Your blog just adds to my seething anger at all the shit Trump has done in only a few weeks. I'm not surprised by what he's done because he said he was going to do it but he has been like a tornado roaring through the government smashing things to bits.
It will be a long time before any beauty returns to Washington.
I blasted letters off to my elected federal representatives and my financial advisor over the weekend demanding responses as to how they will protect me. Today I will be contacting AARP and my union.
Missing with the Ike budget: the top tax rate was 90%. Odd, that it was the most productive period of the century until Reagan reduced the taxes, and the rich started to get richer and richer and richer.
Except for his final address, there was very little that Ike did that even approached average. His major contribution to infrastructure was the Interstate Highway System; it signalled the death of the railroad. Ultimately, it was short-sighted.
Rather than dismantling a bloated military, he watched its exponential growth. His failure to push back against the military-industrial complex in a timely manner, permitted it to metastasize and become the largest employer and consumer of taxpayer wealth in the modern economy. But he saved his eloquence until he was leaving the presidency. His ill health (two major heart attacks) limited his ability to govern. The high taxes on the wealthy, though levelling, were something he and his party actually opposed. Moreover, they were filled with loopholes of varying specificity that lowered the maximum effective tax rate considerably. (After all, Trump's father taught his son to never pay taxes. And also to never rent to Black or Brown people.) Indeed, the tax code became so complex, that a whole industry popped up like Halloween costume stores. H&R Block lobbies to keep the code incomprehensible to the lay person.
Thing is, it's not enough for Elon to be screwing around with US politics. Oh, no, no, no. He's also screwing around elsewhere, too. He may not have the same personal protections from some of those folks that he has in the US. I guess this is part of the risk you need to take when you want to be king of the world.
The "great" legislative achievement of the Kennedy years was a massive tax cut. The wealthy were already wanting rollbacks. The 1962 tax cut brought the marginal rate down to less than 70% for the extremely wealthy, although capital gains taxes were lowered even more. The lower revenues and the cost of the Vietnam War hamstrung the Great Society programs that LBJ was so passionate about (education; health care; education; social justice; the environment; education).
Yes, there was some good music in the 70s, but there was an awful lot of crap. While production values were far superior and stereo was ubiquitous, the latter part of the decade was dominated by disco. The Village People have a lot to answer for.
I let the US in 1995 and worked the rest of my career overseas. When I started my first job in Denmark, people would ask why I had chosen to work there than the States. I said, only half-facetiously, that I was a political refugee; that there was no organized party that approached my beliefs. No one believed me. Then the Shrub "won" in 2000 and people started to believe. I took a job in the UK around 2005. People were accepting the explanation more and more. In 2011, I moved to Spain. When people ask where I'm from, I frequently say Canada. Or else I tell the truth, with an apology. Some are more accepting of it than others. I wouldn't blame them, though, if they held my natal nationality against me.
I'd pay maybe 100$ for a caricature of me kicking Trump's fat rear, but that's about as far as I would go. LOL.
I don't know what clearance Musk has due to SpaceX working on DoD projects. No clue. Access to that list (JPAS) is not part of my "need to know". Someone there must have clearance, but again, I don't know who. Anyhow, clearance is not shared between DoD and Treasury. And Treasury has no reason to fly satellites.
Trump, as always, is making a mockery of national security. Idiots voted for this.
BTW, the price of eggs is still rocketing upwards. Dept of Agriculture says more than 20 million chickens died of bird flu in the last quarter. We vaccinate all chickens for Marek's disease and broilers are vaccinated for Reovirus infections, Infectious Bronchitis (Massachusetts type), Infectious Bursal Disease and Newcastle Disease. Europe freaks out over that, or pretends to. Much of their "your meat isn't safe" is just protectionism disguised as "food safety" just like Japan disassembling Buicks on the dock to ensure they are "safe".
We need a vaccine against avian flu. Fat chance of getting one during the reign of the Clown Prince of Crazy.
This is so evil. I don’t mean your cartoon I mean, what the hell is going on in our country it’s deplorable. And they aren’t even in baskets. Maybe that’s where they belong deplorables in baskets floating on the Nile.
And yes, Nigerian princes have short horizons, where Elon sees further (I chose to write further rather than farther because of its orthographic similarity to führer.) Today he shut down funding for USAID unilaterally. People will die because of it. 1500 prison guards walked off the job in Syria. Their jobs were guarding several thousand ISIS militants. Vaccination programs in Africa are funded and managed by USAID grants and training. When I worked in Honduras (1980-83), I helped a barrio (17 homes) in the village in which I lived get a grant of about $1500, which enabled them to gain access to running water. Another USAID-funded grant paid for the construction of an oven for a women's cooperative bakery.
US Out of North America! Deport Elon Musk! ¡Un pueblo unido jamás sera vencido!
Update on the USAID -it's allegedly being rolled into the State Department under Marco Rubio. It would have been a better coverup? transition? to just announce they were moving USAID programs there in the first place instead of their usual chaos. I try not to use the word hate but I'm beginning to need a stronger word.
Speaking of flies - a poem by high school English teacher attributed to Benjamin Franklin. "There's flies on you. There's flies on me, but there ain't no flies on Jesus "
Your blog just adds to my seething anger at all the shit Trump has done in only a few weeks. I'm not surprised by what he's done because he said he was going to do it but he has been like a tornado roaring through the government smashing things to bits.
It will be a long time before any beauty returns to Washington.
Chaos seems to be the point!
Chaos and cruelty.
I blasted letters off to my elected federal representatives and my financial advisor over the weekend demanding responses as to how they will protect me. Today I will be contacting AARP and my union.
Missing with the Ike budget: the top tax rate was 90%. Odd, that it was the most productive period of the century until Reagan reduced the taxes, and the rich started to get richer and richer and richer.
Except for his final address, there was very little that Ike did that even approached average. His major contribution to infrastructure was the Interstate Highway System; it signalled the death of the railroad. Ultimately, it was short-sighted.
Rather than dismantling a bloated military, he watched its exponential growth. His failure to push back against the military-industrial complex in a timely manner, permitted it to metastasize and become the largest employer and consumer of taxpayer wealth in the modern economy. But he saved his eloquence until he was leaving the presidency. His ill health (two major heart attacks) limited his ability to govern. The high taxes on the wealthy, though levelling, were something he and his party actually opposed. Moreover, they were filled with loopholes of varying specificity that lowered the maximum effective tax rate considerably. (After all, Trump's father taught his son to never pay taxes. And also to never rent to Black or Brown people.) Indeed, the tax code became so complex, that a whole industry popped up like Halloween costume stores. H&R Block lobbies to keep the code incomprehensible to the lay person.
Well, after all, Musk DID purchase the US from "president" Trump, so shouldn't he be able to do whatever he wants? /s
Trump just created a sovereign wealth fund to purchase TikTok. Isn't state owned businesses communism?
Only if Democrats do it.
Seriously? How many echo chambers does one man need?
I had seen a headline about a sovereign wealth fund but hadn't read it yet. I was thinking it had something to do with crypto.
Thing is, it's not enough for Elon to be screwing around with US politics. Oh, no, no, no. He's also screwing around elsewhere, too. He may not have the same personal protections from some of those folks that he has in the US. I guess this is part of the risk you need to take when you want to be king of the world.
The only good thing about the seventies - the rich paid their fair share. Thank you Mr jones for helping us understand this mess.
there was some good music too! :)
The "great" legislative achievement of the Kennedy years was a massive tax cut. The wealthy were already wanting rollbacks. The 1962 tax cut brought the marginal rate down to less than 70% for the extremely wealthy, although capital gains taxes were lowered even more. The lower revenues and the cost of the Vietnam War hamstrung the Great Society programs that LBJ was so passionate about (education; health care; education; social justice; the environment; education).
Yes, there was some good music in the 70s, but there was an awful lot of crap. While production values were far superior and stereo was ubiquitous, the latter part of the decade was dominated by disco. The Village People have a lot to answer for.
Little did we know what was to come.
I let the US in 1995 and worked the rest of my career overseas. When I started my first job in Denmark, people would ask why I had chosen to work there than the States. I said, only half-facetiously, that I was a political refugee; that there was no organized party that approached my beliefs. No one believed me. Then the Shrub "won" in 2000 and people started to believe. I took a job in the UK around 2005. People were accepting the explanation more and more. In 2011, I moved to Spain. When people ask where I'm from, I frequently say Canada. Or else I tell the truth, with an apology. Some are more accepting of it than others. I wouldn't blame them, though, if they held my natal nationality against me.
I'd pay maybe 100$ for a caricature of me kicking Trump's fat rear, but that's about as far as I would go. LOL.
I don't know what clearance Musk has due to SpaceX working on DoD projects. No clue. Access to that list (JPAS) is not part of my "need to know". Someone there must have clearance, but again, I don't know who. Anyhow, clearance is not shared between DoD and Treasury. And Treasury has no reason to fly satellites.
Trump, as always, is making a mockery of national security. Idiots voted for this.
BTW, the price of eggs is still rocketing upwards. Dept of Agriculture says more than 20 million chickens died of bird flu in the last quarter. We vaccinate all chickens for Marek's disease and broilers are vaccinated for Reovirus infections, Infectious Bronchitis (Massachusetts type), Infectious Bursal Disease and Newcastle Disease. Europe freaks out over that, or pretends to. Much of their "your meat isn't safe" is just protectionism disguised as "food safety" just like Japan disassembling Buicks on the dock to ensure they are "safe".
We need a vaccine against avian flu. Fat chance of getting one during the reign of the Clown Prince of Crazy.
This is so evil. I don’t mean your cartoon I mean, what the hell is going on in our country it’s deplorable. And they aren’t even in baskets. Maybe that’s where they belong deplorables in baskets floating on the Nile.
Great cartoon and text.
I thought both Clay and his readers might appreciate the website below. It's updated weekly.
https://www.ironictimes.com/index.html
And yes, Nigerian princes have short horizons, where Elon sees further (I chose to write further rather than farther because of its orthographic similarity to führer.) Today he shut down funding for USAID unilaterally. People will die because of it. 1500 prison guards walked off the job in Syria. Their jobs were guarding several thousand ISIS militants. Vaccination programs in Africa are funded and managed by USAID grants and training. When I worked in Honduras (1980-83), I helped a barrio (17 homes) in the village in which I lived get a grant of about $1500, which enabled them to gain access to running water. Another USAID-funded grant paid for the construction of an oven for a women's cooperative bakery.
US Out of North America! Deport Elon Musk! ¡Un pueblo unido jamás sera vencido!
Musk is just as illegal as the prince. Thanks for all you do to inform folks.
OMG...I've been angry, scared, sick over this DOGE/Elon shit. Happy to see you use this as your subject. But what can any of us do????
Update on the USAID -it's allegedly being rolled into the State Department under Marco Rubio. It would have been a better coverup? transition? to just announce they were moving USAID programs there in the first place instead of their usual chaos. I try not to use the word hate but I'm beginning to need a stronger word.
Very good blog and toon.
AP article about USAID
https://apnews.com/article/usaid-foreign-aid-freeze-trump-peter-marocco-8253d7dda766df89e10390c1645e78aa?user_email=871fa99294a2c58fbb5dd7d2e6ca94ef416695f45bcef8ce0ccdc274ce3f8d16&utm_medium=Afternoon_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=AfternoonWire_Feb3_2025&utm_term=Afternoon%20Wire
One more about the freeze on aid from ProPublica
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-state-department-usaid-humanitarian-aid-freeze-ukraine-gaza-sudan?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter&utm_content=river
Speaking of flies - a poem by high school English teacher attributed to Benjamin Franklin. "There's flies on you. There's flies on me, but there ain't no flies on Jesus "
No flies on you Clay. Keep up the good work
It came through the mail so I’m guessing everyone in the state received it. We do live in Ohio, but seriously ?