You know who has been getting a lot of shit from me and others but who kept his house in order while Chuck folds? Hakeem Jeffries.
My position is the Republicans are going to do what they want anyway, so don’t make it easy and don’t give them anything until they negotiate in good faith. They will own the shutdown.
mapanghimagsik
Feet so big go stomp
Leto
Stomp stomp stomp
cain
Yep, the GOP is going to do what they want as will DOGE. I understand they are trying to “reduce the pain” for the American voters. But they voted for this.
It’s like we’re always stuck trying to help people and still get the blame. We’re still in a very abusive relationship. It’s better to be more aggressive and do the angry staring cat with swishy tail thing.
A Ghost to Most
Negotiate in good faith? They don’t even negotiate in bad faith. EVERYTHING becomes a hostage situation.
cain
Read a few threads on Schumer and I think he’s full of shit in that NYT article. He already admits that the GOP is going to shut down services and what not and that shutting down the govt will just accelerate it.
If the end result is the same but at a slower pace then let them do it faster because at this point only the american people can fix this. Let them feel that pain faster so that they get out on the street and protest, let Dem leadership stand with them.
Schumer instead has gotten everyone mad at him. I hope that someone else goes in and tells Senate Dems not to do this and let Schumer and Fetterman be the only ones voting for this.
JiveTurkin
@cain: He’s doing what he thinks is best for Chuck Schumer, after that the Democratic politicians. The people are in third place, way behind. He didn’t even try.
SW
They are going to do whatever they are going to do. This is all about 2026 and the question is “what benefit do you derive from infuriating your base?”
cain
@JiveTurkin:
I think we’re going to have to ourselves start calling senator offices and tell them they are in deep shit in the next election if they vote yes on this cloture vote.
trollhattan
As always, EVERYBODY is responsible for making the private sector whole when “situations beyond our control” occur. To my fellow California peeps, we shall all be on the hook for the 2025 LA fires. Don’t see Donny helping here, even a little.
JoyceH
Question: has anyone seen anything that explains where Trump got his tariff obsession? Usually when he presents a goal or a policy, you can work out where it came from – it’s a long time GOP goal or some obscure fringy thing from a crypto-techno brain trust that no normal person has ever heard of. But I’ve never heard anyone but Trump on the tariff bandwagon. And the Republicans that defend the policy do it sorta lamely, like they’re not sure what it’s all about either. Usually they came up with some moronic Trust The Master Deal Maker BS. But – where DID it come from?
John S.
@cain:
I already called mine and told them exactly that.
Shakti
I know people don’t want to sound like they’re kicking Democrats when they are down or like they’re blaming the wrong people.
But consider this:
My mom is a normie, and a pretty conservative one at that. She’s also stylistically and tempermentally a “I believe in the rule of law, I will write letters to the editor, I know the by-laws and you violated Robert Rules of Order” kind of person.
One of the reasons she votes for Democrats, even at the state level, is that she operates on the theory that they would hold the other party in check. She thinks trifectas and super majorities are bad.
I don’t know how many other people vote out of the same line of reasoning. But if an opposition party fails to act like an opposition party as much as they possibly can within the system (on paper and as practically possible) why would someone like her bother?
trollhattan
@JoyceH: SWAG Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro and Steven Whatzisname from Trump 1.0 drilled it into Trump’s tiny desiccated bwain, where it now lives rentfree.
One Weird Trick suits Donny well.
RaflW
And now Pelosi has come out strongly both to back Jeffries and to say so f’ing clearly:
“Listen to the women.” By which she means Sen. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Patty Murray. Bravo madam speaker emerita.
BF and I just called Sen. Klobuchar again, since she appears to be on the waffle list. I begged her to stand with DeLauro and Murray. I don’t have the sense that Amy K. cares about solidarity with other women, but maybe.
Martin
@trollhattan: Yep, as I said when Covid hit – nobody is coming to save us.
California dems should lean into shifting federal authority to the state, and support funding state replacements for federal services like FEMA and Dept of Ed.
Folks outside of CA will complain that this is an abandonment of people in other states, but the federal government is going to need something to replace these destroyed systems and California is large and diverse enough to build multi-state coalitions (as we do with environmental programs) until the feds are ready to rebuild. Problem is I’m afraid we’ve lost our Governor.
French Onion Soup
@cain:
If we annex Canada than Musk can legally run for president and we can stop pretending and DOGE to our hearts content.
PatD
I despise Hakeem Jeffries and yet think he deserves a lot of credit for getting House Dems, minus 1, in line on the CR. Their messaging on this has been solid compared to the political incompetence, weaseling, and weakness from Schumer. At least Fetterman owns his vote and hasn’t tried to fool anyone on it.
brendancalling
As I said at LGM, this is straight of of Digby’s “Art of the Hissy Fit,” specifically the humiliation ritual, which is designed to engender contempt for the victim, especially when they don’t fight back (like Cuck).
It’s true. I do have contempt for him. As much as I hate Trump, it’s funny to see him twist the knife in that spot where Schumer is supposed to have a spine.
RaflW
@Martin: “Problem is I’m afraid we’ve lost our Governor.”
Rarely have I seen a politician shit the bed so fast and so disgustingly as Newsom.
Melancholy Jaques
And make sure the whole world knows Democrats are against what they are doing. Who are the Democrats? What do they stand for? Let them know.
Bill Arnold
@JoyceH:
Found this:
Trump’s Love for Tariffs Began in Japan’s ’80s Boom (NYTimes, Jim Tankersley and Mark Landler, May 15, 2019)
Martin
@RaflW: I’m not terribly surprised. Harris taking over the nomination pretty much blocked all of his paths to the presidency, and that remains the case. These are desperate acts of a craven man.
John S.
@Martin:
Worse. You lost the consultants who are now advising Newsom to play nice with Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon.
Ohio Mom
Off topic, are we joining other blogs and going Friday cataloging in Kevin Drum’s honor?
Old Man Shadow
@Martin: He has presidential ambitions in his eyes. When he thought it was advantageous for him to support the LGBTQ community, he did. When he thought it was advantageous for him to be a loud, proud anti-Trump voice, he was.
Now that he thinks it’s advantageous for him to court the far right and throw people under the bus, he is doing so.
I regret voting for him and am rather happy he is termed out.
Melancholy Jaques
@JoyceH:
Looking at it as neutrally as possible, Trump’s tariffs are a solution in search of a problem.
Our trade with Mexico & Canada was not unfair to or hurting Americans. No one wants to say this out loud, but Trump does not know anything about economics and what he thinks he knows is crazy.
Old Man Shadow
“We occupy chairs!”
“We don’t know! We haven’t spoken to our consultants yet or looked at the polls!”
RaflW
@cain: Klobuchar is safe until 2030. She’s convinced herself that bipartisan kabuki is her amulet to retain her seat. And she seems absolutely committed to only one thing: Staying in office.
She certainly isn’t interested in listening to her constituents. I leave messages, I know many friends and allies leave messages. It feels Sisyphean.
I’d expect this from Ron Johnson or Joni Ernst. But I think part of my growing rage is that I of course not only don’t have even a shred of influence on Republicans — who I know shoulder most of the blame and deserve endless scorn — but to feel like one of my two Dem Senators is an absolute tin ear is deeply discouraging.
sentient ai from the future
the tariff thing is easy.
he knows tariffs are paid to the treasury.
he thinks a president is a king who can loot the treasury.
Steve LaBonne
@Melancholy Jaques: Read Krugman if you want to see it said very plainly.
JoyceH
@Bill Arnold: Trump tried to buy the Casablanca piano?! That’s the first thing I’ve heard of him being interested in anything but wealth and golf.
karen gail
@JoyceH: Tariffs were big in 19th century; they were used instead of income taxes. One more way that Trump and idiot crew is trying to turn back calendar.
There are a number of articles out there that explain when and why US used tariffs; personally, I think it is one of those things that got stuck in orange guys head as “good.” And like his worship of Andrew Jackson makes no sense at all.
RaflW
@Ohio Mom: Thanks for this. I’ve been in and out around here this week (had wonderful houseguests Sun-Thurs!) so I didn’t notice if there was much talk about KD’s passing.
He was a mensch. And myeloma is a devastation that has struck my family more than once. Rest in Peace, Kevin.
Emily B.
Nancy Smash weighs in! Not on Schumer’s side.
Chetan Murthy
We always knew he was a bit of a squish. It was a gut-feeling thing, eh?
Let’s imagine that I’m a bit of a transphobe, and (haha) Governor of a Big Blue state. And the Bad Guys ™ are pounding on LGBTQ folks. What am I gonna do? Am I gonna join in? Or am I gonna take the opportunity to have a SHIT-TON of talking-points, examples of harm, about LGBTQ folks just trying to live their own freakin’ lives, to drop into any conversation? I mean, Beshear had it right: THERE IS ONE TRANS GIRL in all of KY who wants to compete and FFS, HER HS DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A TEAM!
Beshear knows how to do it. And, I mean, GODDAMMIT, you don’t have to be a 100% ally to know that this is needed.
Fuckin’ hell, Newsom is an educated swine, he’s read Niemoller’s Confession. Fuckin’ hell.
ETA: what I mean to say is, even if I’m anti-Communist, I don’t throw the Communists under the bus when the Nazis come. B/c I’ve read Niemoller’s Confession, and I know that NOW IS NOT THE TIME. Crrrrrikey. And he was mayor of SF, FFS.
New Deal democrat
Reposting this from the mostly dead thread below.
Good summary by Dana Houle:
https://bsky.app/profile/danahoule.bsky.social/post/3lkdwp6ffes2w
Since this is an Open Thread, on a happier note I hereby request a Friday Cat Blogging post in honor of Kevin Drum. (I see Ohio Mom is asking for the same).
Eduardo
@RaflW: He has always been a craven son of a bitch and a disgusting asshole.
I won’t tire to remind people that what he did to the gay community in San Francisco and all of America by “legalizing” marriage equality was absolutely horrible and demagogic. Of course it wasn’t going to withstand the most minimal legal scrutiny and will create a big backlash just in time for the presidential election the same year. But sure as f*ing hell it helped his political career that it is what really mattered.
I despise that mofo.
sentient ai from the future
@cain: both of mine are on record as no on cloture. everyone else, get out there and call
JaySinWA
@RaflW: Pelosi’s statement:
Chetan Murthy
I remember reading that NAFTA pretty much destroyed entire swathes of MX agriculture that couldn’t stand up to American mechanization. Yeah, we benefit enormously, and then there’s the incalculable benefit of having a prosperous southerly neighbor.
sentient ai from the future
@Chetan Murthy: do you remember, back in the eons past, during the hairdo’s stint as mayor of SF, when no new bike lanes or even parking could be put in, even by individual businesses, for over a year, because the bike plan hadnt had a CEQA analysis done, and some right wing shitbags filed a lawsuit?
newsom then had the ability, legally, to just say fuck you, go ahead, and he did not.
but he went for the earned media by marrying people in city hall.
thats just the kind of guy he is.
chemiclord
What I’m learning is that it doesn’t matter how well Jeffries herds his caucus, the aggressively online left has lumped with Schumer as a feckless Dem, and no evidence otherwise will change that narrative.
Even the left has decided vibes are all that matters, and that’s no small part of the reason why we’re fucked.
Chetan Murthy
I never met him, and never spoke to him, and never even exchanged an email with him. But his loss hurts. I know it’s nothing like what his family is experiencing, his poor widow. But still, it hurts.
azlib
This from the electoral-vote.com folks seems pretty even handed on the CR debacle.
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2025/Items/Mar14-1.html
There were really no good options and I believe there were 8 votes on the Dem side to invoke cloture. The risk to filibustering the bill was trying to figure out what would happen next. Would the Republicans cave and come hat in hand to open up the government or was this what they really wanted in the first place which gives them an opening to blame the Dems for the shutdown.
For myself I would have whipped the votes for preventing cloture and see what happened.
New Deal democrat
@sentient ai from the future:
We may have a very unusual ally in impeaching and removing T—-p at some point: Wall Street.
Wall Street hates, and I mean HATES, and I mean ****HATES!!!*** T—-p’s tariffs. It is their equivalent of a pilot intentionally flying a jetliner full of passengers (them) into a mountainside. A 10% decline in stock prices = lost $Trillions.
Just yesterday on air CNBC’s Chief Economist, Steve Liesman, after starting out with “This may cost me my job, but” said T—-p’s tariffs were “insane,” and went further, angrily pointing out that the Rule of Law is absolutely necessary for businesses.
If T—-p won’t come to heel, Wall Street has the power to “incentivize” GOP Congresspeople and Senators to vote for T—-p’s ouster.
On which score, by the way, Canada’s new Premier is the former Chief of the Bank of England, and is one of the best financial types in the entire world. His government has already indicated they are coordinating a tariff response to the US with Europe and Mexico. If anyone is in a position to orchestrate economic pain to the US, it’s him.
Suzanne
@brendancalling:
Trump has low cunning, and most Dems don’t have enough evil in them to know how to respond effectively. Gavin might be evil enough. He’s terrible and I hate him, and those things are probably related. Every strength is a weakness, every weakness is a strength, and all that.
Soprano2
@JoyceH: I think he honestly believes the governments of other countries pay the tariffs, so he thinks it’s a way to raise revenue and have someone other than Americans pay. This is batshit crazy, but he says it so often that I have to believe he believes it.
Soprano2
@brendancalling: He deserves it, because the way he’s acted this week shows he has contempt for the voters.
Eduardo
Correct, marrying people in city hall after “legalizing” gay marriage in his jurisdiction (San Francisco) pouring a tank of oil on the anti-gay-marriage hysteria that had started with the legalization of gay marriage in MA the previous year.
His little stunt happened on Feb 2, 2004. 22 days later, on 2/24/2004 George W Bush called for an amendment to the constitution banning gay marriage. I am not saying that W wouldn’t do it anyway, but he certainly helped him: “here there is a SAN FRANCISCO mayor going rogue and marrying those people”
Fuck him.
Mai Naem mobil
@JoyceH: tfg is a demented old man and is only capable of old information or very limited new info. Kind of like a toddler parroting a new word they’ve picked up over and over again. He negotiates like a toddler too..I want tariff and if you don’t give me tariff, I scream tariff! tariff! tariff! He even pouts like a toddler.
Baud
@cain:
Truth.
Shakti
@Old Man Shadow: On vibes and on shallow notes:
I always thought Newsom was kind of smarmy, smug and oily, like the Mayor of Sunnydale in BtVS. The fact his ex-wife is Kimberly Guilfoyle (who is currently Trump Jr’s wife? fiance? ew) didn’t help.
Over time I’ve noticed there’s something off about Democratic or men who supposedly shared my politics and I agreed with but I couldn’t stand. To a person they’d annoy and anger the fuck out of me and I wouldn’t know why. And then I’d find out they’ve chosen to marry/partner/choose to date (kind of) rancid women and it would make sense as would their later actions.
Sandra Semi Homemade? with Andrew Cuomo, serial sexual harasser. Olbermann, I could never stand and that’s before I knew he dated Ingraham, Tur, Sinema, and Nuzzi. Bill Maher, dated Ann Coulter. *gags*
Baud
@Eduardo:
Good example of how being aggressive doesn’t always work, no matter what the Internet says.
Suzanne
@sentient ai from the future:
This is the kind of governance that make me want to flip the table and move to a cabin in the woods.
WaterGirl
PSA: We are less than $700 away from meeting our goal for the special election in FL-06. Finishing this up could be one good thing we could do today.
RaflW
@Eduardo: I’m just glad he’s done so much damage to himself now, with the grassroots. He’ll have a much harder time trying to launch for Prez now, and while him selling out the trans and queer community in CA is disgusting and dangerous, I think he’s put a firm period at the end of the sentence that is his political career.
I’m sure he’ll be an awful thorn in the side of progress while he podcasts himself into the sunset. But, yeah, fuck that guy.
Baud
@Suzanne:
Environmental people are quite supportive of environmental analysis, so that’s a wedge within the coalition.
Suzanne
@Shakti: Apparently Sinema and Tulsi Gabbard hooked up a bunch of times and I’m kind of surprised that we didn’t all get sucked into a black hole of mavericky self-regard when that happened.
Suzanne
@Baud: A lot of environmental people are also into bicycling as a way of reducing carbon emissions from driving, and thus want to speed up the implementation of bike lanes and mass transit.
As you say, it is a divider of the coalition.
Eduardo
@RaflW: Agree, he is done.
Mai Naem mobil
I see the markets are up. Guess Gillibrand and Chuck’s VIP constituents who really matter to them are happy. Shaheen who is not running for reelection also is worried about her post-Senate gig at the age of 78 and has apparently decided to vote for the CR. I’m disappointed to see Brian Schatz on the yes list. Durbin is absolutely useless and a waste of a blue state senator.
Baud
@Suzanne:
Fair. But it’s hard to make exceptions to environmental review only for projects we like.
trollhattan
@New Deal democrat: To your point.
My 401(k) quarterlies next month will probably go unopened. Been to this dance too many times–and it is ALWAYS while a Republican in power.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@cain: read some Marcy, please.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/03/14/democrats-have-to-stop-making-political-decisions-with-an-eye-towards-2026/
oldgold
How would we make Republicans own the shutdown?
After Fox, Sinclair and AM radio have a few days spewing their distortions, my expectation is that polling would reflect that a majority of Americans will think it was the Democrats fault.
Also, if the government is shutdown, what would be the plan for reopening it on terms favorable to the Democrats?
Further, it would muddle who is responsible for the upcoming significant downturn in the economy.
Mai Naem mobil
@RaflW: I’m sorry but does nobody not think Newsom boinking his best friends wife would not be an issue in a national POTUS campaign? There’s just such a friend rule to that that’s pretty universal. I don’t care if it’s his personal life. Also, apparently Newsom’s son is a fan of Charlie Kirk. Another no. You’re doing something wrong if you as a bigtime Dem official have a son who is a Charlie Kirk fan.
HopefullyNotcassandra
Who caused all of this?
why are we spending so much energy yelling at extorted democratic senators?
zhena gogolia
White people really are fragile.
Glory b
@cain: There are elderly people, children, and the disabled who will feel this fastest and hardest, who don’t have the ability to weather the storm and I’m mortified at the number of commenter here who seem not to notice the most vulnerable of us when it really countes.
Again, “Some of you may die, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
zhena gogolia
@HopefullyNotcassandra: Don’t ask me.
Renie
Called Schumer twice. He’s my senator. Couldn’t get thru first time, left a message second time. I’ve been bombarding his website contact form all week. He’s a disgrace.
Geminid
@chemiclord: I started following Hakeem Jeffries in November, 2018 when he won the election for Caucus Chairman. Jeffries has had a target on his back ever since. Recent attacks on Jeffries were only the latest in a campaign to discredit him that’s been going on for years.
Suzanne
@Baud: The choices aren’t limited to “no environmental review” or “incredibly laborious environmental review that takes years and it frequently used to slow down projects by people on all sides of the political spectrum”. (There’s a good example in New Jersey, where residents of Cape May, which is a really red area, are using environmental review processes to slow down and probably kill an offshore wind farm project that they don’t want to look at.) The climate crisis is moving faster than we are and that shouldn’t be acceptable to anyone.
Even if we ran these processes concurrently rather than consecutively, that would be a significant improvement.
Glory b
@zhena gogolia: I know, right?
Jeffro
@Shakti: good lord – is this the same ‘Keith Olberman’ Keith Olberman that we’re talking about?
Is it the after-shave or something? Holy cow.
Suzanne
@Mai Naem mobil:
I think it would probably win him a bunch of voters. Talking about vibes? A horny vibe has worked well for us in the past.
Baud
@Suzanne:
I don’t know how California does it but national environmental review depends on the nature of the project.
trollhattan
@Suzanne: Hell yeah. One of us; one of us!
ETA: Best counter would probably be a 2024-vintage video clip of Kimberly & Don Jr. with “The Ex” superimposed. “Ooooh.”
lowtechcyclist
Got a fundraising letter from the DSCC in today’s mail. On the front of the envelope, in big capital letters, it says:
INSIDE: PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM SEN. SCHUMER
Yeah, I’ve got a personal message for him.
Truly impressive bad timing!
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne: As in all things legal, it seems that when deep-pocketed interests decide to pick a side, they can delay things indefinitely. -That- is what needs to stop, not environmental review. And that is a problem across the entire legal battlefield: see for example the many, many, many legal battles that one Li’l Donnie Dollhands has managed to drag out until the other litigants folded from exhaustion.
IANAL, but jesus, there needs to be a sanction when a litigant drags things out too long.
Jeffro
@Suzanne: what??!?
I Googled “Sinema and Gabbard” and found a bunch of articles about Sinema working with Tom Cotton (gag) to get Gabbard’s nomination approved, but nothing about “hooking up”
wait, never mind, I don’t really want to know
ok yes I do
Another Scott
@JoyceH: He and his MotU supporters want to get rid of the income tax, inheritance tax, and so forth, and make everything consumption based rather than income or wealth based. They think going back to the days when the federal revenue was from tariffs and the like will let them do that. “See, we don’t need an income tax! We’ll just put tariffs on everything and raise just as much revenue!!” That’s the origin of the press secretary saying recently that tariffs would be a tax cut. They keep talking about it and figure that will make it happen because they’re in a cult…
PIIE.com:
A similar CNN story says that tariffs would have to be 100% on imports to come close to closing the gap.
Since math is obviously a DEI plot, they will ignore it and try to do what they want anyway.
Grr…
HTH!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@Jeffro:
Have you tried searching PornHub?
Jeffro
@Geminid: big Jeffries fan here
Froette is a HUGE fan of not HJ but also Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar. That’s a team you want if you’re heading into (legislative/policy) battle, for sure.
Jeffro
@Baud: surely you don’t think I’m going to fall for that trick…again…do you?
Baud
@Jeffro:
Haha. Fool me twice…I won’t get fooled again.
Chetan Murthy
I’m reminded of the many times we despised Speaker Pelosi for her (to us) mealy-mouthed statements, only to watch her count those votes and get her caucus in line. We forget that her caucus has lots of wishy-washy types from purple-ish districts who need to be cat-herded. And now it’s his caucus, and he’s gotta do that job.
I don’t get bent-outta-shape when Speaker Jeffries says mealy-mouthed things, as long as he delivers his caucus when it matters.
trollhattan
@Baud: Ah, the Good Old Days when Bushisms represented the perigee of presidential thinking and speaking. How little did we suspect.
cain
@RaflW:
Wasn’t she on the short list for running for president? I think this shows that she doesn’t have the understanding or temperament.
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy:
I agree. I’m not arguing against environmental review. I’m arguing against squishy procedures that are easily exploited and inefficiently implemented. Better governance is possible.
See also: the San Francisco residents who are attempting to get a parking lot declared historic so nothing can be built on it.
Cheryl from Maryland
@JoyceH: the piano is now on display at the Academy museum in LA as a long term loan. So thank you Japanese owner. I saw it at the Warners Brothers Studio museum in 2013, where it had been on public display since 1996. So fuck Trump, you know he would have stuck it in Mar-a-Crapo, attempted to play it, and ruined it.
lowtechcyclist
@Chetan Murthy:
This. The Constitution says the accused has the right to a speedy trial. But how about the rest of us?
Baud
@Suzanne:
Hey. They paved paradise to put up that parking lot!
TooManyJens
People in power have the worst fucking polycules. All these horrible people sleeping with each other–you see it in the tech world too.
cain
@sentient ai from the future:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/119-2025/s124
Oregon is nay from both senators.
But we got quite a bit of dems voting “yea”.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
The entire Republican party is built around that principle.
Eric S.
@sentient ai from the future: where’s the list of who’s who? Do I need to call Tami and Dick?
la caterina
I made my calls and left my usual angry messages with Schumer & Gillibrand.
Suzanne
@Jeffro:
Yeaaaaaaaaaaah, come sit by me.
I saw this on X some time back, seemed to be well-sourced. But I am firmly spreading gossip right now.
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne: *grin* no worries, I was chiming-in in agreement. And your example is exactly right. There’s this Supervisor here, Dean Preston, who does this shit (it seems) all the damn time.
Jeffro
@Suzanne: LOL
Sinema strikes me as the type to write a tell-all book down the road, so we’ll probably hear about it eventually.
(but it’ll have to be excerpts or something…no way am I putting $$$ into her already-overstuffed pockets)
mali muso
@WaterGirl: Thank you for the reminder. I’m in for a little more. Doing something feels better than nothing.
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
Was that where they paved paradise? That would make it a historic parking lot! ;-)
ETA: Beaten to it by Baud, of course!
ETA2: Now the Tree Museum, that’s really historic!
Harrison Wesley
@Chetan Murthy: “First they came for the transgendered mice…,
Jeffro
OT but interesting quote from JB Pritzker’s chief of staff, Anne Caprara:
“Team Fight” = LOVE IT
TKH
@JoyceH: there is a post on LGM by Cheryl with a link to a conversation of Ezra Klein (I know!) with Gillian Tett of the Financial Times. Good insights from an anthropologist.
tam1MI
His favorite US President is Andrew Jackson.
PatD
@chemiclord: we’re in a time where it’s all about what have you done lately. What you did a month ago or in 2010 doesn’t matter much. If anything we’ve learned that our leaders need to be pushed, cajoled, persuaded, sometimes threatened in order to consistently do the right thing.
u
@JoyceH: The key thing about Donald Trump is that he always been a fucking idiot. At best, he can repeat words without understanding them. Maybe he heard the word “tariff” way back when he was a lazy student at the Wharton school, and now he likes to repeat it without understanding it. I was a (non-Wharton) student at Penn back in the mid-seventies. Some of the stupidest people I’ve ever met were Wharton school guys in those days.
TKH
@JoyceH: there is a post on LGM by Cheryl with a link to a conversation of Ezra Klein (I know!) with Gillian Tett of the Financial Times. Good insights from an anthropologist and financial journalist.
u
@tam1MI: Yup. Although I doubt that Trump knows a damn thing about Andrew Jackson. For Trump, words are just mouth noises that have no meaning. My dog makes more sense when she barks at a squirrel. I honestly believe that part of Trump’s appeal for half the people in the United States is that he’s “one of them” — just as stupid as they are.
tam1MI
On the contrary, I think he has locked in the Democratic nomination for President and possibly the presidency as well. He’s going to be the Nick Starmer to Joe Biden’s Jeremy Corbyn.
chemiclord
@Jeffro:
By that logic, Team Cave crosses ideological boundaries too, suggesting the issue is a lot more complicating, and a lot less certain, than any invididual wants to believe it is.
Redshift
@JoyceH:
I think my theory from the first term holds up well. Back then, the were competent people telling him there were rules and processes he had to go through, and things he couldn’t do at all, even though he thought he was being elected king and direct boss of all federal employees.
The two things he discovered he could do by decree were pardons and tariffs. Sure, there were ways he was supposed to do them, but not required to. And they fit his need to “win” by screwing people over, so he loved doing them.
PatD
@Chetan Murthy: I have a special hatred for NY machine Dems who have marinated for decades in a political environment where the left flank is hated more than Republicans. Thats how you get Cuomo and Adams level Democrats. I’m glad he’s risen to the challenge in recent weeks but he’s in a deep hole with me.
narya
@Jeffro: Pritzker also put something up on Bluesky that urged Dems to vote no, but he STARTED his post with criticism of the Rs and Trusk. That is the one thing I really want: stop leaving Rs out of the discussion about what’s coming, why it’s bad, etc. The only reason this is happening is because they are uniformly awful, but that keeps getting elided in the criticism of the Dems.
TBone
@Jeffro: womens work is always on Team Fight! Womens History Month: I remember VP Harris talking about rolling up our sleeves to do the Good Work and thought that slogan should have caught on more.
Kamala Harris, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey
cain
@Glory b:
I’m fully cognizant of that. This isn’t about sacrificing at least not for me.
I’m having a hard time communicating what I’m trying to say here. It’s not about sacrifice. As I said, the situation is going to be end up the same except maybe 6 months later or do you believe we will be able to manage this with no power on our side and we can avoid the scenario altogether. You tell me. What’s the right answer? What would you prefer? I’m listening.
lowtechcyclist
According to USA Today:
me
*sigh*
Tesla urges overhaul of Trump tariffs hurting EV industry
Jeffro
@me: amazing to see Mr. Drill Baby Drill turn into Mr. (specific brand of) EV, isn’t it?
but that’s trumpov for you: “I support whoever supports me, regardless”
frosty
@RaflW: Fettermanchin enters the chat.
Geminid
@tam1MI: The only thing Gavin Newsom locked in with that podcast launch was a reputation for being a lightweight.
WTFGhost
I think I put my finger on why Fu… uh, CHUCK Schumer’s editorial annoyed me so much. It said “there is no hope but to do what I suggest!”
Well, *IF* there’s a shutdown, and *IF* Republicans only offer to open the parts of the government they like, and *IF* America puts up with it, *THEN* we’re totally effed.
What makes you think the same bloody thing won’t happen, when there’s legal cover to do it, when the law actually says Trump can impound and DOGE and otherwise crap on the food he doesn’t eat, to ruin it for others?
If America was going to put up with opening just half the government, I mean. If America was going to put up with that, why wouldn’t they put up with the same thing, slowly and piecemeal?
In short, all of Schumer’s fears seem to be “but what if America accepts this?” and, in my humble opinion, it’s better to take a stand on a visible battlefield than beg for donations for six months and swear you’re playing defense when you can.
Captain C
@Shakti:
Given that the repulsive RFKjr was able to get nude photos from Nuzzi, while she was supposedly reporting on him no less, that particular one is not very impressive.
Captain C
@Renie: Which number did you call to leave a message. I tried 3 different offices yesterday and none had their answering machine (or service) working. The NYC office did have a nice outgoing message telling me they were closed for 10 days last December-January. I sent a separate form-message saying that this made them look like a Mickey Mouse operation.
Chetan Murthy
@lowtechcyclist: Did they produce a forecast of what Trump’s impoundments and DOGE fuckery will yield? B/c they’ve said they’re going to impound appropriated funds in the CR no matter what. They’re laying off federal workers regardless. etc.
I do understand the fears of people who worry that blocking the CR will cause a shutdown and hurt vulnerable people. But these people need to argue that the CR passing will -not- hurt those vulnerable people, given Trump’s statements and actions to date, and that is a -heavy- lift.
The bad guys have agency. We need to remember that.
Captain C
@Jeffro:
The change above is how I initally misread your post.
LeftCoastYankee
I can’t think of a single scenario where Schumer’s series of announcements/statements resemble “strategy”. As the leader, that’s kind of his job.
He’s now made his caucus the “bad guys” in many people’s minds, when they’re not. He turned a lose/lose choice into a circular firing squad for the whole party.
Maybe he’s a great senator for New York, but man he’s really bad at the leadership job.
Paul in KY
@JoyceH: He ‘thinks’ he can ‘replace’ tax revenue with tarriff revenue & he loves to wield the threat whenever he’s bullying another nationstate (other than Russia, ha ha).
Chetan Murthy
@Geminid: Any voter who decides Gov. GreatHair is their choice, b/c he brought on Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, wasn’t a Dem vote regardless.
Shorter: what you said.
Captain C
@TooManyJens: The gang around Sam Bank Fraud seemed like that, just a bunch of unattractive sociopaths hooking up with each other in various combinations.
chemiclord
@lowtechcyclist:
The counter to that is that those things were ALREADY happening.
Chetan Murthy
@Paul in KY: One supposes that he plans to shrink the govt enough that tariffs could pay for it all? Along with payroll taxes, one presumes. What’s he gotta pay for? Defense, some ag subsidies, is that it? I mean, anything else, that’s up to the states, amirite?
Shakti
@Jeffro: Yup.
Maher has said he’s friends with Ann Coulter; and various sources say he’s dated her. [TBH, she was always a ghoul so if that ghoul is your “good friend”..].
I know a lot of these people move in the same circles so they date each other, which explains most of Dinesh D’Souza and George Conway’s dating histories but neither is some kind of surprise.
I didn’t come to this pattern of “man dates horrible woman –> sign his politics are probably also horrible” when I was younger. But also the culture pushed that politics and values were separate and we live in a different time, where centrism doesn’t even make sense anymore?
OT: It’s always so interesting that people who loudly and insistently want to force everyone to live by their values get very angry that their values are deal breakers to people they want to date.
karensky
@Bill Arnold: Thanks for this. Winning through bullying transactions is what matters to DJT
Captain C
@u:
My guess is he knows (vaguely) about tariffs and that Jackson told the Supreme Court to fuck off so he could force the various tribes off their Southeastern lands and into (what is now) Oklahoma reservations, and probably nothing more.
sentient ai from the future
@Baud: not only had newsom the ability to say “hey, was this done?” before agreeing to it, he had the ability to circumvent it, is my recollection now 20ish-years on. it was discussed endlessly in the bike activist community at the time, from every concievable angle. there are more than a few environmental folks within that group.
Steve LaBonne
@LeftCoastYankee: It’s painfully obvious that Schumer and a lot of other Democratic Senators thought the House wouldn’t be able to pass the CR and they had no backup plan at all. Which is pathetic.
Old Man Shadow
Something the Republican CR does is cut money from the D.C. budget. By their account, it will be over a billion dollars.
I don’t see that mentioned often.
JiveTurkin
The Republicans who count are the business community. Trump couldn’t give a shit less about the rest of the country. If there was a shutdown the markets would have tanked further. The only reason that Trump was feeling any pressure was the markets going down. That was the leverage the Democrats had, and they could have used it. Now the markets are up 2% today, and everyone now knows the Democrats will always cave. Schumer’s calculation is that it will be bad as they shut down all social services and fire everyone, but it would be worse with a shutdown. It’s like the scene in Animal House when Otter tells Hoover they’re going to get us anyway, we might as well have fun. In this case, at least the Democrats could have tried to protect SNAP or college loans or SOMETHING! Schumer is scum.
Lily
WTFGhost
@Melancholy Jaques: if our trade was unfair, and hurting us, it’s all Trump’s fault for negotiating the USMCA.
@RaflW: What boggles me, is, didn’t she make a presidential run? I guess all ambition has been ground out?
@JoyceH: In comic books, they sometimes have little asides, like “When I last fought you…” (aside: in Spider-Man 271). You’ve seen this, or (hopefully) understand the concept of alluding to other stories, within a comic book panel. (Um. Am I babytalking? I sometimes do. Sorry if so.)
For Trump, and Tariffs, it would be a Dave Sim classic.
“Tariffs will make the US rich!” (aside: “Lives in a world all his own, folks!”)
Ordinary people have a hard time comprehending just how stupid and incurious the man is. He gets told that we need polyester testing swabs, and he holds up a Q-Tip and giggles, like he’s smart. Well, cotton, like on a Q-Tip, soaks up too much (to be indelicate) snot. You can’t use it to swab for Covid. Or, his bleach moronicity: any other human being with any intelligence whatsoever would have thought “why can’t we use this inside the body? Well – let me find that out, later.” But not TRUMP, oh, no, he says that he’s *sure* we can use it in the body, and maybe we could use disinfectants on delicate lung tissue, like a cleaning that would remove your breathing ability.
Anyone with any reasoning ability *AT ALL* would have realized “I’ve gathered smart people – if bleach was the answer, they’d be saying ‘problem solved!’ but they aren’t. Hmmm.”
Why does he believe in tariffs? I repeat: “Lives in a world all his own, folks!”
Ohio Mom
@Glory b: That is why the anxiety level here at Ohio Family is sky high. We check two of the three of those boxes.
We are fortunate that we could coast for a short while without our EARNED benefits; I am torn between the merits of speeding up the chaos or slowing it down but I also know that what I think doesn’t matter. It influences nothing.
I’m not interested in Monday morning quarterbacking or whatever the term is for Monday Morning quarterbacking in advance.
Even if I did have a strong opinion, both of my Senators are extremely dumb Republicans. I have no one to call. My Democratic Rep already voted No, like the well-meaning fellow he is.
LeftCoastYankee
@Steve LaBonne:
I read that somewhere earlier (TPM?), and it tracks.
“Pathetic” is right.
Paul in KY
@u: He knows Pres. Jackson was a racist whackjob who did illegal things and laughed at the Supreme Court.
tam1MI
Cuomo, who is apparently poised to become the next mayor of New York City.
Old Man Shadow
To be fair, that’s generally been a safe bet about 90-95% of the time.
Captain C
@tam1MI: I hope enough people figure out they can leave both him and Adams off their ballot.
Paul in KY
@Chetan Murthy: You got it! Oh are we fucked
Suzanne
@PatD:
I’m with you on this. It produces this viewpoint that policies is about power and who has it, and it’s divorced from principles and how to actualize them. It’s just sports at this point.
tam1MI
Maybe here, but we are not the majority. As the last election should have taught us
sixthdoctor
@Old Man Shadow: Josh Marshall on the TPM website live blog said that MD Sen Chris Van Hollen is “in talks with Republican colleagues to whip up support for a resolution to fix the problem with the DC provision”.
Yesterday IIRC Susan Collins said she was against the DC cuts…but not enough to change her vote, God no, heaven f*cking forfend…
lowtechcyclist
@Chetan Murthy:
No, they didn’t.
One thing I’ve seen tossed out repeatedly is that Medicaid benefits and the like would stop in a shutdown. USA Today’s reporting says otherwise. In fact, their list strikes me as mostly a list of bad shit that won’t happen in a shutdown, but that people have been saying it would. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, disability benefits, veterans’ benefits, retirement benefits, SNAP, all continue, says USA Today. I’m left with needing to be reminded of who will be hurt by a shutdown that wouldn’t be in the crosshairs regardless.
And this is absolutely true. We may not know yet which people will be hurt after the not-a-CR passes, but there’s no question that many people will be hurt. With fewer avenues for recourse, as best as I can tell.
And if the past 53 days haven’t adequately demonstrated just how they’ll use it, I don’t know what it would take.
danielx
To Chuck Schumer: how could we be any more fucked with a shutdown than we are now? At least you’d showing you still have a spine, which sadly does not appear to be the case.
Steve LaBonne
@tam1MI: We are enough of the Democratic PRIMARY electorate to sink Newsom.
Old Man Shadow
@sixthdoctor: Hmm… somehow I have a hard time believing that the decision by House Republicans to fuck over a largely Black population center was accidental.
John S.
@Ohio Mom:
My family also checks two of the three boxes, and I find the insinuation that people supporting voting no on the CR is tantamount to feeding them into the wood chipper to be disgusting.
It’s a pretty fucked up way to just bully people into submission when you don’t agree with them on a political outcome that is anything but certain.
ExPatExDem
I have criticized Jeffries before, so I’ll be adult enough to say that he did well in this. Good job on getting your caucus to hold the line against the CR, sir.
Ohio Mom
@RaflW: There are memorials to Kevin Drum in lots of places online: The New Republic, Mother Jones, Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo, mentions on various BlueSky accounts, Lawyers, Guns and Money, there may be more, those are just the ones I happened upon and remember.
Also, his wife put up a Facebook page as a memorial.
Geminid
@tam1MI: I’m not thinking of Balloon Juice. I’ve never seen enthusiasm for Newsom among Californians like I see for Pritzker or Whitmer among their constituents. It’s like people who know Newsom think he’s hit his upper limit. I’ve seen enthusiasm for Newsom among national-level pundits but most of them are lightweights too.
sixthdoctor
@Old Man Shadow: I’m guessing that House Republicans do not go to any DC restaurants, or if they do, they like the flavor of waiter saliva.
Gretchen
@Mai Naem mobil: who was his best friend and the wife? I haven’t heard about that.
rikyrah
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 0:52 PM on Fri, Mar 14, 2025:
SCOOP –> Trump’s State Department quietly terminated a contract that was in the process of transferring evidence of Russian abductions of Ukrainian kids to European law enforcement, two sources familiar with the situation tell me.
Details here:
https://t.co/2GKR8OYyJ5
(https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/1900605969094373476?t=PayWQ3hx_tMG3giHlH1kUg&s=03)
tam1MI
Newsom’s position on trans women in sports is shared by 67% of Democratic voters. Which is probably why he took it.
Link: https://benryan.substack.com/p/most-americans-dont-support-top-trans
Steve LaBonne
@tam1MI: How many Democrats think he should be platforming Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon? He’s dead to me and to a lot of other people.
John S.
@Steve LaBonne:
He’s politically dead to me as well for the same reasons. It’s actually pretty straightforward.
TEL
@tam1MI: Nope. He’s unlikely to even win the primary in California. Trying to find anyone who’s voted for him in the Bay Area without first having to hold their nose is impossible. And that’s his base.
John S.
Per TPM liveblog:
That’s real leadership. So proud to have her as my Senator. I wish she were the minority leader right now.
trollhattan
Who’s up for something depressing?
https://www.mediamatters.org/google/right-dominates-online-media-ecosystem-seeping-sports-comedy-and-other-supposedly
You’re welcome.
Geminid
@tam1MI: I willl add that I don’t think that podcast launch will sink Newsom because most primary voters won’t even know or care about it. But I thought it was a good illustration of the qualities that make him a lightweight.
But I think we’ll get to see for sure in the real world if Newsom runs in 2028. I think that he’ll be contending with a strong field.
@Geminid:
trollhattan
@Geminid:
California doesn’t do enthusiasm.
Eolirin
@Suzanne: And yet, almost everyone here is hyperfocused on just that. In ways that suggest they want it to be that way. I don’t think that impression is entirely derived from disillusionment stemming from politicial action, but because it’s a much easier way to view policy.
@lowtechcyclist: This assumes that the Trump administration handles a shutdown the way past administrations have. They have some latitude in determining what constitutes essential services and what doesn’t. We really won’t know what they’ll do with one until one happens.
sentient ai from the future
@tam1MI:
“Benjamin Ryan’s Substack focuses on pediatric gender medicine in particular.”
*looks at rest of substack…..yep*
go fuck yourself, transphobe.
Mai Naem mobil
@Gretchen: you can look it up. I’m not making it up. It is ancient history but I just think it’s something that a lot of people all would have an issue with.
Another Scott
Last I looked (a few minutes ago) Paul was speechifying.
Fritschner has a bloot from about 40 minutes ago with a table showing 3 Democrats indicating they’re voting for cloture, with 8 listed as not indicating which way they’ll go. Some of the comments indicate some of them have already said no.
(I expect it to pass after some blistering speeches. Could be wrong!)
Best wishes,
Scott.
RevRick
As I read the hate on Democrat X comments, I can’t help feeling that a lot of us subscribe to the very Trumpian Great Man theory we purport to hate. Why Chuck Schumer is a cuck! To which I reply, so what? What’s with the big swinging dick view of politics?
I’m too old for this. I will do what I can to oppose the predations of the Trump regime. But I know enough to know my opinions about what Democrat X should do are shit. My feelings on the matter are not a solid indicator of what needs to happen.
From this distance I can only pray that our Democratic Representatives and Senators be granted the wisdom to come up with the best solution. But being fallible human beings they may well screw up. And if they do, will I cast them into the outer darkness where there’s only wailing and gnashing of teeth?
Hell no!
I guess my instincts are more like a mother hen, carefully tending her brood, sheltering them in the rain.
So while some (many?) of you may think I am a blithering idiot, just know I will always be on your side and fight for you.
tam1MI
How many normie Democrats do you think have even heard of Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon?
Jeffro
@Geminid: I’m trying to picture who’d get fired up for a Newsom 2028 run…
“…GAV-IN, GAV-IN, GAV-IN!!!…”
…and I can’t quite picture it. Actually, I can’t picture it at all.
Now…Walz? Buttigieg? AOC? Pritzker? Them I can see people getting fired up about.
Barry
@Melancholy Jaques:
“Looking at it as neutrally as possible, Trump’s tariffs are a solution in search of a problem.”
IMHO, Trump is taking advantage of the massive executive discretion in tariffs. People will k@ss his @ss and pay money to be exempt.
sentient ai from the future
so what @tam1MI here is doing is posting the equivalent of libs of tiktok as a justification for Newsom’s heel-turn. lots of https://benryan.substack.com/ is paywalled but there’s enough there to put it together.
not in this space, pal.
i dont have time to email the OPs but please feel free to do so, jackals.
sixthdoctor
@Another Scott: Last I looked (a few minutes ago) Paul was speechifying.
And this is what I imagine the Senate floor is like now.
John S.
@Another Scott:
Thanks for that link.
So as of now, it’s gonna be really close. I fully expect both NH senators to vote for cloture because they love voting for Trump nominees, so why stop supporting his agenda now.
Of the remaining undecideds… it’s pretty much a coin toss.
Old Man Shadow
I live in California, so I have the luxury of voting third party if the rest of you put up Gavin for 2028.
tam1MI
@sentient ai from the future: It’s weird, the only new sources I could find pointing out that 67% of Democrats number in New York times poll were things like the New York Post, Fox News, and that sub stack, and the sub stack at least reported the results in a halfway neutral manner. But just as we’ve got our work cut out for us in combating racism, misogyny, and anti-Semitism within our own party, so too do we have our work cut out for us on trans rights.
Geminid
@trollhattan: I don’t know the state, but do you think Californians will come out for Newsom? I don’t think Virginians will, at least not if Jay Pritzker runs. Pritzker strikes me as having good political intelligence, which is a particular kind of intelligence that I see lacking in Newsom.
But I try not worry about 2028. After the 2026 midterms will be soon enough for that. And we have Governor and legislstive races to win this year in New Jersey and Virginia. A lot of water will have flowed under the bridge by March of 2027.
TBone
Meeanwhile, (*spits) “Doctor” Oz is being confirmed today and is hawking snake oil (figuratively) during his Confirmation Hearing. I wonder how Fettermanchinema will vote on his former opponent!
JiveTurkin
Citizen Dave
@Barry: I have the same view as you of why trump is doing the tariffs: because he can; and as you point out, the corruption opportunities. Tariffs are so 19th Century and the whole issue was well killed by economists way way back. I can’t believe I’m living in such stoopid times.
sentient ai from the future
another one from @tam1MI ‘s linked substack:
“Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to State Conversion Therapy Ban
Within the pediatric gender medicine field, there have been conflicts over whether such state bans compromise mental health care for minors with gender-related distress.”
yeah, i guess you could say that. but you’d have to elide the fact that every reputable fuckin medical academy in the us, including the AAFP, the AAP, and even the AMA, says that “conversion therapy” is fuckin torture. kinda missed that salient fact there.
so this is the kind of supporting documentation this transphobic fucking turd is casually dropping links to in here.
im not gonna fucking tolerate it. and no, i am not going to pie them. i am going to be on them like stink on shit.
sentient ai from the future
@tam1MI: motherfucker, if that’s the only source you can find to support your assertion, and you dont bother to fucking evaluate the source, you need to examine your fucking priors, you transphobic piece of shit.
p.a.
Looking at what’s going on in Rethug town halls- the ones foolish/arrogant/clueless enough to have them, I gotta think Dems worried about being blamed for a shutdown are I-can’t-think-of-a-denigrating-enough-word.
The Rethugs body-painted themselves with a target for decades about “gubmint bad”, they have caught fucking car, their own supporters are finally finally acknowledging “what bullshit”, and Dems are ooooh, what will Fox News say?!? Well Fox has been blaming them for everything including the common cold since day one, so what!?
TBone
Also meanwhile, I just watched Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (*chef’s kiss) give a great rundown on why he’s voting NO but why trusted colleagues might not. On with Katy Tur, he was LIT! Can’t find a clip yet, but really want to see it again! In the meantime:
https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-statement-on-the-continuing-resolution/
Snippet
Jay
https://nitter.poast.org/IAPonomarenko/status/1900626491689369828#m
slybrarian
Midwest governors like Walz and Beshear have the courage to forcefully push back against anti-trans lies rather than just accept that it’s “what most people believe”, so there is no excuse for Newsom not to do the same, much less platform monsters like Savage and Bannon who want all LGBT+ people exterminated.
Captain C
@Jay:
Putin is not their friend. He’s their master and they know it.
Suzanne
@TBone: Fetterman said a long time ago that he was gonna vote for Oz.
Eolirin
@TBone: This is the only kind of response to any of this that makes any goddamn sense to me.
I’m really tired of how we keep behaving here.
trollhattan
@Geminid:
Biden got nearly 2 million more votes than home gal Harris four years later.
We are an unpredictable bunch.
2028 cycle predictions offer nobody yet to grasp hold of. I’ll begin the pondering after 2026 midterms are behind us.
tam1MI
@sentient ai from the future: I sincerely apologize for the link. I was working off my cell phone and did not have time to do my due diligence. I’m not going to indulge in any b******* like no no I’m not really a transphobe! You’ve totally got me wrong! Because that is what people who are really secretly transphobes do. I’ll just take my beating and move on.
TBone
@Suzanne: I forgot to add a snark tag. I emailed him, cussing him about his CR vote and mentioning his reprehensible behavior in voting for nincompoops.
TBone
@Eolirin: I can’t wait till his video clip from today on MSNBC becomes available! I’ll keep looking periodically to share, he was on fire (he’s been a long time crush of mine for his abilities).
Eolirin
@tam1MI: The apology is genuinely appreciated.
JiveTurkin
I just wonder what Schumer and the others voting for the CR will say the next time Trump lowers the bar and does something particularly evil.? Will he borrow a page from Susan Collins and furrow his brow?
Citizen Alan
@PatD: We would have held the House in 2022, actually addressed the issues that voters were complaining about, and maybe retained the white house if only the NY Democratic party had had it shit together during redistricting. Oh, and not allowed that compulsive liar to win what should have been Dem seat.
JiveTurkin
This is from a WAPO article on MSN:
The bill contains a $6 billion increase in defense funding and allows more flexibility for the White House to direct funding, according to House GOP leadership aides, including an administration request for more money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The bill would force the District to cut about $1 billion from its local budget — including payment for police, schools and other essential services — over the next six months because it does not include language tucked into past funding extensions that allows the city to spend locally raised funds.
THIS IS THE BEST THAT SCHUMER COULD GET??? If this is true he should lose his position immediately.
Sister Golden Bear
@tam1MI: I appreciate your apology.
FWIW, anything that the FTF “we’re just asking questions” NYT prints on trans issues — or cites it — should be automatically suspect until proven otherwise given their repeated efforts stoking the anti-trans moral panic.
TBone
@RevRick: you are much smarter than the average bear; your self-worth is not as evident as I’d like to see from you in that one comment, but you’re on the right track just like Senator Whitehouse is in my not so humble opinion.
Darkrose
@RaflW: Newsom’s inability to shoot himself in the foot is almost Hamiltonian.
“Never gonna be president now.”
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Eduardo: Actually, all of the marriage licenses then Mayor Newsom performed were honored. Back then, every court agreed reliance was too important to ditch even if ditching reliance would scratch the homophobic itch. Gavin Newsom’d started a conversation almost everybody seemed to think was too soon. It also did not particularly help the then Mayor for higher office in California.
I remind you that the same year this country elected Barack Obama, Californians banned gay marriage by proposition. It was a shocking duality.
tam1MI
@Sister Golden Bear: A lesson most sincerely learned. 🙂
Old School
@JiveTurkin:
My understanding is that Democrats were excluded completely in putting together the bill.
Darkrose
@Geminid: I don’t think I’m alone in having held my nose and voted for Newsom because the GOP alternative was worse–and because I could say that at least he was good on LGBTQ+ issues, and was willing to stand up to Trump. He’s made it clear that neither of those things are true any more. What he seems unable to grasp is that the right will always see him as Governor Moonbeam 2.0 from wacky left California, and now he’s pissed off people who might have supported him.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@lowtechcyclist: the courts
specifically the court buildings are operated by GSA and court officers are executive branch employees.
I urged my senators to vote no. Nonetheless, I also prayed that our sane senators would be given the grace to vote correctly since I am not absolutely certain. Closed courts would be quite bad. More funding for South African hater very bad too. Funding for this president to invade some other country? Truly horrible
yet another parade of horrible brought to us by the GOP
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Darkrose: Governor Moonbeam was Jerry Brown I think. Truly loved that man
Geminid
@Citizen Alan: Albany Democrats passed a nifty gerrymander for 2022 but it got overturned by the Court of Appeals. I didn’t think that map was any more extreme than the one Illinois’ Supreme Court upheld but– different courts and different laws.
Manyakitty
@rikyrah: this is especially vile. My god. My god.
sentient ai from the future
@tam1MI: you were:
1. Justifying newsoms transphobic actions by
2. Looking for a source for a statistic you thought you knew, but when
3. All you could find were shitty sources you went with
4. A source that you didn’t know well (you say) but turned out to be pretty fucking transphobic.
I mean, sure, apologize, but that’s less important to me than ensuring that this space doesn’t get spammed by propaganda and disinformation, wittingly or un. You’re not going to deny you’re transphobic, but that doesn’t actually clarify things. Your actions here have, as well as shed light on your treatment of sources.
I have a trans kid who I had to move heaven and earth to get onto puberty blockers. And I know the science and I know how to make and support an argument.
Might I suggest you do some introspection here?
tam1MI
@sentient ai from the future: You only have my word to go on. But believe me, the introspection is happening. Once again, I sincerely apologize. I am so sorry that I, even in a small way, made things harder for you and your beloved child.
sentient ai from the future
@Sister Golden Bear: I have found transgendermap.org to be especially informative for backstory about media entities I had been only vaguely aware of previously.
trollhattan
@HopefullyNotcassandra:
So true.
We also outlawed affirmative action (overturned in court) and refuse to outlaw the death penalty when it comes on the ballot, something Newsom explicitly opposes.
sentient ai from the future
@Manyakitty: its worse when you recall that Putin has made a policy of preventing international adoptions of Russian children by LGBT-adoption-supporting entities. I’m not sure of the specifics of how that works with the us, whether at the state or country level, but it’s a clear attempt to turn phobic parents who want to adopt against the LGBT ccommunities in those polities using white children as the bargaining chip
trollhattan
@HopefullyNotcassandra:
Jerry 2.0 is the best governor California has had in my time here, which began in the waning days of Governor Ronald Fucking Reagan {spit}, a yardstick giving them all a very different context.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@u: I think somebody told this president to take Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson is the originator of one man, one vote. Jackson killed the American bank that lifted 6% from our GDP for that generation’s oligarchs.
Most people think Jackson laughingly ignored a court order. I do not think Jackson was laughing. It is certain Jackson and Chief Justice Marshall were intense enemies.
Andrew Jackson did refuse to send our tiny army (I think we had a teeny one then, rather than absolutely nothing) to fight the state of Georgia (which I know was then rolling in heavily armed militias) to stop the Trail of Tears as the Court ordered. There is no doubt the Trail of Tears was a genocide.
Jackson certainly told the court to send their army. He assuredly hated some Native American tribes. He fought against some tribes in the war of 1812. Whether Jackson hated the tribes targeted by the trail of tears (Iroquois Nation peoples) I have not been able to discover.
Jackson could have sent men. Those men would have been slaughtered. I don’t know what happens after that. Probably the truly abysmal John Calhoun* makes certain Jackson is impeached and convicted.
Does the truth, sordid and not so, matter anymore? That truly remains to be seen. I sincerely hope the truth continues to out despite the intense forces aligned against it.
* here is a fruitless exercise — see if you can find any John C. Calhoun statement that does not argue for the need to continue “the peculiar institution”, a euphemism for slavery. I tried once. I could not. Calhoun was epically hateful. He is to whom the orange fellow should be compared. Calhoun should live forever in infamy in everyone’s mind. Imho
Princess
@Geminid: Alison Rose, who used to comment here, adored Newsom.
Old School
The Senate voting on cloture now. (Just turned it on so not sure how anyone has voted.)
mapanghimagsik
It’s so weird how cool people seem to be about screwing DC
chemiclord
@Old School:
The only question that I wonder is if Schumer knew this when he made his initial speech, or if enough Dems waffled after the fact… because it looks there is going to be MORE than enough to pass.
tam1MI
I have hated that asshole ever since she led the charge against Al Franken. I see my low opinion of her was thoroughly justified.
Old School
@mapanghimagsik:
I hope they tear up the roads around the Capitol and then say, “Whoops – out of funds!”
BarcaChicago
It’s definitely time to primary Durbin here in Illinois. This isn’t the only time that he’s made a bad decision. I’m tired and it’s time for change. He’s been in a long time.
Old School
trollhattan
@Old School:
My big brain tells me no Pacific state Dems are on that list. Glad they stuck together.
tam1MI
My state’s senators stayed well clear of the fuckery as well. Happy to see that.
Chris Johnson
A shutdown would not have saved us so this changes nothing.
Doesn’t mean forgiveness for the Dems that failed us. They fucked up. If you’re going against AOC _AND_ Nancy Pelosi at the same time, you done fucked up.
They fucked themselves and weren’t ready to fight, but they didn’t fuck us because a shutdown wouldn’t have helped us: Trump’s people would have continued attacking during it, it’s like a Russian ceasefire. Repeat, failing to get the shutdown did NOT fuck us, we just have to fight like we would’ve had to fight anyway. And now you cannot blame Democrats for the obliteration and shutdown of government: if that’s all Schumer got is, I’m prepared to use it.
Another in a series of stupid days.
Still gotta fight, and now we know who caves.
Darkrose
@tam1MI: So you’re cool with sexual harrassment as long as it’s a Democrat doing it? How do you feel about Cuomo?
Geminid
@Princess: I hope Alison Rose is doing ok.
cain
Nice. Every headline in the media talks about how this is going forward with the help of the Democrats. Good job, Schumer.
pajaro
Just remember that the four Senators whose constituents are most affected by Elon and his boys (two from VA and two from MD) voted no.
Chris Johnson
@cain: Wait until you see what they’d have done if it had worked! You’d be amazed at the media blitz informing the whole world that the work of Elon Musk and DOGE turned out to be all the fault of US.
Happy to pillory Schumer, but this is not the messiest outcome. And no shit the press is doing that. They work for Trump’s boss, and this is a gimme: of course that’s what they say.
cain
ha – GOP are already celebrating and blaming Schumer.
https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/1jbeqk9/so_much_for_bipartisanship/
cain
@Chris Johnson:
Media blitz would been anti-Dem regardless, just like all the shutdowns and power-grabs would have occurred regardless. We are not going to avoid that. But standing our ground would have been better – right now, the base is raging from what I can see.
Dems did not show up united and that’s the real story.
Manyakitty
@sentient ai from the future: not sure what that has to do with stealing Ukrainian children, but okay.
Darkrose
@Chris Johnson: Yeah, love this for the city of DC, which is now going to take a billion dollar cut in funding. Hope these chucklefucks don’t need the DC police the next time the Nazis show up to riot.
tam1MI
There was a middle ground between “say everything is hunky-dory with Franken” and “run him out of the Senate on a rail”. It was to refer the charges to the Ethics Committee, allow an investigation to proceed with Franken allowed to present the evidence that he had compiled that he claimed showed his innocence, and come to a decision based on the results of the investigation. If the case was as much of a slam dunk as Gillibrand apologists insisted, there was nothing to fear from letting due process take it’s course. Instead, Gillibrand only succeeded in making a martyr out of Al Franken, irreparably damaging the MeToo movement by tagging it as a bunch of vigilantes uninterested in the rule of law, and, as per usual, setting a trap that ensnared Dems while letting Republicans skip away scot free for far worse behavior. Do I really have to point out what happened to Katie Hill as a result of the rules put in place as a result of this maneuver? Run out of Congress as a result of being victimized by revenge porn posted by her ex-husband, her seat then taken by a Republican. While Matt Gaetz leaves Congress at a time of his own choosing, the report on his misdeeds suppressed. And Gaetz was the one of the three that got the benefit of due process!
And now once again, with this cloture vote we see Gillibrand unilaterally disarming Dems in the face of open fascism. All she’s good for is throwing other Dems under the bus. I don’t know why New York puts up with her.
Darkrose
@HopefullyNotcassandra: Jerry was…not great in his last term, but he did a lot of good for the state. However, the perception outside California is that he was a crazy hippie, because that’s what most of the rest of the country thinks the state is. Newsom will never be able to pivot hard enough to be seen as anything other than an extreme California liberal.
Another Scott
@Darkrose:
(Fritschner is a staffer for Rep. Don Beyer)
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
WTFGhost
Well… sometimes, there’s a right thing to do, and there’s a wrong thing to do.
Now, no matter how big my dick is, nor how it swings, nor whether I’m a great man, or a brain-damaged gimp, when there’s a RIGHT thing to do, I try to do it, and when there’s a wrong thing to do, I tell myself “you fucking hateful asshole, who the fuck would do that?”
I know, “Godwins rule YOU LOSE![1]”
When Hitler came to power, he legalized his depredations, just like Trump is doing. Dems have said “that’s fine, we’re okay with whatever shit he pulls, for the next six months. We’ll make it *LEGAL* and not subject to court challenge!”
So, yeah. I am furious, and it has nothing to do with swinging dicks. It has to do with legalizing the kind of bullshit Trump wants to do, like, killing people LIKE ME. But tell me again how I hunger for big dicks, hey?
Thank you for demeaning the moral reasonings and choices I’ve expressed here for the past couple days. I’d feel insulted but “big swinging dicks” simply isn’t good enough an insult, you morally twisted expletive deleted.
We can protect our Democratic politicians when they’re under attack, not when they’re fucking up because they don’t care about what we think. Hm. Just like you, right? Big swinging dicks and all, you know, didn’t really touch on the moral questions.
[1] Godwin himself said there was no win or loss in Godwin’s law – merely that a hitler comparison would show. If you knew Usenet, you know damn well it might be a Nazified defense of a hideous moral principle, in which saying “that is what the Nazis did” is the correct (factually, historically) statement.
Darkrose
@Another Scott: Cool, cool. Because we can totally trust House Republicans, who created this shitshow of a bill without any pretense of bipartisanship, to turn around and decide not to punish the Black city for hating Trump.
*insert Lucy_pulling_away_the_football.gif
Darkrose
@tam1MI: Gillibrand was one senator. She didn’t have the power to run Franken out of the Senate on a rail; literally all she did was say that he should resign. And he chose to do so rather than wait for the ethics investigation. But sure, go ahead and blame the woman for the decision a man made, because he has no agency. The idea that Katie Hill wouldn’t have been forced out if we’d just accepted that we won’t treat sexual harrassment seriously if a Democrat is a ridiculous comparison, as is bringing up Matt Gaetz as some kind of gotcha.
I don’t like Gillibrand, and I’m pissed off about this vote. But that’s because of her actual positions, not because Franken chose to resign after getting called out for groping women.
sab
@Bill Arnold: Everything in Trimp’s brain began in the 1980s. It’ kind of remarkable how frozen in time his brain is.
Another Scott
@Darkrose:
FWIW.
[eta:] Someone in the comments wonders if that provision was an attempted poison pill to try to force a shutdown. Hmm…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Geminid
@Darkrose: Katie Hill was was forced out by her husband and a loophole in California’s revenge porn law. So long as she remained a public official the Daily Mail was not barred from publishing the photos her vengeful husband provided them. Hill’s possible ethics violation never came into play; she resigned less than a week after the pictures started coming out in order to end the humiliation.