10 thoughts on “Sine Die 2024 Open Thread”

1. Jill Filipovic at The Atlantic: Via TPM.

   Today, a clear line of argument has emerged from many progressive commentators: First, the overwhelming majority of the protesters are peaceful and not anti-Semitic. Second, it undermines and mischaracterizes a vital movement to focus on a few bad actors who spout anti-Semitic vitriol, or to emphasize a few chants that glorify Hamas or call for the destruction of Israel. Third, the obsessive coverage of these protests is coming at the expense of the much more important story, which is the war itself. And in many respects, this is a sensible position. A war costing tens of thousands of lives, conducted by a key U.S. ally following a horrific terrorist attack, is a much more important story than whatever college students are doing in the United States. The violent crackdowns on these protests strike many, myself included, as far more troubling than the protests themselves. And it isn’t fair to conflate what a handful of protesters do or say with a much broader movement.

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2. "10,000 Steps – Activity Inequality". Via Brad De Long.

   New York is one of the most active cities in the country. 

   Justin Fox: America Wasn’t Made for Walking, and It’s Killing Us:

   ‘Outside of a few big cities, it’s hard to put in 10,000 steps a day in the US, and the pandemic seems to have made things worse…. A key metric… was… “activity inequality.”… Some people will exercise a lot no matter where they are, but places where even those at the low end of the walking scale get in a respectable number of steps are likely to have better health outcomes. The US had the fifth-highest activity inequality among 46 countries for which this was measured, behind only Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada and Egypt (Hong Kong’s was lowest). Among US cities… activity inequality was highest in Arlington, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; Fort Worth, Texas; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Cleveland; it was lowest in New York, Boston, Jersey City, Washington and San Francisco… <https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-05-05/america-wasn-t-made-for-walking-and-it-s-killing-us>

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3. Denver Homeles crisis worsens despite $274 million spent

   Excellent in depth article in Colorado Politics about the homeless crisis getting worse, not better. the Denver metro region has added more homeless individuals than any other metro region in the country since 2018, according to key metrics collected by the federal government.

   But hey, good thing sanctuary city Denver added 40, 000 more homeless in the way of illegal immigrants, but according to Mayor Johnson it’s all Donald Trumps fault. With “leadership” like that, the problem will never be properly addressed.

    

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   1. Mike Johnston = doing something about the problem

      Trumpy = using the problem as a campaign issue, and building a stupid, useless wall. Nothing else.

      Really that simple.

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      1. And in all cases, Republicans blocking a chance for virtually ALL immigrants to work while waiting for adjudication of their status.

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   2. Mike Johnston.  If you're gonna slag the mayor, at least get the right name.  But nice to see you're as heartless as ever.  And you've clearly forgotten when trump torpedoed the attempt to legislate immigration reform recently.  But embrace your criminal defendant-candidate.  He needs a hug.  

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   3. FFS, allyn. You speak as though homelessness in Denver is an intentional act…a political ploy of some kind. Somewhere, in some universe, may be a town that thinks homelessness is cool and wants to spread the love. But, I think not.

      Income inequity,  lack of mental care, displacement from families, drug addiction and other problems dictate homelessness numbers, not policy decisions.

      It will never change until the billionaire class, represented by the Republican party,  is held to account and starts sharing the cost of taking care of societies’ weakest link.

      Like their Savior bade them do.

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4. MTG pulled the trigger…it was a blank.

   Sorry, Madge….they are still not listening to you.

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   1. As I understand it, if Marjorie thinks it will gain her points with the Trumpsterfire. she'll have the abiity to keep bringing this back up repeatedly in the House. At least until someone injects a parasite into her brain, or feeds her a lot of seafood with high mercury levels (oh, wait, wrong thread). 

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5. So Johnson survived. The final vote was telling:  359 ayes (to table motion to vacate), 43 nays, seven present and 21 not voting.

   The 43 nays were the usual suspects on both fringes:  Andy Biggs, Cori Bush, Eli Crane, MTG, Paul Gosar, Summer Lee, Thomas Massie, AOC,  Ayanna Pressley, Chip Roy, and Rashida Tlaib.  To her credit, Ihan Omar had the sense to vote "Present" and not find herself on the same team with MTG.

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