Little children are being poisoned, at the behest of his fellow Repubs, and Ted Cruz decides to grandstand. Per Politico:
Ted Cruz is standing in the way of a bipartisan Senate bill to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for Flint, Mich., and other communities that need to upgrade their drinking water infrastructure…
Cruz, who is campaigning ahead of Thursday’s Republican debate, has placed a “soft hold” on the aid package to give him more time to study the details of the proposal, the Texas Republican’s spokeswoman Rachael Slobodien said Thursday. Without naming Cruz, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a lead negotiator on the Flint aid package, acknowledged a hold was preventing it from moving to the floor, but Inhofe said he was hopeful the impasse could be resolved. Slobodien also said she did not expect Cruz to hold up the bill permanently.
Democrats say their members all support the package to provide at least $850 million in aid toward deficient water infrastructure and health programs in Flint and elsewhere, despite deep cuts to an advanced vehicle manufacturing loan program. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), a leader in the negotiations, said those cuts amount to “ending a program that I authored” in a 2007 energy law and that the package meets “every test Republicans gave us.”…
Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton, who chairs the energy panel, and Democrat Dan Kildee, whose district includes Flint, cosponsored H.R. 4470, which the House this month approved 416-2. The bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency to notify the public when concentrations of lead in drinking water exceed levels triggering action and improve federal, state and local communication.
The Senate would amend that bill by adding the funding assistance under the approach envisioned by architects of the Flint deal.
Democrats have elevated Flint into a broader narrative on race in their primary with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders agreeing to debate there March 6. Clinton, who has been endorsed by Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, in particular, using it to highlight her appeal to black voters, including a new 60-second ad showcasing her recent visit there.
But Republicans have their own electoral factors to consider…
If none of his competitors use the “Ted Cruz is in favor of letting little children be poisoned by their government” attack tonight, they all deserve to lose. (Of course, they deserve to lose anyway… )
Cruz Invokes Alamo, Facing Own Last Stand in TX… https://t.co/KVCB4ptIup
— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) February 25, 2016
The Alamo. A battle in which every last Texan was killed. https://t.co/pIPSLnnBQC
— AlGiordano (@AlGiordano) February 25, 2016
Baud
I suspect someone will be burned as a witch before this GOP primary is concluded.
gratuitous
Citizens will continue to be exposed to toxins in their water while Ted Cruz ponders the situation and studies some unspecified details. Will anyone dare call out this callous, heartless and cruel behavior?
khead
At this point I should probably hit up one of the front pagers for a broader audience and full post, but we are looking for folks interested in adopting a kitteh. Maybe you can help.
jl
@Baud:
Keep your head low and out of sight. You are the Dem’s secret weapon.
And, maybe Cruz can pull it off. He would be a good GOP candidate. Scary as hell to be in the general election, but then which of them isn’t? But probably easiest to beat among those who still have a chance.
superpredators4hillary
@Baud: #whichhillary
sdhays
@Baud: Hopefully one of the contestants…
Applejinx
Holy jesus creeping fuck.
Can we haz tumbrels yet?
JPL
Gosh the ad for Cruz in GA, looks like he is putting on lipstick on a pig. It wasn’t a good makeup job and that comment was being kind. The other comment might have folks knocking on my door.
schrodinger's cat
OT technology question
Has anyone tried to connect their ipad2 to their TV via an HDMI cable? I have a question for you?
TOP123
The Alamo was very different from what I expected; the trees and waterways were a surprise. The evangelists at the monument (the Alamo Cenotaph) out front were not a surprise.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I’m still hoping for Cruz to somehow pull off the nomination. I’d much rather whoever we nominate run against him than Trump. But, well, this might work for him. Republican primary voters are nothing if not sadistic sociopaths, so poisoning a town full of minority children might really go over with them. Shit, even in Michigan, Republican voters might get behind this.
debbie
@Baud:
None of the Salem witches (all falsely convicted) were burned. They were either hanged or pressed to death. I’d suggest the latter for Mr. Cruz.
JPL
@debbie: haha.. You might get knocks on your door also.
Baud
@debbie:
So you’re saying the true witches are still out there?
Gimlet
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/02/24/senate-advice-consent-president-obama-chuck-grassley-editorials-debates/80879474/
Chuck Grassley
for the first time in decades, Americans have an opportunity not only to decide who gets the keys to the Oval Office, but also to debate the direction of the court for a generation. Do we want someone who will decide cases based on the law, as Antonin Scalia did? Or do we want another justice who believes that the truly difficult cases should be decided based on “what is in the judge’s heart,” as then-Sen. Barack Obama famously said? This debate matters, especially as Americans prepare to choose the next president. It’s a debate worth having as a nation.
That’s why my Republican Senate colleagues and I will exercise our constitutional authority to withhold consent on any Supreme Court nominee made by this president during a heated presidential campaign. Our decision is based on the principle that in an American democracy, in a divided nation, the people should be empowered to weigh in on such a consequential decision.
Voters rejected President Obama’s policies in 2014, when they revoked the Democrats’ Senate majority. As the Senate fulfills its “advice and consent” responsibility, we will protect the ability of the American people to express their will on the direction of the court.
jl
I wonder if the Cruz stunt blocking Flint deal will come up at the debate. It’s the sort of thing Trump can do in his sleep: “Not only does Ted lie all the time, lie about everything, he does bad things. Very very bad things. I’d be working on a great deal to get the Flint water fixed, I wouldn’t be blocking things. I’d put top people the very best people, on it. We need to look at all the bad things Ted has done.”
And then he would wrap it up with some showstopper line I can’t even imagine.
Will Ted clap by the end? That is the only question, if Trump goes there tonight.
MattF
Yeah, Cruz just keeps getting worse…
Well, on second thought… he’s been this way all the time, it’s just that the layers of smoke and deception are getting blown off and we’re getting closer to seeing the actual, real Ted. It Is Not Pretty. And I’m fairly certain that I don’t actually want to see what lies under that last veil.
Baud
@Gimlet:
No you won’t. Because you won’t take a vote.
debbie
@Baud:
Always.
Kropadope
If those people wanted clean water, they should have lived somewhere else. Better yet, they should have been pumping and treating their own water and stop relying on handouts from the government.
Gimlet
@Baud:
At least he didn’t cite Biblical references and suggest he was doing God’s will.
Davebo
@schrodinger’s cat: I’ve never tried it but I use Airplay with my AppleTV.
Elizabelle
I think of Cruz’s two little daughters in pink, holding water bottles filled with unclean, unsafe, unpotable water.
Not OK for them, not OK for Flint’s kids either.
JPL
@Gimlet: Now I don’t care if I have knocks on my door.. I want this guy water boarded until all his organs fail..
SiubhanDuinne
Before this thread gets too old and cluttered, I would just like to remind anyone in the Memphis area that I’m going to be there this weekend and have made plans to have a BJ meetup Saturday night.
Exact time and place TBD, although I’m suggesting Kooky Canuck as a venue, partly because it’s conveniently downtown, across from the Peabody, and partly because I’m going to be in Memphis on behalf of Canada and would like to throw some business at a Canadian-owned restaurant — plus the food is good.
Valued commenters eclare and Dee Lorelei are on board. Would love to meet any other Memphians. If you’re interested, shoot me an email at SiubhanDuinne (at) gmail (dot) com and leave your phone number or best way to contact with specifics.
Thanks! Hope to see a few Juicers.
John Revolta
Hey Ted!
Put a “soft hold” on this, ya bastid!!
Gimlet
Do we want someone who will decide cases based on the law, as Antonin Scalia did? Or do we want another justice who believes that the truly difficult cases should be decided based on “what is in the judge’s heart,”
From the past
ultra right-wing Senator Roman Hruska said in Judge Carswell’s defense:
“Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance?”
NonyNony
People keep wondering why the Establishment pols are pushing Rubio and wondering when they’ll line up behind Cruz. Shit like this is why the Establishment pols will abso-fucking-lutely embrace Trump over Cruz. This is the kind of no-brainer bi-partisan “let’s get this out the door so people get helped and Republicans stop getting raked across the coals” compromise that his colleagues want over and done with ASAP. Because inaction will be held against them in their own states.
Cruz doesn’t care. He has to stick his fingers in and grandstand for his base. Trump would just sign it and make a speech about how awesome fixing the water will be for America.
When Rubio falls out expect half the GOP Senators to endorse Trump.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: Have fun! Does the Peabody still have the ducks?
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Get some Dixie Chicken
Kay
@NonyNony:
It just doesn’t stop for Snyder. I listen to Michigan radio in the car. One of his former appointees said he runs government like a business and that’s why this happened. One of his own! He just keeps whining that everyone is “politicizing” the crisis, well, obviously they are. Why wouldn’t they and what does that have to do with anything?
debbie
@NonyNony:
Grandstanding or not, I don’t understand how refusing to help so many children is in any way a Christian value.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Mass Shooting:
Dispatchers say two people were killed and multiple others are hurt. The shooting was reported a little after 5 p.m. Thursday. Hesston, Kansas (north of Wichita).
https://twitter.com/KWCHEmily
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Just in time for the GOP hopefuls to embrace their love of the Second Amendment.
trollhattan
@debbie: @Baud:
And here I thought they all became bridges. Perhaps after “pressing?”
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: “An armed society is a polite society”; obviously someone wasn’t sufficiently armed.
MomSense
@debbie:
Some died in prison.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Is there such a thing in GOP land as “sufficiently armed”?
trollhattan
@raven:
With a side of Tennessee lamb?
MomSense
@schrodinger’s cat:
We’ve only used a laptop.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
This won’t hurt Cruz. Remember, these are the voters whose reaction to someone losing health coverage is “let him die.”
@SiubhanDuinne: Enjoy your trip! And hey, if you know any Canadians who need an executive assistant and a diesel mechanic, please keep me and Mr. Mingobat in mind — if Trump wins, we’re outta here. Granted, on paper it appears we have nothing to offer another country, but we’re house trained, amusing to have around, and wouldn’t eat much.
raven
@trollhattan: ding
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Susan Sarandon on my local TV spouting nonsense about how Obama left all of his grass roots outreach “on the White House lawn”, because he didn’t want anyone’s help. I keep hearing this canard – assume it’s from Bernie himself? In the real world, I had so many emails from OFA for months after the election, imploring me to stay involved with this and that, that I shut them off. WTF.
trollhattan
@Baud:
If you take this guy and replace all the cameras with Magical Gunz then yes, you’ve achieved sufficiency of arming. (Not a moment sooner, though.)
rikyrah
Cruz is an absolute scumbag
elisabeth
Just read on Twitter Cruz is allowing bill to proceed, fwiw.
NotMax
@TOP123
The name Alamo derives from the Spanish álamo (poplar), from a grove of nearby tress (which were cottonwood trees).
Texas didn’t give a hoot about the Alamo, other than renting the complex out for income, until 1905 when a campaign to declare it a monument took off.
Kropadope
@Baud:
Yes, when every straight, white, Christian male in the U.S. owns more firearms than he has hands to operate them with.
WaterGirl
Steeplejack, thank you for the link (earlier) to lamb’s comment about her sister and for the link to her GoFundMe account. I dropped a little in the bucket and put “Balloon Juice” in the comment field so lamh will know we’re still pulling for her.
I also saw your question about whether she has insurance, and I’m guessing the answer is yes because she said something about co-pays on the GoFundMe site. Hoping she has insurance, anyway.
WaterGirl
OT, but is Billy’s dad here tonight? I thought there was going to be a surgery today and wondered how everything went.
lamh36
Evening BJ.
Another GOP debate…count me out.
I’ll wait for the recaps.
Anyhoo, do any of you Juicers watch ABC’s Black-ish? If not, you’re missing one of the best sitcoms on television right now.
If you haven’t watched it, then you should def go back and check out the 1st season and then catch up with the current 2nd season.
Even if you don’t watch the entire series, you got to check out the episode from last night titled “Hope”. In it, the writers of the show tackle the “controversial” subject of police brutality and “the talk” you may have heard about that all Black families give their kids about how to act when stopped or confronted by the police.
The entire episode was stellar, but the most “water-cooler” moment was the monologue that Anthony Anderson gave about Obama’s first inaugural parade and how the character and his wife felt watching the Obamas as they got outside the Beast and walked along the parade route. You can bet 9 out of 10 AA’s watching (and I’m sure a number of all conscious Americans also felt.
You can check out that clip here, but please check out the entire episode and series: Anthony Anderson Monologue On Hope & Obama on Blackish (HD)
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Gallup Presidential Approval Ratings:
Barack Obama? (Feb 20, 2016)
Approve………….50%
Disapprove…….46%
George W. Bush ?(Feb 20, 2008)
Approve………….31%
Disapprove…….65%
NBC/WSJ Poll – Trump Ratings — Feb 14 thur 16
Approve……..….28%
Disapprove…….59% ☠
Please Proceed, Donald?
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I was really sorry not to have been able to connect up with you last summer when you traveled between chicago and southern illinois (I’m right in the middle).
So dammit people, somebody go and meet SiubhanDuinne for me. I’m also jealous about Dee Lorelei. I am not as familiar with eclare, but I’m sure it will be great fun for all.
WaterGirl
@schrodinger’s cat: I wouldn’t even think that’s possible. Your iPad must have more ports/connectors than mine!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: NO.
MomSense
@lamh36:
So moving. It’s a great show anyway but that episode was extraordinary.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Everyone she knew was ready and waiting for Obama to reshape the country and the world in 2009 (so, frankly, was I). Susan doesn’t know anyone who voted for Claire McCaskill, or Evan Bayh, or Blanche Lincoln, or Tim Johnson. Still less anyone who would vote against those people because they’re too far left. The only conceivable answer is that Obama let her, and everyone else, down.
debbie
@MomSense:
Yes, sadly, Puritan justice was not speedy justice.
Patricia Kayden
Interesting article on how Secretary Clinton should have handled the BLM protester who demanded an apology for Secretary Clinton’s super predator comment from the 90s.
http://fusion.net/story/273538/hillary-clinton-super-predator/
John D
@WaterGirl: You use this
debbie
@lamh36:
I watch Black-ish every week and love it. Last night’s episode was really remarkable.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
and, again
Old Dan and Little Anne
@lamh36: I watch every week. Last night was shockingly powerful. My wife had tears in her eyes at the end and I had chills as they showed PBO and Michelle walking down the street on Inauguration Day. Recommended viewing is right.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
So, the left has as many stupid reality deniers as the right, just about different things. The purity pony brigade v. the Tea Party. Can’t decide which is worse.
p.a.
Nice state ya gots there. Be a shame if sometin happens to da aid funding next tornado.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: I’m speculating, of course. But just as I would’ve liked to see some humility from pundits who supported Bush’s wars, I’d like to see the same form rich celebrities who told us there wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference between Bush and Gore, then blamed Obama for not doing enough to clean up Bush’s mess.
I’m sure the Republicans will have a moment of prayerful posturing for the victims in the non-terrorist event in KS, then go back to asking Marco and Donald who loves Bibi more, while Katich jumps up and down trying to get Anderson to ask him a question, and Ben Carson counts Heffalumps floating over the audience.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@lamh36:
It’s a major ripple of progress.
Obama was only the 3rd black ever elected to the Senate.
Now there are two elected black Senators with two more on the way (Kamla Harris & Donna Edwards).
That would be 4 by the time he leaves office, exceeding the sum total before he arrived.
30 yrs ago there was only 1 woman in the Senate. Today there are 20, including an open lesbian.
The march of progress is accelerating.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
I’ve seen the show do exterior filming around these parts and the majority of the crew is AA as well. That’s important because working on a popular show like that is how you get more crew jobs and get into positions where you can hire other people. And I’ll bet a fair number of their senior crew members started off on one of Shonda Rimes’ shows. I think her influence on the network is not very well known even though one of her close associates was just named to head ABC.
Nate Dawg
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: So sick of coastal enclave liberals ignoring the basic structure of our plutocracy.
We live in a country where a small percentage of the population’s representatives can stall legislation with NO way to stop them. This is because vast swaths of mostly empty land gets the same representation as millions upon millions of citizens living in the economic dynamos on the coasts.
Sarandon needs a goddamn civics lesson and to STFU. Big Tent Democrats will get things done. Revolutions won’t. Grow the fuck up.
Calouste
@Kropadope: There’s 300 million firearms in the US and only 116 million white males. I think we have passed that point a while back.
eclare
@Elizabelle: Yes
eclare
@raven: what about Tennessee lamb?
raven
@eclare:
schrodinger's cat
@WaterGirl: I bought an AV connector that connects the ipad to hdmi. YouTube doesn’t display properly, its just a tiny square in the middle of the TV. Otherwise it is working well.
Germy
@lamh36: We watched Blackish Wednesday night. I don’t know why the promos kept calling it an extended episode; it was the usual length. But it was a powerful episode. Hilarious and heartbreaking. The part where Obama takes his first walk as president was moving because I remember thinking the same thing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
Yes, indeed! I’m not staying there this trip, but I have many times in the past and always love seeing the ducks!
Peter in Berkeley
@WaterGirl:
Try this link.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=ipad+2+to+tv+via+hdmi&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
danielx
@raven:
…and all the boys up at the bar began to sing along.
And yes, there actually IS a Commodore Hotel, located on the highway between Memphis and Nashville. Looks like a nice place to stay, actually. Don’t know if it’s THE Commodore Hotel.
Eric S.
@Calouste: True, but the distribution is not equal.
raven
@danielx: Why would you think anyone didn’t believe there was a Commodore?
SiubhanDuinne
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:
Plus, Iggy and Muppet would look adorable with little red-and-white maple leaf bandannas tied around their necks. And bilingual Iggy Dialogues — too delicious to contemplate!
Germy
Matt Taibbi: “Cruz certainly has an odd face – it looks like someone sewed pieces of a waterlogged Reagan mask together at gunpoint “
Chip Daniels
@SiubhanDuinne:
Uh, just don’t have everyone walk in and ask “I’m here for the BJ meetup, can you direct me to where it is?”
lamh36
@WaterGirl: hey…thank you.
I saw the comment in the earlier thread, but I was at work and didn’t really have full net access outside of my phone.
Yes my sis does have insurance, it’s one of those bare minimum policies companies give PT employees.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
I’ll be back! We’ll make it happen.
divF
@raven: A great song. Just thinking about it makes me smile.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: God, I hate agreeing with Lindsey Graham.
Germy
@Baud: Possible running mate?
Baud
@Germy: Nah, I’ll probably use him to fight our nation’s wars. It’s what he loves to do.
AxelFoley
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Oh, no doubt Bernie supporters have their marching orders. Mark Ruffalo said the SAME shit, word for word. And I, too, continue to have OFA stay in contact with me, keeping me engaged. This whole thing is bullshit straight from Bernie.
raven
@divF: cool
Gin & Tonic
@schrodinger’s cat: A semi-answer, as is typical for here. I use a Chromecast, and am quite happy, as I can then send stuff to the TV from a variety of devices regardless of what physical connectors they have. It costs not much more than an HDMI cable. Highly recommended.
danielx
Time to study the details of the proposal.
That’s more interest than Ted Cruz has shown in any Senate business that doesn’t have a prospect of politically benefiting Ted Cruz since he took office. And he’s going to take time to study it while his campaign is going down faster than a rentboy on Larry Craig.
I’d be waiting for one of his fellow senators to ask if, at long last, he has no decency, but they already know the answer.
A Ghost To Most
@danielx: Many years since she ran away
Yes that guitar player sure could play
She always liked to sing along
She always handy with a song
But then one night at the lobby of the Commodore Hotel
I chanced to meet a bartender who said he knew her well
And as he handed me a drink he began to hum a song
And all the boys there, at the bar, began to sing along
If you’ll be my Dixie chicken I’ll be your Tennessee lamb
And we can walk together down in Dixieland
Down in Dixieland, Down in Dixieland
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
This only 5 days after the massacre in Kalamazoo.
If the perp was mooslim, the media would be freaking out w around the clock coverage, demanding a full scale land war in asia and calling for internment camps and torture.
But the perps are white so carry on.
danielx
@raven:
It takes a little looking; ain’t all that easy to find even on der Google machine.
Germy
danielx
@A Ghost To Most:
Heard more drunken a capella renditions than I can remember.
Steve in the ATL
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Obviously Lindsay has not been keeping up with NR’s posts or s/he would not be so worried
msdc
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
:applause:
Steve in the ATL
@Chip Daniels:
Two blocks down from Beale Street; bring cash
mapaghimagsik
@TOP123:
The Alamo has Cenobites?
Sweet! Er, i mean Jesus wept.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
Ironically, sometimes having bad insurance is worse than having no insurance. Sometimes providers are willing to negotiate prices if you have no insurance, but not if you have crappy insurance.
See if she can have someone (friend or family) keep track of how much they’re charging her. If she’s single, the most she has to pay out of pocket in a calendar year is around $6,000, but they’ll try to fool her into thinking she owes more. If she has a family policy, it’s more like $12,000 in a year.
msdc
I just saw this article (via Al Giordano, whose Twitter feed will almost singlehandedly counteract all the crazymaking of this primary season) about Sanders’s testy relationships with House Democrats twenty-five years ago. Here’s that infamous neoliberal turncoat and moderate Republican Barney Frank:
Nice to see he’s grown as a politician over the last two and a half decades.
Mnemosyne
@Germy:
I guess Zuckerberg is less of a Silicon Valley a-hole than I thought. Good for him.
mapaghimagsik
@Mnemosyne:
I’m torn. I totally agree with his sentiment, but if the company policy was AllLivesMatter and the memo castigated someone replacing it with BlackLivesMatter…
He’s punching below his weight class. Bully boss is a bully. He’s just on ‘our side’
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@AxelFoley:
Obama not wanting any help and leaving his stuff on the White House lawn? Because he’s UPPITY.
boatboy_srq
@debbie: That might cause TX oil production to rise dramatically – assuming cruz oil could be refined sufficiently to be useful for anything other than tarring/feathering…
Mnemosyne
@mapaghimagsik:
If you’re going to have a free speech wall, you have to police it, especially someplace like Silicon Valley where social skills tend to be lacking. I think crossing out someone else’s speech should always be against policy unless it’s clearly offensive (like Nazi imagery), and even then it should be the company that removes it, not a vigilante employee. I might have a slight amount of sympathy with someone who crossed out “All Lives Matter,” but I would agree that it was wrong to cross it out.
Of course, I used to remove white supremacist literature when I found it posted in my neighborhood, so I’m a 1st Amendment criminal anyway.
Mike G
With Republicans, that’s not an attack, that’s a selling point. Because they know most of the people in Flint are blah people.
kc
Hey, I can’t seem to locate the front page post about the black activist getting dragged out of an HRC event …
Paul in KY
Betting no one brought the ‘soft hold’ BS up last night. That’s because, since it is Flint, they are in favor of the blahs being poisoned.
Paul in KY
@jl: The thing is that if the average Republican primary voter understands who generally lives in Flint, the fucker is going to be agin doing anything, & The Donaldfuhrer knows this, so he probably won’t mention it.
Darth Creepo has all kinds of targets to attack.