Life of Wry

I didn’t let Peter and Maya know this, but I sat through our whole zoom call last night on the verge of tears. Not sad tears. It’s not like anything happened during this zoom call to warrant tears, but I was just so damn happy. Happy to be playing a pub quiz with them (it’s a thing we do), happy to watch them eating a dinner that looked great (they had made chicken shwarma w/ zadziki and pickled onions, and at some point shared a beer out of the can), and happy to get a glimpse of their new apartment. Peter gave us a brief zoom tour.. a new TV, a new rug, etc. They were sitting at the IKEA table they’d assembled a few weeks ago and look to have accumulated a lot of both essential items and decorative items. It looked very cozy. I sensed some pride in what they’d put together, the two of them.

The picture is a fuzzy, dark screen shot (best I can do on the sly) and shows Maya and Peter discretely conferring on an answer. They’ll go on to soundly defeat us (19 to 12, which also makes me happy).

I was absolutely certain of 8 (out of 30!) answers last night, 6 of which were correct. Lol. Jim, as usual came through. And yet.. P&M way outplayed us.

~~~

In other news: I applied for Social Security tonight. Turning the big 7-0 in January. Free money arrives starting in either Feb or Mar. I’m pretty stoked about this.

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In terrible political news, the dems caved on the shut down and, an hour ago, the Senate moved to re-open the gov.

Says Ezra Klein:

Shutdowns are an opportunity to make an argument, and the country was just starting to pay attention. If Trump wanted to cancel flights over Thanksgiving rather than keep health care costs down, I don’t see why Democrats should save him from making his priorities so exquisitely clear. And I worry that Democrats have just taught Trump that they will fold under pressure. That’s the kind of lesson he remembers.

Says Rick Wilson:

As always, Democratic elected officials crave political death.

They are the all-time champions of snatching defeat out of the slavering jaws of victory at the last possible second, the most deeply committed gamblers when they’ve been told the cards are marked, the deck is stacked, the house is crooked, and the dealer is in on the con. 

Last night, eight “moderate” Democrats got played. 

Conned. Rooked. Pantsed. Pumped and dumped. Rode hard and put away wet. 

It was a colossal leadership failure, and Chuck Schumer should resign as Minority Leader immediately if he had a shred of honor or shame. 

And by the way, Schumer may be voting “no,” but this travesty happened because he wanted it to happen. 

If Schumer were Mitch McConnell, he’d tell these Senators that supporting Trump (because that’s what this is) will lead to their immediate removal from committees, elimination of their staff down to minimal levels, taking away their “hideaway” offices, and a portfolio of other large and small cruelties. Cocaine Mitch, say what you will, was stronger as a Minority Leader with his caucus than Chuck Schumer was as Majority Leader.

[..]

The Republicans cannot believe their luck. They get to end the shutdown, blame it on Democrats, and go back to the MAGA base and say, “We killed Obamacare at last!”

[..]

Oh, for all this sacrifice, you got a vote.

You handed Donald Trump and the GOP a 2026 lifeline for a single show vote, one you know the House will kill and Trump will veto.

Oh, bra-vo.

[..]

Democrats will get no credit for this.

None. Zero. Zip.

The shutdown was Donald Trump’s stinkbomb, with Mike Johnson and John Thune holding the same reeking tarball. Now? The Democrats get to wear it, too. They went from principled fighters to collaborators. 

[..]

Base demoralization.

Democratic voters had a great night last Tuesday. 

Obviously, Chuck Schumer’s eight proxies decided to ignore the winning message and decided to rescue a Republican-made crisis and get…nothing. 

No policy win, no accountability, no political scalp. That breeds “why do we even vote for these people?” energy…which is poison in a cycle where turnout is king.

It was the equivalent of telling everyone who has worked, marched, organized, voted, and donated in the last year, “Nah, never mind. Turns out we mean, ‘Yes, King Donald.’”

[..]

Media “both sides” laundering.

By helping end the shutdown, Democrats give the Beltway press a way to say, “See? Washington can work!” That muddies the key message that Republicans caused this disaster and should be punished for it. Every poll blamed the GOP. Every. Damn. Poll.

Now? “Democrats end their shutdown. Republicans relieved over bipartisan compromise.

The MAGA Civil War gets delayed. 

This shutdown was exposing the internal GOP clown show. 

But if Democrats save them, it lets the vulnerable Rs and the leadership live another day. “See? We got it done.” Democrats accidentally stabilize the very people who created the crisis.

Hostage-taking is now validated.

Once Democrats show they’ll pay the ransom to spare the country pain, Republicans learn the obvious lesson: do it again.