Good Day, Gnusies! I had one heck of a day yesterday — I mean it was 😱😫😅 — so today’s GNR may be a bit disheveled like its author! Not to worry, though, because once again there’s plenty of good news and who cares how it’s delivered just so long as it is delivered, can I get an AMEN? 😁
President Biden is Great!
Biden’s FDR-size Bet, Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine, July 16, 2021.
The precise contents of the bill have yet to take final form. In general, though, it will include a clean-electricity standard and deployment of green technology, expansions for Medicaid and Medicare, subsidies for child care and community college, and a $300-per-month child tax credit. It will, in other words, be a big climate plan, a big health-care plan, a big education plan, and a big social-policy plan all wrapped in a single package. At first blush, the sheer size of the bill might appear like a political liability — how does Biden get every single Democratic senator, and almost every single House Democrat, to vote for the same thing, especially when the most moderate members are afraid to be seen as too liberal? ✂️
Democrats in Congress appear to have learned the lesson. They are not bothering to engage in Potemkin negotiations with Republicans whose only goal is to take up time and gum up the works. Nor will they make the mistake of letting years pass before voters taste the fruits of Congress’s labor. The checks to parents, the first year of which was seeded in Biden’s quickly passed pandemic-rescue bill in March, are already going out the door. The Medicare benefits ought to begin swiftly enough for Democrats to actually have something to run on in the midterm elections. ✂️
Biden campaigned on a plan to raise $4 trillion over the next decade by taxing corporations, heirs, and households earning $400,000 a year or more. Not only do serious center-left economists think he can do this without creating a significant economic drag, so do serious center-right economists. Republican economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin calculates Biden’s tax hikes will shave a minuscule 0.2 percent off GDP over the long run. The American Enterprise Institute pegs the economic cost slightly lower. That is a tiny, almost imperceptible cost to growth when measured against the enormous social and economic benefits of the healthier, better-educated, and less-polluted economy it would finance.
Joe is serious about tackling climate change and protecting the environment:
Biden Picks Ex-Brown Senate Aide for Bank Policy Job at Treasury, Jesse Hamilton, Bloomberg, July 19, 2021.
President Joe Biden picked Capitol Hill veteran Graham Steele for a key Treasury Department post that helps coordinate legislation and regulations affecting the U.S. financial sector.
The White House announced Biden’s intent to nominate Steele as assistant secretary for financial institutions in a Monday statement, setting him up as the administration’s point person on policies for Wall Street banks and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Working with regulatory agencies such as the Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission, he’s expected to target issues including wealth inequality and how climate change could threaten financial stability. He previously served as a long-time aide to Senator Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat who now leads the Senate Banking Committee. The Senate would have to confirm Steele’s nomination.
🎶 Music! 🎶
Dems Are Great!
Schumer Lays Out Next Steps If Bipartisan Infrastructure Group Doesn’t Finalize Text Of Bill By Thursday, Summer Concepcion, TPM, July 20, 2021.
Speaking from the Senate floor, Schumer outlined a roadmap if the bipartisan infrastructure team does not finalize the text of the bill by Thursday, a day after the procedural vote the Senate majority leader set to begin debate on the measure.
“If the bipartisan group can finalize the text of their agreement by Thursday, I will offer it as the pending substitute amendment,” Schumer said. “If, for whatever reason, the bipartisan group isn’t ready with their final text by Thursday, I will offer an amendment consisting only of the bipartisan infrastructure bills that have already gone through our Senate committees and are actually the core of the bipartisan infrastructure framework.”
Schumer pointed to the water bill, highway bill, rail and safety bill, and energy bills that have gone through Senate committees and have received “overwhelming” Republican votes.
Plus!
New Bill Aims To Give Paid Time Off To Families Going Through Pregnancy Loss, Alanna Vagianos, HuffPost, July 20, 2021.
A woman who has a miscarriage shouldn’t have to go to work the next day. A person who experiences a failed adoption or surrogacy arrangement shouldn’t still need to prepare for that big work presentation. A family that finds out about an unsuccessful fertility treatment shouldn’t have to travel for work that same week.
This is the aim of Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s (D-Ill.) Support Through Loss Act. Duckworth introduced the bill in the Senate, alongside Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) in the House, on Tuesday morning to establish new paid leave benefits for people and couples experiencing loss while trying to grow their families. Under the proposed legislation, workers would be given at least three days of paid leave when going through a miscarriage, an unsuccessful in vitro fertilization treatment, or a medical diagnosis that impacts fertility, among other pregnancy- or fertility-related issues. ✂️
The Support Through Loss Act will allocate $45 million annually to the National Institutes of Health to support research programs around pregnancy loss. Additionally, the legislation encourages the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to raise awareness about these issues by offering more publicly available information and mental health support.
(You can read the bill at the above link or at this link)
Large Group Of Dems Calls For Civilian Conservation Corps To Be Included In Reconciliation Bill, Summer Concepcion, TPM, July 20, 2021.
The Democratic lawmakers described a climate jobs program that would “put a new generation of Americans to work conserving our public lands and waters.” It would include:
- A “central entity” in the White House that would coordinate and oversee the program’s work
- Programs offering apprenticeship opportunities and job placement assistance
- Investment in natural climate solutions such as conserving public lands and waters, investing in coastal restoration, expanding regenerative agriculture
- Installing renewable energy infrastructure
- Climate resilience projects such as flood and wildfire mitigation and preparedness
- Prioritizing environmental justice through efforts to address “historic inequities” such as improving access to public lands and waters for disenfranchised communities
Senators Whitehouse and Warren are going to keep after the blockbuster reporting about tax avoiding richy rich people! That’s very good news!
Legal News
4 companies on verge of settling US opioid lawsuits, Geoff Mulvihill, AP, July 20, 2021.
Under the New York settlement, the three companies would provide more than $1 billion to be used to abate the epidemic in the state. The money would be delivered in 18 annual payments, with the first one arriving this year.
The companies would also establish a national clearinghouse of data on opioid distribution, and the data would be monitored by an independent body. Johnson & Johnson would also agree not to produce any opioids for the next 10 years. ✂️
Other cases are queued up to start. The only one of its kind to reach a verdict so far was two years ago in Oklahoma. There, a judge ordered Johnson & Johnson, the only company not to settle before that trial, to pay $465 million. The company is appealing the judgment. ✂️
With so many cases approaching trial, there’s been a flurry of proposed or realized settlements over opioids. OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma declared bankruptcy as part of its effort to settle cases. It is proposing a reorganization that would use all future profits to fight the epidemic as part of a deal the company values at about $10 billion over time. That plan will face some opposition at a confirmation hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court next month.
TFG’s associate (and inauguration chair) indicted
Thomas Barrack, Trump Fund-Raiser, Indicted on Lobbying Charge, Sharon LaFraniere and William Rashbaum, New York Times, July 20, 2021.
Federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. have been investigating Mr. Barrack for nearly three years, focusing on whether he tried to sway Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign or his administration on behalf of Persian Gulf nations with huge stakes in United States policy.
The inquiry was overseen by prosecutors in the public integrity section of United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. In an interview two years ago, a spokesman for Mr. Barrack said he had acted as an independent intermediary between Persian Gulf leaders and the Trump campaign and administration, not on behalf of foreign officials or entities.
The indictment charged Mr. Barrack and two other men with failing to register as agents of the United Arab Emirates government. The other two men charged were Matthew Grimes, a former top executive at Mr. Barrack’s company, and Rashid al-Malik Alshahhi, an Emirati businessman who is close to the U.A.E. rulers.
The seven count indictment also accused Mr. Barrack of obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements during a June 20, 2019, interview with federal agents.
(Reminder, it was the UAE who bailed out Jared Kushner’s 666 5th Ave. And there are numerous other threads and connections between Barrack and Kushner, Trumps and Flynn. The net is tightening).
Great news in Judge Appointments!
💉 Health News 💉
World childhood mortality has been reduced by more than half since 1990. That’s amazing good news!
This is momentum...
Obamacare enrollments have risen by 2 million, reaching a record high, since Biden reopened them in February. Margot Sanger Katz, New York Times, July 14, 2021.
Since February, when the Biden administration reopened the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces, two million Americans have signed up for coverage, health officials announced Wednesday.
Total enrollment in the Obamacare marketplaces is now at a record high, though the final numbers are not yet available, said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in a call with reporters. The previous high was 12.7 million Americans who selected plans in 2016.
Enrollment in Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for the poor and disabled, has also reached a record high. A total of 81 million Americans were covered by Medicaid in February, the most recent month with complete data.
The increases reflect a growing demand for insurance coverage during the pandemic, when many Americans lost job-based coverage or became more worried about remaining uninsured. But they also reflect major policy changes this year: Congress passed legislation that substantially lowered the price of insurance for nearly all Americans buying their own coverage.
That’s Gotta Burn!
'Rand just got a Fauci ouchie': Cheers erupt after doctor unloads on GOP's Sen. Paul at COVID hearing, Travis Gettys, Raw Story, July 20, 2021.
Viewers cheered as Dr. Anthony Fauci unloaded on Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) during a tense exchange over the coronavirus pandemic.
The Kentucky Republican, who roamed the U.S. Capitol and worked out in its gym last year while awaiting his positive test results, claimed the deadly virus escaped from a Chinese lab and suggested Fauci was responsible for the pandemic due to his association with research there.
"Sen. Paul, you do not know what you're talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that officially," Fauci said. "You do not know what you're talking about."
Jen Psaki is so good at her job
Jen Psaki shows how to defang “gotcha” questions and claims:
‘Maybe you have that information to provide?’: Jen Psaki expertly dismantles reporter’s pro-Trump anti-vaxx claim, David Badash, Raw Story, July 20, 2021.
The reporter wanted to know if the White House would "consider highlighting or acknowledging, in a greater way," Trump's "role in creating the vaccines," as a means "to assure the rural voters who still support President Trump and are hesitant to get the vaccine."
Psaki was not buying the reporter's claims, which did not appear to be based on any facts.
"Do you have data to suggest that that's the issue that's preventing people from getting vaccinated?" she calmly asked.
Hehehe, it only got worse from there. The reporter was hanging on to the stupid, false “gotcha” claim and Jen Psaki verbally dismantled it. She is so good at her job and I am thankful every day for her! Dr. Jill may be our first lady, but Jen Psaki is the queen!
🎶 Music for our WH Queen 🎶
And Finally...Macron says what I’m thinking
Click on the birdie to read the whole thread — it is fantastic! (I think you can read even if you are not a Twitter user).
Good News from the Midwest
Illinois
Great news from Illinois. Our governor announced today that he is going to run for re-election in 2022. I’m really glad, because J B Pritzker has been an even better governor than I hoped he would be AND that was with the horrors of a pandemic to deal with. Under his stewardship Illinois has finally been upgraded from near junk bond status to a level higher — which means we will get better rates on borrowing and so forth. Gov. Pritzker has delivered on just about all of his campaign promises and even more that progressives were hoping for. I look forward to seeing what he can do without a pandemic!
Evanston Again!
This university town just north of Chicago is again leading the way with a great pilot program. It is so important to make our roadways safer and more bike-friendly.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s Mandela Barnes Announces Senate Candidacy In Bid For Ron Johnson’s Seat, Tara Goldshan, HuffPost, July 20, 2021.
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes has officially announced his bid for the U.S. Senate, in the race to turn Republican Ron Johnson’s seat blue.
Barnes confirmed his candidacy after months of speculation that he would be vying for the seat. He plans to make a formal announcement Tuesday in front of Sherman Phoenix, an entrepreneurial hub for Black-owned businesses in his hometown of Milwaukee. ✂️
“Let’s be unabashedly unafraid to work together to change the game,” Barnes said in his announcement video, emphasizing job creation, health care costs, public education and family farms. “Hard work isn’t paying off like it used to.”
Indiana
No purging voters for you, Indiana Rs!
And no you can’t force the university to let unvaccinated people come infect the whole school!
And that judge was an appointee of TFG’s — which is a good reminder that while some appointees may indeed be rightwing extremist cultists, not ALL of them are and that’s good news!
🎶 Music for Republicans 🎶
😫 Republicans in Disarray 😫
Even at less than 50% support, TFG is still ahead of all the other potential R nominees by a lot. The rest of the field polls in the low teens or single digits. Kind of makes you wonder about their “field” doesn’t it? Rs are in so much disarray.
SHOCK POLL: Majority of Republican Voters Say ‘Fresh Face’ Would Be Stronger Than Trump in 2024 — A 33-pt. Swing Since April, Tommy Christopher, Mediaite, July 20, 2021.
In a new poll of Republican primary voters by former Amb. John Bolton’s Super PAC, respondents were asked “Since former President Trump’s popularity has dropped with voters since the 2020 election, would you agree or disagree that a new republican candidate – a fresh face – would be a stronger candidate to defeat Joe Biden in 2024?”
Just over a third (36 percent) of GOP primary voters say Trump would be the stronger candidate, while 52 percent say a “fresh face” would be stronger. As the Bolton Super PAC press release notes, that’s a massive swing since their last poll in April… ✂️
In the same press release, Bolton said “The significant amount of data in this poll should be of considerable interest to Republican candidates at all levels: presidential, congressional, and state/local,” and that “The data show the fissures in Trump’s base are expanding, and show that GOP voters still prize good policy above anyone’s personality.”
Republicans belatedly realize a covid resurgence is bad for them 🙄
It’s good that they are at least paying some lip service to reality of the pandemic — hopefully a few vaccine-resistant people will heed the advice. The trouble is, after riling up their imbecilic base to refuse vaccines, masks and any other strategies to limit viral spread, it’s a bit hard to stuff that genie back in the bottle. A lot of them are not going to listen. Republicans are just so incompetent.
Growing number of Republicans urge vaccinations amid delta surge, Washington Post, July 20, 2021.
A growing number of top Republicans are urging GOP supporters to get vaccinated as the delta coronavirus variant surges across the United States, marking a notable shift away from the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorizing that has gripped much of the party in opposition to the Biden administration’s efforts to combat the virus.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was part of the rising chorus on Tuesday, stressing the need for unvaccinated Americans to receive coronavirus shots and warning that the country could reverse its progress in moving on from the pandemic.
“These shots need to get in everybody’s arm as rapidly as possible, or we’re going to be back in a situation in the fall that we don’t yearn for, that we went through last year,” McConnell said during his weekly news conference. “I want to encourage everybody to do that and to ignore all of these other voices that are giving demonstrably bad advice.”
Rightwingers are liars, as well as cheaters (but you knew that)
As this was becoming common knowledge, maybe another reason for the sudden change of message from Fox as well as Rs is that they could not keep a lid on their hypocrisy.
Smoke and mirrors
I’m telling you, the support may be real but it is not as much as their inflated boasting and fans-for-hire suggest:
People deserve respect
I’ve been hopeful that one silver lining from this awful pandemic might be that there would be a meaningful shift in our understanding of the value of work, and respect for the people doing the hardest work (and even better — start paying people more!). It seems like some kind of shift is happening!
"It was almost like there was this unplanned, unorganized general strike"
Low Pay, No Benefits, Rude Customers: Restaurant Workers Quit At Record Rate, Alina Selyukh, NPR, July 20, 2021
Low wages are the most common reason people cite for leaving food service work. But in one recent survey, more than half of hospitality workers who've quit said no amount of pay would get them to return.
That's because for many, leaving food service had a lot to do also with its high-stress culture: exhausting work, unreliable hours, no benefits and so many rude customers. ✂️
He was planning to hang up his apron and began looking at jobs at warehouses and factories when he got an offer he couldn't turn down — from someone who could afford to be in business while paying him better. He's now a chef at a new brewery in Louisville.
"This is the first time I've ever been on a salary," Cornett said. "This is the first time I've been able to depend on getting a specific amount of money every pay period."
That amount is $30,000 a year — which isn't a lot, he admits. But it's "life-changing" compared with his long career earning $22,000 or $23,000 a year.
It's also the first time he's had only one boss, whom he likes. And the first time — finally — that he's had a job that offers health insurance.
🎶 Music Break 🎶
⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
⚡️ Yer Wonkette: Hannity Spends 30 Seconds Saying COVID Vaccines Good, Fox News Can Have Cookie Now? Evan Hurst, Wonkette, July 20, 2021.
⚡️ 10 Things To Watch For When The Tokyo Olympics Begin, Merrit Kennedy, NPR, July 20, 2021.
⚡️ Opinion: The two numbers that could get people to take the vaccine, Kate Cohen, Washington Post, July 20, 2021.
⚡️ How to stay safe as covid-19 cases from the delta variant are on the rise, Kim Bellware, Washington Post, July 17, 2021.
⚡️ Enough with Persuasion, Josh Marshall, TPM, July 20, 2021.
⚡️ This was too long to excerpt: The USDA Wants to Make Farms Climate-Friendly. Will It Work? Leah Douglas, MotherJones, July 19, 2021.
⚡️ Living in the moment with our kids is so important, now more than ever, Maggie Smith, Washington Post, July 20, 2021.
⚡️ Shorter work weeks make sense! 8 Hours a Day, 5 Days a Week Is Not Working for Us, Bryce Covert, New York Times, July 20, 2021.
⚡️ A fascinating perspective on why people are drawn to TFG cultism: Loneliness Is Breaking America, Michelle Goldberg, New York Times, July 20, 2021.
(We need to build society back better, stronger and healthier)
⚡️ Savage and true: Certified Loser Donald Trump Is Rebranding MAGA as a Full-On Cult, Molly Jong-Fast, Daily Beast, July 20, 2021.
“Now that he’s a certified loser, a twice-impeached, one-term historical freak show of a president, his only hope as a political leader is to turn his movement into a cult, worshipping himself of course. It’s the Trump Steaks of religion.”
💗 How Can You Help Build Our Democracy Back Better? 💗
Put your beautiful bleeding liberal heart into it!
Democratic litigation hero, Marc Elias was the legal eagle behind the 60 Big Lie losses after the election. Here’s his website, Democracy Docket. You can find information about current cases he is fighting to defend voting rights around the country, as well as actions you can take to help fight voter suppression at the link!
Write to voters around the country with Postcards to Voters. Progressive Muse usually posts an update on current campaigns in the comments and you can also check out the website. It’s easy, fun and it really works to GOTV!
🎩 Also, Goody posted a great list of links and I am going to borrow it because it’s great! 🎩
The only way they can win is by keeping people from voting. They are working like heck to make that happen and we need to do all we can to keep 2022 from being a year when they grab the Senate and House back from us.
How do we do that? Fight voter suppression!
What can you do?
HERE’S HOW TO CONTACT CONGRESS:
U.S. House of Representatives:* Telephone: 202-225-3121
* Website: http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate:* Telephone: 202-224-3121
* Website: http://www.senate.gov/
Find your member of Congress and contact him or her:
Contact your Representative
Contact your Senator
And remember, all politics is local and personal! Let’s work to flip state and local elected positions Democratic!
Sister District Project — organization that is working to help Dems win state legislature races.
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
Well, that’s it from me and CG for another Wednesday.
We had a most tiring day today — but boy was this girly well-behaved! Strange people were trooping in and out of the apartment all day long, banging stuff and moving stuff around, and filling the kitchen and living room with every stick of furniture they were moving around to work, and then trying to shove much too big pieces out through a much too small doorway and deucedly narrow hallway, and then… well, more stuff happened and more stuff went wrong, and eventually they were gone and we could go for a walk, but both of us were almost too tired to walk!
What a day, and now I am going to do what I always ask you to do, dear Gnusies: take good care of yourself, get some rest, eat nutritious food and try to get outdoors every day. These simple things are sometimes not so simple to accomplish every day, especially when we are anxious about the state of the world. Remember that you are part of the solution and you matter — a LOT. So make your health and well-being a priority, please! 🥰
Happy Wednesday!