[ Posted Friday, December 11th, 2020 – 18:10 UTC ]
President Donald Trump, as we all know full well by now, has truly become the thing he hates the most: a total loser.
He's lost the 2020 election so many times, it's hard to keep track of them all. First, he lost when all the votes were counted. Then he lost after he demanded they recount the votes. Then he lost when all the states certified their results. Then he lost when all the states named their electors to the Electoral College. Monday, he's going to lose the biggest one yet, as the Electoral College votes 306-232 for Joe Biden.
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[ Posted Wednesday, December 9th, 2020 – 16:19 UTC ]
President-Elect Joe Biden has been making lots of news with his slow rollout of nominees for various cabinet choices, top advisors, czars, and agency heads. So far, Team Biden has taken a very systematic approach, choosing one or two main areas each week (such as pandemic response or the economy), and then rolling out entire teams of top advisors all at once. This helps the media and the public keep their focus on individual areas of responsibility, and as a result it gives all the Biden picks lots of good press (for being so gradual and comprehensible).
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[ Posted Tuesday, December 8th, 2020 – 16:02 UTC ]
That title can be read in one of two ways. The first is more poetic, based on the old "de Nile ain't just a river in Egypt" joke. As a river ends, it empties into the sea through a large delta. Or it can be read the way math and science uses the term. "Delta" (Δ) is the Greek letter used to signify "change in" (a rocket scientist talks about "delta-vee" instead of "change in velocity," for instance). Either way, though it signifies that the rampant denial in the Republican Party right now is soon going to have to change, and that that day is rapidly approaching.
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[ Posted Friday, December 4th, 2020 – 17:07 UTC ]
That headline is meant as a joke, because the much-more-typical headline of its type (that lazy political writers love to use) is: "Democrats In Disarray." But this week the Trump circus is finally beginning to realize that it's almost time to fold its tents and leave town, and the result has been the party beginning to eat its own, as it tries to figure out how to cope with the looming post-Trump era.
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[ Posted Thursday, December 3rd, 2020 – 16:30 UTC ]
I tried, really I did. I sat down to watch President Donald Trump's new 46-minute-long video in full. But I just couldn't do it. I made it about 15 minutes in, and then just had to skip ahead to the last 10 minutes, to see the big finish.
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[ Posted Wednesday, December 2nd, 2020 – 16:33 UTC ]
Today was a notable day for Democrats, because for the first time in almost 58 years, the state of Arizona now has two Democratic senators. Senator Mark Kelly -- astronaut and husband to Gabby Giffords -- was sworn in today, since the election he just won was a special election (meaning he didn't have to wait until January to take his oath). And I for one would like to thank outgoing seat-warmer Martha McSally for personally making this possible.
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[ Posted Tuesday, December 1st, 2020 – 16:48 UTC ]
There's a Senate leadership battle going on in the Democratic caucus right now, but there's also a bigger issue at stake than just who gets to lead Democrats on the Judiciary Committee next year. The bigger reform Senate Democrats are now considering is whether they should adopt new rules to fundamentally change their leadership structure, to lessen the weight of seniority in office.
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[ Posted Wednesday, November 25th, 2020 – 16:06 UTC ]
Since it's Thanksgiving-eve (or, at least, Thanksgiving-afternoon-before), I thought the most appropriate thing to write about today would be all the things I am thankful for. So here's my list of things which -- even after the most bizarre year anyone alive has ever seen in America -- I am still very thankful for, in no particular order.
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[ Posted Monday, November 23rd, 2020 – 17:22 UTC ]
I spent some time today watching the end of the Michigan State Board of Canvassers meeting on television. Now, I'm a pretty wonky guy when it comes to politics, but even I never thought I would ever spend any of my time watching a state elections board perform their rather mundane duties. Over the years, I've watched more congressional hearings than I can count, but not since the year 2000 has anyone paid such close attention to the nuts-and-bolts inner workings of how votes are counted and certified in this country. And I certainly wasn't the only one watching -- the streaming on YouTube reportedly had over 30,000 viewers. For the Michigan State Board of Canvassers.
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[ Posted Friday, November 20th, 2020 – 17:44 UTC ]
This isn't just the Keystone Kops, it's now a full-on Keystone Koup attempt. Before we get to any of it, however, we have to pause to wish Joseph Robinette Biden Junior a happy 78th birthday. Many happy returns, Joe!
Biden is now several steps closer to being sworn in as America's next president in less than nine weeks, as state after state certifies that Biden did indeed beat Donald Trump. Georgia did so today, and several other important states are slated to do so on Monday. By December 8th, all states will have done so and appointed their electors to the Electoral College.
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