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I'd read that the current budget is around $800 billion (not the future "FY2024 defense budget request of $842 billion" as MP posted but current funding) and as MP quoted "the agreement grows the defense topline to Biden’s proposed $886 billion." So is it 3.3 percent from what Biden had already secured for 2024 but more like 10 percent based on current funding?
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May 30, 2023 03:10
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Liquid Communism posted:I personally hope to see Mitch McConnel catch a prion disease. Wouldn't matter unless he caught it five years ago otherwise he probably too old to incubate it enough
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May 30, 2023 03:17
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Harold Fjord posted:I don't think anyone wants the Dems to "flaunt" the rules, but act like they give a drat and abuse them to the fullest extent of their power. It's about playing like you want to win. Mint the coin and put Biden's face on it. "The coin" continues to be a ridiculous notion that would cause massive harm unto itself. This has been explained already.
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May 30, 2023 03:26
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Discendo Vox posted:Misrepresenting subjects, continuously, and ignoring corrections, is not being "acerbic". It's threadshitting. Discendo Vox posted:There are several such threads, it's why there's a community of users who come here to harass and derail this one. Discendo Vox posted:It's very important that we entertain the same absurd rhetorical demands, from the same users, that derail discussion over and over again, for literal years. Discendo Vox posted:It's a troll account the mods have known is a troll account for six months, but have refused to remove. Thus, the thread is now theirs. Discendo Vox posted:Several years of the moderators not enforcing the rules. Is posting about posters not against the rules anymore? These are all from the last two days. I don’t have PMs, so I’m seeking clarification ITT, please.
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May 30, 2023 03:28
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SCOTUS doesn't get to nullify the amendment no matter what bullshit they pull out their rear end and the administration should call them on that. Nuts to the economy. Horse market, saw a constitutional crisis and scared itself to death. ETA- Having to manage the feelings of bankers/the rich to keep everything running is a very convenient thing. Harold Fjord fucked around with this message at 03:41 on May 30, 2023 |
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May 30, 2023 03:39
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Willa Rogers posted:I'd read that the current budget is around $800 billion (not the future "FY2024 defense budget request of $842 billion" as MP posted but current funding) and as MP quoted "the agreement grows the defense topline to Biden’s proposed $886 billion." It's kind of a pain in the rear end to find good solid numbers, but the "current budget for the Pentagon and other defense-related programs in other agencies" (as Reuters puts it) is $858 billion. Existing budget proposals on the table suggested increasing that to $886 billion in FY2024, a 3.3% increase over current numbers. Up till now, it's been nothing more than a proposal. No legislative action had been taken on it yet, and Congress seemed inclined to raise it even further (with the GOP loudly condemning the 3.3% proposal as an abandonment of Ukraine and an outright surrender to China). The debt ceiling deal enshrines that $886 billion number, confirming the current proposals without any further increase. The GOP concerns Biden was waving off were demands for further increases.
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May 30, 2023 04:00
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UKJeff posted:Is posting about posters not against the rules anymore? These are all from the last two days. I don’t have PMs, so I’m seeking clarification ITT, please. Contrary to popular belief, Most of them were probably out doing stuff for memorial day weekend and have hundreds of reports to sift through once they do get back on. Especially WRT this thread, because nobody in their right mind wants to deal with this thread.
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May 30, 2023 04:06
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Digamma-F-Wau posted:I've been thinking that if a left-wing 3rd party were to try making inroads in America while we're still stuck in first-past-the-post hell, the best course of action would be to focus on specific states rather than instantly trying for a national approach. States that have managed to implement FPTP alternatives (Alaska), have some other system that helps mitigate spoilers (California with its Jungle Primaries), and states where either the democrat party is practically vestigial (Florida), or states where the republican party is vestigial and so the state dems have calcified into a group of succdems. Basically states where the state dems just loving suck. This and actually getting people into lower-tier positions where people can see them actually (or at least trying to) fighting for the lower classes. Basically prove you can win SOMETHING before reaching for the stars.
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May 30, 2023 04:15
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Digamma-F-Wau posted:I've been thinking that if a left-wing 3rd party were to try making inroads in America while we're still stuck in first-past-the-post hell, the best course of action would be to focus on specific states rather than instantly trying for a national approach. States that have managed to implement FPTP alternatives (Alaska), have some other system that helps mitigate spoilers (California with its Jungle Primaries), and states where either the democrat party is practically vestigial (Florida), or states where the republican party is vestigial and so the state dems have calcified into a group of succdems. Basically states where the state dems just loving suck. Removing first-past-the-post is always mentioned here like it's a cure-all, forgetting that lots of other places have a parliamentary system that inevitably devolves into two real parties and "kingmakers" that can be easily co-opted by whichever large party has the majority.
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May 30, 2023 04:27
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the_steve posted:Contrary to popular belief, Nah, its just selective enforcement. Mods are on top of their game when someone uses colorful language to describe their distaste for Republicans wanting to kill vulnerable people. I would know. Maybe I should just wish Prion Diseases on them? (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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May 30, 2023 04:31
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Name Change posted:Removing first-past-the-post is always mentioned here like it's a cure-all, forgetting that lots of other places have a parliamentary system that inevitably devolves into two real parties and "kingmakers" that can be easily co-opted by whichever large party has the majority. uh, this is not true, other places that have proportional voting systems the smaller parties yield a lot of power in coalitions. the UK or canada is not proportional.
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May 30, 2023 04:55
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UKJeff posted:Is posting about posters not against the rules anymore? These are all from the last two days. I don’t have PMs, so I’m seeking clarification ITT, please. "posting about posters" is indeed against the rules, with a few exceptions when the poster is actually relevant (rare in DnD, more common with tons of added drama on other boards)
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May 30, 2023 06:40
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Name Change posted:Removing first-past-the-post is always mentioned here like it's a cure-all, forgetting that lots of other places have a parliamentary system that inevitably devolves into two real parties and "kingmakers" that can be easily co-opted by whichever large party has the majority. Australia's funny like that because the major parties are the biggest sooks in the world about the Greens existing at all, let alone having a say and importance, and are even worse than American Democrats whining about the 'loony left' being the cause of all problems for pointing out that problems exist.
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May 30, 2023 06:43
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Discendo Vox posted:"The coin" continues to be a ridiculous notion that would cause massive harm unto itself. This has been explained already. That is not an explanation, that's a post. Do you have actual evidence to back up your statement?
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May 30, 2023 07:23
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Rigel posted:"posting about posters" is indeed against the rules, with a few exceptions when the poster is actually relevant (rare in DnD, more common with tons of added drama on other boards) I figure I should expand on this a bit. If you post about one specific poster, either named, or by making it super obvious who you are talking about, then yeah that is no bueno and will get you probed. One level above that is posting generally about "the board", or your perception about what a board or what a specific thread believes, or what a notable minority of a board or a specific thread believes. Board vs board drama is its own thing which will get you probed, but ignoring that.... I myself have been guilty of posting about "the conventional wisdom" in the past, and this is tricky. In this situation I fall back on "were they challenged on it? If so, did they back it up?" "is this a new or novel argument? Is it interesting? Are my views being unexpectedly reinforced or challenged by this?" If so, then maybe its fine. If not, then maybe not. If you go a level above that and say that generally speaking a large group (either political, geographical, or whatever) believes X (which maybe you need to support if you are just asserting it as fact, which is another rule if you get challenged), then that is not really posting about posters anymore, at all. Rigel fucked around with this message at 07:40 on May 30, 2023 |
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May 30, 2023 07:37
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Isn't a 3.3% mil budget increase below the rate of inflation? Idk if military hardware is inflating at the same rate as a loaf of bread, but obviously a lot of the budget goes on personnel, transportation, etc., so seems like technically a real-world budget cut. Not much to cheer for either way. Which could be the Biden presidential mottto
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May 30, 2023 07:44
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Failed Imagineer posted:Isn't a 3.3% mil budget increase below the rate of inflation? Idk if military hardware is inflating at the same rate as a loaf of bread, but obviously a lot of the budget goes on personnel, transportation, etc., so seems like technically a real-world budget cut. Not much to cheer for either way. Which could be the Biden presidential mottto A great deal of it seems to inflating at a higher rate than bread. A stinger missile cost $25,000 in 1991, now it costs $400,000. Here's an article about inflated procurement costs. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/weapons-contractors-price-gouging-pentagon-60-minutes-transcript-2023-05-21/
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May 30, 2023 09:53
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Weka posted:A great deal of it seems to inflating at a higher rate than bread. A stinger missile cost $25,000 in 1991, now it costs $400,000. Here's an article about inflated procurement costs. impressive. a giant con job top to bottom.
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May 30, 2023 10:37
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I think I know where we can get a little more money to help out government spending https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/29/investing/billionaires-debt-ceiling/index.html 31 billionaires are worth more than the US Treasury has in cash quote:As of the close of business on May 25, Treasury had just $38.8 billion in cash, according to the latest federal data. That’s down from more than $200 billion earlier this month and nearing the bare minimum level of $30 billion.
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May 30, 2023 11:13
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BiggerBoat posted:I think I know where we can get a little more money to help out government spending Wouldn't want to stifle innovation or make it so they're less likely to create more jobs after all
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May 30, 2023 13:18
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Dang, Minnesota keeps doing kick rear end things. This time they loosened the requirements for revoking a peace (police) officer’s license: https://startribune.com/new-post-board-rules-called-a-game-changer-in-state-licensing-of-police-officers/600278576/. A couple key parts are as follows: quote:Until now, the POST Board could revoke a license only when an officer was convicted of a felony or certain gross misdemeanors. Now the board can revoke the license of an officer who violates its conduct guidelines, based on evidence presented in an administrative hearing — regardless of whether the officer has been charged or convicted of a crime. quote:There are other changes. Previously the board could take action on officers' licenses only for unauthorized use of deadly force. Now it will also be able to take action for excessive or unreasonable force. They’ve been talking about doing this for a couple years, so I’m glad it finally changed. Kalit fucked around with this message at 13:30 on May 30, 2023 |
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May 30, 2023 13:20
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WebDO posted:Wouldn't want to stifle innovation or make it so they're less likely to create more jobs after all And yet the US government is a bigger employer than any of them.
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May 30, 2023 13:22
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I've heard a LOT of people say that the government doesn't create jobs. Many of them are actually smart but still believe this for some reason no matter how many examples you cite of why that's not trueWebDO posted:Wouldn't want to stifle innovation or make it so they're less likely to create more jobs after all As Bezos, Zuckerberg and Musk lay off thousands of people anyway
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May 30, 2023 13:28
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Failed Imagineer posted:Isn't a 3.3% mil budget increase below the rate of inflation? Idk if military hardware is inflating at the same rate as a loaf of bread, but obviously a lot of the budget goes on personnel, transportation, etc., so seems like technically a real-world budget cut. Not much to cheer for either way. Which could be the Biden presidential mottto Yes, that is why Republicans are upset about it. They wanted a roughly 9% increase to be approximately 5% larger after inflation. Part of the budget deal they passed at the end of the last congress gave the defense and Veteran's affairs departments a 9% increase in exchange for passing discretionary spending at higher levels for an entire year. The reason the Senate Republicans signed off on a budget compromise right before McCarthy was scheduled to take over the House is because they were worried that there would be no budget deal and a "best case scenario" would be passing continuing resolutions for two years to fund everything at the level of FY23 (which is why they boosted defense and non-defense discretionary spending really high just in case as part of the deal). Biden "only" asked for a 3.3% increase from the FY23 levels in his budget and Republicans were furious because it was below inflation. The debt ceiling deal funds the defense budget at the level Biden requested and not what Republicans want. That is why I am sure there will be supplemental budget appropriations (and fights over them) over the next two years for everyone to fund their pet projects and their military bases/manufacturing jobs programs in their districts.
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May 30, 2023 13:46
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BiggerBoat posted:I've heard a LOT of people say that the government doesn't create jobs. Many of them are actually smart but still believe this for some reason no matter how many examples you cite of why that's not true Probably that famed efficiency of capitalism I keep hearing about. Certainly didn't lead to anything like a threat of a railway strike or anything as we continue to accept daily derailments of larger and more dangerous trains as the price of ensuring adequate oppression of the working class
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May 30, 2023 14:01
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House Freedom Caucus is against the debt ceiling deal (no real surprise). Somewhat of a surprise: Nancy Mace, who is both trying to position herself as a moderate/reformer and looking to get into Republican leadership, is opposing the deal. She is also the de facto leader of several other moderate Republicans who vote in a bloc will likely follow her. https://twitter.com/RepNancyMace/status/1663518594880159744 https://twitter.com/RepNancyMace/status/1663518601830121475 https://twitter.com/RepNancyMace/status/1663518613196636162 Other conservative Republicans are mad because McCarthy made a ton of "secret" deals with them to become speaker that were never formalized or written down. Now, McCarthy is claiming that some of them never existed after they are accusing him of violating them. The main one is that he expanded the amount of House Freedom Caucus members on the rules committee and allegedly told them that he would not bring any bill up for a vote that the rules committee didn't agree on unanimously. But, it looks like the bill may get passed out of committee by having all the Democrats and just a handful of Republicans supporting it. https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1663359103962415104
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May 30, 2023 14:12
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I'm going to laugh my rear end off if McCarthy's idea of One Weird Trick to try to avoid being beholden to the lunatics who elected him is just not writing down any of the promises he made and then pretending he never made them.
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May 30, 2023 14:26
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The thing is, that only works until you need their vote again, at which point they won't make any deal with you again.
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May 30, 2023 14:30
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Oh yeah, it's a complete non-starter, that's why it's funny.
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May 30, 2023 14:34
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:House Freedom Caucus is against the debt ceiling deal (no real surprise). Republicans vote against their own debt ceiling concessions, spider queen Joe Biden's trap closes around them
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May 30, 2023 14:38
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Kanos posted:I'm going to laugh my rear end off if McCarthy's idea of One Weird Trick to try to avoid being beholden to the lunatics who elected him is just not writing down any of the promises he made and then pretending he never made them. Dunno, pretending you never said things that you were publicly recorded saying is republican MO now, why should he feel like he has to stick with things said in secret?
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May 30, 2023 14:38
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Kanos posted:I'm going to laugh my rear end off if McCarthy's idea of One Weird Trick to try to avoid being beholden to the lunatics who elected him is just not writing down any of the promises he made and then pretending he never made them. To be fair, he probably would have kept the promises if the HFC had been even slightly reasonable or cooperative about anything, at all, ever. There's only so much he can do if they're this determined to be completely impossible to work with. They'll probably try to yank his speakership over it, and to be honest I wasn't entirely sure he was going to prioritize "not defaulting" over "being Speaker". If we can get the debt limit extended past the next election, then watching the House GOP devour themselves over the next few months will be hilarious.
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May 30, 2023 14:49
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Riven posted:Dunno, pretending you never said things that you were publicly recorded saying is republican MO now, why should he feel like he has to stick with things said in secret? Yeah backbiting and gaslighting is just how right-wing politics works in the US. McCarthy is just doing what he knows to do
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May 30, 2023 14:52
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Riven posted:Dunno, pretending you never said things that you were publicly recorded saying is republican MO now, why should he feel like he has to stick with things said in secret? Because, in theory, he has to get those people he lied to to do what he wants in the future. It's a different vibe than lying to the general public.
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May 30, 2023 14:59
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So if someone from the HFC or the like decides to go nuclear and call for a new Speaker does that get priority and assumably clusterfuck everything, or is there any way to hold that off until the debt compromise passes?
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May 30, 2023 14:59
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Kammat posted:So if someone from the HFC or the like decides to go nuclear and call for a new Speaker does that get priority and assumably clusterfuck everything, or is there any way to hold that off until the debt compromise passes? It gets priority, but not right away. They can vote to send it to committee for a day or two and the committee can then refer it back for a full vote.
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May 30, 2023 15:00
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:It gets priority, but not right away. They can vote to send it to committee for a day or two and the committee can then refer it back for a full vote. My guess is that the rules committee would have to pass it and get it to the floor. edit: Also, has anyone followed this NPR story about a cover up at the 1st Battle of Fallujah implicating Duncan Hunter? Mooseontheloose fucked around with this message at 15:04 on May 30, 2023 |
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May 30, 2023 15:01
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https://twitter.com/RepNancyMace/status/1663518594880159744 Obviously you guys get how Republicans work and have probably already figured out she’s lying, but let’s quantify it: spending in 2023 is 18% lower than in 2021 - just over $6T vs. about $7.3T. Which is 41% lower if you account for inflation. (And all we got for all that 2020-2021 spending was the the best economic recovery from the pandemic in the world, a giant reduction in poverty, and near-universal availability of a miracle drug, developed for billions, that saved our civilization.  )Of course it was unrealistic to expect the government to continue pandemic-level spending; the budget overall is 15% higher than it was in 2019. But a lot/most of that is from increases in mandatory spending caused by the population aging. Anyway, Mace is full of poo poo, as you knew; there’s some numbers for you.
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May 30, 2023 15:14
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Just before Memorial Day weekend, Biden vetoed a congressional resolution that would block DC making its police accountability law permanent. According to Eleanor Holmes Norton, this is "the first time a president has ever vetoed a disapproval resolution since passage of the Home Rule Act seeking to nullify local D.C. legislation." Unsurprisingly, the police union hated this law and has been lobbying as hard as they can against it, successfully getting Congress to meddle. Not that Republicans ever need an excuse to mess with DC's home rule, but there are also worthless Democrats willing to go along with them.DCist posted:Biden wielded his veto pen on H.J. Res. 42, a measure passed by both the House and Senate that would have repealed the the Comprehensive Policing And Justice Reform Amendment Act, which the council passed on an emergency basis after the 2020 killing of George Floyd by police in Minnesota and sought to make permanent late last year. And he did so on the third anniversary of Floyd’s death. DCist posted:The process of overhauling D.C.’s criminal code started 16 years ago, and has since spawned thousands of pages of public record highlighting problems with the existing code, originally drafted by Congress in 1901, and suggesting changes. The revisions included clarifications to criminal offenses that prosecutors and public defenders alike said were needed, new grades of sentences to better match the severity of crimes, and the removal of out-of-date provisions that referenced steamboats and prohibited the playing of ball games on D.C. streets.
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May 30, 2023 15:33
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Mellow Seas posted:https://twitter.com/RepNancyMace/status/1663518594880159744 She's actually not totally wrong. She's just talking about one specific thing. The way the budget deal works is that it doesn't target any specific spending, it just sets caps for maximum overall spending. So, the idea is that you have an overall cap and you can prioritize where it goes. So, even though the overall spending level has to stay flat, you can add $5 billion here and there to different programs as long as you take it away from some other program. By using FY23, when there was an especially large budget and pandemic aid spending was still relatively high, they set the budget cap at a level that includes pandemic spending that was scheduled to automatically end this year/already ended last year anyway. Additionally, they are counting the tens of billions in unspent covid money to states that they are taking back as "reducing spending" as well. For an extremely simplified math version: - Budget is ~20% higher now than pre-pandemic (~$6 trillion) - Next year's budget can't go higher than the budget from last year (~$6 trillion). - Adjusting for inflation, the budget should have grown about $160 billion from year-to-year. So, there is no real nominal cut, but there is a cut relative to inflation. - But, about $200 billion of that $6 trillion was scheduled to go away anyway. - So, you can actually fill in the $160 billion that was supposed to be raised to keep up with inflation, have $40 billion leftover, and add in $10 billion from money you are taking from the IRS and appropriating to other spending. - That means the FY24 budget - despite being "frozen" - is going to end up spending $50 billion more than before on discretionary programs, even after inflation. That is why Republicans who wanted deep cuts were so adamant about not using FY23 budget figures. It provides large pots of "phantom money" that you can "cut" to give to other discretionary programs. You're going to run into a little trouble in FY25, because you will be allowed to grow 1% from that new baseline level (which is already higher despite being frozen), but that won't fully cover inflation. You'll have a large chunk of inflation covered from the imaginary pandemic money you can budget + the $10 billion in IRS money you are re-appropriating, but there will still be about $60 billion in spending that doesn't rise with inflation. However, that $60 billion is part of a new baseline that is still higher than it would have been pre-pandemic and there is $0 in actual pandemic spending in it. That means the budget deal essentially locks in higher pandemic-levels of spending, actually increases spending on some discretionary programs during the year it is "frozen" and will impose no nominal cuts in FY25, but will have the effect of a small cut by not keeping up with inflation. Although, the cut is compared to the levels of the previous year and not what they "should" be pre-pandemic. If you wanted authentic deep spending cuts, then this deal is not great for that. Because in addition to locking these levels in, it takes away the Republican ability to negotiate the budget this year and next year, plus the debt ceiling again next year.
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May 30, 2023 15:36
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