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Josh Marshall reports on the cluster-fuckery going on over in Trumpland viz “the transition,” to wit, actual national security expert former Congressman Michael Rogers is out because of “his ties to Chris Christie.” What ties are those? None, really, except Christie asked him, as a seasoned Republican hand, to be part of the transition. But Christie is out now. Because of the Bridgegate Scandal, you say? Oh no… the Donald’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has a vendetta against Christie associated with former prosecutor Christie’s prosecution of his father Charles Kushner some years ago. So, Kushner, whose qualification, like Trump’s himself, is...

Random assorted incidents of petty violence– often in the variety of some kind of ethnic harassment– have been endemic both during the remarkably divisive Presidential campaign, and in light of the Trump victory (thanks again, Hillary). This particular report, of a random male diner dashing back into a restaurant so he could punch a woman with whom he disagreed over the Trump victory, is peculiarly jarring to me, insofar as it took place within a short walk of Stately Dog Manor. Feelings clearly remain strong. One hopes that Trump supporters will at least try to be good sports about their...

In a 60 Minutes interview-cum-victory-lap, President Elect Donald “the Donald” Trump (may as well get used to that) suggests he may still use his Twitter account while President, though presumably, much more carefully and much more sparingly. With luck, his handlers will break his short fingers, rather than let him do anything unfiltered on social media, or anything else, ever again. Can you spell “international incident”? The man has been a discipline problem since childhood; that will have to be dealt with. As with the case of the nearly half of voters who supported Trump… each will get what they...

Listen to your Uncle Bernie: there’s no going back.

Have to run out of the house early today, but I had to link to this piece from Politico, Clinton aides blame everyone but themselves. Listen, Trump was shocked he won. Michael Moore (and honestly, you and I) were horrified… but not “shocked.” Hopefully, the fact that this awful candidate (who’s the narcissist, Tim Kaine? who won’t listen?) has now lost to a Black man, a Jewish man (for whom she cheated to “win” by preempting the California primary) and now, she has done the ultimate– an inexperienced and unstable P.T. Barnum clone who seemed to be trying to lose…,...

President-Elect Donald Trump. I suppose I should measure anything I say quite carefully after that; I’m still exhausted, having run a marathon three days ago, and then spent over 13 hours on my feet yesterday at a polling place in Philadelphia yesterday, as part of a valiant, but clearly inadequate effort on the part of Hillary Clinton (who was mucking around in Arizona while not defending her flank in the old rust belt, thereby vindicating the analysis of Michael Moore, who predicted this, and in this way.) The women in my life are extremely unhappy today… but… but… more White...

As we await the outcome of an election in which the favored-by-pre-election-polling candidate would go on to become our nation’s first female President (and I’ll be in Philadelphia tomorrow doing my small part to help that happen)… it’s time to take a moment to say goodbye to our nation’s first female attorney general, Janet Reno, who just passed away at age 78. Ms. Reno, who served during the entire eight years of Bill Clinton’s presidency, had her share of controversies, but in the view of this former employee of the United States Department of Justice (that would be me) she...

I’m not at all deterred from my intention, as I have done in 2006 and 2008, to travel to Pennsylvania on Election Day as part of the Democratic Party legal team monitoring polling activity, notwithstanding the alleged plans of “White nationalists” to deploy their own poll watchers intent on intimidating non-White voters. Interestingly, for the moment, at least for people like me [White, upper middle class, regularly employed…] , this is still mostly a free country, and, while I have more problems with her than I can count, if Hillary Clinton is elected, I can at least be assured that...

The Grey Lady treats us to a snapshot of Trump supporters in rock-ribbed right-wing Colorado Springs who suggest that they expect an insurrection if Hillary Clinton wins the election, and, despite often being gun owners… don’t think they’ll be part of said insurrection… indeed, as Kevin Drum notes, saying they themselves definitively won’t do anything. Anyway… that tends to be my ultimate view of the significance of the bipartisan fear-mongering surrounding what the other side will do should the election not go their way… that being… not much. A peaceful transition of power, simply by default. The biggest wahoo Trump...