Author Topic: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort  (Read 11414 times)

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Offline dpareja

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #30 on: March 01, 2021, 09:32:48 pm »
When the Senate Parliamentarian says that Republicans can't enact their policies (2001, Bush tax cuts): Trent Lott fires the Senate Parliamentarian and finds one who says that they can.

When the Senate Parliamentarian says that Democrats can't enact their policies (2021, minimum wage increase): Chuck Schumer does nothing, Joe Biden issues a toothless statement expressing his disagreement, and Kamala Harris says she won't override the Parliamentarian's advice.

If Democratic Senators wanted to increase the minimum wage, they could. That they aren't doing so means that enough of them don't want to, despite its high approval among the public.
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

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Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline Sigmaleph

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #31 on: March 02, 2021, 05:24:10 pm »
When the Senate Parliamentarian says that Republicans can't enact their policies (2001, Bush tax cuts): Trent Lott fires the Senate Parliamentarian and finds one who says that they can.

When the Senate Parliamentarian says that Democrats can't enact their policies (2021, minimum wage increase): Chuck Schumer does nothing, Joe Biden issues a toothless statement expressing his disagreement, and Kamala Harris says she won't override the Parliamentarian's advice.

If Democratic Senators wanted to increase the minimum wage, they could. That they aren't doing so means that enough of them don't want to, despite its high approval among the public.

Do you think the parliamentarian is wrong about procedure, or do you think she is right about procedure and should be ignored anyway?
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Offline dpareja

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #32 on: March 02, 2021, 09:22:29 pm »
When the Senate Parliamentarian says that Republicans can't enact their policies (2001, Bush tax cuts): Trent Lott fires the Senate Parliamentarian and finds one who says that they can.

When the Senate Parliamentarian says that Democrats can't enact their policies (2021, minimum wage increase): Chuck Schumer does nothing, Joe Biden issues a toothless statement expressing his disagreement, and Kamala Harris says she won't override the Parliamentarian's advice.

If Democratic Senators wanted to increase the minimum wage, they could. That they aren't doing so means that enough of them don't want to, despite its high approval among the public.

Do you think the parliamentarian is wrong about procedure, or do you think she is right about procedure and should be ignored anyway?

I honestly do not know. I have not looked enough at the issue to know whether the policy proposed fits within the rules of budget reconciliation. I do know that Sanders, as chair of the Senate Budget Committee, requested a study of the matter (whether from the CBO or the OMB, not sure) to illustrate that raising the minimum wage impacts the federal budget.

What I do know, however, is that all this would be avoided if Senators actually cared about the arguments Hamilton and Madison made about why supermajority requirements for ordinary legislation are bad.

And I also know that the general public won't give two shits about what the Parliamentarian said and will punish the Democratic Party for not raising wages when they said they would and had control of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Presidency.

EDIT: That is, whether or not the Senate Parliamentarian is right about procedure is irrelevant, because the procedure shouldn't need to exist in the first place, and it's bad politics anyway.
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline Kanzenkankaku

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #33 on: March 07, 2021, 01:41:45 am »
https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1365326482160185344

Rep. Jim Jordan has a question for you all:

"Instead of spending 1.9 trillion dollars, why don't we:

-Go back to work
-Go back to school
-Go back to normal"

I'll bet none of you can answer that! It's not like there's a plague or something going on...

Instead of listening to Jim Jordan, how about we:

listen to the young athletes Jim Jordan let get molested.

Instead of listening to the young athletes Jim Jordan let get molested how about we:

Listen to the sound of Jim Jordan's screams as each young man gets him alone in a room with a baseball bat for five minutes?

Love the sound of some broken kneecaps in the morning.

Offline dpareja

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #34 on: March 09, 2021, 03:39:10 pm »
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/542337-nevada-democratic-party-staff-quit-after-sanders-backers-take-over

A slate of candidates supported by Democratic Socialists of America, led by the head of Nevada's delegation to the Democratic National Convention in 2020, Judith Whitmer, a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, won most of the seats in the Nevada Democratic Party's leadership. Whitmer, the head of the Clark County Democratic Party, defeated Tick Segerblom, Clark County Commissioner, who had been urged to run by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).

After this, the entire staff of the state party quit, and most of its funds--roughly $450,000 of about $520,000--were transferred from the state party to the DSCC*. (Sen. Cortez Masto is facing re-election in 2022.)

*EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HPkHiKiYd0
https://theintercept.com/2021/03/08/nevada-democratic-party-dsa/

According to reporting from The Intercept, the funds were transferred before voting for the party leadership took place; however, the staff quit after the DSA-backed slate took most of the seats.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2021, 03:44:29 pm by dpareja »
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline niam2023

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #35 on: March 09, 2021, 08:37:32 pm »
(according to reporting by The Intercept)

Ahh, Glenn Greenwald's illustrious collection of assholes.

And even THEY found him a smidge too odious.
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Offline dpareja

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #36 on: March 09, 2021, 09:43:49 pm »
Ah yes, because anyone who challenges the Red Tory status quo of DC politics is an "odious asshole".
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline niam2023

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #37 on: March 09, 2021, 11:19:41 pm »
Let's not forget the apologism of Glenn Greenwald for the literal capitol hill rioters, deeming anyone who was fighting against them the "real authoritarians". Let alone him deeming the Russia Investigation to be nothing but conspiracy theories - and his flattering glow up pieces of what Trump supposedly represents.

Or that time he zealously defended a murderous white supremacist and wiretapped his eyewitnesses.

He's a disruptive nutbar who doesn't care what he needs to back just so long as the institutions he hates get disrupted.

Fuck Glenn Greenwald - he is the asshole's asshole. He is such an asshole that every single jerk and ass within six miles of him spontaneously gets new ideas for methods of punting puppies.
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Offline dpareja

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #39 on: March 11, 2021, 12:59:48 pm »
https://twitter.com/Josiah_Walrus/status/1367389564847804419

I have to wonder if this person on Twitter actually read the article or just went by the headlines.

I disagree with Greenwald's calling people like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon socialists, but he's not wrong in pointing out that there have been cases recently where figures both on the right and on the left have found themselves on the same side of certain issues, like Amazon opening a headquarters in New York.

Different ideologies can come to the same conclusion.
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline niam2023

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #40 on: March 11, 2021, 11:45:21 pm »
Gotta say man you're really reaching to try and justify your unabashed idolation of this guy.

Also, completely ignoring my point that he literally called the people fighting the capitol hill insurrectionists "the real authoritarians".

He's a man who provides cover for any "third positionist", even including when that third position is Nazis. Let's not forget his crying over identity politics. And that time that Andrew Anglin commented in the affirmative about Greenwald, and approved of him. If you're being given the approval of a Nazi, chances are you're not doing something good.
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Offline dpareja

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #41 on: March 12, 2021, 05:07:14 pm »
Who said anything about "unabashed idolation"?

I think Greenwald was at best misguided in what he said positively about Trump, ignoring that it was, largely, purely rhetorical even as Trump's administration not only maintained but in some ways exacerbated precisely many of the things that Greenwald hates.

I'd have to see his "real authoritarians" remark in context, but if it's referring to the actions taken after the fact, look at the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks: indefinite war and a massive expansion of the surveillance state via the PATRIOT Act. If that is not an authoritarian response, I don't know what is. It's justifiable to feel concern about what acts might be, or have been, taken after the January 6, 2021 attack on Capitol Hill, and how they could further curtail civil liberties. (Not to mention corporate authoritarianism, which in some ways has in fact made it harder for law enforcement to track extremist groups, thus being counterproductive to the goal of stopping such attacks in future.)

I'd like to know your definition of identity politics, because what I've often seen it used for is covering for people with terrible views (putting someone who wanted to cut Social Security in charge of the Office of Management and Budget, or putting someone with massive conflicts of interest involving the financial sector in charge of the Treasury Department, or putting someone who had just received a large severance payment from a defence contractor in charge of the Department of Defense) simply because they are a woman/a racial minority/a sexual minority (or what have you), and thus declaring any criticism of them, even if entirely based on the very real problems with their views and past actions, illegitimate and necessarily motivated by sexism, racism, homophobia, or the like.

As for Andrew Anglin praising Greenwald, Tucker Carlson has praised Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for some of her legislative initiatives. Does that mean that AOC is doing something wrong? It's possible for people with radically different ideologies to come to the same conclusion on certain issues. (Merely by way of example of such, there was an image posted on these forums some years ago in which a Social Justice Warrior and a Neo-Nazi agreed on the topic of racial segregation.)
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline niam2023

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #42 on: March 13, 2021, 03:24:15 am »
Tucker Carlson is one thing. He's an American newsman / propaganda agent. He's had his advertisers yanked and seen them run away from him. Andrew Anglin is an entirely different beast from Tucker. Anglin has gotten his hands dirty before, actively led harassment campaigns, and threatened people, as well as possibly contributing to mass shooter scenarios.

It's pretty obvious Greenwald spends more of his time attacking people who aren't in the segment of the left he likes than spent going after Trump and his insurgent right. In part, because he likes insurgents and third position people. Even when they're literal fascists.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/glenn-greenwald-violence-in-the-capitol-dangers-in-the-aftermath/ Here we have Lew Rockwell boosting that account Greenwald had made. I do not think making consequences for a literal fascist uprising is going to cause Patriot Act II Electric Boogaloo.

I think you know well enough what I mean by identity politics - it's the biggest boogeyman either by the right wing OR by class reductionists.

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-us-inability-to-count-votes-is He also fueled Trump's sewing of distrust in the vote.
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Offline dpareja

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #43 on: March 13, 2021, 03:54:20 am »
Again, people with radically different ideologies can come to the same conclusions.

As for the aftermath of the Capitol Hill riots, you are aware that it's been proposed to make the fencing around the Capitol permanent, and that the National Guard deployment is being regularly extended, now, I believe, at least through some time in May? (In addition to the corporate authoritarianism I pointed out.)

Actually, I don't know what you mean. Because what I see is that when someone raises a legitimate concern about, say, how Neera Tanden wanted to cut Social Security or steal Libya's oil, they were often met not with anything addressing those substantive concerns but rather with a reminder that she would be the  first Indian-American (maybe even Asian-American) to head the OMB.

Or when people raised questions about Janet Yellen having given paid speeches at Citadel and thus whether she could be impartial in the Robinhood investigation (never mind that her ethics agreement required her to recuse herself from such deliberations), Jen Psaki said, essentially, she deserved that money and how dare you criticize the first female Treasury Secretary.

The same was said regarding Hillary Clinton in 2016, of course; countless reminders that she would be the first female President if elected. (Going by that logic, of course, if it's so important to have a woman in a role like that, all of those people should have voted Republican in 2008 so that Sarah Palin could be the first female Vice President.)

As for distrusting the vote count, Greenwald's not wrong to document just how incredibly rickety the entire US electoral process is. A good journalist reports the facts, no matter who those facts might favour.

As for the "left", just going to say, the bulk of Democratic leadership in the US would probably fit ideologically into a party like Germany's Free Democrats (fiscally conservative but socially liberal). Which not too long ago saw one of its members elected Minister-President of Thuringia with the support of AfD members of the Landtag. Saying that they're on the "left" is a reflection of how skewed the US's Overton Window is, not an accurate reflection of their political views compared to actual leftist politicians.

EDIT:

Quote
They're putting that stimulus check on the back burner, they're putting the minimum wage hike on the back burner, and they're dropping bombs on Syria right now, and those bombs are kind of expensive for a dude who owes me two thousand dollars.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2021, 06:47:09 pm by dpareja »
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline niam2023

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Re: President Joe Biden's massive clean up effort
« Reply #44 on: March 13, 2021, 11:34:06 pm »
...Of course, it all goes right back around to the raging hateboner STILL going strong for Hillary Clinton. And I'm guessing the "rickety electoral system" comes down ultimately to the system not electing your TRUE PROGRESSIVE MESSIAH twice in a row now.

And yet again some more "most Democrats are NOT TRUE LEFT" wank from you.

Yeah, I don't really take your "corporate authoritarianism" complaints very seriously. Let alone the complaints about the fencing and national guard deployment when QAnon and white nationalists have indicated they want to do so again, and numerous lone wolves have tried to make similar attacks.
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