Ho hum, the Sunday morning news programs won't STFU about the necessity of President Biden "compromising" with Republicans. He did talk about unity in his inaugural address, after all! But he did not actually talk about compromise there, and recent polling suggests that a growing number of Americans are sick of "compromising" with people who never compromise and respond to lost elections by fomenting insurrection. Julie Hollar hits it after noting (among other things) that almost 60% of Republican respondents have no problem with a $2 trillion relief bill and nearly half of them support a $15/hour minimum wage: "That’s remarkable 'unity' -- when you look for it in the public, rather than in the twisted world of Washington."
Candice Bernd at TruthOut reminds us that President Biden might be tearing down Donald Trump's vanity border wall, but still prefers a "technological wall" at the border. And that "wall" will include drones, facial recognition, and AI, three things we should not use to do anything nearly as much as we already do. Facial recognition, in particular, has no place at the border, since it has more trouble telling folks of color apart than your Tea Party uncle does. I note this development just in case anyone still thinks liberals will just say yessir to everything Joe Biden does.
The New York Times wonders if Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), "a Democrat with roots in the blue-collar Youngstown region and close ties to organized labor," "can win" a 2022 Senate race in an "increasingly Republican state." Well, let's see: he has opposed "fast-track" authority for "free" trade deals, voted against the 2011 South Korea, Panama, and Colombia "free" trade pacts, vigorously opposed the Trans-Pacific "Partnership," and voted for the USMCA in 2019, which is a vast improvement on NAFTA and a considerably better trade deal than the others I've named. He also ran against the Iraq War in 2002 (and still won his House race by 14 points) and has tried to repeal the 2001 AUMF for years now. So, yeah, anti-"free" trade: check! Anti-war? Check! Verdict: yes, he can win, just like Sherrod Brown has been doing in Ohio for decades. You have just learned more useful information about how Tim Ryan might do in an Ohio Senate race than you would have from the Times article.
Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer announces he'll run for the Republican nomination for Governor of California -- either in 2022, or earlier, if Gavin Newsom faces a recall. A fiscal conservative/social liberal in the Tom Ridge mold, Mr. Faulconer is basically the Republican establishment's entire bench in California, and he could beat Gov. Newsom either in a recall or a general election -- unless, of course, some far-right maniac gets out in front of him, and California still has more than enough of those.
When we read about Republican "infighting" over such personalities as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Liz Cheney, we are reminded, I would hope, that the the whole purpose of Republican "infighting" is to suggest they're a diverse party when they're really not, and to make you feel more "independent" when you identify with one or the other. In other words, it's drama. And, really, the whole purpose of someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene is to make people like Liz Cheney more palatable. How many liberals would have defended Liz Cheney in 2019? I suspect the correct answer is "none," and one shudders to think what Republicans will come up with to make Ms. Greene more palatable! An actual rabid raccoon, perhaps?
Finally, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) says he hasn't formed an opinion on the aforementioned Rep. Greene because, and I quote, "(t)ravel in this weather it's been a little rough looking at any news or whatever." He's like the fellow who says he's late for his 4am shift because of traffic. Seriously, I propose that we start calling obviously lame excuses "tubervilles" -- I might consider my life complete if "that's a real tuberville, right there" becomes an idiomatic expression. To think that Alabama could have re-elected the man who put two of the Birmingham bombers in jail, but instead chose this guy.
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