Author Archives: John Lusk

Tennessee House expels Democrats after gun-control protests – The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/04/06/tennessee-democrats-expulsion/

«Republicans in the House filed the resolutions Monday to oust Jones, Johnson and Pearson, saying the three lawmakers “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor” to the House.»

Oh, THOSE three brought dishonor to the House. I see.

The Monks Who Make Chartreuse Don’t Care About Your Fancy Cocktails – WSJ

«Sinkers has pushed alternatives such as the Golden Moon Ex Gratia, a Génépi liqueur, and Faccia Brutto’s Centerbe. The store has a handwritten note on those bottles letting customers know they could work as substitutes and Mr. McDonald says sales for the alternatives have picked up. “In two years you’ll probably have eight companies trying to knock that recipe off,” he says.»

https://www.wsj.com/articles/chartreuse-craft-cocktails-liqueur-french-monks-4c07df33?st=pwsdvdekvnbygv0&reflink=share_mobilewebshare

Expulsion vote thrusts Tennessee politics onto the national stage, could set precedent

Oh, I see. They’re being expelled for not protesting in the right way. The picture makes it all clear.

«“What they did was try to hold up the people’s business on the House floor instead of doing it the way that they should have done it, which they have the means to do,” Sexton said. “They actually thought that they would be arrested. And so they decided that them being a victim was more important than focusing on the six victims from Monday. And that’s appalling.”

House leadership has never overridden a member’s election for simply violating House rules.»

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/05/tennessee-house-lawmaker-expulsion-vote-future-of-gop/70081721007/


Update: guess who didn’t get expelled?

Why journalists can’t quit Twitter – by Casey Newton

https://www.platformer.news/p/why-journalists-cant-quit-twitter

«It may be that Twitter is immortal after all.»

Along with the concept of a tipping point in Iraq.

And the fear/expectation that the U.S. can simply wipe out another country’s economy with sanctions.

It’s never that easy. We’re (almost) never that close to dramatic change.

All of this “we’re about to (blank)!” is just hogwash.

(Nevertheless, I’ve still moved off Twitter. Partly to Mastodon and partly just off.)

Wisconsin 2023 ballot measures – Ballotpedia

I see a lot of posts on Mastodon from people happily focusing on the win by Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal state supreme court justice. A LOT.

And, yes, that’s a great thing. Positive national implications.

And exactly one post about the ballot measures, which were also passed. Which inspired me to do a little googling.

https://ballotpedia.org/Wisconsin_2023_ballot_measures

Wow, this seems pretty poisonous. Enshrining cash bail in the state constitution and making it harsher than before, if I understand correctly. Why is that necessary? How will it not disproportionately harm Black people in application? Was that just to drive conservative turnout up? Why did they pass?

https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/fast-facts-the-questions-on-wisconsins-spring-2023-ballot/

This just seems like Racism Without Racists, which is the title of a book by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (which I won’t link because three links is too many).

Opinion | Republicans Can’t Agree on a Path Out of Their Own Debt Crisis – The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/03/opinion/editorials/debt-ceiling-mccarthy-2023.html

«The ceiling is a useless legislative construct that lets lawmakers refuse to borrow money to pay for the deficit spending they already approved. If Congress doesn’t raise it, the government goes into default and can’t make payments on its obligations, including interest on Treasury bondsSocial Security payments and other essential spending, which would quickly crash the U.S. economy. It generally comes up as an issue only when Republicans control at least one house of Congress while a Democrat is in the White House; Republicans are not known to express concern about deficits caused when a president of their own party cuts taxes for the rich.

….

But Mr. Biden says he won’t let the government and the economy be blackmailed, and he has adamantly rejected the demand that he discuss terms for raising the ceiling. He says it has to be raised cleanly, with no conditions, just as it was three times during the Trump administration

There’s more, but I’d have to copy 3/4 of the thing, so just go read it.