Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Not all heroes wear capes.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

T R E 4 5 O N

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

This blog will pay for itself.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

All hail the time of the bunny!

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

“Alexa, change the president.”

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Snowing Hard

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Snowing Hard

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Poltico — “Biden doesn’t buy GOP’s Covid pitch”:

Ten Senate Republicans attempted to sell President Joe Biden Monday night on a coronavirus relief compromise, even as Biden’s own party made plans to leave the GOP in the dust.

In the two-hour meeting, the GOP senators presented their $618 billion counterproposal to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and the president described his own $1.9 trillion plan to the senators. They agreed to keep talking, although senators conceded their discussions were just beginning.

In an interview afterward, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said the senators argued to Biden that by working together they can move much more quickly than Democrats’ party-line approach to stimulus through reconciliation, which would bypass GOP support. Biden gave no explicit indication he’s going to change his approach and recounted how many times he’d been through budget reconciliation as a senator…

Shortly before the meeting, Democratic leaders announced they would begin a process that would allow passage of Biden’s coronavirus stimulus plan without GOP votes, a sign that Democrats have little confidence that a suitable deal can be struck with Republicans. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), a centrist, said succinctly of the GOP’s plan: “The package has to be bigger than that.”

“This needs to be big enough to get the job done. If we’re having to come back time and time again, I just don’t think that’s good for the economy or for certainty,” Tester said at the Capitol.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced they would continue setting up budget reconciliation this week, which would evade the Senate’s 60-vote requirement. They will pass a budget this week instructing committees to write a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which includes items like raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and giving $400 in additional weekly unemployment assistance through September…

Schumer essentially told Republicans they could hop on board with reconciliation if they have good ideas, but that Democrats wouldn’t slash their ambitions because of GOP resistance…

Predictable bad faith argument from the Death Cultists:


We let our voters suffer & die, for The Economy! Why would we show any sympathy towards states less cruel, or less capable of benefiting from such cruelty?

An explainer on the mechanics of ‘bipartisanship’ versus reconciliation:

Reader Interactions

127Comments

  3. 3.

    Baud

    which would evade the Senate’s 60-vote requirement.

    The media will always paint what the Democrats do as something sinister, no matter how ordinary it is.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Republicans tried to overthrow an election but DEMs are the real villians because they won’t allow the GOP minority to scuttle what the DEM majority want to do. How unAmerican!

  8. 8.

    Bruuuuce

    Sen. E Warren (caution: FB link) explaining how Democrats need to be talking about the issue:

    If we learned anything from the 2008 crisis, it’s that our government should be doing a lot more for struggling families and a sluggish economy. I support President Biden’s relief plan – in fact, we should expand it. But we cannot allow the GOP to delay this package any longer.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    @raven:

    That’s not what I heard. I heard him say that Biden will poison the well for future action if he moves forward now.  Biden is already giving it a shot now.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I think that Bussiness Insider GOP/DEM comparison graph is wrong on the stimulus checks. It says the GOP want to send out $1,000 checks vs DEMs sending out $1,400. I read yesterday that the GOP bill had $1,000 stimulus/person total in it. Which after the $600 dollars most have already received would mean only an additional $400.

    Am I wrong? Are Republicans 2 1/2 times more generous to the working poor than they have ever been before?

  17. 17.

    Spanky

    This seems to be the right post to remind folks that Punxatawny Phil will emerge from his burrow at 7:30 EST and tell us whether we’ll have another year of Republican obstruction.

  18. 18.

    raven

    @Baud: Whatever, he said “it’s worth a try if it’s your first shot at bipartisanship”. Ignatius followed it with “it’s exactly what Biden wants to be happening”.

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    NowThis@nowthisnews
    Reporter: ‘Why is the White House [meeting with Republicans and not Democrats?]’
    Psaki: ‘Are there any specific Democrats you want to call out?’
    Reporter: ‘No, but it’s been talked about. There’s concern— ‘
    Psaki: ‘Just people talking about it in hallways?’

    “Many people are saying…”
    “Who?”

  20. 20.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The poor dears have been indoctrinated for the past four years to not give a shit about cities and states and to insist on those cities and states fending for themselves (despite the needed funding being forcibly sent by the cities and states to the federal government).

    In short, let trickle down work! //

  21. 21.

    japa21

    Ernst just got re-elected. If that isn’t being rewarded for bad behavior I don’t know what is.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    Biden is the most radical left-wing president in US history, period (Rich Lowry/New York Post)

    Until the next one.

  23. 23.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud: ​
      President Joe would love to be bipartisan. What Morning Joe doesn’t get is that President Joe sees right through Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    Going to repeat this here from late night thread because so many have school age kids/grandkids engaged in distance learning.

    Teachers who believe Trump’s election lies that brought a violent mob to the Capitol are passing on those conspiracy theories in the classroom — and on to the next generation of voters. Source

    Tip of the widest sombrero to the students with the acute presence of mind to record Zooms.

  27. 27.

    satby

    @japa21: Good morning japa21! I asked about your vaccination experience when you mentioned it in the other thread yesterday, here’s my question again:

    Was that at the Tinley Convention Center? A friend’s elderly parents are scheduled there on Thursday, but he has mobility problems.  Is it a drive through or is there a lot of walking distance involved?

  28. 28.

    debbie

    I’m sure I’m the last to learn this, but if you haven’t received the second stimulus check, you’re not going to. Instead, you can claim it as a Recovery rebate credit on Line 30 of your 1040.

  31. 31.

    danielx

    @Baud:

    Villagers: But…but….my precious, er, my bipartisanship!

    Everybody else: We want to see shit getting done. Besides, when did Mitch McConnell/Republicans ever show any bipartisanship during the reign of the Orange Oaf?

    Villagers: Well, that’s just Mitch/Republicans. Dems are supposed to compromise, them’s the rules!

    Everybody else: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

  35. 35.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @NotMax:

    These would be the same sort of teachers that I remember from my lily-white public elementary school who approvingly taught from Texas-approved textbooks about the honor of the Confederacy, the peaceful life of slavery, the Civil War was about tariffs, the noble art showing confederate officers praying next to horses, and who referred to people of color as “nigras”.

  36. 36.

    Jeffro

    @Baud: “come on Mr. Lowry – President Biden is an old, white guy, isn’t that all your party asks for these days anyway?”

    Alternatively: “oh…NOW we’re all concerned about ‘policy’, Mr. Lowry?”

  40. 40.

    japa21

    @satby: Yes it was at Tinley. No it is not drive through and there is some walking involved.  Lots of staff to assist if necessary. As to if there is too much walking, that obviously would depend on his situation.​
     

    ETA: There were a lot of people with such issues (after all, this is for mostly us olds.)

  41. 41.

    John S.

    @danielx: That’s the trouble with Charlie Brown declaring that he is committed to playing football with Lucy.

    Charlie Brown knows that Lucy is always going to yank away the football, and Lucy is always going to yank away the football because she likes seeing Charlie Brown flat on his back.

  43. 43.

    JPL

    Yesterday I received my second Pfizer vaccine and the side effect is similar to the first one.   There’s some soreness in the arm that received the injection.  Although the risk of covid will be lower, I doubt that my lifestyle changes.

  44. 44.

    Baud

    @John S.:

    Biden didn’t commit to anything. He said he would work for unity, and he is. The only question is who we voters hold accountable for the failure.  The media will always blame Dems, so they are a lost cause.

  49. 49.

    debbie

    So much for a pending recovery: My credit union just dropped their APYs on money markets and CDs. ?

  51. 51.

    John S.

    @Baud: I’m not talking about the relief bill in particular  — I’m talking about Biden’s broader message of appealing to bipartisanship. That’s the game, and he did commit to playing.

    Biden doesn’t want to end up flat on his back, so he has limited options. He can fake out Lucy and pretend to kick the football, but then he will be accused of acting in bad faith. He can kick his own football, but then he will be accused of not playing fairly with Lucy. And if he decides not to play the game, then Lucy will howl that he’s being mean and not playing the game.

    So what other possible outcome do you see where Charlie Brown plays the game, and doesn’t end up on his back?

    ETA: And I absolutely agree that the media are committed to not holding Lucy accountable and always blaming Charlie Brown for the outcome because they accept Lucy’s framing that he’s a blockhead.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    @John S.:

    You are obsessed with Lucy and have made the voters an afterthought.

    The fact is, there is no realistic alternative to what Biden is doing.

  59. 59.

    John S.

    @raven: Everyone knows that only old men watching MJ and yelling at clouds or telling the kids to get off their lawn will change things.

  62. 62.

    rikyrah

    ?????

    "i met with the other side in the spirit of comity and their ideas are shit so we're gonna do my thing now. god bless america."— Peloton InfoSec Analyst (Incident Response) (@CalmSporting) February 1, 2021

  63. 63.

    NotMax

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Speaking of awful movies, the one currently running in the background is a train wreck of incredibly chewy WTFness. Culminates with Sherlock Holmes piloting a hot air balloon-slash-onithopter in the sky over London, battling a giant mechanical fire-breathing pterodactyl.

  64. 64.

    John S.

    @Baud: You may be right. And I do believe that if anyone has a chance of threading the needle and finding a way to succeed, it will be Biden.

    I just fucking despise Lucy and her bullshit games.

  65. 65.

    rikyrah

    I am enraged and obsessed with this.
    This is people’s lives and those phucking demons need to go to jail over this ???

    The Biden administration has now confirmed that20 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are "missing."Several weeks ago I said there was something fishy about the federal vaccine supply being less than expected.And I suggested we look to Jared for answers.I repeat this.— Mar-a-Hell-No!! (@Mar_a_Hell_No) February 1, 2021

  69. 69.

    rikyrah

    Aside from Mike Pence, Republicans knew they were not the intended target of the January 6th insurrection. This is precisely why they want the rest of us to pretend this never happened.— And The Tweet Goes On (@lacadri34) February 2, 2021

  71. 71.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @debbie: I looked into the tax claim route when I was certain nothing was going to arrive, but my stimulus, which the IRS said was issued January 6, arrived last Thursday. Check was dated January 6 but no indication of when it was mailed. So maybe a few more are trickling down.

  73. 73.

    rikyrah

    Did the FrontPagers tackle this article?

    “The entourage went upstairs to the Yellow Oval Room, Trump's living room. Staff set pigs in a blanket and little meatballs on toothpicks on the coffee table. It didn't take long for the yelling to start up again.” — @jonathanvswan in @axios— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) February 2, 2021

  74. 74.

    satby

    @debbie: when we talked about the Gamestop mishegas hurting people, it’s because market volatility hurts people’s saving instruments; and banks, c.u.s, mutual funds, etc. will reset their fees and returns accordingly. My IRA is in conservative stocks and bonds, the kind that don’t normally swing wildly, and it dropped almost $300 that one day, though it recovered some of it yesterday. People in less conservative investments probably got hurt worse.

  76. 76.

    Hoodie

    I recall McConnell saying that he appreciated dealing with Biden (when he was VP) rather than Obama because Obama would start by “lecturing” him about all the reasons he should support Obama’s legislation, while Biden would first ask him what he needed.   Setting aside the obvious other reasons McConnell did not like dealing with Obama, the image is that Biden is a guy who understands leverage.

    However, those past situations were ones in which McConnell had considerable leverage.  The situation with President Biden is that, at least right now, Biden has most of the leverage.  The Dems hold all three branches of government, albeit by small margins.  However, the country is in crisis and you have folks like the Chamber of Commerce, Jim Justice and Republican mayors clamoring for a big package, fuck the deficit.   Biden is 78 years old and more worried about being able to wake up the next morning to play with his dogs than he is about personal political fortunes.  In other words, he’s well out of fucks to give and it’s tough to hardball negotiate with a guy like that.  He’s probably willing to tweak things like the income caps for the $1400 checks, but I suspect the main purpose of that meeting was to get across to the GOP senators that they’re welcome to come along for the ride, but the offer is “nothing” if they don’t get with the program.

  78. 78.

    satby

    @rikyrah: No one is safe in a mob. No one. Not cops, obviously, not other rioters, not people they’re attacking. They can pretend they knew they were safe now, but they knew perfectly well they weren’t, their staffers weren’t, no one in that building was.

  80. 80.

    debbie

    @satby:

    Understood. I’m watching the rates for a competing credit union to see if they follow the same path. Mine is slow to change their rates, which leads me to think they won’t be raising any time soon. Sigh. Technically, I’m not losing, I guess.

  84. 84.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly:  “Many people are saying…”
    “Who?”

    If she continues calling this out every time they try it, they’ll probably stop – eventually. It’s the reporter’s favorite construction when they want to ask a question but want to make it seem like it’s “others” who are wondering. It’s weasely, and they should stop it.

  86. 86.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Down here in the hills and hollers I’m beginning to think we aren’t going to have a winter at all.

    Well, my weather app says we’re having a high of 18 here next Sunday. We’ve had snow three times, but all three were only a couple of inches. I’m starting to think our days of having 12″ snowfalls at least once every couple of years are over. I don’t know the last time we had snow like that – the last year I can remember it happening is 2011. My birthday is at the end of February, and at least every few years it would snow a lot around my birthday.

  91. 91.

    Ken

    @NotMax: Oh, the Asylum.  All is explained.  Pity, in a way, I thought for a moment Hollywood was taking on the surprisingly large Holmes – Lovecraft crossover genre. Or at least mixing Holmes with Professor Challenger.

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: Expected high of 17 here on Sunday sandwiched between single digit lows on both nights, but one wkend does not a winter make. I think our ttl snowfall so far this year might add up to 4″.

  94. 94.

    ciotogist

    The dumbass Internet commenters of Illinois are big into the notion that it was decades of mismanagement that is causing our current problems and the state shouldn’t be bailed out.  While we have been mismanaged for decades, if you tell them that COVID19 is straining the economy and governance of the state in unique ways, they won’t hear you.  Must be a big talking point in the right wing swamps.  And it’s all to get states to default on their pension obligations.

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: I really, really like that Psaki said before it started that they were NOT meeting to negotiate but to hear what they had to say.  It set the tone that Biden was serious about this bill, and it isn’t just some starting numbers to negotiate away to check bipartisan chits.  It’s what he thinks is required, and the numbers will only be changed if there’s an objectively good reason for it.

    Not, “we think it’s too big.”

    Get it done, Joe.  Make them vote on it.  Make them say NO if they dare…

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  96. 96.

    Soprano2

    I heard Jared Bernstein on “Morning Edition” this morning talking about the COVID relief bill, and I think he did it in exactly the right way. He told the interviewer, who asked “Won’t you end up meeting in the middle, with Democrats offering 1.9 trillion and Republicans offering 600 billion, so you’ll end up around 1 trillion or so?” that this is the wrong way to think about it. We have to address certain problems, he said; how much do you need to address those problems? That’s where you need to end up; there isn’t some arbitrary number that would be “ok”. He’s not playing the Republican’s game, either.

  97. 97.

    Soprano2

    @ciotogist: The dumbass Internet commenters of Illinois are big into the notion that it was decades of mismanagement that is causing our current problems and the state shouldn’t be bailed out.  While we have been mismanaged for decades, if you tell them that COVID19 is straining the economy and governance of the state in unique ways, they won’t hear you.  Must be a big talking point in the right wing swamps.  And it’s all to get states to default on their pension obligations.

    They really have a thing about trying to bankrupt the more liberal states, I guess in the belief that it will force them to be more conservative. They don’t seem to know at all that most conservative states need help too, as do most cities of any size.

  98. 98.

    Ken

    @OzarkHillbilly: Imagine if last week’s rain had come as snow, you’d still be digging out.  I hope it’s drained off, and you don’t end up with road ice everywhere.  Which reminds me, there’s an XKCD about winter in Missouri…

  100. 100.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Baud:  In some respects In all respects**, they hate the race traitors more than non-white people.

    You just figure this out??? Gesummaria, I though youse guise wuz spozeta be smaht!

    ** FTFY. You’re quite welcome!

  101. 101.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: Heh, too true. I guess he’s got a STL connection.​
    ETA double heh, clicking on the too small to read text at the bottom of the page got me this: xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS
    at a screen resolution of 1024×1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device
    from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.

  102. 102.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: Maybe the cold will knock down the tick population some. Virginia had mild winter last year, then a wet spring, and by May the darn ticks were everywhere.

  103. 103.

    Immanentize

    I’ve been working this morning — thankfully from home.  Our 5-6 inches of snow has turned into sleet and freezing rain and everything is just slushy crap now which will freeze tonight.

    Carry on!

  104. 104.

    mali muso

    GAHHHHH! My anti-vaxxer mom who never met a medical conspiracy theory that she didn’t fall for just sent me some random “news” story which consisted of a “medical professor” in Australia stating confidently that in his opinion there was a “billion in one” chance that hydroxychloroquine was not effective in treating COVID. Ok mom, sure. After my dad just got diagnosed with the ‘rona (seems to be fine, fingers crossed), she is really going to keep this up? I sent her some links to peer-reviewed research studies published in reputable journals, but since they use science and statistics and not ooga-booga short sentences, I’m sure that’s a lost cause.
    banging my head against the wall to infinity…

  105. 105.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Geminid:  That ain’t near cold enough for anywhere near long enough. Used to be we would have week long spells of at or below zero at least once every winter. Not anymore.

    Last year’s winter was about the same as this year and the ticks were pretty bad. I expect this year to be even worse for them.

  106. 106.

    Subsole

    @rikyrah: 

    Well, the good folks of Maine did reelect her.

    Granted, we sent Cornyn back to Austin too, so maybe I should avoid throwing my glass house at that particular stone…

  107. 107.

    Ken

    @mali muso: Rather than sending legitimate science reporting, can you just fake a twitter-style story that gives correct information?  “Coronavirus Secrets Revealed – Government Doesn’t Want You To Know This – Wearing a mask dramatically cuts your chances of getting the disease!”  Include a cat GIF.

  108. 108.

    mrmoshpotato

    “We all would like to work together but the feeling is, we invested $900 billion a month ago and we’re being asked to double that right now. Nobody on this side has the appetite for that right now.”

    Appetite, eh? Why do you make it so easy to yell “Eat me!”?

    Also, “Wah wah wah! We already spent $900 billion. What more does the virus want?”

  111. 111.

    mali muso

    @Ken: Yeah, but FaceBook is her propaganda highway of choice. The idea has merit though…more likely to read it if it’s framed as a conspiracy or some kind of “sekrit truth that THEY don’t want you to know”.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  Good thing they don’t have any fish!  sigh

  112. 112.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: People in central Virginia are scared to death of tick borne disease. Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and now erlichiosis?(sp?). I know three people who can’t eat red meat on account of the Rocky Mountain disease.

  114. 114.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax:

    Culminates with Sherlock Holmes piloting a hot air balloon-slash-onithopter in the sky over London, battling a giant mechanical fire-breathing pterodactyl.

    As detectives always do! It’s a requirement for graduation!

  120. 120.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid: our family does a lot of hiking in the central VA/SNP area and we try to be REALLY good about doing “tick check” as soon as we get back home.

  122. 122.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Subsole: The wrong kinds of bugs tho. There has been a crash in insect numbers in the past decade or so. Theory is it is due to pesticides and herbicides.

  123. 123.

    Ken

    @Soprano2:“Won’t you end up meeting in the middle, with Democrats offering 1.9 trillion and Republicans offering 600 billion, so you’ll end up around 1 trillion or so?”

    Can we find 10 Democratic Senators willing to stage a visit to the White House where they ask for 3.2 trillion?  Then when we average the Democratic, Republican, and White House offers, we can compromise on 1.9 trillion?

  124. 124.

    Geminid

    @Subsole:  I caretake a property in Greene County, Virginia, that provides an example of climate change. My landlord planted much of it with apple trees in the 1970s. By the end of the 90s, the orchard had more or less failed because of warm winters. The trees would blossom early, and then spring frosts would wipe out the crop. But, after 40 years, my landlord has “circled back,” and has ordered some more climate-suitable trees  for spring planting.

  126. 126.

    Yutsano

    @debbie: ​
    Not true. If you haven’t received your rebate check or card after 4 weeks after January 6th you can contact the IRS to have it be traced and re-sent.

  127. 127.

    debbie

    @Yutsano:

    Actually, I got the information from irs.gov. I won’t be paying taxes until the deadline, so if it shows up, it shows up. If not, deduct!

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