USA News and Discussions

weatheriscool
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FBI data show surge in murders in 2020
Source: NBC News
Murders rose by nearly 30 percent in 2020, with more than 21,500 reported last year, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report.

The total was up from 16,669 in 2019, according to the FBI, one of the sharpest increases in murders in several years. The national homicide rate, 6.5 per 100,000 people, is still lower than it was during much of the 1990s.

"That's an unprecedented one-year rise," said Richard Rosenfeld, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

..

Reports of violent crime, which includes homicide, rape, aggravated assault and other crimes, also were up last year. The rate of violent crime spiked by about 5 percent, to 398.5 reported incidents per 100,000 people, according to FBI data.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fb ... 0-n1280195
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caltrek
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Janet Yellen Says U.S. Could Hit the Debt Ceiling on October 18
by Sarah Ewall-Wice
September 28, 2021

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... uxbndlbing

Introduction:
(CBS via MSN) The Treasury Department estimates it would exhaust the measures allowing the U.S. government to pay its bills on October 18. if Congress does not act to raise or suspend the debt limit. If that happens, the country could go into default for the first time in U.S. history.

Senate Republicans blocked a short-term spending bill Monday night that would have also suspended the debt limit through December 2022. They argued Democrats can raise the debt ceiling on their own, but Democrats had been calling for a bipartisan approach as was done during the Trump administration.

In a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said once its so-called extraordinary measures being used to pay the bills are exhausted, they expect the Treasury to be left with very limited resources that would become depleted quickly. She also noted that the government's cash flows vary, so this was just their best estimate.

Addressing the debt ceiling would avert a "catastrophic event for our economy," Yellen said Tuesday in an appearance before the Senate Banking Committee.

"The full faith and credit of the United States would be impaired, and our country would likely face a financial crisis and economic recession as a result," Yellen said of default. "We must address this issue to honor commitments made by this and prior congresses."
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erowind
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Post by erowind »

The two parties play this game with the debt ceiling every few years. It's a shame that the public pays any attention at all. They'll raise it and nothing will happen, orone party will play a political stunt hurting some government workers for a few weeks then they'll raise it, or maybe they won't raise it and this is the black swan that ends the country. They have no reason to choose that last option as it would end all their careers forever and we shouldn't pay any attention unless they do.
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caltrek
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^^^On this, and other issues, I think it is important to keep track of who is being responsible and who is playing opportunistic games.


Poor Kyrsten Sinema
by Joseph Paul Wright
September 28, 2021

https://www.latinorebels.com/2021/09/28 ... tensinema/

Introduction:
(Introduction) NOGALES, Arizona — Poor Kyrsten Sinema. She just can’t seem to catch a break, can she?

I mean, sure, she gave a peppy “thumbs-down” to liveable wages, and she even brought cake with her in a fancy LuLuLemon bag while she was at it. She’s also held firm against ending the filibuster, guaranteeing GOP obstruction for the foreseeable future. The same filibuster the GOP is using at this exact moment to threaten a government shutdown, which will hurt American families with federal jobs, and even those who depend on Social Security to survive. I guess that might make some people upset.

But guys, you’re forgetting she’s white and quirky. That should make up for all the other things, right?

There’s a lot of buzz going around about the Biden administration’s budget plans and whether or not a pathway to citizenship will be included in that. There’s another item in question on the budget that could quite literally save lives if approved. It’s a measure that will reduce the prices of lifesaving medications for many Americans struggling to afford essentials for survival by giving Medicare the authority to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.

If you’ve followed Sinema’s track record, you might already be able to see where this is heading. The senator claims to want to build bridges across the aisle to find bipartisan solutions, but she’s starting to seem more like a corporate tool planted in the Senate. This was evident in her opposition to raising the minimum wage and even more apparent now.
Don't mourn, organize.

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weatheriscool
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Senate passes last-minute deal to avert government shutdown
Source: ABC News
The Senate on Thursday afternoon passed a deal party leaders reached late Wednesday to avert a government shutdown that would have affected hundreds of thousands of federal workers and slammed an economy still struggling to recover from the pandemic, all with just hours left to stave off a crisis.

Under the deal, announced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, senators dispensed with a handful of Republican amendments and then approved, 65-35, a temporary funding bill that not only averts a shutdown until Dec. 3, but also includes $28.6 billion in disaster aid for states ravaged by extreme weather and $6.3 billion to further assist Afghan refugees.

"The last thing the apparent American people need is for the government to grind to a halt," Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday morning.

The stopgap measure does not include any provision to raise the nation's debt ceiling, though, after Republicans steadfastly rejected any attempt to include it.


Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... ar-AAP0mXN
weatheriscool
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Congress passes bill to avert shutdown ahead of midnight deadline
Source: CNN
(CNN)The House passed a stopgap funding bill on Thursday to avert a shutdown by extending government funding through December 3.

The bill passed the Senate earlier in the day with a bipartisan vote, and the measure must now be signed into law by President Joe Biden, which he is expected to do.

Government funding is set to expire at midnight, but Democratic congressional leaders, who control both chambers of Congress, have projected confidence there will not be a shutdown.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/30/politics ... index.html
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caltrek
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It is hard for me to understand what the Republicans are up to in regards to their intransigence on the debt ceiling issue. In regards to the filibuster, it complicates the opposition of Democratic Senators Sinema and Manchin in regards to amending that process.
(Mother Jones) Republicans now say that Democrats, who hold slim majorities in both chambers of Congress, should raise the debt ceiling without GOP help. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sought unanimous consent to do just that—asking to bypass the typical 60-vote threshold to allow Democrats to raise the limit with a simple 51-vote majority in the Senate. McConnell blocked the measure. The New York Times deemed it “political sabotage.”
Source: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... ult-banks/

There is also this Common Dreams article detailing just some of the negative impacts failure to raise the debt ceiling would cause:

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021 ... urt-states

Republicans seem to be engaging in a sort of scorched earth policy. If they can't rule, then they will destroy until they are again allowed to rule. "Political sabotage" indeed.
Don't mourn, organize.

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caltrek
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The Vox article linked below explains possible ways of dealing with the debt ceiling that do not involve changing the filibuster rules.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics ... -democrats
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
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caltrek
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I know that I have been advised to just ignore this nonsense game that is being played regarding the debt ceiling. Still, there is something about it I find fascinating. Here is the latest...

Senate Approves Short-term Debt Ceiling Increase
by Jourdane Carney
October 7, 2021

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/575 ... g-increase

Introduction:
(The Hill)The Senate on Thursday approved a deal to increase the debt ceiling and keep the country solvent into December, moving to stave off a default expected to occur in a matter of days.

Senators voted 50-48 along party lines on the short-term increase in the nation’s borrowing limit. GOP Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) didn’t vote. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced House lawmakers will return on Tuesday to vote on the bill, before sending it to President Biden's desk.

Though the final vote, which required a simple majority, was along party lines, 11 Republican senators voted with Democrats to get the bill over a procedural hurdle that required 60 votes.
This action only kicks the can down the road to early December, when another show down may well occur.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
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caltrek
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Biden to Restore Protections to Three National Monuments Slashed by Trump
by Matthew Renda
October 7, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/biden-to ... -by-trump/

Introduction:
(Courthouse News) — The Biden administration will restore environmental protections to three national monuments, including two in Utah and the only marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean, that were diminished dramatically by his predecessor Donald Trump.

President Joe Biden is expected to announce Friday that his Department of the Interior will restore all of the 1.3 million acres to the Bears Ears National Monument plus slightly expanding its conservation footprint. Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument will be restored to its former size..

The administration is also expected to restore protections to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, a marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New England that consists of underwater mountains and canyons.

Bears Ears was dedicated in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama in one of his final acts as president, while Grand Staircase Escalante was dedicated by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Trump reduced the size of each monument, shrinking Bears Ears by about 85% and cutting Grand Staircase Escalante in half at the urging of local leaders who say the curtailment of natural resource extraction industries has hurt local economies and represents a federal incursion into local decision making.
caltrek's comment: This is yet another dramatic difference between Trump and Biden.
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