The View from the Hermitage, Day 310

The end may be in sight. This evening will be Inauguration Eve. Uncle Joe has bid farewell to Delaware; he and Dr, Biden will spend tonight in Blair House. There will be no morning meeting with The Lame Duck (I shall have to come up with a new name for him once noon tomorrow passes), nor will Dr. Biden meet with Mrs. Duck. I still remember when The Ducks arrived at the White House for tea with the Obamas. The Lame Duck stepped out of the car to ascend the porch steps, leaving Mrs. Duck to exit the car, walk around the tail end of it alone, to arrive a small bit late for the greetings. I cannot imagine The Ducks greeting Uncle Joe and Dr. Biden. I can't even imaging The Ducks greeting them rudely, turning their backs, and walking hack indoors without have said anything. 

The Lame Duck should be releasing his list of pardons and clemency actions later today. The latest word on the street is that he will not be preemptively pardoning family members and friends, nor will he pardon himself. He did note a while back that he did not need to pardon himself because he had done nothing wrong. He may be using similar logic in terms of his family. It will be interesting to see who besides Lil Wayne is on the list. 

Twelve National Guard members have been relieved of duty at the Inauguration because of their possible ties to far-right groups. Two were removed due to "inappropriate comments." One was outed by fellow troops; an anonymous tip identified the other. The ten others were removed for a variety of reasons. Considering 12 out of 25,000, yeah, they missed some. It may not be an issue if the Guard members are at the perimeter fence around the Capitol grounds. They'd be pretty far from the inauguration action. 

There were armed protestors at the Virginia state capitol yesterday. There always are on Martin Luther King Day. If they're there tomorrow, there may be something afoot. Virginia is an open-carry state, so showing up somewhere with a gun is legal except in specific types of buildings or when "no firearms" is prominently posted. 

The Professor normally refuses to watch any political event such as State of the Union addresses, campaign debates, and so on. He has, however, agreed to watch the Inauguration with me tomorrow. Champagne is cooling in the refrigerator, to be opened once Uncle Joe becomes President Uncle Joe. (I should probably come up with a better name than "President Uncle Joe.") I do not plan to watch any of the Duck's military ceremony. It will likely be replayed many times, perhaps even as part of the inauguration coverage. 

And may the gods and goddesses have mercy on all of us tomorrow.

We have passed 400,000 cases of covid here in the US, with 100,000 of those being in just the last month. More than 60 percent of covid case sin the US have been reported since Election Day, November 3. Los Angeles County has lifted air-quality limits for cremations; covid has doubled the death rate. Covid has now killed nearly 1 percent of all Americans older than 75. News coverage has been noticeably light lately, but I can understand the emphasis on the Inauguration. Still, there is a definite sense of out-of-sight, out-of-mind when it comes to covid.

A friend posted on Facebook that her husband had received an email telling him how to make an appointment for his first shot. He's getting it Friday. It was good to hear that the registration systems do work. I may be checking my email with new fervor for a while. The Virginia numbers were down to numbers similar to a week or so ago. The governor has said nothing about the weekend spikes; he may figure that inaugural news trumps (ouch!) covid news. I hope he has something to say later in the week. I don't want to think he's ignoring just how prevalent covid is right now. 

Again, may the deities have mercy on us.