Short Takes On The News
Lots of hype, but expect little from the hearing featuring Secretary of State Blinken today. Each congressional member gets three minutes for questioning. Three minutes!
Nothing will be answered about our withdrawal, the policy and aftermath.
The $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan
House Democrats released their plan to pay for the $3.5 trillion dollar spending plan. Here are the tax highlights we’ve confirmed so far:
— Raising taxes on tobacco products.
— Hiking the corporate tax rate from 21% to 26.5%.
— Increasing the capital gains tax from 20% to 25%.
— Raising the top rate on individuals from 37% to the pre-Trump era high of 39.6%.
— Imposing a wealth tax in the form of a 3% surcharge on individuals with income above $5 million.
— Hiking the minimum tax on foreign income derived by corporations, from 10.5% to 16.6%.
Ask yourself if this partial release will drive jobs in the U.S., increase investment and keep prices down.
While on that, there is a divide in the Democratic party. Here’s an example:
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on “Meet the Press” yesterday:
“I’m just saying that we should be looking at everything, and we’re not. And that we don’t have the need to rush into this and get it done within one week because there’s some deadline we’re meeting, or someone’s going to fall through the cracks. We’ve got child nutrition, out of all the things, I want to make sure that children are getting taken care of, that people are basically having an opportunity to go back to work. We have 11 million jobs that we haven’t filled. Eight million people still are unemployed. Something’s not matching up there.”
On the other side here’s Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on CNN’s “State of the Union:” (On Manchin’s lack of support for the $3.5 trillion bill:)
“It is absolutely not acceptable to me. I don’t think it’s acceptable to the president, to the American people or to the overwhelming majority of the people in the democratic caucus. … The truth of the matter is … many of us made a major compromise in going from the $6 trillion bill that we wanted, supported by the overwhelming majority of Democrats down to $3.5. “I know that Senator Manchin worked very hard on what’s called the bipartisan infrastructure bill — $550 billion of money to rebuild our roads and our bridges. What we have worked on is working both of those bills in tandem. They go together, and it would be a really sad state of affairs for the American people, for Congress, if both of those bills went down.”
Stay tuned on this one. There are 5-6 senators who may be on Manchin’s side, just not speaking up.
Plus note what is missing;
The repeal of the $10,000 limit for deductions. Remember the “centrist Democrats” in congress said they would not vote for it if this was not repealed. Not there. Why? The left says it is a tax break for the wealthy and can’t be there. Division in the party. Just not talked about in the MSM.
Are We Safer Today?
Look at the answers to that question from some people who should not still be in their roles:
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, said:
A “resurgence of terrorism” out of the Afghanistan region is “very likely” in the next one to three years.
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin asked:
“Is the U.S. safer today since the U.S. has withdrawn from Afghanistan?”
The general said his “military estimate” is that “the conditions are likely to develop, of a civil war. I don’t know if the Taliban is going to be able to consolidate power and establish governance. They may be, maybe not. But I think there’s at least a very good probability of a broader civil war — and that will then in turn lead to conditions that could, in fact, lead to a reconstitution of al-Qaeda or a growth of ISIS or other myriad of terrorist groups. “The conditions are very likely, in my opinion that — I’ve testified this and I’ve said it in public — that you could see a resurgence of terrorism coming out of that general region within 12, 24, 36 months.”
Oh, really General? I ask again, the President said you agreed with his policy. Did you? If you did you should have resigned already because the blood that has been shed is on your hands.
If you didn’t you should resign. Both because he said you did, and you weren’t able to lead. The blood shed and the blood to come is on your hands. You failed. Resign.
The second person I call upon again to resign is General Austin, the Secretary of Defense. Here’s what he said:
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “the al Qaeda extremist group that used Afghanistan as a staging base to attack United States 20 years ago may attempt to rebuild its operations there following an American withdrawal that has left the Taliban in power.”
He added that the Pentagon “is prepared to prevent an al Qaeda comeback in Afghanistan that would threaten the United States.”
Oh really, Mr Secretary, and exactly how do you intend to monitor that and what action are you planning? You mean military action in the same area the President said you supported surrendering in? Resign, General.
While on foreign policy, did you see this news?
“North Korea says it successfully test fired what it described as newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, its first known testing activity in months that underscored how it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States.”
You will see more from them, China, Russia and Iran, simply because they see weakness in the U.S. leadership. Remember Reagan’s words. We never got into a conflict because an adversary thought we were too strong. They did so because they perceived us weak.
How are our adversaries perceiving us today?
But Don’t Worry, Because
In three weeks a new book is coming out that will be another tell all on Donald and Melania Trump.
Stephanie Grisham, a former Trump White House press secretary is doing a “tell all” book.
Now Grisham briefly served as Press Chief and you may recall was known for not holding any conferences. Prior and after she served as Melania Trump’s Press secretary. Now she wants to cash in.
Isn’t it amazing how no one will resign, quit, or get fired for the mess over Afghanistan, and no one will speak about the President’s condition; yet with Trump we get interviews, books and endless stories? Why is that?