After a couple of initial stumbles early in the primaries, Biden has not set one foot wrong since

Every step he's made, everything he's said, everything he's done, every decision he's made have been absolutely dead on pitch perfect.

I feel very safe in his hands - and grateful to be there.

The Democrats just took control of the Senate

Woo Hoo!

Here comes the Howard University Bison Drumline, y'all

Oh, yes!

"Joe Biden is the blackest of lesbians"

This was an amazing Inauguration in absolutely every respect

What was Mike Pence thinking during Biden's speech?

Wrong answers only

I hope someone told Trump that for 15 minutes, his VP was a Black Asian American woman

Yes, I know that's not correct technically. But humor me.

Does anyone think we've seen the last of Trump's pardons?

Or do you think more will come tomorrow before he leaves?

Regarding that Senate "power sharing arrangement" that has set some folks' hair on fire

The press is doing a disservice by saying that Schumer and McConnell have reached a "power sharing arrangement," as if Schumer is giving McConnell something he doesn't already have.

That's not what's happening.

What is being discussed relates mostly to how committees will operate in a 50-50 Senate. Committee membership is based on the numbers of Republicans and Democrats in the larger body. When the Senate is 50-50, committee membership is also usually 50-50. And the Vice President has no tie-breaking role, since they only break ties in floor votes. Under normal Senate rules, it's difficult for measures to get out of committee and to the floor on a tie vote. Things get stalled, the minority party (i.e., the party without the Vice President) can exercise outsized power, etc.

So, they're working out how to manage this and they're using the rules set in 2001 when the Senate was 50-50. The plan they're discussing would make Schumer the Majority Leader, give all of the committee chairs to the Democrats, and allow tie votes on bills and nominations to be sent out of committee to the floor.

In reality, the 50-50 split in committee means the two parties already share power. This arrangement simply works out how that shared power will work so that Senate business isn't forever stuck in committee and Republicans can't cause mischief they would no doubt do without such an arrangement.

I hope this helps folks calm down. Schumer is not "caving" and he's not "giving away power." He's doing exactly what he needs to do to make sure the Senate Democrats can more easily and effectively advance their agenda, which was the point of fighting for a Democratic Senate majority.

This is much ado about nothing.

About those "secret pardons"

The fact that a pardon is secret doesn't mean that no one knows about it or it's not documented.

No court is going to accept a pardon issued by a now former president that is not documented and proven to have been issued prior to the end of that president's term.

Most likely a "secret" pardon would be submitted to the Justice Department like all other pardons, but would not be included in the list of pardons released to the public. Such a pardon would be just as valid as any other, it just would not be publicly known.

So, there's no need to worry that in six months, Trump can scrawl "I hereby secretly pardon my son Daunald, Junyir" on the back of a napkin and prosecutors will say, "Oh. Never mind."