4231

Buttigieg garnered hatred by the far left bernie cult because he beat him in Iowa. The Bernie bros went nuts attacking anyone who they perceived as a threat to Bernie’s rise to power.

Ironically, doing damage to Bernie’s rise to power.

4232

Fucking people, man. I am weary.

4233

It wasn’t just the scary left:

4234

I think it actually was.

I didn’t see that kind of commentary coming out of anyone other than the far left.

4235

Am I supposed to know who Maple Cocaine is?

Did Amy K reference this rat thing?

4236

Word.

I had this conversation with my brother today, after Biden’s HHS secretary (apparently, I’m not really up on the news right now) said something to the effect of “urban clinics should get the J&J vaccine because those people can’t be trusted to come back for a second dose.”

Even taking that at the least charitable interpretation – again, I have no idea, haven’t looked into it – I responded thusly:

“After all [gesturing wildly] this shit, I haven’t moved off of my general stance: Biden wasn’t my pick, I want to do better, and his administration has been outperforming my expectations at every turn. I’m going to do my best to gracefully take the W.”

4237

Lol, this is exactly how I feel about Biden. I’m taking the wins, even if I want more winning and more owning of fascists!

4238

It has come up in California the last few years. If you reduce auto usage and encourage gas costing more you have to expect the revenue taxing it to lessen.

4239
4240

I’d prefer a tax that hits the rich harder- a mileage tax would not be progressive.

4241

US left: comes up with the worst anti-police slogan ever (Defund the police)

Bristol protestors: “Hold my beer”.

I can see how “Kill the bill” sounds clever and subversive and deniable to people with that mindset, but I’d guess 90% of the population’s sympathies are going to be with the police after any kind of violence given the provocation.

I mean, it’s a lot easier to claim that you were genuinely in fear for your safety when the protestors slogan is an actual death threat.

4242

Heckling a United States senator is something that anyone is allowed to do.

There are obvious constitutional problems with a senator saying they are going to punish anyone with the power of the government for heckling them on Twitter.

4243

So… she continues to hold the same position that she’s had for at least the last year. Shocking stuff there.

But why simp for billionaires? It doesn’t matter how much you idolize them, they’ll never let you ride their big rocketship to Mars.

4244

If I ever have to flee the US (and the UK is the one place that would take me) , Bristol is where I’d want to be- half because I have friends there, and half because they take no shit.

4245

I guess it was a slow news day for you?

4246

You seen to be missing the part of her statement which I’m actually criticizing.

4247

Unions demand Biden cancel student debt for public service workers

I agree strongly with student debt relief, but it needs to be for EVERYONE .I’m OK with having caps on how much is forgiven and even some limited means testing. But selectively giving debt relief to public sector workers and not to all workers is both terrible policy and terrible politics.

The unions are making a specific argument that the existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program has been a mess, which is an issue that should be specifically addressed.

But to then segue from that to selectively relieving debt for public employees only, leaving private sector employees in the lurch, is a bad policy, and even worse, it’s abso-friggin-lutely terrible politics. Specifically, the GOP is going to oppose any and all debt relief but if its just the usual GOP BS that might not get much traction. However, this kind of selective relief is highly likely to be perceived as unfair by a lot of a voters who could otherwise be persuaded. It greases the wheels for the GOP attacks.

Just a bad idea all around, IMO.

Student debt relief in general? Yes. Fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program? Yes. But not this.

4248

Obama Transportation Secretary LaHood took money to aid Foreign $$ into elections

Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood took $50,000 from an associate of a billionaire who ran an illegal scheme providing foreign contributions to U.S. campaigns, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. LaHood later failed to disclose the check on two government ethics forms as required.

LaHood, the transportation secretary during former President Barack Obama’s first term, took a $50,000 check from Virginia businessman Toufic Baaklini in 2012. According to the Department of Justice, LaHood “understood” this money was actually coming from Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury.

LaHood didn’t disclose the loan because he didn’t want to be publicly associated with Chagoury. The DOJ said in a statement that LaHood was facing financial trouble when he accepted the check. The former secretary then later attempted to mislead federal agents investigating Chagoury and didn’t disclose the check or who gave it to him.

4249

Yeah.

I mean, unions gonna union and do whatever they can to advance the interests of their members. But this is both tone-deaf and just not good policy on these unions’ parts in that it’s absolutely not going to get what they want.

4250

Honestly, tying load forgiveness to service/work in the public sector has some interesting implications.

Often, public sector jobs offer good benefits, but their pay is often lower than the private sector, and sometimes can have trouble attracting talent.

If you can work in the public sector getting out of school to erase huge chunks of debt, that suddenly makes those jobs a lot more appealing.