I believe they can (and should) pass legislation that will: if passed, benefit the people and attract voters to Ds; and if vetoed, provide campaign fodder to detract voters from Rs. In particular, I’d like to see something that benefits the working class broadly, but benefits the MAGA base rapidly and significantly, maybe some Medicare/Medicaid/ACA changes that save people $$$? Maybe a one-time corporate tax and distribution to consumers as a “tarrif rebate”? Maybe some sort of temporary jobs program to repair/replace infrastructure, with an allocation that mirrors existing federal->state/district grants (to benefit rural areas a bit more)?

They should also deny executive appointments to prevent further corruption, but that’s not going to be seen as action. I think some time can be spend on congressional investigations, maybe even turning evidence and conclusions over to state AGs, but going for impeachment or involving the Trump DOJ is an absolute waste of time.

If they go for a government shutdown, they better have a strategy for really winning something significant for the people. If there is a shutdown and there’s no or little concession from the executive, it’s not going to be seen as positive action, but mere obstructionism.

I agree it might actually be impossible to satisfy the expectations I’ve been seeing on social media today. I think many people are overestimating the power of Congress v. “Mr. Veto”, the DOJ, and SCOTUS.

They’re just not invited to my property.

I can weirdly live and let live with that.

For me, that’s too close to the way Christian Nationalists in my state of Arkansas want to exclude non-Whites, and I think would bring back suntown towns where the (often democratic) government of an locality (violently) excluded a marginalized minority from “their property”.

I have to live with that attitude around here, but I’m not directly threatened by it as a cis, white male. My county voted 90% R yesterday. I know politics is the wrong place to change hearts, but I hate that my state government has regulations in place that make things less safe for trans persons and cis women.

Unions also generally have access to more individual donors that are willing to have their donations at least partially directed by the organization.

The “dark money” PACs are usually formed because some rich person(s) want(s) to wield more power than they can by directly convincing other individuals to direct their donations, even when they (illegally) offer to and do reimburse other individuals for their donations.

When you are having to funnel donations via individuals (legally or not), the number of individuals often matters more than the amount of available funding. (And, that’s a good thing, even for unions.)

Moore noted that the initiative passed by Montana is similar to a law passed in Hawaii earlier this year that classified corporations as “artificial persons” who do not have a constitutional right to make political donations.

(from the article)

There’s a legislative strategy that could work, but we’ll see if leaders of the new congress can execute.

Impeachment proceedings are not a large part of that. Denying executive appointments or being part of a government shutdown over budget issues is also not going to be seen as action.

I agree. Among the things the Rs have been good at are closing ranks and obstructing process. There’s no way 11-13 of them decide to remove someone the R President still supports. While I do think there should be some level of congressional investigation, I hope the new Congress focuses on passing legislation that will benefit the people if passed, and hurt the popularity of Rs (and especially MAGA) if vetoed.

The evidence collected (and conclusions reached) as part of congressional investigation could be handed over to the DOJ (if it is ever independent from the executive person, again) or State AGs or both. But, even a 56/44 Senate is not going to pass a vote to remove.

AP hasn’t called Sec. State or House D2, but they are not looking good. I was expecting a R sweep, but I was really really wanting to get rid of Cotton.

EDIT: Sorry, I lost the thread context. The above was about my state of Arkansas (where Rs are going to sweep).

Great! More blue in the South can only be good. I hope the Ds down here can focus on Working-class issues. If we could get a generation of blue-collar workers (incl. farmers and ranchers) that don’t automatically vote R “for economic reasons”, we might also see some movement on other attitudes.

As an Arkansan, I was really hoping we’d get rid of Traitor Cotton, but it was not to be. We’ve got a lot of misogynists (“I don’t hate women, I just believe they should never be in leadership above a man.”) and Cotton still resonates with many of the people that voted him in the first time. I voted against Lincoln in the primaries because of how she fucked with ACA / Obamacare, but I’ve never liked Cotton.

Yeah, there’s a significant limit on what lawmaking can be done with an adversarial President. I think one potentially effective strategy is to pass legislation that is good for the country as a while, but where a Presidental veto would also weaken public opinion of the opposition. If there’s no veto it’s a total win. If it is vetoed, democrats make it part of their campaign strategies in 12-18 months.

Investigative and budgetary powers can also still be used, but they are less flashy and can play negatively in the media. If a D congress is seen as doing nothing but investigating Rs and shutting down the government, there might not be a D congress in 2 years.

Well, while agree that’s some fuckery going on there, in my county the early voting location (only one in the county) is never open on election day (when there are many other locations open).

While I appreciate that democrats in general are “for they/them”, it’s nice to actually see a they/them take seat of power in government.

And the first black woman governor, I think.

It wasn’t even close, either. :(

I was really hoping Schoffner could displace Traitor Cotton.

THANK you. The punchline was right there.

Even tho both are AMAB, a trans woman’s biology is quite different from a cis male biology. I mean, the whole reason HRT works is because is biology. I don’t have numbers to back this up, but I think medication and surgical history are much more significant factors than gender-assigned-at-birth, those I can see the presence or absence of sex-differentiated organs (both internal and external) could be as relevant as surgical history.

Anyway “trans women are biological males” is certainly wrong, and it is mostly likely a “dog whistle” version of “gender transition is a myth”. And, while “trans women are women” might not be full of every possible nuance, as a 4-word phrase it is accurate enough for me.

I always enjoyed opening them as a kid. The pop was just as satisfying as a jack in the box, plus in a few minutes there’d be hot biscuits.

Make sure the pieces are styled to remind one of necessary body parts, too. (Tho, operation was a bit “metaphorical” with things like “water on the knee”.)

I remember reading a story about someone that called 911 from their car thinking they had been shot and their brain was leaking out. Turned out some biscuits had violently popped, threw one at the back of their head, and when it hit they instinctively grabbed for it, and were holding the biscuit against their head, convinced it was their brain matter.

It was purported as true at the time, but I have a lot of doubts – probably just one of the many urban legends that got passed around last century.

If there’s no choice in this, it is bad. If “servers” are allowed to opt-in, and users are interrupted with a warning before posting on a “server” that has changed the setting, it’s possibly good.

I know Discord messages have never been secure, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a place people treated as private. Suddenly making messages accessible is like replacing all the bathroom stall dividers with transparent partitions: never was secure from a real threat, but there was a heightened expectation of privacy.

There are a lot of fandoms and communities and support groups with the intent to be public and having those indexed by your favorite search index will bring value, just like public web fora of the past and reddit (even ex-Twitter) before extreme monetization and slopification. But, changing any shared information or thoughts from inaccessible to accessible is virtually guaranteed to cause harm via unwanted disclosure and those harm could be irreparable and impossible to balance with the benefits of accessibility.

This news is mixed, with a side of anxiety. I’m not really sure what’s going to show up in my Discord history.

Yeah, I used to get nuts, but I go through them quickly, easily eating more calories at a faster rate than if I get grabbed some Cheetos^™.

Now, I air-pop my own popcorn. The additional effort is a helpful chance to ask myself if I really want to snack, and a full half cap of kernels (which is a lot of popped corn) and as much EVOO as I care to dose it with is still a lot fewer calories than I would get from nuts, and it takes longer to eat.