DL Open Thread: Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021

Filed in Featured, Open Thread by on February 20, 2021

State Rethugs Push Voting Restrictions To Protect Fantasies Of Angry White Guys:

GOP state lawmakers across the country have proposed a flurry of voting restrictions that they say are needed to restore confidence in U.S. elections, an effort intended to placate supporters of former president Donald Trump who believe his false claims that the 2020 outcome was rigged…

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a civil rights think tank, lawmakers in 33 states have crafted more than 165 bills to restrict voting so far this year — more than four times the number in last year’s legislative sessions. The group attributed the surge to “a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud” and accused lawmakers of a “backlash to historic voter turnout” last year.

GOP state lawmakers across the country have proposed a flurry of voting restrictions that they say are needed to restore confidence in U.S. elections, an effort intended to placate supporters of former president Donald Trump who believe his false claims that the 2020 outcome was rigged.

Got that? They need to restrict voting so that Trump supporters will have confidence in elections restored.  I, uh, think these efforts will backfire.

‘Jerrah’ Jones, Despicable Owner Of The Dallas Cowboys, ‘Hits Jackpot’ Due To Texas Screw-Ups.  Sells energy at obscene mark-ups.  Hey, deregulation, Texas-style. What can I say?

Manchin Exercises Personal Veto, Kills Nomination.  She said ‘bad things’ about some senators of both parties. Six pages of tweets about Ted Cruz. Shouldn’t that be a plus?

Florida To Get ‘FEMA Camps’.  To help vaccinate under-served populations.  Yo, John, if under-served communities can be targeted in Florida, why can’t you do it here? Afraid of a lawsuit from rich white folks, or something? Legalistic double-talk to perpetuate the kind of malign racism the Chamber embraces.  What, exactly, do you stand for? And, other than for electability, why are you a registered Democrat?  BTW, anybody hear a peep from the district legislators? I haven’t.  Wintering in Cancun?

NYPD Discipline Records To Be Made Public?  I see a lot of ‘early retirements’ in the near future.  The NYPD has been a rogue organization for decades.  I wonder if our AG can chart a similar course…

Biden Is Wrongwrongwrong On Canceling Student Debt.  He thinks the optics will suck.  Forget about the millions of people he will free from a form of servitude and/or the financial boom he will help to unleash. A must-read.

Andrew Cuomo Is Getting Destroyed. He Deserves It.  Who will step up to challenge him?

‘Bitcoin, Ether Hit Fresh Highs’.  A world with which I will never be familiar.

What do you want to talk about?

 

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  1. jason330 says:

    This is Biden allowing his “I’m an old guy” to show:

    As a matter of policy, there’s no credible reason to be in favor of canceling $10,000 but not $50,000. Biden seemed to suggest that he might not have the “authority” to cancel $50,000, but it’s the exact same authority as the one under which he proposes to cancel $10,000.

    The difference between $10,000 and $50,000 is not about law or policy but about politics. Biden and his team don’t like the optics of canceling a figure they’ve arbitrarily determined to be “a lot.”

    My mother-in-law thinks $5.00 is a big tip regardless of the bill. Old people are crazy.

    • Alby says:

      That’s a bullshit take by whomever you’re quoting. Look up the polling. Wait, I’ll fetch it for you:

      Two-thirds of voters say they would support canceling $10,000 in student loan debt for every year someone works in national or community service (up to give years). More than half of voters support canceling $50,000 of debt without the service requirement, but the idea is more politically palatable if the program targets debtors making less than $125,000 a year. Only about four in 10 likely voters, however, support forgiving all student debt.

      There’s nothing at all arbitrary about it. They’re following popular opinion.

      The same thing happened in the 2008 with mortgages. People who paid their debts really, really don’t like giving an enormous freebie to people who can’t or won’t. That’s human nature, whether the Leftier Than Thous like it or not.

  2. jason330 says:

    For people who don’t consume as much Left Wing media as REV:

    Joe Biden, as part of his roll-out of the coming administration, has named Neera Tanden to be his nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Tanden’s nomination has provoked outrage from members of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party both because of her long history of right-wing stances as well as her long-standing animosity toward Bernie Sanders and his supporters. This is just the latest sign that Biden is setting himself up to govern from the center-right and that he was able to successfully con the progressive wing of his party into supporting him despite offering them nothing in return.

    Tanden is a life-long politico whose career has been closely tied with the Clintons. She worked in Bill Clinton’s White House, in Hillary Clinton’s senate office, and on both of her presidential campaigns. More recently Tanden has been serving as the CEO of the Center for American Progress (CAP), a Democratic think tank that worked closely with the Obama administration.

    • Alby says:

      Yeah, the Leftier Than Thous will never be happy, so fuck ’em. One appointment does not a center-right candidacy make, and anyone who insists it does can fuck all the way off.

      That said, even one Clintonite is too many. They can fuck even further off.

  3. puck says:

    For all the talk about an FDR-style Presidency, Joe still has some of the “Senator from MBNA” left in him. I guess he’s still not ready to welcome the hatred of the bankers.

  4. puck says:

    If Manchin has to claim a Dem scalp to keep his maverick status in WV, it’s OK with me that it’s Tanden. At least he didn’t veto her on policy grounds.

  5. Alby says:

    This article makes a valid point: Without Trump to cause a new distraction twice a day, people like Ted Cruz and Andrew Cuomo can no longer count on the mach-speed news cycle Trump fueled to move on quickly.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/politics/cruz-cuomo-scandal.html

  6. bamboozer says:

    Would love to see the discipline records of the Delaware state police released, suspect it would not be pretty. But it will never happen with the dreaded Pistol Pete ensconced on his throne. Too bad as much like the NYPD the state police consider themselves a law unto themselves and act like. P.S. I’m old and tip at 50%.