Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Consistently wrong since 2002

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Lighten up, Francis.

Word salad with all caps

The revolution will be supervised.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Our job is not to persuade Republicans but to defeat them.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

How has Obama failed you today?

Gastritis Broke My Calculator

No one could have predicted…

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

We have all the best words.

I thought we were promised Infrastructure Week

Usually wrong but never in doubt.

Mission Accomplished!

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

This is a big f—–g deal.

‘Forty-two’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

What fresh hell is this?

The house always wins.

We can agree to disagree, but I’m right.

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Anne Laurie has been a Balloon Juice writer since 2009.

Friday Morning Open Thread: Readership Capture

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Been quite the year, this week, hasn’t it? And in the latest cliffhanger, another ‘libertarian’ Repub has decided to play vandal for the cameras:

… Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he opposed the bill, approved unanimously by the Senate on Wednesday, as it would add to the national debt. The libertarian lawmaker also is concerned that voting without a quorum present — the majority of the House chamber — would violate the Constitution. He said he has yet to decide whether to press the issue, which could delay a House vote until late Saturday or Sunday…

Pelosi indicated that any future effort would involve all four leaders in Congress. She intends to hunker down in Washington to work on the next steps, rather than heading back to her home in San Francisco, even though the House is not expected to be in session for weeks to come…

SOMEBODY has to be the grown-up in the room, after all. And the Repubs can’t even keep their own team in line.

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Thursday/Friday, March 26/27 (International / Informational)

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Thursday/Friday, March 26/27 (Domestic Edition)

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Required disclaimer: China is almost certainly lying about its stats, which in no way improves ours.

How many Americans have coronavirus? New Reuters poll might offer a hint:

… In the nationwide poll, 2.3% of Americans surveyed said they’ve been diagnosed with the coronavirus, a percentage that could translate to several million people.

Of course, it’s impossible to know if the answers are a result of misinformed self-diagnoses, untested professional diagnoses or test-confirmed infections. But Carnegie Mellon University professor Baruch Fischhoff, who studies risk perception and analysis, said that the poll results shouldn’t be viewed as merely a collective neurotic reaction to the pandemic.

Given the shortage of coronavirus test kits, it may well be a broadly accurate estimate of the extent of the infection across the United States, he said. “It may be the best available data,” he said.

A further 2.4% of those polled said they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. And in an illustration of the degrees of separation with the deadly virus, a further 2.6% said they knew someone who has been in close contact with a person who has tested positive.

The poll, which surveyed 4,428 adults between March 18 and 24, shows a dramatic increase in those saying they have tested positive for the virus from a similar poll conducted just a few days earlier. In the Reuters/Ipsos poll of 1,115 Americans conducted March 16 and 17, about 1% said they were infected.

The latest poll also suggests that Latinos are far more likely to come in contact with people who may be infected than whites; the same appears true for younger people compared to older Americans. The disease appears to be concentrated in the Northeast, according to the poll, but the survey also suggests it’s widespread throughout the country…

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Horrorshow Open Thread: Maybe the Rich WANT Us to Kill Them?

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Really, this isn’t the best time to be working everybody elses’ last nerve…

… Household help, often performed by undocumented immigrants like Ms. Zamorano, has become a fixture of American homes. In a thriving economy, even middle-class families have been able to hand off their mops, brooms and lawn mowers to low-paid workers from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and other countries. With reliable caregivers at home, many dual-income couples have raised children while building high-powered careers.

The coronavirus crisis is compelling many families to reassess. Concerns about the safety of an outsider entering their homes coupled with financial instability have prompted even the well-heeled to dispense with their help, and severance payments are a rarity.

Unlike their employers, undocumented workers cannot collect unemployment or benefit from a government bailout. They are part of the bustling informal economy, typically paid cash and off the books for the essential work they do. Without paid sick leave, remote work capability and access to jobs, they become uniquely vulnerable.

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Thursday Evening Open Thread

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Still the catchiest pandemic-related ditty I’ve run across! Ugandan singer / activist Bobi Wine has some other fine work on YouTube, too…

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Republican Venality Open Thread: Deliberate, Criminal Negligence

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… “Is there sufficient personal protective equipment for healthcare workers who are providing medical care?” the playbook instructs its readers, as one early decision that officials should address when facing a potential pandemic. “If YES: What are the triggers to signal exhaustion of supplies? Are additional supplies available? If NO: Should the Strategic National Stockpile release PPE to states?”

The strategies are among hundreds of tactics and key policy decisions laid out in a 69-page National Security Council playbook on fighting pandemics, which POLITICO is detailing for the first time. Other recommendations include that the government move swiftly to fully detect potential outbreaks, secure supplemental funding and consider invoking the Defense Production Act — all steps in which the Trump administration lagged behind the timeline laid out in the playbook.

“Each section of this playbook includes specific questions that should be asked and decisions that should be made at multiple levels” within the national security apparatus, the playbook urges, repeatedly advising officials to question the numbers on viral spread, ensure appropriate diagnostic capacity and check on the U.S. stockpile of emergency resources.

The playbook also stresses the significant responsibility facing the White House to contain risks of potential pandemics, a stark contrast with the Trump administration’s delays in deploying an all-of-government response and President Donald Trump’s recent signals that he might roll back public health recommendations…

The NSC devised the guide — officially called the Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents, but known colloquially as “the pandemic playbook” — across 2016. The project was driven by career civil servants as well as political appointees, aware that global leaders had initially fumbled their response to the 2014-2015 spread of Ebola and wanting to be sure that the next response to an epidemic was better handled.

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Semi-Respite Open Thread: Handling Academic Stress

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Hard-earned tips from “Int’l Security prof @UTSC & @UofT, Chair WIIS-Canada, boxer. Author of award-winning book Jihad & Co.” —

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: Situation Moving Fast

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… The sprawling legislation, which passed 96 to 0, would send checks to more than 150 million American households, set up enormous loan programs for businesses large and small, pump billions of dollars into unemployment insurance programs, greatly boost spending on hospitals, and much more.

The Senate’s most liberal and conservative members joined together to support the mammoth spending bill, illustrating how concerned policymakers have become about the health care strains and financial pain the country now faces.

The legislation’s goal is to flood the economy with money at a time of financial near-chaos, with entire states on lockdown, many businesses closed and the numbers of infections and deaths from the coronavirus quickly on the rise.

The Senate vote sends the bill to the House, where Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) announced a vote to approve it Friday morning. President Trump said he intends to sign it immediately…

The bill would extend $1,200 to most American adults and $500 for most children, create a $500 billion lending program for businesses, cities and states, and establish a $367 billion employee retention fund for small businesses. It would direct $130 billion to hospitals and provide four months of expanded unemployment insurance, among other things.

Lawmakers and the White House were bombarded with lobbyists and special-interest groups seeking assistance during the negotiations, and the price tag rose from $850 billion to $2.2 trillion in just a matter of days.

With confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States climbing swiftly to over 67,000 Wednesday with more than 900 deaths, lawmakers acknowledged that no amount of economic relief from Congress could stop the pain for the American public. In addition to layoffs, many workers are dealing with salary reductions or furloughs. And despite Trump’s push to restart much of the economy by April 12, there are growing signs that the drag on business could last well into the second half of the year….

The legislation ensures that taxpayer-backed loans cannot go to firms controlled by Trump, other White House officials or members of Congress. That would suggest that Trump-owned properties, including hotels that have been hurt by the downturn, cannot seek taxpayer assistance….

Much more at the link — which may have been updated by the time you read this!

Also of note (if they hold to it):

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Wednesday/Thursday, March 25/26

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Late Night Open Thread: Life’s Little Tragicomedies

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The Pandemic Relief Bill: Nancy Pelosi Still Has Our Backs

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She’s been working the media all week. I missed tonight’s PBS interview, but there’s a full transcript here.
Finale:

Judy Woodruff: But you’re saying it could be done within a few days?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Yes.

And it’s no use having a conversation about what might happen later. What is in the here and now — and I thank you for asking — is that we are ready. We hope that they would freeze the design, and whatever the difference is on the Republican side.

Please don’t resent our lowest-paid workers in America for getting $600, so that they can meet the needs of their families, spend the money. It’s immediate. Spend the money, inject demand into the economy, grow the economy, and, at the same time, give people a little more confidence and less stress as they deal with the important health issue, health challenge that this is.

We pray for those who have lost their loved ones and those whose are — whose family are affected by all of this. We pray and thank God for our health care workers, our first responders, our firefighters, and police officers, and emergency services people.

They are our heroes in all of this, and we’re grateful to them.

Further explanation, from The Hill:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that Democrats will press for another wave of direct payments to Americans as Congress begins weighing the next round of emergency relief in response to the coronavirus crisis.

House Democrats had proposed a $1,500 cash infusion for all Americans in their stimulus bill, up to a certain income level — a $300 increase over the Senate package, which is expected to reach the president’s desk in the coming days.

Pelosi suggested Wednesday that neither figure is high enough, calling for another round of checks in the next wave of stimulus — the fourth since the crisis began — to be considered in the weeks and months ahead…

A short time later, speaking to reporters in the Capitol, Pelosi offered a broader preview of some of the provisions Democrats will seek in a phase four package, including more funding to protect pensions, tougher work safety provisions under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and funding to provide free medical care — not just testing — to coronavirus victims.

“There are a number of issues that are not holding up this [Senate] bill … but that we need to do,” she said…

House Democrats, who have been on recess for more than a week, have complained of being shut out of the negotiations, which were conducted primarily between Senate leaders and the White House. Many are up in arms that Democratic priorities — including an expansion of paid leave, a larger increase in food stamps, vote-by-mail provisions and stronger work safety protections for medical workers — were largely left out of the Senate bill.

To ease those concerns, Pelosi and a number of Democratic committee heads conducted a series of conference calls on Wednesday with rank-and-file members to field concerns and provide policy details contained in the Senate bill. As part of that effort, Democratic leaders are reminding lawmakers that provisions excluded from the third round will be revisited in the fourth…

Pelosi had been hoping that, after the Senate passes the $2 trillion package, the House could move it through the lower chamber by unanimous consent, a procedure for advancing legislation without the need to call lawmakers back to Washington.

On Wednesday, however, she ruled out that option, citing warnings from GOP leaders that some of their members, wishing to debate the mammoth bill and have some record of how they voted, would block a unanimous consent request…

TL, DR: People aren’t gonna be able to pay their April rent because Lindsey Graham thinks nurses are lazy moochers, Tom Cotton is running for the 2024 GOP primary, and the House Repubs are morons or true believers or both. Come with us Dems, if you want to live…

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Open Thread: GOP Monsters Assume Everyone Else Is A Monster, Too

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“Just a thought experiment, throwing some ideas around… “

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Who funds the Federalist, and how have they managed to stay out of jail?

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Open Thread: Coronavirus-Related Podcasts for Aural Learners

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Forwarded by Major Major Major Major:

Coronavirus 411 alerts, updates, and information

Coronavirus Daily Briefing

Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction with Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Coronavirus Global Update BBC World Service

Coronavirus Today: Alerts and Updates with Dr. Brian McDonough

Epidemic With Dr. Celine Gounder and Ronald Klain

Social Distance with Dr. James Hamblin

Viral: Coronavirus

Also:
The Al Franken Podcast: Andy Slavitt on the Pandemic

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Semi-Respite Open Thread: Staying Sane in Zero-G

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(Read the whole thing — it’s quite pithy!)

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Good News, If They Can Keep It…

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Per the Washington Post:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced the breakthrough on the Senate floor around 1:30 a.m., after a long day of talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other administration officials…

The legislation, unprecedented in its size and scope, aims to flood the economy with capital by sending $1,200 checks to many Americans, creating a $367 billion loan program for small businesses and setting up a $500 billion fund for industries, cities and states.

Other provisions include a massive boost to unemployment insurance, $150 billion for state and local stimulus funds and $130 billion for hospitals.

McConnell said the Senate would pass the legislation later Wednesday. With the House out of session, action there could take longer, depending on whether lawmakers can agree to pass the bill by “unanimous consent,” which would require agreement from all members of the chamber…

Mnuchin said President Trump would “absolutely, absolutely, absolutely” sign the bill.

The package would extend extraordinary taxpayer assistance to potentially millions of American and companies that have been hammered by the fast-moving economic crisis. The bill is being rushed through Congress without public hearings or formal review, and it’s unclear how effective the measures would be in arresting the economy’s sudden fall…

The Senate bill would direct payments of $1,200 to most American adults and $500 to most children, create a $500 billion lending program for companies, states and cities, and extend an additional $367 billion to help small companies deal with payroll problems. It would bolster the unemployment insurance system and pump $150 billion into U.S. hospitals. The bill more than doubled in size in just a few days…

It sounds like the Democrats fought off the worst of the GOP’s kakistocrats, but of course the devil is in the details, and the devil votes the Repub ticket. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst…

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