They saved their rich friends, so they're good

After talking about white supremacy for the last couple days this tweet from Scott Lynch and some responses is appropriate.

So many people running around claiming they'll do anything for America. Carry guns, live in bunkers, fight in the hills. What they're actually asked to do is wear simple protective measures, keep their distance, show patience and courtesy. And they break like f***ing glass.

John Scalzi replied:

The difference is that in the fantasy they are asked to kill, and in the reality they are asked to be kind.

CL Cadwallader added that it’s all about being able to shoot other people without consequence.

Rens Houben responded:

As a friend of mine points out, it basically says "I am prepared to take a life, but not to save one."

It says pretty much everything about them that they're willing to kill others to preserve their way of life, but not to endure some minor inconvenience to save others' lives.

RevoluSeann added:

My favorite is when they say they won't wear a mask because they won't live in fear... yeah? what are the guns for?

Joan McCarter of Daily Kos reports the nasty guy had a buffet lunch (!) with GOP senators yesterday. They didn’t talk about any more relief, the state and local government budget crisis, or even better virus testing.

While a $3 trillion bill that would take care of much of that has been passed by the House and is sitting on Sen. Mitch McConnell's desk, there is a profound sense that Republicans don't give a damn anymore. They saved their rich friends, so they're good.

What they probably did talk about is how to get reelected and how to use Obamagate to make it happen.



Remember the Great Recession? It started about a dozen years ago. Remember what caused it? Yeah, a complicated scheme where mortgages were given to people who couldn’t afford them, then were packaged with phony numbers and offered as investments. When those people couldn’t pay the whole system collapsed.

Hunter for Daily Kos discusses an investigation done by ProPublica. It seems the big banks that caused the crash are doing the same thing again, though this time with commercial mortgages. Yes, also doctored books. The trigger this time will be the virus and its rush to work from home and companies no longer need so much office space. Hunter wrote:

There's a near-100% chance that this Republican president will end his term of office in the same way the last Republican president did: handing off, to his Democratic replacement, a world "investment" economy that has been systemically looted and now stands in ruin, needing massive government intervention so as to attempt to protect every other economic sector from that potential collapse.

Catherine Rampell, opinion columnist of the Washington Post, tweeted a summary of her piece on economic stabilizers:

Fiscal aid should be triggered by economic conditions, not the whims of whichever politician is most willing to shoot the hostages.

Remember when GOP cared about policy uncertainty? Linking UI, SNAP, FMAP to economic conditions rather than fickle political showdowns also gives states more certainty they need to budget, & workers confidence they can continue putting food on the table.

Sarah Binder, a political scientist at GWU adds some explanation and a look at the politics. Here’s my summary of her thread.

An example of a stabilizer is a high unemployment rate automatically triggering enhanced unemployment insurance with larger direct payments and increased food assistance. There are four political barriers to this plan.

1. Because of the need to get reelected Congresspeople would rather get the credit for benefits delivered now rather than ensure better benefits in the future.

2. A fiscal hawk won’t want to vote to make it harder to reduce spending in the future. It is easier to block (through veto or inaction) new benefits than to turn off a stabilizer later through a specific vote.

3. Those that most benefit from stabilizers tend to vote for Democrats, so little benefit for the GOP.

4. Even within Democrats advocates of stabilizers tend to be moderates.

Even so, some programs already have stabilizers, such as Social Security benefits (which benefit everyone). And some programs desperately need them, such as minimum wage (which are for the working class).



I’m glad they’re doing this: Museums, including the Smithsonian system, are asking people to donate pandemic artifacts – after they’re done using them. What sort of things? Homemade masks, of course, though also anything that gives insight into life in a pandemic is like. Personal stories, including diaries, photos, and videos, are also welcome.




A couple of fun videos:

A dancer (working for tips at a stoplight).

A cat as goaltender.