Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

This fight is for everything.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

A consequence of cucumbers

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Pumped for the Transition

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Pumped for the Transition

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The moment we’re in feels a lot like May 2016: The GOP is divided by many members willing to do Trump’s bidding and many other members willing to stand up and tell him no. But unlike in May 2016, Trump is not consolidating power, he is losing it.

In particular, the issue that has had a lot of Democrats worried — a disciplined senate GOP coalescing behind Mitch McConnell to deny Biden any bipartisan wins — is looking significantly less real than it did a week ago.

Reader Interactions

157Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    The laws of U.S. political culture prohibit Democrats from having wins.  They either lose or they sell out.

  2. 2.

    Patricia Kayden

    2 Republicans die and go to heaven.They ask God if he'd answer one question."Of course," God says. They ask how the Democrats rigged the election in 2020. "It wasn't rigged," God replied. Republicans look at one another and say, "This conspiracy goes higher than we thought!"— Ed Stetzer (@edstetzer) January 4, 2021

  3. 3.

    Leto

    is looking significantly less real than it did a week ago.

    I feel like we’ve been hearing some version of this for the past four years. Only way this is going to happen is if we take both GA senate seats today, otherwise it’s Yurtle business as usual in the Senate for the next X number of years.

  5. 5.

    JPL

    @Leto:  If the Senate doesn’t flip today, I have hopes that it will in two years.   Johnson’s seat is up for reelection and Toomey is retiring.    hope springs eternal.

    Georgia runoffs tend to go republican, but the times they are changing.

  7. 7.

    p.a.

    If we take both seats, the Manchin/Tester nexus has the power.  Along w Susy/Mitt.  Better than Mitchincharge, but not a prescription for progressive action.  And the “let’s look forward, not back” feces is already out there..

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Statement of Congressman Jamie Raskin and Sarah Bloom Raskin on the Remarkable Life of Tommy Raskin

    “On January 30, 1995, Thomas Bloom Raskin was born to ecstatic parents who saw him enter the world like a blue-eyed cherub, a little angel. Tommy grew up as a strikingly beautiful curly-haired madcap boy beaming with laughter and charm, making mischief, kicking the soccer ball in the goal, acting out scenes from To Kill A Mockingbird with his little sister in his father’s constitutional law class, teaching other children the names of all the Justices on the Supreme Court, hugging strangers on the street, teaching our dogs foreign languages, running up and down the aisle on airplanes giving people high fives, playing jazz piano like a blues great from Bourbon Street, and at 12 writing a detailed brief to his mother explaining why he should not have to do a Bar Mitzvah and citing Due Process liberty interests (appeal rejected).

    RIP Tommy.

    (read at your own peril)

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    In particular, the issue that has had a lot of Democrats worried — a disciplined senate GOP coalescing behind Mitch McConnell to deny Biden any bipartisan wins — is looking significantly less real than it did a week ago.

    How precious: someone just fell off the turnip truck! The only thing that will stop unified Republican obstruction of Biden’s agenda is loss of the GOP senate majority. Period. Full stop. The end.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    If’ns you’re in the DC area:

    Hundreds of people have flocked to the Washington DC area to catch a glimpse of a new, celebrated arrival who has offered some welcome relief following a bruising year. No, it’s not Joe Biden.

    Excited birders have crammed into a Maryland park, braving rain and dismally low temperatures, to witness the painted bunting, a brightly coloured bird that usually reserves its elan for the warmer climes of Florida.

    They are extraordinary. I hope to see one someday.

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’ve never seen a Painted Bunting either. They tend to hang out in my least favorite parts of Florida: NE coast and the southern tip of the peninsula. I keep hoping to see one migrating through, but so far, no dice.

  22. 22.

    debbie

    If only. ?

    I leave you now, and you will now write it. You will interpret it. That’s your right. But as I leave you, I want you to know—just think how much you’re going to be missing. You won’t have Amash to kick around anymore, because, Congress, this is my last tweet.
    — Justin Amash (@justinamash) January 3, 2021

  24. 24.

    marklar

    @Betty Cracker: I’ve been to Corkscrew wildlife refuge (outside Fort Myers) three times in various winters and seen several painted buntings on each trip. The refuge is wonderful, and is close to Ding Darling Refuge (on Sanibel) where you’re pretty much guaranteed to get roseate spoonbills.

  27. 27.

    Luciamia

    @Patricia Kayden: Oh yeah. When you read some of the posts on a site like Free Republic, you can’t help but think, “If Jesus himself appeared and said the election wasn’t rigged, you’d say, ‘So they got to you too!’ “

  28. 28.

    Punchy

    At this point, Romney is a pseudo-Dem when compared to guys like Cruz and Blackburn and their ilk. He could switch to Indy, caucus with the Dems, and actually have a say in how the country progresses. The split between the “moderate” (and even that label is seven steps to the right) and non-moderate GOP members is five miles wide.

  29. 29.

    Kristine

    @OzarkHillbilly: They are extraordinary. I hope to see one someday.

    Pretty sure I saw one at Illinois Beach State Park a few years ago. I was surprised because it was farther north than it should’ve been at that time of year. It looked like it had flown through a paint sprinkler. Lovely little bird. Not as brilliantly colored as an adult male. I wondered if it was a juvenile in the process of getting its brighter feathers.

    nbsp;

  33. 33.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Very much so. I have a niece who’s exactly the same age. At about the same point in her life, she presented a Powerpoint to her parents (I don’t remember how many slides, but there were a lot) arguing for quitting the volleyball league her parents had signed her up for. Her parents were surprisingly impressed with the presentation and logic (not that she got out of it, but she didn’t get signed up for anything without being consulted).

    As a black sheep, I see that well-loved children don’t have it much easier.

  37. 37.

    Low Key Swagger

    @OzarkHillbilly: I felt the same thing.  Yes that last sentence made me tear up.  I worry that in all the activity this vaccination drive  produces, (completely necessary, of course) that we could over-look the other health-care crisis in our midst….depression.

  39. 39.

    Kristine

    @Luciamia: I recall thinking the same thing at one point during PBO’s administration. IIRC it concerned his birth certificate. I figured that if Christ himself told the birthers that birtherism was bs, they’d say he was in the tank for Obama.

  41. 41.

    Betty Cracker

    @marklar: You are correct: Corkscrew and Ding Darling are both well worth a visit for birders! We saw tons of wading birds, including Roseate Spoonbills, at Corkscrew, and we saw a Mangrove Cuckoo at Ding Darling! Somehow I missed the Painted Buntings, but they are a great excuse to make another trip! I have friends and family in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, so I do occasionally get down to South Florida. Will keep the Painted Buntings in those spots in mind for future forays south. Thanks!

  44. 44.

    Skepticat

    @Betty Cracker: The only thing that will stop unified Republican obstruction of Biden’s agenda is loss of the GOP senate majority. Period. Full stop. The end.

    This. I wish I were more optimistic about the chances.

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    Lou Dobbs is SO CLOSE to getting it!

    “We’re eight weeks from the election, and we still don’t have verifiable, tangible support for the crimes that everyone knows were committed — that is, defrauding other citizens who voted with fraudulent votes. We know that’s the case in Nevada, we know it’s the case in Pennsylvania and a number of other states, but we have had a devil of a time finding actual proof. Why?”

    Our local paper prints rambling, absurd letters to the editor from less famous Trump dead-enders, who apparently haunt every hamlet across the land. They are similarly bewildered: they FEEL that Trump won because everyone they know voted for Trump and BOAT PARADES, so there must be fraud. They just don’t have any proof, you see, but overturn the election anyway!

    Trump tapped into many American pathologies to win the EC in 2016, including racism, misogyny, xenophobia, the white evangelical persecution complex, etc. But the deepest well of all is stupidity.

  46. 46.

    cmorenc

    In particular, the issue that has had a lot of Democrats worried — a disciplined senate GOP coalescing behind Mitch McConnell to deny Biden any bipartisan wins

    The unexpectedly weird outcome may instead be a divided GOP caucus frustrating Mitch McConnell’s efforts to find cooperative common ground with Democrats on anything at all, even the limited sets of things even McConnell regards as having must-pass importance.

  49. 49.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Betty Cracker: It reminds me of the Capgras delusion, which is a component of some brain injuries–the insistence that your loved ones have been replaced by exact duplicates. It seems to be a consequence of the injury removing your ability to have the same emotional reaction to them that you did before–so you conclude, in defiance of all evidence and reason, that these cannot be the same people. These emotional reactions can be so powerful that they warp perception of the physical universe. It is a terrifying thing and must be profoundly devastating to those who suffer under it.

    What Trump has done is to affect emotional perceptions of the 2020 election in his followers by repeatedly hammering on the “fraud” point, such that they can only know the election was stolen even though they have no evidence at all to indicate that.

  50. 50.

    Hoodie

    Eldest son just sent a thumbs up from Atlanta with an “I’m a Georgia Voter” peach!   Pretty confident that’s at least one vote in the bag for Warnock and Ossoff, unless we didn’t raise that boy right.

  51. 51.

    Nelle

    @Low Key Swagger: We asked a woman in her 30’s to move in with us for the holidays because of this.  She was scrupulous about isolating for two weeks before.  Her mother, one of my dearest friends, died of cancer in 2003 and two years ago, the daughter moved to Des Moines about a month after we did.

    I’m not a fan of Iowa but it has been fortuitous for something like this.  Our younger friend is a delightful house guest who was used to living in groups and is a big community activist so the isolation was excruciating.

  52. 52.

    trnc

    @Betty Cracker: The only thing that will stop unified Republican obstruction of Biden’s agenda is loss of the GOP senate majority. Period. Full stop. The end.

    Yup. It’s not as though a pissed off Tommy Tubby is going to make Mitch hold unwanted votes.

  53. 53.

    japa21

    @Betty Cracker: Love Corkscrew.  Gets very hot and humid (for us pale skinned northerners) but beautiful.  One of my favorite bird photos, of an American Bittern, was taken there.

  54. 54.

    Spanky

    @Matt McIrvin: Nope, I’m gonna go with the facts that half of Americans are below-average intelligence, that critical thinking skills are no longer taught to kids, and that foreign powers have refined and weaponized propaganda and injected it into American and world mainstream media.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Trump is a populist and populist fervour is not so different from religious fervour.  It does tend to die out, and I suspect that will happen as Trump loses his power.  The underlying bigotry will remain and continue to help the GOP, but it will be less populist.

  56. 56.

    Another Scott

    @p.a.: OTOH, Obamacare and Dodd-Frank and raising the minimum wage lots of other decent and even progressive legislation passed when Manchin and Tester and Webb were the critical votes.

    It will never be easy, but good things will happen with a Democratic majority in the Senate and we shouldn’t minimize that before it even happens.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  58. 58.

    trnc

    @Matt McIrvin: What Trump has done is to affect emotional perceptions of the 2020 election in his followers by repeatedly hammering on the “fraud” point, such that they can only know the election was stolen even though they have no evidence at all to indicate that.

    And, of course, the pathological inversion of faith – the more anyone points out there is no evidence, the more they believe it.

  59. 59.

    JMG

    Politico reports this morning that Democrats are pessimistic about Georgia. Washington Post reports Republicans are pessimistic about Georgia. So apparently nobody’s gonna win today.

  61. 61.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JMG: Nobody believes the polls at this point. They shouldn’t. All they really indicate is that the races are close. So everyone’s trying to manage expectations (and drive turnout).

  66. 66.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Baud: 

    The laws of U.S. political culture prohibit Democrats from having wins. They either lose or they sell out.

    Ah yes, the standard view of the world from Our Progressive Betters.

  67. 67.

    japa21

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Updated yesterday. It appears the rapid test produced  false positive. When the sample was run through a more thorough test the next day, it came back negative. I would have known this on Thursday but things didn’t get entered into the system properly.  Still have the pneumonia but on meds for that and feel a little better. Will probably have another test just to confirm.

  68. 68.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker:

    Dobbs is actually right (in general), but worng on the details: he should be channeling his vast intellectual resources into uncovering the voter fraud in NC, OH, ME, FL, and TX, which gave Biden a much narrower margin than he actually had, both in popular vote and EV — had the votes been counted properly, had Repub votes not magically appeared*, and Dem votes not been  tossed in the trash.

    Is it irresponsible to speculate? It would be irresponsible NOT to force the Retnugs to prove that they didn’t commit voter fraud in those states where the Fascist-in-Chief narrowly “won.”

    *Whether they did is immaterial; someone needs to ask that question.

  71. 71.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’m gonna tell my wife you said that. You can expect an argument.

    I already cleared it with her before I wrote it. She said “just this once.” [Interestingly, my wife says the same about me.]

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    The British are doing a hard lockdown until February and vaccinating all over seventy. Our hospitals are overwhelmed, Covid is raging out of control, our economy is in serious trouble, people are hungry and desperate, and we aren't closing much and pretending this is normal.— Skeptical Brotha ??? (@skepticalbrotha) January 5, 2021

  73. 73.

    Punchy

    @Betty Cracker:“We’re eight weeks from the election

    I had to read this 4 times to realize the “from” was supposed to represent the past tense, and not future tense regarding some zombie new elections the Q folk are convinced are soon to happen….

  74. 74.

    Baud

    @rikyrah:

    The idea is that some black voters only like Warnock and that Loeffler has less favorability than Perdue.  But it’s all speculation.

  75. 75.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Spanky:

    that critical thinking skills are no longer taught to kids,

    As far as I can tell, all attempts to do this have been complete failures. I’m of the right age to have actually had literal “critical thinking” instruction. There are as many deranged Trumpists in my generation as in any.

  76. 76.

    Wilson Heath

    It’s pretty to think that a Senate GOP engrossed in their own parochial slap fight couldn’t unite to block Biden’s presidency.

    But sadly no. There is no disagreement among them that blocking the policies of a popular democratically elected president is crucial to set the scene for the revanche.

    Go figure that the idea came from an apostate Republican so that he would harbor delusions that the enterprise could be saved.

  77. 77.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: Trump tapped into many American pathologies to win the EC in 2016, including racism, misogyny, xenophobia, the white evangelical persecution complex, etc. But the deepest well of all is stupidity.

    I think it’s more basic; they believe that black people in cities voting is itself fraud, and shouldn’t be allowed. Thus their bewilderment at how Trump won, because in their minds “those people” shouldn’t have been allowed to vote, and thus their votes shouldn’t count.

  80. 80.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    The conventional wisdom (or guesswork) is that Warnock will win and Ossoff will lose.

    I thought the conventional wisdom was that Election Day voting will favor the Rethugs, each/both of whom will declare they “won” within 30 minutes after the polls close, after which they demand all the mail-in/early votes be thrown out because of fraud or veeblefetzer or some other reason.

  81. 81.

    Baud

    @SFAW:

    Does GA wait to count the mail in votes? I thought most states counted them as they came in. PA and MI didn’t because the GOP there wanted to play games.

  82. 82.

    Matt McIrvin

    (Also, all attempts to explain the Trump phenomenon in terms of decay in the educational system have to deal with the simple fact that most young people didn’t fall for him. The oldest demographics turned against him somewhat in 2020 because they were literally dying as a result of his policies, but before that they were his base.)

  83. 83.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: I’m guessing that Warnock and Ossoff will poll very close to each other. But Loeffler may have an undervote relative to Perdue. In a close pair of races, this could lead to a split result.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    I don’t know the answer to that. I saw that there were something like 2M early votes, no idea if they were cast on voting machines (which I assume would speed up counting) or by hand/mail (which would presumably slow it down, even if they’re fed into a machine). But, as with most things, I’m just speaking out of my ass.

  85. 85.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin: I agree with you.  Plus, it’s not like minorities are receiving better educational opportunities that the white GOP base.  But they still disproportionately remain loyal to their country.

  86. 86.

    SteveinSC

    @rikyrah: The reports of readiness to receive a U.S. 757 in Scotland on the 19th  means Drumpf may be unavailable for prosecution after Jan. 20th  His mother and grandparents were Scots, so he could claim British citizenship, live at his golf club and defy extradition through the UK courts who, as we have seen are reluctant to honor extraditioins.

  89. 89.

    Josie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Years ago, I spotted one hiding in the fan shaped leaves of a small palm tree in our back yard.  I was transfixed by his colors and had trouble believing he was real.  What an incredible bird.

  96. 96.

    Hildebrand

    @Betty Cracker: Exactly.  Because the second Trump is actually gone, all of the supposed ‘adult’ Republicans will turn into Mitch’s best friends – all the while saying, ‘I’m concerned about our deficits…’

  97. 97.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I also heard some worry that some voters literally don’t know they can vote in both runoff elections, instead of choosing to vote for one of either Warnock or Ossoff.

  99. 99.

    rikyrah

    MSNBC is reporting that voters at many Atlanta Metro polling places are in and out in 5 minutes today because so many Georgians voted early! So if you haven't voted, get out and vote by 7PM today. I'm counting on you. #gapol #gasen— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) January 5, 2021

  101. 101.

    Nelle

    @Low Key Swagger: it is a meager move in my circle.  A friend had already offered to house an asylum seeker, jailed at the border, into their house.  It took a lot longer than expected to get him released.  Then two other families who thought they would have asylum seekers for a month or so got worn out with the pandemic so my friend has three Congolese asylum seekers living with them.  In retirement, they bought a big house to practice hospitality and boy, are they.  (They had, in the sixties, done their conscientious objector service with Mennonites as teachers in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, so very much happy to have more connections to the culture.)

  103. 103.

    gvg

    @Betty Cracker: When my parents lived in Orlando, they had them often at their feeder in front of the picture window at the breakfast table. keeping a feeder filled for years helps. Also it was near a bush for cover. Surprising how many houses don’t have windows actually situated to have a good view of something.

  105. 105.

    PsiFighter37

    @Baud: I think it’s possible. Ossoff is also very young (relatively speaking). I would think that it’s a both win/both lose proposition, but Silver seems to think Warnock could win, as well as Perdue.

    I tend to think both win/both lose, but who knows. The race should be close regardless of who comes out on top, although my hope is that both Dems are ahead of Biden’s total, nullifying any drive for a recount.

  106. 106.

    Geminid

     

    @rikyrah: Some Perdue voters may not vote for Loeffler because of her closer association with Governor Kemp. When Kemp picked Loeffler there was pushback by Georgia conservatives because she was seen as a RINO. The vast majority of republicans want to win both seats. But there is a lot of anger at the republican leadership, and some voters may take it out on Loeffler. Their animus may be amplified by misogyny.

  108. 108.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Rex Chapman
    Horse racing
    @RexChapman
    BODYBAGS.

    Georgia’s Republican senators invested in BODYBAGS after a January COVID briefing.

    Please help spread the word before Georgia votes tomorrow…

    BoldProgressives.org
    @BoldProgressive
    BREAKING (SATIRE) NEWS! All-star cast exposes Loeffler & Perdue profiting from COVID + other crazy corruption.

    Thanks to our friends @TheLewisBlack, @YNB, @Aparnapkin, @BethDover1, @AlysiaReiner, @BobWiltfong & Manju Bangalore! Let’s help @Ossoff & @ReverendWarnock
    win on Jan 5!

    I’m pretty certain the satire part is only in the presentation of these little factoids as “Breaking News,” not that they themselves are satire.

  109. 109.

    gvg

    People who are saying that everything depends on winning both Georgia Senate seats, stop and think. It is very desirable to win both and we should try hard, but suppose we don’t? Are you planning to roll over and play dead? Give up? It is too dangerous to give up. It will be harder, no doubt, but if we don’t gain both, we still have to find a way. I don’t know what way it will be, but we have to. We will lose some anyway, but I cannot give up.

    Even is we gain both, it is going to be hard. I remember the Obamacare fight and how the most conservative democrats and least conservative republicans ended up defining what was possible. That is what I am expecting this time.

  110. 110.

    Betty Cracker

    @PsiFighter37: I’ll be overjoyed if both Dems win, pleasantly surprised if it’s a split decision, and unsurprised if both the Republican crooks hang onto office. Republicans turn out in non-presidential elections, damn them.

  113. 113.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    And there will doubtless be hundreds of photographers there who can do an infinitely better job taking photos of birds than I can.

  114. 114.

    SFAW

    @gvg:

    Can we please not have this degenerate into an anti-Eeyore thread?

    Most, if not all, of us understand that winning both seats is extremely important to President Biden being able to get most/all of his agenda implemented. Most, if not all, of us understand that if the Rethugs win either of the races, then Moscow Mitch will be able to exert much more control over whether that agenda gets implemented. I haven’t seen too many people here screaming “OMFG WASF if Loeffler or Perdue wins! OMFG!”

    Most, if not all, of us understand it will be a long, hard slog, no matter the outcome, and I haven’t seen too many people say “Fuck it, what’s the point? I give up.”

    OK?

  115. 115.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Jeffro: I still remember the sheer joy of being given borrowed MF privileges and turned loose on our elementary school library, and how one of the first books I found was called “Clear Thinking.”  That was my first exposure to critical thinking. I devoured it like candy.

    I’m glad the library carried it but guessing that most kids didn’t have the same reaction.

  116. 116.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Betty Cracker:

    There is a spectacular Facebook group that I enjoy – Crap Wildlife Photography. Most of the really crappy entries are of birds – a feather here, a disappeared head there, a blur or an autofocus that concentrates on a branch in the foreground.

    Its all of my worst bird photos, condensed. You may get as much joy from it as I do….

  117. 117.

    SFAW

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    and how one of the first books I found was called “Clear Thinking.”

    Google spits back a few with that title (or very similar). Which one/author do you mean? Ruchlis, or Fleisch, or someone else?

  120. 120.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @SFAW: I just did the search too. The only one I found that has the right publication date (1960s) is the one by Rudolf Flesch. I managed to locate a PDF preview, and I don’t think that’s the book I remember.

    Flesch’s book is called “The Art of Clear Thinking”. My memory which might not be 100% reliable is a book whose title was simply “Clear Thinking”. I remember a lot more pictures. And it was after all on an elementary school library shelf.

    What I remember of the introductory text was the author talking about toothpaste commercials and asking the question, “what does 30% fewer cavities mean? 30% fewer than what?”

    So I could be completely wrong on title or on content, or it’s simply a book that was so obscure it’s not even in the used bookstores anymore.

  121. 121.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Just repeated the search and this time I’m turning up the one by Hyman Ruchlis as also being in the right time frame. That might be it but I’d need to peek inside to know.

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    OK, thanks for trying. I think Fleisch was originally published in 1951, and Ruchlis was (I think) 1990, so Fleisch might be the one. Is a puzzlement. But the toothpaste thing may help narrow it down.

  123. 123.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @SFAW: See #121. A different search found a 1962 publication date for some editions of the Ruchlis book.

  126. 126.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I don’t know about the partisan breakdown; it’s possible that Republicans had this idea too, but I heard it from Dem canvassers working black voters in greater Atlanta–there were some people who thought they had to choose to vote for Warnock or Ossoff and they were going to choose Warnock. It’s an understandable perception given that this is such an anomalous election–it’s not obvious at all how it works. If you think about it, you hardly ever vote for two Senators in the same election; because of the Senate term schedule you usually vote for one seat or the other.

    BUT… this was also very early in the runoff cycle, I think before early voting even started. So it’s possible that they managed to get the message out.

  128. 128.

    cain

    @p.a.: 
    That is quite infuriating – it’s this look forward not backward is why we have a GOP that has gone off the rails. They are off the rails and are stepping on the gas.
    This is also why we are perceived as weak by the opposition and by us because we apparently are great with policy but do not have the ability to punish sedition even when over 60% of the country is behind us. If you can’t punish those who break their oath then what good are ya and where does it leave the country?

  130. 130.

    Another Scott

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Bertrand Russell’s books had that effect on me. Such wonderfully clear writing about challenging topics.

    He was a kook about some things and let his prejudices get ahead of the evidence (e.g. some aspects of childhood education), but he thought deeply and generally very well about logic, happiness, ethics, nuclear weapons, and all sorts of stuff.

    Everyone should know and understand Russell’s teapot:

    Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake. If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  132. 132.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Betty Cracker: 

    How precious: someone just fell off the turnip truck! The only thing that will stop unified Republican obstruction of Biden’s agenda is loss of the GOP senate majority. Period. Full stop. The end.

    Yeah, I saw Barro’s comment and thought, “how in the world does he think what’s happening inside the GOP now translates into gettable Republican votes for any Dem proposal?” It just ain’t happening.

  134. 134.

    catclub

    @cain: This is also why we are perceived as weak by the opposition and by us

     

    Have you ever been to right wing message boards?  They make the same complaint that establishment Republicans (Mitch McConnell) are weak, and not taking the fight to the nine foot tall Democrats.

     

    It is a skewed, parallel, funhouse mirror.

  135. 135.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Betty Cracker: I’m willing to believe we might end up with two camps of Republicans – those bucking outright insanity and those gleefully pushing it on.

    But they’re going to be united in denying Biden any kind of victories. And certainly none of them would care enough to actually fight McConnell.

  136. 136.

    IsraelTopshelf

    “Democrats are united” is at least an overstatement, and certainly isn’t anything to be counted on, unless there is swift, successful action to address the core threats (beyond Covid) that we still face, most especially sedition/treason, inequity, unsustainability, and the power-driven corruption that drives all those concerns.

  138. 138.

    catclub

    @MisterForkbeard: . And certainly none of them would care enough to actually fight McConnell.

     

    I would put Romney in the maybe category, rather than the certainly not,

    category.

  139. 139.

    SFAW

    @catclub:

    Fetish I don’t want to know about.

    “You can do anything you want, Brer japa21, just don’t tell me about no Love Corkscrew fetish”

  140. 140.

    catclub

    @Betty Cracker: I’ll be overjoyed if both Dems win, pleasantly surprised if it’s a split decision, and unsurprised if both the Republican crooks hang onto office.

     

    I think Trump’s non-help to the GOP makes me sliiiightly more optimistic. probably more likely to be disappointed.

  143. 143.

    Ian

    @p.a.:  Oh fer Gawds sake

    but not a prescription for progressive action.

    We have 12 votes in the house.  We will have between -2 and 0(tie) in the senate.  Our voters choose a moderate candidate.  Those congressional numbers will not allow for unicorns.

    As awful as Mrs Collins and Romney having the veto button on most legislation is, any thing that passes right now will by default be moderate.  You work with what you have.

    And anyone pissed at that fact can go take their rage out on the people of the states of Maine, North Carolina, and Iowa.  Majorities of voters in those states have put us in this political position.

  144. 144.

    SteveinSC

    @Kattails: In other news from the Reichs Kanzlerei Grandpa Grassley appears to have let the cat out of the bag after they told him not to:  His office said Pence wasn’t going to be in the Senate tomorrow and Grassley would preside to certify Biden’s win.  Panic.  Now they claim that’s not true.  Ooopsy!  Pence feels loosing a few fingers in the threshing machine is better than being sucked all the way in.

  145. 145.

    Philbert

    @SFAW: Quick search gave me Clear Thinking on Amazon, by Calvo and Bialecki. Only $987.25. I am clearly thinking , uh, no.

  147. 147.

    There go two miscreants

    @Philbert: I have encountered similar absurd prices on some of the used book sites, often adjacent to a reasonable price for what appears to be the same edition, or for books that sold in such quantities that you’d expect a low price. No indication, but maybe signed copies (by the author or some celeb)? Or something at work that I can’t imagine.

    ETA: Not for that specific title, in case that wasn’t clear.

  150. 150.

    Miss Bianca

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oh, so awful. I too have felt the Black Dog’s breath on the back of my neck more than once and thought – not so much that I wanted to kill myself – just that I was so tired of being alive that death seemed like a relief.

    Poor young man. Poor parents. Poor family and friends. Poor world, that lost such a bright presence.

  151. 151.

    Miss Bianca

    @Geminid: seen and shared. *groan*

    But now I have this mad fantasy of running against Lauren Boebert and, instead of a debate, challenging her to draw on me from a distance of 30 feet. “If you can draw faster than I can knock you down, Lauren, you get to live your dream – shooting a dirty Democrat! What’s the matter, baby? CHICKEN? BWAH HA HA”.

    Yes, I am a sicko. Possibly a sicko with a death wish.

  152. 152.

    Annie

    @rikyrah:

    i don’t think so.  I think Warnock has a good chance against Loeffler, who was appointed to her seat by Kemp.  Perdue was elected to his senate seat.

  154. 154.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    @Josie: Scarlet tanagers have the same effect on me.

    Red-winged Blackbirds do it for me. Pretty rare around here, they’re field birds as opposed to woods birds. Also, we have the rare Great Blue Heron passing through, spending time on a rural woods creek….

    ETA: The 3 or 4 times I’ve seen a big Blue Heron have been emotional events, so huge, so awkward at first, but so beautiful. And so rare here in the mountains.

  155. 155.

    MisterForkbeard

    @catclub: Nah. I don’t think Romney will buck McConnell on anything important. He’s happy to make statements that don’t materially affect the actual results.

    His statement on impeachment was good (as was his vote) but he made it after it was too late to have any impact. Otherwise he falls into the “I’m concerned” category, and the only way he can adjust things here is to caucus with the Democrats. Which he won’t do.

  156. 156.

    J R in WV

    @gvg:

    least conservative republicans

    What is this you propose? Can’t be such a thing!!!

    .  .  .  .   .   .   .    .    .        ;~)

  157. 157.

    Betty Cracker

    @Miss Bianca: Yes, both park and wildlife refuge names. Ding Darling was a famous cartoonist and conservationist. Not sure how Corkscrew Swamp got its name, but my guess is from a particularly winding creek? :)

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