The difference between Biden and Trump on Iran (so far):

Biden utilizes both rewards (open to nuclear diplomacy) and punishment (sanctions, airstrikes on Iran-backed militias in Syria).

Trump shut the door on diplomacy and deployed only punishment (killing of Iran's top officials, sanctions, airstrikes).

And the development in the war in Yemen seems to have been overlooked:



Biden will end military aid to Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

I'm ok with Trump taking clear Saudi over Iran stance.

Trump fawning over the Saudis undercut US global leadership. Biden's approach is more balanced.

The Covid relief bill which includes $1,400 checks just passed the House. All but two Democrats voted "yes". All Republicans voted "no".

Did you rent your truck out, Rev? I know you wrote this song, but didn't think you'd let them use your truck as a backdrop over the weekend.

I can't find this, but if it's the real wording...

Eviction or Utility Cutoff? For a month in rural America, sure. But the majority of Americans can't pay a single month's worth of rent and utilities with $1,400; they'd have to pick and choose.

Nurse a Teenager Back to Health? Umm. Okay. This is far too broad to really say much about, but I suppose it's not very ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

Seed Money for a Business? I guess it can be put TOWARDS seed money to start a business. But alone? LOL. A very big maybe for a very, very small business 50-years ago (maybe), but I think you'd honestly need to go back up to 100-years for this to be anywhere close to being a reasonable claim...

Education? It would cover most, or even all of textbooks and basic materials for one academic year, but saying it pays for an education is really stretching there to say the least.

Sense of Freedom? I guess I get where they're coming from (sense of RELIEF?), but placing a price on this is weird. If it helps one person pay their rent and basic needs for a month or so, yeah, I can see them having such a feeling... for a month.

And obviously it can't help with more than one issue listed here, so they should have put OR after each example.

I don't really like to tear into this. It's very, very long overdue and will be great when it passes, but it's just another example of how unbelievable out of touch most of Washington continues to be. I don't even know if calling this "out of touch" is reasonable anymore. It's moved beyond that.

Is this $1400 per adult individual, family or just children? Will this be given to everyone or only to citizens of America? Here only citizens got money and multiple times but lesser amount. It was sad that Green card equivalent pass holders in SG didn't get anything even though we contribute to government in every possible way a citizen does (specially Provident Fund which is possibly the biggest money maker for government).

This was a weird situation where non SG holders were pushed heavily to be out of jobs, they didn't get any relief and they would pay rent money to citizens (20-30% of your regular monthly salary) . It didn't feel the right but it didn't matter to me much because I had a stable job.

$1,400 per individual (adult dependents will qualify this time around). All citizens and green card holders are eligible (same with the first two rounds of stimulus).

That's good to hear.

Well, for those that qualify based on yearly income, and then the amount is phased out depending on that number.

Those most in need are likely to qualify, but there's going to be a certain amount that will likely need it but just miss out. Especially since this bill is using 2019 tax information once again, not 2020. A lot of people's financial situation changed between 2019 and 2020.

Again, it's great that something is being done. But the amount is on the low end, has come very late, and uses 2-year old information to determine qualification. There's a lot more than can be done, and not just in terms of X amount of money being sent out to people.

The stimulus money itself probably should be separate from any package so that it could be properly worked out. A lot of those in opposition like to say that a lot of people won't use the money, and if they do, they'll use it to pay off credit card debt. Not saying this is wrong, but it's more likely to happen if the money is sent out in a lump sum as it has been. Stimulus money sent out monthly, just say $500, over a 4-6 month period while the pandemic was (is) going on would have been a better solution to most issues brought up. It'd be more likely put towards rent or bills, or food, versus paying off a credit card in this example. Not to mention provide assistance over a longer period of time versus a single month or so, and it wouldn't be that much higher in the end.

Actually people can use either their 2019 or 2020 tax return to claim the payment. And they can use the Recovery Rebate Credit in 2020 tax returns to get back any missed or additional payments from the first two rounds of stimulus if their financial eligibility changes in 2020.

And yes, the stimulus is means-tested. Anyone whose individual adjusted gross income is $100,000 or more won't qualify for any stimulus.

I am okay with people using stimulus money to pay off their credit card debts. Many people use credit cards to pay bills. One of the goals of stimulus is to boost consumer spending/increase demands. So credit card use is fine.

If the bill is a standalone, they might not be able to get the money for vaccine distribution or aid for schools to reopen.

It's really amazing how hard they make it look to pass a covid stimulus bill that has nothing else in it instead of attaching it to massive sticking point like the minimum wage

They won't talk about you killing nursing home patients if they're focused on your sexual harassment allegations instead

The Biden administration will have secured enough vaccine supply for every adult by the end of May.

Is Biden doing something about this? This is more than a human rights issue. One-party state China is taking advantage of the free market and free speech protected by liberal democracies to export state censorship, economic dependence and illiberalism. Hong Kong is one of its testing points and sacrificial lambs.









China continues its totalitarian grip in Hong Kong. The HK government began rounding up citizens for holding and running in unofficial primary elections for the opposition camp. 47 people were arrested on subversion charges under a new national security law imposed by China, The new law itself was a breach of the one-country-two-systems constitutional principle and trambling HK's judicial independence. Under the new law, arrestees would be denied bail "by default", which was unheard of before in HK, a common-law jurisdiction. This was the first time holding a privately held primary to select candidates for legislative elections was considered a crime in HK.

The US should lead a coalition with the EU, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and other countries to keep China's illiberal influence at bay.

Is China fascist or communist? I say fascist. Their economy seems like it has similarities to Nazi Germany in terms of being capitalist in reality but the government having to be ok with you and having some ownership, both masters of propaganda and censorship, and it’s not like China lacks for nationalism.

I agree. It's much closer to fascism than to communism. It allows some private ownership of capital but ultimately big business in the private sector is under the one-party state control and serves the nation-state interest.

I'm afraid the EU will not do anything. They've just signed a trade deal with China. That's one of the many reasons Trump treating both China and the EU as enemies was a disaster, it pushed the EU in the arms of China.

Good thing for the filibuster and Manchin and Sinema holding the line stopping this bill forcing nation wide California style elections of mail in voting/no voter ID/unlimited ballot harvesting/etc. (isn't it in the constitution that elections are supposed to be by state? I guess the Supreme Court could get rid of it too) and it being illegal to question the results after. The Democrats unlimited thirst for power and likely desire to make it a one party state is being held in check by two people on their side.

Can't wait for Trump to get sworn in on the actual Inauguration Day later this afternoon!

Yup, people actually voting is the biggest threat to democracy!

#RepublicanLogic

No media outlet has begun airing the inauguration yet. But they have 4.5 hours left, so they still have plenty of time remaining. The Trump camp is probably trying to figure out how to fit the record 10 billion supporters (conservative estimate) on the grounds before taking it on air.

I suspect many more democratic senators support the filibuster than those who are willing to come out openly about it. It's a convenient excuse to never achieving anything legislatively speaking.

I like her fashion

The 8 Democrats who voted against the minimum wage may be a closer number to how many are against it