The Biden Presidency - 2020

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Too many Dems would be on that list.

Alot more Rs.

[bob]

Sounds like FOFC should have applied for PPP loans. We could have all been paid for posting during work.

[Edward64]

I didn't know SS did these investigations. Don't know how good they are.

A special task force (FBI + IRS?) dedicated to hunting and prosecuting them will probably pay for itself.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/26/polit...nds/index.html

“Since 2020, the Secret Service has seized over $1.4 billion in fraudulently obtained funds and assisted in returning approximately $2.3 billion to state unemployment insurance programs,” the agency said Friday, noting it had launched nearly 4,000 investigations.

David Smith, assistant director of the US Secret Service Office of Investigations, said by aiding in the return of nearly $2.3 billion in stolen funds over the last 30 months, the agency has demonstrated “a clear and firm commitment to the vitality of American businesses across the country.”

In March 2021, a year after passage of the $2 trillion economic aid legislation, the CARES Act, federal investigators identified more than half a billion dollars in fraud and charged 474 people with crimes related to theft of money from Covid-19 relief programs.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden signed into law two bipartisan bills to address fraudulent criminal acts committed under pandemic relief programs. Both laws extend the time period prosecutors have to prosecute individuals who committed fraud through the Paycheck Protection Program or Covid-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, extending the statute of limitations for criminal and civil enforcement against a borrower to 10 years.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Alot more Rs.

1 Dem is equal to 100 R’s doing it so I agree not worth going down that road.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by bob

Sounds like FOFC should have applied for PPP loans. We could have all been paid for posting during work.

And we could have gotten that aircraft carrier, dammit!

SI

[molson]

I'm about 16 years out of law school now and still have $40k in loans left (started with about $125k combined from undergrad and law school), so, definitely a nice little present.

I was never able to nail down the public service forgiveness requirements even though I've always worked in public service - it made more sense because of various life reasons to pay a ton back in some years in a few lump payments, and then pay nothing at all in certain other years when I was paid ahead and no payment was required. And I was able to get a few public service grants through my school during my career. Fortunately my interest rates were locked in under 3% way back, so, it made sense to focus on other things some years.

And with undergrad and law school debt all consolidated, it would probably be impossible at this point to untie all that for the many people in the same boat if they distinguished between those types of loans. Plus I've had 4 or 5 different loan servicers over the years, and those companies suck at maintaining records, and a bunch have probably gone of business.

With the infinite number of loan and life/career situations people have, trying to target anything a certain way would have really difficult. Though I do think it's kind of hilarious there's hard income cutoffs at $125k individual and $250k household. A dollar too much in your income could cost you $10k or $20k. But I still get the simple approach. You're never going to please everyone. And it was a specific promise Biden made that he had to keep. Unpausing payments and interest without doing this at a minimum would have been a disaster. Doing both together with several months notice for everyone to reset and figure out their own path forward makes a lot of sense. Though I still wonder if I'm going to be on the phone with my current loan servicer for hours in January trying to get shit to go through.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Scammers certainly benefitted. It is estimated that 1.8 millions loan were fraudulent. I'm guessing that's a low number.

But don't worry, we have 50 people working on getting those scammers prosecuted.

Thanks Democrats and Republicans. This is why I'm voting 3rd party this fall.

Come on.

Senate GOP blocks Democratic oversight bill for small-business aid | The Hill

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN23M2XD

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by bob

Sounds like FOFC should have applied for PPP loans. We could have all been paid for posting during work.

No doubt. Like I knew there was a lot of fraud but was a bit taken back by how brazen it was in recent days. You have podcasts with like 50 listeners taking out half million dollar loans.

[PilotMan]

Campaign fundraising emails are the absolute worst. There's more than enough cringe on both sides to go around. I donate regularly to a couple PACs and our local committee, I've donated to a couple other candidates as well, but I now get like 10 to 15 emails a day. A fucking day. And they all sell the doom and gloom and are full of emotional pleas. I guess this works on some people. It keeps those tribal emotions high and gives you a sense that you're all that's standing in the way of complete and total anarchy or fascism or totalitarian communism.

{edit: horribly underestimated.....24 so far today. More to come I'm sure.}

[PilotMan]

My Dearest Mother,
I heard the good news today from Senator Grassley and Senator Cruz and many voices more: The Lord be praised, President Biden is starting a new army, 87,000 strong, and all armed, to work for the IRS. They shall burst into homes and knock down doors and wreak Biden’s personal vengeance on the middle class, and every one shall have an AR-15. My dream is coming true. I am rushing to enlist; I am leaving the farm in your hands until my return from service in this glorious cause. I love our home, but a hatred for the American taxpayer surges through me like a strong wind, and I must go. Please tend to the cows until I come home again.

From

https://wapo.st/3wz0CTz

Paywall removed

[Atocep]

How Biden Set a Record for Most Federal Court Appointments Since JFK

As of August 8, 2022, exactly 566 days into Biden's tenure, the Senate had confirmed a record-setting 75 judges nominated by Biden to federal courts, according to a tally from the Pew Research Center.

That's more than Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush had confirmed by this point in their presidencies as well as other presidents after JFK who remains the record holder for speedy nominations at this point in their tenure with 102. The overall number of Biden judicial nominees confirmed by the Senate stood at 78 as of August 26, according to UScourts.gov. That includes appeals and district court judges, along with one Supreme Court justice.

[PilotMan]

Lots of R talking points about how pandemic policies were completely wrong, and some have even gone as far to say they made everything worse. Pointing out that the policies didn't do what the lawmakers said they would, and that as a result, the economy and people died. It's a convenient talking point and one that resembles the arguments that blame Obama for the 2009 losses from the Great Recession.

Where is the definitive proof that they didn't work. Show me the scientific studies that prove they were a waste? The right answer is you can't. Not scientifically. R's don't really care about the scientific method in the world of 'my feelings are strong and therefore correct.' So as long as they believe that things would have been different it's good enough to argue in the court of public opinion.

We have plenty of studies prior to the implementation that show the projections of what could have happened, and then we have the data to show what did happen. We can take the data that we after after the fact, and apply it to the models from before to get a best guess, but even that is a bridge, far, far too far for the right. Instead, we have the brilliant scientist Joe Rogan simply saying...Vote Republican.

[Edward64]

Muqtada al-Sadr is in the news for quitting politics (he's done that before) and his supporters have stormed the "palace" where politicians meet. About 12 dead and many more injured.

His party got the most votes in the election months ago, but apparently not enough to get the presidency. His foe is the Iranian backed group. I had thought he was pro-Iran at one time but apparently that has changed.

Beats me how this will play out. I'm thinking enemy of my enemy means we kinda support al-Sadr as a strong foil against Iran.

There's about 2,500 US troops still in Iraq

[cuervo72]

Of course a lot of things that were tried may not have worked as well as intended because people were intentionally not doing them. It's like saying a teacher's lesson plan was bad because a student didn't do homework, didn't study, and didn't go to class and then didn't learn anything.

[Ksyrup]

They're doing with Covid what they did with Jan 6 and other things - once some time passes, they re-write history and talk about it in ways that will allow their supporters to remember it differently. Or they'll harp on NYC as if it applied to every county in the country.

I think this is a pretty good article that goes beyond Covid:

People in Republican Counties Have Higher Death Rates Than Those in Democratic Counties - Scientific American

[Edward64]

I like Biden taking the offensive.

538 has him currently at 42.4%. His low was 37.9% in 2H of July so he's done pretty well in the past 6 weeks.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/29/polit...hia/index.html

President Joe Biden will travel to Philadelphia on Thursday for a primetime speech on “the continued battle for the soul of the nation” in front of Independence Hall, the White House said Monday.

The speech will come a week after the President returned to the campaign trail with a fiery speech in which he offered one of his sharpest rebukes of Republicans who have stuck to the credo of his predecessor, labeling it “semi-fascism” and predicting it has gone too far for most of the country. NBC News was first to report on the Philadelphia speech.

In that speech last week, Biden test-ran the message he is expected to tout aggressively for Democrats this fall. It also showed how his attacks on Trump, and Republicans who have remained loyal to him, have grown distinctly sharper as November’s midterm elections approach.

“What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy,” Biden told a group of Democratic donors at a private home in Maryland ahead of the rally.
:
In a speech in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday, Biden will also drive home a familiar criticism he has leveled at Trump and those around him: that they cannot pretend to support law enforcement while threatening the FBI and supporting those who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, a senior administration official told CNN.

Biden will also devote a significant portion of his speech in Wilkes-Barre to pushing for an assault weapons ban, viewing it as a “defining” and “powerful issue that has broad bipartisan support,” the official said.

[albionmoonlight]

As a political strategy, I think that it makes sense. The Glen Younkin playbook works for GOP pols if they can pull it off--be palatable enough to MAGA to get them to come out for you while putting enough distance between yourself and MAGA to keep non-MAGA conservatives on board.

By coming out hard anti-MAGA, President Biden is making it harder for GOP pols to walk that tightrope.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

As a political strategy, I think that it makes sense. The Glen Younkin playbook works for GOP pols if they can pull it off--be palatable enough to MAGA to get them to come out for you while putting enough distance between yourself and MAGA to keep non-MAGA conservatives on board.

By coming out hard anti-MAGA, President Biden is making it harder for GOP pols to walk that tightrope.

Dems in the special elections and congressional campaigns have created the playbook and its not shocking at all that its exactly what progressives have been trying to get the rest of the party on board with. They need to attack the GOP candidates on their positions and don't let the GOP candidates define themselves to voters. Make it clear that anyone GOP right now is MAGA, they're anti abortion, they're anti-social security, they're anti-universal healthcare, and they're anti-democracy. Just continue to paint the entire GOP with one brush because those in swing states are trying to be thread the needle on being just MAGA enough to keep the base but moderate to be electable in the general.

[JPhillips]

I think Dems should run a three-prong campaign.

1 The GOP is nuts. (Dobbs, cutting Social Security, guns, the election, from Jersey etc. whatever works for the particular candidate)

2 Look at all we've done. (IRA, guns, climate, student debt, etc.)

3 But there's more to do if we keep the House and add 2 senators (codify Roe, insulin prices, child tax credit, etc.)

It's a long shot to retain or expand the House and Senate, but Dems finally have a message and potentially an answer to what do I get if I vote team D.

[RainMaker]

I would just use the Fetterman approach. Stop being defensive and make the election about what you want it to be about.

Fetterman decided that he would go after Oz for being from New Jersey. He's been relentless on it and has Oz on his heels. He isn't wishy-washy on his positions. Heck, he even called for Biden to legalize marijuana. It's not complicated when your side holds the more popular positions.

Biden has been doing this lately and I think it's great. He called all the politicians out who complained about the student loan forgiveness for their hypocrisy. He finally called them fascists for acting like fascists. The last couple weeks it has been Republicans playing defense and complaining (something Dems would constantly be in the position of doing).

[PilotMan]

Holy Shit! Rainmaker was moderately satisfied with something. Pin this post to the top.

[stevew]

They should just let Fetterman subtweet in a few other races at this point. He can probably win Ohio while he’s at it.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I would just use the Fetterman approach. Stop being defensive and make the election about what you want it to be about.

Fetterman decided that he would go after Oz for being from New Jersey. He's been relentless on it and has Oz on his heels. He isn't wishy-washy on his positions. Heck, he even called for Biden to legalize marijuana. It's not complicated when your side holds the more popular positions.

Biden has been doing this lately and I think it's great. He called all the politicians out who complained about the student loan forgiveness for their hypocrisy. He finally called them fascists for acting like fascists. The last couple weeks it has been Republicans playing defense and complaining (something Dems would constantly be in the position of doing).

They're getting so close to realizing their policies aren't popular.

[flere-imsaho]

I'm not convinced even Ranked Choice and Independent Redistricting turns Idaho, ME2, & Utah blue. Everything else I can kind of see.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Atocep

They're getting so close to realizing their policies aren't popular.

I'm embarrassed to be from Iowa. I never thought I would say that. Growing up I thought people around me showed common sense, some empathy, took a lot of pride in the schools here, etc. etc. Were we on the conservative side? Sure, but we did have (D) senators from time to time. Our almost always (R) governor represented everyone. There was compromise and sharing of ideas that helped all.

Today? It's a shit show. We have the longest serving senator in the country in Grassley. With his reputation I thought he could have stood up to this bullshit when it first started. But in reality I think he knew, like McCain, he would be thrown away. So he tows the line like all of the other sheep. He could have been another Cheney, IE another voice of reason but, he chose not to. I would like to think he knows better but after the last few years I'm not so sure. At best he's another Graham.

In any case it is sickening to listen to people talk that you have known your whole life and had some respect for. The things that come out of their mouths I've always been an independent and voted for who I thought would do the best job. That hasn't been true for six(?) years now.

I liked Biden finally standing up and calling out the MAGA supporting R's. I like the general way the D's are going on the offensive. I hope they can continue with a united front and don't fall back into the mode where the progressives and moderates argue amongst themselves. There is a more important fight out there that needs to be won.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Holy Shit! Rainmaker was moderately satisfied with something. Pin this post to the top.

Fetterman appears to be a very gifted politician and one of the bigger rising stars for the Democrats. Doesn't seem to be crazy to say

SI

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

I'm not convinced even Ranked Choice and Independent Redistricting turns Idaho, ME2, & Utah blue. Everything else I can kind of see.

Surprised to see Tennessee blue and North Carolina not, as well.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Fetterman appears to be a very gifted politician and one of the bigger rising stars for the Democrats. Doesn't seem to be crazy to say

SI

I'm voting for him...

[Lathum]

Whomever thought this was a good idea should be fired and never work in politics again. How is Oz so bad at this?

Oz campaign again mocks Fetterman’s health in Pennsylvania Senate race | US politics | The Guardian

[JPhillips]

lol

Sarah Palin lost a special election to a Dem. The countdown to fraud accusations begins now.

[kingfc22]

Has America finally had enough of the fascist MAGA GOP?

First time in 50 years a Dem wins in Alaska.

[Edward64]

I'm not sure what to think. Either she/UN are chickensh*t for releasing this report on her last day, or this was the only way it would be released (e.g. she takes the hit for it).

Regardless, nothing will come of it. Short term at least.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/31/asia/...ntl/index.html

Against China’s wishes, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday released a much-anticipated report on China’s treatment of Uyghur and other Muslim minority peoples in its northwestern Xinjiang region.

The report concludes that “serious human rights violations have been committed” in the region, which it attributes to Beijing’s “application of counter-terrorism and counter-‘extremism’ strategies” targeting Uyghur and other mainly Muslim communities.

The report was released at the end of Bachelet’s final day in office.

[GrantDawg]

It was because the people that voted for the second place Republican didn't vote for her or the Democrat as their second choice. Ranked choice win for the Dems.

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[JPhillips]

The split between two GOP candidates started this and now Palin is saying Begich should drop out for the Nov. race.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Has America finally had enough of the fascist MAGA GOP?

First time in 50 years a Dem wins in Alaska.

Maybe for the House seat, but Begich was Senator from 2009-15

[Atocep]

Just a few weeks ago, before Roe was overturned,I was reading boards where conservatives were fantasizing about a super majority in the house and controlling the Senate.

[GrantDawg]

They are the dog that caught the car.

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[GrantDawg]

President Biden with a prime time speech tonight. He is going full attack-mode on MAGA's subversion of democracy. Am I the only one getting a little apprehensive about this?

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[PilotMan]

I mean, it's quite literally, what the left has been calling for. A calling out of the actual attacks on democracy. The Dems are putting a flag in the sand prior to the election and setting the terms on which the campaign will be determined. They are trying to cleave the extremists from those campaigning for their support. At some point the R's either duck away from MAGA, like they are trying to do now, or embrace it. The ones who are ducking are getting their feet held to the fire. Is is the best overall tactic? Unsure, it could backfire, but if it does, it's a further indicator that the country is really not the one I want to be in for the long term. And at least, it's an aggressive stance, and one that the left can point to and say they fought against.

[JPhillips]

The GOP is so used to Dems retreating when they complain that they don't know what to do when Dems just stay on the offensive. The best campaign for the GOP is to focus on the economy. The more they whine about being beaten up, the worse it is for them. As a long-time Dem, I can assure them that complaining about getting beaten up is not attractive to persuadable voters.

[albionmoonlight]

If you aren't going to fight against fascists, then what's the point?

[GrantDawg]

I'm not saying to not fight. I'm saying he is not equipped to do this well.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

President Biden with a prime time speech tonight. He is going full attack-mode on MAGA's subversion of democracy. Am I the only one getting a little apprehensive about this?

What else is he supposed to do?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

What else is he supposed to do?

Democrats need a brawler by proxy. Uncle Joe is not a brawler. Usually this is the VP's job, but I don't know if Kamala has the charisma to pull it off either. But Joe slinging dirt is not his natural state.

[albionmoonlight]

But that might be the point. Slinging dirt is just bothsides. The message here has to be to and about moderate Republicans who can still be saved.

[sovereignstar v2]

Nailing it

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Democrats need a brawler by proxy. Uncle Joe is not a brawler. Usually this is the VP's job, but I don't know if Kamala has the charisma to pull it off either. But Joe slinging dirt is not his natural state.

I'm actually starting to think they might charge Trump after this speech.

[bronconick]

As the GOP overreacts to everything Biden says tonight, remember that the essence of bullying is that they can dish it out, but they can't take it.

[GrantDawg]

CNN attacking the fact he had Marines behind him and the Marine Band played.

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[GrantDawg]

CBS News as well. Seems the major media are all suggesting this looked like a military threat to the MAGA crowd.

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