As Donald Trump, speaker’s gavel in hand, basks in the glow of having pressured his GOP caucus to sit, roll over, and pass his bigly bill by July 4th, food banks are bracing for impact (Politico):
Food banks say they are wholly unprepared to feed millions of Americans when Republicans’ cuts to traditional federal safety net programs take effect.
The GOP’s megabill slashes more than $1 trillion from the nation’s largest food aid program and Medicaid, with some of the cuts taking effect as early as this year. Low-income people grappling with higher costs of living could be forced to turn to emergency food assistance.
In preparation, food bank leaders are trying to convince private foundations and state leaders to give them more money. Some states like Minnesota and Pennsylvania have already been weighing shifting additional resources to emergency food programs or standing up new initiatives to counter the loss of federal dollars.
In preparation, food bank leaders are trying to convince private foundations and state leaders to give them more money. Some states like Minnesota and Pennsylvania have already been weighing shifting additional resources to emergency food programs or standing up new initiatives to counter the loss of federal dollars.
That still won’t be enough.
My FYP is video after video of pre-med students explaining how the big bill’s student loan cap will make it impossible for them to afford med school. Experts were already predicting a doctor shortage to the tune of 86k by 2036. This will make it exponentially worst. www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8hFxfBL/
One Bluesky commenter notes, “The way we’ve traditionally dealt with doctor shortages is by giving foreign doctors residency and a pathway to citizenship in exchange for working in rural hospitals. We’re killing both pathways to having doctors.”
On top of that, reportsTime, a cut to the provider tax from 6% to 3.5% in coming years means that families who rely on hospital emergency departments “when a fever spikes or a bone breaks” will face “dramatically longer waits, overwhelmed doctors, and a system pushed to the brink.”
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Ah, July 4th weekend. Nothing kicks off Summer like an all-American holiday that encourages mass consumption of animal flesh (charcoal-grilled to carcinogenic perfection), binge drinking, and subsequent drunken handling of explosive materials. Well, for most people. Being the semi-reclusive weirdo that I am (although I prefer the term “gregarious loner”), nothing kicks off summer for me like holing up for the holiday weekend with an armload of my favorite rock ‘n’ roll musicals. For your consideration (or condemnation) here are my Top 20. Per usual, I present them in no ranking order. For those about to rock…I salute you.
American Pop – Within the realm of animated films, Ralph Bakshi’s name may not be as universally recognizable (or revered) as Walt Disney or Studio Ghibli, but I would consider him no less of an important figure in the history of the genre. During his heyday (1972-1983) the director pumped out 8 full-length feature films (Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic, Wizards, et. al.) using his signature blend of live-action, rotoscoping, and traditional cel animation.
In his 1981 film American Pop, director Bakshi and screenwriter Ronni Kern ambitiously attempt to distill the history of 20th Century American popular music (essentially from Vaudeville to Punk) in 90 minutes. The narrative is framed via the triumphs and travails of four generations of a Russian-Jewish immigrant family (all of whom are involved one way or the other in the music business). Intelligently written, beautifully animated, with an eclectic soundtrack (everything from “Swanee” to “Pretty Vacant”).
Bandwagon – A taciturn musician, still reeling from a recent breakup with his girlfriend, has a sudden creative spurt and forms a garage band. The boys pool resources, buy a beat-up van (the “Band” wagon, get it?) and hit the road as Circus Monkey. The requisite clichés ensue: The hell-gigs, backstage squabbles, record company vultures, and all that “art vs commerce” angst; but John Schultz’s crisp writing and directing and mostly unknown cast carry the day.
Indie film stalwart Kevin Corrigan stands out, as does Chapel Hill music scene fixture Doug McMillan (lead singer of The Connells) as a Zen-like road manager (the director is one of McMillan’s ex-band mates). The original soundtrack is an excellent set of power-pop (you’ll have “It Couldn’t Be Ann” in your head for days). Anyone who has been a “weekend rock star” will recognize many of the scenarios; any others who apply should still be quite entertained.
The Commitments – “Say it leoud. I’m black and I’m prewd!” Casting talented yet unknown actor/musicians to portray a group of talented yet unknown musicians was a stroke of genius by director Alan Parker. This “life imitating art imitating life” trick works wonders. In some respects, The Commitments is an expansion of Parker’s 1980 film Fame; except here the scenario switches from New York to Dublin (there’s a bit of a wink in a scene where one of the band members breaks into a parody of the Fame theme).
However, these working-class Irish kids don’t have the luxury of attending a performing arts academy; there’s an undercurrent referencing the economic downturn in the British Isles. The acting chemistry is superb, but it’s the musical performances that shine, especially from (then) 16-year old Andrew Strong, who has the soulful pipes of someone who has been smoking 2 packs a day for decades. In 2007, cast member/musician Glen Hansard co-starred in John Carney’s surprise low-budget hit, Once, a lovely character study that would make a perfect double bill with The Commitments.
Dance Craze – In the book Reggae International, a collection of essays compiled by Stephen Davis and Peter Simon, sub-culturalist Dick Hebdige writes about the UK’s short-lived yet highly influential “2-tone” movement of the early 1980s:
Behind the fusion of rock and reggae lay the hope that the humour, wit, and style of working-class kids from Britain’s black and white communities could find a common voice in 2-tone; that a new, hybrid cultural identity could emerge along with the new music. The larger message was usually left implicit. There was nothing solemn or evangelical about 2-tone. It offered an alternative to the well-intentioned polemics of the more highly educated punk groups, who tended to top the bill at many of the Rock Against Racism gigs. […]
Instead of imposing an alienating, moralising discourse on a popular form (alien at least to their working-class constituency), bands like the Specials worked in and on the popular, steered clear of the new avant-gardes, and stayed firmly within the “classical” definitions of 50s and early 60s rock and pop: that this was music for Saturday nights, something to dance to, to use.
In 1981, a concert film called Dance Craze was released. Shot in 1980 and directed by Joe Massot (The Song Remains the Same), it was filmed at several venues, showcasing six of the most high-profile bands in the 2 Tone Records stable: Bad Manners, The English Beat, The Bodysnatchers, Madness, The Selector, and The Specials.
I’d heard about this Holy Grail, but it was a tough film to catch; outside of its initial theatrical run in the UK (and I’m assuming very limited engagements here in the colonies) it had all but vanished in the mists of time…until a 2024 restoration and re-release of the film.
This film is nirvana for genre fans; all six bands are positively on fire (this is music for Saturday nights-I guarantee you’ll be dancing in your living room). Thanks to cinematographer Joe Dunton’s fluid “performer’s-eye view” camerawork and tight editing by Ben Rayner and Anthony Sloman, you not only feel like you are on stage with the band, but you get a palpable sense of the energy and enthusiasm feeding back from the audience.
Expresso Bongo – This 1959 British gem from Val Guest undoubtedly inspired Julien Temple’s Absolute Beginners– from the opening tracking shot giddily swooping through London’s Soho district coffee bar/music club milieu, to its narrative about naive show biz beginners with stars in their eyes and exploitative agents’ hands in their wallets. Laurence Harvey plays his success-hungry hustler/manager character with chutzpah. The perennially elfin Cliff Richard plays it straight as Harvey’s “discovery”, Bongo Herbert.
The film includes performances by the original Shadows (Richards’ backup band), featuring guitar whiz Hank Marvin (whom Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page have cited as a seminal influence). The smart, droll screenplay (by Julian More and Wolf Mankowitz) is far more sophisticated than most of the U.S. produced rock’ n ’roll musicals of the era (films like The Girl Can’t Help It and Rock Rock Rock do feature priceless performance footage, but the story lines are dopey).
A Hard Day’s Night – This 1964 masterpiece has been often copied, but never equaled. Shot in a semi-documentary style, the film follows a “day in the life” of John, Paul, George and Ringo at the height of their youthful exuberance and charismatic powers. Thanks to the wonderfully inventive direction of Richard Lester and Alun Owen’s cleverly tailored script, the essence of what made the Beatles “the Beatles” has been captured for posterity.
Although it’s meticulously constructed, Lester’s film has a loose, improvisational feel; and it feels just as fresh and innovative as it was when it first hit theaters all those years ago. To this day I catch subtle gags that surprise me (ever notice John snorting the Coke bottle?). Musical highlights: “I Should Have Known Better”, “All My Loving”, “Don’t Bother Me”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, and the fab title song.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch – It’s your typical love story. A German teen named Hansel (John Cameron Mitchell) falls for a G.I., undergoes a less than perfect sex change so they can marry, and ends up seduced and abandoned in a trailer park somewhere in Middle America. The desperate Hansel opts for the only logical way out…he creates an alter-ego named Hedwig, puts a glam-rock band together, and sets out to conquer the world. How many times have we heard that tired tale?
But seriously, this is an amazing tour de force by Mitchell, who not only acts and sings his way through this entertaining musical like nobody’s business, but directed and co-wrote (with composer Steven Trask, with whom he also co-created the original stage version).
Help! – Compared to its predecessor (see above), this is a much fluffier affair, from a narrative standpoint (Ringo is being chased by a religious cult who wish to offer him up as a human sacrifice to their god; hilarity ensues). But still, it’s a lot of fun, if you’re in a receptive mood. The Beatles themselves exude enough goofy energy and effervescent charm to make up for the wafer-thin plot line.
Marc Behm and Charles Wood’s script has a few good zingers; but the biggest delights come from director Richard Lester’s flair for visual invention. For me, the best parts are the musical sequences, which are imaginative, artful, and light years ahead of their time (essentially the blueprint for MTV, which was still 15 years down the road).
And of course, the Beatles’ music was evolving in leaps and bounds by 1965. It has a killer soundtrack; in addition to the classic title song, you’ve got “Ticket to Ride”, “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”, “The Night Before” and “I Need You”, to name a few. Don’t miss the clever end credits!
Jailhouse Rock – The great tragedy of Elvis Presley’s film career is how more exponentially insipid each script was from the previous one. Even the part that mattered the most (which would be the music) progressively devolved into barely listenable schmaltz (although there were flashes of brilliance, like the ’69 Memphis sessions).
Fortunately, however, we can still pop in a DVD of Jailhouse Rock, and experience the King at the peak of his powers before Colonel Parker took his soul. This is one of the few films where Elvis actually gets to breathe a bit as an actor (King Creole is another example).
Although he basically plays himself (an unassuming country boy with a musical gift from the gods who becomes an overnight sensation), he never parlayed the essence of his “Elvis-ness” less self-consciously before the cameras as he does here. In addition to the iconic “Jailhouse Rock” song and dance number itself, Elvis rips it up with “Treat Me Nice” and “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care”.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains – A punk version of A Star is Born. This 1981 curio (initially shelved from theatrical distribution) built a cult base, thanks to showings on USA Network’s Night Flight back in the day. As a narrative, this effort from record mogul turned movie director Lou Adler would have benefited from some script doctoring (Slap Shot screenwriter Nancy Dowd is off her game here) but for punk/new wave nostalgia junkies, it’s still a great time capsule.
Diane Lane plays a nihilistic mall rat who breaks out of the ‘burbs by forming an all-female punk trio with her two cousins (played by Marin Kanter and then-15 year-old Laura Dern). They dub themselves The Stains. Armed with a mission statement (“We don’t put out!”) and a stage look possibly co-opted from Divine in Pink Flamingos, this proto-riot grrl outfit sets out to conquer the world (and learn to play their instruments along the way).
Music biz clichés abound, but it’s a guilty pleasure, due to real-life rockers in the cast. Fee Waybill and Vince Welnick of The Tubes are a hoot as washed up glam rockers. The fictional punk band, The Looters (fronted by an angry young Ray Winstone) features Paul Simonon from The Clash and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols.
The Phantom of the Paradise – To describe writer-director Brian DePalma’s 1974 horror schlock-rock musical take-off on The Phantom of the Opera as “over the top” would be understatement.
Paul Williams (who composed the memorable soundtrack) chews all the available scenery as ruthless music mogul “Swan”, a man with a curious predilection for insisting his artists sign their (somewhat long-term) contracts in blood. One who becomes so beholden is Winslow (William Finely) a talented composer hideously disfigured in a freak accident (and that’s only the least of his problems). Jessica Harper plays the object of poor Winslow’s unrequited desire, who is slowly falling under Swan’s evil spell.
Musical highlights include the haunting ballad “Old Souls” (performed by Harper, who has a lovely voice) and “Life at Last”, a glam rock number performed by “The Undead”, led by a scene-stealing Gerrit Graham camping it up as the band’s lead singer “Beef”.
Quadrophenia –The Who’s eponymous 1973 double-LP rock opera, Pete Towshend’s musical love letter to the band’s first g-g-generation of most rabid British fans (aka the “Mods”) inspired this 1979 film from director Franc Roddam. With the 1964 “youth riots” that took place at the seaside resort town of Brighton as catalyst, Roddam fires up a visceral character study in the tradition of the British “kitchen sink” dramas that flourished in the early 1960s.
Phil Daniels gives an explosive, James Dean-worthy performance as teenage “Mod” Jimmy. Bedecked in their trademark designer suits and Parka jackets, Jimmy and his Who (and ska)-loving compatriots cruise around London on their Vespa and Lambretta scooters, looking for pills to pop, parties to crash and “Rockers” to rumble with. The Rockers are identifiable by their greased-back hair, leathers, motorbikes, and their musical preference for likes of Elvis and Gene Vincent.
Look for a very young (and much less beefier) Ray Winstone (as a Rocker) and Sting (as a Mod bell-boy, no less). Wonderfully acted by a spirited cast, it’s a heady mix of youthful angst and raging hormones, supercharged by the power chord-infused grandeur of the Who’s music.
Rock and Roll High School – In this 1979 cult favorite from legendary “B” movie producer Roger Corman, director Alan Arkush evokes the spirit of those late 50s rock’ n’ roll exploitation movies (right down to having 20-something actors portraying “students”), substituting The Ramones for the usual clean-cut teen idols who inevitably pop up at the prom dance.
I’m still helplessly in love with P.J. Soles, who plays Vince Lombardi High School’s most devoted Ramones fan, Riff Randell. The great cast of B-movie troupers includes the late Paul Bartel (who directed several of his own films under Corman’s tutelage) and Mary Waronov (hilarious as the very strict principal.) R.I.P. Joey, Dee Dee, Johnny and Tommy.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show – The decades have not diminished the cult appeal of Jim Sharman’s film adaptation of Richard O’Brien’s original stage musical about a hapless young couple (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon) who stumble into the lair of one Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) one dark and stormy night.
Much singing, dancing, cross-dressing, axe-murdering, cannibalism and hot sex ensues-with broad theatrical nods to everything from Metropolis, King Kong and Frankenstein to cheesy 1950s sci-fi, Bob Fosse musicals, 70s glam-rock and everything in between. Runs out of steam a bit in the third act, but with such spirited performances (and musical numbers) you won’t notice. O’Brien co-stars as the mad doctor’s hunchbacked assistant, Riff-Raff.
Stardust – Michael Apted directed this 1974 sequel to Claude Whatham’s 1973 film That’ll Be the Day. David Essex reprises his role as restless seeker Jim MacLaine, who has finally found his true passion: music.
The first third traces MacLaine’s Beatle-like rise to fame with his beat combo “The Stray Cats” (it’s a safe bet Brian Setzer and band mates saw this film back in the day and “re-appropriated” the name).
With massive success comes the inevitable backstage squabbles and jealousies; eventually MacLaine is surrounded by music company weasels and yes-men whispering in his ear to dump his “backup” band and pursue a solo career as a rock god (who can say “no” to that?). Then comes the inevitable decline: too much drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll excess.
One of the best (and most realistic) films ever made about the music business. Clever casting of a number of veteran UK rockers like Adam Faith, Dave Edmunds, Keith Moon, Marty Wylde and Paul Nicholas adds greatly to the authenticity.
Starstruck – Gillian Armstrong primarily built her rep on female empowerment dramas like My Brilliant Career, Mrs. Soffel, High Tide, The Last Days of Chez Nous and Charlotte Gray; making this colorful, sparkling and energetic 1982 trifle an anomaly in the Australian director’s oeuvre. But it’s a lot of fun-and I’ve watched it more times than I’d care to admit.
It does feature a strong female lead , free-spirited Jackie (Jo Kennedy) who aspires to be Sydney’s next new wave singing sensation, with the help of her kooky, entrepreneurial-minded (and frequently truant) teenage cousin Angus (Ross O’Donovan) who has designated himself as publicist/agent/manager. Goofy, high-spirited and filled to the brim with catchy power pop (with contributions from members of Split Enz and Mental as Anything). Musical highlights include “I Want to Live in a House” and “Monkey in Me”.
Still Crazy – Q: What do you call a musician without a girlfriend? A: Homeless! If that old chestnut still makes you chortle, then you will “get” this movie. Painting a portrait of an “almost great” 70’s British band reforming for a 90’s reunion tour, Brian Gibson’s 1998 dramedy Still Crazy does Spinal Tap one better (you could say this film goes to “eleven”, actually). Unlike similar rock ‘n’ roll satires, it doesn’t mock its characters, rather it treats them with the kind of respect that comes from someone who genuinely loves the music.
Great performances abound. Bill Nighy stands out in a hilarious yet poignant performance as the insecure lead singer of Strange Fruit. Prog-rock devotees will love the inside references, and are sure to recognize that the character of the “lost” leader/guitarist is based on Syd Barrett. Still, you don’t need to be a rabid rock geek to enjoy this film; its core issues, dealing with mid-life crisis and the importance of following your bliss, are universal themes.
Foreigner’s Mick Jones and Squeeze’s Chris Difford are among the contributors to the original soundtrack. I also recommend Gibson’s 1980 debut Breaking Glass (a similar but slightly darker rumination on music stardom).
Tokyo Pop –This 1988 film is a likable entry in the vein of other 80s films like Starstruck, Breaking Glass, Desperately Seeking Susan, Smithereens and The Fabulous Stains. Star Carrie Hamilton’s winning screen presence helps to buoy the fluffy premise. Hamilton (who does her own singing) plays a struggling wannabe rock star who buys a one-way ticket to Tokyo at the invitation of a girlfriend. Unfortunately, her flaky friend has flown the coop, and our heroine is stranded in a strange land. “Fish out of water” misadventures ensue, including cross-cultural romance with all the usual complications.
For music fans, it’s a fun time capsule of the late 80s Japanese music scene, and the colorful cinematography nicely captures the neon-lit energy of Tokyo nightlife. Director Fran Rubel Kuzui (who co-wrote the screenplay with Lynn Grossman) later directed the 1992 feature film Buffy the Vampire Slayer and went on to serve as executive producer for the eponymous TV series. Sadly, Hamilton (Carol Burnett’s daughter) died of cancer at age 38 in 2002.
Tommy –There was a time (a long, long, time ago) when some of my friends insisted that the best way to appreciate The Who’s legendary rock opera was to turn off the lamps, light a candle, drop a tab of acid and listen to all four sides with a good pair of cans. I never got around to making those arrangements, but it’s a pretty good bet that watching director Ken Russell’s insane screen adaptation is a close approximation. If you’re not familiar with his work, hang on to your hat (I’ll put it this way-Russell was not known for being subtle).
Luckily, the Who’s music is powerful enough to cut through the visual clutter, and carries the day. Two band members have roles-Roger Daltrey as the deaf dumb and blind Tommy, and Keith Moon has a cameo as wicked Uncle Ernie (Pete Townshend and John Entwistle only appear briefly).
The cast is an interesting cross of veteran actors (Oliver Reed, Ann-Margret, Jack Nicholson) and well-known musicians (Elton John, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner). Musical highlights include “Pinball Wizard”, “Eyesight to the Blind” “The Acid Queen” and “I’m Free”.
True Stories – Musician/raconteur David Byrne enters the Lone Star state of mind with this subtly satirical Texas travelogue from 1986. It’s not easy to pigeonhole; part road movie, part social satire, part long-form music video, part mockumentary. Episodic; basically a series of quirky vignettes about the generally likable inhabitants of sleepy Virgil, Texas. Among the town’s residents: John Goodman, “Pops” Staples, Swoosie Kurtz and the late Spalding Gray.
Once you acclimate to “tour-guide” Byrne’s bemused anthropological detachment, I think you’ll be hooked. Byrne directed and co-wrote with actor Stephen Tobolowsky and actress/playwright Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart, Miss Firecracker). The outstanding cinematography is by Edward Lachman. Byrne’s fellow Talking Heads have cameos performing “Wild Wild Life”, and several other songs by the band are in the soundtrack.
Rogan, who endorsed Trump just hours before the 2024 presidential election, now says he was misled by the man he helped boost into office. The podcaster and UFC commentator, known for giving a platform to anti-cancel culture figures and free speech advocates, is now accusing Trump of betraying the very values he campaigned on.
“We were told there would be…,” Rogan began during a July 2 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, before trailing off and recalibrating. “There’s two things that are insane. One is the targeting of migrant workers, not cartel members, not gang members, not drug dealers, just construction workers showing up at construction sites, raiding them. Gardeners. Like, really?”
His guest, Amjad Masad, the Palestinian founder and CEO of the coding platform Replit, agreed. The two were discussing the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, especially in the context of escalating tensions over Gaza and political speech on U.S. campuses.
Masad brought up recent reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeting Palestinian students and immigrants on flimsy pretenses. “Did you see the video of the Turkish student at Tufts University who wrote an essay?” he asked.
Rogan responded, incredulous: “It was just critical of Israel, right? And that’s enough to get you kicked out of the country?”
The two were referencing growing concern that lawful political speech, especially criticism of Israel, is increasingly being used as grounds for visa cancellations and deportations under Trump’s revived immigration policy.
Oh my goodness. Could it be that Donald Trump isn’t on the up and up? Say it ain’t so!
Rogan isn’t the only leader of the bro-faction feeling like Daddy isn’t all that:
Rogan’s disillusionment mirrors that of Elon Musk, another former Trump ally. Musk, who headed the now-infamous Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has become one of Trump’s fiercest critics since Congress passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a legislation that slashed EV subsidies, immigration protections, and environmental incentives.
Neither of these people are politically serious. But I guess everyone has to take them seriously because they command a faction of naive little boys and cynical men who are attracted to their rather pathetic transgressiveness.
I wouldn’t make too much of this right now. It’s much too early to predict whether this will last or if Trump can woo them with his very special bronzer made-up, Tres Semme hair sprayed, manly charisma that seems to appeal to certain men in this country. But it’s a start.
The Social Security Administration has sent a misleading email to beneficiaries stating that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cuts and spending law eliminates taxes on Social Security benefits for most recipients.
“The bill ensures that nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits, providing meaningful and immediate relief to seniors who have spent a lifetime contributing to our nation’s economy,” said the email, which multiple beneficiaries shared with NBC News.
“The new law includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries, providing relief to individuals and couples,” it said.
An identical note was posted to the SSA’s website on Thursday, the same day multiple beneficiaries told NBC News they received the email.
The Trump domestic policy package, which Congress sent to his desk on Thursday, extends the president’s expiring tax cuts he enacted in 2017, and also creates a temporary tax deduction for earnings from tips and overtime.
But it does not eliminate federal taxes on Social Security. Budget reconciliation, the arcane process Senate Republicans used to pass the bill while avoiding a Democratic filibuster, does not allow changes to be made to Social Security.
[…]
Former SSA officials and congressional Democrats said they were appalled by what they viewed as a highly political email being sent to Americans by a federal agency.
“This email went to every Social Security subscriber and every word of it is a lie. Social Security benefits are still taxed. This big, ugly bill doesn’t change that,” New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote on X. “It’s disturbing to see Trump hijack a public institution to push blatant misinformation.”
Under current law, Americans over 65 years old are already eligible for tax deductions — $2,000 if married or $1,600 if unmarried and not a surviving spouse. The House and Senate proposals would boost those amounts.
The House-approved version provides an additional $4,000 tax deduction for people ages 65 and older, and the Senate version would give an additional $6,000 tax deduction to people aged 65 and older. Neither deduction represents an end to tax on Social Security, and both versions would exclude Social Security beneficiaries who are 62 to 64, and dependents, deceased workers’ survivors and disabled workers who have not turned 65.
The White House has described the tax break differently than Trump, saying in a June 29 press release that the new tax deduction, “combined with other deductions, ensures the average Social Security beneficiary will pay zero taxes on Social Security.” It called it a “myth” that the bill “doesn’t actually end taxes on Social Security,” saying the “fact” is the bill “delivers historic tax relief to seniors.”
Taxation of Social Security benefits began with 1983legislation that was designed to help shore up Social Security’s finances. The taxes are calculated based on a complicated formula that involves recipients’ overall income, their tax-exempt interest income and half of their Social Security benefits. The revenues from taxing Social Security benefits are set aside for the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
Trump said during the 2024 campaign that “seniors should not pay tax on Social Security,” but the bill doesn’t deliver that. If either the House or Senate version of the bill is signed into law, some Social Security recipients would still pay income tax on their benefits.
The reason lawmakers drafting the bill did not repeal all taxation of Social Security benefits has to do with Senate procedural quirks. To pass the bill with a simple majority vote, provisions need to survive a parliamentary vetting process known as the “Byrd bath,” named for the late Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. This process bars directly cutting Social Security.
So the House and Senate crafted workarounds that sought to achieve something as close as possible to Trump’s promise.
Under the legislative workarounds, there is significant overlap between people who would benefit from the tax break and people who receive Social Security payments. But not everyone would benefit, and the break isn’t permanent, lasting through 2028.
One group that would not receive the tax break is people who are direct Social Security beneficiaries younger than 65. In December 2024, federal data shows, about 5% of retired Social Security beneficiaries were ages 62 to 64.
Other groups that would not get the deduction are retired workers’ dependents, deceased workers’ survivors, and disabled workers and their dependents who are not yet 65.
Finally, wealthier taxpayers would not benefit. The tax break would phase out at higher income levels — at $175,000 for single filers and $250,000 for joint filers, according to the Tax Foundation, a center-right think tank.
The PolitiFact reader asked, “As I understand your fact checking, the taxes paid on Social Security go to the Social Security trust fund. Does this make the date when benefits will be cut for all come sooner?”
The answer is yes — and by experts’ analyses, anyone born after 1967 could see the effect.
Taxation of Social Security benefits began with 1983legislation that was designed to help shore up Social Security’s finances. Certain tax revenues, including the taxation of Social Security benefits, are deposited directly into the Social Security trust fund, to pay for current beneficiaries.
Once the trust fund runs out of money, it will trigger automatic, across-the-board cuts.
In their 2025 annual report, Social Security trustees estimated that the program’s trust fund would become insolvent in 2033. That was before Congress approved Trump’s bill.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscally hawkish group, ran the numbers on the Senate version of the bill, which the House approved without changes on July 3. It is headed to Trump’s desk, and he’s said he will sign it.
The group calculated that the changes from Trump’s bill will reduce Social Security tax revenues by $30 billion per year — meaning the trust fund would be exhausted several months earlier, in 2032 rather than in 2033.
The bill’s estimated impact on Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund — which operates in a similar way to the Social Security trust fund — means the fund would run out mid 2032, not late 2033.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget also projected that when insolvency hits in 2032, Social Security recipients would see their benefits cut by 24%, while payments from the Medicare trust fund will decline by 11%.
They could, of course, raise the cap on Social Security contributions so that richer people have to pay more in, but that is apparently a pipe dream.
And people will have this tax break as long as Dear Leader is in office and it will go away if a Democrats is in which will make everyone hate them even more. It’s very clever.
Here is a gift link to the most interesting thing you will read this weekend, maybe this week. It’s a conversation between Jamelle Bouie and Zaakir Tameez, a recent graduate of Yale Law School, who has written a new biography of the great anti-slavery Senator Charles Sumner. I would guess that many of you, like me, were aware of only the tiniest bit of his story and had little knowledge of the importance of his influence on American politics for over a century.
This is just a bit of it. Do read the whole thing. It’s fascinating:
Charles Sumner grew up in a series of contradictions. I’ll tell you just two. First, he’s a third-generation Harvard-educated man. His father went to Harvard, his grandfather went to Harvard, and he went to Harvard. But he also grew up in poverty because his father was a bastard child of his grandfather. Didn’t have any of the wealth and privileges that came with that. His father also was just a lawyer who was really bad at being a lawyer. He just couldn’t seem to make any money. And so they grew up impoverished. His mom was a seamstress.
That leads to the second contradiction, which is that Sumner grew up in a predominantly African American neighborhood in Boston in the 1810s and 1820s because his parents could not afford to live in any other part of town and also because his father was a true racial egalitarian. He was known to tip his hat walking past Black Bostonians. He always said that he wished for the day when Black people would be judges in Boston. Interestingly, he insisted on using the term “people of color” to refer to his neighbors. I thought of this as a modern term, but I see it in his diary.
Now put all that aside. Sumner grows up, goes to Harvard, goes to law school, is trained by Joseph Story, a prominent justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. And as a result, he gets inculcated in a very conservative aristocratic academic environment. His teachers wanted him to become a corporate lawyer, and that’s what he does after law school. And yet as he practices law with the merchant class of Boston, many of whom make their profits off slavery, he still lives in his mother’s home in the Black part of town.
His contradictions are things that he wrestles with throughout his early adulthood.
What did his peers think of his closeness with Black Bostonians?
So when he was a kid, he was bullied in school for coming from the Black part of town. And the main bully, interestingly enough, was a young Wendell Phillips. So Wendell Phillips is one of the leading American abolitionists, kind of the right-hand man to William Lloyd Garrison. But Phillips is a real Boston blue-blooded Brahmin. His father was the first mayor of the city. And Wendell Phillips, as a kid, was definitely a racist and definitely prejudiced. He was kind of the alpha male of the school because of his privileges. And so he bullied Sumner. They went all the way through Boston Latin School. They went to Harvard College together. They didn’t even become friends until law school.
When he entered politics his evolution through the anti-slavery movement is super interesting. He took a brave abolitionist stance as a Senator that brought him to the moment we all know from our high school classes — his caning on the floor of the Senate. His speeches, his proposed legislation and his accomplishments were all felt over the next century as the country’s relationship with its Black citizens was tested over and over and over again.
There were always people in America who weren’t racists, which proves that however common it was, some people knew it was bullshit. It’s always possible to be a decent human being.
BREAKING: In a stunning move, Speaker Johnson literally hands Trump his gavel. The Republican Congress has done nothing to put a check on Trump’s abuses of power, and nothing symbolizes that more than literally handing over his authority. pic.twitter.com/E0zjqj4WuD
— Trump Lie Tracker (Commentary) (@MAGALieTracker) July 4, 2025
If a gavel is a metaphor for manhood (or pride, if you want to be more polite about it) this moment was historical.
My god. They literally handed it over to him and then he pounded it hard like an angry three year old.
This piece from former FBI official Michael Feinberg says it all:
My resignation from the FBI
On May 31of this year, in a series of phone calls beginning at nine in the morning and ending that afternoon, the newly installed Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office, Dominique Evans, made clear to me that, at the direction of Dan Bongino, my career with the organization had—for all intents and purposes—come to an end.
It would be an understatement to say that I had not expected this. In fact, I was in the midst of preparing for a potential move to Washington, D.C. to take on a new position at FBI headquarters.
But, it turned out, I had made a terrible mistake: I had remained friends with someone who had appeared on Kash Patel’senemies list. How did Bongino find out about this private friendship? I honestly don’t know. What business was it of his? None at all. Was I accused of any sort of misconduct? No. It didn’t matter.
I faced a choice: get demoted or resign. I became the latest of a great many senior FBI special agents to walk out the door.
[…]
He goes on to say that he has always leaned right in his politics and was not particularly hostile to the Trump administration, despite some misgivings. But he had made that one mistake:
By the time spring came to southern Virginia, the majority of the Norfolk Field Office felt that we were in a relatively good space.
All that changed when I received a call from my boss. She wanted to know if I was friends with Pete Strzok.
That’s all it took:
Yet rules turned out not to matter much. And so, that weekend, Bongino informed my SAC, who in turn informed me, that he was halting—and actually reversing—my professional advancement.
I’m not going to rehash or relitigate Pete’s story here; it’s been told ably and comprehensively by others, not the least by himself. I’ll simply note that we worked together in the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division roughly a decade ago, and we shared a number of mutual acquaintances before we ever even met (the counterintelligence world being not that large). Our own friendship began with a discovery that we liked the same bands and shared an interest in trying new restaurants; the notion that I was his “protégé,” as one X account stated, was news to us both. Most of our conversations since he left the Bureau have involved debating the relative merits of New Order versus Joy Division. If the fact that I sang along to “Every Day is Like Sunday” while he stood next to me at a Morrissey concert actually represents an imminent danger to the Bureau’s integrity, then, for the first time in nearly a half-century on this earth, I’m truly at a loss for words.
Yet under Bongino’s reign, it was apparently enough. My SAC informed me in a moment she described as “brutally honest,” that I would not be receiving any promotions; in fact, I needed to prepare myself for the likelihood of being demoted. She gave me no details about what position or office I would be sent to once my time as a leader prematurely concluded.
Furthermore, she told me, I would be asked to submit to a polygraph exam probing the nature of my friendship with Pete, and (as I was quietly informed by another, friendlier senior employee) what could only be described as a latter-day struggle session. I would be expected to grovel, beg forgiveness, and pledge loyalty as part of the FBI’s cultural revolution brought about by Patel and Bongino’s accession to the highest echelons of American law enforcement and intelligence.
When my SAC revealed the concern about my friendship with Pete, and its imminent consequences, I knew that I could no longer stay at the Bureau. Within twenty four hours of my final phone call with her, I resigned, five years short of eligibility for retirement and a pension. I sent the following letter:
Dear SAC Evans,
I am writing to tender my resignation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, effective immediately.
In a series of phone calls yesterday, I was informed by you that, because I maintain a friendship with a former FBI executive who is a critic and perceived enemy of the current administration, I will not be receiving any of the promotions for which I am currently being considered, and that I should actually steel myself to be demoted from my present role; additionally, I was informed that I should expect to be polygraphed about the nature of my friendship. Even with these warnings and admonishments, though, it was never explained what policy, procedure, or institutional norm I had supposedly violated other than communicating with someone whom our current management finds politically undesirable. Within five minutes of our last phone call, an email went out to the office removing me as acting SAC in your absence.
It should go without saying—to anyone who cares about the Constitution and rule of law—that this is not right. Our organization’s motto is “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity,” but over the past six months there have been too many signs that our current leadership does not understand the last of those words. Earlier this year the ranks of our senior executives were decimated by forced retirements, and many others were willing to take their places without voicing concern or dissent. The Department of Justice has been orderedto open cases on individuals solely for having the temerity to say that the 2020 election was not stolen, or for having carried out their lawful duties as state level prosecutors; few people have pushed back. We sacrificed the names of every Special Agent who investigated the events of January 6, 2021, and an entire public corruption squad in our nation’s capital was disbanded for having worked on a related matter. Within our own field office, we shirked our national security obligations in order to move personnel to immigration task forces; our area of responsibility does not actually have a significant population of illegal immigrants, but our leaders wanted press release-ready roundups, so we pulled people from congressionally mandated counterterrorism and counterintelligence duties. I could go on.
I recount those events more in sorrow than in anger. I love my country and our Constitution with a fervor that mere language will not allow me to articulate, and it pains me that my profession will no longer entail being their servant. As you know, my wife and I are expecting our first child this summer, and this decision will entail no small degree of hardship for us. But as our organization began to decay, I made a vow that I would comport myself in a manner that would allow me to look my son in the eye as I raised him. It is now apparent that I can no longer both fulfill that vow and continue working for our current leadership.
It has been the honor of a lifetime to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Mike
Take the time to read the whole piece over at Lawfare. There’s a lot more detail and it’s all shocking. This is already making the McCarthy era look like child’s play. Where are we going to be in three and a half years?
Andrew Floyd had been a leader in the Capitol Siege Section and stayed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, now headed by interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. In an email sent Thursday, he expressed pride in seeking justice for “despicable and illegal acts against our brothers and sisters in uniform” who were victimized during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
“They entered the arena and were assaulted. Later, they were re-victimized. Called crisis actors, vilified, threatened, and told that what they experienced did not happen,” Floyd wrote in the email seen by NBC News.
Floyd’s email cited a quote from a 1910 Theodore Roosevelt’s speech commonly known as “The Man in the Arena,” which he said senior federal prosecutors would send to assistant U.S. attorneys who lost a case. Officially titled “Citizenship in a Republic,” Roosevelt said it is “not the critic who counts,” but those who are “actually in the arena,” noting that their place “shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Receiving that message, Floyd wrote, “made new prosecutors feel seen as they toiled, for long hours and often unsuccessfully, on difficult cases while trying to uphold the rule of law in this city.”
“I lost a few trials and each time I received that email I was reminded why I went into court in the first place. It was not winning that mattered, but the fight for justice,” he wrote.
“My days of entering the arena with you are over. I also have no regrets,” Floyd wrote.
“I know from my communications with you over the years that the people in this building do not keep quiet and are not timid. You pursue justice. You enter the arena. Win or lose,” he wrote. “From now on, although I can no longer join you, I’ll be on the sidelines cheering you on.”
Floyd’s farewell message was the latest sign of strife within the Justice Department, as career federal law enforcement officials wonder how deep Trump’s appointees will go in targeting those involved in prosecuting his allies. In a speech at the Justice Department in March, Trump decried what he called the prior “weaponization” of the Justice Department while calling for the jailing of his perceived opponents.
Floyd’s departure is part of what current and former officials describe as a growing “brain drain” at the FBI and Justice Department, as seasoned public servants leave under mounting political pressure and fear of retaliation.
The National Weather Service isn’t functioning properly? Imagine that:
[A]fter severe flooding in non-evacuated areas in Texas has left at least 24 dead with dozens more missing, including several young girls at a summer camp, Texas officials are blaming their failure to act on a faulty forecast by Donald Trump’s new National Weather Service gutted by cuts to their operating budget and most experienced personnel.
At a press conference last night, one official said: “The original forecast we received on Wednesday from the National Weather Service predicted 3-6” of rain in the Concho Valley and 4-8” of rain in the hill country. The amount of rain that fell in these locations was never in any of their forecasts. Everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service. They did not predict the amount of rain that we saw.”
Reuters published a story just a few days ago, one of many warning about this problem: “In May, every living former director of the NWS signed on to an open letter with a warning that, if continued, Trump’s cuts to federal weather forecasting would create ‘needless loss of life’. Despite bipartisan congressional pushback for a restoration in staffing and funding to the NWS, sharp budget cuts remain on pace in projections for the 2026 budget for the NOAA, the parent organization of the NWS.”
But Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose agency oversees NOAA, testified before Congress on June 5 that the cuts wouldn’t be a problem because “we are transforming how we track storms and forecast weather with cutting-edge technology. Under no circumstances am I going to let public safety or public forecasting be touched.” Apparently the “cutting edge technology” hasn’t arrived yet.
And now presumably FEMA will be called upon to help pick up the pieces of shattered lives in Texas – an agency that Trump said repeatedly that he wants to abolish. In fact, Trump’s first FEMA director Cameron Hamilton was fired one day after he testified before Congress that FEMA should not be abolished.
Trump was quick to say he’d send help. It’s one of his states after all. But having destroyed the disaster aid infrastructure there’s a good chance it will be inadequate too.
Must be Biden’s fault.
On the other hand, there’s this which will make for an interesting dynamic:
A useful deep dive on the forecasts here. theeyewall.substack.com/p/making-sen…
Whenever I came in, a friend who owned a neighborhood restaurant would drop by the table to hear the latest poop on local and national politics. One summer evening when I was feeling less gloomy than you likely are this morning, I said glumly that I remembered when I had a life.
She stiffened and wagged a finger in my face.
“No! This is your life now,” she scolded.
Damn, that brought me up short. Sometimes we feel that the work we do online and in the field is pointless, endless, and unappreciated locally, statewide, and nationally. Apparently not. Except for it being endless.
Perhaps you got this little propaganda piece from the Social Security Administration in your in-box late Thursday night:
The spouse thought it was a fishing phishing scam. Nope. Another friend texted that she nearly threw up when she read it the next morning.
Our opponents win because they are relentless. Their propaganda is relentless. It’s as galling as it is disheartening. They mean it to be. Don’t give in to despair or else they win.
A friend’s late mother was an English war bride who survived the Blitz. Whenever anyone around her started throwing a pity party, she’d have none of it. She’d threaten to retell stories of hunkering down overnight in the Underground and walking home in the morning through fires and rubble.
So, buck up buckos. Cop an attitude. Fake it until you make it.
Ken Casey, the founder and front man of the Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys, is the physical, attitudinal, and linguistic personification of Boston. Proof of this can be found in the way he pronounces MAGA. To wit: “Magger,” as in, “This Magger guy in the audience was waving his fucking Trump hat in people’s faces, and I could just tell he wanted to enter into discourse with me.” A second proof is that “enter into discourse” is a thing Ben Affleck would say in a movie about South Boston right before punching someone in the face. The third is Casey’s articulation of what I took to be a personal code: “I’m not going to shut up, just out of spite.”
The left needs more of that “eat shit” attitude around MAGAs. It’s why I wore my 2024 Democratic Convention tee shirt to the block party yesterday should anyone care to enter into discourse. (Precious few MAGAs in my neighborhood, TBH.)
[Casey would] rather not have to think about electoral politics this much, he said at Fenway. But he is still shocked that so many people in his life fell for Trumpism. “My father died when I was young, and I was raised by my grandfather, who was basically like, ‘If I ever see you bullying someone, I’ll kick the shit out of you. And if I ever see you back down from a bully, I’ll kick the shit out of you.’”
Casey might not like thinking about electoral politics, but this is his life now. You don’t back down from bullies.
My late FIL was a front-line infantryman in Europe in WWII. He fought Nazis. He shot Nazis. If he were alive today to see what’s become of his country, he might be reaching for a rifle again. Or at least fantasize about it. Nobody with a shred of decency and American spirit likes where we are right now.
So have a listen to the new Dropkick Murphys. Then listen again.
But, but His Lordship promised there would be no Medicaid or Medicare cuts on his watch. For some reason people still believe that guy.
The focus on Republican cuts to Medicaid has obscured the fact that cuts to Medicare are a follow-on effect, writes David Dayen, “which will bring the health system to the brink of devastation.”
Because of a statutory requirement to automatically impose budget cuts when legislation increases the deficit, the Big Beautiful Bill would require automatic sequestration cuts across the board, something that has been confirmed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) but has been largely absent from the debate over the bill. Medicare is one of the programs that will face the axe, and the damage sums to $490 billion over the next ten years, starting in the next fiscal year that begins in October. While many of the safety-net cuts in the bill are delayed to help Republicans with their re-election campaigns, the Medicare cuts must begin next year.
The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act of 2010 requires the Office of Management and Budget to keep scorecards that track the cumulative effects of legislation on the budget deficit, based on estimates from the CBO. The Senate version of the Big Beautiful Bill adds roughly $3.3 trillion in debt over the next ten years. That will have to be made up through automatic sequestration cuts.
As CBO confirmed in a letter to the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), OMB’s calculation is mandatory, and unless Republicans manage to also pass massive deficit-reducing legislation within this fiscal year, something that is incredibly unlikely to happen, the cuts would follow.
Meaning:
… OMB would be required to issue an order reducing spending by $330 billion by January 2026. Many accounts are exempted from sequestration, including Social Security and several programs affecting low-income Americans. But Medicare is not.
There is a limitation on Medicare cuts of 4 percent of the program. In fiscal year 2026, that would come out to $45 billion. These cuts would increase with the growth of the program, hitting $75 billion by 2034 according to CBO. The total ten-year cuts would equal $490 billion.
For those who need reminding, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is Russell Vought.
Republicans who voted for Trump’s bigly bill will swear during their reelection campaigns that they didn’t vote to cut Medicare. But that’s like rear-ending a parked car that crushes a pedestrian standing in front. You didn’t exactly hit the pedestrian, but….
The measure Trump signed on Friday will slash $500 billion from an American health care already under strain. “The Medicare cuts put the system on the fast track to oblivion,” Dayen concludes. Patients will die like crushed pedestrians.
