Arguably the most effective Speaker in history, and got an incredible amount of maximally progressive legislation through the House on the thinnest of margins again and again and again. There’s a reason Republicans hated (and feared) her so much.

This reminds me of when the Ukraine blackmail story first broke. Even before the impeachment push, it seemed like the story was far more riveting – entirely because of the whistleblower angle. I remember thinking at the time that if all the transcripts being shown on the news with the reactions and dramatic highlighter effects had instead been a public statement by Trump that “yeah, we’re withholding weapons until Zelensky gives us dirt on Biden,” the entire thing would have blown over in a week. Maybe this could be similar?

(You know what else has the cachet of secrecy and coverup? The Epstein files.)

I’m wary of the hype over this gambit because it’s been tried several times in the recent past and has always ended with a few key legislators caving and returning to the capitol for no real concessions. Hopefully they realize that people are not in the mood for token resistance (and Abbott’s threats against them will steel their spines).

27%

I voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary. In hindsight, he would have been obliterated, McGovern-style. Clinton and Biden treated him with kid gloves, but in a general election all of his questionable past – his unemployment, his wife’s involvement with that college financing thing, his honeymoon in the USSR, the rape essay – would have come out and been hammered relentlessly by Republicans (and a good chunk of Democrats).

I feel like doing that automatically would just encourage instances to defederate if their larger communities didn’t like the cut of another instance’s jib. The culture clash would be harder to tolerate if content were mixed by default like that.

Maybe an easier way for end users to do it themselves? Like making a feed of multiple communities under one topic.

Democratic presidents since LBJ:

• Jimmy Carter
• Bill Clinton
• Barack Obama

Which ones had a bigger record of progressive economic accomplishments than Biden? Closest one is Obama, but his Recovery Act was less than half the size of Biden’s Rescue/Infra/IRA/CHIPS packages. Biden was also more strongly pro-union and pro-regulation, and accomplished his many wins in half the time and with far narrower majorities in both houses.

This would be a compelling argument if the Biden administration hadn’t been the most economically progressive since LBJ.