Something, something, EU in crisis. Time we stop thinking about the EU's impending demise and start thinking about its impending rise.

As someone pro-more holidays, I think the answer here is that we should have made VE and VJ days holidays 70 years ago.

Remain convinced that the solution to the DNC is to blow it up and make the DNC Chair and related positions directly elected by anyone willing to pay a $5 membership fee. Definitely some cons, but the transformative possibilities are massive.

New York Times, October, 1890

"Let the facts, which are multiplying every day, tell who it is that pays the onerous tariff taxes. They will answer that the American people pay these taxes and that the burden of them rests most heavily upon the poor."

The dynamic where a minority of elected Democrats genuinely oppose trade deals full stop but a majority have expressed anti-trade platitudes means that the minority position goes unchallenged & (worse yet) gets wielded as a populist cudgel against more serious pols (yes I’m talking about 2016).

The poll-tested ‘fair trade, not free trade’ gobbledygook” designed to make an anti-trade voter think you agree with them while also signaling to more savvy voters that you do actually support free trade is basically impossible to pull off and ultimately counterproductive.

People want honest fighters. I’m convinced that ambitious Dems will not regret coming out and telling the truth: tariffs are dumb, free trade is good, and Bill Clinton was right about NAFTA & anyone who tells you different is either an idiot and naive or thinks *you* are.

There is a whole cadre of Dem electeds and consultants who are completely unable to anticipate where the public (and their voters) are going.

Angrily yelling into the wind: Free trade, universities, immigration, and global alliances are the main ingredients in the secret sauce behind the American Century!

An Israel that prioritized its long-term security over its corrupt prime minister's attempt to stay out of prison would work with the Arab League's proposal for a post-Hamas Gaza, recognize the resulting unity government, and negotiate with the Palestinian Authority to end the Occupation.

Just remembered this morning how my 1L Con Law prof had us read A Man for All Seasons at the end of the semester. Not sure many in the class appreciated the message -- both of the play or his decision to assign it.

Why lay off teachers in the middle of the school year?

Why cut police while working to reduce crime?

Why defund Metro while it wins back riders?

That is exactly what the CR does to DC — without saving the federal government a dime.

It is undemocratic, un-American, and undermines self-governance.

This is horrible to post, but I may as well post it. We are essentially shutting down research operations in my group, which is focused on treatments for pediatric brain cancer. I’m a well funded investigator, and there’s no choice. Science can’t function without the stability of NIH

Child’s play I would bet to what is coming

Prediction: They will probably eventually pass something that will roll back the DC budget stuff but it will include some truly insane anti-DC stuff.

Annnd policies can still get blocked by a determined minority using various levers in and out of parliament.

Bottom line: blowing up the Senate would probably unfetter the majority in a way that could be alarming but ultimately lead to an institution that works better for everyone but esp. Dems

In other countries, parliamentary majorities actually implement big swaths of their electoral manifestos, which means that voters get to actually test the efficacy of the party agendas. Elections feel more consequential b/c there is a good chance party will actually do what they promise if they win

Policies would get enacted into law that the majority ran on implementing but can’t really do so under current rules very easily…and that be fine. Voters don’t really get why Congress can’t pass stuff even when they win elections (to be fair, this is an asymmetric problem between parties).

There is a myth that a Senate minority would be powerless without the current rules and that’s not really true. If you have 47 votes, you can’t stop everything—maybe even most things the majority wants to do—but it isn’t hard to imagine unpopular bills going down if you only need a few defections

If Democrats actually withheld UC on everything and refused to provide any votes for cloture, the end result would be the end of such rules and the rewriting of Senate Rules to make the institution more majoritarian…and frankly that be okay & result in healthier politics.

This would be fine—probably good long term!

Dramatically investing in higher education is literally the best way to lift rural America…and yet here we are.

"People are furious": House Democrats have "complete meltdown" as Schumer folds on shutdown Members have talked openly about backing primary challenges to Democratic senators who support the GOP's spending bill.

House Dems' text chains lighting up with apoplexy.

"Complete and utter meltdown," says one member.

Members floating marching onto the Senate floor.

Others urging primaries not just for Schumer, but any Senate Dem who votes for the GOP bill.

@Axios.com www.axios.com/2025/03/14/h...

JOINT LEADERSHIP STATEMENT ON GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL IN THE SENATE Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar released the following statement: Instead of working with Democrats in a bipartisan way to prevent a government shutdown, House Republicans left town in order to jam their extreme partisan legislation down the throats of the American people. The far-right Republican funding bill will unleash havoc on everyday Americans, giving Donald Trump and Elon Musk even more power to continue dismantling the federal government. House Democrats are ready to vote for a four-week continuing resolution that keeps the government open and returns all parties to the negotiating table. That is the best way forward.

Donald Trump and Republicans are crashing the economy. They plan to take a chainsaw to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans benefits and public schools — all in order to give massive tax cuts to their billionaire donors and wealthy corporations. House Democrats will not be complicit. We remain strongly opposed to the partisan spending bill under consideration in the Senate.

Pretty stunning statement from Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar denouncing Schumer's decision to vote for the CR. "We remain strongly opposed to the partisan spending bill under consideration in the Senate."

AOC: It is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free when we've been sent here to protect social security, protect medicaid, and protect medicare.

Serious question — how many DC teachers are going to be laid off? How many cops? How many days of school will get cut?

Hundreds of D.C. residents, including parents, teachers, and union members are lobbying Senate offices today against the spending bill that would slash more than $1 billion from D.C.’s local budget.

An 80 year old senator is up for re-election in Illinois…just saying.

You don’t have to quit public life after leaving the White House!

And if 🇨🇦 were to *actually* join the EU—the eventual ascension of 🇦🇺 and 🇳🇿 isn’t that hard to imagine.

Probably want to change the name but maybe not—“Europe is an idea.”

Be ironic if MAGA ultimately led to a united Europe becoming the hegemonic liberal power & security guarantor.

Canada and the EU should totally consider this — both for the economic benefits but also as a hedge re NATO.

As for UK, I suspect Trump 2.0 will ultimately be seen as a driving factor in the UK’s eventual (and inevitable) return to the EU.