Ongoing discussion of the political news of the day. This thread is for 'smaller' stories that don't call for their own thread. If a story blows up, please start a new thread for it.
wasn’t there like a recording leaked of a shareholders meeting from some big multinational last year where they were bragging about how they were able to raise prices and the consumers were all blaming inflation or the Biden Administration instead of the company?
Lol, like evidence matters.
Eggs, at least, are about half the price they were earlier this year, weirdly.
That was mostly an outbreak of bird flu affecting about fifty million hens that's pretty much over now; wholesale prices are way down, though retail prices haven't followed them all the way down yet.
IIRC egg prices were up from more than inflation and the usual supply chain stuff, there was a strain of avian flu that was killing off chickens. Not sure whether that passed naturally or if they came up with better antibiotics or what, but when chicken populations recovered, supply went up and prices went down.
Egg prices were also primarily up from pure profiteering (aka price gouging), unless it's somehow normal for raw profits of a product to increase 700+% year-on-year while in the midst of mass shortages.
Egg prices were also primarily up from pure profiteering (aka price gouging), unless it's somehow normal for raw profits of a product to increase 700+% year-on-year while in the midst of mass shortages.
I mean, this is capitalism. Pure profiteering is normal.
I hate to say it but I am finding it harder and harder to argue against price caps. Actually more like margin caps.
I also sort of understand that the rich need the poor poor to keep prices down. I don't like it at all but it is ringing true to me.
Farscry wrote:Egg prices were also primarily up from pure profiteering (aka price gouging), unless it's somehow normal for raw profits of a product to increase 700+% year-on-year while in the midst of mass shortages.
I mean, this is capitalism. Pure profiteering is normal.
I’m not so sure. With as much corporate welfare as we support, some percentage of that is likely subsidized. Especially by companies that abused COVID relief.
Market-driven capitalism hasn’t been operational in the US in my lifetime, probably longer. Not only that, but the “rational actor” basis of capitalism has been repeatedly shown to be mythological.
So the news says Tim Scott has a girlfriend.
So the news says Tim Scott has a
girlfriendBEARD.
fify
Opinion piece but I can hope.
The GOP's Ill-Fated Biden Impeachment Inquiry Will Cost Republicans the House | Opinion
The Republican Clown Caucus and its ring leader Kevin McCarthy just debuted the latest sideshow in their legislative circus: a sham impeachment inquiry of President Biden that is opening to negative reviews from the American public.With voters tuning out the House GOP's conspiracy-laden hearings, and Republicans' anti-democracy, anti-abortion agenda losing at the polls in every state where it's been on the ballot, this latest hail-mary effort may finally signal that the end is near for the GOP's plan to keep control of the House in 2024.
In announcing his intent to launch an impeachment inquiry into the President, Kevin McCarthy has confirmed what many of us knew the moment it took him 15 votes (and many backroom concessions) to be confirmed as Speaker of the House: He is Speaker in name only, having ceded control long ago to the most radical MAGA members of the Republican Party.
While threatening a deeply unpopular government shutdown, these extreme right-wing Republicans (or, let's be honest, these Republicans) are now willing to hold our entire government hostage just to appease Donald Trump, despite the fact that months of GOP-led committee investigations have produced no evidence of any wrongdoing by President Biden.Republicans are wasting millions of dollars of taxpayer money and countless hours of time that should be devoted to addressing the real needs of the American people. And swing district voters are taking note.
In a recent survey conducted by Public Policy Polling, 56 percent of respondents in the 18 Biden-won districts represented by Republicans said the impeachment inquiry would be a "partisan political stunt." A majority also said it would be more about "damaging President Biden politically" than "finding the truth."
Nationally, in a Reuters/Ipsos poll, a majority agreed that Hunter Biden's legal troubles were "independent of and unrelated to" Biden's service as president—including Independents by a 2-1 margin, and even 32 percent of Republicans.
This GOP sideshow stands in stark contrast to the widely supported legislation that President Biden and fellow Democrats have enacted in recent years to address the everyday, real-life concerns of families and communities. We are coming off a historic Congress led by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi that passed a Biden-led bipartisan agenda, including the first gun violence prevention legislation in 30 years, the most aggressive climate and environmental protection legislation in history, the American Rescue Plan, capping the price of insulin for those on Medicare, reducing the cost of prescription drugs, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, and a historic bipartisan infrastructure bill.
This work has continued under Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who has been pushing for action on lowering costs, growing the economy for the middle class, and ensuring safer communities, even as these efforts are blocked by Republicans.Just this week, President Biden has been traveling the world to bolster our economy and trade, making a tangible positive impact on U.S. jobs and the pocketbooks of Americans. Meanwhile, Speaker McCarthy can't even pass a budget and keep the lights on.
As we look forward, it is clearer than ever that the biggest electoral priority Democrats have is winning a majority in the House and Senate in 2024, and re-electing President Biden, so Congress can return to meaningfully legislating for the American people.
Democrats have proven that when they hold office, they deliver—and with stronger majorities, that results can be even more significant.
The majority of Americans are fed up with the GOP's distractions and dangerous agenda—and recent historic conservative defeats in Wisconsin and Ohio prove that voters aren't tuning out; they're showing up to the polls to defeat the radical right.
Just 6,675 votes in a handful of competitive districts decided control of the House in 2022. This latest theater from the GOP-controlled House isn't just another desperate move by a Republican Party that knows its time in power is coming to an end. It could very well be the last straw and galvanizing force for swing district voters and the wave of Democratic volunteers who will help win back a federal Democratic trifecta in 2024.
Damn I hope so too, and honestly I'm sort of optimistic. It honestly feels like republicans are scraping the bottom when it comes to energizing and pulling in voters. Kind of like drug use where they have to be more and more extreme to get the same effect as before. And it's not really pulling in new voters either. Time is against them as younger voter tend to be heavily liberal and are voting now. While their core base is well dying. Maybe I'm just feeling optimistic for once.
Course wouldn't be the first time the dems screw up an easy win.
The effects of voter sentiment can be muted somewhat through gerrymandering, but uhh, things aren’t looking so hot for the GOP on that front either.
The fundamentals of the 2024 campaign are still taking shape, but one thing is already clear: A flurry of court actions might cost Republicans the House majority.In the past nine days, state and federal judges threw out two congressional maps — and helped Democrats avoid a worst-case scenario in Ohio — kicking off an unusually busy redistricting calendar heading into the election year.
All told, a dozen or more seats across at least six states could be redrawn, increasing the likelihood Democrats could chip away the five-seat GOP House majority through redistricting alone.
Democrats could pick up an extra seat in each of a handful of states, including Florida, Alabama and Louisiana, and perhaps several more in New York. Republicans could still pick up as many as four seats in North Carolina, but the recent rulings put Democrats in a position to offset those losses — and then some.
How incompetently criminal do you have to be that judges that largely your party appointed strike down maps you drew?
Look, we want you to win and we will help you cheat, but you can't make it THAT obvious.
The 2022 midterms were already historically underwhelming for the Republicans. An unpopular President in a mediocre economy should have been thrashed! So all the insanity is already having effect, even though it's maddening the GOP has more than say 20% of the seats left.
Angry and frustrated, McCarthy challenges right-flank colleagues to try to oust him from his post
Your party has been giving the inmates free run of the asylum for nearly two decades, and now you're realizing you can't keep the lunatics under control.
Dumbass.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Angry, frustrated and unable to lead a fractured and unruly Republican majority, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday told the colleagues threatening to oust him: Do it.
The embattled Republican leader essentially dared his hard-right flank to quit holding the risk of a vote to remove him from the job.
If you’re going to do it, go ahead and try, McCarthy told the Republicans behind closed doors.
“File the f——- motion,” McCarthy said, using a profanity for emphasis, according to those in the private meeting.
With a government shutdown looming, McCarthy is confronting the same stubborn problem that has driven Republicans before him from the speaker’s job — trying to lead a ruptured GOP majority that’s split between what’s left of the traditional party and a harder-right element largely allied with former President Donald Trump.
Even his decision to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden did little this week to appease the demands of the Freedom Caucus and others as they threaten to shut down the government in pursuit of deep spending cuts or move to a motion to oust him from office.
“I showed frustration in here because I am frustrated with some people in the conference,” McCarthy said after the meeting in the Capitol basement as lawmakers were wrapping up for the week.
“But when we come back, we’re going to get this done. Nobody wins in a government shutdown.”
Leopards, faces, etc.
McCarthy wishes that dude choked out Gaetz back in January.
McCarthy wishes that dude choked out Gaetz back in January.
Pretty sure most people do.
In recording, a Seattle police officer joked after woman’s death. He says remarks were misunderstood
If you haven't seen the video, here you go:
A city watchdog agency is investigating after a body-worn camera captured one Seattle Police Department union leader joking with another following the death of a woman who was struck and killed by a police cruiser as she was crossing a street.
Daniel Auderer, who is the vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, responded to the Jan. 23 crash scene where another officer, Kevin Dave, struck and killed Jaahnavi Kandula, 23, in a crosswalk. Dave was driving 74 mph (119 kmh) on the way to an overdose call, and Auderer, a drug recognition expert, was assigned to evaluate whether Dave was impaired, The Seattle Times reported.
Afterward, Auderer left his body-worn camera on as he called guild President Mike Solan to report what happened. In a recording released by the police department Monday, Auderer laughs and suggests that Kandula’s life had “limited value” and the city should “just write a check.”
“Eleven thousand dollars. She was 26 anyway,” Auderer said, inaccurately stating Kandula’s age. “She had limited value.”
The recording did not capture Solan’s remarks.
Neither Auderer nor Solan responded to emails from The Associated Press seeking comment.
However, a conservative talk radio host on KTTH-AM, Jason Rantz, reported that he had obtained a written statement Auderer provided to the city’s Office of Police Accountability. In it, Auderer said that Solan had lamented the death and that his own comments were intended to mimic how the city’s attorneys might try to minimize liability for it.
“I intended the comment as a mockery of lawyers,” Auderer wrote, according to KTTH. “I laughed at the ridiculousness of how these incidents are litigated and the ridiculousness of how I watched these incidents play out as two parties bargain over a tragedy.”
The station reported that Auderer acknowledged in the statement that anyone listening to his side of the conversation alone “would rightfully believe I was being insensitive to the loss of human life.” The comment was “not made with malice or a hard heart,” he said, but “quite the opposite.”
Uh huh. Suuuuure. Racist POS.
Uh huh. Suuuuure. Racist POS.
Entirely on-brand for SPOG - this is far from their first instance of being caught out as Grade-A shitbags.
US economy going strong under Biden – Americans don’t believe it
Americans do not trust the government’s economic news – or the media’s reporting of it – according to a Harris poll conducted exclusively for the Guardian that presents the White House with a major hurdle as it pushes Biden’s economic record ahead of next year’s election.
The US has roared back from the Covid recession by official measures. But two-thirds of Americans are unhappy about the economy despite consistent reports that inflation is easing and unemployment is close to a 50-year low. And the poll suggests many are unaware of or don’t believe the positive economic news the government has reported.
The results illustrate a dramatic political split on economic views – with Republicans far more pessimistic than Democrats. But unhappiness about the economy is widespread.
- Two-thirds of respondents (68%) reported it’s difficult to be happy about positive economic news when they feel financially squeezed each month (Republicans: 69%, Democrats: 68%).
- Two-thirds of Americans (65%) believe that the economy is worse than the media makes it out to be rather than better (35%).
- In August the unemployment rate was 3.8%, close to a 50-year low. But the poll found that 51% wrongly believe that unemployment is nearing a 50-year high rather than those who believe it’s actually low (49%).The lack of confidence in the economy has many academics and politicians puzzled. Some have blamed the US’s polarized politics and this was illustrated in the poll. But Harris’s data also shows that fears are widespread – and reinforced by disbelief of or ignorance about official figures and a mistrust of the media’s reporting of them.
Some 82% of Republicans and 66% of independents believe the economy is worse than the media’s portrayal. But nearly half of Democrats (49%) also said the media viewed the economy too favorably.
Overall, the poll found widespread despondency about the state of the economy. More than half of Americans (53%) believe the economy is getting worse instead of better or staying the same. Republicans and independents are more likely to think it’s getting worse (72% and 58%, respectively, v Democrats: 32%), while more Democrats think it’s getting better (32% v Republicans: 8%, independents: 13%).
The results paint a difficult picture for Joe Biden, who is making “Bidenomics” – his economic policy record – a central plank of his re-election platform.
The views of those familiar with Bidenomics showed a perhaps unsurprising party split. Some 60% of Democrats believe his plans are improving the US economy overall compared with 12% of Republicans.
There is a widespread belief that Bidenomics is good in theory but isn’t being implemented well – something both Democrats and Republicans agree with (62% v 58%).
I mean, the economy is improving, but that pretty much only means it's better for the already wealthy. For the rest of us it just means it's getting worse at a slower rate than it had been before.
Yeah until there's an actual wealth tax or a cap on CEO vs worker pay or something... most people are not doing well. Companies and stock market is great though.
It's almost like "the economy" is a made-up concept. I don't give a shit how an abstraction is doing. I care that my wages have not been increasing as fast as rent and bills. Don't piss on my leg and tell me to be grateful for the rain.
It's not that the average person doesn't trust the government's economic news or the media's reporting of it, it's that the things they're touting as great news doesn't mean shit to their immediate situation. The economy is doing great if you define "the economy" by the very specific metrics that only concern those looking to make money off of it. If you define it as a person who is trying to live within it would, it's continuing to get worse, but slower.
Put simply: if we care about the prosperity and livelihood of the general US populace, then we have been using the wrong metrics to define the health of the economy for a very long time. Current events are merely putting a harsh light on that reality.
I think it is fair to say that Trump would have weaponized the Justice Department to end the UAW and Hollywood writers strike
Or the IRS. Or the DOJ and the IRS.
It's not that the average person doesn't trust the government's economic news or the media's reporting of it, it's that the things they're touting as great news doesn't mean shit to their immediate situation. The economy is doing great if you define "the economy" by the very specific metrics that only concern those looking to make money off of it. If you define it as a person who is trying to live within it would, it's continuing to get worse, but slower.
Evidence in support of this: one of Tiktok's trending topics at the moment is "I make more money than I ever have and I'm more broke than I've ever been." It really captures how wage increases have failed to offset inflation.
And while I don't usually post about joke candidates, another trending topic is "Vivek I edge to you," showing that despite his dead man's stare and snake oil salesman's persona, Ramaswamy's desire to capture the youth vote is not going well. I wonder if maybe his desires to deport young people and take away their right to vote have something to do with that.
(Sigh) Ken Paxton was acquitted by the Texas Senate, because why wouldn't he be.
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