Information Consumer, Beware #164
By Hank Silverberg
There's a good chance that you have, at some point in your life, been the victim of propaganda. It could be something unimportant like a commercial for potato chips, or something more ominous like the outcome of a presidential election.
In the old days, say 30 years ago, it may have been a poster, a sign, or a well written letter to the editor that showed up in 40 newspapers at the same time. There were leaflets handed out on the street corner or secretly put in your mailbox.
Today it's right there in front of you on your computer or smart phone. Most people are pretty good at detecting fake offers, even when our spam detection program doesn't always work. You don't have to dig too deeply to know that a Nigerian prince is not really going to send you money. But there's much more deception than you think.
These days propaganda is coming almost daily from the halls of Congress. Here is just one example which many people will believe. And it comes from the House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy. The comment and tweet came during the discussions over the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill that every single Republican in the House and Senate voted against.
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Did you know? — Nancy Pelosi’s Bay Area Bailout included $600 million for San Francisco, part of which goes to cover the tab for free alcohol and marijuana for the homeless.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this bailout is too costly, corrupt, and liberal.
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That's propaganda. San Francisco does have a program called "harm-reduction" services that does provide medically prescribed alcohol to homeless people, though not marijuana. The money used to pay for it is donated. NO taxpayer dollars are involved.
This, of course, is politics. People will shrug it off or believe it based on their political leanings. It is nasty and not limited to the GOP, though they use it more often.
I am more concerned about a different type of propaganda.
A new report from the Anti-Defamation League says propaganda put out by White supremacists has reached the highest level recorded since the group began tracking it.
There were 5,125 documented cases of racist, anti-Semitic or anti-LGBTQ fliers, stickers, banners or posters distributed in the United States in 2020. That's about 14 each day and double the number from 2019. And that does not even include the internet, where such material is rampant.
Some of it is explicit, invoking the Nazis or Hitler. But others are less obvious, like "Reject White Guilt," or "Black Crimes Matter."
The ADL report says the growth can be attributed to a number of factors, including the current political climate.
The material was distributed in every state but Hawaii, with 92% coming from three groups called the "Patriot Front," the "New Jersey European Heritage Association," and the "Nationalist Social Club." These names are not so obvious about purpose.
From the report:
“Propaganda gives white supremacists the ability to maximize media and online attention while limiting their risk of exposure or arrest,”
It is increasingly likely that young people in particular are influenced by this unfiltered propaganda. Parents should be aware and keep their guard up.
TAXES:
There's been much ado in the conservative media this week about President Biden's proposed tax increase.
Republicans, who had no problem giving big
corporations and millionaires a big tax cut in 2017, are now screaming about the proposed increases which would mostly hit those same corporations and millionaires. The "working class" which they constantly say they represent (we all know that's propaganda), would barely be touched by what the President has proposed.
corporations and millionaires a big tax cut in 2017, are now screaming about the proposed increases which would mostly hit those same corporations and millionaires. The "working class" which they constantly say they represent (we all know that's propaganda), would barely be touched by what the President has proposed.
Here is what the Tax Foundation, the nation's leading independent tax policy non-profit, says about the plan:
It would raise tax revenue by $3.3 trillion over the next decade on a conventional basis. When accounting for macroeconomic feedback effects, the plan would collect about $2.8 trillion the next decade.
By 2030 the plan would lead to about 7.7 percent less after-tax income for the TOP 1% of taxpayers, and about a 1.9 percent decline in after-tax income for all taxpayers on average."
Don't fall for the GOP propaganda on this.
😕 SCOFFLAWS:
Speaking of taxes, a new report out this week from a watchdog at the U.S. Treasury Department says the IRS failed to collect $2.4 billion in taxes owed from wealthy individuals. Auditors were only able to get back about 39% of the unpaid taxes from people with an average annual income of nearly $1.6 million. Audit rates dipped to historic lows during the Trump administration and Democrats are now considering legislation to mandate higher audit levels of businesses and wealthy individuals. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) told Bloomberg News that "the Inspector General's report reiterates wealthy tax cheats are stealing billions from the American people."
US Tax Collections: IRS Failed to Collect $2.4 Billion From Millionaires - Bloomberg
Speaking of taxes, a new report out this week from a watchdog at the U.S. Treasury Department says the IRS failed to collect $2.4 billion in taxes owed from wealthy individuals. Auditors were only able to get back about 39% of the unpaid taxes from people with an average annual income of nearly $1.6 million. Audit rates dipped to historic lows during the Trump administration and Democrats are now considering legislation to mandate higher audit levels of businesses and wealthy individuals. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) told Bloomberg News that "the Inspector General's report reiterates wealthy tax cheats are stealing billions from the American people."
US Tax Collections: IRS Failed to Collect $2.4 Billion From Millionaires - Bloomberg
I don't know about you, but this kind of thing makes my blood boil! I paid my taxes--all of them.
The new IRS Commissioner says they are now expanding their enforcement efforts.
BORDER TROUBLE:
President Trump spent four years talking about a wall and doing nothing about illegal migration across our southern border. He let the migrants gather in Mexico knowing it would eventually explode, and it has. Now it has fallen into Joe Biden's lap and so far the solutions are complicated.
Thousands of unaccompanied migrant children have been stranded in overcrowded holding facilities.
There are as many as 13,000 unaccompanied children being held, and it's clear the facilities being used to house them are not adequate. The pandemic, which had held down such migration over the past year, doesn't seem to be doing so any longer. Many of those risking the border crossing now think a new President means a new policy, even though Biden has said numerous times the border is NOT OPEN. Thousands of adults never made it across the border - they were sent right back.
The reasons for the migration have not changed much over the last four decades. Poverty, gang violence and political unrest in Latin America remains ever present.
But unlike his predecessor, Mr. Biden is looking for a more humane policy that keeps children with their parents and allows some immigrants into the country through asylum or temporary visas.
Frankly, I see no end to this until the United States does what it should have been doing for years. That is, engaging in Latin America, helping those countries that can improve their own economy and fight corruption so that the quest to come here becomes less of a solution for desperate people.
The Republicans, of course, will ignore ANY practical solution so that they can use the situation for political propaganda. That's pretty much all the GOP has done on this issue for 40 years.
America has been, and remains, a nation of immigrants. It will stay that way. Let's hope Mr. Biden comes up with some practical solutions rather than the punitive ones promoted by the last administration.
The Q-ANON CAUCUS:
I really hate to use the word "Q-Anon," but it pretty much describes a group of Republican Congress members who seem to have embraced conspiracy theories and far right-wing nonsense with no shame. This week they voted "no" on two items that should have been a no-brainer "yes" vote.
The House overwhelmingly passed a bill (413-12) to award Congressional Gold Medals to U.S. Capitol police and D.C. police officers who protected Congress during the January 6th insurrection. But 12 members, call them "The Dirty Dozen," voted "no" because they objected to use of the word "insurrection" in the Bill. In their fantasy world, what occurred on January 6th was just a big protest that maybe got a bit out of hand. Five people died in that insurrection and hundreds have since been arrested, with the FBI still searching for dozens more.
Here is the list if the 12 members who voted against this honor for the people who protected them. If one of them represents you, remember this next election day:
- Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
- Michael Cloud (R-Texas)
- Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.)
- Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)
- Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
- Bob Good (R-Va.)
- Lance Gooden (R-Texas)
- Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)
- Andy Harris (R-Md.)
- Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)
- John Rose (R-Tenn.)
- Gregory Steube (R-Fla.)
The second vote, which included many of the same Congress members plus a few more, voted against condemnation of the bloody military coup in Maynmar. That puts them in line with the governments of China and Russia, which blocked a U-N resolution to condemn the coup. Republicans in line with the governments of China and Russia? Ronald Reagan just rolled over in his grave!
DUMBEST QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
It's a repeat appearance for Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. He said this about the January 6th insurrection:
"One of the reasons I'm being attacked is because I very honestly said I didn't feel threatened on January 6. I didn't. There was much more violence on the House side. There was no violence on the Senate side, in terms of the chamber."
Tell that to former Vice President Pence who had to be evacuated from the Senate Chamber as the insurrectionist approached after yelling "Hang Mike Pence!" for hours. Johnson called the event a "protest,"
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
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