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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

People are complicated. Love is not.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

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

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

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

This really is a full service blog.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Bark louder, little dog.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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Thursday Evening Open Thread: ‘Populist Scaremongering to Protect Plutocratic Donors’

by Anne Laurie|  June 1, 20235:55 pm| 13 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Republican Stupidity

"The drama captured what has happened to the Republican party: it uses populist scaremongering to protect its plutocratic donors. I would love to give a more nuanced take of Republican motives but that would be sophistry." My column. https://t.co/2PBHNdzKlt

— Edward Luce (@EdwardGLuce) May 31, 2023

Edward Luce, chief U.S. correspondent for not-exactly-leftist Financial Times, “Game, set and almost match to Biden on the debt ceiling”:

Shakespeare foretold the tale of America’s latest debt-ceiling crisis — full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The final deal, which will probably be passed this weekend, could also have been scripted by Joe Biden. Rarely in the history of fiscal brinkmanship has so much noise been made by so many Republicans with so little to show for it. The result is a win for Biden that prudence stops him from celebrating.

This charade’s key lesson is that people who call themselves “fiscal conservatives” are guilty of fraudulent branding — aided by a process-obsessed media. The definition of fiscal conservatism is matching public spending with revenues over the business cycle. Threatening a catastrophic default unless the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service is defunded is its very opposite. That would be fiscal incontinence.

The fact that this was one of the key Republican demands gave the game away. In the event, Biden restricted the IRS funding cut to $1.8bn, which is a fraction of its modernisation budget. In the name of fiscal responsibility, Republicans held America’s faith and credit hostage to a demand that would have harmed the country’s ability to collect taxes. The chief beneficiaries would have been the super-rich. The IRS mostly lacks the money to investigate the heavily lawyered wealthy, so most of its audits now are of people on lower incomes…

show full post on front page

… But the drama captured what has happened to the Republican party: it uses populist scaremongering to protect its plutocratic donors. I would love to give a more nuanced take of the party’s motives but that would be sophistry. The question is why Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Speaker of the House, made such extravagant demands if he knew he would have to give way on most of them.

The generous answer is that it was a negotiating tactic. Without threatening the debt ceiling, McCarthy would not have wrung any concessions from Biden. The final deal will reduce US spending by $136bn over the next two years, which McCarthy can claim will start a trend to reverse Washington’s profligate ways. That may be enough to win the grudging votes of a majority of Republican lawmakers. The remaining votes will be supplied by slightly less grudging centrist Democrats.

A better answer is that McCarthy, along with many others, serially underestimates Biden. In spite of being owned by the nonagenarian Rupert Murdoch, Fox News and its imitators are obsessed with the octogenarian Biden’s alleged senility. “Republicans got outsmarted by a president who can’t find his pants,” tweeted Nancy Mace, a Republican lawmaker who said she will vote against the deal.

In practice, Biden played the game of chicken well. He took it seriously by flying home early from his Asian trip in mid-May. In the interests of stopping a default, he resisted the temptation to call his opponents pyromaniacs. Biden’s age and limited energy may even have helped. It is useful to have a calm temperament in the midst of a crisis…

The real cost to America is the normalisation of such drama. The clock is already ticking until the next game of chicken. The real fear is that one day such brinkmanship will not only emit sound and fury but signify catastrophe.

Thursday Evening Open Thread: <em>‘Populist Scaremongering to Protect Plutocratic Donors’ </em>Post + Comments (13)

Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. Tapes. Espionage. Indictments. Convictions. Prison.

by WaterGirl|  June 1, 20231:26 pm| 209 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Trump Indictments

It’s Friday, and it’s very quiet.  Hmm.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment:

“Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.”

DOJ version:

“Tapes. Espionage. Indictments. Convictions. Prison.”

— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) May 31, 2023

Open thread.

Update: the consensus seems to be that this is Thursday, dammit.

<s>Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.</s> Tapes. Espionage. Indictments. Convictions. Prison.Post + Comments (209)

FRIDAY is gone

by David Anderson|  June 1, 202312:13 pm| 17 Comments

This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance

The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, the Colorado insurance regulator, released a new FAQ concerning FRIDAY Health Plans this morning:

 

Press release for Friday Health Plan to wind down by end of the year 2023

Friday had operations in Georgia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado in 2023 for the ACA marketplaces. In each state they had decent but not dominant enrollment.

Georgia is currently doing a mid-year termination. Colorado is claiming that they think they can get Friday’s operations in the state to last until the end of the year and end of the contract. Oklahoma, New Mexico and North Carolina are up in the air.

If you currently are covered by Friday, WAIT A MINUTE before you do anything. The range of options will vary by state.

I need to really sit down and think through my thoughts on VC funded insurance models in the ACA markets as two have blown up (BRIGHT, FRIDAY) and one burned through several billion dollars of capital with the hope of profitability for the first time after a decade of operations (OSCAR). I think that these models have created systemic risk via the risk adjustment channel which is as much a CMS enablement problem as a VC strategy problem. Lots of people are going to be moved around and plenty of people will fall through the cracks.

FRIDAY is gonePost + Comments (17)

SunBund Report: The Pissed Off Majority Strikes Back!

by Betty Cracker|  June 1, 202312:04 pm| 61 Comments

This post is in: 2024 Elections, LGBTQ Rights Are Human Rights, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

An incident in Hernando County, Florida was the subject of a recent SunBund report on this here blog. It involved a radical right-wing school board member, “Moms for Liberty” GOP operative Shannon Rodriguez, who ratted out her kid’s fifth-grade teacher for showing students a Disney movie that had a gay character. There was national coverage of the controversy, just the latest embarrassment for Florida.

Earlier this week, Hernando County held its first school board meeting since it was put under that harsh spotlight. So many people showed up that the meeting spanned more than eight hours to give those who wanted to speak a chance to state their case.

Although hard-right instigators put out cattle-calls that drew out-of-county wingnuts (including the inexplicably Proud Boys), the emerging consensus is that the community is fed up with right-wing, god-bothering, DeSantis sycophants attacking their teachers and administrators.

And keep in mind that Hernando is a deeply conservative county that is more than 90% white and voted for Trump over Biden by 30 points in 2020 and DeSantis over Crist by 40 points in 2022. So it’s not just the libs who are sick of the “Moms for Liberty” busybodies.

A WaPo column describes the Hernando County school board meeting (gift link):

The scene featured teachers pointedly declaring that right-wing attacks are driving them to quit, even as parents and students forcefully stood up on their behalf, demanding a halt to the hysteria…

At the meeting, right-wing parents and a minority of the school board amplified the usual attacks: Pornography in classrooms, indoctrination, wokeness. Watching them, it was impossible to avoid the sense that they were relishing every second of the tumult they’ve unleashed…

But the real story of the night was the response. Again and again, parents and students forcefully defended teachers. They cast the right’s attacks, the censoring of educators and the removal of books as the real threats to education…

Just as a car wreck commands attention, the ugliness of right-wing culture-warring often transfixes the news media. But another story is beckoning: Ordinary parents everywhere and their elected representatives are responding, and declaring that they’ve had enough.

The article also outlines pushback happening in other states, and the authors are right — we need to hear more about the parents, teachers, administrators and elected officials who are fed up with this bullshit and fighting back! The backlash is organic, in sharp contrast to the astroturfed GOP “Moms for Liberty” nitwits.

There’s already a teacher shortage in Florida, and these unhinged attacks are driving more people out of the profession. The teacher Rodriguez targeted about the Disney movie has already resigned. At the meeting, the county’s teachers union president said nearly 50 more are planning to resign. Hernando County math teacher Alyssa Marano, who is also resigning, said this to the crowd:

“No one is teaching your kids to be gay. Sometimes, they just are gay. I have math to teach. I literally don’t have time to teach your kids to be gay.”

The response in Hernando County is incredibly heartening. Even though my kid is grown and the “Moms for Liberty” political operatives aren’t targeting our local schools yet, I plan to show up at every school board meeting. I hope people nationwide who are disgusted by these deranged attacks on our schools are prepared to do the same.

It’s up to us to stand up to these fascist bullies. They are not the majority, and the only way they win is when we don’t show up. So let’s show up and chase these fanatics right back under their rocks.

SunBund Report: The Pissed Off Majority Strikes Back!Post + Comments (61)

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Pride Month

by Anne Laurie|  June 1, 20239:28 am| 121 Comments

This post is in: LGBTQ Rights Are Human Rights, Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Pride Month

(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)

NEWS: Biden Proclaims June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month, Denounces Oppressionhttps://t.co/iVTusTgvMJ

— Priorities USA (@prioritiesUSA) May 31, 2023

On the last day of May, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation Wednesday from the White House declaring June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Pride Month. It comes amid a wave of conservative attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.

“During Pride Month, we honor a movement that has grown stronger, more vibrant, and more inclusive with every passing year,” the proclamation read. “Pride is a celebration of generations of LGBTQI+ people who have fought bravely to live openly and authentically. And it is a reminder that we still have generational work to do to ensure that everyone enjoys the full promise of equity, dignity, protection, and freedom.”

Biden referenced the laws Republican-led legislatures have introduced in states nationwide, calling it an “inflection point.”

“In 2023 alone, State and local legislatures have already introduced over 600 hateful laws targeting the LGBTQI+ community. Books about LGBTQI+ people are being banned from libraries. Transgender youth in over a dozen States have had their medically necessary health care banned. Homophobic and transphobic vitriol spewed online has spilled over into real life, as armed hate groups intimidate people at Pride marches and drag performances and threaten doctors’ offices and children’s hospitals that offer care to the LGBTQI+ community.”…

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained to The Advocate why the LGBTQ+ community is front of mind for Biden.

“During Pride Month, we celebrate the strength, resilience, and bravery of the LGBTQI+ community and reaffirm our commitment to fighting for equality and freedom for all people,” Jean-Pierre said. “This year alone, more than 600 anti-LGBTQI+ bills have been filed in statehouses across the country and a significant portion of these bills target transgender youth.”

She continued, “As President Biden says, these young people are some of the bravest people he knows, but no one should have to be brave just to be themselves. The Biden-Harris Administration is going to continue to speak out and stand up against these attacks and we are going to remain focused on advancing equality for LGBTQI+ people across the country.”

If the highways of your state are lined with giant signs advertising the hotlines for domestic violence, human trafficking, and every form of substance abuse there is…

…maybe spend a lot less time worrying about which restroom people are using and focus on the real problems

— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) June 1, 2023

show full post on front page

Also proud:

Legislation that protects Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans and so much more has passed the House 314-117.

President Biden and House Dems stopped the right-wing extremists from crashing our economy.

And we’re just getting started. pic.twitter.com/Y4YSJGPyfq

— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) June 1, 2023

The validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned. It is our Constitutional duty to avert unprecedented default, which would bring devastation to America's families.

I spoke on the House Floor today to ensure this Constitutional duty is upheld. pic.twitter.com/72GpTO86hl

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 1, 2023

“After Calling Joe Biden Senile, Republicans Complain He Outsmarted Them.”

Great headline on a good piece by @ArthurDelaneyHP & @igorbobic.https://t.co/9m4DhfjVsF

— EJ Dionne (@EJDionne) May 31, 2023

HISTORY!:

The united states army exists as an organization because of the efforts of a man who was so powerfully gay that he was too gay for the Prussian army and we still use a descendant of his drill manual https://t.co/9R7phmF7H6

— your himbo boyfriend (@swolecialism) June 1, 2023


(Gen. Friedrich von Steuben, represent!)

Also an intersex brigadier general was an important figure for the Continental Army.

— Rev (@DoctorRevan) June 1, 2023


(Same for Casimir Pulaski!)

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Pride MonthPost + Comments (121)

Squishable Morning Thread

by Betty Cracker|  June 1, 20238:23 am| 43 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, TV & Movies

Patricia Arquette in High Desert

Apple TV has a new series called High Desert. It features Patricia Arquette as a quirky fuck-up/scam artist who’s pursuing a career as a private investigator. I got sucked into it because it also features Matt Dillon as Arquette’s character’s felonious husband. I’ve had a crush on Matt Dillon since we were both teenagers. Bernadette Peters is cast as Arquette’s character’s late mom and another woman who’s a mom-lookalike.

There’s a quote from a recent episode that kind of captures the essence of the series so far. Arquette is addressing the teenaged step-daughter of Arquette’s best friend. The bestie is a permissive and indulgent stepmom, and Arquette doesn’t think the step-daughter appreciates that sufficiently, so she says to the girl, “Do you know what MY stepmother was like? Mussolini with a perm and a nose job.” I laughed!

Somehow, I got incredibly lucky with the two intra-female relationships that are historically most loaded with fraught potential: stepmother and mother-in-law.  Both of mine are absolute darlings! Whew!

Open thread!

Squishable Morning ThreadPost + Comments (43)

Late Night Open Thread: And Nothing Of Value Was Lost

by Anne Laurie|  June 1, 20232:43 am| 72 Comments

This post is in: Healthcare, Military, Open Threads, Republican Venality

SCOOP: Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s national security adviser, Morgan Murphy, has resigned over a WaPo story suggesting he was instrumental in orchestrating the senator’s controversial blockade of hundreds of senior military nominations. @LeeHudson_ @alexbward https://t.co/oCUXBjPItp

— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) May 31, 2023

Morgan Murphy, swashbuckling bon vivant, discovers it might not be best practice to brag for a beat-sweetener that one’s boss is a dumb draft animal who needs to be pointed in the right direction to be of use. He may have assumed Coach Tommy didn’t read the Washington Post — but, predictably, a rival or an enemy read the story to Sen. Tuberville by the end of the long weekend. Ah, well, sounds like Murphy was bored and ready to move on anyways…

Per Politico, Tuberville’s top military adviser bows out :

Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) national security adviser told POLITICO that he has resigned over a Washington Post story suggesting he was instrumental in orchestrating the senator’s controversial blockade of hundreds of senior military nominations.

A profile by the Washington Post on Friday depicted Morgan Murphy as taking credit for Tuberville’s hold, which has roiled the Department of Defense. The blockade is a response to the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy, which Tuberville opposes.

Murphy said the Post article “overstated” his role in the senator’s blockade, and he resigned on Tuesday out of respect for his former boss. The profile “was factual in many respects, but simply overstated my role in decisionmaking,” he said…

Two people with knowledge of the discussions around Murphy’s resignation said the Post story’s presentation of Murphy’s role in the blockade irked Tuberville. They were granted anonymity to discuss sensitivities around a personnel move…

Tuberville has rankled his colleagues in both parties with his blockade of hundreds of military promotions, which typically are approved with little controversy, to force the Pentagon to abandon policies that reimburse travel costs and provide leave for troops who seek abortions.

Tuberville’s office said the senator intends to continue his hold on military nominations.

Normally top military nominations move swiftly through the Senate, but it only takes one person’s objection to slow down the process…

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has appealed to Tuberville to reverse course and Democrats have hammered him for politicizing the promotions process. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also publicly broke with Tuberville, saying he doesn’t support blocking military nominations, but the Alabama Republican continues to insist on a vote to overturn the policy.

All you really need to know about the original story is encompassed in this tweet:

show full post on front page

Meet the ex-food writer advising Tommy Tuberville on national security – The Washington Post https://t.co/Qx3qZLiEGw

— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) May 26, 2023

Suave as Murphy believes himself to be, he may possibly have overstepped in his presentation. It’s one thing to work for an ignorant rube representing his mouthbreather constituents by making angry mouth noises for the media. Teaching that rube to effectively gum up the works, and then bragging about it in public, may not be the best bullet point on a would-be power lobbyist’s resume.

Of course, Coach Tommy has been on his own journey recently, so…

“Due to recent statements by him promoting racial stereotypes, white nationalism and other various controversial topics, I feel compelled to distance myself from his ignorant, hateful rants,” Charles Tuberville, brother of U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, said. https://t.co/R77NRR2wvL

— AL.com (@aldotcom) May 31, 2023

The brother of U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville is speaking out on social media, saying he is “compelled to distance” himself from some of the lawmaker’s recent statements.

“Due to recent statements by him promoting racial stereotypes, white nationalism and other various controversial topics, I feel compelled to distance myself from his ignorant, hateful rants,” Charles Tuberville stated in a Facebook post.

In an interview with WBHM in Birmingham, when asked if he believed white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military, Tuberville said in referring to the Biden administration, “They call them that. I call them Americans.”

During a 90-minute interview last week with Donald Trump Jr. on his streaming show, “Triggered,” Tuberville said of teachers in inner city schools, “I don’t know whether they can read and write.”

Tuberville’s office later said he was referring specifically to schools in the Baltimore area, and that “as a Coach and a mentor unlocking opportunity for young people for 40 years, he watched a marked decline in our education system and found it deeply alarming.”…

According to his website, Charles Tuberville is a singer/songwriter/guitar player based in Tulsa, Okla. who has been part of its music scene since the 1970s.

Over his career, he’s played with Leon Russell, Freddie King, Bobby Keys, Johnny Winter, Delbert McClinton, Jimmy Vivino, Kenny Neal, B.B. King and others.

Late Night Open Thread: And Nothing Of Value Was LostPost + Comments (72)

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  • schrodingers_cat on Thursday Evening Open Thread: ‘Populist Scaremongering to Protect Plutocratic Donors’ (Jun 1, 2023 @ 6:33pm)
  • Geminid on Thursday Evening Open Thread: ‘Populist Scaremongering to Protect Plutocratic Donors’ (Jun 1, 2023 @ 6:32pm)
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