JaneAusten

I know. I live in Chicago and originally we all believed Lollapalooza was doing the right thing. To attend and be allowed in you have to be vaccinated. That was established months ago. That was before this variant. I don't know what to say. Chicago is going to be another hotspot - 2 weeks tops.

If the private sector steps up these people will have no choice. Lets see what happens And ditto with the masks. I go into establishments and still see workers wearing them why am I absolved. I have continued to wear one period. Lollapalooza in Chicago is happening this weekend. Vaccinations required. I admit to being fearful regardless that this will end up as a super spreader event. Most of the attendees won't get seriously ill but they could spread it once they leave/

It really irks me how so many GOP "youngsters" are lauded as the "Next Great One". Obama did get media attention after his speech at the 2004 convention but I would hardly call him a youngster and he actually had rock star quality. What on earth do the dead ends like Paul Ryan, Little Marco, and George P Bush have other than the R? I know the Beltway capes for the GOP but honestly none of these future "superstars" have amounted to a thing. Sure Ryan became Speaker and then took the cowards way out and ran away, but Little Marco will no doubt be prepping himself for yet another failed presidential campaign.

Was this expected? I would have expected she would have gotten a large sympathy vote.

Why on earth is 2016 being relitigated yet again. But I also remember PoC being ignored during the primaries by one campaign and the booing of John Lewis at the Democratic Convention. Next time try courting the base of the party before thinking winning is possible after calling them "low information".

Isn't it 2 sides of the same coin though. It seems the Bernie contingent hate democrats more than republicans. Listen there are plenty of issues to criticize people across the board for but Biden right now is the least. The Recovery Act regardless of some flaws helped a ton of people. The Child Tax credit alone is going to help millions and we should all kiss Sherrod Browns shoes for that one. My biggest issue at this point is this insistence that it's all about economics and class. I'm sorry that has never been true. Anyone who thinks people voted for Trump the "populist(laughing) because of that is fooling themselves. States across this country are limiting voting targeting marginalized groups and banning the teaching of things like the KKK is immoral, banning the teaching of the writings of MLK, and labor rights activists(Chavez) and women's rights activists(Susan B Anthony) and I am supposed to believe the people who vote for those who are doing these things are voting for them due to economics is ridiculous.

So he won because he is a centrist? Or is it more about him being known in the community?

Kind of a lazy take but there are a lot of truths in here as well. If only the paper would spend as much effort on understanding these voters versus the transparent MAGA supporters whose main tenet is really one thing. I don't know but black and brown working class voters are less of a monolith than white working class voters are, but you'd never know it from the attention from the press. This article is interesting. Certainly not comprehensive but captures a bit more of the complexity here and less of the broad brush the Times article points to. And don't mistake me for some substack groupie. Far from it. The Cabán-Adams Voter - Vulgar Marxism (substack.com)

In all fairness I saw many predicting this was dead weeks ago. I have no doubt the GOP would squash it but then everything goes in reconciliation. For all the bloviating Manchin did, he did as many predicted. You really need to stop listening to the doomsday machine. The news media gets paid to generate outrage and particularly to cause a frenzy with democrats. And you can thank the grassroots groups for the voting rights bill getting a vote and for Manchin finally indicating he's open to reform so we''ll see. I hope you have called your senators everyday. I have. Yeah it's repetitive but it's good for solid democratic senators to hear also. And there are going to be rally's in DC and across the country all summer ending with a huge rally in DC in August on voting rights. I have heard endlessly how Trump was going to win in 2020, how the senate was lost, how terrible it was the house lost so many seats and I also remember 2018 when it's funny how the media never focused on how midterms are basically always a loss for a sitting presidents party when the democrats picked up a record number of seats and Governorships. Frankly I am hoping Trump comes back out in public and starts having rally's. Nothing gets the democrats fired up than being against that guy.

Interesting about Manhattan. Last time I was in Harlem was about 3 years ago when there was a walking tour organized by one of the City Colleges that my niece took me on. Some of it seemed the same from years prior but so much seemed to have changed. I guess I just assumed that gentrification in so much of Manhattan had driven out so many over the years. So much has happened in Chicago in areas where there are now million plus dollar townhomes on the near west side and Bridgeport. Now they are after the Chinatown area. I am going to assume Adams is going to win the primary. Unless Garcia or Wiley might have a good percentage of the absentee ballots.

I know NYC is important but honestly the fixation on this race nationally has been ridiculous and it's nice to see publications like Politico wrong again. I wish more people would see that the Beltway is a bubble. These people don't understand DC much less the rest of the country. My niece who lives in Brooklyn - her main concern was Adams experience in public service. Yes he served in the state senate but after 8 years of De Blasio, as an employee of the NYC Dept of Public Health she wanted someone with leadership experience. She wasn't really high on any of the candidates. She does like Adams and in her opinion she thinks he might have a lot more success at police reform than anyone. He was a police officer and reformer and despite what some may think, is not well liked by the NYPD. He's not going to get support from Staten Island in the GE that's for sure. He actually did well in all the Burroughs other than Manhattan who I think went for Garcia. Despite the gentrification in other Burroughs including Brooklyn, there are still an awful lot of working class people living in those communities especially when compared to Manhattan. You were right on about him from the beginning. I do wonder if Adams appeal was due to his law enforcement background or his working class appeal or a combination of both plus his being fairly well known across the city. I find it hard to imagine the mail in vote making a huge difference but who knows.

Wasn't Christine Quinn a "lock in" 8 years ago? The only saving grace is hopefully Yang opened his mouth too much and ruined his chances. My niece who lives in Bay Ridge thinks that Garcia might be a consensus candidate with rank choice voting but who knows.

Things have already moved forward. Manchin has moved. And this is not 2009. Listen I do think that some of the dems in DC are insulated no question, but this doomsday nonsense has to stop. I'm tired of people expecting happiness every god damned day when the majority of AMERICANS are optimistic and don't pay attention to the minutia some of these people spend their time on. Some of these people would not have a job if they didn't spend their time dumping on democrats and I am talking about people who are "allegedly" on the side of democrats. .

In the case of Mukowski she's been down this road before. If she gets beat in a primary, she can run as a write in again. The candidate who beat her in that primary was an RNC endorsed candidate.

People may have ID's but not the "right kind" in some states. Like most people have a social security card if they work and/or file taxes and/or apply for assistance and the list goes on, but that is not considered a valid ID. My neighbor across the street is 78 and she has never had a credit card or ever applied for credit even though she owns a house. As for signature matching it's not me saying this it's our former County Clerk David Orr who is known as a nationwide election and voting expert. People from all over the country have consulted with him over the years. he is the one who is responsible for the signature matching and no matter what you think about your own signature, the characteristics analyzed to determine if you are that person look at certain aspects of the signature that you may not realize are always the same even if you think it's difference. It's a science based process. And more accurate than an ID since an ID is verified by a person, many that cannot determine what are and are not fake. The signatures are compared by the election system based on your current signature and what is on file when you registered to vote.

The challenge in the US is that each state sets their election laws so it's not the same across the country. Each state has their own rules for voting including ID. I live in Illinois and we do not have to present an ID at the time we vote. We do signature matching at the time of voting, which is harder to fake than an ID. And there is no universal voting ID so many of the rules in place in states for example that want to discourage certain demographics from voting put stringent voter ID requirements in place and limit the types of ID's that are acceptable. In Texas for example you can use your Gun ID card but not a Student ID. And ID's cost money in many cases. Not everyone can afford or even get to a place to get an acceptable ID. In 2016 there was a story in Wisconsin about a 90 year old black woman that could not vote. Why? They just put in a voter ID law and she had none of the required ID's. And the only way for her to get for example a state ID was to get her birth certificate. She was born in Mississippi at home how many years ago. She had no certificate. And the only way for her to get one was to travel back to Mississippi to file for one. No she could not do it by mail. So a woman who had voted for the last 40 plus years could not vote in 2016. This is not by accident. These laws again are put in to discourage people that fit a certain profile from voting.

Sorry that is the Biden I like. I never minded him doing that in prior years. It is funny how he snapped at Doocy but everyone is highlighting his flippant tone with Collins.

@drw50 I think that last story is a huge mistake but the GOP does this crap all the time - makes things huge issues and then crickets. In this case again a HUUGGEE mistake. But then I am not sure what the content would be and would likely end up being nothing. I honestly don't buy anything secretive was said in these meetings. Putin just used it to his advantage and trump is too transparent to not have blabbed anything. As for the rest I think you're wrong about the reasons behind the media. It may have started out that way with Tiger Beat Politico but I think the major news outlets and publications - well it's all about the money behind the scenes. Whether it's advertisers or wealthy influencers and ownership. This overinflation of this meeting with Putin is a prime example. I frankly don't get what the media sees in Putin. Hes actually quite fragile, which most men who try to be strongmen are. I saw him sitting in that chair looking like a child. I suppose he thought it made him look like he didnt care but it made him look petulant and Bidens posture was like the dad trying to teach the kid a lesson but to hear the media you'd never believe that. And you're being unfair in saying nothing has gotten done. We have almost 70% of our adult population vaccinated, a huge Rescue plan passed that actually helped people and businesses that actually needed it. And it's only June. But we don't have those wealthy donors at the same level the GOP does so it's up to US to put pressure on our representatives. I've joined the Poor Peoples campaign and our local group is following Fair Fights example of calling our senators daily. EACH DAY. Put pressure on. It doesn't matter if we have 2 democrats, Duckworth can be a little too cozy in some instances to the defense industry. Now they both support S-1 but the daily calls don't hurt and it says we mean business. I hope more people do this. Listen if we listened to the media and press we'd have given up before Obama was elected.

So many years of years of GOP strong arming, their do nothing attitude in terms of doing anything(yes thats intentional) I think has made a lot of people impatient. Legislation takes time. Do people not remember that the ACA took over a year? And then democrats didn't show up in 2010. My own frustration really is about the media coverage. They have learned nothing and have kept up the stupid narratives they used from the Obama and Clinton terms. I will never understand why to this day McConnell who has done more to undermine democracy than anyone continues to get coddled - well outside of the fact that the big money in the media behind the pages and camera love him.

Republicans are not going to vote for the first package. That's what's been so ridiculous about this. How many times does McConnell have to say it.

Not one reporter has asked Manchin why he supported THE EXACT BILL in 2019 - HR 1 - he was a senate co-sponsor and it then had NO GOP co-sponsors. Not one.

I'm not naive enough to think Trump is going to prison. Nixon didn't. Yes he was pardoned but he never would have anyway. But there are a lot of other people including Barr and others who should be investigated along with a lot of other people in or were in our own gvmt. I know the DOJ is not the answer but they can't do anything? Not a peep The case with the DOJ taking up/continuing Trump's defense is less problematic IMO than other things like refuting the lawsuits by the protesters in Lafayette Square. What kind of nonsense is that.

I'm starting to lose faith that anything will happen to these people. We're celebrating the retrieval of pipeline ransom money(well that is good work) but the failures of the FBI, DHS, Dept of Defense and others still whitewashed while a private company is helped.. And that senate committee report issued had to be scrubbed to get bipartisan support and have the word "insurrection" removed. I mistakenly thought Garland was a good choice. I thought the democrats might finally tell the GOP to get *ucked. I get the importance of Biden's trip to the G7 and Harris's mission in Central America, but there needs to be a heck of a lot more focus on the health or lack of what's going on here. Why on earth isn't the DOJ stepping in in some capacity to defend voting rights and the nonsense going on in Arizona. There can't be NOTHING they can do.

The majority of the population don't follow the garbage media(local news I would say more). I would guarantee 99% of Americans have no idea who Politico is and don't spend time watching cable news TV( how many people our of 330,000,000 watch). What people know is how they feel which is optimism with COVID19 retreating. This has had the biggest impact on our lives and spending is up.

I watched the interview on Lawrence this evening with the guy from AP. It sounded a little more hopeful although I still think Manchin is an attention whore but unlike Sinema he's not stupid. His comments about the senate being the most deliberative body in the world sounded out of touch. It hasn't been for many years. But it doesn't seem like Biden has taken Manchin or Dopey Sinema to task yet and I believe that's because of others like his buddy Chris Coons in the senate.