Thursday, December 31, 2020

QOTD -- "An Unserious Group And An Embarrassment" To Florida

 

Part of an editorial in the Orlando Sentinel this morning:

"Having failed to convince voters that Donald Trump should get four more years, and having failed to get governors, legislatures or courts to overturn the election, Trump loyalists are pinning their hopes on Congress installing the losing candidate as the next president.  [snip]

"It ought to be a low-drama event but it won’t be, thanks to Republicans like those representing Florida in the U.S. House. Most of them established their anti-democratic, pro-authoritarian bona fides by signing onto a lawsuit brought by Texas that unsuccessfully asked the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out 20 million votes in four states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.

"A larger percentage of Florida’s GOP delegation joined the lawsuit — 80% — than signed on from the Texas GOP delegation — 64%.

"(For the record, the 11 GOP congressmen from Florida who joined the Texas lawsuit were: Gus Bilirakis, Mario Diaz-Balart, Neal Dunn, Matt Gaetz, Bill Posey, John Rutherford, Ross Spano, Greg Steube, Michael Waltz, Dan Webster and Ted Yoho. Three Republicans who had sufficient patriotism to not join the lawsuit were: Vern Buchanan, Brian Mast and Francis Rooney.)  [snip]

"The fact that Florida’s Republican members of Congress wouldn’t eagerly declare their intention to abide by the will of the voters on Jan. 6 tells us almost everything we need to know about where their loyalties lie.

"They are an unserious group and an embarrassment to a state with a rich history of embarrassing itself."

Using as a bad faith excuse that "74 million angry voters" need to be heard, these seditionists gloss over the fact that the anger stems from Mango Mussolini and his cult of anti- democracy, careerist thugs perpetrating destructive lies about the election being "stolen."  Oh, and also that they're seeking to disenfranchise 81 million Americans who voted for Biden/Harris.

Come January 6, note and remember the cowardly, fascist thugs who'll try to subvert democracy.  Ridding our politics of these cancers won't be an easy task, but it's one we have to dedicate ourselves to in the years ahead.


Today's Cartoons


(click on images to enlarge)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Lalo Alcaraz, LA Weekly)

(Kevin Necessary, gocomics.com) 

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Marc Murphy, Louisville Courier-Journal)

(Michael de Adder, Toronto Star)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Kevin Kallaugher, Baltimore Sun)


 (Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee)

(Chris Britt, gocomics.com)

(Steve Benson, Arizona Mirror)


Hawley's Charade And Trump's Plans (UPDATED)

 

A new contestant for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2024 seems to be Tailgunner Ted Cruz imitator slippery young prick Sen. Josh "Haw Haw" Hawley, the ambitious and demagogic junior senator from Mizzou. Hawley's well-publicized authoritarian stunt of objecting to the electoral vote certification will get him raves from a rapidly fading Dear Leader and support from the MAGA cult. As an elitist Stanford and Yale educated lawyer, he knows that his grandstanding move to disenfranchise 81 million Biden voters will fail bigly, but the important thing to him is not preserving our democratic republic, but the show he's putting on for a delusional Trumpworld.

The problem for Hawley is that Dear Leader will play coy about his own plans for 2024 for a long time,  in order to maintain his power and options for himself and his family, assuming they can stay out of prison. That will freeze Republicans like Hawley, who won't dare cross the Very Stable Genius. In addition, Trump's actions over the past several years point to this: he sees himself in terms of royalty, and his corrupt family as a dynasty. If he decides not to run in 2024, which is fairly likely prison or no prison, he's been grooming his complicit daughter and object of his lust Ivanka for greater things. Witness her photo ops on so many of daddy's foreign trips to build a veneer of "foreign policy" cred, and her risible empowerment scams to garner her press domestically. If daddy so commands his captive party, she will succeed him.

So while Hawley plays the short game of worshiping at Dear Leader 's ample posterior to get support and contributions from MAGA morons, he may find himself out of the Presidential picture in 2024 as his cult leader envisions the establishment of a vengeful Trump dynasty, loyal sycophants like Hawley be damned.

BONUS: Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse calls out "dangerous ploy" by "ambitious politicians" trying to tap into Dear Leader's cult.

BONUS IISen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) cuts to the chase --


 

UPDATE:  But of course --

2021 Celebrations Begin Down Under

 

Auckland, New Zealand

 

Sydney, Australia

Fummmmble!


From the Hackwhackers sports desk:  Wisconsin beat Wake Forest yesterday in the "Duke's Mayo Bowl," 42-28 (yay!).  Then, during the locker room celebration, events took a tragic turn:


 

Let's go to the videotape again --

 

 

The aftermath -- picking up the pieces --

 

 

Fortunately, the culprit was able to craft a sturdy replacement on the spot --

 


 Now that's a more tasteful trophy!


Like Father, Like...Never Mind

News Item: Who'd a thunk it? British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's father applies for French citizenship.

"Stanley Johnson, a former member of the European Parliament who voted Remain in Britain’s 2016 referendum, told RTL radio he wanted to become a French citizen because of strong family links to France.

'If I understand it correctly, I am French. My mother was born in France, her mother was totally French as was her grandfather. So for me it is about reclaiming what I already have. And that makes me very happy,' said the 80-year-old Johnson, who was speaking in French.

'I will always be a European, that’s for sure. One cannot tell the British people: you are not Europeans. Having a tie with the European Union is important,' he added."

The UK just completed its Brexit deal with the European Union, concluding years of difficult negotiations. Prime Minister Johnson led the "Leave" movement to separate the UK from the European Union after 48 years of membership.

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Pic Of The Day: Women's Rights Win In Argentina



Women celebrate overnight in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after their legislature passed a law allowing abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and after that in the case of rape or the life of the mother. Conservative Catholic Argentina becomes the largest South American nation to allow abortion, after more than 30 years of effort by women's reproductive rights groups.

(photo: Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP-Getty)

Today's Cartoons


(click on images to enlarge)

(Ann Telnaes, Washington Post)

(Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Dave Whamond, caglecartoons.com)

(Matt Wuerker, Politico)

(Chris Britt, gocomics.com)

(Brian Carroll, twopartyopera.com)

(Carlos Amorim, Correio do Povo, Brazil)

(Seamus Jennings, Procartoonists.org)

(Dave Granlund, davegranlund.com)

 (Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)

(Bob Englehart, caglecartoons.com)


Tweets Of The Day


Seditionist stupid tricks, cont.:

 

 


Trump built this:

 


Evergreen Moscow Mitch:



Rep. "Gym" Jordan (R- Showers) poses question, gets schooled:

 

 

Everybody dance now (h/t Silver Spring Bureau Chief Brian):

 

 

 

Mid-Week Song

Watching Judy Chaiken's 2011 documentary "The Girls In The Band" a few days ago, one of the featured musicians was trumpet player and vocalist Clora Bryant. Bryant, who passed away last year at 92, was the only female trumpeter to perform with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holliday and Charlie Parker. Her sole album, 1957's "Gal With A Horn," captures her vocal talent as well as her mastery of the trumpet. Here's one track from that album, the mellow, pensive "Little Girl Blue."

Polls Confirm Many Americans Are Low-IQ Cultists



Who knew?

From NPR/Ipsos:

A significant number of Americans believe misinformation about the origins of the coronavirus and the recent presidential election, as well as conspiracy theories like QAnon, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll.

Forty percent of respondents said they believe the coronavirus was made in a lab in China even though there is no evidence for this. Scientists say the virus was transmitted to humans from another species.

And one-third of Americans believe that voter fraud helped Joe Biden win the 2020 election, despite the fact that courts, election officials and the Department of Justice have found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome.  [snip]

The poll asked respondents whether they believe that "a group of Satan-worshipping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media," the false allegation at the heart of QAnon. While only 17% said it was true, another 37% said they didn't know.

From Gallup:

Americans are most likely to name President Donald Trump and Michelle Obama as most admired man and woman in 2020. Trump tied former President Barack Obama for the honor last year but edged out his predecessor this year. Trump's first-place finish ends a 12-year run as most admired man for Obama, tied with Dwight Eisenhower for the most ever.  [snip]

Overall, 18% of Americans name Trump, 15% name Obama, 6% Biden and 3% Fauci. 

We suspect there's quite a bit of overlap between the 17% who believe the QAnon idiocy and the 18% who admire Mango Mussolini.

It's a small nod to taste and sanity that Michelle Obama was named Most Admired Woman (but only by 10%).

It should also be noted that, in the Gallup poll, the "sane vote" was divided among former President Barack Obama (15%), Joe Biden (6%), Dr. Fauci (3%), with various others garnering 2% or less.

Sic transit gloria, America!

(Photo:  Q, but no IQ)


Hail, The Spying Hero



Jonathan Pollard, the former Navy analyst who passed top secret information to Israel, was given a hero's welcome by far-right Likudnik Prime Minister Bibi " Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu as he arrived in Tel Aviv earlier today. Pollard shared the classified information with Israel and was sentenced to life in prison in 1987. He was released on restricted parole in 2015 after serving nearly 30 years, during which time he was granted Israeli citizenship.

While Pollard is embraced as a hero among right-wing Israelis, the damage he did to U.S. - Israeli relations with his espionage was significant, and some in Israel were wise enough to shy away from Netanyahu's warm welcome, per the Washington Post:

"Among the few critics of the positive response to Pollard’s release was former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who said that he 'would prefer that he not immigrate to Israel' because 'coming to Israel will intensify the damage this affair has done to us.'

Avigdor Liberman, a political opponent of Benjamin Netanyahu, said, 'I suggest we lower our level of excitement, because it doesn’t help with the American defense system, which sees the Pollard affair as an unacceptable incident that violated acceptable codes between Israel and the U.S.'”  (our emphasis)

That Netanyahu would treat Pollard as a national hero after he betrayed the U.S. speaks volumes about his cynical, transactional view of Israeli-U.S. relations and the value of our alliance. File it under, "with friends like this, who needs enemies?"

(photo: Netanyahu, left, greeting Pollard)

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

QOTD -- Pardon Eligibility

 

It’s not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals.  But apparently to get a pardon, one has to be either a Republican, a convicted child murderer or a turkey.”  -- senior Federal U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt of the Southern District of Iowa, in an Associated Press phone interview yesterday.


Today's Cartoons


(click on images to enlarge)

(Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee)


(Nick Anderson, Washington Post Writers Group)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Matt Davies, Newsday)

(Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain Dealer)

(Rob Rogers, robrogers.com)

(Christopher Weyant, Boston Globe)

(Kevin Kallaugher, Counterpoint)

(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

(John Darkow, Columbia Missourian)

(Phil Hands, Wisconsin State Journal)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

Twit Tweet, Thwap: Screwy Louie's Last Stand (UPDATED)

As we briefly touched on yesterday, hoping to stage an unconstitutional, fascist coup on behalf of unhinged demagogue and neo-fascist buffoon Donald "Mango Mussolini" Trump, the "Dumbest Man In Congress", seditious loony asshat Louie "Screwy Louie" Gohmert sues Lord of the Flies and Trump asskisser Mike "Dense" Pence

Twit tweet:



Thwap:

 

 

BONUSWonkette deconstructs.

UPDATE:  According to Gohmert's court filing, the group of seditionists tried to get VP Mike "Dense" Pence on board with their coup, but Pence (through his counsel's office) refused to sign on.


Millennials Turning 40 Can Sue For Age Discrimination, But...



... there's a catch if you're a woman. Welcome to the real world:

On Jan. 1, the oldest millennials, born in 1981, will turn 40 and officially become eligible to sue employers under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967.

It may seem silly to fret about age discrimination among a generation long vilified as the embodiment of entitled youth. But research shows that for many millennial women, age discrimination is already a reality — one that will become critical during the recovery from the coronavirus crisis, as discrimination tends to peak during and after recessions.

“Most people aren’t going to face age discrimination at 40, but there will be some women who will be facing age discrimination by then,” said Tulane economist Patrick Button, an expert on the ADEA and its effects.  (our emphasis)

For women, it's more than age discrimination.  Here's how age and gender discrimination manifests itself in the hiring/ re-hiring process:

... [E]mployers may assume a woman in her 40s is likely to have a child in elementary school, which could make her schedule less flexible and make her less available for early-morning or evening shifts.

The problem is, discrimination of either kind can be hard to prove in court if you're a woman, for a particular reason:

... [O]lder women fall between the cracks. In most courts, women must sue for either age discrimination under the ADEA or gender discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act — not both at once.

If they sue for age discrimination, older women have to prove they’re treated worse than younger workers. But to do so in court, they can use only data split by age, which will be diluted by data from older men, who can face less discrimination.

If they sue for gender discrimination, older women have to prove they’re treated worse than men. But to do so in court, they can use only data split by gender, which will be diluted by data from younger women, who can face less discrimination.  (our emphasis)

The obvious solution:  amend the ADEA and Civil Rights Act to make it possible to sue for both age and gender discrimination at the same time.  

Now, there's nothing unique about millennials entering into a discriminatory work environment due to their turning 40 -- they've been preceded by Gen Xers, Boomers, etc., who've all had to deal with it, or the threat of it, in their careers.  But, as the coronavirus pandemic has led to widespread un- and under- employment and a sea change in workplace structure, it's important that we "build back better" with protections in place especially for women who want to contribute, but face the dual bigotry of age and gender bias.  It should be a top priority for the Biden Administration and it's as- yet- unnamed Labor Secretary (she would be our pick).

(Photo:  via Bureau of Labor Statistics, DOL)


"Psychopath" Trump's Final Days In Office



As we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, we're witnessing the decomposition of unstable demagogue and pathological liar Donald "Mango Mussolini" Trump's diseased ego. Every insane claim of massive voter fraud and hints that he may declare martial law to remain in power are clear signs of his psychological deterioration. As psychologist Dr. Alan Blotcky writes in the lead in to his powerful article:

"Donald Trump is totally preoccupied with his existential survival as the walls of reality are closing in on him. He has been repudiated in the election. His psyche cannot comprehend how he could have lost to such an ordinary, mortal man. He is beside himself with embarrassment and humiliation. He is driven by revenge. He wants to settle scores. His thin veneer of greatness and superiority is crumbling away. He is desperate and flailing.

Trump is a psychopath. He has all the defining characteristics in spades: narcissistic, sadistic, antisocial, paranoid. This is malignant psychopathology in the embodiment of our president. He has the kind of personality pathology that should be unacceptable in our top public servant. Trump should have been rooted out in 2016. A psychopath should never have been elected to the highest office in the land. We have been suffering for it ever since: division, tribalism, hostility, racism, xenophobia, terrorism and more."  (our emphasis)

The extension of Dr. Blotcky's analysis is that a disgusting and disgraceful 74 million votes were cast for this disturbed would-be autocrat after years of showing us who he was, from his New York City days as a predatory sexual narcissist, to the birther lie he championed, to every despicable thing he's done in the interim. They had an opportunity to right the wrong at the ballot box, and chose to reward him instead. And that's not even touching on the sick, enabling Republicans who would gleefully destroy our Constitutional democracy in service to their cult leader. What Dr. Blotcky calls Trump's "malignant psychopathology" is present evidently in millions of Americans, too.

Monday, December 28, 2020

Tweets Of The Day

 

Stupid seditionist tricks (Also, Judge Kernodle?  Really??) --


 

Their model and lodestar --

 

 

We've seen a lot of "both siderism" in COVID relief coverage by the never- will- learn media, too --


 

 

 

Remember --

 

 

From the same group that gave us Kelli "Psycho" Ward (see first tweet above), shot -- 


 

       Chasers --

 

 

 

 

Today's Cartoons


(click on images to enlarge)

(Ed Hall, Artizans.com)

(Michael de Adder, National Observer, Canada)

(Jimmy Margulies, jimmymargulies.com)


(Brooke Bourgeois, The New Yorker)

(Bart van Leeuwen, Oedipoes.com)

Finally, we couldn't pass this one up --

(Ivan Ehlers, @251tweets)


Election Security Lessons From 2020





Given the malicious disinformation spread by sociopathic demagogue and lying loser Donald "Mango Mussolini" Trump and his delusional cult about a "rigged election," "stolen ballots," etc. in the last election, it's vital that the election system be shored up before the 2022 and 2024 general elections to curtail similar disruption of those elections. We noted on Saturday that Republicans will do everything possible to suppress Dem votes and disenfranchise them after they're cast legally. Politico's Eric Geller summarizes some key security measures that can forestall not only bogus claims of "fraud" by the usual suspects, but can discourage foreign adversaries from meddling. Paper trails and standards for voting machine security are two:

"Paper trails protected the integrity of the votes in closely watched states, thanks to hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid, but many counties still lack that protection. States mostly rejected the riskiest voting technology — internet balloting — but a few embraced it. And a pandemic-ravaged nation managed to vote safely and reliably, but election offices are still woefully short of money and staff.

Perhaps most of all, this year also exposed the United States’ vulnerability to election threats from within, as President Donald Trump and other leading Republicans promoted discredited conspiracy theories to try to nullify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory." [snip]

"Without a paper record of every vote, it is impossible to reliably recount or audit a jurisdiction’s results, because there is no way to rule out the possibility that malfunctioning or compromised voting machines miscounted the electronic vote records.  [snip]

No federal regulations govern the security of voting machines or other systems used to conduct elections, forcing individual states to try to regulate a powerful, highly concentrated industry that has drawn criticism from researchers and lawmakers alike."  (our emphasis)

Funding for election security has been blocked by the Rethuglican Senate, another priority to focus on, in addition to giving the Postal Service the resources it needs to perform effectively in handling increasingly popular absentee ballots.

While members of the Dear Leader's cult will never accept an outcome that doesn't elect one of their own, for the sane majority, it's important to have a tighter system, for the purpose of inevitable court challenges and basic trust in the process. 

(photo: The Fraudster-in-Chief peeks at "Melanie's" ballot to make sure she's following orders. Reuters)

Monday Reading

 

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Robert Reich writes about what will be Mango Mussolini's vilest legacy:

Most of the 74,222,957 Americans who voted to re-elect Donald Trump – 46.8%of the votes cast in the 2020 presidential election – don’t hold Trump accountable for what he’s done to America.

Their acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy. [snip]

Trump has brought impunity to the highest office in the land, wielding a wrecking ball to the most precious windowpane of all – American democracy.

The message? A president can obstruct special counsels’ investigations of his wrongdoing, push foreign officials to dig up dirt on political rivals, fire inspectors general who find corruption, order the entire executive branch to refuse congressional subpoenas, flood the Internet with fake information about his opponents, refuse to release his tax returns, accuse the press of being “fake media” and “enemies of the people”, and make money off his presidency.

And he can get away with it. Almost half of the electorate will even vote for his reelection.

A president can also lie about the results of an election without a shred of evidence – and yet, according to polls, be believed by the vast majority of those who voted for him.

74 million.   It's still hard to imagine we occupy the same space with so many damaged, dimwitted, despicable people who believed such a damaged, dimwitted, despicable person should be elected and then re- elected after the damage he wrought.

Greg Sargent has reason for optimism that the course of events from now until November 20 will be less turbulent than many of us fear:

Given how much is in chaos right now, it’s easy to get spooked into thinking we are facing a final month of extreme turbulence. But, in the interests of making the holidays a bit more restful, I’d like to suggest another scenario: Much of what we’re seeing now gets resolved without much fuss, and President Trump leaves the White House quietly.

Relatively, anyway.

Two big things right now seem to threaten maximum disruption ahead. The first is Trump’s effort to throw the $900 billion economic rescue package into chaos, which could cause a government shutdown and delay badly needed assistance from getting to the American people, at a moment of worsening economic calamity.

The second is Trump’s apparent belief that he can still somehow steal the election or, as he has mused to advisers, possibly declare martial law.

Well, we just saw Mango Mussolini capitulate on the first thing, so score one for "restful."  On the second, Sargent describes the fruitlessness of all the fantasy scenarios of an overturned election.  Good read for keeping calm and carrying on.

S.V. Date exposes the income transfer grift Mango Mussolini has been pulling on his gullible cult:

President Donald Trump’s donors — the vast majority of whom are working-class supporters and retirees contributing just a few dollars a month — put $10.5 million into the erstwhile billionaire’s own personal businesses over the course of his presidency, a HuffPost analysis found.

Some $8.5 million came from the Trump campaign and related entities that Trump controls directly. Another $2 million came from other Republican candidates and committees.

Through a trust that he controls, Trump owns the hotels, golf courses and buildings that received the money, with every penny of profit flowing to him personally.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the... holy shit!

Religious orders are supposed to provide spiritual guidance to those who join. But some of the women who entered Sisters Minor of Mary Immaculate (SMMI) say they faced physical and emotional abuse. [snip]

“I witnessed other girls just being yelled at on a constant basis by Theresa Kovacs,” said Rose, who joined SMMI in 1995. (Three interviewees asked to only be identified by their first names.) According to Rose, a sister named Georgiana often got the brunt of Kovacs’ anger.

“It would be a torrent of the nastiest stuff you could ever say to a human being, she would say to me,” said Georgiana. “It was meant to keep people in line.” [snip]

According to [former SMMI nun Patricia] Budd, they even had their food restricted.

“Basically your food is pretty much less and less,” she said. “And so, that’s pretty much like what a cult is — and break you down. That’s the whole thing. Always to break you down.”

If there's any part of the Church that's not ultimately cult- like, we'd like to know (not really).

Once again we close by recommending a visit to Infidel 753's link round- up for a comprehensive list of links to thought- provoking, humorous and otherwise "interesting stuff" he's carefully curated over the past week.  And speaking of worthy posts, check out the Jon Swift 2020 Roundup of the best blogger posts of the year.  You'll find Infidel and some of our other favorite bloggers recognized there.


Kidnapper Dolt Frees COVID Hostage, Wants Credit

via GIPHY

Nitwit negotiator Donald "Mango Mussolini" Trump signed the COVID relief bill/ omnibus spending bill last night after nearly a week-long delay:

President Trump unexpectedly capitulated Sunday night and signed the stimulus bill into law, releasing $900 billion in emergency relief funds into the economy and averting a Tuesday government shutdown.

White House officials didn’t explain why the president decided to suddenly back down and sign into law a bill he had held up for nearly a week and had referred to as a “disgrace” just days earlier.

Trump signed the bill while vacationing in Florida and on a weekend when he had allowed unemployment benefits for 14 million Americans to expire. [snip]

In a statement he issued after signing the law, Trump released a long list of false claims and grievances. He said he would be sending a “redlined” version of the bill back to Congress “insisting that those funds be removed from the bill.”

Trump has less than a month remaining in his presidency, and lawmakers are likely to ignore any such request.

So, he signed the bill, then asked that what he just signed be gutted?  We believe that's called a "non- starter."  But his handlers clearly needed to make Mango Mussolini feel like the big dick- swinging dude that he isn't and that he "won" something that he didn't.

In the real world, House Democrats will pass a bill, most likely today, to increase the stimulus checks to $2,000 per person.  In the Republican Senate, Moscow Mitch McConnell will most likely maneuver to keep a bill from being voted on (or will load one up with enough poison pill amendments that Democrats will be forced to vote against it).  So, the likeliest outcome is no further relief beyond what's just been signed, unless Democrats flip the two Senate seats in Georgia and take over the Senate.  Mango Mussolini's erratic action in holding up the needed relief probably increased the chance of that happening, so let's at least give him a golf clap (with extended middle finger).

 

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Across The Universe, Cont. -- Fading Galaxy

 

(click on image to enlarge)

 


From NASA/ESA, December 21, 2020 This unusual lenticular galaxy, known as NGC 1947, has lost almost all the gas and dust from its signature spiral arms, which used to orbit around its centre. Discovered almost 200 years ago by James Dunlop, a Scottish-born astronomer who later studied the sky from Australia, NGC 1947 can only be seen from the southern hemisphere, in the constellation Dorado (The Dolphinfish).

Residing around 40 million light-years away from Earth, this galaxy shows off its structure by backlighting its remaining faint gas and dust disc with millions of stars. In this picture, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the faint remnants of the galaxy’s spiral arms can still be made out in the stretched thin threads of dark gas encircling it. Without most of its star-forming material, it is unlikely that many new stars will be born within NGC 1947, leaving this galaxy to continue fading with time.

Credit:  ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Rosario

Acknowledgement: L. Shatz

Republicans Don't Care: New Meidas Touch Vid


Meidas Touch has a perfect, infuriating summation of the damage the rotted- out Republican Party has done to America, from botching the response to the COVID-19 Trump virus, to failing to deliver aid to millions of people struggling to survive the economic catastrophe. Two Republican Senators are on the ballot in Georgia for the January 5 special election. If you live in Georgia, please VOTE them out, and / or you can contribute here to the get-out-the-vote effort.