Trump has remade the Republican Party into a populist party
https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1925529652258345194
https://x.com/dylanmatt/status/1925195940110938363
This is not a disconnect between Trump and his House members. It is a disconnect between what Trump is willing to say at any moment and what he believes or is interested in. It is astonishing that far in to the era of Trumpian politics people still try to take Trumpâs rhetoric as having any bearing on reality
Or really, just having any beliefs in general beyond his general narcissism.
Itâs almost as if people just cannot fathom how vacant his âbrainâ is, and need to attribute some form of intelligence that just simply isnât there.
They love his narcissism.
Someone has to be punished!
Itâs about control!
Holy shit, I just saw the vote count: 215-214. so included 3 GOP members who refused to vote yes.
Had Dems had their full compliment of votes available from the people who got elected a mere 6 months ago theyâd have had the votes to beat this down. But those votes werent present because they belonged to members who have died in office and not yet been replaced.
But then again, how many of those 3 would have stayed with that vote were there sufficient Democrats to oppose it with their help?
Yeah that is always a consideration, but my read is the No votes were solid. These were not messaging votes, but ones reflecting a really consistent ideological line from the members who have gone out of their way to rally against this bill and this direction. They have spent political capital to do that so you have to think theyâd see getting the outcome they want, for their constituents, as getting some capital back so would have stuck with their vote. The abstention is often a pussy way out and from someone who if pushed would vote with the party. SO itâs like the GOP gets up to 216, but the Dems were missing 3 votes.
Excuse me for the laughter emoji. Itâs not because I wanted the GOP to win this vote. But it is tragi comic that there is more than, say 1 at most, unless there is a mass causualty event, that dies in congress and are not replaced.
By the way, democrats supported the no tax on tips, I note.
It will have obvious negative conseqeuences on wages in low paying jobs, removing incentives to increase low wages.
And donât get me started on no tax on overtime, which is a completely disastrous social policy that will ruin the lives of many in the future.
I love this kind of elaborated stories (the article in the Mississippi Free Press). There should be more of them.
Here, we are far away from broad caricatural opinion-making, but focus on one family and whatâs happening to them. A real-life story, and a very instructive one.
Thanks for posting, Livvy. 
I enjoyed Kamalia rhetorically saying âwhy not, sure weâll do that as wellâ in the campaign, feeling it was a way to take a dumb talking point off the table that neither side had any intention of following though on because it is such absurdly bad policy and a terrible way to achieve the ends you claims to want to see.
I genuinely did not expect it to get put into a bill and get passed. Still, it wasnt part of the house budget and so has a long way to go to get over the line.
The Social consequences will be very bad. It certainly means that it will be more difficult to increase minimum wage. And the no tax on overtime is frankly frightening.
I missed my green card renewal. All I had to do was pay a fine of a couple of $100 when I submitted my late renewal and got smoothed out. Not getting caught in that situation again was part of the reason I finally followed through with my US citizenship application, and my lapse was never raised once in that process.
Reading the details I get there are difference with this guyâs case, but only by degree not by type. It is just such a meaningless to get hung up on, especially with how labyrinthine the paper work for this shit is.
This is weird as many countries wonât let you out if your paper work isnât up to date. Of course itâs due to fines pending.
My daughter, who lives and works in Chili, has been stopped twice trying to cross the border. They wouldnât let her leave. The last time was really weird as almost as as soon as her company paid her âfineâ to cross into Argentina she got a text that her visa application had been accepted and was valid.
https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/1925563499016564924
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/22/education-department-court-ruling-firings-00365170
The bill is crap, but itâs approximately within the bounds of normal, inasmuch as it is coming from the right wing and offers tax cuts for the rich and spending cuts for the poor. Twas ever thus, in various guises and degrees.
Beefing up spending on ICE seems pretty sinister to me. There is obviously an awful agenda unfolding there, and one hopes the judicial branch of government offers some sort of check and balance, as the legislative branch seems to have lost its spine.
Anecdotally, the minimum wage in Indiana is $7.25 per hour, and has been that way since 2009. Itâs scandalous at face value. But not so fast, because where I live at least, the market has spoken. Case in point, my dopey lad needed to work for a few months before going to college. He finished high school a semester early, but we wouldnât just let him do nothing.
There are loads of entry level, unskilled jobs, offering double the minimum wage or so, because they just canât get workers if they pay anything like the minimum wage. He is making $15 per hour at a local garden center, and could have got that, or similar, at numerous fast food places, or retail places, etc.
I do believe the minimum wage should give someone a foothold to be able to live, and so should be increased dramatically, but just wanted to offer up a current example as it is my son, and minimum wage hasnât even factored into it for him in his first proper job.