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

I’ve always just heard them used interchangeably by people who don’t know what they’re talking about

When you combine that astounding big-ratings tweet from earlier today with Trump's psychological blackmail of the governors (which he tried to finesse his way around tonight: "I don't call them, but that doesn't mean Mike Pence doesn't call them"...and of course you know, as he says this, that Pence has been told not to call them), it's clear that, consciously or not, he really does view this as some high-wire variation on The Apprentice or Survivor, where he and only he gets to decide which states will pull through and which ones get fired or voted off the island.

Twitter removed two posts by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Sunday night in a rare instance of the social media giant censuring an elected world leader for a rules violation.

Bolsonaro tweeted two videos that showed him flouting the advice of his own health officials, hailing the treatment of an unvetted drug to treat the coronavirus, gathering small crowds in the capital, Brasilia, and listening to complaints by locals that the churches should be reopened and people should be out working.

In a statement, Twitter said it is now removing content that it says undercuts public health information.

So they'll start doing this with our Asshole ... when?

lame style: idiocracy predicted future
new style: fury road informed present
lydon style: no future for you

So cool they can create new rules to take down posts from heads of state but won't enforce the existing ones and ban them

tbf, they own the system and participation is wholly voluntary, so they have room to be as arbitrary as they like.

The man has a type pic.twitter.com/vlKSLmZrpm

— Keith Edwards 🍥 (@keithedwards) March 30, 2020

I think they must have gone to work on him over the weekend. 1) It's the coronavirus now, not the Chinese virus. (He paused momentarily, like he had to remind himself.) 2) He readily handed the mic over a couple of times. 3) There seems to be an awareness that working with other countries instead of insulting them might be a good thing.

Tomorrow, who knows.

I do think--and believe me, this is not a defense of Trump; it's a strategy for protecting the world from him--at least for the time being, reporters should stop goading him into saying stupid stuff (which, with Trump, can be as basic as pointing out a lie or a contradiction from yesterday). Because if you do, he'll say stupid stuff. I remember a kid in my school a couple of years who was in the GLD class and had major anger issues. You had to be real careful how you spoke to him if you were on yard duty. He could be unbelievably rude, and sometimes you wanted to verbally get into it with him. I know I did, and every now and again, I stupidly would. One time, when I was needling him about his rudeness, he picked up a rock, and I, momentarily stepping into a Scorsese film, said "What are you gonna do, throw a rock at me?" Guess what? He threw a rock at me (in the direction of my feet, thankfully). I let it go, because I knew who I was dealing with and I let it happen. It's not supposed to work that way with a president, but it does with this one.

(Made my peace with that kid after that, until one day--big surprise, rough home life--he left the school.)

My Pillow guy is giving the presser

My post above was based only on the pre-Q & A part of the briefing today--they cut away, they went back, the usual.

I thought you were joking about My Pillow guy. I'm told he's telling people to read the bible. WTF

The My Pillow guy is a huge evangelical, and holds a lot of sway with the community because of course he does.

Now that Trump has clearly stepped off the ledge in terms of reopening the country, I wonder what Fauci had to say to him behind closed doors to get him there? My guess is--with a little "I respect what you're going through, sir" sugarcoating--something on the order of, "Realize that if you go through with that, you'll go down as the greatest mass-murderer since Hitler." I honestly believe that's what it would take, and I think Fauci would say it.

keep in mind that, even with all of that, which i believe is plausible - trump could completely turn back on that at any moment, based off of what is on fox news

^

Trump also defers to the My Pillow guy because he's on TV alot.

My Pillow guy is giving the presser

― frogbs, Tuesday, March 31, 2020 8:46 AM (three hours ago)

I thought you were joking about My Pillow guy. I'm told he's telling people to read the bible. WTF

― akm, Tuesday, March 31, 2020 11:09 AM (one hour ago)

The My Pillow guy is a huge evangelical, and holds a lot of sway with the community because of course he does.

― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, March 31, 2020 11:20 AM (fifty-seven minutes ago)

Trump also defers to the My Pillow guy because he's on TV alot.

― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, March 31, 2020 11:46 AM (thirty-one minutes ago)

quick question: what's a My Pillow guy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Lindell

are you seriously telling me there was a White House press briefing with the My Pillow guy?

literally nothing is too stupid for this timeline

nancy can you not
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/business/economy/coronavirus-economic-stimulus-taxes.html#click=https://t.co/rnDpddq4W7

In August 2016, Lindell met with then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, at Trump's request, in the Trump Tower in New York City. They discussed products being made in America, bringing jobs back to the US, and working with inner cities.[3][19][20] Lindell became an avid Trump supporter, calling Trump "the most amazing president this country has ever seen in history."[21] On October 19, 2016, Lindell attended the final presidential debate in Las Vegas.[22] He spoke at a Trump campaign rally in Minneapolis on November 6, 2016, and attended the Official Donald Watch Party on November 8. He attended Trump's inauguration, receiving an inauguration lapel pin as a personal gift from President Trump.[21][23][19]

that was pretty much the peak time of my pillow guy

In the 1980s and 1990s, Lindell became addicted to cocaine, crack cocaine, and alcohol. His addiction loomed so large, that his house would be foreclosed and his wife filed for divorce. Lindell stated that he achieved sobriety through prayer in 2009, and since then, he has been clean.

Lindell created the Lindell Foundation, a faith-based foundation originally started to help addicts and MyPillow employees.

Important followup: does he wear a giant anthropomorphic pillow costume, including in his role as a representative of the US Government? (Please, no disappointing answers. I read it as Mr Pillow for the first few posts.)

to be fair these are number one pillows

Future Whitehouse expert...

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/koZB-OppWsk/maxresdefault.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/tcSzD0j.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/tcSzD0j.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/tcSzD0j.png

^themorningafter.png

Also curious about his continued using of cocaine, crack cocaine and alcohol without any problem, for two decades after his addiction issues were resolved, before using prayer to stop.

I amazed someone has watched cable in the US and somehow missed those commercials.

Dana Lasch still sells that beet supplement too.

I’ve only heard him on the radio, he sounds like he has respiratory problems

“I haven’t heard about testing in weeks,” the president said. “We’ve tested more now than any nation in the world. We’ve got these great tests and we’re coming out with a faster one this week.” Reiterating his point, Mr. Trump added, “I haven’t heard about testing being a problem.”

Idgi kevin whats yr beef w Pelosi’s proposals?

Xps

would largely funnel money to relatively high earners in high-tax states

awsum

her donors I guess

lol ok

“relatively” doing a lot of work in that sentence

Good to know you guys are into Trump’s punitive tax laws tho

We also like Kevin Pollack

shakey did you read the article

The richer you are in a high tax state, the more state taxes you pay. Which is a good thing. Deducting those taxes from your federal taxes means less of your money goes to the feds to finance lower tax states (ie red states w shitty tax structures, which are already funded by the tax largesse of blue states).

Relatedly, as a poverty-wage earner in a high tax state, deducting my already high state taxes from my federal taxes benefits me as well. I would assume morbz is in a similar situation, idk about kevin

Makes sense to me.

I dont read the NYTimes but I read about her SALT proposal elsewhere

Xps

^^^

testing is a problem

nah this guy in Australia told me today the West is greatly outtesting Asia so we good

i haven't heard that testing is a problem

on the contrary, testing ensures that no child is left behind.

shakey you know I love you but we also both know that nancy pelosi could literally diss your own mother on national TV and you would be out there defending her the next day. if you have information the NYT and the experts they cite do not, please write a letter to the editor to correct the record

That could be achieved, she said, by having Congress “retroactively undo SALT,” a reference to a cap on the state and local tax deduction that Republicans included in their 2017 tax overhaul. That limit prevents households from deducting more than $10,000 a year in state and local tax expenses from their federal tax bills.

Many liberal economic policy analysts also oppose lifting the SALT cap, calling it regressive tax policy. Seth Hanlon, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress, said the same logic was also a reason not to lift the limit in the next economic rescue bill. That is particularly true because consumption data show that low- and middle-income Americans are more likely than higher earners to spend benefits from the government immediately and stimulate economic activity.

To continue with direct assistance, Mr. Hanlon said, “there are ways you could target it to truly middle-class people. The problem is, relatively few middle-class people claim SALT.”

The Tax Policy Center estimates that only 3 percent of households in the middle quintile of American taxpayers would receive any benefit at all from the SALT cap repeal.

“In and of itself,” Mr. Hanlon said, “it doesn’t strike me as the most effective way of targeting economic stimulus.”

“relatively” again doing some major fucking heavy lifting - the SALT cap is 100% a fuck you to middle class people in blue states

how’s 3 percent for a precise number?