Bits ’n’ Pieces

From east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling:

House Republicans are proposing a renewal of the 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy. Meanwhile, Americans for Tax Fairness reports that new estimates show renewal could add $3 trillion to the deficit. The top 0.1% of individuals with incomes more than $4.5 million would see an average tax cut of $175,000 in the first year. The half of taxpayers who make less than $75,000 annually would see a $329 cut per year. Those making less than $50,000 would get a tax cut of $200, or about about 50 cents a day.

As president of the conservative think tank The Center for Renewing America, Donald Trump’s former budget director, Russell Vought, has been working with Republicans on the debt ceiling. Vought’s 10-year budget proposal includes: $2 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, $600 billion in cuts to the Affordable Care Act, slashing funding for student loans, freezing military spending, $400 billion in cuts to food benefits, “hundreds of billions” in cuts to educational subsidies, and halving federal agencies like the State and Labor departments, The Washington Post reported. One goal: avoiding cuts to popularly supported Medicare and Social Security

During the Trump presidency, Vought oversaw the ballooning of the debt by $1 trillion in his first year, then $4 trillion in his second year (25% of U.S. debt was incurred under Trump). Under his current plan, Vought said workers will pour into the job market. Critics counter that he’s selling a conservative fantasy: a balanced budget without cutting “anything popular.” William Galston, with the Brookings Institution, said “as a purely rhetorical ploy, they may be able to get away with it. As a matter of arithmetic, it’s ridiculous.”

A Florida lawmaker introduced legislation in that state to “cancel” the Democratic Party, Newsweek reported. A spokesman for the Democratic Party stated that disenfranchising 5 million voters is unconstitutional, “unserious” and a “publicity stunt.”

Florida again: A Republican-sponsored bill would require bloggers who write about Florida’s elected officials to register with the state. Failure to do so would result in fines, CBS reported. Critics said SB 1316 does not align with the First Amendment.

By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Columnist

Beginning in October, drug company Eli Lilly plans to cap out-of-pocket costs for two insulin drugs at $35 a month. The Inflation Reduction Act had already capped insulin copays at $35 a month for Medicare beneficiaries.

Close to 1 billion people are expected to be affected by sea level rise due to climate change, the U.N. general secretary has warned. The fallout: more competition for resources and creation of international laws to protect those rendered homeless. The UN Human Rights Committee has ruled it unlawful to return people to climate-threatened countries if it endangers their lives.

A federal labor judge ordered Starbucks to reinstate seven fired workers in Buffalo, N.Y., and to reopen a store after finding the company violated labor laws “hundreds of times,” CBS News reported.

An estimated 1,000 chemicals in processed foods have never been assessed for safety by the FDA, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. One, Prevagen, used in some protein drinks, is linked to “serious neurological and cardiovascular problems.” EDF wants Congress to clarify that new chemical additives need to go through a formal review process to determine if they are safe for consumption.

The Secret Service recently shared a 60-page report on mass shootings, with data drawn from 2016 to 2020: 96% of attackers were male, 57% were white, 72% had financial stress and 19% had unstable housing. Axios reported more than 100 U.S. mass shootings this year (64 days in).

According to the American Cancer Society, deaths from cancer have fallen 33% since 1991. Credit is attributed to prevention efforts, better cancer treatments, drops in smoking and more early detection.

Blast from the past: Robert Hebras, the last survivor of the 1944 massacre by Nazis in Oradour-sur-Glane, France, died recently at the age of 97. In 1944, at age 19, he and fellow townspeople were ordered to assemble by Nazi soldiers. The men were separated into barns, shot and the barns were burned. Women and children were put into a church; the Germans threw in grenades and burnt it, too. Hebras was hit by bullets, but managed to escape both the fires and German soldiers. It has not been confirmed why the town was singled out for this treatment. “What shocks me is that we do not realize that children and women lost their lives in excruciating pain,” Hebras has said.