US Politics, April 2024: "Are You Better Off Today Than You Were <Checks Notes> Four Years Ago?"

How far away are we from one of these States just full on voting to say "Democrats can't have any say in government at all"?

Hi from Florida!

lol (but not really), I just meant even more openly and blatantly than the barely disguised ways they've been doing so far!

The situation in TN: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-05/tennessee-legislature-s-2024-session-is-a-lesson-in-extremist-politics

With a Republican governor and a supermajority in the state House and Senate, the party’s near-absolute control of the state allows lawmakers to pretend they are the patriarchs in a long-ago revolution. They act as if they need only listen to those who sound and look like them.

On a more personal level, two of my friends were on a Facebook thread today glumly talking about plans to leave the state with their kids because they don't want to bring them up surrounded by all this terrible shit.

I read those comments, tipsy. Grim.

Damn, that American Prospect piece.

Yeah, fucking bleak.

Another: “I also just finished a story about how domestic violence homicides are through the roof in Texas (even as overall homicide rates have declined), but we don’t have the infrastructure to really know how bad conditions have become. It turns out when you turn women into second-class citizens and make guns easily accessible, that doesn’t go well.”

Ha, I'm loving this new dance: The Arizona Squirm

“I oppose today’s ruling,” added Kari Lake, a Republican running to represent Arizona in the US Senate and a Donald Trump loyalist. Lake called on the state legislature to “come up with an immediate commonsense solution that Arizonans can support

“This is an earthquake that has never been seen in Arizona politics,” said Barrett Marson, a Republican consultant in Arizona, of the decision. “This will shake the ground under every Republican candidate, even those in safe legislative or congressional seats.”

omg they did it again. This feels like trolling at this point.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/us/politics/two-imperfect-messengers-take-on-abortion.html

https://i.imgur.com/ASnCh3D.png

truly, who among us is perfect

We need an abortionist president

Trump Modifies Abortion Messaging - and Why This is Bad for Biden

no offense to any NYC ilxors but I am hoping for another earthquake or meteor or something at this point

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/04/10/arizona-abortion-law-1864-william-claude-jones/

O.J. Simpson Dead, Bringing New Concerns About Biden

Until this second it never occurred to me that Biden might kill OJ, but now that you mention it, open the investigation now.

How long before Trump pays tribute

Just sayin', OJ was still alive under Trump ...

Tbf, OJ was definitely better off four years ago.

Trump scratching O.J. off of his Veep list

ten years ago we had hope, jobs, and OJ

I’d figure next GOP moves is to start bringing back indentured servitude laws from pre-1860 to start filling those open jobs they cannot fill.

That too cynical, they’ve only just started bringing back child labor.

...they should use child labor laws to fill those positions

Children building Teslas

It takes a village

it takes a pillage

Meanwhile, Jan. 6 penalties continue apace. This is one of my recent faves, a guy who must pay $32,000 to a German media company for destroying their equipment. Included in the evidence that led to the decision:

Haynes documented his activities in text messages he sent to associates. Alongside a photo
of himself standing in front of the debris, he wrote that “(w)e attacked the CNN reporters and the
fake news and destroyed tens of thousands of dollars of their video and television equipment here’s
a picture of me behind the pile we made out of it.”

lol

"Hey, come and take a picture of my crime, while I boast about it and provide further corroborrating detail."

The Supreme Court's third AND FINAL opinion of the day in Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries. Per Roberts, a transportation worker need not work in the formal transportation industry to be exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act. It's unanimous! https://t.co/9XvyrzcuNi pic.twitter.com/RrDwfnsBOZ

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 12, 2024

Is that good, I genuinely do not know. I guess MJS is not expressing dismay at it.

He's got a follow up text calling it a victory for workers whose jobs involve transportation of goods

Amendment to Section 702 of FISA that would require the FBI to secure warrants before searching lawfully collected NSA foreign intelligence data for references to Americans, fell one vote short from passing.

FISA as a whole got extended for 2 years.

https://i.imgur.com/qekkh2S.png

lololol never change NYT

That's WaPo!

oh no, it's contagious

tasty hot dogs arrive at just the wrong time for hot dog vendor

I'd usually support clowning on these headlines, but I do think the economy is heading in a direction that will be a problem for Biden. Inflation is remaining stubbornly high, interest rates are too high, stocks recently peaked but are showing signs of shakiness. It might all improve but it might not.

rents have gone completely nuts for people. if they can even find a place to live that is decent since everyone wants to turn their rental into an air B&B. so high everywhere. and that's huge. as far as how people feel about the economy.

agreed

Yep, and mortgages are also impossible because rates are too high, you're basically gambling on the opportunity to refinance at some unknown point in the future.

I guess I don't understand that part, when we bought our house in 2001 it was 9%! now it's what, 5?

Also gas prices. My colleagues at work have been complaining about them lately so there’s a data point for you.

People paid double digit mortgage interest rates in the

Oh fudge..

I meant to conclude with: in the early 1980s. I’d be curious for a comparison between housing costs then and now, adjusted for inflation.

Avg rate for 30 year is around 7%, which is the highest it's been in over 20 years.

Sounds right, our first house (bought in 2003) I think had a 6% 15-year ARM. Mortgage rates have been practically nonexistent for a while now, or at least sub 3%. I think a lot of people got used to cheap money.

My parents bought my childhood home in 1980 with like a 16% mortgage rate, or something like that. Crazy.