Walt Disney World 2022 - Day 2: Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

Up early to make the shuttle we hired (through Mears) to Universal in time for rope drop.  The parks were crowded but since we knew we only had one day to experience both parks we had shelled out in advance for the once-per-ride Express Pass.  Note that the Express pass is not good for the newest rides Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventures and Jurassic World VelociCoaster - you still have to wait in line for those.

Some of our group of eight opted for Hagrid's, but Todd and I did VelociCoaster.  Highlights of the day:  The Bourne Stuntacular live action/digital/projection uh-maze-ing! stunt show (YouTube videos did not compare to seeing it in person), and the coffee caramel from Sugarplum's Sweet Shop in Diagon Alley.

Omg that's a lot of people waiting to get in.  We're about in the middle of the pack.

VelociCoaster

Walt Disney World 2022 - Day 1: Travel and Paddlefish

Recently returned from a trip to Universal Studios and Walt Disney World in Florida where we were introduced to Hurricane Nicole.  After almost 3 years of no travel or only local travel, we mounted up and rode east when my brother invited the whole gang for a family vacation.  It was hard getting back in the saddle after so much time away, but we returned home sapped but satisfied.

On our travel day we after arriving and getting settled in the room (no need to check in at the lobby thanks to the My Disney Experience app and our old MagicBands!), we regrouped and all took the boat to Disney Springs for dinner at Paddlefish.

Our first trip to the airport since February 2020 - just before lockdown

Our chariot awaits.  Oh right, I was using horse metaphors earlier.
Our noble steed awaits!

The lobby at the New Orleans/Mardi Gras themed Port Orleans: French Quarter resort

Here We Go Again

I'm a bit rusty at this, but let's give it a go again, shall we?

You Get What You Pay For

As an addendum to my last post (you did watch the video, didn't you?  If not, go back and watch it now), I present a fundraising email just released this week from Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Az.).

"...I refuse to accept their false narrative about January 6."

"...the FBI might have had a hand in planning and carrying out that event."

He goes on describe Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed as she tried to illegally breach the Capitol and reach members of Congress who were just yards away as "executed in cold blood by an unidentified killer."

In previous comments he called those invading the Capitol "peaceful patriots."

Rep. Gosar is not alone in fundraising (fundraising!) off of lies about the attack on the Capitol and about the election.  He pledges that he "will not stop asking questions until I get truthful answers about the events of that day.", yet he voted against the formation of a bipartisan commission to formally investigate what took place.

Furthering the lie in order to fleece the gullible and grift for money is the objective here, not seeking the truth.  This is another egregious example, but there are many more like him doing the same thing.  

You Owe It To Yourself To Watch This: Day of Rage: An In-Depth Look at How a Mob Stormed the Capitol

A 40-minute heartbreaking video from the New York Times.  

Also here:

Day of Rage:  An In-Depth Look at How a Mob Stormed the Capitol

A six-month Times investigation has synchronized and mapped out thousands of videos and police radio communications from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, providing the most complete picture to date of what happened - and why."  Includes cell phone and unsealed police body cam footage to show the most complete (to date) picture of the attack on democracy that took place on January 6th.

Let's be clear:  The cause for the invasion of the capitol was a lie.  A lie spread and encouraged (still to this day) by Donald Trump and his surrogates.

This includes Republican members of Congress who are trying to whitewash the events of, and leading up to, that day because they are afraid the findings will hurt them in the midterms and 2024, and tarnish the false narrative they're using to attempt to pass sweeping voting restrictions across the country, particularly in the states Trump lost that cost him the election.

All based on a lie about the election because a certain candidate lost.

And the lies continue, like "Antifa" was responsible for the riot, or the FBI coordinated it, or lies like this one, which is one of the most egregious examples from a member of Congress, but by far not the only one:

"Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes, taking videos and pictures.  You know, if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit."

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.)  May 12, 2021

In Case You're Counting...

...as of this morning team Trump has lost 46 cases, 2 recounts, and 4 or 5 appeals.  Despite their public fundraising cries of massive fraud, rigged election, stolen election, etc., they continue to not actually allege fraud in court where there are burdens of proof.  Not only that, but the plaintiffs and legal teams filing these cases are getting excoriated by the judges in their rulings.

Remember, these are the same lawsuits brought by/supported by a team of people, including the president, claiming they are the biggest, most consequential cases ever filed in our country's history.

So just remember this any time you hear Trump, or his attorneys, or surrogates, or Fox, or a GOP Senator, or someone on Facebook, or Twitter, or Nextdoor, or someone in the grocery store, or your newspaper's letters to the editor claiming this wasn't a fair election, or that Trump really won, or there were stolen votes, or switched votes, or whatever other conspiracy theory they can come up with:  46 (to date) court cases have failed to turn up any evidence of fraud in the election.  

Side note:  1 case was decided in their favor was in PA.  It only served to shorten the time period allowed to cure a small number of rejected mail-in ballots from 9 days to 6 days.  At most, it affected only a few dozen ballots.  This was their "massive win", I guess.

Trump Et Al. Court Losses Update

11/23 update as of 5:00pm CST (they're coming so fast, gotta use a timestamp now):  The count is now 1 win, 35 losses.  And some of the 35 have gone up in spectacular flames, so much so that I would not be surprised to see some sanctions levied and/or attorney disbarment.

Yakety Sax

"As with everything Trump has done to subvert democracy, his scheme to overturn the election results would be catastrophic if it succeeded and yet it is nevertheless being executed in a way that could be set to the Benny Hill theme."

Adam Serwer, The Atlantic

Apt

"What began five years ago with the made-for-TV announcement of Donald Trump's presidential ambitions from the escalator of his ritzy Manhattan high-rise, ended Saturday with his aging lawyer shouting conspiracy theories and vowing lawsuits in a Northeast Philadelphia parking lot, near a sex shop and a crematorium."

The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 8, 2020

C-Span screenshot

Photo by John Minchillo, Associated Press

Photo by Todd Heisler, NYTimes

Photo by Chris McGrath, Getty Images

Et Cetera, or, Trump’s A Loser And He Has The Court Cases To Prove it

"...the lawsuits are so groundless that the lawyers are more likely to be sanctioned for pursuing them than to succeed in court.”

You know what, I was going to do a whole big write-up with screenshots, copies of his twitter posts, articles, analysis, etc., on Trump's and his sycophants in congress, Fox, OAN, Newsmax, etc., insane insistence that he really won the election, that he is winning the election, that hundreds of thousands if not millions of votes were stolen from him, etc., but I've decided it's not worth my time.  Below is a link to an article on the status of outcomes on election lawsuits so far. 

'Purely outlandish stuff': Trump's legal machine grinds to a halt by Marc Caputo

I'll just leave it at this for those who think that there's any basis to what he's claiming - out of 15 cases (so far) brought by team Trump, as of yesterday afternoon 14 have been dismissed or withdrawn.  (This article mentions a dozen - 2 more were decided after it was written).  At least one other case hasn't gone to court yet because the lawyers for Trump have quit.  These cases have fallen apart in court for lack of evidence, "hearsay within hearsay", no credible witnesses (one witness presented was the Trump lawyer's business partner, which wasn't disclosed prior to his testimony), withdrawn by attorneys as "moot", lack of any actual fraud, crime, or disenfranchisement taking place, improperly filed in the wrong court, fishing expeditions with no evidence, etc.

Update:  As of 11/16 it's now 24 out of 25 cases that have been dismissed or withdrawn.  

11/17 update:  It’s now 0 and 25 as the PA Supreme Court has overturned the lower court 

The More You Know...

Just in case you’re confused, Trump et al’s baseless, evidence-free claim of mass voter fraud and election impropriety is just that: baseless and evidence-free.  So far every claim has been meritless and refuted (not to mention clownish, amateurish, embarrassing, ridiculous, dangerous and intentionally dishonest.  Oops, guess I did just mention them.

Trump’s Election Lawsuits Have Mostly Failed.  Here’s What They Tried. by Miles Parks.

Hail To The Chief (Liar)

Again, the election isn’t over until it’s official, but this is patently false and intentionally misleading.  

Aside from that, remember that Trump has also claimed repeatedly since 2016 that in the election that he won there were millions of illegal votes, which is why he supposedly didn’t win the popular vote - another bogus claim for which he has never produced any proof.  Remember Kris Kobach and the laughable “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” that found no widespread voter fraud?  

“I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!”

While it’s not official yet, this declaration (and the others prior to today) was clearly, ridiculously, false and premature.

Foxaganda

Just a periodic reminder that Fox is not your friend. (Nor is Facebook).

As Trump’s Chances Fade, Murdoch’s Fox News Faces Wrath And Tough Choices by NPR’s David Folkenflik.

“Fox News's journalists are, by and large, attempting to navigate a gentle landing for their audiences so that, should Biden defeat Trump, they will recognize the result. But the network's stars are larding their shows with Trump advocates who make baseless but incendiary accusations to ensure that viewers never accept Biden as legitimate.”  

Note the distinction between “journalist”, like Chris Wallace, and “star”, like Tucker Carlson.  (Remember, you literally can’t believe the “facts” Tucker Carlson tells you.  Or Sean Hannity.  Or Laura Ingraham.  Or Jeanine Pirro.)

“The president considers many Fox News figures among his closest advisers, including Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro and others. He has drawn from the ranks of Fox contributors to fill senior White House appointments and even considered stars for Cabinet positions. And they, in turn, have been ferocious in relaying the president's baseless claims, winning his frequent appearances on their programs and stratospheric ratings in response.”

“As one small sign of the ways in which Fox and Trump Republicans can orchestrate programming, on Friday evening NPR reviewed an internal GOP memo sent to top party officials to prepare Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel for her appearance on Hannity's show that night. It set out in great specificity the entire intended flow of the show's lengthy opening segment - including its guests, articles and subjects, and the primary point Hannity would make. The two jointly focused on stoking suspicions of voter fraud. (The RNC confirmed the memo's authenticity but declined to comment on the collaboration.)”

And Now This

As the US has seen coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths spike, and new cases rise to over 120,000 in a single day, we learn tonight that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and at least 4 other White House aides have now tested positive.  According to Jennifer Jacobs from Bloomberg News who broke the story tonight: “Pains were taken to keep Meadows’ illness a secret, I’m told. And people around him who knew were told to keep quiet.”

Note that this week Meadows has been at crowded functions at campaign headquarters, the White House residences, met with the President, his family and guests, met with the VP and his staff, and was at the White House election night event, all without wearing a mask.  

Don’t forget according to Trump that we’re rounding the corner “beautifully”, and that on November 4th after the election nobody would be talking about “COVID, COVID, COVID.”  I guess Meadows and 120,000+ people didn’t get the memo.

11/7 update:  it’s now 7 confirmed cases - Meadow, 5 WH staff, 1 campaign aide.  Other White House/campaign staff are understandably upset this morning, as they learned from the breaking news story that they’ve been exposed - allegedly neither Meadows nor the WH/campaign notified those who have been in proximity.

“They Know What They’re Doing And They Don’t Care”

The election is not over yet, but as some people seem to have forgotten, neither is our democracy.

The Election That Broke the Republican Party by Tim Alberta

“This is something out of the Pinochet regime. These Republicans who are indulging the president, they all know better...They know exactly what they’re doing, and they don’t care.” Josh Venable

Super-spreader, Denier, Pants-On-Fire Liar, Pt 2

At today’s rally in North Carolina:

"You know why we have cases? Because we test so much. And in many ways it's good, and in many ways it's foolish."

And:

"Turn on television, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. A plane goes down, 500 people dead, they don't talk about it. COVID, COVID, COVID. COVID. By the way, on November 4th you won't hear about it anymore." (A plane crash killing 500 didn't happen.)

It should also be noted that the equivalent of about two of those plane crashes are happening *every day in the United States*, so it would stand to reason that COVID and the people who have died from it are worth covering.

Also, if 500 people died in a plane crash yesterday, that would be 425 fewer people than the 925 people who died from COVID-19 yesterday.

Super-spreader, Denier, Pants-On-Fire Liar

As Trump keeps repeatedly saying this absolute horseshit nonsense and "We're rounding the corner beautifully" and for months "It's going away", "It's going to go away", here's what's happening in America:  hospitalizations are rising, setting records in some states.  The test positivity rate is also rising, and after the usual lag from a spike in cases, deaths have started to rise too.

The crises is getting worse, fast, and there's nothing fake about it.

Somewhat paraphrased from Daniel Dale.

Also, just a reminder that Trump does not care about the American people.  If he did he would not continue to hold rallies, or at least limit the number of attendees or require social distancing or face masks.  The fact that he does none of those things for the safety of the people attending speaks volumes.  The fact that Republicans in Washington condone this behavior speaks to their own priorities, which apparently is not for the well-being of their constituents.

“A President Trying To Construct His Own Reality”

 Debate analysis by David Leonhardt

The final debate

Last night’s presidential debate felt much more normal than this year’s first one. The candidates interrupted each other only occasionally rather than constantly. They argued about big policy issues like the coronavirus, foreign policy and more.

But the debate wasn’t normal by the standards of nearly all of American history. It wasn’t normal because one of the nominees — the sitting president — told one lie after another. He did so about the virus, North Korea, China, Russia, climate change, his own health care policy, Joe Biden’s health care policy, Biden’s finances and the immigrant children who were separated from their parents.

I understand you may be tired of hearing about President Trump’s untruths. I’m tired of writing about them. They hardly qualify as surprising anymore.

But it’s impossible to analyze a debate filled with untruths without first acknowledging them. They undermine an event meant to highlight differences between candidates. They undermine democracy. To ignore them is to miss the biggest story: a president trying to construct his own reality.

How are voters supposed to choose between, say, two different health care plans if one candidate makes up stories about both plans?

No previous president has behaved this way. Democrats often accused George W. Bush of lying, and Republicans accused Barack Obama of lying. And both men made questionable statements and statements that later proved untrue. But when they proved untrue, Bush and Obama stopped making the claims. Trump just keeps making them.

Debate analysis

“From a lying perspective, Trump is even worse tonight than in the first debate … an absolute avalanche of lying” — CNN’s Daniel Dale, who’s been probably the most committed Trump fact checker.

“Biden was again imperfect from a fact check perspective. He made at least a few false, misleading, or lacking-in-context claims. Trump was, as usual, a serial liar.” — Dale. (A Times fact check of both candidates is here.)

“Trump was far more disciplined. He landed a few sharp attacks, even as he diverted into some issues that seem more like fodder for the conservative media-sphere.” — The Times’s Lisa Lerer.

“The subjects Trump most wishes to discuss are ones largely disconnected from those that matter most to voters.” — Jane Coaston, Vox.

“This debate probably isn’t going to hurt Senate Republican candidates in a way the first debate did.” — Jessica Taylor, Cook Political Report.

The moderator, NBC’s Kristen Welker, won praise as the best, most commanding moderator of this debate season (and she had the advantage of the candidates being muted for stretches while the other was speaking).

Two post-debate polls both found Biden to be the winner, by 54 percent to 35 percent in CNN’s and 53 percent to 39 percent in YouGov’s.

Key lines

“I take full responsibility, but China brought it here. It’s not my fault,” — Trump, on the virus.

“People are learning to die with it.” — Biden, after Trump said the country was learning to live with the virus.

“Why didn’t you do it [while vice president?] You had eight years with Obama. You know why, Joe? Because you’re all talk and no action,” Trump, on Biden’s criminal-justice plans.

“It’s not about his family or my family. It’s about your family.” — Biden, after an exchange of personal accusations.

“I would transition away from the oil industry, yes … The oil industry pollutes, significantly. It has to be replaced by renewable energy over time.” — Biden.

For more: See The Times’s main story; seven minutes of video highlights; and Times Opinion writers on the night’s best and worst moments.

I'm Not Tired Of Hearing About It, Are You?

I wonder if the families of the 220,000 U.S. dead are tired of hearing about it.  What about the 8 million plus infected that we know about?  Wonder if they're tired of hearing about it?  Wonder if people are tired of hearing about it even as cases are on the rise?

I think the only person/people that are tired of hearing about it are the one(s) who have utterly failed at every step to lead our country through the pandemic.  If my only strategy was pretend it won't happen, pretend it isn't happening, then pretend that it's going away while leaving states and citizens to fend for themselves and 220,000 and counting Americans die, then yeah, I'd maybe be tired of hearing about it too.

Rats

“It’s tempting to use the analogy of rats fleeing a sinking ship to describe the growing number of Republican elected officials starting to speak out against Donald Trump. But that's really not fair to rats, who tend not to be complicit in driving ships to the bottom of the sea.”

Dan Rather

Speaking Of Fox...

Article by Phillip Bump.

Trump brought data from the Fox News universe to a debate centered in reality

"Trump has at his disposal decades of experience in battling public health crises and aggregated data that could provide an accurate sense of how the country's effort to contain the virus is faring.  But that's not the sort of thing in which Trump immerses himself, preferring the friendlier and more supportive universe of Fox punditry.

(Instead) On Thursday, he brought that world with him to battle a reality-based journalist.  It didn't work very well."

Stay Informed. With Facts, Not Fox

From David Folkenflik, NPR News:

Analysis: Questionable 'N.Y. Post' Scoop Driven By Ex-Hannity Produced And Giuliani

Another First For Trump

Article about the New England Journal of Medicine and 2 other trusted scientific journals by Bill Chappell on NPR

In Rare Step, Esteemed Medical Journal Urges Voters To Oust Trump

It is the first time the prestigious medical journal has taken a stance on a U.S. presidential election since it was founded in 1812:

"When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent," reads the editorial signed by nearly three dozen of the journal's editors. "We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs."