28 Hours

One Eleventh of a Scaramucci:  President elect Joe Biden honored Martin Luther King by volunteering at a food bank, one of those things that presidents not named Trump do. Rather than honoring MLK or inviting the Bidens to the White House for the customary pre-inaugural walk through of their soon to be home, Trump spent his day dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s” on his pardon list, sending out invitations to his 21 gun departure shindig and trying to undo international flight restrictions in the face of a pandemic with concerning mutating virus variants. For good measure, he signed off on a report attacking “identity politics” for making it less likely that “racial reconciliation and healing can be attained by pursuing MLK’s dream,” the right’s response to the NY Time’s Pulitzer Prize Winning 1619 Project which traced the story of slavery through American history and anyway who doesn’t think that Trump is the right guy to weigh in on racial reconciliation? As to that pardon list, it’s due out today, the buzz is that while it will be long, as of now no one named Trump or Kushner will be on it, not because Trump doesn’t want to pardon himself or his kids but because he’s been advised that doing so might lead to more Republican Senators voting to convict him during his upcoming impeachment trial.  That said, Trump isn’t required to disclose the names of everyone he pardons so we might not find out that he, Don Jr and Eric have received a get out of jail free card until some later date when they’ve been indicted for something. On the shindig front, check your inbox, apparently Trump wants to make sure that his farewell ceremony at Joint Base Andrews is really crowded so those not so coveted invitations are being sent to a list that oddly enough includes Trump critics like Communications Director for a minute Anthony Scaramucci and recipients are being encouraged to bring five guests including their favorite Proud Boy and at least one member of QAnon. Regarding the easing of flight restrictions, Biden’s spokesperson Jen Psaki, tweeted that upon the advice of the incoming Biden medical team, they won’t be lifted yet, in fact they’ll be strengthened to “further mitigate the spread of COVID-19.” Get used to science based policy and to hearing from Psaki on a regular basis, though no one’s perfect and Trump isn’t the only prevaricating politician, expect that most if not all of what she says won’t include alternative facts, sure that means there will be less to mock, but we’ll get used to that.  By the way one other Trump edict might not be happening, yesterday Speaker Pelosi who to the extent she ever did, is absolutely not taking Trump’s sh-t anymore, sent a letter to Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller demanding that he “immediately cease” his plans to place Trump and Devin Nunes loyalist, Michael Ellis into the NSA top lawyer spot.  She cited Ellis’ inadequate and absurdly limited work experience while demanding that the Defense Department’s Inspector General, or acting IG, because in Trump world everyone is only acting, initiate an investigation on how he was chosen for the position over other far more qualified candidates, as if we don’t know the answer to that.  And of course Trump didn’t have the Bidens over for a walk through, why would he do that, he still asserts that he won the election because Black votes aren’t supposed to count.  To be fair the walk through is usually done by the first lady, but as we know by now birther, “I don’t care, do you” Melania is no classier that her current husband.

Russian, Florida, Russia: It’s not just Speaker Pelosi who is taking no prisoners, the Dominion Voting Systems company has had it too.  Mr Pillow, Mike Lindell, is among the long list of right wing pundits, Trump associates and media companies to have received their “imminent lawsuit letter.”  Essentially that letter notifies Mr Pillow  that despite the implausibility and baselessness of attacks against Dominion, he has participated in the “vast and concerted misinformation campaign to slander” the company.  Pillow Lindell responded by saying that he’s okay with all that because he’s got the “proof” to show that his delusional assertions are true.  Spoiler alert he does not but don’t be surprised if the Dominion folks soon own MyPillow, a media company or two and one or more Trump hotels. MyPillow products have now been pulled from Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohl’s, HEB Stores, the Canadian Shopping Channel and Wayfair.   Lindell might want to check with the buyers at GUM, the iconic Russian department store chain to see if they have an appetite for lumpy pillows.  The Russian solution appears to be working for right wing Twitter wannabee Parler, yesterday CEO John Matze announced that he’ll have his service up and running again soon and that it will be hosted by DDos-Guard, the Russian company that also provides web hosting services to the Russian Military. If things don’t work out with GUM, Mr Pillow could try selling his pillows to Vlad’s military and prisons. Sadly, we now know one prisoner who might need one as yesterday Putin incarcerated Alexei Navalny.  The brave dissident who Vlad previously had poisoned with Novichok, returned to his homeland because that’s what dissident heroes do and was immediately incarcerated on trumped up charges.  Trump maybe on his way out but sadly Putin is still doing his thing in Russia.  Florida’s Governor DeSantis appears to be taking a few pages from Putin’s playbook though no one’s poisoned her, well at least not yet, whistle blower data analyst Rebekah Jones was arrested yesterday on one count “against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks and electronic devices” whatever that means.  Jones who was released on bail also tested positive for COVID-19. If only DeSantis focused half as much of his energy on virus mitigation, like mandating face masks and closing bars, things would be better, but forget about that, arresting dissenting data analysts is so much more fun.

And….. : The list of arrested January 6 rioters/thugs continues to grow. The 20,000 or more National Guard soldiers protecting the inauguration are being vetted to see if they share their extremists views, as if there is enough time to figure that out and now concerns have been raised that QAnon members may dress up as National Guardsmen to infiltrate and disrupt the inauguration. And let’s be real, does anyone think that Trump has thrown in the towel yet? Oy.

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