Category: Cynical-C

This is the Guardian’s map which I believe uses the AP’s results (which is why Arizona is called in it. Although it was called prematurely, Trump is unlikely to flip it back to red.) Nothing has been called since Wednesday (or was it Thursday) when WI and MI were called for Biden.  Most media outlets give Biden 253 EV with the AP/Fox map giving Biden 264 because of their AZ call.

How do I feel today?  Pretty damn good.  The media hasn’t called it yet but at this point, given the amount of votes that remain to be counted in Pennsylvania, virtually all are coming back heavily democratic, this race is done. Even if a recount flips Georgia back to Trump (which I don’t think it will), Biden will certainly keep PA, AZ and NV. And he already has over 4 million more popular votes than Trump if you want to start discussing mandates. And that number is certain to increase. So what happens next after the media calls it?  How will the toddler in chief react to being a lame duck?

Why, not well.  Not well at all.  My guess is we won’t get a concession speech.  He’ll peddle his conspiracy theories, declare all votes fraudulent that didn’t break his way, and expect the Supreme Court to back him up. Trump’s mind is purely transactional.  He’ll think that the Justices he put on the court owe him and this is their time to back him up. And I don’t see it happening. If the race had been closer, if it had come down to one state, his wild accusations would have been easier for the GOP to get behind. But this isn’t a Florida 2000 situation. From all the reporting being done, all of these counting stations are being extremely careful with the counts. Quite a few of them even have livestreams on YouTube of them doing the actual counting. Only his most fanatical of supporters in congress are halfheartedly backing him up at the moment, but the writing is on the wall and I expect them to start peeling off as they realize Trump’s time in power is all but over.

Trump will not take this loss well, and he will start striking out at the allies who have abandoned him.  I expect him to use his pardon power as a weapon to anger his enemies. He may even try to pardon himself.  I don’t buy that he’ll quit so that Pence can pardon him. He’ll hang onto that office as long as possible. He won’t go to Biden’s inauguration or any events where past Presidents all gather. I also don’t buy that he will have to be dragged out. He’ll leave the White House willingly but not quietly. He’ll partner with OAN or some other media company so that he can shriek at his followers for the rest of his days. He’ll claim that he’s going to run again in 2024, and may even attempt it, but most of his followers will lose interest in him.  Only his most devoted cult members will remain. A Trump without the presidential seal will not be as interesting to them. He will go to his grave gnashing his teeth about the stolen election. He’s a sad little man who will not be remembered fondly.

Meanwhile, Biden gave a speech last night. I listened to it and it was amazing for the simple reason that I had missed what a real president sounds like. He framed what he would begin doing. It wasn’t a victory lap that we have gotten so conditioned to hearing whenever Trump takes a microphone. Biden realizes the scope of the situation with covid-19 now giving the US record daily numbers of infections. The speech gave me hope that we will have an actual adult in charge very soon.

10:01PM: Gonna end this thread.  I need a break!  This is stressful.  Follow me on twitter for more updates if I’m up to it.

10:00PM: Well, this sucks:

FOX calls #SCSEN for Lindsey Graham.

— Dave Catanese (@davecatanese) November 4, 2020

9:35PM: More good news:

John Hickenlooper (D) defeats Sen. Cory Gardner (R) in Colorado, @NBCNews projects, marking the Democrats’ first Senate pickup tonight.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) November 4, 2020

9:29PM: The first real good news of the night:

Fox News can now project Democrats will retain control of the House and expand their majority by at least five seats. This is a major boost for Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has pledged to roll back much of Trump’s first-term agenda if he loses reelection #foxnews

— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) November 4, 2020

 

9:09PM: More states have been called (Guardian has Biden up 119 – 92) but still no surprises.  Still waiting to hear about the battleground states.   And everything still seems terrible.

8:36PM: We have our first QAnon member of Congress:

A QAnon supporter just won a seat in Congresshttps://t.co/R3O6Eku115

— Katie Drummond (@katiedrumm) November 4, 2020

8:10PM: So a little past an hour in and so far there aren’t any surprises.  Florida is a tossup still at the moment but that isn’t a surprise.

8:06PM: Switched to Irish coffee so I could be alert but numb. The results are all over the place depending on what news you’re watching. The Guardian currently has Biden up 85 electoral votes to 55.

7:50PM Not surprising but still disappointing:

Fox says Mitch McConnell has won pic.twitter.com/OjDTOYaYdf

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 4, 2020

7:42PM: NY Times calls Virginia for Biden.

7:32PM:

The numbers in Miami-Dade are not good for Biden. But he’s up by 10 points in Duvaaaaaal (Jacksonville) with an estimated 75% of the vote counted. In 2016, Trump won it narrowly.

— Louis Jacobson (@loujacobson) November 4, 2020

7:08PM: NY Times has Kentucky for Trump and Vermont for Biden.

7PM: CNN calls Indiana for Trump.  Not very surprising.

6:17PM: Marco Rubio predicts…. a blue wave?

In 2016 Republicans ended with a 0.6% turnout advantage in #Florida

Just wait until you see what it is this time pic.twitter.com/UvQ4ZgyfRT

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 3, 2020

6:04PM: I’ll be updating this thread throughout the night.  I have stayed away from the news for most of the day since there’s really not much to digest until the polls start closing.  But here we go.  Sober at the moment.  Not in the mood to drink….yet.

Another slow month of reading.  Only three finished books. But I’m also reading a few other volumes that are a thousand or so pages each so my reading has increased from the past few months.  But my GoodReads challenge is going to be dismal this year. Welp, 2020. Ok here we go for the short list. And as always, please use the comments to let everybody know what you’re reading. I get so many good recommendations from everybody.

 

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, by Mary Trump. I haven’t read a Trump book since….  Oh I can’t remember now.  I just need a break from thinking about him and I hate him infringing upon my reading time which is sacrosanct. But somebody got me into this book so I put in for it at the library and managed to snag an e-copy. It’s actually surprisingly quite well written. It goes on more about the family than I had known about which was probably the most interesting part since we have heard everything else about him post-presidency. And now I hope never to read another book about him that isn’t titled “Downfall: the Jailing of an American President.”

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon. This is a murder mystery set in Venice. Leon has a series of these with the same detective. It’s a good beach read and it’s set in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. What’s not to like? I’ll give another one a try at some point.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart Young Adult fiction gets saddled with the worst genre name. It’s almost designed to keep adults far, far away. This is a shame because YA actually has some amazing writing and compelling stories. This one goes immediately to the top of my list of favorite YA novels. (I always get jumbled what’s in the genre so if you are asking me to choose my favorite of all time, I’ll blurt out Code Name Verity and later think of a dozen or so more)

(Links for book titles use Amazon affiliated links which may earn me a commission)

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The amount of books that I have read this year is really down.  I just realized it’s probably because I’m working from home and that a lot of my reading happened while I was commuting on the train into Boston. So only two this month.

The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah I think I discovered this one googling about books about traveling. British author Tahir Shah buys a mansion in Morocco which belonged to a caliph and needs renovating. Actually, now that I think about it, this is similar to Under the Tuscan Sun that I read last month except there are caretakers who believe that djinn inhabit this house and get angry about everything. Quite a culture shock on how to navigate through the red tape, slums, and gangsters of Casablanca. Shah is an immersive writer who brings you right into his world.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller Whoa. I went into this book blind. It somehow made its way onto my library queue and it was the only book available when I finished The Caliph’s House so I figured I would read a few pages before returning it to the library. Instead, I was transported into Miller’s retelling of The Iliad. This is easily one of the best books I have read this year and may be one of my all time favorites at this point. Not even going to say more.  Just download a sample from Amazon, if you like the first chapter you’ll love the rest.

What did you read last month?

I know, I know.  I’m late.  As you can see by the amount of posting I have been doing lately, I haven’t been online as much. Still social distancing although I did have to venture out for an inspection sticker for my car and Mrs. C had a training session where she had to fly. So now we’re back huddled in for a bit, getting more angry by the day at these fools who can’t put a mask over their face.  But let’s get to this round of books.

The Life of Greece by Will Durant Volume 2 of Will Durant’s mindblowing A Story of Civilization. I’ve had this volume in my library for several years and just wasn’t ready to tackle it.  It probably is a bit outdated (it was written in the 30s) but Durant’s prose is engaging and addictive. I bought several other volumes from Amazon before I even finished reading this.  “No great nation is ever conquered until it has destroyed itself.” – Will Durant

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield This is definitely inspired by Durant’s book when I wasn’t ready to leave Greece and looked for historical fiction and came up with this.  A retelling of Sparta’s Battle of Thermopylae which is wonderfully told through the eyes of a slave of the Spartans who is captured. If you loved 300 and wanted a more in depth look, this is for you.

Caesar and Christ by Will Durant Volume 3 of Durant’s book (I told you I was blowing through them.) This picks up in the early days of Rome and takes you to when the empire begins to crumble. And yes, I have started reading Volume 4 which is even more immense and deals with the Middle Ages.

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix The Key Lime recommended this in last month’s book post and it’s a fun quick read. I’m making a mental note here to see what else Grady Hendrix has written but I have a feeling I’m going to forget if I don’t write it down.  So many books, so little time.  Even with lockdown.

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes So lockdown has me missing travel. I watched this movie a few weeks ago and it seemed like perfect escapism for the current climate.  The book doesn’t have too much in common with the movie and unless you are really into renovating an old house in Tuscany, you probably will do what I did; speed reading mode activated.

If It Bleeds by Stephen King Just finished this last night so technically it should be on next month’s list.  Well, reading Stephen King is always comforting. Even if you don’t like the plot, he has a way with characters. This has 4 short stories (or three short stories and one novella). I loved the first one about an old man, and iphone, and a grave, and kind of got into the one about the rat.  The other two just didn’t grab me.  So a perfect short story collection in my eyes.

What have you been reading?

Three books this past month. Last year I was reading three a week.  Oh well.  Weird times.

Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami. I read this at the beginning of May which feels like years ago now. I still was having difficulty focusing on longer fiction so shorts fit the bill. This collection was surprisingly good considering that all of the stories deal with loneliness and longing. As all short story collections go, some are much better than others here and I may have skimmed one or two but these type of books are always like going up to a buffet, taking what you like and leaving the rest.

Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding by Scott Weidensaul. So, I have been working from my home office since March 10 now. The window overlooks a little wilderness and plenty of birds. I’ve never even thought about birding until the Wirecutter had an article about doing it from your window. Well, I have binoculars. I can download some apps to get started.  Why not? Of course, the next step is to read up on it. This was the only book available from my online library and it certainly lives up to its title.  It had enough historical birding anecdotes to keep my interest for most of the book but there are some skimmable parts. If you’re into bird watching, you’ll enjoy it.

I, Claudius, by Robert Graves. This is a reread. I read it several years ago, almost gave up reading in the beginning of it, but kept going and it’s now one of my top 10 books I have ever read. I thought I would give it another go to see if it still held my attention.  There’s certainly enough detail that a second glance at it is definitely helpful. This is just an astounding piece of historical fiction that places you right in the center of Roman politics and intrigue that all comes to a head when Caligula becomes emperor.  Can you imagine living in a time when the head of the state is an insane narcissist whose every single impulse causes chaos and destruction until the foundation of society is at the brink of collapse?

And what have you been reading?