I'm under no illusions. @JoeBiden and his team will make mistakes. But they will try to do right. And here's what they won't do:
--Betray the country to a sworn enemy
--Try to undermine the international system
--Put children in cages
--Promote white supremacists & racism

--Seek to undermine our democracy
--Work to undermine the rule of law
--Be corrupt
--Commit crimes
--Obstruct justice
--Destroy our environment

--Use force against peaceful protestors
--Embrace dictators and kleptocrats worldwide
--Promote misogyny (and commit rape and sexual abuse)
--Attack or seek to blackmail our allies
--Lie...and lie constantly...lie more than 20,000 times

--Deny science or history
--Let hundreds of thousands die to protect their political fortunes
--Send the nation into the worst economic and public health crisis in a hundred years
--Go AWOL at the moment that crisis is peaking

--Turn their backs on suffering Americans
--Serve the richest Americans at the expense of the poorest
--Promote division and hatred
--Be the worst administration in American history

1/Today's @bopinion post is about Trump's taxes, and what they show about how America allocates capital.

We appear to have some big problems.

2/Trump has a bunch of businesses that lose money. Our financial system has lent him money to throw into unsuccessful golf courses, hotels, and so

3/A lot of these loans are loans that Trump hasn't even paid back yet, using loopholes in the tax system to avoid paying taxes on those unpaid debts.

Why would creditors give money to a guy who wastes the money on bad businesses and doesn't even pay them back?

4/One seemingly obvious answer is that capital is just really cheap these days. Companies are able to borrow more easily than at any time in the last few decades.

5/But this presents us with a mystery.

Why hasn't an abundance of cheap capital caused the return on financial capital to fall? Interest rates are low, but stock returns have held up strongly.

THREAD: It's worth noting that none of us knows how the 127,000 drive-thru voters actually voted. Harris County is extremely diverse, from urban to rural, old to young, white, black, and brown, Democrat, Republican, everything in between, and from all walks of life. 1/

There are undoubtedly tens of thousands of drive-thru votes for @realDonaldTrump, and tens of thousands of votes for @JoeBiden. And because we have one of the longest ballots in the country, tens of thousands of votes for each candidate in dozens of state and local races. 2/

I've talked to numerous candidates and elected officials on both sides of the aisle, and almost to a person, the candidates want the people to choose who wins their race. Plain and simple, the votes should be counted. 3/

Today, an all-Republican @SupremeCourt_TX dismissed a second legal challenge to drive-thru voting, making it clear that voters' voices should be heard despite some trying to make this a partisan issue. @HarrisVotes will continue to fight to protect your right to vote. 4/

But I'd like candidates to make their positions clear. So @realDonaldTrump @JoeBiden: Do you believe that the 127,000 votes cast at drive-thru voting centers in Harris County should be counted, or would you like to see them thrown out? 5/

Is it just a coincidence that so many of those who told millions of voters that they would be better off outside the EU and ignored all warnings about the negative consequences of doing so, also tend to oppose wearing ‘muzzles’ and argue that covid is a lot of fuss about nothing?

How many of them never gave a flying fuck about what would happen to the U.K. economy, chanted ‘no deal!’ and ‘let’s go WTO!’ Yet now they suddenly care about the impact of lockdowns on jobs and businesses.

How many of them disparaged expertise when it ran contrary to their Brexit fantasies, and even called such experts ‘traitors’. Yet now they hail ‘the science’ (that agrees with them) to justify their sociopathic libertarianism?

How many revelled in the sadopopulist cruelty of ‘triggering lefties’, and ignored the anxieties, grief and despair of EU citizens forced to apply to live in their own homes? Yet now they worry about the ‘impact of lockdown on mental health.’

How many criticised the NHS & called for its privatisation, (yet still clapped for it when it suited them), who never said a word about the dangerous NHS staff shortages - compounded by Brexit? Yet now they worry about the death toll from cancer and postponed treatments etc

This might be a good time for folks to take a deep breath before interpreting election results. We don't know how much of victory was due to Biden's campaign message, Biden's record, Kamala's boost to the ticket, hatred for Trump, Trump errors on the campaign trail...

...the enduring appeal of Trumpism, the effectiveness of GOP campaigns for the Senate or the House, the mistakes made in Dem campaigns for the House, vice versa on both the preceding counts, the role of the GOP disinformation echosystem, COVID, the economy...

...mobilizing progressives, mobilizing centrists, racism, anti-racism, the movement to defund the police, the use of the word socialism, media blunders, voter ignorance, the impeachment process, corruption in DC, campaign finance abuse, the power of the establishment...

...the power of the Murdoch's, the hard right, the evangelicals, the Russians, the young, the old, whites, Latinos, blacks, women, men or any of the other countless factors (divine intervention, etc.) that have been cited in the media, by pols, on social media, in the days since.

For Dems, this is definitely not the time for finger pointing and division. There must be a laser-like focus on winning the run-offs in Georgia. There should be a widespread effort to mobilize the broadest possible support for the agenda of the Biden-Harris administration.

I've led a fortunate life, much to be thankful for. I've been to 80 countries. Wherever I went I was thankful I lived in the U.S. where evils like autocracies & theocracies were impossible. Since 2017, we've discovered that's not so. Today's SCOTUS decision underscores that.

If there is anything to be thankful for in it, it is the hope it will serve as a wake-up call to those who do not realize the threats that lie ahead. Recent elections have reminded us how important it is to wrest democracy out of the hands of the donor class that's seized it.

Our recent experiences have also made it painfully clear that our system contains deep imperfections that assure that a minority will have disproportionate power in our Senate, our electoral college and, thanks to the Senate, our courts.

Either we, the majority that elected our next president, will continue our activism & engagement & work to fix what's broken in that system or we will drift further toward the kind of dysfunctionality that has led to so much suffering around the planet.

Our work, in short, has just begun. Removing Trump was an essential step toward preserving our democracy. But it was just one of several such steps. Winning back the Senate, rebalancing the courts, changing our campaign finance and election laws, are all essential.

BREAKING. Sir John Major: "Complacency and nostalgia are the route to national decline"

"We are no longer a great power. We will never be so again. In a world of nearly 8 billion people, well under 1% are British"

"We are a top second-rank power"

2) John Major: "Our hefty international influence rested on our history and reputation, buttressed by our membership of the EU and our close alliance with the US.
Suddenly, we are no longer an irreplaceable bridge between Europe and America. We are now less relevant to them both"

3) Sir John: "I do find it surprising that – in the midst of the Covid crisis – the Government appears to be fostering disputes with the Judiciary [...]; the Civil Service, upon whose help the Government depends; and the BBC, still the most respected broadcaster on the planet"

4) Sir John: "#Brexit divided England & Wales from Scotland and Northern Ireland. It divided political parties and families; the young and their elders; business and trade unions; and friend from friend. As its full impact becomes apparent in the New Year, old wounds may re-open"

5) John Major: "There is no consensus on #Brexit, and never has been. It was a bitterly divisive policy, and uncorked a populism that may be difficult to quell.
The Referendum debate was unlike any I have known before. Emotion overcame reality".

1/ Republicans are suddenly trying to pretend that their rush to confirm Amy Coney Barrett isn't about ACA repeal.

They are lying.

I've put together in one thread the story of their 10 year plan to get rid of the ACA. It all leads to this moment.

Please read the whole thing.

2/ From the start, Republicans were obsessed - I mean OBSESSED - with getting rid of the ACA. Nothing mattered more.

From 2010-2017, they tried to repeal all or part of the ACA 70 times. Their most high profile failure was, of course, in summer

3/ At first, Republicans' chanted "repeal and replace" - but they NEVER had a plan to replace it.

In 2017, with much fanfare, Paul Ryan unveiled the most serious replacement bill Republicans had ever offered. It ended health care for 23 million

4/ But after McCain's thumbs down in 2017, Republicans came up with a new plan. If voters wouldn't allow them to repeal the ACA through the elected branch of government, then they would go another way - the courts.

McConnell and Trump put together a devious, detailed plan.

5/ The plan began with tucking into the 2017 Trump tax bill a repeal of the individual mandate tax. Curiously, the bill left intact the mandate.

This was purposeful, bc the Supreme Court had upheld the ACA in 2012 based on the existence of the tax.

You have no idea how furious I am to agree with Robin McAlpine on this. Centrism is the Golden Mean Fallacy made manifest in politics: if one party says the sky's blue & the other says it's red, the centre concludes that the sky must clearly be purple.

There are already calls for "forgiveness" and "healing" and "reaching out" now that Joe Biden is elected.

I understand the impulse behind these statements, but they are FUNDAMENTALLY immoral

Thread

The best version of the argument is something like this:

America is a divided country, and pursuing the politics of division will only exacerbate the existing split. It is necessary to model a more inclusive politics that celebrates differences.

The assumption is that SOMEONE needs to lower their weapon, and it might as well be the party that campaigned on tolerance. By demonstrating this better way, conservatives will give up their resentment of the left, and return to focusing on shared values rather than partisanship

One problem with this argument is that it is plainly wrong. America ALREADY TRIED THIS. A Democratic president with a legislative supermajority tried to demonstrate magnanimity. The Republicans REJECTED it, demonized it, and used the opportunity to DEEPEN the partisan divide.

That isn't the part that makes it IMMORAL. That is just what makes it EVIDENTLY STUPID as a strategy for national harmony. It didn't work pre-Trump, there's no substantive difference that would make it work post-Trump.

1. When I hear @clairecmc talk about Dems learning to talk to the Piggly Wiggly crowd, I hope she'll want to join/help w my moderate messaging electioneering overall for Ds effort. BC its CRUCIAL to understand- Ds & outside groups tried already to cater to these voters on the

2. persuasion. That in fact, this cycle was the product of a very concerted effort of that strategy driven by high profile data firms on the D side (many of which who've been critical of my work) & it was a complete and total failure for 2 reasons. The main 1 is that it wants

3. to ignore the effect that polarization is having on voter behavior & the limitations that is placing on certain electioneering techniques that USED TO BE EFFECTIVE and are now not. I want to make something really clear- it is only in places where at least 1 element of the D's

4. operation "went rogue" that Biden pulled out wins: GA, where Abrams made electioneering about turning out the new coalition, AZ, where the AZ state party did the same, but with Latino voters, MI & WI where the state parties put into effect base-centric voter turnout strategies

5. at odds w the party's conventional playbook to focus on turnout, and/or places where concentrations of the D's new coalition: college-educated whites + minority voters (and young voters) are so high (like NE 2) that sub-par strategy doesn't matter, turnout surges are naturally

anyone currently shocked by the fact that the politicians in power recant and reverse the views they held when they were in opposition (and vice versa) has simply not paid any attention to history.

that's 100% to be expected.

where you stand depends up where you sit.

always.

this latest biden refusal to commit to a view on packing SCOTUS until after the election is just this same phenomenon.

if he wins, he's for packing it. if he loses, he'll be against it.

this is because almost none of these people stand on any principles.

they just seek power.

this is why it's so hard to trust any of them.

and why shouldn't they act this way?

it's what we reward. we all accept their lies even when we KNOW they are lies. we elect them anyway.

we accept that all we ever get is the lesser of evils.

will biden pay any price? nope.

it's behavioralism 101

the fault lies not w/ these narcissistic liars & sociopaths, it lies with us

we're the ones electing them & putting up with monstrous & dishonest behavior because "it's not as bad as what the other guy would do."

those are the railroad tracks to tyranny.

it demands a question:

if the outcome of an election is so impactful that it can make or ruin your life or save or lose the republic (as many claim it is) is that not proof positive that the government is FAR too powerful?

do you really want to gamble for such stakes?

(TRUE STORY) In the weeks before the 2020 election, ex-Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne was desperately trying to get to me through an intermediary to share info about the coming election he claimed was critical.

I ignored his overtures.

Donald Trump invited him to the Oval Office.

I had messages from Byrne's rep on every social media platform I'm reachable on. I decided that his public instability was such that I wanted nothing to do with him. Incredible to think that the President of the United States—the most powerful man alive—made a different decision.

MORE/

NOTE/ What's telling about this—and what U.S. media might wonder about, now—is whether Byrne was contacting me to tell the same tale he told the president in the Oval. Seems unlikely, right? Seems like maybe Byrne is just peddling nonsense wherever he thinks he can get attention?

NOTE2/ Here's what I can tell everyone (and media): Byrne represented—via his rep—he'd been in touch with Roger Stone, and wanted to talk to journalists pre-election about the FBI/Comey. I'm sure I'm not the only one he contacted. After all, we know he contacted the White House.

I am sick of hearing from the left, right and media, "but people fear him because 70 million people voted for him."

Guess what?

The loser of every election has people vote for them, too. That's why they're elections. But the continued weak kneed deflection to perpetuate that trope serves no purpose but to further enable Trump, while people use it as a shield for their inaction and political cowardice.

There's nothing magical about Trump or his voyers. Furthermore, while he may have gotten 70 million, Biden still got 80 million under some of the harshest, most adversarial voter suppression conditions ever, save the times when the nation has been involved in actual shooting war.

Therefore, anyone who defers to the weakness of invoking Trump and his voters to insulate and indemnify themselves against political repercussions, criticism, or as an excuse to perpetuate partisan paralasis, must have their careers ended.

And, those media outlets engages in those terror tactics in any way must be out out of existence. The first amendment makes no space for lies, propaganda, information warfare, or the promotion of fear and domestic terrorism.

Trump lost, he lost badly, and it's just that serious.

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WHEN MORALITY BETRAYS

I am no Democrat. I am no Republican. In general, I am not of the perspective that there is any salvation for black people in politics. To the black democrat I say, imagine if Obama fought as hard for you as Trump fights for white supremacists.

2/25

Hear me. Politics is not a morality contest & Democrats often reduce politics to a never ending competition in a self righteous morality Olympics. Their allegiance to morality outweighs their allegiance to the public good. Morality & the public good are NOT the same thing.

3/25

Morality is different things to different people. The public good is all things to the most people. This is not a play on words, but a mindset required to competently engage in the public square. Those who fail to heed such caution render themselves vulnerable to those-

4/25

powerbrokers who morality factors little into their decision making. Herein, lies Barack Obama's fatal flaw. His allegiance to the moral principle of bipartisanship caused him to let Republicans run roughshod over him. He was elected w/a mandate from the American people &

5/25

squandered it. I offer the following as evidence: Allow me to introduce you to Mr. Sureshbhai Patel, an elderly Indian man who was walking through his son's subdivision when a white neighbor called the police 2 report a "suspicious black man" casing the community.