90 Miles From Tyranny

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Visage à trois #378

Three Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Three Additional Bonus Videos:

Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #558

Democrats’ high-spending ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ will do just the opposite

The first thing to remember about the reconciliation bill Sens. Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer agreed to Wednesday is that despite its utterly preposterous name, it has absolutely zero to do with inflation. The Inflation Reduction Act is crammed with the very same spending, corporate welfare, price-fixing and tax hikes that were part of Build Back Better — long-desired progressive wish-list agenda items. Pumping hundreds of billions into the economy will do nothing to alleviate inflation. The opposite.

Let’s also remember the Democrats’ deflection on inflation last year — claiming it was “transitory” and “no serious economist” is “suggesting there’s unchecked inflation on the way” and so on — was all part of a concerted political effort to ignore the problem long enough to cram through a $5.5 trillion iteration of their agenda. And when inflation suddenly became non-transitory and politically problematic, the Biden administration argued that more spending would relieve inflation. It doesn’t care about the economy, as long as dependency is being expanded.

The bill is far more likely to spike consumer prices than not. You can hate corporations with the heat of a thousand suns and grouse about the lack of fairness in the world, but it won’t change the fact that businesses don’t pay taxes, they collect them. The Dems claim their bill raises $313 billion with a minimum 15% corporate tax rate. They seem to be under the impression corporations that pay less than 15% are evading taxes rather than using completely legal tools like accelerated depreciation or taking advantage of tax credits. Whatever the case, raising corporate taxes means fewer jobs or higher prices. Maybe both. What it won’t do is lower inflation.

Republicans have been arguing that big government spending will only drive consumer prices even higher.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The same establishment media suddenly unsure how to define a recession are going to falsely claim the bill has a “deficit-reduction package,” even though anyone who’s spent five minutes in DC knows the bill features a bunch of accounting gimmicks that will allow Manchin to go back to West Virginia and claim his concerns about spending are allayed. The deficit-reduction number — which relies not only on raising taxes on consumers but creating a more powerful IRS (and IRS public-sector union) — is plucked from the ether. We have no clue how much new taxes and audits will raise. What we do know is that any spending program instituted today will exist in perpetuity.

The bill also dumps another $369 billion into green boondoggles, a slush fund for Democrats. Now, even if you’ve convinced yourself that slight variations in temperature are an existential threat to humanity, there’s never been an instance of energy becoming more affordable due to pumping money into green economies. A bill with “investments” that will “encourage” a “transition,” as political journalists would say, is really just force-feeding inefficient and expensive alternatives that elbow out reliable, affordable gas and oil and push prices higher. Manchin claims the bill specifically brings down energy prices. Yet unless West Virginians are clamoring to buy already heavily...

Paul Sorvino and three other actors; Charles Johnson and three other football players (& three other athletes, a coach and a sportscaster), a 13-year-old dead from "natural causes," and many more:

Note the use of propaganda in so many of these pieces, to normalize the die-off, and obfuscate the likelihood that “vaccination” was the cause of death. Such trickery includes the claim that Paul Sorvino had had “health issues over the past few years” (his work history says otherwise); the new story of how football player Sam Bruce died (three months after his death); the claims that the departed died of “natural causes”—at 51, or 41, or 13; and so on
UNITED STATES

Shonka Dukureh, ‘Elvis’ actress and blues singer, dead at 44

July 21, 2022

Shonka Dukureh, an actress and blues singer who portrayed Big Mama Thornton in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” biopic, died on Thursday in Tennessee, police confirmed. She was 44.

The musician was found dead inside her bedroom in the Nashville apartment she shared with her two children, according to a tweet by the Metro Nashville Police Department.

The Tennessean reported that one of Dukureh’s children found her unresponsive before rushing to a neighbor’s home, who then called 911 at approximately 9:30 a.m.

A spokesperson for the MNPD confirmed that the medical examiner is working to determine the cause of death. No foul play is suspected.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/entertainment/shonka-dukureh-obit/index.html
Paul Sorvino Dies: ‘Goodfellas’, ‘Law & Order’ Actor, Father Of Mira Sorvino Was 83

July 25, 2022

Paul Sorvino, who starred in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas and early seasons of the NBC series Law & Order, died today of natural causes after suffering health issues[*] over the past few years. He was 83. His death was announced by his publicist Roger Neal on behalf of Sorvino’s wife Dee Dee Sorvino, who was at his side when he passed.

“Our hearts are broken,” said Dee Dee Sorvino in a statement. “There will never be another Paul Sorvino, he was the love of my life, and one of the greatest performers to ever grace the screen and stage.” Sorvino was the father of Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino.

Paul Anthony Sorvino born April 13, 1939 in Brooklyn and starred in such films as Goodfellas, Nixon, Dick Tracy, The Rocketeer, For the Love of Money, That Championship Season, Reds, A Touch of Class, Oh, God! among many others. On television he starred on Seasons 2 and 3 of Law & Order and on Broadway in That Championship Season.

https://deadline.com/2022/07/paul-sorvino-dead-goodfellas-actor-obituary-father-of-mira-sorvino-was-83-1235076878/
*Despite those "health issues over the past few years" Sorvino had been working steadily full-time. He had completed one movie (Pursued), had another in post-production (The Ride), was in production of another (My Jurassic Place), and was scheduled to appear in a TV movie (The Chameleon). From 2019-2021, he had also performed in 13 episodes of the TV series "Godfather of Harlem."

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000649/
Bobbie Faye Ferguson Dies: ‘Designing Women’, ‘Dallas’ & ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ Actress Was 78

July 23, 2022

Bobbie Faye Ferguson, an actress whose credits include Designing Women, Dallas and The Dukes of Hazzard, has died at 78. Multiple news reports said she died June 25 of natural causes in Sherman Oaks, CA.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/bobbie-faye-ferguson-dies-designing-010238223.html
Taurean Blacque, 'Hill Street Blues' actor, dead at 82

July 22, 2022

Taurean Blacque, an Emmy-nominated actor and star of hit '80s show "Hill Street Blues," has died. He was 82.

Blacque died following a brief battle with an undisclosed illness, his family said Thursday.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/hill-street-blues-actor-taurean-blacque-dead
YouTube star Kevin Samuels died from hypertension, medical examiner concludes

July 20, 2022

YouTube star Kevin Samuels died of hypertension, a Georgia medical examiner concluded. Samuels, 53, died suddenly May 5 after he complained of chest pain and collapsed, authorities said. He was at his apartment and taken to a hospital but could not be resuscitated, they said.

Chief Medical Examiner Karen E. Sullivan's findings were reported Monday by E! News. "It is my opinion that Kevin Samuels died due to hypertension (high blood pressure), Sullivan wrote in the report dated July 14. The manner of death was ruled natural.

https://tinyurl.com/skrww4f2
‘Naked and Afraid’ contestant dies at 35

July 24,2022

A former contestant on the popular survivalist reality TV show “Naked and Afraid” has died, multiple...