Monday Night

Rock on.

Thursday Night

Rock on.

Monday Evening

My Poor President keeps losing.

Happy Hour Thread

Enjoy.

The Ultimate Owning Of The Libs

I suspect that not all that many Republicans, at least relative to the coverage you see if you are Very Online, are *that* invested in believing that Trump really won and will be president in two months.

But to the extent that they are, I imagine it's really about sticking it to the libs in the biggest way possible. One final Boss Level Own.

Afternoon Thread

Get afternooning.

Today Is The Day Joe Biden Became President

Pareene wrote this about Trump, but it's generally about the media incentives that presidents and other important people in government face:

Here’s another thing you should understand about these guys: The only thing the elite Washington press corps likes more than a bipartisan commission on debt reduction is a stack of flag-draped coffins.

It will be good if the Biden people can ignore "the twitter," but can they ignore "the David Brooks"?

Personnel

Cabinet nominees and similar get a lot of attention as if they matter a lot, until anyone suggests they do matter a lot and things like "expertise" might be relevant rather than "been around DC a long time," and then the savvy people inform you that, no, you fool, they don't matter at all.

Of course they matter a lot, or at least they can.

Buh Trump

I will be glad when he stops being a comparison point and I felt similarly after Clinton and after Bush and after Obama.

Takes awhile for journalists to get new habits and sources and for the rest of us to realize he doesn't matter anymore.

Morning Thread

Never tweet.

Sunday Night

Rock on.

Thoughts and Prayers

All we can offer.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania state senator abruptly left a West Wing meeting with President Donald Trump after being informed he had tested positive for the coronavirus, a person with direct knowledge of the meeting told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano had gone to the White House last Wednesday with like-minded Republican state lawmakers shortly after a four-hour-plus public meeting that Mastriano helped host in Gettysburg — maskless — to discuss efforts to overturn president-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state.

Afternoon Thread

Get your afternoon on.

The People Must Not Know

It’s a huge failing of the media. Needs to stop. https://t.co/EtgGx302aZ

— Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal) November 28, 2020

While there may have been some additional emphasis on this stuff for lower courts recently, especially for election-related cases, this isn't really a new phenomenon. It's standard for Supreme Court rulings and any major lower court rulings. More than that, even if journalists haven't always been inclined to do it themselves, the Republicans they quote have long blasted "the 9th circuit" or "Clinton judges" or whatever they thought was useful at the time to undermine judges and to discredit what they are doing. Now that Democrats/Democrat-aligned people are more likely to do the same people are actually noticing!

This impulse comes from a desire to maintain the perceived purity of the priesthood, as the biggest danger isn't what crimes the priests are committing, it's that the people might lose faith in them.

Dexters

While I'm thinking about the psychology of people, it has occurred to me that there is a generation of people in DC (politics, media, associated) who were youngish and had their peak formative moment when they helped to kill a million people in Iraq. What a high that must have been (those of us who paid a lot of attention then know just how high out of their gourds they all were on their righteous crusade).

Imagine being 25 and convincing yourself that you saved the world by helping to blow the shit out of so many people. Habit forming high.

Those chemicals start hitting their brains again every time the opportunity to blow up some other country presents itself.

Every "humanitarian intervention" is just another big line of coke.

Morning Thread

Looking at people who embrace Trump, and conservative politicians who are attempting to achieve his impressive level of putrescent behavior, I often think, though without much pity, how sad for these people that they have spent their lives around such grotesque humans that Trump seems admirable by comparison.

Saturday Night

Rock on.

Sure Why Not

They'll still all be on twitter mocking this stuff.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will temporarily suspend in-person lunches for the GOP caucus, amid a nationwide spike in coronavirus cases. McConnell’s decision comes as the Senate’s seen a recent uptick in members contracting the disease. Both Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have tested positive for the virus in recent weeks, while Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) announced she’d received a positive test before proceeding to test negative.

Happy Hour Thread

Get happy.

Afternoon Thread

Have some music. My President has been pretty quiet! I miss him.

If I Did It

Will Melania make more money with a memoir dishing dirt or will she make more money writing a book about Trump's genius that the MAGAs can buy and never read?

Well Paid Bullshit Artists

Read the thread. A standard trick in DC policy circles is to derail any policy by focusing on a "better" policy, which lets you imply the policy's advocates are stupid and/or cruel. One reason to focus on something like debt reduction is that it is something Biden has the power to do, unlike most everything else. This isn't the only reason. It's good on the merits, too, for a variety of reasons, but unless you have a plan to get Mitch McConnell to pass your fantasy plan, then you are just trolling.

One True Religion

The speed at which conservatives can flip from "actually, criticizing a Supreme Court nominee who happens to be religious is anti-Catholic bigotry" to "fuck the Pope he is a garbage human all good Catholics hate that fucking pope" is amazing, but not surprising, as they always do it. Religion just means conservatism. See, also, regular attacks on anything said by African-American pastors, which is often not even out of the mainstream of American evangelicalism generally, but BLACK.

That reporters play along with this stuff is just the general issue with reporters always pretending to believe conservatives when they pretend to be mad about something, even if it contradicts what they were mad about yesterday.

Morning Thread

Much like the immigrant caravan, covid just disappeared after the election. Never saw a single reporter express any regret over that. Perhaps I missed it.

Friday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour Thread

Hope My President is having a good holiday weekend!

All Out Of Ideas

The Great Recession lasted a long time, but what didn't last very long was any interest in trying to fix it. I'm not interested in assigning blame at the moment or rehashing the whole saga, but collectively they did their thing, said all we can do, time to move on. Part of this was a basic belief that a sub-6% unemployment rate was actually pretty good (though it took until summer of 2014 to get even there).

Trump obviously didn't work some magic with his perfect, beautiful policies, but if you wonder why anyone might actually credit him with a good pre-covid economy, it's because the economy was actually at a genuinely low level of unemployment, the kind of unemployment rate plausibly associated with "full unemployment," something rarely experienced in the country since economists declared war on inflation and decided to never let the unemployment rate drop that low ever again.

4.7% unemployment rate in November, 2016, 3.5% in February, 2020. The difference between "I can find a job" and "I can find a job and get a raise."

Never Gonna Pay

But still funny!

a beautiful end to the third circuit docket sheet -- the Trump campaign will have to pay Pennsylvania's costs for the appeal pic.twitter.com/7rcAzSePiw

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) November 27, 2020

The Loyal Opposition

The lifespan of Trump's post-presidency spotlight will depend on how much our glorious political press decides to treat him as a kind of King of the Tea Party (or whatever we're calling it now), pointing the camera at him everywhere he goes and having him call in every day to news shows.

We'll see!

Lunch Thread

 I recommend pie.

The Kids Today

Kids are pretty impressionable. I still occasionally realize that some dumb weird concept of how things are or should be, something that my intellect should have ejected from my brain years ago, has deep childhood roots. You pick things up automatically. They form who you are.

I'm not quite sure what the precise peak age for impressionability related to current events is. Not too old, but old enough that you're exposed and that it cuts through Spongebob occasionally.

That "The President" is a man like Donald Trump is going to be a hard to kick deep belief for some set of children.

Mostly Spared This Year

There was a brief flurry of "you must give a hug to your sad Trump supporter friends!" but we were mostly spared the annual Thanksgiving tradition of white centrists telling us how "we" can be loving and welcoming to "our" conservative friends and relatives during the turkey meals this year.

These fantasies always reveal a lot about the people who write them and the editors who publish them. They are white. Their imagined audience is white and liberal, but in an "intolerant left" way, unlike the writer. They gloss over the fact that what's offensive about these conservative relatives isn't that they want a lower top marginal tax rate, it's that they're loud and proud racists who won't shut the fuck up and stop doing racisms even at Thanksgiving.

People of color are entirely not present in this conversation. No one explains to the conservatives hosting Thanksgiving (for some reason the liberals are always hosting them, and the conservatives the invited guests) that they need to be more accepting of their liberal guests and their odd objections to racism.

Even when conservatives run the entire country (yes, Commie Joe is about to wield the Hammer and Sickle for the next glorious 4 year plan, but mostly conservatives do!), it is the liberals (white) who are supposed to reach out to their conservative (white) brethren.

They'll be back next year.

Morning Thread

You're just a lightweight. Don't talk to me that way. I'm the President of Eschaton World Industries. Don't ever talk to the President that way!

Heroes Of The Resistance

I've noticed our Maggie Haberman has been very very mean indeed to My President on the twitter, lately. Nose for power, that one.

Thursday Night

Rock on.

More Thread

Giving thanks to My President.

Afternoon Thread

Pheasant instead of turkey this year. A bit smaller.

Just A Little Worse

I often wonder what would things have been/be like if Covid had been just a little bit different/worse. It's easy to imagine how very tiny changes would have altered history in major if unknowable ways. What if a few more famous/powerful people died in the first wave? What if it was just a little bit more contagious, with a slightly higher mortality rate? What if, and this is probably the big one, children had similar symptomatic infection/fatality rates as adults instead of the apparent low rates they have?

Not wishing for any of those things, and only the first could have plausibly led to a better overall outcome (in the same way that people take the economy much more seriously when rich people money - STONKS - is at risk), but even little differences would have made the last several months very very different.

Still Aware Of All Internet Traditions

With Great Power Comes At Least Very Small Responsibilities

The inability of our elites to even fake it occasionally is just maddening.

Denver's mayor apologized on Wednesday for traveling out of state to visit his family for Thanksgiving, in a statement that came on the same day that he urged residents to "stay home as much as you can." Health experts have repeatedly asked Americans not to travel for the holiday, warning that it could lead to a severe spike in coronavirus cases and further tax an already overburdened healthcare system.

I know Republican lawmakers are going around the country having "cough in each other's mouths" parties to Own The Libs, but, yes, I do expect more from Team D.

Morning Thread

Two days in a row with over 2000 deaths.

At least the daily new cases appear to be almost leveling off.

Wednesday Night

Rock on.

Wednesday Evening

Enjoy.

Evening Thread

The best way to avoid disappointment is to not hope for anything.

Criminal Enterprise

I'm sure they'll be fine, though.

After years of denying allegations of lax financial oversight, the National Rifle Association has made a stunning declaration in a new tax filing: Current and former executives used the nonprofit group’s money for personal benefit and enrichment.

The NRA said in the filing that it continues to review the alleged abuse of funds, as the tax-exempt organization curtails services and runs up multimillion-dollar legal bills. The assertion of impropriety comes four months after the attorney general of New York state filed a lawsuit accusing NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other top officials of using NRA funds for decades to provide inflated salaries and expense accounts.

Some Obvious Flaws In Concept Here

Shouldn't be able to blow a circuit in Idaho (I know this is exaggeration) and take down doorbells across the country.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), a core provider of internet infrastructure services, is going through a major outage today, and the service's spotty uptime is now causing huge issues at thousands of other online services across the internet. Almost all major cloud-based software app that rely on AWS for their backend are currently impacted, from Adobe Spark to Roku, and from Flickr to Autodesk. ... Among the sites who are reporting issues on the DownDetector page are services like Ring, Prime Music, Pokemon Go, Roku, MeetUp.com, League of Legends, Anchestry.com, Chime, and others.

Last Gasp

I still stick with my belief that the Trumpkins will lose interest in their hero and move onto something else (maybe something worse!). Once he loses the power to OWN THE LIBS, he won't be very much fun anymore. The cameras will follow him around for too many months after Biden is inaugurated, but that will fade, also, too.

Afternoon Thread

enjoy

The World Will Little Note

Gettysburg trip cancelled, per pool report from @matthewchoi2018.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) November 25, 2020

Clown car losing gas.

Who Did You Think He Was

As far as I know Raffensperger has done everything he was supposed to do, meaning he did his job, so I guess yay him for that, but whatever you think of Trump, one rather obvious thing is he will fuck over absolutely anyone for the slightest thing.

By all accounts, Georgia had a wildly successful and smooth election. We finally defeated voting lines and put behind us Fulton County’s now notorious reputation for disastrous elections. This should be something for Georgians to celebrate, whether their favored presidential candidate won or lost. For those wondering, mine lost — my family voted for him, donated to him and are now being thrown under the bus by him.

Which is to say that your family supported the guy because you were quite happy for him to fuck everybody else over.

Wednesday Is New Jobless Day

This week. 778K new lucky duckies. Heading up.

They Know Even Less Than What They Say

I don't personally have all that much to say about the "should schools open" debate other than "we are a fucked up society that should have priortized ensuring that was possible by putting modest resources at least behind it and of course we didn't so let's blame teachers unions and lol everything is bad" but there have been people with very strong opinions using their academic credentials to push them to be open and, welp...

(CNN)A Brown University economics professor said she is surprised to hear the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is relying on a website she started to promote in-person learning for schoolchildren.

...

The website incorporates data that schools and school districts voluntarily publish, along with data that some report directly to the site, but it's far from complete, Oster said. She said she was surprised that Redfield referenced it when he said that a growing body of research showed kids were not getting infected in school.

"It is totally bananas," she said. "I think we are doing as good a job as we can. This is not my field. It's crazy."

Let me try to distill it down to one sentence:

A Brown University economics professor who started a website to promote in-person learning for schoolchildren says it's "bananas" that the CDC director cited that website in order to promote in-person learning for schoolchildren, saying it was a crazy thing to do because it is not her field.

She hasn't been shy about promoting herself and this view!!!

You fucked up! You trusted us!!!

Oster knows she’ll get blamed if the reopening experiment ends in disaster. In that case, “the best I can do is say that I did something I felt was productive and helpful,” she told me. “If the result of having done that is that the policy direction I pushed was not right, at least I got the data to show that.” It would be ironic, I responded, if her own dataset proved her wrong. “It’s true!” she said. “I think this data will be useful no matter what we show. But, yes, it would be ironic if I once again show myself to be wrong. That could be my thing! But I’m hoping not.”

I guess this is an anticapatory oopsie, your bad for listening to me?

Morning Thread

Not sure why Disqus closed the comments last night.

Tuesday Night

Rock on.

Tuesday Evening

I think it's Tuesday.

Melania's Out

Maybe not today, but Trump's never going to see her again after not very long.

From the WH: "On Monday, November 30 starting at 7:00AM EST the Office of the First Lady will host a preview of the 2020 holiday décor at the White House.... The First Lady will not be in attendance. "

— Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org (@froomkin) November 24, 2020

Melania is obviously not some secret good person, but you don't have to be a secret good person to be repulsed by Trump. She's gonna collect her payday from whatever re-negotiated prenup she got when Trump won and get the fuck out of there, having presumably made sure her lawyers figured out how to put a legal wall around the cash.

Geniuses, Lower Your Voices

Afternoon thread.

Until One Day I Realize I Don't Remember That You're Gone

Gonna be the longest, shittiest breakup.

Not A Wrinkle Upon My Brow

Certified.

Today @PAStateDept certified the results of the November 3 election in Pennsylvania for president and vice president of the United States.

As required by federal law, I’ve signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) November 24, 2020

I've Got The Feeling That Something Ain't Right

The Trump years have taught me that a lot of powerful people (in various power tracks) don't much believe in the fundamental importance of the consent of the governed. Democracy, I guess you could say. Sure we point at the authoritarian right, but many in the self-appointed Center see pesky voters as an impediment to what they imagine is good governance. They gaze at the militarized racism of the right and a mild redistributionist "social justice warrior" left and declare them to be just the same. Both just different flavors of "populism," you see, which we know is very bad indeed.

The core belief of this authoritarian centrism is concern for minority rights. Not the rights of marginalized minorities, but of the elite and powerful. The establishment of a false meritocracy is how they justify it, with legacy admissions to the most elite institutions and widespread basic nepotism the most obvious manifestations of this basic lie.

Though the whiteness of that supposed meritocratic elite might be of secondary concern - they aren't quite the gauche racists that are the MAGAs - it is an inevitable outcome, given the hereditary power structures in our country. An unwillingness to let new people into the ruling elite excludes racial and other minorities from that power structure, even if racial exclusion isn't the primary purpose.

The authoritarian center finds much more common ground with the MAGAs. The joke is they hate socialists more than they hate fascists, but really it's more that they are friendly fascists who tolerate the racists, who ultimately don't threaten them as long as they pipe down a bit, and despise the socialists who do.

We do get the entertainment of the provisional members of the club, who mostly will never get the engraved membership card, screeching about the evils of the twitter mob coming to cancel them, not understanding that if they were ever truly going to be members of the club then the twitter mob couldn't touch them. Nobody has managed to cancel Henry Kissinger, after all.

Words like "fascists" are inflammatory, and inspire pedantic rebuttals, so feel free to substitute your own. I usually find such debates to be deliberate distractions.

No conclusion here, just some idle thoughts for a Tuesday, with the death of David Dinkins reminding us that the very racist Giuliani managed to maintain respectability for so long, as we are faced with the inevitable rehabilitation and promotion of many of the members of the Trump administration (but not Trump, never actually a club member).

We Are The Egg Men

Lots of people want to pretend that "coup talk" was just alarmist.

One could point to many things, but that they attempted to destroy the post office, and were fairly successful, in order to sabotage the voting process in many states, should not be forgotten. One of those "sounds too crazy even for some hack Hollywood political thriller" things but they did it.

If they'd managed to limit Biden's lead to two states with a lower (but undeniable) margin, they would've pulled it off and every Republican and professional conservative would have been behind it, including ones that are now pretending the effort was toxic.

Morning Thread

Glad Covid disappeared after election day. A miracle!

Monday Night

Rock on.

Ain't No Hill Or Mountain We Can't Climb

I suppose if we allow ourselves a few more moments of amusement at the suffering of history's worst human being, we can laugh at Trump losing over and over and over and over again instead of just doing it once.

Moving Forward

Apparently.

NEW: GSA has informed president-elect Joe Biden the administration is ready to begin the formal transition process, according to a letter from administrator Emily Murphy sent Monday afternoon and obtained by CNN.

— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) November 23, 2020

"Please know I cam to my decision independently, based on the law and available facts." - Emily Murphy

...fight, and I believe we will prevail! Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 23, 2020

He's America's Mayor

Trump's mushmelon is half TV memories that he can't distinguish from reality, so Rudy 911 is the noble hero that cable news built him up to be for his heroic act of walking and talking for the cameras on 9/11. It is probably taking him awhile to figure out that maybe Rudy is not quite that.

The president is concerned his team is comprised of “fools that are making him look bad,” said one source familiar with the thinking. Asked why he would not fire them, this person replied, in essence, who knows?

(It was 'who the fuck knows?')

The major problem is bad makeup.

Trump was also not pleased with the optics of the brown substance, presumed to be hair dye or a makeup product, dripping down Giuliani’s face during the nearly two-hour news conference Thursday, according to one of the sources familiar with the president’s reaction.

And Michigan

Certified. I guess there's some mild drama but best to ignore it, except to take notes for next time.

Maybe Embracing The "Covered Up A Murder Guy" Is Just Bad

Doesn't really matter which uniform you put on him.

Following progressive backlash against reports that Rahm Emanuel was being considered for transportation secretary, Joe Biden may now be considering the former Chicago mayor for the somewhat less visible position of U.S. trade representative. https://t.co/MfB98diSYG

— Crain's Chicago (@CrainsChicago) November 23, 2020

I guess a prison uniform would be different.

Probably Sucky Blogging Today

Nothing to say! Could change. You never know. That's what keeps this place exciting!

Goodbye Master Frodo

Really feels like we're in the last 45 minutes of the Return of the King Movie. Special edition.

Fire Them

Speaing of What Joe Biden Should Do.

Now or after they've done damage.

What Joe Biden Needs To Do

There are moments when I realize there isn't much point in sending my little blogs out into the wild, other than to be proved fucking right (or, very occasionally, wrong), especially when "giving advice" to the incoming president that is of course not going to be heard and very unlikely to be followed.

Punditry is dumb, I suppose, and it's pretty clear that Joe Biden reads David Brooks and not atrios dot blogspot dot com, which means he gets the dumbest practitioner of a dumb art.

I suppose the point of being proved fucking right is maybe "we" won't make the same mistakes next time.

Ah, well, nevertheless.

At least we can have some fun occasionally.

Morning Thread

The Q people believe that Sidney Powell not representing Trump means she is working on something BIGGER and now represents WE THE PEOPLE and everything is going to come out soon, something about treason. I see it as part of the process of detaching the cult from Trump, which is hilarious (also scary).

Sunday Night

Rock on.

Strike Force Struck

pic.twitter.com/3QDNLjBrmf

— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) November 22, 2020

Needless to say she had previously been described as being on the strike force, I mean legal team.

America's Worst Humans

Doug Heye.

This is a lie. You chanted: “Stop the count! Stop the fraud!” Falsely characterizing vote counting as cheating — exactly what Trump is doing now. Your goal was to use violence and intimidation to stop democracy and steal an election. And it worked. Shame on you. #537Votes https://t.co/KfmD75XnZA

— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) November 22, 2020

It Is Unconstitutional To Criticize Lawyers

Lin Wood couldn't even win a case against Elon Musk for the man Elon called "pedo guy." And here he is.

Afternoon Thread

enjoy.

Freedumb

pic.twitter.com/HSCSdXkst9

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 22, 2020

A lot of the conservative covid backlash is based on a fiction that the government has enacted extreme lockdown rules. No one is stopping anybody from having Thanksgiving. Aside from a few states, the most extreme restrictions on private gatherings limit them to 10, and it isn't as if anyone's gonna get hauled off of they sneak an extra couple people in. The rules are guidelines, mostly, and if you want to evade them you won't have any problems doing so unless you have a 50 person rager.

Kraken Unleashed

The publicly-stated position of President Trump's legal team is that the reason Trump lost Georgia is because Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has been bribed by a Venezuelan front company in cahoots with the CIA to throw elections to Communists. https://t.co/1OZpTODaN1

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) November 22, 2020

They're calling Tucker Carlson a child molester, Brian Kemp a Venezuelan commie agent, etc. Perhaps the "they" referenced don't have as much influence as we imagine, once you start taking away their more elite validators, or maybe they do...

How'd She Find Out

Sydney Powell is currently alleging on Newsmax that Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, was paid by Dominion as part of the conspiracy to defeat Donald Trump.

The Newsmax anchor just said everything she is alleging sounds nuts but who knows it could be true.

— Jamie Weinstein (@Jamie_Weinstein) November 22, 2020

(It's Sidney).

Brian Kemp is a level 19 anti-fa supersoldier and has been in deep cover for decades in anticipation of this moment.

Thwart

I'm not one to give people credit for doing the bare minimum they should be doing - something too often demanded of us from our petulant leaders - but this is notable from Toomey.

“This ruling follows a series of procedural losses for President Trump’s campaign. On Friday, the state of Georgia certified the victory of Joe Biden after a hand recount of paper ballots confirmed the conclusion of the initial electronic count. Michigan lawmakers rejected the apparent attempt by President Trump to thwart the will of Michigan voters and select an illegitimate slate of electoral college electors. These developments, together with the outcomes in the rest of the nation, confirm that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and will become the 46th President of the United States.

"apparent attempt by President Trump to thwart the will of Michigan voters and select an illegitimate slate of electoral college electors" is pretty straightforward.

Morning Thread

Kelly Loeffler tested positive for Covid. Eschaton World Industries offers her the traditional Thoughts And Prayers, because what else can we do?

Saturday Night

Rock on.

Saturday Happy Hour

I don't have anything useful to say.

Afternoon Thread

Get your afternoon on.

Rule Change

The House can do this, of course.

I’m going to give my personal view:

CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENAS ARE MEANINGLESS BECAUSE WE CANNOT ENFORCE THEM.

The GSA will simply ignore the subpoena and litigate, which takes years to resolve.

We can fix this by passing House Rules change to authorize Inherent Contempt power. https://t.co/5BRLWwZolP

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) November 20, 2020

Alternatively you make clear that people had better play nice or Attorney General Gritty is coming for you on Jan. 20.

It isn't entirely "nice," but standard legal system tactic is just making people miserable until they cooperate.

Worst Case Scenario

Leaving aside fantasies that he'll get his deserved time in prison, the worst case scenario for Donald Trump, even if his creditors come for him, is that he'll spend the rest of his life living as a fairly rich guy who can't pretend to be a super rich guy.

Might be a bit harder for the kids. Ivanka will probably scam her way into something, even if Jared goes to jail. Eric and Don Jr. might have to learn to man the fry cooker.

Morning Thread

Seems like we're inching towards this being over. Or not!

Friday Night

Rock on.

Thoughts and Prayers

News: Don Jr, the president’s son, has tested positive for coronavirus. He escaped the virus when people around him got infected, including his girlfriend Kimberly, but now has it, per multiple sources.

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) November 20, 2020

Friday Happy Hour

The New Pornographers' Mass Romantic came out 20 years ago. Not exactly surprised that "pop music I listened to as a teenager" is ancient, but "pop music I listened to as an adult" is increasingly ancient, too.

Certifiable

For realsie? Not sure the "no takebacks" rule operates in this ridiculous timeline.

President-elect Joe Biden was officially certified the winner of Georgia's 16 electoral votes Friday after a statewide recount ended this week.

Huzzah

Getting rid of earmarks was dumb.

House Democratic leaders are proceeding with plans to bring back earmarks for the 117th Congress, according to Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer. Hoyer, D-Md., said in an interview that sometime after the Appropriations Committee’s new chairwoman is elected the week of Nov. 30, she will begin soliciting House lawmakers to “ask for congressional initiatives for their districts and their states.”

Coup Interrupted

Writers just beating it to death. End this fucking season!

SCOOP: Rudy Giuliani and other key members of Trump's outside legal team won't be attending today's meeting with two Michigan lawmakers because they've been exposed to the coronavirus, two sources familiar with the internal discussions tell Axios.https://t.co/BUy7Wo3xbf

— Axios (@axios) November 20, 2020

Afternoon Thread

enjoy.

Thoughts And Prayers

The younger Giuliani attended his father’s madcap press conference in a small densely paced room at the RNC yesterday afternoon. This morning, he announced he has Covid. https://t.co/6PPFF92XfC https://t.co/GZp1hdEyBL

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) November 20, 2020

Big Pharma Is Always Good That's Just Science

I do think the combination of Covid denialism and the anti-vax movement has led to a too strong backlash from the rest of us. One doesn't have to be an anti-vaxxer to have some concerns about a rushed vaccine development using a new approach (above my pay grade). I'm not going to rush to be first in line, either, though that doesn't matter one bit because it's going to take a long time to get through the population and having a few people not rushing to be first doesn't matter at all.

My point is not that people should be overly concerned about vaccine safety, but instead that it isn't being ANTI-SCIENCE or DANGEROUS DENIALISM to not think a couple of press releases means the problem is definitely safely solved.

Thoughts And Prayers

All we can offer.

JUST IN: Sen. Rick SCOTT has coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/lR49FADvaP

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 20, 2020

Better Things Aren't Possible

The status quo, with a slightly different spin, is the outer boundary of what is considered desirable by most of the powerful people in DC, and they will tell you that they support lots of things but they just aren't possible. They are always lying.

Morning Thread

190K new cases yesterday. Almost certainly will hit 200K today or tomorrow.

About 2000 deaths.

It's doubling about every 18 days, give or take. That could change! Or not.

Thursday Night

Rock on.

Your Moment Of Zen

Cross It Off

Developing next live at 5 on @wsbtv - @GaSecofState tells me the statewide audit results are in and there's "not a thimble full of difference" between the hand & manual recount. He says he has no doubt Joe Biden has won Georgia pic.twitter.com/9PO9C6t8Bu

— Justin Gray (@JustinGrayWSB) November 19, 2020

#BREAKING federal judge in Atlanta refuses Temporary Restraining Order to delay certification of Georgia's election results in Wood v. Raffensperger

— Brendan Keefe (@BrendanKeefe) November 19, 2020

A judge Trump appointed.

Rahmbo And The Space Karen

I can take assholes, I can take people with bad opinions (opinions at odds with mine), I can take people more conservative than I'd like, but I cannot take appointing this dumbass to run the SUPERTRAIN department. At least appoint people who can fake being smart about the thing they are in charge of.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and entrepreneur Elon Musk strolled into a room that for a decade has been a subterranean symbol of Chicago's high-speed rail boondoggle, and declared the infamous station a key part of a futuristic downtown-to-O'Hare transit system.

After pausing for a crowd of cameramen and gawkers recording footage of them touring the unfinished Loop CTA "superstation," the two officially announced plans Thursday for an express connection between O'Hare International Airport and downtown using the billionaire Musk's untested technology.

If the system, which the mayor repeatedly referred to only as the letter "X," succeeds, Chicago would rocket itself to the forefront of mass transportation's next wave, Emanuel said.

"Chicago is always on the cutting edge, Chicago is always looking over the horizon to see what's next," Emanuel said. He placed Musk's plan to whisk riders from downtown to O'Hare in 12 minutes among other great civic projects in Chicago history.

Also he covered up a murder so he should just be in prison himself.

Happy Hour Thread

Life being annoying at the moment.

Meanwhile

Not good, folks!

Because the case-fatality rate has stayed fixed for so long and there are now so many reported cases, predicting the virus’s death toll in the near term has become a matter of brutal arithmetic: 150,000 cases a day, times 1.5 percent, will lead to 2,250 daily deaths. In the spring, the seven-day average of daily deaths rose to its highest point ever on April 21, when it reached 2,116 deaths. With cases rising as fast as they are, the U.S. could cross the threshold of 2,000 daily deaths within a month. Without a miraculous improvement in care, the United States is about to face the darkest period of the pandemic so far.

Different trackers give slightly different numbers but there were over 1800 deaths yesterday, though the 7 day average is "only" about 1250.

Afternoon Thread

Busy with stuff

I Bet Mr. Pinocchio Is A Goldfish

Normally subdued-against-Republicans bothsidesalwaysdoit Glenn Kessler has apparently decided he can be direct about Trump and those in his immediate orbit.

It's been more than two weeks of false claims and failed lawsuits -- and now an effort to steal Electoral College votes through desperate maneuvers. No country will ever again take seriously U.S. State Department statements on the need for the loser to honor election results. https://t.co/haefwTgKqi

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) November 19, 2020

But he is pretty quiet (I don't want to say totally because I can't know I'm aware of everything) about the enablers across the Republican party at all levels. If this ever ends, none of them will have played any role.

Lunch Thread

Get your lunch on.

The President's Closest Advisors

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the time Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade, on live television, attempted to roast marshmallows over an open fire with their bare hands and a plastic spoons. Enjoy! https://t.co/sfxYi95e37 pic.twitter.com/OCAXy9Z9wp

— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) November 19, 2020

Thursday Is New Jobless Day

742k new lucky duckies.

What You Think Is Important Isn't, Stupid Activists

One argument regularly put out there is that whatever activists are fighting for - policy, personnel choices - is misguided and unimportant. Generally whatever people outside the system want is painted as childish and stupid. It's one of the rhetorical tricks used to marginalize anybody but important rich people with nice suits.

An example of this was the fight over the DNC Chair after the 2016 election. A fight requires two sides, of course, and one side kept saying how stupid it was for any activists to give a shit about who the DNC Chair was, even as they threw their (much more powerful) weight behind... giving a shit who the DNC Chair was. It is stupid for you to care about this, so just accept our choice!

Did you know it doesn't really matter who is on the Cabinet? This is a serious argument put forward by serious people any time people decide to care about who is on the Cabinet.

Funny how rich and powerful people seem to care quite a bit, also, too, and no one tells them they're stupid for caring. Maybe it matters just a little bit!

Morning Thread

Michigan's Lord and Lady Kleagle can't stop won't stop.

In affidavits signed on Wednesday evening, the two GOP members of the four-member Wayne County Board of Canvassers allege that they were improperly pressured into certifying the election and accused Democrats of reneging on a promise to audit votes in Detroit.

“I rescind my prior vote,” Monica Palmer, the board’s chairwoman, wrote in an affidavit reviewed by The Washington Post. “I fully believe the Wayne County vote should not be certified.”

If it ever gets to the Supreme Court, Sam Alito would certainly be on board with the "someone called the nice white people racists so Trump wins, QED" argument.

Wednesday Night

Rock on.

It Can Just Keep Getting Worse

I know this is an obvious thing I keep saying, and like most of my deep thoughts the people who need to hear them won't, but the case count can keep growing.

A depressing thing is that "we've" learned that it isn't even all that hard to stop it. I mean, Florida and Arizona and Arizona managed to combat it somewhat over the summer, and they were hardly models of extreme lockdown. They didn't make it go away, but they managed to lower the case growth and stop it from exploding.

If You Wish Upon A Star

The president has lots of power, and not just through overreach. It's in the law.

Ratchet

We've got big problems, folks, and that's no malarkey.

I'd like to be more optimistic, but best case scenario I see the Biden administration figuring out what's just enough, getting that wrong by 30%, and then cutting it by another 30%.

And that's before it gets to Congress (there is much they can do without Congress, but not optimistic about that, either, folks!).

I suppose I'm just reliving ten years ago.

Prove me wrong, Onion Joe!

Afternoon Thread

Get your afternoon on.

Not The Man To Run The Supertrains

Aside from covering up a murder and numerous other awful things, Rahm's big Chicago transit initiative (which never happened) was an express train project from the airport that would've gone 10 minutes faster than the existing train from the airport, which later morphed in project with Space Karen Musk involving doing the same thing but with Musk building the tunnel and running Teslas down it.

Gerontocracy

Aside from the small problem that perhaps an 80-year-old leadership team is maybe not entirely tune with the baggy pants and the Snapchats and the Justin Biebers that the kids today love (I, too, am out of touch), giving younger members of the House, and by younger members I mean people under 70, basically nothing to do and no hope for advancement has other consequences.

The lack of possible promotion into leadership isn't the only problem in the House. Most members really have *nothing to do* but fundraise and campaign. Important legislation doesn't really move through comittees. Oversight hearings? I kid. Earmarks are gone.

Ah, well, nevertheless.

The Marshal Of The Supreme Court Is Going To Arrest Rudy

I suppose it's not that important, but the popularity of certain online grifters who are always promising IMMINENT MAJOR CONSEQUENCES for people who will never face any consequences annoys me. I suppose they'll need a new grift, soon. As scams go I suppose it's relatively victimless, but...

Thank You Monica Palmer and William Hartmann

Strapped on the Klan hoods for your 15 minutes of fame.

* MICHIGAN'S DEPARTMENT OF STATE SAYS ALL MICHIGAN COUNTIES HAVE CERTIFIED THEIR ELECTION RESULTS@Reuters #michigan

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) November 18, 2020

Serial Killer

Even if one generously (and even sometimes appropriately) makes allowances for somewhat fringier opinions about the best ways to deal with Covid, just flat out telling people this is just serial killer level. Also, from the doctor's google reviews, which are just factual.

I would trust gas station sushi over this doctor

Rot From Top To Bottom Old To Young

When the best you can do to rebut the notion that it's a corrupt white supremacist organization from top to bottom is to invoke the corpse of John McCain, Sarah Palin's running mate...

Morning Thread

Monica Palmer and William Hartmann decided they didn't want to be famous after all. Too late. Palmer decided to shout the already not very quiet part and that was not wise.

MOnica Palmer, Republican member of Wayne Board of Canvassers, said votes outside of Detroit should be certified.

— Kathy Gray (@michpoligal) November 17, 2020

Somewhat maddening that it often does take actually putting on the Klan robe before Very Serious People can say, "hey, that's really racist!" But I guess things worked out. This time.

Tuesday Night

Thoughts And Prayers

All we can offer.

I’ve tested positive for coronavirus. I’ll b following my doctors’ orders/CDC guidelines & continue to quarantine. I’m feeling good + will keep up on my work for the ppl of Iowa from home. I appreciate everyone’s well wishes + prayers &look fwd to resuming my normal schedule soon

— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) November 17, 2020

The Only Good Trump Whisperer

As I've said before, Roth is the only person I like to read about Trump the person.

Donald Trump’s presidency could only ever have ended one way, but there was still a certain flubby majesty to how it happened. As the outcome of the election became clearer and more irrefutable—as the votes were counted in the maddening, analog, rather inspiringly effective way that votes are counted, and as cities and towns across the country erupted into giddy street celebrations after the election was called decisively for Biden—Trump and his campaign began a wild-eyed public speedrun through the stages of grief. The end of election week unfolded like the booming grand finale of a fireworks program, albeit with every explosion replaced with skeins of bizarrely punctuated and wholly untrue social media posts, rafts of clammy lawsuits, and stilted press conferences in which Trump’s inner circle blinked rapidly and spoke in vague and heated terms about all the many serious things they’d soon be looking into very strongly.

What A Life

Final days in the White Bunker, Jason Miller and Ellis yelling at each other. Who would want to leave all that behind?

NEW: Giuliani’s team attempted a “coup” inside the campaign per sources. Legal adviser Jenna Ellis told staff only take orders from "Rudy or Jenna"—leading to a screaming match between Ellis and Jason Miller w. @KFaulders @Santucci https://t.co/DEYVpLPWei

— Will Steakin (@wsteaks) November 17, 2020

Grifters All The Way Down

NEW: Giuliani wants to be paid $20,000 a day for his representation of Trump to overturn the election results, raising concerns among Trump allies that Giuliani is encouraging Trump on spurious legal fights so he can make money off of them. w/@maggieNYT https://t.co/1DdOy3V5et

— Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) November 17, 2020

Grifters grifting each other is at least somewhat entertaining.

Unless they paid him in advance, Rudy ain't getting a cent anyway.

Covid Denialism

I know there's no good way to convince the QMagas, aside from the need for a ventilator, but I do think plenty of "normies" are a bit in denial, in that they don't really comprehend how these things spread.

I'm not trying to make any profound point (rarely so), but if you have Covid (whether you know it or not) and do something like attend a party with 50 people in it, you're probably going to kill somebody. There's some chance you're going to be patient zero for a genuine superspreader event, but even aside from that, one doesn't have to make extreme assumptions about the chain of infection to get to 100 infected people (some get infected at the party, some of those go on to infect other people, some of those go on to infect other people..). 1-2% mortality, there's a corpse.

There are practical limits on the degree of isolation, for a lot of reasons, but just don't go into a enclosed settings maskless with a bunch of people...

Harm Reduction

That's not nothing, but...

Lunch Thread

Get your lunch on.

Look Forward

I can't even get mad about this inevitability because it's like getting mad that the sun is going to set later today. Sucks but would require God-level intervention to change it.

Been rolling my eyes for years at the people confidently predicting otherwise.

Open The Floodgates

I was struck by this because it completely fit the Culture of Econ that I experienced as a graduate student. I think it's fair to say that despite their reputation and somewhat distorted public group persona, academic econmists were (I can't speak to now) generally self-identified Democrats, if not quite as much as people in other social science fields. Along with that was a general genuine concern with curing some of the ills of society.

But there was a very strong cultural opposition to more liberal ways of trying to achieve those things, in large part because any move in that direction would, in some sense, open the floodgates. Any lefty idea, even ones with merit, had to be stamped out in the crib just in case any more of those crazy ideas started to take hold. It was rooted in a basic anti-democratic sentiment, too, or "anti-populist," with the very mistaken belief that all the incentives for elected officials were to just keep handing out free goodies to the population in order to win re-election.

The people had bad ideas and undue influence over politicians they elected, so the economists must stand united against them.

Of course that's not how anything actually works. Everything is so rigged against "the people" demanding goodies, including of course the weight of elite opinion, that supposedly liberal economists didn't have join in to prevent the great unwashed for wanting things like "a modest increase in the minimum wage." But they did.

Are there problems? Sure. Should we do anything about them, however imperfect, that might actually work? Haha oh hell no. That could lead to full communism.

Last Thanksgiving

Not even hiding that he's a serial killer at this point. Our brains are funny. People get off on weird things. Atlas's kink is genocide.

Morning Thread

Certainly interesting that "strongarming Secretaries of State to do fraud" is just a normal thing that he, Lindsey Graham, does. People usually don't get "caught" the first time they are doing crime.

Monday Night

Rock on.

Shitposterocracy

I get that plenty of people have politics I disagree with, and some people are just evil and dishonest, but it is bizarre that a significant portion of the House GOP caucus (and some on the senate) are basically just there so they can have a bunch of twitter followers and shitpost all day. That seems to be what the job is to them.

Maybe it's just the new version of "show business for ugly people." Being an internet celebrity is celebrity, now, and politics is the path there for those who wouldn't have another path.

That I feel more of the weight of the world, more responsibility, writing this dumb blog than they do running the government suggests we have a bit of a problem.

What Happened To Lindsey Graham???

He was always an amoral monster, like every other Republican political reporters push on us.

In their conversation, Graham questioned Raffensperger about the state’s signature-matching law and whether political bias could have prompted poll workers to accept ballots with nonmatching signatures, according to Raffensperger. Graham also asked whether Raffensperger had the power to toss all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures, Raffensperger said.

That was always the plan, try to toss mail ballots in places where too many black people vote.

Monday Afternoon

Might need a nap. Did not sleep well last night.

Better Late Than Never

President Trump's tweet Monday sought to perpetuate the mathematically impossible and thoroughly debunked myth that he pulled out a victory from the election that definitively chose Democrat Joe Biden as the next president. #APFactCheck

Read more: https://t.co/5x1pvHbEnf pic.twitter.com/HcCU2kX3YW

— AP Fact Check (@APFactCheck) November 16, 2020

Could've covered him like this the whole 4 years. It's (closer to) how they'll cover Biden.

I don't even say that because I think appropriate media coverage was the ONE QUICK TRICK to make voters hate Trump. It's because I think - and they would claim - their job is to try to communicate an accurate picture of things to readers, and not to regularly actively deceive them.

Been Around This Block Before

Start with a good and doable idea, and people chip at it for all of the predictable reasons. There's a more progressive idea! This idea won't solve ALL the problems! This idea won't achieve something no one thought it would achieve! There's a better way to spend that much money! It must be targeted! Means tested! Get a good CBO score! Anything left at the other end of this process does little, costs more for what it delivers, and makes everybody mad. And all the people who make these arguments are not acting in good faith, and no one is obligated to pretend they are.

Cancel It

A big reason (not the only) to cancel student debt is it's actually something Biden can DO. Unlike so many other things which require action by the World's Greatest Deliberative Body.

America's Worst Obama Administration Economists

Jason Furman.

This you? https://t.co/feb7Ndm4kO pic.twitter.com/Y08lUEx5dw

— Capricciola🦉 (@Capricciola) November 16, 2020

Space Karen

That's a good one.

One Twitter user dubbed him “Space Karen” for his perceived obnoxious attitude towards the pandemic, causing the term to trend across the platform.

Dr Emma Bell responded to his tweet by noting that rapid antigen tests only detect Covid-19 “when you’re absolutely riddled with it”.

Not So Chill

I am dumb and know nothing, but the Pfizer vaccine's extreme cold storage requirement worried me a bit.

Moderna's vaccine appears to be easier to store as it remains stable at minus 20C for up to six months and can be kept in a standard fridge for up to a month.

Pfizer's vaccine needs ultra-cold storage at around minus 75C, but it can be kept in the fridge for five days.

Morning Thread

The usual suspects are from all directions informing us why better things aren't possible.

Trump can only dream of the destructive powers - both to lives and the democratic party - that centrist economists have.

Sunday Night

Rock on.

Sunday Happy Hour

I suppose tomorrow is Monday. I know the constitution is PERFECT, just as founding father Antonin Scalia envisioned, but starting to think this extended lame duck period was not its MOST PERFECT idea.

Thoughts And Prayers

They didn't even tell their DFL "colleagues."

(FOX 9) - Days before a coronavirus outbreak in the Minnesota Senate Republican caucus, the GOP held a large, in-person dinner party to celebrate their election results. A GOP spokeswoman confirmed the Nov. 5 victory dinner party this weekend in response to FOX 9’s questions about it. Republicans had not previously disclosed it, even as controversy erupted over the outbreak. The spokeswoman, Rachel Aplikowski, did not say why she had not disclosed the party in earlier public statements about the situation.

Couldn't Take Four More Years

I don't think our glorious empire could have survived 4 more years of Trump. Consider that a warning.

Sunday Lunch

enjoy

The Next 7 Days Are Critical

Not really, just my homage to the master, Thomas Friedman, but each 7 days are critical in the sense that it's about enough time to see whether any of those derivatives of the case function are switching signs. Rooting for you, second derivative, you can do it!!!

He Won

No backsies!

He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more! https://t.co/Exb3C1mAPg

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020

Morning Thread

Sure it got some attention, but I don't think it really sunk in that Donald Trump attempted to destroy the post office in order to win election.

Incompetent coup attempt, generally, but it isn't as if they didn't try hard.

Saturday Night

Rock on.

Roll It All Back

All of it.

A federal judge in New York City on Saturday said Chad Wolf has not been acting lawfully as the chief of Homeland Security and that, as such, his suspension of protections for a class of migrants brought to the United States illegally as children is invalid. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Trump administration wrongly tried to shut down protections under the Obama-era legislation known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. On July 28, Wolf nonetheless suspended DACA pending review.

Thoughts and Prayers

All we can offer.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott has announced via Twitter that he will quarantine immediately after coming into contact with an individual who later tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday night.

Better Late Than Never

But not much better!

BISMARCK, N.D. -- North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum ordered a statewide mask mandate and imposed several business restrictions late Friday in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has stressed the state’s hospital capacity.

Maybe I'm dumb, but I'm pretty sure that most supposed restrictions on personal behavior are really just strong guidance. They signal to people that something is serious, and that will at least increase compliance. One can debate how and when to actually enforce various restrictions, but at least put up the big sign saying, "THE GOVERNOR SAYS DO THIS AND DON'T DO THAT."

Afternoon Thread

Get your afternoon on.

Maybe They're All Bad People

 Controversial, I know, but perhaps if we examine the evidence.

A day after it was revealed that GOP state Sen. Dave Senjem tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a Nov. 5 party caucus, news broke that Republican senators and staffers were informed in a Tuesday memo that “a number of [GOP Senate] members and staff have been diagnosed with COVID-19.”

DFLers were not informed of the rash of cases on the other side of the aisle.

Nobody Learns Anything

The reason to have and obey lockdown rules, even if they seem extreme and inconsistent (they will be, inevitably), is to reduce the transmission of the damn disease. Even with high infection rates, individual risk and certainly individual mortality risk is still quite low! Not that low, but pretty low! The "fuck it, who cares if I get it" approach from a purely selfish perspective isn't actually insane if you're youngish.

But I have two friends and they have two friends and they have two friends...

A basic model is:

• h  is the number of people each person bumps into per day.
• s is the share of the population that has covid 
• a is the probability of contracting covid each time you bump into an infected person

Every day there's an a*s*h chance an individual contracts covid.  The goal is to reduce h by reducing overall contacts and reduce a by increasing social distancing and wearing masks. s(tomorrow) depends on today's values of a and h and s. A more complicated model incorporates gatherings, because you don't bump into one person at a time, to look at how reducing large spreader events impacts things.

Too much MATH for my long out of grad school brain early in the morning, but it doesn't take fancy equations to understand that tiny changes to h and a (and ultimately s) can have big impacts fairly quickly (in the right or wrong direction). The purpose of lockdowns is small reductions to the frequency with which possibly infectious bouncing particles hit each other, because even those small reductions matter a lot over time.

Full Metal Rudy

Fuck it, why not.

President Trump has put his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, in charge of his campaign lawsuits related to the outcome of the election, as well as all public communications related to them, four people familiar with the move said on Friday. Mr. Trump turned to Mr. Giuliani earlier on Friday in reaction to the latest setback he faced in court, this one relating to votes in Maricopa County, Ariz., the people said.

Morning Thread

180K cases yesterday. Doubling about every 2 weeks, give or take. It won't necessarily continue at that rate, but it won't necessarily not continue at that rate.

Friday Night

Rock on.

Friday Happy Hour

Another week down.

America's Worst Samuel Alitos

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

Mushmelon

Their brains just aren't right.

PROVO – Utah Valley Hospital says a handful of conspiracy theorists recently tried to get into their intensive care unit.

Hospital administrator Kyle Hansen told the Provo City Council this week that about five people have attempted to get inside because they question whether the ICU is as full as some say.

A few of them also brought video cameras.

Flood The Zone With Shit

That's Steve Bannon's advice. I'd amend it to, simply, "flood the zone," and certainly don't provide one thing for reporters to obsess about and Republican operatives to figure out how to message against. I certainly hope the Biden administration will be more ambitious than I expect, both in what they want to achieve and what they manage to achieve, but even if it's relatively small ball, the best way to achieve that is to just go nuts. Unleash 30 things a day every day. Also, just do it.

Get Well Soon

Going to have to be ready to drag his ass out.

More than 130 Secret Service officers who help protect the White House and the president when he travels have recently been ordered to isolate or quarantine because they tested positive for the coronavirus or had close contact with infected co-workers, according to three people familiar with agency staffing.

Quitter

Did not know My President gave up so easily!

BREAKING: Trump campaign gives up on its lawsuit in Maricopa County, Arizona, which NBC News has projected for Joe Biden. (h/t @PeteWilliamsNBC)

— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) November 13, 2020

Batkid

Pareene:

Lying for the president’s sake also requires lying to everyone else in the nation. It is easy, especially for political journalists, to become inured to the way in which certain government officials treat their jobs as analogous to those of the cast and crew of The Truman Show, and to forget that the United States is more than just a collection of people in government. It is an actual country with people in it. Many of those people cannot discern that all of this talk of illegal votes and Trump’s paths to victory is merely being done to help Trump come to terms with his loss.

Which makes Donald Trump a bit like Batkid, the young cancer patient on whose behalf the city San Francisco and the Make-a-Wish Foundation once staged a full day of make-believe superheroism—if roughly 40 percent of the residents of San Francisco genuinely believed the charade was real, believed Batkid was their only chance to stop the forces of evil descending on their city, and couldn’t understand why the media kept claiming The Riddler had fairly defeated him and would soon be in charge.

Something's Extremely Bogus

Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2020

Genius man should know that the PCR tests do have a high false negative rate, but not a high false positive one. Elon's been on the "this is all a bit of a scam" boat even after his brilliant predictions. He'd take a sharpie to a hurricane map, too, to somehow prove himself fucking right.

Nothing Magically Stops It

I got a bit more optimistic that while overall the US was never going to have a good enough Covid response, that the big second wave states (Florida, Arizona, Texas, etc.) managed to stop the outbreak from exploding suggested that muddling along with regional outbreaks that didn't quite explode was possible. Ah, well, nevertheless.

Morning Thread

160K new cases yesterday. Will likely be higher today and tomorrow ...

Thursday Night

Rock on.

It Is Unconstitutional To Criticize Lawyers

Pictured on the left:

The Trump campaign's previous witness in today's Arizona proceedings.

Pictured on the right:

The Trump campaign's lawyer in Arizona's proceedings.

Their business website: https://t.co/q7cuEtyvQy pic.twitter.com/wIZlEAnlZK

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 12, 2020

There Was A Moment

Maybe I'm too pessimistic, as states did manage to get "the second wave" somewhat under control during the summer, but the mismatch between the need to act and the willingness to act of basically anyone in power is large. And it isn't just Trump. At this point everyone is doing too little, too late.

Afternoon Thread

Perpetually moving between mirth and panic and dread. Such fine times!

Thoughts And Prayers

Breaking @MSNBC: NBC News confirms that Corey Lewandowski has tested positive for COVID-19.

Lewandowski was in Philadelphia in recent days, including at Four Seasons Total Landscaping with Rudy Giuliani and Pam Bondi.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 12, 2020

Bad things happen in Philadelphia.

Gonna Be Really Bad In A Week, So Let's Wait Until Then

I get not being ready to lock down everything once there are 2 days of bad numbers, but when the trends are clear...

You Don't Have To Cover Him Anymore

There's a lot going on in the country, and there will be a new president, but all signs point to post-Jan. 20 the Trump Show continuing to occupy our political journalists.

Too many people respond to such things with, "well, all they care about is ratings!" But, no, the decisions aren't just made for ratings, and certainly aren't just made *correctly* for ratings. Another one is simply that habits die hard. They're so used to talking about him that they can't talk about anything else. Their sources are all Trump people and John Barron, and it isn't just TV that I'm talking about. Newspapers too.

It was a different media world back then, but they couldn't stop talking about Clinton for a few months after he left office, too.

It'll probably only last a few months, but it'll still be ridiculous.

Waiting For Bill

I lean more and more towards "there's no way they can pull of a coup, and increasingly they know that, too," but people should not pretend they weren't or forget that the entire Republican establishment and the entire professional convervative movement was fully behind it, encouraged it, and would happily accept that result, no matter what some of them told their favorite reporters in double pinky swear secret.

Thursday Is New Jobless Day

 709K new lucky duckies.  Still higher than the peak week of the Great Recession.

Payday

Can't wait for all the revelations that could somehow be held back from readers and her employer. Weird system!

The Trump book many people have been waiting for... Penguin Press has signed @maggieNYT for a book, slated to come out in 2022... Playbook broke the news 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/j85fcejm4U

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 12, 2020

Going to be 50% Hope Hicks fan fiction and other favorite source rehabilitation. Apparently Javanka was right about everything!

Morning Thread

As was inevitable, the number of daily deaths is going up.

I certainly sympathize with especially the smallish business owners that are heavily impacted by this, and if we had sane governance we'd just pay them to shut down, but generally the madness of pushing to open bars and restaurants, obvious places of transmission, has been, well, madness.

The country really is divided between people who are like, "well, haven't seen my family for 8 months," and "still going to Applebees 3 times per week."

And this isn't a situation where people can just pick their own individual risk tolerance, as, even now, half the country seems to think. It's one thing to drive 150 on an empty highway, it's another thing to drive 150 in traffic.

Wednesday Night

Rock on.

Thoughts And Prayers

Only thing we can offer.

White House political director Brian Jack and at least two other White House aides have tested positive for COVID-19, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

At least 12 people in President Donald Trump's orbit have tested positive since White House chief of staff Mark Meadows tested positive one week ago.

Farewell

Going to miss Eric and Javanka and Don Jr. and Kimberly. Don Jr.'s probably gonna miss Kimberly too (hi-yooooo).

Truly a Rogue's Gallery from the world's stupidest superhero comic.

Maybe Most Prominent Conservatives/Republicans Are Bad People

Controversial, I know, but perhaps we should examine the evidence.

Vote Fraud In Philly

I can't find the transcript but during all the election conversation, Rick Santorum, CNN's resident bigoted weirdo and the shame of Pennsylvania, said something like, "We always thought there was voter fraud in Philadelphia, but we just could never prove it."

Philadelphia's voter turnout isn't particularly high (in any year). It's generally a lot lower than the neighoring suburban counties and lower than the state as whole. It does vote around 80% for Democrats. But, you know, it's 40%+ black and has been a Democratic machine city forever.

The only reason to think there's voter fraud (any, but certainly of the kind that would influence a statewide election result) in Philly is if "black people voting" is voter fraud.

And as with many things, the "eyes" are always on the city. If you really had a plan for massive ballot stuffing for a statewide race, you'd do it elsewhere.

Lunch Thread

Get your lunch on.

Four Years

My life is mostly comfortable and I'm not claiming the Trump administration uniquely affected MEEE somehow, but having to pay attention to this bullshit all day every day, as it is my job, actually has been... unpleasant. A bit of a nonstop low level trauma.

Yell Loudly

The entire Republican party - almost every single elected member - would happily steal the election if they thought they could get away with it. They wouldn't call it stealing, but it wouldn't follow any previously accepted path to an outcome for the election, even if Alito and Kavanaugh can construct some ridiculous legal theory for why "the votes of democrats, especially if they are black, only count 3/5."

That this only has what we hope is a remote chance of succeeding under the brilliant management of Jared and Don Jr. doesn't actually make it much less disturbing, and the mere possibility justifies as much opposition to it as one can muster, even if that's limited to screaming at people online (we all have our superpowers).

Whatever happens it's alarming, and those who are more concerned with playing down those fears (not the Biden people, I get their game whether or not it's optimal), are really just complicit in pushing it to happen, like Ben "Give every monster a chance ah well nevertheless" Wittes.

Morning Thread

Get the basic dynamic of "it's more meaningful if a Democrat says Democrats are bad (or Republicans on Republicans)," but our DISCOURSE lets GOP Daddies pass judgment on both Democrats and Republicans. The serious people in Washington are all Republicans, if of a dying generation, and "we" look to them for guidance.

Tuesday Night

RIP Alexander Buzlov. Stroke at 37. Saw him perform not that long ago, and he was at the next table at dinner after the show.

Don't Worry, Biden's Got This

Clearly Biden's strategy is just to act calm, as if the tantrum will play out, be presidential, don't suggest there's any doubt that he won (of course not) and will take office.

Also clear from the people who reliably tweet out the message of the day from the emailed strategy points.

or not

Happy Hour Thread

Get happy.

MUST NOT CRITICIZE ATTORNEYS FOR THE ATROCITIES THAT ENRICH THEM

That's in the constitution or the Bible or maybe in The Fountainhead or some other religious document like that.

The Lincoln Project's encouragement of harrassment of Jones Day attorneys and employees is undemocratic, potentially dangerous, and counterproductive. Whatever you think of the Administration's legal arguments, targeting attorneys for harrassment is immoral & ineffective.

— Timothy Sandefur (@TimothySandefur) November 10, 2020

It'll Never End

Maggie and the gang are reporting about Trump's "plan to run in 2024." Whether that's serious or a grift or, like his first run, both (what's the difference really), I stand by my prediction that, as with Palin, he'll fade. But also, as with Palin, our news media will keep his story alive by putting his gross face on the teevee any time he wants to and breathlessly reporting his tweets, as they did with Palin's facebook posts, because that's what they do now.

Tea Party II:  Trumpaloo

America's Worst Doctors

Steven Murphy. This stuff is fraud and all of its related behavior in hospitals across the country should be prosecuted.

Lunch Thread

enjoy

It Doesn't Magically Stop

US States w/ highest % positive COVID-19 tests (7-day avg)...
1) South Dakota: 54%
2) Iowa: 48.3%
3) Kansas: 41.3%
4) Idaho: 38.6%
5) Wyoming: 34.5%
6) Missouri: 21%
7) Alabama: 19.8%
8) Montana: 18.1%
9) Utah: 18.0%
10) North Dakota: 16.1%
11) Pennsylvania: 16.0%

— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) November 10, 2020

It can keep getting worse and worse and worse.