Buried in this bill was also a destruction of the hemp industry as we know it. Cannabanoids now measured with all THC analogs, and max 0.4mg THC per package which is essentially impossible without chemical refinement of the flower.
Congress nuked a multi billion dollar industry, and hardly anyone was asking for it other than a few prohibitionists and weed stock owners who felt the hemp market a threat to their non-hemp cannabis fiefdom. A complete curveball that will likely produce a 10k+ impact on employment.
Cannabis is already/still illegal on the federal level and that hasn't stopped states from doing their own thing. Why would this particular bill make a difference?
Correct me if wrong, but this looks like a severe own-goal for the democrats? A long shutdown to try and force something - as a minority party, using the senate 60 vote threshold quirk, that they didn't get?
Absolutely. Party has no leadership. The progressive wing has been organizing their base, protesting, and calling congressional offices, trying to encourage centrist Dems do something. They finally do this but then get fold immediately when the market starts to dip and flights get canceled. The progressive wing will now proceed to spam call their offices, protest book tours, and call for Chuck Schumer to step down. Rinse and repeat at the next deadline on Jan 30.
If Mamdani’s victory is anything to go by it’s that the centrist Dems are toast. They will get primaried. They know this, it’s why the fall guys that voted to end the shutdown are not up for reelection during the midterms.
Well, they painted the Republicans as "the people who wouldn't stop your medical insurance from becoming unaffordable". If Congress fails to extend the subsidy, that's going to be very painful for a lot of people, and politically, the blame will fall on the Republicans. That could be a major win for the Democrats when 2026 rolls around.
The Democratic establishment is particularly adept at own-goals, unfortunately. It feels like Congressional Democrats got one whiff of a "blue wave" from the elections, and we're right back to 2024 or 2016 where they think they can just phone it in with milquetoast compromise and people will "have to" show up and vote Democrat.
Choosing to focus on healthcare subsidies instead of Congressional Republicans' lack of oversight of the President while most of the government is shut down by fiat and the President deputizes fundamentalist militias to attack and ransack blue states and cities was its own sort of own-goal as well. Turmp has shown that people want politicians that will stand up for something, even if that something is utterly horrible and self-destructive policy. Democrats must wake up to their pressing need for some spine transplants, ideally sooner rather than later.
The Democrats are in a new world. They've lost a cultural and information hegemony they had for 40 years, and thus, the playbook of the past doesn't work (for a variety of reasons).
This includes over $1 million in direct payouts to 8 senators who were under LEO review for helping with the insurrection attempt of January 6th. All while nuking the hemp industry and refusing to stop ACA plan premiums from skyrocketing in any way.
This country is a brazen, open, corrupt oligarchy with an active distain for its people. I've genuinely lost any hope for recovery if the progressives need to completely overthrow their own party to even start resisting.
mothballed|3 months ago
Congress nuked a multi billion dollar industry, and hardly anyone was asking for it other than a few prohibitionists and weed stock owners who felt the hemp market a threat to their non-hemp cannabis fiefdom. A complete curveball that will likely produce a 10k+ impact on employment.
decimalenough|3 months ago
jalapenos|3 months ago
quamserena|3 months ago
If Mamdani’s victory is anything to go by it’s that the centrist Dems are toast. They will get primaried. They know this, it’s why the fall guys that voted to end the shutdown are not up for reelection during the midterms.
AnimalMuppet|3 months ago
mindslight|3 months ago
Choosing to focus on healthcare subsidies instead of Congressional Republicans' lack of oversight of the President while most of the government is shut down by fiat and the President deputizes fundamentalist militias to attack and ransack blue states and cities was its own sort of own-goal as well. Turmp has shown that people want politicians that will stand up for something, even if that something is utterly horrible and self-destructive policy. Democrats must wake up to their pressing need for some spine transplants, ideally sooner rather than later.
infamouscow|3 months ago
The Democrats are in a new world. They've lost a cultural and information hegemony they had for 40 years, and thus, the playbook of the past doesn't work (for a variety of reasons).
Tadpole9181|3 months ago
This country is a brazen, open, corrupt oligarchy with an active distain for its people. I've genuinely lost any hope for recovery if the progressives need to completely overthrow their own party to even start resisting.