Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Health policy writing will be light today as I owe my co-authors a revised draft and so far it is not making enough sense to me to share.
However, I would like to introduce you to Goat and Buttercup. We adopted these two, a brother/sister pair of eight month olds, yesterday. They spent most of the afternoon under the couch but by evening Goat had explored the entire living room and most of the kitchen while Buttercup explored as she wished.
Here is Goat:
And here is Buttercup:
He was pretty awful a few years ago but I guess a rising Trump lifts a lot of mediocre boats :
This had to be one of the most successful failures — one of the most triumphant defeats — in modern political history.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) clearly failed in the stated aim of her four-week delay in sending impeachment articles to the Senate: to withhold the articles and the naming of impeachment managers until, as she put it last month, “we see the process that is set forth in the Senate.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) didn’t reveal his impeachment resolution and made no commitment to bring forth witnesses or documents.
But Pelosi’s delay seems to have blunted any hope President Trump’s defenders had of dismissing the charges without a trial. Before the speaker’s gambit, McConnell pledged that “there will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this.” Trump is now calling for a dismissal, but Senate Republicans say they won’t allow that.
This is about as close as a beltway asshole who treats politics like sports talk radio — picking winners and losers for everything, focusing on personality instead of performance — is going to get to a nuanced perspective. When you only control the House, you’re “winning” if you’ve been able to leverage your power to make the Senate do more then they were otherwise going to do, and get some positive attention. Both of those goals were accomplished, even though we’re ultimately going to “lose” on conviction.
Nothing from that Iraq exchange will hurt Joe Biden's standing as the frontrunner. At all.
He not only survived but smartly pivoted to the responsibilities Obama gave him as VP to manage troop drawdowns and emphasized his more dovish take as VP on Afghanistan.#DemDebate
— Ian Sams (@IanSams) January 15, 2020
Wouldn't it be hilarious if after all this sturm and drang, the story of 2020 is Biden sailing into the presidency.
— Malarksist Revolutionary (@agraybee) January 15, 2020
I didn’t want to promote this before hearing what the KHive (Harris fans) had to say, but there is no more ferocious #KamalaStan than Chris Evans:
.@JoeBiden: “I’d consider @KamalaHarris for anything she wants — including Vice President.” https://t.co/mqvcmAxWno
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) January 14, 2020
Been saying for a while: If I have to ‘settle’ for Liz Warren remaining my senator, a Biden / Harris ticket would be my second choice right now. Each partner lends the other credibility with their respective voter bases, and it gives Harris a running start at the top of the ticket in 2024 / 2028.
But I’ll admit I’d be tickled by a Biden / Klobuchar ticket, too. And after last night, it’s being discussed again:
Klobuchar on impeachment: "this is a decency check on our government."#DemDebate
— Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) January 15, 2020
Klobuchar does a good job of taking every foreign policy question and pointing out just how God-awful Trump has been at solving the problem.
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) January 15, 2020
Great line from @amyklobuchar: “the ACA is 10 points more popular than the president of the United States.”
— Matt Bennett (@ThirdWayMattB) January 15, 2020
Amy Klobuchar is on CNN arguing that a woman can be president and I can’t wait for the day, whenever it comes, when people look back and talk about how crazy it is that this was ever a thing that had to be argued.
— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) January 15, 2020
Klobuchar definitely asked for extra blue books during her college midterms.
(that isn’t a bad thing. she’s substantive.) pic.twitter.com/LbGkNTc1WW
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) January 15, 2020
BIDEN / KLOBUCHAR 2020: DON’T MAKE HER COME DOWN THERE, REPUBS!
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: If I Can’t Have My Dream Ticket…Post + Comments (158)
Good morning, everybody,
As we often do on Wednesdays, we marvel at Bill’s submissions. Thanks, as always!
These remind me a bit of in 2015, when there was a huge (for now, not for then!) flight of WWII aircraft down the Potomac, over downtown, and then away, to memorialize the 70th anniversary of VE Day. My mother and I held each other, goose pimples everywhere as plane after plane flew by in formation. Our vantage point near, but far above, the river and upstream from DC was ideal as they all flew right overhead. It was easy to imagine one’s self in WWII and hearing the throbbing of the bombers approaching and running to hide. I’ll see if any of my pics are acceptable and perhaps post sometime.
Ok, enough about me – without further ado, Bill:
I know it’s a bit late for the greeting, but we in the southland take New Year’s day very seriously. You’ve probably heard of the little parade they have in Pasadena and the football contest there as well, but we think of bombers, blimps and bowls(not the herb kind, but that’s legal here too). No matter how wild our New Year’s Eve festivities might have been, at about 8am on New Years Day we are greeted by the sound of a low flying jet courtesy of the United States Air Force. I’ve made a point of getting up before 8am and photographing this flying wing as it makes it’s final turn to line up for it’s flight over the crowds assembled to watch the bands and the flowers of the Rose Parade. What I never realized until this year is that there are 2 B-2 bombers in the sky above Glendale New Year’s morning. They also fly a backup bomber in case something goes wrong with the primary plane. After the bomber’s flight over Colorado Blvd., they(remember there are two of them) fly over the high desert and the San Gabriel mountains to await the flight over the Rose Bowl.
For the past several years, I’ve photographed the bombers as they flew over Glendale, but this year I decided to fire up the Prius and drive/hike up to a ridge overlooking the Rose Bowl(it’s about a mile from where I took some of the sunset pictures my last submission) to catch the return of the B-2 as it flew over the Rose Bowl. About 10 minutes prior the game time, you could see the two planes flying over the San Gabriels. At game time, one of the bombers began to descend into the Arroyo Seco canyon to make it’s path over the Rose Bowl.
On The Road – ?BillinGlendaleCA – Happy New Year from Southern California.Post + Comments (16)
The B-2 bomber flies southeast over The Valley and makes a turn over Glendale to line up the Colorado Blvd in Pasadena to the east.
I fully endorse Dull 2020. https://t.co/m2RYlYAVlH
— Kayley (@JanekKayley) January 15, 2020
Well, not Steyer. And if you didn’t like Bernie already, he’s not winning you over. But that’s how he rolls. Otherwise, all solid performances. https://t.co/1FM38fXht4
— Richard Skinner (@richardmskinner) January 15, 2020
Disclaimer: This debate will claim very little attention, except among the various candidates’ partisans… which, all things considered, might be just as well.
VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRATS — WE WON’T MAKE YOU FLINCH EVERY MORNING!
Of course, I’m happy my favorite did well… as did Amy Klobuchar. And Joe Biden, in his case mostly by not making any news. That seems to be solidifying as the Biden Brand, and as I said already, maybe that’s what 2020 voters want.
Warren: "the only people on this stage who have won every election that they've been in are the women, Amy and me… and the only person on this stage who has beaten an incumbent Republican in the last 30 years is me" #DemDebate
— Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) January 15, 2020
Nothing convinces people you didn’t say something super sexist by…incorrectly correcting your female colleague and then mansplaining to her what she explicitly just said. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/lGwhzoXYix
— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) January 15, 2020
IE– talking past each other and misinterpreted what the other one was saying
— Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) January 15, 2020
Warren has really owned this debate. I see no way to deny that. But winning a debate on points doesn't always translate into the race. Biden has also had a good debate simply by no one really attacking him.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 15, 2020
Even on a question about foreign policy and being commander in chief, Warren manages to find a way to weave in corruption — the underpinning of her campaign. #DemDebate
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) January 15, 2020
Last Night’s Des Moines Debate: Early ReviewsPost + Comments (32)
13-year-old Sir Darius Brown's bow ties for dogs have helped around 200 dogs across the US get adopted faster. ❤️ @BBC pic.twitter.com/APTXzpQlu9
— FierceWarriorNStilettos (@InactionNever) January 14, 2020
‘Choice fatigue’ is a very real problem at shelters. I can see how having that little extra marketing detail, where one of two dozen brown-and-white pit mixes becomes ‘that one with the sparkly bow tie’, might make all the difference…
You don’t even need to understand hockey to appreciate this:
Oh how we've missed you, Sid. pic.twitter.com/EYxkPn59GE
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) January 15, 2020
Pass to yourself off the back of the net, wheel around, and pass a ridiculous laser of a pass across a packed crease. Absurd.