A long time coming. Too long.
Deep breath.
The best time to plant an oak tree was a hundred years ago. The second best time is today.
Slava Ukraini!
UKRAINE AID PASSES HOUSE
311-112-1
R:
101 Y
112 ND:
210 Y
0 N— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) April 20, 2024
Update:
The French ambassador’s residence in DC https://t.co/7S9HFXSGPS
— Eleanor Beardsley (@ElBeardsley) April 20, 2024
dmsilev
Next up, Greene and her motion to vacate. Do the Democrats, or at least some of them, save Johnson, and if so what sort of price do they demand for it?
hells littlest angel
What a relief. Now the right-wingers can get on with their motion to vacate farce.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: Is that really likely to happen today?
Regardless of timing, the better question, I think, is were any promises made by Jeffries or other Dems to save the Speaker if he allowed the Ukraine vote?
I really want to know what was behind the instant turnaround by the Speaker. Do we have any inkling?
That, I can watch!
WaterGirl
Relief is right. I have tears in my eyes right now.
And fuck Trump for turning that phrase into a farce.
piratedan
happy that this has happened at last.
Lets hope that this will allow Ukraine to defend itself and push their invaders out.
Planetjanet
That is scary that a minority of the Republicans support Ukraine. They are the party of Putin.
hells littlest angel
This is a very good question. On the one hand, Johnson is a cowardly, sniveling shit who deserves nothing but contempt. On the other hand, Republicans could elect someone — from a pool of many someones — far worse.
Anotherlurker
@WaterGirl: Dead girl? Live boy? It would be irresponsible NOT to speculate.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: After the Israel vote they immediately said that next week is a “work in home district period” (or something). Johnson is safe for another week.
And probably longer.
We’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Anotherlurker: Seriously, there is something that happened that we do not know about that resulted in a 180 on Ukraine.
I would like to know what it was.
dmsilev
@WaterGirl: Maybe not today, but definitely seems like the question is When rather than If.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: I was able to click your CSPAN link once the Ukraine vote was done. :-)
I heard that and it sounded a lot like “vacation” to me, good to have you confirm that.
pieceofpeace
At last….
Go Ukraine!
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: I loathe Mike Johnson, but the note that was read, announcing the vacation / work from home for the House, was a bit of a boss move, since they read it aloud and they read “signed, Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House”.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
They insist he lets that suffering boy of his watch some porn.
cain
@WaterGirl: maybe they found out he was compromised ?
Maybe his son spilled the beans about porn ?
Whatever – the house got it done at long last.
Now we got to deal with Rand Paul. Fucker.
Scout211
@WaterGirl: If you believe Politico (which I am inclined to believe in this case) it was the meeting a few days ago with President Biden and new dire intelligence.
ETA: Or maybe this was the cover story. ???????
M31
@WaterGirl:
I wondered if some GOP reps sick of the Putin ass-kissing shit threatened to switch to Dem to elect Jeffries Speaker and pass the Ukraine aid
but then I realized, nah, no GOP reps have that kind of integrity, though there must be at least a few who aren’t Putin-worshiping pieces of shit
PAM Dirac
@WaterGirl:
Before the votes started there was a hallway interview with Jeffries on CSPAN and he just said we will discuss that after the votes today. If anything was promised they were waiting to see the funding delivered before following through. Seems like a very good strategy.
bjacques
@Anotherlurker: ¿Porque no los dos?
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Johnson has said for months that there would be Ukraine aid.
My feeling is that the GQP did their usual “grab a hostage” thing and held on to it as long as they could to try to get the maximum thing they could. But their hand was too weak to win. They wanted their HR-2 border bill, but they knew it was dead in the Senate and there was no chance that Biden would sign it. They had no Plan B, so they spun their wheels for months making nonsensical comments while Ukraine (and Gaza) suffered.
As always for the majority, there comes a time when they eventually have to act. That time was now, so they acted.
They’ll try to find another hostage before the election, but it will be hard for them.
But, in finally passing this Supplemental, Biden won’t be running Ken Buck’s “we’ve done nothing” comments on 24-hour loops. So there’s that. :-/
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Shalimar
@WaterGirl: The official story is that Johnson’s son joins the US Navy next week and the confidential briefings the Gang of 8 gets made it very clear that Ukraine is beginning to lose and his son might be fighting Russia directly if a NATO member is attacked next. Whether that is the only new thing that happened, who knows?
dmsilev
Greene was just on CNN etc. saying that the MTV will come ‘soon’ but not today.
Frankensteinbeck
@WaterGirl:
Same as I predicted, same as it ever was. Speaker Johnson dithered and procrastinated and postured until the absolute last minute, which was apparently defined by @Scout211 then allowed a relatively clean bill to go up for a vote.
Melancholy Jaques
@WaterGirl:
I’m guessing that Johnson’s position as a leader in the party of Trump means that he can never tell us the truth. I think we’d be better off as a country if he did.
Jeffg166
MAGAts in disarray. 101 republicans Putin doesn’t own just yet.
cain
@dmsilev:
JFC why are they interviewing that carrion eater ?
Gin & Tonic
Now I hope Rand Paul doesn’t fuck this up. I haven’t permitted myself any optimism in quite some time, I’m not going to start yet.
But for those of us who clearly recall the political alignments of the Cold War era, the R vs D numbers are nothing short of astonishing.
Geminid
@M31: Some Republicans were threatening to sign the Rep. McGovern’s Petition to Discharge if Johnson couldn’t get a floor vote on the aid bills. Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole said a couple weeks ago that the package would make it to the floor one way or another, by petition or by more regular order. Cole was very matter-of-fact about this.
Baud
@cain:
Ratings.
Baud
I expected it, but I’m glad we had no defections on Ukraine.
trollhattan
@Shalimar:
BBC reported that Poland’s very Jesusy president met with Trump this week and likely impressed upon him the danger of Russia plowing through Ukraine and on to Poland. Theory being Trump dialed back anti-Ukraine rhetoric as a result and what Donny does….
Accurate? Meeting yes, the rest, who knows?
Nelle
As I mentioned yesterday, my republican congressman called me yesterday and we talked about the vote today. He flew 700 combat hours over Afghanistan and is quite concerned about Putin and expansionism. He said either we support Ukraine or we are going to be fighting Putin in a NATO country. He is very concerned about financial accountability in the bill, but agreed that a lot of the money will be spent here in the US.
I disagree on so much with him. But we meet on this issue. He was quoting a lot from staffer’s notes on my phone calls. He knows what the Mennonites were doing in Ukraine before the invasion, for example.
I was pleased that I could compliment two of his staffers by name. He said he appreciated that. He said that how I interacted with the staff made a difference to them. (I can tell you where they went to college, what they studied, etc. I am the grandma who asks about them after we talk about the issues.)
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
The Senate could probably pass it today if it were not for the Putin caucus.
Mike in NC
About goddamn time, and До біса путіна!
Mike in NC
До біса путіна
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: I thought I saw a comment by Schumer saying something about taking it up Tuesday.
Fritschner’s comments indicated to me that since the House bill was structured as amendments to the Senate bill, it can’t be filibustered. I expect it to get through the Senate quickly.
We’ll see.
Slava Ukraini!!
Cheers,
Scott.
cain
@Baud: ain’t gonna watch that traitorous slime pie. CNN should lose ratings when they put some odorous people – she is a living manifestation of one of Trump’s vociferous pestilence ridden burst of flatulence.
Eolirin
@WaterGirl: My guess is that there was an internal power struggle between the Russia hawks and the Russian compromised in the party, and the compromised lost. Johnson is so weak that he’s not able to do anything other than get pulled along by events.
Betsy
@Scout211: I think it’s one of those cases where Republicans are free to do nothing or to do the wrong thing when they know that Democrats will be responsible and save the day, in whatever situation we’re talking about.
They get to grandstand. They did they get to be ideologues. They get to pretend to take a principled stand for arch-conservative “values“. They can do all that and suffer very few consequences because Democrats and maybe some moderates will work together to save the day.
I’ve been watching this for literally decades. The fantasy world that most Republicans live in is just that. They don’t have to make things work, because Dems will.
I think Mike Johnson realized that real consequences were going to follow this time. That GOOPers, sane and insane, couldn’t rely on Dems to fix this.
He calls himself a Christian. I do actually believe he can see — in the final analysis, had to see — the evil that would result if Ukraine fell to a bloodthirsty imperial maniac. Both evil to Ukraine itself, and the Christians he sort of cares about in Ukraine, and ro the United States, and to its NATO allies.
Mike Johnson may be one crass arch-conservative fuck but he’s not actually brain-dead. He had to see it.
That, plus he was defintiely cut some kind of deal regarding his seat or something else that’s strategic to him, but that the top Dems could still live with: something that benefits him therefore, but not the GOP overall.
Johnson is savvy and self-preserving, or he wouldn’t have become Speaker to begin with.
Thus, I think he got agreement from Dems to save his speakership as the sop to bring this vote — plus maybe some dire intelligence, but also maybe just having to face facts that Dems alone simply could not come in and rescue the situation as they always do.
Baud
@cain:
It’s why I’ve given up on most media. If they aren’t covering Republican antics, they’re looking down on Dems.
cain
@Nelle: excellent.. I am glad that you had that convo with him.
Balconesfault
It should not be controversial that a bill that passes 311 to 112 is brought to the house floor.
That we’ve been taking this long to get the bill to the floor just shows how screwed up our politics will continue to be as long as Republicans have leverage.
zhena gogolia
Cлава Україні!
I tried to do blue and yellow but it won’t work
HumboldtBlue
NO FLAG WAVING ON THE FLOOR!!!!
Betsy
@cain: everything about her makes me break out in hives – her chalkboard-scraping voice itself seems to convey grossness and crassness and self-importance and smugness and proud ignorance and hate.
And she lives to get in the camera’s face just like she likes to go up and get in people’s faces on a public sidewalk. Damn, one day that jaw needs to be slapped into west Alabama by a constituent.
cain
@Baud: Yep.. I don’t either. I prefer to go through the lens of communities that have diverse voices and expertise and go through the news together.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Nelle: You are so good with these phone calls. Persistent, courteous, kind, knowledgeable.
cain
@Betsy: Perhaps Rand Paul’s neighbor is available?
Baud
@cain:
I appreciate the yeoman who are out there in the trenches keeping an eye on stuff so I don’t have to.
cain
@Dorothy A. Winsor: and leading with empathy.
Hoodie
@Geminid: That may have been a big part of Johnson’s turnaround, he was looking at open defections from his caucus which probably would have killed his speakership anyway. I am a bit afraid this may be just a ploy to get it off Johnson’s back for the moment and that a few Senate wackos could derail everything, but perhaps the discharge petition on the original Senate bill remains an option if Rand Paul or some other GOP crackpot tries to fuck things up in the Senate.
Soprano2
@WaterGirl: I heard a story that said he saw some intelligence that said if Russia defeated Ukraine they wouldn’t stop there, but would invade other European countries, just like we all have known would happen for years now. It’s a theory. Or the Russian checks started bouncing.
Betsy
@cain: Sometimes people act in everyone’s best interest
bjacques
@Shalimar: an active deployment and possible shooting war could also have a serious impact into Johnson fils monitoring the porn-watching by Johnson père.
cain
@Hoodie: thank God it can’t be filibustered.
Geminid
@Hoodie: There was a Petition to Discharge gathering signatures last May, when Kraven McCarthy folded on the Debt Ceiling bill. I thought the prospect of a successful petition was a factor then as well.
JMG
It is very much more in the Democrats’ interest to provide Johnson the votes he needs on a motion to vacate. Avoids wheel spinning due to extreme GOP chaos and also, he would then owe them. This won’t be the last vote where there’s a bipartisan majority but not a GOP majority, particularly continuing resolutions to fund the government.
Baud
Hopefully, the extra funding will give Europe time to ramp up because the US will remain unreliable long term.
Lydia Reeder
@WaterGirl: Nancy LeTourneau wrote about this. Johnson changed his mind because Russia was killing Ukrainian Christian evangelicals. https://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2024/04/why-did-speaker-johnson-change-his-mind.html?spref=tw
Here’s another article from Time: https://time.com/6969273/russias-war-against-evangelicals/
Baud
@Lydia Reeder:
Interesting. Although I wouldn’t take that to the bank as the real reason.
JAFD
In other Ukraine support news, Skirmisher Publishing has produced “A Childrens’ Guide to Unexploded Ordnance”, a comic book & game, to help the kids there grow up without getting maimed. Am chipping in my five bucks.
https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/477641/warning-danger-a-children-s-guide-to-mines-unexploded-ordnance-oberezhno-nebezpeka-dityachiy-dovidnik-pro-mini-ta-nerozirvani-boyepripasi
Notez to WaterGirl: Sent in contributions to Four Directions,q both Nv & Az, yestorday, last comment in post, just so you noticed.
Ant to TBone, Have some friends in Chester County, may be able to help with home search, you can ask Watergirl to send you my contact info, I’ll put you in touch with them.
Thanks very much, JAFD
Have great weekend, everyone !
pat
@Lydia Reeder:
Wow, keep going, russia, but just don’t take it out on those evangelicals…. WTF?
Baud
@JMG:
I think so to. Plus Johnson seems like a good GOP face for us.
PAM Dirac
@dmsilev:
I just don’t see the point is continuing to give that loser air time. Her amendment today only got ~17% of the vote. When a withdrawn candidate gets ~35% of the vote against the orange fart cloud it’s considered in the noise but when MTG can only get 17% of the house to vote with her it’s evidence of her power?
WaterGirl
@Lydia Reeder: I had forgotten about her! i will check out your links.
Anotherlurker
@WaterGirl: Seriously, we can only guess what elements were involved to seal the deal. Sausage making is not for the faint of heart or the fanatical idealists in Johnson’s of the house majority.
I can only say, judging from past successful actions of the Democratic house contingent, that the Dems got back more than they gave away on the deal. We Democrats are the party of savvy politicians.
I’m proud to be a Democrat.
trollhattan
@Nelle:
Fantastic! Good for you and honestly, good for your congresscritter to toss some Republican shackles aside in order to do the right thing, which he seems very clear-eyed about here.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Do you have another thought?
Sister Golden Bear
@Anotherlurker: Porque no los dos?
Lyrebird
Thank you Flying Pasta Fairy, thank you Nelle and every other Juicer working the phones, thank you Leader Jeffries and all the Dems, thank you Adam and WG!
trollhattan
@JAFD: Sadly necessary.
There’s so much WWI ordnance left, Ukraine can expect this war’s detritus to be around a century from now.
Plastic mines would scare the crap out of me.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I can only speculate. I’m just skeptical of sympathy for victims being the impetus for Republican action, even if the victims are nominally of the same tribe.
WaterGirl
@JAFD: I saw that and replied to you yesterday after lunch some time. thank you!
Ken
@WaterGirl: @cain: It does occur to me having an app that monitors all your Internet traffic is providing someone with free compromat.
WaterGirl
@Anotherlurker: Agree on all counts.
Dangerman
Liar Liar (He couldn’t get a porn star off; His hairpiece looks like something that was killed crossing the highway) Lucifer best stay away from open windows. Putin will not be pleased.
WaterGirl
@Ken: Interesting thought!
TBone
Repost from below (I’m celebrating extra today, it’s 4/20)
HERE is the photo of the Dotard in his formal geegaw with the Queen (her face 😆)
I fucking love Tiedrich.
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/this-week-in-stupid-april-20-edition
Soprano2
@Gin & Tonic: I’d say they were shocking. If you’d told me 20 years ago that this many Republicans would support Russia over a democracy I’d have said you were on LSD.
Baud
@Ken:
Putin learned he was a secret BJ commenter. Would ruin his career.
West of the Rockies
I hope we see the effect of this bill on the battlefield in short order. I hope this puts Putin’s guts into a toxic twist.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Wait. Don’t “bank” and “Mike Johnson” not compute?
TBone
@Lydia Reeder: yes, I posted this story a few days ago.
https://crooksandliars.com/2024/04/desperate-zelensky-reaches-out-family
It is well documented but I still don’t know what to make of it…
TBone
@TBone: today’s entry
https://crooksandliars.com/2024/04/religious-right-backs-ukraine-europes
Baud
@TBone:
So if all that is true, what do those people think is going to happen if they are successful in getting Trump elected?
TBone
@Baud: I don’t know what to make of it, other than someone gonna pull a switcheroo
I’m not taking a victory lap, the author is.
JAFD
@WaterGirl: Thanks! Having some temporary (I hope) Email problems on my end of ‘ye tubes’, figgured I’d better check.
Gin & Tonic
@TBone: While there are evangelicals and evangelical-adjacent faiths in Ukraine, they are not statistically significant, and their faithful are not being singled out for attack any more than any other group of Ukrainians is. The most at risk at present are the Ukrainian Orthodox, whom the russian Orthodox Church views essentially as traitors (many months ago, I think, I wrote a lengthy comment in an Adam thread, about the various denominations and their political differences, but I’m not going to look for it now.)
robtrim
Load up the USAF transport planes and getting the friggin ammo and Patriot missiles and armed drones to the good guys! And get the F-16s in the air with all the cluster bombs (yes) they can carry. No time for half measures.
Baud
Of note, throughout all this delay, Trump didn’t demand that aid be conditioned in Ukraine turning over Hillary’s emails or dirt on Hunter Biden.
Gin & Tonic
@TBone:
This will not happen.
TBone
@Gin & Tonic: that’s not what the article is about. It’s about meetings between these dudes, strange bedfellows.
Bill Arnold
@Gin & Tonic:
Shrug. The evangelicals involved have faith and it motivates them. Take the win.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, I’d imagine Ukraine wants to move closer to Europe and Europe already has one Hungary and doesn’t want a second.
Baud
@TBone:
Yeah, if that is the reason for the vote being called, we’ll take it.
TBone
@Gin & Tonic: that’s why I said switcheroo. Zelensky is Jewish after all. I’m not advocating that this is what happened, merely sharing what I read (documented meetings).
West of the Rockies
Trump did not want this. Nor did Putin or Greene or many other turds in the punch bowl. I say a happy dance is in order!
TBone
@Bill Arnold: pretty sure I would too and then just shrug if/when they want anything more concrete regarding religion. Shrug it off later.
brantl
@cain: I think you mean either odious or malodorous, both would fit?
TBone
@West of the Rockies: fuckin’ A 😍 🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AwowvppNUUs
Fake Irishman
@Nelle:
Lady, you are one heck of a lobbyist. Polite, persistent, building a personal connection, and trust; working an issue where there’s chance to move some one. Well done!
sab
I laughed out loud and cheered when the Speaker gavelled and then yelled that it is not appropriate to wave flags on the floor of the House. Hah!
evodevo
@WaterGirl: A bunch of talibangelicals had a talk with him about Xtian persecution being of Russian origin, not happening in Ukraine, and sold him on the idea of evangelism taking place there that would disappear under Russian rule. I am not kidding. That was what turned him around.
Subsole
@trollhattan:
I remember some old documentary I watched, probably a decade ago now, about demining work in SE Asia.
They followed a team as they probed, marked, extracted and cleared a small patch of mined ground.
The big reveal? They pulled back and showed that the team had been working in what was, literally, some family’s backyard.
Elizabelle
@Fake Irishman: Agreed. Three cheers for Nelle. Who has more patience and grace than a lot of us.
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
I’m proud of AOC, Barbara Lee and the like for voting for this. They had been under pressure from the Tankies to vote against it, but they did the right thing.
cope
So other than elation about aid to Ukraine, what feelings do you all have about the ban/sell TikTok bill? I myself don’t know enough about the issue to have a particular opinion. I get the “China bad” bit but don’t know much more than that.
TBone
And furthermore 😎🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d_jynqF4AoM
Fake Irishman
@robtrim:
Yeah, I’ll bet some folks at Logistics have had orders and plans drawn up for months now and just made some phone calls this morning. There will be planes on the runway that will be cleared for take off the second Biden signs this bill.
I’m working my way through a biography of Sam Rayburn; when Congress passed wartime aid to the Allies in 1941 after months of wrangling, Roosevelt signed the bill and two ships immediately set out from New York harbor bound for Bristol.
If Rand Paul and JD Vance want to be jerks, they are going to stay up all night tonight while Schumer keeps the Senate in session to tick down post cloture time.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: That article doesn’t smell right to me.
Is it just me?
TBone
@cope: I’m not moving off this toadstool today. I’m taking the win seriously.
Marinating 🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PW9glrJJEBo
Jackie
Here’s the roll call of how House members voted on the Ukraine aid bill.
https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024151
My GQP congressman voted YES, which made me happy. Newhouse (WA CD4) is on TIFG’s primary hit list for voting to impeach him for J6. I called and left him a thank you VM from one of his few Democratic constituents – as I’m sure he’ll get hammered with nasty messages from his MAGA majority constituents.
Lydia Reeder
@WaterGirl: I read Nancy when she contributed to the Washington Monthly’s political blog a while back. She was raised in the evangelical faith and escaped its clutches decades ago. So she has some unique insight into how it operates.
Martin
@pat: The GOP is willing to kill half the American population to keep white evangelicals running the show. Their concerns about Russia only exist inasmuch as it impacts that. Within that goal are a bunch of different viewpoints all at odds with each other but not yet ready to play out. So Johnson has a particular view of how that should be structured, and Marge has a different view, as do the various Catholic bomb-throwers.
I’m mostly convinced that a belief in heaven just serves to make it easier to watch people die. If they lived a moral life, they’re in a better place, and if they lived a corrupt life they got what was coming. In that context, it doesn’t really matter if Russia wins, so long as doesn’t affect us here. Substitute Covid, gun violence, literally anything else.
evodevo
@evodevo: I see Lydia Reeder got there ahead of me lol
JoyceH
@Betsy:
This is not what we used to call ‘politically correct’, but in my little midwestern town in the ’70s, Empty Gee is what we would have called ‘poor white trash’. I know she grew up as the Rich Kid in her little podunk town, but she’s still rings every PWT bell in the book.
WaterGirl
@evodevo: Some Christian he is. Kill those people, just don’t kill my people?
Fake Irishman
@dmsilev:
Hey, MTG, put up or shut up.
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Subsole
@cope:
I have very little to add. I don’t enjoy TikTok, so I don’t use it.
I will say that I have gotten a uniquely bad vibe about that app. Maybe just the way it seems designed to absolutely firehose bullshit into your eyes at a jet-propelled rate. Or maybe just the way it seems to pull people down weird, deranged conspiracy-theory cthulu-holes at warp speed.
I have hung out in some genuine fucking sewers on the internet, but something about the way TikTok moves just puts me off.
Am I alone in that? Anyone else?
I am aware that it is supremely ironic to base my read on a vibes-platform on…vibes. But there it is.
WaterGirl
@Lydia Reeder: Yeah, I remembered her as soon as you said her name. When she left, I did sign up to support her financially with some monthly thing, and then I dropped it at some point. I had forgotten all about her!
Fake Irishman
@WaterGirl:
Take the alliances where you can. A lot of people got effective AIDS treatment in Africa in part because some evangelical missionaries bent Ws ear.
eclare
@JoyceH:
Cosigned. Money or the lack of does not indicate whether someone is trash.
Jackie
@sab:
They’re just pissed because they had to leave their Putin flags pocketed. 😂
robtrim
@Fake Irishman: JD Vance – what a POS he is. A former Marine. Semper Fi dude…
He’s bucking for VP under Trump. How’d you like to share a foxhole with him?
Sister Golden Bear
@Nelle: Thank you for your persistence!
stinger
@Shalimar:
If he’s old enough to join the Navy, he’s old enough to watch porn.
evodevo
@WaterGirl: That’s the mindset in most of talibangelical world…after you’ve been reading posts/articles there for awhile, you get edumacated pretty well in how they think, and it has little to do with Jeezus…
prostratedragon
A cleverly designed study matches retail store card purchases, which are available down to the minute, and covid status to show that shopping in a place After an infected person had been present increased one’s chances of getting infected, relative to the Before group. They say this effect accounts for a significant amount of spread. (H/t Josh Marshall)
Ohio Mom
@Scout211: Re: “Maybe this was a cover story?”
Makes me wonder, couldn’t our side have cooked up some scary faked (or maybe just exaggerated) intel for Johnson earlier? If that is what took to move him.
I imagine that long after any of this matters, the truth will out. Right now, a giant “Whew!”
zhena gogolia
@David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch: Yes, that’s good.
Sister Golden Bear
@Subsole: TikTok is designed to keep you engaged, like a slot machine. I’m not sure TikTok care what you’re watching as long as you keep watching — and the algorithm is optimized so that if you watch one thing, it’ll serve up things that are related. YouTube does the same thing, and consequently both can lead one down the rabbit hole into the cesspool.
TBone
@JAFD: thank you! When I next get serious about home searching I’ll do that. My brother lives on 5 acres outside Downingtown and some of my best friends are on the County border near Maryland also. We’ll see! 😊
Sister Golden Bear
@Sister Golden Bear: Along a related tangent Interesting, Hank Green recently posted a video comparing how TikTok, YouTube, Threads, etc. are incentivizing creators, and how that’s changed over time, which he (accurately) believes gives insights into each company’s strategy.
He says TikTok appearing to the leaning into an “eyeballs + shopping” play by incentivizing creators to sell products adjacent to their content. In Green’s case, his “cancer socks,” which raise money for cancer treatment. (Green recently survived cancer himself.) Given how tough the online ad business is, I can see why TikTok is exploring this. Though as Green notes, it does also open the door to TikTokkers promote snake oil products.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Saw an article which said the U.S. military has been quietly prepping the physical aid to to be sent to Ukraine (shells, bullets whatever) for a while now and could deliver it to Ukraine within a week once the bill is signed into law. Nice to see another aspect of Biden’s competent leadership, since every day counts in getting aid to Ukraine.
mvr
@Baud: If so we’d have to speculate as to which commentator.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: Whatever information he was shown, suddenly made it personal for him. Speaker Johnson’s son enters the navel academy in the fall. Like all republicans, it does not matter until it becomes personal
Eta: I shoulda scrolled, Shalimar @ 22 already got to this.
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
@stinger:
He’s being deployed on the USS Pornhub
TBone
@stinger: 😆😆😆
Jay
WARNING
https://time.com/6969273/russias-war-against-evangelicals/
Mr. Bemused Senior
@mvr:
Another Scott
A very good, long overdue day.
Meanwhile, in non-political news, … TheBaltimoreBanner.com:
Yay!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Another Scott:
Why can’t he clean up the bridge?
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
Wanted to spend a couple months in lurker mode. But had to pop up to celebrate Ukraine aid passing the house.
ETA: Traitors representing in full
EATA: 4:19? Missed a meta-opportunity there…
TBone
Shooting up on schadenfreude today 😊
https://digbysblog.net/2024/04/20/trump-out-of-his-bubble/
TBone
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: We were so close
Another Scott
Cheers,
Scott.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I see Fake Irishman (#110) got there long before me. :-)
Omnes Omnibus
I have always believed that a funding bill would eventually pass. Normally, I would spike the ball, but I am too sickened by the death and destruction that the GOP delay has caused. Let’s get this through the Senate and on Biden’s desk for a signature. Then let’s start moving shit to Ukraine as fast as humanly possible.
prostratedragon
@zhena gogolia; @HumboldtBlue: 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🎆
Jackie
@Omnes Omnibus: 👍🏻
trollhattan
Finally, confirmation of the thing people have wondered about forever: Biden is old.
Baud
@trollhattan:
Hahaha.
Seriously, credit to Biden for not giving up.
Alce _e_ardillo
Was this the Senate bill, or a new one?
WaterGirl
@Jay: That should come with some sort of warning. Seriously.
To read that without knowing what you are getting into is not good.
japa21
@Omnes Omnibus: Amen
Baud
@Alce _e_ardillo:
New.
frosty
@Jackie: Yay! Smucker voted for it like I thought he would. Scott (spit) Perry voted nay. I’ll have to call Smucker’s office when someone is there to answer the phone and tell him because of that, this Democrat will be knocking on doors to unseat Perry instead of him.
WaterGirl
@Alce _e_ardillo: I believe it’s modified to match with the House bill.
One thing about BJ, you can count on being corrected if you are wrong. :-)
Fake Irishman
@David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch:
Hey, the U.S.S Pornhub is a really innovative craft, featuring the the new Xhamster large-bore high-endurance easy-to-mount gun, modern silicon-based lubricant for all machinery and recreational activities, high definition 4000k video system in every working space and crew quarters, new bionic chest-mounted safety/floatation devices (optimized for all female crew members, remedying long term problems of only designing equipment for male bodies, well, sort of….)
Hey, why is everyone looking at me so funny?
TerryC
@stinger: He’s going into the Naval Academy, IIRC. Having spent five years in the Navy I can assure you that the porn and other filters of that kind will wilt in the face of off-base parties. I recall one time our ship’s commanding office “went down” on one of thirty or so naked serving girls at a ship’s party in Japan. I found that side of things disgusting then and I still do now but I know it is part of real life out there.
TBone
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: 😎
🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l9zcLAUp5E0
prostratedragon
@Alce _e_ardillo:
Somewhere* I saw that it’s effectively an amendment to the Senate bill, which should speed things up.
_____
* Was it here? Can’t find it now.
wjca
And, since the critical hurdle has (finally!) been crossed, get the aid moving now! Even if we have to hold final delivery into Ukranian hands until the bill is passed and signed, we could have it on trains at the border, ready to roll.** Time is of the essense.
** I’d actually go for some surprise cargo planes popping in and out of Kyiv. Too risky to do regularly, I realize. But a couple of quick visits to drop off AA munitions would do a world of good.
raven
@TerryC: I new an A-6 Driver who told legendary stories about tailhook.
WaterGirl
I just added this up top. Excellent statement from Vote Vets.
(click to see a bigger version)
Baud
@prostratedragon:
I saw that too. So not entirely a “new” bill, but the Senate still has to act before it goes to Biden.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
👍
TBone
@WaterGirl: 💙
WaterGirl
catclub
It is not done till the Senate passes it. If Trump tells them to kill it, what will they do? Last time with the border bill, they killed it as ordered.
prostratedragon
Somebody’s wheels are wobbling:
Baud
@WaterGirl: Nice.
@catclub: Supposedly, it’s not subject to filibuster.
TBone
@WaterGirl: sweet ! 😍
Geminid
@wjca: They’ll have to airlift the munitions to Poland and bring them to Ukraine by land. No cargo flights can land in Kiev, or anywhere else in Ukraine so far as I know..
When the war began, a Turkish cargo plane was stranded at a Ukrainian airport. Turkiye had been pushing arms to Ukraine right up until Russia invaded. The Russians didn’t destroy the plane, but they wouldn’t let it fly out either. Then after five months, Erdogan worked something out with his frenemy Putin and Turkiye got its plane back.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: Okay, that started the waterworks.
Kent
@trollhattan: no one ever said that Mike and his son don’t watch porn. Just that they have an app on their phones that shares their porn viewing habits between them. Maybe there is something extra creepy going on there where they actually share porn.
WaterGirl
One last tweet to share. He looks like a giant. With a big heart!
Cacti
While I do support the funding for Ukraine, I find it more than a little depressing that the only things that seem to have broad bipartisan Congressional support in the present day are foreign wars and banning TikTok.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: For me, too.
Geminid
One small blessing for Central Virginia residents: Marjorie Greene was supposed to campaign with state Senator John McGuire today. McGuire is challenging Bob Good for the 5th CD nomination, and Greene really wants to help but she had to cancel because of today’s vote.
Hoppie
@catclub: The House killed the border bill that the Senate negotiated and passed.
Another Scott
@Alce _e_ardillo: The action in the House today was a “structured” set of amendments under restricted House rules. They were amendments to the Senate bill that was passed months ago (so that it doesn’t get held up when it gets sent over to the Senate the way a new bill would). My interpretation is that it cannot be filibustered in the Senate the way a new bill would.
Aaron Fritschner (who works in the office of Rep Don Beyer) has more on his twitter thing.
https://nitter.poast.org/Fritschner
HTH a little!
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Hoppie:
Apparently, the Senate didn’t pass it because of Trump. I was confused too.
Eduardo
@Fake Irishman: An unbelievable good program, for all the lives that it has saved and for the high benefits/cost ratio. Best thing W did.
Hoppie
@Cacti: They’re not banning it, just requiring that it be sold to American owners.
Hoppie
@Baud: Ah, yes, failed to get 60 after negotiated in good faith.
Bupalos
I’m pretty disappointed with that count on the Republican side. I thought we might see more like 60% in favor. But still about half, and a big enough contingent that it can’t be just Trump-rolled within their caucus and big enough to draw support from one another. Looking for more than half of R’s in the senate.
Another Scott
@wjca: Nothing can be moved until there’s a “charge number” to bill. Everything that the DoD does has to be billed somewhere; that’s why getting Congress to sign off on the funding is so important…
Defense.gov:
(Emphasis added.)
I ass-u-me that the Pentagon is going to move heaven and earth to reduce those “days” to “hours” whenever possible.
Cheers,
Scott.
Denali5
I was shocked to read (somewhere) about the Russian treatment of evangelicals – including Lutherans – in occupied areas. Not only were churches destroyed, but also pastors arrested. Americans are blamed for the war. If this is not propaganda, I can understand why Mike Johnson changed his views abruptly.
prostratedragon
@Cacti: Would be nice if it expanded to, say, education, infrastructure, voting rights, …
Carlo Graziani
@Mr. Bemused Senior: Oddly enough, I just finished re-rereading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy a couple of weeks ago. It really is ageless.
Bupalos
@catclub: Trump was clearly already told it was passing. That’s why he beat a tactical retreat. I think we’re seeing some real loosening of his grip here as push came to shove.
Jackie
@prostratedragon: Watch MTG try to censure the entire House Dems for waving the Ukrainian flag. If she can’t do that, she’ll try doing it by individual names.
Martin
The win is nice but we need to see if the landscape changes. Ukraine will need another one almost immediately (maybe Yellen can swing that from her angle) and it’s unclear if this is a one-time act to save Johnsons speakership or rank-and-file Republicans standing up to the retweet caucus. If it’s the latter, Ukraine might actually stand a chance. If it’s the former, then we’re kind of just stringing them along, hoping that a win in November lets us turn this into proper support.
Bupalos
@Denali5: There is some reporting about meetings in January and this month between evangelical leaders in the U.S. and Ukraine. Zelensky even signed Ukraine up for a national prayer breakfast. It’s likely part of the equation here.
Baud
@Bupalos:
Jesus saves!
Jackie
@WaterGirl: He’s a gentle giant for sure! I read/heard Nancy has endorsed him for his congressional run♥️
Baud
@Martin:
“stringing them along” suggests they’re not aware of dynamics.
Bupalos
@Martin: 60 billion is a hell of a string.
But yes, this isn’t the end of the aid. And hopefully Biden ends the administration’s disastrous self-deterrence wrt weapons systems, and comes to listen to the experts who understand the only end to this is Russia losing, not Ukraine surviving.
Geminid
@Bupalos: Trump definitely let Putin down here.
WaterGirl
@Martin: The win is more than nice – it gives Ukraine a fighting chance instead of being starved of the weapons they need.
I do agree that if we don’t win in November, it’s a terrible thing not just for us, but also for Ukraine.
Cacti
@prostratedragon: Healthcare, affordable housing, liveable wages…
Cacti
@Hoppie: Which isn’t going to happen, and would result in a ban.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Yes! That was the tweet just above this one. But this was too cute to pass up.
Another Scott
@Martin: Some of the funding in the Supplemental runs out 9/30/2024. Some 9/30/2025. Some “when exhausted”. Some at other times. There are lots of details in the text.
But, yes, the battle is never over. We have to keep fighting for sensible people in office who do sensible things with the power we give them.
Slava Ukraini!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Kent
There are a whole bunch of GOP Senators whose seats are not up in 2024. Plus they are generally far less obsequious to Trump than the MAGAts in the House. I don’t see there being enough GOP support to try to block it in the Senate. They already passed it once, didn’t they?
Bupalos
@Baud: Now if Jesus can just engineer a split between Trump and the evangelicals…
Johnson is one weird little dude. But when you’re freaky enough to hear Jesus telling you to compare porn habits with your son, you’re freaky enough to hear Jesus telling you to rebuke Trump for a Ukrainian televangelist.
Here’s to taking the wins, wherever and however we can get them.
NotoriousJRT
@WaterGirl: I like to think it was my persistent tweeting at him that he had Ukrainian blood on his praying hands, and like Lady MacBeth it would never wash away. 🙂 But, perhaps we will never know; I’m just glad this round is on its way to the senate.
WaterGirl
I have believed all along that we would get this done, but I didn’t think it would take nearly this long.
The relief is starting to settle in for me. It’s so weird how you can know something with your mind but it can take longer for you to know it in your body. A few hours later, and I am teary-eyed with relief.
It has been soul crushing to see us leaving Ukraine hanging in the wind. I can’t imagine this hasn’t been breaking Biden’s heart. I was so mad at Biden for running in 2020 – leave it to the younger people – I think even Barack thought he shouldn’t run – but damn, if he isn’t exactly who we needed, now more than ever.
Carlo Graziani
Here are the lemons: since the Republican embargo began, the Russians have regained the initiative—which the Ukrainians had basically lost by the end of summer, as their offensive culminated without decisive results. Ukraine is now fighting a purely defensive war. Among other things, this means that their shopping list and logistical requirements are substantially different from what they were at the time of the last round of US supplies: tanks, APCs, mine- and obstacle-clearing vehicles, etc. are now second priority to mines, razor wire, heavy-duty construction equipment and materials.
Here’s the lemonade: It’s a lot easier to fight a defensive war than an offensive one, especially if the defense is adequately resourced, and has time to get set. Ammo and barrel demand are going to be the same as before, but the supply is likely going to be a bit more adequate to requirements now, because one needs a lot more to force breakthroughs than to break up attacks. If the Russians really have set themselves the goal of capturing all of Donetsk, then the Ukrainians can try to exhaust and break the RUAF in that effort, with reasonable chances of success. That’s not an implausible scenario for the 2024 campaign.
wjca
If nothing else, loading planes and trains could be designated as a training exercise. There are ways to fudge some of those things, if you’re willing to be a little creative.
WaterGirl
@NotoriousJRT: Good for you for tweeting at him.
Bupalos
Let me just find another silver lining here in what has been a very dark cloud.
Putin, and the Russians who tolerate him, had to feel like he had already gotten to the point in western democratic decline where things were about to start getting easier. The overall morale equation for both the folks fighting the war and the civil societies on each side was nearing a crossing point where Russia was on top.
Having that snatched away and moved to an indefinite point that is AT LEAST 6 months away is going to have its own morale effects. And Putin’s rule is strong but brittle. His regime is strong until it isn’t. Its’ fall can happen at any time. Could be in 10 years but also could be next month.
Betty
@frosty: I think there’s a good chance Perry will lose. Looks like tv news anchor, Janelle Stelson, has a pretty significant lead in the polling for the Democratic nomination. She is strong on protecting women’s reproductive rights.
Bupalos
@Carlo Graziani: Very true. There’s also the civil/political war behind the military war. And we really did reach into the point in Russian propaganda where they turned a little corner and probably made the mistake of getting the population to feel something positive about the future and prospects of victory. And the degree to which Vova was in control of events. Do they report this at all? In any event, they probably overextended their propaganda supply lines a bit in this civil/political war and risked involving Russian emotions. I’ll be interested to watch Russian media on Monday.
Bupalos
@Carlo Graziani: Yes to defensive retrenchment. But also if you listen to Ukrainian military leadership, I think we can expect an expansion of the war on Russian soil. There are going to be more operations aimed partly at making the war feel less theoretical to the Russian population while attacking supply.
Another Scott
@wjca: Yes, there’s always a little bit of wiggle room in most things.
But there’s “illegal” (taking a Skillcraft pen home), and there’s “ILLEGAL” (obligating the US Government without authorization). Billing stuff to a “training” line that isn’t “training” could come close to that latter category. People have gone to jail for charging inappropriate things to their DoD travel credit card…
Seriously, people are going to follow the rules and the law on this stuff and stay within the lines. Nobody wants Inspectors General and House Committees and all the rest investigating budgets and accounting and authorizations when people in the trenches are trying to do the right thing for Ukraine, etc.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
@Bupalos: Hoping.
Fake Irishman
@Hoppie:
It never got out of the Senate; they passed a stand-alone aid bill.
Fake Irishman
@Another Scott:
Yeah. Somehow I don’t think the Democrats don’t get a pass (nor do they deserve one) if they decide to do their own Iran-Contra.
ewrunning
@WaterGirl: Nancy left Washington Monthly and initially joined Martin Longman (Booman) on his paywalled Progress Pond. I noticed recently that she seemed to have left. His stuff is still almost all paywalled and his tone seems so downbeat about things I can’t get myself to shell out for it.
frosty
@Baud: Mr. Trash Wheel can’t clean up the bridge with the solar power he runs on – not enough kW. Now, if he was coal-fired, it would be a piece of cake! Damn environmentalists!!
Bupalos
@Another Scott: All I can say is that I live near to, and on a flight path from the Ravenna, Ohio arsenal. Over 25 years we can tell when something is stirring there… and something is stirring there.
WaterGirl
@ewrunning: I liked and I liked Booman’s old site, but never liked Progress Pond. Plus, he turned into such a pessimist that I stopped reading him years ago
I supported Nancy for a few months after she left the Washington Post but before she landed with Booman.
Traveller
Dear WaterGirl, I thought my response over at Kevin Drum’s blog might make you smile:
I have gritted my teeth in despair many times over these past few months…many dead, many civilians, many soldiers, loss of momentum, loss of hope…the only real essential weapon of war, without which all is lost.
But I saw a quote from WaterGirl that I am shamelessly going to steal:
“The best time to plant an oak tree was a hundred years ago. The second best time is today.”
I myself am so impressed by this word play, I intend to incorporate it into my own life.
Martin
@Baud: I know they are aware. I meant it in the sense that we’re not actually committed to helping them – just giving them hope and then snatching it away.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Not to play armchair psychiatrist, it seemed to me that he got much gloomier after the death of his brother. (IIRC) But he always seemed to be on the more glum side of the line. :-(
I too appreciate Nancy LeTorneau and have neglected to read her stuff for too long.
Cheers,
Scott.
Martin
@Another Scott: I meant it more in the sense that Ukraine will burn through $60B faster than the deadlines. Their needs are substantial – and when they go without it takes even more to get them back to where they were. It’s like having to pay interest. So the $60B already doesn’t go as far as it would have 6 months ago.
frosty
@Jackie: I just looked him up. 6’7″, one inch shorter than John Fetterman.
Bupalos
@Traveller: By the way though don’t plant oaks. Sugar maple (for the you know) and bitternut hickory (for the oil.)
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@TBone: Delurking one last time to thank you. That’s a new one on me. Shared. Hope you see this
Kent
How much flexibility (if any) does the administration have in determining pricing for what they send? For example, if they send a bunch of refurbished Abrams tanks can they charge the new price straight from the factory? Or a surplus price for machinery taken out of surplus and refurbed?
In other words, can they do things to make that $60 billion last longer?
Chris Johnson
@Bupalos: I don’t think Putin had got to where he thought things were going to be easier. I think it’s something else.
Recently Beau of the Fifth Column covered something that sounded like Germany had caught Russian spies, who had been working on something. And it’s very good that they caught the Russian spies, but it’s disconcerting that the Russian spies were looking up ways for Russia to attack… AMERICAN military installations.
I think Speaker Johnson got told something to this effect. Never mind Christian Ukrainians: pretty sure that was already known. I think Speaker Johnson got shown that Russia intends to attack the United States… at the very least, overseas American military bases. Apparently his kid’s gone into the Navy just recently? Bad time to be told that Russia is working out how to attack where your son is going to live.
Yes, absolutely, Russia wants to own the next 9/11. Owning Jan 6th is not enough for them, but it’s consistent. Owning Ukraine would not be enough for them, owning Europe would not be enough for them. They want to attack HERE.
That’d be a NOPE from me, and apparently also from Speaker Johnson and a whole bunch of Republicans. I wish them the best of luck in putting the rubble of their party back together again, and here’s hoping they didn’t start too late.
Those that remain loyal to Putin: what the fuck did you THINK was going to happen? KGB has a really, really lousy retirement plan.
Jinchi
I think they do, barring something else happening, like the rumored threat that three Republicans will resign in protest, giving Dems a clear majority.
Nothing wrong with rewarding good behavior, and it would strip the Maga bomb throwers of their power to dictate policy.
Gin & Tonic
Quite the burn by Illia Ponomarenko on the twitters:
The one overtly selling out her own Fatherland is, of course, Rep. Victoria Spartz, who voted “Nay.”
WaterGirl
@Traveller: It’s not original with me. I don’t know who originally said it, but I think it’s a useful to remember when the tendency is to say “if only” instead of building a way forward.
WaterGirl
@Martin: You are assuming that we are going to snatch it away? We don’t know the outcome in November.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: I remember when Booman’s brother died. Seems like he was Booman’s rock. I can’t imagine.
Bupalos
@Chris Johnson: I haven’t delved into the specifics of that operation and whatever reporting and intelligence propaganda may be happening around it. I think Putin does intend to attack the United States more directly, but I don’t think he really wants to do that now. I’d put that more forcefully. He would absolutely try to avoid the appearance of that now. I’m sure the Kremlin is happy with anything that creates a bit of chaos and confusion and division in the west, and I think the Kremlin right now is both incompetent and in some disarray. But I don’t think in any official capacity they’d actively pursue operations right now that clearly came from the Russian federation and had the effect of unifying or building morale in the west. So absolutely no Russian-led 9-11. Maybe they fucked up support for existing internal divisions. Here’s to them continuing to fuck that up, because the divisive U.S. elections are 6 months out right now.
I’m pretty certain whatever mischief the Germans just broke up was intended to appear as internal German chaos and weirdness and weakness, or division between elements in Germany and the U.S. But Russians aren’t good at anything these days really, so whatever they were involved in has mildly backfired…. though only mildly since no operation actually came about.
The point to remember is that Putin believes as a matter almost of religion that the West is declining and will inexorably continue to decline. That this is as sure as the sun rising tomorrow. I don’t think he believes he’s yet at the point where it’s rotten enough to challenge directly. And he doesn’t want to get in the way of its natural decline by doing something that might invigorate it.
Quiltingfool
Slava Ukraini! I’ve been working on an appliquéd wall hanging in Ukrainian colors today; a cat sleeping among large “sort of” sunflowers. Helped me focus on positive thoughts that we finally start helping the brave Ukrainians. I have felt so much shame that we (United States) did not help sooner.
This is the first wall hanging I made, as a practice piece. The new one is definitely yellow and sky blue. I think I’ll call it “Dreaming of a Free Ukraine.”
https://pin.it/2Pl3R2IvD
Bupalos
@Quiltingfool: Your pieces are beautiful and inspiring, and I want to thank you for every stitch you’ve made in support of this cause.
Omnes Omnibus
I am glad that some people stopped by to explain why this wasn’t actually good thing. What a relief.
Bupalos
@Omnes Omnibus: I didn’t read that here. What are you thinking of? This is as much a watershed series of days as we’ve seen in years. Both in delivering needed aid and the development of cracks in the wall that has started looming over us.
Jay
@Quiltingfool:
It is both beautiful, charming and made me cry.
Thank you for showing it to us.
Kent
@Jinchi: Democrats don’t have to actually vote for him for speaker.
All it would take is a group of Democrats to announce that they aren’t interested in participating in Republican leadership games so they are just going to abstain and let the Republicans sort their nonsense out for themselves.
That would suddenly raise the number of defections that MTG would need to dozens or more, not just two or three. And completely pull the plug on MTG and the other douchebags.
At any moment the GOP majority disappears, the Dems could simply call for their own leadership election and oust him if they wanted.
Geminid
@Kent: I believe the first step in the process would be a motion to table the motion to vacate. Democrats who want to keep Johnson can vote to table the motion. It would not take many.
Traveller
@Bupalos:
@Bupalos:
Now this also is excellent advice. Sugar Maple’s and Hickory…If I had a big enough yard, I would…lol…but alas
And WaterGirl, yes, this saying may have many iterations and an ancient linage…but it was still important to me…Today, so thank you again, Best Wishes, Traveller
YY_Sima Qian
A major hurdle cleared! Incredibly depressing that aid to Ukraine has been languished in the House when it has such overwhelming support.
I recall there was some heated discussion last week heavily criticizing progressive Dems (especially “the Squad”) not willing to vote for the whole package due to aid to Israel. I thought was obvious that these progressive Dems were attempting to exercise their leverage to push the Biden Administration to do restrain & mitigate Israeli war crimes in Gaza, or at least ensure the US is less implicitly complicit in these war crimes. Sure enough, all but one Dem voted for the aid package for Ukraine, while a majority of Rs failed to do so.
I am all for hold Dems’ feet to the fire on policy issues & not whitewash/sugarcoat when Dem politics fail or are simply wrong. Heaven knows I have been extremely critical of the Biden Administration & some D members of Congress on a range of issues, but perhaps we can wait for more data & try to discern politicians’ motivations & strategies before passing moral judgment.
Ruckus
@Mike in NC:
Straight to.
kalakal
@Bupalos:
I think you’re right, for Putin and his regime, let alone the squaddies who are suddenly going to have a lot more ordnance coming at them, this has got to be a gut punch. Rather like reaching a false crest when climbing
NotoriousJRT
@Omnes Omnibus: Word.