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.
RandomMonster
Yay us!
germy
jeffreyw
I see that Manchin is making noises that he is open to filibuster reform.
germy
Baud
Weird. Children aren’t job creators.
Raoul Paste
I love it that Jake tapper is asking Manchin on CNN “why did you fight for less help? “
burnspbesq
A positive policy outcome from the United States Senate. Hoodathunkit?
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.
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.
germy
Maybe Manchin thought he’d be the hero to “reach across the aisle” and “reunite” the country?
Benw
@Baud: future job creators. If only there was a way to travel forward in time
Baud
@Raoul Paste: What was his response?
sdhays
@Baud: After the birth of my son, I feel like I have at least 2 more jobs.
Oh, you meant paying jobs.
Baud
@Benw:
Maybe Obama will lend us his time machine.
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/
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.
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.
germy
@JWR:
I love how Cuomo is national news, but not Madison Cawthorn.
trollhattan
@germy:
Can that parade feature tanks and missiles? I’d like Trump and the Republicans to be reminded who controls those now.
Immanentize
@jeffreyw: I think he always was open to filibuster reform, just not ending the tool altogether. Seems Manchin likes the “talking filibuster” concept.
Immanentize
@JWR: You are kidding about the george washington part, I hope.
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
Steeplejack
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
#GivingChildrenAChance?
Another Scott
Yesterday was a very good day. Today is shaping up to be a very good day, too.
WhiteHouse.gov:
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.
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.
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
Jackie
@trollhattan: I read that, too! AND she, knowing who’s office it once was, decorated it with Haiti art! Baaahahahaa!
different-church-lady
But remember, there’s no difference between the parties.
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.
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.
debbie
@jeffreyw:
Not sure I’d be thinking about lowering my guard just yet…
Immanentize
@JWR: And not one of those rocks with many layers!
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.
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)
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
#BidenBillBisectsBabyBeggary
moonbat
@Ksmiami:
I don’t think decorating the Oval Office with a bust of FDR was an accident.
He means to go big.
Cameron
@jeffreyw: Maybe he wants something. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/state-of-the-union/a-rust-belt-all-hands-on-the-opioid-crisis/
oatler.
@JAFD:
The late Gene Wolfe wrote a rant about the Thor case in the 1980s.
MattF
And no Republican in Congress voted for it. Zero. Zip. Nada. There’s a message there.
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.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
You’re good.
Baud
@Immanentize:
Does he want to become a clown? Have you told Omnes?
debbie
@Jackie:
I wouldn’t have moved in there without extensive cleansing. Too much bad joujou within those four walls.
cain
@jeffreyw: He probably got shanked by a Republican.
Frankensteinbeck
@different-church-lady:
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.
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:
Immanentize
@Baud:No, but he is bored with the pandemic — here is almost all I know from a text last night:
And, we are most aggressively an anti-clown or mime family. Although Shakes the Clown is an acceptable movie.
MattF
@Frankensteinbeck: Did the trillion-dollar coin get lost under the sofa?
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady:
THOSE FECKLESS DEMOCRATS!
Baud
@Frankensteinbeck:
I believe Kamala could have overruled the parliamentarian, but I also believe it would also have put the whole bill at risk.
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.
patrick II
@germy:
Lucy pulled the football — again?
Immanentize
@sdhays: You know who are often now homeless children? Kids separated from their parents at the border.
sdhays
@Immanentize: I had a friend in Hong Kong who got a unicycle and played unicycle hockey. So that’s a thing.
Jackie
@debbie: Maybe there are a few voodoo dolls with pins in strategic places resembling Stephen. ?
Immanentize
@sdhays: wow. I will have to check out that combo on youtube!
Baud
@Immanentize:
I hope your response was “Why can’t you do drugs like normal kids?”
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.
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.
Major Major Major Major
@RaflW:
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.
MattF
@Immanentize: All you want to know about unicycles.
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.
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!
Steeplejack
@Damien:
What is “CF”? Child-free?
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.
Immanentize
@Baud: I am uncertain whether the two are not related.
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.
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.
Immanentize
@MattF: Thank you! That is so very much my son’s way of processing information. It’s perfect. I passed it along.
trollhattan
The Trumps will still be with us awhile, I fear.
We just kaint quit them.
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.
Baud
@trollhattan:
Who Would Jesus Marry?
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.
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.
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……
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.
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.
Immanentize
@Ruckus: You left out the sage stick smudge ceremony.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Scott: ach, dammit. In my case, Sunday morning under-caffeinated brain. I can’t speak for CBS
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.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Immanentize: Have good health insurance to repair the bones that are sure to fracture.
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.
trollhattan
@Baud:
The Beavis and Butthead Bible Study series.
“Which Mary was hottest? Heh-heh.”
“Come to Butthead.”
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.
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.
Major Major Major Major
@Patriot Paula:
Would love to hear more about the unhinged lunacy you apparently see in this thread.
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.
sdhays
@Steeplejack: She really does seem a bit…off.
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.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m pretty sure she means me.
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.
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.
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.
Baud
@Hungry Joe:
AKA Progressives for John Hawley.
GregMulka
@germy: Cuomo has actual power. Cawthorn is something with an obnoxious stench you wipe off your shoe.
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.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: You’re practically the least unhinged of our lunatics!
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?
That last part is pretty much Big Lie Lite
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.
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.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
Thanks, man. I’ve been working on passing as sane.
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….
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Immanentize
@Another Scott: I was pushing for an electric scooter, which I also like.
Immanentize
@Major Major Major Major: I think she is specifically referring to the clowns and mimes conflict.
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.
germy
@Major Major Major Major:
Every time someone like that shows up here, I assume it’s Doug just trying to spice things up.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: so the DEBATE ME YOU COWARD energy to her post isn’t too unique but I do think it’s funny how she printed something? Who does that
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.
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.
germy
@Immanentize:
I remember an old website” “Taliban or Jam Band Fan?” that compared photos. It was always impossible to guess.
H.E.Wolf
@Major Major Major Major:
Oh, I think the only lunacy was the purposely misgendered ‘nym. No way is that new neighbor anything but a straight white boy. :)
[Edited because I can’t spell.]
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
And then she disappeared, poof!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: An expanded child tax credit would be a great help for LDS families, they’re usually large. That may be what appeals to Bishop Romney.
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.
Immanentize
@Kirk Spencer:
Thank you!
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.
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?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I wonder if Patriot Paula has the American Eagle stamped on her toilet tissue.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne:
@Baud:
You two are en fuego today!
Ruckus
@Immanentize:
Didn’t want to go over the top……
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.
Chief Oshkosh
@Immanentize:
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.
trollhattan
@NetheadJay:
True. The unicycle-manbun overlap is strong.
ETA, how could I forget this guy?
The most Portland of Portlanders.
brantl
@GregMulka: They go from a little power to gradually more, step on the roaches early, they don’t get big…..
SFAW
@Jackie:
Not to be confused with the Hate-y art that Miller had.
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.
Immanentize
@germy: very same concept
Ruckus
@danielx:
Do you really feel that will work in any way?
Ksmiami
@Patriot Paula: you offer nothing of substance and insult us.. run along little fascist run along…
Steve in the ATL
@trollhattan: one fewer, not one less.
OMG I’m pendanting on the weekend—time for an intervention!
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.
brantl
@Major Major Major Major: Bragging rights to take back to her echo chamber, “I owned the libs!”.
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.
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.
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.
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,”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Even for Dan Crenshaw, this is a surprisingly dishonest argument. He would’ve been better off leaving the numbers out.
WhatsMyNym
@danielx: I bet it was the Unicycle talk that PP objected to.
Immanentize
@Ruckus: That sentence always produces the result opposite of the one intended.
debbie
@Immanentize:
I smudged when I moved into my previous apartment, only to learn later that my neighbor was a cop.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Major Major Major Major
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Somebody who comes from a big-family culture could well be in favor of everybody who wants one having a big family too. As am I!
Which reminds me, I need to read Yglesias’s book One Billion Americans
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’…
SFAW
@Steve in the ATL:
Just hanging around?
ETA: Figuratively, I hope.
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.
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.
SFAW
@Kirk Spencer:
Thank FSM you’ve overcome that problem
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.
MagdaInBlack
@Another Scott: The feral children of the “former guy” come to mind .
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.
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.
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.
Steve in the ATL
@Doc Sardonic: please see comment number 157, supra
Major Major Major Major
@Another Scott: As I understand it postal banking would be sort of trivial, as far as these things go…
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.
JWR
@Ivan X:
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.
Steve in the ATL
@Hungry Joe:
“Half the senate is republican—you do the math”
J/k—rose Twitter types don’t do math
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.
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.
Doc Sardonic
@Steve in the ATL: Noted. Please also see edited comment 156, supra, for the punchline.
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.
SFAW
@Steve in the ATL:
Whatever you gotta* tell yourself to salvage your pride/reputation**.
*autocorrected from “need to”
** such as it is
Steve in the ATL
@Doc Sardonic: well done!
And you should be! [rimshot]
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Those lists are depressing.
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!
JWR
@Kirk Spencer:
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.
Doc Sardonic
@Steve in the ATL: Thank you, I’ll be here all week. Remember to tip your waitress and try the the veal…..just don’t pair it with the Ripple.
Major Major Major Major
@Ohio Mom:
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.
Ken
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”.
sdhays
@Ivan X: I still feel NY is overrepresented in comparison to, say, CA, but I admit the feeling is subjective subjective.
cain
Portland is defined by the Darth Vader in a unicycle playing bag pipes guy.
Major Major Major Major
@Ken: Unless otherwise specified, I assume an unhelpful person on the Internet is a man, but in this case I’d go with ‘she’.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Does this sound like mildly veiled hibernophobia* to anyone else?
The fucking Klan’s really taken over the Republican Party.
(*Anti-Irish shit)
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.
cain
@Ohio Mom:
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.
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.
tybee
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).
cain
@Geminid:
Does that also mean the follow up response is that there will be new will written down too? :-)
cain
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
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.
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
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.
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:
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.
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.
Kathleen
@trollhattan: She’ll need an exorcist for that space. I did see on Twitter she’s burning sage LOL!
danielx
@WhatsMyNym:
Everybody has a breaking point.
Major Major Major Major
@cain: when was Iran a democracy?
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
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.
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.
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.)
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.
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
70 years ago, before the CIA and MI6 overthrew Mossadegh’s government (in 1953), and installed the Shah.
SFAW
@Brachiator:
Well, considering who “caught” her, maybe he was right.
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.
Major Major Major Major
@SFAW: and how long before that was it a democracy? I’m having a hard time figuring it out. 1911? 1949?
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?
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?
Brachiator
@sdhays:
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.
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.
Bex
@Baud: He probably married whomever his parents chose. Or, see the novel The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd.
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator:
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.
Steve in the ATL
@Brachiator:
I’m glad you honed in on that!
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. “
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.
Major Major Major Major
@brantl: Mohammed Pahlavi was a brutal dictator backed by foreign interests by 1979, is why I asked.
Brachiator
@sab:
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.
brantl
@brantl:Sorry, I had this wrong, somebody correctly answered this before me.
Frankensteinbeck
@topclimber:
Your point is well made, and one I need to work harder to remember.
topclimber
@Major Major Major Major: Agreed–a few loose screws no doubt, but perfect hingery.
Uncle Cosmo
@trollhattan: Wives and Lovers. Bacharach & David, 1963. For your listening disgustitation.
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.
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
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?
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.
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.
J R in WV
@Major Major Major Major:
Wait, what?!> Seriously? ;~)
ETA:
More seriously, Patriotic Paula is pretty obviously a deranged Qanon Troll… Who knows how she found us, who cares?
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.
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.
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
Except for all the others?
MomSense
@Immanentize:
LMAO at the things kids surprise parents with.
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.
SFAW
@burnspbesq:
Kind of a long time for practice. When are you going to be good enough that you can actually DO it?
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
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.
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.
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.
A Ghost to Most
@Patriot Paula: Sedition isn’t patriotism, fascist, and I’d appreciate it if you stopped pretending it is.
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: oh god, am I not supposed to say dialing???
As a staunch descriptivist since forever this is all easy for me ;)
Major Major Major Major
@SFAW: well you knew one thing so I thought you might know another thing! Shmeesh
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.
J R in WV
@Major Major Major Major:
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.
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?
J R in WV
@Steve in the ATL:
Ouch! Now Patriot paula is right, craxed~!!~
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.
James E Powell
@sdhays:
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.
Mike
@danielx:
Whatever happened to Jesus’ General? I see the site is still up but the latest post is from 2014.
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.??
James E Powell
@Brachiator:
You mean “ensure,” don’t you? <ducks>
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.
Starboard Tack
@sab:
I once saw a guy riding a unicycle on a single track in the hills outside Pocatello. He was smiling.
Brachiator
@Damien:
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!
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.
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.
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.
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
Now THAT is a phrase I rarely-if-ever see applied to me.
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.
Starboard Tack
@J R in WV:
@Immanentize:
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.
rikyrah
@lowtechcyclist:
When you realize that 44’s stimulus in 2009 was only $831 billion….
The enormity of this BFD begins to sink in.
Steve in the ATL
@J R in WV: I was hoping at least one person would catch the joke!
rikyrah
@Hungry Joe:
Yeah.. For shot #2???
The Lodger
@Jackie: There are several interesting ways to diagram that sentence, y’know.
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.
Starboard Tack
@Steve in the ATL:
“Knock. Knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“To.”
“To who?”
“That’s ‘To whom’.”
Brachiator
@James E Powell:
The democratization of English, which lacks any Academy which arbitrates rules, helps insure that usage dominates everything.
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…?”
Another Scott
@Ruckus:
Just for you. :-)
(via Popehat)
Cheers,
Scott.
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.
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
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.
J R in WV
@Patriot Paula:
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?)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@James E Powell:
Not in the late 70’s.
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Nor in the 60s
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.
MisterForkbeard
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Not in 2000 or so, either.
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.
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.
2liberal
@danielx @mike re: Jesus’ General, if you scroll down a few posts you’ll see he was hurting .
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.
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.