Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

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

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

An almost top 10,000 blog!

No one could have predicted…

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

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

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Let’s finish the job.

The willow is too close to the house.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Friday Morning Open Thread: Credit Where Due

Friday Morning Open Thread: Credit Where Due

by | 246 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

And finally… in light of the comments overnight about parents picking… interesting… names for their offspring, Lil Nas X’s father chose to name him after the Mitsubishi Montero.

(Was it only in the Midwest, in the 1980s, that people made procreation jokes about kids named ‘Ford’ or ‘Porsche’ or even ‘Mercury’?)

Reader Interactions

246Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    As I mentioned in the late night thread, the MJ crew thinks they’ll reach a deal so they have moved on to criticizing Dems about branding.

  3. 3.

    hueyplong

    Anne, I think Mercedes is named after old man Porsche’s daughter, so turnabout is fair play.

    But I agree it would be odd to name your kid 320i.

  6. 6.

    hueyplong

    @Baud: Seeing comments here about what MJ thinks calls to mind people who pull their hair or cut themselves.  We understand they’re acting under some kind of compulsion, but it seems odd and self-defeating to us ignorant outsiders.

  7. 7.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    OT but possibly of interest. a guy in my writer group is getting ready to turn his books into podcasts. In this interview, he talks about stuff like technology selection, etc.

    I heard him read the first book in this series. The book has a narrator who’s funny and snarky, and Alex reads him very well. You can tell he’s had actor training. So I think the podcast will be good when it eventually arrives.

  9. 9.

    hueyplong

    @Baud: Agreement on that.  I guess my real beef is disappointment that people at MSNBC who make programming decisions see MJ as a good fit for a portion of its demographic.

    I haven’t ever gone past the first hosts-talking-over-each-other to make a FoxLite talkng point before wondering what’s on TCM.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    @hueyplong:

    I watch a lot less of cable than I used to.  When you don’t watch for a spell, it becomes obvious that there is a lot of loud talking by everyone, and it gets annoying. That includes people I like and when I agree with what they’re saying.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    It’s October 1st

     

    Come on..

    Give relief to parents across the country.

    Tell us that Pfizer is good for 5-11 year olds ??????

     

    Make that announcement

  18. 18.

    Baud

    I’m very happy that Dolly Parton isn’t one of those musicians who went off the deep end as they got older.   She’s a treasure.

  19. 19.

    BC in Illinois

    On a different topic (from HuffPost):

    Alex Jones Just Lost 2 Sandy Hook Cases
    A judge issued default judgments — a rarity in the legal world — against Jones and Infowars after the conspiracy theorist failed to produce discovery records.

    Judge Maya Guerra Gamble on Monday issued her ruling for default judgments against Jones in two different cases, which means he and the conspiracy-theory-spewing outlet Infowars have been found liable for all damages and a jury will now be convened to determine how much he will owe the plaintiffs. The new rulings became public Thursday.

    . . . Jones’ Sandy Hook legal woes [began] in 2018 when parents Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa filed a defamation lawsuit related to Jones’ continued lies that the 2012 school shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead was a “false flag” hoax filled with “crisis actors.”

    “We learn about [so-called] death penalty sanctions in law school as more of a theory, and it’s almost unheard of to have them handed down in a case like this,” Ogden [ a lawyer HuffPost consulted ] said in an emailed statement. “However, the Sandy Hook cases are unique. It is extremely rare that a party (Alex Jones and Infowars) is ordered by the Court to comply with discovery, is sanctioned for failing to obey with the Court’s multiple Order(s), and then continues to blatantly disregard the Court’s authority by continuously refusing to comply.”

    ETA: Beaten by Baud!  (BBB).

  20. 20.

    Jo Jo las Orejas

    Buenos días desde el Parque Estatal Navajo. Con suerte, fue nuestra última noche durmiendo en mi minivan. Llevamos 28 días de gira. Ahora es el mes de mi cumpleaños. Quiero regresar hoy a mi estado de nacimiento. Anoche estuvo frío y lluvioso. Éramos los únicos en el campamento.

  21. 21.

    Geminid

    @Baud: The civil lawsuit against the organizers of the Charlottesville Unite the Right” rally, Sines v. Kessler, goes to trial at the Federal District Court in Charlottesville on October 25. The lawsuit has already put financial pressure on defendants such as Richard Spencer and the League of the South. I hope commenter Honus will keep us posted about the trial, and the security presence downtown. His law office is nearby.

    I think I will stay away on weekdays. My beat up Honda looks kind of like a bomb.

  23. 23.

    catfishncod

    (Was it only in the Midwest, in the 1980s, that people made procreation jokes about kids named ‘Ford’ or ‘Porsche’ or even ‘Mercury’?)

    The 1990’s movie version of The Postman (not terrible, but the book is better) introduced a character with the full name Ford Lincoln Mercury. Given that he implied his mother did not finish elementary school before the apocalypse hit, I think a commentary was meant by the script adapter….

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    A few programming notes.

    1) Saturday on TCM – 100th Anniversary of Fleischer Animation.
    Part 1: 9:45 a.m. Eastern.
    Part 2: 10:45 a.m. Eastern.
    .

    2) Also, for old time film freaks, the documentary This is Francis X. Bushman airs Monday at 12:30 a.m.

    3) While poking around elsewhere, noticed that Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants is (back?) on Prime. If you have kiddies, engrossing family fun. If you don’t, sit back and enjoy in order to scratch your non-Disney animation itch. Do not be put off that it’s a foreign production – there’s no dialogue!

  26. 26.

    CaseyL

    Good morning, BJers! In Bangor it rained like crazy yesterday, cutting short my hope of exploring the city. May still do so today on my way to Machias.

    I am shocked, shocked! That 99% of the MSM’s political reporters, pundits, and analysts have no goddamn idea what they’re  talking about.

  28. 28.

    Geminid

    @germy: Guliani has been getting the cold shoulder from fair weather friends like trump and Fox News. I wonder if the word was out that he is going down.

  30. 30.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: Well, in some ways they’re not wrong. They should be calling it something like “The Jobs and More Bill”, and talking about the yearly cost of $350 billion and how that’s half of what the defense budget costs us every year, plus they’re planning on paying for it by repealing Trump’s irresponsible tax cuts.  They should be talking up the climate part, and pushing back on the idea that the things in the BBB bill are “soft”. Lowering the price of prescription drugs for people on Medicare is fucking popular – talk it up! Providing more and better elder care is popular – talk it up! Climate change mitigation measures are popular – talk them up!  As much as I hate this, push the press on calling it a “childcare bill”, which is what I keep hearing on NPR over and over again.

  31. 31.

    germy

    @NotMax:

    I’m a big fan of Fleischer’s Superman cartoons.

    And interestingly enough, they all begin with “A never ending battle for truth and justice!”   (the “American Way” part is a more recent and unfortunate addition to our comic book culture.)

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @Soprano2: Every poll I’ve seen says the bill is already popular.

    The big problem with talking up the things that are in it is they are going to have to cut back on some of those things to get it passed.

  33. 33.

    germy

    @debbie:

    He now has a “cameo” account.

    Which means if you pay him a small fee, he’ll record a small video greeting for you or a loved one.

    He apparently has alimony payments to various ex-wives, as well as an expensive cigar habit.

  34. 34.

    lowtechcyclist

    It occurs to me that Manchin and Sinema are acting more like lobbyists than legislators.

    Legislators represent the people (more or less, of course) and generally aren’t shy about where they stand on issues. They may have to vote for bills that give them less than what they want, but you generally know where they’re starting from.

    Lobbyists tell legislators what they want, rather than the public.

    Manchin says he told Schumer what he wanted and didn’t want in the reconciliation bill, but he didn’t tell his constituents. Sinema made the same claim afterwards, though I expect she was BSing. But she also hasn’t said where she stands on any of the content of the reconciliation bill.

    They’re lobbyists who also happen to be U.S. Senators. That’s one sweet arrangement.

  37. 37.

    germy

    @Geminid:

     I wonder if the word was out that he is going down.

    I remember a nature documentary.  A group of monkeys hanging around a watering hole.  One of the monkeys was snatched by an alligator or crocodile or whatever it was.  After a brief struggle, the monkey, soaking wet, made it back to the group.  And they all shunned him.  Backed away from him a little.

    This is happening to Rudy.

  39. 39.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: I guess more what I’m talking about is pushing back at reporters when they’re being interviewed. Challenge them on calling it a childcare bill, which is what I’m hearing on NPR. They keep saying it’s “soft” infrastructure, which sounds negative to me, and is meant to sound negative. I think the problem is that although the things that are in it are popular, most people don’t actually know much about what’s there. Yesterday I ran upon a group in the office talking about how “that 3.5 trillion bill is going to mean you’ll be taxed by the mile for every mile you drive”. I keep seeing that on Facebook, too. Fox News is telling people that’s what’s in there. I told them it’s a demonstration project, not an actual tax. I don’t know if they believed me or not, but at least they trust me not to lie to them.

  40. 40.

    debbie

    Ohio at its GOP-Swampiest: Gov. Mike DeWine’s son refuses to recuse himself from presiding over the lawsuits against the absurd redistricting map approved by his father. ?

  41. 41.

    germy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    He has a habit of saying one thing under oath and something else in front of the media.

    I would assume he’ll say anything to save his own wrinkled skin.

    I’m glad David Dinkins lived long enough to witness at least some of his fall.

  44. 44.

    Baud

    @Soprano2: Remember when this was all one bill and Biden and the Dems called it infrastructure, and the media went nuts because it wasn’t only traditional male-dominated jobs infrastructure, and it became a huge distraction.  That’s exactly what would happen if we pitched this as childcare, because parts of the bill include climate change.

    Media framing sucks, but going to war with the media over it doesn’t always serve our interests.  We can’t fight every battle at once.

  45. 45.

    Michael Cain

    @hueyplong: 

    But I agree it would be odd to name your kid 320i.

    I once knew a guy named “M4” on his birth certificate. For most official purposes he had to spell it out, “MFOUR”.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    In an ideal world, where we didn’t have only a bare majority over an insane political party (or the anti-democratic filibuster rule), we wouldn’t be trying to do so many disparate things in one or two bills.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    @Soprano2: I think the purported “social safety net” provisions in this bill are actual judicious investments in our human capital and should be framed as such, albeit with better words.

    And you are right when you say climate mitigation measures are popular. A lot of people are already working in clean energy industries like solar and wind generation. A vigorous build out of our clean energy capacity will produce many more such jobs, medium and short term benefits that go along with meeting a critical long term need.

  49. 49.

    Geeno

    I would point to “Ford Prefect” from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

    Also Mercedes was Emil Jellinek’s daughter. He was designed the new car line for then Daimler-Benz that became so popular it was made part of the company name.

  50. 50.

    Reboot

    If you have to be named after a car, at least Montero sounds cool, and until Anne Laurie reminded me, I’d forgotten that there was such a thing as the Mitsubishi Montero.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    Child care is an important new piece for Democrats nationally- it’s an up and coming issue for them- so I don’t think they’d mind NPR focusing on that. What’s been interesting to me about the national coverage is how they present it as new (radical!)  when it’s really not. Ohio already has a child care subsidy for  lower income parents. Old timey Republicans supported child care subsidies in the past because it was an incentive for lower income people to work. Low wage workers wouldn’t spend their entire pay on child care, so would take and keep jobs. Tens of millions of people are already in child care subsidy programs, it’s just that there wasn’t this level of attention and focus by national Democrats.

  54. 54.

    Hildebrand

    @Baud: I choose to be a prophet who makes all of my predictions about things that have already happened, but date them in such a way that they are still yet to happen.

  55. 55.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax:

    Also, for old time film freaks, the documentary This is Francis X. Bushman airs Monday at 12:30 a.m. 

    Yes please!

  56. 56.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Okay, yeah, he’s symptom-free and fully vaccinated and all, so no big deal, but I couldn’t help letting out a little giggle of satisfaction on hearing the news that SCJ Brett Kavanaugh has tested positive for Covid and will miss the Court’s in-person opening day on Monday.

  58. 58.

    sixthdoctor

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    symptom-free

    Oh, well. Maybe it’ll screw up his taste buds just enough so his favorite IPA tastes like Bud Light Platinum for the rest of his life.

  59. 59.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I don’t disagree that the childcare part of the bill is needed and important. What I object to is the framing that this $3.5 trillion dollar bill is “childcare and medical “, as if that’s all there is. I honestly feel that I don’t hear Democrats selling what’s in this bill that much. They can’t just assume that people will like it because the provisions in it are popular. If people don’t know what’s actually in there, it’s not popular!!! Whether they like it or not, they need to keep telling people what’s in the bill for them over and over again. Like I said, what I’m hearing is that the bill has a mileage tax it in, that’s going to cause you to be taxed on every mile you drive. That’s not true, but that’s what people here think is in the bill. IMHO Democrats in general need some training in how to sell their proposals, because I can guarantee you that Fox News is spending part of every day lying to people about what’s in the bill.

  60. 60.

    artem1s

    @Kay:

    Old timey Republicans supported child care subsidies in the past because it was an incentive for lower income people to work.

    it also is tremendously popular with rural whites and suburban chamber of commerce types. white flight was fine when gas and housing was cheap 50-100 miles from city centers.  And when there were still jobs other than food and service industries nearby.  but the 2009 Great Recession put a lot of people out of work and their homes. housing vouchers are a necessity in rural/suburban communities as are other subsidies that working poor white voters typically would scorn as ‘hand outs’ to ‘urban’ takers and slackers. the framing issue is getting these folks to understand these programs they are using are the same ones they bitch about blacks and immigrants taking all the money out of. I kind of applaud Biden’s people for understanding the child care funds in the COVID bills and these stimulus bills are a way of reframing how we and the media talk about basic child and family subsidies and who and who isn’t going to benefits from having more money in that pot. similar to the NJ school system that decided the paperwork surrounding means testing for free lunches wasn’t worth the dollar and human cost.  so they started with a level playing field and give everyone lunch and stopped calling it a handout altogether – just another direct cost covered under the many ways public schools are funded. anything that reframes the damage done by GQP trickle down framing is a great idea

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Meanwhile, it’s October! As a freshman in high school (1956) I memorised this poem, A Vagabond Song, by the Canadian poet Bliss Carman. Have always loved it, and think of it every year at this time.

    There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood—
    Touch of manner, hint of mood;
    And my heart is like a rhyme,
    With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.

    The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry
    Of bugles going by.
    And my lonely spirit thrills
    To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.

    There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir;
    We must rise and follow her,
    When from every hill of flame
    She calls and calls each vagabond by name.

    It used to be my favourite month, but it’s become decidedly bittersweet over the years. Still a glorious time of year, though. Happy October, everyone!

  62. 62.

    Mustang Bobby

    Warning: Shameless self-promotion:  My play Dark Twist has been published by Next Stage Press.

    “Dark Twist is a drama about coming to terms with the past. Set at an all-boys boarding school in New England – a school not only steeped in tradition, but also in illicit scandals and harrowing secrets – Richard Barlow and Jeff Arnold, former classmates and now teachers, meet in one of their old classrooms to reminisce. Enter Jim Robertson, the man who hired them both. Tensions intensify as the three begin a fierce dance culminating in a relentless series of revelations, each more startling than the last.”

    We now return you to your regularly scheduled commenting.

  66. 66.

    frosty

    @Baud: ​
    I’m so done with predictions. Happen, or happen not. There is no prophesying.

    Absolutely. 90% of punditry (and 50% of sports talk) is blathering on about what could happen. When I see an Op-Ed headline that contains the words “should” or “must” I figure the writer couldn’t find anything else to say that day, and it’s not worth my time.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @artem1s:

    that working poor white voters typically would scorn

    Absolutely. The people who get child care subsidies where I live are white people, because it’s mostly white people. Same is true of Medicaid for their children. They prefer Medicaid to their workplace health care plan because it’s cheaper for them – it’s about 80 to 120 a month if they’re over 150% of poverty- and it’s comprehensive. Providers responded to the Medicaid expansion too- there are more Medicaid providers now. We (now) have a 100% Medicaid dental clinic. I know the dentist who set it up- his model is “Medicaid”.
    Political media should cover that aspect of the white working class more instead of the “culture war” stuff they love. There’s a huge group of white people coming up who have had government-provided health care their entire childhood. Does that change how they think about government provided health care? My anecdotal experience suggests it does.

  72. 72.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mustang Bobby:

    That sounds really interesting! I’m a sucker for plays and novels in an academic setting. Any chance a performance might be streamed at some point?

  75. 75.

    Kay

    Asked to chose among 20 policy priorities, 39 percent of respondents picked direct government price negotiations with drug manufacturers first. That was followed in order of preference by increased federal spending to prepare for pandemics, more resources for long-term and home-based care and expanding Medicare to include dental, vision and hearing care. All of the proposals are included in the sweeping $3.5 trillion social spending package, but have been hotly contested as the Democratic caucus splits over ways to lower the overall price tag and garner enough votes.
    Only 23 percent of poll respondents rank rebuilding roads, bridges and airports “extremely important,” and just 15 percent said high-speed internet in rural communities was vital, despite those issues being cornerstones of Biden’s agenda and key provisions in the $500 billion infrastructure package.
    “When I looked at the priorities, I was actually quite surprised because I thought infrastructure was supposed to be number one. A lot of these are very personal things that came out,” Blendon said. “Long-term care doesn’t usually rank that high, but thousands have just died in nursing homes.”

    So the whole media narrative about “soft” infrastructure being unpopular while manly men in hard hats is popular was exactly wrong :)

    People care about personal things. Who knew?

  77. 77.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    I let my TV subscription with AT&T expire after the NBA playoffs, so I don’t see cable or Sunday shows anymore. Food tastes better, I sleep easily, and the colors of the world are more vibrant.

    It seems that my preferred manner of receiving information doesn’t make for good ratings.

  78. 78.

    Jager

    @hueyplong:

    Mercedes was the daughter of Emil Jellinek, the Jewish banker who financed Otto Benz and Gottlieb Daimler to get the company going. Her grandfather was one of Europe’s preeminent Rabbinical scholars. Ironic that Hitler was being driven around in a car named after a little Jewish girl. MB registered the Mercedes name in 1902.

  79. 79.

    SFAW

    @Michael Cain:

    I once knew a guy named “M4” on his birth certificate.

    He’s a commenter here, you know. His father was too lazy to spell it out, and decided against “Caleb.

    ETA: OK, technically, his birth name was “Major Major Major,” and rose to the appropriate rank in the Army. But his father was prescient about that stuff.

  82. 82.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Just today I heard that the state government here finally submitted the paperwork for the Medicaid expansion that the voters OK’d in 2020. The state government tried hard to resist it. I think they know that once it goes through, lots of people are going to be happy about it and they’ll never be able to undo it. The non-profit public health clinic here bought a building that used to have a grocery store in it in anticipation of the Medicaid expansion. They know they’re going to have a lot more clients, and that’s a good thing. I will never understand why Republicans don’t want poor working people to have access to health care. Instead, they keep lying to their voters that it’s only people who don’t work who are on Medicaid! I always tell people who gripe about that “The people who actually don’t work at all are already on Medicaid. The expansion helps the people who work who don’t have health care through their employer and are too poor to afford to buy it themselves. Don’t you want to help them?”

  84. 84.

    Kay

    Five Justices Did This Because They Could
    Emergency appeals have become the tool of choice for the conservative movement.
    By Adam Serwer

    Giant whiny crybaby Justice Alito specifically called out this article as offensive to him so everyone should read it and circulate it widely.

    Badge of honor for Adam Serwer as far as I’m concerned.

  85. 85.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Happy 97th birthday to former President (and arguably best ex-President ever!) Jimmy Carter!

  86. 86.

    germy

    And now I see that Greenwald has been leaving comments under the nym “Alfredo Garcia” over at LawyersGuns&Money.

    Are we not good enough for him to sockpuppet?

  88. 88.

    SFAW

    Amazingly enough (for me), I am not super-pessimistic today re: the infrastructure bills. I am hoping Manchema et al do nothing to harsh my mellow (so to speak).

    I trust and have faith in the Speaker’s political abilities, but sometimes that faith is tested (but not broken).

  90. 90.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Baud: My In-Laws in Texas have MSNBC on 24/7.  Better than FuxNews but still it’s exhausting when we visit.  I think we are gonna set limits for tv time (like children) when we go out there for Xmas.

  91. 91.

    sab

    @Kay: ” You lie” shouted Alito at first term Obama’s State of the Union. What a whiny twerp. Whiny twerp is not a characteristic that I admire in Supreme Court Justices, but it does seem to be the new normal characteristic.

  92. 92.

    Baud

    @SFAW:

    Agreed. Although I’m not going to put it all on her to save the country.  Manchin.and Sinema have to do their part.

  93. 93.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    Was it actually determined that “Alfredo Garcia” was/is Glemmy? I thought there was strong evidence, but not conclusive. But I didn’t pore over the thread, so I might have missed key info.

  94. 94.

    germy

    @sab:

    That was Alito?  I thought it was one of the republican senators.

    Was Alito the one who whispered “not true” during the SOTU?

  96. 96.

    Elizabelle

    @SiubhanDuinne:   Yeah.

    Good reason for President Carter to be trending.  Happy 97th, Jimmy.  You have not been appreciated enough in your time.  History will be kinder to you.

  97. 97.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    The non-profit public health clinic here bought a building that used to have a grocery store in it in anticipation of the Medicaid expansion.

    It needs tons more attention, studies, media interviews, etc. I think the dental care for children is life changing. Cared-for teeth are such a class marker. Dentists harangue parents about children’s diets too and nagging works.

  100. 100.

    germy

    @SFAW:

    They’re convinced over there it’s been GG with a variety of nyms.

    I think it could be one of his fans, the ones who follow him on twitter and agree with everything he says.

    I don’t know if LGM moderators can see where the comments originate.

  101. 101.

    sab

    @germy: I stand corrected. Joe Walsh.  But ” not true” was still out of line, so my gist is okay even if specifics off.

    ETA They should be writing out well researched and well considered opinions, not opining in public off the cuff. It is inappropriate, and propriety is really all they have.

  102. 102.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    I have some faith that Manchin, in the end, will do as close to the right thing (relative to our own preferences) as he can. I hope I’m right, although he does tend to spike my blood pressure from time to time.

    Sinema? I can’t tell if she’s just a preening asshole/nutjob/attention junkie, unmindful of consequences, or if she’s just trying to make a mavericky name for herself but will eventually “come home.” Naturally, I’m hoping for the latter.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    @sab:

    I wish that were true (because I would love it) but Alito didn’t yell you lie. Some other asshole did. Alito took offense at Obama calling out their gross embrace of corruption with Citizens, so Alito did a low key mouthed whine. He has a whole array of whininess. He really should resign. That job is too stressful for him.

  106. 106.

    Baud

    @SFAW:

    As I keep assuming, I don’t think Sinema will be the lone holdout, so the key is Manchin.

    Chris Hayes played a clip of Manchin saying liberals need to win more elections of they want what they want.  I don’t disagree with that.

  107. 107.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    I think it could be one of his fans, the ones who follow him on twitter and agree with everything he says.

    Huh — I didn’t know that Betty Cracker commented over there. [Just kidding, Betty.]

  108. 108.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Elizabelle:

    Good reason for President Carter to be trending.

    Amen. Even though he’s not the best President in American history, he’s with little doubt the best human being to occupy the Oval Office since Lincoln.

  109. 109.

    oatler

    @Hildebrand: 
    Scrooge: “Old ghost, are you telling me of things yet to come, or telling me of things that already happened, but date them in such a way that they are still yet to happen?”

  113. 113.

    Ken

    @germy:

    They’re convinced over there it’s been GG with a variety of nyms.

    I think it could be one of his fans, the ones who follow him on twitter and agree with everything he says.

    You could both be right, if he’s been acting as his #1 through 100 fans on twitter.

    The alternative is troubling, since it means a Russian bot farm has learned to pass whatever “are you a human” checks twitter and the LGM commenting system use.

  114. 114.

    hueyplong

    @SFAW: My crappy memory was worse, FWIW.  It’s good to learn new things, especially when they’re replacing wrong things.

  115. 115.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I can’t help thinking that a lot of this drama is to get it established in the public’s mind that good government isn’t going to happen unless the Democrats have a supermajority like California, that the GOP and the DINOS will just fuck up things for the LUZs until that happens.

  116. 116.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Ohm fuck him. He was taunting them. They didn’t need to “win more elections” to jam his trickery and too-clever manuevering on the infrastructure bill, as it turns out. He had no intention of offering anything on the other bill- he said as much. He kept adding conditions- first, he’ll need a rewrite of the tax code, he announces WEDNESDAY. His goal was to push it past January so it would die.

    What nerve. He offered them nothing and demanded they pass his bill. They wouldn’t do it and good for them.

  117. 117.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Ken:The alternative is troubling, since it means a Russian bot farm has learned to pass whatever “are you a human” checks twitter and the LGM commenting system use.

    Well with Twitter the standards of humanity on display there are so low I can see how an AI would have trouble telling the difference.

  120. 120.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I’m glad they are pushing the negotiations, but I’d prefer to make people like Manchin less relevant.  I’d like to rely less on leverage and more on domination.  Whether that’s achievable is another story, but that should be the goal.

  121. 121.

    germy

    @Kay:

    Yes.  He’s a paid spoiler, like Sinema.  They use delaying tactics to please their donors in the pharmaceutical and extractive industries.

  122. 122.

    Geminid

    @SFAW: I haven’t followed this, but can make a general observation that Greenwald is a very bitter man with a lot of time on his hands.

  123. 123.

    Ken

    @oatler: In James Morrow’s “The Confessions of Ebenezer Scrooge”, the reformed miser is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Subjunctive, Imperative, Conditional, Interrogative, Present Perfect, and other tenses and moods. As Marley explains, “Three years ago we confined ourselves to the indicative, but reality is more complicated.”

  124. 124.

    Kay

    @sab:

    No. Really? I wish he had said it. Maybe this year. He walks around with a giant chip on his shoulder. It’s just a matter of time.

  127. 127.

    JWR

    Jeebus. New video in the Gabby Petito case, (on CBS Mornings. Can’t find the video right now), shows officers discussing whether or not what they saw might turn into a case of “battered boyfriend syndrome”.

  128. 128.

    Kent

    @hueyplong:Anne, I think Mercedes is named after old man Porsche’s daughter, so turnabout is fair play.

    But I agree it would be odd to name your kid 320i.

    Mercedes is also a fairly common Latin name in Italian and Spanish.  For example, Mercedes Sosa

  130. 130.

    L85NJGT

    Apparently Manchin has been against QE all along. Sounds like something he made up last night to save face.

  131. 131.

    Mike in NC

    TV says today is the day the USPS becomes 50% less efficient thanks to the Trumpist shithead who is still the “Postmaster”. Why exactly is that fucker still there?

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @germy:

    Good faith negotiations operate a certain way. Manchin and Sinema and the conservative Democrats in the House have not done any of the things one does in a good faith negotiation, specific offer, list demands, entertain objections from the othe side, modify offer or tell other side it’s this or nothing. It would be insane for the progressive caucus to trust them based upon their behavior the last 6 months. Their objective was to kill the bill. They have failed, so far. It baffles me why they can’t just approach this like normal people. Bring them your fucking offer! Let’s go! It’s like they PREFER trickery and dishonesty. It’s not even particularly effective and it’s so complicated.

  134. 134.

    germy

    @Mike in NC: Why exactly is that fucker still there?

    To drive people away from the post office and into the arms of private delivery companies he’s financially involved with.

  136. 136.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Kay: Also don’t think Mr. Bought and Sold should be lecturing about winning elections. He’s Exhibit A to decisions like Buckley and Citizens United that have undermined our elections.

  137. 137.

    germy

    @Kay:

    It’s effective, because their goal is to slow down and water down the process enough to give their donors time to respond.

    We keep asking “Why are they throwing sand in the gears?  Don’t they want the machinery to run?”   They don’t.

  138. 138.

    Kay

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    He should have held off on the taunting the other side until they actually folded and passed his bill, but he’s a graceless oaf who loves to hear himself talk so he couldn’t resist.

  139. 139.

    Kent

    @Baud:I’m very happy that Dolly Parton isn’t one of those musicians who went off the deep end as they got older.   She’s a treasure.

    There are so many who do.  It is refreshing and we need the good case studies like Dolly Parton and say…Jimmy Carter to refute the notion that age makes people into conservative assholes.

  140. 140.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kent:

    Mercedes is also a fairly common Latin name in Italian and Spanish. For example, Mercedes Sosa

    Mercédès is a character in Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    @germy:

    Progressives took a big hit on infrastructure because they stripped out most of the climate change pieces. They see the two bills as one package which is how it was presented to them (and which also makes sense). They have been above board and transparent in this whole process. The other side have behaved shamefully towards their colleagues. That shouldn’t be rewarded.

    The interesting part to me is how the House leaders are backing the progs. This isn’t 50/50. It’s 95-5 and the progs have the 95. They have Pelosi and Clyburn.

  144. 144.

    lowtechcyclist

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Happy 97th birthday to former President (and arguably best ex-President ever!) Jimmy Carter!

    97th, wow! Wonder if he’ll make it to 100?

    Hard to believe that just 20 years ago, John Adams was still our longest-lived President.  He lived 90 years and just over 8 months.

    Since then, Adams has been outlived by Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush Sr.

  146. 146.

    SFAW

    (Was it only in the Midwest, in the 1980s, that people made procreation jokes about kids named ‘Ford’ or ‘Porsche’ or even ‘Mercury’?)

    Better than naming your kid “1949 Nash Ambassador,” I guess.

    NB: According to legend, the ’49 Nash Ambassador had seats which, when folded down properly, turned into rather large bed. Something like nine feet long, if I recall.

  147. 147.

    Kay

    @germy:

    The progressive caucus changed the rules in their caucus to impose more discipline. They have an 80/20 rule now. If 80% of the caucus supports, the other 20 have to go along. It was smart. It’s actually how Republicans do it. They don’t hold together because they’re more self disciplined. They put in a bunch of rules.

  149. 149.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Kay: PSAmerica noted yesterday that failing to get anything done (neither bill passes) is a MUCH bigger danger for the Moderates than it is for the Progressives. Progressives have most of the leverage (and support from Dem voters) and they know it.

  151. 151.

    RobertB

    @Kay: Grew up broke, and agree 100% WRT dentistry.  Because I didn’t get the dental care I didn’t know I needed, I now get to have my teeth cleaned every three months.  Or as the saying goes, “Only the ones I want to keep.”  I was lucky in the orthodontics department and didn’t need braces.  Two of my brothers were not so lucky.

  153. 153.

    SFAW

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    PSAmerica noted yesterday that failing to get anything done (neither bill passes) is a MUCH bigger danger for the Moderates than it is for the Progressives. Progressives have most of the leverage (and support from Dem voters) and they know it.

    Not much solace if the failure to launch results in a Rethug takeover of both chambers.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I don’t know about “leverage”. I think they did the Next Right Thing which was jamming infrastructure and if they can put some right things together they’ll get some of what they want and Biden will get most of his agenda.

    I don’t care what Manchin gets.

  155. 155.

    Betty Cracker

    The narrative about every intra-Dem skirmish gets crammed into a “progressives vs. centrists” framing, regardless of whether it fits. It’s like the law of gravity or something. Y’all watch: once it’s resolved, that framing will be used to declare winners and losers, as if it’s AOC vs. Sinema instead of a couple of Dem senators out of 50 in the caucus and maybe 10 Dem clowns in the House out of 220 or whatever. It’s inevitable.

  156. 156.

    SFAW

    @dmsilev:

    Send thoughts and prayers.

    Me, too, although they’re probably not the same thoughts and prayers that Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Traitor Caucus is sending.

  157. 157.

    WaterGirl

    @germy: I was just riffing off the predictions are hard conversation.  I’m glad you linked the article and I hope they are right.

    I am personally fine with speculation about what might happen to fill-in-the-blank in the future, with reasonable guesses based on clues.

    It’s the attempts to predict what’s going to happen with a specific negotiation that makes me bonkers, because we really don’t know.

    As I said yesterday, the ones who know aren’t talking, and the ones who are talking really don’t know.

  158. 158.

    Baud

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    @SFAW:

    Yeah, that analysis is kind of dumb.  Everything is almost by definition a bigger risk for moderates than progressives because of the usual nature of their districts.  Passing both bills is also a bigger risk for moderates because any successful demonization of the law by the GOP will affect moderates more.

  159. 159.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker:

    The narrative about every intra-Dem skirmish gets crammed into a “progressives vs. centrists” framing,

    What sometimes annoys me — I know, who’d’a thunk I’d get annoyed? — at the characterization of conservatives as “moderates.”

  160. 160.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Baud: Exactly.  If we can pickup two more Senators, and remove the filibuster it not only opens things up for all kinds of legislation (Voting Rights etc.) but also the people we have to placate end up being significantly further to the Left end of the Dem caucus.

  161. 161.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    In a rational world, the so-called “moderates would be in districts/states where there was a sizable non-tribal-Repub contingent. In other words, rational voters who voted on issues, rather than “Demon-rats BAD!!!!”

    I hope to live long enough to see that again.

  162. 162.

    Tony Jay

    @dmsilev:

    It’s not at all noticeable to the Press or the TV News over here in the UK that our leaky colostomy bag of a Prime Minister hasn’t been seen very much since he returned from New York, where I believe I’m correct in saying he’d been canoodling with the Brazilian delegation in (failed) search of some kind of emergency food airlift to keep Brexitania fed.

    The Brazilian delegation that was absolutely rife with Covid.

    Funny how a Conservative PM can just drop of the radar for a week without anyone on the “What is the Prime Minister doing, thinking and planning?” beat raising so much as an eyebrow. It’s almost like they know something we’re not allowed to.

  163. 163.

    Kay

    @RobertB:

    I think about it longer term because I see the 50 year olds who never got dental care here and they lose their teeth by 50 or 60. These kids won’t lose their teeth. Wow. Life changing.

  164. 164.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Baud: Moderates aren’t in safe districts, Progressives are.  Also the Progressives are going along with their party, voters and President.  It’s the Moderates who aren’t.  And the policies in the BBB plan are popular even among voters in the Moderates’ districts!

  165. 165.

    Kay

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I think that HAS come thru, that the progressives are supporting the Biden agenda, partly because Manchin spends so much time trashing the Biden agenda. He sort of handed them that.

  167. 167.

    No name

    @CaseyL: Wow you are really doing a tour of the state!  Go to Helen’s restaurant in Machias if you get a chance for the wild blueberry pie.

  168. 168.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: It’s the attempts to predict what’s going to happen with a specific negotiation that makes me bonkers, because we really don’t know.

    And psychohistory is no help at that small a scale.

    (I’ve started watching the Foundation adaptation, and am enjoying it so far.)

  169. 169.

    SFAW

    @No name:

    Go to Helen’s restaurant if you get a chance for the wild blueberry pie.

    One of the oft-missed (as in “I miss them”) places was “Irene’s Lousy Food & Warm Beer,” near the Pier in OOB.

  172. 172.

    Baud

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I agree with all that.  I’m just saying that an analysis of leverage that doesn’t have any grounding in real world conditions doesn’t make much sense.

  173. 173.

    Tony Jay

    @SFAW:

    “Whiffle… non necibit, alas, as Hippocratus once said… mehhhh… Baron Greenback… I say to you… entirely clear… browncakes… is that you Mother?”

    “Thank you, Prime Minister. Good to see you on the mend.”

    “Froggy…”

  175. 175.

    Betty Cracker

    @SFAW: Exactly right. “Moderates” are people like Amy Klobuchar, Jon Tester and Mark Kelly, and they’re on board with the “moderate” president’s agenda.

  177. 177.

    Kay

    Rebecca Leber
    @rebleber
    ·21h
    if I’m reading this right, quite a few of Manchin’s conditions on climate from his leaked memo are already met:
    Doesn’t touch fossil fuel subsidies
    Carbon capture included
    Manchin’s committee gets jurisdiction over the clean energy standard

    Media frame everything as the moderates winning but accepting the clean energy standard at all is a win for progressives. They wanted that. It means Manchin moved, not the progressives.
    They’re right too- it’s meaningless without that piece.

  178. 178.

    L85NJGT

    @Baud:

    It’s more complicated than that, but I believe the political calculation added up to wrong fight, wrong war.

  179. 179.

    Ken

    @Tony Jay: Funny how a Conservative PM can just drop of the radar for a week

    He’s probably negotiating the purchase of his the PM’s new yacht and ship-of-state. Have they chosen a name yet?  I kind of liked Lord Dalhousie.

  181. 181.

    catclub

    @Kent: and we need the good case studies like Dolly Parton and say…Jimmy Carter to refute the notion that age makes people into conservative assholes.

     

    also Pete Seeger

  182. 182.

    J R in WV

    @Mustang Bobby: 

    Wow! Congratulations.

    My little brother went to a classy prep school when I got drafted and left college and freed up all that money. St Paul’s I think — was pretty full of dark secrets IIRC. A great uncle was headmaster and Episcopal priest, I suspect that’s how he got in promptly after I left college the first time.

  184. 184.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I see the MSM is sucking Sinema’s something as the new female mavericky John McCain. And she didn’t have to become an North Vietnamese ace by crashing five Navy fighters to do it.

    I suppose we are going to have come up with a whole new language to describe a man doing what otherwise would be considered a sex act, but really just is just the guy humiliating himself worshiping power, with a woman now we have more women in positions of power. Boot lickers got to lick footwear after all.

  186. 186.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Tony Jay: Really, I though COVID kicked Johnson’s bottom pretty hard last year.  That really such a clown that even nearly dying doesn’t get threw his head?

  187. 187.

    Ken

    @schrodingers_cat: Oh yes, I was riffing on the UK government’s original announcement of the yacht, which leaned heavily on the idea that India, China, Singapore, and other nations would be impressed by a British ship sailing into their waters to negotiate trade deals.  Dalhousie was just one of a (large) number of choices to emphasize the historical and political tone-deafness of the idea.

  188. 188.

    Tony Jay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Global Britain. Imperial delusion wrapped in the tattered flag of pomposity. Merciless mercenary moneygrubbing mendacity, on a boat.

    You don’t think the name is fitting?

  189. 189.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:
    Shot, chaser, chaser.

    @EoinHiggins: West Virginians are kayaking to Joe Manchin’s yacht and demanding he explain why he’s stopping the reconciliation bill from advancing.

    @ndrew_lawrence: Yelling down from my yacht why including means testing for social welfare programs is a hard line for me.

    Manchin, Thursday: “I cannot accept our economy, or basically our society, moving towards an entitlement mentality.”

    Cliff Schecter: Manchin’s father & grandfather were mayor of his town. His uncle, A.J. Manchin, was in WV House of Delegates, WV Sec of State & WV Treasurer. Clearly J.M. made it all on his own, not on name, contacts or “entitlement.”

  195. 195.

    Ken

    @Old School: I hadn’t known. Improves the idea, if anything; it is widely acknowledged that the main difference between a politician and a criminal is the former have no convictions, the latter have one.

  197. 197.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: Yup.  The political press seemingly has to turn everything involving Democrats into some sort of WWE bout between the “sensible moderates” and the “DFHs”.

    The Official Narrative Must Be Satisfied!!

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  198. 198.

    taumaturgo

    @Steeplejack: This is a typical neocon mentality. Money invested in social needs is a horrible, wasteful investment. Money shoved into the pockets of the powerful and already wealthy is wise and profitable. Democrats show their affinity to corruption when they allow neocon conservatives from the Lieberman school of DINO’s to remain in the party.

  201. 201.

    geg6

    @germy:
    Technically, it’s not a yacht.  It’s a houseboat, which is a whole other thing.
    Also technically, yacht simply denotes size, a boat of 33 feet or more that has a cabin.  The boat my ex and I owned was classified as a yacht.  Doesn’t mean we were rich.​

  203. 203.

    prostratedragon

    On names that sound like car models and such,  a branch of my family is from 96, SC. That’s up in the NE corner in what had been Cherokee country.  The name 96 is thought to mark its location relative to a more important Cherokee town.

  206. 206.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @taumaturgo: Neocons couldn’t care less about domestic policy.   Their whole ethos is foreign policy and power projection.  You need to pick another term from your grab bag of cliched labels.

  207. 207.

    Another Scott

    @prostratedragon: I had a great-grandfather named “Ora”.  One of his sons, my grandfather, was named “Orval”.  And of course there’s Orville (and Wilbur).  Not too many male “O” names in the US these days.

    My MIL was called Jada all her life by all of her family because she loved to dance to the song as a toddler.

    I heard tale of a guy (friend of a friend) who seriously claimed to be (First Name)(Last Name) XXVI (or similar) and would sign his name as such.

    Names are weird things!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  208. 208.

    J R in WV

    @sab:

    ” You lie” shouted Alito at first term Obama’s State of the Union

    While I admire your point here, you are incorrect, it was Rep Joe Wilson who shouted that famous lie at Obamas State of the Union speech. South Carolina redneck lawyer and Republican member of the House.​

    @sab: ​
     

    I stand corrected. Joe Walsh.​

     

    Nope, closer, but still Joe Wilson (R-SC)

  209. 209.

    Kropacetic

    @Baud: Media framing sucks, but going to war with the media over it doesn’t always serve our interests.  We can’t fight every battle at once.

    I have seen that decades of loud people shouting about media bias can make the media validate their concerns.  Granted, the people who did this did so for evil purposes and I have plenty of reason to think this wouldn’t apply to our side.

  210. 210.

    Kropacetic

    @J R in WV: No, Alito shook his head dramatically on camera in a clear attempt to refute Obama without speaking during the State of the Union.

  211. 211.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    I see Another Scott already answered, and I can’t really add anything. In “sawing sawdust but not fixing it” forensic mode, I would suspect some small change has occurred in the setup of one of your computers, e.g., some upgrade might have occurred on one but not the other. Have you noticed a font change on any other sites?

  212. 212.

    Kropacetic

    @Omnes Omnibus: Neocons couldn’t care less about domestic policy.   Their whole ethos is foreign policy and power projection.

    The only people the US Government has the right to tell how to run their society are non-US citizens.

  213. 213.

    RaflW

    This is near the end of an excellent thread, and connects to an online article (if you don’t want to visit twitter, that’s understandable, but read his commentary, please. He’s really good).

    Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites
    This is my plea. Whatever angle you arrive in the political conversation from, inside the arena or chronicling it: Speak to people. Use the words of their lives. Help them picture the futures being proposed. Help them smell the tomorrows up for debate.

    So much process talk doesn’t connect with how people live, and struggle, and hope. Talking in detail about how a few select items in the “BIF” and the other stuff is how we get people to see why it matters to them.

  214. 214.

    J R in WV

    @Mike in NC:

    today is the day the USPS becomes 50% less efficient thanks to the Trumpist shithead who is still the “Postmaster”. Why exactly is that fucker still there?

    OK, I understand the USPS is a quasi-governmental agency, and Biden can’t outright fire DeJoy. I think he (Dejoy) should have a long sit down interview with a postal inspector and a couple of FBI agents to talk about the law regarding slowing the delivery of First Class mail, and other legal requirements of the USPS that he may be fucking up.

    Let him try fucking up the postal service from a jail cell while he waits for the trial.

  215. 215.

    JPL

    WTF
    Sen. Kyrsten Sinema left DC earlier today, two sources tell NBC News.

    Jonathan Allen twitter

     

    the WTF is my own

  216. 216.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @SiubhanDuinne:  Well then if you haven’t, you need to read Straight Man by Richard Russo. IT IS HILARIOUS. The main character is a college professor and the action takes place on and around campus.

  217. 217.

    Another Scott

    @zhena gogolia: It’s something that shouldn’t have happened, so some setting is off or corrupted.

    You could try completely removing and reinstalling Chrome, but you might need to delete all the saved settings and there are a few steps there, too.  (And you’d probably have to re-enter all your saved passwords, etc., unless they’re saved to your Google account.)

    The steps aren’t hard, just take your time.

    I’d start with just changing the fonts as outlined earlier, though, myself.  It looks like B-J’s default font is “open sans,sans-serif” so a default “sans-serif” font is what you want to look for.

    Otherwise, I think you can have easily 2 installations of Chrome on OSX, but they might need to be from different “release channels”. You could try installing the “beta channel” version (it’s an early version of the next standard released version).

    HTH a bit.  Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  218. 218.

    J R in WV

    @dmsilev:

    Hearing on the Twitters that Boof Kavanaugh is COVID-positive.

    If I prayed, I would pray that Boof is permanently Erectile Disfunctional and anorgasmic. Bastard!

  220. 220.

    Kent

    @SFAW: Or naming your kid Edsel or Studebaker.  And by the way, the Ford Edsel was named after Henry Ford’s son Edsel Ford.  Who the hell names their son Edsel?

  223. 223.

    RaflW

    @J R in WV: It’s not just DeJoy. The USPS Board president is a g.d. hedge fund guy and Trump appointee. They’re in cahoots, to push shipping revenue to the (surprise! more expensive) private sector.

    The Board pres. is overstaying his appointed term (dunno how that placeholder thing works, grrr), probably because some shitheel Republican has a ‘hold’ on the Biden pick

  224. 224.

    Another Scott

    @JPL:

    Sen. Sinema, like many senators, has left DC today amid the breakneck talks on Biden’s agenda, @heatherscope and I are told. She “is in Phoenix where she has a medical appointment today, and where she continues remote negotiations with the White House,” her office says.

    — Burgess Everett (@burgessev) October 1, 2021

    She broke her foot recently running a marathon. Maybe it’s related to that.

    They will all be called back when it is time to vote.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  226. 226.

    MisterForkbeard

    @JPL: Ptobably has a test for her wine internship or something. Much more important than this “future of the country” thing

  227. 227.

    Brooklyn Dodger

    @Jo Jo las Orejas: Hola Jo Jo – Soy Darío y estoy usando el laptop de mi mama (con su permiso). Me gustan tus posts y quisiera decir “buen viaje” (or mejor viaje haha). Espero que tú escriba mas de tus aventuras. 

  229. 229.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Omnes Omnibus: Don’t engage, just pie. That one is pretty useless and the problem is ALWAYS Democrats for them. Never any introspection or actual analysis, just more “dems bad”

  230. 230.

    GoBlueInOak

    @Kay: Yup.  The Congressional Progressive Caucus is the largest caucus in Democratic Party and only second largest caucus in Congress overall (the Republican Study Committee is the largest).

    And its Chaired by bada** Pramila Jayapal.  Its Deputy Chair? Another bada** – Katie Porter.  Its whip? Ilhan Omar.

    Not an accident its leadership is mostly women who have unified the Progressive caucus into a group that House leadership has to contend.   Seems Jayapal et al have sold the caucus on the principle that they either hang together, or hang separately.

  232. 232.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @J R in WV:

    To be really really accurate, it wasn’t during a State of the Union address. It was an address to a Joint Session of Congress when Obama was whipping support for the ACA legislation.

    However, at this point the idea that it happened at an Obama SOTU seems to be baked in. I hear reporters and pundits say it. I’ve seen it in otherwise sober and factual news accounts. And it probably doesn’t matter a scrap in the great scheme of things. Still, I expect I’ll keep pointing it out as long as I draw breath, because I’m just that pedantic :-)

  234. 234.

    Dave

    @Ken: wasn’t there a BBC TV show with a space ship called Camden Locks that was supposed to do the same thing?

  236. 236.

    Geminid

    @GoBlueInOak: Last time I checked, the Progressive Caucus numbered 95 members, and the more moderate New Democrat Caucus also had 95 members. Another moderate Caucus, the Blue Dog caucus, numbers19, down from 25 in the last Congress.

  237. 237.

    James E Powell

    @dmsilev:

    Hearing on the Twitters that Boof Kavanaugh is COVID-positive.

    Send thoughts and prayers.

    Hoping he dies & the autopsy shows advanced cirrhosis of the liver.

    I know, I’m not a good person, I’ve accepted this.

  238. 238.

    MoCaAce

    @sixthdoctor: Oh, well. Maybe it’ll screw up his taste buds just enough so his favorite IPA tastes like Bud Light Platinum for the rest of his life

    Oh that is evil… I like it!

  240. 240.

    Geminid

    @oatler: Pat Robertson had an impact on Virginia politics. He helped organize evangelical conservatives in a political network that is still influential in tidewater Virgina and beyond. Bob McDonnell, Virginia’s last Republican Governor, was a product of this machine.

    The older Falwell did similarly from his Lynchburg base. There still seems to be political netwok based around Liberty University. It is not publicly acknowledged, but it seemed to be at work in the last couple Congressional cycles in both the 5th and the 6th Districts. After a couple of misses, the network was responsible for the nomination of the odious Bob Good, my present Congressman and a former Liberty University fundraising director.

  242. 242.

    Yutsano

    @GoBlueInOak:  You can drop the asterisks good sir. We can fucking swear on this fucking almost 10,000 top blog.

    I agree with your assessment of Jayapal. She’s not my rep but she’s amazing. I could see her making a play for majority/minority whip just based on her cat herding skills.

  243. 243.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia:  I had ghostery installed on my Mac for years.

    Then suddenly, one day the BJ font on the current site looked different.  I turned various things on and off, and when I turn off Ghostery, the font on my mac goes back to normal.

    I am guessing that something in the setup of your work computer changed

    Have you asked the IT people about anything that might have been added or updated recently?

  246. 246.

    Geminid

    @GoBlueInOak: The Progressive Caucus website says the Caucus has 95 members, and Wikipedia agrees. The New Democrat website says it has 95 members, and Wikipedia says it has 94. And of course that number will change after Shontel Brown wins the Ohio 11th special election in November and joins the New Democrat Caucus.

    Not that such trivial numerical differences matter. The critical number is the 218 total that constitutes a majority in the House. Members of both caucuses know they need each other, and by and large respect and value each other.

    Of course, some of their proponents see things differently.

Comments are closed.