The reality that Joe Biden is about to become president and Kamala Harris is about to become vice president is sinking in across Washington, and today gave us some indications of what that’s going to mean. Stories about what exactly happened in the Trump administration are coming out, and they are not pretty. Politics trumped everything for members of the administration, even our lives.
1. When are they going to get rid of that Rusky problem problem permanently? It’s only going to get worse!!
2. Chris Christie as President?? After his morbidity obese self backed all of Trump’s stupidity, not the least of it his pandemic maskless non-plan? Christie who got covid & used Trump privilege to get expensively healed of Covid & Likely on taxpayers dime?!
He can suck giant popsicles through his nostrils.
3. No kidding trickle-down economics doesn’t work.
I’m White & college-educated.I grew up with Middle Class privileges (a stay-at-home mom, two cars, a father with a white collar job, & a pet).
But since I graduated college, I live in increasingly tiny apartments which cost more than half my monthly income and where I now feel fortunate it has a toilet that I don’t need to share with a stranger and it has a tiny range. I’m one lost week’s pay away from disaster.
I can’t afford to pay into 401K and my only retirement plan is to die before my employers push me out for being too old to work to their desired capacity.
I haven’t had a raise, not even a cost of living increase in almost a decade, yet costs of rent, utilities, food, cars, gas, etc have all gone up significantly. Even my employers product still makes profit because they continually raise the cost.
The upper managers always have nice new cars and get bonuses.
(Please don’t say get a 2nd or different job. I worked 2 jobs for years until my health started to fail and I tried several times over the years to change industries, but didn’t find one when the economy wasn’t in crises and which didn’t start with same or higher salary and was terrified of having to wait 4-6 months to accrue enough time for health benefits to kick in. )
I still feel privileged because it is so much worse for Blacks & Latinx.
It just doesn’t have to be this way. Why are the majority of citizens paying for military, government, & infrastructure and not the wealthy and big corporations?
If there’s ever the opportunity, I’d love to spend an evening hanging out and having a drink with any of you. These comments are where my hope comes from.
They needed a study to figure out trickle down economics doesn’t work? Pfft! The disappearance of the middle class, and my diminished checking account, was the obvious indicator. But I guess some people only see it if it’s been studied.
Today 43 people were sent home from my school for contact tracing from positive Covid cases. Teachers and students alike. I tell my students treat me like I have cooties, and keep your distance! When the opening of schools was debated over the summer, some parents said the percentage of people that will die is so small it’s ridiculous to make everyone stay home. The superintendent was shocked! Me too! No doubt the insane push for herd immunity swayed their opinions. One little girl today said I can’t get the vaccine because I’m allergic to penicillin. How do you reassure a child that has blatantly been put at risk because of politics! I said that’s why I will get the vaccine! To help protect you!
Thank you Heather! I appreciate being more informed!
Here's my take on what Mitch McConnell is doing: he sees that if the Democrats win in Georgia, his power will be sharply curtailed, and he wants to hang on to that no matter what it takes. He doesn't care about people who are hungry, or whose water or electricity are being cut off, or who are being evicted, with nowhere to go. He doesn't care that there are children who are being affected by all this, or what is happening to them (see hungry, no water, no electricity, etc., above). He is only interested in the power. So, quick, let's pass a bill to make the Republicans in GA look good so maybe they win and I can remain all-powerful! He is as transparent as new glass...and more slimy in his way than Trump. His brand of politics needs to be eradicated. A pox on him.
Thank you, Heather, You just explained to me why Majority Leader McConnell decided to go ahead with a COVID relief bill and what would seem a break with President Trump by acknowledging Biden and Harris as President and Vice President elect. It's all about McConnell staying in power in the Senate when the two Republican Senatorial candidates are being trounced in Georgia because the Senate has not passed such a bill! Simple. Staying in power is worth angering DT a bit. It has nothing to do with him acknowledging how badly it is needed across the country. Maybe DT should look for election fraud in Kentucky since McConnell is very much under Putin and the Russian oligarchs thumb.
One phrase from Paul Alexander‘s rantings sums up the entire philosophy of the Trump Administration — “who cares.” From the lives of ordinary people to the environment to the very principles of democracy, they just don’t care how much damage they cause and how many lives are lost.
I want my blood pressure to go down a bit. I don’t think it will until we fully get the virus eradicated and escort Fake 45 to a final destination...prison.
I saw Clyburn’s 12 page letter outlining the atrocities committed by that God-awful professor who knows nothing. Let’s not forget Dr. Atlas’s claims either. They knew. They KNEW exactly what they were doing! I don’t know if I am paranoid but in my heart, I feel they are all Russian operatives. They have successfully carried out Putin’s plan to disintegrate America. Look, he caused Brexit and poisoning of those who dare his rule. I put nothing past him. Nothing!
Murderers, that is what they are and all should be prosecuted swiftly.
I suspect the herd immunity approach meets the definition of “democide”—the killing of members of a country's civilian population as a result of its government's policy, including by direct action, indifference, and neglect. Simply diabolical!
Hoping swift litigation for crimes against humanity follows.
Heather Cox Richardson--among the truths that are self-evident (to me)--
Your literate and lucid well considered attempt to share your observations and assessments day by day on what continues to roll out as part of our country's history has the Common Sense ring of a Tom Paine. Welcome to history yourself, Ms. Richardson.
On the huge security hack. Upgrades to third party commercial software is an excellent platform for hackers to insert malware. Upgrades are necessary but are also a vulnerability that are often not thoroughly checked well. For those who would like to know more about security digital democracy especially around voting systems which is very informative without being immersed in techno speak, I highly recommend the free online course "Securing Digital Democracy" offered by the University of Michigan. https://www.coursera.org/learn/digital-democracy It also gives one an interesting history of voting and why characteristics like confidentiality and auditing are important and how they are achieved.
The NYTimes David Leonhardt explains: "51 is greater than 1
"Over the spring and summer, Mitch McConnell repeatedly declared that he had a litmus test for any new coronavirus stimulus bill: It had to protect businesses from lawsuits from workers or customers who contracted the virus.
'We have a red line on liability,' he said at one point. 'I won’t put a bill on the floor that doesn’t have liability protection in it,' he said at another. 'No bill will pass the Senate without liability protection for everyone related to the coronavirus,' he added.
"But McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, has since erased that red line. Congressional leaders and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, are nearing agreement on a $900 billion bill that doesn’t include liability protection.
"So why did McConnell, arguably the savviest politician in Washington, fold?
"The answer offers an important reminder of how the Senate really works and how it could become less dysfunctional in the near future than it has been lately.
"When people talk about the Senate, they often imagine that McConnell, as the majority leader, is all-powerful and can prevent any bill he doesn’t like from coming up for a vote. That’s not the case. Any senator can propose that a bill receive a vote. If at least 50 other senators want it to receive one, it will.
"In recent decades, though, senators have voluntarily surrendered this power to their party’s leader, giving him (and, no, the Senate has never had a female majority or minority leader) a veto over what comes to the floor. The practice helps keep parties unified.
"But it comes with a major downside. It makes bipartisan compromise harder to achieve. Coalitions that could pass a bill — but that don’t include the majority leader — don’t get the chance to form. “By stopping the legislative process before it starts,” James Wallner, a former Republican Senate staff member, has told me, “it makes compromise harder.”
"On the latest round of stimulus, a bipartisan group of senators changed the dynamic by making clear that they strongly favored additional aid. They did not publicly threaten to go around McConnell, but they didn’t have to. He can count to 51, and he was also worried that the two Republican candidates in next month’s Georgia Senate runoffs were “getting hammered” over the lack of a deal.
"(McConnell did win a big concession as part of abandoning his red line: The proposed deal does not contain aid to state and local governments, even though the bipartisan group had included it in their earlier proposal and despite many economists favoring such aid.)
"It’s possible this bipartisan deal will end up being a one-time event. But it doesn’t have to be. Senators have it within their power to find other areas of compromise next year, during Joe Biden’s presidency — even if McConnell does not favor those deals.
'In politics victory begets victory,' Rahm Emanuel, the Democratic former House member and Chicago mayor, told me yesterday. 'The center-out governing coalition has a win under their belt.' It is a 'big opportunity for Biden,' Emanuel said.
"Perhaps most intriguing, senators have the power to craft compromises regardless of which party wins the Georgia runoffs and controls the Senate."
“Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has cut short an overseas trip to come home and deal with the crisis.”
Is that a good idea, having a Trump appointee deal with any problem, let alone a massive cyber invasion? Will he be dealing with the problem, or the political fallout from the problem?
Your essay seems to suggest that basic honesty is back in season now that Biden is in. I hope you are right, but it's not that simple. If we hope to have a new era in which politicians are routinely held to a standard of truth, the euphemisms have to disappear too, among Republicans, Democrats and even journalists.
We have learned, I hope, that lying has real-world consequences. A public accustomed to being lied to will eventually become destructive, not just to truth, but in other harmful ways.
Canadian friends have been telling me for years that Canadian wingers are dumber and crazier than American wingers. Otherwise-unemployable acadamaniac "Dr." Alexander proves my friends were giving their scumbags the benefit of the doubt on those points.
No wonder Humpty Drumpty loved that crap - it meant he could continue to be the lazy moron he's always been.
And so far as getting Putin's Bitch to do anything about Vlad's declaration of war.... this is what he was installed to do.
The Russians have been at war with us for the past 10 years. Time to smack them.
1. When are they going to get rid of that Rusky problem problem permanently? It’s only going to get worse!!
2. Chris Christie as President?? After his morbidity obese self backed all of Trump’s stupidity, not the least of it his pandemic maskless non-plan? Christie who got covid & used Trump privilege to get expensively healed of Covid & Likely on taxpayers dime?!
He can suck giant popsicles through his nostrils.
3. No kidding trickle-down economics doesn’t work.
I’m White & college-educated.I grew up with Middle Class privileges (a stay-at-home mom, two cars, a father with a white collar job, & a pet).
But since I graduated college, I live in increasingly tiny apartments which cost more than half my monthly income and where I now feel fortunate it has a toilet that I don’t need to share with a stranger and it has a tiny range. I’m one lost week’s pay away from disaster.
I can’t afford to pay into 401K and my only retirement plan is to die before my employers push me out for being too old to work to their desired capacity.
I haven’t had a raise, not even a cost of living increase in almost a decade, yet costs of rent, utilities, food, cars, gas, etc have all gone up significantly. Even my employers product still makes profit because they continually raise the cost.
The upper managers always have nice new cars and get bonuses.
(Please don’t say get a 2nd or different job. I worked 2 jobs for years until my health started to fail and I tried several times over the years to change industries, but didn’t find one when the economy wasn’t in crises and which didn’t start with same or higher salary and was terrified of having to wait 4-6 months to accrue enough time for health benefits to kick in. )
I still feel privileged because it is so much worse for Blacks & Latinx.
It just doesn’t have to be this way. Why are the majority of citizens paying for military, government, & infrastructure and not the wealthy and big corporations?
If there’s ever the opportunity, I’d love to spend an evening hanging out and having a drink with any of you. These comments are where my hope comes from.
They needed a study to figure out trickle down economics doesn’t work? Pfft! The disappearance of the middle class, and my diminished checking account, was the obvious indicator. But I guess some people only see it if it’s been studied.
Today 43 people were sent home from my school for contact tracing from positive Covid cases. Teachers and students alike. I tell my students treat me like I have cooties, and keep your distance! When the opening of schools was debated over the summer, some parents said the percentage of people that will die is so small it’s ridiculous to make everyone stay home. The superintendent was shocked! Me too! No doubt the insane push for herd immunity swayed their opinions. One little girl today said I can’t get the vaccine because I’m allergic to penicillin. How do you reassure a child that has blatantly been put at risk because of politics! I said that’s why I will get the vaccine! To help protect you!
Thank you Heather! I appreciate being more informed!
Here's my take on what Mitch McConnell is doing: he sees that if the Democrats win in Georgia, his power will be sharply curtailed, and he wants to hang on to that no matter what it takes. He doesn't care about people who are hungry, or whose water or electricity are being cut off, or who are being evicted, with nowhere to go. He doesn't care that there are children who are being affected by all this, or what is happening to them (see hungry, no water, no electricity, etc., above). He is only interested in the power. So, quick, let's pass a bill to make the Republicans in GA look good so maybe they win and I can remain all-powerful! He is as transparent as new glass...and more slimy in his way than Trump. His brand of politics needs to be eradicated. A pox on him.
Thank you, Heather, You just explained to me why Majority Leader McConnell decided to go ahead with a COVID relief bill and what would seem a break with President Trump by acknowledging Biden and Harris as President and Vice President elect. It's all about McConnell staying in power in the Senate when the two Republican Senatorial candidates are being trounced in Georgia because the Senate has not passed such a bill! Simple. Staying in power is worth angering DT a bit. It has nothing to do with him acknowledging how badly it is needed across the country. Maybe DT should look for election fraud in Kentucky since McConnell is very much under Putin and the Russian oligarchs thumb.
One phrase from Paul Alexander‘s rantings sums up the entire philosophy of the Trump Administration — “who cares.” From the lives of ordinary people to the environment to the very principles of democracy, they just don’t care how much damage they cause and how many lives are lost.
I want my blood pressure to go down a bit. I don’t think it will until we fully get the virus eradicated and escort Fake 45 to a final destination...prison.
I saw Clyburn’s 12 page letter outlining the atrocities committed by that God-awful professor who knows nothing. Let’s not forget Dr. Atlas’s claims either. They knew. They KNEW exactly what they were doing! I don’t know if I am paranoid but in my heart, I feel they are all Russian operatives. They have successfully carried out Putin’s plan to disintegrate America. Look, he caused Brexit and poisoning of those who dare his rule. I put nothing past him. Nothing!
Murderers, that is what they are and all should be prosecuted swiftly.
I suspect the herd immunity approach meets the definition of “democide”—the killing of members of a country's civilian population as a result of its government's policy, including by direct action, indifference, and neglect. Simply diabolical!
Hoping swift litigation for crimes against humanity follows.
Heather Cox Richardson--among the truths that are self-evident (to me)--
Your literate and lucid well considered attempt to share your observations and assessments day by day on what continues to roll out as part of our country's history has the Common Sense ring of a Tom Paine. Welcome to history yourself, Ms. Richardson.
On the huge security hack. Upgrades to third party commercial software is an excellent platform for hackers to insert malware. Upgrades are necessary but are also a vulnerability that are often not thoroughly checked well. For those who would like to know more about security digital democracy especially around voting systems which is very informative without being immersed in techno speak, I highly recommend the free online course "Securing Digital Democracy" offered by the University of Michigan. https://www.coursera.org/learn/digital-democracy It also gives one an interesting history of voting and why characteristics like confidentiality and auditing are important and how they are achieved.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! January 5, 2021: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/georgia-on-my-mind-broadway-runoff-elections-1103450/?fbclid=IwAR3oLmpZrBKRtfQ6OKYo4KSmFT-Igw5D0qchMtjvK8WSIrmALdKifLjewHs
January 6, 2021: Joint Session of Congress to Count Electoral Votes and Declare Election
January 20, 2021: Inauguration of Joe Biden/Kamala Harris
Shout out to all the commenters of Letters from an American. It informs me every day.
News flash: Trump is a traitor and a scumbag.
In other breaking news, water is still wet and sun continues to rise in the east.
The NYTimes David Leonhardt explains: "51 is greater than 1
"Over the spring and summer, Mitch McConnell repeatedly declared that he had a litmus test for any new coronavirus stimulus bill: It had to protect businesses from lawsuits from workers or customers who contracted the virus.
'We have a red line on liability,' he said at one point. 'I won’t put a bill on the floor that doesn’t have liability protection in it,' he said at another. 'No bill will pass the Senate without liability protection for everyone related to the coronavirus,' he added.
"But McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, has since erased that red line. Congressional leaders and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, are nearing agreement on a $900 billion bill that doesn’t include liability protection.
"So why did McConnell, arguably the savviest politician in Washington, fold?
"The answer offers an important reminder of how the Senate really works and how it could become less dysfunctional in the near future than it has been lately.
"When people talk about the Senate, they often imagine that McConnell, as the majority leader, is all-powerful and can prevent any bill he doesn’t like from coming up for a vote. That’s not the case. Any senator can propose that a bill receive a vote. If at least 50 other senators want it to receive one, it will.
"In recent decades, though, senators have voluntarily surrendered this power to their party’s leader, giving him (and, no, the Senate has never had a female majority or minority leader) a veto over what comes to the floor. The practice helps keep parties unified.
"But it comes with a major downside. It makes bipartisan compromise harder to achieve. Coalitions that could pass a bill — but that don’t include the majority leader — don’t get the chance to form. “By stopping the legislative process before it starts,” James Wallner, a former Republican Senate staff member, has told me, “it makes compromise harder.”
"On the latest round of stimulus, a bipartisan group of senators changed the dynamic by making clear that they strongly favored additional aid. They did not publicly threaten to go around McConnell, but they didn’t have to. He can count to 51, and he was also worried that the two Republican candidates in next month’s Georgia Senate runoffs were “getting hammered” over the lack of a deal.
"(McConnell did win a big concession as part of abandoning his red line: The proposed deal does not contain aid to state and local governments, even though the bipartisan group had included it in their earlier proposal and despite many economists favoring such aid.)
"It’s possible this bipartisan deal will end up being a one-time event. But it doesn’t have to be. Senators have it within their power to find other areas of compromise next year, during Joe Biden’s presidency — even if McConnell does not favor those deals.
'In politics victory begets victory,' Rahm Emanuel, the Democratic former House member and Chicago mayor, told me yesterday. 'The center-out governing coalition has a win under their belt.' It is a 'big opportunity for Biden,' Emanuel said.
"Perhaps most intriguing, senators have the power to craft compromises regardless of which party wins the Georgia runoffs and controls the Senate."
“Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has cut short an overseas trip to come home and deal with the crisis.”
Is that a good idea, having a Trump appointee deal with any problem, let alone a massive cyber invasion? Will he be dealing with the problem, or the political fallout from the problem?
And overseas where? Doing what? With whom?
Your essay seems to suggest that basic honesty is back in season now that Biden is in. I hope you are right, but it's not that simple. If we hope to have a new era in which politicians are routinely held to a standard of truth, the euphemisms have to disappear too, among Republicans, Democrats and even journalists.
We have learned, I hope, that lying has real-world consequences. A public accustomed to being lied to will eventually become destructive, not just to truth, but in other harmful ways.
Canadian friends have been telling me for years that Canadian wingers are dumber and crazier than American wingers. Otherwise-unemployable acadamaniac "Dr." Alexander proves my friends were giving their scumbags the benefit of the doubt on those points.
No wonder Humpty Drumpty loved that crap - it meant he could continue to be the lazy moron he's always been.
And so far as getting Putin's Bitch to do anything about Vlad's declaration of war.... this is what he was installed to do.
The Russians have been at war with us for the past 10 years. Time to smack them.