It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. I’ve had a ton of beginning-of-the-year file keeping to do. It the past, I’ve planned for and done most of it well in advance, but this year, I was not supposed to need it. I’m caught up on most of it. For the first time in my life, I won’t bitch about paperwork. Today is a Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos are playing the Raiders in their last game. Of course it’s not televised here. Tomorrow please expect no more than a brief Personal Update. It’s a WWWendy day, and she’s coming earlier in the morning than usual because of her schedule. May the Holy Orb shine its blessed light on your team, unless they raid lost wages.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:24 (average 5:11). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: One of the criticisms of former President Barack Obama in his first term was a lack of focus on judicial nominations, letting many vacancies go unfilled even while Democrats held the Senate. President-elect Joe Biden learned the consequences of letting nominations languish and is already on it, contacting Democratic senators to get their recommendations for judicial candidates. And not for just any good candidates: for the kinds of judges that have been lacking in the federal judiciary.
“With respect to U.S. District Court positions, we are particularly focused on nominating individuals whose legal experiences have been historically underrepresented on the federal bench, including those who are public defenders, civil rights and legal aid attorneys, and those who represent Americans in every walk of life,” reads a Dec. 22 letter obtained by HuffPost from incoming White House counsel Dana Remus to Democratic senators. Remus continued that Biden doesn’t just want those names for a list for potential nominees, he wants recommendations—as soon as possible and with a final deadline of Jan. 19—for any existing district court vacancies. That sets him up to get those nominations rolling literally on Day One, Jan. 20. Additionally, Remus told senators that Biden will expect nomination recommendations from them “within 45 days of any new vacancy being announced, so that we can expeditiously consider your recommendations.”
I am pleased to see and do support the areas in which Joe wants to focus with respect to fixing the judiciary. However, without both GA Senate seat wins, it’s meaningless, given the smug smirk of Blatant Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Vice President Mike Pence signaled support on Saturday for a futile Republican bid to overturn the election in Congress next week, after 11 Republican senators and senators-elect said that they would vote to reject President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory when the House and Senate meet to formally certify it.
The announcement by the senators — and Mr. Pence’s move to endorse it — reflected a groundswell among Republicans to defy the unambiguous results of the election and indulge President Trump’s attempts to remain in power with false claims of voting fraud.
Every state in the country has certified the election results after verifying their accuracy, many following postelection audits or hand counts. Judges across the country, and a Supreme Court with a conservative majority, have rejected nearly 60 attempts by Mr. Trump and his allies to challenge the results.
And neither Mr. Pence nor any of the senators who said they would vote to invalidate the election has made a specific allegation of fraud, instead offering vague suggestions that some wrongdoing might have occurred and asserting that many of their supporters believe that it has.
The senators’ opposition to certifying Mr. Biden’s election will not change the outcome. But it guarantees that what would normally be a perfunctory session on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to ratify the results of the presidential election will instead become a partisan brawl, in which Republicans amplify specious claims of widespread election rigging that have been debunked and dismissed for weeks even as Mr. Trump has stoked them.
I suppose the fly got away with whatever gray matter that evil Republican Vice Fuhrer Pence used to have. Stay tuned. Wednesday is going to be a zoo, and I’ll be following it closely. RESIST!!
From YouTube (a blast from the past): Jefferson Airplane – Somebody to love
Ah… the memories. If they had ruined the beautiful music quality, if they had changed the weed in the clip to Clorox, and if they had changed “love” to “hate, this would have become the Republican theme song. RESIST!!
16 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!
9 Responses to “Open Thread – 1/3/2021”
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Oh my. And when it did begin to look like you were going to need it – there were the elections – and the shenanigans. Well, good for you getting it done. I hope the Orb rrwards you by smiling on the Broncos today. There’s a live blog, but you probably don’t wan t to do all that sitting up just for a blog.
Cartoon – Do Republicans know it yet? Or is it just Hawaii they don’t know is a state? (And God help Puerto Rico if it becomes one.)
DK – Your comment is exactly what I have been saying – without Georgia, we are toast (a word which has an interesting history BTW.) And we don’t have too much longer to wait before we know – thankfully. Right now I think we have some good momentum. God knows what would happen if it had to drag on much longer. And if we DO win, don’t anyone forget to thank Stacey Abrams!
NYT – You are making me want to sleep through the whole day to guard my sanity. But I probably won’t. We’ll see.
Blast – Oh, yes. This was a good one.
Cartoon: Heard it’s a beautiful state, having never been there. Palin is an ‘oops’, all right. ugh!
DK: Hopefully, Joe can get this to work. BBMM needs to go!
NYT: Gawd, what a fine mess they’re in. Who in their right mind would do this, and what does trump have over these Republicans? They sound and are acting like petulant children, imho… It won’t change anything, however, it’s dangerous and seditious behavior.
BFTP: Great song!
You sound busy w/your paperwork. Hope it all goes good. Best to your team, we play the Titans late this afternoon. We’ll see. Enjoy the rest of your day, and take good care, Tom. Thanks!
*This just in: “The man blocking our receipt of $2000.00 has a net worth of $33 Million. That’s all we really need to know.” ~ Erin S. ~
2. “Police run up in Black people’s houses for weed, but couldn’t check out the Bomber’s house after his girlfriend reported him making bombs. Sums up our criminal justice system. ~ Dr. Rashawn Ray~
3. “Crystal clear: By pressuring election officials to overturn results Trump is committing Federal Crimes. He must be prosecuted.” ~ Rob Reiner ~
4. “The associates trump pardoned may now be forced to testify against him, because they can no longer invoke the 5th amendment.” ~ Michael Cohen ~
5. “More than 2,900 U.S. Health Care Workers have died in the Covid-19 pandemic since March.
The government barely kept track.” ~ Christina Jewett, Robert Lewis, and Melissa Bailey ~
6. re: dt – “The superficiality of his pettiness is the source of his evil.” ~ Rick R. ~
TJI #3 – I have the full convo in the video thread … no visuals, but good CC.
TJI #4 – That is qualified (and Cohen did qualify it) – but it’s mostly right on. They are now dangers to him.
TJI #5 – Yeah. And they want to curtail immigration. We desperately need, andare going to need more and more, healthcare workers to immigrate. Unless, if course, we all want to die.
Trump has nothing over these fools, they have used him, just as he has used them. He has moved their various odious, venal agendas along, and now they are just loving the opportunity to take over…forever.
TJI#4: Michael rocks. (not “Rocks! however.)
TJI#6: It’s not his pettiness, it’s his emptiness, imho.
DK: I’m hoping the people in GA will definitely get out there and vote to get the two Democrats into office. Sure they’re sick of mItch the bi*ch who like his leader, ignores and does nothing…just sits on his a*s.
NYT: These stinking R’s have no brains whatsoever. To me these 11 R’s need to be put on notice that they’re breaking rules and should lose their title/seats for these type of criminal acts.
BFTP: Great song. I remember the Jefferson Airplane, loved their songs.
Glad you were able to take care of your paperwork today. Hope that your Broncos win their last game.
Tell Wendy “Hello” tomorrow. Take care. Thanks TomCat
Ellipsoid Orb…as the song says “Ohoo tragedy!” Sorry.
‘Toon: Looney Toon Woman!
DK: McTurtle keeps earning new sobriquets as he marches along in time to his favorite waltz: “Heil Hitler!”-BBBMMM Pres. Obama also did not see to ridding the country of the electoral college.
NYT: Nah, Pence never had any of that. That’s why the fly stayed so long, trying to find what was not there.
BFP: The Airplane had a couple of marvelous anthems that might have helped change the system, had the counter-culture understood the need for political organization. Love that song.
There has to be a first time for everything and yesterday it was not bitching about paperwork. I’m glad being sick hasn’t undermined your sense of humour yet, TomCat. Instead, it has honed it with a touch of sarcasm, I think.
3:49 Slowly improving on the left.
Cartoon: It’s not fair to blame history for Sarah Palin, is it?
DK: Yes, Biden is making all the right moves to be prepared to undo as much damage done to the judiciary as possible, but everything depends on what the voters in Georgia do. Without those two seats for the Democrats, all preparation and all decisions will be moot and the real king behind the screens will rule again.
If I were a Democrat in Georgia or the Senate, I would take the possibility of election fraud very serious indeed. Republicans have too much, if not all, to lose in the elections of two Senators in one state.
NYT: As I said in a comment last week, Pence’s sudden cancelling of his trips, i.e escape, abroad was rather suspicious. Whatever Trump holds over him, it is enough to have him join in this stupid charade leading nowhere. Pence must have resigned himself to retirement without further political influence. Mother will be so happy.
BFTP: Great song. I’m sure Republicans feel they’re entitled to some love too but Georgia should deny it to them.
Yes, glad Biden ready to roll w/judicial appts. from the get-go—-and that they are diverse,have represented broad swath of peeps! I’m not a football fan AT ALL but smiled that Browns won. My late uncle was loyal fan;he passed in Nov.,so didn’t quite make it to celebrate. Well now we have an hour-long tape of the “Griftfather” begging, etc. for GA to throw out their election results—–OMFG! He truly does NOT have even a shred of decency. Yes, Wed. will be something to watch——seditionists in our midst. Oh, yeah, paperwork. Gotta do that,too. Stay safe,all.
Thanks and Monday Hugs to all!