Kraken Krazy 

Kraking Up:  According to Scandinavian folklore the Kraken is a giant cephalopod-like sea monster that rises up from the ocean to  devour its enemies. That’s only topical right now because Sidney Powell, Trump’s one time lawyer, is using the Kraken myth as a symbol for the sprawling unsubstantiated set of claims about all that widespread election “fraud” that “led” to  Joe Biden’s presidential victory. Though she is no longer an official member of Rudy Giuliani’s crack legal force the unhinged Powell is still filing court cases against the election, filled with typos, false facts, misplaced or invented cities and unauthorized plaintiffs, her briefs promise to release the Kraken. She’s teamed up with Lin Wood, another lawyer with a similarly tenuous hold on reality.  Together they are telling voters in Georgia that they shouldn’t vote for Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the January runoff against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock because the Chinese Communist Party will rig that election too unless Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp does something about it, preferably something along the lines of appointing a Republican slate of electors to replace those evil George Soros controlled Democratic ones. The Republican party is so concerned about the effect that Powell and Wood’s krazy assertions will have on the run off and their chances of retaining control of the Senate that they are airing a political message starring  Donny Jr in which the scion commands voters to go out and vote for Loeffler and Perdue, the Senate’s most prolific insider trader, to prove their undying loyalty to his father.  A bit awkward since daddy Trump pretty much agrees with Powell and Wood’s krazy Kraken assertions.  Yesterday Trump released a 46 minute screed to Facebook, also posting selected snippets on Twitter, in which he called the November election a coordinated assault on the country adding that in no way should Biden be allowed to become president.  He cited Biden’s excessive basement time as proof that sleepy Joe knew that he didn’t need to campaign because the “fix” was in for him. Trump who may or may not announce his 2024 run on or before inauguration day is scheduled to campaign in Georgia this weekend, his speech is likely to go off the rails and though his fans won’t care, Loeffler and Perdue will or at least they should.  Proving that he remains totally on the Trump train, former national security advisor Michael Flynn wants to take things a step further, he is calling for Trump to suspend the Constitution and invoke martial law until a national re-vote can be held, one that reflects the “true will of the people.” And in case you’re wondering, Rudy and his oozing coif were in Michigan yesterday urging Republican activists to “pressure, even threaten,” if necessary the state legislature to “step up” and award the state’s 16 electoral votes to Trump despite Biden’s 154,000 vote victory.

Pardon, Pardon, Pardon: Though no one was pardoned yesterday, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the Trump kids, Rudy and countless others from his criminal enterprise will be pardoned before Trump heads south, assuming of course that he leaves the White House, that Sidney Powell doesn’t succeed with her Kraken offensive and that Michael Flynn’s martial law strategy isn’t implemented.  Fox pundit Sean Hannity is calling for Trump to pardon to his heart’s content and today’s Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal includes an “explanation” of how all those perfectly legitimate presidential pardons work. Clearly, both are doing their best to make it seem like bulk pardons, like seasonal friends and family sales, are totally normal.  Regardless of what happens on the pardon front, none of it will help in New York or Washington DC where yesterday daughter Ivanka was deposed  by investigators from the DC attorney general’s office as part of a lawsuit related to the possible misuse of inauguration funds, something to do with her authorizing the “gross overpayment” for event space at the local Trump hotel for the 2017 inauguration. Former Melania event planner Stephanie Wolkoff, who provided the receipts for those overpayments to the investigators, is due to be deposed today, a bit awkward as Melania is due to be deposed soon too. 

Viral Musings:  If only the Kraken could vanquish the virus because while the vaccines are coming, they won’t be here soon enough.  Yesterday another 2700 Americans died from COVID, a record 100,000 are now hospitalized and neither of those gruesome statistics yet reflects the expected impact of all those Thanksgiving group gropes and holiday travel.  Dr Debbie, who appears to have found her voice again, and the other members of the White House Virus Task Force are now calling on local officials to ramp up virus mitigation rules, and where necessary, to ignore Governors who try to stop them from doing so.  #WearAMask. Stay safe!    

48 Days.