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Celerity
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January 12, 2021
The Secret Service indicated Monday that it was investigating an officer who posted comments on Facebook in which she accused lawmakers who formalized Biden’s win of treason and echoed Trump’s conspiracy theories about the rigging of the election.
According to screenshots provided to The Washington Post, the officer posted a meme on Facebook of Trump shaking hands with himself in the Oval Office, titled “Here’s to the Peaceful Transition of Power.” The day after the attack on the Capitol, a comment posted in the officer’s name ridiculed efforts to remove Trump from office and accused lawmakers who were formally accepting the electoral vote of “committing treason on live tv.”
It read in part: “Good morning patriots! Yesterday started out beautiful and as usual Antifa soured the mood and attacked police and an Air Force veteran was murdered…. It’s OFFENSE time finally!!”
In response to a request for comment about the officer’s posts, an agency spokeswoman said: “The U.S. Secret Service carries out its law enforcement mission in an objective and apolitical manner. Any allegation that an employee is not carrying out their duties in that manner will be investigated. As this is a personnel matter, the agency will not be commenting.”
snip
one of her posts
WaPo: Secret Service officer under scrutiny over comments on Facebook accusing lawmakers of treason
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/11/trump-impeachment-biden-transition-live-updates/#link-MI5UQ5SEWVCHFLGSGYUKPHYARUThe Secret Service indicated Monday that it was investigating an officer who posted comments on Facebook in which she accused lawmakers who formalized Biden’s win of treason and echoed Trump’s conspiracy theories about the rigging of the election.
According to screenshots provided to The Washington Post, the officer posted a meme on Facebook of Trump shaking hands with himself in the Oval Office, titled “Here’s to the Peaceful Transition of Power.” The day after the attack on the Capitol, a comment posted in the officer’s name ridiculed efforts to remove Trump from office and accused lawmakers who were formally accepting the electoral vote of “committing treason on live tv.”
It read in part: “Good morning patriots! Yesterday started out beautiful and as usual Antifa soured the mood and attacked police and an Air Force veteran was murdered…. It’s OFFENSE time finally!!”
In response to a request for comment about the officer’s posts, an agency spokeswoman said: “The U.S. Secret Service carries out its law enforcement mission in an objective and apolitical manner. Any allegation that an employee is not carrying out their duties in that manner will be investigated. As this is a personnel matter, the agency will not be commenting.”
snip
one of her posts
January 12, 2021
The very end of Salad Days got chopped. Here is the whole song.
Label:
Dischord Records ?– Dischord 40
Format:
CD, Compilation, $9 From Dischord, Red Cover
Country:
US
Released:
1989
Genre:
Rock
Style:
Hardcore, Punk
Notes:
Single-disc collection of all Minor Threat 7" and 12" releases. First issued in 1989 and repressed several times with varying post-paid prices printed on tray card before being remastered and reissued in 2003. Colour of cover art varies from version to version. Contains original mix of "Out of Step" LP (15-23).
Minor Threat // Complete Discography (FULL ALBUM)
The very end of Salad Days got chopped. Here is the whole song.
Label:
Dischord Records ?– Dischord 40
Format:
CD, Compilation, $9 From Dischord, Red Cover
Country:
US
Released:
1989
Genre:
Rock
Style:
Hardcore, Punk
Notes:
Single-disc collection of all Minor Threat 7" and 12" releases. First issued in 1989 and repressed several times with varying post-paid prices printed on tray card before being remastered and reissued in 2003. Colour of cover art varies from version to version. Contains original mix of "Out of Step" LP (15-23).
January 12, 2021
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/biden-must-look-forward-rest-us-must-contend-past/617625/
The most immediate challenge any new president faces is deciding what not to do. For Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the catastrophes of the past four days have not radically changed the way they should make those choices. One week ago, it was imperative that they mainly look forward, to the public-health, economic, and foreign-affairs emergencies that they are inheriting. That is still their duty and imperative now. But for the rest of the government, and much of society, the barbaric and potentially catastrophic storming of the U.S. Capitol, and the culpability of public and private figures who egged the mob on, demand a response. The response of Congress should be to impeach; that of law enforcement should be to arrest and prosecute every participant who can be identified; and that of civil society should be to ensure that there are consequences for those who chose violence and fascism at a decisive moment in the country’s history. Usually “letting bygones be bygones” is wise advice for individuals and for societies. Not in this case.
In the current issue of The Atlantic, I quote Jack Watson, who was centrally involved in two presidential transitions, on the imbalance between the countless hopes, goals, and ambitions with which any new presidency begins, and the handful of challenges it simply cannot ignore. “You have to separate what must be done, soon, from all the other things you might want to do later in the administration,” Watson said. For this new president and vice president, clearheadedness about this choice is more important, and more difficult, than it was for nearly any of their predecessors. It’s more important because they are moving into a house that’s on fire. They are taking responsibility for a range of emergencies not seen since Franklin D. Roosevelt followed Herbert Hoover in 1933, and exceeded only by what Abraham Lincoln faced in 1861. Just a few items on a very long list are a surging pandemic, a damaged and unsustainably imbalanced economy, and a governing system whose basic principles are under direct attack and whose operational competence has been hollowed out.
And their decisions are harder than for most new administrations, because in addition to looking forward, to all the problems they are now supposed to solve, they must look backward, to reckoning with what Donald Trump and his enablers have done. As I said in the magazine article, “As he prepares to occupy the White House, President-elect Joe Biden faces a decision rare in American history: what to do about the man who has just left office, whose personal corruption, disdain for the Constitution, and destructive mismanagement of the federal government are without precedent.” In that article, which was completed two months ago, just after the election, I set out a triage system for how the Biden-Harris team should make these choices. To boil it down, I argued:
snip
Time for Consequences
President-elect Joe Biden must look forward—but the rest of us must contend with the past.https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/biden-must-look-forward-rest-us-must-contend-past/617625/
The most immediate challenge any new president faces is deciding what not to do. For Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the catastrophes of the past four days have not radically changed the way they should make those choices. One week ago, it was imperative that they mainly look forward, to the public-health, economic, and foreign-affairs emergencies that they are inheriting. That is still their duty and imperative now. But for the rest of the government, and much of society, the barbaric and potentially catastrophic storming of the U.S. Capitol, and the culpability of public and private figures who egged the mob on, demand a response. The response of Congress should be to impeach; that of law enforcement should be to arrest and prosecute every participant who can be identified; and that of civil society should be to ensure that there are consequences for those who chose violence and fascism at a decisive moment in the country’s history. Usually “letting bygones be bygones” is wise advice for individuals and for societies. Not in this case.
In the current issue of The Atlantic, I quote Jack Watson, who was centrally involved in two presidential transitions, on the imbalance between the countless hopes, goals, and ambitions with which any new presidency begins, and the handful of challenges it simply cannot ignore. “You have to separate what must be done, soon, from all the other things you might want to do later in the administration,” Watson said. For this new president and vice president, clearheadedness about this choice is more important, and more difficult, than it was for nearly any of their predecessors. It’s more important because they are moving into a house that’s on fire. They are taking responsibility for a range of emergencies not seen since Franklin D. Roosevelt followed Herbert Hoover in 1933, and exceeded only by what Abraham Lincoln faced in 1861. Just a few items on a very long list are a surging pandemic, a damaged and unsustainably imbalanced economy, and a governing system whose basic principles are under direct attack and whose operational competence has been hollowed out.
And their decisions are harder than for most new administrations, because in addition to looking forward, to all the problems they are now supposed to solve, they must look backward, to reckoning with what Donald Trump and his enablers have done. As I said in the magazine article, “As he prepares to occupy the White House, President-elect Joe Biden faces a decision rare in American history: what to do about the man who has just left office, whose personal corruption, disdain for the Constitution, and destructive mismanagement of the federal government are without precedent.” In that article, which was completed two months ago, just after the election, I set out a triage system for how the Biden-Harris team should make these choices. To boil it down, I argued:
On matters of corruption, they should leave the work to state-government authorities, in New York and elsewhere, who already have investigations under way. And for possible violations of federal law, from ignoring the Hatch Act to impeding the U.S. Postal Service, they should appoint an eminent, independent attorney general, and also inspectors general in the executive-level departments, and leave the rest to them. (I did not name Merrick Garland in this article but had in mind someone like him.) On corrosion of federal competence, from the State Department to the CDC, a new president can and must act directly and immediately. Of the 4,000 political-appointment positions in the executive branch, some 3,000 do not require Senate confirmation. The Biden team can and should get them in place, right away. And because the victories of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia have put the Democrats in control of the Senate, Biden can get the other 1,000 in position without undue delay. On the catastrophes of this era, from pandemic management to the rise of white-supremacist violence, I suggested longer-term responses a new administration could authorize and encourage. These would include the creation of top-level national commissions, on the model of the Kerner Commission on racial justice in the 1960s or the 9/11 Commission after the attacks of 2001, as the least polarizing, most promising ways to deal with white-hot public crises. (For more on what commissions can and cannot do, see the article.)
snip
January 12, 2021
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/these-old-evils-require-old-remedies/617628/
Of all the painful and grotesque images from January 6, the most important was the sight of a bearded man in jeans proudly carrying the flag of treason through the Capitol. It taught us that the evils of that day—which will live in infamy no less than December 7—were old evils. The Confederate battle flag was the symbol of secession, of treason, of chattel slavery, and, in the years after the Civil War, of lies, and grievance, and hate. It is nothing new. We should not be surprised that of the eight senators who, even after the mob assault on the Capitol, voted to overturn a fair election, five hail from the states of the Confederacy and one, the ringleader, from a border state that had to be pinned to the Union with bayonets. It is no surprise that Confederate insignia were in evidence outside the Capitol as well. For that matter, it should be no surprise that a rioter wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the phrase Camp Auschwitz joined the fray. There was a Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden in February 1939, for which 20,000 people showed up.
There is nothing new about violence in the Capitol. On May 22, 1856, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacked Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a stick, beating him mercilessly while Sumner was pinned to his desk. There is nothing new about the kind of man who would do that, because Brooks, who received accolades throughout the South and a veritable forest of canes sent as gifts, backed out of a duel with Representative Anson Burlingame of Massachusetts when he learned that the latter was a good shot. Like the bully boys now trembling at the thought of an FBI knock at the door, he was, at his core, a coward. There was nothing new about self-identified devout Christians and even a few Orthodox Jews showing up for this riot, which included, let us not forget, murder. Ask historians of the Mormon massacres or the bereaved family of Yitzhak Rabin for confirmation. Lord knows, there was absolutely nothing new about the racist invective hurled at Black police officers doing their best to control an angry white mob.
There was nothing new, of course, about Donald Trump’s behaviour: Anyone with eyes could see where his presidency would lead. Many of us said as much. Anyone who paid the slightest attention to his words and behaviour has no excuse for being surprised that he would incite a riot and then retreat to watch it from a barricaded White House. Is he a uniquely incendiary demagogue, though? The United States has had them throughout history: Look up Huey Long and George Wallace if you have doubts. Nor, finally, is there anything surprising about the behaviour of the clever, amply credentialed men who enabled this, who plotted to subvert a fair election, who encouraged the mob right up to the moment that it burst into their chamber and who excused it afterward. Aaron Burr, killer and conspirator, vice president and very nearly president, was no less a very clever man. Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz—products of Stanford, Yale, Princeton, and Harvard—connived at sedition, despite their academic pedigrees. Scruple-trampling ambition will lead people to do that, and always has. After all, Burr was a Princeton graduate too.
If, then, the evils are old, so are the remedies. Begin with the simplest of them all: character, which is, as the proverb has it, destiny. In the sorry tale of the election of 2020 and its aftermath there will be no shortage of heroes, from the police officer who lured the mob away from the Senate chamber to the Trump-appointed judges who scornfully dismissed the groundless lawsuits filed by the modern equivalents of Roy Cohn. Casting should already be under way for the role of Brad Raffensperger, the icy Georgia secretary of state, a committed and (in public at least) humourless Republican, who stared down a deranged president and his henchmen and -women. Jimmy Stewart would have been the right actor, but Tom Hanks will do just fine. It is the character displayed by Mitt Romney, who voted to convict a criminal president, alone among his Republican colleagues. It is even the flicker of righteousness (no more) shown by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a speech that aspired to eloquence in denouncing attempts to overthrow a fair election.
snip
These Old Evils Require Old Remedies
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/these-old-evils-require-old-remedies/617628/
Of all the painful and grotesque images from January 6, the most important was the sight of a bearded man in jeans proudly carrying the flag of treason through the Capitol. It taught us that the evils of that day—which will live in infamy no less than December 7—were old evils. The Confederate battle flag was the symbol of secession, of treason, of chattel slavery, and, in the years after the Civil War, of lies, and grievance, and hate. It is nothing new. We should not be surprised that of the eight senators who, even after the mob assault on the Capitol, voted to overturn a fair election, five hail from the states of the Confederacy and one, the ringleader, from a border state that had to be pinned to the Union with bayonets. It is no surprise that Confederate insignia were in evidence outside the Capitol as well. For that matter, it should be no surprise that a rioter wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the phrase Camp Auschwitz joined the fray. There was a Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden in February 1939, for which 20,000 people showed up.
There is nothing new about violence in the Capitol. On May 22, 1856, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacked Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a stick, beating him mercilessly while Sumner was pinned to his desk. There is nothing new about the kind of man who would do that, because Brooks, who received accolades throughout the South and a veritable forest of canes sent as gifts, backed out of a duel with Representative Anson Burlingame of Massachusetts when he learned that the latter was a good shot. Like the bully boys now trembling at the thought of an FBI knock at the door, he was, at his core, a coward. There was nothing new about self-identified devout Christians and even a few Orthodox Jews showing up for this riot, which included, let us not forget, murder. Ask historians of the Mormon massacres or the bereaved family of Yitzhak Rabin for confirmation. Lord knows, there was absolutely nothing new about the racist invective hurled at Black police officers doing their best to control an angry white mob.
There was nothing new, of course, about Donald Trump’s behaviour: Anyone with eyes could see where his presidency would lead. Many of us said as much. Anyone who paid the slightest attention to his words and behaviour has no excuse for being surprised that he would incite a riot and then retreat to watch it from a barricaded White House. Is he a uniquely incendiary demagogue, though? The United States has had them throughout history: Look up Huey Long and George Wallace if you have doubts. Nor, finally, is there anything surprising about the behaviour of the clever, amply credentialed men who enabled this, who plotted to subvert a fair election, who encouraged the mob right up to the moment that it burst into their chamber and who excused it afterward. Aaron Burr, killer and conspirator, vice president and very nearly president, was no less a very clever man. Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz—products of Stanford, Yale, Princeton, and Harvard—connived at sedition, despite their academic pedigrees. Scruple-trampling ambition will lead people to do that, and always has. After all, Burr was a Princeton graduate too.
If, then, the evils are old, so are the remedies. Begin with the simplest of them all: character, which is, as the proverb has it, destiny. In the sorry tale of the election of 2020 and its aftermath there will be no shortage of heroes, from the police officer who lured the mob away from the Senate chamber to the Trump-appointed judges who scornfully dismissed the groundless lawsuits filed by the modern equivalents of Roy Cohn. Casting should already be under way for the role of Brad Raffensperger, the icy Georgia secretary of state, a committed and (in public at least) humourless Republican, who stared down a deranged president and his henchmen and -women. Jimmy Stewart would have been the right actor, but Tom Hanks will do just fine. It is the character displayed by Mitt Romney, who voted to convict a criminal president, alone among his Republican colleagues. It is even the flicker of righteousness (no more) shown by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a speech that aspired to eloquence in denouncing attempts to overthrow a fair election.
snip
January 11, 2021
The victim, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, in court. Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT
A Swedish court has convicted a Russian citizen of the attempted murder of Tumso Abdurakhmanov, a blogger critical of the regime in Chechnya, alleging high-level backing for the attack. The assault on Tumso Abdurakhmanov took place in his apartment in the Swedish city of Gävle in February 2020, when the accused struck him in the head with a hammer while he was sleeping. After the attack, Abdurakhmanov posted a video showing the assailant, whom he had apparently overpowered, covered in blood. He also brandished the hammer that he said the assailant used to attack him.
The court found that the assailant's co-defendant, who was convicted of being an accessory, abetted the crime by establishing a relationship with Abdurakhmanov over several months, taking pictures of his apartment and then letting the man into the apartment. In the trial the man, now 30, admitted to assault but denied any intention to kill Abdurakhmanov. The 33-year-old woman pleaded not guilty. "The only motive is the one presented by the prosecutor, notably Tumso Abdurakhmanov's criticism against the rulers of Chechnya and the 'blood vendetta' issued by the speaker of the Chechen parliament, Magomed Daudov, against Abdurakhmanov," the court wrote in its ruling. It added that it "was clear that a power with significant financial means was behind" the attack, paying travel expenses and a 60,000 euro ($72,000) fee.
Daudov's comments were posted in a video on social media in March 2019 after Abdurakhmanov criticised Chechnya's former president Akhmat Kadyrov, the father of the current leader. The Gävle district court handed the man a 10-year jail sentence and the woman an eight-year sentence. Both will also be permanently expelled from Sweden after serving their time in prison. A former Chechen separatist turned ardent Kremlin loyalist, Ramzan Kadyrov, 44, is one of Russia's most powerful men. Critics accuse him of creating a fiefdom built on widespread rights abuses and amassing vast personal wealth.
Calling himself President Vladimir Putin's loyal "foot soldier", Kadyrov has branded members of the Russian opposition "jackals" and "enemies of the people". Abdurakhmanov has lived in exile since 2015 after receiving what he describes as threats to his life from Chechnya. According to Swedish media, Abdurakhmanov has been living in hiding in Sweden since 2019, after being denied asylum in Poland. His YouTube channel critical of Kadyrov has around 318,000 subscribers.
Sweden jails Russian over attack on Chechen blogger
https://www.thelocal.se/20210111/sweden-jails-russian-over-attack-on-chechen-bloggerThe victim, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, in court. Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT
A Swedish court has convicted a Russian citizen of the attempted murder of Tumso Abdurakhmanov, a blogger critical of the regime in Chechnya, alleging high-level backing for the attack. The assault on Tumso Abdurakhmanov took place in his apartment in the Swedish city of Gävle in February 2020, when the accused struck him in the head with a hammer while he was sleeping. After the attack, Abdurakhmanov posted a video showing the assailant, whom he had apparently overpowered, covered in blood. He also brandished the hammer that he said the assailant used to attack him.
The court found that the assailant's co-defendant, who was convicted of being an accessory, abetted the crime by establishing a relationship with Abdurakhmanov over several months, taking pictures of his apartment and then letting the man into the apartment. In the trial the man, now 30, admitted to assault but denied any intention to kill Abdurakhmanov. The 33-year-old woman pleaded not guilty. "The only motive is the one presented by the prosecutor, notably Tumso Abdurakhmanov's criticism against the rulers of Chechnya and the 'blood vendetta' issued by the speaker of the Chechen parliament, Magomed Daudov, against Abdurakhmanov," the court wrote in its ruling. It added that it "was clear that a power with significant financial means was behind" the attack, paying travel expenses and a 60,000 euro ($72,000) fee.
Daudov's comments were posted in a video on social media in March 2019 after Abdurakhmanov criticised Chechnya's former president Akhmat Kadyrov, the father of the current leader. The Gävle district court handed the man a 10-year jail sentence and the woman an eight-year sentence. Both will also be permanently expelled from Sweden after serving their time in prison. A former Chechen separatist turned ardent Kremlin loyalist, Ramzan Kadyrov, 44, is one of Russia's most powerful men. Critics accuse him of creating a fiefdom built on widespread rights abuses and amassing vast personal wealth.
Calling himself President Vladimir Putin's loyal "foot soldier", Kadyrov has branded members of the Russian opposition "jackals" and "enemies of the people". Abdurakhmanov has lived in exile since 2015 after receiving what he describes as threats to his life from Chechnya. According to Swedish media, Abdurakhmanov has been living in hiding in Sweden since 2019, after being denied asylum in Poland. His YouTube channel critical of Kadyrov has around 318,000 subscribers.
January 11, 2021
https://thebanter.substack.com/p/cretin-bastille-day
I'm not as angry as I’m calling Cretin Bastille Day. Yes, it was treasonous, hazardous, and in at least six cases and counting, murderous. But I expected a lot more from the Cretin Right, and I have about the lowest expectations and opinion one could have of these people. I've seen more effective storming of edifices on several Black Fridays, in particular one at Target an early morning in November 2014. And at least those guys had a coherent, worthy goal. An iPhone 6 for $29.95 is nothing to shake a stick at. I'm also reminded of a Jets game at Shea my father took me to see in the autumn of 1977. It was a Monday Night Football game, and as expected the post-Namath Jets were being manhandled by the Minnesota Vikings in front of a national audience. Late in the first quarter, as the beer flowed without any sort of modern-era restriction, a drunken fistfight started in the seats on the first base side. The fight metastasized and drifted slowly and inexplicably, so that by mid-fourth quarter about a hundred fans by the right field foul pole were still pounding on each other.
These were basically likable people with some literacy who had just had a bad day, week, season, or decade. The Cretin Bastille Day folks in full view January 6, however, are truly pathetic because on some Neanderthal level they believed they were doing something more important than getting a cheap iPhone or ignoring the inept home football team. Of course, I was embarrassed for my country, yada, yada. But I was more embarrassed for the Cretin Right. When our side protests, we get a million well organized, highly disciplined, relatively peaceful folks who give speeches quoting Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Dr. King. Their side breaks into Nancy Pelosi's office and urinates. Was it just me or were we all watching a lost episode of Duck Dynasty? No disrespect to canines, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen a better example of the dog catching the car. You got in. Now what? Time to legislate reparations for white folks. How about a bill making semi-automatic weapons mandatory for schoolchildren? The Cretin House votes for AR-15s, the Cretin Senate for AK-47s. Well, there’s always reconciliation. Let’s see, what else? Confederate flag replacing Old Glory? Extradite Gretchen Whitmer? Legalize crystal meth? Outlaw paternity tests? Repeal the Bill of Rights except for good ol’ number 2? So much to do, so few redneck interns.
I had such high hopes for all of you. If not for a complete lack of intelligence, Richard Barnett could have headed the House Intelligence Committee. The guy with the horns had my vote for the House Committee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations. And the Camp Auschwitz dude was a seasoned Senate Select Committee on Ethics member if I ever saw one. Obviously you were ripped off. There was no real honeymoon period for the Cretin Congress. No chance to settle in to making moonshine in the men’s room off the Rotunda or shoot venison on the National Mall. Forget the first hundred days. You didn’t get a hundred minutes. Still, you accomplished a lot. In a single frivolous afternoon romp you put the final nail in the coffin of eugenics. Quick question. Did anyone at your last couple of KKK rallies happen to tell you that almost everything you do these days is public? If you disconnect your WiFi, go down in your basement, wrap yourself in thick tarpaulins and masturbate, you might have a shot at a few moments of privacy. As far as stepping outside into the wild blue yonder and into perhaps the most famous government building in the world and taking selfies, not so much. While you may not have fully achieved your strategic objective you did, however, ensure that your great grandchildren will essentially be unemployable.
At this point, I’m not sure you’re playing 5D chess. I’m not even sure you know how to play 2D checkers. I have to ask . . . is that all ya' got? Really? I think next time you should start small. How about a paintball tournament or a panty raid? Work your way up to a Civil War reenactment. Spend some time in the bottom of the bush leagues before you storm the house where the Bushes used to live. I know it will take a long, long time before you can complete a proper sentence and spell "amendment" correctly and by then Donald Trump will be dead, in Saudi Arabia, or both. But there is always the Don Jr. run in 2032. I also have to say I was disappointed not to spot any swastikas. I know, you came damn close, but no cigar. I don't know, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough through the tear gas. As much as I hate the swastika and what it stands for, I think when you come right down to it, it's you! Don't run from it, embrace it. Honor your forebears. And most of all, work on your branding. Finally, I must apologize to the French for the sloppy historical reference. Parisians of the late 18th century were fighting for habeas corpus and against feudalism, while the Cretin Right was hoping to egg Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It's the ironic juxtaposition I was aiming for, but it's late and I have to get up early and start setting up to TiVo the festivities of January 20.
snip
Cretin Bastille Day
The left give speeches quoting Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Dr. King. Their side breaks into Nancy Pelosi's office and urinates.https://thebanter.substack.com/p/cretin-bastille-day
I'm not as angry as I’m calling Cretin Bastille Day. Yes, it was treasonous, hazardous, and in at least six cases and counting, murderous. But I expected a lot more from the Cretin Right, and I have about the lowest expectations and opinion one could have of these people. I've seen more effective storming of edifices on several Black Fridays, in particular one at Target an early morning in November 2014. And at least those guys had a coherent, worthy goal. An iPhone 6 for $29.95 is nothing to shake a stick at. I'm also reminded of a Jets game at Shea my father took me to see in the autumn of 1977. It was a Monday Night Football game, and as expected the post-Namath Jets were being manhandled by the Minnesota Vikings in front of a national audience. Late in the first quarter, as the beer flowed without any sort of modern-era restriction, a drunken fistfight started in the seats on the first base side. The fight metastasized and drifted slowly and inexplicably, so that by mid-fourth quarter about a hundred fans by the right field foul pole were still pounding on each other.
These were basically likable people with some literacy who had just had a bad day, week, season, or decade. The Cretin Bastille Day folks in full view January 6, however, are truly pathetic because on some Neanderthal level they believed they were doing something more important than getting a cheap iPhone or ignoring the inept home football team. Of course, I was embarrassed for my country, yada, yada. But I was more embarrassed for the Cretin Right. When our side protests, we get a million well organized, highly disciplined, relatively peaceful folks who give speeches quoting Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Dr. King. Their side breaks into Nancy Pelosi's office and urinates. Was it just me or were we all watching a lost episode of Duck Dynasty? No disrespect to canines, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen a better example of the dog catching the car. You got in. Now what? Time to legislate reparations for white folks. How about a bill making semi-automatic weapons mandatory for schoolchildren? The Cretin House votes for AR-15s, the Cretin Senate for AK-47s. Well, there’s always reconciliation. Let’s see, what else? Confederate flag replacing Old Glory? Extradite Gretchen Whitmer? Legalize crystal meth? Outlaw paternity tests? Repeal the Bill of Rights except for good ol’ number 2? So much to do, so few redneck interns.
I had such high hopes for all of you. If not for a complete lack of intelligence, Richard Barnett could have headed the House Intelligence Committee. The guy with the horns had my vote for the House Committee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations. And the Camp Auschwitz dude was a seasoned Senate Select Committee on Ethics member if I ever saw one. Obviously you were ripped off. There was no real honeymoon period for the Cretin Congress. No chance to settle in to making moonshine in the men’s room off the Rotunda or shoot venison on the National Mall. Forget the first hundred days. You didn’t get a hundred minutes. Still, you accomplished a lot. In a single frivolous afternoon romp you put the final nail in the coffin of eugenics. Quick question. Did anyone at your last couple of KKK rallies happen to tell you that almost everything you do these days is public? If you disconnect your WiFi, go down in your basement, wrap yourself in thick tarpaulins and masturbate, you might have a shot at a few moments of privacy. As far as stepping outside into the wild blue yonder and into perhaps the most famous government building in the world and taking selfies, not so much. While you may not have fully achieved your strategic objective you did, however, ensure that your great grandchildren will essentially be unemployable.
At this point, I’m not sure you’re playing 5D chess. I’m not even sure you know how to play 2D checkers. I have to ask . . . is that all ya' got? Really? I think next time you should start small. How about a paintball tournament or a panty raid? Work your way up to a Civil War reenactment. Spend some time in the bottom of the bush leagues before you storm the house where the Bushes used to live. I know it will take a long, long time before you can complete a proper sentence and spell "amendment" correctly and by then Donald Trump will be dead, in Saudi Arabia, or both. But there is always the Don Jr. run in 2032. I also have to say I was disappointed not to spot any swastikas. I know, you came damn close, but no cigar. I don't know, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough through the tear gas. As much as I hate the swastika and what it stands for, I think when you come right down to it, it's you! Don't run from it, embrace it. Honor your forebears. And most of all, work on your branding. Finally, I must apologize to the French for the sloppy historical reference. Parisians of the late 18th century were fighting for habeas corpus and against feudalism, while the Cretin Right was hoping to egg Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It's the ironic juxtaposition I was aiming for, but it's late and I have to get up early and start setting up to TiVo the festivities of January 20.
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January 11, 2021
https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7andv/rich-canadians-are-flying-to-florida-in-private-jets-to-get-vaccinated
Rich Canadian snowbirds, people who evade cold winters by living part-time in warmer climates, are flying to Florida to get the COVID-19 vaccine—some even chartering private jets—as Canada’s vaccine campaign continues its slow and confusing rollout. In Florida, everyone over the age of 65, including people without U.S. citizenship, are able to schedule vaccination appointments at no cost. Vaccine demand is so high in Florida that it’s difficult to secure a spot, CTV News reported.
CTV spoke with a couple who paid to get on a private flight, which can cost between $2,500 and $4,000 per seat or tens of thousands of dollars for an entire plane. The couple cited mental health as the main impetus to fly to the U.S. “Instead of waiting here in Canada for God knows how long, I could go down to Florida and get vaccinated,” 65-year-old Ontarian, Jeff Lerner, told the National Post. According to the Post, Lerner and his wife, also 65, are considering travelling to their gated community in Boca Raton, just north of Miami. Similarly, Canadians snowbirds over the age of 65 will be eligible to get vaccinated for free in Arizona in the coming weeks.
Canada’s vaccination timeline is nebulous, with few Canadians, including seniors and many essential workers, knowing when they’ll be eligible to get jabbed in the arm. Experts have repeatedly called on Canada’s federal and provincial governments to speed up the vaccine rollout and to publicize concrete plans. For now, officials are scrambling to figure out how to administer the two-dose vaccines, particularly Pfizer’s, which has to be stored in -70 C. Doctors also say the lack of official communication makes it difficult for Canadians to trust the rollout.
As of Friday, about 248,348 of Canada’s initial 545,250 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered across the country. In Florida, 384,223 people had received at least one of two vaccine doses as of Thursday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly urged snowbirds to stay home. “It is safer for people to stay at home, in Canada,” Trudeau told reporters earlier this week. “I understand that people are still looking at travel but we discourage it strongly.” Trudeau said there won’t be mass repatriation efforts to bring people abroad back home if they become stranded this year. He has also said international travellers who get sick after they return are not eligible for financial subsidies.
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Rich Canadians Are Flying to Florida in Private Jets to Get Vaccinated
A number of well-to-do Canadians who live part-time in the U.S. to evade winter could get vaccinated in Florida and Arizona before teachers and grocery store clerks.https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7andv/rich-canadians-are-flying-to-florida-in-private-jets-to-get-vaccinated
Rich Canadian snowbirds, people who evade cold winters by living part-time in warmer climates, are flying to Florida to get the COVID-19 vaccine—some even chartering private jets—as Canada’s vaccine campaign continues its slow and confusing rollout. In Florida, everyone over the age of 65, including people without U.S. citizenship, are able to schedule vaccination appointments at no cost. Vaccine demand is so high in Florida that it’s difficult to secure a spot, CTV News reported.
CTV spoke with a couple who paid to get on a private flight, which can cost between $2,500 and $4,000 per seat or tens of thousands of dollars for an entire plane. The couple cited mental health as the main impetus to fly to the U.S. “Instead of waiting here in Canada for God knows how long, I could go down to Florida and get vaccinated,” 65-year-old Ontarian, Jeff Lerner, told the National Post. According to the Post, Lerner and his wife, also 65, are considering travelling to their gated community in Boca Raton, just north of Miami. Similarly, Canadians snowbirds over the age of 65 will be eligible to get vaccinated for free in Arizona in the coming weeks.
Canada’s vaccination timeline is nebulous, with few Canadians, including seniors and many essential workers, knowing when they’ll be eligible to get jabbed in the arm. Experts have repeatedly called on Canada’s federal and provincial governments to speed up the vaccine rollout and to publicize concrete plans. For now, officials are scrambling to figure out how to administer the two-dose vaccines, particularly Pfizer’s, which has to be stored in -70 C. Doctors also say the lack of official communication makes it difficult for Canadians to trust the rollout.
As of Friday, about 248,348 of Canada’s initial 545,250 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered across the country. In Florida, 384,223 people had received at least one of two vaccine doses as of Thursday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly urged snowbirds to stay home. “It is safer for people to stay at home, in Canada,” Trudeau told reporters earlier this week. “I understand that people are still looking at travel but we discourage it strongly.” Trudeau said there won’t be mass repatriation efforts to bring people abroad back home if they become stranded this year. He has also said international travellers who get sick after they return are not eligible for financial subsidies.
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January 11, 2021
I so hope the new DoJ starts going after heads of the snake, like these two fuckers
The Mercers (that is Robert and his daughter Rebekah in the pic) are some of the main moneybags behind a shit tonne of white power and Russian-aided shenanigans in the US.
Rebekah is the co-founder of Parler, and daddy, of course was the cash behind Cambridge Analytica.
January 11, 2021
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK/BANGALORE (Reuters) - Marriott International Inc, the world’s largest hotel company, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) said Sunday they will suspend donations to U.S. lawmakers who voted last week against certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. “We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing political giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against certification of the election,” Marriott spokeswoman Connie Kim said, confirming a report in Popular Information, a political newsletter.
BCBSA, the federation of 36 independent companies that provide health care coverage for one in three Americans, said “in light of this week’s violent, shocking assault on the United States Capitol, and the votes of some members of Congress to subvert the results of November’s election by challenging Electoral College results, BCSBA will suspend contributions to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy.” Five people lost their lives, including a police officer, when supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the formal recognition of his election defeat. On Sunday a second Republican U.S. senator urged Trump to resign, saying he could face criminal liability.
JPMorgan Chase said on Sunday that it will pause all contributions from its political action committee for at least the next six months, saying “the focus of business leaders, political leaders, civic leaders right now should be on governing and getting help to those who desperately need it most right now. There will be plenty of time for campaigning later.” Citigroup Inc said in a memo to employees seen by Reuters that it reviewed lawmakers who led the charge against the certification of the Electoral College results and found it gave $1,000 to the campaign of Republican Senator Josh Hawley.
“We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law,” wrote Candi Wolff, head of Citi’s global government affairs. “We intend to pause our contributions during the quarter as the country goes through the Presidential transition and hopefully emerges from these events stronger and more united.” A Walmart Inc spokesman said it conducts a review after every election cycle to “examine and adjust our political giving strategy. As we conduct our review over the coming months we will factor last week’s events into our process.”Other companies, including Ford Motor Co, said they have made no decisions about changes to giving. In a related development, U.S. digital payments company Stripe Inc will stop processing payments for Trump’s campaign website following the riot, a company spokesperson said.
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Marriott, BlueCross suspend donations to U.S. lawmakers who voted against Biden certification
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-corporate/marriott-bluecross-suspend-donations-to-us-lawmakers-who-voted-against-biden-certification-idUSKBN29F0L4WASHINGTON/NEW YORK/BANGALORE (Reuters) - Marriott International Inc, the world’s largest hotel company, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) said Sunday they will suspend donations to U.S. lawmakers who voted last week against certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. “We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing political giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against certification of the election,” Marriott spokeswoman Connie Kim said, confirming a report in Popular Information, a political newsletter.
BCBSA, the federation of 36 independent companies that provide health care coverage for one in three Americans, said “in light of this week’s violent, shocking assault on the United States Capitol, and the votes of some members of Congress to subvert the results of November’s election by challenging Electoral College results, BCSBA will suspend contributions to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy.” Five people lost their lives, including a police officer, when supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the formal recognition of his election defeat. On Sunday a second Republican U.S. senator urged Trump to resign, saying he could face criminal liability.
JPMorgan Chase said on Sunday that it will pause all contributions from its political action committee for at least the next six months, saying “the focus of business leaders, political leaders, civic leaders right now should be on governing and getting help to those who desperately need it most right now. There will be plenty of time for campaigning later.” Citigroup Inc said in a memo to employees seen by Reuters that it reviewed lawmakers who led the charge against the certification of the Electoral College results and found it gave $1,000 to the campaign of Republican Senator Josh Hawley.
“We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law,” wrote Candi Wolff, head of Citi’s global government affairs. “We intend to pause our contributions during the quarter as the country goes through the Presidential transition and hopefully emerges from these events stronger and more united.” A Walmart Inc spokesman said it conducts a review after every election cycle to “examine and adjust our political giving strategy. As we conduct our review over the coming months we will factor last week’s events into our process.”Other companies, including Ford Motor Co, said they have made no decisions about changes to giving. In a related development, U.S. digital payments company Stripe Inc will stop processing payments for Trump’s campaign website following the riot, a company spokesperson said.
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