Links: What Trump did during the insurrection; selling COVID-19 relief

Links: What Trump did during the insurrection; selling COVID-19 relief 

The risk in punishing Republicans is that, if the pandemic ends sooner than later, the economy could overheat very quickly. It would not be a good look to prove the GOP right.

The only thing that horrified Trump was that his plans failed. The counter-factual is having only friendly members of Congress and the Senate count the electoral votes in a Kangaroo Kongress and try to force the issue. He would not have gotten away with it. Had the Insurrectionists succeeded, the Secret Service would have arrested him, with the National Guard restoring order in the Capitol, arresting co-conspirators and putting succession plans in place for reconstituting the Senate, holding quick House elections and having Biden and Harris take office early. Trump would never have won. The rule of law is too strong here.

A VAT on advertising revenue makes sense, assuming a broad-based tax already exists (both subtraction and credit invoice.. A special tax does not.

There are some who need a Citizen's Dividend, but it should be for people who are excluded from a system of cooperatives (who would fund the dividend). The only space where true competition in labor markets is a cooperative system which overcomes barriers to entry and selects leaders democratically. Working Class Perspectives favors the kind of social democracy that legitimates inequality rather than seeking the evolution of society.

Macron is pandering, hoping to neutralize Le Pen. France has some reckoning to do for its domestic racism and colonial past. As Catholicism declines in Europe, a faithful Islamic community to French cultural identity. There are issues that cannot be swept under the rug in service of French identity politics.

The best way to avoid heart disease is having good parents. As for red wine, the French diet may be heart healthy, but pancreatic cancer is endemic. Not a nice way to go without euthanasia. Dark chocolate, however, has no downside. Coffee, even decaf, is an anti-depressant. One under-diagnosed problem is adrenal disease,which can raise blood pressure, harden heart muscles, trigger bipolar disorder, hypoglycemia and alcoholism. Not fun, but not hard to treat when found.