Update: Good News - Ossoff has been called the winner - So Congrats to GA Senators Elect Warnock and Ossoff!

[The Evil Genius]

Voting Rights Act and strengthening/restoring the EPA should be at the top (other than the obvious covid 19 rollout) for Dems.

 

Personally I'd like to see the 10k SALT deduction limit abolished (especially as I am looking at my taxes for last year).

 

As for student loan debt, I've always been in favor of timeing the elimination to public service but I have no problem with any and all elimination of it. Wouldn't the end result be pumping hundreds of millions of discretionary income into the economy as people would now be spending more?

[TK]

12 minutes ago, Jumbo said:

my fellow honkies

You should start every post with that from here on out. 

[The Evil Genius]

8 minutes ago, TK said:

You should start every post with that from here on out. 

 

I know what I'm getting TK and jumbo for Xmas.

 

 

 

Edit..mauibuilt in case anyone is wondering where to get it. 

[Bacon]

It's 7 AM here and I really need to get some sleep, but I don't want to because I haven't been in a good mood like this in ages. I realized last night that this is the first time in quite a while that I am truly at peace about things on some level.

 

When Biden won, it was more of a bullet dodged than anything, but last night was enormous for our democracy and way of life. It was a repudiation of 4 horrendous, exhausting years. I feel more connected to my countrymen and see real hope. 

 

A lot of good things have happened to me this past year. I got my first teaching position. I have a lovely new apartment in a great neighborhood and my family is healthy. Hell, I didn't even tell you guys this, but I got an offer to have one of my stories published last week. God has been good to me. But I haven't been able to enjoy any of it the way I should because of a mix of guilt and straight up loathing the people around me. It's really sad that I wasted all that time, and I don't think I've handled my situation well. 

 

The pandemic will continue. Systemic racism will continue. The GOP will find new ways to stick it to us. But man does it feel good to win once in a while. We've suffered enough. I swear to God, I've spent nearly a year with a cloud over my head. Honestly, the moment I started reading the COVID-19 thread last February, I was gone and never really came back out. 

 

I didn't mean for this post to be so long. I'm just feeling optimistic and want to get life back to where it was. We deserve some normalcy after waiting and fighting and waiting some more for so long. 

[tshile]

@The Evil Genius

the gutting the epa is something people have talked about

but as someone who knows people that work/worked there, in higher up positions, it’s something that hasn’t really been talked about to the depth that it should have. 
 

we have lost a lot of good people in government agencies simply because of the trump era tactics. 
 

I don’t know enough to claim the epa was hurt the most. But I know it’s on the short list of agencies hurt the most. 

[The Evil Genius]

It will be refreshing, Bacon, to wake up in July and see the presidents controversial tweet be about farm futures or something else mundane...

[tshile]

Moral at the epa is as low as it can get. It was done on purpose. And it’s going to take a lot effort to fix that. A lot.  

[No Excuses]

8 minutes ago, tshile said:

Moral at the epa is as low as it can get. It was done on purpose. And it’s going to take a lot effort to fix that. A lot.  

For what its worth, scrapping Trump era policies will be a lot easier since Dems can use the Congressional Review Act to undo all of his executive branch nonsense.

[Larry]

9 minutes ago, tshile said:

Moral at the epa is as low as it can get. It was done on purpose. And it’s going to take a lot effort to fix that. A lot.  

 

EPA.  State.  USPS.  Probably Education.  

 

Assume it's a big list.  

 

[LadySkinsFan]

It's every branch of the Executive branch. Trump and his minions ****ed everything up.

[CobraCommander]

1 minute ago, LadySkinsFan said:

It's every branch of the Executive branch. Trump and his minions ****ed everything up.

And for the next 4 years they are going to say "look at what the democrats did!"

 

 

[spjunkies]

Why is Loeffler allowed to participate today, isn't her term over or is there an exception due to the new vote yesterday?

[goskins10]

1 minute ago, Florgon79 said:

And for the next 4 years they are going to say "look at what the democrats did!"

 

 

 

 

Some of them for sure. But I also think that if done right some of those currently worried abotu va dem presidency will think, that's right, this is what the adults look like. We can't go back to the kiddie show again. It was exhausting and not value added. 

[Larry]

6 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

It's every branch of the Executive branch. Trump and his minions ****ed everything up.

 

Just pointing out - Appointing people to head federal agencies who have previously declared their intent to destroy said agency did not originate with Trump.  Pretty sure that's another tactic Reagan began.  

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

[skinsmarydu]

6 minutes ago, spjunkies said:

Why is Loeffler allowed to participate today, isn't her term over or is there an exception due to the new vote yesterday?

Because she was appointed, not elected.  She just won't be sworn in again next Monday, thank <your deity here>.

[The Evil Genius]

 

[Momma There Goes That Man]

Do we get a new thread on the Dem trifecta and legislative proposals and what all we can do or want to do? 

 

I'd rather keep it centralized than fragmented across multiple threads to cover each specific topic

[bearrock]

27 minutes ago, Larry said:

 

EPA.  State.  USPS.  Probably Education.  

 

Assume it's a big list.  

 

 

I'm obviously biased because it's my neck of the woods but DOJ and DHS.  Holy **** ....

[The Evil Genius]

Not to mention the wasteful DOD redirection of funds to building a  border wall that gets blown over by a small breeze. 

[jwpanic]

[goskins10]

5 minutes ago, Momma There Goes That Man said:

Do we get a new thread on the Dem trifecta and legislative proposals and what all we can do or want to do? 

 

I'd rather keep it centralized than fragmented across multiple threads to cover each specific topic

 

 

I was just about to post this to get people's thought: 

 

To @tshile and @Larry discussion - is there any interest in Biden Legislative/Policy Agenda thread or do people want them to survive on their own? 

 

What I had in mind is a kind of catch-all for general discussions with individual threads for major legislation/policy with more intricate detail.

 

For example my top 4 are: 

Health Care

Voter Rights

Tax Reform aimed at reducing deficit spending and eventually reducing the debt - I realize this has a lot of components but there is the general discussion of relevance and value then a seperate thread could be had for the mechanisms and drivers. 

Infrastructure

 

I see for others its:

EPA

Living Wage

College Tuition

Legalized Pot

 

I would be willing to get the thread started and begin a list of legislation/policy objectives for general discussions that people see as critical if there is enough interest. Maybe it turns into a nightmare but I could see some real value as a collection of ideas that people see as relevant. 

 

Maybe there is one already but I did not see it. Or maybe everyone is Ok with just the individual threads. Let me know what you think.

 

[Momma There Goes That Man]

3 minutes ago, goskins10 said:

Maybe there is one already but I did not see it. Or maybe everyone is Ok with just the individual threads. Let me know what you think.

 

I like your idea and would rather do the single encompassing thread

[PCS]

Well I'd be all in favor of that @goskins10  Just sayin'.   

[goskins10]

1 minute ago, PCS said:

Well I'd be all in favor of that @goskins10  Just sayin'.   

 

Ok, give me a little time to put it together.