U.S. Electile Dementia paralytica 2020

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by rogue

This implies to me a significant disconnect between Washington DC and the states. Whereas the state Republicans are accepting the outcome, the ones in DCD are not. I find it interesting that Trump wants to get rid of the "deep state" in Washington, but it appears that he has created one of his own.

It's sort of like a reprise of the Joe Stalin Show, and of the "Lost Cause" mythology of the Confederacy, all rolled into one.

The Confederacy won the peace from until shortly after Reconstruction, coming to the fore around 1890 and continuing until at least 1940, and arguably until the 1960's. It has experienced a resurgence of late, with the gutting of the Voting Rights Act.

The Joe Stalin Show was booed off the stage in the early 1990's, as the doddering gerentocracy still being guided by his long-dead hand faded away. Not that the current regime is any improvement.

Now, we have a Cult of Personality devoted to the Narcissist-in-Chief, right here in the good ol' USA.

EDIT: I find the usage of "conservative" mind-boggling, when it refers to the prospect of a "conservative" Supreme Court deciding to overturn the results of a national election.

If the results of a presidential election "don't count," I reckon there's nothing of the Constitution of the United States, representative government, or the rule of law left to conserve.

[Dr Sardonicus]

At the "Million MAGA March" (permit application anticipated 10,000, even Faux News only ventured "tens of thousands"), the Great Leader promised his brainwashed acolytes, "We will WIN!" Spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany fantasized "More than one MILLION marchers for President @realDonaldTrump descend on the swamp in support!"

This Admin began with "alternative facts" and so it will end.

This reminds me of the 1976 campaign. Even before the Democratic National Convention, Jimmy Carter had enough committed delegates to secure the nomination. Yet Senator Edward Kennedy ("Chappaquiddick? Huh?") kept pretending he somehow had a chance. There was an editorial cartoon showing the good ship Kennedy, sails all unfurled, with the captain saying, "Dn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" The ship, however, was already sitting on the bottom...

The present context is even better than it was for this post.

[kladner]

That's rich about the permit application. Only 1/100th of the aims before and the claims after.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by kladner

That's rich about the permit application. Only 1/100th of the aims before and the claims after.

If I May please share...

Many who hope the USofA are a guiding light have been watching this, in realtime, for years now.

I'm sincere when I say that the World presumed the US of A was a guiding light.

Empirically, there have been some error-bars lately.

I hope and assume that people will understand what I am trying to say here.

Please always feel free to tell me if I am insane.

[Dr Sardonicus]

The November 14 WAPO has an op-ed by David Boies and Theodore B. Olson, We opposed each other in Bush v. Gore. Now we agree: Biden won.

Twenty years ago, we represented the opposing sides in Bush v. Gore. We still don't agree about how the Supreme Court ruled, but we completely agree that nothing in that case — or in the Supreme Court's decision — supports the challenges now being thrown about in an attempt to undermine President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

Yet, over the past week, we have heard repeated assertions that the outcome of this election is somehow in doubt, as it was in 2000.

It is not. Biden will be president. There are many areas of policy on which we disagree. But no matter how you voted in this election, that is the clear outcome. The nation's laws and shared values dictate that Americans now unite to support democracy, national security, the public trust in institutions and the urgent work of the next administration.
<snip>
It is clear to us, and by now to most Americans, that former vice president Biden won, including in the six states central to the challenges being mounted by President Trump's lawyers.

The margins in those six states range from 10,000 votes in Arizona to more than 145,000 votes in Michigan. Evidence of systemic or widespread fraud or miscounting in those states has simply not been found, and recounts rarely, if ever, change the outcome of elections by more than a few hundred votes.

Trump would have to overturn the outcome in more than one of those states to change what is apparent as the clear result of the election. It is time to accept that Biden won the election and it is time to accept that result and come together as a nation.
<snip>
Past losers of presidential elections, however stinging their defeats, have ultimately decided to make peace with the opposing camp. Former vice president Gore did so, admirably, when Bush v. Gore was resolved. The sooner that Trump and his supporters accept the election result, the better it will be for the nation.

Solid on the merits of the election outcome.

But -- "Public trust in institutions?" Dudes! What have you been smoking? Whatever trust in public institutions existed in 2016 -- specifically Federal institutions -- has largely been eroded by this Admin's untiring efforts over the last four years.

And -- "Time to accept that result and come together as a nation?" "The better it will be for the nation?" Where have you guys been for the past four years? Neither the Narcissist-in-Chief, his witting enablers, or his zombie followers have any interest in "coming together as a nation" or the "good of the nation." It's TweedleDon's way or the highway.

Assuming the USA survives as a nation long enough, this Admin's most enduring legacy may be generations of Americans who think that they are entitled to their own facts, entitled to the "right" not to be at all inconvenienced in the name of the public good, and entitled to whatever election outcome they wish. And who think they can get whatever they want by throwing temper tantrums.

And no, I didn't coin "TweedleDon." That honor seems to be due David O Hodgson in 2016, as expressed here:

Last year, I parodied Tenniel’s style to produce a satirical image of a well-known politician throwing a characteristic temper tantrum. Tenniel’s original images of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, which inspired my image, were woodblock cuts, but mine is a pen-and-ink drawing.

The illustration all by its lonesome is here.

[kruoli]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

The illustration all by its lonesome is here.

Hm... I'm getting a 403 error here. And a 403 for loading the error document… But your other link works.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by kruoli

Hm... I'm getting a 403 error here. And a 403 for loading the error document… But your other link works.

Same here. A GDPR issue perhaps?

[firejuggler]

Fellows european here, 403 too.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by kruoli

Hm... I'm getting a 403 error here. And a 403 for loading the error document… But your other link works.

Originally Posted by xilman

Same here. A GDPR issue perhaps?

Originally Posted by firejuggler

Fellows european here, 403 too.

Fascinating! I got the link to the image alone by putting the cursor on the image in the article, right-clicking, and IIRC selecting "Open Image in New Window."

The link that ends in wp-content/uploads/2017/07/TweedleDon3-742x1024.png (the one I posted) works for me without issue. I also get this address from my right-click menu by selecting "Copy Image Address."

But -- curiouser and curiouser -- if I choose "Copy Link" from the right-click menu instead, I get an address ending in wp-content/uploads/2017/07/TweedleDon3.png which is, as you can see, different. And if I try to use that link, then I, too, get the dreaded Error 403:

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access this resource.

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Perhaps this will tell you computer-savvy folks something, but I don't know what it means

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Perhaps this will tell you computer-savvy folks something, but I don't know what it means

It means "you're not allowed to read that and, what's more, you're not allowed to read the page telling you that you're not allowed to read that, either!".

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Nick

It means "you're not allowed to read that and, what's more, you're not allowed to read the page telling you that you're not allowed to read that, either!".

Sorry for not making myself clear. The meaning of the Error 403 message is plain as a pikestaff. I merely posted it to show I'd gotten it.

What I didn't understand was, why "Copy Image Address" gave one link, which I could use without error, but "Copy Link" gave a different link, which gave me the error. I thought perhaps this would mean something to the computer-savvy. To me, the fact that there are two links to the same thing just seems weird.