#5. I hear you. We have a neighbor down the street who was in DC. Facebook pictures suggest he was at the rally but not in the "storm the Capitol" mob. I do fear where his mind is, as he has a Trump totem at the end of our road (long dead end in the country) and swore at me excessively because I have a Biden sign in my yard. Have definitely thought about whether it's time to get protection in the house.

I haven't read in-depth scientific papers on the topic, but I'm pretty sure I've read that the vaccines should be effective against the new variant because the vaccines train the body to look for the "hook" that is on the Covid-19 virus, which is still present in the new mutation. It seems to me like the challenge here is more of a race between how quickly we can get a skeptical population vaccinated and how quickly the mutated virus will spread. It's a scary race for sure, but I'm quite certain the vaccines will be effective against this mutation at least.

Awwww, c'mon! That's a direct quote! ;-)

From the #10 link, "shameless -------" is such a solid burn. Egads, I love Roman graffiti.

It astounds me that news coverage on this STILL tries to question what Trump's deeper plan was. Have they not figured it out after the past 4 years?? He has NO plan. He does EVERYTHING for appearance, and he likes to ---- ---- up. It's really not that hard to figure out.

I knew this kind of ---- was going to happen after the election, but I didn't anticipate how widespread it would be.

The ratings of nearly every President fall once they actually have to start making tough decisions, Nostradumbass.

#2-

I've never gotten a message like that from upper administration. Of course my situation might be unique, but until a couple years ago if I had to stay home to take care of a sick child, I had to lie and say that I was sick. This is standard operating procedure in many school districts. Sick days are ONLY for being sick, and ONLY if you yourself are sick and NOT to care for a sick child. It was an open secret that parents would lie consistently, but again - a memo like this is NOT my experience, but I'm glad if it's standard for other people.

This is what has me most nervous today. Biden will clearly take the absentee ballots, but will the margin of victory there be enough to erase a 700k vote deficit? Ugh. I know this is what everybody said to expect, but I still can't stomach it.