On Sinema at the Sinema: October 2021 US Politics thread

Series of all the Supremes?

Sorry, didn’t see this before I left work. Nah, it’s a whole series of different famous people - Jackie Robinson, George Washington, Lucille Ball, Jim Henson (a particular fave in our house), Gandhi, etc. Some are better than others, but my son loved them about ages 5-8, though he seems to have outgrown them lately.

Glad to know that exists, thanks.

We have books from that series on I think MLK, Amelia Earhart, and Jane Goodall. Henson sounds great, will have to pick that one up.

Uh, guys:

https://m.soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/564-on-sinema-at-the-sinema-feat-kristinn-hrafnsson-10421

Let’s sue

Lore pic.twitter.com/RCyqYP5yR5

— Regime Loyalist 🪙 (@cityafreaks) October 5, 2021

Chyron for the ages @CNN pic.twitter.com/bAPgyxgUpV

— Amanda Rivkin (@amandarivkin) October 5, 2021

Lincoln and Booth would have parted amicably, too, had he missed.

sic semper tyrannis!!
and do have a good night, stay safe out there folks

El pobre!

Senate Republicans are going to cave on the filibuster over the debt ceiling. This is what Schumer and Biden want and then it'll build pressure on Manchin to cave on more since the GOP caved.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) October 5, 2021

not sure I trust his expert political analysis

Cave, man

Some progress, I suppose:

In a virtual meeting with about a dozen liberal Democrats on Monday, Biden suggested a range of $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion, according to people with knowledge of the private discussion — significantly lower than his initial $3.5 trillion plan.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), leader of the influential Congressional Progressive Caucus, pushed back, according to three of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. She countered with a minimum spending amount of $2.5 trillion, saying a range from that figure to $2.9 trillion could cover key programs.

Still, the gap between the $2.2 trillion maximum offered by Biden and the $2.5 trillion minimum suggested by Jayapal represents a striking narrowing of differences from just last week.

Meanwhile, the action at the Sinema/Manchin offices this afternoon:

https://c.tenor.com/BzdybKbJj7gAAAAd/moving-goalpost.gif

They’ve become Too Powerful. They’ll both be in Senate til they’re dead, just like Grassley & Feinstein

Senior Sinema

Senate Republicans are going to cave on the filibuster over the debt ceiling...

The whole metaphor of 'caving in' depends on the premise that the position taken by the person doing the caving in was both hollow at the core and insufficiently shored up against outside pressures. Where does Erickson think this insupportable pressure on the Senate Republicans is going to come from? Their guilty consciences?

Maybe they're next---after this:
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/05/1043424679/how-taylor-swift-and-her-masters-are-playing-into-the-virginia-race-for-governor

By midday, Democrats had yet to react to the proposal. With no solution in sight — and the days dwindling — the continued standoff threatened to ensnarl Washington in a financial crisis entirely of its own making.

“We’re not in the mood to facilitate their difficult job, to make their difficult job easier,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said in response to a question about Republicans’ strategy.

Asked what might happen if Schumer is correct — and Republicans’ procedural demands do prevent Congress from raising the debt ceiling by the Oct. 18 deadline — Cramer stressed that the blame remains squarely on the Democrats.

“Then too bad,” Cramer said. “It’s just really, really unfortunate that they’re that irresponsible.” He later said he did not think the country would breach the debt ceiling, adding, “I don’t think anybody wants that to happen.”

uuuugh Kevin Cramer, uuuuuugh

"Who, me, responsible for what happens in the Senate? No way! I'm just a US Senator."

Seems to me a good reason to blow up the f'n filibuster and then just do what they want.

the gaslighting is fucking off the charts here

“It’s just really, really unfortunate that they’re that irresponsible.”

=

"it'd be a terrible thing if someone you know ends up getting hurt. just a terrible thing. hope that doesn't happen, right?"

mobspeak

Both sides are playing coy hoping Sunday talk shows will repeat their talking points - "it's the Republicans' fault (even though we can do this pretty easily by taking the debt ceiling out of the purview of the filibuster)" is just as stupid as Cramer's line.

*50 white GOP men circle your house and light it on fire*

*48 democrats want to keep them from burning it down*
*2 democrats don't care about anyone but themselves*

but yes, blaming it on the people surrounding the house and trying to light it on fire is stupid

the problem is 190% the GOP's fault

and they'll do it again and again and again and again, and americans are too clueless to care. they don't even know what the problem is

Yes, they'll try to start the fire again and again. That we have a ruling party that's unwilling to pull the fire alarm and start the sprinkler system is also a problem, no?

You'll note that I didn't say they're morally equivalent or whatever, but Democrats' outright refusal to acknowledge that there are very simple solutions that don't require the consent of the party that doesn't control Congress indicates they also think voters are stupid.

it's a stupid and contrived situation, but it's worth noting that McConnell appears to be caving at least for the time being.

gearing up for that inevitable guy at the post-apocalyptic campfire, as we all grind up a bit more soles from some leather shoes we found into a nasty stew, who says "you know, actually both sides, the democrats and the republicans, were at fault..."

yes, both sides.

UGH = one unit of deserved shame

Democrats: UGH

Republicans: UGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGHUGH

Of course the Republicans are worse. But too many Democrats are wedded to tradition and proceduralism and think most Americans genuinely care about bipartisanship.

If hacking each politician into two bloody halves is bipartisanship then count me in.

wedded to tradition and proceduralism

If you wield power effectively once, your voters might start expecting you to do so in the future - then how are you going to blame the Senate parliamentarian for not doing the stuff you don't really care about?

They only got to buy off 1/2 and then a few on the other side to win. All of them are compromised in one angle or another.

But hey maybe they all can joke about bipartisanship when the GQP internment camps start up around 2025.

Scoop: Bernie Sanders withheld support for a joint statement condemning last weekend's protests against Kyrsten Sinema because it also wouldn't include a rebuke of her political views, an email exchange leaked to @axios shows

Read excerpts of the emails—>https://t.co/qtJu5R03hN pic.twitter.com/QQkhlZa6Td

— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) October 7, 2021

Oh please mr booker, it's oh so shameful for democratic activists to follow her into a bathroom when she tried to run away and hide from them and wouldn't answer why she's so intent on blocking the programs that their president won his campaign on. Do you remember the republican activists actually shitting in the halls of congress earlier this year and not hearing your republican colleagues condemn that particular brand of bathroom activism?

Thing is, as I understand it, the person thst followed her was actually a republican

sounds like bernie sanders supports president biden on this one?

He has for a while. The progressive caucus has been more vocally supportive than the handful of so-called moderate opposition; it's also a species of pressure on the president.

Sanders has had enough, sounds like.

Obviously I want what is best for all of us in this country and world but if the universe just slides Sinema and Manchin out of public life so I don’t have to hear about them anymore, what a damn relief that would be.

(And yes, I know that they’d simply be replaced by now obstructions.)

BREAKING: Massive crowd of Indigenous-led climate activists arrive at the White House to confront @JoeBiden and demand an end to fossil fuels. #PeopleVsFossilFuels pic.twitter.com/52VmegENZ0

— People vs. Fossil Fuels (@FightFossils) October 11, 2021

i kind of forgot about scott brown. remember him? maybe you never forgot him.

i forgot that he was the very first senator (ex or current) to endorse trump, back in feb 2016. and i never knew that he was rewarded by being appointed ambassador to middle earth for the last 4 years. then he got himself appointed as the dean/chief moneymaker of a law school that gradually turned into a grift machine, then resigned 8 months later

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/10/which-one-of-you-did-this
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/11/and-the-grift-goes-on-scott-brown-and-new-england-law

Death cult assholes gonna death cult

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued an executive order banning all state entities, including private employers, from enforcing vaccine mandates https://t.co/nRFQBIPVUg

— CNN (@CNN) October 12, 2021

It's a pure troll move, because there is no way he can legally do that.

But in the meantime it does enough damage to not be inconsequential. I wish we'd stop with this whole "it's not legal anyway" hand waving, because troll move or no, this stuff does real damage until it eventually gets thrown out. He may be throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks, but the people of Texas are still getting shit flung at them daily in the process.

^^My 9 year-old cousin just got Covid at their school because the district isn't encouraging masking for in-person classes.

I'm sorry to hear that. We recently had a close call at my 10 year-old's school, he avoided it (masks and distancing in schools work!) but three of his friends got COVID. Fortunately 2 of the 3 never had a single symptom and the other one only had a headache and a minor fever for a few days, but when kids in your kids' class get it, it hits home.

I'm kind of curious how the company I work for will respond to this. The CEO has been gently hinting that vaccine rules were coming soon.