“I may never play Madison Square Garden... but I AM going to sit on your face.” — Bridget Everett, formerly of Manhattan, KS, now starring in HBO’s Somebody Somewhere, which takes place in, you guessed it, Manhattan, KS, my high school alma mater.
1.
If you vote Republican, and make less than 400,000/year, you are literally screwing yourself. Hard. They still insist that the way to American prosperity is to tax the wealthiest the least and the trickle-down unicorn will make it all better. Kevin McCarthy says about the Trumpian tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, set to expire in 2025 and which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates will add $3.5 trillion to the debt, “The problem is not revenue. The problem is spending.” Republican actions have been shrinking the middle class since 1980 when Reagan started picking your pocket and took the deficit from $70 billion to $175 billion. Bush 41 took it to $300 billion. Clinton got it to zero, then along came Bush 43 who decided to wage war and took it from zero to $1.2 trillion. Obama halved it to $600 billion then the pompous liar-face took it back to a trillion.
Heather Cox Richardson explains that President Biden’s 2024 budget proposes to reduce the federal deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade by raising taxes on those who make more than $400,000 a year. His budget would effectively repeal the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy, restoring the top tax rate to 39.6% rather than the 37% the 2017 cuts established. It would also raise corporate taxes from 21%, to which the 2017 tax cuts dropped them, to 28%, lower than the high of 35% before the Trump tax cuts.
Biden’s budget also calls for taxing capital gains at about the same rate as income for those making more than $1 million, and it calls for a new tax on unrealized capital gains. It also seeks to close loopholes that enable high earners to avoid taxes. Funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that was passed in the Inflation Reduction Act will enable the IRS to go after tax cheats who make more than $400,000 a year, netting an estimated $204 billion through 2031.
And Dan Sorenson, former Arizona Daily Star writer, Mollys bassist, and all-around witty dude, summed up the debt ceiling fiasco quite nicely on the facial book last week: The national debt showdown? Think of it this way. The Republicans are running out on a restaurant tab after pigging out (keep in mind the Red States eat the majority of that federal meal they claim to hate year after year, getting more federal dollars than their taxpayers contribute.) Or, another way, by refusing to raise the limit they are making yet another of their attempts to overthrow the government. The debt was approved by legally elected members of Congress, the expenses incurred through laws enacted by our representatives. By refusing to authorize payment for legally authorized expenses of government, they’re retroactively invalidating our votes. And, by the way, screwing anyone who has investments that depend on the stock market - directly or indirectly- for income. And damaging the U.S.’s standing in the world. The dollar is the worldwide favorite currency, even in countries that don’t like us, but it doesn’t have to stay that way.
2.
Margaret Hoover, great-granddaughter of Herbert Hoover, the 31st U.S. president, is an interesting mix of conservative, progressive, and libertarian rolled into one package. In the early aughts she was involved in Bush's 2004 reelection campaign and was Deputy Finance Director for Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid in 2006–07. Her Libertarian beliefs are on issues of personal morality such as her support for gay rights and marriage. Her progressive side is her stance on opposing the big orange one, instead voting for Biden last time around. She’s smart and asks intriguing questions of her guests on the revived Firing Line, founded by William F. Buckley Jr. which ran on PBS for 33 years.
Last week’s episode was with Charlie Sykes, former conservative radio host, who is now editor-at-large of The Bulwark and an NBC/ MSNBC contributor. He also serves as the president of Defending Democracy Together Institute, sits on the advisory board of the Democracy Fund, and is a member of the board of Stand Up Republic. He, like Hoover, are concerned of what Trump 2.0 might mean. Here’s an excerpt:
SYKES: The assault on truth is not simply telling lies. It’s what Hannah Arendt described as the attack on all of your critical sensibilities. So that there comes a point where you doubt your ability to even know the truth. So we have millions of people in this country who are being lied to, who either do not know they’re being lied to or, and I think this is more disturbing, they know they’re being lied to and they don’t care. It becomes irrelevant…. And Donald Trump has just fully immersed himself into this stream. Shamelessness is his superpower. There’s part of him I think that’s a little bit shocked that he gets away with what he gets away with. Can I really say this? Could I really shoot somebody? Could I really actually attack a woman and get away with it? Can I really say these things and have the entire Republican Party say, yeah, we’re okay with that? But it is an extraordinary moment that we’re in. And again, it’s not just that we face a lot of lies. If we use the phrase like post-truth, it means that that whole concept of truth and lies may be irrelevant to much of the political class.
HOOVER: But is it really the entire Republican Party, or is it just enough of the base?
SYKES: Well, this is the interesting thing. No. It is the base. But– and I have this discussion all the time with many of my former friends who will say, ‘Charlie, you know, most Republicans, 60% of Republicans are normies. We get all of this stuff.’ But the problem is you enable and you empower the crazies. You may not be the crazies, but you are part of an infrastructure that has advanced Marjorie Taylor Greene, that is right now prepared to perhaps renominate Donald Trump. So you may not be that, but you allow it and you tolerate it.
3.
In a fund-raising email last year, Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, who joined the 2024 Republican presidential field, told supporters that if Republicans didn’t take back the Senate, Democrats would “grant abortions up to 52 weeks” — 12 weeks longer than pregnancy lasts. Mr. Tea Potty strikes again. In fairness, Scott has participated in some forward-thinking moves; supported the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina’s Capitol grounds, as a state representative he joined the Women’s Caucus, citing his background as “the product of a powerful single mother,” and he initially promoted bills to increase the use of body cameras and the tracking of police shootings. But it doesn’t make up for his stand opposing any sort of gun control and his opposition to abortion rights.
Scott comes from the “from cotton to Congress in one lifetime” moniker, the mythical ‘bootstraps’ schtick that he touts to this day. The Guardian reported that According to this wholly absurd construct, hard work – and hard work, alone – is a magical key that unlocks the promises of the American dream. And, if one accepts this premise, then the converse must also be true. Anyone who doesn’t achieve their dreams is simply not working hard enough, a concept which has become a key component of the Republican ideology, especially as it relates to racial inequality.
Scott has said that America is not a racist country. White Republican voters LOVE hearing those words. By preaching the tenets of the bootstrap gospel, Black Republicans are essentially saying that 83% of Black voters, 63% of Hispanic voters and 72% of Asian American voters are wrong. The fact that every non-white demographic in America has rejected this narrative cannot unseat this fraudulent conservative conceit. They might not know much about history, business, systemic racism or inequality in their own country but, apparently, white people know what’s best for everyone else.
Also, two white guys from Florida who hate everyone are also running for the office.
4.
Despite all the kudos I’ve given the Biden administration there are times I practically break my pearls from clutching them so hard. The Uinta Basin Railway is one such project that seems pricey and dicey. It’s designed to carry oil from Utah to distant refineries and markets. According to the Lever, the railway aims to run trains full of petroleum from Northeast Utah’s Uinta Basin along the banks of the Colorado River as it winds through treacherous canyons prone to rockslides and mudslides. Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet (D), John Hickenlooper (D), and Rep. Joe Neguse (D) in a March 9 letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote, “If issued (the permits), this would not only constitute the largest [private activity bond] the [Department of Transportation] has ever issued; it would also irretrievably sink taxpayer dollars into a project that has proven unable to contain its own costs. The project could result in as many as five, two-mile-long crude-oil trains running over 100 miles directly alongside the headwaters of the Colorado River each day.”
The Biden administration, which has been greenlighting new oil and gas development at a faster rate than the Trump administration and rapidly approving export projects along the Gulf Coast, has already granted the project its necessary permits. Environmental groups are appealing the approval, and Democrats from Colorado’s congressional delegation have asked the administration to reconsider.
Read more about the project at the Stop the Uinta Basin Railway website, then sign the petition.
5.
Just a short note that Pima Community College Governing Board members are weighing whether to save or tear down the Tucson Inn and other historic motels along Drachman Street. Herb Stratford, who restored the Fox Theatre and is currently working on the Teatro Carmen in Barrio Viejo, has spoken before the board, as well as many other people from historical and preservation groups. Back in the 1970s a large part of Barrio Viejo was torn down for the ugliest convention center this side of Peoria, and it tore out much of the soul of downtown. Maybe this mistake should not happen again. Read more here in the Arizona Luminaria.
Today I’m introducing a brand new feature of the Friday Homestead Dispatch:
Tiny Tidbits of Goddamn!
1. More than 450 credibly accused child sex abusers have ministered in the Catholic Church in Illinois over almost seven decades. Goddamn.
2. Book bans in US public schools increased by 28% in the first half of the 2022-23 academic year due to a ‘relentless’ Republican crusade as 1,477 books banned in first half of 2022-23 school year. Goddamn.
3. There are currently close to 500 different bills across our great nation targeting LGBTQ rights. While not all of these bills will become law, they all cause harm for LGBTQ people. Arizona ALONE has over 10 bills advancing. Guess what party is behind these bills? Goddamn.
4. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, admitted Monday that a major benefit of his committee’s widely publicized investigations of Joe Biden and his family is that they are yielding major returns for the GOP because they’re helping to drag down the president’s poll numbers. All this despite admitting on national TeeVee of finding zero evidence of criminal wrongdoing and investigative screwups along the way. Goddamn.
5. The NAACP on Saturday issued a travel advisory for Florida over Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion programs" in the state's schools. They released a statement that “Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color.” Goddamn.
6. Richard “Bigo” Barnett, the January 6 rioter who propped his dogs on Pelosi’s desk and made bank on selling autographed photos of his own stupidity, was sentenced by Judge Christopher Cooper to more than four years in prison. Bwaaahaaaaahaaaa. Said Judge Cooper, “You’re 63 years old; you’re too old for this nonsense. But for better or worse you have become one of the faces of Jan. 6, and I think you enjoy it.” Goddamn.
7. And finally, a group of men who kill people for money have destroyed a city, liberating it from the people who actually lived and worked there. “As a result of offensive actions of the Wagner assault units, with the support of artillery and aviation of the ‘Southern’ unit, the liberation of the city of Artemovsk was completed,” Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement, using the Soviet-era name of Bakhmut. Goddamn.
And now…