US Politics: Infrastructure Week End

[DMC]

7 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Basically they are all going to dig up more dirt on each other and we will be a National Embarrassment again.

 

[Zorral]

She's a western NYer, which is anti-vaxx (UNMASK MY KIDS!; boogaloo orgs organizing like crazy via the bioweaponized covid-19 crisis; connecting to other sorts, including -- why yes! though they've lowered their profile significantly since the Capitol Insurrection Jan 6 hearings -- They Rise Again, the Proud Boys!)  racist, etc. to a degree equal to Staten Islanders, Long Islanders, etc.  If this is her base it bodes badly for NYC and blue concerns.

[DMC]

3 minutes ago, Zorral said:

She's a western NYer, which is anti-vaxx (UNMASK MY KIDS!; boogaloo orgs organizing like crazy via the bioweaponized covid-19 crisis; connecting to other sorts, including -- why yes! though they've lowered their profile significantly since the Capitol Insurrection Jan 6 hearings -- They Rise Again, the Proud Boys!)  racist, etc. to a degree equal to Staten Islanders, Long Islanders, etc.  If this is her base it bodes badly for NYC and blue concerns.

As someone born and raised in western NY I find this a bit offensive.  Not that you're necessarily wrong in a generalized sense - and I haven't been back there since my parents moved about 14 years ago - but still, it's not ALL like that.

[Fez]

41 minutes ago, DMC said:

I mentioned DiNapoli.  If Hochul flounders I'd expect her support/the anti-James bloc to flock to him, yeah.

Ah, missed that.

30 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Basically they are all going to dig up more dirt on each other and we will be a National Embarrassment again.

To be fair, I don't think New York is any worse than most states; in fact in some ways I think it's actually one of the better run states. But unlike almost every other state, there's actually a robust amount of media attention on what happens there. So the dirt is more likely to get uncovered, and when it is we all hear about it. 

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, Fez said:

To be fair, I don't think New York is any worse than most states; in fact in some ways I think it's actually one of the better run states. But unlike almost every other state, there's actually a robust amount of media attention on what happens there. So the dirt is more likely to get uncovered, and when it is we all hear about it. 

Yeah state/local politics are pretty universally stupid and corrupt.  It's just the vast majority of the national media doesn't live in other states.

[Larry of the Lawn]

10 minutes ago, DMC said:

Yeah state/local politics are pretty universally stupid and corrupt.  It's just the vast majority of the national media doesn't live in other states.

Is there an inside the poli-sci discipline chart that shows what kind of skeletons are likely to stay buried* in each media market, indexed for demographics?  

Asking for a friend; "I'd"be arrested before election day if "I" ran for statewide office in NY, but what could "I" get away with in Idaho?  HYPOTHETICALLY.

[DMC]

1 minute ago, larrytheimp said:

Is there an inside the poli-sci discipline chart that shows what kind of skeletons are likely to stay buried in each media market, indexed for demographics?  

Sure.  But, of course, if you want it you're going to have to bribe or extort me.

[Larry of the Lawn]

Just now, DMC said:

Sure.  But, of course, if you want it you're going to have to bribe or extort me.

I'm mean you're probably a super cheap bribe so that seems way easier than extort

[DMC]

1 minute ago, larrytheimp said:

I'm mean you're probably a super cheap bribe

That may be so but your negotiation tactics need some work.

[Zorral]

42 minutes ago, DMC said:

As someone born and raised in western NY I find this a bit offensive.  Not that you're necessarily wrong in a generalized sense - and I haven't been back there since my parents moved about 14 years ago - but still, it's not ALL like that.

Well, up there last week, judging by many confederate flags, Unmask MY Kids! signs,  etc. -- sure not all of them, but I didn't say that, merely implying that these sorts are very strong in western NY, which is Buffalo, not the Hudson River Valley, or the Albany-Saratoga region, much less NYC.  I shouldn't have to say NOT ALL ALL THE TIME, anymore than raging about the Anti-vaxx and mask CHOOSERS, and need to add ALL THE TIME, I'm not speaking of the immunocompromised, etc. etc. etc. etc.  Coz here, somebody like you knows that I'm not including those sorts.

[Larry of the Lawn]

5 minutes ago, DMC said:

That may be so but your negotiation tactics need some work.

Cool so we're good for one future draft beer?  Rad.

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Zorral said:

merely implying that these sorts are very strong in western NY, which is Buffalo, not the Hudson River Valley, or the Albany-Saratoga region, much less NYC.

My point was there are significantly liberal areas in and around Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse.  Which, ya know, comprises a whole hell of a lot of western NY.  Plus, of course, it's entirely unfair to link any of the things you mentioned to Hochul.

1 minute ago, larrytheimp said:

Cool so we're good for one future draft beer?  Rad.

I don't drink beer, gonna have to be a whisky-based liquor. 

[Zorral]

28 minutes ago, DMC said:

entirely unfair to link any of the things you mentioned to Hochul.

I did not specifically link her to them, while reserving the right to pay close attention, because w/o being an out-and-out loon fascist, she has been supportive of the NRA and other movements such as not allowing undocumented immigrants to test for and receive driver's licenses.  So many regions, including this one, have radically changed in those years, which means those they vote for have too in order to keep being elected. Which again isn't saying everybody in the regions, but by far and enough to pressure political candidates to do what They want, not what those who are more tolerant want.

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, Zorral said:

I did not specifically link her to them, while reserving the right to pay close attention, because w/o being an out-and-out loon fascist, she has been supportive of the NRA and other movements such as not allowing undocumented immigrants to test for and receive driver's licenses.

I agree that the NRA association is particularly worrying, and will be a big problem.  But even the constituency she represented in Congress - which I'm quite familiar with - should not be equated as much with the crazies you're describing.  Seemed to me you were depicting Western NY as if it was akin to the south, or even, say, PA outside of Philly and Pittsburgh - which is famously/infamously referred to as the "south of the north."  Western NY politically/culturally is most similar to the (rest of) the rust belt, the swingy areas surrounding the Great Lakes.

Anyway, like I said, she's going to have to adjust from how she portrayed herself when she won that congressional seat if she's going to survive a statewide Democratic primary.  Which I agree is a good thing.  ETA:  And there's a pretty great example of someone undergoing such a political transformation - Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

[Ormond]

3 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

I think this is a massive mistake as well- it puts the burden on people who drive more vs those who beat up the roads more.  The tax should either be linked to Gross Vehicle Weight-- driving a 1-ton dually truck with a diesel that is typically around 8500 lbs in the rd does vastly more damage than a Prius.  Or just keep it to the volume of gas itself.  This seems incredibly boneheaded, especially since we have absolute shit for public transport in this country.

But wouldn't the 1-ton truck use more fuel going the same distance than a Prius does, and therefore pay more gasoline tax? Or is the tax on diesel fuel very different from that on gasoline? 

[Larry of the Lawn]

4 minutes ago, Ormond said:

But wouldn't the 1-ton truck use more fuel going the same distance than a Prius does, and therefore pay more gasoline tax? Or is the tax on diesel fuel very different from that on gasoline? 

it's a miles driven tax that's being proposed as far as I know, diesel is already paying a higher rate of tax based mostly on trucking company regs from the 70s, but the point remains that if you are taxing more based on miles you are disproportionately taxing the people who do the least damage to the roads.  

so yeah the heavier vehicles are already paying more but if we go to a miles-driven model we are essentially punishing (relative to the standard now) more efficient vehicles.

I say this as someone who owns and drives a heavy truck.  I'm the dude beating up the roads 

[DMC]

1 minute ago, larrytheimp said:

I say this as someone who owns and drives a heavy truck.  I'm the dude beating up the roads 

Ok so if you want that poly-sci info then for the good of the country you're gonna have to give me your truck.

[Larry of the Lawn]

5 minutes ago, DMC said:

Ok so if you want that poly-sci info then for the good of the country you're gonna have to give me your truck.

 Touche.  Out maneuvered by the political establishment again.  Give me the idol I give you the whip.

[A True Kaniggit]

2 hours ago, DMC said:

I don't drink beer, gonna have to be a whisky-based liquor. 

Huzzah!

[Mlle. Zabzie]

3 hours ago, Zorral said:

I did not specifically link her to them, while reserving the right to pay close attention, because w/o being an out-and-out loon fascist, she has been supportive of the NRA and other movements such as not allowing undocumented immigrants to test for and receive driver's licenses.  So many regions, including this one, have radically changed in those years, which means those they vote for have too in order to keep being elected. Which again isn't saying everybody in the regions, but by far and enough to pressure political candidates to do what They want, not what those who are more tolerant want.

I think she recanted and changed her position on the undocumented migrants getting drivers licenses.  She did oppose it circa 2007 and 2008, but by 2018 had evolved in her thinking and supported legislation to ensure that this could occur.  (I have been reading up).