Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 11:19 pm
Someone is confusing having a line of credit with using that line of credit to pay the bills. Trump surrounds himself with bad businessmen.
That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons bring us some web forums whereupon we can gather
http://octopusoverlords.com/forum/
Key Findings:
The vast majority of state and local tax systems are regressive, or upside-down. This requires a much greater share of income from low- and middle-income families than from wealthy families. The absence of a graduated personal income tax in many states and a heavy reliance on consumption taxes contribute to this effect.
The lower one’s income, the higher one’s overall effective state and local tax rate. On average, the lowest-income 20 percent of taxpayers face a state and local tax rate nearly 60 percent higher than the top 1 percent of households. The nationwide average effective state and local tax rate paid by residents to their home states is 11.3 percent for the lowest-income 20 percent of individuals and families, 10.5 percent for the middle 20 percent, and 7.2 percent for the top 1 percent.
In 41 states, high-income families are taxed at lower rates than everyone else. Our analysis sorts taxpayers into seven income groups and finds that in most states the top group, representing the top 1 percent of earners, pays a lower rate than any other group. Similarly, 42 states tax the top 1 percent at a lower rate than the bottom 20 percent, while 46 states tax the top 1 percent less than the middle 60 percent of earners.
In 34 states, low-income families are taxed at higher rates than everyone else despite having the least ability to pay. Six states plus D.C., on the other hand, tax low-income families at lower rates. Nationally, comparatively high tax rates on low-income families remain the norm, despite recent steps to lower taxes for this group by bolstering refundable tax credits. Only six states and the District of Columbia now reserve their lowest overall tax rates for low-income families. Those states are Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont.
"Although the voice in the robocall sounds like the voice of President Biden, this message appears to be artificially generated based on initial indications," the attorney generals office said in a statement. "These messages appear to be an unlawful attempt to disrupt the New Hampshire Presidential Primary Election and to suppress New Hampshire voters. New Hampshire voters should disregard the content of this message entirely."
The investigation comes after a prominent New Hampshire Democrat, whose personal cell phone number showed up on the caller ID of those receiving the call, filed a complaint.
“What a bunch of malarkey,” the robocall phone message begins, echoing a favorite term Biden has uttered before.
The message says that “it’s important that you save your vote for the November election.”
“Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday,” it says.
The message concludes with a phone number belonging to Kathy Sullivan, a former New Hampshire Democratic Party chair who is now running a super PAC supporting the campaign to urge New Hampshire Democrats to write in Biden’s name in the primary.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to intervene in a battle over race and redistricting in Michigan. In a brief unsigned order, the justices denied a request by the state’s independent redistricting commission to put on hold a lower court’s ruling that requires it to redraw state legislative maps for the Detroit area because the original maps relied too heavily on race.
There were no recorded dissents from the court’s ruling.
The dispute came to the Supreme Court after the state’s independent redistricting commission – a mix of randomly selected Democrats, Republicans, and independents – submitted a new redistricting plan that reduced the number of majority-Black state legislative districts in the Detroit area. The region went from two majority-Black senate districts under the old plan to none, and from 10 majority-Black House districts to six.
Feeling it:On New Year's Day, the city of Columbus, Ohio, did what the federal government has not been able to: ban the sale of menthol cigarettes.
Three weeks later, the state Legislature voted to reinstate menthol and other flavored tobacco products — and strip all its cities of their ability to regulate what type of tobacco is sold or enforce who is old enough to buy it.
"I am very concerned when politicians start deciding what they think is best for the health of the population," said Dr. Mysheika Roberts, health commissioner for Columbus Public Health. "We know that tobacco products are harmful."
The Oregon Supreme Court said Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection.
The decision upholds the secretary of state’s decision to disqualify the senators from the ballot under a voter-approved measure aimed at stopping such boycotts. Measure 113, passed by voters in 2022, amended the state constitution to bar lawmakers from reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences.
Last year’s boycott lasted six weeks — the longest in state history — and paralyzed the legislative session, stalling hundreds of bills.
Five lawmakers sued over the secretary of state’s decision — Sens. Tim Knopp, Daniel Bonham, Suzanne Weber, Dennis Linthicum and Lynn Findley. They were among the 10 GOP senators who racked up more than 10 absences.
Over the past few days, Lindell has been on a media tour (mostly on extremist podcasts and his own video platforms) to promote a new eCommerce website called MyStore. Lindell calls it a “mini-Amazon” for “patriots” where “entrepreneurs” can sell their goods without being “copied by China.”
There’s no word on how selling through MyStore will prevent “China” from copying you, aside from the fact that fewer people will see the website in the first place. Lindell did tell Newsweek that MyStore is only intended for American-made products, and his team has already caught sellers “trying to sneak in” Chinese wares.
In an interview with convicted criminal Steve Bannon, Lindell said MyStore is home to “every kind of product you can imagine.” The website features all the patriot favorites, including the Amazing Temporary Tooth tooth replacement kit, “made in America” socks, a painting of a lion next to Jesus Christ, and a 32 ounce meat sticks and summer sausage variety pack.
There are the Lindell classics too, including MyCoffee (with a free go-anywhere MyPillow if you sign up for a subscription), MyStore branded vitamins, MySlipper leather protectant spray, and, of course, the famous MyPillows themselves. If you act fast, you can even scoop up the limited edition 20th Anniversary MyPillow for just $27.98. The website doesn’t include any information about what separates the 20th Anniversary MyPillow from the regular MyPillow.
So that's a portal where "concerned" citizens can upload materials for the AG to review?Alefroth wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 4:29 pm Indiana leading the way in teacher surveillance.
https://www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/education-liberty/
Truth Social would provide a substantial supply of complaint material.Holman wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 5:26 pmSo that's a portal where "concerned" citizens can upload materials for the AG to review?Alefroth wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 4:29 pm Indiana leading the way in teacher surveillance.
https://www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/education-liberty/
It sure would be a shame if it were flooded with millions and millions of serious-seeming but ultimately time-wasting complaints. That seems like something a few tricksy programmers could arrange to make happen. What a mess THAT would be...
Bluesky has got it covered.Holman wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 5:26 pmSo that's a portal where "concerned" citizens can upload materials for the AG to review?Alefroth wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 4:29 pm Indiana leading the way in teacher surveillance.
https://www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/education-liberty/
It sure would be a shame if it were flooded with millions and millions of serious-seeming but ultimately time-wasting complaints. That seems like something a few tricksy programmers could arrange to make happen. What a mess THAT would be...
I'm assuming this is private "christian" schools/religious schools for religious indoctrination too...Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Feb 27, 2024 12:04 am Our R state just passed a revised school voucher program that takes tax payer money and gives it to private schools. Theres a big hoo haa now. The Dems want the school commissioner to resign as she never taught or have a teach license and doesn't even live in the state.
The new, 39-page House amendment to HB1183/SB503 is vastly different than a 17-page Senate version and [Gov. Bill] Lee's seven-page bill that more narrowly deals with school choice. A first committee hearing on the bill is scheduled for Tuesday in the House K-12 Subcommittee, and the Senate Education Committee is set to take up the bill on Wednesday afternoon.
Lee’s $141.5 million proposal would offer taxpayer-funded grants to 20,000 students to attend private schools of their choice without any annual TCAP testing or other state-monitored accountability measures for participating students. Eligibility for the voucher program would expand to all students eligible to attend a public school, regardless of income, in 2025.
...
Governor’s proposal (filed in both House and Senate)
No testing requirements – parent satisfaction is measure of success.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is calling on residents in Travis County, Texas — the home of the city of Austin — to head to the ballot box for Tuesday’s Democratic primary to push out the county’s current district attorney.
Reposting a message from defense attorney Jeremy Sylestine, who is challenging incumbent Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza (D), Musk wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, “Sorry to bother everyone with this note, as it applies to people in the greater Austin area, but please go to the polls and vote for a new District Attorney!”
Musk has ties to the Austin area, which is where Tesla’s headquarters is located.
Earlier this year, a Delaware judge tossed out Musk’s record-breaking Tesla compensation package worth up to $55.8 billion, ruling it was negotiated unfairly since Musk controlled the board that authorized it.
The ruling was a significant hit for Musk, who is now attempting to move several of his companies out of Delaware. The billionaire moved his spacecraft and satellite communications company Space X’s state of incorporation to Texas last month.
The attorney for a North Texas mom who was charged with helping her son flee to Mexico after violating the terms of his probation in a fatal DWI crash says she is “relieved” to finally resolve the eight-year long case. Tonya Couch pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted hindering apprehension or prosecution of a known felon on Nov. 6 in a Tarrant County criminal district court, according to court documents.
...
As part of a plea agreement, Tonya was ordered to serve 180 days in the Tarrant County Jail. She was given credit for time served and released, according to documents.
The happiest nations are, as one would expect, mostly small, well-off, and socialist. Speculation about why the whippersnappers here are so grumbly follows.Each year, it’s no surprise that Finland tops the annual World Happiness Report. And this year was no different, marking the country’s seventh consecutive year doing so — though some Finns have bristled at the title.
But the 2024 report, released on Wednesday, had a note of alarm that was less about who was at the top of the rankings and more about who wasn’t: Americans — particularly those under 30 — have become drastically less happy in recent years.
The report, compiled annually by a consortium of groups including the United Nations and Gallup, was the latest data point in what some researchers have described as a crisis among America’s youth.
For the first time since the first World Happiness Report was published in 2012, the United States fell out of the Top 20 and dropped to 23rd, pushed down by cratering attitudes of Americans under 30.
Americans have long been an unhappy bunch. They have never ranked in the Top 10 of the World Happiness Report, which is based on how respondents in different countries rate their own happiness.
But this was the first time that the consortium separated results by age, finding disparities in the views of younger and older Americans. Among the 143 countries surveyed, the United States ranked 10th for people 60 and older, but 62nd for people under 30. The happiest young people are in Lithuania, while the unhappiest are in Afghanistan.
“There’s an assumption that if you’re American, you’re wealthy and you’re high tech and you’re successful; you should be happy,” he said. “There’s a lot of data that shows that the greater your expectations, the less you’re happy.”
The expectations for young people like Ms. Song, the novelist, said have shifted.
“We have less to look forward to,” she said. “Because in the future, there’s going to be climate change that will affect the way we live. I think there’s less of a clear-cut trajectory for our life paths, because for so long, it was so easy just to know that you could go get married and have your 2.5 kids, and then pay for your house. But now that path is a lot more closed.”
There is a silver lining, though, for the report released on Wednesday, Dr. Helliwell said.
“A, this angst is very local and, B, it’s very recent, which means, C, it’s not fundamental and going to last forever,” he said. “If it has been created that quickly, it could be removed that quickly.”
A: DisagreeKraken wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 10:29 pm“We have less to look forward to,” she said. “Because in the future, there’s going to be climate change that will affect the way we live.”
...
“A, this angst is very local and, B, it’s very recent, which means, C, it’s not fundamental and going to last forever,” he said. “If it has been created that quickly, it could be removed that quickly.”
This doesn't make sense. The dump part is where the stocks are sold to victims. Maybe the pumpers aren't selling the stock but whoever is paying them is. The dump is the crime and they had to pump, directly or indirectly, to get there. Leave it to prosecutors to prove the connection, don't rule it legal across the board because sometimes they can't.essentially ruling that pump and dump scams are legal because the people lying about the stock are not the same people selling the stock to the victims.
That is correct - it does not make sense.LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:26 amThis doesn't make sense. The dump part is where the stocks are sold to victims. Maybe the pumpers aren't selling the stock but whoever is paying them is. The dump is the crime and they had to pump, directly or indirectly, to get there. Leave it to prosecutors to prove the connection, don't rule it legal across the board because sometimes they can't.essentially ruling that pump and dump scams are legal because the people lying about the stock are not the same people selling the stock to the victims.
Probably very little, I would guess. No Labels loses him as a supporter and organizer, which I imagine wouldn't help, but unfortunately there are others to keep it moving. The most optimistic take is that someone involved with them who has cold feet could use this as a graceful excuse to exit stage left.