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Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Be a wild strawberry.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

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Good lord, these people are nuts.

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They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

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You are here: Home / Elections / Local Races / GOP (Possibly) in Disarray Open Thread: Who’d Be A Senator Now?

GOP (Possibly) in Disarray Open Thread: Who’d Be A Senator Now?

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Since nobody here is liable to have a subscription to Puck, figured I’d share a recent story they chose to title “The Senate’s Midterm Paralysis Problem” [gift link]:

In Washington, midsummer marks the unofficial start of the next year’s midterm election cycle—peak persuasion season for party leadership, donors, and strategists to lock in the incumbents and fresh recruits they’ll want on the congressional battle map the following November. This year, however, everything feels especially up for grabs. In the Senate, retirement rumors are flying as Republicans sweet-talk their colleagues to hold strong in must-protect seats. Meanwhile, Democrats are working valiantly to persuade potential high-profile candidates to run—hoping to defend their numbers and expand the Senate map.

For Republicans, of course, the biggest wild card is Trump, himself. As in past years, the president is wielding his endorsement power to extract maximum leverage over the field, ensuring candidates don’t stray from his MAGA agenda. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, for one, has already elected to retire in 2026 rather than suffer the indignity of a Trump-backed primary challenger. But the contingent nature of Trump’s support has also injected uncertainty into the party’s 2026 planning in multiple states.

In Louisiana, I’m told that Trump is unlikely to endorse Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to impeach the president in 2021 and has done little since then to make amends privately, even though he’s voted in lockstep with Trump’s agenda. For now, however, Trump is unlikely to endorse a primary challenger against Cassidy either—he understands that angering more senators won’t help him on the Hill, especially when he already has skeptics in Tillis, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, and Susan Collins.

Meanwhile, Trump has made it clear that he will not endorse any House member from a remotely competitive district who is giving up a seat to run for statewide office, I’m told by multiple sources. That could complicate things in Michigan, where Rep. Bill Huizenga is looking to jump chambers, and in Kentucky, where I hear Trump isn’t thrilled that Rep. Andy Barr, who occupies a safe seat that Trump won by 11 points, is running to replace McConnell. (Rep. Mike Lawler, who had considered a run for governor in New York, is now telling people that he’s going to stay in the House.)…

Among the most contentious battles will be the Republican primary in Texas, where Trump has yet to decide whether to support incumbent Senator John Cornyn or back far-right firebrand Ken Paxton, whose wife recently revealed she is divorcing him on biblical grounds. At an Oval Office meeting last week with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the staff of the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC to elect Senate Republicans, White House aides said that Cornyn will not get an endorsement unless it’s clear he can wage a competitive race, as was first reported by Punchbowl. Cornyn, a more moderate figure who cosponsored a bipartisan gun safety law after the Uvalde school shooting massacre, is considered a stronger general election candidate but is unloved by the MAGA base, and Trump sees no upside in angering those voters unless he absolutely has to. The Senate Republican apparatus remains firmly behind Cornyn. The Senate Leadership Fund is launching television and digital ads in the state to promote Cornyn’s vote in favor of Trump’s agenda, including the One Big Beautiful Bill…

The Senate map still favors Republicans in 2026, but a few recent developments haven’t broken their way. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu have both declined to run for the Senate, making those races much more difficult for Republicans to pick up. And North Carolina, where Tillis is retiring, could be a toss-up—even if many Republicans think a MAGA-approved candidate will perform better.

Among the variables plaguing the North Carolina race is whether Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, decides to enter the fray. A native Tar Heel, her candidacy would almost certainly clear the field, but most Republican sources I speak to believe she’s unlikely to run. For one, she’d have to actually move to North Carolina from Florida. She has also decided against running for Senate in both Florida and North Carolina in the past…

In the meantime, Republicans are doing everything they can to induce Collins to hold her seat. Her allies pointed me to a new super PAC supporting her that has raised $5 million. Her personal fundraising numbers, due on Tuesday, will also provide an important signal. “I will paint her house, wash her dishes, and mow her lawn if that means she runs for Senate,” a G.O.P. operative who works with Senate candidates told me, arguing that Collins is the only Republican that can win Maine. That’s why Trump is continuing to let her vote how she wants and isn’t giving her grief for when she votes against him. The smart money says she runs: Collins may be 72 years old, but she still loves the job. Why give Democrats the satisfaction of retiring?

Things may play out differently in Iowa, where rumors had swirled for months that Senator Joni Ernst won’t run for reelection. More recently, Ernst named a campaign manager, Bryan Kraber, who announced that she will do her “roast and ride” tour of Iowa this fall. But her heart doesn’t seem in it, Republicans have observed. Colleagues are begging her to run, I’m told, but those same colleagues have screwed her over repeatedly—passing her over for a leadership position and bullying her into supporting Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, despite her deep reservations about the sexual assault allegations against him…

Reader Interactions

126Comments

  2. 2.

    stinger

    Trump sees no upside in angering those voters unless he absolutely has to

    Hmm. I can accept this as “Trump’s political advisors see no upside…” He himself is not a deep thinker.

  3. 3.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    he understands that angering more senators won’t help him on the Hill, especially when he already has skeptics in Tillis, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, and Susan Collins.

    Puh leeeze. “Skeptics”? Only in a mealy-mouthed, occasional verbal sense.
    Somebody get back to me when the people mentioned start voting against Trump stuff when their votes actually count.

  4. 4.

    Ben Cisco

    “especially when he already has skeptics in Tillis, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, and Susan Collins.”

    Really can’t consider any of this bunch skeptics. Tillis knows he’ll get rolled and quit; the other four just make mouth noises, none moreso than Collins.

    ETA: Beat me by THAT much!

  5. 5.

    Suzanne

    Meanwhile, Trump has made it clear that he will not endorse any House member from a remotely competitive district who is giving up a seat to run for statewide office, I’m told by multiple sources.

    This is terrible for the GOP long term, so, like, please proceed. Typical FFOTUS, only worried about himself.

  6. 6.

    bbleh

    All due praise for recruitment of candidates already known and proven, but ima go with Radical Bitcoferism today and say that 2026, and especially the Senate, will depend HEAVILY on TURNOUT.

    Trump and Trumpism are incredibly polarizing, arguably deliberately so.  The Republican Party has been radicalized for a long time — MANY of them would sooner die than vote for a Democrat — and Dems in my experience are becoming much more so (and not improperly).  Reps will vote for a Rep *IF* they vote, and Dems will vote Dem *IF* they vote.  The key is to get them to vote.  And yes name-brand politicians help with that, but only marginally imo.

  8. 8.

    H.E.Wolf

    Let’s just keep doing our work – one small, concrete task at a time.

    And let’s support those who do the same – like Four Directions, for whom we’re raising funds at present.

  10. 10.

    PPCLI

    “Ken Paxton, whose wife recently revealed she is divorcing him on biblical grounds.”

    Which I take it means that she realized he is the Anti-Christ spoken of in the Book of Revelation.

  15. 15.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @PPCLI:

    I thought it meant she realized he was wearing cotton/poly blends.

    Oops, that’s Old Testament stuff and she probably doesn’t count that.

    I’ll come in again.

  16. 16.

    WTFGhost

    Helpful tip: if you cook salsa until the tomato sauce is closing in on tomato paste, okay, and if you add lots of jalapenos, right, and even decide to add just a tiny bit of the jalapeno liquid to the rest, do so *after* you’ve added glugs of olive oil, not before.

    You won’t believe how much the olive oil can magnify that burn. If I have any hemorrhoids, I may not survive my next… exposure – yeah, exposure’s good –  of jalapenos

    ETA: I don’t care if it’s an open thread, I mean, what, this discusses the senate, and I’m discussing painful turds too.

  18. 18.

    Layer8Problem

    (Rep. Mike Lawler, who had considered a run for governor in New York, is now telling people that he’s going to stay in the House.)

    Let’s see how that works out for you, Congressman.

  19. 19.

    scav

    @PPCLI: Her divorce, like her abortion are done on biblical grounds, they are the good ones, God-approved if not holy actions.  Unlike all of the others’ divorces and abortions, it goes without saying.

  20. 20.

    Jeffro

    Trump has yet to decide whether to support incumbent Senator John Cornyn or back far-right firebrand Ken Paxton, whose wife recently revealed she is divorcing him on biblical grounds.

    I love it!

    “Do I go for the easy layup with the incumbent, or support the completely disgusting and corrupt cretin who’s been loyal to me?”

    We might need a term for this kind of trumpov dilemma.

  24. 24.

    Jeffro

    I see trump is tweeting about  trying to distract from Epstein  extorting multiple American businesses today with his “edict” that the Washington Commanders must change their name back to ‘Redskins’

    (and the Cleveland Guardians must do the same…revert back to ‘Indians’)

    totally normal thing for a president to get involved in, fer sure

    (hey, I guess when you don’t want to talk about the decades you spent as Jeffrey Epstein’s pal…ANYthing goes!)

    “Alexa, what’s it called when government controls private businesses’ decisions right down to the name of the business? It’s ‘communism’, right?”

    “And threatening to damage a business just because you don’t like the name – is that ‘extortion’ or is it still just ‘communism’?”

    “What’s that? It’s probably the ramblings of either a drunk guy at the bar or a dementia patient? Oh, I know that, I’m just talking about the *technical* term…”

  25. 25.

    Jeffro

    @PPCLI:

    “Ken Paxton, whose wife recently revealed she is divorcing him on biblical grounds.”

    Which I take it means that she realized he is the Anti-Christ spoken of in the Book of Revelation.

    Paxton’s the deputy anti-christ…the top job is already taken

  26. 26.

    beckya57

    @Baud: yes, along with SCOTUS more recently.  It’s so biased towards GOP states that I don’t see it going Dem again in the foreseeable future.

  27. 27.

    WTFGhost

    @Baud: Three decades can be claimed. Remember, in late 1994, Senate Republicans held the upper chamber hostage as part of their attempt to sin – sorry, typo – win control of Congress, based upon being able to subpoena the dirty filthy criminally corrupt Clintons, and prove that Republicans are the truly mature party of good, upstanding, family values!!!.

    (Sorry, the spelling of “values-bang-bang-bang” is “values!!!”, then a period to end the sentence. I can’t help Republican spelling, I can only work around it.)

  33. 33.

    Jeffro

    @WTFGhost: no…”Make America Healthy Again”…RFK Jr’s Orwellian tag line for all the bad things he’s promoting, in the guise of trying to help Americans be healthy

    (putting sugar cane in Coke is one of them)

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    @gene108:  “Large and in Charge.”

    Gene, this woman is ignorant as fuck.  I welcome her to the Democratic party, and applaud that she cries she likes Barack Obama so much.

    BUT: Democrats DO have strong leaders.  How can you not see any?

    Does this moron ever get around to any assessment of Kamala Harris?  Because I really have to keep turning it off.

    It’s one thing to become a convert — good, and welcome.  But:  she is hardly an expert on that she purports to have converted to.  So, of course she has a Youtube channel.

    ETA:  OK, she finally got around to Kamala.  “Not dynamic enough.”  [But, she liked Condoleeza Rice.  So, not a racist or misogynist.  OK.]

  36. 36.

    Torrey

    @PPCLI:

    “Ken Paxton, whose wife recently revealed she is divorcing him on biblical grounds.”

    Which I take it means that she realized he is the Anti-Christ spoken of in the Book of Revelation.

     

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    I thought it meant she realized he was wearing cotton/poly blends.

     

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    Wait, it wasn’t the BBQ pork ribs and fried shrimp donor dinners?!

     

    I think you’re all right. In addition, there’s a rumor he was working on a Saturday, had a ham and cheese with mayo for lunch (spilled some of the mayo on his cotton-poly blend shirt, which still had molecules of the BBQ sauce from the donor dinner the previous week), and then tried to seduce one of the office clerks whose period had only ended three days before.

    Of course, it’s tempting to say it’s because he was actively working against feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, strengthening the hand of the poor and welcoming the stranger, but his wife probably doesn’t know any of that stuff is in the Bible. Both Hebrew and Christian portions.

  37. 37.

    Ben Cisco

    @Elizabelle:

    Does this moron ever get around to any assessment of Kamala Harris? Because I really have to keep turning it off.

    I didn’t watch, but I’d lay a sawbuck on 1) the answer being NO, and 2) on the off chance that the answer to 1 is yes, that the assessment was somewhat less than exemplary.

    ETA: So, #2 then.

  39. 39.

    gene108

    @Elizabelle:

    She does share, in other parts of the video that coming from a conservative religious upbringing, which bleeds into people’s political views, sets an expectation of charismatic leaders who will set rules and solves problems.

    She liked Obama because on top of values he talked about, and his aspirational vision, he stood out as the “alpha” (her word) as a calm collected leader, who was in charge.

    Trump’s appeal is he said he’d solve problems, if he was in charge. It was something to believe in that others found aspirational.

    She found the whole cooperative process of the Democratic party chaotic and foreign to what she was used to.

    MAGA’s are questioning Trump. Some may be willing to vote D, with the right persuasion.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    @gene108:

    Basically, an authoritarian mindset, sounds like. Not unusual. Glad she held on to some sense of values to reject Trump and the Republicans.

  44. 44.

    gene108

    @Baud:

    Very much an authoritarian mindset, but apparently enough people with an authoritarian mindset might be willing to vote for a Democrat they feel is a strong leader, and be in charge of getting things done.

    Anyway, I find it’s an Interesting perspective on meeting voters where they are in terms of beliefs and expectations.

    A very different mindset to the B-J commentariat, who value cooperative environments, and moderately long somewhat detailed policy discussions.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    @gene108:

    It’s hard to be authoritarian as a practical matter because we’re a coalition party. And all our wins since 2008 have been raxir thin, so it’s not like we can afford to lose a lot of people.

  46. 46.

    Miss Bianca

    @MazeDancer: You know, I gotta admit, I like what I’ve seen of his style so far – he’s got great social media advisors, mirabile dictu for a Democrat.

  52. 52.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Jeffro: Alexa, what’s it called when government controls private businesses’ decisions right down to the name of the business? It’s ‘communism’, right?

    I don’t actually think communism provides for privately held business.  It’s just everybody’s

  56. 56.

    Baud

    The Japanese version of MAGA just went from one seat to 13.  Still tiny, but a good jump.

    Campaigned on anti-immigratiomn even though their immigration is one of the tightest in the world.

  60. 60.

    catclub

    @gene108: that coming from a conservative religious upbringing, which bleeds into people’s political views, sets an expectation of charismatic leaders who will set rules and solves problems.

     

    Authoritarian followers. Chapter 1. The leader can do what he likes and the first thing is punishing the people I don’t like.

     

    IOW- not Democrats

  61. 61.

    Baud

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    @Nettoyeur:

    Japan’s foreign population was 3,768,977 as of the end of 2024, according to figures released by the Immigration Services Agency, rising by 357,985, or 10.5%, year on year. This is the third consecutive record high.

    There were 1,913,516 men (50.8%) and 1,855,431 women (49.2%), as well as 30 people registered as “other.” By residence status, permanent residents were most common at 918,116 (up 26,547 year on year). There were also 456,595 residents classified as “trainees” under the system intended to transfer skills to their country of origin (up 52,039) and 402,134 students (up 61,251).

    China was the most common country or region of origin for foreign residents at 873,286, followed by Vietnam at 634,361 and South Korea at 409,238. Vietnam showed the biggest rise, climbing by 69,335, and all of the top 10 increased, except the population for South Korea (which includes many long-term special permanent residents). Nepal rose to fifth place, overtaking Brazil.

  62. 62.

    cain

    @Baud:

    Isn’t their entire population starting to die off? Then again, it’s on brand for the Japanese to not welcome immigrants because it is very foreign to them

  63. 63.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Lobo: Invite her here. I am sure she would find this place inexplicable.

    By “here,” surely you mean “the United States as described by the Constitution.”

  64. 64.

    catclub

    @Nettoyeur: ​
      I think humans cannot respond to something coming in over 50 years. So the collapse of Japan’s population is not being addressed.

    Tell people their teeth will fall out in 50 years if they do not floss… and they will not floss.

  66. 66.

    Another Scott

    @cain:

    (repost) Dean Baker at CEPR – Do we need more people? (from May 2024):

    […]

    This story is not well supported by the evidence. Countries that have declining populations can manage to do just fine in terms of improving living standards.

    This point is well demonstrated by Japan, everyone’s favorite story of a country with a declining population. Japan’s population has been declining since 2005. Its population is roughly 2.5 percent lower now than it was 19 years ago.

    That’s a fairly rapid decline, but the Japanese probably have not noticed they are suffering as a result. Per capita income in 2023 was 11.9 percent higher than in 2005. That’s not as good as the 23.7 percent growth in the United States, but better than many countries with stable or even increasing populations.

    And this income figure is not giving us the full picture. Japanese workers have chosen to take a large share of the gains from productivity growth in the form of more leisure. Workweeks have gotten shorter and vacations have gotten longer over this period. According to the OECD, the length of the average work year for a Japanese worker has been reduced by 9.6 percent over this period. By contrast, it has fallen just 1.6 percent for workers in the United States.

    There is no economic reason why people should value higher income more than increased leisure. Since its population began to decline, Japan has managed to have a substantial rise in per capita income and also a substantial increase in leisure for an average worker. This does not look like an economic disaster.

    It’s also worth noting that these data do not pick up benefits of a smaller population like less crowding and less pollution. Other things equal, a smaller population means less time wasted in traffic jams and fewer people packed in at beaches or museums. If you face a years-long wait to get admitted to one of the more popular national parks, because they have limited places, think of what the situation is would be if the U.S. had twice as many people.

    Similarly, other things equal, a smaller population means less pollution. Sure, we can adopt cleaner technologies that offset the impact of a larger population, but does anyone think that we will have cleaner technologies simply because we have more people?

    Tokyo used to be a city where the cost of housing was ridiculous. Now it is touted as one of the most affordable major cities in the world. There is much more to this story than just population. Toyko has been very good at pushing policies that facilitate housing construction. But for any given housing stock, more people will mean higher prices.

    On the point about fewer workers to support retirees, it’s worth noting that even modest gains in productivity growth swamp the demographic impact of a smaller ratio of workers to retirees. There can be problems associated with shifting resources, but that was also true when the baby boom generation was growing up and governments had to massively expand the school system to accommodate millions of new students.

    […]

    Is he right? Dunno.

    But his general point that productivity growth is hugely important is pretty much inarguable. That means fewer people are needed to make stuff, people can live better lives, and there’s there’s more resources in the economy to support retirees.

    Too many people pushing the Moar Babeees line seem to want cheaper labor and weaker labor power above all.

    Less crowded cities and suburbs are not automatically a bad thing…

    FWIW.

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  67. 67.

    Jackie

    @Jeffro:

    I see trump is extorting multiple American businesses today with his “edict” that the Washington Commanders must change their name back to ‘Redskins’

    FFOTUS is threatening to derail a stadium deal for the Commander’s if the NFL doesn’t change their name back according to a post on Truth Social.

    I hope the real billionaires don’t fold.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    @Jackie: ​
    As much as I loathe NFL teams extorting stadium bucks from municipalities (“otherwise we move to Vegas”) caving to Donny being Donny is even worse.

    IOW conflicted.

  70. 70.

    Doug R

    @Baud:

     

    The Senate has far and away been our biggest problem for the last two decades

    If 40,000,000 people and 590,000 people have the SAME voice, you don’t have a democracy.

  71. 71.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Baud: World has too many people.

    Eh, I see plenty of space and lots of unused (misallocated?) food.

  73. 73.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Baud: People aren’t objects we can just put anywhere.

    As long as it ain’t in my backyard, amirite?

  76. 76.

    Jay

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    Communism allowed for privately held Companies and Corporations, but only for the “some animals that are more equal than others”.

    communism allowed for privately held Companies and Corporations, but only if they were owned by the workers.

  78. 78.

    Jay

    @Baud:

    and there is mass starvation of people, because of unequal distribution, waste and the DJTdiot Admin burning it.

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    There’s getting sucked into the woodchipper, falling into the giant industrial mixing vat, contacting the high-voltage wire while tree-trimming, then there’s this.

    A 61-year-old man has died after he was sucked into a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine at a medical centre while he was wearing a heavy metal necklace.
    The man, who has not been identified, entered a room at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, on New York’s Long Island, without permission as the MRI machine was running, Nassau County Police Department said.
    A patient at the facility told local media her husband was the one who died. She said she had called him into the room after she had a scan on Wednesday.
    Officials say the incident “resulted in a medical episode” and the man was taken to the hospital, where he died on Thursday. MRI machines use a strong magnetic field to produce detailed images.

    Patients are typically asked to remove metal items and change out of their clothes before undergoing MRI scans or going near the machine.
    “The male victim was wearing a large metallic chain around his neck causing him to be drawn into the machine, which resulted in a medical episode,” said Nassau County Police Department, which is investigating the incident.
    Though police have not named the victim, Adrienne Jones-McAllister told local television station News 12 Long Island that it was her husband, Keith, who died.
    “He waved goodbye to me and then his whole body went limp,” she said tearfully.
    Ms Jones-McAllister told the outlet she was getting an MRI on her knee and asked her husband to come in to help her get up afterwards. She said he was wearing a 20lb (9kg) chain with a lock that he used for weight training.

    Kids: don’t be Keith McAllister.

  81. 81.

    bbleh

    Also gotta add, were somebody to offer me a guarantee that, if I were willing to BE a Republican Senator then Shazam! I WOULD be one … I’m pretty sure I’d pass on the offer.  I just don’t think I could fake as much as it would be necessary to fake — from dealing with donors to dialing for dollars to facing constituents to meeting with other Republican Senators and [shudder] the Orange Guy.

    Nope.  Nopety-nopety-nope.

  82. 82.

    WTFGhost

    @Another Scott: Funny thing: Japan was also an example I heard lauded by experts for its population growth, caused by an economy that was always labor starved, so, every proud parent knew their kids would have a fine life for themselves.

    I also wonder if we could see some real economic growth if the US had a national jobs program, where suddenly it wasn’t hard to get a living wage job if you were willing to do Child Care or home health, okay, so, these jobs are paid what they’re really worth, and now, everyone who wants a middle class job is going into a job interview thinking “I’m sure if I can’t learn child care, I can at least learn nursing,” while they’re listening to the HR drone droning to see if you can survive the long murmur meetings they have at the company, and seeing if you’re a “team player” who loves working late Friday nights (instead of relaxing, and drinking beer!!!), and eats the right order of pizza, rather than being one of those “pepperoni weirdos,” and so forth.

    “Fuck you fucking fuckers, I’m fucking going fucking into fucking childcare!”
    “Not with that mouth….”
    “I’m dropping my whole planeload of f-bombs now, to get them out of the way.”
    “Good luck with that….”

  83. 83.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Jay: Communism allowed for privately held Companies and Corporations, but only for the “some animals that are more equal than others”.

    Certainly doesn’t sound like what any Communists I’ve heard have argued for.  Sometimes people implement something using a name and it really isn’t that thing. Just ask the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.

  84. 84.

    Citizen Alan

    @beckya57: And it’s gonna get worse as demographic shifts deliver more uncontestable Senate seats to underpopulated rural states.

  86. 86.

    WTFGhost

    @bbleh: Well… what if you could say SHAZAM again, and turn back into the human, and kindly, Billy Batson?

    Never mind, I’m just flashing back to the most boring episode of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. ever filmed, when Gomer gained the powers of Captain Marvel, changing back and forth, whenever he spoke the word “Shazam!” which was a declaration he often made while excited, so, lightning bolt after lightning bolt… I don’t think they ever showed it a second time.

  87. 87.

    Portly Neighbor

    Mr. “Gulf of America” demands Commanders/Guardians revert to original names.

  88. 88.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @bbleh: Also gotta add, were somebody to offer me a guarantee that, if I were willing to BE a Republican Senator then Shazam! I WOULD be one … I’m pretty sure I’d pass on the offer.

    I’d accept. My first official act would be to leave the party.

  91. 91.

    Jay

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    Communism is an authoritarian form of Government, top down from either a Leader and their Cabinet, or a Commitee.

    communism, also know as communalism, is a bottom up system working on consensus.

  93. 93.

    Marc

    @trollhattan: More like: don’t be the medical technician on duty that day, as there were multiple violations of established safety protocols (like, you know, closing the damn door if a non-patient was hanging around).

  94. 94.

    Jay

    @bbleh:

    Well, you don’t have to do any of that. No Town Halls, no constituent services, no Party meetings, you don’t have to read the bills, you don’t even have to attend the Senate and vote.

    You just have to take the salary, take the premium Healthcare, maybe the pension if you can hang around long enough, (say Shazam once more), daytrade on insider info and ignore the death threats.

  96. 96.

    Suzanne

    @gene108: When we design MRI suites, they have to have four separate zones, and there’s an arch- or frame-type metal detector on the door to the magnet scan room. So this story implies that either this facility deactivated their detector, or the guy just opened the door and ignored any alarm.

    Fucken dumbass.

  97. 97.

    WTFGhost

    @The Audacity of Krope: Heh. What if it was one of those jobbies where you wake up, looking, and appearing to all their aides, like the original?

    (You know, like “Heaven Can Wait” where they stick your soul into another body for a bit, or Quantum Leap, where poor Sam wouldn’t get a moment’s rest any longer.)

  98. 98.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Jay: I’m not seeing any difference there other than capitalization. Stands to reason the capitalized version is the appropriated by autocrats version.

  101. 101.

    Another Scott

    @trollhattan: @gene108: @Marc:

    Yeah, I wonder if there was more than one person working there that shift.  I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the solitary tech did the check-in, questioning, grabbing the insurance information, running the machine, collecting the data to send to the doc, etc., etc. In the name of “efficiency”, you know.

    Relatedly, … Dean Baker’s latest:

    The workers that Trump is deporting will also be a factor here. Many immigrants worked in low-paying jobs in the healthcare sector. Hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities will struggle to replace them and will almost certainly have to pay more money when they do. This will also accelerate the loss of hospitals and other providers. It is worth noting that healthcare has been by far the leading sector for job growth in the last three years. Budget cuts and the loss of immigrant labor will sharply slow growth in the sector.

    Everything’s connected…

    Grr…

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  102. 102.

    Marc

    @gene108: The main problem is that magnets are pretty much always ON as these are superconducting devices (liquid helium) and one really wants to avoid a quench cycle.  Most often, it’s unwary cleaning staff who die this way.

  103. 103.

    trollhattan

    @Suzanne: ​
     
    My spouse and kid both do weights regularly. Know what they don’t do? Wear the frickin’ weights the rest of the day.

  104. 104.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @trollhattan: Certain weights are designed specifically to be worn around. Mine was a vest. Got me the extra exercise I wanted from walking or other body exercises when my weight was down

    I could totally see someone going through their day like that.

  106. 106.

    Marc

    @Suzanne: Given the amount of metal hanging from the guys neck, it was probably pretty much too late when the alarm went off, if the door was actually open as has been indicated.  IIRC, heavy ferrous objects, like unsecured gas cylinders, aren’t even allowed in the next zone outside of the magnet room.

  107. 107.

    WTFGhost

    @The Audacity of Krope: A corporation that’s officially owned by the government, could fit into communism with some rejiggering, I think. Of course, this would only be while the government still existed, prior to disbanding the government, to unleash the worker’s paradise.

    Just like Trump’s idiocy is somehow going to make the US the HOTTEST economy in THE WORLD and yet should see INTEREST RATE CUTS (exactly what you never want to do during “hot” times), and soon EVERYONE WILL BE RICH because Trump will define everyone “as having the honorable and beautiful first name of ‘Richard’ to make it so!” (hey, everyone calls him a dick, even after he’s explained his name is not Richard, and no one cares, so, he just wants revenge. That’s normal for a US President, isn’t it?)

    (Well, technically, if you read the sequel to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Charlie and the Glass Elevator,” you do find at US President who does *sound* an awful lot like Trump, up to, and including, having to have a nanny about all the time. I’m sure this is just one of  Roald Dahl’s nightmares, and I’ll wake up any minute. Why is Except… why is DAHL dreaming about EPSTEIN?

  109. 109.

    WTFGhost

    @Suzanne: I’m in partial agreement, but… god damn, from being exhausted all the time, I know how easy it is to be unthinkingly stupid.

    One of the low marks of recognizing how badly off I am, was, I put a cast iron pan on a HIGH flame, stepped over to tell my wife something, she didn’t understand what I said, so I stepped forward to say it louder, and *bam* – my working memory cleared completely.

    “Is something cooking?” she asked, in a few minutes, when I’d joined her in the living room (never having gone back to the kitchen), and I said “nope, nothing cooking.”

    “Maybe (stepson) is firing up his *forge*?” (the smell of hot cast iron is obvious)
    “Could be.”

    Wife walks into kitchen, shrieks, I run back, and see… the pan I left over a flame – burning hot, near glassware, and near flammable materials.

    And I’m babbling to myself like I’d been frickin’ *MIND CONTROLLED*, because I saw my hands set that fire, and put that pan over it, but I knew better than anyone not to walk away from a fire like that… not with my ability to forget. So I was looking at the scene, you know, “I would never, ever, in a million years, do that thing I just obviously did.”

    Soon afterward, I’m cooking on a portable induction unit, and in a toaster oven, unless I have sufficient presence of mind (which usually involves having another person to be the presence of a *working* mind).

  110. 110.

    Suzanne

    @Marc:

    IIRC, heavy ferrous objects, like unsecured gas cylinders, aren’t even allowed in the next zone outside of the magnet room.

    Correct. Supposed to leave that stuff in Zone 1.
    It sounds like this staff was incredibly negligent, if they were leaving the doors open.

    And, y’all: don’t be like the guy who decided to wear a buttplug to his MRI. I’m not linking. You’re welcome.

  111. 111.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Suzanne:  Jeeez….uz.

    (sorry, had to walk away for a bit at the image evoked there…..)

    p.s. I just watched/listened to a pretty good little podcast on yarvin and the broligarchy, if yould like I can link. Its current.

  112. 112.

    different-church-lady

    @gene108:

    Trump’s appeal is he said he’d solve problems

    Biden botched it badly with his, “There are no problems, everything’s great, pay no attention to your own emotions” approach, and even though Harris tried to fix that it was too late.

  114. 114.

    Jay

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    Not surprised that you don’t see any difference.

    In communism or communalism, workers own the farms, factories, businesses, shops and stores, not as an “on paper” national aggregate, but for each entity. So, the workers at Always Fresh Farm, own the farm, own their labour, own the product and own the profits. The workers at Big Green Ag Equipment own the factory, the machine tools, own their labour, own the product and own the profits. Etc. Citizens run the entire, local, “state” and federal government programs via various means of representation, from plebiscite’s, referendums, etc. It’s a full participatory from of Government.

    Unfortunately, outside of small Coop’s, Communes and Worker own business’s, small c “communism” has never fared well or lasted longer than a blink. All the “Worker’s Soviets”, from Azerbaijan to Ukraine, were either taken over by the Red Army or destroyed from inside by either class conflict or an internal coup and then taken over by the Red Army or the Argentine Military.

  115. 115.

    WTFGhost

    @Suzanne: Boggle.

    You know, after a person removes a butt plug, you need to be aware of vasovagal symptoms, where a person might be lightheaded, and, yes, could faint, from an activety almost exactly the same as elimination. Elimination can, in fact, cause the issue. This is where the “safer sex” instructors learned about it and taught it as pretty much the final step in that section.

    And, having learned *that*, I had hoped to end my education!

    Just sayin’. (But I’d have shared the story too, so, who am I to complain?)

  117. 117.

    Geminid

    The New Hampshire Senate race could be close. Democratic Rep. Chis Pappas seems like a good candidate, and I think next year’s political climate will not favor Republicans in New Hampshire, or for tbat matter most other places in the U.S. So Pappas ought to win.

    Former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown could make the race competitive though. Brown has the good fortune of having been out political office the last decade. That was a good decade to miss too. Just about every Republican who held federal or state office during the last ten years is more or less tarnished now if not dirty.

    Brown spent most of Trump’s first term halfway around the world, in New Zealand as U.S. Ambassador. That was a choice post and far enough from.DC. All this is to say Brown is a little shinier than most Republicans are these days.

    Brown has a Trump problem, obviously. He has to solve it or at least mitigate it as best he can. On the plus side, Brown has has decent retail campaign skills that may be well suited to his adopted state.

    So I’ll be interested in how Chris Pappas and New Hampshire Democrats perform. I think they know they have to work for this win and plan to. I’ll probably check them out from to time to see how they’re executing.

  118. 118.

    Suzanne

    @MagdaInBlack: Which one? I’d love a link — thank you. Behind the Bastards did two episodes on Yarvin some months back. I knew most of it, but hearing it again was….chilling.

  120. 120.

    Suzanne

    Oh, and I will note that MRI doors, and the doors to the other safety zones, have mechanical or electrical closers on them. If the door was open, the staff would have had to specifically override or disable it.

  123. 123.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Suzanne: Thats not the one I was trying to link, BUT I’m sure you’ll see it when you nose around his substack.  This stuff is just nuts.

  124. 124.

    Marc

    @Suzanne: Yet, somehow his wife was able to summon him to her side through at least two doors that should have closed and locked automatically, without using a cellphone (since she couldn’t have one).  Something is wrong with this picture.

  125. 125.

    Suzanne

    @Marc: My guess is that the staff hate the closing function of the doors — probably because they aren’t adjusted right and they’re getting in their way — and they either disabled them, or even just shove wedge doorstops under the door.

  126. 126.

    Another Scott

    @Suzanne: Not arguing with your experience, but aren’t many MRI systems in outpatient facilities these days? With likely much less strict safety measures than ones at hospitals?

    Nassau Open MRI seems to be in a non-descript medical office building next to an old shopping center.

    :-/

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

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