NationStates

Talvezout wrote:snippy

Untecna wrote:Our Last Thread
Welcome back, guys and gals, Democrats and Republicans, leftists, rightists, centrists, and Kowani, to the American Politics Thread. It's our big 5th edition, and to celebrate, I brought some cake!

More than 18% of the US is vaccinated, 24 states are going further with the voting restriction laws, and we're still here, NSG. So let's get this show on the road and start off this edition great.

You know the rules, ready, set, Allez!

Brappon wrote:

Untecna wrote:Our Last Thread
Welcome back, guys and gals, Democrats and Republicans, leftists, rightists, centrists, and Kowani, to the American Politics Thread. It's our big 5th edition, and to celebrate, I brought some cake!

More than 18% of the US is vaccinated, 24 states are going further with the voting restriction laws, and we're still here, NSG. So let's get this show on the road and start off this edition great.

You know the rules, ready, set, Allez!

Lmao looks like 18% of the population is gonna die within the next ten years.

Exalted Inquellian State wrote:

Brappon wrote:
Lmao looks like 18% of the population is gonna die within the next ten years.

How are you so sure?

Borderlands of Rojava wrote:Hes an antivaxxer.

Trollzyn the Infinite wrote:

Borderlands of Rojava wrote:Hes an antivaxxer.

*pro-diseaser

Borderlands of Rojava wrote:

Exalted Inquellian State wrote:How are you so sure?

Hes an antivaxxer. They created their own alternate universe where vaccines make you autistic or turn you into an alien crab person.

Necroghastia wrote:

Borderlands of Rojava wrote:
Hes an antivaxxer. They created their own alternate universe where vaccines make you autistic or turn you into an alien crab person.

god damn i WISH they did that

Borderlands of Rojava wrote:

Trollzyn the Infinite wrote:
*pro-diseaser

Devout christians are often pro life. Antivaxxers, especially in this time of crisis, are pro death.

You may find that to be harsh but if you want everyone to not get a vaccine to prevent a deadly disease, people will end up six feet beneath.

Comerciante wrote:I don't think they realize how many people would actually take more vaccinations to become an alien crab person.

We could all sing the crab people song.

Comerciante wrote:I don't think they realize how many people would actually take more vaccinations to become an alien crab person.

We could all sing the crab people song.

Trollzyn the Infinite wrote:

Comerciante wrote:I don't think they realize how many people would actually take more vaccinations to become an alien crab person.

We could all sing the crab people song.

I'd much rather have a vaccine that turns me into a hot blue alien chick, but to each their own.

Borderlands of Rojava wrote:

Trollzyn the Infinite wrote:
I'd much rather have a vaccine that turns me into a hot blue alien chick, but to each their own.

We should make a vaccine that allegedly is a flu shot but actually turns everyone flourescent, so when night falls everyone notices it seems less dark than usual.

We can tweak the vaccines so some people glow pink, others glow red, others glow green and others glow blue.

Galloism wrote:

Borderlands of Rojava wrote:
We should make a vaccine that allegedly is a flu shot but actually turns everyone flourescent, so when night falls everyone notices it seems less dark than usual.

We can tweak the vaccines so some people glow pink, others glow red, others glow green and others glow blue.

This would be really neat until you realize your now fluorescent neighbors having sex is obvious even with the blinds closed.

Galloism wrote:

Borderlands of Rojava wrote:
We should make a vaccine that allegedly is a flu shot but actually turns everyone flourescent, so when night falls everyone notices it seems less dark than usual.

We can tweak the vaccines so some people glow pink, others glow red, others glow green and others glow blue.

This would be really neat until you realize your now fluorescent neighbors having sex is obvious even with the blinds closed.

While extra federal jobless benefits are set to expire in September, Democrats are hoping to learn from the upheaval of the coronavirus pandemic to permanently change the unemployment insurance system to ease times of economic crisis.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) announced legislation Wednesday that would set minimum federal standards for unemployment benefits nationwide and ensure that extra aid kicks in when unemployment levels are high.

“As we’ve seen the last year, it’s much harder for the unemployment system to work in a crisis when it’s been neglected and sabotaged,” Wyden told HuffPost in a statement. “We can’t fail again to fix it in the wake of the second major economic crisis in 10 years.”

Currently, there is no federally mandated baseline for unemployment insurance, leaving wide disparities between states. Wyden and Bennet’s bill would require unemployment insurance to replace at least 75% of a claimant’s weekly wage up to the state’s maximum benefit and last a minimum of 26 weeks. It also mandates the state’s maximum benefit be at least two-thirds of the state’s average weekly wage.

Most states already offer 26 weeks of unemployment insurance, but seven do not. And weekly benefits in states range from as low as a maximum of $240 a week, as it is in Arizona, to highs of $855 per week, such as in Massachusetts. This legislation would significantly increase the size of benefits in states like Arizona, where the average weekly salary is more than $1,000.

The bill would also tie unemployment insurance to national economic conditions — something Bennet has proposed in the past and which has broad support among Democrats.

When unemployment reaches above 5.5% either nationally or in a state, this bill would trigger an additional 13 weeks of benefits. Extended benefits would also be fully paid for by the federal government, unlike now, when states have to kick in half the funding.

The proposal has already received widespread praise from progressive groups, but it’s not nearly complete. It doesn’t tackle one of the biggest issues facing states’ unemployment insurance systems: that they are hugely underfunded.

“There are a lot of things in this bill that I think are great... but doing that without fixing the financing is just going to mean states looking for loopholes — making their administrative application process much more complicated, trying to discourage people” from using unemployment insurance, said Rachel Deutsch, an attorney for the Center for Popular Democracy. “I think our folks were very clear that we need to get to as much of a federal system as we possibly can as soon as we can.”

Wyden and Bennet signal an interest in redesigning the taxes that fund state unemployment programs, but they don’t settle on a new formula. State unemployment programs are backed by trust funds that are funded by a small payroll tax.

Those trust funds have been seriously depleted during the pandemic as jobless numbers have soared. Already several states have proposed cutting benefits to shore up the funds. Notably, Wyden and Bennet stopped short of federalizing the entire unemployment insurance system. Their proposal still operates within a framework created in the 1930s that gives states broad discretion over their programs.
[...] The Wyden and Bennet bill re-creates the PUA under a new benefit they’re calling a Jobseekers Allowance: $250 weekly for any unemployed workers not covered by the traditional unemployment insurance system, such as self-employed workers or those who just entered the workforce. That program, along with the extended benefits, would be fully funded by the federal government.

There’s been support among White House officials and Democrats across the ideological spectrum to make more permanent changes to the unemployment insurance system, but there hasn’t been as much urgency behind the proposals in the past. House Democrats backed the idea of tying benefits to economic conditions last summer but dropped the proposal after seeing its cost.

Republicans have shown no interest in expanding unemployment insurance and tried to stop the extension of federal unemployment benefits earlier this year.

Now it’s still an open question whether Democrats will prioritize the issue ahead of the Biden administration’s other big agenda items.

Come September, unless Congress once again extends COVID-19 relief programs for jobless Americans, the unemployed will be left on their own and important safeguards stopping states from reducing benefits will be lifted.

Vassenor wrote:

Greater Miami Shores wrote:Your statement applies to all of us not just me, this is why I never say I am right and you are wrong on any issues and there is no arguing about it, not even on my native Cuba. President Trump has been a great American President according to my political, economic and social views and of those who strongly agree with me. But I don't have any problems with persons who think differently than me. Republican President Trump for emphasis, back to First Base.

We keep going back to first because you're constantly refusing to accept you might be wrong.

Vassenor wrote:Being anti-vaxx because God will cure you sounds a lot like being the punchline from that "I sent a boat" joke.

Godular wrote:

Vassenor wrote:Being anti-vaxx because God will cure you sounds a lot like being the punchline from that "I sent a boat" joke.

I never did quite get that logic. Isn't 'God helps those who help themselves' a thing? I recall asking about it earlier, and learning that the actual text was much more long-winded, but had much the same point.

Greater Miami Shores wrote:

Vassenor wrote:
We keep going back to first because you're constantly refusing to accept you might be wrong.

Yes just like the other side refusing to accept they might be wrong, so we are even, it happens on all issues, I am always wrong on all issues according to them who strongly disagree with me and those who strongly agree with me. I think it is the same with all persons on NS with each other, not just with me, it is called Human Nature to disagree with each other when we disagree with each other.

Vassenor wrote:

Godular wrote:
I never did quite get that logic. Isn't 'God helps those who help themselves' a thing? I recall asking about it earlier, and learning that the actual text was much more long-winded, but had much the same point.

That's the thrust of the joke as well - turning down help in a disaster because you think God will save you, dying and then finding out that that help -was- God trying to save you.

Greater Miami Shores wrote:

Bombadil wrote:
Your unwavering support and continued belief in the lies around the election enable and contribute to those who invaded the Capitol, frankly I blame all those who wittingly or unwittingly bought into Trump's self-serving lies about the election - and I consider you unwitting.

I respect your rights to all your views while I strongly disagree with them, it is called Democracy, this respect is given it is not earned.