1.  Shellshocked doesn’t even begin to describe my mood.

2.  I watched Congress counting electoral votes into the wee hours. Around 2:30am I fell into bed mumbling a prayer for the legislators still on the floor.

3.  When my eyes popped open Thursday morning I grabbed my phone to check the news. Right there on my home screen were the magic words: election certified at 3:30am. Praise be.

4.  An alert one hour later said Trump promised a peaceful transition. This was impressive until I actually saw his statement.

5.  Not for nothing but the guy was in twitter jail. How hard would it have been for that deputy chief of staff to simply type “There will be a peaceful transition” and hit send?

6.  Instead Dan published this nonsense: “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th…” blah blah blah.

7.  Seriously?? It’s like the guy’s incapable of saying what needs to be said AND NOTHING MORE. Shocker.

8.  Yesterday was a marathon of 25th amendment and impeachment debates that I’m certain will continue in the days ahead. I’m not a constitutional scholar but I’ve got some opinions.

9.  Isn’t it lucky I’ve got a blog for those.

10.  This seems like what section 4 of the 25th amendment is for. Do I think Trump is incompetent? Yes, but that isn’t why I think they should invoke the 25th.

11.  Based on reports of Trump’s increasingly agitated behavior regarding the election and his public incitement of a riot I believe he’s incapable of preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution so can we please get him the hell out?

12.  Geez, Laura, there’s only twelve days left, what’s the worst that can happen? I really don’t want to find out.

13.  Here’s the pisser, though. Pence has to make the call. But he wants a future in politics and knows the base would never forgive him so he won’t invoke the 25th.

14.  I keep hearing public servants say things like insulate the president and protect the country but – and I can’t emphasize this enough – short of removing Trump from office THERE IS NO LEGAL OPTION for bypassing/ignoring the president.

15.  This calls to mind all that “grownups in the room will keep us on track” commentary back in 2016 when we freaked out over Trump’s election. Yeah, look how well that one worked out.

16.  So here we are, election certified, Capitol damaged, terrorists being tracked, with a guy on the edge holding the nuclear codes still convinced he was robbed of an election.

17.  For the last couple of years I’ve taken a mild approach to political conflict. I didn’t engage with acquaintances when it seemed pointless and I used that mute option to get a break. But this week was the final straw for me.

18.  I spent part of Thursday on a hard sweep through my social media. Simply put, any sort of pro-sedition commentary got an unfriend or block. Period.

19.  Unsurprisingly, not many people fell into this category for me. Then again I’m not bopping around on Parler either.

20.  When I went to bed on Wednesday night there’d been thirteen arrests; Thursday morning it was sixty-eight with a public promise to locate people who participated in the riots.

21.  Before I forget let me drop this link here.

22.  Okay, back to the terrorists. People. Forget the fact that there’s a pandemic – WE WON’T WEAR NO STINKIN’ MASKS! – didn’t your mama teach you to cover your face before wrecking havoc? It’s Violent Overthrow 101.

23.  So not only do these folks have the FBI on their tail they’ve also gotta worry about the twitterverse. Not for nothing but if I’m ever kidnapped please get these twitter folks on the case because they can track ANYONE.

24.  Then again, these aren’t exactly evil masterminds.

25.  Jenny Cudd learned this the hard way.

26.  I’ve been watching accounts of the attack and the more I hear the more I’m astounded at the level of peak white privilege on display.

27.  Okay, no I’m not, these people are 100% wypipo and I’m here for the life lessons.

28.  Elizabeth just wanted to be part of the revolution, dammit, and demands to speak to the manager.

29.  Thursday ended with a bushel of resignations. Two members of the Cabinet, a press secretary, Melania’s chief of staff, and a deputy NSA plus a couple other folks. I have mixed feelings.

30.  With only two weeks to go is this really standing your moral ground or more like hurtling yourself off the Titanic in the hopes you’ll find a door to cling to?

31.  There’s an argument to be made for maintaining order – as much as that’s possible – while the country rides out the upheaval of these two weeks. Those Cabinet members in particular…are you taking a stand or just avoiding the chance of voting on the 25th amendment?

32.  At this point absolutely nobody can claim surprise at who Trump is.

33.  Did I have attempt to strong-arm Georgia officials/attempt procedural coup via the vice president/incite a violent attack on the Capitol on my 2021 Trump bingo card? Nope, sure didn’t.

34.  But do I know he’s an egomaniacal aggressor with no concept of consequences for his actions? Of course I do, and so does anyone else who’s been breathing longer than 24 hours. Which is why the “he’s gone too far” argument doesn’t really carry weight with me.

35.  I say suck it up, buttercup, and get us to the other side.

36.  I have this disturbing post-9/11 feeling except I can’t make sense out of American terrorists attacking the Capitol.

37.  I’ve seen some troubling chatter online about returning to D.C. on the 19th with weapons.

38.  In the Before times I would have shrugged this off as hyperbole but after Wednesday I think we can all agree nothing is impossible anymore.

39.  I hope they’re paying attention. I hope they’re better prepared for whatever comes over the next two weeks and to safely swear in our next president and vice president.

40.  As for us, I think we’ll be staying close to home around inauguration day. These are unpredictable times.