2020 US Election - Page 271

On November 08 2020 11:15 LegalLord wrote:

Your mistake is not in seeing student debt as important, but in thinking that it's somehow unique. There are many classes of debts in the US that shackle people to a poor economic situation. Being stuck with student debts is not much different than a car payment, house payment, medical bill, etc., that people can't afford that stops them from making other purchases more beneficial to the consumption-based economy. Each of these are trillion-dollar debt traps that show no sign of slowing down. The only real unique thing about student debt is that it's majority owned by the government, which means I suppose they could write it off if they're up for a haircut of a third of the federal government's assets. They're obviously no more interested in that than in unwinding the circumstances of all the other forms of self-destructive debt the US has spun up over the years for the majority of the population.

Not that it matters anyways, since young people don't vote. Not worth wasting the effort it'd take to help them.

On November 08 2020 14:05 GreenHorizons wrote:


I think the question is whether people that identified he's lost a step or few over the last decade or so are supposed to be included in the critique.

Because that'd include people from Andrea Mitchell to Corey Booker to Julian Castro.

On November 08 2020 16:30 Mohdoo wrote:
Funny Portland news: the incumbent mayor, who is basically seen as outdated and unable to fulfill his duties, ended up winning because a silly write in campaign ended up with 13% of the vote, eliminating the Bernie endorsed candidate in doing so.

https://www.opb.org/article/2020/11/04/ted-wheeler-sarah-iannarone-teressa-raiford-portland-mayor-election-results/

On November 08 2020 16:49 BlueBird. wrote:


Teressa is an amazing member of our activist community. She’s also just a really good person. Her and her organization Don’t shoot Portland have done a ton of work here locally and calling it silly does not address what happened this election. Sarah failed to reach the community that you are blaming. Bernie just throwing out an endorsement doesn’t really do it as much as I like Bernie.

On November 08 2020 16:46 LegalLord wrote:

I can't help but feel that you're strawmanning someone really hard right now. Looking back at the various US Pol / debate threads, I see plenty of references to "cognitive decline" in the abstract, "early-stage dementia" in the more specific, or just general talk about mental state, but that's a whole world of difference from what you're claiming they said now. You may want to be more specific if you have people who you think said that he has "late stage dementia" - a very pointed and aggressive accusation that goes well beyond any of the general claims a lot of people made about potential mental decline. Because there's little evidence that the latter was claimed by a large contingency of "dumb far left dip shits" and one well-spoken speech hardly refutes any of the former claims.

So yeah, put up or shut up. This whole thing reeks of deep hypocrisy in that it so very harshly criticizes an attitude that you yourself are very guilty of.

On November 08 2020 08:09 Zambrah wrote:
We should make a list of what can be accomplished via EO and what has to go through Congress, I'm deeply curious about what I need to be demanding from Biden and what I can safely have no expectations for.

On November 08 2020 13:47 goiflin wrote:


Don't know, how many of those do you think Obama is going to attend?

On November 08 2020 18:35 Acrofales wrote:

Pretty much this. I don't see how it's Biden's job to pass legislation. He's the head of the executive branch. He can obviously discuss what legislation he'd like to see congress pass, but unless they get off their asses and write those bills, it isn't going to happen. Just like the ACA wasn't really Obamacare, but more like PelosiReidCare. Just like how Trump could pull out of the Paris accords because there was never any action from congress making it binding. Biden should "rejoin", but more importantly, push the EPA to do everything in their power to put the USA back on track to meet them. The rest is up to congress. If McTurtle maintains his control over the senate, I don't see how any centrist, let alone progressive, legislation is getting passed. It isn't even that it won't have the votes, it's that he won't even bring these proposals up for voting.

Healthcare needs reforming fairly urgently, tho, and with Covid ravaging, it seems there might even be some political will to do something there, even from Republicans. it doesn't look like EO's can do much there, so it's on congress. Passing a universal healthcare bill would be pretty huge, especially if it's a bill that can't be torpedoed by the supreme court.

On November 08 2020 19:53 Zambrah wrote:
Biden is probably the worst possible choice to enable a presidency that acts decisively without Republican support sadly. Hopefully we can pressure this administration into using it's EO powers to do what it can do, I think we're REALLY going to have to let people know what is possible without Republican support though, they're going to hide behind "uhh... doesnt that require Congress? Not their fault!" and the Democrats are going to continue to coast by on their greasy shitty little asses unless we grease our pans with them and light a fire under their asses.

EOs, EOs, EOs, focus on midterms, grassroots organizing to get Congress ASAP, but EO EO EO EO EO EO EO in the meantime. No excuses for Biden, no prioritizing based on anything other than how fast Biden can sign shit.

On November 08 2020 20:06 Zambrah wrote:
Fuck yeah, unity can suck ass unless it directly serves the American people as far as I'm concerned. And I'm 100% positive that Biden's version of unity doesn't.