TomCat

RepubliCorp Attacking Oregon Measure 97

Posted by TomCat at 2:16 pm Politics

Oct 222016

I have previously reviewed and supported Oregon Ballot Measure 97. It is necessary, because giant corporations have been paying Oregon Income tax at the same or a lower rate than poor people like me. Recently, the Koch Brothers and their giant Republican Corporate Cronies have been flooding the airwaves with pure unadulterated lies about the measure.

$18.3 million in mostly out-of-state corporate money buys a lot of ads and spreads a lot of disinformation, doubt and fear about Measure 97. Don’t be fooled. Below are some of the top arguments you’ll hear against Measure 97.

It’s a sales tax! (Actually, it’s not.)

Oregonians do leave the state sometimes, so they know what a sales tax is: If you were to buy a smartphone, say, in Clark County, Washington, you’d pay 7.7 percent sales tax. It’s on the receipt. Oregon is one of just five states without a general sales tax, and Measure 97 won’t change that, because it isn’t a sales tax. Consumers wouldn’t pay it. Small businesses wouldn’t pay it. It’s a corporate minimum income tax that only the very biggest companies would pay. And that’s long overdue. Up to now, giant companies have employed legal and accounting maneuvers to claim that they make no profit — despite hundreds of millions in sales — and thus they pay almost nothing in state corporate income tax. For example, companies that donated to the anti-Measure 97 campaign had $600 billion altogether parked in offshore tax havens. That’s money they claim was earned in places like the Cayman Islands — so they can get out of paying state and federal income tax. If Measure 97 passes, they won’t get away with playing “poor” any more.

It’ll lead to higher prices on almost everything! (Actually, it won’t.)

Ask yourself this question: Are Cheerios more expensive in Vancouver than Portland? After all, tax systems vary quite a bit around the country. Do big companies like Target, Lowe’s, Toys R Us and Walmart charge more in states where they pay higher taxes? The folks behind Measure 97 wanted to find out, and teamed up with the non-profit Oregon Consumer League to do a study. They found that those companies charge exactly the same prices for their products in every state. Maybe it’s not surprising that companies that do business nationally set their prices nationally. But it definitely means there’s no reason to think they’ll raise prices just in Oregon if Measure 97 passes. [Skeptical of their findings? Thanks to the magic of the internet, you can do your own cross-state price comparisons here.] Oh, and one more thing: If the biggest corporations could just pass this tax onto the consumer via higher prices, why would they contribute $18.3 million to talk you out of voting for it?…

From <Northwest Labor Press>

Photo Credit: Willamette Week

Please click through for more.

Reject RepubliCorp Lies!

Vote YES on Oregon Ballot Measure 97

Open Thread – 10/22/2016

Posted by TomCat at 2:15 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 222016

It’s another busy day. After doing my morning research, I took a brief nap, refilled my pill caddy for the week, and got a haircut. I needed it, as I plan a prison volunteer day on Thursday. With Wendy coming tomorrow, I’ll be itching for less than 24 hours. After my blogging, I have to plan my menu for the week and start to compose next week’s shopping list. Tomorrow is a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, so may the holy Orb shine its blessed light on your team. My Broncos don’t play until Monday. Pat, I luv ya anyway.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:30 (average 6:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: I know it was unprofessional of me. But I wept when I read Stephanie Woodard’s investigative piece on the killings of American Indians by cops published Monday in the democratic socialist magazine In These Times. It’s no stretch to say it broke my heart.

The reasons for those tears, which continue to spring forth days after my first reading, are many.

Even though none were of my tribe, they were still my people, like me, descendants of the first humans to set foot on this continent 400 generations ago. Like the slayings of so many African Americans killed by police, the deaths of many of them could have easily been avoided by smarter, more compassionate and less trigger-happy cops. And, as is so often the case in matters relating to living indigenous Americans, these dead men and women were invisible. Most didn’t show up in the media or the statistics. Woodard’s story should have been on the front page of The New York Times, the centerpiece of a report on NBC, the subject of speeches on the Senate floor.

Red lives matter.

From NY Times: Major websites were inaccessible to people across wide swaths of the United States on Friday after a company that manages crucial parts of the internet’s infrastructure said it was under attack.

Users reported sporadic problems reaching several websites, including Twitter, Netflix, Spotify, Airbnb, Reddit, Etsy, SoundCloud and The New York Times.

The company, Dyn, whose servers monitor and reroute internet traffic, said it began experiencing what security experts called a distributed denial-of-service attack just after 7 a.m. Reports that many sites were inaccessible started on the East Coast, but spread westward in three waves as the day wore on and into the evening.

And in a troubling development, the attack appears to have relied on hundreds of thousands of internet-connected devices like cameras, baby monitors and home routers that have been infected — without their owners’ knowledge — with software that allows hackers to command them to flood a target with overwhelming traffic.

A spokeswoman said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security were looking into the incident and all potential causes, including criminal activity and a nation-state attack.

Yesterday Lona commented that the attack was perpetrated by Russia and intended to knock Politics Plus offline to keep me from criticizing Rump Dump Trump. If that is the case, I certainly apologize to Twitter, Netflix, the NY Times, and other comparatively minor sites for the inconvenience that the Republican response to my activism has caused. Smile with tongue out

From YouTube (PBS Channel): What the latest polls mean for the presidency — and Congress

This shows how important it is for YOU to vote, along with everyone you know. Failure to vote is the most unpatriotic thing an American can do!

Cartoon:

1022Cartoon

Open Thread – 10/21/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:56 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 212016

Courtney, aka Lady Torquemada, put me through some hard paces this morning. Fatigue was exacerbated by a malfunctioning thermostat that kept the temperature about 15° too high. On the way home I went to the bank. After lunch I discovered that Politics Plus has been offline most of the day due to a DDoS attack against DNS servers, and thousands of sites are still down all over the country, so I’m not sure when I can publish this.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:35 (average 3:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From You Tube (Media Matters Channel): How “False Equivalence” Ruins Trump-Clinton News Coverage

False-equivalence is especially popular with Russian propagandists and their 3rd party dupes.

From YouTube (GQ Channel): These Insane Excuses From Trump’s Surrogates Are Deplorable | The Closer with Keith Olbermann |

I am soooo glad Keith is back!!!

From YouTube (CSPAN Channel): Hillary Clinton FULL REMARKS at Al Smith Dinner (C-SPAN)

I’d call that a Rump Dump roast! In the interest of fairness, here is the complete list of everything worth hearing Trump said during his segment:

…[end of list].

Cartoon:

1021Cartoon

The Third Ring

Posted by TomCat at 1:38 pm Politics

Oct 202016

This years Presidential debates have been a three ring circus, and last night the third ring should certainly have sealed the deal for Hillary Clinton. Although Trump had been well muzzled by his handlers, Clinton’s prodding and probing broke through that facade after half an hour. By the end, she had reduced Trump to a red-faced, scowling, muttering fool.

In the third and final presidential debate, Mrs. Clinton outmaneuvered Mr. Trump with a surprising new approach: his.

Flipping the script, she turned herself into his relentless tormentor, condescending to him repeatedly and deploying some of his own trademark tactics against him.

The relatively subdued and largely defanged Republican nominee who showed up onstage at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was a different figure from the candidate America has watched for the past 16 months.

Mr. Trump was, for much of the night, oddly calm and composed. He minimized his name-calling. His interruptions were relatively rare for him.

In a debate that his allies had predicted would represent 90 minutes of scorched-earth verbal warfare, Mr. Trump seemed deserted by his most bellicose instincts.

He repeatedly gave up chances to respond to pointed taunts from Mrs. Clinton, who dominated the confrontation from its opening moments, needling and baiting him over and over…

From <NY Times>

Here are three short video clips from Rachel Maddow. In the first she summarizes the debate, stressing his increasing agitation and the evenings bombshell.

In the second, she examines the facts behind the absurd Republican voter fraud claims.

In the third, she covers how Pence is goose-stepping with Trump refusal.

The Bottom line is this. No prominent Republicans have withdrawn their support from Trump, so no matter how much they whine, they own Trump and all his positions.

The Republican Party is a cancer that must be excised to save the United States.

Open Thread – 10/20/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:38 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 202016

I’m trying to catch up on a bit of rest today, because tomorrow, I go for my appointment with Courtney, my Physical Terrorist. As a result, please expect no more than a Personal Update tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:15 (average 6:40). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube: How Democrats Take Back the Senate

The Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right about the absolute need to wrest control of the Senate from the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich. I’m particularly proud that he listed Jeff Merkley third in his list of progressive Senators, behind only Liz and Bernie.

From The New Yorker: After learning that Donald J. Trump was still stinging from having lost an Emmy for “The Celebrity Apprentice,” the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences offered to give the former reality-show host a belated Emmy if he will drop out of the 2016 race.

“We never imagined that if we had simply given you an Emmy back in the day our current national nightmare might have been avoided,” a Television Academy spokesman said in an online video.

Displaying an Emmy statuette, the spokesman said, “Here’s your Emmy, Mr. Trump, all gold and shiny, just the way you like things to be.”

Andy, what a wonderful idea!

From Think Progress: Chris Wallace, a veteran Fox News journalist, was already a controversial choice to host Wednesday night’s final presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Wallace is noted for his close relationship with Roger Ailes, who is currently advising Trump on the debates, prompting media experts to raise ethical questions about his involvement.

Ultimately, Wallace did win praise for holding Trump accountable on several issues and keeping both candidates on task throughout the debate. Yet as much as he tried to play things equally, several of his questions showed a clear bias towards conservative ideals, policy positions, and talking points.

Here are a few.

Abortion
Wallace frames his question using the term “partial-birth.”
“I’m going to give you a chance respond but I want to ask you Secretary Clinton I want to explore how far you believe the right to abortion goes. You have been quoted as saying that the fetus has no constitutional rights. You also voted against a ban on late-term partial-birth abortions. Why?”

“Open borders”
This quote mentioned below, often cited in conservative media, has been taken out of context.
“Mr. Trump you want to build a wall. Secretary Clinton you have offered no specific plan or how you want to secure our southern border. … We’ve learned from the Wikileaks that you said this, and I want to quote ‘My dream is a hemispheric common market with open trade and open borders,’ so that is the question…Is that your dream, open borders?”

I shared two of five examples of Wallace’s clear Republican bias. Click through for the other three.

Cartoon:

1020Cartoon

Questions for the Circus

Posted by TomCat at 2:04 pm Politics

Oct 192016

Tonight is the final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I recommend you open at least a dozen giant, industrial strength barf bags in advance. As the moderator is Chris Wallace from the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, I expect him to join Trump in tag-teaming Hillary. The New York Times has composed a dozen prospective questions, two for each segment. Here are the first three.

Entitlements

Do you favor increasing or reducing Social Security benefits? If so, how would you do it?

More than 60 million people each month receive Social Security benefits totaling more than $74 billion. Polls show that retirement security is a top concern for Americans. Fewer people can count on traditional pension benefits, and some people do not have retirement savings.

Mr. Trump has said he would not cut Social Security benefits. Mrs. Clinton wants to make Social Security more generous for widows and for those who take time out of the paid work force to care for a child or a sick family member. She has said she would require the wealthiest Americans to pay higher taxes.

But an aging population is a driver of rising government debt and of a budget deficit that climbed last fiscal year after several years of decline.

What three steps would you take to improve Medicare?

The aging of baby boomers and the increase of medical costs will squeeze the health insurance program, which now covers 57 million older Americans. Medicare trustees say the hospital insurance trust fund could be exhausted in 2028 if no changes are made to existing law.

Both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump say Medicare should be able to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. Mrs. Clinton has proposed allowing people ages 55 to 64 to buy into Medicare, but has not said how the government or the new beneficiaries would pay for the coverage. ROBERT PEAR

Immigration

Since 2012, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children have registered with the government under President Obama’s executive order that gives them work permits and guarantees they will not be deported. Will you honor those guarantees?

Frustrated by Republicans’ refusal to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, Mr. Obama used executive authority to provide opportunities for millions of law-abiding immigrants who are in the country illegally. But the Supreme Court has blocked some of his plan, and the next president will have the power to reverse the rest… [emphasis original]

From <NY Times>

I urge you to click through to read the other nine questions. While I would not ask them all, I can only hope that the Republican propagandist moderator will be half this responsible. I doubt it as he has already promised Trump not to challenge his lies.

One question I want to see asked is, "If you lose the election, will you accept the results and bow out gracefully?"

How about you? What would you like to see asked?

Open Thread – 10/19/2016

Posted by TomCat at 2:03 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 192016

We’re having some excitement here in the Rose City, as a contractor ruptured a gas line and a building about 25 blocks from me exploded. I did not hear it, but I knew something was up, because I heard several sirens at once from different distances away. Please join me in prayer, or however you connect to the infinite, for the injured and their loved ones. I have a busy day. Store to Door is delivering groceries later this afternoon, and I have to put them away. Later Wendy will be here to shine and polish the TomCat and do some light cleaning. Then we’ll construct a green cloud and send it north to find the Squatch. That assumes we can hold the chili down, as Hillary will be debating, and Rump Dump will be masdebating at the same time we are eating.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:41 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The courts are not looking kindly at Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s multiple efforts to keep people—primarily Democrats—from voting. Last week, his refusal to extend the voter registration deadline in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew was denied, and voter registration continues into this week. Then on Sunday, a federal judge ruled that the state must allow absentee voters to verify their signatures and have their votes count.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s ruling was a victory for the Florida Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee, which sued the state Oct. 3 arguing Florida canvassing boards shouldn’t immediately reject a ballot if a voter’s signature doesn’t match the one on file. The state gives voters who forget to sign their mail ballots a chance to fix the problem before Election Day—but doesn’t offer voters with mismatched signatures the same opportunity. […]

"It is illogical, irrational, and patently bizarre for the State of Florida to withhold the opportunity to cure from mismatched-signature voters while providing that same opportunity to no-signature voters," he wrote. "And in doing so, the State of Florida has categorically disenfranchised thousands of voters arguably for no reason other than they have poor handwriting or their handwriting has changed over time." […]

The Republican War against the right to vote never ends.

From The New Yorker: In an Oval Office ceremony on Wednesday morning, President Barack Obama signed an executive order requiring the loser of the 2016 Presidential election to leave the country forever.

“This will help the healing begin,” the President said.

The executive order calls for the loser of the November 8th election to depart the country on the morning of November 9th and never return.

“Whoever that turns out to be,” the President said.

But Andy, it doesn’t go far enough. Make Rump Dump Whoever leave the earth and go to the Cruz planet.

From CMD: ExxonMobil and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are running an illegal scheme to promote the oil giant’s climate denial policies and legislative agenda in violation of U.S. tax law governing charitable organizations, the Center for Media Democracy (CMD) and Common Cause charged today.

In a new filing to the IRS – adding to an active investigation prompted by a 2012 complaint that ALEC is operating as a corporate lobbying group while registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity – the watchdog organizations detail for the first time how Exxon has used ALEC as a key asset in its explicit campaign to sow uncertainty about climate science, undermine international climate treaties and block legislation to reduce emissions. While ALEC purports to spend zero dollars on lobbying, Exxon has deliberately used ALEC for the past two decades to advance its legislative goals concerning cap-and-trade policies, fracking, the Keystone Pipeline and the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan.

“It has become painfully obvious over the past few years that ALEC is corporate lobby front group masquerading as a charity—at taxpayer expense,” said Arn Pearson, general counsel at CMD. “If the laws governing nonprofits are to mean anything, the IRS needs to take action to enforce them in this case.”

“For years ALEC has been a key asset in Exxon’s multi-billion dollar campaign to push a dangerous climate-denial agenda and secretly lobby politicians on anti-environmental legislation that pollutes the environment,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause. “It is time for the IRS to act and curb these blatant abuses.”

Today, CMD and Common Cause provided the IRS Whistleblower Office with extensive evidence obtained through open records requests, original research and public financial documents detailing intentional misuse of ALEC by the Exxon to advance legislation of direct benefit to the company. Over a 17-year period, Exxon and its foundation spent more than $1.7 million to finance lobbying activity by ALEC on legislation and public policies that benefit the corporation, while improperly and illegally claiming a tax deduction for those expenditures.

These Republicans (ALEC) need to be stripped of their 501 status, criminally prosecuted, and put out of business permanently.

Cartoon:

Hat-Tip to Bill Maher for the concept.

Hillary Invades Red States

Posted by TomCat at 1:37 pm Politics

Oct 182016

I'm very pleased to see that Hillary Clinton has sufficient confidence to be pulling resources from more traditional swing states to states that used to be solid red. Not only dies this force Republicans to use their resourses to defend places they considered safe, but also it brings a stronger Democratic message to people who will be voting in down-ballot races. One such state is Arizona.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is planning its most ambitious push yet into traditionally right-leaning states, a new offensive aimed at extending her growing advantage over Donald J. Trump while bolstering down-ballot candidates in what party leaders increasingly suggest could be a sweeping victory for Democrats at every level.

Signaling extraordinary confidence in Mrs. Clinton’s electoral position and a new determination to deliver a punishing message to Mr. Trump and Republicans about his racially tinged campaign, her aides said Monday that she would aggressively compete in Arizona, a state with a growing Hispanic population that has been ground zero for the country’s heated debate over immigration.

Mrs. Clinton is “dramatically expanding” her efforts in Arizona, her campaign manager, Robby Mook, told reporters on Monday. She is pouring more than $2 million into advertising and dispatching perhaps her most potent surrogate, Michelle Obama, for a rally in Phoenix on Thursday.

In Indiana and Missouri, Mr. Mook said, the campaign will spend a total of $1 million to drive voter turnout, despite what he acknowledged was an “uphill battle” for Mrs. Clinton in two states that could determine control of the Senate. Mrs. Clinton is also directing more money to a series of presidential battleground states with competitive House races… [emphasis added]

From <NY Times>

Here is my own estimation of how the electoral map looks. I'll make at least one more before the election

1018ElecMapTC

As I see it, Hillary has the needed 270 electoral votes, if she just wins the blue states, but a mere win is now enough. We need a rout from White House to Dog Catcher nationwide.

Vote Blue!

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