Moscow Mitch appears to be malfunctioning

[pcgeek11]

I agree the filibuster should go. It never should have been.

Sorry you don't like to hear the truth about neither side is willing to give... No matter how much you deny it both parties are guilty.

 

[fskimospy]

I agree the filibuster should go. It never should have been.

Sorry you don't like to hear the truth about neither side is willing to give... No matter how much you deny it both parties are guilty.

As usual with these your arguments Republicans take a hostage and you say both sides are at fault when Democrats don't pay the ransom.

 

[pcgeek11]

As usual with these your arguments Republicans take a hostage and you say both sides are at fault when Democrats don't pay the ransom.

So you think the Dems are willing to compromise?

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

^^^ I'd let Feinstein go if you'd let Mitch and Tubby go.

 

[fskimospy]

So you think the Dems are willing to compromise?

What would that look like to you?

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

As relevant to this thread as any other I guess.

"A Republican congressman wants an age limit for politicians that would apply to presidents, vice presidents and all members of Congress.

Michigan Representative John James has introduced legislation that would amend the Constitution and prevent someone from running for office "if at any time during the term the person will be 75 years of age or older.""

Republican's plan would make 52 members of Congress ineligible to serve

"This bill is a signal that it's time for a new generation to take the reins of our federal government," a spokesperson for Representative John James said.

www.newsweek.com

Thing is, could a bill do it or would it need to be an Amendment?

 

[fskimospy]

As relevant to this thread as any other I guess.

"A Republican congressman wants an age limit for politicians that would apply to presidents, vice presidents and all members of Congress.

Michigan Representative John James has introduced legislation that would amend the Constitution and prevent someone from running for office "if at any time during the term the person will be 75 years of age or older.""

Republican's plan would make 52 members of Congress ineligible to serve

"This bill is a signal that it's time for a new generation to take the reins of our federal government," a spokesperson for Representative John James said.

www.newsweek.com

Thing is, could a bill do it or would it need to be an Amendment?

Amendment.

 

[pcgeek11]

^^^ I'd let Feinstein go if you'd let Mitch and Tubby go.

Deal!

 

[Pohemi]

Same subject as @Lost_in_the_HTTP posted above, but a public poll of voter opinions as opposed to legislative/court actions by other politicians.

https://www.axios.com/2023/09/10/politicians-age-limits-joe-biden-mitch-mcconnell

'Over three-fourths of Americans think there should be a maximum age limit for elected officials, according to a CBS News/YouGov survey...

• The concern proved to be bipartisan, with 76% of Democrats and 79% of Republicans calling for maximum age limits for elected officials.
• 45% of respondents said the maximum age limit for elected officials should be 70.
• A combined 30% of respondents said either 50 or 60 should be the maximum age.
• Only 18% said 80 should be the maximum age limit for elected officials.
• 78% "mostly agree" with the statement that most legislators and elected officials over the age of 75 "Raise concerns about [an elected official's] ability to perform their job," compared to 22% who "mostly disagree."
• 80% said they "mostly agree" that a legislator or an elected official over 75 would "Risk being out of touch with the times," but 20% said they "mostly disagree."

• Worth noting: The median age of the Senate is 65, according to Pew Research. The House of Representatives' median age is 57.
  Sixteen senators are 75 or older, and 18 are between 74 and 70.
• In the House, 43 U.S. Representatives are 75 or older, and 42 are between 74 and 70.'

The bolded is for emphasis and one of my personal biggest issues with these dinosaurs still serving. Even if they're still mentally competent, why are they still writing laws for a future that they will not live to see? How can they be representative for the next generations to follow?

 

[Fenixgoon]

I can't remember if I posted in this previously, but my proposal is pretty simple - median lifespan

 

[MomentsofSanity]

So…. My wife just randomly out of the blue asked, and I quote ”anything more about that turtle guy and his spells”….. I’m sad this was the SECOND thing I thought she meant which was the right one!

 

[Maxima1]

Not sure what your point is there. It doesn't seem to contradict my point.

My point is that countries like the US (and the UK) that are very unequal are the ones that have this problem

When the political classes want to do something about inequality, it seems to go in the direction of paying less, not more. A good example is how Latin America ranks high in corruption and highly compensates their public sector (at least high-level servants), but with the tendency to compensate less when there is concern about inequality and increased intolerance to corruption.

https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-mexico-president-salary-20180716-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/...ficials-super-salaries.html#commentsContainer

so either you do something about the inequality or you have to pay your politicians a lot more (or you accept they'll find other means to enrich themselves).
(I'm also not convinced that countries like Germany and France aren't heading the same way as the US and UK.)

It seems increasingly unlikely here inequality would be addressed any time soon since the liberal base has an increasingly more affluent white portion and Republicans are getting more of the poors. Maybe AI changes things faster though as I think for many white collar jobs, it should help lower performers do better. The Democrats say they care about equity, but this is aimed primarily at being concerned over the racial composition of who has the top quartile jobs.

This is not an accurate description of the VA. There's 16 million veterans in the US, the VA provides services to them.

It’s largely accurate despite that, but that’s why I said, “basically”.

Half of the budget is income security, most of which is disability compensation for about 6 million vets. Most of the rest is medical which again mostly revolves around disability and tracks closely to the yearly disability increase. Some of the other parts also would relate to disability. As I pointed out, too, it’ll go up another $100 billion annually in just a few years while worker’s comp will remain stagnant. I left this out, but the military also can benefit from being med-boarded as that can take over a year while they get 100% of their compensation. The difference is really jarring. They essentially get an insane multiplier over everyone else while being able to work and many of the medical claims you would never be able to make outside of the military.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/22/us/mississippi-fedex-driver-shooting-fired/index.html

A good recent example of this I saw had some attention in the media. A similar set of facts in the military would at least give you a great shot at 70% PTSD rating or outright 100%, which can be boosted by secondary claims like migraines or independent ones like GERD.

They do steal! The relevant part here is well paid public servants steal LESS.

Ever wondered why in central and South America law enforcement is essentially an entrepreneurial activity? It’s primarily because they aren’t paid shit.

And yet their high-level officials get paid at a level that you said they should get paid.

How do you know that law enforcement wouldn’t just ask for bigger bribes when systemic corruption is so entrenched? It’s basically a norm.

https://cega.berkeley.edu/assets/mi..._Ghana_Police_Corruption_paper_revised_v3.pdf

In one of the most ambitious public sector reform experiments in Africa, the Ghana government

doubled its police officer salaries in 2010 in part to mitigate petty corruption on its roads.

Neighboring countries in the West African region left their police salaries unchanged. Using

unique data on bribes paid from over 2,100 truck trips in West Africa and representing over

45,000 bribe opportunities, we evaluate the reform impacts on petty corruption using a

difference-in-difference method that exploits the exogenous policy experiment. By following

bribes paid by the same trucks in different countries as well as to different civil servants in

Ghanaian bribe taking we can identify whether salaries affect both the number of bribes and the

amount given by truckers. Rather than decrease petty corruption, the salary policy significantly

increased the police efforts to collect bribes, the value of bribes and the amounts given by truck

drivers to policemen in total. Robustness checks show the higher bribe amount is robust to

alternative specifications. Moreover, we do not find that Ghana policemen collected significantly

fewer bribes than other officials in the same country.

 

[Amol S.]

He stopped speaking and froze at the podium and he had to be walked away.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1684262402664038405

You know how the dumb QAnons claim that all Democrats are Chinese robots? We know it is not true... but I wonder about malfunctioning Mitch.

 

[Amol S.]

I can't remember if I posted in this previously, but my proposal is pretty simple - median lifespan

I know a better proposal, a proposal that would bring high turnout to every gubernatorial election. Make the governor and lieutenant governor of a state, the senator at the same time.

 

[Pohemi]

I know a better proposal, a proposal that would bring high turnout to every gubernatorial election. Make the governor and lieutenant governor of a state, the senator at the same time.

The immediate problem I see with that is that Senators and Representatives are in D.C. most of the time, whereas Governors and Lt. Governors are usually in their respective states. I can't see remote attendance for the entirety of the US Senate.

I'm not sure they could handle that kind of workload either TBH (two gov positions/duties).