US Politics, March 2020 — There’s a very good chance you’re not going to die.

Good morning!

"Death is a part of life", Ron Johnson acknowledged as his voters pushed him in front of an oncoming bus

Seriously, sounds to me like he's volunteering.

apparently, one of the things that shocked trump out of his completely idiotic views on coronavirus (which will come back, i'm sure) was this survey from Pew Research:

https://www.people-press.org/2020/03/26/worries-about-coronavirus-surge-as-most-americans-expect-a-recession-or-worse/?

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

oh, you

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday blamed the Democrats’ push to impeach President Trump in January for distracting the Trump administration from the threat posed by coronavirus.

“It came up while we were tied down in the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government because everything every day was all about impeachment,” McConnell said in an interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”

Wow. Surprised it took them this long to come up with that.

we also both know that nancy pelosi could literally diss your own mother on national TV and you would be out there defending her the next day.

also lol I love the part where we get to bad faith arguments about the predispositions of the other side. I haven't criticized Pelosi much because I think she's been remarkably consistent in her latest tenure as Speaker, I don't think she's made many missteps given the limits of her power. Naturally I could make the inverse argument about you (or Morbz) but since I'm not an asshole I generally don't.

Who the fuck does McConnell think he's fucking kidding with that bullshit?!?

I mean, yes, of course, the entire ultracredulous Republican party...but besides that, who?!?

like am I supposed to keep a log of the things I publicly disagree with her about? I know Morbz still labels me an Obama-stan even though I've repeatedly pointed out criticisms I made on ILX about extrajudicial killings etc. You can't win...

xps

if you could have it on my desk by five that would be great

aw shakes I wasn’t saying that to be mean or personal, I was just ribbing u. you’re one of my favorite posters even if you agree with fred too much

I'm picturing all the Republican senators hunkered down in a December stop-coronavirus strategy session, getting called away on some trivial impeachment matter.

Who the fuck does McConnell think he's fucking kidding with that bullshit?!?

well, you see, they were so focused on the case and making a good faith effort to investigate his wrongdoing, there was no time for anything else. really hard to figure out if trump was guilty or not, wow, what a case! many agonizing long nights, thinking about the details and whether or not trump might have been involved in some wrongdoing, or as some allege, if he was in fact the rotting heart of corruption, as if all the corrupt acts flow directly from the president of the united states. luckily after many long nights of the soul all of the republicans (except romney, who is the antichrist) determined in good faith that he did absolutely nothing wrong, at all, and that there was no need to even hear directly from the people who directly spoke with him about the alleged wrongdoings! but wow, all that hard thinking really did wipe out january

fair enough, no worries k3v

xps

k3v and Shakes, happy hour at my place, 5 p.m. Enter through the back. Beers will be on the table. I'll sit 12 feet away.

It's Infrastructure Week motherfuckers!

With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill. It should be VERY BIG & BOLD, Two Trillion Dollars, and be focused solely on jobs and rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our Country! Phase 4

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2020

hahahaha

*very upper west side voice*

there were 3 other phases?

shut the front door
you can't make it up

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYWJjYzBkMGYtMzRhZi00YWM5LWJmYjUtYzFlNmVmMzU1M2IwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTMxMTY0OTQ@._V1_.jpg

good find! Didn't even know Saul Bass directed a narrative film!

and why he didn't again

"Phase 4" a suitably apocalyptic title for the April politics thread tomorrow.

that film is amazing, one of my favorite 70s horror/scifi films

have you seen it alfred? The extremely batty trailer makes me wanna give it a go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcs3_b3VXSU

it's on hulu!

I highly recommend it, especially the ending sequence, which is total psychedelic batshittery

*adds to queue*

I think there's a thing where there are multiple versions and the recent br release was an edited version? Is why I haven't seen it yet.

yeah there is a version out there without the ending iirc

we're both assholes, Shakey, i'm just correct more often

(also funnier)

*rimshot*

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EQ6vKsZXYAE5Hu6.jpg

I assume when it happens and Trump is asking his aides and Congress for updates on infrastructure reform he'll ask them if the "infra has been structured yet"

There's a super fancy Blu-Ray of Phase IV coming out in about a week, with the original ending and a ton of supplemental material, plus a 200-page hardcover book. Unfortunately, it's Region B.

Thanks for the encouragement, all.

A reminder to some of his new TV fans that Andy Cuomo is a major shit

https://gothamist.com/news/cuomo-medicaid-cuts-coronavirus-aid

it's always hilarious when McConnell gets ahead of Trump, funny how he hasn't learned his lesson.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) hit the brakes Tuesday on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) plan to move ahead with a fourth stimulus package that would include major infrastructure spending and other Democratic priorities.

“I think we need to wait a few days here, a few weeks, and see how things are working out,” McConnell said on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”

“Let’s see how things are going and respond accordingly,” he added. “I’m not going to allow this to be an opportunity for the Democrats to achieve unrelated policy items that they would not otherwise be able to pass.”

McConnell's remarks came the same day that President Trump encouraged Congress to pass a $2 trillion infrastructure bill as the next piece of coronavirus legislation.

"With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill," Trump tweeted.

The Phase IV soundtrack was reissued, or maybe first issued in 2015. It is excellent!

Me, I'm looking forward to the lush swirl of

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tROZ-QijxoM/V9ODBm4AJ7I/AAAAAAAAWLk/bGsL6osb_yMetNYYehl20yhmkkUM1NINQCLcB/s1600/mxr-phase-95.jpg

My proposal to the politically correct Automobile Companies would lower the average price of a car to consumers by more than $3500, while at the same time making the cars substantially safer. Engines would run smoother. Positive impact on the environment! Foolish executives!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2020

here's what I would do if I ran a hospital: I'd make my own ventilators for cheap. they'd be much better than the ones we've got now. everybody lives!!

what's really sad is that he's talking there about his administration's decision to roll back the fuel economy standards that obama set into place, not even as a favor to the automobile industry (believe it or not they actually advocated for keeping the existing standards, which are more in alignment with Europe and other countries), but just because obama did it.

honestly I think this will be like his attempts to save the coal industry - ie a failure because the market's already made its judgment

obviously lying about the positive impact on the environment (shocker: in terms of climate change, this is his biggest and final move to increase US emisisons). and on the face of it it seems VERY dubious to tell people that the price of cars is going to go down by $3500 while not mentioning that they're going to have to buy more gasoline per mile.

by the way, the standards they dropped it to are so low that they're below even what the industry is already doing by itself:

The new rule, which is expected to be implemented by late spring, will roll back a 2012 rule that required automakers’ fleets to average about 54 miles per gallon by 2025. Instead, the fleets would have to average about 40 miles per gallon.

To meet the new number, fuel economy standards would have to rise by about 1.5 percent a year, compared to the 5 percent annual increase required by the Obama rule. The auto industry, without any regulation, has recently achieved an average annual increase in fuel economy of 2.4 percent.

why bother with the carrot and the stick? you don't need either! just do whatever

if it's a failure to make climate change even worse, than that's the best case scenario. but the pessimist in me also notes it's also a failure to press for strong economy standards that actually PUSH the auto industry to improve fuel economy more than they otherwise would. in other words, in an ongoing climate crisis, it's a very obvious missed opportunity to at least press them to do something more than BAU

guys my band's opening for the trump show. doors at 5.

its such a strange thing to get hung up on, nobody's advocating this and there's no constituency for it. it really is just trying to further shit on Obama's legacy

hey, if you see trump, please yell at the top of your lungs "YOU TREASONOUS WHITE COLLAR MURDEROUS FUCKING ASSHOLE!!" as many time as possible. find the tv cameras and look for the boom microphones sticking out of them. find the guys with headphones near the cameras - they are likely producers or sound dudes, and will have mics as well. aim your bad words toward those microphones, it's the only way