both reprehensible and now fully normalized, both through the fact that it has happened and that other Republicans have generally not condemned them or Trump, and it's the playbook we are now going to see used by practically every Republican who loses. Look at John James in Michigan, who eventually conceded but spread a host of lies and false fraud attacks for weeks before he did, echoing the destructive talking points of Trump and others.

So many "at long last, have you no sense of decency" moments have come and gone without a shred of change from Trump or a single one of the lickspittles or power-mad accomplices who have made him possible, that it cannot be plausibly argued that there is any such decency among the Republican leadership. We can find it, in tiny and far-flung examples, among some lower-level state officials in MI, PA, GA, and AZ, or the odd governor of a Democratic state. But that's it. And while that proved to be enough this time around, Republican leaders have every incentive to ensure that next time around, it is not. Their failure to stand up for Joe Biden isn't about Joe Biden -- it's about the Constitution and whether we have a democracy. The Republican leadership has shown time and again that it is not interested in either; instead, it is interested in the pretense of both as a figleaf for its larger project of minority rule and the endless transfer of wealth into the pockets of their donors.

P.S. In the comments are links to Hawley's letter to a constituent, which exemplifies the walk-the-line laundering of pernicious democracy-subverting lies that are, along with corruption and racism, Trumpism's, and thus the GOP's, lifeblood.

P.P.S. Also in the comments, a Joe Welch-esque "it has to stop" 4 minute press conference by the Georgia Deputy of Secretary of State, demanding that Trump and other Republican leaders stop inciting violence. Really worth watching. It also appears to have had a marginal impact, along with Raffensberger’s presser yesterday (also in comments below): per the Hill, the White House now at least purports to condemn threats of violence against election workers. But of course this is too little, too late, and totally perfunctory, like Trump's initial reaction to the murder of Heather Hyer. The damage that Trump and other members of his party have done remains, is ongoing, and is metastasizing across the party before our eyes.

P.P.P.S Flynn's sedition comes even as the news explodes of the DOJ's bribery-pardon scheme investigation and as trial balloons about preemptive pardons for the Trump spawn are floated. Note that the Constitutionality/legitimacy of a preemptive pardon is not a given.

Forward this to anyone you choose.

Hillbilly Elegy -- A Review

I thought this was one of the best films I have seen. The performances by Glenn Close, Amy Adams were brilliant along with the performances of a superior supporting cast.

 

This is far from the Beverley Hillbillies sitcom mentality nor is it close to the dramatic series of The Waltons. This film gives insight into the often mercurial red state mentality especially the so called Hillbilly or Appalachian culture. 

 

Since I come from a decidedly blue state I have often joked about people from that neck of the woods who are decidedly different from me but, truly, they are not just stereotypes and have important psychological rationales as to who they are and why they harbor the values that they do. Things are often not black or white but shades of grey.

 

If we can try to understand cultures different from ourselves perhaps we could gain some new understanding of and insight into our nation getting to that illusive United States of America. As President Obama once said -- We are not the red states of America we are not the blue states of America but we are the United States of America. A united nation can only be realized when one comes to terms with our differences by not judging human beings different from ourselves but rather understanding them leading to a more perfect union.

 

 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6772802/

 

HuffPost Trump Lawyer Says Fired Cybersecurity Chief Should Be 'Shot' For Defending Election

 

These are the animals we have to confront.  We who believe in truth and science cannot fathom their stupidity. I wouldn't mind but Chris Krebbs is brilliant and knows what he is talking about. This colossal jerk diGenova should be disbarred for making a life threatening statement on the airwaves and Howie Carr who let the comment fly onto the airwaves should have his license taken away. This is NO joke. It is not funny. There are those on the right who would do such a horrific act. It is threatening the life of an excellent man who worked so hard to make the 2020 election the safest in American history.

diGenova's words are a mirror of an authoritarian. We do not shoot people in this country who are experts in their field.  Even if he was not an expert we do NOT kill for telling the truth. It is sad that these rightwingnut crackpots are hired by the president of the United States to overturn a just and true election. Sad, infinitely sad.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joseph-digenova-chris-krebs-2020-election-threats_n_5fc5a5ddc5b66bb88c69d093