On Sinema at the Sinema: October 2021 US Politics thread

if Sinema thinks it's the worst she can expect, she should run a daycare.

I’m sure the outcome will disappoint but the fact that it’s even being reported like this rather than “dems in disarray” or “hard left squad roadblocks” or whatever seems like progress.

The substantive intra-party battle over the $3.5 trillion framework is not progressives vs. centrists with Biden caught in the middle; it's more like Biden and the vast majority of Dems vs. a narrow group of lawmakers who reject/resist the concept but whose votes are essential.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 4, 2021

caek otm

this is just for lols, but i missed this from last week:

Lauren Boebert has sent a release calling to impeach Biden, but she has messed up the logo here pic.twitter.com/IR3m2QxNFT

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) September 24, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jemkrew4mFU

I'm halfway bought into the conspiracy theory that these spelling mistakes are done on purpose as a way to trigger the libs

Illiteracy to own the libs!

i'm each biden

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

it's i'm every woman

I'm halfway bought into the conspiracy theory that these spelling mistakes are done on purpose as a way to trigger the libs

I’m sure the outcome will disappoint but the fact that it’s even being reported like this rather than “dems in disarray” or “hard left squad roadblocks” or whatever seems like progress.

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Monday, October 4, 2021

Progress indeed, and Jayapal's been on fire.

it's sort of like how they say spam emails are purposely badly written so only less discerning people go for it (i don't understand the logic of this, if it's written to catch rubes likely to fall for the scam, wouldn't they fall for something that looks even more like the real thing, too?)

weeds out the more incredulous ppl so you don’t have to waste any scammin’ time on the ones who will probably figure out they’re being scammed before you get what you want

ohhhh ok, that makes sense

Maybe not the right thread for it, but then again---into and all around this particular rabbithole, "What The Trump Books Tell Us About Jan.6"--and here's why:

Conversely, definitionally, we lived through a historical event in real time, and trying to fill in every last detail might help us understand what happened on the deeper level, and what can and should happen in the near future. There’s still not a great picture of exactly why it took so long for reinforcements to arrive on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, and who made what decision when concerning them; nobody knows who planted the bombs outside the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters; we don’t have a precise sense of what congressional leaders were doing the entire day, whom they spoke to and when, how they and military leaders did or did not work with Mike Pence, and we have even less a sense of what Trump did that afternoon besides watch television. And that leaves out all the other strange things that might have happened inside the vast federal government that day and in the months leading up to it, unrelated to the election. It’s been such a strange two years that it’s hard to make sense of even the parameters.https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katherinemiller/trump-books-jan-6

Nina Totenberg just now mentioned that Sotomayor "has serious diabetes," oh great

That's been known for a while?

IT came up in a New Yorker profile at least a decade ago

Wal some of us don't keep up w such hifalutin readin (Nina said that's why she wearing a mask at today's reunion, "paranoid about Covid": o get over it girl)

yeah i think she is a type 1 diabetic

i.e., has had it forever

Not just diabetes, *serious* diabetes.
https://www.filmstories.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/yahoo-Serious.jpg

Yeah, Nina sounding like she having serious moonlight fun at the reunion.

xp - Yup. Source: this book from a series my son loved:

https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534196623i/38799537._UY630_SR1200,630_.jpg

Series of all the Supremes?

Looks cool, anyway. Thanks for that cover and endorsement on a rainy Monday.

Hi Kristi:
Over a dozen U.S. states have become "leaders" in "peddling financial secrecy," according to a global investigation of leaked documents, known as the "Pandora Papers," published this weekend.

Why it matters: "South Dakota, Nevada and other states have adopted financial secrecy laws that rival those of offshore jurisdictions," per the papers, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington, D.C., and shared with major news outlets.

The investigation, involving more than 600 journalists examining over 11.9 million financial records, found data showing "leaders of foreign governments, their relatives and companies moving their private fortunes into U.S.-based trusts," per the Washington Post, an investigation media partner.
President Biden has pledged that his administration will lead efforts to bring transparency to the U.S. and global financial systems.
The files suggest that the U.S. has emerged as "a leading tax haven," with South Dakota in particular allegedly "sheltering billions of dollars in wealth linked to individuals previously accused of serious financial crimes," notes the Guardian, another partner, along with the BBC and Le Monde.
Of note: The records provide "substantial new evidence" that South Dakota "now rivals notoriously opaque jurisdictions in Europe and the Caribbean in financial secrecy," per WashPost.

"Year after year in South Dakota, state lawmakers have approved legislation drafted by trust industry insiders, providing more and more protections and other benefits for trust customers in the U.S. and abroad," according to the ICIJ.
"Customer assets in South Dakota trusts have more than quadrupled over the past decade to $360 billion," the ICIJ added.
Zoom in: "Tens of millions of dollars from outside the United States are now sheltered by trust companies in Sioux Falls, some of it tied to people and companies accused of human rights abuses and other wrongdoing," WashPost reports.

The outlet notes records show that in 2019, "family members of the former vice president of the Dominican Republic, who once led one of the largest sugar producers in the country, finalized several trusts in South Dakota."
"The trusts held personal wealth and shares of the company, which has stood accused of human rights and labor abuses, including illegally bulldozing houses of impoverished families to expand plantations," WashPost adds.
Representatives for South Dakota and Nevada legislators and the Biden administration did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Lotta links in original: https://www.axios.com/pandora-papers-south-dakota-rivals-offshore-tax-havens-67243448-d2bf-4545-bdc9-920ee7ca4f23.html

I specifically recall a story about Trump saying during a meeting that he might get to replace Sotomayor due to the diabetes, and then miming a person in a wheelchair.

Sinema was respectfully questioned by a DACA recipient while on her way back to DC.

The disrespectful and dismissive way the senator treats a member of the public really shows that she doesn’t think regular people deserve the time of day.

pic.twitter.com/cLePd9LGRI

— Eoin Higgins (@EoinHiggins_) October 4, 2021

it goes on and on

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.