Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
okay. i’m not going to argue about phrases with you. i think you understand the hypothetical regardless of whether you approve of how it’s worded.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
maybe, maybe not. Thune probably has things he hopes to get done this term. it’s not deterministic. these are strategic actors with degrees of freedom. yes, Schumer has a losing hand. good players do surprisingly well even on their losing hands.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
i’m using “nuclear option” here to refer to the threat of complete noncooperation. yes, the phrase is commonly used to refer to eliminating the filibuster. but it is a more versatile metaphor than that!
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
no. not no ability. he didn’t do it, because he judged depriving Biden of his nominees not worth the escalation it would take to contest them. which was the right call! just as it’s likely the right call for Schumer. but it is always, always a call.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
the obvious thing—again i am not advising it for this nomination, just an existence proof!—is McDonnell’s grim trigger strategy. force a thing we absolutely oppose, we soak the Senate in molasses with every procedural lever. 1/
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
again, this is probably not the issue to go so nuclear! the point is, it’s not enough to say look we don’t have the numbers. the numbers are endogenous, the fact of a vote is endogenous, Schumer is the minority leader, which means he has to make hard judgement calls, but he’s not a bystander. /fin
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
if you say so. McConnell never seemed quite so hopeless. Biden pulled out a great debt ceiling deal despite a Republican house and a freedom caucus braying for “ransom”. how did that happen? people can negotiate creatively. there are degrees of freedom.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
if he made clear stopping Hegseth’s nomination were his absolute priority, of course there is. it probably isn’t his absolute priority! and probably correctly so! you can’t threaten armageddon on everything and expect anything but a bluff called or worse, not-a-bluff actually exercised.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
( yes. in a floor vote if 53 vote for, he’s confirmed. but leadership can delay votes. if it’s clear other priorities would suffer egregiously from the confirmation, numbers would change. again, this would require a level of threat perhaps not called for here. but these are choices!)
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
he’s not actually helpless. i’m not saying Schumer should suggest a “nuclear option” over nominations (nor am i saying he shouldn’t), but Senate Minority Leader is in fact a very influential position! there are bargaining chips when the stakes are high enough. www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/ja...
McConnell threatens to paralyze Senate if Democrats blow up the filibuster
Link Preview: McConnell threatens to paralyze Senate if Democrats blow up the filibuster: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed on Tuesday to paralyze the Senate using scorched-earth tactics if Democrats undo filibuster rules to pass a partisan agenda.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
in theory, our credit ratings are now impervious to medical debt / disputes over medical billing, right? how real do we think this is, as a practical matter, given the change in administration? www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/new...
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
hot sauce at neighborhood lunch spot.
Bottle of hot sauce, branded Florida Concealed Carry Masterclass Garlic Hot Sauce
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
the humans still blame the table when we stub our toe on its leg.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
kind of like heroin? i mean that next fix feels good, but not as good as you remember those early hits feeling, you want more but you are never satisfied.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
winning is like heroin. just because you want more and it feels good doesn’t mean that more is good for you. it’s terrible for a human to always lose. but we’re learning how terrible it also is to win too much. these people are enviably comfortable, but they are not enviable people.
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Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
one question is whether regulating or even banning certain kinds of internet platforms would be legal under the Constitution and current Supreme Court precedent. a quite distinct question is when and if various forms of regulations or bans would be a good idea.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
Only Trump could go to Hamas.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
The United States is such a broken place.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
🎂😊
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
yes. ACA triumphalism is something i just can't with. maybe it's better than what was before, i'm glad for community rating an nonrecission, but what a miserable fucking system.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
oh, but this is Medicare. i don't know if there's a similar set of issue with regard to Medicare copays, but my situation is ACA.
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
the way you bend the curve is make people to frightened and bitter to ever have any contact whatsoever with the health care system under any circumstances at all. great job, technocrats!
Steve Randy Waldman
@interfluidity.com
yes, but appropriate!