Charles Schumer

  • Quick Update on NY Terror Attack and Media Bias in Reporting It

    By
    Wednesday, November 1, 2017 1 Charles Schumer, Donald Trump, Homeland Security, ISIS, Islamic terrorism, Lone Wolf and Inspired Terrorism, Terrorism in US homeland, Trump Tweets, ZipDialog Roundup of News Beyond the Front Page No tags Permalink

    ◆ Deadly ISIS attack on innocents near 9/11: European-style vehicle attacks on soft targets come to America

    • Was a deliberate terror attack, according to FBI. Links to ISIS, Islamic extremism
    • Planned this attack in lower Manhattan for weeks and, according to sources
    • Followed ISIS instructions on conducting a truck attack “to a t”
    • The perp,  Sayfullo Saipov, is out of surgery and expected to survive. Said he was “proud of attack,” according to one authority.
    • Left behind a handwritten note in Arabic which says, “The Islamic State will endure forever” (ABC7 New York, link here)
    • Perp had apparently been on the authorities’ radar for some time
    • He came into the US on a “diversity” visa, a law sponsored by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to ensure more immigrants from Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America

    ◆ Media bias: Here is the New York Times front page on the web, November 1, noon

    See if you can find the missing words

    That’s right: they completely omit ISIS, Jihad, “Islamic Extremism.” 

    They simply use the word “terror,” as they do with the shootings in Las Vegas.

    They omit the political/religious motivation.

    ◆ Chuck Schumer says “don’t politicize” this incident

    ◆ Trump issues a flurry of tweets

     

     

    ◆ More as we learn more

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    Hat Tip to

    ◆ x

    ◆ x

  • ZipDialog Roundup for Sunday, October 8

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    Sunday, October 8, 2017 0 Charles Schumer, Disasters, Donald Trump, ZipDialog Roundup of News Beyond the Front Page , , , , Permalink

    Articles chosen with care. Your comments welcomed.
    Linked articles in bold purple

    ◆ Good News/Bad news on the Hurricane front: Nate missed highly-populated New Orleans, smacked the Mississippi Gulf Coast near Biloxi

    Comment: NOLA and surrounding areas are below sea level, so they need levees and pumping stations in the best of times. The pumps have not always been working properly but most of them seem to be okay this time around. Thank goodness.

    Here’s the report from the local NOLA paper:

    The people at FEMA must be thinking, “Texas. . . Florida . . . Puerto Rico . . . and now Mississippi.

    This is the Book of Job.”

    ◆ Pres. Trump calls Chuck Schumer and asks the Democrat to broker a healthcare deal (Washington Post)

    Frustrated by Republican inaction on health care, President Trump tweeted Saturday that he had reached out to the Senate Democratic leader in hopes of brokering a deal for a “great HealthCare Bill.”

    Trump said that he had called Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday to ask whether Democrats would work with him on health care — and Trump indicated that he had not been entirely rebuffed. –Washington Post

    Comment: What does a move like this tell us about Trump?

    1. He’s frustrated with Mitch McConnell, John McCain, and a “do nothing” Senate.
    2. He is transactional, not relational or ideological, on many issues. Healthcare is one.
      • When he’s against Trump, he’s “Crying Chuck.” Not this time, but just wait.
    3. He’s a deal maker who knows that you often need to keep pressure on both your allies and adversaries.
      • The pressure on the Republicans comes from this outreach to Schumer.
      • The pressure on the Democrats is that Trump is letting Obamacare meltdown.

    ◆ Violent Antifa thugs plan to deface Columbus statues on Columbus Day (PJ Media)

    Comment: Dean Vernon Wormer has a word for them:

     

    ◆ VP Pence leaves Indianapolis Colts game before it starts after SF 49ers take a knee during the national anthem (Indianapolis Star)

    Comment: I have said from the beginning that Trump picked a winning fight here.

    • First, most voters agree with him.
    • Second, all his base agrees with him.
    • Third, he attacked the NFL at a time it was on the ropes. He can take credit for the decline, some attributable to other issues (such as fans being troubled by player brain injuries).
    • Finally, protests like this cannot last forever. As they slowly ebb (because players think they’ve made their point or because their endorsements dry up), Trump can say “I won.”

    In any case, it’s smart politics for Trump to wrap himself in the flag while others symbolically stomp on it.

     

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  • ZipDialog Roundup for Wednesday, October 4

    By
    Wednesday, October 4, 2017 0 Charles Schumer, Disasters, Donald Trump, France, Islamic terrorism, Nancy Pelosi, Terrorism in Europe, ZipDialog Roundup of News Beyond the Front Page , , , , Permalink

    Articles chosen with care. Your comments welcomed.
    Linked articles in bold purple

    ◆ Pres. Trump heads to Las Vegas. If he’s wise, he’s stick to one role, that of “head of state.” This should be a journey of grief and remembrance, not politics.

    At times, the President is asked to speak for all his countrymen, to express our grief. Pres. Reagan set the standard with his speech after the Challenger Disaster. Actually, he did it twice, once from the Oval Office that night (the speech where he said the astronauts had waved goodbye to us this morning and “slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God”) and then several days later, with a sad, powerful elegy at their memorial service (below).

    For a wonderful memory of that speech, here’s Peggy Noonan talking about it–and being asked by Reagan to write it. (Washington Post)

    Comment: Of course, there was nothing controversial about that event, as there is after each mass shooting.

    Each shooting raises important political issues, always about guns and sometimes about mental health, racism, and other issues.

    But, for the sake of the country, put aside the controversies for one more day, Mr. President.

    And do the same, Mr. Schumer, Ms. Clinton, and Ms. Pelosi.

    Then return to the fray.

    ◆ We know the Las Vegas killer planned meticulously, but we still don’t know his motive (Washington Post)

    Comment: The absence of a clearly-stated motive raises questions. The most important is whether there is anything to ISIS’ repeated statements that it was behind the shooting. Most experts discount that claim, but they also note it is unusual for ISIS to repeat its claims, as it has in this case.

    ◆ Today in hypocrisy:  Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), popular with pro-life movement, urged abortion in affair, texts suggest (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

    The congressman has been lauded by the Family Research Council, for his stance on abortion, as well as for family values, generally. He also has been endorsed by LifePAC, which opposes abortion rights, and is a member of the House Pro-Life Caucus, an affiliation that is often cited by his office. –Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    ◆ The FCC is considering Net Neutrality Again and asked for comments. They got plenty . . . from robots (Vice/Motherboard)

    The Trump administration and its embattled FCC commissioner are on a mission to roll back the pro-net neutrality rules approved during the Obama years, despite the fact that most Americans support those safeguards.

    But there is a large number of entities that do not: telecom companies, their lobbyists, and hordes of bots.

    Of all the more than 22 million comments submitted to the FCC website and through the agency’s API found that only 3,863,929 comments were “unique,” according to a new analysis by Gravwell, a data analytics company. The rest? A bunch of copy-pasted comments, most of them likely by automated astroturfing bots, almost all of them—curiously—against net neutrality.

    That means 80% Of all “Net Neutrality” comments were sent by bots, all on one side.

    ◆ Today in Islamist terror: France passes a tough, new counter-terrorism law

    • Anti-terror law described here at BBC. One feature: easier to search homes and jail individuals without judge’s approval
    • Terrorists tried and failed to detonate gasoline bombs in a wealthy Paris neighborhood; they were captured. According to The Telegraph:

    Judicial sources said the explosive device included two gas canisters inside the building in the affluent 16th arrondissement of western Paris and two outside, some of them doused with petrol and wired to connect to a mobile phone. It appears there were several unsuccessful attempts to detonate the canisters.

    The five arrested over the Paris bomb, men in their thirties, are known to authorities and one is on an intelligence services list of “radicalised” people, which includes the names of potential Islamist militants. –Telegraph

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    Hat Tip to

    ◆ Michael Lipson for the net-neutrality bots story

  • ZipDialog Roundup for Thursday, September 14

    By
    Thursday, September 14, 2017 3comments Charles Schumer, Congress, DACA, Democratic Party, Disasters, Donald Trump, Harvard, Healthcare, House of Representatives, Illegal Immigration, Immigration, Japan, Kim Jong Un, Medical Marijuana, Nancy Pelosi, North Korea, Nuclear Proliferation, Partisanship, Senate, South Korea, Trump Administration, University of Chicago, US-Mexican Wall, Yale, ZipDialog Roundup of News Beyond the Front Page , , , , Permalink

    Articles chosen with care. Your comments welcomed.
    Linked articles in bold purple

    ◆ Dreamer Deal Possible: Chuck, Nancy and Donald agree to work on deal to avoid deportations (Washington Post)

    The border wall is not included.

    Democratic leaders announced late Wednesday that they agreed with President Trump to pursue a legislative deal that would protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation and enact border security measures that don’t include building a physical wall. –Washington Post

    Republican leaders are on the outside, looking in.

    And some of Trump’s base is furious.

    In a sign of the potential trouble for the president, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), an immigration hard-liner and early Trump supporter, wrote that if reports of a potential immigration deal are accurate, the president’s “base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible.” –Washington Post

    ◆ Post-Irma tragedy: Eight patients died in south Florida nursing home without power during sweltering heat (Orlando Sun-Sentinel)

    Police have launched an investigation.

    Comment: One larger policy issue: Why doesn’t Florida require nursing homes to have generators?

    The Sun-Sentinel reports that 150 nursing homes (out of 700 in the state) are still without power.

    ◆ North Korea threats to reduce US to “ashes and darkness” and “sink Japan” (Reuters)

    Regional tensions have risen markedly since the reclusive North conducted its sixth, and by far its most powerful, nuclear test on Sept. 3.

    The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously on a U.S.-drafted resolution and a new round of sanctions on Monday in response, banning North Korea’s textile exports that are the second largest only to coal and mineral, and capping fuel supplies.

    The North reacted to the latest action by the Security Council, which had the backing of veto-holding China and Russia, by reiterating threats to destroy the United States, Japan and South Korea. –Reuters

    Comment: Meanwhile, there are reports North Korea is preparing another nuclear test.

    ◆ US News and World Report College Rankings

    Familiar names, great schools. They compete hard against each other and are not just tops in the US, they are tops in the world (along with Oxford and Cambridge)

    Two Comments: First, students can get a great education at many schools. The important thing is to find one that “fits.” Fit depends on your needs, your interests, and your personality, as well as the school’s strengths and weaknesses and the niches it provides for students.

    Second, I don’t see how you can say Harvard ranks above or below, say, Stanford or Chicago. I think you can say that some schools rank in the very top-tier and others are a half-step back. Even that depends on whether you are interested in biology or French literature.

    ◆ You knew it was coming: CEO of Equifax called to testify before Congress (The Hill)

    Prediction: Kabuki Theater. The CEO will be contrite, the Congressmen angry.

    The CEO will say his company takes this very seriously, is really working on these problems, and will help those affected.

    The Representatives will posture for the cameras, expressing the public’s genuine anger.

    Meanwhile, this extraordinary piece of news about Equifax’s internal security:

     

    ◆ Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduces bill to make it easier to conduct medical marijuana research (The Verge)

    The Marijuana Effective Drug Study Act of 2017 would streamline the process for approving research and increase the national marijuana quota for medical and scientific research. Marijuana has been shown to have potential health benefits such as treating seizures and managing pain. –The Verge

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    Hat Tip to

    ◆ Mike Lipson for the Equifax BBC story

  • ZipDialog Roundup for Wednesday, September 6

    By
    Wednesday, September 6, 2017 0 Barack Obama, Charles Schumer, Congress, DACA, Democratic Party, Disasters, Donald Trump, Dumb Laws, Dumb Rules, Economic Growth, Housing Market, Illegal Immigration, Kim Jong Un, Nancy Pelosi, North Korea, Nuclear Proliferation, Obama Administration, Trump-Russia Investigation, US Government Budget, US-Mexican Wall, ZipDialog Roundup of News Beyond the Front Page , Permalink

    Articles chosen with care. Your comments welcomed.
    Linked articles in bold purple

    ◆ Hurricane Irma, with 185 mph winds, predicted to turn due north.

    Forecasts show it moving up Florida’s heavily-populated East Coast.

    Evacuations expected soon

    ◆ The company that commissioned the unverified Trump-Russia dossier is stonewalling Senate investigators (Fox News)

    The company, Fusion GPS, has no attorney-client privilege but it is simply giving the committee thousands of blank pages.

    Comment: Delay, delay, delay and hope the Senate gets tired of the investigation. It won’t. They will threatened contempt, which Sessions’ DOJ, unlike Holder’s, will take to court.

    ◆ Trump’s 6-month pause on DACA expiration leaves everything in Congress’ hands (Washington Post)

    The Democrats are united, so far. The Republicans are split, naturally.

    Comment: Don’t know if the D’s will stick together if funding the wall is part of the ultimate deal.

    Don’t know if the Congress can act on this at all.

    If they don’t, it will be a problem for Pres. Trump to simply extend DACA because the original act by Pres. Obama won’t pass constitutional muster (as Obama himself noted for years before he actually did it).

    ◆ Trump sides with D’s on debt ceiling, throwing R plans into chaos (Washington Post)

    Wants three-month extension plus Harvey relief, agreeing with Schumer and Pelosi, just as Ryan was panning the idea.

    ◆ US now knows the name of North Korea’s top military scientist, heading Kim’s programs (Washington Post)

    Comment: That doesn’t matter unless they have a way to “neutralize” him. Meanwhile, he’ll be living underground.

    ◆ How local housing restrictions strangle the US economy. Op-ed in the NYT, of all places

    If you live in a coastal city like New York, Boston or San Francisco, you know that the cost of housing has skyrocketed. This housing crisis did not happen by chance: Increasingly restrictive land-use regulations in the last half-century contributed to it.

    But what appears to be several local housing crises is actually a much more alarming national crisis: Land-use restrictions are a significant drag on economic growth in the United States. –Chang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti, op-ed in the NYT

    Comment: So obvious, even the NYT editorial page noticed, perhaps because New York City is one of the worst cities for housing restrictions.

    Uncertain if they will ever discover which political party controls all those cities with heavy restrictions.

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  • Dead: Two More Republican Senators says “No” to the Revised Healthcare bill

    By
    Monday, July 17, 2017 1 Charles Schumer, Democratic Party, Election 2018, Mitch McConnell, Obamacare and Repeal-Replace, Republican Party, US Healthcare System No tags Permalink

    This evening’s declarations by Utah’s Mike Lee and Kansas’ Jerry Moran, plus earlier statements by Maine’s Susan Collins and Kentucky’s Rand Paul, means there are four declared “no” votes. (Brief story here in the Washington Post.)

    With only 52 Republicans in the Senate and all Democrats and independents voting “no,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cannot get to the minimum 50 he needs.

    ♦♦♦♦♦♦

    What happens now?

    The big questions now:

    • What happens to the American health insurance system, which is now melting down under the weight of Obamacare’s malfunctions and heavy subsidies?
    • What kind of patchwork reforms will be put in place this year?
      • Democrats will want a huge say, but rank-and-file Republicans won’t like that and may try to block the Democrats’ proposals.
    • Who pays the political price for this fiasco?
      • Who is hurt more politically? The Democrats by the Obamacare mess they inflicted on the nation? Or the Republicans by their failure to fulfill their repeated promise to repeal and replace it?
      • What happens to the split between moderate Democrats and progressive single-payer advocates?
      • What happens to the split between modern Republicans and more conservative legislators who want to roll back entitlements?

  • ZipDialog Roundup for Monday, July 10

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    Monday, July 10, 2017 0 Charles Schumer, Donald Trump, Health Insurance, Healthcare, Iran, Iraq, ISIS, Islamic terrorism, Obamacare and Repeal-Replace, Popular Culture, Trump Family, ZipDialog Roundup of News Beyond the Front Page , , Permalink

    Articles chosen with care. Comments welcomed. Linked articles in bold purple

    ◆ Healthcare repeal-and-replace still on life support as Senate returns after break. They got an earful–very little of it good.

    Comment: Obamacare is in lousy shape financially, and there are plenty of folks unhappy with the coverage, deductibles, and choices of insurers and networks. Pres. Obama’s promises that you could keep your doctor and your health plan were false–and he knew they were false when he made them, but he had to do so to sell the program. It passed on a party-line vote and many of the Democrats who voted for it were themselves voted out of office.

    So, why can’t the Republicans get rid of it, as they repeatedly promised?

    The short answer is that Obamacare:

    • Included several costly provisions that beneficiaries liked, especially “no caps” on medical payouts and coverage for pre-existing conditions
    • Provided lots of free insurance (of low quality) to people who couldn’t pay at all

    Republican lawmakers, especially those with lots of low-income constituents, fear that rolling back those provisions means political suicide.

    On the other hand, keeping those provisions is costly, requires keeping Obamacare’s taxes, and alienates some conservatives who say (correctly) that it locks in an entitlement forever.

    Why does a reform bill still have any chance? Because Republicans recognize two ominous risks: failure will bring disaster to the US health insurance markets and, second, they will be held accountable for that mess.

    ◆ Donald Trump, Jr., and other top aides met with Russian lawyer who promised information on Hillary (BBC)

    The brief meeting occurred in Trump Tower on June 9, 2016; no information was actually provided. Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner were also in the meeting, which was not initially disclosed on their forms covering all foreign contacts upon entering government.

    The FBI and Congress are both looking at whether Trump campaign officials colluded with an alleged Kremlin plot to undermine Mrs Clinton’s campaign. The inquiries have yet to show evidence of collusion. –BBC

    Comment: The bad news for Jr. is not only that he failed to disclose the meeting when he should have. It’s also that when he did finally disclose it, he lied about the purpose, saying it was about Russian adoptions. Presumably, he didn’t want to say they were fishing for information about Hillary in Russian waters. Not good at all.

    The Daily Beast reported that a Democratic oppo group was the hidden hand behind the group. But that information is sketchy. Donald Jr. now says the contact came from someone he meeting at a Trump-sponsored beauty pageant in Russia several years earlier.

    Democratic-affiliated media (which is to say, almost all media) are treating this as very big news: proof positive of collusion with the Russians.

    Not exactly. First, it was an attempt to get information. More important, if the Trump campaign was actually talking with a person they didn’t really know (a private citizen) in June 2016, one obvious conclusion is that Trump’s team did not already have access to good Russian information–information they would have had if they were already colluding.

    More on this will obviously come out, and you can assume that Robert Mueller will investigate this thoroughly.

    ◆ Iraqi PM arrives in Mosul to Declare Victory over ISIS (NBC)

    There are still small pockets of fighting in the city, but nearly all has been cleared of ISIS, which has used human shields throughout the fighting.

    ISIS seized the city in 2014.

    Comment: The problem now is how to govern this destroyed city and fractured country, where Obama’s decision to withdraw left the regime in Baghdad free to act like a purely Shiite sectarian government and to invite Iran in for support. Turning that around will be very difficult.

    ◆ Chuck Schumer zeroes in on America’s biggest problem: Snortable Chocolate. Calls for crackdown (New York Post)

    There seems to be very little medical evidence so far, and Schumer said so.

    Plus, the FDA doesn’t know if it has authority to regulate the stuff.

    Comment: Research on its effects: good idea. But what’s the basis to regulate and restrict before any evidence, one way or the other? 

     

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  • ZipDialog Roundup for Saturday, July 8

    By
    Saturday, July 8, 2017 0 Betsy DeVos, Charles Schumer, China, Donald Trump, Europe, G20, Germany, Immigration, Islamic terrorism, K-12 Education, Kim Jong Un, North Korea, Obituaries, Putin, Rex Tillerson, Russia, South Korea, Syria, US foreign policy, Xi Jinping, ZipDialog Roundup of News Beyond the Front Page No tags Permalink

    Articles chosen with care. Comments welcomed. Linked articles in bold purple

    ◆ The main stories come out of the G20 meetings in Hamburg.

    • Anti-capitalist riots in the street by extreme left and anarchists
      • Comment: Idiots with nihilist agenda
    • Trump has very long 1-on-1 with Putin
      • Full range of issues, beyond US election meddling, with focus on Syrian cease-fire and division of territory there after ISIS defeat
    • Trump has China’s Xi on schedule on 1-on-1 today
      • North Korea is top of the agenda, of course, but also trade
    • Ivanka briefly sits in for Pres at G20 meeting on Africa alongside world leaders  (Washington Post) (Comment: A nothingburger; still, it should have been the Sec. of State sitting there)

    Comment: We won’t know the results (as opposed to the agendas) of the Putin and Xi meetings until the effects on the ground are seen, beginning next week. The fact that Putin and Trump met without advisors is interesting, too. It indicates how serious the leaks are. The US cannot trust anybody to be in room.

    Comment on Silences at G20: This was supposed to be a showcase for German leader, Angela Merkel. She has been overshadowed by Putin, Xi, Trump, and rioters. Second, we have heard little so far about the shared challenges of Islamic terrorism and vast immigration flows from North Africa and the Middle East.

    ◆ US B1 bombers fly over South Korea as heads-up to North Korea after its ICBM test  (CNN)

    Comment: The signal is “the US can easily can incinerate you.” The problem is, if we launch a military attack, the North Koreans can kill large numbers in Seoul. Moreover, the Chinese might come in to prevent a Korea unified under American leadership.

    There are no good US options here. My guess is that the US starts to up financial sanctions on all North Korean trading partners, including Chinese banks.

    ◆ Venezuela’s top opposition leader released from prison to house arrest  (CNN)

    Comment: The country is tottering toward civil war, and oppo leader Leopoldo Lopez is a threat to the regime. The surprise here is that he did not die in prison.

    ◆ Chuck Schumer skewers Rex Tillerson over Russian meddling in US election  (The Hill)

    “For Secretary Tillerson to say that this issue will remain unresolved is disgraceful,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “To give equal credence to the findings of the American Intelligence Community and the assertion by Mr. Putin is a grave dereliction of duty and will only encourage Russia to further interfere in our elections in the future.” –The Hill

    Comment: Schumer is correct. This issue is not “unresolved.” His base loves it; it reinforces their view that Trump is illegitimate. But voters are interested in forward-looking solutions to real problems in the economy, foreign policy, etc. Schumer knows that, of course, but he has to toss red meat to the base. 

    ◆ Morgan Stanley: Renewables will be the cheapest power source within three years (Business Insider)

    Numerous key markets recently reached an inflection point where renewables have become the cheapest form of new power generation.

    A dynamic we see spreading to nearly every country we cover by 2020. The price of solar panels has fallen 50% in less than two years (2016-17). –Morgan Stanley via Business Insider

    ◆ K-12 Education: Betsy DeVos takes hard line on enforcing federal laws, surprising states who thought she would support local control (New York Times)

    The basic issue is an Obama-era law, replacing No Child Left Behind, that requires “ambitious” educational goals to meet federal standards. How much latitude will the Washington’s Dept. of Ed. give states to determine for themselves what it “ambitious”?

    “It is mind-boggling that the department could decide that it’s going to challenge them on what’s ambitious,” said Michael J. Petrilli, the president of the conservative-leaning Thomas B. Fordham Institute, who worked in the Education Department under President George W. Bush. He called the letter “directly in opposition to the rhetoric and the promises of DeVos.” –quoted in New York Times

    Comment: Conservatives as well as liberals are concerned about this issue. They weren’t surprised by Washington’s heavy hand under Obama; they don’t expect it under DeVos and fear they may be getting it.

    Alternative possibilities are that

    • Lower-level officials did this without DeVos’ approval (the person who wrote it is a Democratic advocate for charter schools, appointed by DeVos)
    • The Dept. is actually enforcing the law, as written, until Congress rewrites it

    ◆ José Luis Cuevas, a Dark Master of Mexican Art, Dies at 83 (New York Times)

    Comment: He was continually greeted by folks at the bar singing: 

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  • Democrats Latest Strategy on Repeal-and-Replace: Shut Down the Entire Senate

    By
    Monday, June 19, 2017 0 Charles Schumer, Democratic Party, Elizabeth Warren, Healthcare, Mitch McConnell, Obamacare and Repeal-Replace, Republican Party, Senate, US Healthcare System No tags Permalink

    To show they are grumpy about the Republicans’ negotiations to repeal-and-replace ObamaCare, the Democrats have a new idea.

    They plan to halt all business in the Senate, even the most routine measures.

    Those normally pass unanimously without objection.

    That is what CNN is reporting.

    Senate Democrats will move to bring the chamber to a halt Monday night to protest the Republicans’ closed-door process to gut Obamacare in the coming days, according to a senior Democratic aide.

    Democrats plan to object to routine requests to let the chamber operate — whether it’s scheduling votes or allowing committees to meet for extended hearings — in a move aimed at escalating the fight over health care. –CNN

    CNN reports the Democratic base is enthusiastic about the strategy.

    It is not clear if the Democrats plan to continue the strategy after Monday’s protest.

    ♦♦♦♦♦♦

    Comment: Rachel Maddow, Elizabeth Warren, and Tom Steyer might like it, but ordinary people won’t.

    This is a temper tantrum wearing the thin guise of political strategy.

    The correct allegation is that the Republican Senators are doing this behind closed doors.

    The Republicans rightly respond that the Democrats have said they won’t agree to anything if it repeals and replaces Obamacare.

    So, Republicans figure, if we can’t get their votes, why tell them in advance what we are doing?