microphone900

Not once did I see the descriptor "Hamas run." It's about goddamn time Western media started moving away from that to cast aspersions on the truthfulness of Gazan government statements.

Also,

A UN report this week said that nearly 70% of the people killed in the war in Gaza have been women and children.

Here's a fun thing that happened at the state level when Republicans cut taxes.

The Kansas Experiment

Essentially, the Republican dominated state government in Kansas significantly cut taxes, the 'expected' increase in revenue didn't materialize, the quality and quantity of public services decreased, the state's credit rating went down, and everyone got mad. After a few years, the governor was voted out of office and Republicans 'saw the light' and put the old taxes back in place. What's wild is there are still conservatives who look at that and say 'Well, you guys didn't do it right. I still think it's a good idea.' If it were up to me, we'd go back to the tax levels we had when that antifa commie Marxist-Leninist far left extremist Eisenhower was in office.

Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $400,000: 92% - 91%

Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25%

Romney's Approx. Tax Bill: $5,250,000

During the administration of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a 92 percent marginal income tax rate for top earners in the United States remained from the previous administration of Harry S. Truman. At the time, the highest tax bracket was for income over $400,000.

This was nearly the highest tax rate for top earners in the century, just under the 94 percent rate for income over $200,000 instated during World War II under Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.

In 1954, the 92 percent marginal rate decreased to 91 percent under Eisenhower. The maximum tax on long-term capital gains was 25 percent -- a rate that remained in place for a decade.

And-

Eisenhower explained it this way: The super rich could avoid the high taxes by investing their money in things that make America stronger. If they wanted to avoid high taxes, he said they could invest in business expansions and higher employee wages. They could give a million or two to tax-exempt non-profits that feed, house and clothe poor people of America, among other things.

Go Japan! Hell yeah!

Tally Gotliv, a Likud MP, told MEE: “We need to occupy the complete land of Israel. There are no innocent people in Gaza. Everybody who has refused to leave the north is a collaborator.”

Monday's event took place against the backdrop of an escalating military assault on northern Gaza where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remained trapped and subjected to daily air strikes.

The assault came amid reports from Israel that the military has started to implement a strategy known as “the Generals’ Plan” which called for the ethnic cleansing of the north of the territory, and condemnation by aid groups who warned last week that northern Gaza is being “erased”.

This is their plan. They're doing it right now. I can't imagine how folks will deny this, I guess they'll move onto justify.

I think sentiment is changing. Recently I'm noticing more US mainstream media using language like

Since Israel launched its devastating retaliation for the Hamas-led attack just over a year ago

It's a small thing, it's better than the softer language they would normally use. But, damn, it's not enough.

This isn't exactly what the previous comment was talking about, but it's similar. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/14/alabama-immigration-law-workers and there's something similar going on Florida too https://www.npr.org/2024/04/26/1242236604/florida-economy-immigration-businesses-workers-undocumented

These are my go-to articles anytime the subject of undocumented workers comes up. Personally, I think we would go back to the old model. If I remember correctly, the 1930s was when immigration started to be severely restricted; but, before that, temporary workers would come up for a season of employment and then go back home. All of it was done legally. It wasn't until immigration restrictions were enacted that there was an incentive to stay and move their families into the US.

This is exactly what I've been thinking lately. And on top of already existing laws, make new ones that criminalize currently normal things. Hell, the South enacted new laws after slavery ended and only applied them against Black Americans. Why stop there, why not increase penalties for certain crimes from misdemeanors to felonies and make 3 felony convictions mean a life sentence?

The only part I disagree with is the for profit prisons part. 8% of prisoners are in private prisons which is 8% too many, but 92% are in publicly funded and operated prisons. And those publicly operated prisons sell the services of their trapped slave labor for so many more things than stamping license plates or road work. Not only do they fight fires and clean up after natural disasters, they also make kit (armor, helmets) for the armed forces, they pick crops, they manufacture white goods (washing machines, refrigerators)(I can't find a link specifically mentioning appliances and I'll update this it I find one), and so much more. Shoot, some cities' budgets would be blown up if not for the availability of publicly held prison slaves.

Here you go. Looks like it'd be about the eastern third to one half of the country getting high speed rail in just 10 years. That's amazing.

That was- I cannot convey just how insane that was using spoken language. I think I'd need to smash a watermelon, aim a sandblaster filled with crushed seashells and desiccated termites at it, start blasting and let my intuition do its thing until something resembling art was produced. Possibly while doing interpretive dance and making primal guttural grunting noises. That would get me pretty darn close to properly communicate my thoughts on what I saw. Thank you.

I do wonder, though, what they'd do when

crops are left rotting in fields and houses and buildings aren't rebuilt after disasters because all undocumented immigrants have been reported;

after LGBT+ folks hide themselves and "fit in" for safety like it's the 1950s;

when there are masses of unemployed young people born after abortion and contraception are outlawed living in a nation unequipped to handle them;

after the education and environmental protection systems cease to exist and the country falls behind in every metric of a developed nation from an absence of knowledge pools and poison in everything.

What will they do after creating an environment that fosters stability, innovation, and a thriving society like we saw in the mid-2010's Middle East. It sure sounds like a great and prosperous future, doesn't it. Right?...

Here's a list of states that have effectively banned adult films websites by requiring sites to verify a user's age:

The states are:

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Florida
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Montana
• Nebraska
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• Texas
• Utah
• Virginia

How age is verified:

While the specifics vary between states, in general the new laws mean users are required to provide a pornographic website with a copy of their ID to obtain access or by sending it to a third party.

Project 2025 and "adult conent"

“Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology … is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.”

What does this mean? Well it seems to mean that the far right want to define a book that features a same-sex couple as illegal pornography and throw the author of the book and any distributors of the book in prison. It seems to mean that a book talking about sexual violence could be classified as porn and banned. It seems to mean that talking about the existence of trans people would be “porn” and criminalized. In short: anything that goes against normative gender roles and hierarchies, or interrogates those hierarchies, could be considered obscene and criminalized.

These are the kinds of laws they have in theocracies. These were the kinds of laws they had in the Soviet Union. This is where they want to take us. And that is where we will go if we let them.

There's a neat post I came across some time ago showing how few votes can still win the electoral college.

Comment link

Direct link to website

Turns out, though unlikely, it is possible to win the election with less than 25% of votes through the magic of the electoral college and disproportionate representation.