Sunday, January 5th, 2020
Stephan: Here is the latest in the Neo-feudalism Trend. The Republican Party is turning ordinary Americans into peasants while enriching the already rich to fantasy levels.
Always remember that Steven Mnuchin made his fortune evicting people from their homes, a truly vile person.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty
The Trump administration quietly used loopholes built into the 2017 tax cuts to give big corporations an even bigger tax savings.
The tax cut bill passed by Republicans in 2017 overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and big corporations, according to a House Budget Committee report issued earlier this year. The law gave individuals a modest short-term tax cut while permanently slashing corporate taxes from 35 percent to 21 percent. The new law has greatly contributed to the 50 percent growth in the budget deficit since President Trump took office.
But that was not enough for big corporations, which launched intense lobbying efforts to carve out even bigger breaks in the bill’s loopholes. The effort led the Treasury Department to quietly change rules to hand big companies an even bigger tax break, according to The New York Times, costing taxpayers billions in lost revenue.
“Treasury is gutting the new law,” University of Houston tax law professor Bret Wells told the Times. “It […]
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Sunday, January 5th, 2020
, - Raw Story/Common Dreams
Stephan: America as a nation has become the world's leading purveyor of death, U.S. corporations sell more instruments of murder than any other nation on earth. War is very profitable for corporations. We have spent 1.5 trillion dollars in Afghanistan and the CBO estimates about $1.9 trillion in Iraq, or $6,300 per US citizen. And what do we have to show for it, other than dead people, broken societies, and rich corporations? Imagine what the world would be like if those trillions of dollars had been spent say on climate change, and rebuilding the decaying U.S. infrastructure.
Almost immediately after the United States assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike Thursday night, major American weapons manufacturers and defense contractors—from Northrop Grumman to Lockheed Martin to Raytheon—saw their stocks surge as investors sensed the growing likelihood of another costly and deadly war in the Middle East.
As the Los Angeles Times reported, “Even as the broader Standard and Poor’s 500 index lost ground, the S&P Aerospace & Defense Select Industry index climbed 1.8% on Friday.”
According to the Times:
Northrop Grumman Corp. stock jumped 5.4%. Based in Falls Church, Va., Northrop Grumman makes such aircraft as the B-2 bomber and the upcoming B-21 bomber and is the sole bidder to build the next generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
AeroVironment Inc. advanced 6.9%. The Simi Valley company makes small, short-range reconnaissance drones that U.S. soldiers use. The increase in troop deployment to the Middle East could mean more business for AeroVironment, said Ken Herbert, managing director with investment banking and financial services firm Canaccord Genuity.
Shares of Lockheed Martin Corp., which makes the F-35 fighter jet, climbed 3.6%. Missile and radar technologies […]
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Sunday, January 5th, 2020
Stephan: Is the anti-choice movement really about saving unborn embryos, as is claimed? There may be a large number of ignorant people who think that but it is a complete crock, and anyone smart enough and open-minded enough to do five minutes research on Google can prove that to themselves.
Consider this: during in vitro fertilization, eggs are removed from mature follicles within an ovary, the egg is fertilized by injecting a single sperm into it, or by mixing the egg with sperm in a petri dish. The fertilized egg (now an embryo) is transferred into the uterus. But not all these embryos are used. In vitro fertilization clinics throw away thousands of them each year, far more than embryos terminated at the reproductive health clinics.
The anti-choice movement is about controlling women, keeping them subordinate, and the Republicans in the Senate and House are doing everything they can to keep uppidity women in their place. These are weak men and compliant women terrified by gender equality. Here is the latest news about what they are doing.
Note the list of senators. If they are up for election vote them out of office.
39 Republican senators and 168 representatives signed an amicus brief on Thursday asking the Supreme Court to revisit and potentially overturn Roe v. Wade, which protects the right for women to seek an abortion.
The big picture: Roe v. Wade has, since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in 1973, served as a barrier against Republicans who have sought to restrict reproductive rights. But with the court’s conservative majority and Trump in the Oval Office, right-leaning lawmakers have been testing the limits of the law.
- A number of states have issued time restrictions on abortions in recent months, usually limiting the procedure to the first trimester of pregnancy.
- Many cases are being challenged in the courts, with reproductive-rights advocates arguing that curbing the procedure is against Constitutional protections.
Details… The following Republican senators signed the brief, which calls Roe v. Wade’s standards unworkable:
- Sen. John Kennedy (La.)
- Sen. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.)
- Sen. John Barrasso (Wy.)
- Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.)
- Sen. John Boozman (Ark.)
- Sen. Mike Braun (Ind.)
- Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.)
- Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.)
- Sen. […]
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Sunday, January 5th, 2020
Justin Baragona, - Daily Beast
Stephan: I predicted it in yesterday's SR, and Trump television has just served it up.
Stuart Varney
Credit: Liverampup
The morning after President Donald Trump ordered an American airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney had one question on his mind: “Where does this leave impeachment?”
With the markets roiling over the specter of war with Iran, Varney wondered aloud on Friday morning whether the assassination of one of Iran’s top leaders would provide a “temporary interruption” to the bull market or if this is “something that will go on for some time to come.”
“What happens to the price of gasoline in America, as the price of oil goes up?” Varney added. “On the world market? Will we now halt the decline in gas prices and start to see them rise?”
The conservative Fox Business anchor then shifted to the political ramifications of the president’s actions, asking how Democrats will react to this over the coming weeks and months.
After saying Democrats had a “difficult political row to hoe” by urging caution and warning that killing Soleimani could be reckless, Varney suggested […]
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Saturday, January 4th, 2020
Stephan: It is my view that this entire Iran crisis was created by criminal Trump with complete cynicism, and for personal advantage. I believe Trump is relying on Iran responding to the assassination of Suleimani by creating another 9/11. I don't mean destroying buildings necessarily, but something dramatic that will focus the attention of Americans as 9/11 did, and cause a "rally round the flag" response which will redound to Trump's benefit. Pay attention. I predict the Republicans will use Iran to change the conversation away from impeachment, and you will start to hear Republican politicians claiming "we can't change presidents in mid-crisis."
Criminal Trump clearly understands the dynamic I am describing because, before he was even a candidate, he accused Obama of planning to do just what he has now done. The fact that tens of thousands of people may die as a result of his cynical tactic means nothing to Trump. Who cares if a bunch of peasants die, as long as I get re-elected. Everything Trump does is only for his benefit.
Before he became president, Trump repeatedly warned about the danger of a US president using war with Iran for political purposes. Video screencap from Twitter
As he gears up for a tough reelection campaign, President Donald Trump just approved a military strike that assassinated one of the most powerful people in Iran, Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani — a move that many experts are calling an “act of war,” and one that dramatically increases the chances that outright conflict between Iran and the United States breaks out this year.
On Twitter, Trump justified the assassination by claiming that Suleimani “was plotting to kill many” Americans. During President Barack Obama’s tenure, however, Trump took a much more cynical view of the possibility of armed conflict with Iran during the lead up to a presidential election.
In 2011, ‘12, and ‘13, Trump repeatedly predicted that Obama would start a war with Iran to shore up his political support at home.
“In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran,” Trump tweeted in November […]
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