Democrats Hike Taxes on Vaping, but Not Tobacco, in Latest Version of 'Build Back Better' Bill
Plus: America's mayors want to be paid in bitcoin, Democrats want to subsidize local journalists, and more...
Democrats are trying to pay for regressive tax cuts in their social spending bill with a big regressive tax hike on vapers. The latest version of the "Build Back Better" plan that's currently being considered in the House of Representatives would slap a new excise tax on any nicotine product "that has been extracted, concentrated, or synthesized" (i.e., nicotine-containing vaping liquid) at the rate of $50.33 per 1,810 milligrams of nicotine.
This is mercifully only half the size of the vaping tax that was included in the first version of the bill. It would nevertheless lead to a massive tax increase on vapers and the businesses that sell to them.
"This tax will close my shop," Keith Gossett, the owner of Bucky's Vape Shop in Columbus, Georgia, told Reason in September about the previous plan to tax vaping liquids at a rate of $100.66 per 1,810 milligrams of nicotine.
The old proposed tax hike would have raised the price of most nicotine-heavy products Gossett sold from $15 to around $75. The new tax proposed by Democrats would instead increase prices of the same products to about $45, or triple what they currently are.
That's bad news for small businesses. It's also bad news for people who are or might be tempted to switch to vaping as a safer alternative to smoking traditional, combustible cigarettes.
Cigarettes also faced steep tax hikes under the old "Build Back Better" bill, somewhat offsetting the higher tax rate that was being slapped on competing vaping liquids. The new bill released this week, however, leaves cigarette taxes untouched.
I don't like the idea of using taxes to encourage people to make healthier decisions. But this latest tax scheme actively encourages people to make unhealthy decisions by trying to make the tax rate between dangerous cigarettes and much safer vaping products equivalent.
Targeting nicotine levels adds a whole extra layer of nonsense to the tax, says the Tax Foundation's Ulrik Boesen.
"A good [tax] design means internalizing externalities related to consumption of a product. With tobacco and nicotine product consumption, these externalities are (1) the health risks connected to frequent use and (2) quantity consumed," he writes. "Nicotine is the addictive substance in the products, but not the harmful ingredient. In other words, the proposal does not target the harmful behavior directly."
The proposed nicotine tax would raise about $10 billion at most, Boesen estimates, and maybe much less given the Food and Drug Administration's current crackdown on which vaping products are allowed in the market.
This revenue will come in lieu of the money Democrats were hoping to raise by cracking down on various estate and gift tax avoidance schemes favored by the wealthy, reports The Intercept, thus "replacing a tax that was highly progressive with one that is highly regressive."
To be sure, cutting taxes on the wealthy—or in the "Build Back Better" bill's case, choosing not to increase their effective tax rate—is usually a good idea. But paying for those tax cuts (or unrealized tax increases) with higher taxes on poorer people who are also trying to quit smoking doesn't seem like the optimal policy.
Fortunately for vapers, Sen. Joe Manchin (D–W.Va.) has come out against the proposed nicotine taxes.
"With where we are right now, a tax on nicotine? That doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever." -- @Sen_JoeManchin, sending a clear message to House Democrats that the new tax on nicotine products needs to go. https://t.co/wngIuxQL7R (at 6:15 pm Eastern) #BuildBackBetter pic.twitter.com/q0TFohs8yP
— Gregory Conley (@GregTHR) November 3, 2021
That alone could sink the bill in Senate. The Democrat-controlled House is expected to vote on its version of the "Build Back Better" plan today.
???????? IT'S OFFICIAL: Vote on the Rule, BBB and BIF tomorrow, per senior Dem aide.
Rules meeting tonight
— me and @bresreports
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 5, 2021
FREE MINDS
Perhaps in the hopes of getting some positive coverage of their spending bill, House Democrats are also proposing new subsidies for "local journalism." The latest version of the "Build Back Better" bill also folds in a plan to give refundable tax credits of up to $25,000 per local, news-gathering journalist who is employed by either a newspaper or digital news outlet. Publishers with as many as 1,500 employees could claim this tax credit, up from a previous version that would have only made the tax credits available for publications with up to 750 employees.
Update on Dem tax handout to "local" news journalists:
The previous version said eligible companies must not employ more than 750 ppl.
New version allows companies of any size to get the special tax cut, for up to 1,500 "local" journalists. pic.twitter.com/ZgwKotPCM6
— John Kartch (@johnkartch) November 4, 2021
There are a number of problems with subsidizing the news media in this way. Perhaps the biggest one is that it puts the federal government, and specifically the taxman, in the position of deciding who meets the bill's somewhat subjective definition of a journalist.
As I wrote in September, "imagine IRS agents poring over a newspaper (or Substack) to see if it qualifies for special tax treatment. Not exactly an image consistent with the First Amendment."
FREE MARKETS
New York City Mayor–elect Eric Adams is shaking up things at city hall already with a surprise endorsement of cryptocurrency. On Thursday, Adams said that he wanted to make the Big Apple the center of this new industry and that to help things along, he would be taking his first three paychecks in the form of bitcoin, reports Forbes.
Adams made the announcement on Twitter in response to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who said that he would like his next paycheck to be 100 percent bitcoin.
In New York we always go big, so I'm going to take my first THREE paychecks in Bitcoin when I become mayor. NYC is going to be the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries! Just wait!
— Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) November 4, 2021
QUICK HITS
• Los Angeles is temporarily deferring fines against businesses that are found not enforcing the city's vaccine mandate, which the Los Angeles Times describes as "some of the nation's strictest COVID-19 vaccine verification rules."
• Shoplifting in San Francisco is getting so bad that even the cops are allegedly joining in. The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that an off-duty police sergeant was arrested on suspicion of robbing a Rite Aid.
• Virginia's incoming state attorney general wants to change the law to allow his office to step in when local prosecutors are being too lenient. Sen. Tom Cotton (R–Ark.), who thinks we have an underincarceration problem, loves the idea.
Virginia's new Republican AG is pushing to step in when pro-criminal Soros "prosecutors" fail to protect citizens from crime.
Great news. And a model for the country! https://t.co/K86uHiXfhI
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) November 4, 2021
• Pfizer says its new COVID-19 treatment is 90 percent effective at preventing hospitalization.
Just stunning results
Pfizer's new oral therapy reduced hospitalizations by 90%
7 deaths in placebo group, 0 deaths in therapy group
Implications of effective therapeutics for ending the pandemic are very, very large
Happy Fridayhttps://t.co/W9TdLER9Rc
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) November 5, 2021
• American companies are stepping up hiring, adding 531,000 jobs in October, reports Politico.
Rent Free is a weekly newsletter from Christian Britschgi on urbanism and the fight for less regulation, more housing, more property rights, and more freedom in America's cities.
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Democrats are trying to pay for regressive tax cuts in their social spending bill with a big regressive tax hike on vapers.
Imagine if the vaccine delivery system was a vape pen.
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Mandatory vape breaks.
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Fuck Joe Biden
Fuck Joe Biden. Brandon would be a better president than that failure.
Clap
Clap
Clapclapclap
Hey guys. Leave him alone. It hurts a few of the liberaltarians feelings here. The ones that totally aren’t leftist. Speaking against a corrupt shit government isn’t intelligent.
Meh. Fuck them too = It hurts a few of the liberaltarians feelings here
#LGBTQ (Let’s Get Biden To Quit)
Oh, and phuck Phil Murphy, too. Useless POS.
Fuck Joe Biden!
Signal transmitted: dit … dit … dit …
I warned you guys. You’ve upset the non leftists.
It’s no longer cool to #resist?
Not clever Dee.
“This revenue will come in lieu of the money Democrats were hoping to raise by cracking down on various estate and gift tax avoidance schemes favored by the wealthy, reports The Intercept, thus ‘replacing a tax that was highly progressive with one that is highly regressive.’”
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
One might even suspect Democrats always intended to do exactly this.
#OBLsFirstLaw
#VoteDemocratToSpiteTheWorkingClass
As Democrats prepare to tax things poor people enjoy, it’s worth examining how the party’s true base — the billionaire class — is doing in the #BidenBoom.
The 10 richest Americans have gained a combined $402 billion this year.
Just a few weeks ago I was celebrating when that figure was barely north of a quarter trillion. Now it’s quickly approaching a half trillion.
#VoteDemocratToReinforceEconomicInequality
OBL…It would be great if you could comment on why Terry McAwful lost the VA election. And your thoughts on Winsome Sears?
#AnxiouslyAwaitingYourResponse!
🙂
McAuliffe lost because voters are racist.
Sears won because voters are racist.
Not your best effort. Tired?
You Winsome, You Losesome?
And if you’re unlucky enough to live where I do, you NEWSOM!
I though it pretty good. Short and to the point.
Dutty whinin muh mean
Perhaps in the hopes of getting some positive coverage of their spending bill, House Democrats are also proposing new subsidies for “local journalism.”
Yeah, that’s not troubling.
They’re done maintaining the pretense that government and “journalism” are anything other than a massive moneylaundering operation for the Left
In glorious Soviet Amerikka, you don’t report on Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Truth reports on you.
The IRS will have to start doing misinformation audits to determine who’s eligible.
Why buy the cow when the milk is free?
Big Tobacco Exhales a Sigh of Relief
Tax increases went up in smoke.
And industry execs light up a victory cigar.
Leaf Big Tovacco alone. They’re not the fags who are blowing smoke on this issue. As was pointed out above, cigarette tax policy has been zigzagging just recently. (On a roll…)
Since Psaki is psick, how much confidence can you have in the ability of Biden to “shut down the virus”?
For some reason, daffy duck came to mind when I saw those ps-starting words.
Biden literally did shut down the virus. After Drumpf lied and said a vaccine might be ready during his term, it was in fact not until Biden took over that they became available.
Can you believe trump was injecting 1 million doses of saline a day in January giving the elderly false confidence leading to them all dying under biden? All covid deaths are trump deaths.
New York City Mayor–elect Eric Adams is shaking up things at city hall already with a surprise endorsement of cryptocurrency.
“SURPRISE! I’m a kook.”
He should stay in his lane.
Needs to recoup his squid coin losses.
When your major party opposition was Curtis Sliwa, who says he wants to stay friendly with you, you can afford to be a kook. So far, not bad for libertarians as recent NYC mayors go.
In any other state, I would expect Adams to be a squishy RINO.
Local news doesn’t apologize for Democrats as much as national news, so the Democrats are trying to fix that.
Back during the presidential election, there was a story that independents and undecided voters are less influenced by national media than they are by local media.
This will solve that problem nicely.
There has to be some logical reason West Virginia and Arizona elected Mancin and Sinema.
Check out kenosha news
I don’t like the idea of using taxes to encourage people to make healthier decisions.
Then prepare to have your dislike “taxed”.
I love it when Reason is all naive and believing in the goodness of government intentions.
The purpose of the vape tax is to recapture the money from people who switched from cigarettes to vaping because smokes are expensive, and in many places, vaping is cheaper.
And they’re okay with it because it’s a tax on the wrong type of people.
They’re also okay with it because, all things being equal, actual cigarettes are more satisfying than vaping. So if smokes and vapes cost close enough to the same amount, people will just switch back to cigarettes, and the tobacco lobby will get back money they lost to vaping.
Everyone who matters wins!
If you need nicotine the fake chew packs like zyn make way more sense. Just the nicotine. None of the other chemicals.
Never heard of them till just now. That’s a great innovation.
But as a woman, I hate spitting. It’s unladylike.
It’s unladylike.
So is having a big hairy set of testicles. But pointing that out is racist or something these days.
I’m pushing for “ejaculating people,” for trans people who wear dresses and still maintain testicles.
Alsk, there is no excuse for an ejaculating person’s balls to be unkempt nowadays. You can just force an esthetician to wax them now.
“ejaculating people,”
We already have a shorter word for that: men.
It’s science.
You dont spit. Just swallow.
Sounded too sexual.
Ha
The bird of America : the Eagle
The bird of peace: the Dove
The bird of true love: the Swallow.
An African swallow or a European swallow?
I don’t know that….DOH!!!!
The only reason you spit with chew is from the other chemicals. So you honestly don’t with zyn like products.
I always thought dipping was gross because of all the spitting. And broads who spit in public just seem trashy to me.
I did Chantix a few years ago and quit, so I’m no longer a junkie.
I use it occasionally when I need some stimulant instead of coffee. Have never had an addiction issue with nicotine. Use it to stop getting distracted at work.
Any breath issues with zen?
Zyn (grrr)
Reason is not ok with Tobacco taxes- they have criticized them numerous times. But it is worth pointing out that the newer taxes are obviously designed to recoup money being lost on cigarette taxes.
And if you are older, you might feel people would rather have tobacco, but among the millennials and down, vaping is preferred. It smells better, has more options and flavors, and is more convenient (you can easily vape in an apartment or hotel room whereas cigarette smoke will bust you).
“Nicotine is the addictive substance in the products, but not the harmful ingredient. In other words, the proposal does not target the harmful behavior directly.”
Yeah that nicotine just drives people crazy. If only people could consume nicotine without smoking cigarettes (which burn up most of the nicotine anyway). If we had nicotine gum or lozenges or pills or vapes nobody would ever smoke cigarettes again.
Hipsters: everybody’s wrong type of people.
Next tax. General purpose battery tax. Electric cars, vapes, wireless headphones, sex toys.
The Democrat-controlled House is expected to vote on its version of the “Build Back Better” plan today.
After the final bill is read aloud into the Congressional Record, right? RIGHT?!
Maybe with the reader software set on 100x.
“Nicotine is the addictive substance in the products, but not the harmful ingredient. In other words, the proposal does not target the harmful behavior directly.”
Cool! Now do guns.
“Virginia’s incoming state attorney general wants to change the law to allow his office to step in when local prosecutors are being too lenient.”
Terrible idea. I really cannot stand these “law and order” types who oppose the Koch / Soros / Reason #EmptyThePrisons agenda.
Wisconsin sheriff refers 5 election officials for felony charges as they changed the rules backed by law regarding voting in nursing homes.
Wisconsin law requires a neutral government actor or direct relatives to assist in voting at nursing homes. The election officials changed rules allowing nursing home staff to help patients vote. This included one dead person and multiple people with dementia and saw voting in nursing homes rose to 100% woth most patients not voting since 2012.
This is estimated to be thousands of votes in Wisconsin.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/racine-co-sheriff-refers-criminal-charges-against-five-elections-commissioners/ar-AAQia57
Random sampling audit showed wisconsin election officials also cured a high percentage of ballot envelopes themselves in violation of state laws. Some witness signatures were blank, many had wrong or even no address.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/11/04/audit-wisconsin-could-have-counted-enough-illegal-votes-to-tip-the-2020-election-to-biden/
Number of cured ballots estimated to be way higher than the ending vote differential
Prosecutors have vowed to do absolutely nothing to get to the bottom of this unfolding, but soon to be forgotten, scandal.
Black people know they’re not a part of the jury system here because the prosecution always strikes them,” he said. “The White people know it too. The juries really don’t have that much credibility or legitimacy in the eyes of the community.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/11/04/arbery-juries-race/
Using a standard court procedure called a peremptory strike, the attorneys eliminated all but one of the dozen Black people in the final jury pool
Obviously the solution is to disguise both the appearance and the voices of all potential jurors and apply the peremptory strike to abstracted entities.
It was established during the OJ trial that there is no such thing as a black-sounding voice, and if you think otherwise you are a racist.
Sigh, public discourse used to be more intelligent:
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/cwsyuw/richard_pryor_on_people_trying_to_sound_black_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
It has never been with you involved.
But how many white jurors identify as black jurors?
Whenever I’m called for jury duty, my goal is to get stricken so I can go home.
I’m never that lucky. I always gets called up last after days of boredom.
For jury trials, we should just have court tv and dial-in voting.
Just let Siri monitor the testimony, and announce the verdict.
I find you guilty of being a dipshit.
“Perhaps in the hopes of getting some positive coverage of their spending bill, House Democrats are also proposing new subsidies for ‘local journalism.'”
Hmm. Not sure this is ideal.
The best model for funding journalism is illustrated by Reason.com’s relationship with its benefactor Charles Koch. Mr. Koch devotes part of his $60,000,000,000 fortune to keeping the lights on at Reason — and in return Reason promotes his financial interests by advocating open borders, empty prisons, and a $0.00 / hour minimum wage.
#BillionairesKnowBest
Don’t worry OBL, by ignoring a lot of important national and international stories, Reason has become very local… the Beltway’s local, right?
Don’t forget NY and Cali.
I think Google kicked in a few bucks too.
Dyson went on Joy Reids show to be racist again. Regarding Winsome Sears
The problem is here they want — they want White supremacy by ventriloquist effect. There is a Black mouth moving but a White idea through the — running on the runway of the tongue of a figure who justifies and legitimates the White supremacist practices.
You can’t be black and conservative.
This works the other way, too:
“The problem is, they want woke racial politics by ventriloquist effect. There is a Black mouth moving but a White Woke Liberal idea through the — running on the runway of the tongue of a figure who justifies and legitimates the White Woke liberal racist and degrading practices.”
Nicely done.
Darvo is the truth of democrats
Are they all just pretending that the current Democrat governor of Virginia isn’t the blackface of white supremacy?
Fake and local news.
You are Moonman. He is Coonman.
Skin color is the most important thing.
“Legitimates”?
Virginia’s incoming state attorney general wants to change the law to allow his office to step in when local prosecutors are being too lenient. Sen. Tom Cotton (R–Ark.), who thinks we have an underincarceration problem, loves the idea.
Novel idea: Incarcerate people who engage in criminal activity that involves harm to life, liberty, bodily autonomy, or property.
So, for example, in Virginia:
Anally raping an underage girl = jailtime
Loudly condemning government officials for hiding rape of underage girl, allowing perpetrator to act again, and lying to the public about it = no jailtime
You’d think an ostensibly libertarian website would understand the difference, but the last few years really did break your brains, didn’t it?
Charles M. Blow
@CharlesMBlow
I am mystified by how these southern states have such low rates of Covid when many of their governors haven’t followed cdc guidance. Someone please explain this to me.
Some of the responses from Twitter:
1) They’re probably hiding the real numbers.
2) They’re most likely following the Florida pattern of ‘lie & hide the real numbers’. Long as the frontloaded daily numbers look good, they can claim ‘freedom’ is saving them from Covid, even when they correct the numbers 2 weeks later & show explosive # of cases
3)Burned through the population. Some of the highest death rates in the world.
4) Go look at the CDC map of COVID deaths per 100,000 since Jan 21, 2020. Covid hammered those states.
And all those responses are wrong. What was the point of posting them?
The fact is the virus follows the same seasonal vectors as other respiratory infections. And infection correlates with that more than it does vaccine percent.
lol Italy gave up the ghost dude, it’s over.
NY and NY get a pass on explanation No. 3.
NY and NJ.
I don’t see the Edit button today for some reason.
1. Why use data when you can wish it always with unproven assumptions? That’s the spirit!
I was actually thinking about this, when I was sitting in Waffle House the other day. At the high bar, sitting next to random strangers, no mask or nothing, and carrying on with the cooks on the grill. It was a great time.
But people in the South [and probably the Mountain West, too] have noticed that, when you take off the masks, when you go back to the restaurants … nothing happens. If Waffle Houses were a hotbed of plague, it would have been known by now, and we wouldn’t need the newsies to tell us it is so. And it just isn’t happening: not in the schools that have been 90% unmasked for the year, not in the restaurants, not in the [dying] shopping malls.
It’s not so much that the people in the South are anti-science. It’s that we have common-sense. When simple observation shows us that there is Covid death, but not from the sources that the gov’t tells us to worry about, we question it. When the masks and crap are removed, and no plague results, we dismiss it. When all of the pants-shitting fear the ‘scientists’ tell us we should be having just doesn’t pan out, we start ignoring it.
Scientists pronouncing things are not science. Science is performing the experiment. When the experts tell you “fats are eeeevil”, but the 90 year olds you know all ate sausage and egg breakfasts their entire lives, you suspect the experts don’t know what they are talking about. The question is not why people in the South are ignoring the scientific experts … the question is why everyone in the Northeast cities are still listening to them?
[not strictly north/south … you know where these people are. Shout out to the Mountain West]
No, no, no. That can’t be right. You are in denial. There are people dying all around you from Covid but you just deny to see it. The national media will show you. Pay attention to them so they can tell you what is really happening in your area.
He’s believing his lying eyes like a chump.
The New York Times warned us that relying on our own perceptions instead of the advice of top-men, was potentially dangerous.
There has been zero outbreak since college football season started. The narrative is shit.
Oh, yes, should have added that in. College football, high-school football, sports bars. A dozen people were masked at our high school homecoming, and people were circulating in the stands just like old times. I worked concessions [man, forgot how wonderfully stressful food service was] and the one person who wore a mask, pulled it down to order.
“Fuck Joe Biden!” chants kill the virus.
Fuck Joe Biden!
I live in the Northeast, but out of the cities. Very rural, lots of small farms, most places don’t have town services. The type of area where three towns share a fire department, which is like 80% volunteer. People out my way feel the same way. People were very cautious at first, but then… nothing happened. People just slowly started going about their business, generally ignoring the CDC, and still nothing happened. Hardly anyone wears a mask and nobody really cares about COVID. A month into the whole thing, my 80 year old neighbor came over for lunch. She said, “Welp, I’m 80. If I’m gonna die from this, I’m certainly not gonna do it alone in my house. Send the kids over tomorrow, I’m making pie.” Peggy, God love her, is still kicking and never even got a sniffle.
Point being, people who live their lives a certain way tend to flock together. You couldn’t pay me enough money to live in (or very near) a big city with all the noise and crowding. City people think I live in a savge wasteland and can’t believe I kill chickens and rabbits and eat them.
I think rural people tend to be more pragmatic and rational, so they looked at all the bullshit with a skeptical eye, and believed their own experience over whatever CNN was telling them.
And skepticism is the very basis of science. Not this thoughtless adherence to what is passed down from authority. When did people in the cities/academia/journalism forget that?
I think, probably, there is a massive cultural difference between people who plant by moon phases, and people who have degrees in communications.
People who can do things on their own vs people who rely on others for everything, to include opinions and information. To add to what Cronut said. Also, city folks are by and large craven loudmouths.
I think the division is between people who are too busy working to pay attention to pundits, and people who sit around all day soaking in radiation from a display.
It’s still seasonality. That’s how us seasonality theorists keep predicting virus activity. We’re squarely in the middle of the fall lull right now, with the winter wave ready to crash over the country.
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/seasonality-a-story-in-pictures
I’m not sure I can express myself monosyllabically enough for him to follow.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10169007/New-COVID-19-pill-cut-hospital-death-risk-90.html
If the FDA requires testing then they’re withholding medicine from the public and killing people, and if the FDA allows it they’re approving experimental medicine and killing people.
No matter what, the FDA is going to kill people.
Now talk about horse dewormer
If the FDA requires testing then they’re withholding medicine from the public and killing people, and if the FDA allows it they’re approving experimental medicine and killing people.
OR: FDA could allow people to take it if they are willing to accept the risks involved in a pill that has not undergone extensive testing but not mandate people to take it if they don’t want that risk?
No, no, that would never work. Force is the only way to accomplish anything.
And, also, don’t forget that the FDA is approving it only to line the pockets of a big pharma corporation.
Yes, we have had supposed conservatives straining so hard to make anti-vaccine arguments that they demonizing making business profits just like they are channeling AOC.
Oh. Because the left hasn’t demonized every generic that acted as an anti viral. Including you.
Only high profit medicine works.
Injecting cash works best.
Shouldn’t everybody be concerned that the government is demanding people enrich a company?
Could care less if you choose to do so. Being MADE to do so is a different thing.
Which is why the FDA should not exist.
This pandemic was a massive missed opportunity to increase medical freedom. I know it was never going to happen, but this really should have been the wake up call to society to get the government out of health care. Unfortunately, it is way easier to trust the politician that says they can “solve” the crisis with just a little more power than it is to trust the invisible hand. The closest we came was Operation Warp Speed. Unfortunately, that was more greasing the bureaucratic wheels for a couple of approvals/EUAs than solving a long term problem.
-Expanded Right to Try Laws/abolish FDA
-Reducing and eventually removing licensing requirements for medical professionals
-Removing Certificate of Need laws
-Abolish USDA – the food pyramid and virtually all of their recommendations make Americans sicker
All of these, among others I am sure, would have gone a long way in mitigating many of the issues caused by COVID as well as solving long term health care issues.
To borrow your comment from yesterday: you can wish in one hand….
If I was king all the executive alphabet agencies would be full of unemployed assholes suddenly unable to pay for their kids’ college education.
Oh the things I would do for the 24 hours as Supreme Ruler before being offed by the CIA.
You won’t get Pfizer’s vaccine, but you will take Pfizer’s treatment. What a maroon.
Yeah, this is going to be interesting to watch all the self-contradicting arguments from conservative anti-vaxxers.
Can you two never not lie? Being anti mandate is not being anti vax. God damn. Every conservative politician has said to get valued just not mandate it.
The only side dismissing possible effective treatment is yours demonizing any and all generics.
You two are so full of shit.
Both are fucking idiots. Complete chuckle fucks without a nickel of sense between them.
Can you refute what the chuckle-fucks actually say? Or are you just another troll who doles out personal attacks because, like JesseAz, you can’t compete in the arena of ideas.
No need to answer. All my questions were rhetorical.
Sarcasmic rides in to white knight for the original White Knight. How meta.
Speaking of “trolls who dole out personal attacks because they can’t compete in the arena of ideas”, you’ve just spent the last week trolling and harassing Ken solely for backpats from White Mike.
Pretty pathetic, sarc.
Self-awareness isn’t your thing, huh.
My response wasn’t only personal attacks dummy. You using that assertion when “muting” others makes you look stupid. Just like I showed you to be a hypocrite with your personal attacks in other threads.
“interesting to watch all the self-contradicting arguments”
Like the one you two low-impact geniuses made?
You just can’t seem to wrap your head around the idea that hesitancy regarding an untested new technology like the mRNA based process, which is radically different from any other protein vaccine before, is prudent.
The inventor of the process himself is running around warning people not to get it, but somehow CNN said it was cool so you’ll ignore that.
The new Pfizermectin pill on the other hand, is based on already well-tested, pre-existing medication, and isn’t causing weeks of massive inflammatory responses.
Pepin called you two idiots, “chucklefucks”. I like that, it’s apt.
Who has said “never take vaccines”?
Large difference between “do not take vaccines” and “the government should not force you to take vaccines”
Do you take Tylenol every day just in case you do get a fever?
I hope so. Goodbye liver.
I always take a shot of vodka with each Tylenol pill.
Whenever Brandybuck’s feeling chilly he insists that everyone else put on a jacket.
Since I already had Covid, with minor symptoms, pretty sure I’ll take neither.
If you already got the shot, why would you need a COVID AIDS pill?
The Democrats have to protect the Tobacco Settlement payments. They don’t give a damn about our health.
I think Virginia’s incoming AG might be on to something. I mean come on, “mutual combat”?
This. Absolutely.
It is the combo of sweet, sweet cash and the nanny power to decide that you cannot do something.
Why are we pretending that the “moral peril” of tax subsidies to journalists is some unintended and unforseen consequence and not the entire point?
These people have been trying to gain full control over everything you see and hear for decades…. But a tax incentive that gives them control over all local reporting is not part of a pattern of behavior?
Come on, man!
Seems somebody should sue over 1st Amendment violations with this idiocy.
I mean, I admit it’s unfathomable to assume April Ryan or Jim Acosta would be partisan hacks…but there is a chance
Rittenhouse day 3:
Prosecution badgers their own witness. Helps prove self defense for the defense team. Horrible day for the ADA. Then again they have no case yo anyone who watched the video.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/11/rittenhouse-trial-day-3-states-own-witnesses-damage-prosecution-reinforce-self-defense-narrative/
I saw one legal pundit break down “the top 3 defense lawyers” in Day 3 of the case.
#1 the Judge who corrects and admonishes prosecutors.
#2. The prosecutor … Who puts on witnesses so bad for his case that he has to attack their credibility.
#3… In a distant third, the defense lawyers, who still can’t figure out how to raise timely objections.
Baca at legal insurrection had a take on the objection criticism. The prosecution is helping so much that excess objections could lead to the jury thinking the defense is scared.
He alsonwants to demolish the prosecution misrepresentations in cross which he has done effectively.
Yeah, might be along the lines of “never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake”.
That kid is a product of a rightwing sickness that has inflected this country. He should never have been there with that gun and that fascist attitude.
*Infected
Meh, is there really a problem hunting down assholes who are looting and committing all sorts of mayhem, and plugging them? I don’t see one. The moral of the story is: If you see a dude holding a rifle, don’t be stupid and attack him. You’ll likely get blown away for your troubles.
Maybe the those rioters should not have been attacking innocent people, looting and burning small businesses.
I mean the video yesterday showed the arsonists lying in wait and trying to jump Rittenhouse. That was the prosecutions own witnesses confirming that.
I know. Going and helping rioters with first aid. Pure evil.
Now do women in short skirts.
Is she advertising how drunk she is amongst a large group of intoxicated young males with no friends around? One of them muffs is probably a rapist ya dumb shit.
You can can be a moron asking for trouble and a victim at the same time.
So simplistic it isn’t funny.
shitlord specializes in “stupid”.
LoS doing his Joker impression? I prefer the Keaton version where he gets dropped off a high rise.
*St. Kyle shoots Kristallnacht-emulating Brownshirts in self-defense*
Stroozle – “fascist attitude”
Agreed that Rittenhouse was a mixed-up, misguided teenager who should not have been there. To be fair, though, there were a whole lot of people with guns out on the streets of Kenosha that night who shouldn’t have been there, left and right.
TDS-addled asshole now tries ‘both sides’
Fuck off and die.
Kind of like a younger version of Sevo, I suppose. (Don’t know what Sevo wrote but I’m sure it was brilliantly witty and really brought some new insights into the conversation.)
Ok, close your eyes:
“He should never have been there… with that attitude.”
Progressive Antifa fan or southern lynching apologist?
Neither. Just a sane person commenting on a fucked-up night in Kenosha.
The problem is that most jurors were/are biased against Rittenhouse (because 90% of news media accused Rittenhouse of murder since it happened, despite videos showing self defense) and (as occurred in Minneapolis during the Chauvin trial, and as occurred on election day a year ago in many cities) left wingers have threatened more violent rioting (if Rittenhouse isn’t convicted of murder).
Same was true with zimmerman. And that didnt have video for the defense.
If hes convicted i sure hope there’s another riot.
I don’t think the prosecution expects to win on the evidence. They’re counting on the jury making a political verdict.
I don’t like the idea of using taxes to encourage people to make healthier decisions. But this latest tax scheme actively encourages people to make unhealthy decisions by trying to make the tax rate between dangerous cigarettes and much safer vaping products equivalent.
Reason is sad the Democrat bill doesn’t raise taxes on tobacco.
Perhaps in the hopes of getting some positive coverage of their spending bill, House Democrats are also proposing new subsidies for “local journalism.”
Russia, venezuela, China all fund the press too. What can go wrong?
You know who else funded the press?
Virginia’s incoming state attorney general wants to change the law to allow his office to step in when local prosecutors are being too lenient. Sen. Tom Cotton (R–Ark.), who thinks we have an underincarceration problem, loves the idea.
I mean the antifa friendly Portland DA has made Portland an amazing place by dropping all cases against them.
Yeah, this one is tough… Because we have a slew of far left prosecutors using their office for political purposes. But there are even more pro state douchebags on the left and the right that just keep tightening that ratchet.. so you know that this will be primarily used for evil…
The DA in Loudon County wanted to hide the student rape and jail the parent for going to a school board meeting and getting mad. I see where the AG is coming from.
Similar situation in my area, where the St. Louis DA is in trouble for not prosecuting murderers, but has plenty of time to prosecute people for political reasons.
Far Right MN Man Ran For School Board As Anti-Vaxxer. A Stint In ICU With Wife Changed His Mind.
One of the things we find out about politics, is that if an issue affects someone’s life directly, it can affect their vote immediately. It can also affect their ideology immediately. This is the story of a Kanabec County, Minnesota man who knew it all, thanks to Facebook and Project Veritas videos on YouTube.
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2021/11/5/2062241/-A-Far-Right-MN-Man-Ran-For-School-Board-As-Anti-Vaxxer-A-Stint-In-ICU-With-Wife-Changed-His-Mind
Fuck off, slaver.
What is with the flood of Kos links lately? 50 centers aren’t even trying anymore.
Founded in 2002, Daily Kos is a digital media platform for news you can do something about. Our staff writers share the latest stories and analysis to inform readers about hard-hitting issues that matter to progressives
They are totally not biased in any way.
My favorite kos article was still proving 911 was an inside job because chicken wire didn’t melt when in a lighter fluid caused fire.
I worked for a contractor that among other things, sprayed fireproofing onto steel structures. Considering the circumstances, the buildings collapsing was inevitable.
Our whole industry is in big trouble if fire doesn’t make steel fail ever. All of that unnecessary fireproofing for all of those decades cost a fair amount.
Also, blacksmiths are a figment of mythology. Everything you’ve ever seen on Forged in Fire is a lie.
But Rosie O’Donell herself made the same point—STEEL DOESN’T MELT!!!!
They should consulted a blacks…person of color smith.
Far left asshole posts anecdotes.
Hey Stroozle! Why did you figure it’s a good idea to post homilies from a literally communist site, on an ostensibly libertarian one?
At least this one has a happier ending than Herman Cain Award winners.
Dance on the grave of cancer victims mikey
He died of third-stage cancer you posturing fool.
What a garbage person you are Dee.
Donald Trump tops opinion poll as US voters ‘regret’ supporting Joe Biden
One of the things we find out about politics, is that if an issue affects someone’s life directly, it can affect their vote immediately.
I wonder why you think you comment has any relevance to LoS’s comment.
Just because it doesn’t make sense to you, doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense.
It kinda does mean that.
No, it means you’re retarded on top of dishonest. Fuck off and die.
Freakin hilarious. Joe Biden didn’t get briefed … and reacts like any other working American would to the news that Justice is trying to settle with the separated illegal immigrants for $450,000 with “Four hundred and fifty thousand dollars per person. Is that what you’re saying?” When the reporter confirmed, Biden said, “That’s not gonna happen.” [is also up on NWT, zerohedge, everywhere]
And this morning, the White House is going through all sorts of contortions, trying to walk back Joe’s words. I still don’t think they know what a potentially explosive situation this is. I’ve seen people in comment sections everywhere saying: if this is happening, what other bullcrap handouts are happening that we don’t know about? The NYT and WashPost thought they were doing the president a favor by bringing this to the light, and now people everywhere are horrified. Biden is a generic, blue-bleeding, old-man Democrat, and his gut-level reaction is “That’s not gonna happen.” Why should we not think this is the reaction of middle-of-the-road Democrats everywhere?
People on the Republican side, still about half of this country, are going to be aghast and angry if this goes through. My wife is pissed, that some lawbreaking kid is getting 3 years of her salary for entering the country illegally, and she’s a doctor. What happens when people to whom this represents 10, 20 years’ salary hear about this? People who may never clear this money in their lives? Their mouths fill with angry spit, and they look to the ‘haves’ that are the source of the unfairness. Doesn’t matter what political stripe they are.
Yeah, but good intentions.
And no mean tweets?
Which is what this mostly is about. Notice that there’s no intention of paying “reparations” to families separated during the Clinton, Bush, Obama or even the current administration. Just Trump.
These people are like crazy exes doing absolutely everything thing they can to try to discredit the other party, no matter how asinine or pyrrhic.
Signal transmitted: dit … dit … dit …
TDS-addled asshole: dit…dit…dit
Is that the White Knight signal? Time to armor up the sockpuppets and ride in to save the day?
Lame ass Dee.
This is bullshit = giving illegal aliens 450K tax free, while we have homeless veterans living on the streets, or getting shitty institutional care. Are they fucking kidding me?
Can’t wait for November 2022…cannot come soon enough.
Compare the $100,000 benefit paid to soldiers who die on active duty. Getting separated from your parents for avg 6 months is 4.5x worse, apparently.
They must have pretty solid plans to steal another election in 2024 to pursue policies this fucking stupid.
If you wanted to anger the real fucktard crazy right-wingers to the point that they start shooting illegal immigrants so that you can further the ‘war on domestic terrorism’ and start harassing moderates, this is what I would recommend.
Griffon3 wrote: “The NYT and WashPost thought they were doing the president a favor by bringing this to the light, and now people everywhere are horrified.”
No, it was the Wall Street Journal that broke the story about the $450,000 payments several days ago. The NYT and WaPo are only now covering the story because Biden was caught with his pants down by Fox New reporter Peter Ducee (who asked Biden about the $450,000 payments two days ago, when Biden said it won’t happen).
Yesterday, Biden’s handlers at the WH totally contradicted Biden’s claim by claiming Biden supported legal settlements by the DOJ.
Technically, the NYT and WaPo were repeating the WSJ article in glowing terms, before Biden’s SNAFU. I even made a comment at the time, that I couldn’t tell my wife, she would have been pissed all weekend. And when the wife is unhappy …
My wife is pissed, that some lawbreaking kid is getting 3 years of her salary for entering the country illegally, and she’s a doctor. What happens when people to whom this represents 10, 20 years’ salary hear about this? People who may never clear this money in their lives? Their mouths fill with angry spit, and they look to the ‘haves’ that are the source of the unfairness. Doesn’t matter what political stripe they are.
Those of us who actually read all 10,000 pages of Atlas Shrugged might remember the scene where a worker at the factory that goes full commie knocks the teeth out of a little girl with new shiny braces after he is denied a single album, his only pleasure in his dull life.
From public housing projects that will never open, to payouts for illegals, progressives are 100% determined to make every Ayn Rand dystopia a reality.
Biden: “450K? Are you freakin’ kidding me? I’m the President of the USA and I only made 400K this year.”
Reporter: “But the undocumented immigrants had a better year than you sir.”
Since 2009, left wing Democrats (in collusion with tobacco harm reduction opponents at Big Pharma, CDC, FDA & US SG) have knowingly and intentionally lied about the very low risks of vaping (which are 99% less harmful than cigarettes), the effectiveness of vaping to help smokers quit (even as 10+ million smokers have quit by switching to vaping), and the enormous health benefits vaping has provided for teens (as teen smoking plummeted by 80%).
It was left wing Democrats who have been lobbying FDA to ban the sale of all (or virtually all) nicotine vapes (since 2009), who banned vaping everywhere smoking is banned, who massively increased state taxes on vapor products, and who have lied about teen vaping to confuse and scare the public (as CDC and FDA deceitfully falsely classified teen THC vapers as nicotine vapers to grossly inflate (er double) teen nicotine vaping rates.
And yet, the world’s largest cigarette manufacturers (i.e. Altria, Philip Morris International, British American/RJ Reynolds, Imperial, Japan Tobacco International) have been the biggest beneficiaries of the Democrat’s campaign to ban, tax and excessively restrict vapes and vaping (as all of these policies have protected and preserved cigarettes from market competition by exponentially less harmful alternatives).
By protecting cigarette markets, left wing Democrat’s campaign against vapes (and other smokefree nicotine products) also threatens public health and the lives of 35 million smokers.
Note that FDA’s disastrous e-cigarette regulation (imposed in 2016) has legally banned (as of September, 2021) the sale of >99.999% of the 10,000,000+ million nicotine vapor products currently on the US market.
Meanwhile, the FDA has only approved the sale of one tobacco flavored vape product made by BAT/RJ Reynolds, which currently gives the cigarette company a vapor monopoly in the US.
The FDA still hasn’t taken enforcement action (i.e. cease and desist letters to 5,000+ vapor product manufacturers) to actually ban the sale of 99.9% of the vapor products now on the US market.
I suspect the FDA will approve several more tobacco flavored vapor products made by cigarette companies, extending the decades old cigarette oligopoly to vapor products.
The tax on vapes in the Democrat’s socialist spending bill would apply to all vapes that are approved by the FDA.
Ironically, while the cigarette companies have aggressively lobbied against taxation of vapor products (because they want to sell more vapes), FDA and Democrats are protecting cigarette markets (and threatening public health) by imposing huge taxes on vapes.
Since around 2014, left wing Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation to impose massive federal taxes on nicotine vapor products (far higher than the federal cigarette tax).
Democrats in the US Senate who have campaigned for huge vape taxes for many years include Durbin, Blumenthal, Brown, Merkley, Markey.
If Congress was truly concerned about improving public health, reducing Medicaid costs for treating sick and dying smokers, and truthfully informing smokers about much lower risks of vapes and other smokefree alternatives, they would double or triple the federal cigarette tax (from $1 per pack), not change tax rates on any other tobacco product, and keep zero tax on vapor and dissolvables.
If Congress doubled the federal cigarette tax, cigarette consumption/sales would decline another 10%-15% nationwide by next year, especially in states with the lowest cigarette tax rates, and many more smokers would switch to far less harmful vapes, dissolvables or smokeless tobacco products (if FDA continues to delay imposing its disastrous vapor products sales ban).
.@RepJayapal: “I think that Democrats are the party of parents, not Republicans. We are the ones that are looking to pass universal childcare, universal pre-K.”
https://t.co/Xuww7LW5xF https://t.co/w4wdCX50DW
Right. That’s exactly what middle class parents want. Keep campaigning on this.
Shorter version: “we want to control even more of your kids’ lives, and keep them away from you for longer. trust us.”
“Fortunately for vapers, Sen. Joe Manchin (D–W.Va.) has come out against the proposed nicotine taxes.”
You may have heard there was an election a few days ago. The center of opposition to the budget reconciliation bill probably shifted to the moderate Democrats in the House after the election, and the evidence would seem to suggest it has.
Nancy Pelosi tried to bring the budget reconciliation bill up for a vote last night, but she didn’t have the votes to pass it. She was apparently hoping that the embarrassing election results out of Virginia and New Jersey for progressives would make the Congressional Progressive Caucus more willing to compromise on the infrastructure bill, and it probably did.
The problem is that the moderate Democrats in the House are no longer as willing to stick their necks out. It may take a while for journalists and the news narrative to catch up to the new reality. And the progressives are still adding stuff to the bill that she couldn’t must support for last night.
“The House bill would shield the immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally from deportation for five years and provide a five-year, renewable work authorization. The group had sought to offer green cards to discrete populations of immigrants no matter how they entered the U.S.”
—-WSJ
“Nancy Pelosi’s Push for Quick Votes on Bills Hits Snags”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pelosi-pushes-house-toward-votes-on-infrastructure-social-spending-bills-11636046025?
So, after the election, the progressives are willing to pass the pared down reconciliation bill and commit to the infrastructure bill, but who’s accounting for all the Democrats who are now afraid of losing their seats? And some of the things they’re proposing seem to suggest that this is signaling–with granting amnesty to every illegal alien in the country for five years being one example.
Is there a good reason to think the Senate parliamentarian will rule that immigration reform is a legitimate budget reconciliation issue? She has already ruled against immigration reform as a budget reconciliation issue twice! The progressives are saying that Manchin and Sinema should ignore the Senate parliamentarian and pass immigration reform without a veto proof majority–and just dare the Supreme Court to strike it down. But that wasn’t realistic before Democrats with less than a 10% margin of victory realized their seats were in jeopardy for toeing the progressive line.
They say Pelosi is bringing these bills up for a vote later today. They’ve said that, and she’s failed to do so five times now, by my count, and I wouldn’t bet on it being any different this time. Moderate Democrats know it’s their necks on the chopping block. I wouldn’t bet on it passing the House, much less the Senate at this point. Pelosi and the press are in desperation mode, but the moderate Democrats see the writing on the wall. I wouldn’t bet on the infrastructure bill passing until the progressives come to terms with reality, and I wouldn’t expect that to happen until January of 2022.
Sen Kelly seems to be shitting his pants yet doubling down for the 22 election. He is toast.
What do you mean he’s doubling down? What’s he doing?
He has sent out emails supporting the two spending bulls and discussing the need to support the presidents plans.
Holy shit.
He’s getting some really bad advice, or someone is offering him a really sweet gig at the Pentagon.
Senator Mark Kelly
22 hours ago
Major investments are coming to Arizona.
Senator Mark Kelly
@SenMarkKelly
·
Nov 3
Federal pandemic relief funding is being put to good use in this residency program that’s addressing Arizona’s teacher shortage and will help ensure our kids get caught back up in school.
Senator Mark Kelly
@SenMarkKelly
·
Nov 3
I’m a cosponsor of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act because protecting the right to vote is critical to our democracy.
Today, we must move forward with passing this important legislation in the Senate.
“MacDonough, an adviser on Senate procedure [the Senate Parliamentarian], has rejected two attempts by Senate Democrats to establish a path to permanent residency for millions of undocumented immigrants in their reconciliation bill, which may pass with a filibuster-proof majority. She has reasoned that the proposals do not comply with a rule requiring measures passed via reconciliation to have a primarily budgetary impact.”
—-Roll Call, October 21, 2021
https://www.rollcall.com/2021/10/21/house-democrats-press-senate-leaders-to-override-parliamentarian-on-immigration/
What’s different about this now that the progressives got slaughtered in Virginia and New Jersey? If anything is different, it’s that moderates in both the House and the Senate are even more reluctant to vote for this stuff than they were before the elections on Tuesday. I don’t see why the Senate parliamentarian would budge, and I don’t see why Manchin, Sinema, or the moderate Democrats in the House would budge an inch either. In fact, they’re almost certainly digging their heels in now that they’ve seen what’s likely to happen to them in November of 2022 for siding with the progressives and Joe Biden.
The progressives in the Progressive Congressional Caucus are delusional. They think smearing parents as insurrectionists for opposing their local school boards will make progressives popular and powerful. They think smearing suburban women in Virginia and New Jersey for voting for Youngkin and Ciattarelli will make them appealing. And they appear to believe that the reason the Democrats didn’t do better in Virginia and New Jersey is because the moderates didn’t pass a reconciliation bill full of socialist welfare programs, Green New Deal regulation, and amnesty for illegal immigrants everywhere!
Manchin was/is clearly not pleased that several dozen left wing protesters who surrounded and beating on his car last night, which could have quickly turned very violent (as his life was in far greater jeopardy, as was Rand Paul’s last year, than anyone in Congress during Jan 6.
Progressives will claim to be defending democracy–even while they’re trying to intimidate an elected Senator to stop reflecting the opinions of his constituents.
It’s disgraceful, and it’s another reason why progressives are America’s most horrible people.
You know who else used brownshirt tactics to intimidate people?!
Funny how doing this is NOT domestic terrorism, ain’t it?
Too bad he wasn’t in Florida, he could have run them over.
US lawmakers approve $1tn in infrastructure spending https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59180745
Ken, I have maintained for a while now that the legislative calendar works against them. And Senator McConnell knew that as well.
The best outcome is both spending bills going down in flames. And then no agreement on the debt limit. At that point, I could see Senator McConnell asking for daily votes to increase the debt limit. Nothing would make me happier than to see the Congress grind to a halt, voting on useless debt limit increases every fucking day.
That’s what I want to see happen, but I think it’s too much to hope for while the Democrats control both chambers and the White House. The most likely outcome is that the Democrats pass the infrastructure bill (maybe after the New Year)–because expecting Democrats to fail to spend trillions on the unions in an election year is a bad bet.
Simply defeating the budget reconciliation bill is a huge victory for libertarian capitalism, and there was no good reason to think we would be so lucky. Even now, I feel nauseated wondering if Pelosi might somehow pull this off at the eleventh hour. However, if the House Progressives still won’t support it without adding amnesty, there’s still no good reason to think the Senate will pass it without a veto proof majority–over the objections of the Senate parliamentarian–or that Manchin and Sinema will suddenly jump on board.
I’d love to say this was cynicism on the part of the Progressive Congressional Caucus, that they’re really just trying to signal something because they care more about signaling than they do about change, but I really think they’re just delusional. And delusional is the right word for them–after they just go their asses handed to them in deep blue New Jersey. Plenty of them really believe their own bullshit.
Maybe they really believe that millennials are different from every other generation in that they stay woke when they have kids and move to the suburbs. I don’t know, but what they’re having a picnic in a thunderstorm like there’s no thunder, lightening, or sheets of rain all around them.
I think you [or someone] mentioned that even a Democratic win in New Jersey represents a loss in votes: going from a 16% margin in favor of Biden, to a bare 0.1%* in favor of Murphy for governor. I imagine even some of the progressive caucus are looking at that 15% vote swing, and starting to worry about their own carefully gerrymandered districts — not just moderate democrats.
[* last number I saw. They seem to be finding more votes every night]
[[looked it up. There were 8 D senators, 57 D representatives with under a 15% margin of victory. I imagine some of these were in the progressive caucus.]]
One of the widely watched gauges of where particular races stand at the moment is at the UVA Center for Politics, and they changed several Democrat Senate seats in the 2022 election from “likely Democratic” to “tossup” after the election on Tuesday. Here they are:
Goes from “likely Democratic” to “tossup”.
Mark Kelly (D) AZ
Raphael Warnock (D) GA
C. Cortez Masto (D) NV
Another went from “safe” to “likely Democratic”
Michael Bennet (D) CO
https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/republican-sweep-in-virginia-sets-off-alarm-bells-for-democrats/
Senators have less turnover, and they’re aren’t as subject to the same historical dynamic that we see in the House, but all the Republicans need is one of those races to go Republican to take control of the Senate. If I’m doing this right, the chances that none of those three “tossup” elections will turn Republican is one-in-six. Things will happen to change those odds in the future, but from where we’re standing right now, the chances of the Republicans taking control of the Senate look pretty good.
The historical median for the president’s party in the House after his first midterm is -26 seats. The more radical the new president’s agenda, the worse it is for his party in the House. Between TARP and ObamaCare, Obama’s Democrats suffered a loss of 54 seats in the House in 2010. If the Democrats pass the budget reconciliation bill, we should expect them to suffer losses like Obama’s Democrats did in 2010, but even if they don’t pass the reconciliation bill, the Democrats should lose control of the House.
Every House Democrat who won their blue district by less than 10% should be distancing themselves from the Biden administration and his budget reconciliation bill right now. And those who won by less than 15% should try to stay out of photos with Biden as much as possible.
Interestingly, Larry Sabato (head of the UVA Center for Politics) was on television (the day before the election) falsely accusing the GOP candidates in VA (including the newly elected black Lt Governor) of being racists.
He moved them from likely Democratic to tossup anyway.
I bet there were others who were moved from the “toss up” to “likely Republican” category, too.
Well, Youngkin did take photos with somebody known to be OK with racist imagery.
…it was his photo with Gov. Northam, but still…
Not that much of a surprise–Joy Reid and Michael Eric Dyson basically called her a house nigger during their discussion last night.
Yes, I know it’s Reid and she’s a fruit loop racist, but This Is What Progressives Actually Believe.
Pelosi said the House vote would occur last night, but the she postponed it until 8AM today.
But I’ve been watching C-Span all morning, and the bill still hasn’t been mentioned (they’ve been voting on a partisan adjournment motion since 7AM).
If there aren’t 50 votes in the Senate to pass the massive spending bill (which still appears to be the case), taking a vote on the bill in the House will accomplish nothing legislatively, while destroying the political careers of several dozen more moderate Democrats next year.
Does Pelosi truly believe Manchin and Sinema will now change their minds (especially after Tuesday’s election results) even if she gets the bill through the House? I’m perplexed at her apparent stupidity.
She can’t even get it passed in the House. The Senate is the secondary hurdle at this point to my eye. It’s the moderate Democrats in the House she needs to worry about now.
This is how Speakerships end. She won’t admit it until it’s over, but this is what the end looks like when it happens. In the UK, this would amount to a no-confidence vote.
“Traditionally, in the Westminster system, the defeat of a supply bill, which concerns the spending of money, is seen to require automatically for the government to resign or ask for a new election, much like a no confidence vote. A government in a Westminster system that cannot spend money is hamstrung, which is also called a loss of supply.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_of_no_confidence#United_Kingdom
She won’t be able to get hardly anything done between now and next November, and when she’s replaced as the leader of the Democrats in 2022, the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus will probably be the next leader.
Pelosi had a good run as Speaker. I think she held it for eight years in two parts. 17 years is the record. I don’t think she’ll be effective anymore until there’s a new election, and the Democrats probably will be in the minority after 2022 anyway.
Hopefully the Dems will be smart enough to take power away from the Progs after they lose control of both houses. But I doubt it.
Nobody should hold any office that long.
Mancin should just vote no on everything, and explain it’s because a mob tried to intimidate him and they can try again in 2023 after they lose the majority.
“Analyst who aided Trump-Russia dossier charged with lying”
[…]
“WASHINGTON (AP) — A Russian analyst who contributed to a dossier of Democratic-funded research into ties between Russia and Donald Trump was arrested Thursday on charges of lying to the FBI about his sources of information, among them a longtime supporter of Hillary Clinton.
[…]
The indictment, the third criminal case brought by Durham and the second in a two-month span, is likely to boost complaints from Trump allies that well-connected Democrats worked behind the scenes to advance suspicions about Trump and Russia that contributed to the FBI’s election-year investigation…”
https://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-analyst-aided-trump-141621368.html
THAT didn’t take long, did it?
It’s all just the little people and underlings getting snagged. Soros, who personally funded the phony reports and pushed them with the aid of John McCain, is still a free man.
Yeah, I think he’s working his way up the food chain. Put enough pressure on this guy, and he’ll spill the beans. The other side of the question is who he’s spilling the beans on, and I’m not sure it’s the funding for this. What if his defense is that he didn’t lie to the FBI. That the FBI was in on it from the very beginning? Then we’re going up the chain of command at the FBI. I want to see Comey answer for what he did.
“…I want to see Comey answer for what he did.”
TDS is real, Comey (et al) had a severe case and since Trump wasn’t a ‘real’ political candidate, they were under no serious constraints.
Pretty sure that’s what lead to the surveillance.
Which in no way excuses him; he ought to be viewing the world though bars.
Further, I think the CDC ought to issue a mandate forbidding TDS-addled shits from holding any office in the US.
It’s probably near impossible to build a case on Soros himself. Soros is insulated by layers and layers of lawyers. I’m sure that in order to even talk to Soros’ lawyer, you probably need to make an appointment with Soros’ lawyer’s lawyer.
They need someone to flip and start naming names. Comey may go down because he’s expendable, but I doubt Soros or Clinton or Obama will ever see the inside of an interrogation room, let alone a jail cell. I think the best thing Durham can do is take down a couple of decent sized fish like Comey to make a splash in the headlines, while strategically leaking the connections to Clinton and Company. Expose the corruption and make them so toxic they can’t show their faces in public.
The fact that the AP is even publishing this means that people are definitelt going to jail, probably significant people, and the story can’t be ignored.
I’m not sure Soros did anything illegal.
Comey more or less admitted to submitting FISA subpoenas with information the FBI knew to be false–in order to get a warrant to perpetrate surveillance on a presidential campaign.
Private citizens have a right to be jackholes.
The FBI perpetrating surveillance on presidential campaigns for bogus reasons is unacceptable in a free society.
He directly hired the investigator who created the phony reports for McCain’s committee.
It was his hire, not the committees.
Why is that illegal?
What are you accusing him of–spreading misinformation?
Not necessary illegal, but sorta… more along the lines of fraud.
The committee didn’t pay for the investigation, Soros did. And then he and McCain represented the fake report as being commissioned by the committee rather than Soros. The committee then used Soros’s fraudulent information in the report to reach a decision.
That decision cost the US hundreds of millions.
I didn’t see any coverage of this important indictment on CNN or MSNBC yesterday.
I’ve enjoyed the Schadenfreude watching CNN and MSNBC since Tuesday night, as some of those lefties have responded to the election by doubling down on their lies and accusations against the GOP, while others are crying in their spilt milk.
Based on democrat logic: that is sufficient evidence to declare the 2020 election invalid. That’s much worse than a half dozen Facebook posts from Russians.
Comey was at least seditious in his actions, and should be held accountable.
Pay-Per-View.
Pfizer’s new oral therapy reduced hospitalizations by 90%
The establishment is rapidly loosing their excuses to tighten control. Maybe it’s time for a global warming emergency?
If Biden can be convinced to ordering OSHA to impose an unconstitutional covid vaccine mandate on two thirds of the US workforce, don’t be surprised if he orders emergency bans on coal mining, gas and oil drilling, or even banning the beef and hog industries (which emit as much methane as the fossil fuel industry).
Not even Bumbling Basement Bunker Biden is stupid enough to ban bacon.
7 deaths in placebo group, 0 deaths in therapy group
Take that, you horse placebo users.
Progressives placebo groups everywhere should band together and demand an end to being treated as separate but equal.
THEY JUST LET THOSE PEOPLE DIE!
Los Angeles is temporarily deferring fines against businesses that are found not enforcing the city’s vaccine mandate…
Has someone determined maybe it’s a good idea not to screw with the local economy too much at this point in time?
“Has someone determined maybe it’s a good idea not to screw with the local economy too much at this point in time?”
Not anyone who matters; they think business is magic.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that an off-duty police sergeant was arrested on suspicion of robbing a Rite Aid.
So they are actually making arrests?
He figured Rite Aid would be an easy mark, since no one is working there anymore.
Virginia’s incoming state attorney general wants to change the law to allow his office to step in when local prosecutors are being too lenient.
Double jeopardy isn’t allowed, but no one said nothin’ about triple jeopardy.
American companies are stepping up hiring, adding 531,000 jobs in October…
“American companies.” Not giving the president his due!
529,000 @Amazon to help xmas delivery
87,000 at the IRS to help us make sure we get our full tax refunds. And to make sure the 800 billionaires pay their fair share.
borderline full employment.
>>There are a number of problems with subsidizing the news media in this way.
lol! would be if they weren’t already a government branch.
also, free Aaron Rodgers!
and Kyrie Irving.
yes! and the Uighurs who make his jerseys
And Tyler Bertuzzi!
Fuck aaron Rodgers.
Love
A former packers fan.
That Berkeley fag can go to hell
I mean I hope they lose every game go Cowboys but he’s a political prisoner and it should not stand.
I wonder how his shitlib actress fiancee is reacting to all this.
I remember back in 2007 when celebrities were asking to be paid in Euros instead of dollars.
Right before the Euro crashed.
But since BTC isn’t centralized like the Euro………
it’s still the sign of a bubble top when people who don’t understand something or can’t really afford it are all excited about buying in.
see tech stocks 2001, housing 2007, crypto right now….
How many dollars do you think they’ll print in 2022? 2025? 2030?
Whatever happened to libertarians saying “don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff”?
Now, at least according to the comments, being a libertarian means Republicans rah rah rah!
Fuck you Ken.
Here’s the latest from Stossel. Reason will be late to the party as usual.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcJk64UdxIQ
Ideas!
Remember everyone, trollboy sarcasmic swears he doesn’t make personal attacks. And in a totally unrelated matter, most definitely isn’t trying to get into Dee’s pants by constantly attacking Ken.
Also, as usual, sarcasmic has no idea what Stossel’s actually talking about, and lacks the self-awareness to realize it’s about people like him.
So broken.
Oral anti-virals for Covid would make sense if they were available over the counter. Unfortunately, current rules for Tamiflu, for instance, require a prescription. Which means that by the time you get sick, wait a few days to make sure, wait a few more days to get to a doctor (if you’re lucky), by which time they’ll tell you that it’s too late for Tamiflu. As it will be too late for a Covid oral anti-viral. Oh well. It could have been a game-changer. There are scientific reasons for getting oral anti-virals as early as possible in the infection stage. But our bureaucratic procedures are more important, apparently.
Obviously, the vape vendors aren’t spending their money on bribing politicians the way the tobacco cartel does.
-jcr
Cigarette companies must have donated more than the Vape companies.
Nice article