Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of November 22

U.S. House passes Biden's $1.75 trillion social spending bill, sending to Senate

In one of the sub-articles linked, when referring to Kevin McCarthy's speech:

Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described it in a video posted on social media as "one of the worst, lowest quality speeches" she had ever seen. "It is stunning to me how long a person can talk (while) communicating so little," she said.

This is the kind of thing we need more of in congress. Calling out bullshit for what it is.

Even Pelosi spit some decent fire.

And this is clip always relevant.

70% of Arizona Democrats support replacing Kyrsten Sinema with another Democrat

Kyrsten Sinema’s favorability ratings are roughly split among Arizona voters, with 42% viewing her favorably and 45% viewing her unfavorably. What is especially interesting is the Democratic Senator’s ratings across the aisle – Sinema’s numbers with Republicans are above water while her numbers with Democrats are underwater. Forty-eight percent of Republicans view Sinema favorably and 45% view her unfavorably. Meanwhile, just 42% of Sen. Sinema’s own party view her in a favorable light and 47% hold an unfavorable view of her.

When asked who they would prefer as a U.S. Senator given the options of Sinema, a Republican, and a Democrat other than Sinema, only 26% of Arizona Democrats said that they would prefer Sinema, while another 72% chose a Democrat other than Kyrsten Sinema.

Senator Sinema also currently trails in hypothetical primary matchups. Against Phoenix Rep. Ruben Gallego, 47% said that they would support Gallego while 24% said that they would support Sinema. Rep. Greg Stanton, Sinema’s successor in Congress, leads his predecessor by an identical margin in a hypothetical primary match-up. Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman also bests Sinema by 20 points.

It's nice that the GOP populace actually sees what Sinema’s doing for once. 20% of them would even reelect her when given the chance in 2024 according to the following image.

Preferred US Senator by party

Related to all @Kuromantis' gerrymandering posts of late, I just stumbled upon fivethirtyeight's redistricting map which makes it easier to understand at a glance, and summarizes it all:

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/

The latest with redistricting - Nov. 23, 2021

Eighteen states — most recently Illinois — have now finished redrawing their congressional maps (not counting the six states with only one congressional district). And several other states are already deep into the process. Of particular note, California and Florida, home to 80 congressional districts between them, both released their first-draft maps this month.

At this point, Democrats have gained six seats nationally from the redistricting process, Republicans have gained two, and the number of competitive seats has dropped by five. Democrats have gained seats in part because of their control over redistricting in states like Illinois — whose new map creates 13 blue seats, three red seats and just one competitive seat — but also because Republicans in states like Texas gave Democratic incumbents safer districts in order to shore up their own seats. Republicans have also converted light-red districts into safer seats in states like Indiana, Oklahoma and Utah.

Some of the most heavily biased maps of the cycle have been enacted by Republicans in North Carolina and Ohio, but they are also so extreme that they run the risk of being overturned in court. There are already lawsuits alleging that they are partisan or racial gerrymanders.

A few states are running into more trouble redrawing their lines, particularly those where the two parties share redistricting power. The bipartisan redistricting commissions in both Virginia and Washington failed to meet their statutory deadlines to approve a map, kicking their redistricting processes to their respective state supreme courts. And redistricting looks destined to be decided by a court in Wisconsin, too, where the Democratic governor has vetoed the map passed by the Republican legislature.

80 people simultaneously broke into a Nordstrom near San Francisco, police say: ‘Clearly a planned event’ in weekend filled with looting incidents

Drivers blared their horns Saturday evening as dozens of thieves carrying luggage and bags darted from a Nordstrom department store near San Francisco and hopped into cars waiting for them outside. All but three of the 80 or so looters escaped, police said.

Two store employees were assaulted, and one was pepper-sprayed by the intruders, according to officers in Walnut Creek, a city about 25 miles east of San Francisco. In a news release, police called the crime “clearly a planned event.”

[…]

On Friday night, thieves broke into at least 10 stores, including a Louis Vuitton in San Francisco’s Union Square. And on Sunday night, officers in Hayward, about a 30-minute drive from San Francisco, were investigating after a group of smash-and-grab burglars destroyed glass cabinets and stole merchandise from a mall jewelry store.

[…]

Incidents of retail theft and organized crime have marred San Francisco’s image as of late. Pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS have bemoaned blatant acts of shoplifting and shuttered several locations as a result. In September, city officials announced new tactics for fighting the crime wave, including adding more foot patrols and additional investigators to the police department’s organized retail crime unit.

[…]

Jim Dudley, a retired San Francisco Police officer who now teaches criminal justice at San Francisco State University, said the burglaries might be the result of a “perfect storm” created by corporations and policymakers in California, where many retailers have “no chase” policies regarding shoplifters and where at least $950 of merchandise must be stolen for state prosecutors to press felony charges.

The weekend’s looting and shoplifting incidents “seem to be coordinated, with tools, lookouts, vehicles for getaway and swarming tactics used by criminals with intent to plunder,” Dudley told the Chronicle.

Here’s Where the Record Number of American Workers Are Quitting

A separate report out Friday showed payrolls increased in almost all U.S. states in October. Nebraska had the lowest unemployment rate in October, at 1.9%. Louisiana, Alaska, Michigan and the District of Columbia saw the largest job increases on a percentage basis from the prior month.

Jerome Powell nominated to stay as US Federal Reserve chair... to paraphrase ING, it's a bit of a nothingburger, but an important nothingburger.

What Happened at Carmine’s: A confrontation between a host and dining patrons slid neatly into every outrage narrative of 2021. Maybe a bit too neatly.