When it comes to bans, the press is pretty much sticking together. The Demented Dotard has banned CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the press pool. He doesn’t like the way they present information. That is, honestly. Honest information makes him look bad. So he says they can’t play anymore. They’ve filed a lawsuit, which they should win since it’s a direct violation of the First Amendment.

A court agreed and restored their access. Curiously, when CNN went back, some of their people still couldn’t get in, some of them could. Perhaps it’s just that the message hasn’t traveled everywhere. Maybe it was a gung ho security guard acting on his own. Maybe it’s the White House defying a judge. We’ll know more later today.

As a sidebar, I think 47 should be careful with this. His position is that news media outlets shouldn’t be allowed to print “FICTION and LIES.” I understand the First Amendment gives them the right to print fiction and lies but it would be interesting if he won that part of his argument. CNN, MS Now, and Politico aren’t publishing fiction and lies. But conservative media does. All day, every day.

Anyway, the rest of the press outlets have stood in solidarity with the banned outlets and they suspended television coverage of his horrible and oh-so-stupid self. The White House put out a video of him showing off his shiny new helipad – but there was no audio. They didn’t set that part up. So there’s video of 47 out there, lips flapping, but nothing to be heard. It’s really quite funny. He looks every bit the buffoon he actually is…

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The CDC has come up with a novel idea about the best way to handle their Measles outbreak: ignore it. Okay, so that’s a bit of hyperbole. They’re really only ignoring the deaths from Measles. Dying from measles in this once-great nation makes the current anti-vaccination stance look really very incredibly stupid. So the CDC is pretending those people probably died from something else – and just happened to have the measles at the time.

This one is stupid on stupid. MAGA already tried the ‘ignore it’ tactic with Covid-19. The US lost over a million people to THAT particular stupidity. Measles can do that, too, given a chance. Worse, measles is likely just a portent of things to come. Just wait until polio gets going again…

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My first instinct was to oppose Proposition 40, the billionaire wealth tax. I have doubts about whether a single state can get away with such a tax. Rich people, it turns out, can move away. I’ve long thought taxes like that a) are important and b) need to be implemented nationwide, not just at the state level. But I’ve been collecting information about Prop 40 and new information has changed my mind.

First, it’s a one-time tax. Five percent on everything over one billion dollars. IF the billionaire in question conveniently has an easy to work with net-worth of exactly one billion dollars, the tax amount they’re asked to pay on this one-time deal comes to $50 million dollars. Yes, $50 million dollars is a lot. I’m pretty sure I’d have to dig through several couch cushions to even approach that amount.

But being a billionaire means you have $1,000 million dollars. Contributing $50 million dollars for the good of the state you live in doesn’t seem like it’s going to hurt anybody. The billionaire still has $950 million dollars to spend. He’d tell me to quit buying lattes. I offer the same relief to him. Skip a coffee. You’ll be fine.

California is trying to make up money being stolen by the federal government for 47’s criminal pockets. There are roughly 250 billionaires in California. If each of them is at that convenient-to-calculate one billion dollar mark and each pays their fair share, California could raise $12,500,000,000 with Prop 40. And you KNOW the billionaires have more than an even one billion dollars.

As to them fleeing? Well, the first problem is, where to? Anywhere, right? But anywhere with California’s climate? California’s work force? California’s lifestyle? No, no, and no. I recently heard an economist I respect, Richard Wolff, on the radio talking about this very thing. He said studies have shown that rich people threaten to leave, but generally don’t follow through.

It turns out, leaving the state is a BIG deal over a one-time tax that they likely won’t even feel. I mean, sure, they’re working against it. Nobody likes paying taxes. But they know it won’t harm them. It’s most likely they fear that doing it once will lead to doing it again. They probably won’t have to dig through any couch cushions, though, and I’m guessing they won’t miss even one latte.

I know conservatives have been told that if the billionaires don’t pay, the tax will be passed down further and further until it actually hits the working class. I don’t think that’s true. I think this is a one-time tax aimed at billionaires alone. It won’t hurt them, but it will help the state immensely. So? I’m going to vote to pass Prop 40, even though I expect it to lose…

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There IS a second angle to the possible arrest of 47’s irrational and evil behavior: the GOP. There’s a strong possibility that once the mid-terms have passed, the GOP will know that 47 is toast. Not the toast of the town. Just toast. A just-elected Senator is looking at six years before facing a campaign again. Our Fearful Misleader should be gone in two years. That means they don’t have to worry about his vengeance for much longer.

Yes, it’s true, many of the GOP members are MAGA but many of them are not. Those who are not won’t have to cow-tow to his whims anymore. There must be some Republicans who still love the Constitution and the country more than they support trump.

Expectations have the Dems taking back the House. There’s an outside chance the Dems could take back the Senate, too, though that seems more of a long-shot. Frankly, I can’t believe anybody would vote for the GOP at this point, what with them making absolutely crystal clear they consider work-a-day voters their enemies. But some will. You really can NOT fix stupid.

But there will be some Republicans who have been waiting for this moment. They’ve gone along to get along, but now might well feel liberated from the thumb of the madman. It’s not like he’ll be out of power. There are a LOT of corrupt, evil people in place specifically to support him, no matter what. But after the mid-terms, his power diminishes considerably just because he’s running out of time and everyone knows it…