Senator Klobuchar:
We reached agreement on the Freedom to Vote Act w/ Sens Schumer,Kaine,King,Manchin, Merkley,Padilla,Tester& Warnock to strengthen our democracy. It’s a really good bill! It stops the chaos by setting basic national voting standards, anti-gerrymandering protections & Disclose Act.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) September 14, 2021
Here’s how The Post describes the bill:
The new Freedom to Vote Act retains significant portions of the For the People Act, Democrats’ marquee voting legislation that passed the House this year but was blocked by a Republican filibuster in June. Those include mandating national minimum standards for early voting and vote-by-mail, establishing Election Day as a national holiday, and creating new disclosure requirements for “dark money” groups that are not now required to disclose their donors.
But it also discards significant pieces and tweaks others, largely in an effort to placate Manchin and indulge his hopes of building enough Republican support to pass the bill. Overcoming a filibuster absent a rules change would require the support of 10 Republicans in addition to the 50 members of the Democratic caucus.
Of course, the likelihood of 10 Republican senators voting to hobble their party’s most effective election strategy — suppressing the votes of likely Democratic voters — is about as likely as 10 unicorns flying over my house while pissing bucketfuls of Pappy Van Winkle 23 bourbon and shitting rashers of bacon. But should we be encouraged that Manchin’s colleagues find this exercise worth their time?
I guess so. For the moment, I choose to see it that way. What do you think?
Open thread!
Baud
I just posted this downstairs. It’s good that, unlike prior bills, Manchin has gone out on a limb and has a stake in this. I just don’t know if he has it in him to do anything when the GOP votes en masse against it.
Facebones
Cool, I guess? Just call me when Collins takes a stand when her vote actually matters.
bbleh
Eh, this is down on the floor of the sausage factory, and whatever I think is surely irrelevant.
I hope SOMETHING passes, and as a WV Dem Ima lean on Manchin.
Chief Oshkosh
Just have DOJ open an investigation on Manchin’s daughter. He’ll be screaming about reforming/scrapping the filibuster within 5 minutes.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Yep, that’s the ultimate question, isn’t it?
Baud
@Chief Oshkosh:
Let’s out-Trump Trump!
Leto
@Baud: I’ll offer up his “bipartisan” Newtown gun legislation as an example of him holding meaningful legislation hostage to the alter of bipartisanship. As Betty points out, since 10 Republicans won’t sign on we’ll see if this moves his needle to eliminating the filibuster wrt voting rights legislation. I expect pappy van winkle pissing unicorns to happen first.
trollhattan
I suppose it at least serves as planting the voting rights flag, hopefully shoving it a bit into the public conscience. That can give context to the forthcoming rollout of voter suppression with the resulting day-long lines in the two voting places allotted to urban voters across the south (and southern wannabe northern states).
But it ain’t passing, sadly.
In other news, imagine a world where Peter Navarro is your source of the truth.
p.a.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for Joe M to back the FTP act when this one gets crapped on. I expect Collins-esque disappointed shrugs and “oh-well-we-tried” platitudes.
Time will tell…
Brendan in NC
My hope is that they’ve told Joe, that if this doesn’t get 60 votes to continue; they’re reverting back to the original bill, and tweaking/removing the filibuster. But only tell him after they don’t get the 60 they need. No need to have him lobby his R friends for a bill that doesn’t go far enough.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
“10 unicorns flying over my house while pissing bucketfuls of Pappy Van Winkle 23 bourbon and shitting rashers of bacon.”
Betty, we realize you live in Florida, but now we’re worried. Please get in out of the sun.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Is he willing to destroy the economy when the GOP filibusters the debt limit increase? I always felt that was going to be the wedge.
Anonymous At Work
No Sinema on this. That’s the key. Manchin seems inclined to put his reputation on the line that he can garner GOP support. Sinema (DQ-Az) doesn’t have a stake in it yet.
If Manchin comes up short because the GOP won’t act, then he’s got less reason to preserve the filibuster on voting rights. For her part, Sinema will be watching the VA governor’s election very closely for cues. McAuliffe has been governing quite progressively in a formerly red state. If Democrats retain or even extend power, Sinema can read that writing well enough.
Mai Naem mobile
Such bullshit. You will never get 10 GOPigs to go along. I don’t think you could have gotten 10 GOPigs during Clinton’s presidency forget now.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: You know, it was FDR that was a big proponent of trying new ideas when old didn’t work.
As to out-Trumping Trump, well, at least with Manchin’s daughter, there is some “there” there. Besides, it’s a time-honored tradition. JFK/RFK did the same thing back in the day. Or was I lied to? ;)
cope
Frankly, that’s not enough to make me hopeful. Seems like the Post is just setting up the ball for the next “Biden Fails” spike.
Another Scott
Progress is incremental and slow. Yes, this is good (and expected by me) news.
Quasi-relatedly, …
I wonder if there’s some 11-D chess going on here with her dress. Get Twitter and the GQP yelling about her dress for a few days, while the Democrats do the work in the background to actually get their agenda passed without the howler monkeys getting in the way. The Illuminati would certainly fnord have plans like that on the fnord shelf.
;-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Anonymous At Work:
Sinema has never gone off on her own IIRC.
Mai Naem mobile
@Anonymous At Work: Sinema is supposedly a big John Lewis supporter. I don’t think she will put up a road block here. I have a gut feeling that Sinema is done with the Senate possibly politics. She was really pissed off when Rand Paul walked around in the Senate when he was waiting for his COVID test results. And I am sure the January insurrection didn’t help either. I frankly think she might be looking for either a lobbying gig or a TV gig. Either that or she’ll run for AZ governor down the road.
Emerald
@Another Scott: Not a chance for the 11-D chess. AOC is not a team player.
daveNYC
This won’t get 10 Republican votes and it’s highly unlikely that we have the 50 votes needed to remove or modify the filibuster, so at best this might work to convince Manchin that the filibuster needs to change. Maybe. If we’re lucky.
It’s not going to hurt, but I will be surprised if it helps.
Steeplejack
I’m not optimistic. It reminds me of Obamacare. The usual suspects drag their heels and extort concessions while running down the clock, and then they still don’t vote for it. As for Manchin, it smacks of a disingenuous strategy where he gets points for “doing something” while resting secure in the knowledge that it probably won’t get passed in anything but an extremely anemic form.
And it avoids and puts off dealing with the critical legislative issue of our time: the goddamn Senate filibuster.
Feeling legislatively crabby today. I feel like the Democrats are pointing to the watering-down process as some sort of victory, or progress. Negotiating in good faith with counterparts who probably are not. Arggh! But I am a dunce when it comes to understanding the sausage-making.
Will now read the comments and see how wrong I am.
Another Scott
AFAIK, Manchin has always been more concerned about limiting donations and fundraising aspects than about increasing voting days and so forth. I suspect lots of other senators had similar concerns, but didn’t want to talk about them. We know we’re not going to get everything in the John Lewis and the For The People Acts. We’ve known that all along. We should get as much as we can now, and increase the House and Senate margins to get more in 2023 via pushing registration and turnout as hard as we can for the November 2022 elections.
Cheers,
Scott.
wvng
@trollhattan: Navarro was actually entirely correct about the pandemic in the beginning. Amazingly true, but true nonetheless.
kindness
We can all blame Joe Manchin & Kyrstin for stopping Democratic progress in it’s tracks. They deserve it but I also think the ‘good’ people from states that voted in awful Republican Senators who lied to their faces deserve every bit as much credit. I’ll start with the ‘good’ people of Maine who re-elected Susan Collins and run down the list from there. Those people, those states won’t see me or my money until this gets better.
Jeffro
Betty, PLEASE: I was in mid-mouthful of sandwich here!
bwah-hah-hah!!!
Sister Golden Bear
Lucy. Footballs.
Urza
@wvng: The sad part is these knuckleheads actually do know the right things to do but refuse if it makes them look weak or Democrats look good. So, which is worse. That they are as stupid as they present to their voters? Or they aren’t that stupid but act out the policies anyway for power and money?
Baud
@Steeplejack:
This isn’t like Obamacare. All the negotiations are within the party.
Steeplejack
I do wonder whether we might get helped on this—by scheduling design or by chance—when the right-wing rally at the Capitol this Saturday turns out to be a complete shitshow. I’m not expecting violence—not ruling it out, either!—but the right-wing nuttiness will be in full bloom. That might provide some leverage if sitting Republican senators have to publicly choose between the rabid base and the majority of Americans who are sick of this crap.
Cmorenc
If we can get voting rights filibuster reform/legislation passed, on the same constitutional basis a future moment when gop has control of congress + presidency, they can on same basis not only undo the reform but pass even more harshly restrictive legislation nationalizing what some traditionally ref states have already done eg very restrictive voter id allowing gun permits but not student ids. Not only that, but even if Ds maintain a durable hold for next few election cycles on ability to block passage of any regressive reversals of federal voting rights legislation, the current composition of SCOTUS could torture the plain wording and intent of the relevant constitutional underpinnings to eviscerate the reforms, just as was done with the existing voting rights act in shelby.
Not saying here that the Ds shouldnt vigorously push forward with voting rights reform – its our only option. But unfortunately, the current composition of SCOTUS is positioned to effectively eviscerate any 14th/15th/ article 1 basis for voting rights protections
Chief Oshkosh
@Another Scott: There are headlines today of Biden re-restating that the rich are going to be taxed. I believe in this discussion that he’s saying rich = $400,000+/year income. I wonder how that’s calculated for the rich that have no “regular” income.
Baud
@Cmorenc:
The GOP has the same ability to jettison the filibuster as we do.
Baud
@Steeplejack:
I hear Schumer is going to attend incognito in order to help incite a riot. :,-)
Low Key Swagger
Don’t like derailing a thread…but i have a question if David or some other scientist reads this…I don’t remember which vaccine I was given as a kid that was delivered via a sugar cube. At some point, we are going to have to vaccinate children, and I think having a delivery system other than a shot would go a long way. Is this even possible with this type of vaccine structure? Maybe even needle hesitant adults would pop one in on the off chance it works, no?
Parfigliano
@Chief Oshkosh: Bingo. DOJ interest in his criminal daughter will get his attention and help focus the mind.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Wait, what? There were no intra-party negotiations for the ACA?
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
Fnord?
zhena gogolia
@Low Key Swagger: Yeah, that was polio. It was great. Good question!
Baud
@Chief Oshkosh:
The ACA had both. This has only Dems.
Chief Oshkosh
@Parfigliano: Yeah, I know. The fact that she’s likely a criminal doesn’t seem to influence anyone. It’s almost as if there’s a double-standard for rich-and-connected, with the icing on top that we couldn’t POSSIBLY pursue a likely criminal in her position because then we’d be blamed for doing it for partisan motives…
ETA: which I would be, except I’m not the DOJ.
rikyrah
@Leto:
NOBODY got time for his bipartisanship cosplay bullshyt.
Not when it comes to Voting Rights.
Uh uh
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Ah, I misunderstood your previous comment.
Ken
@Low Key Swagger: It was polio, and worked because they were giving you a small amount of attenuated polio virus, which would multiply in your gut. That wouldn’t work for COVID, so it will have to be the needle — like chickenpox, measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis, and most of the other childhood vaccines.
trollhattan
@Another Scott:
The seem to have stuck on “who paid for it? Also, too, her ticket?” like that’s some kind of cosmic gotcha. Is there a more New York thing than the Met Gala? Hey, look, a New York congressional rep attended. Zounds! Now tell me what Met Gala is and what it has to do with baseball.
PaulWartenberg
I will believe it when they actually fcking vote for it, when they fcking VOTE FOR US!
Ken
@Baud: And they have jettisoned it, for judges and other things they want.
CaseyL
@Low Key Swagger: I think one of the polio vaccines was given in a sugar cube.
A couple possible reasons for not doing vaccines that way anymore: One, a vaccine given orally has to go through the digestive system, which may severely limit its efficacy. Two, the sugar itself might also interact with the vaccine in a not-good way.
ETA: What Ken said.
Steeplejack
@Baud:
Similar dynamic, except they’re pre-diluting before the Republicans even get involved. And I also wonder whether Manchin is really negotiating in good faith.
Betty Cracker
@Low Key Swagger: I read somewhere recently that pharma companies are looking into nasal spray delivery options. Not sure if that would be better for little kids or not. I’d choose it over a shot.
Baud
@Steeplejack:
If it doesn’t pass, it’s not really diluting. It’s not like we can’t go back if we have a bigger majority later on.
debbie
@Another Scott:
Like releasing a scurry of squirrels in front of a dog stuck inside the house? ?
Low Key Swagger
Appreciate the answers!
Immanentize
@Baud: I am optimistic. First Machin is all in — and he has tasked himself, it seems, with getting 10 republicans.
The list that Klonuchar put up is very diverse — Machine to Warnock — and we know Stacy Abrams is willing to take this as a big win.
Considering the anti-filibuster noises recently being made by Biden on this issue, the fix might already be in on the 50 vote concept for voting protections?
Personally sorry to see that it doesn’t include the Manchin idea of full nation pre-clearance under a re-invigorated Sec. 5. But that would require so many folks in Justice…
SFAW
@Mai Naem mobile:
I’ll see your Sinema and raise you two Collins furrowed brows.
Bobby Thomson
We can’t pass it without him so the only choice is to water it down for votes we’ll never get.
Has anyone heard from Sinema, though?
Drunkenhausfrau
I want an animated gif of those 10 unicorns pissing bourbon and shitting bacon.
smedley the uncertain
@Low Key Swagger: I believe it was for Polio. I got sugar as well as drops back in the day.
guachi
If Manchin et. al. break the filibuster for voting rights I won’t put up too much of a fuss if the infrastructure bill is reduced in size.
Anonymous At Work
@Mai Naem mobile: I had forgotten that she says she is a big John Lewis fan, but mostly, I think @Baud is right that she’s a coward. I think her plan is to be a Both Sides Centrist Mavericky Moderate Centrist Maverick (like McCain) but mostly to troll Democratic leadership (explain Green to Drama Queen centrist another way).
Ken
If you’re willing to add a porn component, Rule 34 guarantees that it already exists somewhere on the Internet.
Baud
@Immanentize:
That’s a good bellwether of the bill’s virtue.
Scamp Dog
@Steeplejack: It’s from the Illuminatus trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson. Quoting the Wikipedia write up, “the interjection “fnord” is given hypnotic powerover the unenlightened. Under the Illuminati program, children in grade school are taught to be unable to consciously see the word “fnord”. For the rest of their lives, every appearance of the word subconsciously generates a feeling of unease and confusion, preventing rational consideration of the text it appears in. The uneasiness and confusion create a perpetual low-level state of fear in the populace.” The Powers That Be put fnords into the text of newspaper articles, magazines, etc., but never in the ads, so the consumeristic consumption machine can keep rolling along.
Baud
@Immanentize:
I am reminded of the Old Testament story of Abraham and Sodom and Gomorrah.
Baud
@Scamp Dog:
Your comment confuses and uneases me.
Immanentize
@Baud: ?
rikyrah
@Steeplejack:
I am expecting violence. And, they should be dealt with just like they would deal with any BLM protest that turns violent.
Kent
That is an utterly empty threat. The Senate can’t tweak the filibuster without Manchin’s vote to do so.
Immanentize
@Steeplejack:
@Baud:
Why didn’t Steeplejack write anything in his comment?
Uncle Cosmo
@trollhattan: Just FTR, Steven Hatfill was the biological warfare specialist that the W Administration tried long and hard to pin the rap onto for the 2001 anthrax letters. IIRC he sued the US government for defamation & ultimately collected a multimillion-dollar settlement.
(Disclaimer: Hatfill – whose activities, particularly w/r/t apartheid South African, were fairly skeevy – was a consultant for a time to a supervisor on the floor above me at SAIC. Never met the guy, but the supervisor [with whom I had consistently cordial relations] insisted to me that Hatfill could not have been the perpetrator of those attacks when the accusations were flying most thickly. And it seems he was correct – or at least the Feds found a more promising suspect.)
jeffreyw
Baud:
Sisyphus
Immanentize
@jeffreyw: You should see a Dr. about that, you could go blind.
Ken
@Baud: That’s probably because you can see the fnords. That was a big thing in the book, when someone made the breakthrough and could see “fnord” all over the place. If Illuminatus! were better known, it would be the major meme. As things are, we get Roddy Piper putting on the sunglasses in They Live, and the rather weak “Wake up, sheeple!”
Steeplejack (phone)
@Scamp Dog:
Thanks, I guess. I read those books decades ago and had forgotten that.
Scamp Dog
@Baud: My work here is done! :)
burnspbesq
@Boris Rasputin (the evil twin):
I’m still waiting for my unicorn that pisses Pilsner Urquell and shits New York Super Fudge Chunk.
Gary K
Good thing I decided to read the post before filling my mouth with coffee.
jeffreyw
@Immanentize:
I stopped for a while when I started to need glasses, after my eye surgery I was able to resume.
Redshift
@Low Key Swagger: There have been some reports of nasal/inhalable vaccines in development, but I’m not sure how far along any of them are.
jeffreyw
Ksmiami
@Steeplejack: we should firehouse them with aerosolized Covid
billcinsd
@rikyrah:
And, they should be dealt with just like they would deal with any BLM protest that turns violent.
Cops and white guys get to beat as many people as they want, black people get arrested?
Chief Oshkosh
@jeffreyw:
No, syphilis. Don’t you know anything about Sodom and Gomorrah?
Gravenstone
@Steeplejack: I expect more than a few sitting Republicans (Senate and House) to be in attendance, if not featured speakers.
germy
Kay
Good article on Pompeo, DeVos, the CRT panic and how to beat them:
Not complicated. Like health care, Democrats basically own public education as an issue. All they have to do is run on it.
That’s how we win state races. People like public education.
It’s where the vast, vast majority of them were educated. You can appeal to the 10% private school population or the 90% public school population. I know which group I would pick! The (much) bigger one! :)
Baud
Syphilis and gonorrhea within the space of three comments. Nice.
germy
germy
Gravenstone
@Betty Cracker: Different mechanism of action and likely very different potential side effects. But I am trying to envision the incredible shoulder pain I felt ex. Moderna, only applied directly to my sinuses.
/shudder
Lynn Dee
Seems likely some number of Manchin’s colleagues hope this will wake him up and/or back him into a corner.
piratedan
all we need to do now is introduce into legislation that says if you’re not vaccinated, then you can’t vote.
<also known as crossing the streams in Ghostbuster parlance>
germy
@piratedan:
Yes, we can tell Republicans “You want voter I.D.? Good idea… how about the vax card?”
Omnes Omnibus
@Immanentize: I am where you are on this.
Kay
@Lynn Dee:
I get a kick out of how it’s always presented as Manchin has to get the GOP votes. Fetch em.
OK, big shot. Go get those votes you promised. Pelosi never would have said it until she had them, because she’s not a vain, strutting fool.
He better get them blind drunk on his stupid boat.
Shalimar
@Chief Oshkosh: What did Manchin’s daughter do that makes her a likely criminal? All I remember is jacking up prices on epi-pens, which is evil and immoral and may she rot in hell but probably not a violation of any law.
germy
karen marie
@Anonymous At Work: I sure hope she gets a clue. I’m not seeing that it’s possible given the amount of footsie she plays with the insurrectionist AZ delegation to the House.
Kay
We should bring Pompeo and DeVos in for state races. Make sure they come. Horrible, unlikeable people and we’ll have some normal, approachable local who’s like “I support Lincoln Elementary! Go Tigers!”
As a contrast.
karen marie
@Mai Naem mobile: She has never – in the entire time she’s been in the senate – had staff answer the phone. It is always “leave your zip, email and a brief message.” She can shove her outfits up her ass.
Ken
Sounds like something you’d see in an anime about Tanuki. Well, not in the US edit…
sdhays
@germy: I can appreciate the sentiment of “if I get vaccinated, it won’t be for the Met”. And at least she’s clearly pro-mask and pro-precautions. She’s not avoiding vaccination because she doesn’t take COVID seriously. If she’s going to continue other precautions, including masking, and is not pushing other “miracle” grifts that’s quite a bit better than the right-wing shit show. If you’re going to be anti-vax, you need to walk the walk and take responsibility for the greater risk you pose to yourself and others.
Hopefully she’ll get over her vaccine fears soon (and learn to be a little more skeptical of her cousin’s friend’s claims)
ETA: Holy shit, I just saw your next post. So, actually, she’s probably vaccinated and is using this shit to distract from the news that her husband is a SEX OFFENDER?? That’s Trumpian!
Kay
@karen marie:
That is bad. I got a personal (one line) letter from Sherrod Brown for attending a Sherrod Brown event.
It’s the second time he’s written me :)
He wrote that “we all have to do what we can for the country” which I found vaguely unsettling. Like he’s worried. Perhaps reading too much into it.
They have a budget. Why doesn’t she hire a competent staff? She doesn’t even have to do the work.
Geminid
@Shalimar: I’ve wondered this myself. Some people seem certain that all we have to do to make Joe Manchin knuckle under is to sic federal prosecutors on his daughter. This seems more like a revenge fantasy than a real prospect.
Baud
@Kay:
Better than “every man for himself!”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Shalimar:
thank you, we really need to ease up on the idea that everybody we don’t like is a prosecutable criminal. That way lies “OBAMA DIDN’T EVEN PUT ANY BANKSTERS IN JAIL!”
Lynn Dee
@Kay: Well, he’s the one who says they’re there and uses that as an excuse not to get rid of the filibuster. It does seem a fool’s game, though, to think he’ll come back from his “quest” and say: “Gosh, folks, you were right! I couldn’t get ’em. So I guess we have to get rid of the filibuster after all!”
Mai Naem mobile
@karen marie: you have to call her Tucson office to get a live person on the phone.
Patricia Kayden
@Mai Naem mobile: I’m beginning to think that it’s not just Sinema and Manchin who are holding up the elimination of the filibuster on the Dem side. Our goal in the next election has got to be to neutralize those two and elect more progressive Senators. This is nightmarish.
Kay
@Lynn Dee:
I can’t even imagine who it would be. Mitt Romney? That’s a maybe right there! A half a vote. We’re already making progress.
Baud
@Kay:
If I ever decide to pack it in and open up a bar, I’m naming it Manchin’s Houseboat.
James E Powell
@Baud:
How about “Tip & Ronnie’s”
Baud
@James E Powell: Maybe if I open up a brothel.
rikyrah
@Drunkenhausfrau:
BWA HA AH AH AH AH AHAH AH AH AH
Geminid
@Patricia Kayden: I think there are Democratic Senators besides Manching and Sinema who are reluctant to eliminate tbe filibuster in general. My own Senator Mark Warner may be one of them, and Angus King (I-ME) is probably another. But I think those two and others would get behind a carve-out specific to voting rights legislation.
rikyrah
@Anonymous At Work:
We need to get rid of her. Democrats, even in Arizona, can do better. She needs a credible primary challenger.
Kay
@Patricia Kayden:
I agree but “more” isn’t really a solution to that because with “more” comes more centrists. Or whatever these people are. It’s like 20 good:1 bad so if you get 40 you get 2, and so forth. That’s just science.
Danielx
@Jeffro:
That image did wonders for me.
Gravenstone
@Mai Naem mobile: Between the hours of 0310 and 0318 (MT), on the night of the full moon…
Geminid
@rikyrah: If Sinema does in fact derail voting rights and other critical legislation, I think we can count on a Democrat like Phoenix Congressman Greg Stanton challenging her in 2024. But Job Number One for Arizona Democrats is reelecting Mark Kelly next year. Then they will consider the Sinema problem.
sdhays
This story is just super disturbing on so many levels: Fearing Trump might spark war, top U.S. general secretly called Chinese counterpart. Just a few excerpts:
rikyrah
@Kay:
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA AH
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay: I agree that it is almost vanishingly unlikely that 10 GOP votes are there. That being said, how are we hurt by Manchin’s snipe hunt? He either comes back from it willing at least to blow up the filibuster selectively or he loses any and all credibility. With one, we move forward. With the other other, we know where we stand. In either case, we work to get more Ds elected to the Senate in 2022.
eclare
@Kay: I once got a personal phone call from my rep, Steve Cohen, about an issue after I called his office.
Disclosure: I have never donated directly to him.
lowtechcyclist
@Another Scott:
I’ll see your fnords, and raise you a lloigor.
StringOnAStick
@jeffreyw: Huh, I thought they only ate tomatoes. Ah well, I won’t be growing any peppers in this cold nighttime place unless I build a greenhouse. I’m thinking about using black blocks of basalt to create radiant heat inside a grow tunnel for the start and end of the season.
Kay
Someone alert Mr. Manchin. Not that any of them will ever correct, retract or apologize.
I never thought it was “inflation” they were worried about- it’s wage inflation.
They’re mad that they had to raise wages to get workers. Just gross, greedy people who don’t want people to get paid.
Kay
@eclare:
It’s nice. I don’t donate that much because I’m too cranky about how they spend it, but I do go to events and I think I get other people to go to events, so “in kind” :)
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: To prove that he is a serious person Manchin needs to put Tax the Rich on his butt when he hobnobs with the uber wealthy.
Kent
@Geminid: Honestly, I would think that Democrats wielding the DOJ in a partisan fashion to go after Manchin’s daughter would be the potential trigger that could cause him to finally switch parties and caucus with the Republicans handing power back over to Mitch McConnell who would then put a laser focus on DOJ “misconduct”. It would have the potential to be the biggest self-own or own-goal in political history.
The simple fact is that Dems really don’t have much leverage over Manchin. The best that they can probably do is start stripping goodies for WV out of the infrastructure bills when he complains about the cost. But that doesn’t address voting rights or the filibuster.
eclare
@Kay: My rep Cohen has a lock on TN-9. I donate to people who really need it to get the message out.
Every bit helps!
lowtechcyclist
@Low Key Swagger:
As others have said, it was polio. I remember getting the cube in the minuscule health office at my elementary school.
I remember my son having to get vaccinations as early as age 2, so I really don’t think having one more early childhood vax is going to be an impediment.
Ken
@Kay: The inflation numbers were somewhat bogus anyway, since they were year-over-year and (though some people somehow missed it) a year ago we were in a pandemic-triggered recession.
Subsole
@Steeplejack:
Illuminati subliminal code word that makes the reader react with revulsion and disgust.
It basically makes your brain ‘skip over’ the hidden messages the Illuminati have planted in every piece of media.
Or so I am told
Hail Eris. Hail Dscordia.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t want to see or think about Manchin’s ass.
Geminid
@Ken: I don’t think we will have a real grasp of where inflation is going for another four months or more, when the consequences of the pandemic are better known. But there are more knowledable people with a real stake in this question who buy Treasury bonds. The 10-year rate is now around 1.33%, and the return on a thirty year note is 1.92%. There are factors besides anticipated inflation that affect bond yields, but I take it that the pros are not too impressed by current inflation numbers.
sdhays
@lowtechcyclist: They start even earlier now. My son’s first set of vaccinations was before he was 1 – I don’t remember if was 6 months or 9. He seems to get some more shots at almost every checkup every 6 months. He just got his flu shot a couple weeks ago (he’s over 2 now), and the doctor offered to give it to his mother as well. She went first and he while he was clearly nervous, she reported that he didn’t even cry this time.
schrodingers_cat
Many BJ FPers love to dunk on Manchin, as they should, his actions definitely deserve opprobrium. But curiously enough there was dead silence from the FPers when Manchin and his buddy the Senator from Vt tanked Neera Tanden’s nomination to head the OMB.
If Neera Tanden was a white woman would we have heard crickets from them?
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: Manchin has “hand” right now. We don’t have much choice but to go along with him. After 2022, he may find his situation is different based on how he plays things this fall. If we can get to 50 without him, he could find himself out in the cold. Or he could play to the peanut gallery for a little while and come around and be in everyone’s good graces.
UncleEbeneezer
I’m glad for anything that gets us closer to Voting Rights legislation. I would prefer Manchin/Sinema just go along with the FTP/John Lewis Acts but if this little change/action is part of the process of getting to something that will help address/counter Voter Suppression, cool. Hopefully that is the case.
WaterGirl
@Jeffro: Hopefully it wasn’t a BLT. That might have hit a bit too close to home.
Nora Lenderbee
@sdhays:
I know. It’s terrifying to hear that the VPOTUS actually called Dan Quayle for advice.
Ruckus
@Low Key Swagger:
These vaccines needs to be administered subcutaneously or intramuscularly so no, a sugar cube won’t work.
Kent
@Omnes Omnibus: Manchin will never be out in the cold. If the Dems get to 51 or 52 there will inevitably be another one or two “centrist” Dems who express concern and instead of leading a party of 2 he will suddenly be a party of 4 that holds just as much power as he and Sinema do today. You can absolutely count on that happening, because Senators are like moths to the flame if it gets them attention.
Winston
Conversation with my son today:
Did you get the vax?
No.
Did you get polio?’
No.
Why?
I got the vax. OK dad I’ll get the vax this week. Stop bugging me.
Great idea. I’d hate to lose you, son.
Ruckus
@Baud:
Better in the comments than elsewhere…..
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: That is a steaming load of horse shit. I don’t recall if I posted on the front page about those shitheads tanking Tanden’s nomination (I don’t post every day), but I distinctly remember being pissed off about it and participating in conversations on the topic here. Pretty much everyone agreed the way she was treated by alleged members of her own party sucked rancid donkey balls. I also know Anne Laurie is/was a major Tanden supporter, so she almost certainly posted about it too. The implicit accusation in your “question” (an implicit accusation which you will now deny leveling, if you follow your usual MO) is baseless and offensive.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: One of four is less important than one of two. One of eight or nine is virtually irrelevant.
PST
@Betty Cracker:
I believe that researchers are looking into a nasal spray not because it would be more pleasant but because it could boost immunity at the most common point of entry for COVID-19. Part of the problem with breakthrough infection is that as circulating antibodies decline in number over time, the Delta variant can get a pretty good foothold in the nasal mucosa while we wait for the more long-term components of the immune system, like T memory cells, to react.
J R in WV
@Low Key Swagger:
That was the second Sabin polio vaccine, and the first oral polio vaccine, developed in 1957, distributed for testing in 1959 to Soviet children, after everyone got the injection only Salk vaccine.
Everyone got both vaccines, as polio was well recognized as a scourge. Sabin vaccine was commercially available in 1961. That’s almost certainly what you got. The Wikipedia article on polio vaccines is pretty good.
Also, like most threads this thread is formally an open thread! So you’re good to go anywhere!
rikyrah
@Winston:
Keep bugging him.
J R in WV
@Omnes Omnibus:
You and me both…
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker:As far as I remember there was no front page post about the Tanden nomination and BS tag teaming with Manchin to tank it.
You can prove me wrong. I am making an observation, not an accusation.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: There is plenty of white privilege on display but not outright racism on this blog. Something I have only noticed since the Orange Clown made me aware of how much of an outsider I was in my adopted home.
YMMV.