Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The willow is too close to the house.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

So many bastards, so little time.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

You are here: Home / Politics / Proud to Be A Democrat / Yesterday Was a Pretty Big Day

Yesterday Was a Pretty Big Day

by | 271 Comments

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The Covid Relief bill, which as many of you have already noted, is a pretty big fucking deal, has a lot of good stuff that will help a lot of people. I think the part that excites me the most is the billions spent to expand and facilitate covid testing and distribution of the vaccine, as well as help development of a new vaccine.

The other part that strikes me as game changing is the child tax credit:

The package makes a significant change to the social safety net through the tax code that could have an impact on child poverty rates and potentially form a pillar of Mr. Biden’s economic legacy. The plan would raise the $2,000 Child Tax Credit to $3,000, set the credit at $3,600 for parents of children under age 6 and make parents of 17-year-olds eligible. It would also make the credit fully refundable, so low-income households would get the full benefit, no matter how little they earn. For a household with a 4-year-old and 7-year-old that doesn’t earn enough to pay income taxes, the plan would boost their maximum child tax credit to $6,600 from $2,800.

The proposal would also authorize periodic payments, so that the credit becomes a near-universal child allowance like those in some other countries instead of part of a lump-sum tax refund.

While the package would make the child tax-credit changes only for one year, it is broadly expected that Democrats will seek to make them permanent in the future.

Again, game changing. This will help lift so many kids out of poverty.

Reader Interactions

271Comments

  4. 4.

    germy

    Trump & Republicans had a Rose Garden ceremony simply for getting an Obamacare repeal through the House. Biden & Democrats should throw parades for this one.

    It’s a quite popular piece of legislation. Act like it!

    And then — use the momentum to get voting rights passed next. https://t.co/NtIHVy88W1

    — Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) March 6, 2021

  6. 6.

    Raoul Paste

    I love it that Jake tapper is asking Manchin on CNN “why did you fight for less help? “

  8. 8.

    RaflW

    Six or nine months from now, when the child credit needs to be extended, “pro-family” Republicans will be unified against it. Democrats need to be savage in their attacks on the GOP for that.

    I’m grumpy about the minimum wage, (and that fight isn’t over), but I think Biden, Harris, and the team’s strategy folks are teeing up a powerful economic message, and total Republican opposition is really risky given the 70% across the board public support.

    And the profligate waste of the Trump-Ryan tax cut helps wipe out all the deficit scold idiocy that is no-doubt coming.

  9. 9.

    sdhays

    @jeffreyw: I saw that too. That right there is a BFD as well. One has to assume that Sinema is also reform-curious or Manchin wouldn’t dare to float any balloons.

  10. 10.

    germy

    Last nights manchin shenanigans seems like eons ago but I just have to say one more time for the record that manchin negotiated a deal with senator Portman and then Portman voted against the whole bill. That folks is a really bad strategy

    — jim manley (@jamespmanley) March 6, 2021

    Maybe Manchin thought he’d be the hero to “reach across the aisle” and “reunite” the country?

  15. 15.

    JAFD

    I am starting to draft and print out letters to various pundits and Congresspeople, who consider books going ‘out of print’  a symptom of ‘cancel culture’, urging them to take this opportunity to reverse the Thor Power Tool decision, make the tax rules on inventory write-downs conform to the accounting rules, and revivify the American publishing industry.

    for more info, see

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Power_Tool_Co._v._Commissioner

    https://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/05/how-thor-power-hammered-publishing/

  16. 16.

    JWR

    Margaret Brennan didn’t touch the Recovery Act today. Cuomo, yes, Covid, yes, BFD, crickets.

    And Manchin just noted that well, if George Washington was in favor of Bicameralism, he must have supported the filibuster, too.

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    Getting that bill through both chambers was a monumental win and that’s before considering the slender Democratic margins in both. You go, Joe, Nancy and Chuck!

    I read this a.m. that Stephen Miller’s former office is now occupied by Susan Rice. If that isn’t worth a celebratory smoke, nothing is. Someday we’ll stop to ponder whether we really had actual Nazis working in the White House, for now it is still an obvious feature of the Trump brand.

  19. 19.

    trollhattan

    @germy:

    Can that parade feature tanks and missiles? I’d like Trump and the Republicans to be reminded who controls those now.

  20. 20.

    Immanentize

    @jeffreyw: I think he always was open to filibuster reform, just not ending the tool altogether.  Seems Manchin likes the “talking filibuster” concept.

  22. 22.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    If only someone had come up with a pithy and preferably alliterative and tweetable slogan to promote “This bill cuts child poverty in half”

    @germy: Murkowski got $800B dedicated to homeless children, then voted against it

    The Senate did approve two amendments by voice vote, one on veterans’ education and one on aiding homeless children. The latter amendment was proposed by GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski and Manchin, and will dedicate $800 billion in education funding specifically for homeless children.

  23. 23.

    Steeplejack

    I am debating whether to try and write something about how I don’t think the size of the ARA and the fact that Biden basically drafted half of econ Twitter into his administration are unrelated.
    https://t.co/W1ozTgO3cm

    — Jordan Weissmann ? (@JHWeissmann) March 7, 2021

  25. 25.

    Another Scott

    Yesterday was a very good day. Today is shaping up to be a very good day, too.

    WhiteHouse.gov:

    Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting
    MARCH 07, 2021 • PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

    Section 1. Purpose. The right to vote is the foundation of American democracy. Free and fair elections that reflect the will of the American people must be protected and defended. But many Americans, especially people of color, confront significant obstacles to exercising that fundamental right. These obstacles include difficulties with voter registration, lack of election information, and barriers to access at polling places. For generations, Black voters and other voters of color have faced discriminatory policies and other obstacles that disproportionally affect their communities. These voters remain more likely to face long lines at the polls and are disproportionately burdened by voter identification laws and limited opportunities to vote by mail. Limited access to language assistance remains a barrier for many voters. People with disabilities continue to face barriers to voting and are denied legally required accommodations in exercising their fundamental rights and the ability to vote privately and independently. Members of our military serving overseas, as well as other American citizens living abroad, also face challenges to exercising their fundamental right to vote.

    The Constitution and laws of the United States prohibit racial discrimination and protect the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other Federal statutes implement those protections and assign the Federal Government a key role in remedying disenfranchisement and unequal access to the polls. In passing the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, the Congress found that it is the duty of Federal, State, and local governments to promote the exercise of the fundamental right to vote. Executive departments and agencies (agencies) should partner with State, local, Tribal, and territorial election officials to protect and promote the exercise of the right to vote, eliminate discrimination and other barriers to voting, and expand access to voter registration and accurate election information. It is our duty to ensure that registering to vote and the act of voting be made simple and easy for all those eligible to do so.

    Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of my Administration to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections. It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to expand access to, and education about, voter registration and election information, and to combat misinformation, in order to enable all eligible Americans to participate in our democracy.

    Sec. 3. Expanding Access to Voter Registration and Election Information. Agencies shall consider ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.

    (a) The head of each agency shall evaluate ways in which the agency can, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, promote voter registration and voter participation. This effort shall include consideration of:
    (i) ways to provide relevant information in the course of activities or services that directly engage with the public — including through agency materials, websites, online forms, social media platforms, and other points of public access — about how to register to vote, how to request a vote-by-mail ballot, and how to cast a ballot in upcoming elections;
    (ii) ways to facilitate seamless transition from agencies’ websites directly to State online voter registration systems or appropriate Federal websites, such as Vote.gov;
    (iii) ways to provide access to voter registration services and vote-by-mail ballot applications in the course of activities or services that directly engage with the public, including:
    (A) distributing voter registration and vote-by-mail ballot application forms, and providing access to applicable State online systems for individuals who can take advantage of those systems;
    (B) assisting applicants in completing voter registration and vote-by-mail ballot application forms in a manner consistent with all relevant State laws; and
    (C) soliciting and facilitating approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations and State officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises;
    (iv) ways to promote and expand access to multilingual voter registration and election information, and to promote equal participation in the electoral process for all eligible citizens of all backgrounds; and
    (v) whether, consistent with applicable law, any identity documents issued by the agency to members of the public can be issued in a form that satisfies State voter identification laws.

    (b) Within 200 days of the date of this order, the head of each agency shall submit to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy a strategic plan outlining the ways identified under this review that the agency can promote voter registration and voter participation.

    (c) The Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government, Office of Management and Budget, shall, consistent with applicable law, coordinate efforts across agencies to improve or modernize Federal websites and digital services that provide election and voting information to the American people, including ensuring that Federal websites are accessible to individuals with disabilities and people with limited English proficiency. As appropriate, the Administrator of the United States Digital Service may support agencies in implementing the strategic plans directed in subsection (b) of this section.

    Sec. 4. Acceptance of Designation Under the National Voter Registration Act. (a) This order shall supersede section 3 of Executive Order 12926 of September 12, 1994 (Implementation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993).
    (b) Each agency, if requested by a State to be designated as a voter registration agency pursuant to section 7(a)(3)(B)(ii) of the National Voter Registration Act, shall, to the greatest extent practicable and consistent with applicable law, agree to such designation. If an agency declines to consent to such designation, the head of the agency shall submit to the President a written explanation for the decision.
    (c) The head of each agency shall evaluate where and how the agency provides services that directly engage with the public and, to the greatest extent practicable, formally notify the States in which the agency provides such services that it would agree to designation as a voter registration agency pursuant to section 7(a)(3)(B)(ii) of the National Voter Registration Act.

    Sec. 5. Modernizing Vote.gov. The General Services Administration (GSA) shall take steps to modernize and improve the user experience of Vote.gov. In determining how to do so, GSA shall coordinate with the Election Assistance Commission and other agencies as appropriate, and seek the input of affected stakeholders, including election administrators, civil rights and disability rights advocates, Tribal Nations, and nonprofit groups that study best practices for using technology to promote civic engagement.
    (a) GSA’s efforts to modernize and improve Vote.gov shall include:
    (i) ensuring that Vote.gov complies, at minimum, with sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973;
    (ii) ensuring that Vote.gov is translated into languages spoken by any of the language groups covered under section 203 of the Voting Rights Act anywhere in the United States; and
    (iii) implementing relevant provisions of the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (Public Law 115-336).
    (b) Within 200 days of the date of this order, GSA shall submit to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy a strategic plan outlining the steps to modernize and improve the user experience of Vote.gov.

    Sec. 6. Increasing Opportunities for Employees to Vote. It is a priority of my Administration to ensure that the Federal Government, as the Nation’s largest employer, serves as a model employer by encouraging and facilitating Federal employees’ civic participation. Accordingly, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall take the following actions within 200 days of the date of this order:
    (a) coordinate with the heads of executive agencies, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105, to provide recommendations to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, on strategies to expand the Federal Government’s policy of granting employees time off to vote in Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial elections. Such recommendations should include efforts to ensure Federal employees have opportunities to participate in early voting.
    (b) Coordinate with the heads of executive agencies, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105, to provide recommendations to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, on strategies to better support Federal employees who wish to volunteer to serve as non-partisan poll workers or non‑partisan observers, particularly during early or extended voting periods.

    Sec. 7. Ensuring Equal Access for Voters with Disabilities. Within 270 days of the date of this order, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within the Department of Commerce shall evaluate the steps needed to ensure that the online Federal Voter Registration Form is accessible to people with disabilities. During that period, NIST, in consultation with the Department of Justice, the Election Assistance Commission, and other agencies, as appropriate, shall also analyze barriers to private and independent voting for people with disabilities, including access to voter registration, voting technology, voting by mail, polling locations, and poll worker training. By the end of the 270-day period, NIST shall publish recommendations regarding both the Federal Voter Registration Form and the other barriers it has identified.

    Sec. 8. Ensuring Access to Voting for Active Duty Military and Overseas Citizens. (a) Within 200 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense shall establish procedures, consistent with applicable law, to affirmatively offer, on an annual basis, each member of the Armed Forces on active duty the opportunity to register to vote in Federal elections, update voter registration information, or request an absentee ballot.
    (b) Within 200 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense shall evaluate the feasibility of implementing an online system to facilitate the services described in subsection (a) of this section.
    (c) The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Department of State, the Military Postal Service Agency, and the United States Postal Service, shall take all practical steps to establish procedures to enable a comprehensive end-to-end ballot tracking system for all absentee ballots cast by military and other eligible overseas voters under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, 52 U.S.C. 20301 et seq. Within 200 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense shall submit a report to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy with a strategic plan for establishing the aforementioned tracking system.
    (d) The head of each agency with overseas employees shall designate an employee to be responsible for coordinating with the Federal Voting Assistance Program, including to promote voter registration and voting services available to the agency’s overseas employees. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget may issue guidance to assist agencies in making such designations.

    Sec. 9. Ensuring Access to Voter Registration for Eligible Individuals in Federal Custody. (a) The Attorney General shall establish procedures, consistent with applicable law, to provide educational materials related to voter registration and voting and, to the extent practicable, to facilitate voter registration, for all eligible individuals in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Such educational materials shall be incorporated into the reentry planning procedures required under section 4042(a)(7) of title 18, United States Code. The educational materials should also notify individuals leaving Federal custody of the restrictions, if any, on their ability to vote under the laws of the State where the individual resides and, if any such restrictions exist, the point at which the individual’s rights will be restored under applicable State law.
    (b) The Attorney General shall establish procedures, consistent with applicable law, to ensure the United States Marshals Service includes language in intergovernmental agreements and jail contracts to require the jails to provide educational materials related to voter registration and voting, and to facilitate voting by mail, to the extent practicable and appropriate.
    (c) The Attorney General shall establish procedures, consistent with applicable law, for coordinating with the Probation and Pretrial Services Office of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to provide educational materials related to voter registration and voting to all eligible individuals under the supervision of the Probation and Pretrial Services Office, and to facilitate voter registration and voting by such individuals.
    (d) The Attorney General shall take appropriate steps, consistent with applicable law, to support formerly incarcerated individuals in obtaining a means of identification that satisfies State voter identification laws, including as required by 18 U.S.C. 4042(a)(6)(B).

    Sec. 10. Establishing a Native American Voting Rights Steering Group. (a) There is hereby established an Interagency Steering Group on Native American Voting Rights (Steering Group) coordinated by the Domestic Policy Council.
    (b) The Steering Group shall be chaired by the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and shall include the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or their designees. The Chair may invite the participation of the heads or senior representatives of other agencies, as the Chair determines to be helpful to complete the work of the Steering Group. The Steering Group shall consult with agencies not represented on the Steering Group to facilitate the sharing of information and best practices, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.
    (c) The Steering Group shall engage in meaningful and robust consultation with Tribal Nations and Native leaders to inform the Steering Group regarding concerns and potential areas of focus for the report described in subsection (d) of this section, and to assist the Steering Group in developing that report.
    (d) The Steering Group shall study best practices for protecting voting rights of Native Americans and shall produce a report within 1 year of the date of this order outlining recommendations for providing such protection, consistent with applicable law, including recommendations for:
    (i) increasing voter outreach, education, registration, and turnout in Native American communities; increasing voting access for Native American communities (including increasing accessibility for voters with disabilities); and mitigating internet accessibility issues that may hinder voter registration and ballot access in Native American communities;
    (ii) increasing language access and assistance for Native American voters, including evaluating existing best practices;
    (iii) mitigating barriers to voting for Native Americans by analyzing and providing guidance on how to facilitate the use of Tribal government identification cards as valid voter identification in Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial elections;
    (iv) facilitating collaboration among local election officials, Native American communities, and Tribal election offices; and
    (v) addressing other areas identified during the consultation process.
    (e) The Department of the Interior shall provide administrative support for the Steering Group to the extent permitted by law.

    Sec. 11. Definition. Except as otherwise defined in section 6 of this order, “agency” means any authority of the United States that is an “agency” under 44 U.S.C. 3502(1), other than those considered to be independent regulatory agencies, as defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(5).

    Sec. 12. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
    (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
    (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

    JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

    THE WHITE HOUSE,
    March 7, 2021.

    The federal workforce is big and it’s everywhere. Given how close elections are in many cases, this could be a big Biden deal, in addition to serving as a model for other governments to improve their systems and reduce voting barriers.

    We still need the updates to the Voting Rights Act, of course. But we need to be pushing in every area.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  26. 26.

    JWR

    @Immanentize: Nope, he actually said that on Press the Meat. Not a direct quote, but close. It just confirmed my suspicion that he’s dumb as a West Virginia rock.

  27. 27.

    Ksmiami

    The History major in me had a thought last night that Biden may end up being the most consequential President since FDR or LBJ (in the good LBJ way). No just destroy the GOP and usher in a 30 year national democratic renewal

  30. 30.

    Damien

    I’m very glad that we’re lifting children out of poverty. But as a CF person, I’m also annoyed that almost all of my avenues for reducing my tax burden are shut off and I’m going to end up paying much much more.

    I also feel like with the overpopulation problem we’re facing now, maybe inducing people to have more children isn’t really a great idea. How about we incentivize adoption with huge tax credits? How about a fully refundable sterilization credit for those of us who don’t want any part of it?

    Forgive my bitterness, but I wish we could maybe focus on fixing the greatest environmental degrader.

  31. 31.

    Immanentize

    Okay, totally off topic, but does anyone know anything about unicycles (beyond that they have one wheel*)? Asking for a son….

    * My undoubtedly futile attempt to preempt you wise guys and smart alecks.

  34. 34.

    moonbat

    @RaflW: I think Biden needs to get his major legislative priorities passed, including voting rights and infrastructure, then when the deficit scolds come around (and you know they will) he should just put on his aviators, smile real big, and say, “You are absolutely right! We need to address the deficit!” and then pass Warren’s millionaire/billionaire tax.

  35. 35.

    Ruckus

    @RaflW:

    Think about it from a different angle.

    First, the fight for a much higher minimum wage isn’t over.

    Second, the reason the JM fought the filibuster, I think, was that it is/has been a rule for over 200 yrs and it does give power to an otherwise powerless senator. That it’s use over the years has screwed us rather well, all the while making the senate look insane is just a bonus. In theory it keeps a light on some legislation that few might want, while not allowing the railroading of say a small state. (As I type this I hear how it sounds and laugh at the actual absurdity but that is the premise of it. And JM comes from a poor state with it’s only major business being coal, which is mostly gone, and a very crappy product. It is a tough time for ole Joe and WV)

  40. 40.

    MattF

    And no Republican in Congress voted for it. Zero. Zip. Nada. There’s a message there.

  41. 41.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Damien: ​
      I really doubt that increasing the child credit is going to incentivize procreation. Kids still cost way more than the government will give you for them. And, fwiw, there are already large credits for adoption expenses.

  46. 46.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @different-church-lady:

    But remember, there’s no difference between the parties.

    Rose twitter has an answer for that.  They believe that who votes for and against anything is pure kabuki, that Democrats want what Republicans want and just use Republicans as an excuse, and that any failure to pass the absolute best legislation possible is proof that Democrats didn’t try and thus don’t want to help.  Often they come up with This One Weird Trick, like their iron-hard belief that Kamala could have overridden the parliamentarian.  Note that all of this reasoning together lets them move their goalposts so that no matter what, they can always fill in the blanks about why Democrats are as bad as Republicans.

  47. 47.

    Steeplejack

    @sdhays:

    Sinema may just be a bit of a nutter. Lots of speculation on Twitter, especially after her “curtsy” vote (with expensive designer handbag noted by the fashion police), including this interesting observation:

    The Sinema situation seems designed in a lab to refute the idea that she’s the most progressive sort of Dem who can be elected in AZ. Another Dem won statewide with a greater vote share *against the very same opponent after she’d been gifted incumbency* and voted for $15/hr.

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) March 5, 2021

  48. 48.

    Immanentize

    @Baud:No, but he is bored with the pandemic — here is almost all I know from a text last night:

    I’m thinking about getting a unicycle to commute to class because it would be funny, do you know anyone who can provide unicycle advice?

    And, we are most aggressively an anti-clown or mime family. Although Shakes the Clown is an acceptable movie.

  52. 52.

    sdhays

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The ACA was like that too. They took lots of Republican amendments, not all of which were bad. While it’s unfortunate that Republicans are now unable to support Democratic-led legislation, even in the abstract, I guess it’s still good that a few of them will offer good-faith amendments with the goal of improving the bill.

    $800 million for homeless children sounds like a good amendment, regardless of who offered it or if they voted for the overall bill.

  59. 59.

    A Ghost to Most

    @germy: Democrats at least attempt to hold their politicians to a higher standard of behavior.

    Cawthorn IS upholding the fascist standard of his party.

  60. 60.

    Patriot Paula

    I never realized what kind of absolute crazies are out there until I got to read the unfiltered echo chamber here. I’m printing this so I have proof what unhinged lunatics really think.

    Wonder if this post will actually get posted or if you simply silence dissenting opinion.

  61. 61.

    Major Major Major Major

    @RaflW:

    Six or nine months from now, when the child credit needs to be extended, “pro-family” Republicans will be unified against it. Democrats need to be savage in their attacks on the GOP for that.

    Romney is the person to watch here. He has a bill that makes a permanent and generous child tax credit, paid out as monthly cash, in exchange for the SALT deduction (and TANF, a shell of its former self which sorta sucks now due to eligibility requirements and which this program more than replaces). The poverty estimates on his bill are great.

  63. 63.

    sdhays

    @germy: Cuomo is the governor of one of the largest states in the country and also the state which hosts most of the national media. NY news is always more national than it would be for almost any other state, as annoying as that is.

  64. 64.

    laura

    @Immanentize: your son with the gigantic brain he’s still test driving? The same son who’s bright future of promise and amazing work? If he were mine, I’d draw a line – there’s way more activities that are less risky for a traumatic brain injury. Pull the dad card on the unicycle. Your heart simply cannot bear this.

    As an alternative, extreme ironing!

  66. 66.

    Another Scott

    @JAFD: Very interesting, in a makes-my-head-hurt way.  Thanks for the pointers.

    [spitballing] I wonder if an “average instantaneous inventory worth” system would make sense.  Most of us pay our taxes whenever we get a paycheck.  Surely software can be made to do accounting for things like: Sold 10,000 copies of Get Rich Doing XYZ on March 31 and none thereafter so that the inventory costs and consequent taxes can be fairly adjusted throughout the year.[/spitballing]

    Yeah, I know the tax system isn’t primarily intended to be fair; it’s designed to reward favored behavior.

    Thor Power should be a cautionary tale.

    Thanks again.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  68. 68.

    Anonymous At Work

    It is the hope of everyone that Manchin saw that the filibustering and obstruction came without talking and without amendments offered in good faith.  That his attempts to split UI down the middle resulted in GOP voting against it and then demanding another amendment to split the results down the middle again.

    It is the hope.

  69. 69.

    patrick II

    In more gossipy news, I read in the U.K. Daily Mail that Don and Jared aren’t speaking to each other because Donald blames Jared for his election loss. Which seems strange because Donald sent thousands of rioters to the Capitol Building because he really won the election by millions and it was stolen from him.

  70. 70.

    Immanentize

    @MattF: Thank you! That is so very much my son’s way of processing information.  It’s perfect.  I passed it along.

  71. 71.

    trollhattan

    The Trumps will still be with us awhile, I fear.

    A Baptist preacher in Missouri has gone on leave after a backlash over comments he made about women’s appearances.

    Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark drew scorn for a sermon offering advice to wives he said would stop their husbands becoming “distracted” by other women. It included comments about Melania Trump whom he described as “the epic trophy wife of all time”.

    The pastor’s General Baptist denomination has admonished him for his comments.

    A 22-minute video of his February sermon was shared on Facebook, where it has been viewed thousands of times.

    In it, he is seen using a well-known online meme of a distracted boyfriend to tell women not to “give him a reason to be looking around”.

    He tells churchgoers that it is “really important” for men to have a beautiful woman on their arm, asking the crowd: “Why is it so many times that women, after they get married, let themselves go?”

    “Now look, I’m not saying every woman can be the epic trophy wife of all time like Melania Trump, I’m not saying that at all,” he says, as an image of the former First Lady appears on screen behind him.

    “Most women can’t be trophy wives, but you know… maybe you’re a participation trophy.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56312443

    We just kaint quit them.

  72. 72.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Editors really should be able to easily understand the difference between $800B and $800M and correct mistakes like that before they hit “Publish”.

    What??  There are no editors any more??

    Ok, then, I guess.  Carry on.

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    Immanentize

    @laura: well, I have already introduced the helmet paradigm.  He took a good tumble on his bike last summer — front tire blowout on a busy road that sent him flying over the handle bars onto pavement.  Brain bucket was proven effective.  So he hasn’t pushed back on that restriction.

  75. 75.

    sab

    @germy: That’s a really good point. Portman negotiating in bad faith as always. By now Manchin must assume that’s the case, and his negotiation process perhaps plays well in W Va. There is probably a lot of media overlap between Oh and W Va.

  76. 76.

    Ruckus

    @debbie:

    How many weeks have they been cleaning?

    Steam. Disinfectant. Steam. Disinfectant. Fire. Steam. Disinfectant. Steam. Shaman. The Pope. Steam. Paint. Don’t touch anything signs. Radiation. Radiation mitigation. Poisonous Gas. Disinfectant. Forced fresh air. And that was the first day……

  77. 77.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Damien: Well, I’m “child free” as well, and while I do notice where the tax breaks go, I honestly don’t care. I’d rather see children housed and fed and educated. And I don’t have the expense of raising children, so that’s kind of money in my pocket.

    Just how I feel about it.

  78. 78.

    patrick II

    @Ruckus:

    I don’t get the “gives power to a powerless Senator” part for Manchin.  If the Senate is split 50/50 Joe, the most moderate of Dems, is at peak power.  Nearly every bill comes down to his vote.  At 60/40 he is ten votes away.  I think it is more a matter of avoiding power (and responsibility) to have the deciding vote (and possibly blame in WV) on every liberal bill coming down the pike.

  81. 81.

    trollhattan

    @Immanentize:

    “Just like riding a fixie, only with one less wheel.”

    I have no relevant parental advice, having been flummoxed by many teen topics such as VW beetles (the original, which can now be considered the deathtraps they always were), tattoos and the like.

    We nixed the hoverboard on the basis of spontaneous fires and did not need to play the “you’ll kill yourself” card on that one.

    She’s been borrowing mom’s car, which we collected yesterday for needed maintenance and a recall, and she casually mentioned “It said low coolant but I didn’t know what that is, something about oil?”

    Checked the reservoir, which was empty, and said we needed to go get some distilled water. “Cars have water?”

    Prototype A student in a nutshell.

  83. 83.

    laura

    @Immanentize: I’ve got a girlfriend who broke both elby bones falling back off her skate board and she used to think the worst part was needing help for every damn thing til the casts came off. Now, the permanent limited mobility and arthritis remind her of the choices she made as a young invincible.

    Couldn’t he rig up an ancient Cadillac into a commuter battle bot for on campus fun? I’d take a ride in that.

  84. 84.

    trollhattan

    @Baud:

    The Beavis and Butthead Bible Study series.

    “Which Mary was hottest? Heh-heh.”
    “Come to Butthead.”

  85. 85.

    NetheadJay

    @Immanentize: Would you happen to know his position on hipsters?. Because the only thing I know about unicycles other than that they’re hard to learn is they’re also a bit hipster-adjacent.

  86. 86.

    Another Scott

    @Immanentize: My limited understanding of them is that relatively low tire inflation pressures is desirable for stability (e.g. standing still), but of course that will make traveling less efficient.

    If he goes that route, try to impress upon him the need for sensible safety gear.  [At a party] Yeah, I was tooling along just fine when this crazy squirrel ran in front of me and I tumbled into the pond and got bit by the snapping turtle trying to avoid it… [/At a party]

    In general I’m of the opinion that two wheels is much better than one, but then I see youngsters on those little electric “hoverboards” and think that’s madness…

    Good luck to both of you!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  87. 87.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Patriot Paula:

    I never realized what kind of absolute crazies are out there until I got to read the unfiltered echo chamber here. I’m printing this so I have proof what unhinged lunatics really think.

    Wonder if this post will actually get posted or if you simply silence dissenting opinion.

    Would love to hear more about the unhinged lunacy you apparently see in this thread.

  88. 88.

    Hungry Joe

    Update on my super-lefty-BernieBro relatives: Reacting to the statement that the COVID relief bill will reduce childhood poverty by half, one of them posted “What about the OTHER half?” More evidence, he insisted, that Biden is a monster. As the saying goes: I swear I am not making this up.

    Personal update: Got the second shot (Moderna) an hour and a half ago. Tylenol, chicken soup, blankets, and Netflix locked and loaded. Bring it, side effects. We’re ready for you.

  90. 90.

    danielx

    @Immanentize: ​
     
    I did see a guy riding a unicycle on a busy four lane street the other day, sans helmet, and the two words that popped into my mind were “death wish”. Followed after I got a better look by “hipster douchebag”. Tell him to find an alternative.

  92. 92.

    sab

    @Damien: What the fuck?! There is something seriously wrong with a society that can’t be bothered to worry about its children. That hardly qualifies as a society. Dog packs do better.

    I don’t have children, but I have stepchildren and they have children, and life is really hard for them these days.

    Maybe instead kill off the retirees (that’s me) who aren’t producing. Or kill off the two income half million dollar banking families that give $75 to charity every year.

  93. 93.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Immanentize:  It being almost 45 years since I dabbled at it, I won’t claim to know much. A couple of points, though:

    I found that while I inevitably fell off a fair amount while learning: even though it was more often than I did while learning to ride a bicycle I sustained far fewer injuries. Most of the time I wound up on my feet. I think it’s because there’s nothing stopping the feet from getting in front of the fall regardless of the direction. Still, I got bruises.

    It surprised me that despite my less than stellar balance, I did pick up the knack of the idle. The trick for me was (to paraphrase Matt’s link) to realize I wasn’t balancing on the point where the tire meets the ground. The actual balance point is somewhere between waist and belly button, and you’re moving the tire back and forth (mostly) and the shoulders left and right (some) to keep that point in the air.

    Balance while riding? A lot like a bicycle’s conundrum – the best balance is while you’re moving “fast enough” (yay gyroscopic forces), but it seems everyone has to learn by going too slow for that best balance.

  94. 94.

    Major Major Major Major

    @MagdaInBlack: Basically every single policy is going to leave somebody out. That’s how transfers work, they go from somebody and to somebody else. I think natalist policies like this are 1) good and 2) politically good as well because it’s a potential nexus between GOP and Dem priorities where we may be able to get things done. I know that this assumes a modicum of good faith, but we can at least kick the tires on that.

  97. 97.

    Ruckus

    @patrick II:

    Please do not try to involve logic in these matters. It has no place among anything to do with the family in question(s) as it is a premise that they do not understand, believe in, know how to spell, like, practice…. It is the concept that will end their lives, for it makes them think of 60KV power lines, something to be avoided at all costs, and you know how much they hate paying for anything.

  99. 99.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I was hoping people would start focusing on corporate Georgia. When is it Coca-Cola’s time in the barrel? Is Home Depot about to go through some stuff?

    Judd Legum @JuddLegum
    @Delta promotes itself as a champion of voting rights & racial equality

    But Delta has donated 41K to the sponsors of two voter suppression bills in Georgia targeting Black voters

    Delta refuses to speak out against the bills saying it supports “secure elections processes”

    That last part is pretty much Big Lie Lite

  100. 100.

    MazeDancer

    @trollhattan:

    And Susan Rice has a little holder of white sage in the office, too. Not a joke, actual fact.

    Because after Stephen Miller, there is no such thing as too much smudging.

  101. 101.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @JWR: If there was no follow up asking him to walk through the logic of his answer, then I’d say he’s a fucking genius.

  103. 103.

    Immanentize

    @NetheadJay: Ahhh.  There is a very good hook for me.  He regularly mocks all things hipster.  Makes beard and mustache jokes.  Likes the old two picture site “Hipster or Religious Orthodox?”

    I have a line of attack….

  107. 107.

    Another Scott

    @MagdaInBlack: +1

    Plus, roving bands of feral children cause all kinds of mischief that is very, very expensive to mitigate.

    It’s an excellent investment that helps everyone, and we’re still too stingy about it.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  110. 110.

    MattF

    @Kirk Spencer: FYI, bicycle stability is not gyroscopic. It’s mainly due to frictional forces between the front wheel and the ground transferred to the bicycle frame via the linkage between the front wheel and the frame. To get a ‘seat of the pants’ feeling for this effect, imagine trying to ride and keep a bicycle stable on a sheet of ice.

  111. 111.

    danielx

    @Patriot Paula:

    it’s not called an abode of jackals for nothing.

    However, compared with some threads I’ve read on parler wherein commentors call for shooting, hanging and burning of political opponents, it’s pretty tame.

    But do go on.

  116. 116.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Steeplejack: That was not an expensive bag. Leftist nutters like to pick on D women. They obsessed about Nancy pelosi’s fridge and now Sinema’s bag but are A okay with socialist Jesus and his three houses.

  118. 118.

    Ivan X

    @germy: High profile gov in high profile state who became widely admired for his filling a leadership void when the nation needed it. Now he has fallen from grace — twofold! — which is any news org’s single favorite story.

    The other guy is just a backbencher without national recognition. A Nazi, sure, but a backbencher. Less story there. Part of me doesn’t *want* him to get more attention, so he stays that way.

  119. 119.

    Ruckus

    @patrick II:

    Yes Joe has power, now. He’s been relatively powerless and comes from a state that is beautiful and had one natural resource to sell…

    This is new to him and he may really not know how to play the game. At least not well. Ask yourself, of what value is the filibuster? It’s only effect is to delay progress. Stop a vote that is sure to go the opposite of the way one or two senators want it to go. It’s not legislating in any way, especially if there is no talking, just implementing a hold, a roadblock, that in the end gets what, nothing? What did Joe get out of this entire mess? To keep the filibuster a while longer? He is supposed to get something out of this effort, did he?

  120. 120.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I wonder if Patriot Paula has the American Eagle stamped on her toilet tissue.

  123. 123.

    Kirk Spencer

    @MattF:

    On the one hand, I want to accept your argument as I’m relatively ignorant on detail physics.

    On the other hand I’ve ridden bicycles across sheets of ice, and …

    no, just broke it down in my mind. Fast on ice is fine, but turning required slowing down enough the lean didn’t leave the tires losing traction.

    Thank you.

  124. 124.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Immanentize:

    @sdhays: You know who are often now homeless children? Kids separated from their parents at the border. 

    Yes, but that has nothing to do with Murk’s amendment. In answer to your question as relates to Murk:
    Q: You know who are often now homeless children?
    A: White children in Alaska.

  128. 128.

    Another Scott

    @MattF: Or when it’s pouring down rain and you’re on an old borrowed 10-speed with bald tires, going too fast downhill, and need to make a turn!!

    ;-)

    Excellent point.  Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  133. 133.

    Ivan X

    @sdhays: someone here, in response to a lament that NYC and CA were overrepresented in the comments here, that one in 40 Americans live in NYC. That put things in perspective for me.

  135. 135.

    Damien

    @sab: I agree, we should ABSOLUTELY care for the children in our society. But I think it’s sick that we have half a million kids in foster care, and yet as was indicated above we only subsidize the expense of the adoption process (as I understand it, and as I understand the comment); we shouldn’t be cheering more people on the planet, we should be trying to support the ones already here. That’s why I think any child tax credits should be less generous to bio children, and more generous to adoptees. Not that we should make the adoption process any less rigorous than it is now, but we should be pushing people to make better choices than reproduction.

    And while I don’t have the expense of children myself (nor will I ever) I do strongly feel that there should be some kind of sterilized tax credit. Hell, make it an environmental tax credit, because I’m not going to be contributing another 890,000 tons of CO2 per child?

    Not saying don’t take care of the children already here, I’m saying let’s incentivize people toward making more intelligent choices.

  136. 136.

    Ohio Mom

    Damien:

    I admit I had a moment like yours, and I know exactly where it came from, we’re on month six of Ohio Dad’s job search, and as an older engineer, this might be it. He could already be “retired,” which will be a huge hit financially for us.

    And there wasn’t anything for my disabled 23 y.o. either (raising the minimum wage would have been big for him but I certainly get why it had to be tossed).

    But I reminded myself that my family is still miles ahead of I don’t know, probably half of our fellow citizens, that when they do better it will filter up to everyone doing better, that our side won and won BIG and the momentum is building for all sorts of other improvements (which hopefully will include pushing some of the tax burden upwards!).

    Our life certainly wasn’t going to get better under a second Trump term. We’re living through a good patch of history and we should appreciate it.

  137. 137.

    Immanentize

    @Chief Oshkosh: native children too.  That state, I believe, has the highest number of ICWA cases (Indian Child Welfare Act) per population.  Actually, I don’t care how or where the money is spent, it will be a good thing and yet never enough.

  138. 138.

    JAFD

    Waybackwhen I was starting in college, had friend who got around on unicycle (this was small college in small town in middle of nowhere).  “Great thing about unicycles” he said, “you never have to worry about anyone ‘borrowing’ yours,”

  139. 139.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Even for Dan Crenshaw, this is a surprisingly dishonest argument. He would’ve been better off leaving the numbers out. 

    Dan Crenshawb@DanCrenshawTXb· 1h
    The COVID package costs every single American $5,750 and then gives some people $1,400.
    No, Biden isn’t a leprechaun. He’s just bribing you with your own money and footing your kids with the bill (and some inflation to top it off).

  143. 143.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    I gave that up long ago. In the end it doesn’t matter and boy have I wasted a lot of energy, that I could have used for something more fun.

  144. 144.

    JWR

    Here’s Manchin, where he says “why did Washington want bicameral” if he didn’t want input from the minority?, among other dumb things he said today.

    And LoL. Just watched the beginning of Chuck Todd’s next guest, John Barrasso (Q-M.D.), (because, as I’ve noted here before, I hate myself), referring to the Biden vaccination effort as ‘Operation Warp Speed’. Slick move there, doc.

  145. 145.

    Doc Sardonic

    @Patriot Paula: No, we don’t silence dissenting opinion. We just point, laugh and make condescending remarks that require a certain amount of refinement and erudition to understand.

  146. 146.

    Brachiator

    Coming late to the thread. And after having breakfast I see a ton of new comments compared to when I first peeked in.

    Anyway, on the expanded child tax credits

    The proposal would also authorize periodic payments, so that the credit becomes a near-universal child allowance like those in some other countries instead of part of a lump-sum tax refund.

    I don’t know how they handle this in other countries, but we need low cost banking for lower income citizens. This could be postal banking, Internet banking, or some version of the mobile payment programs used in various African countries and elsewhere.

    Otherwise, people who get monthly checks could see a hefty portion go to check cashing shops. I also suppose that a debit card will be available, and some stimulus payments have been paid via debit card. However, the card provider the government uses charges fees which, while small, can add up over multiple transactions.

    Security features also should be important. Fraudsters are going to target people hard who are getting these enhanced benefits.

  148. 148.

    JAFD

    @Ivan X: A couple of years back, someone came up with map (you can probably find it on ‘net somewhere.)  “The US Divided into 50 States with Equal Populations”

    Would have told him that Burlington County belongs in ‘Philadelphia’, not ‘Newark’…

  150. 150.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Brachiator: Romney’s would be administered through the SSA (this is just the proposal I happen to know the most about).

    There’s been a bit of chatter about giving everybody a Fed bank account that would make dropping money from helicopters comically easy, but I don’t know what sort of legislation that would require. Postal banking seems like a nonstarter as long as we have the filibuster. A lot of municipalities are thinking about getting into municipal banking, I think NYC is one of them.

  151. 151.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Immanentize: You’re welcome.

    My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that if he’s getting it because he thinks it’d be funny, he needs to think about /why/ he thinks that. And further, if he thinks the running gag would be just as funny second semester.

    I started riding because I got a unicycle for almost nothing, and I’m the sort who always dabbles at new and odd things. (I’ve a shallow knowledge of a LOT of things, depth in very few.) So I picked it up and tried for a month or so. I quit for several reasons, some of which Yours may find relevant.

    It gained no practical advantage over walking. Since there’s no gear system on basic unicyles one leg press is about one stride of distance per time for the same general effort. Worse, it was trickier for me to ride while carrying something despite having hands free. Maybe if I’d kept it up I’d have picked that up as well.

    It’s hard to stay in a group of friends. Sure I eventually got good enough to stay near without wobbling and weaving into someone, but by then everyone’s picked up the habit of staying a couple extra steps away.

    People look and laugh for a bit, then they just treat you as they always did – except they all stay a step or two away.

    I began to realize that the people I knew who rode unicycles consistently were, well, people I had no desire to be part of. What we call hipsters today mostly, and a few loners who wanted to master something different and were willing to sacrifice time with others to develop that mastery. While I’m relatively introverted, I didn’t want to become a master stunt unicyclist and wasn’t one of the weed smoking bohemian crowd.

    Not long after I passed the unicycle to someone else for about what I paid for it – again, close to nothing.

  153. 153.

    NetheadJay

    @trollhattan: Yeah, I’m familiar wth the Unipiper. Very Portland indeed. I’d say the flaming bagpipes tilts him away from full hipsterdom. And friends in Portland say he’s pretty cool.

  155. 155.

    Another Scott

    @Major Major Major Major: Postal money orders are a big thing already.  There’s probably a creative way for them to take deposits or hold federal electronic debit cards, without becoming a full fledged “bank”.  If Congress is looking for a way to make it happen…

    They should just do it, of course, but it might be a way to get the ball rolling quickly.

    COVID should accelerate the US moving to cashless.  We should take advantage of the emergency to make things better for people usually outside the system.

    (It’s been months since I’ve used cash (to pay for a haircut last summer, I think).)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  156. 156.

    Doc Sardonic

    @Steve in the ATL: No you are pedanting on the weekend. If you were pendanting you are either hanging or make the convoluted announcement that you just had a Prince Albert done.

  157. 157.

    Steve in the ATL

    @SFAW: omg autocorrect changed my made up verb!  Let the record show that I typed “pedanting”, knowing full well how wrong it was.

  160. 160.

    WaterGirl

    @trollhattan: If that was an Onion article, I might have thought they had gone too far.  Un-fucking-believable that someone actually said this out loud.  A preacher.  Unbelievable.

  161. 161.

    JWR

    @Ivan X:

    High profile gov in high profile state who became widely admired for his filling a leadership void when the nation needed it. Now he has fallen from grace — twofold! — which is any news org’s single favorite story.

    Swap out the Governor for the Mayor, and there’s The Tale of Rudy the G. Must be something in the water.

    Adding that *poof* the no text in the Visual tab bug shows it’s ugly head.

  162. 162.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Hungry Joe:

     

    “What about the OTHER half?”

    “Half the senate is republican—you do the math”

    J/k—rose Twitter types don’t do math

  163. 163.

    Ohio Mom

    Damien:

    Adoption and foster-care supports vary from state to state. Don’t assume that what you see in you community is what is available everywhere, other places might be less or more generous.

    Also, there are all sorts of social justice questions surrounding foster care and adoption, and the answers to the questions are always in flux.

    For an example, when I was a teen, I babysat two Native American tots who had been adopted by a couple in my Queens apartment building because that was THE lefty thing to do, and theywere red diaper types. Nowadays we recognize that removing children from their roots is problematic (not much of NA community in New York City).

    But you are right, there are too many of us on this big blue ball and Americans use up way more than our share of resources. I don’t know what the answer is, the urge to have offspring can be unstoppably strong.

  164. 164.

    sab

    @Immanentize: Unicycles are really hard to ride. I tried for a while, and my balance is excellent. My parents bought me a bicycle when I was six, and I needn’t need to learn. I just took off the training wheels and rode. Not so for unicycle.

    Point one on unicycles v bicycles. You cannot coast on a unicycle. If you don’t continuously peddle you slow down and fall over.

    Point two. Bicycles you have to balance sideways: front to back is taken care of unless you screw up your braking. Unicycles you can fall sideways or forward or back.

    You have to be an olympic athlete to use them on hills. Houston that might not be a problem. NE Ohio it is.

    Not very efficient as transportation, but an amazing physical accomplishment if you can ride them.

  166. 166.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: Too many preachers are just small businessmen hoping to become big businessmen.  [Insert link to one of Joel Osteen’s houses here]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  170. 170.

    Steve in the ATL

    @trollhattan: one of the very few things my parents got right was not infecting me with organized religion.

    Episcopalian schools did their best, but it didn’t take without reinforcement at home. Thank god!

  171. 171.

    JWR

    @Kirk Spencer: 

    On the other hand I’ve ridden bicycles across sheets of ice, and …

    Or across moss covered concrete, like the short bridge my brother broke his hip on during a mountain biking trip while, I suspect, going a bit too slow.

  173. 173.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Ohio Mom:

    there are too many of us on this big blue ball

    Well that’s just not true at all. Population growth is nearing its end. Hunger is sort of a red herring since we do have enough food, it’s just unevenly distributed, largely due to last-mile corruption in local governments. The big trick will be getting industrializing countries in Africa to use clean energy, but that’s doable. It’s cheap now and a lot of them are already setting up green microgrids instead of more expensive, harder to manage coal/oil/gas plants.

    People should have kids if they want to and the government should support them! Climate change is fought at the government and corporate level, not by refusing to have kids.

  174. 174.

    Ken

    @Major Major Major Major: Would love to hear more about the unhinged lunacy you apparently see in this thread.

    Probably the unicycle discussion.  Lucky for us she[*] didn’t drop in when we were talking about naked mopping or sharing animated GIFs of cats in boxes.

    * Speaking of the M. Potatohead wars, is there any consensus on how to refer to people who you only know by nym?  I used “she” because “Paula”.

  175. 175.

    sdhays

    @Ivan X: I still feel NY is overrepresented in comparison to, say, CA, but I admit the feeling is subjective subjective.

  178. 178.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    No, Biden isn’t a leprechaun.

    Does this sound like mildly veiled hibernophobia* to anyone else?

    The fucking Klan’s really taken over the Republican Party.

    (*Anti-Irish shit)

  179. 179.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: Those preachers say some crazy stuff. I was listening to one sermonizing on the radio once. He was discussing problems of newly wed couples, in particular the wife/mother-in-law dynamic. His conclusion: “So men, after you’ve brought your bride home, you need to have a talk with your mother, and tell her that there’s a new Sheriff in town!”

    But I realize the sermon you refer to is not at all funny.

  180. 180.

    cain

    @Ohio Mom: ​
     

    But you are right, there are too many of us on this big blue ball and Americans use up way more than our share of resources. I don’t know what the answer is, the urge to have offspring can be unstoppably strong.

    Our way of life comes at a cost – we take up more resources, but also we fuck over other countries because we are the biggest fish. Eg Central America and Iran are all examples of us fucking over other democracies because they aren’t a trajectory that would support our way of life.

    The other first world countries are like this to a much lesser degree. But their colonial history is what gives them the edge.

  181. 181.

    Ixnay

    @Immanentize: practice. You can do it in a doorway indoors, holding on to the jams. Outdoors, ski poles can be useful. Pads and a helmet. Oh yeah, practice.

  182. 182.

    tybee

    @Immanentize: Okay, totally off topic, but does anyone know anything about unicycles (beyond that they have one wheel*)? Asking for a son….

    i have a child who’s gone through a couple.  what do you want to know?  (gratis data:  it takes a lot of practice to be able to ride one).

  183. 183.

    cain

    @Geminid: ​
     

    @WaterGirl: Those preachers say some crazy stuff. I was listening to one sermonizing on the radio once. He was discussing problems of newly wed couples, in particular the wife/mother-in-law dynamic. His conclusion: “So men, after you’ve brought your bride home, you need to have a talk with your mother, and tell her that there’s a new Sheriff in town!”

    Does that also mean the follow up response is that there will be new will written down too? :-)

  184. 184.

    cain

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ​
     

    Even for Dan Crenshaw, this is a surprisingly dishonest argument. He would’ve been better off leaving the numbers out.

    The man has some nerve given the huge debt that was racked up for rich people that future generations have to pay. What a colossal asshole.

  185. 185.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Romney’s would be administered through the SSA (this is just the proposal I happen to know the most about).

    Social Security Administration? Their setup is rather primitive, but I guess it might be a place to start.

    A few years ago, I had to go to a local Social Security office for a replacement card and some other matters. Slow, plodding, long lines, and I noticed that the office setup was not senior friendly.

    Their web site is OK, but not well designed. And it is crazy that people are sometimes asked to go to the web site for better service when, again, seniors are somewhat less likely to be computer savvy.

    Lots of work would need to be done here, even for younger people with kids.

    The stimulus payment debit cards appear to be administered in partnership with the IRS. But more work would need to be done here as well.

    There’s been a bit of chatter about giving everybody a Fed bank account that would make dropping money from helicopters comically easy, but I don’t know what sort of legislation that would require. Postal banking seems like a nonstarter as long as we have the filibuster. A lot of municipalities are thinking about getting into municipal banking, I think NYC is one of them.

    You have to have a national program for federal payments. Also, people have to be able to move from state to state without having to re-establish banking relationships.

    @Another Scott:

    COVID should accelerate the US moving to cashless. We should take advantage of the emergency to make things better for people usually outside the system.

    (It’s been months since I’ve used cash (to pay for a haircut last summer, I think).)

    We live in an increasingly cashless society. In California, unemployment payments are put on debit cards, but the program is not secure and recently has been seriously screwed up because of massive fraud. The increased Covid payments made for an easy target

    Food stamps and other relief payments are put on an EBT card. This program seems to be fairly successful.

  186. 186.

    sdhays

    @Steve in the ATL: I’m just waiting for the keepers of English grammar to concede this one. It’s one of those things that the vast majority of English speakers don’t understand or care about, so eventually the distinction between less and fewer is going to go away completely.

  190. 190.

    Damien

    @Ohio Mom: 

    The drive may be unstoppably strong, but we are also reward-driven creatures, so let’s not reinforce the idea of reproducing as an unavoidable step. We should help those suffering, but we should also reward people making socially and personally responsible choices; more than that we really should be educating people about their options.

    As someone once said, “ A person is smart, people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it,” truer words were never spoken.

  191. 191.

    Quiltingfool

    @MagdaInBlack: I’m with you.  I don’t have children; I am more than willing to take less for myself if the kids get more.  I believe we need to take good care of the innocents, the helpless, the elderly.   Tax breaks for wealthy need to go away.

  192. 192.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Brachiator: The Fed would be my ideal Citizens’ Bank because they have a computer in the basement that just creates money. Congress can pass a law saying “give everybody $2000” and the Fed just mashes the button. Could theoretically also allow for an end-run around Congress…

  193. 193.

    danielx

    @WhatsMyNym: ​
     
    Be it noted that every entity I have seen/read on the intertubes using “patriot” as part of a screen name is/has been, without exception, a complete dipshit.

    Okay, with one exception – patriotboy, blogmaster for Jesus’ General.

  194. 194.

    sab

    @Damien: I have three stepkids, one of whom is adopted out of foster care. I have two adopted cousins, one was adopted immediately after delivery, and the other’s mother tried to keep her for a month and then came to her senses about the difficulties of single parenthood. My father’s only sister was adopted at age four from one of those depression trains in the 1930s.

    Adopted and foster care kids are often wonderful and I love my stepdaughter, but they are not easy. Even babies experience neglect and abandonment. They all come  with lots of baggage. You and they will learn a lot working through it, and be much better persons afterwards,but it will probably take decades. I would not have changed our choice for the world, and I don’t think my aunt and uncle or grandfather would have either. But it is hard.

    If you and they live through the adjustment it is absolutely worth it, but it isn’t easy and it isn’t cheap and it is not an easy alternative to wives bearing kids.

    If you are not supporting kids, life is already sparing you a major expense. If that is you thing be grateful. As a society intending to continue we need kids. Population wise, maybe just tax excess consumption, instead of ignoring poor kids. They don’t actually consume a lot, even with tax breaks.

    This sounds personal against you. It absolutely isn’t intended to be at all. If you don’t have kids you don’t realize how expensive they are. But we aren’t Shakers. Without kids, society dies.

  195. 195.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan: ​
     

    A Baptist preacher in Missouri has gone on leave after a backlash over comments he made about women’s appearances.

    Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark drew scorn for a sermon offering advice to wives he said would stop their husbands becoming “distracted” by other women. It included comments about Melania Trump whom he described as “the epic trophy wife of all time”.

    When I read this story, I was outraged both by the dumb ass comments about women’s appearance, and by the idea that this dope thought that Melania Trump was a catch.

    And based on observation of a number of couples, I would add this admonition: do not seek a trophy wife if you yourself are not a prize catch.

  196. 196.

    GregMulka

    @Brachiator: The big problem I see with cashless is all the rent-seeking leeches it introduces into the mix. Payment processors take a cut. You do math wrong or the utility company decides to take a week processing your payment and you forgot about, now your overdrawn or they’re turning off your lights.

    It adds to the psychological weight of poverty or near poverty.

  197. 197.

    Kirk Spencer

    @sab: Weird how we differed in how hard we found it. I don’t find my balance excellent, but I picked up the basic knack in just a few days. Agree about coasting. And hills (Colorado Springs at the time. There are flat stretches there, but not where I lived.)

  198. 198.

    sab

    @Kirk Spencer: Were you learning on hills? Or maybe you are a better athlete

    ETA :Better athlete. NE Ohio isn’t flat but Colorado isn’t either, although Colorado Springs has flat patches. I just found it really difficult to keep peddling enough to be in control.

  200. 200.

    SFAW

    @Brachiator:

    and by the idea that this dope thought that Melania Trump was a catch.

    Well, considering who “caught” her, maybe he was right.

  201. 201.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Ixnay: not poles – they throw off your balance.

    Indoors a hallway narrow enough you can touch both sides (and not full of things to knock off and break if your fall doesn’t land you on your feet).

    Outdoors, I found a tennis court worked best overall. Just ride the perimeter using the fence for your steady. That said the actual best was a roller skating rink as the floor was good and there’s a rail at just about the right height all the way around, but getting an owner to agree to you using it for the unicycle is difficult enough to put it below the tennis court.

  203. 203.

    sab

    @GregMulka: My stepson just tried to file his taxes through free Turbotax and they said he owed $500+ to the state. I do tax prep. He called me horrified. Turns out their automatic scanner didn’t read his state withholding. How long would it have taken the state to figure that out and give him his refund?

    All he has is one w-2. Why is he having to go through this stress?

  204. 204.

    Kirk Spencer

    @sab: yes and no about hills – learned on a tennis court, rode on the sidewalks once I got it.

    Athlete? I was band and choir, was already playing wargames when D&D came out and shifted my focus. And yet, I participated in 2 sports a year from 4th grade through graduation, and when I joined the army volunteered to be a Ranger. So, maybe?

  205. 205.

    Brachiator

    @sdhays: ​
     

    I’m just waiting for the keepers of English grammar to concede this one. It’s one of those things that the vast majority of English speakers don’t understand or care about, so eventually the distinction between less and fewer is going to go away completely.

    You’re probably right. Increasing ignorance about grammar rules is making this issue a mute point.

    But when I first learned about the distinction in elementary school, it was easy to remember. And I got a chuckle not too long ago when a newly remodeled supermarket had one lane for shoppers with “15 items or fewer.”

    ETA: I know that it is “moot point,” but “mute” for “moot” is another linguistic abomination which is becoming more common. I suspect this is because a lot of people have heard the word but have never read it anywhere.

  206. 206.

    RobertB

    @Kirk Spencer: My daughter’s elementary school gym teacher taught the kids to juggle and unicycle.  They would put on a show every year.  They learned to unicycle like you’ve said, and leaned against the gym wall as they circled the gym.  She can ride a unicycle and juggle, but not both simultaneously.  Since there were fewer unicyclists, she did that for their show.

  207. 207.

    Bex

    @Baud: He probably married whomever his parents chose.  Or, see the novel The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd.

  208. 208.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Brachiator:

    Increasing ignorance about grammar rules is making this issue a mute point.

    They’re suggestions, really, and if enough people ignore them, then the rules are in fact wrong. For example, the completely made up rule about ending a sentence with a preposition. Or singular they, which actually has a long history.

  209. 209.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Brachiator:

     

    ETA: I know that it is “moot point,” but “mute” for “moot” is another linguistic abomination which is becoming more common. I suspect this is because a lot of people have heard the word but have never read it anywhere.

    I’m glad you honed in on that!

  210. 210.

    brantl

    @Major Major Major Major: Before we helped assassinate their duly elected prime minister; “Prior to 1979, Iran had its political system as a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy with parliamentary system. “

  211. 211.

    topclimber

    @Frankensteinbeck: But, at the end of the day and  the end of the thread, who gives a  flying crapola what they say? Outside of jackals who enjoy being pissed off, of course.

  213. 213.

    Brachiator

    @sab: ​
     

    My stepson just tried to file his taxes through free Turbotax and they said he owed $500+ to the state. I do tax prep. He called me horrified. Turns out their automatic scanner didn’t read his state withholding. How long would it have taken the state to figure that out and give him his refund? All he has is one w-2. Why is he having to go through this stress?

    Wow. That’s crazy. Scanning W2 information should be easy peasy. A number of software programs have this feature. And those that tout their ability to easily do “simple” returns should have this nailed.

    But this has been a tough year, with a scramble to program new federal changes, and dealing with states that conform or do not conform to federal rules, especially Covid related stuff.

    Some states that allow for itemized deductions when the fed uses the standard deduction did not correctly handle the new $300 maximum charitable deduction for non-itemizers.

  218. 218.

    J R in WV

    @Another Scott: ​

     

    I have one gripe with the Executive Order, although I may be off base on what’s possible in a Federal E O regarding voting.

    We need to require all voting locations or precincts across a political boundary to have the same number of voting tools and staff and related facilities per inhabitant of the election district.

    IN other words, Well to do white voting precincts cannot be larger or more equipped than those precincts of working class , nor those which are African-American or other minorities. Everyone gets the same service in number of poll workers, voting machines, ballots, and all election equipment and staff, per voter head count population of the voting district or precinct.

    I for one am sick and tired of seeing huge lines at voting precincts on election day AND for early voting. People who are in charge of providing poll workers and equipment at polling precincts who don’t provide the same facilities for every voter should be prosecuted for election fraud, as they are obviously trying to corrupt the election they are managing. If this isn’t already illegal and a felony, then it needs to be spelled out in the appropriate legalese as well as a plain English explanation of the issues and certain penalties. Fines AND jail time, not a slap on the wrist! Voter fraud is a felony, and that’s what this bullshit is.

    And the election needs to be thrown out and redone with equalized facilities and new management. All a federal prosecutor should need would be data on time in line for all voting precincts, or video of old folks standing in line for longer in some precincts than in other precincts.

  219. 219.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    They’re suggestions, really, and if enough people ignore them, then the rules are in fact wrong. For example, the completely made up rule about ending a sentence with a preposition. Or singular they, which actually has a long history.

    It’s not just that the rules are wrong. The democratization of English, which lacks any Academy which arbitrates rules, helps insure that usage dominates everything.

    And the Internet may have intensified this. Early on, in various forums you would always notice people who had a need to rebel against book learning and stuff their teachers tried to tell them.

    So, you would always read stuff like “Don’t tell me the rules!!  Don;t correct my grammar!! You understood what I was trying to say!!!!!!!”

    Usually from people who neither think nor write clearly.

    But this has been happening a long time with English and other languages.

    Enormity used to mean an extreme level of wickedness. Now it often just means big. “The enormity of Biden’s relief plan…”

    Desert used to be an abandoned place, sometimes filled with wild plants.

    And many people speak of “just desserts” because they have lost an understanding of “deserts” as a variation of “what one deserves.”

    And I suppose that people make up new rules to substitute for the old rules. But all rules change as the language evolves.

    Does anyone speak about “dialing a phone number” anymore?

  220. 220.

    sab

    @J R in WV: My county just got its first black member of the board of elections. In 2021. He is a longtime experienced member of city council who worked well with our twenty year mayor.

    But we are in NE Ohio. Underground Railroad ran through here. 40 years in politics and he finally got this spot he earned decades ago.

    Good, but jeez

    ETA My city might be majority Black although the county isn’t. Shocking and embarrassing, but finally, and he will do a good job.

  221. 221.

    J R in WV

    @Immanentize:

    well, I have already introduced the helmet paradigm. He took a good tumble on his bike last summer — front tire blowout on a busy road that sent him flying over the handle bars onto pavement. Brain bucket was proven effective. So he hasn’t pushed back on that restriction.

    Also, once a helmet has taken a fall like that, it should be replaced immediately, as they lose a great deal of their strength and resistance to an subsequent impact after the impact of that first fall.

  222. 222.

    J R in WV

    @Major Major Major Major: ​

    @Baud: ​You’re practically the least unhinged of our lunatics!

    Wait, what?!> Seriously? ;~)​

    ETA:

    More seriously, Patriotic Paula is pretty obviously a deranged Qanon Troll… Who knows how she found us, who cares?

  223. 223.

    burnspbesq

    @JAFD:

    Bad—no, terrible—idea. Letting unaccountable organizations like the AICPA and FASB dictate tax policy will inevitably lead to disaster. Or have you forgotten the important role FASB played in destroying defined-benefit pension plans?

    After 37 years of practicing tax law, I’m passionate about this. This is a hill worth dying on.

  224. 224.

    SFAW

    @Major Major Major Major:

    What am I, the Encyclopedia Britannica? I just knew that Mossadegh was overthrown or deposed. Google indicates he held various ministerial positions from the 1920s until the 1953 coup. I have no idea whether they were a democracy, a republic, a petrarchy, or a veeblefetzer.

  227. 227.

    Another Scott

    @J R in WV: I agree and I think Biden and his team do as well.  And most/all Democrats.

    Unfortunately, an EO can’t address that.  He can only direct federal agencies to look at things and do things consistent with the law.  Congress has to pass new laws (probably based on equal protection arguments, but IANAL) to ensure equal access.

    The EO is maximizing what the federal government can do with the existing laws, as I understand it.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  228. 228.

    SFAW

    @burnspbesq:

    After 37 years of practicing tax law

    Kind of a long time for practice. When are you going to be good enough that you can actually DO it?

  229. 229.

    SFAW

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Mohammed Pahlavi was a brutal dictator backed by foreign interests by 1979

    He was the direct beneficiary of the 1953 coup, being installed (more or less) by the CIA and MI6 at that point.

    As an undergrad in the 1970s, there was a big uproar at my school when Iran tried sending 50-plus students to become nuke engineers. SAVAK was a well-known name during that period. I think the college administration eventually allowed those students to matriculate, despite the protests.

    ETA: SAVAK was/were the Shah’s secret police. Pretty brutal, if I recall correctly.

  230. 230.

    MomSense

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I think the Persian Constitution was ratified in 1906.  Ended in 1979 with the Iranian Revolution. It was a Parliamentary system with a Monarch as head of state and an elected prime minister head of the government.  They had a sort of religious House of Lords and voting was incredibly restrictive as in women and subversives need not attempt it.  Can’t remember much else.

  231. 231.

    janesays

    @trollhattan: To be more accurate, the Democrats didn’t have a slender margin in the senate. They had literally zero margin in the senate.

  235. 235.

    CaseyL

    @sab: ​
     

    If his taxes are basic and easy, allow me to recommend FreeTax USA. I’ve been using them for years, and never had a problem.

    One caveat is that they don’t access government sites and automatically download things like W-2s or Schedules: you have to have the information at hand and be able to input the amount in every box and line.

    They have a nifty little tool at the end called Refund Maximizer or Deduction Maximizer (can’t remember which) where they take you though all the deductions and whatnot that are possible, in case you missed one or didn’t know about it.

    There is a premium version, but the basic one is free, and I highly recommend it.

  236. 236.

    J R in WV

    @Major Major Major Major: ​
     

    when was Iran a democracy?

    I think briefly before the CIA installed the Shah as absolute monarch, able to disburse Oil freely to the British oil corp. From 1947 until the CIA MI6 coup in 1953… was a constitutional monarchy with a parliament…

    Maybe barely democratic in today’s terms, but more than every before or since.

  237. 237.

    Damien

    @sab: I actually DO realize how expensive children are, and I know I don’t want to work that hard, spend that money, or be that beholden, that’s why I’m not popping them out. I also don’t think I said that adopting is easier than birthing children, I believe I said it’s superior. I’m tired of people not adopting because society sees it as somehow less than breeding, when it is absolutely the opposite. By adopting you are making a choice to go through a difficult and often expensive process that will examine your ability to care for the child, your stability, etc. Again this is only based off of friends’ adoptive experiences, but it sure seems like it takes a lot more thought and commitment than a lot of people put into their breeding.

    I don’t want society to stop supporting the children, but I want us to stop making out pregnancies to be the absolute positive. I read recently about a woman who has had TWENTY-TWO miscarriages and is still trying. Adoption would be the vastly better option since obviously there’s something very wrong with her body that doesn’t want to be carried on. We should be strongly encouraging people to adopt, especially older children who will need a lot more support and care than an infant; we should be rewarding people who choose not to have children, because despite what M4 says no one should shirk the extra strain they’re contributing to AGW.

    I’m not saying that just because you don’t have children now you should be rewarded for that, but if you (like me) choose to permanently sterilize yourself instead of blasting out carbon bombs, maybe you shouldn’t be taxed to death?

  239. 239.

    rikyrah

    That Senator Brown of Ohio would say this is among the most important votes that he has ever cast…. This bill must be pretty impressive.

  240. 240.

    James E Powell

    @sdhays:

    I’m just waiting for the keepers of English grammar to concede this one. It’s one of those things that the vast majority of English speakers don’t understand or care about, so eventually the distinction between less and fewer is going to go away completely.

    Until a few years ago, California had a high school exit exam that had to be passed for a diploma. There were always five grammar/usage questions at the end and they tended to be the same questions in different forms. The less/fewer question was on nearly every one. Also, comparative for two, superlative for three or more, singular verb or pronoun for everyone, and further/farther.

    In my informal anecdotal polling of every English teacher I ever met, not one taught these distinctions.

  242. 242.

    rikyrah

    As I wrote yesterday, I am very thankful for the funds to non-Federal governments. Their finances have been gutted because of COVID. This money will prevent mass layoffs.??

  243. 243.

    James E Powell

    @Brachiator:

    The democratization of English, which lacks any Academy which arbitrates rules, helps insure that usage dominates everything.

    You mean “ensure,” don’t you? <ducks>

  244. 244.

    lowtechcyclist

    Gotta admit, today I’m just basking in this outcome for the bill.

    Sure, I’m disappointed about the minimum wage, and we’ve got to come back and tackle that another day. But the rest of the bill is so packed with good shit that it’s really kinda hard to believe. I can’t even remember half of it, and I’ve got a pretty good memory for this sort of stuff.

    Maybe the Dems are finally figuring out how to play this here game. I’m starting to get a bit hopeful. And for once, proud to be a Democrat, for real.

  245. 245.

    Starboard Tack

    @sab:

    I once saw a guy riding a unicycle on a single track in the hills outside Pocatello. He was smiling.

  246. 246.

    Brachiator

    @Damien:

    We should be strongly encouraging people to adopt, especially older children who will need a lot more support and care than an infant.

    We kinda do this already. The adoption credit is pretty generous, especially for adoption of special needs kids. Maybe it should be more.

    Of course this would have to be paid for. More taxes for you!

    we should be rewarding people who choose not to have children,

    I am not quite seeing the value in this. It is not that special.

    I think it might be interesting to announce that in five years, additional credits for people who have more than three kids will be pared back. People would have advance notice. But the government would also have to spend more to promote birth control, which of course would give the right wing fits.

  247. 247.

    SFAW

    @Mike:

    I think I saw something from him since then, but I can’t recall where, so I’m probably mistaken. He was a good read.

  248. 248.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:

    As a former bike shop owner, I’d like to make a small correction.

    They take a hit like that and they must be replaced as they lose all their strength and impact resistance. They do not have a strong shell, like a motorcycle helmet. They have a lot of open space, connected by bars of structural foam (not the correct terminology but close enough for this discussion) and they are weakened significantly by a fall.

  250. 250.

    rikyrah

    @sab:

    I, too, am childless.

    The quote about the $$$ that will go to families who don’t make enough to pay taxes. That’s $300 month for that family. If you have never been there, good for you. But, that $300 will help them immensely.

  251. 251.

    Starboard Tack

    @J R in WV:

    @Immanentize:

    Also, once a helmet has taken a fall like that, it should be replaced immediately, as they lose a great deal of their strength and resistance to an subsequent impact after the impact of that first fall.

    It’s also good to replace an old helmet even without any impact. The foam can deteriorate over time and newer designs, like MIPS, have better safety features.

  256. 256.

    Ruckus

    @CaseyL:

    Did my taxes last night. Took me longer to get the labels for the envelops printed than it did to do my taxes. And yes it raised my BP a lot more than the taxes did.

    @burnspbesq:

    I think it was you telling me about the Recovery Rebate part that I needed to do, as I haven’t received my $600 check. If it was Thank You! If it wasn’t, whoever did tell me, Thank You! In theory I’m getting that as a refund now.

  258. 258.

    Brachiator

    @James E Powell: ​
     

    The democratization of English, which lacks any Academy which arbitrates rules, helps insure that usage dominates everything.

    You mean “ensure,” don’t you?

    Ha! You are right. I assure you that I had the right word in mind. I am lazy about editing myself when writing in informal forums.

    But you understood what I meant, dammit!!!!
    :)

    ETA: and should that be “fora…?”

  260. 260.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:

    I should have been clearer. It wasn’t the actual printing that was the problem, it was getting the formatting of the templet (Avery Label) and my word processing program to actually cooperate. I may change one or the other of these issues, just for my own health and sanity, the last is in far enough decline as it is.

  261. 261.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus: 

    I think it was you telling me about the Recovery Rebate part that I needed to do, as I haven’t received my $600 check. If it was Thank You! If it wasn’t, whoever did tell me, Thank You! In theory I’m getting that as a refund now.

    Glad that you found the Recovery Rebate Worksheet.

    BTW: If you did not itemize, and had charitable contributions, I hope you took advantage of the deduction on Form 1040, Line 10b.

    A lot of people are missing that one. Does not make a large difference, but it can be an easy few extra dollars.

    Maximum of $300 allowed, $150 for married filing separate returns.

  262. 262.

    J R in WV

    @Patriot Paula:

    …

    Wonder if this post will actually get posted or if you simply silence dissenting opinion.

    Whoever approved this post to go up, thank you so much. Patriot Paula has never posted before today, according to Google, and obviously stumbled onto B-J somehow not knowing anything about us jackals.

    Even tho Patriot Paula is obviously a raging lunatic fascist, I’m glad for it to see we will post even unhinged RWNJs as long as they aren’t too racist, sexist, or violent. Actually, we prefer to have them drift by as it helps educate us as to the whackjob nuttery out there in their anti-democracy world.

    Thanks again! (Major^4, was that you? Or WaterGirl?)

  265. 265.

    Damien

    @Brachiator: The value in rewarding people who don’t have children is preventative.  In a lifetime, the average person in America will add 890,000 tons of CO2 to the atmosphere, so people who only have 2 kids are still throwing another ~1.8 million tons to what is already an enormous problem.  In addition to the myriad other crises like overfishing, housing, labor, energy, etc. that are being driven by our population.

    Much like the added strain that every COVID case puts on our healthcare system, every child adds strain to all of our systems, across the board.  And just like getting the COVID vaccine should be encouraged and rewarded as a way of keeping yourself from possibly adding to the strain on the healthcare system, we should be rewarding and encouraging people to get sterilized to keep from adding to the strain on our general system.

    I’m not saying we should put in China’s one-child policy or any shit like that, I think you should be perfectly free to have as many children as you can take care of, but I also think that much akin to how you’re allowed to buy as many packs of cigarettes as you like while paying an enormous tax to discourage the behavior, we should be using the tax system to incentivize better decisions.

    Also, I don’t think there should be more taxes for me, there should be less money sent to bio parents.  Let’s say if the credit is $1k, then first child the adoptee gets $1200, second child the adoptee gets $1200 but the bio parent gets 500, third child $1200 for the adoptee, nothing for the bio parent.  And of course, $1k credit for sterilization.

    Hey, two kids and you get 1.5x the credit?  That seems fair, no?  But it also encourages people to adopt and get sterilized, thus relieving some pressure on the various fires burning all over the planet to which we keep adding fuel.

  267. 267.

    James E Powell

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: @Ruckus:

    Because standardized testing hysteria is a 21st century phenomenon.

    Beginning in my first year of teaching, 2005-2006, students had to pass the exam to get a diploma.  At every high school where I taught, the California High School Exit Exam – CAHSEE (NoCal short a, SoCal long a) was the single most important thing.

    Electives were cancelled so students could double either math or English to improve scores. Home rooms were devoted to test prep. Millions were spent on test prep curricula and materials. Gains from all this effort were marginal. Eventually, the test was scrapped. There is a new testing regimen, but I’ve since moved to middle schools and don’t know the details.

  268. 268.

    JAFD

    @burnspbesq: “Bad—no, terrible—idea. Letting unaccountable organizations like the AICPA and FASB dictate tax policy will inevitably lead to disaster. Or have you forgotten the important role FASB played in destroying defined-benefit pension plans?”

    I am sorry, but I don’t know.  However, I was close, for several decades, to people involved in writing and publishing.  Many had their lives, financial plans, and business models upended by this court decision, and not for the better.

    Anyway, I would like to learn mare about the history of accounting (which you seem to be knowlegable on, am I right ?)  For example, I’ve read a good bit about 19th-century business and railroad history, wondering when the concept of depreciation of capital assets became accepted ?

    If you’d like to suggest some books or other material on this, would be very appreciative.

  269. 269.

    2liberal

    @danielx @mike  re:  Jesus’ General, if you scroll down a few posts you’ll see he was hurting .

     

    I was waiting until I felt up to writing a long, clever post before writing this, but I’m just not there, so this will have to suffice for now.

    I apologize for totally disappearing without explanation, You  have brought a great deal of joy into my life and I feel like I’ve treated you badly by not posting or communicating.

    I haven’t been feeling well. I am in near constant pain throughout my body and am exhausted. My doctors are trying to figure it out, but can’t pinpoint the problem, yet.

    My job has been demanding as well. By the time I get home, I’m too tired and in too much pain to pay the attention I feel I need to pay to writing. And after over 15 years of being the General–at least ten of which were here on this blog–it’s tough to keep the old guy fresh. Too tough when I feel like this.

  270. 270.

    Pittsburgh Mike

    And you’re missing potentially the biggest thing: the expansion of ACA premium subsidies to people above 400% of FPL.  The ACA is essentially unaffordable to anyone in the middle class who makes more than that figure — you’d end up having to pay 25% or more of your *gross* income just for premiums.

    But under this plan, your premiums drop by a factor of 3.  And I’d hope that after people start getting these subsidies, they might become permanent, since it’s a big deal to take health insurance away from millions of people.

  271. 271.

    janesays

    @Damien: 890,000 TONS?

    Uh… no. 890,000 pounds. Which is 445 tons. Which means you’re off by a factor of 2,000.

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