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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
The key issue with Warren's tax plan is whether or not it counts as a "direct tax". There's little consensus on this matter concerning Warren's proposed wealth tax, hence why I earlier stated that there's enough leeway that a sympathetic Supreme Court may rule in favor of it.
Of course, our current lineup isn't a terribly sympathetic one.
If it does count as a direct tax, it'll be next to impossible to actually make it work. It would have to be apportioned among the states on the basis of population, regardless of how the tax base is spread across the country, according to Article I, Section 9, Clause 4 of the Constitution.
There's also the fact that this tax would also require significant improvements to the IRS and such to ensure that the wealthy don't just find ways to dodge paying more actual money. This is something that has happened in every country that had a wealth tax, which is probably why it fell out of favor with a lot of them. Warren is planning to do just that, but it still seems like an administrative clusterfuck in the making.
Edited by M84 on Apr 24th 2019 at 9:42:19 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedhttps://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/04/24/day-825/
2/ Trump will oppose requests for current and former White House aides to testify to Congress, saying there is "no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it's very partisan – obviously very partisan." White House lawyers plan to assert executive privilege over testimony by Trump administration witnesses called by the House to try and block their congressional testimony. Trump confusingly tweeted "I didn't call [the reporter at] the Washington Post, he called me (Returned his call)!" (Washington Post)
Trump's recent tweets and public statements are potentially exposing him to new charges of witness intimidation, obstruction of justice and impeding a congressional investigation, according to Democrats and legal experts. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/24/mueller-report-trump-evidence-1288798
3/ The White House is trying to block a subpoena by the House Judiciary Committee to former White House counsel Don Mc Gahn for testimony about the Mueller report. Mc Gahn was mentioned more than 150 times in Mueller's report, telling investigators about how Trump pressured him to have Mueller fired and then urged Mc Gahn to publicly deny the episode. The subpoena set a May 7th deadline for documents and a May 21st deadline for Mc Gahn to testify before the committee. Jerry Nadler called the White House's effort to block the subpoena "one more act of obstruction by an administration desperate to prevent the public from talking about the president's behavior." Trump has reportedly told advisers that Mc Gahn was disloyal to him, in part because of Mc Gahn's notes from meetings were cited in Mueller's report. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
4/ The Justice Department refused to comply with a congressional subpoena for a Trump administration official to testify about the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The House Oversight and Reform Committee is investigating the addition of the citizenship question despite evidence that it could lead to millions of people being undercounted. John Gore's refusal to appear before the committee is at the direction of Attorney General William Barr. Gore is the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division. (CNN / Washington Post)
Trump defended the addition of the citizenship question on the 2020 census, saying "the American people deserve to know who is in this country." The Commerce Department, however, has repeatedly claimed the question would be added as part of an effort to better protect voting rights. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/24/trump-citizenship-census-1289245
5/ Trump, claiming he "DID NOTHING WRONG," plans to "head to the U.S. Supreme Court" if Democrats "ever tried to Impeach." The Supreme Court, however, ruled unanimously in 1993 that authority for impeachment resides in Congress and "nowhere else." According to the Constitution, the House "shall have the sole Power of Impeachment" and the Senate "shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments." (Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/24/trump-supreme-court-impeachment-1289314
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/us/politics/russia-2020-election-trump.html
Mulvaney claimed he doesn't remember telling staffers not to mention election security to Trump. "I don't recall anything along those lines happening in any meeting," Mulvaney said in a statement. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/24/mulvney-election-security-trump-1289380
The Justice Department contradicted Jared Kushner's characterization that Russia's influence campaign in the U.S. was limited to "buying some Facebook ads and trying to sow dissent." The filing describes how the actions of Russian spy Maria Butina contained all the markings of a sophisticated intelligence operation. The filing also argues that it doesn't take a master spy for such an operation to have a significant impact. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/23/jared-kushner-fbi-butina-1288769
Deutsche Bank is providing financial records to New York state's attorney general following a subpoena for documents related to loans made to Trump and the Trump Organization. The bank is turning over emails and loan documents related to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, the Trump National Doral Miami, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, and the unsuccessful effort to buy the Buffalo Bills. The New York attorney general's office opened the investigation following Michael Cohen's testimony to Congress that Trump had inflated his assets. (CNN)
https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/04/24/politics/deutsche-bank-trump-records/index.html
Cohen claimed he wasn't actually guilty of some crimes he pleaded guilty to, saying "there is no tax evasion […] it's a lie." Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of evading personal income taxes and one count of understating his debt and expenses in an application for a home-equity line of credit. Cohen begins a three-year prison term on May 6th. (Wall Street Journal)
Trump contradicted the Defense Department, claiming that Mexican troops "probably" drew guns on U.S. soldiers at the border as a "diversionary tactic for drug smugglers." The U.S. military, however, said the incident "was an honest mistake by the Mexican soldiers," because U.S. soldiers "were south of the border fence," but "north of the actual border." (Washington Post)
Twitter suspended more than 5,000 pro-Trump bot accounts for "platform manipulation." The accounts were connected to a network that is focused on denouncing the Mueller report as a "hoax." They were also connected to other accounts that have been used to spread pro-Saudi messaging on the platform. An investigation into the network is ongoing but it's still unclear who is behind the campaign. (Ars Technica)
Trump accused Twitter of deliberately tampering with his followers during a private meeting with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. According to a person with direct knowledge of the conversation, Dorsey explained that follower counts fluctuate as the company enforced policies and removed fraudulent spam accounts. (Washington Post)
There was an event today, She The People, focusing on women of color. Eight of the Dem candidates spoke and took questions: Booker, Castro, Gabbard, Harris, Klobuchar, Beto, Bernie, and Warren, in that order.
Here’s a twitter thread
from one black journalist, Diane Alston, summarizing her impressions. If anyone else is up to copy paste for the twitter averse, feel free; I’m on mobile.
She thought Warren and Castro killed it; rest were in the middle; Bernie started strong but did very badly.
Edited by wisewillow on Apr 24th 2019 at 7:35:49 AM
- I’ll have more of a run-down when I get home but two things from the She The People 2020 presidential forum, as someone who was in the crowd:
- 1.
- 2. Elizabeth Warren was the only candidate to get a standing ovation. I’m biased, but the way she answered the questions asked, by getting to the point and not politicking, was great. The way she interacted with the crowd was a HUGE plus. She was having fun. #She The People 2020
- Overall enthusiasm for the candidates from the audience @ She The People 2020, in my opinion:
- And I’m sorry but anyone saying that Bernie got an overall warm response from the crowd is kidding themselves. He got a warm welcome, but it didn’t last. Klobuchar got a warmer reception than he did, and Tulsi did about as well, if not slightly better, than him.
- ALSO Harris may be up a spot but I missed one of the questions because I was in line for the bathroom. I heard the applause from the line, though.
- Klobuchar and Booker might be interchangeable, as well. Most of them did really well.
- I found myself clapping for Booker more than I anticipated, but he was still pretty forgettable. I can’t remember anything that he said that stood out to me as a Moment™️, so let’s move on.
- Castro was stellar. His story about his grandmother + mother were so moving, and we LOVED that he pointed out that abortion is health care, when asked about protecting it. I liked how he brought up the txlege a time or two, which highlighted how local politics matters, too.
- Castro talked about some of his solutions for housing and talked about how bad redlining (which Warren has also been mentioning a lot) and other discriminatory practices have held back communities of color from housing and home ownership.
- Castro said he has a housing plan coming out soon, so I’m excited to see what that’s all about.
- Gabbard did actually have on a sick pantsuit but most of her answers weren’t actual answers. She danced around nearly every question, did a lot of touting her military service and “the aloha spirit” + she all lives matter-ed a question about islamophobia.
- Gabbard did receive applause for her “corrupt system” messaging + for getting us out of wars and investing that money in our own country. But she got some grumbles, some “ANSWER THE QUESTION”s and this definitely happened.
- Also, I will say that Gabbard gave a good (IMO) explanation of why we shouldn’t still be interfering in Syria. It might not be a popular position, but I could jive with her explanation. Still not loving that trip she took and her relations with other sus leaders is sus.
- It was also at this moment that someone shouted that Gabbard was one of the bad people, when she mentioned there being bad people everywhere re: not going around toppling leaders via military intervention.
- I missed the intro + 1st question for Kamala, because intermission was short and I was in line for the bathroom. But the question I walked in on was about marijuana, and she really laid down the facts and figures and tea of the situation, to LOUD applause.
- The line people LOVED from Kamala was about how there are loads of black and brown people, largely men, locked up or with criminal records for doing something that’s now a hot industry, which they can’t participate in even though they were there before it was even an industry.
- After that, it was a bit of hemming and hawing from Kamala, IMO. A lot of talking about the question asked, without really giving an answer. It’s fine if you want to do some analysis or tell a story to lead up to your solutions, but she did it in place of.
- From Kamala, and others, there was A LOT of “we have to recognize [observation]” “we have to realize [observation]” “we must [general action item]. Also lots of talking about how terrible Trump has been and how “that’s not who we are” or “we must condemn that”. I need more.
- The last question was about what Harris would do in her first 100 days about tent cities, and she went off on some long story about how immigrants make our country great. Had to be redirected and then gave the same 100 days plan from the CNN town hall?
- I guess because they interrupted and were like “Senator, in your first 100 days” and didn’t repeat the part about the detention facilities but, uh, yeah. She didn’t answer that question in the slightest.
- Klobuchar actually did ok, I thought? Her answers on healthcare (no universal care, but building on ACA w/public option) and higher education (free 2 year + “affordable” 4 year university) were expected but her answers to questions about police accountability weren’t bad.
- Klobuchar isn’t on my “would vote for” primary list, but she got a few good sustained applauses from what I could tell on my side of the auditorium. Her statement about not letting police depts. conduct investigations into their own behavior SENT me.
- Beto. He actually did REALLY well. We all know he’s a good speaker and can just make you feel some type of way without really saying much of anything, but he did really, really well. Y’all know I don’t even like that boy like that, so. He did well.
- Beto laid down facts about systemic racism, esp. how it pertains to WOC. He laid down facts about the “crisis” on the border. He called 👏🏾 out 👏🏾 the Obama admin. on their deportation levels + pledged to not use ICE to conduct raids + mass deportations.
- All candidates were asked why they believed Wo C should vote for them, and I think Beto’s was the best. He said he knew he wasn’t entitled to our vote and that he had to earn it, and that he hoped that his actions + ideas during his campaign does that.
- Bernie’s whole performance was bad. B-A-D. He got a LOUD AF welcome but the warm welcome didn’t last, through most of his answers-that-were-not-answers. There WERE some lowkey boos (and a gasp from me) when he name dropped MLK and Jesse. It was just bad.
- Bernie got shouted at a few times. When asked how he plans to win over HRC voters (which he did not directly answer) someone yelled “SAY YOU’RE SORRY!” When asked why women of color should vote for him, “HE DOESN’T KNOW” filled the silence.
- Warren KILLED the game. Crushed it. Smashed it. Ran away with the whole potato.
- We already know Elizabeth Warren has a plan for that (which got applause, louder and louder every time she said it). What I especially loved about today was how she interacted with the crowd.
- This crowd. Listen. If you watched the live stream or were there in person, then you know this crowd had PERSONALITY. They were throwing out jabs or praise, depending on the answer. Warren had personality and energy to match and give right back to us.
- When a woman (standing near me!) said “TELL US HOW YOU SEE IT” and Liz said “I’ll tell ya how I see it!” THAT SENT 👏🏾 US 👏🏾. We were over there in the corner gassing this girl up for getting a response out of Warren. 😂👏🏾
EDIT: NVM, I'm a noob when it comes to Twitter.
Edited by HailMuffins on Apr 24th 2019 at 11:57:33 AM
I just watched the Warren section of the livestream
, which starts at 2:35. Chills. Goddamn, she’s VERY charismatic. One more person asks if she’s electable, here’s where I’m gonna point them.
I would also mention that above anything else, thinking that only a white man is electable is fundamentally self-defeating. I get that people are so desperate for the GOP's reign to end that they do not want to take any chances, but by accepting this logic you are just validating the GOP's white identity politics.

As far as I've heard, the census citizenship question is still having it's hearings in the Supreme Court.
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