March 25, 2021

Manchin calls for 'enormous' infrastructure package paid for with new taxes

Source: NBC News

WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin said Wednesday that he favors a large infrastructure package that would be paid for in part by raising tax revenues — a point of contention between the two parties.

"I'm sure of one thing: It’s going to be enormous," the West Virginia Democrat, who is seen as a swing vote in a chamber divided 50-50, told reporters at the Capitol.

While he didn't predict a price tag, Manchin said Congress should do "everything we possibly can" to pay for it. He said there should be "tax adjustments" to former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law to boost revenues, including by raising the corporate rate from the current 21 percent to at least 25 percent.

The tax benefits in the Republican law were "weighted in one direction to the upper end," Manchin said. He also suggested an "infrastructure bank" paid for with revenues, potentially a value-added tax, that would be used for "rebuilding America."

"I'm not afraid to look at other things," he said.

Notably, Manchin said the Republican resistance to higher taxes was not a "reasonable" position in an infrastructure negotiation.

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/manchin-calls-enormous-infrastructure-package-182500518.html

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Just a little pause in Manchin bashing. I am not aware of any "moderate" Republican whose position would even come close to this.

March 21, 2021

Did you hear this one?

A priest, a pastor and a rabbit walk into a barber shop. The priest says to the barber: I want to cut my hare”. The pastor looked at the rabbit with concern but remained silent for fear of being autocorrected.

March 9, 2021

Saddest Homecoming Ever? Trump Greeted By A Single Supporter In New York Return.

Source: Huffpost

03/09/2021 12:08 am ET Updated 1 hour ago

Former President Donald Trump didn’t get a warm welcome as he returned to New York for the first time since leaving office: Just one person stood outside Trump Tower to cheer his arrival on Sunday night, the New York Post reported.

The Daily News said Trump is in his hometown to check on the family business, which had been run by his two adult sons while he was in the White House.

By Monday, a handful of supporters had gathered outside Trump Tower with signs and flags, as well as a group of counterprotesters with a giant inflatable rat dressed like Trump and “Arrest Trump” banners.

One demonstrator in New York on Monday held up a “Florida man go home” sign.

-snip-

The former president likely hasn’t been in a New York state of mind in any case: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is reportedly investigating potential real estate and/or tax fraud.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-returns-to-new-york_n_6046dfd1c5b6af8f98bdcde8

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Awww, how sweet! Despite being universally despised in NYC, he came to check on his two favorite adult children: Money Laundering Trump and Tax Fraud Trump. And, likely, have a super friendly chart over a can of Diet Coke or two with his buddy Cy Vance... I doubt he will have much time left to check on how badly Bevis and Butthead Trump messed up his family business, though.

March 2, 2021

I predict Trump's demise towards the end of 2022

Sure I am going out on a limb here, but recent events and, more importantly, the trajectory in which they have developed and are developing, lead me to be reasonably confident in my prediction. And it has nothing to do with Trump's physical or mental deterioration.

Here are my observations:
- Despite lying and cheating, abusing his position as the head of state to his advantage and violating every conceivable legal and ethical standard to win the election, he lost.
- Despite widespread voter suppression, he lost The Senate and failed to take control of the House.
- Despite stuffing the courts with right wing appointees, he lost every legal challenge to overturn election results. In fact, recent decisions by various courts reinforced, rather than weaken, America's electoral institutions.
- Despite using all levers of power of the presidency to intimidate and pressure the military, DOJ, American electoral institutions and individual politicians of any influence, he failed to change the results of the elections.
- Despite excessive pandering to his most militant and violent hardcore extreme right, racist and batshit delusional devotees and literally sending them to commit treason and overturn the election results by force, he failed.

As a result, Trump lost a great deal of his political capital. He no longer has the power of the Presidency at his disposal. He can no longer pressure foreign heads of states to start bogus investiogations into his enemies, or share top secrets with Uncle Vlad, or threaten to withdraw military assistance to NATO. He can no longer appoint incompetent but loyal members of the Administration or federal judges. He can no longer grant or withhold federal aid to states or agencies based on his approval or disapproval of how they are run. The only significant political advantage he has left is his firm grip on the cojones of the GOP. And even that grp shows signs of weakening, notwithstanding the rhetoric that may suggest otherwise.

To me, the telling sign was the recent CPAC presidential straw poll. Despite many hours of most sincere Trump worship by the most devoted, hand-picked cult followers coming from the Nazi rune-shaped stage (or maybe because of it), only 55% of the straw poll participants chose Trump to be the next party nominee. Coming from Trump's supposedly hardcore supporters, that's dismal!

The only remaining lever of power Trump seems to be left with is to intimidate the current establishment of the GOP. It is unclear whether he has any dirt on any of them, so I will dirsegard this possibility. What Trump has left is a threat to "primary" GOP elected officials. And he named names. I will not go into the likelihood of him succeeding in this, because it is pretty irrelevant. Let's assume he succeeds to primary all of them. The result would be a cohort of right-to-extreme-right winger facing the Democrats in the 2022 election. Based on the outcome of the 2020 elections, it is extremely unlikely that the American electorate has any appetite left to move the country further to the right. Hence, Trump's strategy will greatly increase the chances for the Democratic electoral victories. Should this be the case, the already "primaried" GOP establishment is not likely to take it lying down.

And that's the best scenario Trump can hope for. If his efforts to "primary" GOP's current ruling class fail to any significant degree, his last effective lever of political power and influence will be gone. I don't think his political relevance can survive either one of the two scenarios.