red dog 1
red dog 1's JournalFight back Against Tax Cuts For the Wealthy and Well-Connected
NotOnePenny.org
December 14, 2017
TAKE ACTION!
Fight Back Against Tax Cuts for the Wealthy and Well-Connected
Send a message to your Members of Congress.
Our tool will call you and patch you through to your representatives.
https://notonepenny.org/take-action/#events
(Submit pledge)
"I pledge to oppose any effort to cut taxes for the wealthy and well-connected.
Not one penny in tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires, and wealthy corporations."
About NotOnePenny.org
https://notonepenny.org/about
"GOP Tax Cuts Will Trigger Sequestration"
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029984112
GOP Tax Cuts Will Trigger Sequestration
OpEdNews
December 14, 2017
By John Peebles
IT'S A CLASSIC TROJAN HORSE
(Budget) bill recently passed by the Senate and approved by reconciliation will generate sequester cuts under the PAYGO program.
Here is Maya MacGuineas writing for The Hill, as quoted by the "Committee of a Responsible Federal Budget":
"The statutory 'paygo' sequester (as opposed to the Budget Control Act sequester that enforces the discretionary spending limits) requires across the board cuts in non-exempt mandatory spending programs to offset any deficit-increasing legislation that was passed in a given year."
PAYGO requires Congress to administer the cuts as the deficits are incurred.
This means the recently passed budget will trigger cuts in:
..."Medicare, agriculture subsidies, student loans, the Social Services Block Grant, parts of border security and mandatory spending in the Affordable care Act other than exchange subsidies and Mediciad expansion.
So with this tax cut will come a doozy of a sequester."
(later on in the article)
The Republicans have passed this budget knowing full well that sequester will apply to spending they don't like and not applied to spending they like.
It's a classic Trojan Horse - minimize cuts to vital social services in selling the Budget Bill, all the while knowing that the tax cuts will trigger sequestration in future years.
Bottom line is that sequestration wont be leveled across the board but on discretionary items only.
The defense bill I believe is immune as are the budgets of the security apparatus.
These are viewed as fundamental to our security and are thus uncut-able.
Meanwhile, the programs that millions of Americans depend on like Medicare are cut and the money given out in tax breaks.
Read entire article:
https://www.opednews.com
Scroll down right side of main page to fourth article:
"GOP tax cuts will trigger sequestration" by John Peebles
Or see Reply # 6 for direct link to article.
"Fight Back Against Tax Cuts for the Wealthy and Well-Connected"
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029984657
Post a line from your favorite comedy of all time
"No one ever called me Leo before...Even in kindergarten they called me Bloom."
Tell Mitch McConnell: "NO TAX VOTE BEFORE DOUG JONES IS SEATED" (Petition)
Credo Action
December 13, 2017
Credo Action has a petition to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell:
The petition reads as follows:
"Do not schedule a vote on Trump Tax Scam before Doug Jones is seated"
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/seat_doug_jones
This petition already has nearly 100,000 signatures --- Their goal is 150,000
Call Mitch McConnell: 202-224-2541
Fax Mitch McConnell: 202-224-2499
(You don't have to be a resident of Kentucky to call or fax McConnell)
(From Social Security Works.org)
"This tax scam would result in 13 million fewer Americans with health insurance, and would trigger $400 billion in automatic cuts to Medicare.
Republicans have already indicated that the Trump tax scam is just the first step in their attack on our earned benefits.
Stopping the tax bill is critical to defending Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in 2018 and beyond."
Social Security Works.org also has a petition to McConnell:
Tell Mitch McConnell; "No Tax Vote Until Doug Jones Is Seated"
I was unable to post a direct link to this petition
If anyone else can find the link to this petition, please post it in a reply, thanks
(From earlier today)
NO JONES, NO VOTE ARRESTS AT #KillTheBill SIT-IN AT LISA MURKOWSKI'S OFFICE
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029978407
Call Lisa Murkowski: 202-224-6665
Fax Lisa Murkowski 202-224-5301
Note: To those who feel that "MITCH McCONNELL WON'T READ THE PETITION" (so why bother?)
I say, "What harm can it do?"
At least it's "doing something" about the largest planned redistribution of wealth in modern American history, isn't it?
For McConnell, Alabama Senate Loss Is Bad News and Good News
New York Times
December 13, 2017
WASHINGTON -- Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, was not on a talking mood on Wednesday as he sped through the corridors of the Capital.
It had been roughly 12 hours since Doug Jones, a Democrat, had won election to the Senate -
- a victory that for McConnell spelled both bad news and good news.
"It was quite an impressive election," Mr. McConnell, of Kentucky, said tersely.
"It was a big turnout, and an unusual day."
The election of Mr. Jones - the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Alabama in 25 years -
- will have significant consequences on the national level, making it more difficult for Republicans to enact their legislative agenda and opening, for the first time, a possible - if narrow - path to a Democratic majority in the Senate in 2018.
For Mr. McConnell, it has very immediate consequences: It reduces his already razor-thin majority in the Senate to 51 from 52 votes.
But it also relieves Mr. McConnell of a huge problem: having to deal with Roy S. Moore, the unpredictable Alabama Republican nominee whose candidacy was tarred by allegations that he molested a 14-year-old girl and made sexual advances toward other teenagers.
More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/us/politics/democrats-mcconnell-jones-tax-vote-delay.html
Voter Suppression Will Play Crucial Role in Alabama Senate Race
Who.What.Why.org
December 10, 2017
Heading into Tuesday's special senate election, the race between Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones is still too close to call.
It is conceivable that a few thousand votes will make the difference when all the votes are counted.
In a state like Alabama, that means voter suppression will play a role in the outcome.
After the 2013 "Shelby County v. Holder" decision gutted the Voting Rights Act, states with a history of discriminating against minorities were allowed to pass new election laws without being subject to Department of Justice scrutiny.
Many of them, like Alabama, quickly moved to change voter ID laws.
Then under the pretense of wanting to save up to $300,000, the Republican governor announced the closure of 31 DMV offices.
The real effect, however, was that it became more difficult for minorities to get driver's licenses, i.e. the type of state-issued photo ID required to vote.
It is not the only way the vote in Alabama will be suppressed Tuesday.
The state also closed a significant number of polling stations, meaning that some voters will face longer lines.
It should come as no surprise that research has shown African-Americans face longer lines.
In fact, they are six times more likely than whites to have to wait an hour or more.
Read entire article + links:
https://whowhatwhy.org/2017/12/10/voter-suppression-will-play-crucial-role-alabama-senate-race/
Alabama Court Injunction - "Preserve All Ballots"
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141936824
Mental Health Professionals Warn of Trump's Increasing Instability
Democracy Now
December 8, 2017
"There are Thousands of Us":
Mental Health Professionals Warn of Trump's Increasing Instability
On Friday, December 8, "Democracy Now" did a two-part interview with Dr. Bandy Lee, a forensic psychiatrist on the faculty of Yale School of Medicine, who edited the best-selling book "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President"
(From the Democracy Now transcript of Part 2 of the interview with Dr. Bandy Lee)
AMY GOODMAN;
"Last month, Pentagon leaders told a Senate Panel they would ignore any unlawful order by President Donald Trump to launch a nuclear strike.
The testimony came as part of the first congressional hearings in more than 40 years on the president's authority to start a nuclear war.
This is Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy:"
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY:
"We are concerned that the President of the United States is so unstable, is so volatile, has a decision-making process that is so quixotic, that he might order a nuclear weapon strike that is wildly out of step with U.S. national security interests."
AMY GOODMAN:
"Well, for more, we're joined by someone who's led a discussion of mental health professionals who are deeply concerned about President Trump's psychological instability.
Dr. Bandy Lee is a forensic psychiatrist on the faculty of Yale School of Medicine, an internationally recognized expert on violence.
She organized the "Duty to Warn" conference at Yale and edited the book:
"The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President"
The book became a best-seller the instant it was published in October, sold out, resupplied, sold out again.
Dr. Bandy Lee is with us to talk about the issues raised by these 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts.
Of course, it's now many, many more, not just people who participated in this book.
What are your deepest concerns about President Trump?
And have you had concerns about, oh, presidents you agree with and disagree with, mental health concerns before?"
DR. BANDY LEE:
"Well, it;s actually historically unprecedented that so many mental health professionals have come forth with their concerns, under any president, of any party.
So it really is the first time that this many mental health professionals are coming together in a coalition.
We even have a website now, 'Dangerous Case.org', where the public and lawmakers can discourse with us.
There are thousands of us at this point."
Read more:
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/12/8/there_are_thousands_of_us_mental
Home page of "Dangerous Case" (National Coalition Of Concerned Mental Health Experts)
https://dangerouscase.org
Post a line from your favorite novel of all time
"I am without valence"......Gnossus Pappadopoulis,
From Richard Farina's 1966 novel, "Been Down So Long It looks Like Up To Me"
Are there any humorists or humor writers who others laugh at but who you don't find funny at all?
Author and humor-writer David Sedaris seems to be very popular these days.
I hear him a lot on NPR, speaking before live audiences who laugh uproariously at everything he says.
Amazon.com describes him as "One of America's pre-eminent humor writers."
He's written books.
He writes for magazines such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic.
I don't "dislike" him - I just don't think he's funny.
On the plus side, like me and just about everybody here on DU, he does NOT like Donald Trump!
I learned this when I read his essay in the "Paris Review" titled
"A Number of Reasons I've been Depressed Lately"
(t's a nice essay, and you can find it easily by doing a Google search)
Is there anyone you know of who makes people laugh uproariously that you don't think is funny?
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: San Francisco, Ca.
Home country: U.S.A.
Member since: Tue Sep 14, 2010, 03:05 PM
Number of posts: 27,882
