Apr
22
2023

You Know What Einstein Probably Didn't Say?

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Spectifically, he probably didn't say "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Jacob sullum sums up the latest example of that adage: Prohibition Gave Us Xylazine in Fentanyl. The Solution, Drug Warriors Say, Is More Prohibition.

The emergence of the animal tranquilizer xylazine as a fentanyl adulterant, like the emergence of fentanyl as a heroin booster and substitute, has prompted law enforcement officials to agitate for new legal restrictions and criminal penalties. That response is fundamentally misguided, because the threat it aims to address is a familiar consequence of prohibition, which creates a black market in which drug composition is highly variable and unpredictable. Instead of recognizing their complicity in maintaining and magnifying that hazard, drug warriors always think the answer is more of the same.

So how are our state's senior senator and the Biden Administration doing on the Einsteinian insanity scale?

And our junior senator?

Crack down! This time they're serious!

And my CongressCritter:

I didn't even have the heart to snark out responses.

Briefly noted:

  • Biden lies, can't spell. James Freeman notes the decrepitude and dishonesty when the Speller-in-Chief talks about Taxing Billionaires. A long excerpt:

    Social media users have been laughing about President Joe Biden failing to complete the spelling of the word “eight” at a speech in Maryland this week. But the context in which he made his typically confused remarks is even more concerning. And Mr. Biden is not the only Washington politician who seems incapable of speaking truthfully on the subject of taxes.

    Here’s how the official White House transcript recounts the relevant passage from the president’s speech Wednesday afternoon in Accokeek, Md., in which he created his usual grotesque straw man to depict opponents of larger government:

    Imagine trading off less food inspections so the wealthy can have a giant tax cut.

    Imagine denying poor and disabled Americans on Medicaid — Medicaid, not Medicare — the treatment they need for asthma and diabetes so the wealthiest Americans can keep cheating on their taxes.

    And, by the way, I’m not saying every American cheats on their taxes. But you have — we have a thousand billionaires in America. You know, the average tax rate they pay? Eight. E-I-G-H[-T] percent. Eight percent.

    Even on the occasions when he manages to spell the figure correctly, it is not even close to accurate, and this is no honest mistake. He’s repeatedly told this and similar falsehoods, though he doesn’t always take the additional step of smearing the most financially successful people in the country as tax cheats. In any case, the White House opted to continue the deceptions, following up on his Wednesday remarks with a tweet:

    And here 'tis:

    Freeman continues:

    The 8% figure is a fabricated number based on how much the rich would be paying today if the United States had an imaginary (and unconstitutional) federal tax system that plundered wealth, not just income.

    It's fun to make sport of Biden's goofs, but this is no goof, it's a lie. Even Politifact says so.

  • Blowups Happen. Jack Salmon notes the latest spanner tossed into the reactor core: Social Security Trustees Report Throws a Wrench into Budget Negotiations. It's a fresh take on more of the same:

    With the debt-ceiling deadline fast approaching, and policy-makers on both sides of the political aisle refusing to acknowledge the largest drivers of our ballooning federal deficits, the recent release of the Social Security trustees’ report throws another wrench into the works.

    The report finds that the Social Security Trust Fund will be depleted in 2033, one year earlier than last year’s estimate. This projection is in line with a CBO estimate from December, which found that “the balance in the trust funds will decline to zero in 2033 and the Social Security Administration will no longer be able to pay full benefits when they are due.”

    I assume by 2033, seniors like me will be "strongly encouraged" to go ice fishing in April.


Last Modified 2024-01-13 12:59 PM EDT