Three details from the 3 Jan proceedings of the House of Representatives:
– When the clerk announced that [Matt] Gaetz would not take a seat in the 119th Congress, applause broke out.
– Nancy Pelosi, who received a hip replacement received welcoming applause when entered the chamber smiling. The Speaker Emerita had replaced her trademark high heels with flats.
– There will be no women chairing committees in the Republican-dominated House.
"Trump was mad at Johnson for backing the passage just before Christmas of a continuing resolution to fund the government without getting rid of the debt ceiling as Trump demanded. But, likely recognizing that the House needs to be organized before it can count the electoral votes that will make him president, Trump endorsed Johnson on social media and worked the phones to support him before today’s vote."
First and foremost, Donald is mad at reality itself. For instance the reality of losing the 2020 election – and so he has built an entire cult predicated on accepting the Big Lie. Absolutely insane!
I don't believe this has been reported here but Stockton has a new Mayor, Christine Fugazi, a Democrat.
Not only has she helped Team Blue take back the Mayor's office from previous Republican Mayor Kevin Lincoln but Lincoln himself was defeated in the CA-09 Congressional Race by Rep. Josh Harder by 4.6% points.
So far, Fugazi is showing signs she's a proactive Mayor.
STOCKTON, Calif. — It’s a new year, and for Stockton, that means there's a new mayor: Christina Fugazi.
The signs still haven't been changed inside Stockton City Hall, but Fugazi says she's not wasting time.
"I came in on Friday of last week and then I was here on Monday, Tuesday... but I was by myself and I was pretty much able to orient myself," Fugazi said. "Right now, I have people in here in the office that I've been blessed with to work on one of our first initiatives, which will be 'Light Up Stockton.' The city has a lot of neighborhoods where the lights have all been blown out. What happens as a result of that is we have higher incidents of crime."
Fugazi believes blown-out streetlights are partly a public safety issue, and in the area of public safety, the challenges have already started.
Just hours into the new year, Stockton Police investigated its first homicide of 2025.
"The unfortunate death yesterday that happened as a result of a gun," Fugazi said. "We need to be fully staffed. Currently, we're not fully staffed. I almost think that we need to call a state of emergency so that we can get other agencies in here just to support us."
Kevin Lincoln would never have become mayor of Stockton in the first place if mayoral elections in California were partisan. They should be - that one change would single-handedly get rid of dozens, if not hundreds, of Republicans in local office in California who hide behind nonpartisan elections to win in heavily Democratic areas.
I can’t comment on Stockton as I haven’t lived there (only know those who have) but my understanding is that it used to be more conservative over a decade ago during the 2000’s.
It was, but ever since the 2008 election Stockton has been solidly Democratic. I think that San Joaquin County's voting for Trump last year was more a factor of low turnout in Stockton (and Tracy, Lathrop, and Mountain House, which are the Democratic strongholds there) than any sort of massive vote shifting.
I've been looking at results from other heavily Hispanic cities in California, and the general pattern is that Harris got only about 70% of the votes that Biden got, while 10% of them voted for Trump and the other 20% just didn't vote at all.
Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) made herstory as the first trans Congressperson sworn into either chamber of Congress, as she became a House Representative representing the entire state of Delaware. 🏳️⚧️
Ann Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for The Washington Post, said on Friday evening that she was resigning after the newspaper’s opinions section rejected a cartoon depicting The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos, genuflecting toward a statue of President-elect Donald J. Trump.
First rule of resisting Fascism is "Do not obey in advance." (Timothy Snyder, "On Tyranny") Tragically, this is precisely what Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and so many others are doing. Clearly the editors of The Washington Post found it far too uncomfortable that the great cartoonist Ann Telnaes, was shining a bright light on precisely this.
WELL SAID: “Donald, this is not the Soviet Union. You can’t change the truth and you cannot silence us. Remember all your lies about the voting machines, the election workers, your countless allegations of fraud that never happened? Many of your lawyers have been sanctioned, disciplined or disbarred, the courts ruled against you, and dozens of your own White House, administration, and campaign aides testified against you.
"Remember how you sent a mob to our Capitol and then watched the violence on television and refused for hours to instruct the mob to leave? Remember how your former Vice President prevented you from overturning our Republic?
"We remember. And now, as you take office again, the American people need to reject your latest malicious falsehoods and stand as the guardrails of our Constitutional Republic—to protect the America we love from you.”
. – Liz Cheney, responding to Trump’s attack on her as “a dishonest Thug” (sic) after President Biden awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal
"Appointments that are not coterminous with the presidency are one of our important checks and balances, especially against a would-be dictator like Trump. Most key regulatory commissions, by long-standing statutory law, have term appointees, though in many cases the president gets to appoint or designate the chairman."
So congestion pricing was implemented today in NYC. Hochul is lucky that, 1) her next race is in a midterm with Trump at the top of the ticket and 2) that it's 2 years out. Even so, I think she's going to have a tough race as the nominee, if she is. It's still surprising to me we did so well in the house elections here this year.
I hope Hochul stands aside - I don’t think her popularity is bound to improve much and while I doubt she’d lose she could be a millstone again for House races
Just as long as the primary isn't too nasty, I'm fine with that. Unfortunately that has happened to us in New York before. Google the 1992 New York Senate Election if you know what I mean.
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) retains his post on the first ballot in the 119th Congress Speaker vote after horse-trading from Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Keith Self (R-TX) to switch their votes to Johnson under pressure from Donald Trump. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the lone Republican to vote against Johnson. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/3/2295030/-Mike-Johnson-appears-to-lose-speakership-on-first-ballot
Three details from the 3 Jan proceedings of the House of Representatives:
– When the clerk announced that [Matt] Gaetz would not take a seat in the 119th Congress, applause broke out.
– Nancy Pelosi, who received a hip replacement received welcoming applause when entered the chamber smiling. The Speaker Emerita had replaced her trademark high heels with flats.
– There will be no women chairing committees in the Republican-dominated House.
"Trump was mad at Johnson for backing the passage just before Christmas of a continuing resolution to fund the government without getting rid of the debt ceiling as Trump demanded. But, likely recognizing that the House needs to be organized before it can count the electoral votes that will make him president, Trump endorsed Johnson on social media and worked the phones to support him before today’s vote."
– Heather Cox Richardson
He’s mad at Johnson but supporting him in the end.
Imagine if the House GOP loses the majority to Democrats in 2026. What will Trump think of Johnson then?
I sure hope he supports Johnson after 2026, at least if we can count on more fundraising opportunities.
First and foremost, Donald is mad at reality itself. For instance the reality of losing the 2020 election – and so he has built an entire cult predicated on accepting the Big Lie. Absolutely insane!
Of course!
And if it means creating problems for MAGA and tech bros, more power to Trump!
Mayor for Stockton, CA
I don't believe this has been reported here but Stockton has a new Mayor, Christine Fugazi, a Democrat.
Not only has she helped Team Blue take back the Mayor's office from previous Republican Mayor Kevin Lincoln but Lincoln himself was defeated in the CA-09 Congressional Race by Rep. Josh Harder by 4.6% points.
So far, Fugazi is showing signs she's a proactive Mayor.
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/stockton/christina-fugazi-mayor-first-interview/103-267e826f-8a93-4a29-86a5-3be2aa46460d
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STOCKTON, Calif. — It’s a new year, and for Stockton, that means there's a new mayor: Christina Fugazi.
The signs still haven't been changed inside Stockton City Hall, but Fugazi says she's not wasting time.
"I came in on Friday of last week and then I was here on Monday, Tuesday... but I was by myself and I was pretty much able to orient myself," Fugazi said. "Right now, I have people in here in the office that I've been blessed with to work on one of our first initiatives, which will be 'Light Up Stockton.' The city has a lot of neighborhoods where the lights have all been blown out. What happens as a result of that is we have higher incidents of crime."
Fugazi believes blown-out streetlights are partly a public safety issue, and in the area of public safety, the challenges have already started.
Just hours into the new year, Stockton Police investigated its first homicide of 2025.
"The unfortunate death yesterday that happened as a result of a gun," Fugazi said. "We need to be fully staffed. Currently, we're not fully staffed. I almost think that we need to call a state of emergency so that we can get other agencies in here just to support us."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CA-09 Election Results
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/election/california-elections/article295195244.html
Kevin Lincoln would never have become mayor of Stockton in the first place if mayoral elections in California were partisan. They should be - that one change would single-handedly get rid of dozens, if not hundreds, of Republicans in local office in California who hide behind nonpartisan elections to win in heavily Democratic areas.
I can’t comment on Stockton as I haven’t lived there (only know those who have) but my understanding is that it used to be more conservative over a decade ago during the 2000’s.
It was, but ever since the 2008 election Stockton has been solidly Democratic. I think that San Joaquin County's voting for Trump last year was more a factor of low turnout in Stockton (and Tracy, Lathrop, and Mountain House, which are the Democratic strongholds there) than any sort of massive vote shifting.
I've been looking at results from other heavily Hispanic cities in California, and the general pattern is that Harris got only about 70% of the votes that Biden got, while 10% of them voted for Trump and the other 20% just didn't vote at all.
Thanks for the information.
I know the subprime mortgage crisis hit Stockton hard. Would you say that was a contributing factor for helping the city become more blue?
Probably to a fair extent, yes
Right although the city still has a substantial Hispanic population that I don’t believe has migrated away from it.
The city has activity. A colleague of mine is affiliated with the Entrepreneur Lab, which is a known accelerator in Stockton.
Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) made herstory as the first trans Congressperson sworn into either chamber of Congress, as she became a House Representative representing the entire state of Delaware. 🏳️⚧️
https://www.advocate.com/politics/sarah-mcbride-transgender-member-sworn
So proud of my fellow Eagle (went to American University with her and lived on the same floor. Knew her before she came out)!
Posted this in the other thread but was wondering if anyone has a breakdown of 2024 POTUS and Sen results by legislative district in Texas.
Ann Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for The Washington Post, said on Friday evening that she was resigning after the newspaper’s opinions section rejected a cartoon depicting The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos, genuflecting toward a statue of President-elect Donald J. Trump.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/business/media/washington-post-cartoonist-quits-after-jeff-bezos-cartoon-is-killed.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&tgrp=ctr&pvid=9BAAAA99-D28F-44EE-8E1F-4E3473BDC24C
First rule of resisting Fascism is "Do not obey in advance." (Timothy Snyder, "On Tyranny") Tragically, this is precisely what Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and so many others are doing. Clearly the editors of The Washington Post found it far too uncomfortable that the great cartoonist Ann Telnaes, was shining a bright light on precisely this.
By the way, where can I find the spreadsheet scoring people for the prediction contest?
WELL SAID: “Donald, this is not the Soviet Union. You can’t change the truth and you cannot silence us. Remember all your lies about the voting machines, the election workers, your countless allegations of fraud that never happened? Many of your lawyers have been sanctioned, disciplined or disbarred, the courts ruled against you, and dozens of your own White House, administration, and campaign aides testified against you.
"Remember how you sent a mob to our Capitol and then watched the violence on television and refused for hours to instruct the mob to leave? Remember how your former Vice President prevented you from overturning our Republic?
"We remember. And now, as you take office again, the American people need to reject your latest malicious falsehoods and stand as the guardrails of our Constitutional Republic—to protect the America we love from you.”
. – Liz Cheney, responding to Trump’s attack on her as “a dishonest Thug” (sic) after President Biden awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal
Liz Cheney is a true American patriot for calling out Trump's tyranny.
Excellent article from Robert Kuttner, underscoring how vitally important it is that term appointees remain at their posts!
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-01-03-memo-to-term-appointees-stay-put/
"Appointments that are not coterminous with the presidency are one of our important checks and balances, especially against a would-be dictator like Trump. Most key regulatory commissions, by long-standing statutory law, have term appointees, though in many cases the president gets to appoint or designate the chairman."
So congestion pricing was implemented today in NYC. Hochul is lucky that, 1) her next race is in a midterm with Trump at the top of the ticket and 2) that it's 2 years out. Even so, I think she's going to have a tough race as the nominee, if she is. It's still surprising to me we did so well in the house elections here this year.
I hope Hochul stands aside - I don’t think her popularity is bound to improve much and while I doubt she’d lose she could be a millstone again for House races
Yeah, the LG, Delgado, might be a stronger candidate. I don't know.
I could buy it. But really, I just want a fresh face. Tish James, or an inoffensive guy like DiNapoli whose going for a career capstone
Just as long as the primary isn't too nasty, I'm fine with that. Unfortunately that has happened to us in New York before. Google the 1992 New York Senate Election if you know what I mean.
disagree.. with Trump in office I think the democrats win the race easily; Hochul may lose the primary though
Blinken interview feels like a view into the what if universe if Biden defended his policies coherently.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/04/magazine/antony-blinken-interview.html
Avedee, do you have a gift link to this interview? That one is paywalled.
Here you go. I think you can find it for free from podcast platforms as well. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/04/magazine/antony-blinken-interview.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nE4.N5UX.EnSBp9lHuqME&smid=url-share
Many thanks!
LOL
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau (L)'s days of leading the Liberal Party/Parti libéral are all but numbered, and possibly his PM post as well.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/justin-trudeau-resignation/