“It’s a little too quiet” - US Politics February 2021

did we travel back in time to late october 2020

lotta Murc's Law going on today

They're still arguing about this - Pramila Jayapal is still having to do media rounds championing the previous means testing thresholds. Everybody got "pre-emptively angry" at a thing Biden and Democrats said they were into.

― Joe Biden Stan Account (milo z), Friday, February 26, 2021 5:41 PM bookmarkflaglink

the point is it is almost a certain that it isn't going to happen, and those people that pointed out that the means testing adjustments weren't necessarily going to happen got shouted down in the thread as being soft

*certainty

I'm already seeing people posting "REPUBLICANS GOT $1800 OF STIMULUS PASSED, DEMOCRATS ONLY $1400? GOOD LUCK, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TRUMP SECOND TERM" on social media. lol

The issue is the pragmatic adults' absolute belief that their better things aren't possible vision is 'reality.'

Not at all. Better things are possible, are achievable! Have been achieved, many times. I'm not the one you need to convince of this. Better things are possible but require strategy and an understanding of complex politics. Which includes an honest assessment of the situations you find yourself in. And can also include saying that an $11 minimum wage is better than a $7.25 minimum wage. Especially if it's inflation-adjusted. That still helps people. It doesn't mean you stop pushing for $15 or $20. But moving the rock is important.

tipsy has been OTM all day

Idk what’s the last good federal legislation? PPACA was a big fucking deal I guess, before that…the ADA? Is the federal government capable of doing good things? I don’t expect it to.

Half measures are an impediment, they blunt progress making it a settled issue. $11 throws away all leverage over the centrists by giving them the out, just as the Bidens of the world have been able to champion ever-increasing subsidies to Blue Cross execs in the name of Obamacare.

The $15 minimum wage was in Biden's platform and in the 2016 and 2020 Democratic platforms. As noted by table, even that is not enough. So, no, $11 isn't good enough.

I think between the ADA and now the federal government did rule that Serbian war criminals were bad and that Balkan women raped by soldiers and mercenaries that fleed to the U.S. got to stay in the US and become citizens. That was good.

Even the ADA doesn't go far enough. If you see a business not complying with it, your only option is to sue the company. You can't call federal agents in to shut the place down.

Obviously it's great because of what life was like prior to it, but people can willfully violate it if they suspect their customers won't bother suing them

ADA is complicated also because of building requirements and various exemptions for things and that complying with ADA isn't a simple "you are a horrible bigoted asshole if you don't comply"

On the half measures are bad front -

We don't have details yet, but economists say "Plan B" on minimum wage would likely leave a ton of ppl out

Looking at Oregon, only *20%* of minimum wage workers work at firms w/ +500 employees, per @arindube https://t.co/Z6vcIkRVT9

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) February 26, 2021

Needlessly complicated, insufficient and best of all, no more likely to pass muster with Manchin and Sinema.

the logic is that large employers (the 500 employee standard which is used for other programs/requirements -- so I don't see that as needlessly complicated) can afford it, whereas it might put a small restaurant out of business. ...

That plan b is more likely to get past sinema. She has no economic position she just won’t overrule the parliamentarian.

Half measures are an impediment, they blunt progress making it a settled issue.

I think they should push for the $15/hr and not just give up on it, to be clear. But, I think there have been a lot of things that have been progressive legislation that have started out as these kind of half measure "phase in" type things -- like Paid Family Leave and sick pay, etc. And then you have things like the ACA which ... was better than nothing, but still is far from being an unequivocal good

the fact that Covid unemployment benefits could lead to people having to repay ACA subsidies is just ... ugh. Anybody who is in that situation and pissed about it, has ever fucking right to be pissed about it.

The overly complicated part isn't the size of the business it's the mechanism of tax breaks and incentives and juking the numbers - all of which can be revised when the Republicans have Congress and the White House, or even just one house of Congress and force a stalemate on the budget. This is a $15 an hour suggestion for a minority of low-wage workers.

Actual minimum wage increases would be far harder to undo.

and of course, it's much harder to run on "we threatened to take away a tax break from this corporation that still didn't pay any taxes in the end anyway" than "we made it possible for you to buy new boots this winter."

The overly complicated part isn't the size of the business it's the mechanism of tax breaks and incentives and juking the numbers

oh it's wonky financial carrot and stick scenarios for sure. ... It does, however, remind me of how the financial carrot/stick method was used back in the LBJ administration to force school integration. ... And this analogy, also shows you are making a good point re Republican revisions, because when Nixon came into power, a lot of this was backpedaled and the stick went away for a while.

But outside of actually passing the minimum wage increase, I don't know (not in a "doubt it is possible way", but value neutral i don't know) if there is an equivalent of "Are you that committed to being racist that you are going to pass up federal funding for your schools?"

think they should push for the $15/hr and not just give up on it, to be clear.

They should give up on it because it’s ten years late. Push for $36/hr.

Capitulate when Romney counters with 2/3 again.

ha -- I would be thrilled to make $36/hr

just give everybody 100k and all products $5 for a year

there would be plenty of money for a £22/hr minimum wage if all the fucking middle-men that have infiltrated every corner of our society were cut out of the picture. i swear to god. it’s unreal. the financial industry should be as profitable as long-haul trucking. the pharmaceutical industry should be as profitable as the fire department. the zillions lost to rentier vested interests every year who do absolutely nothing but just take their slice is what is squeezing the country dry. yes rich CEOs should make less. but if we all had a dignified wage that would matter less.

£22/hr is what the minimum wage would be now if it had kept pace with productivity gains since the mid 1970s

It’s incredible that trust the process was used here a few days ago and the actual Biden punt on the minimum wage is “respect the process.”

We’re about to see a Board Man Gets Paid bill.

So are we doing this again tomorrow or does someone have a different idea

Tomorrow, and the next 1346 days. Likely past that as well.

thread nominally expires in two days but maybe someone left it out overnight?

not sure if quote tweets show the quote on embed: click through if necessary

an 11-year-old boy froze to death in Texas last week while trying to keep his 3-year-old brother warm https://t.co/t3IS3m5TDK

— manny (@mannyfidel) February 26, 2021

Idk what’s the last good federal legislation? PPACA was a big fucking deal I guess, before that…the ADA? Is the federal government capable of doing good things? I don’t expect it to.

― Canon in Deez (silby), Friday, February 26, 2021 6:12 PM (five hours ago)

the CARES act

Tomorrow, and the next 1346 days. Likely past that as well.

― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 February 2021 03:10 (four hours ago) link

Till the world burns baby!

What a POS: https://www.keloland.com/keloland-com-original/on-the-phone-off-the-road-ravnsborgs-activity-prior-to-the-crash/

― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Saturday, February 27, 2021 3:49 AM (two hours ago)

The South Dakota AG was on his way home from a GOP dinner - where the door prize was a .45 "Make America Great Again" handgun - and reading conspiracy theories while driving. https://t.co/teIiQtuYtF

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) February 26, 2021

"Meanwhile, they were strippin' granny out of the Covid ward at the hospital, and tossin' her in the nursing home for just enough time to infect everybody, and then go back to the hospital so that deaths could be recategorized for politics." -- Matt Gaetz pic.twitter.com/j66FeZnoDO

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 26, 2021

This guy sounds like a real prize.

U.S. diplomat openly calls for Christian nation-states, rails against Jews

A State Department official for several years has been publicly calling for the establishment of Christian nation-states, warning that white people face “elimination” and railing against Jews as well as Black Lives Matter and other social movements.

Fritz Berggren, a mid-ranking Foreign Service officer, openly uses his name and image as he espouses these and other controversial views, according to a review of his online postings. Current and former State Department officials noted the connection to POLITICO in recent days.

“Jesus Christ came to save the whole world from the Jews — the founders of the original Anti-Christ religion, they who are the seed of the Serpent, that brood of vipers,” states an Oct. 4 blog post signed “Fritz Berggren, PhD” and titled “Jews are Not God’s Chosen People. Judeo-Christian is Anti-Christ.”

“They murdered Jesus Christ,” the 5,300-word post continues, “How then can they be God’s chosen?”

Berggren’s voluminous output dates back to at least September 2017, according to the archives of his website, Bloodandfaith.com. An about page for the site, also signed “Fritz Berggren, PhD,” offers what appears to be a manifesto of sorts. Like several of his other posts, it includes a video of Berggren expanding on his views.

“The goal of the Left is to destroy blood and faith so that (Marxist) religion alone becomes master and enslaver of all,” Berggren writes. “Europeans must reclaim their blood and faith, just as Blacks are proud and hispanics have very strong blood identity organizations.”

Two days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, another post signed by Berggren declared: “Notes on the events of January 6. The illusion of a participatory democracy has been burst. You already live in a cult/theocracy — I offer you Christian liberty in a Christian nation.”

Hopefully for him, Fritz has his resume updated.

This story on Marjorie Taylor Greene is fascinating. She's pretty clearly insane, and I say that not because of what she believes but because of the manner in which she believes it.

Probably one for the 'explaining conservatism' thread but that whole thing of intentionally entering a space which is incongruent with your personal preferences and worldview and then loudly bitching because it's incongruent with your personal preferences and worldview...just...

It’s just maddening. Framing it as though her rights were being violated by the very occurrence of an event that she was not forced to attend. Fits perfectly in with the conservative evangelical mindset. Trumpeting the First Amendment when they want to say/do what they want, but then turning around and trying to trample other people’s rights when they don’t like what they are saying/doing. Like “I have the right for this person not to have the right to read in public” and “I have the right for these people not to have the right to listen”. No. You have the right to either attend or not attend, depending on whether you want to. Don’t attend and then try to manufacture outrage as though you’re being forced to be there.

So was that excerpts from Fritz's speech at Nazicon?

https://slate.com/business/2021/02/minimum-wage-hike-democrats-congress-back-up-plan.html

I don’t think anyone thinks plan b is as good as plan a. That’s why it’s plan b.

It’s not even a plan B, though, since it’s not functionally a minimum wage increase for the majority of low wage workers.

Washington passing a $20 minimum wage isn’t plan B for Mississippi workers earning $9.

besides the enforcement problems (re contractors/outsourcing) -- how are they going to know whether the employees were paid below minimum wage? Do companies have to provide actual payroll records, like paystubs for all employees? I can't see how, with the current reporting requirements, that the government could actually verify this. It would have to be done based on complaints.

Yes. Plan B, as preliminarily sketched out by Wyden, is clearly worse than Plan A. We knew that. Personally, I'd kill the filibuster and move forward, but I am not a US senator and I have no leverage over the couple of Democratic senators who are preventing that from happening. So, whatever mangled mess Plan B ends up looking like, it appears to be what's possible, given the one hundred senators we're stuck with.