Political Digression Thread -- Save UP! Move the politically focused stuff here

[JRNYP2C]

On 1/13/2021 at 2:47 PM, kermit said:

None of NC's GOP House representatives voted for impeachment 2.0. It appears that encouraging the overthrow of our lawfully elected government (which violates the oath of office that both donald and the congressional reps swore to) does not apparently rise to the status of an impeachable offense.

This begs the question, what is an impeachable offense in their eyes?

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article248474540.html

 

All the more reason to vote against them (and hopefully out of office) next term.  That includes McHenry, Berger and Moore.  The GA is stacked (Berger and Moore) with some of the most corrupt individuals I have ever seen in state office.

[urbanlover568]

Great Start:

 

Also, elimination of $10,000 in student debt

[tozmervo]

40 minutes ago, urbanlover568 said:

Great Start:

Also, elimination of $10,000 in student debt

BOOO that's less than $.01 per student! TRAGIC.  

 

^/s

[urbanlover568]

42 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

BOOO that's less than $.01 per student! TRAGIC.  

 

^/s

????

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/14/bidens-call-for-10000-in-student-loan-forgiveness-not-in-stimulus-plan.html

[tozmervo]

3 hours ago, urbanlover568 said:

????

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/14/bidens-call-for-10000-in-student-loan-forgiveness-not-in-stimulus-plan.html

Your comment made it sound like $10k total, not $10k per student. I make joke. Haha. Ha. 

[nicholas]

Regarding student loans.  Forgiving them doesn't solve the issue, which is that college is getting way too freaking expensive.  UNC Charlotte is one of the more affordable universities in NC at about $3,500 per semester, but that doesn't include health insurance (an additional ~$1,300 per semester if you don't have existing coverage), textbooks, or housing.  Textbooks have been monopolized by McGraw Hill and Pearson, who push revised copies every year, and try to lock as much information as possible behind online "access codes".  Many colleges require freshmen to live on campus which is another ~$4,500 at minimum (pretty sure UNCC does not require this, but NC State and some others did).  Where is the incentive for prices to go down?  Nothing is tied to individual grades, graduation, or employment status following graduation, leaving students entirely at the whim of universities.  Universities have every incentive to charge as much as possible for everything, and until that landscape changes, nothing will change.

I'll also argue that there are a lot of students who don't help themselves by choosing the most expensive options (private or out-of-state universities), and degrees with very little employment demand, but that's an argument for another day.

[urbanlover568]

On 1/15/2021 at 9:22 PM, nicholas said:

Regarding student loans.  Forgiving them doesn't solve the issue, which is that college is getting way too freaking expensive.  UNC Charlotte is one of the more affordable universities in NC at about $3,500 per semester, but that doesn't include health insurance (an additional ~$1,300 per semester if you don't have existing coverage), textbooks, or housing.  Textbooks have been monopolized by McGraw Hill and Pearson, who push revised copies every year, and try to lock as much information as possible behind online "access codes".  Many colleges require freshmen to live on campus which is another ~$4,500 at minimum (pretty sure UNCC does not require this, but NC State and some others did).  Where is the incentive for prices to go down?  Nothing is tied to individual grades, graduation, or employment status following graduation, leaving students entirely at the whim of universities.  Universities have every incentive to charge as much as possible for everything, and until that landscape changes, nothing will change.

I'll also argue that there are a lot of students who don't help themselves by choosing the most expensive options (private or out-of-state universities), and degrees with very little employment demand, but that's an argument for another day.

CPCC and UNCC have agreements that after graduation from CPCC, those credits can be transferred to UNCC. You basically start at UNCC as a Junior. That bypasses the stupid Freshmen rule and is far cheaper. 

UNCA and NC State also have agreements with their Engineering Programs that are cost effective. 

I think $10,000 per student is fair. 

[nicholas]

On 1/17/2021 at 8:50 PM, urbanlover568 said:

CPCC and UNCC have agreements that after graduation from CPCC, those credits can be transferred to UNCC. You basically start at UNCC as a Junior. That bypasses the stupid Freshmen rule and is far cheaper. 

UNCA and NC State also have agreements with their Engineering Programs that are cost effective. 

I think $10,000 per student is fair. 

I have two Associate degrees from CPCC, and am aware of the relationship between it and UNCC.  I had already graduated from CPCC by the time the transfer degree program was set up, so I never was a part of it, but transferring over to UNCC was still plenty easy even without the guaranteed admission. 

Only about 40% of college students actually graduate with Bachelors degrees in four years (graduation rates rise to about 60% if you add two years to that timeline).  I realize that life happens and there are a lot of reasons why some students have to leave college, but their loans carry on regardless of graduation status.  It's just really frustrating to me to be forced to help fund the reduction of someone else's debt that they voluntarily went into, when I worked my a$$ off to avoid being in the same financial situation.  I'm not unsympathetic to their issues, but the more you bail them out, the more it promotes this sort of financial behavior.  I guarantee you that forgiving everyone's students loans will promote even more issues down the line by showing that the government is there to bail everyone out when their car loans get out of hand, and we all know everyone has to have a $500/month car payment....

I'm not sure what the solution is, but forgiving everyone's student loans isn't it.  That doesn't actually solve the problem.  Let's start teaching personal finance in high schools.  Teaching people about careers in trades such as electricians and plumbers.  Things like that which will help prospective college students see that taking out tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans isn't their only choice. 

[urbanlover568]

7 hours ago, nicholas said:

I have two Associate degrees from CPCC, and am aware of the relationship between it and UNCC.  I had already graduated from CPCC by the time the transfer degree program was set up, so I never was a part of it, but transferring over to UNCC was still plenty easy even without the guaranteed admission. 

Only about 40% of college students actually graduate with Bachelors degrees in four years (graduation rates rise to about 60% if you add two years to that timeline).  I realize that life happens and there are a lot of reasons why some students have to leave college, but their loans carry on regardless of graduation status.  It's just really frustrating to me to be forced to help fund the reduction of someone else's debt that they voluntarily went into, when I worked my a$$ off to avoid being in the same financial situation.  I'm not unsympathetic to their issues, but the more you bail them out, the more it promotes this sort of financial behavior.  I guarantee you that forgiving everyone's students loans will promote even more issues down the line by showing that the government is there to bail everyone out when their car loans get out of hand, and we all know everyone has to have a $500/month car payment....

I'm not sure what the solution is, but forgiving everyone's student loans isn't it.  That doesn't actually solve the problem.  Let's start teaching personal finance in high schools.  Teaching people about careers in trades such as electricians and plumbers.  Things like that which will help prospective college students see that taking out tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans isn't their only choice. 

Quick Student Loan Debt Statistics

• Average student loan debt per borrower: $32,731
• Total student loan debt: $1.52 trillion
• Number of student loan borrowers: 44.7 million
• Connecticut has the highest student loan debt for the Class of 2017 at $38,510
• Student loan debt for borrowers 60 and over has increased by 1,256% from 2004

 

 

I agree that we all need to have financial responsibility, but the cost of living in the US is continuing to decrease. Cost of standard living continues to rise while wages remain stagnant. I know many borrowers working full time and still struggle to pay their debt off. Forgiving just $10K per borrower would inject around around $447B into the economy and bring poverty down. 

 

IMO the damage that has been done to the dollar is unrecoverable. We will likely switch to a new or current currency within 5 or 10 years. Blackrock and TSLA are starting to do transactions in ฿ now. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

Too bad Janet is not a fan

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/01/biden-treasury-pick-yellen-favors-new-restrictions-on-cryptocurrency/

[Windsurfer]

11 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

Too bad Janet is not a fan

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/01/biden-treasury-pick-yellen-favors-new-restrictions-on-cryptocurrency/

The bank lobby talking.  

[urbanlover568]

2 hours ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

Too bad Janet is not a fan

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/01/biden-treasury-pick-yellen-favors-new-restrictions-on-cryptocurrency/

“The potential this technology to be a catalyst for change is real... This last point – crypto and blockchain technology acting as a catalyst for change – may not fulfill the heightened expectations of maximalists, but may be [Satoshi] Nakamoto’s most enduring early contribution.”

Gary Gensler - SEC 

[kermit]

Props to that amoral insider-trading* Senator, Richard Burr. The son of a beotch actually upheld his oath of office and he voted to convict Donald Trump in impeachment 2.0.

On the other hand, Thommy T betrayed his oath (to defend the constitution against all enemys, foreign and domestic). Now that he has shown us that he is unwilling to perform the job he swore on the bible to do, can we (as his constituents)  demote him to assistant manager of the Northlake Cinnebun?

* Its not technically insider trading but he profited from non-public information

Edited February 15, 2021 by kermit

[elrodvt]

28 minutes ago, kermit said:

Props to that amoral insider-trading* Richard Burr, nice job upholding your oath and voting to convict Donald Trump in impeachment 2.0.

Now that Tommy T has openly betrayed his oath of office (to defend the constitution against all enemys, foreign and domestic) can we (as his constituents)  demote him to assistant manager of the Northlake Cinnebun?

* Its not technically insider trading but you know what I mean

I strongly disagree with him being asst mgr at Cinnebun material. Remember, when asked for examples of over regulation, he used requiring food service people to wash their hands after using the bathroom as an example. I think he'd do well cleaning the baths at CLT for tips. <I don't in any way mean to demean the poor folks who have to do that job to get by!>

[JRNYP2C]

21 hours ago, kermit said:

Props to that amoral insider-trading* Senator, Richard Burr. The son of a beotch actually upheld his oath of office and he voted to convict Donald Trump in impeachment 2.0.

On the other hand, Thommy T betrayed his oath (to defend the constitution against all enemys, foreign and domestic). Now that he has voted in a way that violates this oath,  can we (as his constituents)  demote him to assistant manager of the Northlake Cinnebun?

* Its not technically insider trading but he profited from non-public information

What does he have to lose at this point?  He is getting out of office - hopefully replaced by Jeff Jackson.  In my opinion, he is not pandering to his base anymore and doesn't have to "worry" about re-election.  Personally, I'm glad he's going to be out of office.

Now if we could only get the same with Tillis, Berger and Moore......

[southslider]

Watch where the QOP place NC's new CD and how they shift the others. That'll be a good indicator if the populist wing really runs the party.

[urbanlover568]

Virginia is about to legalize marijuana. If NC doesn’t act fast, it’ll lose out.

https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article249117680.html

[SgtCampsalot]

3 minutes ago, urbanlover568 said:

Virginia is about to legalize marijuana. If NC doesn’t act fast, it’ll lose out.

https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article249117680.html

Caught the first bit before the subscription window popped up:

 

[davidclt]

10 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

Caught the first bit before the subscription window popped up:

(not so) Dirty little secret about McClachey properties . . . all that matters is the article[number].html. You can then place it on any McClatchy domain https://www.[mcclatchydomain].com/article[number].html and see the article of your choice with that property's chrome loaded with the content.

Here is why NC needs to act quickly to legalize marijuana | The Sacramento Bee (sacbee.com)
Here is why NC needs to act quickly to legalize marijuana | McClatchy Washington Bureau (mcclatchydc.com)
Here is why NC needs to act quickly to legalize marijuana | Miami Herald
Here is why NC needs to act quickly to legalize marijuana | Rock Hill Herald (heraldonline.com)
Here is why NC needs to act quickly to legalize marijuana | The Kansas City Star

Do I feel a little bad for the the people reviewing their data? No . . . these would be long tails.

[elrodvt]

Ok google fails me. Qoc? CD?

[davidclt]

4 hours ago, elrodvt said:

Ok google fails me. Qoc? CD?

QAnon Old Party aka GQP Grand QAnon Party (fka GOP to which the "base" is now given over to QAnon conspiracies and the dying (and possibly mythological "Eisenhower Republican" is going the way of the Dodo bird and (hopefully) gasoline powered automobiles)

CD = Congressional District(s) which are due to be redrawn abut now delayed awaiting data from the 2020 U.S. Census to be complete.

[elrodvt]

On 2/19/2021 at 11:02 PM, davidclt said:

QAnon Old Party aka GQP Grand QAnon Party (fka GOP to which the "base" is now given over to QAnon conspiracies and the dying (and possibly mythological "Eisenhower Republican" is going the way of the Dodo bird and (hopefully) gasoline powered automobiles)

CD = Congressional District(s) which are due to be redrawn abut now delayed awaiting data from the 2020 U.S. Census to be complete.

Hah! Thanks.

[urbanlover568]

Judge Voids South Dakota’s Marijuana Legalization Initiative, Finding Voter-Approved Measure Was Unconstitutional

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/judge-voids-south-dakotas-marijuana-legalization-initiative-finding-voter-approved-measure-was-unconstitutional/

 

I thought it was the Democrats trying to take away the republic?! 

[urbanlover568]

Trump: Rally before Capitol breach was 'lovefest' and a 'beautiful thing'
 

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/540964-trump-rally-before-capitol-breach-was-lovefest-and-a-beautiful-thing

[urbanlover568]

Small government, regulation and constitutionalist Republicans in Mississippi join South Dakota in going against the people's will

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/2021/02/28/medical-marijuana-mississippi-no-to-senate-bill-2765-commentary/6817247002/