All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Username taken]

Hi there!

I had student loans. I got behind on my payments, and had my wages garnished for years to pay them off during a time when I really needed every single cent of my check.

I was fortunate. I only had a relatively small amount of loans to pay off, as I was only in college for a few years. But frankly, if some of my tax dollars went to helping pay off other people's student loans, I have absolutely no problem with that.

I don't have any problem with the government writing off those loans.

IMO, the US government should write off ALL student loans. If the government wants to hang on to that debt, it should convert them to bonds and move on.

The whole idea of student loans is something I find to be totally and absolutely morally reprehensible. Getting an education shouldn't be that expensive and loan exposures shouldn't be created it for it.

Government shouldn't really be in the business of catering to schools constantly increasing their school fees well above the inflation rate.

[kidfresh512]

Republicans sue Google over ‘discriminatory’ spam filtering practices

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is suing Google for allegedly sending “millions” of campaign emails to users’ spam folders (via Axios). According to the lawsuit filed in California’s Eastern District Court on Friday, the RNC accuses Google of “throttling its email messages because of the RNC’s political affiliation and views.”

For months, the RNC has been complaining about Google’s alleged spam filtering bias, claiming it disproportionately puts Republican-backed political emails in spam folders when compared to messages sent by Democrats. The RNC’s frustration was only exacerbated by a North Carolina State University study that suggested Google was sending RNC emails to spam folders more frequently, leading a group of Republicans to introduce a bill that would prevent email providers like Google from filtering political emails using algorithms.

To address the RNC’s concerns, Google rolled out a pilot program in September that’s supposed to help prevent political emails from getting marked as spam. However, as The Verge’s Makena Kelly reported pointed out last week, Republicans haven’t been taking advantage of the program, which would’ve required it to follow security requirements and best practice standards when sending out emails in bulk.

Evil old Tech companies keeping the cash out of the coffers for the GOP. I like how they note that the RNC is not using the tools specifically created to address their concerns and make sure they can send out their garbage emails.

_________________________________________

In other what will the GOP actually try to do, other than Biden impeachments, Hunter Biden investigations, and Kill Jan 6 committee, if they win the House news:

House GOP's 2023 forecast: Fiscal warfare

As the GOP prepares to take back the House, its right flank is raring to gut spending, upend the federal safety net and make Trump-era tax cuts permanent — ambitions that threaten to give leadership a two-year headache.

Regaining the House majority in two weeks would undoubtedly lend Republicans more leverage in next year’s biggest budget and spending battles, including an already messy fight with Democrats over lifting the debt ceiling. Some conservatives are already hellbent on using the debt limit and government funding to extract major concessions from Democrats, such as restoring federal spending caps or overhauling Social Security and Medicare.

But tight Senate margins and a Democratic president would make it impossible for GOP leaders to deliver on the party’s most hardline fiscal wishes, at least with President Joe Biden still in office. The disappointment would surely prompt blowback from right-leaning Republicans already known as the sharpest thorns in the party’s side.


“Spare me if you’re a Republican who puts on your frigging campaign website, ‘Trust me, I will vote for a balanced budget amendment, and I believe we should balance the budget like every family in America.’ No shit,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the pro-Trump Freedom Caucus, said in an interview.

“You have two simple leverage points: when government funding comes up and when the debt ceiling is debated,” Roy reminded his fellow Republicans. “And the only question that matters is, will leadership use that leverage?”

Roy is also a member of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of House GOP lawmakers. It released a budget plan in June that proposes making Trump-era individual tax cuts permanent and gradually raising the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare, among other major changes.

But even if Republicans eke out a Senate majority, too, their slim margins in that chamber and a Democratic president with veto power would serve as major roadblocks to enacting conservative budget reforms as part of an agreement to lift the borrowing limit. Republicans would have to be willing to risk a default on the nation’s debt in order to make good on their red lines, a move that would jeopardize the health of the global economy.

[hyped78]

In other what will the GOP actually try to do, other than Biden impeachments, Hunter Biden investigations, and Kill Jan 6 committee, if they win the House news:

I'm sorry but you forgot that they will also lock up Hillary!

[AnakinFlair]

School shooting in St. Louis. 3 people dead- an adult woman, a teenage girl, and the shooter.

[babyblob]

Another School shooting. In St Louis. At least 3 dead.

What the Hell is wrong with this world?

[AnakinFlair]

Let's go from horrific to annoying:

Clarence Thomas temporarily blocks Lindsey Graham's testimony in the Georgia election interference probe.

[Username taken]

Another School shooting. In St Louis. At least 3 dead.

What the Hell is wrong with this world?

Broadly speaking:

1. The US has largely relaxed gun laws in response to mass shootings. The US has done the exact opposite of what it should do in response to frequent mass shootings.
2. Media and entertainment industry. Im old enough to remember how the Columbine shooters were treated as "victims".
3. People are very, very selfish. They oppose any policy they don't benefit from directly even if its for the greater good.

[hyped78]

Broadly speaking:

1. The US has largely relaxed gun laws in response to mass shootings. The US has done the exact opposite of what it should do in response to frequent mass shootings.
2. Media and entertainment industry. Im old enough to remember how the Columbine shooters were treated as "victims".
3. People are very, very selfish. They oppose any policy they don't benefit from directly even if its for the greater good.

#1 is as clear as it gets, totally agree. What do you mean by #3?

[Username taken]

#1 is as clear as it gets, totally agree. What do you mean by #3?

I mean the broad opposition to gun control in the US. I know that majority of people support gun control but there's still a large contingent of people that refuse to listen and refuse to care (hence why guys like Alex Jones can make millions off spouting lies about murdered children).

People still vote and support politicians bought and paid for by the NRA and even some that heckled school shooting survivors.

A lot of people don't care about these mass shootings because they aren't directly affected by them. The second they are affected they change their tune.

[CSTowle]

Not to speak for them, but generally if a government proposal or entitlement doesn't directly benefit a right-wing taxpayer they tend to want to eliminate it (or find a way to benefit from it). It's human nature, to go back to capitalism vs communism capitalism figured it out and leaned into it rather than trying to jam square pegs into round holes like communism.

Most of the opposition you see to things like welfare programs or student loan forgiveness or taking in refugees is because they feel like groups that don't include them (especially racial ones) are going to enjoy a leg up on them and theirs. There's an entire industry devoted to making such greed sound not only acceptable but the rational and long-term better solution for society, letting the poor and needy fend for themselves. Why you have Ayn Rand followers, the libertarian party, and think-tanks like the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute.

Because even when you're clearly taking up the morally repugnant position for your own personal gain, you don't want to feel like the bad guy so some justification is needed. In the Trump era though even that facade has been stripped away for the most part, except for "confused" Republicans who can't imagine how we got to this point after decades of enabling people like Trump to infiltrate and take over the Party.

[CSTowle]

My bad, guess they were speaking specifically to the gun issue. But stand by the rest.

[kidfresh512]

Let's go from horrific to annoying:

Clarence Thomas temporarily blocks Lindsey Graham's testimony in the Georgia election interference probe.

Especially given how deep his wife has been involved in the MAGA/6th groups and organizations. There is no way he should be ruling on this.

[babyblob]

Let's go from horrific to annoying:

Clarence Thomas temporarily blocks Lindsey Graham's testimony in the Georgia election interference probe.

No one can be shocked by this. With how involved his wife was in the 6th he should not have touched this with a ten foot pole.

But of course he did because he is part of it as well.

He knows he is untouchable so he can do what he wants to help The Big Orange Despot and his cult.

Just how blatant the actions of the GOP led SC are scary as Hell right now.

[hyped78]

I mean the broad opposition to gun control in the US. I know that majority of people support gun control but there's still a large contingent of people that refuse to listen and refuse to care (hence why guys like Alex Jones can make millions off spouting lies about murdered children).

People still vote and support politicians bought and paid for by the NRA and even some that heckled school shooting survivors.

A lot of people don't care about these mass shootings because they aren't directly affected by them. The second they are affected they change their tune.

Gotcha. I agree that it all boils down to the Gun lobby and subsequent right-wing political support for it. As an European, we don't get many shootings here. Is it because there's more evil/ mentally sick people in the US than here? (the old "Guns don't shoot people, people do") No, it's because evil people there have legal access to guns and evil people here broadly don't.

I live in London and London gets a bad rep for its murder rate. Well, London had 124 homicides between April 2021 and March 2022 - we're talking about a city with 9 million people. Most of those murders are done with knives - now imagine the murderers had access to guns instead of knives - and imagine you couldn't legally buy a gun in the US and had to buy and use knives instead!

Yes, if we boil down things to complete absurdity, guns don't shoot by themselves. But that's a moot point because the same sick person can kill more with a gun than they can with a knife.

[AnakinFlair]

Especially given how deep his wife has been involved in the MAGA/6th groups and organizations. There is no way he should be ruling on this.

From the article, it appears that Thomas just happens to be the judge that rules on these kinds of emergency cases from Georgia. But yeah, he should have recused himself.

Oh goody, as if things weren't terrible enough, North and South Korea have exchanged warning shots.