U.S. Senate Doesn't "Represent" Democracy Very Well

Repost From 2021

Certainly not the larger half of "The Will Of The People" as Mitch McConell would try having us believe.

Call me radical, but I do not believe a minority of Senators should be able to block voting rights for millions of people.

But I guess I’m just from that far-left school of thought that legislation should pass when a majority of legislators vote for it https://t.co/NTtk28BwRs

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 23, 2021

minipost.com
U.S. Senate representation is deeply undemocratic—
and cannot be changed "But, according to the calculation of Ian Millhiser, writing for Vox, if you add up the population of states and assign half to each of their two senators, “the Democratic half of the Senate represents 41,549,808 more people than the Republican half.”

If a state has two senators from the same party, he assigns that state’s population number to that party. If a state has one senator from each party, he assigns half the population to each party."

Think of this another way. Delaware has a population of around 974,000 people. California has around 39,510,000 people. Yet both receive representation by two members each in the senate. Call this a constitutional flaw if you will.

As you can see AOC is justified complaining. Mitch and the republicans know full well they represent about 41 1/2 million fewer of the population then democrats in the senate. This is one of the reasons conservatives of all stripes continually bash AOC. Her continued outspokenness makes them uncomfortable as hell. She shakes things up they'd rather not have exposed.

I understand we are not a "direct democracy" but rather suppose to be a "representative democracy". But we aren't truly a  "representative democracy" in it's purest form either. Something to keep in mind next time Mitch claims he's only "representing the will of the American people". Well some of them maybe... not the majority he'd have us believe.

Now learn about the filibuster
This is how they killed the bill AOC was talking about

55 Corporations Avoided $8.5 Billion In Federal Taxes

Repost From 2021

nypost.com
Dozens of America’s biggest companies paid no federal income taxes last year "26 of them haven’t paid a penny in federal income tax in the three years since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reform bill was signed into law in 2017... In fact, 52 of those firms — including household names such as Nike, FedEx and Dish Network — ended up pocketing federal tax rebates worth a collective $3.5 billion"

Every time a Republican president gets into office (except Geo. H.W. Bush) the same thing happens. Ronald Reagan, tax cuts. Geo. W Bush, tax cuts. Trump, Tax cuts. Each promise these will more then make up for themselves. With GDP growth will come a influx of tax money. Yet as anyone can plainly see it never does.

Instead when the budget goes to pot it's up to Democrats try and bring the revenue back in. At this point Republicans then accuse Democrats of tax and spend. We've seen this time and again. Like riding on the same carousel round and round it never seems to get old. Republicans break the bank. Democrats fix it. Then Republicans break it again.. on and on it goes.

So here we are again. The federal budget is in a landslide. Republicans call for cuts mostly in social services and infrastructure.  Now the post office too. When this happens federal state funding is reduced. This in turn trickles down to local governments. Who then in turn increase their taxes on all of us.

Some may argue well if corporations are forced to pay higher taxes they will just increase their prices. True, but they can only do it on their customers. The wealthier will buy more from them. The poorer  less likely to do so (capitalism at work for raising revenue). States and cities on the other hand suffering lower federal funds will impose tax increases on all their citizens across the board rich or poor (socialistic taxation). 

Rather then increasing taxes directly on the wealthy do so more indirectly by closing the loopholes corporations get away with. Obviously the wealthy are going to spend a lot more money thus paying more in taxes on the larger amount of goods they buy then the average worker.

This avoids the age old argument in congress against taxing the wealthy. Perhaps making it less toxic in order to reach some sort bipartisan agreement that won't upset either of their voters as otherwise would. Although I'm quite certain it would be a call-to-arms for corporate lobbyists who'd be the main obstacle to overcome.

This leaves the money changers to be later dealt with. That's a much heftier lift best left to discuss another time.  

Artificial Intelligence A Threat Or Blessing?

Repost

First off before viewing the video I have a few thoughts. Don't I always :-) 

I've stated before there is no such thing artificial intelligence. Intelligence.is simply what it is. There can be nothing artificial about it. Either things already in existence await our discovery or they do not. These cannot be created naturally or by any other means. New information can be increased and stored in whatever vessel it may so happen to occupy whether it involves humans or not  Either way there's obviously nothing artificial going on here when it comes to the evolutional advancement of knowledge.

Of concern is.. will we have a place in the future if machines advance so far as to  having no further dependency upon their makers. Will we become aware of such a point as to when machines, unbeknownst to us, taken over? After reaching a higher state will they be endowed with empathy for lower beings such as ourselves or having no need of it?

These are things of concern for development engineers going forward. With that, take a look at the video. See what you think.

Check back often. Better yet subscribe. You never know what you'll find next on this blog. Entertainment, science, technology, humor, everything in between and more.

Death By Auto-Tune

Repost


Hard to know what is real anymore even when they're in concerts. Believe it or not I usually can tell the difference. Mostly because I have this same software which can do this on my computer.

Brooks & Dunn - Play Something Country (Live from CMA Fest 2025) ft. Lainey Wilson

Washington D.C.- One Of America's Largest Retirement Communities

Repost

Aug 7, 2023

Soon to be headquarters for some of our nation's largest billonaires
What could go wrong?