Lurker > ZannoL

5/10 since we can only see his top half

120%
Y'all wanna see how long I can hold my breath?

It has been less than two weeks since Americans started getting their second coronavirus relief payments "stimulus checks" and the anticipation about a third phase is already heating up.

President-elect Joe Biden has called the current $600 round of cash a "down payment," and early last week he said $2,000 checks would go out "immediately" if his party took control of both houses of Congress.

The Democrats will indeed run the House and Senate starting late this month, owing to some election results last week.

In the days ahead, Biden plans to lay out a proposal for a massive new COVID relief package, including fresh direct payments to Americans.

How fast is "immediately"? Here's what we can currently say about the likelihood and timing of third stimulus checks.

Biden told reporters at a briefing on Friday that one of his first priorities is pulling together a plan to spend trillions more money to bolster the economy, as the virus rages.

"We need to provide more immediate relief for families and businesses now," he said. "People are really, really, really in desperate shape."

Many struggling consumers have been eager for additional government relief. Americans largely spent their first stimulus payments on basics like groceries and utility bills, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

Some also invested the money, a bureau survey found, or used it for various other needs. Those may have included buying affordable life insurance, as the pandemic has seen sales of policies take off.

Biden is expected to present more details on his proposal in the coming week. But he's been talking about moving rapidly to get $2,000 into the hands of Americans.

"That money will go out the door immediately to help people who are in real trouble," he promised on Monday of last week, while campaigning for Democrats running in a pair of U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia.

Biden's party won both seats which will flip control of the Senate to the Democrats and give them power over both sides of Capitol Hill. That could make it easier for Biden's proposals, like new stimulus checks, to become reality.

How quickly could new payments go out?

Nothing can happen, legislation-wise, before late January. Biden and the new vice president, Kamala Harris, will be sworn in on Jan. 20, and the new senators from Georgia may not take their seats until Jan. 22 the state's deadline for certifying the runoff results.

That all means if Congress and the incoming Biden administration are able to come together on fresh relief money, you're not likely to see anything until February, at the earliest.

you don't know what it means to be gay / straight if you think having a gay experience makes you gay.

If I ever tried oral sex with a woman, nobody would call me straight, because I'm obviously still gay.

experimentation doesn't equal orientation.

Why do people always get so defensive and try to "gotcha" vegetarians with stuff like this? Repressed guilt? I mean the guy wasn't shaming omnivores over that stuff, just stating that it's a big motivation. And I'm an omni myself to be clear, but I have tried to limit my consumption more.

I can understand this kind of response if a vegan is calling you a horrible monster or whatever but I think if we could all be more chill and thoughtful from both perspectives it would go a long way

Victories by the two Democrats in Tuesday's Senate runoff elections in Georgia could mean a third stimulus check for Americans this spring, according to analysts. That would provide crucial financial support for households that this week are receiving $600 payments directed by the most recent relief bill an effort that has been criticized by both Democrats and some Republicans as doing too little to help struggling families.

CBS News projects that Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have defeated incumbent Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. The surprise outcome will result in a 50-50 split between Senate Democrats and Republicans, giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tiebreaking vote. That will ease passage of another stimulus relief bill, which President-elect Joe Biden has previously said he supports, according to political and financial analysts.

Another so-called Economic Impact Payment would come on the heels of the most recent relief measure, a $900 billion bill that President Donald Trump delayed and criticized as "ridiculously low." Democrats and some Republicans had supported lifting the checks to $2,000 per person, but the effort failed due to opposition from Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell.

A big question is whether lawmakers might push for $2,000 or $1,400 cash payments, with the latter representing the difference between the $600 checks and the quashed effort to boost them to $2,000 in the most recent bill.

"We expect growing anticipation that Democrats will pursue additional stimulus, with a $2,000 check (or at least the remaining $1,400) as a leading item," Ed Mills, an analyst with investment bank Raymond James, said in a report following the Georgia election.

Mr. Biden has described the $900 billion stimulus bill passed last month as a "down payment" on a more comprehensive relief package. That could translate into a new package ranging from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, according to Heights Securities analyst Hunter Hammond.

A sweetened stimulus package would likely come in March, Hammond and Mills predict. That's because the most recent relief measure extended unemployment programs until mid-March, which puts pressure on Congress to act on additional financial support by that cutoff to continue jobless benefits for millions of unemployed Americans.

Democrats are likely to push for a new round of checks worth $2,000, Hammond predicted, noting that both Mr. Biden, as well as Warnock and Ossoff, had campaigned on the issue. While stumping for the candidates ahead of this week's vote, Mr. Biden said their election would help get $2,000 checks "out the door immediately, to help people who are in real trouble."

I do think it could use a new name though.

The people who the term applies to are probably going to like being called masculine. I usually just call them assholes or pieces of shit.

Yes it's real. An ex-coworker use to shame me for using cream and sugar with my coffee. He told me only pussies drink it like that and real men drink it straight up black. What a weird guy.

Anything by and large can be taken to extremes and therefore become toxic. Because you can have too much of a good thing.

One thing that the long quarantine has revealed to us is that a lot of guy things are kind of ancillary to survival.

Stripped of the necessity of doing them, where does that leave men who define themselves by those parameters?

Toxic masculinity is defined as a collection of cultural norms that are harmful to the men who perpetuate them and to society in general. It does not mean all masculinity is poisonous. Instead, its a way to look at what is manly and assess whether it actually helps or hurts.

One good example is sorting various activities into mens duties and women (or effeminate, usually rendered as gay) ones. Ive seen men question whether things such as cooking or washing their buttholes is gay. President Donald Trump, who desperately wants to be perceived as an aggressively macho dude, once claimed that changing a babys diaper made men like the wife. Even artistic endeavors like painting and playing the piano get lumped into the is this for pussies existential crisis despite the fact the vast majority of celebrated artists and pianists are male. This is a great example of the toxicity because it shows how men can dominate an arena and still punish men for being in it. Its not only harmful; its galactically stupid.

Toxic masculinity has left men ill-equipped for the crisis because on the extreme end of the spectrum is the notion that feelings and vulnerability are the domain of the female. Melanie Hamlett wrote a tremendous article in Harpers Bazaar last year about how men increasingly disconnect from each other and rely on their wives and girlfriends entirely for their emotional needs. Thats a burden at the best of times, but when everyone is stuck in close proximity with nothing to do it can become unbearable. Mens emotional needs go unfulfilled, as do the needs of the women they make responsible for them and who neglect their own needs in return.

The good news is that this crisis might have finally started the damn to break. Without game days or bar trips a lot of men are starting to embrace more face-to-face activities albeit virtually. Keeping in touch with male friends through Zoom or WhatsApp and other more intimate means besides focusing on exterior stimulus like watching a fight on television is putting holes in the walls that men have pointlessly built between themselves due to toxic masculinity.

yeah pretty hot

what does become whoopi mean?

Joy Behar did not hold back on The View in a moment that has now gone viral on Tuesday (January 5).

The longtime co-host sparred with Meghan McCain, who returned from maternity leave on Monday (January 4).

On the one hand you have the Republicans, Joy said, and on the other hand you have the seditionistsAmong the Democrats you have the progressives and the moderates which is de rigueur.

Meghan interrupted, saying, Are you kidding me?, but then, Joy responded, Excuse me, Im not done.

Well its just thats completely inaccurate. Joy you missed me so much when I was on maternity leave you missed fighting with me, Meghan said.

I did not, Joy said in response. I did not miss you. Zero.

Thats so nasty, Meghan retorted. Thats so rude. Thats, like, so nasty.

Whoopi Goldberg then interjected, This is not the way to do it and Im going to now become Whoopi and say Sara Id like to hear from you right now.

I watched the first episode but was drunk so I don't remember basically any of it.

Girlfriend loved it so much she binged it over two days. And she never binges anything or is even into watching stuff in general.

Bridgerton is on track to become one of Netflixs biggest launches of all time!

The new series from Shonda Rhimes production company Shondaland is on course to be viewed by 63 million households in its first 28 days on the streaming service.

These numbers will rank Bridgerton as the fifth biggest launch for a Netflix series.

The current top four consist of The Witcher, Stranger Things season three, Money Heist season four, and Tiger King.

A second season of Bridgerton hasnt been ordered yet, but it seems likely that the show will get one thanks to the major success. The season one finale might have given a clue about whats to come in the next season!

trying to make carrot juice sexy is what bothers me tbh

What Kraft guy?

I think the only person who acknowledges this is just you judging with how much you always seem to bring it up time after goddamn time, not us 'conservatives'.

As a heterosexual male, should I be?

Who even notices shit like that?

Yeah, I enjoyed the show. The characters are great. There are a lot of season to watch through though (9 seasons total, over 200 episodes).

This. Nothing wrong with playing a different orientation. How I Met Your Mother had a gay guy playing a straight guy and a straight guy playing his gay brother. And it worked so well.

He's hot