Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

Awful #HotTake.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Awful #HotTake.

So you're on #TeamTrump and not #TeamCocaineMitch?

Anyway doesn't matter. Mitch got his ten votes and knocked down Ted "Grandstander" Cruz back into his Cancun beach chair.

[Dr. Strangelove]

All for a two-month kick the can down the road

Dems have only two realistic options in December: reconciliation or carve out a debt ceiling exception in the filibuster.

People are talking like "Mitch blinked" but he's been communicating with Manchin and Sinema for a while. If they flat out told him or just sent signals that they were close to going after the filibuster for this one exception...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump not a fan of Haiti

[Mike]

Does anyone honestly think Haiti is NOT a shithole?

[Jeff Buchanan]

In other news that will piss-off most Americans, the International Airline Transport Association (IATA) is taking steps to implement it's flight pass system. Something around 10 countries have fully embraced the system which allows passengers to upload travel and health documents to a phone app. It's likely that that some Asian countries and EU members will adopt the system in the next few months. Airlines operating international routes from US airports already require hard copies of required travel documents per country. An app would be infinitely simpler. I've done the hard copy documents (vaccine records, pass ports, country entry forms for PH purposes - e.g., tracking and tracing) process. It's a PITA filling all these out, printing copies and keeping them where you can find them while traveling.

There is no debating that travel has the potential for spreading viruses, in the current case, SARS2. To ignore this fact and refuse to participate in programs like this, assuming the US might actually refuse do so because of a vocal minority that complain about rights to privacy, is one more example of how incompetent this administration is in dealing with the SARS2 pandemic. America is already an outlier in the global pandemic battle. I'm not going to list the failures that make this so. Yes, Trump did well with Operation Warp Speed but by now, other nations have passed the US in pandemic mitigation. No debating that either. The objective data that supports that view is pretty strong.

Among several factors blocking a return to a normally functioning global economy is international travel restrictions. We know how to fix this to limit the bad PH outcomes that can result from it. Lets not be stupid about this in the US.

[iam416]

All for a two-month kick the can down the road

Dems have only two realistic options in December: reconciliation or carve out a debt ceiling exception in the filibuster.

People are talking like "Mitch blinked" but he's been communicating with Manchin and Sinema for a while. If they flat out told him or just sent signals that they were close to going after the filibuster for this one exception...

One option -- reconciliation -- is an approved procedure for the debt ceiling and the Ds have the votes. It's not only a realistic option, it's an option entirely within the Ds control. ENTIRELY. They could do it within the space of a few weeks. Pretty easy stuff.

But, yeah, we wouldn't want to raise the debt ceiling through reconciliation. We want a full Senate vote on that. It's that important. But, you know, that $3.5 fucking trillion dollar pile of garbage? Yeah, that's not important enough for a full Senate vote, so let's just run that through reconciliation -- and while we're at, let's through massive immigration overhaul and see if we can sneak that by.

LMMFAO.

Ah, here are some good quotes on why folks in the Senate minority won't vote to raise the debt ceiling:

Because this massive accumulation of debt was predicted, because it was foreseeable, because it was unnecessary, because it was the result of willful and reckless disregard for the warnings that were given . . . I am voting against the debt-limit increase.

And...

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. . . . I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.

Man, Senators Biden and Oprama...

[iam416]

Outstanding blog entry on Debt Ceiling: https://www.nationalreview.com/corne...iling-debacle/

Of background note, the Ds could have addressed this multiple times and didn't. They knew it was coming, and didn't care. The author speculates, and I think this may actually be right, that McConnell helped Schumer because Schumer didn't have the 50 votes he needed to get it through reconciliation becaue there wasn't agreement on the version (outright suspension or raised to a certain number). Whatever.

It'd be monumentally hilarious if the Ds used the debt ceiling to get ride of the filibuster. This was a party that filibustered bills 300 times in 2 years when PDJT was President. 300. And they're apparently of the opinion they'll never have a need for that again. LOL. But, what's truly hilarious is that it isn't like they're sitting at 55-45. They need ALL 50 just pass anything. So, it ain't gonna change a lot of shit -- Manchin isn't going to rubber stamp socialist-progressive shit from the House or even the ludicrous Voting Rights shit -- JIM CROW ON STEROIDS!!!!!

After 4 years of PDJT, it's nice to be reminded exactly how incompetent the Ds are. I mean, the latest Quinnipiac poll -- which DSL, to his credit, said had some great news in it for Ds (lol) -- has Biden at 54-42 on the incompetent/competent. INCOMPETENT=54.

[iam416]

Newsweek opionion piece on Energy in the EU and China: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ion/ar-AAP9FJt

Essentially, there's shortages for different reasons that cause supply issues and, obviously, price issues.

However, I'd like to take this moment to remind everyone that the Chairman and his Progs WANT high energy prices. That's not a bug of their centralized plans for utopia; it's a feature. High prices means people use less energy and, ergo, we save the planet. I guess what they really want is to just replace carbon-based energy with "safe" energy, but that's pixie dust and unicorn shit right there. The reality is they have to make carbon-based energy more expensive and, man, the Chairman is doing a nice job.

[Kapture1]

So? we're not Europe, nor should we ever be Europe. Therefor, half of their authoritarian measures wouldn't fly here, either legally or culturally, because free people don't belong to the state.

By all means if that appeals to you, feel free to pack ur shit

[Dr. Strangelove]

One option -- reconciliation -- is an approved procedure for the debt ceiling and the Ds have the votes. It's not only a realistic option, it's an option entirely within the Ds control. ENTIRELY. They could do it within the space of a few weeks. Pretty easy stuff.

But, yeah, we wouldn't want to raise the debt ceiling through reconciliation. We want a full Senate vote on that. It's that important. But, you know, that $3.5 fucking trillion dollar pile of garbage? Yeah, that's not important enough for a full Senate vote, so let's just run that through reconciliation -- and while we're at, let's through massive immigration overhaul and see if we can sneak that by.

LMMFAO.

Ah, here are some good quotes on why folks in the Senate minority won't vote to raise the debt ceiling:



And...



Man, Senators Biden and Oprama...

I saw an article explaining some arcane reconciliation rules and now I can't find it. I don't know if it's accurate but it was saying that while you can do multiple reconciliation bills a year, you can only do it ONCE by sending it directly to the floor for a vote (what Dems want to do). Additional bills have to emerge through the Budget Committee and Republicans control half the Committee. If every Republican on the Committee simply doesn't attend the meeting, they fail to have a quorum and no business can occur.

So this is partly why Mitch wanted to tie debt ceiling to the bigger spend-o-rama. Debt ceiling had a very urgent deadline and the Dems were losing their shit over not having a reconciliation package ready by that deadline.

That may not be accurate about the Committee stuff but it's an interesting look at the strategy being employed. But I don't know what really made Mitch change his mind. Manchin really may have said something to him about a filibuster carve-out.

BTW, apparently there are already around 160 carve-outs for the filibuster. There's an entire book about them, which must be riveting reading.

https://www.brookings.edu/book/exceptions-to-the-rule/

Lesser known things you can't filibuster: military base closures & arms sales to foreign countries

[Hannibal]

[iam416]

DSL:

The Ds can do the debt ceiling through reconciliation and they now have ample time to do it. And they have control everything. They will not do it. It's really that simple. The Ds, who control everything, won't do it through it reconciliation and the Rs won't vote the $30T+ number that's it going have to be.

As I mentioned,I wish the Ds were so serious about wanting R votes for, say, their $3.5T makeover of American society. That's be nice. But that ain't happening. But with the debt ceiling -- now, there's something you need R votes for!

[AlabamAlum]

None of this matters. What does matter: Steak fajitas add jalapeños or Kung Pao beef extra peppers tonight?

[Dr. Strangelove]

DSL:

The Ds can do the debt ceiling through reconciliation and they now have ample time to do it. And they have control everything. They will not do it. It's really that simple. The Ds, who control everything, won't do it through it reconciliation and the Rs won't vote the $30T+ number that's it going have to be.

As I mentioned,I wish the Ds were so serious about wanting R votes for, say, their $3.5T makeover of American society. That's be nice. But that ain't happening. But with the debt ceiling -- now, there's something you need R votes for!

I think they will end up doing it through reconciliation

My understanding in the past is that yeah, various Dems (Obama, Biden, etc.) have voted against raising the ceiling in the past when they were the minority party. But as far as I understand it a debt ceiling hike has never been filibustered before and it's never been passed through reconciliation before. If I'm wrong I'm wrong. The Senate parliamentarian ruled it can be done but the fact that they even asked tells me that yeah, it's pretty unprecedented to do it that way.

Which is not a judgment on Mitch's tactics, just pointing out a truth that it's not standard for the minority party to force the majority into doing it that way. He wants to make the process as grueling and difficult for the Dems as possible. That's fine.