US Politics, May 2023: May 1 never happened

Sassy!

Biden: One of the things that I heard some of you saying is why doesn't Biden say what a good deal it is? You think that's going to help get it passed? No. That's why you guys don't bargain very well. pic.twitter.com/q4xRKedQGy

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 29, 2023

to be fair, in the short term, his (and mccarthy's) problem appears to be getting it past ultra rightist cranks on the rules committee.

McCarthy's already on to more achievable goals:

Kevin McCarthy told Hugh Hewitt that the next goal for Republicans is to "eliminate the wokeism" pic.twitter.com/cEdaysT3OM

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 30, 2023

This seems good:

Question: How much confidence do you have in the speaker right now?
Bishop: None. Zero. pic.twitter.com/c4oYvmcOjp

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 30, 2023

Time for a Mencken quote:

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the population alarmed (and thus clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with a whole series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

"wokeism" = new hobgoblin

Wokeism-Leninism

The news from Minnesota these days, from Tennessee it's like looking at another planet.

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura (I) joins Gov. Tim Walz (D) as he signs a bill legalizing marijuana:

"Prohibition will end today on cannabis ... a plant made by God. [Gov. Walz and the Legislature], thank you."

"Jimi Hendrix is looking down on Minnesota smiling today." pic.twitter.com/9ZMiMxBIYi

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) May 30, 2023

Who was it who was posting dire warnings here that Tara Reade was someone who should absolutely be taken seriously and who represented a major threat to Biden's candidacy? *nelson-laugh.gif*

Russian media announces that Biden accuser Tara Reade is now in Russia. Russian spy Marina Butina is helping her get citizenship. pic.twitter.com/pP9p8hRcFw

— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) May 30, 2023

holy shit

Most of us on the Biden thread around April '20 xpost

except for Fred B

claims that should be seriously evaluated, one of those "seriously but not literally" things that pop up during an election

what a plot twist now, though

*ahem*

Woah, I'm seeing things.

We’re a country of separate countries.

SHAKES!

Yeah, that's the real breaking news.

whoa, hi Οὖτις!

we traded Russia Reade for Shakey?

part of the debt ceiling negotiation

Someone had to say it...

McGovern: This represents an all time high in recklessness and stupidity. Let me point out the obvious, every time Republicans are in charge they screw things up. pic.twitter.com/XOPDevZtFc

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 30, 2023

sometimes you just can't win

Chick-Fil-A Branded 'Woke' After Right-Wingers Find Old Diversity Statement

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chick-fil-a-woke-diversity-controversy_n_64762adbe4b045ce24852bf4

ahahahahahahaha

“Chick-Fil-A-Woke”

this isn't political, but McDonalds is next in line

i cannot get over how cute the new sapphic McDonald's commercial is 😭 pic.twitter.com/s2SkBK1doM

— ⚢ (@dailysoftgl) May 29, 2023

In today's hypermediated and hypersexualized world (to coin a phrase) that ad will definitely be seen as sexual by the type of people who'll make an uproar over this. otoh, their great-grandmothers probably held hands with other young women frequently, made similarly cute comments, and it never crossed their minds how that might be viewed by others. It was, if anything, hypernormal back then.

fwiw that ad is for the Philippines market

Love na babalik-balikan #LoveKoAll 🥰 pic.twitter.com/BsjHAQXd69

— McDo Philippines (@McDo_PH) May 30, 2023

definitely pretty tolerant over there.

hi, Shakey

not getting my hopes up that Οὖτις will return, but it's nice to see a post

lol I guess?

🚨CBO says debt limit provisions negotiated by the White House will *expand* direct spending on SNAP and the number of recipients on net.

The expansion to veterans, homeless, and foster youth is larger than the effects of the age 49-54 work requirementshttps://t.co/6uJ6WUDW3r pic.twitter.com/S95mkNfJfy

— Aaron Fritschner (@Fritschner) May 30, 2023

I have already read some say that CBO is over-estimating the number of vets, homeless etc who will know they’re now eligible and be able to fill out the paperwork

Also reading some say Biden did great in limiting budget decreases for agencies, and that with Republicans controlling House limited budgets were inevitable. But deal has all those other components too plus no closures of tax loopholes or reduced defense . Plus Biden was forced to negotiate .

The debt ceiling deal is closer to being "what Republicans would expect to get through the ordinary budget process" than many feared.

But they still profited off hostage taking. And that's a big loss for responsible government in the U.S. https://t.co/s53jwIKQxX pic.twitter.com/NNKPJvCtnu

— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) May 28, 2023

So, a mixed bag in terms of the politics of it, which seems unavoidable in a nation that gave Donald Trump more than 74 million votes. In terms of doing anything good for anyone below the median income, just another bitter pill they're being forced to swallow.

for Republicans, the point of the debt-ceiling standoff was not to advance deficit reduction, but rather, a budget that prioritized low taxes for the rich and high spending on the military over all other fiscal priorities. They won this on the strength of their reputation for nihilism. Biden believed that Republicans just might deliberately make Americans poorer if he did not consent to their desired spending cuts. McCarthy, by contrast, did not believe that Democrats would engineer a recession if his caucus refused to, say, close the carried interest loophole. This is partly attributable to the fact that the sitting president is likely to take the lion’s share of blame for any economic crisis. Still, congressional Democrats’ refusal to use the debt ceiling as a vehicle for extortion under Trump indicates that the two parties are not equally credible hostage takers.

Wow, those people who come up to Trump with tears in their eyes, now DeSantis is seeing them too.

DeSantis is particularly annoyed with Trump saying Andrew Cuomo handled covid better than him. Has brought it up multiple times during press conference.

Says Floridians came up “in tears, hugging me” during pandemic, saying “thank you, governor …. you saved my bacon.” https://t.co/NoTSyuXkSJ pic.twitter.com/CGiLkIQyol

— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) May 31, 2023

DeSantis never saw my bacon.

These people are all cemetery owners I imagine

the five people you meet in tears

Maybe all of these people are just allergic to assholes.

i seem to recall it being generally poor form for strangers in tears to walk up and hug you at the height of the pandemic, but of course DeSantis never saw it that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKxRmYbhA3o

i guess this is mccarthy's way of saying sorry to his right wing, while also cutting an early campaign ad for congressional democrats.

Breaking: Kevin McCarthy announces a “commission” to “look at” cutting Social Security and Medicare: “I’m going to make some people uncomfortable.”

He attacked Biden for “walling off” cuts to Social Security and Medicare during debt ceiling negotiations. pic.twitter.com/4jWkNUtCHD

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) May 31, 2023

Kevin licks The Third Rail like in A Christmas Story

Good idea, the GOP should campaign on that.

Christ almighty. I'm not in business of giving Kevin McCarthy advice but wtf dude. They just spent literal months having a shitfit every time Biden accused them of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare, they cut a debt ceiling deal that does not cut Social Security and Medicare, now is the time you say, "See, we were never going to cut Social Security and Medicare."

Oh, is he making you uncomfortable?

it's a dog whistle to the far right that only believes the federal gov't should purchase weapons

there will be no 'commission'

Kevin McCarthy always makes me uncomfortable because he always seems so uncomfortable himself. Talk about a guy who is going to leave no discernible imprint on history. He's not even sure what he's there for.

Meanwhile this Georgia raid on the people providing bail assistance to Cop City protesters seems pretty bad.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/atlanta-police-arrest-3-organizers-behind-bail-fund-supporting-protests-against-cop-city