Wednesday. [DOT 27/1/21]

27/1/21 MegMegMcGee 43

Let’s goooo!

Biden administration seeks to buy 200 million more vaccine doses, to be delivered through the summer
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/01/26/vaccine-supply-biden/

In the meantime:

‘I’m deeply sorry’: Boris Johnson faces questions over UK Covid death toll
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/26/ons-figures-show-uk-passed-100000-covid-deaths-by-7-january

U.S. prosecutors eye 400 potential suspects, expect sedition charges ‘very soon’ in Jan. 6 Capitol breach
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/pelosi-laptop-arrest-hearing-capitol-riot/2021/01/26/4ddda1ae-5ff6-11eb-9430-e7c77b5b0297_story.html

Sprots!

No players inducted to baseball’s Hall of Fame as Schilling and Bonds miss cut
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jan/26/hall-of-fame-schilling-bonds-clemens

He was FORTY-EIGHT.

Stonks!
Seriously? “The Tesla CEO tweeted “Gamestonk!!””

GameStop jumps after hours as Elon Musk tweets out Reddit board that’s hyping stock
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/26/gamestop-jumps-as-elon-musk-tweets-out-reddit-board-thats-hyping-stock.html

Whoa! (He’s OK)

Sorry ’bout this one guys [cry face emoji]

Have a great day!

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43 Comments

  1. …so, I saw that there was a bit of discussion on the NOT about the dismal result of the senate vote to dismiss the impeachment trial…& I know I mentioned previously that I’d like to be optimistic but I don’t feel like the pro-conviction votes from across the aisle that have been listed on the WaPo tally were/are much to pin that optimism on…but the fact that it looks like only five of them didn’t vote to dismiss the thing (& most of those being flaky when it comes to following through on their claims they might go against their party line about this or that) & that tally only dropped by one (18 rather than 19 last time I looked) isn’t doing my shaky attempts to feel optimistic much good?

      • …not arguing with you…but I find it hard to put into words the degree of crushing disappointment that accompanies my attempts to get my head around the underlying “logic” of the situation…I’m not sure I can envision a more clear-cut example of what ought to be a foregone conclusion in the opposite direction to the one it looks like going

        …I guess it’s more that I feel like we’re well past the point where enough of this stuff is beyond reasonable doubt that even by their own standards they ought to be capable of seeing that the advantages of convicting far outweigh the disadvantages…particularly in the longer term…whereas the consequences if they don’t are chilling to me to the point of finding it hard to stave off despair?

        • Seconded. These fucks had to literally flee for their lives and hide in the fucking basement, and they’re still saying “Thank you, Orange Hitler, may I have another?”
           
          I don’t know if they truly believe that the mob would have spared them or they just don’t give a fuck about anything but the “Trump voter.”
           
          My guess is the latter. 

        • It can’t hurt though. A Senate election is a statewide referendum, not subject to the rampant gerrymandering found in almost all states. You should see some of NYC’s districts. If it gives hope and angers enough sane people in some of those swing states, so much the better. It also might leave a bitter taste/buyer’s remorse in some 2020 Trump voters’ minds. Let’s just hope Patrick Leahy really was briefly hospitalized “out of an abundance of caution” (in just one article I read two different  people quoted as using that term.) The Governor of Vermont is a Republican.

        • Most Republican news viewers will never see any of the arguments, they will see the right wing news channel edited version that will only show them owning the Libs.  This is why we can’t make any progress.

          • Absolutely. Tackling media disinformation needs to be a major priority in the next couple of years. It’s going to be an incredibly hard problem to deal with, but it is critical. 

      • This is, honestly, the only real upside to the 2nd impeachment.  Now that the Democrats are in control of the trial, they can bring in evidence and witnesses to put that shit out in the open.  It will, of course, have absolutely no impact on the eventual acquittal, but it will at the very least air all their dirty laundry for use in attack ads down the road.

        • The best thing they can do is what Schiff did during Impeachment Round I and raise the warning about what else is there.
           
          The GOP has been trying to skate on acting like it’s all isolated incidents, and the attack needs to drive at hanging everything to come on them too.
           
          His crimes are going to keep coming to light and he will keep committing them.
           
          And quite frankly, they need to use it against the pundit class and DC media too, who want to sweep their abject dismissal of all of the warning signs under the rug, so they won’t face accountability for the next obvious crisis they will miss.

        • The initial vote certainly made acquittal seem likely. But I still have a slim hope that things could shift after the trial, lots of stuff brought into the open, evidence about congress people who conspired… I’m hoping FBI investigations of congress people start becoming public. If there start being indications that other Republicans are going down for this, some of the others might start jumping off the bandwagon. 

          • That is the more interesting one for me.  The Georgia crazy has made threats against Pelosi, Obama and others.  She can NOT be allowed to go a full term and I’m sure many of them helped the insurrection. 

  2. …also…by way of some context on how bad a job boris & his lot have done via à vis the virus in the UK I ran across this the other day

    https://brilliantmaps.com/uk-region-us-state/

    …& elsewhere on the guardian’s site you can find a somewhat cursory but none the less depressing rundown of some of the ways they seemed to avoid any of the advantages you might think a small island nation busy trying to annex itself from mainland europe might have been in a position to take advantage of

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/27/five-ways-the-government-could-have-avoided-100000-covid-deaths

    …so hearing boris saying (approximately) “I do think there’ll be a time to take stock & learn lessons from this…but…you know…not now…& not at election time either, obviously” does kind of make me feel pretty much the same way as that senate vote business does?

  3. One of my hopes for the Trump era was for more people to internalize the idea that the stock market has nothing to do with the wider economy … this GameStop buy-in is amazing.

    Of course the SEC will eventually step in and call it “market manipulation” and magic wand the rich their money back — I look forward to some new regulation that boils down to “the poors can’t do a capitalism!!!!1!!!!!” — but I hope every bro with a put option slept like shit last night and are terrified that they’re next.

    • Yeah this short squeeze has been fascinating. I found myself internalizing this debate like everything else: pretending it’s a Sam Waterston Law & Order cross examination with a Wall Street Bro:
      Why is it bad that retail investors buy up a stock? (It’s unnatural market manipulation…)
      What makes it different from hedge fund managers going to puff up something on Bloomberg then taking positions on a stock? (Well, we’re trained bankers and traders….)
      What’s the difference? Is there a trader school or licensure for investment firms outside of brokerages? (Uh…)
      Are you a fiduciary for anyone? (…)
      What’s your educational background? (Sports Management with concentration on golf courses.) [That’s a real degree. – ed.]
      So what gives you more legal or moral standing to buy, sell, promote, short or call something? Isn’t the professional investment community the one that broke the economy running up to 2008?
       
       

    • Having read more detailed analysis than “Reddit Day Traders bad”, I’m okay with dipshit Hedge Fund Bros getting soaked for their Put Options by regular dudes.
      Note:  Blackberry is going thru the same thing and I finally jumped off the cray cray train.

    • If ONLY,with that wish that folks would start to understand that “the market” has become *entirely* divorced from the broader economy, and from the creation/manufacturing of nearly anything other than numbers being shifted around on paper/inside the interwebs🙃
       
      That was one of my big hopes, too, fwiw😕
       
      it’s been incredibly frustrating to realize that while the wealthier folks simply don’t give a fuck–as long as they get “theirs”–poor sops who “invest” in stonks (making a *little* from it, but NOTHING compared to all the scammers & crooks who do it for a living) seem to almost ALL live by that “temporarily displaced millionaire” theory, and don’t get that the system is entirely rigged to simply make the rich richer, by helping THEM choose the “winners & losers”🙃
       
      Ngl, it’s frustrating as fuck, too, to know that there are millions of people out here busting our collective ASSES, working 2-3 (and plenty of times MORE!) jobs, doing “important,” “vital,” and “necessary” jobs, many of whom are getting paid $7.25 to $13-ish an hour, and WE are seen as the “lazy slackers, asking for handouts” or not “worth more per hour,” while those asshats LITERALLY manipulate money out of thin air over ethernet wires.
       
      Meanwhile PCA’s, teachers,  Paraprofessionals, retail workers, meat processors, farm workers, fast-food/restaurant workers, and SO MANY others are out here, busting our asses, trying our damndest to keep.shit.functioning. in this society, and we are continually thanked for “being heroes,” “creating our future,” making our world run,” or other assorted bullshittery… yet we can barely pay our bills or keep a roof over our heads.
       
      I’m SO sick of it, y’all.
       
      It’s frustrating & exhausting, and the unfairness of it all is just draining.
      I’m tired of being so goddamned tired. Of knowing that it’s likely I’ll never be able to afford to *not* have a job, even when I’m old and desperately want to stop working full time. It’s exhausting working two jobs in a pandemic, when SO MANY people can’t be arsed to do *the LITTLEST goddamned thing to look out for their fellow human being, because “Mah FREEDUMZ!!!!!” 
      And it’s just so fucking disheartening, to KNOW that so many motherfuckers who DO make in that $15-ish range *don’t* want the folks making less to get to $15, simply because it’s the one thing THEY have, to feel “better” and of more status, than the folks making less.
       
      Swear to God, sometimes I WANT the entire goddamned system to just fucking implode… because *i* have life-skills, and even though I’d HATE living like my “pioneer”/settler ancestors, I COULD fucking survive–i *have* hard skills, and can do things most other folks don’t know how to do nowadays. (Sewing, for one)… but I also DON’T want any sort of implosion, because I know too many folks who wouldn’t survive, or if they did, who’d suffer unnecessary hardship.
      But I fucking HATE the current capitalism system we have. Where actual skills, knowledge, & expertise are pooh-poohed or blown off, and bullshit-spewing is somehow seen as a “skill” that’s highly rated & honored.

  4. More and more details about the recent past of the Q A n n believers in the House GOP is coming to light. Marjorie Taylor Greene backed the execution of Pelosi and liked Facebook comments calling for the killing of FBI agents, and endorsed claims that Hillary Clinton wore the skin of dead children.
     
    This stuff won’t stop, and it is only a matter of time before we start seeing sessions on the House floor for Ethics violations and probably law enforcement stepping in. Kevin McCarthy is trying to walk a tightrope with this madness, which of course is idiotic. His own party is too busy lighting dynamite underneath him.

      • The Constitution requires a 2/3 vote for expelling, so the odds of expulsion passing are slim right now. But based on the insanity of some of these people, I wouldn’t rule out either the criminal activity or the political embarassment still managing to cross that high bar. They are capable of reaching those heights.
         
        What is a lot easier is punishment short of expulsion, which only requires a simple majority.  They can be stripped of committee seats, staff, budget, parking place, gym pass…. The big one would be shutting down district offices, which are very valuable as ways of providing constituent services which can make a difference for reelection.
         
        I think Pelosi would be reluctant to go that route too. But I also think they are crazy enough to force her hand. I don’t think it has sunk in how crazy they are, and the Beltway crowd is still treating this as a PR issue more than a genuine threat.

    • Vice News is doing a 3 part special called “QAnon the Search for Q” that I recorded the first episode last night.  Should be an interesting watch.  They have been doing some of the best reporting on this for awhile:
       


       

  5. I’m trying to be patient and optimistic, we are only one week into Biden’s presidency, but it is hard. The hysteria is starting to die down without the constant barrage from cheeto, and I have alot of faith in the short attention span of the murricans. BUT, just in case, misfits market is sending me blood oranges this week and I have my eye on blood orange margaritas, serves two, hahahahahahaha, as if.

  7. Yesterday I ran across this article:
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/mayor-aims-turn-small-town-095700235.html
    This is a beautiful small town we visit every year.  I’m so pissed I’m writing letters to anyone that will listen to boycott this city until he is removed.  If anyone wants to join in writing letters,  you can contact the council here:
    https://www.sequimwa.gov/67/City-Council
    I am also making the chamber of commerce aware of this boycott:
    ‘info@sequimchamber.com’
     
     

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