The Biden Presidency is underway.

[triggercut]

LOL.

Q: “Hey Democrats, what can we possibly do to make Joe Manchin way more amenable to filibuster changes and using reconciliation for an infrastructure bill?”

A: “When everything else fails, maybe we should let Republicans be Republicans?”

Burgess Everett

[KevinC]

I hear you, Menzo. Juneteenth deserves a holiday. And I hate that as an insulated paleskin I didn’t even know about Juneteenth, the Tulsa massacre, and other things like that until fairly recently.

I’m assuming your wondering about an Election Day holiday was tongue in cheek since I think we both know why there’s opposition to that one. :)

[Timex]

Folks realize that making something a federal holiday… doesn’t really mean that much for lots of folks, right? I mean, if you work in the public sector, it affects you, but there’s no law that mandates folks don’t need to work on federal holidays. I guess it might have legal implications for hourly workers?

[KevinC]

Yes, Timex, I’m pretty sure the American posters here are somewhat acquainted with labor practices in the US. ;)

[Menzo]

@Timex

Folks realize that making something a federal holiday… doesn’t really mean that much for lots of folks, right? I mean, if you work in the public sector, it affects you, but there’s no law that mandates folks don’t need to work on federal holidays. I guess it might have legal implications for hourly workers?

Sure, but a lot of private businesses mirror the Federal holiday list as their own. I don’t think there’s anyone who is under the impression that Federal holidays are mandated for everyone.

[Timex]

I kind of meant that I think they may want to make some additional law to better enable voting, rather than just making it a federal holiday.

Although, also, I feel like making it a holiday is wrongheaded… as a much better solution is to just let everyone vote by mail.

[Papageno]

@KevinC

@SlainteMhath

“Do you really want more of this?”.

Given the 74 million people that voted for four more years of Trump, I’ve come to the sad realization that the answer to that is likely “yes” to a significant percentage of the electorate.

Yeah, they basically must get their jollies by having Trump “pwning the Libs” and having their feelings of White Grievance stoked constantly.

[KevinC]

@Timex

Although, also, I feel like making it a holiday is wrongheaded… as a much better solution is to just let everyone vote by mail.

I don’t know about wrongheaded but I’m totally with you on voting by mail as a workaround. Because you’re right that a standard federal holiday isn’t going to result in retail, manufacturing, and a bunch of other sectors actually getting the time off.

Voting by mail works and it’s convenient. Fuck Trump for trying (succeeding?) to poison that well.

[Menzo]

@Timex

a much better solution is to just let everyone vote by mail.

That is true. I’d prefer national vote by mail and it solves the issue.

[vinraith]

@Menzo

That is true. I’d prefer national vote by mail and it solves the issue.

Solves that issue and several others besides. It’s a shame we can’t just have nice things in this country.

[Timex]

Yes, universal vote by mail solves a ton of issues, and is also way cheaper to run.

[Banzai]

But is a non-starter for the GOP cause they think it will allow more dems to vote, so it’s not going to happen anytime soon, regardless of how great it would be. So a national holiday isn’t as good, but it would be something that is helpful that could maybe actually happen. Probably not though, for the same reason.

[Papageno]

@Timex

I would be supportive of the idea that you need to flip the filibuster…
If you want to stop a vote and continue debate, then you need to have 40 senators, ON THE FLOOR. If at any point you no longer have 40 senators on the floor saying they want to continue debate, then it moves to a vote.

It still allows the minority to slow things down if they want, but it means they have to actually work for it. And guess what? Most of the GOP members don’t want to bother with that.

Ding ding ding.

I think you win the thread for today.

[Timex]

Also, it may let us watch old senators die on the floor, so it’s got that bonus.

[ShivaX]

@Timex

Also, it may let us watch old senators die on the floor, so it’s got that bonus.

We could make it PPV and send the proceeds to veterans or something.

[ShivaX]

Justin Amash

[Timex]

I didn’t know that we were only allowed to have one summer holiday.

[JoshL]

Yeah, I wonder how enslaved people (and the descendents of enslaved people) felt about “Independence Day” all these years. Because, you know, there was nothing “racially based” about the U.S. at its inception.

Also, who freakin’ cares what Charlie freakin’ Kirk thinks about anything?

[Timex]

@JoshL

who freakin’ cares what Charlie freakin’ Kirk thinks about anything?

[ShivaX]

Andrew Fleischman

Andrew Fleischman

@JoshL

Also, who freakin’ cares what Charlie freakin’ Kirk thinks about anything?

It’s less Kirk personally and more that he’s parroting the GOP.

No one cares about Kirk himself, he’s mostly just something to laugh at. But what he says is almost always lockstep with the GOP and Republican viewpoints (which these days are decided and pushed by people like… Charlie Kirk).

Edit: And keep in mind that Turning Point USA is one of the top Right-Wing influencers out there. Their nonsense reaches and influences millions of people. I’ve lost count of the number of times my mother has shared TPUSA garbage on Facebook. Kirk on Twitter is a clown. Kirk’s organization is extremely effective.

Edit2: Suffice to say I’m in the “Know thy Enemy” camp, whereas a lot of people around here are in the “ignore it and it’ll go away” camp. Only the latter camp’s plan led to Trump and an openly fascist Republican party trying to end democracy. So… I’m going to keep pointing out what the Enemy is doing. You can ignore it if you want, but the constant “who cares” gets tiring tbh. Because millions of people care and it’s why were in this shit, imo.