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softlynow

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by softlynow

  1. Makes sense. History is littered with people killing in the name of a deity. Some of that is because of wealth and power, sure, but zeolatry abounds as well. And let's face it, at a base primal level, it can be satisfying to fantasize about righteously killing the wicked. Fantasies about enforcing the right not have troops live with you are pretty meh by comparison.
  2. If Trump wins, or stays via extralegal means, yep. I have one, but I think I'll need a couple more.
  3. The bolded would make sense if the estate tax ever was 100%, or was being proposed at 100%. The average rate paid by estates hit by the tax is around 15-20% even when the marginal rate was 40%. It shouldn't be a major part of tax reform, in any event. It doesn't raise the kinds of funds needed, nor is it a major way to keep inequality in check. First, the corporate tax needs to return to the point it raises as much or close as the individual income tax. Second, the capital gains tax needs to be treated the same as ordinary income. Third, marginal rates need to go down to zero at the poverty line (with the refundable EITC only applying to half the FICA collected up to the poverty line, leave some "skin in the game"), up a bit above the poverty line, and a new higher rate needs to be introduced at double the top current rate (say 46% on $1,036,802+ single, and on $1,244,102 married filing jointly). Finally I would raise standard deduction 5-10% over its current level, and jettison every other deduction except those dealing with catastrophes.
  4. He's in a tight spot only because we all know he has no integrity and will not play by the rules himself laid out in 2016. Anyway, the court's institutional integrity, and maybe the political alignment for the next couple decades may ride on whether RBG can make it to January 20 (assuming a Biden victory, for arguments sake only). If she dies, and the Court ends up quickly taking an abortion case and overturning Roe/Casey, things should get interesting. First, there will be a real push to increase the size of the Court, and the politics of the Court will only get more divisive. Second, a not insignificant number of reliable Republican votes will shift on that issue alone. I say all this to wonder whether McConnell would balk because winning on this issue, like immigration, isn't really in the GOPs interest. Campaigning on abortion, passing half measures on abortion, sure that works great. But making it a rallying cry for women in purple states?
  5. Not sure if serious. You're asking why people would be disingenuous in a political campaign? Really? The wealthy taking this stance are looking to help elect the person likely to make them wealthier. Scare tactics are used without reserve by most if not all in politics. Here, they could be scaring the stupid into voting against their economic interest, because, well, they do that often. They also could be scaring other wealthy people, maybe those who don't give to candidates at all or often, to open up their pocketbooks for Republican candidates.
  6. And it'll be poorer children doing the bulk of the initial dying, and probably all of the dying. We should have been having the reopening schools discussion in March, with rotations and "quaranteaming" and other ideas heavily considered. Telelearning isn't optimal, but a mix of in-person instruction with at-home parent chaperone video conferencing could very well have allowed us to muddle through to the other side. As it is now, poors will die and get left behind.
  7. Fourth Turnings have resulted from tremendous (the best, you wouldn't believe the) stupidity before, why should this one be any different?
  8. So, Dershowitz.
  9. On a long enough timeline, nothing is solved, because nothing matters.
  10. Nah. But thanks for the hot take.
  11. Hate the sin, not the sinner, the sin being practicing Evangelical Christianity.
  12. Abortion is the dumbest wedge issue ever, because it's improperly framed. The number of abortion will never significantly approach zero no matter what the law is. The actual policy fight is about whether poor people will have safe access to that decision. Rich and even middle class folks will always find a way to get one using modern medical techniques. In states where it would become illegal if Roe/Casey are overturned, poor folks will find an internet video or a shady, unsanitary locale in significant numbers, and groups will arrange for travel across state lines.
  13. I know you're not a mind-reader, otherwise you would have far fewer questions about what others think, so this statement is complete bullshit (and possibly projection). Your posting style is idiotic. Your stated intention is often one of dialogue, but your conclusions and assertions all make it seem like you'd be better off in conservative circle-jerk threads. If you're just a troll, congrats. You're successful at engaging in the lowest form of internet interaction, though you need to bush up on the stylings of FCHorn and the like, who do as good a job as you with far less effort. If you're not trolling, then you're failing at whatever it is you think you're doing.
  14. https://www.click2houston.com/news/politics/2020/07/08/open-for-business-montgomery-county-judge-invites-texas-gop-to-hold-in-person-convention-after-houston-cancels/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=kprc2 Keough is a complete moron, so this was expected.
  15. It’s a political philosophy calling for governments to regulate nothing but the uterus.
  16. Fair enough. I'm lucky that I have a mother-in-law recently retired as a children's librarian that can easily manage homeschooling and facilitating remote classes for my two girls (4, and 7 y.o., no pics pedos). I'm very aware that's a rare situation. I'd also love for school to be in session, because I'm sure the guilt trips from my mother-in-law will come if this shit isn't sorted out. That said, we can't do this without a solid plan, which we obviously do not have. I think in the Minneapolis thread there was a discussion of BLM's ideas on the nuclear family. If schools cannot open fully, I would hope that this would be an impetus for this to happen. I truly believe a lot of what ails us as a nation stems from insulation and isolation on multiple levels. One way to combat that would be a cultural shift towards community and neighborhood togetherness. If children have to rotate the days they can be in class, stay-at-home parents (teleworking or simply homemaking) should take up the slack for more than just their own children. I would hope that social media like nextdoor could be useful and not the joke it mostly is. There's solutions out there, and I'm just touching briefly on one. Of course, you know the problem. We're not having discussions about solutions because the very fact that there is a problem is so highly politicized. The body politic is broken, and the guy in charge only knows how break it more.
  17. Are you going to address the fact that you apparently don’t read the entire piece and that it’s initial publication predated the failed Israeli school reopening experiment? Also, are you of the wrong-headed opinion that one study, even though peer-reviewed doesn’t close the book on an issue? Why is that?
  18. Israel opened schools in May. Things have not gone well there since. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/07/888148317/amid-new-surge-in-virus-cases-israels-top-public-health-official-resigns "Sadetzki praised Israel's nationwide lockdowns in the spring, which brought an initial wave of infections to as low as about 10 cases a day. She blamed the latest wave in large part on Israel's swift reopening of schools in May and wedding venues in June." That study in Pediatrics was originally published on May 26. I wonder if someone can get the authors to update their findings to include the Israeli data.
  19. From the study you linked: "These data all suggest that children are not significant drivers of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear why documented SARS-CoV-2 transmission from children to other children or adults is so infrequent. In 47 COVID-19 infected German children, nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral loads were similar to those in other age groups, raising concern that children could be as infectious as adults.15 Because SARS-CoV-2-infected children are so frequently mildly symptomatic, they may have weaker and less frequent cough, releasing fewer infectious particles into the surrounding environment. Another possibility is that because school closures occurred in most locations along with or prior to widespread physical distancing orders, most close contacts became limited to households, reducing opportunities for children to become infected in the community and present as index cases."
  20. Can state level governments force local school districts to open?
  21. I'm waiting for the epistemological argument to take off with the occasional deontological and hermeneutic asides.
  22. Biden has spoken about support for decriminalization of marijuana, along with expunging convictions and rescheduling the drug. That’s doable. Comprehensive immigration reform. Infrastructure Year! Some kind of election reform including requirements of liberal access to mail-in and early voting options, as well as equal polling place access.
  23. They’re quite inept at pairing the propaganda with action, though. This country was primed for a fascist takeover. They could have gone full V for Vendetta with Covid (minus releasing the disease themselves) but dropped the ball like dogs. They’ve got another shot in the fall, but they’ll have to bring the carnage themselves. Will they shit the bed and hope daddy Vlad bails then out?
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