Recovering journalist, husband, father, hiker, backpacker, cat servant.
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One if the essential differences between congressional Democrats and Republicans is that the R's are comfortable being in the opposition. They instantly adapted to Obama's election, obstructing Obamacare and nearly killing it; delaying other bills. Dems could learn from Mitch McConnell.
It's not that CA voted for Obama and then voted for Prop 8 to ban gay marriage. We voted for Obama and Prop 8 in the *same* election: November 2008.
Stephen Miller
More precisely, we need to throw sand in the gears. We might not be able to stop Trump, but we can slow him down. Someone else here mentioned that people in LA threw sand in ICE's gears, slowed them way, way down. The answer to shock and awe is guerrilla tactics.
As far as these clowns are concerned, the only mistake we made at Abu Ghraib was apologizing for it.
Obama said he thought the fever would pass. That was in (checks notes) 2016. Schumer is living in the past. Since they're supporting him as leader, most Dem senators probably are stuck there too.
What if - hear me out - Senate Dems are fine with being in the minority? Playing dead in politics is a nice gig. They get to make speeches, sound tough, collect money but never have to make tough decisions. If that is how they really feel, then Schumer is a perfect leader.
Henry Miller, founder of Miller & Lux, also controlled an enormous amount of water. Water law in California is still -- more than a century after his death -- based largely on a lawsuit that he filed.
This might be the best use of Speech and Debate since Mike Gravel read the Pentagon Papers on the floor of the Senate. That was more than 50 years ago.
Maybe they didn't screw up. I don't mean the Navy deliberately shot at migrants. But if they were ordered to shoot at that boat and it happened to contain migrants instead of drug smugglers, Stephen Miller and the ICE Brigade will be very happy.
You got me. I opened my copy of The Power Broker and turned to Chapter 25. Yep, the chapter about the parkways, which got congested three short weeks after they opened. Well played, sir, well played.
Suozzi gave up his House seat to run unsuccessfully for governor. An unknown Republican named George Santos won his old seat. And now Suozzi is lecturing on who should and should not be Democratic candidates? Really?
Let us pause for a moment to recall that the 15th Amendment in Section 2 explicitly authorizes Congress to enact laws to protect the right to vote on account of race. SCOTUS seems determined to ignore that.
The Teamsters will support him until the day he approves self-driving semis. The cops will be the last unionized workers in America.
I'm pretty sure FCC regulations prevent the interviewer from replying to Noem, "Are you fucking kidding me?"
Stephen Miller is the Voice of Sauron.
Give Trump credit for this: While he lies most of the time, he told the truth when he promised the fossil fuel industry that if they gave him $1 billion he would give them everything they wanted. If anything, he did more than they asked for. An honest politician: He stays bought.
American exceptionalism, baby! Isn't that what the GOP is always telling us?
Thomas ranks with Grant and Sherman (and maybe Sheridan) among the best Union generals.
A sad day for connoisseurs of corruption.
But here's the real question: Is he loyal to Trump? Notice I didn't ask whether he's competent. In this administration, that would be a happy accident.
I'm seriously beginning to wonder who won the Civil War. Someone once called the Senate the South's revenge for Gettysburg. Trump 2.0 may be the South's revenge for Appomattox.
Since the CDC and vaccines are going the way of the dodo, I'm thinking of re-reading the Aubrey-Maturin novels for medical advice. What would Stephen Maturin suggest I do to balance the humors?
Canada and Mexico signed a free trade deal with Trump in his first term. I'm sure that's working out just -- wait, I'm getting an update.
From now on, just call him Brain Worm Bobby.
McConnell, please note, is a polio survivor. Doubt if he has any patience for RFK Jr's bullshit.
This is going to hurt reenlistments and recruitment. When the inevitable disasters hit their home states, governors are going to wonder why National Guard ranks are depleted. This is why. Trump is hurting the country to feed his ego.
I'll add one other comment. The real cost of this clown show is going to come in a few years when Guard recruitment and retention suffers. During floods and wildfires, states will desperately need the Guard for true emergencies. And the ranks will be depleted because of poor morale.
Quoting Joe Biden here: "Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value."
The National Guard is not like a regular job. They can't "take this job and shove it" or give two weeks notice. It's a contract. They're in until their enlistment expires. Don't criticize citizen soldiers. Criticize Trump and red-state governors for sending them on this useless assignment.
Please clap.
LBJ demanded similar displays of loyalty. He famously said that he wanted aides who would kiss his ass in the Macy's window and say it smelled like roses. The difference is that LBJ got Medicare, civil rights and voting rights (and yeah, Vietnam). What has Trump done?
Trump lies about many things, but he tells the truth about what he believes. He told the oil and gas boys that if they gave his campaign $1 billion, he'd come through for them, and he was not lying. We the public are paying for that promise in record-high utility bills.
Pity the poor high school government teacher trying to explain to students that only Congress has the power to levy taxes but ...
In the comments, the lead writer says they've been working on the story since before Trump was inaugurated. The story shows clear signs that it took several months of digging. Yeah, the red envelopes were a tiny, tiny piece of this.
They went from Pelosi -- who carried the ACA to victory when Rahm fucking Emmanuel was ready to give up, shredded Trump's State of the Union speech on national TV, and publicly told Trump he was just like Putin -- to Jeffries. What I still don't understand is what Nancy saw in Jeffries.
Schumer and Jeffries represent Congressional Democrats, not the Democratic base. And Congress has willingly ceded power to the White House and the courts in a decades-long self-castration. So what exactly should we expect from congressional "leaders"?
I'm trying to imagine what Third Way would think if a Democratic pol accused the GOP of being "malefactors of great wealth." They'd blow a gasket and say that pol was alienating voters. Too bad FDR didn't have the benefit of their wisdom.
The law against destroying government records is meaningless. The acting national archivist, Marco Rubio, would have to file a complaint, and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, would have to act on his complaint. There is a greater chance of tourists in Miami suffering frostbite.
They got out-voted at the conclave. And the new pope's last job was recommending bishops, so he knows all the people in line for promotions.
The California referendum could easily fail. The nonpartisan commission easily passed years ago, despite opposition from both parties. Opponents of the referendum have already begun sending mailers. Virtually all Republicans, many independents and low-info voters will likely vote no.
Exactly right. This is a test of whether the US still believes in equal justice under law. The premise that Bolton has classified docs six (6) years after he left the White House is laughable. His true crime was offending Trump. And for that he must suffer.
Why does NYT political coverage suck? Just the other day some of us were fawning over a magnificent story about two doofus white supremacists trying to create an enclave in Missouri or Arkansas. Many NYT investigations are great. Why is their political coverage so awful?
What I mean is that this is a pattern with Trump. He pushes boundaries until he finds someone who will do his bidding. The GA SOS said no. Abbott said yes, and a few more GOP guvs will probably follow suit. What was once unthinkable is now routine.
Is this so very different from telling the Georgia Secretary of State back in 2020 to find him 11,000 votes?
As part of Universal Medicare, Democrats should also support an increase in graduate medical education. It's been capped for years, meaning that many areas have too few doctors; without more doctors (and nurses of course), Medicare is an empty promise.
He was never mayor, but surely Boss Tweed beats Adams in the NYC corruption sweepstakes. I can't imagine him offering a measly $100 and change in a bag of potato chips. Why do that when you can sell public works contracts?
Last line should read: "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
This is why the current GOP attempt to do a mid-decade gerrymander is so important. With the House split 220 to 2015 and the historic trend of the party in the White House losing seats in midterm elections, Trump desperately needs to create 10 to 15 new Republican seats somewhere.
I can easily imagine Steve Doocy circa 1863 asking the same question of Abe Lincoln.
This is your occasional reminder that Chuck Schumer works for the Senate Democrats, not for you. The moment most Senate Dems decide to fight, Chuck will fight or he'll be gone. Right now most Senate Dems are happy to play dead and wait for the voters to turn on the GOP.
Yeah, fresh produce prices are rising in California, and we grow just about everything here. What we don't grow here, we get from nearby Mexico. If it's getting expensive here, I can only imagine how bad it's getting back east.
Imagine their take on the Irish potato famine. "So-called 'famine' victims had bad nutrition habits for years, according to experts."
But now that you mention it, a rouge rogue wave would be really worth watching!
I've never liked Newsom, but he's on target here. Beginning with Agnew, the GOP has forced the news media to bend over backwards for conservatives. That's why Trump gets away with so much. Newsom is finally calling them out, and I'm here for it.
@kairyssdal.bsky.social isn't this a war crime?
They didn't succeed last time. Trump is giving them a second chance.
Donald Trump won because he recognized that millions of Americans want an authoritarian. They're tired of democracy and are fine with someone who breaks laws. It took a long time for our country to reach this level of democratic despair. Not sure if we'll recover in my lifetime or my children's.
What do you mean by work? He's the vice president - a job that FDR's first veep, John Nance Garner, said wasn't "worth a pitcher of warm spit." (Though he may not have said "spit.')
Gerrymander 5 Dem seats in Texas, 2 in Ohio, a couple in Florida, maybe 1 in Indiana, and in 2026 the GOP keeps the House no matter how angry voters are. The election could be decided in the next month via software not at the voting booth in November 2026.
It's much easier to pretend you already know history than to study it.
FDR smiled when he delivered the Fala speech. The great politicians enjoy knifing their opponents in public.
RFK Jr probably would have been confirmed anyway. Vance was always available to break a tie. But Cassidy's vote gave assurance to wavering GOP senators. If Dr. Sen. Cassidy was for him, how bad could he be?
Conservative does not equal MAGA. And Judge Henderson is implicitly comparing Trump to Charles I, whose reign, um, ended badly.
Prominent Dems need to get out front and say that the next Dem admin will prosecute anyone who violated the law protecting tax returns. Put the fear of God in them. Trump is the only one with immunity, and he's not likely to give pardons to the entire IRS bureaucracy.
It's an official act. Trump is immune. On the other hand, if the, um, "corporate allies" paid for the favor, a future Democratic administration could indict them for bribery. And Dem senators can remind them of that fact right now.
The real shock to me is how weak our civic institutions (universities, lawyers, nonprofits) have proved to be. The fecklessness of Democratic leadership unhappily was no surprise. It will take a huge disaster to stop this. Not a Katrina. A Great Depression or a World War.
BREAKING: In 2046, Jake Tapper reports, President Joe Biden will be old.
On the bright side, Gossamer Bullshit would make an excellent name for a rock band.
The Grand Army of the Republic: "Treason must be made odious." Whiskey Pete: We don't follow the woke Union Army lemmings off the cliff.
This is a perfect media environment for Trump and people like him. When the news media is so diminished, only a very few reporters are left to dig into government and get important stories. Most of what he does will go unreported. Once again, not an excuse, just an explanation.
Yesterday evening I went to a former colleague's retirement party. Fifteen years ago, our newspaper was among the largest regional papers in the country with a newsroom staff of nearly 400. Today it has a few dozen. You can find similar examples everywhere. Again, not an excuse, just an explanation.
This is not an excuse for my former profession of 47 years but an explanation. The media is a pale, diminished shadow of itself. Don't look for reporters hot to compete on a story. Most of them got laid off a year or two or a decade ago. Very few are left to cover the latest outrage(s).
There's an underlying theme to everything the Trump administration does: intimidation. Even when they don't win -- and they often don't -- they ratchet up the cost of opposition, making individuals and institutions think twice about raising their voices. They make everyone afraid. That's the point.
This. A statue of George H. Thomas, one of the very best Union generals, in his native Virginia. Preferably replacing a statue of a secesh.
I thought Trump and MAGA looked back to the 1950s. I was off by nearly 70 years. The golden era for them is 1882, the year the Chinese Exclusion Act passed.
There are times when it's hard to tell @nytpitchbot.bsky.social apart from @nytimes.com This is one of them.
It's in her contract. If you object, she reserves the right to rip out your intestines. Put that way, I'm sure you'll see reason.
Big "how dare you check my story" energy.
Add this hed to the classic collection, "Red Tape Holds Up Bridge"
True re Obama and codifying Roe. But there were several pro-life Dems in Congress at the time, and he needed their votes for Obamacare - his true (if imperfect) legacy. The GOP has never been able to wreck it. Obama got something big done. Cuomo is telling people not to even try.
The Trump administration may not believe in climate change, but insurance companies do. Per Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's testimony back in February, some parts of the U.S. may become uninsurable due to climate risks. This is an insane risk for millions of people.
The most striking thing I read here was that SEPTA's RFP for a trainset was 700 pages, Amtrak's was 1,000 pages. And Spain's was just 70 pages. One guess which agency has the lowest cost.
I'm not convinced Senate Dems believed those attacks. They simply lacked the backbone to support the first Muslim nominee for an appellate judgeship. Contrast that with Senate Reps, almost all of whom lined up behind Bove despite damning testimony.
Marcy is right. Trump would not be impeached and convicted if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue. No president of either party will ever be impeached for any reason. The impeachment power (for presidents at least) is just as dead as the constitutional power to issue letters of marque.
It doesn't matter if DOJ finds something. It doesn't even matter if DOJ files a case. The whole point is to intimidate, to place a price tag on dissent. How many will object to the administration if they know the cost of disagreement is hiring lawyers and watching their every move?
There's a two-word answer to "democrats (who) killed off the 'public option' in Obamacare." The answer is Joe Lieberman, D-Aetna.
A tutorial on Faulkner's novels. One novel a week. It's been 50 years, and I still remember it.
To MAGA, George W. Bush is a RINO. He doesn't exist. There is ClintonObamaBiden (one word) and Trump. ClintonObamaBiden was responsible for everything before Trump took office.
How long before RFK Jr. decides we'll all be healthier without sewers and water treatment plants? Cholera wasn't that bad, was it?
Oh my, you have a lot to look forward to.
How are these shenanigans being allowed? Because DOJ expects to win on the shadow docket at SCOTUS. Who needs a convincing argument when you've got six justices in your pocket?
Waiting for the executive order repealing gravity.
The trouble with gerrymandering California mid-decade is this: It's a fantasy. Our redistricting commission is in the state constitution, placed there by a voter-approved initiative despite opposition from both parties. Dems can talk all they want about bypassing it. They'll fail.
Counter-factual: John Mitchell remained AG during Watergate and personally supervised the prosecution of "a third-rate burglary." Discuss.
One name stands out here: The intervenor is Julie Brown, the Miami Herald investigative reporter who brought down Jeffrey Epstein. If she thinks there's something big in this file, there probably is.
The DOJ move to talk with Ghislaine Maxwell is a sign of just how far we're moving toward autocracy. DOJ is openly cooperating with Trump's libel suit against the Wall Street Journal, trying to line up a potential witness with the implied promise of a pardon. We're way past Watergate territory.
I still remember Rahm Emanuel telling Obama to give up on passing the Affordable Care Act -- right before Nancy Pelosi got it done.
What did Pelosi see in this guy? Or did she, like many great political and business leaders before her, have a huge blind spot when it came to succession planning?
Shocked that Eric Adams didn't stay bought after DOJ dropped the bribery case.