A Jan. 6 insurrectionist decided to represent himself in his bond hearing on Tuesday — and then he reportedly got a little too chatty.
Continue reading “Alleged Insurrectionist Blabs About Further Misdeeds While Repping Himself At Hearing”GOPer Writes Kids’ Book About Cancel Culture And You’ve Never Seen Anything This Cursed
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Big Yikes
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) wrote a childrens’ book about cancel culture titled “Fame, Blame, and the Raft of Shame,” and now I wish I never learned how to read.
- The book’s description on the publication site includes this dire warning: “While today’s culture presents canceling others’ opinions as the solution to their problems, they don’t realize that a culture of canceling eventually cancels culture entirely.”
Here’s the summary:
Deep in the ocean, Starlotte City blooms beneath a dome made of glowing seaweed. The city’s beauty and strength are mirrored by its vibrant culture, and Eva wants nothing more than to take her place on Starlotte City’s stage. But, when one star performer suggests that they ought to cancel some animals for insensitive comments, the true strength of the seaweed city and its citizens is put to the test. Will Eva have the courage to stand up to the crowds, or will she allow fear to silence herself and others?
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Texas Cuts LGBTQ+ Youth Suicide Hotline Under Political Pressure
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services took down its web page that provided a suicide hotline and other resources for LGBTQ+ youth after Don Huffines, one of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) primary challengers, stirred up outrage over it on Twitter in August.
- Huffines accused the agency (and Abbott??) of “promoting transgender sexual policies to Texas youth.” That apparently had agency staffers scrambling to reassure the public that no, the Texas government does not look out for young transgender people.
- Records obtained by the Houston Chronicle show that the agency’s media relations director emailed the agency’s communications director less than 15 minutes after Huffines posted the tweet, warning him that the video “is starting to blow up on Twitter.”
- The communications director then emailed the agency’s web and creative services director telling him that “we may need to take that page down, or somehow revise content.”
- Lo and behold, the agency’s entire Texas Youth Connection website (not just the page for LGBTQ+ youth) got taken down.
- Huffines gleefully took credit for the website’s removal. “I promised Texans I would get rid of that website and I kept that promise,” he said.
Kentucky’s Only Democrat In Congress Announces Retirement
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), who chairs the House Budget Committee, announced yesterday that he won’t be running for reelection.
US Will Open Its Land Borders To The Fully Vaccinated
The Biden administration is slated to announce that fully vaccinated non-U.S. citizens will be allowed to cross by land into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico.
- Travel through the border via rail, ferry and vehicle is currently limited to “essential travel.” The U.S. announced last month that restrictions would be loosened in November to allow air travel for fully vaccinated foreigners.
- The new Canada/Mexico border protocols will be implemented in November, according to the Associated Press.
Florida City Sued For Painting Black Firefighter As White In Mural
Latosha Clemons, the first Black female firefighter in her town of Boynton Beach, Florida, is suing the city after after its commissioned mural depicted her as a white woman.
- Clemons wasn’t the only Black person who got literally whitewashed in the mural. The artwork also depicted a Black male former fire chief as white.
- Clemons called the mural “humiliating, painful and demoralizing.” “As the first and only Black woman in the department, I deserved the respect I earned on a daily basis serving the citizens of Boynton Beach and deserved to be recognized for who I am: a Black woman,” she said.
Birx In The Hot Seat
Ex-White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx (been a while since you’ve heard that name, eh?) took questions from investigators on the House COVID-19 select committee yesterday, according to Politico.
- The interview was part of the committee’s investigation into Trump’s botched response to the pandemic.
- Birx, who quit after Biden’s inauguration, said shortly after her resignation that she had been “censored” by the White House.
Michigan GOPers Quietly Installing Pro-Trump Election Truthers On Election Boards
Several GOP Michigan county chapters have been nominating a slate of people to county canvassing boards who either traffic in or have ties to Trump’s Big Lie crusade.
- One nominee, Nancy Tiseo, tweeted in November that Trump ought to suspend the Electoral College and direct “military tribunals” to investigate voter fraud.
- The district GOP committee chair who nominated Tiseo argued that the nominee could “very easily be removed” if “things get out of hand.”
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Jayapal Explains Support For Shortening Duration Of Provisions In Reconciliation Package
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on Tuesday outlined her support for shortening the duration of programs within the reconciliation package rather than nixing any of them out to bring down its price tag amid centrist senators’ complaints over its $3.5 trillion topline.
Continue reading “Jayapal Explains Support For Shortening Duration Of Provisions In Reconciliation Package”Everything You Might Have Missed On The Reconciliation Negotiations
Congress is in recess and the firehose of public positioning we’ve experienced over the last several weeks will slow to a trickle during these next few days. But important work is still being done on the reconciliation package … or, so we hope.
Kate Riga will have an evening briefing, giving you the latest at the end of each day — at least until senators return to DC. Check out the first installment here.
Where Things Stand: Are Workers Getting Fed Up With COVID-Era Aggression?
TPM has been covering the way in which the pandemic and the public health measures necessary to tamp it down have resulted in periodic eruptions of anger, often egged on by opportunistic, MAGA-aligned politicians. It’s become a theme for us: the specter of violence in politics that’s simmered for the last few years, predating the pandemic but inflamed by it.
But of course, the current level of public outrage is not limited to the political sphere of life. Anecdotal reporting — and, increasingly, data — suggest there might be an economic corollary to this trend as well.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Are Workers Getting Fed Up With COVID-Era Aggression?”The Sausage Making: Progressives Jockey To Keep Their Beloved Programs Off The Chopping Block
While Congress is in recess this week, we’ll be watching negotiations on the infrastructure bill and presenting them to you in an evening briefing. Check in here to find out how the sausage-making is shaping up.
Continue reading “The Sausage Making: Progressives Jockey To Keep Their Beloved Programs Off The Chopping Block”Details On Why Schiff Regrets Asking Mueller To Testify On Russia Probe
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Monday said that he regrets asking former special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in 2019 following Mueller’s final report on the Russia probe.
Continue reading “Details On Why Schiff Regrets Asking Mueller To Testify On Russia Probe”Pelosi Braces Caucus To Make Sacrifices As Manchin, Sinema Demand Smaller Reconciliation Bill
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is girding her caucus for decisions few of them want to make: cuts to the reconciliation package to pare it down from $3.5 trillion to whatever Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) will accept.
“I’m very disappointed that we are not going with the original $3.5 trillion, which was very transformative,” she said as she opened her Tuesday press conference.
It’s an admission of the reality galling the vast majority of the caucus across both chambers: Manchin and presumably Sinema, though she’s never shared her red lines publicly, will force the package’s price tag down, likely into the neighborhood of $2 trillion.
“We’re still talking about a couple trillion dollars — but it’s much less,” Pelosi said. “Mostly we would be cutting back on years and something like that.”
She seemed to be embracing the idea of shortening the duration of programs within the reconciliation package rather than chopping them out wholesale to bring down the overall price tag, a notion that’s been gaining steam in the Senate.
It’s a seemingly different tack than she took Sunday in a letter to the caucus, when she shared the feedback she’d been getting from members.
“Overwhelmingly, the guidance I am receiving from Members is to do fewer things well so that we can still have a transformative impact on families in the workplace and responsibly address the climate crisis: a Build Back Better agenda for jobs and the planet For The Children!” she wrote.
Democrats are still in the early days of negotiating cuts, as the specific topline Manchin would accept only became widely known among the caucus two weeks ago. It’s a period of public and private jockeying, as Democrats try to keep their favored programs well-funded.
A group of New York City-area Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), published a letter Tuesday they’d written to congressional leadership, asking that their priorities be saved from the chopping block.
“As you work to finalize the package, we urge you to maintain the level of funding for public and affordable housing, immigration reform and accessible transportation in low-income communities,” they wrote.
After a quick vote Tuesday to pass the Senate’s debt limit extension, the House is out again until next week when the Senate returns. With the debt ceiling deadline kicked down the road, Democrats will have about a month and a half to craft a package that satisfies everyone enough to pass. That’ll mean nose-holding and likely factional fights, as the majority of the caucus plays tug-of-war with Manchin and Sinema over what stays in the bill, and what’s doomed to languish as a draft for the foreseeable future.
“The fact is that if there are fewer dollars to spend, there are choices to be made,” Pelosi said.
The Trash Talk of the Righteous
Last week in a risible fit of pearl-clutching Senate Republicans expressed that they were aghast that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took a swipe at them just as they were extending the hand of bipartisan fellowship to bring the nation together. Washington’s worthies seemed to agree. It was that worst of offenses. It was uncalled for. Welcome to the DC black hole, where titanic gravity bends people’s minds, even the good people.
As Matt Cooper points out here, the real outrage – echoed by all the press worthies – is that Schumer told the truth: Senate Republicans again took the nation’s “full faith and credit” hostage in a reckless and dishonest effort to sow chaos at the expense of the safety of the Republic. For once they were outmaneuvered and had to beat a retreat. They blinked. Indeed, their caucus is so addicted to anti-constitutional hi-jinx and legislative junkie behavior that it required a herculean effort to execute the cave – Republicans struggling to break their own filibuster to head off reform of the filibuster. Good times, as they say. Schumer said McConnell blinked, that Republicans should be ashamed of themselves and that it’s a good thing Democrats held tough to force them to cave. This is all accurate.
Continue reading “The Trash Talk of the Righteous”Schiff Warns Bannon That He’s In A ‘Completely Different Situation Now’ Without Trump In Charge
House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who also serves on the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, made it clear on Tuesday that ex-White House senior adviser Steve Bannon is facing a whole new ball game as he attempts to defy the select committee’s subpoenas.
Continue reading “Schiff Warns Bannon That He’s In A ‘Completely Different Situation Now’ Without Trump In Charge”