US Politics: Mad Max Beyond Corona Dome

[Tywin Manderly]

Please continue. 

[Freshwater Spartan]

The 1947 act of succession lists the Speaker of The House next after VP. The Senate pro tempora next. Pelosi then Grassley. Not sure how enforceable a decree by the president to cancel elections would be if States decided to go ahead any way since elections are usually considered a reserve power. It wouldn't serve  State's selfish interest to not hold an election of others went ahead anyway. Not a constitutional scholar.

[Kalbear]

2 minutes ago, Freshwater Spartan said:

The 1947 act of succession lists the Speaker of The House next after VP. The Senate pro tempora next. Pelosi then Grassley. Not sure how enforceable a decree by the president to cancel elections would be if States decided to go ahead any way since elections are usually considered a reserve power. It wouldn't serve  State's selfish interest to not hold an election of others went ahead anyway. Not a constitutional scholar.

The point is that if there was no election presumably none of the house would be elected either, and they get sworn in first (Jan 4th I believe).

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

7 minutes ago, Freshwater Spartan said:

The 1947 act of succession lists the Speaker of The House next after VP. The Senate pro tempora next. Pelosi then Grassley. Not sure how enforceable a decree by the president to cancel elections would be if States decided to go ahead any way since elections are usually considered a reserve power. It wouldn't serve  State's selfish interest to not hold an election of others went ahead anyway. Not a constitutional scholar.

If she isn’t Speaker because there was no election and her term expires I would think the most senior Senator who’s term didn’t expire would be President if everyone else’s term has expired.

[Freshwater Spartan]

I guess my point would be why would a State cancel an election outright if it costs you representation. I could see a scenario where Democratic states vote to allow more mail voting to increase turnout and Republican states not doing so to ensure victories. But why would New York not hold an election and deprive themselves of reps if Oklahoma decides to hold an election to send reps for themselves. It just doesn't make sense.

It things get so bad that it is physically impossible to hold an election we would have bigger problems to worry about.

 

[DMC]

7 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

If she isn’t Speaker because there was no election and her term expires I would think the most senior Senator who’s term didn’t expire would be President if everyone else’s term has expired.

"most senior Senator" of the majority party.  Get your pedantic hypotheticals straight!

8 minutes ago, Freshwater Spartan said:

I could see a scenario where Democratic states vote to allow more mail voting to increase turnout and Republican states not doing so to ensure victories.

Implementing vote-by-mail is easier said than done, although of course I'm all for it and think that might be one of the great silver linings of all this.

[Guest]

Idk if anyone's posted this, but Bernie appears to be funneling at least part of all new donations to COVID-19 response charities.

[Fragile Bird]

Well, I'm glad I asked. I thought it was in the constitution.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

45 minutes ago, DMC said:

55 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

 

"most senior Senator" of the majority party.  Get your pedantic hypotheticals straight!

[Martell Spy]

Despite initial concerns that the Democrats were blowing this negotiation it appears things are going well. Schumer is doing a good job. The price tag is now 1.3 to 1.4 trillion. This is the worst time ever to pinch pennies. A lot of people are not going to be working even if they want to.

Quote

 

The higher price tag comes as negotiators are trying to reach a deal "in principle" today on a massive stimulus package. 

Part of the higher price tag, according to Kudlow, includes an offer Republicans have made to include expanded unemployment insurance in the forthcoming legislation. 

Democrats want to beef up funding for the program amid concerns that jobless claims will soon spike as the spread of the coronavirus has forced businesses to restrict their activities or close altogether.  

The GOP proposal is expected to be an "integrated package," according to Ueland, that would combine expanded unemployment insurance with the rebate checks favored by the administration. 

 

 

Senate closing in on higher price tag on coronavirus stimulus package

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/488795-kudlow-coronavirus-stimulus-package-will-be-more-than-2-trillion

[Centrist Simon Steele]

1 hour ago, DMC said:

"most senior Senator" of the majority party.  Get your pedantic hypotheticals straight!

Implementing vote-by-mail is easier said than done, although of course I'm all for it and think that might be one of the great silver linings of all this.

Colorado's been doing it with no issues for years. I don't remember the process the state underwent to make it happen, but they did it, and it's super easy. So there is a good template out there (amid other states who have done it).

[DMC]

24 minutes ago, Simon Steele said:

Colorado's been doing it with no issues for years. I don't remember the process the state underwent to make it happen, but they did it, and it's super easy. So there is a good template out there (amid other states who have done it).

Sure, and during regular times there'd be ample opportunities to follow the templates of the (now) five states that are all vote-by mail.  But getting that infrastructure operational takes time, and it will be difficult for most states (I mean, I'm sure Vermont could figure it out pretty quickly) to do so in such a short time.  In other words, it's not "super easy" based on the current timeframe, but I agree it is when given ample time.

ETA:  See here.

[DMC]

I know I'm just an elite establishment centrist, but I have to say I wholeheartedly agree with this article on the failure in leadership shared by Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden:

Quote

But Trump does not have a monopoly on political malpractice. As the crisis has spread, Democratic Party leaders ― House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden ― have either been missing in action or short on solutions.

Incredibly, a handful of arch-conservative Republicans have been able to take public credit for advancing the popular, progressive idea of just sending every household a large check for the duration of the crisis. Pelosi explicitly rejected that very idea in early talks among House Democrats, overruling pleas from Democratic economists. With Democratic leaders thinking small, a majority of the public now actually approves of Trump’s catastrophic pandemic management, according to a new poll.

The leader of one party has caused a national calamity, while the leaders of the other have nothing much to say.   

I rarely agree with Zach Carter (the op-ed's author), but he is exactly right that the Dem leadership's incompetent and feckless response to Trump's criminal incompetence is almost equally disappointing.  Hopefully Pelosi listens to the near-100 members of her caucus demanding larger cash payments, among other things, rather than acquiescing to McConnell's bill that screws over the poor (working or not) and is largely a subsidy to big business.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, DMC said:

I know I'm just an elite establishment centrist, but I have to say I wholeheartedly agree with this article on the failure in leadership shared by Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden:

I rarely agree with Zach Carter (the op-ed's author), but he is exactly right that the Dem leadership's incompetent and feckless response to Trump's criminal incompetence is almost equally disappointing.  Hopefully Pelosi listens to the near-100 members of her caucus demanding larger cash payments, among other things, rather than acquiescing to McConnell's bill that screws over the poor (working or not) and is largely a subsidy to big business.

I'm still holding out hope for you.

Re: the op-ed, I posted nearly exactly the same thing a few days ago. From a pure political perspective, this was a crisis tailor-made for Democrats, and they STILL managed to screw the pooch. How do you managed to get out-messaged by Tom-fucking-Cotton of all people???

[DMC]

14 minutes ago, The Great Unwashed said:

I'm still holding out hope for you.

I think many here mistake my (20-year-long) active distaste for Sanders as a certain ideological bent.  If AOC were ten years older (with the corresponding ten more years of governmental experience), I would apply to work for her on the day she announced she's running for president.

23 minutes ago, The Great Unwashed said:

From a pure political perspective, this was a crisis tailor-made for Democrats, and they STILL managed to screw the pooch. How do you managed to get out-messaged by Tom-fucking-Cotton of all people???

Yep.  I'm not too surprised about this in Schumer's case - his strengths are behind the scenes.  But Pelosi getting outmaneuvered like this - or alternatively just not caring - is incredibly galling just from a strategic perspective.  She's better than that.

[mcbigski]

I'm pretty sure this relief bill is going to be overstuffed with pork.  Heard on the local radio, so no link handy, that our local esteemed Vietnam era veteran Senator Blumenthal wants to make sure that there is money in the bill to combat domestic abuse, because the risk is higher while everyone stays home.

Maybe fucking try funding domestic drug manufacturing, mask/ventilator manfacturing, more and quicker tests?  In the end, this is going to kill in the US about the same order of magnitude of people that die in auto accidents annually.  And largely people with co-morbidities and a shorter life expectancy to begin with.  (Number check, about 35k die from auto accidents every year in the US, so 100k is still well within the same order of magnitude.  Who wants to take the over at 100k deaths from Coronavirus in the US this year and who wants the under? )

But heh, never let a crisis go to waste.

Remember, in 2009 the CDC estimated that 40-80 million Americans would get swine flu.  Good for their budget, but the media wasn't going to run wild with that with Obama in office, since they didn't want to distract him for lowering sea levels and healing the planet.

 

[DMC]

1 minute ago, mcbigski said:

overstuffed with pork.  Heard on the local radio, so no link handy, that our local esteemed Vietnam era veteran Senator Blumenthal wants to make sure that there is money in the bill to combat domestic abuse, because the risk is higher while everyone stays home.

The example you provided is nowhere close to what "pork" means.  What you mean is it's close to a "christmas tree bill" in which many unrelated floor amendments are added to omnibus bills - although in this case they're not amendments.

[Fragile Bird]

Spousal abuse skyrockets when a recession hits.

[DanteGabriel]

Adding funding related to domestic abuse is pork? What a hideous fucking ghoul you are.

[Zorral]

58 minutes ago, mcbigski said:

money in the bill to combat domestic abuse, because the risk is higher while everyone stays home.

Why do you object to this?  It's true.  Imagine being locked up in a 3 room apartment with an abusive parent and spouse for months at a time and nowhere to go, nobody to call? Imagine being locked up with a family member who repeatedly rapes you?  Yes these things happen.  A lot.