I know that not everyone here is a fan of AOC, but I am guessing everyone here will be a fan of what she said today.
When I get angry, words fail me. Not so for AOC.
"I had a member of the Republican caucus threaten my life and the Republican caucus rewarded him with one of the most prestigious committee assignments in this Congress."
Watch Rep. AOC respond to Republicans' removal of Rep. @Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/A22R7jQrlC
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) February 2, 2023
I think it’s fair to say that AOC has all the best words. (today)
No, wait! Eric Swalwell kept some of them for himself.
Hey MAGA-GOP— take a look in your own damn mirror before you come here looking for Anti-Semitism. pic.twitter.com/0vHv09i6QS
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 2, 2023
By the time this guy got to the front of the line, they were fresh out of the best words.
Republicans hate Critical Race Theory, but do they know what it is? pic.twitter.com/lBrGy4mpre
— The Good Liars (@TheGoodLiars) February 2, 2023
Power move? Pushback from Hakeem Jeffries.
WOW. Absolute power move by Hakeem Jeffries. After Republicans kicked Ilhan Omar off of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Jeffries immediately put her on the House Budget Committee. Republicans messed with the wrong party and person. Rep. Omar won’t be silenced.
— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) February 2, 2023
Where does the House Budget Committee rank in terms of importance?
Open thread.
Jeffro
House Dems are FIRED. UP.
Good! We need them now more than ever.
Baud
Budget is ok. I wouldn’t get super excited about it.
Ishiyama
It is not about “like” or “don’t like”. It is about respect.
Ishiyama
@Baud: Budget is where the money is. And tax proposals start there, I believe.
WaterGirl
@Baud: That was my reaction, too. But the writer of that tweet seems to think that’s a power move, so I figured I was missing something.
WaterGirl
@Ishiyama: I’m not sure I know what you’re getting at with that comment.
Baud
@Ishiyama:
The money is in appropriations. Budget is important, but I don’t think it’s super high status. But maybe on par with Foreign Affairs.
ETA: Taxes is Ways and Means, I believe.
Michael Bersin
In Missouri’s 4th Congressional District we thought we might get a reprieve when Vicky Hartzler (r) gave up her six term seat to lose in the republican U.S. Senate primary (yes, I know, it’s Missouri – what was I thinking?).
Instead we got former newsreader Mark Alford (r). Any guesses which network affiliate?
The low bar just remained low:
On the other hand, a Kakistocracy is perfectly fine
WaterGirl
That guy being interviewed about CRT is really something. It’s what I would have expected, but it’s really something to see the ignorance displayed so clearly.
bbleh
@Jeffro: Yes. The Republicans want a circus, I guess they’re going to get one. It’s easier in the minority …
bbleh
@Baud: both correct I believe. Which is not to say Budget doesn’t have importance, because it’s the first step, and as such it has symbolic importance. Eg the House will release “its budget” in April; that’s the committee that has primary jurisdiction IIRC.
Baud
@bbleh:
It’s better than the small business or science, space, and technology committees.
km
Since this is an open thread – I finally read NaijaGal’s book (‘Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions’) from this post last September. (I bought it then… but have stacks of books I’m reading so…) Loved it and will be giving copies to some friends. Especially like that it has perspectives and places that are different from those I know, plus the characters also spend time in places that I know. And seeing snapshots of characters across their lifetime.
Betty Cracker
I am completely happy with how the House Dems slid into opposition mode. Well done!
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Hakeem might just be the perfect fit for opposition mode.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ilhan Omar spoke pretty well for herself (I can’t find a full transcript so part from Rolling Stone and part from Aaron Rupar’s tweet)
my bolding below, I recommend you watch the video is you haven’t seen it
trollhattan
@WaterGirl: But isn’t it nice to know that at least in Virginia, everything is so hunky-dory that fiddly education bits have folks so mesmerized?
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Not really. :-)
If I were being interviewed, the moment I realized I had taken a totally ignorant stand, about something I knew nothing about, I would have smacked my head and said “wow, it’s clear that I need to do some more research.”
That guy kept stammering on, digging a bigger and bigger hole.
Jeffro
@WaterGirl:
@trollhattan: I’ll say this, the GQP sure as heck knows its voters. Just give them something, anything, to get them fired up and off they go. No need for further investigation, no need to deal with all that cognitive dissonance – just fire away!
(I mean we do too – it’s just that our issues are grounded in reality, science, actual shit we can explain)
Omnes Omnibus
AOC is very good at what she does.
rikyrah
In today’s episode of
You’re rich, I’m poor
😂😂😂😂
This guy cracks me up
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTRsTGbbp/
barbequebob
Gotta Love Them,
Listening to NPR on WBUR this evening during a rare bad program on my local community radio station. I hear this, but know the rest of the story.
“Stock markets were mixed today. The Dow fell 0.11%”
In fact, here are the numbers.
DOW 34,053.94 –0.11%
S&P 500 4,179.76 + 1.47%
NASDAQ 12,200.82 +3.25%
So, although the statement is not incorrect, it leaves out the fact that the other two indices were significantly higher today and makes me wonder by what process they choose that one piece of data to be how they reported todays stock market results?
You may not care about any of this. I only offer it as further proof of how useless NPR is as a source of news and commentary.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Heh.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes. And she does righteous anger very well.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I can’t stop laughing!
Is that a regular thing he does? I actually love the design-printed ice, it’s so pretty. Does that make me awful?
Baud
@WaterGirl:
It makes you rich!
Craig
@WaterGirl: That guy is like my mom’s neighbors in VA., the I Don’t Care For It quote is straight up something they say. They’ve heard something, they won’t learn about it, but they don’t care for it. Fox News junkies.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Not rich enough to buy those! They are silly, but pretty.
WaterGirl
@Craig: That’s right up there with “because I said so.”
They are not to be questioned!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Craig: arguing with that guy is like arguing with Barney Frank’s proverbial dining room table. I was hoping the interviewer would ask him which school CRT was being taught in, but he heard it was being taught in schools, so….
I heard Jordan Klepper (the Comedy Central guy, I can’t remember if he’s still on TDS with ?) on MSNBC teasing some interviews he has coming up with people who think trump is still POTUS. It’s quite a rabbit hole. trump is running the military, the good military, cause there are two militaries, the good one, that trump is running, and the bad one, that Biden is running, or maybe Obama. Guess which military is sending aid to Ukraine.
Jobeth
@WaterGirl: You can buy them on Etsy for $17-$30! Who knew these existed? I don’t think I have the patience though they’re very cool.
WaterGirl
I’m gonna go watch Will Trent. Is anyone else watching that? It’s on ABC.
It quirky, and has sort of a Monk feel about it. Not the same issues as Monk, of course, but the detective is dyslexic and of course he has had to be especially watchful for other cues all his life since he can’t read well, so he can read crime scenes like no one else.
Nothing gory, no autopsies with the chest open and the lungs pulled out. Interesting stories and good supporting characters. I would say it’s kind of a gentle mystery. Off to watch Tuesday’s episode.
WaterGirl
@Jobeth: Step one: find ice cube trays that make giant, perfectly square cubes. Step two: order on Etsy. Step three: more complicated than you expected, and you understand why no one uses them.
JPL
The vote identified the moderate republicans.
Good luck with that debt ceiling vote.
WaterGirl
I forgot to share my good news. After a few days of feeling kind of crappy and finally having a cough for a few days that I couldn’t deny, I went to the University and got my spit-test for Covid this morning. That’s a negatory on the result. Yay!
Okay, off to watch my show.
WaterGirl
@JPL: I can’t quite tell whether you think there will be enough moderates to raise the debt ceiling.
JPL
@WaterGirl: If you could watch online, I would, but alas you have to watch on Hulu. I enjoy reading Slaughter’s books though.
SFAW
@WaterGirl:
And “I did my own research.” [Although that seems to get used by anti-vaxxers more than anti-
BlackCRT-ers.]Martin
It’s not hypocrisy if you honestly believe that white people are inherently superior.
Jackie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: She was passionate and strong and received multiple standing ovations. Every Democrat voted for her. Hakeem’s caucus is staying united.
JPL
@WaterGirl: If AOC could not convince one person on the republican side to vote to keep Omar on the committee, what do you think will happen with the debt ceiling. I don’t think it looks good. There are not moderate republicans.
Xavier
I donate to AOC, not because she needs it (she doesn’t) but because she is much smarter than I am about how to use the money.
jnfr
Jeffries shows huge support for her. I am glad of it.
Jeffro
That…wow…that takes some serious head-stretching. trump is running the ‘good’ military, secretly, somehow? And he’s okay with what (‘fake’, presumably) President Biden is doing with the ‘bad’ military while keeping all of his own “ops” on the down low?
Keeping quiet and doing good deeds without recognition…somehow, that just doesn’t sound like the trump I know…
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I thought JFK was still president?
FelonyGovt
Not a big AOC fan but she was right on the money with her righteous anger there. I’m glad we have passionate, brilliant and quick-on-their- feet Reps like her and Jeffries. We need them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: Um…. I think, I hope, you mean JFK, Jr.
Ishiyama
@WaterGirl: In politics, you accord respect to those whom you think deserve it, even if you find them distasteful in other ways.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Problem with committee assignments is you have to have a vacancy before you get assigned.
Say someone is on Agriculture, but a seat opens up on Armed Services, if you have the right amount of seniority you get that seat, which then leaves open a seat on Ag.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The “common clay” think JFK faked his own death and is still alive at age 105 helping… [checks notes]….. Dump and KKKari.
mvr
@FelonyGovt: I’m big on division of labor, coalition politics, and also playing to your district. So I don’t get as bent out of shape about AOC as lots of people do, though she does sometimes step in it.
If there were ever a time where legislatively & starting from where we are at, both very moderate and very left wing legislators should be aiming for the same medium term victories it is now.
trnc
While it’s a fool’s game to look for anything approaching reason in the modern republican party, I would point out that kicking democrats off of committees is a pretty pain free task for republicans. The same cannot be said of choosing to send the country into default.
Leslie
@WaterGirl: I didn’t recognize the name at first, but when you mentioned the dyslexia I remembered that he’s a character in a series of books I read a few years back, by Karin Slaughter. I liked the character a lot.
different-church-lady
@David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: His torso is.
rikyrah
I am glad that the Democrats are not shrinking away.
HumboldtBlue
Manyakitty
@WaterGirl: yay! Isn’t it a relief to just be “regular sick?” Feel better soon!
rikyrah
He got his boots on!😂😂😂😂😂
I know that she should be mad, but…he got his boots on😂😂
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTRswvocW/
StringOnAStick
@barbequebob: What is even crazier is the Dow is the least representative of the three indices. The S&P500 is the 500 largest stocks by market capitalization, if I remember correctly the NASDAC is even more, and the Dow is just 20. The Dow “industrials” at one time in the 1990’s included that industrial juggernaut McDonald’s; I don’t know if it still does but it’s all such BS. The Dow is the least relevant index for assessing market action but today it told the approved story apparently.
Tony Jay
Pffft. They’re doing it wrong.
What needs to happen is for more than half of the Democratic House to sit down with Republicans, the heads of AIPAC and the ADL, the senior editors of every newspaper and major TV News outlet and foreign intelligence services to strategise a way to make Democratic anti-Semitism the number one scandal for the next few years.
Anytime anyone in the Dem leadership tries to talk about anything else (particularly anything bad for Republicans) they need to be drowned out by 24/7 caterwauling about rampant Dem anti-Semitism and their failure to stamp it out.
Get that done, purge the Dem coalition of anyone who ever said a bad thing about Alan Dershowitz, get Republicans elected in a landslide, replace the current leadership with a reliably centre-right figurehead advised by Joe Lieberman and then never mention the issue again.
That’s how you do it. This? This is just kids’ stuff. /s
Joey Maloney
@trnc: As I see it there are two groups of congressional Republicans regarding forcing a debt default: the ones who are too dumb to realize what a disaster it would be, and the ones who actively want the disaster, who want to burn it all down because they think somehow they’ll come out on top.
(There might be a third group, made up of people who know what a disaster it would be and don’t want it, but are pretending to belong to one of the other groups because they’re too scared of MAGAt voters.)
There go two miscreants
@StringOnAStick: Not only that, but no one, not one single listener, should be making investment decisions based on soundbite reporting of one day’s moves in the indices. It’s idiotic to even include it in the daily newcast.
WaterGirl
@Ishiyama: Thank you for clarifying. I agree. In all things, credit where credit is due, even if you don’t care for the person.
WaterGirl
@JPL: @Leslie: Interesting! I had no idea the show was based on a book series.
WaterGirl
@Manyakitty: It really is!
oclday
The attention Ilhan is getting will no doubt elevate her death threats, but hopefully it will be offset amplifying her voice for good. Stupid Republicans don’t realize their base is the minority.
RR_Mikey
@WaterGirl: – they are sheep pointed in whatever direction Fox News wants them to travel. The sad part is that his vote cancels mine…or yours.
Chris T.
(probably dead thread but:)
@StringOnAStick:
The Dow or DJIA is the oldest of these Big Three US indices and:
contains 30 supposedly-representative stocks
is computed very weirdly, with a magic divisor
(nb: above should be bulleted list but edit keeps dropping the list) and so is, as you say, probably the least representative.
The S&P 500 is the middle in terms of ages, and is a capitalization-weighted index of the top 500 US stocks. “Capitalization weighted” means that, for instance, should Apple suddenly be worth a thousand times more than the next stock down, Apple’s stock price would be a thousand times more influential in the S&P500 number. (As it is, Apple and others jockey for first place and nobody’s 1000x the next stock down, so this works out pretty well in practice, but it’s still a bit tricky.)
The NASDAQ is the youngest index and there’s actually more than one of them but the most often quoted is the NASDAQ Composite, which is computed like the S&P 500 but is from specifically NASDAQ listed stocks. The NASDAQ is a different exchange from the New York Stock Exchange, and this used to be important, but isn’t any more except for the composition of the NASDAQ index. There’s also the NASDAQ 100, which is the top 100 NASDAQ stocks, similar to the S&P 500 being the top 500 US stocks.
Note that “US stocks” gets a bit blurry with multinational companies, but really means “listed on major US exchanges” (principally NYSE and NASDAQ).
There are many many many more indices, such as the Russell 2000 (US small-cap stocks), Nikkei 225 (Japan), Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) World, and so on. There’s a rather comprehensive list here on Wikipedia for your perusal. Each index has its own rules for how it’s computed from what inputs.
That’s your mini-lesson in indices for the day. 😀 The simplest take-away here is that the S&P500 is probably the one to use if you only use one, provided you live in the States. And as Krugman among others repeats (correctly), remember that the stock market is not the economy, nor vice versa.