I never said it was a top priority. I'm well aware of Obama's record. I criticized it regularly on my own blog.
My statement stands however - Republicans have spent a lot of time recently grandstanding against and voting against Democratic bills that they are now crowing about back home because of all the money their constituents are getting. Roe, until very recently, has bene the same thing.
These people are telling you exactly how they plan to block any vote they don’t like.
Please listen to them.
this is all entirely irrelevant to the question of abortion which we were discussing.
It's not though. One of the reasons we are here on Roe is that the Congress has never actually taken up legislation either to protect or toss (and no, Susan Collins is not serious about it this time either - she's just pissed she got played by Kavanaugh).
Republicans know deep in their souls that a federal abortion ban would get a bunch of them run out of power, and Democrats know that a federal law protecting abortion - even limited abortion - would push too many people to republicans, so we've been at a stalemate.
But now, on the cusp of what they think is permanent minority Republican rule, the rump state party members have gotten strict laws passed to force SCOTUS hand. They are setting the table for a Republican Congress to finally ban abortion once they control it permanently and to leverage what they think is control of the states to keep the ban going once litigation starts. They have played the long game - again - and believe they have run the table on Democrats on this one. Thus, if they have to try again to run the coup and use Eastman's ideas to cement that power grab, they will.
She's cowed McCarthy, what, six or seven time since she hit the Hill? That's certainly one form of control, and were she given the gavel I'm also sure she'd be happy to scorch the earth in the caucus in ways McCarthy is not yet comfortable doing. And whether she rules by fear or respect, she will definitely rule. Like a lot of moderates trying to play at Trumpian extremism, McCarthy isn't really psychologically or mentally equipped to handle her.
Granted she's no McConnell, but McCarthy won't be able to get a speakership if she objects because she will wrangle enough Trump acolytes in the caucus to vote against him.
he totally misread the outcomes of gutting the VRA, and how quickly they would bite.
Seems to be a thing though that Congressional and state Republicans are counting on, in as much as that misreading has granted them a ton of leeway to try and cement their minority rule plans.
true, though that SHOULD call into question a LOT of federal law making and SCOTUS ruling by Congress, since aside from the Privacy issue, and the 14th Amendment conundrum, a state by state decision means you have commerce clause issues.
The sobering truth that Americans need to grasp is that Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Green ARE the GOP institution.
There's an interesting article running about the intertubes claiming that the GOP might as well make MTG Spoeaker since she has shown way more backbone the McCarthy.
I don't agree that THE document founding our nation, which declares the liberty is an inalienable right, is just a compelling interest. Before they created the Constitution to tell us how the nation's government was going to work, they wrote the Declaration to tell us why.
One hopes Counsel pointed him to the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, where liberty is declared an inalienable Right endowed by the Creator . . . .
Its not a pivot. Both things cane be and are true simultaneously. People are dying - and to date it's been increasingly unvaccinated people. It is also true that the FDA and CDC have moved with unheard of speed to address vaccines and treatments. They did so because they were told to do so, and because Congress authorized enough funds for the initial vaccine development that the private companies who do that work agreed to put other stuff aside and hustle.
Remember how "Portland was burning" last year? I'm, sure Twitter remembers. Of course it was a six block radius around the federal courthouse, and it was only at night, and usually after some provocative move by unbadged federal authorities. The rest of Portland - by Portland's own reporting - was fine.
But Portland was burning! Which just proves your point that we don't have narratives that match actual facts on the ground.
I agree they have shared causes. We never focus on the shared causes.
The really useful analysis – not presented here – is what were the economies doing at the same time. What was housing doing. What was education doing. Crime stats in a vacuum are nearly useless.
How fast do you want to react? Are you willing to really accept the trade-offs imbedded in that change of pace?
I ask because the FDA and CDC went from zero to EUAs on adult vaccines in about 5 months, which in FDA Time is a record. Then they went from EUA to full authorized in under 6 months - again really really fast. They went from zero to EUA for the Covid Treatment Pill in about 4 months. All those represent a good balance between emergent need and processes to maintain human safety ( you do recall that a good many conservative commentators - including here - use that fast time line as a reason to NOT get vaxxed).
As to pre-scaling production - we spent $1 Billion under Trump to pre-scale vax production and its attendant R&D. What you are talking about would be billions more. DO you think Senate Republicans would support that if Biden introduced it tomorrow?
you assume incorrectly. Very Incorrectly. The only place I am subject to a mask mandate anymore is in federal buildings or on federal property. and its been that way here for months. Our schools were the last entities to drop their mandates, and all of them now have.
I don't like the framing either. Normal isn't a set thing. We can certainly talk about before and after, but lets not kid ourselves. Whatever our world looks like in 10 years will be just as "normal" as what it looked like in 2018.
At best - and I think its a huge stretch - you MIGHT to patternation regionally. Might.
The really useful analysis - not presented here - is what were the economies doing at the same time. What was housing doing. What was education doing. Crime stats in a vacuum are nearly useless.
Dennis, thanks for writing this article. Its a subject much on all our minds these days.
I don’t know if we can get back to normal, even though a lot of people in opinion articles and podcasts want to say the pandemic is over and we can throw off our masks. The life that we had before COVID is probably gone for good. What comes next? We don’t know yet. I think the new normal is being built as we speak and we might not really be aware of the new normal until years from now.
Your citation below this paragraph of the "new normal" after the 1918 Influenza Pandemic backs this up. As does a lot of other history. Which means this paragraph is your money shot.
Frankly I don't think we can "go back" nor should we. Going back means more people ignoring class and race disparities in our society. Going back means too many people too underpaid for their work. Going back means too many people absent from their families too often because they have to make a living.
I get that a lot of people can't navigate the change well. And yes - we have miles to go before we sleep. History teaches us we can do this.
On “Friend of the site Gabriel Malor live-tweets the oral arguments for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health”
I never said it was a top priority. I'm well aware of Obama's record. I criticized it regularly on my own blog.
My statement stands however - Republicans have spent a lot of time recently grandstanding against and voting against Democratic bills that they are now crowing about back home because of all the money their constituents are getting. Roe, until very recently, has bene the same thing.
"
I don't. It relieves them of the need to actually deal with the Texas law . . . .
"
well Democrats seem to work harder at actually serving their constituents.
"
It's not though. One of the reasons we are here on Roe is that the Congress has never actually taken up legislation either to protect or toss (and no, Susan Collins is not serious about it this time either - she's just pissed she got played by Kavanaugh).
Republicans know deep in their souls that a federal abortion ban would get a bunch of them run out of power, and Democrats know that a federal law protecting abortion - even limited abortion - would push too many people to republicans, so we've been at a stalemate.
But now, on the cusp of what they think is permanent minority Republican rule, the rump state party members have gotten strict laws passed to force SCOTUS hand. They are setting the table for a Republican Congress to finally ban abortion once they control it permanently and to leverage what they think is control of the states to keep the ban going once litigation starts. They have played the long game - again - and believe they have run the table on Democrats on this one. Thus, if they have to try again to run the coup and use Eastman's ideas to cement that power grab, they will.
This is, historically, how democracies fall.
"
She's cowed McCarthy, what, six or seven time since she hit the Hill? That's certainly one form of control, and were she given the gavel I'm also sure she'd be happy to scorch the earth in the caucus in ways McCarthy is not yet comfortable doing. And whether she rules by fear or respect, she will definitely rule. Like a lot of moderates trying to play at Trumpian extremism, McCarthy isn't really psychologically or mentally equipped to handle her.
Granted she's no McConnell, but McCarthy won't be able to get a speakership if she objects because she will wrangle enough Trump acolytes in the caucus to vote against him.
"
Seems to be a thing though that Congressional and state Republicans are counting on, in as much as that misreading has granted them a ton of leeway to try and cement their minority rule plans.
"
I'll give him the first three but the other two . . . not so much.
"
He's also looking to use this as an excuse to dismiss the Texas law a moot . . . .
"
true, though that SHOULD call into question a LOT of federal law making and SCOTUS ruling by Congress, since aside from the Privacy issue, and the 14th Amendment conundrum, a state by state decision means you have commerce clause issues.
"
There's an interesting article running about the intertubes claiming that the GOP might as well make MTG Spoeaker since she has shown way more backbone the McCarthy.
"
Justice Sotomayor said as much today at oral argument.
"
I don't agree that THE document founding our nation, which declares the liberty is an inalienable right, is just a compelling interest. Before they created the Constitution to tell us how the nation's government was going to work, they wrote the Declaration to tell us why.
"
One hopes Counsel pointed him to the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, where liberty is declared an inalienable Right endowed by the Creator . . . .
On “A COVID Statistic That is Beyond Meaningless”
Its not a pivot. Both things cane be and are true simultaneously. People are dying - and to date it's been increasingly unvaccinated people. It is also true that the FDA and CDC have moved with unheard of speed to address vaccines and treatments. They did so because they were told to do so, and because Congress authorized enough funds for the initial vaccine development that the private companies who do that work agreed to put other stuff aside and hustle.
On “Rafael A, Mangual compiles list of cities with record homicide rates in 2021”
Remember how "Portland was burning" last year? I'm, sure Twitter remembers. Of course it was a six block radius around the federal courthouse, and it was only at night, and usually after some provocative move by unbadged federal authorities. The rest of Portland - by Portland's own reporting - was fine.
But Portland was burning! Which just proves your point that we don't have narratives that match actual facts on the ground.
"
I agree they have shared causes. We never focus on the shared causes.
On “A COVID Statistic That is Beyond Meaningless”
How fast do you want to react? Are you willing to really accept the trade-offs imbedded in that change of pace?
I ask because the FDA and CDC went from zero to EUAs on adult vaccines in about 5 months, which in FDA Time is a record. Then they went from EUA to full authorized in under 6 months - again really really fast. They went from zero to EUA for the Covid Treatment Pill in about 4 months. All those represent a good balance between emergent need and processes to maintain human safety ( you do recall that a good many conservative commentators - including here - use that fast time line as a reason to NOT get vaxxed).
As to pre-scaling production - we spent $1 Billion under Trump to pre-scale vax production and its attendant R&D. What you are talking about would be billions more. DO you think Senate Republicans would support that if Biden introduced it tomorrow?
On “What’s Normal After COVID?”
you assume incorrectly. Very Incorrectly. The only place I am subject to a mask mandate anymore is in federal buildings or on federal property. and its been that way here for months. Our schools were the last entities to drop their mandates, and all of them now have.
On “Chris Cuomo, Of The Cuomo News Network and The New York Cuomos”
I suspect a LOT of famous people will be implicated in the trial, including at least 2 former presidents.
"
Good for them.
On “A COVID Statistic That is Beyond Meaningless”
You can't shame people who have no shame. Though I agree 100% with your analysis.
On “What’s Normal After COVID?”
I don't like the framing either. Normal isn't a set thing. We can certainly talk about before and after, but lets not kid ourselves. Whatever our world looks like in 10 years will be just as "normal" as what it looked like in 2018.
On “Rafael A, Mangual compiles list of cities with record homicide rates in 2021”
At best - and I think its a huge stretch - you MIGHT to patternation regionally. Might.
The really useful analysis - not presented here - is what were the economies doing at the same time. What was housing doing. What was education doing. Crime stats in a vacuum are nearly useless.
On “Chris Cuomo, Of The Cuomo News Network and The New York Cuomos”
Time for him to retire as well.
Talk about white male privilege playing out.
On “What’s Normal After COVID?”
Dennis, thanks for writing this article. Its a subject much on all our minds these days.
Your citation below this paragraph of the "new normal" after the 1918 Influenza Pandemic backs this up. As does a lot of other history. Which means this paragraph is your money shot.
Frankly I don't think we can "go back" nor should we. Going back means more people ignoring class and race disparities in our society. Going back means too many people too underpaid for their work. Going back means too many people absent from their families too often because they have to make a living.
I get that a lot of people can't navigate the change well. And yes - we have miles to go before we sleep. History teaches us we can do this.