JaneAusten

True although I would take Feinstein out of that. I hate saying this but I really don't believe she understands what she's saying anymore.

Until Vee or someone mentioned it I had no idea she was Code Pink. So basically she's a pretend activist and has been for years. Just an attention getter. I know Manchin has done some odious garbage and we have to know he ditched Neera Tanden because of her criticism of his daughter(rightfully so), but I feel at least I think he's gettable. I think they could float some huge infrastructure project by him in WV and put his name on it and he'd be in. I also think he has cover by the Governor there who is not quite as odious as most of the GOP Governors are across the country.

I'm more convinced at this point that Sinema and Manchin have been bought. McConnell's wealthy donors. I'll give Manchin a little leeway maybe he is a true believe but Sinema is as phony as they come. I expect she'll run as a republican in 2024 or just go do lobbying work. She practically salivates over Mitch McConnell and IMO is not very smart.

I think Garcia and Barbot resigned around the same time. Within a month of each other. Says a lot about the idiocy and incompetence of the current mayor. He just announced all in person learning for the next school year without consulting anyone. He's ended up surrounding himself with people who nod and agree with him I guess. I assume the NYC public school system is not a whole lot different than Chicago and that there will be people who want their children to continue remote learning. Even in Chicago as problematic as the school situation here has been, they will be continuing some form of remote learning and are going to require those students 12 and over be vaccinated to attend in person learning.

I was actually interested in watching it but I got the time mixed up(time zones) because I figured it was going to be a clown car. I flipped on Morning Joe for the first time in I think 2 years because I read Kathryn Garcia was going to be on and I hadn't really seen much of her. My niece who lives in NYC is a bit higher on her because she has experience. She works for the city health dept and I think the people there have had enough of no nothing mayor DeBlasio who pushed the prior health commission out because she dared to challenge the administration on the schools. And replaced her with a yes man. My niece has nothing against Adams other than the fact that she said a burrough president is basically a figuredhead and doesn't really run anything.

I wish I thought Trump would goto jail but alas he won't. But frankly his loss of wealth is enough for me because I know that is the only thing that will really crush him like the roach he is.

The article I read the other day is that yes Bennett is as bad but the coalition has already agreed that they are going to focus on domestic improvements and he's PM for 2 years before the next PM steps in - the moderate. Of course Bennett could be working on the assumption that he will be able to woo the Netanyahu supporters over that 2 year period who knows. Right now Netanyahu being gone and prosecuted is a dream I assumed was never going to happen so from that aspect I am thrilled.

Nah post them. I think there is value in seeing frankly how out of touch so many of these so called reporters are. I don't consider never have considered Jake Sherman a reporter. I think Politico might have been his first job and if that's where he learned journalism explains a lot. A lot of the reporters IMO who some of us thought were actually reporters have been exposed the past 4 years - well actually when Obama became president. It says a lot about that group that they think Maggie Haberman is the top political reporter of our time and exactly what has she done since her sugar daddy leaker left office. Nothing. Some reporter. As far as the infrastructure bill, Biden is doing what he said he would do which is negotiate and he has not exceeded the timeline he set for himself which I believe was mid June. I can't say someone is allowing things to drag on versus playing out as I believe they know it will. The GOP will never propose anything that raises the corporate tax rate and that will be a non starter. Biden is not stupid but he also has really smart people around him like Ron Klain who I know is no fool. And frankly I just can't with the Beltway press still treating the GOP as geniuses and not taking them to task. Eroding democracy will impact then and being pro-democracy is not a SIDE it's what the FREE PRESS should be. Who exactly thinks that the GOP can keep the focus on Biden for the midterms by opposing a Jan 6th commission. Not anyone I know. But they lap up that drivel from McConnell because it comes from McConnell. If Schumer said something like that they'd run him out of town. And put this on the record I could care less myself about a commission. None of the commissions have resulted in anything really of value other than gaslighting. Let the democrats have their hearings.

No offense Carl and this is not criticism for you but I generally tend to now ignore the Beltway versions of a gossip column with "unnamed sources" as legit these days. I hate pulling out the unnamed sources as a justification because it is a valuable tool for the press and whistle blowers. "senior democrats" are just cowards if they even exist. We all know who Haberman's unnamed sources were during the Trump presidency which was Donald Trump or his family members. And I don't see that legit either. And where is that "Best Political Reporter" now? No where.

@drw50 I knew all the press was BS. Same thing happening in Chicago and Cook County with Kim Foxx who had a target on her back after the Jason Van Dyke trial. As soon as the FOP here in Chicago made it clear they endorsed her opponent, that signaled her re-election. While the Jussie Smollett situation did drum up some controversy, not enough for people to side with the Chicago Police Dept. While the FOP all over the country in big cities still seem to wield a lot of power, they are wildly unpopular in those cities. It's going to reach a point where real reform will have to happen. These police departments that continue to get more money have a success rate in "those neighborhoods" in terms of solving crimes of around 10%. No business could get away with that BS and continue to survive. There are decent law enforcement personnel and leaders. Tom Dart the sheriff of the Cook County Police force is one of them. He's very well respected across the board and fair.

I honestly don't care and like the 9/11 Commission, an entire waste of time. We never heard about the deliberate ignoring of information transitioned to the Bush administration because Bush wanted a war and 9/11 gave him what he needed. What democrat in their right mind would want any republican on this commission to spew crazy town nonsense. I have more confidence in the DOJ. A special prosecutor would be better than this.

I share a lot of your concern but I also recognize a lot of this is posturing and politics. I am the last person who wants Roe overturned but while we hear about states limiting abortion rights what you never hear about are states that expanded them. When Pritzker won as Governor in Il, RHA, the Reproductive Health Act, was passed. It was a sweeping reform for abortion rights. New York passed a bill not quite as expansive but that expanded abortion rights as did Nevada and New Mexico, 2 states with significant Latino populations(for everyone who claims none of Latinos support abortion rights). There are also plans ready to go to help women in states with limited rights now in states where abortion rights have been marginalized to get women the help they need. It will be put in full blown if this happens. I am a member of a chapter of NARAL in Il and we are already helping women in states surrounding Illinois and will expand those efforts. Frankly the ultimate goal should be a congressional bill to legalize abortion. That should have been the goal years ago. But that won't happen until enough states have passed their own legislation and I agree with Vee that will happen and there will be monumental pressure if Roe is overturned. As for voting rights, I am actually happy to see that letter. That tells me there is movement. And Murkowski as usual is demonstrating she is far more reliable than that fraud Susan Collins. Murkowski didn't vote for Kavanaugh remember. As for her ability to win re-election, don't count her out after what she accomplished last time, winning as an independent after losing the GOP primary.

I have a relative that lives in Bay Ridge and works for the NYC Public Health Dept. She's lived in NYC for about 11 years now and wasn't really paying close attention to the race until recently. She thinks Yang is a joke. She's not sure about Adams and being a Borough President is really a figurehead position. But she did say maybe being a former police officer might mean he can actually get some police reform measures done. She did say that Stringer is done and in her opinion the race is still open. She reminded me of how DeBlasio really didn't surge until the very end and that Christine Quinn seemed to be the favorite then and look what happened. And of course she thinks DeBlasio is a joke. He certainly has not been a friend to her dept and has gone back on every promise he made when he ran. I hope for the best for all of you. I have mixed feelings on Lightfoot here in Chicago. She didn't handle the negotiations with the teachers union well before COVID but then the teachers union were aligned with her opponent in the runoff race for mayor. And I feel like in some ways she's handled COVID ok - our Governor better iMO - but she also ran as a reformer and we have seen zero changes with the Police Dept here. She also ran on an elected school board like every other mayor has and so far nothing, although I won't declare that a broken promise unless it goes unfulfilled at the end of her first term.

Ugh I am so tired of people like Nate Silver and Matty Yglesias. We'd all be better off if we didn't listen to them along with Nate Cohn. Just a few weeks back they were lecturing everyone on how these voting laws being passed across the country were not really bad. I mean these are the people we need to stop giving attention to. They by no means are anyone I would consider an ally to democracy particularly after their behavior over the last 10 years. And NOW they want the democrats to fix everything. Maybe these fools should look in the mirror. Anyway I see Nate Silver and Wasserman have moved onto COVID analysis and telling us all the reasons the jobs report released yesterday didn't hit expectations. Wasserman had the nerve to tweet that stmt out from the US Chamber of Commerce stating that benefits are too high. He ended up deleting it due to the ratio. The situation is serious, no doubt and it's OUR JOB as citizens to continue to put pressure on our own legislators. Volunteer in a group that is already prepping for 2022. I'm sending out letters to people in swing and red states about voting and making sure people know what's on the line. I also joined the Poor Peoples Campaign where there are initiatives you can get involved in. Rev Barber is amazing and the work they are doing is fabulous. THey also have a 50 STATE STRATEGY. Sound familiar.

I know some things are just playing out and Biden has to make the appearance of attempts at compromise. And I also don't believe Joe Manchin is the biggest problem. I believe there are others in the caucus more silent who share much of what he says. But Jim Justice the current Governor of WV has already come out in favor of many aspects of the infrastructure plan including Job retraining and referenced the collapse of the coal industry as one of the main reasons. I do wonder if he and Manchin are working hand in hand with Justice giving Manchin and perhaps some of those other silent skeptics in the senate some cover. I also wonder if WV is term limited in their Gov and Justice plans to run for something else after his second term ends. The polling doesn't shock me. I do think a lot of the general public doesn't really give a *amn what the Beltway press and much of congress has to say in opposition to things that can help them and their communities.

I'm less concerned about her so called rhetoric than I am about Chris Coons running all over the media saying how they need to pass this plan in stages. If they do this they will get killed in the midterms and then nothing gets done. Exactly and they are doing what to counter this? If you aren't going to work local media you better have grassroots traction all over. The unions democrats used to rely on for local messaging doesn't exist like they used to.

The GOP has been all over hispanic media. No counter to it. Sinclair also owns local stations all over the country that pumps into small town America. It's not all social media. But we also have to stop looking at hispanics as one group. They are not a monolith. I heard this from a friend who is Puerto Rican. Florida is a perfect example of this. Yeah the democratic party is still a mess in Florida but politics being local is what it's about. She said that despite the national rhetoric, Puerto Ricans are helped a lot when they travel from there to Florida. The Republicans have a huge structure in Florida to help people from PR get settled in their state. Texas democrats should be better positioned to counter this with the infrastructure they have there compared to Florida so frankly there is no excuse for this. But I also don't trust the NY Times reporting on any of this as they have been wrong about so much. This is where having little or no legit local reporting hurts. There were stories on Georgia about how people overestimated the impact of grassroots work in Georgia and how it was still solid red despite their work weeks before the general elections.

She made several mistakes. But her election in 2020 was not really close. In Illinois she was headlining a fundraising event for Dan Lipinski and it was Pelosi who apparently told her to back out because well Lipinski. Newman won that race and since that was big news here in Illinois, it basically killed her own ambitions which was the rumor that they were grooming her for Durbin's senate seat. Of course he just got re-elected. A lot of people were high on her especially after Trump won in 2020 and he won her district. She was well liked by the district and grew up in the district. I've heard some talking about her as the next Speaker I never bought it. But with the loss of a congressional seat and re-mapping happening, her seat might have been absorbed into another district. I am anticipating the GOP losing one of their seats in Illinois but with the re-alignment, she might have been left out in the cold. And Underwood is a star. That idiot Oberweiss is still challenging her seat and she won by a few thousand votes. Ridiculous. he's lost almost everything he's run for.

Trump is becoming irrelevant. His ban from twitter really impacted him and his influence although I think it would have faded anyway. Despite the press and media still trying to claim he's some major force, he's a pathetic broken man. Those press releases his "office" releases are frankly lame and pathetic.

Beltway reporters continue to show how completely worthless they are. Now up Peter Alexander.

Yeah this honestly is far better than I expected. Illinois was expected to lose 2 seats as was NY. And NY was within 80 census forms completed of keeping all their seats Ohio and Michigan have fair mapping processes now. California as we know does. I can guarantee Illinois will continue to gerrymander and they will draw the lines so a republican loses their seat. I'm honestly surprised that Nevada and Arizona did not gain seats. The dinking around with the census process last year seems top have impacted everyone.

It means the same thing as Aryan Nation did to Nazi Germany.

Next Jim Jordan.

I heard all this before about the caravan. And all you had to do was watch that press conference yesterday to know how out of touch the press is. I mean questions about Biden running in 2024. Who cares right now. And 2 months into his presidency - will Harris be his running mate. Are you kidding me. The top 3 issues, COVID, The Economy, and Schools the 3 things that are on the mind of most people was not even touched. Disgraceful. I listened to that podcast with Ezra Klein and Kristin Soltis Anderson and I would suggest listening to it. It will diminish how much anyone across the country especially republicans care about the beltway press or listens to them. One of her biggest points was people have to stop thinking social media / twitter is real life. It's not. And by the way democrats never do this? That state rep in Georgia, Rep Canon, certainly knew what she was doing yesterday and her video went viral and I am guessing was all over the news also. No one is interested in seeing 18 fatcats yapping at the border right now - maybe the diehards.

I remember when Columbine happened how it was a shock to the country. The pictures of each child killed was on the front page of USA Today - I remember seeing this when I was traveling back from Calgary and was sitting in the Denver Airport. Those photos still stand out. Now the victims are not even considered or mentioned. It's yet another example of how really horrible this county can be.