Been seeing a lot of anti-118 ads lately, specifically talking about the harms to "small business" so I had to look it up myself:

FTA above:

"Measure 118 would slap a 3% tax on a business’s Oregon sales above $25 million, then divvy up the money raised among Oregon’s more than 4 million residents, no matter their age.

An analysis by state revenue officials suggests the policy would reap more than $6.5 billion a year, even though it raises taxes on fewer than 2% of businesses. The measure could then send around $1,600 a year to every Oregonian beginning in 2026 — either via tax credits or direct payments."

So, first, if your business generates more than $25 million in sales ($68,493.15 every day!) - you are NOT a "small business".

2nd, we definitely need reform on business taxes to make sure businesses are paying their fair share.

3rd, I'm not so sure $1,600 direct payments to Oregonians is the best use of those tax dollars. It should be used to reduce our overall tax burden. Maybe increase the standard deduction by $1,600 or some such.

The route is EXTENSIVE. Both sides of the river downtown.

Best bet is to steer clear of anywhere close to this on Sunday:

New web series dropped today, it's like Portlandia but more painfully real.

"For months, Netanyahu and his government have consistently ignored American counsel as to how to prosecute the war in Gaza against Hamas after the Oct. 7 terror attacks. Biden and his aides were repeatedly frustrated by Israel’s widening war aims within Gaza — with a devastating impact on Palestinian civilians — even at the cost of a deal to free the remaining hostages.

Biden deemed Israel’s response “over the top” and did stop one shipment of American arms to Israel. But even as pressure grew from fellow Democrats to create distance from Netanyahu, Biden’s reflexive instinct was to support Israel despite the swelling humanitarian crisis. As his influence over Netanyahu shrunk, the president’s anger grew. Phone calls between the two men were increasingly turned into shouting matches, according to one of the officials and one other senior official not authorized to discuss private conversations. Biden told confidants that he did not believe his Israeli counterpart wanted a cease-fire deal, arguing that Netanyahu was trying to perpetuate the conflict to save his political future and assist Trump in November’s election, the officials said."

The City of Portland’s Small Donor Elections program has placed a temporary hold on matching contributions from candidates or family members of candidates made after Aug. 7 after learning that many candidates appeared to agree to quid-pro-quo donations to each other.

For those who missed it, Iran launched a missile attack on Israel, it appears to be over for now, but who knows how long?

Final (?) Debate thread before the election in 35 days.

Debate begins at 9 PM Eastern, 6 PM Pacific and runs 90 minutes.

Vice Presidential debates are always tricky since nobody has voted for Vice President in living memory.

Expect Vance to attack Walz on his military service.

Expect Walz to attack Vance on the whole "immigrants eating cats and dogs" thing.

Expect Vance to attack Walz on being an assistant coach, at best.

Expect Walz to roll out "Weird!" at least once.

CBS has announced the burden of fact checking will be on the candidates themselves.

https://apnews.com/article/cbs-debate-vice-president-fact-check-7a3b31c98ab092dd44915df57a359d10

How to watch here:

https://apnews.com/article/cbs-debate-vice-president-fact-check-7a3b31c98ab092dd44915df57a359d10

"How can you watch the VP debate on cable? 

CBS will air debate coverage starting at 8 p.m. ET on CBS broadcast stations and affiliates. Find your local station here.

How can you stream the VP debate without cable? 

The debate can be streamed on the free CBS News app on your connected TV or smartphone, on Paramount+, and all platforms where CBS News 24/7 is available, including CBSNews.com and YouTube. 

Debate coverage on CBS News 24/7 begins at 4 p.m. ET."

Edit Impressive how a debate can go when one participant doesn't have mental health issues! Thanks for coming everybody!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20332663

Donald Trump on Sunday proposed a new policy that many critics said is equivalent to legalizing "The Purge."

Trump spoke at a rally in Pennsylvania, where he admitted that his attendees were "falling asleep" at one of his earlier rallies. Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign noted that, as Trump was still speaking at the swing-state event over the weekend, rallygoers placed directly behind the former president started to funnel out of the building.

One comment Trump made drew condemnation on social media, as well as numerous comparisons to The Purge, a film series based on a dystopian world in which the government makes all crimes legal for a 12-hour period.

As reported by Sebastian Smith, AFP Washington desk chief, "Trump in Erie, PA, says in US 'the police aren’t allowed to do their job.' To stop crime, you need 'one really violent day.' He says: 'One rough hour and I mean real rough, the word would get out and it would end immediately.'"

🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

Megalopolis seems to be one of those "love it or hate it" films. Sitting at 49% on Rotten Tomatoes right now:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/megalopolis

So of course I had to see it to make up my own mind about it.

It is a brilliant, beautiful film, that likely nobody will "get" for 10 years or so, and by the time they do get it, all the societal and political references will be so dated, it will need footnotes, much in the same way that Gulliver's Travels needs footnotes today.

https://studycorgi.com/satire-in-gullivers-travels-by-jonathan-swift/

The film is probably 75% Shakespearian archetypes, to the point where I could point out "Ok, that character is from x, this character is from y" and that's before Caesar quotes the entire "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy from Hamlet.

The remaining 25% is kind of an inverted "Atlas Shrugged", where the main character invents a miracle building material, but instead of squirrling it away for his own private enrichment, dedicates himself to using it to build a city of the future to benefit everyone.

Adam Driver plays Caesar, Inventor and Architect

Giancarlo Esposito plays Cicero, mayor of New Rome and chief antagonist to Caesar

Nathalie Emmanuel as Julia, Cicero's daughter. Goes to work for Caesar to get back at dad, falls in love.

Jon Voight as Crassus, 80+ year old media mogul and financier. Kingmaker.

Aubrey Plaza as Wow Platinum, very blonde "news" host. Initially involved with Caesar, marries the 3x older Crassus.

Shia LeBeouf as Clodio, Crassus' money hungry grandson, cousin to Caesar. Has hated Caesar since they were kids.

I'm not going to lie, there are parts of the film that are VERY hard to wrap your brain around, particularly when Caesar goes on a drug and alcohol fueled bender.

Overall, I loved the look and feel of the film, feel the need to watch it again, there are parts that I need to freeze frame when it inevitably is available at home.

For references, Crassus is very clearly Rupert Murdoch with all of his potential heirs cutting each others throats for a slice of the empire. Bonus for the creepy marriage to a much younger wife.

Clodio is clearly Trump, down to the fascist symbolism, populist messaging, and "Make America Great Again".

"Ryan Poffenberger, 38, who has no listed address, pleaded guilty Tuesday to multiple counts of first-degree theft and second-degree burglary, as well as charges of being a felon in possession of a gun and unauthorized use of a car. The plea was part of a deal with the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office."

"In virtual meetings Thursday afternoon, the cloud software giant notified staffers who report to its Hillsboro office, thirty minutes outside of Portland, of its decision. Customer-success employees, who account for much of the Hillsboro office's staff, were given until November 26 to decide whether to take a severance package or relocate to Indianapolis, Atlanta, or Seattle, where Salesforce also has offices. Other employees were told they could continue to work for Salesforce remotely."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20244730