It’s The Messaging, Stupid

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Why don’t Dems emphasize the $3.5 trillion human infrastructure bill is TEN YEARS of spending. Talk about it’s actually about $350 billion per year.

Meanwhile…

Associated Press: A state judge’s temporary restraining order has shielded Texas abortion clinics from lawsuits by an anti-abortion group under a new state abortion law.

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46 thoughts on “It’s The Messaging, Stupid”

  1. Planned Parenthood granted restraining order against Texas Right to Life as abortion battle rages – ABC News

    “We are relieved that the Travis County district court has acted quickly to grant this restraining order against Texas Right to Life and anyone working with them as deputized enforcers of this draconian law,” Helene Krasnoff, vice president for public policy litigation and law, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. “This restraining order offers protection to the brave health care providers and staff at Planned Parenthood health centers throughout Texas, who have continued to offer care as best they can within the law while facing surveillance, harassment, and threats from vigilantes eager to stop them. But make no mistake: this is not enough relief for Texas. Planned Parenthood will continue fighting for the millions of Texans affected by S.B. 8., doing everything we can under the law to restore Texans’ federal constitutional right to access abortion.”

     

    While Right to Life and its associates won’t be able to sue under the restraining order, private citizens are still allowed to do so.

  3. as to the thread’s first point, here’s a similar discussion by james joyner yesterday:

    We’re Talking $3.5 Trillion (outsidethebeltway.com)

    Responding to Senator Joe Manchin‘s WSJ op-ed “Why I Won’t Support Spending Another $3.5 Trillion,”Kevin Drumargues, “We need to stop talking about the $3.5 trillion spending bill as a $3.5 trillion spending bill.”

    [drum] Part of the problem here is that everyone, including me, keeps referring to this legislation as a “$3.5 trillion bill,” as if its size were the main thing that defines it. But it’s not meant as a stimulus bill or a recovery bill or anything like that. It’s just a bill that funds a bunch of progressive programs. This means the questions we should be asking about it are less about its raw size and more about which of these programs you support.

    The problem with this is manifold. First, $350 billion over ten years, even if it’s “mostly paid for,” is still $3.5 trillion. It’s a lot of money! Second, both sides have a strong incentive to emphasize that fact. Most obviously, the bill’s opponents are using its size to scare voters. Emphasizing the ticket price rather than the annual payments is more effective. (It’s the converse of the car salesman’s trick of emphasizing the low, low monthly payments.) But President Biden and Congressional Democrats want credit for doing something big and bold. So, they’re shouting from the rooftops how much they’re spending, while also arguing that somebody else—the rich!—will pay for it.

    But, yes, the cost of a government program has to be balanced against the rewards reaped. If improved infrastructure grows the economy, we should rightly factor that against the up-front cost. And few people, indeed, question how we’re going to pay for various military adventures—we just do it and figure it out later.

    [continues]

  4. more from joyner’s argument above:

    So, here’s Drum’s “rough list” of what’s in the bill:

    1. Makes the increased Obamacare subsidies from January’s coronavirus bill permanent.
    2. Provides universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds.
    3. Provides funding for long-term care done at home.
    4. Provides two years of free community college.
    5. Makes the increased child tax credit permanent.
    6. Adds dental, hearing, and vision benefits to Medicare.
    7. Funds various climate initiatives.

    He argues that, “if you think its price tag is too high then you should fess up about which ones you would prioritize the highest” and adds, “if I had to cut programs out of this bill, I’d probably choose the climate stuff, the Medicare benefits, and the child tax credit.”

    I haven’t studied some of the programs enough to have a strong opinion but I’m probably most dubious of universal pre-K, free community college, and the child tax credit. I’d prefer some sort of “Medicare for all” or other universal baseline health program rather than the current hodgepodge of subsidies but, given that it’s a political non-starter right now, it seems reasonable to expand access where we can.

    [continues]

  5. Texas’s GOP-crafted voting bill hit with lawsuit  | TheHill

    Voting rights advocates on Friday sued to block a restrictive new GOP-crafted Texas voting bill that the challengers say will make it disproportionately harder for people of color to vote.

    The 74-page complaint, filed in a San Antonio-based federal court, takes aim at Senate Bill 1 (S.B. 1), a sweeping measure passed this week that would tighten voting procedures and increase the access of partisan poll watchers.

    “By law, the citizens of Texas all have the same right to vote, regardless of race or disability. But with S.B. 1, the legislature is undermining equal access to the ballot box,” said Sean Morales-Doyle of the Brennan Center for Justice, one of the groups behind the lawsuit. “The myriad restrictions in their legislation will be felt most by Latino, Black, and Asian American voters, voters with disabilities, and elderly voters.”

    […]

    The groups behind the lawsuit, which include the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), allege the bill violates the Constitution as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and federal protections for people with disabilities.

    […]

    The legal challengers argue the measure unduly burdens the right to vote and violates free speech rights by limiting various types of permissible voter assistance.

    “S.B. 1 will reduce voter participation and discriminate on the basis of race, and for those reasons it should be struck down in court,” said Nina Perales of MALDEF. “In addition to making voting more difficult for all voters, S.B. 1 is aimed directly at Latinos and Asian Americans with specific provisions that cut back on assistance to limited English-proficient voters.”

  6. opinion piece by Robert Greenstein who “is the founder and president emeritus of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and is now a visiting fellow with The Hamilton Project and Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution” makes a good point

    Budget reconciliation: Calling it a ‘$3.5 trillion spending bill’ isn’t quite right | TheHill

    […]

    The widely cited $3.5 trillion figure assumes the Finance Committee will approve about $1.75 trillion in spending increases and tax cuts that are financed by an equivalent amount of tax increases and spending reductions (with the spending reductions expected to come from drug savings in health programs). The $3.5 trillion thus includes the cost of all of the spending increases and tax cuts without any of the offsetting prescription drug savings or tax increases.

    If the approach used to arrive at the $3.5 trillion figure had been used for the 2017 Trump-era tax cut, that measure’s cost would have been said to be far greater than the $1.5 trillion figure used for it when the measure was enacted (later revised by Congressional Budget Office to $1.9 trillion), as the $1.5 trillion (and $1.9 trillion ) figures were net rather than gross figures.

    The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that if the 2017 tax cut had been assessed in the same manner used to arrive at the $3.5 trillion figure for the current reconciliation bill — if its cost measures were added up without its offsets taken into account — it would have been described as a package of more than $5 trillion.

    [continues]

  8. Here, i’ll break my promise:
     
    …just clog the courts with frivolous suits if there’s no penalty for it.  Whoops!

  9. …and since that’s done, i probably have covid but can’t get a test, anywhere, because all the panicky ivermectin-takers are flooding the system.  Drill, baby, drill! 🇺🇸 

  12. “How did American society collapse, Grandpa?”
     
    ”Well, Sonny, they opened the schools in the middle of a pandemic”
     
    ”Gee, that’s dumb, Grandpa.  Did they at least require masks?”
     
    ”Nope, Sonny, their state governments actively fought against mask-mandates, believe it or not”
     
    ”Wow, Americans sure were stupid!”
     
    ^(translated from the original Chinese)

  13. Craig – Great idea about suing gun owners! 

    Bink – Feel better. Don’t take the brown ivermectin.

    C’mon, Tulane. Beat OU!

  15. Thank you, BiD❤️
     
    i think i’m fine(🤷‍♂️), was legit afraid two days, ago

    (shortness of breath, nausea, headache, if you’re wondering, double-Pfizer completed end of April, always masked in public, compulsive hand-sanitizing )

    ((can’t get a test, though, so my self-diagnosis is conjecture ))

  18. all testing sites are booked solid

    by the time i get a kit delivered, mailed, and then wait for the lag, the test will be moot, i’ll either be dead or negative

  19. How much money did POTUS Joe SAVE by pulling us out of Afghanistan?

    I did get an answer about the humvees and aircraft. They’ve been demilitarized, so now they are just really expensive scrap metal.

    Monarch butterflies are here, as are Canada geese.

  20. https://www.nationalreview.com/news/lyft-to-donate-1m-to-planned-parenthood-pay-legal-fees-for-drivers-sued-under-texas-law/

    “Drivers are never responsible for monitoring where their riders go or why. Imagine being a driver and not knowing if you are breaking the law by giving someone a ride,” Lyft said in a statement announcing the policy.”

    “Similarly, riders never have to justify, or even share, where they are going and why. Imagine being a pregnant woman trying to get to a healthcare appointment and not knowing if your driver will cancel on you for fear of breaking a law. “

    “Lyft announced it would create a defense fund to completely cover any legal fees incurred by drivers because of the law and also pledged to donate $1 million to Planned Parenthood.”

  21. “Hi, i’m Doug Llewelyn, and this is ‘The People’s Abortion Court’, Judge Karen presiding”
     
    🎶 buh dum dum, buh duh duh DUM DUM, Wreeee… 🎶

  22. Bink – Check Walgreens. Some have a drive through to pick up a test.  I heard them giving instructions when I went for both of my vaccinations. 

  23. “The Plaintiff?  Some busybody with no standing.  The Defendant?  Some poor fucking teenager that made a mistake.”
     
    ”All rise!”

  25. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/03/texas-covid-school-districts-shut-down/

    Texas Republicans do NOT care about children, nor about any human life, for that matter.

    “Every year when school starts, we expect a bump in volume [in our emergency room] — we planned for it, we scheduled for it,” Warmink said at a news conference Wednesday. “In the regular year we’ll see about 300 kids a day during this time. On Monday, we saw 601, an all-time record. … At 600, we’re physically unable to care for kids in a timely fashion.”

    “Teachers dying due to complications from COVID-19 is also a sobering reality for some districts. In Connally ISD, two teachers died in late August from COVID-19 within less than a week of each other.”

  27. https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/05/20/a-methodist-pastor-is-brilliantly-calling-out-the-pro-life-crowds-hypocrisy/

    “The unborn” are a convenient group of people to advocate for. They never make demands of you; they are morally uncomplicated, unlike the incarcerated, addicted, or the chronically poor; they don’t resent your condescension or complain that you are not politically correct; unlike widows, they don’t ask you to question patriarchy; unlike orphans, they don’t need money, education, or childcare; unlike aliens, they don’t bring all that racial, cultural, and religious baggage…” This quote is from a Methodist minister.

  28. 1.  Joe knows it’s $350B a year. He doesn’t care. He has to act like a Republican to get re-elected. 
    2.  Tests are in short supply in East Bumfuck, too. Our paralegal waited 4 hours to get a rapid test at Med Express. Aside from the irony it’s the only place she could find with tests available. 
    3.  BiD, there are bad calls in every game. 
    4. ROLL TIDE ROLL‼️‼️‼️

  29. Saddest funny of the week.  A group I know down in the middle of no where Virginia had a crab fest about a week ago.  I did not attend. Yesterday was a note to all, also known as contact tracing, that this person has come down with COVID.  This morning sending notice that many others have the virus too.  No condition updates and I do not care.
     
    This is a group that is known for being pro-SFB, awaiting the second coming of SFB, COVID is a hoax, anti-mask, anti-vaccine and holding idiotic close gatherings of same thinkers. 
     
    I find it interesting that they have not been hit with the virus until now.  They worked hard over the last year to become infected.  Now they are.

  32. ‘Sit Down and Shut Up’: Alexander Vindman Fires Back at Ohio Republican Over Afghan Refugees (newsweek.com)

    Retired Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman traded jabs with Ohio Republican Josh Mandel on Saturday over President Joe Biden‘s plans to resettle tens of thousands of Afghanistan refugees in the U.S. following the troop withdrawal.
    Republicans have remained unified in its criticisms of the Biden administration’s chaotic Afghanistan evacuation effort, but the resettlement of refugees at home has begun to divide members of the party. Some have slammed Biden for abandoning U.S. allies, while members of the GOP’s anti-immigrant wing have condemned the president for allowing what they call an influx of threatening foreigners into the U.S.
    Mandel, a former Ohio state Treasurer and Marine veteran running for the U.S. Senate in 2022, called Vindman a “liar and traitor” on social media after Vindman’s wife, Rachel Vindman, criticized his opposition to the resettlement of Afghan refugees.
    “You are a fool looking for attention,” Alexander Vindman tweeted in response. “You don’t represent Jewish values. You preach hate for refugees, when your own ancestors came here as immigrants and refugees. Sit down and shut up. #RefugeesWelcone.”
    The exchange came after Rachel Vindman condemned Mandel for vowing to fight the Afghan resettlements. “These planes are now being emptied into Cleveland, Toledo and other places in the heart of America. To protect our kids, our communities and our Judeo-Christian way of life, we must FIGHT this with all our might,” Mandel tweeted Friday.
    “To protect my child from monsters like @JoshMandelOhio and to teach her about our faith and values, we welcome these refugees with all our might,” Rachel Vindman tweeted in response.
    [continues]

  35. Where’s the Old Man/Bink/Sturg playlist for the night?

    I’ve heard 2 tracks off of the new Abba album. They’ve definitely preserved their sound, but I hope they’re saving the best songs for last,

  36. i put a bunch of full albums in the aug 15 thread when no one was looking, all the same stuff i’ve posted before… a good 7 hours of music at least, though

  42. The 2nd song on the ‘Men I Trust’ (great band name) album is a little too avant garde, je comprende, but holy shit, what an amazing album

  44. So, 1000 frivolous lawsuits later, the TX legislature HAS to amend that law because their civil court docket is overwhelmed, and then there’s a chilling effect on frivolity, and then that shoddy logic is exposed.
     
    They’re dumb and easily defeated 😀

  45. “So what’s to stop liberal activists from filing frivolous lawsuits against us, Todd?”
     
     
    ”Blarggghhh, i dunno, just send it to Abbot and let’s go to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game and contract Covid, Chad”
     
    ”Blarrrghh, sounds good, Todd, blarrrgh”

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