Balloon Juice - Open Threads Archives

Late Night Open Thread: Dismantling the Machinery of Hope

by Anne Laurie| December 21, 20243:00 am| 106 Comments

This post is in: Education, Elections 2024, Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat

because i know this will get angrily shared approximately one million times, i am begging you to please read the second, third and fourth paragraphs before putting the outrage pedal to the floor

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) December 20, 2024 at 4:48 PM

What might have, should have, been… Per the Associated Press:

President Joe Biden is abandoning his efforts to provide some protections for transgender student athletes and cancel student loans for more than 38 million Americans, the first steps in an administration-wide plan to jettison pending regulations to prevent President-elect Donald Trump from retooling them to achieve his own aims.

The White House expects to pull back unfinished rules across several agencies if there isn’t enough time to finalize them before Trump takes office. If the proposed regulations were left in their current state, the next administration would be able to rewrite them and advance its agenda more quickly.

As the pending Biden regulations are withdrawn, nothing prevents Trump from pursuing his own regulations on the same issues when he returns to the White House, but he would have to start from scratch in a process that can take months or even years.

“This isn’t the way I wanted it to end,” said Melissa Byrne, an activist who has pushed for student debt cancellation. “Unfortunately, this is the most prudent action to take right now.”

She blamed Republicans for putting the Biden administration in this position. “It’s a bummer that we have a GOP that is committed to keeping working-class Americans in debt,” Byrne said…

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In documents withdrawing the student loan proposals, the Education Department insisted it has the authority to cancel the debt but sought to focus on other priorities in the administration’s final weeks. It said the administration would focus on helping borrowers get back on track with payments following the coronavirus pandemic, when payments were paused.

“The department at this time intends to commit its limited operational resources to helping at-risk borrowers return to repayment successfully,” the agency wrote.

For the regulation on transgender students, the department said it was withdrawing the proposal because of ongoing litigation over how Title IX, the landmark law preventing sex discrimination, should handle issues of gender identity. In addition, the department said there were 150,000 public comments with a range of feedback, including suggestions for modifications that needed to be considered…

The pair of student loan proposals expected to be withdrawn Friday represented Biden’s second attempt at widespread debt cancellation after the Supreme Court rejected his first plan.

One of them is a proposal from April that would have provided targeted debt relief to 30 million Americans. It laid out several categories of borrowers eligible for relief. Borrowers who saw their balances balloon because of interest would have had their accrued interest wiped away. Those who had been repaying loans for 20 years or more would have gotten their loans erased.

That proposal was halted by a federal judge in September after Republican-led states sued, and it remains tangled in a legal battle.

The second rule being withdrawn is a proposal from October that would have allowed the Education Department to cancel loans for people facing various kinds of hardship, including those struggling with steep medical bills or child care costs…

Although Biden did not achieve the sweeping loan cancellations that he initially promised, his administration has forgiven an unprecedented $180 billion in federal student loans through existing programs.

“Because of our actions, millions of people across the country now have the breathing room to start businesses, save for retirement, and pursue life plans they had to put on hold because of the burden of student loan debt,” Biden said in a statement.

On Friday, officials announced they were erasing debt for another 55,000 workers — including teachers, nurses and law enforcement officials — through Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The program promises to cancel loans for borrowers who spend 10 years in government or nonprofit jobs…

Late Night Open Thread: Dismantling the Machinery of HopePost + Comments (106)

Friday Night Open Thread

by WaterGirl| December 20, 202411:08 pm| 47 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Well, the only way to make sure that Cole puts up a post tonight is for me to put up an open thread.

So here you go!

I’ll try this cartoon again since another post went up 6 minutes after I posted it last time. :-)

Friday Night Open Thread 6 — illustration by Anita Jeram

I am heading to bed, but I’ll just say that everyone who said Slow Horses was a great show was absolutely correct. It was slow as hell for the first episode, and maybe for part of the 2nd, but now it’s just great.

Late addition: We got blowing snow here this morning, but it melted during the day, leaving puddles of water everywhere. I had to mop the porch twice because we were having a big temperature drop and I didn’t want ice slicks all over the porch where I have to walk to let Henry out. Just took him out for the last time tonight, and it’s a good thing I did the mopping. There was black ice on the porch in the few spots I hadn’t mopped well enough. Go me for thinking ahead!

Friday Night Open ThreadPost + Comments (47)

War for Ukraine Day 1,031: Putin Followed Up His Delusional Speech with Another Mass Bombardment of Ukrainian Civilian Targets

by Adam L Silverman| December 20, 20248:41 pm| 24 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

A quick housekeeping note: I’m still dealing with the lingering symptoms of the tail end of this sinus infection. So, I’m going to just run through the basics again tonight.

If you want to see what a real reporter does, give this a watch:

I asked Vladimir Putin: “25 years ago Yeltsin handed you power & told you ‘Take care of Russia.’ Do you think you have? In light of significant losses in Ukraine, Ukrainian troops in Kursk region, sanctions, inflation…” Here’s his reply. Producer
@lizashuvalova.bsky.social @bentavener.bsky.social

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— Steve Rosenberg (@bbcstever.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 1:41 PM

Here’s the full video:

Imagine any reporter on the broadcast networks, the cable news networks, or working for one of the big newspapers or news magazines actually asking a question like that to the President-elect, the Vice President-elect, or the unelected co-President. Never going to happen.

As everyone could’ve and should’ve expected, Putin followed up his delusional, unhinged, and deranged speech and Q&A session yesterday by bombarding civilian targets in Ukraine.

Another brief air alert – threat of Oreshnik launch. The first, demonstrative strike on Dnipro by an Oreshnik missile is now serving what was no doubt its intended purpose – to put the whole of Ukraine on alert, and jangle nerves, with just the threat of the launch of another one.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 5:54 AM

Kyiv this morning after missile attack: 8 missiles, including ballistic Kinzhal and Iskander types. Sickening creatures

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— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 1:55 AM

Kyiv this morning

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 2:58 PM

A Russian drone just struck an apartment building in Kharkiv a few minutes ago. This was someone’s home‼️

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 3:12 PM

Russian drone pierced the quiet of Kharkiv’s night, striking an apartment building — its shattered walls now mirror the fractures in countless hearts. This war on the innocent is the roar of those who’ve abandoned both honor and humanity.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 4:06 PM

More on these attacks after the jump.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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Everyday Terror Deserves Ever-Increasing Pressure on the Terrorist: Russia Must Be Held Accountable – Address by the President

20 December 2024 – 19:54

Dear Ukrainians!

I want to thank all leaders, each of our partners who have expressed their support to Ukraine today after another missile strike: ballistic missiles hit Kyiv, people were injured, sadly, a man was killed. My condolences. Some houses were damaged, including St. Nicholas Cathedral. Diplomatic missions have also sustained damage – all of them are located in the same office building. Albania, Argentina, Palestine, North Macedonia, Portugal, Montenegro. Clearly, this Russia’s madness must not be perceived by the world as something routine – everyday terror deserves ever-increasing pressure on the terrorist. Russia must be held accountable, and even if they are led by a completely inadequate person, the pressure on them must make the Russian state feel what reality is and how reality can punish international criminals. More sanctions against Russia are necessary.

I also want to thank all the partners of our state who are responding to this and other Russian shellings by being ready to provide more air defense systems, more weapons that can protect against terrorists. We have now returned from Brussels with new agreements on air defense systems. Germany has also already transferred an additional IRIS-T system – thank you. We will respond to Russia’s attacks on all our other cities as well – today the Russians carried out another barbaric shelling of Kherson. In general, we see the occupier intensifying their activities in the Kherson direction. I would like to thank our units who are defending these positions. They have repelled the attempts of the Russian movements there.

Also today, the Commander-in-Chief briefed me on other frontline directions – the Donetsk region and the Zaporizhzhia direction. Special attention was paid to the combat actions in the Kursk region: more and more North Korean soldiers are being eliminated there. And this is telling that Russia is trying to pass off these North Korean soldiers as representatives of national communities living within Russia itself. This is a complete disrespect from Moscow to the indigenous peoples and even to the Koreans themselves.

And one more thing.

Today, several important meetings were held here in Kyiv. A meeting of the Governments of Ukraine and Lithuania took place. The new Lithuanian Government is in Ukraine for the first time in its entirety, immediately after being appointed, and this is a clear Lithuanian priority for the alliance between our countries; we in Ukraine deeply value this. I also spoke today with the President of the Czech Republic, particularly about how to increase the supply of shells and the production of weapons for our defense. And today, together with our diplomatic team, we finalized the list of new Ukrainian ambassadors. I approved more than 30 decisions. Among them are Nariman Dzhelyal to Türkiye, Alyona Getmanchuk as Ukraine’s representative to NATO, Andrii Melnyk as Ukraine’s representative to the UN, and others. These and other decrees will soon be formalized in accordance with diplomatic procedures.

I thank everyone who is working for Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!

President Zelenskyy also presented awards on energy workers day. Here’s the video clip.

And here’s the video of his press conference in Brussels yesterday. It had not yet posted when I was drafting last night’s update.

The US:

FT Exclusive: Donald Trump’s team has told European officials that the incoming US president will demand Nato member states increase defence spending to 5% of GDP, but plans to continue supplying military aid to Ukraine. www.ft.com/content/35f4…

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— Financial Times (@financialtimes.com) December 20, 2024 at 12:29 PM

From The Financial Times:

Donald Trump’s team has told European officials that the incoming US president will demand Nato member states increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP, but plans to continue supplying military aid to Ukraine.

The US president-elect’s closest foreign policy aides shared his intentions in discussions with senior European officials this month, according to people familiar with the talks, as he firms up his policies towards Europe and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

During his White House campaign, Trump vowed to cut off aid to Ukraine, force Kyiv into immediate peace talks, and leave Nato allies undefended if they failed to spend enough on defence — spooking European capitals.

But in a boost for allies deeply concerned over their ability to support and protect Ukraine without Washington’s backing, Trump now intends to maintain US military supplies to Kyiv after his inauguration, according to three other people briefed on the discussions with western officials.

At the same time Trump is to demand Nato more than double its 2 per cent spending target — which only 23 of the alliance’s 32 members currently meet — to 5 per cent, two people briefed on the conversations said.

One person said they understood that Trump would settle for 3.5 per cent, and that he was planning to explicitly link higher defence spending and the offer of more favourable trading terms with the US. “It’s clear that we are talking about 3 per cent or more for [Nato’s June summit in] The Hague summit,” said another European official briefed on Trump’s thinking.

Nato allies are already in discussions about increasing the target to 3 per cent at that meeting of leaders in June, but many capitals are concerned about the difficult fiscal decisions that would be required to do so.

While Trump still believes Ukraine should never be given membership of Nato, and wants an immediate end to the conflict, the president-elect believed that supplying weapons to Kyiv after a ceasefire would ensure a “peace through strength” outcome, they added.

After 24 hours of meetings with Nato and EU leaders in Brussels this week, Zelenskyy said on Thursday that European pledges to defend Ukraine would “not be sufficient” without US involvement.

My Take on the Shutdown Outcome

by @heymistermix.com| December 20, 20246:45 pm| 69 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

This was no win for anybody:

Here is a breakdown of how the vote on the House spending bill went down:

196 Democrats voted to pass the bill

170 Republicans voted to pass the bill

34 Republicansrejected the bill

The debt ceiling was not raised despite Donald Trump’s demand for the cap to increase. The bill is now headed to the Senate, which has until midnight to pass the spending bill.

The bill that passed had a fair amount of important stuff stripped out, most notably the pediatric cancer funding. But it also did not have the debt ceiling increase included, which was the Republicans’ way of trying to backdoor a cut in entitlements, and it’s what Trump wanted. President Elon got more out of this than VP Trump.

Jeffries had 0 defections from his caucus in the final vote, which is a demonstration that his bloc is there to save Republicans’ asses if D’s get something for it.

I have to hand it to Ketamine’s Little Boy who Never Grew Up — he timed this one pretty well. I think next time the Dems will be ready for it. There’s a case to be made for Dems demanding more concessions on this one.

My main take-away is that Pastor Johnson is on his own the next time his caucus wants to shit can him, unless there’s some kind of major concession that D’s can wring out of him. (Dems helped him keep his seat the last time his caucus wanted to defenestrate him.) The January 2025 Speaker election is going to be quite a spectacle.

My Take on the Shutdown OutcomePost + Comments (69)

Election Followup – Final Set of Organizations

by WaterGirl| December 20, 20243:35 pm| 23 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Targeted Political Fundraising 2023-24

On Monday, we talked about North Carolina and more, and on Thursday, we talked about the Balloon Juice efforts in support of Four Directions. Today let’s talk about the other organizations we supported. This will be our final look-back post on the 2023-24 targeted fundraising cycle.

First up – The Civics Center

This was our first year focusing on youth, and we hit the ground running. We talked about the youth focus with NC Black Alliance and NCAAT in Monday’s post, so no need to talk about them here. The Civics Center was our third group with a youth focus. They train students and educators to conduct registration and preregistration drives in High Schools.

And they make it fun, providing T-shirts, stickers, customizable flyers, tote bags, candy and other swag in the brilliantly-named Democracy in a Box.

The Civics Center does two major High School campus drives each year. Our donations helped them expand their Fall registration drives into diverse urban campuses, at a cost of about $1,000 per school. Between the $30k we raised and the double match they found for our funds, that’s 90 high school registration drives!

This really has a longer-term focus than our usual boots-on-the-ground, GOTV efforts. But when you’re investing in youth, the younger you start, the bigger the long-term payoff! Studies show that getting a student registered and to the polls when they first become eligible has a lifetime impact, and if they vote in 2 elections a row, you’ve likely created a voter for life.

Next up – Voting Access for All (VAAC)

You probably recall that VAAC works in Michigan with the formerly incarcerated and with folks who are in jail waiting for trial because they can’t afford bail – people who were never tried in a court of law, let alone convicted. I still need to connect with them about the fruits of their efforts in 2024, so I don’t have much to report there. Just that I feel good about supporting that cohort, as I do about all the under-represented groups we support.

And finally – Worker Power

We supported Worker Power on 3 fronts during this cycle:

Spring canvass team in Maricopa County
Leadership School (scholarship for one young leader)
Fall canvass team in Pinal and Pima Counties (Tucson area).

We funded a canvass team for 3 weeks in strategically-targeted precincts in Arizona – neighborhoods with flippable state house and senate seats and vulnerable Republican Congressmen.

Although we didn’t get Arizona’s electoral votes, our efforts helped flip a state house seat in Phoenix, as well as contributed to the election of Senator Ruben Gallego. Sadly, we were unable to flip Republican Juan Ciscoman’s seat – in an unhappy bit of irony, a Green party candidate siphoned off enough voters to deny a win to Democratic challenger Kirsten Engel, who is an actual environmental lawyer. I have some choice words for people who have lost the plot.

I’ll leave you with 5 points.

Working for a better future is an act of faith.
Identifying and motivating new voters is an investment.
We can build on that investment in 2026 and 2028.
Money spent identifying and motivating voters is always money well-spent!
We can’t quit now. We have to work even harder after this setback.

As with everything we do, it’s about right now, and it’s also about the future!

Election Followup – Final Set of OrganizationsPost + Comments (23)

This is the Answer

by @heymistermix.com| December 20, 20242:47 pm| 152 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Just a quick post to point out why Jeffries was against whatever debt ceiling change that the R’s were going to propose. As many of you have pointed out, it would be nice to get rid of the debt ceiling. That’s not the proposal. It’s a total shit sandwich, without the bread:

This is the Answer

Reconciliation has a whole bunch of special rules, including that it isn’t subject to the filibuster in the Senate.

Also the last thing I saw said that Pastor Mike has cooked up some fantasmagorical three vote plan that requires cooperation of the Rules Committee, so he can bring a bill to the floor for a majority vote. Remember that MyKevin packed Rules with fanatics, so it’s unlikely that they want to vote a bill out to the floor that isn’t pure artisanal right wing shit. Also, the good Rev Speaker loses at least 30 of his caucus on any bill that isn’t naming a post office. If something’s going to pass, it’s probably going to have to be under suspension, with Democratic votes.

This is the AnswerPost + Comments (152)

Democratic Party – ‘Strong Bones, But We Need More Muscle on Those Bones’

by WaterGirl| December 20, 202411:10 am| 78 Comments

This post is in: Democratic Politics, Open Threads, Politics

The idea of Ben Wikler as head of the DNC gives me hope.

Take 20 minutes and watch what Ben has to say. I came away inspired. He’s not trashing the party, and he’s got the vision we need.

I also tried to watch the Young Democrats candidate forum – I was able to force myself to watch the first half. I felt like I should listen to what all the top candidates had to say, but damn, I heard so much pandering to the Young Democrats of America and too much same old, same old and blah blah blah from the other candidates and just couldn’t bear to watch the whole thing.

In my not-so-humble opinion, Ben Wikler is one of the leaders we need right now. Let’s hope that the 448 people who get to vote will have the sense to understand that this is not the time for business as usual.

We have a leader we need right in front of us – DNC, wake the fuck up and break the mold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1sip1hofdk

Watch the top video and share your thoughts!

Democratic Party – ‘Strong Bones, But We Need More Muscle on Those Bones’Post + Comments (78)

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

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

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Petty moves from a petty man.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

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

Late Night Open Thread: Dismantling the Machinery of Hope

Friday Night Open Thread

War for Ukraine Day 1,031: Putin Followed Up His Delusional Speech with Another Mass Bombardment of Ukrainian Civilian Targets

Everyday Terror Deserves Ever-Increasing Pressure on the Terrorist: Russia Must Be Held Accountable – Address by the President

My Take on the Shutdown Outcome

Election Followup – Final Set of Organizations

This is the Answer

Democratic Party – ‘Strong Bones, But We Need More Muscle on Those Bones’