Apple announces $129 Smart Battery Case for iPhone XR, XS, XS Max

The year has only just begun, and Apple’s first product releases are…Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR.

Apple quietly introduced the new battery cases, which provide up two twice the amount of battery life for some some use cases, for $129 in its online store and through its Apple Store app. Retail stores will carry the accessories soon.

The new Smart Battery Cases feature a soft-touch silicone exterior with micro-fiber lined interior and come in your choice of white or black. Bummer there aren’t matching colors for iPhone XR owners, though.

Here’s the breakdown on how much extra juice these new battery cases get you:

iPhone XR

Internet use: Up to 22 hours (up from 15 hours)
Talk time: Up to 39 hours (up from 25 hours)
Video playback: Up to 27 hours (up from 16 hours)

iPhone XS

Internet use: Up to 21 hours (up from 12 hours)
Talk time: Up to 33 hours (up from 20 hours)
Video playback: Up to 25 hours (up from 14hours)

iPhone XS Max

Internet use: Up to 20 hours (up from 13 hours)
Talk time: Up to 37 hours (up from 25 hours)
Video playback: Up to 25 hours (up from 15 hours)

The best part about the new Smart Battery Cases is that they’re compatible with wireless charging. Most battery cases don’t support them, but these do.

As with the previous battery case for the iPhone 6 and 6S, Apple doesn’t specify how much milliamp hours (mAh) the case comes with. We’ll probably have to wait until a place like iFixit tears it open to see.

It bulges in the back, but at least it's not as ugly as before. — It bulges in the back, but at least it’s not as ugly as before.

Also like the old battery case, the new ones keep the XR, XS, and XS Max constantly charged up with a battery indictor within notification center.

Aesthetically, though, the case definitely looks less hideous than the old one with the battery “hump” extending all the way to the bottom edge of the case. Design snobs will appreciate it for sure.

In our review of the iPhone XR, we found the battery to last the longest compared to the XS and XS Max. In some cases lasting nearly two days with light to moderate usage. The Smart Battery Case is great if you’re on the go and have no time to plug in or you’re a power user who’s glued to their device.

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From Gaga To Chance, All The Celebrities Who Have Spoken Out Against R. Kelly

Getty Images

The list of artists who want nothing to do with R. Kelly is only getting longer.

In the weeks since Lifetime’s bombshell series Surviving R. Kelly aired, a growing number of celebrities have distanced themselves from the embattled R&B star. The six-part docuseries chronicled the decades of sexual misconduct and abuse allegations that dozens of women have leveled against Kelly, who has long denied any wrongdoing. And as the backlash against the 52-year-old continues to mount, his peers have responded by yanking their collaborations with him from digital existence, offering their support to his alleged victims, and vowing to #MuteRKelly.

Below, see how Chance the Rapper, Lady Gaga, and more stars have taken action.

Chance the Rapper

On Tuesday (January 15), Pitchfork reported that Chance removed his 2015 collaboration with Kelly, “Somewhere In Paradise,” from digital streaming platforms. That move comes after the Chicago MC appeared on the last episode of Surviving and said that “making a song with R. Kelly was a mistake.” On Twitter, Chance further apologized to “all of [Kelly’s] survivors for working with him and taking his long to speak out.”
Lady Gaga

Earlier this month, Gaga apologized for working with Kelly on her 2013 ARTPOP track “Do What U Want (With My Body),” and similarly pulled the song from iTunes and streaming services. The “Shallow” singer also released a lengthy statement that read, in part, “I stand behind these women 1000%, believe them, know they are suffering and in pain, and feel strongly that their voices should be heard and taken seriously. What I am hearing about the allegations against R Kelly is absolutely horrifying and indefensible. As a victim of sexual assault myself, I made both the song and the video at a dark time in my life. … I’m sorry, both for my poor judgment when I was young, and for not speaking out sooner.”
Christina Aguilera

Aguilera, who appeared on a Kelly-less remix of “Do What U Want,” applauded Gaga for “doing the right thing.” She wrote on Instagram, “This is a reminder of women sticking together — and not letting a man take ownership of a great song/ moment. … I embrace all survivors of sexual and domestic violence and abuse holding a special place in my heart, and you @ladygaga, for doing the right thing!”
Celine Dion

After Lady Gaga pulled her duet with Kelly from streaming services, Dion wisely decided to follow suit. On Monday (January 14), news broke that the diva’s team is in the process of yanking Dion and Kelly’s Grammy-nominated 1998 duet “I’m Your Angel,” which Kelly also produced and wrote.
Post Malone

In a new video from TMZ, a cameraman caught up with Malone and mentioned how French Montana and DJ Paul have both recently said that Kelly’s legacy will live on in his music. Malone replied, “I have no clue. He’s done a lot of fucked up shit, obviously.” The cameraman then mentioned that artists are pulling their collaborations with Kelly from streaming services, to which the rapper responded, “I think essentially it is the right thing to do.”
Cara Delevingne

The model expressed her outrage about the Kelly situation on Instagram earlier this month, and then returned to the platform to reveal that her comments against him lost her more than 50,000 followers. She seemed unperturbed about it, though, writing, “Goodbye silence and backwards followers, hello confrontation and forward thinkers. It’s going to be a loud year xxx #MuteRKelly.”
Keke Palmer

The singer and actress, who came into contact with Kelly early in her career and considered him a mentor, shared her reaction to the docuseries on January 9. On Instagram, she emotionally shared, “Just finished Surviving R. Kelly and I have spent the last hour crying. As a student of R. Kelly’s for the time I was and having been around his light and understanding the obstacles he overcame as a child to actually be birthed into the musical genius he is today… All to put others through the same darkness he was running from is the most disheartening thing to accept. … I will stand by my sisters because that’s simply what’s right and what I hope discontinues this behavior in anyone.”
John Legend

Legend was one of the few artists who appeared on Surviving R. Kelly for an on-camera interview. Taking to Twitter, he explained his participation by saying, “To everyone telling me how courageous I am for appearing in the doc, it didn’t feel risky at all. I believe these women and don’t give a fuck about protecting a serial child rapist. Easy decision.”
Questlove

The Roots member faced a bit of backlash for declining to appear in Surviving R. Kelly, but he made it clear that he does not support the alleged sexual predator. “I always thought Kels was trash,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “My reason for declining the R Kelly docu that I support 10000000 percent is I didn’t wanna be in the ‘good times’ portion of the doc, like stanning for his ‘genius.’ I was asked to talk about his genius. I do not nor have I EVER stanned for him.”
Meek Mill

After watching the doc, the Philly MC said on Twitter that he’s “not feeling R. Kelly.” He then added, “It don’t take a rocket scientist to see what was going on … what I’m tryna figure out why did they let it go on soooooo long!”
Phoenix

The French indie band apologized for working with Kelly twice in 2013: inviting him on stage for Coachella and tapping him for a remix of their song “Trying to Be Cool.” In a statement posted to Twitter on January 10, they said, “We regret that we were not both more informed and more discerning when we worked with him previously. We fully support all victims of sexual abuse, and it’s our hope that there will be a path to justice.”
Ne-Yo

The R&B crooner said “enough is enough” when he took to Instagram to vow that he would #MuteRKelly. “There is NO excuse,” he wrote. “Music is important. It really is. But it’s not more important than protecting our children, protecting our little girls. PERIOD.”
Nick Cannon

Cannon, who worked with Kelly in 2003 on the song “Gigolo,” confessed on Instagram that he’s previously “turned a blind eye to a lot of darkness in this industry.” He continued, “It is no secret how men have misused their power to manipulate young emerging pop stars to seasoned Hollywood actresses and everyone in between. I have personally witnessed it and will no longer be silent about it.”
JoJo

The pop star tweeted on January 5 that she was a “HUGEEEEE R Kelly fan” growing up, but she’s since changed course in the wake of the renewed allegations against him. “I feel DEEPLY for these COURAGEOUS QUEENS who come forward,” she wrote, “and in some cases risk their lives 2 share their story & let others know they’re not alone!!!!”

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DuckDuckGo’s private searches will pull up Apple Maps results

It’s hard to search the web these days and not find Google Maps data. But privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo did something relatively unusual on Tuesday — it brought in Apple Maps as its default mapping partner.

Using Apple’s MapKit JS framework that was announced at WWDC last year, mobile and desktop searches through DuckDuckGo for maps and addresses will pull Apple Maps data, satellite imagery, and visuals such as storefronts. The maps are interactive, so on mobile you can zoom in with your fingers, and on all platforms the maps include clickable listings with addresses and hours.

The separate “Maps” tab on DuckDuckGo will only bring up Apple Maps.

All the information, but with Apple Maps.

DuckDuckGo’s big thing is its strict privacy policy: searches are private, anonymous, and not tracked. The company says it doesn’t collect or share your personal data, and claims that any Apple Maps that come up in search results will adhere to its policies.

Previously, DuckDuckGo pulled in mapping data from all over: Google Maps, Bing Maps, even Russia’s Yandex Maps through “bang” shortcuts to bring in search results from other sites. But because it was using other sites, data collection policies varied and weren’t controlled by DuckDuckGo’s privacy rules.

So now you can look up pizza and not have that pizzeria down the street follow you across the internet.

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You don’t need to be high to enjoy @ifyouhigh’s Instagram account

By Charlotte Roos2019-01-15 20:56:26 UTC

An Ode to … is a weekly column where we share the stuff we’re really into in hopes that you’ll be really into it, too.

There’s no shortage mesmerizing videos on the internet, but one Instagram account provides content far more transfixing than your average slime video.

The videos on @ifyouhigh range from nature timelapses to ASMR-inducing motion graphics — and despite the handle’s implications, you don’t need to be high to enjoy this eclectic feed.

This video of a bubble freezing in real time is a personal favorite:

I could watch this repost from @davesmithartist on how mirrors are made all day long.

Watching videos from the account can have a real rabbit hole effect, and there have been times where I spend more time than I care to admit just scrolling. These videos are satisfying, but in a more organic way than more simple clips like soap cutting or slime.

There are a few different types of videos that ifyouhigh shares. Generally, they can be categorized as nature videos, motion graphics, skate tricks, intricate art pieces, and scientific processes.

One account that regularly gets featured by ifyouhigh is wannerstedt. It belongs to Andreas Wannerstedt, an art director and motion graphics artist based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Here’s some of his work:

Arben Vllasaliu (@arbenl1berateme) is also a featured 3D artist whose work will probably make your jaw drop.

There’s also Ivan Black, a 3D artist who makes a lot of kinetic sculptures. Oh, what I wouldn’t do to have a kinetic chandelier in my house.

The featured nature videos come from a range of different sources, but all of them will make you believe that nature is too cool to be real.

I am not a fan of bugs, but even I’m impressed by these leaf insects:

Several of the science videos they repost make me wish that I paid more attention in science class, because now I want to know exactly how this exhibit doesn’t overflow.

Ifyouhigh is a great way to mainline these relaxing videos in one convenient place, but fair warning: If you go to their page, you lose several hours of your life, so make sure to plan accordingly.

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Can Macron’s open letter save his presidency?

Shaken by weekly protests on the streets of France, sparked by a rise in fuel prices, French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to turn anger into solutions.

Macron‘s answer is to build a new “contract” with the nation.

He’s launched a two-month national debate…and says he’s open to ideas.

The French will be encouraged to vent their grievances and offer new suggestions online and in meetings around the country.

But is he simply buying time?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Pierre Olivier Pinquet – Member of the Yellow Vest movement

Jacques Reland – Head of European Research at the Global Policy Institute

Laura Slimani – member of the Generation.S a French political party created by Benoît Hamon

Source: Al Jazeera News

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Nike’s app-connected ‘custom shoe for everyone’ doesn’t come in women’s sizing

The future is female — unless you happen to be Nike, that is.

The shoemaker and cultural force that brought us everything from the Air Jordan to the Air Yeezy is back at it again with the release of an app-connected shoe that Nike promises will forever change our understanding of the perfect fit. Sneakerheads, meet the Nike Adapt BB: “a custom shoe for everyone” that The Verge reports just so happens to not come in women’s sizing.

The shoe, announced Jan. 15 and available for purchase starting Feb. 17, offers everything you never needed in a pair of kicks. According to the splashy press release, your hard-earned $350 buys you not just athletic footwear, but “a platform that creates a truly custom fit by combining an advanced power-lacing system, an app and continually updated firmware featured in the new Nike Adapt BB basketball shoe.”

As Michael Donaghu, Nike’s VP of Innovation, explains, this self-tying shoe (i.e. the “advanced power-lacing system”) is the innovation the world has been waiting for — à la the car replacing the horse-drawn carriage, or streaming video replacing the VHS tape. And yes, needing an app to tie your shoes does seem like a version of the future, albeit a particularly awful one.

“[The shoelace] remains, somehow, despite its imperfections,” he writes with a hint of what is surely genuine disbelief. “We’ve all had laces come undone on us, forcing a sudden time-out. And because the foot visibly swells throughout the day – even over the course of a single basketball game — we have to constantly tie and untie our shoes to get the fit just right.”

The solution to this millennia-old problem, we’re told, is the Adapt BB. And maybe the shoe is great! We didn’t try them on, but a reporter with The Verge did, and she wrote that they were hard to get on. The reporter, Ashley Carman, also noted something else: the “sneaker of the future,” as she dubbed it, “will only be released in men’s sizing.”

We reached out to Nike to confirm that there will not be women’s sizing for the Adapt BB, and a company spokesperson emphasized that while the shoe will only be released in men’s sizing, it’s a unisex shoe that can be worn by all.

“What the Verge wrote isn’t fully correct as it’s a unisex shoe,” wrote the spokesperson. “They are available in men’s sizes M7-M14 and M15, which is equivalent to the following: W8-W 15.5, W16.5).”

And, to be sure, women can and do wear men’s-sized shoes all the time. And Nike offers a handy size chart for converting men’s sizes into women’s. However, with the smallest Adapt BB size a men’s seven, anyone looking for something smaller than a women’s 8.5 is out of luck. And, as The Verge reports, the WNBA has at least one player wearing the equivalent of a men’s 6.5 — “so not even every professional basketball player can wear these.”

This isn’t a problem unique to Nike. Just last November, Steph Curry responded to a young fan’s letter inquiring as to why his Curry 5s basketball shoe wasn’t offered in girls’ sizes. He promised to change that going forward. Time will tell if Nike does the same.

But hey, maybe Nike is just trying to do women the favor of not having to charge their footwear on a wireless-charging pad? Now that is truly revolutionary.

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Forget the catsuit. Check out Serena Williams’ romper.

By Morgan Sung2019-01-15 20:11:19 UTC

Serena Williams found another way around the catsuit ban, and it’s absolutely glorious.

Since her badass black catsuit was banned at the French Open in 2018, the tennis champion has been trolling competition officials with increasingly fire outfits.

The skintight bodysuit — which some thought was a tribute to Black Panther — was designed to prevent life-threatening blood clots after Williams gave birth to her daughter. However, French Open officials said it violated the dress code and was a “disrespect” to the game. That didn’t faze her, though: A week later, she wore a pastel purple tutu and fishnet tights to the U.S. Open.

Williams continued her trend of unorthodox outfits at the Australian Open on Monday, walking onto the court in a short black trench coat. When she completed her warm-up routine, she pulled off the coat and revealed a green romper and fishnet tights. According to the Cut, “the crowd reportedly went wild.”

Twitter user WTA joked that Williams “just cut the legs off” of her banned catsuit, and her husband Alexis Ohanian was very here for it.

And other Twitter users were in absolute awe of the outfit choice.

serena williams australian open outfit is amazing thats my queen

— james (@anuscosgrove) January 15, 2019

Not only is she one of the greatest tennis players on the court, but @serenawilliams seriously SLAYS on the court with her outfits! Always looking amazing #AusOpen

— Fighter. (@lakishajayde) January 15, 2019

This is the first tour match Williams has participated in since losing to Naomi Osaka at the U.S. Open. She absolutely slaughtered Tatiana Marja 6-0 and 6-2 during their match on Monday, and moves on to compete again on Wednesday.

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MLB Rumors: Phillies Don’t Plan to Sign Both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado

FILE - In this Saturday, July 22, 2017 file photo, Washington Nationals' Bryce Harper waits to bat against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Phoenix. The Los Angeles Dodgers will pay baseball's highest luxury tax for the fourth straight year and the New York Yankees owe a penalty for a 15th consecutive season. The Dodgers and Yankees vow to get below next year's tax threshold of $197 million. That would reset their base tax rate from 50 percent to 20 percent going into the 2018-19 offseason, when Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and possibly Clayton Kershaw head a potentially illustrious free-agent class. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

The Philadelphia Phillies appear likely to sign one of either Manny Machado or Bryce Harper this offseason, as the market has been surprisingly cool for the pair of superstars. But the ultimate hope in Philadelphia, that the team will somehow sign both, remains a pipe dream.

According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, “League sources insisted the Phillies have made this much clear during negotiations: They will not sign both players.”

There are obviously no guarantees that Philadelphia will land either player, though as Gelb reported, “multiple league sources indicated the Phillies’ risk of losing out on both stars is mitigated by the apparent lack of interested teams throughout Major League Baseball and the club’s financial wherewithal.”

In other words, owner John Middleton’s comments in November have given the Phillies leverage.

“We’re going into this expecting to spend money,” Middleton told Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “And maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.”

That means both Machado and Harper are likely to check in on Philadelphia even if they get an offer elsewhere, to see if the Phillies will give them even more money. That keeps Philadelphia in the running for both players, and the Phillies to this point can essentially leverage Machado and Harper against one another.

Why offer an obscene amount of money for one player while still in negotiations with the other? Why set the market high for either player when they could respond to the market as it develops?

Of course, the team’s leverage would diminish if one of the players signed with another team. Then, the Phillies would likely find themselves in a bidding war for the other player. And there’s a risk in turning off either player by waiting rather than aggressively pursuing them with a big offer.

The question remains which player would the Phillies pick between the two. According to Gelb, “The Phillies are believed to prefer Machado over Harper because he is an elite hitter and defender, but conflicting information has spread from team to team and agent to agent.”

Conflicting information is the name of the game this time of year.

Bob Nightengale @BNightengale

Philadelphia #Phillies emerge as clear-cut favorite to land Bryce Harper after 5-hour meeting. Optimism is high. https://t.co/0j5B5Pu2Gg

But at this point, the team could desperately use either player. The Phillies lack star power, for one, and while they have a solid team in place, they don’t yet have a position player to truly build around. Either Machado or Harper would fill that role and then some, invigorating the fanbase in the process.

The Phillies have largely been an afterthought since the heady days of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay. This winter, they’re once again at the center of the baseball world.

But for now, it’s a waiting game. And as Gelb noted, it might remain that way well into February, to the chagrin of both the fans and players.

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UK parliament rejects May’s Brexit deal

Members of the UK parliament voted against Theresa May’s Brexit agreement on Tuesday, complicating UK’s departure from the European Union on March 29.

Parliament members voted 432 to 202 to reject the deal, giving May a crushing defeat with a 230 margin.

“The House has spoken, and the government will listen,” May said following the vote, even as she predicted “more uncertainty, more bitterness and more rancor”.

The vote plunges the already divided country deeper into turmoil as it tries to solve several key issues in the Brexit process.

Opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn called it “the greatest defeat” for a British government since the 1920s.

“This is a catastrophic defeat for this government,” he said, as he called for a no-confidence vote against May’s government.

Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee, reporting from London, said that with May’s defeat, a no-confidence vote is expected on Wednesday night.

In her final plea to the parliament, May said that a vote against the deal “is nothing more than uncertainty, division and the very real risk of ‘No Deal’ or ‘No Brexit’ at all.”

“We can choose unity over division,” she said before the vote.

“I believe that we have a duty to deliver on that referendum vote. And to do so in a way that protects people’s jobs, and protects our security, and protects our union.”

Economically disastrous

With MPs disagreeing with the deal, the country could face a so-called “no deal” Brexit that critics claim will be economically disastrous, or a second referendum on the deal or even whether to remain in the EU after all.

May, who now has three days to bring a revised plan back to parliament, will now most likely seek concessions from the EU, then put her deal to parliament a second time.

However, the EU has said it will not negotiate the deal again.

Uncertainty and ‘Brexit paralysis’ fears in UK as deadline looms

With the margin of her defeat, it is is more unlikely that EU would give May more concessions, Al Jazeera’s David Chater, reporting from Brussels, said.

“There may be little Theresa May can discuss with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.”

Tuesday’s vote was initially scheduled to be held on December 11 but was postponed by May when it became clear she faced certain defeat.

Last week, May warned British lawmakers that if the plan was rejected, a catastrophe would follow.

“Doing so would be a catastrophic and unforgivable breach of trust in our democracy,” she wrote.

The UK is poised to leave the EU on March 29, two years after it triggered Article 50, the exit clause in the EU’s constitution, and kick-started arduous negotiations with European leaders over a divorce deal.

However, since reaching a deal in November, the agreement has come under fire from across the political spectrum, with opponents of the EU seeking a cleaner break and pro-European legislators pressing for a second vote on membership of the bloc.

A second referendum, however, has been opposed by both May and main opposition leader Corbyn.

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‘The gang concept almost never works’: Senators struggle to end shutdown

Mitch McConnell and Roy Blunt — “The gang concept almost never works. And when it does, the people who were part of the gang are almost always sorry they were part of the gang,” said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 4 GOP leader. | Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

A bipartisan group of senators is trying to set up a gang to end the government shutdown. But Senate leaders might as well be an anti-gang task force.

About a dozen Democratic and Republican senators are beginning member-to-member and staff level conversations on how to break the deadlock between President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders, who are not even talking any more about how to reopen the government. But few senators believe the group has a real shot at success, given that its chief goal is at odds with Trump’s current hard-line stance. And party leaders aren’t offering much encouragement.

Story Continued Below

The new gang’s hope is that the president can be convinced to open the government up and take up an immigration package that would enhance border security and offer protections for young immigrants and people under Temporary Protected Status. Trump has repeatedly rejected the idea of reopening the government before getting some $5 billion for his border wall, and senators say there’s no reason to believe he will change his tune now that centrists are talking across party lines.

“The gang concept almost never works. And when it does, the people who were part of the gang are almost always sorry they were part of the gang,” said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 4 GOP leader.

Blunt added that he can see no scenario where Republicans vote for a bill funding the government that Trump doesn’t support. And that’s the only thing that Democratic leaders are willing to take right now before they’ll even start talking about border security and immigration reform.

“If we can get Mitch to open up the government, that’s great. But they’re going to need 20 to 25 of their folks saying that before Mitch McConnell does,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the No. 3 Democratic leader.

It’s not that party leaders are panning the idea of talking, but they just don’t see how it gets the government any closer to being open.

The key players have backed into their respective corners in the Capitol and White House: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that he won’t put anything on the floor that doesn’t get a presidential signature, and the president has been adamant he wants wall funding that Democrats won’t support. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are refusing to give the president more than $1.3 billion in fencing, the same amount as current spending levels.

Given that reality, individual senators, though powerful in their own right, can’t actually break the logjam.

“Count me as skeptical that a new gang is going to solve this problem. The most straightforward way to solve this problem is to allow us to vote on any number of funding bills that would garner 60, 70, 80 votes,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who serves on the Democratic whip team.

“I credit our guys with reaching out and trying to create a solution that might break the impasse. But in the end the president, his team have to be involved too,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.). “I don’t know where it’s headed. But at least there’s some discussions going on, which is a good thing.”

Senators are getting antsy and feel compelled to do something, anything, to try and get out of the seemingly endless shutdown, according to people familiar with the group’s dynamics. Trump rejected a GOP-only plan last week that would reopen the government and put Trump’s border wall request into consideration by the congressional committees.

Among those meeting in the latest round of talks are moderates like Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and dealmakers like Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is close to Trump. Democrats say even Republican senators seem to understand why Democrats want the government opened before negotiating on the border barrier.

“Government should open up,” Manchin said, summing up the feeling in the room. But he said he hasn’t heard anything suggesting that Trump “is going to back off.”

Still, the senators who are meeting believe that if Democrats sign on, maybe it will show the president that the Democratic Party is actually willing to talk, according to a person familiar with the discussions. But most senators and aides are downbeat about any breakthrough other than creating an appearance of bipartisan movement that might encourage the president to rethink his opposition to a short-term funding bill to jumpstart immigration talks.

Even people in the group are essentially taking the position that until Trump bends and reopens the government without new immediate wall funding, it’s going to be impossible to make progress.

“We can’t get to a solution until we get the government open. And I think there’s a recognition of that from” Republicans, said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who attended the meeting in Manchin’s Capitol office on Monday. He said he had “no idea” if the president will ever sign off on that idea: “There’s not going to be any real effort on substance until you get the government open.”

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