US Politics: Mad Max Beyond Corona Dome

[DanteGabriel]

6 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

One where a lot of people rent

Sadly, a kakistocracy ruled by literal rent-seekers.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

So I didn't see this posted otherwise, perhaps it's been missed due to the Covid 19 emergency.

Accusations about Joe Biden's sexual assault are beginning to resurface. I'm not surprised, I predicted last summer that this would be an issue once he won the nomination (the nomination is all but sealed up at this point).

Here is an audio interview with Tara Reade, but I warn you, it's pretty upsetting.

 

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Guy Kilmore said:

Welcome to being an essential worker

As it is, so it has ever been.  It's called "The Story of Life" (i.e. why I find The Lion King loathsome -- the circle of life indeed, in which the vegetarians are grateful for being eaten by meateaters).

See the 14th century and the 1351 Ordinances of Laborers and Statutes of Laborer, for which the office of Justice of the Peace was established. 

The office of Justice of the Peace was established by Edward in 1351 as enforcement of the Ordinance of Laborers and the Statute of Laborers prohibiting labor from asking or receiving higher wages than prior to the Plague, or to allow anyone to offer higher wages or prices, or to charge more for the goods (such as horse shoes) and services (such as carpentry) they produced prior to the Plague of 1348-1349. 

Prior to the Plague, wages had been deeply depressed for years already, due to wide-spread famine, much of it caused by Edward III's incessant war with France, which was conducted almost by chevauchée --  total pillage and murder, and destruction of what the army didn't take.

It was intended as well to keep labor situated where it was located prior to the Plague, and to coerce labor to work for whomever required it them, to do as ordered by their betters; no one ‘able-bodied’ was allowed to not work, though payment, of course, was allowed to be optional.

BTW many are predicting the post office will collapse this summer; the amazon warehouse workers are getting and sick and testing positive so much that they may have to be closed down.

As it was so it is and ever shall be.  Sacrifice for your betters.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

33 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

The capitalists on CNBC saw flaws pretty quickly. If there isn’t time given to make payments for rent, mortgages, bond payments, the litigators will be suing a lot of people in a month.

Blood sucking lawyers! 

 

[Mexal]

39 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

The capitalists on CNBC saw flaws pretty quickly. If there isn’t time given to make payments for rent, mortgages, bond payments, the litigators will be suing a lot of people in a month.

Lots of downstream impacts to do that too. Landlords have mortgage payments too so those would have to be suspended. They have loads of workers, both corporate and in the buildings themselves (supers, maintenance, doormen, garage, etc), not to mention contractors (electricians, elevator operators, etc) who will have to get paid and are paid from the rent they receive. No idea how all this is going to work.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 minute ago, Mexal said:

Lots of downstream impacts to do that too. Landlords have mortgage payments too so those would have to be suspended. They have loads of workers, both corporate and in the buildings themselves who will have to get paid and are paid from the rent they receive. No idea how all this is going to work.

There is no way to make it work without spend several trillions more, and then what does that do our long term debt issue?

 

[Larry of the Lawn]

14 minutes ago, Simon Steele said:

So I didn't see this posted otherwise, perhaps it's been missed due to the Covid 19 emergency.

Accusations about Joe Biden's sexual assault are beginning to resurface. I'm not surprised, I predicted last summer that this would be an issue once he won the nomination (the nomination is all but sealed up at this point).

Here is an audio interview with Tara Reade, but I warn you, it's pretty upsetting.

 

No one cares about this stuff, it didn't hurt Trump.  If we can get Biden to stare into a solar eclipse before November he's got this thing locked up

[Centrist Simon Steele]

1 minute ago, larrytheimp said:

No one cares about this stuff, it didn't hurt Trump.  If we can get Biden to stare into a solar eclipse before November he's got this thing locked up

The interview (the woman recounting the experience) is as bad as I've heard. Dems pretended to care with Kavanaugh and Trump. If they ignore this...I don't know what to say.

[Fez]

59 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

The bill is trash.  A friend of mine has Covid symptoms, works in Albany, has three days of PTO left till August.  Told her employer she is sick and can't come in and is concerned because her parents are both immuno compromised.  They responded saying that unless she can show she has Covid 19 she is expected to be at work and is voluntarily quitting.  

The place she works for is essential because it's included in food and beverage - she works for an alcoholic beverage manufacturing company.  

Would love to be proven wrong but this already has so many bs controls and is just giving pennies to people.  No rent suspensions.  It's trash 

 

I know the New York UI system pretty well. Even if the company says she's voluntarily quitting, if she applies for UI, she'll get approved for it by the state DoL in that circumstance.

Also, freezing payments for everything would be easier. But under this bill, your friend would be getting her full salary up to $4,416 per month for the next four months. And under regular New York UI, getting her full salary up to $2,016/month for another four months after that. That's nothing to sneeze at.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Triskele said:

ETA:  Link to COVID-related pieces from The Atlantic that appear to be free for the time being.  

Just an FYI to everyone more than anything,  I've noticed that some of my digital subs have began offering their novel coronavirus articles in front of their paywalls to help keep people informed.

So far I've noticed that NYT, TPM and WaPo at least have all done so. All Bloomberg and WSJ articles appear to be behind their paywalls still, however.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

7 minutes ago, Fez said:

I know the New York UI system pretty well. Even if the company says she's voluntarily quitting, if she applies for UI, she'll get approved for it by the state DoL in that circumstance.

Also, freezing payments for everything would be easier. But under this bill, your friend would be getting her full salary up to $4,416 per month for the next four months. And under regular New York UI, getting her full salary up to $2,016/month for another four months after that. That's nothing to sneeze at.

Really dude? A sneeze cliche during a global pandemic? Is this what they taught you at the University of Buffalo? 

[Larry of the Lawn]

10 minutes ago, Fez said:

I know the New York UI system pretty well. Even if the company says she's voluntarily quitting, if she applies for UI, she'll get approved for it by the state DoL in that circumstance.

Also, freezing payments for everything would be easier. But under this bill, your friend would be getting her full salary up to $4,416 per month for the next four months. And under regular New York UI, getting her full salary up to $2,016/month for another four months after that. That's nothing to sneeze at.

Huh, that is good to know, and definitely some peace of mind for her, thanks for the info

[Fez]

37 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Really dude? A sneeze cliche during a global pandemic? Is this what they taught you at the University of Buffalo? 

My understanding is that sneezing is not a symptom of COVID-19, so its all good.

Also, the idyllic, almost pastoral education I received at Buffalo was overwhelmed by the cynicism of grad school and a decade living in DC.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

17 minutes ago, Fez said:

My understanding is that sneezing is not a symptom of COVID-19, so its all good.

Also, the idyllic, almost pastoral education I received at Buffalo was overwhelmed by the cynicism of grad school and a decade living in DC.

It's certainly not a main symptom, but I thought it was no included as not statistically insignificant, like also having a loss of appetite and some relating digestive issues. Honestly everything is move so fast though, so once you think you have good info it becomes outdated.

And I thought that's where you went to grad school. Did you at least get to enjoy some time in the Bills Mafia? 

[Fez]

5 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

It's certainly not a main symptom, but I thought it was no included as not statistically insignificant, like also having a loss of appetite and some relating digestive issues. Honestly everything is move so fast though, so once you think you have good info it becomes outdated.

And I thought that's where you went to grad school. Did you at least get to enjoy some time in the Bills Mafia? 

Could be. I've no idea for sure. I remember looking it up a while ago because I had been sneezing a lot, and couldn't find much else. But now I've been sneezing for about six weeks and haven't had any other issues. Guess I have allergies, which I didn't use to have.

Buffalo was undergrad. I did enjoy a couple tailgating experiences at Orchard Park, and there's a photo somewhere of a bunch of with the Buffalo Jills. We showed up at 6am and got to the stadium before they did. But I'm a Jets fan; so I did get the experience of a guy spitting tobacco juice on my back once when I was there in a jersey. I think he wanted to start a fight too, but then he realized the 15 dudes in Bills gear nearby were with me, and he almost ran away.

[Guy Kilmore]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

I take it you’re stuck at work too?

I’ll withhold judgement until we see the final bill, but I think there’s a good chance that this bill will make tens of millions of people resentful of one another, however it turns out.

And our idiot president is way over-promising when the money will get to the people. What happens if he promises mid-April checks and none come yet the major corporations, who by the way have been highly irresponsible, get their monies?

I'm in a weird place. I don't have to go in, but I got to maintain contact with my clients.  Which works out to me talking, by phone and video chat, with a lot of scared and stressed families with mental health issues and no real solutions.

[Altherion]

1 hour ago, Simon Steele said:

The interview (the woman recounting the experience) is as bad as I've heard. Dems pretended to care with Kavanaugh and Trump. If they ignore this...I don't know what to say.

Come now, the completely unverifiable accusations are a political tool and everyone except the most naive has always known this. I personally think these methods are vile, but hey, they worked in Alabama and came oh-so-close to derailing a Supreme Court nomination. Ironic as it would be if this tool was turned against the candidate of the Democrat establishment, it's very unlikely to happen. Of course, if there is proof good enough for court or at least something like Trump's "locker-room talk" tape, that might be a different story, but Kavanaugh-grade accusations simply aren't going to cut it here.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

33 minutes ago, Fez said:

Could be. I've no idea for sure. I remember looking it up a while ago because I had been sneezing a lot, and couldn't find much else. But now I've been sneezing for about six weeks and haven't had any other issues. Guess I have allergies, which I didn't use to have.

I just looked at a few reliable medical sites and sneezing isn't a common indicator, but a stuffy nose is and the two can go hand in hand. Personally I'm a little worried that I'm coughing more than usual, but it hasn't felt like a dry cough until the past few hours. I'm not concerned for my own health, but I've been doing my mom's essential shopping and I've always done that for some of older relatives. One great aunt doesn't even want to meet me at the door because she knows I work at a hospital that's treating patients with it. Gotta imagine there's some serious old neurotic Jew shit happening on the other side of the door once she grabs the bad.

Quote

Buffalo was undergrad. I did enjoy a couple tailgating experiences at Orchard Park, and there's a photo somewhere of a bunch of with the Buffalo Jills. We showed up at 6am and got to the stadium before they did. But I'm a Jets fan; so I did get the experience of a guy spitting tobacco juice on my back once when I was there in a jersey. I think he wanted to start a fight too, but then he realized the 15 dudes in Bills gear nearby were with me, and he almost ran away.

I would have chased him down, caught him easily and broken his jaw.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

37 minutes ago, Guy Kilmore said:

I'm in a weird place. I don't have to go in, but I got to maintain contact with my clients.  Which works out to me talking, by phone and video chat, with a lot of scared and stressed families with mental health issues and no real solutions.

Still, I think that might reassure many of them. I know you work with all kinds of patients, but the fact that you're still offering help while keeping them safe has to cheer some of them up.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

11 minutes ago, Altherion said:

Come now, the completely unverifiable accusations are a political tool and everyone except the most naive has always known this. I personally think these methods are vile, but hey, they worked in Alabama and came oh-so-close to derailing a Supreme Court nomination. Ironic as it would be if this tool was turned against the candidate of the Democrat establishment, it's very unlikely to happen. Of course, if there is proof good enough for court or at least something like Trump's "locker-room talk" tape, that might be a different story, but Kavanaugh-grade accusations simply aren't going to cut it here.

Is this sarcasm? Because if not, I don't know what to say.