Sharon Van Etten has a song where she’s describing someone as a shadow:
You ain’t nothing, you never won.
You ain’t nothing, you never done nothing, no.
Whatever the political consequences of today’s vote in the Judiciary Committee, and no matter how much fucking noise the Republicans make, don’t forget that Democrats were elected to do something and they did it. You don’t get points for being a shadow.
Baud
Thank you. Seconded.
Quinerly
Great post. Thank you.
Eljai
I’ll send a thank you to my congressman today.
I try to stay positive, and focus on getting more Democrats elected. But geez the press coverage has been dismal. Between NPR and cable and certain newspaper political reporters, they spend way too much time trying to game what’s going to happen, and repeating false Republican narratives instead of discussing Trump’s rampant and obvious corruption which brought us to this point.
JPL
Thanks,
Azelie
I’ve been reflecting on the way that Republicans who we know know better are going along with this. I’m pretty convinced that if a Democratic president were engage in a pattern of corruption and abuse of office (in the unlikely situation where the Democrats would elect someone like that in the first place), there would be enough Democrats who would vote to impeach and remove. They would do their jobs. I don’t think it’s partisan blinders leading me to believe this. That the Republicans can look at what Trump has done and defend it shows that all their talk of patriotism and morality is hollow.
MattF
OT. Kevin Drum notes that the repo market (overnight bank-to-bank cash loans) has gotten into WTF territory:
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/12/whats-wrong-with-the-repo-market-a-followup/
Kraux Pas
I think I’m gonna call my Congressman’s office today to seek his opinion on this whole impeachment matter. Just in case
Kelly
My Rep Kurt Schrader, an annoying Blue Dog, Problem Solver with a continuous deficit tally at the top of his website came out in favor of impeachment a couple days ago. He usually comes around to vote the right way after all his posturing.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@MattF: So I clicked over and read Drum. I’m not sure of the implications of what he wrote. Does it mean banks are likely to go under, a la 2008?
Yutsano
@Kelly: I get the terrible milquetoast Dan Newhouse. He will go with whatever party leadership says regardless of what his constituents feel.
Cacti
For those casting the votes, this will be one of those rare moments where history will truly remember on which side you stood.
Choose wisely. This could be your legacy.
PJ
@Cacti: Republicans don’t care about the future, or what the future citizens of the smoldering ash heap they are creating will think, they only care about what it takes to stay in power now.
MattF
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My takeaway is that someone out there is short of cash. But who, why, what, where, etc., are plausible questions. The whole thing is opaque, and everyone involved wants to keep it that way.
JPL
@MattF: Well that’s encouraging. geez
Cacti
@PJ: I was thinking more of squishy Dems.
They won’t get a mulligan on this one if they screw it up.
PJ
@Cacti: I think the squishy Dems are also only thinking about re-election, despite the fact that a vote against impeachment will guarantee they are not re-elected.
catclub
the trade ‘deal’ :Standard Trump – fuck something up to make a crisis. Promise to fix it.
Get almost back to where you were before Trump fucked it up. Trump claims victory.
NKorea, Trade, Border enforcement/Dreamers.
catclub
@MattF: It is very strange. But apparently the FED is pouring in (or promising to pour in – which is better) a massive amount of money to avoid something bad happening.
zerohedge is all over it as QE4
oldster
Agree with OP. This is Dems doing what we sent them to do, and showing some spine.
Do I agree with every aspect of their strategy? No. If I were Nancy, I would be launching ten different investigations into ten different areas of corruption.
But despite that disagreement, I am glad that they are moving ahead with these charges.
Immanentize
@Cacti:
like the vote on the Iraqi AUMF. That one had consequences (for Dems).
Kraux Pas
@catclub: Aren’t the other parties to current trade deal being considered Canada and Mexico, not China?
Warblewarble
“But one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish,and the war came” Nothing has changed,it goes on,this is what be faced head on with no wavering, “Mine eyes have seen the glory”
Immanentize
@Kraux Pas: Not this one. This is the ongoing trade war with China, part eleventy. Trump has promised another 160 billion in tariffs starting this weekend. They keep saying there is a partial deal coming; but I think most people agree the “partial deal” is just going to be Trump withdrawing his threat with some vague language about China trying to do something better in the sometime future.
Immanentize
@catclub: linky? I’d like to read that.
Thanks!
catclub
I am not sure if he realizes this is very similar to the 2008 crisis – lack of faith in your counterparty. Also, remember, the first quakes of the 2008-2009 crisis were in August, 2007. So it could take a while to become clear.
Kraux Pas
@Immanentize: Oh, sorry, I hadn’t seen much on China trade lately but I know a lot has been going on with an update to NAFTA, including some concessions to labor and the Dems that are going to get it passed in the House.
I was just confused.
catclub
@Immanentize: linky? on FED expansion of repo funds as QE4? maybe a few days back.- zerohedge – beware. Not sure exactly which one, there are.
how about this onehttps://www.zerohedge.com/markets/avoid-repo-crisis-fed-will-flood-market-gargantuan-365-billion-year-end-liquidity
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Like English Labor; they stood for nothing on the issue of the day and rightly got punished by the voters.
Immanentize
@catclub: You are the best,. Thanks for making that easier for me to find.
Emerald
@Eljai: This is surprising?
Immanentize
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I stand for standing for that which allows me to continue to stand before all of you!
Jackie
@Yutsano: I feel you. I live in Kennewick.??♀️
zhena gogolia
@Azelie:
I agree.
Martin
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Probably not. This is a bit different. The fed basically loans money to a handful of banks and relies on them to loan it out further in the food chain.
But the banks and hedge funds and other large financial players are sinking their money into Treasuries rather than other forms of investment, which ties the money up and makes it unavailable for lending. They seem to be signaling that the markets are about to go to shit, and so they’re going to lock up their money tight.
Fed will need to return to quantitative easing. Impeachment, Brexit, trade wars – this shit is great if you’re willing to short the market, but it terrifies everyone else.
2008 was a bit different. It shared the same lack of lending but it was because banks couldn’t sell their assets because nobody else had any money to buy them. The Feds bailed out GM because literally nobody else had the cash to do it. There was no graceful bankruptcy option. Tying money up in treasuries is less problematic because unlike a mortgage whose value can degrade (and did, rapidly in 2008) treasuries are expected to hold their value. We’re selling fucking buckets of them given our exploding deficit.
The thing to worry about it the federal governments inattentiveness to this stuff, same as the Bush admins.
Martin
@catclub: Federal Reserve is afraid things are going to shit and are trying to step in front of it. That’s not a great sign.
Death Panel Truck
@Yutsano: I live in Pasco, and the only halfway positive thing I can say about Newhouse is that he’s not quite as bad as Hastings.
He’ll do what he’s told.
bluefish
That’s right. Since the beginning of time. Thanks.
catclub
My understanding was more like: Bank A no longer wants to loan to Bank B when Bank B uses CDObligations as collateral, because BankA uses them that way, and knows how doubtful those CDO’s are as collateral.
Then everybody treats everybody the same way out of suspicion.
germy
H.E.Wolf
As a database volunteer, I can report that the Tri-Cities (along with other cities in central WA) have been a hotbed of Democratic volunteers for the past 2 years. They may just be keeping real quiet about it. :-)
If you decide to volunteer in your locale, I think you’ll have lots of company – and it could make a tangible difference in local campaigns, which is where the long game is played.
Just in case, here’s the website:
The “Volunteer” page offers a choice of doorbelling or phonebanking. If you prefer office work, the “Contact Us” page is probably a better option.
And of course I’m going to add my regular signal boost for – a fun way to get out the Democratic vote in other parts of the country, and make a positive difference in that fashion.
Yutsano
@Jackie: @Death Panel Truck: Unfortunately there’s probably no eliminating him because he appeals to the farmers out in the hinterlands and I swear every Hanford worker is a Republican. Even if we could somehow turn on our own Latinx vote around here it still probably wouldn’t help.
Baud
@germy: The House elections 9 months after that showed that Democrats matter.
In 11 months, we’ll show them again just how much Democrats matter.
germy
@Baud:
I can’t wait. I literally can’t wait to vote.
germy
JPL
@Baud: You both might be right. trump got a lot of free press, and hopefully that won’t happen again.
Jay
@catclub:
yup, but, they also didn’t have cash or other liquid assets because they had sunk everything into bad debt and bundled debt “investments” .
it’s not mortgages now, it’s car loans, student loans and payday lending that has been “securitized” and oversold.
Debt mining lower down on the food chain after killing the previous host.
Jay
@H.E.Wolf:
link needed,……
Jay
H.E.Wolf
My apologies! I just saw that the links didn’t go in properly.
WA State Democratic Party website:
https://www.wa-democrats.org/
Postcards To Voters website:
http://PostcardsToVoters.org
debbie
@MattF:
What it tells me that banks are once again jonesing for unnecessary risk.
catclub
Those are still MUCH smaller than home mortgages were in 2007-8. There is also securitzed commercial and business loans that are suspect.
On the third hand, interest rates – and hence interest payment burdens – are much smaller as a fraction of total income.
debbie
@catclub:
You’re not assuming mortgage brokers found their come-to-god moment and have taken heed, are you?
debbie
This seems like good news:
MattF
@debbie: The fact that their own recklessness is a systemic risk that can’t be hedged seems to escape attention. And there’s also the risk of using ‘AI’ computer programs that no one really understands. ‘Is the system stable?’. Well, um, y’know… possibly.
catclub
@debbie: That come go God moment was when they could no longer pass on the trash they were creating. As soon as someone comes along who will buy a No Job No Income mortgage again, I expect they will be there to create it and sell it off.
I think NINJA was No Income, No Job, Adjustable
debbie
@catclub:
They’ve just found new ways to do the same shit.
catclub
I think it is pretty clear that Trump can make the press jump up and cover him whenever he wants them to. I might expect a little less free press this coming year. Maybe only $1.8B worth rather than $2B worth. Maybe.
Jay
Pete Buttigieg isn’t having a good week.
Jay
Jay
@catclub:
some studies show that he got $5 billion in “like contributions” from the Media in the 2016 Campaign.
in the 2020 Campaign I am pretty sure it will surpass $15 billion.
While media studies show that 90% of the coverage is “negative”, they don’t parse that for the effect on Trump voters and instead view it from a fact based bias. They also don’t account for how much of the “negative” Trump coverage also negs on the Democratic Party, ( bothsiderism) or qualify the negativity as milktoast.
Jay
J R in WV
Well. I was a strong supporter, WE were strong supporters of Kamala Harris, and now I guess we are strong supporters of Senator Professor Elizabeth Warren. I dunno who our second choice is now. Not Bernie, nor Tulsi the Russian stooges… Nor Pete, the old style liberal republican. Booker, Castro, who else?