aftertheice.bsky.social
Old white guy living in Lee's Summit, Missouri, USA.
Centrist Democrat
Not religious
Interested in politics, science, reading, baseball
580 posts
441 followers
371 following
Getting Started
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
Helping an escaped criminal - regardless of family connection - is a crime anywhere in the world. And it should be.
comment in response to
post
A political problem shared by many US Progressives is that they are not religious people. Since roughly 65% of US voters identify as Christian, it's easy and generally accurate to portray the far left as anti-religion. if the left wants to win national elections, they need to veil their skepticism.
comment in response to
post
lol. I'm old enough to have seen starter homes from 60 years ago. They were very different - and much cheaper in real terms - than today's version of what is minimally acceptable.
comment in response to
post
How sweet it is. Trump is doing a favor for liberals worldwide.
comment in response to
post
All that we need to do is remove the "cap" from the SS payroll tax. That would generate enough additional revenue to pretty much cover the projected shortfall.
comment in response to
post
No, the companies can't make money in these areas at any affordable premium. They just want to get the hell out of there.
comment in response to
post
This is the inevitable result of stupid people choosing to live in disaster prone areas. Similar problems in coastal Florida. Because of global warming, many coastal areas in the US will become uninhabitable.
comment in response to
post
“They knew that they could force people, by dropping insurance, into that plan which had higher premiums and far lower coverages,”
The insurance companies knew this would happen but they're not happy about it. They would prefer to leave the market altogether. The companies cannot make a profit there
comment in response to
post
Putting partisan politics aside, it really isn't clear if Trump can legally fire the Fed chair. The Constitution doesn't magically agree with your (or my) opinion about a given issue of the day. This may be more of a violation of norms than a violation of law. It would be an interesting case.
comment in response to
post
This is not about Garcia.
comment in response to
post
Like most larger cities in the US, Kansas City votes blue, but thanks for the thoughts & prayers...
comment in response to
post
We may get there but we're not there yet. If a court finds that the subject has ignored the court's order, the court will hold the subject in contempt. And, of course, the subject has the right to appeal. Let's wait and see what happens. (The Obama admin was held in contempt and democracy survived.)
comment in response to
post
Talking is better than not talking.
comment in response to
post
It's as if Musk didn't understand who bought his cars. Remember when Bud Light used a trans spokesman for their product? Bubba at the bar in Biloxi doesn't like trans people so he stopped buying Bud Light. The customer base for expensive electric cars is rich lefties. They don't like Trump.
comment in response to
post
True that, plus Greenland is a long run strategic asset. But they'll buy it, not take it.
comment in response to
post
lol. The US is not going to invade Greenland. I think the strategy is to support the independence movement there (Inuits don't like the Danes - bad history) and then buy them out. If you're a hard scrabble fisherman, $5 or $10 million would change your life.
comment in response to
post
How would I know? I don't have access to his daily calendar. If his day to day matters to you, the internet is your friend...
comment in response to
post
Schumer did exactly what any Senate minority leader would have done the past week. What would you have him do? Run around with his hair on fire screaming obscenities? His first chance to do something substantive will come during the debt ceiling negotiations.
comment in response to
post
Why? Because he didn't waste time and political capital on a stupid government shutdown?
comment in response to
post
I don't know if you're crazy but you do sound like a lefty version of the right wing election deniers from 2020. If you have any hard evidence that Elon rigged the election, please share that information.
comment in response to
post
Harris was beaten because the GOP was able to define her as a lefty. So she lost to Trump. We don't want to give you the finger. We just want you and your trash talk to go away.
comment in response to
post
Children, these things take time. Everybody is trying to get the best possible deal for their side. It's good that progress is being made even if it's baby steps. And fear not, if Ukraine and Russia can't come to an agreement, the killing will just continue indefinitely.
comment in response to
post
Exactly. Good to see that we agree.
comment in response to
post
Eat food. Mostly greens. Not too much.
comment in response to
post
Why blame a Jew in Boston for what a Jew in the West Bank did? Only a bigot would reason like that.
comment in response to
post
Who is blaming poor kids and old people for what?
comment in response to
post
Yes, I got the sarcasm ;) I don't think that we've had a President since Jackson (?) that pushed this hard at the boundaries between Congress and the Executive branches so there may not be many previous rulings to work from.
comment in response to
post
Yes, yes, we can only hope. Actually, I'm not at all clear how the Supremes will look at this and similar cases. The Republican controlled Congress hasn't publicly objected to Trump's efforts to shrink the Federal footprint. It would be helpful for the Court to draw clear lines on this issue.
comment in response to
post
Yeah, a lot depends on how well the GOP sticks together. And Trump will use all the power he has to keep them in line. Shutting down the government was a guaranteed loser but Schumer has a chance (not a good one) to modify the tax package, particularly as it applies to those making over 400K.
comment in response to
post
Shutting down the government would have been box of rocks stupid. Soon the Republican Congress will need to raise the debt ceiling and will simultaneously want to preserve Trump's expiring tax cuts for the wealthy. That's the fight that Schumer wants.
comment in response to
post
Since roughly 65% of US voters identify as Christian, the Democratic party isn't going to win very many national elections if they are seen as the anti-Christian party. I'm not a religious person but I don't have any trouble talking to people who are.
comment in response to
post
Trump is on task. He wants to normalize US/Russian relations as much as possible. That's the main goal here. He doesn't care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.
comment in response to
post
Zelensky has generally been in favor of a halt in each side attacking the other's energy infrastructure. It's still cold in Ukraine and they also need the juice to continue weapons manufacturing.
comment in response to
post
I was just reacting to the idea that Progressives are the "base" of the Democratic party. If that's not what you meant, I apologize.
comment in response to
post
The base of the Democratic party is black church ladies. They have the power and get the Presidential nominee that they want: Biden, Clinton, Obama, Kerry (eh, not so much), Clinton. Progressives are mostly just semi-socialists with no place else to go.
comment in response to
post
Why is this comment labeled "spam?"
comment in response to
post
Yeah, it's probably time for a divorce. The GOP won this time around because they were able to paint Harris as an out of touch California lefty. The Dems need to move back toward their working class roots. That's what worked for Clinton and Obama. The black church ladies are our base. Best of luck.
comment in response to
post
Shutting down the government would have accomplished nothing. The Dems would've been blamed because, fact that. The "non-essential" workers would be sent home: targets for Musk. The GOP would have sat on their hands and laughed. Eventually, when the checks stopped coming, the Dems would have caved.
comment in response to
post
I agree. The Dems would be better off if the Progressives went someplace else. I think there is a Democratic Socialist party. Seems like that's where most of the lefties should be.
comment in response to
post
There were two bad choices. Schumer, after wandering around a bit, took the one that was least bad.
comment in response to
post
See below. This implies Ukraine will accept no NATO membership and allowing Russia to hold conquered territory.
"Ukraine...remains firm on several areas, including the return of children and civilians, no further ceding of territory, as well as establishing international security guarantees."
comment in response to
post
Everybody likes Bernie even if they don't agree with him. But Bernie wasn't a Democrat then and he's not a Democrat now. If you want to be the nominee of a US political party, being a member of that party is kind of a basic requirement.
comment in response to
post
It's not a bluff. What do you think Trump and Musk will be doing while the rest of the government is shut down? If Trump's tariff stupidity does the damage I think it will, then we'll have a recession. That's on them, and voters will make them pay come the midterms. Play dead. Keep the govt. open.
comment in response to
post
Okay. Let's have the Dems shut down the government. What happens then? The GOP smiles, blames the Dems, sit on their hands and wait a couple of months until the checks - mostly going to the middle class and poor - stop coming. Then the Dems cave.
comment in response to
post
What about the Democratic Socialists? I'm a centrist Dem so I haven't looked at them closely but their economic agenda might appeal to the working class voter.