Senate GOP tax bill hurts the poor more than originally thought, CBO finds

thedemsocialist:

The Senate Republican tax plan gives substantial tax cuts and benefits to Americans earning more than $100,000 a year, while the nation’s poorest would be worse off, according to a report released Sunday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans are aiming to have the full Senate vote on the tax plan as early as this week, but the new CBO analysis showing large, harmful effects on the poor may complicate those plans. The CBO also said the bill would add $1.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, a potential problem for Republican lawmakers worried about America’s growing debt.

Democrats have repeatedly slammed the bill as a giveaway to the rich at the expense of the poor. In addition to lowering taxes for businesses and many individuals, the Senate bill also makes a major change to health insurance that the CBO projects would have a harsh impact on lower-income families.

By 2019, Americans earning less than $30,000 a year would be worse off under the Senate bill, CBO found. By 2021, Americans earning $40,000 or less would be net losers, and by 2027, most people earning less than $75,000 a year would be worse off. On the flip side, millionaires and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 would be big beneficiaries, according to the CBO’s calculations. (In the CBO table below, negative signs mean people in those income brackets pay less in taxes).

Senate GOP tax bill hurts the poor more than originally thought, CBO finds

mfred:

That’s right, it’s a Turkey Day Romance!

Thankful for Her by Alexa Riley

Autumn is obsessed with the step-brother she never met. He finally shows up for Thanksgiving, only to get blisteringly drunk and fall into bed with her. So romantic! Also, this is more of a holiday novella than just Thanksgiving. In fact, Thanksgiving kind of comes and goes but Christmas is lingered over. And also, there are a lot of coincidental, accidental, and practically fated things happening with the plot, even for an Alexa Riley book. Riley is cheesy and over-the-top, but this one fell a little flat for me. 3 stars.  

Stuffed: A Thanksgiving Romance by Jessica Gadziala

Callie goes home for Thanksgiving only to find herself face-to-face with her high school crush and brother’s best friend, Adam. Short, sweet but not overly so, and centered around the holiday, this was a fairly enjoyable book. I didn’t love the heroine– she was meant to be quirky and cute in that kind of way where she is totally oblivious to it, but instead I found her a little grating. 3 stars for a subpar heroine but a strong Thanksgiving theme.

I feel very strongly that if historical romance can give women a happy ending, it can give queer people a happy ending. M/f historical romance doesn’t tie itself in knots over the likelihood of the rake having syphilis, the terrible dentistry, the lice, the prolapsed uterus after multiple pregnancies, the prospect of death in childbed, or the horrifying legal discrimination against married women. We don’t close the book on the wedding scene reflecting that the heroine can now be legally raped, has just lost all her property to her husband…and would be vanishingly unlikely to obtain a divorce. Historical romance readers aren’t stupid; we know this stuff, but we choose to believe our heroine will be one of the lucky ones. And I don’t see why we can’t extend that happy glow to other stories, too. If women’s lives don’t have to be blighted by social oppression in romance, neither do those of people of color or queer people.
Moreover, human nature doesn’t change. A lot of what we read about LGBT people in history is appalling because the rec­ords we have are the legal documents, the newspaper reports, the accounts of people who were victimized. We don’t generally have the hidden stories of the people who lived under the radar…. But we know…people we’d now call gay, bi, trans have always existed and [that] as a matter of statistics plenty of them must have lived and died without ever coming to the law’s attention. Which is not to hand-wave the horrors of the past but only to say that horror isn’t the only story, and it’s not an acceptable reason to deny marginalized people their happy-ever-after.

KJ Charles (Library Journal interview) 
(via bookgeekgrrl)

I’ve forced my chicken (or leftover turkey) pumpkin soup on all my non-web-based friends… Anyone want it?

incognito-princess:

Chicken (or leftover turkey) Pumpkin Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

5 cups chicken broth*

1 large chicken breast (¾ lb)* (or leftover turkey, shredded)

2 cups pumpkin puree

15 oz can black beans

½ cup frozen corn kernels

1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1 Tbsp cumin

½ tsp salt

½ bunch fresh cilantro

(I started to use C&W frozen veggies- Ultimate Southwest Mix- replaces onion, corn, and black beans- saves chopping time and adds red bell pepper, poblano chili, and something I can’t remember. I also squeeze fresh lime when serving.

Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add both to a large soup pot along with the olive oil and sauté over medium heat until the onions are translucent (3-5 min.)

(skip this step if using leftover turkey) Add the chicken breast (whole) and chicken broth. Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to high, and allow it to come to a full boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and allow the pot to simmer for 30 minutes. Make sure the pot does not stop simmering after turning down the heat. If it does, increase the heat slightly until it is gently simmering.

After 30 minutes, remove the chicken breast from the broth and use two forks to shred the meat. Return the shredded meat to the pot. Add the pumpkin purée and stir until it has mixed into the broth.

Take one or two chipotle peppers from the can (one pepper for a milder soup, two for a spicier soup) and mince them. Add the minced peppers and about a teaspoon of the adobo sauce from the can to the soup. Rinse the black beans and add them to the soup, along with the frozen corn kernels and cumin. Allow the soup to come up to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes more to allow the flavors to blend.

Taste the soup and add about ½ teaspoon of salt if desired. Roughly chop the cilantro and stir it into the soup just before serving.