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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Bark louder, little dog.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Respect for *My* President

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Respect for *My* President

by Anne Laurie|  May 15, 20216:58 am| 164 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

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Ready…

Pres Biden just revoked Trump's presidential action to build the "National Garden of American Heroes," among other things pic.twitter.com/cKAzHeOJ0j

— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) May 14, 2021



Set…

President Biden has signed a proclamation revoking Trump's October 2019 proclamation on the "Suspension of Entry of Immigrants Who Will Financially Burden the United States Healthcare System, in Order To Protect the Availability of Healthcare Benefits for Americans," the WH says.

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) May 14, 2021

Go!

Neera Tanden is back, in a new WH job that doesn't require Senate confirmation
https://t.co/QybAah88HO

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) May 14, 2021


“But her emails mean tweets!”

… A longtime health policy expert, Tanden will begin planning for potential policy changes that could result from the forthcoming US Supreme Court decision on Republican legal efforts to strike down the Affordable Care Act. She worked in former President Barack Obama’s administration as the act was designed and implemented.

Among other duties, the official said, Tanden will also launch a review of the US Digital Service. The service is charged with solving the federal government’s information technology and online security issues, recruiting technologists for tours of service akin to the Peace Corps.

The US Digital Service, which is housed within the Executive Office of the President, was launched after the crash of the Healthcare.gov website in 2013. Since the start of the pandemic, it has worked on a number of coronavirus-related projects for agencies across the federal government…

Tanden was a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton who became president of the liberal Center for American Progress after leaving the Obama administration.

Her new role does not require Senate confirmation.

Excellent choice. https://t.co/FsgG0Spjbl

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) May 14, 2021

Per the Washington Post:

… Tanden will be responsible, among other things, for preparing contingency plans for potential Supreme Court rulings that may result from Republican legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act. Tanden worked as a senior adviser in the Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration and helped draft parts of the former president’s signature health care law.

The U.S. Digital Service is responsible for making the government accessible to Americans online.

Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, is particularly close to Tanden and played a significant role in her initial selection for the Cabinet. He was also instrumental in her landing her new job at the White House…

Same title as Valerie Jarrett and Karl Rove, for context. https://t.co/Z7Gz0AfBHr

— Reinstated Doorknob Licker (@agraybee) May 14, 2021

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Next Post: Like Groundhog Day, But Worse »

Reader Interactions

164Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:03 am

    Pres Biden just revoked Trump’s presidential action to build the “National Garden of American Heroes

    So where can I put the statue of myself I commissioned?

  2. 2.

    Mary G

    May 15, 2021 at 7:05 am

    Somebody said on Twitter that Senate communications with Biden will have to go through her. Manchin can go to the back of the line.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:09 am

    @Mary G:

    I’m starting to think that was Twitter BS.  There’s been a lot of that going on on our side lately.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:14 am

    The U.S. Digital Service is responsible for making the government accessible to Americans online.

    Heh. Mean tweet lady is in charge of the Internet now.

  5. 5.

    RandomMonster

    May 15, 2021 at 7:16 am

    Biden chose an advisor for their competency, rather than for being one of his kids. It’s like he does everything differently.

  6. 6.

    MomSense

    May 15, 2021 at 7:17 am

    Neera is awesome and I’m glad Biden will have her on his team.  So much of the animosity toward her is over the stupid ?obsession with Medicare 4 All even though their candidate is now on the same page because of the POLITICAL REALITIES.

    Speaking of political realities, anyone else noticing that Biden’s supposed lessons learned about Republicans have not helped pass infrastructure or voting rights?  Just like I tried to explain about Obama’s experience, most of the negotiating and compromising was with the conservative Democratic Senators.  He just gave them cover by talking about working with Republicans. I know it doesn’t fit the narrative, but I’m an OG vote counter.

  7. 7.

    MomSense

    May 15, 2021 at 7:18 am

    @Baud:

    As it should be.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:21 am

    @MomSense:

    It’s looking like they’ll break up infrastructure into separate bills.  But who knows?

  9. 9.

    Cameron

    May 15, 2021 at 7:21 am

    “The National Garden of American Heroes?” Let me guess – 20, maybe 30 statues and busts of Donald J. Trump….

  10. 10.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:21 am

    @MomSense:

    The “narrative” is always anti-Dem.  Always.

  11. 11.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 7:23 am

    @Baud:

    So where can I put the statue of myself I commissioned?

    Do you really want to ask us where to stick put it?

  12. 12.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:24 am

    @Cameron:

    Biden can put them in the National Prison for American Losers, along with their inspiration. ?

  13. 13.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 7:27 am

    @RandomMonster:

    Biden chose an advisor for their competency, rather than for being one of his kids.

    Does Biden have a son-in-law he can put in charge of something wicked important? Because that was TFG’s genius appointment. I mean, look at the great job Jared did on everything.

  14. 14.

    MomSense

    May 15, 2021 at 7:29 am

    @Baud:

    No, the narrative in this case was that Biden, who was at the center of the Obama administration’s legislative efforts, supposedly learned from Obama’s mistakes and decided to scrap working with Republicans in order to pass his legislative agenda.  The current proposals aren’t just splitting up thre bills into smaller pieces, they also will likely cut quite a few programs and investments.

  15. 15.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 15, 2021 at 7:29 am

    @Cameron: Plus a couple of Confederate leaders.

    On another topic, my over-55 building announced yesterday that per CDC guidelines vaccinated residents no longer need to wear masks in the public area, including the restaurants, bars, and theater. All staff still has to wear them though. I don’t know what the rationale for the difference is.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:31 am

    Another Trump program disaster.

    The Bureau of Land Management, which is in charge of caring for the nation’s wild horses, created the $1,000-a-head Adoption Incentive Program in 2019 because it wanted to move a huge surplus of mustangs and burros out of government corrals and find them “good homes.” Thousands of first-time adopters signed up, and the bureau hailed the program as a success.

    But records show that instead of going to good homes, truckloads of horses were dumped at slaughter auctions as soon as their adopters got the federal money. A program intended to protect wild horses was instead subsidizing their path to destruction.

  17. 17.

    MomSense

    May 15, 2021 at 7:32 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    You probably have some unvaccinated staff.  We have had some deaths in Maine nursing homes of fully vaccinated residents.  Unvaccinated staff brought in variants that caused illness.  In healthier vaccinated people the illness probably wouldn’t have been a problem, but these victims were elderly people with co-morbidities.

  18. 18.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:33 am

    @MomSense:

    I think they will pass what they can pass with bipartisan support and pass some other things through reconciliation.  The whole thing will be less than what was originally proposed, but all bills are like that.

  19. 19.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 15, 2021 at 7:35 am

    @MomSense:

    The current proposals aren’t just splitting up thre bills into smaller pieces, they also will likely cut quite a few programs and investments.

    Well that doesn’t sound good

  20. 20.

    MomSense

    May 15, 2021 at 7:35 am

    @Baud:

    We’ll see what happens.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 7:36 am

    @Baud:

    It’s looking like they’ll break up infrastructure into separate bills.

    Maybe it’s just me, but I see that as being a big win for the Partei of Traitors. They’ll vote their “roads and bridges,” and nothing else, which will kinda screw over much of the good things President Biden wants to get implemented.

    I really wish Cal Cunningham had kept his dick in his pants, and that Mainers* weren’t such morons. Woulda made life a lot easier for Biden and America.

    * As the son/grandson/great-grandson/great-great-grandson of Mainers, their inability to see past Collins’s “moderate” bullshit frustrates the crap out of me.

    ETA: And, yes, I realize I’m (perhaps unjustifiably, and certainly prematurely) doing the Chicken-Little thing.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    May 15, 2021 at 7:37 am

    I hope Biden cancels Space Force next just to see if the shitgibbon drops dead of rage. Also, I hope Tanden’s stint as a senior advisor in the White House makes every single one of her opponents regret not stashing her at OMB.

  23. 23.

    Ohio Mom

    May 15, 2021 at 7:37 am

    Of course it’s critically important to have a plan in case the Supreme Court strikes down even more of the ACA.

    It just makes me despair that we need to do this —- so much energy, time, effort and expertise has to be wasted on defense, instead of moving us forward.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:39 am

    @MomSense:

    Still a good chance the GOP can’t come up with a pay-for and we’ll have to go it alone.

     

    @SFAW:

    Depends. If there are multiple bills, you have to wait to see what happens down the line.

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 7:39 am

    @Baud:

    Who could have guessed?

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    May 15, 2021 at 7:40 am

    @SFAW: Maybe the strategy is to pass the roads and bridges part of the infrastructure bill with Republican support (I’ll believe it when I see it) and then pass the other parts of the program that are acceptable to Manchin, Sinema, et al., through reconciliation.

  27. 27.

    MomSense

    May 15, 2021 at 7:41 am

    @Baud:

    Manchin and Sinema are no votes for even using reconciliation.  Manchin is a no on most of the voting rights provisions.  I hope Biden has something up his sleeve for dealing with him.

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    May 15, 2021 at 7:42 am

    Good Morning, Everyone???

  29. 29.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:42 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning.

  30. 30.

    RandomMonster

    May 15, 2021 at 7:43 am

    @SFAW: True! We wouldn’t have our current peace in the Middle East without Jared.

  31. 31.

    Pete Mack

    May 15, 2021 at 7:44 am

    I keep seeing this as “Beer Garden of American Heroes.”

  32. 32.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 7:44 am

    @Baud:

    Depends. If there are multiple bills, you have to wait to see what happens down the line.

    Understood. As I said in my ETA, I may be premature in my worries. But unless Manchin has been trying to sucker the Rethugs into overplaying their hand(s) — which seems unlikely, being a “strong institutionalist” and all that — getting a relative pittance enacted seems not unlikely. [Yes, I’m aware that even some Dems have expressed reservations about the American Jobs Act (or whatever it’s called).]

  33. 33.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:45 am

    @SFAW:

    Manchin has said he wants a big infrastructure bill.  But I don’t know. I can’t figure him out.

  34. 34.

    rikyrah

    May 15, 2021 at 7:46 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    But, they don’t believe in roads and bridges

    If they did , they would have done it when they controlled everything. They didn’t do shyt?

  35. 35.

    Mary G

    May 15, 2021 at 7:46 am

    ?

    The 1st time without a red state in the US pandemic@CovidActNow pic.twitter.com/Zcl800eJdG— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) May 14, 2021

  36. 36.

    Other MJS

    May 15, 2021 at 7:47 am

    Why does Biden hate American heroes?

  37. 37.

    sab

    May 15, 2021 at 7:47 am

    DeWine announced that Ohio will reject the Federal extra unemployment $300 starting sometime in June.

  38. 38.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 7:48 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Keeping my fingers crossed for more than just the bare-bones. And I expect that the number of Rethugs (Senate) supporters will max out at two.

     

    @MomSense:

    Manchin is a no on most of the voting rights provisions.

    Unless he’s planning to switch parties after 2022, he probably needs to come to understand that not supporting* S1 will fuck over his chances of maintaining any semblance of power after then.

    *ETA: Change “supporting” to “making sure it becomes law.”

  39. 39.

    MomSense

    May 15, 2021 at 7:49 am

    @sab:

    Maybe the unemployed will win the lottery.

    ugh

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    May 15, 2021 at 7:50 am

    Mentioned it here at the time Dolt 45 issued the EO, will say it once again as a reminder – there already is )for over a century) a Hall of Fame for Great Americans.

  41. 41.

    rikyrah

    May 15, 2021 at 7:51 am

     

    More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) tweeted at 11:42 AM on Fri, May 14, 2021:
    NEW: Republicans have found a tax increase they love – a tax on working people.

    Instead of taxing the ultra-rich, Republicans want to pay for infrastructure with a gas tax, user fees, and toll roads. These are taxes that disproportionately hit the poor and middle class. https://t.co/RWO2lX5IQp
    (https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1393245288970739715?s=02)

  42. 42.

    Betty Cracker

    May 15, 2021 at 7:51 am

    @sab: So far, SC, MS and now OH have done this. Maybe I’m missing some other states, but those are the ones I’ve heard about. I’m wondering how much longer DeSantis can hold out in this race to the bottom.

    Relatedly, you can tell the overlords are really getting nervous about the serfs’ refusal to flock back to low-pay, high-risk jobs. I don’t want to jinx it, but those supplemental benefits could end up being a catalyst for a long overdue wage reset.

  43. 43.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:51 am

    @NotMax:

    That’s not federal though.

  44. 44.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:52 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Child tax credit coming next month. States can’t reject that.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:54 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    God, I hope the serfs realize that in November 2022.

  46. 46.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 7:55 am

    @Baud:

    That’s not federal though.

    I think making it so should be part of your 20XX platform.

  47. 47.

    Cameron

    May 15, 2021 at 7:55 am

    @Baud: Biggest constraints are the thin House majority and practically non-existent Senate majority.  I would think it’s probably hard as hell to get anything passed, especially considering that the Republicans’ whole position is obstruction.

  48. 48.

    Betty Cracker

    May 15, 2021 at 7:57 am

    @Baud: My little deductible has flown the nest, darn it!

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    May 15, 2021 at 7:58 am

    Longish read watch for a weekend, tracking time ’til the echo of the last tock has faded. Really elegant CGI throughout.

    Most memorable line? “Nothing happens and it keeps not happening … forever.”

    @Pete Mack

    I’ll drink to that!

    :)

  50. 50.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 7:59 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    You can still adopt!

  51. 51.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 7:59 am

    @Baud:

    God, I hope the serfs realize that in November 2022.

    Me too. And I hope that I wake up 20-30 years younger tomorrow. Yours has a better likelihood of success, but given their past disinclination to translate Dem-produced benefits and Rethug-produced pain into significant voting shifts, I am less than sanguine about the possibility.

  52. 52.

    Cameron

    May 15, 2021 at 8:00 am

    @Pete Mack: That sounds perfect for the Riverwalk here in Bradenton!

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 8:02 am

    @Cameron:

    That sounds perfect for the Riverwalk here in Bradenton!

    It sounds perfect for pretty much anywhere.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 8:03 am

    @SFAW:

    Yeah, I can’t think of a single time we benefited from passing a major new program to help regular people.

  55. 55.

    Honus

    May 15, 2021 at 8:06 am

    Someone asked in the thread last night (concerning chimney sweeps) if Dick van Dyke was dead.  No, he’s not, he’s being honored at the Kennedy Center with Joan Baez, and he’s doing good:

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.upworthy.com/amp/95-year-old-mary-poppins-star-dick-van-dyke-caught-handing-out-cash-to-struggling-job-seekers-2651300015

  56. 56.

    debbie

    May 15, 2021 at 8:07 am

    @Cameron:

    No, it would have been every fucking monster the RWNJs have ever venerated.

  57. 57.

    Benw

    May 15, 2021 at 8:07 am

    No Slash, no hero garden. That’s just science

  58. 58.

    zhena gogolia

    May 15, 2021 at 8:08 am

    @MomSense: Right.

  59. 59.

    Geminid

    May 15, 2021 at 8:09 am

    @MomSense: So if Manchin is a no on most of the S.1 voting rights provisions, which ones is a he a yes on?

  60. 60.

    debbie

    May 15, 2021 at 8:10 am

    @MomSense:

    We have had some deaths in Maine nursing homes of fully vaccinated residents. Unvaccinated staff brought in variants that caused illness.

    This is exactly why I will not stop masking. I can’t imagine anyone with any sense who wouldn’t do the same.

  61. 61.

    randy khan

    May 15, 2021 at 8:10 am

    That list of actions repealed by Biden includes the one intended to eliminate moderation on social media platforms, one of Trump’s most noxious executive orders.

  62. 62.

    rikyrah

    May 15, 2021 at 8:11 am

    @Baud:

    No, they cannot??

  63. 63.

    Geminid

    May 15, 2021 at 8:12 am

    @Pete Mack: trump should put up a Garden of American Zeros, at Mar-a-Loco.

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    May 15, 2021 at 8:15 am

    @Baud: Republicans always manage to portray such programs as giveaways or “special rights” to some otherized population, which sets the aggrieved babies to wailing. Maybe that’ll be harder to do with a child tax credit that nearly every parent in America gets, an unemployment supplement available to anyone who lost a job during the pandemic, etc. Also, maybe not! But I live in hope.

    Have you read anything about Manchin’s proposal to reform voting rights? Can’t remember where I saw it, but IIRC, it operated on roughly the same principle, i.e., broad reform that applies to every state instead of singling out states with racist legislatures that are enacting racist voting restrictions.

  65. 65.

    debbie

    May 15, 2021 at 8:15 am

    @sab:

    My hope is that restaurants, with their poverty wages, get no job applications. Bastards have got to up their wages.

  66. 66.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    May 15, 2021 at 8:17 am

    @Geminid: Do any of them specifically target rural voters? “Working class” Americans? If so, probably those.

  67. 67.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 8:19 am

    @Baud:

    Nice job misreading/misconstruing my comment.

    But just to be clear: in recent years, voters have had short memories when it comes to Rethug misdeeds or Dem good deeds. Or did voters reward Dems for Obamacare (for example) and I forgot that? The 2018 results were a response to Trump, not to all the great things Dems enacted in ’17 and early ’18 (since there weren’t any, of course).

    A large part — perhaps the only part of any significance — of the Senate “takeover” by Dems was mobilizing the base. Were voters so anti-Rethug as is warranted, Tillis and Collins (and perhaps Ernst) would be former Senators.

  68. 68.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 15, 2021 at 8:22 am

    @Betty Cracker: The other day I walked into my local Wal-Mart (I just get my prescriptions filled there, long story) and saw a sign that said they’re hiring at $16/hr. So why would somebody take a job waiting tables at $3.89/hr and get yelled at by rude tourists from NJ?

  69. 69.

    La Nonna

    May 15, 2021 at 8:25 am

    Il Nonno, a bit deaf and a bit dyslexic, cracked me up this morning by coming up with “Mooching” and “Cinnamon” after catching up on Democratic US Senate news.  Unfortunately not so funny.

  70. 70.

    rikyrah

    May 15, 2021 at 8:26 am

    Secretary Marcia L. Fudge (@SecFudge) tweeted at 1:26 PM on Fri, May 14, 2021:
    Public housing is infrastructure.

    Affordable housing is infrastructure.

    Fair housing is infrastructure.

    Resilient housing is infrastructure.

    Energy-efficient housing is infrastructure.
    (https://twitter.com/SecFudge/status/1393271580810153989?s=02)

  71. 71.

    Betty Cracker

    May 15, 2021 at 8:30 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Yep, and the same people who defend obscene compensation levels for CEOs as a function of the free market apparently believe the tipped minimum wage was inscribed in stone by the finger of God himself.

  72. 72.

    Geminid

    May 15, 2021 at 8:31 am

    @Betty Cracker: A 50 state system for pre-clearance works for me. Other provisions of the Voting Rights act are still operative from Delaware to Arizona, I believe. Court orders under the VRA yielded a Democratic Congressman in 2016 (the excellent Dan McEachin in the VA 4th). A federal order under the VRA yielded two more Democratic Representatives in North Carolina last year. Fifty state pre-clearance could make a difference in states not covered by the VRA. Indiana, for example, is not covered by the VRA, but is very racially gerrymandered.

  73. 73.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 8:32 am

    Manchin’s proposal on voting rights is interesting.

    Most congressional Democrats have rallied behind a bill, known as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, that would restore preclearance in a handful of states, while simultaneously making it easier to impose preclearance on new states and local governments that attempt to disenfranchise racial minorities. But Manchin suggested on Wednesday that Congress should pass a much bolder attempt to roll back Shelby County. In an interview with ABC News, Manchin proposed making the John Lewis Act apply “to all 50 states and territories.” Thus, all states, not just the handful of states with the worst record on race, would be required to submit any new voting rules to federal review in order to make sure that the new rule will not target voters of color.

    In order to gut the VRA, Justice Roberts invented a new legal standard. Arguably, the Roberts court would just gut the John Lewis Voting Rights Act the same way they did the VRA, under the new legal standard Justice Roberts invented. Manchin’s proposal is designed to get around Justice Roberts.

    The For the People Act is much broader than “voting rights”. It’s voting rights + anti-corruption.  One can’t really compare the For the People Act with Manchin’s 50 state preclearance proposal – they’re too different for a direct comparison and Manchin’s proposal is (IMO) really good on voting.

  74. 74.

    Ksmiami

    May 15, 2021 at 8:36 am

    @MomSense: I told everyone here that Manchin needs to be taken aside and threatened with committee leadership etc – one senator on our side blocking his own presidents agenda is utter BS

  75. 75.

    Betty Cracker

    May 15, 2021 at 8:36 am

    @Kay: That’s the article I was referring to — thank you!

    Maybe it all boils down to not hurting Republicans’ extra-dainty feelings by pretending that statehouses run by Democrats are every bit as likely to produce overtly racist voting restrictions as red states. I mean, it’s fictional, but if that’s all it takes to get meaningful reform done, I’m willing to play along!

  76. 76.

    MomSense

    May 15, 2021 at 8:37 am

    @Geminid:

    He wants to make pre-clearance for all 50 states which is good.  He doesn’t support the restrictions on gerrymandering.  The biggest problem is that he doesn’t support ending the filibuster even for voting rights which means that we need Republican support.  No Republicans support any type of pre-clearance.

  77. 77.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 8:39 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    What makes me mad about the UI thing is not that GOP governors jumped on the bandwagon, but that there was, once again, a bandwagon.

    They don’t know that people weren’t taking jobs because of unemployment. There’s a ton of contradictory information coming out now that says that may not be true. Why did the lemmings all herd off the cliff again, and why does their damaging herding behavior always and only apply to lower income people?  Where does all this smug certainty come from and why is it always applied to lower wage people?  Post pandemic is a bizarre economic situation. None of them have ever seen it before. None of them “know” WTF is going on. They all arrogantly settled (once again) on lazy moochers as the problem with almost no information?

    These people need some damn humility. Their arrogance is hurting actual people. They don’t know. Why are they so resistant to admitting that?

  78. 78.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 8:46 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    The same people who smugly asserted that lower wage people weren’t taking jobs because of unemployment claimed for a decade that wages weren’t going up because lower wage people lacked “skills” employers wanted and so stagnant wages were (once again) the fault of the workers themselves.

    “The Skills Gap”. Every smug economic pundit and CEO insisted that was the problem.

    They claimed this for a decade. Then wages went up. Way up. Ooops! Their giant errors only seem to apply to lower income people, only harm lower income people, and seem to be wholly predicated on their preexisting beliefs about lower income people. It’s embarrassing for them. They need to look at it in a hard way and improve.

  79. 79.

    WereBear

    May 15, 2021 at 8:48 am

    @Kay:

    These people need some damn humility. Their arrogance is hurting actual people. They don’t know. Why are they so resistant to admitting that?

     
    As always, they hide their true motivations: there must be a large pool of people to kick down.

  80. 80.

    MomSense

    May 15, 2021 at 8:49 am

    @Kay:

    I think part of the problem is just the repetition of the talking point until it becomes accepted just because it is familiar.  My stepmom, who is a tried and true liberal l, repeated that line in a conversation we were having.  I was surprised and annoyed but didn’t say anything because I hadn’t seen my dad for a year and a half.  Fortunately my son was able to go through it with her by asking her what she would do if she had school aged children who were home and the wages wouldn’t cover childcare?  He also explained that being a line cook and working in restaurants generally was in the highest risk category for COVID and would she be willing to risk her life for such low wages.  She got it right away.  The problem is that the bullshit Republican talking points are so simple and repeated so often.  The reality takes a little longer to explain.

  81. 81.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 8:54 am

    @SFAW:

    How did I misread your comment? I agreed with you.

  82. 82.

    Barbara

    May 15, 2021 at 8:54 am

    @SFAW: ​The ACA provided no widespread benefits for nearly 4 years after passage. This still seems to elude many peope when they evaluate 2010 midterms.

  83. 83.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 15, 2021 at 8:56 am

    @Kay:

    I looked up what the federal poverty line was recently and it’s like $12,000+/year. To be considered self-sufficient a worker has to earn at least 200% of the FPL. Many service jobs don’t pay that or come close. It’s disgusting that so many employers can justify these poverty wages

    DeWine and the others you mention ending the federal benefit are fools but they’re also cruel. Most of these GOP govs have never had to actually work in their lives

  84. 84.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 8:57 am

    @MomSense:

    I mean, we can consider it! It’s a possibility! But taking one jobs report and spinning this whole socio-economic theory out of it along with 15 anecdotal “reports” from pizza parlor owners, many of whom turn out to be making shit up?

    Do they not see the bias they have?  They reach for “lazy moochers” over and over and over. THAT’S lazy, if we’re going there and we apparently are.

    They have a set of beliefs about how lower income people behave. This skews their analysis. They need to look at the bias and fix it because they’re hurting the country. “Skills gap” was wrong. Incorrect. That’s NOT why wages weren’t going up, obviously. This one will be wrong too.

  85. 85.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 8:58 am

    @Barbara:

    It’s not like we started winning elections once the benefits kicked in though. It wasn’t until the Republicans almost killed it that it polled positively.

    People would rather get marched off to death camps than stop taking us for granted. Including a lot of Dems.

  86. 86.

    MomSense

    May 15, 2021 at 9:01 am

    @Kay:

    I agree with you but I think in issue after issue the constant repetition of these bullshit things seeps in and ordinary people tend to repeat them just because they are so familiar.  I’m not talking about economists or journalists.  I’m talking about people who just watch tv. Then they talk to their friends who also hear the same bullshit repeated over and over and they say the same thing which reinforces the message.

  87. 87.

    Fair Economist

    May 15, 2021 at 9:02 am

    I think Biden should have gone ahead with the “Garden of American Heroes”. Just put in only people who really deserve it: MLK, Rosa Parks, Sherman, Grant …

  88. 88.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 9:03 am

    @MomSense:

    They don’t want lower income people to do better. They don’t! They rush screaming in to stop it every time it looks like it might happen. And it isn’t just “GOP governors”. They’re just jumping on the bandwagon. There’s a broader group of “experts” who keep inventing these things and presenting them as fact and, again, they ALWAYS start with negative assumptions about lower income people.

    Biden can change the UI number- the compensation. What’s harder to change is 30 years of Reagan-era assumptions about wages and workers and incentives. There’s a bias and it’s a belief, not a fact.

  89. 89.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 9:07 am

    @MomSense:

    There’s an assumption that Dem policy can never hurt anybody except rich people who have to pay more taxes.  That’s not really possible.  There will always be some business or group who won’t do well under a fairer system. But the losers get all the media time.

     

    ETA: You see the same thing when it comes to climate change and health care.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 9:08 am

    @MomSense:

    I agree but it starts top down and then is adopted by people who read the top and repeat it as gospel. That’s where the normies are getting it. This stuff originates somewhere. There’s a source.

    All they had to do was say “you know, this situation is a one-off, we haven’t seen post-pandemic with massive government intervention before so maybe we’ll wait 2 weeks for more information before we blame lazy moochers”

    They couldn’t do that. It’s impossible. They had to rush in with their favorite go-to, which is always “lazy moochers”. There are variations! “The Skills Gap” was “lazy and also dumb moochers” but it’s always “low income people are at fault for this situation”. Which is handy! Because if it’s the fault of workers themselves no one else has to do anything.

  91. 91.

    Fair Economist

    May 15, 2021 at 9:09 am

    @Kay: I think Manchin is correct that voting rights should be applied to all states. Besides endrunning Robert’s nonsense, we need protection against states which previously weren’t problems starting to enact voter suppression.

    In addition, we need robust auditing standards. Remember it’s always about projection with the Republicans. Them raising a fuss about count and ballot manipulation means they’ve actually done it.

  92. 92.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 15, 2021 at 9:10 am

    @MomSense:

    This. I’ve heard it so many times and it drives me crazy. But it’s simple and repeated often as you say

  93. 93.

    sab

    May 15, 2021 at 9:16 am

    @rikyrah: I know she wanted Interior, but I am glad she is where she is. Biden also has it right: staff your cabinet with former mayors.

  94. 94.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 15, 2021 at 9:17 am

    @Baud:

    Maybe it’s because Dems weren’t more aggressive in marketing the benefits to the public?

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    May 15, 2021 at 9:17 am

    @Kay: There is a strong belief among many that the economy is a zero sum game. The people you speak of cannot or will not understand that a thriving working class helps everyone higher on the economic ladder. I’m glad Democrats realize this, and I hope a good infrastructure program will demonstrate it.

  96. 96.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 9:18 am

    @Fair Economist:

    One of the things I like about Manchin, well, maybe the only thing, is he’s legitimately tough. He’s canny and smart and sort of mean. He sticks the knife in. His law guts the law Justice Roberts invented and put in. It’s a direct hit. I find that appealing :)

  97. 97.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 9:22 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Don’t know.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 9:24 am

    @Geminid:

    I’m just hoping we’re allowed to try it. I think it will be great and people will like it.

    I genuinely believe a (somewhat) prosperous working class and lower middle class is better for the country. I think it’s a no brainer. It’s 65% of people. This will work!  It’ll be great for 95% of people, including most higher earners. The top 5 will be harmed, but not in any way that is profound or long term damaging and they can’t get mad and move away because the US will still be better for them than anywhere else. Anywhere else they want to live, I mean.

  99. 99.

    sab

    May 15, 2021 at 9:24 am

    @rikyrah: My town is having an insanely tight housing market for anything under $200,000. That is top of the line housing around here. And there is nothing available below that. Realtors aren’t even listing properties. They just keep waiting lists of potential buyers to call when a sale property comes up. People are buying without inspections, and making offers well above the initial asking price.

    We have been contacted by realtors on a weekly basis. And all the landlords in my housing development went for it. Sold the houses and kicked out the tenants, who have nowhere to go. It’s insane and cruel.

  100. 100.

    Betty Cracker

    May 15, 2021 at 9:27 am

    There’s a very slight chill this morning (I mean it’s 69 degrees or so), and I’ve got company!

    And yes, I really do have not just two but THREE alligators sunning in front of my dock right now. pic.twitter.com/bQEqdYhXrN

    — Betty Cracker ? (@bettycrackerfl) May 15, 2021

  101. 101.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 15, 2021 at 9:31 am

    @Fair Economist:

    @Kay:

    I like the idea for preclearance for all 50 states. Although, I’m guessing this wouldn’t undo existing anti-voter restrictions? Plus, Manchin has to know Republicans won’t support this, so a filibuster carve out is going to be necessary

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    May 15, 2021 at 9:32 am

    @Kay: The GQP has a whole infrastructure of talking points and legislation drafting, as the latest MoJo report reminds us.  It’s not spontaneous.  Heritage and the Club for Growth and the Federalist Society are always there with their punching down talking points and new laws and appointees wait in the wings…

    There was a show on NPR on mass incarceration in the last day or so.  (I thought it was an episode of Throughline, but it doesn’t match their listing.). It made the point that it’s not the drug war or punishing the poor so much as the explosion in the numbers of prosecutors.  They take it as a stepping stone to higher political office…  “Law & Order” doesn’t mention the defense attorneys and judges in the opening…

    The systems endure because people are rewarded by them, and vice versa.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  103. 103.

    sab

    May 15, 2021 at 9:32 am

    @Betty Cracker: I had forgotten how loud swamps are.

  104. 104.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 9:34 am

    @sab:

    It’s just wild here because we’ve never seen it before. We just don’t get these kind of swings on property. But it’s a combination of things- I think the younger set got harmed most by the great recession so they were primed to recover and buy, then low interest rates.

    I got an unsolicited offer to buy my house at a funeral by a young couple. It took me a little while to figure out what they were asking me. My middle son was there and he had to say “they want to buy your house”.  They were really nice and polite but I was stuck on “seeing” my house. I was thinking “oh, no do they think it’s some fabulous house? What idiot told them that?”

  105. 105.

    Baud

    May 15, 2021 at 9:36 am

    @Kay:

    Maybe they knew you were Kay from Balloon Juice!

  106. 106.

    germy

    May 15, 2021 at 9:36 am

    An old tweet, but a good one:

    I strongly support drug-testing for welfare recipients.
    Applying forwelfare is voluntary, if you don’t want to get tested don’t apply.#sayfie
    — Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) March 24, 2011

  107. 107.

    Betty Cracker

    May 15, 2021 at 9:39 am

    @sab: Yes! A 24/7 symphony of birds, frogs and insects. At certain times, the ambient decibel level has got to be louder than NYC. And that’s before the airboats. Don’t get me started about the goddamned airboats…

  108. 108.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 15, 2021 at 9:42 am

    @Another Scott:

    I’m old enough to remember when the GOP supported criminal justice reform

  109. 109.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 9:54 am

    @Baud:

    They were cute. I remember “buy a house lust”, vividly. It’s all-consuming.

    I use an auctioneer as a value witness for property in probate – he can rattle off selling prices for any address in the county at a moment’s notice, not like an auctioneer speaks in court, thank god, he’s not an idiot- he speaks normally in that setting-and he told me they all but stopped building median priced houses here after the Great Recession and that’s now showing up in supply. It’s true that we no longer have a local “builder”- the small business people who finance a development or “set of houses” really,  and also build it and then sell the houses- and we had two for decades. They both retired and no one replaced them.

  110. 110.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 10:14 am

    @Baud:

    How did I misread your comment? I agreed with you.

    Sincere apologies. I thought you were snarking.

    Maybe I need a vacation. Or a beer or two. Oy.

  111. 111.

    Amir Khalid

    May 15, 2021 at 10:17 am

    I’m disappointed about one thing in the new administration: Biden has yet to come out with a statement condemning Israel for making war on Palestinians yet again. This is going to look to people in a lot of countries (particularly Muslim, but not exclusively so) like the same-old, same-old: Israel doing its worst while America turns the usual blind eye.

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 10:17 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    At certain times, the ambient decibel level has got to be louder than NYC.

    Well, if you’re talking Staten Island, perhaps so. But (non-Central Park) Manhattan?

  113. 113.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 15, 2021 at 10:30 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    I agree

  114. 114.

    NotMax

    May 15, 2021 at 10:31 am

    @SFAW

    When visiting Mom on Long Island, the crickets outside are so raucous overnight that I have trouble sleeping the first few nights, and resort to wearing headphones when I go out after sunset onto her balcony to smoke ceegars.

  115. 115.

    Steeplejack

    May 15, 2021 at 10:33 am

    @SFAW:

    I, too, thought Baud’s comment was sarcastic.

  116. 116.

    tybee

    May 15, 2021 at 10:34 am

    @SFAW: Maybe I need a vacation. Or a beer or two. Oy.

    you can’t drink all day unless you start in the morning.

  117. 117.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 15, 2021 at 10:39 am

    @NotMax:

    A couple of weeks ago, I was having a long telephone conversation with a friend in southern Maine. At one point there was so much static on the line I thought the connection had gone kerflooey. Turns out she had just wandered out to her deck for a cigarette, and the tree frogs were being exceptionally talkative. She could hear me just fine. I couldn’t hear a word she was saying over the amphibian ambience.

  118. 118.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 10:39 am

    @NotMax:

    Sorry to hear about your travails.

    Does smoking a cigar get them to move away, or at least pipe down?

  119. 119.

    brantl

    May 15, 2021 at 10:41 am

    @Baud: Unfortunately, I think a lot of people are going to tell you where to put that statue  …../s

  120. 120.

    SFAW

    May 15, 2021 at 10:41 am

    @tybee:

    you can’t drink all day unless you start in the morning.

    OK, I’ll get on that ASAP.

  121. 121.

    Betty Cracker

    May 15, 2021 at 10:42 am

    @SFAW: I think an aircraft carrier deck is probably quieter than our swamp on a rainy evening during Limpkin mating season when the sex-crazed birds are screeching, the frogs are hollering and the airboats are speeding homeward.

  122. 122.

    Another Scott

    May 15, 2021 at 10:43 am

    Thread.

    Leonard Leo operated the dark-money court capture operation from his @FedSoc perch. It was a $250 million dark-money operation.

    — Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) May 14, 2021

    Click on over.

    As you suspect, there’s dark money behind all the voter suppression stuff – the same people and money behind the RWNJ court-packing stuff.

    That’s what we need to be fighting – not how many Manchins can dance on the head of a pin…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  123. 123.

    debbie

    May 15, 2021 at 10:47 am

    @sab:

    She had a longish interview on NPR a week or two ago. Her knowledge base and enthusiasm was really very apparent.

  124. 124.

    debbie

    May 15, 2021 at 10:53 am

    @debbie:

    Were, dammit.

  125. 125.

    Another Scott

    May 15, 2021 at 10:56 am

    I mentioned hearing a rebroadcast of this in the last day or so. A very interesting summary of mass-incarceration in America and how it’s driven by factors not often talked about (it’s not mainly the war on drugs, it’s not mainly the war on the poor – it goes back a very long time).

    NPR Throughline – Mass Incarceration (original air date 8/15/2019) – transcript.

    […]

    SHUGERMAN: The turning point is the 1944 nomination. Republicans nominate Thomas Dewey, who made his name as state and federal prosecutor in New York. The term we use now, gangbuster, was coined for this prosecutor, Thomas Dewey. And he rides that fame of being the gangbuster against organized crime and against organized labor to becoming the governor of New York. And Earl Warren, his background is being an anti-Latino, anti-Asian prosecutor in California who is maybe the most important architect of the Japanese internment during World War II.

    ABDELFATAH: The two former prosecutors, Dewey and Warren, went on to lose that election, but the shift was clear. Being a prosecutor was a natural start to a career in politics, and this wasn’t just true for Republicans.

    SHUGERMAN: The Democrats aren’t going to be out-prosecutered (ph). So what happens is the Kennedy family…

    ABDELFATAH: The biggest family in Democratic politics had two sons who both became prosecutors, Robert and Ted.

    SHUGERMAN: …The Kennedy family reflects how the Democratic Party converges with the Republican Party in both being tough on crime. And that is part of the turning point in American history to people seeing career prosecutors making their name as being tough on crime, often using ethnicity and race to crack down on marginalized groups, becoming famous, and then being able to run for president, vice president or even becoming chief justice.

    ABDELFATAH: The obvious next question – why is it so politically beneficial for prosecutors to be tough on crime? Remember; they have to respond to voter demands. And in many places around the country…

    BAZELON: They have been beating a law-and-order drum because they have assumed – and to a large degree, they’ve been correct – that voters have wanted a tough-on-crime posture from district attorneys.

    ABDELFATAH: But why do voters want a tough-on-crime posture? Well, this is where things get a little more strange because crime in America isn’t actually that widespread.

    PFAFF: Crime is profoundly concentrated. There are these studies that have shown that, you know, over year after year after year in various cities, like, half of all crime in a city will take place in about 10% of all city blocks, and all crime takes place in less than half.

    ABDELFATAH: In other words, the great majority of Americans never experience crime.

    PFAFF: They don’t feel it. They just experience it second-hand, third-hand through the news.

    ABDELFATAH: Chicago is a good example.

    […]

    Well worth a read/listen.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  126. 126.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 15, 2021 at 11:00 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    There’s a very slight chill this morning (I mean it’s 69 degrees or so)

    Up here that’s a t-shirt, top-down drive to the beach.

  127. 127.

    Kelly

    May 15, 2021 at 11:04 am

    @Betty Cracker: Our local plywood mill raised wages 10% a few weeks ago. It’s hard work, noisy and dusty. The raise is overdue. They’d like to run 24/7 to cash in on record high lumber prices but haven’t been able to hire enough staff.

  128. 128.

    Another Scott

    May 15, 2021 at 11:10 am

    Think of a virus where 70% of kids are totally asymptomatic, less than 1% have severe symptoms, and less than 0.05% die. Phew that's no big deal for kids then! Don't worry about them!

    Oops actually it's polio in the 1950shttps://t.co/68iy4tchvA

    — Sam Crane, now with added mRNA (@Samanticka) May 14, 2021

    We need to get everyone (possible) vaccinated, while also continuing to do the normal public health stuff. The pandemic isn’t over.

    (via LOLGOP)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  129. 129.

    Geminid

    May 15, 2021 at 11:18 am

    @Betty Cracker: A big brood of cicadas are fixing to bust loose in the Middle Atlantic, any day now.

  130. 130.

    zhena gogolia

    May 15, 2021 at 11:33 am

    @MomSense:

    “her e-mails”

  131. 131.

    jimmiraybob

    May 15, 2021 at 11:34 am

    I am hereby proposing a National Garden of American Chumps and Losers. I’m not proposing that it be called MAGA Gardens but if it is…..well, okeedokee then.

  132. 132.

    Brachiator

    May 15, 2021 at 11:45 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Maybe that’ll be harder to do with a child tax credit that nearly every parent in America gets

    States can’t touch this. But this is a one-year program. It may be harder for Biden to extend it or to make it permanent.

    One good thing is that we are starting to see that the stimulus payments are helping people. Also, the IRS is boosting some stimulus payments based on 2020 tax return fillings. And it is sending out refunds to people who filed tax returns with unemployment compensation before the new law excluding up to $10,200 in benefits was passed.

    So despite GOP grumbling, a good amount of relief is making its way to millions of people.

  133. 133.

    NotMax

    May 15, 2021 at 11:51 am

    @SFAW

    Nah. She’s on the top (3rd) floor of the building. They’re at ground level. Almost wish I had these puppies.

    ;)

  134. 134.

    catclub

    May 15, 2021 at 11:55 am

    @Baud: So where can I put the statue of myself I commissioned?

     

    The garden of earthly delights.

  135. 135.

    Another Scott

    May 15, 2021 at 11:57 am

    @Geminid: They’ve been working their way out in our NoVA neighborhood for about a week now.  Our perpetually starving pup Ellie didn’t know what to make of them for the first new days, now she thinks at least those that are dead are tasty treats.  :-/

    So far, nothing like the gigantic swarm in Cincinnati in the late ’80s.  It was literally impossible to walk down the sidewalk without stepping on them.  I remember waiting in line at a Wendy’s drive-thru and one tried to fly in my mouth when I cracked the window.  It was overwhelming…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  136. 136.

    Brachiator

    May 15, 2021 at 12:01 pm

    @Another Scott:

    I will listen to/read the full transcript of this public radio program, but something is a little odd.

    SHUGERMAN: The turning point is the 1944 nomination. Republicans nominate Thomas Dewey, who made his name as state and federal prosecutor in New York. The term we use now, gangbuster, was coined for this prosecutor, Thomas Dewey. And he rides that fame of being the gangbuster against organized crime and against organized labor to becoming the governor of New York. And Earl Warren, his background is being an anti-Latino, anti-Asian prosecutor in California who is maybe the most important architect of the Japanese internment during World War II.

    ABDELFATAH: The two former prosecutors, Dewey and Warren, went on to lose that election, but the shift was clear. Being a prosecutor was a natural start to a career in politics, and this wasn’t just true for Republicans.

    Dewey and Warren ran together in the 1948 election, not 1944. And by 1948, Warren had built a reputation as a progressive governor in California.

    The emphasis on Warren as racist prosecutor is somewhat true, but not a complete picture of the man.

    Not too sure what Warren did later in life. Some judicial post or something, I believe.

  137. 137.

    catclub

    May 15, 2021 at 12:04 pm

    @Kay: ​
     

    The top 5 will be harmed, but not in any way that is profound or long term damaging

    The top 5% will get slightly less rich, slightly less rapidly. Not exactly damage.

  138. 138.

    Cmorenc

    May 15, 2021 at 12:05 pm

    One problem with establishing anything like the heroes garden with the likes of trump in office is the likelihood that his notion of a worthy nominee will be the same as his notion of that for “american medal of freedom” and include the likes if rush limbaugh.  Likewise if a purportedly independent board was set up to be the decider of which figures get included, trump would not hesitate to stack the board at every opportunity with members inclined to follow his notions of who gets included.

  139. 139.

    Another Scott

    May 15, 2021 at 12:05 pm

    @Brachiator:  That struck me too when I was listenting to it.

    Way down at the bottom they note the date correction.

    But, you’re right. Warren made Brown vs. Board of Education happen, and made it 9:0. Something more was going on with him.

    Of course, every generalization is false, so it’s easy to show that things are more complicated than just every successful politician since ’48 was a prosecutor. Carter ran as the more-racist democrat for Governor in GA – sometimes nasty things have to happen in politics for good things to happen.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  140. 140.

    NotMax

    May 15, 2021 at 12:09 pm

    @Brachiator

    Grover Cleveland served as sheriff and in that office carried out executions as hangman.

    Just sayin’.

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    May 15, 2021 at 12:10 pm

    @catclub:

    The top 5% will get slightly less rich, slightly less rapidly. Not exactly damage.

    But they actually won’t get slightly less rich. They’ll get more rich, because the economy as a whole will do better.

    What will happen is that their relative status will decrease slightly. Instead of being 2000 times wealthier than the average American, they’ll only be 1000 times wealthier…

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  142. 142.

    Mike in NC

    May 15, 2021 at 12:14 pm

    Time for the space cadet’s Space Force to go bye-bye.

  143. 143.

    catclub

    May 15, 2021 at 12:16 pm

    @Another Scott: ​
      We do not disagree.

  144. 144.

    Ruckus

    May 15, 2021 at 12:28 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Did the residents get their shots well before the staff?

    I live in a +55 apartment complex as well and I’d bet good money that not everyone is vaccinated. We have some residents who I’ve never seen with a mask on. We also do not have a dinning room, the meeting room has been closed for over a year, the office is closed/phone only, the hot tub just opened back up with usage 1 person or 2 if from the same unit and all 3 of the staff wear masks at all times. All that said, everyone I talk to has been vaccinated and most people wear masks. Here in socal I checked out the website that tells you the percentage of republican/democrat and it’s high democrat but there is still an unreasonable percentage of republicans around here, a bit over the magic 27%. But then this state elected RR and Arnold as governor.

  145. 145.

    Brachiator

    May 15, 2021 at 12:37 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Of course, every generalization is false, so it’s easy to show that things are more complicated than just every successful politician since ’48 was a prosecutor.

    Probably a dead thread and I have not yet read the entire transcript, but it strikes me that the speaker’s entire thesis about the path to success for prosecutors is false.

    And of course, Warren wasn’t just a prosecutor. He had been  attorney general of California. Dewey had been a US attorney and district attorney, but not attorney general, which is not an office solely focused on prosecutions.

    And you know who else was “just a prosecutor?” Kamala Harris.

    I will really try to read the entire thing, but I am not warmly disposed towards it.

     

    ETA: Warren went to the Supreme Court as Chief Justice without ever having had any significant experience as a jurist.

  146. 146.

    J R in WV

    May 15, 2021 at 12:40 pm

    @SFAW: ​

    Does Biden have a son-in-law he can put in charge of something wicked important? Because that was TFG’s genius appointment. I mean, look at the great job Jared did on everything.

    Yes, Peace in Our Time in the Middle East, between Israelis and Arabic peoples. They are all Semitic peoples, after all, right?

    Thanks to Kushner we don’t have to worry about the death toll of Arab civilians, the destruction of olive groves in the West Bank, the harsh living conditions in Gaza, none of that is an issue thanks to Kushner!! And TFG — who appointed Kushner to all those many roles in the White House!!! Genius to burn, wasn’t it!?!????

  147. 147.

    James E Powell

    May 15, 2021 at 12:43 pm

    @Baud:

    It wasn’t until the Republicans almost killed it that it polled positively.

    It wasn’t until opposing Obamacare was the polite way to say that they hated the black guy that it polled positively.

  148. 148.

    J R in WV

    May 15, 2021 at 12:45 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​

    my over-55 building announced yesterday that per CDC guidelines vaccinated residents no longer need to wear masks in the public area, including the restaurants, bars, and theater.

    So they can determine that residents “no longer need to wear masks” — as opposed to “are no longer required to wear masks” which was the CDC guidance, wasn’t it? I bet there are a ton of residents in that facility that still “Need” to wear masks for many other health needs!

    Or was the CDC’s new guidance even worse worse than I thought it was?

  149. 149.

    Original Lee

    May 15, 2021 at 12:51 pm

    @Kay: We are also getting regular unsolicited inquiries about our house, and also about my mom’s house. Poor Mom was puzzled as hell the first few times, and now is in a quandary because she is preparing to put her house on the market. She is already working with a Realtor and hopes to be ready for showings in about a week. The Realtor told her the market for existing housing is so hot right now because new housing starts dried up during the lockdown. Once new housing gets cranking again, the market overall will start calming down. So Mom is working her butt off to get everything ready to go ASAP in order to take advantage of the hot market. (Average elapsed time between putting on the market and a contract in her house value range is 5 days, usually above asking price and often cash offers.)

  150. 150.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 1:12 pm

    @Original Lee:

    I don’t know what we’re going to do. We don’t need a big house anymore, or even a house really when my youngest leaves in September but I don’t want to move twice and my husband is older than I am and  wants to retire. We were going to retire to Michigan- Lake Michigan – but now I think I want to live closer to our grandchild. She’s in NY. It’s just too far away. I would like to see her more. My other grandchild will be in Denmark so I won’t see her more than once a year.  I like kids. Not all of them and not all equally but generally I like them. I like to spend time around them.

    There IS this kind of boomy feeling and it’s tempting to sell. Fear of missing out. A close (older) friend is selling her house and moving to Pennsylvania, where her family is from. I was really surprised. She’s been here 30 years but she keeps getting offers on her (beautiful) house so she’s just going for it. It is too big a house just for her and she wants to spend time with her brothers. I think the pandemic made people think about what they do and why they do it. It’s good in that sense.

  151. 151.

    Ruckus

    May 15, 2021 at 1:17 pm

    I have no idea about this.

  152. 152.

    Ksmiami

    May 15, 2021 at 1:57 pm

    @Kay: Poughkeepsie area is lovely and not as expensive or manic as the greater nyc area

  153. 153.

    Kay

    May 15, 2021 at 2:10 pm

    @Ksmiami:

    Thanks. They live in Ithaca which is crazy-expensive for houses and doesn’t have any for sale anyway. I don’t want to be in my daughter’s back pocket- we both like some room- but she has a demanding job and I think I could genuinely help with the baby. Just take her sometimes, be a back up for sick days, etc.

    I would be completely at home in the Trumpster areas outside Ithaca :)

    No different than here, really.

  154. 154.

    Geminid

    May 15, 2021 at 2:31 pm

    @Kay: I got to spend time in Courtland County on a couple of working vacations last year. The farm I stayed at was 25 minutes southeast of Ithaca, and it was some of the prettiest country I’ve seen. But my hosts explained that the winters there are long, cold, snowy, long, and cold.

    Ithaca is on a lake, and is considerably more temperate.

  155. 155.

    J R in WV

    May 15, 2021 at 2:38 pm

    @MomSense:

    … Manchin is a no on most of the voting rights provisions. I hope Biden has something up his sleeve for dealing with him.

    Manchin is more crooked than a dog;s hand leg. His wife has been appointed to a leadership position as co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, a New Deal type of  program to help lift the eastern mountain region out of abject poverty. In that position, Mrs Manchin will direct the spending of hundreds of millions of federal dollars.

    Perhaps President Biden will just wait for some of that precious federal money to wind its way into the Manchin’s family fortune?  At which point President Biden may have Joe and Mrs Joe Manchin over a very painful barrel  —  ya think?

  156. 156.

    J R in WV

    May 15, 2021 at 3:10 pm

    @Kay:

    They live in Ithaca which is crazy-expensive for houses and doesn’t have any for sale anyway. I don’t want to be in my daughter’s back pocket- we both like some room- but she has a demanding job and I think I could genuinely help with the baby.

    There’s a Great Lake (two actually) within easy driving distance of Ithaca… in case Mr K wants to be on/near a great lake. Plus the Finger Lakes — which would probably be expensive, tho.

  157. 157.

    Kayla Rudbek

    May 15, 2021 at 4:06 pm

     

    @Kay: Calvinist theology masquerading as economics, in my opinion.

  158. 158.

    catclub

    May 15, 2021 at 4:34 pm

    @J R in WV: . They are all Semitic peoples, after all, right?

     

    Should have sent Yo ‘semite Sam.

  159. 159.

    Another Scott

    May 15, 2021 at 4:42 pm

    I'm going to wear a mask for two reasons: (1) to make it clear that I don't watch Tucker Carlson; and (2) to give the impression that I'm too young to have had time to get a second shot. https://t.co/0PQmV7DTHG

    — Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) May 15, 2021

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  160. 160.

    Ksmiami

    May 15, 2021 at 4:48 pm

    @Kay: college towns have gone crazy wrt real estate lately but there are some beautiful upstate ny places close to ithaca

  161. 161.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    May 15, 2021 at 5:57 pm

    Deleted by author.

  162. 162.

    Uncle Cosmo

    May 15, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    @Geminid: Ithaca is on a lake, and is slightly more temperate, if at all.

    FTFY. Senior year at Hopkins a couple of us drove up to Cornell on a scouting trip in the dead of winter. High for the day, 13 F. I spent the next year in grad school there. The roads were kept clear but the sidewalks were left untouched from the first snow before Thanksgiving for the sun to melt the following April. Sandwiched in there was a two-foot Sunday blizzard that closed the campus for the third day in its >100-year existence. Temperate, my royal Italo-American arse…

  163. 163.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    May 16, 2021 at 7:08 pm

    as Mix-a-Lot knows, it’s facedown — while i pubch your ticket.

  164. 164.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    May 16, 2021 at 7:14 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: to stand up for my fellow fistpumpers for a moment, those “rude” garden staters saved frank & mac while adrift at sea… & even more, recovered RUMHAM.

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