Note: The new Congress gets sworn in on Jan 3. That's when the officers of the House and Senate are supposed to be elected. There are rumbles about Republicans having another prolonged Speakership battle.

Congress has to count the Electoral Votes on Jan 6.

1/7 The Speaker of the House is supposed to preside over the Joint Session of Congress to count the Electoral Votes. If there is no Speaker yet, it's uncertain whether Congress can be convened to do that.

If Congress can't be convened until sometime after Jan 6, it gets weird.

2/7

The far-right Cato Institute is feeding its poison to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramasmarmy, giving them advice on how to disassemble America and sell it off for parts. Here is their manifesto.

I'll summarize what they threaten to do to Social Security.

1/9
cato.org/white-paper/ca… 1. Raise the retirement age by three years. Currently, you can take early retirement at 62, and full retirement at 67. Raise that to 65 and 70.

2. Reduce the annual Cost Of Living Adjustments. COLAs are now figured on Consumer Price Index. They want to use Chained CPI.

2/9

Irony has died. Consider the following fact:

People who have guns in their house die from gunshot wounds at about ten times the rate as people who don't have guns in their house.

This makes sense in an obvious sort of way.

1/4 After all, you can't die from a gunshot wound unless there's a gun involved. If there are guns handy, it makes sense that you'd be more likely to die from a gunshot than if guns are not handy.

2/4

On Jan 21, 2017, the day after his first inauguration, Trump created his reelection committee and began formally campaigning for reelection in 2020.

He lost, of course, but the point is, he started his campaign the day after his inauguration.

I mention this for a reason.

1/4 We know Trump is Constitutionally prevented from running for a third term. We also know he wants to remain president forever--mostly to grift and to stay out of prison.

I expect Trump to take action immediately after his inauguration next month. I'm not sure what he'll do.

2/4

The problem with going into survival mode is that it is ultimately selfish. It says, "I will do what I must do in order to survive," which inevitably requires throwing other people into the mouths of the lions, and--then lying about who YOU are.

Then you become that.

1/2 And the even bigger problem with survival mode is that the oppressors don't care. They will come for you anyway.

Here is the truth:

"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."
-- Benjamin Franklin

2/2

My mother would have been 94 today.

As she aged, she grew increasingly leftist. She raised me on the Kennedys. She loved Barack Obama. She watched Rachel Maddow.

She died in January of 2015. She didn't have to endure the age of Trumpian fascism.

1/7 She would have been ecstatic if Hillary had been elected in 2016, and would have been devastated at the tragedies of what happened on 11/08/2016 and 11/05/2024.

She'd have loved Kamala Harris.

2/7

Wanna know how much Republicans care about free speech?

A bill protecting reporters' sources, and shielding reports from prosecution, passed the House UNANIMOUSLY. (You read that right.)

Trump just ordered Republican Senators to kill it.

1/4 Let's watch and see if they follow Trump's commands, or if the bill passes the Senate.

Senate rules allow one (1) Senator to slow a bill down. The Senate has a lot of work to do in the next few weeks. It will be easy for some Trumpsucker to kill it.

2/4

Trump and his people have exhibited no interest in the legally required transition process. I suspect it's for two reasons:

1) As of 2019, they have to sign certain ethics pledges, AND reveal all conflicts of interest. I don't think they want to do that.

But also...

1/6 2) The purpose of the transition process is to teach the incoming Administration what it needs to know to run the 400+ federal agencies in the Executive Branch. Trump expects to dismantle nearly all of them, so doesn't care how to run them.

I know I'm right about 1).

2/6

Biden made banks stop surprising you with hidden charges. That's gone now.

$35 insulin is gone.
Medicare negotiating drug prices--gone.
EPA, HHS, Dept of Energy--gone.
All consumer protections--gone.
Dept of Labor. National Hurricane Center.
NOAA.
National Parks.

1/6 Protection for preexisting conditions.
Staying on parents' insurance until 26.
Reproductive rights.
LGBTQ+ rights.
Voting rights.
Paid vacations and holidays, 40-hour workweeks, child labor protections, paid overtime--gone.
USDA, meat inspections, CDC, Dept of Education.

2/6

This is a classy apology. Please read.

(Permission from the author to copy and paste is included at the end.)

1/7 2/7

Here are my thoughts on Tuesday night.

Democrats will likely take back the House, though it may be late in the week before we see that for certain.

I have no good feel for the Senate. A lot depends on presidential coattails.

For President, I'll give states to watch.

1/13 There are a group of states that, if they come in early for Harris, would mean an almost certain Harris win at the end of counting.

There are some that, if they are called Tuesday night for Trump, will mean a fascist win, and the end of American democracy as we know it,

2/13

Fascist propaganda is designed to make you lose hope, so you give up and accept fascist rule.

Rightwing trollbots are RIGHT NOW trying to convince you that record early voting numbers mean Trump will win.

Classic.

1/5 For, like, forever, big early voting numbers, and a larger percentage of eligible voters actually voting, has meant Democrats win.

But the trolls want you to think
This Year It's Different
because
Reasons.

They want you to give up. They want to stop GOTV efforts.

2/5

In the D.C. election subversion case, Judge Chutkan gave Trump's lawyers until today to "explore litigation options" to stop release of testimony and data supporting the allegations against Trump.

Trump's lawyers instead filed a motion to delay release of that data.

1/9 Background: Trump asked SCOTUS to rule on whether he was immune to prosecution for actions he took while President. If so, the election subversion case would (he hoped) have to be thrown out.

SCOTUS ruled Presidents are immune to prosecution for "official acts".

2/9

The average age of an American soldier in Vietnam was 19.

61% of the 58,000 Americans who died in that war were under 21.

21 was the voting age in America, until March of 1971, with passage of the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution, which lowered the voting age to 18.

1/5 American boys--children, really--were drafted to fight and kill and die in Vietnam. They had no say in the matter, because they weren't allowed to vote.

Throughout the 1960s, young people protested, pushed, screamed, and took to the streets to force a change in voting age.

2/5

I've noticed, most of the things rightists are against, they can't describe.

They hate CRT and DEI. Also socialism. And Marxism. And affirmative action. And they say climate change is a hoax, and are scared of mRNA vaccines.

1/7 They also don't know how evolution works, and most of them don't know why experts are experts. And LOTS of them hate "democracy" and claim we are a "republic" instead. They also don't know what EPA does, or the Dept of Energy, but they hate those, too.

2/7

In addition to the massive filing that's already been released, Jack Smith has an Appendix, detailing testimony and other documentation he plans to introduce at trial. Smith redacted sensitive information in the Appendix. Judge Chutkin gave Trump until Oct 10, ...

1/4 ... next Thursday, to provide any objections to Smith's redactions.

This was the same order the Judge gave regarding the filing itself; Trump's lawyers were supposed to agree or disagree to the redactions by Oct 1.

They didn't. They simply objected to the filing itself.

2/4

Let me remind you of some of the ways Trump handled Covid, the worst pandemic in a century:

Trump:
* didn't wear a mask
* ridiculed people who did
* discouraged social distancing
* held mass rally superspreader events, indoor and outdoor
* demanded reopening businesses

1/7 * demanded sending children to schools
* blocked production of masks
* blocked production of PPEs
* blocked production of ventilators
* lied about the danger
* stole masks, PPE and ventilators from states
* sold masks, PPE and ventilators to Russia and China

2/7

Judge Chutkin has unsealed Jack Smith's massive filing laying out the arguments and data in the DC Election Subversion case.

You can download it here.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco… Here's the meat of it, on Page 1.

Four years ago, Melania dressed as a cosplay Nazi and gave an illegal campaign speech (a violation of the Hatch Act) from the Rose Garden which she'd spent $60 million to decimate.

1/7 One of these pictures is a photo of a Nazi concentration camp guard. The other woman was, for four years, America's First Lady. She dressed as a Nazi to give a speech with the White House as a background prop that was broadcast live as part of the 2020 Republican Convention.

2/7

I heard pundidiots yesterday debating how Democrats should deal with Trump. Should we dourly remind people how dangerous he is? Or should we mock him?

The bobblehead media sages presented it as a choice, and as a contrast of old vs new.

They're wrong, of course.

1/14 The "old" way, they said, was to dwell on the danger and threat that is Trump, and to acknowledge his power, like a Colossus of Crap, striding confidently over the landscape, something unbeatable and terrifying, who never loses or suffers consequences.

2/14

I've told this story before. It's worth repeating.

(It's not my mythology. But I'm a student of religion and myth and folklore. Aesop's Fables aren't mine either, but there's a lot of good stuff there.)

1/7 ---
There's an old story about two fields, separated by a fence. One field belongs to God, the other to Satan. People are allowed to come and go as they please, and to choose on which field they would stand. Free will.

The fields fill every day, with a new group of people.

2/7