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October 24, 2024

Does Trump support Project 2025?

The Former Guy has been continuously proclaiming to know nothing about Project 2025, the plan whose authors include 70% current and former Trump officials. In that he doth protest too much — does Trump support Project 2025? You bet your bippy he does!

What is Project 2025? Think of it as a vast plan, close to the former president, to feverishly establish Christofascism in America starting with Day 1 of a second Trump presidency. It is a 920-page document, and 1000-employee project, to “supercharge” another Trump term with an infusion of Christian nationalism.

More than 100 Christian nationalist organizations and groups are involved in drafting the blueprint for Trump’s next term, should that horrorscape come to pass. One core problem they have, however, is the extreme unpopularity of their ideas. Most Americans are recoiling from the draconian measures Project 2025 wishes to bestow upon the nation, unasked for and unwanted — including banning abortion nationwide, restricting IVF, defunding education, pulling out of NATO, etc.

Who is behind Project 2025?

Project 2025 is so toxic in fact that Donald Trump tried to disavow it on Truth Social:

Trump disavows Project 2025 on his social network, Truth Social

But despite his pathetic attempt to disclaim knowledge about Project 2025, Trump’s current and former staff make up the majority of the group’s architects. Trump’s name appears 312 times in their document. It’s simply not credible that the GOP presumptive nominee is unaware of his loudest allies and advocates — and even if you take the known liar at his word, it constitutes malpractice for a political candidate to be so uninformed.

So allegedly, Donald Trump doesn’t know anyone behind Project 2025. Let’s have a look at the amazing Venn Diagram between Trump officials and Project 2025, shall we?

Kevin Roberts and Trump on a plane

Heritage Foundation president and leader of the organization behind Project 2025, Kevin Roberts, grins with Trump on a private plane in 2022, on the way to a Heritage conference in which Trump gave a keynote address about the project and its policy proposals.

In April 2024 Roberts told the Washington Post first hand that “I personally have talked to President Trump about Project 2025.” Apparently then, at least one of the two men is lying.

October 13, 2024

Hurricane Helene disinformation campaigns

Hurricane Helene disinformation made disaster recovery that much harder

Unraveling Hurricanes Helene and Milton: Disinformation in the Eye of the Storm

While Hurricane Helene wreaked physical destruction across the southeastern United States, another less visible but equally dangerous force emerged in its wake: disinformation. As communities grappled with the devastating impact of the storm, false narratives and conspiracy theories quickly flooded digital platforms, undermining relief efforts and sowing confusion. The Hurricane Helene disinformation campaign serves as a stark reminder of how misinformation can exacerbate the challenges already faced during natural disasters.

The Storm of False Narratives

As Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on September 26, 2024, and tore across multiple states, the usual flood of news reports and social media posts followed. However, amidst the legitimate updates, a tide of disinformation quickly began to circulate. Rumors ranged from claims that federal disaster funds were being siphoned off to suggestions that FEMA was using the chaos as an opportunity to seize private property. These baseless theories were amplified through social media platforms, with some posts gaining widespread traction and undermining public trust in government responses.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene — of “Jewish space lasers” and Christian nationalism infamy — claimed that it’s obvious Democrats control the weather, as evidenced by a shared C-SPAN clip from the Obama years with then-CIA Director John Brennan talking about the highly theoretical and as of yet untried science of geoengineering. Because the very best way to keep your global conspiracy a top secret is to broadcast it into the public domain on C-SPAN.

Some viral posts alleged that the government had restricted airspace above affected areas, not for safety reasons, but as part of a shadowy conspiracy to cover up the true extent of the damage (for what reason is not specified). Other false reports claimed that FEMA was blocking local relief efforts and taking control of private land for nefarious purposes. These rumors not only spread fear and confusion but also hindered relief operations, as some individuals refused aid or hesitated to evacuate based on false information — endangering and perhaps even taking lives.

The Role of Digital Platforms in Spreading Misinformation

Digital platforms, especially social media, have played a significant role in the proliferation of disinformation during Hurricane Helene. The fast-moving nature of these platforms allowed misleading posts to go viral before accurate information could be verified and shared. The challenge for both federal agencies and local authorities was to quickly counter these false claims while also managing the logistics of the emergency response.

September 28, 2024

“You won’t have to vote anymore!” Trump promises Evangelicals

It’s Donald Trump‘s campaign promise to end democracy. “You won’t have to vote anymore! We’ll have it fixed so good.” This is why there is no “both sides” equivalency between one party — that openly promises to destroy our Constitutional republic — and the other, that strives authentically if sometimes naively towards a more perfect union.

Full quote

“If you want to save America get your friends, get your family, get everyone you know and vote. Vote early, vote absentee, vote on Election Day, I don’t care how — but you have to get out and vote. And again, Christians, get out and vote just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore! Four more years you know what — it’ll be fixed. It’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians — I love you, Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you. Get out — you got to get out and vote. In 4 years you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.” — Donald J. Trump, the Republican candidate for president.

Sarah Cooper wore it best

The original receipts

And here’s footage of the actual speech:

Trump: You have to get out and vote. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four years, it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore.. In four years, you won’t have to vote again. pic.twitter.com/DBGcBr3Wht
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 27, 2024

We must stop this insanity. Here’s how to volunteer:

How to Volunteer: DO SOMETHING!

September 12, 2024

Russian propaganda campaigns exposed by the DOJ in a slew of indictments

Vladimir Putin and the Russian propaganda campaigns unsealed by the DOJ

In the digital age, the line between fact and fiction is often blurred, and nowhere is this more dangerous than in the realm of political influence. The power to shape narratives, sway public opinion, and manipulate democratic processes is no longer just the domain of politicians and pundits — it’s a high-stakes game involving shadowy operatives, shell companies, and an arsenal of disinformation tools. The latest indictments from the Department of Justice expose the scale of Russian propaganda campaigns to reveal just how deeply this game is rigged against us.

At the heart of this operation is a well-oiled propaganda machine, targeting the fault lines of American society — free speech, immigration, and even our national pastime of online gaming. And in the backdrop of these revelations looms the 2024 presidential election, a moment ripe for manipulation by foreign actors with the singular goal of deepening our divisions. While these efforts may feel like the plot of a dystopian thriller, they are all too real, with disinformation campaigns working to tilt the scales of democracy in favor of authoritarianism.

Last week, the Department of Justice released a treasure trove of indictments and accompanying information about the depth and breadth of the still ongoing Russian influence campaigns raging in the US and elsewhere — with a particular focus on sowing discord ahead of the US 2024 elections. Let’s take a look at the major pillars of the DOJ’s work.

RT employees and right-wing influencers indicted

On September 3, 2024, the Department of Justice filed an indictment of two Russian nationals, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, for covertly funding a Tennessee-based content creation company that published videos promoting Russian interests. According to the indictment, they funneled nearly $10 million through shell companies to spread pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation on U.S. social media platforms. The defendants posed as U.S.-based editors, directing content that amplified domestic divisions and supported Russian government narratives. Both are charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and money laundering.

Although not specifically named, there are enough uniquely identifying clues in the document to identify the content company in the scheme as Tenet Media, a company run by married couple Liam Donovan and Lauren Chen — herself a prominent “conservative” commentator associated with Glenn Beck‘s The Blaze and Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA. The six commentators who were being paid exorbitantly by the Russians for their content (as much as $100,000 per video) — all of whom, improbably, claim to have been duped — are Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson, Tayler Hansen, Matt Christiansen, and Lauren Southern. All are outspoken Trump supporters, and are on record parroting Russian talking points despite claiming the work was wholly their own.

August 23, 2024

Who owns Twitter (X)? [2024 update]

The social network formerly known as Twitter, now known as X, has been through some things — including a rocky change of ownership 2 years ago. At the time, the person who owns Twitter on paper was known to be tech billionaire and then-world’s richest man Elon Musk — but it was not fully known who was included in the full shadowy list of Twitter investors.

Thanks apparently to some terrible lawyering, the full list of Twitter investors via parent company X Corp has been unsealed during discovery for a legal case against Musk relating to non-payment of severance for employees he laid off after buying the company. In addition to the known in 2022 list below, we can now augment the Twitter investors list with more detail:

Bill Ackman
Marc Andreesen — legendary tech investor and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, known for his techno-accelerationist views
Joe Lonsdale — cofounder of Palantir with shadowy tech billionaire Peter Thiel, the primary financial backer of Trump’s VP pick JD Vance. Lonsdale has a right-wing streak of his own, backing Trump in 2024 via Elon Musk’s Super PAC.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
Jack Dorsey — one of the original founders of Twitter
Larry Ellison — Oracle founder and right-wing political donor
Ross Gerber
Doug Leone
Michael Moritz
Changpeng Zhao

Security analyst and intelligence professional Eric Garland notes that beyond the notable billionaires on the list, the investor sheet can be largely read as “fronts for the dictatorships of Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and others.” Tech pioneer turned investigative journalist Dave Troy’s take on the Twitter investor list reveal is that it shows “this platform is an instrument of information warfare.”

https://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1826457566446076085

August 22, 2024

Jobs Score 50 to 1: Democrats 50 million, Republicans 1 million [DNC]

This is one of those stats that’s sure to be both repeated and disbelieved, courtesy of Bill Clinton’s speech at the phenomenal DNC 2024 last night: since the end of the Cold War in 1989, the cumulative tally of job creation between the two parties is not even close: 50 to 1. Out of the 51 million jobs that have been created since then, about 50 million of them can be attributed to Democrats (under Clinton, Obama, and Biden who account for 97.4% of the total), and only 1 million to Republicans.

That is a pretty stark objective review of right-wing economic ideology. Which is billed, by the way, as “job creating” policy. Trickle down economics, supply side, Reaganomics, libertarian theory, Mudsill Theory — by whatever name you call it, the policy of giving massive tax cuts to the rich while cutting spending on the middle class is supposed to magically create great prosperity for all. Instead, the numbers show the exact opposite — prosperity is not trickling down. It is in fact being hoovered up.

Since 1989, the U.S. economy has created 50 million jobs. What's the score?

Democrats: 50
MAGA Republicans: 1 pic.twitter.com/WiKaaIAunI
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) August 22, 2024

DNC 2024: Fierce middle class energy

I hope to write more about the overall amazing, vibrant, and joyful atmosphere of the DNC this year — delivering not just the strongest support for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz possible, but bringing back the sense of hope and optimism from the Obama years in the most refreshing and much-needed way. But for now I’ll just say that the Democrats are driving home this economic message that has already been wildly successful under Joe Biden: when we invest in the middle class, the economy truly does grow for everybody.

When the middle class is strong, America is strong. It’s a lesson we learned in the post-war era of the 1950s but have drifted away from since the 1970s when corporate leaders and big business interests mounted a concerted effort to turn the tide against the New Deal value system that lifted us out of the Great Depression and the economic policy that ushered in that broad distribution of wealth in the U.S.

It feels like the fever is finally breaking. The decades of epic gaslighting fomented by the merchants of doubt may have reached the peak disinformation tolerance of the American people. Here’s hoping the real economic stories will now get told — and that Americans will go to the polls this November and cast their ballots accordingly.

August 9, 2024

First woman president, redux

Kamala Harris is poised to break that glass ceiling that Hillary Clinton cracked and I am so here for it. She was my Senator when I lived in California and I appreciated her energy back then — and I would be thrilled for her service as the first woman president.

And I’m by no means the only one — from White Dudes for Harris to Republicans for Harris to Mormons for Harris, to Democratic groups up and down the spectrum, there is renewed energy in this election and momentum has been building even since Biden’s decision to step down from the race.

The selection of Tim Walz as her running mate adds yet another layer of awesomeness — with his folksy small town dad appeal, military service, midwestern charm, and zingy comebacks and catchy takedowns of Trump and Vance as “weird,” he seems to be bringing a hefty punching up vibe to the campaign.

Meanwhile, all the Orange Man and emo beardo seem able to do is sling racist and sexist insults at Kamala, or attempt a cheap knockoff of the swiftboating of John Kerry with Walz’s military service that’s been swiftly and resoundingly debunked. People aren’t falling for it.

Imagine if the momentum carries us all the way to a blue wave, and a Democratic Congress… we could perhaps have nice things! Time to put shoulders to the wheel. Give whatever time and money you can, if you can.

🗳️ Here’s how to volunteer 🗳️

July 19, 2024

Christian Nationalism Timeline

Evangelicals in church raising their hands high for Christian nationalism

Christian nationalism, a belief system that intertwines national identity with Christian faith, has been a significant force in American history — and the Christian nationalism timeline may go back further than you think. It erroneously asserts that the United States is fundamentally a Christian nation and should be governed by biblical principles.

This flawed ideology has influenced various aspects of American life, from politics to education, and continues to shape the discourse around national identity and public policy. Understanding the evolution of Christian nationalism provides critical insights into its current manifestations and implications for the future.

In recent years, the resurgence of Christian nationalism has become more visible and influential in American politics. The events of January 6, 2021, and the Big Lie rhetoric surrounding the 2020 presidential election highlighted the power and reach of this movement. With key figures like Russell Vought and organizations like Project 2025 advocating for policies that align with their interpretation of Christian values, it is essential to examine the timeline of Christian nationalism to grasp its roots, growth, and contemporary relevance.

Vote them out, while we still can

Then, get to the polls and take everyone you know with you. Do not allow the right-wing to establish a theocracy in this country — no matter what your faith (or lack thereof), we have common interest in preventing any one faith from informing the US government.

A line of diverse and young-looking voters forms at the polling place -- the right-wing's worst nightmare

Just because they say the words “Christian nation” does not alter the actual history in which the founders were deists who were adamant about keeping the political and religious spheres separate — having seen the ills it can cause to entwine them. Is America a Christian nation? No. We rejected the divine right of kings, very consciously and loudly so at the time. It is easy to pick up this sentiment in the writings of the founders both inside and outside of the founding documents.

Christian nationalism timeline

1607 — The Jamestown Colony is established in Virginia. Early settlers bring a mix of Christian beliefs that will influence American culture.
1620 — The Pilgrims arrive on the Mayflower, establishing the Plymouth Colony. They seek religious freedom after being persecuted for their lack of conformity to the Anglican church in England, and establish a community based on their Puritan beliefs.
1630 — John Winthrop delivers his sermon “A Model of Christian Charity,” articulating the vision of America as a “city upon a hill,” influencing the concept of a Christian nation.
1730-1740s — The First Great Awakening, a series of religious revivals, sweeps through the American colonies, strengthening evangelicalism.
1776 — The Declaration of Independence is signed. The Founding Fathers, while influenced primarily by Enlightenment ideas, also incorporate some Christian principles.
1787 — The U.S. Constitution is drafted, establishing a secular government with the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of religion.

July 15, 2024

What is Project 2025: The GOP’s plan for taking power

Project 2025, led by former Trump official Paul Dans and key conservative figures within The Heritage Foundation, sets forth an ambitious conservative and Christian nationalist vision aimed at fundamentally transforming the role of the federal government. Leonard Leo, a prominent conservative known for his influence on the U.S. Supreme Court‘s composition, is among the project’s leading fundraisers.

The initiative seeks to undo over a century of progressive reforms, tracing back to the establishment of a federal administrative framework by Woodrow Wilson, through the New Deal by Roosevelt, to Johnson’s Great Society. It proposes a significant reduction in the federal workforce, which stands at about 2.25 million people.

Project 2025 plans

Essential measures include reducing funding for, or even abolishing, key agencies such as the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Departments of Education and Commerce. Additionally, Project 2025 intends to bring semi-independent agencies like the Federal Communications Commission under closer presidential control.

At its heart, Project 2025 aims to secure a durable conservative dominance within the federal government, aligning it closely with the principles of the MAGA movement and ensuring it operates under the direct oversight of the White House. The project is inspired by the “unitary executive theory” of the Constitution, which argues for sweeping presidential authority over the federal administrative apparatus — in direct contradiction with the delicate system of checks and balances architected by the Founders.

It is also inspired by religious fervor (and the cynical exploitation thereof) — and Project 2025 has brought together a pantheon of Christian nationalist organizations and groups to draft policy that could be implemented with alacrity, select potential appointees for the administration, build networks with GOP at the state and local levels — and with right wing groups and networks around the world.

Project 2025 goals

To realize their extremist, authoritarian goal, Dans is actively recruiting what he terms “conservative warriors” from legal and government networks, including bar associations and offices of state attorneys general. The aim is to embed these individuals in key legal roles throughout the government, thereby embedding the conservative vision deeply within the federal bureaucracy to shape policy and governance for the foreseeable future.

July 13, 2024

Christian nationalism isn’t very Christian

Jesus healing the sick as a foil to Christian nationalism

Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. The vitriol of our politics — the violent rhetoric, the animosity, the refusal to engage in democratic deliberation — is not loving our enemies. It seems to me that Christian nationalism isn’t very Christian, in word or deed.

Jesus hated fame, loathed fortune, and eschewed power. So many of these fake Christians and Christian nationalist groups fundraising for the profane idol of Trumpism are drunk on all three.

They’ve tied capitalism and Christianity together in a way that is both wholly unsupported by the Bible and wholly antithetical to the foundational idea of growing the size of your market, not shrinking it. Jesus threw the moneylenders out of the temple, condemning the commercialization of religious practice. And yet the commercialization of religious practice is alive and well in the American version of Christian nationalism.

Jesus loved the poor, and frequently warned about the dangers of wealth and greed. He told the parable of the Good Samaritan, who stops to help a total stranger in need, expecting no help in return — and said “go and do likewise.” He was very much an original Social Justice Warrior.

Jesus with a group of poor children, as a foil to the Christian nationalist movement

Politics and spirituality are opposites

Jesus also said to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s — indicating that he believed politics and spirituality were not a good mix. God’s realm is not like this one, and he does not care about our petty political trifles. He cares that we love our neighbors as ourselves.

Which is a value I believe in and agree on, even though I’m a Buddhist. There is much wisdom from pretty much all the religious doctrines worth listening to and adopting, even if one does not adopt the symbolism of the identity tropes of a chosen religious practice. Morality does not depend on being a member of the Christian faith or any other particular faith — despite the claims of some in the right-wing. There are moral people everywhere, getting up every day and doing their best to be good humans, good citizens, good neighbors, good parents, friends, volunteers, and so on.

Humans first, tribes second

We have to put our humanity ahead of our group identities if we have a chance of surviving the coming wars — the climate war, the food and water wars, the new cold war, lawfare, and new escalations of the information warfare and psychological warfare around the globe. We are all more alike than we are different — a deep truth that Jesus knew and shared strongly, asking us to live and share that message ourselves, even when it’s sometimes hard.

July 12, 2024

Biden’s (second) first 100 days

Biden gave a fiery speech in Detroit today and pitched his plan for his second term’s first 100 days, if given a Democratic Congress. Which would mean that by around May of 2025 we could have the following nice things:

Restore the protections of Roe v. Wade
Raise the minimum wage
Ban assault weapons
Sign the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act
Eliminate medical debt
Protect unions and the right to organize
Continue to lead the world in the climate change energy transition

It sure sounds like a far cry from whatever fiery white supremacist death zone backed by ravenous billionaires would be unleashed upon us in Trump‘s first 100 days (only 1 of which, we are led to believe, would be as a dictator… sure, Jan). It is the opposite direction of the literal End Times hellscape vision of Project 2025 and its Christofascist propagandists who have abused the American Evangelical church to the point of being unrecognizably distant from anything Christ himself taught.

Vote blue no matter who

I’m bored with the obsession over Biden’s age. He’s 81, he’s not 101. He certainly still passes the Turing Test to me — others apparently see something different. Superagers can go a long time these days — Charles Koch is 88 and leads both an oil empire and a conservative dark money juggernaut. Rupert Murdoch is 93 and only last year stepped down from leading one of the world’s largest media empires.

I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who can match Joe Biden’s foreign policy experience, having been at the table on major world events for decades now. He knows everybody — and has warm relationships with our allies. Unlike Trump, who has spurned everyone America has cherished and cozied up to (other) two-bit dictators with tiny hands syndrome. Biden is holding up the Western order against a revanchist Russia seeking to erode the post-Cold War consensus and spread the forces of authoritarianism widely around the globe — Trump would simply hand Ukraine to Putin and welcome the wave of illiberalism to wash over his slavering Project 2025 belligerents.

I think we urgently need Joe Biden’s unparalleled experience at this moment in history — no one else can match it. Although now Kamala Harris is no slouch in that regard either, given her 4 years of jetting around the globe as VP, years in the Senate before that, years as California AG, and a decade as the District Attorney of San Francisco before that. If Biden decides at some point in the next 4 years to stand down and hand the reins to Harris, that would be a fantastic outcome. In the meantime, why don’t we give the man some respect for his own self-assessment?

July 8, 2024

Banned Books List: What the right-wing considers dangerous literature

Expecting this banned books list will be ongoing, unfortunately…

Book bans represent a significant threat to the First Amendment by restricting access to diverse ideas and viewpoints, which are essential to a free and democratic society. These bans orchestrated by right wing groups often target literature that addresses complex and sometimes controversial themes such as race, sexuality, and political ideologies, under the guise of protecting young readers.

However, this form of censorship undermines intellectual freedom and the right to read, leading to a homogenized culture that stifles critical thinking and open dialogue. The American Library Association (ALA) and PEN America have documented thousands of instances where books have been removed from school and public libraries, reflecting a concerted effort by certain groups to impose their moral or political standards on the wider community, thus eroding the foundational principles of free expression enshrined in the First Amendment.

Most Banned Books (2023-2024)

“Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe
“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
“Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez
“The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas
“Beyond Magenta” by Susan Kuklin
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie
“Melissa” (previously published as “George”) by Alex Gino
“Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
“Drama” by Raina Telgemeier

June 20, 2024

The Trump tax cuts didn’t work

At least, not according to what Republicans promised when they passed them. The Trump tax cuts didn’t work to grow the economy, increase revenues, alleviate the debt, or benefit ordinary Americans as alleged.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was introduced by then-Speaker of the House (and fiscal hawk) Paul Ryan and signed into law by then-President Donald Trump on December 22, 2017. It permanently reduced the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, and lowered the overall tax for all brackets — seems fair, right? Except the wealthy walked away with 50 times the amount of tax benefit as the lower brackets.

Trump tax cuts add $1.5 trillion to the deficit

Not only did the tax cuts not raise revenue as promised — they became a liability on the balance sheet when almost immediately going into the red. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated the TCJA would add approximately $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years, after accounting for any temporary growth effects. The national debt will rise to accommodate as we borrow money to make up the shortfall between earnings and expenditures.

The Trump tax cuts reduced federal tax revenue, with significant declines in corporate tax receipts (surprise, surprise!). They did the exact opposite of what they promised to do — leaving our economy in a more precarious position even before the pandemic hit.

Who benefited from Trump’s tax cuts?

Conservatives and right-wing economists claim that tax cuts will help ordinary people by raising wages. In reality, however, corporations instead used their tax windfalls to do other things: stock buybacks, dividends, and executive pay. In fact, this happens over and over again each cycle of empty promises from so-called “fiscal conservatives” who in large part know exactly what they do.

They seem to believe they are entitled to the lion’s share of America’s money (as they have been since at least Mudsill Theory in 1858 and even before) and by gum, nothing is going to stop them — not democracy, not a sense of decency, not a sense of institutional preservation as used to be the very core pillar of Conservatism. No longer. Now it’s a will to power and to plunder. It’s not so much trickle down as it is hoover up.

Reaganomics, Trickle down, Laffer curve, Supply-side economics — it’s all the same

The magical revenue-generating power of tax cuts has been long promised and never delivered by right-wing Republicans. Since the 1980s edition, Reaganomics — the economic “theory” drafted on the back of a cocktail napkin dubbed the Laffer Curve for the slightly drunken man who scribbled it — has moved immense amounts of wealth upwards into the hands and coffers of the 1% and 0.1% at the expense of the masses.

The argument is that rich people will take the extra billions in returned tax money and use it to innovate and grow the economy — except that never happens. And why would they? They don’t have to earn revenue the old-fashioned way, through free market competition — they can just sit back on their laurels, buy a Senator or two, and rake in a huge windfall every few years that a GOP officeholder is in the White House. It is rock solid orthodoxy for the right-wing now, that tax cuts are almost the only policy initiative they care about — along with a side of deregulation and the slashing of the social safety net.

We’ve seen this movie before. The rich guys take the money and run — in many ways literally, into the arms of tax-free havens like the Cayman Islands or Seychelles. They do not return it to the American economy — although they do inject it into American politics, to skew the playing field even further in their favor despite already extracting extraordinary privileges and benefits to themselves from all aspects of their coziness with the political elite and their direct capture of various institutions.

As LBJ once said:

“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
President Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1960

The economic elites are dividing us over race and religion, in order to pick our pockets. This is why we can’t have nice things. We should boot them out and have nice things.

The Trump investigation: Multiple convictions

Vance did end up charging former Trump Organization CFO Alan Weisselberg with tax fraud, conspiracy, grand larceny, and falsifying business records. He pled guilty in 2022 and testified against the Trump Org, resulting in a conviction of criminal tax fraud against the company and a fine of $1.6 million.

Vance also worked with the Southern District of New York to prosecute the Michael Cohen case and 3-year sentence.

From hush money to election corruption

When new DA Bragg inherited the case that later came to be known as the “hush money” case in 2021, he was reportedly reluctant to make charges, causing 2 longtime prosecutors to leave. He did however end up charging Donald Trump in April 2023, on 34 counts of felony falsification of business records.

Bragg, a graduate of Harvard Law School, focused on fraud and money laundering cases during his tenure as a prosecutor at the Southern District of New York. He also led the team at the NY Attorney General’s office that secured a $2 million judgment and the dissolution of the Trump Foundation in 2019 for misuse of Trump’s charitable foundation. After looking at the facts of the hush money case, he ultimately decided that it was much bigger than simply paying off a porn star: “it’s about conspiring to corrupt a presidential election.”

May 3, 2024

First official Sora music video

The first official music video made with OpenAI's Sora generative video application

Surely the first of many to come, the music video for Washed Out’s “The Hardest Part” was created using OpenAI‘s new generative AI video tool, Sora.

Created by experimental filmmaker Paul Trillo, the video is a surrealist nightmare trip running headlong into the future of a frequently re-appearing young couple who seems to age accordingly to the fast pace during the arc of the video. It has a “can’t look away” quality of fascination to it — the call of the uncanny valley.

AI video is there

I spent some time with RunwayML Gen-2 and it wasn’t quite there yet, though you could see the promise. Gen-3 is there now — and Sora is there, and Flux, Hailuo/minimax, and a few others. Here’s the beginning of a longer-form video I did with Sora and Capcut, to be set to something suitably both futuristic and organic (perhaps via Suno V4):

You can definitely see the appeal of AI tools for music video creators, who are often on the cutting edge of new advancements in technology in every transformative era. When the genre itself is meant to be suggestible and fantastical and imaginative, AI tools really shine and some of their elsewhere biggest downsides (randomness, unexpectedness) are downplayed or even valued in the context of a music video.

We’re sure to see more music videos to come, with entrants from the growing stable of competent generative video applications. And beyond music videos, AI filmmaking more broadly is bursting onto the scene with gusto. Here’s a smattering of amazing AI videos and video reels I’ve seen — will aim to keep collecting more here if it’s valuable to folks.