Hard to believe, Harry, but the Build Back Better plan is actually quite popular in West Virginia, far more so than the bloviations of Sen. Manchin would have you believe. I had liberals tell me earlier this year that we should all go easy on Sens. Manchin and Sinema because they represent such right-wing states; I hope more liberals have had that myth exploded for them. A lot of folks who call themselves "conservative" really just want a government that gives them more for their taxpayer dollars than the back of its hand. A government that talks like they do -- i.e., plainly -- would also be nice.
Now that "killer robots" have actually taken human life, per a U.N. Security Council report, James Dawes at The Conversation says they could be "more destabilizing than nukes." And now would be a good time to note, as I've done before, that Philip K. Dick predicted this, as well, in the short story "Second Variety," where the killer robots got advanced enough to design more advanced killer robots! It would be a shame to succumb to such a phenomenon, just as folks all over the world are more anti-war than they've ever been.
Umair Haque dissects "What a Massive Ripoff American Life Really Is," and though I suspect the median salary is a better indicator of American life than the average salary, the absurdly high cost of utilities, rent, and health care are quite real, and the monopoly issues that underlie them (with one internet provider in your town, how will we ever get prices down?) are also quite real. Pedants and trolls will latch onto my first observation, of course; pedants will then proceed to a life of self-abuse as they never get their heads above water no matter how hard they work, and trolls will proceed to a life of ease brought about by their willingness to serve corporate power. I have hope for the former, but not the latter. And it's becoming much harder to tell the difference.
From the "It's Not Just Evil Politics, It's Also Big Money!" file: right-wing health care providers are making big bucks prescribing hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin to rage-addled COVID patients. Alas, some folks who paid for such "health care" services never even received them, because a scam just isn't complete until the scammer isn't even working to maintain it. And now, as Merck appears to have developed a COVID treatment drug that might actually reduce your suffering if you get the dread disease, I'm sure America's Frontline Doctors and their nefarious ilk will twist your feelings about big pharma greed into feelings about big pharma results, all while lining their own pockets! George Washington Plunkitt would be proud.
Finally, corporate front groups are lying-ass liars about how much tax hikes on the rich and on corporations will "cost your family." Remember when right-wingers said the 2001 Bush tax cuts would save you "$1,800 annually "on average"? Then you also remember that the "average" between your piddling tax cut and Dick Cheney's tax cut sure didn't put $1,800 in your bank account. You may also remember when the Trump tax "reform" were going to put $4,000 in your bank account; how did that work out? The good news: more Americans see through this rubbish then they used to. The bad news: the ones who don't are now far more likely to shoot those of us who do.
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