All purpose news and politics thread part VII: News & Politics Total Landscaping

[skyvolt2000]

Ding ding ding ding ding! Exactly right. But no one in Congress will talk about it because they get campaign contributions from those corporations, on both sides of the aisle, and the cable news networks won't talk about it either because they get advertising dollars from those same corporations.

Nobody wants to go after the folks who hire those folks.
Mainly companies looking for cheap labor.

However they won't bring it up because one that OTHER topic they won't talk about.

All those kids that come over the border. Guess what they are in public schools.
How do schools get FUNDING? Number of kids in school. Texas gets about $10K per kid. 5,402,928 kids are enrolled in Texas. 200K in Houston ISD. What if half were illegal? And got removed?

It's won't be that just that school where they are enrolled at suffering funding-it's EVERY school in that district suffering a loss in funding.

Don't think there are not school districts here that are NOT happy with what Abbott is doing. Some of these schools that would have gotten those kids are missing out on money.

[skyvolt2000]

So Hunter Biden showed up to the hearing that is calling for him to be held in contempt of Congress. Raskin publicly eviscerated Comer's arguments by showing Hunter hand continuously offered to speak to the committee for months now, Nancy Mace called for Hunter to be arrested and thrown in jail at once, and now it's degenerated into a schoolyard fight.

Did you see Jasmine Crockett? She left bodies laying in the street after she chewed up Republicans for all their antics.

Leatherface, Jason, Michael Myers & Freddy didn't leave that many bodies on the ground like she did.

[Malvolio]

Nobody wants to go after the folks who hire those folks.
Mainly companies looking for cheap labor.

However they won't bring it up because one that OTHER topic they won't talk about.

All those kids that come over the border. Guess what they are in public schools.
How do schools get FUNDING? Number of kids in school. Texas gets about $10K per kid. 5,402,928 kids are enrolled in Texas. 200K in Houston ISD. What if half were illegal? And got removed?

It's won't be that just that school where they are enrolled at suffering funding-it's EVERY school in that district suffering a loss in funding.

Don't think there are not school districts here that are NOT happy with what Abbott is doing. Some of these schools that would have gotten those kids are missing out on money.

Hadn't thought of that, but you're right. Public school funding is a factor, too.

[numberthirty]

Regarding the migrant crisis, I might be wrong here but it looks like the folks advising Joe Biden aren't doing a good job.

I've been reading about how cities and states are getting overwhelmed by migrants which really shouldn't be happening under any circumstance. If the reports are indeed accurate, then that's a pretty big problem for the Biden administration.

It's fair enough to have consideration and compassion for migrants but at the same time people that are resident in the cities and states impacted by the crises deserve as much consideration and compassion. Mercy is one thing, but justice is also another especially for those that are already resident in these cities and states.

There should be a clear distinction between those that are fleeing for their lives and those moving from economic deprivation. The former should be granted an audience but separate economic immigration programs should be set-up for the latter and those that can't get in via that route shouldn't be allowed to "gatecrash" and enter the country illegally, it's wrong.

EDIT: I heard that California is extending health care coverage to illegal immigrants which is wrong on so many levels. This isn't really a liberal or conservative issue as much as it is economic.

Since it doesn't really feel like some of this makes national news...

Going into next week?

Chicago is looking at noteworthy snowfall and highs in the single digits with lows below zero going into next week.

The plan(unless it has substantially changed...) was to put folks into heated "Base Camp..." tents.

One of the sites wound up having to be waved off because of the toxic metals that were found when they did a study on the site.

This was also how the discussion on if Chicago should remain a sanctuary city was going...

[Tendrin]

Indiana has filed a bill to end ALL recognition of transgender people. It is one of several states to do so, perfectly mirroring Russia's 2020 law and Hungary's 2023.

I will also note, it updates the definition for gay marriage as well, in preparation for overturning Obergefell.

https://twitter.com/ErinInTheMorn/st...34849645842642

And on that note, WBE-EEeee...

https://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1745126390939140283

An Ohio state Rep called for the murder of anyone supporting a trans child by using a biblical passage saying to tie a millstone around their neck and drown them.

I'm sure one of our regular apologists will be able to say 'this is no big deal, guys!'.

[4saken1]

Seriously?

https://markets.businessinsider.com/...-nvidia-2024-1

Looks like almost all of these have recovered from their slumps, especially Nvidia and Meta.

[numberthirty]

Looks like almost all of these have recovered from their slumps, especially Nvidia and Meta.

Well, that is all sort of "Basics 101..." market stuff.

What is actually inside a barrel of crude never fundamentally changes.

The price?

Largely dictated by something along the lines of a racket. Looking for some sort of deeper "What Caused That?..." element?

You've got to set a lot of that "Well, It Is Essentially Along The Lines Of A Racket..." off to the side to even start to consider that.

[Powerboy]

https://twitter.com/ErinInTheMorn/st...34849645842642

And on that note, WBE-EEeee...

https://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1745126390939140283



I'm sure one of our regular apologists will be able to say 'this is no big deal, guys!'.

*Sigh* I live in Indiana. I always thought Michigan, where I come from, was backwards, but Indiana is trying to lead the nation in ignorance.

[ed2962]

I caught some of the republican debate through a streamer who was "covering" it. I didn't see the beginning so the first couple of times I heard Haley say "Desantis Lies.com" I thought she was trying to make a joke, but no...her campaign actually did put up a website called Ron Desantis World of Lies. I thought Haley did ok-ish, but I think Desantis had more of the crowd on his side. At least she answered as someone with an actual personality. Ron seemed to talk in all cliches. Also Ron kept coming back to COVID and how he's going to rip up the Green New Deal his first day in office. We never enacted the Green New Deal...what's he talking about? Haley also dropped a boner on that front claiming that electric cars are too heavy for our roads

[Powerboy]

I caught some of the republican debate through a streamer who was "covering" it. I didn't see the beginning so the first couple of times I heard Haley say "Desantis Lies.com" I thought she was trying to make a joke, but no...her campaign actually did put up a website called Ron Desantis World of Lies. I thought Haley did ok-ish, but I think Desantis had more of the crowd on his side. At least she answered as someone with an actual personality. Ron seemed to talk in all cliches. Also Ron kept coming back to COVID and how he's going to rip up the Green New Deal his first day in office. We never enacted the Green New Deal...what's he talking about? Haley also dropped a boner on that front claiming that electric cars are too heavy for our roads

Well DeSantis is an introvert, which is not a great quality in a popularity contest. Among fools, being a conman and natural liar is a much better quality. So the fight for second place continues.

[numberthirty]

I caught some of the republican debate through a streamer who was "covering" it. I didn't see the beginning so the first couple of times I heard Haley say "Desantis Lies.com" I thought she was trying to make a joke, but no...her campaign actually did put up a website called Ron Desantis World of Lies. I thought Haley did ok-ish, but I think Desantis had more of the crowd on his side. At least she answered as someone with an actual personality. Ron seemed to talk in all cliches. Also Ron kept coming back to COVID and how he's going to rip up the Green New Deal his first day in office. We never enacted the Green New Deal...what's he talking about? Haley also dropped a boner on that front claiming that electric cars are too heavy for our roads

On that specific issue...

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/a...electric-cars/

America's new weight problem: Electric cars

Road wear

Since EVs weigh more than conventional cars they put more wear on the road, yet they don't pay for that wear with any additional gas taxes -- they don't pay any gas taxes at all. EVs may generate more sales tax due to their generally higher MSRPs but in California, as in many other states, only a very small amount of sales tax is earmarked for transportation projects. Electricity to charge EV's is subject to utility taxes, but those are typically restricted to energy infrastructure projects, not road repair.

[numberthirty]

There is also the fact that a fair portion of current infrastructure was constructed with lighter internal combustion vehicles in mind.

[Totoro Man]

Weren't those store theft numbers a hoax?

if we're talking about the numbers provided by major retailers in regard to "organized retail theft". the numbers were true in the sense that they were based on actual recorded losses... but they were "massaged" for the sake of drama.

https://www.latimes.com/business/sto...plifting-rings

some articles I've read indicated that it included all forms of loss: inventory loss (quite literally lost or misplaced), inventory damage from handling, employee pilferage, brokerage/shipper fraud, organized retail theft, petty shoplifting. in other words, they lumped nearly every type of loss (aka "shrinkage") into a single category to exaggerate their loss of profitable/sellable inventory. if we take the estimate used by Hiltzik in the L.A. Times piece for shoplifting to be 37% of $95 billion. we're still talking about $35 billion in retail theft.

I know that some people desperately WANT those loss numbers to be a hoax... because it's fun and easy to complain about "greed-flation" and the "corporations".

although this SHOULD be obvious: I'd like to point out that expenses start with the manufacturing process and gradually accrue throughout the economic life of a consumer good from factory to consumer.

one sharp increase in prices could be connected to the numerous Houthi attacks on container ships. initially they were focused on Israeli flagged ships, or related voyages. but, as the weeks have drawn out, these attacks appear to be becoming more-and-more indiscriminate.

https://cargonow.world/red-sea-passa...still-unclear/
Many vessels are either avoiding the area or canceling contracts due to uncertainties surrounding the initiative.

a lot of vessels are choosing to take the longer, much safer route than risk getting attacked.
https://www.shiphub.co/cargo-ship-by...he-suez-canal/

https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/01/08...rity-guardian/

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/10/12239...-un-resolution

adding roughly 3300 extra miles and 10-to-12 days to each trip is definitely going to add to the price of the cargo that gets diverted away from the Red Sea. companies are going to pass those operational costs on to consumers... because nobody wants to lose money if they can help it.

millions of dollars in labor, fuel, provisions (food for the crew) is going to rack up quickly. you might start the voyage expecting to spend (an estimated) $1200 a day on food for crew meals for 20 days for $24,000. now you have to add another $12,000. and this all assumes that you can simply acquire these provisions and store them on board with no problems. and that's just one of the CHEAPER things that needs to be considered. this is merely considering the value of the food itself-- it doesn't even account for creating the order, picking the products, shipping it to the vessel, and having it verified by the crew. all of that stuff costs money.

if your ship burns 21,000 gallons of diesel fuel a day... well, you can see how quickly that could add up.

when a high-ranking maritime executive admits that diverting a container ship away from the Red Sea to Cape Good Hope in South Africa could potentially add $1,000,000,000 worth of expenses per trip... that doesn't seem like a big exaggeration to me. (if I wrote $1 billion it doesn't seem to have the same impact as including all of the zeros).

he might be over-estimating... but in the case of international maritime travel it's better to plan for unexpected expenses. some of these things include wharfage, fluctuating fuel prices, port security, medical supplies... differing prices for consumables at different ports. there's all sorts of stuff. when planning a voyage for thousands of miles it's wise to over-estimate your expenses a little bit and plan for some worst-case scenarios.

however, it's hard to get worse than having missiles and suicide boats detonating on the hull of your ship! it's cheaper to spend more than to risk losing an entire ship with over 20 people on it.

what I find frustrating is that a lot of people seem to expect that ALL of these companies should simply eat the costs of such operations so that consumers don't have to pay more.

my objection with that whole line of thinking is that this means that you have to cut corners somewhere so that consumers don't suffer... which could very easily mean that everybody in the production and supply chain is expected to suffer on behalf of the consumer. the alternative is that manufacturers will not be paying their employees fair wages in order to keep the price low (which already happens in many places). or not feeding the sailors well or paying them reasonable wages for days served. (this can happen too).

when many stores are waiting longer for products, paying more for them when they arrive, and are at greater risk for items getting stolen... are stores simply expected to lose money for the benefit of consumers?

[worstblogever]

And on that note, WBE-EEeee...
https://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1745126390939140283


I'm sure one of our regular apologists will be able to say 'this is no big deal, guys!'.

[JackDaw]

Well DeSantis is an introvert, which is not a great quality in a popularity contest. Among fools, being a conman and natural liar is a much better quality. So the fight for second place continues.

Second place in this contest is definitely worth having, it’s not that improbable that the Donald will not be able to run.