Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

T R E 4 5 O N

Let there be snark.

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

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

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

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

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

We’re not going back!

Republicans do not pay their debts.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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Steady As She Goes (Open Thread)

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The Compromise Border Deal, Straight from the Horse’s Mouth, Chris Murphy

The compromise deal that includes Ukraine, Israel-Gaza, the border.

It’s decent.  It’s awful.  It’s not bad, but it’s not good enough.

We’re all talking about it but do we really have any idea of whether it sucks or not?

I’ll get to that in a minute.

After learning that the Republicans were trying to kill the exact fucking bill that they asked for, and had negotiated, I was lying in bed, starting to feel like I did after Trump won, though at least my whole body wasn’t shaking in shock like was that night in 2016.  Still, a sense of terrible sadness.  Disbelief that this could actually happen in our country.  Knowing that terrible times were ahead.  A terrible sense of dread and dismay.  Feeling betrayed.  Filled with grief, tears running down my face.  For our country, for Ukraine, for our democracy.

My only consolation was Miss Willow who had tucked herself in by my side, and she had stayed by my side for so long that I finally needed to pee.  I wasn’t going to get up because I needed the comfort from Miss Willow, but she must have sensed something different from me because she jumped down off the bed, and I headed for the bathroom.

When I headed back to bed, I decided to listen to a podcast, and I’m glad I did because listening to Chris Murphy talk about the deal left me in a completely different place.  (Sorry for the ugly image on the YouTube video.)

For about 11 minutes, Chris Murphy talked about the bill.  Talked about what was in the bill.  Made it clear that this wasn’t like Lucy and the football.  Our side went into the negotiations knowing full well that there were no guarantees.  Though it’s pretty ballsy to actually make a deal and then announce that you’re gonna block it.

Chris Murphy talked for about 10 minutes.  He was calm and thoughtful and explained what is in the deal, and I felt a lot less hopeless.

Chris Murphy starts about 50 seconds into the broadcast and ends at about the 12-minute mark.  If you want to get a sense of what’s in the bill and whether Democrats were so stupid as to sign onto a terrible bill (hint: they didn’t) and dumb enough to be duped (they weren’t) I would encourage you to listen to the interview with Chris Murphy.

I am thanking the universe for the ruling from the circuit court today; I suspect I’m not the only one who needed that shot in the arm today.  All is not lost, though the Republicans are shockingly nihilistic; they are truly willing to burn it all down and betray our allies in the process.

Fuck them, they only truly win if we give up and stop fighting.  Thank goodness for the Chris Murphys and the Chef Joses in this world.  They aren’t giving up, and neither should we.

I’m thinking that Biden needs to make this real for people – with a video that shows the realities of what not funding Ukraine will mean.  Real people are getting hurt and dying in Ukraine, and we need to be there to help them win.  Real people are suffering in Gaza.  I was recently referred to as “that” by someone – as if I’m not even human, no better than a dog to kick.  That’s how rapists see their victims; that’s how people justify their terrible behavior.  We need to find a way to reach regular people in our country and help them see what’s really happening.

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    FelonyGovt

    This is one of those times where I’m kind of relieved that I’ve been out of things (though not necessarily for good reasons) the past several days so I haven’t been able to follow any of this too closely.

    Happy about the “no immunity” ruling however.

  2. 2.

    cain

    The GOP only have one ally and that is Russia. I think even the rich are not behind all this crap because basically nothing is moving forward. We are living in a state of suspended animation.

    We have to take all branches of govt. It’s a lucky thing that we have a great economy  – you know how impatient and entitled the American voter is. Willing to put anyone in power if they will promise that the good times roll.

    ETA looks like China as well – whoever is willing to fund them and their evangelical support system.

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    @FelonyGovt: No immunity.  No double jeopardy.  No jurisdiction issues to keep the circuit court from ruling.  And only a 6-day window for Trump to appeal to the Supreme Court and to have the Supreme Court grant cert.  6 days.

    This was a huge win for the rule of law.  HUGE.

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    @Old School: I don’t have the patience to read a 5-page or 14-page summary.  But I know there are at least a few people on Bj who would rather read those than listen to someone talk about it.

    But what they can’t get from the written summaries is the feel of the process.

  6. 6.

    cain

    What do people think about the events happening in San Salvador? They had an election and the guy has declared himself to be a dictator – but he’s reduced murder (by jailing 75k people with no charges) and it has inherently become much safer.

    I suspect that this might also reduce pressure on the border crossing since so many of the children coming to the border are from San Salvador.

  7. 7.

    Bill Arnold

    There was surprise interference yesterday by the (very Trumpy) CBP union, who asked for quick passage of the bill:
    “As conservatives balk, U.S. Border Patrol union endorses Senate immigration deal – The National Border Patrol Council, which endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2020, said the new bipartisan bill “will drop illegal border crossings nationwide.”” (Feb. 5, 2024, Julie Tsirkin)

    “While not perfect, the Border Act of 2024 is a step in the right direction and is far better than the current status quo,” Brandon Judd, president of the council, said in the statement. “This is why the National Border Patrol Council endorses this bill and hopes for its quick passage.”

    This should be a part of the Democratic Party talking points, IMO

  8. 8.

    Old School

    @WaterGirl: And I see a 70 video and think, “People actually put themselves through that?!?!”

    (I am listening to the 10-minute part with Sen. Murphy at the moment.)

  9. 9.

    wjca

    @cain: I suspect that this might also reduce pressure on the border crossing since so many of the children coming to the border are from San Salvador.

    Kind of depends on how many kids those 75k prisoners have left outside.  Might actually raise the rates.

  11. 11.

    Urza

    @cain: That is generally how dictators come in, promising to fix all the problems.  Usually ones their side helped create.  People might like it for a little bit, but what happens when he goes even farther and now they can’t stop him.

  14. 14.

    cain

    @wjca: Sure – we can take a lot of things into account.

    Of course, we are talking about a dictatorship and a police state. So, we don’t know if the problem is actually solved. But if we were to assume that gang violence has been ratcheted it down – the children of those 75k could still be taken care of since murder is not happening.

    When I think about all these border crises, you just have to think how fucked up our latin american foreign policy has been starting with the so called Banana wars eg the United Fruit Company and then of course that motherfucker Kissinger. Allah hu Akbar for taking that villain off this mortal plane at a last. That he was gifted with long life is a tragedy.

  20. 20.

    terry chay

    I’m not sure why it’s close to have been like November 2016. That one was just that the media and the FBI did an unprecedented thumb-on-scale action before the polls could catch up and show what was happening. In this one, it’s all good news given the reality of the situation (not ideal, but what is real):

    the republicans will now on record of voting against a border bill that they proposed.
    they are also now against Ukraine funding and they were the ones who tied these two things together.
    They will not even get their Israel bill to the floor let alone passed because of objections within their own caucus plus a rules loophole they are exploiting requires 2/3 to even get it to a vote

    Seems like a disaster politically. A lot of Ukrainians will die than wouldn’t but they will not collapse since we aren’t a majority of the funding of that war. This hurts the US standing and will increase the likelihood of Taiwan being invaded and the like. However, this vote shows that funding Ukraine was never in the cards under any circumstances.

    The fact that Johnson won’t even have the bipartisan bill voted on shows that it would pass normally (else he’d watch it burn). The fact that the party is doing this to try to support a person who turns out as many people to vote D as he does R (Trump) and the tight polling is solely attributable to low information voters not believing Trump could possibly be the R nominee while knowing Biden is the D nominee means that the we are potentially looking at the nadir of D support from now until the election. What this shows is that the Republican party is co-opted by Trump who is co-opted by Russia. That was the reality, one that could be ignored by most of us before this point.

    Historians will say that when Citizens United happened this would be the natural result. We’ve decoupled our government from the electorate for 20 years now. It certainly wasn’t obvious then, but the biggest mistakes by the Democratic party for our country have been in letting “small” things go by: pardoning Nixon, not impeaching Reagan/Bush over Iran-Contra, triangulation for elections, etc. If you look, the Democratic Party has learned from them and the failure of this bill and its consequences is one of the positives, not negatives.

  23. 23.

    Jeffro

    Glad to see Uncle Joe taking it right to the GOP: you’re spineless puppets

    President Biden made it clear on Tuesday that if a bipartisan Senate package of border measures and funding for Ukraine and Israel fails, it will be former president Donald Trump’s fault — and he will remind voters of that ahead of the November election.

    “Republicans said no because they’re afraid of Donald Trump,” Biden said. “Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends.”

    The bill, negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-La.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), includes some of Republicans’ top demands on the border and has Biden’s support. Ahead of the release of the bill’s text, Trump said Republicans in Congress should not help Democrats pass any significant immigration legislation ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Soon after the negotiators unveiled the measure on Sunday, Republicans in the House and the Senate began saying they would not support the bill.

    Speaking from the White House on Tuesday, Biden said all indications say the bill “won’t even move forward to the Senate floor.”  “Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump,” Biden said. “Because Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him, politically.”  Biden said Trump is seeking something on which to campaign. And the former president has, for years, successfully galvanized his base on the issue of immigration.  “He’d rather weaponize this issue than actually solve it,” Biden said of Trump.

    The president said Republicans in Congress have to make a decision soon: “Do they serve Donald Trump or the American people?”  “It’s time for Republicans in the Congress to show a little courage, to show a little spine, to make it clear to the American people that you work for them, not for anyone else,” Biden said.

  24. 24.

    BlueGuitarist

     I was recently referred to as “that” by someone – as if I’m not even human

    I guess Taylor Swift would tell them “you need to calm down” and “all you’ll ever be is mean”
    And to us, “shake it off”
    But still, I wish assholes wouldn’t shit on people.
    Hoping good vibes here will partly cancel out that asshole.

  25. 25.

    rikyrah

    @WaterGirl:

    @FelonyGovt: No immunity.  No double jeopardy.  No jurisdiction issues to keep the circuit court from ruling.  And only a 6-day window for Trump to appeal to the Supreme Court and to have the Supreme Court grant cert.  6 days.

    This was a huge win for the rule of law.  HUGE.

     

    say it again.

    say it again, WG.

    Everytime you write it, I smile :)

  27. 27.

    Ocotillo

    Trump has been being a fanboi of Xi lately, would be nice if some journalist type person were to ask him what would he do as president if China invaded Taiwan.  My thought is he is signaling that he would be ok with Xi taking Taiwan just as he would Putin taking Ukraine.

    Now I know his likely response would be “Xi wouldn’t do that if I were president” but kiss Taiwan goodbye if the TFG were to get back in office.

  30. 30.

    Old School

    @BlueGuitarist:

    But still, I wish assholes wouldn’t shit on people.
    Hoping good vibes here will partly cancel out that asshole.

    I’d missed that!  What a jerk.

    You are loved here, WG!

  31. 31.

    patrick II

    Water girl

    I am with on the video explaining Ukraine. It needs to be made real for the many who don’t knoe the depths of depravity Putin has sunken to

  32. 32.

    CarolPW

    @cain: At least they are jailed rather than disappeared as happened in the civil war. El Salvador is a beautiful country with lovely people and really good seafood. When I was there (post civil war pre-gang) there were cops/military guys on every corner of San Salvador with assault rifles. Finally getting some type of civil order must seem really attractive.

  33. 33.

    Anotherlurker

    I’m new to the thread. Who referred to WG as “That”? Was it someone who frequents this Blog?

  34. 34.

    SteveinPHX

    All I gotta say is I admire the hell out of what you do. It’s a heavy lift and you’re good at it!

    I still owe you the story on Greek fries. I haven’t forgotten.

  37. 37.

    Manyakitty

    @WaterGirl: it’s been A. Day. For the last week. It feels like things are speeding up and approaching a pivotal moment, but we’re dealing with so many hot crises we don’t know where to look first. Today’s corrupt, cynical, cowardly betrayal by the stinking husk of the republican party was just SO egregious.

    Anyway, you are fabulous and there’s no arguing with empirical data.

    Harrumph.

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