Doug's Darkworld

Started up on a history and science blog, but too much going down personally and in the continuing Trump election challenge crisis. On the personal front got a terrible text from a friend. My oldest best friend actually. I guess he’s peeing blood now, and he was scheduled for cancer tests. He’s in California. The gentle reader can likely guess what happened, all cancelled because the healthcare system is swamped with Covid patients. He’s angry and frightened, and I don’t blame him.

For every 2 Americans who die from Covid, there’s another Covid related death. Hopefully this won’t include my friend. So we’re at over 500,000 deaths above and beyond normal for the past year, one American in just under 700. And it’s still raging out of control. In other countries too, the new more contagious strain is, well, spreading wildly. And there are concerns the current vaccines won’t be as effective against it as the original strains. Trump of course is doing nothing, all he’s been doing since the election is trying to get the election results overturned.

Some of it is farcical, except it’s destroying American’s faith in our democracy. Not even sure where to begin, but ultra farcical is a good start. Trump has awarded two more Medals of Freedom. It’s pretty much the highest award a civilian can be granted in the US, only about ten a year are given out. It’s given for “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” Somehow Rush Limbaugh got one for doing pretty much the opposite, a man who spent his life convincing half of America to hate and fear the other half. The latest two, Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan. They are members of Congress. What are they getting the award for? For being unabashed lickspittle Trump supporters. OK then.

And boy, the infighting among Republicans over whether or not to support Trump’s quixotic attempt to remain in power just keeps getting weirder. Can’t even keep up with it all. Here’s an interesting development: The Republicans refusing to join Trump’s coup attempt are making a stunning admission. They basically aren’t supporting Biden because they don’t like Trump, they are supporting Biden because they fear Trump’s efforts to overturn the election might well end up with the Electoral College being abolished. And if that happens, the GOP’s chances of getting the presidency back get a lot grimmer. Only one GOP presidential candidate has won the popular vote in 32 years. Wouldn’t bother me any, the Electoral College is an archaic joke at this point. Not a ha ha joke though, a “The world is looking at us and wondering wtf is wrong with America?” joke.

Looks like there will be an investigation into Trump’s call to the Georgia Secretary of State: Trump Faces Criminal Investigation for Call to Georgia Secretary of State. We’ll see. While being president Trump was protected from all sorts of civil and criminal proceedings, all that ends January 20th: What Trump faces on Jan. 20, 2021. Jail time seems unlikely, but who knows. I’ve heard people claiming that’s the reason Trump is so desperate to stay in office, he’s afraid of what will happen when he loses his presidential immunity. I don’t really buy that, I think it’s more he really does think he was cheated out of an election victory, the same way I think he really believes he was a fantastic president.

I’m not usually a fan of John Pavlowitz, he does a lot of preaching to the converted, and sometimes his articles fall into the TLDR category. I’m a firm believer that if one can’t make one’s argument in 800 words or less, one needs to rewrite and condense. Still, this time I thing he’s right on, even brilliant. He’s basically pointing out that Trump’s mental health isn’t what makes Trump what he is, it’s because Trump has been sheltered by money and privilege all his life and never faced consequences for his actions. He’s just shallow, selfish, and utterly unconcerned about what harm he causes others. Mr Pavlowitz puts it much better than I can: It’s Trump’s Privilege, Not His Mental Illness That Brought Us Here.

Exciting, if horrifying times. Tomorrow is the Georgia runoff election, so I’ll cover what is known tomorrow night. And I think it’s a safe bet there will be more unfolding news tomorrow as well as Trump’s slow coup attempt or whatever one wants to call it rolls, onward? This turmoil could drag on for months or years. It’s not like Covid is going away anytime soon or the economy is going. Hell, Trump could still order some sort of attack on Iran in a last ditch attempt to stay in power or burn everything down before he’s dragged out of the White House. That’s what Hitler did when he finally accepted/understood that nothing was going to stop the allied armies from rolling into Berlin. He ordered Germany to be basically burned to the ground. Fortunately for the German people, by that time cooler heads were quietly ignoring orders like that.

I can hardly wait to see tomorrow’s news. The next two weeks will likely be crazytime in America.  Likes, comments, as always appreciated. Patrons especially appreciated, even a dollar a month helps, click here. Stay safe, sane, and warm everyone. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask #FelesRegula

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: Found on Facebook, attribution in image, used without permission, claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It made me spray coffee on my computer screen, no matter what else, enjoying the memes these days.)