Crooked Media - What A Day: In Khan we antitrust

Senate Republicans have once again unfurled a big banner reading, “We Have No Legislative Goals Beyond Obstruction, Lmao,” and fortunately for the future of the republic, Democrats may no longer be in a position to pretend that it says anything else.
 

• On Saturday, President Biden released a statement walking back his pledge to veto the bipartisan infrastructure bill if it isn’t accompanied by a broader reconciliation bill, in response to Republicans’ howls of feigned outrage that Democrats would make a deal with them, and resolve to pass the rest of their priorities. Republican negotiators announced that Biden’s statement had sufficiently addressed their fake concerns, and that they would move ahead with passing the bipartisan deal.
   
• It may be doomed anyhow. On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell—who, we’ve now learned, intentionally let Donald Trump’s election lies proliferate in an attempt to save his Senate majority—demanded further assurances that Democrats will tie their own hands and act like he’s still in charge. “Unless Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi walk back their threats...then President Biden’s walk-back of his veto threat would be a hollow gesture.” As Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) reiterated over the weekend, progressives aren’t about to vote for a slim bipartisan bill without total confidence that Senate Democrats will pass climate and caregiving provisions, too: “No reconciliation bill, no deal.”
   
• Who could’ve guessed that the GOP leader who told reporters that “100 percent of my focus is on stopping this new administration” would only be interested in a bipartisan deal as a tool for blocking the core of Biden’s agenda? If and when the roads-and-bridges agreement falls apart, Democrats can roll that spending into their reconciliation bill and pass the whole thing in a party-line vote. All they have to do is let go of the notion that Republicans are operating in good faith to get it done.

The sooner the better. While Democrats gamely try to prove that they can work together with a GOP that no longer exists, the real GOP’s most dangerous elements are becoming normalized.
 

• You might recall that in the wake of the January 6 insurrection, a slew of corporations halted their donations to Republican lawmakers who objected to certifying the 2020 election. A number of major companies have since resumed their political giving, or never stopped in the first place—Toyota alone has given $55,000 to 37 GOP objectors this year. A Toyota spokesperson said that attempting to overturn the results of a presidential election simply wasn’t a dealbreaker: “We do not believe it is appropriate to judge members of Congress solely based on their votes on the electoral certification.”
   
• A thorough House investigation into the insurrection could go a long way towards countering GOP efforts to normalize violent attacks on the democratic process—so long as Republicans aren’t invited to derail it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has introduced legislation to form a 13-member panel, with eight members to be appointed by Pelosi, and five to be chosen “in consultation with” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Pelosi is also reportedly considering a Republican as one of her picks. The committee chair will have unilateral subpoena power, and the panel won’t have a hard deadline to finish its work.

The imaginary, reasonable Republican Party with which Democrats were negotiating an infrastructure compromise has fully vanished into the Kentucky mist. Democrats can now either vaporize their agenda along with it, or accept the real antidemocratic emergency in front of them, and confront it head-on. 

This week on Takeline, hosts Jason Concepcion and Renee Montgomery are joined by award winning journalist LZ Granderson to discuss the coming out announcement of the Las Vegas Raiders' Carl Nassib. They also cover the recent wave of anti-trans youth legislation. Don't miss out, new episodes of Takeline every Tuesday. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A federal judge has tossed out the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Facebook, a major setback for regulators seeking to break up the company. The FTC had argued that Facebook systematically eliminated threats to its monopoly by buying up competitors, but District Judge James E. Boasberg ruled that the FTC hadn’t provided enough evidence that Facebook was, in fact, a monopoly. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle called for a rewrite of antitrust law to address that prerequisite, which stands in the way of any Big Tech regulation. Boasberg chucked a similar lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of 46 states because too much time had elapsed since Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC, now headed up by pre-eminent Big Tech Critic Lina Khan, will have 30 days to refile its complaint.

Provisions in the Treasury’s “Green Book” proposal could disrupt wealthy Americans’ favorite methods of legally avoiding taxes, making Biden’s proposed changes to the tax code all the more significant. The measures target dynasty trusts, which wealthy families use to pass wealth down from generation to generation without incurring transfer taxes. Under the proposal, those trusts would have to start paying capital-gains tax. The plan would also charge a capital-gains tax when assets are transferred into or out of certain kinds of trusts—specifically targeting popular tools to benefit heirs. Those measures are meant to eliminate loopholes in Biden’s plans to raise taxes for the richest Americans, and financial advisors sweatily agree that they would wipe out several tried-and-true avoidance strategies—if Democrats can summon the guts to pass them.

Following record voter turnout in the 2020 election, politicians are drumming up false concerns and baseless conspiracies about widespread voter fraud to justify suppressing the right to vote. Nearly 400 voter suppression bills have been introduced across almost every state. These bills seek to make it more difficult for people to register to vote, vote by mail, or vote in person. The ACLU won’t stop fighting until every eligible voter can cast their ballot. Are you with us? Click here to add your name today.

Join the ACLU in demanding no excuse absentee voting, same day registration, automatic voter registration, and access to in-person early voting for every eligible voter. We won’t stop fighting until every eligible voter can cast their ballot.  

The ACLU needs supporters like you to help us stop these voter suppression efforts. Click here to add your name today to defend voting rights with the ACLU.  

The Supreme Court declined to consider a Virginia school board’s appeal to reinstate its transgender bathroom ban, a major victory for LGBTQ students. 

Early results from a British study suggested that mixing and matching doses of different vaccines provides strong protection.

In other very cool vaccine news, a new study has produced more evidence that the immune response induced by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could last for years. 

Philadelphia residents set up more than 20 community fridges with free food for whoever needs it, part of a larger trend of mutual aid efforts gaining steam during the pandemic.