I’ve got a lot of family in Washington state, and now the governor has slammed them all with a massive new tax.

Governor Bob Ferguson signed a new tax on income over $1 million into law, affecting less than half of one percent of Washington residents while aiming to provide relief to millions, the governor said in a release.

Senate Bill 6346, known as the Millionaires’ Tax, does not apply to income under $1 million.

“It does not tax the first million dollars. If you’re fortunate to earn $900,000 in the year, you will not be taxed under this legislation,” Gov. Ferguson said before signing the bill. “So for example, if you make $1.2 million in income in single-year, you pay taxes on the $200,000 over the 1 million that you made”

Oh. Wait. I don’t think anyone in my family makes a million dollars a year. They won’t notice this tax at all. But you know what they might notice?

The legislation funds free breakfast and lunch for every K-12 student, expands the Working Families Tax Credit to 460,000 new working families and reduces or eliminates the B&O tax for an additional 138,000 small businesses.

The bill also invests more than $320 million into affordable childcare in the first full biennium and eliminates sales tax on diapers, over-the-counter drugs and hygiene products.

There are some novel objections raised against this policy.

Furthermore, Todd Myers from the Washington Policy Center explained that future legal challenges could come down to the question of whether income constitutes property under the constitution.

In 1933, the Washington State Supreme Court struck down a graduated income tax 5-4. The majority ruled that income is property and cannot be subjected to an unequal tax.

I did not know that! I knew there was no income tax in the state when I lived there, which was nice, but that instead we had that damned ubiquitous sales tax that afflicted all of us sort of equally, which was not nice — if you were rich, you didn’t care about paying an extra 6 cents on a dollar, but it was terrible if you were a kid earning a little spending money by mowing lawns. If you’re concerned about inequality, why would you ever impose a sales tax? I’m all in favor of an unequal tax that hurts rich people a little more.

Then there’s a familiar argument.

Legislators and community members also raised concerns about the potential for millionaires to leave Washington.

Strangely, they never do leave. The things that make a state or a city an attractive place to live are still appealing, and millionaires aren’t really hurt by losing a few pennies on a dollar. They’re not going to want to leave Seattle to live in Pocatello, Idaho (nothing wrong with Pocatello, but it lacks the amenities of Seattle). If they do want to leave, though…bye bye, have a nice trip, you won’t be missed.

What can we do to get a version of this law in Minnesota?

Republicans have received so much bad press about racists and Nazis in their ranks that you’d think they’d learn and try to avoid more controversial members, but they can’t. Look at who was appointed as director of the College Republicans.

The newly appointed College Republicans of America political director Kai Schwemmer has made racist, antisemitic, homophobic and sexist statements while espousing extremist rightwing views on abortion, a Guardian review of livestream recordings can reveal.

Schwemmer said he would accept a world in which slavery was legal if abortion was criminalised, describes himself as “very much an anti universal suffrage guy” and accepts a supporter’s description of him as “our Mormon Nick Fuentes” – referring to the white nationalist influencer whose platform he streamed on for years.

Somehow, I am not surprised — we have a chapter of the College Republicans on our campus, and they occasionally get in the news for being assholes. You’d think, though, that they’d at least try to present themselves as sober, serious conservatives. That’s not what a modern Republican is anymore though. The Republican Party is a hate group. This appointment was not a mistake, it’s who they are.

One thing I wonder, though, is who appointed this jerk? The stories don’t say. All the attention is focussed on this stupid hateful young man, but I imagine there’s some wealthy, cigar-smoking bigwig somewhere in the works that thought appointing a misogynistic racist to run a student organization was a fine idea.

I’m about to head out for my first protest march of the day. Are you all ready?

The White House (I think that means Steven Miller) is weirdly proud of the fact that they’ve turned the nation into a chaotic hellhole that no one wants to live in any more.

I’m sure that if Republicans use this as a campaign slogan there are American citizens who will see this as a net positive.

It’s happening again this weekend. NO KINGS. Protest on Saturday.

I signed up to participate in the march in Morris at 1:00 Saturday afternoon. Then I saw there’s another march in Cyrus, less than 10 miles away, at 2:30, so I signed up for that one, too. I only regret that the constraints of space and time forbid me from participating in every protest march everywhere on that day.

Down with Trump!

On Friday, we got one confusing message from our president.

“I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You know you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side,” he told journalists at the White House.

However, later on Friday night, he wrote on his Truth Social platform that the US was considering “winding down” military operations in Iran. “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran,” he wrote.

The reports that Washington is considering plans to occupy or blockade Kharg Island come despite earlier suggestions by Trump that he was not leaning towards putting “boots on the ground”.

I approve of the “winding down” idea, and in fact favor apologizing, offering reparations, and skedaddling out of the region. Unfortunately, those two words mean something different to the lunatic who started this whole mess.

Donald Trump said he was considering “winding down” military operations in the Middle East even as the US is reportedly sending three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional marines to the region.

Sending in more assault ships and marines doesn’t sound much like a “winding down.” That sounds more like escalating and threatening greater engagement. Especially since he has now delivered an ultimatum.

Donald Trump has given Iran 48 hours to reopen the strait of Hormuz to shipping or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure, as Tehran launched its most destructive attack yet on Israel.

The ultimatum, made just a day after the US president said he was considering “winding down” military operations after three weeks of war, came as the key oil passage remained effectively closed and thousands more US Marines headed to the Middle East.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US would “hit and obliterate” Iranian power plants – “starting with the biggest one first” – if Tehran did not fully reopen the strait within 48 hours, or 23:44 GMT on Monday according to the time of his post.

I think the “winding down” comment was nothing but TACO’s instincts coming to the fore — I suspect he’s sweating over the fact that a disastrous decision is coming back to bite him in the butt, and he’d like to chicken out if he could find a way to save face while doing so. I doubt that Iran will give him a way, and so…get ready for a half-assed, stupidly managed attack on Kharg Island that will leave a lot of American soldiers dead. He’s just going to vacillate for a bit before committing to an even bigger blunder.

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Breaking news: TRUMP ALWAYS CHICKENS OUT.

So what’s happening with all the assault ships and marines heading to the Strait of Hormuz? It sounds now like he’s calling the whole thing off.

Good.

I’m a child of the 1950s, and I grew up with those stupid duck-and-cover drills and a general feeling of fear. The threat was that a foreign power might decide to shut down the US for their advantage, and the fear would escalate with the amount of sabre-rattling we’d hear from elsewhere. We were also concerned about the Strangelove scenario — what if a madman got control of our nuclear arsenal?

Now we have the new nightmare: what if we had a conventional war with all sides shouting hatred AND a madman with a finger on the button? That’s where we’re at now: our president has staked his already massive ego on achieving a quick, easy victory over Iran, which isn’t going to happen. He’s gone from claiming that there will be a quick surgical strike to we’ve already won the war to begging for $200 billion to continue the war. The polls are plummeting, the public is finding him unpopular, and we know how much his ego hinges on his poll numbers. As the war worsens, as the oil stops flowing, as we eventually decide to back off because we can’t afford to continue, someone is going to be looking for a quick fix. And if that someone is remarkably stupid, launching a few tactical nukes will look increasingly attractive.

I’ve been checking out my desk. There’s room under there, I’d fit.

Robert Mueller has died. It’s not that I have strong feelings about this guy, but I was pleased to see that Donald Trump did have strong feelings.

Remember this! When the old orange dotard finally dies, he has nicely set an example of the appropriate response. “Donald J. Trump just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” It’s perfect!