Enough With The Cutesy Titles, People Are Dead: US Politics January 2021 pt 2

the walrus was Paul

if they didn't look so damned much alike (and comically assholish), one good bit would be to keep telling Peter that Steve's not his real dad

so 45 senators agreed that impeaching trump is unconstitutional

yeah he's not getting convicted, again

sorry to get very negative, but between that and not abolishing the filibuster, that's the end of the country. might be 2, might be 5, might be 10

ok it could be 20

Could he still be barred from running again?

when you're president, you can do whatever the fuck you want

getting to pin 90% of Republican Senators as being pro-insurrection and anti-America is still probably a good thing

they were already pinned as that. more than 90%

they realized they can get "pinned" and it doesn't matter as long as trumpists own the state GOPs and all the republican house districts, and 41+ senate seats

Meantime, here's a read.

https://theslot.jezebel.com/remembering-rahmbamarama-the-obama-eras-most-zealous-f-1845897371

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/424/149/2bc.jpg

me lreading Ned's link:

https://tenor.com/pbsQ.gif

Apropos of nothing, I go back and forth between thinking about Trump's value as a force that unifies and mobilizes opposition (and slighly fractures GOP unity now that he's out of office) and Trump's harm in keeping very dangerous people whipped up into stiff peaks of potential violence.

the $15 minimum wage legislation has been introduced

the raise will actually be to $9.50 this year if passed, lifting to $15 in 2025

From Ned's article:

Rahmbamarama is the ultimate encapsulation of liberalism in the late 2000s

er, uh

Re the minimum wage: Great, by then it won't be a living wage in most places, either. The loathing these people have for the workers of this country is so palpable.

the $15 minimum wage legislation has been introduced

the raise will actually be to $9.50 this year if passed, lifting to $15 in 2025

2027 would be more apt (the 15th anniversary of Fight for 15)

idk, it hasn't gone up in 12 years, doubling in 5 seems pretty signficant

they're about to break their promise on the supposedly "easy" thing of getting us all 2k i mean 1.4k the week after they're elected too.

Re impeachment: Even if it is in Republicans' collective long-term interest to convict, it is in each Republican senator's individual short-term interest to be seen as someone who didn't betray Trump. A vote to acquit will provide more political benefit, no matter the final outcome of the vote.

in that context it is certainly "significant" but yknow it's the context that's the problem xps

oh well. i would have liked to see him impeached and barred from running again. but i am happy enough that he isn't the president.

Fuck that nonsense.

One recent study shows $15 an hour isn't enough to secure affordable housing in most U.S. states. Nationally, someone would need to make $17.90 an hour to rent a one-bedroom apartment or $22.10 an hour to cover a two-bedroom home, according to analysis from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

It might be noted that $15/hr is the target amount that has been urgently pressed for by SEIU which, according to table, must be a prime example of workers' self-loathing.

anyone saying that raising the min wage to 15 by 2025 simply doesn't understand basic facts about how expensive it is to live in the US, or hates poor people, or both.

The loathing these people have for the workers of this country is so palpable.

it is breathtaking

Sorry, anyone saying that raising the min wage to 15 by 2025 is *sufficient* simply doesn't understand basic facts about how expensive it is to live in the US, or hates poor people, or both.

FWIW, the https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/top-democrats-introduce-bill-raising-minimum-wage-to-15-2/5 minimum-wage bill that Bernie introduced in 2019 also involved a gradual raise over 5 years.

a) that was two years out of the five ago, already
b) feel like 2021 might have heightened the context of the dangers of a wealth gap somehow?

a paper last month posited over 10,000 covid deaths were due to evictions, and that's going off figures from the summer

just make it an even $20 and raise it a dollar every year, ie min wage in 2025 will be $25, 2030 -> $30 etc

b-b-but it's not 2020!

aha! fair point and thank god i'm not out here writing checks. $21 it is!

a) that was two years out of the five ago, already

Technically, Bernie's bill was 5 years (2019-24), the new bill is 4 years (2021-25), so it's only one year difference between when we get there.

Because we’re so far behind the curve a phase in is probably “politically necessary,” and to ease shocks and blah blah blah but that makes it all the more necessary to have a built in COL adjustment going forward.

If the minimum wage increases $.50 per year after 2025, its baked in to labor calculations and easy to deal with even for “small businesses.”

the minimum wage would be about $24 if it had kept pace with productivity the way it did between the 50s and the 70s.

actually it kept pace from the 40s til 1968

lol the ohio minimum wage got a boost on jan. 1 - from $8.70 to $8.80

otm. Legislation should be to make it $35 now, to cover the next 12 years of inaction.

on another topic, I appreciate all the renewed interest in how fucking awful Marjorie Taylor Green is, but where was all this stuff when she was running? I guess media was busy dealing with covid and Trump, but it's not like everyone didn't know this. Now it's all "omg she is Qanon and wanted dems executed!" Uh, yeah.

Mmmm I remember reading about her and I knew a Qanon candidate was in the race, it's just that her district was probably going to elect her because of exactly what she stands for and no one could really change that? Idk what else could have been done.

yeah there was definitely talk about it but every fucking week of the Trump administration was so bonkers and infuriating that it probably got buried

The people who elected her knew exactly who she was.

otm

we drove through her district back in the summer to see Howard Finster's Paradise Gardens and her signs were everywhere. like, more than Trump.

honestly she could make a decent run at primarying Kemp

just putting this here in case

A spokesman says @SenatorLeahy has been taken to a hospital. pic.twitter.com/6WHaJGRWmn

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 26, 2021

yikes, R governor in VT

You can breathe a little easier about Phil Scott. He's on the record as saying that he would have appointed a Democrat had Bernie been chosen for Biden's cabinet.

If Sanders were to leave his position within the Senate, the current governor would be able to appoint a temporary replacement until a special election could be held.

Gov. Phil Scott, who is running for reelection, noted that there are several moving parts to the hypothetical situation but asserted he would keep the seat within the party until a replacement could be named.

"Historically, whenever there's been an opening with the Legislative branch, appointed a person in the position from that party," Scott said. "I would choose someone — if we're playing the 'what-if' game — that is independent, that isn't seeking the office."

Scott also noted any potential appointee would caucus with the Democrats in the Senate, a crucial note with the possibility of a 50-50 party split looming in the chamber.