#bipartisan-talks

#bipartisan-talks

The White House is seeking a 10 percent cut to nondefense spending, proposing a reduction of $73 billion from federal programs outside the military, targeting environmental initiatives.

Anthropic's political activities have ramped up as the company continues to be enmeshed in a nasty legal battle with the Defense Department. The dispute erupted earlier this year over the government's use of Anthropic's AI models and what guidelines (if any) should exist for that usage.

"A certain kind of person is opting into spending a lot of time on social media, and they may be people who are more disaffected to start with."

Well, this is Holy Week and vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. We put these things in God's hands, and it tends to work out.

Clearly there's a disagreement of strategy here. The business-as-usual calculation for what is going to be successful in a given election cycle does not necessarily, in my view, meet the moment.

Organizational filibustering refers to strategies that delay and obstruct efforts to pursue social justice in systems. These additions can stretch out the process of implementation of diversity strategic plans or multicultural programs for years. Change agents can become battle-fatigued and give up their efforts. They can also become so disheartened that they leave a group or organization altogether.

"There seems to be a growing consensus that the status quo is unsustainable," said Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat who was an early entrant into Congress' prediction market debate.

The principle of intellectual charity is fundamental to constructive political conversations. This principle states that, in any discussion, we should accept the best version of an opponent's ideas, not a distorted version or a "straw man." Exaggeration and distortion of opposing opinions (always present, to some degree, in political debates) have become the standard form of political argument in contemporary America.

I think we know what the agenda items are. Accomplishing those is going to be hard with a small majority. The upshot is that Trump's prime-time address is unlikely to make more than a ripple in the congressional agenda over the coming months. It's the reality, Republicans acknowledged Wednesday, of life in Washington right now: Despite its trifecta, the party's legislative ambitions are being hemmed in by its barely-there majorities.

Among Trump's guests is Saige Blair. Blair is at the center of a lawsuit involving allegations that Virginia school officials made decisions about Blair's well-being and gender identity without informing the then-14-year-old's parents.

The interchamber tensions between Democrats are becoming a regular feature of funding fights in the second Trump term. Lawmakers, strategists and voters alike exploded in anger last March when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a handful of colleagues allowed a spending package to move forward amid the Elon Musk-led DOGE assault on federal agencies. In November, tempers again flared when a handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to end a record 43-day shutdown.