The COVID Relief Bill: Tax Breaks for the Rich, Lack of Concern for Everyone Else

Context

Deriding the "Green New Deal" and "Medicare for All," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to be Congress' "grim reaper" and thwart all progressive proposals on the Senate floor. "If I'm still the majority leader of the Senate after next year, none of those things are going to pass the Senate," the Kentucky Republican told a small crowd during an event in his home state Monday. "They won't even be voted on. So think of me as the Grim Reaper: the guy who is going to make sure that socialism doesn't land on the president's desk." -- CBS News, April 22, 2019

The New York Times writes:

Tucked away in the 5,593-page spending bill that Congress rushed through on Monday night is a provision that some tax experts call a $200 billion giveaway to the rich.

It involves the tens of thousands of businesses that received loans from the federal government this spring with the promise that the loans would be forgiven, tax free, if they agreed to keep employees on the payroll through the coronavirus pandemic.

But for some businesses and their high-paid accountants, that was not enough. They went to Congress with another request: Not only should the forgiven loans not to be taxed as income, but the expenditures used with those loans should be tax deductible.

“High-income business owners have had tax benefits and unprecedented government grants showered down upon then. And the scale is massive,” said Adam Looney, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former Treasury Department tax official in the Obama administration, who estimated that $120 billion of the $200 billion would flow to the top 1 percent of Americans. 

The new provision allows for a classic double dip into the Payroll Protection Program, as businesses get free money from the government, then get to deduct that largess from their taxes. 

And it is one of hundreds included in a huge spending package and a coronavirus stimulus bill that is supposed to help businesses and families struggling during the pandemic but, critics say, swerved far afield. President Trump on Tuesday night blasted it as a disgrace and demanded revisions.

“Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interests, while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it,” he said in a video posted on Twitter that stopped just short of a veto threat.

Once again, the radical right GOP makes clear that it serves wealthy people and interests before average and poor people and without one shred of regard to increasing the federal debt. Oddly, the president seems to be miffed about the focus on service to the rich and powerful. One can only wonder what prompted that bizarre, out-of-character outburst.

The other aspect of this complex, massive bill that may jump out is the way it was written and presented to congress.

“Members of Congress have not read this bill. It’s over 5000 pages, arrived at 2pm today, and we are told to expect a vote on it in 2 hours,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, tweeted on Monday. “This isn’t governance. It’s hostage-taking.”

Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, agreed — the two do not agree on much.

“It’s ABSURD to have a $2.5 trillion spending bill negotiated in secret and then—hours later—demand an up-or-down vote on a bill nobody has had time to read,” he tweeted on Monday.

A personal peeve

In the last few days, the MSM reported on this in ways that are increasingly personally irritating. NPR referred to the process as having taken about seven months to do. That is false and completely misleading. Other sources are making similar gross mistakes in mischaracterizing the situation. In fact, it took the House a short period of time to write and pass the bill. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell did little or nothing after that to work on its passage. McConnell played his usual obstructionist Grim Reaper role and ignored the House bill, which the House passed last May.

What some sources gently suggest, and I believe is true, is that partisan politics, not concern for the American people, prompted McConnell to finally take up the COVID relief and spending bill. The two republicans running for Senate in Georgia appear to be floundering in their campaigns. Passing the bill out of the Senate would give them something to point to as their success on behalf of the American people. McConnell does not care about the welfare of the American people any more than the radical right GOP in congress or the president. What McConnell and the GOP are concerned about is remaining in power. McConnell wants to remain in power as Senate majority leader. That is why this bill was passed and that is why no one in congress had a chance to read it before voting on it.

That is how this disaster would have been reported if accuracy and context were important to the MSM.

When the hell is the MSM going to grow a spine and start reporting accurately? Probably not as long as big corporations own it. The profit motive and advertiser demands are not only incompatible with professional journalism. They are highly destructive and hostile toward it (and democracy and the rule of law).

Four key ways Barr broke with Trump at the attorney general's news conference

 

(CNN)Two days before he leaves the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barr offered his sharpest rebuke to date of President Donald Trump's baseless allegations surrounding the election result, rejecting Trump's efforts to act on the conspiracy theories the President has embraced to explain his loss to President-elect Joe Biden.

Barr rejected the call for a special counsel to investigate claims of election fraud, while adding he saw "no basis" for the federal government to seize voting machines, a legally dubious step some of Trump's allies have proposed in recent days.

The attorney general also rejected appointing a special counsel to investigate allegations against Biden's son, Hunter Biden, which are currently being probed by federal prosecutors and IRS investigators. And Barr contradicted Trump's disputing that Russia was likely the culprit in a massive cyber breach of US government systems, saying "it certainly appears to be the Russians."

At the news conference held to announce new charges in the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, Barr put down a marker that could give his soon-to-be-acting successor, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, some political cover should Trump try to pressure Rosen or others at the Justice Department.

While Trump has been making false claims about the election for more than a month now, he appeared to take the effort a step further last week, hosting a meeting with lawyer Sidney Powell and her client, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had suggested Trump could invoke martial law. The meeting included a discussion of appointing Powell as a special counsel to investigate election fraud and an executive order to allow the federal government to inspect voting machines. Powell and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani returned to the White House on Monday afternoon.

Barr's resignation, announced last week, was negotiated with Trump after the attorney general came under fire for saying there did not appear to be widespread fraud in the November election. Barr was attacked by Trump's allies for pushing back on the baseless allegations surrounding the election that have been raised by Trump's campaign and his allies and rejected over and over again in the courts.

It's a remarkable position for Barr to be in after he was one of Trump's most ardent defenders in the Cabinet, helping to push back against the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller and appointing a US attorney to investigate the origins of the FBI probe into Trump's campaign and Russia.

Monday, Barr appeared to reject Trump's efforts to break norms surrounding the election result. But he declined to engage on another norm Trump is flirting with challenging in his final days, declining to answer a question on whether Trump had the right to pardon himself.

Here's where Barr publicly distanced himself from the President:

On a special counsel on the election: 'I haven't and I'm not going to'

After the election, the Justice Department announced it would investigate allegations of election fraud, but in a December 1 interview with the Associated Press, Barr pushed back on Trump's baseless claims the election was stolen from him. "To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election," Barr said.

As the courts have rejected allegations of widespread fraud, Trump's backers have pushed for a special counsel to keep probing the election, including the suggestion of naming Powell, who has focused her conspiracy theories on voting machines.

Barr said at Monday's presser that there was "fraud, unfortunately, in most elections. I think we're too tolerant of it." But he said he stood by the finding that there was no systemic or broad-based fraud, which Trump refuses to admit.

"If I thought a special counsel at this stage was a right tool and was appropriate, I would name one, but I haven't and I'm not going to," Barr said.

'No basis' to seize voting machines either

Barr also rejected the notion that the US government should consider examining voting machines, which stems from a baseless conspiracy theory offered by Powell and Giuliani.

Giuliani had called Ken Cuccinelli, the senior official at the Department of Homeland Security performing the duties of the DHS deputy secretary, to ask if it was possible for DHS to seize voting machines, but Cuccinelli told him it wasn't within DHS' authority, CNN reported on Saturday.

Barr was clear in his position Monday.

"I see no basis for seizure of machines by the federal government," he said.

No need for Hunter Biden special counsel

The news this month that Hunter Biden was under federal investigation -- and the steps the Justice Department took before the election to follow proper protocol and not disclose the probe before the election -- was one of the key factors that raised Trump's ire toward Barr and led to his planned resignation.

"Why didn't Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden," Trump tweeted two days before he tweeted Barr's resignation letter.

Since then, Trump has pushed for a special counsel to investigate the allegations against Hunter Biden, a question that could fall to Rosen, who is set to fill the top Justice Department job for the final month of Trump's presidency and, potentially, until the Senate confirms Biden's attorney general nominee.

Federal prosecutors in Delaware and IRS investigators are conducting the probe, which is focused on Hunter Biden's financial dealings. He has not been charged with any crime, and his father is not implicated.

"To the extent there's an investigation, I think it's being handled responsibly and professionally currently within the department, and to this point, I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel, and I have no plan to do so before I leave," Barr said when asked about Hunter Biden.

Asked about the concern over what happens to the probe in the next administration, Barr said he was hopeful there wouldn't be political interference. "I'm hoping the next administration handles that matter responsibly," he said.

'Certainly appears' Russia responsible for hack

Trump contradicted his own officials, Republican and Democratic members of Congress and cybersecurity experts on Saturday when he publicly raised doubts on Twitter about whether Russia was responsible for the massive cyberattack on US federal government agencies.

Trump's tweet, in which the President downplayed the significance of the hacking and suggested China could have been responsible instead, is only the latest instance where Trump has avoided condemning Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Monday, however, Barr did not follow Trump's lead, instead pointing to the comments last week from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who had said Friday, "We can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity."

"I agree with Secretary Pompeo's assessment. It certainly appears to be the Russians, but I'm not going to discuss it beyond that," Barr said.

The US has not yet formally attributed the hack to Russia, but US officials and lawmakers say there's little doubt about who was behind the attack.

White House officials had drafted a statement assigning blame to Russia for the attack and were preparing to release it Friday afternoon but were told to stand down, CNN reported on Saturday.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/21/politics/barr-news-conference-break-trump/index.html

A Community of Superadobe Earthbag Domes Empowers Its Residents

 

Built with earth-based materials, these colorful domes were constructed with the help of local residents looking to revive their local economy.

In reducing the carbon footprint of both existing and new buildings, there are a number of possible strategies. One approach is to reduce the size of homes, thus reducing the energy needed to heat and maintain them (which is one reason why smaller homes are gaining popularity). Another is to increase their energy efficiency, as we see being done with Passivhaus / Passive House homes. Yet another tack is to change the kinds of materials we use in constructing more eco-friendly homes, swapping out materials with high embodied carbon (a.k.a. upfront carbon emissions) like concrete and steel for more sustainable materials like wood, cork and bamboo.

There's yet another weapon to add to the growing arsenal of sustainable materials – but it's not a new one, rather, it's something that humans have used for millennia – earth. The soil beneath our feet is actually a great building material, whether it's rammed, or compressed into modular earth blocks. We've seen a number of interesting architectural projects using earth-based materials, be they large or small.

Superadobe to the Rescue

On Iran's Hormuz Island, these distinctive domes were constructed by Tehran-based firm ZAV Architects, using an innovative method called superadobe. Initially developed as a form of earthbag construction by Iranian-born architect Nader Khalili, the technique involves layering long fabric tubes or bags filled with earth and other organic materials like straw to form a compression structure.

Intended as a project that encourages "community empowerment via urban development," the domes have been built with the help of local residents, who were trained with the necessary construction skills.

The architects explain that the idea was to help boost the local economy, and provide alternative options to locals:

"Hormuz is a formerly glorious historic port in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, south of Iran, that controls the shipment of petroleum from the Middle East. The island has outstanding colorful surreal landscapes. Oddly, the local inhabitants of the beautiful, touristic and politically strategic island struggle economically, getting involved in illegal trafficking activities using their boats."

Seen from above, the small-scale domes take on organic shapes and connect in a variety of ways to form clustered structures.

In between these clusters, walkways and other connective spaces for gathering, playing and resting are formed.

Seen from far away, the domes seem to echo the landscape, while offering a brightly colored contrast to the earth from which they are made. The designers make an interesting analogy of these domes as parts of a vibrant carpet:

"In this project a carpet is woven with granular knots inspired by the particles that make up the ecotone of the island. The sandbags that create the spatial particles (a.k.a. domes) are filled with the dredging sand of the Hormuz dock, as if the earth has swollen to produce space for accommodation."

Inside the domes' shady interior, one can see that this type of construction is well-suited to the arid climate, as earth-based materials provide wonderful thermal mass. That means that the domed interiors stay cool during the day as the thick earthen walls absorb the sun's heat, and at night, when temperatures drop, the walls can radiate that stored heat, helping to regulate temperature fluctuations.

The way in which the interiors are painted also offer clues into how to use the space. The inherent roundness of the spaces are a refreshing alternative to the angularity of orthogonal buildings.

The aim was to choose an approach that benefitted the island's residents as much as possible, since international sanctions have affected the island and the whole country for many years, say the architects:

"[By] earmarking a bigger share of the budget to labor costs rather than expensive imported materials, [it benefits] the local population, empowering them by offering training for construction skills."

As the architects point out, the project raises some interesting questions on how far architecture can be a vehicle for socio-economic change: "In a country where the state struggles with political disputes outside its borders, every architectural project becomes a proposal for internal governing alternatives, asking basic questions: what are the limits of architecture and how can it suggest a political alternative for communal life? How can it attain social agency?"

These are fascinating questions that many architects have asked themselves in the past, and likely won't be answered any time soon. But regardless of the possible answers, the aim to build a better future for residents will go on: the next phase of this award-winning project will involve constructing a "multipurpose cultural residence" that will boost local tourism generated from an annual land art event held nearby, which will hopefully continue to fulfill the empowering mission of this unique project.

https://www.treehugger.com/superadobe-presence-domes-by-zav-architects-5091869 

 

 

A New Coronavirus Strain Emerges

Sources are reporting the displacement of various strains by a strain of the virus that appears to have arisen in the last month or two. The New York Times writes:

LONDON — Alarmed by a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson abruptly reversed course on Saturday and imposed a wholesale lockdown on London and most of England’s southeast, banning Christmas-season gatherings beyond individual households.

The decision, which Mr. Johnson announced after an emergency meeting of his cabinet, came after the government got new evidence of a variant first detected several weeks ago in southeast England, which the prime minister asserted was as much as 70 percent more transmissible than previous versions.

Viral mutations are not uncommon, and British officials said this variant had been detected in a handful of other countries, without naming them. But the government’s medical experts expressed alarm about its apparent infectiousness, noting that it now accounts for more than 60 percent of the new infections reported in London.

“This spread is happening at a moment in time when there are already many lineages circulating, and despite that it is displacing them all,” said Kristian Andersen, a geneticist at the Scripps Research in La Jolla, Calif. “We can’t say for sure, but to me it looks like this very explosive growth is primarily because” of its new mutations.

“We normally see 20 to 30 lineages in our samples at a given time,” said Tulio de Oliveira, a professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, in Durban, who first flagged the variant. “Now, we see only one.”

More research will be needed to confirm that the new strain is more infectious. So far, it does not appear to be more virulent or deadly. Also, it does not appear to be resistant to vaccines, but this will be closely monitored in the coming months. If  a second mutation arises that leaves the new strain more infections but also more virulent, that would probably ratchet up pressure to get populations vaccinated as soon as possible.

That leaves the question, can the president handle this or will he botch (incompetence) and/or sabotage (treason) the vaccination effort? Only time will tell.