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[alway]

https://twitter.com/ErinInTheMorn/status/1610924980132368387
Oklahoma bill to forcibly detransition people up to age 26 as numerous other bills targeting those under 18 or 21 already passing or passed in fash states.

[The_Explorer]

GOP in congress reminds me of a game I had in dwarf fortress. I had a bunch of coffee and I have a mouth infection, so bear with me. Maybe you'll see the hidden meanings or not or maybe there are none.

I was doing super good, winning the game...decided...you know what...I'm bored.... also partly the dwarves were lagging the game and my old pc was junk.

So I open a pit of magma and play what dwarf is smart enough to not go in the magma.

Well solved the lag problem, but then the magma was lagging my pc. my old pc just couldn't keep up with everything going on, and eventually crashed my pc. I booted it up, my save game was corrupted and I started a new fortress knowing all my work from before was a learning process of what to do...and what not to do...

what the point of this post is...uh well nothing...just like GOP in congress

I'll see myself out

[Frumple]

callout to leeroy jenkins in congress today

and yeah, meanwhile what alway posted. Shit's a farce, and it's fucked up that significant portions of our representatives are actively trying to make it one (and no, I'm not talking about huffman)

[anewaname]

The never-kevin group is making the right move tactically for themselves. They have a lot more leverage by stalling the vote now (for leadership) rather than later (for individual bills).

[EuchreJack]

Hm, so the problem with the debt ceiling is that many Americans probably feel (and are being told, I imagine) that raising it is stupid.
I mean, we should be controlling our debt, and authorizing the US Government to take on MORE debt seems counter-productive.

Like most politics, this is a stupid thinking, because with 8% inflation, the US Government MUST increase it's debt ceiling just to cover that 8%. Since the US dollar has been devalued continuously by the 8% inflation, the US Government isn't actually taking on any more debt if the ceiling is raised just to cover the inflation.

I'm starting to think the goal of politics is to pass laws that Stupid people think are Smart, and that only Smart people think are Stupid.  The Stupids outnumber the Smarts, and are more reliable voters.  And fundamentally, the Smarts are going to look at the whole picture, and pick the least worst option.

[McTraveller]

Hm, so the problem with the debt ceiling is that many Americans probably feel (and are being told, I imagine) that raising it is stupid.
I mean, we should be controlling our debt, and authorizing the US Government to take on MORE debt seems counter-productive.

I don't know how much of that is intentional versus even many politicians probably don't understand the difference between sovereign debt and "personal" debt.  It also belies a lack of understanding between borrowing to consume versus borrowing to make a productive investment.

[MorleyDev]

In general, without education in how a topic works at scale people are bad at understanding it. Applies to physics just as well as economics.

'Reasonable' assumptions fall down at significant enough differences in scale. Taking on debt in absolute terms can mean you have more money in relative terms. You'd need to put in infinite effort to go any faster than the speed of light. Neither of these things make intuitive sense to the average persons lived experience without being educated in them. Neither are particularly well taught to the average person, in part because of a lack of interest in teaching them to the average person and in part because doing so is just really hard.

(side-note, I propose we call a financial idea that works for the average person but not for governments "Newtonian Economics" /jk).

[Starver]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton#Royal_Mint

[Dostoevsky]

McCarthy flipped most of the holdouts this vote after the large deal announced last night / this morning, but still enough holdouts for him to fail the vote.

The remaining holdouts are much more personally against McCarthy as opposed to just policy demands, so hard to tell how much longer this will last.

Also worth noting that several of the flippers will be keen to oust him soon enough regardless - because he's making promises he'll have a lot of trouble keeping.

[EuchreJack]

I'd gladly give you $1,000,000,000 tomorrow if you would just hand me that loaded gun today....

[Dostoevsky]

Oh right, and when I said "deal" I meant "continued negotiation" - because it isn't actually a deal proper yet, some members made clear that they hadn't committed yet when they flipped, and McCarthy will continue to find further ground to give before it's over.

[MorleyDev]

There also could be an element of "I'll vote for you knowing it won't pass but it'll give you motivation to give even more away for the rest of them rather than packing in now" going on. Far as I can tell the only option this 'opens up' unless the rebels fold is now he's ahead of the Dem candidate he can push for a plurality vote rather than a majority using the pre-Civil War 1855 situation as precedent?

[Frumple]

Oh right, and when I said "deal" I meant "continued negotiation" - because it isn't actually a deal proper yet, some members made clear that they hadn't committed yet when they flipped, and McCarthy will continue to find further ground to give before it's over.

I mean, the entire sedition freedom caucus in particular is entirely unreliable -- their baseline nature means they don't "commit" to anything even beyond the level of a memetic politician and their word means shit if someone else can't enforce it on them. You can assume any deal made with the lot that's been voting against him will be broken, probably fairly rapidly.

... I'd say it's an unfortunate position for McCarthy and his ilk to be in, but fuck the lot of them, they made this bed of shit and they can lay in it. It's unfortunate the rest of the country has to deal with their crap.

[Dostoevsky]

The never McCarthy folks switch to present (after some more drama...) and McCarthy secures the speakership (for now).

Sounding like more drama pretty soon with the rules package, as some moderates are balking at the emerging details of the deal with the far right. But doubtful it'll be as dramatic as the last few days were.

[martinuzz]

I can't fnd the specifics for McCarthy having finally gotten enough votes.
What did he have to promise to get the right wing votes? Are jews and black people still allowed in the US?