mastodon 4.7.2-peachy-20260918
When Performative Justice is more important than actual justice ... 😡
That prosecutors feel like they've done their job in these cases ... no words.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/21/tennessee-execution-tony-carruthers
Hmm... new skill/rule: detect water on road; avoid driving through.
I'm getting tired of billionaires (and others) saying that it "won't help" to tax them. Certainly minor tax increases on the high earners won't solve all budget problems, but it is demonstrable that a major contributor to the rapidly increasing debt is the multiple tax breaks given the high earners (and corporations) since Reagan. And there is no data (that I've seen) that shows there was any benefit to society for having done so.
So. How about we start rolling back those tax breaks by, yes, raising taxes? On the highest earners first and then further down the chain until we get back to that balanced budget we had. And let's just see what happens?
Every time I see this "it won't help; it's class warfare" argument, I'm reminded of a forum where a poster was complaining that he had to send a check to the IRS for $1M. Can you imagine? Well, not knowing the particulars, what I imagine is that he "earned" over $3M that year to lead to that bill (probably a lot more than that). So he wanted me (and others) to feel badly for him that he had to make do with "only" $2M of pocket money that year. And, I'm sorry, I just don't feel badly about that. I've also been blessed with higher than average income over my career (and not playing the billionaire capital market games) and I'm quite ok that my taxes - and marginal tax rate - is higher than average. It's ok that my last dollar yields less to me than my first one; I'm not going to be hurting.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/corporations/jeff-bezos-taxes-mamdani-billionaires-rcna346090
The sheer pettiness of the anti-EV cult. And with petrol prices soaring (as expected), they double down on retribution. A clear data point of where democracy (and oligarchy) fails.
The $130/yr by itself isn't onerous, but when adding in typical state penalties, I mean taxes, it doubles or triple the costs relative to petrol users. (And, no, the heavier vehicles do not double their impact.) As a flat fee, the tax also has no adjustment for actual use of the infrastructure, unlike fuel taxes. Though maybe that's a good thing?
(And can we stop with these cutesy, misleading, bill names?)
https://www.notateslaapp.com/news/4172/us-proposes-annual-130-federal-road-tax-for-ev-owners
And it SHOULD require 60+ votes, regardless of which or how many departments are involved. Trump tore down the east wing without any authorization and he should be forced to make a solid case for why this project should continue despite his arrogance.
Now, he could almost be excused as he is too stupid to understand that he, as President, is NOT in charge, that this house is NOT his, that the reflecting pond is NOT his, that the city is NOT his, .... But, stupidity, narcissism, and arrogance isn't sufficient. And it's well past time for Congress to say "enough". This one won't, of course, as they are too fearful the cult will toss them off the gravy train.