As the House of Representatives reconvened today, excited and hopeful that a new round of balloting would get Rep. Kevin McCarthy his gavel. But it was not to be. Another round of voting closed without meeting the threshold required to elect a speaker. The only winners thus far are Democrats, who look like a formidable force together, and C-SPAN ratings.
After a never-ending string of humiliating votes for speaker that have failed to yield anything other than severe embarrassment for Kevin McCarthy, it’s worth asking what would happen if House Republicans never manage to settle on a leader. My answer: It would be good for the country.
Right now, we don’t actually need a House of Representatives—at least, not one under Republican control.
“What was expected to be a day of triumph for House Republicans coming into the majority turned into chaos,” says Wednesday’s AP explainer, and it’s not immediately clear whether the nation’s political press was genuinely caught off guard by the current Republican shitshow or are just pretending at it.
“In an abundance of caution, doctors have recommended that it be removed,” White House physician Kevin O’Connor said.
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.If you think the crisis of American democracy is over, the circus in the House should remind you that a significant portion of the Republican Party has no interest in governing, policy, or democracy itself. But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.
After losing his parents to COVID-19, the California Democrat has little patience for those who downplay it.
The veteran Democratic senator is now third in line to the presidency. “Well, today I’m second because Kevin McCarthy’s not speaker.
Kevin McCarthy’s humiliation, and that of Donald Trump alongside him, offers a tall draft of schadenfreude. At the end of that, though, the nation is left with an empty glass and a bitter taste.For many reasons, McCarthy is unfit for the speakership: He undermined the 2020 election, he is dishonest, he is (as we see) unable to marshal his caucus. But his defectors aren’t really interested in a speaker who is able to keep the House organized or functional.
During this week’s Monday Night Football game, the 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed moments after making a routine defensive play. Hamlin seemed to have suffered a blow to his chest shortly before losing consciousness from cardiac arrest, and his condition is grave. The source of his illness remains unclear. A study of sudden cardiac events in U.S.
Call it the First Law of Winter Viewing: The colder the weather, the stronger the urge to watch something warm.
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
The global health body is now trying to figure out how severe the sub-variant is.
Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday during an NFL game. He remains in critical condition. After making a routine tackle against an opposing Cincinnati Bengals player, the 24-year-old safety collapsed on the field. Stunned players from both teams cried, prayed and hugged as Hamlin received CPR from medical personnel before being taken to the hospital.
With Republicans now controlling the House of Representatives and vowing to fight President Biden’s agenda, journalist David Dayen says Democrats will need to get comfortable using executive action, as a raft of major legislation passed in the previous Congress will need to be put into action by the executive branch. “The next year, the next two years, isn’t going to be about legislative action,” says Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect.
The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives was thrown into chaos Tuesday as a group of far-right lawmakers prevented GOP leader Kevin McCarthy from becoming speaker, blocking him in three rounds of voting. This is the first time in a century that the process has gone beyond the first round. Voting for a new speaker is set to resume Wednesday.
While antiviral pills are plentiful and remain an option for some with weak immune systems, they won’t work for everyone — Pfizer’s Paxlovid interacts with many widely prescribed drugs.
Reviews by outside experts and internal officials found serious flaws in the nation’s food-inspection programs after four infant hospitalizations and two deaths were linked to infant formula. But the FDA is still processing the recommendations.
Even with last month’s further easing of inflation, the Federal Reserve plans to keep raising interest rates.
We continue our Democracy Now! special broadcast with Democracy Now! co-host Juan González, who recently gave three “farewell” speeches in his hometown of New York before he moved to Chicago. González is an award-winning journalist and investigative reporter who spent 29 years as a columnist for the New York Daily News.
In a Democracy Now! special broadcast, we spend the hour with our own Juan González, who recently gave three “farewell” speeches in his hometown of New York before he moved to Chicago. González is an award-winning journalist and investigative reporter who spent 29 years as a columnist for the New York Daily News.
“Today, is that the day I wanted to have? No,” McCarthy told reporters after he lost in multiple rounds of voting that threw the new GOP majority into chaos.
The opinion offers limited assurances for activists seeking to work around abortion bans.
The vote for House Speaker continues, moving to round three in with Kevin McCarthy’s hapless bid to lead the tiny minority in the new Congress. This is the first time in 100 years that the Speaker was not elected on the first ballot, something that’s only happened 14 times in history.
Stick with us for as long as this goes, and watch all the fun on C-SPAN. We could be here for days.
If you’ve watched sports for years, you’ve unfortunately seen some truly tough moments where everyone in the stadium paused, held hands, and hoped for the best for an injured player. The player could be from the home or away team, but in the end, they are human beings with family members watching, and we all gathered our support to keep our thoughts and/or prayers with them.
The biggest news today is undoubtedly whether Kevin “Corrupt Bargain” McCarthy will be able to secure enough votes from the feral pack of politicians known as the Republican House caucus to fulfill his years-long quest for the House speakership. But there have also been big developments in the immigration world you have missed due to the holidays (I hope they were peaceful ones for you).
Pregnant people would be able to fill prescriptions for the drug at pharmacies.
So far New York Rep.-elect George Santos, who may be a bona fide member of the House of Representatives by the time you read this, has made a series of outlandish claims: He was the original Gerber baby. He invented hummus. He spent several weeks in Valdez, Alaska, vigorously scrubbing otters—but only in the months prior to the oil spill. He resorbed five identical twins in the womb, which is why he has so many contradictory life stories.
UPDATE: Tuesday, Jan 3, 2023 · 8:43:05 PM +00:00
·
Mark Sumner
Just a quick look at the area around Kupyansk, where nothing much seems to have changed in the last week.
Kupyansk Area. Open in another tab for a larger view.
I’ve added red explosions to this map to note the locations that the Ukrainian Army reported as either being shelled, or repelling an attack, on Jan 2.
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Over the holiday weekend, the Russians fired a wave of missiles at Ukraine—all of which Ukraine claims to have stopped in the first complete defeat of such an attack in this war. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian strike killed scores of Russians at a makeshift military headquarters.
House Republicans appear poised to hamstring the Office of Congressional Ethics.