Something About the Speaker (Footnote Fury)

“The new Paul Ryan tax cuts make the Bush tax cuts look like socialism.”

―Jonathan Chait

Steve Benen frames the issue well enough:

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has largely pulled off an impressive public-relations gambit in recent years. The Republican leader has recast himself as an anti-poverty crusader, without making any meaningful changes to his far-right agenda, simply by using the word “poverty” a whole lot.

But it’s occasionally worthwhile to look past the rhetoric and focus on the hard data ....

.... Ryan’s tax plan is crafted in such a way as to give 99.6% of the benefits to the wealthiest of the wealthy by 2025. The other 0.4% would be divided up across the other 99% of us.

This is a feature, not a bug, of the House Speaker’s approach to economic policy. Ryan genuinely believes that massive tax breaks for those at the very top will spur economic growth that would, in time, benefit everyone. For the Wisconsin congressman, trickle-down policy, its track record notwithstanding, remains the most responsible course to broad national prosperity.

A Reckoning, and Its Toll

Via Associated Press:

An ultra-Orthodox Israeli who fatally stabbed a teenage girl at a Jerusalem gay pride parade has been indicted on a murder charge.

Jerusalem’s District Court indicted Yishai Schlissel for murder on Monday for last month’s deadly attack, along with multiple attempted murder charges for those he wounded.

Mr. Schlissel stands accused of murdering Shira Banki, age 16. Celebrate justice, but remember the price.

____________________

Image notes: Top ― Paramedics help a wounded woman after an ultra-Orthodox Jew attacked people with a knife during a Gay Pride parade Thursday, July 30, 2015 in central Jerusalem. Israeli police said several people were stabbed. (Photo: Sebastian Scheiner/AP) Right ― Ultra-Orthodox Jew Yishai Schlissel walks through a Gay Pride parade and is just about to pull a knife from under his coat and start stabbing people in Jerusalem, Thursday, July 30, 2015. Schlissel was recently released from prison after serving a term for stabbing several people at a gay pride parade in 2005, a police spokeswoman said. (Photo: Sebastian Scheiner/AP) Bottom ― Shira Banki died 2 August 2015 from wounds sustained in a 30 July terror attack against the Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem. (Photo: Banki family)

Associated Press. “Yishai Schlissel Charged With Murder In Jerusalem Gay Pride Attack”. The Huffington Post. 24 August 2015.

Berger, Miriam. “Man attacks Jerusalem gay parade, just weeks after release from prison for similar attack”. The Star-Tribune. 30 July 2015.

The Price: Shira Banki Is Dead

“Bad things happen to good people, and a very bad thing happened to our amazing girl.”

―Banki family

Shira Banki, 16, has died from wounds sustained in a terror attack against the Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem on 30 July.

Three days after being critically wounded by an ultra-Orthodox man that went on a stabbing rampage at Jerusalem’s Gay Pride Parade, Shira Banki, a 16-year-old Israeli teen succumbed to her wounds Sunday afternoon. Five other people were wounded in the attack.

Police confirmed that the suspected stabber is Yishai Schlissel, a Haredi man from Modiin Ilit who stabbed three participants in the 2005 Gay Pride march. He was recently released from prison after serving a 10-year sentence.

Banki was a high-school student from Jerusalem, studying at the Hebrew University High School. She took part in Thursday’s parade to show solidarity with her LGBT friends. She is survived by her parents and three siblings; her family decided to donate her organs.

In a statement issued Sunday, her family said: “Our magical Shira was murdered because she was a happy 16-year-old – full of life and love – who came to express her support for her friends’ rights to live as they choose. For no good reason and because of evil, stupidity and negligence, the life of our beautiful flower was cut short. Bad things happen to good people, and a very bad thing happened to our amazing girl. The family expresses hope for a less hatred and more tolerance.” The family requests the public respect their privacy as they grieve.

(Kubovich)

This is the price of conscience and tradition and privilege. There are those who would covet your body and soul alike, and this is what it is worth to them.

____________________

Image note: Shira Banki died 2 August 2015 from wounds sustained in a 30 July terror attack against the Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem.

Kubovich, Yaniv. “16 Year Old Stabbed in Jerusalem Pride Parade Succumbs to Wounds”. Haaretz. 2 August 2015.

A Headline

Ah, headlines:

Or, for those who need the morbid details:

The Rev. Daryl Riley, pastor of the church, told the Simone Moore, the church’s minister of music, that he was no longer needed in the position, authorities said. Riley then handed Moore his final paycheck. Moore disagreed with the amount of the check and an argument erupted, officials said. Moore then tased Riley with a Taser gun, deputies said.

Several church members were involved in the fight, including Agolia Moore, the music minister’s mother, officials said. Officials said that she was stabbed by one of the deacons, identified as Harvey Hunt.

All members that participated in the fight were treated and released from a local hospital, officials said.

A warrent for second-degree assault was signed on Moore. Another warrant for third-degree assault was signed for Hunt, officials said.

Write your own … ah … punch line.

Yeah, right. Har-har. I know.