1/. It's absolutely time to tax billionaires globally.....if we can do it!
The idea is simple. There are about 3,000 billionaires in the world and in recent years they have been getting richer and richer. Demands on hard-up governments from ageing populations and the drive to achieve net zero are growing all the time. Rather than expect voters already struggling to make ends meet to pay more, how about a wealth tax on Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and their like?
This is an idea that has obvious attractions. As Joe Biden has pointed out, US billionaires make their money in ways that are often taxed at lower rates than the ordinary wage income of American workers. Overwhelmingly, their wealth comes from the rising value of their assets, and they use tax loopholes and legal accounting moves to minimise the tax they pay. Wealthy Americans pay an average tax rate on their incomes of just 8%. Biden thinks they should be paying a minimum of 25%.
2/. This one is true.....
3/. This is interesting.......RFK Jr. could be a protest vote for Republicans fed up with the orange one but can't bring themselves to vote for Biden.....
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s increasingly frequent appearances on conservative media platforms are beginning to raise alarms at Mar-a-Lago.
It’s another sign of the rising threat that Kennedy, the independent presidential candidate, poses to Trump.
4/. Trouble sleeping? Try MAGAtonin, recommended by you know who.....
5/. Wow. Wow. A powerful and cogent explanation of why and how Trump has so many devoted followers, and the drivers
behind their support.
This is an intelligent and enlightening story from Robert Kagan, and I strongly recommend you read it if you can get through the WaPo firewall..........
For some time, it was possible to believe that many voters could not see the threat Donald Trump poses to America’s liberal democracy, and many still profess not to see it. But now, a little more than six months from Election Day, it’s hard to believe they don’t. The warning signs are clear enough. Trump himself offers a new reason for concern almost every day. People may choose to ignore the warnings or persuade themselves not to worry, but they can see what we all see, and that should be enough.
6/. Jordan Klepper on Stormy's testimony......amusing.....
6A/. This one horrifyingly good....
7/. Just because DeSantis has gone quiet doesn't mean he's stopped being evil......he's still at it......
Florida is continuing to “callously” strip healthcare coverage from thousands of children in lower-income households in defiance of a new federal law intended to protect them.
Since 1 January, more than 22,500 children have been disenrolled from Florida KidCare, its version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip) that is jointly subsidized by states and the US government for families with earnings just above the threshold for Medicaid.
Florida healthcare officials admit at least some were removed for non-payment of premiums, an action prohibited by the “continuous eligibility” clause of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act that took effect at the beginning of this year. The clause secures 12 months of cover if at least one premium payment is made.
8/. I really really hope he's wrong....Andrew Sullivan on why Trump is going to win.....
There’s a feeling, some say, that overwhelms you in a car crash. Suddenly the world slows down and you’re suspended in mid-air; you can see the collision coming but have no way to stop it, and so you almost relax as the impact nears.
If that’s what you’re currently experiencing with respect to the 2024 presidential election, I feel you. It’s hard to recall now the relief so many of us felt when Donald Trump, after violent resistance from a mob he corralled, finally left the White House. I was hopeful we’d seen the last of him, with a normie moderate president destined to inherit a recovering post-Covid economy, and pledging moderation and centrism. We had a real chance to turn the corner.
We have instead turned right back. Trump swept the board in the Republican primaries. And despite — or rather because of — four indictments for scores of felonies, all authorized by Democratic DAs, including the attorney general, Trump is now narrowly leading in national polls and ahead in most of the swing states. He has managed, in his genius demagoguery, to turn himself in the eyes of many into a classic American outlaw figure — an underdog against conspiring elites and the deep state. He is making serious gains among black and Latino moderates.
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/how-to-re-elect-donald-trump?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=61371&post_id=143964204&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
9/. Protect and serve......sure....
10/. American billionaires are taking over British soccer, club by club.....and some
soccer fans aren't happy about it.....
n the first half of a January game at Stamford Bridge, the London stadium where the Chelsea Football Club has played since its founding in 1905, seven well-groomed spectators in green velvet jackets stood up together from their seats behind the substitutes’ bench as players raced up and down the field in front of them. They pulled out books and began to read. Then they all brushed their teeth.
11/. Kristi Noem, was once Trump's #1 choice for VP candidate.....
12/. How are your allergies this spring? Apparently it's worse this year.....
Spring is here — and if you’re among the estimated one in four adults in the United States who suffers from seasonal allergies, you may be sneezing and scratching.
With climate change affecting temperatures and plant growth, spring allergy season can last longer, and even affect people who haven’t had allergies before. It can be hard to distinguish allergies from a cold, but there are a few telltale signs that high levels of tree or grass pollen might be to blame for your symptoms.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/well/live/spring-allergy-symptoms.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
13/. Weekend Update #1 - some good zingers.....
Weekend Update #2 - Colin interviews Kristi Noem's other dog.......funny....
14/. Affordable housing? Nah....
15/. The next Congress should investigate the corrupt justices, AND their wives.....
An entire series of outrages from the radical Republicans on the Court have ginned up calls for President Biden and Congress — should he be re-elected and Democrats take both the House and Senate — to “pack” or expand the size of the Court.
Outrages include Republicans on the Court overturning Roe v Wade, gutting affirmative action, spitting on the Voting Rights Act, limiting civil rights, and a growing anticipation that the Court will soon go after the rights of queer people while further restricting access to abortion and birth control medications.
How did we get here, and what can we do about it?
https://hartmannreport.com/p/should-president-biden-take-a-lesson-4eb?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=302288&post_id=144084353&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
16/. Damn students....
17/. Louisiana is on the brink of criminalising possession of abortion pills....truly a shithole state.....
LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS ARE trying to quietly criminalize possession of the most commonly used abortion pills. In a move that took the state’s abortion advocates and OB-GYNs by surprise, last-minute amendments that would place mifepristone and misoprostol on the state’s list of controlled substances were added to a bill focused on making “coerced criminal abortion by means of fraud” a crime.
State Sen. Thomas Pressly (R) filed Senate Bill 276 in honor of his sister, whose husband slipped abortion medication in her drink without her consent. The House Criminal Justice Committee heard multiple bills regarding abortion Tuesday, and there was not much buzz surrounding this particular one, until Pressly submitted the set of amendments that would classify the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV controlled substances under Louisiana law.
18/. Right wingers appear to have suppressed a documentary about Jan. 6th, called "The Sixth". It's from the studio that made "Civil War"....
It was supposed to go straight to streaming on Amazon Prime for free, but you can still rent it on Apple and Amazon for $19.99....
A long-awaited Jan. 6 documentary from a pair of Oscar-winning filmmakers sheds dramatic light on police and others whose lives were affected by the assault on the Capitol. But its absence from the website of its own studio, and from major subscription streaming outlets, have raised questions about just how America remembers that day — and about whether entertainment titans are pulling their punches as a potential second Trump term looms.
The Sixth, by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, is officially a collaboration between the award-winning Beltway-based duo and A24, the red-hot studio behind such sensations as Civil War, The Zone of Interest and Everything Everywhere All At Once. When the film was first announced, in early 2021, it seemed like the perfect pairing of talent and bankroll: Two of the capital’s best-regarded documentarians linking up with a rising entertainment-industry power.
Here's an excerpt from a review.....
Everyone thinks they know the story of January 6. But really, that knowledge is largely limited to the 15-second clips that have burned themselves into the collective memory.
Those moments are all here in this grueling account from Oscar-winning documentarians Sean Fine and Andrea Nix: The protestors scrambling like spiders up the marble walls…the human battering ram in the entrance tunnel…the screaming D.C. Metro police officer being crushed into a door frame…the flag-waving protestors streaming through the Capitol’s halls, some like bemused tourists, others like marauding vandals.
We’ve even heard the stories of those who defended the Capitol or hid that day, but usually they’ve been goaded on by TV hosts impatient to get to the good stuff before the next commercial break. Seldom have they been invited to look into the camera’s eye, take a deep breath, and start from the beginning.
That is the gift of The Sixth, a graphic yet strikingly humane narrative. Lots of January 6 documentaries make use of raw footage to recreate the chaos and violence of the day. Fine and Nix take unprecedented pains to not only place us in the middle of the melee — scrupulously informing us, through ingeniously designed animated diagrams, precisely where we are in and around the Capitol — but also behind those locked, barricaded doors, where staffers gaze tremblingly through the windows, watching an approaching swarm of enraged humanity.
19/. Another true toon.....
20/. New ad....."Republicans Against Trump".....interesting, true, but not going to make a difference....
21/. The Times lists the best shows on Netflix.....
Netflix adds original programming at such a steady clip that it can be hard to keep up with which of its dramas, comedies and reality shows are must-sees. And that’s not including all the TV series Netflix picks up from broadcast and cable networks. Below is our regularly updated guide to the 50 best shows on Netflix in the United States. Each recommendation comes with a secondary pick, too, for 100 suggestions in all. (Note: Netflix sometimes removes titles without notice.)
22/. The Times really likes "Baby Reindeer" on Netflix.....
Richard Gadd created and stars in the mesmerizing, complex drama “Baby Reindeer” (on Netflix), which is based on his experience of being stalked. Here he plays Donny Dunn, an aspiring comedian and miserable bartender, living with his ex-girlfriend’s mother and stewing in regret.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/arts/television/baby-reindeer-netflix.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
23/. This movie sounds really, really interesting...."Humane"....
“Humane” is a thought experiment sprung to bloody life, a cross between the trolley problem and dystopian extinction nightmares. Set in the very near future, it tries to tackle a cascade of ethical questions. Who counts as valuable? What does it mean to be good? If humans wreck the earth, what will we do to survive? Do we even deserve it?
Those are gargantuan questions, enough to power several graduate-level philosophy courses. But “Humane” wraps them in admirably small-scale trappings: a family drama with immensely high stakes. Just after widespread ecological collapse, every country on earth has shut its borders and has committed to reducing its population within one year.
"The Fall Guy" with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt is getting good reviews.....
A spirit of good will animates the new action comedy The Fall Guy (in theaters May 3)—a tribute to the bruised, battered, and otherwise hard-working folks who do so much for movies but rarely get credit. They’re the stunt performers: limber and willing folks who throw themselves in front of cars or down hillsides, allow themselves to be set on fire or dropped from a great height, all to make a movie seem that much more real. The Fall Guy, written by Drew Pearce and directed by David Leitch, honors those craftspeople the best way Hollywood knows how: by giving their work some movie star glow.
It arrives in the form of Ryan Gosling, fresh off of Barbie and still leading with his light side. This is the better form of Gosling, mesmerizing as some of his grim, laconic performances have been. Here he plays Colt, a once sought-after stuntman who has quit the business after a bad workplace injury sapped his confidence and cost him his lady love, Jody (Emily Blunt). In the meantime, Jody has ascended from camera operator to director of a big-budget studio film shooting in Sydney, Australia. Through some trickery on the part of dogged producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham), Colt accepts a job doing all the difficult physical stuff that the film’s preening star Tom (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) refuses to do.
24/. Bob Lefsetz likes the Netflix series "Ripley".....
It’s creepy. And slow. And in black and white. And if this bothers you, stay away. But if in college you watched foreign films from the sixties, this will feel totally familiar.
The first thing you’ll notice is the black and white. Honestly, I thought it would be like “The Wizard of Oz,” turning into color at some relatively early point, but that proves to be untrue.
And the pacing… If you’re used to American television it will be interminable. When “x” is killed…they’d immediately cut away in America, but the camera stays on the scene, it plays out, you feel the slowness of time, which ultimately has you inside the mind of the killer and…
https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2024/05/01/ripley/
Today's FBI joke....
The FBI had an opening for an assassin. . .. . .
After all the background checks, interviews and testing were done, there were 3 finalists; two men and a woman.
For the final test, the FBI agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.
'We must know that you will follow your Instructions no matter what the circumstances.
Inside the room you will find your wife sitting in a chair ... Kill her!!' The man said, 'You can't be serious, I could never shoot my wife.'
The agent said, 'Then you're not the right man for this job. Take your wife and go home.'
The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room.
All was quiet for about 5 minutes.
The man came out with tears in his eyes, 'I tried, But I can't kill my wife.'
The agent said, 'You don't have what it takes. Take your wife and go home.'
Finally, it was the woman's turn. She was given the same instructions, to kill her husband.
She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one after another.
They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls..
After a few minutes, all was quiet.
The door opened slowly and there stood the woman, wiping the sweat from her brow.
'This gun is loaded with blanks' she said. 'I had to kill him with the chair!'
Frank Feldman the Great...
A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just going by.
He gets into the taxi, and the cabbie says, "Perfect timing. You’re just like Frank".
Passenger: “Who?"
Cabbie: "Frank Feldman". He’s a guy who did everything right all the time.
Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank Feldman every single time."
Passenger: "There are always a few clouds over everybody."
Cabbie: "Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand-Slam at tennis He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano.
He was an amazing guy."
Passenger: "Sounds like he was really something special."
Cabbie: "There’s more. He had a memory like a computer. He remembered everybody’s birthday.
He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with. He could fix anything.
Not like me. I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Feldman could do everything right."
Passenger: "Wow, what a guy!"
Cabbie: ‘He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them.
But Frank, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good.
He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too.
He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Feldman."
Passenger: "How did you meet him?"
Cabbie: “I never actually met Frank. He died and I married his wife"
Today's Middle Eastern joke
A Jew and an Arab go into a bakery.
The Arab steals 3 pastries and puts them in his pocket.
He says to the Jew, "See how good I am? The owner didn't see anything!"
The Jew says to the Arab, "I am going to show you there is nobody better than a Jew."
He goes to the owner and says, "Give me a pastry and I will show you a magic trick.''
Intrigued, the owner accepts and gives him a pastry. The Jew swallows it and asks for another one.
The owner gives him another one.
Then the Jew asks for another one and swallows it just the same.
The owner is starting to wonder where the magic trick is and says, "What did you do with the pastry?
Are you trying to fool me ?
The Jew answers, "Look in the Arab's pocket..."
Today's Australian joke....
A Queenslander is drinking in a West Australian Pub when he gets
a call on his mobile phone and as he listens to the call he starts
grinning from ear to ear, then when he disconnects he shouts to the
barman that he wants to buy everyone in the bar a drink.
The barman starts serving the drinks and the people start to crowd
around keen to know what they are celebrating. "Well," he announces, "My wife's just produced a typical Queensland
baby boy weighing 25 pounds".
Nobody can believe that any baby can weigh in at 25 pounds, but
the Queenslander just shrugs, "That's about average in Queensland .
Like I said, my boy is a typical Queensland boy."
Congratulations showered him from all around and many exclamations
of "STREWTH" and "BLOODY HELL!" were heard.
One woman even fainted due to sympathy pains.
Two weeks later the Queenslander returns to the same bar.
The barman says "You're the father of that typical Queensland baby that weighed
25 pounds at birth aren't you?
Everybody's been having bets about how big he'd be in 2 weeks, we were going to call you.
So - how much does he weigh now?"
The proud father answers: "19 pounds."
The bartender is puzzled and concerned. "What happened?
He weighed 25 pounds the day he was born!"
The Queensland father takes a long s-l-o-w swig from his XXXX Gold
beer, wipes his lips on his shirt sleeve, leans onto the bar and proudly
says, "We had him circumcised!"
