I am watching the early voting reports for the Georgia Senate runoff and Warnock is doing

very very well, BUT--- I am just a little bit sick to my stomach when I realize that the result is really, actually, no kiddin' still in doubt.

The fact that a profoundly STUPID and MORALLY BANKRUPT buffoon like Herschel Walker was intentionally proposed by the Trump party as a perfectly acceptable US Senator both disgusts and nauseates me.

It is a damn good thing no one still self-describing as "Republican" has even a vestigial sense of shame remaining.

Memo to McConnell and McCarthy:

Decent people don't shake hands with traitorous Trump fluffers.

Carry on.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is just this simple:

If a politician is asked if he renounces Trump's request to suspend any rule of law---INCLUDING OUR CONSTITUTION--- in order to be "declared" the winner of the 2020 election and his or her response is anything less than a resounding "ABSOLUTELY!", he or she is one of those despicable spineless bobbleheads that fascism depends upon.

They will vote for Trump, grovel shamelessly for his approval and enthusiastically savage anyone who dares oppose him.

If you personally know someone who insists that what Trump said is "no big deal" you might want to tell them what an ignoramus that makes them. Be sure to look them straight in the eye when you tell them and be ready to laugh at any indignant response.

I do not know just what area of the human psyche is wounded by shame or embarrassment,

but--- for me, at least--- that area used to be pretty tender; pretty easy to pierce.

In the not too distant past, for example, that area would have been bloodied by a former POTUS who called for suspension of the Constitution. But, no longer.

After seven years of transparent lies, vile racism, vulgar misogyny, unabashed bigotry and unparalleled narcissism by that same former POTUS, I find that after his daily assaults on my conscience---my sense of what is morally acceptable--- I have developed callouses on my soul.

It is not that I am no longer offended. It is simply that these past several years have conditioned me not to expect my shame and outrage to make any difference.

So, when this latest Trumpism was splattered across the news shows like so much ketchup, my reaction was not "OMG! That's TERRIBLE! Surely this is a bridge too far even for his party!"

No, my calloused reaction was "So?"

The one and only thing Republicans may have learned from the mid-terms:

"NEVER say the quiet part out loud!"

We feed well over 100# of birdseed each winter. We put a mixture of seeds and cracked corn on

a platform open tray, black sunflower seeds in a hanging wire three-level basket and a clear tubular "finch feeder" filled with thistle seed.

Looking out my window as I type this, we have two pairs of cardinals, several mourning doves, dark-eyed juncos, black-capped chickadees, goldfinches, red finches. sparrows, a downy woodpecker and a tufted titmouse.

They've cleaned up the suet I put out this morning and that will provide the calories some will need to survive tonight's cold.

Feeding the wild birds and enjoying watching them is just another of the simple pleasures my parents taught me to enjoy.

I have no idea where this will go, but I propose that we at DU poll ourselves to see how

many would be in favor of treating Twitter the same way we treat what we euphemistically call "that site which shall not be named".

I would vote "yes"---in favor of so treating Twitter.

Do we really need to feed this beast?

Today started with blue skies here in Little Egypt, but it's now overcast with frantic clouds

fleeing before blasts of December's wind. Temperatures are temporarily mild before tomorrow dawns with a predicted high of 36 degrees. Winter is rattling the oak trees and howling over the chimney, but I am ----I guess "content" is the best I can come up with.

A fire has been layed, the wood bin is filled, Mrs. A has made a pot of chilli AND a cast iron skillet of cornbread and I am rereading Michener's "Alaska" while I sip a mug of Earl Grey.

What's not to like?

To Republicans like Asa Hutchinson who say the words of Ye and Fuentes are "not the

Republican Party": Just how stupid do you think most Americans are?

Their racism, angi-semitism, misogyny and vulgarity are EXACTLY what the GOP has been since the Tea Party was created by billionaires and it has increased exponentially since Trump rode down that escalator to bought-and-paid-for cheers. Before the baggers started their poo-flinging, the GOP leaders never "said the quiet part---racism, misogyny, etc.--- out loud" but they seldom criticized those who did and they REALLY appreciated their cash and, when "necessary", their violent acts against their opponents.

We've seen what you've done, we've heard what you've said and now we smell your bullshit.

(As an aside, Hutchinson's smarmy smile never fails to trigger my gag reflex! )

If we do this right, some day our great-grandchildren may say "Donald WHO? nt