For months, Democrats have considered the name “Joe Manchin” to be synonymous with obstruction, as liberals fretted that their party’s moderate senator from West Virginia would never sign on to any meaningful climate change legislation.
But after the coal country politician shocked progressives and Republicans alike Wednesday night by agreeing to the biggest climate-change-fighting investment in the country’s history, the spotlight now turns to another hard-to-please, if lower profile, moderate: Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
Sinema, a party-bucking Democrat who last year helped sink President Biden’s hopes of passing voting rights legislation and deflated liberal activists’ hope of raising the minimum wage with an unapologetic thumbs-down on the Senate floor, left the Capitol on Thursday without disclosing whether she’d support Manchin’s sweeping deal with Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer of New York. …
… Some … potential road blocks have nothing to do with Sinema. The Senate parliamentarian still needs to review the bill to determine whether it can be passed under a maneuver called reconciliation that requires only a bare majority — 50 votes, plus Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote.
And beyond that, Democrats could struggle to convene their full caucus in the coming weeks, with COVID rocketing around the Senate. On Thursday, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who is the Democrats’ majority whip, and Manchin were both quarantined with COVID, while Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont was out recovering from surgery. …
“Senate Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., tried to quickly fix the problem by unanimous consent on June 23 through an -‘engrossment correction’ just before the chamber recessed for two weeks. But Sen. Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa., one of 14 Republicans to vote ‘no’ in that chamber, objected.
His concern wasn’t about the cost of the new benefits expansion, but the fact that the CBO estimated nearly $400 billion of existing VA health spending would no longer be bound by discretionary spending caps.
The alternative would have been to jump through the traditional procedural hoops in the Senate this month to get the blue slip problem fixed, including a motion to request the return of the Senate-passed bill from the House. Or, the House could pass a separate blue slip resolution sending the measure back to the Senate. Either way, the House would have had to re-vote on the amended version anyway after the Senate worked through its process.
And the House couldn’t simply amend the Senate-passed bill to strike the blue slip provision and send it back, because lawmakers in that chamber view it as the Senate’s responsibility to fix such “constitutional defects.” Taking up a separate vehicle allows the House to address the matter without waiting for the Senate to act, and without technically fixing a problem of the Senate’s making.
The House originally passed a similar but more costly version of the veterans toxic exposure bill, without the provision that caused the blue slip issue, by a 256-174 vote in March with all Democrats and 34 Republicans backing it. The Senate vote on its version was 84-14.”
… A decade ago, it was extremely rare for everyday school employees to carry guns. Today, after a seemingly endless series of mass shootings, the strategy has become a leading solution promoted by Republicans and gun rights advocates, who say that allowing teachers, principals and superintendents to be armed gives schools a fighting chance in case of attack.
At least 29 states allow individuals other than police or security officials to carry guns on school grounds, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. As of 2018, the last year for which statistics were available, federal survey data estimated that 2.6 percent of public schools had armed faculty. …
In Florida, more than 1,300 school staff members serve as armed guardians in 45 school districts, out of 74 in the state, according to state officials. The program was created after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018.
In Texas, at least 402 school districts — about a third in the state — participate in a program that allows designated people, including school staff members, to be armed, according to the Texas Association of School Boards. Another program, which requires more training, is used by a smaller number of districts. Participation in both is up since 2018.
And in the weeks after the Uvalde shooting, lawmakers in Ohio made it easier for teachers and other school employees to carry guns. …
A man stands alone in his home, peering downstairs. He senses danger, but is unfazed. In his hands: a Smith & Wesson bullpup shotgun.
“9-1-1 when you have minutes,” the advertisement in the company’s most recent product catalogreads. “The Second Amendment when you don’t.”
It’s a message the Springfield-based gunmaker and the rest of the firearms industryhas increasingly used to sell weapons over the last 20 years: In the face of danger, they claim,a gun is the ultimate safety device.
Advertisements targeted at hunters or shooting sports enthusiasts, once the predominant industry norm, have faded into the background. Broad messages appealing to fear — and to patriotism and masculine pride— have replaced them. …
Smith and Wesson ‘one of the nation’s oldest firearms manufacturers, announced today that it is moving its headquarters and significant elements of its operations to Maryville, Tennessee in 2023. Smith & Wesson has been based in Springfield, Massachusetts since the company was incorporated in 1852.’ (press release, Sep 2021)
Over the last four decades, the financial circumstances into which children have been born have increasingly determined where they have ended up as adults. But an expansive new study, based on billions of social media connections, has uncovered a powerful exception to that pattern that helps explain why certain places offer a path out of poverty.
For poor children, living in an area where people have more friendships that cut across class lines significantly increases how much they earn in adulthood, the new research found.
The study, published Monday in Nature, analyzed the Facebook friendships of 72 million people, amounting to 84 percent of U.S. adults aged 25 to 44. …
Social capital – the strength of our relationships and communities – has been shown to play an important role in outcomes ranging from income to health. Using privacy-protected data on 21 billion friendships from Facebook, we measure three types of social capital in each neighborhood, high school, and college in the United States. …
Over the last four decades, the financial circumstances into which children have been born have increasingly determined where they have ended up as adults. But an expansive new study, based on billions of social media connections, has uncovered a powerful exception to that pattern that helps explain why certain places offer a path out of poverty.
For poor children, living in an area where people have more friendships that cut across class lines significantly increases how much they earn in adulthood, the new research found.
The study, published Monday in Nature, analyzed the Facebook friendships of 72 million people, amounting to 84 percent of U.S. adults aged 25 to 44. …
With Manchin on board, spotlight turns to Sinema — and COVID
Boston Globe – July 28
Why do Republicans hate our veterans?
Jim:
As a XMarine Sgt, I wonder why and how they are stopping this bill also.
Who was it who said ‘There are old Marines, there are bold Marines, but there are no XMarines’?
ONCE A MARINE ALWAYS A MARINE
Jim:
Here are the politics
“Senate Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., tried to quickly fix the problem by unanimous consent on June 23 through an -‘engrossment correction’ just before the chamber recessed for two weeks. But Sen. Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa., one of 14 Republicans to vote ‘no’ in that chamber, objected.
His concern wasn’t about the cost of the new benefits expansion, but the fact that the CBO estimated nearly $400 billion of existing VA health spending would no longer be bound by discretionary spending caps.
The alternative would have been to jump through the traditional procedural hoops in the Senate this month to get the blue slip problem fixed, including a motion to request the return of the Senate-passed bill from the House. Or, the House could pass a separate blue slip resolution sending the measure back to the Senate. Either way, the House would have had to re-vote on the amended version anyway after the Senate worked through its process.
And the House couldn’t simply amend the Senate-passed bill to strike the blue slip provision and send it back, because lawmakers in that chamber view it as the Senate’s responsibility to fix such “constitutional defects.” Taking up a separate vehicle allows the House to address the matter without waiting for the Senate to act, and without technically fixing a problem of the Senate’s making.
The House originally passed a similar but more costly version of the veterans toxic exposure bill, without the provision that caused the blue slip issue, by a 256-174 vote in March with all Democrats and 34 Republicans backing it. The Senate vote on its version was 84-14.”
I will have it up in a bit.
Since it is impossible in the US to keep guns out of schools, the only thing to do is put more guns IN classrooms. What could go wrong?
Trained, Armed and Ready. To Teach Kindergarten.
NY Times – July 31
(Vaguely related. Smith & Wesson, a MA mainstay, will move out of Massachusetts to friendlier climes in Tennessee.)
For sale at Smith & Wesson: Guns, and a healthy dose of fear
Boston Globe – July 30
A man stands alone in his home, peering downstairs. He senses danger, but is unfazed. In his hands: a Smith & Wesson bullpup shotgun.
“9-1-1 when you have minutes,” the advertisement in the company’s most recent product catalog reads. “The Second Amendment when you don’t.”
It’s a message the Springfield-based gunmaker and the rest of the firearms industry has increasingly used to sell weapons over the last 20 years: In the face of danger, they claim, a gun is the ultimate safety device.
Advertisements targeted at hunters or shooting sports enthusiasts, once the predominant industry norm, have faded into the background. Broad messages appealing to fear — and to patriotism and masculine pride — have replaced them. …
Smith and Wesson ‘one of the nation’s oldest firearms manufacturers, announced today that it is moving its headquarters and significant elements of its operations to Maryville, Tennessee in 2023. Smith & Wesson has been based in Springfield, Massachusetts since the company was incorporated in 1852.’ (press release, Sep 2021)
Vast New Study Shows a Key to Reducing Poverty: More Friendships Between Rich and Poor
NY Times – Aug 1
Social capital II: determinants of economic connectedness
Nature – August 1
Related: ‘expansive new study’
The Social Capital Atlas
Vast New Study Shows a Key to Reducing Poverty: More Friendships Between Rich and Poor
NY Times – Aug 1
Over the last four decades, the financial circumstances into which children have been born have increasingly determined where they have ended up as adults. But an expansive new study, based on billions of social media connections, has uncovered a powerful exception to that pattern that helps explain why certain places offer a path out of poverty.
For poor children, living in an area where people have more friendships that cut across class lines significantly increases how much they earn in adulthood, the new research found.
The study, published Monday in Nature, analyzed the Facebook friendships of 72 million people, amounting to 84 percent of U.S. adults aged 25 to 44. …