Saturday

MAGA My Ass

China Defies Trump on Iran Big time with $400 bn Belt-and-Road Investment, 5000 Red Army Troops



Israel and US Politics

‘Miriam Adelson: Sara Netanyahu said it would be my fault if Iran nuked Israel’

Adelson went on, “There were phone calls to America with screams. When there were screams, when I’d hear a high pitched voice, I’d simply put the receiver down. You could hear the screams that way too. When the screaming died down — it could be 5, 10 minutes — then I’d pick up the receiver again. I wouldn’t listen to the screams, okay? It wasn’t pleasant. But out of respect for the prime minister, and it was mostly from her end, I simply didn’t respond. I didn’t answer.”

Note that the person doing the screaming and demanding action is the wife of the Israeli Prime minister and the person being screamed at (and her husband) have given Trump and the Rs over 200 million dollars in campaign contributions over the last few years. (100m in 2016, 113m in 2018) 

How much democracy can you afford? 

Media - Propaganda

COURT SLAMS CLINTON EMAIL COVER-UP - Laying the groundwork for Fox News stories that will wind up the base in 2020.



Misinformation

How Misinformation Spreads—and Why We Trust It - Drawing the line between misinformation, propaganda, BS, and outright lies is difficult but how could an article on misinformation not mention talk-radio, Fox News, or Trump's outright lies and BS? Still worth the read in sort of a sterile, non-filling way.


Misinformation #2

What a crappy headline. Despite being a pretty good summary of the issues, it runs with the crappy scare headline  "Social Security: Here's Why Cutting Benefits Is a Necessary Evil"

The article includes a good info on the real issues, the fix, and the reason it can't be fixed.

The Reality - Social Security is not in that bad of shape. (from the article)

• Social Security can't go bankrupt.
• Social Security's survival is virtually guaranteed

The Real Issue - Earnings over $132,900 are not taxed so earnings not taxed to support SS have exploded.

• Between 1983 and 2016, the amount of earnings escaping the payroll tax nearly quadrupled from a little over $300 billion to approximately $1.2 trillion.

The Real Fix - Tax Earnings over $132,900

The Real Reason it can't be Fixed.

• There's also the not-so-small issue that Republicans in Congress won't support added taxation on Social Security.

With all that, why wasn't the headline,

  "Social Security easily fixed by voting the god-damned R's out of office."