Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

So many bastards, so little time.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

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

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

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

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

No one could have predicted…

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Democrats Get Things Done

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Democrats Get Things Done

by | 167 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Remember, McConnell is in an interracial marriage, which would be federally protected by this law:

Reader Interactions

167Comments

  1. 1.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The Get Things Done party vs the Get Nothing Done party.

    eta

    McConnell votes against final passage of Respect for Marriage Act. There had been some hope among Dems and Rs in support of the bill that he would vote for the bill on final passage, but no.

    Really? Who is that deluded?

  4. 4.

    EarthWindFire

    @OzarkHillbilly: It would never occur to McConnell that his interracial marriage needed protection. He’s special.

    He and McCarthy look like they’re at Elmer Rhodes’ gallows in that Reuters shot. This warms the cockles of my heart.

  6. 6.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @EarthWindFire: Yep, Kevin looks like he’s really enjoying the shit sandwich that Nancy made for him — and made him eat for the last few years — and he’s anticipating with great joy the new shit sandwich that his caucus is spreading the mayo on right now for his consumption over the holidays and into the new year.

    Good times

     

    ETA: And McTurtle just looks like McTurtle; a punishment in and of itself.

  8. 8.

    Amir Khalid

    I got the new phone. It’s the Vivo Y35. I will say that the 44W fast charger is stupendously fast.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    @Amir Khalid

    Popular choice in the burgeoning budget category. Enjoy. Opt for the gold or the black?

    Was contemplating mentioning the OnePlus N20 5G* or the Poco X4 Pro* as possible considerations, but my familiarity with what’s compatible with the universe of Malaysian carriers is less than nil.

    *Proof I’m a proponent for OLED screens on budget builds.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The GOP, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory:

    After officials in a rural Arizona county refused to certify election results by a legally mandated deadline, they now face two lawsuits, likely court intervention to force their vote and potential criminal penalties.

    The rare, likely illegal move by the officials sets up quick court battles as state officials race to certify the election statewide, a process set for 5 December. Candidates and outside parties wishing to sue over the election results await these final results before their court cases can commence.

    Two statewide races will require recounts, which cannot start until the statewide certification.

    You go, guys. I’ll enjoy this perp walk.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    Republicans did really poorly at the state level:

    Two years into President Barack Obama’s term, in 2010, the GOP gained more than 600 legislative seats and unleashed a torrent of right-wing laws that undercut unions and restricted voting rights. In 2014, they gained roughly 250 seats, according to data compiled by Ballotpedia. Democrats returned the favor in 2018 by gaining more than 300 legislative seats, powered by President Donald Trump’s widespread unpopularity.

    Republicans gained only 22 legislative seats this fall out of more than 6,000 that were on the ballot, according to Bolts’s review of the latest available results. And it gets worse for Republicans. While they managed to net a few seats overall, their biggest gains came in chambers that they already massively control, such as the West Virginia or South Carolina houses, or else in New York, where they are deeply in the minority. 

    By contrast, Democrats soared in closely-divided legislatures and seized four previously GOP-held chambers: Michigan’s House and Senate, Minnesota’s Senate, and Pennsylvania’s House

  16. 16.

    Kay

    @Kristine:

    The state level results really undercut the Christopher Rufo “call everyone a pedophile and/or a Marxist and abolish public schools” approach to winning elections.

    If that was going to show success anywhere it should have won governors races and state seats. It didnt.

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    @NotMax:

    I went with black; the gold looks too blingy for my taste. My previous phone is a low-end Vivo model from a year or so pre-pandemic, so I anticipate a big bump in performance going to a new midrange phone. It’s not a 5G, but then it will be a while before the 5G networks have the coverage to make that worth the few hundred extra ringgit in cost.

  18. 18.

    Geminid

    Some intersting activities in DC today. The White House will host the first in-person Tribal Nations Summit. President Biden will deliver remarks this morning, and Vice President Harris will speak in the afternoon.

    At 5:30pm they and their families will attend the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaking. I think it will be rainy, unfortunately.

    Over in the House, the incoming Democratic House Caucus will hold leadership elections. While the top three of Jeffries (NY), Clarke (MA), and Aguilar (CA) are unopposed, some lower posts are being contested including that of Caucus Vice Chair. Running for this position are: Debbie Dingell (MI), Ted Lieu (CA), Joyce Beatty (OH), and Madeleine Dean (PA). (from E&E News)

  20. 20.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @OzarkHillbilly: Additionally, if the Cochise County votes are not certified and end up being excluded, at least one Congressional seat won by the R candidate may flip to the D opponent.

    Does Jesus love us this much? Only time will tell.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Chief Oshkosh: That’s one of the defeats they are snatching from the jaws of victory. There is a 2nd election that would flip from R to D, but my recall of the article I read yesterday is a little foggy.

    There is no way god loves me that much tho

  24. 24.

    Amir Khalid

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    if the Cochise County votes are not certified and end up being excluded, at least one Congressional seat won by the R candidate may flip to the D opponent.

    For me, this part was the icing on the crazy cake.

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    New Zealand’s health service has made a court application over the guardianship of a four-month-old baby whose parents are refusing to allow his life-saving heart surgery to go ahead unless non-vaccinated blood is used.

    The parents of the baby discussed their son’s health situation and their medical preferences in an interview with an anti-vaccination campaigner. In the interview the parents say their baby has severe pulmonary valve stenosis, and that he needs surgery “almost immediately”, but that they are “extremely concerned with the blood [the doctors] are going to use”.

    “We don’t want blood that is tainted by vaccination,” the father said. “That’s the end of the deal – we are fine with anything else these doctors want to do.”

    The vaccines to prevent severe disease and death from Covid-19 have been found to be extremely safe and effective, with millions of people around the world vaccinated. According to the blood service, NZ Blood, any Covid-19 vaccine in the blood is broken down soon after the injection.

    In a statement, Dr Mike Shepard, Auckland’s interim director at the health service, Te Whatu Ora, said he knows it can be worrying for parents who have an unwell child and are making decisions about their care.

    Te Whatu Ora filed papers in the Auckland high court on Monday under the Care of Children Act. It asked that the baby’s guardianship be moved from his parents so consent could be given to use donated blood, the NZ Herald reported.

    Some people shouldn’t have children.

  27. 27.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: The funniest thing about this is that if they refuse to certify, the result is that a House seat that was won by a Republican would instead be “won” by the Democrat!

  29. 29.

    Geminid

    @Kay: The result in the Michigan House was one subject of a Politico article this morning, titled “Labor forces see “huge opportunity” in Democratic controlled Michigan.” I believe this year’s legislative elections were the first under a neutral map drawn by the state’s new redistricting commission.

    There was also another labor story in Politico: “Inside Biden’s decision to halt a railroad strike.”

  33. 33.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: The Chris Rufo types here are going to try to take over our school board in the next election, which is in April. They have been open about it; the head of the group they formed did an interview on a local right-wing talk radio show saying “our work isn’t done yet”. In the last election they ran an ad that just outright lied about one of the board incumbents who was running for re-election; that man was defeated. I sure hope they fail. Right now there are three of those people on our board; if they get two more members they’ll have a majority and be able to do whatever they want. It would be a disaster for our schools here if that happens.

  34. 34.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: There are two new Florida stories in Politico. 

    The first, “Suspended Florida prosecutor takes fight to DeSantis in opening day of federal court trial,” is about suspended Hillsborough County state prosecutor Andrew Warren’s attempt to get U.S. District Court Judge Jackson Hinkle to reinstate him as prosecutor.

    Hillsborough County includes the city of Tampa, and Florida public safety director Keefe argued yesterday that he had to fire Warren to avert a crime wave in that city. The trial is expected to last at least two more days.

    Meanwhile, Politico reports that “DeSantis-backed school boards begin ousting Florida educators.”

  35. 35.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    It’s a huge loss for the DeVos family, in particular, which gives me great pleasure. They have focused on abolishing labor unions and public schools for 30 years- poured hundreds of millions into it – only to lose everything by following the idiotic “call everyone a pedophile” and “scream cancel culture constantly” approach to state elections. The Libs of Tic Tok election strategy is a loser.

  36. 36.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: A lot of liberals are mad about Biden trying to stop that strike; I suppose they’d rather have the economy grind to a halt in the middle of the Christmas season, all because some of the unions voted against the agreement. I’ve seen lot of people on Twitter saying “Doesn’t everyone have sick leave?” I think that’s hilarious, I had some in my first job and then didn’t have it again until I got my job with City government. Lots of jobs don’t even have anything called “sick leave” anymore, they just have PTO that can be used for anything. Makes me wonder what world those people live in.

  37. 37.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: Florida public safety director Keefe argued yesterday that he had to fire Warren to avert a crime wave in that city

    So, his argument is that he had to fire someone to prevent something that hasn’t happened yet – future crime! I wonder how that legal argument will go over. I also want to know how you can fire someone who is elected to their office.

  38. 38.

    Tony Jay

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    I saw that a couple of days ago. It’s a sign of how fractured, dipped-in-horseshit and, dare I say it, in disarray the Republican Party is that their brainwashed election-denying wing might end up handing a couple of House seats over to the Democratic Party and there’s little or nothing the high muckity-mucks in Washington DC can do about it.

    Of course, there’s a non-zero chance that the Liberal Media will cover this story not through a “Major political party goes hoo-hah bonkers and needs to get its shit together or else” lens, but more along the lines of “Gee, if they really, really believe there were fraudulent shenanigans enough to sabotage their own Party, don’t we in the Press owe it to these fine Americans to find the evidence for them, however long that might take?”

    But still, wankers gonna wank.

  39. 39.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: Meanwhile, Politico reports that “DeSantis-backed school boards begin ousting Florida educators.”

    This is going to be just great for Florida education, seeing as how there’s already a big teacher shortage. Who wants to be a teacher now in a state like Florida?

  40. 40.

    Soprano2

    @Tony Jay: What’s funny about it is that these are conservative counties where Republicans regularly win. Are they saying that the election of Republicans there was fraudulent?

  41. 41.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    Our “CRT panic” school board candidate lost. The incumbent held the seat- he’s a moderate Republican from a big landowner family. He’s been really useful to have on the board because farmers often reject property tax increases which of course is how schools are funded. He’s been able to get some of them on board for better schools.

  42. 42.

    Anyway

    @Soprano2:

    Lots of jobs don’t even have anything called “sick leave” anymore, they just have PTO that can be used for anything. Makes me wonder what world those people live in.

    Exactly. Haven’t had “sick leave” in a decade at least. It’s all PTO anymore (for large employers).

  43. 43.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    The claim from pundits was no teachers would actually be fired. They also said no one in Texas would actually sue to enforce the abortion ban and there are already 5 lawsuits brought by far Right Texans to enforce the ban.

    When are these people going to get a fucking clue and wake up to the fact that Republicans intend to carry through with this stuff? When will they stop telling us we’re over reacting?

  44. 44.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t know anything about the judge in this case, but on its face, the firing sure seems like authoritarian overreach. Warren was twice elected by the people of Hillsborough County. DeSantis’s original rationale was that Warren had signed a letter lots of other prosecutors signed to protect reproductive rights. Now they’ve moved on to pre-crime. Jesus.

    Also, journalists unearthed a spreadsheet from public records where the DeSantis admin listed the pros and cons of firing Warren, and most of it was blatantly political. I hope Warren is reinstated. Not that it will matter to DeSantis — like the “voter fraud” cases that are getting dismissed left and right, it’s all about the performance, not the law.

  45. 45.

    BlueGuitarist

     

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The US house is the judge of elections to the US house, so if AZ doesn’t count the Cochise county votes, the R candidate will still be seated by the Rs in the US house.
    Possibly Bannon is promoting this so that they can have a current precedent of the House ignoring certifications, breaking the certification process to make a lot of noise about the certification process being broken.
    the other election is the very close contest for AZ Superintendent of Public Instruction, D incumbent would lose if Cochise votes are included.

  46. 46.

    Tony Jay

    @Soprano2:

    With these people, who the fuck knows? From the article it sounds like they’re nailing themselves to the nearest cross in order to draw attention to the violence dirty demorat corruption inherent in the system, but it’s just as likely that they think a crushing defeat at the hands of those Deep State influenced Republican judges will win them seats on the last few carriages of the Wingnut Welfare Gravy Train out of Assburn, Arizona.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    @Kay: I think the way Republicans leaned into this strategy is an example of how living in one’s own ideological bubble can validate dubious strategies. Republicans may have to get thrashed another cycle or two, though to get this through their thick skulls. Personally, I hope they are slow learners.

  48. 48.

    Betty Cracker

    @Soprano2: Keefe is also the guy who struck a corrupt bargain with a donor to spend millions of dollars to fly fewer than 50 migrants from TX to MA. HE’S the fucking crime wave!

  49. 49.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: The situation for railroad workers is incredibly shitty and I don’t blame them for being pissed off at Biden and Congress at all.

    Erik Loomis’s take was interestingly nuanced on this one (it’s a subject where he is an actual expert): his assessment was that the unions knew the deal was the best they could get, but politically, they would rather be forced to accept it by the government than do so voluntarily. So they effectively passed the buck to Biden and Congress, made them the bad guys. Still, in a better world, the railroads would be forced to accept a better deal.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    From the Michigan GOP post mortem:

    “Tudor’s efforts focused largely on Republican red meat issues, in hopes of inspiring a 2020-like showing at the polls,” the memo said. “There were more ads on transgender sports than inflation, gas prices and bread and butter issues that could have swayed independent voters. We did not have a turnout problem – middle-of-the-road voters simply didn’t like what Tudor was selling.”

    They followed Chris Rufo’s advice on what midwestern voters care about. Guffaw. Talk about an out of touch elite. Turns out most voters don’t read 5000 word meditations on “cancel culture” on Substack.

    Next cycle they should ask Andrew Sullivan for his input on voters in Grand Rapids. It’ll be just as relevant.

  51. 51.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Kristine:
    BJ contributed to flipping the PA house: the last 2 seats to be decided (of which Dems needed one) were both down-ballot candidates in super-swing-districts.
    Democrats won 102 seats, Rs won 101. But one of the Democrats in a solid D district died, and Summer Lee got elected to both a state house seat and US house seat. Not sure how that will play out.

  53. 53.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Eyeroller: Yeah, but the whole point of labor unions is to dispense with crabs-in-bucket “I don’t get sick leave, why should they?” thinking, which just drives a race to the bottom.

    It’s a rotten situation all around.

  54. 54.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: A lot of liberals are mad about Biden trying to stop that strike;

    I’m not angry about him stopping the strike. But I am not happy about him imposing a contract that was rejected by the members. Biden could have split the baby and given the workers some of what they wanted and told the RRs that they’d just have to accept a little bit larger shaving of the record profits they’d been making the past few years.

    Lots of jobs don’t even have anything called “sick leave” anymore, they just have PTO that can be used for anything.

    And therefor these RR workers are spoiled brats for wanting to make their lives marginally better by getting something the rest of society used to get but no longer do because MBAs decided it cut into corporate profits? These RR workers have working conditions that most people would consider horrendous. They are fighting for a life outside of work.

    Personally, as a union carpenter I never got any sick leave or paid vacation (we got “vacation pay”, a lump sum check from a dollar an hour levy for every hour we worked deducted from our pay). If I didn’t work? I didn’t get paid. There were reasons for why our contracts were constructed that way and I won’t bore you with the details but I have no problem with someone else trying to get something I never had thru collective bargaining.

  55. 55.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: San Antonio, Texas Sheriff Salazar might end up agreeing with you about Keefe. One ironic result of Keefe’s clever stunt is that the 50 migrants he trafficked now have protected status as crime victims and witnesses.

  56. 56.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: When will they stop telling us we’re over reacting?

    Never, Kay, the answer is never, because we are women so they think we are always “overreacting”. In 2015 and 2016 I kept telling people that TFG was not just bad, but dangerous, because of his “I alone” rhetoric and the things he said he wanted to do. I was told it was no big deal, and look where we are now.

  57. 57.

    Eyeroller

    @Matt McIrvin: It’s just an example of how crappy we are to workers in general.  Many other countries require that workers have PTO regardless of the job.  They also have better laws regarding maternity/paternity leave.  I was just contradicting the claims that “everybody has sick leave” because it simply isn’t true in this country.

  58. 58.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: I see this all the time, people who know hardly anyone who is a Democrat and therefore can’t understand how Democrats can win elections. Everyone they know (almost, if they know me!) listens to talk radio and believes TFG is telling the truth, so they think “everyone” is like that. It’s hard for them to envision that there are lots and lots of people in other places who don’t agree with their view of the world.

  59. 59.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: So, you do know that your first paragraph basically contradicts your second paragraph, right? If they know they can’t get a better deal, why are they pissed at Biden and the Democrats for doing what they actually want? Is it all just performance art?

  61. 61.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: I’m making a distinction of union leaders vs. individual workers, who are responding the way the leaders want them to, but understandably so.

  62. 62.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: And therefor these RR workers are spoiled brats for wanting to make their lives marginally better by getting something the rest of society used to get but no longer do because MBAs decided it cut into corporate profits?

    No, I’m talking about the people I have seen on Twitter who claim that “there’s no job that doesn’t have sick leave”, and I have seen that comment. It’s like they don’t know about the literally millions of jobs that exist that don’t have any paid time off at all!

  63. 63.

    jonas

    @Chief Oshkosh: The kicker is, it’s an overwhelmingly R county — like R +30 or something like that. They’re literally trying to disenfranchise their own voters. Geniuses.

  64. 64.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: Ok, but I object to the idea that they will trash Biden and Democrats in public but in private say they know this has to happen and it’s what they want because that’s politically advantageous for them.

  65. 65.

    Soprano2

    @jonas: I also think it’s hilarious how they’re making their own voters less likely to turn out by constantly pushing the idea that all elections are corrupt and no election results can be trusted.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @BlueGuitarist:the other election is the very close contest for AZ Superintendent of Public Instruction, D incumbent would lose if Cochise votes are included.

    That’s what it was. Thanx.

  68. 68.

    Betty Cracker

    The Rufo strategy seemingly worked in Florida, which sucks for us. But I suppose it could end up sandbagging Republicans in 2024 if they decide DeSantis is their guy and take the strategy of screeching “GROOMER!” at teachers and librarians national.

    BTW, DeSantis is coming out with a book in February called “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.” So high on his own supply, with some Orwell thrown in for good measure.

  69. 69.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: Sure the courage to be free – unless you want to talk about your same sex partner at school, or display a “safe space” sticker, or have a rainbow flag anywhere in your classroom, or go against anything DeSantis and his followers believe.

  70. 70.

    stacib

    @OzarkHillbilly: Isn’t Congress supposed to take up separate legislation that would ensure sick days for these folks?  I was listening to MJ while getting ready for work this morning, and I thought this was one of the points Joe was making.

  71. 71.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Betty Cracker: I’ve been thinking about how current trends affect the national balance of power.

    The federated, state-oriented nature of American political power favors Republicans right now. There’s a general belief that this is because of the excess power the Constitution gives to small states, but that’s really not the biggest part of it, since the R vs. D imbalance of small states isn’t that large.

    It’s more about the big states: for the past few cycles, the big blue states (New York, California) have been deep, deep blue whereas the big red states (Texas, Florida) are really more purple, and that gives Republicans a large power advantage relative to the popular vote, because more Dems are being effectively disenfranchised by living in Republican-controlled states.

    But as Republican power deepens in the red states, I wonder if that imbalance is going to gradually fix itself through further geographic sorting. It seems like conservatives are flooding into Florida right now, which means they’re not voting any more in the places they were from.

    It would mean flipping Texas and Florida blue isn’t the way forward. But flipping Georgia, NC, keeping Michigan and Pennsylvania… maybe that’s doable. Clawing back the 2016 Blue Wall breach. Breaking anti-democratic power in places like Wisconsin, which would be considered a “managed democracy” by international standards.

  73. 73.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: One analysis I read of partisan voting trends said that with the polarization you describe, Electoral College victory will now turn on only 4 swing states: Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada. I thought North Carolina should have been incliuded also.

    Georgia and North Carolina especially interest me. I see in them a lot of the demographic trends and political dynamics that have helped Virginia go from red to purple to (mostly) blue in the last 25 years.

  76. 76.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @Betty Cracker:

    DeSantis is coming out with a book in February called “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.”

    Why yes, let’s have every state become a tourist Mecca with their own Disney World, grow oranges*, have a rubber stamp Christofascist legislature, and also become the largest point of entry for cocaine in the US. I’m sure that will work out well in Alaska, Michigan or New Hampshire.

    No thanks.

    Florida makes Indiana look liberal by way of comparison.

     

    *I’m now to the point where I refuse to buy orange juice made with Florida oranges. As you can guess, I don’t buy much OJ any more unless the carton specifically says “Product of Mexico”.

  77. 77.

    Geminid

    @Miss Bianca: There would be an anti-vax movement warning that the vaccines were made from “woke cells” created in Chinese bioweapons labs: “Don’t you know that stupidity is actually a form of natural immunity?!”

  78. 78.

    Fake Irishman

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Yeah, that’s my read too. Biden did go to the matt for them to get a bit better deal on some of the time-off issues last summer, but I do understand why the workers are still pissed.

  79. 79.

    Another Scott

    @stacib:

    RollCall (from yesterday):

    According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, the chamber will take up the legislation as soon as 9 a.m. Wednesday. The measure would put in place the most recent tentative agreement by the Presidential Emergency Board in September.

    Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said they intend to pass the legislation “as quickly as possible.”

    “You need to act a few days before that, because a lot of the suppliers stopped sending their stuff on the trains if they think there’s a possible shutdown,” Schumer said. “For instance, chlorine, to preserve water supplies in many towns and cities, would not go on those trains.”

    The legislation comes after President Joe Biden called on Capitol Hill to ratify the agreement — a move that’s caused workers to question his self-proclaimed pro-union presidency. The rail unions’ bargaining process and contract has remained in status quo since four unions voted down the agreement over what they called “insufficient” paid sick leave. The other eight unions have ratified the agreement.

    Lawmakers were poised to pass a joint resolution in September that would similarly require the unions and railroads to accept the recommendations of the presidential board. However, the Biden administration issued a tentative agreement that includes one of the largest wage packages in nearly five decades, according to advocates of the agreement, as well as health benefits and an additional day of paid time off for most union workers.

    According to the Association of American Railroads, the agreement offers one of the highest wage increases in over five decades, with extra wage and compensation of up to $16,000 for the average rail employee.

    But four rail unions — the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalman, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and SMART Transportation Division — said the agreement’s four days of sick leave doesn’t provide protections against illnesses like COVID-19.

    “Despite making record profits year after year, pumping up their stock prices to unheard-of levels, downsizing the workforce by furloughing 30 percent of the employees and becoming some of the most profitable corporations on Wall Street, the Class One carriers somehow cannot afford to provide sick time for their hard-working and dedicated employees,” Jason Doering, general secretary of Railroad Workers United, a group representing workers from a variety of rail unions and carriers, said in a statement.

    The National Carriers’ Conference Committee, which represents the freight rail carriers in national collective bargaining, maintains that the agreement allows union employees to call in sick “at any time, as long as they maintain a reasonable level of overall availability under carrier attendance policies,” as well as other long-term sickness benefits.

    Unions are supposed to play hardball with management – power never yields without a fight. It sounds like on the whole this proposal is good incremental progress and that’s important.

    I trust Pelosi on this.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  80. 80.

    Miss Bianca

    @Geminid: Well, I didn’t know that, but it seems like a lot of people living in my county knew that – some of them sitting on our local school board!

  81. 81.

    Fake Irishman

    @Soprano2:

    Performance art has its place in narrative setting. (speaking as a guy who has been on the union side in some really tense negotiations that have gone down to the wire)

  84. 84.

    Another Scott

    @Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman): [rant]  I bought some beautiful giant (softball-size) USA Sunkist navel oranges a few days ago.  Thin skin, looked to be delicious!  Couldn’t wait!

    I had one yesterday.

    I couldn’t believe how bad it was.  Bitter, with the texture of dry chewed-up cardboard.  (No, it wasn’t a grapefruit.)  It looks like yet another food product has been ruined by breeding the taste out of it in favor of appearance.

    Grr…

    [/rant]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  85. 85.

    Miss Bianca

    @Another Scott: I have had that experience as well. Nice-looking oranges that ended up being a bitter disappointment (pun very much intended because I am my father’s daughter, damn it).

  87. 87.

    Kristine

    Lately I’ve had the most luck with pink grapefruit when it comes to flavor (I know some folks can’t eat them b/c of interactions with medication).

    I always thought the chewy graininess was the result of freezing during transit. Cells explode, release juice, and all that’s left is pulp, which dries out.

  88. 88.

    Msb

    Nasty behavior at Buckingham Palace (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/30/buckingham-palace-aide-resigns-black-guest-traumatised-by-repeated-questioning). New Queen Consort holds important event to publicize and combat violence against women and girls. And some idiot (volunteer) aide not only touches the hair of invited guest (British born woman of color) but also badgers her about “where in Africa are you REALLY from?” Palace invited aide to resign immediately, which she did with apology, but I think more amends should be made.
    This unfortunately happens in UK and Europe: asking people of color where they’re “really” from, or even telling them to go back there. I don’t remember this as a feature of US racism.

  89. 89.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Soprano2:

    No, I’m talking about the people I have seen on Twitter who claim that “there’s no job that doesn’t have sick leave”, and I have seen that comment. It’s like they don’t know about the literally millions of jobs that exist that don’t have any paid time off at all!

    I’m guessing if you searched those accounts, you’d also find “the Democrats would be a rightwing party in any other country!” and “every country in Europe has single-payer health coverage!”

  90. 90.

    Scout211

    @Another Scott: I feel lucky that we can grow citrus on our property. We have 3 orange trees, 3 mandarins and one Meyer lemon.  The oranges won’t ripen until January/February but the taste of tree-ripened oranges can’t be beat and I am so looking forward to it.

    I purchased a few oranges for my holiday meals last week and several were so bitter that they were not edible.

  92. 92.

    sab

    @Msb: It can’t be a feature of US racism because all our black people were brought here entirely against their will mostly before our Revolution. No one in America is more American than our African Americans.

    British black people are either Carribean or African recently. From their former empire. Different dynamic entirely.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

     But I suppose it could end up sandbagging Republicans in 2024 if they decide DeSantis is their guy and take the strategy of screeching “GROOMER!” at teachers and librarians national.

    Yup. DeSantis had Rufo appear with him when announcing one of his speech restriction laws. If the plan really is to run nationally on the far Right agenda he ran on in Florida that’s good for us.
    Florida is much further Right then the swing states, as is Ohio.
    Political l media are wrong when they say DeSantis isn’t a culture warrior. Voters will recognize it even if media deny it.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @sab:

    I don’t grow anything inside, I’m afraid. People give me houseplants all the time because I’m a gardener but I give them away. I just got a Christmas cactus I have to find a home for :)

  96. 96.

    gwangung

    @Msb:

    This unfortunately happens in UK and Europe: asking people of color where they’re “really” from, or even telling them to go back there. I don’t remember this as a feature of US racism.

     

    Um, Asian Americans hear that CONSTANTLY in the US. Only a little hair-touching, though.

  97. 97.

    Betty Cracker

    @Matt McIrvin: Interesting idea. I don’t know how it will sort out on a national level, but if we still had a kid in public school, we’d move the hell out of Florida. That’s something I never thought we’d consider — my husband loves it here, our surviving parents (and aunts, uncles, etc.) are here, and my family has been here for generations.

    But our now-adult kid wasn’t interested in living in an authoritarian state that persecutes queer people and moved to the West Coast with our blessing and assistance. It really sucks. I thought I hated these right-wing bastards before, but now it’s much more personal.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Also the FL abortion law has no exceptions for rape or incest and narrows the exception for “health of the mother’ to where she has to be almost dead. No one is covering it but I imagine eventually a physician or two will speak up.

    Uninformed political commentators said it was “moderate” but none of them bothered to read it -because who cares? It’s women’s lives! MINOR issue.

  99. 99.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Msb: One of my colleagues at Iowa State was of Middle-Eastern descent. When he’d tell people he was from Toledo (and people asking him where he was from is a signal in itself), they’d say no, where are you really from.

  101. 101.

    sab

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Danny Thomas and Jamie Farr were from Toledo. Everyone knows Toledo in Ohio is part of the middle eastern heartland.

    My stepdaughter is middle eastern descent from another part of Ohio. We thought she was Lebanese. Turns out she was Syrian.  Not a huge difference.

  102. 102.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: We’re waiting for the other shoe to drop on abortion restrictions. Before the election, DeSantis said he’d do more in a second term to “protect life,” by which he means blastocysts and fetuses, not women, of course. Unimportant!

    He also made noises in the run-up to the election about passing a “constitutional carry” law so people who are already carrying concealed weapons can parade around with guns openly, the better to intimidate people. Most voters in this right-wing state were okay with that.

  103. 103.

    Ksmiami

    @Betty Cracker: it’s the caudillo worshipping elitist immigrants and racist Midwestern transplants that have made Florida unbearable- it resembles a south American dystopia, not a swing state.

  105. 105.

    Betty Cracker

    This should be interesting:

    I don’t know much about Cicilline. I am kind of surprised Clyburn wants to hang in there. Maybe he should have done a Pelosi.

  107. 107.

    sab

    @Josie: I like immigrants. Some of my favorite relatives are immigrants.

    Nikki Haley is an embarrassment to the immigrant community, but I am sure she and they are both aware of that.

  108. 108.

    Scout211

    @Msb: I’m not sure what you mean about this not being a feature of US racism but “go back to your country” slurs have been around in the US forever. They were heard much louder and more often recently during the surge in outward racism during the Tr*mp years. But those slurs have been around forever.

    A personal example in my own family during the 80’s happened when my stepdaughter was a teen. A neighbor asked us what country she was from, assuming she was an exchange student and visiting from another country.

    My stepdaughter is half Japanese with dark hair and brown eyes. Her sister is blonde, with blue eyes. The neighbor assumed she must be from another country because she didn’t look like her sister.

  110. 110.

    Kay

    @sab:

    Hah! It’s cute. I put it in a nice clay pot with good soli mix and set it by the window in the mudroom. First person who admires it gets it.

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack

    @Geminid:

    It’s certainly gray and rainy this morning here in Threadkill Lane, about eight miles west of the White House, so, yeah, it could still be drizzly this afternoon. But my weather page shows the rain letting up later.

  114. 114.

    opiejeanne

    @Another Scott: We had one of those beautiful big oranges on Monday and half of it was gloriously good, but the other half was not great, damaged somehow. Dried, pithy, mainly inedible. Too old maybe, but that’s really strange because November is prime navel orange season in SoCal.

  115. 115.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Msb: Are you serious?  Asking PoC where they are “really” from is as American as apple pie.  Just ask Asian-Americans, Latinx and dark-skinned Black People, who deal with this shit all the time.

  116. 116.

    Alice

    @Msb: It happens in the US all the time, too. I heard my fellow grad students repeatedly get that line of questioning at parties and even academic meetings. And it would be especially aggressive when they were out doing fieldwork.

  117. 117.

    dm

    @Soprano2: Politics ain’t beanbag.

    But I’m prejudiced, since I was a member of the International Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees during my college summer stints as a gandy-dancer.

    So: I’m a little pissed that Biden and Congress aren’t coming down on the union side in this dispute: four sick days seem an okay concession to people who wrestle railroad ties for a living.

  118. 118.

    Anyway

    @sab:

     It can’t be a feature of US racism because all our black people were brought here entirely against their will mostly before our Revolution. No one in America is more American than our African Americans.

    Plenty of US immigrants over the last 50 years from Africa and the Caribbean.

  119. 119.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Speaking of DeSantis:

    Just Wait Until You Get to Know Ron DeSantis
    People who haven’t met him think he’s a hot commodity. People who have met him aren’t so sure.
    By Mark Leibovich

    TLDR: he’s not good on TV and no one wants to have a beer with him

    But certain political skills are more innate, and require an ability to ad-lib that DeSantis lacks. He can appear needlessly snappish and reactive (earlier this year, he scolded a group of high-school students for wearing masks onstage behind him). One particular interlude during DeSantis’s 2022 campaign bears revisiting. It occurred during a debate with his Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, who attempted to pin down the governor on whether he would commit to serving out his four-year term if reelected. In other words, was DeSantis running for president in 2024 or not? “Yes or no, Ron?” Crist pressed him. DeSantis froze. “It’s a fair question and he won’t tell you,” Crist said, filling the silence.

  120. 120.

    rikyrah

     

    😂😂😂😂😂

    Mama kept my documents until she passed. If I wanted something, went and found another copy

    Nina Parker (@theninaparker) tweeted at 2:56 PM on Mon, Nov 28, 2022:
    My mama has had my birth certificate my entire life for safe-keeping. Last year I finally told her I wanted to hold on to it— I’m responsible and GROWN. Y’all I already lost it. https://t.co/6Fqj0GqJ5a
    (https://twitter.com/theninaparker/status/1597333514277466112?s=02)

  121. 121.

    Miss Bianca

    @dm: Well, judging from what I’ve read about it so far, it sounds like Biden *is* coming down on the side of most of the unions involved.

    ETA: if your point is that the majority of unions shouldn’t have been satisfied with so little, when the railroads have so much, I can understand that.

  122. 122.

    kindness

    Central Cal here.  I have two orange trees & one mandarin orange tree.  They all produce outrageously good fruit.  For what ever reason, one of the orange trees didn’t produce any fruit this year.  I suspect it was because it was raining while the tree was flowering.  Could have been because I left too much fruit on the branch and it didn’t flower.  What ever.  At least I have two trees producing.  Thank the FSM I live in California where I can grow this stuff.

  123. 123.

    Gvg

    @Another Scott:

    No. Oranges taste different based on the growing conditions of the nearly whole year they take to ripen. Insufficient heat and they aren’t sweet. Too much rain especially right before picking, and they taste like water not sugar. Its is complex. Trees bear for about 30 years and each year the results are a bit different. Shipping, picking, late frost all kinds of things change the results. 

    Very few are that tasteless in a good year. Growers don’t bother with tasteless trees. But some years crops are just not good.

  124. 124.

    Miss Bianca

    @kindness: you’re making me nostalgic for the citrus trees in my grandmother’s garden in Coronado. I got so spoiled as a little tyke because her cook (yes, she had one!) made me fresh-squeezed orange juice when we went out there on a visit. I was only about three or four years old that first time, but already old enough to become a juice snob – I could never stand OJ made from concentrate.

    When I got older and we visited, I used to love to stroll out there and just nab fruit off the trees. Man, sometimes I wish my parents had hung onto that place. I loved it out there.

  125. 125.

    opiejeanne

    @Kristine: That’s what I think. This is the beginning of prime citrus season in SoCal, but we had the same experience with one of those beautiful oranges this week. half was gloriously delicious, the other half was pithy and damaged, probably by exposure to too much cold. I live near Seattle, I should be able to get decent oranges here, but even when I lived in SoCal there were times when we couldn’t. The very best fruit wasn’t sold locally, even though we were surrounded by orange trees. It was shipped to the east coast where they could get more money for it.

  126. 126.

    Geminid

    @Steeplejack: I hope it does clear up for the Christmas tree lighting. I can find out from WTOP News.

    I’ve found that WTOP is a really good news source. Since I moved to Greene County I can pull them in on their Fredericksburg transmitter. I think they have their own Pentagon correspondent, and they must share space with CBS national news because the anchors frequenly interview CBS correspondents about what’s shaking on Capitol Hill  or in the Biden administration. That’s a nice complement to the Harrisonburg station’s coverage of agriculture and high school football games.

    I like radio news. I’ll tune into Atlanta’s WSB 750AM the night of the Georgia Senate runoff. They had very good coverage last time, and it’s a “clear channel” station so it comes in clear as a bell here after dark.

  128. 128.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Betty Cracker: ​
     

    @Matt McIrvin: Interesting idea. I don’t know how it will sort out on a national level, but if we still had a kid in public school, we’d move the hell out of Florida. That’s something I never thought we’d consider — my husband loves it here, our surviving parents (and aunts, uncles, etc.) are here, and my family has been here for generations.

    My wife’s something like a 6th-generation Floridian, and she still has family there. She used to at least consider the possibility of our retiring there (we’re in MD), but for the past few years, she’s been emphatic that there’s no way she’d consider it anymore. Much to my relief.

  129. 129.

    opiejeanne

    @Anyway: I met a lovely nurse from Somalia who was assisting my doctor a few years ago. He doesn’t seem to work at that clinic now and I miss him, but I hope he found a better place.

  131. 131.

    opiejeanne

    @rikyrah: One of my kids did that, twice, after insisting she should have possession of it because she was an adult.

    She also lost her childhood Christmas stocking the same way, and God knows what else.

  132. 132.

    sab

    @Anyway: I do know that. But the vast majority have been here since forever.

    ETA I am not saying immigrants are lesser citizens. I am just saying black citizens have been a part of our society from the beginnining.

    ETA Most of the go back from where you came shriekers are only a generation off the boat themselves.

  138. 138.

    Msb

    Thanks, community, for your answers. Very eye-opening. Growing up in the USA, I was exposed to a lot of racism, but not the “where do you come from” kind. And I’ve heard women of color talk about this, but remain perhaps most shocked by the aide handling the other woman’s hair. I would never do that without explicit permission. As I read the story, I could hear my grandma asking the aide, “We’re you brought up in a barn?”

  139. 139.

    opiejeanne

    It stopped snowing in the wee hours, but the power has been out since midnight, so 9 hours now. Various things were beeping and complaining, and I had to go shut off the alarm system at 6am.  Did not want to get out of bed because the house is cold.

    The website for Puget Sound Energy just showed that repair crew are on site to hopefully get things up and running soon. There are still 24,000 without power in King County right now, about a third of what it was earlier.

  140. 140.

    Kent

    @dm:

    @Soprano2: Politics ain’t beanbag.

    But I’m prejudiced, since I was a member of the International Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees during my college summer stints as a gandy-dancer.

    So: I’m a little pissed that Biden and Congress aren’t coming down on the union side in this dispute: four sick days seem an okay concession to people who wrestle railroad ties for a living.

    My take is that Biden and the Administration felt like they had actually negotiated or facilitated an agreement between the two sides back in October or whenever it was that Biden’s labor secretary called everyone to DC to sit down and reach a deal.  And they are probably feeling that it is these unions that are walking out on the deal that was reached.  It may not be everything the Unions wanted, but it was the bargain that was reached.  So I suspect the Biden Admin feels somewhat comfortable imposing the agreement that they helped reach, and doesn’t want to start from scratch again.

    The whole sick leave thing is disturbing.  But honestly that is probably something that should be addressed by national policy of mandatory sick leave across all industries.

  141. 141.

    scav

    @Msb: Same Royal Household / following that had a bit of a meltdown over the protocol of Michelle Obama touching the Queen.     And that woman’s (eta the prince’s godmother idiot) been swimming in protocol since forever.  Still, for stepping on a rake determinedly, repeatedly and with force, she is a hell of a competitor.  The “having been in France” grace note gives a properly Pythonesque vibe of Upper-class Twitdom.

  143. 143.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kent: important to remember that of the 12 unions concerned, 8 have approved the deal

    The whole sick leave thing is disturbing.  But honestly that is probably something that should be addressed by national policy of mandatory sick leave across all industries.

    A handful of R Senators– Rubio and Hawley, for starters– have jumped on this to declare Biden isn’t really pro-labor and they’re very concerned about sick leave. Obviously, they won’t stick to it, but it’s a good rhetorical opening for Dems to take advantage of.

  144. 144.

    Dadadadadadada

    @EarthWindFire: McConnell and Clarence Thomas’s apparent indifference about legally protecting their own interracial marriages, and TFG’s xenophobia in contrast with his own marriages to immigrants, are all of a piece:

    These men don’t like their wives and would welcome the government taking them off their hands.

  145. 145.

    StringOnAStick

    @Miss Bianca: Looks like you and I share having had grandparents who lived in Coronado.  My grandad was a serious gardener and even in that sandy soil on a tiny lot, he produced some great veg and fruit.  I loved that the front yard hedge was jade plants with trunks the diameter of my legs!

  146. 146.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s almost funny to watch clowns like Rubio and Hawley try to remake themselves into tribunes of the working class. An acting coach would maybe advise them to start off with a role that comes more naturally, like plutocrat ottoman.

  147. 147.

    zhena gogolia

    @Msb: She wasn’t what you would call an “aide,” she was an 83-year-old former lady-in-waiting to QEII. She appeared as a character on this season of The Crown. So she’s kind of a historical relic.

  151. 151.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    A handful of R Senators– Rubio and Hawley, for starters– have jumped on this to declare Biden isn’t really pro-labor and they’re very concerned about sick leave. Obviously, they won’t stick to it, but it’s a good rhetorical opening for Dems to take advantage of.

    Hell yeah, let’s put ’em on the spot! Get a universal sick leave bill on the floor STAT!

  152. 152.

    Msb

    @zhena gogolia

    after this, I hope she IS a relic. The story was updated after I first read it. SH wasn’t named in the first version.

  154. 154.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: Good lord, she must be nearly 100 years old!

    I cut old people SOME slack for asking dumb questions, etc. Not excusing what this particular woman did, but when my own ancient relatives behave badly without intending offense, I remind myself that they’re living in an entirely different world than the one they grew up in. It must be bewildering.

  156. 156.

    zhena gogolia

    @Betty Cracker: She’s 83. Still no excuse at all. She’s been living in a bubble her whole life.

    ETA: I’m kind of glad, because it gives some context to Meghan’s account of her own experiences.

  157. 157.

    NotMax

    @Dorothy A. Winsor

    Nothing to see as it’s beyond the horizon unless one treks to highest elevation here on a cloudless day. Not much anticipation of vog either, as emissions are being released at such a high altitude that impact on any of the islands is minuscule.

  159. 159.

    scav

    @Betty Cracker: Yup on personally old, but she had recently been appointed one of the “ladies of the household” and thus could be expected to be professionally competent (in theory).  Essentially appointing 90 year-olds as bus-drivers does rather speak to the quality of the management / institution.  However understandable the 90-year-old’s dream of toodling about is.

  160. 160.

    dnfree

    @Soprano2: When I worked for a well-known tire company in IT, the unionized employees (first the Rubber Workers, which later merged with the Steel Workers) did not have sick days.  None, zip, nada.  Consequently, the non-union office staff and managers were not supposed to take sick days, even if we were sick.  Somehow it wasn’t fair to union employees if we used our sick days.  I fortunately didn’t get sick very often during my time there, but I remember sitting at my desk with my coat on, shivering with a fever, trying to write programs.  But it was all good, because at the end of the year those of us with perfect attendance, union and salaried, would be given a set of coasters or something like that as an award.

    Many unionized jobs don’t have sick days.  Management doesn’t want people calling in “sick” if they aren’t, because if they do, either their assigned equipment will sit idle, or someone will be paid overtime to run it.  Bad for the bottom line.

  161. 161.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kent: At any rate, as I said elsewhere, I am seeing the usual “progressives” absolutely laying into Biden and Democrats for this all over social media. I think part of it is, there are a lot of lefty spaces where spewing MAGA material will get you booted in seconds but hammering on the shitlibs from a “left” perspective is OK.

  162. 162.

    cain

    @Soprano2: They are ok with that. It means that they’ll get home schooled or some others – but I suspect it will backfire since not everyone can move their kids to private or religious schools.

  163. 163.

    cain

    @Kay:

     

    When are these people going to get a fucking clue and wake up to the fact that Republicans intend to carry through with this stuff? When will they stop telling us we’re over reacting?

    When it directly and very personally affects them. It hasn’t happened yet. It is only a matter of time. Everything the GOP is doing is going to kick everyone in the collective groin.

  164. 164.

    Soprano2

    @dnfree: My husband said when he had his print shop he gave the employees 3 paid sick days. If they didn’t take them he paid them the money at the end of the year. That way they didn’t abuse them but could take off some if they were really sick.

    ETA – My current employer gives us lots of sick hours, but it used to be if you took too many hours or took off sick too many times it was a strike against you on your performance review. That never made sense to me – why give us those hours and then penalize us if we use them? They’ve stopped that, thank goodness.

  165. 165.

    Msb

    @dadadadadada (enough da’s?)

    I’m sure that’s so. What I said (twice) is that I hadn’t encountered it.

  166. 166.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Msb: Maybe not so much anymore, but the history of Liberia shows the “go back to where you came from” was alive in the U.S. before the Civil War.  Monrovia, the capital, is named for President Monroe, a supporter of the colony.  Of course, some free Blacks also supported the “return to Africa” idea.  It’s complicated.

  167. 167.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I love that on Jeopardy (the TV quiz show), they have all kinds of players, including many who are not “white”, and are invariably introduced as being from where they live or grew up (i.e. Cleveland, for someone who is clearly East Asian in ancestry).  No fucking around about where they are “really” from.  It wonderfully shows how diverse this country really is.  Lots of LGBTQ folks as well. Amy Schnider who just won the Tournament of Champions is a transgender woman from Oakland.

Comments are closed.