People on my Facebook feed are trying to "both sides" the current crisis and it's infuriating. The House passed several bills to address the crisis, the Senate refused to take any of them up. The Dems then tried to negotiate with Trump directly and were met with batshit demands. It's very clear where the blame lies here. (Also, the GOP basically shrugging at Trump's unconstitutional XOs to "fix" things show that once again they have no interest in doing their fucking job.)

I've seen some of that, Kalshane - not, thankfully, in my feed but on other folks' public posts and it just burns me up.

I hope Tom Cotton does come home to this hick-ass state to press flesh just as the pandemic starts hitting it really hard among his supporters and football season opens.

Yeah, it's crazy what's going on in the Senate that's certain. I humbly ask that no matter what your personal situation is regarding needing stimulus, or UI, or PPP loans or any of the other programs, please take a few minutes and write your senators. It's very close to home for me with the gutting of the arts and entertainment industry. If you wish, feel free to use the letter I wrote as a guide. Obviously not all of it applies universally, but it might help as a starting point. I'm honestly so thankful for each voice in support of small businesses through all of this. I don't think I've ever been under this level of stress. I'm just so worried about finding a way to preserve my business, and to take care of my staff. I know in my core there will be a bright day on the other side of this. Arts and entertainment will come back, and it will be a huge return. People are going to be so hungry to have those experiences. The businesses that make that happen just need a bridge to the other side.

I just got a Wayfair notification for one of Matt's rugs! This brave new world is creepy.

I'm very, very tired. And classes start next week, so I'll be working a fair chunk of the weekend supporting instructors who got little to no break over the summer to work on fall classes, and now have to start teaching a week early, using unfamiliar tools, with no idea what expectations are going to be from one week to the next. 2020 is going to have one hell of a final third.

This is what I am doing too. Except summer isn't over yet and we don't start until a little later. But so many classes are going online. (All of them). At least we made a decision- we have in person labs and clinical with ten people and online class time, either synchronous or asynchronous. But it is such a time crunch that I am basically building the classes for them after they give me the content, which isn't supposed to be my role, really, but it is easier than teaching them how to use the LMS properly right now.

I am slowly being forced to the conclusion that some of these people(meaning Republican Senators specifically, in this case) do not understand, on some level, that they live in the same country as the rest of us. That there is no sense of urgency to pass these bills because what they do in the Capitol has no consequences outside of political considerations.

"Too many years, too many limousines." - Molly Ivins

ND, I will adapt your letter and write to my Congresspersons this week. Thank you for sharing it.

I wish I were surprised by the negligence and stupidity of the current GOP Senate, but I'm not. They proved who they are years ago.

I'm worried about the election. 538 giving Trump a ~28% chance to win is disturbing, seeing as that's what they gave him in the last election too. Trump and his GOP enablers will do absolutely anything to stay in power. I don't think they'll stop at killing people, either, if it comes to that. Trump will refuse to hand over power if he loses, because he knows as soon as he is no longer protected by the office, he's going to be indicted and probably arrested. Tish James is already working toward that day. He'll do anything to stay in the White House, and the GOP will do anything to back him, because he's the source of their power now. The USA is no longer a functioning democracy, and if Trump wins this election, it will be a dictatorship. We are in serious trouble. I know so many of my fellow Democrats/liberals/progressives who believe that all we have to do is GOTV and win in November, and I'm very afraid that the voter suppression/intimidation effort will be enough, and if it isn't enough, that there will be a civil war as a result of Trump refusing to leave power. Too many people are being dismissive and dangerously optimistic about Trump simply not being ABLE to refuse to leave. Even if the military comes to remove him, his nutcase hardcore followers will start shooting people, and I don't have any faith in the cops stopping them. I hope I'm wrong, but I think we have to realize that there really isn't anything Trump will not do or attempt to do to save himself. Our existence may depend on the strength of conscience of other people in power, which has lately proven to be mostly nonexistent.

I'm very afraid that the voter suppression/intimidation effort will be enough, and if it isn't enough, that there will be a civil war as a result of Trump refusing to leave power. Too many people are being dismissive and dangerously optimistic about Trump simply not being ABLE to refuse to leave. Even if the military comes to remove him, his nutcase hardcore followers will start shooting people, and I don't have any faith in the cops stopping them. I hope I'm wrong, but I think we have to realize that there really isn't anything Trump will not do or attempt to do to save himself. Our existence may depend on the strength of conscience of other people in power, which has lately proven to be mostly nonexistent.

I agree 100% with all of this. I think that things are so bad that Biden and Harris can win, but I don't think Trump will leave office. And if he's removed by force, I think we're looking at actual civil war.

I don't think "actual civil war" is where we're headed - there isn't a clear geographical line the way there was in 1860, and for all we talk about "red states" and "blue states", the parties are far more mixed than that implies. And military leadership has been repeatedly saying they aren't getting involved in politics.

What seems much more likely is a government shutdown writ large, maybe combined with a vastly scaled-up version of the protests we've been seeing with the BLM movement. What was that figure that got quoted a while back, that it only took 5% of the population to bring the country to a standstill?

I do think some of what happens post-election depends on whether Democrats win at the House and Senate level. While Trump may well hunker down, I don't know that other Republican losers will also. IF Democrats can expand their hold on the House and even take control of the Senate, Trump would lose supporters. He'll still claim election fraud, as will some of the Republicans, but it would dampen (I hope) their enthusiasm for the fight.

But that's a big IF.