Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

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

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Find someone who loves you the way trump and maga love traitors.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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

The National Guard is not Batman.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Second rate reporter says what?

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Blessed Solstice

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Blessed Solstice

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When I first ran across this purported ‘folk custom‘, I privately assumed the Year-King was chosen by a tribal concensus on ‘guy with whom we least want to spend the next several months immured in a snowbound longhouse ‘.

C’MON DOWN, KING MANCHIN!

Reader Interactions

201Comments

  2. 2.

    Betty Cracker

    Reposting from wee hours open thread — Rep. Jayapal already bagged Manchin, as reported by TPM:

    Jayapal said that Manchin called her [Monday] on his own accord, and that she was candid about what she sees as his massive breach of trust.

    “That lack of integrity is stunning in a town where people say the only thing that you have is your word,” she said. “It is abundantly clear that we cannot trust what Senator Manchin says. The senator called me this morning, I took his call and there is nothing I have said here that I didn’t say to him.”

    It’s a day of reckoning for Democrats after Manchin upended the President’s political agenda by coming out against the reconciliation bill after months of negotiations aimed at satisfying his demands and securing his critical 50th vote.

    For Jayapal, that means second-guessing the CPC’s strategy. The caucus twice blocked a House vote on the bipartisan infrastructure package, demanding Senate action on the reconciliation bill first. It finally allowed a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill in November in exchange for Biden’s promise that he’d gotten Manchin’s commitment to the $1.75 trillion reconciliation framework.

    “This is the question that I’ve gone over in my head a million times,” she admitted. But she concluded that the bipartisan infrastructure bill was “really Senator Sinema’s bill,” and didn’t have the same hold on Manchin to make it an effective bargaining chip. She also now doesn’t think that Manchin ever intended to let BBB pass, despite what he said to Biden.

    “Had we not passed the infrastructure bill, I actually think that would have been the day the senator would have said the Build Back Better Act is done. I think he would have walked away,” she said. “I think he would have walked away from potentially both of them — or had we then come back and said ‘okay, we’ll pass the infrastructure bill,’ then we would have still ended up in the same place…”

    “I’m not gonna hang my work and the hopes of the American people on one man who, honestly, I don’t know what he wants,” she said. “Ask him, he’ll say different things on different days.”

    “He wants people to keep guessing about where he is, and I’m not willing to expend energy on that anymore,” she added.

    Glad she called out that gigantic fraud.

  3. 3.

    Brantl

    Somebody’s pulling Manchin’s strings, probably several someones with different goals, because no marionette does the spastic boogaloo he has done without a lot of competitive, disparate forces being at work.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    Some personal news; everyone, meet Pete. Pete, everyone:

    Yep, that’s a puppy, and he is part Boston Terrier. How he came to be here is a long story for another time, but I’m reminded again how having a puppy in the house is like caring for an infant, i.e., exhausting but OMG 24/7 squeee!

  6. 6.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

    I believe a possible economic slowdown is already being labeled a “Manchin Slowdown.” Good. I hope he chokes on it.

    Indeed, Goldman’s note suggests the opposite story: Manchin is now vulnerable to the argument that the real macroeconomic risk is not to pass BBB, notes Robert Shapiro, economist and adviser to the Obama administration.

    “Goldman Sachs is saying the impact on growth will be greater in not passing BBB than any marginal effect BBB might have on inflation,” said Shapiro, who recently made a much-discussed case that we’re seeing a robust recovery.

    “Instead of having a Biden boom, we could have a Manchin slowdown,” Shapiro told me.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: Congrats. Billie Jean and Percy extend their welcomes.

    ETA: Biillie Jean wants to know if she can come over and play. Percy asks if Billie Jean can come over and stay there.

  12. 12.

    mrmoshpotato

    When I first ran across this purported ‘folk custom‘, I privately assumed the Year-King was chosen by a tribal concensus on ‘guy with whom we least want to spend the next several months immured in a snowbound longhouse ‘.

     

    C’MON DOWN, KING MANCHIN!

    Ain’t that the truth!  What an absolute self-centered prick!

  13. 13.

    p.a.

    I’ll try to focus on the judges Manchin helps fill the xmas stocking with, but the ton of coal he dumps in there can’t be forgiven or forgotten.  Attention addict, Macy Parade balloon sized ego, millionaire hack.

  18. 18.

    Spanky

    I’m starting to get ads encouraging me to

    Plan Your Fall Getaway

    Which is doubly poor timing due to

    A) Solstice

    B) Omicron

    Which makes me somehow doubt that whichever resort that was is really concerned about covid.

  25. 25.

    Montanareddog

    Winter solstice 2021, and it is also our 20th wedding anniversary. Something to cheer up the shortest day (actually it is a cold but beautiful, sunny day).

    I have time to tap this out as I am in a queue for my booster, with about 100 people in front of me (that I can see – dog knows how many round the corner). It is by appointment so I assume there is capacity for so many but it is v slow going at the moment

  34. 34.

    Betty Cracker

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Badger feels like a HUGE dog now, which is good for his self-esteem. We’re giving him tons of extra attention so he doesn’t feel usurped. The two have squared off and done the play-bow, mock-charge thing friendly dogs do, so I’m hoping they’ll be great friends eventually!

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    8 years after Manchin promised some weak ass “background checks” in response to Sandy Hook and didn’t deliver he is still blocking all Democratic legislation on gun control and insisting he is in negotiations with Republicans on his plan:

    2013 to 2021, same bullshit stalling tactic he’s using now:

    Asked if he would make a fresh push now in the wake of several recent mass shootings, Manchin said he would wait for the House to send their bills over first but he promised, “We’re going to try to do the responsible, reasonable thing.”
    Separately, Toomey of Pennsylvania said passing their legislation through the 50-50 Senate “is going to be difficult” but said there are “discussions underway.”
    He would not characterize those talks other than saying, “I don’t want to get specific, but there are conversations happening.”

    Manchin has an A rating from the NRA. He didn’t propose background checks for gun safety. He proposed background checks to run out the clock after the urgency and momentum post Sandy Hook and ensure nothing at all passed. Mission accomplished.

  39. 39.

    Geminid

    Politico has an article out this morning about the new California Congressional districts. The authors say that under the map drawn by an independent redistricting commission, Republicans stand to lose two of their nine California seats, maybe more.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    I hate that California has done the right thing.  If they could draw partisan districts, it would help with so many problems in the House.

  44. 44.

    Gin & Tonic

    Dear wife and I are going for PCR tests this morning, as we visited with our daughter last Thu-Fri, and she has tested positive and is symptomatic. We are all triple-vaxxed, and neither daughter’s husband nor dear wife and I are showing any symptoms. He got tested yesterday.

  47. 47.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Remember after Sandy Hook? Obama had the families at the White House after what Obama described as the “worst day” of his Presidency and then Joe Manchin came riding in (on behalf of the NRA) and was all over tv all puffed up with his new celebrity and promised “action” but dithered and stalled for months and then utterly failed and got nothing done, leaving Obama to tell the families they had nothing to offer them?

    We know what he is and we know who he works for. He showed us.

  48. 48.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Democrats in Illinois and New York will pick up some of California’s slack. And last week New Mexico Governor Michele Lujan Grisham signed off on a map that should make Republican Yvette Harrell (NM-2) a one-termer.

  51. 51.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Getting a PCR test at work today (my only current exception to WFH; mandated weekly for everyone in my office), then a rapid test tomorrow morning, then Thursday morning at stupid o’clock I’m flying from Athens to Charm City to see my sweetheart for the first time in half a year. I suspect that here in Greece, the Omicron wave hasn’t gotten much traction. Yet.

    Anything I have to say about Senator Manchin must be prefaced by an apology in advance to the horse he rode in on.

  52. 52.

    Geminid

    @Spanky: No, Politico played it pretty straight I thought. The authors did quote California Republicans who were wailing. But I think they know that their national party’s hard right turn is what’s hurting them, not unfavorable maps.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    The one silver lining to Manchin’s preening is that he has put the spotlight on where the fail point is, rather than some diffuse “Democrats in Disarray” BS.

    Not that the media won’t try to spin it that way.

  56. 56.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    The comments in that year-king thread are hilarious.

    Hi sorry, does anyone remember if it’s supposed to be boar spears or longbows for the hunt this year? Cause I can’t remember and I’m concerned I’ve been lovingly scrimshawing and smoke hardening this spear shaft for weeks now only to show up tomorrow and be asked where’s my bow.

    — Bitchcraft & Niggatry (@ArnicaxRoss) December 20, 2021

  57. 57.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone…

    I used to relate to that lyric growing up in Grand Rapids, MI. Google tells me they had a White Christmas last year, but that was the only one in the past half-decade, which boggles my mind. From my childhood through early adulthood we made a trip to Jamestown NY/Warren PA to visit relatives (including my grandparents) on my dad’s side of the family. We’d stop in the Cleveland area to visit my Aunt and Uncle and 3 cousins on my mom’s side to break up the drive.

    Almost every year, from my earliest memory through high school and into college in the late 1980s/early 1990s, that drive was snow covered from Grand Rapids, through Lansing and Ann Arbor, down to Toledo, around to Cleveland, and a long the Lake Erie snow belt to Jamestown. I remember one year in the mid to late 1980s when it got freakishly warm on Christmas day – I want to say mid 60s – in Jamestown and snow started melting like crazy, but at the end of the day there was still snow on the ground because we’d started with enough that it couldn’t all melt in one warm day.

    Nowadays I make a drive from the DC area through PA on the turnpike to Cleveland to visit the same folks (when they’re home for Christmas rather than with in-laws), then on to GR. So I’m basically making half the original drive. Until about a decade ago the chances for a white Christmas were generally pretty good in GR, but the snow would generally only come right before Christmas – like in the week leading up – rather than weeks before. The chance of snow in Cleveland seemed like it had fallen to less than 50/50. Now it seems like it’s less than a 50/50 proposition in GR.

    Point being all this winter imagery associated with Christmas/the solstice? How much longer are people going to relate to it? We’re getting to the point where almost nobody south of the Canada border is going to have white Christmases very often anymore. They used to be pretty common from at least Central PA north. Then it moved up to the MI/OH border. Now it’s like the UP of Michigan and northern New England maybe people still have a decent chance? But that’s a pretty small sliver of the country.

  58. 58.

    debbie

    Wish I could find it now, but there was a tweet last night about the WV miners’ union objecting to Manchin’s refusal to support BBB. This may prove interesting.

  59. 59.

    Montanareddog

    Thanks all, for the congrats. Got my ouchie and now in the post-jab 15 min rest area. 1 hour in and out was less than I feared and all the staff were most good-natured

  64. 64.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Baud: Yes it’s the official nickname for Baltimore…I think with ironic intent. Although, honestly everyone I’ve interacted with there has been perfectly pleasant.

  65. 65.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker:   We have a solstice puppy.  Yay!  That is one adorable little bean, with a very cute nose.

    Baxter will be a great big brother.  And he deserves all the spoiling.

  69. 69.

    eclare

    @debbie:  If you go to UMWA.org, the statement is there.  Not as forceful as I would like, but also mentions voting rights, so yay

    I just reread, very forceful on voting rights.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I don’t want to get into the trap we fell into in 2010, where Democrats in Congress decided their fortunes were not tied to Obama’s popularity and stupidly, in my view, decided they could run local campaigns and hold that way.

    Their best bet is to do whatever is possible to improve Biden’s standing. If he’s hurting they’re hurting because he’s the brand. The reverse isn’t true- Biden can work and position himself be a more popular President and people can (still) hate Congress. Biden can even run against “Congress”. Biden has options- they don’t.

  74. 74.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Here’s a quote from him in today’s Post:

    “I think I still represent the centrist wing of a Democratic Party that has compassion but also has reasonability.”

    LOL, what a fraud. If phone booths were still a thing, maybe his “centrist wing” could caucus in one.

  76. 76.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: Our youngest niece and her husband just got a Bernese Mountain dog puppy.  They brought it for our Christmas get-together on Sunday. That, on top of a 3 month old girl. I have no idea how they’re going to manage it! She is working at home right now, so that will help some, but still – exhausting!

    And Pete is adorable!! I’ve never actually had a puppy – we always either adopt or get “volunteer” older dogs, even if just a year or two old.

  77. 77.

    JML

    Got my booster last night. hells bells, my arm hurts today! Hoping for no other side effects, but glad to be working from home just in case.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    “A” rating by the NRA. Dumbass threw the Sandy Hook families under the NRA bus and then the NRA imploded in a mass of corruption 5 years later. He’s not even smart enough to pick which entities he serves.

    I saw Mittens has a child subsidy plan out. Mitt Romney is more of a Democrat than Joe Manchin.

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    @Soprano2: I bet that’s one cute pup — BMDs are beautiful. I get exhausted just thinking about taking care of a baby and a puppy at the same time. I’m pretty good at housetraining dogs — no crates, 100% positive reinforcement — but it takes a lot of focus.

  82. 82.

    Soprano2

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:  I’m looking at the December Climate table on NOAA for my city. We’ve had 5 days with highs in the 70’s, 5 days with highs in the 60’s, and 5 days with highs in the 50’s. The forecast for Christmas Day is a high of 70! We should be having highs in the low 50’s and 40’s, with lows in the low 30’s and 20’s at this time of year. We should have at least a chance for snow on or around Christmas. I’ve never seen anything like this before, and I’ve lived here for 60 years. The worst part is you can’t get used to the cold days because of the amount of warm days. It’s not unheard of for us to have one or two warm days in December, but nothing like this. I came out of my house a couple of weeks ago to go to work and thought “It smells like spring!”

  83. 83.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: Yes, he’s adorable! He and the baby had everyone’s attention. I think the only thing that will save them is they’re in their 20’s, so still young. It’s impressive for how badly my four nieces and nephews were raised; all of them are married and own houses, and they’re all under 40. They all have good jobs and make good money even though two of them had to get a high school equivalency because they dropped out. I swear they’re all smarter than their parents! When they were kids they constantly got away with murder because their parents were too tired to discipline them a lot of the time. It was constant chaos at their house.

  85. 85.

    Betty Cracker

    @JML: I think the arm pain associated with the three shots got progressively worse, but my husband says I’m just a big baby and it wasn’t that bad. I’m not sure who’s right. ;-)

  86. 86.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: My booster hurt a lot; I barely felt the other two shots. My husband’s arm itched for several days around the injection site, and I had a big red welt for about 4 days. Other than that, though, no side effects.

  90. 90.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:

    If phone booths were still a thing, maybe his “centrist wing” could caucus in one.

    If I could figure out a way to make that a bit shorter, that would most definitely need to be a rotating tag.

  91. 91.

    Spanky

    @Soprano2: I’m a little worried about how well I’m protected, given my reactions to the shots. Moderna #1 – nothing. Moderna #2 – nothing. Moderna booster – a little stiff in the shoulder the next morning. Otherwise, nothing.

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    @Spanky:

    Manchin’s ‘Centrist Wing’ could caucus in a phonebooth?

    Manchin’s Centrist Wing could fit in a phone booth.

    Shorter, but they don’t have quite the zing that the original had.

  100. 100.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: I don’t know about Davis. The last map I saw gave him a tough district, though.

    But I can tell you’re really gonna miss the old rascal. Try not to get all misty on us.

  101. 101.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl:   How many rotating tags do we have? A couple dozen at this point?

    A lot of them are puerile, or very inside baseball.  Enough already.

  104. 104.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Soprano2: Yeah a January thaw is not unusual here in the DC area and generally speaking it has always seemed freakishly warm here in December compared to where I grew up (been here for about 20 years) but although it has been “seasonably cold” for this area the past couple days in general it’s been really pretty mild all fall.

    The other thing I’ve noticed about this area is that when it does get cold enough that we might be able to, in theory, get some snow, it’s almost always dry. So if it does get cold cold, everything freezes solid but you’re still looking at the same bare trees and dead leaves so it’s miserably cold but no true winter imagery.

  115. 115.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A 58ft pedestrian bridge stolen from an Ohio city last month has been found and a man is facing charges, police said.

    Akron police said investigators acting on tips and other information on Friday afternoon found the missing span partially disassembled on property in Sharon Township in neighboring Medina county. A man has been arrested and charged with felony theft, police said.
    ………………………
    Now, a 63-year-old man has been charged with felony theft, according to Akron police and court records. Authorities allege he paid a trucking company for crane service and the firm picked up the bridge and took it to Medina county.

    Let me guess, the tips came from a trucking company and a crane operator.

    Not the brightest thief I’ve ever read of. Of course, few of them are.

  122. 122.

    WaterGirl

    @mrmoshpotato: Actually, I clicked the link, and unsettling is exactly the word I used to describe what it felt like to watch a pie that appeared to be breathing. Either that or it seemed that something was about to burst out of the pie like in a horror movie.

  125. 125.

    Spanky

    When the solstice rolls around at 10:58 AM EST, are we going to have a post titled “In the blech midwinter”?

    Apropos of the OP, I guess.

  126. 126.

    Kristine

    I laughed so as I read that thread on Twitter yesterday.

    NeolithicSheep puts out threads like that, then is surprised by the number of new Twitter followers.

  129. 129.

    jnfr

    @Betty Cracker: ​Puppy! How wonderful.​
    ​
    Winter solstice is my favorite day of the year. I love the symbolism of the longest night immediately turning into the lengthening days. I love knowing that spring will come again, even though I still have to get through January and February, which are the worst months.

  130. 130.

    germy

    A former New York Times reporter, Nina Bernstein, told @froomkin that institutional timidities have led to "the inadvertent normalization of existential threats to democracy and public health by one party and its right-wing media echo chamber.” t.co/pwX2sKfM4p

    — Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) December 20, 2021

    We knew this.

  131. 131.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Baud: Keep in mind that in Texas, Blacks and Latinos have had their bites severely diluted by the GOP.  I’m not sure why Blue states aren’t doing the same in terms of diluting GOP votes.

  132. 132.

    Patricia Kayden

    SANDERS: "I could walk away and say if Medicare For All is not in this bill, I'm out of here. But I don't do that… What bothers me is that we have people like Mr. Manchin… saying that, if I don't get everything I want, I'm not going forward. That is not acceptable to me."— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) December 21, 2021

  137. 137.

    lowtechcyclist

    C’MON DOWN, KING MANCHIN!

    Lord knows he deserves it, but he’s still voting to confirm Biden’s appointments to the Federal judiciary, and hell no, I don’t want to give that up.

    Can we do Mitch instead?  Or Ted Cruz or Ron Johnson?

  139. 139.

    Spanky

    Oh, and if you thought that sunset was getting later over the past couple of weeks despite the coming solstice, you’re right. Earth is also approaching perihelion, it’s closest approach to the sun in early January. Consequently, it’s traveling faster in its orbit which makes the sun appear to move further eastward than average each day. That makes solar time run slow compared to clock time, making sunrise and sunset later (by clock time). Combined with the southering sun making sunrise later and sunset earlier, we now have sunrise rapidly getting later (until January 5 or 6) and sunset just starting to get later. That, of course, will speed up after today as the sun comes north.

  140. 140.

    Feathers

    @Patricia Kayden: The timeline was GOP started gerrymandering, Dems responded with independent panels to do fair, non-partisan  redistricting, Goopers went thermonuclear, gerrymandering to the most extreme possibilities.

  142. 142.

    Geminid

    @Patricia Kayden: Some Blue States, like Illinois and (soon) New York, are gerrymandering Republicans out. New Mexico put a map out last week that should knock out their only Republican Representative, and I believe Oregon Democrats have tried to eliminate a Republican.

    This would be a really good topic for a post next February, when Albany Democrats have finished their map. (There will still be some lawsuits that may change maps in states covered by the Voting Rights Act. A federal judge has already told North Carolina to delay accepting candidacies in that state, because of a VRA lawsuit. And it’s possible that an Ohio judge may throw out that state’s map).

  143. 143.

    Miss Bianca

    @Betty Cracker: AAAAAHHHHH SQUEEEEE PUPPYYYYY!!!

    That is all, thank you.

    @Montanareddog: Except to say that Solstice is a weird day for me. I too chose it as my wedding day. Divorced now. But still friends with ex, so I may have to call him later on.

    Just looking forward right now to the return of the light.

  144. 144.

    gvg

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Sanders was a non team player and may have found out how unwise that was.

    Manchin thought he was a team player (I think) but didn’t realize how far from center he was nor how alone. He (I think) thought he was speaking for a whole bunch of others, but he was wrong.I think he is learning somewhat.

    I suspect their are other Democratic Senators who grumble about things in the bill and would prefer that different specific things weren’t in it, but in the end they vote for the whole package because they know nobody gets everything they want and nothing they don’t want. The perfect bill doesn’t exist.

    Possibly Manchin still doesn’t really believe how extreme all of the republicans are. He may really have thought some of the republicans were possible. He also didn’t think through that his blowing up the bill puts other democrats reelection in danger so they were going to be mad. Even the ones who will win, don’t want to be a minority party again, so ALL of the others have good reason to be mad at him……

  147. 147.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Geminid:

    it’s possible that an Ohio judge may throw out that state’s map).

    A federal Ohio judge? I know the state supreme court was hearing the case

  149. 149.

    Miss Bianca

    @eclare:

    @Betty Cracker: Weirdly, my booster hardly hurt at all this time – some arm pain a few days post-jab, and a day or two of lounging on the couch, but nothing like the muscle aches and feverishness I had during the first two.

    Now I gotta stop being a baby about getting my flu shot. Because apparently that’s also still a thing during the Year(s) of Living COVID-ously.

  150. 150.

    dww44

    @Kay: I remember Manchin’s behavior in the aftermath of Sandy Hook. He met with the families and offered hope for some congressional action on guns,  particularly that   which slaughtered 6 year olds in 4 minutes. If it ever comes out that he was deliberately playing the sympathy card in an effort to forestall any action, I so hope I’m alive to  witness his just desserts.

    Manchin’s chips were called in on Sunday morning (or Saturday evening) and he should be ignored forthwith and Dems should put the bill up for a floor vote with ability to amend and see what happens.  Let those who stand in opposition make their opposition public for the whole country to see.  I am sick to death of the behind the scenes maneuvering which only reinforces who exactly runs things in the country.  With Bernie on this.

  155. 155.

    Betty Cracker

    @dww44: I’m not sure what the best strategy is. I can see the appeal of making people go on record as individuals for or against legislation. On the other hand, the drama with no results is killing Biden’s poll numbers, and that’s bad for everyone.

  156. 156.

    Geminid

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):  I would be a state judge, or as you say, the state Supreme Court. If Ohio were covered by the VRA a federal judge might decide that minorities were being shortchanged. This happened in Virginia, and the excellent Dan McEachin won the redrawn 4th Congressional District in 2016.

    A while back, Joe Manchin proposed rewriting the VRA to include all fifty states. That might affect maps in Ohio and Indiana. But Manchin doesn’t seem to mean everything he says. At this point I’m not sure if he really believes anything he says.

  160. 160.

    cain

    @Soprano2: I grew up in a small town that didn’t really have phone booths. I always associated them with Superman changing in a phone booth – lol.

    Which is why I laughed at the scene in the 1977 Superman where he looks at a phone booth and nope’d the hell out of it.

    ETA: Lawd – I can’t believe it! #160!!!!!!!!! What a wonderful way to begin Solstice!

  161. 161.

    Geminid

    @dww44: I don’t mind behind the scenes negotiations as long as they stay behind the scenes. I just want the best result possible, as much of the BBB bill passed as can be passed. If putting the House bill up for a vote facilitates this, I’m for that. If it doesn’t, I’m against.

    Anyway, none of this will be determined until next month, when the Senate returns from it’s holiday recess.

  162. 162.

    germy

    @cain:

    I thought the Superman gag was that he’s looking for a phone booth and can only find those open pay phones that were replacing the closed booths in the late 1970s.  I haven’t seen the movie in years, but that’s my recollection.

  169. 169.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Spanky: I think the earlier and earlier sunset, more than anything else, is what really darkens my mood in the fall, particularly around November. By the time Christmas rolls around, I’m already feeling a little better and I only recently twigged to the fact that that’s probably because the day of earliest sunset is not the solstice, it’s around December 7th. By the time of the winter solstice, sunset has been creeping a few minutes later for a couple of weeks.

  170. 170.

    JML

    @Miss Bianca: the booster arm pain is hitting me as hard as the first round, maybe harder? But so far a little lighter on the other effects, so could be worse.

    I’m a huge whiner about shots (hate hate HATE needles; my parents never had to worry about me becoming an IV drug user, lol) but if I can sack up and get this done so can all my goddamn selfish-ass neighbors. Sigh.

  171. 171.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Now that I think about it, I bet the House BBB bill won’t be put to a vote in the Senate. The House’s increase in the SALT tax deduction involves an awful lot of money, and Sanders, Menendez and other Senators say they will cut it back. Senators Warnock, Kelly, Hassan, and Cortez-Masto have tough races next year and I don’t think their colleagues will want them to take a vote on a controversial provision that will be modified anyway. Sanders may not have thought of this, or he might just be bloviating to please his fan base. He does that sometimes.

  173. 173.

    James E Powell

    @debbie:

    Wish I could find it now, but there was a tweet last night about the WV miners’ union objecting to Manchin’s refusal to support BBB. This may prove interesting.

    Sometimes union says D, but union members vote R. Remind me, which candidate did those coal miners pose with

    Also too, it’s pretty clear that Manchin doesn’t care what anyone says or does. He’s built himself a world in which he is a hero and he will never leave it.

  175. 175.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    I thought the Superman gag was that he’s looking for a phone booth and can only find those open pay phones that were replacing the closed booths in the late 1970s.

    Yep, that’s it exactly. It was a fun visual gag.

  176. 176.

    different-church-lady

    So if I’m understanding the concept correctly, the village takes the person most capable of tending the health of the community, elevates him to do the job, and then after a year tears him to shreds?

    Yeah, sounds about right…

  177. 177.

    different-church-lady

    @germy:

    I spent my precious life making this. Why?

    That person brought some humor to countless strangers, which is more than 99.999999% of the human population of this weird-ass spaceship can say to St. Peter.

  178. 178.

    James E Powell

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    It’s funny how Sanders ended up being more of a team player than Manchin was

    I wonder if maybe – alone in a quiet moment – processed that he helped put Trump in the White House.

    Or maybe it’s just that he realizes this is the last best chance he will have in what remains of his lifetime to get any of his priorities addressed.

  179. 179.

    Brachiator

    @James E Powell:

    Also too, it’s pretty clear that Manchin doesn’t care what anyone says or does. He’s built himself a world in which he is a hero and he will never leave it.

    That sums it up very well.

  183. 183.

    mrmoshpotato

    @James E Powell:

    I wonder if maybe – alone in a quiet moment – processed that he helped put Trump in the White House. 

    I seriously doubt it.

    Or maybe it’s just that he realizes this is the last best chance he will have in what remains of his lifetime to get any of his priorities addressed.

    Possibly.

  184. 184.

    scav

    @germy: Heh.  Speaking of bad eggs but switching channels across the pond,

    One of the most powerful leaders in UK policing has been suspended after being placed under criminal investigation over two allegations of sexual touching. (Guard)

    Some of the incidents occurring this year, that is to say, after the highly public trial (and associated protests) of one of their own murdering a woman.  The sense of entitlement and being above such strictures goes deep in the breed.

  186. 186.

    Miss Bianca

    @Matt McIrvin: I think I’m with you on this one. Usually November sees me sliding into a deep funk that’s only alleviated by the knowledge that winter holidays (and more light) are coming.

  187. 187.

    Geminid

    @Miss Bianca: Psychically, I am solar powered. The period between November 1 and the winter solstice is the hardest time for me to get work done. I do better after that even if it’s colder.

  188. 188.

    Fake Irishman

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Sanders has generally been a team player in the nuts and bolts of negotiating legislation. He could have blown up the ACA in 2010, but got what he could and took the W. Ditto with Dodd-Frank, the Obama stimulus and the American Rescue Plan.  It doesn’t surprise me that he’s done that here.

  190. 190.

    Benw

    Speaking of senators from VT, my VT relatives say the Leahy is not running again and that the popular Republican governor Phil Scott is considering a run, which has them worried.

  191. 191.

    Feathers

    @different-church-lady: Or more likely, the man who was the greatest threat to the current leadership.

    The Tides of History podcast has been covering Neolithic history around the world for the past year or so. Fascinating. The most recent episodes were about Stonehenge and how it began as a burial site. The original sacred area was much larger than just the current stones on the hill. The current highway project is an abomination.

  192. 192.

    Feathers

    @Geminid: I have a friend who has bad seasonal affective disorder. She tried a “cure” of getting up to see the dawn every morning. It has worked for her. I’ve considered it, but I like my cozy bed so much.

  193. 193.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Miss Bianca: Of course the variation in sunset time over that whole period is just a few minutes–the change is slow near the solstice–and it seems hard to believe it could make any difference. But I think it might.

  195. 195.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Feathers: I don’t suffer at all from SAD (in fact I kind of like the dark this time of year) but I have a Philips alarm clock that is a light that starts out dim and gets gradually brighter to mimic the sunrise. Maybe that would help?

  197. 197.

    MisterForkbeard

    @gvg:

    Possibly Manchin still doesn’t really believe how extreme all of the republicans are. He may really have thought some of the republicans were possible.

     

    I don’t think this is true, but remember than Manchin has been a target of Republicans for years. They know he’s a weak point and they’re nice to him, and they’ve spent the past year blowing enormous amounts of smoke up his ass. It’s entirely possible that all he sees of Republicans are when they’re being nice to him and ‘considering’ his opinions carefully, arranging for his campaign to get favorable coverage (sabotaging dems) and shooting their donors into donating to him and his PACs.

    If he’s fooled by any of that he’s a giant idiot, but I could see how he’d get there.

  198. 198.

    Mike in NC

    Almost all cops are authoritarians. I was behind a pickup truck this morning that had a Trump 2020 bumper sticker, and right next to it one that read “I support my local police department”.

  199. 199.

    Feathers

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Her somewhat woo-ish answer was a human’s natural day length is when the sun is out, so when you are feeling you have too much darkness in your days, waking up at dawn helps. She is fairly high strung, but also recognizes it and looks for sensible solutions. For the most part. I don’t know if she would qualify for a SAD diagnosis if she were starting from a more normalized baseline. But she does have good, if unorthodox solutions.

  200. 200.

    J R in WV

    @gvg:

    Possibly Manchin still doesn’t really believe how extreme all of the republicans are. He may really have thought some of the republicans were possible.

    Well, Joe Manchin is monumentally stupid, so both of these statements about him could be true.

    Or, just as likely, he is an evil and destructive monster of a person who has gotten exactly what he wanted, more people harmed on his watch…

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