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Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
December 30, 2020
https://thebanter.substack.com/p/a-seasons-greetings-message-to-donnie
This is the time of year for spreading joy and seeing the best in your fellow human being. A time for celebration, forgiveness, and extending a warm hand to those with whom you may have had differences in the past. Well, fuck that. To the discerning eye, you appear to be suffering on the way out. But my appetite is merely whetted. I pray in the coming days that suffering increases exponentially. Astoundingly, after years inflicting incalculable misery upon the people of this nation purely for the sake of greed and ego, the atrocities you are perpetrating at this late date exceed the sum of all previous atrocities. As you know so well and deep down in that place where your soul once was, you are not worthy of anything even approximating mercy.
May the cancer of your spirit— now clearly metastasizing on your pasty, creased faces—consume you visibly and whole. May your utter lack of humanity and empathy materialize as 200 proof karma swallowing internal organs, bursting blood vessels, and propelling you to pine for a sweet but elusive death. In all this time, I never quite figured out why it is you so loathe America, the country you seek to overthrow as I write. Is it the shards of meritocracy that still remain, enough for a Black man born with nothing to outshine you? Is it the thousands of vibrant, self-made women who spurned your menacing advances? Is it the millions of hard working people who find more organic satisfaction in their rigorous daily labor than you find in all of your pawns, schemes, and subterfuge? Is it the nobility of medical professionals, the bravery of soldiers, the dedication of educators?
Who can really say? All I know is through a combination of parasitism and neglect, you have done almost everything within the power granted you to destroy those granting it. And now, as it turns out, you must pay in ways that defy even your own gruesome imagination. I have reserved a front row seat. With each passing day—the clock seemingly slowing down in half-the-distance-to-the-goal-line fashion—your desperate clinging to misbegotten power increases. The options considered become more devious. The M.O. more toxic. The results more deadly. The endgame more cataclysmic. As unrepentant mass murderers—and pardoners of the same—you display the attitude of the garden-variety killer, who once venturing beyond a certain arbitrary mind-boggling body count determines all forthcoming bloodlust is essentially a freebie. May this cynical calculation prove as wrong as your claim that COVID-19 would just disappear.
There is no principle you won’t mock, no oath you won’t break, no line of decency you won’t cross. There is no responsibility you won’t eschew, no situation you won’t exploit, no person you won’t prostitute. May the coming reckoning bring searing child-like screams. Hallelujah, the chickens have come home to roost. After decades of lucky sevens you have rolled a snake eyes for the ages. While it is impossible to know what awaits those on the other side with literally no redeeming qualities, on this side, may the walls close in quickly enough to cause ineffable agony yet not quickly enough to snuff it out. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year, you worthless sacks of subhuman fecal matter.
snip
A Season's Greetings Message to Donnie, Rudy, and Their Fellow Klansmen
A time for celebration, forgiveness, and extending a warm hand to those with whom you may have had differences in the past. Well, fuck that.https://thebanter.substack.com/p/a-seasons-greetings-message-to-donnie
This is the time of year for spreading joy and seeing the best in your fellow human being. A time for celebration, forgiveness, and extending a warm hand to those with whom you may have had differences in the past. Well, fuck that. To the discerning eye, you appear to be suffering on the way out. But my appetite is merely whetted. I pray in the coming days that suffering increases exponentially. Astoundingly, after years inflicting incalculable misery upon the people of this nation purely for the sake of greed and ego, the atrocities you are perpetrating at this late date exceed the sum of all previous atrocities. As you know so well and deep down in that place where your soul once was, you are not worthy of anything even approximating mercy.
May the cancer of your spirit— now clearly metastasizing on your pasty, creased faces—consume you visibly and whole. May your utter lack of humanity and empathy materialize as 200 proof karma swallowing internal organs, bursting blood vessels, and propelling you to pine for a sweet but elusive death. In all this time, I never quite figured out why it is you so loathe America, the country you seek to overthrow as I write. Is it the shards of meritocracy that still remain, enough for a Black man born with nothing to outshine you? Is it the thousands of vibrant, self-made women who spurned your menacing advances? Is it the millions of hard working people who find more organic satisfaction in their rigorous daily labor than you find in all of your pawns, schemes, and subterfuge? Is it the nobility of medical professionals, the bravery of soldiers, the dedication of educators?
Who can really say? All I know is through a combination of parasitism and neglect, you have done almost everything within the power granted you to destroy those granting it. And now, as it turns out, you must pay in ways that defy even your own gruesome imagination. I have reserved a front row seat. With each passing day—the clock seemingly slowing down in half-the-distance-to-the-goal-line fashion—your desperate clinging to misbegotten power increases. The options considered become more devious. The M.O. more toxic. The results more deadly. The endgame more cataclysmic. As unrepentant mass murderers—and pardoners of the same—you display the attitude of the garden-variety killer, who once venturing beyond a certain arbitrary mind-boggling body count determines all forthcoming bloodlust is essentially a freebie. May this cynical calculation prove as wrong as your claim that COVID-19 would just disappear.
There is no principle you won’t mock, no oath you won’t break, no line of decency you won’t cross. There is no responsibility you won’t eschew, no situation you won’t exploit, no person you won’t prostitute. May the coming reckoning bring searing child-like screams. Hallelujah, the chickens have come home to roost. After decades of lucky sevens you have rolled a snake eyes for the ages. While it is impossible to know what awaits those on the other side with literally no redeeming qualities, on this side, may the walls close in quickly enough to cause ineffable agony yet not quickly enough to snuff it out. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year, you worthless sacks of subhuman fecal matter.
snip
December 26, 2020
President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday he will keep his pledge to roll back the Trump administration’s restrictive asylum policies but at a slower pace than he initially promised, to avoid winding up with “2 million people on our border.” Biden said immigration is one of the urgent matters he will tackle starting next month as the nation emerges from “one of the toughest years we’ve ever faced,” ticking off a list that included the coronavirus, the economy, racial-justice issues and “historic and punishing wildfires and storms.”
Biden had promised to end on “Day 1” a program that requires tens of thousands of asylum seekers, mainly from Central America, to await their U.S. immigration hearings in Mexico. But the president-elect said creating a system to process thousands of asylum seekers will take months, because the government needs funding to put staffers such as “asylum judges” in place. “The timeline is to do it so that we, in fact, make it better not worse,” Biden said, speaking from his home state of Delaware, delivering remarks ahead of the holiday. “I will do what I said. It’s going to take — not Day 1 — it’s going to take probably the next six months to put that in place.”
Advocates for immigrants hope Biden will terminate the “return to Mexico” policy, known as Migrant Protection Protocols, before the Supreme Court is expected to take it up next year. Biden said he is already working with authorities in Mexico and other Latin American nations, as well as with U.S.-based nonprofit groups, to carve a path on immigration policy. “Trust me,” he said. Biden said he was not dragging his feet but “setting up the guardrails” to find a solution to the immigration issue, instead of creating a crisis “that complicates what we’re trying to do.” Biden echoed what top advisers said this week to manage expectations about the pace of the new administration as they prepare to take office.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call earlier Tuesday, several members of the Biden transition team said the incoming administration would “need time” to undo “damage” to the U.S. immigration system and border enforcement policies that have severely limited the ability of asylum seekers to qualify for humanitarian protection. The transition officials echoed statements made by Susan E. Rice, Biden’s incoming domestic policy adviser, and Jake Sullivan, his pick for national security adviser, in an interview published Monday with the Spanish wire service EFE urging patience with their immigration agenda.
snip
WaPo: Biden says he'll reverse Trump immigration policies but wants 'guardrails' first
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/biden-immigration-policy-changes/2020/12/22/2eb9ef92-4400-11eb-8deb-b948d0931c16_story.htmlPresident-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday he will keep his pledge to roll back the Trump administration’s restrictive asylum policies but at a slower pace than he initially promised, to avoid winding up with “2 million people on our border.” Biden said immigration is one of the urgent matters he will tackle starting next month as the nation emerges from “one of the toughest years we’ve ever faced,” ticking off a list that included the coronavirus, the economy, racial-justice issues and “historic and punishing wildfires and storms.”
Biden had promised to end on “Day 1” a program that requires tens of thousands of asylum seekers, mainly from Central America, to await their U.S. immigration hearings in Mexico. But the president-elect said creating a system to process thousands of asylum seekers will take months, because the government needs funding to put staffers such as “asylum judges” in place. “The timeline is to do it so that we, in fact, make it better not worse,” Biden said, speaking from his home state of Delaware, delivering remarks ahead of the holiday. “I will do what I said. It’s going to take — not Day 1 — it’s going to take probably the next six months to put that in place.”
Advocates for immigrants hope Biden will terminate the “return to Mexico” policy, known as Migrant Protection Protocols, before the Supreme Court is expected to take it up next year. Biden said he is already working with authorities in Mexico and other Latin American nations, as well as with U.S.-based nonprofit groups, to carve a path on immigration policy. “Trust me,” he said. Biden said he was not dragging his feet but “setting up the guardrails” to find a solution to the immigration issue, instead of creating a crisis “that complicates what we’re trying to do.” Biden echoed what top advisers said this week to manage expectations about the pace of the new administration as they prepare to take office.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call earlier Tuesday, several members of the Biden transition team said the incoming administration would “need time” to undo “damage” to the U.S. immigration system and border enforcement policies that have severely limited the ability of asylum seekers to qualify for humanitarian protection. The transition officials echoed statements made by Susan E. Rice, Biden’s incoming domestic policy adviser, and Jake Sullivan, his pick for national security adviser, in an interview published Monday with the Spanish wire service EFE urging patience with their immigration agenda.
snip
December 26, 2020
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania tenants and homeowners missed out on roughly $108 million of $175 million in federal coronavirus relief because state programs distributing the funding made it too hard to access, Spotlight PA has found. The remaining money will be redistributed to the state’s Department of Corrections.
Over the summer, Pennsylvania created two new housing programs to spend money it received under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act: $150 million for rent relief and $25 million for mortgage help. Thousands of struggling families applied up until an extended Nov. 4 deadline, as coronavirus shutdowns led to layoffs, lost wages, and missed rent and mortgage payments. Local governments and nonprofits administering the funds were inundated with phone calls and emails from people pleading for help with the demanding application processes.
Nonetheless, the deadline to pay out all $175 million was Nov. 30 and roughly $108 million was not used, according to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, which oversaw both programs and was still finalizing the precise numbers on Friday. The legislature voted in November to redirect any remaining CARES Act funds from these and other programs to the Department of Corrections. The money will go toward payroll expenses for public safety and health-care employees, “or similar employees whose services are substantially dedicated to mitigating or responding to the covid-19 public health emergency.”
“It’s horrible to know that the state did such a poor job of helping people,” said Patty Torres, organizing director at Make the Road Pennsylvania, a Latinx advocacy group.
snip
PA misses deadline to spend $108M in rent, mortgage relief from CARES Act (it goes to prisons now)
https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2020/12/rent-relief-pennsylvania-rrp-cares-act-eviction-mortgage-budget-doc/HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania tenants and homeowners missed out on roughly $108 million of $175 million in federal coronavirus relief because state programs distributing the funding made it too hard to access, Spotlight PA has found. The remaining money will be redistributed to the state’s Department of Corrections.
Over the summer, Pennsylvania created two new housing programs to spend money it received under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act: $150 million for rent relief and $25 million for mortgage help. Thousands of struggling families applied up until an extended Nov. 4 deadline, as coronavirus shutdowns led to layoffs, lost wages, and missed rent and mortgage payments. Local governments and nonprofits administering the funds were inundated with phone calls and emails from people pleading for help with the demanding application processes.
Nonetheless, the deadline to pay out all $175 million was Nov. 30 and roughly $108 million was not used, according to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, which oversaw both programs and was still finalizing the precise numbers on Friday. The legislature voted in November to redirect any remaining CARES Act funds from these and other programs to the Department of Corrections. The money will go toward payroll expenses for public safety and health-care employees, “or similar employees whose services are substantially dedicated to mitigating or responding to the covid-19 public health emergency.”
“It’s horrible to know that the state did such a poor job of helping people,” said Patty Torres, organizing director at Make the Road Pennsylvania, a Latinx advocacy group.
snip
December 26, 2020
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers: "$2,000 checks would be a pretty serious mistake."
He is not even really for the 600 USD cheques.
https://twitter.com/BloombergTV/status/1342173060955332609
"$2,000 checks would be a pretty serious mistake."
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says larger stimulus checks to Americans could risk overheating the economy
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