alternet--2020-11-28--Did anything good happen in 2020?

Did anything good happen in 2020?

It 's been a hell of a year , literally .
A deadly pandemic that continues to claim lives , while a robust disinformation campaign actively undermines the public 's understanding of its severity , prevention and treatment .
People out of work and industries devastated , with inadequate bandages offered by our federal response .
Police rioting in the streets of our cities when those they are supposed to serve and protect dared to demand they do so in the names of Breonna Taylor , George Floyd , Rayshard Brooks , and so many more .
Right-wing domestic terrorism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made even more stressful by a lengthier decision timeline .
To top it all off , an attempted coup , for chrissakes , made not the least bit less alarming by its foretold inevitability .
Every day brings a new opportunity to uncover abuses of public trust , analyze our various civic and epistemic crises , and expose the corrosive mendacity and unchecked greed of undeserving clowns in positions of ever-growing power .
You read our work ; you know .
Amid all of that bad , was there anything to celebrate about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — if we even make it to December 31 ?
It felt like a dare : Name something good that happened in 2020 .
Just one .
We like a challenge .
Here 's what we found .
( We had one ground rule : No picking `` the outcome of the presidential election . ''
) Some of these are personal experiences , while some are communal .
Some show how art and artistic experiences endure , despite the brutal circumstances .
Many came out of deliberate and accidental attempts at making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Some are moments in time that we 're preserving and reliving in appreciation , but many are ongoing pleasures and satisfactions you can seek out if they appeal .
Yes , some are born of schadenfreude ( and a need to laugh at the absurd death rattles of the outgoing administration ) but most from genuine affection .
All are sincerely appreciated .
So here they are .
May this question be easier to answer in years to come .
The Four Seasons Total Landscaping fiasco gave us a reason to laugh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We as a nation need to remember where the travesty of the Trump administration died with a whimper '' Verzuz battles brought us together to bond over live music again by Melanie McFarland The pandemic took live music away from us .
Verzuz gave it back and brought us closer to the musicians we love Thank you , Gritty , rallying with us to save our democracy by Amanda Marcotte The chaotic orange mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers became an icon of democracy in 2020 TikTok teens trolling Trump in Tulsa : A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Mary Elizabeth Williams In this otherwise terrible year , Gen Z scored a small victory by landing a blow to Trump 's MAGA delusion Weird Al 's `` We 're All Doomed '' nailed this sh*tshow of a year by Matthew Rozsa In a single music video , Weird Al and The Gregory Brothers summed up the zeitgeist of 2020 as a `` raging hellscape '' '' Schitt 's Creek '' was my saving grace in the early shutdown days by Erin Keane When Moira Rose wailed , `` Pick up a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' I felt it in my bones Fanny packs are back , baby !
A weird fashion silver lining in a sweatpants year by Hanh Nguyen I imagine this is how the first Scotsman who adorned himself with a sporran felt – proud , ready to tackle anything We needed to hear Melania Trump say `` Who gives a f*ck about Christmas '' by Erin Keane It was hard proof that Melania Trump is just as bad as the rest of her clan — and we all heard it Ronan Farrow 's voices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me get through this year by Hanh Nguyen Reading while I jog or do chores ?
Great !
But also , give me all the random voices and accents while you 're at it '' Kentucky Route Zero , '' a magical realism masterpiece , is proof art can thrive in trying times by Keith A. Spencer The video game is a 21st century combination of a Southern Gothic and magical realist novel Getting engaged in this otherwise hellish year : An act of faith in a shared future by Nicole Karlis A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the people you love still there This year , we conquered breakfast by Justin Pelofsky and Alex Wittenberg The pandemic forced us both to slow down and crack the morning meal code During a dark year , a dream realized : How the pandemic brought me back to school by Mary Elizabeth Williams I would n't be in my master 's program — a dream I 've long deferred — without the pandemic rearranging my life The people in the TV who talk to me : This is what comfort in 2020 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kinder and gentler personal version of Cronenberg 's `` Videodrome , '' my favorite shows kept me company at home

It's been a hell of a year, literally. A deadly pandemic that continues to claim lives, while a robust disinformation campaign actively undermines the public's understanding of its severity, prevention and treatment. People out of work and industries devastated, with inadequate bandages offered by our federal response. Police rioting in the streets of our cities when those they are supposed to serve and protect dared to demand they do so in the names of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and so many more. Right-wing domestic terrorism on the rise. A brutal election made even more stressful by a lengthier decision timeline.
To top it all off, an attempted coup, for chrissakes, made not the least bit less alarming by its foretold inevitability.
Every day brings a new opportunity to uncover abuses of public trust, analyze our various civic and epistemic crises, and expose the corrosive mendacity and unchecked greed of undeserving clowns in positions of ever-growing power. You read our work; you know. Amid all of that bad, was there anything to celebrate about this awful year, save its passing — if we even make it to December 31? It felt like a dare: Name something good that happened in 2020. Just one.
We like a challenge. Here's what we found. (We had one ground rule: No picking "the outcome of the presidential election.")
Some of these are personal experiences, while some are communal. Some show how art and artistic experiences endure, despite the brutal circumstances. Many came out of deliberate and accidental attempts at making the best of an otherwise crummy year. Some are moments in time that we're preserving and reliving in appreciation, but many are ongoing pleasures and satisfactions you can seek out if they appeal.
Yes, some are born of schadenfreude (and a need to laugh at the absurd death rattles of the outgoing administration) but most from genuine affection. All are sincerely appreciated. So here they are. May this question be easier to answer in years to come.
The Four Seasons Total Landscaping fiasco gave us a reason to laugh at 2020
by Ashlie D. Stevens
"We as a nation need to remember where the travesty of the Trump administration died with a whimper"
Verzuz battles brought us together to bond over live music again
by Melanie McFarland
The pandemic took live music away from us. Verzuz gave it back and brought us closer to the musicians we love
Thank you, Gritty, rallying with us to save our democracy
by Amanda Marcotte
The chaotic orange mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers became an icon of democracy in 2020
TikTok teens trolling Trump in Tulsa: A high point in an otherwise low year
by Mary Elizabeth Williams
In this otherwise terrible year, Gen Z scored a small victory by landing a blow to Trump's MAGA delusion
Weird Al's "We're All Doomed" nailed this sh*tshow of a year
by Matthew Rozsa
In a single music video, Weird Al and The Gregory Brothers summed up the zeitgeist of 2020 as a "raging hellscape"
"Schitt's Creek" was my saving grace in the early shutdown days
by Erin Keane
When Moira Rose wailed, "Pick up a hammer and nail this coffin shut!" I felt it in my bones
Fanny packs are back, baby! A weird fashion silver lining in a sweatpants year
by Hanh Nguyen
I imagine this is how the first Scotsman who adorned himself with a sporran felt – proud, ready to tackle anything
We needed to hear Melania Trump say "Who gives a f*ck about Christmas"
by Erin Keane
It was hard proof that Melania Trump is just as bad as the rest of her clan — and we all heard it
Ronan Farrow's voices (and other audiobook delights) helped me get through this year
by Hanh Nguyen
Reading while I jog or do chores? Great! But also, give me all the random voices and accents while you're at it
"Kentucky Route Zero," a magical realism masterpiece, is proof art can thrive in trying times
by Keith A. Spencer
The video game is a 21st century combination of a Southern Gothic and magical realist novel
Getting engaged in this otherwise hellish year: An act of faith in a shared future
by Nicole Karlis
A good year is simply when it ends with the people you love still there
This year, we conquered breakfast
by Justin Pelofsky and Alex Wittenberg
The pandemic forced us both to slow down and crack the morning meal code
During a dark year, a dream realized: How the pandemic brought me back to school
by Mary Elizabeth Williams
I wouldn't be in my master's program — a dream I've long deferred — without the pandemic rearranging my life
The people in the TV who talk to me: This is what comfort in 2020 feels like
by Chauncey DeVega
In my kinder and gentler personal version of Cronenberg's "Videodrome," my favorite shows kept me company at home


alternet--2020-11-28--Trump's sadistic narcissism: The gift that could keep on giving to Republicans indefinitely

As we watch the slow-rolling train wreck Donald Trump is currently engineering for Republicans in Georgia , it 's enjoyable to imagine what kind of havoc Trump may very well visit upon the GOP for the next several years .
Precisely because Senate Republicans allowed Trump to turn the state 's two Senate runoffs into a divisive family feud , Trump could conceivably continue to wield outsized power in GOP primaries for the foreseeable future .
In fact , Republicans got a preview of Trump 's spiteful wrath after Ohio Republican Gov .
Mike DeWine dared to acknowledge Joe Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump later tweeted , `` Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio ?
Will be hotly contested , '' he added , angling for a primary fight .
As the New York Times recently wrote : Since being the operative word there .
Congressional Republicans had a chance to sever ties with Trump , or at least to curb his influence on the party .
Instead , they chose to sidle up to him in service of maintaining their hold on the Senate majority .
That choice may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but it is certainly giving Senate Republicans heartburn at this very moment and will continue to do so right up through January .

As we watch the slow-rolling train wreck Donald Trump is currently engineering for Republicans in Georgia, it's enjoyable to imagine what kind of havoc Trump may very well visit upon the GOP for the next several years.
Precisely because Senate Republicans allowed Trump to turn the state's two Senate runoffs into a divisive family feud, Trump could conceivably continue to wield outsized power in GOP primaries for the foreseeable future. In fact, Republicans got a preview of Trump's spiteful wrath after Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine dared to acknowledge Joe Biden as the president-elect recently on CNN. Trump later tweeted, "Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio? Will be hotly contested," he added, angling for a primary fight.
As the New York Timesrecently wrote:
What's alarming to national Republicans is that the awkwardness in Georgia may only offer a preview of what the party might confront during the post-Trump era, which itself may be a misnomer.
With Mr. Trump signaling that he intends to try to keep control of the party and potentially seek the White House again in 2024, G.O.P. lawmakers and operatives are bracing for a period in which they're effectively handcuffed to a former president who demands veto power in intraparty elections.
"It's very possible, if not likely, that Trump will be in a kingmaker position for the 2022 primaries," said Todd Harris, a longtime Republican ad-maker. "Whether people like it or not, this is Trump's party. And nothing that happened on Election Day or since then has done anything to change that."
Since being the operative word there. Congressional Republicans had a chance to sever ties with Trump, or at least to curb his influence on the party. Instead, they chose to sidle up to him in service of maintaining their hold on the Senate majority. That choice may or may not pay off in January, but it is certainly giving Senate Republicans heartburn at this very moment and will continue to do so right up through January.


alternet--2020-11-28--Food banks struggle as 1 in 6 families with children don't have enough to eat

One in six U.S. families with children do n't have enough to eat this holiday season , a national emergency exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and the unemployment crisis it has generated .
Over the past several days , remarkable reporting in the Washington Post and National Geographic , among other outlets , has explored this alarming trend .
According to Feeding America , the largest hunger relief organization in the U.S. , more than 50 million people will experience food insecurity by the end of the year .
Among U.S. children , the figure rises to one in four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ network of some 200 food banks across the nation , says it distributed over half a billion meals last month alone , a 52 % increase from an average pre-pandemic month .
The latest U.S. Census Bureau pandemic survey , published earlier this month , found that fewer than half of U.S. households with children were `` very confident '' they could afford to provide enough food for their families in the next month .
As is so often the case when it comes to matters of economic inequality , Black , Latinx @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the hunger crisis .
Among the 25 U.S. counties experiencing the worst food insecurity , only four have majority white populations , all of them in rural Kentucky .
Census Bureau data reveals that fully 27 % of Black and 23 % of Latinx households with children reported not having enough to eat over the past week—compared with just 12 % of white families .
`` This is a story about racial and ethnic disparities—both food insecurity and the story of coronavirus , '' Emily Engelhard , managing director of Feeding America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` The populations and geographies that started in the most disadvantageous state of food insecurity are the ones that are getting hit the hardest '' during the pandemic .
`` People are seeing hunger like they 've never seen it before , '' Trisha Cunningham , president of the North Texas Food Bank—where cars lined up for miles and people slept in their vehicles waiting for Thanksgiving food boxes—told National Geographic .
On November 14 , its busiest day on record , North Texas Food Bank provided groceries—including 7,000 whole turkeys—to more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Greater Cleveland Food Bank planned to distribute 12,000 meals , a 5,000-meal increase from a year ago .
`` We 're now seeing families who had an emergency fund but it 's gone and they 're at the end of their rope , '' Kristin Warzocha , president of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank , told the Guardian .
`` We 're going to be doing this for a really long time , and that 's frankly terrifying given the impact hunger has on physical health , learning and development for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' In Texas ' second-largest city , the San Antonio Food Bank distributes eight semi-trucks full of food every day , but still was forced to resort to rationing due to soaring need .
`` Covid-19 has taken so much , people 's jobs , their loved ones , and now we 're just trying to stop it from taking Thanksgiving , '' San Antonio Food Bank CEO Eric Cooper told CNBC .
`` Pre-pandemic we were feeding around 60,000 people a week , and now we 're seeing around 120,000 ... and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ food bank .
They 've never had to ask for help before . ''
Indeed , among the thousands of cars that lined up starting in the pre-dawn hours for free Thanksgiving meals at Houston 's NRG Stadium last weekend , there were more than a few luxury makes .
`` I was just telling my mom , 'You look at people pulling up in Mercedes and stuff , come on , ' '' Randy Young , a recently laid-off cook at the stadium who was waiting in line with his elderly mother @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a person driving a Mercedes is in need of food , you know it 's bad . ''
`` It 's been hard to survive , '' Young said .
`` Money is low .
No jobs .
Hard to find work . ''
Loudoun County , Virginia is per capita the wealthiest county in the nation , with a median household income of just under $ 140,000 .
Yet the Post reports Loudoun Hunger Relief recently handed out meals to 887 households in one recent week , a 300 % increase from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to see people who have never used our services before , '' Jennifer Montgomery , Loudoun Hunger Relief 's executive director , told the Post .
In the nation 's largest city , Food Bank for NYC president Leslie Gordon told France 24 that `` even before the pandemic , there were 1.5 million residents here across the five boroughs who did n't always know where their next meal was coming from or what it would be , and that 's escalated considerably to nearly two million of our neighbors . ''
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up , and food banks do everything they can to make sure families have food on the table for Thanksgiving , '' Zuani Villareal , a spokesperson for Feeding America told the Guardian .
`` There 's no end in sight , but we ca n't be the only solution . ''
Celia Call , CEO of Feeding Texas , stressed to the Post that `` without sustained aid at the federal level , we 'll be hard-pressed to keep up '' with demand .
`` We 're just bracing for the worst @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawmakers tweeted the Post article over the past two days .
One of them , Rep. Ro Khanna ( D-Calif. ) , said that `` Congress has the power to address this crisis , '' and asked , `` Why are n't we doing it ? ''

One in six U.S. families with children don't have enough to eat this holiday season, a national emergency exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and the unemployment crisis it has generated. Over the past several days, remarkable reporting in the Washington Postand National Geographic, among other outlets, has explored this alarming trend.
According to Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organization in the U.S., more than 50 million people will experience food insecurity by the end of the year. Among U.S. children, the figure rises to one in four. The group, which runs a network of some 200 food banks across the nation, says it distributed over half a billion meals last month alone, a 52% increase from an average pre-pandemic month.
The latest U.S. Census Bureau pandemic survey, published earlier this month, found that fewer than half of U.S. households with children were "very confident" they could afford to provide enough food for their families in the next month.
As is so often the case when it comes to matters of economic inequality, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities are disproportionately impacted by the hunger crisis. Among the 25 U.S. counties experiencing the worst food insecurity, only four have majority white populations, all of them in rural Kentucky. Census Bureau data reveals that fully 27% of Black and 23% of Latinx households with children reported not having enough to eat over the past week—compared with just 12% of white families.
"This is a story about racial and ethnic disparities—both food insecurity and the story of coronavirus," Emily Engelhard, managing director of Feeding America's research unit, told National Geographic. "The populations and geographies that started in the most disadvantageous state of food insecurity are the ones that are getting hit the hardest" during the pandemic.
"People are seeing hunger like they've never seen it before," Trisha Cunningham, president of the North Texas Food Bank—where cars lined up for miles and people slept in their vehicles waiting for Thanksgiving food boxes—toldNational Geographic. On November 14, its busiest day on record, North Texas Food Bank provided groceries—including 7,000 whole turkeys—to more than 25,000 people.
In northeastern Ohio, the Greater Cleveland Food Bank planned to distribute 12,000 meals, a 5,000-meal increase from a year ago.
"We're now seeing families who had an emergency fund but it's gone and they're at the end of their rope," Kristin Warzocha, president of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, told the Guardian. "We're going to be doing this for a really long time, and that's frankly terrifying given the impact hunger has on physical health, learning and development for children, and parents' stress."
In Texas' second-largest city, the San Antonio Food Bank distributes eight semi-trucks full of food every day, but still was forced to resort to rationing due to soaring need.
"Covid-19 has taken so much, people's jobs, their loved ones, and now we're just trying to stop it from taking Thanksgiving," San Antonio Food Bank CEO Eric Cooper toldCNBC. "Pre-pandemic we were feeding around 60,000 people a week, and now we're seeing around 120,000... and most of those are new to the food bank. They've never had to ask for help before."
Indeed, among the thousands of cars that lined up starting in the pre-dawn hours for free Thanksgiving meals at Houston's NRG Stadium last weekend, there were more than a few luxury makes.
"I was just telling my mom, 'You look at people pulling up in Mercedes and stuff, come on,'" Randy Young, a recently laid-off cook at the stadium who was waiting in line with his elderly mother, told the Post. "If a person driving a Mercedes is in need of food, you know it's bad."
"It's been hard to survive," Young said. "Money is low. No jobs. Hard to find work."
Loudoun County, Virginia is per capita the wealthiest county in the nation, with a median household income of just under $140,000. Yet the Post reports Loudoun Hunger Relief recently handed out meals to 887 households in one recent week, a 300% increase from pre-pandemic activity.
"We are continuing to see people who have never used our services before," Jennifer Montgomery, Loudoun Hunger Relief's executive director, told the Post.
In the nation's largest city, Food Bank for NYC president Leslie Gordon toldFrance 24 that "even before the pandemic, there were 1.5 million residents here across the five boroughs who didn't always know where their next meal was coming from or what it would be, and that's escalated considerably to nearly two million of our neighbors."
"Across the country demand has not let up, and food banks do everything they can to make sure families have food on the table for Thanksgiving," Zuani Villareal, a spokesperson for Feeding America told the Guardian. "There's no end in sight, but we can't be the only solution."
Celia Call, CEO of Feeding Texas, stressed to the Post that "without sustained aid at the federal level, we'll be hard-pressed to keep up" with demand. "We're just bracing for the worst," she added.
Several progressive lawmakers tweeted the Post article over the past two days. One of them, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), said that "Congress has the power to address this crisis," and asked, "Why aren't we doing it?"


alternet--2020-11-29--Border wall has inflicted 'incalculable' damage on surrounding land: environmental activist

Laiken Jordahl of the Center for Biological Diversity writes in The New York Times that the damage impeached president Donald Trump 's border wall has inflicted on the surrounding lands is `` incalculable . ''
The borderlands are home to precious wildlife , ecosystems , and monuments that are supposed to be protected by law .
But the federal government gave itself the ability to waive away those protections , and the Trump administration has done this to devastating effect .
`` Saguaro cactuses , some nearly a century old , in shards on the desert floor , '' Jordahl @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because a metal wall has blocked their migratory path .
Endangered species homeless because their critical habitats have been destroyed .
Living and working along the U.S.-Mexico border means watching the surreal , slow-motion leveling of the wild and fragile ecosystems I 've spent my career fighting to protect . ''
Jordahl writes that law passed by Congress in 2005 `` included a provision that allows the secretary of homeland security to waive laws that the secretary deems an impediment to building walls and roads along U.S .
borders . ''
The Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cast aside dozens of laws that protect clean air and water , endangered animals and Indigenous burial grounds to rush wall construction . ''
`` So we 've watched as this senseless , multibillion dollar vanity project ravages our state 's beautiful wild lands , '' Jordahl continued .
He writes that in just one example of the damage to wildlife , surveillance cameras captured a confused family of javelina stranded for hours at the fencing , looking for a way through .
`` Until recently , those animals could have walked under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
With President-elect Joe Biden vowing to stop construction of Trump 's monument to racism on day one of his presidency , the outgoing administration is reportedly rushing to build—but in all actuality destroy—as much as possible before noon on January 20 .
NPR reported that in the Guadalupe Canyon and the Coronado National Memorial areas of Arizona , `` work crews are dynamiting the sides of pristine mountains and bulldozing access roads in this stunning landscape '' for wall the administration likely wo n't have time to build .
Jordahl , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration 's intentional disregard of the region , called it `` destruction for destruction 's sake . ''
`` The damage the border wall has inflicted in just the past year is incalculable , '' he continued in The Times .
`` Much of it will last forever .
No amount of money could repay the O'odham and all Indigenous people of the borderlands for the sacred sites , cultural history and natural heritage that 's been destroyed .
To right these wrongs , we must start somewhere .
Tearing down the wall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Read his full piece here .

Laiken Jordahl of the Center for Biological Diversity writes in The New York Timesthat the damage impeached president Donald Trump's border wall has inflicted on the surrounding lands is "incalculable." The borderlands are home to precious wildlife, ecosystems, and monuments that are supposed to be protected by law. But the federal government gave itself the ability to waive away those protections, and the Trump administration has done this to devastating effect.
"Saguaro cactuses, some nearly a century old, in shards on the desert floor," Jordahl writes. "Jaguars, lost, because a metal wall has blocked their migratory path. Endangered species homeless because their critical habitats have been destroyed. Living and working along the U.S.-Mexico border means watching the surreal, slow-motion leveling of the wild and fragile ecosystems I've spent my career fighting to protect."
Jordahl writes that law passed by Congress in 2005 "included a provision that allows the secretary of homeland security to waive laws that the secretary deems an impediment to building walls and roads along U.S. borders." The Trump administration has done just that and "cast aside dozens of laws that protect clean air and water, endangered animals and Indigenous burial grounds to rush wall construction."
"So we've watched as this senseless, multibillion dollar vanity project ravages our state's beautiful wild lands," Jordahl continued. He writes that in just one example of the damage to wildlife, surveillance cameras captured a confused family of javelina stranded for hours at the fencing, looking for a way through. "Until recently, those animals could have walked under waist-high vehicle barriers," he said.
With President-elect Joe Biden vowing to stop construction of Trump's monument to racism on day one of his presidency, the outgoing administration is reportedly rushing to build—but in all actuality destroy—as much as possible before noon on January 20.
NPR reported that in the Guadalupe Canyon and the Coronado National Memorial areas of Arizona, "work crews are dynamiting the sides of pristine mountains and bulldozing access roads in this stunning landscape" for wall the administration likely won't have time to build. Jordahl, who has used social media to document the administration's intentional disregard of the region, called it "destruction for destruction's sake."
"The damage the border wall has inflicted in just the past year is incalculable," he continued in The Times. "Much of it will last forever. No amount of money could repay the O'odham and all Indigenous people of the borderlands for the sacred sites, cultural history and natural heritage that's been destroyed. To right these wrongs, we must start somewhere. Tearing down the wall would be a good start." Read his full piece here.


alternet--2020-11-29--Expert explains why 'systemic conservatism'  continues to prevail in the US

On the Sunday after the November 3rd presidential election , Utah Senator Mitt Romney , the 2012 Republican presidential candidate , congratulated President-elect Joe Biden but insisted that the overall election was an endorsement of conservative principles .
He pointed to the gains Republicans made in the House , though they are still in the minority , and the failure of the Democrats to capture control of the Senate , at least so far .
Romney found further evidence in the Democrats ' inability to flip GOP-controlled statehouses .
Romney , however , is mistaken in his basic assertion .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 5 million popular votes , nearly 4 percent more than Trump 's total .
The president-elect obtained the highest number of popular votes in the nation 's history .
Biden 's margin of victory , contrary to Romney 's claim , is not a mandate for conservatism .
Rather , at the very least , the election was a referendum on President Trump 's leadership , which of course Trump used to promote conservative ideas concerning tax cuts for the wealthy and the relaxation of business and environmental regulations .
No @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and it remains for the experts to crunch the numbers and analyze the ingredients that secured the Biden-Harris victory .
Yet we already have sufficient evidence that the majority of the American people favor progressive positions on many issues .
Surveys by Gallup , Pew , and other reliable organizations consistently show that a significant majority of Americans favor `` Medicare for All , '' tighter gun safety restrictions , and the freedom of women to have abortions in most situations .
A number of states , including Florida , have voted for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but not least , polls show that a majority of Americans believe that racial discrimination continues to exist and should be addressed .
These are progressive not conservative principles , and are sustained by the Biden-Harris victory .
Nevertheless , Romney is correct in one sense .
In the United States what I call `` systemic conservatism '' continues to prevail .
I draw this phrase from our reawakened realization of `` systemic racism , '' and the two are related .
By systemic conservatism I mean the institutional barriers created by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One obvious example is the Electoral College .
Presidential candidates have to win a majority of electoral rather than popular votes .
Had it been otherwise we would not have a President George W. Bush or Donald J. Trump .
The Electoral College consists of the number of votes each state has in the U.S. House and Senate ( except for the non-state of Washington D.C. , which has three electors ) .
The choice of an Electoral College to decide the presidency resulted from efforts of small state and slave state delegates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ongoing power .
Most troubling , under the three-fifths compromise slave states increased their electoral votes .
They did so by securing the constitutional right to count 60 percent of their enslaved people for purposes of representation in Congress and the Electoral College .
In addition , the Senate created rules to frustrate a majority of its members .
Until the 1960s , southern senators used the filibuster rule , which allowed unlimited debate in the absence of a supermajority vote , to frustrate attempts to pass civil rights legislation .
Republican Majority @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to thwart progressive legislation for the past ten years .
Even if the Democrats wind up gaining two seats in Georgia , resulting in a Senate tie , they will need sixty votes to enact legislation unless the filibuster rule is changed .
And if they manage to do so , a conservative majority on the Supreme Court can still overturn that legislation .
The federal system has often blocked the effects of progressive policies initiated at the national level , The post-Reconstruction Jim Crow era that lasted into the 1960s saw the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amendments in a variety of ways .
Even when the Supreme Court struck down racial segregation in schools in 1954 , southern states adopted so-called freedom of choice plans to sidestep the court 's ruling for another two decades .
President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal legislation was instrumental in combating the Great Depression , but it had to be administered through the states .
This gave states , particularly in the South , the opportunity to reinforce racial segregation within these programs and also ensure that agricultural subsidies benefitted plantation owners @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and sharecroppers , a disproportionate percentage of whom were African American .
Progressive change does happen within our political system but it faces serious obstacles .
The abolition of slavery and the extension of citizenship and voting rights to African Americans required a Civil War .
It took the Great Depression to achieve Social Security , minimum wages , and anti-child labor laws .
The Civil Rights Movement was necessary to re-enfranchise African Americans and people of color as was the Women 's Suffrage Movement that extended the vote decades earlier mainly to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 2008 Great Recession provided for a short time the majorities needed to move incrementally toward universal health insurance .
There is also ample precedent within the federal system of states serving as laboratories for progressive policies , as was the case in Wisconsin during the early twentieth century .
Under the leadership of Governor Robert M. LaFollette , Wisconsin joined government officials together with academic advisers to create a reform agenda that was copied throughout the nation In the early 2000s , Massachusetts under the leadership of Governor Mitt Romney created a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the model of President Barack Obama 's Affordable Care Act .
However , in 2020 , with most state legislatures in the hands of Republican majorities , the prospects for reform measures bubbling up from the bottom to the top of the political mainstream are dim .
Just as President-elect Biden will have to confront systemic racism he will also have to deal with systemic conservatism .
It does not look like he will have the necessary legislative majority to achieve his programs .
At best , incremental rather than sweeping change is @ @ @

On the Sunday after the November 3rd presidential election, Utah Senator Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, congratulated President-elect Joe Biden but insisted that the overall election was an endorsement of conservative principles. He pointed to the gains Republicans made in the House, though they are still in the minority, and the failure of the Democrats to capture control of the Senate, at least so far. Romney found further evidence in the Democrats' inability to flip GOP-controlled statehouses.
Romney, however, is mistaken in his basic assertion. First of all, Biden won by more than 5 million popular votes, nearly 4 percent more than Trump's total. The president-elect obtained the highest number of popular votes in the nation's history. Biden's margin of victory, contrary to Romney's claim, is not a mandate for conservatism. Rather, at the very least, the election was a referendum on President Trump's leadership, which of course Trump used to promote conservative ideas concerning tax cuts for the wealthy and the relaxation of business and environmental regulations.
No presidential election outcome reflects any single issue and it remains for the experts to crunch the numbers and analyze the ingredients that secured the Biden-Harris victory. Yet we already have sufficient evidence that the majority of the American people favor progressive positions on many issues. Surveys by Gallup, Pew, and other reliable organizations consistently show that a significant majority of Americans favor "Medicare for All," tighter gun safety restrictions, and the freedom of women to have abortions in most situations. A number of states, including Florida, have voted for the $15 minimum wage. Last but not least, polls show that a majority of Americans believe that racial discrimination continues to exist and should be addressed. These are progressive not conservative principles, and are sustained by the Biden-Harris victory.
Nevertheless, Romney is correct in one sense. In the United States what I call "systemic conservatism" continues to prevail. I draw this phrase from our reawakened realization of "systemic racism," and the two are related. By systemic conservatism I mean the institutional barriers created by the founding fathers to limit popular democracy. One obvious example is the Electoral College. Presidential candidates have to win a majority of electoral rather than popular votes. Had it been otherwise we would not have a President George W. Bush or Donald J. Trump. The Electoral College consists of the number of votes each state has in the U.S. House and Senate (except for the non-state of Washington D.C., which has three electors). The choice of an Electoral College to decide the presidency resulted from efforts of small state and slave state delegates at the Constitutional Convention to ensure their ongoing power. Most troubling, under the three-fifths compromise slave states increased their electoral votes. They did so by securing the constitutional right to count 60 percent of their enslaved people for purposes of representation in Congress and the Electoral College.
In addition, the Senate created rules to frustrate a majority of its members. Until the 1960s, southern senators used the filibuster rule, which allowed unlimited debate in the absence of a supermajority vote, to frustrate attempts to pass civil rights legislation. Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has used this rule to thwart progressive legislation for the past ten years. Even if the Democrats wind up gaining two seats in Georgia, resulting in a Senate tie, they will need sixty votes to enact legislation unless the filibuster rule is changed. And if they manage to do so, a conservative majority on the Supreme Court can still overturn that legislation.
The federal system has often blocked the effects of progressive policies initiated at the national level, The post-Reconstruction Jim Crow era that lasted into the 1960s saw the southern states eviscerate the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments in a variety of ways. Even when the Supreme Court struck down racial segregation in schools in 1954, southern states adopted so-called freedom of choice plans to sidestep the court's ruling for another two decades. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation was instrumental in combating the Great Depression, but it had to be administered through the states. This gave states, particularly in the South, the opportunity to reinforce racial segregation within these programs and also ensure that agricultural subsidies benefitted plantation owners to the detriment of their tenant farmers and sharecroppers, a disproportionate percentage of whom were African American.
Progressive change does happen within our political system but it faces serious obstacles. The abolition of slavery and the extension of citizenship and voting rights to African Americans required a Civil War. It took the Great Depression to achieve Social Security, minimum wages, and anti-child labor laws. The Civil Rights Movement was necessary to re-enfranchise African Americans and people of color as was the Women's Suffrage Movement that extended the vote decades earlier mainly to white women. Democratic Party victories following the 2008 Great Recession provided for a short time the majorities needed to move incrementally toward universal health insurance.
There is also ample precedent within the federal system of states serving as laboratories for progressive policies, as was the case in Wisconsin during the early twentieth century. Under the leadership of Governor Robert M. LaFollette, Wisconsin joined government officials together with academic advisers to create a reform agenda that was copied throughout the nation In the early 2000s, Massachusetts under the leadership of Governor Mitt Romney created a system of statewide health insurance that became the model of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. However, in 2020, with most state legislatures in the hands of Republican majorities, the prospects for reform measures bubbling up from the bottom to the top of the political mainstream are dim.
Just as President-elect Biden will have to confront systemic racism he will also have to deal with systemic conservatism. It does not look like he will have the necessary legislative majority to achieve his programs. At best, incremental rather than sweeping change is more likely.


alternet--2020-11-29--The flip-side of Trump's 'very good people': Who should Biden fire first?

Here 's something to ponder along with your dream team picks for President-elect Joe Biden 's Cabinet and top officials : Who should he fire first ?
There are just so many options , and you can thank Republicans for the fact that Biden will be able to jettison some folks , fast .
As David Dayen reminds us , the Republican case to try to gut President Obama 's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ) , a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court , means that the odious Trump director can be canned summarily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say , elections have consequences .
Republicans tried everything to destroy the CFPB and went to court to have the whole agency invalidated .
That did n't work , but the Supreme Court ended up deciding that the director of the agency should n't have the scope of power or the protections allowed under the law .
So the Supreme Court decided not to do away with the whole agency , but to make sure that the director could be fired at will by the president .
Wheeeee !
So yeah , Mick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , can be gone—just like that .
The Revolving Door Project has scoured the administration to find the people who have to get the boot immediately and who should be demoted .
Those they recommend be fired include `` Inspectors General , the Directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) and the Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ) , and , to some degree , United States Attorneys . ''
As detailed above , no political appointee in the Trump administration can be reasonably assumed to put country over party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ working in the public interest from Day One , Biden must start with a clean slate of appointees .
Those they want to see demoted from chairmanships to commission membership are the chairs of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ( FDIC ) , Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ( FERC ) , National Credit Union Administration ( NCUA ) , Postal Regulatory Commission ( PRC ) , and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ( CFTC ) .
These are people who the president can only fire for `` cause , '' and being a toady @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , though it should be .
There 's a whole other set where the chairs traditionally step down with a new administration and who really need to be encouraged to leave .
This includes the Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) , the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB ) , the Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) , the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( EEOC ) , the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ( FERC ) , the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) , and the National Labor Relations Board ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of petitions to a lot of these people in the coming weeks to encourage them to do the right thing and remove their own sorry asses .
Trump set a new precedent by razing the former Obama administration officials , breaking all previous norms .
There are plenty of them that Biden needs to restore , but when it comes to digging out and tossing Trump loyalists and sycophants who have been sabotaging our government for four years , he needs to emulate Trump .
If the transition team is n't making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be .

Here's something to ponder along with your dream team picks for President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet and top officials: Who should he fire first? There are just so many options, and you can thank Republicans for the fact that Biden will be able to jettison some folks, fast. As David Dayen reminds us, the Republican case to try to gut President Obama's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court, means that the odious Trump director can be canned summarily by Biden. Because, as they say, elections have consequences.
Republicans tried everything to destroy the CFPB and went to court to have the whole agency invalidated. That didn't work, but the Supreme Court ended up deciding that the director of the agency shouldn't have the scope of power or the protections allowed under the law. So the Supreme Court decided not to do away with the whole agency, but to make sure that the director could be fired at will by the president. Wheeeee! So yeah, Mick Mulvaney's hand-picked successor, Kathy Kraninger, can be gone—just like that.
The Revolving Door Project has scoured the administration to find the people who have to get the boot immediately and who should be demoted. Those they recommend be fired include "Inspectors General, the Directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and, to some degree, United States Attorneys." As detailed above, no political appointee in the Trump administration can be reasonably assumed to put country over party. To ensure that these offices are working in the public interest from Day One, Biden must start with a clean slate of appointees. Those they want to see demoted from chairmanships to commission membership are the chairs of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). These are people who the president can only fire for "cause," and being a toady to Trump isn't really a cause, though it should be.
There's a whole other set where the chairs traditionally step down with a new administration and who really need to be encouraged to leave. This includes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Expect to see a lot of petitions to a lot of these people in the coming weeks to encourage them to do the right thing and remove their own sorry asses.
Trump set a new precedent by razing the former Obama administration officials, breaking all previous norms. There are plenty of them that Biden needs to restore, but when it comes to digging out and tossing Trump loyalists and sycophants who have been sabotaging our government for four years, he needs to emulate Trump. If the transition team isn't making their list already, they need to be.


alternet--2020-11-29--How did Joe Biden do so well in Georgia? A political scientist explains

For nearly 30 years , the state of Georgia has voted reliably Republican in presidential elections .
Not since 1992 has the state backed a Democrat for president .
Now , the hand recount of 2020 election ballots has confirmed Joe Biden won the state .
The initial returns from Georgia on election night leaned Republican , but in the days that followed , the balance of the count shifted steadily , as ballots from in and around Atlanta were counted .
These votes were largely from communities of color , mostly African American – and they represent much of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights advocacy .
Atlanta , often called the “ cradle of the civil rights movement , '' was the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr. and made up much of the congressional district represented by the late John Lewis .
I am a political scientist and race scholar , with specific emphasis on examining social justice movement strategy and the impact of collective action .
To me , the story behind how those Biden-Harris voters were mobilized – with others across the state – is the latest chapter in the state 's history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change .
Social justice movements and civil rights activism have always been important in Georgia .
Even during Reconstruction , in the wake of the Civil War , the organizers worked to teach Georgians about voting rights and the rules for qualifying to vote in a state that had long denied them that right .
Efforts continued through the years , including rule changes that added more than 100,000 Black voters to the state 's rolls between 1940 and 1947 .
In the 1950s and 1960s , voting rights campaigns across the South @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jim Crow system that suppressed Black voters with literacy tests , grandfather clauses and physical intimidation .
One major effort was the 1961-1962 Albany Movement , based in the Georgia town of that name .
The effort was led initially by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee , with later help from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , two of the nation 's leading civil rights organizations at the time .
At the outset , Albany 's population was 40 % Black , but many of them were not registered to vote .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ completely desegregate a community , including through teaching nonviolence for people to engage in civil disobedience .
The tactics and strategies pioneered there were successful in Albany and , as King and his movement shifted to Birmingham , Alabama , formed the basis for their work as well .
Between 1960 and 1964 , half a million Black voters were registered in Georgia , as part of a larger Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee voter registration drive across the South .
Those decades of activism built strong networks for grassroots organizing and taught many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racism with boycotts , sit-ins and other nonviolent methods of direct action resistance .
After King 's assassination in 1968 , the movement slowed significantly , showing how important it was to decentralize future civil rights efforts , rather than focusing them on one specific person or place .
Decades later , the Movement for Black Lives arose in response to police brutality against Black Americans , and built on the lessons learned through the 1960s .
The latest push for Black voters in Georgia came in 2018 , after former State Representative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , narrowly lost the race for governor to Brian Kemp , a white Republican man .
Her loss was largely attributed to the efforts of Kemp , who had been the state 's top elections official , to suppress Black votes .
Those efforts included throwing more than half a million voters off the rolls – most of them Black – and tightening other voting rules .
In the wake of that election , Abrams committed herself to fight voter suppression in Georgia .
She created an organization called Fair Fight to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and to register others who were eligible to vote as well .
She began these efforts when Black Georgians ' attention had turned strongly to politics after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery .
The 2020 death of civil rights icon and longtime Congressman John Lewis brought more attention to racial inequality .
Many people realized they had been disenfranchised and were suffering from “ intolerance fatigue , '' the feeling of being “ sick and tired of being sick and tired . ''
Abrams and Fair Fight benefited from the state 's 2016 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Act , sometimes called the “ motor voter '' law , which gives people the opportunity to register to vote at the same time that they apply for or renew a driver 's license .
Altogether , that collective effort registered 800,000 new voters in Georgia since Abrams ' 2018 loss .
Some of those were likely among the many that Secretary of State Kemp had forced off the rolls , but many were also people who had never before been registered to vote in Georgia .
In addition to getting people 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups pushed the importance of actually voting and taught people how to vote safely , including by mail or in-person before Election Day .
Their efforts resulted in a 63 % increase over the 2016 statistics for mail-in and early in-person voting ballots cast .
Overall , Georgia 's 2020 turnout was roughly 800,000 more than in the 2016 presidential election .
An additional factor in the Georgia election result may have been President Donald Trump 's own statements discouraging his supporters from voting , but the real key was the grassroots organization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Movement , the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and other efforts , that brought new voters into the fold .
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license .
Read the original article .

Bev-Freda Jackson, American University School of Public Affairs
For nearly 30 years, the state of Georgia has voted reliably Republican in presidential elections. Not since 1992 has the state backed a Democrat for president. Now, the hand recount of 2020 election ballots has confirmed Joe Biden won the state.
The initial returns from Georgia on election night leaned Republican, but in the days that followed, the balance of the count shifted steadily, as ballots from in and around Atlanta were counted. These votes were largely from communities of color, mostly African American – and they represent much of the state's rich history of civil rights advocacy.
Atlanta, often called the “cradle of the civil rights movement," was the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr. and made up much of the congressional district represented by the late John Lewis.
I am a political scientist and race scholar, with specific emphasis on examining social justice movement strategy and the impact of collective action. To me, the story behind how those Biden-Harris voters were mobilized – with others across the state – is the latest chapter in the state's history of community organizing for peaceful democratic political change.
A long history
Social justice movements and civil rights activism have always been important in Georgia. Even during Reconstruction, in the wake of the Civil War, the organizers worked to teach Georgians about voting rights and the rules for qualifying to vote in a state that had long denied them that right.
Efforts continued through the years, including rule changes that added more than 100,000 Black voters to the state's rolls between 1940 and 1947. In the 1950s and 1960s, voting rights campaigns across the South sought to remove the vestiges of a Jim Crow system that suppressed Black voters with literacy tests, grandfather clauses and physical intimidation.
One major effort was the 1961-1962 Albany Movement, based in the Georgia town of that name. The effort was led initially by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, with later help from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, two of the nation's leading civil rights organizations at the time. At the outset, Albany's population was 40% Black, but many of them were not registered to vote.
The Albany Movement was the first attempt to completely desegregate a community, including through teaching nonviolence for people to engage in civil disobedience. The tactics and strategies pioneered there were successful in Albany and, as King and his movement shifted to Birmingham, Alabama, formed the basis for their work as well.
Between 1960 and 1964, half a million Black voters were registered in Georgia, as part of a larger Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee voter registration drive across the South.
Those decades of activism built strong networks for grassroots organizing and taught many people how to effectively fight segregation and racism with boycotts, sit-ins and other nonviolent methods of direct action resistance. After King's assassination in 1968, the movement slowed significantly, showing how important it was to decentralize future civil rights efforts, rather than focusing them on one specific person or place.
Decades later, the Movement for Black Lives arose in response to police brutality against Black Americans, and built on the lessons learned through the 1960s.
A new movement
The latest push for Black voters in Georgia came in 2018, after former State Representative Stacey Abrams, a Black Democratic woman, narrowly lost the race for governor to Brian Kemp, a white Republican man.
Her loss was largely attributed to the efforts of Kemp, who had been the state's top elections official, to suppress Black votes. Those efforts included throwing more than half a million voters off the rolls – most of them Black – and tightening other voting rules.
In the wake of that election, Abrams committed herself to fight voter suppression in Georgia. She created an organization called Fair Fight to get the purged voters back on the rolls and to register others who were eligible to vote as well.
She began these efforts when Black Georgians' attention had turned strongly to politics after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The 2020 death of civil rights icon and longtime Congressman John Lewis brought more attention to racial inequality. Many people realized they had been disenfranchised and were suffering from “intolerance fatigue," the feeling of being “sick and tired of being sick and tired."
Abrams and Fair Fight benefited from the state's 2016 implementation of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, sometimes called the “motor voter" law, which gives people the opportunity to register to vote at the same time that they apply for or renew a driver's license.
Altogether, that collective effort registered 800,000 new voters in Georgia since Abrams' 2018 loss. Some of those were likely among the many that Secretary of State Kemp had forced off the rolls, but many were also people who had never before been registered to vote in Georgia.
In addition to getting people's names on the voting rolls, these groups pushed the importance of actually voting and taught people how to vote safely, including by mail or in-person before Election Day. Their efforts resulted in a 63% increase over the 2016 statistics for mail-in and early in-person voting ballots cast.
Overall, Georgia's 2020 turnout was roughly 800,000 more than in the 2016 presidential election.
An additional factor in the Georgia election result may have been President Donald Trump's own statements discouraging his supporters from voting, but the real key was the grassroots organization, the modern echo of the Albany Movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and other efforts, that brought new voters into the fold.
Bev-Freda Jackson, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, American University School of Public Affairs
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


alternet--2020-11-29--Kelly Loeffler's husband broke years-long pattern when he dumped his own stock this spring

Sen. Kelly Loeffler , the ultra-wealthy unelected Georgia senator facing a runoff election this January that may determine control of the U.S. Senate , came under the scrutiny of government and Senate investigators this spring amid press reports of stock trades made after she attended a private briefing in January about the coronavirus pandemic .
Loeffler argued that she and her husband , Jeffrey Sprecher , chair of the New York Stock Exchange , had complied with insider trading rules , which require executives of publicly traded companies to wall themselves off from market transactions by setting up a pre-planned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Republican-led Senate and the Department of Justice both investigated the trades , but both probes were later dropped .
It is still unclear , however , what came of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation .
The Loeffler campaign released an ad this spring , called `` Cleared , '' which claimed that the `` fake news '' had `` lied '' about her trades .
But the broader context of Loeffler and Sprecher 's transaction history over the last several years shows that they made a number of significant changes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Those revisions included Sprecher quadrupling sales of stock in his company , Intercontinental Exchange ( ICE ) , the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange and one of the most influential financial institutions in the world .
A veteran corporate attorney who defends companies in securities cases told Salon that the couple 's trading patterns with ICE , especially Sprecher 's , got `` blown out of the water this year . ''
`` These sales are not explicable based on his prior trading history , '' the attorney said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as Loeffler was appointed to her Senate seat by Georgia Gov .
Brian Kemp , and two weeks before she received an unusually structured $ 9 million severance package from her husband 's company , where she had worked as CEO of a subsidiary that focused on cryptocurrency .
Public filings with the SEC show that the new plan doubled the frequency and more than doubled the volume and value of sales of the couple 's ICE stock .
The tens of millions of dollars in sales present a separate issue from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stocks that first drew scrutiny this spring .
Overall , the couple 's 2020 capital gains income for ICE stock alone , $ 58 million , are more than double they amount they earned in any of the previous four years : Last week Loeffler was the subject of a Senate ethics complaint after she asked Georgia voters for `` five or 10 bucks '' during an interview in the halls of the Senate — a violation of Senate rules and federal law .
`` Look , we know that hundreds of millions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into our state , '' Loeffler told Fox News anchor Sandra Smith in a Wednesday morning interview .
`` That 's why it 's so important that everyone across the country get involved .
They can visit Kelly for Senate dot com to chip in five or 10 bucks and get involved , volunteer . ''
The couple has so far poured $ 31 million into politics this year , $ 23 million of it to Loeffler 's campaign , according to FEC filings , beginning with a $ 5 million loan last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ went elsewhere , including a $ 1 million donation to a Trump-backing super PAC this April , shortly after the insider trading allegations .
Loeffler and Sprecher also bought a jet in December for Loeffler to use on the campaign trail and trips from Atlanta to Washington , though it appears they may have written off the cost entirely through a corporate loophole in Trump 's 2017 tax bill .
Loeffler 's Senate counterpart in Georgia , multimillionaire Republican David Perdue , was also accused of insider trading this spring .
Last week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defense contracting company were the subject of a Senate ethics complaint .
Both candidates now face runoffs .
On Election Day , Loeffler edged out Republican rival Rep. Doug Collins , a Trump ally and fiscal hawk who attacked her wealth relentlessly throughout the year .
Kemp had appointed Loeffler after the resignation of former Sen. Johnny Isakson , although Trump had recommended Collins .
`` Kelly Loeffler is mainly supported by Kelly Loeffler , her super wealthy stock-exchange-owning husband and a bunch of lobbyists , '' Collins ' campaign spokesperson Dan McLagan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She leads a very small and lonely parade . ''
Loeffler , who now faces a January runoff against Democrat Rev .
Raphael Warnock , defended the timing of her ICE sales by pointing to an investment set up in advance and approved by the company .
The plan , however , is not her idea : The SEC requires executives at all publicly held companies to trade through such an agreement , allowing them to access cash while guarding against the appearance of insider trading .
And as chairman of the NYSE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rules , which define a conflict of interest as `` when an individual 's private interest interferes in any way — or even appears to interfere — with the interests of the corporation as a whole . ''
At the time of the trades , Loeffler sat on the Senate Agricultural Committee 's subcommittee on commodities , risk management and trade , which directly regulates her husband 's company .
She recused herself after the trades became public , but still sits on the parent Agriculture Committee .
( That committee also oversees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` If you worry about looking suspicious , you set this up in advance to say , ' I have nothing to do with these trades , ' '' Marc Fagel , former director of the SEC 's San Francisco office , told Salon .
`` But that becomes a less meaningful defense when you change your plan , which may appear as if you have nonpublic information , and you risk losing the whole defense .
That 's what has happened here , somewhere .
We just do n't know exactly when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` I 'd counsel my clients hat you 'd want to change your plan as infrequently as possible and make it as simple as possible .
Generally the best practice is to have a regular sale , a set share amount and a set price .
You want to have that new plan set up a quarter in advance . ''
Loeffler and Sprecher 's trading appears to have fit that description for years .
But this year they made major changes — perhaps to get tens of millions of dollars in extra @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political activity .
The largest sales , however , were carried out indirectly through a company called Continental Power Exchange ( CPEX ) , which Sprecher solely owns and which holds more than twice as many shares of ICE as he does in his own name .
So far this year , Sprecher has sold 360,000 shares through CPEX for a total of $ 33 million .
Previously he never sold more than 80,000 shares in one year .
In March , ICE responded to reports about the sales in a statement that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ period : `` Per ICE policy , all trading plans require a 30-day cooling off period from the time the trading plan is adopted to the date of the first transaction . ''
To comply with that requirement , at the very latest the couple 's plan would have been changed the day before Kemp , the Georgia governor , nominated Loeffler to the Senate on Dec. 4 : The couple unloaded $ 8.3 million of ICE stock 29 days later , on Jan. 2 .
Those changes would also have been put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the company on Dec. 20 , with a severance package that ultimately totaled some $ 9 million , after stock options were exercised .
That package , The New York Times reported in May , included more than $ 1 million in restricted stock and options that would have expired had the company had not taken the unusual step of intervening to make them mature immediately .
Furthermore , filings show that Loeffler cashed in on those options almost immediately , selling 30,000 shares on Jan. 2 , 75,000 shares on March 11 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
( Previously , Loeffler had personally sold more than 10,000 shares on only two occasions . )
All those sales coincided with major CPEX sell-offs .
Typically individuals do not exercise stock options and sell immediately , because the profits of a lump sum in a single year might push them into a higher tax bracket .
But Loeffler , already in the highest bracket , would not have those concerns .
The March 11 sale stands out for another reason : For four years , Sprecher only sold on the fourth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible that in early December the couple chose the second Wednesday of March to make their largest sale yet — 175,000 shares between them , totaling $ 15 million — which happened to be just as the markets were crashing .
It was also highly fortunate : Had they waited until their typical trading day , March 25 , they would have missed out on $ 2 million in profits .
None of these sales were public at the time .
It was only after their disclosure that Loeffler vowed to divest herself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ show that she still holds upwards of $ 8 million in the company , however , and Sprecher currently holds about $ 475 million .
Furthermore , it is not clear how or when Sprecher structured his 10b5-1 plans to hit these dates .
Neither ICE nor the Loeffler campaign would share documents with Salon .
SEC experts Salon spoke with said that Sprecher undoubtedly changed his plans for himself and CPEX , upon learning his wife would be a U.S. senator .
Days after she was sworn in , Loeffler was named @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her husband 's company .
`` I have worked hard to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the Senate 's ethics rules and will continue to do so every day , '' she said at the time .
Loeffler recused herself from the subcommittee in early May , as she was submitting documents to investigators from the DOJ , SEC and Senate .
`` There 's just not enough here to come to any conclusions , which is the biggest problem , '' Ben Edwards , a securities law expert @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the University of Nevada Las Vegas , told Salon .
Edwards called upon a metaphor : `` That might be a fire in your neighbor 's yard , or he may have just put too many wood chips on the barbecue .
It 's exactly why we need to reform our transparency laws in government . ''
Fagel , the former SEC official in San Francisco , echoed the point .
`` Why should members of Congress be able to trade individual stocks , period ? ''
he asked .
`` Just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you do n't have this taint of corruption , and cases like this show that 's in everyone 's interest . ''
ICE did not provide Salon with 10b5-1 plans for Sprecher or CPEX .
The Loeffler campaign did not provide Salon with a 10b5-1 agreement .
In response to Salon 's multiple detailed questions , ICE spokesperson Josh King said in an email , `` Why do n't you send me an email that says 'let 's have an off the record conversation so I can be accurate and write smartly .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ not comment further .
It is unclear why he believed he could improve the accuracy of Salon 's reporting with off-the-record remarks , although it 's conceivable he did not want to offer public comments that could affect ICE 's market performance or reveal private information .
`` They may fear that once they start answering questions they may get more questions , '' Edwards remarked of the couple 's reluctance to transparency .
`` They may feel it 's intrusive and not want to make more than the legally mandated disclosures .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ decisions , if they were public , could affect stock performance . ''
While the Justice Department closed its investigation , it is unclear what became of the SEC 's probe into Loeffler and Sprecher .
The campaign did not reply to questions , and the SEC would not comment on the existence of investigations .
A senior law enforcement official not involved with the matter told Salon that in parallel probes like this one , the SEC 's enforcement arm typically makes any decisions about civil citations or settlements independent from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one dimension here , and at least on the criminal side it seems like this case was pretty clear-cut , '' the law enforcement official , speaking on the condition of anonymity , told Salon .
`` But not all wrongs , ethical or otherwise , are crimes . ''

Sen. Kelly Loeffler, the ultra-wealthy unelected Georgia senator facing a runoff election this January that may determine control of the U.S. Senate, came under the scrutiny of government and Senate investigators this spring amid press reports of stock trades made after she attended a private briefing in January about the coronavirus pandemic.
Loeffler argued that she and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, chair of the New York Stock Exchange, had complied with insider trading rules, which require executives of publicly traded companies to wall themselves off from market transactions by setting up a pre-planned investment schedule executed by a third-party broker.
The Republican-led Senate and the Department of Justice both investigated the trades, but both probes were later dropped. It is still unclear, however, what came of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. The Loeffler campaign released an ad this spring, called "Cleared," which claimed that the "fake news" had "lied" about her trades.
But the broader context of Loeffler and Sprecher's transaction history over the last several years shows that they made a number of significant changes to their pre-scheduled trading plan this year. Those revisions included Sprecher quadrupling sales of stock in his company, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange and one of the most influential financial institutions in the world.
A veteran corporate attorney who defends companies in securities cases told Salon that the couple's trading patterns with ICE, especially Sprecher's, got "blown out of the water this year."
"These sales are not explicable based on his prior trading history," the attorney said.
The changes appear to have come as Loeffler was appointed to her Senate seat by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, and two weeks before she received an unusually structured $9 million severance package from her husband's company, where she had worked as CEO of a subsidiary that focused on cryptocurrency.
Public filings with the SEC show that the new plan doubled the frequency and more than doubled the volume and value of sales of the couple's ICE stock. The tens of millions of dollars in sales present a separate issue from the hundreds of thousands in sales in individual stocks that first drew scrutiny this spring.
Overall, the couple's 2020 capital gains income for ICE stock alone, $58 million, are more than double they amount they earned in any of the previous four years:
2016: $18.8 million
2017: $13.8 million
2018: $25 million
2019: $15.8 million
2020: $58 million
Last week Loeffler was the subject of a Senate ethics complaint after she asked Georgia voters for "five or 10 bucks" during an interview in the halls of the Senate — a violation of Senate rules and federal law.
"Look, we know that hundreds of millions of dark, liberal money is pouring into our state," Loeffler told Fox News anchor Sandra Smith in a Wednesday morning interview. "That's why it's so important that everyone across the country get involved. They can visit Kelly for Senate dot com to chip in five or 10 bucks and get involved, volunteer."
The couple has so far poured $31 million into politics this year, $23 million of it to Loeffler's campaign, according to FEC filings, beginning with a $5 million loan last Dec. 27. About $8 million went elsewhere, including a $1 million donation to a Trump-backing super PAC this April, shortly after the insider trading allegations.
Loeffler and Sprecher also bought a jet in December for Loeffler to use on the campaign trail and trips from Atlanta to Washington, though it appears they may have written off the cost entirely through a corporate loophole in Trump's 2017 tax bill.
Loeffler's Senate counterpart in Georgia, multimillionaire Republican David Perdue, was also accused of insider trading this spring. Last week Salon reported that his trades involving a defense contracting company were the subject of a Senate ethics complaint.
Both candidates now face runoffs. On Election Day, Loeffler edged out Republican rival Rep. Doug Collins, a Trump ally and fiscal hawk who attacked her wealth relentlessly throughout the year. Kemp had appointed Loeffler after the resignation of former Sen. Johnny Isakson, although Trump had recommended Collins.
"Kelly Loeffler is mainly supported by Kelly Loeffler, her super wealthy stock-exchange-owning husband and a bunch of lobbyists," Collins' campaign spokesperson Dan McLagan told ABC News in July. "She leads a very small and lonely parade."
Loeffler, who now faces a January runoff against Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock, defended the timing of her ICE sales by pointing to an investment set up in advance and approved by the company. The plan, however, is not her idea: The SEC requires executives at all publicly held companies to trade through such an agreement, allowing them to access cash while guarding against the appearance of insider trading.
And as chairman of the NYSE, Sprecher must also abide by its rules, which define a conflict of interest as "when an individual's private interest interferes in any way — or even appears to interfere — with the interests of the corporation as a whole."
At the time of the trades, Loeffler sat on the Senate Agricultural Committee's subcommittee on commodities, risk management and trade, which directly regulates her husband's company. She recused herself after the trades became public, but still sits on the parent Agriculture Committee. (That committee also oversees her brother's soybean operation.)
"If you worry about looking suspicious, you set this up in advance to say, 'I have nothing to do with these trades,'" Marc Fagel, former director of the SEC's San Francisco office, told Salon. "But that becomes a less meaningful defense when you change your plan, which may appear as if you have nonpublic information, and you risk losing the whole defense. That's what has happened here, somewhere. We just don't know exactly when or why."
Fagel concluded, "I'd counsel my clients hat you'd want to change your plan as infrequently as possible and make it as simple as possible. Generally the best practice is to have a regular sale, a set share amount and a set price. You want to have that new plan set up a quarter in advance."
Loeffler and Sprecher's trading appears to have fit that description for years. But this year they made major changes — perhaps to get tens of millions of dollars in extra liquidity in anticipation of funding Loeffler's political activity.
The largest sales, however, were carried out indirectly through a company called Continental Power Exchange (CPEX), which Sprecher solely owns and which holds more than twice as many shares of ICE as he does in his own name. So far this year, Sprecher has sold 360,000 shares through CPEX for a total of $33 million. Previously he never sold more than 80,000 shares in one year.
In March, ICE responded to reports about the sales in a statement that said its policy included a 30-day waiting period: "Per ICE policy, all trading plans require a 30-day cooling off period from the time the trading plan is adopted to the date of the first transaction."
To comply with that requirement, at the very latest the couple's plan would have been changed the day before Kemp, the Georgia governor, nominated Loeffler to the Senate on Dec. 4: The couple unloaded $8.3 million of ICE stock 29 days later, on Jan. 2.
Those changes would also have been put in place two weeks before Loeffler departed the company on Dec. 20, with a severance package that ultimately totaled some $9 million, after stock options were exercised.
That package, The New York Times reported in May, included more than $1 million in restricted stock and options that would have expired had the company had not taken the unusual step of intervening to make them mature immediately.
Furthermore, filings show that Loeffler cashed in on those options almost immediately, selling 30,000 shares on Jan. 2, 75,000 shares on March 11 and another 26,675 shares in late May. (Previously, Loeffler had personally sold more than 10,000 shares on only two occasions.) All those sales coincided with major CPEX sell-offs.
Typically individuals do not exercise stock options and sell immediately, because the profits of a lump sum in a single year might push them into a higher tax bracket. But Loeffler, already in the highest bracket, would not have those concerns.
The March 11 sale stands out for another reason: For four years, Sprecher only sold on the fourth Wednesday of the month. It's possible that in early December the couple chose the second Wednesday of March to make their largest sale yet — 175,000 shares between them, totaling $15 million — which happened to be just as the markets were crashing. It was also highly fortunate: Had they waited until their typical trading day, March 25, they would have missed out on $2 million in profits.
None of these sales were public at the time. It was only after their disclosure that Loeffler vowed to divest herself of all individual stocks. SEC filings show that she still holds upwards of $8 million in the company, however, and Sprecher currently holds about $475 million.
Furthermore, it is not clear how or when Sprecher structured his 10b5-1 plans to hit these dates. Neither ICE nor the Loeffler campaign would share documents with Salon. SEC experts Salon spoke with said that Sprecher undoubtedly changed his plans for himself and CPEX, upon learning his wife would be a U.S. senator.
Days after she was sworn in, Loeffler was named to the subcommittee that oversees regulation of her husband's company.
"I have worked hard to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the Senate's ethics rules and will continue to do so every day," she said at the time. Loeffler recused herself from the subcommittee in early May, as she was submitting documents to investigators from the DOJ, SEC and Senate.
"There's just not enough here to come to any conclusions, which is the biggest problem," Ben Edwards, a securities law expert at the William Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, told Salon. Edwards called upon a metaphor: "That might be a fire in your neighbor's yard, or he may have just put too many wood chips on the barbecue. It's exactly why we need to reform our transparency laws in government."
Fagel, the former SEC official in San Francisco, echoed the point. "Why should members of Congress be able to trade individual stocks, period?" he asked. "Just take it off the table. Then you don't have this taint of corruption, and cases like this show that's in everyone's interest."
ICE did not provide Salon with 10b5-1 plans for Sprecher or CPEX. The Loeffler campaign did not provide Salon with a 10b5-1 agreement.
In response to Salon's multiple detailed questions, ICE spokesperson Josh King said in an email, "Why don't you send me an email that says 'let's have an off the record conversation so I can be accurate and write smartly.'"
Salon declined. King would not comment further. It is unclear why he believed he could improve the accuracy of Salon's reporting with off-the-record remarks, although it's conceivable he did not want to offer public comments that could affect ICE's market performance or reveal private information.
"They may fear that once they start answering questions they may get more questions," Edwards remarked of the couple's reluctance to transparency. "They may feel it's intrusive and not want to make more than the legally mandated disclosures. It could be that some of their decisions, if they were public, could affect stock performance."
While the Justice Department closed its investigation, it is unclear what became of the SEC's probe into Loeffler and Sprecher. The campaign did not reply to questions, and the SEC would not comment on the existence of investigations. A senior law enforcement official not involved with the matter told Salon that in parallel probes like this one, the SEC's enforcement arm typically makes any decisions about civil citations or settlements independent from the Justice Department.
"The law is one dimension here, and at least on the criminal side it seems like this case was pretty clear-cut," the law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Salon. "But not all wrongs, ethical or otherwise, are crimes."


alternet--2020-11-29--Critics slam Alan Dershowitz after he fights to defend his own questionable reputation

Formerly respected attorney Alan Dershowitz shifted into damage control Saturday on Twitter , perhaps in an attempt to win his way back into the dark heart of Donald Trump , at least for the moment .
Dershowitz had been a bad boy earlier this week when he told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that `` if you 're betting money you ca n't afford to lose , you have to bet that the outcome of the election will not be reversed . ''
That could n't have pleased the home offices at Mar-A-Lago and Moscow .
Saturday , Dershowitz decided @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legal genius behind Trump 's scandalous pardon of confessed two-time liar , General Michael Flynn .
The Flynn pardon is old news , having been announced by Trump three days earlier , but Dershowitz was all over it 72 hours later .
In a truly bizarre tweet , Dershowitz rushed belatedly to Trump 's defense and — oh , by the way — took the occasion to plug his phone number and podcast in case you 'd like to subscribe and give him likes and tell your friends about it .
You can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stuff in Dershowitz 's online rant .
For real .
In Dershowitz 's passionate podcast defense of Flynn , he essentially argues that while Flynn clearly lied to the FBI , which he admits is a crime , and while Flynn clearly violated the Logan Act , another crime , that the whole thing should n't have mattered because the FBI should n't have charged him in the first place .
Oh , and by the way , the Logan Act was declared unconstitutional — by Dershowitz — so therefore Congress must have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ passed it .
In Dershowitz 's twisted view , all of Flynn 's crimes were negated , strangely , by Congress ' presumed legislative overreach , combined with FBI overreach for prosecuting a guy for lying about something it had on tape , combined with judicial overreach by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan for not readily forgiving having been lied to on multiple times by a defendant .
With shameless irony , Dershowitz slandered Sullivan for `` conducting a political circus '' because he apparently did n't appreciate a politicized Justice Department taking the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prosecuted Flynn in his courtroom .
In Dershowitz 's screed , he first called Sullivan `` generally a good judge . ''
Moments later , he insulted the respected Sullivan by referring repeatedly to him as the `` buttinsky judge '' in this case .
In Dershowitz 's telling , he only heroes here were Flynn , the confessed liar , and Trump the guy who sprung Flynn for lying in service to him .
Alrighty then .
`` It 's a perfect example of where the judiciary did wrong , the legislature @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' Dershowitz whined .
`` And who is the only person who could check and balance all that wrongdoing ?
The president of the United States with his pardon power .
`` So the president acted not only perfectly properly , but in a positive good way by doing what the judge should have allowed the Justice Department to do , which is drop the case . ''
Dershowitz said he hoped Trump would issue more pardons and commutations , in particular for some of his clients .
Suffice it to say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Twitter .

Formerly respected attorney Alan Dershowitz shifted into damage control Saturday on Twitter, perhaps in an attempt to win his way back into the dark heart of Donald Trump, at least for the moment.
Dershowitz had been a bad boy earlier this week when he told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that "if you're betting money you can't afford to lose, you have to bet that the outcome of the election will not be reversed." That couldn't have pleased the home offices at Mar-A-Lago and Moscow.
Saturday, Dershowitz decided to throw the full weightlessness of his legal genius behind Trump's scandalous pardon of confessed two-time liar, General Michael Flynn. The Flynn pardon is old news, having been announced by Trump three days earlier, but Dershowitz was all over it 72 hours later.
In a truly bizarre tweet, Dershowitz rushed belatedly to Trump's defense and — oh, by the way — took the occasion to plug his phone number and podcast in case you'd like to subscribe and give him likes and tell your friends about it. You can hear all of that and more self-promotional stuff in Dershowitz's online rant. For real.
Here's the tweet:
In Dershowitz's passionate podcast defense of Flynn, he essentially argues that while Flynn clearly lied to the FBI, which he admits is a crime, and while Flynn clearly violated the Logan Act, another crime, that the whole thing shouldn't have mattered because the FBI shouldn't have charged him in the first place. Oh, and by the way, the Logan Act was declared unconstitutional — by Dershowitz — so therefore Congress must have overreached by having the audacity to have passed it.
In Dershowitz's twisted view, all of Flynn's crimes were negated, strangely, by Congress' presumed legislative overreach, combined with FBI overreach for prosecuting a guy for lying about something it had on tape, combined with judicial overreach by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan for not readily forgiving having been lied to on multiple times by a defendant.
With shameless irony, Dershowitz slandered Sullivan for "conducting a political circus" because he apparently didn't appreciate a politicized Justice Department taking the extraordinary step of attacking itself for having prosecuted Flynn in his courtroom. In Dershowitz's screed, he first called Sullivan "generally a good judge." Moments later, he insulted the respected Sullivan by referring repeatedly to him as the "buttinsky judge" in this case.
In Dershowitz's telling, he only heroes here were Flynn, the confessed liar, and Trump the guy who sprung Flynn for lying in service to him. Alrighty then.
"It's a perfect example of where the judiciary did wrong, the legislature did wrong and the prosecution did wrong," Dershowitz whined. "And who is the only person who could check and balance all that wrongdoing? The president of the United States with his pardon power.
"So the president acted not only perfectly properly, but in a positive good way by doing what the judge should have allowed the Justice Department to do, which is drop the case."
Dershowitz said he hoped Trump would issue more pardons and commutations, in particular for some of his clients.
Suffice it to say Dershowitz's ranting was not universally well-received on Twitter.


alternet--2020-11-29--Eric Trump mocked after he simply can't believe Biden won 80 million votes: 'That's how loathsome yo

Eric Trump mocked after he simply can't believe Biden won 80 million votes: 'That's how loathsome your father is'

My favorite clueless conservative take on the ( non ) fraudulent 2020 presidential election is that there 's no way Joe Biden could have gotten as many votes as he did because he 's an old senile guy who did n't even campaign whereas Donald Trump has a perfectly normal , non-diseased brain and is beloved across the nation and the globe .
I mean , who could vote against the guy who tore children away from their mothers and put them in cages , endorsed an alleged pedophile for a Senate seat , defended literal Nazis , undermined our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , criminally mishandled a deadly pandemic , ultimately added zero jobs to the economy , called fallen soldiers `` suckers and losers , '' insulted Gold Star families , tear-gassed peaceful protesters for the sake of a fascist photo op , petulantly brushed off at least 26 sexual assault and rape allegations , tweeted an Everest of elephant shit , and did it all while looking like an adobe-slathered humpback scrotum .
Yes , it 's inconceivable that such a titan lost to one of the most dedicated and compassionate public servants in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's some bubble , folks , and Donald Trump spawn Eric Trump is right at its center .
Yes , I do believe that , Eric .
I also believe your father got 10 million more votes than he did in 2016 , even though he basically killed 250,000 of us .
You see , a lot more people voted in 2020 than they did in 2016 and , more importantly , Donald J. Trump was the presidential equivalent of a gently used clown condom .
It 's really not a mystery , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ … So , yeah , not a huge puzzler , unless you spend all your time in the right-wing unreality bubble .
Biden could have spent 24 hours a day campaigning exclusively in the World of Warcraft universe and I still would have voted for him .
And tens of millions of Americans would have happily joined me .
Biden did n't have to do much of anything because Trump spent the bulk of each day demonstrating his clear unfitness for office — by spreading the virus through his irresponsible rallies , continually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a howler monkey in a Carolina reaper-eating contest during both debates .
The real mystery is how Donald Trump got one vote , not how Joe Biden got 80 million .
That I 'll never understand .

My favorite clueless conservative take on the (non)fraudulent 2020 presidential election is that there's no way Joe Biden could have gotten as many votes as he did because he's an old senile guy who didn't even campaign whereas Donald Trump has a perfectly normal, non-diseased brain and is beloved across the nation and the globe.
It's inconceivable, right?
I mean, who could vote against the guy who tore children away from their mothers and put them in cages, endorsed an alleged pedophile for a Senate seat, defended literal Nazis, undermined our alliances, kissed up to brutal dictators, criminally mishandled a deadly pandemic, ultimately added zero jobs to the economy, called fallen soldiers "suckers and losers," insulted Gold Star families, tear-gassed peaceful protesters for the sake of a fascist photo op, petulantly brushed off at least 26 sexual assault and rape allegations, tweeted an Everest of elephant shit, and did it all while looking like an adobe-slathered humpback scrotum.
Yes, it's inconceivable that such a titan lost to one of the most dedicated and compassionate public servants in the history of the country.
That's some bubble, folks, and Donald Trump spawn Eric Trump is right at its center.
Yes, I do believe that, Eric. I also believe your father got 10 million more votes than he did in 2016, even though he basically killed 250,000 of us.
You see, a lot more people voted in 2020 than they did in 2016 and, more importantly, Donald J. Trump was the presidential equivalent of a gently used clown condom.
It's really not a mystery, Earache.
And Twitter agrees with me …
So, yeah, not a huge puzzler, unless you spend all your time in the right-wing unreality bubble. Biden could have spent 24 hours a day campaigning exclusively in the World of Warcraft universe and I still would have voted for him. And tens of millions of Americans would have happily joined me. Biden didn't have to do much of anything because Trump spent the bulk of each day demonstrating his clear unfitness for office — by spreading the virus through his irresponsible rallies, continually undermining our democracy, and acting like a howler monkey in a Carolina reaper-eating contest during both debates.
The real mystery is how Donald Trump got one vote, not how Joe Biden got 80 million. That I'll never understand.