True.

IIRC I think the lawmakers back then understood the program would not be remotely close to perfect. But they wanted to rush something out to help stabilize small businesses in very uncertain times.

I do not begrudge the Dems and Reps that passed it in April, 2020 ... about the height of the panic. Ultimately, lousy governance & accountability but seemed to be the right thing to do at that time.

PPP was also the compromise because they wanted to set up that private trillion dollar slush fund for big rich companies.

And just read this piece. The $ in the article of $1B don't match up to the title stating $1.6B (about 2 hours old) but $1-$1.6B seems like a good use of money to catch, fine and imprison the fraudsters. Suspect < 50% success though, I can see grey and wiggle room.

Access Denied

FWIW, just for future reference, this is an AARP pdf that states the options being considered to reduce the SS gap, the estimated impacts, and the pros & cons.

My position is there are political implications, positioning, special interest groups and like that will factor into the solutions. It will need to be a bipartisan solution and, therefore, it will not be an "easy" fix.

https://goyff.az.gov/sites/default/f...ty_options.pdf

What dumber, Obama tan suit or both Biden’s ordering the same rigatoni?

Wasn't there a big stink about Obama putting mustard on his burger?

A lot of politicians begged Amazon to come to their state and offered billions in subsidies. Some politicians spoke out against it. Turns out those that spoke against it were right.

News: Amazon is pausing construction at its Arlington, Virginia second headquarters campus. Groundbreaking of HQ2’s phase two, previously set for early this year, is now postponed, date TBD, the company tells me. https://t.co/QWyp7PjnDm

— Matt Day (@mattmday) March 3, 2023

Biden going out for ice cream is up there too.

I believe there was also a bagel controversy that involved both Joe and Hunter Biden. I imagine we haven't heard the last of that.

Please tell me there's not a '2 Bidens 1 Bagel' video out there.

Wasn't there like a multi-year meltdown over Michelle Obama wanting to add some fruits and vegetables to school lunches?

This was brutal

https://twitter.com/TheProblem/statu...ser=TheProblem

Brutal is the song Trump released at CPAC. A combination of him singing the pledge and J6 defendents "singing" their parts over prison phones.

I wish he would just run for President and win in a landslide


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https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...stamps-ending/

Articles like this remind me of my naivety. I come to places like this and talk and talk and talk about economic theory and taxes and social security and politics, etc. but everything comes from such a limited perspective. I just don’t know poor people. I mean, really poor people. People who have to choose which of the three meals that day they are not going to consume because they can’t afford enough food.

It is a huge enormous blindspot that I have. And I’m not really sure what to do about it.

We started to rebuild some fraction of a social safety net for COVID and there were some discernible results, especially from things like free school lunches, expanded Medicaid, and expanded SNAP assistance. But then the wealthy saw that it wasn't about keeping society from collapsing and thus putting them at risk, but merely keeping poor people from starving and giving them some tiny modicum of bargaining power so they weren't operating from a position of total desperation. And we just couldn't have that.

SI

As my Aussie friend says about their country.."we don't hate our poor people like you do."

I really like this idea. Focus as much of the $52B on R&D and domestic manufacturing. Assume it's legal to put in that condition.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/06/comp...ondo-says.html

Hopefully we're in contact with the El Jeffe and let him know that we'll really, really focus on his operations if any harm comes to the 4. Maybe send him a copy of Clancy's "Clear & Present Danger".

Have to believe Biden is going to try talking, persuading the cartel first. Maybe indirect payoff, prisoner swap but that would be bad precedent (if not already). I'd be terrified if I was in that group of 4.

Matamoros, Mexico: 4 US citizens were kidnapped by gunmen in case of mistaken identity, US official says | CNN

Well Joe. You have an interesting decision to make. I'm thinking you'll be criticized for any decision though.

We are so fucked as a nation. The fact that anyone would even suggest Biden have any responsibility for this is insane. They did something risky and were killed.

Perhaps we should question why people feel the need to go to Mexico for medical care? Remind me again which party wants to gut healthcare even more?

No no. It has always got to be the Democrats fault. They went there because of Obamacare. If we just repealed that, they would still be alive. Yeah. That's it.

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It sounds like they went to Mexico for a medical procedure ("medical tourism").

What type of decision does he have to make? Force the state of South Carolina to better fund their Medicaid/Medicare/Obamacare or try to dump more money into Mexico to help solve their cartel crisis?

I can just about guarantee you that one party will have zero interest in improving the healthcare situation, in anyway, anywhere in the United States and I doubt there is a whole lot of appetite to solve domestic problems in Mexico when we can't get out of our way here at home.

If Joe had just completed the wall that was totally completed by Trump and paid for by Mexico this would have never happened.

Trump not too long ago said we should just invade Mexico. Maybe that is what they will start pushing for.

If we invade Mexico, would we get better medical care? Is invasion a cost effective solution over just improving our health care?

I like that Republicans would rather invade Mexico and pay more from taxes than just letting them work here and have private businesses pay them.

Didn't you hear, Biden put the wall in hiding.

No shit, Trump actually said this.

We need to get OJ to start looking for the missing wall.

Alas, OJ's hands are still full trying to find the real killer.

Er no? I was thinking about something more tactical.

Possible course of actions for Biden to consider (or some variation):

1) Do nothing much. Say US will seek justice but really leave it to Mexico and hope for the best
2) Work with (or lead) Mexican intelligence, military, police etc. to identify and bring the actual culprits to justice
3) Work with (or lead) Mexican intelligence, military, police etc. to take down the cartel including operations inside US (longer term). This will serve as a bigger warning to any other cartel not to murder US citizens

My guess is he'll get GOP criticism on #2 for not doing more and/or quick enough. GOP criticism on #3 for not doing it quickly enough. And Dem & GOP criticism if #1.

Okay, I guess that can be #4, the Clancy "Clear & Present Danger" option.

I'd think the GOP would support it but maybe get criticism from the Dems.

The war on drugs worked so well in the 80s lets take it international.

Just listening to Warren sticking it to Powell. I fail to understand why the government is made up of people past their best. Surely brighter and sharper minds, grounded in the present and future, rather than the past, would be better served to take the country forward.

Whenever innovation and technology is discussed it seems this generation are lost, and just start talking about the past.

Because it takes a lifetime to accumulate political power

SI

Because only rich old people have power and money, and the young are just trying to survive right now.

Government by the people means you are stuck with the bad decisions the people make as well as having the opportunity for good ones .

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell hospitalized after fall

McConnell has fallen on his back an it looks like they're having trouble flipping him back over.

In case you missed it, the GOP crazy has really taken over state governments.

In AR the governor signed a bill ending the practice of the state verifying the ages of employed minors.

The Senate in OK passed a bill establishing community boards that would have the power to remove materials from public libraries.

In MS the legislature has passed bills allowing the Capitol police force to have jurisdiction in all of Jackson.

It must be liberating in a way for non-Democrats to finally get to do what they've wanted to do for decades but were afraid wouldn't fly politically.

Don't forget that Georgia is going to pass a bill to allow governor appointed boards to remove elected prosecutors and lowered the recall threshold to 2%.

The depressing framing I heard was that conservatism started to conflict with democracy. And the right wing in America didn't even pause when it chose to try to destroy democracy in favor of conservatism.

I'm sure there will be a 20 minute segment tonight on The Five about how he is too old to serve.

Some details of his plan is already out there and aides admit it won't pass as is but a starting point for negotiations. Looking forward to the details and negotiations.

He looks good in RayBans.

There really might be. As much as McConnell has ushered in the power that the GOP has, he is also looked at a hindrance to getting the real MAGA agenda in place. And the Democratic governor still has to pick a Republican to replace him by Kentucky law.

I guess they read the book

Wvtm

Oye mira, nunca pongo mi arma en ningún ciudadano

It has always conflicted with democracy.

Subtle but smart move by Biden to release his budget. The parties backed themselves into a little bit of a corner. Biden promised not to negotiate over the debt ceiling. The GOP promised to refuse to lift it without negotiations.

Which put both parties in a bit of a rhetorical bind. But now they can negotiate “over their budgets.” And the debt ceiling will, of course, be part of that negotiation. So however it resolves, both parties can say they did not go back on their word. I assume that McCarthy has the sense to pick up on the strategy for what it is, and to start negotiating over “the budget.”

Well that was nice of the drug cartels (assuming that this is true and not faked)

5 Men Found in Mexico With Note Apologizing for Attacking 4 Americans

This guy needs a crisis comms advisor.

oh my goodness -- this local TV report about Tennessee Republican Lt. Gov. Randy McNally liking gay posts on Instagram is brutally awkward. You can see the full thing here: https://t.co/QOSVEfrLDC pic.twitter.com/e3PeKskm97

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 10, 2023

Watching clips of the House Hearings and seeing comments online I'm convinced the majority of Republicans think Biden was president in 2020.

Republicans really don't care about things like "time" or "facts."

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Why didn't he just use the "my account was hacked" excuse everyone else uses?

This is dumb on the Democrats part.

I’m working with my CA colleagues to address the Silicon Valley Bank crisis. We must make sure all deposits exceeding the FDIC $250k limit are honored. Banking is about confidence. If depositors lose confidence on the safety of their deposits over 250k then we are in trouble.

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) March 10, 2023

Agreed. That shouldn't happen.

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I guess he’s looking out for his constituents, and he should be doing that.

There may be a chance depending how much is ‘left’ but yeah, not a guarantee like the FDIC $250K guarantee

Capitalism isn't capitalism in this country.

Looks like Biden is about to get some heat next week.

I'd lean towards agreeing with decision as we move towards more renewables and buying us time.

Biden administration to approve major Alaska oil drilling project Willow | CNN Politics
The 600M barrels of oil didn't seem that big to me initially as we use 15M+ daily. But then read that Alaska has 2.4B of proven reserves which means this is relatively significant.

Yeah, ironically capitalism in this country is often socialism, especially when it looks like rich people might lose money.

Joe, I know this was unintentional but still borders on assholeness. I really hope you called Jimmy (& Rosalynn) to personally apologize after that fundraiser.

Jimmy Carter asked him to deliver his eulogy, Biden says | CNN Politics

I don't get how that's asshole-ish? I suspect Biden is honored to be doing it but let slip something before he should. Like there's no political gain for Biden here. He didn't do it to be a jerk. He's not stepping on Carter's grave to get something out of it. He let a secret out that he shouldn't have because he doesn't have a filter. Careless, maybe. Also, not really newsworthy.

SI

I did say "borders on". Because he let something out prematurely that was deeply personal to Jimmy & Rosalynn, and likely said in confidence.

Similar analogy to me is would you want a friend to tell the world that you are getting a divorce before you made it public?

I don't disagree it's not newsworthy (there's alot of that stuff out there), but there it was on CNN.

He's in hospice, this may be a newsflash but that means he is close to dying. Unless we want to get in to the definition of hospice and dying, it seems quite inevitable.

I don't disagree.

A friend is going to divorce (and likely friends know there's marital issues) and shares it with you. Should you publicize it before he/she does?

I really like Joe doing this executive action. I wonder if this was in the plans when they passed the Act last year. Always good to be clarifying definitions.

I'm sure it'll get challenged but its a good start and let's see what SCOTUS says.

Biden will bypass Congress as he tries to tamp down gun violence - POLITICO

Maybe we need a thread for crazy shit the GOP is doing at the state and local level.

I started making a "State and Local Politics" thread but then thought it probably fits just fine in the national threads or something like the Florida bill thread where the parties (yeah, especially the GOP) like to show their ass to remind us what they would like to do when given power at a national level.

SI

How about the State Legislators (S. Carolina) who filed a bill to make getting an abortion a death penalty offense.

If that's the case, any convicted rapists should also be killed. Imagine the rapist going to jail for 5 years, and then the woman who gets an abortion after being raped is put to death.

We would need to check to see what she was wearing.

Knowing the men in the SC legislature, most of them probably committed plenty of rape and paid for plenty of abortions in college.

They respect women in the way pollen respects my car.

TX Gov Abbott announced that he's taking control of the Houston school district.

Local government for me, but not for thee.

Conceptually, I like prioritizing as it's what households would do in a cash crunch (e.g. pay mortgage & electricity before car insurance). I guess the argument is this allows a process to default on "some" debts but not others, and therefore makes defaulting more likely.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/16/debt...ellen-say.html

I'm a school psychologist in California but I've seen some posts in my fields fb groups that they are behind in evaluations by several thousand. I imagine they are getting sued left and right just from this. Must be a real mess.

Of course, HISD is one of the better performing large districts in the state - keeping in mind, it's still a large urban district. But there was one high school that was badly underperforming for many years (though it had improved recently) so it triggered a time bomb law set up by the GOP legislature where the state could take over an entire district for one underperforming school. That way they can start breaking the decent improvement job that had been over the past few years, even during COVID.

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03...-isd-takeover/


SI

I wonder what the GOP line will be with Xi going to Russia to support the war.

It puts the Chinese Communist Party (which they claim to hate) on the side of Russian Territorial Integrity (which they claim to love).

Will they try to find an intellectually consistent position, or will they just say X on Monday and Not X on Tuesday and count of people not noticing/caring?

They are going to say this shows how weak the US is that China is taking control over world politics. It is literally what DJT has already said about it. Remember the GOP never goes into specifics, just the easiest soundbite. Just say "Biden is weak" as often as you can.

Why do we have people that can't work a smart phone determining whether or not to ban tik tok? Or make any tech related decisions for out country?

I'm watching clips of these hearings and the questions they're asking the tik tok CEO are some of the dumbest shit you could imagine. Like, forwards from grandma level stupid shit.

Between the First Amendment and IP hosting in other countries, how the hell would the U.S. even go about banning Tik Tok?

Banning it from the Apple and Play Store would effectively kill it off. It would still be on current phones and there would ways around it, but it the inability to push updates or install it from either of those stores would be the end of tik tok.

Watching some of the hearing was painful. It's clear Zuckerberg has put a ton of lobbying money into this. But the talking points and attempts at 'gotcha" moments were awful.

An example was the Tik Tok CEO was asked if the app accesses your home wifi. He said yes, if you're using your home wifi on your phone the app uses it for internet. You could tell the person asking thought he scored a huge blow and uncovered something.

He also asked about how they keep children off the app. They said the same as any other app, they ask. But then they also check your public videos and content, which the congressman that asked the question replied, "that's scary". Implying that accessing their public videos is somehow nefarious.

They then went into questions about scanning for pupil dilation, whether the word china is banned on the app, and the fact that videos with guns exist on the app.

Seems to be escalating. We have about 900 troops in Syria.


What the heck are we still doing in Syria? It could be regime change, anti-ISIL operations but below article was interesting.

Regardless, it doesn't seem that we have an exit strategy and we should have one.

https://www.politico.com/newsletters...syria-00053898

Facebook has been spending a lot of money lobbying those people because they are struggling to compete.

As for a ban, there is probably some crap they can pull about "national security". By the time it made its way through the courts, the company would be essentially dead which is probably the goal of Facebook and others anyway.

Idaho Republicans blocked a bill to provide free feminine hygiene products in schools saying it was a woke, liberal idea.

Yeah I watched some of the debates on this. One of the key points they brought up was they already provide water, toilet paper, ect. Where does it end? Are they going to start providing showers at school too? Because sweat is a bodily function.

They don't have showers in the gym locker room?

No, it might turn the kids gay. Or worse, communist.

There is another "third party" group that has suddenly appeared with suspicious amount of funding. "No Labels" is calling itself a centrist party that is trying to fight against the extremes on the right and the left. But it seems they are only really interested in going on the ballots in swing states. Curious.

Interesting WSJ poll. Just shows how much things have changed since 1998 and the differences now between Dems-Independents-Reps.

America Pulls Back From Values That Once Defined It, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds - WSJ

Can't post the poll graphics but have the titles below.
Patriotism, Religion, Having Children, Community Involvement are all significantly down. Money is up
I guess no surprise here. But good to see "hard work" are majorities for both younger & older.
Broken out by party affiliation. Independents seem to be more aligned with Dems than Reps.
Independents seem to be more aligned with Reps than Dems.

My wife does scheduling for UW medicine and one of the questions they have to ask is preferred pronouns. The responses she gets from some are....expected...

If I were your wife, I'd at least be sure to hit those people with a "Happy Holidays!" at the end of the conversation in Nov-Dec.

None of this surprises me.

A little more sabre rattling concerning the debt ceiling. McCarthy sent Biden a letter urging negotiations. The Dems are saying that there's no point in negotiating until the GOP releases its proposed budget. The GOP says that they won't release a budget, but that they will give Biden the details if he meets with them.

McCarthy is accusing Biden of playing politics.

Of course, McCarthy is the Speaker of the House talking to reporters about negotiating a budget with a President of the opposition party. I'm not sure what he thinks that is if it is not politics.

Right now, the Dems seem to have a rhetorical upper hand. Releasing a budge this early was a smart move b/c it makes the GOP presenting one seem like the obvious next move. And the GOP is not ready to do that.

I still think that this works out where we get distressingly close to the deadline, then they suspend the debt limit for a period of time so that it matches up with the budget/shutdown timeline. That lets the Dems say that they negotiated a budget, but that they didn't let the GOP negotiate the debt limit. And it lets the GOP say that they successfully used the debt limit to get concessions from the Dems in negotiations.

Sen. Rand Paul staffer stabbed multiple times in DC, suspect arrested

Other reports say the stabber was released from prison only 24 hours before the attack. I guess he didn't want to try to adjust to life outside prison? He had served 12 years for forcing women into prostitution.

I'm not sure the Biden deserves much credit but it did happen under his watch and looks like he blessed it. Probably a moral victory, not sure it changes much on the ground. But a good show of bipartisanship so I'll take it.

How Iraq war powers repeal turned into an unlikely bipartisan win - POLITICO
Now off to the House

This seems like a good compromise that may allay House GOP fears.

Or

Reed O'Connor just ruled that the preventive coverage mandate in the ACA is unconstitutional.

One of the Texas judges the GOP games the system to get cases in front of for those that don't know.

Not sure where to put this. The head of the San Jose police union was busted for being a major fentanyl distributor.