"It's a Myth That Corporate Tax Cuts Mean More Jobs," says Sarah Anderson at The New York Times. So says most people who've given the matter a minute of thought, but Congressional Republicans want to lower the rate to 20 percent, and Ms. Anderson has effectively tested the effectiveness of that approach by conducting research on the 92 publicly-traded corporations already paying an effective tax rate of 20 percent or less. And surprise, surprise! As an aggregate, they're actually losing jobs -- though they're not exactly losing outlandish executive pay, or, we presume, stock buybacks. This sure seems like a head shot, to me, but I know this zombie lie will get back up.
Congressional Republicans plan to cut $1 billion from FEMA's budget, even though FEMA could be in Texas for years. And this cut is New Jersey Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's idea, so add that to your Rodney Frelinghuysen hate book. In a peripherally-related note, Congress is also contemplating holding the Children's Health Insurance Program (or CHIP) reauthorization hostage to various stupid ideas, including a repeal of the medical device tax. Is it too much to ask that merely repeating these things out loud kills them, as daylight kills vampires? I insist that it is not too much to ask. But if I have to hold the damn wooden dagger myself, I'll do it.
HHS Inspector General reports that more than one out of every four nursing home abuse cases go completely unreported. And not all of the ones that do get reported actually get reported by nursing home staff, even though that's their job. But please, President Trump, make it harder for residents and their families to sue the nursing homes that abuse them! Forcing residents and families into arbitration they're probably going to lose really shows that great big heart of yours!
If the FCC guts our internet freedom, as we presume they're about to do, part III of Free Press's official comment to the FCC on the matter describes how such an anti-net neutrality action would be open to legal challenges. The gist of it is this: you can't do whatever the fuck you please just because you're FCC Chair -- you can, in fact, demonstrate enough pig-headedness that you run afoul of the law, in this case the Administrative Procedure Act. Also, too, maybe Mr. Pai shouldn't run his mouth on Twitter so much -- you know, like his boss.
Finally, in the wake of President Trump's resurrection of the program allowing local police departments to get discount military weapons, Mark Nevitt at Just Security wonders, quite reasonably, "Why Are We Giving U.S. Police Departments Bayonets?" He describes the folly of the 1033 program pretty well, and you may not be surprised by anything you read in it, but seriously, "(t)he bayonet is a bladed weapon designed as a weapon of last resort for close-quarter, hand-to-hand combat. In what circumstance would a police department need this?" Also worth highlighting: his suggestion that IKEA gives you more instruction on how to put together its furniture than the DOD does to police about how to use its weapons.
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