The Biden Presidency - 2020

[Ksyrup]

Every day, I become more convinced that I'll still be alive when this country ends up in a true crisis that spurs either a civil war or an organized effort by a number of states to change the Constitution or secede.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Flasch1986

As we know and you've pointed out repeatedly in many different threads polls don't reflect the reality on the ground of what's going on.

Where have I said this? More importantly, what other evidence do we have that's better to show Biden's support over the stated period?

[Edward64]

The 1.2 + another 3.5 never did sit well with me and appreciate Biden's willingness to negotiate. The devil is in the details and assume there is a whiteboard in a smoke filled backroom somewhere where Biden/Pelosi is negotiating with the moderates and progressives. Love to see what is being considered to be cut (e.g. I read free community college and expansion of medicare to dental/vision but who knows) and what the increased taxes are.

Rooting for this (and the debt ceiling) to get done before EOY and for the market to resume without this uncertainty.

President Biden publicly acknowledged on Friday that the final spending bill will be less than $3.5 trillion.

“To be honest with you, we’re probably not going to get $3.5 trillion this year. We’re going to get something less than that. But I’m going to negotiate, I’m going to get it done,” he said in Hartford, Conn.

[JPhillips]

Dems are so bad at this. The single best thing they can do politically is to expand dental/vision care to Medicare and have it kick in before June 2022. Then they should spend a bunch of the campaign saying over and over, we gave you the freedom to see a dentist and everyone in the GOP voted against it.

But instead, it will kick in in 2028 or get cut altogether.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Dems are so bad at this. The single best thing they can do politically is to expand dental/vision care to Medicare and have it kick in before June 2022. Then they should spend a bunch of the campaign saying over and over, we gave you the freedom to see a dentist and everyone in the GOP voted against it.

But instead, it will kick in in 2028 or get cut altogether.

I'd swap that out with allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Isn't that insanely popular?

[JPhillips]

Yes, but I don't think users will notice as much as they will being able to go to the dentist or optometrist or hearing specialist. With Medicare D, a lot of drug costs are hidden from consumers. We should still negotiate pricing, I personally like the idea of something like the average OECD price, but I expect Sinema and her big influx of Phrma cash has already killed that anyway.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Dems are so bad at this. The single best thing they can do politically is to expand dental/vision care to Medicare and have it kick in before June 2022. Then they should spend a bunch of the campaign saying over and over, we gave you the freedom to see a dentist and everyone in the GOP voted against it.

But instead, it will kick in in 2028 or get cut altogether.

They hate being in power. I guarantee most can't wait to be the minority party again and go back to having zero pressure and the fundraising carrot back in front.

[PilotMan]

Mandatory service for all...VA benefits for life... universal healthcare.. boom.

[RainMaker]

Having all these Senators fawning over Rahm Emanuel today, a man who tried to cover up a murder, is pretty nauseating. Couldn't find anyone else for this job?

[Edward64]

It will be wonderful if Dems can come to agreement by Fri.

‘Got to get everybody in the tent’: Dems power toward narrowed deal - POLITICO

Senior House Democrats on Wednesday emerged from a closed-door meeting with their members, their first since Oct. 1, optimistic they could secure an agreement on Biden’s mammoth $2 trillion social spending package — perhaps by the end of the week.

Many final decisions remain in limbo, and Democrats have already begun a fresh round of bargaining as they attempt to preserve priorities that Biden on Tuesday suggested could be stripped from the bill. Still, many Democrats appear to be coming to terms with the more narrow bill, prioritizing the goal to get something across the finish line.
:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that it is “very possible” they would reach an agreement this week.

[RainMaker]

Sinema has her demands. Doesn't really touch on any of the big issues, just a list of things lobbyists want. Might be easier to negotiate directly with them and cut the middleman out of the equation.

I know it's not new that politicians are bought and paid for. But I can't remember seeing one who didn't put a little effort into hiding it. I mean her big demand is that we don't close a loophole in the system that allows a huge tax break for private equity and hedge funds.




[RainMaker]

And she didn't say this to her constituents or other members of the Senate. She only spoke about this to donors.

If the DoJ weren't complete and utter hacks, they'd be investigating her campaign finances with a fine tooth comb.

[Edward64]

Oh yeah, we're still in Syria. Not sure what or if there is really a strategic goal. Assad has survived.

A drone attack targeted US troops at the US base at At-Tanf in Syria, close to the border with Jordan, on Wednesday, according to a US defense official.

The initial assessment is that there were no injuries as a result of the attack, but the battle damage assessment is ongoing.

The US maintains approximately 900 troops in Syria, largely split between the At-Tanf base and the country's eastern oil fields.

The base sits within a 20-square-mile deconfliction zone near the Syrian border with Jordan, which was established by Russia and the US-led coalition to prevent the two sides from coming into accidental contact. The area has seen heavy fighting in recent years between US forces and ISIS, which has held a foothold in the area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. However, Iranian-backed Shia militias in the region, have frequently targeted US troops in Syria and Iraq.

[GrantDawg]

Manchin and Sanders had a meeting today to try to negotiate a final package, but in the end Manchin said he was fine if nothing got passed. It looks like Manchin is through with negotiations.

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[RainMaker]

Manchin never wanted a deal and never took any of it seriously. The package would hurt his family's wealth and that's what his priority is. Just too cowardly to admit it and save everyone the time.

[Edward64]

It may be a political flub but glad he said it. Although this may make China more aggressive against Taiwan, I'm all for it. Time to stand up to the bully in Asia.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/21/polit...all/index.html

President Joe Biden said Thursday the US was committed to coming to Taiwan's defense if it comes under attack from China -- a stance that seems in opposition to America's stated policy of "strategic ambiguity."

Asked twice during CNN's town hall whether the US would protect Taiwan if China attacked, Biden said it would.

"Yes, we have a commitment to do that," he said.

Biden has made similar statements in the past, only to have the White House say longstanding US policy had not changed toward the island. The US provides Taiwan defensive weapons, but has remained intentionally ambiguous on whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.

Under the "One China" Policy, the US acknowledges China's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan. In recent weeks, Beijing has sent dozens of warplanes near into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), and Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that "reunification" between China and Taiwan was inevitable.

A White House official attempted to clarify Biden's comments on Taiwan after the town hall, saying the President was "not announcing any change in our policy and there is no change in our policy" in his remarks about China and Taiwan.

"The U.S. defense relationship with Taiwan is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act. We will uphold our commitment under the Act, we will continue to support Taiwan's self-defense, and we will continue to oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo," the official said.

[JPhillips]

The FL GOP has a plan to create their own OSHA so they don't have to follow federal regulations.

[JPhillips]

dola

And DeSantis said that FL is looking to recruit any cop that quits over a vaccine mandate.

I'm now pro-wall. At the FL border.

[Brian Swartz]

Biden & Congress need to hurry up and do whatever they are going to do. Polling is now reflecting the way it was going during the ACA passage; divided, no real consensus.

CNN poll from a couple week ago; 25% think their family would be better off if the second package is passed. 71% want some form of it passed, but less than half want the full package. Democratic control of Congress is down to break-even in terms of it being a positive for the country. Etc.

http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2021/images/1...re.economy.pdf

[NobodyHere]

Should government employees be able to get a two month vacation despite working less for than a year?

Democrats say yes!

[Ksyrup]

My former employer gave up to 12 weeks parental leave plus 2 weeks bonding, I think? I don't remember the specifics, I had kids at the wrong time. I had my kids on a Tuesday and Wednesday and was back to work the following Monday. The 27 year old guy I hired 5 years ago has had 3 kids and taken all of that time off each time. He was expecting baby 2 when I left.

The policy is understandable, but in terms of practicality for work, if your position is unnecessary (either without you there or because others have picked up your slack), I'd be concerned that you're showing your bosses that you are not needed.

All of that to say, government's got to compete in the workforce too. But it's a bad look for someone in his position, obviously.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Should government employees be able to get a two month vacation despite working less for than a year?

Democrats say yes!

Everyone should say yes. Paid paternity leave should be commonplace.It is in every other nation, but of course it could "never work" in the wealthiest nation on earth.

[cuervo72]

It's not as if Buttigieg wasn't working somewhere else before he had this gig.

[Swaggs]

I know this has probably always happened, but someone please tell me that there will be some sort of legal consequences for this:Burr's Brother-in-Law Called Stock Broker, One Minute After Getting Off Phone With Senator ProPublica

After Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina dumped more than $1.6 million in stocks in February 2020 a week before the coronavirus market crash, he called his brother-in-law, according to a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

They talked for 50 seconds.

Burr, according to the SEC, had material nonpublic information regarding the incoming economic impact of coronavirus.

The very next minute, Burr’s brother-in-law, Gerald Fauth, called his broker.

[albionmoonlight]

I like the detail that he dumped his stock before calling his B-I-L.

Always gotta look out for #1 first.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Should government employees be able to get a two month vacation despite working less for than a year?

Democrats say yes!

Have you been at home all day taking care of a newborn? Vacation is laughable, it's way harder than actually going to work, especially if you have a dragon baby

[Danny]

Our country's attitude towards parenthood for fathers needs to change. Both in expectation to take pressure off mothers and in understanding to give willing fathers the chance to do so.

[albionmoonlight]

I agree. People who think that maternity/paternity leave is "vacation" are doing it wrong.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Should government employees be able to get a two month vacation despite working less for than a year?

Democrats say yes!

The parental leave debate has really shown who had some shitty childhoods.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Danny

Our country's attitude towards parenthood for fathers needs to change. Both in expectation to take pressure off mothers and in understanding to give willing fathers the chance to do so.

It's bizarre looking at the rest of the world doing this and thinking it's wrong. Those countries have a more educated populace and less crime. They live longer and are healthier.

I don't think it's about "parenthood" or whatever. It's really just pushback from big companies that don't want to give up any profits. And they're good enough at propaganda to convince some dumb people to shill for them. Just like how unemployment benefits were the reason for people not working.

[bhlloy]

No no no guys… the woman stays at home with the baby and cooks dinner and cleans. The man goes to work, makes the money and then comes home and puts his feet up in front of the TV with a beer.

If we are going to critique a talking point we should at least try to get their perspective on gender roles correct, geez.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

It's bizarre looking at the rest of the world doing this and thinking it's wrong. Those countries have a more educated populace and less crime. They live longer and are healthier.

I don't think it's about "parenthood" or whatever. It's really just pushback from big companies that don't want to give up any profits. And they're good enough at propaganda to convince some dumb people to shill for them. Just like how unemployment benefits were the reason for people not working.

It's not just that. It's still pretty engrained to our culture that the mother is the primary care giver and this results in lessened expectations for fathers and also less understanding when they do share equally (or more) in the care giving.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Danny

It's not just that. It's still pretty engrained to our culture that the mother is the primary care giver and this results in lessened expectations for fathers and also less understanding when they do share equally (or more) in the care giving.

Agree. But I do think the push against family leave has much more to do with protecting big business interests and they are using the culture war stuff as propoganda.

[Flasch186]

Isn’t everything?


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[GrantDawg]

Speaking of which, the frame work of the renegotiated package have removed family leave, Medicare drug negotiation power, and the Child Tax Credit is just one more year. There are still some greatly needed programs remaining that people are really going to feel and benefit from. It needs to be passed now.

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[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Danny

Have you been at home all day taking care of a newborn? Vacation is laughable, it's way harder than actually going to work, especially if you have a dragon baby

I took 2 months of FMLA after my wife took 3 months and there were so many odd things about it.

1) Hardly any guys do this. It's almost expected that the woman does this. But not only is it expected that the guy doesn't do this but it's also expected that the woman definitely should. Besides the laughably dated gender roles that set the expectation that I wouldn't do it, it was surprising how many people wanted to weigh in and make sure my wife was /definitely/ going to do it. For the record, my wife makes more than I do - if anyone should be staying at home, it should be me. I mean, I get pregnancy and recovery time, of course, but for the child bonding and child rearing part. It's just ridiculous.

1A) I also noticed a corollary to this. There's an expectation you'd only do this for one kid. When I told people I was going to take FMLA - they were like "oh, it's your first" like that explained it all. Wait, what? I even got this a little bit when we were in that undecided time between having one and deciding we didn't want a second. Like do second kids and beyond sleep better or not want to eat like every 5 minutes? So not only are we perpetuating stupid thoughts about genders but also birth order.

2) FMLA is, well, it's ridiculous. Yay, in theory, we can't be fired for taking FMLA. However, with more than half the country being bullshit "at will" states, they could fire me for that and just say it was for something else. Hell, even if you wanted to do it "with cause", they could easily shuffle me away from my main projects or not assign me any new work and then nail me for low performance and then fire me. Fortunately, my boss was pretty cool about this and I didn't have any issues, but I'm sure others are less so. Never mind that we've seen just how people viewed presentee-ism and vacation, at least, pre-pandemic (and still some now). Like, you can see with some people that if you're not there 24x7x365, you deserve to be fired, even if vacation IS PART OF YOUR BENEFITS.

3) Speaking of vacation and benefits, our workplaces dealt differently with how the mom and dad could do stretch out vacation - never mind that we both work at similar places with similar leave structure so this applies at both places. Both my wife and I work where we have vacation time and extended illness leave. The extended leave is fully paid short/long term disability and what happens to "banked" vacation days if don't take all your allotment in a year (we can each roll over a certain amount but any above that get dumped in here - no saving like a year's vacation time until retirement). At both places, to retain benefits, we had to have worked or had a vacation day for at least 1 day in the calendar month. So, for me, this meant my FMLA started like a day or two into November and I went back a couple of days before New Year. That way, I worked at least one day in November and one day in December to keep my benefits. I could have also had used vacation days at the start of that so, for instance, if I had started my FMLA for the last week of October but had a week and a half of vacation, it would count as "working" in November. I just didn't have that much vacation as I had only started working there a couple of years ago and I burned it all in the first couple of weeks of FMLA. I also got to use 3 days of extended illness leave for the three days she was in the hospital. I guess it's better than nothing.

3A) However, her, by virtue of being the mom, could do some thing where she could tap into vacation and extended illness leave that entire pregnancy recovery time (6 weeks or 8 weeks, I think, depending on if it was a c-section or not). Above and beyond that, she could even do this thing where they split those days in half so she'd get half pay for the day but would mean the effective benefit time doubled. So if you had 3 weeks of vacation, you could stretch it out to six weeks for the purposes of benefits. But only the mom, not the dad. The dad got the 3 days in the hospital and that's it.

4) Factoring into all this is "Dads faking incompetence". I was told a couple of times "just pretend like you don't know how to do it and she'll have to do all of it". What kind of selfish sick fuck thinks like that? I mean, like I get, say, pretending (or not caring enough) to understand some hobby that she cares about and you don't - but, dude, childrearing? Not only that but like the first year of child care is a particular fresh hell. You can choose to either grow together (or at least counterbalance the lack of time you lost together) or you can be wholly selfish but I can't think that's great long term for your relationship. That's not to say that in high stress, we don't have times we just go into self-preservation mode in the short term, but
go into self-preservation mode. I mean, we all do some of that some of the time when we're at our limit - but I'm talking about consciously choosing to do that. I think you're sewing some really bad long term seeds there. Then again, the two guys who I remember giving me this "advice" also seem to see their wife as the mother of their kids first and not as their spouse. I don't get it, but, I mean, what works for me isn't the only way to family.

5) And that brings us back to the initial post. When I got back, I had a couple of people give me the whole "how was your vacation" schtick and the tired death glare I gave them shut most of them up. One, who I know knows better - he's probably the most active dad of anyone on our team (scouts, sports, etc) - decided to needle me further and I just stared point blank back at him and said something to the effect of "Believe it or not, it's actually more difficult than dealing with you assholes every day".

SI

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Danny

Have you been at home all day taking care of a newborn? Vacation is laughable, it's way harder than actually going to work, especially if you have a dragon baby

cosign...

I took 3 months FMLA when my daughter was born, we set it up so my FMLA overlapped only slightly with my wifes maternity leave so we could keep my daughter out of daycare for as long as possible. Once my wife went back to work it was hell. Up at night, also taking care of a 2 1/2 year old, and the best part, my daughter refused a bottle so she would scream her face off in hunger and I would have to drive her to my wifes work in the city 2X a day so she could sit in the car and nurse her.

Right, very relaxing vacation.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Danny

Have you been at home all day taking care of a newborn? Vacation is laughable, it's way harder than actually going to work, especially if you have a dragon baby

Originally Posted by Lathum

cosign...

I took 3 months FMLA when my daughter was born, we set it up so my FMLA overlapped only slightly with my wifes maternity leave so we could keep my daughter out of daycare for as long as possible. Once my wife went back to work it was hell. Up at night, also taking care of a 2 1/2 year old, and the best part, my daughter refused a bottle so she would scream her face off in hunger and I would have to drive her to my wifes work in the city 2X a day so she could sit in the car and nurse her.

Right, very relaxing vacation.

Hell, we have watched our toddler/newborn grandkids for a couple of days at a time and it is exhausting LOL. I don't know where the hell I got the energy as a Dad

[JPhillips]

BREAKING: Supreme Court agrees to consider limiting EPA's authority to curb greenhouse gases from power plants, will hear appeals from coal-mining companies and Republican-led states

— Greg Stohr (@GregStohr) October 29, 2021

SCOTUS is going after Chevron deference. This could be the most monumental change in government this country has ever seen.

[GrantDawg]

Looks like both the infrastructure and the reconciliation plans are getting a vote in the House on Tuesday. House progressives have signed off on the plan.

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[JPhillips]

If it doesn't get somewhere on Tuesday, I'm pretty sure Manchin and Sinema will bail after the election. They may still screw things up, but if nothing is passed before the election results, I expect both bills will die.

[JPhillips]

I was a couple of days too late. It sure looks like Manchin just killed not only the BBB, but the infrastructure bill as well. I'm not sure he ever wanted either bill to pass as he was just about to get the infrastructure bill vote tomorrow that he's claimed to have wanted all along.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I was a couple of days too late. It sure looks like Manchin just killed not only the BBB, but the infrastructure bill as well. I'm not sure he ever wanted either bill to pass as he was just about to get the infrastructure bill vote tomorrow that he's claimed to have wanted all along.

I think there are a lot of Dems happy this didn't pass. Lot of Dems have donors they need to appease and this vote was a tough one.

[Swaggs]

This feels like a good lesson for all the folks who wish we had more than 2 parties. It feels like the Democrats are composed of about three parties right now and they can't get a thing accomplished.

I've supported Biden all along and would obviously vote for him again, but I'd have a tough time saying I approve of the job he is doing.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I was a couple of days too late. It sure looks like Manchin just killed not only the BBB, but the infrastructure bill as well. I'm not sure he ever wanted either bill to pass as he was just about to get the infrastructure bill vote tomorrow that he's claimed to have wanted all along.

What did Manchin do? I thought it was the progressive wing refusing to vote on infrastructure w/o the BBB.

[RainMaker]

This isn't a party issue. We legalized bribes to politicians. 1 party or 50 parties, it ends the same if you can buy politicians.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

What did Manchin do? I thought it was the progressive wing refusing to vote on infrastructure w/o the BBB.

Go back to the original infrastructure negotiations. It was always the plan to pass both, that way both moderates and progressives got some of what they wanted. It was even a big deal when the GOP pretended not to know that was the plan. It's always been the case that neither bill will pass without the other.

[RainMaker]

The infrastructure bill was mostly a corporate handout. So progressives told moderates you can have that if we get the social spending bill.

No reason for progressives to pass a corporate welfare bill if they get nothing in return.

[JPhillips]

Priyapal and the White House are still saying things will pass, so maybe this isn't as dead as it seems from the outside.

[Ksyrup]

This whole situation has the feel of football NLI day when one of your commits is actually working behind the scenes to recruit guys to a rival and then flips at 8am on signing day.