“I can breathe again”

On the significance of elections.

Mina Mahdavi, a 39-year-old solutions and cybersecurity engineer in California who has not been able to bring her mother from Iran to the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s anti-Muslim travel ban, tried everything she could think of.

She applied for a waiver, called the consulate and her representatives in Congress, all without avail. Her applications were always rejected. Mahdavi was pregnant at the time, and her mother missed the birth of her first grandchild. Mahdavi began to feel hopeless that her mother wouldn’t be there to help her raise her son. She tried her best to forget the idea entirely.

But on Wednesday, for the first time in years, Mahdavi began to reconsider her dreams. Once the ban was lifted, she and her husband broke out jumping and dancing, singing, “It’s gone, it’s gone. Bye, bye, it’s gone,” referring to the ban.

“The weight has been lifted,” Mahdavi told HuffPost. “I can breathe again.”

Trumper Melt-downs

SNL comes back this weekend. What can they do to compete with reality?

ATR tonight – the utilitarian vs. libertarian tension in the debate about masks

It was a pretty lively show.

Dave Frank and Julia Minton – with the help of some very thoughtful callers – discussed the issue from several different angles.

And in case anyone is paying attention, we are now at over 400K covid deaths in the US

A month ago we were at 300,000.

Popular Front politics pay dividends.

Elections count and what left purists inaccurately refer to as “lesser evil voting” actually has impacts peoples’ lives. Does this mean that Biden is destined to be a great President? Not necessarily. But these are very real dividends which will manifest on the very first day of office – if the reports are accurate.

Biden will issue a bunch of executive orders which will rescind the Keystone Pipeline permit; nix the ban on Muslim travel; and rejoin the Paris Accord.

These are not trivial issues. You can argue that “Biden only did these things under political pressure.” But that’s the point I’ve been making since Biden won the nomination – he is susceptible to progressive pressure.

There is going to be counterpressure though.

Creepiest video of the insurgency yet

This New Yorker video will probably be “Exhibit A” in a number of criminal trials.

My favorite quotes: “Trump, your boss, instructed us to do this” and “Hawley and Cruz would want us to do this so we’re good.”

Parler execs lied

I am concerned about overreaction which impacts civil liberties, and I’m no fan of Amazon, but apparently they gave Parler warnings for weeks ahead of time. The Parler people lied about the shut down having been out of the blue.

A sample of what was being posted:

Proof of Antifa agitators at the Capitol!

Whoa! Evidence of Antifa agitators in the Capitol invasion. I never would have thunk it, but here it is clear as day!

Redwood Wonk special post-impeachment edition

Recorded last evening – our post-impeachment show. Last week it as post-coup. Next week will be post-inauguration (assuming it happens). You would think we planned it this way.

Heroes of the Insurrection