Live Tax-Free and Die - The American Prospect After mining out state budgets for 50 years, conservative lawmakers across the country are now turning their pickaxes to local governments’ largest source of revenue: property taxes.

"conservatives are like sharks, and if they don’t keep finding new taxes to promise voters to cut, they die” lol @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social

Some serious side-eye

Everyone should celebrate the averted NYC doorman strike by tipping the doorman (and handymen and supers) extra and by reading this excellent book www.chrispavone.com/the-doorman/

Pete Hegseth Nailed It. No Really. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/pete-...

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

All right, this piece has triggered me so I have to yell a bit (though this is bluesky, so I realize I'm just preaching at the choir):

An anti-tax titan says NC lawmakers are going too far on tax cuts | Opinion Experts on the left and right say this is a dangerous time for North Carolina to proceed with automatic tax cuts.

NC extreme tax cuts are so extreme it’s making the tax cut lobby nervous (they know the bad consequences will hurt their anti-tax agenda when the suffering becomes apparent).

Washington Post’s attack on Maine’s millionaire tax ignores the facts • Maine Morning Star Mainers don’t take kindly to outsiders telling us what to do. The Washington Post’s editorial attacking Maine’s new millionaire tax is no exception. Misdirected and devoid of facts, the editorial boar...

Maine rocks. WaPo, not so much.

Oil company founded by energy secretary paid no US taxes last year Liberty Energy made $193 million last year and received more than $10 million back in tax benefits, according to a nonprofit analysis released on Tax Day.

“What we’re seeing is corporate tax avoidance on steroids,” said Matt Gardner @itep.org. “It’s no secret that large, profitable American corporations have avoided paying full freight for decades, but that trend has been turbocharged by the Trump administration’s 2017 and 2025 corporate tax cuts.”

It IS the sexiest topic!!!

Did you get a tax refund this year? Maybe throw some of it to @itep.org. I know tax policy isn't the sexiest topic, but if nerdy progressives don't fund people doing this work, who will? @amyhanauer.bsky.social and her team are fighting for fairer federal, state & local taxes & deserve our support.

At Least 88 Profitable U.S. Corporations Paid Zero Federal Income Tax in 2025 At least 88 of the largest corporations in America paid $0 in federal income tax for 2025. Corporate tax avoidance has increased at least in part due to President Trump's “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” ...

NEW: At least 88 corporations paid $0 in federal income tax in 2025.

That's despite collectively earning more than $105 billion in U.S. income.

The list includes Tesla, Palantir, Live Nation Entertainment, Coinbase, United Airlines, Walt Disney, and more.
itep.org/88-profitabl...

To the doomers who keep saying Trump will rig the 2026 and 2028 elections: Do not concede in advance

While annual inflation is usually a good measure, it fails to accurately reflect sudden changes, such as the price surge caused by Trump's war in Iran, since the previous 11 months of data serve to mask the sudden spike. So, here is a graph of month-on-month inflation for the past three years.

I know things feel helpless in the United States. But they are not. Orbán was in power for sixteen consecutive years. He was the spoke at the center of the global far-right. He built the network, wrote the playbook, modeled competitive authoritarianism. His long reign seemed a sure thing.

Looks like Trump's attempt to kill US offshore wind has failed.

Good news for plutocrats.

NYT: US Fertility Rates Drop to Another Record Low The fertility rate has been falling since 2007, in large part because of a plunge among teenagers

There are some clues in the age breakdown: The fertility rate for teenagers dropped by 7 percent from 2024’s figure, setting another record low for the group. Since 2007, the rate for teenagers is down by 72 percent, and since 1991, when teenage fertility rates were at a high, the rate is down by 81 percent.

Why I don't trust anyone a little too obsessed about falling fertility rates

Huge shift in American views of Israel

2022: 55% view Israel favorably, 42% unfavorably
2026: 37% view Israel favorably, 60% unfavorable

Generational divide hits both parties: 57% of *Republicans under 50* are negative on Israel

via Pew Research Center poll: www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/u...

IRANIAN NAVY: “.. You must receive permission from Iranian Sepah navy for passing through the strait. If any vessel tries to transit without permission, will be destroyed.”

@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

Ever wonder how to get rid of a mattress? Or how to find resources for a neighbor in need? Call 311. 
 
311 is contacted 100,000 times every day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. No call is too small. 
 
So on the anniversary of 311 (3/11), I decided to answer some of those calls myself.

I love dogs;)

The Strategic Defeat of the United States Congratulations, Trump administration, you played yourself -- and America.

As @dandrezner.bsky.social concludes, the war is a strategic defeat for the United States. We are worse off than before the war, and already there have been military and civilian costs. As many experts have said, hard to see opening Hormuz militarily. 5/ danieldrezner.substack.com/p/the-strate...

Why We’re Removing Our Programmatic Ads - The American Prospect Online advertising is bad for users, publishers, and even advertisers. The only beneficiaries are the Big Tech platforms. We’re doing something about it.

You should be reading the American Prospect. Here’s one more reason.

STATEMENT: MECEP responds to millionaire tax inclusion in budget - MECEP For too long, Maine’s tax code has asked the most of those with the least. Now, we’re on track to change that.

ICYMI: Maine's Approps Committee passed a millionaires tax last week! The 2% surcharge on income over $1M will affect just 0.4% of taxpayers but is projected to generate $96M in FY27 alone. Gov. Mills is on board. Now it’s up to the legislature to deliver.
www.mecep.org/news/stateme...

Billionaire fortunes have reached all-time highs under Trump. So has the movement to tax them Residents in at least 10 states are organizing campaigns to tax wealth in order to fund schools and other social services

There are so many needs that American families have, and we so often have to hear, ‘Oh, there’s no money for that.’ Actually, there’s lots and lots of money.

Text on graphic reads: The Department of Justice has dropped 23,000 criminal cases while prosecuting 32,000 new immigration cases in just the first six months of Trump’s second term. -Nearly 5,000: federal drug cases, including trafficking and money laundering -Over 900: cases of federal program or procurement fraud -More than 1,300: cases involving terrorism and national security

The DOJ quietly closed 23,000+ criminal cases in the first six months of Trump’s second administration, abandoning hundreds of investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime, drugs and other offenses as it shifted resources to pursue immigration cases.

🔗 Full story: https://propub.li/4e5vZLL

Mexico’s monarch butterfly population jumps 64%, offering hope for at-risk species The insects covered its largest area since 2018, despite threats from habitat loss, climate crisis and pesticides

Mexico’s overwintering monarch population grew 64% this winter, with butterflies covering their largest area of forest since 2018. The recovery remains fragile, but suggests there’s been a positive impact from conservation efforts in the butterflies’ core habitat. buff.ly/XoPKQ9d
#ShareGoodNewsToo

“How much could really get done in 100 days?”

✔️Put $8.5 million in stolen wages back in the pockets of New Yorkers who earned it.

From the fast food workers to delivery drivers, we will always defend the hard-working people of New York City against fraudulent employers.

Billionaire fortunes have reached all-time highs under Trump. So has the movement to tax them Residents in at least 10 states are organizing campaigns to tax wealth in order to fund schools and other social services

“There's so many needs that American families have and we so often have to hear ‘There’s no money for that.’ Well, there’s lots and lots of money. And lo and behold sometimes they manage to find it for things that the American people don’t even support and won’t benefit from” @amyhanauer.bsky.social