Senate Dems deliver.

The Senate passed a $3.5 trillion budget resolution along party lines 50-49. It's is a blueprint to be fleshed out in committees for a spending bill.

It's a massive investment in the future, and much-needed repairs for today.

1/

npr.org/2021/07/14/101…
I'll steal text from the linked article, so you can read it here.

Your taxes will NOT be increased, if you make less than $400,000/year, but it IS paid for, and the sources of revenue are spelled out.

2/
The article not only tells us what's in the package, but which committees have to write which peices.

It contains massive investment in education, including paid community college tuition, universal pre-K, and spending for HBCU's.

Also a commitment for immigration reform.

3/
Paid family leave, ACA expansion, Medicare to include dental, vision and hearing and a lower eligibility age. Expanded child tax credit, long-term senior care. Paid for with corporate and international tax reform, more progressive tax rates, carbon polluter fees.

4/
Big investments in agriculture conservation, forestry and drought programs, climate research, Civilian Climate Corp (!), movements toward clean electricity and vast, agressive reductions in carbon emissions.

5/
Affordable housing initiatives, rental assistance, revitalization, public housing.

This budget proposal will reshape America in vast ways, a giant leap for the liberal programs Democratic president have been advocating for decades.

There's more...

6/
Investments in clean energy & climate (in addition to the agriculture stuff mentioned above): financing clean energy programs, climate research, energy efficient materials production, solar energy for low-income markets, clean water, energy efficient buildings and vehicles.

7/
Even the Homeland Security portions will include investments in green materials. (No border wall.)

Investments in education, house, energy, and language programs for Native Americans.

Expansions of small business and VA programs.

8/
During the four years of the Trump Reich, Republican struggled to get anything done at all. Other than approving fascist judges, the only major bill they enacted was the 2017 #TaxScam.

American languished and deteriorated. Federal programs became hollowed out.

9/
It's far easier to tear something down than to build. To break things, all you need is malicious neglect, and perhaps a few crowbars.

Democrats are rapidly moving an aggressive agenda to not merely repair America, but to rebuild anew.

10/
cnn.com/2021/08/11/pol…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with DCPetterson

DCPetterson Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @dcpetterson

11 Aug
The latest IPCC climate report has just been issued, and it is truly dire.

If we take drastic measures =now=, it is possible (not at all certain) we may be able to hold global temperature rise below 2 degrees C.

That doesn't sound like much. It is.

1/7
ipcc.ch/report/sixth-a…
Let me scare you with how bad 2C is.

During the height of the last Ice Age maximum, the world was only about 2C =colder= than it was in the 1950s. A difference of 2C is the difference between half of the world covered under a mile of ice, and the climate we all grew up in.

2/7
What 2C =warmer= means is hard to understand, but it will inevitably be a difference on the same scale.

Humans have never lived in that world. Much bigger deserts, immense coastal flooding, wars over fresh water, literally billions of displaced climate refugees.

3/7
Read 7 tweets
11 Aug
One way the most extreme cults keep members in line is by demanding they commit some horrible atrocity simply to join.

In the Mob, it's called "making your bones." You might have to kill someone, for instance. Historically, some cults have demanded crimes up to cannibalism.

1/6
These initiation rites are designed not only to prove your loyalty and to give the cult heavy blackmail to threaten you with, but also to rob you of your humanity. To later renounce the cult would mean you have to admit (even to yourself) that you did an inhuman thing.

2/6
Few people have the moral courage to admit their own such crimes were unjustifiable, and yet they did them anyway. The only alternative is to double-down and insist the acts were not crimes, but were necessary, and perhaps even served a Greater Good.

3/6
Read 7 tweets
8 Aug
Let's all agree: Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos are terrible people.

They had some big ideas. Whether you like those ideas or not, whether you like those guys or not, they're putting their ideas into practice.

Contrast this with Bernie Sanders.

1/12
I've been told Sanders has big ideas. Many people like his big ideas. He's been unable to put any of them into practice.

Don't tell me about how "the establishment" doesn't like his ideas. That didn't bother Musk, Bezos or Branson.

2/12
Again, Musk, Bezos and Branson all suck. We're agreed on that. I'm not defending them. I'm saying the excuses for why Sanders is completely ineffectual don't impress me.

Also, Sanders is as "establishment" as it is possible to be.

3/12
Read 12 tweets
8 Aug
Scale comparison. On the left is Starship (earlier design--there's now another pair of fins toward the tip). Then Saturn V that brought three people at a time to the Moon. Then Statue of Liberty, then the Space Shuttle.

Starship will eventually seat over a hundred passengers.
Starship is designed to be reusable--not just the orbital part (as with the Shuttle), but even the booster stage, which will land back and the launch pad, be refueled and refurbished, and have another orbital stage set on top.

The orbital part is also, of course, reusable.
The Starship that was assembled yesterday is scheduled for a test flight within the next month or so. The orbital part will spashdown in the Pacific for this test run. The booster stage is meant to land on a SpaceX ocean barge.
spacelaunchnow.me/launch/starshi…
Read 4 tweets
7 Aug
I stood in a line today waiting to order fish and chips from a food truck in a parking lot at the local Office Depot. Two older ladies behind me discussed the hazy skies we're seeing from California wildfires.

Here's what we're up against.

1/8
They agreed the massive fires were due to politics.

People in California stupidly want keep things "natural." They should clear the brush out there that causes wildfires. It's not because of global warming. It's because their politics doesn't let them clear brush.

2/8
I stopped listening then.

Put aside that "wanting to keep it natural" couldn't cause this. Since "brush" is natural, it's been there tens of thousands of years. Brush volume hasn't changed. It couldn't suddenly cause unprecedentedly massive fires now.

But forget that.

3/8
Read 8 tweets
7 Aug
Self indulgence. A thread full of total and unabased self indulgance.

How it started, how it's going.

Below is a picture I took about 4 years ago, of the spot where I intended then to build my house.

1/4 Image
I worked with an architect to design a house for this spot, one that would fill our needs and also fit the landscape. I took a render from the architect and pasted it onto the view of the land.

2/4 Image
This is what the house looks like today. I think we got pretty close.

I need to take this same picture on another day, when the sky isn't so hazy from faraway wildfires.

3/4 Image
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(