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[Box of Kittens]

Frankly, I'm fine with replacing the gas tax with something else as the mechanism by which we pay for roads. The gas tax has a lot of problems (not the least of which being that you have to actively "raise" it to keep it from effectively shrinking) but one way or another we need to pay for our roads. They're in terrible shape.

 

[Carpe Libertatem]

Gas taxes are weird because we as Democrats also like to encourage better fuel efficiency &hybrid/electric cars, which obviously results in less gas usage & less revenue as a result

There's certainly better ways to fix our roads than a gas tax

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Anything that places a much higher burden on middle and lower class people over the upper class is an automatic no for me.

>_>

Carbon and sugar and cigarette taxes are good.

 

[StopMakingSense]

Frankly, I'm fine with replacing the gas tax with something else as the mechanism by which we pay for roads. The gas tax has a lot of problems (not the least of which being that you have to actively "raise" it to keep it from effectively shrinking) but one way or another we need to pay for our roads. They're in terrible shape.

It's tough since basically every other method of taxing car usage is controlled by the states.

 

[Box of Kittens]

I mean really we'd all be better off if the poor and middle class didn't have such a need to own cars.

 

[ascii42]

The federal gas tax has been stuck at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993, meaning it's been effectively getting smaller due to inflation for over 20 years now. It honestly should be raised, but it's political suicide to do so. Which is why having the tax be a set amount per gallon is a problem in the first place.

Right, but having it be a percentage of gas price makes it much harder if not impossible to budget with, since that can vary dramatically over the course of a year.

 

[Fergie]

U.S. appeals court will not rehear 'net neutrality' challenge - https://t.co/KIGDgsKV1O

Judge Sri Srinivasan said in a written opinion reviewing the decision "would be particularly unwarranted at this point in light of the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the FCC's order."

The FCC is set to hold an initial vote on May 18 on Pai's proposal but Srinivasan questioned why the full court should review "the validity of a rule that the agency had already slated for replacement."

US Telecom, the trade group representing major telephone companies that sued the FCC in 2015 over the rules, said Monday it will "review our legal options going forward to fully protect our open internet."

Two dissenting opinions said the 2015 order was unlawful because Congress did not grant the FCC authority to reclassify internet providers.

Judge Janice Rogers Brown said the order "shows signs of a government having grown beyond the consent of the governed."

Judge Brett Kavanagh wrote that the order violates the First Amendment rights of internet providers.

"The government must keep its hands off the editorial decisions of Internet service providers," he wrote, suggesting the government cannot force a bookstore or Amazon.com Inc "to feature and promote all books in the same manner."

 

[RoKKeR]

What's going on with the healthcare bill? Is this somehow a part of the budget? Just got a CNN notification and have been out of the loop for a few days.

 

[Diablos]

U.S. appeals court will not rehear 'net neutrality' challenge - https://t.co/KIGDgsKV1O

SCOTUS time?

Or maybe just not necessary because the FCC is gonna blow it up anyway...

 

[Bonen no Max'd]

What if we used the gas tax to build rail and since the roads are falling apart from being underfunded it gets more people in the trains so they have more money so we get better trains, brb emailing a think tank

Would be an even worse pick than Harriet Myers for W. Even McConnell wouldn't be ready to ram that through the Senate.

I'm sure there's a PoC, right-leaning justice somewhere in the appeals circuits.

of was a joke lol, I doubt Trump would even care about getting a black justice for the seat and after Thomas I doubt Democrats will throw a fuss either

Not much reason to not do this, but there is a good chance you see less donation in general. I'd be super hesitant to give to Dems as long as Kanye is running in the primary, for instance. You'd want at least some guarantee that the money you give isn't going to a shithead.

This also doesn't fix the invisible primary, but nothing will. You can't stop people from having preferences, and asking them to be quiet about it is like asking the news to not report on mass shootings (which would reduce them); it's unrealistic to get people to not talk about things.

Well I mean it keeps the establishment favorite from accruing all the fund early on to block challengers. This doesn't keep them from using their endorsers' infrastructure to get votes but it at least allows candidates with less money to have a chance.

I mean really we'd all be better off if the poor and middle class didn't have such a need to own cars.

This guy gets it.

 

[StopMakingSense]

What's going on with the healthcare bill? Is this somehow a part of the budget? Just got a CNN notification and have been out of the loop for a few days.

Seems like Ryan is moved on from it, but nobody's told the White House.

 

[kirblar]

Cars are necessary because the US is huge!

You live in a town of 4K people, no? How on earth would that town even work without cars?

 

[Box of Kittens]

I don't think it's realistic to think that we can get rid of cars entirely or anything. But the degree to which we're dependent on cars is too high and most of our cities have completely inadequate public transportation. Racism is also rearing its ugly head here, as a lot of the time people oppose expanding public transit out of fear that it will let the "wrong kinds of people" into their neighborhoods.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

I'd be in favor of connecting rural America via extensive local high-speed rails and public transit, as linking smaller areas together would allow them to collectively achieve something like the population density of a small city and perhaps allow them to achieve a cultural richness that would put a brake on some of the rural brain drain that I think helps drive the "us vs. them" mentality, but those fucks would never support funding such an endeavor.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

What's going on with the healthcare bill? Is this somehow a part of the budget? Just got a CNN notification and have been out of the loop for a few days.

Budget is agreed to and will pass soon.

Healthcare bill is two "No"s away from being dead again.

 

[kirblar]

I'd be in favor of connecting rural America via extensive local high-speed rails and public transit, as linking smaller areas together would allow them to collectively achieve something like the population density of a small city and perhaps allow them to achieve a cultural richness that would put a brake on some of the rural brain drain that I think helps drive the "us vs. them" mentality, but those fucks would never support funding such an endeavor.

We've been doing this in a lot of areas! Trump cut the funding.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Even if the healthcare bill passes the House, are Repubs in the Senate going to vote for something that revokes healthcare from a shit-ton of their constituents? I was under the impression that the kinds of compromises needed to get a healthcare bill to pass the House would basically kill it in the Senate.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Even if the healthcare bill passes the House, are Repubs in the Senate going to vote for something that revokes healthcare from a shit-ton of their constituents? I was under the impression that the kinds of compromises needed to get a healthcare bill to pass the House would basically kill it in the Senate.

Some reporters claiming that once bill passes, McConnell will replace with his own Senate bill and pass it quickly. Then put it to house who will be under immense pressure to pass a bill passed by Senate that repeals and replaces Obamacare.

 

[Bonen no Max'd]

Cars are necessary because the US is huge!

You live in a town of 4K people, no? How on earth would that town even work without cars?

I grew up in one, but now I live in a college town with about 25k people. I definitely could have biked to work and school in my hometown because it's so small, and I didn't even live that close to anything, it might've taken like an extra 10-15 minutes. Now I walk basically everywhere except when I need groceries, but if I really wanted to I could probably use the town's modest busing system to do that too, and I could definitely bike to get them if I wanted to.

If you're talking about more long distance travel, we could still have highways but they could be more focused on connecting towns without rail access to cities with rail access, especially if we made more regional lines like a Pacific coast rail line or a Midwestern line. If I could drive to Boise to get on a train to Portland instead of having to drive to Portland, it would be much safer and better for the environment.

I also managed to get by in my trip to Chicago basically entirely on public transportation, and while some of that may have been where I was staying (Lincoln Park with friends without a car) that's entirely a political decision to make it that way, not an issue of feasibility.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Some reporters claiming that once bill passes, McConnell will replace with his own Senate bill and pass it quickly. Then put it to house who will be under immense pressure to pass a bill passed by Senate that repeals and replaces Obamacare.

idk if the House Freedom Caucus are wussy enough to fold and pass a more liberal Obamacare replacement. They seem to have drunk deeply of the crazy juice.

 

[Diablos]

idk if the House Freedom Caucus are wussy enough to fold and pass a more liberal Obamacare replacement. They seem to have drunk deeply of the crazy juice.

Since when is the replacement going to be more liberal

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Since when is the replacement going to be more liberal

Anything that passes the Senate is going to be more liberal than what passes the House, is what I mean.

Hell, I'm not even sure it can pass the Senate without blowing up the legislative filibuster, and I'm not convinced McConnell will do that for a healthcare bill that is likely going to do a good deal of harm to the GOP.

 

[AntraxSuicide]

I mean really we'd all be better off if the poor and middle class didn't have such a need to own cars.

No way this wouldn't fuck over rural people though. My hometown of 1200 people would never feasibly sustain this, and so you're essentially setting it up to force those predominantly poor people to buy cars, which are super expensive.

We should totally upgrade our public transit, but like most of our proposals for most issues, you gotta cushion the edge cases.

What if we used the gas tax to build rail and since the roads are falling apart from being underfunded it gets more people in the trains so they have more money so we get better trains, brb emailing a think tank

of was a joke lol, I doubt Trump would even care about getting a black justice for the seat and after Thomas I doubt Democrats will throw a fuss either

Well I mean it keeps the establishment favorite from accruing all the fund early on to block challengers. This doesn't keep them from using their endorsers' infrastructure to get votes but it at least allows candidates with less money to have a chance.

This guy gets it.

Sure, that's why I said there's no reason to not do it.

 

[kirblar]

I grew up in one, but now I live in a college town with about 25k people. I definitely could have biked to work and school in my hometown because it's so small, and I didn't even live that close to anything, it might've taken like an extra 10-15 minutes. Now I walk basically everywhere except when I need groceries, but if I really wanted to I could probably use the town's modest busing system to do that too, and I could definitely bike to get them if I wanted to.

If you're talking about more long distance travel, we could still have highways but they could be more focused on connecting towns without rail access to cities with rail access, especially if we made more regional lines like a Pacific coast rail line or a Midwestern line. If I could drive to Boise to get on a train to Portland instead of having to drive to Portland, it would be much safer and better for the environment.

I also managed to get by in my trip to Chicago basically entirely on public transportation, and while some of that may have been where I was staying (Lincoln Park with friends without a car) that's entirely a political decision to make it that way, not an issue of feasibility.

You stayed in the heart of the city. Of course you could use public transportation.

Suburbs were built presuming you'd have a car. I've had a 30-mile communte when I started working my job, then I moved a lot closer. Buses and public transport wouldn't have covered it. I've also worked a job where I had to take the bus when my car broke down, and it was miserable. Buses aren't rail, and they take a lot of extra time out of your day.

Cars are good. So is public transportation. But the latter is not a perfect substituted for the former.

 

[Box of Kittens]

I also managed to get by in my trip to Chicago basically entirely on public transportation, and while some of that may have been where I was staying (Lincoln Park with friends without a car) that's entirely a political decision to make it that way, not an issue of feasibility.

Most of Chicago is quite walkable. Neighborhoods often have several grocery and other stores allowing one to do daily errands without a car. When we first moved here we took the car out for grocery trips about once a week, but as we've gotten more and more used to making smaller trips at nearby stores, those car trips are becoming less and less frequent.

Getting around the city is definitely easier if you live close to an El line. The bus system is honestly pretty good for what it is, but it's certainly a lot slower than taking the El when that's an option. My main complaint about the El is that it's very much centered on getting to/from downtown. A radial line or two would be a very nice addition to the system.

 

[Diablos]

Internet's biggest players duck net neutrality fight

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/331439-internets-biggest-players-duck-net-neutrality-fight

Democrats, consumer groups and many groups representing internet companies quickly blasted his plan and are vowing to mobilize the public to save the rules.

But many Silicon Valley giants, including Facebook and Twitter, which once backed the rules, are now publicly silent.

Officials at several major tech companies said net neutrality isn't a priority anymore. Many of the companies that were once forceful advocates of the rules no longer think they will be harmed under repeal.

Facebook, Google and Microsoft boast market valuations in the hundreds of billions, giving them new power relative to broadband providers.

"Fuck net neutrality, we've got ours"

 

[kirblar]

Internet's biggest players duck net neutrality fight

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/331439-internets-biggest-players-duck-net-neutrality-fight

"Fuck net neutrality, we've got ours"

Comcast (of all companies) was touting their support of it, so this is likely a situation where they don't think much will change w/ providers w/in the next few years. (Thus, it's not worth wasting the lobbying money on right now.)

 

[Box of Kittens]

No way this wouldn't fuck over rural people though. My hometown of 1200 people would never feasibly sustain this, and so you're essentially setting it up to force those predominantly poor people to buy cars, which are super expensive.

We should totally upgrade our public transit, but like most of our proposals for most issues, you gotta cushion the edge cases.

I mean, I'm not advocating trying to make it so that people can't afford cars. Just that there are a lot of people who can't get by without a car despite living in places dense enough to support better public transport, and that's bad, and that to the extent a lot of suburbs don't support better transit, that's a failure of public planning.

While, that and also I think forcing people to buy cars and then not maintaining the roads is a bad thing.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

I'm not sure if there's any problems with this idea since I just had it, but a cap on big money donations for the primary where any of the big money fundraising can go towards a GE fund for the winner is my first thought, but I have no idea how to solve the pressure for everyone to endorse the clear frontrunner.

Endorsements aren't as much of a problem if they're not institutionalized in the form of superdelegates. Saying "I think you should vote for X, for these reasons" is a pretty acceptable form of politics - a desirable form, in fact. It's good that you'd be enthused enough about a set of values and a candidate who would uphold them to argue for them! It's more of a problem when that carries a signal to primary participants saying: I'll cast my superdelegate vote for them, they are now 250 superdelegates ahead before your stage in the voting has even begun, why should you even bother?

Of course, it's true they can switch, and that they haven't overruled the process in a rather long time. Nevertheless, it creates narratives of inevitability which require an absolutely exceptional candidate to shake, and otherwise advantages mediocre candidates at the cost of good candidates.

The other part of the invisible primary is money, yeah. Given this is a party internal affair (supposedly, anyway), you could just stick a straight financial cap on primary expenditures, and I don't think that would fall foul of the free speech problem.

 

[AntraxSuicide]

I mean, I'm not advocating trying to make it so that people can't afford cars. Just that there are a lot of people who can't get by without a car despite living in places dense enough to support better public transport, and that's bad, and that to the extent a lot of suburbs don't support better transit, that's a failure of public planning.

While, that and also I think forcing people to buy cars and then not maintaining the roads is a bad thing.

Yeah. I actually agree with your point above about a gas tax increase. At some point, you do end up taxing everyone something.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Budget is agreed to and will pass soon.

Healthcare bill is two "No"s away from being dead again.

I'm pretty sure those 2 no votes already exist and they're just delaying the inevitable. I refuse to believe this bill will barely pass/fail, since it's worse than the last one (and they know it) and the last one almost cost them a seat in Kansas just discussing it.

Also

"Seriously, you want me to go back and tell the people in my fourth of Nevada 'the Senate will make it better?'" Amodei said. "What the hell?"

lmao. But he's right. If the senate is their Hail Mary, this is dead.

 

[Diablos]

Comcast (of all companies) was touting their support of it, so this is likely a situation where they don't think much will change w/ providers w/in the next few years. (Thus, it's not worth wasting the lobbying money on right now.)

Comcast supports net neutrality you mean?

 

[jmdajr]

Gas taxes are weird because we as Democrats also like to encourage better fuel efficiency &hybrid/electric cars, which obviously results in less gas usage & less revenue as a result

There's certainly better ways to fix our roads than a gas tax

Like non stop building of toll roads!

 

[Bonen no Max'd]

Driving sucks, it's dangerous, and bad for the environment, I support basically any policy to lower how much we use cars.

Endorsements aren't as much of a problem if they're not institutionalized in the form of superdelegates. Saying "I think you should vote for X, for these reasons" is a pretty acceptable form of politics - a desirable form, in fact. It's good that you'd be enthused enough about a set of values and a candidate who would uphold them to argue for them! It's more of a problem when that carries a signal to primary participants saying: I'll cast my superdelegate vote for them, they are now 250 superdelegates ahead before your stage in the voting has even begun, why should you even bother?

Of course, it's true they can switch, and that they haven't overruled the process in a rather long time. Nevertheless, it creates narratives of inevitability which require an absolutely exceptional candidate to shake, and otherwise advantages mediocre candidates at the cost of good candidates.

The other part of the invisible primary is money, yeah. Given this is a party internal affair (supposedly, anyway), you could just stick a straight financial cap on primary expenditures, and I don't think that would fall foul of the free speech problem.

Well the problem isn't so much the endorsement itself as it is the political infrastructure that comes with such an endorsement. Of course, removing the donor class as a gate already means the field is more open and people will be less likely to coalesce around the inevitable candidate for fear of not getting a job in the future, so maybe it just wouldn't be less of an issue if we already remove one of the gates.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Driving sucks, it's dangerous, and bad for the environment, I support basically any policy to lower how much we use cars.

You have to be careful with statements like that. Truck driver is still the most common job in a majority of American states. Increasing the cost of driving is a direct attack on the working classes, and without offering any serious alternative this is exactly the sort of thing that leads to them voting Trump rather than Clinton - it's all very well and good saving the environment, but that's their job and their livelihood and how they provide for their kids.

 

[kirblar]

Comcast supports net neutrality you mean?

I've been seeing it in ads, weirdly enough. It's their current position at least. http://corporate.comcast.com/openinternet/open-net-neutrality

 

[chadskin]

http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/wi...ary-syria-missile-strike-tax-cuts-1202405269/

Up to 16 people were killed.

 

[Teggy]

It certainly cost the taxpayers.

 

[Dominican Power]

https://twitter.com/Philip_Elliott/status/859111128210735105

Fucking lulz

 

[BlastProcessing]

@danprimack
Spicer asked if Trump is comfortable w/ extrajudicial killings of drug users in Philippines

"This isn't a simple yes or no situation"

It certainly cost the taxpayers.

We payed for that chocolate cake!

 

[Diablos]

I've been seeing it in ads, weirdly enough. It's their current position at least. http://corporate.comcast.com/openinternet/open-net-neutrality

Talking the talk. Let's see how fast they fold when the FCC fucks everything up.

 

[Bonen no Max'd]

You have to be careful with statements like that. Truck driver is still the most common job in a majority of American states. Increasing the cost of driving is a direct attack on the working classes, and without offering any serious alternative this is exactly the sort of thing that leads to them voting Trump rather than Clinton - it's all very well and good saving the environment, but that's their job and their livelihood and how they provide for their kids.

I mean I get that, I knew people from trucker families but I also support massive increases massive increases in public spending and public sector employment. They can get selective hiring on all the new trains

Do you follow Matt Bruenig's Twitter and see all the trucker memes?

 

[The Technomancer]

I mean I get that, I knew people from trucker families but I also support massive increases massive increases in public spending and public sector employment. They can get selective hiring on all the new trains

Do you follow Matt Bruenig's Twitter and see all the trucker memes?

This is sort of the problem we're running into though: a lot of people really really don't want to move industries, and they're going to fight tooth and nail as their industries become obsolete

 

[tuxfool]

https://twitter.com/retrocampaigns/status/859153288389771265

uhuh. You're scum if you suffer from preexisting conditions.

 

[chadskin]

Recently, one of them, Senator Mark Warner, of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, privately told friends that he puts the odds at two to one against Trump completing a full term. (Warner’s spokesperson said that the Senator was “not referring specifically to the Russia investigation, but rather the totality of challenges the President is currently facing.”)

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/08/how-trump-could-get-fired

👀👀👀👀👀👀

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Talking the talk. Let's see how fast they fold when the FCC fucks everything up.

These are behemoth companies that move at glacial pace. If they end net neutrality tomorrow, it'd take them at minimum, a year to actually change their plans, get their infrastructure ready, prep support, and build the advertisements and marketing. And that's a rapid pace estimation. And then that leaves them with maybe a year and a half before 2020, where there's a good chance the FCC goes back to the Democrats, NN is back, and they wasted all that time and money for no gain at all.

I think they're just being practical. If NN looks to be gone for an extended period of time (if they passed a law or something), you might see them act (slowly), but with just the FCC changing the rules (that can just as easily be brought back), I just don't really see them bothering for the piddly extra money they could make (or possibly lose from expenses to get the plans ready only to have NN come back).

What I think you'll see is Comcast going after places like YouTube, Amazon (Twitch) and Netflix that eat lots of bandwidth and try sharking them out cash. But I don't think the end user will notice much beyond those services increasing in price or ads.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

I mean I get that, I knew people from trucker families but I also support massive increases massive increases in public spending and public sector employment. They can get selective hiring on all the new trains

Do you follow Matt Bruenig's Twitter and see all the trucker memes?

What public sector employment is looking to take on an ex-truckie? It's not like it sets you up to become a teacher, or a nurse, the two most common public sector roles.

 

[Bonen no Max'd]

What public sector employment is looking to take on an ex-truckie?

A modern WPA or CCC? Would also benefit from being racially integrated this time around.

I'm also not averse to pensions for either life or an extended amount of time for people displaced by technology, and then they can work where they want, go to school, or try and start a small business during the pension duration.

 

[BlastProcessing]

https://twitter.com/retrocampaigns/status/859153288389771265

uhuh. You're scum if you suffer from preexisting conditions.

Yeah, my niece who was born with profound hearing loss needs to pay for her mistakes.

 

[Wilsongt]

Is the way we feel now how Republicans felt during Obama's 8 years? That everything the president said was stupid and a lie and that he only did things that would help himself and his allies?