readingatwork posted:

Americans just want to shoot the problem and make it go away. From this perspective the Republicans are the better choice because everyone and their racist uncle knows those fuckers are crazy and will kill whoever it takes to get the job done.

Unfortunately the realities of terrorism are complex, nuanced, and not solveable by just killing the right people. But good luck explaining that to most Americans (including many on the left)

site posted:

Sorry for dragging this up, but time value only works when the person in question has the ability to invest those earning in the first place, which for the type of people in question (low-income earners) is a highly dubious proposition.

berzerker posted:

Not really, because the returns don't have to be literal money percentages. $10 now that lets you get your kid a flu shot can save him weeks of missed school, saving him a year of repeating a grade or just doing lovely forever more, saving him from finding a poo poo job instead of achieving potential to go to college and earn more actual money later. If (*if*) you assume someone willing and psychologically able to plan for the future, time value of money still very much applies.

Branis posted:

I don't think there's ever been an actual existential threat to the US except maybe the civil war. Germany in the 40s couldn't get enough ships together to invade England, let alone cross the atlantic and invade the US.

site posted:

I was talking about direct investments into stocks, bonds, etc., and savings of enough lump sums of cash to gain returns on it. That poo poo just ain't gonna happen when you're poor.

site posted:

I was talking about direct investments into stocks, bonds, etc., and savings of enough lump sums of cash to gain returns on it. That poo poo just ain't gonna happen when you're poor.

Ghost of Reagan Past posted:

I thought I'd drop a little local shenanigans here.

Ernie Chambers is north Omaha's Senator, and has been since 1971. He was big in the north Omaha community prior to that, and did a lot to champion civil rights for black Nebraskans.

A few weeks ago, in some committee meeting he said "my ISIS is the police," in response to someone who said, no poo poo, ISIS is a reason to expand gun carry rights in Nebraska. Chambers' response was characteristically Chambers.


He has, if you may gather, not apologized, and in fact doubled down. There's now a ton of weird procedural slapfights going on over this, and I would just recommend the Nebraska Republicans drop it because if anyone knows the legislative arcana, it's Ernie Chambers who is probably going to try to make everyone's lives a living hell until they stop their mad crusade to get him to apologize for something he is clearly never going to apologize for (he in fact just sang in front of the Unicameral and delayed a bunch of bills in retaliation for retaliation against him).

Local politics

Grapplejack posted:

By using his terminator time travel powers to go back in time and rewrite the constitution.

Branis posted:

I don't think there's ever been an actual existential threat to the US except maybe the civil war. Germany in the 40s couldn't get enough ships together to invade England, let alone cross the atlantic and invade the US.

Joementum posted:

How to make a cocktail, according to the US Department of Agriculture Forrest Service, 1974.

Happy Noodle Boy posted:

Obama will add an exception once he finishes his 5th term as Emperor.

Joementum posted:

Get back with Maria and run her as a Lurleen Wallace style candidate.

I look forward to America's new foreign relations doctrine: "If it bleeds, we can kill it."

mdemone posted:

Build a goddamned statue of that man. How have I never heard of him before?

I hope they keep asking him about it forever.

Joementum posted:

My Imaginary GF posted:

Joementum, is there any way for Schwartzeneger to become President? Run for Veep and el pres resigns?

Ghost of Reagan Past posted:

I thought I'd drop a little local shenanigans here.

Ernie Chambers is north Omaha's Senator, and has been since 1971. He was big in the north Omaha community prior to that, and did a lot to champion civil rights for black Nebraskans.

A few weeks ago, in some committee meeting he said "my ISIS is the police," in response to someone who said, no poo poo, ISIS is a reason to expand gun carry rights in Nebraska. Chambers' response was characteristically Chambers.


He has, if you may gather, not apologized, and in fact doubled down. There's now a ton of weird procedural slapfights going on over this, and I would just recommend the Nebraska Republicans drop it because if anyone knows the legislative arcana, it's Ernie Chambers who is probably going to try to make everyone's lives a living hell until they stop their mad crusade to get him to apologize for something he is clearly never going to apologize for (he in fact just sang in front of the Unicameral and delayed a bunch of bills in retaliation for retaliation against him).

Local politics

quote:

Chambers insisted he was simply making use of the legislative rules, and announced he would now retaliate against all his fellow lawmakers. That’s the way the game is played – according to the rules," he said, adding that he would now "punish you – all of you."

Chambers then inflicted his rendition of a full verse of the Kenny Rogers song, "The Gambler" on his fellow senators, explaining "I punish you by singing. When I’m sad I sing, then the world is sad with me. But you can’t even stop me from doing that.

That led Sen. Beau McCoy, who’s been leading the effort to force Chambers to apologize for his remarks on ISIS, to point out that Davis, too, had simply been using the legislative rules. "That is the rules. And as the old maxim goes ‘Live by the sword, die by the sword,’ also live by the rules, die by the rules,’" McCoy said.

Chambers responded that he would not apologize, although he did allow for an exception. "You’re not going to make me shut up, and you’re not going to make me apologize for anything, which is what some people on this floor think they’re going to get from me. And I’ll tell you when you can make me apologize, and you don’t even have to do it. When the Pope converts to Islam, and the College of Cardinals elect a Muslim as pope. Then I’ll apologize for everything anybody ever wanted me to apologize (for)," Chambers said.

Joementum posted:

ComradeCosmobot posted:

While true, I suppose what I was getting at is that, while the culture war will continue, Republican strength will likely successfully shift to economic (EDIT: and defense; the meme is so entrenched that Democrats will never be known as strong on the military no matter how many ISIS-held hillsides Obama or Hillary bomb) issues to stay relevant as a national party so long as public opinion on major hot-button culture war issues other than abortion keeps swinging to the left.

William Bear posted:

It's pretty sad. I looked up voter perceptions of both parties.

http://www.pollingreport.com/dvsr.htm

CBS news poll showed Republicans are viewed as better at dealing with terrorism among adults nationwide. A 51 to 28 lead in Feb.

FlamingLiberal posted:

I'll never understand that perception at all. I guess it's probably driven by the media.

Shageletic posted:

Man, I'm reading about this guy. And apparently he's amazing.

http://netnebraska.org/article/news/967328/defeat-prairie-dog-bill-provokes-chambers-revenge

And the bill that made him go full scorched earth on? Its about prairie dogs of course.

fade5 posted:

It's a combination of inertia, media, talking point twisting, and flat-out denial of reality. Literally killing Osama Bin Laden doesn't count because that was Seal Team Six who did it and not Obama personally going over there to shoot Bin Laden's face

Joementum posted:

Sadly, the 25th amendment prevents this. Anyone in the Presidential line of succession who's not otherwise eligible for the office gets skipped over, so he can't even get named Ag Secretary and become President by being the designated survivor during the State of the Union.

shrike82 posted:

If you're poor, you still get affected by time value of money on stuff like borrowing.
Stuff like this really highlights the need for financial literacy.

quote:

Summer 1966 riots

During a series of heat waves in the Summer of 1966, there were two disturbances in Omaha: In July, three straight nights of confrontations between black teenagers and the police escalated to the point where the Nebraska National Guardsmen were called in to restore order.[11] And in early August, another series of riots occurred over three nights. Chambers worked as a spokesperson for the community during both conflicts, meeting with Mayor A.V. Sorenson, helping to end the riots.[11] During this period, Chambers emerged as a prominent leader in the North Omaha community where he successfully negotiated concessions from the city's leaders on behalf of the African-American youths of North Omaha.[11] Chambers headed a committee of the Near North Side Police-Community Relations Council "which presented to city officials a long list of complaints against Omaha police practices."[11] Previously the African-American community was led by more established organizations like Omaha Urban League and the local chapter of the NAACP, not an emerging young anti-establishment leader like Chambers.[11]

Chambers was also working as a barber at the time, and appeared in the Oscar-nominated 1966 documentary film A Time for Burning, where he talked about race relations in Omaha.

quote:

While confined in the mental hospital in Mandeville, Long kept his political machine running via telephone. His staff discovered that nothing in Louisiana law required him to relinquish power because he was confined to the mental hospital. Long ordered Jesse Bankston, the head of the state hospital system, fired and replaced him with a supporter, who had Long released.

Shifty Pony posted:

"Financial Literacy" is a pile of bullshit served up by the financial services industry to try and blame the victim of predatory practices which they fight to keep legal.

If you are poor the time value of money isn't even a rounding error compared to the traps set up to extract as much money as possible regardless of the amount of pain inflicted on the "customer". You spend the money you have now because if you let it sit it will soon disappear to fees and assorted bullshit that the non-poor don't even know exist. And when they choose the "nearly certain financial ruin" over "completely certain financial ruin" they get tut-tutted at by smug assholes who don't even consider the possibility that perhaps not everyone has the opportunity they have. The poor don't have the option of paying cash later or borrowing now... they can either lose all their income or accept the razor-wire "lifeline" of a Buy here Pay Here lot offering a 25% APR on an unreliable car marked up to triple what any legitimate dealer would charge. They pay 50% higher monthly rent to stay in a run down motel because they don't have three months cash to sink into a deposit (partly because they are paying too much in rent).

Hollismason posted:

It's completely legal to pay someone with specific disabilities lower than the minimum wage. That's not even waiter territory, just straight up you can pay people with specific disabilities less money than the minimum wage. Then you don't allow them to save little beyond more than 1 months salary.

notthegoatseguy posted:

Goodwill does this in a lot of their warehouses and distribution centers. And they pay their execs a poo poo ton for a non profit.

Jagchosis posted:

So do poor folk not have debt or am I just missing something about this whole "time value of money is a bougie affectation" shtick cos it's applicable to pretty much everyone

Nintendo Kid posted:

Doing this allows people to continue to have a job at all without removing their benefits, dude. It's a system that exists solely because people demanded hard caps on any sort of government assistance programs.

Lots of people with the disabilities want to work for whatever reason, this allows them to be able to continue to recipe things like very expensive ongoing care without having to go straight from unemployed to CEO.

Hollismason posted:

Wait are you being serious? I can't tell. I mean if you are there's some things you need to know...

Samurai Sanders posted:

How is it decided how little they can be paid? Is it somehow based on what kind of disability they have?

Samurai Sanders posted:

How is it decided how little they can be paid? Is it somehow based on what kind of disability they have?

Nintendo Kid posted:

It's somewhere around $0.24 an hour as the bare minimum. Typically the wage is adjusted to ensure that the worker never exceeds any limits that would start impacting their SSI/SSDI/etc eligibility.


This could be fixed if we removed the ridiculous caps on what people can earn before they stop receiving neccesary benefits: essentially by introducing full UHC.