That’s a great idea for state employees. We are also getting a much larger SALT deduction next year from the One Blows Bubba Bill. Salt cap goes up to $40k. So if New Jersey temporarily increases state income taxes to the level of federal taxes, they could shift the tax revenue away from federal and towards state taxes.

I get your point, but the FPTP part of Canadian legislature is the House of Commons and there are only 2 viable parties (outside of Quebec). I think it is clear we need a different voting system to build more political parties in the US, like ranked choice voting.

And that, as former owner of Miss Teen USA, he does not like underage girls.

I think history needed a big swing away from rape culture towards metoo. It can swing back a little bit but we shouldn’t demand that it goes all the way back to accepting rapists as heroes and never questioning morals of men who may be successful in their particular field. Also, men are very much represented in media. Top 10 grossing movies of this year included F1 and Superman. We are arguably witnessing the greatest athletes ever in Shohai Ohtani, Lebron James, Steph Curry… We have people like Jon Stewart. Look to Brennan Lee Mulligan as a hero. The guy is selling out stadiums as a Dungeons & Dragons DM.

And I think we have a lack of heroes because media doesn’t sell ads talking about heroes. They get more attention from villains and negative stories because it is more emotional. This is a product of consolidation of media and lack of standards in news outlets due to a pursuit of profits over trying to build around robust journalism.

Oh boy! This is fun. So in 2008 the Republicans refused to swear in Al Franken. After 8 months of battling Republicans in court and politically, Franken was sworn in July 2009. This gave Dems 60 votes in the Senate. This is when they past the ACA, Dodd Frank, Job Creation Act which extended unemployment benefits. After the 111th Congress the house flipped back to Republican majority.

More recently. Biden was implementing a new approach to monopoly capitalism with the appointment of Lina Khan to the FTC. We also had Elizabeth Warren start the CFPB prior to that.

I will also say Dems have been much better on renewable energy and electrification infrastructure investment. But that is my field and most of those details come across in small bits and pieces through market news emails.

Yes. If congress really had their shit together, they could implement something at the IRS where each really wealthy person is audited and taxed on their personal GDP. Auditors could present their findings of wealth and a committee could tax the value at an appropriate level.

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2022/dec/us-maternal-health-divide-limited-services-worse-outcomes

The statistics show worse outcomes for black women in abortion restricted states. There are so many deaths from the hands of Republicans. It is insane that they are supported by so many people in this country.

This is exactly whats happening. Every fascist act is normalized. There is no line to cross. There are just constant moves that are more and more harmful. Sinclair Lewis wrote about this almost 100 years ago.

Yea. Its not that he used the word “fuck”. It is in the context of working with Netanyahu, then seeing that Netanyahu has no real respect for Trump or the US military as long as they support his wars. So Trump gets flustered realizing his Israeli buddy has no respect for the US and then says “fuck”. It just hows Trump has no international relations abilities and he doesn’t know what is going on.

I love New England

The position is to acknowledge results of an election. That should be enough. For more information there is a ton of resources like Harris’ website.

In a two party system this is always true. But what do you mean by “Trump”. What does it mean to not be like him?

This is a result of the electoral college. It is more important to get centrist states to vote than for millions urban voters to be excited.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/07/14/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-on-combatting-climate-change-and-building-a-clean-energy-economy/ She is far better on climate change than Trump. She supports an energy transition. Trump hates wind farms.

The FTC is just starting to go after oligopolies. So yes, institutions supported by Democratic bureaucrats are going after powerful conglomerates. Results can be seen in the denial of the Capri tapestry merger and the language used by the judge in the case.

Trump is the urban elitist you are referencing. Why does he get a pass from the voters from rural places?

The state of Maine disagrees. Dems got ranked choice to pass.

I also wish the Dems would promote more progressive policies. At the same time, the media does not celebrate the wins for Dems, such as the creation of the CFPB that Elizabeth Warren established. They don’t celebrate the response to oligopoly through review of mergers and acquisitions by the FTC under Lina Kahn. They don’t celebrate the reduced child poverty rate under the expanded child tax credit. Positive progress doesn’t make it to mass media even when it does happen, which isn’t often enough.