From an article in The Guardian:

“The poor’s share of the US economic pie is shrinking to developing-world levels. The income of Americans in the top 90th percentile of wealth grew more than twice as fast between 2000 and 2023 as that of Americans in the bottom 10th percentile. These days, Americans in the poorest 10th of the population draw about 1.8% of the nation’s income, about the same as poor Bolivians. In Nigeria, they reap 3%, in China 3.1%, in Bangladesh 3.7%.”

Watching Ken Burns “The American Revolution” on PBS — a must-watch.

In episode 2, Burns highlights Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense,” published in January 1776 and the most read publication in the colonies behind the Bible. Paine opposed hereditary succession. Here’s what he wrote: In episode two, Burns highlights Thomas Paine and his pamphlet “Common Sense,” published in January 1776 and the most widely read publication in the colonies behind only the Bible. Paine was vehemently opposed to hereditary succession. Here, in part, is what he wrote:

An op-ed co-authored by Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox entitled “The consequences of America’s moral drift” posits that consumerism and our online addiction economy leads to materialism and a disconnection from civic engagement, and fosters our country’s moral drift. The authors say that education can play a central role in reversing our moral drift with a focus on curricula centered around meaning, purpose and civic responsibility. For instance, they suggest philosophy courses in high schools to promote civil discourse and critical thinking.

Trump’s Department of Agriculture says it won’t use emergency funds for SNAP benefits, so 42 million low income Americans won’t get nutritional assistance in November. Millions of children, elderly and disabled people, and Veterans will go hungry as a result. The Department of Agriculture will, however, reopen 2,100 Farm Service Agency offices to distribute $3 billion to farmers as many struggle to survive as Trump’s tariffs cause other countries to turn elsewhere for agricultural products they used to buy from American farmers.

“(W)e can keep paying farmers to farm soybeans, pay them more to convert some of those soybeans into wildly inefficient fuels, pay them even more when they can’t sell their soybeans because we’re in a trade war with their customers — and then pay extra to bail out . . . . . . one of the countries replacing them in the marketplace. That only makes sense in Mr. Trump’s Washington.”

The Republican embrace of white nationalism is clearly evident. Racism has long been baked into the Republican brand, but they used to try and be discreet about it, but not anymore. Recall Trump scaring voters with the bullshit ckaim that Haitian immigrants are eating your dogs and cats and Ron DeSantis arguing that one of the positive benefits of slavery was skills training in things like blacksmithing.

When I was a judge at the Department of Labor, I did hundreds of black lung cases. Often, the miners came to the hearings pulling an oxygen tank and they’d have to sit down and catch their breath after the short walk from their cars to the courtroom. Black lung disease is brutal … it’s a tough way to live and it’s a hard way to die.

The Black Lung Benefits Act was passed in the 60s when Democrats controlled the House and Senate. It provided a small monthly payment and medical care to miners totally disabled by black lung.

From an op-ed by Frank Bruni in today’s New York Times:

“We’re facing the profoundly dangerous convergence of a leader determined to distract and deceive us and a social and political landscape primed for distraction and deception. . . . . . Have we dealt with anything quite like this before? The existence of the shorthand IRL to designate that an event or relationship is occurring In Real Life, and not just online, suggests both the unreality of cyberspace — the fog . . .

There's an excellent op-ed in today's Asheville Citizen Times by my friend and fellow Air Force Veteran Brad Gutierrez. Here's an excerpt: "Trump’s attack on nearly every corner of American life under the guise of increased efficiency is simply a quest for unfettered power to do as he wishes, namely enrich himself and his wealthy supporters through deregulation, dismemberment of political opposition through fear, ..

Calling the Big Bad Wealth Transfer to the Rich Bill the “Working Families Tax Cut” is like calling the movie Deliverance “a story of love and adventure.” If JD Vance was honest (use your imagination) he’d drop the word “tax” and call it what it is … The Working Families Cut. I suppose if you can convince people to believe a firehose of lies is “Truth” and cruelty is Christian then perhaps you can convince them that getting screwed to make the rich richer is actually wonderful.

Not long ago, I would have said there’s no way in hell that this could happen in America, but that was then and this is now.

So, here’s the scenario that could unfold: — Trump sends troops (so glad I’m retired) into cities where Democrats are in charge on the pretext that crimes is out of control and he’s restoring order. That it’s a pretext is clear from the fact that crime rates are higher in many red areas and he’s not sending troops there.

We've talked before about how the Big Beautiful Wealth Transfer to the Rich bill is great for the megawealthy and bad for ordinary Americans who have to worry about paying rent, putting food on the table, and whether they can afford to go to the doctor. We already have a colossal gap between the very richest and an ever shrinking middle class and a struggling working class. The BBB is going to make the gap even wider.

“No funds appropriated herein may be used to pay, support, or reimburse, either directly or indirectly, Stephen Miller, or to support any activity or program that Stephen Miller directs, consults, or advises, without the prior authorization of Congress.” Every appropriation must originate in the House of Representatives. Under the Constitution, neither the Senate nor the White House can make funds available for any purpose; the Constitution gives that power solely to the House.

We’ve talked about the impact the $1 trillion cut to Medicaid will have on working class and poor families in Western NC and on rural healthcare. Well, hold onto your MAGA hat and your Trump bible, according to Senator Ron Johnson, more cuts are coming.

politico.com/live-updates/2… Johnson says the Trump White House and Republican Party leaders assured him that if he’d go along with the Big Bad Wealth Transfer to the Rich Bill they’d support consideration of another bill later this year to totally eliminate Medicaid expansion and cut an additional …

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers:

“The cruelty of these cuts is matched only by their stupidity. Medicaid beneficiaries will lose, but so will the rest of us. The cost of care that is no longer reimbursed by Medicaid will instead be borne by hospitals and passed … … onto paying patients, only at higher levels, because delayed treatment is more expensive. When rural hospitals close, everyone nearby loses. Hospitals like the one where my daughters practice can no longer accept emergencies by air because those beds are occupied by …

The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (better known as FICA) is a 7.65% tax on earnings that fund Social Security and Medicare. You may have read recently that the Social Security Trust Fund is being depleted faster than previously estimated … … and payments to Social Security recipients will have to be reduced in a few years unless something is done to shore up Social Security.

Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, died over the weekend. A passage from his obituary and 2 charts from today’s papers illustrate the fallacy of Republican Party economics.

From Fred Smith’s obituary: “The Times reported that, thanks to the corporate tax cuts Mr. Trump signed into law, which FedEx had lobbied for, the company’s tax bill plunged to zero, from $1.5 billion. Mr. Smith had said that businesses like FedEx would respond to the windfall …”

As another Republican administration sends America into a war in the Middle East and as Republican legislators look for deeper social program cuts to add to the Big Bad Wealth Transfer to the Rich Bill, let’s examine a couple of budget matters. Trump proposed a military budget that for the first time exceeds $1 trillion. Despite years and years of spending more on our military than Russia, China, and Iran combined, we’re warned year after year that we’ve got to keep spending more in order to keep up with our enemies.

“It’s a reflection of a severe worker shortage in national parks, which have been under budget and understaffed for years, that has been made worse by cuts to the federal workforce by Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency.” “The NPS has lost 13% of its 20,000strong workforce since Trump took office in January, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, a watchdog-advocacy group, which attributes much of the drop to job eliminations and staff taking buyouts offered by DOGE.”

My wife is a volunteer at a local foodbank and works in their Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) program. She helps prepare boxes of healthy food for delivery to low income people suffering from chronic illnesses. Western NC is 1 of 3 regions in the state in the HOP program. It’s been especially helpful in the wake of Hurricane Helene. HOP was approved during the first Trump administration and started up in 2022. The cost of the program is split between the federal and state governments.

3 things to highlight.

First, there’s an article in the NY Times on how Trump and his comrades — including Chuck Edwards — are using their favorite strategy that I’ve labeled MSU (Making Shit Up) to deceive Americans about their Big Beautiful Wealth Transfer to the Rich Bill. Take Chuck’s recent propaganda screed … sorry, newsletter … for example. Chuck says “This is not a ‘tax cuts for the rich’ bill - it’s a ‘tax cuts for hardworking Americans’ bill.”

To describe that in a word … bullshit.