Refreshing Indeed!
I'd Forgotten What It Was Like
The Shade…
Ten Criteria for Success
From Infidel573:
I've opined that Biden and the thin Democratic majorities in Congress have two years to achieve real results — if we haven't seen some "big stuff" accomplished by November 2022, our voting base won't be motivated to turn out and we'll likely lose the House majority and perhaps the Senate too, despite a favorable map.
Here are the items I would say qualify as "big stuff". The Democrats won't get all of them done, but they need to get some of them done in the next two years.
1. Victory over covid-19. This means that at least in the blue cities, the virus should have been suppressed to the extent that masks and social distancing are no longer necessary, and social interaction and the operation of businesses like restaurants have fully returned to 2019 norms, while hospitals are under no more unusual stress than in 2019. It may be impossible to achieve this in two years in the red rural areas, where resistance to vaccines and precautions will slow down recovery, but the cities should be back to normal by sometime in 2022 at the latest.
2. A jobs recovery. Real unemployment should be back down to 2019 levels.
3. The $15 federal minimum wage. This might need to be adjusted for the lower-cost-of-living parts of the country to get Manchin on board, but the $15 minimum should be in effect in the cities, bringing the US into line with what some other developed countries have.
4. A public option in healthcare. The simplest way to achieve this would be "Medicare for all who want it" (not abolition of private insurance, which would be political suicide), or at least lowering the age of eligibility to make it available to far more people. This would begin the process of decoupling health insurance from employment and giving the US what all other developed countries, and some middle-income countries, already have.
5. A new federal voting-rights guarantee. This would be a law to eliminate state-level gerrymandering and vote-suppression schemes aimed at disenfranchising Democrats in general and black voters in particular. Federal voter-registration standards and promotion of voting by mail could also be part of this.
6. Statehood for DC or Puerto Rico or both. This would dilute the minority-rule problem posed by the Electoral College and the Senate.
7. Neutralization of the Republican packing of the Supreme Court. This could mean enlarging the Court, or in some way reducing its jurisdiction. There are many options.
8. Reversal of the Republican tax cut for the rich. Deficits do matter. Restoration of some semblance of an equitable tax burden won't cover all the costs of what the government has done and still needs to do to fight the pandemic, but it will help.
9. Serious action to contain China. This could take the form of a NATO-like alliance of democracies linking the US with India and Japan and possibly South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia; or some sort of multilateral initiative to get the upper hand over China economically (Trump's trade war "strategy" was doomed by pitting the US against everybody else instead of getting other democracies on board against China specifically). Right now we're on a 1930s-like trajectory, with a brutal fascist regime putting minorities in concentration camps (Xinjiang) and openly aspiring to seize new territories (Taiwan, the South China Sea) while building up its military to press those claims. We also have the same kind of head-in-the-sand appeasers and people insisting that the rise of this intolerable regime to a dominant position in world affairs is inevitable or, bizarrely, even desirable. We need to get off that trajectory and deal with the problem before it gets to the September 1939 stage, where the only option is a shooting war.
10. Successful handling of a new crisis. Just as covid-19 came out of nowhere, the odds are better than even that between now and November 2022 some new major issue will arise which we can't now anticipate. If it's major enough, how well the administration handles it could well prove as critical as any of the items above.
(I didn't mention a federal guarantee of abortion rights because it's unclear whether that will be necessary. If Roe falls, it definitely goes on the list.)
I'd say the minimum standard of success is four out of ten. The first two are essential; unless they are both achieved by November 2022, we'll probably lose the House and Senate. If those plus any two of the others are achieved, the administration will be a clear success and will deserve to win, and will win, increased majorities.
Then they'll have another two years (at least) to do the rest of it.
Uniting the Country
ABC poll finds Biden uniting the country:
69% approve Biden's COVID response
67% approve Biden's transition81% support requiring mask wearing
70% support rejoining WHO
65% support rejoining Paris climate pact
55% support reversing Muslim travel ban— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) January 24, 2021
A Nursery Rhyme for Today
Yes, I'm Gloating
THIS is Fine
It's a Brand New Day
Everybody look around
'Cause there's a reason to rejoice you see
Everybody come out
And let's commence to singing joyfully
Everybody look up
And feel the hope that we've been waiting for
Everybody's glad
Because our silent fear and dread is gone
Can't you feel a brand new day?
(Stolen from one of my faithful readers)
And Here We Are
While I seriously doubt any of you who stop by my wretched little hive of scum and villainy on the internet have not already cast your ballot, this is the day. Get off your sorry asses and get out there.
We already know that even if tonight's tally comes in at 80 Biden/20 Trump, the Putrefying Orange Creamsicle is planning on declaring himself the winner regardless of the numbers. That is why it's so important everyone shows up and makes that ratio even higher so that goddamneddaughterfucking asshole who has been squatting in the White House has absolutely NO wiggle room and any lawsuits he invariably will bring will be laughed out of court.
And in case anyone needs reminding:
I'm not pretending that the next few days—or the the next 78 for that matter—are going to be easy. There is going to be violence, whether or not the demon manages to get re-elected.
You can count on it.
I'll leave you with one final thought:
???
8 Days, Motherfuckers!
Ultimate Trolling
Just Doing My Part
He Speaks for All of Us
Let Me Get This Straight…
From Hopes & Fears:
Hunter Biden lives in LOS ANGELES.
So Rudy wants us to believe he decided to fly 3000 miles to drop off 3 laptops with some sketcy af half blind dude because he only charges $85 to fix MAC laptops…after they say he earned millions of dollars from Burisma…pretty sure there are still Apple Stores in LA.
So you're trying to tell me that he flies 3000 miles, signs a contract to fix his laptops with a half blind dude and just…ghosts? Nah.
So you're trying to tell me that this guy who just happens to be a conspiracy theorist crazed supporter of Trump who says Hunter Biden signed a contract with him but didn't leave a manner of contacting him? Nah.
So you're trying to tell me that this sketchy af half blind guy who happens to be a Trump supporter goes through all these email looking for contact information instead of just wiping the drives and reselling the laptops like any other computer repair guy would do? Nah.
So now you're trying to tell me that this guy who is a total conspiracy theory nutjob that is so waaaaay down the Qanon rabbit hole he believes that the FBI are the government's hit men that he suddenly decides to call in the FBI? Nah.
And if this guy was soooo concerned about the information he had but couldn't find the contract information for Hunter but that he had the contact information for Rudy Giuliani? Nah.
And Rudy, who the FBI and CIA have warned Donny Boy's administration that he's being used as a stooge for the Russian mafia and Putin, thinks we're all just going to believe it?
NAH!
A 5 year old would say this doesn't check out.
Good thing the President of the United States thinks it's totally true.
All this coming from Rudy Giuliani. Yes, that Rudy Giuliani. The crazy-uncle-you-keep-locked-in-the-attic Rudy Giuliani. Yeah, totally believable. ?
The Idiocy Just Increases Exponentially
13 days. THIRTEEN MORE FUCKING DAYS.
Time to Take Out the Trash
And I Dare Say They Aren't Voting Republican
No more debates. That's it. If you don't know by now, I don't know what to tell you.
She Ready
https://twitter.com/meenaharris/status/1316576818938421249
Are you?
The Laugh We All Need Today
Kamala Harris' reaction to being asked about the fly that landed on Mike Pence's head is the laugh I needed today. 😂pic.twitter.com/7YKqxyrtvm
— Minh Ngo (@minhtngo) October 15, 2020
Make America CIVIL Again
Dump Trump
I voted. #ridinwithbiden
Please ignore the black and white photo of a dead female movie start in the background as required in every homosexual household per the Gay Agenda.)
And one more thing: #fucktrump