(from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gop-tax-overhaul-fact-checking-lopsided-political-arguments/)
". . . The tax cuts are not nearly as lopsided as many Democrats are portraying them. Almost all of the middle class would initially pay less in taxes. . . For the next eight years, the vast majority of middle-class taxpayers — those earning between $49,000 and $86,000 — will receive a tax cut, albeit a small one. In 2018, nine-tenths of the middle class will get a cut, according to the Tax Policy Center. In 2025, 87 percent will. The tax cut won't be very big: just $930 next year for the middle one-fifth of taxpayers, the center's analysis concludes. For those paid twice a month, that's about $40 a paycheck. . . . Schumer and other Democrats are basing their assertions on the fact that nearly all personal tax cuts expire after 2025, which would result in a slight tax increase for about two-thirds of the middle class by 2027. The top 1 percent would still get a cut that year. . . Only in 2027 do the wealthiest taxpayers get 83 percent of the benefit, as Schumer says. In 2018, roughly 21 percent of the tax cut's benefits go to the richest 1 percent, a much smaller figure, though still a disproportionate share. Just 11 percent will go to the middle one-fifth. . ."
(from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/roy-moore-lost-his-election-alabama-gop-losing-it-s-ncna829316)
". . . The GOP, and the nation, narrowly dodged a bullet l. . . after accused pedophile Roy Moore lost to senator-elect Doug Jones in Alabama. Thankfully, Moore will not have a national platform from which to heave his unconstitutional, bigoted refuse. . . But a Republican loss in Alabama, of all places, following the party’s miserable performance in Virginia last month, should send a clear warning to party leadership: continue to appease President Donald Trump’s populist, nationalist movement at your peril. . . Moore’s candidacy. . . and loss say much about the state of the party. . .
Moore was defeated by “a coalition of the decent,” . . . comprised of principled Republicans, independents and Democrats; with two significant wins under the coalition's belt already, GOP leaders should understand that an urgent course correction is needed. . . "
(https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/top-democrats-pull-out-white-house-meeting-after-trump-tweet-n824556)
". . . Trump went to Capitol Hill for a separate meeting with GOP senators. After that half-hour closed-door session, McConnell took another shot at his Democratic counterparts. "It never occurred to me that I could just say to President Obama, 'I'm not showing up,'" he told reporters. "I mean, that strikes me as a lack of seriousness about the matter before us." . . . "
SERIOUSNESS???
"So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the “unsolved mystery” that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!"
"Looks like another great day for the Stock Market. Consumer Confidence is at Record High. I guess somebody likes me (my policies)!"
"Great, and we should boycott Fake News CNN. Dealing with them is a total waste of time! "
"At least 24 players kneeling this weekend at NFL stadiums that are now having a very hard time filling up. The American public is fed up with the disrespect the NFL is paying to our Country, our Flag and our National Anthem. Weak and out of control!"
"The good news is that their ratings are terrible, nobody cares! " "We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!" "Wow, even I didn’t realize we did so much. Wish the Fake News would report! Thank you." "...LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It’s a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!"
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-backs-off-vow-that-private-sector-should-help-pay-for-infrastructure-package/2017/09/26/02dd02f6-a327-11e7-ade1-76d061d56efa_story.html?utm_term=.ebe5060facfa)
. . . Trump told lawmakers this week that he was abandoning a key element of his planned $1 trillion infrastructure package, complaining that certain partnerships between the private sector and federal government simply don’t work. . . Trump’s comments, described by a House Democrat who met with Trump and confirmed by a White House official, reveal an infrastructure plan that appears to be up in the air as White House officials have struggled to decide how to finance many of the projects they envision to rebuild America’s roads, bridges and tunnels. . . Now the administration wants to force states and localities to foot most of the bill. The previous strategy — a push that has taken a back seat to other Republican priorities in Washington — was aimed at luring private investors with promises of federal backing. Some of that thinking appears to be changing. . . The president acknowledged the new approach during a Tuesday meeting with Democrats from the House Ways and Means Committee, who came to the White House to discuss the administration’s tax code rewrite set to be unveiled Wednesday . . . During the meeting, Trump “emphatically rejected what everybody assumed was his position relative to financing infrastructure,” said Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), who attended and asked Trump about the proposal. “He dismissed it categorically and said it doesn’t work.”. . ."
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. " -John Adams
(http://www.factcheck.org/2014/04/false-tax-claims/)
". . . Q: Did Democrats increase federal income tax rates in 2014 under Obamacare?
A: No. Tax increases mentioned in a viral email went into effect a year earlier, as part of a budget
"Is this information correct? I have tried to check it out but get terribly confused.
It came as an email from a friend in Colorado.
Viral email: THE FIRST THREE MONTHS!
Happy New Year America
Here is what happened on January 1st 2014:
Top Income Tax bracket went from 35% to 39.6%
Top Income Payroll Tax went from 37.4% to 52.2%
Capital Gains Tax went from 15% to 28%
Dividend Tax went from 15% to 39.6%
Estate Tax went from 0% to 55%
Remember this ‘fact;’ if you have any money, the Democrats want it! All these taxes were passed with only Democrat votes. Not one Republican voted to do these taxes. Remember this come election time. And make sure your friends and neighbors know this info too!
These taxes were all passed under the affordable care act, otherwise known as Obama care."
FULL ANSWER
We started getting dozens of queries about this one about three weeks before tax filing day. It’s nonsense. Some of these figures aren’t accurate, and none of these increases took effect on Jan. 1, 2014, or had anything to do with the Affordable Care Act. And the claim that “not one Republican voted to do these” is false.
Here’s what really happened, and when:
The top income tax rate went back up to 39.6 percent over a year ago — for singles making more than $400,000 a year or couples making more than $450,000. The increase was part of the “fiscal cliff” package that Congress passed on New Year’s Day of 2013.
Capital gains rates also increased in 2013 under the same “fiscal cliff” deal — but not nearly as much as this email claims. For long-term gains (on assets held more than one year) the top rate went from 15 percent to 20 percent (not 28 percent), and also applied to individuals making more than $400,000 and couples earning more than $450,000.
The top rate for dividends also went up to 20 percent (not 39.6 percent) in 2013 as part of the same fiscal cliff package, and also only for those with more than $400,000 individual or $450,000 joint taxable income.
It’s true that the estate tax was once effectively zero percent — but only for people who died in 2010, not last year. The top rate went back up to 35 percent for those who died the following year, and (under the fiscal cliff deal) to 40 percent for those who died in 2012 and thereafter. Furthermore, the rate is still zero percent for any individual who dies this year and whose estate is valued at less than $5,340,000. The threshold for filing an estate-tax return was set at $5 million in 2011, and is indexed for inflation each year.
The claim that the fiscal-cliff tax increases were “passed with only Democratic votes” is false. The deal passed by a vote of 89-8 in the Senate (including 40 Republican votes in favor) and by a vote of 257-167 in the House (with 85 Republican votes in favor). The package made permanent the 2001 Bush tax cuts for all but very high-income earners, avoiding tax increases that otherwise would have taken effect Jan. 1, 2013, when the “temporary” Bush tax cuts were scheduled to expire.
The email’s claim about “income payroll tax” is a head-scratcher, since no tax expert we know of uses such a term. Our best guess is that the anonymous author meant to refer to the combined effect of the federal income tax and the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, and did not understand how these taxes work. No combination of payroll and federal income taxes would produce a top marginal rate of 52.2 percent, so far as we can figure.
Back in 2008, when Obama was first running for president, conservative commentator Larry Kudlow claimed that Obama’s tax proposals would amount to “a 52.2 percent combined income and payroll tax.” But even that claim was wrong, because of the simple fact that the top marginal income-tax rate applied at that time only to income above $349,701 and Social Security taxes applied only to wage or salary income below $97,500. Any income taxed at the top income-tax rate would incur zero Social Security tax.
And the same is true today: Taxable Social Security wages now stop at $117,000, and the top marginal income-tax bracket doesn’t kick in until $406,751 for singles and $457,601 for joint filers. All of these levels are adjusted for inflation each year.
Having said all that, we’ll note that taxes have gone up for some as a result of Obamacare. The law imposes a 3.8 percent tax on net investment income that applies to people who earn more than $200,000 a year for singles, or $250,000 for joint filers. It also levies an additional Medicare tax of 0.9 percent on wages, salaries and self-employment income for people in those income groups. However, these changes also took effect in 2013, not 2014.
— Brooks Jackson
Sources
Tax Foundation. “U.S. Federal Individual Income Tax Rates History, 1862-2013 (Nominal and Inflation-Adjusted Brackets).” 17 Oct 2013.
Hollander, Catherine. “Here’s What’s in the Fiscal-Cliff Deal.” National Journal. 1 Jan 2013.
Fidelity Brokerage Services. “A taxpayer’s guide to 2013.” 27 Feb 2013.
Ruffenach, Glenn. “Navigating the Dividend Storm; Tax rates on corporate payouts are heading higher for some. Don’t just sit there.” Wall Street Journal. 10 Jan 2013.
Cook, Douglas C. “Current & Historical Federal Estate Tax Structure, Exemptions & Rates.” Cook & Cook law firm website. 17 Dec 2012.
U.S. Internal Revenue Service. “Estate Tax” Web page. 9 Apr 2014.
U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 112th Congress – 2nd Session. “On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 8, As Amended ).” 1 Jan 2013.
U.S. House of Representatives. “Final Vote Results for Roll Call 659.” 1 Jan 2013.
Kudlow, Larry. “Obama’s Big-Government Vision.” National Review Online. 14 Feb 2008.
Social Security Administration. “Contribution and benefit bases, 1937-2014.” Undated Web page accessed 15 Apr 2014.
Internal Revenue Service. “Questions and Answers on the Net Investment Income Tax.” 5 Mar 2014.
Internal Revenue Service. “Affordable Care Act Tax Provisions.”
Internal Revenue Service. “Questions and Answers for the Additional Medicare Tax.”. . . "
Yes, I've left all the sources intact in case you want to read further. Scott Biao (and others) obviously have not burning desire to read much further at all.
(from http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/democratic-bill-lays-groundwork-remove-trump-office-n779171)". . . House Democrats are on a mission to educate the American people about a little-known power of the 25th Amendment — the ousting of the president.
Led by freshman Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a group of growing Democratic co-signers has put forth a bill that could force President Donald Trump from office if he were found mentally or physically unfit.
Although it was introduced in April, the bill has gained steam in the past week as Trump's tweet storms have grown in ferocity.
Trump Tweets WWE Video of Himself Attacking 'CNN'
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Trump Tweets WWE Video of Himself Attacking 'CNN' 2:37
"Given Donald Trump's continued erratic and baffling behavior, is it any wonder why we need to pursue this legislation?" asked Rep. Darren Soto, D-Florida, a co-signer. "The mental and physical health of the leader of the United States and the free world is a matter of great public concern."
If successful, the law would create an 11-member bipartisan commission known as the Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity, which would medically examine the president and evaluate his mental and physical faculties.
Rankin hopes to take advantage of Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, which allows the vice president to remove the president if he or she has the consent of the majority of the Cabinet or "such other body as Congress," if they believe he cannot "discharge the powers and duties of the office." If all goes according to plan, the bipartisan commission could provide that consent after a medical examination of the president. . ."
(http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-tweets-old-photo-schumer-putin-calls-probe-n728791)
". . . President Donald Trump mocked the Democrats pushing the ongoing probe of his campaign's ties to Russia by posting a photo of Vladimir Putin having a doughnut and a coffee with New York Senator Chuck Schumer. . . Calling the Democrat "a total hypocrite," Trump tweeted there should be "an immediate investigation" into Schumer and "his ties to Russia and Putin."
(selected tweets accompanying the story . . . )
If Sen. Schumer had gone under oath at the Judiciary Committee and said they didn't eat donuts, I could see this being a problem. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837722869106880517. . ."
(from http://www.mediaite.com/online/do-you-hear-the-silence-elijah-cummings-slams-republicans-for-lack-of-oversight-of-trump-and-flynn/)
". . . Following declarations made by the Republican chairmen of the House Oversight and Intelligence Committees. . . that they wouldn’t be conducting any additional probes into the Trump administration surrounding the resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) ripped into them. . . Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, highlighted the silence coming from those in power to investigate President Donald Trump and Flynn. . .“Let me begin by asking everyone in this room a very simple question,” he said. “Do you hear that? Do you hear the silence?”. . . Cummings continued, “This is a town of House Republicans conducting no oversight of President Trump. Zero. That is what it sounds like when they abdicate their duty under the Constitution.” . . . He further added that House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz “has not lifted one finger” to investigate Flynn’s Russian ties. . ."
(from Nobody Left To Lie To; The Values of The Worst Family by Christopher Hitchens)
". . . Indeed, in what had begun as a rather stilted and fixed campaign, the only outlet for insurgent feeling was that offered in a Republican primary by the eccentric Senator from Arizona, John McCain achieved at least an initial burst of speed by his proclaimed dislike of the system, by his professed distaste for campaign-finance racketeering and by his (apparently) unscripted and unspun style. It was puerile anti-politics but it worked for a space, and drew for its effect on many voters who had registered as Democrats or independents. Nowhere within the echoing emptiness of the Democratic fold was there any hint of a live dialogue. And McCain, of course, had voted to impeach and to convict Clinton, and had gravely upset Governor Bush of Texas, in the course of the South Carolina Primary, by comparing him to incumbent President. ("You don't," said Bush in a tone of outrage, "you just don't say that of a man."). . . "
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(from http://nbcpolitics.org/hillary-is-not-ahead-by-3-million-votes-and-thats-just-math/)
". . .Shaun King made an interesting point that could change the way we view the entire Democratic primary race. What King revealed in his groundbreaking article is that the 3 million vote advantage Clinton holds is a lie. . . According to King, primary races don’t just include voters going out and casting a ballot. Instead, many states hold caucuses in which a group of representatives vouch for their candidate. The candidate with the most representatives in the room wins in that district, and the candidate who wins the most districts is the winner of the state. . . What happens in these cases is that individual votes are not gathered, therefore no votes go to the winning candidate. . . Bernie Sanders has tended to win most caucusing states. Though Sanders may take more than 70 percent of the caucus vote, these numbers don’t translate to individual votes — they add nothing to the overall count. So, states with millions of Sanders supporters are not counted among the millions in competition with Clinton’s big numbers as a result of this system. . ."
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(from http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/party-rancour-trails-bernie-sanders-and-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-ignites-controversy-in-white-ho-1407720)
". . . More Democrats urged Sanders on Wednesday to take a stronger stand against the uprising by his supporters in Nevada and said he did not go far enough in condemning the violence there.
"That was the time to have sent a full-throated message to his followers: that we don't do this kind of thing," US Senator Dianne Feinstein said on CNN.
Democrat Barbara Boxer, the other US senator from California, was at the Nevada convention and expressed her concern to Sanders in a phone call on Tuesday night. "I feared for my safety and had a lot of security around me," she told CNN. "I've never had anything like this happen.". . . "
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. . . so now I hear President Barack Obama is suggesting that progressives share a similarity to the Tea Party in that progressives are disrupting the unity of the Democratic Party. Regarding the disruption, he is correct. But if he thinks that using the terms "Tea Party" and "progressive" in his comparison that he will conjure such vehement disgust within the conscience of progressives that they will run, crying for forgiveness, back to the Democratic fold simply for fear of implications resulting from the comparison.
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(https://www.change.org/p/president-jimmy-carter-to-have-an-emergency-meeting-of-the-democratic-national-committee-called?recruiter=415438634&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=des-lg-share_petition-reason_msg)
". . . In politics, perception is reality, and both Caesar and his wife must be above suspicion. The perception is out there that despite clear language in the Democratic National Charter Article 5, the DNC and its chair have been trying to influence the outcome of the primary process. "SECTION 4. The National Chairperson shall serve full time and shall receive such compensation as may be determined by agreement between the Chairperson and the Democratic National Committee. In the conduct and management of the a airs and procedures of the Democratic National Committee, particularly as they apply to the preparation and conduct of the Presidential nomination process, the Chairperson shall exercise impartiality and evenhandedness as between the Presidential candidates and campaigns. The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process. . . And yet despite this the DNC has been involved in:
1. Scheduling primary debates to garner as few viewers as possible.
2. Grassroots Clinton field offices being co-located at DNC offices.
3. The attempted dismantling of Bernie Sanders’ campaign over one staffer’s mistake.
4. The DNC finance chair caught raising money for Clinton.
5. The DNC lining up super delegates for Clinton before first debate.
6. Created a hostile work environment that forced Rep Gabbard to resign as Vice Chair.
7. Using the press and their own private agitprop machine to keep the super delegate myth going. "Unpledged delegates exist, really, to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don’t have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists,” according to Chairperson, Debbie Wasserman Shultz.
8. Either thru negligence or conspiracy has allowed wide spread voter suppression and fraud affect numerous states, the most egregious being what played out in Arizona.
9. Painted New Democrats and independents looking to join the party, as outsiders and interlopers. Whether true or not, Debbie Wasserman Schultz has allowed the impression that the primaries are rigged, and that they have already hand picked their nominee. This has led not only to impugning the integrity of the process, but the possibility of fracturing the party beyond repair. Therefore we the undersigned Democrats, Independents looking to join a Democratic Party, and progressive Americans; ask that you, as Distinguished Leaders of the Party, call an emergency meeting of the Democratic National Committee, investigate these and any other charges, and if warranted remove Ms Wasserman-Schultz as Chair. In what may be the most important election of our lifetime, we cannot afford to go limping into battle. We need the Party to unite, not around a candidate; but around the principles that made our party great. This year we need a candidate not mired in the scandal of perceived political cronyism; and with the current leadership that seems impossible. For the good of our party, please help us save it. . . "
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(from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-studebaker/bernie-vs-hillary-matters-more-than-people-think_b_9209940.html)
". . . So Bernie Sanders is not merely running to attempt to implement a set of idealistic policies that a Republican-controlled Congress is likely to block. He is running to take the Democratic Party back from an establishment that ignores the fundamental systemic economic problems that lead to wage stagnation and economic crisis. . . Those who say that the Democratic Party cannot be reclaimed by the FDR/LBJ types or that if it is reclaimed it will flounder in elections against the GOP are thinking too small. In the 1968 and 1976 republican primaries, this guy called Ronald Reagan was running to take the Republican Party back from the Richard Nixon types who went along with the democrats on welfare and regulation in a bid to return the republicans to their 1920s Calvin Coolidge roots. . ."
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