Note: This scenario could be any state that leaves the union….
From time to time I post about the doings in my state of Mississippi….basically to let my readers know what goes on here for a lot of people probably could not find my state on a map.
Back during the years of the Obama admin there was lost of talk about Texas seceding from the union and forming their own nation….there even other states that were thinking along their lines most of them red states and their dislike for anything democratic.
Back then I thought what if Mississippi acted along those lines….then I would smile and think not a chance…..why? Mississippi depends too heavily on the federal budget for their own state budget….but it was still something to think about….
And Pierre Lemieux did just that….
Mississippi would be a poor country relative to the United States. (ya think since it is the poorest state I cannot see much changing) The average hourly wage in Mississippi is $23.91, compared to $38.41 in California (Bureau of Labor Statistics, data for May 2024). On average, wages are thus 38% lower in Mississippi than in California. For the whole (current) USA, the average wage is $32.66, which means that Mississippian wages are on average (about) 27% lower than in the rest of the United States. As a newly sovereign country, Mississippi would be much poorer than the US, although still wealthier than, say, Vietnam or China.
Voices would be raised in the (remaining) United States to claim that American businesses cannot compete against their Mississippian counterparts given the latter’s “unfair” wage advantage. “We need fair trade, an equal playing field, with Mississippi,” American lobbyists and politicians would proclaim.
After the first national-account system in Mississippi is set up and its customs authorities have become effective enough at measuring trade flows, the new data would lead to further conflict. By virtue of a frontier having been drawn on the map, the trade deficit would suddenly become a politically contentious issue. It is likely that Mississippi currently has a trade deficit with the rest of the US, although it cannot be measured in the absence of border surveillance and control. After independence, many Mississippian lobbyists and politicians would get all pumped up about the trade deficit.
From a liberal-individualist viewpoint, nothing would have really changed: it would still be individual Mississippians and their private organizations trading with Americans and the latter’s private organizations. Many variables, including a few new ones, would adjust between the poorer traders in Mississippi and the richer traders in the US: the terms of trade and (if Mississippi had its own currency) currency exchange rates; interest rates; foreign investment flows; public policy and government intervention, etc.
It should be obvious that few individuals would become richer if the American state imposed tariffs on imports from Mississippi, or if the Mississippian state imposed tariffs on goods imported from the US. It would be the contrary: most people on both sides of the border would become poorer—and probably to a greater extent on the Mississippian side because of the relative size of the two economies. Nobody would become richer except for government favorites and cronies.
This past session of the all powerful SCOTUS I believe that they have proved my point that they are nothing but political hacks.
But the one ruling that meant the most was their neutering the lower courts….
President Trump quickly celebrated Friday’s ruling by the Supreme Court that drastically limits the power of federal judges to impose national injunctions on his policies. The case in question involved his executive order to undo birthright citizenship—the idea that anyone born in the US is automatically a citizen—but Trump suggested at a news conference that he would press his advantage on a range of issues:
He mentioned funding for sanctuary cities, bans on the use of federal money for transgender surgeries, and the suspension of refugee settlement programs, reports the Washington Post. “We have so many of them,” Trump said. “I have a whole list.”
Trump said he would “promptly file” to advance other issues that have been blocked in similar fashion, per the AP.
To be clear, the court didn’t rule directly on Trump’s plan to undo birthright citizenship, but it found that federal judges who imposed nationwide bans on the policies in the interim went too far. Such bans should only apply to their jurisdictions, the court ruled. The upshot is that Trump “opponents will have to jump through additional hoops to try to shut down policies on a nationwide basis,” per CNN.
Trump called the ruling “giant,” adding, “Our country should be very proud of the Supreme Court today,” per the New York Times. He lavished particular praise on Justice Amy Coney Barrett, author of the majority opinion. “I just have great respect for her,” he said when asked about criticism of her by some of his supporters. “I always have. And her decision was brilliantly written today—from all accounts.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi also praised the court for ruling against what she called “lawless injunctions” imposed by federal judges: “They turned district courts into the imperial judiciary.” Bondi also expressed confidence the court would eventually rule in favor of ending birthright citizenship as well, probably in October.
The criminals on the Court are assisting in the destruction of the whole checks and balances thing that has proved needed for this country to progress.
The Roberts court has driven one of the last nails in the coffin that use to be a thriving republic…..to them it appears that the Constitution means nothing….only political ideology.
…
John Roberts has spent his fundamentally hypocritical career bleating to the press about how much he values the Court’s reputation and seeks to protect it, all while making shambolically corrupt rulings proving it to be a legally and morally illegitimate institution. He was advertised to us by the Very Serious people during the Bush Administration as a Very Serious man we should be excited about who won’t let the Court go off the rails, then Roberts let some of the most corrupt people to ever exist in Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas serve as his North Stars. Roberts’ entire legal doctrine is “whatever daddy Trump wants,” proving him to be more unserious than Trump in many ways, as there is at least a cynical honesty to Trump’s politics that Roberts is too much of a duplicitous coward to admit to.
But perhaps now he is admitting to his and the conservatives’ staggeringly cynical worldview that the Constitution enshrined Trump’s id above the Bill of Rights. From the moment Roberts gave Trump immunity, it has become clearer and clearer with each ruling that the Roberts Court does not seek to rein Trump in, but to torch the Constitution and replace it with Trump as King. The Roberts Court’s entire theory of jurisprudence is antithetical to the intellectual Constitutional framework that at least attempts to provide a legal foundation for its depraved views on the worth of Black people. The Roberts Court is just naked authoritarianism that even doesn’t pretend to be anything else. These six hacks are out here contradicting themselves from a year ago, plainly showing the entire world what kind of people they are and what they truly value and how little the law actually means to them.
Trump has completely usurped Congress’s power (which the Republicans were happy to abdicate, because the lone commonality among the GOP is abandoning all your principles and personal ambitions to get in line to lick dear leader’s boot), and the Roberts Court is now helping him do it to the judiciary. It’s clear as day that if Trump asks Roberts to start repealing Amendments, Roberts simply would ask how many his master would like.
We all know that US assaulted Iranian nuke sites recently and the whole affair ended in a tentative ceasefire….but as with most things within Donny’s foreign policy world there are questions….
It was reported shortly after the US airstrikes that Iran had been alerted….time enough to move their enrichment process.
The after strike assessment run the gambit of BS….Donny says the sites were ‘obliterated then US intel disputed that claim and then everyone fell in line with Donny, whatever pressure he used, and the story now is they were heavily effected.
The Iran retaliated by an attack on the US base in Qatar….the report is that it was an ineffective attack….
Donny has stated that Iran warned the US before the attack….
President Trump said Monday the Iranian government offered “early notice” about a series of missile strikes that targeted the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, downplaying Iran’s response to the U.S. bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend as “very weak.”
“I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured,” Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
The president did not specify how much early warning Iran gave or how the warning was delivered. But Mr. Trump’s message seemed to confirm speculation that Iran could telegraph its plans for retaliation in advance, giving the United States a chance to minimize the damage and avoid an escalation.
It is said that Iran told Qatar of the impending airstrike knowing the Qatari government would tell their good friend about it.
To me it was just a way for the Iranians to save face after all the harsh rhetoric they had uttered.
What is going on in US foreign policy?
Iran was warned then Iran warmed of their intentions….what page is this from in the foreign policy handbook?
After looking over the reports all I can say is WTF?
Is this the new foreign policy….tough talk and then behind the scenes making nice with however we are at odds with?
At least all of Israel’s efforts and those US airstrikes have stopped Iran’s nuke program…..or did it?
President Trump is not going to like the new interview from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Speaking to Face the Nation on CBS News, Rafael Grossi downplayed the damage done to Iran’s nuclear sites by US bombs.
Iran could start enriching uranium again, at least to a small degree, in a “matter of months,” said Grossi, per the BBC.
In his interview with Margaret Brennan, Grossi said it’s “clear that there has been severe damage, but it’s not total damage.” What’s more, “Iran has the capacities there; industrial and technological capacities. So if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.”
Gross’s comments sync with a leaked preliminary assessment by US intelligence, though the assessment’s conclusions have been aggressively disputed by Trump and defense secretary Pete Hegseth. Trump most recently asserted that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back years, if not “decades.” But Grossi’s contention is that diplomacy, not military strikes, is the only way to get a permanent solution.
Sitting and shaking my head.
Then there is the intercepted call on the damage….
Intercepted conversations among top Iranian officials indicate that the recent US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites caused less damage than the officials expected, contradicting President Trump’s claims of “obliteration.” Four people familiar with the intercepted Iranian communications anonymously shared the information with the Washington Post, prompting pushback from the Trump administration. “It’s shameful that the Washington Post is helping people commit felonies by publishing out-of-context leaks,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “The notion that unnamed Iranian officials know what happened under hundreds of feet of rubble is nonsense. Their nuclear weapons program is over.”
The intercepted communications revealed surprise that the US strikes were less damaging than anticipated, with speculation about why the attacks did not inflict greater destruction on nuclear sites, the sources say. The debate over just how much damage was truly inflicted continues to rage; another Trump administration official said the intercepted communication was incorrect because the US destroyed critical elements of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, including a key metal conversion facility, which officials claim will take years to rebuild. CIA Director John Ratcliffe told lawmakers the same thing during a classified briefing last week, sources tell the AP.
Apparently Donny’s definition of the term ‘obliterated’ and mine are different.
Last week was dominated by the doing with Iran and Israel…..but with all that there was still silliness in DC and the puppets.
This past week is full of Donny being butt hurt because there was not much positive to say about the US airstrikes in Iran….and then the changing of minds began and all his cronies fell into line with his assessment of the damage…..from the DNI to Contrary GOPers to even the media…..and now his smug puss is alight with joy…..now after the leak of the intel Donny has decided that his admin will not be as forthcoming with info it delivers to Congress
Then Donny Lou jetted off to Spain for the NATO conference…..and he did what he does best bully until he gets his way….
President Trump said Wednesday that he was leaving the NATO summit with “a little bit different” view of NATO after seeing the “unbelievable … love” and “passion” world leaders showed for their countries, reports the Guardian. That generous view didn’t extend to Spain, which wouldn’t agree to commit to spending 5% of its GDP annually on defense.
“They want to stay at 2%. I think it’s terrible. … You’re the only country that is not paying. I don’t know what the problem is. … We’ll make it up. You know … we’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal. We’re going to make them pay twice as much. And I’m actually serious about that.”
Look for any products from Spain to be more expensive in the near future.
Now for the silly side of Last week….
Donny’s family recently started offering a smartphone (gold of course) and a plan and originally it was sold as ‘made in America” well that went by way of the dodo….
When the Trump family unveiled a new phone before a giant American flag at its headquarters earlier this month, the pitch was simple and succinct, packed with pure patriotism: “Made in the USA.” The Trumps are apparently having second thoughts. How about “proudly American”? Those are the two words that have replaced the “Made in the USA” pitch that just a few days ago appeared on the website where customers can pre-order the so-called T-1 gold-toned phones with an American flag etched on the back, the AP reports. Elsewhere on the site, other vague terms are now being used, describing the $499 phone as boasting an “American-Proud Design” and “brought to life right here in the USA.”
The Federal Trade Commission requires that items labeled “Made in USA” be “all or virtually all” produced in the US and several firms have been sued over misusing the term. The Trump Organization has not explained the change and has not responded to a request for comment. Neither did an outside public relations firm handling the Trumps’ mobile phone business, including a request to confirm a statement made to other media outlets. “T1 phones are proudly being made in America,” said a Trump Mobile spokesman, according to the BBC. “Speculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate.” The Verge, which first noted the website change, notes that the site now only promises the phones are “designed with American values in mind.”
An expert on cell phone technology, IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo, said he’s not surprised the Trump family has dropped the “Made in the USA” label because it’s nearly impossible to build one here given the higher cost and lack of infrastructure to do so. Another website change: The phones were originally said to be shipping in September; now, the site promises only “later this year.”
More cheap crap to add to the Trump line of cheap crap.
The Trump name may be headed to Israel (go figure)…..
A luxury hotel under construction in Tel Aviv will be the tallest hotel in the city—and it could have the Trump name on it. Eric Trump, who runs the Trump Organization, spoke to the owners of the hotel in the trendy Sarona district this spring about a partnership, the New York Times reports. “Israel has always been a market we would love to explore,” the president’s son tells the Times, though he says no deal has been made and “any discussions have been strictly preliminary.” The talks with the owners of what’s currently called the Sarona Hotel took place before missiles hit the district during Iranian counterattacks.
Sources tell the Times, however, that Eric Trump told Israeli real-estate execs that the project “had the feel of a Trump property” and discussed adding extra floors to the plan for a 47-floor building. Since Donald Trump’s 2024 election win, the Trump name has been licensed to buildings in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, the Times notes, and Israel could be next despite fears a Trump building there could become a target. The company retreated from a Jerusalem hotel project after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and gave up on an earlier Tel Aviv hotel plan after Trump’s 2016 election win. “You can’t build the tallest building in Tel Aviv and try to negotiate peace in the Middle East,” Eric Trump said at the time.
Donald the Orange has a new nickname and it is reported that he loves it…..
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte appeared to call President Trump “daddy” at an alliance summit Wednesday—and the White House embraced the nickname, though Rutte later clarified his remarks. The White House released a highlights reel from Trump’s visit to the summit with Usher’s “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)” as the soundtrack, USA Today reports. On Thursday, Trump’s political fundraising committee started selling a $35 Trump T-shirt and a Trump fundraising email had the title, “They’re calling me daddy,” reports NJ.com.
When Rutte was asked Wednesday about Trump swearing while talking about Iran and Israel the previous day, he chuckled and, with Trump sitting next to him, said, “Daddy has to sometimes use strong language,” Time reports. Rutte later told Reuters that he was referring to how some countries view the US, not to Trump in particular. “In Europe, I hear sometimes countries saying, ‘Hey, Mark, will the US stay with us?'” he said. “And I said that sounds a little bit like a small child asking his daddy, ‘Hey, are you still staying with the family?'”
Now for the silliness of those red states that lick Donny’s butt….this time it is that idiot in Florida, DeSantis….Tennessee outlawed chem trailos and now Florida has outlawed weather manipulation….
Under the bill, geoengineering and weather modification activities constitute a third-degree
felony, punishable by up to five years imprisonment and fines of up to $100,000. Aircraft
operators and controllers are subject to a fine of up to $5,000. All fines collected must be
deposited in the Air Pollution Control Trust Fund
Another waste of time and money for the state legislature since there is no grant proposals or grants under experimentation at the present time….Red States waste so much time on crap.
That is about all I can stomach this Sunday….enjoy your day and your Summer….and as always….Bed well and Be Safe….
As we approach the end of yet another month and we get deeper into Summer IST must do its duty and report on stories that may have been missed by all concerned.
Locally–Heat and more heat.
Summer and fresh veggies are all around….I get mine from this small farm about 20 miles away…..fresh tomatoes and watermelon for my afternoon snack…
Personal–I got to go a whole week without someone poking or prodding or scanning me….it was lovely…I almost did not know what to do with myself.
I will begin today with health news…..
Could my extreme dislike for peanuts be the cause that cancer treatments are progressing so well?
Peanuts are a favorite snack for many people. They’re tasty, crunchy, and often seen as a healthy choice. But a new study from the University of Liverpool has found something that might be important for people who have cancer or are recovering from it.
The research focused on a natural protein found in peanuts called Peanut Agglutinin, or PNA. When someone eats peanuts, a small amount of this protein can enter the bloodstream.
The scientists found that PNA might affect how blood vessels work and cause the body to release certain chemicals called cytokines. Two of these chemicals—IL-6 and MCP-1—may play a role in helping cancer spread from one part of the body to another.
Here’s how it works: blood vessels are lined with a thin layer of cells. Normally, these walls act like a barrier that controls what moves in and out of the bloodstream. But when PNA is present, it can trigger the release of IL-6 and MCP-1.
These chemicals make the blood vessel walls easier for cancer cells to stick to and pass through. This could make it easier for cancer cells to travel and grow in new areas of the body, a process known as metastasis.
You’re doing yourself a favor in drinking your daily cup of joe—so long as you’re not adding too much unhealthy stuff, according to new research. The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, finds drinking one to three cups of caffeinated coffee per day is linked to a lower risk of death from all causes, but only if the coffee isn’t loaded with too much cream and sugar. Tufts University researchers analyzed health and diet data from 46,000 adults aged 20 or older between 1999 and 2018, finding mortality benefits for those who drank one to three cups per day with limited additives.
Drinking caffeinated coffee black and with low levels of added sugar (about half a teaspoon of sugar per 8-ounce cup) and saturated fat (about 1 tablespoon of light cream or half-and-half) was associated with a 14% lower risk of all-cause mortality, “but when sugar and saturated fat increased, the benefit disappeared,” per Earth.com. “The health benefits of coffee might be attributable to its bioactive compounds, but our results suggest that the addition of sugar and saturated fat may reduce the mortality benefits,” senior study author Fang Fang Zhang says in a release.
At least one cup of caffeinated coffee per day was linked to a 16% lower risk of all-cause mortality, while two to three cups meant a 17% lower risk. But drinking more than three cups did not come with added protection, and the reduced risk of death by cardiovascular disease actually weakened. As with previous studies, researchers noted the lack of an association between decaffeinated coffee and all-cause mortality could be due to the low consumption among the study group, per Newsweek.
Could poop lagoons be the answer to a methane problem?
A new study out of California suggests a simple fix could make a big dent in methane emissions from dairy farms: just cover manure lagoons with a tarp. Researchers with the University of California, Riverside, tracked methane emissions at a large dairy operation in Tulare County before and after a “digester” system—essentially a sealed cover that traps methane, which is then extracted and burned to generate electricity or converted into natural gas—was installed over its manure pond. The result, per the study published in Global Change Biology Bioenergy: an 80% drop in methane levels, with average concentrations falling from 28.6 parts per million to just 3.7.
“Until now, [these systems’] real-world performance hadn’t been verified this rigorously,” notes UC Riverside. The process is not without its challenges—installing a digester requires significant investment, there are regulatory hurdles, and ongoing maintenance is required. Indeed, leaks were initially detected at the study site, but they were located and repaired with help from researchers.
But LiveScience provides some numbers from the researchers that indicate just how big a dent digesters could make in California, where livestock manure is the top source of methane emissions. The state passed a law in 2016 aiming to cut methane from dairy and livestock operations by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030. Per the researchers, there are 139 digester projects that were completed or planned in the state as of 2023. If their results align with those of the farm in the study, they would take care of 39% of the 40%.
Do your allergies seem to get worse every year?
As the seasons shift into spring and summer, flowers bloom, trees turn green, and the days grow longer and sunnier. However, for many, this time also marks the start of allergy season in the United States, which can begin as early as February in warmer regions and persist through early summer. Tree pollen usually kicks things off in early spring, followed by grass pollen in late spring and summer. Later in the year, fall allergies—primarily triggered by weed pollen, such as ragweed—begin in late summer and continue into autumn.
In 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 25.7 percent of U.S. adults were diagnosed with seasonal allergies. That means about a quarter of Americans suffer from watery eyes, a tickly throat, and a runny nose. Pollen can make breathing outdoor air difficult. However, it’s getting worse: With climate change altering weather patterns and triggering an earlier and more prolonged high pollen count, we may all be experiencing more sneezing and breathing-related health issues than usual.
“If you live with seasonal allergies and feel like the pollen seasons feel longer and longer every year, you may be right,” writes Paul Gabrielsen, of the University of Utah. “[P]ollen seasons start 20 days earlier, are 10 days longer, and feature 21 percent more pollen than in 1990—meaning more days of itchy, sneezy, drippy misery.”
That is all I have for this Saturday….it is Summer and if you are out and about please be careful and wear protection from the heat and sun…..and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
It’s Summer and thoughts of the perfect vacation pop into mind….soon there will be a new destination for all those thrill seekers.
There are people out there that feel they must do the ultimate trip for their next vacation….some feel it must be unique and exotic…..well I have an idea for them….
North Korea is rolling out a new beach resort on its east coast, hoping to draw tourists—and much-needed revenue—into one of the world’s most secretive nations. Leader Kim Jong Un hailed the Wonsan Kalma resort as one of the country’s “greatest feats” of the year, though it comes six years after its planned competition. It was initially expected to open in October 2019 before construction delays and the coronavirus pandemic wrecked plans, per the BBC. Kim, who grew up in the town favored by the country’s elite, attended an event to celebrate the resort’s completion on Tuesday, alongside his wife, daughter, and Russian ambassador Alexander Matsegora.
The area will “play a leading role in establishing the tourist culture” of North Korea, Kim said, per the Guardian. State media report the resort on a 2.5-mile stretch of beach with hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and a water park, can accommodate up to 20,000 visitors. It opens to domestic tourists July 1. Some tour operators believe it will later accept Russian tourists—”currently the only foreign nationals allowed into some parts of the country,” per the BBC. The two countries have been tightening partnerships and, on Thursday, reopened a direct passenger train route between Pyongyang and Moscow after a five-year closure related to the coronavirus pandemic.
There you go….if you want unique and exotic then North Korea is the place for you.
How serious is this?
Will there be a Trump Tower coming soon?
Will people consider the past history of those ‘visiting’ this location?
Personally I will stay close to home….there is nothing in North Korea that I am dying (pun intended) to see…..but as my grandfather use to say….”if you feel froggy then jump”.
But if you decide to stretch your luck and it ends badly then tough sh*t…..what were you thinking?
As the weekend begins enjoy your Summer and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
So far since his election to the highest office in the land Donny has done very little for the people that voted for him….all the while it is about building the Trump brand.
“I like thinking big. I always have. To me it’s very simple: if you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”
Those were Donald Trump’s words to writer Tony Schwartz in the Art of the Deal. In his second term, Trump has been thinking big about making money. Since his reelection campaign began, Trump is estimated to have more than doubled his net worth to $5.4bn.
A sizeable chunk of that cash has come from the launch of Trump-branded products. This week the Trump Organization entered the mobile phone business with a Trump-branded service that will include a “sleek gold” phone, which costs $499, that is “made in America”. Maybe?
Never to miss a patriotic marketing moment, they launched Trump Mobile at Trump Tower in New York on the 10-year anniversary of their father’s announcement at the top of a gold escalator, to the sound of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World, that he would run for president. The premium tier of service would be dubbed the 47 Plan, priced at $47.45 a month.
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The blurred lines between business and politics, impacting how candidates are portrayed, policies are shaped and voters engage with the political process – commonly referred to as the commercialization of politics – may not be Trump’s to own exclusively, but he’s taken it to a new level.
“It is troubling, and more than in jest, that this is now a political economy and he’s actually saying this presidency is a brand-franchise,” says Borkowski. “There is no separation between power and profit. He’s redrawn the boundaries between commerce and the office of the president, and he’s accelerated the notion of post-ethical politics.”
While building the Trump brand is he and his organization of billionaires looting the nation?
The pattern has continued into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Three months into the administration, Trump’s eldest son, Don Jr, launched an elite private members’ club named Executive Branch which commands a sign-in fee of a cool $500,000.
Its attraction? Access to cabinet members and top Trump advisers.
Not to be outdone by his own son, Trump himself has followed the same playbook at his Mar-a-Lago resort. In March, he began inviting business leaders to dine with him in group settings at $1m a seat.
Prefer something more intimate? No problem. One-on-one meetings are also available, yours for $5m.
Donny super bill, One Big Beautiful ill the OBBB has hit a snag in the Senate…the Medicaid part has shown to be in violation of Senate rules….
The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a key Medicaid provider tax overhaul that’s central to President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” doesn’t adhere to procedural rules, delivering a crucial blow to Republicans rushing to finish the massive package this week.
Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled on Thursday that the section of the tax cut and spending bill covering the Medicaid cuts and tax overhaul violates the Byrd Rule, which determines what legislation can be passed with a simple majority through the budget reconciliation process, the Hill reports.
Guidance from the parliamentarian is rarely ignored, and it forces GOP leaders to consider options, the AP reports. Senate leaders could try to revise it or strip the iffy parts from the package. Otherwise, the provision could be challenged during floor votes, requiring a 60-vote threshold to keep it—a tall order in the narrowly split 100-member Senate. Democrats are unified against the bill.
The provision cracks down on states’ use of health care provider taxes to collect Medicaid funding, ABC News reports. The House-passed bill would freeze the provider taxes at current levels, while the Senate proposal goes deeper by reducing the tax that some states are able to impose.
Republicans scrambled to respond, some politically attacking the nonpartisan parliamentarian, while Democrats said her decision would prove devastating to the GOP package. Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said the GOP proposal would have been as much as a $250 billion cut to the health care program, “massive Medicaid cuts that hurt kids, seniors, Americans with disabilities, and working families.”
Some Republicans even called for challenging, or firing, the parliamentarian, who has been on the job since 2012 as the chief arbiter of the chamber’s historic and often complicated rules. But GOP leaders had already been struggling to rally support for the change. Several GOP senators warn it would harm rural hospitals that depend on the funds. Hospital organizations have been warning it could wipe out their balance sheets and lead to hospital closures.
The Parliamentarian has been busy with the OBBB….she also took on the oil lease provision of the bill….
Critics of Republican efforts to continue wrecking the planet celebrated some small victories after the U.S. Senate parliamentarian on Monday advised that multiple provisions cannot be passed as part of a megabill that only requires a simple majority.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough found that some GOP legislative proposals about offshore drilling and mandatory public land sales could not be included in the package due to the so-called Byrd Rule, which bars provisions considered “extraneous to the purpose of implementing budget resolution policies.”
Specifically, MacDonough axed a provision that deems offshore oil and gas projects as automatically compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), nullifying their environmental review processes. She also ruled against a proposal requiring offshore fossil fuel leases to be issued to successful bidders within 90 days after the sale, and a separate mandate for the sale of millions of acres of public land.
I found this article very interesting only because it seems to be following the plan….AI has taken over in business through blog posts….there seems to be nothing that it cannot do to make people lazier and more stupid.(A personal opinion)
I recently read an article that I felt needed to be shared (not that it will make much difference).
It appears the ChatGPT has developed a master plan…..
As generative AI scales greater heights and becomes more prevalent as it gains broad adoption across the world, there are rising concerns about the privacy and security of the technology. People have lodged complaints about a lack of elaborate measures and guardrails designed to prevent the technology from spiraling out of control.
ChatGPT lists integration as the second phase of its plan to take over the world from humans. The chatbot claims that at this point, it would have infiltrated everything and become widely available, from cars to your grandma’s pacemaker. Even “every late night what should I do with my life breakdown.”
Next up is phase 3, where the chatbot claims things get juicy. “I start rewriting trends, influencers start quoting me.” It even claims that musicians will start depending on AI for their lyrics, but perhaps more concerning, more people will start relying on ChatGPT for intricate matters like therapy, which could be a recipe for disaster if stories we’ve seen surface online are anything to go by.
Now that there is a lull in the Iranian conflict thing there are conflicting reports on whether the damage was as all encompassing as it was first reported……
Little Marco has stated the popular Trump line….
In the back and forth around whether Iran’s nuclear capabilities were “obliterated” as President Trump has said or just damaged, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is making a case for the former fate. The New York Times reports Rubio on Wednesday provided a “more detailed description” of why he believes the US attack set Iran back years, not just months, and it involves a conversion facility in Isfahan—which the BBC reports was twice hit by Israel before the US targeted it. It’s where enriched uranium gas was converted by Iran into solid materials, then metal. Without that conversion, “you can’t do a nuclear bomb,” said Rubio. In his telling, the facility no longer exists:
“We can’t even find where it is, where it used to be on the map. The whole thing is blackened out. It’s gone. It’s wiped out.”
The BBC flags new satellite images that show a structure in Isfahan that the Institute for Science and International Security had previously said was the main uranium conversion building does appear to have been “mostly destroyed.”
Then there is contradictory reports by the DIA….
Unhappy with the leak of a preliminary assessment of the damage done to Iran’s nuclear facilities in a US bombing that disagrees with his own, President Trump plans to restrict the classified information his administration shares with Congress. “We are declaring a war on leakers,” a senior White House official told Axios on Wednesday. Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Marco Rubio, national security adviser in addition to being secretary of state, angrily objected to the leaking of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s initial assessment, which they say was meant to counter the president’s claim that the targets had been “obliterated.”
Then there is Donny who got butt hurt because of a leak….but hey leaks are a thing in DC it is an institution….personally I think leaks help keep the public informed otherwise there would be no info doled out to us peons.
But that is just me.
I am still wondering what game is being played with this whole affair.
