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The G.W.O.A.T. - Claressa Shields!
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I see a lot of gloom-ism about the new relief bill rocketing toward passage. They dropped the minimum wage hike! The unemployment benefit boost got reduced! On net, though, the bill seems to mark a big advance for both people who need help, and for left politics. Five points that may not have hit your headlines, with references in the comments:
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The expanded child tax credit will cut the nationâs child poverty rate in half. Yes, it only lasts one year! But itâll be paid in advance, which means it will be visibly helping peopleâmaking the case for itselfâby the time an extension is up for debate. (Raising the publicâs expectations about the governmentâs ability to help them is a good thing for left politics!)
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Student debt forgiveness just got easier. The bill exempts forgiven student debt from being treated as taxable income through 2025. Itâs not the debt cancellation a lot of people want, but it removes an important obstacle for people still working toward it.
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Ailing union pension plans are getting a $86bn bailout. It includes a provision for back payments to retirees who had their payments cut in a 2014 restructuring.
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Thereâs a ton of money moving to state and local governments ($350b for pandemic-related costs, another $26b to hand out as rental assistance, $10b for homeowner assistance, $5bn for homeless relief). In city governments where progressives have a solid toehold, thatâs going to create room to do big thingsâlike purchase ailing hotels to convert to supportive housingâthat would otherwise be unthinkable in an era of contracting budgets.
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Austerity politics seems dead. Contrast this to the stimulus bill the Obama administration got passed in the opening months of 2009, when Dems controlled 58 seats in the Senate. Itâs more than double the size ($1.9T vs. $900b), boosts unemployment benefits by $300/week (in 2009 it was a measly $25/week), and has drawn barely a whiff of backlash.
By this time in 2009, Rick Santelli had already delivered the on-screen trading-floor rant against ARRA widely credited with kicking off the Tea Party backlash. This time around, the right-wing networks are using their airtime to . . . whinge about cancel culture.
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Next: Rap-battle thesis defense!
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Stray dog ââenters limping and alone in a veterinary clinic and receives treatment for a serious injury to his leg in Juazeiro do Norte, CearĂĄ, in northeastern Brazil.
The poor animal was walking in pain because of a wound on his paw, which was diagnosed as a tumor by Doctor Deyse Silva.
âHe is from the street, he has no owner, he came here alone. I looked at the images from the camera that is outside and saw him lying under a tree moments before he came and entered the storeâ said Mrs. Silva to the newspapers.
Mrs. Silva treated the dog, which is now recovering and is waiting for a family that would want to adopt it
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Cool!
Now see what happens when it listens to âBaby Shark.â Lol.
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Dr. Eleanor Janega, my favorite medieval scholar (apart from @Doctor_Faustus), was interviewed on the podcast LOL My Praxis.
LOL My Praxis is:
Hosted by the perennially damp Dr Alexandra Campbell, and the barely literate, Dr Louise Creechan, each episode we interview academics working on cutting-edge and unapologetically niche research projects from across the arts and humanities.
Itâs engaging, obscure, thought provoking, and ridiculous at the same time. Not my usual fare, but Iâm enjoying it. I know 100% more about Dorothy Wordsworth and the literature of the Lakes District than I did this morning, also the modernist fascination with insects and Darwinâs âsexy crabsâ.
Listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Encouraging. Gotta wait.
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This is a window into an alternate universe, and it makes me happy:
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Good, in that the checks are finally going out there.
Encouraging, in that Dem politicos can agree on something and move together quickly (when pressed).
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Big smile on Lucianoâs face!
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Dems are maybe waking up to the âwhich side is our bread buttered onâ question?
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An equine doctor cheers patients at a french hospital.
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Donât know where to put it, but this needs to be boinged. Hey, @beschizza, thatâs better than your safe. (But not as good as the lube.)
Yay Greek computers. Yay science.
I hope that works out.
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