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15th April 2020, 05:22 PM | #281 |
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The point of equilibrium has passed; satire and current events are now indistinguishable. |
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15th April 2020, 05:46 PM | #282 |
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Edited for the sake of correctness.
I have no idea what you're saying with this sentence. Please restate in clearer terms. Why? The economics of cheap foreign labor will not change because of the pandemic. Trends in robotics and AI will play a larger role in manufacturing and, increasingly, in services than any transient pandemic effects. How will you know when "all is said and done". Covid-19 infections and deaths are now a fact of life and are likely to remain so for a long time. |
15th April 2020, 05:53 PM | #283 |
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It’s being reported Trump is weighing the option of suspending Congress under some sort of emergency authority.
Hate to know how to process that. Game show host just thriving on controversy or something he’s really considering. Edited to add: Rachel Maddow’s chyron now showing 32,000 US deaths. |
15th April 2020, 05:55 PM | #284 |
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15th April 2020, 05:58 PM | #285 |
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15th April 2020, 05:58 PM | #286 |
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It occurred to me today while watching the daily press thingy that an interesting comparison would be how many times has Trump said something comforting about the number of deaths and suffering Americans vs how many times he has either boasted about his travel ban or complained about an inherited broken system.
I would bet that one would be a single digit while the other would easily be triple digits. |
15th April 2020, 06:05 PM | #287 |
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The point of equilibrium has passed; satire and current events are now indistinguishable. |
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15th April 2020, 06:09 PM | #288 |
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15th April 2020, 06:29 PM | #289 |
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Trump himself, at today's briefing; multiple media commentaries about it, too.
A never-used Article I power allows the President to adjourn Congress if the two houses cannot agree on an adjournment date or a resumption date after adjournment. A similar power allows him to convene emergency sessions if Congress happens to be be adjourned during a national emergency. The problem with the power to force an adjournment is that Congress (both houses) are technically still in session (not recessed), gavelling in and out with the bare minimum of personnel to meet the requirements, and they don't disagree about adjournment/resumption dates. Congress would have to recess without adjournment for Trump to invoke this extraordinary step. Trump also made clear his reason for threatening to do this: He wants to make recess appointments, which can only happen when Congress is recessed or adjourned for 10 or more days and the appointment is considered necessary. McConnell has been ensuring that the Senate is not in recess by having pro-forma gavelling in/out every couple of days. Of note, the question of recess appointments during times when the Senate is only holding pro-forma sessions has already been to SCOTUS and resoundingly rejected. Obama or Bush 43 (don't recall) tried the recess appointment trick when the Senate was holding only pro-forma sessions specifically to prevent being in recess. SCOTUS said the Senate has the sole power to decide how to manage its affairs, and whether the conduct is a pretext or honest is not up to the courts to hear, let alone decide. At best, this is an attempt at a legal strategy that's already been ruled against by SCOTUS. Even if Trump tried it, McConnell (who is jealous of the Senate's prerogatives, if not sensible about anything else) could simply call the Senate back into session before Trump could make any appointments. It's grandstanding, nothing more. |
15th April 2020, 06:29 PM | #290 |
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15th April 2020, 06:32 PM | #291 |
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15th April 2020, 06:51 PM | #292 |
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15th April 2020, 06:52 PM | #293 |
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15th April 2020, 06:55 PM | #294 |
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15th April 2020, 06:59 PM | #295 |
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15th April 2020, 07:00 PM | #296 |
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15th April 2020, 07:05 PM | #297 |
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Gunter Haas, the 'leading British expert,' was a graphologist who advised couples, based on their handwriting characteristics, if they were compatible for marriage. I would submit that couples idiotic enough to do this are probably quite suitable for each other. It's nice when stupid people find love. - Ludovic Kennedy |
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15th April 2020, 07:11 PM | #299 |
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15th April 2020, 07:19 PM | #300 |
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When I tried to sign on to see the status of my stimulus payment, I got a message saying they can't determine my eligibility for a refund.
Well ain't that peachy? I filed taxes in 2018 and 2019, although I didn't get a refund either year. I was expecting to have to get to the site and enter my bank information for direct deposit, but I didn't get that far. I put in my social security number, address, and zip code, and it said they couldn't determine anything. |
15th April 2020, 07:20 PM | #301 |
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15th April 2020, 07:22 PM | #302 |
I lost an avatar bet.
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I lost an avatar bet to Doghouse Reilly. |
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15th April 2020, 07:28 PM | #303 |
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They're not. I'm not far from "S" myself. They may be doing it in order of who has the simplest filings. I had nothing but the standard deduction for 2019 so my taxes were as simple as they come. It's based off the AGI for that year so if your tax situation involves anything complicated to calculate your AGI that might be a reason for a delay.
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You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara. |
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15th April 2020, 07:32 PM | #304 |
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Exactly our situation.
No refund for either 2018 or 2019, but both my wife and I get Social Security direct deposits to our bank account - in fact those payments hit today. Hopefully we’ll see our stimulus payments in short order, though we’re lucky in that we’re not in dire need of said payments. |
15th April 2020, 07:34 PM | #305 |
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15th April 2020, 08:25 PM | #306 |
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Who is General Failure? And why is he reading my hard drive? ...love and buttercakes... |
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15th April 2020, 08:33 PM | #307 |
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This may not be the appropriate thread for this, but Canada's response for anyone out of work due to the epidemic is the CERB: Canada Emergency Relief Benefit. It's $2,000/month for up to four months. People have to apply for it and self-declare that they're eligible.
I applied and it was very straightforward. It appears the goal is to get money to the people who apply as quickly as possible, and look for irregularities later. I don't know if the plan is to audit every claim once the emergency is over or to look for patterns that might indicate unsupported claims. As of today over 6 million Canadians have applied. My roommate, who applied for E.I. when he was laid off from his job due to COVID-19, was automatically enrolled in the CERB when it was announced. He received his first payment this week. |
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The social illusion reigns to-day upon all the heaped-up ruins of the past, and to it belongs the future. The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Gustav Le Bon, The Crowd, 1895 (from the French) |
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15th April 2020, 08:54 PM | #308 |
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15th April 2020, 09:25 PM | #309 |
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"Anything's possible, but only a few things actually happen" |
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15th April 2020, 09:43 PM | #310 |
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Haven't seen anything yet in my account, though the few gringos living in my area all have it now. Oh, well. Left behind...again.
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Just a spec in the Spectrum... |
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16th April 2020, 12:17 AM | #311 |
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We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy. Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos |
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16th April 2020, 05:16 AM | #312 |
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I’m of a generation where SOP was local news at 6P, national news at 6:30P. Though I absorb news from multiple sources during the day, I still enjoy the 30 minute summary I get from network news.
That said, for weeks now it’s been virtually nothing but Coronavirus news. That is, of course, important, but could be condensed to no more than 20 minutes or so, leaving time for other stories. Like deadly tornadoes in the south a few days ago not far from us, or Kim Jong Un’s shenanigans, China’s military maneuvering, threats by Trump to adjourn Congress and so on. |
16th April 2020, 07:00 AM | #313 |
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Trump Tweets
Crazy “Nancy Pelosi, you are a weak person. You are a poor leader. You are the reason America hates career politicians, like yourself.” @seanhannity She is totally incompetent & controlled by the Radical Left, a weak and pathetic puppet. Come back to Washington and do your job! @OANN Poll “Gives President Trump a 52% Approval Rating in North Carolina, and a seven point lead over (Sleepy) Joe Biden. The President also helps other Republican Candidates, including @SenThomTillis, who has a 4% lead over his Democrat rival.” |
16th April 2020, 07:40 AM | #314 |
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Reputable poll taken 4/14-15 shows Biden with a 48/47 edge in North Carolina:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com...orth-carolina/ |
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16th April 2020, 07:45 AM | #315 |
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16th April 2020, 07:46 AM | #316 |
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Quote:
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Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end . . . WS |
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16th April 2020, 07:53 AM | #317 |
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I'm not thinking that's likely. I don't think that computer has enough information to determine need.
I would have preferred they did that in the first place, instead of just printing a bunch of money and throwing it out to everyone. i.e. I think "Give everyone money" is a really terrible plan. However, since they did it, I would like to get my hands on the part that has been allocated to me. |
16th April 2020, 07:56 AM | #318 |
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Don't let the checks going out distract you. Those checks are a band-aide on a sucking chest wound. It's the failure of getting the unemployment for people who need it started that's the real story.
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Ashley Babbit was a good start. |
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16th April 2020, 09:48 AM | #319 |
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Meanwhile, the $349 billion small business loan program is tapped out.
The government's small business loan money is gone. Now what?
Quote:
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Being the victim of genocidal atrocities does not give you free reign to commit your own genocidal atrocities. When Republican politicians were young, they were the kids who watched James Bond movies and said "I want to grow up to be just like [insert name of villain here]." |
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16th April 2020, 10:20 AM | #320 |
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