It's that day of the year where people who are without a relationship or those who are in bad ones may feel a sharp reminder of that fact and feel pangs of loneliness, unworthiness, of unwantedness. This isn't everyone. Some people are 100% content being alone. Many prefer it. If that's you, keep doing what you're doing.

However, if that's not you, remember that self-care is incredibly important. It's one of the most important things we can do for ourselves. In this pandemic, with social isolation taken to a degree unknown in contemporary society, a lot of negative feelings and perceptions have been magnified for a lot of people. It's been a fucking year. People are worn thin and worn down. Self-care is more important than ever.

So, today, be nice to yourself. Do something for yourself, even if it's small. Something just for you, because you deserve someone to be nice to you today, even if it's just yourself.

If you're good, but you know and love someone who you think might be going through it today, take a few and reach out. My mom lost my dad a few years back, and I know this day hits. So, I spent time this morning being completely stupid over the phone, just to get her to laugh.

If you can do something - for yourself or someone else - today, do it.

If you can't, that's ok, too. If getting dressed is all you have in you today, then get dressed. And if you need someone to be nice to you today, ask. People are much nicer than you think.

Just know that people are thinking about you, even if it doesn't feel like it. I'm definitely thinking about you, even if you don't know you. Be kind to yourself.

Let that one marinate for a moment.

Perjury? Worst thing ever. Insurrection? Meh.

How that isn't on every reporter's lips for the next week will be baffling.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dpayb/12-gop-senators-voted-against-clinton-for-lies-about-sex-will-they-convict-trump

(edited because I misread the article a bit)

And I was a big one through the primaries and terrified of his nomination. "Shit, another moderate go along to get along. Lovely."

I'm impressed.

Wait, that doesn't capture it.

I am completely fucking impressed.

There's coming hard out of the gate, and then there's tearing the gate to shreds to the point we're not even sure what just happened.

Seriously. What an impressive first few weeks this administration is having. No matter what thing I see where I might start raising an eyebrow, I completely forget about it ten seconds later because his administration did something else that is completely awesome.

And I'll small-note that Schumer has upped his game. I doubted there as well. It's early days, but no ankle-biting from my end. And I'm an AOC progressive type.

Just wanted to say.

The Game Stop stock story is more than just a bunch of Millennials having fun on social media to stick it to Wall Street.

Wall Street is now striking back. It is trying to prevent "retail" traders (i.e. individuals and not the hedge funds and giant institutions) from buying or selling stock because they're about to lose billions.

Hedge funds shorted Game Stop, hoping to drive it into bankruptcy and make a profit on it. Sound like Bain Capital to you? Because it is just like that.

Now, trading apps and institutions like RobinHood and Ameritrade are preventing your Average Joe from trading the stock. However, the hedge funds and institutions are allowed to trade, and they are allowed to do so after hours even (you and I could not do this).

Wall Street could not stand regular people playing their games - and winning! -so now they are trying to outright rob people by using every lever in the system to manipulate and control what happens.

Watch what the MSM says. We will know whose side they are on. If every story you see is how awful it all is that Reddit is messing with stocks, you'll have at least a hunch they aren't on your side.

But more importantly, let's see how the Biden administration and Secretary Yellen respond. There is an opportunity here to let the billionaire class who treats Wall Street as a casino twist. AOC is already calling for hearings. I have been incredibly positive on Biden's tenure so far. Everything is pretty damn good, if you ask me. So now, we're about see how they're going to handle one hell of a cranky, predatory financial class who thought we served them.

It's a test. Let's see if they pass. I have decent optimism here, but keep an eye on it. It'll mean quite a bit about what we can expect for the next four years.

Or $1,400 now, I guess.

Wondering if that will be a thing. I know some people who are in very sore need of the money these days. The extra unemployment will help, but they're so far behind, any extra money really just goes to paying past dues. In the beginning, I loaned out money to a few. But as this went on and on, I said, "Screw it. Keep it."

Nine and a half months of this. Who thinks what little the government has done is adequate to provide even a meager living in many places? Trump and McConnell have offered us the most perfect political bludgeon. Which is good. But for many people, the actual money would be a lot better.

How can we effectively communicate the seriousness of staying at home, wearing a mask, and social distancing when the people we elect to promote these things keep getting caught ignoring them?

https://www.newsweek.com/rhode-island-governor-attends-wine-paint-event-after-urging-people-avoid-nonessential-activities-1555672

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo was photographed last week attending a wine and paint event, just a few days after she urged the state's residents to avoid all nonessential activities amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

According to WLNE-TV, the photo of Raimondo was taken by Erica Oliveras on December 11 while the governor and her husband, Andy Moffit, attended a wine and paint event at Barnaby's Public House in Providence.

Susan Goodman, a Providence resident, told WLNE that the governor, "shouldn't even be at an event like that."

We can't have one law for the rulers and one for the ruled. I haven't been in a sit-down restaurant since all this began. I've been vigilant. I haven't seen close friends since February.

I don't know how it is for anyone else, but here in California, people are still furious with Gavin Newsom and London Breed for ignoring restrictions after they lectured everyone else to stop their social activities.

We have to start acknowledging that too many of our prominent own are getting caught out like this and increasing skepticism, if not fueling conspiracies, that they don't actually believe in what they're instructing the average citizen.

Even with ACB, they seem inclined to leave precedent alone for the time being.

The Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari Monday in a case that threatened to chip away at marriage equality. The Court’s denial will disallow Indiana’s effort to discriminate against same-sex couples, and will continue to preserve the meaning of Obergefell v. Hodges.

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill (R) took the position in Box v. Henderson that same-sex spouses should not have the same rights to be listed on state-issued birth certificates as opposite-sex spouses. The case arose as the result of several lesbian couples who conceived via artificial insemination; Indiana refused to list birth mothers’ wives on their children’s official birth certificates, but regularly listed birth mothers’ husbands on birth certificates without additional requirement.

The same issue had been raised in response to Arkansas’ identical practice in Pavan v. Smith—a 2017 Supreme Court case in which the Court also sided with the same-sex parents. A few months after Pavan, a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments in Box v. Henderson. However, the Seventh Circuit waited nearly three years–in time for SCOTUS to include two Trump-appointees—before handing down a unanimous ruling in favor of the same-sex parents in Box v. Henderson.

By the time Indiana appealed its loss at the Seventh Circuit, SCOTUS would include Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and many court-watchers wondered whether the change to the bench would result in the Court’s eroding its landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges to allow the discrimination Indiana sought to conduct.

https://lawandcrime.com/supreme-court/even-with-three-trump-appointed-justices-on-the-bench-scotus-declines-to-roll-back-marriage-equality/

But they cut to commercial and did the usual thing of presenting advertisers.

“Election Night in America. Brought to you by Borat!”

Dead.

Yes, in a nation of 340 million, there are going to be problems in this place or other. Elections are locally administered. There will be hiccups.

But after the media hyped up a Mad Max style Election Day, we’ve seen a peaceful, orderly process play out.

That is just a first step. We still have to make all those votes count. That’s a big battle.

But the casting of votes was actually almost boring today.

This is a good thing for our democracy.