“It is important to fight and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then can evil be kept at bay though never quite eradicated.”
– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I’ve been thinking about this Dumbledore quote a lot. Perhaps because we went to see the Cursed Child recently. Perhaps because this fight seems so endless.
I’ve long believed that the fight against intolerance and authoritarianism is not one that we are likely to win — evil does not just go away in this world.
But it is one that we continue to fight because it is necessary. Because only light can drive out darkness. Only love can beat hate.
And while this can sound exhausting and disheartening, maybe it is actually the struggle that gives life meaning and purpose and richness. Maybe this fight is good for us, in the long run.
Our fight brings us together. It gives us the joy of great company and companionship. It gives our lives meaning and purpose.
Fighting the good fight should not be all we do. It should not be something we do all the time. But it has to be a part of our lives.
Bringing light and love to one another can be tiring, but it is also super rewarding. And it is necessary.
Perhaps this battle to bring light and love IS the meaning in life. Perhaps together we are altering the world and giving our lives richness and meaning.
Thank you for being in this with me. Thank you for walking hand in hand, candles outstretched, hearts open, into the future.
Now onto the good news….
Democrats are great
Minnesota To Restore Voting Rights to Over 50,000 People
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed House File 28, a bill which will restore voting rights to over 50,000 Minnesotans on parole, probation or community release due to a felony conviction once the law goes into effect in July. Previously, Minnesota law permitted voting rights restoration after the completion of an entire sentence, which often included years- or decades-long periods of probation. Now, under H.F. 28, voting rights will be restored immediately after release from incarceration.
Biden’s budget shows who he is
“Show me your budget,” President Joe Biden is fond of saying, “[and] I’ll tell you what you value.” Today, Biden introduced his 2024 budget at the Finishing Trades Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
,
Biden’s 182-page, $6.9 trillion budget plan advances a vision of the United States based on the idea that the government should invest in workers, families, and infrastructure to increase the purchasing power of those on the “demand side” of the economy.
,
A 2020 Rand Corporation study found that from 1975 to 2018, about $50 trillion moved from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. The Biden administration has set out to address this inequity by reimposing the rules that used to prevent corporations and the wealthiest Americans from gaming the system, and by making it easier for working men and women to make ends meet.
So far, Biden’s policies have created record numbers of jobs and kept unemployment numbers low, and today’s budget builds on those policies. Director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young told reporters that the budget plan was based on four values: “lowering costs for families, protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, investing in America, and reducing the deficit by ensuring that the wealthiest in this country and big corporations begin to pay their fair share, and cutting wasteful spending on Big Pharma, Big Oil, and other special interests.” And, she added, “It does all of that while ensuring that no one earning less than $400,000 per year will pay a penny more in new taxes.”
,
Biden has called for rolling back Trump’s 2017 corporate tax cut, bringing the corporate rate up from 21% to 28% (it was 35% before the 2017 cuts). Biden proposed to raise the tax on capital gains for people earning at least $1 million a year from 20% to 39.6%. He wants a 25% minimum income tax rate for households worth at least $100 million, that is, the wealthiest 0.01% of taxpayers, who currently pay a rate of 8%. The plan calls for reversing the Trump tax for those making more than $400,000 a year, putting the top income tax rate to 39% from 37%. Other increases are all in this same vein: increasing revenue from the wealthiest Americans.
,
Biden’s budget document is not just about funding the government; it is a signal of the principles he might carry into the 2024 presidential contest. It offers Biden’s own blueprint for improving the lives of children, their caregivers, and other ordinary Americans, then undercuts Republican complaints about such investments by emphasizing that Biden’s plan—unlike anything the Republicans have offered—will cut the deficit over the next decade.
Biden scraps reliance on market for faith in broader government role
President Biden has embarked upon the most ambitious use of federal economic power in several decades as he seeks to reshape major U.S. industries for long-term prosperity while pressing businesses to deliver immediate benefits for consumers by lowering prices today.
Biden’s twin-barreled economic offensive faces numerous hurdles but has sparked billions of dollars of private-sector investment and changed entrenched corporate practices.
Audi and Eli Lilly last week became the latest companies to respond to Washington’s carrot-and-stick approach, as the German carmaker said it “probably” would boost its U.S. output in response to the administration’s electric-vehicle subsidies and the pharmaceutical giant bent to the president’s calls to slash the price of insulin.
Biden is spending federal cash on several audacious goals, including reversing the erosion of high-technology manufacturing, accelerating the transition to a clean-energy economy and repairing the nation’s rotting infrastructure. At times, he has stretched the powers given to him by Congress in pursuit of unrelated social policies. And where he lacks legislative authority, the president has jawboned corporate executives to cut drug prices, airline fees and the cost of internet access.
The real message of Biden’s budget
The president is picking a fight with Republicans on their own turf — fiscal responsibility and defense spending.
The budget shows an administration gearing up for a series of fights and previews their strategy for winning them: the White House is trying to position Democrats as the more fiscally responsible party, with priorities that match the public’s.
February job growth reflects ongoing labor market strength
The economy churned out 311,000 jobs in February, reflecting impressive labor market strength more than a year into the Federal Reserve’s fight to cool the economy.
Meanwhile, the White House praised Friday’s news. In a speech, President Biden said that the report meant his “economic plan is working,” two years after the passage of his $1.9 trillion covid relief package, the American Rescue Plan.
“Overall, we’ve created more jobs in two years than any administration has created in the first four years,” Biden said. “[The American Rescue Plan] led to the fastest recovery of any major economy in the world. It laid the foundation for the progress we see today.”
Bad news for bad guys
Tucker Carlson’s January 6 lies throw Republicans into disarray
Earlier this week, Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired a segment misrepresenting and downplaying the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, prompting swift criticism from many Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnel
The mixed reactions from congressional Republicans are the latest indication of how split the party is when it comes to how much members want to stand by former President Donald Trump, as well as how much they want to revisit January 6.
Following the airing of the Carlson segment, several Senate Republicans decried it as an inaccurate depiction of the riot that took place that day.
“I think it’s a very dangerous thing to do to suggest that attacking the Capitol of the United States is in any way acceptable and is anything other than a serious crime against democracy and against our country,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who was shown during congressional January 6 hearings as having narrowly avoided an encounter with an angry mob. “To somehow put [Jan. 6] in the same category as a permitted peaceful protest is just a lie,” added Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND).
House Republicans, meanwhile, have been more circumspect in their reaction or supportive of parts of Carlson’s framing. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise declined to condemn the report in a weekly press briefing, saying instead that “transparency is an important thing and so the public is going to be able to see a lot more information.”
CPAC started in 1974, and since then it has been a telltale for the direction the Republican Party is going. This year was no exception.
.
CPAC was smaller this year than in the past, and it showcased the Republican extremism that is far outside the mainstream of normal American politics. “Feels like MAGA country!” Donald Trump, Jr., told the crowd.
.
Other Republican hopefuls are waiting in the wings. Trump has, in fact, never won the popular vote, and his leadership has brought historic losses for the party, but his control over his voting base makes him the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
How a New DOJ Memo Sets Up Two Potential Trump Indictments
When the Department of Justice took the position this week that former President Donald Trump acted improperly by urging his followers to attack Congress in 2021, prosecutors did more than open the door to a potential flood of civil lawsuits from police officers who were injured on Jan. 6.
What they actually did, according to legal scholars, is lay the groundwork for a potential criminal indictment against Trump for inciting the insurrection.
“If they took the position that the president was absolutely immune, then they wouldn’t be able to bring a criminal prosecution,” said one person familiar with the DOJ’s ongoing investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Legal scholars have come to the same conclusion.
The two indictments Trump could face are for his incitement of the Jan. 6 riot—a federal crime—and his attempts to overturn the election results in Georgia, a state case there.
Court Rules Right-Wing Conspiracy Theorists Illegally Intimidated Voters in 2020
On Wednesday, March 8, a federal judge ruled that a robocall operation led by two conspiracy theorists ahead of the 2020 election violated Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1870, the Civil Rights Act and New York civil rights laws.
Polling shows GOP war on “woke” isn’t a winner
Looks like that GOP war on “woke” liberals isn't going to be the rocket fuel in 2024 Republicans have been betting it would be.
A new USA Today/Ipsos poll found that a 56% majority of Americans view the term “woke” in a positive light, connoting being "informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices." Three-fourths of Democrats viewed the term that way, as did 51% of independents and more than a third of Republicans.
That's a pretty lackluster issue to mount a rallying cry on—Republicans just narrowly clear riling up a majority of their base with the term. Basically, anyone who isn't mainlining Fox News isn't going to be particularly persuaded to vote Republican because of their take on woke liberals.
The GOP Blew It By Calling Everything ‘Woke’
Coercion, it seems, remains broadly unpopular. People don’t want to be shamed or canceled by the woke mob—but they also don’t want to be told by the heavy hand of the government how to behave. In both cases, someone is wagging their finger at the public, and they don’t much care for it.
In my estimation, that is the finding that Ron DeSantis should be concerned with. By labeling everything he opposes as “woke”—he’s left the word without a meaning (or at least the meaning he intends). And by enlisting the force of government to battle wokeism, he risks earning the “Ron DeSanctimonious" nickname Trump bestowed on him.
The Right’s Obsession With Wokeness Is a Sign of Weakness
’m skeptical that anti-wokeness can be the basis for a durable mass movement. That’s not just because a recent USA Today poll found that a majority of Americans see the term “woke” positively but because wokeness is too niche a concern. The Federalist Society trained many young meritocrats who were willing to devote their lives to fighting legalized abortion. It’s hard to imagine the battle against neopronouns and the 1619 Project inspiring the same sort of single-minded intensity. Ronald Reagan used to describe conservatism as a three-legged stool, comprising social conservatives, fiscal conservatives and defense hawks. These days it looks a lot more like a pogo stick.
Prosecutors Signal Criminal Charges for Trump Are Likely
The Manhattan district attorney’s office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former president, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.
The prosecutors offered Mr. Trump the chance to testify next week before the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the potential case, the people said. Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him.
Nikki Haley just handed Joe Biden a major gift
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, floated a proposal to change the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare and limit benefits for upper income Americans. But she remained vague about the details, failing to pinpoint a specific age she would set for retirement.
Haley’s proposal comes as the budget wars are heating up, and the more Republicans touch the third rail of entitlement programs, the more Democrats will benefit.
Following several months of Republicans doubling down on culture war issues that they hope will peel away the support of disaffected Democrats and independents while energizing the Republican base, Biden is hitting back hard on real issues that affect millions of Americans’ daily lives.
As Republicans continue to wade into this issue, they are poised to hand Biden and the Democrats a big win. Biden understands this, as he demonstrated during his State of the Union address, when he backed Republicans into a corner on Social Security and Medicare. It is for this reason that he is forcing Republicans to have a conversation, with specifics, about what they mean when they attack the government and federal spending.
For it is one thing to tell Americans that Washington is broken and another to say they will slash the federal benefits upon which so many of them have come to depend on.
Other Good News
The tide may be turning in the fight between democracy and autocracy
A new report from the non-partisan Freedom House confirms that millions of people in dozens of countries saw their freedoms eroded last year. There were more countries that lost freedom in 2022 than those that gained it. But look closer and there are promising signs of change. The pace of decline is slowing and it’s possible that the pushback we’re seeing from protesters in places like Mexico, Israel and Georgia will reverse the trend.
there was some glimmer of good news: last year, there were 35 countries that became less free than they were the previous year — the smallest number since the most recent trend of democratic decline started in 2005. Meanwhile, nearly the same number of countries (34) saw improvements, suggesting change may be afoot.
Freedom House noted “While authoritarians remain extremely dangerous, they are not unbeatable. … Meanwhile, democratic alliances demonstrated solidarity and vigor.”
Scientists find a way to suck up carbon pollution, turn it into baking soda and store it in the oceans
Scientists have set out a way to suck planet-heating carbon pollution from the air, turn it into sodium bicarbonate and store it in oceans, according to a new paper.
The technique could be up to three times more efficient than current carbon capture technology, say the authors of the study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.
Tackling the climate crisis means drastically reducing the burning of fossil fuels, which releases planet-heating pollution. But because humans have already pumped so much of this pollution into the atmosphere and are unlikely to sufficiently reduce emissions in the near term, scientists say we also need to remove it from the air.
Nature does this – forests and oceans, for example, are valuable carbon sinks – but not quickly enough to keep pace with the amounts humans are producing. So we have turned to technology.
One method is to capture carbon pollution directly at the source, for example from steel or cement plants.
But another way, which this study focuses on, is “direct air capture.” This involves sucking carbon pollution directly out of the atmosphere and then storing it, often by injecting it into the ground.
Silicon Valley Bank collapse has echoes of 2008. Here’s why things are different this time
Mike Mayo, senior bank analyst at Wells Fargo, said the crisis at SVB might be “an idiosyncratic situation.”
“This is night and day versus the global financial crisis from 15 years ago,” he told CNN’s Julia Chatterley Friday. Back then, he said, “banks were taking excessive risks, and people thought everything was fine. Now everyone’s concerned, but underneath the surface the banks are more resilient than they’ve been in a generation.”
Similarly, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told Bloomberg News Friday that he saw “no systemic risk” if the situation “is handled reasonably,” adding he had “every reason to think that it will be.”
On the lighter side
I am so lucky and so proud to be in this with all of you 💖💚💛✊🏻✊🏽✊🏻✊🏽💖💛💚