US Politics May 2021: Joe Manchin's Choose-Your-Adventure Book

Yeah it seems like an obvious feint?

really don't get what his angle is here

To even analyze this as strategy breaks my brain, but he wouldn't float this proposal if he wasn't "signaling" movement of some kind, I guess.

he wants bold voting laws but we absolutely must preserve the sanctity of the filibuster? ok....

Fun detail from the AZ dog & pony show audit:

According to documents released under court order, however, Cyber Ninjas prepared for sinister antifa agents to disrupt their efforts.

For instance, they worried that a nearby chemical storage area could be sabotaged by leftists as part of an orchestrated attempt to breach the counting area.

This hasn't happened.

yet

Manchin probably thinks if he proposes a *really* strong voting rights bill that, darn toot it, he *really* means, well, the Rs will just *have* to come around and compromise on a weaker voting rights bill, without him having to nuke his precious filibuster. Manchin would be wrong.

I'm positive he knows that will not happen.

I see it more as a "look guys I want good things too stop yelling at me I'm a real Democrat" and when it goes nowhere oopsy daisy.

I don't know why but I have this nagging feeling that Joe Manchin...might not be very smart.

xp

this is the most plausible explanation so far

What an absolute maniac https://t.co/ADCquJ1Lo9 pic.twitter.com/JLJoyH0pJV

— Maggie Serota (@maggieserota) May 13, 2021

didn't she do this to David Hogg?

yes

She’ll probably be elected for another 20 terms, too

And of course she followed it up with the, "see? she's afraid to debate me" bullshit.

The more you resemble a brain stem rattling in a metal bucket, the more successful you will be in today’s GOP

Good morning!

great news

Who is surprised? Per CNN:

All 219 House Democrats have reported being vaccinated.

Of the 212 House Republicans, only 95 -- of 44.8% -- have said they are vaccinated. https://t.co/VtpXhF3N91

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) May 14, 2021

Ron Johnson:

"I thought I was doing everyone a favor," Johnson told CNN in a phone call in March. "I don't think any of this is settled science, but the reason I am not vaccinated yet is I have had Covid and even when I had it, I had a mild case. ... Now I am being attacked as being anti-science. It boggles my mind."

Doing everyone a favor...by getting COVID? idgi

"mind"

every time I see MTG speak I can only think of On Cinema Tim, it's like she's doing an impression of him

Doing everyone a favor...by getting COVID? idgi

Doing everyone a favor by not taking a vaccine because he presumes he has antibodies that are protecting him, which: https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/if-youve-been-exposed-to-the-coronavirus

Natural immunity to COVID-19 is the protection that results from having been sick. But we don't know how long natural immunity lasts, or how strong it is. So can we count on natural immunity to protect us from reinfection? If so, for how long? Unfortunately, we don't know the answer to either of those questions.

There have been some confirmed cases of reinfection with COVID-19. In other words, a person got sick with COVID-19, recovered, and then became infected again. This is rare, but it can happen.

The CDC states that people who have gotten sick with COVID-19 may still benefit from getting vaccinated. For now, people are eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine whether or not they were previously infected. Vaccination criteria may change in the future as scientists learn more about natural immunity after COVID illness.

It's also worth noting that someone who has been re-infected — even someone with no symptoms — has the potential to spread the virus to others. That means that everyone, even those who have recovered from coronavirus infection, and those who have been vaccinated, should continue to follow CDC guidance on mask wearing and other prevention measures.

IOW, yes you are an anti-science idiot, Ron Johnson

go play in Grassley's Dairy Queen sex dungeon

pft giving dairy queen sex dungeons a band name

i think it's time for covid to do everyone a favor and get ron johnson

pft giving dairy queen sex dungeons a band name

I feel like "Dairy Queen Sex Dungeon" is more of an album title

dairy queen is the band name, sex dungeons is the ep

I still don't get why it does everyone a favor, though.

Very normal person.

New: A since-deleted video from 2019 shows MTG harassing @AOC's office through a locked door. Calling her "crazy eyes" and telling her through the office's mailbox slot to "get rid of your diaper" while telling the office to open the door and come out. https://t.co/QgcJucs4o8 pic.twitter.com/ccTufF90Z9

— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) May 14, 2021

imagine the sex dungeon possibilities

must I

I still don't get why it does everyone a favor, though.

the "logic" is that someone else who doesn't have antibodies will get the vaccine sooner, even though logistics don't really work like that

it's not like vaccines are in short supply in the US right now. He's not doing anyone a favor by allowing others to 'get it first' if that's what he means.

i'm starting to think this Ron Johnson guy doesn't know what he's talking about

and if he's so blatantly wrong on this, that could raise questions about his beliefs about many other things....but best not to think about that

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said Friday that he and an aide to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) got into a confrontation over the use of face masks on the House floor.

The incident is the latest involving allegedly disruptive behavior by Greene and her staff.

“I had a mask on as I stepped off the Floor,” Swalwell said in a tweet. “An aide with @mtgreenee yelled at me to take my mask off. No one should be bullied for wearing a mask. So I told the bully what I thought of his order. Predictably, he went speechless. I regret I wasn’t more explicit.”

Greene’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to Scott Wong, a reporter for the Hill, the aide involved was Greene spokesman Nick Dyer. Wong reported Dyer as saying, “Biden says you can take off your mask.”

Swalwell “confronted Dyer” and “got in his face,” Wong said in a tweet. He added that, according to Dyer, Swalwell said, “You don’t tell me what to [expletive] do!” The Washington Post could not independently verify the exchange.

Under new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccinated Americans can now mostly ditch their masks indoors — but lawmakers must still wear them on the House floor.

Asked by CNN whether the House’s mask mandate would be relaxed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said: “No. Are they all vaccinated?”

i'm beginning to understand how julius caesar ended up getting stabbed by 40 senators. it starts with words, and then the annoying people get aides that even more annoying, and then eventually it escalates to fistfighting, and then shortly after that the stabbing starts

I would fund a Karl Malone speaking tour.

i think that tour would end in me getting my ass kicked halfway at a a microbrew open mic night

but tbh i've always wanted to go down fighting

Caesar is only the most famous stabbed Roman politician, those guys were constantly stabbing each other!

I would advocate for more of this in modern politics but all that would happen is Greene, Gosar, and Boebert would all stab Manchin repeatedly in the neck while he burbled “but my bill is bipartisan”

maybe senators from both parties could stab manchin

although the stabbers are really the representatives in the house. senators are more like mafia bosses. house reps are the ones with the knives

Doing everyone a favor...by getting COVID?

Yes I think anything that temporarily incapacitates Ron Johnson can be accurately characterized in this way

Meantime

BREAKING: Matt Gaetz's confidant, Joel Greenberg, admits to many crimes in plea(+80 pgs). He doesn't name Gaetz. Greenberg says he and "other adult men" engaged in "commercial sex acts" w/minor. Greenberg says he witnessed the other men having sex w/minor. https://t.co/qzPBYLEopm

— Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) May 14, 2021

Fairly typical not to have the cooperator name the co-conspirators in the cooperation agreement, at least at this stage — prevents tipping them off. You would name them in a cooperation agreement reached after charges were filed against everyone. https://t.co/QbGxW4CrI2

— EveryKneeShallBowHat (@Popehat) May 14, 2021

Bear in mind federal prosecutors likely wouldn’t go against a defendant — let alone a sitting Congrrssman — without very substantial corroborating evidence to support any testimony from Greenberg, who is supremely skeevy and a terrible witness.

— EveryKneeShallBowHat (@Popehat) May 14, 2021

From yesterday's Politico Playbook:
PALM BEACH MAKES CONTINGENCY PLANS IN CASE TRUMP IS INDICTED — Law enforcement officials in Palm Beach County, Fla., have actively prepared for the possibility that Manhattan District Attorney CY VANCE could indict former President DONALD TRUMP while he’s at Mar-a-Lago, according to two high-ranking county officials involved in planning sessions.

Among the topics discussed in those meetings: how to handle the thorny extradition issues that could arise if an indictment moves forward.

An obscure clause in Florida’s statute on interstate extradition gives Gov. RON DESANTIS the ability to intervene and even investigate whether an indicted “person ought to be surrendered” to law enforcement officials from another state — which means that as Mar-a-Lago prepares to close down for the season and Trump relocates to Bedminster, N.J., it isn’t just the Florida heat he’s leaving behind: He could lose a key piece of political protection.

“The statute leaves room for interpretation that the governor has the power to order a review and potentially not comply with the extradition notice,” says JOE ABRUZZO, clerk of the Circuit Court of Palm Beach County, the official who would be in charge of opening a potential fugitive-at-large case.

One wrinkle to Abruzzo’s potential role in all of this: He is a former close associate of President JOE BIDEN’S younger brother, FRANK. Abruzzo tells Playbook that despite his friendship with the Biden family, “the full extent of the law will be followed and carried out appropriately, without bias.”

If an indictment comes down while Trump is in Bedminster for the summer, this could all play out very differently. New Jersey’s extradition statute is similar to Florida’s, giving the governor the power to investigate an out-of-state warrant. But its governor is Democrat PHIL MURPHY, who is no fan of Trump’s, and would not likely intervene to stop Trump’s extradition. In the event of an indictment, Trump’s lawyers could also negotiate a condition of surrender, which could cut local law enforcement out. An attorney for Trump declined to comment.

With Trump settling down in New Jersey for the next few months, Florida is unlikely to have to sort through this any time soon. But the clock is ticking on the Manhattan D.A.’s investigation: On March 12, Vance said in a statement that he will retire at the end of 2021, and speculation abounds that his office — which is currently investigating whether Trump and his businesses committed banking and tax fraud, among other lines of inquiry — could issue indictments before passing the case along to his successor.

And that means that Palm Beach County may yet have to get involved — depending on whether Trump is indicted, of course, and whether that happens after Mar-a-Lago reopens in the fall.

The message here is that Trump should remain in FL and never, ever come up north again. Ever.