Taibbi said it best, as he often does.

The Democratic Party’s failure to keep Donald Trump out of the White House in 2016 will go down as one of the all-time examples of insular arrogance. The party not only spent most of the past two years ignoring the warning signs of the Trump rebellion, but vilifying anyone who tried to point them out. It denounced all rumors of its creeping unpopularity as vulgar lies and bullied anyone who dared question its campaign strategy by calling them racists, sexists and agents of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

How’d that work out for ya?

Apparently, Michael Moore can see the future.

This was written in July, 2016. Moore said Trump would win. And he was right. But this is particularly prescient.

I believe Trump is going to focus much of his attention on the four blue states in the rustbelt of the upper Great Lakes – Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Four traditionally Democratic states – but each of them have elected a Republican governor since 2010 (only Pennsylvania has now finally elected a Democrat).

Hillary was supposed to pick up at least two of those states handily.

She didn’t. And here we are.

Moore, can I get those lottery numbers from you now?

Arrival is a good film.

I wanted it to be longer; I wanted more linguistics. I wanted more of Amy Adams, who was excellent and convincing, brave and afraid. The linguistics as presented was simplified but accurate. The film was also obviously abridged for the theater and perhaps one day there will be a director’s cut.

At the end, I could even read a little of the Heptapodian language, too. (It’s like super-Chinese with nonlinear orthography and as with Chinese no verb conjugation, relying on modifying radially-presented radicals etc.)

If you are hearing about a twist ending, there was no twist that I saw. It was obvious what was occurring but then again I am steeped in sf so even though I’ve never read the source novella I’m deep in the genre. Results may vary.

Recommended.

Didn’t need polls to see the truth.

Courtesy of Lisa Kerr. Book is Achieving Our Country by Richard Rorty. From 1998.

According to stunned and delusional Dems, Hillary lost because:

• Bernie Bros
• KGB
• Krampus
• Space Aliens
• Tony Danza
• Voter Suppression (only somewhat plausible one on the list*)
• FBI coup
• Evil liberals who had the temerity to utter any word of criticism
• Dumbledore

Here’s why actually Hillary lost: she was a reviled and terrible candidate whose strength was in the South where she had little to no chance of winning anyway. I said that before the election. So did many others. Voters stayed away in droves because she was about as inspiring as a three-day-old Taco Bell chalupa that a swarm of roaches has gnawed on.

Bernie would have won in a landslide. Likely Elizabeth Warren, too. Hell, a toaster would’ve been more likely to win it than she was.

Nominate someone who is unelectable, who is already the most-disliked candidate in history before she even begins campaigning, and you end up a loser. Simple as that.

*Though once you realize the truth of Tony Danza, why vote? Why do anything?