KNOWLEDGE: GOOD NEWS and Bad NEWS

 GOOD NEWS and Bad NEWS

Nationwide No Kings protests were a great success and with one exception peaceful and non-violent.

Take heart.  There has been some good news:

    The military parade as such a bust that Secretary-and-Drunk Hegseth got chewed out.  

    The 4-6 million 'No Kings' protestors got a lot of press, attention, and made an impact.  

    Judges tend to stand with the law and the constitution in case after case. (SCOTUS needs to be reminded of the law tho)

    Trump Tariff-taxes were rules unlawful by two jurisdictions

    Musk has been forced to flee in disgrace

    Your Boycotts and protests have made Tesla lose a lot of money.

    Musk being on the outs means that lawmakers should fear primary challenges less.  REMIND THEM!!!!

    Polls keep showing that every policy of this dangerous White House is unpopular. Current disapproval is 54% overall and all policies are unpopular. The Blog post in the link is updating (thanks G Elliot Morris)

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This run of bad news is probably part of the reason that the White House has ramped up its lawlessness, violence attacks and war-mongering.  

WHY?  This is to be expected when tyrants are not getting their way. 

There is a long history of such a reactions by despots, tyrants, authoritarians, and governments like the current one that has taken over our great free and democratic nation.

When faced with significant challenges to their authority, tyrants often resort to increased repression and violence to maintain control. 

This can include: Intimidation and violence: Using force and intimidation to suppress opposition.

• (This explains LA kidnappings, assault of Senator Padilla, David Huerta arrest and detention, calling out the National Guard and marines, Lochner arrest and roughing up)
• Ruthless suppression: Eliminating any threats to their rule, even after consolidating power.
• Fomenting fear and paranoia: Making rivals and citizens afraid of challenging them. 

Historical examples like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot illustrate this point, as they increasingly applied violence to sustain their power when faced with challenges. 

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ALSO

Despots facing internal or external threats may initiate or escalate conflicts, like war, to distract from their vulnerability and consolidate power. 

This tactic can be seen as a way to unify the population against an external enemy, shift blame for failures onto others, or simply create chaos to maintain control.

That motive can explain the unlawful war started in the Middle East by the White House.

The recent action of the White House in California and the Middle East reflect vulnerabilities of the regime.

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The War is wildly unpopular.  See Strenght in Numbers, G Elliot Morris

It is common for tyrants to take drastic actions when their popularity drops, as is happening in USA.

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KNOWLEDGE: Wealth inequality is enormous: It fuels anti-democratic actions and corruption

Wealth inequality is enormous 

It fuels anti-democratic actions 

and facilitates corruption

Evidence of the inequality and its impact is in this great analysis.  Key points below are from that REPORT.

Income inequality is at its highest point in nearly 75 years

U.S. Gini coefficient, 1947–2019

Impacts of the inequality

American income inequality far outpaces other developed economies

9% of national income shifted to the top, while the middle lost the most

A declining share of national income translates to lower household income

Income gains dramatically increase the ability to save

Higher-income households added wealth 3X faster

WORDS have power PART A: Fascist power grab, Pain and Death Budget Bill, PAYING more for LESS

WORDS MATTER: 

Part B of Words Have Power 

Picking the best descriptors

NEW York Democrat, second in command of city, assaulted 

and arrested by masked ICE thugs

Let's speak accurately and powerfully about the condition of our country

Here are some suggestions:

The TRUMP MAGA budget bill needs to be rebranded accurately :

Big Bad Betrayal Budget Bill

Big Bad aBysmal Betrayal Bill

Big Billionaire Welfare Act

Wealth transfer to richest is massive. See our prior post.  Be sure to study the the green graph of wealth transfer.

Pain and Death Budget Bill 

    (Senator Ernst of Iowa made the plan to increase death and suffering completely clear. 

She has insisted that her comments in a town hall was taken out of context so we include  the content-in which she was lying about medicaid. She was lying about many things, including claims of large numbers of ineligible people on the rolls and implying the national taxpayers pay for those persons.  The linked article exposes many of the lies.  

Senator Ernst insists that early death and unnecessary suffering prior to that preventable and early death (due to unmet medical needs among 14 million people) is fine with her super Christian self in her fake apology.  

More people are eligible for Medicaid than have managed through the paperwork wall that GOP created. 

Undocumented people ARE on medicaid BUT since they are being paid by state funds, and many of them are children, it is not the Federal government's business.  The GOP, however, MAGA and Trump . 

Utah's Senator Curtis also admits the pain and suffering.  In Logan Utah, at a nearly private event Senator Curtis said the current patch of disruption the country is going through is painful, but stated his belief the United States will be better for it.)

Other options: 

Budget Betrayal Bill

Paying-more-for-less budget bill

EXPLODING💥💥Deficit Bill 🎆🎇🎇

(3-5 trillion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. 

$4,000,000,000,000. 

It would take approximately 126,944 years to spend 4 trillion dollars 

at a rate of one dollar per second. Going back in time, 127,000 years ago was at peak of an ice age, that was followed by two others. This is such an enormous number that in human terms 125 ka was prior to homo sapiens leaving Africa.

So much debt that our US bonds have been downgraded in quality ALREADY!)

Fascist Budget Bill

(Judges lose their power to hold loyalists and lawbreakers in contempt, a police state is built using our taxpayer money, exploding our already horrific prison complex . See one take here. Increase ICE detention budget for prisons by 13 times, Provisions preventing the states from protecting citizens from dangerous fascist AI surveillance.  They are already using our private digital data to track, manipulate, and control us for fascism)

Crippling Courts. The bill, hiding behind the premise that it is an appropriations measure, prohibits any funds from being used to carry out court orders holding executive branch officials in contempt. This is designed to enable Trump and his officials to continue defying court orders. It is almost certainly unconstitutional—if courts have the nerve to say so.

More Savaging of Migrants. The bill adds $45 billion to build immigration jails—more than 13 times ICE’s current detention budget. The bill would allow indefinite detention of immigrant children. It also adds several fees intended to harass. The measure charges families $3,500 to reunite with a child who arrived alone at the border, and a person seeking asylum will have to pay an “application fee” of at least $1,000.

Terminating the Tax Status of Nonprofits. The reconciliation text gives the administration the power to define nonprofits as “terrorist-supporting organizations” and expedite the ending of their tax status. This is ostensibly directed against pro-Palestinian groups, but could be used to suppress the free speech and activism of climate organizations and others.

Blocking State Regulation of AI. The bill prohibits any state or subdivision from passing “any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.” It requires the repeal of any such laws already on the books. According to The Lever, the language could be stretched to block efforts by local governments to regulate private equity firms and other landlords using AI software to jack up rents.

Stealth Cuts in the Affordable Care Act. The bill allows tax credits that subsidize ACA premiums to expire at the end of 2025. The result will be that out-of-pocket costs for insurance under the ACA will become more expensive and millions of people will lose coverage.

And … Support for Gun Silencers. Buried deep in the bill is a provision that repeals the $200 excise tax on the sale of gun silencers, which have no lawful purpose other than concealing shootings.