SESAME STREET DAY UPDATES
And You Thought You Might Not Smile Today ...
-Five days on from Election Day, and the weekend stories - in particular the mainstream media talk shows and analyses - are in their glory, as they splash and swim in their absolute favorite of themes: DEMS IN DISARRAY! Of course, most talk shows do not have any elected Democrats (Bernie Sanders does not count), and far be it from them to analyze why exit polling taken by the Harris campaign that said low-information voters did not realize the President-Elect was a criminal or even responsible for the Dobbs decision, because the New York Times editor flat-out called discussing the potential impact of a fascist wannabe into the White House "partisan," they enjoy filling content with what they know, and so they go.
-This update will not go into the whys and wherefores of Kamala Harris' loss in a ton of detail. I will note for myself the statistic that every political party in power in 2024 who was in power since COVID or its immediate aftermath have suffered losses if not full rejection by their voters, that communications in an age where the MAGA-sphere is so intense it can call the most pro-labor President in history and attacks on their Dear Leader as "elitist" (as a family member did to me in calling to use family news as an excuse to gloat about the election - a call that, after said news was delivered, lasted all of three minutes thanks to me hanging up), and that any analysis that descends into told-you-so self-congratulation instead of actual engagement of what went wrong and how to resolve it (and that list includes both Speaker Emeritus Pelosi and the aforementioned Bernie Sanders) or performative pontificating are, at least by me, rejected and dismissed out of hand.
-It does allow for faster reading of the news, and on the 2024 election, there is still news being made. While Democrats have lost the Senate thanks to flips in the non-battleground states of OH, MT and WV, they did manage to hold Democratic seats in battleground states. Tammy Baldwin WI), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), Elissa Slotkin (MI), and last night Ruben Gallego (AZ) have all hung on to their seats, and the final seat in play in PA is a nail-biter all about vote counting as Bob Casey (now being aided by super-election attorney Marc Elias) looks to eke out a win despite the Associated Press calling the election for Dave McCormicck and McCormick taking victory laps. So look for a 53-47 (or 52-48 if Casey wins) Senate majority. As for the House, 19 elections are still up for grabs. Republicans currently hold 213 seats with 218 the goal, and projections indicate at most, the House's 4 seat edge from 2024 will inch up to 6 or 7.
-Those of use who are rightfully looking at the likelihood of the use of executive orders to bypass much of Congress to implement Project 2025 goals and other repressive and vengeful policies still need to keep an eye on Capitol Hill. For one thing, budgets will still need to be passed. For another, many of the goals Leonard Leo and company have will be 'easier' for them if enshrined in some kind of federal law. For third, many of the proposed changes first need to have large governmental and civil service systems that must be decayed, neutralized, or simply changed (which takes time). And finally, the narrow margins on the MAGAGOP side will not likely make them behave and play well, even with and perhaps especially with each other.
-Already MAGAt media figures are pushing to reject John Thune as Senate Majority Leader for not being MAGA enough, perhaps looking to semi-MAGAt Rick Scott of FL or even Ultra-MAGA Bob Lee of UT. Despite one of the more sweeping if still numerically narrow wins (Harris lost MI/PA/WI by 120,000 votes, echoing 2016 once more), MAGA is still angry.
-Indeed, more rational observers have been noticing that the MAGA voting pool simply does not do joy or happiness. Gloating and triumphalism, yes (see my family note above), but MAGA exists to self-grieve, so while they own da libz that grievance must constantly be fed.
-Which leads us to their leader, and one of the most underreported post-election stories: his virtual disappearance. We know Trump is a triumphalist and a bully, and perhaps as he readies a visit this week to a Joe Biden many on the left are annoyed at for being way too accommodating, but there have been no press appearances, no exclusive interviews, no massive chain of posts, not even any reports of calls after Election Day save for a call he made to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy (SLAVA UKRAINI!) where, inexplicably, Trump passed the phone to Elon Musk so Elon could say hello.
-Trump has made one video since election, in which he brutally vowed to carry on his persecution of trans people by saying he was readying an executive order to ban gender transition surgeries in the federal workforce and threaten states who defy him to cut off Medicare and Medicaid funding. Trump has also only made three social media posts since Tuesday - to defend his social media site, to mock CA Governor Gavin Newsom, and to humiliate Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo one more time by telling the world they would not be part of the new regime under him. Other than that ... very quiet.
-(STANDS ON SOAPBOX) Trump's clear cognitive and physical decline is not going away - indeed, in the last weeks of the campaign the decline seemed to be manifesting itself in multiple ways. While some of the outside pressure of the criminal trials will now be alleviated (sorry, but we all know it) and a win will certainly not sate him because he cannot be sated, Father Time is likely going to be the one thing that will beat Trump (since, as Coach Walz might put it, Trump has the Democrats' number whether we like it or not - and we hate it) - and Trump's physical state (and the lurking JD Vance) is going to be a constant presence until it's not. And that will have enormous implications on a lot of what is going to go forward. (STANDS OFF SOAPBOX).
-As someone who blew it on the 2024 Presidential call, anything I say is pure speculation and should be treated as such. As a Substacker, however, my hope (if you are new and haven't read my pinned note on the genesis of this account) is to use it to sort out what comes next. I will continue to do that, and I will also continue to add the snark, in part because it is how I cope and in part because a primary tool for would-be autocrats and fascists is to make people depressed and isolated (as I bet a few of you have read in other places these last few days), and I simply don't want them or anyone to take away my joy in life. Joy is the ultimate rebellion, so I will endeavor to continue that in the post-election, in tracking what will come, in helping anyone I can should anyone find themselves in danger as a result of what is about to happen, and to applaud the myriad failures and miscues of the incoming regime (because hoo boy WILL there be!).
-To that score, I will first wrap up this update with something you may have missed with all the post-mortems and coping that we have and continue to do: the announcement of the 2024 Grammy Award nominations. Besides the familiar duel in Best Album and Best Song between perennial Grammy collector Taylor Swift (THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT) and all-but-the-big-one fellow megastar Beyonce (COWBOY CARTER), it is a list heavy with female pop stars that have been around a little while (Charli XCX, Billie Eilish), new and hype-heavy talent (Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan), a guy here and there (Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone, albeit with Taylor Swift), the odd ringer (Andre 3000's jazz flute album up for Best Album), and some scruffy little band from Liverpool with a Best Song nomination (The Beatles' previously unreleased "Now and Then"). Winners will be announced February 1.
-And a final note of karma ... post-election, one of the most vile gloats came from admitted Nazi and unadmitted closet case Nick Fuentes, who decided the Harris loss and subsequent national imperiling of bodily autonomy of women should be celebrated. He echoed (possibly coined, who the F cares) the disgraceful epithet "Your Body - My Choice," which has become a taunt some high school and middle school boys have begun hurling at female classmates and led to inevitable T-shirts and other products on Amazon. In apparent retaliation, women on the Musk social media site decided to do a little sleuthing - and proceeded to doxx Fuentes, who lives with his mother in the Chicago suburb of Berwyn. The initial video has reportedly been taken off line and the address and photo of his house available on Redfin are also being struck down as soon as they are posted on X and/or Threads and/or Bluesky and/or Instagram, and for the record, this Substack observes the events and remembers the immortal words of Chris Rock: "I'm not saying I approve of what is going on ... but I understand!"
-Be good to yourself. Be good to others. Get out of the house and interact with the world a little - it's how we'll need to do and how we can and will do. Back Tuesday unless really insane events warrant …
-On this date in 1871, explorer Henry Stanley found fellow Dr. David Livingstone along and near the Nile River in Egypt. On this date in 1975 (POP SONG TRIGGER WARNING) the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior, killing its crew of 29. On this date in 1979, the first rap song appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 - The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight"(of course!). And on this date in 1989, Germany started to demolish the Berlin Wall.
-Debuts on this date: The United States Marine Corps (1775), the windshield wiper (1903), ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1928), "God Bless America" as sung by Kate Smith (1938), uncensored LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER (1960), SESAME STREET (1969 - see?), GIVE 'EM ENOUGH ROPE (1978), HOME ALONE (1990), REPUTATION (2017).
-Happy Birthday to Martin Luther, Oliver Goldsmith, Claude Rains, Carl W. Stalling, Jimmy Dykes, George Fenneman, Russell Johnson, Richard Burton, Ennio Morricone, Marilyn Bergman, Roy Scheider, Norm Cash, Russell Means, Screaming Lord Sutch, Dave Loggins, Tim Rice, Donna Fargo, Roy Thomas Baker, Greg Lake, Aaron Brown, Ann Reinking, Gerry DiNardo, Roland Emmerich, Sinbad, Linda Cohn, Mackenzie Phillips, Mike McCarthy, Ellen Pompeo, Warren G, Walter Goggins, Isaac Bruce, Brittany Murphy, Diplo, Eve, Miranda Lambert, Kendrick Perkins, Taron Egerton, Jon Rahm, and Kiernan Shipka.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Arthur Rimbaud, Jimmie Dodd, Dick the Brusier, Carmen McRae, Tommy Tedesco, Ken Kesey, Irv Kupcinet, Gerald Levert, Jack Palance, Norman Mailer, Dino De Laurentiis, Allen Toussaint, Helmut Schmidt, and Kevin Conroy.
-Feed the Worms: corrupt industrialist (ALLEGEDLY) (Eyeroll) Harry Ford Sinclair and Leonid Brezhnev bought it on this date.
-Trickle-down economic theorist (since rejected by him) David Stockman and problematic author Neil Gaiman were born on this date. Miriam Makeba passed away on this date. You decide if they get Happy Birthdays/Rest in Peace/Power or if they Feed the Worms.
-The Number One Album in America on this date ... in 2024, CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler, The Creator ... in 2014, .5: THE GRAY CHAPTER by Slipknot ... in 2004, UNFINISHED BUSINESS by R. Kelly and Jay-Z ... in 1994, the MURDER WAS THE CASE soundtrack ... in 1984, PURPLE RAIN by Prince and the Revolution ... and in 1974, WRAP AROUND JOY by Carole King.