…so I wouldn’t want to be the one trying to lay odds on the outcome of today
Election day in Georgia’s Senate runoffs is Tuesday, and both races have already seen enough TV and radio spending to become the two most expensive Senate contests (by ad spending) in U.S. election history.
Combining runoff spending with the general election, both contests (GOP Sen. David Perdue v. Democrat Jon Ossoff, and GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler v. Democrat Raphael Warnock) easily clear the record of $251 million spent on the airwaves in North Carolina’s 2020 Senate race.
The Perdue-vs.Ossoff race is set to have about $382 million spent on TV and radio, and the Loeffler-vs.-Warnock race is set to have about $284.3 million in TV and radio spending (this total includes money booked to be spent on Monday and Tuesday), per AdImpact.
The majority of that spending has come in the compressed runoff window — $250 million in the Perdue/Ossoff race and $235 million in the Loeffler/Perdue contest.
Another trend that’s common across both races since the runoff began is that Democratic candidates have been consistently outspending their GOP rivals on the airwaves, but GOP outside groups have more than filled the void to give Republicans a final spending edge.
Through Tuesday, Ossoff is expected to spend about $87 million to Perdue’s $50 million, compared to Warnock’s $70 million and Loeffler’s $50 million. But in both races, GOP outside groups have outspent Democratic outside groups by more than 3 times — with Democratic groups spending about $26 million in each race to the GOP’s more than $80 million.
Georgia Senate elections set new ad spending records powered by massive outside spending [NBC]
Georgia Is Getting More Blue. The Senate Races Will Tell How Much. [NYT]
…but if it turns out that georgia can swing it so mitch no longer gets to choke legislative efforts in the senate I know I for one would breathe a little easier…which would be handy because it feels like I haven’t caught my breath in a while
[…if you’re really looking to get angry & you haven’t already the whole thing is available to listen to at the top of that article…or if you’d prefer a transcript]
Did Trump break the law in his call to Georgia’s secretary of state? Some lawyers say yes. [WaPo]
…& tomorrow’s going to be a doozy
Once a Foe of Trump, Cruz Leads a Charge to Reverse His Election Loss [NYT]
President Trump’s relentless effort to overturn the result of the election that he lost has become the most serious stress test of American democracy in generations, led not by outside revolutionaries intent on bringing down the system but by the very leader charged with defending it.
An Insurgency From Inside the Oval Office [NYT]
We must stop calling Trump’s enablers ‘conservative.’ They are the radical right. [WaPo]
…even if unlike today’s the outcome of tomorrow is ultimately beyond legitimate doubt
Regardless of what has happened since the election two months ago, or what may happen in the next few weeks, Joe Biden will almost assuredly be inaugurated the president on Jan. 20, and Donald J. Trump’s official reign of presidential terror will end that day.
But, that is cold comfort, as we have trudged through these last months of President Trump trying, at every turn, to overthrow the will of the people by overturning the election he lost in November. Even if his ultimate loss is inevitably secured, it seems as though he is burning down the village as he retreats.
Supreme Leader of Voter Suppression [NYT]
Georgia elections board member calls for probe into Trump’s call seeking to pressure Raffensperger [WaPo]
…not that it’s just the legitimate doubts we’ve got to worry about in the current climate
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/fauci-pushes-back-trump-covid-death-numbers-are-real
…& a lot of ground to make up
‘We tortured families’: The lingering damage of Trump’s separation policy [The Guardian]
Election Day Voting in 2020 Took Longer in America’s Poorest Neighborhoods
…so, signs of progress are welcome…even if they don’t seem like all they could be
A group of nearly 280 workers from Google parent company Alphabet on Monday launched a union, a move that could push tech worker organizing beyond petitions and protests.
But because the union is not seeking ratification through a federal agency, it won’t have collective bargaining rights, potentially limiting the leverage the group may be able to wield within the tech giant.
Google, Alphabet workers launch unconventional union with help of Communications Workers of America [WaPo]
The union’s creation is highly unusual for the tech industry, which has long resisted efforts to organize its largely white-collar work force. It follows increasing demands by employees at Google for policy overhauls on pay, harassment and ethics, and is likely to escalate tensions with top leadership.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/technology/google-employees-union.html
[…]
But unlike a traditional union, which demands that an employer come to the bargaining table to agree on a contract, the Alphabet Workers Union is a so-called minority union that represents a fraction of the company’s more than 260,000 full-time employees and contractors. Workers said it was primarily an effort to give structure and longevity to activism at Google, rather than to negotiate for a contract.
We’d had enough.
The two of us are software engineers, and we were recently elected executive chair and vice chair of the Alphabet Workers Union, a group of more than 200 workers in the United States who believe our company’s structure needs to change.
We Built Google. This Is Not the Company We Want to Work For. [NYT]
I hope that Google’s and other tech unions that arise will learn the history of union busting tactics and the history of unions’ (lack of) diversity inclusion back in the days.
I can easily see middle class coders being surprised to be on the receiving end of abuse, and hope they’re prepared to fight through it.
…it’s hard not to feel like they fall between two stools in a way that makes them seem like a token effort…a union that lacks the collective bargaining string to its bow seems likely to be hamstrung when it comes to much beyond airing grievances while lacking the leverage to push for resolution?
1. Gah, red pandas. They are awesome.
2. Good luck to them, but “Alphabet Workers Union” totally sounds like something from Sesame Street.
Yeah, they’re simply using the word “Union” to make headlines. It’s really just an employee club.
I have a bet with my BILs wife on today’s runoff. So the total number of votes in GA in Nov was about 4.8m. The over/under for today is 4.5m . I took the under, she took the over. Who ya got??
I’m with her on this one. It’s going to be big. Heck, it’s already big based on early voting. I wish I felt more comfortable about the results, though. It’s still a toss-up, near as I can tell.
This is an angle I haven’t really seen much of. It’s basically discussing how pathetic Trump is. Yes, his phone call was criminal and stupid, but it was also embarrassing. He shows how incredibly weak and ego-driven he is, and how facts seem to completely befuddle him. I hate him so much I can’t find any sympathy, but oh, yes, he’s utterly pathetic. He’s just whining now like a toddler who can’t have dessert.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-final-days/
…not denying the point they’re trying to make or anything…but he’s quite literally always sounded that way to me…it’s one of the many, many ways I have a hard time adjusting to the idea that anyone ever got on board the premise that he wasn’t a hollow shell of self-aggrandisement surrounding a black-hole of self-inflicted debt in the first place
…but on a related note…after it was successfully argued that don-jr was literally too fucking stupid to comprehend how illegal that meeting he took with the russians about interfering in the election actually was (which I don’t buy even if it somehow flew) I noticed that there seems to be an argument presented that the recent phonecall would only cross the line into criminal action if it could be proven that the guy whining about losing the election is actually cognisant of the loss being a fact
…& whilst I personally believe that he absolutely is & all his protestations to the contrary are part of a performative exercise in damage limitation designed to maximize his chances of bilking much-needed cash out of the faithfully-gullible masses he thinks of as his personal piggy bank…it’s depressingly plausible that it might be argued in court that he believes he won…not least because no one in his orbit is capable of (or has the fucking spine to) make the asshole understand it isn’t a matter of opinion & that his absolutely doesn’t fucking matter…let alone dictate the outcome
That’s an interesting argument. Trump is too delusional to realize he’s engaging in criminal activities. I’d love to see how that holds up in court. Of course, I’d like to see the Donj/stupidity thing tried as well. As we’ve all heard, ignorance of the law is no excuse. But the opening and closing arguments would be something, that’s for sure. “Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, today I present to you an idiot.”
…as I understand it he’s-too-dumb-to-be-guilty is the actual basis on which jr avoided charges over that meeting…hence my misgivings about the similarly bullshit argument regarding this latest bout of from-the-horse’s-ass’s evidence of culpable guilt on his father’s part
…I’d have to hunt around for a link to that effect but I’m pretty sure you just about nailed the approach jr’s lawyers took…although I think it was before a committee rather than a jury?
I do remember it, but I think it was the Mueller investigation. Yep, got it. Mueller concluded Donj was too stupid to know he was doing anything wrong. And since Mueller didn’t file charges, just did the investigation, the whole thing got squelched.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/04/mueller-report-confirms-don-jr-too-stupid-to-collude-with-russia
The whole family is honestly amazed that the small time mob moves they made in NY/NJ look totally different on the world political stage.
Amazon is now a bigger employer here than Boeing. That could be a good thing if they were union jobs like Boeing but sadly I’m guessing most of these are delivery and warehouse workers. Our state does have the highest minimum wage but also one of the highest costs of living.
https://mynorthwest.com/2415359/amazon-seattle-boeing-workers/
So I heard a theory for this Scotland trip yesterday that Trump was going to use it as a gateway to fleeing to another country to avoid prosecution. Thom Hartmann was taking bets on where his final destination would be? Russia, Slovenia, Saudi Arabia all were floated. It is kind of odd that he is going out of the country to avoid the transition when he keeps saying maybe he will have his own rally. I’m glad Scotland is trying to shut this down…
https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/nicola-sturgeon-says-donald-trump-cannot-flee-to-scotland-to-avoid-bidens-inauguration/
I do believe he is a flight risk and will do whatever it takes to avoid prosecution. It might be the only way we get any of his supporters back if he flees to Russia! Yeah, I know they would find a way to make that patriotic.
I’m fine with him going elsewhere to avoid prosecution, as it would prevent him from running in 2024, right? Bonus points for taking his entire family.
I’m not sure, he could possibly do what other foreign strongmen have done and try to run a shadow government overseas until his forces are strong enough to force a coup. While that seems like beyond a long shot, everything about this asshat seems unthinkable. I’m pretty sure once he started playing golf everyday in Dubai or wherever that doesn’t have an extradition treaty with us, he would forget about politics other than some late night toilet tweets. The family thing is a bigger question. While he may save Ivanka, I can see him abandoning the rest of them to fend for themselves. He really only has loyalty to himself and the daughter he wants to fuck.
Gaaaaah!!!!
I KNOW it’s the fault of the Editor, and *NOT* the writer of that “Dirty Dozen” story….
But GOD DAMN, is that headline and ABSOLUTE motherfucking INSULT(!!!!!!!!!!😠😡🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬), to the Filthy Thirteen, the men whose story was wildly embellished, but who WERE, in fact real soldiers, who did some truly amazeballs feats–some of them dying in action, others captured & POW’s, during WW2.
I GET that the Editor picks the headlines, and that there is EVERY chance they *don’t* know that The Dirty Dozen *is* based on a real group of soldiers….
But to see these seditious ASSHATS called “The Dirty Dozen,” KNOWING that the REAL “Filthy Thirteen” were HEROES for what they did….
It’s goddamn INFURIATING!😒😒😒
I just checked… NPR has both republicans ahead in the Georgia senate race. CNN has both dems ahead. Coin flip?