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The gas tax is effectively half of what it was in 1993, which was the last time it was increased. At $0.18 / gallon, the gas tax represents approximately 3.6 percent of the cost of gasoline.
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Jun 21, 2022 16:47
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On the one hand, the gas tax is basically the only form of carbon tax that the US has. On the other hand it's a tiny 3% tax, and the money just gets pissed away widening freeways.
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Jun 23, 2022 01:41
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Nelson Mandingo posted:I'd say reset the clock but it'll just happen again tomorrow. Retire it. Yeah last year there was at least 230 people killed and 618 injured as part of more than 500 shootings over the July 4th weekend. And that was down from 314 fatal shootings with 751 injuries in 2020. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/07/05/us/us-shootings-july-fourth-weekend/index.html
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Jul 4, 2022 20:58
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the_steve posted:Her name keeps coming up because it keeps generating clicks on lovely clickbait articles. Yeah this sort of thing is just a Republican retread of the Great Boogeywoman that they kept up for the last 30 years. If folks are actually curious what HRC is up to, her Facebook has her latest doings: Raising money for women's rights orgs like NARAL and Emily's List, encouraging people to sponsor Ukrainian refugees, slamming the Supreme Court as the biggest threat to democracy since Trump's attempted coup, and promoting her mystery thriller book that she and author Louise Penny have been working on. https://www.facebook.com/hillaryclinton Kaal fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Jul 4, 2022 |
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Jul 4, 2022 21:09
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Media literacy apparently means devouring right-wing media nonsense? Maybe do a re-read of that yourself champ.
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Jul 4, 2022 22:28
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At a glance, I'd also assume the fact that Griner is an openly-married lesbian probably factored into her being targeted by the notoriously discriminatory Russian state.
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Jul 7, 2022 17:29
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Willa Rogers posted:As an aside, why are news outlets saying she might be sentenced into a "penal colony"? Looking up the definition I can't see the difference between that and a good ol' American prison: You should check out this excellent book, which depicts life in one of the labor camps / penal colonies. The book was banned for a very long time throughout Russia, only to become required reading when the author returned to Russia and agreed to publicly support Putin as a nationalist and reformer. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Day_in_the_Life_of_Ivan_Denisovich
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Jul 7, 2022 17:45
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hekaton posted:Is a novel from 60 years ago written under a different political system a relevant source for modern Russian prison conditions? This is basically posting 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest' as recommended reading to someone interested in modern psychiatric care in the United States. Depends on if modern Russian prisons have changed since Soviet times (they haven't). That being said, there's plenty of modern exposés of what Griner is looking forward to. https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/785yny/brutal-and-often-too-brief-photos-of-life-in-a-female-penal-colony
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Jul 7, 2022 18:03
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Twincityhacker posted:...well, that's not good. Germany has been pushing biomass and biogas for quite a while now, so it's not a new idea for them. They already rely pretty heavily on wood heating in homes, and have converted a number of old coal plants so that about 20% of their renewable power comes from wood. There's been a good deal of debate about how eco-friendly biomass and biogas really are, though certainly they're a better "transitional" option than Russian gas, oil, and coal. One issue however is that wood takes a couple years to dry, and stocks in Germany are already depleted. Pellets are better options in a variety of ways, but the cost for wood scrap is tied with the home construction market and the overall economy.
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Jul 13, 2022 19:43
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blunt for century posted:Eventually two different open carrying "good guys with a gun" will each think the other is a bad guy with a gun and start a public standoff Anecdotes for this sort of thing will be tricky, because after any shooting the police and media comb through the history of every shooter in order to produce a bad guy narrative. Even if both gun owners had clean records, at least one of them would be depicted as "troubled" or connected to a gang. There aren't many people out there who are immune to having their life history combed over for a hint of personal fault. Kaal fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Jul 18, 2022 |
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Jul 18, 2022 15:31
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One of the central reasons that police unions often aren't considered unions is precisely because they aren't composed solely of workers. The management and leadership of police organizations are also members of the so-called unions, and thus the purpose of the union is not to protect the interests of the workers but the industry as a whole. If Zuckerberg became the president of the Facebook Workers Union, and he and his executives used it to promote the corporate interests rather than those specific to the workers, then there would also be a lot of objection to considering that to be an actual labor union.
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Jul 20, 2022 20:09
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Tiny Timbs posted:Ok but police unions are clearly extremely effective at protecting the interests of the workers Only to the extent that any lobbyist group does, and only as defined by the senior leadership that manages the war they are undertaking against civic oversight. The central concept of a labor union, which is to organize on behalf of the worker class against the coercive power of management, doesn't exist for police. I don't think you'll find many teamster, teaching, or nursing unions out there that exist to defend their management, conceal abuses of members, and attack safety reforms. If you're looking for a term, they're more a guild than a union.
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Jul 20, 2022 20:50
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silence_kit posted:Isn’t it pretty normal for leadership to be part of government workers’ unions? The government workers unions do not negotiate with the leadership for e.g. pay—they negotiate with the government. No, not at all. It's fairly unique to police. For example not only are district administrators prohibited from joining teachers unions, but so are most principals. Doctors cannot join nurses unions, nor can nursing managers. It's what distinguishes a labor union from other forms of lobby organizations.
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Jul 20, 2022 21:22
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DeathSandwich posted:For what it's worth RE teachers unions - I kind of wish the union applied to support staff like cooks, custodians, maintenance, and the like (or at least that they had their own union). For as much of a punchline the working conditions for teachers are, the way that the custodians and the like get treated is absolutely brutal. Yeah I get that. They are fairly different jobs though, so it can be difficult to adequately represent both interests. But support staff are actually welcome to join most teachers unions. Classified employee unions and service worker unions certainly exist as well, most notably the two million SEIU members and the two hundred thousand strong California-based CSEA. Custodial workers are also welcome in many teamster unions.
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Jul 20, 2022 21:37
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Aegis posted:I think it's far from universal for law enforcement unions, honestly. I've heard of sergeants being unionized on the grounds that they are more like lead workers than management proper, but I can't say I've heard many examples of the upper ranks of an agency being unionized. While practices vary, it's very typical for sergeants and even lieutenants to be standard police union members. And police groups tend to build sub-unions to retain the support of each rank. For example while the Police Benevolent Association of New York represents 24,000 members, the New York Sergeants Benevolent Association represents 13,000 members (some active, some retired). And there's also sub-unions for lieutenants, detectives, patrolmen, captains, etc. The leaders of these unions also receive significant stipends, often doubling their already princely salaries. Sgt. Ed Mullins, one of the disgraced NY police union reps who was forced out recently, was pulling in $220,000 above board and was dipping into the union retirement funds on the side.
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Jul 20, 2022 21:58
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Seems like a classic Robert Reich opinion. The man is a straight-up accelerationist.
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Jul 21, 2022 03:08
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squirrelzipper posted:Ok I’m not that informed on him, what’s the argument against his opinion for my knowledge? It seems that the idea he espouses that the current situation is the worst of both worlds is worth consideration but I’ll acknowledge I’m not that knowledgeable. Eh, I suppose grappling too much with Robert Reich would delve immediately into 2016 Election-chat, so I'll set aside my own personal dislike for him. His arguments about Manchin echo that of a variety of folks that purifying the party is more important than actually holding power. But I think it's a flawed concept, because American politics are largely viewed through the executive branch - Democrats will still be blamed for anything and everything as long as Biden is in power. So losing the Senate doesn't empower Democrats by putting them into a unified opposition, it weakens them by creating more opportunities for discord and ensuring that Democrats are once again on the defensive - unable to enact any policy. The solution to the Senate isn't to chase off the last Blue Dog, it's to win more seats so that we weren't holding a majority in the most difficult way possible.
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Jul 21, 2022 03:37
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To put it another way, even if you discount the value of Manchin entirely the alternative is still going to be picking up Senate votes from other states. If your starting assumption is that you need another vote to get things done, then you'll still need to win that same vote, plus another one, if Manchin loses. That means not only winning Pennsylvania and keeping Georgia in 2022, but winning a difficult contest in Wisconsin. I'm not at all convinced that jettisoning Manchin is going to help win those contests.
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Jul 21, 2022 04:09
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Best of luck Leon, those sound like good first principles.
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Jul 21, 2022 20:30
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 01:51 |
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Oregon's senators are objectively great. Step it up, America.
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Jul 22, 2022 14:58
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