First Looks category archive

I have removed the PVF Endorsements item from the sidebar, as the Electoral College has cast its ballots.

It will return for Virginia’s off-year election next fall.

E. J. Montini has mixed feelings.

The Trump cult among Arizona Republicans is a hearty group.

I mourn their gullibility but I admire their grit.

So it should come as no surprise that the GOP’s official Twitter account shared a post from an election conspiracy activist saying he’s willing to “give my life for this fight,” and asking, “He is. Are you?”

He goes on to wonder whether that willingness to sacrifice works the other way. Follow the link for his conclusion.

E. J. Montini reports on a Twitter brawl about the recent election that seems to be engulfing the Arizona Republican Party. A snippet; follow the link for the blow-by-blow.

. . . it’s more of a barroom brawl than a war, sort of like what happens in one of those old Western movies in which the free-for-all that starts inside the saloon spills out into the streets after one of the combatants throws a haymaker and knocks another guy arse over teakettle through the swinging doors.

Thus Twitter continues to elevate the level of dis coarse discourse.

Lee Seglem directs his comments to New Jersey Republicans, as he is writing at NJ.com, but it should be directed to all Republicans. A nugget: follow the link for the rest.

Many people, many “important” people, stood silently by throughout most of this degradation or actively defended it. They call themselves Republicans. Well, here’s a bulletin for them: The Republican Party no longer exists because you gave it away. You handed it to a cult of personality led by a criminal con artist and then let it be stripped bare of pretty much anything resembling socially redeeming value. What’s left? An ugly frame-work of a party dominated by lies, self-delusion, isolationism, racism, greed, corruption and plain old willful stupidity.

Methinks Atrios doth offer comestibles for cogitation.

PoliticalProf.

I’ve removed Indomitable from the sidebar as the site has not been updated in some time.

However, the author’s podcast is alive and well. I commend it to your podcatcher.

This episode of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater is an absolute hoot.

Jonathan N. Stea remind us that

In a post-truth era on social media, the plural of anecdote might be more accurately described as misinformation.

Follow the link for his reasoning.

And, speaking of tee wrecks . . . .

Susan Estrich looks at Trump’s legal flailures to challenge the election and concludes

Trump cannot sue his way back to the presidency. At some point, he will run out of lawyers willing to make fools of themselves, or worse, with no prospect of payment.

Follow the link for her reasoning.

Aside:

Trump has spent his entire life pretending to be a success, despite failure after failure. He cannot admit out loud, even to himself, that he has failed on the biggest stage under the brightest spotlight of them all.

Juanita Jean.

Derek Donovan and Melinda Henneberger offer some tips for avoiding the potholes.

The post title is a bit tongue-in-cheek. Watch the video to see what put the tongue in the cheek.

We voted today at our nearest in-person early voting facility. As we are both above the cut-off age, we qualified for in-car curbside voting. It took approximately an hour to get to the actual curbside. According to the policeman who was directing traffic, today’s was the shortest wait of the week so far. As far as we could tell, both voters in their cars and those in line to enter the building were waiting quite patiently.

Now it’s your turn.

Image via Job’s Anger.

David talks with a caller from Dubai regarding the “undecideds,” particularly the purists on the left.

My two or three regular readers know how I feel about lefty “purists.”

I believe that one must vote in the real world.