Takes a Licking, Keeps on Ticking 

Rolexes and Pelotons:  The honeymoon is over, the Biden administration has its first two scandals:  Joe rides a Peloton, elitist and due to its internet connection a security risk and, wait for it, he wears a Rolex rather than a regular Joe Timex. The watch story appeared in the NY Times along side one just a wee bit more alarming, that his predecessor, the guy who fired the White House chief usher so that no one was there to open the door when Biden arrived, plotted with the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Jeffrey Clark, to oust William Barr replacement Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.  Apparently believing what he had seen on right wing  media, the not so civil Clark, agreed with Trump’s fever dream, that the election was stolen by all those Black Democrats who managed to vote and get their votes counted in November’s election.  His sympathetic view came to Trump’s attention through the efforts of Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry, a member of the Trump fawning Republican Freedom Caucus.  Clark pushed Acting AG Rosen to send a letter to the Georgia state legislature alerting them, falsely, that the Justice Department had opened an investigation into the state’s election.  That letter was to be part of Trump’s pressure campaign to get Georgia to decertify its thrice confirmed legitimate election results, the campaign that also involved ousting Georgia US Attorney Byung Pak, something now under investigation by Justice’s Inspector General.   The not so civil Clark told Rosen that if he didn’t send the letter Trump would replace him, with Clark, of course. Trump who had been pressuring Rosen to open and announce investigations into wide spread voter fraud and the Dominion voting machines, the ones not owned by dead Venezuelan strong man Hugo Chavez, only relented after Rosen and his deputies made it clear that they would resign, triggering a Nixonian era like Saturday night massacre.  As if the NY Times scoop wasn’t enough, late Saturday the Wall Street Journal added that Trump also waged a campaign to get Rosen to have the Justice Department ask the Supreme Court to invalidate Biden’s win.  Rosen, like Barr before him, told Trump that was not going to happen.  So remember when Trump insisted that he had to get Amy Coney Barrett seated on the Supreme Court because he needed five justices to hand him the election if he lost at the ballot box, well he wasn’t kidding, it was part of his grand plan to stay in office, a plan that culminated with the January 6 violent putsch. 

Impeach, Impeach:  Speaker Pelosi plans to present the Article of Impeachment today.  In addition to focusing on the incitement of the January 6 sh-t show, the Article also refers to other nefarious Georgia stuff, like that taped called where Trump asked Secretary of State Raffensperger to find him enough votes to flip the state’s outcome, so it’s fair to assume that this weekend’s NY Times and WSJ reveals will be included. The actual trial isn’t scheduled to begin until February 9, in order to give Trump and his newly hired lawyer South Carolina’s Butch Bowers, a friend of Lindsey Graham, time to prepare a defense while also giving President Biden some time to get a few more of his cabinet members confirmed.  While a number of Republicans, including several of those who showed up on the Sunday talk shows, as well as House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy  are using the delay to say that it’s time to move on, that the impeachment of an out of office president is unconstitutional, and that the impeachment trial unlike a failed putsch would make it hard for the country to heal, a delay could work to Trump’s disadvantage as it’s fair to assume that  more bad stuff is likely going to come out, more than just those violent insurrectionists who insist they broke into the Capitol to lynch Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi because they were just following Trump’s orders.  Will any new obviously implicating information lead to Trump being found guilty by the gutless Republican contingent, probably not but it won’t make their lives any easier.  A lot will depend on Mitch McConnell and what he decides is in his and his party’s best interests.  Stay tuned, Trump who is threatening to start a third party mostly to keep disloyal Republican’s in line may be gone from office, but not, at least not yet, gone from influence, which goes far towards explaining why the Arizona Republican party sanctioned Cindy McCain, former Senator Jeff Flake and current Governor Doug Ducey this weekend. Ducey who supported Trump was sanctioned for certifying rather than upturning Arizona’s Biden blue election results.

The New Normal:  So it turns out that Joe Biden isn’t all that sleepy. Immediately after his inauguration he hit the ground running, literally, he ran over to NBC’s Al Roker for their traditional fist bump, then he proceeded to sign a slew of executive actions, some COVID related, others that unwound those issued by his predecessor.  Proving that neither he nor his team slept much during the last months of Trump’s term, Biden also sidelined and/or forced the resignation of many of those that Trump try to embed into the civil service or in other positions, like the government funded Radio Free services that had become Fox light.  Unfortunately Postmaster General DeJoy is still here, he can’t be removed until he’s fired by the USPS board, so first Biden has to fill out the board’s open slots.  The complication is that those board members like Biden’s cabinet and a lot of his other appointees require Senate confirmation.  As a result of Biden’s delayed start, so far only two of his picks, DNI Avril Haines and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have been confirmed.  A third, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is expected to be confirmed today.  Both Haines and Austin passed easily, once their nominations made it to the Senate floor. Notably Austin was opposed by Senators Josh “fist bump” Hawley and Utah’s Mike Lee.  Those two were also among the ten Republicans who voted against Haines, a crowd that included Senators Blackburn, Braun, Cruz, Ernst, Hagerty, Marshall, Paul and Risch.  That other Republican, Mitch McConnell may no longer be the Majority Leader but he’s still obstructing progress, holding up the power sharing agreement that he and new Majority Leader Chuck Schumer need to put in place given the 50/50 makeup of the Senate. The two are fighting over the status of the filibuster, the provision that requires that most legislation gain 60 votes for passage. Mitch is demanding that Chuck agree to leave it intact; Chuck doesn’t want put anything in writing that commits him to keep it even though he doesn’t have the votes to completely get rid of it as moderate Democrats Senators like WV’s Joe Manchin and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema aren’t on board with ditching it right away, a view shared by Biden who wants to first try to build large bipartisan coalitions before going nuclear. Progressives want to ditch the filibuster now so they can move forward with their wish list and they have a point because none of the biggies, like Medicare expansion, climate legislation or immigration reform are going to get enough Republican support to pass with it in place.  For his part while Schumer might agree to retain the filibuster for a while verbally, he is not expected to make that commitment in writing, his progressives would be furious, Congresswoman AOC would use it as an excuse to primary him and Mitch would use it to doom the Democratic agenda.  As to getting bipartisan agreement, late yesterday Biden’s aides held a call with a sweet 16 group of  “moderate” Senators led by Republican Susan Collins and Joe Manchin and also including Independent Angus King and New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen to discuss his $1.9 trillion COVID package.  A number from both parties questioned some of the plan, most notably sending $1400 checks to those at the higher end of the eligible income range but there was agreement on parts of it, we’ll have to see what happens next.  By the way, some of the newbies from swing states are up for reelection in 2022, including Mark Kelly and Raphael Warnock, more on that in a subsequent post.       

Viral Musings:  The election and inauguration are behind us but the virus is not.  Quite a few pot shots were thrown at Biden’s 100 million shots in 100 days goal, claiming that given shots administered so far his target is not ambitious enough but much of that talk misses the point.  Biden’s team will exceed that goal if and only if more vaccines are available.  With Pfizer now counting that bonus extra dose in its vials as part of its contractually obligated delivery and Moderna struggling to ramp up production, vaccine availability likely hinges on whether or not the Johnson & Johnson one dose vaccine is approved within the next few weeks. If it is, Biden will easily exceed his 100/100 goal, if not he probably will but not by much.   By the way, Dr Debbie Birx has retired, so of course she spent her weekend defending herself, saying that it wasn’t her fault that she didn’t speak out more forcefully about Trump, hydroxychloroquine and bleach injections, that not being so obsequious would have hindered her in her fight against COVID.  Unfortunately for her she will forever be compared to virus guru Fauci, who managed to do a better, though not perfect, job under similar circumstances.  Though Dr Debbie will always be tainted by her Trump association some people appear to have benefited from theirs. Former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, yup that Huckabee, is expected to announce her run to replace terming limited Arkansas  Governor Asa Hutchinson today.  Just another one of those who keeps on ticking.      

25,127,573 million cases

419,220 dead

21,848,700 shots administered