It’s that time of year again — when raising the debt ceiling, a critical legislative act that staves off full-scale economic catastrophe, becomes a high-stakes game of political chicken.
Continue reading “Democrats Call Republicans’ Bluff On Debt Ceiling As Dangerous Standoff Looms”
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor organization and a close ally of the Biden administration, has died. Continue reading “AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Dead At 72”
First, she stormed the Idaho state capitol. Then, she stormed the U.S. Congress. Continue reading “First, She Stormed A State Capitol With Ammon Bundy. Then, She Stormed Congress, Feds Say.”
Richard Trumka is dead at 72. Head of the AFL-CIO and a fixture of the American labor movement for decades. Heart attack appears to be the cause of death but that’s still supposition. More to come.
As Delta COVID surges cases across the country and fills hospitals in low-vaccine Red States, Republicans have been test-driving a range of messages to maneuver out of accountability for their reckless policies on vaccines. They’ve tried a belated effort to push vaccines, deny they were ever against them and then sidled back to opposing various kinds of vaccine mandates. But over the last couple days they’ve started pushing a new message: the problem is undocumented immigrants “pouring” over the US-Mexico border. Embattled Florida Governor Ron DeSantis put it this way (emphasis added) in a fundraising email sent out yesterday: “Joe Biden has the nerve to tell me to get out of the way on COVID while he lets COVID-infected migrants pour over our southern border by the hundreds of thousands. No elected official is doing more to enable the transmission of COVID in America than Joe Biden with his open borders policies.”
Continue reading “New GOP Message on Surging COVID: It’s Juan’s Fault!”
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), whose state is positively drowning in COVID-19 cases, is up in arms after Biden said that governors like him who ban mask mandates need to “get out of the way.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), whose state is experiencing record COVID hospitalizations, to President Biden:
“Why don’t you do your job? Why don't you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don’t wanna hear a blip about COVID from you, thank you.” pic.twitter.com/lqyTV1l9ou
— The Recount (@therecount) August 4, 2021
Gov. DeSantis says he'll get in the way of President Biden, says Florida is a free state.https://t.co/dAjFeMz4q6 pic.twitter.com/wF5q7RXKD9
— WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) August 4, 2021
Pres. Biden: "If some governors aren't willing to do the right thing to beat this pandemic, then they should allow businesses and universities who want to do the right thing to be able to do it."
"If you aren't going to help, at least get out of the way." pic.twitter.com/K74Lx4yUdD
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 3, 2021
A county coroner in Missouri has been excluding COVID-19 from death certificates at families’ request.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) chewed out a group of anti-vaxxers during a press briefing:
Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) yells at anti-vax protesters:
“You’ve lost your minds, you are the ultimate knuckleheads … people are losing their life … look in the mirror.” pic.twitter.com/eg17NNVfm9
— The Recount (@therecount) August 4, 2021
Nearly half of Americans (48%) support expanding the Supreme Court, according to a new poll by Marquette University Law School.
A $5,800 bottle of whiskey the Japanese government gave then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a gift in 2019 has gone missing, the State Department says.
Biden is going to set an aspirational, non-binding goal to have 50% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. be electric by 2030, the White House announced this morning.
“The ‘Cuomosexual’ phenomenon was disgraceful. We’re politicians’ bosses, not their fans.” – Alyssa Rosenberg:
See also: This beefy rendering of special counsel Robert Mueller (“Robert Moral”) in notorious “Resistance” grifters Brian and Ed Krassenstein’s children’s book
A federal judge ripped into a Jan. 6 insurrectionist in his sentencing hearing, blowing up the myths GOP revisionists are spewing that the Jan. 6 defendants are “political prisoners.”
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I want to flag again what I discussed here yesterday. Only a handful of jurisdictions across the country are tracking and publishing COVID data broken down by vaccination status. As far as I can tell all of two states – Oregon and Virginia and one county, San Diego County in California – are tracking so-called breakthrough infections in any way that gives us a helpful understanding of the state of the pandemic.
As at least one Republican governor expresses regret over a state law that bans mask mandates at the local level, Texas and Florida’s top officials are doing the opposite.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Florida And Texas Dig Their Heels In”
When the Senate reconvenes today, it will have an amendment by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) before it to consider that would bar the Biden administration from cancelling the Trump administration’s border wall construction contracts. And there are reportedly plenty more amendments to follow.
As the amendment process begins to lose focus, it will be up to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) when to cut it off. Sen. McConnell (R-KY) yesterday warned Schumer against filing cloture too soon and trying to move the process along, saying that, if the majority leader did so, he’d whip against it. He wants Schumer to move “slow but steady.”
Schumer has other priorities. He wants to get the Senate moving on the Democrats reconciliation bill sooner rather than later, with recess and a possible government funding fight looming.
Follow along with our coverage below.
A federal judge in Colorado has sanctioned two lawyers who he said pursued “bad faith” litigation that falsely alleged widespread illegal behavior in the 2020 election, ordering the attorneys to pay the legal fees of several states, private companies and individuals targeted by the suit.
Continue reading “Federal Judge Slaps Two Lawyers With Sanctions Over Big Lie Lawsuit”
