US Politics: Electoral College Votes (12/14/2020)

[DireWolfSpirit]

6 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

The deal on the relief package has been reached!

No text issued yet.

Here's what's in the second stimulus package

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/20/politics/second-covid-stimulus-package-details/index.html

 

Eta: Direct stimulus checks of $600 per adult (up to a income threshold) are one feature this go round.

[Larry of the Lawn]

"Here's $1800 total for a year and go fuck yourselves".

 

I wonder what it's like to live in a country where the leaders give a shit about people.

[IheartIheartTesla]

Apart from the fact that the final amount (900B) is lower than the original 'mid-point' of negotiations, there also isnt anything in there about extending student loan relief past January, 2021. Biden can test the limits of executive power once he becomes President to do something about student loan forgiveness for sure, but it would have been nice to get some grace period past this current tax year. 

[Zorral]

Mitch deliberately delayed the OK on the stim bill until midnight in order to get the credit.  What an evil shoggoth, totally worthy of his master -- or is that now his ex-master?

Further entries in the Annals of Surely, You Jest? = shoggoth speculates on which airport is to be renamed with his name.

 

 

[Fragile Bird]

43 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Further entries in the Annals of Surely, You Jest? = shoggoth speculates on which airport is to be renamed with his name.

 

 

Lol, some creep in Texas or Florida will jump in and offer up one of their airports! Palm Beach International? That should piss off the locals!

[argonak]

5 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

"Here's $1800 total for a year and go fuck yourselves".

 

I wonder what it's like to live in a country where the leaders give a shit about people.

If you don't mind sheep, New Zealand seems very nice.

[Fez]

Legislative text for the combined covid relief and 2021 appropriations bill is out: https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-116HR133SA-RCP-116-68.pdf

It clocks in at an astonishing 5,593 pages, which is the longest bill I can remember (the ACA came in at about 1,300 pages for comparison). Budget bills are often long, but I can't imagine how ornaments are on this Christmas tree.

The one making the rounds so far that I've seen is that it establishes how the US will recognize the next Dalai Lama and appropriates money to establish a consulate in Tibet. So looks we'll continue to be pressuring China.

[maarsen]

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

Mitch deliberately delayed the OK on the stim bill until midnight in order to get the credit.  What an evil shoggoth, totally worthy of his master -- or is that now his ex-master?

Further entries in the Annals of Surely, You Jest? = shoggoth speculates on which airport is to be renamed with his name.

 

 

Don't they wait till you are dead to name stuff after you? If not find a garbage scow and slap his name on that.

[GrimTuesday]

I know that there is nothing else they can to, but it pisses me off to see the Democrats out there pretending that this bill is anything more than the least they could do. It does some nice stuff, and it is doesn't have anything particularly offensive but it's still a fucking disgrace that in a time of soaring corporate profits and increasing consolidation of wealth by the rich, this is all the support we are getting. This isn't a stimulus package, this is a survival package, and the Democrats need to message as such. They can take credit for the bill and use it as a cudgel against the Republicans because it is so anemic.

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

Lol, some creep in Texas or Florida will jump in and offer up one of their airports! Palm Beach International? That should piss off the locals!

He evidently also expect a Naval air craft carrier be named for him.  Presumably in honor of his yugely strategic move for the defense of the USA, such as -- remember this one, boyz 'n girlz, among the innumberable jackass  cruel things he's done?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/03/only-official-fired-over-virus-captain-who-tried-protect-his-crew/

 

Quote

 

...Capt. Brett Crozier, the skipper who had sent out an SOS about the spread of the coronavirus on his ship, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt...

....But the only official in the entire government who has been publicly disciplined to date for mishandling the coronavirus is a Navy officer who acted to save his crew from an outbreak. This makes no sense save in the upside-down moral universe inhabited by the Trump administration....

 

 

[Corvinus85]

3 hours ago, Zorral said:

Further entries in the Annals of Surely, You Jest? = shoggoth speculates on which airport is to be renamed with his name.

Let him name one of those that the Continental Army fought to defend in the Revolutionary War.

[HoodedCrow]

The USS Crozier has nice ring to it. A Trump in a Tuxedo could be a prize in Capt’ n Crunch.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Well, I guess you can't say his tenure as AG was 100% dog shit:

Quote

Washington (CNN)Attorney General William Barr on Monday rejected several of President Donald Trump's inflammatory and unfounded statements regarding the presidential election, saying at a news conference that he doesn't plan to appoint a special counsel to investigate President-elect Joe Biden's son Hunter or the election.

"If I thought a special counsel at this stage was a right tool and was appropriate, I would name one, but I haven't and I'm not going to," Barr said in response to a question on the presidential election. He said that widespread fraud wasn't found in this election.

 

Barr also roundly rejected suggestions from the President's supporters in recent days who've called for the US government to seize voting machines.

 

"I see no basis for seizure of machines by the federal government," Barr said Monday.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/21/politics/william-barr-hunter-biden-election-special-counsel/index.html

[Week]

28 minutes ago, GrimTuesday said:

I know that there is nothing else they can to, but it pisses me off to see the Democrats out there pretending that this bill is anything more than the least they could do. It does some nice stuff, and it is doesn't have anything particularly offensive but it's still a fucking disgrace that in a time of soaring corporate profits and increasing consolidation of wealth by the rich, this is all the support we are getting. This isn't a stimulus package, this is a survival package, and the Democrats need to message as such. They can take credit for the bill and use it as a cudgel against the Republicans because it is so anemic.

Minus the italics, I completely agree. The messaging has to be that Democrats had the HEROES act which is a more generous package passed in the spring. Any and all sins contained should be owned by the GOP.

[DMC]

37 minutes ago, maarsen said:

Don't they wait till you are dead to name stuff after you?

They renamed Reagan National Airport in 1998 (he didn't die until 2004).

48 minutes ago, Fez said:

Budget bills are often long, but I can't imagine how ornaments are on this Christmas tree.

Increased page length doesn't solely indicate a Christmas tree bill.  It also is a key indicator detailing spending limitations that represent decreased appropriations discretion to an agency.

37 minutes ago, GrimTuesday said:

This isn't a stimulus package, this is a survival package, and the Democrats need to message as such. They can take credit for the bill and use it as a cudgel against the Republicans because it is so anemic.

I agree their messaging should prioritize the desperate need for more/the fact this is hardly enough.

[Jaxom 1974]

23 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Well, I guess you can't say his tenure as AG was 100% dog shit:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/21/politics/william-barr-hunter-biden-election-special-counsel/index.html

Maybe. If he was sticking around another month. Doesn't do any good for him yo say these things are unnecessary when someone else is having their strings pulled starting tomorrow...profile in courage, eh?

[Martell Spy]

41 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Maybe. If he was sticking around another month. Doesn't do any good for him yo say these things are unnecessary when someone else is having their strings pulled starting tomorrow...profile in courage, eh?

It's kind of funny because he's used Trump for his project to expand Presidential power and now he's telling Trump to go fuck off and die. And no it's not courageous, it's the opposite. It's spineless Paul Ryan cowering off in to retirement after collecting his tax cuts for the rich and attempted Medicaid destruction.

[The Anti-Targ]

5 hours ago, Zorral said:

Mitch deliberately delayed the OK on the stim bill until midnight in order to get the credit.  What an evil shoggoth, totally worthy of his master -- or is that now his ex-master?

Further entries in the Annals of Surely, You Jest? = shoggoth speculates on which airport is to be renamed with his name.

 

 

Perhaps the helicopter pad at Mar-a-Lago. But that isn't any kind of farce. The farce will be naming a library after him.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, DMC said:

their messaging should prioritize the desperate need for more/the fact this is hardly enough

‘There’s a lot for New York’: Schumer ekes out $50B in city and state aid in COVID stimulus package

https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-covid-schumer-stimulus-20201221-f5wc3f5lgfaknaysugjbqbaaje-story.html

Quote

 

Schumer called the bill a down payment to keep the economy afloat until President-elect Joe Biden takes office next month.

“We’re going to get to work with the Biden administration to make sure more help gets to those who need it so badly,” he said.

 

It will keep the subways running for 4 more months, which is no small thing.

Christmas -- don't care.  Tryin' to stay alive until New Year -- January 20, 2021.

[The Anti-Targ]

2 hours ago, argonak said:

If you don't mind sheep, New Zealand seems very nice.

It's only temporarily true, the giving a shit about people bit, the sheep bit is eternal. Govts only care about people to the extent that it aligns with their actual priorities, number 1 of which is staying in power. Giving a shit about people is not a primary quality of govt, it is a contingent quality and hence can never be relied upon as an enduring element of govt. Govts, or parties, that have learned they can stay in power and not give a shit about people soon drop any actual caring and only give a pretense to caring as and when needed, which is normally when in opposition and for a brief period after regaining the reins of power.