Remember those two Michigan Republican legislators who visited Trump yesterday? One of whom sang a hymn rather than answer a reporter’s questions at the airport?

It seems they had a fun party at Trump’s hotel last night.

Two different Americas.

LEFT: Americans on food lines in Texas.
RIGHT: Michigan legislators at Trump Hotel drinking Dom Perignon pic.twitter.com/cSVoU5WyAY

— Mr. Newberger (@jeremynewberger) November 21, 2020

Also…

I spotted Michigan GOP legislators Mike Shirkey & Dan Lauwers leaving Trump Hotel this morning w/ staff, the morning after their meeting with Trump @ White House. They did not respond to my questions shouted from behind a security barrier and left in a black SUV for airport pic.twitter.com/UF2sPLSlQG

— Melissa Nann Burke (@nannburke) November

… Read the rest

More of the same pious mindless glurge.

Trans rights are human rights, and your fight is our fight too.

The Labour Party stands proudly with the trans community. #TDoR2020 pic.twitter.com/BsMI6RsIWq

— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) November 20, 2020

“Everyone should be able to love themselves and be loved for who they are,” she says earnestly. Really? Is that true? No. Should Trump be loved for who he is? No. Should he be able to love himself for who he is? No.

Funny how feminism never claimed this. Funny how no human rights struggle claimed this, until the trans hyperbole train rolled into the station. There is no Right to be Loved (except possibly children’s right to parental love). Human rights aren’t … Read the rest

From Brenda is a Sheep to Beatrix Potter’s Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, courtesy of Project Gutenberg:

Listen to the story of Jemima Puddle-duck, who was annoyed because the farmer’s wife would not let her hatch her own eggs.

Her sister-in-law, Mrs. Rebeccah Puddle-duck, was perfectly willing to leave the hatching to some one else—”I have not the patience to sit on a nest for twenty-eight days; and no more have you, Jemima. You would let them go cold; you know you would!”

“I wish to hatch my own eggs; I will hatch them all by myself,” quacked Jemima Puddle-duck.

So she went into the woods to do so.

Jemima alighted rather heavily, and began to waddle about in search

… Read the rest

Michigan Senator thinks he doesn’t have to answer questions.

This morning, I asked @SenMikeShirkey if he would honor the will of Michigan voters in his meeting with Trump today. He responded by singing a hymn about being persecuted: pic.twitter.com/IQRXokq9F2

— Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) November 20, 2020

She’s not joking; he really did that.… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on He knows he lost but.

“Legitimate” is a tricky word — it means a lot of different things to different people. Regardless of how political scientists might define it, the average voter might mean any of the following:

1. “I understand that it is the will of the people that X is going to be president, and under our system he’s entitled to assume the office, but I consider him unworthy and therefore don’t personally think he is a ‘real’ president.”

2. “I understand that X ‘won’ the election under the rules in place (the Electoral College), and under our system he’s entitled to assume the office, but I consider those rules … Read the rest

Georgia certifies the vote, dragging its feet and kicking and screaming.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Friday that [he] will “follow the law” and sign the paperwork that officially grants the state’s 16 electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden.

Well, nice of him not to announce that he will break the law, I guess.

State law requires Kemp, a Republican, to award Georgia’s electoral votes to the certified winner of the presidential election. A federal judge on Thursday rejected a last-ditch lawsuit that tried to block certification, and Biden’s victory was certified Friday afternoon by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Friday afternoon eastern time – so the GSA should be able to certify the election and release … Read the rest

More crazy with every day.

[I]nstead of softening or coming to terms with his defeat, a reclusive Trump has been escalating his dark and corrosive efforts to undercut American democracy. As his legal options fizzle and some aides seek to convince him to come to grips with reality, Trump has only entrenched deeper into debunked conspiracy theories.

…

Trump’s aims seem scattershot. He has told some allies that he knows he lost. But he has also admitted to at least one interlocutor that he is delaying the transition process — and aggressively trying to sow doubt in the election — as retribution for Democrats who questioned the legitimacy of his own election in 2016.

Instead of searching for

… Read the rest

As the coup attempt continues –

Two Republican senators, Utah’s Mitt Romney and Nebraska’s Ben Sasse, have added their voices to the growing chorus of disapproval – admittedly mainly coming from Democrats, as many Trump loyalists keep their counsel – toward the White House’s continued efforts to question or overturn the election results that will leave Donald Trump as a one-term, impeached president who is under criminal investigation, Edward Helmore and Joanna Walters write from New York.

pic.twitter.com/S3kFsIRGmi

— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) November 20, 2020

Sasse focused his attention on Rudy Giuliani, the Trump loyalist-lawyer who held a bizarre press conference on Thursday during which he presented a list of far-fetched claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“Rudy

… Read the rest

I’ve been seeing a lot of talk in the past few days about a children’s book called Brenda is a Sheep. The book won a book award.

Amy Sousa reads along and discusses the story:

Scottish Book Trust announced that P1s across Scotland are putting the book "Brenda is a Sheep" in their Family Bags.

The book teaches kids that despite clear evidence, they should stop trusting their intuitions, & instincts.

Part 1 analyzes the book:https://t.co/JwPIUW7es7

— Amy E. Sousa (@KnownHeretic) November 19, 2020

Her video is entertaining as well as instructive.

The book itself is ridiculously confusing. It’s a sort of Little Red Riding Hood turned on its head, but…what? What’s her point? That wolves, however hungry … Read the rest

Lindsey Graham appears to have committed a felony.

On Monday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger—who, like Graham, is a Republican—told the Washington Post that Graham asked him if he could throw out all mail ballots from counties with a high rate of signature mismatch. Raffensperger later clarified that he believed Graham wanted his office to throw out valid, legally cast ballots. The senator has contested this account.

Graham’s alleged request is unseemly and corrupt. But is it criminal? In short, yes, according to multiple Georgia election law experts. If Raffensperger’s account is true, there is virtually no doubt that Graham committed a crime under Georgia law.

But nothing will happen to him as a result.

It might

… Read the rest

Something to keep in mind as you eat your grilled chicken breast:

Supervisors at an Iowa Tyson Foods, a major US meat processor, placed bets on how many workers would become infected with coronavirus as an outbreak raged through the plant this spring, a wrongful death suit alleges.

The lawsuit, filed this week by the son of an employee who died with Covid-19, claims the company demonstrated “wanton disregard for worker safety”.

Isidro Fernandez, who died in April, was one of more than 1,000 workers infected amid the plant’s outbreak.

Meatpackers are notoriously terrible at worker safety. The company said it was ever so upset to hear it, but I don’t believe them. As I said – meatpackers are horrendous … Read the rest

The Beeb is reading Obama’s memoir.

A Promised Land sold nearly 890,000 copies in the US and Canada in its first 24 hours – a record for publisher Penguin Random House. It is expected to become by far the biggest-selling presidential memoir in history.

Ahhh Trump’s not going to like that.

The Beeb dishes on what Obama thought of various counterparts. Putin?

Mr Obama said the Russian leader reminded him of the political barons he encountered during his early career in Chicago. He writes he was “like a ward [district] boss, except with nukes and a UN Security Council veto”.

He continues: “Putin did, in fact, remind me of the sorts of men who had once run the Chicago

… Read the rest

Source: Trump told ally he knows he lost, but getting back at Dems for questioning legitimacy of his 2016 win @abbydphillip @DanaBashCNN @ArletteSaenz discuss pic.twitter.com/5vadCdDlv1

— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) November 19, 2020

And no, he’s not going to stop.

I saw a segment on the BBC last night talking to Trump fans in the South, who regurgitated all these lies about fake ballots yadda yadda. It was unnerving.… Read the rest

Speaking of the princess and school – they changed their kids’ school because they refuse to avoid super-spreader events.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and daughter, pulled their children out of their day school after other parents complained that the couple were not following coronavirus protocols, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources.

…

Three Milton parents told JTA that the couple withdrew their children after other parents complained that Kushner and Trump weren’t following the coronavirus protocols that the school had laid out for families.

Which means what? That Trump and Kushner were putting other children and school staff and all their families at risk. That’s nice.

According to JTA,

… Read the rest

In Pompeo news:

Israel’s military occupation has received a symbolic US stamp of approval after Mike Pompeo toured an archaeological dig run by a far-right settler group and visited a settlement that farms grapes on land Palestinians say was stolen from them.

The trips on Wednesday and Thursday marked the first time a US secretary of state had officially visited settlements, a deeply provocative move that previous American administrations went to lengths to avoid.

And he does it weeks before they’re all kicked out. Charming. (I don’t think “went to lengths to avoid” is how you say that; I think it has to be “great lengths” or similar. Going to lengths just sounds meaningless.)

Speaking at a press

… Read the rest

Superspreader event.

There were 177,000 new virus cases in the U.S. yesterday — the second-highest daily total ever, trailing only a record set a mere five days earlier.

And *this* is the location the Trump campaign chose for its Giuliani presser. There are now about 50 people in this small room. pic.twitter.com/HZEwT0lYgM

— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) November 19, 2020

… Read the rest

More stupid games:

The Trump campaign said it is dropping a lawsuit in Michigan, after two Republican canvassers in Wayne county briefly declined to certify the county’s election results.

Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, said in a statement, “This morning we are withdrawing our lawsuit in Michigan as a direct result of achieving the relief we sought: to stop the election in Wayne County from being prematurely certified before residents can be assured that every legal vote has been counted and every illegal vote has not been counted.”

But, oops, the two Republicans stopped refusing, in response to pressure from an outraged public. Then they tried to go back to refusing but it was too late, the state … Read the rest

The Trump people confirm – oh no he’s not coordinating with Biden on the pandemic, good heavens no, what a silly idea.

Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat of Connecticut, said a Trump administration official confirmed the White House is not coordinating with Joe Biden’s transition team about the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine.

https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1329454314721521667?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1329454314721521667%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2Flive%2F2020%2Fnov%2F19%2Fus-election-donald-trump-joe-biden-coronavirus-covid-19-live-updates

Oh well, it’s only life and death.… Read the rest

More gloating over the dreary (however lucrative) future that awaits the princess and the pea:

Among the social set that Jared and Ivanka would prefer to rejoin—the one they occupied aboard Adriatic-anchored yachts and on the carpet at the Met Gala—there is a sense of looking around for who, if anyone, will welcome them back. Case in point: an article speculating that Ivanka would attempt to reenter the New York art scene spread around their social circle and wound up in my inbox a dozen times. (For what it’s worth, people familiar with the first daughter’s art collection referred to it as “unimpressive before COVID,” but, post-COVID, “virtually unsaleable.”)

You can see what she’s going for: the quiet, … Read the rest

A couple of Republican election officials in Michigan tried to play the racism card and got scorched.

Analysts and voting rights advocates, as well as Democrats, condemned Republican canvassers for an initial 2-2 vote along party lines that threatened on Tuesday night to stall official approval of Democrat Joe Biden’s win in Michigan, before reversing course and unanimously certifying its presidential election results.

…

Democrat Joe Biden crushed Republican Donald Trump in Wayne county by more than a two-to-one margin, and won the state by 146,000 votes, according to unofficial results. Wayne county is the state’s largest and home to Detroit – an overwhelmingly Black city that leans overwhelmingly Democratic.

Probably all the more so when the Republican … Read the rest