Meh - my car was towed once for being parked in a metered spot that suddenly turned into a no stopping zone at the strike of 4pm. I only barely swore at the people involved, and did not liken them to murderous demagogues.

Ceaușescu may actually be an even better comparison, but a lot of people have either forgotten about him or may not even have heard about him in the first place.

So, the current House plan is to impeach Trump a second time, and wait 100 days into the Biden admin to send it to the Senate? Regardless of the merits, Biden would be an idiot to allow this. We'll see if he is. 

If he allows it, it will mean we continue under his admin with "All Trump, all the time". Trump will enjoy the continued attention.  With time on his hands, he'll probably be happy to testify in his own defense -- at length! Then, after he's convicted in the Senate, the Supreme's will toss it out. Good plan, Democrats! Republicans will enjoy the wheel-spinning in Congress for however many months they waste again. Almost as good as keeping control of the Senate! (Well, not really).

As they say, the definition of insanity ...
 

The timing is awkward and inconvenient. Of course, the whole thing could have been over and done with before the inauguration, if the Senate hadn’t been run by a total obstructionist. At least we’ll see an end to that in a couple of weeks. The flip side to the argument that delaying the trial in the Senate will result in too much attention and focus on Trump is that all eyes will be on him anyway as he kicks off his election campaign on Jan 20. If we can ban him from ever holding office again, we mostly just have to worry about his family running. But they are a weak bunch.

You really do want to make him a martyr! If he is banned from standing for office there are plenty of other Trumps to take his place.

Not just insane, which is forgivable, but also so lacking in sophistication!

Umm - that last sentence is slightly ambiguous. I assume it refers to me, but would also fit pretty nicely to the headliner. If we could make Trump an honest martyr in short order, I think it would be worth it. The country and, potentially by extension, the world, may be fucked anyway. Seventy-odd million US voters, most of them probably alive and of legal status (although, who knows?) did just support a delusional megalomaniac for re-election. In the midst of a pandemic that he has chosen to ignore for the last few months, unless there was some reflected glory that he could bathe in.

The last sentence refers to anyone determined to make matters worse.

I have a very practical question:

Do you think that the inauguration should be conducted virtually - so that everyone can stay home or in a location of their own choosing.

It could still be broadcast and streamed live, like a big Zoom/Teams/name your favorite conference call platform.

Paul, I am not being hysterical here, just thinking about the best way to avoid creating a superspreader magnet in a location that is very hard to secure from all sides and against all possible actions.

I'm keeping some distance from the political abyss right now and so don't know if this has been mentioned elsewhere. But curious - what would the problems be, besides "optics" and potential technical difficulties?

I think the pragmatic answer is yes, and it can probably be couched in enough pandemic language so as not to admit total defeat to Trump’s goons. The amount of military personnel and hardware required to secure even a scaled-down physical event would seem downright un-American. But it is the America Trump is leaving us with.

Trackstar - as we know, bat aids can tell time and knows who to infect and who not to. No offense to bearish, just trying to be somewhat humorous.  

Do we really want to waste even more tax dollars on cabling everything and whatever for Zoom, which will then die right at the beginning due to massive bandwidth use? It'll be worse than the tube/LTE in London at lunch time. I mean, if so then okay, but I'd rather just get it over with as per usual plan of action and then everyone can go on their merry way. 

I have to admit that the 'logic' behind "impeachment" after the fact is lost on me. But I'm neither a political pundit nor do I really care that much about the whole charade. I'd be more unhappy about tax dollars being spent on a Zoom call.  

You cannot get a decent cup of tea in the US, that's the root of all this.

Paul, it was long before our respective times but we had a little tea party way back when which caused all kinds of commotion.   I think tea is the least of our worries.  

I guess we may get to see which side the US military will take with the planned arrival of tens of thousands of armed Trump supporters intent on closing down Congress and killing elected representatives to prevent a handover of power (as the Capitol police briefed lawmakers yesterday).

I don't believe that will happen.  Sounds like scare-mongering from people trying to save face due to the massive black eye they received on the 6th.

I've seen the D.C. old bill in action first hand. I was standing in front of the Fed for a photo and a guy came out and yelled at me to shovel on.  Following the motto "Hey you kids! Get off my lawn!"

CNN are comparing the Capitol with Pearl Harbor.

You've got to admire the way Twitter removes Trump's account. Thereby making it impossible for us to do what all clever people recommend i.e. go to the original source before making up your mind.

bearish, you still think this helps? You don't think there's a bit of fire fanning happening?!

Twitter's justification for the banning is here: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/c ... nsion.html 

They give as justification two posts, one of which is “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.” Apparently this is seen as promoting violence.

Let me say: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to Starbucks on January 20th.” I beg of you, do not take this as incitement to violence, to Starbucks, Costa, Caffe Nero, or any purveyor of lukewarm caffeinated beverages.