Mix and Match

Slimmer than Shady: To state the obvious, when your majority is barely a majority and getting things done relies on all of your members getting to the same place, passing legislation is near impossible.  That doesn’t mean that the Democrats won’t ultimately get their build back better legislation passed in some form or other, it just means that doing so remains challenging.  So Senators Bernie Sanders and Joe Manchin have been alternatively taking pot shots at each other and engaging in behind the scenes negotiating sessions, an indication that they will probably agree to something at some point leaving the enigmatic and increasingly under attack from the left Kristen Sinema as the outlier as she appears to be talking only to President Biden and only doing that between running marathons and fund raising trips to Arizona and Europe.  That said, one indication that some progress is being made is that Washington State Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, the head of the House Progressive Caucus has also met with Manchin and has appeared on a few news shows saying that though no one will be totally satisfied with where they end up, progress is being made. Interesting that the progressive wing of the party appears to be doing the heavy lifting right now.  Can you imagine the Republican right doing the same, ever? The progress that is being reported likely means some the total package will be smaller than envisioned, that some environment provisions will be left out of the legislation and some income limits for certain benefits will be included even if that means that the cost of implementing those provisions is higher than just giving those benefits away to more people.

L, M, NO Pee:  The FG continues to do his thing.  He’s still pushing the big lie, calling for election do overs in places he lost; attacking the Justice Department for settling with his nemesis, former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe; and lashing out at critics, including Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy, the Republican Senator who said this weekend that he didn’t think that the FG could win the Republican nomination to run again in part because he was the first president on the Republican side to lose the House, the Senate and the presidency in four year and that “elections are about winning.”  A reminder, Cassidy was a surprise vote for impeachment so while others may privately share his views, he’s one of the very few brave enough to say them out loud which is of course the very bigly problem.  Oddly enough at a Palm Beach meeting of large Republican donors this weekend, the FG went off on an unscripted tirade, shouting that he wasn’t “into golden showers,” adding that even Melania knew that.  His out of the blue fit pretty much shocked the audience none of who were planning to ask him about his proclivities.  The reason the subject was back on his mind became apparent over the weekend when ABC’s George Stephanopoulos aired his interview with Christopher Steele, the former British Spy responsible for assembling the infamous FG dossier.  Steele continues to stand by the validity of his product, and says that he believes that it is very likely that the so called “pee tape” which was never found does exist and that the reason it’s never been released is because Putin got what he wanted without having to doing so.  Steele also stands by his assertion that former FG fixer/lawyer Michael Cohen did travel to Prague to meet with some Russian agents, an assertion that Cohen emphatically denies and that special counsel Mueller and the FBI  discounted.  Steele’s view is that Cohen and many of the others who’ve gone quiet about what they’ve done and/or contributed to the dossier are too fearful too admit the truth and given that Putin has a habit of poisoning dissenters, maybe he’s got a point.  In any case, Steele appears to have gotten under the FG’s skin so there’s that.  And of course the always litigious FG is now suing the January 6^th Committee and the National Archive to block the release of those likely implicating White House documents about the insurrection.  Of course he is, because stalling is what he does best and in this case he’s hoping to stall until the Republicans retake the House, that’s the same strategy that Steve Bannon, who the House is expected to hold in contempt, is following as he continues to refuse to cooperate with the House investigation.  The FG finally did testify on something yesterday, for about four and one half hours he “responded” under oath to questions about his role in a 2015 incident where protestors “allege” they were assaulted by his security team outside his eponymous Tower.  Those assaults happened on camera so the question, which he probably dodged, is whether they were done at his request.  Next up, the FG is scheduled to sit for a deposition in the Summer Zervos case.  Zervos is a former Apprentice contestant, one of the many women who have accused the FG of sexual assault. After he called her a liar, she sued for defamation.

Viral Musings: Sadly, 84 year old General Colin Powell died yesterday from complications of COVID.  He was vaccinated but was also particularly vulnerable as he was suffering from both Parkinson’s Disease and multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that minimizes the effectiveness of vaccines. His vaccinated wife, Alma, also tested positive, but is fine at least health wise, at home experiencing only minor symptoms.  Of course the press jumped on the Powell story, at first harping on the point that he was doubly vaccinated rather than mentioning his other vulnerabilities. Never one to accurately report a beat, Fox News reporter John Roberts quickly tweeted out that Powell’s death raised “new concerns about the vaccine.”  Keep in mind that he’s considered, or at least was once considered, to be a serious news guy.  Facing serious blowback, Roberts deleted his tweet, announced that he was pro vaccination and then appeared on Fox later in the day with a doctor who explained Powell’s complications and how they affected his ability to achieve adequate protection.  Of course last night Swanson fish stick heir Tucker Carlson omitted all that comorbidity stuff during his broadcast.  On the vaccination front, the FDA advisory committee endorsed both Moderna and J & J boosters on Friday, adding that anyone four weeks out from their first J & J shot should go get a second.  At some point this week, the FDA and CDC will issue their official boosters guidelines, the expectation is that they will allow mixing and matching of shots, purportedly to make it easier for those ready for boosters to get one anywhere regardless of what’s available but also a not so subtle suggestion that people who got the once “one shot” J & J wonder go out and get themselves one of the mRNA jabs.  With COVID on the decline in a lot of the southern states where it had been running rampant, the 7 day average of new cases is around 83k but daily deaths remain stubbornly high around 1800. Don’t count Delta out yet, as people move indoors due to colder weather, cases are rising in the northern states, particularly in low vax areas, so vigilance and boosters remain important. Also, don’t count out the inexplicable resistance of people who should know better.  Though most people have responded to mandates by getting vaccinated, Washington State Coach Nick Rolovich and four of his assistants have now been fired for their refusal to get jabbed; an NHL player, Evander Kane, has been suspended for 21 games for providing a false vax card; the still unvaccinated Brooklyn Nets player Kylie Irving is watching his money go up in smoke; and five times as many police officers have died from COVID than from gun shots while they illogically remain among the most unvaccinated probably a political statement more than anything else.  Next on the agenda are kids shots, the states have already received directions from the CDC about preparing to administer them, a clue that they are likely to be okayed soon, probably ready to go into arms in  the beginning of November.