Wednesday, January 20, 2021

We made it! THANK GOD!!!

This is the revival I've been waiting four years for.  The return of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.  

It's so nice to hear a president who sounds like a president.  We all took it granted, didn't we?  

We can once again go to bed at night knowing a deranged madman doesn't have the nuclear codes.  

We can wake up in the morning secure that someone is finally in charge.  The pandemic, the economy, the military -- they're in good hands.  

Science and facts and justice and truth and fairness and the Constitution are again valued.  Stupidity is not celebrated.  Hate is not encouraged.  Violence is not condoned. 

Tumultuous times are indeed ahead as Joe Biden is left to repair the immeasurable damage his vile loathsome predecessor left, but at least he'll be trying.  

I wish him and Kamala Harris the very best.  Thank you for restoring order and hope and humanity.  And allowing me to sleep for the first time since November 2016.  

Trump apparently left the traditional letter to the incoming president.  "Please pardon me.  PLEASE PLEASE!"

Enjoy the world's greatest palindrome:   1 20 2021

46 comments :

Troy McClure said...

A few comments on today.

I hope President Biden doesn't pardon Trump. I want that depraved fascist convicted in the Senate, barred from running for office ever again, and then prosecuted for all his crimes.

Matt Gaetz and the other Repuglicans who still voted to overturn the election after the insurrection are treasonous pieces of shit.

Custom has it that former presidents continue to be called President. Trump doesn't deserve this and I hope every legitimate news outlet (obviously not Fox News) refuses to go along with it.

Deutsche Bank, who were Trump's last financial lifeline, have severed all business ties with him. Signature Bank have closed his personal accounts. NYC has severed all contracts with Trump Organization. A number of other global corporations have cut ties with Trump. I like pizza, but this serving of karma is even more delicious.

I've been greatly enjoying reading every day about Trump terrorists getting arrested by the FBI for insurrection. I especially enjoyed the arrest of 22 year old Riley Williams, who stole Nancy Pelosi's laptop with the intention of selling it to the Russian secret service. As that is the very definition of treason, I look forward to Riley getting 50 years solitary in a Supermax.

Turns out MAGA means Morons Are Getting Arrested.

tavm said...

Two of my favorite pieces of celebrating the Trumps' departure are Randy Rainbow's listing of the soon-to-be former pres. scandals to the tune of a "Rent" song, and Laura Benati's final performance as Melania being castigated by New Yorkers as she sings to the tune of "New York, New York" (the song done by Liza Minnelli and Frank Sinatra) and "Belle"!

VP81955 said...

Alas, most of Trump's base of right-wing punks are probably more concerned that "tiger king" Joe Exotic didn't get clemency of any sort...and a limousine was ready to escort him to "freedom."

Steve Bailey said...

What was that phrase Ronald Reagan's campaign used? Morning in America.

Brian said...

I would pardon Trump,if he coughed. Otherwise...nahhh.

Mike Barer said...

I agree, now it's time for a new chapter.

Troy McClure said...

I resent seeing Pence and "Mother", as he calls his wife in a totally not creepy Norman Bates kinda way, at the inauguration. That shit stood by Trump even after the terrorists brought gallows to hang him.

I derive enormous satisfaction from the knowledge that Trump supporters are in tears today. Not figurative but literal tears. Much of that will be due to a black woman being Vice President. To quote Bart Simpson, pleasure overload.

I can't wait for the Manhattan District Attorney and the New York Attorney General to press charges against Trump and his entire criminal family. To use Trumpuke lingo, I hope they all get big, beautiful prison sentences.

Barney said...

Her comes the sun!

36 minutes!

notaleftie said...

SNL writers should take note: no jokes about the president's mental capacity or how the vice president got a leg up (so to speak) in politics. Those topics are now off limits. Bad taste, don't you know.

Greempa said...

I feel like I've gotten my country back today. Best of luck to President Joe Biden (Boy it feels good to say that!) and Vice President Kamala Harris.

VincentS said...

Whew!

71dude said...

And the nightmare is over. Happy Belated New Year to all!

Steve said...

You won't get a chance to miss Trump, Ken. His reverse mortgage commercials start running on A&E this weekend.

Jrandall said...

A renewed feeling of much needed HOPE!

Brian said...

Lady Gaga sang the National Anthem.
Gentleman GarGar "Amazing Grace".

Kevin FitzMaurice said...

Amen!

Roger Owen Green said...

To my surprise, I got a little weepy watching the boring normalcy of the inauguration without the exhaustion of American carnage.

Steve said...

Just FYI, Ken: I'm putting together a buried treasure map with construction paper and crayon. I'm hoping it'll keep the QAnon people busy for the next four years.

Angela said...

Hear, hear! I actually got emotional watching the inauguration. Just knowing that our long national nightmare is FINALLY over and I can breathe and relax a little again-it's SO nice. I haven't been able to stop smiling and keep having little fits of giddiness.

I like your observation of the palindrome! How very appropriate!

Congrats to Biden and Harris. Here's to our country moving forward again.

Craig Gustafson said...

Here in Illinois, the sun came out this morning for the first time all month. I do not regard this as a coincidence.

blinky said...

I find it offensive to hear that name. Please be polite and refer to him as the "T" word.

Michael said...

And a high school classmate of mine posted on his Facebook page that we know Biden wasn't elected and we don't even know who these people are because they're wearing masks. And although he was voted class clown, he wasn't joking.

I was crying, but I happened to be having an eye exam at the time, so other factors were at work. I'll cry when I watch the recording tonight.

Brian Fies said...

Hearing a president speak in complete coherent sentences brought an unexpected tear to my eye. To quote Craig Ferguson, It's a great day for American everybody!

Jeff Boice said...

Cautiously Optimistic. That was quite the poem there at the end. And I'm reading some of the Q-Anon people are now wondering why Trump didn't declare martial law to stay on as Fearless Leader and lead the massive roundup of the Satanic Elitists and maybe just maybe it was all a bunch of crap.

D McEwan said...

"I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone,
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
'My name is Donald Trump, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay,
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
- Fudged slightly from Percy B. Shelley, scarier than his wife's book.

Unknown said...

I was half expecting to hear during Biden's speech, "as I speak, former president Trump was taken into custody for treason".
If I had a plan to over throw a legitimate election, made pillows, and present the plan about imposing martial law to a government official, wouldn't I be considered treasonous?

Anonymous said...

From Wikipedia entry on Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels:
A big lie (German: große Lüge) is a "gross distortion or misrepresentation of the facts, especially when used as a propaganda device by a politician or official body".[1] The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously."

Goodbye, President Goebbels. We will miss you and your fake news.

-30-

Mike Bloodworth said...

I am not being glib or disingenuous when I say I sincerely hope and pray that Joe Biden is a good president.

As a citizen of the United States the last thing I want is to see the country fall apart further or swing to the extreme in the opposite direction.
So far, the theme of President Biden's administration appears to be healing and reconciliation. I hope he really means that. Based on some of the comments above it seems that many on the left want to continue exacerbating the divisions. I pray that he will represent the whole country, including the almost half the population that didn't vote for him.
I also hope that he is fortunate enough to not have any new crises of his own. Let's hope that our enemies don't mistake Biden's gentleness for weakness. No one wants another war. It's easy to play "Monday morning quarterback." COVID-19 is only one disease among many. The next one could be far worse. God forbid that one sneaks up on us.

I have to believe that 'notaleftie' was being sarcastic. Because I think the opposite is true. If the Biden administration screws up the news media and late night comedians should go after it just as forcefully as they would any Republicans that did the same thing. But we all know that won't happen.

Finally, I hope and pray that President Biden lives a long and healthy life with all his faculties intact. Because I fear and distrust Kamala Harris as much as you all did Donald Trump. (It has nothing to do with her gender or race. It's all about her politics.)

Good luck Mr. President and Madam Vice President. I genuinely wish you success.

M.B.

P.S. I got trolled the last time I said this on Ken's blog, but it's appropriate to repeat it today.
You know the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it." Well, you GOT IT!

YEKIMI said...

Way in the past, there were some decent Republicans I would have voted for. Not now, not ever again (To quote The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"). They're so far to the right that if Hitler were alive today he'd be taking notes and on some of the shit done over the last four years even he'd be saying "Whoa, dude! That's going too far!" But he'd probably make Stephen Miller his second-in-command.

JeffinOhio55 said...

I'm looking forward to having a President who isn't in your face 24/7. Now that the attention hog is gone, we can have a little peace.

Gary said...

Today was perfect in every way. Tomorrow, the other side will start saying that The Biden Recovery is too slow.

Brian said...

Complete sentences! How I’ve missed them.

Stu R said...

It was a calm and peaceful day as soon as that plane with T cleared DC airspace. First time in 4 years. God speed President Biden and Vice President Harris.

cshel said...

Thank god! Adults who speak in complete sentences on topics other than themselves and know what they're talking about and might be able to keep us alive!

Like the comment above, I would also like to hear your opinion about the new sitcom Call Your Mother. I like Kyra Sedgwick, so I had high hopes for this one, but so far the writing has been..... Are there any good new network sitcoms coming down the pike?

Anonymous said...

Why does Joe Biden have to atone for donald trump's sins? Oh, I forgot that trump can shoot someone on 5th avenue or incite a deadly capitol riot and then just fly off into the Florida sunset. When you elect a lying, grifting, morally-deficient, corrupt con man who has failed at his many businesses because "he's not a politician he's a businessman," then be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. And NOW we must "pray that BIDEN will represent the whole country, including the almost half the population that didn't vote for him" when trump spent 4 years continually and actively demonizing "half the population that didn't vote for him" in 2016 and 2020. Decent, hard-working, tax-paying citizens. Someone has the nerve to write of 'exacerbating the divisions" when 2 weeks ago a sitting President who refused to accept a loss incited and encouraged ("we love you," "Remember this day forever!") a violent, murderous rampage ON AMERICAN SOIL that was directed at American citizens? It must be nice to be so tone deaf as to not recognize your own entitled privilege to think that way. But rest assured, we will never forget pearl harbor, 9/11 or 1/6/21. That is trump's legacy, his Benghazi. He finally went to war but it was against his own country and the citizens he swore an oath to protect (even Mike Pence and the dead cop) He is a traitor and WE THE PEOPLE will never forget. I'll take a chance on Kamala's politics any day. Janice B.

iamr4man said...

>> It has nothing to do with her gender or race. It's all about her politics.<<
Uh-huh.

ScottyB said...

Observations from the televised Inaugural stuff:
1. Tom Hanks is starting to look just like John Wayne in his older years.
2. Lady Gaga costume made her look like an upside-down tulip.
3. Her rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner made me momentarilynot despise that song. I got goosebumps.
4. Same with JLo's rendition of This Land Is Your Land/America the Beautiful. Goosebumps again. And she looked fabulous! (And I never use the phrase "fabulous.")
5. All our past presidents looked great. Bill Clinton always looks like he could use a few South Side gyros these days, tho. But he's still got all his hair.
6. Unsung hero: The Trump Marine chopper pilot who was able to land on the 3 target X's on the White House lawn on pretty much the first try.
7. Capitol Police Officer Goodman really does deserve the Freedom and Congressional medals that Donald Trump debased. And a permanent assignment as the Senate sergeant at arms.
8. The Capitol architect ought to just leave that battered window on that Capitol door just like it is.
9. If I was a mind-reader: Mike Pence sat there during the whole inauguration (looking slightly outcast in his seat at the end of the row) thinking, "Christ, I really did waste 4 years I'll never get back."
10. Good thing Donald Trump did skip the inauguration. 1) He would have never fit in anywhere. We just know he'd just have been like that Cousin From Boston on the Sam Adams beer commercials. 2) Good thing Melania didn't attend either. She would've looked like trailer trash compared with all the other presidential women.
11. That Navy band totally rules. If I was a famous mega-director, I'd hire them to do all my movie soundtracks. They were amazing.
12. The only thing missing from Donald Trump's final address before getting on Air Force One was a mic drop.
13. The most poignant scene was seeing Mike Pence getting into the black SUV at the bottom of the Capitol steps after being escorted by Vice President Harris and her husband, who stood at the top of the steps. There was a *long distance* between the two points, and it showed. It was a sad image, yet totally fitting.
14. Admit it, it's OK. You would totally invite Amy Klobuchar to your grownup pool party and margarita-fest if she lived next door.

Seymour Wales said...

Though not a fan of Biden/Harris, (they're basically Republicans in sheep's clothing), the change is much needed for mental health reasons. Will enjoy the respite from the vile narcissist. Here's hoping the new administration deals with the conditions that gave us Trump so we don't end up with President Ted Nugent in 4 years.

JED said...

Our nation needs two (or more) strong political parties. I am a centrist Democrat and I know that the Democratic Party does not have all the answers, either. We need a balance and I am glad to give the 74.2 million voters who didn't vote for Biden their say. BUT - I won't take them seriously until they admit that the election was run fairly and that president #45 lost the election. I read about a poll saying that around 70 to 75% of Republicans still say that Biden did not really win the election. Look, I will admit that the 45th president had a few good ideas. His execution of those ideas was wrong but he was right that we need to get tougher on China. His tariffs were the wrong way to take them on. It's a new day, Republicans. You can now embrace the truth and not have to worry about a tweet from that former president ruin your life.

Troy McClure said...

Spare a thought for the cleaners at the White House who had to remove the stench of shit filled Depends and cheeseburger farts from every room.

Mike Doran said...

This isn't over.
That's the first thing we have to understand.
And it's not just because The Next Generation is waiting in the wings (hanging in the flies?).

Last night, for reasons I still don't understand, I actually switched over to Sean Hannity's National Harm & Foam Hour - for my sins, I guess ...
Lumpy Hannity's "response" to the Biden Inaugural was predictable, in its way, like a drunken heckler at a concert; I was able to stay the course for almost a whole minute, putting my acid reflux in peril.
But then I got to thinking (always a perilous undertaking), and it occurred to me that the main theme of the TrumpRight is how they're being "silenced" - an argument they're pushing on three cable networks, innumerable websites, a clutch of syndicated columns, every bookseller online (and however many big box stores are still around) - yeah, they sure are being silenced, all right ...
... and you and I and everyone we know are going to get smothered by this very loud silence, for however long the Biden-Harris administration is going to last.

And don't think that Mr. Trump and all the Little Trumpkins aren't going to figure out all kinds of ways to turn a profit on their hate franchises.
We aren't free of anything here - and likely it will only get worse ...

Dig in, everybody.
Illegitimus non carborundum est.
(Forgive the fractured Latin.)

By Ken Levine said...

A reminder. I don't want commenters attacking other commenters, which lead to argument threads and discourse. That's not the purpose of this "neighborhood." And this is especially true when it comes to politics. Happily, now that Biden is president I will be less pissed off all the time and compelled to rant. So there will be fewer political posts -- yet another advantage of the current administration.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

Anonymous said...

Everyone can contribute

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden-charged-the-people-of-this-republic-with-fixing-it-so-the-people-need-to-grow-up/2021/01/20/524e1f62-5b54-11eb-b8bd-ee36b1cd18bf_story.html

Anonymous said...

I tuned into that block head Hannity last night and he was still delivering false, anti Biden/Harris commentary. He should be held just as libel as Trump and the rest of his enablers for parroting all Trumps lies over the years. The whole Faux News channel should be taken off the air.

Alan Gollom said...

There are ten palindromes this month if you do it this way: Today is 12221

Murrow Boy said...

The fear of "socialism" in this country always cracks me up. We live in a democracy of checks and balances. Nobody would be able to unilaterally move towards true socialism or turn us into a "socialist state" without the say of voters, let alone Congress and the courts. Indeed, that would be political suicide. That said, many societies have so-called "socialist" programs, some more than others. Supporting things like social security, public schools and libraries, bank and Wall Street bailouts, subsidies to farmers, universal healthcare, etc., doesn't make you a socialist. It's a word with no real meaning the way it's usually bandied about, intended to strike fear into the ignorant, like a bogeyman, without meaningful discussion. As some observers have noted, for some reason, in this country, people seem to be fine with socialism for the rich but insist on capitalism for the poor.