Enough With The Cutesy Titles, People Are Dead: US Politics January 2021 pt 2

Good! Honestly aren't the GOP being a bit dense on this one? It passes either way, they have the chance to at least take some of the credit.

It's such a small thing, but I'm so happy to see him photographed in a mask so often already.

my prediction: mcconnell will force the democrats to use the reconciliation path for covid relief in order to test how well the public responds to the usual feigned outrage that the republicans weren't allowed to weaken it and water it down and therefore it is a travesty of democracy!!!!

if it polls well in the right states, he'll goad the democrats into nuking the filibuster and then go full bore on outrage over republican exclusion, "silencing" and "censorship" as the big election issue for 2022. if it polls badly enough, he may cooperate a bit more in order to win some bipartisan brownie points, but still do as much as he can get away with to sink or ruin every democratic initiative.

nuke the GOP imo

sounds good. how?

p sure outrage over republican exclusion, "silencing" and "censorship" are all dead letters electorally if they're up against "massive and effective COVID response and even more massive economic recovery act" but i agree with you that Mitch will probably try it anyway, there are plenty of talking heads and editorialists ready to parrot the story ad nauseum

It's such a small thing, but I'm so happy to see him photographed in a mask so often already.

― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), F

^^^ I can't explain some of my mild happiness when I see Biden on TV, and I realized: he takes fucking masks seriously.

he takes fucking masks seriously.

eyeswideshut.jpg

The $1.9 trillion package Biden proposed is pretty modest in reality, compared to the size of the problems, and the results it is able to produce my fail to impress the ordinary public, who will judge the administration according to the most basic "do I feel good about everything now?" standard. I doubt mediocrities like Manchin and Sinema would buy into a $4.5 triilion package, so this is what we'll get.

lol crut

do I feel good about everything now?" standard

it really is as simple as giving. people. money.

taxing rich fucks and giving people money is an insanely popular thing the democrats have never tried

my prediction: mcconnell will force the democrats to use the reconciliation path for covid relief in order to test how well the public responds to the usual feigned outrage that the republicans weren't allowed to weaken it and water it down and therefore it is a travesty of democracy!!!!

i think even he realizes that maybe 1 voter in 1000 gives a shit about procedural issues. there is no need to test this empirically.

The truth is that since '16, down-ballot Rs have struggled the most when Trump is *not* on the ballot ('18 blue wave, GA runoffs, etc.) From a raw political perspective, there's little incentive to "move beyond" him.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 29, 2021

this is extremely true and a reason to be maybe a little bit optimistic that the democrats will cling on in 22.

otm

it really is as simple as giving. people. money.

The $1.9 trillion package does some of this, but not to a level that will really move people's emotional needle out of the crisis zone. bleh.

One immediate problem is that the membership of Congress will remain static until 2022 and as far as anyone can tell, yet, the margins favor the center-right and continued timidity. The one gleam of light is that those margins are very slim and possibly external pressures could move a few votes over the threshold. At least the Democrats now control the Senate floor and can bring House-passed bills to a Senate vote.

The other immediate problem is that, once again, a Republican regime has created a huge mess of crisis proportions for a Democratic regime to try to clean up and that effort will absorb immense amounts of time and attention from institutions that have become nearly crippled or paralyzed.

yeah. nuke the GOP. identify their crimes and prosecute the criminals. asap.

"... when Trump is *not* on the ballot..."

I think they can still write him in on the "Patriot Party" ticket, yeah? Don't worry about any other contests, just write in TRUMP!, that's my advice to the faithful

I'm gonna regret saying this but I'm actually kind of...optimistic about what Schumer and Biden are doing so far?

― frogbs, Friday, January 29, 2021 12:58 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I am cautiously optimistic as well, there could have been a lot more fuckups or backpedaling by now

this is extremely true and a reason to be maybe a little bit optimistic that the democrats will cling on in 22.

I guess 2022 will be a good day to die.

my prediction: mcconnell will force the democrats to use the reconciliation path for covid relief in order to test how well the public responds to the usual feigned outrage that the republicans weren't allowed to weaken it and water it down and therefore it is a travesty of democracy!!!!
i think even he realizes that maybe 1 voter in 1000 gives a shit about procedural issues. there is no need to test this empirically.

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Friday, January 29, 2021 3:02 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

god yeah the senate esp the older ones are so up their own butt about the grand institution and literally everyone thinks they are fuckheads and no one cares

These senate rules are infuriating. If nothing ever gets passed with the defined majority, and filibusters and reconciliation are now the norm, why not just fucking make everything pass with a simple 51 vote majority? All this shit does is waste time.

Sometimes I think that's the whole idea.

hmmmmmmmm you may be onto something

yeah that seems to be the feature not the bug that sTriCt cOnStYOoOtIoNaLiSt cheer.

I suspect a lot of centrist Dems are secretly glad for it as well

Allows them to place the blame on Republicans instead of on Joe Manchin.

Apologies if this was already posted here

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/29/black-lives-matter-nobel-peace-prize-petter-eide-norweigan-mp?fbclid=IwAR1i-FsWV4Xo40U_sgw5HFZAgCNKgoYBr7WM2IOOuWXlN2Vz_e5MrJLX3cc

Bonus points for making the worst people in the world incoherently angry.

fbclid=IwAR1i-FsWV4Xo40U_sgw5HFZAgCNKgoYBr7WM2IOOuWXlN2Vz_e5MrJLX3cc

Just saw a story that Biden declined to extradite Anne Sacoolas.

Not to re-litigate this, but it seems like it would be better if sic posted the url, stripped of the tracking info, rather than vice versa.

Not if performative rage, rather than utility, is the point.

sic there's no need for that kind of language

I feel like caek and stet have pretty definitively debunked sic's "issue" here, maybe take it to the mod req board dude?

I thought it was just a running bit

The Democratic representative Cori Bush said she is moving her office away from that of Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene due to safety concerns after Greene and her staff berated her and refused to wear masks.

“I’ve worked fast food. I’ve worked in childcare. I’ve worked in healthcare. I’ve never been in a work environment like this before,” Bush said in an interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Friday evening.

tbh what's surprised me is how Biden has not yet sounded querulous or senile

soooo how long until we vote to expel MTG and Boebert

“What I cannot do is continue to look over my shoulder wondering if a white supremacist in Congress, by the name of Marjorie Taylor Greene … is conspiring against us,” she said.

fuck yeah, call her what she is

Bonus points for making the worst people in the world incoherently angry.

These senate rules are infuriating. If nothing ever gets passed with the defined majority, and filibusters and reconciliation are now the norm, why not just fucking make everything pass with a simple 51 vote majority? All this shit does is waste time.

― akm, Friday, January 29, 2021 4:13 PM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

One maneuver that's been floated (notably by Bernie in 2019): The Democrats push whatever they want under the guise of budget reconciliation, the Senate parliamentarian says "Hmm, I don't think that qualifies," and then Kamala as Senate president overrules and says "Sure it does."

But yeah, it's stupid that they have to resort to convoluted workarounds instead of just passing legislation with a simple majority, as the Founders intended.

leeeeroy jenkins

The Biden WH is full of aides who remember the futility of seeking GOP support eight years ago.

With that in mind and a sense of urgency about the current crisis, they’re ready to go big — and soon — with or without Republicans.

New w/ ⁦@hookjan⁩ https://t.co/HZFeguK91S

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) January 29, 2021

tbh what's surprised me is how Biden has not yet sounded querulous or senile

almost like those were just trump talking points

i saw him speak in person during the primary campaign and they were not trump talking points.

seems like it would be better if (Raymond) posted the url, stripped of the tracking info (...) if (...) utility is the point.

good point btw

Biden absolutely has absolutely gotten worse at controlling his stutter in recent years, whether that is just age or senility I'm not qualified to say.

Sorry, guys. I guess I’m just used to copying and pasting links - I missed that there’s a step in between. Will try to do better in the future.

It looks like I'll need to make hard shopping choices:

NEWS: Alex Jones played a greater role than previously known in organizing the Jan 6 rally where Trump told supporters to go to the Capitol, helping bring in a top Trump donor—a Publix heiress who gave $300K—who worked w/a Trump fundraiser on the event. ⁦ https://t.co/L0cgC5hG9i

— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) January 30, 2021

Fuckkk. I knew the Publix heirs were Trump donors but damn this is quiiiite a development.

I think it’s more than a little noteworthy that people like Jones, Ali Alexander, etc haven’t been charged with anything quite yet, because this kinda fits what people like the DC US Attorney have been saying anyway — the ‘obvious’ people have been relatively quickly picked off. They’re delving deeper as they go and 2 to 1 says all kinds of Interesting Conversations are happening behind the scenes between personal lawyers and government attorneys.