House impeachment managers walk to deliver the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate on Capitol Hill. pic.twitter.com/86SyNCQqba
— Erin Schaff (@erinschaff) January 26, 2021
63%
We have a mandate. https://t.co/hhl5FTINCk
— Trinity Voted for Biden/Harris (@TrinityMustache) January 26, 2021
Biden says this is a "beginning" of a negotiation process, and "no one wants to give up on their position until there's no other alternative." He suggests a timeline of a "couple weeks."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 25, 2021
Democrats may try to pass Biden's COVID bill with majority vote: Schumer https://t.co/g04kg6MrrI pic.twitter.com/nYU7Q7dPJK
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 26, 2021
No sooner has the portion of Rachel Maddow's interview with Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer aired than Mitch McConnell has put out a statement that he is folding, ending the stand-off. pic.twitter.com/9qR1jpKXkf
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) January 26, 2021
McConnell folded.
There was no new information. There have been a number of Senators who have said they would not vote to end the filibuster, much earlier than today. That’s just a fig leaf for McConnell folding.
Schumer held his ground. Good start.
— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) January 26, 2021
Mary G
Came across Mitch’s tweet bragging about how they would be sharing power 50/50. Told him it’s 51/50 and he only gets what Kamala wants to give him.
debbie
McConnel folds. Rob Portman slithers away. It’s the dawn of a new day!
OzarkHillbilly
Blech squared.
p.a.
Is our Democrats learning?
Yes! (Finally)
To use the football analogy; MoscowMitch kept using the same play until the opposition finally stopped it. Now he’s thumbing through his playbook, special attention on the Manchin Sinema Tester plays. Stay tuned.
CarolDuhart2
Good morning! No wonder Twitter is bringing up Hunter Biden again. For those who wonder: remember this: If they had anything real on Hunter, Hunter would be in DC lockup right now, Remember last spring with Tara Reade? Nothing happened because nothing happened. And it’s worth noticing that this sort of thing went past Obama too. Obama vetted his appointees to a fair the well, and if Biden had this, he would have been rejected as having too many distractions from his son.
Now you wonder what the end game is this? After all, Hunter is an adult, and presumably responsible for his own behavior. No evidence ever that Biden had participated in any of this stuff. What do you think they hope for? It’s possible to love a wayward rehabbing son without condoning anything he did/ Do they think if it was true, that Biden would hurt himself defending his son, or at least not shunning him?
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: why stop with squared?
Blech cubed!!
Did you all see that only three Republicans listened to the reading of the Impeachment Count? Three!! McConnel, Romney, and some other dude.
Only three could be bothered.
geg6
@CarolDuhart2:
Just one of the many reasons I don’t do Twitter. Not to mention that it gives me a headache every time I’ve tried it. I don’t give a shit what is “trending” and it makes my life much better.
satby
But now I’m wondering what Schumer’s next move would have been, because the threat of it was what backed traitorturtle down apparently.
Nettoyeur
@Immanentize: The point of the impeachment is to show the horror of what Trump tried to do to the government while branding Republicans as Trumpers through and through. While the GOP may cling to Trump like an abused wife to her abuser now, that load could become an anchor as furtger discovery proceeds. Portman bailed, and others may follow.
Soprano2
Oh, but just like they think Hillary Clinton committed crimes with no evidence, they are convinced that Joe Biden was involved in Hunter’s alleged nefarious dealings. Lack of evidence won’t stop them from saying it over and over again.
Chyron HR
@CarolDuhart2:
Yeah, but what if the President gets his his coked-up son’s girlfriend to deliver a deranged “Blud und Boden” speech at the next convention? Won’t that be be embarrassing for the Democrats!
sanjeevs
@satby: Maybe it had to do with the impeachment letters being sent over yesterday. Mitch might feel better leaving that for Schumer.
Soprano2
@Immanentize: Not only do most of them seem to support Trump inspiring a mob to come after them, they can’t even be bothered to do their jobs when it’s time to hear the charges. Seems like that could be used in campaigns against them in 2022 and 2024.
It’s driving me crazy again, all the press talking heads blathering about how it might not even be legal to “impeach” Trump after he left office. Didn’t you ninnies learn anything the last time he was impeached? He was impeached when he was still in office! It’s not the Democrat’s fault that Mitch wouldn’t convene the Senate so he could be tried right away! They keep getting this wrong, over and over and over again. Last time they had a fig leaf of an excuse, today they have NONE.
Immanentize
@Nettoyeur: Wow, I never considered that.
Soprano2
@Nettoyeur: I think within a year, many Republicans are going to be trying to say “Trump who”? We can never let them wash the stink off. They enabled insurrection against the U.S.! All they had to do was come out after the election and say that Biden was the legitimately elected president, and I think a lot of it would have calmed down. They couldn’t even bring themselves to do that, so they need to suffer for it.
Immanentize
@Soprano2: That is the Trump supporters’ best argument. Which is why they are making it. But it still is the worst argument going. Let’s recap — What a President does is not illegal when in office. Removing a President is too destructive to the Union. Can’t hold him accountable once he leaves office.
Ipso dixit, the President exists outside the law and the Constitution.
Albatrossity
@Immanentize: The other dude was the newly elected Senator from Kansas, Roger Marshall. Who lives so far up Trump’s colon that everything looks orange to him.
I have no idea why he was there. The best working hypothesis is that he hasn’t learned the protocols for being a Senator yet. He is a bonafide idiot, so that has some merit.
Baud
@Immanentize:
Any lame duck president can go hog wild with no repercussions.
Immanentize
@Albatrossity: He has a noble name.
Maybe he is so new that he still had some respect for his position and the institution?
In the other hand, maybe 47 Republican senators have dire diseases and viruses?
Immanentize
@Baud: like a bull in a china shop.
germy
I’m trying to understand how this is a win for us?
“Mitch folded” but didn’t he get what he wanted? What am I missing here?
Dorothy A. Winsor
I saw last night that Rand Paul was suggesting the Rs boycott the impeachment. If they boycott the actual vote, then the Ds can convict Trump all by themselves.
satby
@Baud: @Immanentize: And SCOTUS dismissed the emolument case (as moot? idk) now that he’s no longer president* so no repercussions for violating one of the few Constitutional restrictions on the office too.
OzarkHillbilly
@Albatrossity: He probably still thinks they do important stuff in the Senate. 6 months under McConnell’s “stop anything being done” thumb should disabuse him of that notion.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I would have thought your granddaughter’s presence would mitigate today’s blech-iness. [She was there yesterday, right? But isn’t there a carryover effedt?]
Nelle
@Immanentize: The Republican president exists outside the law and the Constitution.
CarolDuhart2
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Sure, and not the complete 2/3rds? If so, then the Republicans can just lay the blame on Democrats for removing him. On the other hand, if they aren’t there to give at least a nominal defense, then Republican voters will blame them for not doing so
It sounds like a no-win here. If they boycott in order to not make a problematic vote, then they make conviction certain. If they stay, no vote will be popular with the base that is popular with swing voters.
And as the cases go to court, more and more damning evidence comes out, they may be cornered here.
SFAW
@Albatrossity:
Ron Johnson level of stupidity? Because I thought Johnson was the Louie Gohmert/Jim Hoft/Sean Hannity of the Senate.
rp
@germy: He wanted Schumer to agree that ending the filibuster wouldn’t be on the table over the next couple years. He didn’t get that. While some senators might say they want to keep it, McConnell knows that if the GOP uses it to block everything those senators might reconsider. And Schumer is free to put it up for a vote.
CarolDuhart2
@satby: From what I heard, the lawsuits were to have him stop the emolumnets, but since he’s no longer President, they aren’t emoluments anymore. However this does not prevent clawback of his illicit profits.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Rand Paul is a few crayons short of 64 colors.
@SFAW: I spent the day with her and my son in STL. Which I have to say that the sight of her standing in the front window with a smile as big as Texas and waving at me when I arrived is one of the highlights of my life.
In other Addelyn news, she has learned to shrug and it is the cutest thing in the world.
SFAW
@germy:
Schumer may have threatened him with Mar-a-Lardo getting relocated to the Louisville area (or wherever it is Traitor Turtle lives). Or maybe telling him that Junior was going to be Mitch’s new “best friend”?
Baud
@satby:
When we have time to breathe, I hope our people pass a law to enforce the emoluments clause.
Immanentize
@satby: There was nothing moot about those two cases — they sought actual damages for harms done by violation of the emoluments clause. So, him leaving office did not in any way make the claim “moot.”
narya
@satby: Yeah, me too, because he was practically giggling on Maddow’s show last night. I remember reading that there are procedural options for the Dems, too, to counter turtle’s efforts, but no clue what I read, or where. Schumer went up in my appreciation last night, as I was watching Maddow and listening to him.
Meanwhile, we have a ton of snow, so I had to replace the morning run with a morning row, and, damn, I”ll take running any day. I will say that having been running so much over the last year made the rowing less awful, but it still sucked. And I have blisters on my fingers.
germy
@rp: @SFAW:
Oh, I see. So there’s a chance Manchin and Sinema might change their minds further down the road? Have they indicated that?
Immanentize
@Nelle: That is a good amendment.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Does Crayola have a “Lying Asshole” color? Because that’s the only thing in his box. [Along with most of the Rethug Senators’ and Reps’ boxes, I might add.]
I don’t have grandkids yet, but I can picture it, and it makes me smile. So keep that mental picture in mind and un-blech yourself, just a little, OK?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: She sounds adorable. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious all the way from here in Chicagoland (where, btw, it’s supposed to snow all day)
Ken
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Maybe that’s the Republicans’ plan.
Naw, they have to realize the cultists would call it just as much a betray as an actual vote to impeach. So it’s just the kind of deep thinking we’ve come to expect from Rand Paul.
NotMax
Not a part of my usual rounds nor a source would normally link to, however the nugget in the story is worth sharing.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@narya: When I was in cardiac rehab, they let us use the rowing machine only after we’d been there a while, and even then, they set it to 5 minutes. That thing is hard!
In gym news, I had to stop going to mine again. I have a 7:30 appointment and when I’m there, there’s often a woman who doesn’t wear her mask on the elliptical. By the end of February, I’ll have had both doses of Moderna and they’ll have had time to take effect. Until then, I’m not taking a chance.
Soprano2
It’s especially funny when I hear our resident retired cop make an argument like this, which he does. He tried to tell me the first impeachment was “illegal” because it wasn’t an actual “crime”, and that that he couldn’t arrest someone without an actual crime, so therefore T*** couldn’t be impeached, and all those Democrats in the House should be arrested and charged with – well, I’m not sure what. Can you believe a former police officer tried to make that argument to me? I told him that a) impeachment is different, and laid out in the Constitution, and b) many people believe that what Trump did to get the first impeachment is a crime. Now, he’s saying the second impeachment was illegal because T**** didn’t directly tell them to invade the Capitol and attack people! I have to wonder, did he carefully parse everything like that when he was a police officer? I doubt it!
Immanentize
@germy: At least in my life, it is always better to have the possibility that something good may happen, however unlikely, over the certainty that is cannot.
satby
@Immanentize: Yeah, I wouldn’t have thought so. Our entire justice system litigates past crimes, so why was this case booted?
Hoodie
@germy: It’s a bit of a win-win. Mitch got some Dem senators on record opposing abolishment of the filibuster, which is probably not worth all that much. Schumer got McConnell to “back down” when, as McCaskill noted, there were already Dems on record opposing nuking the filibuster. That is probably not worth that much either. He also got to let Sinema and Manchin act “independent” to satisfy what they perceive as some important part of their constituency. There probably was some parliamentary maneuver that Schumer could have done to end the gridlock on the rules, but neither of them probably wanted that to happen. The game goes on.
Baud
@Immanentize:
Did they seek damages? The attorneys involved all seem to agree it’s moot.
SFAW
@germy:
Sinema seems unlikely, from what I’ve read. She said she’s not going to vote to eliminate the filibuster, and that nothing would change her mind. I have no idea how iron-clad that statement is, or will continue to be.
Kristine
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Looks like 4” so far here in northern Lake County (IL). Another 2” or so of lake effect expected. Heavy powder. Not too bad to shovel, but I’ll need the snow ❄️ thrower for the driveway later today.
Dan B
Seems like McConnell heard from Tester that if nothing gets passed that he’d reconsider ending the filibuster and realized that Tester can be very persuasive to conservaDems. Sinema seems to be a spineless Pol so Tester could persuade her to rethink her position, the same with others. It wasn’t a good look to stall the start of the new Senate and maybe he would get more by giving a bit upfront. Schumer and Tester don’t seem interested after 1/6.
O. Felix Culpa
@SFAW: Sinema’s statement is as ironclad as it needed to be for the moment. I think McConnell backed down because he knew that too much obstruction would force Manchin, Sinema, et al to sorrowfully change their minds for the good of the country.
satby
@Kristine: We’ve gotten just an inch or so here in S.Bend, but hard to tell for sure because it was rapidly being compressed by the icy sleet falling at 6 am. Today I have to go into the office, so it’s one of the rare occasions I’m glad my car has 4wd.
germy
@SFAW:
Sinema, as a former Green, probably isn’t very good with the details, or with the implications of her actions.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: @Dorothy A. Winsor: Shrugging is a new trick and as with any kid and a new trick, she goes overboard with it. Somehow or other I never got tired of seeing it, to the point where I would shrug at her just to get her to do it again. As far as “her enthusiasm for life” she appears to have inherited my youngest son’s love of flying thru the air, which he was so fearless at I put him into gymnastics when he was 5 or 6 yo.
In a similar vein, my eldest granddaughter has fallen head over heels in love with rock climbing. It’s all she wants to do when ever she is with her father which is just fine with my son.
MagdaInBlack
@Kristine: I just pulled the trigger on a snow day. I cleaned 6 inches off my car at 6:30 , its still coming down heavy in Arlington Heights, and I drive 25 miles. I’m old and I don’t wanna =-)
Once upon a time I’d have been all “wooohoooo, drift jumpin!”
Not so much anymore
Eta; And Pearl the Squirrel is here for breakfast
Geminid
@Immanentize: Curious: Is there a statute codifying the Emoluments Clause? Would legislation help enforce it in the future?
rp
@O. Felix Culpa: Exactly. As Hoodie noted, there’s a lot of theater here. McConnell earns some points for standing up to Schumer and getting a commitment to the filibuster from Sinema, Sinema and Manchin look independent, Schumer looks like he forced McConnell to back down, etc.
The Dems have effectively agreed to keep the filibuster for now, but have put McConnell on notice that they’re not going to let him abuse it.
Betty Cracker
@germy: Nope, they indicated the opposite. And it’s not just those two; I think Sanders, Tester and maybe Angus King and others have also expressed unwarranted attachment to the filibuster.
But not having a pledge to preserve it in the governing agreement makes later threats of annihilating it in the face of outrageous obstruction real, and that’s not nothing.
Maybe what’s needed is a filibuster tutorial to bring average citizens up to speed on what it does and does not do. Too many people think Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
The people in the Senate who treat it like a magic bipartisanship talisman surely know better, but I guess they understand that the rubes are ignorant and will give them “moderation” credits.
As McConnell has demonstrated for years now, in Republican hands, the filibuster acts to squelch rather than promote debates and bipartisan lawmaking.
satby
@MagdaInBlack: Yeah, I’m the same way. I don’t have so far to go, and there’s things I can only finish there, but I wish I could put it off until later in the week.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Granted there’s still some days left in January but Schumer seems a lock for the “Artful Dealer of the Month” award.
Baud
I think if the positions were reversed, everyone would be saying Schumer caved and McConnell scored a win.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
But of course.
I poured money into Amy McGrath, Sara Gideon, and Jaime Harrison to try to keep this from happening. Now it’s happened. It’s better than it might have been. But Sinema doesn’t have the luxury of acting like AOC, and I don’t expect her to. There’s no point in whining about it all day. We have narrowly escaped a Putin-style decades-long monarchy by an asshole. I’m still reveling in that knowledge.
BruceFromOhio
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Once again, D’s cleaning up R’s fucking mess to the benefit of all. Such is our lot in this political life.
Jeffro
That sounds like something that many of them would do, rather than have to vote on trumpov’s guilt one way or another. These last five pathetic years have centered 110% on the GOP trying to enjoy the ‘benefits’ of having trumpov in office without having to pay any of the costs of such a corrupt moron as their party leader and our president. No more. Make them ‘face the music’, Dems! If they skip the trial or vote ‘present’ or any of the million other varieties of nonsense they’d rather cause than vote on his obvious guilt (for incitement of insurrection, no less!) then fine…they can wear that for all time, too. But no more letting them look away.
topclimber
@Betty Cracker: The solution is clearly to win 3? 4? 5? net Senate seats in 2022. That’s another reason we have to disprove the conventional wisdom about off-year elections by turning out like it’s 2020.
I am also curious about the fine print in the deal. Are Manchin and Sinema committing to keeping a 60-vote cloture threshold, or perhaps 55?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Immanentize:
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
If only Mrs. Paul had stuck to fish sticks.
//
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: I guess these idjits think that having the filibuster available somehow makes the Senate super-special…and they’re the most special of people, after all. (eyeroll)
Senators, you’re just members of an anti-small-d-democratic institution that screws up our elections AND slows down progress, legislatively speaking. Eventually we’re going to need to add “getting rid of the Senate” to the long list of structural reforms needed in our government.
germy
Like the guy with the push broom who walks behind the elephant parade. (That ain’t confetti we’re sweeping up.)
Sloane Ranger
@Soprano2:
I’m not so sure. From what’s being reported a number of State Republican parties seem to be doubling down on Trumpism (see Arizona). Some might remain sane but evil, but I suspect a lot will go the insane AND evil route. The good news there is that some of their general election candidates might be so far out of it, they scare the sane but evil crowd into sitting on their hands during elections.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@satby:
I read that! It pissed me off so bad. It really is true with Republicans that IOKIYAR
rp
@Baud: Yep
Amir Khalid
I currently have in my online shopping cart a pair of khaki cargo pants, yellow boots to replace my beat-up old pair and … wait for it … a red 335-type semi-hollow guitar!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SFAW:
What about being told about the possibility of a GOP Trumpist dictatorship in the not too distant future with a competent fascist? How can people like Sinema not see the danger we’re in? “It can’t happen here”?
Amir Khalid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
That abbrieviation really should be EOKIYAR: Everything’s OK If You’re A Republican.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Darn. I had February as next guitar month in the office pool.
:)
Delk
Looking out my front window on a snowy morning.
Betty
@Albatrossity: Dumber than Tuberville? Inconceivable.
germy
Off topic, but can Kellyanne Conway be arrested for revenge porn?
MagdaInBlack
@germy: ????!!
Betty Cracker
@Sloane Ranger: That’s my sense of it too. Corporate defunding of pro-sedition politicians in Congress brought the elected Republicans in DC up short. It almost looked like they might try to amputate Trump and cauterize the stump. But their base is as ferally pro-Trump as ever and probably flooded them with death threats and what-not, so they went wobbly on accountability.
OzarkHillbilly
I am shocked, shocked I tell you!
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I don’t blame you, I would, too.
So is that her way of rebelling against her spelunking grandpa? [It is you that caves, right?]
Apropos of nothing in particular: Are you “Grandpa” or “Grampy” or maybe “Zayde(h)” or something else?
Amir Khalid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
It’s not easy being Green.
Nelle
@Delk: That looks like my old neighborhood in Oak Park, Il. I’m in Des Moines now..don’t know how much we have so far but it is still snowing. Did two rounds of shoveling yesterday, about five inches each time. Haven’t gone out this morning.
germy
That’s better than falling in love with a rock musician.
bluefoot
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You’d think an attempted coup would have concentrated her mind a little. The more leeway we allow these treasonous assholes (I count Mitch in this group), the more they think they have sanction to take power by whatever means.
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
So, this is something guitar number 47 for you?
Congrats on your (anticipated) new instrument, may it give you tons of enjoyment.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
danielx
@Immanentize:
I did once see an elk in a gift shop in Estes Park.
It was very peaceable.
SFAW
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Not sure she’d be able to connect the dots for that one. Frankly, not sure I could, either, but I can hypothesize as to your thought process.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@germy: Isn’t her daughter a minor? That…can’t be legal
danielx
@Delk:
Looks like Chicago!
SFAW
@bluefoot:
It would be interesting to see her vote(s) on expelling the insurrectionists Cruz and Hawley.
Amir Khalid
@SFAW:
It will be number six.
OzarkHillbilly
We do a lot of rock climbing in caves too, so they are kind of kissing cousins. I like to say that cavers are rock climbers who aren’t afraid of the dark. I am PawPaw, as designated by my first granddaughter.
** cavers rescue spelunkers, don’t ever forget it.
danielx
@Amir Khalid:
No such thing as too many, according to my guitarist friends.
Delk
@danielx: yep! Lincoln Square.
narya
@Dorothy A. Winsor: 35 minutes/5k on the rowing machine is . . . hard. But I’m in a year-long distance challenge, so I need to rack up the miles to get my little magnets. My biggest problem is that it hurts my hamstrings (and the aforementioned blisters, but I can moleskin those). And it’s boring AF.
Yay to the grandbaby!! and the new guitar! It seems to be the tiniest bit easier to actually find joy in the joyful things; I’ve even been sleeping better, which made me realize just how much low-level, constant anxiety was affecting that.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: She’s 12, lots of time left for her to put that on the menu.
SFAW
@narya:
Concept 2?
narya
@Delk: Rogers Park looks similar, but I am deficient in ability to take a photo and post it.
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
OK, so my guess was within an order of magnitude.
I’m not a musician of any kind, let alone a guitarist, but I agree with the sentiment “you can never have enough” (if you love them as you obviously do).
OzarkHillbilly
@danielx: 3-1 spouses disagree, the 1 being musicians too.
germy
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
This morning her daughter said Kellyanne belongs in jail because of this.
narya
@SFAW: A REALLY old water-rower–same company as the Concept 2, but w/ a water tank. (I’ve replaced the tank once, AND glued the new one back together once.) I got it used, more than 10 years ago, and hadn’t used it much, but am determined to keep up with my exercise–so if I can’t run because it’s icy/snowy, I will row. I don’t mind cold, and even snow could be okay, but hell no to ice.
Kristine
@satby: @MagdaInBlack: Well, I had a reply typed up and ready to go a few minutes ago, but a server somewhere hiccuped and lost it. Anyway…I’m not crazy about the snow anymore, though walking through snow-coated woods is one winter pleasure that makes salt and slush worth it.
When I was still at the old day job, I had no trouble designating the odd vacation day a snow day. I figured it was better than dealing with the idiots who thought that 4WD also meant 4-Wheel Stop. I drive an ancient (2002) Forester, so I do have AWD. It helps, and it’s even fun to test it as long as there are no other drivers around. But I’d still rather hunker down on days like this. So glad it’s not a problem anymore.
SFAW
@narya:
I didn’t think C2 ever made a water rower. I toyed with trying/getting a water rower once, decided to stick with air.
Be that as it may, keep on rowing!
karen marie
@geg6: Twitter is far more than politics. There are tons of interesting people doing interesting things. I love sheep/pig/cow twitter, history twitter – pick your niche: Roman, food, art (the museum challenges are wonderful). Without twitter, I wouldn’t have laughed as much yesterday as I did because I’d never have thought to look.
Immanentize
@Baud: There was at least one case where damaged were sought. More, I thought. But maybe the damage claims were earlier dismissed or reserved? And who wants the Supreme Court addressing anything these days? It’s possible the only claims in the Court were specifically about the scope of the emoluments clause? I’ll try to find out….
Amir Khalid
@danielx:
Alas, my gear budget begs to differ.
Immanentize
@SFAW: Sinema doesn’t run again until 2024. So, no challenger from the left until then. She can maintain her right cred for two more years?
lowtechcyclist
@OzarkHillbilly:
Preach it, bro!
My son is 13 and has a perfect body for a caver – skinny, extremely flexible, wiry strength. He’d be a great caver if he got into it.
I’d love to take him caving, but my old caving buddies are now scattered far and wide. And AFAIAC, two is too few for a caving trip even if both are experienced.
Omnes Omnibus
It is a 50/50 Senate. Let’s take the victories that we can. Let’s also wait on the pitchforks and torches until Manchin or Sinema or Bernie or King or any egotistical Democratic Caucusing Senator actually costs us win. Let them posture to their heart’s content as long as they vote the right way when the rubber hits the road.
ETA: That doesn’t mean that their constituents shouldn’t be contacting them daily to let them know, politely, what they expect from them.
narya
@SFAW: You might be right; I thought that WaterRower made both kinds (despite their name). The main reason I got the one I got is that it was a much better-quality machine than is normally found on (I think?) Craig’s list, and it wasn’t that expensive, and the person was willing to deliver it to me. At the time, I didn’t want to spend the money on a brand new one. I haven’t used it much over the years, but have hung on to it, and now I’m glad I did.
Immanentize
@Geminid: No one thought a statute was necessary because no one tried so blatantly to violate it. Remember — they made Jimmy Carter sell his peanut farm.
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: You don’t have enough.
Kristine
Gaby says that snow is all well and good, but there should also be cookies.
Immanentize
@Steeplejack (phone): Good addition to my earlier! Thanks.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@narya: I was on the rowing team in college. We’d go out on the river as soon as the ice broke up. Almost lost a guy who got flipped out of the boat one day. He grabbed the last oar as it was going overhead but later said his muscles were already seizing up.
narya
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Oof. Yeah, I have little to no desire to actually get in a real boat. Though now I’m trolling the WaterRower site to see how I can upgrade my monitor and track my workouts. I’m hopeless.
artem1s
@Soprano2:
I’m actually more concerned about seeing the “miss me yet” billboards in 6-8 years. There is no such thing as “they can’t possibly nominate someone worse the last one”.
zhena gogolia
@Kristine:
So sweet!
OzarkHillbilly
3 is the recommended minimum (if someone gets injured there is 1 to go for help and 1 to tend to the injured) but I have a couple friends (1 in AR, the other in MO) I used to cave with regularly in pairs. We were well suited to spending hours and hours and hours together without losing our sense of humor and also we were willing to push the nastiest shit we’d find to their bitter ends. It’s frustrating to spend 4 hours or more killing yourself to see if something goes or not and have somebody give out when you can still see doable passage ahead of you.
Immanentize
@germy:
Heavy Metal Drummer
My favorite Wilco song.
CaseyL
@Amir Khalid:
I had no idea what that was, so I looked it up. Oh, that is a pretty little thing!
….do you not already have a red guitar? Seems an important addition to the collection!
Today in Seattle, it is cold as hell, and the weathercasters said something about snow. None here yet. They could be off by a day – which would put the snow coming down on My Office Day. Bleh, indeed.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Haroldo
@Amir Khalid:
And now it’s on that Tele….
Delk
@Immanentize: I married a drummer. ?
SiubhanDuinne
@Nelle:
Wow, another Oak Parker! When did you live there? What street? Are you a DOOPER? So many questions!
laura
@Amir Khalid: n+1 Amir. Spouse collects bicycles like you collect guitars. When I ask if he has enough he patiently explains again that n equals the current number and the +1 represents the number he needs. Here’s hoping the red 335 fills a musical void for a good long spell.
Kristine
@zhena gogolia: She’s supposedly half-husky according to 2 DNA tests, and she loves the snow. Never liked warmth, and now that she’s 14 or so, she likes it even less–even the 70s are too much for her now. I keep the house at 60F overnight, and she still pants at times. But once temps drop into the 30s/40s, I have a hard time getting her to come inside at night.
SiubhanDuinne
@danielx:
My next band name is “The Peaceable Elk.”
sdhays
I haven’t read every statement that the filibuster supporters have made, but expressing unwavering support for preserving the filibuster doesn’t preclude reforming how it works. I wonder if that’s the threat that Schumer has – if Republicans screw around too much, Democrats will “preserve” the filibuster by reforming it to allow the majority to ultimately prevail.
There are a lot of different ways to do that, and I don’t know what would be acceptable to the filibuster lovers, but it’s a distinction that’s useful to keep in mind.
MagdaInBlack
@Kristine: She’s a cutie =-)
OzarkHillbilly
@sdhays: good point.
Kristine
@MagdaInBlack: She really is. After breakfast this morning, I let her out–when I checked, she was pushing her nose through the snow and rolling around…until she spotted the shadow in the doorway, at which point she trotted to the door for the expected cookie.
Yes, she is spoiled. And she has me very well trained.
Immanentize
@Delk: shiny shiny pants?
Nelle
@SiubhanDuinne: I lived on Scoville, just south of the Eisenhower from 1985-87. While I’m a native Kansan, we had come from Seattle and went to Alaska. We found we are both uneasy east of the Mississippi ( we tried a stint in Columbia, MD too but it didn’t take). Iowa feels on the edge of too east, but granddaughters help a lot.
Much of our life, where we lived, how we handled our finances was based on my husband being able to quit his job quickly if he was asked to do something he believed was unethical. He was one of the first environmental inspectors for the construction of the Alaska pipeline and was fired for accurate reports. We left Maryland when he was told to alter data on pollutants in Chesapeake Bay to protect some political donors. In New Zealand, an oil company was given access to rewrite one of his reports, yet retain his name as author. That didnt happen but he was edged out of his job. We chose this life, though, and have had a lot of adventures.
Amir Khalid
@CaseyL:
A 335-type is like what Chuck Berry played. His axe, of course, was a cherry red Gibson ES-335, which by itself costs more than my entire gear collection.
laura
What the af with Kellyanne Conway? Who does that? Where the hell is George?
Delk
@Immanentize: hah! He’s also a pension actuary/ERISA attorney. I’m the shiniest thing he has. LOL
J R in WV
@narya:
My granddad had a big old rowing machine in his basement, oak and cast iron, this was in the 1950s. He was without his right leg, gone at the hip, broken thigh working on a farm aged 13, gangrene set in. This was around 1905.
Anyway, he got around very well on his crutches, walnut custom, would walk to work in the early morning, about 2 miles. But he needed to maintain his upper body strength to do so. I used to see his steps walking to school on snowy mornings…. Left foot, parentheses, left foot, parens, the parens were the swoop of the crutches in the snow.
Then they would sometimes go away, when a friend from farther out our country road would stop and offer him a ride. On snow days he would accept a ride, or rainy days. Sunny days he preferred to walk.
At the time, I didn’t grok the tight connection between being able to walk and the rowing machine for granddad. Now I do.
Just One More Canuck
@Omnes Omnibus: “But I wanna be upset NOWWWWWWWWWW!”
Ken
@sdhays: I’d prefer they go back to requiring the continuous speech, because it’s an easier political sell. Heck, probably over half the country still thinks they work like in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Haroldo
@Delk:
Doubtless, then, you are acquainted with myriad drummer jokes. My favorite is: So many drummers, so little time.
In real life, though, it’s a true pleasure to play with the good ones. (Agony, otherwise.)
Haroldo
Duplicate
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Isn’t this the same daughter who tried to file for emancipation? Poor kid.
Let’s see if any Republicans are actually serious about protecting the children. The daughter is 16. I don’t know if every state has laws about revenge porn, but they certainly do about posting photos of nude minors on the internet.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SFAW:
What I’m afraid of, is the GOP using the filibuster to try to stop vital legislation like covid relief from helping people, setting the stage for a GOP resurgence and more right-wing radicalization
lowtechcyclist
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yeah, 3-4 people is what I consider ideal. Enough for safety purposes, but not so many as to slow you down. I think if you feel comfortable enough with your and your companion’s abilities and endurance, a 2-man caving trip is reasonable. (A lot of the early exploration of the Flint Ridge side of the Flint Mammoth cave system was done by Bill Austin and Jack Lehrberger by themselves.) I’ve never been that comfortable with my own caving abilities – a long way from it.
But damn, I miss crawling around underground. It’s been way too long.
Cameron
@Amir Khalid: It is not a number! It is a free guitar!
lowtechcyclist
A Dem bigwig stands his ground*. Feel like I’ve been waiting hundreds of years for this.**
More of this, and I might actually become proud to be a Democrat.
*Watership Down reference. Love that book.
**Are we in Goshen yet?
artem1s
@Jeffro:
hmm, I wonder if Schumer wasn’t playing a little “oh plz, mars Rand! don’t throw us evil Dems in the impeachment vote briar patch!” with Moscow Mitch. This impeachment may be MM’s only way of severing the party from His Excellency God King Emperor for Life! A dozen or two “no shows” from the Insurrection Senators aren’t going to help him with the $LP$GOPers$ or Cult45. And it will weaken his ability to wrangle them to obstruct future votes.
Of course, if MM doesn’t seat the Dems on the Senate, Schumer could also start an impeachment over with obstructing the investigation of the insurrection. MM is well and truly hosed!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@artem1s: I think Rand Paul is loopy but not actually stupid, in fact I think he’s quite cunning when it comes to niche stunts like this that boost his fund-raising and email lists. Remember a few years back when he staged a phony filibuster against dronze ?
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Have you complained to building management? It’s their failing, too, if they are not requiring masks and enforcing that rule.
If they don’t know about the problem, they can’t do anything about it. If they do know, and they are okay with the people living there not being safe, you should know, that, too.
What if the people who bring around the carts of pastries or whatever are also allowed to not follow the rules?
WaterGirl
@MagdaInBlack: As long as Pearl isn’t breakfast…
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus:
Just wanted to see that again.
germy
Miss Bianca
@Cameron: I’ve been watching The Prisoner lately, so yeah, I twitched at “number six” as well!
frosty
@Amir Khalid: Awesome!! GAS strikes again. Please let us know how it sounds and plays.
Cam-WA
I don’t understand why the conventional wisdom is that “McConnell caved.” No he didn’t! He heard two D’s (Manchin & Sinema) say that they are unalterably opposed to ending the filibuster (and Sinema even said that she couldn’t imagine ANY circumstances that would change her mind, which makes it even more difficult to crawl that back), so, the filibuster stays. McConnell gets what he wants without having to hold the Senate hostage any longer. Some “loss”!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Cam-WA: Agreed. I’m happy to say “brave, brave Sir Mitch” if that makes him happy and keeps him from getting in the way of the mountain of legislation we need to begin shoveling out the Augean Stable.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Cam-WA: Those Senators (and others) were already on the record as opposing the destruction of the filibuster. In fact, by filibustering an organizing resolution to hand control over to Democrats, McConnell was giving the Democrats no choice but to blow up the filibuster, just to get control of the Senate.
So McConnell made a dumb demand that would have resulted in the end of the filibuster had he stuck to his guns. But he’s smart enough to know this. He was just hoping that Schumer would reflexively agree to stay the filibuster and codify that agreement into something substantial.
OzarkHillbilly
@lowtechcyclist: So do I, but “Too Old, Too Fat, Don’t Care”. Also too arthritic.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
stay safe
fuckwit
I hope it fucking sticks this time. But I know it won’t.