[HN Gopher] Senate Unanimously Approves a Bill to Make Juneteent...
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       Senate Unanimously Approves a Bill to Make Juneteenth a Public
       Holiday
        
       Author : erehweb
       Score  : 67 points
       Date   : 2021-06-15 22:30 UTC (29 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.npr.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.npr.org)
        
       | crypto-cousin wrote:
       | Great to hear. America has not been doing nearly enough to
       | empower Blxck people and ensure their ethnic legacy.
       | 
       | Also important to keep in mind that white people are the largest
       | ethnic group in the US, so any resulting hit to American
       | productivity will mostly help to dismantle white supremacy.
        
       | hanniabu wrote:
       | It bothers me when they're quick to make empty efforts like this
       | yet when it comes to doing anything that actually matters an
       | overwhelming majority of them (on both sides) will vote against
       | it.
        
         | seneca wrote:
         | That's a feature, not a bug. No one cares about Juneteenth just
         | like no one cares about Kwanza, so there's no disagreement, so
         | it sails through. When people care, there's disagreement and
         | deadlock.
         | 
         | Change to things that actually matter is supposed to be slow
         | and difficult in Government. Otherwise there would be constant
         | change as either side managed to seize power, and our legal
         | system would be completely unpredictable.
        
         | JMTQp8lwXL wrote:
         | Election reform seems like a meaningful issue to tackle: what
         | could be more fundamental to our Democracy? Democrats seem
         | poised to make their best effort, but it's extremely difficult
         | to do with 50+1 votes in the Senate. I wouldn't characterize
         | D's as not doing anything on this specific issue.
        
       | chadlavi wrote:
       | Honestly very surprised this was unanimous. Maybe a lot of the
       | people I would have thought would vote nay were conveniently
       | absent for the vote?
        
         | standardUser wrote:
         | It wasn't a roll call vote. It's a maneuver wherein the measure
         | passes as long as no one present chooses to object.
        
       | baggy_trough wrote:
       | "Republican legislation to limit teaching a historically accurate
       | picture of U.S. history in public institutions has advanced in
       | some half a dozen states."
       | 
       | Mind-boggling propaganda.
        
         | onionisafruit wrote:
         | "historically accurate picture of U.S. history" is a nice
         | euphemism there.
        
       | jdhn wrote:
       | On one hand, that's nice that there's another public holiday, but
       | on the other hand this feels like such an empty gesture, almost
       | like the political equivalent of putting a filter on your selfie.
        
       | paxys wrote:
       | What does making it a public holiday mean? I assume federal
       | government offices will be shut on that day. What about state
       | offices? Banks, other services? Private companies?
        
         | threatofrain wrote:
         | Companies and schools tend to echo federal holidays, so this
         | will have some small effect but on a very big scale.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | m3kw9 wrote:
       | How does a new holiday impact the economy? Does it factor into a
       | decision?
        
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       (page generated 2021-06-15 23:00 UTC)