https://herereadthis.blog/2025/04/03/trump-tariffs-tracking-the-economic-impact-of-the-trump-trade-war/

Focusing on the revenue part… AOC said the Republicans need to find $4 trillion for their tax cuts. Here’s a big part, I guess. Yay, tax cuts. I wonder how Wall Street feels about this?

«It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts; it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.  No prayer fully expresses our faith.  No confession brings perfection.  No pastoral visit brings wholeness.  No program accomplishes the church’s mission.  No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.  We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.  We lay foundations that will need further development.  We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.  This enables us to do something and to do it well.  It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.  We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the Master Builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.»

http://www.romerotrust.org.uk/romero-prayer

https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/trump-tariffs-trade-war/

The next time Republicans claim tax increases will reduce employment, I guess we need to ask them to come up numbers like these.

Because I *detest* images of text:

A real question from a Trump supporter: ‘Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?’

THE SERIOUS ANSWER: Here’s what the majority of anti-Trump voters honestly feel about Trump supporters en masse:

That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought “Fine.” (https://www.usatoday.com/…/trump-university…/502387002/)

That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, “Okay.” (https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hotel-paid-millions…)

That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, “No problem.” (https://abcnews.go.com/…/list-trumps-accusers…/story…)

That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, “Not an issue.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/donald-trumps…/)

That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn’t care, you exclaimed, “He sure knows me.” (https://www.usatoday.com/…/president-donald…/4073405002/)

That when you heard him relating a story of an elderly guest of his country club, an 80-year old man, who fell off a stage and hit his head, to Trump replied: “‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t—you know, he was right in front of me, and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him. He was bleeding all over the place. And I felt terrible, because it was a beautiful white marble floor, and now it had changed color. Became very red.” You said, “That’s cool!” (https://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-howard-stern-story)

That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw. (https://www.nbcnews.com/…/donald-trump-criticized-after…)

That when you heard him brag that he doesn’t read books, you said, “Well, who has time?” (https://www.theatlantic.com/…/americas-first…/549794/)

That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, “That makes sense.” (https://www.usatoday.com/…/what-trump-has…/1501321001/)

That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, “Yes!” (https://www.latimes.com/…/la-na-trump-campaign-protests…)

That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man’s coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, “What a great guy!” (https://www.independent.co.uk/…/donald-trump-orders…)

That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, “Thumbs up!” (https://www.theatlantic.com/…/why-cant-trump…/567320/)

That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, “That’s the way I want my President to be.” (https://www.huffpost.com/…/trump-insult-foreign…)

That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they’re supposed to be regulating and you have said, “What a genius!” (https://www.politico.com/…/138-trump-policy-changes…)

That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, “That’s smart!” (https://www.usnews.com/…/how-is-donald-trump-profiting…)

That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was in the middle of water and you have said, “That makes sense.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/the-very-big-ocean…/)

That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, “falling in love” with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, “That’s statesmanship!” (https://www.cnn.com/…/donald-trump-dictators…/index.html)

That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas – he explains that they’re just “animals” – and you say, “Well, OK then.” (https://www.nbcnews.com/…/more-5-400-children-split…)

That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise. (https://www.americanprogress.org/…/confronting-cost…/)

What you don’t get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it’s also… hear me… charitable.

Because if you’re NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.

– Adam-Troy Castro

(To all who agree with its content, I ask that you PLEASE SHARE IT on your own post, and ENCOURAGE OTHERS to do the same.)

Everybody always wants pictures, so here:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/03/climate-crisis-on-track-to-destroy-capitalism-warns-allianz-insurer?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=gnews&utm_campaign=CDAQzYiJy5rl5IEnGKbb_4uMxa_9jgEqEAgAKgcICjDCjqoLMMKZwgM&utm_content=bullets

Real climate change impacts continue to show up first and most strongly in the insurance industry.

«Among cultural organizations, the Smithsonian — with its exhibitions on first ladies’ gowns, space travel and the Star-Spangled Banner — hardly has a reputation for edginess. But the executive order echoes some complaints aired in a 2023 congressional hearing, where some Republicans accused the Smithsonian of “left indoctrination,” and raised questions about drag events and about a graphic posted online by the African American history museum in May 2020 that referred to “hard work,” “individualism” and “the nuclear family” as part of “white culture.”

The graphic, removed six weeks later after it was criticized by Donald Trump Jr. and other conservatives, was cited in the president’s order.»

Government by (not very smart) right-wing news and social media. Perfect.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/arts/design/smithsonian-trump-executive-order.html?unlocked_article_code=1.804.-wsp.x_Rv99FVqaSl&smid=url-share (gift)

Everybody’s freaking out again, and we’ll see how all this shakes out, but… waivers and favors, baby. Waivers and favors.

Kind of amazing to me that 30% of eligible Americans actively voted for this while another 30% said, “whatever y’all decide, it’s fine with me,” but whatever… 🤷‍♂️

https://data4democracy.substack.com/p/does-higher-turnout-now-help-republicans

«Registered Democrats made up a much larger share of non-voters (15.2 million or 38.8%) than registered Republicans (7.7 million or 19.6%), with Independents/Other affiliations constituting the largest group (16.3 million or 41.6%). This means that nearly twice as many Democrats as Republicans sat out the election—a stark contrast to claims that increased turnout would benefit Republicans.»

…

«The data reveals that Republicans consistently turn out at higher rates than Democrats—often by substantial margins—regardless of which sample definition we use.»

…

«These findings run counter to claims that higher turnout would benefit Republicans. While 2024 patterns may differ from previous cycles, the historical evidence is clear: across multiple recent elections, non-voters have maintained a consistent and substantial Democratic lean—often by substantial margins.

We’ll have more definitive evidence when the 2024 CCES data is released, but the existing survey data provides no support for the narrative that non-voters now favor Republicans.»

So, voter suppression remains the name of the game.

«One reason to be concerned about embracing the narrative that increased turnout hurts Democrats is that it would discourage the party from adopting the vocally pro-voting messaging that helped fuel their success in the 2018 midterms. In that election, Democrats successfully mobilized their lower-propensity voters, achieving extraordinary turnout for a midterm election—even as measures of ideology showed Democratic candidates as a group veering to the left.»

…

«Ultimately, this debate will be settled by data, not theory. When the 2024 CCES results become available, we’ll be able to directly test whether non-voters have indeed shifted toward Republicans as dramatically as Shor suggests.

For now, the evidence from voter files and recent survey data points to a different conclusion: Democrats’ primary challenge isn’t that high turnout inherently favors Republicans, but that they’re consistently losing the mobilization battle with their own registered supporters.»