Political Discussion

Georgia Republicans are not happy at all with the results of last years election and this years senate runoff.

A record number of people voted in Georgia, and the state turned blue in both the Presidential and Senate Run off elections.

Republican lawmakers in Georgia have introduce a bill with sweeping election reform.

Here are some of the things they are changing, which critics say disproportionally suppresses the black vote.
  • Repeal of no excuse absentee ballots
  • Tighter early voting windows and restrictions
    • The time period of when cities can sent out early voting ballots has been pushed up closer to the election date
    • Elimination of Sunday voting
  • Increase in poll monitors
  • Tighter Voter ID Requirements
  • No more automatic voter registration, such as when renewing your license.
These changes come in the name of combating "widespread voter fraud". At least that's how the republicans are billing it. But their motives are clear. They want to suppress votes and ensure they stay in power.

The republican party is also busy in some other states.

In Pennsylvania, Republicans are looking to repeal a no-excuse absentee voting law passed in 2019 through the state's GOP-led Legislature.
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And in Arizona, one GOP-sponsored bill would repeal the state's permanent early voting list, which allows a voter to automatically receive a ballot by mail for every election.
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RenegadeMonster said:
Georgia Republicans are not happy at all with the results of last years election and this years senate runoff.

A record number of people voted in Georgia, and the state turned blue in both the Presidential and Senate Run off elections.

Republican lawmakers in Georgia have introduce a bill with sweeping election reform.

Here are some of the things they are changing, which critics say disproportionally suppresses the black vote.
  • Repeal of no excuse absentee ballots
  • Tighter early voting windows and restrictions
    • The time period of when cities can sent out early voting ballots has been pushed up closer to the election date
    • Elimination of Sunday voting
  • Increase in poll monitors
  • Tighter Voter ID Requirements
  • No more automatic voter registration
These changes come in the name of combating "widespread voter fraud". At least that's how the republicans are billing it. But their motives are clear. They want to suppress votes and ensure they stay in power.

The republican party is also busy in some other states.
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Yeah, "widespread non proven made up voter fraud" It's very disappointing.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Georgia Republicans are not happy at all with the results of last years election and this years senate runoff.

A record number of people voted in Georgia, and the state turned blue in both the Presidential and Senate Run off elections.

Republican lawmakers in Georgia have introduce a bill with sweeping election reform.

Here are some of the things they are changing, which critics say disproportionally suppresses the black vote.
  • Repeal of no excuse absentee ballots
  • Tighter early voting windows and restrictions
    • The time period of when cities can sent out early voting ballots has been pushed up closer to the election date
    • Elimination of Sunday voting
  • Increase in poll monitors
  • Tighter Voter ID Requirements
  • No more automatic voter registration, such as when renewing your license.
These changes come in the name of combating "widespread voter fraud". At least that's how the republicans are billing it. But their motives are clear. They want to suppress votes and ensure they stay in power.

The republican party is also busy in some other states.
Click to expand...
These things always disappoint me, because these measures are obviously aimed at making it harder to vote leading to fewer voters. But common ground in a democracy whether you are conservative or liberal should be that we want the highest possible voter turnout. That is the legitimazition of the democratic system and call me naive but if you believe in a democracy you should fight for the possibility of every citizen to vote no matter whom or what they are voting for.
 
I know people don't particularly care for her in the Republican and Progressive spectrum (my opinion is not very strong), but if you're wondering why the Dems have a majority but are going to have a hard time making anything but incremental change, well

www.cnn.com

Manchin says he'll vote against Biden OMB nominee Neera Tanden

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced Friday he will vote against Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden's nominee for the director of the Office of Management and Budget, making her confirmation unlikely given Republican resistance to her nomination.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com

A Senator has, of course, the right to break from party on their votes and I don't even think the rationale in a vacuum is terrible. But Joe Manchin also voted for cabinet posts for such luminaries like Scott Pruitt, Jeff Sessions, Mike Pompeo, William Barr, and a lifetime Supreme Court post for Brett Kavanaugh - none of whom were sufficiently "toxic" or "partisan" for his tastes (all of whom were also men but that's probably a step too far as of right now).

Edit: A tiny part of me wonders if another Democrat or Independent: maybe a Sanders (who was pointedly critical of her) type asked him to do a solid or told him s/he was going to vote against Tanden as well. Joe Manchin is uniquely positioned to vote this way and actually gain credibility: I hope so because of this is a vote of conscience it's an effing terrible time to find it.
 
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waruv said:
I know people don't particularly care for her in the Republican and Progressive spectrum (my opinion is not very strong), but if you're wondering why the Dems have a majority but are going to have a hard time making anything but incremental change, well

www.cnn.com

Manchin says he'll vote against Biden OMB nominee Neera Tanden

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced Friday he will vote against Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden's nominee for the director of the Office of Management and Budget, making her confirmation unlikely given Republican resistance to her nomination.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com

A Senator has, of course, the right to break from party on their votes and I don't even think the rationale in a vacuum is terrible. But Joe Manchin also voted for cabinet posts for such luminaries like Scott Pruitt, Jeff Sessions, Mike Pompeo, William Barr, and a lifetime Supreme Court post for Brett Kavanaugh - none of whom were sufficiently "toxic" or "partisan" for his tastes (all of whom were also men but that's probably a step too far as of right now).

Edit: A tiny part of me wonders if another Democrat or Independent: maybe a Sanders (who was pointedly critical of her) type asked him to do a solid or told him s/he was going to vote against Tanden as well. Joe Manchin is uniquely positioned to vote this way and actually gain credibility: I hope so because of this is a vote of conscience it's an effing terrible time to find it.
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To be fair, I'm not a big fan of Neera Tanden and I don't think she should be on the cabinet either, but because she is largely against progressive policies. She's in the pocket of big banks, and she's supposed to be in charge of the Office of Management and Budget?

Sanders also expressed concern over millions of dollars of corporate donations CAP received during her tenure, citing a report that the organization received at least $33 million from corporate companies like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Google since 2014.

“So before I vote on your nomination, it is important for me and members of this committee to know that those donations that you have secured at CAP will not influence your decision making at the OMB," Sanders said.

Tanden pledged that those relationships would have "zero impact" on her decision-making as budget chief.

The pair have had strained relations since Sanders ran against Tanden's former boss, Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary election. In 2019, Sanders wrote a scathing letter to CAP and the CAP Action Fund accusing the organization of “bad faith smears” and criticizing Tanden for calling “for unity while simultaneously maligning my staff and supporters and belittling progressive ideas."
sports.yahoo.com

Bernie Sanders presses budget pick Neera Tanden on Twitter attacks against him and others

Tensions between Sen. Bernie Sanders and Neera Tanden were on full display as Tanden faced a second day of questions over her barbed Twitter comments.
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com
 
Republicans have dubbed the next stimulus bill as "Payoff to Progressives Act".

An email was sent around to senate republicans calling the bill as such and urging all to vote no.
 
Colonel_Angus said:
Bruh, we live in Florida.
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Florida gonna Florida, ain't no fixin' it, just like there's no fixing any of the southern bible belt states. Like, Georgia went blue....this once....based on one woman's frankly Herculean effort. I will bet you 1 shiny nickel that it goes deep, deep red at the midterms.

ayayron said:
Absolutely miss me with this shit. 4 million+ people did not vote for Cruz,
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Tyr said:
Hmmm. This comment seems....less than compassionate.

I am becoming more and more a fan of Beto as I continue to learn about him.
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You are correct, it is unkind and I regret that -- not like, a whole lot, you understand -- the majority of voters that voted cast for Cruz, and thus they get Cruz*. It is unfortunate for the sensible voters that don't want hyper conservative policies that harm the poor, the needy and just Texans in general. But the lesson of Georgia is not "hey these redneck assholes really don't dominate the state!" but instead "if you put in the effort, you can vote for a voice you want!" and there just aren't enough blue voices in Texas putting in the effort. I don't know if that falls on local politics or the DNC or what, but if GA can go blue once, so can TX. But it hasn't. There just aren't enough non-Cruz voters; or at least, there weren't when he ran last time.

It sucks that the few that need the most help will get hurt the most because of bullshit politics.

I don't really see a way of fixing it (in any of the red states, not just texas or florida) -- metro hubs lean blue, but literally everywhere else goes red. Move if you can, and just get crushed if you can't, because obviously no one running the government gives a shit about it.

* just like Florida totally gets the shitbags we deserve. We voted for Governor Voldemort (now Senator Voldemort) and now Gov DeathSantis.
 
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nolalady said:
To be fair, I'm not a big fan of Neera Tanden and I don't think she should be on the cabinet either, but because she is largely against progressive policies. She's in the pocket of big banks, and she's supposed to be in charge of the Office of Management and Budget?

Sanders also expressed concern over millions of dollars of corporate donations CAP received during her tenure, citing a report that the organization received at least $33 million from corporate companies like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Google since 2014.

“So before I vote on your nomination, it is important for me and members of this committee to know that those donations that you have secured at CAP will not influence your decision making at the OMB," Sanders said.

Tanden pledged that those relationships would have "zero impact" on her decision-making as budget chief.

The pair have had strained relations since Sanders ran against Tanden's former boss, Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary election. In 2019, Sanders wrote a scathing letter to CAP and the CAP Action Fund accusing the organization of “bad faith smears” and criticizing Tanden for calling “for unity while simultaneously maligning my staff and supporters and belittling progressive ideas."
sports.yahoo.com

Bernie Sanders presses budget pick Neera Tanden on Twitter attacks against him and others

Tensions between Sen. Bernie Sanders and Neera Tanden were on full display as Tanden faced a second day of questions over her barbed Twitter comments.
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com
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Sanders would have still voted for her though and his concerns are at least policy based. Manchin doesn’t like her because she said mean things about Republicans on Twitter. A very very dumb reason not to approve one of Biden’s cabinet picks. Manchin has carte Blanche to do whatever the fuck he wants and Biden and the Dems need him way more than he needs anything they can give him. Maybe one of the center Republicans decides to approve to engender some good graces from Biden later.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
www.cnn.com

DeSantis proposes voting restriction bills for Florida lawmakers to pass this session

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a slate of voting proposals Friday that he wants lawmakers to pass in their upcoming legislative session, including restricting the mass mailing of mail-in ballots and access to ballot drop boxes.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com

Florida is joining in on the fuckery
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I'm honestly surprised it's taken this long for him to get in on this BS. I guess it's because FL went solid red.

He's got his own troubles though, a lot of folks want to rein in the broad emergency powers they granted him because of the pandemic and he's like nah i'm good guys. (I understand a lot of states are having this issue with their governors though)
 
Rant: I am so sick and tired of healthcare and medical insurance.

I had Bell's Palsy last October. Even with insurance it still ended up costing me more than $2,000.

Bell's Palsy was pretty easy to self diagnose. With it's slow onset and it only effecting my face I was 99.9% sure it wasn't a stroke. I was trying to avoid the emergency room as that would be too expensive. I can't afford that living paycheck to paycheck and not being able to save up a rainy day fund due to living in a high rent area.

I called my doctors office. And of course they did the COVID-19 pre-screening over the phone. I had a headache and nasal congestion witch is totally normal with the viral infection that causes Bell's Palsy. But it triggered the COVID Flag and I could not be seen in person at my doctors office for 2 weeks even if I could produce a negative covid test.

My doctors office referred me to their priority care center which is part of the same medical group. They said I could get the covid test there and I would be able to see a doctor to take care of any other medical needs. Such as Bell's Palsy if that's what it turns out that I have. They made me an appointment and I went. They did a rapid covid test that came back negative. Confirmed Bell's Palsy and gave me a prescription for anti viral treatment and tear replacement eye drops.

The priority care center apparently bills as an Emergency Room. So I got hit with a $500 co-pay from my insurance which came in the mail a couple months later as they were doing check ins / outs at the priority care center at the time due to covid.

Because they were not a state funded covid testing site the covid test hit my insurance, which they passed on to my deductible naturally...

Those eye drops? Yup, not covered by my insurance and I had to pay full retail.

The priority care center said I needed to make a follow up appointment with my primary doctor for a week later.

Guess what, I still had that covid flag for another week. So we had to do a remote zoom follow up and then schedule another appointment so I could be seen in person after the covid flag is lifted.

Because my physical was during the heart of the stay at home orders last year it had to be done over zoom. So I never got my annual labs done at the time.

When I could finally be seen in person my doctor talked me into doing them saying it would be important to checkup on after the Bell's Palsy. I didn't want to do them at first because the prior year $391 hit my deductible from my annual labs. My doctor also said she would take a couple labs off the panel that are more expensive and I can get away with not having at this time to save me some money.

This year, make that a little over $900 hit my deductible for my annual labs. As explained to me when I contested it with my insurance, they weren't coded as being done with my physical and therefor are not considered preventative. I argued that this was surprise billing and I would not have done them if I knew the price tag. That got me nowhere. I tried to get the lab to recode them as being part of my physical. They refused saying that would be illegal. That's called "Insurance Fraud". COVID and the whole virtual physical made no difference when I explained it. They were not done at the time of my physical but rather 5 months later. I tried to negotiate the price with them but they flat at refused saying I was already paying my insurance companies negotiated rate.

I haven't paid them yet and they have now been sent to collections. I'm waiting on hopefully getting the $1400 stimulus if they ever pass it to pay for them.
 
There’s about 200 tenants that my property management company oversees. They’ve thrice sent out emails to the tenant mailing list urging us to vote NO on a Just Cause measure in the upcoming local election. That feels morally wrong for them to take advantage of that influence. They’ve been perfectly adequate landlords, I have had no complaints but this is just rubbing me the wrong way. I will gladly be voting YES for Just Cause and hope to hell it passes. It should pass because Burlington is very progressive, but the wording and way they’re spinning it for low information voters may sway some people. “Your rent will go up if this passes!” ffs 🤬
 
Going back to my healthcare rant post above,

I posted the same thing above in that other forum that is made up of a majority of boomers. Instead of agreeing that our healthcare system sucks, they called me out on my poor financial decisions.

Didn't you just buy a new M1 MacBook last November? Just maybe you should have saved your money to pay for the inevitable medical bills you knew would eventually becoming instead of blowing your money on a luxury item you don't need instead of letting your medical bills go to collections. Let this be a lesson in financial responsibility.
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The whole discussion then took a spin to being about my poor financial choices and having to defend myself verses being our healthcare system sucks and costs us too much.

The M1 MacBook was a purchase I had to make. It wasn't a choice. My 8 year old iMac died and I no longer had a personal computer. I need a Mac to do my freelance work and bring in additional income to pay down debt. I used a freelance paycheck to pay for the new Mac, so I could finish the job I was working on at get my second paycheck for. I bought an entry level low end Mac, I didn't splurge and spec out a $4500 Mac that I would love to have.

But of course, these people are like "you don't need a mac". Well, I would have to rebuy all my software if I bought a cheap windows laptop and the software alone would set me back more than what I paid for the Mac.

So frustrating.

To these people they so nothing wrong with our healthcare system and how expensive it can be. "That's just how things are and it's to be expected".
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Going back to my healthcare rant post above,

I posted the same thing above in that other forum that is made up of a majority of boomers. Instead of agreeing that our healthcare system sucks, they called me out on my poor financial decisions.



The whole discussion then took a spin to being about my poor financial choices and having to defend myself verses being our healthcare system sucks and costs us too much.

The M1 MacBook was a purchase I had to make. It wasn't a choice. My 8 year old iMac died and I no longer had a personal computer. I need a Mac to do my freelance work and bring in additional income to pay down debt. I used a freelance paycheck to pay for the new Mac, so I could finish the job I was working on at get my second paycheck for. I bought an entry level low end Mac, I didn't splurge and spec out a $4500 Mac that I would love to have.

But of course, these people are like "you don't need a mac". Well, I would have to rebuy all my software if I bought a cheap windows laptop and the software alone would set me back more than what I paid for the Mac.

So frustrating.

To these people they so nothing wrong with our healthcare system and how expensive it can be. "That's just how things are and it's to be expected".
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1st off, you don't need to justify your choices to anyone, period. If you don't see a problem with our healthcare system you're living under a rock, the "Boomers" were born from 1944-1964, I was born in 1964 and can tell you without a doubt everyone I went to school with see's that there is a healthcare issue........among other things. Honestly, I had to Google the date range, I couldn't remember when it started, but also came across a couple that said it was 1944-1960, which in my opinion makes much more sense.

That was the American Dream era, good jobs, white picked fence and a new car, you worked and you lived well, the Upper Middle Class was the norm. In 1955 the Vietnam War broke out and by 1960 it was a "problem", those born in the early 60s on were well aware of the social impacts the war and other cultural shifts that were taking place were causing. Younger people didn't see it the way their parents did, they didn't want to just go to an office and sit at a desk, it was a true turning point.

When I talk to some people older than me, pre 1960's, mid 1950's, the reality they grew up in is very different then mine so just imagine how different it is compared to the here and now. Too many people live in a bubble of their own reality and assume everyone is the same, and if they're not, THEY must have done something wrong, much like the stereotypes put on unemployed or impoverished races and communities, it's their fault............it has nothing to do with being paid less because of the color of your skin, or having your affordable housing torn down to build luxury condos at $5000 a month, please.

I know this is a counter rant to your rant, lol, but fuck em', just like Trumpsters, they just don't see these things, they truly live in another world. Don't get frustrated, this seems to be a sign of the times, instead of coming together we seek to tear down others, live your life in YOUR bubble and ignore them.............I have, and I'm a happier person for it. I will admit being in the "Boomer" bracket and hearing the boomer call out is a little frustrating because it's doing the same thing everything else does, lumps EVERYONE into one category ;)
 
I finally just did get a reply on this other forum related to my original post and healthcare. And it really does show how out of touch people are.

The reply I got was basically someone making a point about this is why you should always choose the top level / most expensive healthcare plan your employer has to offer. Don't cheap out and select the cheaper plan with the high deductible.

I guess that's a fair assumption from their bubble or times passed. But I indeed due have the most expensive plan my employer offers. They offer 4 different plans.

Our healthcare options have gotten significantly worse as larger global corporate holding companies acquire us.

All our healthcare plans have deductibles. The lowest deductible you can get is $1500. The cheapest plan is an HDCP. It has zero out of network coverage. And prescription drugs are not covered until your deductible has been met. The deductible for this plan is $5000, $10,000 for a family.

My only options for healthcare through my employer is shitty health insurance or shittier health insurance.

The sad thing is, they really push that HDCP plan. They say it's a great option if you are young and healthy. And can save you money. Which is desirable to a lot of people at work because wages are nothing spectacular and we live in a high rent area. For me I look at it and know no way! No out of network coverage? Bring on those surprise bills. Also the prescription drug coverage is a no go for me taking a few medications for anxiety.
 
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