Skins vs Royals

Weekend Warriors: Forget Dr. Seuss, the modern Potato Head family, Andrew Cuomo and even the American Rescue Plan “stimulus” legislation, last night’s story was Oprah’s Megan and Harry interview.  Wow, if that “how dark will their babies’ skin be” story is true, and who thinks it’s not, that’s totally tacky, beyond ugly and thoroughly racist and not in that order.  And refusing to assist Megan when she said that she was having suicidal thoughts, far from a pretty look especially given that mental health is supposed to be a priority for Harry’s bro William.  Now moving on to the news that affects this side of the pond, a slightly modified version of Biden’s fund everything imaginable but the kitchen sink $1.9 trillion stimulus passed the Senate on Saturday by a partisan vote of 50 to 49.  VP Harris was spared from having to cast the tie breaking vote only because Alaska’s lesser known Senator, Republican Dan Sullivan, was absent due to a death in his family and with no chance that they’d be able to topple the legislation, Mitch McConnell let him go home. The passage took a little more time than expected, the result of a dust up with West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin about the size and taxation of the legislation’s expanded federal unemployment benefits. Ultimately the weekly benefit was lowered from $400 to $300 but extended through the first week of September with the first $10,200 non-taxable but only for families making less than $150,000.  Given the parliamentarian’s ruling that raising the minimum wage to $15, or to any level for that matter, couldn’t be included in the legislation because it is being passed through the lower margin, only “majority required“ reconciliation method, it’s not surprising that the minimum wage provision was stripped from the bill.  However, Senator Bernie Sanders forced a vote on the issue anyway so we now know that eight Democrats including Manchin, Arizona’s Krysten Sinema, Montana’s Jon Tester, Delaware’s Tom Carper and Chris Coons, New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Maine’s Independent Angus King are all opposed to the increase something that for reasons known only to her, the eccentric Sinema emphasized by prancing her vote in and waving her McCain thumb down.  That antic looked so much like a let them eat cake moment that she later clarified her decision, saying her concern was with overriding the parliamentarian, not about opposing raising the minimum wage which she says she supports.   She shares that view with the other Democrats who voted no; most, if not all of them, are on board for an increase of some amount but didn’t want to force one through by overriding the decision of the parliamentarian as they continue to support maintaining the filibuster or at least maintaining some form of the filibuster, the provision that requires that most legislation be agreed to by at least 60 members of the Senate, almost impossible to achieve for significant legislation given party polarity these days.  As to the filibuster which progressives uniformly hate, well hate when Democrats control the Senate, Senator Manchin, the man of the moment, made news while hitting the Sunday morning talk show circuit, saying that he’s open to reforming it.  His suggestion is that the filibuster go back to its “talking” roots, think Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.  That would mean that minority, i.e. opposition, party members would have to sweat their opposition, staying on the Senate floor, “talking” through their objections, then after they are done, no matter how long it takes, a vote at a simple majority threshold would be allowed.  Of course that would mean more long winded, painful speeches by the likes of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, but it could also lead to the passage of some important legislation that would otherwise never be considered. Getting back to the stimulus legislation, the revised plan now goes back to the House for final signoff where, though she will probably lose votes from a few of her left wingers like Michigan’s  Rashida Tlaib and New York newbie Jamaal Bowman, Speaker Pelosi is expected to get enough of her contingent on board to send it on to President Biden’s Desk.  She’d better because Biden’s already been taking victory laps.  As has Majority Leader Schumer, who appeared to have short circuited Republican Senator Tom Cottons efforts to slow down the vote on AG nominee Merrick Garland’s confirmation after most Republican Senators left the chamber on Saturday night.   

Viral Musings:  The Mayor of Detroit first refused to accept but then did accept J & J vaccines.  His concern was that J & J’s one shot wonder wasn’t good enough for his city, apparently he’d focused in on the top line effectiveness number, failing to note that the trials for J & J had taken place at a time when more evasive variants had already emerged  and that the shot quite impressively prevents really serious illness and death.  For different reasons, some Catholic Bishops are recommending against J & J over what they say is the “moral permissibility of using vaccines developed, tested, and/or produced with the help of abortion-derived cell lines.” Curiously enough, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and a lot of other drugs are also beneficiaries of those cell lines and the Pope is pro vaccine.  Anyway the priority should be saving lives during a pandemic, right? Their concerns aside, a record number of vaccines, including the J & J shot, made it into arms this weekend.

Et Cetera:  The Former Guy sent a cease and desist notice to three of “his” party’s organizations including the RNC and the Republican Senate and Congressional campaign committees, telling them to stop using his name or likeness for fundraising purposes.  He’s angry that some of the money they’ve been raising is going to those who’ve spoken out and/or voted against his interests and probably a bit agitated that he’s not getting adequately compensated.  As for seeking retribution, he once again said that he’s planning to support any Republican candidate who primaries Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski during her 2022 reelection bid, a statement that isn’t going over well with quite a few of her colleagues.  Wyoming’s Republican Senator Barrasso, who previously made it clear that he remains team Liz Cheney, made it clear over the weekend that he’s also team Murkowski.  As to 2022, GQP Senator Ron Johnson who is also up for reelection in swingy Wisconsin now says he’s not running  but anything he says should be taken with a grain of hydroxychloroquine.

525.035

90.351,750 vaccines administered