How much can a banana really cost, Michael?

So Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu say that they won’t vote for a public option. How do you think the Democrats should’ve responded? My personal belief is that they should’ve killed the filibuster back in 2006, but in a world where the filibuster exists, the alternative to passing the ACA was passing nothing.

Yes. Most Democrats wanted a public option, but given the way McConnell had expanded the filibuster the only things that can pass are those that get 60 votes. There were (probably) in the low 50s support for a public option, which normally would be fine, but not now.

Except that they campaigned on a Medicaid public option. It was on the website and everything. And while they didn’t want to break up the banks, they supported Dodd-Frank and stronger financial regulations like higher capital requirements. What on earth makes you think that Dodd-Frank is “toothless” and never…

Wait what? How have the D’s been dismissive of UHC, bank regulation, and increasing the minimum wage? The party platform has included all of those things, and they passed bills relating to the first two during the Obama years.

That’s a good point. Hopefully she can build her profile over the coming year.

Yeah, the focus on a crew of extremely old candidates has me worried. Some decent younger folks like Harris, but not many options in the “experienced, but not ancient” sweet spot.

One small piece of evidence in favor of your hopeful world: the inability of the GOP to get things done right now is showing how important it is to know what you stand for before you get elected. The first two years of the Obama presidency were incredibly productive not just because they controlled the government,…

By advocating for civil rights. Seriously, that’s the whole reason for the re-alignment. Lost Southern whites and gained Northern Republicans.

Just FYI, that’s actually a really bad way to go after advertisers. Very few companies place ads directly; it’s almost always through platforms or agencies. A screenshot doesn’t provide any info as to where the ad came from, which means that the company in question won’t be able to know who to yell at.

That, plus people who bring giant carryons that only fit horizontally in the bin. I’ll “adjust” those myself.

Really? I find it pretty rare for people to push past in that situation. Usually folks are good about letting the row ahead clear out. That being said one time an old lady pushed past in that same situation and I heard her mutter “not so fast” as she rushed forward from behind.

Man, you’re going to be REALLY pissed when you find out how much the owners make.

Even an OKC first rounder doesn’t mean much, being that low. I’m as shocked as you are that Boston couldn’t get it done. Any one of their assets are better than this package.

Looks like Morey was being honest with his line about needing to take big risks to challenge the Warriors. Gotta give the Rockets credit for doing something crazy that just might work, instead of standing pat.

That’s not even a worry. The Fed is extremely good at limiting inflation. If anything, they’re far too aggressive there.

Seriously, fewer articles about how passing a secret healthcare bill represents a “win” for someone and more about what’s in the secret bill and how its passage would affect people. It’s even worse for campaigns.

What I’ve seen and what has been backed up by research is that actual “centrists” are vanishingly few. What Smoj is listing is a person who has beliefs that fall on one side on some issues and on the other for other issues. That used to be coded as centrist, because they average out, but that coding hides their…

I’m kinda bummed it was extra picks being moved, since Boston might actually be a place where Okafor can add some value as a bench scorer. The big question now is whether the Sixers next season will be enticing enough to attract free agents. They should have room for two max players to fill things out if the core…

I’ll disagree in the context of a subway system. For something like Amtrak, with smaller numbers of discrete trips, it doesn’t really matter. When MTA transit is the key method of regular transportation, it doesn’t really matter if you have to wait half an hour because of an unexpected delay or because the MTA…