The Presidency of the Joes, part II: lol documents

i enjoyed it

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i did too fwiw

https://i.gifer.com/MB7z.gif

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I think I might be the only one who hated it. The rest of you are just terrible at watching TV.

Even Republicans can’t really unwind this without committing suicide IMO.

Response to this if they get power would more likely something from the menu of a hard cap on government loans/push student loans back to the private sector/“non-woke” attachments to Federal loans type responses

Here is a Twitter thread with screenshots of people complaining about student loan forgiveness and then someone in the replies showing the OP’s PPP loans

https://twitter.com/trayne_wreck/status/1562587880026808321

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Is Disneyland so much worse that he needs to take a cross-country flight?

I’ll first say that I consider the lack of democracy reform an absolute failure and that was the #1 thing that I was going to grade this presidency on. Also, I find the treatment of undocumented immigrants at the border to be grossly unacceptable and he could do that himself.

With those caveats, I’m starting to see a strategy at work here. He waits until he gets Manchin on board on the best deal he can get from him, knowing Manchin is hawkish about spending and inflation. Then as soon as that’s done, the other shoe drops and we get the stuff he can do via executive order, lumped together so it’s just one stream of right wing outrage instead of each episode getting its own thing.

Now he needs to get lucky and somehow hold this trifecta, which is now at least within play, while expanding the Senate majority, which is in play. If that happens, and they codify Roe and get some democracy reform passed, this could go down as an incredibly good first term. But he has to run good to hold the trifecta, otherwise it’s all just a footnote to failing to protect democracy.

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“work the railroads” :rofl::rofl::rofl: what is this, 1825?

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I don’t feel at all bad about the “my parents gave me a house so I could pay off my student loans, so anyone can do it,” assholes… I do sympathize with the middle class and below kids who pinched pennies and found a way to pay them off and think they should get something, and I get them being upset by this. But, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good applies here.

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Not sure if Biden has the votes for a long term solution to higher education/student debt - but this does seem to come with some level of moral hazard - if students, parents and universities all believe that the government is eventually going to pay off student loans. Fuck it, everything is a ponzi scheme anyways.

if the government leaves it up to you to check which box you qualify for, then just check the box for $20k and see if they care/notice.

:vince:

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You know it’s a good answer because another journalist immediately pivots to another gotcha’ question instead of following the same train of thought.

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Pillaging billionaires to pay for universal college education is the long-term solution. I kinda think they can find the votes for that.

Remember back in the day when George Mason University got a huge donation and the university said it was given no strings attached?

Two years earlier, law school dean Henry Butler had sent the memo to faculty claiming that “there are no conditions tied to this gift other than creating scholarship programs.”

At a faculty senate meeting on April 6, 2016, George Mason University Provost S. David Wu told faculty and university officials that the donations came with “no strings attached, and the scholarship decisions are made by GMU. The entire $30M is for scholarships for students and nothing else.”

FOIA requests though show who the company is that’s in charge of that donor’s donation and some of the expectations

In August 2017, in response to records requests, the administrator of the mystery money was revealed to be a company called BH Fund, a “501(c)(4) Virginia nonstock corporation.” Allison Pienta, the alumna of the law school who filed for the documents, discovered that BH Fund’s president is Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, a highly political organization of conservative lawyers that has dozens of university chapters and tries to impact federal judge selection. BH Fund’s secretary and treasurer is Jonathan Bunch, vice president and director of external relations at the Federalist Society. Leo and his society represent the anonymous donor and make sure the law school is adhering to that donor’s wishes.

The emails between donors and the law school that were disclosed on Monday tell a different story. The emails, which law school alumna Allison Pienta requested and then released through UnKoch My Campus, show Leo and Butler sharing information about faculty hiring, prospective law students, judicial law clerk suggestions, allocation of the grant money and even about faculty taking leave to work in the Trump administration.

But Leo also played a role in the process for hiring new professors funded by the massive donation. Numerous emails show Butler and Leo communicating about potential law school hires, including a recruit to direct the Law and Economics Center.

Leo didn’t just recommend faculty to the law school. In an email to Butler in August 2015, Leo sent the resume of a law school applicant, writing that this person “has been at [the Republican Attorneys General Association]” and, “His father is a senior executive at [redacted], and that is how we were introduced.” Butler responded enthusiastically, writing, “Absolutly! [sic] I will work with the admissions office to make sure we get together.”

Federalist Society officials made several other student recommendations. Peter Redpath, vice president and director of the society’s student division, emailed Butler about “the student I mentioned over the phone” who was “open to transferring.” Five days later, Butler replied to say, “Just wanted to make sure that you are aware that we closed the deal with [redacted].” “Thank you,” responded Redpath. “He’s very excited. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for more for the Spring.”

https://truthout.org/articles/right-wing-federalist-society-shaped-hiring-and-admissions-at-george-mason-university-emails-show/

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Think this is all correct but still think holding the trifecta a pipe dream. Good chance to hold the Senate so a slim backdoor out if two GOP justices die.

Could a college student get some of the debt they have accumulated so far wiped out?

https://twitter.com/eliza_kaylee/status/1562480412751843328?s=21&t=O98OeD0Odr7-L3h4_z7qaw

Perfect tweet imo

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