Beware the Ides of March -- U.S. Politics March 2021

Maybe Manchin can work out a grand bargain where families get the tax credit bump but the children are pledged to indentured servitude to the US military from 18-24.

they do not tell you upfront that daycare is the same as buying a second home

xpost Return of the talking filibuster would be a good start, if nothing else is possible.

sarahell def otm

The talking filibuster would probably let some of the agenda through and has the added benefit of possibly killing a couple of the GOP senior citizens.

Imagine Chuck Grassley stroking out on the Senate floor, it's easy if you try...

I hope Grassley gets to die at Dairy Queen

talking filibuster also forces somebody to be the asshole dying on a hill to oppose X --- they'll be no shortage of those people from the GOP obviously, but it raises the stakes from "hit the filibuster button and the bill is dead behind the scenes, average american has no idea" to "actual headlines: GOP Senator Jerkwad is determined to oppose X." which might mean that certain kinds of bills that poll well in red states could get through, and meanwhile gives the opposition something more memorable and distinct to campaign on. idk.

Q about the stimulus: in a world where the child payout WERE permanent, would that not sharply cut poverty? serious question, i don't know what the math looks like, maybe that is vanishingly small for all but a handful of families? but it feels like something that would be very transformative and worth championing, so i'm trying to suss out whether i'm wrong about that, or whether the objection is solely that since it's only a one-year intervention, it's a little lofty to speak about it as a breakthrough in addressing poverty.

Child benefit combined with big investment in early years education would be genuinely transformative

Child benefit on its own would still be freakin amazing

I, too, like the idea of requiring a 'talking filibuster'. Originally the filibuster was meant to allow the minority to thoroughly make its case and persuade the persuadable before closing debate and taking a vote. Now it is a simple push button that kills legislation.

Yeah. Talking filibuster is kind of like government shutdowns: the longer they go on, the more the public hates them and the people holding things up.

xxxxp - the Urban Institute broke out their poverty projections for the COVID relief bill:

https://www.urban.org/research/publication/2021-poverty-projections-assessing-four-american-rescue-plan-policies
https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/103794/2021-poverty-projections-assessing-four-american-rescue-plan-policies_0_0.pdf

The biggest deal is the $1400 checks, which are never happening again. The child tax credit doesn't move the needle a great deal on its own but has the greatest impact on parents of color.

sorry, going to rant a little about my stimmy experience. trump bucks: direct deposit, no problem. 2019 taxes: filed in july, owed a bunch, paid it (though i still have a balance from 2017). 600: i never got it. no direct deposit, no debit card, no check. haven't moved since last july. feb 2021: filed taxes. got state refund within a week (direct deposit). i claimed the recovery rebate for 600 on my federal. the IRS TOOK ALL OF IT because i owe a balance and i'm on a monthly payment plan. they literally take $100 from my checking account every month. they OBVIOUSLY have both my bank info and my current address right? wtf.

no stimmy deposited today! get my payment says not available ("we don't have info or you don't qualify"). believe me, i qualify. no way to call the irs so i guess i just have to wait. i've got a hunch they're withholding stimulus from people who owe them. but i got the first one???? beyond confused. i could really use the money lol.

In re media sucking up, this hed is positively porny.

https://i.ibb.co/VCrT11w/IMG-8034.jpg

(sorry such a big image, that agenda was even more massive than I thought)

throbbing agenda

please stop

it's been a year, help

i'm sure you will get your stimulus soon alfred

veiny, tumescent agenda

If that massive agenda includes addressing climate change in a serious way, protecting voting rights, taxing the rich and promoting racial equality, then I don't care how porny the media headline writers get.

a talking filibuster would be 1) not enough 2) a huge improvement over the status quo.

half a loaf is better than none

No loaves since March.

"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" - Meat Loaf.

i didn't get my stimmy yet either but after the first one last year, my checking account got hacked somehow and I had to close that account, so I think they switched me to mail (as I got the $600 via mail).

not *needing* it atm but my taxes this year are $1,600 owed so would like to have it so I can file comfortably!

they need to reform the filibuster so that even if the "60 vote" threshold stays the same, the filibuster is seen as undesirable by conservatives.

like renaming the Filibuster the "Dirty Sanchez" and making anybody voting against the bill say "I'd like a dirty sanchez, plz"

you are allowed to filibuster only from a toilet placed on a pedestal placed in the middle of the Senate chamber and you can only filibuster while you are actively dookeying

eating two loves beforehand will do that

Cruz would probably not be deterred much. gotta imagine the others would be though

beware: ted cruz has long been rumored to be able to produce a "slow-motion boa constrictor", and i'm not sure we're ready for this soon after the trauma of the trump years

lol, xp

neanderthal has also heard this rumor i see

xxxpost you eat your lovers?

xpost lol Zach

i'm not trying to frighten anyone; just want us all to be aware of the filibuster reform facts

https://i.imgur.com/BlU1gwL.png

again:

Lifespan: 20-30 YEARS

Herr Ted, Herr McConnell
Beware
Beware.

Out of the ash
I sit on my toilet
And I eat men like bread.

while I am certain watching Ted Cruz shit out a female boa constrictor on CSPAN would drive me insane, I am willing to make that sacrifice as I don't think even in these godforsaken times that anyone can become President after being filmed extruding a reptile from their ass on basic cable

what if Trump endorsed the boa for Senate

better Cruz's ass snake than Cruz

it was never supposed to turn out this way

*but still, pulls the lever for ted cruz's ass constrictor with confidence*

Do not google "toilet snake." Yes, you will get plumbing tips, but you will also get the stuff of nightmares.

he's a cold toilet snake
look into his eyes

lol what is even happening itt rn

Everything is just really poopy in the world

We're pitching an Aaron Sorkin vehicle

a little miffed you beat me to the paula abdul joke but yours was better than what I was trying to come up with

Promise of a new post

hush hush

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne-florida-medicaid-expansion-20210317-uxyqvh3trjgvthw4qxoba52syy-story.html?

god could we get a real governor in my lifetime? last time we had a Democrat I was in middle school.

I am willing to make that sacrifice as I don't think even in these godforsaken times that anyone can become President after being filmed extruding a reptile from their ass on basic cable

We used to think that when we watched Alex Jones on his cable access show here in Austin