US Politics, May 2020 — I will never lie to you. You have my word on that.

Will precis links in future tho, it's definitely a thoughtful process to get in the habit of

huuugs to stevie

huuuugs as ever gratefully received

No hugging in here this is the politics thread

rand paul.

https://i.imgur.com/yQwVKFk.png

(btw, his comment/question for fauci was, rather than saying "there's no evidence for immunity" for people who have had coronavirus, shouldn't we instead be saying "there's no evidence for non-immunity"?)

also, dr rand paul would like to reprimand those who have warned about surges in cases and deaths after re-opening up parts of the country. he says that most of the models have been wrong. also, he wants everyone to pledge, right now, that if the re-openings do NOT lead to surges in deaths, that they'll admit they were wrong.

he's turning into a werewolf

he proposed that each school district should have a different plan

sorry, i'll quit remote liveblogging the remote hearing. but interesting that lamar alexander (chair of committee) seems to hate rand paul's guts. at the end of his 5 minutes, fauci interrupted (which is rare) and asked to use the remaining 32 seconds of paul's time to address all the bullshit he just spouted. alexander granted the time to fauci, and also asked him to respond to a particularly dumb thing Paul was saying about never opening up schools again. then alexander grinned and laughed at someone else in his home.

you gotta feel for the libertarians out there, though. coronavirus is an especially time for their dumb ideology

especially ^trying^ time

don't apologize, I appreciate it and don't have to watch it this way

I'm FB friends with pizza-delivering Libertarian Sean Haugh and have sent out a couple of exploratory anti-Libertarian needles, but he's been pretty quiet during all this and hasn't taken any bait.

susan fucking collins is standing up for the dentists of the world. she wants them to go back to work. she has heard from some of her dentist friends that people that had mere cavities now are facing root canals.

harbl, over to you

lol i turned it off during susan collins

Tim Kaine, Senator from Virginia <<< Timothy Cain, anti-hero from a Cormac McCarthy novel pic.twitter.com/NZ9C0lOBXT

— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) May 12, 2020

pat roberts says that fauci and crew are "like the fab four", although "it was the fab five, back in the day"

obviously he's referencing george martin as the 5th beatle there. or brian epstein. i guess.

'trump is increasingly isolated'

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/trump-eyes-campaign-shake-up

"Dr Fauci, who is your favorite beatle in three different categories: best overall songwriter (career), potential (as in who was capable of producing the most brilliant song in a short burst of creativity), and cuteness"

'mr. chairman, here's a clue for you all . . .'

the walrus was Fau

Donald Trump just doesn't understand: We have an economic crisis because we have a public health crisis — and we have a public health crisis because he failed to act. pic.twitter.com/hRrueGgx2C

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 11, 2020

(btw, his comment/question for fauci was, rather than saying "there's no evidence for immunity" for people who have had coronavirus, shouldn't we instead be saying "there's no evidence for non-immunity"?)

― porlockian solicitor (Karl Malone), Tuesday, May 12, 2020 11:33 AM (fifty-five minutes ago)

lmao, Dr Fauci, would you not disagree that we lack an absence of non-evidence about the unknown properties of non-immunity?

xp more like tim bain amirit

does susan collins have parkinson's?

Senators NOT wearing a mask while attending the COVID-19 hearing in person: Kelly Loeffler, Bill Cassidy, Richard Burr, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mike Braun, Rand Paul.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) May 12, 2020

Susan Collins has stupidsons.

She has this:
https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/spasmodic-dysphonia

just want to document rand paul's actual words, because lol:

"The power over COVID-19 health policy, Paul said, “needs to be dispersed because people make wrong predictions. And really the history of this, when we look back, will be of wrong prediction after wrong prediction after wrong prediction.”

We’re opening up a lot of economies around the U.S. and I hope that people who are predicting doom and gloom and who are saying, ‘We can’t do this, there’s going to be a surge,’ will admit that they were wrong if there isn’t a surge, because I think that’s what’s going to happen,'” Paul said.

i'm going to go out on a limb and predict that the virus will do virusy kinds of things, like spreading

well Karl, keep in mind there are right right predictions, right wrong predictions, wrong right predictions, and wrong wrong predictions

"hahaha you thought a lot of ppl were gonna die but that didn't happen! bet you feel stupid now!!"

consistent with his beliefs that should Republicans never apologize, but Democrats need to apologize in advance for any counterfactual conditionals that Republicans state publicly, it's the same thing really so it's fair

Republicans should that is

"hahaha you thought a lot of ppl were gonna die but that didn't happen! bet you feel stupid now!!"

Why do Republicans have such a fear and hatred of erring on the side of caution where (other) human lives are concerned? 'Tis a mystery indeed...

how...?

Sen. Paul leaves coronavirus hearing and tells cameras: “here’s the other question and this is unprovable. I think New York would have lost the same amount of people whether we did anything or not”

“A lot of what happens with the virus is independent of what government does”

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) May 12, 2020

why...?

wtf

fuck him.

Waiting for the question

here’s the other question and this is unprovable

Sen. Rand Paul, just a guy asking questions about things where no matter what you think the answer is, and however stupid his own answer is, he will claim that, "y'know, actually I could be right, and you can't prove me wrong."

the other question i have, and this is unprovable, is that if ron paul and his son would have never existed, the butterfly effect of the lack of their cosmic stupidity in the world would have prevented covid19 from happening at all

The House Dem bill establishes a Fed credit facility for debt collectors, tied to forbearance on debt collection payments. How about that. pic.twitter.com/WZ3X8jljpw

— graham steele (@steelewheelz) May 12, 2020

I didn't watch today, but this is a good exchange. Paul sounds sort of reasonable here, then Fauci completely knocks him down in a way that simultaneously gives lies to Paul's caricature of Fauci--no, actually I don't claim to know everything, which is precisely why I'm advising caution.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/05/12/fauci-rand-paul-coronavirus-senate-committee-testimony-vpx.cnn

mookie, explain the debt collector tweet? I'm too dense to follow what that meant.

it means debt collectors will get paid by the government during this time because heaven forbid they don't have money flowing into their coffers.

is that bad? I have no love for banks and landlords, but I have to imagine we'd see less illegal self-help evictions being imposed on civilians who can't defend themselves, if these assholes were getting their money from somewhere else. I thought the idea was to increase cash flow?

Otherwise, what's to stop major rent hikes when this ends?

But idk... I'll see what those who are better versed have to say

If you want debt collectors to renounce debt collecting, it makes sense to pay them off for doing so. They are used to skirting along the edges of the law to make their collections already, so compliance was sure to be an issue without this kind of payoff.

Sen. Paul leaves coronavirus hearing and tells cameras: “here’s the other question and this is unprovable. I think New York would have lost the same amount of people whether we did anything or not”

“A lot of what happens with the virus is independent of what government does”

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) May 12, 2020

In much the same way that I content that Rand Paul would've eventually gotten the shit kicked out of him by his neighbor whether it had been that particular guy or any other human being who happened to be living next to him.

Xpost I just see liberal Twitter exploding angrily about it, and maybe rightfully so, but...

People pausing their mortgage payments are facing huge balloon payments when mortgage payments resume, which for many is just kicking the foreclosure can down the street.

And eviction moratoriums don't absolve the tenants of that rent, just their being removed from the property. As soon as any moratorium was lifted, the landlords can just demand you pay all back rent or evict you.

If this bill WON'T help with that (and from reading it, I'm not sure how much it will), then I'm curious what proposal could help with this issue (seriously asking, not snarking? We know "the goodness of their hearts" is not an option.