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January 29, 2025 01:59 AM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 17 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.”

–Isaac Asimov

Comments

17 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread

  1. Opposition & Fulcrums. Josh Marshall at TPM

    Democrats have very little power currently in the federal government. That was decided in November. Voters did that. It’s not undoable in the short term. Democrats current job is to oppose, which I’d describe as narrate, a) raise the stakes for the support of everything the White House is doing (the shuttered suicide hotlines, canceled cancer research, furloughed child care centers) and b) non-compliance, non-cooperation. What matters, both in terms of being effective and in driving coverage is finding fulcrums of actual power and using them. That takes hold of the initiative, forces the instigators to come to you. As we discussed yesterday, there are several of those. Republican need for help with the debt ceiling is just the most immediate and also most consequential.

    But this is also fundamentally a battle for public opinion, which means it’s about the next election and sowing divisions in the majority party. That means it’s very much a longhaul. Unsatisfying and scary, yes, but that doesn’t make it less the reality.

    know what power you lack, use the power you have to the maximum extent possible and do your best to distinguish between the two.

    … To stretch the metaphor a bit further, this is for the moment a guerrilla conflict for the Democrats – cutting communications and supply lines, taking out fuel and arms depots and then running back into the hills.

    1. Spot on. What we're experiencing is the result of 60 years of anti-social scheming by the GOP. We can't simply expect it to go away with a single vote in Congress or even an election. It's time to engage in our own long-haul.

  2. In order to restructure a brain, it needs to be scrambled. The reprogramming is much easier if the turf is turned and chopped under a disc. The Shock Doctrine it is called.

    Welcome, one and all, to Fascism in America!

    Oh…and thank you Republicans for the destruction of our democracy.

  3. Interesting to listen in on rfkjr confirmation hearing, it's on right now. I just heard Sen. Warren and rfkjr get a little testy with each other, over potential conflicts of interest and profits from lawsuits, while Sen. Tillis lobbed him a bunch of big, fat, softball questions. Bernie's asking him to guarantee healthcare as a basic human right, after starting with a lead-in about health care CEO earnings and drug prices, but rfkjr couldn't agree that health care was a basic human right.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/29/watch-rfk-jr-senate-confirmation-hearing-for-hhs-secretary.html

    1. The democrat dinosaurs on the RFK confirmation committee, confirmed why they are extinct and why they should be extinct in any future election elections.

      1. rfkjr himself is 71, maybe not technically a dinosaur but getting close enough for government work. The role of the Senate is to provide "Advice and Consent" (yep, per the US Constitution) on nominations. Some lines of questioning are better or worse than others, to be sure, but most of the questions I've heard today from the Ds were fair to raise and better than rubberstamping a controversial nominee.

          1. I'd rather have hysteria than listeria. And if there are causes for perceived hysteria in the first place, they may very well be legitimate reasons for senators to deny consent. Guessing rfkjr will be confirmed anyway, maybe on a close vote like Hegseth. For the heck of it, I'll even say something nice, I liked what rfk said today about better food and nutrition.

    2. Whalejuice McBearcorpse is an idiot, a junkie, a liar, an all-around sociopath, and . . .  oh yeah, probable rapist. Those being the only qualifications for a cabinet post in 2025 America, that nomination will sail right on through.

  4. According to a new survey. 10% of the federal workforce would take a buyout. We should take advantage of that immediately and send them packing. Obviously their job is not that interesting or useful..

    1. Nah.  Who would trust this administration to actually pay them as promised?  Oh, and the impoundment order has been rescinded.  Such a competent administration.  So much for "winning."  Tots and pears, PP

    2. How little you know, PP. A large number of the federal work force are nearing retirement age anyway. Why stay around, when no Trumpie gives a shit if they're here or not, unless said Trumpie wants special service?

    3. "According to a new survey…" – hey there pear-shaped Vietnam-era Vet, can you please provide a source for your latest ballistic rectal extrapolation?

      Because I can find no recent poll that cites those numbers as a result…which is the number that the NaziTechBro is hoping will resign based on this Nigerian prince-quality spam email sent out.

      (There was a poll conducted in 2016 that reported that 8% of Republican Federal workers would resign if Cheeto Mussolini were elected but that damn sure didn't happen. And you'd NEVER claim anything negative about Repubs…)

  5. DOJ is trying to muscle the NY office to drop charges against Mayor Eric Adams.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/politics/justice-department-trump-charges-eric-adams.html?unlocked_article_code=1.s04.e21N.3e5f77lTVCk3&smid=url-share

    Mr. Adams was indicted in September on charges including bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions after an investigation that began in 2021.

    In other words, Adams only does what is business as usual in Trumpworld.  Adams might even get a plum federal job out of this because Trump would own him lock, stock and barrel.

    1. Yep- fraud, taking bribes, corruption, soliciting contributions from foreign nations- Mayor Adams would fit perfectly in Trump world. And we'd all get to hear $rump declaim ad nauseum about his "Democratic friend, who is a Black. "

       

      ,l

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