Actually I think what we've seen so far is going seen like the cold opening compared to what's coming.

I don't like to doomsay or make predictions, but this is going to get much worse. The virus is not going away anytime soon, not in the US anyway, and the bloated orange tick is going to create as much chaos and destruction as he can in the time he has left, because that's what he does.

The virus is not going away anytime soon, not in the US anyway, and the bloated orange tick is going to create as much chaos and destruction as he can in the time he has left, because that's what he does.

I want him to get COVID-19. I really, really do, and I'm not sorry about it. I have never, ever felt like this about a POTUS, not even W., who is a fucking war criminal who I loathed with the fire of 1,000 suns. I didn't actually wish death on W., but I genuinely and with zero remorse wish the same slow painful death on Trump that he's caused for literally tens of thousands of the citizens he purports to lead.

You misspelled hundreds of thousands.

Yep, Trump has completely blown through my concerns about my karma. I hope he gets sick and suffers, and if he dies, so much the better. It'd be great if he could take McConnell, Graham, Cruz, and Collins with him. Oh, and that asshole who argued for sending in the military against protesters.

You misspelled hundreds of thousands.

I think I was trying to block that out. Seriously.

when I see comments about not wanting to deal with difficult family secrets, I see if from the other side, and it hurts.

ND - if my post had contributed to this, then I'm sorry. FWIW the "painful memories" is my dad's take, not mine (and he's with a mental illness that's only being partly treated. Being in line with reality, especially stuff he doesn't agree with, is not his strong suit. If I could have changed it by now, I would. But he just can't deal with some people or facts, unfortunately).

Is there any group/discussion/effort to do something about impeaching some of these picks WHEN sane people have control of the Senate again?

The likelihood of the dems spending political capital on going after individual judges is low, absent the most egregious ones (like the guy who NEVER TRIED A CASE OR TOOK A DEPOSITION). (I am just about as qualified to be a federal judge as that guy, and I am NOT qualified.) Instead, I suspect there will be a push to expand the federal judiciary and dilute the pool of awful.

They may try that with SCOTUS as well, I have heard a number of discussions as to the form that would take. It would be nice to be in a situation where the makeup of the Court doesn't depend entirely on who happens to be in the White House the day someone retires. For one thing, it's horrible for the justices themselves: I'm sure RBG would really like to retire!

Anyway, the American Constitution Society is working on developing a bench of progressive young judges, something like the Federalist Society has done over the last thirty years. Russ Feingold is the president of ACS, and I heard him interviewed a couple of months ago, it was pretty inspiring.

Thanks, Consuela. So much damage has been done, but the lifetime appointments are ones that will cause damage for too many years to come.

You misspelled hundreds of thousands.

I don't think we've quite hit that point yet. The estimates I've heard are that even under the best realistic conditions (i.e., a Clinton Presidency keeping all the measures Obama set up in place) we'd still be looking at about 85,000 deaths in the US so far instead of the 128k we have. COVID-19 is just too deadly, infectious, and unfamiliar for even doing everything right to have done more than slow the rate of infections/deaths down by about 1/3. We were never going to be able to respond as effectively as places like South Korea or New Zealand. Twitler's responsibility will almost certainly reach six digits by fall, though.

In my extended family there is a person long suspected of having the "wrong" father. My biggest concern is that this trend not hit me personally until people who would be broken-hearted over this have died.

This was the case in my family. My cousin who lost her (super close) sister last year recently discovered that a friend she grew up with is actually her half sister. It's happy for her to have a new connection after all the loss we've had the last few years, but she's also ticked that they decided not to tell them until all of the bad actors in this scenario had passed away. So her dad never acknowledged this third daughter, and her sister never knew they had another sister.

I did genetic testing for the heritage results (turns out we're another one of those families who thought they had Native American blood but were mistaken). I thought finding relatives would be cool - we have NO connections on my mom's side (Grandma was adopted, Grandpa's family didn't stay in touch after he was killed when my mom was a baby). But so far, other than some possible 2nd and 3rd cousins, the only relation it connected me with is one of my dad's sisters - with whom I'm already pretty close.