Just One More Thing...

Paul Waldman's mostly right here, but would be nice if he'd note the ongoing and relentless efforts from the Cult of the Savvy to normalize any and every action by the GOP while leading the charge against even the slightest efforts from Democrats to enact humane policies while adhering to both rules and customs (while also having to placate people like Man of La Manchin, etc.). Oh, and Dems are perpetually in disarray. Just ask Politico. 

It's been an uneven playing field since at least the conservative reaction to the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the War on Poverty (and you could probably go back to the New Deal or further if you want).

Biden's unlikely to break the trend, and whoever tries will face the bottled up combination of wrath and glee from the Cult since they'll finally be able to Both Sides© the narrative to their heart's content. 

Just saying. 

Have a good weekend. 

And He's Allegedly On Our Side

Man of La Manchin

Manchin wrote that because of the challenges posed by the nation's historically high inflation rate as well as the unpredictable nature of the pandemic — particularly as it pertains to the rapidly emerging variants of the virus — Democrats should not "rush" to use spending as a fix for the nation's current woes.

Historically high inflation is simply false. 

And the storm cut a pretty massive swath of destruction from the Gulf to the Mid Atlantic to the Eastern Corridor. What the country needs -- now -- is immediate funding for repairs/restoration, and additional funds for long term investment in things like hardening the grid, which might not prevent future storms (welcome to the effects of global warming), but could offset some of the worst consequences and facilitate repairs when damage occurs. 

By the way, the money we were spending on the Afghanistan debacle can pay for improvements. 

Christ, between Manchin, Sinema...and Lieberman, back in the day (he refused to hold hearings on Katrina incompetence)... 

Obviously...

It was a good thing the political press decided the defining issue in 2016 was Hillary Clinton's email management, and not, say, white supremacy/rage.  

Swelter In Place

First, still feeling unbelievably lucky. My power did not go out, and there's no damage to the building.

I've also got hot/cold running water and working plumbing. 

In 2008 and 2012 I lost power after storms, and really appreciate the work the line crews did then and are doing now restore it. The outage map shows some progress here in BR. 

And in the spirit of, I dunno, whatever, am going to assume that, if for no other reason than outages stop the meter from running, Entergy wants to restore things as fast and as safely as possible. 

That said, once the immediate crisis has passed, it would be an excellent time to discuss hardening/modernizing the grid. 

Would make for good infrastructure. 

And would make for a lot less suffering. 

Right now even people with portable generators are dealing with miserable heat and humidity. 

Portable generators will run lights, fans, and maybe keep food in the fridge from spoiling, but not a whole lot else. 

Standby generators run more stuff, but you pay -- a lot -- for installation and use. 

Hell, I'm so old I remember the outcry when Jimmy Carter wore a sweater during a televised White House speech to emphasize energy conservation. 

But these days the better, faster, cheaper private market wants people to freeze in the winter and boil in the summer, even in the absence of storms (like in Texas). 

Doesn't have to be that way.

Back Tomorrow

 Am OK after the storm -- have power, thank heavens -- but am tired, so taking a rest day. 

NOLA was hit pretty hard, but the levees mostly held. 

Points south and east of here are in rough shape. 

Hoping for as speedy a recovery as possible for those who were hit...