January 18, 2017

The hidden reason Republicans are so eager to repeal Obamacare

Repealing Obamacare is a huge tax cut for the rich

SNIP

The two big relevant taxes, according to the TPC's Howard Gleckman, are "a 0.9 percent payroll surtax on earnings and a 3.8 percent taxon net investment income for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000($250,000 for couples)." That payroll tax hike hits a reasonably broad swath of affluent individuals, but in a relatively minor way. The 3.8 percent tax on net investment income (money made from owning or selling stocks and other financial instruments rather than working), by contrast, is a pretty hefty tax, but one that falls overwhelmingly on the small number of people who have hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in investment income.

For the bottom 60 percent of the population — that is, households earning less than about $67,000 a year — repeal of the ACA would end up meaning an increase in taxes due to the loss of ACA tax credits.

But people in the top 1 percent of the income distribution —those with incomes of over about $430,000 — would see their taxes fall by an average of $25,000 a year.

And for the true elite in the top 0.1 percent — people like designated White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and many major campaign donors — the tax cut is truly enormous. Households with incomes of more than $1.9 million would get an extra $165,000 a year in take-home pay. That's obviously more than enough money to make these hyper-elite families come out ahead regardless of what happens to health insurance markets.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/18/obamacare-and-why-republicans-so-eager-to-repeal-it-commentary.html

January 18, 2017

Leader Of Nazi-Founded Austrian Neofascist Political Party Invited To Trump Inauguration

The comparison of President-elect Donald Trump to that of murderous German dictator Adolph Hitler has gained further credence due to Trump’s administration making it a point to hang around with literal Nazis. To add insult to injury, a Nazi leader has been officially invited to attend Trump’s inauguration.

Trump’s National Security Advisor, Mike Flynn, met with the leader of Austria’s “Freedom Party” Heinz-Christian Strache back in December. The Freedom party has a long history of being aligned with Nazis, as its first leader was Anton Reinthaller, who was a literal former Nazi official and member of Nazi’s elite SS. What the two discussed is not known, but it likely had to do with Strache offering Flynn pointers to pass on to Trump on how to make the population docile and accepting of grotesque human rights atrocities.

The Trump team wanted to keep the meeting quiet, but Strache was proud of the meeting which took place at Trump Tower in Manhattan and he posted all about it on Facebook. The post is below where Strache confirmed, “a meeting with Michael Flynn and other high-ranking U.S. politicians.”

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/01/18/leader-nazi-founded-austrian-neofascist-political-party-invited-trump-inauguration/

January 18, 2017

Further Attacks On Liberty And Freedom By The Incoming Administration

We are beginning to see who is the next target in Trump’s attempt to establish his authoritarian government. And, of course, it is the free press. If you want to establish an authoritarian government you must control the media. If you can’t control it, you simply set up a propaganda arm of the government and refuse to talk to the free press.

We saw an example of that with his so-called press conference last week. The room was full of paid staff and supporters who were more than willing to boo hard questions from the real press and cheer his campaign zingers as if he was right.

He refused to take follow-up questions if they challenged his honesty, which is a constant problem in covering this little boy. In an atmosphere of anti-press, it was very easy for him to refuse to take questions from anyone who wrote something he didn’t like. In a press room with just journalists you can’t get away with that.

The idiocy of calling the press “dishonest” all of the time is starting to take its toll on both the press and on Trump. He seems almost afraid to face the journalists whose job it is to get facts on any story. That is understandable since Trump doesn’t usually deal in facts.

https://leanleft.com/2017/01/17/further-attacks-on-liberty-and-freedom-by-the-incoming-administration/

January 18, 2017

Big Sugar's slime flows north to Florida's Capitol

The paid soldiers in Gov. Rick Scott's war on the environment are aligning to block state efforts to purchase any farm lands south of Lake Okeechobee, which means Floridians can look forward to more summers of slime.

Nightmare algae blooms, vile and job-killing, are destined to be one of Scott's legacies. Next June, when the St. Lucie estuary again turns puke-green and the oyster beds die, the light-footed governor will be nowhere in the vicinity.

Neither will the tourists.

The blooms are caused by billions of gallons of fresh water that are pumped from Lake O during the rainy season. Loaded with phosphorus and other pollutants from surrounding areas, the lake discharges are mainlined toward both Florida coasts, bringing ruin to saltwater habitats.

Senate President Joe Negron, who lives in Stuart — basically Slime Central — wants the Lake O outflows diverted, cleaned in reservoirs and sent south to the Everglades.

The plan, supported by many scientists and conservation groups, would require purchasing 60,000 acres from agriculture. Only eight years ago, U.S. Sugar embraced such a concept, calling it a "monumental opportunity to save the Everglades" and struck a deal to unload 187,000 acres.


http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/carl-hiaasen-big-sugars-slime-flows-north-to-floridas-capitol/2309891

January 17, 2017

Near-Treasonous Trump Thrills Russia by Calling NATO "Obsolete"

Today Europe is on edge after Trump once again slammed NATO. One country is cheering the comments, though. Can you guess which?

Let's just dispense with the pleasantries and call Donald Trump what he is: a bourgeoning traitor to the United States of America. There's a very strong possibility he's been compromised by Vladimir Putin, so says a detailed report that our intelligence agencies had enough confidence in to brief President Obama, and even if he hasn't his history of praise for Russia -- even at the expense of support for the U.S. and its president -- creates enough circumstantial evidence to be damning. Now before the Trump trolls descend, demanding a trove of incontrovertible proof they'd simply dismiss anyway, keep in mind that these very same people were more than willing to chant "lock her up" and insist that Hillary Clinton was a hardened criminal based on nothing but horseshit innuendo and Russian hacks designed to damage her and install Trump.

In other words, if you're willing to brush off all we've seen from Trump on the subject of Russia and Putin, saying "well, we just don't know for sure," kindly go fuck yourself.

http://thedailybanter.com/2017/01/trump-calls-nato-obsolete/

January 16, 2017

RIP Gun TV

Home to the Most Paranoid Informercials in America
[link:https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/rip-gun-tv-home-to-the-most-paranoid-informercials-in-america|
While it was on the air, it provided a window into a surreal vision of the US.]
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/rip-gun-tv-home-to-the-most-paranoid-informercials-in-america

January 16, 2017

Hundreds of Theater Groups are Coming Together to Protest Trump's Inauguration

The co-founder of The Ghostlight Project explains how the theater community plans to shine a light during a dark administration.

The theater has always been a sanctuary for those who need it most. Which makes Donald Trump's tweet on the heels of Mike Pence's booing at the musical Hamilton last November especially ironic.

For once, he got it exactly right. The theater is a safe and special place—for anyone but someone whose political aims portend havoc for our society's most marginalized.

On January 19th—the night before Trump's inauguration, and two months after Pence's booing—the theater community will band together for a show of solidarity in the form of The Ghostlight Project. Named after the light left on on a theater's stage when the auditorium is unoccupied, the protest will gather hundreds of groups outside theaters across the country, from Broadway to community stages, in free-form events designed to express support for vulnerable communities targeted by the Trump administration.

January 15, 2017

Ed: Strengthen gun store security to close off armories for criminals

The Florida Legislature made it illegal in 1989 for an adult to leave a firearm within reach of a child. It was the rare example of a courageous response to the devastation of gun violence from a body generally more interested in eliminating restrictions on carrying and using firearms. The powerful gun lobby didn't even resist. The measure served as a model for other states. It is now time to expand that move toward responsible gun ownership by requiring those who sell firearms to protect them so they won't serve as virtual armories for Florida's criminals.

Twice in one year, thieves broke into Tampa gun stores and made off with about 40 guns each time. Soon after the most recent break-in, Nov. 29, one of the guns was found with a teenager suspected in the shooting death of an Orlando mother as she sat in her car with her child.

Then last week, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd took to his soapbox to scold store owners who shirk the "ethical and moral responsibility to secure their guns." Judd was disgusted at a theft — again, about 40 firearms — from Rapture Guns & Knives in Lakeland, a glass-fronted, strip-center store whose owner had just been warned by detectives about security.

Judd, after declaring his own libertarian leanings, questioned why the free market hasn't moved to hold gun store owners accountable for shoddy security practices. How do they get insurance, for example, or business loans?

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-strengthen-gun-store-security-to-close-off-armories-for-criminals/2309538

January 15, 2017

Caravan of cuckoo Evangelical Prelates And Prophets To Create Shield Of Prayer Around Dump

http://www.potusshield.org/

From the about page of POTUS Shield:

The prophets spoke, the leaders stood up, and the people heard … We repented, we prayed, we declared… and the Lord moved! On a single day in November He shifted the future of this nation and also inspired the Body of Christ with renewed hope! On January 20, 2017 our nation celebrates the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.

Now God is speaking again: “Surely the Lord does nothing unless he reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” (AMOS 3 ).

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE INAUGURAL CONVOCATION OF THE POTUS SHIELD.

It is our time to storm heaven for a New America, revival in our land, and to bring our country back to God! We are the redeemed of the Lord who are coming to raise up a shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit.

The Lord has summoned a prolific council of prelates and prophets to convene in Washington, D.C. one week prior to the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States of America. These servants of God are especially gifted to discern the times and to prophesy the Word of The Lord, even so as we seek to prepare the way for transformation, reformation, and revival in our nation.

We are called to gather in the nation’s capital and to raise up a shield of prayer and prophetic understanding, grounded in the firm foundation of the immutable Word of God, and inspired with fresh revelation by the Spirit of The Lord. These proven leaders are convening to release the Word of the Lord, and to lead this anointed assembly in powerful prayers, intercession, declarations and decrees over the White House, the Supreme Court, and Capitol Hill.

Presiding prelates and prophets include: Darrell and Belinda Scott, Frank and Lorilee Amedia, Herman Martir, Rick Joyner, Lance Wallnau, Alveda King, Lou Engle, Cindy and Mike Jacobs, Mark Gonzales, Mosey Modugba, Anwar Fazal, Jennifer LeClaire, and more to be confirmed.

http://www.joemygod.com/2017/01/14/evangelical-prelates-prophets-create-shield-prayer-around-donald-trump-inauguration-day/

January 15, 2017

Trump's Shouty and Insane Press Conference Reminded Russians of....Putin

Their message to Americans: Brace yourselves.

During Donald Trump's first press conference as president-elect, he called BuzzFeed a "failing pile of garbage," shouted down questions from a CNN reporter, and evaded tough questions about the dossier released the day before alleging that Russia had been cultivating Trump for years and had assembled compromising material on him. In the United States, many found Trump's harsh approach shocking. "It is our observation," said Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, referring to Trump's treatment of CNN, "that neither they nor any other journalists should be subjected to belittling and delegitimizing by the president-elect."

But for some Russians, Trump's bombastic style at the press conference, his animosity toward journalists, and his rambling nonanswers seemed all too familiar.

Ну что ж, теперь и в США президент, который не отвечает ни на один прямой вопрос и хамит журналистам.
— Tikhon Dzyadko (@tikhondzyadko) January 11, 2017

"Well, now the U.S. also has a president who never answers a direct question and is rude to journalists," tweeted opposition activist Tikhon Dzyadko.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/russians-cant-stop-comparing-trumps-treatment-journalists-putins