American Politics 3.0 - Back to Brunch

[Plett25]

I'm so relieved Trump is gone. What a long 4 years.

I'm afraid Joe's calls for unity will fall on deaf ears at Fox "News", the RNC and wherever the deplorable a gather online.

It would have gone against the grain of the ceremony, but i wanted to hear Gerald Ford quoted.

"My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over."

[darockwilder]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Reports are that they have started taking away people's Bibles already.

Yep, and "Merry Christmas" has already been outlawed too. After Trump finally allowed everyone to say it again! Probably won't sink in for a few months, but come December people are going to be hoppin' mad.

[photon]

[ResAlien]

It will be interesting to see how the MAGA acolytes that have burrowed themselves into positions where they cannot be easily removed try to sabotage this administration. The high profile people should already have their boxes packed but the positions we never think of or see could cause some problems.

[getbak]

[flylock shox]

Today feels like a breath of fresh air after 4 years of Trump sucking up all the oxygen.



So happy this day has arrived. To think we were a hair away from having another 4 years (at least) of Trump at the helm. The USA got really, really lucky. So did the rest of the world for that matter.


Hopefully they don't just sweep all the wrongdoing of the past 4 years under the rug in the name of national unity, but no matter what, hopefully they can chart a course forward that avoids future disasters like the last 4 years have been.

[getbak]

Hey, the President of the United States is allowed to use Twitter again...

https://twitter.com/user/status/1351946842838347776

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Reports are that they have started taking away people's Bibles already.

But what about their burgers!!

[ResAlien]

I get we’re all excited for Biden but take a moment and lament the upcoming unemployment surge when the army of fact checkers created in the past 4 years get laid off

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

I get we’re all excited for Biden but take a moment and lament the upcoming unemployment surge when the army of fact checkers created in the past 4 years get laid off

Do we care about Russia's unemployment rate?

[Reggie Dunlop]

TODAYS TRANSACTIONS
American League
Donald Trump (R) has been placed on waivers.

[JohnnyB]

That was a predictable and decent speech. It was so predictable that I could have easily missed what Joe said and guessed at 95% of it.

I'm not inspired, but I really hope for four more years of that. Here's to four years of not having the American presidency constantly commanding attention.

Keep being decent, unremarkable and boring, Joe!

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by getbak

I mean there should probably be a lot of fire damage to the house that is currently being repaired, if we're being realistic about it. And some people outside who would still like to set fire to it if given the opportunity.

[Mull]

Originally Posted by Plett25

I'm so relieved Trump is gone. What a long 4 years.

I'm afraid Joe's calls for unity will fall on deaf ears at Fox "News", the RNC and wherever the deplorable a gather online.

It would have gone against the grain of the ceremony, but i wanted to hear Gerald Ford quoted.

"My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over."

Immediately after the speech, CNN was talking about how great the speech was, and FOX switch to AOC trying to "create a list" and how Biden can possibly have unity when his own party is creating list.

[Ozy_Flame]

This is a fun article from a couple of years ago about Amanda Goran:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1351944657870139394

[troutman]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1351925708600324096

[wittynickname]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Well thank god that 4 years is over.
Not that the problems are over.
But let's just be happy that the horrible piece of a trash of a human being is out of power.

Was talking with an extremely liberal friend of mine, and she was lamenting all the relief from everyone, that we can't let our guard down, etc, and I tried to explain where I'm at in this moment.

I know Biden is going to piss me off in the next 4 years. I know he will do things that I disagree with. I know that any progress made will be slow and hard-fought.

But for 4 years the administration has been one that, from the top down, has taken pleasure in cruelty. His parting shot of attempting to cut back protections for the LGBT community sums it up. This exiting administration did bad things for the fun of it. I've seen it said that with this crew: the cruelty is the point.

We now have a man in office who yes, is deeply flawed, who was far from my first choice in this race. There are a million caveats about his leadership.

But I don't think he actively wants to hurt others, and that provides a deep sense of relief.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I mean there should probably be a lot of fire damage to the house that is currently being repaired, if we're being realistic about it. And some people outside who would still like to set fire to it if given the opportunity.

Are you really arguing the semantics of a cartoon meme? Peak Corsi.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

Oh hell no.

Oh hell yes.

They aren’t “predatory loans,” no one was forced to take them out, they aren’t oppressive for those who made good decisions, and blanket forgiveness creates moral hazards and likely rewards many who are undeserving or who don’t need it.

Actually, yes, a lot are forced to take them out and have horrible terms attached to them. Once you enter a program you get no value out of it until you have achieved completion of said program. If you walk away early, regardless of the situation, you have that loan hanging over your head and no way to ever have it discharged. Most people go to school to better themselves and their situation in life and many are being screwed over because of the oppressive terms of the loans they are locked into.

Save the moral hazard bull####. Again, Trump just gave $1.6 TRILLION in tax breaks and windfalls to the top 1%, those in society who need it least. He just made the rich richer. Where is your moral outrage there? On top of that, Trump's COVID relief allowed these same people to take out billions in loans, and then Trump made it so they didn't have to pay those back. Again, where is your moral outrage and claims of moral hazard there? 1.2 million people just made out like ####ing bandits, and everyone else is left holding the bag. Time for main street to get a fair shake and get some forgiveness.

Besides, why are student loans deserving of special treatment? Where is your call for mortgage or car loan forgiveness? Medical debt forgiveness? Credit card forgiveness?

Student loans are special IMO. They are taken out by people trying to better themselves and their communities. When someone educates themselves they improve not only their own prospects but those of the community they live in. Education is a way to impact large populations quickly and give them a chance for social mobility.

Car loans, and credit card debit are very different. They really are a result of discretionary spending with no greater benefit to the society as a whole. They can be discharged through bankruptcy. I would never agree to kill that off as most spending like this is truly on discretionary spending. Mortgages are very different as well, but there have been means put into place in the past to help out during crisis situations. When the housing crash happened the government allowed millions to short sell their homes, without penalty, to get out of underwater loans. So programs like this have worked in the past and kept the system afloat.

Medical debt is something that should also be wiped clean, but that will have to come with the implementation of universal healthcare. You should never have to go into debt because you had the misfortune of getting sick or injured. Another one of the many short comings of our system here in the United States. The almighty dollar is the primary driver behind everything and that is not how a high performing society remains at the top of the heap.

Wiping out student loan debt in an effort to let people buy “big ticket items” does little other than swap out one debt for another. In that case, those advocating for such an act aren’t really against debt, or even economic progress. They are just against having to pay their obligations as to a certain undertaking.

That's bull####. The intent of forgiving student debt provides a great deal of benefit to society as a whole. Our systems are revenue driven. When there is no revenue flowing into those systems, they fail. The intent is to kick start the economy by giving people more discretionary cash to go spend and get more jobs into the economy. More jobs in the economy means more tax revenues, which means greater health to our social systems, like Social Security. This is where pin head conservatives don't have a ####ing clue. You want to solve the insolvency of our social programs, get people to work and get people paying income tax! More jobs means more revenues. More spending means more demand for products and then more jobs. We have tried this trickle down economics bull#### for decades and its been a failure. Time to try some trickle up economics and give a bunch of people who are the primary target for our spending economy a chance to kick it into gear!

I want tp point out just had badly our student loans systems are broken. Explain to me why a person with a student loan is getting bent over by the government for 6.5-9% interest on loans when that same government is getting money at a rate of .25%? Government is non-profit, but here they are raking money in hand-over-fist on this student loan ponzy scheme. They have made it impossible to have student debt erased, even from the predatory institutions who conned their customers. I would also like to point out that because these predatory institutions got away with the bad practices of predatory loans the rest of the industry chased after them, making the problem that much larger. The whole system is broken and needs to be wiped clean. We gave 1.2 million people a benefit of around $1,300,000 dollars a head when all is said and done. Why is it wrong to give 44-48 million people a benefit of around $32,600? Try and square that one.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by wittynickname

Was talking with an extremely liberal friend of mine, and she was lamenting all the relief from everyone, that we can't let our guard down, etc, and I tried to explain where I'm at in this moment.

I know Biden is going to piss me off in the next 4 years. I know he will do things that I disagree with. I know that any progress made will be slow and hard-fought.

But for 4 years the administration has been one that, from the top down, has taken pleasure in cruelty. His parting shot of attempting to cut back protections for the LGBT community sums it up. This exiting administration did bad things for the fun of it. I've seen it said that with this crew: the cruelty is the point.

We now have a man in office who yes, is deeply flawed, who was far from my first choice in this race. There are a million caveats about his leadership.

But I don't think he actively wants to hurt others, and that provides a deep sense of relief.

Pointless cruelty and pointless lying.
I think most politicians are doing what they think is right for their people and the world. Many times, we look at what they do and think they are wrong. But the intent is positive.

What made Trump unique is that wasn't the case with him. His only intent was to do what is right for him.

A selfish, monster of a man who history will remember as such. One of those rare people who made the world worse. My hope would be that somehow he is made aware of that - so that he has to live with that reality. But that won't happen.

Whatever. FU Donald.