Taxes, China, War and…. Golf?

The Democratic Party’s strategy of backing weak Trump nominees in the GOP primaries is cynical, disingenuous and downright stupid. How can any morally functional human being justify spending money on a process that endangers the democracy by helping Trumpian nuts along the path to election? They tell us they are betting that they can beat the pro-Trump candidates easier than the anti-Trump ones. Really? So get off your assess and work harder. Spend the money you are wasting on Trump candidates, on Democratic candidates. If one Trump candidate gets in because the Democrats backed them in the primary he or she than can do a lot more damage by any anti-Trump Republicans.

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Rusty Bowers is not alone. No, this isn’t a cheer for the GOP, but the fact remains that there are Republicans, many of them, who have the moral integrity to know what is right, and given the opportunity, might act on it. There are a few that have already spoken out or voted the right way on bills before them. Some of them given the right kind of encouragement and support will speak out, but most will need to see how their actions will create a path to success before they act.

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Joe Manchin plays the good Senator by expressing great surprise upon discovering that big corporations don’t pay taxes. How on earth do you suppose he discovered this? Was it because he is invested in showing those big corporations how to be good citizens? No wait; maybe it was because all those starving West Virginians let him know that he had seen the last of their votes when he stopped the original version of Build Back Better a month ago.

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It seems that none of the GOP legislators support the new version of Build Back Better but none of them have any substantial objections. Led by Pat Toomy they babble about it not doing anything but creating inflation or about it all being lies and about the idea that much of it was supposed to have been in the Infrastructure Bill. Somehow they never manage to get down to any real facts. That folks, is called political bullshitting and Toomy has always been a master of it.

I do believe him when he says that he and his fellows stopped the Veterans Health Bill because they object to a clause that refers to $400 billion in spending that has nothing to do with veterans spending and is just something the Democrats wanted to have laying around for their pet projects. The only problem is, his objections are based on the fact that it is worded in such a way that the GOP can’t get their hands on the money, only the Vets can.

Toomy is a world-class liar but he isn’t going to bullshit his way through this one. It’s clear that the only real GOP objection lies in being pissed off that Manchin decided to back the reduced Build Back Better Bill, and his vote, along with his influence on “Sinema the Uninformed” will put it on track to pass.

 

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The Republicans keep whining that no taxes should be increased during this period of inflation, and that the Inflation Reduction bill will increase taxes, but they have been stealing with both hands for so long, they are blind to the difference between raising taxes and just collecting what is due. This bill will not raise corporate taxes. It will, however, force huge, highly profitable corporations to actually pay the taxes they have been avoiding; at least 15%.

For those of you who thrive on GOP economic theory, that is not a tax increase. That is a bizarre moral concept called; paying what you owe.

 

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So Nancy Pelosi went to Taiwan and the Chinese are having a shit fit because much as they want to object violently, they can’t take a chance on actually getting into a war over Taiwan. They never figured the old gal would have the balls to give them the finger.

Here’s hoping that Xi Jinping listens to Mark Liu the Chairman of TSMC, the giant Taiwanese chip creator. In an interview with Fareed Zacharia Liu very cleverly explains the Taiwanese strategy in the event of a Chinese invasion. He states, and restates, that if war with China comes, everybody will lose, including the rest of the world. He not so subtly lets the world know that the Taiwan strategy is to destroy the chip system if China attacks. He is never clear on whether or not the buildings are actually laced with explosives, but it’s obvious that Taiwan will blow up the chip technology if China attacks. That would accomplish two things. First, it would make China responsible for the crippling of the worlds technological processes and second, it would make Taiwan as a prize, worthless! The big question? Does Xi believe him?

 

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When a loved one dies, unless you’ve already got a family plot in some cemetery, one of the principal problems that must be faced is where to inter the beloved. It’s a decision guided by whether or not the deceased had any plans of their own or if there are others involved in the plans.

In the case of the scumbag that used to make believe he was president of this country there is only one motivating factor. How can he make a buck out of it?

So, when Ivana Trump died, Donald and the kids got together and decided there was only one place to deposit her gold-plated coffin, their golf course in Bedminster, NJ. I mean, after all, Ivana was a huge golf fanatic…. wasn’t she? Well, even if she wasn’t she loved jewelry and jewelry costs a lot of money and well, there just so happens to be a significant tax break on land that is used as a cemetery in NJ, and there just happened to be an unused spot near the first hole that would give the family a huge write off.

Of course, putting Ivana right there where everyone can see her means that someone will have to explain to the boys that Mother didn’t really go to a farm in Hackettstown.

I mean who thinks of shit like this?

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Is it possible that despite all the negative noise from the edges, Joe Biden is actually managing to govern from the center? If Build Back Better Lite actually gets passed this summer it will be the largest climate control, as well as, the largest deficit reduction bill passed in decades. It comes on the tail of the Chips & Science Act that will force investment in chip technology that is desperately needed in this country.

Last week, on a bi-partisan initiative, the House passed the first piece of gun legislation in a generation. That was preceded by a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill, which had come after the COVID bill.

If Biden is able to keep up this unusual pace, the government may start looking like the one we had back when Ted Kennedy and Orin Hatch two old enemies, managed to work together to get important social legislation like the Dream Act passed. Of course, that was before assholes like Newt Gingrich tore our governing bodies apart setting each against the other in battles for power that left the American people unrepresented and struggling to survive.