House votes to approve debt ceiling deal, on to the Senate

I concluded No Labels could field third-party candidate next year by telling my readers to "Stay tuned for June, when I plan on writing about the debt ceiling tomorrow, after the House of Representatives votes on the measure. That should be interesting." That happened last night, as WUSA9 reported US House approves debt ceiling package to avoid default.

With the House vote of 314-117, the bill now heads to the Senate with passage expected by week's end.

That's a good summary of the results. Reuters presented the highlights of the debate leading up to the vote in House passes debt ceiling bill with broad support. Don't worry about the lack of a preview image; the video will play. Besides, it would most likely have shown Kevin "Pickled Tongue" McCarthy and Elise Stefanik and I'd rather they not get the attention.

The bill to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt limit made it through the House of Representatives. The legislation now goes to the Senate, which must enact it and get it to President Joe Biden's desk by June 5 to avoid a crippling US default.

Play up the victory while you can, Pickled Tongue. This isn't the great win you think it is.

The Guardian had more on the vote and Democratic objections to the bill in US House passes bill to suspend debt ceiling just days before default.

The final House vote was 314 to 117, with 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats supporting the measure. In a potentially worrisome sign for the House Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, 71 members of his conference opposed the deal that he brokered with President Joe Biden.
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However, the concessions that McCarthy won fell far short for members of the freedom caucus, who had pushed for steeper spending cuts and much stricter work requirements for benefits programs. They belittled the debt ceiling compromise as a paltry effort to tackle the nation’s debt, which stands at more than $31tn.
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House freedom caucus members staged one last attempt to block the debt ceiling bill from advancing on Wednesday afternoon, when they opposed a procedural motion prior to the final vote. With 29 Republicans voting against the motion, McCarthy had to rely on Democratic assistance to advance the debt ceiling proposal. In the end, 52 Democrats voted for the motion, setting up the final vote and virtually ensuring the bill’s passage.

Both the support and the opposition were bipartisan, although more Democrats supported the compromise than Republicans. Just the same, the Democrats held their noses to vote yes.

Despite his sharp criticism of McCarthy and his Republican colleagues, Jeffries and the majority of the House Democratic caucus supported the debt ceiling bill. Although they lamented the spending cuts included in the bill, those Democrats argued the crucial importance of avoiding a default outweighed their personal concerns about the legislation.

“Our constitution makes perfectly clear the validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned,” said California representative Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic House speaker. “While I find this legislation objectionable, it will avert an unprecedented default, which would bring devastation to America’s families.”

But dozens of progressive lawmakers opposed the bill, attacking the spending cuts and new work requirements procured by McCarthy as an affront to the voters who elected them.

“Republicans never cared about reducing the deficit, only about forcing through their anti-working family policy priorities under the threat of a catastrophic default,” said Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “The deal they passed tonight proves that point, and I could not be part of their extortion scheme.”

Progressives in the Senate, including Senator Bernie Sanders, have echoed that criticism and indicated they plan to oppose the debt ceiling proposal, but the bill still appears likely to become law. The Senate Democratic majority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, has pledged to act swiftly to take up the bill once it has passed the House. The Senate Republican minority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has already indicated he plans to support the proposal as well.

One of those senators who oppose at least one provision of the bill is Tim Kaine of Virginia, who Alex Wagner interviewed on MSNBC while the House voted. He exclaimed 'Gimme a break!': Sen. Kaine vows to strip pipeline from debt ceiling deal.

Senator Tim Kaine talks with Alex Wagner about his objection to the inclusion of Mountain Valley Pipeline in the debt ceiling deal and his intention to remove that portion of the bill with an amendment when it comes to the Senate for consideration. While that piece of the deal is seen as a political concession to Joe Manchin, Kaine expresses particular frustration at not being consulted despite the pipeline affecting portions of his state, Virginia.

I don't like the pipeline, either, but I don't think Kaine's attempt to remove it from the bill will succeed. Every Republican plus Joe Manchin will vote against his amendment. If one more Senator joins them, it will fail. If they don't, I expect Vice President Kamala Harris will vote against it, breaking the tie, and it will still fail. After that happens, I also expect Kaine to vote yes on it, and it will go to President Biden to be signed. Crisis averted!

That written, I think this is the 2023 version of 2011's Satan Sandwich. I know it's necessary, but I don't have to like it.

No Labels could field third-party candidate next year

I think the debt ceiling deal is such a fast-moving target that anything I write about it now will have the shelf life of milk in the sun, so I'm following through on my promise to examine No Labels' effort to gain ballot access in next year's elections. I begin with Stephanie Ruhle and her guests on MSNBC's "The 11th Hour" discussing Independent group 'No Labels' could field third-party candidate in 2024.

The centrist group “No Labels” is ramping up efforts to put a third party candidate on the ballot in 2024, but Democrats say this could help Donald Trump.

I'm glad I waited until MSNBC uploaded this segment, as it gave someone associated with No Labels a chance to respond. I personally think Mark McKinnon is giving the most charitable explanation — "break glass in case of emergency," meaning to prevent a second Trump presidency if Biden is too ill to serve. If that actually ends up happening next summer before the Democratic Party convention, then the scenario I described in Marianne Williamson and Nikki Haley, two women running for President on International Women's Day might come to pass.

[I]f Biden actually becomes vulnerable to a primary challenge, he would attract someone like Gavin Newsom to enter the contest. That would be a mistake if TFG is the Republican nominee again, but maybe not if DeSantis is. I think Newsom and DeSantis match up better than either Newsom and Trump or Biden and DeSantis. Still, I don't think Biden will fail be be renominated if he actually runs. Party discipline is not only much stronger in the Democratic Party than the Republican Party, it's stronger than it was when i joined in 2004. As I wrote in 'SNL' shares scary news for Halloween 2022, "Re-nominating Joe Biden might be scary, but all the other potential candidates mentioned were even scarier, so back to Biden we go. I'm OK with that."

No Labels really doesn't need to do this, as the Democratic Party can take care of the problem itself, whether through new candidates entering the contest or the delegates nominating Kamala Harris instead. That would be a scenario right out of "Veep." Life imitating art!

CNN also examined this subject, which Third Way posted on its YouTube channel as CNN: Dems warn No Labels third-party ticket could split vote.

Third Way Senior Visiting Fellow Tim Ryan joins Michael Smerconish on CNN to explain why a No Labels third-party bid for the White House would re-elect Donald Trump.

That's an even more dire warning about what a No Labels candidate could do next year.

I stumbled across this subject by following up on Kyrsten Sinema becoming an independent. No Labels loves her and this effort helps her, too. No Labels will have ballot access in Arizona next year, including for U.S. Senate. Sinema now has a guaranteed spot waiting for her. Nice work, No Labels.

This concludes May 2023's blogging. Stay tuned for June, when I plan on writing about the debt ceiling tomorrow, after the House of Representatives votes on the measure. That should be interesting.

Russia issues arrest warrant for Lindsey Graham after banning 500 Americans from entering country

I found a shinier object than the debt ceiling deal, Russia issues arrest warrant for Sen. Lindsey Graham | NewsNation Now.

Russia’s Interior Ministry has issued an arrest warrant for Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, after he praised U.S. military aid to Ukraine as “the best money we’ve ever spent.” The South Carolina senator said Monday "it brings me immense joy" to know that his support for Ukraine “has drawn the ire of Putin’s regime.”

I have the same reaction to this news that I had to my ex-wife after she threatened to throw me out 30 years ago: "I can understand you throwing me out after doing the wrong thing. I don't understand you wanting to throw me out for doing the right thing." Russia is threatening to arrest Senator Graham after he did the right thing, so Russia in general and Vladimir Putin in particular can go fly a kite.

That's not to say that Graham may not be arrested in the future. One of the Trump investigations you should actually care about is Donald Trump's other 'perfect call' to the Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, which resulted in Graham and others being subpoenaed followed by a grand jury report. Graham may yet face charges for that. If so, I support it, as he would have been caught doing the wrong thing.

This comes after Russia adds Trump's political enemies to sanctions list, as MSNBC reported last week.

Russia has banned hundreds of U.S. citizens, including former President Obama, Joe Scarborough, Rachel Maddow and Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger from entering its territory. The Morning Joe panel discusses.

I used that for the preview image, the subject line, and the description, which connected to what I wrote about Graham and Raffensberger. Joe Scarborough blustered a bit much to be very informative. For that, I'm turning to Joy Reid and her guest, who said ‘Putin is a sending signal to MAGA base’: Fmr. CIA director on Putin's sanctions, including Maddow.

Vladimir Putin has signaled support for Donald Trump with new sanctions targeting Trump’s critics. Putin’s likely subsequent influence on the MAGA base is analyzed by former CIA director John Brennan who tells Joy Reid, "I find it hard to believe in this day and age, particularly after the bloody assault and plundering of Ukraine, that any American would look favorably upon Vladimir Putin[.]”

All of this confirms what I wrote seven years ago: Trump and Putin have a bad bromance. I have something more complementary to say to Graham and the 500+ Americans on Russia's sanction list: Congratulations, you have the right enemies.

The origin and history of Memorial Day

I wish my readers a somber Memorial Day. For this year's observance, I'm doing something I've done for other holidays, like Labor Day and Cinco De Mayo, but not for Memorial Day, the history of the holiday. I begin with CBS Morning's The origin of Memorial Day from 2014.

Memorial Day has become the "summer is here" holiday, but of course there's more to it. Historian Kenneth C. Davis, author of the popular "Don't Know Much" history series, joins "CBS This Morning: Saturday" with a history lesson on the most solemn of the 11 federal holidays.

When the segment aired nine years ago, there were only ten federal holidays, but it looks like the number was corrected after Juneteenth became a national holiday two years ago. I'm glad someone is keeping the description current.

Kenneth C. Davis made two points that connect to the next video, a veterans organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, established the original Decoration Day and the holiday took on much of its current character during and after World War I. Watch and listen to The history of Memorial Day in the U.S. from CBS News, in which Retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral and USAA senior vice president John Bird describes how another veterans organization, the American Legion, promoted the red poppy as a symbol of remembrance after World War I.

As the country remembers all the lives lost during times of war, the Poppy Wall of Honor becomes available online for the first time. Retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral and USAA senior vice president John Bird joins CBSN's Tanya Rivero to explain the history of Memorial Day and how Americans can use the digital wall to learn more.

As my readers could probably tell, the second video is from 2020. Media made during the pandemic has a very distinctive style.

I hope my readers enjoyed the history lessons and remember that this isn't just a day for grilling to kick off what I'm calling "American cultural summer."

I leave my readers with FOX 17 WXMI Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek U.S. Air Force Band: 'Taps' to end today's observance.

Examinations of Disney v. DeSantis from CNBC, Wall Street Journal, and Yahoo! Finance

I told my readers to "stay tuned" yesterday, "as I plan on updating the Disney-DeSantis feud as tomorrow's Sunday entertainment feature." It's tomorrow, so I'm following through on my program note with the financial channels' examination of the conflict, beginning with CNBC's Disney V. DeSantis: Why Florida’s Governor Took On America’s Media Giant.

The political feud between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney has been heating up for the last few months. In April 2023, Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit against DeSantis, accusing the governor of waging a ‘targeted campaign of government retaliation.” DeSantis, who’s preparing for a 2024 presidential campaign on the GOP ticket, says he isn’t backing down. So how did this all begin? And who will come out on top, once it’s all done?

I'm being a good environmentalist by recycling my reaction from last week.

[DeSantis is] "making himself look even worse while getting liberals to side with a big corporation. Nice trick, but not the one he's trying to pull."

Another trick he's pulling is continuing the trend that I saw developing more than a decade ago and summarized in DeSantis to sign replacement for Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney World's own government.

Aren't Republicans supposed to be the business-friendly party? Well, they were, but this split has been building for a decade since I wrote about how Newt Gingrich threw big business under the bus while campaigning against Mitt Romney. Ten years later, the rift between Republicans and big business has opened up wide enough for everyone to see. Who knows? Maybe the Republican Party or at least DeSantis will fall into it. Break out the popcorn.

At the time, I thought DeSantis and the Florida Republican Party hadn't fallen into the rift between them and big business. Now, I think they haven't just fallen, but jumped into the widening and deepening chasm. That calls for more popcorn.
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[The] observation that Republican primary voters are more interested in cultural issues than economic issues fits the shift in “the Republican Party’s base moving from country club to country” as CNN quoted Tom Davis, a former Republican representative from northern Virginia, in 2017. That's what I've been seeing since 2012.

[M]ajor U.S. political parties don't have consistent ideologies. They do, however, have consistent core interest groups and Gingrich is throwing one of them, the northeastern business interests, which have been with the GOP since it formed out of the remains of the Whigs in the 1850s, under the bus. That ended up being smart in the short run, given that he was angling for the votes of Southern populists, who don't care much for the northeastern business interests and haven't since before the founding of the republic.

DeSantis is hoping that will work in his favor.

Based on the polling data CNBC showed and the interviews with DeSantis supporters in Florida, it has so far. It remains to be seen how well it will continue to work now that Ron DeSantis is officially running for President against Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, and, should he actually get the nomination, in the general election.

Follow over the jump for videos by The Wall Street Journal and Yahoo! Finance on the subject.

Mehdi Hasan takes a deep dive into 'The truth about DeSantis’ awful record on covid', a pandemic and primary election update

Now that Ron DeSantis is officially running for President, his record is receiving the kind of scrutiny a candidate for the highest office in the land should get. In this case, Mehdi Hasan took a deep dive into The truth about DeSantis’ awful record on covid.

Ron DeSantis is officially in the 2024 race, leaning on his partisan and polarizing approach to the Covid-19 pandemic. But, Mehdi says, his actual Covid record is nothing to brag about, and we shouldn’t let DeSantis rewrite the history of the pandemic in the Sunshine State.

Mehdi has learned from Republicans, just as much as the radical right has learned from the radical left. In this case, he's following Karl Rove's strategy to attack your opponent's strengths. Good. He's subjecting Ron DeSantis's claims of success during the pandemic by asking "oh, really?" and "at what cost?" Let's look at the numbers. First, here are the top five states with most COVID-19 deaths according to the CDC.


Next, the top twelve U.S. States by population 2020 and 2022 from Wikipedia.


The top five states by official COVID-19 deaths and population are the same. The only difference is that Florida and New York switch places between third and fourth. But there are more important statistics, as Mehdi Hasan pointed out in his tweets promoting this video.

Don't let DeSantis gaslight you on Covid.

Florida has a higher per capita death rate than CA; has had a majority of its deaths since vaccines unlike CA & NYC; & a higher per capita death rate than other states with elderly populations.
I brought receipts:https://t.co/XAAyiNi1S6

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) May 27, 2023

Follow over the jump for his receipts.

Supreme Court weakens EPA authority to enforce Clean Water Act

I am recycling my reaction to the Supreme Court deciding in favor of West Virginia and against the EPA to begin today's post.

This is indeed bad news for fighting climate change and could be a precedent that constrains regulations by many branches of government. The good news is that hasn't happened yet...May we continue to be so lucky.

That luck is running out, as PBS NewsHour reported Supreme Court decision weakens EPA authority, scales back scope of Clean Water Act.

The Supreme Court has again weakened the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency. The case involved the EPA blocking an Idaho couple from building a house near a lake on their property, saying the construction would pollute water protected by the Clean Water Act. William Brangham discussed the case with Coral Davenport.

While the court voted unanimously in favor of the landowners, so that was almost certainly the correct outcome, the opinions supporting that decision are another matter. I am a scientist, not a lawyer, but I think it was possible that the EPA overstepped its authority in this case even with its prior power over wetlands. Instead, it has now lost its ability to regulate half the nation's wetlands. This is great for property owners, but not good for the environment.

The Supreme Court may further restrict the ability of the federal government to regulate in its next term, as Ali Velshi on MSNBC explained in Velshi: This single SCOTUS case could upend our entire regulatory system.

Under the Executive Branch, there are 15 departments, each of which is led by an appointed cabinet member. And within those departments, there are more than 400 distinct agencies and sub-agencies. This is the so-called “Administrative State” that the GOP has been pushing to reform for decades. These agencies, among other functions, are the regulatory bodies on which we rely in nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Last week, the Supreme Court accepted a case that has the potential to upend our governments entire regulatory system.

This could be really bad news, even though a decision is not likely to come for a year or so. I'll be following it, so stay tuned.

DeSantis DeClares he's running for President on Twitter

As expected, Ron DeSantis finally declared that he is running for the Republican nomination for President last night on Twitter. That didn't go so well, as Chris Hayes on MSNBC reported ‘Epic disaster’: DeSantis 2024 launch with Elon Musk on Twitter flops.

Remember that time Elon Musk unveiled the new Cybertruck, and when he went to demonstrate the vehicle's supposedly "bulletproof glass," two of the windows smashed? The Twitter rollout of the Ron DeSantis campaign went kinda like that.

LOL. The glitchy opening of the DeSantis-Musk Twitter space stole the show and made for an inauspicious opening to DeSantis's campaign.

PBS NewsHour put together a more serious segment explaining How DeSantis' campaign shapes the GOP presidential race.

The presidential race has a new big-name candidate as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially announced his run Wednesday. The Republican is a headline machine, shaping national fights over COVID policies, education and immigration. But he faces an uphill climb against former ally Donald Trump. Lisa Desjardins discussed the race with former Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who served in Congress with DeSantis.

That's a good summary and former Representative Carlos Curbelo at least made a good effort at answering "why Twitter?" PBS NewHour ignored the technical glitches. It was trying to be sober and impartial, which MSNBC certainly wasn't.

PBS NewsHour mentioned DeSantis's fight with Disney, so I turn to FiveThirtyEight, a now smaller part of ABC News, itself owned by Disney, which asked Does Ron DeSantis Have A Shot At Beating Trump?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is officially running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. What are his chances of winning the race?

The answer is still yes, better than any other candidate, but not a good one. Just the same, it's now officially a two-person race.

I'm sure I'll have lots more to write about the GOP primary in the coming year or so. Stay tuned and break out the popcorn.

Surprise! Kyrsten Sinema has moved to the left as an independent

I reacted to Kyrsten Sinema becoming an independent by writing "From now on, Voteview will plot Double-Doctor Sinema's ideological position with a black dot, just as it does for Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont." What I expected was that Sinema would move to the right and possibly down (more anti-establishment) on Voteview's two ideological dimensions once she untethered herself from the Democratic Party. That would be consistent with her previous behavior and On The Issue's characterization of her as "a Libertarian-Leaning Progressive", which she shares with her former colleague Tulsi Gabbard. Instead, she's moved left and up, as the images both above and below show.

Since becoming an independent, Kyrsten Sinema has moved from being the second most conservative Democrat to being left of the median Democrat in the Senate. She's also become more "establishment" than every other Senate Democrat. Surprise!

None of this has made a dent in perceptions of her, which seem rooted in her voting and other behavior while a Democrat, which placed her as the second most conservative Democrat in the U.S. Senate next to Joe Manchin, as shown below.


Both her critics on the left and within the Democratic Party and her supporters in groups like No Labels still think of her as a centrist who supports business interests, as More Perfect Union portrays in The Third Party Bid That Could Sabotage Trump and Biden.

A group calling themselves "No Labels" has suddenly emerged as a huge financial backer of Kyrsten Sinema.

They're also floating the idea of running Joe Manchin for President.

We dug into them, and found a whole lot of billionaires with a history of opposing democracy.

Moving left appears inconsistent with both her critics' and supporters' opinions of her. However, becoming more "establishment" (up along Voteview's second dimension) is another way to become more conservative and No Labels may be more interested in her being more supportive of "establishment" positions than in her staying in the center along the left-right axis. Also, Sinema may be trying to position herself to the left as a defensive move against the Democratic challenger. It remains to be seen how that works out.

On a related note, I should examine No Labels' effort to gain ballot access in next year's elections. Stay tuned.

Bright Sun Films presents 'Bankrupt — Bed Bath & Beyond', a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

It's been one month since Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy, which is just enough time for Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films to put together Bankrupt — Bed Bath & Beyond, the tale of the Retail Apocalypse I promised yesterday.

For nearly 50 years, Bed Bath and Beyond was at the top of their game, known across the industry as a "category killer", able to stand up to the largest companies in America like Walmart and Target just by their niche in the market. Millions of deal-hungry shoppers, wedding registries and college young adults shopped here and helped skyrocket the company into massive success with over 1,500 stores. But just as quickly as their rise, the retailer then fell on hard times. In under a decade, the company went from record sales, to bankruptcy and a total collapse of the brand. Join me today as I explore why this happened and document the final moments for a beloved retailer.

Jake's video makes for a good update to Company Man asks 'The Decline of Bed Bath & Beyond...What Happened?' — a tale of the Retail Apocalypse. I'm being a good environmentalist and recycling my reactions from there.

Company Man Mike compiled this list to explain what happened.

When I told my wife that I was writing a blog post about Bed Bath & Beyond, she immediately brought up how their weak online presence hurt them in competition with Amazon based on her personal shopping experience.

Jake went beyond Company Man Mike by pointing out how awful Bed Bad & Beyond's website was. His take on competition was different. Bed Bath & Beyond outlasted its most direct competition, Linens and Things, but wasn't able to survive competing with Amazon and discount brick-and-mortar chains like Walmart and Target, which I mentioned in February.

We haven't been in one of their stores since COVID-19 hit, but we've bought plenty through Amazon. On the other hand, I've gone into the nearest Target if only to pick up online orders, which I did when I had an eventful three days and two nights because of a severe storm knocking out my power, and my wife and I have had a lot of Target orders delivered to our house. Target is beating Bed Bath & Beyond both online and in the store...

And people noticed, enough so that CNBC warned that Bed Bath & Beyond is 'facing extinction' four years ago. CNBC ended up being right.

Returning to Company Man Mike's list, he noted that the problem with the turnaround plan wasn't the plan itself, but management's rushing it in its impatience to get it to work. I think that's a common problem with American businesses, particularly publicly traded ones that are driven by quarterly bottom lines. Speaking of public trading, this is the second time I've seen stock buybacks being a driver of debt since GNC's bankruptcy. I wrote then "I might see stock buybacks as a cause of cash flow problems more often as the pandemic-caused recession continues." That recession ended almost as soon as it began and we may be closer to another recession later this year, but that prediction still came true.

Jake noted how stupid a move that ended up being, as all that stock is now worthless.

I close by recycling the end of the last post on Bed Bath & Beyond.

That's the latest on the Retail Apocalypse. I expect I'll be returning to this topic between now and the end of June. If nothing else, Erik of Retail Archaeology will be covering the shutdown of stores in Arizona and posting videos, which I will share here. Stay tuned.