I am furious with Durbin. He is my Senator. A total loser... what a terrible way to end your legacy - "I led the Dirty 8" that resulted in countless Americans losing their medical insurance and thousands dying!
Your right about the people you just mentioned be on the same page “verbally”, but how many bills have they introduced to hold social media’s feet to the fire?
Your right about the people you just mentioned be on the same page “verbally”, but how many bills have they introduced to hold social media’s feet to the fire?
First of all Chuck schummer was not part of this negotiation. What's wrong with our leaders who did not negotiate properly. we won nothing. Instead Maga won and will do nothing to help with Health care and snap. The issue is not resolved and we will be back at the major problems again. How stupid can you guys be.
Further, Trump has wanted to kill ACA since day 1 of his first term, and the republicans aren’t smart enough and don’t have the work ethic to bring in a better plan. The democrats got nothing. In this deal other than to let Trump know they’ll cave. Had they held out and let Trump and these sycophants withhold food and screw up air travel they’d look even worse.
Watching from central MS where my psychiatric patients have once again been let down by both parties. Even those I’ve spoken to who depend on SNAP wanted them to keep up the fight!
None of the 8 Democratic senators who voted for cloture are up for reelection in 2026. This is not by happenstance. The Democrats decided they'd illustrated just where the Republican Party stands on "a more perfect union." They stand with billionaires. They are willing to literally let tens of millions of Americans starve before they'll agree to give Americans health care. Republicans will now give Democrats the middle finger on the House vote.
Mike, I like you, man, but you are hopelessly naive about some things. You've got a terminal case of centrism. You understand why the eight did what they did because their hearts were in the right place. Caving in to Trump is not having one's heart in the right place. I don't understand why you keep apologizing for the worst imaginable senate leader. Schumer is a disaster. Listening to him speak is better than taking a half dozen Ambien. He's boring and unconvincing. I don't know a single Democrat who supports Schumer as minority leader.
"Maybe the ending the shutdown was the right thing...I seriously doubt it." -- Mike Nellis
Again, this is the wishy-washiness of the hopeless centrist. It's not about humility, but about a firmness that we desperately need to fight Trump, the GOP, and fascism. Look at what the eight people have in common -- except maybe Fetterman who is a full blown catastrophe. I call him
Joekirsten Sinemanchin. He's worse that either of them and they were very bad. No they are not DINOs. Their voting records were far more favorable to Democrats than to Republicans. The real problem was when they chose to defect -- on the most critical issues, where their votes were needed the most. If Fetterman runs for a second term, and I am still alive, I will work as hard against him as I have against any Dem senator ever and as if he were my senator.
One little aside. I've grown really sick of the boilerplate that professional pols employ. I suppose you did this out of respect for the NM AG, but it was unnecessary and wouldn't have been missed if you hadn't referred to the "great state of New Mexico." It may depend on what one means by great, but New Mexico is not a great state when measured by conditions there. I taught high school in New Mexico and I've spent a tremendous amount of time there since I lived in Colorado for 20 years. New Mexico is a mess. I like New Mexico. I like a lot of the people there. It has some noticeable physical beauty, but it lags behind most other states in measures of quality. We used to ruefully joke that New Mexico was nearly last in everything good and nearly first in everything bad. Education, health care, on and on, it's close to being a basket case. Again, I am very fond of New Mexico, but great it isn't.
What I saw as a teacher was a educations system that was terrible. Expectations where I taught were atrocious. The principal of the school where I taught had grown up in that town. He went to a mediocre to poor college and came home to teach. Eventually, he became an administrator and set standards so low there was no hope for most of those good children to follow anything like a path to success. One year the principal was selected as principal of the year in New Mexico and the next year or the one after that, the school he "led" was placed on statewide probation for its failure. Principal of the Year was as meaningless as referring to the "great state of...) where we fill in the blank with the name of every state including all the fascist led states like Texas and Florida, where the people of those "great" states vote to elect fascists and thugs. This is an offshoot of calling this country the "greatest country on earth." It's not. The US has done some great things, but also some horrendous things. We have the three unnecessary wars of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan that left millions of innocent people dead for nothing. We've overthrown democratically elected national leaders (Iran and Chile), and destroyed the hopes of countless people elsewhere. Many of the great things we've done are now receding in the rear view mirror and that at a time when we are engaged in the worst national and some of the worst international behavior in our history. We are like every country not great but chugging along and we've actually done far more bad things than all but a relatively few countries. We need to stop spewing nonsensical self-praise and focus on trying to live up to a fundamentally decent standard. We have fallen so far short of that for so long it is painful for me to even think about it. But I do, because if we keep claiming greatness when we're doing so much harm, we'll never achieve even a fraction of what we could.
I'm sorry if this seems harsh, but this country has fallen so far short of our rhetoric that it is depressing. I think, though I may be wrong, that this kind of rhetoric from you and some of what you said about the cave-in is a product of your being a centrist, traditional pol. And I think you could offer so much more than that. I don't think centrist or moderate or compromise policies offer us anything close to adequate in facing the worsening problems this country has. I think we've spent so much time talking about how great we are that we haven't actually spent much, if any time, being great. I could go on and on about our failures, but I want the future to be better. The perfect model of a centrist, compromise policy/program is the ACA. Obama bent over backward with concessions to try to get GOP support, but far worse was the fact that he had to do that to get Ben Nelsons support. Now, there's a moderate for you. In the end, the program did not solve the problem it targeted, which was to get Americans insured. It did get more people insured, but it left millions out and today, unpaid medical bills are still the major cause of personal bankruptcy. Worse, as we see now, it is vulnerable to being destroyed. If it hadn't been for McCain's "Fuck You" to Trump, the program would be gone. But the goal should be to aim higher and start worker tirelessly to bring the American people along. I shudder to think of the number of Democrats in the House and Senate who would not support single payer. Why? In a lot of cases, probably because of lobbyists and donations. That is corruption.
I don't believe that McCain's vote was anything but a huge "Fuck You!!!" to Trump. I don't think he cared about everyone being insured or he would have been for universal care.
We know that Mitch McConnell would have never let eight Republicans vote the way the eight Democrats did. You're right. Democrats once again showed the world that they don't have what it takes to fight to the end to protect the people. They are weak, many are corrupt, they don't have the sense or guts to pick a stellar leader and that is part of what being a traditionalist to the end gets us. Lousy leadership, weak party, and people who don't respect or depend on Democrats to do the right thing.
Raúl Torres seems like he really is willing to fight. We need more like him. What we don't need are Slotkin's and Gluesenkamp Perez's who do things like vote to censure a Democrat representative who stood up publicly to Trump during his speech. I've listened to Slotkin and I want no part of at least half of what she's selling. I want smart, energetic, progressive, forward thinking -- sounds suspiciously like Elizabeth Warren. I just hate that she's in her seventies. But she makes Schumer look and sound like her none-too-bright and socially challenged nephew.
You're on the right (as in correct) side, you just need to be more on that side. The middle has nothing to offer anymore. There are no Republicans with whom we can compromise and compromising with them is unimaginable. What is the compromise between fascism and democracy? Fascism lite? Between starving kids and helping to feed them? Malnourished kids instead of worse?
You are right on target. We need Dems to Lead Fearlessly. We need Dems who are as willing to fight as SNAP recipients were to support the shutdown in the face of the callous cruelty inflicted by trump and his republicans.
The fix was in. You can try to convince me that Schumer was not in on the deal. His whip (not running in 2026) was a leader in the GOP CR passing. Jeanne Shaheen is also not running. Tim Kaine was safe. What a tangled subterfuge. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/pieces-of-8-shit?r=3m1bs
I've been livid about this since I heard it. Typical Dems caving and shooting themselves in the foot, while it's in their mouth. But then a thought occurred to me. Allison Gill is reporting that there are 100 republicans in the house ready to vote to release the Epstein files - actually release them, not just vote to vote on releasing them. Apparently these Republicans have contacts in the FBI and Justice Department who were involved in the shit show of reviewing and redacting the Epstein files and they've been told what's in them. And it seems what's in them is far far worse than anyone outside Patel, Bondi, and roughly a thousand FBI agents who have seen them, suspects. That is big enough to blow up this whole fascist regime if it's even remotely close to what AG is reporting. So, just maybe, this little charade will rid us of and hold accountable, Trump and as blow by, all his minions.
Those eight senators had nothing to loose so they could do that for the others do they wouldn’t loose their pac support. It seems to be again sbout the money
Why haven't any of the other Democratic Attorneys General filed amicus briefs in support of NM AG Torres action on children? Are any in the works. Mark Zuckerberg's failure/ indifference is legitimately raised. I've found him an incredible lightweight given his wealth & position. His wife Priscilla Chan, while not holding a position (that I'm aware of) in META is clearly a major influence on her husband. Does she not give a damn - to put it politely - about the impact of this technology on (young) women & girls? Should pressure be placed on her as well? She benefits & clearly has something of a say in what he does in the same way Ivanka, Don Jr & Eric score real returns because of their father.
Am mad as hell at durbin, folded like a cheap suit
I am furious with Durbin. He is my Senator. A total loser... what a terrible way to end your legacy - "I led the Dirty 8" that resulted in countless Americans losing their medical insurance and thousands dying!
Your right about the people you just mentioned be on the same page “verbally”, but how many bills have they introduced to hold social media’s feet to the fire?
Your right about the people you just mentioned be on the same page “verbally”, but how many bills have they introduced to hold social media’s feet to the fire?
First of all Chuck schummer was not part of this negotiation. What's wrong with our leaders who did not negotiate properly. we won nothing. Instead Maga won and will do nothing to help with Health care and snap. The issue is not resolved and we will be back at the major problems again. How stupid can you guys be.
Further, Trump has wanted to kill ACA since day 1 of his first term, and the republicans aren’t smart enough and don’t have the work ethic to bring in a better plan. The democrats got nothing. In this deal other than to let Trump know they’ll cave. Had they held out and let Trump and these sycophants withhold food and screw up air travel they’d look even worse.
Watching from central MS where my psychiatric patients have once again been let down by both parties. Even those I’ve spoken to who depend on SNAP wanted them to keep up the fight!
So frustrated, the Senate capitualtion by this subset of cowards... inexcusable.
None of the 8 Democratic senators who voted for cloture are up for reelection in 2026. This is not by happenstance. The Democrats decided they'd illustrated just where the Republican Party stands on "a more perfect union." They stand with billionaires. They are willing to literally let tens of millions of Americans starve before they'll agree to give Americans health care. Republicans will now give Democrats the middle finger on the House vote.
The negative impact of social media on teens is tremendous.
Mike, I like you, man, but you are hopelessly naive about some things. You've got a terminal case of centrism. You understand why the eight did what they did because their hearts were in the right place. Caving in to Trump is not having one's heart in the right place. I don't understand why you keep apologizing for the worst imaginable senate leader. Schumer is a disaster. Listening to him speak is better than taking a half dozen Ambien. He's boring and unconvincing. I don't know a single Democrat who supports Schumer as minority leader.
"Maybe the ending the shutdown was the right thing...I seriously doubt it." -- Mike Nellis
Again, this is the wishy-washiness of the hopeless centrist. It's not about humility, but about a firmness that we desperately need to fight Trump, the GOP, and fascism. Look at what the eight people have in common -- except maybe Fetterman who is a full blown catastrophe. I call him
Joekirsten Sinemanchin. He's worse that either of them and they were very bad. No they are not DINOs. Their voting records were far more favorable to Democrats than to Republicans. The real problem was when they chose to defect -- on the most critical issues, where their votes were needed the most. If Fetterman runs for a second term, and I am still alive, I will work as hard against him as I have against any Dem senator ever and as if he were my senator.
One little aside. I've grown really sick of the boilerplate that professional pols employ. I suppose you did this out of respect for the NM AG, but it was unnecessary and wouldn't have been missed if you hadn't referred to the "great state of New Mexico." It may depend on what one means by great, but New Mexico is not a great state when measured by conditions there. I taught high school in New Mexico and I've spent a tremendous amount of time there since I lived in Colorado for 20 years. New Mexico is a mess. I like New Mexico. I like a lot of the people there. It has some noticeable physical beauty, but it lags behind most other states in measures of quality. We used to ruefully joke that New Mexico was nearly last in everything good and nearly first in everything bad. Education, health care, on and on, it's close to being a basket case. Again, I am very fond of New Mexico, but great it isn't.
What I saw as a teacher was a educations system that was terrible. Expectations where I taught were atrocious. The principal of the school where I taught had grown up in that town. He went to a mediocre to poor college and came home to teach. Eventually, he became an administrator and set standards so low there was no hope for most of those good children to follow anything like a path to success. One year the principal was selected as principal of the year in New Mexico and the next year or the one after that, the school he "led" was placed on statewide probation for its failure. Principal of the Year was as meaningless as referring to the "great state of...) where we fill in the blank with the name of every state including all the fascist led states like Texas and Florida, where the people of those "great" states vote to elect fascists and thugs. This is an offshoot of calling this country the "greatest country on earth." It's not. The US has done some great things, but also some horrendous things. We have the three unnecessary wars of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan that left millions of innocent people dead for nothing. We've overthrown democratically elected national leaders (Iran and Chile), and destroyed the hopes of countless people elsewhere. Many of the great things we've done are now receding in the rear view mirror and that at a time when we are engaged in the worst national and some of the worst international behavior in our history. We are like every country not great but chugging along and we've actually done far more bad things than all but a relatively few countries. We need to stop spewing nonsensical self-praise and focus on trying to live up to a fundamentally decent standard. We have fallen so far short of that for so long it is painful for me to even think about it. But I do, because if we keep claiming greatness when we're doing so much harm, we'll never achieve even a fraction of what we could.
I'm sorry if this seems harsh, but this country has fallen so far short of our rhetoric that it is depressing. I think, though I may be wrong, that this kind of rhetoric from you and some of what you said about the cave-in is a product of your being a centrist, traditional pol. And I think you could offer so much more than that. I don't think centrist or moderate or compromise policies offer us anything close to adequate in facing the worsening problems this country has. I think we've spent so much time talking about how great we are that we haven't actually spent much, if any time, being great. I could go on and on about our failures, but I want the future to be better. The perfect model of a centrist, compromise policy/program is the ACA. Obama bent over backward with concessions to try to get GOP support, but far worse was the fact that he had to do that to get Ben Nelsons support. Now, there's a moderate for you. In the end, the program did not solve the problem it targeted, which was to get Americans insured. It did get more people insured, but it left millions out and today, unpaid medical bills are still the major cause of personal bankruptcy. Worse, as we see now, it is vulnerable to being destroyed. If it hadn't been for McCain's "Fuck You" to Trump, the program would be gone. But the goal should be to aim higher and start worker tirelessly to bring the American people along. I shudder to think of the number of Democrats in the House and Senate who would not support single payer. Why? In a lot of cases, probably because of lobbyists and donations. That is corruption.
I don't believe that McCain's vote was anything but a huge "Fuck You!!!" to Trump. I don't think he cared about everyone being insured or he would have been for universal care.
We know that Mitch McConnell would have never let eight Republicans vote the way the eight Democrats did. You're right. Democrats once again showed the world that they don't have what it takes to fight to the end to protect the people. They are weak, many are corrupt, they don't have the sense or guts to pick a stellar leader and that is part of what being a traditionalist to the end gets us. Lousy leadership, weak party, and people who don't respect or depend on Democrats to do the right thing.
Raúl Torres seems like he really is willing to fight. We need more like him. What we don't need are Slotkin's and Gluesenkamp Perez's who do things like vote to censure a Democrat representative who stood up publicly to Trump during his speech. I've listened to Slotkin and I want no part of at least half of what she's selling. I want smart, energetic, progressive, forward thinking -- sounds suspiciously like Elizabeth Warren. I just hate that she's in her seventies. But she makes Schumer look and sound like her none-too-bright and socially challenged nephew.
You're on the right (as in correct) side, you just need to be more on that side. The middle has nothing to offer anymore. There are no Republicans with whom we can compromise and compromising with them is unimaginable. What is the compromise between fascism and democracy? Fascism lite? Between starving kids and helping to feed them? Malnourished kids instead of worse?
You are right on target. We need Dems to Lead Fearlessly. We need Dems who are as willing to fight as SNAP recipients were to support the shutdown in the face of the callous cruelty inflicted by trump and his republicans.
The fix was in. You can try to convince me that Schumer was not in on the deal. His whip (not running in 2026) was a leader in the GOP CR passing. Jeanne Shaheen is also not running. Tim Kaine was safe. What a tangled subterfuge. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/pieces-of-8-shit?r=3m1bs
Democrats were at least empathetic to get folks back to work and getting pay checks.
The heartless Republicians would have taking this to the end....complete hardship an many folks cause they don't care about "we the people".
Suggested earlier today thst the deal was pushed by airline lobby
Berkshires Mass always good to see and hear your voice and guests
I've been livid about this since I heard it. Typical Dems caving and shooting themselves in the foot, while it's in their mouth. But then a thought occurred to me. Allison Gill is reporting that there are 100 republicans in the house ready to vote to release the Epstein files - actually release them, not just vote to vote on releasing them. Apparently these Republicans have contacts in the FBI and Justice Department who were involved in the shit show of reviewing and redacting the Epstein files and they've been told what's in them. And it seems what's in them is far far worse than anyone outside Patel, Bondi, and roughly a thousand FBI agents who have seen them, suspects. That is big enough to blow up this whole fascist regime if it's even remotely close to what AG is reporting. So, just maybe, this little charade will rid us of and hold accountable, Trump and as blow by, all his minions.
Those eight senators had nothing to loose so they could do that for the others do they wouldn’t loose their pac support. It seems to be again sbout the money
very well said!
Why haven't any of the other Democratic Attorneys General filed amicus briefs in support of NM AG Torres action on children? Are any in the works. Mark Zuckerberg's failure/ indifference is legitimately raised. I've found him an incredible lightweight given his wealth & position. His wife Priscilla Chan, while not holding a position (that I'm aware of) in META is clearly a major influence on her husband. Does she not give a damn - to put it politely - about the impact of this technology on (young) women & girls? Should pressure be placed on her as well? She benefits & clearly has something of a say in what he does in the same way Ivanka, Don Jr & Eric score real returns because of their father.