Inflation's over.

I'm sure it isn't, but the CPI came in at 0.0 for July. I hope nobody here was betting on another .75 rate hike.

Well the Inflation Reduction Act certainly worked fast. They haven't even passed it yet and they already got it down to zero :-)

Congrats Joe (and Schumer, Pelosi).

Too bad everyone else is too busy talking about the other stuff. Great win and potentially/probably the domestic landmark for what your admin will be remembered for (unless you get a chance to replace 2 Supremes in the next 2 or 6 years).

Jim Jordan is going to be speaker of the house, isn't he?

These are some crazy numbers, even crazier when you think this is the total registered voters in an entire state. Two Senators for less than 300k registered voters.

Wyoming voter registration as of 8/1:

Republican: 207,674
Democratic: 39,753
Unaffiliated: 33,769https://t.co/OUhzyXEWpv

— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) August 16, 2022

If we're not going to change the 2 sen/1 state thing, we might really look at how we define states. It's not like you can't redefine them, other countries reorganize every now and then (thinking France, India at the least). Heck, WV.

Probably can't "unstate" a place (really, is there any reason half the NW shouldn't just be one big state?) but I'm not sure there's a reason outside of a political one why we can't have more of them.

As I've said to YD (who has ties to WY), it's pretty silly when you can have a state with 600,000 people, but then LA county has 10M. Which is a more important position, governor of the former or commissioner of the latter?

My favorite solution would be to just abolish the Senate and switch the House to a PR-vote with party lists, neatly doing away with all the negatives we have by having a) states and b) districts.

But another fun option would be to just give every state that has a population greater than the median state (Louisiana) an extra senator per million population over the median state, which would end up giving you:

Louisiana: 0
Alabama: 0
South Carolina: 0
Minnesota: 1
Colorado: 1
Wisconsin: 1
Maryland: 1
Missouri: 1
Indiana: 2
Tennessee: 2
Massachusetts: 2
Arizona: 2
Washington: 3
Virginia: 4
New Jersey: 4
Michigan: 4
North Carolina: 4
Georgia: 5
Ohio: 6
Illinois: 7
Pennsylvania: 7
New York: 14
Florida: 16
Texas: 21
California: 31

68

29

42

The Senate will never get fixed because it would require every state to sign off and there's no advantage for Wyoming to do so.

This new rule regarding OTC availability of hearing aids for mild hearing loss is big. It's one of those things that makes so much sense, you wonder why it took this long to happen. It seems like the hearing equivalent to being able to buy readers in the store, while more severe issues still require a prescription.

There's a lot for Dems to learn from in the Fetterman campaign. While the specific issue, Oz being from NJ, isn't replicable, the idea of refusing to fight on GOP terms and always turning things back to the ground that is more favorable is. The way they've taken Oz's inflation attack and turned it into yet another example of Oz being out of touch is brilliant.

I've really liked Fetterman since I started seeing some about him a couple of years ago. Maybe he can't stand up to national scrutiny or maybe he doesn't have national political chops, but it seems like he has a story and local political ability that should be able to catapult him onto the national Democratic stage as a strong voice for working class Rust Belt voters (ala the Joe Biden coalition). It's not like the Dems have a deep bench right now so they should be doing everything they can to amplify his voice.

SI

I’m going to vote for Fetterman regardless, but Oz’s attack on Fetterman being propped up by his rich father through his 40s is a decent weak spot.

I feel like Tim Ryan should be winning by 5-10 points but he’ll probably get killed. JD Vance’s fake rehab centers is an issue that should piss off people.

Maybe but there's a big difference between using privilege to actively helping your community like Fetterman was doing as opposed to being a spoiled brat who contributes nothing like some in his circumstance.

Give a choice. Either reform it or start adding new states.

Oz is such a bad candidate, he got a grocery store to post shit about him and endorse Fetterman.

Yep. Just add DC.

It is still curious to me why Biden and the Dems are not placing more blame on Trump refusing to have a peaceful transition of power for their problems.

That look! And he held it until Manchin looked at him. Ha!

President Biden hands Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) the sole pen he used to sign the Inflation Reduction Act. pic.twitter.com/X2t8EelgHP

— The Recount (@therecount) August 16, 2022

The RNC has started canceling Senate ads in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

Wait- what? Um.. why?
2022 Senate Election Forecast | FiveThirtyEight

538 has all those races really close and we're months out from the election.

SI

Sounds like the GOP is having fundraising issues.

GOP Senate Campaign Arm Is Pulling Ads in Three Key Races - Rolling Stone

People are mostly donating to Trump and he isn't exactly generous with his money. I still don't understand why they are so firmly behind a guy that's lost the popular vote twice, lost the house, lost the Senate, and stands to keep them from winning the Senate back and will likely make the house closer than it should be for the GOP. Take away the Trump name and he's a huge failure as a politician in nearly every measurable way.

How do they get away from him though?

I think that forecast goes out a ways and has results from before the primary was decided. Don't know about Wisconsin, but recent polls have Fetterman and Kelly up quite big.

I'm guessing they have better polling than we have access to, but Oz seems to be sinking every day and Masters is about as extreme a candidate we've ever had run for Senate.

They like his policies.

GOP Lawmaker Chokes up Over Teen Affected by Abortion Ban He Voted for

This is the shit they've signed up for.

LMFAO priceless!

The reasoning is so when the Justice department hands down charges and people start getting arrested they aren't part of the equation. If trump was in office he would already be asking Barr for their public executions. I agree that a bit more public pressure would be better than playing the "We'll see " game.

100% this shit is only starting. Fuck that guy. He really ought to grovel , in person, to this 19 yr old woman, at her feet, while she passes the baby, in a toilet, on the floor of the House.

There is also the girl in I believe Louisiana whose unborn baby has no skull and she is being forced to deliver.

Not as big as you might think. Limited power range (only for mild to moderate) and, more importantly, the physical fit isn't customized for the individual customer - making them even less effective. Nor will it benefit most hard-of-hearing individuals - the majority of them have hearing loss outside those boundaries.

Yeah, like readers.

I think I fall into the category of people this would help. My wife's been bugging me for years to get my hearing checked and my response has always been - "Why? I know I have hearing problems and all they're going to do is try to get me to buy some expensive hearing aid that I won't wear enough to justify the cost." But if I can go to a local store and try one out, I might consider using it with a minor financial commitment.

I've got tinnitus on my left ear. It's like background static. It sucks but just have to live with it.

Maybe he could also vote on the current bill they are considering instead of abstaining.

The words spewing from his mouth mean nothing. But at least, by abstaining, he'll be able to sleep knowing he's done "the right thing". What a worthless piece of shit.

This is me. I actually got tested and it was determined I need them, but the doctor said as long as it wasn't effecting my life I could wait on them. They were about 7K so I was like, yeah, I can wait. If I can get a paid for a couple hundred and just have them at the house I would do it.

Missed a golden opportunity there to respond with "What?"

My wife, daughter and I got "request for absentee ballots" in the mail yesterday. Cover note said I was "above average" in voting.

I guess this is good to encourage get out the vote.

Depending on where you live, you may want to check that those are legitimately from your an actual government agency, and not a nefarious organization looking to confuse you into suppressing your vote.

Good point. It does look official to me but was kinda surprised getting them (but then I don't get AJC paper or digital anymore to keep up with local news consistently).

I've always voted in person except one time when I got absentee because I was going to be at a conference.

Anyone else in GA get them?

I haven't. I don't even think I did for the primaries. Are they even still legal to send out after that last voter law?

That above average part would never be in something from election officials.

Yeah, I was wondering about that statement.

I tossed them. I'll monitor AJC and see what's going on.

Well, unless you were from Lake Woebegone.

‼️NORMAN BOOK BAN- A close source tells me an English teacher has already been removed at Norman High for providing students a qr code link to the Brooklyn Library and informing them there are free e-books there. This caused further fallout among other teachers in the district...

— Wendy Suares (@wsuares) August 23, 2022

Suspending teachers for making students aware of a library.

And tens of millions of Americans are going to cheerfully vote for more of this in a few months while non-ironically saying words like "liberty" and "freedom."

If you are happy that your political choice also happens to be the preferred choice of white supremacists and both of you are talking about Christian nationalism and replacement theory in your party meetings that really, really ought to give you some pause, unless you're cool with them in your party and if that's the case, just call your party (and yourself) what it is.

I fear for my daughter who is just starting out life as an elementary school teacher in KY. One false move and her career is at least temporarily derailed.

She's also pursuing a masters in curriculum and I'm not sure that's the best option. Seems like those are the people who will have the bullseye on them for creating "woke" agendas.

Some articles on Biden's forthcoming decision on student loan forgiveness and (arguably) impact on inflation.

I'm thinking it'll be capped at $10K (which is consistent with what Biden has campaigned on). A May WP article said possible cost of $230B. I do think this will be negative overall re: inflation.

As a compromise, I'm hoping he'll continue to freeze student loan repayments for now but not commit to forgiveness. Tell it as it is "I want to help you but this will add to inflation, so we will revisit this after inflation is beat".

My Brother in law, whom I have referenced before, is super high up in banking. Almost ceo level. Thinks student loan forgiveness would be the best stimulus we could have for the economy.

I get it's a stimulus (e.g. more money to be spent in the economy) but is it really wise during times of high inflation.

As him if he is factoring inflation? I would like to hear his POV.

Beat approach I've heard politically:

1, Forgive $10k for those making under $125k
2. Extend the freeze through February 2023
3. Say that a real legislative solution is required that also focuses on reducing costs going forward, and you look forward to working with Congress on crafting one.

That basically doesn't piss off the anti-forgiveness crowd too much, but it also gives a little sugar to the debt holders AND gives them a reason to come out in November.

Don't know if that's the best policy, but it is smart politics.