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

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

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Snowing Hard

by Anne Laurie|  February 2, 20216:40 am| 127 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, President Biden

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DC’s own Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are enjoying our first significant snowfall in two years. ????pic.twitter.com/QShUz6h7W0

— Sanho Tree (@SanhoTree) January 31, 2021


Consistent w everything the White House & Congressional Dem leadership have been saying all along https://t.co/9SpoBo0cNE

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) February 2, 2021

The Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan faces GOP opposition — but the president isn’t backing down.

Here’s what determines how much economic aid Americans will receive in the coming months: pic.twitter.com/GsN1tfR5uR

— Business Insider (@businessinsider) February 1, 2021

Senior WH official described the tone of the meeting between Biden and Republicans as "very cordial" and pointed out that it lasted almost two hours.

— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) February 2, 2021

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…

Cordial, cordial, sure but here's the last line from the White House statement on Biden/some-GOP covid talks: "He reiterated, however, that he will not slow down work on this urgent crisis response, and will not settle for a package that fails to meet the moment."

— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) February 2, 2021

"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

Predictable bad faith argument from the Death Cultists:

“This is a check the box thing,” one Senate Republican aide told The Daily Beast. “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.” https://t.co/chawhQrfaS

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) February 2, 2021

yes, the state and local governments infamous for their bad behavior during deadly pandemics

what https://t.co/jqlNEwXtb7

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) February 2, 2021


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:

The two ways a pandemic relief bill could pass, explainedhttps://t.co/WWid2QaiRG

— Peter Stevenson (@PeterStevenson) February 1, 2021

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Reader Interactions

127Comments

  1. 1.

    Danielx

    February 2, 2021 at 6:44 am

    Biden: I heard you out. Go pound sand.

  2. 2.

    Anne Laurie

    February 2, 2021 at 6:48 am

    @Danielx: The Biden touch:  Go pound sand, God love ya, folks!

  3. 3.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 6:50 am

    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.

  4. 4.

    Danielx

    February 2, 2021 at 6:52 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    He is SO good at this.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 2, 2021 at 6:53 am

    These graphs are rather illustrative of the 2 parties respective priorities.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 6:53 am

    @Anne Laurie: Heh. Perfect.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 2, 2021 at 6:55 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:00 am

    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.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    February 2, 2021 at 7:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly

    The circle is unbroken.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 7:05 am

    LOL. MJ wants Joe to be bipartisan.

  11. 11.

    raven

    February 2, 2021 at 7:05 am

    “I told them they could kiss my ear”!

  12. 12.

    raven

    February 2, 2021 at 7:06 am

    @Baud: No, he wants to give it a shot without giving in.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 7:08 am

    @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.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 7:10 am

    @Baud:

    The actual needs of the people have no place in the political discussion.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 2, 2021 at 7:10 am

    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?

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    February 2, 2021 at 7:10 am

    Got popcorn?

    Thursday on TCM, both sides of the British SF coin. Each made on, to be charitable, a limited budget. All times Eastern.

    6:00 a.m. – Battle Beneath the Earth. Cheesier than Kraft.
    9:45 a.m. – Five Million Years to Earth. Meatier offering to chew upon.

  17. 17.

    Spanky

    February 2, 2021 at 7:14 am

    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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:17 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:17 am

    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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:17 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:19 am

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

  22. 22.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 7:20 am

    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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:20 am

    @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.

  24. 24.

    clay

    February 2, 2021 at 7:21 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Haha! Psaki ain’t here for your foolishness!

  25. 25.

    raven

    February 2, 2021 at 7:22 am

    @Amir Khalid:  So you are watching and heard what was said in a 10 minute discussion?

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    February 2, 2021 at 7:22 am

    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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:22 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:23 am

    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.

  29. 29.

    Princess

    February 2, 2021 at 7:23 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: You are correct. The graph is wrong.

  30. 30.

    Amir Khalid

    February 2, 2021 at 7:23 am

    @NotMax: ​
     No Battlefield Earth?

  31. 31.

    danielx

    February 2, 2021 at 7:24 am

    @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.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 2, 2021 at 7:25 am

    Brave brave Sir Robin:

    “Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr’s airplane is not living in reality,”

    -Mitch McConnell

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 2, 2021 at 7:28 am

    @debbie: We just got ours this past Saturday. The mail is still fucked up.

    @Princess: I thought so. Thanx.

  34. 34.

    Jeffro

    February 2, 2021 at 7:28 am

    @Baud:  Also, “requirement” – ? ?

  35. 35.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 2, 2021 at 7:30 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:31 am

    @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?”

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    February 2, 2021 at 7:31 am

    @Amir Khalid

    That requires morphine, not popcorn.

    ;)

  38. 38.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 2, 2021 at 7:32 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    A truly stupid movie based on a book with a promising theme but plagued by terrible authorship.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 7:32 am

    @Jeffro:

    In some respects, they hate the race traitors more than non-white people.  See also Bill and Hillary Clinton.

  40. 40.

    japa21

    February 2, 2021 at 7:33 am

    @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.

    February 2, 2021 at 7:33 am

    @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.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    February 2, 2021 at 7:35 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    As fine a film as Scientology is a dogma.

    ;)

  43. 43.

    JPL

    February 2, 2021 at 7:35 am

    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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:36 am

    @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.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 7:36 am

    @JPL: ? on crossing over to the fully vaccinated side.

  46. 46.

    MagdaInBlack

    February 2, 2021 at 7:38 am

    RE: Snowing hard: My friend just sent me a pic from her front porch in Lowell, MA. Ugh.

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 7:40 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  48. 48.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 7:40 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  49. 49.

    debbie

    February 2, 2021 at 7:41 am

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

  50. 50.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 7:42 am

    46 to the Gang of 10

     

    https://youtu.be/wPmTp9up26w

  51. 51.

    John S.

    February 2, 2021 at 7:42 am

    @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.

  52. 52.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 7:43 am

    @JPL:

    Yesss????

  53. 53.

    raven

    February 2, 2021 at 7:44 am

    @John S.: Whining about it will change it for sure. Throw in bitching about MJ and the NYT and, bingo, we got a winner!

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 7:44 am

    @danielx:

    Fuck You and the horse you rode in on

     

    ????????

     

    Absolutely

  55. 55.

    japa21

    February 2, 2021 at 7:45 am

    @John S.: Anybody who equates Biden to Charlie Brown isn’t worth listening to.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 7:45 am

    @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.

  57. 57.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 7:45 am

    @debbie:

    I heard it last week ??

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 7:47 am

    @Spanky:

    I already know that we are going to have a long winter.

    Don’t need that overgrown rat to tell me anything ??

  59. 59.

    John S.

    February 2, 2021 at 7:48 am

    @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.

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    February 2, 2021 at 7:49 am

    @rikyrah: LOL! Best response to the annual groundhog prediction I ever heard. :)

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 2, 2021 at 7:51 am

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

  62. 62.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 7:52 am

    ?????

    "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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:52 am

    @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.

    February 2, 2021 at 7:53 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 7:54 am

    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

  66. 66.

    satby

    February 2, 2021 at 7:54 am

    @japa21: Thanks, I’ll pass that on.

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    February 2, 2021 at 7:55 am

    @NotMax

    onithopter = ornithopter

  68. 68.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 7:56 am

    @rikyrah:

    10 million fewer vaccinated people.

  69. 69.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 7:56 am

    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

  70. 70.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 2, 2021 at 7:56 am

    @NotMax:

    Wait, what?

  71. 71.

    Sure Lurkalot

    February 2, 2021 at 7:57 am

    @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.

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 7:58 am

    ???

    Maine is seeking $100 million in federal aid to avoid a budget shortfall, like basically every other state, and @SenatorCollins came to @POTUS and said no state and local aid, please.?— Melanie Jean (@volunteermom113) February 1, 2021

  73. 73.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 7:59 am

    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

    February 2, 2021 at 8:02 am

    @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.

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    February 2, 2021 at 8:03 am

    @NotMax: Holmes to Watson: “This looks like a three syringe problem.”

  76. 76.

    Hoodie

    February 2, 2021 at 8:03 am

    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.

  77. 77.

    debbie

    February 2, 2021 at 8:04 am

    @rikyrah:

    In fact, many of them had been assured of their safety by Trump and the planners. For this alone, they should be expelled.

  78. 78.

    satby

    February 2, 2021 at 8:06 am

    @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.

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    February 2, 2021 at 8:08 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Proof. It’s on Prime.

    :)

  80. 80.

    debbie

    February 2, 2021 at 8:09 am

    @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.

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    February 2, 2021 at 8:15 am

    @Baud: truth

  82. 82.

    Ken

    February 2, 2021 at 8:23 am

    @NotMax: Snubbing Destroy all Monsters?

  83. 83.

    Geminid

    February 2, 2021 at 8:27 am

    @rikyrah: That is a wild article, worth reading.

  84. 84.

    Soprano2

    February 2, 2021 at 8:29 am

    @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.

  85. 85.

    O. Felix Culpa

    February 2, 2021 at 8:32 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yes indeedy, they are illustrative. The visuals demonstrate graphically a stark difference in priorities.

  86. 86.

    Soprano2

    February 2, 2021 at 8:35 am

    @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.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 8:36 am

    @satby:

    No one is safe in a mob.

    It’s a little like a Balloon Juice comment thread.

  88. 88.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 2, 2021 at 8:37 am

    @rikyrah: That was an amazing article.

    Here’s one I also found interesting on how clearly the economy does better under Democrats and possible reasons why. NYT, sorry.

  89. 89.

    satby

    February 2, 2021 at 8:38 am

    @Baud: exactly.

  90. 90.

    JPL

    February 2, 2021 at 8:42 am

    Did DeBlasio manage to kill another groundhog today?

  91. 91.

    Ken

    February 2, 2021 at 8:43 am

    @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.

  92. 92.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 8:48 am

    @satby:

    From Mayor Pete to Secretary Buttigieg: Appearances hint at expansive role for next transportation chief

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 2, 2021 at 8:49 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 8:52 am

    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

    February 2, 2021 at 8:54 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 8:55 am

    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

    February 2, 2021 at 8:57 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 8:58 am

    @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…

  99. 99.

    prostratedragon

    February 2, 2021 at 9:02 am

    @rikyrah:  Pigs in a blanket never fail to get me feeling all militant.

    Here’s an overview of the rather long article, from rawstory.

  100. 100.

    Uncle Cosmo

    February 2, 2021 at 9:03 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 9:05 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 9:06 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 9:09 am

    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

    February 2, 2021 at 9:12 am

    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

    February 2, 2021 at 9:12 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 9:13 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 9:18 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 9:20 am

    “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?”

  109. 109.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 2, 2021 at 9:23 am

    @mali muso: Just make sure she keeps away from fish tank cleaner.

    (I think I’ve said that to our astonishment Mr DAW knew that guy who drank it and died in Arizona)

  110. 110.

    Fair Economist

    February 2, 2021 at 9:25 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Winter is not coming to Socal either. Not much rain and I’m not sure it ever got below 40 here.

  111. 111.

    mali muso

    February 2, 2021 at 9:27 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 9:32 am

    @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.

  113. 113.

    satby

    February 2, 2021 at 9:33 am

    @Baud: Thanks! I think he’s going to do great.

  114. 114.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 2, 2021 at 9:35 am

    @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!

  115. 115.

    Fair Economist

    February 2, 2021 at 9:37 am

    @Geminid: Did you know there’s a vaccine for Lyme disease but that antivaxxer lawsuit threats chased it off the market?

  116. 116.

    Subsole

    February 2, 2021 at 9:40 am

     

     

    @OzarkHillbilly: Welcome to one of  the wonderful knock-on effects of climate change. More bugs, and in more places.

  117. 117.

    sab

    February 2, 2021 at 9:40 am

    @Betty Cracker: In Ohio we have a woodchuck, Buckeye Chuck.

    What does Florida’s armadillo predict?

  118. 118.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 2, 2021 at 9:41 am

    @Fair Economist: Sorry.  What kind of lawsuit does one file against a vaccine, a medicine?

  119. 119.

    Geminid

    February 2, 2021 at 9:43 am

    @Fair Economist: I did not know this. That’s not good. Lyme disease can really mess people up, even after treatment with antibiotics.

  120. 120.

    Jeffro

    February 2, 2021 at 9:49 am

    @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.

  121. 121.

    sab

    February 2, 2021 at 9:58 am

    @Betty Cracker: Louisiana has nutrias: Pierre C. Shadeaux and T-Boy.

  122. 122.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 2, 2021 at 10:03 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 10:10 am

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 10:12 am

    @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.

  125. 125.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 2, 2021 at 10:40 am

    @Geminid: Ehrlichiosis. I’ve had it. It’s not fun.

  126. 126.

    Yutsano

    February 2, 2021 at 1:22 pm

    @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

    February 2, 2021 at 5:25 pm

    @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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