US Politics, March 2020 — There’s a very good chance you’re not going to die.

having got that sorted, could someone tell me what "groom" means in christian-speak?

We all apply to be prayer warriors

xpost

"groom" means in christian-speak?

prepare for molestation

It means get a perm for the Lord

Ffs I was going to say 'it's what a priest does at summer camp' but thought it was over the line

was this posted yet?

My husband has coronavirus. I love him & not being able to be by his side is one of the hardest things about this disease. So many are going through this & much worse. I pray for him & you & meanwhile I will do all I can to get help to the American people.https://t.co/fqQU6tA29r pic.twitter.com/SjyfdQxe1R

— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) March 23, 2020

best wishes to them

lol
now that I think about it, xtians already conceive of themselves as sheep, so imagining yourself as a horse in god's stable is akin to a promotion

the trolley problem, updated for 2020

https://i.imgur.com/IH33ay5h.jpg

Zoinks!

Trump is going to come up with the ultimate compromise - we ship our excess patients to another country.

Hang on, now the @GOP likes #deathpanels? I'm so confused. #LarryKudlow #LivesOverMoney #TrumpVirus #VoteBlueToSaveAmerica #FoxNewsIsComplicit pic.twitter.com/QzRpD69pVI

— Susan PhysicallyDistanced Courtney (@sdec) March 23, 2020

If they pass this stimulus to include the administration not being requried to disclose for 6 months who they gave money to...good luck USA.

i don't think schumer is going to allow that, based on how he sounded this morning

the shoom dawg

Yeah yeah, the GOP is trying to give billions to their friends without accountability, blah blah blah

i mean, usually mass privatization, a further centralization of wealth, is the outcome of crises of all kinds. if the democrats don't want that to happen, they need to actively prevent it. and it will be politically difficult because the republicans will say--are saying--that they are "withholdiing necessary aid"

that is the conundrum

the world is watching, though, now, in a way they weren't in 2008. the average democratic then wasn't as aware of the way capital seizes on a crisis.

if schumer knows what's good for him, he won't cave. this is in the open.

That no-bid contract to provide us all with Trump Steaks and Trump Water can't be delayed

i know he is everyone's cartoon of a "wall street dem" but he knows the party is different now.

Pelosi holds more cards than Schumer

exactly - we're watching, but that doesn't mean we're participating in any meaningful way. the "public" is basically two huge teams, divided by party lines, screaming, completely ignored by the opposing party and barely tolerated within their own. the actual public "participants" in these negotiations are think tanks and lobbyists.

xp

come on Center for American Progress, hold the line!!!!

if we're potentially heading toward 25% unemployment, this is a completely different game.

Of course people were brainwashed. And no one here is exempt from that either, I'm certainly not immune

the average democratic then wasn't as aware of the way capital seizes on a crisis.

On what evidence to you base this claim?

i did a study. polling size was like 200 million people.

How many responded with "deez nuts" to each question?

i just hope that the Dems win the PR game with this stall, because Republicans are going to push hard on the "D's delayed your relief/D's are obstructionists" crap.

I am enjoying all the "looks like the US could've been paying reparations in $1000 checks this entire time" commentary.

I mean Louie Gohmert delayed the first relief bill

the average democratic then wasn't as aware of the way capital seizes on a crisis.

i sympathize with what you mean, on having a greater awareness of how evil the GOP can be in these times (see: the patriot act, or barr's attempt last week to push for new powers for the justice system, which was so crazy that even mike lee opposed it)

but the thing is - we're roughly the same age - i think it's easy to take what WE learned, as we witnessed those events and changed our understanding, and conflate that with other people learning the same things. there were other, older or wiser people than ourselves, who were fully prepared for the bullshit that went down in the wake of the 2008 crisis, and 9/11 before that. and then there were many more who didn't understand what was happening then, and don't understand how they're trying to fuck us over now. it's abominable to try to screw over other people for the purposes of power and financial gain in the middle of a crisis - that's why most people don't see it coming every time.

so anyway, what i'm trying to say is that just because we may have learned a thing or two from the past doesn't mean that anyone else has, even well-meaning people on the left, and certainly not anyone on the right ("how dare you criticize the ruling party in a time of crisis!")

all true. i do believe, though, there has been some consciousness-raising in the past four years though and not just among our age cohort. how widespread it has been, i can't say, but we live in a much more political era than we used to. just look at how ilx has changed.

Dems are voting against cloture motion & will block it. Talks between Schumer-Mnuchin-McConnell will continue

— John Bresnahan (@BresPolitico) March 23, 2020

*participates in democracy*

LET'S GO SCHUMER!!

Summing it all up was Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), who took his turn on the Senate floor, shaking his head before declaring: “This country was founded by geniuses but it’s being run by a bunch of idiots.”
“You know what the American people are thinking right now?” Kennedy inquired rhetorically. “They’re thinking that the brain is an amazing organ. It starts working in a mother’s womb and it doesn’t stop working til you get elected to Congress.”

one of the most astonishing moments of the year was John Kennedy calling out a trump administration official (Chad Wolf) about

Kennedy then sought to compare mortality rates for the coronavirus — which is about 2 percent — and for influenza “over the last 10 years in America.” Wolf, who was clearly on his heels, responded somewhat haltingly that the flu was “also right around that percentage, as well” — referring to the 2 percent.

“You sure of that?” Kennedy asked.

“Yes, sir,” Wolf said.

The mortality rate for influenza in the United States is significantly lower than that — only around 0.1 percent, according to the CDC, with some differences depending on how you define an influenza-related death.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/25/chad-wolf-john-kennedy-coronavirus/

seriously, kennedy pulling that off surprised me even more than everything that has happened since trump, because kennedy is one of the dumbest bumblefucks on this earth

Isn't he at least smart on paper?

At the heart of the impasse is a $425 billion fund created by the bill that the Federal Reserve could leverage for loans to assist broad groups of distressed companies, and an additional $75 billion it would provide for industry-specific loans. Democrats have raised concerns that the funds do not have rules for transparency or enough guardrails to make sure companies do not use the funds to enrich themselves or take government money and lay off workers. They also argue the measure would give Mr. Mnuchin too much discretion to decide which companies receive the funds, calling the proposal a “slush fund” for the administration.

As the legislation is currently written, Mr. Mnuchin would not have to disclose the recipients until six months after the loans were dispersed. Some Democrats also objected to loopholes in the legislation they said could allow Mr. Trump’s real estate empire to take advantage of the federal aid.

...

“Are you kidding me?” Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, demanded on the Senate floor. “This is not a juicy political opportunity, this is a national emergency.”

this is not a juicy political opportunity, this is an opportunity to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to our corporate pals with no restrictions so that they can ensure themselves a $50M+ "soft landing" when they leave the company in a few months

uh, and an emergency as well

lol fuck you, Mitch. Has anyone called him out on his conservative court-recruiting fundraiser vacation last weekend?

To quote one of my fave podcasters, Alexis Goldstein, "Mitch McConnell, who has never NOT made everything political" obvs.

curious what y'all think of this, I like all the stuff Pelosi is putting into the bill but you know it's not gonna pass and every day nothing happens is a disaster

media seems to be hammering the Dems on this for some stupid reason

They have to fight for more. The people suffering the most need more than what this bill provides.

Someone has to blink eventually, but... pointless to just take a substandard bill

Murc's Law, that's why

“Are you kidding me?” Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, demanded on the Senate floor. “This is not a juicy political opportunity, this is a national emergency.”

https://66.media.tumblr.com/203b3d8cc0850a6349e8a9599681ad6b/tumblr_oywxzzkpRT1qmob6ro3_500.gifv