I wish Pamela and Bernie were voting (or did vote) yes on the debt ceiling bill. This fits neatly into the narrative that if both sides don't like it - it's the best compromise possible.
The real blame is not with the liberals - it's with the dozen plus Democrats in the House who decided over a year ago not to run for re-election, because they feared a red wave that never happened.

I don't think Ferguson is as inevitable as TS paints him to be. He is a very polarizing figure in local politics and there will be a great many who vote to just vote against him if he makes it through to the general.

Parasocial - new word for me. Thx, Hannah!

"To be fair, Jayapal said she probably would have voted "yes" if she was the decisive vote."

At least she's self-aware of her own political sleaze.

@3 is correct.

Oh, boy! Phew. Mike Pence is gettin’ into the race. Now I can sleep nights.

The only thing sweeter is the thought of a Pence presidency – him rising in the East, just like the Sun, for a press conference to tell us how grateful we should all be for God’s ever-present love and constant watch over this great land of ours. Then, he will tell us what he thinks God wants us to do, what we must do. Early heaven, I tell ya.

bingo st
repeal LBJ
repeal FDR

keep pushing US
'right'wards &
Let's make
Fascism
Great
again

braindrop!

"Take the light rail! It brings you basically inside the airport lol."

I love taking light rail to/from the airport, but that's like saying someone in Lynnwood "basically" lives inside Seattle.

@8,

Screw Mike Pence. That my man Chris Christie is also reportedly about to announce a run and doesn't get so much as a mention is travesty of the highest order! Chris Christie announcing a Presidential run is huge news! Gigantic! Obese!

I take light rail to the airport all the time, Hannah - when was the last time you did? It doesn't drop you off "basically inside the airport." You and your bag still have to make the Long March to the terminal. You can take a shortcut through the parking garage, if you don't mind dodging cars driven by people frantic to make their flight.

@16 -- that sounds
more like Sport. is
it Televiseble?

whoi tf
decides this* shit?
children could do much better

*'just get 'em
close! Hoofin' it'll
be Good for them.'

@14: "D" for dumb?

@5 - Does admitting her vote was for show help maintain her progressive street cred, or chip away at it?
I mean, it seems to me that to truly maintain her progressive street cred, not only would she have to vote "No," but she would then have to own it loud and proud. Like, "Hell yes, I voted against this shit sandwich, and I'd vote against it no matter the consequences!"

I'm doing kinda the same. I cannot vote for Biden in good conscience, as not a week or even just every few days goes by where he doesn't say or do something dumb or that I think is wrong...like this giveaway on the debt deal, for instance. I obviously cannot vote for any of the Republithugs currently in the running, so I plan to abstain from voting for President next time.

If I lived in Pennsylvania or Virginia or some other 50-50 swing state, I would obviously wear an actual clothes-pin on my nose to the voting booth and pull the lever for Biden. But I live in Idaho, so my Dem vote will not matter a whit in this most Republithug state in the country anyway, and therefore, I can afford to stand on principle.

Impact fees seem like a fine idea. I don't get the opposition. I'd rather new homebuyers pay the costs for needed infrastructure vs. increasing property taxes on people with fixed incomes. The impact fees, however, should be as tightly linked to the new development as possible--e.g., used for adjacent sidewalks, sewer lines, neighborhood schools, first responders, transit--all the external costs not factored into a home's price.

@Peri -- we Shouldda
done that in the First place
then we'd already Have socialized
Housing & not the Mess we've got now

Very sloppy math on the bit about the airport parking rates now costing "four times as much." Four times $6 would be $24 an hour! The hourly rate has increased to $8, which is one-and-a third times as much. Between the writer clearly not understanding the linked article and writing something that seems obviously unlikely (what increases 4 times in one go?!), and this not getting caught by an editor, I now see that--as fun as the Slog is to read--I cannot trust any numbers that appear in articles on the site.

Very sloppy math on the bit about the airport parking rates now costing "four times as much." Four times $6 would be $24 an hour! The hourly rate has increased to $8, which is one-and-a third times as much. Between the writer clearly not understanding the linked article and writing something that seems obviously unlikely (what increases 4 times in one go?!), and this not getting caught by an editor, I now see that--as fun as the Slog is to read--I cannot rely on any numbers that appear in articles on the site.

"Screw the developers: On his way out of office, Council Member Alex Pedersen wants to stick developers with an impact fee”. No, not the way it works. Pedersen has been a unremitting foe of any new housing and this is just one more instance. Developers do not pay the fee. Will be paid for the tenants in higher rent OR the project will not pencil out and thus never be built. Homeowners in Seattle have far far more wealth than renters. Impact fees are a regressive tax.

@24,

Yikes, calm down there. You're submitting 8x the number of comments needed to make your point!

The deal's bad. As for Pence, he couldn't get re-elected as the governor of Indiana, so of course having been the VP of Traitor Trump, along with his cardboard personality and extreme white supremacist and misogynist ideology will put him in the White House.

@20: Either you can make a decision and stand by your convictions for the right thing to do regardless of how your colleagues vote or you can't.

@25
Progressives? That old saw is so tired, it's been around and back at least twice in this comment section alone.

News Flash! The fix is in. Has been in. Will be in. 2000 wasn't a fluke. It wasn't Nader. It wasn't the BB Riot. It sure wasn't them, "progressives." It was the Party. Team D gave it up in the clutch. Team D didn't do shit. Pappy's Supremes ruled and Team D told us all to shut up, go home, and sit down. Game over!

Team D covered their asses and blamed the "kids" for fucking it up for everything by voting for that damned Nader. They and you ignore the fact that Gore still won in a landslide (of popular votes) and that Florida shenanigans drummed up by Jeb, Katherine, and Grover -- which were hilariously amateurish -- followed up by a quick call to Scalia by Poppy and it was over, according to Team D. The Ohio shenanigans were in play, too, (and even more clumsy!) but Team D put all the focus on Florida where a few true-believers were set to settle that hanging chad bullshit and hand the election to Gore, who won it.

But they gave us up. They didn't fight. The people we trusted to lead us didn't. They bargained for a permanent minority and now that's what Team D is. All the unchallenged gerrymandering, the hand-wringing over Team R's procedural nonsense, but outright refusal to do anything about it is now their SOP.

Team D fucked us. Not the progressives. Not the youths. The Party fucked us. They're still doing it. They are going to do is some more. Because that's what they do.

Watch what happens when they get the Presidency back. You think the right to an abortion is anywhere on their legislative agenda? I'll bet the taxes for the wealthiest get cut, and defense spending increases, and poor people get fucked again. And abortion will be the whip they flog the money machine with. Both sides!

No, if you want change, vote for the most batshit-leftist, screaming-liberal-radical on the ticket. And keep doing it. Vote for them in the primary. Vote for them in the general, and take heart -- no matter who wins, not much is going to change during your lifetime.

Now, get out there and vote!

(you'll still be blamed for not voting hard enough, no matter who wins, but at least you can smugly say that you did it!)

so tacomaroma
all this Bernie bashin'
Pramala trashin' & AOC
knashing's just a Cover-up
for a Private Party's ineptitude?

the gig was up when they
shoved Bernie to the
back of the bus out
the Emergency
exit & backed
over him once
or twice ac-
cidentally

but he showed Them:
he campaigned Harder for
Hilary than she did for Herself

but HE's why
we always Lose!

I've heard that Here
more than Once

Congresspeople often cast contrarian base-pleasing votes with the permission of their party leadership when the outcome isn't in doubt. It's called getting a "hall pass." Not a big deal in itself (like it or not, it's how representative government works), but the smart ones have the good sense not to broadcast that this is what they're doing.

This misstep by Jayapal would be surprising if she hadn't shown even worse judgment last year with that Progressive Caucus letter (quickly retracted) calling on Biden to force Ukraine's effective surrender -- which she then blamed on her staff even though she obviously had signed off on it. I don't say this lightly (and I'm aware of the sexist double standard that often colors such opinions) but I think it might be about time for her to call it a career, at least in DC.

Jayapal's comment reminds me of when McCain prevented the Republicans from repealing Obamacare - afterwards, the Republican whip said that it would have been fine for McCain to vote no if he had said so in advance, because then the whip could have pushed a different seat harder.

That was a big moment of disillusionment for me. I was taught to believe that Congress exists so that people with a variety of perspectives from across the nation can deliberate on important issues and find good solutions that incorporate these perspective. But what happens now is that Congresspeople decide what they think is best, push that through, and decide who is allowed to vote against the party line in order to maintain good PR. This isn't a Republican or Democratic problem, a radical or centrist problem, it is an American problem.

Congress has no legitimacy.

But I won't say that it was a mistake for her to admit this. Dishonesty won't fix the system.

@30 - Ah, if you're opposed to my reasoning, that actually convinces me that it is the just and righteous approach, after all! And here I was doubting.

Morty @37...
Grew up in N. Idaho, roughly 47 degrees latitude, got the fuck out as soon as I could.
Loved the state, not so much the people.
Unfortunately, I still have relatives and friends there that I'm urging to get the hell out of there. I'm guessing you live near Lake Pend O'reille?

And that's not a slam, I'm just guessing from previous posts.
You have been one of the sanest people on this blog for quite a while.

I miss skiing at Schwietzer-Colson Basin.
Hell, I miss Lake Coeur d'Alene, Spring Valley Reservoir,
I miss having knees that work. Ten years ago I was pondering buying a house in my hometown, but no more.

I miss the state that used to elect smart, mostly rational people like Frank Church, Cecil Andrus and John Evans.

Morty, I am curious of what you think about the Bryan Kohberger case and how Moscow police (et.al) handled it. I know a few people who are directly and indirectly involved in dealing with the aftermath of that (none LEO).

@Morty -- you can Seldom
go Wrong betting against
dewey (el braindrop) our
resident Glutton for
Punishment.

this Just in:
nyt;

Senate Passes Debt Limit Deal
to Avert Default President
Biden Promises to
Sign Legislation

The final vote on Thursday came after leaders put down a revolt by some senators who raised concerns that the debt-limit package would under-fund the Pentagon.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/us/politics/debt-limit-senate.html

my favorite nyt reader's comment:

We can now add blackmail to
the GOP playbook of alternative
facts, coups, and power at all costs.

The party of God
seems to have switched
Gods along the way, doesn’t it?

-- galtsgultch; sugar loaf, ny

& Thank Gawd! our War
Dept.will NOT be
Underfucking-
Funded.