US Politics: Biden vs. Ron DeCardassian in the Delta quadrant

[Fez]

4 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I don't understand arguing over who is to "blame" for negotiations that are still going on.  If this thing falls apart, there will be PLENTY of blame to go around.  I remain reasonably confident that it won't, and thus am not terribly concerned. 

I am glad the Democrats are swinging big, but whether the final number of the two bills is 4.7 trillion or 4.5 trillion isn't something giving me a lot of heartburn.  I have enough actual problems in my life. 

If things do fall apart entirely, it's easy to know who to blame: Biden. Presidents get a lot of unnecessary blame for bipartisan talks falling apart, but there's a really limited amount of leverage, if any, that they have over the opposing party. But they have a ton of leverage over their own party, and if Biden can't bring everyone in line in the end for a Democratic bill, that's on him. It's fine to sit back for now and let negotiations happen, but he'll need to step up in the end if things hit a deadlock.

[Martell Spy]

$3.5T or bust? Sanders goes all-out to protect Dems' social spending plans
"The truth is we need more," the Vermont senator said in an interview, adding this is "the minimum of what we should be spending."

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/26/sanders-dems-spending-506896

Quote

 

Bernie Sanders is shifting into a new phase of his legacy-defining work on Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending plan: Protecting it from members of his own party and selling it to the public.

Sanders understands that there will be changes to his vision given the party’s slim majorities in each chamber, now that the blueprint is approved. But as Senate moderates propose chipping away at the $3.5 trillion price tag, he’s in no mood to haggle on the top line number.

“I already negotiated. The truth is we need more,” Sanders said in an interview on Wednesday, ahead of a swing into conservative parts of the Midwest to stump for his transformative policy blueprint. “The needs are there. This is, in my view, the minimum of what we should be spending.”

 

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

4 hours ago, Maithanet said:

and thus am not terribly concerned.

I am not losing any sleep.

[DireWolfSpirit]

So the latest on the Afghan evac is reporting multiple U.S. service members killed in the airport blasts.

Pentagon confirms 'a number' of US service members killed in Kabul airport attack

https://www.cnn.com/webview/world/live-news/afghanistan-news-taliban-refugees-08-26-21-intl/index.html

[Ran]

2 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

So the latest on the Afghan evac is reporting multiple U.S. service members killed in the airport blasts.

Pentagon confirms 'a number' of US service members killed in Kabul airport attack

https://www.cnn.com/webview/world/live-news/afghanistan-news-taliban-refugees-08-26-21-intl/index.html

Latest report I've seen is 4 Marines have been killed, a number more injured.

Tragic, but every day we stay at the airport evacuating people it becomes a more and more tempting target to IS. This is why the president should stick with his August 31st departure date, unless something truly extraordinary or catastrophic happens that makes it literally impossible to leave.

[Week]

33 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

Oh dear. The Capitol Police officer who shot Babbit is going to reveal his identity on Lester Holt tonight. Does he have...

a) a death wish or

b) a book to promote AND a death wish or

c) ...?

 

Damage control - apparently his name has been making the rounds on the qonservative moron-osphere.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

So the latest on the Afghan evac is reporting multiple U.S. service members killed in the airport blasts.

Pentagon confirms 'a number' of US service members killed in Kabul airport attack

https://www.cnn.com/webview/world/live-news/afghanistan-news-taliban-refugees-08-26-21-intl/index.html

NPR just reported 12 dead US service persons.

[Fragile Bird]

I see a dozen American soldiers have died in the two bombing incidents at the Kabul airport.

Well, damn it all. Just damn it all.

And not to forget  the civilians, either. F*** those F***ing suicide bombers.

[Varysblackfyre321]

4 hours ago, Ran said:

Latest report I've seen is 4 Marines have been killed, a number more injured.

Tragic, but every day we stay at the airport evacuating people it becomes a more and more tempting target to IS. This is why the president should stick with his August 31st departure date, unless something truly extraordinary or catastrophic happens that makes it literally impossible to leave.

It’d probably be bad politically. Americans typically love violent retaliation and just leaving after 12 US troops died looks bad.

[Arakan]

As the US are back on top of the world with regards to COVID cases and deaths, I have to say that the Republican Party is a menace to the world. They are not anti-science, no, they are anti-intelligence. Seeing people like DeSantis in his glorious dumbness and stupidity I get violent fantasies. These stupid, totally ignorant, incompetent and arrogant Republicans are 100% responsible for the current COVID escalation. One can call the current Democrats a lot, spineless, sanctimonious, self-righteous, hypocrites, pretentious, you name it, but at least they are not Republicans. 

[Tywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

It’d probably be bad politically. Americans typically love violent retaliation and just leaving after 12 US troops died looks bad.

13 now (and by various accounts over 60 Afghans), and on queue the GOP led by McCarthy are calling for an increased troop presence in the country.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Arakan said:

As the US are back on top of the world with regards to COVID cases and deaths, I have to say that the Republican Party is a menace to the world. They are not anti-science, no, they are anti-intelligence. Seeing people like DeSantis in his glorious dumbness and stupidity I get violent fantasies. These stupid, totally ignorant, incompetent and arrogant Republicans are 100% responsible for the current COVID escalation. One can call the current Democrats a lot, spineless, sanctimonious, self-righteous, hypocrites, pretentious, you name it, but at least they are not Republicans. 

The whole point of what we call stupid by the govs of Florida, Texas, et al. is to make things so bad for Biden with covid, and now Afghanistan, that they can scream about it non-stop and Biden won't be re-elected, but one of Them will be POTUS instead, to reign over the stinkin' rubble, but hey at least it will be white stinkin' rubble, and reigned over. Yes, They are doing all this on purpose.  They have A Plan and They are sticking to it.

 

[Fez]

SCOTUS just ended the eviction moratorium. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/21a23_ap6c.pdf

Not on constitutional grounds at least, but simply that the CDC does not have the legal authority without an act of Congress. Which is the same stance the Biden administration had as well when the moratorium last expired, but then the CDC tried to reimpose it anyway after Congress wasn't able to come to an extension agreement.

Personally, I think this is one of those "but outcome, but good process" decisions, even though the liberals dissented. The CDC's legal theory here was essentially that they can do literally anything at all if they claim the goal is to prevent disease. And it's not hard to see how that might easily be abused if it was allowed to stand. Especially in a situation like this, where the connection between the moratorium and disease prevention is pretty tenuous at this point; pretty much everyone who supports the moratorium does so on economic grounds, to prevent hardship. Which is a perfectly fine policy goal to have; but really does require Congress giving authorization to keep going.

[ThinkerX]

I think there's a word or phrase for this sort of thing....dang drat it, what is it?

 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/south-dakota-ag-gets-fines-no-jail-time-in-pedestrian-death?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

 

[Altherion]

31 minutes ago, Fez said:

SCOTUS just ended the eviction moratorium. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/21a23_ap6c.pdf

Not on constitutional grounds at least, but simply that the CDC does not have the legal authority without an act of Congress. Which is the same stance the Biden administration had as well when the moratorium last expired, but then the CDC tried to reimpose it anyway after Congress wasn't able to come to an extension agreement.

I think pretty much everyone knew this was coming, it was only a question of when. The idea was to use the time from the lawsuits to distribute the relief funds so that the rent was paid and there would no longer be any grounds for eviction. I wonder how far they managed to get with this -- the distribution has been surprisingly slow thus far.

[Arakan]

2 hours ago, ThinkerX said:

I think there's a word or phrase for this sort of thing....dang drat it, what is it?

 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/south-dakota-ag-gets-fines-no-jail-time-in-pedestrian-death?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

 

This is fucked up. Fucked up beyond believe, especially as he fled the accident scene. Obviously I do not know US law but in Germany that’s a big No No, even if you think it’s „just“ a deer. And I am quite sure that excuse wouldn’t fly here as by law you have to assure yourself what you hit. Those things happen, but at least he should have lost his driver‘s license and be convicted on prohibition. 

Killing a human being, albeit without malice and by accident, and just getting a farcical fine of a few bucks. That’s not a „just“ justice system.

[Gorn]

Burn of the day:

Quote

But the coup de grâce of Wednesday’s great public truthout was U.S. District Judge Linda Parker’s 110-page ruling against the all-star team of lawyers that sought to overturn Michigan’s 2020 election. Following a July hearing at which Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and other luminaries of the Kraken bar tried to explain why they should not be sanctioned for their efforts to set aside the Michigan election results and install electors for Donald Trump, Parker handed down a beatdown of an opinion. Parker ordered the lawyers to pay the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit’s attorneys fees for defending the suit and to complete continuing legal education (in the subjects of pleading standards and election law) and to report back on what they learned. She then ordered that a copy of her decision be sent to state disciplinary boards for the possible suspension or disbarment of the nine attorneys involved in the litigation. Parker both opened and closed with the admonition that the attorneys abused not just the truth but had also taken part in a “historic and profound” abuse of the judicial process itself.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/08/sidney-powell-sanctions-jan-6-insurrection.html

[Fragile Bird]

I see Republican Jim Banks is reported as saying that if the Republicans take back the House they have a moral duty to punish those investigating the events of January 6th.

Let that one sink in.

[HoodedCrow]

At least they tell us in advance. 

[Varysblackfyre321]

26 minutes ago, L'oiseau français said:

I see Republican Jim Banks is reported as saying that if the Republicans take back the House they have a moral duty to punish those investigating the events of January 6th.

Let that one sink in.

I fully expect that the Republican platform will explicitly include an end to liberal democracy in their platform.

20 minutes ago, HoodedCrow said:

At least they tell us in advance. 

Yeah so it’s really dumb for some moderate democrats to continue act republicans won’t go full authoritarian when they get back in power.