Fully expect this one to go through, but the damage he could potentially do is immense.
It's also now high-profile enough to where it furthers the perception of Trump's second presidency as a circus, and it's unlikely that this type of term will make him *popular* with voters. https://t.co/5rKoba3UMU
— Lakshya Jain (@lxeagle17) November 14, 2024
Perhaps it is a sign of how much Trump respects his most loyal constituency, the People of Garbage, that he was willing to promote one of their avatars despite said avatar’s narcissistic competition for the limelight. (As a fellow Irish-American, let me assure the sensitive: The Kennedys are very much ‘American aristocracy’ — a clan of violent grifters with a strong streak of neurodiversity and a not-unrelated fondness for substance abuse in all its forms. And despite his extremely bigoted statements about autism, if Bobby Jr. were fifty years younger, he would have had an IEP as thick as a Potter novel and quite possibly have been diagnosed on the spectrum.)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr evokes Camelot, you know, the time of King Arthur when there was no fucking medicine.
— Frank Conniff (@frankconniff.bsky.social) November 14, 2024 at 6:48 PM
If RFK Jr. does end up in Trump’s administration — there’s still plenty of time for him to foul it up — he’ll probably be under-bused for his assaults on ‘Big Ag’ and ‘Big Grocery’ before he can do too much damage to America’s medical industry… although it would be less worrying if not for the looming H5N1 threat.
Meanwhile, Alexandra Petri remains a national treasure. From the Washington Post, “RFK Jr. to head newly formed Department of Disease Efficiency” [gift link]:
Well, President-elect Donald Trump has picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the new head of the Department of Health and Human Services. âHe wants to do some things and weâre going to let him go to it,â Trump said. âGo have a good time, Bobby.â
Everyone who is an HHS employee and is not the measles virus: You are on notice! Weâre taking this department in a new direction! Measles, stand back and stand by. Itâs about to be your time.
Weâre doing our best to give the people what they want. For many years we thought what they wanted was clean drinking water, safe and tested vaccines to drive down deaths from childhood diseases, and food that is produced in sanitary conditions so the people who eat it donât get sick. But we were wrong, and the change starts now.
Similarly, we mistakenly thought that finding a dead mouse in your frozen ravioli dinner was a shock. Now, we know better. Itâs a surprise! People love surprises. People love danger! Our ancestors didnât stare down death every time they went out to hunt and eat food that had not been subject to Food and Drug Administration inspection so we wouldnât have to stare down death every day as we went out to buy food that has not been subject to FDA inspection. You want to consume a can of beans and live? TOUGH LUCK! THIS IS DONALD TRUMPâS AMERICA!
In light of this, and of the nomination of RFK Jr. as our leader, we at the Department of Health and Human Services are announcing a rebrand as the Department of Disease Efficiency. Given our new mandate to root out expertise wherever it might lurk and replace it with Something That Came To RFK Jr. In A Dream Once, we felt it was proper to release âHealthâ and âHuman Servicesâ back into the wild, where maybe RFK Jr. can hunt them down with his falcon and eat them before they have undergone an FDA inspection.
Look, most Americans are not equipped to test food safety or vaccine safety on their own. And thatâs because, unwisely, we have delegated these tasks to the FDA. Itâs time we gave them back to the people. Every citizen should learn to inspect his own meat, like the Founders did. George Washington (who apparently only had one real tooth left at the end of his life) did not drink fluoridated water. Abraham Lincoln (one of whose children actually made it to adulthood!) never gave his children safe, routine childhood vaccinations. Franklin D. Roosevelt (who had polio) had polio. Itâs time we went back to that…
For too long, American citizens have been complacent, having fewer and fewer children, under the misapprehension that if you like your child, you should get to keep your child. And whatâs to blame for that? Safe, accessible vaccines that mean nobody gets measles. What better way to drive up birth rates (donât interrupt me, JD Vance) than to increase the rates of childhood deaths? Also, maybe we can stop approving birth control! None of it seems safe. Weâre going to get to the bottom of this, using science â or something that is just as good as science: nothing.
Every time you get to do something as simple as sit down with your healthy family and eat food from a grocery store, it is the result of a cavalcade of miracles. Each health and safety regulation that made your food safe to eat, each childhood vaccine that means you are at the table with Tiny Tim and not his Sad, Empty Chair and Abandoned Crutch, is the product of decades â no, centuries! â of painstaking effort. And these efforts came from all kinds of people: brilliant, dedicated medical minds, crusaders who were sick of finding dead mice in their lunch meat and just ordinary families who were willing to do whatever they could not to lose their loved ones. Well, weâre going to take those decades of painstaking, breathtaking achievement and treat them as RFK Jr. treats a bear carcass: dump it somewhere, for no reason, after it has been struck by a car.
Finally, we can declare victory in the long, bitter war against lifesaving human innovations like pasteurization and the polio vaccine! I donât know why we want to declare victory in this war, but I guess itâs what weâre doing.
Que Sirhan Sirhan
RFK Jr. taking over Health and Human Services might just be the shot in the arm Donaldâs cabinet needs to finish off Joeâs agenda once and for all.
by Maureen Dowd
— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) November 14, 2024
Six months from now Trump will start asking frantically if polio and diphtheria came from China, too. https://t.co/H6YJ4Dob1E
— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) November 14, 2024
Remember when Sri Lanka let anti-GMO activists write their agricultural policy and then they ran out of food and then the farmer bailout gave them 54% inflation. Don't know why I just thought of that.
— Shadow Of The Nerdtree (@agraybee) November 14, 2024
— Grungehamster (@Grungehamster1) November 15, 2024
War for Ukraine Day 996: The Gangs All Here!
Bruce K in ATH-GR
To quote the legendary R.T. Firefly: âIf you think this countryâs bad off now, just wait âtil I get through with it!â đ”
Rusty
We will know Trump and Elon are on the outside when Teump starts charging Musk for his room at Mar-a-largo.
MagdaInBlack
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: “Whatever it is, I’m against it” đ
p.a.
Utter alarmism! Â Once the deportations begin, there won’t be enough food to be worried about getting ill from it. Â Fortunately, I live in an area heavy with oak trees. Â Googling “how to make and use acorn flour” now. Â Step 1: kill all squirrels. Â And eat them… if you dare.
Baud
What do people think about Dems expressing a willingness to work with Trump on issues where they agree? I’m getting mixed signals, and I’d like to be consistent in my outlook.
Maybe other Dems have said similar things for different issues, but this is the first one I’ve heard about. I’m sure others will be asked the same question in interviews.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: Bless their hearts that they still believe, after 8 years, that it is possible to work with trump on anything.
satby
@Baud: Normies LOVE the idea of bi-partisanship, which is why both parties try to claim it on bills even if only one legislator crosses over. So I would expect more noises like that from Dems on specific promises made that the convict is unlikely to keep, just as Sanders knows that one won’t be.
satby
@MagdaInBlack: saying something and believing it aren’t the same thing. It’s performance for the kind if idiot that voted for the convict but isn’t a completely gone MAGA.
John S.
@Baud:
What a crock of shit. Republicans will control the entire government, and the media still acts as if only Democrats have agency. Iâm not going to hold my breath to wait for them to ask any Republicans the same question about working with Democrats.
But in the extremely off chance that Trump actually pushes for a non-batshit crazy policy that doesnât have awful ramifications that Democrats wouldnât puke voting for, then sure â why not. Letâs work together.
eclare
IEP?
Baud
@satby:
That makes sense. I just don’t like being arbitrary about it. I tend to give Dems leeway, but bipartisanship mouth noises tend to be frowned upon here.
MagdaInBlack
@satby: Meh.
satby
OT but kind of an emergency. Are there any BJ readers who live in the general area of El Paso or on the New Mexico side who would be willing to help foster a cat for a distressed family member of another jackal? Contact me: skinluvvers (at) g mail dot com.
We only have a couple of days.
Baud
@John S.:
I’d imagine if Trump even tried to fulfill this promise, he’ll tie it to tax cuts for the rich.
Again, I just want to be consistent in how I react when the next Dem says they’ll work with Trump on something.
John S.
@eclare:
IEP is an education plan for people who have special needs, for example those who are neurodivergent. My autistic son has had one throughout his entire scholastic career. Theyâre fairly common.
eclare
@satby:
Hi! William is asleep on my lap.
satby
@Baud: consistentcy is the hobgoblin of something or other
satby
@eclare: Aww, such a sweet image!
John S.
@Baud:
As with all things, the devil is in the details. But in this case, the devil hates details, so itâs pretty unlikely to pan out.
satby
@MagdaInBlack: Well, reality has to be dealt with at some point. Those guys showed up, ours didn’t.
eclare
@John S.:
What does the abbreviation mean? All I’m asking.
Ramona
@eclare: Individualized Education Program (IEP) devised by the Special Education Teacher for the Special needs student.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Great question. I don’t like general pledges of cooperation (or congratulations!) that imply business as usual. I think the party’s default stance to the incoming right-wing kleptocracy should be a vow to throw sand in the gears.
But maybe it makes sense to express a willingness to work with the kleptocracy on specific policy questions like capping interest rates? I’d be astonished if Trump follows through on that, but reminding people that he said it (which is news to me, tbh) might be useful.
In the unlikely event that the kleptocracy supports policies that actually benefit working people, Dems and Dem-caucusing independents like Sanders should try to secure those benefits. I doubt they’ll face that dilemma very often.
geg6
@eclare:
Individualized Education Plan. Â Used for gifted and special needs students. Â I donât think it was used in this context for gifted programs.
NotMax
Remind me. Is it red or white wine that goes best with E. coli?
eclare
@NotMax:
Hahaha…I still want your recipe from last night!
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
That’s a good distinction to draw.
eclare
@geg6:
Thank you.
eclare
@Ramona:
Thank you.
satby
@Baud: Kinda what I meant by “specific promises”, but Betty said it better.
Princess
@Baud: Well, for one, Bernie is not a Democrat, heâs an independent. And a section of Bernieâs base is Trump-friendly (and certainly Trump-voting) so he probably wants to keep them onside.
But itâs a choice to focus on the one thing Trump, a firehouse of promises and lies, said that might be beneficial while ignoring the thousands of things heâll do that will hurt your base.
Baud
@Princess:
Doesn’t matter for purposes of my question. I’m not going to treat Dems more harshly.
Betty Cracker
What the hell is happening in South Carolina?
Layer8Problem
Once again Sanders puts himself at the vanguard of something or other. Maybe his voters think this is encouraging stuff, hopeful, green shoots, etc..
ETA Aside from my knee jerk “What helpful thing is he telling us he’s doing now?” response to Sanders, capping credit card interest sounds like a good thing. But who is the one who said he’d do it, after all? Crowd pleasing mouth movements.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
There are trained emus?
Spanky
@Baud: The Feral Emus is going to be my next band’s name.
Princess
@Baud: Okay, I get it. My point was that he needs to do this stuff sometimes  in ways that Dems donât.
To the bigger question: from time to time Trump may want something actually beneficial. Dems can vote for it. They donât need to praise it, or kiss his butt publicly to try and get it. Republicans do that all the time â I donât remember any of them ever praising Obama or Biden for anything ever. And everything Trump wants that is good is always wrapped in something terrible (eg. Changes to taxes in his first term â the higher minimum and the simplification was good. The free pass for corporations and rich people was not.)
The inclination of Dems and of everyone is going to be to accommodate and praise and appease the crazy powerful guy. I see it already with Schumer welcoming the PA GoP senate candidate before the votes have been counted. Iâm wary of giving anyone a blanket hall pass to do that.
For all I know, Bernieâs praise was nested in a litany of criticism, and they just extracted the praise. That too is concerning.
Baud
@Princess:
I don’t agree with that. Every politician has constituencies, even if they’re not part of the cool kids set.
satby
@Princess: I think your first take is on target, Bernie is always and pretty much only about Bernie.
> And a section of Bernieâs base is Trump-friendly (and certainly Trump-voting) so he probably wants to keep them onside.<
Baud
@Princess:
That’s our liberal media. But, again, not unique to Bernie.
eclare
@satby:
Agree.
NotMax
@Baud
Well, up to a point.
:)
Baud
@NotMax:
You’re like a living YouTube AI.
Another Scott
@Baud: I’m on Team Princess here. St. Bernard isn’t a Democrat and his brand is that he isn’t a Democrat. He has to run to the front of the line and tell everyone in the press that the CORRUPT (I remember, Bernie) Democratic Party is doing it wrong.
There’s nothing wrong with saying that people and the new Congress and Administration should work together where they can. The normies claim to like it a lot, and it’s essential for anything good (like a budget that pays for essential things) to happen. That doesn’t mean that fascists getting half of what they want, or seriously considering stuff that is not even wrong, is intrinsically good.
tl;dr- Bernie is out for himself. Every vote matters and the details matter.
My $0.02.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Ksmiami
We should encourage the biotech industry and Newsom etc to migrate it all to San Diego and make that the blue state HHS. See how long the red states last.
Princess
@satby: And the second thing about Bernie is heâs not that bright and easily fooled by anyone who gloms onto him. Look at the terrible people heâs promoted and amplified because they supported him. Tulsi Gabbard.
Trumpâs aim is to break everything he can as quickly as he can. Maybe heâll do some good for someone by accident somewhere. Dems can take the credit for it â thatâs what Republicans would do.
Chris Johnson
@Baud: Expect to see more of that, but be able to read into it.
That’s holding Trump to one of the promises he doesn’t give a shit about, while giving him nothing else. Dems can do that all day long for the normies. Some people may never get a clue, if it works.
It’s like the new Senate Majority leader being a Russia hawk who was the last person Trump wanted to see there. Think ‘white mutiny’. That’s what’s on the menu and everybody knows it but the normies.
That guy, Thune, said he expects to work with the Democrats to get Trump’s agenda enacted. That means he expects Dem VOTES to get Trump’s agenda enacted. My guess is, that means he’s talking about the promises made that sounded nice, and that he’s fully aware Trump is actually a Russian asset out to ruin us all, and he’s gonna just pretend along with the rest of us that he doesn’t know that.
I like this as a tactic for the buyers-remorse folks and I like it as a tactic for us. This is a good time for ‘so we’re supposed to be great then? OK, bring it. Show me this greatness! Going full nazi ain’t it chief! No rug-pulls, do it properly or be worse than Hoover!’
This is a smart play and will play well to normies.
Baud
@Princess:
Yeah. Him getting a pass on the Tulsi thing is irritating. If a regular Dem has such a close connection to her, it’d be a scandal.
different-church-lady
@Baud: Bernie is an idiot if he thinks Trump will follow through on anything that helps average people.
Ksmiami
@Princess: yep. Trump is a civic vandal. I see no future for the USA.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
I have no idea what he expects. He could just be needling Trump here. I’m more interested in the rules of cooperation and bipartisanship.
different-church-lady
@Chris Johnson: Normies are the ones who put this circus into power.
Princess
@Baud: I should be clear that Iâm no fan of obstruction for the sake of obstruction and if we can get any win we should. Unfortunately any win from Trump requires some public groveling; thatâs his oxygen. But let the Dems keep it to a necessary targeted minimum. I donât think praising him on credit card rates two months before heâs even inaugurated is going to help anyone.
M31
I used to have a really old Joy of Cooking cookbook and it had a diagram of all the disgusting-smelling glands in a squirrel and that you should remove them
Chris Johnson
Regarding the thread-top stuff about RFK, I’m pretty clear on what I expect there.
RFK is another Russian wrecking ball, whether or not he’s cognizant of what he is. Much like Jordan Peterson kicked benzo addiction in Russia and got even weirder. RFK is real, real broken and creepy, and putting him into power is as good as declaring you’re working for Russia to wreck all America’s shit.
Which tracks, that’s exactly what this is, so the next questions are how does he do that, and how to protect yourself from it?
There’s lots of medical stuff (especially womens’ health) that would be trouble even under a normal Republican admin, but this is far beyond normal. If I extrapolate using the assumption that he is a Russia-guided loon missile, I have multiple guesses for things to watch out for:
-can you outlaw vaccines? Can he not only discourage but try to make illegal our protections against pandemics? Can you outlaw masks? Cue more pandemics, especially if there is any ‘DARVO’ to the ranting about plandemics. What gave ’em that idea, hmm? And it would take expertise and smarts to actually make something as effective as COVID, because you can’t simply make Ebola or anything so horrific that people take precautions.
-prediction: whether or not there’s an ability to remove protection and unleash another pandemic (or capitalize on one that’s controllable), it will be tied to racism with propaganda out of Russia insisting that immigrants are causing all the plague. That might be why they started the ‘eating the dogs and cats’ thing: the narrative would be, that’s why they’re carrying plague. It’s an attack on one of the strengths of America which is multiculturalism and tolerance of that discomfort for the sake of the diverse knowledge it brings to bear on all problems.
-can you outlaw pasteurization? If he can outlaw pasteurization, technically that may cut costs for dairy producers but lead to the collapse of that whole industry, which would also be a win for Russia. And be another disease vector: there’s crazy things that could be attempted, that are ruinous but a win/win/win/win for a Russia doing this stuff on purpose.
Never forget that if the Republicans wanted this they would have given him Rick Scott, when instead they gave him Thune, a Russia hawk neocon with no reason to trust any of these crazy ruinous plans. Thune can ask Republican dairy farmers if outlawing pasteurization is a good idea if RFK wants it, they can say ‘fuck no that’s stupid’, and Thune can side with his constituents over the performative loon. There’s a bunch of people on both sides of the aisle, authoritarian or non, who get to choose against creating a FAILED state. It looks obvious enough to me that the intent is to run us over a cliff, and the Republicans are in the bus with the rest of us. Rich people swung pro-Kamala for a reason. Signing on to hara-kiri to please Putin is a big fuckin’ ask.
Nobody is going to publically denounce Trump until they’ve truly conquered him. They know all this is Moscow Rules as well as I do. You’re gonna see literally everybody bend to the dictator and promise total fealty. He knows they are lying, so this won’t even make him happy. Good. Asshole. Traitor.
NotMax
@Chris Johnson
Much prefer Thunes named Dave or Fred.
;)
TBone
A credit card interest rate cap will be the new Infrastructure Week.
Heather Cox Richardson letter for today:
Geminid
@Chris Johnson: Interesting take on Senator Thune. One thing I keep in mind about the next Republican Senate caucus is that Mitch McConnell will still be there, and he still won’t like Donald Trump. Mitch McConnell’s bucket list probably has “OUTLIVE TRUMP” at the top.
The Russia/Ukraine issue seems to be one of the biggest differences between Trump and the Thune/McConnell faction. This is one reason I think Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination for DNI will be contested.
The Lame Duck session could provide some clues to next year’s Senate dynamics. The Senate has to pass the humongous National Defense Authorization Act, and that’s an opportunity to shape Ukraine/Nato policy to some extent.
Baud
@TBone:
So you’re saying Dems will pass it in 2030 and then get no credit for it, while being blamed because credit cards aren’t going to be as easily obtainable?
Phylllis
@Betty Cracker: We’re jealous of all the attention ‘Florida man’ gets? No, that’s not it. I remember now: too small for a republic, too large for an insane asylum.
TBone
@Baud: đŻ
Touche!
Privatization of profit and socializing of loss.
Heather’s next sentence:
New Deal democrat
@TBone:
Usury laws existed from roughly Biblical times until 1978, when the Supreme Court in its infinite wisdom ruled that State usury laws were unconstitutional when applied to out of State issuers.
Which means A federal law was needed. I remember writing about 15 years ago how a fellow named Obama opposed it.
Ridicule Trump all you want, but if enacted this will be popular and unlike Dems, he will make sure his name is all over it.
Chris Johnson
@Princess: It helps to not let the normies forget that he got their vote by claiming all manner of stuff he had no intention on delivering, especially as he suddenly rips the mask off and begins doing crazy things. Especially if the media sanewashing suddenly has to cope with him decompensating, under the pressure of the rest of the government white-mutinying, and then we get Trump saying unreasonable shit out loud and turning into a pile of pumpkin-spice shit publically.
He lied to gain office. Holding him to the lies and not letting him erase them is good.
New Deal democrat
@TBone: Next open thread I will put up some detailed County results in part supporting that very take.
Ksmiami
Why do we have so many pig ignorant assholes in this country? Seriously, they voted for ruin.
Ksmiami
@New Deal democrat: eh when measles and polio are ravaging the country, no one will care.
TBone
@New Deal democrat:
Peter Thiel is gonna get into the credit game.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-petal-card-fintech-backed-130000347.html
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:Â â
Not to mention, it’s a batshit insane idea.
A quick Google search tells me 30-year fixed mortgages are running at about 7.5%. If that’s what they’re charging on loans secured by an actual house, they’re gonna give exactly nobody a 10% rate on totally unsecured credit card debt.
Even if home mortgage rates were down around 3%, they’d only be giving credit cards to people with very solid credit ratings. Most people wouldn’t be able to get one anymore.
There used to be laws against usury, that placed fixed caps on interest. Those laws fell when the prime rate went through the ceiling at the end of the 1970s. There really should be a cap on interest rates, but it should be more along the lines of prime rate + 15%, rather than a fixed number.
TBone
@New Deal democrat: đ I have received several email newsletters from my Rethuglican state reps taking credit for Biden’s Big Deal infrastructure bill funded projects. The rubes don’t know a thing about where the money comes from or even that Biden and Dems passed the Infrastructure bill.
Baud
@New Deal democrat: If it passes and people love it, great. Maybe some of us will even be convinced to start supporting Republicans.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Neoliberal.
NotMax
Dunno if y’all saw this out of Michigan.
Chris Johnson
@Geminid: I think a great way to deal with Tulsi is what I’ll call the ‘DNI of Amontillado’.
It’s obvious, and we’ll never know if this is how they do it. Make a nice office for nice Tulsi Gabbard, welcome her into the office with all smiles and cooperativeness.
Then brick it up.
When I think about it for half a second, Trump’s plan here is not only evil, it’s also really, really, REALLY stupid. And so is Putin if he thinks this is the greatest weird trick ever. For fuck’s sake, does anybody think this is gonna work on SPIES? We’ll never know and in fact I don’t want to know. Let them cook. I dare say they know the stakes now, even if they didn’t in 2016. And I bet they knew in 2016. Hillary was deeply involved in government pre-2016, and she was a Russia hawk. Nobody’s fooled. They just don’t see fit to tell you, knowing that Russia’s put all its effort into poisoning the minds of the populace and painting the smart people as NATO-mongering war hawks. That used to sound bad.
TBone
@TBone: they tapped Goldman Sachs, of course.
The Peter Thiel who propped up J Divans:
https://www.businessinsider.in/A-Peter-Thiel-backed-credit-card-company-that-caters-to-people-with-little-to-no-credit-just-raised-30-million/articleshow/67743238.cms
Also too:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shopify-slack-founders-join-thiel-235720729.html
bluefoot
@Ksmiami: it will be like Covid. Trump will seize what he wants and give it to his allies or sell it, be it medicine, medical devices, etc. I can see biopharma perhaps keeping R&D here though if immigrants start getting rounded up, maybe not. But I bet manufacturing will move out of the country.
New Deal democrat
@Baud: yeah, let me just say that it is early morning, I have just had coffee, and a fellow named Trump just got re-elected President, so I apologize if I sound really cranky, because at the moment I am.
Chris Johnson
@Baud: Thune could impress me! We used to have neocons notable for being Russia hawks. That’s kind of becoming my issue. I’ll distinguish them from the vatniks based on how they act. A bunch of Republicans put forth and GOT Thune, a man that Trump publically subtweeted and tried to destroy personally.
Party loyalty is less important to me than country loyalty at this point. Thune could impress me if he’s able to thwart Trump at every turn. I’d still hold any Republican to sharp limits as far as their deep conservatism goes.
TBone
@New Deal democrat: come sit by me.
NotMax
@bluefoot
“I’ve teamed with Lee Greenwood to offer this Red White and Blue Cross Home Vaccine Kit. Only $399.99 while supplies last.”
//
TBone
@NotMax: I want to laugh but I got that on the nose!
TBone
Read when you cannot write, sleep when you cannot read.
-Le Guin
bluefoot
@NotMax: that made me laugh out loud. Youâre not wrong. And those vaccines will probably be saline if we follow the trend of his sneakers etc
HHS is a lot more than the FDA. RFK jr in charge is a disaster. Center of gravity for biopharma will move out of the US, after all, the rest of the planet also needs medicines. But everything else that comes under HHS? CMS, CDC, the non-drug parts of the FDA, etc. Itâs a disaster.
and how long will other countries accept food exports or medicine from the US if theyâre not regulated? If vaccines are outlawed how many countries will let Americans in?
BritinChicago
@lowtechcyclist: Yes, that’s one problem with the idea: interest rates fluctuate. Another problem depends on how much above prime the cap was. If it’s too low then banks will become extremely picky about who they give credit cards to. The high rates make some risk worthwhile. I’m not saying that the risk justifies rates as high as they are, but if they are 10% or even 12% then banks won’t take anything like as many risks and won’t issue cards to customers without high credit ratings. Maybe that would be a good thing, but it’s pretty paternalistic and will make a lot of people mad when their credit cards are taken away.
Geminid
@Chris Johnson: Thune will not thwart Trump at every turn, maybe just some. I expect Senate Republicans to wave through 90% or more of Trump’s nominees and initiatives. They may dig in their heels on a few, though.
The proposed recess-for-recess-appointments sounds like Thune’s first chance to stiff-arm Trump.
Baud
@BritinChicago:
“I’m resentful because I had to pay high credit card rates when I was young.”
Chris Johnson
@bluefoot: Those are big ifs. The reason I’m bringing that up is to highlight the motivation for Republicans to elect someone like Thune, and to refuse Trump’s wish for America to be impoverished, destroyed, pariahs.
I’m pointing that stuff out because it seems like Trump is making a desperate ploy to do just that, but if you believe Republicans are on board you’re believing too many vatniks telling you all the Republicans are orcs. I’m saying, self-interest prevents the Republicans from entirely siding with Trump here.
They’ll seek advantage, being a deteriorating party. Their own self-destruction does not count as ‘advantage’. And unlike the techbros, they’re not wild-eyed gamblers. (maybe in Texas they are)
New Deal democrat
@lowtechcyclist:
I disagree with this in part. Itâs clear that, because interest rates and the rate of inflation fluctuate, so would any credit card interest rate cap.
Credit card companies made perfectly reasonable profits in the 1960s when the rate was about 6% over the inflation rate. Any new usury law would have to gradually return them to such a rate of return; e.g., inflation rate +15% for the first 2 years, then 12% for 2 years, then 9% for 2 years.
Itâs true that issuers would be much more conservative about issuing cards and/or credit limits, but that is not a bad thing, because it would help ordinary borrowers not get in over their heads.
lowtechcyclist
@Ksmiami:Â â
The vast majority of us are going to have to continue to live here, no matter how badly Trump fucks it up. So there needs to be some future for what is currently the U.S.A. If hope dwindles to just the hope of limiting how terrible things are going to be, then that’s what we have to have enough hope for to work toward.
I hate to pie you, but I’ve just got no room for “So this is it: we’re going to die” or its equivalent, other than from Arthur Dent in the pages of the HHG.
New Deal democrat
@lowtechcyclist: Iâve had a couple of conversations with loved ones in the past week encouraging them to get involved in a local project or charity, partly to occupy their minds and time, and partly to be able to do something that still makes a positive difference.
NotMax
@TBone
Speaking of noses, for the last several hours mine has been running like Niagara. Think I may need a new head gasket.
;)
Baud
@New Deal democrat:
The problem is if people who rely on credit card debt turn to payday loans.
bluefoot
True, those are big ifs. But when 9/11 happened, and again when TFG was elected, and in the pandemic I had early predictions of how bad it was going to be and things turned out much worse. So perhaps Iâve learned my lesson too well. I would be ecstatic to be wrong.
this is not to say Iâm not going to do my damndest to do what I can. And as I posted in the Covid post the other day, my biopharma company says it remains committed to the mission, and my fellow employees certainly are.
TBone
@NotMax: I too have had sinus issues for the last few days. Have you tried Ayr saline nasal spray? It helps immensely and does not cause addiction (needing it to breathe) like the druggy ones do. And that’s the only “woo” type advice you’ll ever hear from me!
https://www.drugs.com/mtm/ayr-saline-nasal.html
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
I certainly hope you’re right.
I also hope that foreign nationals in hostile countries who have been providing us with information are being told to prepare to make a run for it if it looks like she’s going to be confirmed, and that we’ll take them in if they can get here before January 20.
New Deal democrat
@Baud: Shit, do you want me to fix the entire working class economy in one thread?!?!?
Give me a couple of days anywayâŠ.
On a semi-serious note, remember that we had a perfectly good pro-working class economy before, including interest rate caps, and it *worked* for a long time. So it is absolutely possible.
artem1s
@Princess:Â â
Anyone who thinks banks and credit card companies won’t find a way to make money off capped interest rates is a fool. Banks will instantly resume charging ridiculous overdraft fees and fees for every transaction on you ATM card. And you can forget about your free checking and savings accounts. How fast do you think people will be screaming for 30% CC rates when they have to pay $10-$15 a month to keep their checking accounts open? How long before the banks collapse due to having to go back to a cash only economy?
Thing about the Boomers and the olds is we remember when banks and CC companies found all kinds of ways to fuck you over. TCF probably won’t bail them out this time. He’ll just force everyone to buy his fucking crypto.
TBone
Remember when women couldn’t get a credit card without a responsible male co-signer? Good times!
Starfish
@Baud: Our (Democratic) governor said fawning words over the selection of RFK, Jr. And we sent him “Are you kidding me?” emails.
lowtechcyclist
@New Deal democrat:Â â
Gotta admit I missed that SCOTUS ruling. Those laws would have been repealed anyway when the prime rate went through the roof just a year or so later.
Baud
@New Deal democrat:
Interest rate caps applied across-the-board, however.
Quinerly
@Betty Cracker:
Emus are nasty and mean. I had a run in with one at a craft gin bar here in Santa Fe on a Sunday a couple of years ago. Thankfully it was on a leash in a small courtyard. It and it’s handler had been hired to make an appearance after the band finished up at 2pm. I should have left when the jazz band finished but those of us in my group thought when they said something like “next up an appearance by Emu” we thought it was a young, hippie band so we stayed. Then this chick walks in with a literal emu dressed in a tutu.
Long story short, emu got pissy on its long leash with that frilly tutu. Started hissing, making foul (fowl???) noises and grabbing stuff off the tables. I think it was a female by the way it was dressed up. I also think the females are bigger. This thing weighed at least 70-75lbs. Pooping all over the place. The Emu Incident lasted less than 10 mins. But, that was enough for me to form a very strong opinion about emus.
About a month later the craft gin place changed its name. No live entertainment.
True Story. Every word.
Gvg
@New Deal democrat: credit card interest rates are only part of the problem. Itâs also the trick fees. Banks are living on that too. I am not sure how to get that under control but a real law dealing with it would go a long way.
other popular reforms would be getting spam calls and texts under control. I understand most of them are evading the do not call by originating out of the US. Surely that could be blocked? It preys upon the elderly and other vulnerable groups besides just aggravating everyone. Itâs the reason polling no longer works, but mainly itâs financial fraud and related to credit card debt.
TBone
@artem1s: every month my bank charges me a $25 fee to keep my checking account open and then refunds it the same day due to my “relationship” accounts. When I got a big inheritance, my criminal defense attorney employer’s wife was a bigwig at our local branch and I got treated like small town royalty there. Now that a lot of that cash on hand has been spent, I’m not looking forward to being treated like a peasant again. That new-to-me privilege is addictive. The attorney’s wife has been promoted to a larger branch and I have no friends in charge at my bank now.
I wonder how long that fee will continue to be waived.
bluefoot
@artem1s: yep. It used to be insane, the myriad ways banks and credit card companies would take your money. And women not being able to have their own bank accounts or credit cards. Then thereâs how anti-discrimination laws made it easier for people of a certain complexion to get bank accounts, loans, own property. Will those last under TCFG II?
Quinerly
@Baud:
See my comment. Yes. Poorly trained, but supposedly yes.
New Deal democrat
@Baud:
There was also regulation Q, which mandated lower interest rates on savings accounts at commercial banks than savings banks, and capped both.
I was a young puppy bank teller when that got repealed, and I immediately understood that it would be the end of savings banks.
Harrison Wesley
@TBone: Those halcyon days are unlikely to be repeated. How many responsible males inhabit America in 2024?
bluefoot
@Chris Johnson: There may be Republicans who donât side completely w TCFG, but that doesnât mean theyâll obstruct his plans, and it doesnât mean they wonât be on board with the mass human suffering that will ensue especially if suffering falls mainly on people of color. If we let history be our guide, those Republicans will get some of what they want at the expense of the American people, especially POC and other minority groups.
Ksmiami
@lowtechcyclist: when your only hope is wishing for spineless Republicans to not go along with everything, well- I think the hope is in a new vision and nation because the one we have where Republicans fuck up everything and Democrats are brought in to fix it but never given any credit or quite enough time to reap the rewards isnât doing anyone any good.
lowtechcyclist
@Chris Johnson:
I’m willing to believe Thune might be enough of a Russia hawk to insist that we continue supporting Ukraine, and maybe to block Gabbard’s nomination. But the test will be if he’s willing to block Trump’s crazier and more destructive domestic appointments and initiatives.
prostratedragon
@Baud:
“Crossroads Blues,” Robert Johnson
lowtechcyclist
@Ksmiami:Â â
Who said that? Not me. Pie time it is.
Chris Johnson
@lowtechcyclist: That’s the thing. Same for bluefoot.
Trump, or more accurately his patron, is going for broke. The stuff he’s fixing to do will wreck stuff for everybody, emphatically including Republicans, and if they didn’t know that they’d have given him Rick Scott.
The guy’s patron is an empire-builder and will not settle for America being great as a stinking tyranny with all the wealth and power. And so Trump can’t, because unless he turns on his patron he’s a helpless puppet who’s never actually had anything. He is a Potemkin personality, a facade. His life is a nightmare.
That awaits all Republicans who play along. Hence, Thune. What they’re gonna want is hang on to the power, but betray the guy who got them the power, and his patron. They’re gonna want to be Moscow Mitch and come out on top.
Weird twist but OK. In so doing, they have to not alienate American normies. We’re all forced to check out because everything is increasingly fucked and if we get radical we are simply used as grounds for tyranny. These guys don’t get to check out, hope they’re having fun. They probably are. They like this sort of thing.
Starfish
@Ksmiami: You are kicking people who are down. I suggest you do not do this if this is a nice place that you enjoy.
Some people do not have the means to pack up and leave, and you should show a little compassion to those folks instead of telling them that they are complicit in the Trump agenda.
artem1s
@Chris Johnson:
This is an important point I’ve been too busy with grief to think about. All the GOPers who declared against TCF right before the election. I assumed they did it for a strategic reason – to keep some remnant of the old GOP alive after TCF was finally deposed. But maybe the Dems and those GOPers also formulated a alternate resistance plan in the case he won.
As much as I despise Darth Jr. and the Bush Crime Family old guard, I do respect their ability to plan for multiple outcomes. Hopefully their public declaration for Harris was the price they had to pay to form some sort of coalition of resistance with Harris, Pelosi, Jeffries, and other Dem leadership. We haven’t heard much from the Never Trump GOP yet. How the House shakes out will be a big part of what happens with everything. And if Thune is in the Senate throwing shoes in the works the next 2 years could get interesting.
I’ll take back every awful thing I ever said about Darth Jr. if she truly has had an epiphany and abandons and helps destroy the hateful GoP culture she enabled for so long. Darth Sr, though, he can go rot in a jail cell in The Hague for his part in bringing the country to this.
artem1s
@BritinChicago:
Credit cards means people have spending power. That 30 days interest free loan means I use my money more efficiently. If I have to save up 500-1000 dollars before I buy a major appliance or go on trip, that means a lot less spending on big and little things. All of these weird tricks libertarians and ‘populists’ think will make the economy better for them aren’t already available for a reason.
Most of the crap TCF promised to do are sure fire ways to decrease consumer spending and confidence, cause wild inflation and unemployment and eventually crash the economy. That’s why so many CEO were a hard no to re-electing this asshole.
Betty Cracker
@Quinerly: LMAO!
RevRick
@p.a.: Iâm rabid with delight!
RevRick
@Baud:
@MagdaInBlack:
@John S.: When Trump campaigned in 2015-16, he promised that he would raise taxes on the wealthy and protect Social Security and Medicare. And when the GOP Congress passed a tax bill that shoveled the vast majority of benefits to those who already had a ton of money, he eagerly embraced it. And would have done likewise with a bill to gut SS and Medicare.
The likelihood a bill to cap interest rates on credit cards even makes it to committee is zero.
Soprano2
@Betty Cracker: This is what I think, say you’ll work on specific things but no blanket cooperation. I’d also like them to mention that R’s will have unified control of government, why are you asking me if we’ll work with them anyway? Don’t R’s have agency? Are you asking them if they’ll work with us?
Bill Arnold
@M31:
No, it’s the worry about transmission of a prion disease.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and eating squirrel brains (The Lancet, 1997, Joseph R Berger â Erick Weisman â Beverly Weisman)
Paywalled (at the lancet :). There are sporadic reports since then.
Glidwrith
@Ksmiami: San Diego IS a major hub of the biotech industry. In fact, it starts here and stretches unbroken all the way up the coast, through LA and up to San Francisco.
Bill Arnold
@Quinerly:
TVTropes: Useful Notes / The Emu War
The Emu War is a very memetic event that took place in Australia in 1932.
Two linked threadreader threads on The Great Emu War:
part 1
part 2
[email protected]
@eclare: Individual education plan. When you have a child with disabilities who attends public schools, that child gets a plan that sets and tracks educational goals, and what the public schools must provide to meet those goals. A qualifying disability is any disability that has an adverse effect on the childâs educational progress.
Kosh III
@p.a.: “kill all squirrels. Â And eat them”
My father and brother would hunt squirrels. If they shot one, they would skin, cook and eat them. My mother refused to do it.
I tried to eat it ONCE. It was tough and gamey tasting. Ewwww
Betty
Something to consider, the US exports food to many Caribbean islands who have limited capacity to inspect imported food. Those in danger include any number outside the US as well.
stinger
@Baud: “Other Dems”? Bernie is only a Dem when he’s running for President. Even the quoted article calls him an independent. I’ve never considered him one of us.
ETA: Somebody else said this hours ago. Didn’t mean to pile on; didn’t even notice how early your original comment was.
way2blue
How about Department of Infectious Experiments? Â [DIE]