Madam Speaker is tired of Trump’s bullshit. Moreover, she can see that Trump’s constant lies and obfuscations have cost the country a great deal already via the bungled COVID-19 response and that his mendacity going forward will continue to cause harm to public health and economic recovery efforts. And she’s not fucking having it, okay?
Here’s a letter she sent to House Democrats last night and also released to the press:
Dear Democratic Colleague,
This Easter Weekend provided me with a time for deeper prayer and reflection. This is an unbearably sad time with all Americans sharing the same devastating experience: we are grieving for those who have died from the coronavirus, we are fearful for our health and especially the health of our loved ones and we are heartbroken for our children who are unable to be in school and with their friends.
As Americans, we are suffering from pressures of economic hardship. All of us want to resume the precious and beautiful lives that America’s unique freedoms provide. We will overcome this moment, but success requires one fundamental from which all actions will follow: we need the truth. To succeed in this crisis, we must insist on the truth, and we must act upon it!
In order to move forward, we must first understand the truth of what has put us in this position:
- The truth is that Donald Trump dismantled the infrastructure handed to him which was meant to plan for and overcome a pandemic, resulting in unnecessary deaths and economic disaster.
- The truth is that in January Donald Trump was warned about this pandemic, ignored those warnings, took insufficient action and caused unnecessary death and disaster.
- The truth is that Donald Trump told his most loyal followers that the pandemic was a hoax and that it would magically disappear, thus endangering lives and paving the way for economic disaster.
- The truth is that we did not have proper testing available in March despite Trump repeatedly claiming that we did; and even now, we do not have adequate tests, masks, PPE, and necessary equipment, which creates unnecessary death and suffering.
- The truth is because of an incompetent reaction to this health crisis, the strong economy handed to Donald Trump is now a disaster, causing the suffering of countless Americans and endangering lives.
- The truth is a weak person, a poor leader, takes no responsibility. A weak person blames others.
- The truth is, from this moment on, Americans must ignore lies and start to listen to scientists and other respected professionals in order to protect ourselves and our loved ones.
Here’s more that is true: the American people want us to work together. In March, Congress passed three bipartisan bills to address this crisis. The first bill passed the House on March 4 and focused on testing, testing, testing.
The truth is, one month later, we do not have appropriate testing. The President continues to obfuscate, saying we have more testing than any other country in the world. The truth is that only 1 percent of Americans have been tested. The failure to test is central to the spread of the virus and its impact on those most vulnerable in our society. The failure to test is dangerous and deadly, and without testing, we cannot resume our lives.
The President has said that we are engaged in a war. Leaders understand that in war, force protection of our troops is the top priority. In this war, force protection means for health care, police, fire, EMS, food and other essential workers to have the protective equipment that they need to save lives without risking their own.
The truth is that we do not have the necessary hospital equipment. Without ventilators and other equipment, our health care workers cannot save the lives of those they serve.
Once we all share the truth of what took place and what is currently happening, including in our minority communities, we can work together to solve these problems.
There are important decisions ahead. We can go forward confident that America, its competent and honest leaders and its people are fully capable of making the right choices and decisions to restore the American greatness that has been squandered.
But if we are not working from the truth, more lives will be lost, economic hardship and suffering will be extended unnecessarily and our children will not be safe, happy and learning. Our future will be healthy and prosperous if we no longer tolerate lies and deceit.
We must recognize the truth, we must speak the truth, we must insist on the truth and we must and will act upon it.
Respectfully and sadly,
Trump hasn’t responded yet. Perhaps he’s still receiving treatment in the burn unit.
For the first time since this nightmare began, I see a statement from a federal government official that truly gives me hope that we can beat back this insanity. Not that Pelosi and the Democrats can fix everything; they certainly can’t now. And even if Biden sweeps Trump out of DC in a landslide and the Democrats gain full control of Congress, we have a long, hard slog ahead of us.
But Pelosi gets it — she comprehends the world-historical scale of the pickle we’re in thanks to Trump’s monumental incompetence and serial lying, and she refuses to be gaslighted. As someone who’s been walking around in a fog of rage and sadness for more than a month, occasionally wondering if I’m taking crazy pills or if the world has gone mad, I find this enormously comforting.
Open thread.
dmsilev
Oh man, someone is going to ask him about this at tonight’s rally-substitute, aren’t they?
Punchy
Uh oh. This may anger Dear Leader. He may respond in a less-than-positive manner.
Mary G
I was enormously happy to see that truth told.
Jerzy Russian
It seems that when Speaker Pelosi tried to refill those fucks, she was told that the supplier went out of business and that there would be no more fucks to give ever again.
One other thought I had is that someone should roll that letter into a tube and shove it up Trump’s ass. Upon further reflection I see that it would be unfair to the person doing the shoving, so I have retracted that thought.
clay
Sounds like some sort of Truth Commission may be necessary.
Reconciliation? No, fuck that.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@dmsilev:
The hitherto lapdog White House Press Corpse will gleefully use this to poke him in the expectation of an outlandish reaction which will drive clicks.
It’s a situation where there needs actually correspond with ours.
SFAW
Expected twitter response:
“Nutty Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrat Party have tried to prevent me from saving the lives of real Americans. The Democratics refused to work with Leader McConnell to get a sorely-needed bailout through Congress. Fortunately, people will start receiving MY checks — which I forced through a do-nothing House, all by myself — any day now, to help them get through this tough time caused by Nutty Nancy, WHO, and the Democrat Party.”
OK, so it’s a little longer than 280 characters. But outside of that, I’m confident the Murderer-in-Chief will continue to lie about his and the Dems’ performance(s).
MattF
Trump won’t read it. And I’ll note that I started typing this comment with a finger slip, ‘Trr’ that auto-correct changed to ‘Grr’. Grr.
SFAW
@Jerzy Russian:
Well, that doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker, but outside of that — oh, my (said in a George Takei voice).
PST
Nancy Pelosi is the anti-Trump. As far as I can tell, she never speaks or acts on impulse or to indulge her emotions. She spoke the truth with this letter, but there must also be a reason that she spoke it now and in this fashion, other than to give us all a lift. Given her mastery, it is probably a good reason. So what is it from a strategic or tactical perspective that she is trying to accomplish be saying this now?
SFAW
@clay:
I’ve been pushing for — well, “wishing for” is probably more accurate — a Truth and Retribution Commission (assuming the republic survives) for awhile, but some have chastised me for my punitive viewpoint.
Ruckus
Come on guys.
I know this is snark and that is all that we really have but still. I know we are all pissed – or worse, because this absolute disaster of a human being is revered by a minority of citizens who above all else, hate and want to tear down everything because they blame their hate on pure bullshit, on their own insecurities, on their stupidity. They haven’t learned anything from history, other than how to hate. Not what that hate does to them, not how it fails every time it’s reared it’s ugly head in history, and at a extreme cost to all.
I like snark, it feels like it helps to smooth the anger, the desperation, the helplessness. I’m not sure it does any more than relieve the moment – important but not really a solution.
Now of course this is the problem, what can we do to move forward?
MattF
@PST: Pelosi generally keeps the needs of the D caucus in mind, so I’d guess that she’s giving them room to say what’s necessary.
Betty Cracker
@PST: That’s exactly what I’ve been wondering ever since I read the letter this morning. You’re right; she’ll almost certainly have a strategy to advance with this salvo. Highly unlikely she was “venting” like a common blogger. :)
SFAW
I expect I’m not the first to think of it, but it occurred to me that we have an American Nero, he fiddled while America burned (and in some cases, threw gasoline on the fire). [NB: I expect someone with better historical knowledge than I will tell me that Nero wasn’t actually that bad, etc., etc. Immaterial: that’s the association most Americans have.]
Parfigliano
Im gonna watch his “virus presser” today in anticipation of his stroke
BC in Illinois
According to Maggie Haberman ( referencing the WaPo ):
So, Trump’s name will be on the line on the bottom left?
I thought his name would be on the check, so I was going to take a pen and draw a line through his name — and hope that that wouldn’t be a problem in cashing it.
If his name is on the “memo” line, then I’ll just take a sharpie and blot it out before I cash it.
I may even write in my own memo.
Ruckus
@Jerzy Russian:
May I suggest that one of those navy large guns could be used to force that tube where the sun don’t shine. I’d bet there might just be support for this idea, within a vast majority of naval personnel.
rikyrah
Church jog for this letter ???
Amir Khalid
@Punchy:
Yes, he will be bigly provoked! Into petulant and badly spelled tweets! And he shall fling the most brilliant and cutting insults at The Evil Witch of San Francisco! All shall fear the Wrath of Shitgibbon!
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Ruckus
@BC in Illinois:
May I suggest the word FUCK in front of his bullshit. I wonder what the world would think of when several million checks arrive at banks with that on them?
Baud
@rikyrah: Morning. Not so good.
WereBear
Go NANCY SMASH.
I cried. So much truth in the middle of so many lies.
rp
@Ruckus: The post is snark? Or is the letter snark? I’m confused.
SFAW
@Ruckus:
I think Speaker Pelosi was hoping/intending to do what the MSM generally has not: package a few of the key points regarding the Murderer-in-Chief’s destructive actions, and put them out there for human consumption. Yeah, I imagine part of it was to drive him closer to the edge, but that doesn’t make it bad.
There’s only so much she can do (legislatively) with McConnell still being majority leader.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Or even a Florida-based uncommon one.
Mary G
Liz Warren endorses Biden. Go Joe.
joel hanes
“Incompetence” is far too kind a take on Trump.
If he were attempting to take responsibility for the national good, but failing, that would be incompetence.
If he were attempting to manage an effective response, but did not have the skills to to that successfully, that would be incompetence.
But that’s not what Trump has done.
He has openly denied that he himself bears any responsibility for the good of the nation.
At every turn, he has sought to use the pandemic to get revenge on those who pay insufficient fealty to His Orangeness.
At every turn, he has sought to use the pandemic as cover for grifting opportunities, sought ways to enrich his allies, and ultimately himself. He has deliberately enabled profiteering.
He has done these things even though the predictable cost to the nation has been tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths, and the worst economic destruction since the Great Depression. His advisers warned him of those consequences.
This is not incompetence.
This is pathological malevolence.
This is depraved indifference to human life.
mrmoshpotato
@dmsilev: OAN nutsack: Is Nancy Pelosi a total loser?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Pelosi doesn’t care what Trump says on a personal level. She’s smart and centered and experienced, plus she keeps her eye on the ball.
Btw, you may all have seen it already, but Warren endorsed Biden.
ETA: Joel Hanes @29: Well put. It’s hard for us to process how bad Trump is, even when we say it every day and three times during press con time.
mrmoshpotato
@Punchy: He might even spend hours on live television being a whiny little bitch.
germy
RedDirtGirl
@rikyrah: Good morning! What is a church jog?
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker:
I think this letter outlines the House plans for more Relief legislation —
1) Testing and research support
2) Proper equipment for Hospitals and health care workers including pay
3) Proper equipment training and pay for first responders (always a crowd pleaser on the Hill)
4) Minority Communities
5) Children and Schools (including college debt relief)
6) Figuring out what went wrong (her Covid Commish)
and
7) Impeachment? (Aw, just joshing about the last, but still appropriate)
cope
I don’t have the motivation to dive into it myself but I am curious how each of the 16 Democrats who signed the letter opposing Pelosi as speaker feel about this letter.
germy
Punchy
@mrmoshpotato: I suspect he’ll threaten to take away California’s beaches and give them to Montana.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@cope: Tim Ryan has admitted he was wrong, maybe Seth Moulton. I can’t think of any others
MattF
@cope: Also, in the gaping-at-a-car-wreck sense, what Republicans think. Can they manage to ignore it? How long can they hide?
zhena gogolia
@PST:
I was wondering that too.
mrmoshpotato
@Parfigliano: If you’re actually going to subject yourself to that, may I suggest you watch it with Hal Sparks’ running commentary on YouTube? It somewhat dilutes the crazy.
zhena gogolia
@joel hanes:
This is where I feel he differs from GWB.
Immanentize
Just a PS. Raven said this morning that he got his relief check. Me, nada — but I was not necessarily expecting any because of my weird tx situation the last two years. I’ll just be sorry if the Immp gets zero because he is still my dependent. It might reduce his understandable cynicism a bit.
SFAW
@Parfigliano:
A suggestion: tape it (so to speak), then listen to news reports. If he stroked out, they’ll mention it, and you can go back and watch it. If he didn’t, then you’ve saved yourself a needless spike in your blood pressure, and possibly prevented the destruction of your TV
ETA to mrmoshpotato @ 42: stop typing faster than I do! Although your suggestion might be better than mine, I guess.
Ruckus
@rp:
I see what I did there.
Many of our comments are snark.
Really it is about all we have. But I’d like to be a bit more like Nancy P. The snark is a relief from and about the absolute fucking mess that one asshole has caused, is continuing to cause and is capable of nothing else. He didn’t cause the current problem, he has made it so much worse by his ineptitude, his personality, his mental illness, his presence, his stupidity, his inability to be anything close to a reasonable human, his attraction to and for the worst of the worst.
I’m saying that leader Nancy P has given the sign that quiet isn’t enough, that snark is only a help for a moment, that we need to do something – and I have no real idea what, but can we maybe discuss it, rather than just try to be snarky to try calm ourselves.
It’s all I’ve got, maybe I’ve run out of snark, it really doesn’t seem to be helping.
mrmoshpotato
@Punchy: Big water! Ocean water!
germy
@SFAW: Is he still taking questions from the press, or has he stopped that?
That was always the part I was interested in seeing. Not the prepared statement, but his answers to reporters’ questions.
Betty Cracker
@joel hanes: It’s all of the above, IMO. A competent malevolent narcissist and wannabe autocrat would cover his tracks better, not just in the mishandling of the pandemic but everything else. He’s incompetent AND evil, and I am somewhat grateful for that because otherwise, he’d be successfully planning a thousand-year reich.
Kay (not the front-pager)
@SFAW:
@SFAW:
I like that!
Ruckus
@Immanentize:
I got the deposit in my account this morning.
germy
@Betty Cracker: I worry the next republican president will be a competent trump.
I feel like there’s a few young backbenchers who are watching and learning and waiting.
I’d like to think the fever breaks and the republican party chases out the crazies but… I suspect they’ll instead continue down the road they’ve been going.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@mrmoshpotato:
I follow Daniel Dale on twitter as he live tweets the briefing. He tries to ground his reports in reality. And btw, that guy needs combat pay and a long vacation.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@germy: Yes, he is. And their questions are what leads to him losing it. He reads his prepared remarks in a droning monotone, broken by ludicrous asides. Then the press starts needling him. Unlike, say, Pelosi or Obama, he always takes the bait.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: Josh Hawley, the grinning, boy-next-door face of trumpism
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Dale and Aaron Rupar of Vox are who I follow to follow the crazy
SFAW
@germy:
He took questions on Monday, most notably from Paula Reid (I think), where she asked him “what did you do for a month?” during the initial dicking-around, hoax-claiming, Democrat-blaming period. He responded in his usual dickish way. I don’t know if he took questions yesterday.
mrmoshpotato
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yup. I don’t have words to express how impressive it is to willingly subject yourself to years of Dump’s bullshit and stay sane.
SFAW
@germy:
And *I* would like to think that I am young, in shape, and a chick magnet.
bemused
Read on twitter:
Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what you can do for Trump.
AnotherBruce
@germy:
I worry the next republican president will be a competent trump. Which is why we have to drive every Republican out there into the ground, step on their throats and stay there. They need a generation of time outs.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
What to look for on your RW uncle’s and gone-round-the-bend college friend’s Facebook page later today: The Chinese and the WHO had eighteen chances to warn us!
Conway knows she’s lying. She’s one of those rare members of trump’s inner circle– along with Barr and Mnuchin– who’s not stupid, but she speaks stupid better than any of them, with the exception of The Beast itself.
And Chuck Todd brought MSNBC’s primary coverage to a halt one night in the fall of ’16 to simperingly assure everyone that Kellyanne wasn’t just good at her job, but she’s a good person.
Salty Sam
Of course, it’s what they do. They will twist reality into knots to pwn th’ libtards- that’s the only response in their playbook. Indeed, that is their only Grand Strategy.
i briefly considered fwd’ing Pelosi’s letter to my Repub family members, and then realized that the current situation has finally rendered them dead to me. I refuse to initiate communication with them any more, and if they want to talk to me, they will be talking to a block of polished black granite; no emotional response will be forthcoming, and I will politely cut off the communication. Sorry Mom, and brother J- your support for this monster has materially assisted in the horrors we are experiencing.
germy
@SFAW:
I saw the clips from Monday, but no questions on Tuesday, which made me wonder if he’s decided to quit calling on reporters. I hope not. He needs to answer questions.
The Moar You Know
@Ruckus: For me, it’s the last line of defense against utter despair.
I know where you’re coming from on this, though. I really do. Snark doesn’t get Trump out of office. Snark doesn’t cure the coronavirus. Snark doesn’t get Trump supporters to see what kind of incredible damage they’ve done to the country. Snark…well, snark doesn’t fix anything, and we need to stop posting on blogs, antisocial media, comment sections, and snarking and start going out and fixing what little we can, as individuals, one kind act at a time, because that’s meaningful and God knows we need a lot more meaningful actions these days.
Fuck, just go and pick up the first piece of trash you see. Inside/outside. Doesn’t matter. Pick it up and put it in a rubbish bin and then go find another. Do something, doesn’t have to be big. Anything. Anything will help because everything helps in a time where there is no help.
MattF
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: So, just to be clear, Conway is saying that the ‘19’ refers to… no, I don’t get it.
germy
bemused
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
At the end of a work day, I wonder if George and Kellyanne ask each other, “How was your day, dear?”
kindness
I love me some Nancy SMASH! She should be Biden’s VP nominee.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Looking at Aaron Rupar’s feed, he did take questions yesterday, but I did see someone tweet that yesterday was the first one of the Follies where no medical or scientific experts spoke. Scanning Rupar’s thread, I only see trump at the podium, but I thought I had seen that Pence and Mnuchin were called up to stammer excuses.
Elizabelle
@germy: Please, germy. Who gives a fuck what assholes like that think or say?
It lessens us to see that. Why amplify that shit?
germy
@bemused: There are clips of KellyAnne, before she went to work on the trump campaign. She was working for some other republican candidate (I don’t remember who) and she talked shit about trump, basically said all the stuff we say here. I mean, she sounded like a balloon-juice jackal or frontpager, the stuff she’d say!
I think she sees herself as a defense attorney, the kind that defends corrupt corporations. She’ll say whatever her client wants her to say, for a fee. She has no underlying principles other than “has the check cleared?”
germy
@Elizabelle: To see where the talking points bubble down to or up from. If she offends you, I won’t link to her anymore.
Elizabelle
@germy: Perhaps we can deliver a second beating to Republicans, by deploying RICO against them, if a serious and credible case can be brought to trial. Some of those people need to go to prison.
After an electoral stomping this November.
Eyes on the prize.
Elizabelle
@germy: I just don’t have that much interest in how their talking points get dropped upon us. Why marinate in that stupidity and cruelty?
JMG
A number of commentators, and not just the “Democrats always do it wrong” lefty crowd, have taken Pelosi to task for extending the House recess until May 4. I think they are missing something. Her caucus doesn’t WANT to come back. It isn’t eager to function in circumstances ideal for spreading the virus. McConnell extended the Senate recess on Monday. Same reason no doubt. But you know, these guys and gals get paid a lot more than garbage collectors, and my trash was picked up on schedule this morning. If they’re afraid of their job, they should quit and start collecting their nice Congressional pensions.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: as Adam often says, her real employers are the Mercer family, Rebekkah and her father. I think she was with the Santorum campaign in 2012, and even then she was a second-tier cable surrogate. As I say, she’s not stupid, but the mean-girl persona she so clearly enjoys acting out kept her off the A list in pre-trump days.
Elizabelle
@The Moar You Know: That’s good advice.
Snark works both ways. Some of it, the clever snark, amuses and motivates us to resist and/or survive.
The unclever snark is self-defeating and deflating and demoralizing. Some of the catchphrases here are just wanking.
BruceFromOhio
@Elizabelle:
You’ve neatly summed up Twitter and the sole reason for avoiding it entirely.
Elizabelle
@JMG: They need to figure out a way to operate electronically. This was a wake-up call. House representatives do not travel in on horse and by train.
On the bright side, Mitch cannot be confirming rightwing federal judges at the moment. Small mercies.
rp
@Parfigliano: Call me crazy, but I think that’s what Pelosi is going for with the letter.
germy
@BruceFromOhio: You know that some front page posts often contain five or six tweets, mixed in with some frontpager commentary?
rikyrah often posts tweet that are informative. I learn stuff from them.
Should we institute a twitter ban on this site?
Miss Bianca
@JMG: I dunno, I find my withers are strangely wrung on this question. On the one hand, I value Pelosi’s continued health and welfare as uniquely valuable to the nation right now. Not to say your trash collection isn’t valuable, but how many life or death decisions for the fate of the country is your trash collector making?
On the other hand, I think that Mitch McConnell choking to death on a ventilator after coming down with COVID-19 would also be uniquely valuable to the nation right now. I guess it’s a toss-up.
SFAW
@germy:
The embedded link (or whatever TF it was) sent me to Breitbart. WTF, germy? Yeah, I know it’s what’s-her-name’s inclusion, but give us a fucking trigger warning, will you? The out-and-proud insanity there is a little much for my delicate psyche to handle.
JMG
@Elizabelle: Pelosi, for whatever reason, is death on remote technology for Congress. I don’t know if it’s just old person’s technophobia or what, but she is really against it.
SFAW
@germy:
No, only for you.
Yes, I’m kidding.
Ohio Mom
I just saw Warren’s video endorsing Biden. It was inspiring. Of course I didn’t need to hear it — I don’t need to be convinced —but it made me feel hopeful, and I can use a dose of hope.
SFAW
@Elizabelle:
I was all psyched for a second, hoping to read the words “is on life support, after suffering a massive stroke, brought on by Speaker Pelosi’s letter.”
david
“For the first time since this nightmare began, I see a statement from a federal government official that truly gives me hope that we can beat back this insanity.”
Wow, if late February or March was being late to the party, what would one call mid-April?
It took her this long to figure out what was going on right in front of her eyes and pen this missive?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JMG: she said vaguely on the Hayes show last night that people have told her there are Constitutional obstacles to remote voting. IANA Constitutional scholar, but those obstacles are not obvious to me. I don’t know why they couldn’t pass a provision for remote voting– members votes are public, bills are supposed to be public– with a six-month, renewable sunset clause.
But what the fuck do I know?
Bill Arnold
Not sure DJT has thought this through.
david
BTW, for those who don’t need the money, forward that “stimulus” check to the Biden Presidential Election Campaign. #EIPforJoe Broadcast it far and wide. Make Trump chip in to his own defeat.
Gin & Tonic
@MattF: This is the 19th time we’ve had a pandemic due to a virus from China spreading around the world. How quickly you forget.
Hungry Joe
@The Moar You Know: Yes. This. Absolutely.
But at the same time … there’s always room for snark. A little bit, anyway. It feeds the soul. (Well, mine, anyway.)
Elizabelle
@SFAW: You made me laugh. Thank you.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
And, amazingly — as well as coincidentally — all 19 were released on anniversaries (so to speak) of the Bowling Green Massacre.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
One thing that amazes me about Trump and the Republicans, especially the Senate: They keep finding new ways to surprise and enrage me.
The newest one is the news that they are seeing the pandemic as a chance to kill the Post Office. That they insisted the USPS get no funding in the bailout bill. There are no longer words for the rage I am feeling. And helplessness, which feeds the rage. I hope Madam Speaker has the weapons for that fight but I honestly don’t know what is within her power to do to save it.
SFAW
@Elizabelle:
I’m just hoping for the Tinkerbell/Green Lantern effect to help such a “sad” event come about.
WereBear
Hahaha. That is their Super Power! The answer is FOREVAH
SFAW
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I’m hoping she pushes through a targeted bill, wherein the USPS is funded, and is the only part of that bill. Make Traitor Turtle and the traitorous Rethug Senators (and the Murderer-in-Chief) own the destruction of the USPS.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
No.
As we have learned over and over and over and OVER every time we doubt her decisions, the Speaker has reasons for her timing. Often it’s connected to letting Trump dig himself a hole first.
Elizabelle
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I think david might be a troll. Cannot tell.
BR
@Elizabelle:
The security aspect of remote voting Pelosi raised is not really truly an issue, just one where they’re not realizing the obvious solution. They can use one of the other non-Zoom systems for video, but for voting they can just issue one-time-use codes, like a lot of companies do for logins, for voting to all members. So basically give every member a pad that contains 200 vote slips, where each vote slip has one random number for “yea” and one random number for “nay”. And then all you have to do is have a staff member at the House keep track of who has used which vote slip, and they can be used on the phone or through any video conferencing without security concerns because they can’t be reused and can’t be guessed.
Immanentize
@Ruckus: Thanks. They say most will be deposited this week (by Thursday?) If I am considered a joint filer because of my “widow w/dependent” status, I definitely will get a check. If I am considered Mr. Head of Household, filing separately, I won’t. We will see. I wonder if it is going to Red States first? :-)
Fair Economist
@Salty Sam:
I say send it. Make them run from you.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Elizabelle: or a sincere, Stoller-type emo-prog
to-may-to, to-mah-to, I know
Elizabelle
@SFAW: Please don’t even joke about that. We cannot afford the “destruction of the USPS.” It cannot happen.
FWIW, how else do those GOP fuckers think that rural folks are going to get their mail and supplies? They’d be surprised how much the USPS does.
I would like to see legislation for enacting postal banks via USPS. Protect our economically vulnerable from predatory banks’ fees. It is never that hard to find a post office (even though some are at great distances, depending on the locale).
SFAW
@Elizabelle:
I had considered that, but his subsequent comment made me think maybe not. It could just be that Speaker Pelosi frustrates, for some unknown reason.
O. Felix Culpa
@Immanentize: I got my money direct deposit on Monday. Was shocked that it came so quickly.
horatius
@Jerzy Russian: Trump is all ass. So shove it anywhere.
O. Felix Culpa
Establishment of the post office system is in Section 8 of the constitution. How can Repubs/Trump get rid of it? Silly question, I know.
Immanentize
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The constitutional piece is about the “speech and debate” clause in the Constitution, which reads in relevant part:
Article 1, Section 6, Clause 1.
The “in any other place” suggests you must be at the Capitol building. It is occasionally misused by criminally minded congresscritters. I remember a very inebriated younger Kennedy (not Ted) racing in his car to both avoid the police and get to the Capitol building to claim privilege under this clause.
I get the complaint. Not all Congress persons work hard or care about what they vote on. Imagine if you could stay in your district, do nothing, and vote in ignorance. As Speaker, I would want a watchful eye on those fellows from the other side — as well as from my side of the aisle.
SFAW
@Elizabelle:
I wasn’t joking. As I see it, there are two obstacles to keeping the USPS afloat: McConnell and Trump (with the rest of the Rethugs in a subordinate role). With a concerted effort by the Dems, it’s possible that some of the allegedly-vulnerable Rethug senators will get enough calls from their constituents, that they’ll be shamed/scared into voting for such a bill. In order to give them ZERO cover, the bill has to focus on the USPS alone, not giving them some way to weasel out of it by saying “The Demon-crats are loading it up with pork for all their favorite programs, trying to sneak those through.”
I am (un?)reasonably scared that the Rethugs will continue to be Traitors to America (at least vis-a-vis the USPS), and I don’t see a reasonable alternative to my suggestion. [But then again, the Dems aren’t exactly asking for my political advice/”wisdom.”]
Immanentize
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: And the post office is in the constitution! (at least the Post Master General is.)
As O. Felix Culpa said at 110.
Ella in New Mexico
In any other time in American history-hell, in any other universe-we’d see actions right now to remove Trump from office, whether by his party pulling him aside and and telling him to resign or other, more official means. No one, not the Democrats, not the Republicans and certainly not the American people, are benefitting anymore from this sideshow.
But we have McConnell, and if you’ve read Jane Meyers piece at the New Yorker you’ll know for sure there is absolutely no soul in that freak that would motivate him to do the right thing in any circumstance, so much so his own daughters hate him. And we have Republicans who will march like the Devil’s Foots Soldiers right behind him as they drive this country right over a cliff. They know good and well that he’s untouchable now, and for some unfathomable reason, they are deluding themselves that this is all gonna work out in their favor. Hence, KellyAnne, et.al., even though only about 35% of the country will swallow this latest diversionary tactic of blaming the WHO.
Normally, I’d be feeling incredibly hopeless and despondent right now. But something about these past few weeks feels like we’re actually witnessing the end of these people’s hold over our country. Because even Russia now has a whole lot more serious issues to deal with–and fund–than keeping Trump in power right now, I have a feeling we’re going to see a less robust foreign interference here in the election. Trump knows this, knows he’s not at all guaranteed to win anymore. The polls are actually looking terrible for him in the swing states. Republicans are losing even the sure-thing, gerrymandered forced-march-into-the-plague-to-vote elections.
I may be wrong, but this letter may actually be the salvo on the beginning of our journey back to not only normal, but better than normal.
p.a.
As I’ve previously said re: never trumpers etc, take your allies where you can in times like these. So: thank you (select portions of) MSM for finally FINALLY putting trump’s feet to the fire for SOMETHING. BUT THIS IS WHAT IT TOOK!!??!! I hope they are included in the Retribution Committee’s work.
SFAW
@O. Felix Culpa:
“Does the Constitution say anything about whether it must be funded by Congress?” I think that’s the “argument” on which the Rethugs are hanging their teeny-tiny hats. [“Teeny-tiny” because they’re all pinheads.]
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: My kids got theirs. Including my son.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
We got ours, the SFAW-ette got hers.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Immanentize:
Ah, thanks.
Immanentize
@SFAW: That is an interesting argument, but generally if it is in the Constitution, it must be funded. For example, Congress cannnot get rid of Courts by not funding them (as the Courts have occassionally held). So, more accurately, perhaps, they think they would have to fund something called the post office and a person referred to as Post Master, but nothing else? But it wouldn’t have to deliver mail. Of course, Biden/Warren are going in the other direction wanting to create post office banking. Expand vastly the positive effect of the USPS in communities.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Good for them!
How is the fallout going over there?
germy
People have hoarded so much toilet paper they’re playing games with it. No wonder my grocery store shelves are empty.
Toilet paper dodgeball and theme dinners: How bored families are surviving coronavirus lockdown
narya
@Immanentize: Nope. I’m in BlueLand, and it hit my bank account this morning. I’ve seen that it’s actually an advance on next year’s tax return; does anyone know if that’s accurate?
SiubhanDuinne
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
i do the same, frequently because it’s hard to believe I’ve just heard what I just heard, and I need third-party confirmation.
After the press conferences/campaign rallies/COVID-19 briefings are over, I check Aaron Rupar’s twitter thread for a kind of executive summary.
SFAW
@Immanentize:
I hope you’re right re: your first sentences. But, being as cynical as I am, it would not surprise me to see the Traitors let funding die, and then dare the Dems to sue them (or whatever), whereupon the SC would say that the Dems have no standing, etc. [How obvious is it that I’m not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV?]
Betty Cracker
@david: If you ignore everything else she’s said on the topic to date, you could call Pelosi “late to the party” for sending that letter yesterday. On the other hand, some folks have trouble hearing when a woman speaks.
germy
@Immanentize:
The 2006 bill to make the Post Office prefund decades of pension and retiree health costs was cosponsered by Waxman, D-CA
McHugh, R-NY
Davis, D-IL
passed with unanimous consent in the senate.
I saw this comment over at LGM:
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@SFAW: Sounds entirely reasonable to me. One question: firing squads, or guillotines ? Either is fine by me.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
I’m sorry, what was that? Did you say something?
O. Felix Culpa
@ SFAW:@Immanentize:
Thank you for answering that question. It seems a commonsense reading of the constitution that you can’t have an institution like the post office (or courts, as you mention) without funding it, but then, I’m neither an originalist nor a member of the Federalist Society. They’re way more *creative thinkers* than I.
Immanentize
@narya: You will not have to pay back the check!
That is some unfortunate misinformation, that I myself believed that it might be true if a mistake was made, BUT:
I put this article up from Huffpo in the morning thread:
You will not have to repay that money
Immanentize
@germy: THAT is what is killing the USPS. Just like how Republicans view Social Security.
Ella in New Mexico
@SFAW:
Grieving now the utter waste of money that was Michael Bloomberg’s $500 billion dollar Presidential Hail Mary Vanity Campaign.
Seriously, anyone from him to Steyer to Bezos to Gates could bring the Post Office back in the heavy duty black with a single, “hardly noticed it was gone in their bank account” donation, keeping it functioning long enough for us to finally fix legislatively what has been killing it for years under Republican domination.
Baud
@germy: The bill was introduced in the House on Dec. 7, 2006 and was enacted 14 days later. In other words, it was prenegotiated. Looking at co-sponsors doesn’t reveal a whole lot about which side was pushing for what.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/6407/all-actions
JMG
Trump has his slush fund and has no interest in whether or not the post office, every state and city in the country and half the Fortune 500 goes broke. Republicans in Congress may feel differently as we get closer to election time. Or, Pelosi could say, “fund the post office or we impeach Trump again. First hearing witness — Dr. Anthony Fauci.”
Jinchi
No, not according to the overview on CNBC.
low-tech cyclist
@Betty Cracker: she’ll almost certainly have a strategy to advance with this salvo. Highly unlikely she was “venting” like a common blogger. :)
I agree. And I sure hope the next salvo begins with something along the lines of “Trump is who he is; he’s not going to suddenly begin responding to the issues surrounding COVID-19 in a competent manner. For this reason, he should resign. And if he fails to do this within the next few days, his Cabinet must invoke the 25th Amendment.
“While the Democratic Party disagrees with Mr. Pence on nearly every issue under the sun, he is capable of competently leading the United States through this crisis if he does not have to report to Donald Trump.”
Salty Sam
I’m sensing the same thing myself. Not that there will be an immediate turn to Tbogg’s Magical Gumdrop Fairy Land; returning
this countrythe world to sanity will be a multigenerational task. I don’t expect to see it in my lifetime.But we gotta start somewhere, and I sense that that time is upon us.
Kelly
OT: Our 2x$1200 relief/stimulus checks are in our checking account. The deposit has been a direct deposit to our account in pending status for several days.
narya
@Immanentize: Thank you for that info! I was wondering how it was going to work; it looks like it’s just . . . here’s some money. Time to make some donations!
Nora
@SFAW: Hey, the Supreme Court doesn’t give a shit about standing anymore. If it did, none of those anti-Obamacare lawsuits would have survived a motion to dismiss.
sdhays
@BR: That sounds too complicated for most of the Republican caucus.
Ella in New Mexico
@germy:
This literally pisses me off. Ever since “The Great Store Shelf Clearing of 2020” we’ve not seen more than a couple of rolls of toilet paper in the stores we frequent. Since it’s only two of us right now and we had a 12 pack, we decided not to “hoard” and wait till things calmed down, but now we’re literally down to two rolls hubby borrowed from work and I’m getting nervous.
Also, people don’t realize that some folks need this stuff more than others. My sister-in-law is caring for her elderly Dad who is in treatment for multiple myeloma, and his 3-4 day bouts of post-chemo diarrhea is not a game. They go thru a lot more hygiene supplies, like gloves, masks and wipes than they ever knew was going to be a cause for concern. It’s become a family project to secure supplies for them anytime we find them on the shelf or internet.
People. Gotta love ’em and gotta hate ’em.
joel hanes
@germy:
The 2006 bill to make the Post Office prefund decades of pension and retiree health costs
Remembering that this was the era in which the verb most often used to describe the Democratic caucus was “caving”, and W/Cheney were still riding high on boo-yah in-your-face triumphalism.
Still, this clouds my generally enthusiastic opinion of Waxman.
joel hanes
@JMG:
First hearing witness — Dr. Anthony Fauci
I would choose Dr. Messonier, and follow with Rear Admiral R. Timothy Ziemer
PST
@Betty Cracker: Unlike the other incompetent malevolent narcissist who planned a thousand-year reich and was off by two orders of magnitude. It is interesting the ways in which Hitler’s defects as a manager mirror Trump’s. Ignoring the horrors he unleashed and just looking at the way he operated, Hitler was lazy and unknowledgeable, and relied on bullying sycophants into competing for his favor.
catclub
@SFAW: neeDs more randOm capiTALization
sdhays
@low-tech cyclist: The 25th Amendment is not really appropriate for this scenario. And I don’t think the Democratic Party should be giving Mike Dense anything like a vote of confidence, which he doesn’t deserve at all.
Although it would be funny to watch Dump feel betrayed by Dense and Dense groveling even more to get back into his good graces.
Baud
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/irs-government-checks-coronavirus-187844
Charluckles
@Ella in New Mexico:
Might be worth a check now. The last visit for me the store was fully stocked with tp. I realize it’s different everywhere and our stores are out of other items. But they had a ton of paper products.
trollhattan
@joel hanes:
Everything you cite is true. I’m compelled to add that he and his spawn and are putting much of their energies into profiting from this disaster. Because they deserve to. Because they’re special. And you and I and everybody we know, is not.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I remember when I used to take Jeremy Scahill seriously
For context, if you don’t wanna click on the link, Pelosi appeared on one of the late night shows from her kitchen, and she’s got a freezer full of ice cream.
Immanentize
@Baud: Thanks.
This is what the IRS site tells me:
I wonder if that file contains political donations?
?
Ella in New Mexico
@Charluckles: You’re probably right. Might help if I could get out of the house before 3pm, too ;-)
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Not as reassuring as progressives who bitch about trivial things for likes from Rose Twitter.
Ksmiami
@SFAW: not me- Gallows for them all… We cannot move forward without a true reckoning.
trnc
“Bankruptcy King …”
“Failed Casino Owner …”
Just depends on what I can fit in front of his name.
low-tech cyclist
I would hold that a President whose actions are certain to cause the gratuitous deaths of thousands of Americans should be removed from office to save as many lives as possible.
So what are the options? There’s resignation, the 25th, impeachment, and assassination. Resignation’s not going to happen, and I don’t want any party to be suggesting assassination.
So that leaves the two in the middle, and under these circumstances I would expect the Democratic leadership to propose use of the 25th, and hold off talk of impeachment until the Cabinet failed to act.
Ksmiami
@Boris Rasputin (the evil twin): why not both considering how many Trumpkins there are
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The latest from Agent Orange is he is authorizing the governors to reopen.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-now-says-hell-authorizing-043100253.html
Good lord is that man a useless pile of rancid cheese.
Just think about this – Trump now eclipsed Bush in causing more American deaths threw incompetence. The stupid War of Terror was at lest an effort to deal with the problem.
PST
@The Moar You Know:
My favorite way of trying to do a tiny bit of good when the opportunity presents is to always carry a second poop bag when walking the dog.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@low-tech cyclist: None of those things are going to happen. The only way out is the general election in November.
trump was impeached, and acquitted. His poll numbers are virtually unchanged and until this crisis hit, his re-election was probably close to a 50% shot. And who knows where we will be six months from now, for better or worse.
trnc
@joel hanes: This is like a Declaration of Independence from Unhinged Assholes. Well done.
Ksmiami
@Fair Economist: I cut off close family members because of their Republican Party membership. Then other stuff came out about their abusive parenting skills so I made the right call. To be a Republican today means you are a defective and morally reprehensible person full stop.
sdhays
@low-tech cyclist: He should resign. The 25th Amendment process is just a higher bar than impeachment. There should be a drumbeat of demanding he resign.
Immanentize
@low-tech cyclist: The 25th clearly does not apply — incompetence is not incapacity. Impeachment is the only removal option:
US Const, amend XXV, sec. 4
WereBear
It is really all of their conservative crap ideas failing at once.
Brachiator
@Mary G:
I have not had a chance to read much on this. A snippet of her endorsement read by a news reporter seemed very thoughtful.
Ksmiami
@zhena gogolia: GWB was a pretty typical privileged white dude but he was still a human being who felt empathy- Trump is just a void.
Elizabelle
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Yeah, that one about “I will authorize” had me yelling at the shitwad, from my kitchen, as I listened to the NPR news.
He is not “authorizing” anything WRT the governors. If he wanted to authorize something, he could have employed the Defense Production Act. For PPEs, masks, ventilators, testing supplies. In January. He could have “authorized” the dreaded WHO to send their test kits our way, as sane nations did.
I wonder how many people who used to tolerate Trump more than we do are also wincing at his proclamations these days.
Subsole
@Ruckus:
We used to have threads about campaign donations, highlighting local races, that sort of thing. Are those still around?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@low-tech cyclist: the 25th won’t happen because it would require the consent of the GOP and Trump endangering them, their families, their lobbyist and their voters isn’t enough to turn them on Dumbass Donny. Remember the dead for this virus mostly are boomer males who tend to be Republican and the worst hit by the shut downs are small business owners, again, more Republicans.
Brachiator
@Baud:
I have heard that some people have already received checks.
And of course we have the craziness of Trump insisting that his name appear on checks mailed out to people.
Elizabelle
@WereBear:
That’s true. And we cannot let them get away with “the idea was good; it was the implementation or implementor that sucked.”
No. No writing of Civil War/Reconstruction history by Southern sympathizers. Burn them to the ground.
catclub
@Baud: I will try it again, but whenever I have tried to get online IRS accounts, I cannot do it. I am silently rejected.
I think the reason is that – as a government employee, I froze my credit reporting accounts when the OPM was hacked, and the IRS seems to depend on those to validate online applications. … funny.
I have not unfrozen them to test.
Brachiator
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
What?
rikyrah
@RedDirtGirl:
You are so happy, that you are jogging in church.
You aren’t just sitting in the pews, saying Amen….the spirit catches you and you are jogging in the aisles.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Elizabelle: The real thing Trump could do is appoint an Virus relief Czar to organize these complex interstate things, like protective gear and testing production and distribution or ensuring the food supply is secure. But that would require Trump to give up his petty pleasure of screwing with his own staff by having them compete with each other for his approval.
catclub
A million dead iraqis still prefer Trump over GWBush, but with the WHO
defunding, Trump could catch up.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Brachiator: Go look at the statics; every one I have seen is a disproportional amount of the dead are males over 60. While the the AAs are getting hit hard, the next group is older white males.
catclub
Actually, you DO think those things, but the world does not seem to totally back you up on them. Ask me how I know.
Elizabelle
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Yeah. He’s using the supplies distribution to reward fealty. I am rather hoping that is illegal, or could result in his being sued by states. I want Trump tied up in legal peril or actually in prison all the rest of his miserable days.
Sab
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I am married to one of those so I am not encouraged. My guy votes like an AA male.
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, he really fell off the deep end, didn’t he? Scahill used to be an interesting journalist, but he’s been morphing into a Greenwald-style hack. A pity because he had more chops for the business than Greenwald ever did.
p.a.
@Elizabelle: Rule 1 on Planet Conservative: conservatism can not fail. It can only be failed.
It’s like those weeds that can sprout from any crappy piece left in the dirt.
“That’s some catch, that Catch 22!”
James E Powell
@JMG:
A lot of people who criticize Pelosi don’t get that she is the leader of a large and diverse coalition of people whose interests and priorities often conflict.
Elizabelle
Cuomo O’Clock underway.
karensky
@Betty Cracker: Thanks for posting the entire letter. She is a real leader. I felt chill after reading it and some of the Comments.
I am very fortunate to live in PA where our Gov is straightforward and relies on science . He is not a grandstander and has his trans health director give all of the daily Corona virus briefings.
Brachiator
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I think you strain to try to single out Republicans. New York City has a high number of dead, and New York did not support Trump or Republicans.
Even your jibe about small business owners is somewhat misplaced. Small business owners and their employees are being hit hard.
And your initial dismissal of African Americans in order to get to Republicans is insensitive.
trnc
@germy:
His responses are all nonsense, so I don’t think there’s any point. I also don’t think there could be anybody left outside of the koolaid drinkers who can’t see for themselves what a fuckup he is
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@James E Powell: one clear effect of twitter on Dem politics (and maybe R, too, I don’t know) is to exacerbate what it was fashionable to call “epistemic closure” in the blogosphere a few years back, bubble-thinking. “Everyone I haven’t blocked on twitter agrees with me that Obama was worse than trump and the DNC is the real enemy”
Kent
It’s not even that difficult because votes are not anonymous. All they really need to do is show the live vote tally by member name and make the members responsible for making sure that their votes are correctly recorded.
James E Powell
@Immanentize:
I got the same message. I expect this whole thing to be ridiculous, so I am not going to worry about it.
trnc
@JMG: Our trash collectors don’t have to sit in a room with dozens/hundreds of coworkers like Rand Paul (singled out for socializing while symptomatic, not just for being his usual asshole self). However, it is way past time for them to use the widely available technology created for remote work and communication. I’m actually a bit surprised that SCOTUS got there first.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
It’s the thing about “this check not valid until you make a donation to the Trump Foundation and write ‘Thank You, God Emperor Trump’ below your signature” that really gets me.
trnc
@Kent:
Yup. Deliberations, conferences, etc need to be private, but votes just need to be protected from zoom bombing.
Ruckus
@germy:
What republican is left that has an audience and isn’t freaking crazy?
debbie
I don’t file taxes electronically so I’m expecting to eventually receive a paper check. If I cross out his signature in the memo section and scrawl “ASSHOLE” over it, will the check be invalidated? Asking for a friend.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@debbie: I don’t know, but I’d bet my check you wouldn’t be the only one.
Dmbeaster
@PST: “Given her mastery, it is probably a good reason. So what is it from a strategic or tactical perspective that she is trying to accomplish be saying this now?”
To cement the narrative, or at least make this a dispute about Trump’s failings, rather than China, WHO, etc.
Just Chuck
Can we address the fact that the administration has been seizing PPA procured by states in order to be re-sold to the highest bidder? I hopes the states Attorneys General are paying attention, because this is straight up premeditated murder.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
because of course it does
Ruckus
@JMG:
If your garbage collector is like mine, they drive the truck by themselves and really aren’t near anyone else all day. You can’t say that about congress.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
operation gridlock…. ? So their goal is to further disrupt supply chains and emergency vehicles? in the name of their right to spread a disease that basically slowly suffocates people from the inside. I wonder if they’re going to wear powdered wigs and try-corner hats
ETA: Forgot the link. One lone Prius in the line of giant pick-ups, SUVs and mostly mini-vans or “cross-overs”, which we called station wagons in my time (and I drive one, and have thought seriously about a Honda Odyssey)
Ruckus
@BruceFromOhio:
twitter is a cesspool.
It also has good content, provided by thoughtful people. It depends on who you follow and more important, who you don’t.
Ruckus
@david:
Do you have any concept of politics, tactics in warfare, how to get things done when in a minor position?
The Lodger
@Ruckus: So did I. Apparently Treasury didn’t think to force someone to put Trump’s name on the electronic dposit record.
Chris Johnson
@joel hanes: No, it’s simply enemy action.
He doesn’t work for THIS country. He just wants a medal for when he goes home. (which will never happen, either part of it)
Elizabelle
@Ruckus: I am grateful to those (Anne Laurie) who curate it for me.
Otherwise, Twitter is a jump into the deep end, attached to an anchor. Pollution and floating things. No, no, no.
Have never seen “Rose Twitter” in my life, and hope I never do.
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Is it terrible that I am hoping a number of them get COVID and take themselves off the voting rolls by this fall?
Yes, it is terrible. But carry on, wingnuts. Please proceed.
Brachiator
@debbie:
That’s funny.
You can also go to the IRS portal and enter bank account information.
Sab
@Brachiator: The dead in this pandemic are mostly Blacks who work in service industries because they are such pleasant people.
I am an entitled white and I am enraged. Not that it helps anyone.
Kent
McConnell and his ilk DELIBERATELY tried to kill tens of thousands of Americans by repealing the ACA. There were detailed studies that were very precise in their estimates of how many additional Americans would die as a result of 10+ million losing health coverage. It was in the tens of thousands.
McConnell and his ilk DELIBERATELY tried to kill tens of thousands of more Americans by trashing Obama-era pollution controls, especially in high-minority communities where cancer clusters and respiratory disease is rampant.
I could go on and on. But they have a LOT of blood on their hands for literally dozens of socially-retrograde and sociopathic actions they have taken.
If they all die of Covid-19 many other lives may be saved. That’s a positive trade off no matter how you do the math.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’ll take that bet!
MoCA Ace
@Ruckus: Rail Gun, Rail Gun, Rail Gun!!
Yutsano
@Brachiator: Fortunately only in the memo line. President isn’t a signing authority. If his signature is on the issuing authority line the payment is as good as scrap paper. That’s probably going to burn him when he finds out.
Ksmiami
@Kent: exactly- The GOP is unsafe at any speed. All they care about is money and murder so it’s time for payback
Ruckus
@Elizabelle:
I do see twitter every day and I’ve never seen rose twitter and I blocked shit for brains
cain
@Salty Sam:
Only the Cimmerian conversation is required.. unconditional surrender with only the weeping of their politicians and their ideology in shambles.
cain
McConnell is still the big enabler of the lies and deceit. It’s time to play chicken with the bills and make sure that the USPS is funded regardless. Don’t budge an inch. Trump is going to continue to fuck up his response with PPEs and the like and it is going to continue to make front page news.
While Democrats might catch some heat, it’s going to be mostly be coming from those fuckups in the Senate. Essentially just declare they are the grownups and the senate and conservatives should shut the fuck up since they have no ideas other than give more money to rich people and corporations who cannot do anything unless workers are safe to working.
cain
hmm.. my posts are being eaten.
Brachiator
@Yutsano:
You can bet that no one will ever tell him.
WaterGirl
@cain: You were in spam for some reason. Fixed.
Gvg
@Ella in New Mexico: and then the republicans would cut funding further and quicker and cut other programs and cut taxes more. To control them these things need to be paid by taxes. Don’t cop out by becoming dependent on the charity of the rich
artem1s
@PST:
sending a message to the Governors that the Dems are ready to lead. It’s going to be OK if they ignore, walk around or dismiss the Murderer in Chief?
Ella in New Mexico
@Gvg: probably too late for this in the thread, but my thinking is that USPS is saying it will run out of money in September right at the time we’re looking at increased use of absentee ballots and vote by mail. Shore it up now to protect the election.
After that, when we take back the White House and the Senate, permanently fix the legislation we so foolishly passed in the first place, and do what Elizabeth Warren wants to expand the USPS’s role to things like non-profit banking services, which would further fund it’s continued survival.
A one time donation. That’s all they need.
SFAW
@catclub:
Actually, I DON’T. I’m about 35 years past “young,” way-too-many pounds past “in shape,” and “chick magnet” … well, let’s just say I heard more variations of “oh. I’d love to go out, but I have to floss my cat that night” to count.
OK. How do you know? Actually, the question before that is “know which? That I (allegedly) think that? Or that the world doesn’t back me up?”
J R in WV
@SFAW:
Perhaps “David” is a misogynist fool ?? I could see misogynists being nearly terminally frustrated by a woman as powerful as Madam Speaker Pelosi. Poor baby ~!!~