From Ella Fassler at TruthOut we learn that "Progressive Groups Are Mobilizing to De-Escalate Far Right Violence at the Polls." Yes, I do think we should go to the polls on Election Day fully expecting caravans of Confederate flag-waving morons to roll through and hurt innocent Americans, but one could do worse than give one of the organizations in the first paragraph a call and see what help you might be able to give. Also, remember that these right-wing caravans are full of the real cowards and may well buckle at the sight of our strength.
Speaking of which, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issues order reducing the number of mail-in ballot drop-off points to one per county, in a state with a lot of huge counties. Imagine thinking maybe the mail won't deliver your ballot on time this year I wonder why and now having to drive hundreds of miles to drop it off, and you see the problem with Gov. Abbott's order. He issued the order yesterday and it takes effect today, like he's afraid Texas's electoral votes might really go to Joe Biden or something; by the time you read this, a federal judge may have issued an injunction staying the order, and definitely thousands more voters will, in the words of one local official, resolve to "crawl through broken glass to vote these cheaters out of office."
On the occasion of the New York Times's latest exposé of our President's tax shenanigans, Matthew Gardner at ITEP reminds us that Congress has been starving our IRS of funding to the point that it now investigates poor people as much as it does rich folks, even though common sense tells us that most of the tax fraud happens at upper incomes. This unfortunate state of affairs also explains how an audit of a 2009 tax return -- one which sure looks like it would rather easily uncover fraud -- can still be unresolved after over a decade. It should be easy to justify more funding for our IRS. You want to catch people taking food out of your mouth? is pretty much how I'd begin and end.
In a peripherally-related note, Jared Kushner's corporation appears to have secured unusually favorable terms on $850 million in Freddie Mac-backed loans -- and the taxpayer (i.e., you and I) might be on the hook for all that if Mr. Kushner et al default on the loan. Dig the Freddie Mac spokeshack claiming that they pay their bills on time, without mentioning that the first 10 years of the loan are interest-only, meaning a huge chunk of principal will be due at the end of that time -- and I wonder who'll pay for that! Time was people would avoid even the appearance of corruption, but no longer, it seems.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the man who gives empty suits a bad name, becomes the latest politician to pretend to care about how awful the other night's debate was. Jesus Mary and Joseph how does a fucking teabagger have the gall to talk about how "we’re all talking at each other and over each other, but not to each other"? And, actually, we're not all doing it -- some of us don't talk to the other side, because we actually did try our damnedest to listen to and understand the other side, but you can only take being told you're a traitor and you hate America and you're with the terrorists so many times before you understand that the other side is sick, immoral, and decadent. Losers like Marco Rubio only whine about how "nobody gets along any more" when nobody wants to get along with them.
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