REALITYCHEX.COM - Constant Comments

The Wires

Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code: <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Public Service Announcement

Zoë Schlanger in the Atlantic: "Throw out your black plastic spatula. In a world of plastic consumer goods, avoiding the material entirely requires the fervor of a religious conversion. But getting rid of black plastic kitchen utensils is a low-stakes move, and worth it. Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid." This is a gift link from laura h.

Mashable: "Following the 2024 presidential election results and [Elon] Musk's support for ... Donald Trump, users have been deactivating en masse. And this time, it appears most everyone has settled on one particular X alternative: Bluesky.... Bluesky has gained more than 100,000 new sign ups per day since the U.S. election on Nov. 5. It now has over 15 million users. It's enjoyed a prolonged stay on the very top of Apple's App Store charts as well. Ready to join? Here's how to get started on Bluesky[.]"

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Back when the Washington Post had an owner/publisher who dared to stand up to a president:

Prime video is carrying the documentary. If you watch it, I suggest watching the Spielberg film "The Post" afterwards. There is currently a free copy (type "the post full movie" in the YouTube search box) on YouTube (or you can rent it on YouTube, on Prime & [I think] on Hulu). Near the end, Daniel Ellsberg (played by Matthew Rhys), says "I was struck in fact by the way President Johnson's reaction to these revelations was [that they were] 'close to treason,' because it reflected to me the sense that what was damaging to the reputation of a particular administration or a particular individual was in itself treason, which is very close to saying, 'I am the state.'" Sound familiar?

Out with the Black. In with the White. New York Times: “Lester Holt, the veteran NBC newscaster and anchor of the 'NBC Nightly News' over the last decade, announced on Monday that he will step down from the flagship evening newscast in the coming months. Mr. Holt told colleagues that he would remain at NBC, expanding his duties at 'Dateline,' where he serves as the show’s anchor.... He said that he would continue anchoring the evening news until 'the start of summer.' The network did not immediately name a successor.” ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “MSNBC said on Monday that Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary who has become one of the most prominent hosts at the network, would anchor a nightly weekday show in prime time. Ms. Psaki, 46, will host a show at 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, replacing Alex Wagner, a longtime political journalist who has anchored that hour since 2022, according to a memo to staff from Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC’s president. Ms. Wagner will remain at MSNBC as an on-air correspondent. Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s biggest star, has been anchoring the 9 p.m. hour on weeknights for the early days of ... [Donald] Trump’s administration but will return to hosting one night a week at the end of April.”

Page Links

Monday

Nov152021

Tax the Rich

By Akhilleus

Saw this online. Thought I’d pass it along. The numbers check out, although some sources put Zuckerberg’s 2011 wealth at $13.5 B and Bezos’ 2021 wealth at $211 B, both of which are even more outrageous.

“Wealth of Elon Musk
2011: $2,000,000,000
2021: $271,500,000,000

“Wealth of Mark Zuckerberg
2011: $17,500,000,000
2021: $121,900,000,000

“Wealth of Jeff Bezos
2011: $18,100,000,000
2021: $203,100,000,000

“U.S. Minimum Wage
2011: $7.25
2021: $7.25

“Three words: tax the rich”

Comments Off

Permalink

Email Article

Reader Comments (3)

Each of those three inhabit a world where wealth isn't money anymore. It's an accounting exercise where the earnings of a middle class family aren't even a rounding error.

November 15, 2021 |

Bobby Lee

Context for Musk's anti-tax-the-statements.

https://www.wral.com/heres-how-elon-musks-fortune-has-benefited-from-taxpayer-help/19981058/?version=amp

We need a much bigger word for "irony" when billionaires complain about taxes...

Maybe reported this here before. If so, apologies, but the story bears repeating...

Via Zoom, listened in on a legislatively appointed Washington State tax reform panel a month or so back. The discussion ranged from the expected regressive to progressive poles. Little new, actually but the remark of one person complaining about high property taxes on his two homes, one here in WA, the other in CA caught my attention. I wrote down his name and looked him up.

A retired Starbucks VP. Took days for my tears to stop flowing...

November 15, 2021 |

Ken Winkes

I hear the sound of money –-the song sung in 'Cabaret '–-never enough, always wanting more and playing with it like in the game Monopoly –-sans the Go to Jail card. And somewhere there's the waitress who works (two shifts) feeding others while her two children sometimes go hungry. Her husband is in jail for selling pot–-a side job for him since his janitor salary wasn't enough. And somewhere Ken's Starbuck buckaroo is still yummering about property taxes.

November 15, 2021 |

P.D. Pepe

Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.