#like they got some riggings going on but he's even arguing with Georgia a state he directly named the treasoners were operating within

[jaythelay]

Dump's outta ammo.

1. He tried to start a rumor of Biden coming back. He then, very exceptionally poorly, tried to insert this talking point in the middle of a completely different rally. This, made him look like he has dementia. But make no mistake, the issue was nobody believed him literally instantly, and everyone forgot he even said it the week/day prior because he never built it up. He then immedietely dropped the "Biden's coming back" bit afterwards. Making him look far more dementia riddled than previous.

2. He's trying to claim nobody know's Kamala Harris' last name. Only reason to try this angle is because you're outta ammo and wanted to somehow make her name less recognizable in the moment. But soon after, much like with point 1, he went in too early before it could spread and become common, and thus, had to drop that angle entirely aswell, causing more dementia awareness of himself.

It's like he wanted an instant "her emails" or "his laptop" angle without any time or work at fucking all.

The goal is make shit up til something sticks but it's so old and tired and he's incapable of patience. If it doesn't immedietely work, he jumps to another made up point. Much like with point 1 and 2, point 0 was "Kamala ain't black" which he then, also, abandoned when it didn't immedietly stick.

His cohorts are trying to make it stick but if you call them weird they get reeeeeal defensive and forget what the conversation was, so, the points aren't sticking at all.

3. Him almost getting shot by one of his own party absolutely scared the shit out of him. It's partly why he's sending Vance out. Let him get shot next time, not Dump. Regardless of accuracy on that bit, the fact remains, Republican voters Scared Donald Trump from going to rallies, and Vance is a bodyshield for his weak ass.

4. On top of all this is the stunning double fact: One, is that we all collectively moved on from the republican shooting dump situation, because republican violence is so normalized, and second, his rallies are shrinking Because Even The People Find Them Too Dangerous.

Turns out guns are a problem for republicans. But unlike kids in school, they have the choice not to go to a dangerous republican gathering.

All this to culminate in my theory: R's will drop Dump 2 months in and just accept the losses by replacing him with god knows who probably RFK tbh. They know his goose is completely cooked if he loses, and presently? He's losing. Publically and Loudly.

He's scared as fuck right now and R's eat each other for any social weakness they can create. Dump looks weaker than inch thin frozen piss like my god Cruz has more of a spine now and it may be entirely due to age.

You also have his core fanbae (white supremecists) starting to turn on him. There's leak after leak of stuff he's saying none of it new but desperately old and tried and thus nothing sticks for his fanbase. Every poll has him losing hard, worst of all? To a Bi-Racial Woman. His voters hate her but hate a weak man more. (see how they view trans issues)

He himself will never ever drop out. But his party Absolutely Will Kick Him Out Guaranteed. And we'll see a very bizarre flop in the narrative about Dump from R talking heads. Suddenly when he's gone, they can be honest about him. (Like dems with Biden, literally already, as I called it probably a year ago now)

All this to say, Ya'll if he doesn't have a stroke or some shit, it's either his voter base or cohorts that'll ensure one for him. I kinda feel like most of the political violence that'll come out when Dump loses, will turn inward near immedietely, likely, towards himself.

I mean, they didn't make gallows with a dems name on em, and they did kill some cops, just saying they appear to go after their own when they're in crowds. That and a single gunshot sent them all running, and a single black man completely diverted their attention from their actual goals simply by being black. Literal Toddlers are more successful in any of their goals.

NONE of this is to placate. Vote Kamala, vote Third Party. Just don't not vote. Don't let this opportunity slip away, Dems actually trying is a first in a lifetime, keep that momentum going, and stop allowing bullshit based on party affiliation. God damn RFK the starved brain word dude is considered dem, we deserve better than Biden or RFK, and Kamala/Walz is a hell of a start.

Vote. But ensure you crush R's voting spirit.

We don't need nazis voting for nazis. Ya don't have to sell Kamala/Walz to R's, you need to make R's and Dump appear as weak as they've always been, that's what is working best, because their image is actually everything, we saw it with Rittenhouse and Rogan. Immedietely flip flop because their image was made weak.

That's all a theory, a politic theory. Thank. go now.

[newstfionline]

Friday, November 6, 2020

Biden sees path to 270; Trump attacks election integrity (AP) With his pathway to re-election appearing to shrink, President Trump on Thursday advanced unsupported accusations of voter fraud to falsely argue that his rival was trying to seize power. “This is a case when they are trying to steal an election, they are trying to rig an election,” Trump said from the podium of the White House briefing room. The president’s remarks deepened a sense of anxiety in the U.S. as Americans enter their third full day after the election without knowing who would serve as president for the next four years. Neither candidate has reached the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. But Biden eclipsed Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan, two crucial Midwestern battleground states, and was inching closer to overtaking the president in Pennsylvania and Georgia, where votes were still be counted. It was unclear when a national winner would be determined after a long, bitter campaign dominated by the coronavirus and its effects on Americans and the national economy.

Win or Lose, Trump Will Remain a Powerful and Disruptive Force (NYT) If President Trump loses his bid for re-election, as looked increasingly likely on Wednesday, it would be the first defeat of an incumbent president in 28 years. But one thing seemed certain: Win or lose, he will not go quietly away. At the very least, he has 76 days left in office to use his power as he sees fit and to seek revenge on some of his perceived adversaries. Angry at a defeat, he may fire or sideline a variety of senior officials who failed to carry out his wishes as he saw it. And if he is forced to vacate the White House on Jan. 20, Mr. Trump is likely to prove more resilient than expected and almost surely will remain a powerful and disruptive force in American life. He received at least 68 million votes, or five million more than he did in 2016, and commanded about 48 percent of the popular vote, meaning he retained the support of nearly half of the public despite four years of scandal, setbacks, impeachment and the brutal coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 233,000 Americans. That gives him a power base to play a role that other defeated one-term presidents like Jimmy Carter and George Bush have not played. Even if his own days as a candidate are over, his 88-million-strong Twitter following gives him a bullhorn to be an influential voice on the right.

‘The whole world waits’ with unease as drawn-out, contested election batters America’s global image (Washington Post) As the world reckoned with another day of uncertainty over the result of the U.S. presidential election, Trump’s premature victory claim, unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud and the threat of legal challenges continued to overshadow the drawn-out vote count, from which no clear winner has emerged. The indecision was met with deep unease around the globe over what lies ahead for the U.S. political process—and more than a little glee from America’s traditional adversaries. In Canada, lawmakers have been relatively silent on the aftermath of the vote, but election coverage continued to dominate the country’s largest newspapers, to the point that they nearly resembled U.S. dailies. The Toronto Star described a “nagging, palpable sense of dread” that no matter who prevails, Canada has never felt “so far apart” from its southern neighbor. “America has represented optimism, looking forward and ideas,” said Tatsuhiko Yoshizaki, chief economist at the Sojitz Research Institute in Tokyo. “And yet, over the past four years, we have come to see the dark side in the United States.” The same sentiment was echoed in Europe on Thursday, where Germany’s left-leaning Der Spiegel newsweekly compared Trump to a “late Roman emperor” who has “set a historic standard for voter contempt.” In Britain, some commentators responded with disgust—with the left-leaning Daily Mirror calling Trump “a liar and a cheat until the bitter end”—while other papers turned to humor, especially over the slow pace of the vote count. The front page of the Metro newspaper read: “Make America Wait Again.” In China, a number of publications used the election to highlight shortcomings of the American system. Still, China’s vice foreign minister, Le Yucheng, voiced hopes on Thursday about repairing bilateral relations after the election. “I hope the new U.S. administration will meet China halfway,” he said, according to CNBC.

US sets record for cases amid election battle (AP) New confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. have climbed to an all-time high of more than 86,000 per day on average, in a glimpse of the worsening crisis that lies ahead for the winner of the presidential election. Cases and hospitalizations are setting records all around the country just as the holidays and winter approach, demonstrating the challenge that either President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden will face in the coming months. The total U.S. death toll is already more than 232,000, and total confirmed U.S. cases have surpassed 9 million. Those are the highest totals in the world, and new infections are increasing in nearly every state.

Riot declared in Portland as protesters smash windows (AP) A riot was declared in Portland, Oregon, and protesters took to the streets in Seattle on Wednesday as people demanded that every vote in Tuesday’s election be counted. Hundreds were protesting in both cities against President Donald Trump’s court challenges to stop the vote count in battleground states. The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office at about 7 p.m. declared a riot after protesters were seen smashing windows at businesses. In the interest of public safety, Gov. Kate Brown activated the use of the state National Guard to help local law enforcement manage the unrest, according to the sheriff’s office. Portland has been roiled by five months of near-nightly racial injustice protests since the police killing of George Floyd.

Tired of blue state life, rural Oregon voters eye new border (AFP) As a hotly contested election highlights the United States’s deep divisions, rural voters in liberal blue-state Oregon have approved a radical solution—splitting off to join neighboring deep-red conservative Idaho. Two conservative counties voted in favor of a non-binding measure to “Move Oregon’s Borders” during Tuesday’s polls, which also saw their northwestern US state predictably vote for Joe Biden in the race for president. “In the United States, the differences between liberal and conservative... there’s hatred there,” said chief petitioner Mike McCarter, of the votes in Union and Jefferson counties. “Populated urban areas are controlling the mass of everybody,” the 73-year-old retired gun club manager told AFP. Oregon—whose politics are dominated by the liberal city of Portland—has not voted Republican in a presidential contest since 1984, while landlocked Idaho to the east last chose a Democrat in 1964. But the high desert and mountainous swathes of eastern Oregon—where resource-intensive industries such as timber, ranching and mining prevail—are far more conservative than the environment-minded coastal stretches of the state. McCarthy said his movement’s goals rings true for outnumbered rural conservatives across a nation in which most states apportion their electoral college votes—to choose the president—on an all-or-nothing basis. “It’s a definite clash between blue and red,” he said. “Indiana and Illinois have got the same issue because Chicago controls all Illinois. In New York (state), New York City controls all New York. There’s a constant rub going back-and forth on life values between urban and rural.”

Eta brings heavy rains, deadly mudslides to Honduras (AP) Eta moved into Honduras on Wednesday as a weakened tropical depression but still bringing the heavy rains that have drenched and caused deadly landslides in the country’s east and in northern Nicaragua. The storm no longer carried the winds of the Category 4 hurricane that battered Nicaragua’s coast Tuesday, but it was moving so slowly and dumping so much rain that much of Central America was on high alert. Eta had sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 7 mph (11 kph) Wednesday night. It was 115 miles (185 kilometers) south-southeast of La Ceiba. The long-term forecast shows Eta taking a turn over Central America and then reforming as a tropical storm in the Caribbean—possibly reaching Cuba on Sunday and southern Florida on Monday.

Arce’s opponents go on strike in Bolivia (Foreign Policy) Conservative opponents of Bolivian President-elect Luis Arce will begin a two-day strike today in the department of Santa Cruz, home to Bolivia’s largest city, in order to voice their opposition to the results of October’s presidential election. Governor Ruben Costas has asked Bolivia’s electoral tribunal to audit the result, but the tribunal rejected the request, citing the election’s certification by outside groups such as the Organization of American States (OAS). Arce is set to be inaugurated as president on Sunday.

Pix (Rest of World) Brazil’s Central Bank will launch a national instant payment system called Pix, which will be free to use by its citizens and mandatory for major banks to implement. It’s required for the 34 banks with 500,000 clients or more to roll out, and that group serves 90 percent of the 175.4 million Brazilians with bank accounts. As a result, this change could revolutionize digital payments in the country. Right now, fast money transfers cost 10 Brazilian reais in fees, or about $2. Pix will be effectively free for consumers: the Central Bank charges banks 1 Brazilian centavo, or $0.0018, for every 10 transactions. The five largest banks in Brazil make $440 million a year from same-day money transfer fees. The free price point of Pix will likely undercut their offerings.

In Spain, coronavirus puts the poor at the back of the line MADRID (AP)—Erika Oliva spends at least three hours a week standing in line at a soup kitchen. She spends a couple more at the social worker’s office with her 8-year-old son, who has autism. She waits on the phone to the health center or when she wants to check if her application for a basic income program will get her the promised 1,015 euros ($1,188). So far, it hasn’t. “They are always asking for more papers but we still haven’t seen a euro. Everything seems to be closed because of the pandemic. Or you are told to go online,” said Oliva. She managed to apply online, but others in her situation don’t know how to use a computer or simply don’t have one. “Poor people queue. It’s what we know how to do best,” Oliva said. Lower income families around the world have often suffered most from the pandemic for several reasons: their jobs might expose them more to the virus and their savings are typically lower. In Spain, their situation has been worse than in much of Europe due to the big role of hard-hit industries like tourism and weaker social welfare benefits. “The pandemic is extending and intensifying poverty in a country that already had serious inequality problems,” said Carlos Susías, president of the European Anti-Poverty Network, which encompasses dozens of non-profits. He says insufficient welfare spending, too much red tape, lack of access to technology and a resurgence of the pandemic are likely to widen what is already one of the developed world’s biggest gaps between rich and poor.

Pope Francis: A Day Without Prayer Is ‘Bothersome,’ ‘Tedious’ (Breitbart) Pope Francis insisted Wednesday on the centrality of prayer in a Christian’s life, declaring that prayer has a way of turning all things to good. Prayer “possesses primacy: it is the first desire of the day, something that is practised at dawn, before the world awakens,” the pope proposed in his weekly general audience in the Vatican. “It restores a soul to that which otherwise would be without breath.” “A day lived without prayer risks being transformed into a bothersome or tedious experience” where “all that happens to us could turn into a badly endured and blind fate.” Through prayer, the many occurrences of every day—both good and bad—take on new meaning, the pontiff suggested. “Prayer is primarily listening and encountering God,” he said. “The problems of everyday life, then, do not become obstacles, but appeals from God Himself to listen to and encounter those who are in front of us.” “Consistent prayer produces progressive transformation, makes us strong in times of tribulation, gives us the grace to be supported by Him who loves us and always protects us,” he said.

Greece orders nationwide lockdown to curb COVID surge (Reuters) Greece ordered a nationwide lockdown on Thursday for three weeks to help contain a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. Under the new countrywide restrictions to take effect from Saturday, retail businesses will be shut with the exception of supermarkets and pharmacies. Civilians will need a time-slot permit to venture outdoors. Primary schools will stay open, but high schools will shut.

Debt trap? (Nikkei Asian Review) China has lent large amounts of money to many developing countries, and critics contend—though China disputes—that this is in pursuit of “debt-trap diplomacy,” where a powerful country offers money to a less powerful one, and when the less powerful one defaults, the powerful country will take important resources like ports, natural resources, or infrastructure. China’s loans typically have interest rates of 3 percent or more, compared to International Monetary Fund and World Bank loans where the interest is about 1 percent. Critics point to the China-Sri Lanka relationship—where Sri Lanka signed a 99-year lease on the port of Hambantota in 2017—as a key example, and there are others. Regardless of the broader motivations, lots of African nations are in the hole to China, and the pandemic has exacerbated default risks. Zambia—home to voluminous copper reserves—is a particularly interesting case, as the country owes $12 billion in total, of which $3.4 billion, or 29 percent of its external debt, is to China, up 8 percentage points from four years ago.

China blocks travellers from virus-hit Britain, Belgium, Philippines (Reuters) Mainland China has barred entry to non-Chinese visitors from Britain, Belgium and the Philippines and demanded travellers from the United States, France and Germany present results of additional health tests, as coronavirus cases rise around the world. China has temporarily suspended entry of non-Chinese nationals travelling from the United Kingdom even if they hold valid visas and residence permits, the Chinese embassy in Britain said, in some of the most stringent border restrictions imposed by any country in response to the pandemic. Starting Nov. 6, all passengers from the United States, France, Germany and Thailand bound for mainland China must take both a nucleic acid test and a blood test for antibodies against the coronavirus. The tests must be done no more than 48 hours before boarding.

Japan’s expensive oranges (CNN) How many mandarin oranges can you buy with one million yen—or roughly $9,600? For one fruit-loving buyer at an auction this week in Japan, the answer is just 100. A single, 20-kilogram crate of 100 Japanese mandarins (also called mikan) hit the auction block on Thursday at Tokyo’s central wholesale Ota Market. It was the year’s first auction of satsuma mandarin oranges, a famous citrus species from Ehime prefecture, on the island of Shikoku in southern Japan. Nishiuwa is one of Ehime’s mikan-producing regions and its semi-seedless citrus species of oranges is known for its good balance of rich and sweet flavors, its easy-to-peel thin skin as well as its melt-in-the-mouth texture. It wasn’t the first time the sweet mandarins fetched such a staggering price in an auction—the highest bidding price last year was also in the million range.

West Bank village razed (Foreign Policy) Israeli forces have demolished a Palestinian village in the West Bank, leaving 73 people homeless, in what the United Nations reported as the largest demolition operation in years. The demolition brings to 689 the number of structures demolished across the West Bank, the highest number since 2016. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said the mass demolition was likely an opportunistic move by the Israeli government while the eyes of the world were focused on the U.S. election.

[multipleservicelisting]

A Republican Lawmaker for Whom the Spectacle Is the Point

WASHINGTON — As lawmakers entered the Capitol on Wednesday for one of the most solemn enterprises in American government, the impeachment of a president, Representative Lauren Boebert was causing a spectacle before even making it into the chamber. She pushed her way through newly installed metal detectors and ignored police officers who asked her to stop so they could check her with a hand-held wand.

This reprised a standoff from the evening before, when Ms. Boebert, a freshman Republican from Colorado, refused to show guards what was inside her handbag as she entered the building. In both cases, she was eventually granted access, but not before engineering a made-for-Twitter moment that delighted the far right.

After joining her colleagues on Wednesday, Ms. Boebert took to the House floor to denounce the vote on impeachment that passed a few hours later.

“Where’s the accountability for the left after encouraging and normalizing violence?” Ms. Boebert asked loudly, arguing that Democrats had tolerated excessive violence last summer during the unrest over racial justice. “I call bullcrap when I hear the Democrats demanding unity.”

The standoff at the metal detectors was a characteristic stunt by Ms. Boebert. She is only 10 days into her term but has already arranged several episodes that showcased her brand of far-right defiance as a conspiracy theorist who proudly boasts of carrying her Glock handgun to Washington. She is only one of 435 House members, but Ms. Boebert, 34, represents an incoming faction of the party for whom breaking the rules — and gaining notoriety for doing it — is exactly the point.

In the same way Republicans leaders had to adapt to the Tea Party over a decade ago, House leaders must now contend with a narrow but increasingly clamorous element of the party that not only carries Mr. Trump’s anti-establishment message but connects with the voters who are so loyal to him — and so crucial to future elections.

In the process, Ms. Boebert and her cohort have exasperated other lawmakers and Republicans.

“There is a trend, in both parties, of members who seem more interested in dunking on folks on social media and appearing on friendly cable networks than doing the work of legislating,” said Michael Steel, a Republican strategist and former press secretary for the former House Speaker John Boehner. “They seem to see public service as more performance art than a battle of policy ideas.”

In recent days, Ms. Boebert and a group of other freshman Republicans, including the QAnon devotee Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, a 25-year-old freshman who claimed he was armed during the Capitol riots, have questioned or outright flouted guidelines meant to protect lawmakers from violence, intruders or the spread of the coronavirus.

Their fluency in social media, access to conservative television and talk radio platforms and combativeness with reporters on live television allows them to gain notoriety in nontraditional ways.

“There used to be a level of gatekeeping that went on with how members developed a profile when they got to Washington,” said Kevin Madden, a strategist who served as a senior adviser to Mitt Romney during his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. “Usually you had to work for it and earn that notoriety. Now it’s given to you with one YouTube video.”

In an introductory video of sorts that she released last week, Ms. Boebert was shown walking against a Washington backdrop with a gun holstered at her waistline. “I refuse to give up my rights, especially my Second Amendment rights,” she said to the camera.

In her short time in office, Ms. Boebert has already sparred with a Republican colleague over security lapses at the Capitol last week and expressed interest in bringing her gun to work. Her Twitter account was temporarily suspended after she spread the falsehood that the presidential election was rigged.

She also faced criticism, and some demands that she resign, for tweeting out information about some lawmakers’ locations during the siege at the Capitol by a violent mob last week.

The behavior exhibited by Ms. Boebert and some of her fellow freshman Republicans prompted Timothy Blodgett, the House’s acting sergeant-at-arms, to send a memo to lawmakers on Tuesday notifying them that security screenings would be required for members seeking access to the chamber and that lawmakers who declined to wear masks would be removed from the House floor. Several Republicans responded by yelling that their rights were being violated as they passed through the metal detectors, behavior that has exasperated Democrats.

“I don’t know what the consequences are going to be for people who hold power and don’t ever want to be held accountable,” Rep. Tim Ryan, Democrat of Ohio, told NPR on Wednesday about lawmakers who bypassed security measures in the Capitol. He added that defiance by lawmakers was “a sign of how obnoxious things have become for some of these folks who were supporting Donald Trump. The rules don’t apply to them.”

Ms. Boebert unofficially started her campaign for Congress in September 2019 in Denver, announcing to the Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke that he would not be taking one of the most potent symbols of rural autonomy: her guns.

“I was one of the gun-owning Americans who heard you speak regarding your ‘Hell yes, I’m going to take your AR-15s and AK-47s,’” Ms. Boebert said to Mr. O’Rourke at the time. “Well, I’m here to say hell no, you’re not.’”

She has expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy group, though she has tried to temper that by saying she is not a follower.

Ms. Boebert was running a restaurant in Colorado’s ranch country — where she encouraged the servers to openly carry guns — when she stunned the state’s Republican establishment by defeating a five-term incumbent in the primary and then winning the general election.

“She was so inexperienced,” said Dick Wadhams, the former head of the Colorado Republican Party. “I don’t think she even knew she had no chance, which turned out to be a good thing for her. She caught everyone by surprise.”

So far, she has had the same effect on Washington. On Wednesday, the Capitol Police and Ms. Boebert’s office declined to respond to requests about whether she had actually been carrying a gun either time she had trouble getting into the chamber. Ms. Boebert has said that she has a concealed carry permit, issued through the District of Columbia, for her gun and has claimed on Twitter that she has the right to freely carry within the Capitol complex, which is not true.

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department did not respond when asked if Washington’s police chief, Robert J. Contee III, had met with Ms. Boebert to explain the district’s gun laws to her, as he had said he would do last week.

Ms. Boebert has frequently defended her behavior as one of the reasons she was elected. Just as Mr. Trump has done with his base, she tells her followers that she is fighting for them. As for her right to carry a gun, she has written on Twitter that “self-defense is the most basic human right.’’

In Colorado, Ms. Boebert’s district covers much of western Colorado, a sprawling, politically diverse landscape of mesas and jagged mountains that includes liberal enclaves like Aspen and Telluride as well as often overlooked towns where cattle ranching, mining and natural gas drilling pay the bills. For generations, the district elected deeply rooted local men who, whether Democrat or Republican, tended to be cowboy-boot-wearing moderates focused on the local economy and natural resources.

Once a reliably red state, Colorado flipped with the election of Barack Obama in 2008, and Republicans have struggled to regain a foothold. Democrats now hold both Senate seats, the state House and the governor’s office.

Republicans seeking to keep viability in the state regard Ms. Boebert’s behavior warily.

“I think most Republicans here are still behind her,” Mr. Wadhams said. “But she can’t just pick fights in Washington. She has got to pay attention to the issues in her district, too: in water, natural resources, mining. If she doesn’t do that, she’s in real trouble.”

from Multiple Service Listing https://ift.tt/2XAAtSp

[keywestlou]

MAJOR KEY WEST TRAGEDY

Coronavirus has struck a Key West family in a violent way. One of Key West’s most prominent. Craig and Crystal Cates and their daughter Crystal.

The three were struck low by the virus. Their infection most difficult with which to deal. The three were sent to a Miami hospital several weeks ago for care. Fighting for their the lives the entire time.

Little news is presently available other than two had passed away. As I understand, Crystal first. Then her mother Cheryl. All within a very short time.

Craig remains in bad shape. He is back on the ventilator. A representative of the Key West Citizen tried to talk to him by phone. Craig could not take the call. He did text the reporter however and said he was unable to talk on the phone because he was “struggling to breath.”

I never met the Craig family. Their life was politics. Socialization involved politics. When I moved to Key West, I decided to forego political involvement. Ergo never met Craig, Cheryl and their family. My loss.

Craig was Mayor of Key West for 10 years. Cheryl was Key West’s first lady. Craig was recently elected a County Commissioner.

Even though I never met the family members, I feel a great loss this morning. To the extent of teary eyes as I read about the deaths and the Mayor hanging in there in the Key West Citizen.

I felt I had lost a family member or close friend. It has to be the belief Key Westers hold. We are one human family.

May Cheryl and Crystal rest in peace. God willing, may Craig survive.

The coronavirus numbers are going crazy all over the country. Yesterday’s deaths totaled 3,157. More than died on 9/11.

Coronavirus in the U.S. is less than one year. Trump never appreciated its significance and danger. Interestingly, he has not spoken of the virus since the election.

Locally, bar and restaurant owners have proposed a plan to deal with the virus and their businesses. One facet is they will decide what restrictions, if any, are to be imposed. Beware! It’s like letting the fox in the hen house.

Think for a moment of the theme from Love Story. Where Do I Begin. Recall the words: “Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a LOVE can be…..with angels’ songs, with wild imaginings.”

The emphasis on “love” mine. Delete the word and substitute LIE for it. One word changed and it could be Trump’s theme song.

Trump continues to be a mad man on the stump. He argues he won, Biden lost, and the election was rigged. Not even the courts believe him. He has lost 38 out of 39 lawsuits brought to invalidate the election result in one fashion or another.

Saturday, he will be in Georgia. Purportedly for a “press conference.” It will actually be an opportunity once more to decry the election result.

The man needs a psychiatrist.

The run off election for the two Georgia U.S. Senate seats is January 5. Trump will attack the run off also.

He has already advised Georgia’s Republicans to sit out the vote, claiming it will be another “rigged election.” He also takes the position the two Republican candidates “have not earned your vote.” How this plays in, I am not sure.

Trump’s press secretary Kaylegh McKenany was asked a question about the many large White House parties over the holidays. She responded, “You get looting and protesting, we get the parties.”

A flippant young lady for such an important position.

Pompeo is also throwing parties over in the State Department.

I have a question: Who pays for these parties? The taxpayers? Some special fund? Rich supporters? Who!

I suspect somehow that the monies are coming from some source it should not be. Trump never pays for anything himself. Pompeo cannot afford anything on the scale of large parties.

Trump did a 46 minute video yesterday which was distributed immediately. His talk combative and emphatic. No mention of coronavirus. Merely the election result.

Will he ever give up?

Philip Rucker of the New York Times wrote Trump spewed allegations of voter fraud and outright falsehoods in which he declared the nation’s election system was “under coordinated assault and siege” and “argued it was “statistically impossible” for him to have lost to President-elect Biden.

Second day in a row I have been impressed with an editorial cartoon in the Key West Citizen: “Little Donnie T. wants his run not to die and Little Rudy G. wants his dye not to run.”

The weather. Cold during the night. Turned the heat on again. Supposedly will be better today. Heat turned off a couple of hours ago.

May Johnson a lucky young lady on this day in 1896. Everest missed his boat yesterday. I assume no boat today as he remained all day and into the late evening hours in Key West.

May and Everest got together after school finished and stayed together till evening.

They played by Mama’s rules: “Everest stayed till 11 o’clock. OH SWEET.”

Enjoy your day!

            MAJOR KEY WEST TRAGEDY was originally published on Key West Lou

[junker-town]

THIS WEEK IN SCHADENFREUDE, the massively popular Ohio State missed the Playoff because ESPN likes TV ratings too much

Your weekly jaunt through the most traumatized in college football internet rolls through Columbus.

Ohio State didn’t make the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes finished with their cheeks pressed directly against the Playoff’s glass, ranked No. 5 when the selection committee said what was what on Sunday. That the Buckeyes didn’t make the field was reasonable. They shouldn’t have given up 55 points to Iowa in their second loss of the season.

But the whole point of the Playoff is that we can argue about it. Alabama-Ohio State for the fourth seed really was the hardest decision the committee’s ever had to make. Bama was far from an ideal choice.

So let’s check in with the Ohio State internet and see how it coped with the news.

Mood. http://pic.twitter.com/MqPWxqaUl5

— Brutus Buckeye (@Brutus_Buckeye) December 3, 2017

The best conspiracy theories

Here’s a take from right before the rankings reveal:

There will be no conspiracy from a ratings standpoint on Alabama vs Ohio State. Both have the ability to draw similar audience.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 3, 2017

Let’s see how that one aged.

Were ESPN and the SEC in cahoots to deny the Big Ten a bid?

Three years after Ohio State jumped Baylor and TCU to make the Playoff and one year after Ohio State made it in despite not winning the Big Ten, some folks at Ohio State’s 247Sports message board wonder whether ESPN, a company that wants lots of games between big-name teams, exerted influence against the Buckeyes’ enormously popular brand.

Cannot fucking believe they did it. ESPN has ruined playoffs

First they ruin the god damned BCS bowl game with their fucking influence peddling. And now they spend two straight days shilling for their SEC love child TV deal and fuck over half the country.

The fuck did Alabama do to get in? And don't fucking say Iowa. OSU beat a bunch of teams after that debacle. Alabama basically gets in because they are Alabama. So the thing I'm hearing is regular season games don't mean shit so long as you pass the "eye test"? Is the fucking eye test now a selection criteria?

NCAA is crooked as shit. No fucking integrity rigged bullshit. Know what? I was this fucking close to quit following sports all together. I stopped watching the NFL years before it became cool to do so. Gave up baseball in the mid 90's. Stopped watching basketball about 5 years ago. I barely watch colllege football anymore outside of Ohio State.

Fuck it. I'm done. My tolerances for fairness have been exceeded.

Half the country was fucked over by Ohio State’s exclusion. I’m from Pittsburgh and feel personally victimized that my neighboring state’s team didn’t get in.

This next theory suggests that there might’ve been some sort of intentional Steve Harvey situation here, wherein ESPN wrested the results away from the committee and staged a palace coup to keep the Buckeyes on the outside looking in.

This Just In

Just like in the Miss Universe show.... ESPenis, flub the results reporting... OSU in at number 4!

What a f’en joke!

Ohio State is a gigantic eyeball draw and guarantees solid national TV ratings every time it plays, fwiw.

Y'all don't see the irony?

— Just For Sports (@Mainly_Clemson) December 3, 2017

Wait, was the Big 12 also involved?

The Texas Tech AD heading up the committee is horrible for us

You want to talk about a built in bias the B12 hates us there is no way we were going to get the benefit of the doubt

So the Big 12 prefers the league that took two of its teams in realignment to the league that took one?

Someone wants to know what committee member and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith was doing while the Buckeyes were being shut out.

Did f'n Gene Smith even open his mouth or was it stuffed with pizza the whole time? Barry Alvarez was more of a friend to OSU when he was on the committee.

Gonna assume Smith recused himself, as is the rule.

Was Ohio State kept out because of how it lost in the Playoff last year?

the real reason we didn't make it in

31-0 Clemson last year. #BarrettEffect

Should we just expand the Playoff, now that Ohio State hasn’t made it?

Of course we should.

Ten conference champions should be in the playoffs. It's quite concerning that so many people are okay with a selection committee, that think that they are holier than thou, to pick four teams.

Everyone is mad about Mercer

The FCS team from Macon, Georgia was on Alabama’s schedule and is comparable in quality to Illinois, the team Ohio State was playing that weekend, or UNLV, a Buckeye opponent that lost to FCS Howard.

I GUESS I SHOULD SCHEDULE MERCER NEXT YEAR

— Arrogant Urban Meyer (@ArrogantUrban) December 3, 2017

ESPN can't acknowledged how weak Alabama schedule is, including playing Mercer in week 12? Playing FCS teams is already bad, but to play them in week 12 should be penalized. It's a cowardly move.

— RecruitNUT (@Zona_Buckeye) December 3, 2017

Gene Smith better be on the phone right now to cancel our future games against TCU, Notre Dame, Texas, and Oregon. Gotta get Mercer on the schedule every year. Hell lets fucking schedule BG, Mount Union, Akron, and Kent.

— The Black Sheep OSU (@BlackSheep_OSU) December 3, 2017

BREAKING NEWS: Nick Saban scheduled a game tomorrow morning vs. Mercer to improve his resume.

— Buckeye Nation (@Buckeye_Nation) December 3, 2017

This is probably true ...

Swap out Oklahoma with... Mercer? Yeah. That should do it. 1-loss. We are in!

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStFootball) December 3, 2017

... though Ohio State did also lose to Iowa by 31 points.

Let’s check in on Skip Bayless

I'm no Ohio State fan. BUT THE BUCKEYES JUST GOT ALL-TIME ROBBED OF THE FOURTH SPOT IN THE PLAYOFFS. OHIO STATE IS BETTER THAN ALABAMA, WHICH GOT DOMINATED BY AUBURN AND WHOSE DEFENSE GAVE UP 150+ RUSHING THE LAST THREE GAMES.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) December 3, 2017

The most vociferous calls to boycott the Playoff altogether

No grievance is complete without a call to action.

B1G should boycott bowl games

ESecPn controls the playoffs. Total BS

Makes you think.

Screw the Playoffs

Im done. Two SEC schools--Not Watching

Tough but fair.

BOYCOTT THE PLAYOFFS

Two SEC teams out of four? That is a travesty. The Big 10 and PAC 10 were screwed. Boycott the playoffs.

Harsh, but OK.

THIS IS ***ING BULL***

I will not watch a second of the CFP. Bama has a garbage schedule and did not DESERVE THIS AT ALL.

I bet you won’t.

Now let’s look on the bright side

Don't let today's disappointing playoff news distract you from the fact that Jim Harbaugh went 5-4 in his third year of Big Ten play.

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) December 3, 2017