Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / NANCY SMASH! / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Markers Thrown

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Markers Thrown

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I may actually have to subscribe (briefly) to Disney+, just to see the masterpiece for myself:

And speaking of revolutionary actions…

… The House is expected to vote on the package as soon as Friday. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said there is no “urgency.” The Senate will wait until after Memorial Day to consider options.

“We must think big, for the people, now,” Pelosi said from the speaker’s office at the Capitol.

“Not acting is the most expensive course,” she said…

The Democrats’ Heroes Act is built around nearly $1 trillion for states, cities and tribal governments to avert layoffs, focused chiefly on $375 billion for smaller suburban and rural municipalities largely left out of earlier bills.

The bill will offer a fresh round of $1,200 direct cash aid to individuals, increased to up to $6,000 per household, and launches a $175 billion housing assistance fund to help pay rents and mortgages. There is $75 billion more for virus testing.

It would continue, through January, the $600-per-week boost to unemployment benefits. It adds a 15% increase for food stamps, new subsidies for laid-off workers to pay health insurance premiums under a COBRA law and a special “Obamacare” sign-up period. For businesses, it provides an employee retention tax credit.

There’s $200 billion in “hazard pay” for essential workers on the front lines of the crisis…

The latest package extends some provisions from previous aid packages, and adds new ones.

There is $25 billion for the U.S. Postal Service. There is help for the 2020 Census, including the bureau’s request to delay deadlines for turning over apportionment and redistricting data. For the November election, the bill provides $3.6 billion to help local officials prepare for the challenges of voting during the pandemic.

The popular Payroll Protection Program, which has been boosted in past bills, would see another $10 billion to ensure under-served businesses and nonprofit organizations have access to grants through a disaster loan program…

#MoscowMitch can’t even pretend to care any more about his so-called (voting) constituents:

Reader Interactions

175Comments

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Do you still believe Putin pays Trump? We can’t really care about anything you say until you clear that up. https://t.co/e43ZXiFaFw

    — Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) May 13, 2020

    What I want to know is, who is paying McCarthy?

  3. 3.

    Betty Cracker

    I loved Senator Warren’s response to McConnell’s lack of urgency:

    More than 80,000 people are dead, Senator. Is there a number that would make this more urgent for you? https://t.co/cWSovpFR0h— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 12, 2020

    BTW, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but this package is what the “do-nothing Democrats” have been working on, mostly from their homes, for many weeks.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Disappointment-mongerers will be, well, disappointed by this:

  14. 14.

    Aleta

    The bill might be partly OK I guess but how can we be sure, since Dems are failing their responsibility by not being tweet-quoted by the people I follow.

  20. 20.

    WereBear

    Mr WereBear wants “McConnellism” to be the phrase describing the anti-human attitude of our current Republican party, just as McCarthyism came to mean persecution for made-up reasons.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    More on what Betty posted.

     

    Biden, Sanders name leaders of their ‘unity task forces’ — including AOC

     

    The advisory groups’ membership consists of a stable of prominent Democratic leaders and public policy experts.

  24. 24.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: There really are not two sides.  There are shared goals and different approaches to reaching them.  This is a good thing! Big tent being constructed!  Unity!

    I really don’t understand your AOC disdain and why you feel it necessary to so often run her down with every move she makes.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    @Immanentize:

    “Two sides” refers to Democrats and the part of the Bernie coalition who hates Democrats.

    All I said about AOC is that her statement sounded defensive.  I said that because it did.

  27. 27.

    Brachiator

    For the November election, the bill provides $3.6 billion to help local officials prepare for the challenges of voting during the pandemic.

    Can we make Election Day a holiday, so that people who go to polls can do so more easily?

  28. 28.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: I don’t think AOC is “apologetic about joining the fight against fascism” — sounds like she’s balancing competing concerns among her constituents like every effective politician must do. In her case, she’s addressing the activist base and party stalwarts, both of whom are anti-fascist (in the classical sense). Characterizing that anodyne statement as you did is kinda bend-the-knee-ish, IMO.

  30. 30.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: No, Baud, that is not “all you said.” You also said she was avoiding “choosing sides.” Are you now saying AOC hates Democrats?

    It seems to me like she does more for her constituents than many do and that she is fully committed to really working toward policies she thinks will help them and all of us.

    ETA Or what Betty said.

  33. 33.

    Hoodie

    The GOP has already decided on their strategy — take the punch.  It’s a really simple calculation.  Sure, there is a minute chance that one of the ruling class will get the virus and die, but that cost has to be balanced against the benefit of keeping the existing social hierarchy in place, which is worth the sacrifice of at least a few million brave “warriors,” a trope that they always trot out when someone other than them has to die.

    Thing is, there is some kernel of truth to that logic.  You could tell yourself that this system is the best of all possible worlds, and that we can’t throw everything away simply because some people are going to die.  There are at least two problems with that, however.  First, an event can be so disruptive and long lasting that it is ridiculous, and ultimately destructive, to try to maintain the status quo because it is doomed to fail anyway in this new environment.  Second, maybe the status quo was great for you, but not so good for a lot of other people, such that, in the aggregate, it may be a better choice to realize that an event like this fully reveals the problems with the status quo and provides an opportunity to change for the better.

    With people like McConnell, there is another pernicious but subtle logic at work.  They start from a position where they have exaggerated wealth, power, comfort and security that comes only from the fact that they are creatures benefitting from a warped system of “merit.”  McConnell is a wrinkled, turkey-jowled old man. He can’t do quantum mechanics, perform brain surgery, butcher a hog or dunk a basketball.  He is actually about as useless as a human being can be.  With that comes a heightened psychological fragility, i.e., any step down is considered a first step on the road to catastrophe, even if it leaves you better off than 99% of the people on the planet, because your entire being is invested in your current social status.

    When you start from that state of mind, you can easily begin to rationalize all kinds of monstrosities and you will grasp at anything that will give you an excuse to do nothing.  Subconsciously, your state of mind is “hey, 1% chance of death is not so bad, 99 out of 100 will still be ok,”  especially when you are comforted by a hunch that the chance of even catching the virus before there is some effective treatment or vaccine is relatively low for you and your social group. For McConnell and his ilk, the real crisis is not the virus that makes it difficult or even impossible to maintain the economy in the form it had before the pandemic, but rather that a bunch of socialists are going to take their stuff.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    Sigh. At the risk of triggering Betty’s dead horse gif:

    @Betty Cracker:

    • “apologetic about joining the fight against fascism”.  I agree.  That’s hyperbole.
    • competing concerns among her constituents.  There are no competing concerns here.  AOC being named to be on Biden’s climate policy group is a pure good.
    • anodyne statement.  An anodyne statement would be “I’m honored to be named to this important committee that will address the climate crisis.”

    @Immanentize:

    • You also said she was avoiding “choosing sides.” Are you now saying AOC hates Democrats? No, but a large part of her supporters do. Hence, the need to choose.
    • It seems to me like she does more for her constituents than many do and that she is fully committed to really working toward policies she thinks will help them and all of us. I don’t disagree, but that’s irrelevant to my observation of her statement.
  35. 35.

    Kay

    @Brachiator:

    Can we make Election Day a holiday, so that people who go to polls can do so more easily?

    The thinking on that has evolved among voting rights advocates. They now push for early vote and vote by mail- expanding the period rather than protecting one day. I think “more days and opportunities” makes a lot of sense, partly because the public loves it- early vote and vote by mail are really popular. Convenient.
    Democrats are in the enviable position on voting process where what they want is also very popular in terms of “customer service” and convenience. We’re winning this, state by state, and they did it by getting off rigidly defending The Day and instead expanding access by adding days. It’s a beautiful thing.

  38. 38.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: I still think weekend voting is a thing that voting advocates want.  This goes into the “more days of voting” pile.  In Texas, even 20 years ago, there were two weeks of in-person voting at places like courthouses.  Which was super convenient for me….

  40. 40.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    AOC has said a lot of stupid shit. She has done a lot of criticizing Democrats.  She has also had some good moments.  She is sounding defensive but that’s fine because she has finally figured out her green lantern theory of politics was bullshit.  She was getting dragged by the our revolution crowd for the Cares Act’s failings. She found herself explaining that you can only pass legislation through compromise and that unfortunately means Republicans make things worse. The our revolution crowd was furious.  I hope this is a signal that she is going to stop attacking Democrats.

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    It is apologetic. “both inside and outside the system” — what’s the “system”? She’s in the U.S. Congress, isn’t she?

  42. 42.

    satby

    So because it’s more interesting, any of the lawyers on tap this morning want to weigh in on Judge Sullivan allowing amicus briefs in the Flynn case?

  47. 47.

    Immanentize

    This is the type of thing. About voting, that worries me:

    During a Time interview with Kushner earlier in the day, reporters Tessa Berenson and Brian Bennett asked the White House official about the possibility of the COVID-19 outbreak delaying the elections.

    “I’m not sure I can commit one way or the other, but right now that’s the plan,” Kushner replied. “Hopefully by the time we get to September, October, November, we’ve done enough work with testing and with all the different things we’re trying to do to prevent a future outbreak of the magnitude that would make us shut down again.”

  48. 48.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: No competing concerns? I think you’re too sharp a political observer to really believe that. The split, as always, is on methods to achieve the desired ends, which AOC’s spokesperson nodded to in her (yes, anodyne) “apply pressure inside and outside the system” statement. Any politician who successfully transitions from an outsider/activist role to elected office has to straddle that line.

  50. 50.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

     

    I think automatic registration when you go get a Driver’s license or state id, along with same day registration and no reason absentee ballots are also the ways to go, in addition to long early voting periods

  51. 51.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    Sure. Some states already have it. That “souls to the polls” action you see in urban centers in Ohio is people going to early vote on Sunday. Ohio has VASTLY expanded the opportunity to vote in the last decade and they aren’t going back because it makes sense for everyone. It’s superior, across the board. Relieves pressure on poll workers and bds of elections, makes for a less rushed and more accurate count, the public loves the choices and convenience. No one is going back. Our approach is better.

    It’s also kind of low hanging fruit. Pennsylvania, for example, still has very restrictive voting process. They could open that way up. It didn’t have to be so hard for people. We can make it easier and more convenient.

  55. 55.

    Betty Cracker

    @Immanentize: I’m kind of astounded that they asked Kushner that question, as if that snail-and-sour-milk-fed nonentity has the authority to delay a constitutionally mandated election. I’m torn between being appalled that they even asked and grateful that they prompted him to drop the mask.

  56. 56.

    Brachiator

    @Gin & Tonic:

    But, but, lefty Twitter tells me it’s the worst bill ever, and Nancy is a neoliberal sellout.

    These people are so tiresome, and stuck in some obsolete, irrelevant vision of politics.

    I like the bill, but would say that it is not comprehensive enough. It is not enough to just want to shovel money to people to help them stay afloat.  You also have to support the economy, to make sure that farms and businesses can continue to deliver goods and services to people. Smart businesses and state and local governments are incurring additional costs as they try to re-open the economy and try to protect people from the virus, and they may need more support from the federal government.

    Ideally, more of the errors and corporate giveaways in the first stimulus bill would be addressed, but you have to pick your battles carefully.

    And despite any bullshit from lefty Twitter, the provisions in the House bill to help states is solid.

    McConnell needs to stop crying crocodile tears about the deficit. He certainly didn’t care about blowing a hole in the federal budget when he restored the old net operating loss provisions in the CARES Act, a goddam windfall to corporations and the wealthiest citizens.

    While wealthy Americans are not eligible for the comparatively measly $1,200 stimulus checks that are now being disbursed to many Americans, they are on pace to do even better. 43,000 taxpayers, who earn more than $1 million annually, are each set to receive a $1.7 million windfall, on average, thanks to a provision buried in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

    Instead of bashing Democrats, these dumbass lefties need to pay more attention to what the Republicans are trying to get away with.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    Absolutely.  ACORN pushed for that. The expansion of voting is a success story for liberals and Democrats. The idea that you needed an “excuse” to vote absentee was silly. There’s no reason to make people jump thru hoops. It’s archaic.

  58. 58.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    “They didn’t even try. This bill is full of centrist nonsense.”

  60. 60.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: I don’t see her attacking Democrats much at all these days.  Now Tlaib is a different story and I have stopped carrying about her entirely.
    And AOC is still disagreeing at times, yes, on topics I often agree with her on. But there are far more House and Senate members who launched far more direct attacks on Democrats — especially Nancy Pelosi — from the right to get their seats in 2018.  And they will “attack” Democrats again to keep their seats.  It just seems to me like we have become hyper vigilant regarding supposed slights from the left and far more understanding of clear assaults from the right flank of our party.

    I suppose that the Bernie factor is the primary reason for that.  But it seems unbalanced to me.

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Perhaps you’ll know, being from a neighboring state: I’m told PA allows vote-by-mail with no excuse needed. So does FL, NC, AZ, WI and MI. So, we’ve basically won that battle in the swing states. Yay us! (Still voter ID battles to fight, though.)

  63. 63.

    montanareddog

    @Betty Cracker:

    Republicans accuse Democrats of doing nothing during a crisis (while Dems craft a bill remotely and Reps do fuck all)

    Dems release the bill

    And right on cue, Kevin McCarthy then accuses Democrats of crafting the bill behind closed doors.

    Example number Eleventy Billion of the boundless bad faith of the Republicans. They really have nothing else to offer and this is their leadership.

  65. 65.

    sanjeevs

    @Baud: There were some Twitter screenshots of a Tara Reade check fraud charge from 4 days before she left Biden’s office.

    Ryan Grim tweeted he spoke to Reade’s new lawyer (Bill Wigdorf) who confirmed the charge was true.

    Now Salon is saying the court did not have any record of the charges (it would have been purged by now) and the email confirming it was altered.

    Wigdorf is also saying he did not confirm the charge to Ryan Grim

  67. 67.

    Betty Cracker

    @Immanentize: It is the Bernie factor, and that’s one of the reasons I’m somewhat optimistic about the party moving past its divisions once Sanders fades as the face of the progressive flank. On a fundamental level, Sanders defined himself in opposition to the party. AOC, et al, do not. Also couldn’t help but notice that for all the furor about the left flank’s lack of support for Pelosi, it was mostly blue dog goobers who really tried to unseat her…

  68. 68.

    Immanentize

    @satby: JeffreyW, O2 and I had a little discussion about this yesterday?

    It is not unheard of for a court to seek amicus (or even appoint amicus) when there is a critical issue that the court needs to address and the two parties seem to agree on one point. This happened in the most recent SCOTUS case I was on — our client and the State of Louisiana agreed on a critical issue that the Court wanted to address. The Court appointed an amicus as counsel for the briefing and argument of that issue. Montgomery v. Louisiana.

    I was thinking I might write an amicus on the law of plea finality, but I am certain that other big groups are doing that now that the invitation is out there.

  69. 69.

    Brachiator

    @Kay:

    RE: Can we make Election Day a holiday, so that people who go to polls can do so more easily?

    The thinking on that has evolved among voting rights advocates. They now push for early vote and vote by mail- expanding the period rather than protecting one day. I think “more days and opportunities” makes a lot of sense, partly because the public loves it- early vote and vote by mail are really popular. Convenient.

    I was offering the mildest adjustment in suggesting an Election Day holiday.

    In Los Angeles county, we had early voting for the June primary. This helped avert total disaster as election day voting got bogged down due to changes in the number of polling places and the use of new electronic voting equipment. LA county will again have early voting, and we will also have statewide mail-in voting. In fact, I voted about 3 days early and avoided all the headaches and confusion.

    Mail-in voting has not been all that popular with a lot of people. You can get help with your ballot at your polling place, which is sometimes needed in California, when we also have state and local propositions on the ballot. If you spoil a ballot at a polling place, you can easily get a new one. And I’m still confused about whether mail-in ballots have to arrive at the registrar’s office by election day, or just have to be postmarked by election day.

    But issues with mail-in ballots can be worked out as it is used more.

  73. 73.

    Immanentize

    @Brachiator: Of course, voting day used to be a holiday — or holidays — in the way back.  Sadly a bit too much drinking happened.  Drinks for votes! Roll out the barrel! Which is how Edgar Allen Poe died.

  76. 76.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    AOC will be serving on Biden’s climate policy committee. “She believes the movement will only be successful if we continue to apply pressure both inside and outside the system. This is just one element of the broader fight for just policies,” a spokeswoman said

    I was going to ask what this means, but see that it has been discussed very well in the various comments.

    AOC’s future is with the Democratic Party, and I think she understands that.

  79. 79.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Betty Cracker: BTW, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but this package is what the “do-nothing Democrats” have been working on, mostly from their homes, for many weeks.

    It’s like 2019 all over again: the House Democratic majority passing big show bills that the Senate will ignore.

    I’ve been saying for weeks: Pelosi still had leverage before the last bill passed.  Now Mitch has everything he wants. Why should he consider this bill?  Despite Warren’s excellent remarks, he’s not going to be shamed into it.

  80. 80.

    rp

    I’ve never heard of a district court asking for amicus briefs in a criminal case. It’s possible it’s happened before, but it’s safe to say that it’s highly, highly unusual. Amicus briefs are used to provide the court with alternative viewpoints on cases where the decision will have an impact well beyond the parties in that particular matter, which is rarely the case in a criminal matter at the trial/district court level. e.g., if a criminal case got up to the Supreme Court because there was a 4th amendment issue at play, various groups would weigh in re the implications of the decision on way or the other.

  81. 81.

    Mowgli

    @Hoodie: this is an extremely well written encapsulation of the GOP “leadership” perspective and mindset. Thank you.

  82. 82.

    Brachiator

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Not sure about you, I voted in the primary in early March.

    Ha! Since the lockdown, I get days and now months confused.

    Now, where are the keys to my time machine…

  83. 83.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Oh, I’m glad. When my daughter moved to PA we were surprised at how hard it was to register and vote, compared with Ohio. That was 2008 though. She’s since moved again, to NY. I know she voted in ’18 so it must have gone ok. I early voted in the Ohio primary before they shut it down.

    The only objection to early vote that I have heard is a lawyer here who told me he’s uncomfortable with gossipy election bd members opening ballots- not for state or national elections- he doesn’t give a shit what they think- but for elections like county commissioners or judges – forums where he practices. He thinks some of our shitty commissioners or judges would be petty enough to punish him, and I buy that somewhat.

  84. 84.

    Brachiator

    @low-tech cyclist:

    I’ve been saying for weeks: Pelosi still had leverage before the last bill passed.

    How so? The Republican bills were written with the Democrats being explicitly excluded from any conferences or deliberations. And the there was a push to get them approved by Congress right away, and public sentiment would not have tolerated any delays by the Democrats.

    Even if these bills go nowhere for now, the Democrats will have put their proposals out there, and this may help with the election. And if things get bad and the Republicans try for another bill, they will have to explain why they are not considering any of the Democrats’ proposals.

    The bottom line is that McConnell and his buddies have done everything they can to keep the Democrats from participating in any drafting of tax legislation, going back most recently to the 2107 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  The Democrats have never had any significant leverage.

    McConnell has even shut the Democrats out when it came to drafting fixes for obvious errors in the tax bill that both sides agreed should be addressed.

  85. 85.

    Dupe1970

    @Betty Cracker: This. I wish reporters would stop asking questions that the admin hasn’t even considered or brought up. The election cannot be delayed so why even ask the question.

  87. 87.

    Betty Cracker

    @low-tech cyclist: Now I know who needs to hear this! :)

    I’m just a cheap seats spectator, but I think Pelosi knows Trump will be clamoring for another stimulus package in short order, and the GOP electeds (aside from the usual crackpots) will go along with it because otherwise, they are DOOMED in November.

    There’s just no way they can say, “Okay, we gave you your $1,200 check, now use that to eat while we do nothing but confirm wingnut judges between now and November.” Not if they want a chance in hell of retaining the Senate. So, Pelosi will have an opening bid ready to start the negotiations.

    ETA: Also, Brachiator made a great point at #84; even if I’m wrong and the GOP self-destructs through austerity, the Dems have their plan on the table.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    But now, even as Trump has joined these advocates in denouncing vote by mail, Republican election administrators are rejecting their concerns. In Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and West Virginia, GOP officials are expanding vote by mail. Even in Alabama, where Secretary of State John Merrill has long spoken out against vote by mail, the state has added the coronavirus to the reasons for which voters can request an absentee ballot.

    I think the key was always making it about voters. What do they like, what do they want, how to make it easier for them. Make Republicans argue that modernization and convenience should be opposed. We saw the ultimate of the conservative approach in Wisconsin “you WILL go stand in a line and possibly catch this deadly virus, because we’re clinging to the process we used in 1910!”

    There’s just no reason for it. It doesn’t have to be painful and hard.

  90. 90.

    montanareddog

    @Dupe1970:

     

    The election cannot be delayed so why even ask the question

    You cannot drop charges against someone who has already pleaded guilty

    The second amendment allows a (Republican) president to do anything

    Calvinball ad infinitum…

    Not saying they can do it, in reality, but I bet they have talked about it behind closed doors

  91. 91.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    In Iowa, early voting meant I went somewhere (in my case, the courthouse), asked for an absentee ballot,  and filled it out at a shielded table like the ones used on election day. The ballot was put in, I think, two different enveloped, sealed like all absentee ballots are, and not opened until election day. I could have absentee balloted by mail too, but for me, this worked fine. The courthouse was right down the street from the library, where I went regularly.

  92. 92.

    PenAndKey

    Mitch McConnell pours cold water on the new House bill, calling it aspirational and not “designed to deal with reality.” He says the Senate hasn’t decided if it’ll do another relief package and doesn’t plan to negotiate with Democrats. He evokes the rising national debt.

    When people are running out of money and trying to figure out where they’re going to get the funds to go to the grocery store does he honestly think they’ll give a damn about the “national debt”? That’s the sort of rhetoric that works during a good economy (you know, for after the Democrats fix the latest GOP screw-up), not a full-blown Depression.

    I swear, either he thinks the GOP already has the election in the bag or he’s delusional. If his plan is to continue to apply a choke-hold to relief legislation he’s seriously flirting with a “storm the Bastille” response.

  93. 93.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: More good news! In Florida, our Trumpster gov is trying to split the baby (he ALWAYS tries to split the baby!) by saying the state isn’t capable of conducting an all vote-by-mail election in November but noting that citizens can request a ballot online from their county supervisor of elections. It takes two minutes! I’m evangelizing about it to everyone I know (Republicans excluded).

  94. 94.

    Baud

    Any California juicers who can explain?

    Republican Mike Garcia jumped to an early lead Tuesday over Democrat Christy Smith in the runoff for a House seat in the Los Angeles suburbs, raising GOP hopes of flipping a blue California Congressional District for the first time since 1998.

     

    Early results in the election to fill the remainder of Rep. Katie Hill’s first term showed Garcia, a defense industry executive, ahead of Democratic state Assemblywoman Smith of Santa Clarita by 12 percentage points, with 76% of precincts reporting.

    Will mail in ballots save the day?

  95. 95.

    hueyplong

    Finding it difficult to care about the precise details of how an OAC statement was worded.  All I saw was, “ok, OAC is officially on board” for the existential fight against Trump this fall.  Whether her statements were an exemplar of unconditional fealty is the sort of inquiry more practiced and perfected in the trump camp.

    My only questions are about who’s next in terms of being signed on to this or that policy committee to provide a united front.

    And I’m not going to get pissy when, a month or two from now, Biden starts announcing the names of Republican pundits we don’t care for who are all in on his campaign in some sort of Republicans for Biden thing.

    The way to beat Trump is to have a shitload more votes so as to counter whatever level of successful cheating they perform.  The contributions of assholes are welcome under the circumstances.

    The irritating James Carville?  Good to see you.  Noted shit who knifed my man Max Cleland?  Welcome aboard (just don’t stand behind me).  Bloody Bill Kristol?  Dog-strappin’ Mitt Romney?  Welcome to the fight.  This time I know our side will win.

  96. 96.

    OzarkHillbilly

    US nursing homes seek legal immunity as Covid-19 spreads ‘like brushfire’

    The US nursing home industry is clamoring for legal immunity during the coronavirus pandemic, even as horror stories from hard-hit facilities enrage families, consumer advocates and the American public.

    Healthcare organizations insist liability protections are essential for under-resourced nursing homes fighting against Covid-19, while an already staggering death toll continues to climb.

    Tricia Neuman, senior vice-president of the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, said: “The liability issue is exposing a longstanding tension between consumer advocates, who want to see the standards enforced, and owners, who are worried about the financial implications of a lawsuit.”
    ……………………………
    Nearly 70% of US nursing homes are for-profit, and the industry has a reputation for lackluster performance around infection control. In all longterm care facilities, which include nursing homes, somewhere between 1m and 3m serious infections are contracted annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
    ………………………….
    Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, said: “To basically take away the one area of potential accountability when residents are most vulnerable to me is dumbfounding and dangerous.”

    Nothing says “free market capitalism” like “you can’t sue me for my wholly negligent actions.”

    On the other hand:

    For some public health experts, however, the issue is not so cut and dried. They describe nursing homes as a sector in chronic need of reform that is nevertheless “the safety net of the safety net” for vulnerable people.

    Experts acknowledge that the industry is filled with deficiencies, and is based upon a broken business model (NYT) that struggles in the face of a pandemic. But they also say nursing homes have been under-prioritized by officials in a public health crisis that has disproportionately targeted their patient populations.

    Michael L Barnett, a professor at the Harvard school of public health, said: “Putting a nursing home out of business because somebody died is really punishing at the wrong level, because certainly there are nursing homes that probably did not act responsibly, or they may have ignored the threat. But so did many government agencies.”

    So what’s the answer?

    Mildred Solomon, president of the Hastings Center, warned against the “blitzkrieg of lawsuits” that these immunity measures mean to avoid. She said: “I think we have to hold our fire, not put our energy into finger-wagging and blaming. And put more emphasis on stronger regulations, with teeth.”

    Yeah, right. Stronger regulations with teeth. Sure. After their lobbyists get done gutting them. I’ve heard that song and dance before:

    Personal responsibility for thee
    But not for mee

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    @Hoodie:

    The GOP has already decided on their strategy — take the punch. It’s a really simple calculation. Sure, there is a minute chance that one of the ruling class will get the virus and die, but that cost has to be balanced against the benefit of keeping the existing social hierarchy in place,

    Very interesting commentary. Well said.

    I will throw in that Stanley Chera, a prominent figure in New York City real estate and a friend of Trump, died of complications from COVID-19 in early April.

    Yeah, the plutocrats are willing to take small losses to achieve their larger goals.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I love it- I walk across the street and fill out my ballot at my leisure.

    I think Trump and The Grifters opposition to vote by mail has more to do with privatizing the postal service than voting. I’m personally offended by them attacking the postal service. USPS has a good on-time record! It’s really fucking hard to find you people in this big country because you move constantly but we MOSTLY succeeded and at a rate that was nearly as high as much smaller countries, countries that aren’t all chopped up into 50,000 jurisdictions. I challenge any of the low quality hires to do better. The USPS is good enough that their beloved private sector entities (UPS and FedEx) wholly rely on the USPS for “last mile” delivery. We carry THEIR parcels, not the other way around. FedEx asked US where people were. UPS (IMO) is better run so they usually knew :)

  99. 99.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Brachiator:  How so? The Republican bills were written with the Democrats being explicitly excluded from any conferences or deliberations.

    What kept the House Dems from being the first movers, from passing their own bills rather than getting stuck with whatever the Repubs were nice enough to give them?

  100. 100.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize:

    “I’m not sure I can commit one way or the other,

    Who gives a flying fuck what Prince Jared says or “can commit” to? Elections are run by the states, and he has zero to say.

    I mean, I’m not sure I can commit one way or another to playing for Liverpool in the EPL when/if the season resumes.

  107. 107.

    zhena gogolia

    @hueyplong:

    Welcome to the fight. This time I know our side will win.

    I wish I had your and Paul Henreid’s confidence.

  109. 109.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: I wonder if the anti-USPS crusade is all about Trump’s hurt feelings over Bezos, an actual billionaire whose newspaper is critical of Trump (except for the op-ed sycophants). You’re right about the low-quality hires’ inability to come up with anything to replace the current postal system. It’ll be FUBAR if they get their grubby mitts on it.

  111. 111.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: I think they want to get rid of the USPS because it is everyday proof that govt works.

  112. 112.

    hueyplong

    @zhena gogolia: There is no need for confidence to flag just because Mitch McConnell rubs his hands and says, “My dear mademoiselle, perhaps you have already observed that in CoronaUSA, human life is cheap.”

  113. 113.

    danielx

    Oh for a camera…Boris and Natasha sitting on the windowsill in da office eyeing a rabbit and a squirrel outside the window, tails thwacking the wall like Ginger Baker doing a solo. Squirrel must have had an unfortunate close encounter with another critter, the fur on its tail is missing. Why it and the rabbit were having a staredown will have to remain a mystery.

  115. 115.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Betty Cracker: @Kay: More good news! In Florida, our Trumpster gov is trying to split the baby (he ALWAYS tries to split the baby!) by saying the state isn’t capable of conducting an all vote-by-mail election in November but noting that citizens can request a ballot online from their county supervisor of elections. It takes two minutes! I’m evangelizing about it to everyone I know (Republicans excluded).

    I’ve been slowly (and I mean: s l o w l y) writing postcards for almost a year, via http://PostcardsToVoters.org, for their ongoing project of encouraging FL Democratic voters to sign up for the Vote By Mail program.

    The FL Democratic Party provides addresses of registered Democrats (no names included) by county, and 3 concise sentences with sign-up email and phone # for that county. Writers choose how many addresses they want; there is a 3-day window in which to write and send them.
    I look up the cities and counties on Wikipedia before I write, which is fascinating (to me). I’ve also been sticking pins in a FL map on the wall, to mark the cities I’ve written to. As one does. :)

  116. 116.

    H.E.Wolf

    @OzarkHillbilly: @Kay: I think they want to get rid of the USPS because it is everyday proof that govt works.

    I think you’re right.

    The USPS has also, historically and currently, provided jobs with good wages to people of color.

  117. 117.

    germy

    @hueyplong:

    We need all the votes we can get.  I’m hoping for a landslide, though I’m told that sort of thing is impossible nowadays.

    Appearing in an Instagram live chat with soccer star Megan Rapinoe on April 30, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden made a spontaneous, vague statement about how he’s been “speaking to a lot of Republicans,” including “former colleagues, who are calling and saying ‘Joe, if you win, we’re gonna help.’”

    Then he showed his hand: “Matter of fact, there’s some major Republicans who are already forming ‘Republicans for Biden,’” the former vice president said. “Major officeholders.”

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-campaign-is-secretly-building-a-republican-group?ref=home

  118. 118.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’ll be FUBAR if they get their grubby mitts on it.

    It won’t be anything. It will be an announcement which media will spread all over and then they won’t actually do anything. It will be like the Trump health care plan. He still says it at least once a week. That he has a great health care plan. They haven’t done anything at all.
    People say they’re “incompetent” and I used to say that myself but the truth is worse- they don’t do any work at all. They really believe that announcing you are going to do something is the same as doing it. They don’t reach “incompetent”. You would have to do some work for that to show.

  119. 119.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: No, the story is right.  The Republicans haven’t flipped a seat since 1998 in California, but that district just flipped blue last election.  CA-25 had been red since 1993.

  121. 121.

    Brachiator

    @low-tech cyclist:

    What kept the House Dems from being the first movers, from passing their own bills rather than getting stuck with whatever the Repubs were nice enough to give them?

    With the CARES Act, Treasury had all the early estimates about the degree to which the economy might crater. The White House and McConnell corralled business and banking leaders and began drafting their proposals.

    Democrats were actually first in coming with the idea of stimulus payments to taxpayers, and scrambled to come up with their $750 billion proposals.

    But the bottom line is that the Democrats can be first with whatever they want. But in the present environment, the Senate will scrap it.

    However, I will give you this: The Democrats don’t have sharp staffers assigned to tax legislation.  The Republicans are not smart, but they are crafty and focused. And of course, a good chunk of GOP tax legislation is written by lobbyists and corporate insiders and passed along to compliant legislators as the opportunity arises.

  122. 122.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Chyron HR:

    It is as it always was. I put up a Bloomberg piece yesterday about the crisis facing the sort of smaller landlords that didn’t benefit from the CARES Act, and are suffering from rent forbearance and the eviction moratoriums. I highlighted how it would impact property conditions and tenancy when the foreclosures start coming down this winter.

    I got a bunch of “kill all landlords, you don’t know how it is” bullshit from my coddled revolutionist youngest daughter. Got told “spare the centrist takes”, along with another round of abuse, all even though she got education, cars, phone, her own apartment in undergrad paid for by me, and we both promised to backstop her expenses.

    Her mother’s birthday is Friday; I nearly uninvited the kid.

    Bernie and his minions need to disappear yesterday.

  123. 123.

    Fair Economist

    @Immanentize:

    I was thinking I might write an amicus on the law of plea finality, but I am certain that other big groups are doing that now that the invitation is out there.

    If you’re qualified, you should. You know every conservative lawyer in the country has been given instructions to write an amicus supporting the fascists.

  124. 124.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: While I’ve not been watching the local news(I got pissed off about their coverage of the re-open folk) for a couple of weeks, I didn’t see any ads for the race before I stopped watching.  Katie Hill had ads on heavy rotation leading up to the 2018 election.

  127. 127.

    JMG

    In the CARES act negotiations, Pelosi and the House dealt directly with Mnuchin and cut the Senate out, knowing that if they got a deal Trump signed off on, McConnell would have to go along. When Trump said he was done with further legislation, the House leadership wrote its own bill instead. It is a long shot, but their thinking is that as Election Day gets nearer, if Trump is still behind Biden in the polls, he will again deal out of fear.

  128. 128.

    satby

    @Immanentize: I wasn’t on much yesterday, but a quick review of yesterday’s posts didn’t turn up that discussion. Remember which thread? And I think you should file an amicus brief anyway, the DOJ is asking to upend countless other prosecutions via this case.

  129. 129.

    rikyrah

    @low-tech cyclist:

     

     

     Now Mitch has everything he wants. Why should he consider this bill?

    if this were a Democratic President, I would agree with you. But, the worse this is, the more it will be attached to Dolt45, and that’s not good for Moscow Mitch and his odds for keeping the Senate.

  132. 132.

    hueyplong

    The minute order from Judge Sullivan in the Flynn case reads almost as requested, if we can’t have a simple, “FU, motion denied, Barr.”  If I copied and pasted it correctly, it should appear below.

    —

    I’m biased because I wanted it to happen, but my reading of this is that the judge is going to slow-walk this.  Whether he intends to drag it out through the election as I had hoped is not clear.

    But you can see that the scheduling order itself isn’t going to be created until an appropriate time and when that finally happens, he’s going to hear not only from the DOJ but also from outsiders (which by definition will include the former DOJ employees who lost their shit over the motion to drop the charges).  Then there would be a hearing, etc., etc.

    I’d be surprised to learn that Barr is cool with this.

  133. 133.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Great point about Trump and the low-quality hires’ efforts not rising to the level of incompetence (or even efforts!). Maybe when all you’ve done all your life is license other people to slap your name on a building, an announcement really does constitute “work” in your experience. Subcompetence?

  134. 134.

    low-tech cyclist

    @rikyrah:if this were a Democratic President, I would agree with you. But, the worse this is, the more it will be attached to Dolt45, and that’s not good for Moscow Mitch and his odds for keeping the Senate.

    1. Mitch isn’t all that worried about losing *his* seat.  Kentucky’s R+15.
    2. Remember in 2010 when Obama was President, and the Dems controlled the House and had a 59-41 Senate majority?  Mitch isn’t worried about being in the minority either.
  135. 135.

    Kathleen

    @H.E.Wolf: Boom. Also Rethugs have been wanting to get their slimy tentacles on that pension fund since mandate that  USPS has to pre fund pensions.

  136. 136.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @danielx:

    If I didn’t have to listen to her shit again until after whatever idiot therapist she sees dies, retires or gets her license yanked, I’d be OK with that.

  137. 137.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @hueyplong:

    The one spot where Sullivan is golden is on scheduling. Federal judges are raging assholes about their prerogatives with regard to briefing schedules and taking time to write an opinion. He’ll get cover, even grudging cover from wingnuts – he could draw this out to next year.

  139. 139.

    Betty Cracker

    @low-tech cyclist: Even before the pandemic hit, McConnell was polling within the margin of error with his opponent. Kentucky elected a Democratic governor last year. I’m not saying McConnell will lose, but I suspect old turtle face is a wee bit concerned.

  140. 140.

    StringOnAStick

    I’m glad we’re planning on leaving this state next year, because CO doesn’t have a rainy day fund thanks to the TABOR amendment passed back when it was still a red state.  TABOR is a tax restriction scheme that was created and pushed by a libertarian who last I knew was in federal prison for tax fraud.  It includes a ratchet provision that restricts the percentage increase in taxes that can be collected based on the prior year’s amount.  We’ve suffered a 33% decrease in tax collections thanks to the Rona so next year we will only be allowed to collect  a few percentage more than what is collected this year.  We suffered greatly in deferred everything spending from the last major recession, and this one will be even worse. Schools were finally getting out of the funding per student hole that put us in the bottom 10%, and now they, along with every other state funded program, department, etc. are about to get hammered even worse than before.

    Of course, every attempt to remove TABOR from the state constitution has failed because it is so easy to demonize taxes and especially voting for a tax increase.

  142. 142.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Brachiator:But the bottom line is that the Democrats can be first with whatever they want. But in the present environment, the Senate will scrap it.

    Yes, exactly!!  That was my original point!

    Such leverage as they have depends on their being willing to demand something in return for whatever it is that Mitch wants.

    He’s already gotten just about everything he wanted.  Right now, the main thing Mitch wants is immunity for businesses that reopen, so that they can’t be sued if their employees catch COVID-19 at work.  I certainly hope that’s more than the Dems would be willing to give.  But if he doesn’t want anything else very badly, “the Democrats can be first with whatever they want. But in the present environment, the Senate will scrap it.”

    So back to where I started: no matter how hard the Dems have been working on this bill, it’s for PR rather than for real.

  144. 144.

    hueyplong

    OK, so my copy and paste didn’t work.  Below is the relevant language from Judge Sullivan’s Order, with my own spin in italics in brackets.

    “MINUTE ORDER as to MICHAEL T. FLYNN. Given the current posture of this case, the Court anticipates that individuals and organizations will seek leave of the Court to file amicus curiae briefs pursuant to Local Civil Rule 7(o).”

    [what follows are cases supporting the use of amicus briefs here and his discretion to control who gets to file them, but check out this part]

    “An amicus brief should normally be allowed when a party is not represented competently or is not represented at all, … or when the amicus has unique information or perspective that can help the court beyond the help that the lawyers for the parties are able to provide.”

    [you could read this as inviting the former DOJ people to say what the DOJ should actually be doing]

    …

    [then he cites the Stone case judge just to fuck with Barr]

    “As Judge Amy Berman Jackson has observed, ‘while there may be individuals with an interest in this matter, a criminal proceeding is not a free for all.’” [citation to Stone case]

    [Which I wishfully translate to, “put the laptop down, Larry Klayman”]

    “Accordingly, at the appropriate time, the Court will enter an Scheduling Order governing the submission of any amicus curiae briefs.  Signed by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on 5/12/20 (Icegs3)”­­

    —–

    Dragging out scheduling orders forever and ever is something that’s tough to appeal.

  145. 145.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Betty Cracker: And the same was true in TN at this point in 2018.  We’d like to think we can win Senate* races in places like KY and TN, but it ain’t happening unless 2020 is the biggest wave election since 1964.  (That won’t stop me from sending some money McGrath’s way, but it’s because I believe it’s important for Dems to show the flag even in places they can’t win.)

    *Gubernatorial races are different – not nearly so nationalized. That’s why MD has a Republican governor.

  146. 146.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    We have a funny former Trump supporter situation going on here. The Colonel is a local auctioneer/real estate man. That’s what he calls himself. I hire him sometimes for estate values because he is “the expert on modular homes in NW Ohio” (true). So, you know, a big shot :)

    He has a sense of humor. I once told him if he gets to call himself “The Colonel” I’m using “The General” – he laughed.

    Auctioneers make a lot of money- you would be shocked. Anyhoo, he’s turned on Trump and he writes these scathing letters to the editor about it. Hell hath no fury like a Trump supporter who goes turncoat. People send me them because they know that makes me happy :)

  147. 147.

    Brachiator

    @low-tech cyclist:

    Such leverage as they have depends on their being willing to demand something in return for whatever it is that Mitch wants.

    That’s not leverage. And McConnell’s first principle is to obstruct the Democrats and to make sure that they have no influence.

    He will sacrifice anything else he might want to thwart the Democrats.

  148. 148.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Got told “spare the centrist takes”,

    I was just reading a piece by Jamelle Bouie (about why Biden should pick Warren) and while I’m a Bouie fan, one of the things that stuck in my craw was his referring to Biden as a ‘centrist’. It’s not clear from the context whether Bouie means the center of the Dem party or the electorate as a whole, he’s not a moron so I assume he means the former, but that term, like ‘incrementalism’, has been beaten beyond recognition by the screaming meemies of twitter that I cringe whenever I see it.

  149. 149.

    catclub

    @Betty Cracker: an announcement really does constitute “work” in your experience.

     

    There are funny articles written by Matt Levine at Bloomberg about the Federal reserve  promising to do things (In one case ‘buy bonds in order to keep the bond market liquid’)  and the promise itself was enough to … keep the bond market liquid. Without the Fed actually buying any bonds.

  150. 150.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Subsole:

    @low-tech cyclist:

    Half a million Americans weren’t projected to die of the cancer party’s corruption, laziness and utter malfeasance in 2010, though.

    Which is why the Dems, if they’re going to do something with low odds of success, should try to do something about THAT.

    At the very minimum, Dem Representatives and Senators should have by now been nearly unanimous in calling for Trump’s resignation.  He won’t resign, but their not doing at least this normalizes his level of performance as President.

    (I think they should impeach him over his astounding level of dereliction of duty in this crisis, but I know they’re too chickenshit for that.)

  151. 151.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Brachiator: What, Mitch wanting something isn’t leverage?  OK, then the Dems never had any, so they never even got their $1200 checks and $600 unemployment increase passed.  Gotcha.

  152. 152.

    StringOnAStick

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:  I felt joy the day I heard Douglas Bruce went to federal prison.  Unfortunately what he created has permanently screwed this state; it was bad after the 2008 collapse but this one will be catastrophic.

    We weren’t planning on moving until next May and I wish we could leave sooner but the virus and other personal factors mean we have to stick to that plan.

  153. 153.

    Subsole

    @low-tech cyclist:

    What kind of coattails does McGrath have? I was heartbroken when Beto lost here, but he did a LOT of good downballot.

    Any chance of that over in Kentucky?

    And, as you say, show the flag. If nothing else, I hope this mess puts an end to just writing off swathes of the hinterland as non competitive zones.

  154. 154.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    @PenAndKey: The thing to keep in mind is that McConnell and the Republicans don’t have any other tools in the tool box besides tax cuts and fear mongering about various things (the national debt, immigrants, trans people using bathrooms, etc.). If it wouldn’t bring up their own goddamn failures they’d be fear-mongering about COVID-19 24 hours a day until the election.

  155. 155.

    Amir Khalid

    @Gin & Tonic:

    It would be great to see you in a red shirt. Are you keeping up with your fitness training while in lockdown? Has your agent been keeping in touch with Jürgen Klopp? ?

  157. 157.

    Miss Bianca

    @StringOnAStick: It’s worse than that, even. Because of the ratcheting effect of TABOR, the Gallagher Amendment (which sets residential property tax rates at a fraction of business tax rates) *and* Amendment 23, which guarantees that schools have to be fully funded no matter what, AND a requirement that the state budget be balanced, we are looking at a world of hurt here in CO.

    I am reporting right now on a county commissioner meeting where all the elected officials got to perform their out-RAGE!11!! at the Joint Budget Committee’s suggestion that the Homestead Exemption, which allows senior citizens and disabled veterans a forgiveness of up to $105,000 on their property tax, be waived for up to three years to help balance the state’s budget. Apparently, the JBC has backed off this suggestion, which is probably a good idea, but where the hell do all these people think the money is *supposed* to come from?

    At least we got a vote on repealing TABOR, even if it failed. We have to get that back on the ballot again and again until it *is* fucking repealed.

  159. 159.

    Geminid

    @Subsole: I don’t  count McGrath out. There has been an insider vs outsider dynamic the past few years that has favored outsiders. McConnell is a quintessential insider; McGrath is a political newcomer, a Marine, and a woman. Despite being a majority women are still outsiders. I think M.J. Hegar can ride a similar dynamic to victory in Texas. Neither McConnell nor Sen.Cornyn of Texas poll well.

  160. 160.

    The Moar You Know

     

    Republican Mike Garcia jumped to an early lead Tuesday over Democrat Christy Smith in the runoff for a House seat in the Los Angeles suburbs, raising GOP hopes of flipping a blue California Congressional District for the first time since 1998.

    Early results in the election to fill the remainder of Rep. Katie Hill’s first term showed Garcia, a defense industry executive, ahead of Democratic state Assemblywoman Smith of Santa Clarita by 12 percentage points, with 76% of precincts reporting.

    Will mail in ballots save the day?

    @Baud: It’s been a red district forever.  Hill flipped it.  It’s going to flip back.  Not the stunning achievement for the GOP that the link portrays.

  162. 162.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kay: I’m personally offended by them attacking the postal service. USPS has a good on-time record!

    Sez who? I have mailed 5 items since the beginning of 2019, all from the central Baltimore PO, all “first-class:” one package of socks (last year), two tax returns certified mail each with a return receipt that I paid extra for:

    • The socks (Baltimore – Rochester NY) were supposed to be delivered (according to USPS receipt) in 3 days. After a week when the tracking stalled at the central Rochester PO, I started a case & raised hell. Final delivery was 18 days after mailing;
    • MD tax return (Baltimore – Annapolis) was supposed to be delivered (according to USPS receipt) in 2 days; it took 3. Return receipt (unsigned, stamped with date received) arrived in 4 days;
    • Federal tax return (Baltimore – KCMO) was supposed to be delivered (according to USPS receipt) in 3 days; it took 7. Return receipt was never returned and USPS could not track it beyond the time & place I mailed it (and had the nerve to tell me “your case is resolved!” when they resolved exactly nothing).

    Even giving USPS the benefit of the doubt in the return receipt cases (e.g., perhaps there was no one in the IRS KC office to sign & mail back the receipt), not one of the 3 items I mailed arrived on time according to the USPS’s own commitment as shown on my receipt – they were late by 1 day, 4 days, and 15 days.

    Is that the “good on-time record” you were talking about?

    (ETA: I too am personally offended – my college summer job was US Post Office letter carrier, & as a public trust I took it very seriously. What offends me is that from all recent evidence they are no longer competent to provide the services they commit to & that we pay them for,)

  163. 163.

    PenAndKey

    @Uncle Cosmo: Is that the “good on-time record” you were talking about?

    Meanwhile, I ordered a few bits of leather goods making supplies from Utah last Tuesday and they were projected to get to my house on Monday. Instead, they were sitting on my porch Saturday afternoon when I got home from grocery shopping. I really feel like it’s all about where you’re located, because at least in the La Crosse, WI area the USPS is constantly beating their tracking predictions, quicker than the other big carriers by far, and I’ve got nothing but good things to say about them.

  164. 164.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Gin & Tonic: Who gives a flying fuck what Prince Jared says or “can commit” to? Elections are run by the states, and he has zero to say.

    Um… The Constitution begs to differ:

    The Congress may determine the Time of chusing [sic] the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

    (Article II, Section 1, Clause 4)

    To change Election Day to a date different from the current one (the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of years divisible by 4) requires nothing more than Congress passing a law to that effect and either POTUS signing it or Congress overriding his veto. Given the current composition of Congress, this seems unlikely without a much more serious national emergency than the current pandemic. Nevertheless…

  165. 165.

    sdhays

    @Betty Cracker: BTW, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but this package is what the “do-nothing Democrats” have been working on, mostly from their homes, for many weeks.

    Atrios has been insufferable about this for weeks. Even yesterday he was slamming Pelosi for something (I didn’t bother to click his Intercept link since I don’t trust that outlet). I’m frustrate too that the House isn’t doing more, but Congress is not designed to operate remotely and adjusting to that reality takes time.

    The whining about Democrats sucking while Republicans are actively forcing people to choose between their lives and the lives of their loved ones and their jobs really bothers me. Criticism is one thing, but the cynical whining is really disgusting.

  166. 166.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @PenAndKey: I really feel like it’s all about where you’re located, because at least in the La Crosse, WI area the USPS is constantly beating their tracking predictions, quicker than the other big carriers by far, and I’ve got nothing but good things to say about them.

    Well, huzzah for you. Since I moved back into Baltimore City 40 years ago, our central PO has been in close competition for the title of “worst in the USA,” and my branch PO has likewise made a case for being the single most incompetent one in the nation.

    E.g., there was a time when my mortgage payment envelopes were addressed to a central Baltimore PO box, and even if I mailed my cheque at the same physical location, it would still take an average of 4 days for it to reach its destination across the corridor. (Late fees were an expensive way to learn this.)

    I have prior-year taxes that need to be filed very shortly, & frankly I am crossing fingers, toes & eyes that my accountant will be able to e-file them – because I am terrified that if I must use the US(eless)PS again, this time those fuckups may manage to lose the entire package, no matter how much I pay them for their (dis)service. /rant

  167. 167.

    James E Powell

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I think AOC is smart, capable of learning, and a talented politician. And we do need people who can push as well as people who can compromise.

    I agree with you, but I also get what I think Baud’s on about. This time, right now, is not like other times. Everybody who does not want to see Trump re-elected needs to get on the team for “Elect Biden & whoever he picks and vote for every Democrat in every election.” There really is nothing else to do or say.

    I get that AOC is a sincere lefty outsider. I get that this is also her brand, how she got elected. (I don’t know if that’s who she needs to get re-elected, but that’s a different subject.) But that said, her greatest service to this country would be to explain to her lefty outsider fans that the need to oust Trump and every Republican – this year – overrides all other considerations, so please please please elect Biden & whoever and vote for every Democrat in every election because our future depends on it.  Because it really does.

  168. 168.

    James E Powell

    @The Moar You Know:

    It’s been a red district forever.  Hill flipped it.  It’s going to flip back.  Not the stunning achievement for the GOP that the link portrays.

    NYT – Even in liberal California, voters are standing with the president.

    WaPo – Pelosi reeling after loss of critical house election. Rumors of a challenge to her leadership.

  170. 170.

    Emma from FL

    @low-tech cyclist: Jesus Christ on a vintage Harley. Just get out of the Democratic party so you don’t have to try to aim how you piss. Nancy Pelosi is a fucking warrior and has covered more distance in a half-hour stretch against heavy winds than anyone I know. You can do better? Prove it. Politics always wants new blood.

  171. 171.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @low-tech cyclist: That’s why MD has a Republican governor.

    You are, as usual, full of shit.

    The reason MD has a GOP governor is

    • While the state is heavily Democratic by registration, Democratic statewide (closed) primaries are dominated by the AA vote from Baltimore City and Prince Georges County
    • The last two gubernatorial primaries (2014 and 2018) were won by AA candidates, and in the latter, two AA candidates (Ben Jealous and Rushden Baker) won 68.9% of the vote between them; far outpolling the closest white candidate (Jim Shea, 8.3%)
    • For the general election in 2018, voter registration was 55% Democratic, 25.5% GOP, 29.5% other (including 17.9% “unaffiliated”)
    • Many registered Democrats are DINOs who live in heavily Democratic legislative districts where the (closed) primary winner generally cruises to election; they keep the D to preserve some influence in determining the primary winner(s) but are reliable GOP voters for statewide office(s)
    • Many registered Democrats in more rural areas are contemporary analogues of the Dixiecrats, & will not vote for an AA candidate no matter how qualified
    • Thus many registered Democrats will not vote for (& in most circumstances will vote against) a Democratic gubernatorial candidate
    • Many registered “unaffiliated” (like “independents” everywhere) routinely vote GOP but don’t want to admit it
    • An alliance of Republicans, crypto-GOP, DINOs, Dixiecrats & the “unaffiliated” is often enough to defeat the Democratic candidate

    Tl;dr version: With closed primaries, AA voters in MD usually can & do determine the gubernatorial nominee, but generally  cannot keep non-AA Democrats from bolting the party to support and elect the GOP candidate.

    All the Thugs have to do is put up a candidate who doesn’t obviously suffer from BSI (batshit insanity) and (once the Democrats nominate an AA) let the bigoted chips fall where they may. I call this the Free State Syndrome – & I wonder if I’ll see another Democrat become Governor in my admittedly brief remaining lifetime.

  172. 172.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: Virginia recently made election day a state holiday.

    Virginia.gov:

    Legal holidays; Election Day. Designates Election Day, the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, as a state holiday and removes Lee-Jackson Day as a state holiday.

    Elections have consequences!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  173. 173.

    Another Scott

    @low-tech cyclist: https://www.lawandtheworkplace.com/2020/04/cares-act-expands-unemployment-insurance-benefits/

    • The extra $600/wk unemployment benefits run out July 31, 2020.
    • Extended unemployment benefits (additional 13 weeks, up to 39 weeks total) will end.
    • 39 weeks of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) ends by December 31, 2020.

    They must, and will, pass another bill because they don’t want families of 30+M unemployed people not being able to do things like buy food…

    The question isn’t whether there’s going to be another huge rescue/stimulus bill.  The question is, what is going to be in it.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  174. 174.

    Another Scott

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    For the general election in 2018, voter registration was 55% Democratic, 25.5% GOP, 29.5% other (including 17.9% “unaffiliated”)

    55+25.5+29.5 = 110%

    Nice! Vote Early, Vote Often indeed!!

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  175. 175.

    J R in WV

    @low-tech cyclist:

    So back to where I started: no matter how hard the Dems have been working on this bill, it’s for PR rather than for real.

    This is so wrong I don’t quite know where to begin, and don’t want to write a long screed on an older thread (I spent all afternoon shopping in town, a thing which I used to love but which now feels like playing Russian Roulette without knowing how many rounds are loaded into the cylinder! Anyways, pooped right now, even my fingers are tired!).

    First off, just because today McTurtle isn’t interested in this bill doesn’t mean he won’t be interested as soon as Trump wants more money to offer the Trump-Chumps for voting to re-elect him.

    Secondly, come closer to election time, this is an excellent talking point as people remain off the payroll, have back rent payments coming due, sick kids, hell, just now I heard a young woman telling us her family is down to two meals a day ALREADY!!!! Now imagine commercials with that interview, followed by Mitch McTurtle’s image telling America and Kentucky that he doesn’t see any need for more assistance for working American families.

    Third: What the hell is wrong with you, jumping on Democrats today while there are Republicans around who need jumping on badly?!?!!!?? Is your paycheck from the GRU late? Have you decided Trump is your guy? Seriously, there are so many things you could be criticizing that need it more than Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic party, which currently controls one half of one third of the American national government, or 16.666… percent. Well, really some Federal Judges aren’t fascists, but enough to give us heartburn for a very long time if we don’t do something to remedy the judiciary soonest.

    OT: Acquaintance thinks Trump will steal the election, purge the military, purge the DoJ, purge the legislature via the DoJ ( hard to vote from prison! )end of Democracy… I sure hope not, and I’m willing to donate a lot to McGrath in KY, Kelly in AZ, etc,  Emily’s list, etc. I can’t travel in Europe, might as well do something constructive with that money between now and November!

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