Your reminder that Democrats are desperate to lose

benfell

Pennsylvania, Evictions

One might reasonably wonder how the Democrats figure they’re going to get any votes in 2022 from people being evicted[1] because they couldn’t get their shit together,[2] despite a month’s warning from the U.S. Supreme Court,[3] and they only got around to thinking, gee, maybe somebody should do something a couple days ago,[4] even as rent relief programs have been problematic from the beginning and haven’t even begun to show even the slightest sign of responding expeditiously in far too many cases.[5] But oh yeah, these are the Democrats we’re talking about. And we’ve already long established that they want desperately to lose elections.

Andrew Ackerman, “Biden Asks Congress to Extend Federal Eviction Moratorium,” Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-asks-congress-to-extend-federal-eviction-moratorium-11627571409

Charlotte Keith, “Thousands of Pa. households still waiting for rental relief as eviction ban nears its end,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 29, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/thousands-of-pa-households-still-waiting-for-rental-relief-as-eviction-ban-nears-its-end/

John Wagner and Tony Romm, “Biden, Democrats mount last-minute effort to extend eviction moratorium,” Washington Post, July 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-urges-congress-to-extend-eviction-moratorium-saying-his-hands-are-tied-by-supreme-court-ruling/2021/07/29/2ed8a52e-f07e-11eb-81d2-ffae0f931b8f_story.html

Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle, and Katy O’Donnell, “Democratic push to extend eviction moratorium fizzles in the House,” Politico, July 30, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/30/eviction-battle-house-democrats-501758

Jonathan O’Connell et al., “Evictions are about to restart as tenants wait on billions in unspent rental aid,” Washington Post, July 30, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/30/evictions-moratorium-expire-rental-assistance/

Infrastructure

Oh, here’s that other big empty Democratic Party promise. The headlines on Mike DeBonis’ story is more pessimistic than the story itself,[6] but still woefully insufficiently pessimistic.

Because, guess what? Unless Chuck Schumer pulls off a “vote-a-rama” in time, Kyrsten Sinema will be on vacation for that infrastructure vote.[7] And I don’t see how the Democrats are getting either Sinema or Joe Manchin to vote yes on the reconciliation package.

Mike DeBonis, “Schumer, a leader more liked than feared, faces test of whether he can deliver the ‘big and bold’ agenda he’s promised,” Washington Post, July 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/infrastructure-schumer-senate/2021/07/29/8575551e-efaf-11eb-81d2-ffae0f931b8f_story.html

German Lopez, “What’s in the new infrastructure bill — and why it’s a big deal,” Vox, July 29, 2021, https://www.vox.com/22598883/infrastructure-deal-bipartisan-bill-biden-manchin

Lenape Nation

Whenever the U.S. claims to be a nation under “the rule of law,” I would suggest remembering American Indians.

Kenny Cooper, “‘We just want to be welcomed back’: The Lenape seek a return home,” WHYY, July 30, 2021, https://whyy.org/articles/we-just-want-to-be-welcomed-back-the-lenape-seek-a-return-home/

Climate crisis

Remember when James Inhofe brought a snowball onto the Senate floor from a Washington, D.C., winter to disprove global warming?[8] Well, he has a more convincing place to go, now.[9]

The trouble, of course, is not that “the continued existence of snow disproves climate change,”[10] but rather that climate scientists have forecast increasingly extreme—both in frequency and magnitude—climate events. The snow in Brazil[11] qualifies as the latter, just as do the wildfires out west and do increasingly intense hurricane seasons.

Deutschewelle, “Brazil gets snow and ice, surprising residents,” July 30, 2021, https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-gets-snow-and-ice-surprising-residents/a-58699478

Donald Trump

Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman, “Justice Department Advises Treasury to Release Trump Tax Returns,” Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-says-treasury-must-release-trump-tax-returns-11627667462

Pandemic

It looks like the Pfizer vaccine remains highly effective against severe illness.[12] What’s at stake here is mostly—only mostly—about less serious cases and transmissability;[13] here the Pfizer vaccine drops from 96 to only 84 percent effectiveness after six months.[14]

Among the 469 cases linked to the Barnstable [Massachussetts] outbreak in the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] report, nearly 75% were fully vaccinated. For people with breakthrough infections, almost 80% had symptoms of cough, headache, sore throat or fever. Four were hospitalized and no deaths were reported, the CDC said. Infected people reported attending densely packed indoor events and outdoor events at bars, restaurants and houses.[15]

Yasmeen Abutaleb, Joel Achenbach, Dan Diamond, and Adam Taylor, “CDC urges vaccinated people in covid hot spots to resume wearing masks indoors,” Washington Post, July 27, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/27/cdc-masks-guidance-indoors/

Simone Jasper, “Is it a HIPAA violation to ask someone about their COVID vaccine status? What to know,” Sacramento Bee, July 27, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article253056433.html

Tyler Pager and Eli Rosenberg, “Biden plans to require federal workers to be vaccinated or undergo repeated tests,” Washington Post, July 27, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/27/biden-vaccine-mandate-federal-employees/

Jaclyn Peiser, “Evangelical pastor demands churchgoers ditch their masks: ‘Don’t believe this delta variant nonsense,’” Washington Post, July 27, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/27/tennessee-pastor-greg-locke-masks/

Sabrina Siddiqui and Tarini Parti, “CDC Urges Vaccinated People to Resume Wearing Masks Indoors in Some Areas,” Wall Street Journal, July 27, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/cdc-to-urge-vaccinated-people-to-resume-wearing-masks-in-public-indoor-spaces-11627399286

Paul Waldman, “I’m tired of being nice to vaccine refusers,” Washington Post, July 27, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/27/im-tired-being-nice-vaccine-refusers/

Alexis Benveniste, “These companies are requiring Covid-19 vaccines for their employees,” CNN, July 28, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/28/business/companies-vaccine-mandate/index.html

Justine Coleman, “Pfizer vaccine effectiveness drops to 84 percent after six months: data,” Hill, July 28, 2021, https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/565282-pfizer-biontech-vaccine-effectiveness-drops-to-84-percent-after-six-months

Jacqueline Howard, “Pfizer data suggest third dose of Covid-19 vaccine ‘strongly’ boosts protection against Delta variant,” CNN, July 28, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/28/health/pfizer-third-dose-data-bn/index.html

Justin Miller and David Wallace-Wells, “What If Vaccines Don’t Really Stop the Virus From Spreading?” New York, July 28, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/covid-vaccines-may-not-totally-stop-delta-from-spreading.html

David Leonhardt to Morning list, “A confusing message,” New York Times, July 28, 2021, https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?abVariantId=0&campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210728&instance_id=36411&nl=the-morning&productCode=NN&regi_id=97793637&segment_id=64604&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F12f5196d-ad87-5d92-8259-21654fdb0c86&user_id=087ade925ce15f15a24824418c4789ce

Stephen Losey, “DoD Making Masks Mandatory Again, Even for the Vaccinated, in Some Places,” Military.com, July 28, 2021, https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/07/28/dod-making-masks-mandatory-again-even-vaccinated-some-places.html

Rebecca Ratcliffe, “Myanmar could become Covid ‘super-spreader’ state, says UN expert,” Guardian, July 28, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/myanmar-could-become-covid-super-spreader-state-says-un-expert

Yasmeen Abutaleb, Carolyn Y. Johnson, and Joel Achenbach, “‘The war has changed’: Internal CDC document urges new messaging, warns delta infections likely more severe,” Washington Post, July 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/29/cdc-mask-guidance/

Timothy Bella, “Tucker Carlson falsely claims Anthony S. Fauci ‘created’ covid,” Washington Post, July 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/29/tucker-carlson-fauci-created-covid/

Democracy Now! “‘We Can’t Trust the Unvaccinated’: Dr. Leana Wen on Vaccine Mandates & How to Stop the Delta Variant,” July 29, 2021, https://www.democracynow.org/2021/7/29/covid_19_delta_variant_leana_wen

Anne Flaherty and Arielle Mitropoulos, “CDC mask decision followed stunning findings from Cape Cod beach outbreak,” ABC News, July 29, 2021, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cdc-mask-decision-stunning-findings-cape-cod-beach/story?id=79148102

Sabrina Siddiqui and Paul Kiernan, “Biden Says Federal Employees Must Get Covid-19 Shots or Wear Masks, Test Regularly,” Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-calls-for-100-payments-for-newly-vaccinated-americans-11627586033

Isaac Stanley-Becker, “Charlie Kirk’s pro-Trump youth group stokes vaccine resistance as covid surges again,” Washington Post, July 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/29/vaccine-mandates-charlie-kirk-tpusa/

Leana S. Wen, “The CDC needs to make clear: The problem is the unvaccinated,” Washington Post, July 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/29/leana-wen-cdc-mask-guidance-unvaccinated-problem/

Brianna Abbott, “CDC Says New Mask Guidelines Informed by Cape Cod Outbreak,” Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/cdc-says-new-mask-mandate-informed-by-cape-cod-outbreak-11627664465

Kevin McCarthy

Dana Milbank, “Fact check: Is Kevin McCarthy a ‘moron’?” Washington Post, July 30, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/30/fact-check-is-kevin-mccarthy-moron/

  1. [1]Andrew Ackerman, “End of Eviction Moratorium Puts Many Tenants at Risk of Losing Their Homes,” Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/tenants-at-risk-for-eviction-as-pandemic-protections-are-set-to-expire-11627038002; https://disunitedstates.com/2020/08/05/biden-sanders-demand-3-month-freeze-on-rent-payments-eviction-of-tenants-across-u-s/↩
  2. [2]Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle, and Katy O’Donnell, “Democratic push to extend eviction moratorium fizzles in the House,” Politico, July 30, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/30/eviction-battle-house-democrats-501758↩
  3. [3]Associated Press, “Supreme Court rejects plea by landlords to lift federal eviction moratorium,” Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-06-29/supreme-court-leaves-cdc-eviction-moratorium-in-place↩
  4. [4]Andrew Ackerman, “Biden Asks Congress to Extend Federal Eviction Moratorium,” Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-asks-congress-to-extend-federal-eviction-moratorium-11627571409; John Wagner and Tony Romm, “Biden, Democrats mount last-minute effort to extend eviction moratorium,” Washington Post, July 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-urges-congress-to-extend-eviction-moratorium-saying-his-hands-are-tied-by-supreme-court-ruling/2021/07/29/2ed8a52e-f07e-11eb-81d2-ffae0f931b8f_story.html↩
  5. [5]Will Parker, “Logjams Are Keeping Much of $47 Billion in Federal Aid From Renters,” Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/logjams-are-keeping-much-of-47-billion-in-federal-aid-from-renters-11623070800; Kyle Swenson, “The eviction moratorium is about to end. Rent relief hasn’t arrived. These renters decided to take action,” Washington Post, June 5, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/06/05/prince-georges-rent-strike-eviction/; https://disunitedstates.com/2020/08/05/biden-sanders-demand-3-month-freeze-on-rent-payments-eviction-of-tenants-across-u-s/↩
  6. [6]Mike DeBonis, “Schumer, a leader more liked than feared, faces test of whether he can deliver the ‘big and bold’ agenda he’s promised,” Washington Post, July 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/infrastructure-schumer-senate/2021/07/29/8575551e-efaf-11eb-81d2-ffae0f931b8f_story.html↩
  7. [7]Tara Palmeri et al., “ “Sinema’s vacation plans, Manchin gets booed and megadonor drama,” Politico, July 30, 2021, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/07/30/sinemas-vacation-plans-manchin-gets-booed-and-megadonor-drama-493787↩
  8. [8]Ted Barrett, “Inhofe brings snowball on Senate floor as evidence globe is not warming,” CNN, February 27, 2015, https://www.cnn.com/2015/02/26/politics/james-inhofe-snowball-climate-change/index.html↩
  9. [9]Deutschewelle, “Brazil gets snow and ice, surprising residents,” July 30, 2021, https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-gets-snow-and-ice-surprising-residents/a-58699478↩
  10. [10]Sheldon Whitehouse, quoted in Ted Barrett, “Inhofe brings snowball on Senate floor as evidence globe is not warming,” CNN, February 27, 2015, https://www.cnn.com/2015/02/26/politics/james-inhofe-snowball-climate-change/index.html↩
  11. [11]Deutschewelle, “Brazil gets snow and ice, surprising residents,” July 30, 2021, https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-gets-snow-and-ice-surprising-residents/a-58699478↩
  12. [12]Justine Coleman, “Pfizer vaccine effectiveness drops to 84 percent after six months: data,” Hill, July 28, 2021, https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/565282-pfizer-biontech-vaccine-effectiveness-drops-to-84-percent-after-six-months↩
  13. [13]Brianna Abbott, “CDC Says New Mask Guidelines Informed by Cape Cod Outbreak,” Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/cdc-says-new-mask-mandate-informed-by-cape-cod-outbreak-11627664465; Yasmeen Abutaleb, Joel Achenbach, Dan Diamond, and Adam Taylor, “CDC urges vaccinated people in covid hot spots to resume wearing masks indoors,” Washington Post, July 27, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/27/cdc-masks-guidance-indoors/; Yasmeen Abutaleb, Carolyn Y. Johnson, and Joel Achenbach, “‘The war has changed’: Internal CDC document urges new messaging, warns delta infections likely more severe,” Washington Post, July 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/29/cdc-mask-guidance/; Anne Flaherty and Arielle Mitropoulos, “CDC mask decision followed stunning findings from Cape Cod beach outbreak,” ABC News, July 29, 2021, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cdc-mask-decision-stunning-findings-cape-cod-beach/story?id=79148102; Sabrina Siddiqui and Tarini Parti, “CDC Urges Vaccinated People to Resume Wearing Masks Indoors in Some Areas,” Wall Street Journal, July 27, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/cdc-to-urge-vaccinated-people-to-resume-wearing-masks-in-public-indoor-spaces-11627399286; ↩
  14. [14]Justine Coleman, “Pfizer vaccine effectiveness drops to 84 percent after six months: data,” Hill, July 28, 2021, https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/565282-pfizer-biontech-vaccine-effectiveness-drops-to-84-percent-after-six-months↩
  15. [15]Brianna Abbott, “CDC Says New Mask Guidelines Informed by Cape Cod Outbreak,” Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/cdc-says-new-mask-mandate-informed-by-cape-cod-outbreak-11627664465↩

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