Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

He really is that stupid.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

This fight is for everything.

I was promised a recession.

It’s a doggy dog world.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Everybody saw this coming.

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

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

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

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / You Go, Joe!

You Go, Joe!

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Credit where credit is due.  Uncle Joe plays the long game, and he does not for forget.
One more answer to the age-old question: “But what has he done for us lately?”

h/t Uncle Eb in the morning thread

IBEW Press Release

(bolding mine because I know you guys will never read the whole block quote)

After months of negotiations, the IBEW’s Railroad members at four of the largest U.S. freight carriers finally have what they’ve long sought but that many working people take for granted: paid sick days.

This is a big deal, said Railroad Department Director Al Russo, because the paid-sick-days issue, which nearly caused a nationwide shutdown of freight rail just before Christmas, had consistently been rejected by the carriers. It was not part of last December’s congressionally implemented update of the national collective bargaining agreement between the freight lines and the IBEW and 11 other railroad-related unions.

“We’re thankful that the Biden administration played the long game on sick days and stuck with us for months after Congress imposed our updated national agreement,” Russo said. “Without making a big show of it, Joe Biden and members of his administration in the Transportation and Labor departments have been working continuously to get guaranteed paid sick days for all railroad workers.

“We know that many of our members weren’t happy with our original agreement,” Russo said, “but through it all, we had faith that our friends in the White House and Congress would keep up the pressure on our railroad employers to get us the sick day benefits we deserve. Until we negotiated these new individual agreements with these carriers, an IBEW member who called out sick was not compensated.”

While President Joe Biden was calling on Congress in November to pass legislation to implement the agreement, he stressed that he would continue to encourage the railroads to guarantee paid sick time for their employees.

“I share workers’ concern about the inability to take leave to recover from illness or care for a sick family member,” Biden said. “I have pressed legislation and proposals to advance the cause of paid leave in my two years in office and will continue to do so.”

That pressure, plus the IBEW’s ongoing efforts, is paying off at last. The IBEW and BNSF Railway reached an agreement April 20 to grant members four short-notice, paid sick days, with the ability to also convert up to three personal days to sick days. The union reached similar understandings with CSX and Union Pacific on March 22, and with Norfolk Southern on March 10. Unused sick time at the end of a year can be paid out or rolled into a worker’s 401(k) retirement account.

Open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

156Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    👍

     

    Trolls on reddit are constantly using the aversion of the railroad strike to undermine Biden’s cred on labor.

  2. 2.

    Dangerman

    Anyone know the latest on the Student Loan forgiveness? Yes, I could google, but that requires proper caffeination, especially on a Friday, and, besides, my Cardiologist has me on decaf, grrrrr. I have slightly less than 10k in loans so if that goes through, I don’t owe anybody or anything a damned thing (well, excluding my local bookie; she doesn’t count).

    Speaking of aversion, Baud, um, pants check?

  3. 3.

    2liberal

    https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/former-fbi-analyst-sentenced-retaining-classified-documents

     

    A former analyst with the Kansas City Division of the FBI was sentenced in federal court today for illegally retaining documents related to the national defense at her residence.

    Kendra Kingsbury, 50, of Garden City, Kansas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to three years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. Kingsbury pleaded guilty on Oct. 13, 2022, to two counts of unlawfully retaining documents related to the national defense.

  6. 6.

    catclub

    @2liberal: three years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. Kingsbury pleaded guilty on Oct. 13, 2022, to two counts

     

    37 counts including obstruction of justice.

  7. 7.

    catclub

    @WaterGirl: ​
     This?

    The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 ruling, revived the Biden administration’s immigration guidelines that prioritize which noncitizens to deport, dismissing a challenge from two Republican state attorneys general who argued the policies conflicted with immigration law.

  9. 9.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    . . . . four short-notice, paid sick days, with the ability to also convert up to three personal days to sick days

    This is an improvement over the multi-union bargaining coalition that ended with a Presidential Emergency Board cram-down agreement that (among other provisions) allowed a single “paid” sick day per year. Now the other Unions can go back to the well and cry “Me Too!”

  11. 11.

    CaseyL

    President Biden is a man who sticks with it, and keeps his word.  That’s more valuable than gold nowadays (and rarer than hen’s teeth).

  12. 12.

    Rusty

    Joe continues to be one of the most effective presidents in a generation.  Taking whatever he has (in terms of party control of the house and senate, along with the general power of the presidency) and getting the most accomplished. In the end, he got what he wanted, along without creating a major transportation crisis.  I hope younger Democrats are all paying attention.

  13. 13.

    dmsilev

    Definitely good news. Hopefully not the end of the story; it’s still not really all that much sick time, but “some” is a heck of a lot better than “none”.

  14. 14.

    Jackie

    “Unused sick time at the end of a year can be paid out or rolled into a worker’s 401(k) retirement account.”

    This is a great win; before the organization I worked at switched to PTO, we had *X* vacation days/yr, and *X* days of sick leave/yr. Any unused sick days were lost. I usually ended up having “sick of work days.” I considered unused sick pay was giving the company MY MONEY. Use or lose.

  16. 16.

    Scout211

    @2liberal: Discussed several times yesterday, including that she also stored some of the classified documents in her bathroom.

    I guess it’s a thing for violators of the Espionage Act.

  17. 17.

    The Moar You Know

    My man Biden keeps the win streak going.

    Who would have thought a guy in government for 50-plus years would know how to get shit done?

    And this points to today’s gripe:  the Republicans have waged a very effective war on “career politicians”, one that a LOT of Dems have also bought into.  And Biden is proof not only that the assertions are bullshit, but that experienced “career” politicians are actually an enormous asset to the nation.  Term limits and other such nonsense are just ploys by the rich to decapitate good governance.

  19. 19.

    Old Man Shadow

    That’s nice. Really nice. He didn’t forget about them. :)

    Love it.

    Also love the news that maybe we won’t have to worry about a sick railroad worker driving thousands of tons of steel and toxins through our towns and cities while suffering from the flu.

  20. 20.

    Scout211

    Biden to sign executive order to expand birth control access

    President Biden will sign an executive order Friday aimed at increasing access to contraception and family planning.

    The order is part of the administration’s efforts to promote reproductive health care and comes one day ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

    . . .

    The order directs the secretaries of the Treasury and Labor Departments, as well as Health and Human Services (HHS), to consider new actions and guidance related to birth control, such as ensuring private health insurance covers all contraceptives either approved, cleared or granted by the Food and Drug Administration.

     

    ETA: Here’s the Executive order from WhiteHouse.gov

  21. 21.

    Ken

    @Scout211: Doesn’t everyone keep a little reading material in the bathroom? Newsweek, Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, Dr. No, DOD Assessment of Iranian Nuclear Programs, ….

  22. 22.

    BeautifulPlumage

    I, for one, am so sick and tired of all this winning. I’m also bored with winning. /s

  23. 23.

    catclub

    @The Moar You Know: ​
     

    Term limits and other such nonsense are just ploys by the rich to decapitate good governance.

    if we could have term limits for the Supreme Court as well as the House and Senate, that would almost be worth the tradeoff. Having all expertise on issues in the heads of lobbyists is not a good way to go, though. The next time some GOP friend brings up term limits ask if they will apply it to Clarence Thomas.

  24. 24.

    Ramalama

    @Dangerman:

    Yes, I could google, but that requires proper caffeination,

    Exactly. Or not wanting to go into a deep dark hole. Plus, I like the conversations here. I was recently schooled and I resist like a complete bastard.

    @Watergirl, thank you for teh BOLD. I have a timer in which I allow myself to read blog posts before I gotta go and get shizz done, aka work, aka conjure up new proposals for more work. Uh oh..

  26. 26.

    Ohio Mom

    @Baud: If there had been a strike, the effects would have been horrendous. Would have probably increased inflation and led to worse loses in Congress.

    This may be a rare case of having cake and eating it too.

  27. 27.

    Scout211

    More good news.

    Judge blocks Wyoming’s 1st-in-the-nation abortion pill ban while court decides lawsuit

    CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Abortion pills will remain legal in Wyoming for now, after a judge ruled Thursday that the state’s first-in-the-nation law to ban them won’t take effect July 1 as planned while a lawsuit proceeds.
     
    Attorneys for Wyoming failed to show that the ban wouldn’t harm the plaintiffs before their lawsuit is resolved, Teton County Judge Melissa Owens ruled after hearing arguments from both sides. Meanwhile, those plaintiffs “have clearly showed probable success on the merits,” Owens said.
     
    While other states have instituted de facto bans on the medication by broadly prohibiting abortion, only Wyoming has specifically banned abortion pills. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that access to one of the two pills, mifepristone, may continue while litigants seek to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of it.
     
    Wyoming’s pill ban is being challenged by four women, including two obstetricians, and two nonprofit organizations. One of the groups, Wellspring Health Access, opened as the state’s first full-service abortion clinic in years in April following an arson attack in 2022.

  29. 29.

    TS

    @catclub:

    if we could have term limits for the Supreme Court as well as the House and Senate, that would almost be worth the tradeoff.

    In Australia the Judges on the High Court (our most senior) have to retire at 70 years old. Seems to give a reasonable turnover.

  30. 30.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ken:

    Doesn’t everyone keep a little reading material in the bathroom? Newsweek, Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, Dr. No, DOD Assessment of Iranian Nuclear Programs, …. 

    I keep the DOD Assessment of Iranian Nuclear Programs on my phone to read on the can.

  31. 31.

    Ohio Mom

    @Citizen Alan: I crossed my fingers for the longest time you would get to leave the South. It’s good to be able to straighten them out.

    Have fun packing, don’t forget to put all the things you’ll need the first night and morning in a clearly marked box. One of my childhood memories is being seven years old, getting ready for the first night in the new apartment, and the mad scramble to find the bedding.

  32. 32.

    mvr

    @catclub: Can I guess at who the one was?

    I think that on this issue there is a lot of precedent saying that the prez has the authority to make such policies.  And even those who don’t like this policy want the presidents with whom they agree to have such authority.

  33. 33.

    Scout211

    @mrmoshpotato: I keep the DOD Assessment of Iranian Nuclear Programs on my phone to read on the can.

    Using public WiFi of course.  Might as well save your data minutes, am I right?

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    @catclub:

    if we could have term limits for the Supreme Court as well as the House and Senate, that would almost be worth the tradeoff.

    Perhaps a retirement age. But not term limits.

  35. 35.

    Another Scott

    @Dangerman:

    Last I saw was (Warning – TheHill) House fails to override Biden veto of Student Debt Relief.

    House Republicans were not able to convince the two-thirds majority they needed to overturn President Biden’s veto of a resolution that would have shot down his proposal to cancel up to $20,000 of a borrower’s student debt.

    The 221-206 vote on attempt to overturn Biden’s veto of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to end the president’s debt relief plan is officially dead in the water. Beating Biden’s veto would have required two-thirds support in the House and the Senate — both of which passed the original resolution.

    I don’t know what, if anything, is going on in the courts.

    HTH!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Speaking as a Union man, I was not happy with Joe when he forced thru that deal. I did recognize that he was between a rock and hard place but still…

    I am very happy to eat crow over whatever grousing I may have done in public or in private. I’ve got lots of ketchup. A tip of the ol’ union hat to Joe.

  39. 39.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT: The opposition parties are getting together to fight the BJP in the next elections. They had a joint press conference in Bihar. This makes me happy. Modi and the BJP can be defeated they are not invincible despite propaganda to the contrary mouthed by the likes of the Economist.

    This is a post I wrote about yesterday’s state dinner.

    If you have any questions you can leave them in the comment section or in the comments when AL posts it to the FP.

  40. 40.

    Geminid

    @The Moar You Know: Blog favorite Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez came out for term limits a few months ago. This is probably just performative, like her vote on student loan forgiveness a couple weeks ago. Perez seems to be trying to carve out a centrist, anti-establishment identity in a couple areas while still voting with her caucus on almost all issues.

    Perez is one of the few new Democratic Representatives without experience in elective office (unless you count service on her county’s Soil and Water Conservation Board). Others include 3 Illinoisans: a former TV weatherman in northwest Illinois, non-profit leader Jesse Jackson Jr. from Chicago, and Nikki Budzinski from central Illinois. But while this is Budzinski’s first public office, she’s worked in politics ever since graduating from the Universtity of Illionois about 25 years ago. Budzinski’s last job before she ran for Congress was chief of staff for the director of O.M.B.

  41. 41.

    Jackie

    @Ohio Mom: I always put the bed mattresses and bedding at the end of the moving van. Last in; first out. Plus cleaning supplies. I “had” to clean the toilet and shower personally before using haha!

  42. 42.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Scout211: Well, if I have to risk getting eaten by a T Rex outside of my apartment.

    If I’m in my own T Rex-proof bathroom, I’m on my own unsecured WiFi.

  44. 44.

    Geminid

    @schrodingers_cat: It’s somewhat ironic that The Economist is backing Modi, at least implicitly. They were rooting against Erdogan, in ways a similar authoritarian, in last month’s Turkish elections. Or so Turkish journalists complained.

  45. 45.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Geminid: Churchill and the Tories backed Savarkar (Hindu Mahasabha) and Jinnah (Muslim League) back in the day. They would like nothing better than India in many pieces.

    Savarkar is the intellectual godfather of Hindutva.

  46. 46.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Brachiator:

    Perhaps a retirement age. But not term limits.

    I’d be in favor of a mandatory retirement age for Congress.  But not for the Supreme Court – they need term limits.

    Clarence Thomas shows why.  He was 43 when Bush Sr. put him on the Supreme Court.  He’s 75 now, and he’s still there.  A fixed retirement age will just get Rethugs to put the youngest wingnut judges they can find on SCOTUS.  A retirement age is better than nothing, sure, but that’s exactly how it can and will be gamed by the Rethugs.

    The Dems, OTOH, have enough respect for our institutions that they would want to appoint judges who have proven their quality, which takes time, so they’d be older and have shorter terms.  So there’d be more opportunities to replace Dem-appointed Justices than GOP-appointed Justices.

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: Absolutely!

    The difference between ZERO and even 1, is HUGE.  Much greater than the difference between 1 and 10.

    ZERO to 1 totally upsets the applecart.

    Once you are not zero, it’s a incremental change

    edit: or what Omnes said at #15.

  48. 48.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Jackie:@Geminid: She’s definitely having to thread the needle; MAGAt Joe Kent is challenging her again for ‘24.

     Also, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s Congressional District, now Blue thanks to her victory, is very Red at the state legislature level – so the needle has a very small eye, as it were.
    It’s likely that Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries learned from Speaker SMASH Pelosi to allow Democrats in precariously Blue districts some leeway on specific issues. “Just win, baby” is how we retake the House!​
     
    ETA: I know y’all already know that… I just like typing “retake the House”. :)

  50. 50.

    Alison Rose

    OT: Chris Hayes had a good segment about Jack Smith’s prosecution of war crimes, specifically about his indictments against then-president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi.

    “In June of 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, when Smith’s office announced that it was seeking an indictment against the then-sitting president of the new nation of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, it included ten counts of various war crimes charges including nearly 100 murders and the torture of hundreds of victims. In fact, the announcement came while Thaçi himself was in mid-air, flying to the United States for a meeting with none other than, yes, then-president Donald Trump.”

    Jack Smith ain’t someone to fuck with, basically.

  52. 52.

    Jeffro

    @The Moar You Know:

    My man Biden keeps the win streak going.

    Who would have thought a guy in government for 50-plus years would know how to get shit done?

    And this points to today’s gripe:  the Republicans have waged a very effective war on “career politicians”, one that a LOT of Dems have also bought into.  And Biden is proof not only that the assertions are bullshit, but that experienced “career” politicians are actually an enormous asset to the nation.  Term limits and other such nonsense are just ploys by the rich to decapitate good governance.

    5/5 A+ statements there.

    #4 (career politicians as assets) is a tough sell to most, but some agreement can be had if you walk folks through it.  Nobody gets to go straight to CEO, or head of surgery, or the cab of a locomotive, etc on Day One.

  53. 53.

    Jeffro

    @catclub: no need to trade off here!  House/Senate turnover is always in the hands of the voters; SCOTUS is not, so they need to be limited to something other than lifetime appointments.

  54. 54.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: I saw that Donald Trump Jr. hosted a recent fundraiser for Joe Kent, in Florida

    I think the last Democrat to represent Perez’s district was the late Dan Bonker, more than than 12 years ago. Republican Jaime Herrera Butler held the seat until last year, when she could not advance from the jungle primary. Butler would most likely be Representative now had she not voted to impeach Trump.

    I’d gotten the impression that this district was largely rural, but a little research told me that around two thirds of the residents live in Clark County, across the river from Portland. So it’s more like a suburban/exurban district with a large chunk of national forest. Perez got a seat on the Agriculture Committee, which oversees National Forest matters. She also sits on the committee for small business, and is pushing “right to repair” legislation.

  55. 55.

    laura

    @Dangerman: i got a call from MOHELA yesterday regarding the resumption of payments. I did the consolidation and move from Sallie Mae/Navient last October and will resume payments starting this October. I qualify for a $10k forgiveness, but didn’t qualify for the public service loan forgiveness working for a Union (a 501c3) and only representing public sector workers. So I’ll be informed of the amount of time and payments remaining till discharge of debt.

    I hope that this is helpful and that your debt is totally discharged in short order.

  57. 57.

    Jeffro

    Oh look!  No Labels is refusing to disclose who its donors are.  No way, right?  (eye roll, eye roll, eye roll)

    Ryan Clancy, the group’s chief strategist, said the group doesn’t discuss individual donors as a matter of protecting their privacy and safety.

    “We know how the game is played these days, which is (if) people don’t like your organization, what’s the easiest way to destroy it? Well, go find the donor list and go start intimidating them in their place of work and harassing them on social media,” said Clancy.

    No Labels’ refusal to reveal donor identities has worsened tensions in Washington, where a smattering of Democratic and anti-Donald Trump conservatives have accused the group of potentially kneecapping President Biden’s reelection. They say that unlike other nonprofit groups, No Labels is essentially running a presidential campaign without the requirements that apply to formal political parties; namely disclosures.

    Experts in campaign finance law say that the organization is walking right up to the line of what is permissible.

    “Draft efforts, generally speaking, are outside the purview of the Federal Election Campaign Act. That goes back to the late 70s with the labor-backed draft Ted Kennedy effort, trying to get him to run against Jimmy Carter,” said David Mason, the former chair of the FEC. “If they have a federal candidate, then things start to change… Then your voter registration efforts and the other things they do can become subject to FECA regulations.”

    Who would harass donors to such a fine, centrist organization???

    (ok, Antifa for sure…but other than that???)   ;)

  59. 59.

    frosty

    @laura: ​
     My son qualifies for public service forgiveness but the length of service means the loan is basically paid off before the remainder is forgiven. Oh well.

    But I’m not sure about the $10K. Is it on and can he apply for it now?

  60. 60.

    Alison Rose

    @Jeffro: Methinks we are seeing a pattern here.

    From MoJo: No Labels is Helping a Firm That Raises Money For Right-Wing Extremists

    No Labels is a political outfit that hails political centrism, calls for bipartisanship, and is considering running an independent ticket in the 2024 presidential election that could end up spoiling President Joe Biden’s reelection bid. On its website, the group urges politicians and citizens to eschew the “extremists on the far left and right,” and it asks people who are “fed up with the angriest voices dominating our politics” to sign up as members and donate to the group. But No Labels neglects to inform its online contributors that a cut of their gift goes to a company that aids Republican candidates and far-right organizations that engage in the harsh politics of extremism that No Labels professes to renounce.

    Donations to No Labels are handled by an online fundraising platform called Anedot. According to its website, Anedot typically charges political groups a 4 percent fee plus 30 cents per transaction. Under that formula, when an online contributor sends No Labels $100, Anedot pockets $4.30. That money bolsters Anedot’s mission to raise funds for the right and the GOP.

    Knock me over with a feather…

  63. 63.

    eclare

    @Jeffro:

    As I always say, we have term limits.  They are called elections.

    SCOTUS isn’t elected, something drastic needs to happen.

  64. 64.

    frosty

    @frosty: ​ NM. Both Mohela and studentaid.com are saying that loan relief is blocked, so I guess the news hasn’t rolled down to them yet.​

  65. 65.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: House/Senate turnover is always in the hands of the voters

    In fact, the Court has leaned heavily on that principle in several recent cases involving gerrymandering and other means of vote suppression. Basically “If the people do not like the laws which have been passed to make their votes meaningless, they can vote out the politicians who created these laws.”

  66. 66.

    Spanky

    Anyone know whether this outcome has caused Steve in the WTF to start day drinking? Or maybe he’s on the phone with the rail companies right now. “You should have hired ME!”

    (Narrator: Or maybe they did hire him.)

  67. 67.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Jeffro: Actually, I want our guys to be career politicians. I want the opposition to be a bunch of rubes and cranks who can’t get shit done when they’re in the majority and who get their asses handed to them when in the minority. The career GOP politicians in the Senate (McTurtle, etc.) clearly demonstrate what happens when experienced politicians are shitheels, whether in the majority or in the minority.

  69. 69.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @James E Powell: On this general topic, I have always thought that the biggest accomplishment of the ACA was to establish the idea on American minds the we have a right to healthcare.

  71. 71.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Spanky: He will be fine.  He can always bill hours negotiating just how many days off they get.  It’s all about the billable hours.  OTOH, it’s not like he needs an excuse for day drinking.

  72. 72.

    WereBear

    @Scout211: I don’t understand it. You don’t store porous things in the bathroom!

    Between humidity and mold and possible smells, it’s like keeping an open box of sponges there. Which I’d never want to touch again.

  75. 75.

    WaterGirl

    @A Good Woman: Yep, if they’re not targets and they are getting limited immunity, they are telling their stories and rolling on someone or someones.

    I love that they are going after people at all levels.  People who were at the insurrection.  People who planned the insurrection, even if they weren’t there on Jan 6.  The former guy. The former mayor of NYC who fucked up 9/11.  Fake electors.  People who roped in the fake electors…

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    Democrat, Environmentalist, & the establishment (@BlueSteelDC) tweeted at 6:33 AM on Fri, Jun 23, 2023:
    The Left’s awkward force to push every issue into class over race–is one of the key reasons they have no credibility

    As this is an election year. There will be more disciples of that crap.

    Ending with some variation of black people don’t know whats good for them

     

    Democrat, Environmentalist, & the establishment (@BlueSteelDC) tweeted at 6:52 AM on Fri, Jun 23, 2023:
    Class issues didn’t kill Sandra Bland.

    Both the police officer and Sandra Bland had the right employment and economic conditions they tell use fixes racism.

    The Left propensity to tell people what their problems are and they know the fix ‘ You dummy” is alienating.
    (https://twitter.com/BlueSteelDC/status/1672211089428185088?t=PQuvgNXbQqCH5mukGxnnfw&s=03)

  78. 78.

    trollhattan

    In which somebody in Feinstein’s office produces actual work so long as the senator can fog a mirror AND Sen Sinema stops cosplaying as a Republican fashionista long enough to cosponsor a western water bill. Also Mark Kelly, who won his damn election.

    Jun 22 2023

    Combined with bipartisan infrastructure law, will provide enough water for millions of people
    Washington—Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) today introduced the Support to Rehydrate the Environment, Agriculture and Municipalities Act or STREAM Act to increase water supply and modernize water infrastructure throughout the West.

    “As the last years have proven, climate change is making severe and prolonged drought a stark reality for the West. We must act now to improve our t resilience to severe drought in the future,” Senator Feinstein said. “We need an ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy to meet this challenge, including increasing our water supply, incentivizing projects that provide environmental benefits and drinking water for disadvantaged communities, and investing in environmental restoration efforts.”

    “Water conservation is a top priority for states throughout the West, and we need every tool possible to combat this historic drought,” said Senator Kelly. “The STREAM Act will support essential improvements to our water infrastructure and enable bold investments in water recycling and desalination projects. I’m proud to partner with Senators Feinstein and Sinema to secure the West’s water future.” 

    “We’re building on investments from our bipartisan infrastructure law to modernize and increase Arizona’s water supply and ensure economic security for everyday Arizonans,” said Senator Sinema.

     “After more than a dozen atmospheric rivers this winter and historic snowpack levels, ACWA is pleased to support the reintroduction of Senator Feinstein’s STREAM Act. The STREAM Act champions an every-tool-in-the-toolbox approach which is critical to California water management as we continue to navigate the challenges of climate whiplash. ACWA appreciates Senator Feinstein’s continued leadership on Western water issues,” said Dave Eggerton, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies.

    https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?id=D3814CC7-A075-4454-BFE1-A6EACAFDBDAB

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl: ​Nice!
    Now Pennsylvania can enforce safe routes for tankers hauling flammables. See “Caldecott Tunnel disaster” for more on this topic.

  82. 82.

    Chris

    @The Moar You Know:

    Term limits and other such nonsense are just ploys by the rich to decapitate good governance.

    Term limits always felt like a recipe for restoring Tammany Hall style political machines.

    If no matter how well people govern, they’ll be gone in a couple of terms, not only is there no incentive for competent politicians to take these jobs, but nobody’s going to take them seriously, since they’ll be gone in a few years anyway, and the real power will go to professional unelected politicians who run the electoral machines that get the revolving door of disposable and interchangeable candidates elected.

    Keep the power, and the responsibility, on the elected politicians that everybody can see and can actually vote out of office for cause (as opposed to because the clock’s up).

  85. 85.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @frosty: I initially was notified by Mohela that I wasn’t getting the PSLF, but I waited and wound up getting it in the end. I’m not sure what the problem was but I didn’t have to do anything other than get my employer to certify (I had good directions from my union on how to file)

  86. 86.

    Baud

    @trollhattan:

    In which somebody in Feinstein’s office produces actual work so long as the senator can fog a mirror

    With Tester positioning himself for reelection and Manchin and Sinema being Manchin and Sinema, and with the GOP blocking any committee changes, I’m pleased as punch Feinstein is in the Senate right now.

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chris: I can see an argument for term limits for the President, since it’s an office with a unique platform for demagoguery, the closest thing to an American King. But most governors and some state legislators are also term-limited and I think they really shouldn’t be.

    It seems, though, like even most liberals I know are for term limits unless they’re real political junkies. It appeals instinctively to “punish those darn politicians” sentiments.

  88. 88.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Chris: Term limits in the MO state lege just made legislative aides etc the true source of govt power because they are the only ones who know how to get shit done. When a Rep or Sen is forced out they just go to work for one of the new Reps or Sens.

  91. 91.

    rikyrah

    @Scout211:

    Didn’t the Wyoming State Constitution, which they changed as an up yours to Obamacare..

     

    the reason why these anti-abortion measures in Wyoming are being thrown out?

  92. 92.

    trollhattan

    @Matt McIrvin: ​Term limits are like clearcutting a forest to remove the deadwood. You also mow down the most useful of the mature trees and are surprised when a wasteland is left behind.

  94. 94.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Spanky: dude, I successfully negotiated a deal with IBEW as recently as…yesterday!  And gave them lots of goodies.  It was a fair deal for both sides, which is true of almost every one I negotiate.

    @Omnes Omnibus: indeed, I have plenty of reasons already: being a lawyer, living in the South, having a wife and children, waking up in Battle Creek…the list goes on

  95. 95.

    TriassicSands

    @catclub:

    Yes, but she isn’t a former president of the U.S. (a special protected class) and didn’t have Aileen “Loose” Cannon as her judge.

    I will be shocked if 1) there is a guilty verdict and 2) Cannon sentences Trump to prison.

  96. 96.

    Wapiti

    @lowtechcyclist: I’d offer they need limited terms, maybe 18 years, not term limits. If the President and Senate think Thomas is a good pick for a second or third term, go for it.

  97. 97.

    Chris

    @Matt McIrvin:

    @Chris: I can see an argument for term limits for the President, since it’s an office with a unique platform for demagoguery, the closest thing to an American King. But most governors and some state legislators are also term-limited and I think they really shouldn’t be.

    Agree that I can see it for the President, but no other elected official.

    I also support it for the Supreme Court, but there it’s precisely because they’re not elected, and are effectively completely unaccountable to anyone.

    It seems, though, like even most liberals I know are for term limits unless they’re real political junkies. It appeals instinctively to “punish those darn politicians” sentiments.

    That and generic technocratic sentiment.  The idea that you can somehow regulate, legislate, and otherwise automate your way to an ideal government, regardless of whose ass happens to be warming the elected official chair at the moment.

    Term limits are trying very hard to avoid the reality that at the end of the day, there’s no substitute for voting for good politicians, or at the very least, not voting for bad ones.

  98. 98.

    Chris

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.  Basically HR from Person of Interest with the all-powerful mayor’s assistant running the city.  “Politicians come and go, but we’ll be here forever.”

    Which, again, used to kind of be how a lot of American politics worked.  There’s more than one reason why one percenters in the Gilded Age often considered it beneath them to run for office, but one of them was that those people were basically servants.  You didn’t want the governor/senator/mayor, you wanted the political boss who ran the machine that got him and everybody else elected, and the boss might be holding this or that particular governmental position at the moment, but that’s not where his real power came from – his real power came from running the party machine.

  99. 99.

    Geminid

    @trollhattan: Now that Martin has made his welcome return,  I’m hoping he’ll weigh in on water matters like the recently revised Colorado River pact. Martin has kept current in this area.

    Also, I hope to get some on-the-ground observations about the race in the 47th CD that Katie Porter now represents. One of the two Democratic frontrunners dropped out after hitting his head in a fall, and the other got popped for DUI in Sacramento. Porter’s Republican challenger in 2022 got over 48% of the vote, and he’s running again.

  100. 100.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Wapiti:

    I’d offer they need limited terms, maybe 18 years, not term limits. If the President and Senate think Thomas is a good pick for a second or third term, go for it.

    Oh no.  Because you know the FTFNYT would push hard and long for Dem Presidents to re-up GOP-appointed Justices.  (And push briefly and really softly for the reverse, and then quietly drop it.)  And the networks and the WaPo  would follow their lead.

    Just one term, N years, for whatever N flicks people’s Bics.

  101. 101.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chris: A lot of that is behind the movements to reform voting procedures too–while I support some of these ideas in the name of more responsive and representative democracy, there’s always this whiff of a hope that maybe by choosing the right techniques, you can nullify the effect of a large chunk of your electorate just supporting bad people. But it’s a problem no matter how they vote; the support for bad people and bad policies is the root problem, not the details of how it’s expressed. Even if you took away their right to vote, it would be a problem, just, maybe, a more violent one.

  104. 104.

    schrodingers_cat

    @rikyrah: Thanks so much for your comment in yesterday’s thread. I have revived my blog and I plan to post regularly about the political situation in India. This is not a topic that I can do justice to in one post.

    If India goes full Sanghi (full Nazi, with a saffron hue) the effects will be global.

  105. 105.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chris: …Virginia has one of the most crazily strict ones: the governor is limited to one term, though it’s a consecutive ban only and they can come back after four years out of office (in practice this rarely happens–Mills Godwin came back after switching from Democratic to Republican in the 1970s). The lieutenant governor tends to function as a designated successor, running as the next party candidate for governor.

  106. 106.

    Mai Naem mobileI

    @Jackie: of course he was. He’s a POS partisan hack. He looks perpetually constipated. We need to all send him Metamucil packets.  Maybe that would improve his frame of mind.

  107. 107.

    trollhattan

    @Matt McIrvin: Jerry Brown swerved around California’s two-term limit on  account of serving two years before it became law and thus, Jerry 1.0 did not count against Jerry 2.0.

    Lucky us, for myriad reasons!

    It will not happen again.

  108. 108.

    Scout211

    @rikyrah: Didn’t the Wyoming State Constitution, which they changed as an up yours to Obamacare..

    Yes.

    From the article Link

    A state constitutional amendment enacted in 2012 also came into play in court arguments. The amendment passed in response to the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s health care law, says Wyoming residents have the right to make their own health care decisions.

     

    IIRC,  this is the same lawsuit that was filed earlier. The judge placed a temporary stay.  This is a permanent stay until the actual case is decided.

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I’ve been in the house for the past 2 hours and I’m still picking off ticks.

  112. 112.

    Mai Naem mobileI

    @Citizen Alan: why do they all look like stereotypical  Hollywood movie antagonists from the Deep South?  Tate Reeves,  Sen Foghorn Leghorn John Kennedy, Kay Ivey, Tuberville, Comer, …the whole lot of them.

  113. 113.

    trollhattan

    @Scout211: ​Just wow, the literal and figurative balls on these people. From the linked article:

    Wyoming’s new abortion laws allow exceptions to save life and for cases of rape or incest that are reported to police. But abortion for other reasons isn’t health care under the amendment, Jay Jerde, an attorney for the state, argued.

    “It’s not restoring a woman’s body from pain, injury or physical sickness,” Jerde said. “Medical services are involved, but getting an abortion for reasons other than health care, it can’t be a medical decision.”

    Pregnancy involves pain and sickness, Owens pointed out. But women don’t get abortions for that reason, countered Jerde.

    My gob ’tis smacked.

  115. 115.

    Jeffro

    @eclare:

    As I always say, we have term limits.  They are called elections.

    SCOTUS isn’t elected, something drastic needs to happen.

    100%

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    Has anyone else been getting heartburn from Amazon tracking, on account of the non-specificity? I mean, this package is being handled and perhaps groped repeatedly in its travels, but where the hell is it?

    Friday, June 23

    9:46 AM

    Package arrived at a carrier facility.

    7:46 AM

    Package arrived at a carrier facility.

    6:17 AM

    Package arrived at a carrier facility.

    5:26 AM

    Package left the carrier facility.

    4:04 AM

    Package arrived at a carrier facility.

    Thursday, June 22

    12:12 AM

    Package arrived at a carrier facility.

    Wednesday, June 21

    11:59 PM

    Package arrived at a carrier facility.

    3:03 AM

    Package left the carrier facility.

    2:46 AM

    Package left the carrier facility.

    12:55 AM

    Package arrived at a carrier facility.

    Tuesday, June 20

    11:40 PM

    Package arrived at a carrier facility.

    Monday, June 19

    Carrier picked up the package.

  117. 117.

    Jeffro

    @Chris:Ryan Clancy, huh?  That’s a little on the nose, isn’t it?

    He looks to be late-20s/early-30s, so I have this funny feeling that his parents were fans of ol’ Tom’s books.  (Or perhaps even related?)  Great catch btw!

  120. 120.

    Chris

    @Matt McIrvin:

    In general when it comes to voting rights my position is simply that people who aren’t allowed to vote are people that the political system will never take into consideration even at the bare minimum level that it does for voters (just look at how we treat prisoners, or people like the homeless that we generally regard as non-voters and easy to exclude in any case for the lack of a permanent address), and therefore the franchise needs to be universal and as easily accessible as possible.

    That doesn’t mean the voters won’t make mistakes, but every attempt to restrict the franchise ever made in human history shows that whatever criteria you use to exclude folks, the remaining voters (even once it’s whittled down to one single person) will end up fucking up just as much as the plebs.

  121. 121.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah: I live in the boonie woods. I get ticks walking to my mail box. I get ticks feeding the chickens. I get ticks weeding in the garden. And today I got ticks taking down a dead tree for firewood (which involved some fancy rigging so I could haul it up out of the holler it was sure to fall into).

    eta: they are especially bad this year.

  122. 122.

    Chris

    @Mai Naem mobileI:

    @Citizen Alan: why do they all look like stereotypical  Hollywood movie antagonists from the Deep South?  Tate Reeves,  Sen Foghorn Leghorn John Kennedy, Kay Ivey, Tuberville, Comer, …the whole lot of them.

    You mean A-Team villains.  So many Republican officials look exactly like the kind of assholes Hannibal, BA, Face, and Murdock used to have to beat the shit out of every week.

    My General Pop Culture Theory Of Politics is that a stupendous number of the assholes we see on the news sort into one of two categories: James Bond villains, and A-Team villains.  They’re actually pretty much the same people, the difference is just one of scale.  If you’re a shithead at the state or local level, like Joe Arpaio or Roy Moore, you’re an A-Team villain.  If you’re at the national or international level, like Elon Musk or the Koch brothers, you’re a Bond villain.

    (Admittedly, my General Pop Culture Theory Of Politics is firmly lodged in the second half of the twentieth century.  Zoomers are welcome to update this with more contemporary references).

  123. 123.

    Chris

    @Jeffro:

    I mean, they’re very common Irish names, so it could just be a coincidence.  I just thought it was funny that a right-wing asshole would have the same names as Tom Clancy and Tom Clancy’s avatar.  (All the more so when you remember that President Jack Ryan also did that “I’m not a right-winger, I’m a non-partisan independent!” crap that No Labels is known for).

  124. 124.

    rikyrah

    Remote workers are earning almost $8,600 more on average than their in-office peers—but it’s coming at a cost
     
    Jane Thier
    Thu, June 22, 2023 at 7:00 AM CDT

    Alongside pricey commutes, sad desk lunches, and uncomfortable business clothes, add another reason to the list of why working from home holds greater appeal than the office for so many remote American workers: They’re earning an average $8,553, or 9.7% more, a year than their in-office counterparts.
    …………………
    The findings back up other research that reveals those working from home are higher earners. Remote workers are twice as likely to earn above the local median pay for non-remote workers in the same industry: 17% to 58% more, a study from payroll and benefits firm Gusto found last fall. And, per a global 2022 report by job site Hired, remote workers in tech outearn in-person workers in 15 of 17 global markets. The pay gap is due to a variety of reasons, from the ability to work for a more lucrative company even if it’s in another state to companies simply passing along the money they saved from reducing their real estate footprint. But the higher pay comes at the cost of intangible assets—like making connections and gathering critical feedback, which give in-office workers the upper hand.

    Office managers stood to earn 31.7% more working remotely than they do in the office—the most out of any job Ringover analyzed. Public relations managers followed closely behind at 30.1%, along with customer service managers and data analysts. Ringover found only six in-office positions earning higher salaries than their remote counterparts: junior web developers (who earn 12.52% more in-office), supply-chain managers, UX designers, insurance underwriters, financial advisors, and sales assistants.
    ………………….

    The majority of workers in remote-capable jobs themselves said in a recent Pew Research report they felt that not being in the office limited their opportunities for mentoring and connection. Remote workers also get significantly less feedback than in-office workers, a September 2022 working paper by economists from Harvard, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the University of Iowa found. Lack of crucial redirection is another setback that could stymie career advancement.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/remote-workers-earning-almost-8-120000501.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABJmaxpglhUhK67Q_cKicysBoMIMzTxnfO5oAwoz_DW4–_8RN_Zzt_NIkwN7br98jCHJyEZq8KXCiLcFKExGKMe3xMlKQUblO4NGYI0PlqCvBhaHcJIaVZB050X_mF1xWBbgcmKYV4hIMrDOm1ZJYCFU6X8XVXBfy_lyBHPo0i7

  126. 126.

    Scout211

    @trollhattan: Has anyone else been getting heartburn from Amazon tracking, on account of the non-specificity? I mean, this package is being handled and perhaps groped repeatedly

    Yep.

    I have a rural post office in Calaveras County and the postal clerk told me that the West Sac regional center is like a scene from the Jetsons—conveyor belts going every which way, overhead and around everything. She said they scan large boxes full of packages and then all of the packages in the boxes are then scanned with the same scan. Boxes are scanned, opened, scanned, placed in other boxes, scanned again, moved to other sections, scanned again and each time “left” or “arrived” scan is added to the tracker.

    The worst two for me in the past couple of DeJoy years, one was shuffled all through the West Sac center and the next scan was in Guam!  And the other finally left West Sac after it’s ride through the conveyor belts and the next scan was South Carolina. (Both only had from West Sac to Calaveras county to travel).

    My postal clerk acknowledged that sometimes the packages get placed into the wrong large box and end up where the other packages are being sent.

  130. 130.

    ...now I try to be amused

    “Without making a big show of it, Joe Biden and members of his administration in the Transportation and Labor departments have been working continuously to get guaranteed paid sick days for all railroad workers.“

    (Emphasis mine.) Reminds me of BHO. I wish Biden & Co. made a bigger deal of successes like this; not enough people know.

  132. 132.

    Chris

    @…now I try to be amused:

    Don’t know how much of that is on them and how much of that is on the “I would literally rather broadcast footage of an empty podium where Donald Trump is supposed to be than a podium with Hillary Clinton’s speech” media.

    Though it certainly wouldn’t hurt if the fundraising emails I get panicking “Chris, this is the end of the world!” were nearly as prolific in spreading “Chris, this is a huge victory!” stories.

  134. 134.

    Jackie

    @WaterGirl: I’m still amazed by the swiftness of this! Dem governor, Dem Administration plus unions = no stonewalling to getting shit done ASAP!

  137. 137.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    The majority of workers in remote-capable jobs themselves said in a recent Pew Research report they felt that not being in the office limited their opportunities for mentoring and connection. Remote workers also get significantly less feedback than in-office workers, a September 2022 working paper by economists from Harvard, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the University of Iowa found. Lack of crucial redirection is another setback that could stymie career advancement.

    There is also a small world of companies which are deliberately tailored for remote work and people who seek out these companies. I did some work with such a company for a couple of years.

    They used various methods to train people and even provided a virtual water cooler environment where people could “gather” when on break.

  138. 138.

    ...now I try to be amused

    @Chris:

    Though it certainly wouldn’t hurt if the fundraising emails I get panicking “Chris, this is the end of the world!” were nearly as prolific in spreading “Chris, this is a huge victory!” stories.

    Yeah, they’ve adopted a Republican fear-based style in the fundraising emails. Oh well, fear works. But what really bugs me is them trying to guilt me all the time. It doesn’t work.

  140. 140.

    Paul in KY

    @rikyrah: We have this thing called ’email’ and another one called ‘microsoft teams’ and they both can give beaucoup feedback. Also a phone. Too.

  141. 141.

    Burnspbesq

    U.S. v. Texas is the second time in a week that states have lost in the Supreme Court on standing. Steve Vladeck is wondering out loud on Twitter what that portends for the student loan case.

  142. 142.

    Baud

    @Burnspbesq: I also get the sense the the right-wingers on the Supreme Court are getting a little tired of the 5th Circuit’s actions making right-wing judges look bad (except, for obvious reasons, Thomas and Alito)

    ETA: I’m still not optimistic about the student loan case, but we’ll see.

  143. 143.

    Burnspbesq

    Joe fucked up the Thomas confirmation hearing, and the 2005 bankruptcy “reform” act was a disaster, but those are outweighed by his achievements as President.

  144. 144.

    raven

    @WaterGirl:

     

    A massive fire collapsed an Interstate 85 (I-85) bridge in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, on the evening of Thursday, March 30, 2017. After the 92-foot-long (28 m) section collapsed, I-85 was closed to traffic for 43 days between its split with I-75and the interchange with State Route 400 (SR 400) — approximately two miles (3 km). Three sections of northbound I-85 and three sections of southbound I-85 were replaced at a cost of $15 million; re-opening of the interstate was on May 12.[1]

  147. 147.

    Chris

    @…now I try to be amused:

    The ones that really irritate me are the Nancy Pelosi emails, and how often they’re title “Chris – I’m SPEECHLESS.” “Chris – I’m SHOCKED.” “Chris – I’m FLABBERGASTED.”  And then in the body of the email they explain the latest Republican outrage and why it means I should donate money.

    … And it’s like, look, you are quite possibly the best politician Washington has had since the new millennium, but you need to fire whoever is writing these emails for you, because you sound like a fucking idiot.  They make you come off like a perpetually off-guard deer in the headlights.  If I were receiving these emails from a politician I’d never heard of, they absolutely would not inspire confidence in me that you’re someone I want to trust with my money, let alone the most powerful offices in the land.

  149. 149.

    prostratedragon

    @trollhattan:  Surprisingly, it hasn’t been bad for me lately. A year or two ago I did have a package delivered to me in South Dakota.

  150. 150.

    cain

    @rikyrah: They are in the FA – and will soon enter the FO. The more bullshit they do like this the more the public will turn against them.

  155. 155.

    mvr

    @Chris: During the 4 year period I watched TV Person of Interest was in fact one of the 4-6 shows I watched. Interesting to find someone referring to it here, since it seemed to be an acquired taste. (Watching debates & election returns does not count as watching TV.)

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