US Politics January 2019: we are #ready to drop something much, much bigger

Clowns.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/millions-face-delayed-tax-refunds-cuts-to-food-aid-as-white-house-scrambles-to-deal-with-shutdown/2019/01/04/b5b58616-0fa3-11e9-8938-5898adc28fa2_story.html?utm_term=.f20d5ad47042

Food stamps for 38 million low-income Americans face severe reductions and more than $140 billion in tax refunds are at risk of being frozen or delayed if the government shutdown stretches into February, widespread disruptions that threaten to hurt the economy.

The Trump administration, which had not anticipated a long-term shutdown, recognized only this week the breadth of the potential impact, several senior administration officials said. The officials said they’re focused now on understanding the scope of the consequences and determining whether there is anything they can do to intervene.

it's almost as if someone with no experience in government has no idea how the government actually works

Safe to assume he also has no concept of how it feels to normal people to must things like food stamps and tax refunds.

*to miss things

The Trump administration, which had not anticipated... the consequences
The Trump administration, which had not anticipated... the consequences
The Trump administration, which had not anticipated... the consequences
The Trump administration, which had not anticipated... the consequences
The Trump administration, which had not anticipated... the consequences
The Trump administration, which had not anticipated... the consequences
The Trump administration, which had not anticipated... the consequences
The Trump administration, which had not anticipated... the consequences
The Trump administration, which had not anticipated... the consequences

this should probably go here:

Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Earl Blumenauer Introduce Nationwide Vote-by-Mail Bill

So if it lasts until April & we all decide not to bother paying income tax to a shuddered IRS, what then?

They won't know who paid or didn't so only fair that everybody goes to jail

union dissolved, everybody goes home

Grover Norquist wins!

The GOP don't care about the IRS, they can't deport it or grab its tits

nice

this is kind of a non sequitur but god stfu The Palmer Report

During Friday’s meeting at the White House over the ongoing shutdown standoff, President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made little substantive progress as Pelosi and Schumer urged Trump to reopen the government by Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the meeting.

One of these knowledgeable sources told The Daily Beast President Trump kicked off the meeting with a rant lasting roughly 15 minutes that included his $5.6 billion demand for a border wall, and threatened that he was willing to keep the government closed for “years” if that’s what it took to get his wall. He also, unprompted, brought up the Democrats who want him impeached, and even blamed Pelosi for new Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib saying at a party earlier this week that Democrats would impeach the “motherfucker” Trump. (It is unclear why Trump would think Pelosi was responsible for this.)

Trump proceeded to tell the room he was too popular to impeach.

Along with saying the word “fuck” at least three times throughout the meeting, the president bizarrely stated that he did not want to call the partial government shutdown a “shutdown,” according to the source. Instead, he referred to it as a “strike.” (Many of the federal employees affected by the weeks-long shutdown have been working without pay. That is essentially the opposite of a strike.)

During the course of this meeting, the Democrats in the room were visibly shaking their heads in exasperation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of the Republicans in the room. He barely spoke, according to a source familiar with Friday’s meeting.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.

He probably doesn't understand that shutting down the government for "years", or anything anywhere close to that, via his obstinate refusal to do his job, would definitely lead to his impeachment.

I actually suffer from listomania, or at least used to--I got over it. (Sorry, can't get over that video.)

can't get lisztomania out of my head now!

Just watched the lisztomania video, and why are they doing the Charleston to a song that doesn't seeing??

It's Breakfast Club dances

(Some of the original is from Pretty in Pink)

good morning!

no collusion!

Collusion is Capitalized, what's the "matter" with #you

party of personal responsibility :)

Many people currently a part of my opposition, including President Obama & the Dems, have had campaign violations, in some cases for very large sums of money. These are civil cases. They paid a fine & settled. While no big deal, I did not commit a campaign violation!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2019

NARRATOR: "He had committed many, many campaign violations..."

when you pay a fine and settle, they let you do it

I agree he is no big deal.

I don't really like his tweets being itt but I remain morbidly fascinated by which tweets of his get the most likes. The top 3 from the last 30 days or so.

Merry Christmas!
509K

Happy New Year!
278K

Congratulations to President
@JairBolsonaro who just made a great inauguration speech - the U.S.A. is with you!
265K (compared to 86K for the Obrador congrats tweet incidentally)

Not that surprising in terms of content but those figures are way way above his average.

the popularity of the bolsonaro one is creepy af. maybe it's bolstered by all the creepy brazilians who voted for him

Under-told story imo is how Pence has tried to fill the same influential VP role as Cheney and Biden, complete w shuttle diplomacy during big fights, but just doesn't have the clout. Recall him trying unsuccessfully to get ACA repeal bill thru Senate. https://t.co/gUXzFaUlAg

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 5, 2019

this is one of the reasons why, although there's a case to be made that pence's politics and beliefs are worse and more sincere, i would swap him for trump in a heartbeat.

weigel conveniently omits the time that pence stared down north korea at the olympics and intimidated them into very successful peace talks

maybe it's bolstered by all the creepy brazilians who voted for him

I'm pretty certain that's the case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85I7tUIFmrQ

Brazilian Bolso Bots 2020

Republicans: Let Americans keep more of their own hard-earned money
Democrats: Take away 70% of your income and give it to leftist fantasy programs https://t.co/NxJPSCqvrt

— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) January 5, 2019

in case you see or hear any fucking moron talking about how we're all going to be taxed at 70% if AOC's communist rebellion succeeds, you might want to know that the number of people in the U.S. who make more than $10 million a year is approximately 16,000.

https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-individual-statistical-tables-by-size-of-adjusted-gross-income

ILX is a pretty informed crowd imo but there are also a TON of people who don't understand how progressive tax brackets work. if you're a lurker and you've ever wondered if people avoid making enough money to enter a higher tax bracket so that they don't get taxed at the higher rate, just do yourself a favor and spend 2 minutes googling it and figuring out how it works. i have met numerous people in all walks of life who have no idea how it works.

the usual right wing morons are going insane about her comments, both "journalists" and politicians. i don't blame them so much because they've long since revealed that they're irredeemable pieces of shit. but journalists with good intentions clearly need to remind people how progressive taxes work. it's a failure of our education system as well, but since the bulk of our population has long since exited the period of learning and refuse to consider self-education, it's on the media to teach our dumb asses how shit works

I like telling people (usually old white etc) they’re poor when they talk about 70% taxes*

*ymmv if you know actual rich people

even scalise makes nowhere close to $10 million a year. his net worth is negative! https://www.opensecrets.org/personal-finances/net-worth?cid=N00009660&year=2015

i just...don't understand wtf is happening inside the brains of these people

That Tweet thread I posted a couple hours ago, Karl, explains in layman's terms how progressive taxation works. I've saved it to share with the usual nuts.

^^yeah all i can do is laugh when like my poor ass parents (now retired and living solely off SS and a teacher's pension -i.e. literal socialism) who rarely ever made much more than the threshold to actually pay federal income taxes whine about govt/ taxes. it's just fascinating how deeply poisoned the national psyche is on this subject.

anyway seems like the reasoned, centered take now is that taxing those 16k people at the 70% marginal rate really won't amount to a hill of beans so hey why do anything at all lol

xp hmmm, i missed it and i can't seem to find it! do you mind linking?

steve should stick to what he's good at -- baseball

anyway seems like the reasoned, centered take now is that taxing those 16k people at the 70% marginal rate really won't amount to a hill of beans so hey why do anything at all lol

uuuugh yeah, that's another thing but my internet outrage is nearing my daily maximum limit so i need to back off

Karl:

okay so a lot of (rich, white) folks are freaking out about what a 70% tax rate on the wealthy would look like and they’re scared about it and shit (even though it’s literally what rich baby boomers already dealt with).

SO LET’S DO THE MATH.

— Dianna E. Anderson 🏳️‍🌈 (@diannaeanderson) January 5, 2019

there it is, thanks!

is there a rough dollar amount estimate for what that would generate?

not to naysay that tweet-thread too much because it's well-intentioned, but i read that earlier and i didn't like the digression it takes into using the Rock's personal finances as a measure of how taxing the wealthy could pay for other things. for example, it says "The Rock would pay almost enough in taxes in a single year to completely solve Flint’s water crisis", which just isn't true. if the Rock makes $65 million and has to pay 70% of taxes over 10 million, the portion over $10 million would generate $38.5 million in tax revenue. estimates for the cost of solving Flint's water crisis vary, but it's much, much more than that. the state was ordered to replace 18,000 water service lines at a cost of over $100 million, and that's just part of the cost of fixing the whole mess. anyway, i think all of that stuff is a distraction from the main point

on top of that, i also don't think it's a good tactical move to argue for the benefits of taxing the wealthy by personifying the issue using dwayne 'the rock' johnson, one of the most beloved celebrities out there. would much rather think about what taxing jeff bezos or zuckerberg could accomplish, if one were to go down that road

yeah not just in actual revenues, but underscoring the fact that the Bezos & Zucks of this country have the kind of political clout and aim that creates bad tax code to begin with

yeah but if you tax bezos at 70% he'll just quit and head to galt's gulch and *then* where will we be

is there a rough dollar amount estimate for what that would generate?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/01/05/ocasio-cortez-wants-higher-taxes-very-rich-americans-heres-how-much-money-could-that-raise

an AOC-esque plan of 70% tax rate on income over 10 million would raise about $720 billion per decade

yeah but if you tax bezos at 70% he'll just quit and head to galt's gulch and *then* where will we be

the driver's seat of a bulldozer would be p cool