Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

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

No one could have predicted…

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

He really is that stupid.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

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

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

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

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Happy Bastille Day

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Happy Bastille Day

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Would it be in bad taste for me to add Overthrow the legislative grip of the GOP Death Cult?…

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242Comments

  2. 2.

    lowtechcyclist

    Sounds like a good bill! Looking forward to a more detailed look at what’s in it.

  5. 5.

    germy

    But Democrats behind the agreement face possible objections from their rival moderate and progressive factions, and will have to work hard to convert their plans into legislation they can push through the closely divided Congress over what could be unanimous Republican opposition.

    (from the first link)

  7. 7.

    debbie

    Someone posted yesterday that Manchin, and Sinema to a lesser extent, are tied to ALEC. How can this be allowed to happen? How can a Democrat align with a group established to undermine and damage their own party?

  10. 10.

    Spanky

    What Joe is not going to do is tip his hand. Nice to have a prez who knows his enemies.

  11. 11.

    lowtechcyclist

    @germy: Well, dayum. Per the link, this isn’t a deal on the actual appropriations bill, just a budget bill.  It’s a step in the right direction, but it sounds more like an agreement in principle than a done deal.

    And Manchin wants to see it all paid for, while putting all sorts of limits on what tax hikes he finds acceptable.  (It sounds like Warren’s wealth tax isn’t even in the conversation, which is too bad.)

  12. 12.

    Spanky

    @Baud:  I wasn’t aware that Flake was particularly versed in the nuances [coughArmenia!cough] of the region.

  17. 17.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax:

    The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1943)

    After an all-night send-off party for the troops, a small-town girl wakes up to find herself married and pregnant, but with no memory of her husband’s identity.

     

    Quite the plot for the 40’s, also quite the pregnancy test too.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud:

    All told, the ambitious proposal reflects Biden’s vision for making the most substantive potential investments in the nation in years, some say on par with the New Deal of the 1930s.

    Looks to me like eggs that still have to be protected and cared for. It’s all well and good and nothing happens without this, but nothing has yet actually been passed and we all know about how congress goes about making the sausage.

  24. 24.

    Joe Falco

    I hope we win two more Senate seats so we don’t have to deal with Manchin and Sinema as well.

  28. 28.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Baud: >
    @Spanky: ​
     
    This disappointing. I was hoping he would nominate Tunch Ilkin, a native of Istanbul and the namesake of Tunch Cole, to the post.

  30. 30.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Smooth Move tea will address the side effect of that, but I recommend only a half a cup if you don’t want to be bent over double with raging cramps….

  32. 32.

    Spanky

    @Geminid: Well, if you’re going to tell an electrician he’s a manual laborer, make sure it’s not while he’s working on your house.

  34. 34.

    Geminid

    @Joe Falco: How about six? There are winnable Senate seats in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida, and maybe Iowa. Of course we’ll need to defend seats in Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire, and Nevada. But I think this infrastructure bill will pass and put some wind in the backs of Democratic incumbents.

  35. 35.

    debbie

    @Geminid:

    I may be overly giddy on this very humid morning, but I think there’s a pretty good shot at flipping Portman’s seat in Ohio.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    Sara Gregory
    @saragregory
    ·Jul 12
    One of the more consistent requests tonight from parents at the
    @cpschoolsva
    board meeting was for the district to ask for proof of vaccination and to show vaccination rates on the school-by-school case dashboards

    Calm and reasonable request by pro-vaccers, who are probably a majority, although rarely heard from.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah: Every Monday we get my eldest’s youngest daughter for the day. She will be joined by Evelyn Louise (Evy Lou) around about Labor Day and a couple months after that we will have both one day/week. We hope to see Lyriel again in the next month or so when my youngest travels north to say goodbye to his fast fading maternal grandfather.

  46. 46.

    Geminid

    @Spanky: I think you are flipping the words of my comment in that hypothetical. If I expressed that thought as written to an electrician working on my house, I think he would agree, even if I were not also a skilled tradesman.

  53. 53.

    jimmiraybob

    From the fair French outpost of San Luis, Missouri, I say bonjour et joyeux anniversaire!
    Also too, a shout out to the Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen de 1789!

  54. 54.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’ll be out of town until late Friday. We’re going to Taliesin, making a couple of other stops, and winding up in Galena. It should be nice.

    My major concern is that I took on Duolingo Spanish as a pandemic project, and I’ve done it 361 straight days as of today. I put it on my phone so I can keep my streak going. I hope.

  56. 56.

    Kay

    It’s far from a done deal but still think it’s a big deal. There are moderates on the committee who approved it and it includes a really big expansion of Medicare benefits although I would have kept Medicare benefits the same and instead expanded the group of people covered by Medicare (by lowering the eligibility age) so I think progressives had the wrong focus.

  59. 59.

    Soprano2

    I’m excited by the part of Biden’s EO that will make hearing aids available OTC. My hubby needs them, and keeps saying “I need to make an appointment at the VA” because they would pay for them and they’re so expensive right now. If he could get them without going to a doctor it might be more likely for it to actually happen!

  60. 60.

    Mousebumples

    @rikyrah: I’ve heard that that can’t be done through reconciliation, but I don’t claim to be an expert on arcane Senate rules and procedures…

    (edit to clarify – can’t change the age limits through reconciliation. Expanding coverage seems to meet the budget related requirements though)

  64. 64.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @Spanky: The only way this choice makes sense is as a signal to Erdogan that there is, still, on some level, an American foreign-policy consensus, and that Trump and his faction are isolated outside it.  That signal does not have to be fully and exactly true in order to be the right signal to send.

    The ambassadorship to India is more important in exactly the proportion as Modi has more blood on his hands.

  66. 66.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: I still wouldn’t tell him any electrician jokes until I knew him better. He probably will have heard them before.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    It seems like Democrats only get credit for health care measures in the negative sense- voters don’t give them credit for expanding health care but they are able to benefit politically when Republicans try to pare the expansion back. Maybe this one will be different because Medicare is such a huge group of people and older voters come out much more reliably than younger voters.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    @Kay: 
    I’m still pissed that it was only after Republicans tried to repeal Obamacare that it polled positively.

  72. 72.

    Eolirin

    @Mousebumples: I think doing it in this order works out better if it can get done anyway. If we later expand the eligibility it’ll now come with more generous benefits that will have been normalized. And there’s a bigger constituency for lowering the age than increasing the benefits.

  73. 73.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Geminid: Carpenters tell the best electrician jokes. I’m sure electricians think they tell the best carpenter jokes.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    Whatever your opinion of Ken Starr is, it should be worse. 

    This Party should be dismantled, thrown out and they can start over. They’re really bad people. It’s a shame we’re stuck with Kavanaugh for life.

  75. 75.

    Soprano2

    I saw this story on Yahoo about “Victoria Secret Karen”. You can see, in the beginning of the first video, that she approached the Black woman (who says she’s just trying to get her free panty!) with her hand up and open as if she was going to slap her. Then, when she realizes her behavior is being recorded, she loses her shit.  I mean, wailing and crying and falling on the floor, all while whining about how she feels threatened because she’s being recorded. She makes no effort to leave the store, which she could have done at any time if she really felt threatened. It’s another example of how white people make up stuff when they call the cops, because you can watch and hear her as she’s on the phone with the police, saying she feels threatened. Holy Cow….

  77. 77.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kay:

    Whatever your opinion of Ken Starr is, it should be worse. 

    Great versatile sentence there!

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: I loved her screaming at folks to get the black woman away from her as she chased the black woman around the store.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    Really bad work in the NYTimes. 

    Media are really, really bad at covering panics. They play a huge, leading role in most of them, so perhaps that’s not surprising. One would think at some point they would think “is this one of those..panics we have been suckered into so many times?” :)

    There’s whole scholarly studies of panics- you could track them on a graph.

  80. 80.

    Technocrat

    @Jeffg166:

    What’s really crazy about that list is how many billions are held by United States billionaires. Japan isn’t represented until #37, and Africa isn’t until #118.

    But let’s not tax ’em because they might run off to…France? China?

  81. 81.

    germy

    @Kay:

     I had met Kavanaugh in 1998 when he was a 33-year-old member of then, Independent Counsel Starr’s team investigating Bill Clinton, and I was a 39-year-old strategic communications consultant hired to help prep Starr to present Congress with his legendary report detailing President Bill Clinton’s sexual interactions with a Monica Lewinsky. One day after a meeting at the independent counsel offices, I was alone in a conference room collecting materials when Kavanaugh entered. He began berating me and invading my personal space in a deranged fury that sent me into flight around the table.

    She never dreamed the leopard would eat her face.

  82. 82.

    Kay

    @mrmoshpotato:

    There’s now a whole genre of Republican essays that are like this. “I was a GOP operative for 20 years and one day I woke up and said “this is ALL BULLSHIT”.

    It’s like they are with everything. Until they personally experience something it doesn’t exist.

  83. 83.

    Jeffro

    1/6 and voting rights, 1/6 and voting rights, 1/6 and voting rights…and oh yeah, infrastructure, Medicare expansion, direct support for families, more infrastructure…and then 1/6 and voting rights, 1/6 and voting rights, 1/6 and voting rights.

    Busy folks in this administration, working hard for the people instead of lining their own pockets.

    What a refreshing change!

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @germy:

    He screamed at us in his confirmation hearing. Completely lost his shit. At his conformation hearing for the Supreme Court. 

    You try that at a job interview. Start screaming at them that they’re disrespecting you by asking about your past.

    Ugh. The repulsive Ken Starr chuckling that Epstein has “promised to keep it over 18”. Christ. I need a shower.

  85. 85.

    germy

    @Kay:

    And these people still get invited on news shows to share their opinions.  This morning CBS had Bolton on, saying we should invade Cuba.  He was arguing for more nation building.

    The hosts joked with him and called him Ambasssador.

  86. 86.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kay:

    It’s like they are with everything. Until they personally experience something it doesn’t exist.

    Totally.  It’s why I bookmarked this tweet a year ago:

    These shitheads will ONLY notice how bad things are when it affects them or their families. Everyone else can just die and they couldn’t care less. Disgusting monsters. https://t.co/hi9C3rs5T5— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) July 13, 2020

     Inside is about Mick Mulvaney’s daughter wanting to get a COVID test but couldn’t at the time.

  87. 87.

    Technocrat

    @Kay:

    There’s also the omnipresent grift factor. Dems are so done with the GOP’s shit that there’s a serious market for that sort of thing.

    I bought and read Stuart Steven’s “It Was All A Lie”, so I’m certainly part of the problem.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    @germy:

    I personally believe Kavanaugh will re-offend. He’s never been held accountable for anything. His whole life is one big entitlement.

  89. 89.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kay:  It doesn’t surprise me in the lest Starr was in thick with Epstein the way Starr obsessed over Lewinsky.  Even at the time people were accusing his report as being ultra pervy.

  90. 90.

    germy

    @Kay:

    My “favorite” part of the whole ordeal was the public relations effort to rehabilitate his image in the media.  One of the networks featured an interview with himself and his wife (“such a beautiful family!”) and when he was asked if he would answer questions from the FBI, his wife said “Yes! Of course.” and then he interrupted her to say “Actually no, I’ve already answered all the questions I was supposed to answer.”

  91. 91.

    Kay

    @Technocrat:

    I don’t read the books because I feel like we make MUCH more of an effort to understand them than they do to understand us. I don’t think it’s reciprocal, so therefore not a relationship I want.

  92. 92.

    mrmoshpotato

    @germy:

    This morning CBS had Bolton on, saying we should invade Cuba. 

    One man invasion of Cuba?  Good luck, Johnny!

  93. 93.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Wasn’t that crazy? I said to the screen “Lady, why don’t you just leave the store?”. I swear, we white people feel way too entitled.

  94. 94.

    germy

    @Kay:

    I only read excerpts online at places like this, but I’m happy to see these books become part of the historical record (to counter whatever whitewashing narrative the GOP coughs up).

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @germy:

    My husband had a very similar background to Kavanaugh so feels he understood him. He just loathes him, like you would only if you had spent a lot of time with people like that. That particular type of mean, upper class bully.

  96. 96.

    Baud

    @Kay: 

    Same. I also don’t want to treat those people as if they are interesting and entertaining. But like germy said, I’m grateful for other people making known what needs to be known.

  97. 97.

    Immanentize

    @Kay:
    @Baud:

    One thing I have learned from my life of litigation and teaching:
    It is much easier to motivate people to fight injustice than it is to motivate people to work toward justice.

    Put another way, I report to my students that the language arc of the Immp was: “truck,” “turtle,” “that’s not fair!”

    Sensing injustice is innate.
    Justice is a high level abstraction.

  98. 98.

    Soprano2

    @germy: This morning CBS had Bolton on, saying we should invade Cuba.  He was arguing for more nation building.

    I swear, there’s not a war these people won’t promote, as long as it’s not them doing the actual fighting.  What was his rationale – “Because it’s there, and we don’t like their ruler”? That seems to be enough for them to think our young people should fight and die.

  99. 99.

    Rocks

    @Kay:
    We’re not stuck with Kavanaugh for life if it turns out that the way his hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt magically disappeared just before his confirmation hearing invovled some sort of quid pro quo.

  100. 100.

    Immanentize

    @Soprano2: people — mostly men but also women and children — have been lynched, murdered and assaulted because of the tears and victim miming of white women.

    All over the world.

  101. 101.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Is blog commenting skilled or unskilled labor?

    Depends on who’s doing the commenting, don’t it? Pretty sure I fall into the “unskilled” group, of course.

  102. 102.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: When we look at the now-unravelling life story of Jeffrey Epstein, all the worst people from the current republican party are there.

  103. 103.

    SFAW

    @Rocks:

    We’re not stuck with Kavanaugh for life if it turns out that the way his hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt magically disappeared just before his confirmation hearing invovled some sort of quid pro quo.

    I freely admit that I’m not a Constitutional expert, but I’m unfamiliar with the part of the Constitution which says “confirmed by the Senate, unless the Justice-to-Be accepted a bribe beforehand, in which case his/her confirmation is nullified.” Is that in Article XIV?

  105. 105.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    When we look at the now-unravelling life story of Jeffrey Epstein, all the worst people from the current republican party are there.

    I wouldn’t have thought it was physically possible for Epstein to have known (or come in contact with) 50M (+/-) people.

  108. 108.

    Immanentize

    @SFAW: There is impeachment. And much lesser conflicts of interest caused Justices to get shipped.  (Thinking Justice Fortas here whose stock ownership conflict which caused his leaving the court would not even register as wrongdoing today)

  110. 110.

    Nelle

    @Soprano2: My husband has his hearing classified as a disability (three years of combat in Vietnam did that) but they say it isn’t severe enough to warrant the VA paying for it.  Meanwhile, it is What?What?? In this household.

  111. 111.

    schrodingers_cat

    @germy: I have no love lost for the Brits and their delusions of grandeur but that channel is a propaganda outlet worse than Fox News.

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    Yes, I know there’s impeachment. Where are we going to get 67 votes to convict? Unless the electorate has a collective epiphany, and Dems start getting unexpectedly elected, it ain’t happening in my lifetime, nor yours, nor Immp’s. Frankly, given the current efforts by the Party of Traitors, combined with the Supreme Kangaroo Court, it’s more likely we’ll be a fascist dictatorship.

    [Before anyone gets their undies in a bunch: I wrote “more likely,” not “likely.”

    ETA: I do have hope that enough voters will wise up/rise up, and realize that the Rethugs are trying to screw/kill them. But that hope has been trod upon by numerous elections and polls. It’s hanging on, but it’s battered.

  113. 113.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Soprano2: John Bolton definitely is someone who’s never seen a potential war he didn’t like.

    As a wise man once said, fuck ’em!

  114. 114.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    He screamed at us in his confirmation hearing. Completely lost his shit. At his conformation hearing for the Supreme Court. 

    You try that at a job interview.

    I remember watching that and thinking, “It’s over, he just sunk his nomination, no way they can vote for him after that.”

    Not only did he lose his shit, but he was also going on about some conspiracy theory about how the Clintons were out to get him.

    (I only found out by reading that piece you linked to that he was on the Starr team in 1998. Guess the Clintons had reason to be pissed at him.  And yes, my opinion of Ken Starr now is a good deal lower than it was at the start of the day, and it was already subterranean.)

  117. 117.

    SFAW

    @lowtechcyclist:

    And yes, my opinion of Ken Starr now is a good deal lower than it was at the start of the day, and it was already subterranean.

    Me too. I skimmed a thread on Starr at LGM. I knew Starr was/is a vile piece of shit, but some of the stuff brought up at LGM was even worse than I had previously known or understood.

  119. 119.

    Baud

    How about we tone down the rhetoric on Ken Starr. Y’all talking like he was using an email server in his basement or something equally heinous.

  120. 120.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    I started to read the article Kay linked, but it was just — I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. Why do these people never suffer any consequences?

  121. 121.

    zhena gogolia

    Trying to catch up on my NYT reading, last night, ran across an article about how Biden keeps getting “lost in the rhetorical weeds.” Brilliant journalist, that Michael Shear.

  123. 123.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Kay: We lived and raised our kids in the less-prestigious part of Montgomery County, MD. We’re very familiar with people from Potomac where Kavenaugh grew up. They are not good people.

    My wife had a few temporary gigs (as a musician and a substitute teacher) in Potomac. They were not fun times.

  124. 124.

    SFAW

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I didn’t, but I was considering the possibility that 25 M of them are just morons, as opposed to “merely” traitors (or traitorous morons, if we’re using Venn diagrams).

  131. 131.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    It is much easier to motivate people to fight injustice than it is to motivate people to work toward justice.

    That’s a good way to think about it. I will never understand MediCAID beneficiaries. They should be this giant political heavyweight and instead they’re “oh, take it away or not, whatever”.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    It is just not credible to me that this screaming, abusive hothead has changed. When did this change occur? Sometime after he pitched his hissy fit at the confirmation hearing?

    Not that we’ll ever hear about it. The Supreme Court is basically an untouchable, completely opaque council of elders at this point. They take a vow of silence.

  135. 135.

    Nicole

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    My major concern is that I took on Duolingo Spanish as a pandemic project, and I’ve done it 361 straight days as of today. I put it on my phone so I can keep my streak going. I hope.

    I frequently do my daily Duolingo on my phone.  In some ways, it’s better, because it includes speaking.  I’m sure you’ll keep your record intact.  Have a great trip!

  136. 136.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: Medicaid must be invisible to them. I know the application for Medicaid, even for elders who could use the assistance (like my mom) is a total hellscape. I think maybe if you are disabled and getting medicaid when young, you appreciate it, but when you are older you just imagine it’s part of medicare?

  137. 137.

    Immanentize

    @Nelle:

    Meanwhile, it is What?What?? In this household.

    To be fair, my friend, that’s exactly how it is in a household with a 20 year old.

  138. 138.

    Another Scott

    @germy: The NPR news report at the top of the hour said it was unanimously supported by Democrats on the Budget Committee and at the top of the range that the Moderates would accept.

    Lakshmi Singh’s reporting always seems much closer to reality than most of the twitter/headline spin that I come across.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  139. 139.

    sdhays

    @SFAW: I truly believe that as long as there’s a Democrat in the White House and/or a Democratic Senate, Brett Kavanaugh could decapitate someone on national television, in his robes, and then proceed to sexually violate the writhing corpse and you still wouldn’t be able to get 67 votes for impeachment.

    His vote is more important to Republicans than LITERALLY anything else. There is nothing he could do, other than all of that and start voting like a liberal.

  142. 142.

    jimmiraybob

    @Baud: ​
    @Baud: ​

    No right to bear arms? Inconceivable.

    Unfortunately, the revolution was hijacked during which the right to bear guillotines was temporarily established.​ It should be noted theough that no bears were guillotined……..to the best of my knowledge.

  146. 146.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Immanentize:  @Bluegirlfromwyo: isn’t it Medicaid that supports most seniors in assisted living? I imagine a lot of middle class people– seniors and their middle-aged children– mentally lump it all together under “Medicare”

  148. 148.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: much consternation among some of the anti-Biden left, who warned us in the primary that Biden would sell us out on the key progressive priority of the Embassy to the Sublime Porte

    (yes I know, but I’ve always loved that phrase)

  149. 149.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, …

    International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Tuesday referred to the Japanese people as “Chinese” during his first public comments after landing in Japan and completing quarantine.

    Hmmm….

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  150. 150.

    Soprano2

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I imagine a lot of middle class people– seniors and their middle-aged children– mentally lump it all together under “Medicare”

    They do. To them, Medicaid is that thing that helps “those women” have 10 kids each so they can collect welfare. *rolleyes* They believe their loved on is on that absolutely wonderful, earned Medicare.

  151. 151.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: It sure seems that way, but if anyone has the potential to behave so outrageously as to cause the SCOTUS omerta to crack, my money’s on Kavanaugh.

  152. 152.

    jimmiraybob

    @SFAW: ETA: No, I am not advocating violence. I was thinking more along the lines of the Darwin Awards.

    Here in Missouri the quickest route to winning the award is by being a Republican/”conservative*” actively resisting vaccination.  Sad.

    *Trumpist/MAGA/QAnon/GOP hate-rage media consumer.

  153. 153.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think that’s exactly what happens. A lot of people assume Medicare is paying for grandma’s nursing home or a senior thinks he’s on Medicaid. The distinctions are lost. Sometimes. as Soprano2 pointed out, on purpose.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    All their kids are on Medicaid. Democrats put it in and have expanded it twice since then. There will be whole generations of people who were on Medicaid their entire childhoods. When Republicans threaten Medicaid they are threatening a huge benefit tens of millions of people rely on for basic health care for their children.

    Today, more than 45 million children have coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). For the nation’s youngest children, Medicaid and CHIP play an outsized role, covering 45 percent of children under the age of six, compared to 35 percent of children between the ages of six and 18.

    Currently, 44 million beneficiaries—some 15 percent of the U.S. population—are enrolled in the Medicare program. Enrollment is expected to rise to 79 million by 2030

  155. 155.

    sab

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: There is a whole little legal industry of estate planning lawyers getting people to shift their assets around so that they can go to nursing homes financed by medicaid and their children inherit their assets. This isn’t a secret. Everyone in the family knows it’s medicaid. They pay good money to get it organized and documented.

  156. 156.

    Another Scott

    @Kay:  Medicaid is a great program and needs to be expanded (population-wise and benefits wise). People trying to care for oldsters and those who cannot live on their own know how vital it is.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  157. 157.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott: a new incremental expansion has been proposed…

    Senators Ossoff, Reverend Warnock, Baldwin Introduce New Legislation to Expand Affordable Health Care Coverage to Low-Income Americans

    The Medicaid Saves Lives Act would create new Medicaid-style federal program to allow Americans in non-expansion states to access affordable health care coverage

    Legislation would provide health insurance to an estimated 4.4 million Americans with low-incomes who live in the 12 states that have so far refused to expand Medicaid

  158. 158.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Do you think it’s that they believe they have no political power at all, that no one would listen to them no matter what they do? Plus, lack of time – being poor is hard and time-consuming, most of them probably don’t have much time for political activism.

  159. 159.

    SFAW

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Until red-state voters elect non-fascists/non-Rethugs, they will probably not get any benefits from the proposed expansion. Those states could vote 95 percent for said expansion in a ballot-question-with-the-force-of-law, and the leges and governors would pass “Fuck You” laws to prevent the benefits from going to the plebs.

  161. 161.

    arrieve

    @Elizabelle:  One of the many reasons I love my Fitbit is this — I’m up to 320 days of meeting my daily goals now. It’s a lot of psychological incentive on the days I just don’t feel like it.

    I just put Duolingo on my phone. Maybe that will inspire me to get more serious about learning Spanish.

  162. 162.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SFAW: a fine issue for Senator Warnock and Val Demmings (and whoever wins the Dem nomination to replace Ron Johnson and Richard Burr) to run on, I think

  163. 163.

    raven

    (CNN)The Biden administration is launching “Operation Allies Refuge,” an effort to relocate thousands of Afghans who helped the United States throughout its nearly two-decade military campaign in Afghanistan.

    Flights for Afghan special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants “who are already in the pipeline will begin in the last week of July,” according to a senior administration official and an administration announcement shared with CNN.

  165. 165.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    They’re not all “poor”. I don’t say that in a mean way- it’s just a fact. They’re working class/lower middle class. I don’t know if you recall this but when Democrats expanded children’s medicaid coverage in the Bush years conservatives attacked it as going to people who didn’t need it.

    I’m thrilled kids are covered! It’s cheap too- a lot of bang for the buck. But I don’t think their parents are any less “heard” or more powerless than a lot of Medicare beneficiaries.

    If they want political power they are going to have to take it. No one will give it to them.

  166. 166.

    laura

    @Kay: He screamed at us in his confirmation hearing. Completely lost his shit. At his conformation hearing for the Supreme Court. 

    I watched that and my takeaway was the same as yours. The absolute entitled caucasity of it all. A spittle flecked rage that stopped just short of Give Me My Fucking Promotion. And reading his court materials- what a shite bag low quality hire he turns out to be. I’m actually very happy to hear tfg gassing about him being a total shite bag to. A rare bipartisan conclusion that he’s a really low quality hire. Let Justice gang bang, the virgin mayor of keg city west that cloak of shame the rest of his shabby life. Harrumph!

  167. 167.

    Elizabelle

    @arrieve:   Yea you!

    Having the heat of summer has really interfered with my walking, because I feel guilty going out without my little Frenchie buddy, and it is far too hot for her.  Even at 8 am, alas.  The disadvantage of tiny, flat, cute noses.

    But the iPhone app is always there to guilt me, and am glad for that.

    Although:  have just discovered the apartment’s pool!  Yea for that.

  169. 169.

    GoBlueInOak

    Medicare “expansion” being just adding more benefits to the already eligible – count me unenthused.  Pilling more bennies on the generations already hyper privileged in our system – while doing nothing for everyone else?  More of the same.

    Wake me up when the Boomers and Silents are a statistically insignificant voting bloc and I’ll actually care.

  170. 170.

    Elizabelle

    @laura:   A woman could never, ever get away with that behavior either.

    Unless it was a rightwing conservative woman the GOP Senators were determined to elevate, at all costs (to the country, of course).  And even that might have been more difficult, because sexism runs so deep.

    Appalling display of ruthlessness and unfitness of office (the nominee and the Senators; leaving aside the ass who made the nomination).

  171. 171.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @brantl: those people will do the work while Flake poses for pictures, and Biden just bought himself some more good will in Arizona

  172. 172.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    new nym, same ol’ Dwight

    ETA: guessing he took the ’72 out cause he’s gonna try to pretend to be a Young again.

  174. 174.

    L85NJGT

    The GOP is hoping for a Medicaid cramdown. Recalcitrant states get their boodle, can cry about federal overreach, and litigate till the end of the time.

    Democrats should be targeted about expansion – tribes, insular areas, and as reparations.

    It’s a loser issue for the GOP, that is splitting their state house caucuses, and exposing the yokels running them as feckless bozos.

  175. 175.

    Immanentize

    @sab: Right here is the issue for folks like my Mom (90). You can only get nursing home Medicaid assistance if you have no assets. My mom sold her house and still has maybe 40k in savings plus SS. She really is not Medicaid eligible and there is (at least) a five year look/claw back regarding “disappearing” assets. It’s a real bind for her.

  176. 176.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    This is a harsh thing and sometimes my own clients get mad at me when I say it, but they can’t hang onto assets and bill Medicaid for nursing home care and that’s a good rule. I get it- they want to pass it on or keep it but the spend-down rule and the five year clawback make sense for the public.

    Her potential beneficiaries are already getting a hugely valuable benefit- they’re getting nursing home care for a loved one, care they would have to provide or pay for if Medicaid didn’t exist. It’s a good deal for them.

  177. 177.

    Immanentize

    @raven: I might have mentioned this before? But one of my friends here in Boston, John, was the child of a guy who worked at the Embassy in Saigon. They got out on one of the last five choppers. He said they were pushing birds into the ocean to make room for any more flying in.

    He ended up on the Midway. Four years ago we were in San Diego for our kids’ robot competition — went for the carrier tour. When he mentioned that he was brought here on the ship, they gave him a special/private tour, including his family’s bunk room. Powerful moment for John.

    I’m glad they are bringing our helpers out.

  181. 181.

    Geminid

    @L85NJGT: Virginia Republicans blocked Medicaid expansion until Democrats picked up 14 seats in the 2017 House of Delegates elections. Then ten Republican Delegates and three state Senators crossed over to help Governor Northam push it through. Northam and other Democrats made Medicaid expansion a top election issue, and it was a good one for them.

  184. 184.

    Kay

    @sab:

    It’s harder and harder to get away with it in Ohio. They deputized estate lawyers in each county as “special prosecutors”. All they do is go after Medicaid spend down fraud. They’re estate lawyers so they know where to look for transfers. It was kind of brilliant. Who would know how to find it better! :)

    Some of the farm family abuses are just gross. 800 acres and “no assets”. Okey doke.

    I agree with the approach.

  186. 186.

    artem1s

    @debbie:

    I may be overly giddy on this very humid morning, but I think there’s a pretty good shot at flipping Portman’s seat in Ohio.

    until the Ohio Democratic Party comes up with a candidate who has statewide name recognition it’s not winnable. AND not just some crackpot green party loonie whose has made a name for themselves getting attention by attacking Dems.  I’ve lived in the state my whole life and I can’t name anyone who fits the bill right now.  Nan Whaley would be my best bet, but she hasn’t proven she can win a statewide election.  It’s going to take someone who is willing to go thru a grueling Beto-like campaign that will probably end in a loss the first time they go thru it.  Until we find someone like Ossoff, well organized, well funded and who will stick with it, build name recognition, and go thru multiple attempts, the seat will probably remain R.  Cordray maybe?  But it’s far past the time that Ohio had a POC as a Senator.

    The northeast corridor can’t overcome the rural RWNJ GQP voting block all on their own anymore.  Outside urban areas there won’t be enough white voters who will turn out for an African American candidate.  And it’s unlikely a white candidate can draw enough votes in the bigger cities to overcome any of the GQP primary candidates.  They all might look weak and vulnerable now but once they are done competing with one another for the nomination, the rural white vote will coalesce around whoever is left standing.  My bet is Vance just because he is the most odious.  But don’t count Kasich out yet – he still has plenty of time to announce.  Mark my words, he will use that appearance at the DNC to screw the party over sooner or later. That he is an enormous dick, willing to pwn the libs and members of his own party is an added bonus for him.

  192. 192.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kay: ​It’s like they are with everything. Until they personally experience something it doesn’t exist.

    If there is a gene for empathy, they lack it. They have nearly no ability to “walk a mile in the shoes” of anyone who is significantly different from them (in skin color &/or gender &/or native language &/or nation of origin &/or socioeconomic status &/or religious belief [or lack thereof] &/or education…I could go on…). Or maybe I should say other than them, because the Other is who they are simultaneously terrified of and vindictive toward.

  193. 193.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @germy: The hosts joked with him and called him Ambasssador.

    Clearly the “hosts” need new glasses – they misread the teleprompter, which showed Embarrassment .

  194. 194.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Immanentize: I’m contemplating putting together a lazy vegan ice cream pie. I have a premade chocolate graham cracker crust, about 2 pints of Ben & Jerry’s vegan caramel almond brittle ice cream, shredded coconut, and chocolate chips. The only problem with this idea is that I don’t know if I could handle eating that tonight. :(

  195. 195.

    Kay

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    She talks about how she had some vague sense that Starr was a crazed, vindictive lunatic during Lewinsky but apparently she didn’t explore that any further.

    They always come around too late, too. Have you noticed that? Could they speed this up a little? Maybe cut 20 or so years off figuring it out?

    Sometimes it’s just too late to apologize. Work on the timing.

  198. 198.

    Martin

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s a reconciliation package that apparently already has Manchin’s buy-in. Manchin himself called for a $4T package. I think it’s relatively safe in it’s current general form. The challenge will be the 60 vote on the non-reconciliation package with the GOP knowing this is out there and getting them both to Biden.

  200. 200.

    Immanentize

    @Kayla Rudbek: just putting it together will be a treat! And I bet that you might just manage “just a taste?”

    On further such news — the Immp just received his “so far, cancer free” declaration. Wait a year and check again!

  201. 201.

    Martin

    @SFAW: It’s not a terrible strategy to keep earmarking money to help voters and then pointing out that their state officials are the ones denying you that help.

  203. 203.

    Soprano2

    I just saw this story in the Washington Post:
    A teen was accused of defacing a pro-police ‘back the blue’ sign. Now she has been charged with a hate crime.
    How is this even something they can do? Stomping on and tearing up a sign is a “hate crime”? That’s nuts!

  205. 205.

    Martin

    Hadn’t seen this mentioned yet:

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Finance Chairman Ron Wyden and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker will release a discussion draft of their marijuana legalization bill at a press conference Wednesday, according to a person familiar with their plans.

    The bill will be called the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act and is expected to remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances. The bill would also tax and regulate marijuana on the federal level, while leaving states able to enforce their own laws regarding the drug.

  209. 209.

    Nicole

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    The only problem with this idea is that I don’t know if I could handle eating that tonight. :(

    Well, celebrating getting through treatment can be done anytime; doesn’t have to be right away.  Here’s to a smooth and speedy recovery from the effects and everything you love to eat tasting delicious and being easy on your tummy very soon.  I’m so happy for you!

  211. 211.

    Nicole

    @Immanentize:

    On further such news — the Immp just received his “so far, cancer free” declaration. Wait a year and check again!

    Fantastic news; thank you for the update!

  213. 213.

    Soprano2

    Republicans in MO won’t even fund the Medicaid expansion the voters want, so that’s how they roll here. Too many of “those” people would be helped, even though it would also help a lot of their voters in the rural areas of the state.

  214. 214.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: we plan to — the Immp likes oysters (I don’t) so maybe some fresh oysters and more fried clams?

  217. 217.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: White conservatives turning the rhetoric and legal mechanisms of civil rights back on the rest of us has been a favored tactic ever since the concept of civil rights existed.

  218. 218.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Some of the farm family abuses are just gross. 800 acres and “no assets”. Okey doke.

    I’m sure lots of these kind of people hated Medicaid – until they figured out it could help them, if only they cheated a little bit. I’ve known people who think it’s unfair that people with nothing get help, but not them  – “Why do I have to spend my own money when they don’t?”. They hate that there is a program they can’t take advantage of.

  219. 219.

    Soprano2

    @Martin: That’s good news, it’s long overdue that they deal with cannabis at the federal level. The people and most states have decided it should be legal; the feds are way behind the curve on this. Plus, it will help these businesses be able to deal with banks, which will be huge for them.

  220. 220.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​We’re very familiar with people from Potomac where Kavenaugh grew up. They are not good people.

    Gee, that’s funny. One of my college classmates lives in Potomac, and he is the best of people – former college professor, solid progressive. Arguably a better person than many who post here.

    Among other things he doesn’t proclaim sweeping negative judgements of human beings he doesn’t really know all that well. I thought that was the Other Side’s modus operandi. Guess not.

  222. 222.

    artem1s

    @Baud:

    Isn’t Tim Ryan running?

    yes, but he’s basically a Manchin-lite candidate with no interest in social justice causes who got his national/statewide creds trying to push Nancy out of the Speaker’s seat.  He did not win friends with the voting base in NE Ohio doing that.  He might be competitive in the suburbs – He’s got his seat now because of white union voters in the Youngstown area.  But why would WWC folks vote for an R-lite when they have Mandel, Vance or Timken to vote for? He won’t be at all attractive to POC voters in the CLE/Akron area – and there are enough occupy or twitter rose votes to get him a Senate seat.

    The campaign money (R&D) in Ohio is still being pushed toward white candidates with ties to manufacturing, big business and to a much lesser degree union votes – they love candidates like Portman, DeWine and Voinovich and the OH GOP are semi tolerant of ones like Ryan as long as they play nice with the Chamber of Commerce types (and the Ohio Catholic Diocese). Brown straddles that line pretty well but is going to have trouble keeping his seat next go round. I doubt Ryan really has a chance if he’s up against an actual GOPer.  He may have even less of a chance against a full blown MAGAt.  TFG shrines are still a thing out there in the rural areas. It’s scary out there.

    He will also have to run a very different campaign than the ones he ran in the past.  He’s going to have to go door to door in black neighborhoods where no one knows who he is.  I just don’t see him doing that.  I think he will mistakenly take those votes for granted. The turnout will suck in Cuyahoga county and that will be the end of that.

  225. 225.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Another Scott: ​Well y’know, some months back my local Korean supermarket quietly changed the signs for “Japanese eggplant” to “Chinese eggplant.” Maybe it’s a thing…y’thing? :^p

  227. 227.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @jimmiraybob: Here in Missouri the quickest route to winning the award is by being a Republican/”conservative*” actively resisting vaccination.

    Except most of les Miséryables** are disqualified from consideration: They’ve already polluted the gene pool. (Many before they dropped out of high school, I’d guess…)

    ** Joyeux Quatorze! :^D

  232. 232.

    James E Powell

    @GoBlueInOak:

    Wake me up when the Boomers and Silents are a statistically insignificant voting bloc and I’ll actually care.

    Some best friend you turned out to be.

  233. 233.

    rikyrah

    @Immanentize:

     

    One of my oldest friends was from a family from that last set of folks. She was a baby when they left Saigon. She has no memories of it, of course. She wants to take her parents back before they pass on to visit. Her parents are still not on board. Her children, though, can’t wait to go to Vietnam.

  235. 235.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: I have to disagree with you.  This country is wealthy enough that we should be able to provide that kind of care to everyone.

  236. 236.

    rikyrah

    @Immanentize:

    On further such news — the Immp just received his “so far, cancer free” declaration. Wait a year and check again!

     

    Ok….this has me crying.

    Tell Little Imma that the BJ crowd is so happy for him :)

  237. 237.

    James E Powell

    @artem1s:

    I just don’t see him doing that.  I think he will mistakenly take those votes for granted. The turnout will suck in Cuyahoga county and that will be the end of that.

    You say Ryan will have a tough time in parts of Ohio. I’m sure he’s not going to have a hard time in the part where you live because you’re going to volunteer and help him. Right? Right? I knew we could count on you! Thanks

    And I’m not a huge Ryan fan, but he lives off his salary; Manchin’s a millionaire.

  238. 238.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Agreed. People live longer now and the costs of the care continue to rise well past what any but the richest among us can afford.

    Wouldn’t it be a nicer country if none of us had to worry about whether our parents or our own selves were going to be taken care of?

  239. 239.

    J R in WV

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    All finished with my radiation treatments!

    Congratulations !! So glad that’s over, hope it’s the last such treatment you will ever need~!!~

  240. 240.

    J R in WV

    @Immanentize: ​
     

    the Immp just received his “so far, cancer free” declaration.

    So many good news blasts today — Congratulations again !

    So glad for you, you’ve both had a rough time lately!!!

  241. 241.

    J R in WV

    @Uncle Cosmo: ​
     

    my local Korean supermarket quietly changed the signs for “Japanese eggplant” to “Chinese eggplant.”

    We went to a Korean restaurant with neighbors recently… and they Nagasaki and Hiroshima and MacArthur rolls on the sushi menu. A little tension there, ya think? Just a little?

    We were sadly amused, actually. Quite a learning experience.

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