President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

Changing voter registration rules by fiat is a proven source of happiness.

https://boltsmag.org/nebraska-voting-rights-restoration/

 

Pick up after your dog. Do not play rap or a house-shattering low bass in my neighborhood (that we can feel) that will induce a stream of profanity out of my wife.

Those are my only rules.

 

Excellent post -- although a bit depressing.

I recall similar issues in Iowa, when I lived there 20 years ago (granted, in the Quad-Cities, not a rural part of the state).

Since the 1980s, hog farmers have been losing their farms and land. The ones who stay might be employed on the same land, but as contract farmers, "finishing" pigs for giant meat-packing corporations.

Just like Wisconsin and other upper Midwest states, many of the children of these farmers leave for better opportunities. The labor shortage is filled with immigrant workers, without whom the state's economy would grind to a halt.

 

I did not write either of these stories but 100 percent agree with them. The local sheriff and DA claim fentanyl and meth are a huge problem in our county -- and that's true to some extent -- but the majority of guys locked up in the county dentention center are there because they can't make bail or failed to pay child support/missed a court date.

It's a 21st century debtor's prison. And for the sheriff, having a big facility is like owning a Holiday Inn. He gets money from the state and the federal government for each filled bed, plus can take overflow from nearby counties. So he's triple-dipping, in some cases.

If his count goes low, he sends the deputies out for DUI stops or the detectives to bust another drug house.

 

Curious what people are hearing as the "talking points" of campaign ads for down ballot races. Seems out this way, crime (and being tough on crime) is a popular choice for the consultants to push this year. I'd rather hear a Congressional candidate say, you know? crime is down a lot.

 

Or the prisons take some ICE detainees and get paid by Homeland Security.

 

It's the correctional-industrial complex. In my state it's overwhelming the prisons. As a result, staff have been killed or criminally charged. That could be awkward if they end up in the Big House themselves.
https://www.wpr.org/news/charges-ov...filed last week,him with misconduct in office.

Two Lincoln Hills students facing charges following death of staff member - Tomahawk Leader Newspaper

 

Give Arthur Bremer another chance.

 

It’s always the Democrats’ fault.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/dr-ph...and-kamala-harris-were-ok-with-him-being-shot

 

If any other candidate in the history of forever pulled trump’s disgraceful Arlington stunt, the campaign would be over. Fucking finished. And rightfully so.

Fuck I’m tired if two sets of rules.

 

Dr. Phil! Almost as hard-hitting as Dana Bash!

 

I just bought new strings and arrows. Used to, the stupid response if I bought them locally was, "Yuh catch yer boyfren cheatin'? Hyuk! Hyuk!" Now I wonder if those same people might think I was fomenting some kind of socialist uprising when all I want to do is shoot some ends to relax. It has also occurred to me that I might have to use those bows to protect myself, my mother, and my cat from MAGAts. ::sigh::

My response to this (and @Ragu) It's a bit more nuanced than that. I've gone shopping with clients who were new to the food assistance programs. That four or five dollars can buy more boxed mac and cheese than it can fruits and vegetables, fresh or frozen. Having to weigh satiation against nutrients is not always easy at the poverty level.

Our local library set up an old desk in the lobby that is visible if looked for and yet not in the middle of foot traffic so those who use it can "shop" for what they want and need without too many prying eyes. I try to put some things out there at least once a week and make sure it's not that stray can of lima beans that sat in the pantry since the Second Bush Administration. Last week it was five pounds of fresh apples. Families with kids eyed those apples and waited for my mother to quit straightening up the donations so we would just go away. We're talking apples from an Amish farm stand in Kentucky. Apples. Have you ever seen how kids respond when you give them an apple at Halloween? People are hungry.

A quick second example: One of my nearest and dearest here works with new arrivals and young families by helping them learn ways to stay fed on very little money. She grew up in the Rio Grande area of Texas and knows the many ways a person can make rice and beans. Sometimes her clients will get exasperated when she's all about encouraging dried ingredients, cheese, and fresh veggies. They want "something good!" and it's always salty, sugary, high in fat, and low in what their mamas and abuelas knew their families needed just a generation or two ago.

One of the fringe benefits of covering hockey was learning to swear in Russian.