Vaccines, Infrastructure, and Kids In Cages: US Politics April 2021

the way conspiracists reject all "official" stories, some anti-vaxxers might start clamoring for J&J shots now

Conspiracy theorists are definitely consistent in that way, yes

The problem with the “they shouldn’t have announced it this way” criticism is that there is an obligation to make the health care community aware that this is a possible side effect. Have to start there, then discuss whether pause is warranted too

— Ed MD (@notdred) April 13, 2021

I'm not smart enough to know what the right way to do this is. I do know that anti-vaxxers will run with anything, whether it's a truth or lie. And media coverage is frequently negative even when the vaccine news has been great. Seems like a true no-win scenario.

— Ed MD (@notdred) April 13, 2021

👍🏻

I can’t stop thinking of the anonymous Republican operative quoted in the WaPo article about the Biden-Harris infrastructure plan who said in panic that they even associating it with “cancel culture” didn’t decrease its popularity in focus groups.

— Jason Stanley (@jasonintrator) April 13, 2021

I wish I could find that WaPo story.

so is cancelling cancel culture... cancelled?

Building broadband is cancelling copper wire. You could be next!

What are they going to do next, build a smart grid?? The nerve of these politicians. Cancel the build!!

I can't find the article, either. Does it exist?

Maybe it was cancelled.

Cancel culture? More like can'tcel culture, am I right?

i also can't find it. possibly it's embedded in a weigel mailing list piece or something.

I look forward to hearing from ILX's super-lefties why this is bad, actually.

Biden administration to lift abortion pill restriction amid pandemic

The Biden administration will temporarily lift a medication abortion restriction that requires abortion pills to be dispensed in person, reversing a Trump-era policy and handing abortion-rights groups one of their first major victories of the new administration.

In a two-page letter letter to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, a professional medical organization, acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock announced Monday evening that her agency would "exercise enforcement discretion" surrounding the FDA's requirement that abortion patients using mifepristone to terminate a pregnancy obtain the pills in-person from a medical provider. The decision will allow providers in some states to prescribe via telemedicine and send the pills in the mail.

Temporarily!

Oh, Joe Biden loves his dog huh WHAT DOES THE LEFT HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT?

can someone check in with the left

as a member of the super ultra mega left i am not available to respond to dumb strawmanning today

can someone check in with Left

in 2021, let's not be left, right or center. let's be above it.

#ThirdWay
#LincolnProject

sorry, leftover hashtags

#ThirdWay
#LincolnProject

#FourthWay
#JimmyCarterInitiative

I'm still waiting to hear** from the "I'm socially liberal, but fiscally conservative" cohort.

**I'm willing to wait a long time.

"the carter initiative" is a good start but needs a lot of workshopping to get the OK from Ludlum's editor

The Carter Memorandum

now we're cooking with gas solar power!

What are they going to do next, build a smart grid?? The nerve of these politicians. Cancel the build!!

― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Tuesday, April 13, 2021 12:49 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

#stopthesteel

Whitmer vs. Feds---can...kinda see both sides of this, so far: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/us/politics/michigan-coronavirus-whitmer-biden.html

Indicted Gaetz Associate Is Said to Be Cooperating With Justice Dept.

A former local official in Florida indicted in the Justice Department investigation that is also focused on Representative Matt Gaetz has been providing investigators with information since last year about an array of topics, including Mr. Gaetz’s activities, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Joel Greenberg, a onetime county tax collector, disclosed to investigators that he and Mr. Gaetz had encounters with women who were given cash or gifts in exchange for sex, the people said. The Justice Department is investigating the involvement of the men with multiple women who were recruited online for sex and received cash payments and whether the men had sex with a 17-year-old in violation of sex trafficking statutes, people familiar with the inquiry have said.

Mr. Greenberg, who is said to have met the women through websites that connect people who go on dates in exchange for gifts, fine dining, travel and allowances and introduced them to Mr. Gaetz, could provide investigators with firsthand accounts of their activities.

Mr. Greenberg began speaking with investigators once he realized that the government had overwhelming evidence against him and that his only path to leniency lay in cooperation, the people said. He has met several times with investigators to try to establish his trustworthiness, though the range of criminal charges against him — including fraud — could undermine his credibility as a witness.

Anything new in the story?

Up till now the presumption was that Greenberg was likely to begin cooperating. Turns out he's been snitching on Gaetz for six months or more already.

We definitely knew for weeks that he was cooperating - the leaks all came from his collaboration iirc, and his lawyer even did courthouse steps interviews last week saying "In my, how you say, opinion, I would estimate that Mr Gaetz is, hm, how would I put it, shitting himself liquid with fear" - but six months is an increase in scope, yeah.

Was it mentioned in that article that it appears the feds seized his phone back in December, as well as that of his then girlfriend?

'known-psychotic-but-oddly-electable-florida-man-in-snitching-escapade' is just not enough in 21, sorry kids. *sad musics* and i'm not even identifying which psychotic!

Issues, issues

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/13/gaetz-bahamas-investigation-481273

Gaetz’s predicament as the subject of a serious investigation became clearer this winter when federal agents executed a search warrant and seized his iPhone, according to interviews with three people who were told of the matter by Gaetz, who changed his phone number in late December. Around that time, the sources said, federal agents also seized his former girlfriend’s phone before she went into work in the morning. She declined comment.

just lmao that the day the story broke he was going around the right-wing network saying "wow this is all such a surprise you know as much as I do"

I look forward to hearing from ILX's super-lefties why this is bad, actually.

Biden administration to lift abortion pill restriction amid pandemic🕸

Thank you, will. I didn't even know where to begin with that ridiculous post.

wow, sounds like you guys really miss donald trump!

don’t take the bait

So much for the tolerant left.

the kneejerk left take would be "this is not good enough" and "look at all the other terrible things" not "this is bad actually" get your caricatures straight

I know this makes me a bad leftist but I find it hard to get too worked up about this stuff coming off an administration that bungled a pandemic so badly that it can be framed as nothing less than a crime against humanity, led by a party that unanimously voted against one of the most popular and bottom-heavy stimulus packages in US history, instead focusing all their efforts trying to stop people from voting while trying to get as many people killed from the coronavirus as possible. there's plenty to criticize Biden for but god, just having an administration in there that actually cares if you live or die has done wonders for my anxiety

i got an email today saying that my healthcare.gov/obamacare premium had gone down by $50, thanks to the Covid-relief bill. $600 extra per year means a lot to me

Same, frogbs

seems like a lot of people are tired

...
Other presidents have been more popular in their first 100 days, Trump excepted. Biden's recent predecessors generated massive resistance, with visible swings in public opinion. At this point in Trump's presidency, the largest one-day protest in American history had come and gone, followed by spontaneous rallies against Trump's “Muslim ban” and a march to demand the president's hidden tax returns. At this point in Obama's, the first wave of tea-party protests was over, and the second was underway — hundreds across the country, advertised on Fox News, organizing with a speed and an ethos that confounded liberals.

Nothing like that has unfolded under Biden. Although shutdowns have ended in red states where the president is least popular, and although traditional campaigning has returned, there's none of the mass organizing that confronted the Trump or Obama. That has been a shock to liberals. Groups that grew out of the 2017 Trump resistance just wrapped up two weeks of “Recovery Recess” events, promoting what's in Biden's recovery plans. If there was a grass-roots conservative resistance, they couldn't find it.

“We were prepared for it,” said Mary Small, the policy director of Indivisible, a member of the Recovery Recess coalition. “We were ready for the backlash dynamic we saw in the Obama administration.”

The opponents never showed up. There was no visible grass-roots organizing against Biden's legislative priority, the infrastructure bill. One tea party group focused on organizing against H.R. 1, the Democrats' omnibus election bill; most House and Senate Republicans focused on immigration, with junkets to the U.S.-Mexico border, an issue Biden has not discussed at length unless pressed, as he was in his sole news conference last month.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/13/trailer-less-talking-more-spending-how-biden-avoided-100-day-slump/

coming off an administration that bungled a pandemic so badly

The current administration is still pursuing nearly the exact same policies, resulting in nearly 1,000 deaths per day, with the exception of vaccine distribution. Cases are on the rise, steeply in some places, and more contagious variants are being welcomed in and spread. The figurehead is just shutting the fuck up about how the policies are killing thousands of people a week, instead of tweeting and holding press conferences about how it’s nbd.

nearly the exact same policies

lol

omg

so similar, even in their differences

just having an administration in there that actually cares if you live or die has done wonders for my anxiety

citation needed

(also very obviously "you" ends at the borders of the United States - and excludes child prisons near the border, prisons in general across the land, etc.)

I am with frogbs here. The previous administration was actively doing evil all the time- every day it was a new and different outrage, just stacked on top of all the others. Absolute crimes against humanity, intentional cruelty, setting half the country against the other half, and almost impossibly unethical behavior. Agency leadership actively undermining their own agency missions. Dismantling the United States’ standing and reputation in the world, and our relationships with allies. Cozying up with nations/regimes who are not our allies, and who are committing atrocities and human rights violations. That was every single day under Trump. I’m not saying that Biden is perfect, but he can’t fix everything at once, nor can he fix everything in 4 years (and certainly not in 2 years, if you are among those who expect the GOP to regain control of Congress in 2022). My take is that he is prioritizing so as to make the biggest impact as possible in terms of fixing Trump’s 4 years of national sabotage as well as leading us through various crises, while navigating the difficult waters of a 50-50 Senate and a slim House majority. It seems like every time he punts on an issue that is important to some, or announces some delay, or says he is looking into something before taking action, or whatever, it gets put out in the media as “Democrats should be FURIOUS that Biden is REFUSING to do THIS”. It’s true that I may be speaking from a place of privilege here in that I am not feeling impacted by these things at present. But I have a feeling that how people on the left are reacting to Biden’s decisions and actions (or lack of certain actions) has a lot to do with where they are getting their news, who is letting that news out, and what angle is being pushed or what spin is being put on the fairly slim amount of information that is coming out from the administration. To me it seems like Biden is keeping most of his plans pretty close to the vest, and that is causing some outrage among those who won’t be satisfied without immediate positive action on everything all at once.

The current administration is still pursuing nearly the exact same policies, resulting in nearly 1,000 deaths per day, with the exception of vaccine distribution.

seems like one hell of a huge exception to me