Octopus Overlords

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:29 am There are people who watch TV on Sunday mornings. Huh. Who knew?

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:29 am There are people who watch TV on Sunday mornings. Huh. Who knew?

Kurth wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:46 pm Woke Me When It’s Over

In the humorless world of Woke, the satire is never funny and the statute of limitations never expires, even when it comes to hamantaschen.

FN - Hamantaschen are traditional fruit filled cookies served during the Jewish holiday of Purim. It’s the closest thing Jews have to Halloween. They are triangular cookies (they take the shape of the hat worn by the Purim villain, Haman) that are too often dried out and pretty bad.

Brett Stephens actually nails it here in taking on Woke culture. Easy target, but still . . .

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 10:05 am

Kurth wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:46 pm Woke Me When It’s Over

In the humorless world of Woke, the satire is never funny and the statute of limitations never expires, even when it comes to hamantaschen.

FN - Hamantaschen are traditional fruit filled cookies served during the Jewish holiday of Purim. It’s the closest thing Jews have to Halloween. They are triangular cookies (they take the shape of the hat worn by the Purim villain, Haman) that are too often dried out and pretty bad.

Brett Stephens actually nails it here in taking on Woke culture. Easy target, but still . . .

He hits the mark. Still, I'd ask him to look in the mirror and think about the time he went mental and tried to get someone fired for calling him a bedbug.

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 10:05 am

Kurth wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:46 pm Woke Me When It’s Over

In the humorless world of Woke, the satire is never funny and the statute of limitations never expires, even when it comes to hamantaschen.

FN - Hamantaschen are traditional fruit filled cookies served during the Jewish holiday of Purim. It’s the closest thing Jews have to Halloween. They are triangular cookies (they take the shape of the hat worn by the Purim villain, Haman) that are too often dried out and pretty bad.

Brett Stephens actually nails it here in taking on Woke culture. Easy target, but still . . .

He hits the mark. Still, I'd ask him to look in the mirror and think about the time he went mental and tried to get someone fired for calling him a bedbug.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:42 am Was Rivera pushing back on her?

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:33 am

El Guapo wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:42 am Was Rivera pushing back on her?

I assume - he sounded really upset trying to interject. The clip was really cut to show what she was saying though and that was flat out statements of the sort that a Nazi party member could have said in the 30s. It's way out there.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:42 am Was Rivera pushing back on her?

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said Thursday it is the job of Fox News to serve as the opposition to the Biden administration

Jaymann wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:15 am

El Guapo wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:42 am Was Rivera pushing back on her?

Yeah, the guy who wanted to name the Covid vaccine after Florida Man.

Mr. Biden, a six-term veteran of the Senate, had trumpeted his deep Capitol Hill experience as one of his top selling points, telling voters that he was the singular man able to unite the fractious Congress and even come to terms with his old bargaining partner, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader.

But congressional Democrats, highly familiar with Mr. McConnell’s tactics, held no such illusions. Now, they worry that voters would punish them more harshly in the 2022 midterm elections for failing to take advantage of their power to enact sweeping policy changes than for failing to work with Republicans and strike bipartisan deals.

Congressional Democrats want far more than Republicans are willing to accept. Anticipating the Republican recalcitrance to come, Democrats are increasingly coalescing around the idea of weakening or destroying the filibuster to deny Republicans their best weapon for thwarting the Democratic agenda. Democrats believe their control of the House, Senate and White House entitles them to push for all they can get, not settle for less out of a sense of obligation to an outdated concept of bipartisanship that does not reflect the reality of today’s polarized politics.

“Looking at the behavior of the Republican Party here in Washington, it’s fair to conclude that it is going to be very difficult, particularly the way leadership has positioned itself, to get meaningful cooperation from that side of the aisle on things that matter,” said Representative John Sarbanes, Democrat of Maryland.

But the internal Democratic disagreement that stalled passage of the stimulus bill for hours late into Friday night illustrated both the precariousness of the thinnest possible Democratic majority and the hurdles to eliminating the filibuster, a step that can happen only if moderates now deeply opposed agree to do so.

It also showed that, even if the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster were wiped away, there would be no guarantee that Democrats could push their priorities through the 50-50 Senate, since one breakaway member can bring down an entire bill.

Republicans accused Democrats of abandoning any pretext of bipartisanship to advance a far-left agenda and jam through a liberal wish list disguised as a coronavirus rescue bill, stuffed with hundreds of billions of extraneous dollars as the pandemic is beginning to ebb. They noted that when they were in charge of the Senate and President Donald J. Trump was in office, they were able to deliver a series of costly coronavirus relief bills negotiated between the two parties.

“It is really unfortunate that at a time when a president who came into office suggesting that he wanted to work with Republicans and create solutions in a bipartisan way and try to bring the country together and unify, the first the thing out of the gate is a piece of legislation that simply is done with one-party rule,” said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican.

At their private lunch recently, Republican senators were handed a card emblazoned with a quotation from Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, calling the coronavirus bill the “most progressive domestic legislation in a generation,” a phrase that party strategists quickly began featuring in a video taking aim at the stimulus measure.

malchior wrote: ↑Sun Mar 07, 2021 12:07 am NY Times - declares bipartisanship is dead. Welcome to 2012 bucko. This piece is ... something special in its ability to lay out facts in a way that totally misleads about what is happening in DC. Also, it's like just 2 months ago they didn't vote to overturn an election or have their President incite an insurrection. Down the NY Times VSP memory hole apparently.

Kurth wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:05 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Sun Mar 07, 2021 12:07 am NY Times - declares bipartisanship is dead. Welcome to 2012 bucko. This piece is ... something special in its ability to lay out facts in a way that totally misleads about what is happening in DC. Also, it's like just 2 months ago they didn't vote to overturn an election or have their President incite an insurrection. Down the NY Times VSP memory hole apparently.

I don’t follow you on this one. I read the excerpt and the whole article. I didn’t see either as misleading. My take on the article was that the Dems are stuck between a rock and a hard place: While they see the benefits and the ideal of bipartisanship, they are compelled to follow through with an agenda that has wide popular support, and the McConnell-led GOP has been clear that they are taking up their familiar blocking position.

But congressional Democrats, highly familiar with Mr. McConnell’s tactics, held no such illusions.

“Looking at the behavior of the Republican Party here in Washington, it’s fair to conclude that it is going to be very difficult, particularly the way leadership has positioned itself, to get meaningful cooperation from that side of the aisle on things that matter,” said Representative John Sarbanes, Democrat of Maryland.

Leaning hard into the Both Sides narrative, the Times generously headlined its piece, "Biden Got the Vaccine Rollout Humming, With Trump’s Help."

What the article lacked however, was any compelling evidence that Trump deserves vaccine credit, after having spent all of 2020 completely indifferent to the deadly pandemic, and spreading nonstop public health lies. Fully 60 percent of Americans over the age of 60 have received their first Covid vaccine today, compared to just eight percent under Trump. Biden should rightly take bows for that remarkable trend, after the previous administration showcased its vaccine incompetence.

President Joe Biden has spent three of the eight weekends since his inauguration in his home state of Delaware. The White House defends those visits at a time when the administration is urging the public to avoid unnecessary travel.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:44 pm The NYT credits Trump for Biden's vaccine victory:

Leaning hard into the Both Sides narrative, the Times generously headlined its piece, "Biden Got the Vaccine Rollout Humming, With Trump’s Help."

What the article lacked however, was any compelling evidence that Trump deserves vaccine credit, after having spent all of 2020 completely indifferent to the deadly pandemic, and spreading nonstop public health lies. Fully 60 percent of Americans over the age of 60 have received their first Covid vaccine today, compared to just eight percent under Trump. Biden should rightly take bows for that remarkable trend, after the previous administration showcased its vaccine incompetence.

I mean really.

The Biden administration has taken two major steps that helped hasten vaccine production in the near term. Even before Mr. Biden was inaugurated, his aides determined that by invoking the Korean War-era Defense Production Act, the federal government could help Pfizer obtain the heavy machinery it needed to expand its plant in Kalamazoo, Mich. The Trump administration had repeatedly invoked that law, but its order for Pfizer only covered single-use supplies like plastic liners, not durable factory equipment.

At this point in office, Trump had given five news conferences. Obama had given two, George W. Bush three and Clinton five. Biden so far has given zero.

noxiousdog wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:31 am Isn't it a fair criticism though, especially considering the pandemic?

Biden should be compared to real presidents, not to Trump.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:48 am Will this thread ever become fully official?

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:38 am I don't think so. Most of the other President's also had their first press conferences with foreign leaders. That is delayed *because of the pandemic*. He addressed his plan with the pandemic directly to the public. Beyond that if you are going to be a critic you have to present a balanced story. The story isn't a story unless you can make it seem abnormal. It's mostly abnormal because of the pandemic. That's the point of criticizing this type of piece. It's mostly made up bluster.

noxiousdog wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 11:34 am

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:38 am I don't think so. Most of the other President's also had their first press conferences with foreign leaders. That is delayed *because of the pandemic*. He addressed his plan with the pandemic directly to the public. Beyond that if you are going to be a critic you have to present a balanced story. The story isn't a story unless you can make it seem abnormal. It's mostly abnormal because of the pandemic. That's the point of criticizing this type of piece. It's mostly made up bluster.

I want to make sure I'm following. You are saying that the president should only host press conferences when he's visiting with a foreign leader or other major situation and that a pandemic that makes that time schedule elongated doesn't count?

El Guapo wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 11:39 amHonestly I don't think this really matters all that much either way. As NYT bothsides-isms go, they've done a lot worse than this, and I don't think anyone will remember this two weeks from now.

The media did not distinguish themselves. By asking about immigration multiple times and echoing the false narrative that Biden had created a “surge," they showed they were more interested in sound bites than actual news. Their failure to ask about the pandemic, the recession, anti-Asian violence, climate change or even infrastructure (Biden had to bring it up himself) was nothing short of irresponsible. They pleaded for a news conference and then showed themselves to be unserious. They never laid a glove on Biden; they did, however, make the case for why these events are an utter waste of the president’s time.

Reporter: VP Harris was seen at a bakery in Chicago, is she still working on immigration?

Psaki: ‘The VP was visiting Chicago to talk about COVID … while she was there, like many Americans, she got a snack. I think she’s allowed to do that.’