Preliminary speaker on now. Open thread.
President Biden Delivers Remarks On The EconomyPost + Comments (118)
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads
Preliminary speaker on now. Open thread.
President Biden Delivers Remarks On The EconomyPost + Comments (118)
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Assholes
There is a great kerfuffle right now of people wanting to be The Guy [word used advisedly] Who Got It Right on the origin of the virus. FRIST! Unfortunately, none of those guys are virologists. According to Politico, that raggiest of political rags, Facebook will no longer take down posts claiming that the SARS-CoV-2 virus …
This post is in: Science & Technology, Assholes
To be fair, it’s not just him. Other countries and gazillionaires are planning to send their space junk into orbit too. But Musk is ahead of the pack, and it would be a good idea to do something about it before things get too crowded up there. “Constellations” of thousands of satellites promise internet everywhere, …
This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Trump Crime Cartel
Belarus has forced down a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius in order to arrest a Belarusian journalist aboard. Lukashenko has been holding on to the presidency after an election in which his opponent clearly won since last August. Protests have continued. And speaking of thuggery, Juliette Kayyem has a good thread about MAGA …
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Assholes
I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of the pandemic in the US since last week’s poorly planned CDC announcement that the vaccinated no longer need wear masks. I’d still like to hear from Joe Biden and Rochelle Walensky about what happened and what they expect from here on, but it looks like that …
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Domestic Politics
President Joe Biden was a senator for 36 years. He has seen horse-trading. He has seen comity with segregationists. He has seen deadlock and filibusters. He has seen bipartisanship. He has seen Newt Gingrich’s power grab. He has seen Mitch McConnell’s obstructionism. He knows how the Senate and the House work. One of the things …
President Biden Restores Strategy To PoliticsPost + Comments (54)
Ulrike Franke wrote a piece about younger German policy analysts that overlaps with what I’m describing. It’s not just German.
I think we are beginning to see results of Biden’s tactics. It’s early, but there is a premium on being the first to point things out.
Thirty-five House Republicans voted to form a commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Every time there’s a defining vote, including both impeachments, Trump keeps losing a greater number of Republicans in each new episode. A math-minded person could chart it! 1 yes (Romney in Impeachment #1; next time ten House members+7 Senators; now 35 House members.
Paul Ryan, former Republican Speaker of the House, is holding a fundraiser for Adam Kinzinger, one of the 35.
That is how to move the Senate too. A few at a time. As one senator moves (Mitt Romney), it becomes easier for others.
On the Democratic side we have Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. It’s hard to say what Sinema is about, but Manchin has been a Democratic senator in a red state since 2010. Before that, he was in West Virginia state government for 28 years. He knows what Biden knows. John Stoehr puts forth an analysis of Manchin’s actions that is similar to what I’m saying here.
Manchin speaks of bipartisanship and has co-authored a letter with Republican Lisa Murkowski urging the Senate to pass a voting rights act that should be able to pass the Supreme Court that struck down the earlier version of that act. It is not the full-throated voting rights acts that the House has put forward. It may well be shot down by Senate Republicans.
But having put it forward in a bipartisan way gives Manchin ammunition to say, later, well the Republicans aren’t going to cooperate, so I sadly will have to vote with my Democratic colleagues to remove the filibuster, which has been so badly misused.
Biden is redefining bipartisanship to mean the will of the people; he cites polls that indicate his actions are approved by as much as 75% of the American people. That necessarily includes some Trump voters. If Manchin’s bipartisan approach in the Senate fails, that strengthens Biden’s all-America approach and perhaps gives Manchin an opening to vote against the filibuster.
With those 35 Republicans, the House passed a bill for a 1/6 Commission. The Senate is now contemplating it. You can be sure discussions are taking place behind the scenes. Chuck Schumer will bring it to the floor when he has the votes or when it is clear he can pin it on the Republicans. Which would strengthen a Manchin vote against the filibuster.
It’s early, and we are seeing small indicators. Things can still go bad. It’s easy to wish for decisive action and demand that Democrats move without Republicans. But splitting the Republicans will make it easier to get important legislation passed and may even help to break the Republican Party sufficiently that it has to reform.
Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads
Presumably he will be speaking on the ceasefire expected to go into effect in an hour or two. To start at 45 minutes past the hour.