April 18, 2024

The $6 Trillion Decision

https://prospect.org/economy/2024-04-15-6-trillion-dollar-decision-tax-policy/



Enormous amounts of presidential election messaging and coverage will unfurl between now and November 5. You will surely hear a lot about abortion, immigration, and inflation. You will hear about a fight for the future of American democracy. Even more likely, you’ll hear about polls, strategies to attract working-class and minority voters, or what one candidate said or tweeted or posted, or designated a surrogate to say or tweet or post. Oh, and court cases. Lots and lots of court cases. What you might not hear as much about are the stakes of the election’s outcome for all the money in the country. On Tax Day, of all days, it seems like a good time to lay that out. Nearly all of the provisions of the 2017 Trump tax cuts affecting individual tax returns expire at the end of 2025. Who is in control of the government at that time will depend, of course, on the outcome of the elections. The people then in charge will determine the next American tax policy, and economic and fiscal policy. Will we simply make permanent the Trump tax cuts, with all their attendant inequities?

Will we revert back to an Obama-era tax code that still has too many of the assumptions of Reagan-era tax policy embedded within it? Or will we use the moment to revolutionize tax policy and make a lasting break with the past four decades of trickle-down? The choice here will determine whether we use revenues generated by a new tax code for benefits for the American people, or forsake them in favor of shielding the wealthy and well-connected from paying their fair share. “The tax code is the last living thing of trickle-down economics,” said Elizabeth Pancotti, a former adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is now director of special initiatives at Roosevelt Forward. Pancotti has a paper out today framing the looming expiration of the Trump tax cuts as an opportunity rather than a challenge. “If we can’t fix this, for all the strides we’ve made in Bidenomics, I’m not sure we can build something that lasts.” The Biden campaign has not been shy about raising these issues, though Trump kind of has. That contrast reveals the potential Democratic advantage on taxes, provided voters become aware of it. But taxes have not played a role in the basic narrative of the campaign, at least not commensurate with the impact they’ll have. As Pancotti says: “The stakes of this election are: Will Elon Musk pay more or less on his taxes in 2026?”



A FULL EXTENSION OF THE TRUMP TAX CUTS would cost somewhere between $250 billion and $350 billion every year, according to Steve Wamhoff, federal policy director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. This would increase the nation’s primary annual deficit (not including interest on the debt) by about one-third. By contrast, the tax proposals announced by President Biden would bring in an estimated $5 trillion over a ten-year period. About $3 trillion of that would be offset by his tax cuts on lower-income households. The Wall Street Journal puts the total difference between the two leading presidential candidates on tax policy at $6 trillion. It’s actually more than that. Trump and his allies have broader designs then just making his tax cuts permanent, including more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. The expanded health insurance subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, which have led to the largest number of enrollees on the insurance exchanges in history, expire at the end of 2025. That will get folded into the debate.

A bipartisan deal that trades a modest expansion of the Child Tax Credit for the revival of expiring business tax measures, which passed the House this year but is unlikely to pass the Senate, will also likely be on the table. Put all that together and you have a tax battle royale, with a 13-figure sum of money on the line. The expiring Trump tax cut provisions can be sorted into three different buckets, Wamhoff said. First, there are changes for individuals and families, the kind of things that are very prominent on tax returns: the standard deduction, the deductions for state and local taxes (SALT), and the Child Tax Credit. The Trump tax cut actually expanded the CTC to $2,000 per child, and if nothing is done it will be cut in half to $1,000. (Democrats expanded the CTC in 2021 to as much as $3,600 per child, but that provision expired at the end of that year.) Second, you have cuts to taxes on “pass-through” business income, which is complicated but mostly affects individual business owners, who in general are the richest people in the country. And finally, you have the cut to the estate tax, which now exempts the first $13 million of estate holdings. Pancotti’s paper shows that the number of taxpayers subject to the estate tax fell from 28,000 in 1982 to 2,600 in 2021, a more than 90 percent reduction.

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April 18, 2024

Rage Against The Machine - Bulls On Parade (Official HD Video)

Label: Epic – 663152 7
Format: Vinyl, 7", 33 ⅓ RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Red
Country: UK
Released: 1 Apr 1996
Genre: Rock
Style: Hard Rock, Funk Metal

April 18, 2024

Tank - Red Skull Rock

Label: Kamaflage Records – KAM LP3
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: UK
Released: Oct 1982
Genre: Rock
Style: Heavy Metal

April 18, 2024

Great light red bottles -- for warmer days

Now’s the time to give your wine rack a spring spruce up, says Will Lyons

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/six-great-light-red-bottles-for-warmer-days-qqmhw8r6t

https://archive.ph/McjH8



As you reorganise your wardrobe at this time of year, pushing sweaters to the back, so your wine rack needs a bit of rebalancing too. I’ll be replacing unctuous, full-bodied winter warmers such as Argentine malbec, Californian cabernet and Australian shiraz with vibrantly fruited reds that can be enjoyed on their own or with the light dishes that lend themselves to spring. In France they have a lovely expression for these wines — vin de soif, which loosely translates as “thirst quencher”: something good and honest that will wash down a salad niçoise and the like. France also has the best region to scour for them: Beaujolais, where the gamay grape thrives. The juicy, spicy 2022 Beaujolais-Villages by Louis Claude Desvignes (Berry Bros & Rudd, £15.50) will be near the top of my shopping list.



Spring also leads me to grape varieties such as pinot noir, with elegant notes of cherry to the fore. A good budget option is Morrisons’ 2022 Paul Mas Reserve Pinot Noir (£9.50), which is full of lovely summery flavour. I also enjoy the bright acidity and tart red fruit of cabernet franc from the Loire and further afield. The fragrant 2021 The Mira Cabernet Franc from Stellenbosch in South Africa (Museum Wines, £24.99) is a gem. Let’s not forget Spain either, where the garnacha grape can do a similar job. Lidl’s 2020 Agramont Old Vine Garnacha from Navarra (£6.49) is packed with lively raspberry and cranberry. Other, albeit more recondite, varieties to keep an eye out for include the exuberant, cherry-infused zweigelt grape popular in Austria (try M&S Found’s Zweigelt, £8.50) or the light, soft cinsault grape. An excellent example is the 2019 Domaine des Tourelles Vieilles Vignes from the Bekaa Valley in the Lebanon (WoodWinters, £19.50). Here are six more light reds to get spring off to a sprightly start.

April 18, 2024

Fish recipes by Catch, Giles Coren's best restaurant in the world

How to cook the fish and seafood that wowed our restaurant critic

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fish-recipes-by-catch-weymouth-giles-coren-best-restaurant-in-world-dg6g2b6l6

https://archive.ph/uhvdP



It is hard not to feel a tiny bit envious of the residents of Weymouth in Dorset. Not only do they enjoy miles of glorious sand — the town holds the Sunday Times best beach award — but now they have Giles Coren’s favourite restaurant of all time as well. When our critic visited Catch at the Old Fish Market last month, it had him squealing like a tweenage girl. “Omigodomigodomigod, I think I just went to the best restaurant in the world,” he wrote in his review, before going on to praise the harbourside fish restaurant’s impeccable cooking, sourcing and “ridiculously” good-value set lunch. The man he ― and we ― have to thank is Mike Naidoo, formerly of Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social, who moved out of London with his pastry chef partner, Tija, to open Catch three years ago. Now he serves hyper-local tasting menus that change with the tides. His fish travels all of 10 yards from the day boats moored in the harbour to his first-floor restaurant above a fishmonger’s and includes mackerel fished off Chesil Beach, crab and lobster caught off Portland Bill, as well as gilt-head bream, plaice, bass and turbot. “When your produce is this fresh, you really don’t need to do that much to it,” the 37-year-old chef says.




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April 18, 2024

Matt Gaetz's Ability to Survive Scandal Is Truly Trumpian

Much like Trump, the Florida congressman benefits from the fact that our outrage sensors are completely burnt-out.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/matt-gaetzs-ability-to-survive-scandal-is-truly-trumpian



“I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker,” Kevin McCarthy told a crowd assembled at Georgetown University this past Tuesday night. “It’s because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old…”

Cue the record scratch.

In a normal world, that shocking allegation—leveled by a former Speaker of the House against a current member of the House, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)—would have dominated news coverage for weeks. Instead, it barely elicited a yawn. To be sure, McCarthy later added, “Did he do it or not? I don’t know.” What is more, the Department of Justice dropped their investigation of Gaetz over a year ago, and Gaetz flatly denies the claims. On the other hand, the House Ethics Committee is still investigating, Gaetz’s close friend pleaded guilty to sex trafficking a minor, and McCarthy’s words seem to suggest he hasn’t ruled out the possibility it’s true.


Regardless, one would think McCarthy’s comments would have made a bigger splash. But we live in a post-Trump world, and particularly among the MAGA set, it takes a whole lot more than allegations like these to spark widespread furor. Our outrage receptors have been burned out. The GOP has, in the words of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “defined decency down,” a phenomenon that aids any Republican caught up in a scandal. Since his election to the presidency, Trump has changed the culture of the GOP, normalizing bad behavior. He has also served as a magnet, attracting new scoundrels who might previously have thought politics was boring, or that they had too much baggage to run for political office.



In this regard, Gaetz’s alleged behavior makes him something of a microcosm of the Trump-era Republican Party. A recent profile in The Atlantic provides plenty of examples of this. First, unlike the old-school family values conservatism, Gaetz lets his freak flag fly, having allegedly shown his House colleagues nude pictures of his sexual conquests on the House floor, and having allegedly participated in a “Points Game” in the Florida legislature, where points were awarded based on which women a member slept with (married fellow members were worth more than lobbyists, for example). This is no longer your father’s Republican Party; the MAGA GOP is full of figures who are alleged to have engaged in some sordid stuff. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has a long list of cuckoo ravings that would be disqualifying for most pre-Trump Republicans. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) was caught on camera fondling her date at a Beetlejuice production. I could go on.

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April 18, 2024

Quentin Tarantino Scraps Film 'The Movie Critic,' Which Would've Been His Last

The director was seemingly in talks to reunite with Brat Pitt for the film

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/quentin-tarantino-scraps-movie-critic-film-1235006413/



Quentin Tarantino will no longer be making The Movie Critic, the film he previously said would be his last as a director. Variety confirmed Wednesday that the director had passed on the project, which would have been his 10th film, and revealed that sources said he wouldn’t be rewriting the project either.

Back in February, Brad Pitt had been supposedly tapped for the movie — the collaboration would have reconnected the actor-director duo after working together on 2009’s Inglorious Bastards and 2019’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Movie Critic was reportedly set in 1977 and followed a movie critic who wrote reviews for a porn magazine. (It was rumored Pitt would have reprised a version of role as Cliff Booth from Once Upon a Time, per Variety.)

At Cannes last year, Tarantino refused to answer questions about the film, but said, “I can’t tell you guys [anything] until you see the movie. I’m tempted to do some of the character’s monologues right now, but I’m not going to. Maybe if there were less video cameras. You just have to wait and see.” Variety had also reported last September that Tarantino had gotten a $20.2 million subsidy from California for the film, which was identified as “#10” referring to the director’s 10th movie.

“I love shooting in California,” Tarantino said in a statement at the time. “I started directing movies here and it is only fitting that I shoot my final motion picture in the cinema capital of the world. There is nothing like shooting in my hometown; the crews are the best I’ve ever worked with, and the locations are amazing. The producers and I are thrilled to be making #10 in Los Angeles.” It’s unclear if he’ll use the approved subsidy for a different film.

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April 18, 2024

The Election Denial Industry is Ramping Up for 2024

https://globalextremism.org/post/election-denial-is-ramping-up/



The 2020 U.S. presidential election was the first time in recent history where a presidential candidate, Donald Trump, baselessly lied about potential massive voter fraud as having led to a “rigged” outcome for his opponent, Joe Biden. The “Stop the Steal” movement that emerged from Trump’s complaints about the election, and made up of dozens of election denying organizations, directly threatened American democracy. Its ideas fomented the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. As Trump used his widely followed social media platforms to amplify his election fraud claims, an entire cottage industry of far-right organizations sprang up in 2020 to spread election denial narratives citing bogus “evidence” of alleged fraud across the country (GPAHE reported on these organizations in 2022). Many of the groups active in earlier election cycles are now ramping up for the 2024 presidential election, alongside others on the far right that have begun spreading messaging about voter fraud and potential election manipulation in November.

Research has found that allegations of mass voter fraud strongly undermine trust in elections, the bedrock of a healthy democracy, and the acceptance of election results. The claims made by these groups have clearly had a negative impact on our democracy. A survey fielded after the 2020 election found most Trump voters believed Biden’s win was illegitimate, and 40 percent said that they would not support Biden even if Trump’s court cases challenging the election result failed (all of which did). All research points to voter fraud being extremely rare, and there is a large consensus among experts that voter fraud in the U.S. not the widespread problem that can alter election results as election deniers would have us believe. An analysis by Justin Levitt, professor at Loyola Law School, for example, found only 31 credible cases of voter impersonation between the years 2000 and 2014, in a pool of over a billion ballots.

Voting by Mail (VBM), which was commonplace in 2020 due to the pandemic, is also incredibly secure, and five states – Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington – hold elections almost exclusively through the mail. VBM states have reported just over a dozen cases of fraud since the year 2000. As with voting in person, VBM fraud is rare, and studies have shown that it increases voter turnout. Despite this unequivocal evidence to the contrary, far-right groups still push the narrative that elections in the United States are largely fraudulent primarily for three reasons. First, to promote legislation that makes it harder to vote, which usually targets minority and lower income voters. Secondly, to promote the lie that Trump actually won the 2020 election. And finally, to bolster the lie that there is a deliberate conspiracy by government elites (usually Democratic party-aligned individuals or Jews) to “replace” the native population with a non-white immigrant one (i.e. the white supremacist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory). Unfortunately, these claims haven’t stopped since 2020, and far-right groups are now laying the groundwork to paint elections in the U.S. as riddled with fraud.

Here are six organizations pushing election denial in advance of the 2024 election.

April 18, 2024

Pro-Orban Hungarian Organizations Are Spreading the Country's Authoritarian Agenda Abroad

https://globalextremism.org/post/hungarian-organizations-spreading-countrys-authoritarian-agenda/



At the CPAC Dallas event in August 2022, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called for Christian Nationalists in Europe and the United States to “unite forces,” because “we Hungarians know how to defeat the enemies of freedom on the political battlefield.” At the governmental level, this is increasingly done through Hungarian organizations that are used as a form of soft-power to influence other countries culturally and ideologically. A growing army of Hungarian “universities,” “think tanks,” and other organizations including American lobbying outfits, heavily funded by the Hungarian treasury, have taken to building widespread networks of influence in the United States and much of Europe. In doing so, they intend to influence these countries to move their politics in the direction of the Orbán regime’s, which the EU parliament calls an “electoral autocracy.”

Through this network, Hungarian soft-power organizations make connections with foreign NGOs, think tanks, intellectuals, and politicians, and spread far-right propaganda about immigration, LGBTQ+ issues, European integration, and “wokeness,” and promote a positive image of Orbán and the Hungarian regime to fellow far-right travelers abroad. Some of this influence is gained through the American Hungarian community and American lobbying firms. This can be seen in the case of the American Hungarian Federation, an organization representing the Hungarian expat community in the United States which supports Orbán’s political agenda, as when it pressured the Trump Administration to reconsider the State Department’s decision to provide a 700,000 USD grant to foster the free press in Hungary, which Orbánists criticized as an example of American interference in Hungarian affairs.

In another instance, Orbán https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/us/politics/hungary-orban-lobbying.html" target="_blank">hired the lobbying firm of former Florida Republican Congressman Connie Mack IV. According to Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings obtained by GPAHE, this contract amounted to payments of 20,000 USD per month to Levick Strategic Communications, which according to the New York Times, “specializes in generating media coverage that casts troubled clients in a more favorable light — preparing executives for interviews, urging reporters to pursue more sympathetic angles and spreading complimentary facts through news releases and social media.” Other firms of Mack’s, such as the Prime Policy Group, were tasked with contacting US journalists in order to schedule meetings with a visiting “Hungarian official.” Later in 2018, Orbán hired Policy Impact, led by Republican lobbyist William Nixon, which helped to https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/us/politics/hungary-orban-lobbying.html" target="_blank">introduce Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson to Orbán and Hungary. Carlson later would go on to paint the country as a glowing conservative paradise and even visit in the summer of 2021, claiming on his show that Orbán had been unfairly cast as an authoritarian in the international press: “Because the lessons are so obvious, and such a clear refutation to the policies we currently have, and the people who instituted those policies, Hungary and its government have been ruthlessly attacked and unfairly attacked: ‘It’s authoritarian, they’re fascists…’ There are many lies being told right now, that may be the greatest of all.” It is https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/us/politics/hungary-orban-lobbying.html" target="_blank">estimated that Orbán spent an estimated 4.5 million USD on lobbyists from May 2012 to October 2021.

Other actions are more oriented towards building a coalition of far-right movements and leaders that the Orbán regime can call upon to support its politics. While organizations based in Hungary have been provided the most resources for these aims, the Hungarian government also has ties with international organizations such as the anti-LGBTQ+ organization Political Network for Values (PNfV), which received a 140,000 euro grant from the Hungarian government in 2020 and has Hungarians in its leadership. Many of these attempts to influence Western countries function under the radar. In September 2022, the investigative journalism outlet Átlátszó reported on the activities of a bilingual, “London-based” international news agency called V4NA, which delivers coverage of current events from a far-right perspective. According to Átlátszó’s reporting, the outlet is owned by the large media conglomerate KESMA, filled with Orbán loyalists, and actually is based in the center of Budapest, not London, in order to provide a pro-Orbán spin on current events while apparently presenting itself as a foreign news outlet.

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April 18, 2024

Project 2025: Far Right Plans For An "Ideal" America

https://www.wortfm.org/project-2025-far-right-plans-for-an-ideal-america/

White people in the U. S. are being discriminated against — at least that’s the opinion authors of the document “Project 2025” — a far-right playbook for their proposed changes to the U. S. society, according to Wendy Via, CEO and Co-founder of Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. This group tracks, monitors, and exposes the rise of far right extremism worldwide, and has identified over 100 sponsors of the document, spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, many with racist ties.

https://soundcloud.com/wort-fm/buzz-4-10-24-wendy-vi