The Weekly Watch

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Election SNAFU

The acronym is - situation normal, all f***ed up. The oligarchs win regardless of who is president. Max and Stacy declared Fed Chairman Jerome Powell the real winner, and Barron's magazine agrees. However I think Powell is simply an agent of the elite, creating and funneling money ever upward to the oligarchs. They are preparing for a new Bretton Woods and a "Great Reset" to save capitalism. Who will have a seat at the table? Well, the oligarchs at Davos in 2021. Somehow I don't think regular working folks are going to benefit. The writing is on the wall...

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Chris nails it yet again...

Well, it’s over. Not the election. The capitalist democracy. However biased it was towards the interests of the rich and however hostile it was to the poor and minorities, the capitalist democracy at least offered the possibility of incremental and piecemeal reform. Now it is a corpse. The iconography and rhetoric remain the same. But it is an elaborate and empty reality show funded by the ruling oligarchs — $1.51 billion for the Biden campaign and $1.57 billion for the Trump campaign — to make us think there are choices. There are not. The empty jousting between a bloviating Trump and a verbally impaired Joe Biden is designed to mask the truth. The oligarchs always win. The people always lose. It does not matter who sits in the White House. America is a failed state.

(worth the full read)
https://scheerpost.com/2020/11/05/chris-hedges-american-requiem/

Jimmy also describes the dilemma well in this 7 min clip...

Jimmy also spoke with Nick Brana this week about the plans for a "People's Party"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjdE-0zcDXg (28 min)

Trader Gregory Mannarinno also sees the Fed as the big winner in this epic 10 min rant...
but you'll get the message about the Fed in 5 min.

Rick Wolff suggest the $14 billion spent on the election would have been better spent helping people. Kind of a no brainer really.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5FNqYpfBPM (5 min)

Rick also discusses California's prop 22 to call gig workers independent contractors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WQTio1744Q (6 min)

Chris at Peak Prosperity had a good summary of US election blues...(18 min)

Paul Jay has a new site https://theanalysis.news/. He has recently interviewed several interesting folks about our current situation. He provides clips and transcripts.
Thomas Frank
Larry Wilkerson
Gerald Horne
Abby Martin was interviewed twice.
Michael Hudson
And many others. Pick and choose your favorites.

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The Illusion of Democracy

Of course the US only promotes the illusion of democracy...and has for a long time.

A study from Princeton and Northwestern Universities has found that the United States’ government more closely resembles an Oligarchy or a Corporatocracy than a Republic or Democracy.
...
The study concludes with the following statement:
“We believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.”
...
Interestingly enough the researchers also mention critics who believe the elite themselves created the Constitution to take away freedoms from the average citizen. “Analyses of U.S. politics centered on economic elites go back at least to Charles Beard, who maintained that a chief aim of the framers of the U.S. Constitution was to protect private property, favoring the economic interests of wealthy merchants and plantation owners rather than the interests of the then-majority small farmers, laborers, and craft workers.”

https://truthinmedia.com/princeton-study-declares-u-s-government-an-olig...

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The illusion of democracy is maintained through elections. However, our elections have been largely kabuki theater for years as well. Consider Gore, Kerry, and Bernie all cheated and all remaining silent about the hoax.

Gore conceded to Bush, in a speech full of high-minded rhetoric about “the law” and how his surrender could “point us all to a new common ground.” Bush officially won Florida by 537 votes and the Electoral College by 271-266 and went on to become one of the most catastrophic presidents in U.S. history.

A year later, in November 2001, the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago announced the results of an examination of all 170,000 undervotes and overvotes.

NORC found that with a full statewide hand recount, Gore would have won Florida under every possible vote standard. Depending on which standard was used, his margin of victory would have varied from 60 to 171 votes.

The recount was paid for by a consortium of news outlets — CNN, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Tribune Company, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, the St. Petersburg Times, and the Palm Beach Post. But this was just two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The outlets patriotically buried the blockbuster news that George W. Bush was not the legitimate president of the United States.

https://theintercept.com/2018/11/10/democrats-should-remember-al-gore-wo...

Then Kerry was cheated in 2004...

The reports were especially disturbing in Ohio, the critical battleground state that clinched Bush's victory in the electoral college. Officials there purged tens of thousands of eligible voters from the rolls, neglected to process registration cards generated by Democratic voter drives, shortchanged Democratic precincts when they allocated voting machines and illegally derailed a recount that could have given Kerry the presidency. A precinct in an evangelical church in Miami County recorded an impossibly high turnout of ninety-eight percent, while a polling place in inner-city Cleveland recorded an equally impossible turnout of only seven percent. In Warren County, GOP election officials even invented a nonexistent terrorist threat to bar the media from monitoring the official vote count.

There were many other tricks played in that election...
https://www.commondreams.org/views06/0601-34.htm

Not to mention the democratic manipulation to stop Bernie in both 2016 and 2020.

It only took four years but history is repeating itself. Bernie is getting burned, and just like before, he is taking it lying down.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/03/06/bernie-sanders-is-getting-burned...

However instead of calling attention to the corrupt nature of US elections everyone is distracted into the tar baby of Russiagate and other distractions. How convenient!

Using Democracy to Create Coups...
Our own failed elections have not stopped the US from creating coups in the name of election failure elsewhere. The cases are too numerous to completely cover, but a few which should come to mind include Iran in 1953 shortly after the creation of the CIA.

On Aug. 19, 2013, the CIA publicly admitted for the first time its involvement in the 1953 coup against Iran's elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690363402/how-the-cia-overthrew-irans-dem...

More recently in Venezuela and Bolivia. In both cases we install presidents that we have chosen for them (how's that for democracy?). Fortunately, Maduro holds on to power and the MAS party just won by a landslide in Bolivia.

Quite simply the US is a failed state... (4 min)

Just look at the spread of the pandemic here and globally. We've mismanaged this virus from the get-go. In this coming holiday season I predict more spread. Somehow we can't seem to behave properly. We want things back to "normal" so badly we mix and mingle as though there is no virus in the community. Deaths are finally following the case trend and increasing also. The US had been holding pretty steady at 1000 death per day. We're at about 1600 a day now. Check out the cases and deaths in your state with this new option on the John Hopkins site... https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/state-timeline/new-deaths/alabama/0

There are however pockets of success in the US. Consider this small commune in California
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVFZmaT4vIE (21 min)

In 1953 Jack Kerouac stayed here for part of the spring, but when Sara McEre bought the former 19th-century boarding house in San Luis Obispo (CA), it was rundown. Instead of converting it to apartments for a profit, she turned it into a communal living residence for 19 like-minded individuals. Having lost her 19-year-old son she had lost 3 months prior, she wanted to create the kind of place he would have liked, with the people she liked.

Today, “The Establishment” is one of the country’s longest-running coliving sites. With 4 refrigerators, two stoves, 19 bedrooms (many with private sinks), a living room, a porch, a vegetable garden, 4 bathrooms, and one outdoor bathtub/shower, there is plenty to be shared, including cleanup (the chores board assigns a weekly task to each resident).

It’s run as a democracy- new members are voted in- and while there is no bigger philosophy behind the place, everyone strives to live in community. While each resident has their own fridge and pantry space and cooks their own food, often meals are shared (usually around a themed dinner). To stimulate conversation and bonding, cell phone use is forbidden in the communal areas and board games are plentiful and well used.

I think the young farmer movement is a US (and global) success as well.

Here's an appropriate song for the next clip/story

Bobby Tucker uses pigs to clear forest and create a disturbance. This land is being prepared for future silvopasture to graze sheep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o53nJsHvmVo (21 min)

Later I learned this tune of the same name...which we often play for dances

And so in closing, we have a president elect in Bye-done. Will he be less damaging than Trumpolini? Time will tell. I'm willing to bet the big message is going to be how well the system works and great the US election system is. I think I've provided ample evidence today to refute that notion, but if you tell the American people a lie often enough they will believe. The Georgia county where I spend a good bit of time went 80% for Trump. I often hear comments like, "He's done so much for us.", and I wonder what has he done for you. It isn't any better on the other side. My urban friends often tell me what a good president Obummer was. I remind them that he bailed out the banks and foreclosed on homeowners; accepted his peace prize by declaring a troop increase in Afghanistan; approved more drilling in the gulf as deep water horizon was spewing oil; he was fracker in chief and drone killer in chief; and so on...you know the drill. My point is both sides are deluded with the illusion of greatness while really being subjected to a corporate oligarchy in a neofuedal system. However, there are oasis of sanity much like I suspect existed during the middle ages...Pockets of creative and productive people. I think this c99 community is an example of one of those pockets. If you can spare a little money, I'm sure JtC could use our support. I'm mailing him a bit in this season of Thanksgiving, and encourage you to do the same if you are able. I wish you all a lovely Sunday and week as we move onward.

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Comments

On that JtC donation thing. I mailed a check, it came back as unable to forward. Sent JtC a PM, never heard back. Joe S mentioned he had moved. Still have the check in my drawer. If you know anything, please share.

Thanks!

slinkachu-5-1024x1536.jpg

Slinkachu via Colossal

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

And I'll get back to you on the address issue.

I hope you had a nice day on the water yesterday. Been lovely fall weather here.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

absolutely beautiful here as well.

be safe!

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

Appears to be beer friendly like this one...
drinking mask.jpg

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

but interesting still

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call it Irish Wink

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

https://monster.fandom.com/wiki/Mothra

or at least this local moth
071.jpg

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

thanks for your help
found him in east Tejas.
The show goes on...

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suck, don't blow!

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earthling1's picture

@Lookout
regarding the check donations. I have JtC on automatic bill pay w/ check. Don't know if any have come back but will call Monday.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

mimi's picture

@QMS
This sounds not good to me. I can only male a check from a German bank and had so far never done so. Everything else is messed up for me. I can't re-open a US-based paypal account from Germany and unfortunately had closed the old one I had a while ago. I could not handle the automatic withdrawals I had set up years ago for donations. Closing the paypal account seemed to have been the only way to stop automatic donations.

Well, I hope he is ok, not sick and everything will work out.

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Lookout's picture

@mimi

Hope you're doing well. I think you're better off there than here. At least you have decent health care, transportation, and social support systems. Here we have villages of homeless folks under bridges and in tents...it is an in tents situation.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Dawn's Meta's picture

@mimi Transferwise and like there services a lot. Not sure about small amounts or recurring payments. But as a bank to bank broker they work really well. Read lots of reviews then tried them and have been using them for quite awhile with good success.

It's hard to work from the US. We had to have a US bank for my state higher ed pension as they don't direct deposit overseas. Only four US/international banks were available. We went to Citi eventually, but they were all not great corporate players.

Luckily SSec is direct deposit to our bank here in France.

I think we do use PayPal for our monthly regular withdrawals for JtC.

Hopefully others will find a way also. Good idea. And way to pay back.

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

mimi's picture

@Dawn's Meta
and will keep it, which I can manage from everywhere in the world. It was just recently that I couldn't access it anymore. The security measurements are horrific. To make it short, I think the difficulties I have are more with my own stupidity than anything else. I am working to reestablish the set-ups I had. "We can do it" says mommy Merkel, so I will. Smile

Have a good time over in France. Over in HI the trumpististas seem to have dissolve into thin air. And guess what, I am happy about it. Let's hope they don"t come back out of the bushes. Smile

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enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS

just a thought.

be well and have a good one,

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Just had a fairly major earth quake here in New England.
WTF???

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

Appears to be in MA about 17 min ago
https://earthquaketrack.com/quakes/2020-11-08-14-10-07-utc-4-0-15

NE quake.png

We get them here too.

Edit to add...
As the sea floor spreads in the Atlantic the stress is relieved with quakes.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

4.2 magnitude about 20 miles east of us.
Neighbors all streaming out of their houses
looking in their basements. Lasted about a minute.
Large ground rumbling. Not very common in these parts.
As long as it wasn't a trump hissy fit, it's OK.

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

Early in the AM. I thought a tree had fallen on the house, but it kept shaking and it slowly dawned on me that it was an earthquake.

hope you experienced no damage. Some people had the house foundation cracked and stuff fell off shelves and such....but nothing major. Hope the same is true for you!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@QMS
I wouldn't be surprised to find fracking in New England.
Seriously, Atlantic Ocean warming could impose all sorts of pressure on adjacent plates.
Weren't the Appalachians formed by plate tectonics?

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness

No structural damage that I can find.
Our foundation is about 170 years old
dry stacked stone. The ground shake
was quite impressive. And I thought my
nerve shakes were bad... Wink

good luck!

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Lookout's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

creating dense basalt material which eventually collides with continents and creates mountains along subduction boundaries.
spreading center.jpg

The Appalachians are also related to the Atlas mountains in Africa due to the continental collision of N. American and African plates millions of years ago. They were at that time the size of the Himalaya. It shows how much they have eroded to become the gentle mountains they are today...testifying to their age as well.

Years of teaching earth science you know....

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS
A little rock and roll is good for the soul.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Azazello's picture

The Orange Man will soon be gone.
This is a good thing.
I'm glad he was removed by an election and not a CIA coup d'etat.
Thanks for another edition of the Weekly Watch.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Lookout's picture

@Azazello

And the accurate difference between the parties.

I just hope people don't go back to sleep.

Have a good day!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Azazello

I'm glad he was removed by an election and not a CIA coup d'etat.

All that finding of mystery ballots overwhelmingly Biden?

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Lookout's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

Truly, the assassination of John F. Kennedy was so much bigger than anyone realized in that moment of history. In fact, it continues to loom as a hugely dark shadow over the American Republic. It was Jim Garrison, the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, who conducted the only prosecution related to the assassination of JFK, who once said that the American people were obligated to determine the truth about the state-sponsored murder of JFK. He likewise asserted that justice must be served if the nation was to survive as a viable democracy and constitutional republic. He was fully aware that an audacious coup d’état had taken place on the streets of Dallas on 11/22/63.

http://themillenniumreport.com/2017/10/why-the-cia-assassinated-jfk-and-...

I think it represents the true death of democracy in the US.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

in some govt. basement for an eternity
so as to disprove the 'one shot' conclusion
perhaps we would not be as skeptical about the
official report. CIA got exposed and we are not to
become enlightened. Peeps cannot be trusted with truth.

otherwise... be safe!

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enhydra lutris's picture

@Azazello

Wonderful.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

mimi's picture

He is cute, smart, consistent and brave.

If I hadn't such a chaotic life I would know when I actually met him in person when he was not yet known to the common mamas. I would guess it was around 2014.

I offer to be a people's party representative over here, just a little younger girl would be better. /s Wink

Sigh, thanks for your Weekly Watch. A breathing collection of sanity.

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Lookout's picture

@mimi

I'm trying to help here in Alabama...where waist are wide and minds are narrow.

AL went for Trump 65% to 35% ByeDone. It would take lots of re-education here to have much impact. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

mimi's picture

Jared Kushner has approached Trump about conceding 2020 election
Or will 'Dad' just do this (when I first saw this Mr. Fish cartoon on Hedges article at sheerpost, I thought that's a bit too far, but now ... I misbehave...
Let it end - Fish CArtoon.jpg

I hope he convinces his father in law to resign. Trump could still go deliberately.

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Anja Geitz's picture

Thanks Lookout for the post election OT. Agree with your take on the political scene and would like to add that California’s Prop 22 was a train wreck for workers rights from start to finish. Not only the $200 million that was spent by Uber & Lyft to get it passed, but the unethical tactics used internally by both companies to get management to cheerlead on behalf of their employers interests was a perfect example of how big business intimidation works. Or as one Uber manager said, “pushing back against Prop 22 inside the company was like trying to stop a bullet."

On the national scene, as people danced in the streets yesterday after Trump’s loss, and pundits quickly rushed in to incorrectly attribute that to an enthusiasm of Biden’s Presidency, I marveled at yet another election where the process was anything but confidence inspiring. Like 2016, I believe both sides attempted to manipulate the votes again from either voter suppression to out right rigging and flipping votes, but unlike the results of 2016, the Dems either learned from their mistakes, or just got damn lucky.

My perverse curiosity peaked, I can’t help but wonder what kind of conversations are going on in the White House right about now. Being the petulant arrogant asshole Trump is, I can’t imagine losing in this way, where he knows he got outmatched by the other side, is anything less than galling for him. Rumors abound that he’ll make another go at it in 2024, but that seems like a long time to hold a grudge. Still, Trump did carry the humiliation Obama served him at the White House Correspondence Dinner back in 2011 and turned that grudge into his 2016 Presidential run. Either way, the entire spectacle reminds me of some Machiavellian blood sport between two mafioso-like power structures. That anyone can look at our electoral process as any other than that, bewilders me.

Alice Walker had it right, “ Those in power must spend a lot of their time laughing at us.”

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Lookout's picture

@Anja Geitz

that he will create a new TV channel/show ... Trump TV which will continue the rhetoric. Sadly we will not be rid of the Trumpster.

We'll see.

Glad you came by and thanks for the insightful comment.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Anja Geitz's picture

@Lookout

about the nature of our politics and the Lincoln Project..

~
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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Lookout's picture

@Anja Geitz

The democrats became republicans and the republicans became fascists.

There is no party for progressives unless the peoples party manages to get off the floor.

Thanks for the tweets.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Anja Geitz's picture

@Lookout

That rumor I can actually see happening.

And yes, I think you're right. We haven't heard the last of Trump. Not by a long shot. He can make a lot of money from his devoted following.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Lookout's picture

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

They say we have a Democracy, and they say it works slow (just ask any people of color about that). So, that being the case, I should be BIDEN my time and not making bad jokes, at least for 100 days. Shortly before the election folks were talking about their plans for the first 100 days. How did that become magic, 3 & 1/3 months, 27% of one year? I actually remember. It was an unwritten rule of the US press culture to allow an incoming administration 100 days to get their shit together before getting on their case. That hasn't been true for some time now, so the pretense that it somehow matters is somewhat silly now.

I'm so glad that "Joe who loves everybody"(tm) will be a "Uniter not a Divider". The last guy to non-ironically make that claim was such a wonderful person and terrific President I think that it's great that Biden is already seeking to emulate him.

And Kamala, what can one say? Is this now a thing?
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/20/hillary-clinton-as-ladi...

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/31/was-melania-trumps-white-state-of...

Well, tempus is either fugiting or fidgeting, but either way I have chores to do, just like yesterday, oh wait, "Just Like Yesterday"? hello earworm. Let us welcome in the New Biden(tm) --

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Lookout's picture

@enhydra lutris

I'm Biden my time too....Waiting to see what horrors will be perpetrated upon the people.

Sure am glad the Trump is de-throned anyway....despite the impending problems. We continue to have much to do. COVID, the economy, endless wars, climate chaos and so on. Won't be easy even if we were to try to adapt. We'll see what we'll see. I gave Trump a chance hoping for diminished war...all to no avail.

Have a good day and all the best with your chores. I've got to pull the cap off the truck and prepare for a load of manure tomorrow. Rigged a winch to make the cap removal an easier chore.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@Lookout

Won't be easy even if we were to try to adapt.

Did you notice the claim that the US has never failed at anything we've tried to do? That must mean that we've never tried to have peace, or allowing small foreign nations the right of self determination, or true democracy at home, or ending institutional racism, or an equitable distribution of the fruits of our labors, or ....

Good luck with the truck prep.

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11 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Lookout's picture

@enhydra lutris

That must mean that we've never tried to have peace, or allowing small foreign nations the right of self determination, or true democracy at home, or ending institutional racism, or an equitable distribution of the fruits of our labors, or ....

Lee Camp had a piece on our failed coups which I should have included...(8 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwsV6paKobg]

All the best!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

usefewersyllables's picture

@enhydra lutris

I had to drop in my absolute favorite version of "Won't get Fooled Again", done acoustically by Pete Townshend and (inexplicably) John Williams from "The Secret Policeman's Ball", 1979. It is worth it just for his delivery of "the hypnotized never lie"...

[video::https://vimeo.com/396346155]

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

snoopydawg's picture

LeBron James: "We can return to the White House"

Groan. The biggest difference between Obama/Trump policies were on the surface. Other than that America's brutal exceptionalism continued unabated and will continue in that or even worse vein with Biden's foreign policies and that fact that he is getting the BUSH/PNAC band back together including listening to Dick Effing Cheney on foreign policy.

With everything that Trump has done anyone running against him should have wiped the floor, but Biden barely squeaked out a win:

Joe Biden
290
50.6%
75,198,127

Donald Trump
214
47.7%
70,804,457

The media has been stressing for a month that the election would show Trump winning at first, but then Biden would win late because of mail in ballots. Sure. They said that. Was it a setup for how this would go, or did it really go that way? Who knows?

Biden's win in Pennsylvania was a dramatic, though not unexpected, turn after Trump jumped out to an early Election Day lead of 675,000 votes and prematurely declared he had won the state.

By Saturday afternoon, Biden's lead in the state had climbed to over 34,000 votes, an edge over Trump of 0.51 percentage points that placed him outside the margin for a mandatory recount.

PA might still go to the SC because Pence has issued an order to separate the ballots that came in after 8pm on election night. He stated that only the legislator can decide election rules, not the state SC.

There will be a lawsuit, no doubt; and it will involve a lot of votes being thrown out. The plaintiff (Trump and/or the Republicans) will win, because Pennsylvania’s highest court has almost certainly violated the Constitution of the United States. That’s why, in the weeks ahead, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is going to rule in favor of Trump.

In 2019, the PA legislature passed a law called Act 77 that permitted all voters to cast their ballots by mail but (in Justice Alito’s words) “unambiguously required that all mailed ballots be received by 8 p.m. on election day.” The exact text is 2019 Pa. Leg. Serv. Act 2019-77, which stated: “No absentee ballot under this subsection shall be counted which is received in the office of the county board of elections later than eight o'clock P.M. on the day of the primary or election.” I agree with Justice Alito: That is unambiguous.

To again put this into common English, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a law that said mail-in ballots had to arrive by 8PM on election day to be counted, and then said that if the Court over-ruled that law, the entire law that permitted mail-in ballots was invalid.

There is a strong likelihood that the State Supreme Court decision violates the Federal Constitution. Justice Alito writes: The provisions of the Federal Constitution conferring on state legislatures, not state courts, the authority to make rules governing federal elections would be meaningless if a state court could override the rules adopted by the legislature simply by claiming that a state constitutional provision gave the courts the authority to make whatever rules it thought appropriate for the conduct of a fair election.”

That is a big number to overcome don't you think? I'm only saying this because we have been spoon fed a narrative that this election will see something totally different from other elections. Fact or fiction?

This Election Tracker site shows just how close the vote was in key states that Biden won and in some it was less than 1/2 percentage.

Biden won, the nation can now heal

KSL did a story on Kamala and the comments were full of people saying that fracking will be banned on day one, late term abortions will rise, taxes are going to go up and socialism is coming to America on 1/21/2020. I do some times wonder if people should have to take a test to vote. Kidding, but people really are misinformed. Meanwhile centrist democrats are beating the holy hell out of the left because they think they cost their elections. No you dummies, it was your centrist policies that people rejected. Might as vote for the one saying they are R's over the one that has the same policies but calls themselves D's.

Actually, it was a group of Bernie bros who plotted to kidnap the MI governor.

SLC is in a huge COVID outbreak and yesterday Biden/Trump supporters were together protesting. Biden folks wore masks. Most Trump folks did not. The governor was in an emergency meeting trying to decide how to get a handle on the numbers. Ummm that might have been a place to start.

Biden:

"The people of this nation have spoken. They have delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory," Biden told cheering supporters in a parking lot during his victory speech.

"This is the time to heal in America."

Harris:

"What a testament it is to Joe's character that he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country, and select a woman as his vice president," Harris said.

So world leaders, what do you think of the true face of America's famed democracy that it thinks has a right to spread to anyone they want? Is this really who you think America is? A shining face on the hill? It is not. It has never been. This election will never be settled in some people's minds:

"I think it's rigged."

Biden's win ends Trump's chaotic four-year presidency in which he played down a deadly pandemic, imposed harsh immigration policies, launched a trade war with China, tore up international agreements and deeply divided many American families with his inflammatory rhetoric, lies and willingness to abandon democratic norms.

Not really. Trump showed the world who America really is. Biden will just try to cover that up again. Biden barely won his home state Pennsylvania: 3,355,387/3,314,164

What a great day for this country. Time for the adults to be in charge again.

BTW what happened to Russia Russia Russia this election? Did Putin decide that Trump was just to much trouble to waste any effort in interfering with the election? Why did Biden/democrats not bring up Trump's impeachment? And just what will Pelosi do now with her store of Dry Powder that she has been keeping since 2006?

Trump got 7 million more people to vote for him this year than in 2016. Both candidates received the most votes ever. Heh... Trump beat Obama's numbers from 2008 by almost a million votes.

At least I can sleep at night now.

Maybe if people looked at what our war machine is doing to many countries they wouldn't sleep so well.

Capture.PNG

Comments became a huge pie fight if interested. From 2017. Not as bad as when he said that Kentucky's coal miners deserved to lose their health care. The loving left that includes misinformed Trumpers? Okay then.

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9 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

Don't go back to sleep

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth
across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.

None the less shedding Trump like a bad case of fleas is all the rage....and now they will go back to sleep.

I hesitate to predict what happens, but my money is on continued war, coups, fracking, environmental destruction, funneling money to the 0.1%, and endless bickering.

Thanks for your informative comment!

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13 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

mimi's picture

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3 users have voted.
magiamma's picture

Started to leave a comment three times and got interrupted. Crazy times. I am glad to see the backside of a fascist racist chaos-maker. Not comfy with whats comin’. Nice words. Do not trust them. I’m thinking that the exponential curve is getting pretty steep. Could cause some surprises.

When the ice melts, the mantle rises and the plates shift. Could be related to your earthquakes. Greenland and all, right? It’s a big ball we are riding on. Bioswale has a gopher and the gopher likes kurapia. Ngrrr. Getting right cold here. Just heard a coyote not far away. Saw one this morning walking on the streets about four blocks from here. Lots of cats and small dogs to eat. It’s a first. Must be hungry. Saw one yesterday up in the pogonip but they live there. Hope all is well on your homestead. Take good care. And thanks for all the links and good cheer.

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4 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Lookout's picture

@magiamma

With a single electric strand of fencing Don't know a trick for gophers. They make traps for them. We have to cage all our young trees or deer will eat them in winter.

You are correct, when ecosystem collapse accelerates it will become the issue it should be now...hell, yesterday.

We have yet another hurricane stirring around the gulf headed who knows where ... models look like a plate of spaghetti. We're due our first real rain of Nov. on Wed. Going to get a truck load of manure today (Monday), and spread it on the fallow beds tomorrow.

Well, best of luck with your swale, and have a great week!

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3 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Hi Lookout, hi all. I want to celebrate the election but instead holding my dry powder in a quiver until the dirty deeds are all done, there is all of November and December ratings to exploit. So many page views, so little time. Maybe by December 13th all the court decisions will be decided and the Big Club will vote 290 Joe Biden. The Winner. Then it's Trump.TV against the world I guess. Ear filters essential.

Slow clap. The show must go on.

Licensed to YouTube by UMG (on behalf of Island Mercury); CMRRA, Warner Chappell, LatinAutorPerf, BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., LatinAutor - Warner Chappell, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA - UBEM, PEDL, and 12 Music Rights Societies

Bla bla bla, c'mon man! This song is fifty years old. All I want to know is can mimi see it? LOL maybe I should ask the Vice-President elect's spouse? Oh no, don't go, too soon sports fan.

Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - Steam - 1969
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZkYGcz1DgI width:500]
Uploader comment wins me:

Tired Of One Of My Favorite Rock Songs Being Represented By One Picture Videos. Please. This Song Deserves Better. Give Me Some Funky Pictures. The Guys In The Steam Room Didn't Even Play On The Record. What A Smash.Always Has It. How Could They Think This Was Junk? Thank Goodness The 1969 Brilliant Radio D.J's Thought Different. What A Masterpiece. I Would Have Told Them They Had A Smash. Timeless. Thanks Paul Leka And The Singer Mr. De Carlo And Whoever Is Playing Those Funky Drums And Xylophone.

Right on
Gratitude
Peace and Love

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3 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

@eyo

...but I don't think the fat lady has sung yet. Imagine if the courts overturn PA or some such trick. Heads would explode.

Thanks for the clip...wasn't familiar with it.

Hope all is well in your scene and you have a nice week. All the best!

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5 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

TheOtherMaven's picture

@Lookout

because the margins are just too tight and there are too many uncounted (or un-recounted) votes out there.

Suits me if it turns out to be a total squeaker (like, a two electoral vote margin). Both candidates sucked royally and neither deserves to be president.

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4 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Lookout's picture

@TheOtherMaven

Trump has appointed many judges...don't count him out just yet. Though I must admit the way the spin goes, Biden is gonna be prez. Momentum is a powerful force.

All the best. Thanks for the visit.

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1 user has voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

by "side"

Being the petulant arrogant asshole Trump is, I can’t imagine losing in this way, where he knows he got outmatched by the other side, is anything less than galling for him.

The Harris/Biden "side" is pathetic - without a massive fix being in they could no more beat Trump than they could have won the Dem nomination. Trump's real opposition (and yours) is the Deep State - and although he and his supporters (and those who are not supporters but are ethical enough to demand free and fair and fraud-free elections) are in for a hell of a fight, it is premature, to say the least that he has lost.

Prepare to become acquainted with the 'The Hammer' and 'Scorecard' and the possibility of this being decided in the House.

A number of the swing states where results are being contested have Republican majorities in their legislatures and there are a number of possible outcomes there if they decline to accept the state SOS' certification of the election outcome.

And what if investigation reveals that there was such chaos and suspicious activity that it is effectively impossible to determine who legitimately won? A legislature could what? Divide the electors between parties? Decline to confirm any?

Also, just for added possible complications, it looks like the required (for submitting a states electors' vote to congress) Certificate of Ascertainment may require the state's governor's signature - what happens if she/he won't sign off on the SOS's claim that the votes of the state electors (qualified voters of the state) have been "duly canvassed"...?

Recounts will be demanded and large numbers of ballots challenged in GA, PA, NV, MI, WI and maybe AZ. If Trump gets PA, NC, GA and AK Biden still wins 270 to 268. Anything beyond that, though...

the-electoral-college-electors.png

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0 users have voted.