Richard Engel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent, live from Gaza
EJ Dionne, columnist for the Washington Post, MSNBC contributor and author of "Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle of the American Idea in an Age of Discontent"
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Video: Freedom of Speech
Video: Gruesome attack in London eyed as act of terror
Video: Suspect killed in murder case tied to Boston bombing
Video: Revelations of Americans killed by US drones raise new questions
Video: Drone revelations a sign of 'inflection point' US counterterror policy
Video: Pentagon computer change a move toward VA backlog fix
Video: Congressional groups line up to scrutinize IRS
Video: Will 'weather weapon' theory end GOP indulgence of conspiracy fringe?
Video: A look ahead
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http://chucksmomentoftruth.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/thanksgiving-turkey-mitt-romney/
And happy turkey-napping and walk-mapping to you too, Chuck.
One good oldie soundtrack just deserves something bad. IMHO.
We need more than a few songs.
Egyptian-Palestinian Natacha Atlas sings in Leysh Natarak, "Why are We Fighting? Why are we fighting when we are all together? Listen to your heart and you will know the truth..Between us there is a long history. In love there is peace In peace there is love".
Clearly, the Palestinians can't get enough of Israeli love. Would Gaza citizen's be dancing in the streets to Barry White's "Can't get enough"? This is so so sad.
The sound of Natacha Atlas is foreign to our ears as we listen carefully to the wonders of Iron Dome but have a deaf ear about the relentless approval illegal settlements in the occupied territories.
Let me play devil's advocate here, and propose an alternative reading of the larger situation. This is a discussion point, not my entire personal position.
The Middle East: Why should we care about it? What goods and services does it provide that we really need and want?
Goods: According to recent authoritative reports, Anglo North America is virtually energy independent. Very soon we will be de facto energy independent. In the meantime, there are plenty of alternate sources of oil we can tap. The ME offers no other goods we really need or want.
Services: The ME provides Europe with cheap immigrant labor. We have Latin America (sorry that sounds harsh, but it's true). The other service it provides is Terrorists. We sure don't need that!
So why should we care very much about the ME?
And what should our policy be. Let me suggest two points: 1) We oppose and challenge terrorists everywhere in the world, if those terrorists threaten the US. 2) We should treat everybody with diplomatic courtesy.
That's it. Our national self-interest is served by those two policy points, and they are all we need.
Discussion?
Why, Rachel, do you say that the US can only exert pressure on a lever connected to Egypt? Why does the US - even after the election - have to fall into an unqualified defense of Israel's right "to defend itself" - even as it is increasingly obvious that Israel has no interest in a cease fire, no interest in the peace process or in a two state solution --- and instead is pursuing a US-backed policy of expansion of settlements and an indefinite extension of an illegitimate status quo? What ever happened to exerting pressure on Netanyahu?
In response to your segment on "Barak O' Fraudo" I wonder what the Democratic spin would have been if President Obama had lost the election. What kind of prepared statements, guests, and segments would have been paraded across the MSNBC video screen? I mean, with all of the voter suppression that the Republican state legislatures were enfolding what would be the headlines after the election after a Romney win?
I'll never know the stories that were never told. But I just can't help but to allow myself the distraction of the stories that could have been...
How do I figure? I"m thinking maybe I could start a 501 (c) 3 and convince some of these fearful rich folks to contribute to MY fund that will enable them to not realize a tax increase. Nah,...I'd be accused of fraud by capitalizing on their stupidity.
Rachel, Your argument and the President's argument about the first $250,000.00 still getting the tax break is actually a little too sophisticated for many people. There is something even crazier about the people, articles about limiting earnings to $249.999.99. This has always been the dumb argument that it is not worth it to work for the money because it all goes to taxes. So these people are saying rather than paying 30 cents and keeping 70 cents they are better off without the 70 cents or more specifically paying the 39.6 cents and keeping the 60.4 cents.
EXACTLY! Thank you
Because actual people don't do this. People on blogs might scream it, but people in real life don't do math that way. In real life people know that if they get taxed more it doesn't matter- they'll just work harder to make even more money to make up for the difference.
This is why companies don't care that people are working harder than ever for less pay (per the hours worked and the effort given) from a social perspective. They know that workers will keep doing it because people would rather have the salary and live, even if uncomfortably, than they would have no salary and be moochers. People on the right know this too, but they spin the narrative that best fits the delusion that we're individualist and therefore we don't need social services and therefore we don't need taxes. It's not about whether or not that fits into reality; it's about ideology.
Yeah, I know, that sounds otherwise conspiratorial and like a complete strawman of the right wing argument. The problem is it's true.
Thank you for the segment on marginal taxes. As a CPA specializing in tax for the past 37 years, it boggles my mind how people cannot grasp this concept. The other thing that is never considered is the concept of taxable income vs gross income. I have heard on shows like Morning Joe the argument that a family of 4 living in NYC, making $250K is not "rich". Now if you have gross income in NYC of $250,000, and you had no itemized deductions (charitable, mortgage interest, state taxes, etc,) you would have $26,400 in standard deductions and personal exemptions. That means that you could actually have $276,400 in gross income without any tax increase and if you did, it would only be on the excess. People do not understand the impact of tax rates. I recently gave the example, if someone had taxable income of $1,250,000, their taxes would go up $46,000 ($1,000,000 x 4.6% (39.6%-35%)) I asked them if you have TAXABLE income of $1.25 million, you think you can afford $46,000? Will it change your life?
And most importantly, this would have absolutely NO impact on whether you hire someone. I make hiring decisions based on one thing, will having an employee add to my business. Will they be productive where I make more money. Regardless of the tax rate 35% or 39.6% I still get to keep between 60.4% and 65%. I still keep most of the money
For the record: "DIPLOBAMACY" bugs me. I mean your utterly unnecessary neologism. I'm happy for this administation's diplomatic successes, just not your ridiculous brand name.
Have some pride.
Aww, Rachel, I got all excited when you started the segment about Pres. Obama's graciousness in calling other nations what they want to be called. But then you messed it up on him. Myanmar is a 2-syllable word that differs from the colonial Burma only in the method of transliteration. I heard Pres. Obama say it right and respectfully. Please follow his example.