Sunday, September 30th, 2018
STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, - The Seattle Times/Associated Press
Stephan: Here is further proof of the Theorem of Wellbeing, and my assertion that Republicans cannot govern, if by govern one means create a society that fosters well being, and the calibration to assess that is facts. And the facts are that the Democratic Blue value states underwrite the failure of the Republican Red value states.
What is even more despicable is that the Republicans lie about this consistently and constantly. The reality is low taxes and no social support network, the political dogma to which Republicans pledge allegiance only benefits the rich. Why then do voters in the Red states continue to vote for their own degradation? Are they stupid? Are they brainwashed? Or is it something else more important than their own wellbeing?
Speaker Paul Ryan. In this Dec. 5, 2017, photo, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republican leaders have spent months promoting the myth that red low-tax states are subsidizing blue high-tax states because of the deduction for state and local taxes.
Credit: Toya Sarno Jordan/Getty
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders have spent months promoting the myth that red low-tax states are subsidizing blue high-tax states because of the deduction for state and local taxes.
An Associated Press Fact Check finds it’s actually the other way around. High-tax, traditionally Democratic states (blue), subsidize low-tax, traditionally Republican states (red) — in a big way.
Republicans are trying to eliminate the deduction as part of the sweeping tax package working its way through Congress. They added back a deduction for up to $10,000 in property taxes, in a concession to Republicans from high-tax states such as New York and New Jersey. California Republicans are pushing to extend the deduction to local income taxes, too.
It is true that taxpayers in […]
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Sunday, September 30th, 2018
Julia Belluz and Umair Irfan , - Vox
Stephan: The Republican Party is a party controlled by oligarchs and supported by people they think of as peasants. Peasants whose religious willful ignorance, racial animus and fear of change makes them easy to manipulate. But you mustn't for a moment believe the oligarchs have any interest in social wellbeing. The only thing they care about is their greed. Is that too extreme a statement? Read this.
Ruth Etzel, MD, PhD, Director, Office of Children’s Health Protection, EPA
The head of an Environmental Protection Agency office in charge of protecting children’s health was put on leave this week, a move she says is part of a Trump administration effort to “disappear” her office.
The New York Times first reported that Ruth Etzel, a renowned pediatrician and head of the Office of Children’s Health Protection, was removed from her post. And since then, a leaked email from Etzel suggested the worst fears of children’s health advocates may be true.
“I appear to be the ‘fall guy’ for their plan to ‘disappear’ the office of children’s health,” Etzel wrote Tuesday in an email obtained by BuzzFeed. “It had been apparent for about 5 months that the top EPA leaders were conducting ‘guerrilla warfare’ against me as the leader of OCHP, but now it’s clearly official.”
Perhaps you’ve never heard of Etzel or her office. It’s small, with a $2 million budget and only 15 full-time employees. But it has the […]
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Sunday, September 30th, 2018
Andy McDonald, - The Huffington Post
Stephan: When I say that the United States is on the decline because of its government policies, this is what I mean. Note what is happening in China. We are passing from the leadership of the world, not because of anyone but ourselves.
Detroit Schoolroom; yes, a real schoolroom
Credit: ecologyofeducation.net
The United States is ranked 27th globally on education and health care, a new study based on 2016 data reports.
The study, organized by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, seeks to identify “the number of productive years an individual in each country can be expected to work between the ages of 20 to 64,” based on education and health care. This number is referred to as the “human capital” of a nation’s people.
America’s human capital measurement is 23 years, that’s the amount of time a person can be expected to work at peak productivity when accounting for life expectancy, general health and education. The U.S. ranked sixth in the world in 1990, and the drop apparently took researchers by surprise.
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Saturday, September 29th, 2018
Tal Kopan, - Reader Supported News/CNN
Stephan: I keep telling you that while the media can only focus on two main stories a day, a great deal of nasty stuff is going on that is largely overlooked. Here is a perfect example of what I mean. If Trumpian scumbaggery were a temperature you could cook a pizza on the sidewalk.
Immigrant children in one of Trump’s child concentration camps.
Credit: Getty
The Trump administration is planning to shift more than $260 million to cover the rising cost and strain of housing thousands of undocumented immigrant children in their custody — including millions of dollars from programs like cancer research and HIV/AIDS prevention.
The request comes as the program has been strained by record-high levels of children in custody, driven in large part by new policies that are holding kids longer and making it more difficult for them to be released to adults, such as family members.
It also comes amid news that the Department of Health and Human Services once again could not locate 1,500 children it had released over a three-month period.
There are more than 13,000 children currently in HHS custody, spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer told CNN. The number fluctuates daily, but that is higher than the record-setting 12,800 in custody last week.
The program request is detailed in a letter to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, and […]
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