Doug is such a puppy.
Showing posts with label The Hill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Hill. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Saturday, September 26, 2026
The weather sucks by you, that's why it's absolutely wonderful here
Nor'easter intensifies as coastal communities brace for flooding, damaging waves...
New York, New Jersey declare states of emergency...
Hurricane Nolo slams Hawaii with potentially historic multiday deluge...
Cat 5 Polo threatens Mexico's coast, landfall expected Monday...
Don't worry, we'll get ours in the winter.
Monday, September 21, 2026
Thursday, September 17, 2026
The U.S. House is in recess until after the November elections and will have worked just 15 days in over four months
The U.S. Senate remains at work in September.
A cryptocurrency regulation bill, the Farm Bill, and a reconciliation measure including additional Iran War funding and election security all await Senate action.
House races for exit, avoiding vote on Hegseth impeachment
... Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus who lost the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial and special Senate primaries, wrote on X that canceling another day of votes is “unacceptable.”
“The House has now canceled at least 63 scheduled voting days this Congress, including nine days this month alone, and now we’re leaving Washington until after the election. The Founders did not envision taking this much time off and still getting paid,” he wrote.
“If Members of Congress want to go home and campaign instead of doing the job taxpayers sent us here to do, then their campaigns ought to be paying them, NOT the American taxpayer,” he added. “We still have work to do.”
With the House now gone, much of that work will be kicked to the lame duck, which is scheduled to begin on Nov. 9. ...
Sunday, August 9, 2026
Yes, but it's been all downhill for six years already
... There are already a record 11.6 million Americans aged 65 and older still punching the clock. ... today’s elderly may actually be the last generation capable of working until they die on this scale. ...
More.
The percentage of older Americans working peaked in 2019-2020, as Peak Baby Boom 1957 turned 62. It's been all downhill from there.
The phenomenon has been a function of the size of the cohort relative to the overall population. The Baby Boom is like a dead bunny passing through the body of the snake.
Meanwhile the author fears the jobs these older people do are vulnerable to replacement by AI because they are supposedly overwhelmingly cognitive, so that younger workers will never be able to work until age 67 like many older Americans currently do.
But older workers are a diverse lot, performing a variety of work that can't be dismissed as simply cognitive.
Currently, the top 20 jobs by headcount of workers 55 and over according to the BLS are quite diverse, and categories where growth is expected to one degree or another in green outnumber those where stagnation and decline are expected in red by 3.5:1:
Truck, delivery, tractor trailer drivers 1.3m
Secretaries/admins 1.05m
Registered nurses 1m
Dirty rotten CEOs/senior management 0.95m
Retail supervisors 0.85m
Janitors/cleaners 0.8m
Teachers through grade eight 0.75m
Bean counters/financial managers 0.7m
Retail clerks 0.65m
Personal care aides 0.6m
Farmers/ranchers 0.55m (more than 54% of the industry)
Post-secondary educators 0.5m
Real estate agents 0.45m
Lawyers 0.4m
Property managers 0.35m
Home health aides 0.35m
Bus drivers 0.32m
Maids/housekeepers 0.3m
Billing/posting clerks 0.25m
Religious workers 0.22m.
Saturday, August 1, 2026
Do Michigan auto workers know that the UAW, which has endorsed Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, also endorsed anti-auto Democratic Socialist Claire Valdez in NY-7?
How the UAW abandoned auto-workers to back radicals
... The UAW is no longer all about building cars. The union, desperate to build its shrinking ranks, has been adding members in all kinds of professions and trades, including signing up some 100,000 people who work in higher education. That group, which includes post-doctoral researchers and adjunct faculty members, now constitutes more than 25 percent of UAW membership, according to the Detroit Press, and has led, not surprisingly, to a significantly more progressive and activist union profile.
This is why the union’s 2022 changes to its election process, intended to “give a greater voice to rank-and-file members,” has instead empowered an ever-more radical constituency of university teaching assistants. UAW’s resulting leftward lurch made headlines recently in New York’s Democratic primary contests, where democratic socialist Claire Valdez won her race to represent New York’s District 7 in Congress. Valdez had previously worked at Columbia University as a program assistant in the visual arts department, where she joined the UAW. The union boasted, “UAW Region 9A mobilized thousands of members across NY-07 to help deliver a victory for New York’s working class.”
Here is what we know about Valdez: she went to the exclusive School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where tuition runs about $60,000 per year. Also, she hates cars. Her campaign embraced the normal lefty litany: abolishing ICE, Medicare for all, universal rent control and so forth. But one distinctive item was her promise to “fight to redirect federal dollars toward public transportation, walking, and biking” and “reverse the proliferation of surface highways.”
Do UAW workers on Detroit’s assembly lines know that their union’s favored candidate hates automobiles and wants to shut down federal highway spending? Is that in their best interests? ...
Thursday, July 23, 2026
John Thune tells the White House to get off its dead ass and make some phone calls
That's the spirit, John.
Thune responds to Leavitt quip that Trump’s patience with him ‘running out’ over SAVE America Act
...“Maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes. Right? It’s 50 around here,” Thune shot back when asked about Leavitt’s statement to reporters at a press briefing earlier Thursday.
“Instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats,” the senator added, appearing somewhat irritated by the critical comment. “And if there are Republicans they think are gettable, get on the phone.”
...“As I’ve said before, you got to get to 50, and I can’t count to 50 right now on a budget resolution”...
Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Thursday, July 9, 2026
Some people think it is significant that U.S. commercial stocks of crude oil increased a little bit week over week to 411.4 million barrels as of 7/3/2026
Well, I don't.
Whenever U.S. commercial companies buy oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve at auction, those barrels are subtracted from line three but are added to line two.
It's more complicated than that because some oil might be stored temporarily, or refined into other products which means it shows up on other lines, or it gets exported and shows up there.
The point is sales from SPR distort the U.S. picture, IF those sales are purchased by U.S. commercial companies.
And for March through early July, U. S. commercial companies have purchased AT LEAST 52 million barrels from SPR.
That has distorted the true state of U.S. commercial stocks from week to week throughout the period.
Meanwhile, speaking of distortions . . . where did they get the product for this?
White House touts launch of 25 Freedom Fuel gas stations
... “The FIRST Freedom Fuel Network gas station has LANDED in Philadelphia, lowering the price at the pump to $3.47 for our 47th President,” the White House wrote on the social platform X on Tuesday. ... Twenty of the stations are located in Pennsylvania, while five are in New Jersey, according to the Freedom Fuel network’s website. A White House official told The Hill the Freedom Fuel Network is a private company and did not receive subsidies from the administration. ...
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
No good deed goes unpunished in the Democrat Party: Diana DeGette, House leader for the public option in 2009 instead of the Senate's Rube Goldberg Obamacare, defeated in primary after 15 terms
It was Speaker Nancy Pelosi who abandoned the House progressives in 2009, bowing to the Senate plan.
DeGette was progressive before progressive was cool, but now you have to pass the anti-semitic litmus test, as her opponent has, to be a real progressive.
DeGette loses reelection bid to DSA challenger in major upset for Denver-based House seat
Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) lost her reelection bid to former attorney and current Ph.D. student Melat Kiros, marking the third time a democratic socialist has scored an upset in a competitive House primary this cycle, according to Decision Desk HQ.
Kiros, who studies at the University of Denver, defeated DeGette, who’s served in Congress since 1997 — delivering a major blow to the Democratic establishment despite the fact that DeGette herself was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. University of Colorado Regent Wanda James also ran in the Democratic primary.
... Kiros was fired from her law firm after she wrote a letter directed at U.S. law firms on her Substack in November 2023 in which she disputed the notion that it was antisemitic to call for the state of Israel to be eliminated or criticize Israel’s government.
The former lawyer has also received criticism for declining to say whether or not a 2025 firebombing in Boulder, where protesters calling for the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas were injured, was an act of antisemitism, saying in a recent interview with 9News, “I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator.” ...
Leon Pancetta: Putin on the ropes
Panetta: Putin ‘not quite sure what to do’ after Ukraine drones strike Moscow
... Panetta, who led the Pentagon during former President Obama’s administration, told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert on “On Balance” that he does not “think there’s any question” that Putin is, as Vittert asked, “on the ropes.”
“I just think that it’s clear right now that Putin is cornered in this situation and is not quite sure what to do,” Panetta said. “He obviously ought to, frankly, negotiate some kind of ceasefire, but knowing Putin, he will continue to resist that, and Russia is going to pay the price.”
He later added that the “most important” assistance that the U.S. can provide Ukraine is “whatever it needs in terms of weaponry so Ukraine can present a bigger threat to Russia,” which will “send a message to Putin” and lead to Russia losing the four-year war.”
Panetta said it was critical that President Trump “stand up to a tyrant like Putin.”
“Putin’s not going to win under any circumstances,” Panetta continued. “It would be smart for the president to pick the side that is going to win this war, and that is Ukraine.” ...
Thursday, June 25, 2026
Trump moves forward with U.S. Postal Service plan to interdict mail-in ballots and prevent voting by mail in states which won't give him voter data
This is not a joke.
Postmaster general confirms plan to hold back mail ballots in states that won’t share voter data
Postmaster General David Steiner told lawmakers Wednesday that the U.S. Postal Service will no longer deliver mail-in ballots in states that refuse to provide sensitive voter data to the federal government, in line with a proposed rule from the Trump administration. ...
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
It's a giant con: They signed a nothingburger with Iran, that's why they're not showing it to us
It is another desperate ploy to jawbone oil prices down in a world hurtling toward tank bottom.
Meanwhile, why did Vance have to sign?
Is Trump on his last legs?
And we're still dealing with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf? I thought Trump said all this took extra time because they were trying to find a more moderate faction?
It's all BS, MS, Piledhigh and Deep.
... “Both
camps know exactly what is at stake,” said one industry official who
frequently interacts with the administration. “The industry folks are
intent on making sure that if the worm turns, the White House does not
point fingers that the industry did not do enough.”
“Everyone everywhere fully appreciates that the standoff cannot go on for another 30-45 days without the political calculations changing,” the official said.
“The White House knows and understands the severity of the potential situation. … They are politically constricted from saying that publicly.” ...
... Both President Trump and Vice President Vance electronically signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran on Sunday, while Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, speaker of the Iranian Parliament, signed for the Iranian side, senior U.S. officials said Monday. ...
Vice President Vance acknowledged that the preliminary U.S.-Iran memorandum is only "about a page and a half" and described it as a "very general document. ...what the MOU does is set up a framework ..."
Trump is a terrible judge of character. Ghalibaf is an IRGC fundamentalist.
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Saturday, June 6, 2026
That's unfair to Harris, she came in fourth in California
Again, what doomed Democrats was betraying their sitting president in the ninth inning.
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
US House votes 215-208 directing the president to remove U.S. military forces from hostilities with Iran, which Republicans say isn't a war and which Trump says ended on April 7 lol
House passes resolution to end Iran War, challenging Trump
House lawmakers on Wednesday passed legislation designed to force President Trump to end the Iran War, marking a victory for Democrats and the constitutional purists who say the conflict is illegal without explicit congressional approval.
The tally was 215-208, with four Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Tom Barrett (Mich.) and Warren Davidson (Ohio) — joining every Democrat in supporting the measure.
The development is largely symbolic, since there are lingering disputes about whether the measure, known as a concurrent resolution, carries the force of law. And Trump is certain to contest the authority of the measure even if it’s also passed by the Senate, where it’s headed next. ...
Behind Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), most Republicans have argued that the conflict does not rise to the level of a war, and therefore doesn’t require congressional approval. ...
The administration is also challenging the measure from a practical angle, arguing that the conflict ended when Trump called for a ceasefire in early April. ...
The House Roll Call is here.
Friday, May 22, 2026
Republican Congress critters got the hell out of town Thursday and won't be back until June and left all this unfinished business in their wake lol
Republicans lash out over $1.776B ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
McConnell slams Blanche over ‘slush fund to pay people who assault cops’
Republicans punt on reconciliation amid furious disagreement over ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
House Republicans fume at Senate for punting immigration funding package
House punts Iran war powers resolution vote
Trump approval among Republicans at new low in Fox News poll
Trump, facing GOP blowback, sends 5,000 troops to Poland
(Trump orders withdrawal of 5,000 troops from Germany amid feud with Merz)
Thursday, May 21, 2026
Trump cuts off his nose in the primaries to spite his face
Trump’s primary push could leave him with short-term problem in Congress
... the defeated or retiring incumbents he’s targeted remain in office until the end of their terms.
Those lawmakers, who no longer face voters and have little political incentive to fall in line, could make things difficult for Trump and GOP leaders as they feel more emboldened to push back against key partisan legislation. In a narrowly divided Congress, even a handful of GOP defections can derail a party-line bill. ...
You betcha.
Bill Cassidy in the Senate is already a problem for Trump post-defeat.
So is defeated Thomas Massie in the House.
Still in the crosshairs:
Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Lauren Boebert, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.
Already alienated and retiring:
Sen. Thom Tillis, Rep. Don Bacon.
Expect little to pass easily before November under these new intra-GOP adversarial circumstances, and even less after a Blue Wave.
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