Category: Uncategorized

Tax Burden in U.S. Not as Heavy as It Looks, Report Says

Tax Burden in U.S. Not as Heavy as It Looks, Report Says

We’ve been told repeatedly that the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world — 35 percent — which is higher than the nominal tax rates in places like Ireland (12.5 percent), Britain (21 percent) and the Netherlands (25 percent) and the 24.1 percent average rate of all countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

All of that’s true, but Professor Kleinbard contends that most United States multinational companies don’t pay anywhere near 35 percent. Companies paid, on average, 12.6 percent,

Cutting those rates will not get companies to bring more money into the US economy. They would still keep the money were it could be moved more easily. And that is in commonwealth nations that can easily do business with London banks.

News from 1096 AD: Pope discusses military force against Middle Eastern caliphate

News from 1096 AD: Pope discusses military force against Middle Eastern caliphate

During the Middle Ages, between 1096 and 1272 AD, popes also endorsed the use of Western military action to destroy Middle Eastern caliphates. Those were known as the crusades; there were nine, which means that this would be number 10.

Well that can’t be good.

If police in Ferguson treat journalists like this, imagine how they treat residents

If police in Ferguson treat journalists like this, imagine how they treat residents

That police in Ferguson are targeting journalists so openly and aggressively is an appalling affront to basic media freedoms, but it is far scarier for what it suggests about how the police treat everyone else — and should tell us much about why Ferguson’s residents are so fed up.

This should be a major point of discussion.

Black People Are Not Ignoring ‘Black on Black’ Crime

Black People Are Not Ignoring ‘Black on Black’ Crime

The notion that violence within the black community is “background noise” is not supported by the historical record—or by Google. I have said this before. It’s almost as if Stop The Violence never happened, or The Interruptors never happened, or Kendrick Lamar never happened. The call issued by Erica Ford at the end of this Do The Right Thing retrospective is so common as to be ritual. It is not “black on black crime” that is background noise in America, but the pleas of black people.

A must read.

Web Trolls: It’s like playing Whac-a-Mole with a sociopathic Hydra

Web Trolls: It’s like playing Whac-a-Mole with a sociopathic Hydra

“As long as the Internet keeps operating according to a click-based economy, trolls will maybe not win, but they will always be present,” said Whitney Phillips, a lecturer at Humboldt State University and the author of “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” a forthcoming book about her years of studying bad behavior online. “The faster that the whole media system goes, the more trolls have a foothold to stand on. They are perfectly calibrated to exploit the way media is disseminated these days.”

This is so true. It is a huge amount of effort to keep trolls away.

Ferguson Police Beat Up Wrong Suspect Then Charged Him For Getting Blood On Uniforms In 2009

Ferguson Police Beat Up Wrong Suspect Then Charged Him For Getting Blood On Uniforms In 2009

The police served an outstanding warrant to one Henry Davis, 52, according to the Beast — but they were actually looking for a different Henry Davis who had a different middle name and Social Security number. But after the police apparently ran Davis’s license plate number and saw his name, he was pulled over and arrested

Wow.

The Guns of Ferguson: When Tyranny Really Comes into Town, the NRA Goes into Hiding

The Guns of Ferguson: When Tyranny Really Comes into Town, the NRA Goes into Hiding

One would think, given his views on freedom of assembly and the importance of democratized violence, that LaPierre would be shouting through a megaphone for the besieged citizens of Ferguson to powder their muskets and cry liberty!

The NRA represents gun manufacturing and gun sales. They don’t really care that much about the rights of gun owners beyond the right to buy more product.

Senator Rand Paul on Ferguson: We Must Demilitarize the Police

Senator Rand Paul on Ferguson: We Must Demilitarize the Police

Does Mr. Paul think armed drones are not an example of militarized police?

From Forbes

“I’ve never argued against any technology being used when you have an imminent threat, an active crime going on. If someone comes out of a liquor store with a weapon and fifty dollars in cash, I don’t care if a drone kills him or a policeman kills him.”

I think the use of an armed drone in the case of an robbery is an example of militarized policing.

From the article:

If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.

That’s called being white. When I was a teen, I had zero fear that I would be arrested, let alone shot. I did not realize how different my experience was until I was much older. As an middle age white dude, the police are polite to me. Even deferential at times.

Over a million Hispanics turned white between the 2000 and 2010 Census

Over a million Hispanics turned white between the 2000 and 2010 Census

about two million people switched from describing themselves as Hispanic members of “some other race” to being Hispanic members of the white race, while only about one million people switched in the other direction.

I expect the trend to continue in the 2020 census.