U.S. House Results

By 2:00 pm ET Saturday, the AP had called 213 seats for Democrats & 220 seats for Republicans. (A majority is 220 218.)

Trump is removing some members of the House & Senate to serve in his administration, which could -- at least in the short run -- give Democrats effective majorities.

The Ledes

Monday, November 18, 2024

New York Times: “One person has died and 39 people have become ill in an E. coli outbreak linked to organic carrots, federal regulators said on Sunday. The infections were tied to multiple brands of recalled organic whole bagged carrots and baby carrots sold by Grimmway Farms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Fifteen people have been hospitalized, according to the agency. Carrots currently on store shelves are unlikely to be affected by the recall but those in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers may be, the authorities said.”

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Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

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OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

New York Times: “Chris Wallace, a veteran TV anchor who left Fox News for CNN three years ago, announced on Monday that he was leaving his post to venture into the streaming or podcasting worlds.... He said his decision to leave CNN at the end of his three-year contract did not come from discontent. 'I have nothing but positive things to say. CNN was very good to me,' he said.”

New York Times: In a collection of memorabilia filed at New York City's Morgan Library, curator Robinson McClellan discovered the manuscript of a previously unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin. Jeffrey Kallberg, a Chopin scholar at the University of Pennsylvania as well as other experts authenticated the manuscript. Includes video of Lang Lang performing the short waltz. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Times article goes into some of Chopin's life in Paris at the time he wrote the waltz, but it doesn't mention that he helped make ends meet by giving piano lessons. I know this because my great grandmother was one of his students. If her musical talent were anything like mine, those particular lessons would have been painful hours for Chopin.

New York Times: “Improbably, [the political/celebrity magazine] George[, originally a project by John F. Kennedy, Jr.] is back, with the same logo and the same catchy slogan: 'Not just politics as usual.' This time, though, a QAnon conspiracy theorist and passionate Trump fan is its editor in chief.... It is a reanimation story bizarre enough for a zombie movie, made possible by the fact that the original George trademark lapsed, only to be secured by a little-known conservative lawyer named Thomas D. Foster.”

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

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Thursday
Apr082021

The Commentariat -- April 9, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' liveblog of developments on Day 10 in the Derek Chauvin murder trial is here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. CNN's updates are here.

Michael Shear & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday will order a 180-day study of adding seats to the Supreme Court, making good on a campaign-year promise to establish a bipartisan commission to examine the potentially explosive subjects of expanding the court or setting term limits for justices, White House officials said. The president acted under pressure from activists pushing for more seats to alter the ideological balance of the court...."

Karen Weise & MIchael Corkery of the New York Times: "Amazon appeared to beat back the most significant labor drive in its history on Friday, when an initial tally showed that workers at its giant warehouse in Alabama had voted decisively against forming a union. Workers cast at least 1,608 votes against a union, giving Amazon enough to defeat the effort, as ballots in favor of a union trailed at 696, according to a preliminary count. Hundreds of votes remained to be tallied, but are not enough to bridge Amazon's margin of victory. Once the count is complete, the results will still need to be certified by federal officials." MB: First, I'm gonna vote for Donald Trump; second, I'm gonna vote for Jeff Bezos; third, I'm gonna whine that Blacks & Latinos are keeping me from getting a better job & a raise.

Sean Burch of the Wrap: "YouTube has deleted a video in which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a handful of medical experts questioned the effectiveness of having children wear masks to stop the spread of COVID-19." MB: One of the "medical experts" was Scott Atlas.

Tina Brown, in a New York Times op-ed, remembers Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who died Friday morning. MB: Rather fun, reading snobs applauding snobbery.

~~~~~~~~~~

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Biden, calling gun violence in the United States 'an international embarrassment,' took a set of initial steps on Thursday to address the problem, starting with a crackdown on the proliferation of so-called ghost guns, or firearms assembled from kits.... While the moves the president announced fall far short of the broad legislative changes long sought by proponents of making it harder to buy guns, especially semiautomatic weapons often used in mass shootings, they addressed narrower issues also of intense concern to many Democrats and supporters of gun regulations." ~~~

~~~ Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "President Joe Biden announced a series of executive actions on Thursday to reduce gun violence and urged Congress to pass broader gun-control legislation.... 'This is an epidemic, for God's sake, and it has to stop,' Biden said in a Rose Garden speech. The White House's moves include directing the Department of Justice to craft a rule addressing the spread of untraceable 'ghost guns' and publish an example of 'red flag' legislation for states to follow." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Washington Post Editors: "Kudos ... to Mr. Biden for using his limited unilateral authority, for calling on Congress to do more and for nominating the well-qualified David Chipman to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The agency has not had a permanent director since 2015 and has been hobbled by the national gun lobby and its Republican allies.... His resolve was heartening...." MB: What's most heartening to me is that once again we have a President who gets up every day to work for the American people, something we have missed since noon on January 20, 2017.

Joe to Joe. Jim Tankersley & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia flashed a warning sign for President Biden's infrastructure ambitions this week, renewing his pleas for fellow Democrats not to ram through a large spending bill without first working to compromise with Republicans who have panned the president's plans.... Mr. Manchin's calls for bipartisanship were less an insurmountable obstacle for Democrats than a road map for Mr. Biden if he wants his party's tiny congressional majorities to deliver him another economic policy victory. It involves reaching out to Republicans to explore possible areas of compromise while laying the groundwork to steer around them if no such deal materializes. Mr. Biden has already begun the outreach to Republicans, while senior Democrats in Congress are exploring a budget maneuver that would allow the infrastructure bill to pass quickly with only Democratic votes."

Patricia Mazzei & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A former local official in Florida who faces an array of federal charges, including a sex trafficking count, is expected to plead guilty in the coming weeks, a prosecutor and a defense lawyer said on Thursday in an indication that the defendant could cooperate as a key witness against Representative Matt Gaetz, who is under investigation. A plea by the former elected official, Joel Greenberg, could significantly strengthen the Justice Department's hand as it investigates Mr. Gaetz and others.... The prosecutor, Roger Handberg, made the disclosure about Mr. Greenberg's case at a six-minute status hearing at the federal courthouse in Orlando, as did Mr. Greenberg's lawyer, Fritz Scheller. Mr. Greenberg had been scheduled to go on trial in June, but both sides set a May 15 deadline for a plea deal. If they do not reach an agreement, the case would go to trial, they agreed.... 'I'm sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today,' Mr. Scheller told reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing."; CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Hmm. If Greenberg wasn't prepared to flip on Gaetz, I doubt Greenberg's lawyer would have tagged Gaetz. So another bad day for Congressman Elvis. BTW, much has been made of the fact that Bill Barr approved the Gaetz investigation. But it's my opinion -- not shared by anyone whose opinion I've read -- that Barr didn't have much of a choice, once Gaetz's name came up in connection with evidence previously gathered against Greenberg. So I would not give Barr any props for applying "equal justice under the law" to a Trump supporter. Rather, he was stuck with evidence inadvertently obtained against Gaetz. ~~~

Each time a new revelation surfaces in the Gaetz/Greenberg sex scandal, Matt's office puts out a statement that begins, "Rep. Gaetz has never paid for sex, nor has he had sex with an underage girl." Well, what about this, Matt? ~~~

     ~~~ Jose Pagliery & Roger Sollenberger of the Daily Beast: "In two late-night Venmo transactions in May 2018, Rep. Matt Gaetz sent his friend, the accused sex trafficker Joel Greenberg, $900. The next morning, over the course of eight minutes, Greenberg used the same app to send three young women varying sums of money. In total, the transactions amounted to $900.... In the second [transaction, Gaetz] wrote 'hit up ___.' But instead of a blank, Gaetz wrote a nickname for one of the recipients.... Greenberg and Gaetz are also connected on Venmo to at least one other woman that Greenberg paid with taxpayer funds using a government-issued credit card. Seminole County auditors flagged hundreds of those payments as 'questioned or unaccounted for,' and in total found more than $300,000 in suspicious or unjustified expenses.... Gaetz and Greenberg share two direct Venmo connections with women who received payments from Greenberg. In 2018, Greenberg paid one of those women several thousand dollars using his taxpayer-backed Seminole County-issued Wells Fargo Visa card, according to county financial records obtained by The Daily Beast. Auditors flagged the transactions, saying that, despite having a contract and invoice from the company, they 'do not know what it was for.'" MB: This story is firewalled. I copied it before the firewall went up. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In case Matt doesn't understand the implications here, paying somebody to pay somebody to have sex with you is called a "conspiracy"; it's not a get-out-of-jail card.

~~~ Nicholas Fandos & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "A second senior aide to Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, abruptly quit in recent days as the congressman tries to fend off a Justice Department sex trafficking investigation and mounting public scrutiny, according to three people familiar with the decision. The aide, Devin Murphy, resigned as Mr. Gaetz's legislative director on Friday. He told associates that he was interested in writing bills, not working at TMZ -- equating the work that Mr. Gaetz's aides were now handling to the tabloid publication, according to one of the people, who all asked not to be identified discussing a sensitive personnel matter." ~~~

~~~ Gabby Orr & Meredith McGraw of Politico: "A boutique conservative consultancy group working on behalf of Rep. Matt Gaetz is threatening to sue journalists for their coverage of the embattled congressman. MB: Yeah, when in deep trouble, the best course is to follow Devin Nunes' playbook & bring nuisance lawsuits against everybody.

** Zachary Cohen & Whitney Wild of CNN: "A scathing report by the US Capitol Police watchdog ... reveals that there were even more law enforcement failures prior to January 6 than previously known, including new details about expired ammunition, ineffective shields and a previously unreported warning more than two weeks ahead of the insurrection about a map of the Capitol's underground tunnels that was posted on a pro-Donald Trump website.... Specifically, the summary [report] highlights significant problems with the department's vigilance when it came to equipment maintenance, policies for the Civil Disturbance Unit, and handling of intelligence prior to the attack."

Tucker Higgins of CNBC: "Kevin Seefried, who was photographed carrying a Confederate flag in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots in Washington, has been indicted by a grand jury on five counts related to obstruction, entering restricted property and disorderly conduct. Seefried's son, Hunter Seefried, was also indicted. The younger Seefried faces the same five counts as his father in addition to three charges related to destruction of government property and violence on Capitol grounds."

Kara Scannell of CNN: "A former FBI forensic accountant key to ... Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election is one of several accountants working on the Manhattan district attorney's investigation into the Trump Organization, people familiar with the matter say. Morgan Magionos, who was a lynchpin to the prosecution of ... Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is a member of the team of outside experts from FTI Consulting aiding New York prosecutors. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance brought on FTI Consulting last year as part of his office's wide-ranging investigation into possible insurance fraud, fraud involving lenders, and tax fraud." ~~~

~~~ Shayna Jacobs & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, acting on a grand jury subpoena, took possession of financial records Thursday morning from the apartment of Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter-in-law of a top Trump Organization officer. Jennifer Weisselberg was married to Barry Weisselberg -- the son of Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg -- from 2004 to 2018. She has previously said that she had seven boxes of financial records from both her ex-husband and his father, some of which were obtained through divorce litigation. On Thursday, she loaded three boxes and a laptop computer onto a valet cart and wheeled them from her building to a black Jeep with dark-tinted windows that was waiting outside." (Also linked yesterday.)

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Former Speaker John Boehner, Republican of Ohio, says in a new memoir that he regrets supporting the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, calling it a partisan attack that he now wishes he had repudiated. In his book 'On the House: A Washington Memoir,' a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Boehner blames Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, then the No. 2 Republican, for leading a politically motivated campaign against Mr. Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern.... 'I was on board at the time,' Mr. Boehner went on. 'I won't pretend otherwise. But I regret it now. I regret that I didn't fight against it.' Mr. Boehner's memoir, whose cover is a photograph of the former speaker holding a glass of merlot, with a lit cigarette in an ashtray beside him -- his natural habitat for decades -- is full of colorful stories from his time in Congress.... Mr. Boehner also details on the record some of Capitol Hill's most talked-about exchanges, including the time that Representative Don Young, Republican of Alaska, pulled a knife on Mr. Boehner on the House floor after a critical speech about sweetheart projects going to Alaska." ~~~

~~~ David Corn of Mother Jones: "So now we have to hear John Boehner whine about what happened to the Republican Party?... What he did not say ... is that he shares the blame for the rise of extremism in the Republican Party.... Boehner became speaker in 2011 because of the tea party.... Boehner never tried to to tamp down conservative anger and paranoia. He did not tell the birthers to knock it off. He egged on the Obama hatred, allowing the Benghazi-istas to run free and wild. He whipped up extremism on the right to achieve power and then discovered he couldn't ride that tiger. In 2015, he left the House for calmer days as a merlot-sipping (gulping?) lobbyist.... The beast Boehner fed ... became the base for Trump and Trumpism." Thanks to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) For context, see this NYT story by Maggie Haberman, also linked here yesterday. Corn also summarizes the Times' story in his post.

Shannon Liao of the Washington Post: "In a viral video with over 300,000 views since it was posted to Twitter April 6, professional esports player Lee 'Fearless' Eui-seok spoke out against hateful, anti-Asian acts he has experienced since coming to the United States. His comments have attracted attention across the esports industry and provided another example of the harassment and violence Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have faced throughout the country, particularly during the covid-19 pandemic. Lee, a professional esports player and a member of the Overwatch League's Dallas Fuel team, was asked by a fan during a live stream what it's been like for him since moving to Texas this year. 'Being Asian here is terrifying, seriously,' he said in comments translated from Korean. 'People keep trying to pick fights with us. Every time they see me, it's like Americans will come up to us and there's even people who cough on us.... It's my first time ever experiencing racism. And it's always -- it's pretty severe. And ... lots of them just try to scare us.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Florida. Hannah Sampson of the Washington Post: "... Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Thursday that the state has filed a lawsuit against the federal government demanding that cruises be allowed to resume from the United States immediately.... The lawsuit against the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the agency's actions 'arbitrary and capricious' and asks the court to 'set aside the CDC's unlawful actions and hold that cruises should be allowed to operate with reasonable safety protocols.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Jeff Burlew of the Tallahassee Democrat: "The top lawyer for the Florida commission that investigates and prosecutes election law violations is facing charges of possession of child pornography. Eric M. Lipman, general counsel for the Florida Elections Commission, was arrested Wednesday on 11 counts of the crime. [After receiving a tip,] nvestigators obtained 19 files allegedly sent by Lipman's email account and confirmed that each one contained child sexual abuse material, according to the arrest report. They also found a number of internet searches on his work laptop involving child sexual abuse, pedophiles and ;children between the ages of 3 and 5, the report says.... [Lipman] also served as an officer with the Capital Soccer Association, a nonprofit soccer league for boys and girls ages 4 to 17, according to Florida corporate filings."

Georgia. Sara Murray & Jason Morris of CNN: "A top Georgia Republican said Wednesday that Rudy Giuliani's false claims of election fraud -- which were presented before state lawmakers -- created momentum for a package of voting rights restrictions that recently became state law. 'This is really the fallout from the 10 weeks of misinformation that flew in from former President Donald Trump,' Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said on CNN's 'New Day.' 'I went back over the weekend to really look at where this really started to gain momentum in the legislature, and it was when Rudy Giuliani showed up in a couple of committee rooms and spent hours spreading misinformation and sowing doubt across, you know, hours of testimony.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Kansas. Sherman Smith & Tim Carpenter of the Kansas Reflector: "Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop [R] reeked of alcohol, struggled to speak or walk, and threatened the Kansas Highway Patrol officer who stopped him in the early hours of March 16 for driving the wrong way on Interstate 70 in Topeka. The details of the arrest were made available Thursday following the release of his charging affidavit in Shawnee County District Court.... Suellentrop ... faces a felony charge for fleeing a police officer, misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and reckless driving, and traffic infractions for driving the wrong way on a divided highway and speeding." Driving westbound in an eastbound lane on I-470, Suellentrop "narrowly missed multiple vehicles while fleeing police at 90 mph."

Minnesota. Shaila Dewan of the New York Times: During testimony Thursday in Derek Chauvin's murder trial, "Dr. [Martin] Tobin, a pulmonologist who specializes in the mechanics of breathing, presented the prosecution's first extended testimony on a central question in the murder trial of Mr. Chauvin: how George Floyd died. 'You're seeing here fatal injury to the brain from a lack of oxygen,' Dr. Tobin said[, explaining a snippet of video]. Dr. Tobin said that Mr. Chauvin and other police officers had restricted Mr. Floyd's breathing by flattening his rib cage against the pavement and pushing his cuffed hands into his torso, and by the placement of Mr. Chauvin's knees on his neck and back.... After two days of sometimes tedious law enforcement testimony on procedures and policy, jurors appeared to be riveted by Dr. Tobin's ability to break down complex physiological concepts, at times scribbling notes in unison." The AP's story is here.

Texas. The GOP's Racist Voter Intimidation Plan. Teo Armus & Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: "In a leaked video of a recent presentation, a man who identifies himself as a GOP official in Harris County, Tex., says the party needs 10,000 Republicans for an 'election integrity brigade' in Houston. Then he pulls up a map of the area's voting precincts and points to Houston's dense, racially diverse urban core, saying the party specifically needed volunteers with 'the confidence and courage to come down here,' adding, 'this is where the fraud is occurring.' The official cites widespread vote fraud, which has not been documented in Texas, as driving the need for an 'army' of poll watchers to monitor voters at every precinct in the county.... 'It's very clear that we're talking about recruiting people from the predominantly Anglo parts of town to go to Black and Brown neighborhoods,' Anthony Gutierrez..., executive director [of Common Cause Texas], told The Washington Post."

Way Beyond

Marilyn Berger of the New York Times: "Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, father of Prince Charles and patriarch of a turbulent royal family that he sought to ensure would not be Britain's last, died on Friday at Windsor Castle in England. He was 99." ~~~

Comments Off

Reader Comments (11)

Have to wonder what "working with Republicans" looks like in Joe M. III's eyes.

A one dollar bill? A one hundred thousand dollar down payment on a bridge girder? A million, billion or trillion bucks? What's his limit? Just a shade under the WH suggestion of nearly three? When and how will Joe decide he's gotten what he wants?

Since I don't believe it's a matter of money but of political posturing, I'm guessing coy Joe will squeeze out all the attention he can get, irritiating the hell out of me in the process, but not ultimately break any substantial deal.

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

To modify my perhaps overly-optimistic assessment of the Manchin effect from last night:

Maybe I shouldn't have been too dismissive, for we are obviously dealing with an egotist. It must be heady indeed for a man to whom most would have responded for much of his political career "Joe Who?" when his name came up at all to be suddenly thrust by circumstance onto center stage.

I would note, though, it is clearly is not equally heady for all senators, for in a fifty-fifty Senate any one of them could wield the same power--and Joe is the one who has chosen to do so.

I seem to remember that he once? put his name forward for president, for goodness' sakes, when there was no chance at all he would be nominated...

It is that and his recent behavior that put me in mind of all the swelled egos who are in government primarily for themselves, never for the people they have taken an oath to serve, and of the hash they make of things as a result, a thought channel cut very deep over the last five years....

So in the lucid light of morning (it's still dark, but have always liked that lucid light thing ) I see I have more cause to worry where Joe's ego will lead him--and us.

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

"In the lucid light of morning"–– ah, Ken, music to my ears so early in a foggy morn on this eastern coast. But down to business: Yes, Joe is, I think, uneasy about his base because they need him to remain one step below innovation in any highly liberal way and oh, gosh, his power plays feel so good––"lookee see–-my pitch-ures are in the papers–-looking good, people, looking good!"

When I listened to the testimony–-with an Irish lilt–– of Dr. Martin Tobin during yesterday's Chauvin trial, I thought "he's nailed it"–-there is nothing more to say. According to reporters in the room the jury was responding to Tobin's request of them to reach behind their necks to feel what he was describing.

How on earth does the defense counter that ? but they will, won't they?

Here's a column from Linda Greenhouse that appeared yesterday in the NYT and is featured today as well. She sees what she calls "Judicial Activism" on the Supreme Court. See if you agree.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/opinion/Supreme-Court-religion-activism.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Manchin may have other motives and purposes, but traditionally WV senators use their "I'm a conservative D" hinge powers to get federal funded things and jobs for WV. It is a beautiful place (if you like mountains and rivers amongst them) that is hardscabble for jobs. So, Job 1 of WV legislators is to skim fed initiatives for the maximum number of jobs in WV. Since wages there are depressed compared to DC, MD and VA, Senate appropriators have usually gone along with the traditional shakedown for the vote.

How many things in WV are named "Byrd?" Lots. Getting fed $ is one of the crafts of the mountain folk.

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sues the CDC to get cruises sailing immediately! Got to get as many peoples on them ships as possible says Ron whose head is always under water–-the kind we call fetid–-for fun.

The lawsuit against the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the agency’s actions “arbitrary and capricious.”

Q: What do you call a cruise during a pandemic?

A: A Ship of Fools

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

"Q: What do you call a cruise during a pandemic?"

A: "It's deja vu all over again!"
........................... Yogi Berra

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Biden needs to pull Mountain State Joe in for a little “come to Jesus”. As I mentioned before “under no conditions” means “unless I get mine”. The Democrats need to let Joe know that he won’t get so much as a Post Office in Butthole, WV (pop. 16) renamed unless he gets in line on this filibuster business. They’re not asking him to install abortion clinics on every corner, or firebomb fundamentalist churches, this is a procedural adjustment that has zip to do with the Constitution and everything to do with handing a huge win to the minority fascists.

This will also send a message to any other rogue D who wants to try to screw up this once in a generation opportunity to repair some of the damage wrought by the scheming, lying, underhanded, backstabbing, un-American, incompetent, democracy hating, treasonous R’s, the same bunch Manchin wants to invite over for a nice dinner so they can piss on the orientals and smear feces on the walls. He’s basically helping McConnell monkey wrench the entire Biden administration. To hell with that.

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Biden needs to pull Mountain State Joe in for a little “come to Jesus”. As I mentioned before “under no conditions” means “unless I get mine”. The Democrats need to let Joe know that he won’t get so much as a Post Office in Butthole, WV (pop. 16) renamed unless he gets in line on this filibuster business. They’re not asking him to install abortion clinics on every corner, or firebomb fundamentalist churches, this is a procedural adjustment that has zip to do with the Constitution and everything to do with handing a huge win to the minority fascists.

This will also send a message to any other rogue D who wants to try to screw up this once in a generation opportunity to repair some of the damage wrought by the scheming, lying, underhanded, backstabbing, un-American, incompetent, democracy hating, treasonous R’s, the same bunch Manchin wants to invite over for a nice dinner so they can piss on the orientals and smear feces on the walls. He’s basically helping McConnell monkey wrench the entire Biden administration. To hell with that.

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

We're not the only ones, providing him ego boo, by talking about Filibuster Joe.

Rubin has some thoughts about the filibuster and profiles in cowardice...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/09/filibuster-gives-joe-manchin-cover-do-nothing/

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

PD: I think Greenhouse builds a good argument, "Bills to do just that were introduced in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2010. They failed to pass." If Alito was Taliban and the bills had to do with women's rights, we'd understand these issues more incisively.

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered Commentercitizen625

The (not bright enough) bright side of the Amazon vote:

https://www.thestand.org/2021/04/amazon-workers-in-alabama-have-already-won

April 9, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
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