The Morning Dispatch: The Riveting Interpersonal Drama of Infrastructure Talks

Plus: A likely outcome to the New York mayor's race, and Donald Trump's quest to crush his GOP enemies in 2022.

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Happy Monday! The TMD crew is getting a little smaller for a few weeks—but for very good reason!

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • The official death toll in the Surfside, Florida condominium collapse has risen to nine by Sunday evening, and will likely grow much larger as hundreds of emergency workers and first responders continue searching for more than 150 residents who remain unaccounted for. The Washington Post reported Saturday that an engineer warned in 2018 of “major structural damage” to the building, but another engineer hired by Surfside to investigate the cause of the collapse said the reaction to that initial report was overblown, and that its findings were fairly typical.

  • The Pentagon announced last night that U.S. military forces had carried out “defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region.” The administration said Iran-backed militias had used the facilities to launch UAV attacks on American personnel in Iraq, and President Joe Biden had ordered the strikes “pursuant to his Article II authority to protect U.S. personnel in Iraq.”

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  1. Kevin Brady

    My wife and I just got home with our 2nd, and I’ll tell you what makes the first few months a lot easier - have a mini fridge in your bedroom, so you can store snacks, breastmilk, etc…

    What kills ya is the constant rushing up and downstairs - set up ‘stations’ in several rooms you’re hanging out in.

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  2. Kit Johnson

    Congrats to Haley!

    Could you guys do some more coverage on the stuff in Miami? I know it doesn't play into the big political stuff but I think more needs to be said about it.

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    Phil H

    First things first: Congratulations to Haley for your new little one!

    re: infrastructure bill: For someone who spent much of his adult life in the US Senate, Joe Biden finds it hard to be bipartisan when the extremists in his party object. That is what I have seen on Biden thus far: he is not really leading, certainly not his party.

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    David M

    Congrats to Haley! Take care of yourself, you have got a lot of work ahead of you.

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    Stephanie

    I just want to say, "tandem" doesn't mean "at the same time." It means "one at a time." First the compromise bill. Then the reconciliation bill.

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      Jen

      According to MacMillan ‘in tandem’ means “together and at the same time”.
      https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/british/in-tandem

      One of Merriam-Webster’s definitions is “working or occurring in conjunction with each other”.
      https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tandem

      It’s pretty clear what Democrats meant but now that Republicans are saying no dice Biden is trying to change the definition.

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        Stephanie

        On the other hand: https://www.yourdictionary.com/tandem

        That's the sense I usually get (single file). A tandem bike is not side by side, it's one seated behind the other; same with a tandem stroller: one seat behind the other. Tandem walking is one foot placed in front of the other. A tandem team of horses pulling a carriage is one horse in front of the other, not side by side. (That is the main Merriam definition too).

        As for Biden, he admitted the veto part was not kosher. The two bills are to be considered not linked in any way. One gets disposed of first, then the second.

        The money is there for the reconciliation bill. It just has to be wrung out of the corporations and wealthy people who benefited unfairly from the Trump tax cut.

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          Jen

          They absolutely are linked. Joe Manchin won’t do reconciliation without the bipartisan infrastructure bill and Bernie Sanders won’t do the infrastructure bill if he doesn’t get reconciliation.

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            Stephanie

            Or so they say. Of course, they are deliberately overstating what they'll actually end up settling for. Otherwise, what's the point of negotiation?

            But the discussion here was whether they were linked by Biden. And his public position is that he's uncommitted to either Manchin's or Bernie's positions.

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    Bill Nelson

    Congrats to Haley. The key to good parenting is to set expectations and pay attention.
    No child should ever bring home a C. My son is a physician at a major research hospital. Couple of years ago I found an old report card from 7th grade. He had a C in cooking, and he has always been an excellent cook. I called him up and chewed him out (he was 40).

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  7. Richard Fulmer

    Two of our five grand babies are identical twin girls who were premature. They’re four-and-a-half now, and are beautiful, bright, and happy. Modern medicine really is a miracle.

    I find that, as the grand kids grow up, I often miss who they were, but I always love who they are. Newborns are wonderful to hold, six-month olds are wonderful to hug, and toddlers are wonderful to watch.

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    Citizen60

    Haley - welcome! Do your parents 2 big favors: sleep through the night quickly, and grow very slowly so they can enjoy every moment with you.

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  9. Richard Fulmer

    Is Trump delusional about the election or is he just following the grifter’s golden rule: “Never give up the con”?

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    1. Ryan

      Wow, You must hate Trump too!

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      1. Richard Fulmer

        I don’t hate him, but I didn’t vote for him in either 2016 or 2020 because I thought he was an ignorant, incompetent, emotionally needy, bullying, and divisive con man. Now I’m trying to decide whether he’s also insane.

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      Cornelius O’Brien

      If he's that delusional, his Cabinet should have invoked the 25th Amendment. I mean, doesn't someone have to speak up if the President is incapable of grasping reality? I think the likeliest answer is he's just a f*&%ing lying con man.

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  10. Jackson

    Congratulations to Hayley and family! Our (now) one month old, our first who is sitting next to me as I type this, was also one month early and is doing great. We even had him wrapped up in the same style blankets at the hospital that I see in that photo. Babies are a lot of awesome, frustrating, exhausting, wonderful work. Glad Hayley's getting the time she needs. All the best wishes to her and her family.

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