Originally published at http://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/18/last-minute-gop-push-end-emergency-lending-programs-condemned-effort-sabotage
It seems blatantly obvious that the Trump administration, with the tacit approval of the Republican Party, plans to leave so much chaos behind as to make Bidenâs task so much more difficult.
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Take a look at the picture that accompanies this article. That is a photo of the soon to be lame duck senator from Pa, Pat Toomey. And nowhere in Washington DC will find a more sleazy, amoral political animal. Toomey encapsulates what is wrong with the American political system. A former Wall Street critter and lobbyist who got himself elected to the senate by the slack jawed rubes of Pennsyltucky by selling himself as a voice of reason in a toxic Washington, but all the while selling those same slack jaw rubes down the river with every vote.
In short, we are Pat Toomey, and Pat Toomey, for good or il, is us.
When one sees what kind of disaster the Republican, and yes democratic parties are leaving us for 2021, Joe Biden better be the most revolutionary progressive president in US history, or he will go down in flames, and take his party with him.
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Besides what the article brings up, to tie Bidenâs hands in the future, this new monkey wrench is designed to throw the dem negotiators off track. If any of them had any negotiation skills, they would immediately counter with a wildly high proposal. Like a $5000 direct payment, and $1000 extra weekly UI payments for 2 years min. and stand firm on it. But none of them have the skills to come in with an extremely high bid, nor the intestinal fortitude to stick to it. Nancy and Chuck will walk away with an even lower figure for the masses than weâve seen the last couple of days.
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âWhat! Can the devil speak true?â Banquo to Macbeth
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Re, you have my vote
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And Big this is a deja vu of the Weimar Republic, and a neo-Nazi America in 2024, or sooner.
And good details explaining why Trump got over 70 million votes.
- No corporate shield
- Lots and lots of state aid
- Three to four trillion - not 800 billion or 900 billion, as per the economistsâ recommendations.
The greatest relief to the US would be to destroy the GOP.
Take it or leave it, Senate Majority leader ~
PS: The one trillion dollar figure is a psychological barrier the GOP cannot embrace - so stick with it and they will go down in flames.
PS #2: You have a job to do - destroy this anti-democracy GOP - now ~
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The clockwise spiral of an animated delay icon is pretty close to the appropriate graphic depiction of the state of our union, only it should be spiralling inward, because USA is circling the freaking drain this holiday season. But not for much longer â with the curtain opening on the sequel to circling.
Some folks think thereâll be lots of âguilt givingâ this year â by which I think they mean adults purchasing piles of diversions for the children, as a lame apology for permanent injury to their planet, their bodies, and their minds. A world in which people are treated decently, with respect â that would make a nice gift.
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Then get ready for the crash of the Hindenburg-like DP because they are not about to change their ways, which would be a blessing except that their malfeasance and corruption will usher in Trump 2.0 and a resurgent and even more evil GOP. These two parties will be the death of our country unless drastic measures are coming.
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Saying that âthe GOP will leave chaos BEHINDâ identifies half the problem. The GOP will continue to obstruct everything they can during each day of Bidenâs tenure, just as they have ever since Saint Ron ascended the throne 40 years agoâŚits all that they are capable of.
Unless team Biden heeds Bill Pascrellâs admonition to launch prosecutions of Trump, his appointees, and other enablers on January 21 and bring the hammer down hard, watch the GOP and their cult members become more powerful than ever.
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And for the repudiation of those skills and temperament, which anyone aspiring to become an attorney or a legislator should have learned in high school debate club, we have Obama to thank in part. His negotiating mantra was to open with less than the minimum needed and bargain down from there and claim victory. Peloser tends to do the same
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Itâs amazing how most have forgotten what the basic premise behind Reaganâs ethos was. He wanted to make government so inefficient and ineffective that the people would eventually lose all faith in it.
All they want now is stagnation. Because now that we are a complete corporate oligarchy, the government that does the least is ok with them.
You state the truth.
Having sat through many a budget meeting over the years I can tell you that you donât go in by asking for your minimum number, because all you will get is scraps.
Negotiating is actually very simple. If you need ten dollars to run your department, you ask for twenty, and then settle for $15.
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Yes, indeedâŚnegotiation is not rocket science or even MBA level curriculumâŚit is high school business class curriculum, yet ever since the 1985 Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) formation the Democratsâ definition of âbipartisanshipâ has been capitulating to the GOP. They ânegotiateâ by demanding a buck and getting nothing or more often less than nothing when they should indeed be demanding $20 out of the gate.
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Unfortunately one should not hold out much hope that Biden has any real desire to do the right thing. As Rob Urie over at CounterPunch points out concerning Bidenâs past track record:
âSo, when Joe Biden mumbles less-than-well-considered-cow-manure about ârestoring the soul of America,â it is important to understand that he was a key architect of George W. Bushâs war against Iraq that killed somewhere between 500,000 â three million Iraqis. He signed off on counterinsurgency operations that came (factually) straight from the Nazi SS playbook. Mr. Biden gladly and willfully wrote and enacted laws that put several million poor people through the mass incarceration system. And Mr. Biden commissioned the writing of the Patriot Act that is being used to shut down dissenting views on the internet. To the extent that the term has descriptive value, Joe Biden is a fascist.â
And thinking that anything substantial will ever change in this less than egalitarian country is an exercise in wishful thinking as long as third party candidates are not allowed to challenge the stranglehold which the two major corporate political parties exert in the woeful United States.
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Maybe itâs too early in the morninâ for a bleary-eyed Californian â I keep trying to shake away the floaters, or something: Sabotage? Of the economy?
The people of USA have been subject to public-health sabotage, a crime against humanity of historic proportions, worsening the life of everyone reading this, and the bodies of countless millions. We not only see the inception of this crimeâs horrible culmination, this holiday season, we also see the White House memos (from the 4th of July, no less) methodically planning this catastrophe: âWe want them infected!â
With US Americans commencing to drop like flies, itâs a token of our collective madness that we keep worrying over the freaking economy. The economy? As if it would be too embarrassingly sappy to worry about, you know, human beings. USAâs death-rate floats up like a loose helium balloon. We lose about a second a day. One of us dies of Covid every 32.8 seconds, at this writing.
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Boldâgood aspirational thinking; future oriented.
From What Is to What If, Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the global Transition Movement in Totnes, in Devon, England. All about the power and necessity of imagination.
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Thatâs a bad way to do it, believe it or not. Check out the Harvard Law Schoolâs Program on Negotiation (or Negotiation Project, Iâm not sure what the official name is now). They recommend ânegotiation on the meritsâ, aka negotiation based on generally accepted principles and objective data. And when the opponent tries to play position, the principled negotiator says (in this case) âshall we take it to the people?â or âwhat are the chances of you being re-elected if the people know what youâre trying to do here?â
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You mean drastic measures like the most diverse and liberal cabinet in a very long time?