Cities around the world light up with Christmas installations to mark the beginning of the festive season pic.twitter.com/vUZhfzeo5k
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
A real holiday present, if we can keep the Repubs from screwing it up, again:
BREAKING: Louis DeJoy's days at USPS now appear to be officially numbered. Ron Bloom is out as head of the USPS board of governors, clearing the way for DeJoy to removed.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) December 7, 2021
10 things you didn’t know are in the Democrats’ Build Back Better bill https://t.co/OCEQpFJrR5
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 8, 2021
CNN is clearly attempting to cherry-pick ‘frivolous, reckless liberal giveaways’ — e-bike credits! salmon conservation! — but it’s hard to demonize childcare and college completion assistance:
… A majority of the funding is focused on transforming the nation’s social safety net by reducing the cost of child and health care, as well as combating climate change.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation would increase the deficit by $367 billion over the next 10 years. But the White House has worked to make the case that the bill will be fully paid for when accounting for a proposal to enhance tax enforcement, which the CBO excluded.
The bill passed the House in November but faces a tough road in the Senate, where it is expected to undergo some changes. As currently written, the legislation would create universal pre-K, send families an enhanced child tax credit and provide beefed-up subsidies on the Affordable Care Act exchanges…
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
OzarkHillbilly
The CBO is probably right to exclude it considering the GOP’s aversion to tax law enforcement.
sdhays
Why on earth didn’t the CBO include increased tax enforcement in their estimate? Sounds like Nancy needs to clean house at the CBO.
prostratedragon
Hallelujah Chorus, orchestra only. Roll your own alternative lyrics to suit whatever you think the occasion is.
Soprano2
That’s great news about DeJoy. Thanks to his mail “slowdown”, we didn’t even get mail last Saturday, and our mail on Monday didn’t come until after 6 p.m. It’s ridiculous!
Ken
In that Reuters report, cities around the world are about ten days late according to the Christian season of Advent; or about eight weeks late, according to the retail season of Christmas displays.
(I had a terribly confused moment last week, wondering why the Halloween stuff was still out; then I realized, right, Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas.)
Butch
Christmas “installations?” That’s what you call the lights we spent hours stringing? That kinda takes away some of the joy.
sdhays
@OzarkHillbilly: Maybe I’m misremembering, but I recall that the CBO swallowed dubious assertions from the GQP when they were trying to pass either the Dump tax cuts or their attempt to repeal the ACA.
I still find it hard to take the whole process seriously after the Bush tax cuts, frankly. They cut taxes for 10 ten years to hit a number that would work for reconciliation with the express idea that a future Congress wouldn’t let the tax cuts expired. And everyone just accepted that that was fine.
It’s all just a game.
Ken
@sdhays: As I recall, the Republicans ordered the CBO to accept their assertions, primarily that the tax cuts would lead to much greater economic growth. Reality-based commentators, including I think Krugman, noted that in the past tax cuts have had the opposite effect, though that might just be the Republicans’ bad luck in always having a huge recession when they’re in charge.
lowtechcyclist
Thank the Lord. I don’t understand why it’s taken so long, but I’ll be popping champagne when that saboteur is no longer in a position to further fuck up the mail.
OzarkHillbilly
DING DING DING!!! That’s a winner!
lowtechcyclist
@Butch: Whatever we call them, ours are up. Got the outdoor lights up over the weekend, and put up the tree and decorated it Monday night.
Our outdoor lights are on right now, because a gloomy day needs a bit of sparkle.
Immanentize
@Soprano2: So I got myself a little hobby present for the holidays on ebay. It was dropped off in Georgia on Dec. 1. Made it to the Peachtree (of course) mail center the same day. Then disappear-o. There is no DeJoy in Mudville.
sdhays
@Ken: That’s what I recall, and no one outside the liberal sphere batted an eye. I don’t usually agree with a lot of the criticism of “Democrats” not doing this or that, because a lot of times it’s both complicated and/or not “Democrats” but rather “Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema”, but in this instance, I humbly think it was a mistake for the Democratic leadership not to order the CBO to take tax enforcement dividends into account.
That’s something Nancy/Chuck could just do and no one would care and then we’d have reports saying that BBB would save money rather than cost several hundred billion (with a huge asterisk that no one will pay attention to). And the assumption isn’t even dubious. It would be an actual better estimate, or at least as good as the one the CBO produced.
OzarkHillbilly
Well, that didn’t take long.
Not that anyone on the right is going to make note of that last part.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
Butch
@lowtechcyclist: We have 10 apple trees in our yard. We strung blue lights around the main trunk and a few lower branches of half and white lights around the trunk and branches of the other half. It’s really spectacular in the snow; lots of people slow down to look.
Woodrow/asim
Possibly related: USPS appears to be lowering most Domestic shipping rates for 2022, per a shipping service I use:
The main tier of First Class mail is increasing rates, along with a bunch of the International shipping options (no shock there). Media mail stays the same, and pretty much all the rest are lowering prices.
One can speculate, as to why.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
Geminid
President Biden flies to Kansas City today, where he will tour the Kansas City Area Transit Authority facility, and deliver remarks at 3:30pm. He will be touting initiatives of the Infrastructure bill including funding for mass transit, electric buses, and passenger rail. Representatives Sharice Davids (D-KS) and Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO) will probabably travel with the President, as they both represent Kansa City based districts. Davids chairs the Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Infrastructure.
Cleaver is in a safe seat, but Davids flipped a Republican seat in 2018 and Kansas Republicans will try to draw her new 3rd District with a Republican majority. The Presidential visit to Kansas City may shore up support for Davids.
Missouri also has an open Senate seat next year. Flipping it may be a longshot, but when the seat was last up Jason Kander fell only 3 points short of unseating Roy Blunt, and Democrats will fight for it this coming year.
Leto
@Soprano2: I think it was the immediate Saturday after Thanksgiving, might have been the Friday, but we got mail at like 8pm. I was honestly confused when I heard our mailbox door flap open and shut, then saw the carrier walking away. I’m like… 8pm? Dude, go home; there’s more than enough time to deliver the mulch of adverts tomorrow!
Betty Cracker
@sdhays: Agree on all counts. I’m in favor of more aggressive “better to ask forgiveness than permission” action in many other cases, including possibly with the DeJoy situation.
Glad it finally looks like the corrupt ass will be ousted, but maybe it would have been better to fire him for cause (corruption!) early in the term, appoint someone else and let the court battle drag on while making the same moves that are just now coming to fruition to ensure the bastard could be fired a second time if reinstated.
Our legal system is slow as fuck, but it seems like only Republicans benefit from that.
germy
germy
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Only Republicans seem to benefit from our slow legal system because they’re the ones doing all the criming.
jonas
One thing I’ve noticed in the past couple of years is that Republicans objectively *hate* salmon fishermen — out in California and the PNW, all their gutting of environmental regulations and conservation measures is aimed squarely a giving what little water remains out there to cattle and alfalfa ranchers and screwing over anyone — particularly fishermen — who relies on viable water levels in lakes and rivers. In Alaska, they greenlight mines and oil drilling that endanger fisheries. The California salmon fishery is basically dead. Now a lot of this affects Native American communities, so of course Republicans don’t give a shit about them, but what about the sturdy white guys on those salmon boats? Why do they hate them so much?
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: Does anyone in TFG’s circle realize that it is possible to start up a company without doing anything illegal?
Leto
@Geminid: doesn’t hurt that they’ve seeded the judiciary with a bunch of pro-crime judges, at all levels.
Betty
@sdhays: I understand they lean Republican. I think I read they read that the amount to actually get collected is too speculative. The Treasury Department is on record disagreeing with the CBO and says it will be paid for. But the White House blah, blah, blah. Last I heard Treasury was full of financial experts.
Elizabelle
@Butch: That sounds beautiful.
Putting up such festive lights is a gift to your neighbors and anyone who passes by. I always appreciate the effort decorators make.
Leto
@jonas:
Because those “sturdy white guys” will vote for them no matter what, so they’re free to fuck them over with no consequences. “It was really the DEMS screwing you over! They want Communist fishing! AOC! War on Christmas!” I mean, it’s that’s simple.
Betty
@lowtechcyclist: Ron Bloom was the problem, nominally a Democrat but was responsible for privatizing the British postal system. A narrow escape for the US.
germy
@Leto:
Reminds me of some really conservative Democrats we had in NYS who’d win election after election and then disappoint everyone: “What are you going to do? Vote for the Republican?”
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: Yeah, but the point is, it might be possible to weaponize the courts’ snail-like pace to get things done that need to be done in some cases, such as a more timely firing of the corrupt shit-stain who damn near destroyed the USPS.
I’m not a lawyer, but from what I read, the tools were arguably there to fire him for cause. DeJoy would have gone to court to contest it, but so what? Let them wait for the excruciatingly slow and rusty wheels of justice to turn for a change.
sdhays
@Betty Cracker: I’m generally more hesitant to encourage elected officials to do things they think likely aren’t legal, but in this instance you may be right. People would definitely notice that the Post Office got unfucked.
Although I can’t help but wonder if the legal system would have treated DeJoy’s challenge of his firing with more urgency than it is treating, say, the Congressional subpoena of Steve Bannon.
Leto
@germy: people eventually do that, then wonder how R’s gain control, change the rules on everything, and now you can’t get them out. Can’t you stop being a selfish twat for just one second? No? Well ok then.
OzarkHillbilly
@Geminid: No, it’s because their rich benefactors have the money to pay the lawyers.
germy
germy
@Leto:
I’ve never voted for a Republican in my life, and I’ve been voting since 1978.
dmsilev
@OzarkHillbilly:
Truth in advertising, I guess.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I was kind of being being tongue in cheek (although there has definitely been a Republican crime wave). But more seriously, wasn’t the problem with DeJoy that only the USPS Board could fire him, even for cause? I haven’t followed this so closely, but that was my impression.
germy
“Happy Holidays”
OzarkHillbilly
@Geminid: Now that you mention it, I remember something like that too.
@germy: Heh.
zhena gogolia
@Geminid: I think you’re right.
oatler
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/12/newmax-pledges-allegiance-vladimir-putin
ra ra RasPUTIN
Lover to the Russian Queen
There was a cat who really was gone
ra ra RasPUTIN
Russia’s greatest love machine
It was a shame how he carried on
prostratedragon
@Ken: I think the problem is that the companies are started for illegal purposes in the first place. Kind of argues against proper structures, since those might lead to the nightmare of accountability.
prostratedragon
@Betty: Oh my. I’d heard that he was the problem, but not the part about the UK. Good riddance!
Philbert
@Ken: I think Trumpworld is constitutionally unable to do even the tiniest thing straight and honest. Unmanly and all that.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@OzarkHillbilly: Who in the F is dumb enough to invest in any project Trump is involved in since it’s a certainty it’s a pyramid scheme?
OzarkHillbilly
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Every straight Republican voting MAGA head in the country.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@OzarkHillbilly: Let me guess, when it all predictably falls apparat the MAGA heads tell each other the Libertards sabotaged Trump’s awesome scheme, somehow.
Soprano2
Plus, we’re going to have a barn burner of a Republican primary. I think the current frontrunner is our disgraced former governor, who has again been found to have violated campaign finance laws. They’re all going to compete to see who can be the “Trumpiest” candidate. On the Democratic side, there’s a Marine veteran named Lucas Kunce running who has the kind of profile that the Bernie bros hate but that could actually win in MO under the right circumstances. He’s talking to farmers about the law the state legislature passed that allowed Chinese-based companies to buy up a bunch of farmland here. The farmers hate this law!
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: Now that you mention it, I think you’re right about the DeJoy case specifically. IIRC, the proposed process I read a while back was to fire sketchy board member(s) for cause (of which plenty was outlined) and replace them with people who would oust DeJoy.
But that’s just one example. The frustrating thing is, our side tends to scrupulously cross every “T” and dot every “I” across the board, which is generally a good thing. But when you’re in an existential battle against authoritarians, more aggressive action might be in order in some cases.
OzarkHillbilly
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: But of course, it can’t be their fault.
germy
Mel
@Elizabelle: This.
I’m homebound b/c of health problems and don’t have the energy to decorate this year. Seeing my neighbor’s porch and tree beautifully decorated and getting holiday photos of my little great nieces and nephews gave me a boost. (There might have been a few tears, seeing the little ones with their holiday decorations.)
It has been a long, awfully rough year for so many people. I’m finding that those little moments of beauty, happiness or kindness are essential to staying afloat and keeping on keeping on.
Gin & Tonic
sab
Well, we got the fiberoptic tree out of storage, and put the stuffed Grinch-as-Santa-elf on top of the grandfather clock, so we are pretty much done with Christmas decorations. The fiberoptic tree has regular Christmas lights in addition to the fiber optics. We don’t plug the Christmas lights in until Christmas Eve, thereby respecting Advent as a separate season from Christmas.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: I was listening to MSNBC yesterday and Zoe Lofgren sounded almost amused as she talked about how much information Meadows had already turned over, and how much information they’re getting from other witnesses. I believe she hinted at text chains supplied by other people that included Meadows. I’m not expecting a dramatic moment à la Sorkin or David E Kelly, or Alexander Butterfield, but this ploy may not work out as well as Meadows hopes.
p.a.
Any word on US Post-Office Banks? That was a ‘… and a pony’ desire before the election in some quarters.
Another Scott
@p.a.: There’s a pilot program that’s been going on since September. I don’t know if the BBBA has any additional features.
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
(“Who remembers buying Saving Stamps (2 page .pdf) from the PO in the 1960s.”)
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I wouldn’t be surprised if Meadows overshared because it’s pretty obvious he did an about-face on cooperation in response to Trump’s reaction to his dumb book. I don’t know anything about Meadows, but from his stint as CoS, he doesn’t seem like a very bright guy.
West of the Rockies
Salmon absolutely need protection!
mrmoshpotato
?DeJoy to the Sun! To Hell with him!?
MisterForkbeard
@Betty Cracker: While he was in congress, Meadows was known as a fringe kook who had his nose up Trump’s ass. Not a very bright dude at all, completely unethical and amoral, but knew that Trump was the way to succeed in the Republican Party.
This tracks perfectly with that description.
mrmoshpotato
Fixed.
Ksmiami
Obligatory- fuck Joe Manchin… that’s all
sdhays
@Betty Cracker: I knew he wasn’t very bright, but the degree of stupidity just around “what is something Dump wouldn’t want me to say or put in a book” has surprised me. Well, maybe not surprised. It’s really just a marvel to behold.
I mean, he was part of the group lying that Dump wasn’t sick – why would he think that juicy tidbit would be something Dump would be ok with letting out now? He’s stupid even in his specialty of sucking up to Dump.
Elizabelle
@mrmoshpotato: Yes! You are nicer than me, in that it is a fresh fish.
@Mel: Holiday hugs to you. Glad you look for, and appreciate, happiness wherever it is found. Have to concentrate on what is here; not overlook it.
tam1MI
@germy: Cue the usual idiots moaning about Garland being “feckless”…
Brantl
@jonas: Because it’s about a natural resource for everybody, and not a profitable steel manufacturing plant for the 1% to suck the profits off of; so it’s communist.
Betty Cracker
@MisterForkbeard: & @sdhays: It’s amusing how the stupidity feeds on itself and gets compounded daily. I mean, there’s no way Meadows didn’t run his stupid book by Trump, and Meadows dimly concludes Trump is okay with that info being out there, but then Trump is surprised at the contents, so Meadows has to re-think what’s permissible, etc. Just a perfect circle of stupid.
Mike in NC
@Betty Cracker: Don’t know much about Mark Meadows, but he’s apparently one of those dimwit home-schooled evangelical Christians who sincerely believe that the Earth is 5000 years old. So naturally the rubes in the hills of western NC elected him to Congress.
Betty Cracker
@tam1MI: I wouldn’t call him “feckless,” but I think it’s legit to wonder if he’s the right man for the job. Jury is still out, IMO, and there are smart people (Adam Schiff, for example) who wonder if the AG is being aggressive enough. It’s possible he’s too much of an institutionalist for this time.
West of the Rockies
@germy:
The committee HAS heard from many people and has many documents. Maybe they should leak some dirt, get people mad and riled up and have the public demand accountability to really turn up the heat on these A-holes.
eachother
@rikyrah: Thank you for your good morning greetings.
Good morning.
sdhays
@Betty Cracker: LOL. I hadn’t even thought of that. OF COURSE he had Dump’s people review it! I wonder if anyone actually looked through it at all. We know Dump can’t actually read, whether due to a learning disability or his severe case of narcissism or his vanity-induced unwillingness to get his eyesight corrected, so obviously he wasn’t going to read it, even if it was all about him.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Betty:
After seeing your comment, I just looked up the British mail system:
Might be a stupid questions, but is the US postal sector open to competition because parcel companies like UPS and FedEx exist?
sdhays
@Betty Cracker: It’s a challenging thing. He has to lead the DOJ in defending democracy, but part of that is also rebuilding the institution to be better defended against another fascist taking control, which means working through the bureaucracy.
For those of us on the outside, it’s hard gauge how the institution building is going, and after Dump we are rightly skeptical of how successful any of that will be. And like you said, the jury’s still out on if he’s striking the right balance or leaning too hard on rebuilding the institution.
Geminid
@West of the Rockies: I think the 1/6 Committee will start public hearings in January. They’ve had plenty of time to plan for impactful testimony, like that of the first hearing a while back. People are busy now, so it may be better to just wait and lay matters out then.
They have been closed mouthed about what they have. We’ve heard a lot about the people who won’t testify, like Bannon, Meadows and Clark. Not so much about those who will testify. I particularly want to hear from Pasquale Anthony “Pat” Cippoline, the man who replaced Don McGahn as White House Counsel. Cippoline was a loyal servant through most of his tenure, but he seems to have drawn the line at stealing the election, and was an adversary of Clark and Sidney Powell during the weeks after the election. Cippoline has beans to spill.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@germy:
Sure would like to know the judge’s reasoning for putting Bannon’s contempt trial in fucking July of next year. I’d like to hear him (her?) defend it
Ksmiami
@sdhays: it’s almost 2022… Garland is too much of an institutionalist for the moment at hand which requires pulling out the stops to save Democracy.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@jonas: Salmon is fish and good for you, therefor it’s libertard. That’s how dumb these people are.
sdhays
Holy shit, Batman! McConnell’s going to muster GQP votes to pass a “temporary exception” to the filibuster for dealing with the debt ceiling. What the actual fuck?
The Senate is such a ridiculous institution.
Geminid
@Geminid: I am also looking forward to seeing 1/6 Commitee member Elaine Luria (Va-2) when the public hearings commence. Democratic leadership was very selective in choosing the 7 or 8 Democratic Commitee members, and they must have thought Luria would be a good one. A retired Navy Lt. Commander, Luria is another member of the talented House Class of 2018.
Geminid
@sdhays: If McConnell can muster ten votes to pass an exception to the filibuster, he can muster those votes to just pass a debt limit extension. I guess we’ll know more soon.
Politico put up an article this morning about a group of Senators working on modest changes to Senate rules that may speed up confirmations. Evidently Tim Kaine is one of the leaders, but he’s not saying much about the substance. It sounds like they’ll try to make this happen after January 1, 2022.
Kent
I have. 1996 I lived in Alaska and somehow a completely unhinged woman from Anchorage managed to gain the Democratic nomination for Senator because no serious Democratic politicians wanted to waste their time running against Ted Stevens in Alaska (Uncle Ted). So an Anchorage School Board member named Teresa Obermeyer managed to gain the Dem nomination on the back of name recognition in the Anchorage area.
The woman was completely and utterly unhinged. She was Q-anon 25 years before it existed. I worked for NOAA and she would show up at random hearings and public meetings that we held in Anchorage to rant about all sorts of random shit in this hysteric shrill voice that was just piercing. She was stalking the Ted Stevens campaign accusing him of personally preventing her husband from passing the bar exam in Alaska which he failed for something like 40 straight times. He had to get a restraining order filed against her. The debate between the two of them is classic YouTube gold where Ted Stevens told her she desperately needed to get help. https://youtu.be/MaIsLeqfwM4
I’m not making any of this up. Anyway, I voted for Republican Ted Stevens that year because there was zero chance in hell I was voting for Teresa Obermeyer and the Green Party had thrown up some other dingbat gadfly.
Another Scott
TheHill:
It would be a very nice present for the country. Here’s hoping that Chuck and the Senate Democrats will get it done.
Cheers,
Scott.
West of the Rockies
@Ksmiami:
Keep in mind that Americans have a ludicrously short memory. I hope that by having Republican malfeasance be front and center throughout 2022, it will cause devastating consequences for Repubs come elections.
Suzanne
@Kent: I voted Republican exactly once, and that was for John McCain for Senate in 2004, because the Arizona Democratic Party could find basically no one who was willing to run who stood even a tiny chance, and they ran this poor schmuck of a guy who was a volunteer and he had no electoral experience, no community profile, and he has done exactly nothing of any note before or since. McCain won that election with like 80% of the vote, winning every county. The AZ Dem party has gotten better at finding candidates in the years since, but there was a long stretch in the wilderness there for a while. They knew he would lose and so they invested nothing in the campaign. Just an utter SHITSHOW.
geg6
@germy:
I’ve been voting since 1978 (just missed the 1976 age cutoff by a few weeks). I have voted for exactly one Republican in all that time: Senator John Heinz. He was a very good senator and quite moderate for a Republican. And he was married to Theresa Heinz Kerry at the time. She was just Theresa Heinz then and I admired her very much. It was shocking and very sad when he was killed in a plane crash.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Another Scott:
I was actually a little surprised McConnell didn’t try to jam Dems up with the debt limit increase/budget bills
Kent
@Suzanne:When I turned 18 in Oregon back long ago I also remember voting for GOP Senator Mark Hatfield on the basis of his opposition to Carter’s Draft Registration bill which he filibustered together with George McGovern in 1980 https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/02/26/hatfield-to-filibuster-draft-registration-bill/1dd13dca-08d2-4442-bcef-04ee899d24f8/
That was a different time and place though. and Hatfield was absolutely unbeatable in Oregon. And I have no recollection who his opponent was.
Bobby Thomson
Politico doing their best to concern troll the long-deserved sacking of DeJoy, but from what I’ve seen so far Biden doesn’t look like a fucking idiot.
Bobby Thomson
@sdhays: I say vote against it and then vote and pass the debt limit increase with 50 votes. But that would give Hillbilly Jesus a sad.
Chris Johnson
@Ksmiami:
But you don’t want to save Democracy. You just want to watch the world burn.
The Lodger
@Kent: Russell Peterson for Delaware Gov. (Later became president of the Audubon Society.) There might have been one or two other Rs that year, but I don’t remember who.
Kent
@sdhays:
Of course it is all a game. The 10-year thing is just for reconciliation rules so they can, according to their bullshit rules, pass a budget item with just 51 votes without the filibuster. They can actually do whatever the fuck they want. It is all just filibuster wankery
And this bullshit is, of course, only driven by the Senate. The House, which is supposed to originate all spending bills, has no such constraints of any sort.