Ethan and I are in Poland after spending much of the week in Kyiv, where I was among 20 international experts invited by the Office of President Zelenskyy and the governing Servant of the People party to advise on a tax and anti-corruption reform package they are developing.
We are getting these various camera angles today because C-SPAN is controlling the cameras. Once a Speaker is chosen, they clamp down and have their people control the cameras instead.
C-SPAN always asks to keep control after the first day and is always rejected.
Here are their letters to Boehner and Pelosi, for instance, urging more flexibility beyond just shots of a person at the podium and the wide shots of the whole room.
On the afternoon of August 14, 1945, a D.C. police officer pulled over a car for making an illegal U-turn. After ten minutes, the driver was allowed to proceed.
1/
Should also note that State of the Union is the only other exception, when the TV networks are allowed to bring in multiple cameras under their own control.
@teralynrenea
@kenklippenstein
They turn the microphone off unless someone is speaking, and don't show anything other than who's at the podium or very wide views of the whole room.
A lot of people siding with the past Speakers, saying fixed cameras prevents theatre.
That *is* the theatre. Yesterday we saw a lot of what is really happening, backstage.
Thank you
@cspan
This was Tucker Carlson Tonightโs last moment.
Eating pizza with the hero delivery man who stopped a car jacker.
I canโt think of a better way for the greatest cable news show in history to end.
As the Titanic was sinking, lifeboat priority was "women and children first." The officer doing the starboard boats (Murdoch) did that but allowed men to take empty seats left. The officer on the port side (Lightholler) preferred to lower boats part empty than let men in them.
I lived half a block from People's Park for 3 years, in an apartment because UC Berkeley only had enough student housing to guarantee first year students.
It's an entire square block, 3 short blocks from main campus. University's been trying to build housing there for 50 years.
this is officially the dumbest protest ever
1) UC Berkeley is a state school, not a โcorporate interestโ
2) they are replacing the park with hundreds of apartments for students and homeless people who previously lived in the park, along with a new green space
A lot of people siding with the past Speakers, saying fixed cameras prevents theatre.
That *is* the theatre. Yesterday we saw a lot of what is really happening, backstage.
Thank you
@cspan
He said (1) 14 days and (2) 88 days when it's (1) objective criteria he doesn't meet and (2) 56 days. It's almost like this was a nonsense post to carry a coded message to people who really like the numbers 14 and 88
Did notsee that coming
Finlandโs application has now been ratified by all members and we will join NATO. Thank you to all countries for your support. As allies, we will give and receive security. We will defend each other. Finland stands with Sweden now and in the future and supports its application.
"Mr. Cox, whose campaign raised little money, was the beneficiary of more than $1.16 million in television advertising from the Democratic Governors Association, which tried to help his primary campaign in hopes that he would be easier to defeat in the general election."
U.S. planners estimated hundreds of thousands of American casualties and millions of Japanese dead. 500,000 Purple Heart medals were manufactured in preparation; to this day we draw from that stockpile.
14/
Manchin: I think spending that much would require an unacceptable level of deficits or tax increases
People on Twitter: what does he mean, he's being so unclear
After saying he won't vote for the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill, Joe Manchin has a hard time explaining to Dana Bash what his rationale for not supporting it is
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today that someone who didn't file 5 forms about 272 items violated the law 5 times, not 272 times
Majority: Gorsuch, Jackson, Roberts, Alito, Kavanaugh
Dissent: Barrett, Thomas, Sotomayor, Kagan
Happy Day After Thanksgiving! I'm spending it trying to beat the record for fastest time to visit all 98 stations in the
@wmata
rail system.
With Metro running more frequently and reliably under
@wmataGM
, I think I can do it!
I'll also post AI images for each station, for fun.
@hyperplanes
@Noahpinion
"Mayor Quimby even released Sideshow Bob, a man twice convicted of attempted murder. Can you trust a man like Mayor Quimby? Vote Sideshow Bob for Mayor."
WSJ has a bit more: Moderna wants to do a smaller 50cc dose to reach more people and have fewer side effects. FDA wants 100cc to reduce confusion from changing dosages and avoid wastage from discarding unused doses in a vial.
Policy Qs not efficacy Qs.
Dear non-gay friends, here's what Pride means to me.
Gay pride is in June because it commemorates the Stonewall riots of late June 1969, when patrons of the Stonewall Inn gay bar in New York City rioted against ongoing police raids.
1/6
I'm honestly a bit surprised and disappointed we're now ten hours into 2024 and *still* lack the great and/or disturbing Steamboat Willie fanfic we were promised.
I am open to taking a look at SALT and addressing concerns for families put under the squeeze in high cost of living areas.
But a full 100% SALT repeal means major tax breaks for extremely high-net worth individuals and billionaires. Why do that? ๐ ๐ฝโโ๏ธ
2 senators cannot be allowed to defeat what 48 senators and 210 House members want.ย We must stand with the working families of our country. We must combat climate change.ย We must delay passing the Infrastructure Bill until we pass a strong Reconciliation Bill.
@Chasten
I'd like to apologize for my husband
@EJBishopH
who, while walking on the Mall with a church group, saw your husband out running and couldn't think to do anything except shout "PETE" at him immediately as he passed by
Sorry
@PeteButtigieg
@NPR
Chair of the Libertarian Party here. Whatever she called herself, she was not a member or donor or anything in our party. All Libertarian Party members pledge not to use force to achieve political or social goals.
"Congress is considering a $3.5 trillion spending package called the Build Back Better plan that would be financed by tax increases and additional borrowing. Do you support or oppose this plan?"
Strongly support: 23%
Somewhat support: 12%
Somewhat oppose: 6%
Strongly oppose: 54%
New polling data shows 61% of Pennsylvania voters said they oppose the โBuild Back Betterโ $3.5 trillion spending agenda, along with 73% opposition to some of the tax hikes proposed to pay for it.
Millennials are not why Amtrak is ending dining car service.* Real reasons:
*Congress ordered them to break even on food service by 2020
*Labor agreements require use of expensive direct-hire labor
*Amtrak is inept at marketing luxury-for-more-$ to a retiree audience
People didn't believe me when I said there would be a pro-Putin demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial today. Photo:
Aside from these folks, most Americans are ok with giving Ukrainians what they need to defend their country from the Russian invasion but keeping U.S. forces out.
"If Ulbrichtโs supporters really cared about the war on drugs or libertarian ideals, theyโd be demanding that the nearly half a million people currently in U.S. jails for drug offenses should be pardoned too," writes Nick Bilton
Walter E. Williams was a legend. One of the best at explaining the virtues of liberty, prolific and expert on so many topics, and a scholar dedicated to integrity and truth. His wisdom and insights will certainly live on. RIP
@realDonaldTrump
U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan:
At end of Obama administration: 8,400
End of 2017: 11,000
End of 2018: 15,000
End of 2019: 13,000
Now: 8,600
Article about a son who was a baby when the war started being sent to Afghanistan with his father:
This morning the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments in Tyler v. Hennepin County. The facts are outrageous: a 94-year-old woman who failed to pay property tax had her house seized, and the county kept everything even those beyond the tax owed.
#BelowDeckMed
this week:
@hannahferrier_
: "I'm trying not to get upset anymore about things I can't control"
"Chef" Mila: "I am unable to make pancakes!"
Hannah: *eye twitches*
Nagasaki proved the U.S. had more than one bomb.
A captured American airman, under torture, said the U.S. had 100 atom bombs and that Tokyo and Kyoto were next. (He actually knew nothing and was lying to end the torture but the info made an impression on the Japanese.)
8/
More Border Patrol Agents died in the line of duty during 2021 than in any other time since the agencyโs inception. The line-of-duty deaths of 15 Border Patrol agents mark a grim milestone in the agencyโs history.
The top 1% earn 21% of all income and pay
40% of federal income taxes
25% of all federal taxes
24% of all federal, state, and local taxes
an average combined federal, state, and local tax rate of 34%
Stalin died 70 years ago today. He murdered:
โข 777,975 officially recorded political executions (plus 22,000 in the Katyn massacre)
โข 1.7 million deaths in the Gulag
โข 790,000 during forced resettlement
โข 5.5 million in the 1931-33 famines
(not including 26m killed in WW2)
The world is poorer today with the loss of Steve Horwitz. His last Facebook post - updating everyone as he battled cancer - displayed his ever present mix of resilience, brilliance, irreverence, and humility.
RIP
The IRS snooping on every bank account with $10,000 or more in annual inflow/outflow ropes in the vast majority of Americans. The median American $3,400 in their checking account at any time, and assuming paychecks are deposited in and rent paid out regularly, that's everyone.
Note in here on the IRS bank-account reporting provision -- looks like Neal and Wyden are heading toward a reporting requirement on accounts with $10,000 of annual gross flows, up from admin's $600.
Big Martha Coakley sarcastic "What should I do, stand in front of Fenway and shake hands with voters?" energy
Yes, you should have and yes we should have plentiful testing for anyone who wants it
The Libertarian Party joins me in offering our deepest condolences to Dr. Jo Jorgensen on the passing of her mother today.
As anyone who has lost a parent can understand, it can be challenging to mourn while carrying out full daily obligations.
Can a county seize and sell a home to collect unpaid property taxes, then keep all amounts above what was owed and not refund them to the former homeowner? No, said a unanimous Supreme Court today in Tyler v. Hennepin County.