“It’s a little too quiet” - US Politics February 2021

Here we go

Good morning!

I'm tired of reading about the rioters but this made me laugh: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/us/capitol-rioters-non-voters-invs/index.html

Lang's attorney also said the 25-year-old was a "naive, impressionable young man" who had been provoked by Trump's rhetoric. He cited Senator Mitch McConnell's statement that "the mob was fed lies" and said he hoped that Lang and others would not be considered guilty "due solely to their associations, beliefs and presence."

I mean, possibly I'm mistaken but I think "presence" is the #1 reason why yr boy got arrested, Esq.

Who among us hasn't tried to take over the US Capitol

It's unamerican to not want to overthrow the govt surely

Thirsty tree and whatnot

I am sure there are going to be a couple 1/6 yahoos who are going to fight the charges on some dopey 1st Am or other grounds, but the vast majority of these idiots are going to start pleading guilty soon (90% on avg) and those who don't (2% on avg) are going to get convicted (83% on avg).

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/11/only-2-of-federal-criminal-defendants-go-to-trial-and-most-who-do-are-found-guilty/

I hope I will not be considered guilty of this bank robbery due solely to having broken into a bank and stolen all their money. I mean come on now.

surely I should be rewarded for driving people away from the scene of a crime

https://64.media.tumblr.com/39eb05d25a4c927dbcb1a1d75c031c9c/tumblr_pdy5viLzqG1tzgg1ao1_1280.jpg

My attempt to kidnap a sitting Senator was performance art, how is it different than a David Allen Coe song or an Oliver Stone movie

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/01/962246187/spurred-by-the-capitol-riot-thousands-of-republicans-drop-their-party

lol

She hasn't spoken with her parents, who are Biden supporters, since the election. They see her as a QAnon conspiracy theorist, she said, but she thinks of herself as a skeptic who does her own research

"As my husband said, it's just become the party of mean people," said Jo Swanson, 73, a retired school psychologist in Denver. She voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 but didn't register as a Democrat until this month. She had always considered herself more socially liberal, but her anti-abortion rights beliefs had held her back.

"I really found that hard to let go," she said, adding that she will still fight for abortion restrictions.

Jo OTM re: the Republican Party, OffTM re: abortion

I love that -- "does her own research."

So how is a rioter not guilty because he was "provoked by Trump's rhetoric," when the argument from Trump supporters is that Trump said nothing that directly incited the crowd?

xp
the popularity/actual meaning of that phrase is a pedagogical & media literacy nightmare

otm

I found this equally interesting and dismaying: https://datasociety.net/library/searching-for-alternative-facts/

"I was completely shocked and ashamed. That's not how I think of the Republicans — who we were, and who we are," he said.

no it's totally who you are and have been

I hate that the mere existence of the internet gives folks like that clear and free license to say they "do their own research" with a straight face. But I suppose that was probably a mantra of the flat earth people forty years ago too.

"with all due respect your honor, before you sentence me you should do your own research"

From that New Yorker article about the Capitol insurrectionists:

Not long after the Brooks tweet, I got a call from a woman I’d met at previous Stop the Steal rallies. She had been unable to come to D.C., owing to a recent surgery. She asked if I could tell her what I’d seen, and if the stories about Antifa were accurate. She was upset—she did not believe that “Trump people” could have done what the media were alleging. Before I responded, she put me on speakerphone. I could hear other people in the room. We spoke for a while, and it was plain that they desperately wanted to know the truth. I did my best to convey it to them as I understood it.

Less than an hour after we got off the phone, the woman texted me a screenshot of a CNN broadcast with a news bulletin that read, “antifa has taken responsiblitly for storming capital hill.” The image, which had been circulating on social media, was crudely Photoshopped (and poorly spelled). “Thought you might want to see this,” she wrote.

can we please stop interviewing these fucking idiots

I believe the popular usage of 'research' pretty much just means 'google search'.

more likely it's watching these YouTube videos that were algorithmically recommended to me because of my scholarly interests

https://prospect.org/politics/why-katie-porter-not-on-house-financial-services-committee/

Yup, I used to do this. I'd also chew up a couple of YouTube videos and use the resulting paste as the core of my belief system

lmao

The focus is only on two or three people here, but much more common, I'd guess:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/us/capitol-rioters-non-voters-invs/index.html

2/ Minutes after huddling w/Proud Boys leader BIGGS, SAMSEL is pushing & pulling at barricades. Others join in, causing an officer to fall and hit her head.

He picks her up & says (per officer's account):

"we don't have to hurt you, why are you standing in our way?" pic.twitter.com/lNrue1lLnG

— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) February 1, 2021

We don't have to hurt you, why are you standing in our way?

Don't wanna wait til tomorrow,
Why put it off another day?
We don't have to hurt you,
Why are you standing in our way?

https://www.grammy.com/sites/com/files/styles/news_detail_header/public/news/hammer_3.jpg?itok=NCNJw0Mr

The CEOs/founders of Robinhood made exactly the same political contributions on exactly the same days. $2,800 to Maxine Waters & Robert McHenry & $1,200 to the leadership PACs of both.

Waters & McHenry are the chair & ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee. pic.twitter.com/dgkhxQLsD9

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) January 30, 2021

I'm intrigued. If you had a money source that was out to make you look bad could you reject the donation they sent you at the time they sent it or would you need to filter out who had donated to you and return it?

JUst wondering what that process is, if one would be checking through who had donated and ok it as the money was given.

Didn't something like that just happen when former Senator Barbara Boxer sent a donation to the Biden inauguration committee?

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Biden-to-return-donation-from-ex-California-Sen-15865366.php

Jared nominated for a Nobel Peace prize?
Wow bizarro world Rex
I just finally caught the 3rd episode of How To last night where they were talking about signs one had skipped universes, like.

"There were 318 candidates for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize (211 individuals and 107 organizations), which is the fourth largest number in the history of the prize"

Half of them are probably Jared and Trump. Is there even a filing fee to nominate someone?

I would like there to be a Nobel Pieces prize where winners are hacked apart and their pieces fed to an alligator.

Too many nominees this year though

That pieces doesn’t make a good case that Porter was being “silenced” by Waters.

Oh lookit

"I would like there to be a Nobel Pieces prize where winners are hacked apart and their pieces fed to an alligator."

The Teaches of Pieces.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/01/chuch-schumer-aoc-senate-464255

“It’s exciting to see how much action Schumer is currently taking,” said Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff. “And I hope that progressives continue pressuring him, threatening a potential primary.”

With Schumer at the helm of the Senate, the prospect of a left-wing challenge next year stands to play a major role in shaping the legislation that comes out of Washington. That applies whether or not Ocasio-Cortez pulls the trigger, at least for the next few months.

The two-term congresswoman is seriously considering campaigning for the seat but is so far undecided, according to people familiar with her thinking. Multiple sources said her decision will be contingent on how Schumer wields power with his new Democratic majority in the upcoming months: Will he be pushed around by Mitch McConnell? Or will he work to pass ambitious, progressive legislation favored by the left?

“It’s dependent on what Schumer does,” said Waleed Shahid, communications director for Justice Democrats, the left-wing group that recruited Ocasio-Cortez to run for Congress, referring to a challenge by her or another progressive candidate. “Schumer will have to explain every one of his decisions to one of the most progressive primary electorates in the country, and if voters think he’s capitulating to Mitch McConnell and not organizing his caucus to deliver for working families, then he’s going to be in some trouble.”

👍🏻

I wish the media would stop reporting on Nobel "nominations."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/01/you-too-can-become-nobel-peace-prize-nominee/

As it turns out, while a Nobel Peace Prize nomination is a bit trickier than simply sending a guy in Norway a postcard with someone’s name on it, it’s not much trickier than that. A nomination is, in essence, as serious as the person doing the submitting — who is a member of a not particularly rarefied group of people.

...

Where can one find an acceptable nominator? Well, the Nobel committee has a list explaining who can do so. It includes such elite individuals as members of the International Court of Justice in The Hague and those who have themselves been recipients of the prize.

It also includes “members of national assemblies and national governments of sovereign states” and “university professors, professors emeriti and associate professors of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology, and religion.” Among others.

In other words, a nomination for the prize is legitimate if, say, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who is a member of the United States’ national assembly, sends a letter of nomination to the committee. A nomination is legitimate if you get the associate professor of history at Your Town State University to send a similar letter.

What is unclear to me from the sources used in that article is whether Waters was objecting because she didn't like what Porter was doing or if it was because of a procedural issue she is meant to enforce as head of the committee. I don't believe Waters herself has a reputation for being for banks and against consumers but I'm not super familiar with her record beyond her presence during the Rodney King riots and asking for an investigation into whether the CIA pushed crack into the inner city.

I do know that, as a Black American, I'm immediately suspicious of any article that accuses a longstanding Black congressperson whose record has largely been defined by standing up for their community of impeding a good White congressperson who's just trying to give these ungrateful people the help their so-called "leaders" have been withholding

I am even more suspicious when I click through on the byline and the article is written by a White man

The two-term congresswoman is seriously considering campaigning for the seat but is so far undecided, according to people familiar with her thinking.

Like so much that she does, this shows very well-calibrated political instincts.

xp: None of which is to say the article is de facto invalid but I think interrogating confirmation bias would be helpful to many of you

The current White House is reviewing whether or not to revoke President Trump’s access to the intelligence briefings that are typically granted to former presidents, according to @PressSec.

— Matt Viser (@mviser) February 1, 2021

Ya think?

I don't think Trump really cares about intelligence briefings in or out of office.

Probably cares about them more now, if there is at all a way for him to monetize them.

He doesn’t care to absorb the information but he’d totally want to “receive” them as a matter of principle and make some cash off of them.

I mean, couldn't he also, with access to intelligence, gather information that he could use to, say, fuel bullshit lawsuits?

yeah he absolutely wants those briefings (even if he understands none of it) and is gonna play the victim card so fucking hard over this

"I have been treated worse than every twice-impeached, single-term president in history!"

xp: None of which is to say the article is de facto invalid but I think interrogating confirmation bias would be helpful to many of you

― Hello Nice FBI Lady (DJP), Monday, February 1, 2021 3:03 PM (thirty minutes ago)

I like Porter a lot, but yeah that piece features some very dubious Maxine Waters mind-reading. You're off to an indefensible start if your sub-headline has the phrase "Waters appears to have a problem" in it

xp: None of which is to say the article is de facto invalid but I think interrogating confirmation bias would be helpful to many of you

― Hello Nice FBI Lady (DJP), Monday, February 1, 2021 3:03 PM (thirty minutes ago)

I like Porter a lot, but yeah that piece features some very dubious Maxine Waters mind-reading. You're off to an indefensible start if your sub-headline has the phrase "Waters appears to have a problem" in it

― rob, Monday, February 1, 2021 8:40 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

agree with all this.

I have a stupid question.

Is it possible, under the current US governmental system, to write a bill that says, basically, "The financial benefits of this package extend only to the states whose Senators vote in favor of it; if you vote against it, your state doesn't get any of the gravy"? I realize that the US Senate (well, the Democratic Party, anyway) would never do something so rude and combative, but is it even constitutionally feasible?

that sounds like an absolutely terrible idea, so i'm sure it's possible

I don't think so. Congress can obviously appropriate funding to specific projects in specific states, but I think federal laws apply to the whole country. States have jurisdiction over state-only regulations.

It's an interesting idea, but each state has two Senators so I could see the vote splitting all the time.

Is it possible, under the current US governmental system, to write a bill that says, basically, "The financial benefits of this package extend only to the states whose Senators vote in favor of it; if you vote against it, your state doesn't get any of the gravy"? I realize that the US Senate (well, the Democratic Party, anyway) would never do something so rude and combative, but is it even constitutionally feasible?

I don't think constitutionally it's possible -- a violation of the Privileges and Immunities Clause, no? Someone help.

I figure if that ploy were available it would have been in common use since before 1850.

Apologies if this was already posted since the article is from Jan. 28, but… lol:

https://www.businessinsider.com/qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley-wants-to-testify-at-trump-impeachment-2021-1

Yes pls

re: waters, i would have been fine with her and all other 82 year old representatives retiring last november.

but she has/is on the receiving end of a ton of assumptions about her abilities and the usual implication that people with a background in local politics of big cities are corrupt, all of which is of course extremely racist.

No shirt, no shoes, no service, shaman dude.

lol, it would be awesome if he appeared as full shaman, but with a tie on, too.

Depose him and use any parts you find useful, but don't let him testify in person.

Knowing the Trump administration, they would probably accidentally book Mr. C.

To be clear, I think the Democrats need to be encouraging and developing talent younger than 40 so that there are people ready to step into the fray when the current leadership dies (because they will die on the job, that is what they do). I'd be much, much happier if everyone 70 or older had a younger protégé in a state office that they were mentoring/supporting to replace them at the Federal level, introducing them to constituents and socializing/supporting their platforms so they would be known entities with some level of name recognition and association with political involvement before election time/primaries rolled around, just so it felt less like Democatic elders were bogarting all the work and glory and taking their clout with them when they go.

(I reserve the right to backtrack on that if the Democrats present an entire army of Buttigiegs)

I believe the popular usage of 'research' pretty much just means 'google search'.

― Vladislav Bibidonurtmi (Old Lunch)

nah they use duck duck go

AskJeeves

I believe the popular usage of 'research' pretty much just means 'google search'.

― Vladislav Bibidonurtmi (Old Lunch)

god, if only it did. for the true idiots who "research", or more often than not means "the links they clicked on in the facebook group"

Was about to say. If these people's google-fu was even so much as decent we wouldn't be here.

but also, google itself has become worse. the ratio of legit/relevant things to products/sponsored/garbage results gets lower and lower each year

Rep. @AOC will go live on Instagram tonight. She plans to share details of what happened to her during the Capitol insurrection.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 1, 2021

Hopefully she won't pull a Maddow.

The House Rules Committee will move Wednesday to begin the process of removing @mtgreenee from the Ed/Labor committee.

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) February 1, 2021

xpost - Eh, I don't feel like there's ever been a precedent for her pulling anything like that. I'm guessing it's only happening now because she's had to talk with some lawyers about how much detail she can get into at this point without jeopardizing any ongoing investigations.

(I reserve the right to backtrack on that if the Democrats present an entire army of Buttigiegs)

god yes. the gerontocracy running the democratic party is dumb and bad and something i love to bitch about, but then they try to primary a pretty moderate but decent guy like Markey with the dampest, palest Kennedy and it's like No Please Not Like That

(I reserve the right to backtrack on that if the Democrats present an entire army of Buttigiegs)

Don't want to be pedantic here but I'm pretty sure the correct plural is Buttigieux

I'm not sure he really even needs a defense team, but this could prove awkward:

The trial could be particularly dangerous, legal scholars said, if Trump built his case around his lie that the November election was stolen and Senate Republicans effectively endorsed that lie, in unprecedented numbers, by voting to acquit.

Multiple reports suggested Trump jettisoned his previous legal team because they were unwilling to recite the election fraud lie. Trump’s new lawyers, David Schoen and Bruce Castor, did not indicate what defense they had planned...

Markey deserved to win that race even imo though “he’s being primaried from the right” was kind of a phony baloney talking point. Did he have some bad pretty votes over the years? Sure but he became more progressive over time just like his friend President Joe Biden.

Don't want to be pedantic here but I'm pretty sure the correct plural is Buttigieux

― Guayaquil (eephus!)

Buttiteras

So I guess this is what happens without the fabled organizing resolution?

I keep telling you the GOP is still in charge of Senate committees. And Merrick Garland still can't get a hearing.https://t.co/X9VfgneF4C

— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) February 1, 2021

We don’t have a rolling dystopia thread

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/upshot/rich-hospitals-profit-poor.html

“he’s being primaried from the right” was kind of a phony baloney talking point

but it was just sO wEiRd that he was being primaried at all, right? since that's Bad Form and Bad for Democrats and consultants who engage in such transgressions are to be blacklisted (and yes as i understand it this was a position taken by DCCC, not explicitly on senate races)

something tells me anyone who worked on Kennedy's senate campaign will be juuuust fine though

what happened with the organizing resolution? it was reported that McConnell back off his filibuster threat last week. Does anyone know what they are stuck on now?

This is built on a quoted Times story, but Times site fucking with me:

A whistleblower alleged Monday that a top Trump administration official abused his authority by entering into a series of last-minute agreements with the union for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers that could hamstring President Joe Biden’s sweeping policy changes.

The letter released by the Government Accountability Project, which was sent to congressional committees and the Department of Homeland Security inspector general, alleges that Ken Cuccinelli, the former acting second-in-command at the Department of Homeland Security, signed a set of agreements with the ICE union, which endorsed former president Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

“The agreements grant [the union] extraordinary power and benefits — far more than what DHS agreed upon with its other employee unions which did not endorse President Trump. The agreements confer on the union the ability to indefinitely delay changes to immigration enforcement policies and practices as well,” the letter, written by David Seide, an attorney with the Government Accountability Project, states. “Moreover, under the agreements, ICE expressly waives statutory management rights which negotiating parties know better than to waive. Even more shockingly, the agreements attempt to prohibit any challenge to their validity for eight years.”

According to the Government Accountability Project, the agreement could give the ICE union “unprecedented veto authority in many areas” and increase the use of agency resources. The letter was first reported by the New York Times.

The group says it is representing the whistleblower, who is a current government official and “possesses information concerning significant acts of misconduct committed” by Cuccinelli.

The controversial former acting deputy secretary also signed a series of agreements that required DHS to provide notice of immigration policy changes to local jurisdictions to give them six months to review and submit comments. The state of Texas, which signed one of the agreements, eventually sued DHS over its implementation of a deportation moratorium, claiming it violated the contract.

However!
The letter states that the government has 30 days to officially disapprove of the union agreement.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/ice-union-agreements-biden-policies

just so it felt less like Democatic elders were bogarting all the work and glory and taking their clout with them when they go.

― Hello Nice FBI Lady (DJP), Tuesday, February 2, 2021 9:03 AM (one hour ago)

(I reserve the right to backtrack on that if the Democrats present an entire army of Buttigiegs)

― Hello Nice FBI Lady (DJP), Tuesday, February 2, 2021 9:04 AM (one hour ago)

don't bogart the buttiegiegs

grr @ typo

what happened with the organizing resolution? it was reported that McConnell back off his filibuster threat last week.

Apparently not yet?

lmao

GOP Rep. Kinzinger tells Business Insider: "My dad's cousins sent me a petition — a certified letter — saying they disowned me because I'm in 'the devil's army' now" over his vote to impeach Trump.

— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) January 31, 2021

unperson, I think the relevant con law doohickey is equal protection.

Undermine equal protection where you DON'T like it and you incur the loss of it in places where you DO like it.

meanwhile

I wish the media would stop reporting on Nobel "nominations."

It's an honor just to be nominated amirite

to caek's link: devil's army, sounds lit. where do I enlist?

Ned Raggett and David Grubbs liked
Mike Larsen
@MikeLarsenOH
Charles Manson carved a swastika in his forehead and his lawyers didn't quit.

Replying to
@MikeLarsenOH
Charles Manson never entered the Tate nor LaBianca house yet he went to jail. That’s an argument the prosecutors need to demonstrate in the senate impeachment. Well---

hmm. have all of donald trump's lawyers been accounted for?

Ronald W. Hughes (March 16, 1935 – c. November 1970) was an American attorney who represented Charles Manson. Hughes disappeared while on a camping trip during a ten-day recess from the Tate-LaBianca murder trial in November 1970. His body was found in March 1971, but his cause of death could not be determined. At least one Manson Family member has claimed that Hughes was murdered by the family in an act of retaliation. No one has been charged in connection with his death.

Being "disowned" by one's Dad's cousins seems like it would be a relatively painless experience, tbh. Their ownership stake was a pittance from the beginning.

Kinzinger is the only Congressional Republican who realizes he has bloodthirsty third-rate fascists around him who want him dead.

xpost

in retaliation, i am disowning Kinzinger's cousin

This is from the right of the party

Short thread on Biden's COVID relief plan vs. GOP Senators' plan:

Median income here in western PA is around 60K, meaning half our people make that or less. If you're in/close to that group, there's no question which COVID release proposal is better for you. (1/)

— Conor Lamb (@ConorLambPA) February 1, 2021

when all the GOP vote against COVID relief the Democrats can spend the next two years attacking them for it

wau, so has Biden grown a spine too?

Senate Republicans emerge from a 2 hour meeting with Biden at the White House, describe it as "productive," "cordial" and "excellent" and took zero questions from reporters.

— Alice Miranda Ollstein (@AliceOllstein) February 2, 2021

he drugged them

PSAKI statement following meeting with GOP senators, says BIDEN "will not slow down work on this urgent crisis response, and will not settle for a package that fails to meet the moment." pic.twitter.com/MO4XRaPWbi

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) February 2, 2021

god yes. the gerontocracy running the democratic party is dumb and bad and something i love to bitch about, but then they try to primary a pretty moderate but decent guy like Markey with the dampest, palest Kennedy and it's like No Please Not Like That

Which "they" are you talking about here? Pelosi endorsed Kennedy because she has ties to the family but Schumer and the DSCC endorsed Markey.

The entire race was incoherent and only happened because Kennedy thought MA owed him a Senate seat.

otm

Let the games continue

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/us/politics/mitch-mcconnell-marjorie-taylor-greene.html

Pelosi endorsed Kennedy because she has ties to the family but Schumer and the DSCC endorsed Markey.

yep fair enough i was letting Pelosi stand in for "Democrats". I thought there were more (and i know there were some more conservative House reps who backed Kennedy), but it looks like most of the senate stayed out of the fray or backed Markey? Except Sinema lol .

AOC is on IG Live right now if you forgot (like me)

Any news?

.@AOC is on IG Live rn walking through the events of Jan. 6 at the Capitol. And she revealed that she is a victim of sexual assault.

— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) February 2, 2021

A coalition of 10 Republican senators took a stimulus counterproposal to the White House on Monday evening, urging President Biden to scale back his ambitions for a sweeping $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package in favor of a plan less than one-third the size that they argued could garner the bipartisan consensus the new president has said he is seeking.

After a two-hour closed-door meeting, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the leader of the Republican group, said the discussion had been excellent, though “I wouldn’t say that we came together on a package tonight.” She said Mr. Biden and the senators had agreed to continue their talks.

The discussions took place as Democrats prepared to push forward on Mr. Biden’s plan with or without Republican backing, and as the president faced a test of whether he would opt to pursue a scaled-back measure that could fulfill his pledge to foster broad compromise, or use his majority in Congress to reach for a more robust relief effort enacted over stiff Republican opposition.

At the end of a lengthy statement hailing a “substantive and productive” meeting, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, indicated that the president would not be giving much ground.

Mr. Biden reiterated, she said, “that he will not slow down work on this urgent crisis response, and will not settle for a package that fails to meet the moment.”

jesus at tweet-thread about AOC, particularly the Capitol Officer detail

Quite.

Meantime Ronan Farrow's latest about Bullhorn Lady...I just, some of the details in THIS one.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-pennsylvania-mothers-path-to-insurrection-capitol-riot

Just wait until you get to the part about her favorite book -- and the context.

omg u weren't kidding

Powell defended the use of the N-word, saying, “My favorite book is ‘Gone with the Wind,’ and it uses that term freely.”)

Aoc tonight feels like a big deal.

Very much so. What a nightmare.

I would not be surprised if -- if she chose to -- she ended up being a witness next week.

Wtf at that Officer not identifying himself and just repeatedly yelling “where is she”.

wait so they found Bullhorn Lady?

(reading that New Yorker article now, JFC)

xpost - yes and it wasn’t our second worst rep’s mother, not that it matters, still an execrable human being.

Heartbroken over AOC’s IG live thing. I knew it already, on some level, but we really were a razor’s edge away from something far more deadly that day.

she seems to be lobbying for leniency by doing that interview, cos she has to know she's getting caught by now.

Hey, I'm just an ordinary schlub of a working mom who eagerly joined a violent mob to storm the US Capitol Building in an attempt to overthrow the government. Who could blame me for that?

That article vividly illustrates just how responsible Facebook is for the rise of the alt-right.

Joan Donovan, a scholar of media manipulation and extremism, who serves as the research director of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, told me that Powell’s process of radicalization was increasingly common.

“You don’t have to go to the dark corners of the Web to find this any more,” she said. “Through these influencers, through these political propagandists, it’s all brought in through your news feed, through your home page.”

there’s a Twitter feed that lists the top ten link posts for U.S. Facebook every day (I’m thinking by interactions?) and lemme tell you, it is depressing.

typically stuffed with multiple Dan Bongino and Fox and Ben Shapiro posts. Maybe a Franklin Graham or a Breibart thrown in to mix it up a bit. :-/

Every few months I get unhealthily pissed off that some horny dork wanted to rate hot girls at his college and ended up warping the brains of hundreds of thousands of Americans, nearly destroying our country as a result.

I think my mother helped elucidate that point for me. She's never been all that political, but Trump pushed her over the edge and she started sharing pro-Biden and anti-Trump memes.

She started complaining that one old friend in particular was giving her trouble over these posts, but then began complaining that this same friend was posting outright insane conspiracy nonsense, much like our typical QAnon. This friend was someone who went to the same church as us when I was in high school, and she was a mundane, normal, friendly person who never really talked politics or anything of weight.

as far as we knew, she was still like that a few years ago, but now in just a short period of time, she's basically MTG-lite and harassing my mother on social media with QAnon bullshit.

Man, Kevin Lynn, I've had glancing experiences with his outfit. They operate I think four different anti-immigration advocacy groups, all dressed up like progressive causes (one is actually called Progressives for Immigration Reform). They're pretty creepy. That whole article, basically "yogurt yoga mom turned fascist stormtrooper," feels like just what you'd expect and mind-boggling at the same time.

FB died the moment everybody learned how to share links.

xxpost hell, one of my best friends is in a standing text message chat with his wife, his wife's sisters, and their husbands, and they usually just use it to talk about goings on in their lives, share pictures of their children, discuss the regular drama with their mother, share memes, etc....

and then one day they started sharing nutbar news articles from like Epoch Times and proclaiming SCOTUS was going was going to overturn the election, and my friend told them to take him off the thread if they were going to share shit like that.

of course, one of these couples featured his wife's younger sister and her husband, who used to watch their kids, but had guns in the house that weren't locked up in a safe, and my friend and his wife were furious when they found out. so when given the ultimatum to either get a safe or not watch their kids anymore, the husband told my friend's wife to "mind her fucking business".

it really sucks seeing friends I went to high school with that I have a lot of good memories of turn into fucking lunatics

The people I went to high school with were mostly small town racist assholes anyway, so that’s been no surprise. What’s been more heartbreaking has been watching some of my best friends from college turn from kind, smart and thoughtful people to hate filled garbage monsters.

what really irritates me about these people is they all have the same attitude of "you're all sheep, repeating whatever CNN tells you, while I am a free thinker who seeks out the truth and doesn't succumb to propaganda". first of all, the only time I ever watch CNN is at the gym or at the airport, and I haven't been able to go to either of those places for a year because of you dumb fuckers. secondly, LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU pushes the EXACT SAME misinformation at the EXACT SAME time, you have no original thought of your own. zero. fuck you.

Fairly glad to not be burdened with the acquaintance of more than 2 or so friends from high school at this point. We weren’t meant to remember these people!

^^^

Way back when I first joined Facebook I reconnected with a few high school people, but around the time of the Ferguson protests I was reminded of why that was a terrible idea and I’ve been mostly off it since.

Luckily all of my close friends that I kept in contact with turned out pretty alright, even if I have to side-eye a couple of them now and again. but I’m constantly shocked at how many of the vaguely hippie or “alternative” weed-smoking cool dudes and girls aged into full-on maniacs. I mean I shouldn’t be (people from a medium size Mississippi town entering their 40s), but damn.

I’m sure in their heads they “grew up” but it’s like nah fella the things you believe would make children who still think Santa is real roll their eyes.

Would it be likely that that doing your own research thing was a lure to bring people in. Looks like it's like a completing a simple maze gets you a reward Pavlovian thing only the research is heavily guided so it's going to lead you to a close proximity of conclusions.
But you will have this reward that you got there by yourself.
Is that like a classic con game. I leave you to draw your own conclusions but I'll just hide the strings that brought you to them. But there's another element to the end results not only had the con man bilked his mark but awoken something else that lay at least somewhat dormant. & that's now something that other people have to deal with.
But these marks now think they are enlightened by the process they've been through and not hoodwinked. So they're wondering why everybody else is in the dark.

I was thinking the other day on listening to a show talking about cryptids like the Sasquatch that there must be a major Venn overlap between people who believe in their existence and those who follow Qanon. & have the same feeling about outsiders, non believers and other infidels who don't swallow the lore wholesale.

Pretty lucky with my FB friends from high school, because most of us are decent people and in the event that a Trumpy GOP type kicks off, someone will inevitably point out that they remember the person’s various delinquencies as a teen or the way they never applied themselves in school. Another reason is that one of the most popular guys became a reportage photographer in Arizona, documenting chuds along the way, and challenges the large adult sons among us. One guy started trying to bang on about the crimes of Antifa on actual Holocaust Memorial Day and got told off by Jewish classmates.

There's a cliché about how you get more conservative as you grow older. Goes something like radical teen, Mor adulthood, conservative crank older.
May be something about the naivete of idealism washing off as you get more experienced or something along those lines. May have to do with continual exposure to greed and other negative impetuses driving other people.
Thankfully not everybody experiences things the same way or we'd really be in trouble. Not that we're notm

Conservative crank oldster got autocorrected.

I guess it was one thing when ‘aging into conservatism’ meant you go went from canvassing for McCarthy in ‘68 to voting Reagan. But now it’s like Bill Clinton voters who became convinced that Obama was planning to turn empty wal marts in Texas into re-education camps for evangelicals.

(tho tbf really thinking that cutting taxes on the rich creates jobs is about as absurd as a pedo dungeon in the basement of a DC pizzeria)

We oughta try that, what’s the rent on those empty wal-marts xp

the only surprises from growing up have all been to the left - ranging from marginal "weirdo whose only dream was to join the SEALs now praises Dubya, Obama and Biden" cases to fellow traveling socialists

(lotta #resistance brainworms, it was like being subscribed to Jeff Tiedrich's newsletter some days)

One benefit of the economy going into free fall could be more space to incarcerated GOP politicians. Keeps them away from infecting the general prison population with further btainworms.
Just stick them in cages in vacated commercial premises. I think it's a policy they like for other people so surely must be suitable.

Kennedy thought MA owed him a Senate seat

It's kind of interesting to reflect that those words could have be written at pretty much any time in the last 70 years.

Every few months I get unhealthily pissed off that some horny dork wanted to rate hot girls at his college and ended up warping the brains of hundreds of thousands of Americans, nearly destroying our country as a result.

If you'd like to ramp it up to more frequently than that, other countries are also available, as is the entire institution of journalism.

meanwhile

Cruz was asked by conservative radio host Michael Berry to respond to Ocasio-Cortez, who recently declined to work with Cruz on financial services legislation, pointing to his role in egging on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, noting, "You almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago."

Cruz compared Ocasio-Cortez to French revolutionary leader Robespierre.

"She wants to set up the guillotine and go after everyone she disagrees with," said Cruz.

Cruz did not mention that at least one of the pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol has been charged with making death threats against Ocasio-Cortez.

In the same interview, while attacking the Democrats for Donald Trump's impeachment, he compared them to the mobster at the center of the "Godfather" movies.

"Where the end of all three movies, Michael Corleone, he settles his debts and he eliminates all his enemies. That's really where the Democrats are right now. The reason they're doing impeachment, they're trying to destroy Donald J. Trump, because they hate him."

If there was an MA somewhere in misinterpreting popular culture, Cruz would already be the course leader

Cruz thinks, hey, if I throw lots of gasoline on the blaze it’ll go out

well if you use an accelerator it will speed up and be over faster innit

accelerant

If there was an MA somewhere in misinterpreting popular culture, Cruz would already be the course leader

This guy?

Sen Ted Cruz: "Have you noticed in how many movies how often rabid environmentalists are the bad guys? Whether it's Thanos or go to 'Watchmen.' The view of the Left is people are a disease" pic.twitter.com/fthdBWVSWv

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) February 1, 2021

yes, was thinking also of his interpretation of Green Eggs & Ham

Ted limbering up those DARVO muscles

thanos did nothing wrong

When is the Ted Cruz vaccine gonna be prepped for distribution, is what I wanna know.

he really is just a trash person, it's incredible

i think to myself - how can i angle for this particular job, how can i be a better father, what tweaks can i make to my organisational habits to make me a better colleague - and people like ted cruz just walk up, spew trash EVERYWHERE, make no sense, shit on everyone and are rewarded with power and money

i mean not that i'm so great, but that's my point - a lot of people try REALLY HARD for usually quite middling results and this guy is just a human fuckface and waltzes through life attended by riches and approbation

So long as there are mechanisms in place to rain endless power and wealth upon the irredeemably awful, people like Ted Cruz will continue to be irredeemably awful.

(I mean, he'd be irredeemably awful either which way, but in that other world he'd only be burdening his family and neighbors.)

So this is a wild read.

https://www.axios.com/trump-oval-office-meeting-sidney-powell-a8e1e466-2e42-42d0-9cf1-26eb267f8723.html

AOC's live thing didn't shed any more light on Cruz specifically, did it? Cruz (to name one) is an absolutely unscrupulous shit, but I don't think he's any more guilty of putting her life at risk than the rest of the GOP, which is I think what she was getting at when she dunked on his tweet. I assume Cruz, Hawley et al. will get hammered at the Trump trial as much as Asshole himself.

Was just coming to link the Axios story. That shit is not even funny-insane; it's scary-insane.

That story is absolutely bonkers, but lol, it's pretty clear who the source is there.

Who would that be.

Four conspiracy theorists marched into the Oval Office. None of them could agree on what non-ovular shape the office actually was.

xpost My guess would be Eric Herschmann, who is present at every exchange and comes off tough-guy heroic. He gets a lot of the best lines.

For example:

Finally Herschmann had enough. "Why the fuck do you keep standing up and screaming at me?" he shot back at Flynn. "If you want to come over here, come over here. If not, sit your ass down." Flynn sat back down.

I did a quintuple take @ this Sidney Powell quote: 'I would caution the readers to view mainstream media reports of any such conversations with a high degree of discernment and a healthy dose of skepticism.'

Again, that's an actual quote by Sidney Powell. Yes, the one with a brainpan full of banana pudding who couldn't discern or healthy dose of skepticism her way out of paper sack.

While part of me never wants to think about our read about that nest of vipers ever again, there's another part of me that is looking forward to having more names for all those previously anonymous sources whose names were withheld so as to speak candidly. When the T-man has no power to retaliate with, I suspect there will be a flood of tell-all memoirs.

I have a healthy dose of skepticism because it’s Axios.

Zero in on any urban center you can think of. Blue surrounded by a sea of red. Has it always been like this?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/upshot/2020-election-map.html

For quite some time now and this is exactly why the sparsely populated red areas have stronger representation in Congress.

that axios story is the worst spec screenplay I have ever read

"You're quitting! You're a quitter! You're not fighting!” he exploded at the senior adviser. Flynn then turned to the president, and implored: "Sir, we need fighters."

hearing this in the voice of Anakin Skywalker in Ep III

lol

Zero in on any urban center you can think of. Blue surrounded by a sea of red. Has it always been like this?

It has been like this for the entirety of my life; not sure what it was like before I was born.

Dems playing nasty:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Tuesday announced the launch of advertisements aimed at eight House Republicans who voted against Trump’s impeachment that accuse them of siding with supporters of QAnon.

The targets of the ads, which claim the GOP lawmakers “stood with Q, not you,” include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and seven others whom the DCCC says are vulnerable in the 2022 elections.

The DCCC said that the 30-second TV ads and digital spots will play across local broadcast and cable stations in the lawmakers’ districts and that the version attacking McCarthy will also air in Washington.

QAnon represents a sprawling set of false claims that have coalesced into an extremist ideology that has radicalized its followers, some of whom participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6. Trump was impeached by the House for “incitement of insurrection.” Ten Republicans voted with Democrats for his impeachment.

The DCCC ads claim that QAnon “took over the Republican Party” and “sent followers to Congress.”

I think the QAnon stuff (which, btw, autocorrect recognized here and capitalized like that for me!) is so batshit insane we just assume everyone knows how batshit it is. But I bet a lot of folks, Republicans included, just have no idea, and that those ads could be effective.

people like my mother who don't know the inner-workings of QAnon and are just reading these theories as if they're individual thoughts by the posters are usually reacting "what in the FUCK are you talking about? are you nuts?", so it's a pretty good attack idea

Holy crap, are good things possible?

NEWS: The first USPS reform bill of the 117th Congress has been introduced.

Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Steve Daines (R-MT) will sponsor the "USPS Fairness Act" that would forgive USPS's defaulted retiree healthcare obligations.

— Jacob Bogage (@jacobbogage) February 1, 2021

only if the filibuster is nuked

Zero in on any urban center you can think of. Blue surrounded by a sea of red.

And not just BIG urban centers. Look at Maryland. It's not just Baltimore and the DC suburbs that are blue, it's Hagerstown and Salisbury.

An ad campaign should just be posting 8chan posts and saying 'really?'.

The "sea of red" has about 11 people per square mile in it is the thing, of course.

Anyway allow me to reiterate my demand to reorganize the country into a confederation of autonomous city-states supported by heavily roboticized home farmlands

nailed it pic.twitter.com/vBhd6wAln4

— Philip Bump (@pbump) February 2, 2021

Expected it to say Magnited

NYTimes suggests the Biden administration needs to appoint a “reality czar” to deal with misinformation and extremism. https://t.co/jVNWNJ3e1C

— Seth Fiegerman (@sfiegerman) February 2, 2021

lol can’t imagine this backfiring the next time a Republican wins

“Start snitching”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/capitol-rioters-may-be-ready-to-start-snitching-on-each-other

should I even read the byline

xpost

“Start snitching”

"You're gonna make some U.S. attorney a rich man!"

Seems like that's that:

News: @Sen_JoeManchin says he will vote for the budget resolution in the Senate later today, clearing the way for Democrats to pass a Covid stimulus package by simple majority through the reconciliation process. pic.twitter.com/HSGmZoQlaL

— Gabe Fleisher (@WakeUp2Politics) February 2, 2021

hell yeah

my drag name is reality czar

Lol

A "reality czar" is a terrible idea for lots of reasons, but the most obvious is that there is no voice of authority that people detached from reality will accept. Obviously not Joe Biden, not any Democrat, not the MSM, not scientists, or Nobel Prize winners, or academics, or local mayors, nobody. There's no one they will listen to if that person challenges whatever their worldview of the moment is.

I love how all these right leaning Tweeters are handwringing certified armchair economists

guess we don't have to defund Manchin's butt anymore

https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/0a1a160/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1368x1080+0+0/resize/1216x960!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2F1970s-nasa-space-art-2.jpg

west virginia, 2022

I haven’t read “Our Universe” in ages

ha holy shit that's good news and i assume everyone in WV is getting a jetpack
'
lol xpost

I haven’t read “Our Universe” in ages

My friend. (I've seriously considered getting a copy again to replace the one that went away decades ago now...)

My childhood copy is in my son’s hands now. (So I can visit it at least.)

Ned, do it. Buy one. Even though the science has shifted it’s still awe-inspiring.

Reality Winner for reality czar

Those Ted Cruz quotes far upthread just establish what we already knew. His ambition to become president is limitless. He watched Trump in action and he'll move rapidly and forcefully to occupy the now-vacant Trump space in politics before anyone else can fill it. He won't be hindered by any shred of decency or morality. He'll dump any quantity of poison into the well of society if it gets him one inch closer to the pinnacle of power.

His great weakness is his pride at being able to speak and write coherently. This will forever keep him locked out of the hearts of Trump's followers. Shhh. Don't anyone tell him.

Cruz wants less to "be President" then be "Terrible Emperor of Godworld"

he probably just wants his daughter and her friends to stop calling him a 'spineless pussy' and an 'ambulatory blobfish' in their text chains

Cruz has the small problem that everyone hates him.

haha, that axios thing is crazy.

The meeting had come entirely off the rails.

Byrne, backing up Flynn, told Trump the White House lawyers didn't care about him and were being obstructive. "Sir, we're both entrepreneurs, and we both built businesses," the former Overstock CEO told Trump. "We know that there are times you have to be creative and take different steps."

This was a remarkable level of personal familiarity, given it was the first time Byrne had met the president. All the stanchions and buffers between the White House and the outside world had crumbled.

Byrne kept attacking the senior White House staff in front of Trump. "They've already abandoned you," he told the president aggressively. Periodically during the meeting Flynn or Byrne challenged Trump's top staff — portraying them as disloyal: So do you think the president won or not?

At one point, with Flynn shouting, Byrne raised his hand to talk. He stood up and turned around to face Herschmann. "You're a quitter," he said. "You've been interfering with everything. You've been cutting us off."

"Do you even know who the fuck I am, you idiot?" Herschmann snapped back.

"Yeah, you're Patrick Cipollone," Byrne said.

"Wrong! Wrong, you idiot!"

this is really good, though. this is like the coen brothers wrote the meeting

xpost Thankfully, his behavior suggests that he sees this as a quality to perpetually nurture.

seems like a nice guy, I mean, he raised his hand

in the usual Republican fashion, he did so to hit somebody, but

later, in the same meeting, Byrne strikes again:

Byrne, wearing jeans, a hoodie and a neck gaiter, piped up with his own conspiracy: "I know how this works. I bribed Hillary Clinton $18 million on behalf of the FBI for a sting operation."

Herschmann stared at the eccentric millionaire. "What the hell are you talking about? Why would you say something like that?" Byrne brought up the bizarre Clinton bribery claim several more times during the meeting to the astonishment of White House lawyers.

looool

this is like being in the Mirror Match in Mortal Kombat and both fighters kill each other

i'm sorry, just one more:

"How exactly are you going to do this?" an exasperated Herschmann asked again, later in the conversation. Newman again cited the 2018 executive order, which prompted Herschmann to question out loud whether she was even a lawyer.

Then Byrne chimed in: "There are guys with big guns and badges who can get these things." Herschmann couldn't believe it. "What are you, three years old?" he asked.

byrne and herschmann are a legendary comedy team

Byrne asserted that he was six years old, and that his Power Wheels was bigger and faster than Herschmann's

Couldn't help but feel that Herschmann did more than a few dialogue rewrites before anonymously sourcing his story.

I love how nobody in the room including Trump had any idea who Byrne was or why he was there. Also the detail about him scarfing all the appetizers.

lol here's a selfie by Byrne in that exact outfit at the White House

https://www.sltrib.com/resizer/eNJ4V9nJZqJZT23qDb7hAPK463I=/1024x650/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/sltrib/CZE6QRVNEBFGLD5IPCHSAN6TDE.jpeg

this is good

This IS a bipartisan agenda. https://t.co/7yN97X8ii8

— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) February 2, 2021

I'm trying not to hope.

https://imgur.com/4mJSn9x

NEW: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has removed all members from the Pentagon's advisory boards in a sweeping effort to oust a series of last-minute appointees by former President Donald Trumphttps://t.co/yPCJossWnN@laraseligman @connorobrienNH, first reported by @nancyayoussef

— Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) February 2, 2021

good, now let's deal with those committee chairs

February is going to be a real acid test for Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer. By month's end we'll know in some detail how much of Biden's national crisis agenda will get a sufficient number of votes in Congress. If they can't force through their crisis legislation you can kiss goodbye any thoughts of, say, student debt relief or tax hikes on the wealthy later in the session.

Reality Czar:

WHAT IF I TOLD YOU

https://i.imgflip.com/99y2a.jpg

Ned, do it. Buy one. Even though the science has shifted it’s still awe-inspiring.

which book pls?

uhh the overstock guy is apparently unable to shave himself

Stevie

https://www.abebooks.com/National-Geographic-Picture-Atlas-Universe-Roy/30819736461/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Textbook-_-naa-_-naa&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoebk4ITM7gIVyJ-zCh2ZoQ4AEAQYBSABEgK14PD_BwE

overstock guy is seriously mentally ill. read up on him.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/14/a-tycoons-deep-state-conspiracy-dive

Thanks Raymond!

Our Fifty States, Our World, and Our Continent are also awesome in their way

The one thing I've heard my whole life re the First Amendment--supposedly front and centre for Trump's lawyers--is that you can't yell "fire!" in a crowded theatre. Jan. 6 seems to me a clear case of doing just that.

keep hearing this thread title in Bjork's voice

that is creepy i was literally thinking of that just now :o

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/its-time-to-stop-using-the-fire-in-a-crowded-theater-quote/264449/

well tbh i had the song in my head yesterday too but i forgot about it xp

But can you shout "movie!" In a crowded fire?

you can shout "butts" in a crowded "toilet"

50-49, Senate votes to advance budget resolution and kick off reconciliation process on a $1.9T coronavirus aid package. No GOP senators voted to proceed.

What comes next: pain, alcohol, 50 hours of debate and then a vote-a-rama. Bring out the cots etc etc

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 2, 2021

The missing vote is Pat Toomey, who was absent.

I didn't catch the context, but CNN just brought up what they called the George Constanza defense (i.e., Trump's lawyers may actually be using this, too, though not naming it as such): "It's not a lie if you believe it."

What comes next: pain, alcohol, 50 hours of debate and then a vote-a-rama.

for Igor Bobic?

did someone on GOP not vote (i.e. why is it 50-49)?

also does this upcoming vote also only have to be a majority?

It's 50-49 cause Pat Toomey didn't vote. And yeah, the second vote is gonna be majority-only too, no filibuster bullshit.

What comes next: pain, alcohol, 50 hours of debate and then a vote-a-rama.

for Igor Bobic?

Yeah, I don't get that part either. Maybe it's a "joke" for "old" "Washington" "hands".

Neanderthal, the question you asked was answered by the post that prompted the question

That’s actually one of my favorite Bjork songs!

Kind of wonder if Toomey sat it out to not give Harris a chance to cast her first tiebreaker.

the first openly gay cabinet member got confirmed today

MTG's twitter has turned into a non-stop 'send me money' grift, as though taking in cash is going to somehow keep her from getting cut from committees or expelled.

xp is he also the first millennial cabinet member?

thx DJP, sorry I'm posting while I work which means I sometimes miss things

It's a little too quiet (shh, shh)
A little too still (shh, shh)
So very quiet (shh, shh)
and so peaceful until...

YOU RECONCILE (zing! boom!)
YOUR BUDGET'S GONE WILD (zing! boom!)
AND WITH A SMILE (WAU! WAU!)
Your stimulus checks pass without a hitch
Your caucus holds, no bait and switch
Republicans just whine and bitch

... then, it's over

xpost like the entire sentence below the tweet lol

Excellent, djp

Lol DJP

that made my day

stick around for my follow-up, "Hyper-partisan":

I go through all this
Here on the Senate floor
So that my constituents
Can feel safe at home in their view

Constitutionally speaking, impeachment has zero to do with infringement of Trump's First Amendment rights. They are totally disconnected and the one has no bearing on the other. None. Zero. This won't stop Trump's two-bit lawyers from using it to throw up a smokescreen. Because ordinary people have only the vaguest understanding of the constitutional or legal issues and can be misled about them as easily as taking candy from a baby.

i'll never hear the original version of that song again now lol xxxposts

kudos DJP

Truly amazing.

I'm the best there is at what I do and what I do is extremely trivial

I'm violently happy

state of emergencyyy
we need covid
relief

xp is he also the first millennial cabinet member?

― tiwa-nty one savage (voodoo chili), Tuesday, February 2, 2021 3:22 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes. He's also the youngest cabinet member since RFK, a distinction previously held by Andrew Cuomo.

A+ work DJP, the last three lines in particular would flummox most, and demonstrate the skill you bring to the table

"possibly maybe" btw also captures basically how i feel right now about a huge raft of potentially super major legislation

as though taking in cash is going to somehow keep her from getting cut from committees or expelled.

Proving to the party that you're a reliable money-generator seems like a totally plausible way to keep from getting cut from committees or expelled!

She could diversify into mail fraud and be promoted to leadership!

Meanwhile on the 'we are still fucking in ruins over the lawsuit' news

Newsmax invites Mike Lindell, who advocated for a coup and spews dangerous conspiracy theories, on air. It didn't go well. pic.twitter.com/6xzSgXlHua

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) February 2, 2021

^ Ned, that made my day!

That Newsmax video is fucking hilarious. Liiiiiiike...how exactly did they expect that to go?

It's like getting on a people mover that carries you directly to the property of someone who has a restraining order on you. WHOA, HOW DID I GEF HERE AND HOW DO I GET OFF?!?!?

I wasn't gonna watch the whole thing, but I was so glad I stuck with it when the guy in the middle literally got up and ran away.

Biden really needs to re-enter the Iran agreement ASAP. No good for not doing so imo

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/02/01/bidens-first-jcpoa-hurdle

That clip was incredible. "Can we get out of here, please?" That plus the Axios thing from earlier ... I can totally imagine everyone in the Axios piece sounding like a raving Lindell lunatic.

Guy in the middle is all "please don't drag me into you billion dollar defamation case."

'let's talk about how awful it is that you were deplatformed'

'yes! and it's all because i had the courage to say--'

'whoa whoa whoa'

To be fair, just think of all the crazy shit he's been unable to tweet that's just been simmering in his brain.

I keep replaying the look he gives to camera right before he runs off set. Comedy gold.

i'll never hear the original version of that song again now lol xxxposts

in case you never have

holy lol

Per sources, Biden is telling Senate Democrats on their virtual lunch how he told Republican senators yesterday that their package was too small.

— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) February 2, 2021

(snickers)

xxpost oh I know it's not Bjork's original, that's just the version I hear the most often

oh man that newsmax clip was so good thank you ned

yes, magnificent

Jennifer Carnahan, the absolute dummy who heads up the Minnesota GOP, is tight with Lindell and like I dunno, there's probably a 30% change he's our new governor

Meantime speaking of fools

a @wsbtv exclusive at 6: I've confirmed @GaSecofState has launched an official investigation into whether attorney Lin Wood voted illegally. Wood was 1 of most visible, controversial people claiming illegal voting in GA - now state is investigating if he was really a GA resident pic.twitter.com/wymswC17ug

— Justin Gray (@JustinGrayWSB) February 2, 2021

xp can't see how he could possibly be elected in Minnesota

Y'know, I'd never heard Lindell speak before, and his voice kind of reminded me of Jesse Ventura.

heh same

he's way crazier than Jesse Ventura

If you're going to elect a former crackhead, isn't Andrew Zimmern from Minnesota?

Pillow guy - chaotic evil; Ventura - chaotic neutral

james adomian has both of these guys locked down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbJaUfcRDf0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFvLSxPt6g

People on Instagram are VERY upset that the Newsmax man was rude to the MyPillow man pic.twitter.com/MN1FVHUti0

— Erin accountability, then unity Ryan (@morninggloria) February 2, 2021

Fair enough, but the pillow guy didn't shut his mouth for one second.

Jen Psaki mocked our service heroes.

There is nothing funny about the Space Force.

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) February 2, 2021

Or, alternatively, there's everything funny about Space Force.

In even dumber news, somehow, though...

UPDATE: Some senior Dems are looking at lowering threshold on stimulus payments so they start phasing out above $50K for single taxpayers; $75K for heads of households; & $100K for married couples

Stressing here: Talks fluid, conversations are ongoinghttps://t.co/0lZ8MKuqbt

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) February 2, 2021

xpost If she's talking about the TV show, she's probably right.

Honestly, creating the Space Force was one of maybe 3 things the ex-president did in four years that was funny, rather than depressing, disgusting or infuriating.

lol @ those Adomian videos

the space force reply thread has some gold in it

Sorry but every time i see this thread title I think of TMNT2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHNS_lYEFS4

nothing he did seemed funny at all to me, it was all sinister

Agree. My grandfather is a veteran of the Space Force and this sickens me. He didn't witness attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, or watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate so future generations can disrespect his service.

— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) February 2, 2021

sorry to curse this thread more than is strictly necessary with brigitte gabriel content but this made my jaw drop so now it can make all of your jaws drop too

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_banners/722528529716383744/1599265843/1500x500

and one of my favs, socialistdogmom

brigitte, how is it possible to lick boots they haven’t even designed & manufactured yet? this is truly an innovation in bootlicking!!!

— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) February 3, 2021

licking gravity boots

I mean, as someone who would be affected by lowering those thresholds, I’d be ok with it — but also, neither my or my wife’s work has been affected. There are plenty of people who were at our income level in 2019 who are in trouble now, and I don’t know how they can account for that.

It's a completely pointless own goal to lower the threshold.

VOTE FOR US GET THOSE $2000 CHECKS
WE MEANT $1400
NOT YOU

I assume anything like that is because they need 50 votes not like 46.

I would like to preemptively go on record in condemning those who will someday dare to mock the exploits of the brave SeaQuest DSV crew.

The dems promised $2000. They've made no promises about future stimulus payouts. They need to bite the bullet and figure out how to get $2000 payments into the hands of everyone who previously received a COVID stimulus payout. Any deviation from that is just stupid. Bad business. People aren't going to forgive or forget if you fuck around with their money.

Any deviation from that is just stupid.

I agree it would be stupid, but because power is divided into lots of tiny bites and widely distributed among all the senators, in a 50-50 senate that stupidity can be located in just one stupid stubborn asshole of a senator playing to their home state and still become operative for the entire relief package. Nobody feels this home truth more keenly than the democratic leadership. They are shackled to it and will be blamed for any shortfalls in relief. This doesn't inspire me to pity them, but I see its primal force in how all this turns out.

the power is divided widely but not evenly. The leadership you cite wields tremendous power that in more capable, urgent hands would get Joe Manchin in line, by carrot or stick

yeah i get that the senate is run very differently than the House, but if it really is just ~4 assholes, it seems like there's got to be better ways to get the Sinemas and the Manchins et al in line.

it really does feel like as long as individual and 'important' dem pols can keep their own seats, and the specter of a quite literally insane GOP continues to be a fundraising bonanza, many democrats simply do not care if they're the majority party or not. hell, some may even prefer it that way.

Seriously, everyone trying to dunk using the “you said $2000 but now it’s just $140” just looks like an idiot to me

omg it's only $140 now? I already made a facial appointment!

A real idiot move to, uh, quote Biden, Ossoff and Warnock about cutting $2000 checks.

what about the "idiots" for whom $600 means not getting evicted

They should have learned to code IIRC.

I guarantee that if the checks are for 1400 not 2000 then it will be used against warnock by his gop opponent next year.

A supermajority of the country backs this stimulus bill, we better means test the fuck out of it to make it more divisive.

FWIW I don't personally care all that much if I get $2000 or $1400 or $0 (I still haven't received the $600 payout). I've been lucky enough to remain gainfully employed throughout this nightmare and I'll happily take that much. But when dems were explicitly running on the promise of $2000 stimulus checks and people who've been struggling for the past year cast votes at least partially on the basis of that promise, it's extremely bad form for them to be all 'well, actually...' about it now that they have control of Congress and the WH. And I think it'll come back to haunt them if they don't deliver.

despite not one single person in the democratic party nor any of their proxies saying anything about "$1400 to make u whole", my comment was about dems (possibly) consenting to lowering the income threshold. which seems like a terrible idea.

but since it's been brought up, i'm more amazed at the idea that there's somehow a fundamental difference between the $1400 & the $2000 to anyone EXCEPT the people who *actually need* the checks. all while trillions have flown out the door for corporate interests and not a single tear or concerned chin stroke. honestly they should pay every man woman and child in america a thousand dollars for every month that Trump was president. hell, round it up to an even $50k.

MASHUP: $2,000 STIMULUS CHECKS. pic.twitter.com/XBHhcp7l8y

— Watchdog (@demswatchdog) February 1, 2021

Why would Manchin and Sinema want to reduce the threshold? Who gains any points by reducing that threshold? Are they beholden to some strange constituency that prioritizes fiscal vigilance over everything? $2000k at the previous threshold benefits the vast majority of the people they represent, regardless of party.

haha obviously I meant $2k, or $2000, not $2000k

Are they beholden to some strange constituency that prioritizes fiscal vigilance over everything?

Donors, Third Way and op-ed pages.

I bet the % of americans that know the dems promised $2000 (as opposed to another amount) is under 30%.

Might be under 15%, now that I think about it.

I don't even own an american

i wouldn't mind seeing a poll of Georgians who showed up to vote for Warnock & Ossoff.

no one even paid attention to what they were saying for the entirety of December, no news coverage

lol

I bet the % of americans that know the dems promised $2000 (as opposed to another amount) is under 30%.

I give up. You brain geniuses should go work for Dem political campaigns keeping track of all the brutal self-owns.

not sure how the Republicans, who are pushing for $0 for anyone who doesn't own a puppy euthanasia clinic, are going to effectively campaign on that

Repeat after me:

I am not smarter than Joe Biden.
I am not smarter than Kamala Harris.
I am not smarter than Nancy Pelosi.
I am not smarter than James Carville.

But if I l stand back and watch and learn,
I will be smarter than I am.

— Silent Amuse 🥁🐝💛🌊🌊🌊 (@SilentAmuse) January 21, 2021

xp the Republican running against Warnock wouldn't be on the record voting no on this stimulus but when has that mattered to the modern GOP anyway? "Senator Warnock promised you $2000 - what did you get?"

Obstructing anything good for the last 3/4 of Obama's era didn't stop them blaming him and Democrats for things not getting better.

now, as in 2009-10, they don't even have to obstruct, Democrats will eagerly shoot themselves in the foot given an opportunity.

More than the amount of stimulus or means-testing, how can this give you any hope they're willing to do the things necessary to not get fucking slaughtered in the midterms? Negotiating against themselves on a stimulus in a pandemic - you really think a $15 minimum wage is going to survive? Moving the FICA cap to $400k and raising SS payments?

it won’t be ppl changing sides to the GOP because they felt they were mislead; it will be lots of folks — probably younger, some who might have been first timers in 2020, gig workers and min wage earners — who would normally have been sure bets as Democratic voters just dropping out of the process altogether.

James Carville?

wow

the nineties called

no, he went back to Narnia

Carville continued his political consulting with work as an advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. In remarks on then rival candidate Senator Barack Obama, Carville declared in 2007 that Barack Obama was the Democratic candidate "most likely to explode or implode."[73]

Carville told The New York Times on March 22, 2008, that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who had just endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, was comparable to Judas Iscariot. It was "an act of betrayal," said Carville. "Mr. Richardson's endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic," Mr. Carville said, referring to Holy Week.

In January 2020, Carville endorsed Colorado Senator Michael Bennet's unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination.[86] Remarking of Bennet during the campaign season: "this is John Kennedy recloned, you can't get any better than this guy."[87] Bennet, who leaned hard on Carville's endorsement, garnered 963 votes in New Hampshire, or 0.3% of 300,022 total Democratic ballots cast in a year of record-shattering turnout.[88][89][90]

Bennet is Q

In another era, Bennet and Delaney would have gotten a prime time CNN show together.

The fuck are you guys doomposting about James Carville?

The guy doomposts himself on MSNBC shows for a living.

Sorry last one:

Carville has criticized Obama's political style and demeanor over the years. On November 18th, 2010, Carville spoke to an audience at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast and remarked: "If Hillary gave up one of her balls and gave it to Obama, he'd have two."[80] Carville made a similar remark to political journalist Eleanor Clift during the midst of the primaries in May, 2008, insinuating that Hillary Clinton was a tougher candidate, remarking: "If she gave him one of her cojones, they'd both have two."[81]

In November 2013, in light of President Barack Obama's declining poll numbers, Carville commented "I think the best thing he can do is take a toke on the mayor of Toronto's crack pipe, because his numbers are about 48."[82]

Democratic voters caping for leadership and the centrists:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1699/9457/products/Trust_800x.png?v=1484772477

You are all proving my point and also I hate typos.

When all of this was going down, the negotiated amount was $600. Trump said "What? That should have been $2000" and the Democrats said "we have an amendment to make it $2000". They then ran on the idea that the stimulus was going to be $2000. It was not ambiguous and I don't really get why you guys are trying to cast it as if it was unless you're just dumb.

That’s a great campaign slogan for 2022

oh no my campaign is in shambles

When all of this was going down, the negotiated amount was $600. Trump said "What? That should have been $2000" and the Democrats said "we have an amendment to make it $2000". They then ran on the idea that the stimulus was going to be $2000. It was not ambiguous and I don't really get why you guys are trying to cast it as if it was unless you're just dumb.

― Hello Nice FBI Lady (DJP)

I don't get what's happening here tonight except James Carville accused Obama of having one ball and why we're supposed to care in 2021.

Seriously though, can we not invent things to be mad about? We're going to get disappointed soon enough, there's literally zero reason to jump the gun on it.

WHERE'S HIS OTHER BALL?

Yes, some people read the amendment that raised it to $2000 in December. As was pointed out to Big Don, this was a point of confusion even to the people who were obsessively reloading the politics thread for updates on Trump's lawyers. It was hardly universal knowledge.

However, even that doesn't matter - the Democrats continued saying "$2000 checks" after the $600 started getting distributed.

Here's Joe Biden himself on January 4th...

And that's not an exaggeration. That is a literal-- that's literally true. If you send John and the Reverend to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door, restoring hope and decency and honor for so many people who are struggling right now. And if you send senators Perdue and Loeffler back to Washington, those checks will never get there. It's just that simple. The power is literally in your hands.

The $2000 thing has nothing to do with the personal expectations of anyone posting itt. It has everything to do with the expectations of the average American.

And the hours of footage that can be used to show the Lying Democraps backing out on their promises they used to buy the Senate.

The average American is fucking dumb and should be smarter.

Well, yeah.

Trump Critical of Powell's Typos in Her Briefs

Meantime, watch 'em squirm

UPDATE: I'm told NO decision tonight from the GOP on whether to strip Greene of her committee assignments or reassign her, I'm told.

This comes after the GOP Steering panel just huddled in McCarthy's office for an hour. McCarthy & Greene also met earlier.

— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) February 3, 2021

Separately

Biden just fired all 10 of Trump’s appointees on the Federal Service Impasses Panel. Trump had stacked the panel with anti-labor activists who rewrote union contracts to undermine collective bargaining and strip protections from workers. Now all his holdovers are gone. pic.twitter.com/BUPYXyiOom

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) February 3, 2021

Seriously though, can we not invent things to be mad about? We're going to get disappointed soon enough, there's literally zero reason to jump the gun on it.

― Hello Nice FBI Lady (DJP), Tuesday, February 2, 2021 10:41 PM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha this is fair.

but if the checks end up being $2000 then those who've been litigating exactly what was promised, or saying it makes no difference morally or politically, should concede that the (moderate!) democratic leadership disagreed with them.

AOC's bill adding $1400 to the original $600 passed the House on December 28th. When did the lying Dems shift their promise from we're going to get you $600 + $1400 to $600 + $2000?

saying it makes no difference morally or politically

I have no idea if $2000 is more moral than $1400, and until there is another election it would be hard to arrive at any certainty about the amount of political difference it might make. But there's no question in my mind that for a very large number of Americans, running into the tens of millions, $2000 rather than $1400 would make a significant and measurable difference in their lives. A $600 difference to be exact and that ain't hay when every dollar counts. And that is why I'd be delighted to see $2000 payments going out. Pretty sure our checks will be directed straight to the local food bank and woman's shelter either way.

There is exactly zero downside to expecting the checks to be $1400 and finding out they are $2000, is the thing. Like, I'm not gonna be like "fuck you Democrats, you were more generous than I was expecting and I lost an argument on the Internet"

And my argument isn't "there is no moral difference between $1400 and $2000", it's "Democrats ran on a $2000 stimulus and $600 + $1400 = $2000 and they broadcast a lot of info about the amendment to boost the agreement already made to that level so I'm not sure why people ostensibly opposed to helping Republicans are doing their legwork for them"

my guess is they'll do $2000 checks (they're stupid but they're not that stupid), but they'll net the cost to that of $1400 checks by means testing. i think as long as everyone gets a $2000 check and that means testing is done in by clawing the checks back in 2021 tax bills then probably that's ok politically. the alternative is a bunch of people who earn 50% of the median household income in cities where family rent is $3000 getting checks for like $8.

I think the government should be giving people tax-free salary replacement up to 60% of your gross of $5000/month, whichever is greater, but I also know that is not the world I live in.

"Don't criticize Democrats doing stupid things because that helps Republicans" is genius stuff.

The $2000 checks are dead, though, today's stupid thing they're trying to do is further means testing of the $1400 so that people making $60k can feel like they got screwed and oppose assistance to their socioeconomic inferiors.

(i suppose this is so obvious it's not even worth saying, which is why no one has, but just for posterity's sake: it was also clear, at this time, that a _one-time payment_ of either $1400 or $2000 was a complete joke, considering the overall damage of coronavirus, the wealth and inequality in the united states, and the monthly financial support that people in comparably industrialized countries across the world have received. we all knew this, at the time, but ended up debating about $1400 vs $2000, and it was sad on multiple levels)

i mean, har har, but does anyone disagree?

are we not all getting completely fucked? are we not talking about the scraps in the bucket that we are finally offered as a conciliatory gesture, rather than as vital, essential resources for people that are on month ?!?!?! of a pandemic that was greatly worsened by GOP incompetence and cruelty?

some people are experiencing waves of relief as competent people take the reins and we begin to reckon with whatever the fuck just happened the last 4 years, but i am even more disturbed with the american people now than i was in dec 2016. it is fucking crazy that the election was even as close as it was, and it's really sad that the senate/house GOP results weren't quite as bad as they were for trump, when in fact they ALL voted to keep a seething petty fartboy criminal in office during the impeachment proceedings (except romney, FUCK).

"Don't criticize Democrats doing stupid things because that helps Republicans" is genius stuff.

Seems to me like a good two-thirds of the criticism that democrats get on ilx politics threads isn't about anything stupid they've done, but about stuff that somebody is absolutely certain they are just about to do because somebody on twitter suggested they might be just about to do it.

The eventual amount of the relief checks is a case in point. The bill hasn't been sent to the floor. No amount has been set. This particular stupidity is entirely imaginary as of today. It could happen. Lots of things could happen. But it is getting blasted here as if i were a done deal.

anyway, it's all water under the bridge i suppose, but something about watching this struggle against $1400 vs $2000, knowing that $600 is very important, and also knowing that people should be getting this EVERY MONTH...i can't get past it. i can't get to the arguments underneath, it's just like HOLY SHIT you all

I doubt anyone is arguing based on what's the proper amount on checks to be cut.

It's about the political act - saying one thing and doing another, saying one thing and doing nothing, means testing to divide people, all ignoring what was pointed out yesterday - for the people who create fiat money, money isn't real. If you're not a deficit hawk piece of shit, you don't need to jump through hoops to defend Manchin and Sinema trying to earn the love and respect of Washington Post op-ed writers.

you don't need to jump through hoops to defend Manchin and Sinema

"You"? Who? Save it for someone who is jumping through hoops to defend Manchin and Sinema. nobody here fits that description.

My main contribution to the thread is calling most of you stupid, which really just takes me back to 2003

I get sick and tired of posters who never notice the actual positions of the people they are talking to, because it is so much easier to defeat the arguments that they choose to refute, but that no one made, aka strawmanning.

Food banks are strained trying to feed people worried about where they'll get their next meal.

Essential workers continue to risk their own health and their families for us all.

Small business owners from restaurants to barber shops are hurting.

We need $2,000 stimulus checks.

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 13, 2021

stfu milo

Proving only that Kamala Harris agrees with you, me, DJP and everyone else on this thread that I'm aware of.

What kind of absolute blithering idiots would think Democrats were talking about $2000 checks, though?

You cite a Democrat talking about $2000 checks and in the next post say only a blithering idiot would think Democrats are talking about$2000 checks.

They then ran on the idea that the stimulus was going to be $2000. It was not ambiguous and I don't really get why you guys are trying to cast it as if it was unless you're just dumb.

Seriously, everyone trying to dunk using the “you said $2000 but now it’s just $140” just looks like an idiot to me

I bet the % of americans that know the dems promised $2000 (as opposed to another amount) is under 30%.
[...]
I give up. You brain geniuses should go work for Dem political campaigns keeping track of all the brutal self-owns.

devastating!

knowing I’m going to be stuck in the office front of my laptop for 12 hours a day for the next month I surrendered to my worst instincts and got back on Twitter. very dumb.

but I gotta say, it *is* different now that the big dumb diaper baby isn’t smearing his doodoo everywhere

You cite a Democrat talking about $2000 checks and in the next post say only a blithering idiot would think Democrats are talking about$2000 checks.

― Compromise isn't a principle, it's a method (Aimless), Wednesday, February 3, 2021 12:00 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

omg

anyone arguing they were running on 1.4k rather than 2k looks really dumb

Yes they should do $2,000 checks and they shouldn't change the means test — as an economic, political, and human decency move, they ought to just do it and get money to people. It is also true that doing that may not just be a matter of snapping their fingers though. And if they have to throw some ballast overboard, the means test is the best place to do it.

I mean km upthread is otm and this is really the crux of the whole thing. The Trump admin, bent towards cruelty as it had been, was just unbelievably cruel in not doing ANYTHING for Americans beyond that initial drop in the bucket in early 2020, so when Democrats come sailing in with promises of something that is still wholly insufficient to the needs of those most negatively impacted but which looks just wildly generous in comparison to what had come before, it's really nagl (particularly at the very beginning of dem control of the federal government) to do anything less than what was promised. Because it seems like a bare minimum that isn't being honored and it will leave a lot of people wondering what other promises they can expect to be undersold in the next 2-4 years.

Again and again and again, this is not me saying these things because I am not among those who desperately need cash now. But consider those who do and how their future voting patterns are likely to be influenced by what transpires.

yep. it's like, here, here's $20. for your trouble during the "pandemic", or whatever. or you know what. make it $14. we had to tip the middleman, you see

to get that full $20 would have been better, but also, holy shit wtf is even happening, this whole negotiation is LEAGUES off of where it should be. i understand why it is where it is, not saying i have a better plan or way to convince everyone to stop being so fucking cruel to each other all the time. but fuck man

The *$2000 check promise" self-owns would seem to be pretty easy to brush off if they turned out to be a $600 cash card followed by a $1400 cash card when it comes to what most Americans expect from campaign promises. But, yes there should and probably will be additional stimulus packages beyond tbat.

If they insist on $2,000 now and there aren't the votes for it, at least then they can blame the Republicans for not approving more.

what voting block is left that would switch their allegiance from GOP --> Democrat if they see an attack ad blaming republicans for getting $1400 rather than $2000, two years prior? let alone 4 years prior?

people have amnesia. they won't remember this. some will, but not enough to change anything. government shutdowns, unbridled corruption, muslim bans, dumbass walls, hundreds of thousands of people dead who could have been saved...2% decline in the polls. it just doesn't. fucking. matter. anymore. to try to persuade these diiiiiiiiipshits in the "middle" to do something good. just propose the thing that is needed and pass it over they whiny moans of all those who demand that the bill just suck a little bit more ass, just a liiiiiittle bit more, for the old times, as a nostalgic act, please, just a littttttle bit more

I heard an interview with Berne Sanders on a podcast from a couple of nights ago where he stressed that they were working on an emergency bill first but it needed to be followed by other cheques which they would be working on as soon as this was dealt with. So the idea is already under discussion.
I can't remember exactly what the podcast was cos it was playing on my phone. Could be Pod Save America, Daily Beans or All In With Chris Hayes or possibly something else . It was part of a longer interview.

i gotta check that out

No idea why anyone would expect more stimulus aimed at people. The Democrats aren’t even unanimous about this one!

Remember the dumb person ranting in her kitchen about Boebert having a GED? Get used to it.

https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2021/02/02/qanon-gop-465157

The biggest deleterious effect of the $1400 vs $2000 squabbling is that they *could* be emphasising the emergency nature of the two trilli bill that's still *next* up, and promise that the $2k/monthly Sanders/Markey/Kamala bill from last May will be a priority immediately afterward

notable:

Now, as Trump wages war with the more established elements of his own party and against Fox News itself, Fox is seeking to navigate its future without the ear of a sitting president or even his angry voice from exile.

And it is doing so — notably with a blitz of programming changes — amid something of an identity crisis, as a network that has long prided itself on being the king of cable TV has slipped from the top.

On Tuesday, Fox announced that it finished its 19th consecutive year as the No. 1 cable news network. But in January, Fox reported monthly ratings that fell behind both of its main cable news competitors, CNN and MSNBC, for the first time in 20 years. Even Fox’s prime-time opinion juggernaut of Hannity, Ingraham and Tucker Carlson had a smaller combined audience than their CNN competitors did last month.

and losing to cnn and msnbc is significant, because holy shit they both suck

anyone arguing they were running on 2k + 600 rather than 2k looks really dumb

the 600 is irrelevant in that argument but also we should stop talking about it at all itt imo

"If you send Jon and the Reverend to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door, restoring hope and decency and honor for so many people who are struggling right now," Biden said, making his closing argument for the Democrats at a campaign event in Atlanta on Monday.

yes, stopping talking about it would also include not continuing to talk about it

it doesn't matter how many times multiple "$2000 checks immediately" quotes, or advertising images of checks with $2000 on them, are posted, the discourse is not affected.

http://www.mnftiu.cc/blog/images/gywo.wallet.gif

My Pillow Guy got the entire company account suspended by trying to post through it, through it

Right just looked up what the show the Bernie Sanders interview was on, it was teh All In With Chris hayes from Monday.
I get the shows as audio podcasts the next day. Could remember where i was when I was listening to it but not which one of several shows it was.
THink this is the video of it though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsaPPtQvw-g

I think it's there where Sanders says about how he and presumably others haven't been able to take over their new roles yet but there should be a ruling tomorrow whic is now yesterday. So he would no longer be the incoming budget chairman but the current one. Haven't heard that confirmed yet, hope t wasn't further delayed but that's what Graham was up to wasn't it?

In that clip Bernie calls it $1400 on top of $600 - is he a revisionist centrist now or are people losing their shit itt because they took "$2000 checks" at literal face value from campaigning politicians? Wait, my check came in the form of 2 cards? those sneaky Dems have no shame!

i love hate that thing we do where we worry 'what voters will think' like we're the cognoscenti deliberating over our chessboard

what do WE think about the checks? personally i think it's a non-issue. it's step 1. and even that is way more that what republicans would have done. so we're going to have republicans hollering in primaries that democrats aren't spending enough money?? oh no don't throw me in the briar patch!

Yes, I've said multiple times over itt that it's also a non-issue for me personally. If it winds up being a non-issue across the board, I will mea my culpa all the live long day.

I really don't care, do you?

gosh remember when taht was teh first lady's message of support for a disaster zone she was visiting. That and stilettoes .
Still don't get what the story on taht coat was was it deliberately picked at any point.
& at that point weren't people still thinking she needed to be rescued from the husband she's accidentally married.

Which is a long diversion to saying wow just seen that Jill Biden's is central to the effort to reunite the kids being held at the border with their parents which si going to be a mammoth task considering what the official records concerned appear to consist of.

Joe Biden says he wants to work with Republicans, but he hasn't appointed a single oil executive to lead the EPA.

— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) February 3, 2021

people have amnesia. they won't remember this.

The point is that Democrats politically should hammer these things constantly for the next 2 years, don't let people forget them. Almost every bill, the message should either be, "We did this thing for you even though the Republicans tried to stop it" or "We tried to do this thing but the Republicans stopped it." Because just about everything the Democrats want to do is popular, and "obstructionist special interest Republicans" (or some such phrase) should always be the villains, win or lose.

I don’t think I followed Obama on social media when he was president, or maybe did and just didn’t pay attention. But! At this point I follow Biden and Harris on FB and Insta and let me just say unequivocally that their messaging game is on point in a way that suggests that there’s a strong communications team in place that is gonna make damned sure that people know what the Democrats are about and what they’re doing for you. It’s more than they have to do in my view. They’ve learned more than a few lessons from the Obama years.

(I don’t really watch TV so not sure if there’s any equivalent effort on that front, or on radio.)

I should add: Biden/Harris accounts were on this path prior to this year

"we are going to be working through some things" sez Steve Scalise. Specifically, they are working through how to strip Liz Cheney of her power for voting to impeach while keeping Marjorie in power for her standing in the Trump cult.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/02/house-gop-marjorie-taylor-greene-465307

can we go back in time and not treat him for his gunshot wounds

I think the Dems learned that running on the ACA was a good, effective strategy, so I can only hope they have also realized that running on other things they've done or tried to do for people (and the GOP has pushed against or tried to take away) might work as well.

I realize there's a lot of serious issues to discuss itt but

An anagram for Marjorie Taylor Greene is Majorly Orange Retiree.

— Parlertakes🇺🇸 (@parlertakes) February 3, 2021

very good disguise or is it?

Heh, just read that Politico story and saw the Space Force story and there are so many unintentionally hilarious quotes:

“It’s concerning to see the Biden administration’s press secretary blatantly diminish an entire branch of our military as the punchline of a joke, which I’m sure China would find funny,” said Rep. Mike Rogers.

"This is just another example of the Biden administration not taking China seriously while demeaning the incredible work of Space Force personnel," said Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), who is a founding member of the House Space Force Caucus.

From: Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.):

"I hope my fellow Democrats will not be too discouraged by the taint that former President Trump put on the Space Force when he tried to hijack it for his own political purposes

Space Force. Trump taint. House Space Force Caucus. I'm absolutely sure China does find it all funny.

Like, who works for Space Force? Does it have employees, someone in charge? Do they carry laser guns? Because they should.

Who is going to fight space if not Space Force, I ask you

how will we ever find Major Tom without them

I would be curious to know exactly how much money each of these grifters who are defending Space Force are making off of Space Force. There's gotta be some sweet government contracts already in play for uniforms and uh...lasers? Freeze-dried ice cream?

Like you don't debase yourself defending Space Force in public unless Space Force is buying you a new Mercedes.

I saw the Steve Carell sitcom based on teh ineptitude of the idea of Space Force had been given the go ahead for a 2nd sries.
Actually started watching the first one and am semi surprised it does have a couple of laughs in it.
Otherwsie would seem to have fallen about as flat as t's quixotic folly.

I thought it was pretty not-funny. The existence of Space Force at all is all the joke we need.

one good side effect of the storming of the Capitol is that their old tactic of tut tutting, don't you support the troops/cops/space force just rings hollow now

we saw them attack the police when it served their purpose, and everyone knew it was bullshit to begin with, but now I get the sense people just roll their eyes at it

xp ..but the mere existence of a sitcom called "Space Force" that beat the actual Space Force to the domain name is a cherry topping on that joke.

sorry, trademark, not domain name, but that's even funnier.

At the risk of restarting the argument about the stimulus, I would highly encourage all the America in this thread to call their congresshuman to demand no means testing and the full 2k. If they get enough calls maybe it would work?

.@SenSchumer says the organizing resolution is done. Once it’s approved the majority party can take the chairmanships and the new senators can take their committee seats.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) February 3, 2021

“If it’s $1.9 trillion so be it,” @Sen_JoeManchin says of the rescue plan, while also stressing he wants it to be bipartisan

— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) February 3, 2021

Manchin says on Morning Joe that Biden told him, we can’t do what we did in 2009 and negotiate for 9 months only to have Republicans still not vote for package in the end

— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) February 3, 2021

xp That confirmation's what Bernie was talking about on Monday night. But sounds from the thread there as though there may still be further delay.
God, could see what benefit Graham might get from delaying garland getting into his AG role. Is there widespread sanity in sight or is it still having to fight through the ultrastupid

It is really nice seeing Democratic leadership remember history and recognize what the Republican Party is.

I just wrote both my senators

It is really nice seeing Democratic leadership remember history and recognize what the Republican Party is.

― Hello Nice FBI Lady (DJP)

when I started seeing "Dems scarred/haunted by 2009" last week I thought it was more Beltway signal balloons; I guess they mean it.

sorry can I just-

"It's quiet"
"Yeah, a little TOO quiet"
"That was easy"
"Yeah, a little TOO easy"
"Hey, it's Raph!"
"Yeah, a little TOO Raph"

I mean fingers crossed but this is going roughly the way I expected. Biden needed to make a show of reaching across the aisle in an attempt to stem the hemorrhaging divide in the US but thankfully he seems inclined to limit his calls for bipartisanship to optics only.

I would have loved it if he'd opened the meeting with the 10 concern trolls by saying, "Look, my position is $1.9 trillion. But if you want to go higher, I'm happy to hear you out."

It wouldn’t surprise me if he said something among those lines at some point.

and truly, today was the day Joe become Humanchin

let's leave Jay Leno out of this

"Look, my position is $1.9 trillion. But if you want to go higher, I'm happy to hear you out."

Didn't he actually say something like this, according to reports from that meeting?

lol @ Dan

Is our own Karl Malone working for Newsmax now?

Whoa pic.twitter.com/3mFcA7l3r1

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) February 3, 2021

the audacity of truth

LOL, so perfect that newsmax drops into a psychedelic echo chamber at the mere mention of "that quote from Bernie Sanders" I wish that had happened to the My Pillow guy in the clip upthread: DominDominDomininiumumum.

If you say his name three times he appears, and strangles you with mittened hands.

how will we ever find Major Tom without them

He's dead... no, hold on, that's Captain Tom.

across the stratosphere

a final message

give my wife my love

so sad about those poor oil companies, if they can;t wreck environments how will they fulfil themselves?

auto-erotic asphyx

Oh no. Anything but that. Please. Please no. https://t.co/MVXeNQaX1N

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 3, 2021

Why settle for one win when you can get two? Sounds like the stuff of heroes to me.

Could somebody sell the GOP a nice little country to resign to so trhey can all hang out together and see how well they get along together.
Greenland still up for sale?
I heard teh membership of the party was shrinking in the wake of jan 6th so do they need as much space as they would have done last year?

Maybe they'll get so small we can just build a wall around Mar-a-lago.

xpost I hope Scratch Perry does more of these Newsmax remixes

dub dub goosestep

Der musch put

i'm going through this thing where i would have been supermad if they didn't impeach again but now that it's here, i kinda just wish they would drop it

i didn't realize how great it was going to be to have trump out of the public eye

*this is not a rational political opinion i am putting forth in any way*

^ 100% cosign, down to the 'not a rational political opinion'. Just...go the fuck away forever.

Whatever happens, I hope he's barred from ever running again.

We can't just let that guy who hosed us down with sewage get away with what he did, he must be called to account, oh and here he is now and...yes, yes, it appears he's brought his sewage-spewing machine with him, fantastic.

I dunno man it could be lulz. He could actually back the Republicans into such a corner that he’d actually get some more Republican votes to convict.

can't really see anything tangible coming out of this but having every GOP Senator on record is probably a good thing

I'd love to see that but it's a risky gambit.

xp

I'm curious to see how democrats run this while having very little faith they'll get it right

xps

yeah, i want either A)for Trump to realize that the biggest ratings he'll ever get would be testifying in person at his own impeachment hearing, because i'm 99.9% sure he would accidentally admit a crime, or
B) just pass something to guarantee he can't run for office again. please.

Like if it’s a boring thing about how you can’t impeach a President who left office yards yadda he’s a shoo-in for a quick acquittal. But he’s not capable of staying in message and he’ll end up ranting about Dominion and “of course I wanted to take over the government my sacred landslide victory” and maybe force some other Republicans in the convict side.

We can't just let that guy who hosed us down with sewage get away with what he did, he must be called to account, oh and here he is now and...yes, yes, it appears he's brought his sewage-spewing machine with him, fantastic.

― Vladislav Bibidonurtmi (Old Lunch)

*guy with sewage-spewing machine walks around the sewage-spewing machine detector. capitol guard texts nancy pelosi. nancy introduces promising resolution to impose a $20K fine on anyone who walks around the sewage-spewing machine, effective March 15*

i was totally joking about trump testifying, btw - is there any chance that his lawyers let him testify? or...actually...wait, can democrats compel him to appear and answer in person?

Ooh I just thought now that Trump is a civilian can he be prosecuted by dominion for spreading lies about the dominion machines?

i was totally joking about trump testifying, btw - is there any chance that his lawyers let him testify? or...actually...wait, can democrats compel him to appear and answer in person?

We can't just let that guy who hosed us down with sewage get away with what he did, he must be called to account, oh and here he is now and...yes, yes, it appears he's brought his sewage-spewing machine with him, fantastic.

I audibly cackled at this

I'm not convinced having him testify would necessarily be a good thing

surely, if we elevate trump one more time and just give him a big platform, everyone will see that he's bad and finally understand!!

(i'm clowning myself, now, because yeah i do see the huge benefit of just putting him in a tiny box and never letting him have a platform, ever again, if possible)

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstorage.googleapis.com%2Fafs-prod%2Fmedia%2Fmedia%3A88dbfe5962794c2aa457e1eac4cc0b96%2F800.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1

Apparently he's not going for the obvious defense - that you can't convict a former president - and instead going for the My Pillow defense - that his landslide election victory was stolen from him from by pedo globalists. SO it could get awkward for the GOP Senators who vote to acquit.

Yeah I want him to go away quietly into the night too but he won’t!! He never has!!

Having him spray his shit in his trial might actually hurt his cause with the people who matter—a few more senators might be boxed in to Convict. As it stands now -he is going to be acquitted- and therefore not able to be barred from future office. I don’t care what Trump’s chud base thinks. I know no one’s mind is being changed.

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/02/963343896/former-cia-officer-treat-domestic-extremism-as-an-insurgency

When it comes to domestic extremists such as those who stormed the Capitol, a longtime CIA officer argues that the U.S. should treat them as an insurgency.

That means using counterinsurgency tactics — similar in some ways to those used in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Two wars that were extremely successful!

Did you read the article?

I don't want to be one to suggest that somehow the United States is going to in any way resemble Iraq or Afghanistan at the height of violence.

Do you have a useful framing for how we should view the people who stormed the Capitol?

As Republicans.

Comey is a turd, but I heard an NPR interview with him maybe the day before Asshole was impeached again and he was against it. Asked about this, he basically said the last thing the country needs after four years of Trump in the news is ... even more Trump in the news.

Unless it turns out that they can bar Trump from office with just a majority, impeachment is far less important than criminally prosecuting him for his many openly committed and easily proven crimes. Feel like making sure Trump can’t run and win the presidency in 2024 should be every decent person in government’s highest priority.

If he went to state prison, he could (and probably would) run again.

(I specify state because NY is much more likely to actually prosecute than the feds.)

The best of both worlds MIGHT be a Trump who isn't able to become president again but - and this is crucial - he doesn't know that. Hear me out.

A Trump who thinks he can run and win again freezes the field, as none of the Trumplings nor the Cawthorn / Greene / Boebert / Gaetz clowns would dare declare themselves as candidates as long as he's alive and swinging his stupid fungus-shaped dick around.

In this scenario, Harris wins easily against a fractured Dextrosphere that is two-thirds MAGA chud and one-third Mitt Romney.

Disqualify Donald Jehosephat Trump from running in 2024 and you risk leaving an opening for Ivanka/MyPillow Guy to swoop in

Yes... a pragmatist might just want him to run again, hopefully in the Patriot Party.

Upside: he end's grifting away GOP money and wasting other candidates'. Downside: America descends faster into hell

Disqualify Donald Jehosephat Trump

Ah, yes. My bad.

He could run from jail but I think imprisonment would be one of the few things other than being entirely legally banned from running that would almost guarantee he’d lose.

After 2016 I tend to be pretty wary of chess and triangulation around whether it’s maybe a good thing for dems if Trump runs!

Also true. Predicting "naw, they'd NEVER elect that clown" is what got us here

But he’s have to be IN prison. Losing some court cases, being fined, briefly going to jail and then getting out again, none of those things will lose him votes

I was shocked how different the country felt after just 2-3 days of Trump's twitter ban. Not looking forward to him getting re-platformed during impeachment.

^agreed. since there are no guarantees and this country is exceedingly stupid, i guess i'd prefer to err on the side of caution

I know what you mean but it's funny to think of a trial as "getting a platform"

I don’t have a strong feeling on whether it would be “better” if he ran again or not, but my hope is that he divides the GOP politically and electorally for as long as he lives, and a circus impeachment trial probably helps with that.

But they’re not divided. They never are. There’s the open fascists and the lightly-belied fascists and they are definitely on the same team.

Uh “veiled”

trial as "getting a platform"

oh for sure. i support impeachment and would like to have cowardly gop senators on the record. i mostly meant him testifying which (i may be misunderstanding) could go either way?

You're goddamned right I ordered the Code Q

https://desetaumetnost.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/ndfxdwmyidjf6usxkk5z46ecxwl.jpg

Before I wring my hands over how the Senate will botch the impeachment trial, I think I'll wait until there is something to see and then decide how it's going.

xxp He would surely give his answers on the stand in the form of tweets, with lots of SAD!s and VERY BAD!s. I guess he kind of already kind of talks like that.

greene has continued to double-down on everything and i'm sure the conspiracy will expand to include all congressional republicans who vote to oust her from her committee positions (which, holy shit that she was ever give one in the first place). mccarthy gave her a choice: denounce Q or step down herself. she did what all Q people do: she doubled-down and refused to do either reasonable thing.

i guess greene's fate will go a long way toward answering this Q, but

Q: are more Q people going to run in the 2022 midterms? are some going to win? because imagine like THREE MTGs in congress!! lol

oops, sorry, i thought this was the Q thread for real!

I know what you mean but it's funny to think of a trial as "getting a platform"

― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Wednesday, February 3, 2021 1:04 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It kinda is, though, for sure. It boosts his signal which is all he cares about.

I'll go on record as prediction that a lifetime twitter ban will ultimately have proven more impactful on Donald Trump than the 'consequences' of two (2) impeachment trials.

prediction predicting

In which the former CEO of Overstock dot Com describes in surprisingly coherent and readable prose about how he walked into the WH, helped talk the President into a coup, and ate all the appetizers. https://t.co/0Q0PzUUNHZ

— Peter Sagal (@petersagal) February 3, 2021

I would be surprised if a more bizarre document exists in Presidential history. It makes Nixon's meeting with Elvis seem like a routine check-in.

— Peter Sagal (@petersagal) February 3, 2021

*carl kasell chuckle in the background*

lol, even the very first sentence of the excerpt is funny:

On the evening of Friday, December 18, Sidney Powell, Mike Flynn, a sharp female attorney on Sydney’s team (whom I will call “Alyssa”), and myself decided to call an SUV and get driven to the entrance that serves the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is on the grounds of (and connects to) the White House.

it's like, wait, who is Alyssa? is that her name? is that the lawyer who immediately got fired after her law firm found out she was trying to organize a coup with the president?

sharp like smart or sharp like cheddar

smart like sharp or smart like chmeddar

Speaking of Peter Sagal, I heard Jen Psaki on "Wait Wait" last weekend and she was actually pretty witty.

I’m behind today so apologies if this is old news for the thread

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/03/us/biden-administration/more-than-370-congressional-aides-call-for-trumps-conviction

But they’re not divided. They never are. There’s the open fascists and the lightly-belied fascists and they are definitely on the same team.

Can anyone capture the loyalty of our Big Beautiful Boaters? Find out in 2024!

GOP candidates are going to skip the Iowa State Fair in favor of a hunting expo.

i'm still laughing at matt gaetz flying to Wyoming, a state he had never before visited, and telling a crowd of trumpers that liz cheney didn't understand the people of wyoming

HAPPENING NOW: Residents are protesting against the City of Austin outside of the Candlewood Suites hotel. The city plans to use this hotel to provide temporary housing for the homeless.

Neighbors tell me they worry about safety. @KVUE pic.twitter.com/R0Ieb3wcV2

— Hannah Rucker KVUE (@suphannahrucker) January 31, 2021

well, now i'm just fucking angry again. i'm going to go take a shower and take a nap, shit

i'm going to go take a shower and take a nap, shit

not in that order

Fuck “neighbors”

Easy solution: burn down the neighbors' houses and see how they feel about the plan then.

Neighbors tell me they worry about safety being around "poor" people

s2g homeownership predisposes people to evil

where do the neighbors think the people are when they are not inside the hotel?

that is so much "safer" for the neighbors i mean. why are people dumb?

Blaming that on homeownership too

The homeless at that Candlewood are getting for free what the protestors are paying $2500 a month for.

San Francisco had a big kerfluffle over a homeless drop-in center on the Embarcadero, also concerned about 'safety'

Looking at that thread, apparently the motel is on the edge of northeast Austin near the Cedar Park suburb, so this is all vmic.

Biden presidency endangered by scandal:

NEW FARA FILING: People registered as foreign agents through the firm @ArnoldPorter donated $13k to BIDEN's campaign committees from July-Dec. 2020.@ArnoldPorter engaged the BIDEN transition team on behalf of foreign gov'ts including Argentina & Korea. https://t.co/BBQgxY0dFJ

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) February 2, 2021

Self-XP NORTHWEST SIDE OF AUSTIN

xpost Read that as Arnold Palmer and got thirsty.

if it's the Candlewood Suites I think it is, the neighbors should be more worried about the patrons of the nearby Baby Acapulco and their day-glo vomit that results from downing a ton of blue margaritas and queso and then getting mild concussions from fistfights in the parking lot over who has to take Brianna home because she lives in the fucking 04

i'm sure they will be standing there with signs that say BABY ACAPULCO WRONG LOCATION very soon

apparently it's the one up near Cedar Park so swap Olive Garden for Baby A's, house red for blue margaritas, and breadsticks for queso

so, lowering the phaseout threshold for the $1400 check to 50K a year?

fuck that

where was that idea floated publicly?

Dems considering lower income threshold to reduce number of people who get checks.

Last checks started phasing out at $75k for individuals; Dems looking at $50k, per source (confirming @JStein_WaPo reporting yesterday) w/ @igorbobic https://t.co/98q0Fb7p8U

— Arthur Delaney (@ArthurDelaneyHP) February 3, 2021

Yes yes, we know your schtick Aimless. All reporting is lies unless Joe Biden tells you directly.

that's so idiotic considering how many people lost their jobs and really need this money

yeah we might need to pump the brakes, this isn't even close to a certainty, but it's worded that way in the shitty Huff Po article.

from WaPo:

One proposal discussed by senior Democrats includes lowering the threshold for the payments to begin phasing out above $50,000 for single taxpayers, $75,000 for people who file as the heads of households, and $100,000 for married couples, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal planning. These people stress that the conversations are fluid and legislation has not been finalized.

AND

Still, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki added at her press briefing on Tuesday that Biden is wary of limiting the income thresholds on the payments too dramatically. For instance, she said Biden believes a nurse and a teacher jointly earning $120,000 a year in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pa., still “should get a check.” Biden reiterated this commitment in a meeting with White House aides on Tuesday, she said.

also idk why the pile-on with Aimless, if asking for a source is to be met with ornery, idk maybe that says something about your own feelings about the quality of yr source

At least these are real reporters, but "Dems considering" and "Dems looking at" says very little other than the idea was discussed among Dems, not who backs it and how much power they have.

not sure who these senior Democrats are, but I can imanchin a few guesses

i know this thread is the "pre-emptively get angry at offended at rumors that are suggested in passing as if they are already incontrovertible fact", but it doesn't have to be.

Hmm but on another front (read back through the thread)

BREAKING: ICE is telling members of Congress this deportation flight to Africa, due to leave in a few minutes, has been CANCELLED.
Unclear if it has been permanently canceled and if this is new DHS sec @AliMayorkas stepping in to rein in ICE.

— Julian Borger (@julianborger) February 3, 2021

All reporting is lies unless Joe Biden tells you directly.

And there it is... your schtick. Distortions based on pure fantasy.

Who’s getting angry? Further means testing is being reported by multiple legit journalists. Dismissing it because they’re not giving a press conference about it is stupid.

did Aimless actually dismiss it or did he merely ask who was reporting it? did you actually get annoyed with him or do you just have long standing animus with him that you stoked because that's just a thing you usually do?

also further means testing is not being reported, the fact that 'some' Senior Democrats who have not been remained considering the idea while Biden being somewhat less receptive to it is what is being reporting.

remained = named

unless dems are publicly "floating" the idea of more money and no means testing, if for no reason other than to stick it in the GOP's eye, i think it's fine for people to register their irritation. whatever it takes to keep them from doing the dumb shit. we elected them to Not Do The Dumb Shit.

did Aimless actually dismiss it or did he merely ask who was reporting it?

His response yesterday after Stein’s initial report (that I linked) was ‘getting mad because someone on Twitter said it.’

So, yes. Or he’s willfully ignoring the reporting he doesn’t want to see, I guess.

xpost i don't mind people calling their Senators to beg them 'no means testing' or discussing that it would be a terrible idea, which we've all done (me included). just a little wary of reacting in a message board thread like it's already happened.

that's fair

course, my Senators are Rubio and Scott, so any time I contact them it's to tell them they're terrible and should consider stopping being people

BREAKING: ICE is telling members of Congress this deportation flight to Africa, due to leave in a few minutes, has been CANCELLED.

see, cancel culture is good

lol

course, my Senators are Rubio and Scott, so any time I contact them it's to tell them they're terrible and should consider stopping being people

― Wrong Screamed Barney (Neanderthal)

hey, at least Rick Scott has better constituent services than Rubio; they'll gladly and courteously tell where and when to drop dead.

for the first time in my life it will be nice finally having two senators with whom my interactions aren't just responding to their soc media posts with variations of 'gargle my ass and balls'