Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Not Over
But, again, unlike the US, there aren't geographic areas with low vaccination rates. They're basically evenly spread.
Freed Bill Cosby
The prosecutor was last seen as Trump's impeachment lawyer, so... ...counterpoint:
5. This, to put it mildly, is BS. Cosby had the best lawyers money could buy.
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) June 30, 2021
Cosby would not be tricked into thinking he had immunity when he did not have immunity. His lawyers were too good for that.
Cosby knew exactly what he was doing and he knew he didn't have immunity.
The Predictable Path
There was an argument that ACA was worth it, there quite likely won't be for this as it plays out. Happy to be wrong!
Ever Closer
The Manhattan district attorney’s office is expected to charge the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer with tax-related crimes on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said, which would mark the first criminal charges against the former president’s company since prosecutors began investigating it three years ago.Suspect this is all just theater! Vance running out the clock then deep sixing it before the next DA.The charges against the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, the company’s longtime chief financial officer, are a blow to former President Donald Trump, who has fended off multiple criminal and civil probes during and after his presidency. Mr. Trump himself isn’t expected to be charged, his lawyer said. Mr. Weisselberg has rejected prosecutors’ attempts at gaining his cooperation, according to people familiar with the matter.
Isn't Anyone Trying To Reinvent The Bus Anymore
Entitlement
Kamala Harris’ chief of staff has effectively shut out several of the vice president’s longtime political and business world allies as the Biden administration contends with several challenges, including battles over voting rights and the border, according to people familiar with the matter.That this is presented as a problem, that these people run to a journalist to say something about it, that no one thinks, "ah, yes, these are probably precisely the types of people, people who run to the press with their nonsense, that the VP might want to stay away from."Harris has not been returning phone calls to people who have considered themselves members of her inner circle, including donors and people who supported her Senate and White House runs, according to some of the people with knowledge of the situation.
Tuesday, June 29, 2021
What Changed
Sure Democratic administrations are pure and good (cough), but was the Bush administration less corrupt than Reagan's? The Trump administration (lol)?
"Above a certain pay grade, you can do what you want" is the basic cultural norm. Apparently more than it used to be!
Baby Steps
Washington (CNN)The former daughter-in-law of a Trump Organization officer said Monday evening that she is prepared to testify before a grand jury convened by Manhattan's top prosecutor as part of the investigation into former President Donald Trump's sprawling company.A weird thing is that there's been a subtext for years of, "oh yes, of course the president is guity of so many crimes, so many yuuge crimes." Not a single person doubts it!
Ever Closer
Former President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani is facing a federal inquiry over possible improper lobbying for Turkey, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.The Justice Department's inquiry is separate from the criminal investigation into Giuliani's activities in Ukraine, the source said.
Not Over
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health backtracked on its Covid guidelines Monday, “strongly” recommending masking in all indoor public places, due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant.Any little thing which slows the spread helps.
But hOw dO we pAy fOR iT
The fuzzy math on unemployment benefits is just one of the debatable assumptions the Senate and White House dealmakers made in claiming they are paying for more than $500 billion in new infrastructure spending with new revenue.Just ways to prevent nice things.
Seems Bad
GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona is set to host a fundraiser with Nick Fuentes, a far-right political commentator and streamer who was identified as a white supremacist by the FBI and is seen as the leader of a nationalist movement called the "Groyper Army."
Monday, June 28, 2021
Under Water
Not saying that's the correct view, of course, and "horrifyingly expensive" is also a major problem. People can be a bit flippant, I think, talking about Miami, for example, being under water in a few years... Will it be?
America Has The Worst Weather In The World
There are hotter places and there are cooler places, but Chicago is really fucking hot and really fucking cold. Mid-Atlantic not much better.
I Hear You, Senator
Listen, Mitch McConnell’s all consuming motivation is to stop anything from passing when Democrats are in control.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) June 28, 2021
It’s what he wakes up thinking about, it’s what he eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it’s what he dreams about at night.
That’s what’s going on today.
Running Towards The Field Of Rakes
They have their bullshit narratives, but you don't have to help them.
Sunday, June 27, 2021
Hot
Others
I know neither anthropologists nor sociologists would appreciate this characterization, but the basic sociology/anthropology distinction of covering us versus covering them is one useful way to think about things when you read the funny papers.
Saturday, June 26, 2021
Saturday Afternoon
That kid has gone on to better things!
If The Russians Love Their Children Too
Friday, June 25, 2021
Bye Bye
Derek Chauvin sentenced to 22.5 years (270 months) for the murder of George Floyd.
— Edward Keenan (@thekeenanwire) June 25, 2021
Let's See Donnie Two Scoops Wriggle Out Of This One
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has informed Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that it is considering criminal charges against his family business, the Trump Organization, in connection with fringe benefits the company awarded a top executive, according to several people with knowledge of the matter.If the case moves ahead, the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., could announce charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, as soon as next week, the people said.
John Roberts Is Not Amused
Justice Department officials announced a federal lawsuit Friday against Georgia over new statewide voting restrictions that federal authorities allege purposefully discriminate against Black Americans, the first major action by the Biden administration to confront efforts from Republican-led jurisdictions to limit election turnout.
Hot
A brutal heat wave is forecasted to hit the Pacific Northwest and Northern California this weekend, expected to break temperature records and even hospitalize or kill people.Real oldheads remember when "we" hated France, and laughed at them very much because a bunch of people died in a heat wave there. People die in heat waves here, too.
Things Fall Down
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Almost 160 people are unaccounted for Friday morning, a day after a 12-story beachfront condominium building just north of Miami collapsed, killing at least four people.
Clever Deal
Thursday, June 24, 2021
America's Worst Columnist
So…this is simply false about Minneapolis by Thomas Friedman. Just a straight up lie. https://t.co/h1GXVPI9Uy pic.twitter.com/MCevCLChWI
— Patrick Fenelon 🌹 (@Patrick_Fenelon) June 24, 2021
Han Solo
Rudy News!
A New York appellate court suspended Rudolph W. Giuliani’s law license on Thursday after a disciplinary panel found that he made “demonstrably false and misleading” statements about the 2020 election as Donald J. Trump’s personal attorney.
REPUBLICANS HATE THE TROOPS
I don't support going down that road, precisely, becuase you can't fight the brand. Republicans LOVE TROOPs and Democrats HATE TROOPS and it's pushing a boulder up a mountain to try to reverse that.An angry Laura Ingraham says she’s totally outraged over General Milley after she suggests withholding funding to the military pic.twitter.com/wApq1qytRV
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 24, 2021
HOWEVER, Democrats do have a good brand that they forget. Similarly, our good friends on the other side of the aisle have an absolue shit brand. Run into that and take every opportunity to point out when the Republicans, for example, want women and kids to die.
I Can't Quit You
Shatner get a life dot gif.
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Sorry, Boomers
I re-watched the movie Yesterday over the last couple of nights. I saw it on an airplane around when it came out. I actually think The Beatles are great and while not a MEGAFAN can reasonably do well in a lyric contest/dance off/whatever.
Still... While it certainly wasn't its intention, the movie made it a bit too clear that however great (pioneering, innovative, later ripped off, whatever) they were, those songs don't hold up quite as well as some people think they should!
The movie itself was flawed (meaning, I think it could've been pretty great, but wasn't), but more than that... the basic premise that upon seeing that movie, The Kids Today would have their minds blown by the music was...not correct.
Good stuff, but...
Superspreading Events
The Illiberal Libs Gave Us No Choice
TALLAHASSEE — In his continued push against the “indoctrination” of students, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed legislation that will require public universities and colleges to survey students, faculty and staff about their beliefs and viewpoints to support “intellectual diversity.”
Vaccine Resistance
More than 150 health-care workers who did not comply with a Houston-based hospital system’s vaccine mandate have been fired or resigned, more than a week after a federal judge upheld the policy."Having to get vaccinated" is something many people are familiar with, as they have children, even if they don't remember their own childhoods.
The AZ risk are real, but that isn't offered in the US and the other vaccines seems fine? Some people think authorities overreacted to the J&J shot risks, but I think "showing they would take risks seriously" was a decent call. And yet...
Monkey's Paw
Eric Adams, who ran for mayor of New York City on a message intensely focused on issues of public safety, emerged on Tuesday with a substantial lead in the Democratic primary, but fell well short of outright victory in a race that will now usher in a new period of uncertainty.With 82 percent of the results in, Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, was the first choice of 31.6 percent of those who voted in person on Tuesday or during the early voting period, as New Yorkers chose a leader to steer the city’s reopening and economic recovery.
(Yang 4th on initial voting count, conceded)..@ericadamsfornyc “I’m going to promise you in one year, one year, you’re going to see a different city.” Promises economic development, Bitcoin, self-driving cars, renewed businesses.
— Sally Goldenberg (@SallyGold) June 23, 2021
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
When The Curve Tilts Up
Covid-19 transmission is accelerating in several poorly vaccinated states, primarily in the South plus Missouri and Utah, and more young people are turning up at hospitals. The data present the clearest sign of a rebound in the U.S. in months.
Jubilee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom says California will pay off all the past-due rent that accumulated in the nation’s most populated state because of the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, a promise to make landlords whole while giving renters a clean slate.
Out
On Monday, Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib became the first active N.F.L. player to publicly declare that he is gay.“I just want to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay,” Nassib said in a video posted to his Instagram account. “Sadly, I have agonized over this moment for the last 15 years,” he wrote in the same post.
Unleashed
But my point isn't about the horrors of a Trump second term, it's that while the next Republican president might not be quite as special as Trump, restraints on their presidency will not be in operation, either.
Real America
Monday, June 21, 2021
Speaking of 9/11
One thing which strikes me a lot these days is how much airline travel has changed "back." Sure there are the dumb TSA things like the liquid ban, but I'm still conditioned from that era when if you mouthed off to a flight attendant, or pulled your camera out at immigration control (I saw this happen), you were going to spend some time in a room with some pissed off members of law enforcement. Not really the case anymore. The extra "discipline" is gone.
But What Of The Right To Get Rich Off The Uncompensated Labor Of Disproportionately Minority "Amateurs"
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that the N.C.A.A. cannot bar relatively modest payments to student-athletes in the name of amateurism. The decision, based on antitrust law, came as the business model of college sports is under increasing pressure.The right step, anyway.Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that the N.C.A.A. was not free to limit benefits tied to education for Division I football and basketball players. The decision allowed payments for things like musical instruments, scientific equipment, postgraduate scholarships, tutoring, study abroad, academic awards and internships. It did not permit the outright payment of salaries.
This quote from Justice Kavanaugh cuts deep: "Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing to not pay their workers a fair market rate on their theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. The
— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) June 21, 2021
NCAA is not above the law."
Delta of Sickness
The transmission of the more contagious delta variant in the United States could spur a fall surge in coronavirus infections if only 75 percent of the country’s eligible population is vaccinated, former Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb said Sunday.And the US is a big country with, unlike the UK, huge regional variations in vaccine uptake.
Take This Job And Shove It
I'm very pro-immigration (OPEN THE BORDERS), but the status quo really did provide for an easily exploitable buffer workforce. That part isn't good!
Disturbing new survey finds that 30% of workers now expect to not be treated like shit. Here’s why that’s a problem for the economy:
— Being nice, feeling nice (@InternetHippo) June 21, 2021
Maybe A Tragic And Traumatic National Event Will Create A More Compassionate And Empathetic Nation
People's true colors do come out a bit, though. That's something I guess. The asshole list grows ever longer.
Sunday, June 20, 2021
JAQing Off
In The Heights
I'm not even particular interested in dance (it's fine, just not what I'm there for), but if you're going to do it...
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Young Guns
I guess Kevin did ok...by declaring fealty to a gross old dude.
Bad Faith Operators
A pointless plea, but as with the last guy, the specific lies mostly aren't the issue, it's that they are liars. As I've written, the "liar" is such a fixture of DC that it is culturally taboo to reject them, but...
Friday, June 18, 2021
Paul McCartney Is 79
Does "Bad" Still Mean Good?
The heatwave gripping the US west is simultaneously breaking hundreds of temperature records, exacerbating a historic drought and priming the landscape for a summer and fall of extreme wildfire....
This is really, really bad. Here on the eastern side of the Rockies, here in Boulder, we’re seeing record high temperatures. That’s the case in other parts of the state and in other states. And we’re seeing smoke plumes – not from local fires but from fires in Arizona and Utah. I think for a lot of people, it’s traumatic. The fires we saw in the last couple of years were really awful, and this year it seems like we’re on that same trajectory. It kind of feels like deja vu.
Inner Voice
GOP Rep. Ralph Norman explains his Juneteenth no vote on Fox radio:
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) June 18, 2021
"How many holidays do we want? What's the magic number. This would put it to 11. Do we want 20? Are we going to do one for the Native American Indians? I mean where does it stop? This was such an easy no vote."
How Tucker
Any Excuse Will Do
Basically, Manchin is holding the reins on the issue — in a 50-50 split Senate, the entire Democratic Party has become beholden to him and his red lines. So it was very bizarre and unsubtle Thursday when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and his Republican colleagues decided to start referring to Manchin's proposal as the "Stacey Abrams substitute."They do like humiliating their very good friend, Joe Manchin.
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Is Salena Zito A Producer There Now
The Even Better Stuff
(We can have a long discussion about what improvements we should prioritize in fantasy land, but this is a pretty good one)New: Schumer-Sanders reconciliation package being prepped by Dems expected to INCLUDE Medicare to 60, expansion of Medicare to cover dental/vision/hearing, sources say.
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) June 17, 2021
Confirm $6T/10 number reported by @marianne_levine & @burgessev. Story tk w/ @TonyRomm
The Good Stuff
The U.S. Education Department said Wednesday that the federal law that bans sex-based discrimination in education extends to gay and transgender students, the latest move in a broad effort by the Biden administration to roll back Trump-era restrictions on transgender students’ rights.
Supremos
(in general hate the "no one has standing for anything" but above my pay grade).
Serfs
Officer Fanone says Rep. Clyde wouldn’t shake his hand. He says when the elevator doors opened, Rep. Clyde ran away like a coward. pic.twitter.com/gC0dTmDNs6
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 17, 2021
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
The Most Powerful Beings In The Universe
I know I'm repeating myself here, or finding different ways to say the same thing anyway, but when they're the ones who can push back on some very nasty things. And they're the only ones who can before it's too late.
Also do some good stuff!
Show Me 10 Republicans
Backlashing Backlashing Backlashing Our Way Away From Freedom
Ultimately, the case against Boudin rests on two assumptions: that crime in the city has exploded and that Boudin isn’t charging people at the rate his predecessors did. And neither of those assumptions is true. There’s also little evidence that progressive policies such as ending cash bail or refusing to charge low-level offenses have anything to do with the spike in violence nationwide. The 2020 figures are expected to show a homicide surge coast to coast, in rural areas and urban areas, in jurisdictions with both reform-minded radicals and law-and-order stalwarts in the DA’s chair.It’s also worth noting that the people most affected by these policies seem to be okay with them. Last month, despite media speculation that the city’s escalating murder rate would hurt him politically, Philadelphia voters reelected reformist DA Larry Krasner last month by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. The gap was even higher in high-crime areas. Chicago’s top prosecutor Kim Foxx was also reelected in November, as was St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. Both faced elevated homicide rates and vocal opposition from police unions.
A Foolproof Plan That Could Not Possibly Have Any Negative Consequences
"The Biden administration is looking forward, not back," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., whose panel once considered subpoenaing Trump’s interpreter to testify about his July 2018 meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, where only an American interpreter was also present.
Spread The Blame Around
The reasons aren't always excuses, but if you take on the responsibility for leading things, you have taken on the responsibility for getting things done. There are carrots and sticks, and while no one is all powerful, if Chuck Schumer isn't promising to shit in Joe Manchin's Buick (or offering to move the Pentagon to Wheeling), he isn't doing all he can.
Another problem is we have driven out all the good political corruption and replaced it with the bad kind. Good political corruption is "shower money for infrastructure on my districts and state and I will play ball." Bad political corruption is... I whatever the fuck is going on right now.
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Strange People
Preserving the status quo is a way to use power, of course, but it's a strange one!
Sounds Bad
Mr. Trump sent an email via his assistant to Jeffrey A. Rosen, the incoming acting attorney general, that contained documents purporting to show evidence of election fraud in northern Michigan — the same claims that a federal judge had thrown out a week earlier in a lawsuit filed by one of Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers.Another email from Mr. Trump to Mr. Rosen followed two weeks later, again via the president’s assistant, that included a draft of a brief that Mr. Trump wanted the Justice Department to file to the Supreme Court. It argued, among other things, that state officials had used the pandemic to weaken election security and pave the way for widespread election fraud.
Nonsense and Sensibility
The thing LIBERALS would not give OUR GREAT PRESIDENT credit for is that before Covid, the economy was doing "great," at least a great as the American economy, as structured, can do, and the first taste of full employment was hitting wallets.
Maybe providing full communism isn't the answer, but squishy moderates should at least deliver on squishy moderate stuff. Better make sure things feel good to people in November 2022, whatever it takes. Filling up the time by dodging an endless stream of tan suit stories and tributes to the glorious bipartisan goal of doing nothing probably isn't enough.
I have yet to see the "infrastructure week" jokes aimed at Biden, but maybe it's time....
Monday, June 14, 2021
Owning the Libs
Correlation of Biden vote share and adult Covid vaccination rate is now at .847. (CDC data) pic.twitter.com/J2hQHKYUIH
— Seth Masket (@smotus) June 14, 2021
America's Worst Humans
George Packer's main takeaway from the largest protest movement in American history, with more than 20 million protesters, is they were "disproportionately Millennials with advanced degrees making more than $100,000 a year." Go to more protests you crumb.https://t.co/nbpeqagRIL pic.twitter.com/fLjoWDFXs4
— Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan) June 14, 2021
Your Moment of Zen
A lot of The Discourse from the smartest boys on the internet and others fails to confront the reality of, well, anything, instea of the comforting "way things oughta be" they imagine things are.This is how it introduces Reconstruction: through the gosh-darn sticktoitiveness of Francis Tillou Nicholls, the ex-Confederate "redeemer" who crushed black political rights. pic.twitter.com/mOpWVJUZob
— Joshua Benton (@jbenton) June 14, 2021
What Does Sinema Want?
The incentives in our system are so messed up that we elect a bunch of people who don't want to do anything, and they're generally portrayed to be the wise and sensible ones.
Not Over
I don't know what the precise policies should be, but the message pushed, by so many bored and comfortable media commenters, that vaccinated people should let their freak flags fly and we should resume coughing into each other's mouths as a greeting as quickly as possible, has not been helpful. It's one thing to allow things, another to encourage them, and yet another to try to bully people into them.
Every small and mostly costless bit of restraint is still helpful, and encouraging otherwise is a mistake. I'm not saying everyone should stay home and refrain from being anywhere in public, but it's still prudent to say, "go out to enjoy yourselves, but show some restraint. Keep a bit of social distancing if it isn't too hard. Wear a mask when easy - why not?"
The smartest boys on the internet insisted that any such messaging would discourage people from being vaccinated, as it would ruin the "reward." That's a glibertarian perspective that only people who spent the last 15 months comfortably working from home could have. The real result is stripping any workplace/other public protections when lots of people, for whatever reasons, are still not vaccinated.
The Sensibles
This is what the supposedly sensible, moderate, grown up politicians do. Then they can blame The Left because twitter user TrotskyChavez420 tweeted, "fuck the pigs."
Sunday, June 13, 2021
Your Moment Of Zen
Deleting my dating apps because I want to meet someone the old fashioned way (their car breaks down on a stormy night and they need to use my phone)
— Tim Curry (@NotTheTimCurry) June 13, 2021
Do Things That Are Popular
Do them!
Saturday, June 12, 2021
Wingnut Evolution
With the Kansas State Department of Education considering changes to science instruction that would cast some doubt on the theory of evolution, the New Republic decided to contact leading conservatives and ask for their thoughts on evolution and the competing theory of intelligent design. The results betray a perspective that's less highly evolved than you might expect from such an erudite group.This jumped out at me later in the 2005 piece:Of the 15 high-profile commentators contacted by the magazine, eight were willing to state unequivocally that they believe in evolution: George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum; William F. Buckley, Richard Brookhiser, Ramesh Ponnuru and Jonah Goldberg of the National Review; Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post; James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal; and David Brooks of the New York Times.
Tucker Carlson, liberals' favorite box-tied chatterbox, said he would not "discount" the idea that God "created man in his present form."You never, ever have to hand it to them.
MyPillow Guy
Why I'm Giving Bill Barr The Benefit Of The Doubt
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s independent inspector general opened an investigation on Friday into the decision by federal prosecutors to secretly seize the data of House Democrats and reporters as investigators hunted down who was leaking classified information early in the Trump administration.An alternative approach is, "if you agree this abuse of power is acceptable, we're going to use it on you, assholes."At the same time, top Senate Democrats demanded that the former attorneys general Jeff Sessions and William P. Barr testify publicly before Congress about the leak investigations, including about subpoenas issued to tech companies in 2017 and 2018 for the records of at least a dozen people tied to the House Intelligence Committee. The senators vowed to “vigorously investigate” and called on Republicans to join them.
Friday, June 11, 2021
The Thin Blue Line
Federal authorities have arrested a Chicago police officer for his alleged role in the January breach of the U.S. Capitol that interrupted the Electoral College vote count and has led to a sprawling criminal investigation.Karol J. Chwiesiuk is charged with five misdemeanor counts and appeared remotely before U.S. Judge Gabriel Fuentes in Chicago Friday, where he was given a $15,000 unsecured bond.
Property Taxes
Yet almost everyone balks at choosing between them — so much so that when we’re talking about unequal outcomes, we tend to insist we’re really only mad because the winners broke the rules. Even if we must invent new rules for people to break, such as “You shouldn’t wait until you sell an asset to pay taxes on your capital gains.”(ht jon schwarz)That idea has recently gained currency among some progressive academics, but it’s not how the U.S. tax code works, for good reason. It probably wouldn’t feel very fair if it applied to you and me — just because the value of your house jumped in a hot market doesn’t mean you have enough cash to pay taxes on that appreciation. And while the ultrawealthy wouldn’t be forced out of their family homes, they might be forced to sell off stock of a business they spent decades building. Eight of the 10 richest people in the United States got that way by building very successful firms from the ground up.
Call The Celestial Hall Monitor
The unwillingness of the House Dems to use their powers to subpoena people and put them in jail when they lie is... I just don't know what to say about it.
It isn't just their own skins in jeopardy, it's everything.
Appoint A Company Man, He Protects The Company
Since then, the committee official tells me, Schiff’s office has been asking the department to specify what the legal predicate was for including members of Congress and their aides in this data sweep, and what, exactly, prompted the department to target them.I get that you don't want the people to lose faith in the food supply, so it's easy for the butcher to convince himself that it's very important the people aren't aware that much of the meat he sells is rotten, but when the stench is unbearable, perhaps that faith is best maintained by fessing up and tossing out all the rot.They’ve also been asking the department for a timeline of when the department sought the data involving members of Congress and staff, who else was subpoenaed, and whether that included Republicans. There’s been some back and forth discussion, but no meaningful answers.
“We have repeatedly posed basic and readily answerable questions to the department for more than a month, but have received virtually no information beyond a confirmation that the investigation is closed," the committee official told me. “The department’s refusal to provide information is unacceptable.”
Somebody Else Should Do Something
Even Schiff, who has more to be outraged about here than anyone, punts right back to the Justice Department. DEMS HAVE SUBPOENA POWER. https://t.co/ywWQpXj36I
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) June 11, 2021
It Shouldn't Be Surprising That They Did This
The Oregon House voted 59-1 Thursday to expel Rep. Mike Nearman, the first time it has ejected a sitting representative.Lawmakers removed Nearman because he let far-right demonstrators, some of whom were heavily armed, into the Capitol on Dec. 21 while lawmakers were holding a special session. The Capitol was closed to the public due to the pandemic and remains so.
Thursday, June 10, 2021
Steamroll
Figure out what you want to do, and do it fast. If you can't do that, do plan B. Fast. If not, plan C. Etc...
Hanoi Jane
Such a crazy time. Right wingers looking for "Anti-Americanism" everywhere, and centrist doofuses mostly cheering them on.
I'll Compromise You Through That Window
Senior US embassy diplomats in London, backed by the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, have directly warned the UK’s Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, that he will inflame tensions in Northern Ireland if he does not compromise over border checks.Short version: Boris and the gang just wanted any sort of "hard" Brexit and didn't care much about the details and the consequences, figuring they'd bullshit their way through it. Worked well for them their entire lives!
Removing Northern Ireland from the EU causes a bit of a problem, as it replaces the border the EU/Good Friday Agreements had removed. A border that requires, among other things, food and agrictulural checks to be consistent with EU law/treaty. Can't impose that and then pretend it doesn't really exist. It does!
Don't have to have any particular opinions about Ireland/NI to understand that re-imposing a border where there was not one is a problem!
Thursday Is New Jobless Day
er...
376K new lucky duckies!
Still high! But heading towards "normal" territory.
Wednesday, June 09, 2021
Doesn't Seem Right Somehow
Over the past 25 years, I.R.S. resources have been steadily cut, with the ratio of enforcement funding to returns filed falling by around 50 percent. Today, the I.R.S. has fewer auditors than at any time since World War II. Faced with resource constraints, it is no surprise that the agency is not able to appropriately focus scrutiny on complex returns, where noncompliance is greatest. Of about four million partnership returns filed in 2018, the I.R.S. audited only 140 of them. It did not pursue 300 high-income taxpayers who together cost the agency $10 billion in unpaid taxes over a three-year period when they failed to even file returns.
Close
Sen. Mitt Romney says that bipartisan infra talks started with 5 GOP senators and has expanded to “eight or nine people [in his conference] who think we’re on the right track.”
— Alex Bolton (@alexanderbolton) June 9, 2021
Suggests a deal could come close to 60 votes.
Uber'd
Covid: Good And Bad
Not quite there yet, but there will come a time when "they're only hurting themselves" isn't too far from an accurate characteriziation of people who refuse to become vaccinated...unless, of course, a vaccine-resistant variant erupts because of it.
And that's not unlikely!
Shitcoins
Can't even bet against them, because as some guy said, the markets can remain irrational longer than I can remain solvent. Only time I was tempted to trade in individual stocks was to short Tesla, and that would have been a bad idea four hundred dollars (share price) ago!
The Mac Is Back
That VA seems to be almost certainly (but not necessarily!) a Dem lock is "funny," given that... that was not the case until recently.
Tuesday, June 08, 2021
Surprising
Washington (CNN)Republican members of Oregon's House of Representatives have called on an embattled member of their caucus to resign after newly surfaced video showed him appearing to give protesters insights into how to access the state Capitol, which led to a scuffle between protesters and police last year.In a letter sent by every Republican in the chamber to GOP state Rep. Mike Nearman on Monday, the lawmakers say they "strongly recommend" he resign from his position in the legislature.
And Lucy Brings Out Another Football
President Biden appears to be looking for new negotiating partners. Cassidy is part of a bipartisan group of Senators who have been trying to develop their own infrastructure plan. https://t.co/2aroLRQn8W
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) June 8, 2021
Things Got Out Of Hand
Criminal organizations around the world thought they were using the latest, most exclusive encrypted cellphone technology available to conduct business away from the prying eyes of law enforcement.Instead, they were unwitting customers of a communications service that was secretly created by FBI agents and federal prosecutors in San Diego.
Pizzagaetz
Conservative media outlet Newsmax, a favorite of former President Donald Trump's, rejected embattled Republican U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz's request for a job, a spokesperson for the website said on Monday.Gaetz contacted Newsmax early this year, a source at the outlet said. That was around the time that news broke Gaetz was the subject of a federal investigation into possible sex trafficking of a minor.
Paid Liars
One really has to have a brain adjustment to deal with this, and having it be the cultural norm that you experience for decades must have a corrosive effect on your ability to discern bad faith actors from good faith ones, as you spend most of your time suppressing that.
There are good faith do-gooder activists/lobbyists, but they're on the same moral and ethical footing as the liars. You know, guy who wants to stop global warming who works for $60K per year is just the same as the army of lawyer/lobbyists from Exxon.
Powerless
But I also don't think any assertion that the President of the United States is the most powerful guy on the planet and therefore might have some legitimate, noncorrupt, perfectly legal way of Doing Things And Influencing People, is what the Smartest Boys On The Internet would call "Green Lanternism" back when there was a supermajority of Democrats in the Senate.
Lots of carrots, some sticks, and perfectly legal executive authority to achieve, if not precisely Goal X, Goal X' which is pretty good, also, too, in many cases (often even better!).
Biden’s assertion that he could persuade actual Republicans to play fair was central to his campaign, which the Nates of the world fawned over as the most skillful political showcase in many years. https://t.co/ntiKubne36
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) June 8, 2021
Let’s put a finer point on this. pic.twitter.com/B13GKSDzuY
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 8, 2021
Morning Thread
Monday, June 07, 2021
Take Elon With You
A couple of weeks after Jeff Bezos officially steps down as CEO of Amazon, he’ll leap into something more mythic: riding to the edge of space aboard one of his own rockets, alongside his brother, in a flight that would fulfill a lifelong dream.
Sick Burn
“Larry has gone unchallenged for decades. It’s time for other people to lead. The old models are out of place,” said Claudia Sahm, a former economist at the Federal Reserve who is supportive of Biden’s stimulus package. “You could say Larry Summers suffers from a skills gap in the current environment.”
And He Is Opposing
The Opposition Opposes
We don't have a parliamentary system, but we should and can be more like one, both in practice and in "our" understanding of how things are supposed to work. A contest between competing visions and governances is superior to endless compromises which please no one, and that was true even when those compromises sometimes actually happened. But they don't happen anymore, and that's ok!
Sunday, June 06, 2021
LBJ Would Threaten To Kill Their Children
CENSORSHIP BY BIG TECH
Yes the big tech companies have too much power over expression and "content."
When prominent people such as Donald Trump are banned from using the platforms, the important point is that they get away with so much more than "normal" people before they face any consequences. These platforms privilege the powerful, while normal people get suspended or banned for much less, constantly, and nobody thinks it's Very Important.
Of course they have to have some sort of moderation rules/guidelines, as every internet forum owner realizes eventually. There's no way to enforce those guidelines in a perfectly consistent manner, but powerful people get more leeway, so, again, their "censorship" is not the moment to get upset about this stuff. They get to break the rules many more times.
All this was solved in The Great Usenet Flamewar of 1994.
Saturday, June 05, 2021
When The Approval Falls
Tan suit stories every day, baby!
And Then Nothing
Exactly this: This isn’t restoring normalcy, it’s normalizing. The new normal will be rampant, gangster-like criminality under Republicans, swept under the rug by Democrats if they’re ever again allowed to lead. https://t.co/eRtKldaCsj
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) June 2, 2021
And Then What
It isn't enough to know if there are no consequences. Complete elite unaccountability is spreading from the president (shouldn't be for him, either) to everyone in the upper levels of the Executive Branch.What my office found in our investigation is a five alarm fire for democracy, underscoring the depths of the White House’s efforts to influence the electoral vote certification. I will demand all evidence of Trump’s efforts to weaponize DOJ in his election subversion scheme. https://t.co/GzC6wi7i4Y
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) June 5, 2021
Liberals used to point to how many Reagan administration officials got in trouble with the law. It was a better time, really, in that such people actually could get in trouble. They weren't any worse than the Bushies or the Trumpkins (though still very bad!).
Everything Is Perfect
There's palpable surprise when anything actually happens. Always helpful to yell "DO MORE!"
Friday, June 04, 2021
Critics Everywhere
Do The Crime Do The Time
One of the most senior officials in the Trump Organization has testified before a special grand jury empaneled by the Manhattan District Attorney's office to hear evidence against former President Donald Trump and his company, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told ABC News.
Dust In The Wind
The WH never responded to Bernie Sanders's letter saying the law requires DOL to continue the gig worker benefits.
— Arthur Delaney (@ArthurDelaneyHP) June 4, 2021
DOL sec'y Walsh told me they were still "looking into it," but I don't think they were. https://t.co/8lBDoOekUj
Recessions Compared
It's amazing, really, how short some previous employment recessions were, ones which presumably seemed like a big deal at the time.
Actual recessions are measured by GDP, not employment, and as long as stonks are going up, well, what's the problem!
Can't believe there are people running around out there who truly believe they did a good job handling the Great Recession.
What Did He Get Caught Doing
...lol he might challenge Abbott.Allen West just resigned as Chair of the RPT. Effective at 5p today. #txlege
— Cat Parks (@CatParksTX) June 4, 2021
Are Dems The Good Nazis Or The Bad Nazis?
What If... Wages Actually Rose?
[E]lites will do everything in their power to put the brakes on wage increases whenever any evidence (real or not) of such increases appears.Don't think you had to be a supergenius like me to notice that for all of the focus on JERBS and THE ECONOMY by politicians, nothing makes them panic more than the idea that someone other than them might get a raise.
If we ever get to a sustained period of full employment, as we did in the good old days that conservatives pretend to love when [checks notes] taxes were really high, the squealing will never stop.
And yet, if the pursuit of maximum employment is an uncontroversial aim in the context of American oratory, it is a radical one in the context of U.S. policy. For the bulk of the past four decades, our government hasn’t merely declined to achieve full employment through public hiring; it has actively sought to keep millions of Americans perpetually unemployed.This bipartisan consensus against full employment was rarely articulated to the public in forthright terms. During the crisis that consolidated the paradigm, policy-makers were sometimes blunt; in 1979, Fed chair Paul Volcker told Congress that in order for inflation to be brought down to a tolerable level, “the standard of living of the average American has to decline.” But as inflation became more of a historical memory than a present danger, the government’s prioritization of price stability over employment became increasingly camouflaged behind the dry technocratic verbiage of central-bank press conferences. Once decoded, the gist of this new consensus was simple enough: If unemployment falls beneath its “natural” threshold, then employers will be forced into a bidding war for scarce workers, who will then secure wages in excess of their productivity, which will force businesses to raise prices, which will lead workers to demand yet-higher wages, which will force businesses to raise prices further still, thereby setting off an inflationary spiral that will be difficult to stop. Thus, to save the economy from such destabilization, the government has to reduce economic demand — by raising interest rates, or cutting federal spending, or both — before unemployment gets too low, even if inflation is not yet apparent.
JERBS!!!!!
Thursday, June 03, 2021
Lock Him Up
The FBI is investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in connection with campaign fundraising activity involving his former business, according to people familiar with the matter and a spokesman for DeJoy.FBI agents in recent weeks interviewed current and former employees of DeJoy and the business, asking questions about political contributions and company activities, these people said. Prosecutors also issued a subpoena to DeJoy himself for information, one of the people said.
The Puke Funnel
But it isn't Drudge or Twitter, really, it's shitty journalists and producers who just love this shit.
And There He Is
Biden recently called former Treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers, a Democrat who has been openly critical of the president’s economic agenda, to acknowledge Summers’s concerns and ask him to explain his objections, according to three people with knowledge of the private exchange.Larry's one of several economists and economist-adjacent people with careers in 'team D' politics whose job is to make sure good liberal things never happen. Of course you can point to many times when Larry has made some sensible suggestions, but that's only when those sensible things don't have any chance of actually happening. Propose them, and he'll say the time is not right, but here's another idea. Propose that one, he'll shift again.
Monthly Jobs Report Tomorrow
Just A Blog
True of a lot of people, really. Lots of people are stars simply because they are stars, and that doesn't happen by magic. "We" only "care" about them because they are part of the conversation for some reason. Trump was one of those people, mostly, and then he became president.
They'll know better next time.
But What Does The Development Office Have To Do With Hiring And Tenure
Yet it appears the university also received some pointed lobbying on the subject from Hussman — whose name adorns UNC’s journalism school, thanks to a $25 million pledge of support that makes him the school’s largest ever donor.Computer, enhance.“I worry about the controversy of tying the UNC journalism school to the 1619 project,” he wrote last summer in an email to the school’s dean, Susan King, according to the news site the Assembly. “Based on [Hannah-Jones’s] own words, many will conclude she is trying to push an agenda, and they will assume she is manipulating historical facts to support it.”
He copied the university’s chancellor, Kevin Guskiewicz, and one of its vice chancellors, David Routh.
David Routh Vice Chancellor for University Development, UNC-Chapel HillPreviously we learned that Hussman, Advanced Journalism Knower, didn't realize his emails would be public, and thinks he is being "objective"* as long as his influence is hidden. *thinks you suckers should think that, anyway
Wednesday, June 02, 2021
The Worst Day of Andrew Sullivan's Life
The NFL says it will halt the use of “race-norming” — which assumed Black players started out with lower cognitive functioning — in a $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims. The practice had made it harder for Black players to qualify.https://t.co/OQpzSD88xM
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 2, 2021
I Have A Better Idea
Yugely Victorious
Tuesday, June 01, 2021
They Have Done Their Duty. Go Ye And Do Yours.
“We did our part to stop SB 7,” tweeted state Rep. Erin Zwiener (D). “Now we need Congress to do their part.”“State lawmakers are holding the line,” tweetedstate Rep. James Talarico (D). “Federal lawmakers need to get their s--- together and pass the For The People Act.”
In an interview, Martinez Fischer said that national leaders need to rise to the occasion.
“Breaking quorum is about the equivalent of crawling on our knees begging the president and the United States Congress to give us the For the People Act and give us the John Lewis Voting Rights Act,” he said.
You Handle It
What's the point of being, say, a powerful committee chair if you aren't using your power?