;)
August 8, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Georgia. Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "A federal judge meted out a second layer of life sentences on Monday to Travis and Gregory McMichael, two of the three white Georgia men convicted of committing federal hate crimes for the pursuit and slaying of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man, in February 2020. And in an equally dramatic move, U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood rejected requests by the McMichaels -- who were previously sentenced to life for their murder convictions in state court -- that they be allowed to serve some part of their the concurrent life sentences in federal prison."
Oliver Darcy of CNN: "Approximately two years' worth of text messages sent and received by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones have been turned over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday. The messages were handed over to the committee by Mark Bankston, the attorney who represented two Sandy Hook parents who successfully sued Jones in Texas and won nearly $50 million in a civil trial that concluded last week."
Trump Aimed to Be More Like Hitler. Michael Shear of the New York Times:"President Donald J. Trump told his top White House aide that he wished he had generals like the ones who had reported to Adolf Hitler, saying they were 'totally loyal' to the leader of the Nazi regime, according to a forthcoming book about the 45th president. 'Why can't you be like the German generals?' Mr. Trump told John Kelly, his chief of staff, preceding the question with an obscenity, according to an excerpt from 'The Divider: Trump in the White House,' by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, published online by The New Yorker on Monday morning.... The excerpt depicts Mr. Trump as deeply frustrated by his top military officials, whom he saw as insufficiently loyal or obedient to him.... [Mr. Kelly] told Mr. Trump that Germany's generals had 'tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off.' Mr. Trump was dismissive, according to the excerpt, apparently unaware of ... World War II history.... '"No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him," the president replied,' according to the book's authors. 'In his version of history, the generals of the Third Reich had been completely subservient to Hitler; this was the model he wanted for his military. Kelly told Trump that there were no such American generals, but the president was determined to test the proposition.'"
Marie: Jayne Mayer has a story in this week's New Yorker on Republicans' gerrymandering that defies court orders. I linked below a NYT story on the same topic, but Mayer's article, which apparently concentrates on Ohio, sounds interesting. Mayer pointed out in an MSNBC interview that when the courts tell Democrats to un-gerrymander their maps, they do it; Republicans revel in their defiance and think it's funny. If you have a New Yorker subscription, please provide me with the link so I can share it. Thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~
** Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate passed legislation on Sunday that would make the most significant federal investment in history to counter climate change and lower the cost of prescription drugs, as Democrats banded together to push through major pieces of President Biden's domestic agenda over unified Republican opposition.... Altogether, the bill could allow the United States to cut greenhouse gas emissions about 40 percent below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. It would achieve Democrats' longstanding goal of slashing prescription drug costs by allowing Medicare for the first time to negotiate the prices of medicines directly and capping the amount that recipients pay out of pocket for drugs each year at $2,000. The measure also would extend larger premium subsidies for health coverage for low- and middle-income people under the Affordable Care Act for three years. And it would be paid for by substantial tax increases, mostly on large corporations, including establishing a 15 percent corporate minimum tax and imposing a new tax on company stock buybacks.... The House planned to interrupt its summer break to reconvene briefly on Friday to clear the measure, sending it to Mr. Biden for his signature...." Portions of this article appeared at the top of yesterday's New York Times liveblog of developments in the Senate Sunday. ~~~
~~~ Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Sunday approved a sweeping package to combat climate change, lower health-care costs, raise taxes on some billion-dollar corporations and reduce the federal deficit, as Democrats overcame months of political infighting to deliver the centerpiece to President Biden's long-stalled economic agenda.... The party-line vote marked a key milestone in a tumultuous journey that began last year when Democrats took control of Congress and the White House with a promise to bring financial relief to average Americans. With a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Harris, the 50-50 Senate sent the bill to the House, which aims to approve it and send it to the White House for [President] Biden's signature later this week."; This is an update of a story linked earlier Sunday. The Guardian's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ President Biden's statement, via the White House, is here. ~~~
~~~ Evan Halper & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers on Sunday successfully stripped a $35 price cap on the cost of insulin for many patients from the ambitious legislative package Democrats are moving through Congress this weekend, invoking arcane Senate rules to jettison the measure.... The insulin cap is a long-running ambition of Democrats, who want it to apply to patients on Medicare and private insurance. Republicans left the portion that applies to Medicare patients untouched but stripped the insulin cap for other patients.... The Senate parliamentarian earlier in the weekend ruled that part of the Democrats' cap, included in the Inflation Reduction Act, did not comply with the rules that allow them to advance a bill under ... reconciliation.... Some Republicans did support the price cap in the 57-43 vote for the measure, but not enough joined Democrats in support of it to meet the threshold for passage.... 'Republicans have just gone on the record in favor of expensive insulin,' said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). 'After years of tough talk about taking on insulin makers, Republicans have once against wilted in the face of heat from Big Pharma.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The NBC News story is here: "Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy of Louisiana; Susan Collins of Maine; Josh Hawley of Missouri; Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi; and Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska joined Democrats in voting to keep the insulin cap for private insurers on Sunday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Coral Davenport & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "In 1969, President Richard Nixon's adviser Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote a memo describing ... [how] the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by burning oil, gas and coal ... would dangerously heat the planet, melt the glaciers and cause the seas to rise.... Fifty-three years later..., Senate Democrats muscled through a $370 billion bill designed to move the country away from fossil fuels and toward solar, wind and other renewable energy. If the House passes the legislation later this week as expected, it will be the nation's first major climate law.... [Passage was partly the result of] a shift in strategy, which set aside what experts consider the most efficient way to cut carbon dioxide emissions, a tax on pollution, for the less-effective but more politically palatable approach of monetary incentives to industries and consumers to switch to clean energy. Essentially, lawmakers replaced the sticks with carrots."
Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "[Joe] Manchin's recent surprise agreement to back the Biden administration's historic climate legislation came about in part because the senator was promised something in return: not only support for [West Virginia's Mountain Valley P]ipeline in his home state, but also expedited approval for pipelines and other infrastructure nationwide, as part of a wider set of concessions to fossil fuels. It was a big win for a pipeline industry that, in recent years, has quietly become one of Mr. Manchin's biggest financial supporters.... Mr. Manchin has been by far Congress's largest recipient of money from natural gas pipeline companies this cycle, raising three times as much from the industry than any other lawmaker.... NextEra Energy, a utility giant and stakeholder in the Mountain Valley Pipeline, is a top donor to both Mr. Manchin and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, who negotiated the pipeline side deal with Mr. Manchin."
Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Senate Democrats agreed Sunday to protect firms owned by the private equity industry from a new minimum tax on billion-dollar corporations, bowing to pressure from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who insisted on making the change to the Democrats' sprawling climate, health-care and tax package.... The senator's objections came days after she persuaded Democrats to abandon a different effort to raise taxes on private equity managers by closing the so-called 'carried interest loophole,' which permits investment managers to pay lower rates on certain portions of their income.... The last-minute changes mark a significant victory for the private equity industry and an estimated savings of $35 billion over the next decade.... The Senate later voted 51-50 to make up the lost revenue by limiting 'pass-through' companies -- which can include private-equity firms -- from claiming more than $250,000 in annual tax deductions." As one tax expert said, Sinema's latest claim that the minimum tax would hurt small businesses was "absurd."
Damien Cave of the New York Times: "Caroline Kennedy, the United States ambassador to Australia, and Wendy Sherman, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, stood together at dawn on Sunday on the island of Guadalcanal to honor the 80th anniversary of the World War II battle there that nearly led to the deaths of their fathers, and that redefined America's role across Asia.... Their visit occurred as China's military was expected to wrap up 72 hours of drills around Taiwan simulating an invasion. And in their remarks at events with officials from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Solomon Islands, both officials emphasized that the region -- and the world -- finds itself at another crossroads. Worth reading the whole story. A Guardian story, mostly about Ambassador Kennedy & her father, is here. ~~~
"The New Fascism." Max Boot of the Washington Post: "Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been destroying his country's democracy, received a standing ovation [at CPAC] less than two weeks after he gave a speech in Romania in which he endorsed the white supremacist 'replacement theory' and denounced a 'mixed-race world.'... Right-wingers in Dallas thrilled to his denunciations of immigration, abortion, LGBTQ rights and 'the Woke Globalist Goliath.' He even excoriated Jewish financier George Soros, a Hungarian native, as someone who 'hated Christianity.'... [Donald Trump] has made the marginal into the mainstream of the Republican Party, and vice versa.... Republicans are nominating far-right fanatics who claim that the 2020 presidential election -- and any election that they lose, for that matter --; was 'rigged.'... In four key swing states -- Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania -- the GOP nominees to oversee state elections deny the legitimacy of [Joe] Biden's election. Two of those candidates, Arizona secretary of state nominee Mark Finchem and Pennsylvania governor nominee Doug Mastriano, were outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.... Meanwhile, most House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection are being driven out of Congress.... The most apt phrase for this American authoritarianism is the New Fascism, and it is fast becoming the dominant trend on the right. If the GOP gains power in Washington, all of America will be in danger of being Orbanized." ~~~
~~~ Marie: You won't be surprised to learn that I have no problem with labeling Trumpolini & DeSantolini as neo-fascists. And that goes for this nitwit, too ~~~
~~~ MTG Accidentally Stands up for Antifa. Nina Golgowski of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Saturday said 'no one can convince' her that the rioters behind the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol were not anti-fascist protesters and that she 'cannot wait for a real investigation' to take place.... Greene went on to call the federal government's response to the riot ― which has led to more than 800 arrests and more than 200 criminal sentences by the U.S. Attorney's Office ― 'political persecution.' At the same time, she said those who did things that 'they shouldn't have done' should be treated better while behind bars." MB: Margie is so damned dumb I don't think she realizes that her complaint is that the feds are mistreating (mostly left-wing) antifa radicals. So let me explain: see, Margie, if the rioters were antifa, as you assert, then the rioters the feds threw into jail are antifa.
Katie Shepherd & Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: "The sudden imposition of antiabortion laws after Roe's reversal has left patients, doctors and pharmacists wading through a minefield of treatment issues and legal and ethical dilemmas related to women's health care -- even in situations l... that have nothing to do with pregnancy. Medicines that treat conditions from cancer to autoimmune diseases to ulcers can also end a pregnancy or cause birth defects. As a result, doctors and pharmacists in more than a dozen states with strict abortion restrictions must suddenly navigate whether and when to order such drugs because they could be held criminally liable and lose their licenses for prescribing some of them to pregnant women.... Patients are also at greater risk because they can no longer seek abortions in their home states should they accidentally become pregnant while taking such drugs -- no matter how grievous the injuries to the developing fetus." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'd guess that most medical professionals don't have the same problem with treating men who may need these drugs. The reporters write, "Civil rights and women's advocates denounce many of these changes [to drug protocols], questioning whether they may violate federal protections against discrimination on the basis of sex or disability." I don't suppose this worries Sam Alito & his confederate pals one little bit. Now, you combine this with the facts that in states with severe anti-abortion, women cannot get abortions and the most conscientious OB/GYNs don't want to work there, and you can see that women are truly second-class citizens who cannot get the best medical care in parts of the U.S.
Special Report: Dried-up Waters News. Bodies & Bombs. Nouran Salahieh & Elizabeth Wolfe of CNN: "More human remains have been found in the receding waters of Lake Mead, authorities announced Saturday. This is the fourth time human remains have been found at Lake Mead National Recreation Area since May. In the latest incident, park rangers got a call Saturday morning about skeletal remains at Swim Beach area, National Park Service officials said in a statement." ~~~
~~~ AND in Italy. Reuters, via the Guardian: "Heatwaves sweeping Europe this summer have brought not just record high temperatures and scorched fields: the drought-stricken waters of Italy's river Po are running so low they revealed a previously submerged second world war bomb. Military experts defused and carried out a controlled explosion on Sunday of the 450-kg (1,000-pound) bomb, which was discovered on 25 July near the northern village of Borgo Virgilio, close to the city of Mantua in the country's north." MB: I don't recall having seen any pleasure craft on the Po, but one can rent them & take commercial river cruises on the easterly parts of the Po, around Mantua (Mantova). Imagine what a deep keep might have done.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden left isolation on Sunday morning after a weeklong rebound case of Covid-19, heading to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware for a short getaway before resuming official travel. The president appeared in good spirits as he emerged from the White House in the early morning hours without a tie and headed to Marine One for the flight to the beach. 'I'm feeling good,' he told reporters. The White House said that Mr. Biden had tested negative for the coronavirus for a second consecutive day before leaving the White House. 'He will safely return to public engagement and presidential travel,' Dr. Kevin C. O'Connor, the White House physician, said in a memo released by the White House."
Beyond the Beltway
Congressional Elections. Deemed Illegal But Good to Go. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Since January, judges in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Ohio have found that Republican legislators illegally drew those states' congressional maps along racial or partisan lines, or that a trial very likely would conclude that they did. In years past, judges who have reached similar findings have ordered new maps, or had an expert draw them, to ensure that coming elections were fair. But a shift in election law philosophy at the Supreme Court, combined with a new aggressiveness among Republicans who drew the maps, has upended that model for the elections in November. This time, all four states are using the rejected maps, and questions about their legality for future elections will be hashed out in court later. The immediate upshot, election experts say, is that Republicans almost certainly will gain more seats in midterm elections at a time when Democrats already are struggling to maintain their bare majority."
Michigan Attorney General Race. Heidi Przybyla of Politico: "Michigan's attorney general is requesting a special prosecutor be named to investigate her Trump-endorsed opponent, citing evidence tying him to a potentially criminal scheme to seize and tamper with voting machines, according to documents obtained by Politico. The decision comes after a monthslong investigation by Michigan State Police and the attorney general, Dana Nessel, into voting machine breaches that took place in several Michigan counties. That investigation unexpectedly led to Kalamazoo lawyer Matthew DePerno, whom ... Donald Trump has taken an outsize interest in promoting to be Michigan's next attorney general.... In [a petition to then Michigan Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council], Nessel's office states that DePerno -- who has been a pivotal figure promoting Trump's false allegations that the 2020 election was stolen -- was present at an Oakland County hotel room sometime in early 2021, during which tabulators were tampered with.... This is among multiple pieces of evidence linking DePerno to the breach of several voting machines.... DePerno is set to formally receive the GOP nomination for attorney general later this month after winning the endorsement of party delegates in April." ~~~
~~~ A Washington Post story is here. MB: The GOP seems to be little more than a criminal gang.
New Mexico. Elise Kaplan of the Albuquerque Journal: "On Friday afternoon, Naeem Hussain attended the funeral service for two Muslim men [-- Aftab Hussein & Muhammad Afzaal Hussain --] who were killed in the past two weeks.... Several hours later, a little before midnight, Naeem Hussain was shot to death in a parking lot of an organization that offers services for refugees and asylum seekers.... His death was the latest in what police suspect is a string of homicides [in Albuquerque] targeting Muslim men based on their race and religion.... On Saturday, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman said the recent homicides have led detectives to try to determine whether the Nov. 7 fatal shooting of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, is also related." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ From the Washington Post story by Bryan Pietsch & others: "Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, who was fatally shot on Monday, worked on the campaign team of Rep. Melanie Ann Stansbury (D-N.M.), the congresswoman said during a news conference Sunday."
Wisconsin Senate Race. Michelle Cottle of the New York Times: "How is it that Senator Ron Johnson, the two-term Republican from Wisconsin, remains a remotely viable candidate for re-election?... Mr. Johnson may be the senator who most fully embodies the detached-from-reality elements of MAGA-world.... His irrational and irresponsible conspiracy mongering about matters such as the Covid vaccine, the integrity of the 2020 election and who was really behind the Jan. 6 riots ('agents provocateurs'? antifa? The FBI? Nancy Pelosi?) unsettled even some of his Republican colleagues.... For all of Mr. Johnson's weird behavior, the June poll from Marquette showed him neck and neck with various Democratic candidates.... Plenty of Wisconsin voters came to terms with Mr. Johnson's brand of crazy years ago."
Way Beyond
Israel/Palestine. From the New York Times liveblog: "Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza agreed to a cease-fire, the two parties announced late Sunday night, a move that was expected to end a three-day conflict that killed dozens of Palestinians, including children as well as key militant commanders; destroyed several residential buildings and militant bases in Gaza; and paralyzed parts of southern Israel. The conflict, which began on Friday afternoon, when Israel launched airstrikes to foil what it said was an imminent attack from Gaza, has left the status quo in Israel and the occupied territories almost unchanged. A 15-year blockade of Gaza remains in place, and there is no prospect of peace talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.... If the truce holds, the fighting will end with a death toll of at least 44 in Gaza, including 15 children, according to the health ministry there. Some 311 people were injured, the health ministry there said." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "U.N. Secretary General António Guterres demanded that international inspectors be given access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which was shelled in attacks that damaged radiation-monitoring sensors and raised fears of a 'nuclear disaster.'... Radiation levels at the damaged nuclear power plant remain in normal range, a Ukrainian official said Sunday.... U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a three-country tour of Africa on Sunday, seeking to strengthen support on the continent for Ukraine and its allies after a recent Russian charm offensive there -- a further sign that Africa is being dragged into Europe's conflict. Blinken will visit South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Two more ships carrying a combined 60,000 tons of soybeans and corn have set sail from Black Sea ports, Reuters reported Monday, taking the total of grain shipments to 10 since operations resumed last week under a U.N.-brokered deal facilitated by Turkey." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's summary report, which is part of the live updates, is here.
News Ledes
New York Times: "David McCullough, who was known to millions as an award-winning, best-selling author and an appealing television host and narrator with a rare gift for recreating the great events and characters of America's past, died on Sunday at his home in Hingham, Mass., southeast of Boston. He was 89."
New York Times: "Olivia Newton-John, who sang some of the biggest hits of the 1970s and '80s while recasting her image as the virginal girl next door into a spandex-clad vixen == a transformation reflected in miniature by her starring role in 'Grease,' one of the most popular movie musicals of its era -- died on Monday at her ranch in Southern California. She was 73. The death was announced by her husband, John Easterling. She had lived with a breast cancer diagnosis since 1992 and in 2017 announced that the cancer had returned and spread. For years she was a prominent advocate for cancer research and had started a foundation in her name to support it."
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Reader Comments (15)
Republicans seem to be fine with price gouging by drug companies,
but rant about high prices for oil and gas.
Could it be that drug companies pay higher bribes than petrol
companies? (Except for the payments to Manchin).
Also, I just found out from my brother-in-law in Eastern Ohio that
he has a minimum charge for natural gas of $75.00 per month even
though he uses no gas in the summer months. And in Western Ohio
my sister-in-law says it's $90.00 for her.
Somehow that doesn't sound ethical. Guess when we had a landscaping business I should have though of that. Yeah, I can come
out and look at your roses, but my minimum charge is $100.00.
But that would have made me some kind of republican. No thanks.
Forrest,
A hun’erd bucks to stop by and give the rose bush a look see? Fatty would say that makes you smart. Hey, if you charged another C note for an opinion, that might get you an invite for tea and crumpets from Betsy. She’d know that anyone who’d charge a client $200 to look at a rose and say “Yup, needs water” must be a fellow traveler in the world of confederate gougers.
Been considering a Biden-less 2024 election year.
I dunno. I get the reasons for it, but not having an immediately obvious candidate in the wings is troubling. Incumbency is a powerful position in any election. Hell, in R circles it’s pretty near unassailable given the gerrymandering, piles of donor money, vote suppression, and army of strapped thugs prowling around as, what do they call R financed intimidation hooligans these days? Oh yeah, “poll watchers”. Like calling loan sharks and their leg breaker pals “helpful neighbors”.
I know there are potential candidates out there. I was really hoping Kamala Harris would have made a bigger splash but she barely registers on most voters’ radars. Warren? Love her, but she’ll never get elected. Bernie? Same as Biden, too old, at least in popular opinion. Mayor Pete? He’d do well with some voters and he’s a really smart guy but the gay bashers would be out in droves. AOC? Not to be. Gavin Newsom? He survived that recall, but I don’t know how he plays in Peoria. Stacey Abrams? Oh yeah, I could get behind that. Just picture her debating the Fat or the Florida Fascist.
Well, the two most recent (prior to Biden) Democratic presidents, Clinton and Obama, pretty much came out of nowhere. Yeah, people knew about them, but the average low information voter didn’t have much of a clue til the campaigns started. So starting out with high visibility might not be a requirement.
I’d hate for Biden to become another RBG, but until he decides one way or the other, most of the oxygen on the Democratic side will be restricted.
One thing about not running again? He could immediately authorize the Equal Rights Amendment as the 29th amendment. The Misogyny Party and their servants on the High Court would have a conniption, but it would go a long way to securing abortion rights, not to mention improving paycheck equality.
Whatever he decides, he shouldn’t wait too long. We don’t want a season of Hamlet on the Potomac.
@Akhilleus: As several other people have expressed here, I like Sheldon Whitehouse for president, tho I suspect he's too smart and too nice to put his family through a presidential campaign. A Whitehouse/Abrams ticket would be like the smartest presidential ticket in American history. Both Whitehouse & Abrams are very brainy; plus Abrams is good at talking to "regular" people; i.e., voters.
Years ago, I read that when the taller of the two presidential candidates doesn't win, the candidate who wins is the one who "seems" taller to voters. So I was wondering how tall Whitehouse was. According to a bunch of sites, he's 1.7 meters, which the Google calculator says is 5'5". So not tall. But then I looked at several pictures where Whitehouse is standing next to other people, and with one exception, he was as tall as the tallest person in the picture, or taller. One of the people pictured next to Whitehouse was Bill Clinton, and they appeared to be the same height or Whitehouse a tiny bit taller. So either Whitehouse is standing on a box or is wearing 12" lifts in his shoes. You can see the feet in some of the pix, so no box, no lifts. I don't get it. It's possible that all of the sites I found accepted the same number for Whitehouse's height and it's wrong. Anyway, if he has to stand on a box or wear sheetrockers' stilts, I don't care. He can be my president.
Marie,
There is something to that height thing you mention that I noticed many, many years ago.
As a barely wet behind the ears government functionary (an employment counselor), at a meeting I attended those making the presentations lined up in front of the room left to right.
On the far left, the federal employee, then moving to the right, the state, the county and the city. It as if they were deliberately posed by their height with the federal official, the tallest, the city the shortest, all arranged in descending order--of both height and power....
A generalization, sure, but one with teeth.
Marie,
I think Whitehorse would be a smashing choice. I heard him during one of the two impeachment trials. He was (as you’d expect from a former prosecutor) incredibly well prepared, well spoken, and direct. An absolute pleasure to listen to: jargon-less and bullshit-free, compelling and persuasive. A Whitehouse-Abrams ticket would make the ganglia twitch, as they say. You’re right about the toll such an endeavor takes, but if he could see his way clear to arrive at that decision, I’d send him a few bucks right away.
And how cool would it be to hear daily references to the Whitehouse White House? So much better than the Trump Toxic Nursery and Criminal Hangout.
Sorry, Whitehouse, not Whitehorse. Whitehorse sounds like a tavern. Otto’s at it again.
I kinda like Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Maybe even Congressman Jamie Raskin.
I'm of the notion that the Democrats have a pretty deep bench.
@Akhilleus: Plus, "Whitehouse White House" is way easier for on-air reporters to say than is "Whitehorse White House."
@asa watcher: I too love Sherrod Brown & Jamie Raskin. But I can't see either of them, especially Raskin, convincing suburban moms they were presidenty. Maybe if they got new hair stylists (not that either has ever seen a hair stylist).
I like Sheldon Whitehouse too. He's always an interesting contributor/questioner in hearings that I've watched. He's given a bunch of presentations on the schemes that those with money are perpetrating against the public for increased power and more money.
There's a bunch available on YouTube. They're worth your time watching.
From the "Free State of Florida". Governor SeSantis seems to be biting the hand that feeds the state. There's a new specialty license plate coming out with the Gadsen Flag of MAGA fame on it and the 'Don't tread on m" motto. DeSantis says it's a warning to out of state cars. It seems kind of nuts insulting tourists. What's next, a tag reading "Yankee Go Home"?
Bobby Lee, Virginia has had that yellow snaky license plate for years. FL probably just saw a way to make a few bucks by being objectionable.
Funny thing is VA doesn't let you put objectionable words on your plate, but you can pay to get the Gadsden hate flag.
I've been off today engaged in a High Tea given by one of Joe's relatives and having the pleasure of seeing these relatives for the first time in many years–--the result of once close families being separated by circumstances that are so prevalent in this century. If you have watched the film "Belfast" you get the sense of an ending of a neighborhood ––a town really–-that is slowly losing the glue that tied them all together.
So I come back here and read about the prospect of who would be someone to replace Biden. I have been one who has championed Whitehouse but me thinks he likes where he is. I remember that skinny Black guy who gave the optimistic speech about this country not being red or blue but united and thinking Who dat? Does he really believe that? Enough people did and he got to be president–-twice. We no longer have that moment–-we are now in shark water and the person who can rise to the top has got to have the teeth to cut through the debris. My bet would be Beto but I'd like him to take on the Governor in Texas––name withheld–––before he takes on the presidency. Too bad we don't believe in magic anymore.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/15/state-legislatures-are-torching-democracy
Per request.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/us/politics/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago.htm
“Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before,” Mr. Trump said.
“We’ve never had a pretend president before,” Ken said.