It appears that it is finally infrastructure week. Today, negotiators hammered out a deal on a bipartisan bill, which includes $550 billion in new spending. This evening, the Senate voted to move the bill forward by a vote of 67 to 32, with 17 Republicans joining all the Democrats to begin debate on the measure.
If any of you here don't watch Heather's FB live lectures, I encourage you to do so. Tuesday's zeroed on (at about minute 30) on why the Jan. 6th hearings are so critical and why the GOP is so freaked out over them. As she put it, "This is where the rubber meets the road", in that the lies that have been bandied about by the Right, never under oath, are meeting the truth, under oath, from witnesses who have nothing to gain. It certainly put things into a new perspective for me.
Also, since even the MSM insists on using false equivalence in their coverage, or at the very least, give the Right face time in their reporting, the fact that Heather reminds us that Jim Jordan can blather on lie after lie on TV and pay no price, but once he's under oath, it's a different ball game entirely. They all know this, and, lily-livered sniveling worms that they are, they are terrified.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! While I am delighted by the progress that has been made, dividing the concept of infrastructure between hard and soft makes me chuckle. Why bother to have one -- roads and bridges -- without the other -- supporting the people who need to be able to use them. Just MHO.
Meanwhile, back to January 6 with the DOJ "clearing a path" towards accountability:
As well, today, July 29, a 25-ft 5,000-pound totem pole carved by the House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation will conclude its cross-country journey in Washington, DC. The totem pole will be on view July 29–31, 2021, near the Smithsonian"s National Museum of the American Indian entrance. Their journey started on July 14 in Washington State, with stops at sacred sites in Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan. Their purpose is to highlight the need for awareness about Indigenous "struggles to protect water, land, sacred sites, and [Indigenous People's] collective future."
Click on this link for a map of their journey. Then watch the 2+ minute video about the Red Road to DC Totem Pole Journey:
Good morning, everyone. This may be my only post here today because I may retreat to a darkened room, I am so damn angry. I'm angry that the will of the minority are putting the rest of us at risk: the risk of spreading COVID by not getting vaccinated nor wearing a mask. I'm angry that so many parents especially here in Florida seem to think that it is ok for their kids to put the other kids who cannot yet be vaccinated, at risk and are actively protesting wearing masks. The local school boards are having meetings where parents are threatening to home school their kids rather than let them wear a mask. I'm angry that our governor would rather give a speech in Utah than focus on the virus here and continues to rail against Dr. Fauci who has done so much to protect us. I'm angry at the Republican congresspeople who not only don't have the decency to watch the hearings where the brave police officers testified, but now disparage them in public and now try to blame Speaker Pelosi for the insurrection. I'm angry at the vitriol and hatred that I have heard directed at Simone Biles for being brave and recognizing that it is more important for her own health, and actually for the performance of her team, pulled out of the competition. I'm angry at the vitriol and hate that has been directed at Officer Fanone (have you heard the disgusting voicemail that someone left him?) I'm angry that a sliver of the elected officials have decided to put in place laws that threaten our democracy and that those that have the power to do something sit on their hands. And I'm angry that people have lost their minds...denying the realities that are before their eyes. I am at my wit's end. That's it for now.
“The study pointed to federal stimulus checks as the more important piece of this development. Those checks alone raised 12.4 million people out of poverty. Taken all together, recent antipoverty measures reduced child poverty from 30.1% to 5.6%.”
I can’t help but think this is a “feel good” moment versus any structural change in reducing child poverty. We have a tendency to spend money on societal issues and then pat ourselves on the back on “success”. Are children experiencing better nutrition, education, housing because of stimulus checks? Those would be the things that would have a long term impact on actually reducing poverty across the board. We don’t know because we are not measuring those metrics and we are looking at one or two years based on an income only number.
I went to a forum a few years ago (put on by one of the local NPR stations). The a panel (and room) comprised of all White individuals including Governor Baker to ostensibly tout the success of the reduction of gun violence in Boston. A half hour in, a group of about 20 young Black kids followed a Black woman and stood quietly at the back of the room. When the Q&A discussion, began, the woman called out that forum so powerfully with the reality of what the Black community experiences every single day..
Each young Black person in that room had a family member killed/injured by gun violence and/or had been shot themselves. There were daily shootings/gunfire and parents could not bring themselves to allow their children to wait for school buses. The neighborhoods were (and are) still living in constant fear. Think about the psychological impact on everyone in those neighborhoods. But, according to the forum participants and “statistics”, Boston was (is) doing great “reducing gun violence” as there were no mass shootings (unspoken but meant) of white kids.
The lack of representation of those in communities that are actually impacted by societal shortcomings happens all the time. The gathering and interpretation of statistics without valuable experiential input as part of the narrative may make us feel better but we also turn our attention away from a “problem solved”, when in fact it isn’t.
Two things really stuck out for me (and my now jaded soul) about tonight’s letter:
“but Republicans demanded that funds to increase funding for the IRS to enable it to crack down on tax cheats, who cost the United States about $1 trillion a year, be stripped from the bill.” SERIOUSLY, WTF! So, so much wrong about this that I can’t even form a coherent sentence. And . . .
“It is always possible that the Republicans cannot muster the 10 votes they need to pass the bill, and continuing to tinker with it is simply a way to run out the clock on the congressional session so that the Democrats cannot get the infrastructure deal they want so badly.” This seems like the most logical reason for last night’s vote by retrumplicans to move the bill forward. I don’t see any possible way the final bill will get the 10 “R” votes to pass it; they will never allow President Biden a win (IMHO).
Oh, and seriously, what is up with Krysten Sinema???? 😡
"Biden explicitly tied the expansion of broadband to the nation’s 1936 expansion of access to electricity through the Rural Electrification Act. " I've long wondered why this expansion was not applied to broadband.
As for "could regulation of publicly supported broadband help address the problem of disinformation on social media?) " I'm afraid it will be more like when the Internet began. Back then everyone was hopeful it would expand democracy around the world. The reality was quite different. Expanded broadband to rural areas has the potential to make things worse in red rural America if it's not used to read good stuff like LFAA. It's up to content providers to keep that from happening by offering a balanced menu of content.
Thank you, HCR, for completely explaining everything going on with the infrastructure bill. So much is being thrust at us regarding whether or not this will pass. It’s pretty amazing that 17 Republicans gave the proverbial finger to TFG and voted for it. Even Mitch said yes, which gives me shivers because I just know he has some knife to throw in to cause more problems. As far as the Progressives are concerned, I completely understand their reluctance. They (me too) want this bill to include human aspect. Is it ideal? No. Is it a significant start? Yes!
I continue to be puzzled and frustrated the Republicans won’t provide funds to enforce EXISTING IRS regs. OTOH, glad to hear Mo Brooks won’t be defended by DOJ in the Swallwell lawsuit.
Just once, let the lefties in the House take "yes" for an answer. The American Left normally never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity, and the far-left idiot wing is starting to say if it isn't perfect they'll take their football and go home. Hope they like losing next year and then losing for good in 2024.
Obviously, Republicans don't want to be audited! They practically gutted the IRS budget under Don the Con, and they shiver at the thought of a beefed up IRS.
Child poverty becomes adult poverty with all of the stresses, failures and broken lives that costs society everywhere from loss of labor to crime and incarceration to disruptions and poor outcomes in schools. This feeds back into more poverty and failure. In so many unaccounted ways, poverty, an Amethyst social infection, costs far more than politicians, business leaders and voters will ever invest in to correct.
Poverty is one of an increasing number of denials that Americans are unwilling to face and address. All of which are bringing our nation down, holding us back and turning us into the broken "has been" that so many once great nations become.
Re: new mask mandates. My nephew, 35 yrs old, healthy, who was vaccinated with Pfizer in May or June, contracted Covid (Dr could not tell him if it was Delta variant) last week. He had high fever for a couple of days and felt really horrible but is doing better. Feeling weak and has a foggy brain but is on the mend. He lives in Miami, FL & was teaching summer school. He will be back to wearing mask when school resumes (& receives negative test). I live in FL & have consistently worn paper mask everytime I go out to store--never stopped. I am 76 & was vaccinated in Jan 2021. I started wearing N95 last week. Be smart & stay safe out there everyone.
“but Republicans demanded that funds to increase funding for the IRS to enable it to crack down on tax cheats, who cost the United States about $1 trillion a year, be stripped from the bill.” Why don’t they add this to the soft bill?
Now that it appears we are getting around to government promoting general welfare perhaps we can move along to that bit about ensuring domestic tranquility if that's ok with Republicans.
Two rays of hope today. First was Texas Special Election where Jake Ellzey beat the DT endorsed Susan Wright, the widow of Ron Wright, the Congressman who died of COVID-19. Second is the 17 Republican votes for the procedural vote on the Infrastructure Bill again ignoring DT admonishment that they'd be primaried if they did. President Biden realizes a lot of citizens will be voting with their pocket books and having jobs in 2022 and 2024.
If any of you here don't watch Heather's FB live lectures, I encourage you to do so. Tuesday's zeroed on (at about minute 30) on why the Jan. 6th hearings are so critical and why the GOP is so freaked out over them. As she put it, "This is where the rubber meets the road", in that the lies that have been bandied about by the Right, never under oath, are meeting the truth, under oath, from witnesses who have nothing to gain. It certainly put things into a new perspective for me.
Also, since even the MSM insists on using false equivalence in their coverage, or at the very least, give the Right face time in their reporting, the fact that Heather reminds us that Jim Jordan can blather on lie after lie on TV and pay no price, but once he's under oath, it's a different ball game entirely. They all know this, and, lily-livered sniveling worms that they are, they are terrified.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! While I am delighted by the progress that has been made, dividing the concept of infrastructure between hard and soft makes me chuckle. Why bother to have one -- roads and bridges -- without the other -- supporting the people who need to be able to use them. Just MHO.
Meanwhile, back to January 6 with the DOJ "clearing a path" towards accountability:
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/27/1021144336/justice-department-clears-way-for-trump-officials-to-testify-about-jan-6th
As well, today, July 29, a 25-ft 5,000-pound totem pole carved by the House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation will conclude its cross-country journey in Washington, DC. The totem pole will be on view July 29–31, 2021, near the Smithsonian"s National Museum of the American Indian entrance. Their journey started on July 14 in Washington State, with stops at sacred sites in Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan. Their purpose is to highlight the need for awareness about Indigenous "struggles to protect water, land, sacred sites, and [Indigenous People's] collective future."
Click on this link for a map of their journey. Then watch the 2+ minute video about the Red Road to DC Totem Pole Journey:
https://redroadtodc.org/?fbclid=IwAR2X8UtmmOiyII02zif9APkpZiFc5qxFNXI31rj5ihWSexvWc65agU6eghw
Here is a Sierra Club "postcard" about the journey:
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/postcard-red-road-dc?utm_source=insider&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
And this from the Smithsonian:
https://americanindian.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/item?id=984
Good morning, everyone. This may be my only post here today because I may retreat to a darkened room, I am so damn angry. I'm angry that the will of the minority are putting the rest of us at risk: the risk of spreading COVID by not getting vaccinated nor wearing a mask. I'm angry that so many parents especially here in Florida seem to think that it is ok for their kids to put the other kids who cannot yet be vaccinated, at risk and are actively protesting wearing masks. The local school boards are having meetings where parents are threatening to home school their kids rather than let them wear a mask. I'm angry that our governor would rather give a speech in Utah than focus on the virus here and continues to rail against Dr. Fauci who has done so much to protect us. I'm angry at the Republican congresspeople who not only don't have the decency to watch the hearings where the brave police officers testified, but now disparage them in public and now try to blame Speaker Pelosi for the insurrection. I'm angry at the vitriol and hatred that I have heard directed at Simone Biles for being brave and recognizing that it is more important for her own health, and actually for the performance of her team, pulled out of the competition. I'm angry at the vitriol and hate that has been directed at Officer Fanone (have you heard the disgusting voicemail that someone left him?) I'm angry that a sliver of the elected officials have decided to put in place laws that threaten our democracy and that those that have the power to do something sit on their hands. And I'm angry that people have lost their minds...denying the realities that are before their eyes. I am at my wit's end. That's it for now.
“The study pointed to federal stimulus checks as the more important piece of this development. Those checks alone raised 12.4 million people out of poverty. Taken all together, recent antipoverty measures reduced child poverty from 30.1% to 5.6%.”
I can’t help but think this is a “feel good” moment versus any structural change in reducing child poverty. We have a tendency to spend money on societal issues and then pat ourselves on the back on “success”. Are children experiencing better nutrition, education, housing because of stimulus checks? Those would be the things that would have a long term impact on actually reducing poverty across the board. We don’t know because we are not measuring those metrics and we are looking at one or two years based on an income only number.
I went to a forum a few years ago (put on by one of the local NPR stations). The a panel (and room) comprised of all White individuals including Governor Baker to ostensibly tout the success of the reduction of gun violence in Boston. A half hour in, a group of about 20 young Black kids followed a Black woman and stood quietly at the back of the room. When the Q&A discussion, began, the woman called out that forum so powerfully with the reality of what the Black community experiences every single day..
Each young Black person in that room had a family member killed/injured by gun violence and/or had been shot themselves. There were daily shootings/gunfire and parents could not bring themselves to allow their children to wait for school buses. The neighborhoods were (and are) still living in constant fear. Think about the psychological impact on everyone in those neighborhoods. But, according to the forum participants and “statistics”, Boston was (is) doing great “reducing gun violence” as there were no mass shootings (unspoken but meant) of white kids.
The lack of representation of those in communities that are actually impacted by societal shortcomings happens all the time. The gathering and interpretation of statistics without valuable experiential input as part of the narrative may make us feel better but we also turn our attention away from a “problem solved”, when in fact it isn’t.
Two things really stuck out for me (and my now jaded soul) about tonight’s letter:
“but Republicans demanded that funds to increase funding for the IRS to enable it to crack down on tax cheats, who cost the United States about $1 trillion a year, be stripped from the bill.” SERIOUSLY, WTF! So, so much wrong about this that I can’t even form a coherent sentence. And . . .
“It is always possible that the Republicans cannot muster the 10 votes they need to pass the bill, and continuing to tinker with it is simply a way to run out the clock on the congressional session so that the Democrats cannot get the infrastructure deal they want so badly.” This seems like the most logical reason for last night’s vote by retrumplicans to move the bill forward. I don’t see any possible way the final bill will get the 10 “R” votes to pass it; they will never allow President Biden a win (IMHO).
Oh, and seriously, what is up with Krysten Sinema???? 😡
"Biden explicitly tied the expansion of broadband to the nation’s 1936 expansion of access to electricity through the Rural Electrification Act. " I've long wondered why this expansion was not applied to broadband.
As for "could regulation of publicly supported broadband help address the problem of disinformation on social media?) " I'm afraid it will be more like when the Internet began. Back then everyone was hopeful it would expand democracy around the world. The reality was quite different. Expanded broadband to rural areas has the potential to make things worse in red rural America if it's not used to read good stuff like LFAA. It's up to content providers to keep that from happening by offering a balanced menu of content.
We need a Fairness Doctrine for the Internet.
Thank you, HCR, for completely explaining everything going on with the infrastructure bill. So much is being thrust at us regarding whether or not this will pass. It’s pretty amazing that 17 Republicans gave the proverbial finger to TFG and voted for it. Even Mitch said yes, which gives me shivers because I just know he has some knife to throw in to cause more problems. As far as the Progressives are concerned, I completely understand their reluctance. They (me too) want this bill to include human aspect. Is it ideal? No. Is it a significant start? Yes!
I continue to be puzzled and frustrated the Republicans won’t provide funds to enforce EXISTING IRS regs. OTOH, glad to hear Mo Brooks won’t be defended by DOJ in the Swallwell lawsuit.
"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all." Emily Dickinson
Feeling cautiously hopeful. Thank you, Dr. Heather. 💜
Just once, let the lefties in the House take "yes" for an answer. The American Left normally never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity, and the far-left idiot wing is starting to say if it isn't perfect they'll take their football and go home. Hope they like losing next year and then losing for good in 2024.
Obviously, Republicans don't want to be audited! They practically gutted the IRS budget under Don the Con, and they shiver at the thought of a beefed up IRS.
Child poverty becomes adult poverty with all of the stresses, failures and broken lives that costs society everywhere from loss of labor to crime and incarceration to disruptions and poor outcomes in schools. This feeds back into more poverty and failure. In so many unaccounted ways, poverty, an Amethyst social infection, costs far more than politicians, business leaders and voters will ever invest in to correct.
Poverty is one of an increasing number of denials that Americans are unwilling to face and address. All of which are bringing our nation down, holding us back and turning us into the broken "has been" that so many once great nations become.
Re: new mask mandates. My nephew, 35 yrs old, healthy, who was vaccinated with Pfizer in May or June, contracted Covid (Dr could not tell him if it was Delta variant) last week. He had high fever for a couple of days and felt really horrible but is doing better. Feeling weak and has a foggy brain but is on the mend. He lives in Miami, FL & was teaching summer school. He will be back to wearing mask when school resumes (& receives negative test). I live in FL & have consistently worn paper mask everytime I go out to store--never stopped. I am 76 & was vaccinated in Jan 2021. I started wearing N95 last week. Be smart & stay safe out there everyone.
“but Republicans demanded that funds to increase funding for the IRS to enable it to crack down on tax cheats, who cost the United States about $1 trillion a year, be stripped from the bill.” Why don’t they add this to the soft bill?
Now that it appears we are getting around to government promoting general welfare perhaps we can move along to that bit about ensuring domestic tranquility if that's ok with Republicans.
Two rays of hope today. First was Texas Special Election where Jake Ellzey beat the DT endorsed Susan Wright, the widow of Ron Wright, the Congressman who died of COVID-19. Second is the 17 Republican votes for the procedural vote on the Infrastructure Bill again ignoring DT admonishment that they'd be primaried if they did. President Biden realizes a lot of citizens will be voting with their pocket books and having jobs in 2022 and 2024.