Call His Bluff

 ***** FIVE STARS! … 👏

Excellent actor Edward Norton absolutely nails it as he goes off on Trump on FB today:

"I’m no political pundit but I grew up with a dad who was a federal prosecutor, and he taught me a lot.

I’ve also sat at a fair amount of poker tables with serious players, and l’ll say this: I do not think Trump is trying to ‘make his base happy’ or ‘laying the groundwork for his own network’ or that ‘chaos is what he loves’.

The core of it is that he knows he’s in deep, multi-dimensional legal jeopardy, and this defines his every action.

We’re seeing 1) a tactical delay of the transition to buy time for a coverup and evidence suppression 2) above all, a desperate endgame, which is to create enough chaos and anxiety about a peaceful transfer of power, and fear of irreparable damage to the system, that he can cut a Nixon-style deal in exchange for finally conceding.

But he doesn’t have the cards. His bluff after ‘the flop’ has been called in court. His ‘turn card’ bluff will be an escalation and his ‘river card’ bluff could be really ugly. But they have to be called. We cannot let this mobster bully the USA into a deal to save his ass by threatening our democracy.

THAT is his play. But he’s got junk in his hand. So call him.

I will allow that he’s also a whiny, sulky, petulant, Grinchy, vindictive little 10-ply-super-soft bitch, who no doubt is just throwing a wicked pout fest and trying to give a tiny-hand middle finger to the whole country for pure spite, without a single thought for the dead and dying.

But his contemptible, treasonous, seditious assault on the stability of our political compact isn’t about 2024, personal enrichment or anything else other than trying to use chaos and threats to the foundation of the system as leverage to trade for a safe exit.

Call. His. Bluff.

Faith in the strength of our sacred institutions and founding principles is severely stretched, but they will hold. They will. He’s leaving, gracelessly and in infamy. But if we trade for it, give him some brokered settlement, we’ll be vulnerable to his return.

We can’t flinch."

See Ya, Alex Jones

 From Newsweek:

Conspiracy theorist and internet personality Alex Jones told a crowd of pro-Trump protesters in Washington, D.C. on Saturday that President-elect Joe Biden "will be removed one way or another," while addressing the protesters from a stage.

In a clip shared on Twitter, the Infowars owner spoke to protesters at the second Million MAGA March, where supporters of President Donald Trump fought against the results of the election, which show that he lost to Biden.

Jones, who has shared a number of disproven conspiracy theories in his online show and podcast, seemingly referenced the far-right QAnon conspiracy, which alleges that Trump is secretly fighting against a cult of Democratic Satanic pedophiles. QAnon has been widely dismissed and disproven. Jones also seemingly suggested that Biden is actually an undead entity.

"We will never back down to the Satanic pedophile, globalist New World Order and their walking-dead reanimated corpse Joe Biden, and we will never recognize him," he said.

Jones continued, alleging that Trump had no connections to Russia, but implied that Biden did. "President Trump had zero connection to Russians. No proof. Four years of investigation. With the Bidens, it's open and shut," he shouted. This is seemingly a reference to conspiracy theories and allegations that Biden's son Hunter was involved in international corruption. Hunter Biden is currently being investigated for his business dealings by the Justice Department, as the Biden transition team revealed on Wednesday.

Jones also accused Biden of being a "globalist" before saying he'll be removed. While not explicitly violent, Jones' speech is certainly suggestive of violent action being taken against the president-elect. As previously reported, there have been numerous videos that have surfaced of violent altercations between people identified as Proud Boys and counter-protesters.

Lincoln Project Florida Steering Committee member David Weissman noted that Jones' remarks could be considered anti-Semitic and suggested that he should be arrested for inciting violence. Some people responded to Weissman by suggesting that people tip off the FBI about Jones and his comments.

Others shared similar thoughts on Twitter, some tagging the FBI's and Secret Service's accounts, asking for Jones to be investigated for inciting violence and to be charged with treason.

Other videos have surfaced of Jones sharing conspiracies about "world government" and the election being "stolen" from Trump. "World government is here, and the system is publicly stealing this election from the biggest landslide and the biggest political realignment since 1776," he said.

Dr. Fauci's First Tweet

 

REJECTED

 Hopefully this will stop the GOP and drumpf's sore losing actions.  Their stupid cult is still sending them money "to help this cause"

Supreme Court Rejects Texas Suit Seeking to Subvert Election  

(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/us/politics/supreme-court-election-texas.html)

Now don't EVER forget these bastards

 Thursday, 106 Republican members of Congress signed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to allow the state of Texas to file a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate the election results in the states of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, all of which President Donald Trump lost. On Friday, Republicans filed an updated brief to include an additional 20 members.

Here are their names:

Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama’s 6th Congressional District

Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Ralph Abraham of Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District

Rep. Rick W. Allen of Georgia’s 12th Congressional District

Rep. James R. Baird of Indiana’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Jack Bergman of Michigan’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona’s 5th Congressional District

Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida’s 12th Congressional District

Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District

Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois’s 12th Congressional District

Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas’s 8th Congressional District

Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama’s 5th Congressional District

Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Ted Budd of North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District

Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Michael C. Burgess of Texas’s 26th Congressional District

Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Ken Calvert of California’s 42nd Congressional District

Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter of Georgia’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Ben Cline of Virginia’s 6th Congressional District

Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas’s 27th Congressional District

Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas’s 11th Congressional District

Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas’s 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida’s 25th Congressional District

Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Neal P. Dunn of Florida’s 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District

Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Drew Ferguson of Georgia’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Bill Flores of Texas’s 17th Congressional District

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District

Rep. Russ Fulcher of Idaho’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Greg Gianforte of Montana’s at-large congressional district

Rep. Bob Gibbs of Ohio’s 7th Congressional District

Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas’s 5th Congressional District

Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri’s 6th Congressional District

Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District

Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Trey Hollingsworth of Indiana’s 9th Congressional District

Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District

Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan’s 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio’s 6th Congressional District

Rep. John Joyce of Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District

Rep. Fred Keller of Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District

Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional District

Rep. Trent Kelly of Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Steve King of Iowa’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. David Kustoff of Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District

Rep. Darin LaHood of Illinois’s 18th Congressional District

Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado’s 5th Congressional District

Rep. Robert E. Latta of Ohio’s 5th Congressional District

Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona’s 8th Congressional District

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Kenny Marchant of Texas’s 24th Congressional District

Rep. Roger Marshall of Kansas’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Tom McClintock of California’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington’s 5th Congressional District

Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania’s 9th Congressional District

Rep. Carol D. Miller of West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Alex X. Mooney of West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Gregory Murphy of North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District

Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania’s 14th Congressional District

Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District

Rep. John Rose of Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District

Rep. David Rouzer of North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District

Rep. John Rutherford of Florida’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia’s 8th Congressional District

Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Adrian Smith of Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri’s 8th Congressional District

Rep. Ross Spano of Florida’s 15th Congressional District

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York’s 21st Congressional District

Rep. Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District

Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District

Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan’s 7th Congressional District

Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida’s 6th Congressional District

Rep. Randy Weber of Texas’s 14th Congressional District

Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida’s 11th Congressional District

Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Roger Williams of Texas’s 25th Congressional District

Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Rob Wittman of Virginia’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Ron Wright of Texas’s 6th Congressional District

Rep. Ted S. Yoho of Florida’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California’s 23rd Congressional District

Rep. Robert Aderholt of Alabama’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Jodey Arrington of Texas’s 19th Congressional District

Rep. Brian Babin of Texas’s 36th Congressional District

Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia’s 9th Congressional District

Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia’s 9th Congressional District

Rep. Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District

Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia’s 10th Congressional District

Rep. Billy Long of Missouri’s 7th Congressional District

Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia’s 11th Congressional District

Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District

Rep. Greg Pence of Indiana’s 6th Congressional District

Rep. Bill Posey of Florida’s 8th Congressional District

Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District

Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District

Rep. W. Gregory Steube of Florida’s 17th Congressional District

Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey's 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District

Rep. Jackie Walorski of Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District

It Was 40 Years Ago Today

 

A Way With Words

 THIS IS CLASSIC!

It’s not just Trump that’s leaving... novelist Hari Kunzru has a special way with words...

"Mike Pence you repressed joyless would-be witchfinder, every time you spoke you always looked like you were straining to expel an enormous bolus of your own hypocrisy from your clenched sphincter.

“Betsy DeVos you blandly foolish soulless entitled child-stealing witch, rotting like a corpse inside your Chanel suit.

“All the generals, you spineless buzz-cut phallus-brained plastic Spartans fawning and wriggling to distract yourself from your moral cowardice.

“Kayleigh McEnenay, you evacuated husk of a mean-girl cheerleader, the cavity where your heart once was pumped full of spite and moronic lies.

“Bill Barr you vast pompous pus-filled bladder of casuistry, you are an enemy of justice, bloated with resentment and cruelty, wobbling like a jelly at the feet of the oligarchs.

“Jared Kushner you vacuous dainty preening overpromoted nub of mediocrity, squeezed like an entitled smear of toothpaste into a silk suit bought with tear-stained dollars wrung out of the suffering tenants of your slum apartments.

“Ivanka Trump you monstrous slug of vanity, you infantile ninny so marinaded in self-regard that in your pea brain you believe we ought to love you for your crimes.

“Mike Pompeo, you bubble, you booby, you flatulent zero, that roiling in your ample guts that you mistake for world shaking significance is just the acid reflux of irrelevancy.

“Don Junior, you scabrous single-nostriled unloved elephant-murdering human wreckage, vibrating with bitterness and impotent rage at all the opportunities you’ve squandered.

“Sarah Sanders, you crude hulking beetle-browed bully, working your multiple chins as you masticated another stinking quid of falsity, spitting again and again on the people you were supposed to inform.

“Interlude: all you staffers and interns, so eager to crunch your way in your shiny new work shoes over the bodies of the poor and powerless, I smite you and cast you out one by one.

“Eric Trump, you pallid clammy suppurating nocturnal semi-human grub, your absence of charisma is your only notable trait and the act of flushing you from memory will so be smooth and painless that in a month people will find it hard to picture your moon face.

“Rudy Giuliani, you capering cartoonish skull-faced bag of graft and corruption, too stupid even to ask who’s pulling your strings just so long as you can cake your crusty face in tv make-up and clack your jaw at a camera.

“And of course Stephen Miller, you weeping pustule upon the social body, you dreg, you homunculus, you noxious slime felched from the gaping cavity of Jim Crow, one day may you find yourself walking barefoot across hot sand, desperate for water, crying for your missing child.

“With that I'll rest a while, and go to find a street corner to dance on."

Sunrises

 12 month Sunrise from the same location.

Monday Morning Smile

 

MAGA thought process

 

Monday Morning Smile

 

A Time to Heal

 James S. Gordon: Covid is just one more crisis for this nation of traumatized people. We need to start healing.

America has long been suffering from chronic dysfunction and disorder, and 2020 has seen that reach a crescendo. But there are signs change is coming.

Nov. 29, 2020, 8:46 AM CST

By James S. Gordon, psychiatrist and author of "The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma"

Hippocrates first identified medical “crises” as times in the evolution of an illness when the symptoms of chronic dysfunction and disorder reach an inflammatory crescendo.

He observed that these crises could be extinguished by death or fester as chronic illness — but, if a physician understood the nature of the crisis and addressed its causes, and if its sufferers were both physically and psychologically supported, they could often transform the grave threat into what he called a “healing crisis.” He described a healing crisis as a cleansing, detoxifying process that gives birth to a new, more integrated and stable state of physical and emotional health and wellbeing.

Telling people to count their blessings this holiday season is a recipe for depression

This latter crisis successfully resolves when physician and sufferer stop trying to subdue its symptoms but instead regard them both as arrows pointing backward, toward the causes of distress, and forward, toward the means to resolve it.

America, too, has long been suffering from chronic dysfunction and disorder, and 2020 has seen our problems as a nation reach an inflammatory crescendo. We need to transform this into our own healing crisis — and there are some hopeful signs that this may be happening.

Our challenge as a society now is to sustain and embrace the changes the healing crisis is bringing to America.

The Covid-19 pandemic — with its invisible and unpredictable course, its forced isolation and rampant unemployment — created a global, national and personal crisis which few alive have ever seen. Like the crises Hippocrates observed, this one has brought unaddressed disorders and vulnerabilities to the surface, in our body politic, as well as in our individual bodies and in our elected leader. As it has unfolded, it has exposed our greatest inequities and vulnerabilities: Black, brown and Indigenous people who are more likely to have been weakened by poverty and discrimination, chronic illness, poor nutrition and inadequate medical care, have been dying at twice the rate of whites; and 80 percent of all Covid-19 fatalities are among older people.

None of us, however, is exempt from the virus’s devastation or the fear it brings. Physicians like me are observing that previously controlled chronic conditions like hypertension, type II diabetes, arthritis and migraines are flaring. Psychological and behavioral vulnerabilities, probed by pandemic fear and uncertainty, are surfacing: a study just published in JAMA Open Network revealed a “threefold” increase in depressive symptoms; the Disaster Distress Hotline of the US Government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports a 900 percent increase in calls to its suicide hotline; child abuse is increasing; drug overdose deaths are up by 42 percent.

George Floyd’s murder in May put the depth and lethality of American inequity in bold relief and fueled the crisis even as it gave a long-traumatized Black population and its allies a renewed sense of purpose. President Trump’s continuous attempts to downplay both the severity of the pandemic and American systemic racism fed its flames.

Those who have faithfully taken their cues from the President are also manifesting symptoms of the national emotional crisis. Their furious armed mobilization against basic public health measures and the threat of inter-city invaders, the homegrown terrorist plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor and threats to “Stop the Steal” all resemble what Hippocrates called “aggravations.”

And now, as winter approaches, the crisis continues to broaden and intensify.

Pandemic-induced isolation has exacerbated emotional distress and physical illness, but also made many of us more grateful for the human connections we do have.

Over the last 30 years, my Center for Mind-Body Medicine colleagues and I have had the opportunity to help other populations to move through and beyond the trauma that has devastated them — after wars in the Balkans and the Middle East, opioid epidemics and school shootings in the U.S., and hurricanes and earthquakes that have killed thousands and shattered the lives of millions in America and the Caribbean.

Young people in Gaza who’d lost family members in wars between Hamas and Israel and aspired only to revenge and martyrdom have used our program of self-care and group support to discover unimagined resilience and transform despair into generous, compassionate hope. An eight-year-old boy who wanted only to wear the suicide bomber’s belt came to imagine himself as “the driver for the first president of Palestine”; a broken-hearted nine-year-old girl who wanted only to be buried with her father, two uncles and an aunt who were killed by Israeli bombs now aspires to be a doctor, tending to the war-hurt hearts of Gazans.

Here in the U.S., resident-Elect Biden has turned his own traumatic losses into a commitment to compassionate care that can nourish our national healing.

And we Americans have been readying ourselves for the healing and transformation for which we hope. Millions more of us are now embracing meditative practices that offer an antidote to chronic distress and confusion, as well as pandemic-induced anxiety, agitation and sleeplessness — practices promote “compassion” and “loving kindness,” as well as long term physical and psychological health. Many Americans, including those who do not formally meditate, report being more “aware” or “mindful”; they are bringing a new perspective on and greater appreciation for what is truly important to them.

Pandemic-induced isolation has exacerbated emotional distress and physical illness, but also made many of us more grateful for the human connections we do have. FaceTime calls, Zoom get-togethers, and online classes have increased exponentially. Though overwhelmed by non-stop childcare, parents I know are discovering new ways of playing and learning with their children. The masks we wear to safeguard others as well as protect ourselves are visible and palpable reminders that all of us are connected to and dependent on one another.

Routine activities — preparing and eating meals, re-organizing closets, nurturing plants, walking by trees — feel newly satisfying; absent luxuries no longer seem essential; and threats to the social fabric, the political order, and the environment are coming into sharper focus. Many white Americans, hunkered down in pandemic induced isolation, have become sensitized to the vulnerability and pain of others less privileged. Large numbers, recognizing the festering wounds of genocide and racism, have committed themselves to draining the infection.

Our challenge as a society now is to sustain and embrace the changes the healing crisis is bringing to America. We must cultivate the meditative mind which quiets anxiety and agitation, promotes reflection over reaction and values understanding more than argument. We have to engage ever-more appreciatively and kindly with the people in our lives. We need to look more closely and critically at the illusions of safety and superiority which have blinded us to our vulnerability and condemned us to self-limiting self-protection. We have to deepen our understanding that we are all connected to and responsible for one another and the natural world which sustains us, and to commit ourselves to faithfully fulfilling that responsibility.

From: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/covid-just-one-more-crisis-nation-traumatized-people-we-need-ncna1249143?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&utm_content=algorithm

James S. Gordon, a psychiatrist, is the author of "The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma," a comprehensive step by step guide to trauma-healing, and the founder and executive director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine. A Georgetown Medical School clinical professor, he chaired the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy under Presidents Clinton and G.W. Bush.