On one hand, good that Hawley has joined Sanders in this effort to show it is not just from one side. On the other hand, Hawley is primarily doing this to keep up the right-wing populism (a selfish power play on his part). You can see that Hawley’s support is more figurative than real in the fact that he’s not willing to fight to add $1200 checks for most to the bill.
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The actual term is oligarchy - government by the 1% (Both parties IMHO!)
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Thats what worries me now Beli, and in truth, has been a concern for about 10 years now. We had to have known that eventually the day would come when the oligarchy would no longer need us, or at least far fewer of us, to maintain their opulent lifestyles. That may be why this pandemic, which the WHO called our “dress rehearsal” for a real pandemic, was treated without a sense of urgency. It gave the oligarchy a ready made excuse for further lowering the standard of living, and of course culling the heard a bit.
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If they go on recess having done “nothing”, all congress people should be followed and harassed mercilessly until their lives are not able to be endured or tolerated.
Hey “millionaires with a conscience” or whatever the “F” you call yourselves, how about paying around 10000 people to follow every congressman, every senator, every cabinet member (about 800 people in total) for about 3 months straight - you could have 3 shifts of 30 people for each target working 24/7.
Heck, you won’t even have to use your own money - just start a gofundme:)
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Let’s not forget, the strength of the last bill was not a one-time payment, but the $600 additional weekly payments of UI benefits that people not normally eligible for UI, like independent contractors, received. While I support Sanders’s efforts, this site forgets he’s not the only Senator doing things: Senators Booker and Wyden were the principal authors of those UI benefits. In fact, Wyden is leading the charge to have them reinstated, along with Schumer, Brown, and Bennett, for 26 weeks.
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I agree in theory, but they won’t be moving on to a new rental, their credit histories are trashed, they won’t be approved for new rentals or utilities. They will be moving to the streets, or in with family members if they have any, either way it’s not good when your trying to defeat a pandemic.
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That is absolutely true. Most landlords do complete credit checks these days. However, in the post Covid era, the mass of American voters may all have piss poor credit ratings, which means for the landlords to make any money at all they will have to lower their standards or else their properties may sit empty. However, many don’t care as they already have their properties listed under HUD which means if someone in on rental assistance they get some of their money anyway even if the property is empty. But that system may be absolutely flooded by the millions of newly, or soon to be, homeless.
So interesting times ahead. And by that I mean horrible.
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I’m sure these monsters JOKE about us, all the fucking time. But, it’s difficult to see it as any more conspiratorial than, “it is what it IS?” Since now, these inbred motherfuckers BRAG about it on their pals’ media! It’s always been their psychotic worldview, & only a few of our most self-deluded trolls still refuse to see it (benefiting from “our system” right up to this point) Biden was installed, as Trump’s worn thin? Mr Market needs lubrication to PROCESS us as feed-stock? The help is forking us lemmings as fast as they can, but this time it’s not Chile, New Orleans or dying, terrified refugee “essentials” in Queens? OR, revolting rust-belt blue collar, death o’ disparity deplorables in Frackistan & Cancer Valley… it’s their relatives
~https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/12/medical-system-cracking-new-rochelle-nurses-strike-over-unsafe-staffing-levels-washington-state-warns-of-potential-for-catastrophic-loss-of-medical-care.html
~https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/12/10/pers-d10.html (media, government, blogosphere ALL complicit)
~https://theconversation.com/why-paying-people-to-get-the-coronavirus-vaccine-wont-work-151532
~https://mobile.twitter.com/CoreyRobin/status/1337110804655730695
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I can’t disagree about oligarchy, but in their respective positions McConnell and Pelosi are dictators. They use their positions in the respective bodies as the sole power to singularly dictate decisions to everyone else. They may be influenced by oligarchs, but they are making the decisions.
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This request is a half-baked batter of a batch of related paradoxes I’ve been mulling over, but can you elaborate on what you mean by “walking away”? The path we’re on leads to destruction, but what other paths are open (Frost had only two, but he had two twice), and where do they lead?
Allen Ginsberg parodied the three laws of thermodynamics as (1) You can’t win, (2) You can’t even break even, and (3) You can’t even get out of the game. Yet life does go on.
I had a good grasp on the physical sciences before I went to college, but as I’ve picked up more of the life sciences in recent years (wife a Master Gardener; friend who is a polymath with a degree in Human Ecology) I am constantly amazed at the resilience of both the human spirit and that of the tiny flower in the crack in the rock in the desert with no other organic matter in sight.
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Yup, good points. It will be interesting to see what the final provisions for UI will be, if a bill is even passed. Also, who will qualify. Important details not often reported in depth by the surficial MSM news reports.
The Jayapal plan with payment pass throughs to employees would have been better, but that is too thoughtfully and creatively effective for Congress. So they go with UI (expanded version being hugely more effective - actually kind of amazing that they managed to get that through in the CARES Act).
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How about mentioning that idea to Nick Hanauer?
Thanks–I was not aware of that.
I think the decisions are made for them. They really don’t have free will to decide their own courses of action.
I disagree. I think their decisions are influenced by $$, but they agree, set strategy, and dictate themselves. Other than a tiny circle there are few to no two-way conversations with other members of the Senate or House and there is little input from them (this comes from reports of members of Congress themselves in both parties). This especially goes for McConnell, who seems to take perverse delight in people’s misery.
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You’re right that this $1,200 “best we can hope for” check is awfully pathetic. It’s also incredibly pathetic that counties supporting Trump are way more infected than average. People pay for their exceptionally thick US American necks with their lives, or with tragedies ripping up the fabric of families for good. Especially this holiday season, we see so much popular support for death-cult festivities. Like the number who voted for Orangeman: measurable, but inexplicable. It takes my breath away.
I’m experimenting with the ranking in my digest of test-positivity stats (only the ranking has changed – columnar data remains the same). Heartland states which dominated USA’s latest surge all November have been hovering or even fading in their outbreaks lately. I can see the national epicenter shifting to states like Pennsylvania this December, a shift which is more apparent if I switch to momentum-based ranking, taking into account how quickly state-outbreaks are rising (compared to two weeks ago).
STATE COVID-19 OUTBREAKS
Ranking is momentum-based on Johns Hopkins’ test-positivity factored with “per-capita newcases” & “immediate mortality” – the ratio of totals on hand for deaths and cases.
> JH per-capita immed
> positivity newcases mortality
> % % %
> 1. Idaho 50.9 81.9 1.00
> 2. South Dakota 47.3 112.3 2.12
> 3. Pennsylvania 33.1 61.1 1.37
> 4. Kansas 39.2 88.1 1.08
> 5. Alabama 32.0 56.7 1.14
> --- ---------------------- ------------ ------------
> 6. Ohio 17.5 82.2 0.65
> 7. Mississippi 23.4 53.3 1.37
> 8. Iowa 40.1 87.9 0.92
> 9. Tennessee 17.2 71.2 1.13
> 10. Nevada 16.6 74.8 0.89
> 11. Utah 18.7 91.3 0.41
> 12. Arizona 18.0 61.5 0.78
> 13. Rhode Island 7.8 99.4 0.92
> 14. Oklahoma 15.4 72.9 0.63
> 15. Kentucky 13.6 67.5 0.62
> 16. Indiana 12.5 92.8 1.06
> 17. Delaware 9.0 59.7 0.52
> 18. Arkansas 15.2 61.9 1.41
> 19. Montana 18.0 89.8 1.07
> 20. New Hampshire 8.9 41.0 0.65
> 21. New Mexico 13.7 89.0 1.27
> 22. Minnesota 11.3 101.2 0.91
> 23. California 8.8 47.1 0.52
> 24. Nebraska 12.2 96.6 1.11
> 25. Missouri 18.2 65.1 1.11
> 26. Michigan 11.4 68.6 1.45
> 27. Wisconsin 14.1 89.8 1.05
> 28. North Dakota 10.9 127.5 1.56
> 29. Louisiana 9.6 48.8 1.03
> 30. Colorado 10.2 79.0 1.05
> --- ---------------------- ------------ ------------
> 31. Alaska 6.4 86.1 0.38
> 32. West Virginia 7.9 58.9 1.30
> 33. Illinois 10.1 80.3 1.44
> 34. North Carolina 10.0 40.6 0.86
> 35. South Carolina 9.9 38.1 1.00
> 36. New Jersey 9.1 49.2 0.96
> 37. Connecticut 6.3 58.2 1.09
> 38. Massachusetts 4.9 52.0 1.02
> 39. Georgia 11.5 38.5 1.04
> 40. Virginia 10.4 32.5 0.78
> 41. Texas 11.5 41.0 1.34
> 42. Wyoming 13.8 103.3 0.93
> 43. Florida 8.4 38.8 0.99
> 44. New York 4.5 38.4 0.66
> 45. Maryland 6.1 40.1 1.15
> --- ---------------------- ------------ ------------
> 46. D.C. 3.5 30.1 0.85
> 47. Washington 8.9 32.8 0.70
> 48. Vermont 2.0 16.1 1.18
> 49. Maine 3.2 18.3 1.27
> 50. Oregon 6.2 31.1 1.11
> --- ---------------------- ------------ ------------
> 51. Hawaii 1.9 6.8 1.91
More well-protected states also have outbreaks which keep rising lately, such that taking momentum into account leaves Hawaii alone in the safest class. And such a lovely, verdant destination it is, in these times, for our overclass! California legislators hold junkets out there, in-between luncheons at French Laundry.
French Laundry, hmmm… What is that woman knitting over there, by the way?
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My take is he is trying to get $$ into the Bill (if even only $1200) to get the Senate to approve it ASAP… once the Biden Admin is in power, (and hopefully with 2 Dem Senators from Georgia), the Senate can craft a Bill which has MORE direct $$ to everyday people! (I’m trying NOT to descend into full blown panic and depression)…
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The dream of Balkanizing the USA seems to have caught on in this forum. I keep seeing comments advocating kicking some unworthy state or another out of the country. They tend to get lots of likes.
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It happened long before that. Employees are expenses, never an asset.
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Remember when a number of people here told us Tulsi was the real deal unlike Bernie? Wonder what they think now with Tulsi’s parting crap she just took on the LGBTQ community…? Smh