Experimenting with the Extremes

Attribution: The American Experiment by Christopher Weyant, The Boston Globe, MA

USA Lab class 101: base mixed with acid can either neutralize each other or worse.

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103 thoughts on “Experimenting with the Extremes”

  1. from The Conversation:

    In a July 4, 1861, address to Congress, Abraham Lincoln quite rightly saw the crisis as a grave trial for the democratic experiment to survive.
    “Our popular Government has often been called an experiment,” Lincoln observed. “Two points in it our people have already settled – the successful establishing and the successful administering of it. One still remains – its successful maintenance against a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it.”

  2. observations of those on the outside looking in

    BBC:

    Any benefit to losing Mr Biden may be muted by the looming risks, according to some Democratic leaders.
    If the president stood aside, most of what comes after remains unclear: who would replace Mr Biden, and how? And how would that candidate fare against Trump?
    And in recent days, several Biden allies have stressed the pitfalls of charting a new course, arguing that Mr Biden has been a proven success.
    “Biden is old,” said Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, 82, on CBS News on Sunday. “He is not as articulate as he once was. I wish he could jump up the steps on Air Force One. He can’t. What we have got to focus on is policy – whose policies have and will benefit the vast majority of the people in this country.”
    California Governor Gavin Newsom, who spent the weekend stumping for the president, said the same at a rally in Doylestown, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
    “It’s the hypothetical that gets in the way of progress in terms of promoting this candidacy,” Mr Newsom said. “It’s exactly where the other party wants us to be, is having this internal fight, and I think it’s extraordinarily unhelpful.”
    Mr Biden’s public supporters say replacing him may become a direct benefit to Trump’s Republicans, who can argue their opponents are engulfed in party chaos.
    “We’ve got to stop talking about this,” Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan said on CNN on Sunday. “We’ve spent a whole week. Republicans are having a great time. I mean, we need to get back to talking about Donald Trump and his performance.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/08/congress-democrats-biden-nominee-decision

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/08/nato-summit-biden-trump

  3. Joe does not need two hands to drink a glass of water.
     
    The media smells blood and will do anything to spread it on this country.  Including their own demise as the facists take over and control the media.  I am with Biden and Harris.

  4. BB, and he’s never talked about the Continental Army capturing the airports and “at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, it had nothing but victory” in the War of Independence. 🙄 Yes the pugs are having a good time. Rep. Dingell is right. Get back to talking about Dumbass.

  5. BB, nor has joe (to my knowledge) ever had to declare bankruptcy multiple times in addition to almost bankrupting the country with massive tax cuts for the rich…. neither is he a deadbeat who doesn’t pay his contractors or lawyers.

  6. BB, Pogo,

    the 3 of us plus sturge, BiD and maybe a few more appear to still be members of the biden/harris happy band of warriors here on the Trail.  well, maybe not so happy, but we seem to be hanging in at least.

  7. Bloomberg’s post-debate swing state polls show Republicans might have the wrong nominee. Trump hasn’t leveraged Biden’s meltdown into a statistically significant lead.

  8. Biden sends a letter to congressional Democrats with this message:

    “I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump. … The voters — and the voters alone — decide the nominee of the Democratic Party. How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore our own party.”

  9. in re Bloomberg
    Wow…..even with democrats doing most of the heavy lifting?

  12. A Smith person 
    It’s no surprise that PoC and women are leading the grassroots movement to defend Joe’s candidacy for reelection. Marginalized groups who’ve had to fight for their rights for generations. People who understand in their bones that you don’t always have the luxury of picking the perfect time or the perfect person when you’re fighting for your very existence. You fight with what you have. You stand together till the end. It’s not an intellectual exercise or a clever political calculation. Fighters recognize fighters

  13. One thing for sure, no one can take nomination away from him against his will. I guess we’ll have to pass the XANAX for the second debate.

  14. JonFlan
    “People are talking about ‘Biden is too old’ — hell, I’m older …,” Rep. Waters, 85, said, “& I get up every morning. & I exercise. & I work late hours. I take care of Black people. Trump has told you who he is, … a no good, deplorable, lying, despicable human being.”

    Fight the right people

  15. Philadelphia radio station WURD has parted ways with a host who interviewed President Biden on Wednesday using questions provided to her by the Biden campaign. WURD said in a statement Sunday that “agreeing to a predetermined set of questions jeopardizes’’ its listeners’ trust. The host, Andrea Lawful-Sanders, resigned in a mutual agreement, according to WURD.

  16. Attacking Biden while not having a clue about what happens if he actually does drop out just ain’t too bright. 
    But attacking debates which have not even happened yet?   That’s just kinda weird, my friend.

  18. “The voters — and the voters alone — decide the nominee of the Democratic Party. How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore our own party.”

    AMEN, Mr. President.

    the voters. not the polls, not the pundits, not the yellow-bellied candidates and certainly not the russian pushers of disinformation along with their magaT cult.

  21. What I don’t get is why can’t you (or anyone else attacking Joe) see what is going to happen once you pitchfork Joe outa there.  Why are you totally ignoring the  chaos which is the inevitable result?
    if you want to attack something which hasn’t happened yet (and it was an attack) you  might try that on for size.

  22. Biden on Morning Joe: “He’s just a liar! And he hasn’t done a damned thing since the debate. He’s been riding around the golf cart for 10 days, down in Mar-a-Lago.”

    “I am not going anywhere. I wouldn’t be running if I didn’t absolutely believe that i am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump in 2024.”

    To Democrats saying he should quit: “Run against me. Challenge me at the convention.”

  23. the 3 of us plus sturge, BiD and maybe a few more appear to still be members of the biden/harris happy band of warriors here

     
    Pat, I haven’t quit the band. Joe is family, you don’t give up on family, you just want what’s best for them and the family as a whole. 

  24. Sturg, I don’t think it’s fair to say worries Biden can’t beat Trump is “attacking” him. Real Biden-leaning voters out there are really concerned whether he can handle this. Attacking them for disloyalty doesn’t ease their concerns. Address their concerns and how Trump will make their lives worse. That’s all!

  25. Joe is not dropping out, so why not see how much damage can be inflicted between now and,say, September. 

    Good plan.   
    Republicans are cheering.
    Putin is cheering.

    Why do you ignore what happens if he drops out?

  26. More Biden on Morning Joe:

    “I don’t care what those big names think! They were WRONG in 2020! They were wrong in 2022 about the red wave! They’re wrong in 2024!

    And go with– to come out with the watch and watch people react. You make a judgment! You make a judgment!

    And by the way I’m going to be have all these foreign leaders here. I’ve been in contact with a new British prime minister, which is– anyway. Look the country the rest of the world. Look at our allies looking for U.S. leadership. Who else do you think can step in here and do this?

    I expanded NATO, I solidified NATO, ask your brother [to Mika] about it in Poland. I made sure that we’re in a position where we have a coalition of people, of the nations around the world to deal with China, with Russia, when everything is going on in the world.

    We’re making real progress. The Biden plan, which Gaz– in Israel to, for the Gaza Strip. It is something that was adopted by the U.N. Security Council. Whether it comes to fruition, it’s awful close. We’ll see. G7–.

    But look, I’m not going to explain anymore about what I should or shouldn’t do. I am running! I am running!”

  28. I’m with Biden/Harris…
    ya know who’s smiling at all of this crap….   Putin…

  29. The voters have been voicing these concerns for months now. Denying them, dismissing them or calling them disloyal is not the way to overcome their concerns.

    Replace Biden as nominee:

    64% all voters
    55% Black voters
    66% Hispanic voters
    48% Biden (!) voters

    Biden is too old to be an effective president:

    69% all voters
    62% Black voters
    68% Hispanic voters
    55% Biden voters

    This is from the NYT PRE-debate poll, Trump 48-Biden 42, which was taken:

    – After weeks of wall-to-wall coverage of Trump’s criminal conviction

    – Months after Biden campaigned intensely and spend tens of millions on swing state ads

    – At a time when 80% of voters said they were paying attention to the race

    Almost every other pre-debate poll found similar results.

    This is not an elite thing. This is not a media thing. This is not a one-bad-debate-freakout thing. It’s a voter thing.

  32. Larry Sabato
    @LarrySabato
    Like it or not, that’s the end of that. Biden-Harris it is for Dems. Legally, Biden has the high ground–he has to agree to step aside and he is clearly not going to do so. Today’s question: Will Dem officeholders, donors, rank-and-file reunify quickly, or will they do what they did, more or less, in 1968, 1980, 2000, and 2016 (among other years)? (Hint: Dems lost in all 4 of those years.)

  34. Been pondering lately what-if the GG (greatest generation who fought WWII) had not gone “silent” about their experiences, and had told us kids more about what they fought for and what they fought against (fascism), and if our politics had not gone off exclusively on a tangent about the bugaboo of communism (i.e., leftism, socialism, progressivism), then maybe-just-maybe we’d have a better-informed generation about what kind of deep hole they’re about to vote us all into if they vote for Trump and his band of bandits. 

  35. Certain voters doubts have been around how qualified and suited the VP is to step into the shoes. Either way it goes, those doubts must be allayed. 

  36. Ruth was also sucker punched by the Jill Steins, Bernie Bros, Comey, But her emails, and dire warnings of un-electable 
    Maybe Ruth just believed in all those polls. Not too smart as it turned out but people do love those polls.

  37. But the polls were correct that Dems would get what Obama called “a shellacking” in his midterm, which is why he lunched with Ruth before that happened and gently suggested she let him replace her. Some say he was too gentle, because obviously it didn’t work.

  38. I see that Ruth should have skipped town but don’t see that being relevant to Joe. 

  42. Bill had said he would vote for Joe if his head was in a jar of blue liquid. 

  44. I think he’s totally wrong. 
    And I’ve heard, by the way, from a trusted source that he’s a nitwit.

    And I haven’t heard his post-Biden plan.  You know why?   Because he, like everyone else hollering “step down”  doesn’t have one.

  45. Ahem!  
    Biden/Harris is running against tRUMPsky/Project 2025.

    If an adequate amount of coverage was being given to the dangers of the other side from the get go, and if ambitious Dems like Mark Warner had not been determined to get themselves on a ticket by undermining  Biden, those poll numbers about Biden getting out would look a lot different, Craig.
    The wound was self-inflected and the media continues to rub salt into it.

    Donald J. Trump is a traitor, a liar, a grifter, an adjudicated rapist, an adulterer, a convicted felon, a sociopath, a megalomaniac, and a loser to Biden/Harris in 2020.  

    Everyone propping him up, from family to congressional critters to billionaires to the MAGAt base to Putin to many members of the media are also guilty of being traitors to this country.

  46. Joe’s as power hungry as everybody else that has it
     
    somebody get a crowbar

    Every election is this country is now a statistical dead heat regardless of candidates because that’s how polarized we are. You’re attacking Craig for no reason because it doesn’t matter what he says, every election is gonna be a almost a dead split

    And btw, the things that senior Democrats, like Adam Schiff this past weekend, have said on broadcast television are way more damaging than anything Mr. C can say

  47. Biden/Harris 2024 v tRUMPsky/Project 2025
    Let’s see how that poll plays out.

    Instead of playing stupid games, Dems should be pointing out that Project 2025 needs to be stopped in races down ballot, as well.   No so-called Republican can ever win a seat, again, because the fascist infection has to be stopped at every point in the body politic. 
     

  48. If Joe goes off the ticket, the whole party goes down based on the ensuing chaos alone. He must stay in the saddle with Kamala right behind him ready and able to grab the reins. 

  49. What’s “the Chaos”, by the way?  Joe releases his delegates, as Craig said,  Kamala gets the nomination, and they pick anyone from an impressive field of really strong VP candidates, that doesn’t seem like too chaotic a process to me
     
    Don’t worry, weak-kneed Dems would never have the gumption

  51. The chaos will be wreaked by the republicans who will unleash their flying monkeys and minions. All they need is the perception of weakness to reinforce the doubts that already fester. 

  52. NYTimes: Parkinson’s Expert Visited the White House Eight Times in Eight Months — White House has said that President Biden has no signs of the disease and that there has been no reason to update the most recent testing, conducted in February.

  54. The chaos will be a carbon copy of the CURRENT chaos, only exponentially more chaotic.  Anyone attacking hop lately or is it still just gems attacking each other and Biden……

    But sure……WANTING it to be a smooth transition will certainly accomplish that.

  55. well i sure hope Joe exploits his absolute immunity and starts installing governmental firewalls ASAP
     
    he can start by firing every single trump appointee, today

    and i would say “firing every trump appointee for which he has the authority to do so”, but hey, “absolute immunity”!

  56. Just a word about the possible chaos, please    
    What’s “the Chaos”, by the way?  Joe releases his delegates, as Craig said,  Kamala gets the nomination, and they pick anyone from an impressive field of really strong VP candidates, that doesn’t seem like too chaotic a process to me
    1.  Kamala gets the nomination…
    Isnt that a fight?
    2. …and they pick anyone from a field…
    Simple as that eh?  Liz Montgomery winkles her nose and -poof- there’s the new VP, fully armed and ready to go?
    3. …that doesn’t seem like too chaotic process to me.
     
    i think that point deserves a bit more honest review of democrats working together under extreme pressure and chokingly tight time constraints.  And to restate:   The CURRENT chaos is a drop in the bucket of the one which is on its way.

  57. Hell, I don’t care.
    The hole has done been dug.  
    Guess we can watch and see who starts falling into it.   I hope it all turns out ok.   
    And maybe there won’t be any debilitating chaos. It could happen.

  59. i’ll admit that i’m assuming top Dems (and we’re talking TOP dems) who’ve “publicly voiced concerns” (to be euphemistic), have an idea of the “mechanics” of nominating someone other than Joe, or they wouldn’t be making their points in very public forums
     
    From what i’ve read, July 12 is a some procedural nomination deadline so it will be a moot and counterproductive conversation after that, if Mr. C or anyone else wants to confirm that date

  60. craig, at 10:07 you posted:

    I wonder if Biden would get a boost by opening the convention and running himself, challenge others to run against him.

    and at 10:20

    [on morning joe]To Democrats saying he should quit: “Run against me. Challenge me at the convention.”

    you got your wish. now let’s see if anyone will step up and openly take him on.  they’ll have to reckon with the black caucus, the unions and with women’s groups — those real grassroots workers — if they do.

  61. dissing and dismissing biden is dissing and dismissing his administration.  he goes so goes one of the best we’ve had.  he has an excellent record for putting in a very very diverse, well experienced, group of people to whom he has allowed agency to succeed.   dump him and you’re also dumping them.  

  62. Pat, my point is the same as his, I think. Issuing the challenge will make him seem stronger as predictably no one takes him up on it.

  63. Ah, the quadrennial American tradition of everyone losing their goddamned minds 🫡 🇺🇸 
     
    run whatchu brung i guess 🤷‍♂️ 

  66. Karine Jean-Pierre says she “takes offense to what Ed alluded to,” when she dodges on the Parkinson’s specialist, adding that it is “really unfair” that she is “holding information” from the White House press corps.

  68. I’d forgotten that back then you used to could get actual Benzedrine and stuff.

    And who the hell is helicopter?

  69. Shouting match in White House briefing room. Not pretty

    One person shouting does not a ‘match’ make, i thought KJP handled “Ed” well 👍 

  70. I am looking at this as  my vote for Joe is my vote for number forty-seven, Harris.  I do not expect him to do the full term, I do not wish him ill, just that some people will retire when the time is right.  Joe was the president we needed at the time.  That time passes once he is reelected to the office.

  73. Blue maga.    The right winger who thought that up probably got an extra cookie or something.  

    Emerging on the internet.

  74. I prefer the term  prudent  to “blue maga.”   

    There’s not a prudent Dem who wouldn’t vote for whomever the candidate is when it comes right down to it.   (Sturg is correct; maga-world doesn’t understand Dems.)

    Very simply, I think Dems in positions of leadership have muffed this by freaking out about the debate, doing it out loud, and by continuing to feed the fire.  

    Question: Would Harris have opposition at the convention?

    Another question: Would Dems be stupid enough to put yet another old, white man on the ticket with her?

    My answer to both questions: Hope not.

  78. Can Mark Warner be trusted to do what’s best for anyone other than Mark Warner?  
    Asking for a friend. 

  79. HAKEEM JEFFRIES SPEAKS: “Yes I made clear the day after the debate publicly that I support President Joe Biden and the Democratic ticket. My position has not changed.”

  80. And “how to best prevent tRUMP’s lawlessness from returning to the White House” was by not making public statements about President Biden in hopes that it would make him bend to the will of…?…ambitious Dems, the media, the chaos monsters in MAGAt-land.

  82. Let’s not confuse “episodes” with speech impediments that we already know about. 

  87. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a member of Dem leadership & president pro tem, says Biden “must seriously consider the best way to preserve his incredible legacy and secure it for the future.” Adds: “We need to see a much more forceful and energetic candidate on the campaign trail in the very near future in order for him to convince voters he is up to the job.”

  88. https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/eyes-of-texas-lyrics-racist-undertones-explained/285-d1929725-99a9-4013-8c4b-9c88e0c9312f

    “…UT Professor Dr. Edmond Gordan explained the nodes of racism won’t be found in the “The Eyes of Texas” lyrics but in the song’s past.

    Gordan said “The Eyes of Texas” was originally a satirical song once performed at minstrel shows, which are comedic variety shows featuring white performers in blackface.

    The Texas Cowboys school spirit association was a key social group on the UT campus for decades. In the past, Gordan said members would put on blackface and perform a sort of a minstrel show each year for their schoolmates.

    Gordan said the “The Eyes of Texas” is a satirical rendition of Confederate commander Robert E. Lee’s saying “the eyes of the south are upon you,” which was made popular on the UT campus by former university president William Lambdin Prather.”

     
     

  89. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “I spoke with the president extensively this weekend. He has made abundantly clear that he is in this race. He has made abundantly clear that he is not leaving the race. He is the nominee. I am making sure that I support him and making sure that we win in November.”

     

  90. Full back-and-forth with WH Press Secy KJP and CBS’s Ed O’Keefe. She basically talks over him, never lets him finish the question.

    O’Keefe: “But, Karine, you’re not answering the — the very basic, direct question!”

    O’Keefe: “Has the Parkinson’s [inaudible] —”

    KJP: “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Hold on. Wait.”

    O’Keefe: “— come to the White House —”

    KJP: “— wait, wait, wait a second —”

    O’Keefe: “— to —“

    KJP: “— wait.”

    O’Keefe: “— eight times, or at least once, in regards to the President —”

    KJP: ““I just —”

    O’Keefe: “— specifically.”

    KJP: “— hold on a second.”

    O’Keefe: “That much you should be able to answer by this point —”

    KJP: “But — no, no, no, no, no, no, —”

    O’Keefe: “— after four days of reporting about it.”

    KJP: “— no, wait a minute. Calm. Ed, please. A little respect here, please. So, every year, around the President’s physical examination, he sees a neurologist. That’s three times, right? So, I am telling you that he has seen an neurologist three times while he has been in this presidency. That’s what I’m saying.”

    O’Keefe: “Here at the White House or Walter Reed?”

    KJP: “I’m telling you that he has seen them three times. That is what I’m sharing with you, right? So, every time he has a physical, he has had to see a neurologist.”

    https://x.com/CurtisHouck/status/1810411847939494083

  91. NY Times Editorial tonight:

    “Mr. Trump, of course, should also withdraw from this race, not least because of his own cognitive deficiencies and incessant lying. He, too, is not the man he was four years ago. He also makes fewer public appearances and refuses to answer questions about his health. His habitual mendacity now frequently wanders into nonsensical incoherence. He would be the oldest person ever to be inaugurated as president — older than Mr. Biden was in 2021. Mr. Trump is manifestly unfit to serve as president, and there is reason to believe a majority of the American people still can be rallied against his candidacy.”

    — https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/08/opinion/editorials/democrats-biden-truth.html

  92. I have serious spinal issues. A neurologist is not unknown.  A Parkinsons disease specialist is another so what at this point. President Biden has been keeping this country running for almost four great years, six more months seems to be doable. All I care about is getting into January and a big party on Pennsylvania Ave. 

  93. “Never in the history of calm down has anyone ever calmed down by being told to calm down.”

  94. New letter from Biden’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor: “Dr. Cannard was the neurological specialist that examined President Biden for each of his annual physicals. His findings have been made public each time…President Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual physical.”

  97. MSNBC Host Jen Psaki:

    “I worked for him. I respect him. I care about him deeply. But if I sat here every night and told you that every question being asked out there is unfair, I wouldn’t be respecting you. So I’m not going to do that. The president will have to continue answering the questions and convincing skeptics”

  98. Every minute spent talking about Biden staying or going is a minute not talking about the fascist, felon tRUMPsky and Project 2025. 

    Let. It. Go.

    Focus on the orange, bad guy and his MAGAt minions.

  99. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/08/china/china-hungary-orban-xi-visit-intl-hnk/index.html
    “Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in BeijingMonday, days after a controversial visit to Moscowand another to Kyiv that the far-right European leader described as a “peace mission.”
    Orban’s previously unannounced visit comes a day before the start of a NATO summit in Washington, where US President Joe Biden will host leaders from the bloc, which includes Hungary, and rally continued support for Ukraine’s defense. 
    NATO leaders have become increasingly alarmed about what they say is its backing for Moscow’s war effort through the provision of dual-use goods and other economic and diplomatic support.”

  100.  
    https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2024-rnc-platform-alter-gops-abortion-position-time/story?id=111728686

    “The Republican National Committee’s platform committee adopted a new GOP platform on Monday — and it softens language on the issue of abortion, marking a shift in the party’s stance to more closely align with the views of former President Donald Trump.

    The platform says that Republicans “will oppose Late Term Abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments),” according to the document obtained by ABC News.”

    Nope.  Orange Adolf took credit for overturning Roe.  Red states have made pregnancy even more dangerous.  Nobody is buying what they’re trying to sell.
     
     
     

  101. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/17/2247195/-Project-2025-Playbook-Pg-247-Finally-Get-Big-Bird-and-the-rest-those-of-PBS-Leftist-Broadcasters
    From Project 2025:
     
    “Cutting off the CPB [Corporation for Public Broadcasting] is logistically easy. 
    The membership model that the CPB uses, along with the funding from corporations and foundations that it also receives, would allow these broadcasters to continue to thrive. As George Will wrote, “If ‘Sesame Street’ programming were put up for auction, the danger would be of getting trampled by the stampede of potential bidders.”[53] Indeed, “Sesame Street” is on HBO now, which shows its potential as a money earner.
    PUBLIC INTEREST VS. PRIVILEGE
    Stripping public funding would, of course, mean that NPR, PBS, Pacifica Radio, and the other leftist broadcasters would be shorn of the presumption that they act in the public interest and receive the privileges that often accompany so acting.”

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