This is xrepulica’s wife writing to you all. He has been taken to Regions Hospital in St Paul. We have been managing Covid symptoms (both of us) for several days. His blood oxygen level dropped to 83 and that alone is a red flag that he is in distress. He will be off-line with you all for a while, and I am sure he will be delighted to talk with you as soon as he is able. Please intentionally pray for his complete recovery. I appreciate your close ties to one another. What happens in politics is important, and what ultimately matters is that we Love one another as we are Loved in real time and in concrete ways. Go do that with the people you love and with people you are not so fond of. No need to reply.
let the christmas song parodies begin
oh no! the zombies are back! quick, find another stake and some more garlic garlands.
Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, indicated the president’s legal team will continue filing lawsuits to subvert the election results even after the Supreme Court shot down an effort to overturn the vote count in four swing states.
The vow comes after the high court dismissed a suit led by Texas, which was backed by 17 other states and 126 House Republicans, to overturn the election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — four key states that secured President-elect Joe Biden‘s win. The Supreme Court said Texas lacked the legal right to litigate over how other states conduct their elections, but Giuliani indicated Trump could bring his complaints back to lower courts.
“The case wasn’t rejected on the merits, the case was rejected on standing. So the answer to that is to bring the case now to the district court by the president, by some of the electors, alleging some of the same facts where there would be standing,” he said in a Friday interview on Newsmax.
“There’s nothing that prevents us from filing these cases immediately in the district court in which the president of course would have standing, some of the electors would have standing in that their constitutional rights have been violated,” he added.
“We’re not finished,” he concluded. “Believe me.”
[continues]
oops, my bad. wooden stakes and garlic are only for vampires. how does one get rid of zombie rudy?
ahah! call in the NY southern district US atty! that’ll do it.
XR – get well soon!
Now that the Supremes have flipped the bird to SFB, and his cult members, I expect the House to have a rousing good time January 6 when they are supposed to accept the results. Perhaps Speaker Pelosi could delay seating the traitorous members for a few days.
Although based on a vague notion that all states should enjoy presenting their case to the Supremes, it is never the less stupid for Alito and Thomas to state they would accept the case, but also to state they would vote against it. Is that code for something? Maybe they are looking to resign and go into the succession business.
Speculation in the media about what SFB is going to do now that he is really losing everything is fun. I prefer the scenario of him leaving town for the holidays and going to Sunny Florida forever. Of course even that has a pending lawsuit about a contract he signed stating that the monstrosity of a place is not a home and he would not stay there. Maybe the town will get a restraining order that requires him to stay eight hundred miles away.
Little noticed, I think, is something we discussed a few days ago, deep cleaning the White House. That has to make his diaper rash very itchy. Maybe a few new carpets and a better heating/cooling/ventilation system could be installed in the West Wing. Perhaps a few covered stations outside for the media so they don’t have to hold their own umbrellas.
dog docs diagnose (with emphasis on the “nose” part)
‘Covid-19 has an odour, and the dogs are detecting it’: meet the canine super-squad sniffing out the virus
They’re loyal, diligent – and have unbeatable noses. Could dogs play a key part in the fight against the pandemic?
[continues about “Claire Guest, a behavioural psychologist with a special interest in the relationship between people and dogs”]
James Logan has been working in disease control for 20 years, and has a particular interest in the odour associated with disease. “We’ve known about this for hundreds of years. There are historic reports of medical professionals diagnosing people just by sniffing them,” he tells me. “Reports that yellow fever smells like a butcher’s shop, TB smells like stale brown bread.” More recently – and more scientifically – studies have demonstrated that respiratory viruses can be distinguished by the odour they cause the body to produce. “Viruses themselves do not produce odours. When the virus has infected our cells, this can have a knock-on effect on various systems within the body, which results in odours being released through our skin and breath. So there was a really strong likelihood that coronavirus would produce a distinct odour as well.”
When the pandemic began, Logan got in touch with Guest, whom he had worked with on the malaria project. “I sent her a text saying, ‘I’ve got this idea of deploying dogs to detect Covid. What do you think? Do you think it’s crazy?’”
Guest didn’t – she’d already been thinking about how the dogs might help. Nor, crucially, did the government think it was crazy; it has funded the project to the tune of half a million pounds. Lindsay came onboard again, to design the trial. He explains how it works. Samples are collected from hospitals, volunteers, people who test positive and develop symptoms of various degrees of severity, as well as asymptomatic cases. They wear socks, T-shirts and masks overnight, which go to Logan and his team for processing. Then the samples are sent on to Medical Detection Dogs to see if the dogs confirm what they had been hearing anecdotally from the wards: that Covid-19 has a smell. “Some people have described it as a sickly sweet smell,” says Logan.
In the stage that comes after the one I’m witnessing, the dogs pass along a line of metal stands, one of which will hold a positive Covid sample (sometimes there will be no positives, as there will sometimes be in the real world). Then the tests go double blind: not only are the dogs unaware which – if any – of the stands hold Covid-19 samples, so, too, are the handlers and everyone at Medical Detection Dogs.
Where is all this heading? “We are not looking to replace clinical testing,” Logan says. “We are keen to use dogs in very specific circumstances, where we need to get through a lot of people quickly. Airports, sports stadiums, train stations, universities, care homes.” Guest points out how useful it would have been to deploy Covid dogs at the airports early on in the pandemic, with all those flights coming here, bringing in so-called “super-spreaders”.
They’re not quite at the stage of releasing their results yet, but aim to publish as soon as there is enough data to robustly show how well dogs can detect coronavirus. There will be several independent reviews before anything is put into practice. But everyone – Guest, Lindsay, Logan, the trainers – is positive about the way the first phase, the proof-of-concept study, is going. “There is no doubt now that Covid has an odour, and the dogs are detecting it,” says Logan. The dogs will soon start to train with people, and in different situations – outside, in queues, crowds, including at an airport, hopefully Heathrow – says Logan. “It will be about getting the dogs working in an environment where there will be tannoy announcements and other distractions.” They hope this will happen early next year.
[continues]
Dogs can smell separately with each nostril. Just as our eyes compile two slightly different views of the world, and our brain combines them to form a 3-D picture, a dog’s brain uses the different odor profiles from each nostril to determine exactly where smelly objects are located.
5. Dogs can smell the passage of time.
Dogs can detect the tiny reductions in the concentrations of odor molecules that occur over short periods of time. This allows tracking dogs to quickly determine which direction a person or animal has gone in by sniffing the ground.
[…]
7. Dogs can smell up to 100,000 times better than humans.
Dr. Nappier puts this tidbit into perspective with an awe-inspiring analogy. “A dog’s sense of smell is its most powerful sense,” he says. “It is so sensitive that [dogs can] detect the equivalent of a 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.”
had not seen the post about xrepublican in hospital, hope all is well
All Laura Benanti wants for Christmas is a man with a plan, and she’s going to get it in 2021! Watch below as she teams with political parody-maker extraordinaire Randy Rainbow for a very special Christmas tribute to President Elect Joe Biden!
She told Huffington Post: “Randy’s brand of satire is my cup of tea and he was the first person I thought of for a holiday parody like this. I’ve been wanting to collaborate with him for a while, and this was the perfect opportunity!”
President Trump blasted the Supreme Court’s decision to reject his bid to overturn the election results in Texas, calling it a “disgraceful miscarriage of justice.”
Trump took to Twitter on Friday night to air out his frustrations, writing: “The Supreme Court really let us down. No Wisdom, No Courage!”
Trump continued his sentiments on Saturday morning in response to Fox News’s Sean Hannity.
““Justices Alito and Thomas say they would have allowed Texas to proceed with its election lawsuit.” @seanhannity This is a great and disgraceful miscarriage of justice. The people of the United States were cheated, and our Country disgraced. Never even given our day in Court!,” he wrote, referring to the dissenting statement of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
[…]
The president’s tweet was flagged by Twitter with a statement reading: “This claim about election fraud is disputed.”
sweetie, aka mrs. X-R, heartfelt concern for you as well as X-R. please take care and know all his friends here on the trail are hoping for the best of outcomes for the both of you.
On Saturday morning, Trump posted a tweet from conservative media figure Todd Starnes that read “If the Wall Street Journal story is true and Attorney General Barr knew in the spring about the Biden investigation and kept it quiet — he should be fired by the end of business today.”
Trump added “A big disappointment!”
Here we are, same percentage of Americans – – 37% – – think election stolen from Trump, and are not willing to take vaccine. Stupid is as stupid does.
The president launched a series of fresh broadsides against Barr on Saturday after it became clear that the Supreme Court would not intervene in a challengeby Trump’s allies to overturn the election results.
[restated the 1st tweet “big disappointment” in barr presumably]
“IF Biden gets in, nothing will happen to Hunter or Joe. Barr will do nothing, and the new group of partisan killers coming in will quickly kill it all,” Trump followed up in another tweet.
In a third post, Trump said he thought Barr’s decision to keep the Hunter Biden probe private hurt Republicans at the ballot box last month and called out the attorney general by name.
“Why didn’t Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden. Joe was lying on the debate stage that nothing was wrong, or going on – Press confirmed. Big disadvantage for Republicans at the polls!” he tweeted.
The broadsides put in stark relief Trump’s rapid shift in attitude toward Barr, who had long gained the White House’s favor for pushing the president’s agenda but has seen his stock nosedive in the past few weeks.
xrep and Sweetie…. all my love and all my best for a speedy recovery!
Yes!… LOVE the fact that the Supreme Court unanimously gave trumpty the middle finger!
this one is for you, Craig…
In celebrating scientists for vaccine development, don’t forget the brave “civilians” who rolled up their sleeves and risked testing it in clinical trials.
Ha, RR, you remember my Grover obsession. Thanks
It’s been almost a month since Sweetie’s post. I hope they’re both on the mend, but silence is worrisome these days.
COVID has a sickly sweet smell and it really jacks with folks who have diabetes.
So, is fat-ass golfing today?
Since tRUMPsky failed to procure enough vaccine, I guess we won’t have to fight 37% of the population for it.
Send xr all the good wishes you can even though there is no evidence that it works I know it does.
It works whether you have met the person or not. This is the only whoha thing I believe in.
As for Trump they are still pushing on. A hearing before the Wisc supremes How embarrassing to be a cheddar head these days.
Although it is a lesson in perseverance. They will have to pull his cold dead fingers out of the spotlight.
I am watching DC MAGA rally, nutjob Alex Jones just now: “Joe Biden will be removed one way or another”
Party of Pro Wrestlers
Proud Boys wandering DC streets today. My fave heckler, “Please return to your parents basements”
craig, stuff like what alex jones said is why i’d rather joe not go to GA on tuesday. please stay at home until 1/20/21 and even that day stay behind bullet proof glass in enclosures secure from the crazies.
Watched hours of MAGA rally speeches today in DC, on local access tv. I’m seeing a scary shift to violent martyrdom in their rhetoric, lots of biblical references to persecuted Christians and the Holy Wars. Michelle Bachmann literally spoke in tongues, then led the crowd singing “Onward Christian Soldiers”. Losing election is making them even crazier.
this saturday night in D.C. not looking like a good one to be out and about. ‘fraid the crazies won’t be happy until someone gets killed in the streets. this is not the time for protesters to confront a blood lusting mob.
cbsnews on D’umps last stand plan to flip the election:
There remains one last-ditch chance for electoral votes to be tossed. On January 6, the Senate and the House will convene to count the electoral votes and officially declare the winner of the election. The joint session of Congress is required by law to ratify presidential results, but also allows “members to object to the returns from any individual state as they are announced,” according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
Procedure calls for Vice President Pence to open each state’s “certificate of ascertainment” — documents prepared by the state after it has completed its vote count and ascertained the official results. He will then present the certificate to four “tellers,” who announce result tallies. Once a candidate reaches 270 electoral college votes, Pence will declare the winner.
Lawmakers may object to the results — even if it’s not their home state — leaving the door open for representatives who support Mr. Trump’s unproven claims of widespread election fraud to interrupt the typically ceremonial process.
According to a Washington Post survey, only 25 congressional Republicans have acknowledged President-elect Biden’s victory. And 222 Republicans — in the House and Senate — will not say who won the election. Some may lodge their objections during the January 6 session. Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks has already said he would challenge Georgia and Pennsylvania’s results, claiming flawed election systems, Politico first reported.
[…]
The objections only carry weight if they’re signed by both a member of the House and Senate. “Objections to individual state returns must be made in writing by at least one Member each of the Senate and House of Representatives,” according to CRS. Together, two Trump allies from separate houses, such as Congressman Matt Gaetz and Senator Ted Cruz, could object, for instance.
In that case, “the joint session recesses and the two houses separate and debate the question in their respective chambers for a maximum of two hours,” according to CRS. Under federal law, each session cannot last more than two hours, “and no member of either house may speak for more than five minutes.”
“The two houses then vote separately to accept or reject the objection,” if both the Senate and the House agree, then that state’s votes are tossed and the threshold to electoral victory would shrink. The House is still controlled by Democrats, albeit by a slimmer margin, so even if the GOP-controlled Senate were to reject a state, there’s essentially no chance that the House would. According to CRS, lawmakers can object to individual electoral votes and state returns as a whole.
Justin Levitt, a constitutional law expert and professor at Loyola Law School, said it’s “simply not conceivable” that either chamber would reject any of the electoral votes “because there is no reason to reject any of the votes.” So far, there are no GOP senators who have said they would join Brooks’ challenge.
[…]
Levitt called any objections on January 6 simply a chance for “political theater.” Jason Harrow, executive director and chief counsel at non-profit Equal Citizens, said there are no grounds for an objection because all 50 states have certified their election results, and any objection “will only serve to delay.” Hawaii certified its election results on Tuesday, The Associated Press reports, making the 50th state the last to do so.
“There could be shenanigans on January 6, but I think that they’re theater,” Harrow said, echoing Levitt. If objections are voiced, it wouldn’t be the first time in recent memory.
In the 2017 joint session confirming President Trump’s electoral college victory, Democratic House members, led by Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Barbara Lee of California, challenged the results, only to be foiled by then-Vice President Biden.
Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern objected to Alabama’s results on the grounds that its electors were not lawfully certified, “especially given the confirmed and illegal activities engaged by the government of Russia, designed to interfere with our election and widespread violations of the voting rights act that unlawfully suppressed thousands of votes in the state of Alabama.”
Mr. Biden quickly shot down the objection by asking if its written form had been signed by both a member of the House and Senate.
When McGovern confirmed that he did not have a senator’s support for the challenge, Biden responded, “In that case the objection cannot be entertained,” which prompted applause from Republican lawmakers.
Several other Democratic lawmakers lodged objections — all unsuccessful — because they, too, did not meet the two-chamber requirement. “It is over,” Biden said to Representative Pramila Jayapal after she could not produce a senator’s signature, drawing a standing ovation from Republicans.
Flash headline – Charlie Pride has died of COVID-19. Lots of bad words.
In 2020, the CMA announced that Pride would receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 54th Country Music Association Awards in recognition of his work in the genre. The CEO of the CMA explained that “Charley Pride is the epitome of a trailblazer. Few other artists have grown country music’s rich heritage and led to the advancement of country music around the world like Charley. His distinctive voice has created a timeless legacy that continues to echo through the country community today. We could not be more excited to honor Charley with one of CMA’s highest accolades
BB – Pride is a great loss. Equal amount of bad words. Way too many deaths of good people.
One of my favorite displacement activities to avoid reality is to have movie night. Watch a movie, enjoy a dinner and not think of what is happening outside of fantasy. Tonight is Smokey and the Bandit. Filmed in Mississippi just as I left the place. It is fantasy, but fun and Jerry Reed is a great.
America under Trump became less free, less equal, more divided, more alone, deeper in debt, swampier, dirtier, meaner, sicker, and deader. It also became more delusional. No number from Trump’s years in power will be more lastingly destructive than his 25,000 false or misleading statements. Super-spread by social media and cable news, they contaminated the minds of tens of millions of people. Trump’s lies will linger for years, poisoning the atmosphere like radioactive dust.
“Auntie Mame” starts soon, but so does “Schitts Creek.”
New SNL tonight. Timothee Chalomet & Bruce Springsteen.
Yertle is holding economic aid hostage to get employers a pass in case workers get sick and die. OSHA? Now is the time to use some of those tax dollars on Americans in need. Scrooge!
If I die because my employer didn’t do due diligence to protect me, I’m gonna haunt some folks.
Proud Boys in DC just set fire to Black Lives Matter banner
Disgusting
disgusting is as disgusting does
and those dudes do their damnedest doing disgusting
NEW THREAD
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/13/politics/bill-gates-biden-administration-coronavirus-cnntv/index.html
The vaccine tRUMPsky wants credit for (while taking no responsibility for his mishandling of the virus), and, for which tRUMPsky failed to procure more doses, is having its distribution muffed by REPUBLICANS FAILING to ADMIT tRUMP LOST and carrying on with these costly and frivolous re-counts and lawsuits.
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that’s that. now, on to building back better.
but first, for those of us who missed this, thanks to jack last night for news of our trail friend X-R:
let the christmas song parodies begin
oh no! the zombies are back! quick, find another stake and some more garlic garlands.
the hill:
oops, my bad. wooden stakes and garlic are only for vampires. how does one get rid of zombie rudy?
ahah! call in the NY southern district US atty! that’ll do it.
XR – get well soon!
Now that the Supremes have flipped the bird to SFB, and his cult members, I expect the House to have a rousing good time January 6 when they are supposed to accept the results. Perhaps Speaker Pelosi could delay seating the traitorous members for a few days.
Although based on a vague notion that all states should enjoy presenting their case to the Supremes, it is never the less stupid for Alito and Thomas to state they would accept the case, but also to state they would vote against it. Is that code for something? Maybe they are looking to resign and go into the succession business.
Speculation in the media about what SFB is going to do now that he is really losing everything is fun. I prefer the scenario of him leaving town for the holidays and going to Sunny Florida forever. Of course even that has a pending lawsuit about a contract he signed stating that the monstrosity of a place is not a home and he would not stay there. Maybe the town will get a restraining order that requires him to stay eight hundred miles away.
Little noticed, I think, is something we discussed a few days ago, deep cleaning the White House. That has to make his diaper rash very itchy. Maybe a few new carpets and a better heating/cooling/ventilation system could be installed in the West Wing. Perhaps a few covered stations outside for the media so they don’t have to hold their own umbrellas.
dog docs diagnose (with emphasis on the “nose” part)
the guardian:
FYI
excerpt from 8 Dog Nose Facts You Probably Didn’t Know | PetMD
had not seen the post about xrepublican in hospital, hope all is well
from broadwayworld:
pouter in chief
the hill:
sweetie, aka mrs. X-R, heartfelt concern for you as well as X-R. please take care and know all his friends here on the trail are hoping for the best of outcomes for the both of you.
crossing the barr, bye bye bill this weekend?
mediaite:
Here we are, same percentage of Americans – – 37% – – think election stolen from Trump, and are not willing to take vaccine. Stupid is as stupid does.
the hill went on to report:
xrep and Sweetie…. all my love and all my best for a speedy recovery!
Yes!… LOVE the fact that the Supreme Court unanimously gave trumpty the middle finger!
this one is for you, Craig…
In celebrating scientists for vaccine development, don’t forget the brave “civilians” who rolled up their sleeves and risked testing it in clinical trials.
Ha, RR, you remember my Grover obsession. Thanks
It’s been almost a month since Sweetie’s post. I hope they’re both on the mend, but silence is worrisome these days.
COVID has a sickly sweet smell and it really jacks with folks who have diabetes.
So, is fat-ass golfing today?
Since tRUMPsky failed to procure enough vaccine, I guess we won’t have to fight 37% of the population for it.
Send xr all the good wishes you can even though there is no evidence that it works I know it does.
It works whether you have met the person or not. This is the only whoha thing I believe in.
As for Trump they are still pushing on. A hearing before the Wisc supremes How embarrassing to be a cheddar head these days.
Although it is a lesson in perseverance. They will have to pull his cold dead fingers out of the spotlight.
Juice Media does it, again. Apparently, ‘straya is worse than ‘merica? We’ve gotta be almost as bad, though.
Not sure Joe will be very progressive on the climate.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/12/us/casey-goodson-jr-what-we-know/index.html
This has not gotten any coverage here. Another black man, murdered by police as he entered his own home, keys in the door.
I am watching DC MAGA rally, nutjob Alex Jones just now: “Joe Biden will be removed one way or another”
Party of Pro Wrestlers
Proud Boys wandering DC streets today. My fave heckler, “Please return to your parents basements”
craig, stuff like what alex jones said is why i’d rather joe not go to GA on tuesday. please stay at home until 1/20/21 and even that day stay behind bullet proof glass in enclosures secure from the crazies.
Watched hours of MAGA rally speeches today in DC, on local access tv. I’m seeing a scary shift to violent martyrdom in their rhetoric, lots of biblical references to persecuted Christians and the Holy Wars. Michelle Bachmann literally spoke in tongues, then led the crowd singing “Onward Christian Soldiers”. Losing election is making them even crazier.
this saturday night in D.C. not looking like a good one to be out and about. ‘fraid the crazies won’t be happy until someone gets killed in the streets. this is not the time for protesters to confront a blood lusting mob.
cbsnews on D’umps last stand plan to flip the election:
Flash headline – Charlie Pride has died of COVID-19. Lots of bad words.
wiki:
In 2020, the CMA announced that Pride would receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 54th Country Music Association Awards in recognition of his work in the genre. The CEO of the CMA explained that “Charley Pride is the epitome of a trailblazer. Few other artists have grown country music’s rich heritage and led to the advancement of country music around the world like Charley. His distinctive voice has created a timeless legacy that continues to echo through the country community today. We could not be more excited to honor Charley with one of CMA’s highest accolades
BB – Pride is a great loss. Equal amount of bad words. Way too many deaths of good people.
One of my favorite displacement activities to avoid reality is to have movie night. Watch a movie, enjoy a dinner and not think of what is happening outside of fantasy. Tonight is Smokey and the Bandit. Filmed in Mississippi just as I left the place. It is fantasy, but fun and Jerry Reed is a great.
“Auntie Mame” starts soon, but so does “Schitts Creek.”
New SNL tonight. Timothee Chalomet & Bruce Springsteen.
Yertle is holding economic aid hostage to get employers a pass in case workers get sick and die. OSHA? Now is the time to use some of those tax dollars on Americans in need. Scrooge!
If I die because my employer didn’t do due diligence to protect me, I’m gonna haunt some folks.
Proud Boys in DC just set fire to Black Lives Matter banner
Disgusting
disgusting is as disgusting does
and those dudes do their damnedest doing disgusting
NEW THREAD
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/13/politics/bill-gates-biden-administration-coronavirus-cnntv/index.html
The vaccine tRUMPsky wants credit for (while taking no responsibility for his mishandling of the virus), and, for which tRUMPsky failed to procure more doses, is having its distribution muffed by REPUBLICANS FAILING to ADMIT tRUMP LOST and carrying on with these costly and frivolous re-counts and lawsuits.