Or we can just implement a wealth tax like any reasonable nation.
Yeah, the problem here is the implementation: you and I and most people here would benefit a little from a higher tax on billionaires, enough to motivate us to send a letter to our Congressional representatives and send a few bucks to whichever campaigning politicians promise to do it.
Billionaires, in the meantime, stand to lose millions, or even tens of millions of dollars. Enough that it makes sense for them to start PACs, schmooze, and even bribe the Congressional representatives who’d be in charge of raising taxes. So even though there are hundreds of them and millions of us, they have greater means and motivation.
Unless I’m mistaken, a regent is someone appointed to rule temporarily, e.g., if the rightful king or queen is still a child, a regent can be appointed to rule until they grow up.
From the article, I get the impression that the number in the headline is a severe undercount, because a lot of people in charge of running anti-domestic-terrorism programs in the military don’t see the value in them, so they either don’t see the problem in their ranks, or turn a blind eye to it.
I’m pretty sure I saw that headline, with X = Obama or Elizabeth Warren or someone. Then it got shot down because… Idunno, they probably would have blown it all on rent and food and car repairs instead of Job Creation.
A new indictment filed Tuesday charged U.S. Rep. George Santos with stealing the identities of donors to his campaign and then using their credit cards to ring up tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges....
McCarthy did the right thing for once, and came up with a solution to the looming shutdown that managed to pass by getting both Republican and Democratic votes. And he got shitcanned for it.
The message here is that as far as MAGA Republicans are concerned, bipartisanship is a firing offense.
A judge on Tuesday ruled that Donald Trump and his company are liable for fraud by misstating the true values of multiple real estate properties for years and thus grossly overstating the former president’s net worth by billions of dollars....
No, but a Kansan’s vote should have the same weight as a New Yorker’s or Californian’s, or even a Pennsylvanian or Michigander. Not all Kansans vote the same way, and it would be nice to have a system that recognizes this.
Fun bit of trivia: which state had the most Republican voters in the 2020 election? Answer: California had more R votes than Texas or Florida or any deep-red state. But neither party gave a shit what California Republicans wanted: Democrats knew that the Electoral votes would go for Biden no matter what, so they didn’t need to campaign there or court anyone’s vote. And Republicans knew that there was no way to get even one of those Electoral votes, so their time and money was best spent campaigning elsewhere.
As it stands, there’s this notion that a candidate has to try and have broad appeal; they need to spread their campaign out a bit in order to “capture” the electoral votes of a state.
That’s currently not the case: in most states, the vote isn’t close, so we know before the campaign even begins how most states will vote. There’s no reason for Republicans to appeal to Kansans, because Kansas will vote R no matter what. Likewise, there’s no point for Democrats to appeal to Kansans because it won’t do them any good.
Sans the electoral college, I see presidential campaigns becoming even more polarized and exclusionary. The Democrat campaign will become the “big city loop.” Continually visit Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, NYC, and Miami.
There’s a word in politics for a candidate who wins in big cities, and nowhere else: “loser”.
Check the demographics. Get a list of the 20 biggest cities in the US and add them up. You’ll see that’s only about 30% of the vote. So even if you somehow managed to get everyone in the big cities to vote for you, including children under 18, felons, and people on student visas, that still wouldn’t be enough to determine the election.
Maybe they slide in a few secondary metros if it’s convenient. The candidate won’t have to worry about any non-urban messaging, and if they’re particularly incendiary could even preach “dumping those hicks in the sticks.”
Just in passing, there are more Republicans in the California sticks than the total population of several other states. If the president were elected by popular vote, candidates could no more ignore those voters than California gubernatorial candidates can, today.
Mostly. Yes, RCV tends to elect compromise candidates, ones who may not be anyone’s first choice, but that most people can live with. I think Joe Biden is a good example of this. Everyone was rah-rah for some else during the primaries: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee… but Joe Biden has broad tepid appeal.
Part of that is due to the feeling that one’s vote doesn’t matter. IMO having the president be elected by popular vote would bring a lot more people to the polls.
Reminds me of the Blackadder episode where Baldrick won by 16,000 votes, even though there was only one voter:
H: One voter, 16,472 votes — a slight anomaly…?
E: Not really, Mr. Hanna. You see, Baldrick may look like a monkey who’s been put in a suit and then strategically shaved, but he is a brillant politician. The number of votes I cast is simply a reflection of how firmly I believe in his policies.
That’s not even it. At the time the Constitution was adopted, there were states like Virginia that had a lot of people, but rather few voters. They were afraid that they wouldn’t have a real say in who the president was. The Electoral College was a way to inflate slave states’ power, and entice them to join the Union.
Supreme Court will take up Trump’s eligibility to run for president (www.politico.com)
42 percent of GOP Iowa caucusgoers say ‘poisoning the blood’ remarks make them more likely to support Trump: poll (thehill.com)
$750 a month, no questions asked, improved the lives of homeless people (www.latimes.com)
If 100 homeless people were given $750 per month for a year, no questions asked, what would they spend it on?...
Israeli Soldiers Violently Assault Palestinian Journalist Live on CNN (www.commondreams.org)
CommonDreams.org
A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending. (www.washingtonpost.com)
Archived at ghostarchive.org/archive/MEbuN?wr=true
Dozens of Troops Suspected of Advocating Overthrow of US Government, New Pentagon Extremism Report Says (www.military.com)
Donald Trump speech gaffe sparks avalanche of jokes, memes (www.newsweek.com)
Planet Express Van, is that you? (lemmy.ca)
"Sexual anarchy": New House Speaker Mike Johnson showcases the incel-ization of the modern GOP (www.salon.com)
Rishi Sunak considers tax cut for top earners after byelection defeats (www.theguardian.com)
Tories may also reduce stamp duty in bid to win back voters and reduce pressure on PM, reports say
Rep. Santos faces new charges he stole donor IDs, made unauthorized charges to their credit cards (apnews.com)
A new indictment filed Tuesday charged U.S. Rep. George Santos with stealing the identities of donors to his campaign and then using their credit cards to ring up tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges....
“You Can Kiss My Ass:” Pretty Much Everyone Hates Matt Gaetz Now (newrepublic.com)
The far-right representative has plunged the House into chaos—and turned his own party against him.
Trump’s unfavorability tops 50 percent: poll (thehill.com)
Freur - Doot Doot (youtu.be)
A sadly underrated song.
Trump and company liable for fraud in New York lawsuit, judge rules (www.cnbc.com)
A judge on Tuesday ruled that Donald Trump and his company are liable for fraud by misstating the true values of multiple real estate properties for years and thus grossly overstating the former president’s net worth by billions of dollars....
Majority of Americans continue to favor moving away from Electoral College (www.pewresearch.org)
65% of U.S. adults say the way the president is elected should be changed so that the winner of the popular vote nationwide wins the presidency.