A word to Manchenema
Today’s Big Stuff. September 25, 2024.
It’s Wednesday. There are 41 days until Election Day. MAGA Mike might not certify, Trump’s pro-lifers kill a man and MVP sits for some interviews.
Be advised: This newsletter uses profanity. It used quite a bit this morning when it woke up thinking it was Friday. Damnit.
Note: Well, Sexy Patriots, we hate to tell you this but things didn’t get any nuts yesterday. Yeah, it’s probably just gonna be this way until we beat some serious orange ass at the polls this November, and then try to figure out what the hell the new normal is. It is nice to know there are some things you can count on though — like Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema being irredeemable shit-eating chodes…
Grrrrr. Sinema said the same dumb shit. So why are we smiling? Because we totally forgot these two losers exist! And because we’re grateful to have another opportunity to cuss them to hell and back. So stand back, everybody…
(Deep breath) Fuck you, Joe Manchin. Fuck you, Kyrsten Sinema. You corrupt buckets of taint sweat are the definition of irrelevant. Even the scummy lobbying firms that are about to pay for the remnants of your crusty souls don’t give a shit what you think about anything. Nobody does. Kyrsten, you’re a one-term senator who is hated by everyone in her state to the point that you couldn’t have run again even if you wanted to (and we all know you did). Joe, we seriously forgot your coal-owned ass was still taking up space in the Senate. You won’t endorse Kamala Harris? Well who the hell asked you to? Neither one of these assheads gives a shit about voting rights or women’s rights or else they could’ve gotten off their fucking soapboxes and actually done something about it. But they didn’t. And now it’s Kamala Harris’s turn. And she’s not a corrupt buttface like these two sphincters. She actually works for the American people who are sick of the filibuster being abused by corrupt senators like Manchin and Sinema. So for quite possibly the last time before they slither off into having to be googled to remember who they are, we would like to cordially invite Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to eat all the shit, kiss our asses and fuck all the way off. Bye.
Phew. That felt good. Y’all have a blessed day. More: The Hill
Note two: Oh btw, Kamala Harris said in Wisconsin yesterday that we should scrap the filibuster so we can codify Roe. More: WPR
Note three: If you’re ever wondering why NBCNews seems to suck, just remember that its parent company, Comcast, is giving money to Ron DeSantis to help defeat Florida’s abortion amendment and keep a six-week ban in place. We’re not gonna post their phone number. But it’s probably really easy to find.
Note four: Wouldn’t it be nice if the Republican running for presidency had the basic decency to condemn some dangerous prick shooting at Vice President Harris’s campaign office in Arizona? But he’s really more into encouraging that sort of thing. More: NBC News
Note five: Holy shit! Mitch McConnell is still alive! And he’s trashing Trump’s tariff plan!
Note six: So the big time editors are trying to explain why they aren’t publishing the hacked emails from Trump’s campaign, and they’ve decided that they’re just not “newsworthy.” And Podesta’s fucking risotto recipe was?! Look, if the MSM really learned their lesson about the shit they did to Hillary, that’s great. But they should tell us that. More: Vanity Fair
Note seven: You’re not gonna believe this but the dude who was arrested with a gun at Trump’s golf course drew “Judge” Aileen Cannon. So yeah, that guy is finished. She might actually kill him with her bare hands. More: CNN
Note eight: An actual judge ruled yesterday that Special Counsel Jack Smith can present his case against Trump’s immunity claims over Trump’s objections. Judge Tanya Chutkan is allowing Smith to present “substantial” new evidence in his motion which could be as long as 180 pages. Thanks to SCOTUS, we’ve been denied a trial over Trump’s attack on our Capitol. Let’s hope we can at least hear the case against him. More: The Guardian
Note nine: Mitt Romney says he’s concerned about “retribution” if Trump gets elected. But apparently he’s not concerned enough to endorse Kamala Harris. Spare us, mittens. We got our own shit to worry about. More: The Atlantic
Note 10: When he wasn’t saying a bunch of dangerous, dishonest and just plain crazy shit yesterday, Trump was drooling on himself. No, seriously.
Note 11: Now this is interesting. Using a wrinkle in Ohio law, a Haitian non-profit in Springfield is filing criminal charges against Trump and Jail Deserver (JD) Vance for terrorizing the shit out of them. That’s not the actual charge, but you can read about. More: Associated Press
Note 12: So you know that super problematic Trump aide who makes those TikToks that look like something a serial killer would taunt the police with? Ok yeah, we realize we’re gonna need to be more specific. Anyway, WIRED is reporting he “crossed lines” in online chats with teens. So yeah, it could be anyone in Trump’s circle or Trump. More: Wired
Note 13: If you’re not watching the WNBA playoffs, you are missing some intense high-quality basketball.
Note 14: One of the benefits of getting older is having no idea who Chappell Roan is. More: Stereo Gum
Note 15: This is cool. We were gonna tell y’all we’re big Johnny Cash fans, but who isn’t? Check out his version of “My Old Kentucky Home” and “Tennessee Stud” if you’ve never heard them before.
Note 16: The Nebraska nightmare appears to be over for now. The governor announced yesterday that because of one holdout Republican senator, he would not call a special session of the legislature to change how the state awards its electoral votes. Phew. Thank you again to state Sen. Mike McDonnell for doing the right thing. More: NBC News
Note 17: Congress is leaving for recess today. They won’t come back until after the election. So basically two years of Republicans controlling Congress got us jack shit other than 15 chances to laugh at Kevin McCarthy and a bunch of questions about MAGA Mike Johnson and his son’s porn habits. America, don’t keep hiring people who don’t work for you. More: Politico
Note 18: Big day for VP Harris. We’ll talk about some of it in the news section, but we also want to draw your attention to the major economic speech she’s giving today in Pittsburgh, laying out a “pragmatic” vision for lifting up the middle class. Trump will probably drool and shit himself some more. More: ABC News
Note 19: President Biden will be on The View today at 11 AM ET.
Note 20: For today’s Happy Ending, we give you Sir Willie Nelson and Lady Margo Price making some endorsements in some U.S. Senate races…
Note 21: And on that fucking awesome note, let’s go do some news! We sure hope y’all are having an awesome week. As long as you’re not Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema. Love y’all!
WTF?!
So yesterday something disturbing happened. Speaker of the House MAGA Mike Johnson was asked if Republicans will certify the presidential election on Jan. 6. He said “of course — if we have a free, fair, and safe election we're gonna follow the Constitution, absolutely." So yeah, that is insanely fucked up. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats were rightfully furious with Johnson’s weasel bullshit. We have to win the House, y’all. We have to. Let’s do this. More: Axios
So pro-life
Yesterday the state of Missouri murdered an innocent man. The prosecutors, the victim’s family, the person who accused him all said he didn’t do it. DNA said he didn’t do it. And yet Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams was killed by the state last night. The same Missouri governor who couldn’t wait to pardon gun-waving rich white people who were scared to see Black people peacefully protesting, helped kill this man. The state Supreme Court helped kill this man. And Donald Trump’s Supreme Court, which denied a stay by a 6-3 vote, helped kill this man. This country can be really fucking twisted sometimes. More: NBC News
Will this shut them up?
We’ve all heard the endless whining of the self-important beltway press about VP Harris not doing more interviews. Maybe she was supposed to give one to the reporter who was sexting RFK Jr. She has been stepping up the number of interview she has done, and today she is doing the “All the Smoke” podcast hosted by former members of the Golden State Warriors. And then tonight, she will join MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle for her first primetime solo sitdown. Good luck, MVP! We know you’re gonna crush it! More: Deadline
Today’s clips
Step into the Rebel Teahouse and look to the right: a stack of Kamala Harris campaign brochures on the shelf gives away a big change here.
Owner Christine Nguyen has a candidate now and is not only excited to cast her vote but is also doing a little extra to help the vice president, including making a place for the brochures and plans to hold a voter registration event at the teahouse just before the Georgia deadline. More: CNN
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars media platform and its assets will be sold off piece by piece in auctions this fall to help pay the more than $1 billion he owes relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, under an order expected to be approved by a federal judge. More: NBC News
A school-privatization activist and frequent Fox News guest whose work has been praised by former President Donald Trump was placed on leave by his conservative nonprofit employer after reports that he had appeared in gay pornography videos surfaced. More: NBC News
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have both agreed to participate in separate town-hall-style events with Univision next month even as the two candidates squabble over meeting for another presidential debate before the November election. More: Huff Post
"we would like to cordially invite Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to eat all the shit, kiss our asses and fuck all the way off. Bye."
Best line ever! Thanks Adam, Thanks Sam
Manchin and Sinema and their self owning clowning about the 60 votes filibuster cudgel. Democrats last had 60 senators 2009-2010. It wasn’t for the full solid two years, wobbly on and off. But they did have it. The Republicans last had 60 senators in 1909-1911. What the 60 votes filibuster is, is nothing more than a cudgel for blocking Democratic priorities. Biden did a great job using his majorities as best as he could but he was definitely hamstrung by Manchin and Sinema being persnickety about the American Rescue Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. They alone cut those laws to ribbons.
Budget reconciliation laws like the ACA and ARA and IRA are simple majority laws. It’s stark that democratic bills have been hugely transformative and republican bills were simply massive tax cuts and nothing else.
And I’ve been gobsmacked for years that Sinema actually wrote this editorial three years ago, and wasn’t embarrassed by it and apparently still isn’t! Gift link: https://wapo.st/3XXX4bB
The filibuster is ahistorical and isn’t in the constitution and defies democracy. It awards excess power to sparsely populated states atop of their already disproportionate power in the senate. It needs to end. And should have never existed. McConnell weaponized it harshly against Obama and had been looking forward to doing the same to Biden. But it’s time now to do all very necessary things both the repeatedly blocked laws, like gun control and repairing gun laws. The supposedly originalist Supreme Court majority ruled that the constitution mandates an individual right to bear arms. And of course to codify all the human rights laws, like reproductive freedom and gender discrimination laws.
Most of all to expand and safeguard our democracy with Supreme Court reform. Voting laws restoration and reform. And finally recognizing that DC, which has more population than two states, should become a state in its own right, and to do the same for Puerto Rico, which has more population than twenty states.
In the filibuster handily blocks all this, and more, despite these priorities and many more are supported by solid majorities of all Americans.