Obsidian Wings

Follow the Money

by wj

We're overdue for a new Open Thread, so this is it.

To lead us off, we have this fascinating article in the Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/19/gop-senate-rescue-midterms/
The teaser at the top:

A cash crunch at campaigns and the National Republican Senatorial Committee set off a panic as Republican candidates emerged from bruising primaries playing catch-up in polls and advertising.

It seems that the Republican Senate Campaign Committee, after months of touting record fundraising, topping $173 million. But the committee has burned through nearly all of it, with the NRSC’s cash on hand dwindling to $28.4 million by the end of June. So they burned thru some $145 million . . . of which only $23 million went to actual ads.

“If they were a corporation, the CEO would be fired and investigated,” said a national Republican consultant working on Senate races. “The way this money has been burned, there needs to be an audit or investigation because we’re not gonna take the Senate now and this money has been squandered. It’s a rip-off.”

A rip-off? In a party in thrall to an experienced conman? Who could ever have expected such a thing...? Given the expertise available, following the money may be a bit of a challenge. Especially for those who desperately need the funds, but dare not criticize the likely sinkhole for the funds.

Open Thread

by JanieM

As I think about the fact that there are too many topics to choose from, and I don't have time to put together something usefully focused on a single one of them, a phrase comes to mind. But it needs some background.

When I was an undergraduate at MIT, the head of the psychology department (now Brain and Cognitive Science) was one Hans-Lukas Teuber, one of those engaging and popular professors whose name was known to everyone. When I was there he taught the intro to psychology class, or 9.01 ("nine-oh-one"), psychology being "Course 9."

It was a popular class, so the lectures were given in one of the biggest lecture halls on campus (Room 26-100....). I never took the class, but I attended a few lectures with friends who were taking it and thus got a taste of why Professor Teuber was so popular. He was engaging, challenging, funny, smart, and clear.

Watch the first minute of this video, and then imagine him walking to the front of the lecture hall, looking out and up at a few hundred students, and saying, "Who vants to know vat?"

A variation of that question, in Teuber's accent, popped into my mind when I decided we were due for a new thread.

"Who vants to talk about vat?"