Can’t wait to see our leftists start pointing out all the good things that Team Biden will accomplish, or will they just keep pounding on Trump like Obama did on Bush2.

re Frisch 135pm - We have circled this barn many times in these pages. Since Operation Barbarossa (June 1941) all leftwing cum communist 'thinkers' have hewn to the line that Nazism (fascism) is not a form of socialism as is communism - a stark difference had to be made. Before Hitler double-crossed Stalin, each agreed that their social order was a form of socialism - formally communism was international socialism, and Nazism was national socialism. A clear indication of this was also Mussolini's migration from communism (they kicked him out for internal political reasons) to fascistic socialism which immediately attracted Hitler, who then began coagulating his own deranged version of socialism. In the end it was the global Left and their journalistic cohort that branded Nazism and fascism to be of the 'Right', and socialism/communism to retain the Left mantle - after all, there had to be a reason 20+ million men had to be sacrificed in the Great Patriotic War. Frisch understands none of this, and continues to echo his betters with the ridiculous assertion that the rightwing extremism of conservatives and libertarians is bookended by large autocratic governments capable of making and enforcing central planning and control. Nothing could be further from the belief systems of conservatives and libertarians, yet the Left and their lamestream revel in promoting that communist cum Democrat narrative to the un-read. For the student of morphological migrations of ideologies, today's Dems are hell bent to get the US into a form of fascism that integrates the workings of a large, elite-run, autocratic government within a robust halo of wealth generating corporatists. Hitler showed the world how this arrangement works in an advanced and developed country. In the end, the 'Right' is nothing more or less than the umbrella label that covers all who oppose the collectivist Left.

Walt's got his own answer, but mine is to secure Biden the same way that Obama and Trump were secured. Have you seen any evidence, beyond the politically motivated histrionics, that Biden will be in some extra level of mortal danger at his inauguration?

PaulE 1253pm - As Greg 1257pm points out, the Fed's job was then and is now to manage the money supply in the economy and increase/decrease it as economic conditions dictate (actually, as they are perceived). The job of POTUS in such cases is to use the bully pulpit to goad the Fed into appropriate action. History shows that Hoover failed to do that in a timely manner. And neither did FDR. But since the crash happened on Hoover's watch, history throws all the blame on him - which since then has been a source of joy to all simple-thinking Democrats.

RX 1214pm - I take it then that your continuing to visit this site and enlighten us is part of your public service contribution. Much appreciated.

PaulE 934am - However, do you AGAIN draw such conclusions?? Hoover's mistake was not providing enough liquidity in a timely manner to the nation's credit institutions when the highly leveraged loans (e.g. buying stocks on thin margins) of the 'roaring 20s' came due. FDR doubled down on that policy and attempted the feds to spend and regulate the markets back to full function. It took until eve of WW2 for the administration to admit its failure to address the Great Depression.

PaulE 609pm - Yes and Yes.

FDR took office in 1933 with unemployment over 25%. His SecTreas Morgenthau went hat in hand to Congress in 1939 with unemployment unchanged, and said that the administration had tried everything that had NOT worked and was open to any and all suggestions going forward. The only plan FDR had for the economy was WW2. In the meantime he grew a government with an alarmingly seditious fifth column in place by the time the war started. Our governments inefficiency and growth never looked back - we're still in the clutches of those who firmly believe that government can spend our money for a greater good than can the private sector. Save for an extremely limited number of functions, government is the least efficient provider of goods and services for its citizens. The more it does, the more misery it creates. All this has been outlined and discussed for years in these pages.

Trump is Putin's puppet - that refrain has been a constant refrain from the Left for the last 4+ years. Have they ever presented even a smidgen of evidence to back up their Big Lie? Given Trump's record with Russia (especially compared to Obama's), what kind of stupid pills have the Dems been taking to keep believing that tripe?

@438pm - "... be told to take down your Nazi and Confederate flags." Where do these country hicks come from?? Who here even knows anyone flying such flags? But that is their carefully taught picture of the opposition which they are told to attack. These, in previous years and other lands, have been the ones who marched their intellectuals, producers, and bourgeoise to the wall and gallows. Today they stand ready to again fill that role.

RL 246pm - I do regret that you find expanding on your statements of belief a frustrating exercise. I and my ilk find that kind of discourse to be the sum and substance cum foundation of a civil society - perhaps yet another difference between us. Nevertheless and to the point, I would like to know how you came to the conclusion that the Republican elephant wants to dominate the donkey and become the political monopolist of the country. Statements of glee from Democrats anticipating the total demise of Republicanism due to Trump abound. The Left has made no secret of its desire to rule the world, and re-educate those of us remaining deplorables who missed going through the decades of socialist groupthink education that has given us our current cohort of critical thinkers.

scenes 1208pm - I don't consider Bob's viewpoint as being locally restricted, but one embraced by many (most?) nationwide. Rodney King's 'Why can't we all just get along?' still echoes today. Political partisanship becomes more important, the more diverse we are culturally. Small culturally cohesive populations, as your Icelandics, have a totally different set of differences that they consider important and that may make us yawn. When we get right down to it, how much diversity in its various dimensions can a population profitably tolerate under one kind of governance that is supposed to be all things to all, and may wind up be a no-thing to everyone? We are now trying something that no nation-state has been able to maintain successfully over a large, highly multi-cultural population. Examples of failure in such attempts abound - e.g. USSR, China, Iraq, South Africa, India, ... .

Again, rig for the cricket chorus.

re scenes 317pm - can we come up with a common working definition for 'white supremacist', not as the leftwing fascists variously and gratuitously use the term, but as we would use it in a rational discussion of topics like, say, 'what is the prevalence of white supremacists in America?'

BillT 220pm - Good pick-up Mr Tozer. Let us now batten down the hatches against the din of the progressive crickets.

scenes 808am - Agreed; well said Mr scenes.

Free speech (1st Amend) does indeed give us the freedom to lie all we want. There are, however, laws already in place which punish the liar if the lies cause harm in certain protected domains like contract law, securities sales, medical advice, and other professional communications. As a practicing professional engineer, I can be sued if I purposely mislead a client with whom I have assumed a fiduciary relationship. Journalism, unfortunately, is not one of those protected domains. They can lie all the want in their reportage. They are only bound by a laughable code of ethics which I have much discussed in these pages years ago. I am NOT a journalist.

re Walt 259pm - And these quacks claim to understand science - my, my. Very good Mr scenes, that chortle cleared my sinuses.

Gregory 954am - Good pick-up, saw that in this morning's Union. These are the same people who make public policies to combat global warming and the Covid pandemic.

PaulE 1223pm - How do you think that could have happened?