AunBear89 said:

---

Simply put: Republicans are hypocrites AND morons.

---

...but the difference is that when Democrats get caught being hypocrites, they apologize, make lame excuses, go into therapy or resign, whereas, when Republicans get caught they think it is quaint that anyone would even be concerned about hypocrisy and when they get called on it their response:





...and there is something about that you kinda have to respect. Al Franken would still be a senator if he was like that.

"Eight days into his tenure, President Joe Biden has not occupied my every waking thought nor, I suspect, yours. He has not insulted anyone, as far as I'm aware. He has not played golf instead of working, or held late-night counselling sessions with cable-television anchors, or caused a rupture in our relationship with Australia."


Did Biden Just Make Everything Normal Again? | The New Yorker


https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/did-biden-just-make-everything-normal-again

" It's hard to take Republican concerns about debt seriously when just four years ago they had zero qualms about enacting one of the largest tax cuts in history, largely for big corporations and the super-wealthy.

If they really don't want to add to the debt, there's another alternative. They can support a tax on super-wealthy Americans.

The total wealth of America's 660 billionaires has grown by a staggering $1.1tn since the start of the pandemic, a 40% increase. They alone could finance almost all of Biden's Covid relief package and still be as rich as they were before the pandemic. So why not a temporary emergency Covid wealth tax?


... Trumpian Republicans in Congress have an even more diabolical motive for blocking Biden. They figure if Americans remain in perpetual crises and ever-deepening fear, they'll lose faith in democracy itself.

This would open the way for another strongman demagogue in 2024 if not Trump, a Trump-impersonator like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley or Donald Trump Jr."




Why Republicans won't agree to Biden's big plans and why he should ignore them
Why Republicans won't agree to Biden's big plans and why he should ignore them

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/31/republicans-biden-covid-trump-congress?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Wealth tax is so tough to implement. These people don't have that sort of liquidity and it would certainly impact equity valuations if people were forced to sell to cover taxes.


That isn't to say we can't raise taxes, but it's not as simple as saying let's just take their paper wealth.

Pentagon Fires Trump Appointees Like Lewandowski, Gingrich From Advisory Board


https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/02/02/pentagon-fires-trump-appointees-like-lewandowski-gingrich-from-advisory-board/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/02/02/pentagon-fires-trump-appointees-like-lewandowski-gingrich-from-advisory-board/amp/

*Corey Lewandowski on a Pentagon Advisory Board? As Michael Cohen stayed in his book, although Corey tried to pass himself off as a military/police type, the closest he ever got to that was working security at a dock putting life vests on children. At least he had Hope. He'll always have that.

Biden trying to un*****Obamacare by unwinding the arguments the prior administration made to SCOTUS to damage our healthcare system.

Quote:

---

CNN)The Biden administration told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it should uphold the Affordable Care Act, reversing the position of the Trump administration that had urged the justices to strike down the entire law amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"Following the change in Administration, the Department of Justice has reconsidered the government's position," Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler told the court in a letter Wednesday. The United States "no longer adheres to the conclusions" in a brief filed by the Trump administration.

Kneedler said the federal government now maintains that the law's individual mandate is constitutional, but even if the court disagrees, it should sever the mandate and allow the rest of the sprawling law to stand. Such a move would maintain the status quo, as the penalty associated with the mandate has been brought down to zero.

The case was argued on November 10 and is currently before the justices, with a decision expected by July.

The letter marks one of the most substantive reversals the Biden administration has taken, but it does not mean the case will go away. It was originally brought by Republican attorneys general, and the Trump administration later joined on.

---

I assume that all the unitary executive defending conservatives will fall all over themselves now to defend Biden's appropriate use of his executive authority to defend the laws. Right? Right? Where's John Yoo and Bill Barr on this?

Unit2Sucks said:

---

Biden trying to un*****Obamacare by unwinding the arguments the prior administration made to SCOTUS to damage our healthcare system.

Quote:

---

CNN)The Biden administration told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it should uphold the Affordable Care Act, reversing the position of the Trump administration that had urged the justices to strike down the entire law amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"Following the change in Administration, the Department of Justice has reconsidered the government's position," Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler told the court in a letter Wednesday. The United States "no longer adheres to the conclusions" in a brief filed by the Trump administration.

Kneedler said the federal government now maintains that the law's individual mandate is constitutional, but even if the court disagrees, it should sever the mandate and allow the rest of the sprawling law to stand. Such a move would maintain the status quo, as the penalty associated with the mandate has been brought down to zero.

The case was argued on November 10 and is currently before the justices, with a decision expected by July.

The letter marks one of the most substantive reversals the Biden administration has taken, but it does not mean the case will go away. It was originally brought by Republican attorneys general, and the Trump administration later joined on.

---

I assume that all the unitary executive defending conservatives will fall all over themselves now to defend Biden's appropriate use of his executive authority to defend the laws. Right? Right? Where's John Yoo and Bill Barr on this?

---

I don't think it matters. The Republican partisans that make up the majority of the Supreme Court are going to do what they want to do regardless.

Anyone following this crazy story about a white house deputy press secretary?

Quote:

---

(CNN Business)White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that one of her deputies, TJ Ducklo, had been suspended for one week without pay after a Vanity Fair story revealed Ducklo had threatened a reporter who was working on a story about his romantic relationship with another reporter.

"This in our view was an important step to send the message that we don't find this acceptable," Psaki told reporters at the White House press briefing.

Psaki said her deputy, TJ Ducklo, had apologized to the reporter, Politico's Tara Palmeri, over the incident. She added that when he returns from suspension he will no longer work with any reporters at Politico.

---

This guy needs to be fired yesterday. It's completely bush league (or Trump league) to let this clown keep his job. Perhaps the impeachment trial saved this guy his job but I would like to think that the Biden administration will reconsider its position, particularly under the sort of pressure from media coverage, and that the jerk will be gone before his suspension ends.

There's been recent discussion here about how fawning mainstream media is of democrats, and this is yet another episode to prove that CNN and the NYT still have some standards and don't come close to the state run media Fox has become.

If I'm wrong I will admit it, but I predict that this guy loses his job and then ends up as yet another cancel culture warrior for Republicans. Maybe he was a right wing sleeper agent LOL.

Unit2Sucks said:

---

Anyone following this crazy story about a white house deputy press secretary?

Quote:

---

(CNN Business)White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that one of her deputies, TJ Ducklo, had been suspended for one week without pay after a Vanity Fair story revealed Ducklo had threatened a reporter who was working on a story about his romantic relationship with another reporter.

"This in our view was an important step to send the message that we don't find this acceptable," Psaki told reporters at the White House press briefing.

Psaki said her deputy, TJ Ducklo, had apologized to the reporter, Politico's Tara Palmeri, over the incident. She added that when he returns from suspension he will no longer work with any reporters at Politico.

---

This guy needs to be fired yesterday. It's completely bush league (or Trump league) to let this clown keep his job. Perhaps the impeachment trial saved this guy his job but I would like to think that the Biden administration will reconsider its position, particularly under the sort of pressure from media coverage, and that the jerk will be gone before his suspension ends.

There's been recent discussion here about how fawning mainstream media is of democrats, and this is yet another episode to prove that CNN and the NYT still have some standards and don't come close to the state run media Fox has become.

If I'm wrong I will admit it, but I predict that this guy loses his job and then ends up as yet another cancel culture warrior for Republicans. Maybe he was a right wing sleeper agent LOL.

---

The strange thing about this whole situation is that it really didn't even need to happen. The reporter, Alexi McCammond, was already willing to be transferred to another DC beat to avoid the imminent conflict of interest. Why Ducklo felt he needed to go in on the reporter (despite her being a bit of a hack imo) seems completely self-immolating. President Biden may already be regretting being so forceful a couple weeks ago in declaring that anyone who shows overt disrespect to anyone else will be fired immediately, because I don't see how he doesn't fire Ducklo without neutering his own self-imposed moral authority.

Unit2Sucks said:

---

Anyone following this crazy story about a white house deputy press secretary?

Quote:

---

(CNN Business)White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that one of her deputies, TJ Ducklo, had been suspended for one week without pay after a Vanity Fair story revealed Ducklo had threatened a reporter who was working on a story about his romantic relationship with another reporter.

"This in our view was an important step to send the message that we don't find this acceptable," Psaki told reporters at the White House press briefing.

Psaki said her deputy, TJ Ducklo, had apologized to the reporter, Politico's Tara Palmeri, over the incident. She added that when he returns from suspension he will no longer work with any reporters at Politico.

---

This guy needs to be fired yesterday. It's completely bush league (or Trump league) to let this clown keep his job. Perhaps the impeachment trial saved this guy his job but I would like to think that the Biden administration will reconsider its position, particularly under the sort of pressure from media coverage, and that the jerk will be gone before his suspension ends.

There's been recent discussion here about how fawning mainstream media is of democrats, and this is yet another episode to prove that CNN and the NYT still have some standards and don't come close to the state run media Fox has become.

If I'm wrong I will admit it, but I predict that this guy loses his job and then ends up as yet another cancel culture warrior for Republicans. Maybe he was a right wing sleeper agent LOL.

---

Whoops forgot to follow up. Ducklo "resigned" on February 13. Sounds like he was fired but I would have preferred the administration was more upfront about it.

It's nice to have a normal administration again that at least has some accountability for their actions and doesn't whine and deflect every time the media criticizes them.

Unit2Sucks said:

---

Unit2Sucks said:

---

Anyone following this crazy story about a white house deputy press secretary?

Quote:

---

(CNN Business)White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that one of her deputies, TJ Ducklo, had been suspended for one week without pay after a Vanity Fair story revealed Ducklo had threatened a reporter who was working on a story about his romantic relationship with another reporter.

"This in our view was an important step to send the message that we don't find this acceptable," Psaki told reporters at the White House press briefing.

Psaki said her deputy, TJ Ducklo, had apologized to the reporter, Politico's Tara Palmeri, over the incident. She added that when he returns from suspension he will no longer work with any reporters at Politico.

---

This guy needs to be fired yesterday. It's completely bush league (or Trump league) to let this clown keep his job. Perhaps the impeachment trial saved this guy his job but I would like to think that the Biden administration will reconsider its position, particularly under the sort of pressure from media coverage, and that the jerk will be gone before his suspension ends.

There's been recent discussion here about how fawning mainstream media is of democrats, and this is yet another episode to prove that CNN and the NYT still have some standards and don't come close to the state run media Fox has become.

If I'm wrong I will admit it, but I predict that this guy loses his job and then ends up as yet another cancel culture warrior for Republicans. Maybe he was a right wing sleeper agent LOL.

---

Whoops forgot to follow up. Ducklo "resigned" on February 13. Sounds like he was fired but I would have preferred the administration was more upfront about it.

It's nice to have a normal administration again that at least has some accountability for their actions and doesn't whine and deflect every time the media criticizes them.

---

It's nice to have a normal administration again where the representatives of that administration abuse reporters because they have no sense of ethics.

Biden will call Saudi king ahead of damning Khashoggi report - Axios


https://www.axios.com/biden-saudi-king-khashoggi-report-29272e86-a315-4d54-b37d-3a4183d178c4.html

tRump Republican Party, we hardly knew ye.

Democrats drubbing Trumpless GOP on social media - Axios


https://www.axios.com/democrats-social-media-trump-fcb99388-0551-4654-be2b-6517076edc2b.html

bearister said:

---

tRump Republican Party, we hardly knew ye.

Democrats drubbing Trumpless GOP on social media - Axios


https://www.axios.com/democrats-social-media-trump-fcb99388-0551-4654-be2b-6517076edc2b.html

---

I would drub the Trump-less GOP less than the Trump-full GOP.
He's the absolute worst.
If Republicans would just rebuke the clown.... Their marriage to him is just insane.

Unit2Sucks said:

---

Wealth tax is so tough to implement. These people don't have that sort of liquidity and it would certainly impact equity valuations if people were forced to sell to cover taxes.


That isn't to say we can't raise taxes, but it's not as simple as saying let's just take their paper wealth.

---

I agree.
Maybe there could be an accumulation wealth tax strategy.
I mean, let's say you own $1B, but it's all tied up in stock. And Warren's plan is that you must pay 2% of that each year.
That would mean you have to pay $20M per year. But that would cause you to sell your interest, and often times that's stupid from a corporate governance standpoint.

So, how about if the year 2020 $20M tax bill simply gets tacked on to your estate tax bill so that when you die, your accumulated wealth tax amounts are all due.
Or, maybe you have 10 years to pay your 2020 Wealth Tax bill, and 10 years to pay your 2021 Wealth tax bill. And so on.
Allows you to plan better.

I realize there are probably obvious ways to cheat and escape the tax bill, but I haven't considered those yet.

As for what a portfolio is worth, I'd just take the average closing stock price of a stock for all 250 trading days of the year.

Very rough spaghetti on the wall.

When yogi is smarter than Devin Nunes:

YogiHydra said:

BearChemist said:

---

When yogi is smarter than Devin Nunes:

---

I think there is a typo. The story is that Nunes got a Covid bill from his doctor.

Hey, YogiHydra: your Yogi is showing again.

AunBear89 said:

---

Hey, YogiHydra: your Yogi is showing again.

---

I don't think "SFBear92" is trying to hide it anymore.

All Greg needs to do to stop this nonsense is impose a 100 post requirement before you can post in OT. That's a perfectly reasonable proxy to prevent flagrant trolling.

BlueAnon said:

---

Unit2Sucks said:

---

All Greg needs to do to stop this nonsense is impose a 100 post requirement before you can post in OT. That's a perfectly reasonable proxy to prevent flagrant trolling.

---

---

JeffBear07 said:

---

The strange thing about this whole situation is that it really didn't even need to happen. The reporter, Alexi McCammond, was already willing to be transferred to another DC beat to avoid the imminent conflict of interest. Why Ducklo felt he needed to go in on the reporter (despite her being a bit of a hack imo) seems completely self-immolating. President Biden may already be regretting being so forceful a couple weeks ago in declaring that anyone who shows overt disrespect to anyone else will be fired immediately, because I don't see how he doesn't fire Ducklo without neutering his own self-imposed moral authority.

---

Unit2Sucks said:

---

At this rate, we might finally get an infrastructure week.

---

So it is infrastructure week after all. Biden to announce his infrastructure plan on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

What's nice about having a sane and functional administration, is that we can pretty much all assume that a plan actually exists and that Biden will actually tell us what it is. How novel.

BearForce2 said:

---

JeffBear07 said:

---

The strange thing about this whole situation is that it really didn't even need to happen. The reporter, Alexi McCammond, was already willing to be transferred to another DC beat to avoid the imminent conflict of interest. Why Ducklo felt he needed to go in on the reporter (despite her being a bit of a hack imo) seems completely self-immolating. President Biden may already be regretting being so forceful a couple weeks ago in declaring that anyone who shows overt disrespect to anyone else will be fired immediately, because I don't see how he doesn't fire Ducklo without neutering his own self-imposed moral authority.

---

---

If Cal football hired a head football coach who
--never worked in football before
--who had no managerial experience
--had no coaching experience
--and who had racist tweets in the past

would you be upset?



That's essentialliy what happened here:

Conde Nast, which owns Teen Vogue, hired as their leader a person who 1) had no fashion magazine experience, 2) no managerial experience (she had just been a reporter and low-level editor) and 3) no experience as a high-level editor. Oh, and she tweeted a bunch of racist sh*t a decade ago.

(I'm not even going to hold it against her that she was a White House reporter who started dating the deputy press secretary -- the same deputy press secretary who was forced to resign after berating a female reporter.)


Anyways, that's what the story was about -- a staff who didn't want to work for somebody so inexperienced.

Of course, Conde Nast didn't care about her inexperience. That's why they hired her in the first place. But the bad tweets were bad PR.

And this story became another part of the "cancel culture" war -- with even Bill Maher railing against it -- when it is really about making bad hiring decisions.


https://mynewbandis.substack.com/p/my-new-band-is-teenage-mistake

okaydo said:

---

BearForce2 said:

---

JeffBear07 said:

---

The strange thing about this whole situation is that it really didn't even need to happen. The reporter, Alexi McCammond, was already willing to be transferred to another DC beat to avoid the imminent conflict of interest. Why Ducklo felt he needed to go in on the reporter (despite her being a bit of a hack imo) seems completely self-immolating. President Biden may already be regretting being so forceful a couple weeks ago in declaring that anyone who shows overt disrespect to anyone else will be fired immediately, because I don't see how he doesn't fire Ducklo without neutering his own self-imposed moral authority.

---

---

If Cal football hired a head football coach who
--never worked in football before
--who had no managerial experience
--had no coaching experience
--and who had racist tweets in the past

would you be upset?

---

I don't want to make it seem like I disagree with you or am quibbling. Everything you said is technically correct. But context matters and I think there is some context here that would be helpful.

Teen Vogue has been a business failure. It went out of print publication in 2017 and they've been trying to give it a go as an online property. They reportedly generate less than $10M per year in revenue, so I doubt they have much full-time staff.

With that context, I wouldn't assume that this was a mistake by Conde Nast. It's a small, failing business that Conde Nast is trying to turnaround. They may have reasonably believed that they needed someone different from the existing staff because what they were doing wasn't working. They've been trying to make it less fashion oriented and more political and edgy. For all we know they hired that reporter so that they could have this whole dustup to generate some buzz. They have probably received more brand awareness from this "mistake" than they've had organically since the brand was founded in 2003.

I'm just really happy I never joined twitter and used my Facebook sparingly.