Congress is back in session and House Democrats vow that their first order of business is stimulus, including $2,000 checks to individuals https://t.co/bd3K0iLCTI
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 4, 2021
President-elect @JoeBiden campaigning for @ossoff and @ReverendWarnock goes after President Trump on COVID: "The president spends more time whining and complaining than doing something about the problem. I don't know why he still wants the job. He doesn't want to do the work."
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) January 4, 2021
Biden team is vowing a "whole of government" effort to fix our vaccine rollout. Could include:
* Defense Production Act for distribution
* Mobile units, including rural areas
* A lot more spending
I talked to covid czar Jeff Zients about what's coming:https://t.co/mnxzbQKmGE
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 4, 2021
As Biden prepares to take office, Democrats are united and Republicans are at each other's throats. Why is this supposed to be a bad sign about his ability to govern with this congress? https://t.co/Jxfuhg4hBG
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) January 4, 2021
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.
Baud
The laws of U.S. political culture prohibit Democrats from having wins. They either lose or they sell out.
Patricia Kayden
Leto
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.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden:
Heh. That’s perfect. Reads like an old joke repurposed.
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.
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
Sadly, I knew what the punchline would be before I’d even finished reading the first sentence.
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..
OzarkHillbilly
Statement of Congressman Jamie Raskin and Sarah Bloom Raskin on the Remarkable Life of Tommy Raskin
RIP Tommy.
(read at your own peril)
Kirk Spencer
@Leto: yep. Because Cleek’s law applies.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: It was such a touching tribute. RIP Tommy
Baud
Meaningless readership capture.
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.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
That last sentence specifically. ?
OzarkHillbilly
If’ns you’re in the DC area:
They are extraordinary. I hope to see one someday.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Maybe it’ll appear on Biden’s podium when he gives his inaugural speech.
Keith P.
@Betty Cracker: This.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ?? ?
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.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
I read it yesterday ????
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
Tell that truth ?
debbie
If only. ?
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Thanks. Not strong enough this morning (if ever) to read it. Maybe I’ll be able to, later.
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.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: HA! Thanx, I needed that laugh.
@Betty Cracker: Keep your camera handy.
SiubhanDuinne
@OzarkHillbilly:
Jesus. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to stop crying today.
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!’ “
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.
Kristine
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;
OzarkHillbilly
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s a gut punch.
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: Rep. Raskin seems like a good guy. I hope he and his family can find peace after this terrible loss.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Speaking only for myself, if they were strong enough to write it, I felt obligated to read it.
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.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Heartbreaking. Too good for this world.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: I saw that, but couldn’t read it all. Sometimes I don’t know how people go on.
MazeDancer
@OzarkHillbilly:
Everyone must read it.
Read it last night. Felt honored to have been allowed into Tommy Raskin’s life, and been able to celebrate it.
So beautifully written. What a light he was.
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.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I don’t either. Having other children helps but it almost killed my old man anyway. It did kill my uncle (only child).
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.
Amir Khalid
@Patricia Kayden:
Unpossible, I says!
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!
Spanky
@Dorothy A. Winsor: He left instructions.
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
Good morning! ?
Skepticat
This. I wish I were more optimistic about the chances.
Betty Cracker
Lou Dobbs is SO CLOSE to getting it!
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.
cmorenc
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.
Mary G
@OzarkHillbilly: The picture of Tommy and parents standing on their porch in May listening to a choir, presumably masked and distanced, serenading them from the sidewalk with the family dog awooing along is heartbreaking. You just never know when someone who looks like they have it all is struggling.
rikyrah
Yes???
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.
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.
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.
trnc
Yup. It’s not as though a pissed off Tommy Tubby is going to make Mitch hold unwanted votes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
You’re right. I put aside my selfishness and read it. Thanks again.
trnc
And, of course, the pathological inversion of faith – the more anyone points out there is no evidence, the more they believe it.
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.
Baud
@JMG:
The conventional wisdom (or guesswork) is that Warnock will win and Ossoff will lose.
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).
rikyrah
??
MazeDancer
@Nelle: What a wonderful thing for you to do!
rikyrah
@Baud:
I don’t see it.
Either they both win or they both lose.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@japa21: Glad to see you! How are you doing?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Baud:
Ah yes, the standard view of the world from Our Progressive Betters.
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.
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.
OzarkHillbilly
I’m gonna tell my wife you said that. You can expect an argument.
Baud
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Among others. I don’t think it’s limited to them.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I already cleared it with her before I wrote it. She said “just this once.” [Interestingly, my wife says the same about me.]
rikyrah
Punchy
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….
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.
Matt McIrvin
@Spanky:
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.
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.
Soprano2
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.
Low Key Swagger
@Nelle: Opening up your home is a very generous thing to do.
rikyrah
@japa21:
????????
SFAW
@Baud:
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Baud
@SFAW:
Rotating tag nominee.
SFAW
@Baud:
“Made it, Ma! Top of the world!!!”
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.
OzarkHillbilly
I’m not surprised.
Geminid
@SteveinSC: I hope trump does go to Scotland when he leaves the White House.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
The surprising thing would be Perdue losing votes because of it
OzarkHillbilly
@Josie: Scarlet tanagers have the same effect on me.
rikyrah
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Populism: Hatred of the Libtards.
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…’
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.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin: Are those people disproportionately Dem voters?
rikyrah
Another Scott
@SFAW: https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/GA_RO.html
As of yesterday, 1/4/2021:
Cheers,
Scott.
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.)
Geminid
@OzarkHillbilly: That Brent Baier/David Perdue interview Rex Chapman linked to is good stuff. Perdue keeps smiling, but he does not look very happy.
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.
rikyrah
@Geminid:
There is no third candidate.
It is one or the other
I see no split
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.
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.
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly: I read yesterday. Was in tears. So upsetting.
OzarkHillbilly
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.
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.
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.
Jeffro
@Spanky: when have critical thinking skills EVER been taught to American kids (or any others)?
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
Seconded exactly!
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.
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?
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.
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….
SFAW
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Google spits back a few with that title (or very similar). Which one/author do you mean? Ruchlis, or Fleisch, or someone else?
Dorothy A. Winsor
My internet was just down for 30 minutes. It turns out that matters more during a pandemic
Betty Cracker
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I am aware of Crap Wildlife Photography in its Twitter incarnation, and it’s a relatable joy for sure. I even contributed a photo they retweeted — blurry egret legs with half the body and entire head out of the shot. :)
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.
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.
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.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@SFAW: See #121. A different search found a 1962 publication date for some editions of the Ruchlis book.
SFAW
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Thanks again. Just ordered a used Ruchlis. Even if it’s not the right one, it looked interesting.
Timill
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: R W Jepson?? Several on abebooks.
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.
Matt McIrvin
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Slack had a global outage yesterday. That must have practically shut down a lot of companies.
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?
Gin & Tonic
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Way out of your timeframe, but that toothpaste thing sounds like something you’d find in A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper. Which is great book regardless.
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:
Cheers,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: We now live in an age in which it’s possible to PUT that teapot there. I see a great need.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
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.
catclub
FTFY
catclub
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.
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.
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.
catclub
Fetish I don’t want to know about.
catclub
I would put Romney in the maybe category, rather than the certainly not,
category.
SFAW
@catclub:
“You can do anything you want, Brer japa21, just don’t tell me about no Love Corkscrew fetish”
catclub
I think Trump’s non-help to the GOP makes me sliiiightly more optimistic. probably more likely to be disappointed.
Geminid
@catclub: Also Murkowski.
Kattails
@SteveinSC: apparently the Scottish PM just say “nuh-uh” to Donnie on the teevee.
Ian
@p.a.: Oh fer Gawds sake
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.
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.
Philbert
@SFAW: Quick search gave me Clear Thinking on Amazon, by Calvo and Bialecki. Only $987.25. I am clearly thinking , uh, no.
Geminid
@SteveinSC: Pence is dumbed if he does, dumbed if he doesn’t.
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.
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker:
These are *park names* down in FL?!
Geminid
@Miss Bianca: Hope you caught Mr. Silverman’s post last night about the CO 3rd’s new Congresswoman.
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.
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.
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.
Annie
@SteveinSC:
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
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.
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.
J R in WV
@gvg:
What is this you propose? Can’t be such a thing!!!
. . . . . . . . . ;~)
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? :)