Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

In my day, never was longer.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Proud to Be A Democrat Open Thread: Hakeem Jeffries and the GOP Dwarves

Proud to Be A Democrat Open Thread: Hakeem Jeffries and the GOP Dwarves

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Read the whole thing — Per the Associated Press, “Hakeem Jeffries isn’t speaker yet, but the Democrat may be the most powerful person in Congress”:

… The minority leader of the House Democrats, it was Jeffries who provided the votes needed to keep the government running despite opposition from House Republicans to prevent a federal shutdown.

Jeffries who made sure Democrats delivered the tally to send $95 billion foreign aid to Ukraine and other U.S. allies.

And Jeffries who, with the full force of House Democratic leadership behind him, decided this week his party would help Speaker Mike Johnson stay on the job rather than be ousted by far-right Republicans led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene…

The decision by Jeffries and the House Democratic leadership team to lend their votes to stop Johnson’s ouster provides a powerful inflection point in what has been a long political season of dysfunction, stalemate and chaos in Congress.

By declaring enough is enough, that it’s time to “turn the page” on the Republican tumult, the Democratic leader is flexing his power in a very public and timely way, an attempt to show lawmakers, and anyone else watching in dismay at the broken Congress, that there can be an alternative approach to governing…

In the House, the minority leader is often seen as the speaker-in-waiting, the highest-ranking official of the party that’s out of power, biding their time in hopes of regaining the majority — and with it, the speaker’s gavel — in the next election. Elected by their own party, it’s a job without much formal underpinning.

But in Jeffries’ case, the minority leader position has come with enormous power, filling the political void left by the actual speaker, Johnson, who commands a fragile, thread-thin Republican majority and is constantly under threat from far-right provocateurs that the GOP speaker cannot fully control.

“He’s operating as a shadow speaker on all the important votes,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus…

As Johnson sidles up to Donald Trump, receiving the presumed Republican presidential nominee’s nod of support, it is Jeffries who holds what Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker emerita, has referred to as “currency of the realm” — votes — that are required in the House to get any agenda over the finish line.

Pelosi said in an interview that Jeffries as the minority leader has “always had leverage” because of the slim House majority.

“But it’s a question of him showing that he’s willing to use it,” she said.

Jeffries has been “masterful,” she said, at securing Democratic priorities, notably humanitarian assistance in the foreign aid package that Republicans initially opposed.

But Pelosi disagreed with the idea that Democrats lending support to Johnson at this juncture creates some sort of new coalition era of U.S. politics…

Ahead of the November election, the two parties are in a fight for political survival to control the narrowly divided House, and Jeffries would most certainly face his own challenges leading Democrats if they were to gain the majority, splintered over many key issues.

But Jeffries and Johnson have both been in a cross-country sprint, raising money and enthusiasm for their own party candidates ahead of November — the Republican speaker trying to keep his job, the Democratic leader waiting to take it on.

Reader Interactions

55Comments

  2. 2.

    lowtechcyclist

    Looking forward to that, but that’s still eight months away. And shit still needs to get done in the meantime.​
    ETA:

    But Pelosi disagreed with the idea that Democrats lending support to Johnson at this juncture creates some sort of new coalition era of U.S. politics…

    That’s right – all it is, is the recognition on the part of Jeffries and his caucus that another round of spending weeks with the House having no Speaker, and then having another neophyte Speaker who might well be even harder to work with than Moses Johnson has been so far, would be very bad for the country.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    The IRA money has helped the IRS answer more taxpayer calls during the tax season that just ended on April 15, as well as beef up its enforcement, which led to the collection of $520 million from wealthy taxpayers who hadn’t filed their taxes or still owed money, it said.

    …..

    At the same time, the IRS is increasing its audit efforts, with Werfel noting on Thursday that the agency will focus on wealthy individuals and large corporations:

     

    The IRS plans to triple the audit rates on large corporations with assets of more than $250 million. Audit rates for these companies will rise to 22.6% in tax year 2026 from 8.8% in 2019.

    Large partnerships with assets of more than $10 million will see their audit rates increase 10-fold, rising to 1% in tax year 2026 from 0.1% in 2019.

    Wealthy individuals with total positive income of more than $10 million will see their audit rates rise 50% to 16.5% from 11% in 2019.

     

    “There is no new wave of audits coming from middle- and low-income [individuals], coming from mom and pops. That’s not in our plans,” Werfel said.

  5. 5.

    lowtechcyclist

    Biden’s people have made our government work better in so many ways, large and small. He really has been the best President of my lifetime. Looking forward to seeing what he can do with another four years, and with any luck a Democratic Congress again.

  8. 8.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    You know when you get old in life
    things get taken from you.
    That’s, that’s part of life.
    But,
    you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
    You find out that life is just a game of inches.
    So is politics.
    Because in either game
    life or politics
    the margin for error is so small.
    I mean
    one half step too late or to early
    you don’t quite make it.
    One half second too slow or too fast
    and you don’t quite catch it.
    The inches we need are everywhere around us.

    On this team, we fight for that inch
    On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us
    to pieces for that inch.
    We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.
    Cause we know
    when we add up all those inches
    that’s going to make the fucking difference
    between LIVING and DYING

    between Democrats and Republicans

  9. 9.

    Geminid

    Two interesting guests for this Sunday’s Face the Nation, CBS: Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman and California Rep. Ro Khanna.

    Also appearing: Jordan’s Queen Rania, and an obscure Governor from South Dakota who is kicking off a book tour.

  10. 10.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Jeffries would most certainly face his own challenges leading Democrats if they were to gain the majority, splintered over many key issues.

    They’re so married to this false narrative. Pelosi never lost a vote. Neither will Jeffries.

  11. 11.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Geminid:

    an obscure Governor from South Dakota who is kicking off a book tour.

    Yeah, that book tour should be a lot of fun.  With any luck, she’ll be greeted by crowds of angry dog lovers at every stop.

  14. 14.

    TBone

    Couldn’t love her more, I thought.  I was wrong!

    Dr. Jill Biden kicked off a new format for delivering the National Teacher of the Year award by hosting this year’s winner and dozens of other teachers at the White House with a ceremony emulating the pomp normally reserved for foreign dignitaries

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: Just read about Noem’s book tour launch on CBS. According to Politico, there are other controversies arising from the book to explore besides the governor’s habit of summarily executing pets. She lied about staring down Kim Jong Un while she was in Congress, which is a weird thing to lie about since it’s so easily disproven. Noem also claimed Nikki Haley threatened her, though the conversation she recounts contains no threats. I sure hope these controversies destroy Noem politically. She’s a dangerous kook.

  16. 16.

    lowtechcyclist

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    Other than perhaps Israel/Gaza, I can’t think of much that divides the Democrats – this is a party that’s very unified on practically everything important.  And the House Democratic caucus really doesn’t have anyone who will sink a bill just to be a purity pony.  (Neither will the Senate caucus if they can hold onto it.)

    The media really is wedded to “Democrats in disarray” as a narrative. I wonder how many years (decades?) it will take for them to catch on that things have changed.

    They need to stop reporting on what’s in their heads, and see what’s going on in real life.

  17. 17.

    Princess

    @Freemark: I don’t even know how meaningful it is any more to talk about the “squad” as a thing. Ayanna Presley seems to have forged her own path, and so has AOC. There’s a much larger than 4 block of more leftish votes and they work together on issues, but the whole four-woman original squad seems to have fractured in that they no longer in particular seem to speak as one.

  18. 18.

    Geminid

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: Also, House Democrats are not splintered over that many issues. Right now, Gaza is the big one but so far Jeffries and the rest have kept this from becoming a bitter intra-caucus fight.

    It probably helps that Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar have endorsed every caucus member in tbeir primaries, without exception. There are divisive primary battles, such as between Rep. Cori and Wesley Bell in MO CD1 and between Rep. Jamaal Bowman and George Latimer in NY16, but leadership is trying to limit damage nationally.

    I guess immigration and the border are also potential points of conflict, but I don’t see other substantial ones.

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: She lied about staring down Kim Jong Un while she was in Congress, which is a weird thing to lie about since its so easily disproven.

    It’s SOP in today’s GOP.

  21. 21.

    Spanky

    @Betty Cracker: I had to go look on Amazon to see who the publisher was. It’s independently published, so I guess all these factoids are truly self-inflicted.

    There are no reader reviews yet. Can’t wait to see what they’ll say!

  22. 22.

    stinger

    I was dreading the departure from leadership of Ms. Smash, but Jeffries has proven to be just as knowledgeable, just as canny, and just as tough.

  24. 24.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: Noem’s story sounds like the beginning of a Stephen King novel: The Gravel Pit.

    More seriously, I wonder if there will be demonstrations outside (or inside) her book signings. Actually, I’d bet on it, and unlike the Gaza demonstrations, this blog will be united in solidarity with tbe protesters.

  25. 25.

    RevRick

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: The reason for this is that Democrats are all swimming in the same direction. They only disagree about how far they should go at the present time.
    The GOP, on the other hand, is split between complete and utter nihilists out to destroy, and those, especially in Biden districts, who want to avoid the taint.

  28. 28.

    MattF

    @Betty Cracker: And, um, a very close friend of Corey Landowski. Which is a ‘shoots puppies in the head’ level of bad news.

    ETA: Also, people who know a thing or two about goats have noted that they have very solid skulls, so she’s ignorant about farm animals, FWIW.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    This is a John Grisham novel waiting to be written: Second Boeing whistleblower dies after short illness

    Dean, 45, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alleging “serious and gross misconduct by senior quality management of the 737 production line” at Spirit.

    In 2018 and 2019, two 737 Max planes were involved in fatal crashes, which killed 346 people. Dean was fired by Spirit last year, and filed a complaint with the Department of Labor alleging that his termination was in retaliation for raising safety concerns.

    According to the Seattle Times, Dean was hospitalized after having trouble breathing. He was intubated and developed pneumonia and a serious infection before dying two weeks later.
    …………………….
    Dean was represented by the same law firm that represented Boeing whistleblower John “Mitch” Barnett. Barnett, 62, was found dead in March from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

    Barnett spent almost three decades at Boeing, and told the New York Times in 2019 that he had found “clusters or metal slivers” hanging over the wiring of flight controls that could have caused “catastrophic” damage if they had penetrated wires.

    He alleged that management had ignored his complaints and moved him to another part of the plant.

    Last month, another Boeing whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, told Congress there was “no safety culture” at Boeing, and alleged that employees who raised the alarm were “ignored, marginalized, threatened, sidelined and worse”. He said he feared “physical violence” after going public with his concerns.

    Sam ought to be careful, including hiring different lawyers. Not saying they are involved, just maybe they are cursed?

  34. 34.

    Eyeroller

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That article reflects the conventional thought about university administrators, which is mostly wrong.  In particular, deans don’t have enough power to be “allies” of boards of trustees.  Even provosts often don’t.  It comes from the presidents and the CFOs and the COOs, i.e. the ones who control the money. The biggest change at universities has been the rise of the research university.  Before the 1970s, most American institutions were largely focused on teaching. Only a handful were research-driven institutions. That has changed in the past 50 or so years. That is a major factor driving the changes in faculty hiring, especially in sciences and engineering (along with the dreaded DEI–before that it was largely a good ole boys–and I mean boys–network). Guess what, researchers don’t want to teach any more than they have to.  They get course release if they have grants. So people have to be hired to teach. Sometimes they are second-class faculty and sometimes they are adjuncts. Or sometimes there is just too much demand for required courses in, say, English or foreign languages, for faculty to teach even on a 3-2 schedule so there is little choice but to hire adjuncts.  Faculty in non-grant fields at research universities usually do get some consideration for their scholarship and don’t usually have to teach a full course load every semester.

  35. 35.

    Ken

    Chiming in with what others have said, any talk of Democratic divisions that doesn’t acknowledge the far worse Republican ones is definitely a “mote in your neighbor’s eye” situation. My immediate thought on reading “Johnson, who commands a fragile, thread-thin Republican majority” was no; he’s the nominal head of a squabbling coalition of between two and five small parties that are literally unable to pass any legislation other than performative stunts.

  36. 36.

    Ken

    @OzarkHillbilly:  Kristi Noem calls dog shooting report ‘fake news’

    “Of course it’s all lies about stuff that never happened — they’re quoting my book.”

  38. 38.

    Barry

    @lowtechcyclist: “The media really is wedded to “Democrats in disarray” as a narrative. I wonder how many years (decades?) it will take for them to catch on that things have changed.”

     

    Ever heard of the saying that science advances one grave at a time.

    IMHO that’s the *best* case scenario.

  39. 39.

    Scott

    Too much talking and crowing about Jeffries.  Democrats need to shut up or they will lose that leverage.

  40. 40.

    Brit in Chicago

    @Ken: I’ve sometimes thought that if we chose members of the House by proportional representation rather than a first-past-the-post system then instead of the present Republican caucus we would have a number of parties in a coalition. In that case, one bloc could be peeled away to join the Democrats for a given vote, or maybe on a longer-term basis. The fact that the R’s are all members of the same caucus, and live in fear of being primaried, makes it much harder to do. But Speaker Jeffries seems to be doing amazingly well under the circs. It surely doesn’t hurt that he got to see Speaker Peolosi in action, but he is clearly a force in his own right. More power to him. (Much more come January, I hope.)

  41. 41.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Barry:

    Ever heard of the saying that science advances one grave at a time.

    IMHO that’s the *best* case scenario.

    Tru dat – after all, Broder’s been dead for years.  Lot of good that did.

  44. 44.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: I’m still gobsmacked that she thought that was a good story to tell in her book, and that her editor let it stay in.

  45. 45.

    Soprano2

    @RevRick: Right now in MO the radical Freedom Caucus of Republicans is filibustering the yearly authorization of the Medicaid tax because the governor hasn’t signed the bill that would deny Medicaid money to PP, and the law putting revisions to our initiative petition process hasn’t passed. Keep in mind our whole state government is dominated by Republicans, so they are filibustering against their own party. They’re the reason the “reforms” to the initiative petition process didn’t happen last year.

  46. 46.

    brantl

    I don’t know how many GOP Dwarves there are in the House right now, but I think that “Hakeem Jefferies vs the XXX GOP Dwarves” should be a rotating tag line. It should also have a baseball score style Totboard.

  51. 51.

    brantl

    @Barry: That’s safest for us, those are Republicans-lost-positions graves, the longer it takes for them to catch on, the better for us.

  53. 53.

    stinger

    @Scott:

    Too much talking and crowing about Jeffries. Democrats need to shut up or they will lose that leverage.

    How? By whom, using what mechanism? Republican representatives? The ones who took fifteen tries to elect the previous Speaker, then after booting him went three weeks before settling on Johnson? They are going to unite somehow and yank Jeffries’ leverage away from him?

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