This could be the year.
“This is the best chance we have,” Schumer told the Post. “We’re fighting every day to make it happen.”
In Schumer’s Brooklyn neighborhood, and in migrant communities across the U.S., hopes that Dems can deliver on immigration https://t.co/4DbjHVucFS
— Maria Sacchetti (@mariasacchetti) September 5, 2021
There’s so much needs to be fixed! From the Washington Post:
… The fates of approximately 11 million immigrants in the United States illegally are in the hands of the U.S. Senate, where Schumer is leading Democrats in a precarious bid to pass a budget that would introduce sweeping changes to health care, the tax code and education. And it would grant “lawful permanent status” to undocumented immigrants, putting them on the path to U.S. citizenship.
Schumer said in an interview that he hopes to cover as many undocumented immigrants as possible in the $3.5 trillion budget plan that Senate Democrats adopted last month. Lawmakers and legislative aides are furiously working to produce drafts of the bill for the caucus to review by Sept. 15.
“This is the best chance we have,” Schumer said. “We’re fighting every day to make it happen.”
The House passed a pair of bills in March that would have legalized millions of immigrants, but those measures had little hope in the Senate, where Republicans and Democrats are divided 50-50 and bills need 60 votes to pass. But the Senate can pass a budget bill with a simple majority, using an arcane legislative procedure called “reconciliation,” which must meet strict standards policed by the Senate parliamentarian and survive the political infighting that has already begun. The vice president breaks the tie.
Passage is far from assured, but Democrats unanimously adopted the budget plan hours after they voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and progressive Democrats say they will not vote for one without the other.
The Democrats’ budget resolution instructed the Senate Judiciary Committee to write legislation that would create a path to legal residency for “qualified” immigrants. Among those fighting to be included in that category, which has not been defined, are “dreamers,” who arrived in this country as children; immigrants with “temporary protected status” because of wars or disasters in their homelands; farmworkers; and the pandemic’s essential workers. Many have lived here for years, even decades.
“Schumer is the hombre. He’s the guy,” said Erik Villalobos, a communications manager for the National TPS Alliance, which represents thousands of immigrants with temporary protected status who are unable to apply for citizenship. “All this depends on him.”…
Schumer has been trying to pass an immigration bill since he helped to broker the last major amnesty in 1986, when he was a young congressman from Brooklyn sharing a cockroach-infested apartment on the Hill with another negotiator, then-Rep. Leon Panetta (D-Calif.). In part because of Schumer’s skill at reaching a compromise, Republicans and Democrats ultimately voted to grant legal residency to 2.7 million unauthorized immigrants and President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law…
Mai Naem mobile
President Manchin and VP Sinema won’t be going for that. Manchin might go for citizenship for straight white/could pass for white undocumented people but not those ‘other’ colored folks.
Chetan Murthy
Years ago, Glen Tomkins wrote (over at Crooked Timber): http://crookedtimber.org/2018/06/20/not-in-our-name-2/#comment-734309
There are two must-haves for our Republic to survive: voting rights, and immigration reform. Voting rights, so that we can have a democracy for American citizens, and immigration reform, b/c the only way we can keep it, is to out-populate the MAGAts.
Baud
Oh wow. I didn’t think immigration could be done through reconciliation. This is the first I heard of it.
Baud
Politically speaking, I’d like to get something done in immigration because I don’t think we’re getting any more mileage out of it.
JPL
@Baud: If so, that would be a reason to celebrate.
JPL
OT Trump is upset that the statue of Lee that he never personally saw and probably didn’t know it existed until a few years ago, was removed. Also, Lee could have won the war in Afghanistan. Big if true, cuz he is known as a loser.
cain
This is good – you can bet that there will be a lot of pressure on Sinema. I have no idea what it would be for Manchin – but the more goodies they put in there that gets special groups of all stripes interested – the more the pressure will come to bear on Manchin and Sinema (and whoever else they are covering in terms of centrist Dems)
WereBear
@JPL: despite Grant’s reputation as a “butcher,” Lee had higher casualty rates.
cain
@JPL:
Knowing Trump, he would have favorably compared himself to Lee, and said he would have won against Grant or brokered a yuge deal.
Geminid
Besides being in the interest of justice and equity, immigration reform is a wedge issue for Republicans. Chamber of Commerce-type Republicans may generally support it, but immigration reform is anathema to the “populist” wing of the party. A pathway to citizenship for the undocumented has garnered majority support in polls, so I hope Democrats are aggressive on this issue, and drive the wedge home.
Baud
@Geminid:
If it’s part of the reconciliation package, it’s not going to get any Republican votes.
JPL
@cain: Trump has something in common with Lee, they were both losers.
Geminid
@cain: Ulysses Grant:
“I purpose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer. ”
donald trump:
“No President has ever been treated as unfairly as I have been.”
Cermet
Until the 3 point what ever trillion dollar and regular infrastructure bills are passed, and then the Dreamers Act, then and only then consider this bill. Texas has shown that the Hispanic vote isn’t gonna necessarily go Dem so this certainly should not be considered until critical bills are passed – fully – then consider this one. Dems always go big and then we are getting killed at the polls for doing the right thing; look no further than the Obama Healthcare act. Save the god damn Planet, our critical infrastructure, the Dreamers (seems like I hear nothing on this one of late) and only then consider immigration reform.
WaterGirl
OT, but I will add this here in case anyone hasn’t seen it yet.
.
JPL
@Geminid: Lee: Hand me the whip.
Baud
@Cermet:
This is part of the 3 point whatever package
JPL
@WaterGirl: That is so sad, and I hope that she recovers. Thanks for updating us.
Geminid
@JPL: Confederate soldiers, May 6 and May 11, 1864:
“Lee to the rear!”
Cermet
@Geminid: Lee was the rear – as in the rear end of a jackass.
Anya
OT question: how do people feel about Biden firing HR McMaster? I thought he was one of the less odious Trump hires. He didn’t do any damage and he tried to do the right things within a criminal organization. I don’t know the reason for removing him but he’s not a hack like Spicer and Conway. At least he knows a thing or two about the army.
Cermet
@JPL: Thanks for the update; sounds bad. I understand only too well.
Roger Moore
@WereBear:
Grant’s reputation as a butcher is largely a calumny created by people who wanted to tear him down during his career and greatly amplified by Lost Cause true believers. The biggest difference between Grant and the vast majority of other ACW generals is that he kept pushing after a bloody victory.
One of the common features of ACW battles is that they tended to be bloody slog fests that left the winning army almost as badly beaten up as the losing army, and sometimes worse. Because of that, the victor rarely followed up aggressively, and the loser was given an opportunity to regroup and cause trouble again.
Grant was exceptionally aggressive in following up. As in most things it was partly a matter of temperament and partly a matter of brutal practicality. Most generals looked only at the state of their own army and thought it was impossible to do anything more given how badly beaten up they were. Grant was able to imagine that his opponent’s army was in just as bad shape and would push as hard as he could to take advantage. That made him look terrible to people who could only see the state of his army and thought he was demanding the impossible, but it ultimately saved lives in his army by denying the enemy a chance to recover. McClellan probably could have captured Richmond in 1862 if he had been as aggressive in pressing his enemy during the Peninsular Campaign.
Starfish
@Cermet: Hispanic voters are not a monolith, and the Democratic Party needs to make an effort to understand the various constituencies that make up the body of Hispanic voters instead of acting like everyone wants the same thing.
The sixth generation Chicanos who were here before the border was here may not care about immigration issues. They may all be citizens or may have family across the border.
The recent immigrants will care about immigration issues, but they are not all the same. Some Latino groups are colorist against other Latino groups. That means a lot of Peruvians think they are better than Mexicans and others.
The Republican Cubans in Florida are a different group than groups in other states.
The various Latino groups in Colorado are deeply organized and are behind one of the redistricting proposals here.
Democrats need to start understanding this crap instead of looking at a few high level polls that lump all these people together. The people who poll these groups need to be well-versed in the distinctions among these groups.
Cermet
@JPL: He (Lee) was a cruel, cold hearted utter bastard. Little doubt that this is true (this is the reference when he wanted to personally whip the slave woman that had run away from his plantation.)
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Well shit. I continue to send her healing thoughts, and support to her family. What a terrible thing for them to be going through.
Has anyone heard from Yutsano today? He said last night that he’d update us on his own condition sometime today. I think I’ve seen all the threads, but of course I could have missed it.
Tony Gerace
@JPL: From the little I know of the Civil War, Lee apparently liked to sacrifice his men by using 18th century tactics in a modern war. So, I guess Lee would have used in Afghanistan the tactics that the British used so successfully in the 19th century there.
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yutsano posted about things on Twitter. He said he had a massive UTI and is now home from the ER:
Starfish
@Roger Moore: These things always come in clusterf–ks, don’t they?
Ruckus
@Anya:
He’s not the only person that knows a bit about the Army.
And – he worked for trump. Maybe he didn’t do damage but maybe he didn’t actually argue enough. Maybe he just isn’t the right person for the job, any particular one or any one at all. We aren’t there, we don’t know the day to day, quite possibly President Biden has someone in mind that he knows and knows his/her attitude and his/her abilities.
It’s Joe’s house and he seems to know how to run it just fine.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Yutsano has been in the threads today, which is a great sign.
Yeah, I read the updates and all I could think was ‘fuck’.
Roger Moore
@Starfish:
Part of the problem with polling is that the error bars get bigger the finer you divide the electorate. At some point, dividing people up into theoretically more meaningful groups actually tells you less because the sample size is too small for the results to be trustworthy. Getting enough people to be able to distinguish the Salvadoran position from the Mexican position, or the newly immigrated Mexican position from the long established Mexican position would require polls bigger than most campaigns can afford.
WaterGirl
@Anya: Jen Psaki:
Geminid
@Starfish: From what I’ve seen of the largely Mexican immigrants I live among and have worked alongside in central Virginia, they want well-paid jobs, good health care, and education and upward mobility for themselves and their children- what every thinking working class person wants. While messaging may be specific to Latinos, when it comes to policy I don’t think Democrats need to pick some ethnic lock, just enact policies that further a thriving working class and a prosperous middle class, and make that the message.
Cermet
Lee lost WV to the Union; was baffled during the said McClellan Peninsular Campaign. He won most battles only because his opponent generally did utterly stupid things; maybe two battles showed real insight and skill but even then, he didn’t really defeat the Union – the Union army withdrew under its own terms. Once during the second of his ‘greatest’ victories, he did follow up (finally!) with an attack only to suffer a crushing defeat (from a retreating Union army!) So, Lee was not in Grant’s league; he (Lee) did know how to use his Generals but was terrible at Strategy (invasion of Maryland) and only a slightly fair tactician.
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: Oh, wow. Hoping for the best, here.
WaterGirl
@Anya: Also, too, I think all the generals turned out to be pieces of shit, singly and together.
Chetan Murthy
@Ruckus:
The only possibly good Trumper is one who resigned in disgust and went public about all of it. With as many receipts as possible. McMaster didn’t do that, ergo he’s not a good Trumper.
Fuck’em.
Miss Bianca
@Anya: Wasn’t McMaster all over the news trash-talking the Biden Administration’s efforts to evacuate in Afghanistan? They say the elephant never forgets, but I wouldn’t be surprised if certain Democratic donkeys may have long memories and short fuses as well.
Ruckus
@Starfish:
Your point is well made. And can be applied to most groups formed by pretty much any grouping other than political party. And it can even be by political party in some areas. I have a friend who is registered republican and he votes democrat. He was a republican a long time ago and says that he keeps his registration that way so he gets the republican emails, letters, etc. He wants to know what the other side is saying, how insane they really are. I don’t need to hear/see it, I already know. And I see enough here and other places online to know if I didn’t.
WaterGirl
@Chetan Murthy:
Wasn’t that after YEARS of supporting Trump and his evil administration?
Peale
IDK if this is possible. I will note that the 11 million undocumented number seems high. Although it does make me wonder how ineffective Trump was at even making a dent in it. I do believe he did manage to created more undocumented than there were before he took office.
That said, even if they can’t move the needle, I’d rather they focus on the broken naturalization process instead. If they can’t do comprehensive reform, at least tackle something. At least with moving the LPRs through to citizenship, there’s a more immediate positive feedback loop of new eligible voters. I wouldn’t mind changing the rules to get rid of the tests, reducing the application fees from $1,200 to $.25 cents, and some kind of rule where your application is finished if the government doesn’t complete the process in 21 days. I also want to immediately end the marriage penalty inherent in the system. It is cruel that people need to wait or go home when they have married a citizen. If that means there’s a ton of sham marriages, really, so be it. The government doesn’t question why anyone else gets married. Why then does an foreign national get such special treatment and heightened concern.
dmsilev
So, Governor wanna-be Larry Elder had an entirely normal day today:
(by all means click through to that Twitter link)
craigie
This framing must stop. One of a million things that need to change to fix our democracy.
Miss Bianca
@dmsilev: *snerk*
Aww, what a shame.
Baud
@dmsilev:
I just need to read that again.
Ruckus
@Chetan Murthy:
I agree on your general principal and on this one in particular.
I was just trying to make a general point about anyone President Biden asks to get the hell out. The federal government has a lot of moving parts and they can not be replaced in a few days or some as easily as others.
dmsilev
@Baud: Venice gonna be Venice.
NotMax
@dmsilev
California, in a nutshell.
//
Geminid
@Cermet: I must point out that it is the Duke of Wellington’s campaign on the Iberian Peninsula that is called “the Peninsular Campaign.” McClellan’s campaign between the James and York Rivers is most often called “the Peninsula Campaign.”
Please excuse this exercise in peninsular pedantry.
smith
Wow, you know Republicans are living in a fantasy world when they think a campaign stop at a homeless encampment would be a good idea for driving up their votes.
New Deal democrat
And it almost certainly can’t. I would be shocked if the Senate parliamentarian allows it.
Fair Economist
@Cermet: Lee was successful because a) his early opponents were unbelievably incompetent (e.g. McClellan) and b) he was a fanatic about entrenchment, to the point that the soldiers called him “General Spade”.
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne:
I haven’t seen him today.
So sad about AsianGrrl.
Starfish
@Roger Moore: Good points about polling.
@Geminid: A lot of what I am talking about is that some people assume they know what a constituency wants without asking.
For example, I volunteered to be a circulator (sign up people to vote a few years ago in not my county.) The Democratic circulators were only asking people who looked like themselves to register. That means they were asking zero of the Hispanic people if they were registered.
That is why organizations like Mi Familia Vota are important.
surfk9
@NotMax: apropos of the recall circus
zhena gogolia
First I was upset because my NYT hasn’t been delivered for 5 days straight.
Then we came home at 6:30 PM, and it had been delivered to a weird spot, apparently in response to my request for redelivery.
I open it and find Bret Stephens, “Biden Can Still Save His Presidency. Acknowledging the gravity of his blunders would be a start.”
Another Scott
@Baud: Agreed that something needs to (finally) happen. And agreed that the politics of this is more complicated than meets the eye.
Schumer’s twitter thing seemed to be 99.6% “Biden could erase $50k of education debt for each person with a stroke of a pen! I’m working to make sure he does so!!1” for weeks and weeks earlier in the year. I have no doubt that he’s pushing for these immigration things, but we can’t assume it will happen that easily.
The post-election entrail-gazing said that “lots” of Hispanics didn’t like much of the immigration reform stuff – “I’m legal, they should go back and be legal too!”. How much of that is true and how much of that is FTFNYT going to the appropriate diner in Texas for breakfast, I dunno. But we need to be able to counter that argument, and others, to help increase its support.
The biggest ones, for me are:
tl;dr – 10+M people aren’t going away. For our own benefit, we need to make them “legal”. Making that argument compelling needs to be Job #1 on this issue.
Cheers,
Scott.
Spanky
Golly Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.
This sentence is quintessential California.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
WTF did he think was going to happen? Did he expect the homeless people to greet him with roses, or to conveniently disappear when he was visiting their encampment?
Starfish
So there is a review of Andrew Sullivan’s book.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
The media loves trying to get Dems to admit errors.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Thanks for the update.
Fingers crossed.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Shoulda been a golf ball. :-)
Chetan Murthy
@WaterGirl: That’s why it’s “possibly good”, not “good”. Gotta evaluate on a case-by-case basis. I mean, I hear that we’re a Judeo-Christian civilization, and Christianity is known for never proscribing the possibility of redemption, amirite? *grin
WaterGirl
@New Deal democrat: I say we overuse the parliamentarian.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: It’s shocking.
Roger Moore
@Starfish:
I think a big danger is listening to activists who claim to speak for the group rather than trying to hear from the group as a whole. That seems to me to be a big weakness in the way the Democrats operate: we let the loudest activists drive policy even when they’re unpopular with the group they’re claiming to represent.
Chetan Murthy
@Ruckus: I trust that Biden and his appointees know where they need to keep Trumpers on-station, and where they can be eschewed.
Baud
@Roger Moore:
I get that sense too.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore:
That event wasn’t “for” the homeless. It was for the people who want to get rid of the homeless.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@WaterGirl: thanks, I didn’t see the earlier update
New Deal democrat
@WaterGirl: I’m Cool with that.
Now just get Sinema and Manchin to go along.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: I think Elder really was there to blather about how Newsom has failed to solve the homeless crisis by, I dunno, reopening the camp at Manzanar. Getting chased away by the locals probably won’t lose him any votes from his supporters.
Chetan Murthy
@dmsilev:
It’ll *gain* him votes from his supporters: “those dirty rotten homeless people, they can’t even let a candidate speak his piece without assaulting him! Why I’ve a mind to ….”
sab
@Starfish: Wow. Very on point,
Another Scott
@Anya: Politico and ArmyTimes has stories about Biden wanting resignation of the political appointees to various military advisory boards. Psaki said that he wanted people who are qualified and aligned with Biden’s values.
McMaster said in a January OpEd at WaPo that Biden should keep TFG’s China policies. Things like that may have contributed to his removal.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: Last thing I saw from Yuts, he had posted a selfie on Twitter and was talking about how French he looked. I assume painkillers were involved.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anya:
I have no issue with cleaning house.
Miss Bianca
@Roger Moore: I bet he was thinking he could do some sort of Tough Guy act there – “show these homeless who’s Boss” or something. Or…oh, shit, I don’t know. What was he thinking? Maybe he just wasn’t thinking at all.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus:
I guess that would be the silver lining.
sab
Deleted. Off point.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Drew on a pencil mustache and donned a beret (at a rakish angle, natch)?
:)
debbie
@Roger Moore:
He would have been if someone had told him there were a bunch of Native Americans just past enemy lines. //
Geminid
@Starfish: Poltico had a good article right before last November’s election about Mi Familia Vota and allied Arizona activist groups. The article was titled (I think) “Inside the Effort to Turn out the Latino Vote- and Turn Arizona Blue.” But as is typical with Politico, there was no post election followup article. According to state media, Arizona activists did claim afterwards that 70% of Arizona’s Latinos joined the record Democratic turnout for Mark Kelly and Joe Biden.
Organizers emphasized that face to face outreach was most effective among Latinos. It sounded like they did not forswear door to door campaigning despite the pandemic. If they did not, I think they made the correct decision. Defeating trump was the single most consequential act there was for beating the pandemic, and we almost did not pull it off. Joe Biden’s and Mark Kelly’s victories in Arizona were critical.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: Oddly, not even a baguette in sight.
Starfish
@sab: I know. I am a first generation American. I was focused on this particular demographic for the sake of the conversation.
CarolPW
@zhena gogolia: If you enjoyed that, you will also enjoy Thiessen’s “Biden has no business setting foot at ground zero on the anniversary of 9/11.”
trollhattan
@Baud:
California, baby!
“Where even the gorillas ride bikes.”
cmorenc
@WereBear:
For the first two years of the war, Lee and the southern armies generally did clearly have the better leadership, especially compared to the indecisive, hesitant Meade – except for Grant, who saved the western branch of the US army from destruction at Shiloh. But then at Gettysburg, Lee made a colossal mistake (Pickett’s charge) that hastened the point where confederate manpower losses became unsustainable. Also, contemporaneously, Grant pulled off the tactically difficult feat of capturing Vicksburg, despite having to move his troops through a difficult swamp to attain a winning attacking approach. Agree that Grant was the best general of the Civil War on either side.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
Thanks very much. I don’t have a Twitter account. Hope the meds knock the infection right out of him.
Omnes Omnibus
@cmorenc: A couple of my great great grandfathers would argue that it was Sherman, but they were with him all the way through his march to the sea and beyond.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
He posted pre-dawn. If this link doesn’t work, look for #87 in the Sometimes I Get a Little Dark thread.
(Sorry, lousy link.)
Miss Bianca
@Starfish: Oh, heh heh, that was a thing of beauty indeed.
Anya
@WaterGirl: The things is McMaster is qualified. I don’t approve of his choices but he’s not in the same category as Spicer and Conway.
Geminid
@Starfish: Latinos are a very important demographic, or constellation of demographics. For various reasons, inordinate attention is given to white working class people, and how these unicorns can be captured. But that is a shrinking demographic that Democrats have lost even while winning elections. A more durable Democratic majority can be built by winning a majority of working class and middle class immigrants and their children. They are one of the reasons Virginia has gone from red to purple to blue in the last 20 years.
WaterGirl
@Anya: None of their values are aligned with the values of the Biden administration. That’s plenty of reason for me.
Also, I quibble about whether McMaster’s military experience – combined with his poor judgment and terrible values – make him qualified.
This was just more “stick it to Biden on the way out” bullshit and I’m glad Biden is cleaning house.
trollhattan
Bwa-ha-ha, here’s the ad that’s guaranteed to get Gavin out of office. “You took my girl!”
As ever, ad agencies are the only beneficiaries.
Starfish
@trollhattan: Dude is trying to steal Kimberly Guilfoyle from Trump, Jr.?
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: On paper, McMaster is qualified. He is a USMA grad with a PhD and a lot of relevant experience. It’s the shared vision where he falls down.
Omnes Omnibus
@Starfish:
She was with Newsom first.
trollhattan
@Starfish:
Right? Evidently there’s nobody at home to shout at him while “powdering her nose.”
zhena gogolia
@trollhattan: THE BEST IS YET TO COOOOMMME!!!
cain
@Geminid:
“I never lost the war, I actually won! Look how many soldiers I have! So many! Yuge!”
zhena gogolia
LOL
JML
@Anya: one of the qualifications is having the right attitude and orientation of vision. I knew Jack Keane a little from when he was the DCSOPS and he was well-respected. Since retirement, he’s been cashing checks from FauxNews and cutting deals with the Saudis. Gen. Keane can whine all he likes, but he picked his side and President Biden has every reason not to trust or value his advice any longer.
Geminid
@cmorenc: Lee’s army lost as many men in botched assaults the first day at Gettysburg as were lost in Pickett’s charge. The prestige of capturing the town was not worth the cost, certainly not when the U.S. troops still held the heights south and east. The town became an impediment after the first day. Ewell’s corps was essentially wasted trying to attack from Gettysburg and points east.
Lee tried to command with a shoestring staff, and Ewell and Hill were inefficient Corps commanders, but that is no excuse for the way Lee botched Gettysburg from beginning to end.
The Moar You Know
@Anya: I would vehemently disagree with that, but it’s not relevant to the point; he’s a political appointee, not in a civil service job, so he can be fired for any reason at any time by the current administration. And he should be, for no other reason than the Republicans would have fired any Democrat in his position months ago.
The Pale Scot
@Roger Moore:
Grant, Rommel, Patton.
Conserved the lives of their troops by not allowing the enemy to disengage and retreat. Safer to shoot a running enemy in the back than let em regroup and reset the line.
Geminid
@Roger Moore: Elder probably was using those homeless people as a foil, and he got the photo-op he wanted.
NotMax
Couple of OT piece3s of note.
1) Idaho, yet again, hot on the heels of stringent hospital emergency declaration. Idaho School Lifts Mask Mandate After Local Doctor Calls Vaccine ‘Clot Shot’
2) Down Cole’s way –
NotMax
@NotMax
piece3s = pieces
raven
@Anya: Qualified for what? They are bullshit appointments that don’t mean shit.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: Pieces of 3? Cut-rate pirates?
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
“We can steal it for you wholesale.”
:)
Geminid
@NotMax: West Virginia Governor Jim Justice put out some good messaging at a press conference last week. He started by touting the state’s success at incentivizing vaccinations with a lottery. He went on to say, “But there is another lottery [for the unvaccinated]. It’s the Death Lottery. Yesterday, thirty two of us lost the Death Lottery.”
dmsilev
@NotMax: I’m reminded of one of Terry Pratchett’s characters, Cohen the Barbarian, who was introduced with the footnote “responsible for the term ‘wholesale destruction’.”
dmsilev
TFG had a sad about Lee’s statue coming down. People have been responding. I like this one.
The Pale Scot
@NotMax:
Drew on a pencil mustache and donned a beret
And a horizontal striped shirt
trollhattan
@Geminid:
Larry Elder somehow has made himself into a less-skilled version of Trump, at least WRT optics and messaging. Ponder that at the risk to your psyche.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
Clot shot?
Worst porno title evah.
Geminid
@dmsilev: With his book and tennis racquet, Arthur Ashe is now the last man standing on Richmond’s Monument Avenue.
Roger Moore
@cmorenc:
ITYM McClellan. Meade was the guy who beat Lee at Gettysburg- a victory that’s all the more remarkable when you realize he only took command a couple of days before the battle.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
It’s fun, but it will never top the Demon Sheep.
Shalimar
@Fair Economist: Lee was an engineer. His skill as a general lay in picking favorable terrain and entrenching. He was effective on the defensive, which was good for an army with a significant numerical disadvantage.
The Army of Northern Virginia also had an advantage in maneuverability from 1861 to mid-1863. This was from two things. 1. their cavalry was better organized and far superior for the first half of the war; and 2. Stonewall Jackson was everything Lee was not, brilliant, agressive, creative, and unorthodox. Those advantages disappeared when Jackson was killed and the Army of the Potomac reorganized their cavalry into an independent unit instead of regiments attached to each corps.
Dan B
@Starfish: Thanks for the link to the review of Andrew Sullivan’s new book. I read his blog for years because a cousin’s libertarian, straight son liked him.
No more. Tiring. Very tiring. Glad he stopped.
StringOnAStick
@WaterGirl: Exactly. Elder said in an interview that he had a solution for the homeless, but he can’t talk about it. I’m pretty sure what he has in mind is a Final Solution. The dad thing is I know people who are convinced that homelessness is a lifestyle choice, and they told me a few weeks ago that they are more than OK with a Final Solution. One of them even voted for Hillary; I think they’ve been radicalized by social media.
Mike in NC
@dmsilev: Neo-Nazi Stephen Miller (whose mentors included elderly Larry Elder, the black Rush Limbaugh) was authorized by the Orange Anus to halt all immigration into this country for the indefinite future. Good luck with that, you assholes. A lot of Syrians, Iraqis, and Afghans had the bad luck of trusting the US government.
dm
@Baud: It’s been done before. Creating more tax payers has a big impact on the budget.
https://iacoimmigration.org/eng/reconciliation-bill/
prostratedragon
@trollhattan: I’ve been having trouble imagining a girl who thought she had a serious choice between the high school versions of those two.
Geminid
@Shalimar: By 1864, the U.S. Cavalry was being equipped with repeating rifles. That was a real advantage.
In his Personal Memoirs, Conferederate artillerist E. Porter Alexander asserted that had the U.S. Army adopted repeating rifles early on, the war would have been won two years earlier than it finally was. But the penny-wise, pound-foolish Ordinance Department balked at the cost of the ammunition.
Shalimar
@Anya: Google “McMaster Afghanistan withdrawal”. It’s only been 3 weeks since he showed his ass stoking the anti-withdrawal monster. He has no business being an advisor to this administration after that.
Omnes Omnibus
@Shalimar: Jackson began his career as an artilleryman. And, as Napoleon (who was not at all biased) said, “the best generals are those who have served in the artillery.”
trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
Oh god, Carly Fiorina. Friend who worked for HP in San Diego related the moment it was announced she had resigned/was fired/possibly shout out of a cannon the entire place erupted in cheers.
Perfect launch-point into politics.
And then Meg Whitman says “Hold my [Russian River] chardonnay.”
trollhattan
@prostratedragon:
Quite the catch, eh? “Tell me, again, how many franchises you manage?” [flutters eyes]
The “eleventy-gazillion-dollar wine tab” thing is kind of a tell. Newsom owns a high-end winery that sells three-figure bottles. That’s his natural habitat, and I doubt he orders steaks “well done, with ketchup” (or probably, at all).
Rocks
@Anya: McMaster performed brilliantly as the commander of an armored company in the Battle of 35 Easting in the first Gulf War. Don’t know anything about his later career. However, he chose to diss Biden over Afghanistan, after seeing how Trump gave the country back to the Taliban, and that’s reason enough to deep six him.
trollhattan
Woot-woot-woot, shenanigan alert!
debbie
I’m guessing this spells the end of Nan Whaley’s run for governor.
Saddening.
Geminid
@trollhattan: This may be a good sign. It sounds like Elder thinks he’s losing.
SiubhanDuinne
O/T. Taking a moment away from MSNBC. They are airing a 9/11 documentary “The Memory Box.” I generally avoid these kinds of things because they so often tip over into the maudlin. This one is gritty and raw as hell, but so far not a hint of saccharine. Still, it’s hard to watch more than 25-30 minutes at a time. I keep remembering my ex-husband. He actually died (of natural causes) two years earlier, but he and his second wife had been colleagues and worked high up in one of the twin towers for years in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I’m sure dozens of their mutual friends/former colleagues were trapped in that horror. I’m glad Ken was spared that.
I detest what the phoney patriots have done to 9/11, and do my best to avoid their jingoism. But at the same time, I think it’s important to be mindful of what happened on that clear, crisp Tuesday morning 20 years ago. I shall watch this entire MSNBC documentary, because it’s really well done; but I think I’m going to have to watch it in four or five tranches.
Another Scott
PSA for those as confused as I am about what’s happening with the budget and reconciliation and the bipartisan infrastructure plan the past few months…
Wikipedia – Build Back Better Plan:
CTEPolicyWatch:
WH.gov – Biden’s FY22 Budget Proposal (74 page .pdf) – $6.011T total outlays.
So, contrary to my earlier comments, all the press has been talking about the last few months are elements of Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. But they don’t want to call it by its name. The “reconciliation” bill is called the “Build Back Better Act” in the legislation.
The FY22 budget is a separate battle (with numbers undoubtedly tweaked based on the BBBA). And the debt ceiling is a separate battle from that.
I regret the errors. Those responsible have been sacked.
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@debbie: That is sad. I hope that Cincinnati Mayor Cranley is clean.
Mary G
@dmsilev: Nothing says “astroturfed campaign being run out of Kansas” like thinking that having a Larry Elder event anywhere near the same zip code of Venice Beach is a good idea. It makes me laugh all over again just typing that. Too bad the egg wasn’t rotten and didn’t splash all over his face and chest.
I wish I thought they were going to make a serious effort to reform citizenship law, but I don’t. They’ll just kick the can down the road like they’ve been doing for 30+ years after Reagan’s deal. Schumer and Pelosi at least need to get a bill on the floor and make Republicans go on record as being against it. Immigrant groups I donate to here have had it up the wazoo with promises from national Democrats who only come around every two years.
debbie
@Geminid:
I know he’s not in the governor’s race, but this has the stink of Josh Mandel all over it.
Another Scott
In other news, …
Good, good.
Cheers,
Scott.
Sure Lurkalot
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m watching now. I agree, it’s hard in one view.
My banker was in one of the towers..Morgan Stanley. She survived but her retelling of her survival haunts me to this day.
Geminid
@debbie: I’m sorry to see Whaley in trouble, but if Cranley is up to the task Democrats could be advantaged by an easy primary. On the other side, ex-congressman Renacci is making a serious run at Governor DeWine and they may cut each other up in the primary contest. Between that one and the Senate primary, Ohio Republicans will spend a lot of money next year tearing each other down. They might not be singing “Kumbaya” when it’s over.
SiubhanDuinne
@Sure Lurkalot:
The collective PTSD must be immeasurable.
debbie
@Geminid:
?
Chetan Murthy
@Geminid: It might be the one saving grace of DeWine deciding to try to save his constituents’ lives: the GrOPer ones might not actually appreciate his efforts *grin*. I’m so sad at that. Truly I am.
Fair Economist
@debbie: If they ran a search warrant on Nan Whaley in 2013 and never filed charges, then they didn’t find anything and this is just dirty tricks.
Sure Lurkalot
@WaterGirl: Absolutely. Their visions don’t align and Biden gets to choose. The parade of neocon hacks the last couple of weeks has been unbearable. It’s one thing being wrong but being wrong for two decades?
Ken
@debbie: I thought accepting bribes was one of the requirements to be an Ohio politician. Or is that only in the legislature?
Another Scott
@Fair Economist: From debbie’s Cleveland.com link, that certainly seems to be the case.
Of course the GQP will try to throw dirt on any strong Democrat.
I hope Ohio’s voters don’t fall for it.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Baud:
The media loves to get dems to admit that something they accomplished in spite of complete conservative blocking was an error.
FIXITFY
Ruckus
@Chetan Murthy:
As do I.
Mike in NC
Today we attended an impressive internment ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery for the ashes of a fine neighbor who died last year of a sudden heart attack while in his early 70s. He was a marine infantryman in Vietnam who came home with several health issues (including exposure to Agent Orange) and after college and law school became an Army JAG officer, but he was first and foremost always a marine. They had on hand a Navy chaplain, a Marine Corps honor guard and bugler, etc. Our military really does excel at honoring the fallen.
I’ve no plan to have a bunch of relatives and friends and neighbors to go out of their way to attend my final internment when I finally kick the bucket some day (spent 30 years in the USNR). Just dump my ashes at a local sand dune where the sea turtles lay their eggs and I’ll be happy to be part of the “circle of life” as Disney calls it.
Ruckus
@Miss Bianca:
Bingo!
A person should know their capabilities and weaknesses.
In his case these seem to be one and the same.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Mary G:
Frankly, I want conservative pundits and pols to start fearing for their physical safety every time they go out in public, have a restaurant meal, start a car, etc. They don’t fear non-violence, and ignore the ballot box – they need to understand consequences in a hard way.
Beshear called a special session of the GOP supermajority legislature to deal with COVID because they ripped all the tools away from him. It has turned into a miserable circus, with every stupid COVID and antivax lie being amplified by drawling, unmasked spreadneck morons in committee. The useless fat fuck of a Senate President (my law classmate and former friend from a corrupt dynasty in an impoverished hellhole) The only thing keeping me sane is the fact that I’m in the south of Crete right now, listening to goats and chickens wake up outside my open balcony door as the sun rises (It’s cheap, too).
If I could swing it, I wouldn’t return.
Origuy
@trollhattan: I was working at Compaq when HP bought us. Some things changed for the better, if only because Compaq was run out of Texas and they didn’t understand Silicon Valley. We were happy to see Carly go, however. Meg wasn’t so bad. After her run for governor, she realized she wasn’t cut out for public office. She supported Hillary in 2016. She was politically fairly moderate and is friends with Jesse Jackson. He came to our building and spoke for Black History Month.
NotMax
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
From cretins to Cretans.
;)
HeleninEire
@SiubhanDuinne: As you know I am a NY’er. I was there the day it happened. I lost 1 friend and 2 acquaintances. For years I watched the retrospectives and the memorials. This year I will be out of the country. I am not sorry. I am exhausted. I can’t watch anymore.
Yutsano
I just got a report that wasn’t much of a report. But it sounds like her brother is trying to find some respite.
Oh and for context if no one has mentioned it: her parents are coming from Japan.
sab
@Ken: Only on the Republican side. When Dems do it they get indicted.
debbie
@Fair Economist:
Dirty tricks are very effective here. Josh Mandel won an election claiming his opponent (Kevin Boyce) was a Muslim, when in fact he was an African American church-attending Christian. He was confronted with the truth time and time again, but never acknowledged or apologized.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: For any job, paper qualifications are only half of the picture. It’s judgment that matters. I don’t think you and I are in disagreement here.