Trump 51: The Lame Duck a l‘Orange

[CTRLZero]

My sister’s workplace (a bank) is doing its best to keep all employees on the payroll, and most are able to work from home.  What I find wonderful (and wish this was standard), is they have sick leave and “COVID sick leave.”  Time taken for testing, staying out with symptoms, and eventually getting the vaccine are not counted against sick leave.  I hope they are able to continue being generous if times get tougher, but I’m impressed with the lengths they have gone to so far.  I understand not every company can afford to do this, but I hate that there is now apparently an out for companies to not help their Covid-19 stricken workers.  
I really, really want universal health care.  

[Alisamer]

17 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

Trump signs massive measure funding government, COVID relief

Woot woot. Jackass continues to mind fuck just for giggles 

Not necessarily for giggles. It means unemployment actually ran out for millions of people, meaning many of them will have to re-apply (all at the same time, because the system wasn't jammed up enough) in order to continue getting unemployment benefits. It might be possible some of those people will end up having to apply on THIS year's income, also, dramatically reducing what they would receive from already paltry unemployment. Also, that's a full week that $300 extra unemployment didn't have to be paid. It's different state to state, of course, but some people are going to be hit hard simply due to this delay in signing the bill into law. Crow about wanting people to get $2000, but in such a way that it means millions of people will actually lose $300 they would have had, and might lose the entirety of the income they have at the moment.

I should also mention that in the Spring when I signed up for unemployment it took 6 weeks before the first payment came. So there's that. Hopefully the system is in better shape now.

I just certified for the week ending Dec. 26, so I guess next week I'll see what happens. We've had a big job in-house so I've been working the past week and probably will most of this week, thankfully, but once that's done I might have to go back to alternating weeks with the other person in my department, and we've cut our hours by an hour and a half each day as it is. I only get a small amount of unemployment most weeks, but have kept it up in case I get sick (or a co-worker gets sick and we have to quarantine), and so on the weeks I only work a handful of hours I might get enough unemployment for the extra $300 payment. Every penny helps.

[CTRLZero]

Thank you for the explanation of how unemployment benefits were interrupted. I had seen a local article on that, and your post made it more understandable.  An excerpt from the Seattle Times:
 

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Sunday that the state will provide $550 payments to people who were receiving federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which lapsed at midnight Saturday. Trump ultimately did sign a $900 billion pandemic-relief package late Sunday, but because he missed the Saturday deadline, the state was still expecting a weeklong gap in federal PUA payments, the governor’s spokesperson Tara Lee said.

“In our state, we prepared for the possibility of a lapse in benefits and in anticipating it, we developed a plan for a one-time payment for those who have been receiving PUA benefits,” Inslee said in a statement. “Because we established a state backup plan, we can take action today to help some of those harmed by the president’s decision.”

Edited December 28, 2020 by CTRLZero
Oops.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Yeah, that sign sounds about right:

 

[WiseGirl]

2 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

What kind of a shithole country does this?

The shit hole country that I live in. Where rich old white men want to keep the poor as poor as possible.  Think of the differences between District 12 and The Capitol.  It feels pretty much like that. 

*Hunger Games reference but really it's like any Dystopian novel lately. 

[onekidanddone]

Trump doesn’t just burn bridges, he drops a Chernobyl on them

[AmazonGrace]

Far cry from the paintings. This is a sad retiree. 

[Audrey2]

22 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Far cry from the paintings. This is a sad retiree. 

Is it me or does he look like he's put on even more weight over the past couple of months? I think someone is stress eating. (I am only considering this snarky because of his blatant lie from his doctor a few years ago saying that he weighed 238?).

[Dandruff]

20 minutes ago, Audrey2 said:

Is it me or does he look like he's put on even more weight over the past couple of months? I think someone is stress eating. (I am only considering this snarky because of his blatant lie from his doctor a few years ago saying that he weighed 238?).

I think it's time to transpose a couple of digits.

Looks like the front of his neck has largely disappeared.

[fraurosena]

13 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

I really, really want universal health care.  

You need more than that though. You need universal paid sick leave as well. Now you are being punished for getting sick, when it's not something you could actually prevent.

If I am sick, I call it in and get paid leave until I am better. It's unfathomable to me that Americans are treated as disposable trash.

[Jana814]

9 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

Trump doesn’t just burn bridges, he drops a Chernobyl on them

Very true. It has been happening for years. 

[AmazonGrace]

Trump finally wins Obama.

 

[SeekingAdventure]

What do they admire? His ability to absolutely not give a ****?!

[GreyhoundFan]

A good one from Dana Milbank: "Trump, in his final days, goes full King Lear"

Quote

As President Trump behaves ever more erratically in the waning weeks of his term, Republicans and Democrats alike wonder: What’s he thinking?

To all those who would divine in the president’s floundering a grand strategy, or even a small one, let me offer some caution: If you go rummaging around in Trump’s brain right now, you’re going to emerge empty-handed.

He labeled it a “disgrace” — the covid-relief package his treasury secretary negotiated, in part because it was paired with spending items that Trump himself had proposed. After threatening the nation with a government shutdown, he signed the bill anyway.

He vetoed a crucial $741 billion defense bill that provides funding for military programs and gives the troops a pay raise — because of a personal beef he’s having with Twitter and Facebook and because he wants to keep the names of Confederate generals on military bases. On Monday, the House overrode the veto by an overwhelming 322 to 87.

He pardoned lawbreaking cronies and, according to President-elect Joe Biden, the “political leadership” of Trump’s team has blocked the incoming administration from learning about foreign threats, a vulnerability “our adversaries may try to exploit.”

Trump continues his quixotic and lonely bid to overturn the results of the election he lost. He’s now lashing out at Republican leaders who have finally opted to follow the constitutional order rather than continuing to indulge his clownish attempt at a coup.

Even the Murdoch-owned New York Post, which endorsed Trump and ran with Hunter Biden allegations that other outlets could not substantiate, questioned the madness. An editorial in Monday’s edition urged Trump to stop “cheering for an undemocratic coup” and avoid being the “King Lear of Mar-a-Lago, ranting about the corruption of the world.”

The widely-read morning tip sheet, Politico Playbook, marveled over the “bizarre, embarrassing episode for the president” in which he unsuccessfully threatened the covid-relief bill with “no discernible strategy” to make good on his bellicose statements. “He folded, and got nothing besides a few days of attention and chaos,” it concluded.

Ah, but that is exactly what he wanted. Attention is his lifeblood, and chaos its delivery vehicle. There is no strategy or policy.

Arguably, there never was. But in these final days, we see a defeated president abandoning all things — national security, democratic elections and any pretense of handling the duties of the presidency — as he does anything and everything to keep the spotlight on himself.

In tribute to this late-stage Trumpian lunacy, I’m writing these words wearing my back-ordered T-shirt that just arrived from Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia, with the slogan “Make America Rake Again.” (My wife has the other version: “Lawn & Order.”) After the Trump campaign chose this location (near a porn shop and crematorium) for an election-challenge news conference, millions have posed the same question: Why?

New York magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi last week gave us the definitive 5,000-word account. And Nuzzi concludes, more or less, that there was no good explanation. “As one Philadelphia Republican official told me: ‘Duuuuuude! … It’s the height of idiocy!’” she writes. “It was probably always that simple.”

On Monday, the House returned early from its Christmas break to deal with the latest instabilities and idiocies induced by the stable genius.

First, Democrats exploited Trump’s last-minute demand for $2,000 checks for Americans by forcing Republicans to vote on exactly that.

“Democrats agree that families deserve more,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) argued, so their new bill would “increase the payments in the relief package to $2,000, the exact amount the president said he wants.”

The ranking Republican, Rep. Kevin Brady (Tex.), was forced in the position of disagreeing publicly with Trump, saying the bill “does nothing to help get people back to work” and amounts to spending "another trillion dollars so hastily.” Still, he admitted, “we expect a number of Republicans to support this bill.”

Forty-four of them did.

Then, the House took up its override of Trump’s pointless veto of the defense bill, which threatened an annual defense authorization for the first time in 59 years.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (Tex.), the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said, “I continue to support this bill as more than 80 percent of the House did just 20 days ago.” He made it clear, as Biden did earlier in the day, that Trump’s madness is jeopardizing national security.

“The president has exercised his constitutional prerogative,” Thornberry said. “Now, Madam Speaker, it’s up to us. The troops, the country, indeed the world is watching. … Put the best interest of the country first. There is no other consideration that should matter.”

On Monday, 109 House Republicans defied Trump and joined the successful veto override — a first for his presidency. Such a public rejection of Trump’s position by Republicans would have been unthinkable over the past four years. But as his spotlight-grabbing madness worsens, some Republicans are making their belated reacquaintance with sanity.

 

[clueliss]

Josh Hawley seems to be indicating that there are the votes for stimulus in the Senate.

 

[church_of_dog]

8 hours ago, fraurosena said:

You need more than that though. You need universal paid sick leave as well. Now you are being punished for getting sick, when it's not something you could actually prevent.

If I am sick, I call it in and get paid leave until I am better. It's unfathomable to me that Americans are treated as disposable trash.

A few really simplistic questions here, but it will help me to understand.

Who pays your sick leave pay?  If it's your employer, do they get reimbursed from the government to cover?  Because -- especially for small businesses, they might not be able to afford this, especially assuming they need to pay someone else to do the work a person out sick is unable to do.

A related question, who pays these costs for a self-employed person?

And how does a government keep too many people from taking advantage of this setup to take unneeded sick time?

Thanks for helping a naïve person learn...

[Becky]

1 hour ago, AmazonGrace said:

Trump finally wins Obama.

 

That right there convinces me that we, as a country, are broken in a very fundamental way. How sad. 

[clueliss]

I don't find that poll reflective of the country.  I find it reflective of the fact that the media keeps doing polls without recognizing that most people don't answer the phone to unknown callers so they aren't getting a fair representation of how people really think.  Ditto with political polling.

[livinginthelight]

6 minutes ago, clueliss said:

I don't find that poll reflective of the country.  I find it reflective of the fact that the media keeps doing polls without recognizing that most people don't answer the phone to unknown callers so they aren't getting a fair representation of how people really think.  Ditto with political polling.

7 minutes ago, Becky said:

That right there convinces me that we, as a country, are broken in a very fundamental way. How sad.

I'm thinking maybe the "poll" is the equivalent of giving a lollipop to a toddler to get him to calm down.

[Becky]

17 minutes ago, livinginthelight said:

I'm thinking maybe the "poll" is the equivalent of giving a lollipop to a toddler to get him to calm down.

Gosh I hope so. I live in a Trump zone so perhaps my impression is skewed, because I see so many damn Trump signs! A lot of people do admire him, which confuses and saddens me. 

[clueliss]

Here's a different headline for the same poll.

 

[AmazonGrace]

Trump gave himself a participation trophy.

[fraurosena]

56 minutes ago, church_of_dog said:

A few really simplistic questions here, but it will help me to understand.

Who pays your sick leave pay?  If it's your employer, do they get reimbursed from the government to cover?  Because -- especially for small businesses, they might not be able to afford this, especially assuming they need to pay someone else to do the work a person out sick is unable to do.

A related question, who pays these costs for a self-employed person?

And how does a government keep too many people from taking advantage of this setup to take unneeded sick time?

Thanks for helping a naïve person learn...

You're not naive, @church_of_dog. You simply don't have certain knowledge and are smart enough to ask for more information.

I'm going to try to answer your questions one by one as best I can. Because I'm far from an expert on the subject, I'm not always sure about the finer legal details, but I think you'll get the general idea of how things work here.

It's under a spoiler because it became quite lengthy.

Spoiler

 

Who pays sick leave?
Your employer must pay your sick leave for a maximum period of two years. According to the law they must pay you 70% of your salary; however certain terms of employment may state that employers pay 100% during the first year, and then 70% in the second. An employer is mandated to pay you at least minimum wage, even if 70% of your salary puts your income below minimum wage during the first year. If your income falls below minimum wage in the second year, it can be supplemented by special governmental benefits.  However, employers are only mandated to pay 70% of the maximum day salary (a generalized number; currently it's 163 euro). If your salary is higher then you could receive only 70% of 3500 euro per month (unless your terms of employment differ).

Do employers get reimbursed from the government?
No. But they can insure themselves. This is especially important for small businesses, of course.

Who pays the costs for a self-employed person?
The self-employed person does. They too can insure themselves for this eventuality.

How does a government keep too many people from unnecessarily taking advantage of this setup?
The government doesn't; at least not directly. There are provisions in the law that tackle this eventuality though.
First of all, the first two days of illness aren't covered -- according to the law, an employer doesn't have to pay the first two days to prevent people from taking unnecessary advantage. In practice though, many if not most employers will pay from the very first day you call in sick.
Secondly, sick employees have rights, such as paid sick leave, but they also have obligations. You must call in sick on the first workday of your illness. During your illness, you must be available for check-ups. Check-ups are not done for short term illnesses (less than 14 days) and at first are simple telephone calls from your manager, asking how things are going and when you expect to be back (there are rules though, the manager cannot ask about the nature of your illness, for example, although you are free to tell them if you want). If your illness is more serious or lengthy, you can be asked to visit the company doctor. A company doctor is not, as my simple translation of the Dutch word implies, a doctor in the employ of a company, but a doctor who specializes in assisting employees in reintegrating back to work. This doctor will be contractually hired by a company to do this for their sick employees. The company doctor is bound by doctor-patient confidentiality, and will only report his prognosis of your return to work to your employer. If necessary, the company doctor will make a personalized plan with you to reintegrate (e.g. start off working half days, or fewer days per week, and gradually build up until you are completely well again).

Not a question you asked, but:
What happens if you are on unemployment benefits and you become ill?
You must call in sick with your unemployment officer. Your unemployment benefits are stopped and replaced by 'sick pay '. Just like unemployment benefits, 'sick pay' is funded by the government. Your obligations are the same as for employees, except you contact your unemployment officer. Just like companies, unemployment offices hire company doctors. During your illness, you are exempt from your mandatory job applications.

Another question you didn't ask:
What happens if you become permanently unable to work?
Your contract with your employer will be terminated and you will become eligible for disability benefits. It will depend on factors such as your age and the nature of your disability which benefits exactly you are eligible for. Before your employment is officially terminated, the process of getting your disability benefits will be started, to ensure a smooth transition without loss of income.

 

 

[clueliss]

So you know how Bernie was going to try to hold up voting on the Defense Bill if they didn't vote on the Stimulus in the Senate FIRST?  Hawley wants to do the same.  (And Don't mind me - I'm over here trying to figure out why we have a conservative R and a far left progressive D on the same side.  Stuff like that weirds me out a bit)