Blackbeard

Blackbeard , 14 days ago

The fact that they’re leaning on the “arbitrary and capricious” argument means that they don’t have another grounded legal theory for why it’s an exceedance of EPA’s authority. They’re throwing A&C at the wall to see if it sticks because the alternative is willingly take on a liability that’s going to potentially peek into the billions of dollars. It’s a hail mary, plain and simple.

Blackbeard , 14 days ago

Yeah it’s pretty squarely in their wheelhouse.

Does it do the following?

• the contaminant may have an adverse effect on the health of persons;
• the contaminant is known to occur or there is a substantial likelihood that the contaminant will occur in public water systems with a frequency and at levels of public health concern; and
• in the sole judgment of the Administrator, regulation of such contaminant presents a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public water systems.

If so, then:

• the Administrator shall publish maximum contaminant level goals and promulgate, by rule, national primary drinking water regulations under this subsection.

Wham, bam, thank you ma’am.

Blackbeard , 14 days ago

Yeah it’s potentially a much higher cost, depending on how class-action lawsuits play out, but that study doesn’t necessarily say it’s coating the surface of the ocean. It’s diluted into the ocean itself, and because it likes to stick to foam it tends to accumulate at higher concentrations close to the surface. That study is documenting that air particles have a much higher concentration than what’s typically seen diluted in sea water, so it’s essentially congregating in the air-water interface zone.

But yes, your point is well taken that they’re facing catastrophic liability costs from a combination of past health impacts and future cleanup/removal.

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

I also question whether or not we’ll ever see significant, sustained net approval of a President in the internet/social media age. Information is so decentralized and echo chambered now that there will simply never be a shortage of media describing why President ______ is bad and everyone is poor and in mortal danger.

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

Other sources say 66% right now.

They said 78%, 60%, 55, 63%, or 61% last year.

65% in April and 60% in December.

61% in 2022.

69% in 2020.

78% in 2019.

78% in 2017.

68% in 2012.

72% in 2010.

65% in 2006.

Numbers are all over the place, but 58% looks like almost the lowest reported by any source over the past 10 years or so (from what I could find).

Blackbeard , 15 days ago (edited 15 days ago)

Marijuana rescheduling, infrastructure spending, student loan forgiveness, clean drinking water, lowered costs of generic drugs, expanded Medicaid, increased domestic manufacturing, rejoining the Paris agreement, increased nationwide gas mileage requirements, and improved healthcare access for veterans not enough policies for you?

edit 3 hours later…

return2ozma: “There are policies we can champion that are more than ‘not Trump.’”

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

“What about policies?”

“Here’s some.”

“Not THOSE.”

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

I don’t disagree, but that’s a bit like a teenager telling their mother, “This meal is shit. I was hungry HOURS ago.” Can we not be happy things are changing NOW? Is that somehow not allowed?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

That’s it? That’s all he’s supposed to do while millions are still struggling?

In aggregate, they’re actually not. Consistently.

Single mom: “I’m working three jobs and my kids are still hungry. We’re about to be homeless.”

Family homelessness is actually down by a lot, and a recent uptick isn’t enough to counteract the decline in homelessness since 2013.

“Hey now, Paris climate agreement! Be grateful!”

You skipped: Marijuana rescheduling, infrastructure spending, student loan forgiveness, clean drinking water, lowered costs of generic drugs, expanded Medicaid, increased domestic manufacturing, increased nationwide gas mileage requirements, and improved healthcare access for veterans.

Why?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

So no? We should spit at the gift horse?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

Literally not what I said. Can you address what I actually said instead?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

Then why would anyone do anything good for you, ever? If you’re going to blame them for the fact that it wasn’t done before now, then shouldn’t they completely ignore what you want and move on to someone else?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

Is weed now legal nationwide? Everyone in jail for marijuana convictions now released? Records all expunged?

Many pardons , clemencies, and commutations, to date.

Bridges are literally crumbling. Where’s the high speed rail?

$40 billion is being spent to fix bridges. $8.2 billion on high speed rail.

$1,600,000,000,000 total student loan debt, 45,000,000 Americans. He’s wiped $150 billion. That’s around 9% of the total and most of that has already been added back from the interest. “We did it Joe!”

To the ones who got relief, yes. Courts stopped him from doing more, unfortunately.

Flint would like a word.

Sure. Let’s have one.

expand Medicaid coverage to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty level (about $20,780 annually for an individual or $35,630 for a family of three.) - How are they even surviving on that much? MURICA is doing great sweetie!

Why are you trying to change the subject?

What’s the output not including the tax subsidized spending? Small businesses are being decimated.

False actually.

While increasing oil production he said he wouldn’t do. There’s a reason Sunrise Movement won’t endorse him.

Why are you trying to change the subject?

Thanks Bernie Sanders!

Takano and Kaine, actually.

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

Why are you trying to change the subject?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

We’re talking about politicians who do things for votes. The whole system is predicated on popularity being the only thing that matters.

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

Why are you trying to change the subject?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

It would be nice if we actually had policies we could champion instead of just “not Trump”.

Maybe an acknowledgment that there are actually policies we can champion that are more than “not Trump”, since that’s what you started with?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

Ok. Can we start with an acknowledgement that there are policies we can champion that are more than “not Trump”, since that’s what you asked for?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

It would be nice if we actually had policies we could champion instead of just “not Trump”

There are always policies they run on.

So…you were wrong, then? There are policies we can champion, but you just don’t like them? Or you don’t believe they actually happened? Because many of these are in the past, which means “seeing them follow through with them” won’t work anymore.

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

Again, these are policies that actually happened. So are you acknowledging that there are, in fact, policies we can champion which are more than “not Trump?”

You can acknowledge that they exist without endorsing them, and I’d prefer not to chase your divergent threads until you can directly address the response I provided to you.

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

You asked for someone to show you something. I showed it to you. Can you acknowledge it exists without changing the subject?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

You can’t simply bring yourself to say, “There are policies we can champion that are more than ‘not Trump.’”? It’s a very straightforward part of human dialogue.

“Can someone give me a spoon?”

“Thank you for the spoon.”

It’s incredible how difficult it is for you to say something so innocuous.

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

You simply can’t have a conversation like a human being, can you?

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

Some more effective than others…

Blackbeard , 14 days ago

I think both things can be correct at the same time. Unfortunately, they have quite a bit of evidence to support the former argument, which means they don’t have to openly engage with the latter. The closest we got to the veil coming off was 2016, but whether or not we agree with them that the left can win elections, the fact of the matter is they generally don’t except in the most ideologically homogenous districts.

Blackbeard , 15 days ago

End the war in Gaza and make housing more affordable. Those are the top two concerns for the youth vote.

False. It’s healthcare and inflation, inflation and healthcare, abortion and inflation, or healthcare and education, depending on who you ask. Housing is third(ish), and Israel/Gaza is next to last or last. A few months ago the top two were wages and inflation.

Blackbeard , 19 days ago

DEI made the front fall off.

Blackbeard , 20 days ago

…and for years thereafter.

Blackbeard , 22 days ago

Immigration is a net positive that boosts the economy and helps build the labor force and supercharge entrepreneurship.

But also, border encounters are higher than they’ve been since the 1990s, illegal immigration redistributes wealth from those who compete against immigrants to those who employ immigrants (i.e. upward), and the influx of illegal immigrants is placing a disproportionate financial strain on state and local governments along the border. In the short term, and whether we like it or not, increased net immigration puts downward pressure on wages. If Democrats hope to be competitive in places like Arizona, Texas, and Florida, they need to meaningfully address what voters are saying is the most important problem facing this country right now.

Blackbeard , 22 days ago

what about additional executive action on anything else like women’s rights

research.va.gov/…/0324-Executive-Order-for-Womens…

minimum wage,

www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/…/eo14026

or anything that could count toward the human good

whitehouse.gov/…/fact-sheet-president-biden-issue…

whitehouse.gov/…/executive-order-on-covid-19-and-…

whitehouse.gov/…/executive-order-on-scaling-and-e…

whitehouse.gov/…/executive-order-on-adjustments-o…

whitehouse.gov/…/executive-order-on-federal-resea…

whitehouse.gov/…/executive-order-on-strengthening…

Blackbeard , 22 days ago (edited 22 days ago)

FDR had his anti-immigrant blemishes, too.

Several, actually.

Blackbeard , 22 days ago

The President cannot unilaterally increase the minimum wage, which is spelled out in the Fair Labor Standards Act. Only Congress can amend that law. Biden’s Executive Order went as far as he’s legally allowed to go.

Blackbeard , 22 days ago

I agree. I don’t know which is more interesting, that the progressive standard-bearer unilaterally executed one of the most egregious civil rights violations of the 20th century, or that progressive voters have completely forgotten that he did.

Blackbeard , 22 days ago

That’s quite literally not what I said or implied.

Blackbeard , 26 days ago

It was enabled with funding from the 2022 IRA, then developed in 2023, and then rolled out as a pilot program in 2024. Now that they know the pilot went well through the deadline for tax filing, they’re green lighting it for 2025. I’m not sure it could have happened any quicker, unfortunately.

Blackbeard , 26 days ago

Same exact thing is happening with the economy:

The vast majority of those surveyed — 68% — said it was becoming harder for the average person to get ahead, while nearly half of respondents said their own finances were moving in the right direction.

We are cripplingly addicted to myopic sensationalism, and the death of local news means that as information consumers we’re increasingly hypnotized by national news corporations who have no roots or stake in local communities and who thrive on rage bait. Put simply, there’s no localized and tempered source of information that can balance out the neverending national panic.

Blackbeard , 26 days ago

But it does matter. It matters very much that they’re voting and behaving based on things that are not actually real. It matters that Biden’s telling the truth, and evidence supports him. Does it mean his message is going to resonate with voters? Probably not. But it goes to the heart of our current predicament to observe that the world that exists in people’s heads doesn’t resemble the one they actually live in. We are in a self-fulfilling doom loop.

If we grant that crime is down but that Biden should act like it isn’t down because people think it’s up, then we’re venturing off into a very dark wilderness where nothing is true and facts no longer matter. That’s a world where people like Trump thrive.

Blackbeard , 27 days ago

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on the ICC’s former prosecutor, including revoking visas and blocking property access, for investigating alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan and Israelis in Palestinian territories. The U.S. lifted those penalties in 2021, with Blinken calling them “inappropriate and ineffective” at the time.

Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) earlier this month introduced a bill to sanction the ICC — which targets individuals accused of war crimes, genocide and other international law violations — for investigating and prosecuting U.S. citizens and American allies, including Israel. Calls to pass that measure, or something like it, grew following the court’s announcement, even though the U.S. is not a member of court.

They’re telegraphing that they will declare war on the ICC (again) and dismantle whatever’s left of international guardrails if Trump wins, much to Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir’s delight. One can only imagine the shitshow to follow.

Blackbeard , 30 days ago (edited 30 days ago)

Netanyahu wants Trump and will continue to ignore all attempts to intervene until Trump is elected, at which point Gaza will be annexed, the remaining Palestinians will be killed or “relocated”, and he will pressure Trump to bomb Iran. The ICJ, UN, Europe, and Democrats no longer have any influence on the Israeli right-wing government. This is all for naught.

Bibi will name it Trump Alley or something else equally ridiculous, just like he did with the Golan Heights.

Blackbeard , 29 days ago

Not according to the source I linked. His split with Biden and the Democrats has been years in the making, and has reached a point of no return. He wants Trump, and he’s willing to drag Biden through the mud to get Trump. This is not according to Bibi, this is according to people who worked for Obama and Biden, as well as Democrats in Congress.

Blackbeard , 29 days ago

Either choice he makes does that. And Netanyahu knows this.

Blackbeard , 29 days ago (edited 28 days ago)

If he turns on Israel, he will lose in a landslide. Of that you can be absolutely certain.

Blackbeard , 29 days ago

Israel ≠ Netanyahu

There’s a very big difference between what the broader Jewish community prefers and what Netanyahu’s right-wing government prefers. But, to be sure, the best way to make those one in the same would be to withdraw support.

Blackbeard , 1 month ago

BoTh SiDeS aRe ThE sAmE!!!@

Blackbeard , 1 month ago

The world you guys live in must be a really wild place.

Blackbeard , 30 days ago

Never thought I’d see the day when this would become a satire about the left…