Fair, Simple, and Dishonest December 29, 2017December 25, 2017 A Republican touting the much-criticized tax bill recently told viewers to go to fairandsimple.gop to see the truth about it. So I did. The bill has three goals: More Jobs. The bill will “make America the jobs magnet of the world.” Maybe. But the Wall Street Journal (here) and the Financial Times (here) worry it could cost jobs. Bigger Paychecks. “Americans’ taxes are too high, so we are lowering individual tax rates for low- and middle-income Americans.” No mention is made of “high-income” or “obscenely-high-income” Americans — yet they will get by far the biggest reductions. You might get a thousand bucks, they might get a hundred thousand or a million. Is that adequately disclosed on the website? And, by the way? Why are “Americans’ taxes too high?” Is it because we’re running a surplus, collecting more than we need? (No, we’ve already run up $20 trillion in accumulated deficits and will now, thanks to this tax cut, be growing that debt faster than the economy as a whole, just as Reagan, Bush, and Bush did.) Is it because our infrastructure is in such awesome shape we can now cut back on maintaining it? (No, it’s in truly rotten shape — we desperately need to spend more.) Is it because we pay more than workers in other countries? (No, according to this, our workers pay a lower rate than those in Belgium, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, France, Finland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovenia, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Greece, Estonia, Turkey, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Poland, Iceland, or Japan.) Fairer Taxes. The bill will “make filing taxes so easy that you can use a form as simple as a postcard.” First off, what does that have to do with fairness? Is it fair to give the lion’s share of the tax cut to people and corporations who don’t need it . . . and to do so at the expense of millions of lower-income Americans who will either lose their health insurance or see premiums increase? And at the expense of a higher National Debt whose consequences will hurt average Americans disproportionately? But since the postcard aspect of this is what Republicans seem to mean by “fairer” — no, people will not be filing on postcards. Start with the “simplification” of the child tax credit, as per this 1,100-word explanation in Forbes. In part: . . . Under tax reform, part of the Child Tax Credit remains nonrefundable but the “old” Additional Child Tax Credit, which was refundable, has essentially been merged into the new credit. I know that sounds confusing but what it means is that the Child Tax Credit is just one credit worth up to $2,000 per child and includes a refundable piece of up to $1,400 per child. To be clear, the $1,400 refundable piece is included as part of the $2,000 Child Tax Credit and is not an additional credit (unlike before). A refundable credit means that you can take advantage of the credit even if you do not owe any tax. Unlike with a nonrefundable credit, if you don’t have any tax liability, the “extra” credit is not lost but is instead refunded to you. To claim the refundable portion, you must have earned income (generally, wages, salary, tips, and net earnings from self-employment). For purposes of the new Child Tax Credit, the refundable portion is equal to 15% of your earned income which exceeds $4,500 up to the maximum credit. . . . If you have three or more qualifying children, you can use an alternative formula to determine the refundable portion. Under the alternative formula, the refundable portion is equal to the amount by which your Social Security taxes (those taken out of your wages or paid out as self-employment taxes) exceed your earned income credit (sometimes called EIC or EITC). I know that this tax reform was supposed to be about simplification, but not when it comes to the Child Tax Credit. In order to claim the credit, you must file a federal form 1040, federal form 1040A, or a federal form 1040NR. You cannot claim the child tax credit using form 1040-EZ. The main thing, of course: HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR. Drive safely!
Hurray For Disney December 28, 2017December 25, 2017 A few odds and ends as the year winds down: TAX CUT FOR THE RICH Abigail Disney has this to say about the tax bill. Walt would have been proud. (On the same theme, in case you missed it, my friend Eric Schoenberg reveals his 2015 tax return. Worth watching.) AND THE PERSONAL EXEMPTION KILLED You often hear from Republicans about their doubling of the standard deduction, to $24,000 for joint filers. Have you ever heard them mention eliminating the $4,050-per-person exemption? Yes, a family with three kids sees its standard deduction jump by $12,000 — oh happy day! And gain $3,000 from the doubling of the child tax credit. But they also lose $20,250 in personal exemptions. So once you do all the math, it may not be quite the bonanza for middle America that the Trump family will see (for example). Or the Wilbur Ross or Gary Cohn families. Or the Steve Mnuchin family or the Carl Icahn family. And us not forget the Kochs and Mercers, Betsy DeVos, and the delightful Sheldon Adelson. THE WHOLESALE LOOTING OF AMERICA “. . . Trump and Ryan have completely dissolved the norm against dishonesty to the point where . . . you just say whatever you want, and dole out favors to your friends — moving at such a rapid pace that the country’s ability to process what’s happening gets overwhelmed. . . . key regulators — almost uniformly drawn from the ranks of corporate America — are doling out favors at a pace that boggles the mind . . . ” The thing is, he’s been looking out for no one but himself since the get-go — witness this, from 1984. He said he’d put his knowledge of the system to work for the little people — the average American. But guess what? It’s all about him. And always has been. HAPPY HOLIDAYS Mike Martin: “You touched on the Merry Christmas controversy but I don’t think you said enough. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see people really explaining why you should say Happy Holidays rather than Merry Christmas. When you say Good Morning, or Merry Christmas, you are not making a declaration of fact, you are making a suggestion: HAVE a good morning, or HAVE a Merry Christmas. I have friends and acquaintances here in Phoenix who are Jews and saying ‘Have a Merry Christmas’ is more than insensitive, it is more of an insult. Indeed, saying Merry Christmas as a general greeting implies a White Supremacist slogan rather than any suggestion of celebration. I have an Eastern Orthodox Christian acquaintance who doesn’t celebrate Christmas but rather waits until January 6 (or for others January 19) to celebrate the Epiphany. Some Black acquaintances celebrate Kwanzaa. These are all happy holidays at year’s end. Thus I say Happy Holidays to be inclusive. “Personally I celebrate Christmas, but not as a Christian holiday, which it really isn’t, but rather as a continuation of the winter solstice celebrations historically such as Saturnalia. I keep asking my Christian acquaintances to show me the scriptures about Santa Claus, or the flying reindeer, or children receiving presents, but they never do. That is what Christmas means to me: giving gifts and greetings to friends as part of a celebration primarily about children. [Some words about Republicans not entirely in the holiday spirit deleted.] “We should take the time to explain to the world why Merry Christmas is exclusionary while Happy Holidays is inclusive. I say Merry Christmas to people who I know celebrate Christmas, but I give gifts to people while saying Happy Holidays so that they feel included in my expression even if they are Jews, or Hindus, or any other affiliation. If I gave a gift to a Jew while saying Merry Christmas they would think I mistakenly included them, or that maybe I was insinuating that their religion wasn’t significant.” ☞ Well, I grew up thinking Christmas was for everyone — it being (for me) in the main about the Christmas spirit — Santa and elves and human kindness — and not so much about the manger. But point taken.
Donald, Denis, and Vlad December 27, 2017December 27, 2017 At the end of the day, however powerful or powerless any one of us is, each of us — Donald Trump, Denis Davidov, Vladimir Putin — is just a human being, trying to make the best of it for the years we have on the planet. Putin’s father, also named Vladimir Putin, was severely disabled and disfigured during the war; his starving mother, placed on a pile of dead bodies during the siege of Leningrad — all this before Vlad was born — only to be rescued when she moaned. Putin grew up in a small communal apartment in Leningrad. He became a martial arts champion, a lawyer, and, well, you know the rest. A journalist-murdering, country-looting autocrat; possibly the richest man in the world. Trump’s father, Frederick Christ Trump, was arrested after a 1927 Ku Klux Klan rally in 1927, investigated by a US Senate committee for wartime profiteering — when Donald was just 7 — and by the Justice Department for civil rights violations once Donald had joined the firm. He grew up with a bone spur, but otherwise seems to have suffered no great hardships — even winning a spot in the WWE wrestling hall of fame — and, again, you know the rest. A journalist-demonizing, autocrat-lover; possibly one of the thousand, or almost surely one of the ten thousand, richest men in the world. Denis Davidov you likely don’t know, but if you take the time to meet him, I think you will like him a lot. What a good, gentle soul he is. And you will see the connection — how Putin’s Russia forced him to seek asylum in our great country; and how Trump’s America, despite his valid asylum papers and fully paid-up income taxes, handcuffed, shackled and imprisoned him. (Don’t worry: it’s the holiday season. There’s a happy ending.) There are so many fine leaders in the world. But thugs — being thugs, and willing to do the ruthless, bullying things thugs do — have a leg up in the competition and all too often rise to the top. Look at Duterte. Look at Erdogan. Look at Putin. And — for a very funny 7-minute “closer look” — look at Trump.
Russia? Trump — He Don’t Care December 26, 2017December 24, 2017 Did you see Roger Cohen in the New York Times last week, r-if-fing on Rudyard Kipling? “If this is America, with a cabinet of terrorized toadies genuflecting to the Great Leader . . .” A must read. Thursday I offered The DEMOCRATIC Tax Plan and Friday, The Spirit of Christmas. That one, otherwise filled with tinsel and sugar plums, ended on a somewhat sober note. . . . My faith in that spirit, and in America, lead me to believe “this too shall pass” and we will regain our footing. But it’s not guaranteed. Democracy did not last forever in Greece or Rome; nor in parts of Europe in the first half of the last century. And it lasted in Russia for about five minutes, subverted by Putin, who is now well on his way to successfully subverting ours. Yet like the honey badger, Trump — he don’t care. You will be forgiven if you didn’t click all 11 links in that column (though I trust you at least wept at the end of It’s A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol?). But that last link, to the Washington Post — about Russia’s attack and Trump not caring — is worth expanding: Doubting the intelligence, Trump pursues Putin and leaves a Russian threat unchecked By Greg Miller, Greg Jaffe and Philip Rucker Dec. 14, 2017 . . . Nearly a year into his presidency, Trump continues to reject the evidence that Russia waged an assault on a pillar of American democracy and supported his run for the White House. The result is without obvious parallel in U.S. history, a situation in which the personal insecurities of the president — and his refusal to accept what even many in his administration regard as objective reality — have impaired the government’s response to a national security threat. . . . Rather than search for ways to deter Kremlin attacks or safeguard U.S. elections, Trump has waged his own campaign to discredit the case that Russia poses any threat and he has resisted or attempted to roll back efforts to hold Moscow to account. . . . This account of the Trump administration’s reaction to Russia’s interference and policies toward Moscow is based on interviews with more than 50 current and former U.S. officials, many of whom had senior roles in the Trump campaign and transition team or have been in high-level positions at the White House or at national security agencies. Most agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the subject. . . . . . . Michael V. Hayden, who served as CIA director under President George W. Bush, has described the Russian interference as the political equivalent of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, an event that exposed a previously unimagined vulnerability and required a unified American response. . . . The feeble American response has registered with the Kremlin. . . . “Putin has to believe this was the most successful intelligence operation in the history of Russian or Soviet intelligence,” said Andrew Weiss, a former adviser on Russia in the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “It has driven the American political system into a crisis that will last years.” . . . U.S. officials declined to discuss whether the stream of recent intelligence on Russia has been shared with Trump. Current and former officials said that his daily intelligence update — known as the president’s daily brief, or PDB — is often structured to avoid upsetting him. There’s so much more to it. If this thus-far successful threat to our way of life interests you, I urge you to read the whole thing.
The Spirit of Christmas December 22, 2017 How I love it. How, growing up, I looked forward to it. A ritual in our home — eyebrows glued to the cold windows as we drove up to the country Friday night, ogling all the Christmas trees and lighted eaves and elves along the way . . . watching March of the Wooden Soldiers with Laurel and Hardy (defeating the bogeymen!) and Amahl and the Night Visitors (opera a little slow for a 7-year-old, but my mother loved it) and, of course, most profoundly, It’s A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. Decorating our tree Christmas Eve . . . And then, oh boy oh boy oh boy! bolting out of bed at 6am — the presents! God bless us . . . everyone. It wasn’t a religious thing. By 10, I had figured out I was an atheist (which just seemed logical and reasonable and didn’t bother me a bit: there was no Santa Claus, and although there had been a Jesus whose awesome teachings we should rightly celebrate and seek to live by, he never literally walked on water). It was a human thing. That yearning we all share to be our best selves, to help each other get through this miraculous — but, for so many, difficult — life with as much love and happiness . . . as little suffering and oppression . . . as we possibly can. (Competing yearnings, of course: for power and dominance and . . . well, it’s a constant battle between the devil on one shoulder and the better angels of our nature on the other.) (And, no, I don’t believe there are literally a devil or angels — not even George Bailey’s lovable Clarence. As the uneducated but wise Ugandan woman says to the young missionaries who, upon fully realizing how ridiculous the Mormon tale is if taken literally, have begun to lose faith . . . rolling her eyes and trying to buck them up . . . “Boys! Eeet eez a MEH-ta-phor!”) These are the greatest stories ever told (here and here) . . . Moses coming down from Mt. Sinai, leading our people out of bondage . . . Jesus dying for our sins, giving hope and solace — and guidance — to billions down through the centuries to this day. And so I have always loved Christmas. And yet . . . Visiting friends for dinner the other night, I was jarred by their Christmas tree, my first of the season. And jarred that I was jarred. Why was I jarred? Did it simply seem out of place against the backdrop of their modern art and furniture? The wrong color scheme? No, I think it’s that the President has politicized Christmas and added it to his own horrible brand, tainting it by association. Beautiful, innocent, our-best-selves Christmas. Was there ever “a war on Christmas?” No! Was Obama born in Kenya, as Trump rose to power suggesting? No! Is this “beautiful Christmas present of a massive tax cut for the middle class” — “that will cost me a fortune, believe me” — real? No! It will just add to the gross inequality that is already tearing at the fabric of our country, and deprive us of resources to revitalize our crumbling infrastructure and care for the Tiny Tims whose health care we are reducing to pay for a reduction in taxes on the uber-wealthy. Trump has used Christmas — Christmas!!! — to divide us further, to inflame the forces of white supremacy and intolerance, and I hate it. He is a vulgar bully who — despite his love for “two Corinthians” and his three sacred marriages and his reverence for women (“nobody has more respect for women than I do — nobody“) — is the exact opposite of everything Jesus Christ asked us to be, the exact opposite of the spirit of Christmas. My faith in that spirit, and in America — plus the happy gene inherited from parents who gave my brother and me so many magical childhood Christmases — lead me to believe “this too shall pass” and we will regain our footing. But it’s not guaranteed. Democracy did not last forever in Greece or Rome; nor in parts of Europe in the first half of the last century. And it lasted in Russia for about five minutes, subverted by Putin, who is now well on his way to successfully subverting ours. Yet like the honey badger, Trump — he don’t care. Much love, guys. I appreciate your readership.
The DEMOCRATIC Tax Plan December 21, 2017 Thanks to his “exquisite leadership,” Trump now has the deficit topping a trillion dollars and our National Debt growing faster than the economy, as Reagan, Bush and Bush did (it took Clinton and Obama to turn that around) . . . depriving the country of the resources to revitalize its crumbling infrastructure . . . wrecking the Affordable Care Act to the disadvantage and what in some cases will inevitably be the death of hard-working lower-income citizens (whose minimum wage Republicans refuse to raise with inflation) . . . preserving the egregious carried-interest tax break he claimed to be against . . . and greatly enriching himself and his wealthy cabinet members while lying directly into the TV cameras at every opportunity to claim it will “cost me a fortune.” The autocrat tightens the noose, just as did the democratically-elected leader of Germany, whose book of speeches Trump famously kept by his bedside . . . seeing some “very fine people” among the torch-marchers at Charlottesville . . . joining arms with journalist-murdering autocrats Putin and Duterte . . . (Erdogan has thus far merely imprisoned 120) . . . and none of this seems to bother his fawning cabinet members or the fawning Republicans in Congress (though in private at least one calls him “a fucking moron” and before he was elected Senator Lindsey Graham called him “a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot . . . undercutting everything we stand for” and Senator Ted Cruz called him “a pathological liar” and Senator Marco Rubio called him “a dangerous con man.”) But — because it’s now safe again to say Christmas again and I love Christmas — let me stop whining. Ron S.: “All we get from Democrats is whining about process and dire warnings about the impending economic catastrophe that Republicans would inflict on the always struggling and oft-mentioned middle class. Kind of reminds me of the Congress during the 8 years of the Obama administration — repeal and replace, but no realistic plan. So I keep reading your blog but it is very repetitive and whiny with very little positive substance with realistic details.” ☞ In other words: okay, big shot. You say you’d be for a fair, revenue-neutral tax reform — what is it? A fair question. Rising to this reasonable challenge, I would say this. First, don’t borrow $1.5 trillion to cut taxes. This is not a time to cut taxes. Borrow it, instead, to revitalize infrastructure. That would put far more to work in good jobs that can’t be out-sourced, and make America more productive, benefiting us all. Let’s build infrastructure, not yachts and mansions. As to the tax code itself, how about: Raising the estate tax rate on amounts above $100 million from 40% to 55% (where it used to be) — and using that extra revenue to lower co-pays and deductibles for health insurance? Raising the top rate on income of any kind in excess of $1 million by 2% — and using that extra revenue to lower co-pays and deductibles for health insurance? Eliminating the “carried interest” loophole, as Trump promised he would — and, yes, using that, too, to lower co-pays and deductibles for health insurance? Lowering the corporate rate as low as Republicans want — even to 21% — but only by closing whatever loopholes the Republicans want to close in order to keep the reform, as scored by the CBO, “revenue neutral.” Likewise: simplify it any way the Republicans and Chamber of Commerce want, so long as the simplifications are revenue neutral. (Even then, it would be like a tax cut, because a simpler tax code would save corporations a fortune on accounting and legal fees.) How’s that?
Jon Hull To Susan Collins December 20, 2017December 20, 2017 Whoever emails me first gets three free TiVo’s (TCD140060; TCD649080; Pioneer DVR-810H-S) and three WiFi do-dads that can connect them (TiVo AG0100). My cable provider’s recently gone digital, so they no longer work. If one or more might work for you, they’re yours. Free shipping. Happy Hanukkah! (The oil lasted until this seventh day! How was that possible?) Merry Christmas! (Celebration of which was outlawed by the Puritans, but whose message of good will is unmatched. I wish I could you give you all TiVos.) Unfortunately, while claiming to be a big fan of Christmas, Trump totally misses its spirit. He claims his tax scam — horrible for the country in so many ways — will cost him a fortune when in fact it will save him a fortune. He is a liar. Up is down. Black is white. Some have clocked his lies at 71 per hour. Others, at 124 separate false statements a year (compared with 2 for Obama) — most repeated dozens of times. (By contrast, once Obama became aware he had said something untrue, he stopped saying it.) The “beautiful giant Christmas present” Republicans are giving “the middle class” is a lump of coal. It will raise health insurance premiums for millions and serve to deprive an estimated 13 million of health insurance altogether. That’s in the spirit of Christmas? And where Scrooge finally saw the light and spent generously to shower gifts upon the less advantaged, this bill will greatly enrich Scrooge at the expense of the middle class and the poor. Yes, it gives a modest tax break to many for eight years — but plunges the average family of four yet a deeper $20,000 into debt. Already the Republicans are talking about cutting back on “entitlements” like Medicaid to narrow that deficit. Merry Christmas, Tiny Tim. Marco Rubio’s famous child tax credit enhancement? One report I saw said it would mean $75 for a family of four at minimum wage, but thousands for a wealthy family that doesn’t need it. (See also: Tax Bill Vote Proves Marco Rubio Is No “Longtime Champion of the Working Class”.) Watch one of my friends walk you through his 2015 tax return to see what a scam this is. Shameful. Which brings me (at last) to a retired cardiac surgeon’s letter to Senator Collins. Jon Hull writes: Senator Susan Collins 413 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Senator Collins: I am 79 years old, have served as an Airborne officer in the U.S. Army to include service in Vietnam and have spent 45 years as a civilian in national security assignments, most of that time in extended tours overseas. I am not a member of either political party but have watched with horror and despair as your party, the party touted as the party of Lincoln, is in the process of ravaging our system of government and the ideals for which it has been known and largely admired. More to the point, I am unspeakably saddened by my own loss of faith in the institutions I have spent most of my life defending. And I am writing to you only because I believe you may be one of the very few members of this collection of power worshippers who might understand whereof I speak. I submit that you and yours are aiding and abetting an administration that is bereft of any morality beyond its own self-aggrandizement. Your party has offered nothing but mindless obstruction during the 8-year tenure of Barack Obama, a man who tried diligently, if imperfectly at times, to better the American condition. It is with pride, don’t forget, that this party brags constantly about having blocked a sitting president with 9 months left in his term from getting so much as a hearing on his Supreme Court nominee. Like it or not, the obstructionism was so virulent and pervasive that a large portion of the population could only explain it by deducing that racism was a significant factor. That obstructionism has left us with a health care system which is the laughing stock of the developed world, a system which will produce untold hardships and tragedy for younger generations as they try to cope with unforeseen medical problems, a system which could have been vastly improved with bipartisan effort to tweak the Affordable Care Act but instead is being demolished with nary a replacement in sight. This has put us in the unenviable position of having the world’s highest per capita health costs by far while we languish in 37th place between Costa Rica and Slovenia in the World Health Organization’s rankings of health systems in some 190 countries. It has left us with an incoherent, racist policy on migration, on Dreamers, on refugees – tens of thousands of them of our own creation. It has left us with spectacularly unqualified individuals heading major governmental departments, individuals nearly all of whom have views and intentions antithetical to the entities they head. It has drastically undercut what used to be our leadership role in critical issues such as climate change and international trade and in the process created doubt or alienation among many of our staunchest allies. It has watched with utter nonchalance as top ranked state department officers with decades of experience retire or are forced out, many in humiliating fashion, seriously diminishing our influence in the world and our voice on human rights. It leaves us to the rapacious whims of coal and oil and mining interests, mostly in pristine areas, on the specious promise of job creation while doing everything to discourage the advancement of the potentially bigger job creator in sustainable energy. It attacks banking regulations and consumer protections, opening the way to obscene riches for those already obscenely rich and leaving the average citizen helpless, mired in endless debt as s/he tries to deal with student loan obligations, grossly expensive health insurance premiums with ridiculously high deductibles, stagnant wages and so on. It is without a hint of shame that your party covets a “win” on their tax “reform” bill, a bill that hadn’t even been scored, that the party was not interested in seeing scored and that adds an estimated TRILLION DOLLARS to the deficit in spite of the maniacal hue and cry against deficit spending that was a party mantra during the Obama years. And on top of that they claim without a scintilla of evidence that the discredited “trickle down” effect will more than pay for this. When the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation’s score recently belied this claim, the party’s response was the standard one: mount a coordinated attack on the scorekeeper, claim it to be partisan and disparage its flawed analysis. It has left us with diabolically gerrymandered voting districts which assures us that bipartisanship will remain nothing but a concept, possibly even a thing of the past. It has left us with an Attorney General – the chief law officer of our government! – who not only doesn’t see any problem with Russian involvement in our presidential election but who has fought every effort to determine the extent of that involvement while cravenly dissembling when questioned about it under oath. And in that regard, we have two investigative committees headed by your own party members who are themselves doing all within their power to impede and/or sidetrack the process. And finally it has left us with a leader who is a misogynist, a pathological liar, a morally hollow individual with no discernible ideals or values beyond his own ego who will fight to the death to keep his tax returns from the light of day and who has accumulated a fortune by way of Russian oligarchs who launder billions through his real estate holdings. And the saddest part of all: you and your party are seemingly content to bob along in this man’s flood of “alternate facts” and empty rants, basking in his endless bluster about his first legislative “win” from a tax bill that will have profound effects on every U.S. citizen for years to come and that, guaranteed, most of your party has not read beyond the bones that have been thrown to them for their votes. Make America Great Again. Right. A pox on both your chambers. Jon Hull
Esther The Pig; When Pigs Fly Without A Tug December 19, 2017December 16, 2017 If, after reading about Esther the Pig, you would not slaughter and eat her — and I promise you, if you read this story and watch the clips, you would not . . . . . . and now that there is perfectly credible fake meat . . . . . . let me ask you this: why not go vegetarian? It’s better for your health, better for the planet, and, one would think, better for Esther. The Economist reports: Motorised nose wheels will let planes leave gates by themselves. From its mouth to God’s ears. Even so, I’d push back (as it were) on a couple of points: First, the Economist notes that WheelTug adds weight to the aircraft. That seems obvious yet may not be true. Yes, of course, this tiny motor and the wires to the cockpit weigh something; but so does the reserve fuel airlines take on in the event of unexpected delays. (If there’s unexpectedly long taxi time or de-icing time, they sure don’t want to have to come back to the gate for more fuel. With WheelTug, that won’t be necessary.) After accounting for the weight of that fuel, the system may add little or nothing to the weight of the aircraft. Second, the TaxiBot system they describe has been available for quite some time and doesn’t seem likely to catch on. It would not eliminate the need for a tug — or allow for “the twist.” (The twist is the ability WheelTug will give airlines to park parallel to the gate, boarding and deplaning passengers from both front AND rear doors. It’s those two things — eliminating the need for a tug and allowing for much faster boarding and deplaning — that are the chief attractions of this new technology.) Finally, not every airport would welcome the addition of an enormous vehicle running back from the runway to the gate area after each flight. Airports are complicated enough places as it is. Have you called Senators Collins, Rubio, McCain, Flake, Murkowski, Sasse, Corker, Lee, Paul, and Johnson — plus any others you can think of — about the tax scam? Just dial 202-224-3121. And then, if one or both your senators is Republican, go a step further. Google over to their website and find the phone number for their local office — and call that one, too. Not sure what to say? Heck: just read them the highlights of this.
A Dangerous Case December 18, 2017December 20, 2017 We all get things wrong from time to time. But not like this. Here’s a chart that shows Trump issuing six times more false statements in his first 10 months than Obama did in eight years. About 2 a year from Obama, 124 a year from Trump. (These are separate falsehoods, many of them repeated endlessly — so thousands in all.) “If we had used a less strict standard,” the authors note, “Trump would look even worse by comparison.” For one thing, when Obama became aware he was saying something untrue, he stopped saying it. “Trump is different. When he is caught lying, he will often try to discredit people telling the truth, be they judges, scientists, F.B.I. or C.I.A. officials, journalists or members of Congress. Trump is trying to make truth irrelevant. It is extremely damaging to democracy, and it’s not an accident. It’s core to his political strategy.” Our country is in danger. Which brings me to DangerousCase.org. “This is not normal,” opine literally thousands of mental health professionals: In a historically unprecedented fashion, we have come together as mental health experts to warn that Mr. Trump, in the office of the president, is a danger to national and international security. Usually, we mental health professionals have an ethical rule against diagnosing public figures unless we have personally examined them and gained their consent. However, as health professionals, we are charged with protecting the health and well-being of our patients and the public, and there are superseding rules. When a person is a danger to others, we have a duty to report, a duty to warn, and a duty to protect potential victims, including the public. In an emergency, we do not have the choice not to treat someone as a patient. A diagnosis is irrelevant when someone is dangerous. We need first to contain the person, to remove any access to weapons, and to perform an urgent evaluation. Mr. Trump has already shown numerous signs that he is dangerous. From our perspective, his personal characteristics, combined with the power of the office and his access to the nuclear arsenal, put the ultimate safety and survival of humanity at risk. One of our mandates as mental health professionals is to improve public health through education: we have an obligation to bear witness when something is not normal. Our mission through the National Coalition of Concerned Mental Health Experts is to inform and educate all sectors, from the public to the governmental. Pressure makes unstable people worse. Collectively, we warn that the worst is coming. Anyone as mentally unstable as this man simply should not be entrusted with the life-and-death powers of the presidency, and the public deserves protection. Help us to take action now. With a disastrous tax scam about to be perpetrated, perhaps as early as tomorrow, the most immediate action we should take is to scream bloody murder. Call 202-224-3121 to reach Senators Collins, Murkowski, Corker, Johnson, Rubio, Sasse, Flake, Paul, McCain and any others you can think of. How about Lindsey Graham, who rightly called Trump a con artist? Surely it offends him to hear Trump lying that this tax bill is “a massive middle class tax cut” that’s gonna cost him and his rich friends a fortune. Surely it concerns him that the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times think it may cost American jobs, not create them. Call their in-state offices, too, where you may be more likely to reach a human or a voice mail system that’s not full. Not sure what to say? If all else fails, just read them the highlights of last week’s post. We have to stop this bill — and need only a couple of Republican Senators to do the right thing (and another to not vote).