WITH ECONOMY ALREADY REELING, DEMS RAM THROUGH ANOTHER TAX & SPEND BILL… Senate Democrats Pass $740 Billion Climate And Healthcare Package
The Senate passed the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday afternoon after an all-night session lasted more than 15 hours.
The package, negotiated by Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Chuck Schumer of New York, passed along party lines, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the upper chamber’s 50-50 tie. The bill includes nearly $370 billion in green energy subsidies and tax credits, nearly $80 billion in funding for the Internal Revenue Service and a drug price setting mechanism for Medicare. It also establishes a 15% tax on corporations with market caps higher than $1 billion.
Although Democrats have repeatedly argued that the bill will reduce inflation, the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model has “low confidence that the legislation will have any impact on inflation.” In addition, the bill will likely raise taxes for Americans in every bracket, despite President Joe Biden’s pledge to not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year. The Inflation Reduction Act will pay down the federal deficit by more than $3o0 billion, the non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found.
BIG TAX HIKES INCOMING… (FOR EVERYBODY)… ATR: List of Tax Hikes in Democrat Reconciliation Bill
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the natural gas tax will increase taxes by $6.5 billion. […]
A letter to Congress from the American Gas Association warned that the methane tax would amount to a 17% increase on an average family’s natural gas bill. […]
Democrats have included a 16.4 cents-per-barrel tax on crude oil and imported petroleum products that will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher gas prices. […]
Under the Democrat proposal, the tax rate on coal from subsurface mining would increase from $0.50 per ton to $1.10 per ton while the tax rate on coal from surface mining would increase from $0.25 per ton to $0.55 per ton.
JCT estimates that this will raise $1.2 billion in taxes that will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher electricity bills.
GOP REACTS… NY POST: Top GOP figures blast Democrats after Senate passes $740B energy and health care bill
“Democrats will pay the price in November for raising taxes on families during a recession,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. […]
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a statement, said that Democratic policies have led to an “economic assault on the American middle class.”
“Democrats have proven over and over they simply do not care about middle-class families’ priorities,” McConnell said (R-KY). “They have spent 18 months proving that. They just spent hundreds of billions of dollars to prove it again.”
‘THIS BILL IS TIER 1 MORONIC’ … JOHN KENNEDY: It’s a special kind of stupid to raise taxes during both a recession and inflation—that’s called stagflation, which is what we have right now as a result of President Biden’s policies. (VIDEO)
WHY DID AMERICANS LOSE TRUST IN ELITES? … A REMINDER… NEIL PATEL: America’s Leaders Need To Step Up Before It’s Too Late
As the depths of the opioid companies’ misbehavior first came to light, the first instinct of organizations receiving their millions in reputation-washing charitable contributions was to hold onto their millions and dodge the issue. Of the first 20 prestigious, leading national organizations the Daily Caller asked about taking millions in Sackler family blood money in 2017, 14 refused to comment and six actually continued to defend the family. Now, as the pressure has continued to build, the Sackler name has come down (although many groups kept the millions).
Private charities are one thing; America’s political leaders behaved even worse. By 2016, as opioid overdoses were literally ripping through America’s heartland, Washington finally stepped in. But they did not act to protect the millions of Americans whose lives were at stake. Instead, Congress quickly and unanimously passed a bill to protect the drug industry from the Drug Enforcement Administration. President Barack Obama signed the bill. At a time when opioid addiction had killed over 200,000 Americans (three times the total casualties of the Vietnam War), Washington’s leaders not only didn’t act to help; they acted to protect the industry at fault. This wasn’t a Republican problem or a Democratic one. It was completely noncontroversial at the time, unanimous even. The drug industry needed help so their reps in Washington jumped in to help. Regular Americans were suffering, and their leaders were too detached to know or too captive to care.
The examples go on and on. Everyone hates Jeffrey Epstein today. He abused young girls. But the entire time he did this, he was embraced by America’s top financiers, celebrities, corporate and political leaders. American media, as with the opioid crisis and so many others, said nothing before it was too late. Vanity Fair, one of America’s top magazines, even ran a glowing profile of Epstein while covering up the three on-the-record allegations of sexual assault they were reportedly given against him. The FBI meanwhile was reportedly first contacted by Epstein victims as early as 1996. You would think the FBI would want to explain something that egregious. They’ve given no real answers.
SELF-DEFENDING BODEGA WORKER DITCHES BIG APPLE FOR DOMINICAN REPUBLIC… NY POST: Bodega clerk Jose Alba ditching NYC for Dominican Republic after murder charge dropped
The bodega clerk who was infamously charged with murder for fatally stabbing an assailant has had it with the crime-ridden Big Apple and is returning to the Dominican Republic, pals told The Post on Friday.
“He doesn’t work here anymore. He’s getting ready to move out of the country,” the manager of the Blue Moon convenience store, where the grisly Manhattan stabbing happened July 1, said of Jose Alba, 61.
The store manager, who declined to identify himself, said Alba is headed to Santiago, a city in the Dominican Republic where the former worker is originally from.
“He doesn’t come [to the store anymore], but we go visit him at home from time to time,” the manager said.
Consider what it means for someone like Alba to willingly choose to move back to Santiago. Our own government issues travel warnings about the Dominican Republic, citing “armed robbery, homicide, and sexual assault” as frequent dangers. The tourist resorts are safer than they used to be thanks to investments in law enforcement resources, but Santiago is simply a dangerous place.
ILLEGALS BAIL OUT OF BUS BEFORE GETTING TO NYC… NY POST: Adams greets border-crossers — but suggests most skipped crime-riddled city over ‘fear’
Even border-crossers are too scared of the crime-riddled Big Apple.
Mayor Adams was on hand for the cameras Sunday to greet the city’s latest busload of migrants being dumped here from Texas — only to be stunned to learn that the vast majority had gotten off before they made it.
Hizzoner said the immigrants likely bailed out early because of their “fear” of the city.
“We were led to believe about 40 people should have been on that bus. Only 14 got off,” Adams said at a 7 a.m. press conference at Midtown’s Port Authority Bus Terminal.
‘DRIVE THEM TO THE BORDER’ … ‘Cute Photo Op’: Kari Lake Criticizes Republican Governors Bussing Illegal Migrants To Major Cities (VIDEO)
Republican Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake criticized Republican governors who are bussing illegal immigrants to major cities at Friday’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Lake said she will work with neighboring states and possibly send in their National Guards to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. She criticized the bussing of illegal immigrants to other states and cities across the country, saying the buses should return the migrants back across the border.
“I’m not a fan of bussing people here illegally. It makes for a cute photo op, but it just takes people who shouldn’t be here and moves them further in,” Lake said. “I think we should bring the buses, drive them to the border, and then send them back the other way because we can’t have everybody coming in.”
TRUMP DOMINATES CPAC STRAW POLL… DESANTIS DOMINATES ALSO-RANS… HILL: Trump wins CPAC straw poll with more than two-thirds of the vote
Former President Trump won a comfortable majority of the vote in the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) straw poll, maintaining his position as the favorite for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Organizers announced at the convention in Texas that Trump won 69 percent of the vote, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) with 24 percent. Trump expanded his lead from the last CPAC straw poll in February, when he received the support of 59 percent of voting attendees to DeSantis’s 28 percent.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) came in third place with 2 percent, while other choices received 1 percent support or less.
In a hypothetical poll without Trump in the race, DeSantis held the lead, with 65 percent. Donald Trump Jr. came in second place with 8 percent, Cruz came in third with 6 percent and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came in fourth with 5 percent.
WILL HE? WON’T HE? … DAILY MAIL: Top Republican donor says he believes Donald Trump WILL NOT run in 2024 and that Ron DeSantis and Florida’s first lady Casey would do a ‘wonderful’ job in the White House
A prominent GOP donor who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns says he does not believe the former president will run for the White House again in 2024.
Instead, Dallas businessman Doug Deason said he could see Trump anointing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to take on the national MAGA torch. […]
‘I think Donald Trump is enjoying life,’ he said. ‘And I think that he is in a position as the power broker.
‘He’s the kingmaker and why would he want to go back and get the crap beat out of him all the time, and have all the responsibility and not be building his empire?
‘He’s had to go back and help rebuild it and you know, why let it deteriorate?
LIZ CHENEY HAS A KNIFE READY FOR DESANTIS … JOSH KRAUSHAAR: Liz Cheney said she “would find it very difficult” to support Mr. DeSantis in a general election. Cheney: “I think that Ron DeSantis has lined himself up almost entirely with Donald Trump, and I think that’s very dangerous.” (LINK)
MORE… CHENEY CLAIMS ‘SEVERAL’ GOP SENATORS QUIETLY TOLD HER TO KEEP FIGHTING TRUMP… NY TIMES: Liz Cheney Is Ready to Lose. But She’s Not Ready to Quit.
When she attended the funeral last year for Mike Enzi, the former Wyoming senator, Ms. Cheney welcomed a visiting delegation of G.O.P. senators. As she greeted them one by one, several praised her bravery and told her to keep up the fight against Mr. Trump, she recalled.
She did not miss the opportunity to pointedly remind them: They, too, could join her.
“There have been so many moments like that,” she said at the bank, a touch of weariness in her voice.
FLASHBACK… CHENEY URGES DEMOCRATS TO MEDDLE IN HER PRIMARY… JUNE 23… NYT: Liz Cheney Encourages Wyoming Democrats to Change Parties to Vote for Her
Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican of Wyoming whose polling remains far behind her Trump-endorsed primary challenger as her House committee’s Jan. 6 hearings continue, is urging Democrats in her home state to switch parties to support her in the Aug. 16 primary.
In the last week, Wyoming Democrats have received mail from Ms. Cheney’s campaign with specific instructions on how to change their party affiliation to vote for her. Ms. Cheney’s campaign website now has a link to a form for changing parties.
EFFORT TO SALVAGE TRANSGENDER ACTIVISM FALLS SHORT… LGBT Activist’s Study About Transgender ‘Social Contagion’ Falls Apart Under Scrutiny
A study purporting to debunk the theory that social contagion contributes to transgender identity has several fundamental flaws, according to experts who reviewed the study.
The study — ‘Sex Assigned at Birth Ratio Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Adolescents in the United States’ — used findings from the flawed methodology to recommend that female adolescents who identify as trans be provided “gender-affirming care,” a common euphemism in the activist community to describe chemical and surgical interventions for sex changes. The lead author of the study, Dr. Jack Turban, is himself a member of the LGBT community and an outspoken advocate for such interventions.
“There’s been an extraordinary rise is young females identifying as transgender and seeking gender care in every country that’s catalogued this. We see it in schools, we see it in clinics, we see it at the world’s largest pediatric gender clinic, GIDS at Tavistock, which saw a 5,337% rise in adolescent girls in the last decade,” Stella O’Malley, Irish psychotherapist and founder of the gender-critical organization Genspect, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Gender dysphoria patients used to be composed almost exclusively of two cohorts, young boys and middle-aged men, but a meteoric rise in teenage girls seeking “gender-affirming care” began about ten years ago, O’Malley said.
MADDOW COMPLIMENTS TUCKER.. BI: Rachel Maddow speaks highly of Tucker Carlson in a new interview: ‘Tucker’s doing great right now’
Rachel Maddow spoke highly of Tucker Carlson in an exclusive interview from the September issue of Vanity Fair published on Sunday, saying “Tucker’s doing great right now.” […]
While the interview touched on numerous topics, including her evolving career, in a surprising segment, Maddow was asked about the ever-changing landscape of cable news and pointed to Carlson’s career trajectory.
“But look at Tucker’s career. The first show I worked on was his 11 o’clock show on MSNBC that nobody remembers. But he was always kicking around the business and has always been talented. It just—this turned out to be his moment,” she said.
Maddow was a panelist on “Tucker” from 2005 to 2008.
ACTRESS ANNE HECHE PLOWS CAR INTO STRANGER’S LA HOME… COPS INVESTIGATING… ALSO PROBING CONNECTION TO EARLIER HIT AND RUN… CNN: Actress Anne Heche has ‘long recovery ahead’ after car crash
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the crash and a previous “misdemeanor hit and run” incident, an LAPD spokesperson told CNN Saturday evening.
LAPD said no arrests have been made.
Heche remained in the hospital as of Saturday evening and the significant nature of her injuries has prevented officers from interviewing her, the law enforcement source added.
Hours before Heche’s crash on Friday, a new episode of her podcast “Better Together,” was released but it has since been removed from their Apple Podcast landing page. During a portion of the podcast, Heche and her co-host, Heather Duffy, discuss drinking vodka and wine and Heche talks about having a “bad day.” It’s unclear when the podcast was recorded. CNN has reached out to Heche’s representatives for comment.
DOORBELL CAM SHOWS HECHE RACING THROUGH NEIGHBORHOOD… CRASH HEARD MOMENTS LATER… (VIDEO)
‘EVERYTHING ELSE IS GONE’ … NY POST: Woman ‘fortunate’ to be alive after home destroyed in Anne Heche crash: neighbors
Lynne Mishele was in a different section of her Mar Vista home when the troubled actress crashed her Mini Cooper into it Friday, sparking a fireball that took nearly 60 firefighters more than an hour to tackle.
The professional organizer “was in shock” before she even noticed the crashed car, which had careened “almost all the way through” the house, her neighbor, Lynne Bernstein, told People.
“I don’t think she got what was going on. She said, ‘What happened? What happened?’” Bernstein told the mag, saying that her neighbor was “extremely fortunate” to escape.
Her neighbor and her pets — two dogs, Bree and Rueban, as well as a tortoise, Marley — were “extremely fortunate” to survive unscathed, their neighbor said.
ALEC BALDWIN SPENDS AN ENTIRE SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO — SUPPOSEDLY DEDICATED TO ANNE HECHE — TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF… NY POST: Alec Baldwin ripped for asking followers to support ‘brave’ Anne Heche after fiery house crash (VIDEO)
Alec Baldwin is being ripped for paying tribute to “brave” and “wonderful” Anne Heche after her “tragic” car crash — even though police say she was racing from a hit and run at terrifyingly high speeds when she crashed and destroyed a house in a giant inferno.
Baldwin, 64, was one of a number of celebs who praised the still hospitalized actress, even as cops confirmed to The Post Sunday that they are investigating whether she was drunk or on drugs at the time of the near-deadly crash Friday. […]
Despite the troubling details, Baldwin instead spent most of his video reminiscing fondly about working with Heche, both on the 1996 movie “The Juror” as well as a later Broadway play.