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Trump Signs $900 Billion Pandemic Relief Bill

posted by martyb on Monday December 28 2020, @07:00PM   
from the Hang-in-there dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Many sources are reporting that Trump finally signed the pandemic relief bill:

• Trump signs stimulus and government spending bill into law, averting shutdown
• Trump Signs Pandemic Relief Bill After Unemployment Aid Lapses
• Trump signs stimulus bill ahead of government shutdown, releasing checks and aid
• Trump signs COVID relief bill amid pressure, but adds conditions

Not gonna summarize all the bits in it - it's some 5k pages of legalese gobbledygook, but I understand it continues augmented unemployment benefits, eviction suspension, funding to prevent government shutdown, and another direct cash payment.

I'm sure it also has a bunch of "porky pork", but the people are suffering, time is of essence, and it should have been done months ago.

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Original Submission

• Re:$30k fine for sharing the wrong meme Re:$30k fine for sharing the wrong meme (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 29 2020, @04:31PM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 29 2020, @04:31PM (#1092504)

  This is a common misunderstanding of what the constitution is. The constitution does not lay out restrictions on what you, a citizen, can (or cannot) do. Its entire purpose is to restrict the power of the government. This is the whole point behind the notion of inalienable rights. For instance you inherently, as human able to communicate, already have the right of free speech. The constitution does not and cannot grant you that, anymore than it can grant you the right to breathe. But what it can do is to prevent the government from trying to restrict that right. The problem we've seen over the past centuries is the government increasingly "interpreting" the constitution in a way that can be succinctly stated as, 'there is no such thing as unconstitutional act.'

  We are now imprisoning people who refuse to give government officials the passwords to their computer devices even though the 5th amendment was designed specifically to prevent this sort of behavior. We have massive unwarranted surveillance and collection of information, sent with an expectation of privacy, in spite of the fact that this is exactly the sort of behaviors that the 4th amendment was designed to prevent. And much, much, much more.

  The issue at hand here is that a constitution is a pointless piece of paper. It has no meaning unless people *make* it have a meaning. You cannot rely on the government to enforce the constitution when it is specifically the government that is breaking it. This is specifically what Jefferson was referencing with his "tree of liberty" reference:

  And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.

  As a society trends towards weakness and pacification, it's simply inevitable that authoritarianism will gradually take hold for authoritarian is the greatest of desires for those that seek power, and with a pacified population there is nothing left to restrain it.

  Parent

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• Re:$30k fine for sharing the wrong meme (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 29 2020, @09:49PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 29 2020, @09:49PM (#1092639)

  Whoosh

  Parent