About the shut down

The Republicans control the White House, a majority in both houses of Congress and a majority of votes on the Supreme Court. The notion that the Democrats are responsible for the shutdown is risible.

Wait, what about the filibuster, you say? LOL! The Republicans could eliminate the filibuster any time. They won’t because they know they’ll need it if they lose their senate majority.

OK, so if they leave the filibuster intact, why should Democrats negotiate when they know that any spending agreement will just be overridden by Trump, who will either withhold the funds or spend them on something else? As long as Trump is free to violate any legally binding agreement—which his SCOTUS says he is—why bother negotiating?

Wait, Congress could impeach him for violating any spending agreement. LOL! Trump was impeached twice without effect. Impeachment is merely an indictment. Conviction and removal from office requires a supermajority vote in the Senate. That will happen co-terminus with the first verified report of porcine aviation.

So how to break the impasse? 

Well, Trump could declare martial law—something he’s itching to do—and arrest enough Senate Democrats to break the filibuster. And he could just suspend elections and remain president for the rest of his life. Think the SCOTUS will stop him? Don’t be silly.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The ruble is collapsing

In 1998, I traveled to Moscow for the first time to teach in a summer course at the Russian Academy. The week before, we were on vacation and I heard on the radio “Today, the ruble lost 100% of its value.” This news was arresting—it meant that the ruble was worthless. That seemed unlikely. Indeed, the next day, the announcer apologized and said she meant to say that the ruble lost 50% of its value.  In the event, by the time I arrived at the Hotel Sputnik in Moscow, all the cash machines in the city were shut down. Restaurant prices changed hourly during my five-day stay, and there were sidewalk signs posting exchange rates that were written in chalk so they could easily be edited. Certainly puts our recent experience with inflation in perspective.   Over at jabberwocking.com, Kevin Drum notes that the ruble is down 30% since the war started and 20% just since September.   From the comment thread: “The problem with the Russian economy at this point is that it is basically...
Read more

I agree with RFK Jr.

Though it feels weird to say it, RFK Jr and I agree on something: curtailing direct-to-consumer marketing of pharmaceuticals. “ The Trump administration is discussing policies that would make it harder and more expensive for pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to patients, in a move that could disrupt more than $10 billion in annual ad spending.   Although the US is the only place, besides New Zealand, where pharma companies can directly advertise, banning pharma ads outright could make the administration vulnerable to lawsuits, so it’s instead focusing on cutting down on the practice by adding legal and financial hurdles, according to people familiar with the plans who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.   “The two policies the administration has focused in on would be to require greater disclosures of side effects of a drug within each ad — likely making broadcast ads much longer and prohibitively expensive — or removing the industry’s ability to d...
Read more

The big C

Nobody wants to get cancer. And there is no sure path to avoiding cancer. There are a number of gene alleles that predispose to cancer risk. If you inherit one of these alleles, your risk of cancer is higher than average. That doesn’t mean you can’t do anything. Knowing you’re at higher risk means you should undergo more frequent testing (breast imaging, colonoscopy, prostate exams, etc). Early detection improves survival. There are a number of other “lifestyle” risk factors for cancer: smoking, alcohol, sun exposure, obesity and aging. Of course, if your goal is a long life, you’ll have to confront an increased risk of cancer as you age. Again, surveillance is an important way to increase survival. Diet is probably the most modifiable cancer risk factor.  “ The most recent research uses different indices to assess dietary patterns without specifying the amount of animal-based foods that participants consumed. A   2023 meta-analysis   included assessment of 22 prospective...
Read more