How to counter the Shumer Shutdown talking point

The purely procedural vote to invoke cloture is being framed by Republicans and their strategists as a “vote to shut down the government”. Actually it was a vote to end the filibuster and bring the CR to continue short-term government funding to a vote on the Senate floor. It needed 60 votes to pass.

The fact that the measure failed by a vote of 49-50 is being used by Republicans (who are counting on the ignorance of some voters and the superficiality of much of the news coverage) as an example of Democratic obstructionism. They are banking on the fact that many will not realize that this was not a close vote, that 5 Democrats voted for the measure, and that 5 Republicans (including McConnell whose vote was purely procedurally strategic) voted with the majority of Democrats.

Despite these facts, Republican and RW talking heads will frame this as a close vote with Schumer instructing his caucus to obstruct, thereby forcing a government shutdown.

If Republicans want to frame this procedural vote as a “vote to shut down the government”, counter the talking points with these facts:

Five Republicans voted “yes”.
Five Democrats voted “no”.
The vote failed 49-50
McConnell and Schumer voted the exact same way.

If I encounter someone who understands the nuances of last night's procedural vote, I am simply going to point out the following: The vote was not even close because Trump/McConnell failed to win over 5 members of their own party and 3 additional Democrats and/or Independents. This is a Republican failure.

Twitter Trashes Chris Matthews Over Cosby Pill Joke

"The leaked clip of Chris Matthews joking about a “Bill Cosby pill” ahead of a Hillary Clinton interview has gotten widespread condemnation on Twitter."

Gallup: Hillary Clinton is the Most Admired Woman in the World

"The 2017 [Gallup] survey marks the 16th consecutive year Clinton has been the most admired woman. She has held the title 22 times in total, more than anyone else. Eleanor Roosevelt is second with 13 wins."

Calling All Whovians... get ready to check one off the Bee List....

Doctor Who Countdown.

Why is the House Intelligence Committee interviewing Rorbacher on Monday?

"The Two Expat Bros Who Terrorized Women Correspondents in Moscow"

"There’s more than one way to harass women. A raft of men in recent weeks have paid for accusations of sexual harassment with their companies, their jobs, their plum political posts. But one point has been overlooked in the scandals: Men can be belittling, cruel and deeply damaging without demanding sex. (Try sloughing off heaps of contempt with your self-esteem intact.) We have no consensus — and hardly any discussion — about how we should treat behaviors that are misogynist and bullying but fall short of breaking the law.

Twenty years ago, when I was a Moscow correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, two Americans named Matt Taibbi and Mark Ames ran an English-language tabloid in the Russian capital called the eXile. They portrayed themselves as swashbuckling parodists, unbound by the conventions of mainstream journalism, exposing Westerners who were cynically profiting from the chaos of post-Soviet Russia.

A better description is this: The eXile was juvenile, stunt-obsessed and pornographic, titillating for high school boys. It is back in the news because Taibbi just wrote a new book, and interviewers are asking him why he and Ames acted so boorishly back then. The eXile’s distinguishing feature, more than anything else, was its blinding sexism — which often targeted me."

Alabamian DSA member proudly proclaims that she will not be voting today.

"Come election day, Alabamians will have the sacred honor of participating in the democratic process by voting for either a child rapist or a weak-kneed white blob in a suit to go work on Capitol Hill for some unknown corporate donor. Personally, I can’t say that I will be taking part."

President Macron invites American scientists to "Make Our Planet Great Again".

What initially looked like an impish dig at President Trump by French President Emmanuel Macron over climate policy has turned into a concrete plan.

First, when the Trump administration proposed slashing federal science budgets and then, on June 1, when Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, Macron took to social media to offer (in perfect English) to greet with open arms — and research dollars — American scientists worried about the political climate as well as global warming.

Macron urged worried climate scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to see France as a “second homeland” and to come work there because “we all share the same responsibility: make our planet great again.”

How will you remember Senator Al Franken after his resignation takes effect?

I'll remember him as the senator whose question opened the door to the Mueller investigation.