DL Open Thread: Sunday, April 21, 2024

House Passes Foreign Aid Bill.  It must feel liberating to House R’s to tell Trump to go bleep himself.  He can’t run candidates against every R who supported funding for Ukraine:

The House passed a sweeping $95 billion package Saturday to aid foreign allies amid global threats, showcasing broad support for America’s role in the world in a risky push by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), whose far-right flank is threatening to oust him for the action.

With chants of “Ukraine!” and blue and yellow flags waving on the House floor, all Democrats present and a minority of Republicans broke a months-long legislative logjam and approved $60 billion in aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia. The vote was 311 to 112, with all those objecting coming from the most conservative wing of the GOP conference.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) came to the floor shortly before Saturday’svotes to herald the bipartisan cooperation, singling Johnson out by name.

“House Democrats have risen to the occasion, President Biden has risen to the occasion, traditional conservatives led by Speaker Mike Johnson have risen to the occasion,” Jeffries declared.

Passage of Ukraine aid is also a major rebuke to former president Donald Trump. Trump has long criticized Ukraine while repeatedly sympathizing with Russian leader Vladmir Putin, and has told advisers he would settle the war by letting Russia keep the land it has already seized.

A feel-good story.  Feel good, if only for a day.

Anybody else watch ‘Bob’s Burgers’?  Something about this animated show keeps me coming back for more.  Could it be the fart jokes?  Wasn’t it Mel Brooks who called George Washington ‘The Farter of Our Country’?

Personal to DJT:  You’re not ‘cutting the cheese’, you’re ‘cutting the cheese product’.

Stop. Just–stop.  I’ll try, but not too hard.

Big Win For The UAW:  Tennessee Volkswagen workers overwhelmingly vote to join union:

Employees at Volkswagen’s SUV assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have voted to join the United Auto Workers in a historic labor victory, the union and Volkswagen announced late Friday.

A preliminary tally released by the company showed workers favored union representation by a count of 2,628 to 985, a nearly 3-1 margin. The landslide win gives the union a crucial toehold in the anti-union South.

This third Volkswagen election was closely watched because the union has struggled for years to organize foreign-owned auto plants in the South. But the UAW is riding high off its strike against the Big Three last year and has plans to unionize more plants in Southern states, including Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai facilities in Alabama.

BTW, here’s what a US Rethug Senator from Tennessee said prior to the vote:

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) argued that workers unionizing at a Volkswagen auto plant in his state would be bad for business and harm U.S. competitiveness abroad.

“I hope that the workers of Tennessee take a very, very careful look at this and what it means for their liberty and freedoms at the end of the day,” Hagerty told HuffPost last week before a vote on Capitol Hill.