DL Open Thread 1/17/21: Delusional Dotard Delusional to the Last

I’m not holding my breath expecting America to come to grips with what it was, is and shall become, so I expect people to deny until death the fact that this was a planned — poorly planned, but planned nonetheless — attempt to steal the election, followed by a poorly planned coup when the theft failed.

Axios has the story of why Team Treasonweasel was so panicky about Fox calling Arizona for Biden: It fucked up their plan to declare premature victory on election night. If Republicans put half as much effort into crafting public-pleasing policies as they do exploring ways to lie and cheat they might actually win an election on the up and up. I’m not holding my breath.

CNN buried the lede on this story: Marmalade Mussolini wanted a military parade as a send-off. I agree we should give him a military send-off, but I was thinking more along the lines of stuffing him in a cannon and firing him at the moon.

The delusions extend to Trump’s post-presidency. Despite being functionally illiterate, he expects to raise $2 billion for a Trump museum and library. When the WaPo asked a Republican fundraiser for his opinion, he said, “I thought to myself, what is this alternative fantasy life you’re living? I have no clue where they think they’ll get this money raised. Anyone who gives to him will be radioactive.” This ignores the fact that the Faux News conservobubble had created millions of radioactive Americans.

You’ve no doubt seen the photos of National Guard troops sleeping on the floor of the Capitol. With 25,000 of them in DC, feeding them would seem to be a logistical nightmare — except Washington is the home of crisis chef José Andrés, whose World Central Kitchen has mobilized restaurants and volunteers throughout the city to keep the hot meals coming. Perhaps ending hunger in America would go better if we put him in charge.

Even as Trump continues to drop poison pills into the federal government, Joe Biden plans to issue dozens of executive orders in a 10-day blitz to undo Trump fuckery. I think 100 days might be needed.

Fascism fallout continues: Sen. Josh Hawley’s $5,000-a-chump fundraiser at an Orlando, Fla., hotel was canceled by Loews hotels, which said it was “horrified and opposed to the events at the Capitol and all who supported and incited the actions.” In response, Hawley whined about cancel culture.

Here’s a surprise: Turns out if you stop up a shitfunnel, the shit stops flowing. After several social media sites suspended President Trump and key allies last week, online misinformation about election fraud plunged 73 percent, according to a firm that analyzes social media data. Zignal Labs found that conversations about election fraud dropped from 2.5 million mentions to 688,000 mentions across several social media sites in the week after Trump and some of his acolytes were banned from Twitter.

Speaking of misinformation, the University of Delaware’s climate skeptic-turned-Trump administration stooge David Legates has ethics that are as sketchy as his science. He and a colleague were caught producing and publishing unapproved papers questioning climate change. Seems our boy took advantage of his posting from NOAA to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to issue papers bearing the office’s imprimatur to various climate denier sites without bothering to have it reviewed by anyone beforehand. Will the UD turn a blind eye to such an egregious ethical breach?

Finally, a reminder that the fall of the American Republic is actually our second-biggest problem.

https://www.zmescience.com/science/the-earths-lungs-could-start-irremediably-deteriorating-in-just-two-decades-study-shows/