Congratulations, America — Once More, with Feeling [UPDATE-1]

/107 Comments/in /by

[NB: Updates at bottom of post./~Rayne]

FINALLY we can breathe again. I swear the White House minions must have worked together to push Trump to get out and go play golf so that the media could finally make the call.

Election coverage has now taken over the entire Washington Post site, which now shows Biden at 273 electoral votes to Trump’s 214. This number varies depending on the news outlet; some have already added Nevada though that state is still counting ballots in Clark County.

People are celebrating all over the country:

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.

.

.

Nothing yet from central to western U.S. but probably just a matter of time. The relief is so palpable even over social media.

It’s difficult to convey the amount of joy women especially women of color feel right now.

Words fail trying to express what it means to have so many firsts finally achieved — first woman, Black, South Asian, Jamaican American as VP — when the Equal Rights Amendment remains unratified since 1972, when so many Americans of color were denied their right to vote by myriad forms of suppression.

There will surely be attacks on Joe Biden’s history; his role in the Anita Hill hearings remains a bone of contention for me. But by choosing Kamala Harris as his running mate he kept faith with more than half of this country which has been systematically denied representation in their own democracy.

And in choosing Harris, Biden has also ensured the executive office hasn’t lost sight of the transition of power from one generation to another.

We have a lot to celebrate, not only because we can finally see an end to the Trump administration in 74 days. We can celebrate real change is coming.

~ ~ ~

UPDATE-1 — 3:00 PM ET —

Still joy-scrolling through my timeline. Someone cracked wise and said the celebratory crowd in DC is bigger than Trump’s inauguration crowd. Based on the photos I’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t be surprised one bit.

Sure hope somebody gets a drone shot or two from a decent elevation so we can guesstimate a head count.

But this one made me sniffle:

It’s as if we’d been at war and the war is finally over. How horribly sad this is. And yet we really have been at war with the rest of the rational world; the U.S. formally left the Paris Agreement on climate change yesterday after Trump announced we would leave a year ago.

Now the work begins as we fix the damage, restore other allies’ faith in us, and return to work together on the existential crisis facing humans.

p.s. bmaz launched a Trash Talk post for those of you who still need a sports fix.

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107 replies
  1. Rayne says:

    Don’t drop your guard, people, we still have work to do after you take a turn dancing in the streets.

    We still need to win the Senate or Biden will be hamstrung — do what you can to support the runoff in Georgia.

    • earthworm says:

      relief, yes certainly.
      however, rumors of urging red state up-ending Electoral College/electors’ votes. don’t want to publicize or carry water for them, but best to be prepared —

      • Rayne says:

        The Nation’s Elie Mystal already addressed this in a Twitter thread (click the embedded link):

        It’s not a thing. Read Article II, section 1 of the Constitution — conduct of elections are left to the states, which can ensure faithless electors vote with the rest of the electors.

    • Peterr says:

      There is also the dwindling House majority. There are still a non-trivial number of races yet to be called, and Dems are behind in several of them.

    • Jenny says:

      Finally, exhaled.
      Congratulations to Biden and Harris!!! Compassion won. Opening a bottle of Champaign to celebrate. Peace, Love, Prosperity and Equality for ALL.

      I do agree with you Rayne – more to be done. I am sending money to Ossoff and Warnock in support of their campaigns.

      Cautiously optimistic with 74 days until inauguration considering Trump is abusive and vindictive.

  2. OldTulsaDude says:

    Although I have some qualms from Biden’s history, I also know that good people have the capacity and willingness to admit wrong and change over time, and Joe Biden is more than anything else a good person. Congratulations to president-elect Biden and vice-president elect Harris!

  3. graham firchlis says:

    Our long national nightmare is nearly over, though shadows may haunt us for some time.

    Dawn is breaking, a new day upon us. Embrace it with joy, and courage for the struggle yet ahead.

    Here comes the Sun.

    https://youtu.be/JOotCVMFncE

  4. Alan Charbonneau says:

    Fox has called Nevada
    “Fox News Decision Desk projected Saturday that Biden will win the state of Nevada and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

    People who aren’t yet 18 but will be by January 5th, will be able to vote in the runoff. They need to register to vote by December 7th. (I’m unsure if Pearl Harbor day has any ironic significance)

    https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1324789043377262592?s=20

  5. Molly Pitcher says:

    I thought I would feel jubilation, but I am shocked that what I actually feel is remarkable relief. I feel lighter. I am realizing how anxious I have been for the last four years.

    The thing that has brought me to tears is that now my 10 year old Grand Daughter has a decent President AND a woman, a woman of color, as Vice President to grow up with.

    My Daughter says that having Trump in the office has been a phenomenal teaching example of what not to be as a human, plain and simple. Then she said something very interesting “It is harder to teach with more morally ambiguous people in positions of authority.” Here is to people of integrity.

    I want to thank everyone here for making this time more bearable. You have frequently been an anchor and a ballast when the seas were rocky.

    Let’s enjoy today, then start work on the recount in Georgia. I am going to go make a donation to Warnock and Ossoff.

    • BD Mac says:

      Re: “what I actually feel is remarkable relief. I feel lighter.”

      Those are your invisible wings kicking in. They work on auto-pilot on days like today. Gravity will resume soon. :D

  6. Peterr says:

    RIght now, a huge part of my joy is that we will have a president and vice-president who understand science and want to use it, not fight against it.

    Both the folks in the government science community (like Fauci et al.) and the scientists outside of government in academia and the private sector have to be breathing a huge sigh of relief. I’m not just talking about the COVID-19 pandemic, but also climate change, pollution control, and so much more.

    As Stephen Colbert so memorably put it, “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” It is such a delight to put Biden and Harris in office, so that we can deal with reality as it is, rather than “reality” as conservatives and wingnuts imagine it to be.

  7. Peterr says:

    In Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and several other denominations, churches use a set of prescribed three year cycle of readings from scripture. Tomorrow’s appointed reading from the Hebrew scriptures is Amos 5:18-24, which ends with these words:

    . . . let justice roll down like waters,
      and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

    Let all the people say Amen!

  8. earlofhuntingdon says:

    Someone finally splashed a bucket of water on Donald Trump and he’s melting.

    They’ll have to cut his broomstick into a million pieces, to acknowledge those who worked hardest to carry and throw that water. Well done. Enjoy the weekend. Back to work on Monday.

    • Peterr says:

      Trump may be melting, but his followers are not. Those millions of pieces will be treated as slivers of The True Cross Broomstick by those who view Trump as a martyr.

      • BobCon says:

        Don’t assume the narrative of martyr and followers works out for the GOP. With the death of almost every religious leader comes schisms

        Islam overtook large parts of the Christian world first by taking advantage of splits between the ruling church and dissenters in places like Egypt and Palestine who preferred life under Muslim authority to persecution from doctrines set in Rome and Constantinople.

        Later the schism between the Orthodox and Catholic churches led to the Turkish conquest of much or Eastern Europe.

        Islam saw much of its political strength damaged by Mongols moving in after the schism between Sunnis and Shiites.

        Let’s just say Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton aren’t even sure things for being Peter and Paul or Ali and Abu Bakr.

  9. BobCon says:

    Democrats need to take a serious look at this from a GOP point of view and ask what they have to worry about.

    No serious political strategist is going to celebrate things from the GOP perspective. They could be a lot worse, but any honest GOP strategist is biting their nails over what the Democrats could do in a post Trump world.

    Imagine the Patriots of a few years ago with the same personnel, except Belichick is suddenly locked up in a Khazak prison with Borat and a power struggle breaks out between Matt Patricia, Josh McDaniels, and Brian Flores for calling every play all season.

    Except in this scenario it’s not even the personnel of the 2017 Patriots, it’s the personnel of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

    Yes, the analogy is getting stretched. But the point is that people need to stop thinking about the state of the Democrats and starting probing more about what this does to the GOP. They have no obvious leader, they have a lot of unproven rivals who are tired of waiting their turn, and they have a lot of baggage.

    • e.a.f. says:

      No obvious leader, that is one of the things which always seemed a tad off for me, as a Canadian. Here, Each federal party has a leader and they’re in Parliament. They speak for their party in and out of Parliament. Given the U.S.A. has a leader in the Senate and a leader in the House of Representatives, that’s two and it has never seemed to me that they were always on the same page. Who knows, one can always dream, but perhaps some of those in the Senate may not want Moscow Mitch as the leader of the Republicans. Is that possible? Given Trump will be gone, who knows perhaps the odd Republican senator will vote with the Dems to achieve some goals.

      These run offs seem more like do overs. Oh, well, its a lot of money to spend. Actually having seen the money which was spent in this election, omg, they could have housed thousands of families with that money.

  10. P J Evans says:

    Kasich: “Whoever wins needs to listen to the concerns of the other party’s voters if we hope to begin healing.”

    We’ve been told for too many years that we’re the ones who have to listen to the other side, the ones who need to compromise, the ones who, basically, need to shut up and go away. F*ck that shit. The other side, the one Kasich belongs to, has NEVER tried to do any of the stuff he wants US to do.

    • subtropolis says:

      Consider that many of their concerns are either manufactured bullshit or the result of them voting against their own interests for decades.

      • e.a.f. says:

        don’t remember Kasich ever telling Trump to take into consider the views of others. Like where were the Republicans while Trump locked up children in concentration camps, banned Muslims, called Mexicans murderers, rapists, etc. Don’t remember too many Republicans well none speaking out against Trump and certainly not Kasich. Might have missed it but I do remember how Trump treated Pelosi and Schumer. All I remember is Trump calling Democratic leaders rude names and the rest of the Republicans laughing. they even laughed when Trump called McCain and other Veterans names. Don’t think there are too many Republicans who have anything of note to say.

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Kasich, of course, is an Ohio Republican, former governor and investment banker. He’s not a populist or inclusive kinda guy. He’s a partisan with largely Neoliberal views.

      He’s not the first guy Joe Biden should be listening to, even about working with Republicans, which Joe already knows how to do. If I were Joe, I would first pay attention to the people who put him over the top.

      • P J Evans says:

        That’s how he wants to be seen. But Ohio passed a lot of thoroughly conservative laws while he was governor, and he did approximately zero to prevent it.

    • Eureka says:

      I thought of your comment, PJ, when I saw this:

      Sandra Newman: “I actually try to be kind and decent to anyone, whatever they’re like, but I’m still pretty nonplussed at being *lectured* about being kind and decent to people who spent four years telling me to cry more when I was depressed and afraid.”
      https://twitter.com/sannewman/status/1325319012205596672

      “I mean, one freshman Republican congressman responded to the news of his win by tweeting “Cry more, lib” to the world. I can try to be decent to a person like that, but let’s be clear about this. If I succeed, I’m a saint and America doesn’t deserve me.”

  11. posaune says:

    Thanks to everyone here for seeing us through all this! Can’t say how much I appreciate all the people here. Truly grateful.

  12. Mary Ramsay says:

    Phew! We here Up Over (well, most of us) celebrate with you – even in my relatively (by Canadian standards) conservative neighbourhood, there’s been much whooping and banging of pots and pans.

    It’s maybe a bit early to take book on appointments, but how about Preet for AG?

  13. Mulder says:

    I’m in the middle of reading “It Was All A Lie” by Stuart Stevens. I’m not reaching out to anyone.

  14. e.a.f. says:

    a friend’s text woke me up this morning with fire works and news Biden/Harris was 273. Its now of course 279 so congrats to the U.S.A., Biden/Harris. Our C.B.C. reporters look pretty happy also, while they’re broadcasting either from Canada or various places in the U.S.A.

    C.B.C. has already had an American trade talking head on about how this will most likely remove some of the tariffs Trump put in place. Rosemary Barton (ONE OF 4 CBC head journalists) discussed the most likely slow down of refugees which have been coming into Canada since Trump started his b.s. about people of colour, etc.
    Best of all there are a lot of Americans who can relax and not have to think about relocating to another country and Canada can relax because we don’t have to think about a mass influx of American refugees. (well we would had to think about where to house every one, etc although there is a lot of room in Alberta and Manitoba) Other world leaders must be happy. they’re phoning to congratulate Biden/Harris. Merkel must be especially happy! Now she can retire, if she wants. Kim 3 and Xi might be a tad unhappy, but who cares. Can hardly wait for Harris to have a sit down with those two guys.

    just feel so relieved and fluxuate between feeling like laughing over the win and crying because finally there is a woman of colour as the V.P. in the U.S.A. Its like when Obama was elected, I cried I was so happy. Having watched American politics since the 1950s, today is a very big day!

    C.B.C. interviewed a Montreal friend of Ms. Harris and told us how Ms. Harris and her mother changed her life. In high school the woman told Ms. Harris her step father was sexually abusing her. Ms. Harris told her Mother and her Mother had the young woman move in with their family while she finished high school. Obviously Ms. Harris comes from a family of action. Its so good to know she is going to be the V.P. of the U.S.A. and is capable of stepping up if required to do so.

    CONGRATS! CONGRATS! CONGRATS!

  15. MattyG says:

    …one little thing. I hope when Bidey eventually goes to France as a state guest he visits the American dead resting in Belleau Wood – the fallen DT so shamefully disrespected by not attending the 100th anniversary of the First World War at the cemetary there. And maybe this time it *will* rain.

    • Geoguy says:

      Maybe when Biden visits, he could return the art objects Trump swiped from the French Ambassador’s residence while he wasn’t attending the ceremony.

  16. gmoke says:

    I think Emma Goldman got it a bit wrong. For me, the Revolution IS dancing in the streets. We should do it as often as possible. (And I look forward to the possibility of tango on the Boston Greenway on summer Saturday nights once again.)

    PS: The only Republican I’d like to see in Biden’s cabinet is Stuart Stevens. He’s the only one I know of who actually recognized what the part has become.

      • Marinela says:

        Catchy tune, it is even more amazing they took the time dancing in the weekend when is prime time for Indians to hunt.

        I know because my husband is out hunting with his Indian friends now.
        They donate the deer meat to families less fortunate in the tribe, lasts them over the winter.

        They are hurt by the casinos closing this year due to Covid.

  20. Stephen Calhoun says:

    Sign of relief.

    It was a weird election cycle anchored to the astonishing pandemic.

    (I’m old.) I hope the Democratic Party starts their youth movement immediately.

  21. Rugger9 says:

    One of the things I saw was an article or two about how much of a difference Jo Jorgenson made. She’s the Libertarian Party candidate, pulled about 1% but in the late battleground states her count bridged the difference between Biden and DJT. I’m not sure who actually bolted to the Libs here, Never-Trumpers or unrepentant Bernie Bros (or both).

    I think it was both, which means no net effect.

    So, where to put Mayor Pete in the Cabinet?

    • Molly Pitcher says:

      I think it would benefit him to go to the Senate, but maybe Veterans Affairs would be a good place ?

      • earlofhuntingdon says:

        Having been mayor of a town in Indiana does not qualify Mayor Pete to be Secretary of State, even if he speaks five languages. He needs more experience. The same is true of Stacey Abrams, AOC, and a lot of other names.

        • bmaz says:

          Yes. This is what bugs me about the “Hey so and so has a law diploma, let’s make them AG!” crowd. Let’s get back to a little institutional memory first, then start the truly new.

        • vvv says:

          Bergen suggests the UN for Mayor Pete:
          “The UN ambassador job should be reinstated to its former status to show that the Biden team is serious about re-engaging with the UN. The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, who ran for the Democratic nomination and is now on the Biden transition team, would be an excellent pick for this position. Buttigieg speaks several languages, including Arabic, Dari, French, Italian and Spanish, which would make him quite a hit at the UN. If he were to be selected and confirmed, he would be only the second person who identifies as gay to serve in an American cabinet.”
          https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/07/opinions/joe-biden-election-2020-clean-up-bergen/index.html

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          By all means, use Mayor Pete and others, but find posts suitable to their actual experience more than their potential. The UN would still be a stretch for him, but he would be far superior to anyone Trump appointed to it.

          The Democrats have not been consistent in supporting their farm team. They need to up their game now. The person who wins the 2024 election won’t get a break for not being Trump.

          They’ll have to defend Biden’s first term, oppose a resurgent Trumpism, and sell voters on what they want to do next. Covid may still be with us and people will be tired of dealing with it and its consequences. They will need to pursue a progressive agenda, because a return to a mythical what was would be jumping back into the pit.

        • Molly Pitcher says:

          Completely agree with you. It’s not just 2024 that we have to worry about, but the midterms in 2022. We have no more to lose in the House and we must retake the Senate.

          As impressive as Mayor Pete is, he needs experience on the public stage that lets him lose the “Mayor Pete” albatross that threatens to follow him the rest of his days, The GOP will use it as a term of derision for eternity otherwise.

  22. Marinela says:

    After the news Biden was projected the President-Elect, I cannot stop crying. It is good.
    Didn’t realized how much stress I accumulated for over four years now.
    Is going to be hard for Biden and the rest of us in a divided country, but at least we have a chance at a new era.
    If Trump was to win it, and he was closer than expected, I could not think of that possibility.

    Biden win is actually really huge in a divided country.
    Kudos to everybody that contributed to this win.

  25. Alan Charbonneau says:

    At a press conference, Giuliani & company announce that Trump is still fighting. The conference was held at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, not Four Seasons Hotel as was first thought.

    WTF? A landscaping company parking lot next to an adult book store and across the street from a crematorium. It’s fitting, but unexpected, to say the least.

    https://twitter.com/sfiegerman/status/1325117371422543874?s=20

  26. BD Mac says:

    RAYNE

    RE: “Anita Hill hearings remains a bone of contention for me”

    Can’t resist (sorry in advance): #LONG DONG SILVER

    It’s the fragments of an asshole that lingers within me :D. Please forgive!

    I’m an old saw on that hearing. My “new” life began around the time of those hearings so I was sponging a lot of information about the world at that time. I watched all of the “high-tech lynching” hearings and then I think around the #MeToo rise (2015?) I went back and re-researched it (hit a web link) so I’ve still got recollection.

    Please go EZ on Joe going forward. I think choosing Kamala is his penance for that and other indiscretions. No need 2 B contentious any further. Am I defending on old white guy; yes. Things were different back then – context is important.

    If you wanna know where a lot of the blame for the failure of those hearings goes, look no further than ex-Senator Orrin Hatch. He played the puppet master more so than Joe. Joe tried to please both sides (see link below) and obviously couldn’t; plus it was all white dudes in the early 90s. Recall they still thought tobacco didn’t cause cancer in ‘91.

    IIRC, my head and my heart told me that Orrin knew for certain that his questions and the answers he subliminally communicated to Clarence were going to get him off the hook/cover-up his past behavior even though Orrin knew he was in fact an office pervert based on her stand-alone testimony. I believe he used words to the effect of “a man who’d say that would have to be a psychopath….”; to which Clarence simply replied “Yes, senator” repeatedly in a shameful tone (but those paying attention to body language knew it was a lie). It was Orrin’s subliminal warning to Clarence to get his proverbial shit together if he wanted the seat. I guess we’ll never know if he did or not. My read of the Kavanaugh hearings was the same but they did a much better job of obfuscating and eliminating witnesses. They went earnestly after the boofing and devil’s triangle instead – nice dems. But I digress.

    I’ve worked with several office sexual harassers with vile potty mouths (not just drunken sailor profanity like myself), one was beyond unholy description; I’ll spare you the details. They all have tells just like in a card game. It’s almost like an OCD complex easily diagnosable. Clarence’s tells were no different in the hearing from my vantage. He had the trademarks of shyness when in authoritative audiences, but in private you just know he let loose the potty talk when there were no restrictions/consequences. In cases where culprits are in higher positions one can just gaslight inferior employees if there’s no witnesses once HR/management gets involved. Employment system(s) are far from perfect.

    Jill’s piece here covers some of what they didn’t in the Hill’s hearings. I think Orrin and the other GOPers (not Joe) were the ones that halted the additional witnesses from being called in the hearings (very similar to Kavanaugh’s failed FBI investigation and barred witness testimonies). Conclusion, two liars sit comfortably on the SCOTUS. I think that’s why Graham was so overwhelmingly pleased to process a woman in ACB’s confirmation (the odds of reverse sexual discrimination were near zero and wouldn’t serve as an impediment).

    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/02/the-case-for-impeaching-clarence-thomas.html

    FWIW and if I’m introspective, I do believe I’ve just begun my career in defending old white guys :D

    #KAMALA

    • Rayne says:

      Your career defending old white guys needs a rethink.

      1 – Don’t open with an offensive gag; if you acknowledge to yourself you’re being an asshole (“It’s the fragments of an asshole that lingers within me“) then just fucking stop.

      2 – Don’t tell women what they should or should do about any of the male senators involved in the Anita Hill hearing. For some of us watching Hill get shredded was itself a form of abuse. The way in which the entire hearing was handled was unacceptable then and still is now. Nothing like coming home from a long day at work being harassed by male co-workers only to watch elected male senators compound another woman’s harassment.

      3 – Biden has paid part of his debt to women by picking Harris, but the debt isn’t just his alone and it may not be paid until the next SCOTUS justice is nominated and approved, assuming there is at least one (hopefully more) seated during his term.

      4 – “process a woman” … what the actual fuck?? Do you even recognize how you frame women even if you’re attributing it to Lindsey Graham?

      It’s a good thing I was still happy about Biden-Harris clinching the election or I’d really cut you a new bodily orifice.

      • BD Mac says:

        For 1, 2, 3, and 4
        Points taken and understood . You have enlightened me. Much appreciated. I am evolving and correcting myself accordingly as a result of your criticisms. I think I disturbed you at the wrong time.

        Please back off on the Red Queen mode; the Queen of Hearts might suit you better. My biology limits my understanding (yes, a weak argument). Testosterone “poisoning” at ~week 8 occurred within the womb I was gestated in and caused a teratological aberration (in a single sex chromosome) which apparently all male genders suffer within our shared biological species. In plain simple anthropological terms my biological gender based role is to fuck things OR kill things in order for our species to perpetuate (in this world) as a result of the abberated 2nd X chromosome. Apparently this has been occurring to our species since before recorded history. Such is our biological curse/fate/destiny (don’t worry I’m not giving a lecture). Please have compassion for at least this male being for interrupting your busy schedule – I have all the time in the world ATM. Your biological destiny differs from mine, it is for the bringing forth and maintenance of life so we’re already at crossroads in our purposes. Let us pause there. We’re both human beings; let’s start there. I have damaged chromosomes. You got put together correctly.

        Note: Please do not argue biological truths or we’ve reached an impasse concerning facts [objective reality]. I am the Ocean in such realms. Swim with me and risk drowning. The former is only a caveat, nothing else.

        As to (1): The Kuan Yin offers “compassion for all being even in instances where compassion is not warranted; such is Her grace”. Grace in this instance meaning charisma. Forgiveness for a “gag” as you define my previously chosen communication resides within such grace (i.e. I may have offended U); can you forgive such stupidity or am I still just a member of the damaged sex perpetuating a “gag” with the intent of further abusing women beyond Ms. Hill.

        I offered in a sense of humor (which apparently you missed), an olive branch from which we might communicate. It is entirely my fault for assuming your sense of humor. Apologies again, grant compassion if you see fit. I have stopped being an a-hole in this post (per your advice however that is a lie). TY for helping me to remove the remnants of my a-holeness in the realm of bad humor. In my defense I can chalk it up to an enebriated ego and a damaged sex chromosome. After all it’s a good day 2-day; very good day – the Orange demon has been exorcised. Maybe not the “right” day to approach U given your very busy schedule. I understand the latter thoroughly. Carry on.

        As to (2): “Don’t tell women what they should or should NOT do about….” . I saw a “shredded” witness as well. Why did you assume otherwise? Perhaps U were hasty in responding on (2)? And that was not just abuse, it was public abuse for all the world 2 C (how the U.S. congress treated women of color especially); Anita took it all in stride; she was brave and walked the road of the heroine. “She’s just a woman” attack was typical for that era; not to mention the mental abuse she endured before, during and after the hearings (partially discussed in the link provided). People who’ve never experienced this don’t know what it’s like. Death threats and workplace harassment comes to mind, just like Blaise-Ford recently. Apologies if you misunderstood my framing. Another request for forgiveness is made to the Kuan Yin. I am nothing.

        I was only advising or suggesting (in a public forum) what you might, I repeat might, choose wrt to your view of Joe Biden – you seemed to have a dagger ready to put somewhere (cut him a new bodily orifice? IDK). Curious, what would have been your response if there had been female senators voting for/against Clarence (who had not or did support an ERA agenda)? (rhetorical for brevity)

        Isn’t mistreatment, mistreatment regardless of gender? They didn’t believe her. You and I clearly did As I did Ford with Kavanaugh who had several guilt tells. The generation before ours clearly had a different biased perspective; I call them generational scars when I talk to my elders; they seldom recognize them because of the years of conditioning. This is rhetorical, but it’s clear that you did not want a semi-anonymous male teratologically damaged blogger telling you how to perceive a political candidate you’d just voted for. We’re strangers. Completely understood. Good advice is hard to come by.

        We’re probably both capable of defining what would constitute an acceptable hearing namely getting to the truth. I’ve read enough of your posts to understand your own superb understanding of ethics/values (not judging; just observing). Sadly and practically we don’t get to provide input neither now nor then. So in ’91 when there was no exact definition of sexual harassment in legal terms (or other harrassments like bullying in the workplace) you had some bad days . You’re in good company; been there experienced that including if you believe it or not; reverse sexual harassment (i.e. some mean girls that crossed the line, but the bullying was much worse for a newbie employee – not providing details nor did you, but we know the pain that’s incurred). Cost me a lot of money in terms of salary for about a decade due to lack of advancement, but I was able to compensate through education reimbursements
        .
        As to (3): He has [paid part of his debt…..]. Thank you for mentioning that! The forgiveness of Joe was the singular purpose of what I thought would be a short, part funny, part advisory post on my part. I missed positioning the olive branch correctly (my bad), but It looks like you we’re already granting a pardon for Joe. Why did I even dissect this part of your post? Because I was chatting with my older sister last night (I update her on all the politics going on in the “Trump era” since she’s attending night school now but still wants to know a little of what’s going in the world; it goes without saying she despises Trump too so there’s a lot to talk about). When I mentioned who was primarily getting Joe elected by demographics (as a result of my extremely online lifestyle) she got a little punchy. I said it was the women that got Joe elected, that women can’t stand Trump (especially the women of color, see the Wa Post link belows). My sister said: “DON’T U DARE TELL ME…..” (and of course I cut her off), that women brought it home for Joe in 2020 by telling the men in their lives not to vote for Trump (he lost 5 points on white men alone). He barely held the line (close to Hillary’s numbers) on the rest of the demographics. My sister said: “No way, those same women from 2016 voted or Trump again”; maybe more. Some did, I looked at the polls for the last few months and women weren’t buying what Trump was selling from what I saw. Regardless that’s why I asked for you to take it easy on Joe so the battleground states aren’t lost. Basically Joe didn’t have the magic Obama had, nor did Hillary, we squeaked by. This election could have gone either way based on a legitimate October surprise. There’s so much bottled up anger I sense in the feminine energies due to lack of true equality such that any non-minority male candidate gets pummeled (seeing as they represent the past not the future demographic). Evolution is very slow – humans are impatient – just sayin’. It’s probably going to take to 2028 to get Kamala in the Whitehouse as POTUS – she was my 1st pick out of all the candidates during the primaries so it’s easy to wait. I just don’t want this 2020 election to be a one off.

        If women like yourself and my sister can’t let the go of the past with men such as Grandpa Joe, then what future starting in 2024 will there be if he’s still on the ticket — IDK. I think I was just giving him a push up (where he and Kamala need 2 B), and I saw you pulling him down a notch cause of his past. It’s funny how the mind works. Remember I have a damage X chromosome :D.

        As to (4): I assure you I don’t need any new bodily orifices. Perhaps when I’m in need of such services I’ll ping you. But it’s highly unlikely. In this regard, it’s good I bothered you. I’ve learned a lot.

        Let me re-phrase. I’m not the one doing the processing (of a woman or any other noun you care to insert in this space), Lyndsey Graham is. That’s how I see how he sees; I assure you that’s how he sees his little female conservative judge now on SCOTUS even more so than he sees the male conservatives he’s propped up there over the past five years. She was a means to end for him maintaining power for himself and his party (and as some feared keeping Trump in office which is now moot, scrapping Roe v. Wade, ACA etc….). It’s all about power not my us of verbs. Beat me up for “propping” up male conservatives if you like, but reserve your the new orifice designs for Graham.

        Can you put the guillotine away? I’m not Louis XVI? The latter was again an attempt at humor. You’re a tough cookie. And I said the latter because you’ll probably beat me up for that too :D. Regardless, cookies are sweet, even if they’re tough. Grrrr!

        IIRC, you beat the shit out of Barrett upon her nomination on several metrics. Not all of it was based on her antiquated dogma, but her short career’s [lack of] qualifications as well. I’m sure you can remember the post since you wrote it. IIRC I didn’t agree with your entire critique, but the overall sense of worry about her approval to be placed on the SCOTUS I did share in – she’s not the future – she lives in the past – progressives want a living constitution not seanced orginalism. I did my homework on her too and am still in limbo. There are things I saw that had promise; there were things I saw that gave me heebie jeebies especially if I were a female of reproductive age. With her it appeared she was influenced most greatly in the presence of greater power than her own. Similar to Kavanaugh especially around Trump (he has several tells). Not sure what that means now for either now that Trump’s gone.

        I’ve digressed from what you originally dissected as my improper use of language regarding your gender, so returning to the original paragraph you’re beating me up about dealt with failed investigations of both lying judges. I think it’s safe to assume that you didn’t disagree with my critique of both the Thomas and Kavanaugh hearings (they were both poorly conducted). Maybe we’ve agreed on something. I haven’t processed anyone male or female.

        I’ve changed careers after being forced to rethink.

        I will no longer defend old white guys in your vicinity.

        I will only quote appropriate lyrics to you and pray that the guillotine remains in storage.

        ———————————————————-

        “When the RAYNE washes you clean, you’ll know
        You’ll know
        You will know
        Oh, oh, oh, you’ll know”

        Thanks for the cerebral exercise.

        https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/02/the-case-for-impeaching-clarence-thomas.html

        https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/11/07/black-women-joe-biden-vote/

    • Epicurus says:

      I wouldn’t be so quick to give Mr. Biden a pass re: Ms. Hill. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/us/politics/joe-biden-anita-hill.html
      What he did do after that was to put Diane Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee, his form of the washing of hands. With luck Ms. Harris will be there to prevent such working across the aisle while he is President. After all, this is Mitch McConnell we are talking about who doesn’t see things quite the same way as Mr. Biden.

  27. BD Mac says:

    Re: “Someone cracked wise and said the celebratory crowd in DC is bigger than Trump’s inauguration crowd.”

    IMPOSSIBLE!!!

    Donald Trump is by Sean Spicer’s definition: “A unicorn, riding a unicorn, over a rainbow”

    Recall, honest Sean Spicer, 1st Whitehouse Press Secretary, told us all that Trump’s inauguration crowd-size was the largest crowd size ever. The largest!

    https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/396666-spicer-describes-trump-as-a-unicorn-riding-a-unicorn-over-a

    https://time.com/5088900/sean-spicer-screwed-up-inauguration-hitler/
    I think I’m into schadenfreude territory.

  28. Eureka says:

    We get scientists on Monday, if I heard right, he said they’d name them. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. May they be very online and in the press over the interim months.

    As 2020 awkward as this is, it practically feelz Obama 08.

    Also 2020, the initial sounds of the confetti cannon, then fireworks startled me.

    They had some good tunes, too.

      • graham firchlis says:

        David Kessler is a good person, hella smart and has enough beurocratic scars to provide a sense of both caution and opportunity in dealing with science in a complex political environment.

        As it happened, we were seatmates on a flight into DC as he was in the final stages of his FDA appointment. Ignoring that elephant, we chatted amiably about the challenges of “proof” and “truth” in biomedical applications research. Not so straightforward as one would hope.

        Kessler took over the FDA at a time of fundamental restructuring, from a quasi-independent public interest agency to one dominated by Big Corp, through massive reduction of public funding compensated by skyrocketing corporate submission fees, much greater unexamined reliance on increasingly shaky and often misleading corporate data submissions and crippling artificially imposed prosessing timeline constraints. He did as well as anyone could have done to preserve at least an institutional memory of what constitutes real regulation.

        He gets a lot of undeserved grief. I welcome his participation, and equally endorse the others.

  29. harpie says:

    SLATE says GOODBYE to the TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

    Goodbye!
    https://slate.com/tag/goodbye-trump-admin

    Come Jan. 20, Donald Trump will not be president. In the coming weeks, there will be plenty of opportunities to think about what lies ahead, but for now, we want tobid farewell to the Trump officials and family members who have made the past four years so difficult for so many people. We know they’re not just going to go away, but their power is dwindling, and soon they will not matter. Goodbye!

    1] Goodbye, Ivanka
    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/goodbye-ivanka-forever.amp
    Dahlia Lithwick
    NOV 07, 202011:59 AM

    Whereas once I expended anger upon you, now I am simply glad never to be forced to think of you again. Whereas many have contended over the years that you acted valiantly, if secretly, to mitigate and ameliorate the cruelty of your father, the evidence suggests that you instead acted corruptly, if secretly, to coat his viciousness in silky pink pearlescent influencer goo. […]

    OMG! Jared, Jr, Barr, et al.
    I’m going to SAVOR these.

    • harpie says:

      Goodbye, Bill Barr
      https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/goodbye-attorney-general-bill-barr.html
      MARK JOSEPH STERN

      In just two years, Attorney General William Barr transformed the Department of Justice into a sleazy, third-rate law firm devoted to shielding Donald Trump and his friends from the consequences of their crimes. A coterie of attorneys with prestigious law degrees and sterling résumés joined Barr’s crusade to place Trump above the law. The attorney general’s tenure played out as a natural experiment: What happens when the embodiment of the right-wing Federalist Society becomes the nation’s chief law enforcement officer? The answer has been a ghastly disaster for the rule of law. […]

      • harpie says:

        […] Barr himself was an establishment Republican for decades, entrenched in the clubby milieu of corporate lawyers, GOP politicians, and academic trolls at the heart of the conservative legal movement. Trump did not convert Barr to Trumpism. He simply gave Barr permission to drop the mask. How many other well-respected conservative attorneys would throw their integrity out the window to further the white nationalist agenda of a criminal con man? A whole lot, as we’ve discovered over the past four years. Barr will be gone by January. But the army of Federalist Society lawyers who elevated him to power isn’t going anywhere.

  31. Eureka says:

    [**tiny tear** he’s all grown up] Gritty is America’s mascot now.

    Some of these are pretty good (Zamboni ‘Footprints’; one in comments re Melanie’s Christmas trees), though from experience they are most fun when they pop up situationally:

    Beth DeBold: “Historian of the future, 2094: yes, I’d like to see the Gritty Election Memes collection, boxes 1-20, please?” [thread]
    https://twitter.com/eliza_audacis/status/1325300797282918403

  32. harpie says:

    No, not that Four Seasons.
    How Team Trump’s news conference ended up at a Northeast Philly landscaping firm.
    https://www.inquirer.com/news/four-seasons-landscaping-philly-trump-giuliani-hotel-biden-20201108.html
    November 8, 2020- 1:01 PM

    What began five years ago with the made-for-TV announcement of Donald Trump’s presidential ambitions from the escalator of his ritzy Manhattan high-rise, ended Saturday with his aging lawyer shouting conspiracy theories and vowing lawsuits in a Northeast Philadelphia parking lot, near a sex shop and a crematorium. […]

  34. greengiant says:

    George W Bush congratulates Biden and Harris on the win and Republicans for their turnout. Legal right for recounts and legal challenges blah blah blah. The best #45 team has is tweeting their alternate reality fake news and old news about Fulton County double checking their election count.

  35. Marinela says:

    The “legal” strategy from Trump, aided by the GOP collusion, plus the SC, at the moment, it appears to be to cause havoc, sue, just to delay, to prevent states completing the certification.
    If the states don’t have the certification done when electors meet to cast votes, then they can force the electors to vote for Trump.

    Maybe this is why some states seem to drag their feet when counting from 99% to 100%.
    The large number of votes is another explanation for the delay, so I feel for the workers trying to count, then stop counting, then start again.
    Biden campaign lawyers should watch the certification process happens.
    I read somewhere that Biden campaign stopped/closed in one of these states, cannot remember which one it was and exactly was they were “closing”. I hope it doesn’t mean the lawyers are not watching anymore.

    I’ll feel better when states finish their certification.

  37. Marinela says:

    Heard Ezra Klein saying that Lisa Murkowski could switch to Democrats. That would be sweet.
    If so, we need just one win out of the two in Georgia, which makes it easier.

    Anybody knows if it is possible and how can she switch?

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