Last Call For Retribution Execution, Con't

The Trump regime is refusing to recognize Joe Biden's victory, and as such, will not lift a finger to provide the incoming Biden administration with anything far as resources for a smooth transition.

A Trump administration appointee is refusing to sign a letter allowing President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to formally begin its work this week, in another sign the incumbent president has not acknowledged Biden’s victory and could disrupt the transfer of power.

The administrator of the General Services Administration, the low-profile agency in charge of federal buildings, has a little-known role when a new president is elected: to sign paperwork officially turning over millions of dollars, as well as giving access to government officials, office space and equipment authorized for the taxpayer-funded transition teams of the winner.

It amounts to a formal declaration by the federal government, outside of the media, of the winner of the presidential race.

But by Sunday evening, almost 36 hours after media outlets projected Biden as the winner, GSA Administrator Emily Murphy had written no such letter. And the Trump administration, in keeping with the president’s failure to concede the election, has no immediate plans to sign one. This could lead to the first transition delay in modern history, except in 2000, when the Supreme Court decided a recount dispute between Al Gore and George W. Bush in December.

“An ascertainment has not yet been made,” Pamela Pennington, a spokeswoman for GSA, said in an email, “and its Administrator will continue to abide by, and fulfill, all requirements under the law.”

The GSA statement left experts on federal transitions to wonder when the White House expects the handoff from one administration to the next to begin — when the president has exhausted his legal avenues to fight the results, or the formal vote of the electoral college on Dec. 14? There are 74 days, as of Sunday, till the Biden inauguration on Jan. 20.

“No agency head is going to get out in front of the president on transition issues right now,” said one senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The official predicted that agency heads will be told not to talk to the Biden team.

 

So again, this isn't just mean-spirited or petty. This is active sabotage, and it will result in thousands of additional deaths as the pandemic rages across the country this winter and the incoming Biden team can't get started, because the regime is already letting a thousand Americans die a day from COVID-19 and still refuses to activate any federal resources whatsoever.

And speaking of petty, Trump's house cleaning is now under way as he puts acting cabinet officials in place to execute whatever vile garbage he has in mind in the last 70 days of his reign, and it should worry all of us that he's starting with the Pentagon.

President Trump on Monday announced he had fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, a move that comes days after Joe Biden was projected to have won the presidential race.

"I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately," Trump said in a series of tweets. "Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service."

Trump and Esper have had a rocky relationship since the summer’s nationwide racial justice protests. During the height of the protests, Trump threatened to deploy active-duty troops to quell the demonstrations. Esper responded by holding a press conference at the Pentagon announcing his opposition to deploying troops.

Esper’s public split reportedly angered Trump so much that he had to be talked out of firing the Defense secretary then.

Earlier Thursday, NBC News reported that Esper had prepared a letter of resignation, and Politico reported that while Esper was expected to resign soon, the uncertainty of the election had put his plans on the back burner.

Trump replacing the Secretary of Defense with the Pentagon's top counterterrorism official is a really, really big clue as to what's coming next, guys.

 

And finally, Mitch McConnell made it official as the GOP Senate gets back to confirming more Trump federal judges: Joe who? Never heard of him. 

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Republican in Congress, on Monday threw his support behind President Trump’s refusal to concede the election, declining to recognize President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory as he argued Mr. Trump was “100 percent within his rights” to challenge the outcome.

Even as he celebrated the success of incumbent Republican senators who won re-election and the winnowing of Democrats’ House majority, Mr. McConnell, the majority leader, treated the outcome of the presidential election as uncertain, and hammered Democrats for calling on Mr. Trump to accept the results.

“President Trump is 100 percent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options,” the Kentucky Republican said, delivering his first comments since Mr. Biden was declared the winner. “Let’s not have any lectures about how the president should immediately, cheerfully accept preliminary election results from the same characters who just spent four years refusing to accept the validity of the last election.”

Mr. McConnell did not contradict Mr. Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen from him, instead endorsing the president’s vow to pursue a bevy of lawsuits in key swing states aimed at handing him a victory. He said that “this process will reach its resolution” and that the nation’s legal and political system “will resolve any recounts or litigation.”

Following him on the floor, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said flatly that “Joe Biden won this election fair and square.” He called Mr. Trump’s claims “extremely dangerous, extremely poisonous to our democracy” and warned Republican leaders not to give it oxygen.

“Republican leaders must unequivocally condemn the president’s rhetoric and work to ensure the peaceful transfer of power,” Mr. Schumer said.

Yet none have done so, and only a handful of Republican senators have acknowledged Mr. Biden’s victory.

There will be no concessions from Trump, from McConnell, or from any Republican. There will be no bipartisanship, only self-serving treacle from Collins, Murkowski, and Romney when it suits them, and nothing that doesn't.

 

But of course, that's the plan.  Always was.

You all knew that, of course.

Utah Tries Not To Go Viral

Utah GOP Gov. Gary Herbert declared a state of emergency last night as the state's COVID-19 situation is now completely dire. Herbert addressed Utahns through the Emergency Broadcast System and announced implementation of several immediate measures designed to arrest the uncontrolled spread of the pandemic across the Beehive State, including an enforced statewide mask mandate.

 

Utah’s governor declared a new state of emergency late Sunday after the state’s most devastating week of the pandemic, as COVID-19 infections skyrocketed and deaths hit new highs. His big concern is the surge in hospitalizations that may soon overwhelm doctors and nurses.

Gov. Gary Herbert issued a series of new restrictions, including a statewide mask mandate — a step he has resisted for months.

Unlike other restrictions, the governor intends to extend the mask mandate “for the foreseeable future.” Businesses that fail to comply will face fines.

The new executive orders are signed by Herbert and by Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, who is the governor-elect. They limit any social gatherings to people in the same households and place a hold on all school extracurricular activities, including athletic and intramural events.

These restrictions take effect at 1 p.m. Monday and will end Nov. 23, just a few days before Thanksgiving. The governor said the state will offer holiday recommendations in the coming days.

This order doesn’t require any business to close, but businesses and event hosts must require social distancing.

The order does not apply to churches.

It doesn’t require any schools to go online — despite a teachers union pushing for junior high and high schools to go virtual.

The new restrictions don’t stop professional or college sports or the completion of the high school playoffs as long as coaches and athletes test negative and the crowds are severely limited. The order says there can be two attendees for every player or coach.

Restaurants can serve only people from the same households and must be able to keep groups 6 feet apart. Bars must close at 10 p.m. each night.

“Utah is open for business. You can still shop, dine in or carry out, exercise, worship and recreate, and many other things,” Herbert said in a video message. “We are just saying stay within your household group whenever possible, particularly for the next two weeks.”

Herbert did say that state and local authorities would crack down on the “organizers of public gatherings that do not exercise the required precautions of social distancing and mask-wearing.” He said organizers would face fines up to $10,000 per occurrence. This comes after multiple dance parties held in Utah County attracted hundreds if not thousands of young people, many who didn’t wear masks. And some clubs in Salt Lake County ignored the mask mandate there.

This is as good as it's going to get from Herbert, who is outgoing anyway. The problem is now firmly in the lap of his successor, current Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox.

But at least Herbert and Cox are actively trying to do something to contain the spread of the virus. Republicans have been actively sabotaging efforts to fight COVID-19 all year long, starting with Trump. I have no idea if state Republicans are going to revolt and sue to block Herbert's mandates, as if just about any Democratic governor tried this, it would almost certainly involve an armed terrorist cell showing up in their front yard.

And yes, for a Republican to actually do this now, things must be absolutely horrific in Utah.

They are. 2,000 cases per day in a state like Utah, with 3.25 million people, is roughly equivalent to 200,000 cases per day nationwide.  They're way out ahead of the national infection curve, and in a bad way.

The United States’ surging coronavirus outbreak is on pace to hit nearly 1 million new cases a week by the end of the year — a scenario that could overwhelm health systems across much of the country and further complicate President-elect Joe Biden’s attempts to coordinate a response.

Biden, who is naming his own coronavirus task force Monday, has pledged to confront new shortages of protective gear for health workers and oversee distribution of masks, test kits and vaccines while beefing up contact tracing and reengaging with the World Health Organization. He will also push Congress to pass a massive Covid-19 relief package and pressure the governors who’ve refused to implement mask mandates for new public health measures as cases rise.

But all of those actions — a sharp departure from the Trump administration’s patchwork response that put the burden on states— will have to wait until Biden takes office. Congress, still feeling reverberations from the election, may opt to simply run out the clock on its legislative year. Meanwhile, the virus is smashing records for new cases and hospitalizations as cold weather drives gatherings indoors and people make travel plans for the approaching holidays.

“If you want to have a better 2021, then maybe the rest of 2020 needs to be an investment in driving the virus down,” said Cyrus Shahpar, a former emergency response leader at the CDC who now leads the outbreak tracker Covid Exit Strategy. “Otherwise we’re looking at thousands and thousands of deaths this winter.”

Expect more Republican and Democratic states to follow suit in the days and weeks here after the election. We won't see Mitch McConnell lift a finger until next year (and the Trump regime will simply continue to let people die to spite them not reelecting Trump.)

It's 100% up to states now as the catastrophe scenario unfolds.

The good news: Pfizer's vaccine seems very promising.

The drug maker Pfizer announced on Monday that an early analysis of its coronavirus vaccine trial suggested the vaccine was robustly effective in preventing Covid-19, a promising development as the world has waited anxiously for any positive news about a pandemic that has killed more than 1.2 million people.

Pfizer, which developed the vaccine with the German drugmaker BioNTech, released only sparse details from its clinical trial, based on the first formal review of the data by an outside panel of experts.

The company said that the analysis found that the vaccine was more than 90 percent effective in preventing the disease among trial volunteers who had no evidence of prior coronavirus infection. If the results hold up, that level of protection would put it on par with highly effective childhood vaccines for diseases such as measles. No serious safety concerns have been observed, the company said.

Pfizer plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of the two-dose vaccine later this month, after it has collected the recommended two months of safety data. By the end of the year it will have manufactured enough doses to immunize 15 to 20 million people, company executives have said.

And before everyone screams that Pfizer sandbagged their data for a week on purpose to throw the election, understand that they didn't take a dime from Trump's "Operation Ward Speed" vaaccine program, which by all accounts continues to be a complete failure. Pfizer did this because it's a drug company and hundreds of millions of vaccine doses will make them hundreds of billions of dollars, and everyone knows it.

 

Meanwhile, Utah won't be the last state to declare emergency this winter. Far from it.

Our Little White Supremacist Domestic Terrorism Problem, Con't

As expected, violent Trump-supporting white supremacist terrorist groups are now making their post-election move to threaten the governments of states that Biden won in order to change the outcome of the election.

As President Trump signaled his intention to continue fighting the results of an election that he lost, some of his supporters — many of them carrying guns — amassed at state capitol buildings around the country.

In some cities, tensions continued to escalate throughout the day Saturday. In Harrisburg, Pa., the police started out watching the scene from afar, but intervened during the afternoon to keep supporters of Mr. Trump and President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. separated. Some Trump supporters were carrying what appeared to be assault rifles.

In Salem, Ore., members of the far-right Proud Boys, a group notorious for engaging in violence, gathered at a rally where people embraced the president’s baseless claims of election fraud. One person wearing a Proud Boys shirt pepper-sprayed someone, and video showed another person in the crowd shoving a photographer. The police intervened.

In Lansing, Mich., right-wing advocates chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets!” and repeated Mr. Trump’s false contention that he won the election. Video showed a fight break out, with people knocked to the ground near a line of portable toilets. Many people were carrying weapons.

 

Very soon, those people with weapons are going to start using them, especially with massively irresponsible and incendiary rhetoric from not just Trump, but 99% of his party of terrorists. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned on Sunday that there will never be another Republican president if the current 2020 elections results are allowed to stand.

Graham made the remarks on Fox News after multiple news networks called the election for President-elect Joe Biden.

“Number one, this is a contested election and the media doesn’t decide who becomes president,” Graham complained. “If they did, you would never have a Republican president forever. So, we’re discounting them.”

The South Carolina Republican went on the claim that he had evidence of 15 dead people voting in Pennsylvania.

“If we don’t challenge and change the U.S. election system, there will never be another Republican president elected again,” he asserted. “President Trump should not concede.”

  

Note Graham here is not talking about challenging the election as illegitimate, he's talking about our entire election system as illegitimate. And Graham easily won his election while spouting his nonsense about the system being tilted in Democrats' favor, in a state where Republicans have done everything possible to disenfranchise thousands of Black voters for decades.

There's a far, far distance between Trump refusing to concede in order to protect his brand as chief Biden critic in exile, which he's doing, and what Graham is saying here, which is straight-up sedition.

I mean at this point, the violence in the days and weeks ahead is almost guaranteed, and I am despondent over it.

 

StupidiNews!

• Legendary Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek has passed at age 80 from pancreatic cancer, Trebek had a nearly 50-year career hosting game shows in the US and Canada, with 36 years hosting Jeopardy!
• The Biden transition team says it's ready to defeat any "roadblocks" that Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell may have as far as putting together a new cabinet and agenda.
• Bolivia's Luis Arce was sworn in over the weekend as President, restoring the country's socialist party to power after former President Evo Morales was ousted late last year.
• President-elect Joe Biden is expected to name members of his COVID-19 task force on Monday, starting with former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, fired by Donald Trump in 2017.
• Automakers are looking to use car bodies themselves as battery storage in electric vehicles, with thousands of energy cells sandwiched between the car's inner and outer layers.