CURRENT EVENTS July 14 - July 20

Freedom dying in a supposedly left-wing run government as well.

www.theguardian.com

Armed police threatened to arrest Kent protester for holding Palestinian flag

Officers accused Laura Murton who also had a sign saying ‘Free Gaza’ of supporting a proscribed organisation
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com


In the encounter, which she filmed, one officer told her: “Mentioning freedom of Gaza, Israel, genocide, all of that all come under proscribed groups, which are terror groups that have been dictated by the government.”


He went on to say that the phrase “Free Gaza” was “supportive of Palestine Action”, adding it was an offence “to express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, namely Palestine Action is an offence under section 12(1A) of the Terrorism Act”. The officer told her she had committed that offence.

The officers said they would arrest Murton unless she provided her name and address, which she reluctantly agreed to do.


...
One of the police officers told Murton they were “trying to be fair”, adding: “We could have jumped out, arrested you, dragged you off in a van.”

...

A Kent police spokesperson said: “Under the Terrorism Act it is a criminal offence to carry or display items that may arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation such as Palestine Action.”
 
ChileG said:
I thought the point of the tariffs was to produce more stuff in America using American resources. Now he wants Coke to import cane sugar from a country he just put very high tariffs on instead of using American corn syrup?
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Yep. And it's all because Trump has no damned clue as to what he's doing. He has an incoherent tariff/domestic production policy because he doesn't understand how tariffs work or anything else related to it. As in his first term, his "policies" are really based on his personal whims and resentments and petty vindictiveness, and as he's fickle and weak it changes by the day. One day he's for sharply raising tariffs on a country, the next day he backs off. He talks about reviving American industry and production, and then in another area - American agribusiness - he does shit like this. It makes no sense, because he doesn't know what he's doing and has no long-term plan - it's all based on his day-to-day whims and moods and whatever he sees on Fox.
 
altmin said:
Freedom dying in a supposedly left-wing run government as well.

www.theguardian.com

Armed police threatened to arrest Kent protester for holding Palestinian flag

Officers accused Laura Murton who also had a sign saying ‘Free Gaza’ of supporting a proscribed organisation
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com


In the encounter, which she filmed, one officer told her: “Mentioning freedom of Gaza, Israel, genocide, all of that all come under proscribed groups, which are terror groups that have been dictated by the government.”


He went on to say that the phrase “Free Gaza” was “supportive of Palestine Action”, adding it was an offence “to express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, namely Palestine Action is an offence under section 12(1A) of the Terrorism Act”. The officer told her she had committed that offence.

The officers said they would arrest Murton unless she provided her name and address, which she reluctantly agreed to do.


...
One of the police officers told Murton they were “trying to be fair”, adding: “We could have jumped out, arrested you, dragged you off in a van.”

...

A Kent police spokesperson said: “Under the Terrorism Act it is a criminal offence to carry or display items that may arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation such as Palestine Action.”
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Free speech died in England some time ago.
 

Another holdout, Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who had previously indicated that he would oppose the request because of the cuts to public broadcasting, decided to support the package. He said he had been assured by top Trump administration officials that they would steer unspent funds “to continue grants to tribal radio stations without interruption” for next year.

Ahead of the vote, the head of a network of Native radio and television stations privately appealed to Mr. Rounds to oppose the package, saying the deal he had made was unworkable.

“There is currently no clear path for redirecting these funds to tribal broadcasters without significant legislative and administrative changes,” Loris Taylor, the president of Native Public Media, wrote.

The vote incensed Democrats, who argued that Republicans were ceding Congress’s constitutional powers in the name of cutting a minuscule amount of spending, just weeks after passing their marquee tax bill that would add $4 trillion to federal deficits.

They warned that it could have dire consequences for future bipartisan negotiations to fund the government. Lawmakers are currently working to negotiate spending levels ahead of a Sept. 30 shutdown deadline.
 

GOP Reshapes Opportunity Zones to Target Trump Country​

New tax-and-spending law expands benefits for investments in sparsely populated regions​


🎁 —> https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy...b?st=JiZhKf&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

“… For Opportunity Zones 2.0, Republicans reshaped the program to aid rural America, testing whether bigger tax breaks can bring investment to areas largely left behind by a program for left-behind areas.

The new tax law—the “one big, beautiful bill” that President Trump signed July 4—makes Opportunity Zones a permanent incentive and creates targeted benefits for sparsely populated regions.

… The program helped create a Los Angeles business campus, affordable-housing developments in Erie, Pa., and Charleston, S.C., and an emerging neighborhood 2 miles from the U.S. Capitol. But rural spaces in between didn’t get much—just 8.5% of investment, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

… Starting in 2027, after governors designate new zones, capital gains placed into rural investments and held for five years can receive a 30% tax discount, triple the benefit elsewhere. Rural projects will qualify for incentives with lower thresholds for investments in existing structures.

…
Even with bigger tax breaks, attracting rural investment might prove difficult. Counties far from major highways aren’t always great fits for distribution centers or factories. They don’t work well for real-estate developers’ standard fare of multifamily-housing projects. And they often lack the utility access necessary for industrial projects.

“The challenge isn’t Opportunity Zones. The challenge is rural,” said Alex Flachsbart, chief executive officer of Opportunity Alabama, a nonprofit that works with Opportunity Zone sponsors and communities and manages its own fund. “An Opportunity Zone designation does not magically reverse trends or create assets where there aren’t any. What it does is elevate communities that would otherwise be overlooked.”…”
 
Mulberry Heel said:
Yep. And it's all because Trump has no damned clue as to what he's doing. He has an incoherent tariff/domestic production policy because he doesn't understand how tariffs work or anything else related to it. As in his first term, his "policies" are really based on his personal whims and resentments and petty vindictiveness, and as he's fickle and weak it changes by the day. One day he's for sharply raising tariffs on a country, the next day he backs off. He talks about reviving American industry and production, and then in another area - American agribusiness - he does shit like this. It makes no sense, because he doesn't know what he's doing and has no long-term plan - it's all based on his day-to-day whims and moods and whatever he sees on Fox.
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Correct. As has been said many times before, Trump loves tariffs because he thinks (incorrectly, although that's irrelevant with this SCOTUS) that they are an extortion tool fully within the power and discretion of the executive. Trump is far, far dumber than pretty much all mafiosos, which is why none of it is happening how he promised, but that's undeniably how he is attempting to run his second time in the captain's chair.
 
The good news that Trump is going to send tariff letters to 150 countries notifying them they will be sent payment notices for those tariif payments. He says these should be considered 150 deals he has made.

I just made a deal with Duke Energy to pay my latest monthly tariff of $205 and with Owasa for my monthly water and sewer tariff.

I haven't received my letter and monthly tariff payment notice yet from Spectrum and Dominion Energy., but I will be anxious to make a deal with them when those letters come.
 
Serious question -- are national Democrats aware of how unpopular Trump's policies have become, almost overnight? I get the impulse to let a gravedigger keep digging his own grave, but I'm REALLY close to getting incredibly frustrated that the Dems can't find a unified voice in this moment. Trump is making 20 mistakes every day that would have absolutely sunk any prior presidency (other than Trump 1.0). I just can't believe that after 10+ years of this shit, Dems are still so incapable of using his mistakes against him.
 
lawtig02 said:
Serious question -- are national Democrats aware of how unpopular Trump's policies have become, almost overnight? I get the impulse to let a gravedigger keep digging his own grave, but I'm REALLY close to getting incredibly frustrated that the Dems can't find a unified voice in this moment. Trump is making 20 mistakes every day that would have absolutely sunk any prior presidency (other than Trump 1.0). I just can't believe that after 10+ years of this shit, Dems are still so incapable of using his mistakes against him.
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I sympathise and agree with your thoughts. However, St. Donald of Mar-a-Largo is only half of a two part equation. The other half of the equation is that approximately half the country listens to St. Donald's ravings with rapt attention that I could only muster when while sitting around a fireplace on a winter evening listening to my grandfather recite tales from his youth when I was six years old. The key difference was that I understood the meaning of my grandmother's eye rolls at some particular point of a story that was just a bit too perfect. But the current GOP base has not such counterpoint and will believe and enbrace anything if (a) St. Donald says it and (b) they think it owns the libs.
 
lawtig02 said:
Serious question -- are national Democrats aware of how unpopular Trump's policies have become, almost overnight? I get the impulse to let a gravedigger keep digging his own grave, but I'm REALLY close to getting incredibly frustrated that the Dems can't find a unified voice in this moment. Trump is making 20 mistakes every day that would have absolutely sunk any prior presidency (other than Trump 1.0). I just can't believe that after 10+ years of this shit, Dems are still so incapable of using his mistakes against him.
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Even if Democrats found this unified voice you speak of, no one on the right would hear it. The right wing media bubble censors any criticism of Trump and other right wing radicals, and curates their message to reinforce the fantasies their audience has already been convinced is true. The problem for Democrats is far less about effective messaging than a lack of platforms to disseminate that message.
 
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