Later this week there will be the release of the second remake of the film Murder on the Orient Express with a star-studded cast. The first version was in 1974 and also had an even more stellar cast with the biggest names of that era, and there was a made-for-TV version in 2001. All these films are based on an Agatha Christie novel with the same title.
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I have never been a fan of Donna Brazile, seeing her as a career political hack who was comfortably well-ensconced in the Democratic neoliberal party establishment (as represented by the Democratic National Committee) and a spokesperson for those policies in the media. She was the very definition of a party apparatchik. Hence I was surprised at the furor that her book has generated and the way that the party establishment has turned against her.
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The US seems to be joined at the hip with the nation of Saudi Arabia, even as that country takes a much more vigorous and deleterious international role and spreads its poisonous brand of Islam around the world. Hence the dramatic events of Saturday, where there were mass arrests of nearly fifty people that included high-ranking businessmen, media figures, and even members of the royal family, bear some scrutiny
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A new leak of a massive trove of documents being called the Paradise Papers (this post edited to add this link) reveals how the global wealthy used offshore accounts to hide their money, their financial entanglements with shady figures, and avoid paying taxes. This video explains what these documents are about and what to expect from them in the coming weeks.
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This morning most of the US went through the dreary routine of setting their clocks back one hour to revert to what is called Standard time, after having set it one hour forward in the spring to create Daylight Savings Time. This biannual routine is inevitably accompanied in the media by various explanations for its origins plus complaints about it and demands that we stop this disruptive practice that seems to produce little benefit.
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I think that we can agree that there are no depths to which Donald Trump will not sink so we should no longer be really surprised when he does something that is appalling. But one thing really grates on me and that is when he, on issues that we can be sure that he does not really care that much about, goes out of his way to harm people purely because he now realizes that it will please his slowly shrinking core of supporters, the ones he needs to attend his rallies and feed his ego, and anger his opponents, which pleases his base even more.
One of the enduring tropes endlessly trotted by anti-gay bigots is that if homosexuality and same-sex marriage are allowed, we are immediately set on a slippery slope that will lead first to polygamy and end up with bestiality. But one further argument that they have not made, at least in the US, is that animals may see acceptance of human homosexuality and decide to try it out for themselves, thus leading to their extinction.
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Vice News has produced an excellent documentary that gives voice to the people in the antifa movement to explain who they are and what they are doing and why. Given that so much of media coverage has been from the authoritarian establishment that condemns antifa, this is a much-needed and welcome alternative perspective that anyone who is concerned about understanding recent political developments should watch.
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On election day on Tuesday, there will be two constitutional amendments on Ohio’s ballot that voters will have to decide on. This business of voting on changes to the state constitution is inherently problematic because a constitution should be changed only after careful deliberation. Off-off-year elections, like this one, tend to produce very low turnout. Highest turnouts tend to be when a presidential election is on with around 70%, next highest is on other even years when Congressional elections are on where you see 40-50%, and odd-years are the worst, with rates dipping down to as low at 26% in 2013. So you can have a small fraction of the voting public deciding the fate of major issues that affect everyone.
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Republicans in Congress have released their tax proposals and to no one’s surprise, it is a massive redistribution of wealth from the have-nots to the oligarchy. Ed Burmila breaks down the awful details.
What does a massive tax-cutting bill so bad that even Republicans balk at it look like? Start with a staggering $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over ten years.
Sounds great, right? Well, you’re not getting any of it. It consists largely of corporate tax rate cuts – more on that in a second – and repealing the estate tax.
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