Huge numbers of prospective voters don’t. This lack is one of the major messaging issues in this campaign. Now, in reality, Biden’s people are on this, and are just getting started with tens of millions in ads and organization, and POTUS and VPOTUS and all going around the country. Even to Florida.
NYT [paywalled]: Democrats Say Biden Hasn’t ‘Made the Case’ on Climate Despite Achievements
President Biden has done more than any president to tackle climate change, but strategists are grappling with an uncomfortable fact: Voters don’t seem to know it.
Public Supports More Drug Price Regulation, Unaware of Inflation Reduction Act Provisions
The IRA took some steps to address these issues for people with Medicare. The law caps monthly insulin costs at $35 per prescription, creates new programs to negotiate the price of some drugs and penalize companies for raising prices faster than inflation, and redesigns Part D prescription drug coverage to include an out-of-pocket cap for enrollees.
The polling shows none of these provisions are widely known. Only a quarter of adults are aware of the provisions on insulin, drug negotiation, or the out-of-pocket cap. The inflation rebate is even less widely known, with only one in ten aware of that provision.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get the word out to to your community, to influencers on social media, to editors at local papers, to Democratic Party organizations, to issue organizations...What did I leave out?
Inflation Reduction Act Resources
SUMMARY: THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT OF 2022
- Enacts historic deficit reduction to fight inflation
- Lowers energy costs, increases cleaner production, and reduces carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030
- Allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices and caps out-of-pocket costs to $2,000
- Lowers ACA health care premiums for millions of Americans
- Make biggest corporations and ultra-wealthy pay their fair share
- There are no new taxes on families making $400,000 or less and no new taxes on small businesses—we are closing tax loopholes and enforcing the tax code
Highlights
Tax Credits
- New Electric Vehicle: §30D (Up to $7,500 Available Now)
- Leased Electric Vehicle: §45W (Up to $7,500 Available Now)
- Used Electric Vehicle: §25E (Up to $4,000 Available Now)
- Electric Vehicle Charger: §30C (Up to $1,000 Available Now)
- Residential Clean Energy Tax Credit: §25D (30% Available Now)
- Energy Efficient Home Improvement: §25C (Up to $3,200 Available Now)—heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, biomass stoves, weatherization, doors, windows, skylights, insulation, electrical panels
Electrification Rebates
The Inflation Reduction Act includes $8.8 billion in rebates for home energy efficiency and electrification projects, which is expected to save American households up to $1 billion annually. This legislation provides point-of-sale discounts to low- and moderate-income households across America to electrify their homes. When households make qualifying electrification purchases, they will receive these rebates as immediate, off-the-top discounts.
- High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate HEEHRA (Up to $14,000, Rollout Timing TBD)
- Home Owner Managing Energy Savings Rebate HOMES (Up to $8,000, Rollout Timing TBD)
White House: investing in America—Clean energy
Biden's Solar for All program empowers 900,000 low-income families and communities across the country with roof top solar to lower their electrical costs, creating over 200,000 new good-paying jobs and dramatically cutting emissions!
Vote Blue for #ClimateActionNow !
#Voterizer
Then we have the Chips Act, Infrastructure, aid to Ukraine and others, Shadow Speaker Jeffries...We’ll get to all of what those mean some other time.
The above could have been a whole Diary. But there is still all of this.
Good News for Us
Union Presidential Campaign Ad
Biden’s Wins @BidensWins
BREAKING: North America’s Building Trades Unions just released new ad exposing Donald Trump as incompetent and a liar to American workers. Retweet to ensure everyone sees.
Voting
NEW: Federal judge strikes down North Carolina’s 1877 law imposing criminal penalties on people who vote while on parole or probation for a felony conviction, ruling the law was enacted with racially discriminatory intent and violates the U.S. Constitution.
HPVIC
Maine joins interstate alliance to elect president by popular vote
NEW: Maine just passed a law to join the National Popular Vote Compact, giving it 209 of 270 electoral votes needed to activate.
(Maine will still award EVs by House district until then).
This map shows which states could join for it to activate by 2028 https://dailykos.com/story/2024/4/1
Taxing the Rich
Nobel Prize-winning economist calls for climate tax on billionaires
And she called for the money to be sent directly to the world's most climate-vulnerable people.
The proposed climate tax is the brainchild of Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo, who presented it to the Group of 20 summit in Washington D.C. last Wednesday. Duflo suggested taxing global corporations and the world’s top billionaires to raise money for climate adaptation in countries that are most impacted by the climate crisis. The funds would be directly sent to the poorest individuals in those countries to help them prepare for climate disasters.
“Richer citizens emit much more than poorer citizens,” Duflo wrote in her proposal to the G20. But the brunt of extreme heat will be felt by poorer citizens who tend to live in hotter regions of the world. “Moreover, poverty makes it harder to adapt to warm temperatures,” she said.
This is the first time that a climate tax has been suggested on a world stage. The proposal comes amid new research that estimates that rising temperatures will cost $38 trillion per year in damages to agriculture, labor productivity, and infrastructure. The vast majority of that damage has been caused by the emissions of rich nations, including the U.S. and European countries.
Economics Book: Why We Can't Afford the Rich
Migrants Benefited from a DeSantis Stunt
Remember the 49 migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard under false pretenses by the DeSantis administration? They can now legally work in the U.S. and are protected from deportation due to being considered victims of a potential crime.
...which brings us to
Bad News for Them
Yet More Indictments of the Usual Suspects
An Arizona grand jury has indicted former President Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, lawyer Rudy Giuliani and 16 others for their efforts to use so-called fake electors to try to overturn Trump's loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Surprise, surprise. Steve Bannon was just named as a “co-conspirator” in a $1 billion fraud case. Prosecutors identified the former Trump adviser as part of a massive criminal conspiracy allegedly orchestrated by Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui.
Abortion
Arizona House votes to overturn 1864 abortion ban, paving way to leave 15-week limit in place
The Arizona House of Representatives voted Wednesday to overturn the state’s 160-year-old abortion ban, setting the stage for a repeal that would leave the state’s 15-week restriction on the procedure in place.
The vote comes after two failed attempts by lawmakers in the Republican-controlled state House to bring the bill to the floor last week, as Democrats sought to strike down the ban after the state Supreme Court revived it earlier this month.
Three Republicans voted with all 29 Democrats Wednesday to advance the legislation. The state Senate is expected to pass the repeal measure in early May. And Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is expected to sign the bill if lawmakers advance it to her desk.
Cue screaming from losers.
Air transports out of Idaho, which has a near-total abortion ban, for pregnancy complications at one of the state’s largest hospitals have increased from one in all of 2023 to six in the past four months. via @KelcieMMorris
Voting
Trump Trial
BREAKING: The media is finally acknowledging Donald Trump appears older, slower, more agitated and less mentally capable than ever before. Retweet so all Americans know Trump is losing it.
The BLOAT
BREAKING: Even Fox News is now acknowledging Donald Trump’s weakness within the Republican Party. Nikki Haley continues to get a significant amount of votes despite dropping out months ago. Retweet so all Americans see Fox take down Donald Trump.
Trump Bond
Trump accepts new restrictions on $175 million bond in New York civil fraud case
At a hearing on Monday, down the block from where jurors
heard opening arguments in Trump's criminal hush money trial, lawyers for Trump and Knight agreed that the funds would remain as cash and not be traded for securities.
They also agreed that Knight would have exclusive control of the account and not withdraw funds, and to provide James with monthly statements to assure that the cash isn't going anywhere.
Gag Order
Ruling expected next week.
How a gag order showdown explains everything about Trump
Prosecutor Chris Conroy captured the quintessential Donald Trump in a single sentence at the ex-president’s hush money trial on Tuesday.
He knows what he’s not allowed to do, and he does it anyway.”
Prosecutors now want Merchan to fine Trump $1,000 for each of 10 alleged violations of the gag order and to warn that imprisonment could be an option if he continues to flout restrictions. CNN’s John Miller reported Tuesday that the Secret Service, court officers and the New York City Department of Corrections have quietly consulted on what to do if Trump ends up being jailed for contempt of court. That remedy remains a distant one for now, but any eventual step in that direction cannot be ruled out since no judge can allow a defendant to mock his authority in what is in essence a show of contempt for the rule of law.
Koan
Koan: Following Jesus…
…as their Lord and Savior devotedly all the days of their lives—and never catching up with Him. The various factions and sects make no secrets of their issues of racism, bigotry, misogyny, science denial, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and hatred of the Constitution.
Yeshua bar Yosef said it best.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:34.
BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court rejects request from Kari Lake and Mark Finchem to take up a lawsuit challenging the use of electronic voting machines in elections. SCOTUS will not review their claims, which a lower court dismissed as "frivolous."
NEW: Texas appeals court rules that Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) can face disciplinary action from the Texas Bar for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, rejecting Paxton's arguments that he has immunity as a state official.
Neeta Lind, Meteor Blades, Bill McKibben
Well, this sounds suboptimal
New study finds climate change likely to do $38 trillion in economic damage a year by 2050.
(Total current world gdp is $101 trillion)
When I first saw this, I assumed that that amount of damage would occur only if we don’t fix things. No, this is even if we go off fossil fuels entirely before 2050, but don’t get down far enough below Net Zero to where the Earth can start cooling.
Half of those living in deep poverty in the US are working age adults w/out kids. They comprise 70% of the homeless population, simply because they don't have a kid to warrant their being seen as deserving of help.
We need a universal basic income floor.
Please watch this on the out of control corruption at City of Miami:
- City buying overpriced furniture from a company owned by city manager’s wife.
- City attorney and her husband flipping homes taken from incapacitated residents at below market value.
Oh, Schadenfreude!
MAGA 'election integrity warrior' accused of forging signatures: lawsuit https://alternet.org/msn/arizona-go
NEW: Leading Petty Officer David Elizalde was stationed on the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman on Jan. 6 when he joined the Capitol riot.
He's now asking a judge not to impose probation on him — saying it would be "fatal" to his Navy career.
Ah, well. I could go on and on just with the stuff falling into my lap, but I’ll spare you the rest.
Science! Lifeforms! Weirdness!
Voyager 1 calls home!
JPL announced today [Monday, April 22] that engineering data was successfully received from the Voyager 1 spacecraft on Saturday April 20, the first time since Nov 2023.
A new set of commands were sent on Thursday to relocate some code around a failed memory chip in the Flight Data System (FDS) computer and as expected that fixed the problem that had caused Voyager’s transmission to be stuck with sending a 0101... pattern since Nov 14, 2023.
“Hey bird, I can do that too” 😅
IG: nautilus_liveaboards
2023's Biggest Breakthroughs in Math
Once every few years, the Namibian desert experiences what is known as the Sandhof lily bloom.The lily bulbs sit in the clay beneath the desert floor, waiting patiently for years for some centimeters of rainfall.
📹 Kyle Goetsch
2023's Biggest Breakthroughs in Physics
2023's Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology and Neuroscience
Guinea pigs playing tug of war with a blade of grass..
😅
The biggest science breakthroughs in 2023
Funny or Fuggedaboudit
Restricting Women's Freedoms — The Week in Editorial Cartoons, Part 1
Biden says the US is rushing weaponry to Ukraine as he signs a $95 billion war aid measure into law
Biden immediately approved sending Ukraine $1 billion in military assistance, the first installment from about $61 billion allocated for Ukraine. The package includes air defense capabilities, artillery rounds, armored vehicles and other weapons to shore up Ukrainian forces who have seen morale sink as Russian President Vladimir Putin has racked up win after win.
Meanwhile, Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials confirmed Wednesday. The U.S. is providing more of the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, in the new military package, according to one official who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Remember,
Thursday GNR: Putin's Biggest Mistakes
Truth Brigade: More of Putin's Biggest Mistakes
Being Putin
MJ
Good Morning and Happy 420 to you! [Sun][Coffee]
Know the difference!
Don’t confuse the two Weed Dope
Our Local Cartoonists
I read a little while ago that Portland, Oregon is phasing out gas-powered leaf blowers starting in 2026, with the goal of "improving public health and quality of life for landscape workers and other residents." Now THAT'S civilized.
Of course, Trump wants to see Biden in jail, but Biden sees no reason to visit him there
P. D. Q. Bach
Iphigenia in Brooklyn S. 53,162 - P. D. Q. Bach (Peter Schickele) - Ensemble Monterey April 1st 2012
Published on April 8, 2012
P. D. Q. Bach's famous cantata, Iphigenia in Brooklyn, performed on April 1st 2012 with Ensemble Monterey and yours truly ;)
Featuring the great Maestro Benzino Gassolini!
The music starts at about 6:50 for those that want to skip the intro
Shea Stadium in Brooklyn [Queens] had an official capacity of 50,312 when it opened. More seats were added over the years.