Joseph + the Amazing Technicolor Tax Plan*

“Okay, everybody, gather round; it’s time for a story!” Mr. Shepherd said with a big grin.

“What kind of story?” asked Miss Dollar, pretending she didn’t know.

“A Bible story!” Mr. Shepherd exclaimed.

And all the the children cried, “YAY!”

When everyone was still, Mr. Shepherd said, “Today’s story is about Joseph. How many of you remember him?”

“I do! I do!” said the children, raising their hands.

“Of course you do!” Mr. Shepherd said. “Joseph is a Bible hero! Does anyone remember why?”

“He’s a Bible hero because he loved his family!” said Ben.

“That’s right; Joseph loved his father and brothers very much, Ben. And what else?”

“Joseph refused to have premarital sex,” said Chastity. “He ran away naked when his boss's wife tried to…um…what do you call it?”

“When she tried to seduce him; that’s right Chastity! What else?”

“He’s a Bible hero because he always trusted God, even when everything looked hopeless.” said Will. 

“My, you all remember so much about Joseph! And because of all those great qualities, he was promoted to a position of tremendous honor and responsibility in the land of Egypt. Isn’t that wonderful?”

And all the children nodded their heads; except Elizabeth, who raised her hand and waited until she was called on. 

“You stopped asking, ‘And what else,’ before we got to the end,” she said.

“OK, Elizabeth,” Mr. Shepherd replied, throwing a little wink to Miss Dollar. "What else?"

“Joseph is also a Bible hero,” Elizabeth began, “because when he saw in a dream that a global food shortage was coming, he instituted a 20 percent tax on everything grown in Egypt for seven years and stored huge quantities of grain all over the country — so much that he stopped keeping records because no one could count it all." 

“Wait a minute!” interrupted Milton. “That doesn’t sound right! I thought you said Joseph followed God.”

“He did!” Elizabeth responded, but Milton cut her off again.

“No way! That's nanny state stuff! God would never tell a leader to do that!”

“Well, apparently, that’s what God told Joseph,” Elizabeth said. “Then, when the economy slid off the rails, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain back to the Egyptians.”

“They bought their own grain?” Milton demanded. “That’s crazy! That’s like a double tax! God hates taxes! Tell her Mr. Shepherd!”

But Mr. Shepherd just sat there, looking stunned.

Elizabeth pressed on: “And then the global food supply collapsed and everybody in the world came to buy grain from the Egyptian government.”

This horrified the other children, who looked to Miss Dollar for help. But she faked a coughing fit and buried her face in the crook of her arm. 

After an awkward moment, Milton intoned the words they were all thinking: “God believes in free market solutions, Elizabeth. You take that back.”

But Elizabeth didn’t take it back; she plowed ahead: “The famine was far from over, and Joseph sold food to the Egyptians until all their money was gone." 

Milton’s face was very red now. “He never!”

“When the money was gone, Joseph traded food for livestock. And when the government owned all the livestock, Joseph bought up all the land in Egypt — and everyone sold, because you can’t eat dirt every day. So the people were reduced to servitude from one end of Egypt to the other.”

“LIES!” Milton screamed, his eyes bulging.

“No!” Elizabeth countered. “It’s not! It’s part of why Joseph is a Bible hero! It’s right there in the book of Genesis! You could read it for yourself!”

Milton was crying freely now. “But we’re just children!” he sobbed, snot running down the little furrow between his nose and upper lip. “The adults would have told us if that was in the Bible…right?”

“You’d think, wouldn’t you?” said Elizabeth in a sad voice. She smiled gently. “After that, Joseph gave everyone seed to plant. And he made the 20 percent tax permanent. And do you know what the people did?”

Milton snuffled. “They rose up in a mighty tax revolt and demanded a return to true capitalism as God intended?”

“No,” Elizabeth said. “They thanked Joseph for saving their asses — also their camels and goats. Just kidding; the government owned the livestock. They thanked Joseph for saving their lives and got to work rebuilding the economy.

“And that’s how Joseph became a Bible hero,” Elizabeth concluded. “And it’s how his father and the rest of his family survived to become the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The rest of the story, you can read at your leisure.”

”I need to blow my nodes,” Milton moaned, and excused himself to search for a tissue.

* Apologies to Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Tim Rice, Moses . First published on these pages 02.20.2011

here's *another* idea

The Washington State GOP recently suggested that my Member of Congress, Pramila Jayapal, should self deport if she doesn’t like how ICE is performing. 

Here’s an idea: Why don’t *you* self deport….

It’s probably been a while since you or members of your family immigrated to the U.S. but you’d probably feel more at home living amongst people more like you. Seems like you’d find a familiar home in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, parts of Italy, and Spain, Poland, Hungary, maybe Russia or Ukraine. 

Pro tips: Steer clear of Greenland … a *lot* of brown skinned people there … like, almost 90%. Speaking of … quite a few of those Greenlanders of Inuit descent, who are, it turns out Danish citizens, live in Denmark. 

Watch out for Sámi people in parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia … the Basques regions of France and Spain — and Catalonia on the East coast of Spain too. 

And, of course, anywhere the Roma live … A lot of whom are quite attractive; but are they really, you know, *white*?

In any event, not to go dark here, but consider this a sort of intervention: Since you hate some Americans because of the way they look, maybe *we’d* feel safer  if you went ahead and made other arrangements. Wherever you came from — be that last year or 14 generations ago — they’ll most likely be happy to have you back.

… Or …

Here’s another idea: Instead of targeting my Representative in Congress with sophomoric racialized contempt, why don’t you hold government agencies and elected officials accountable to their sworn duty to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America for the benefit of every citizen and guest — including a full cessation of extrajudicial actions against anyone within these shores … And why don’t stop changing the subject from the illegal actions of paramilitaries sowing harm and disorder under cover of law? Why don’t you do *that*?

MAPGA

 

read it yourself . MLK's last speech

We don't need anyone to tell us what Martin Luther King, jr. was thinking about in the days that turned out to be his final days. 

We can read Dr. King's final speech for ourselves: https://www.afscme.org/about/history/mlk/mountaintop

Here are some clips from the final address in Memphis that I've never heard in media memorials on Martin Luther King, jr Day:

I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding — something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same — "We want to be free."

....

Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence.

That is where we are today. And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn't done, and in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. Now, I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period, to see what is unfolding.

.... 

We mean business now, and we are determined to gain our rightful place in God's world.

And that's all this whole thing is about. We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God's children. And that we don't have to live like we are forced to live. 

....

The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. Now, we've got to keep attention on that.

....

All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.

We need all of you. And you know what's beautiful to me, is to see all of these ministers of the Gospel. It's a marvelous picture. Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher? Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and say, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Somehow, the preacher must say with Jesus, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor."

....

Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people, individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively, that means all of us together, collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? [] We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.

We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails, we just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."

....

We've got to see it through. And when we have our march, you need to be there. Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike. But either we go up together, or we go down together.

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.

....

The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" "If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.

....

[W]hen students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream. And taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. [] [W]henever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent.

....

I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some dihcult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Source

https://www.afscme.org/about/history/mlk/mountaintop

new american dictionary of terror

domestic terrorist: noun . someone who kills a neighborhood watch lady to demonstrate that they will not be disrespected and you could be next.

slow clap clapback

Today,  Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado may have earned her Nobel Peace Prize for a second time.

She should get credit for enabling the U.S. president to look smaller.

I join what I imagine will be a slow clap heard around the world (even if someone else imagines that ovation is for them).

Source

https://apnews.com/article/trump-machado-venezuela-maduro-nobel-peace-prize-ed23992bccabf128b7e849259d3c29a8?user_email=702dc39886d5e3c4655050daedeeb9c2d312b75df2bc5869e15514c6d01b457e&utm_medium=APNews_Alerts&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=NewsAlert_Jan15_2026_05:07PM&utm_term=AP%20News%20Alerts

the killing spree . Jorie Graham

[sometimes the poet is there before the act occurs to us ... with a fragment describing a thing that could happen . and how . and maybe why we might wish to go forward in time to stop it being ordinary]

 The killing spree began one day in the suburbs. It was the first day of its life so at first it cried out.

It tried to move swiftly into the past—but we got its essence down before it slipped away

into the here-to-stay where it could hide,

where it could become perpetual.

Source

Excerpted from Jorie Graham . The Eloquence . The Atlantic magazine . January 2026

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/01/jorie-graham-the-eloquence/684952/

let's take it from the top

 

Read the DOJ Use of Force Policy

Don’t take my word for it . Read it yourself

DOJ Use of Force Policy

source

https://www.justice.gov/d9/pages/attachments/2022/05/23/departments_updated_use-of-force_policy.pdf

Key excerpt

DEADLY FORCE 

I.          Law enforcement officers and correctional officers of the Department of Justice may 

use deadly force only when necessary, that is, when the officer has a reasonable 

belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious 

physical injury to the officer or to another person. 

A.        Deadly force may not be used solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing 

suspect. 

B.        Firearms may not be discharged solely to disable moving vehicles.  Specifically, 

firearms may not be discharged at a moving vehicle unless: (1) a person in the 

vehicle is threatening the officer or another person with deadly force by means 

other than the vehicle; or (2) the vehicle is operated in a manner that threatens to 

cause death or serious physical injury to the officer or others, and no other 

objectively reasonable means of defense appear to exist, which includes moving 

out of the path of the vehicle. 

read it yourself . Jack Smith's swears at Congress

Don't take my word for it; read it yourself.

Here are links to the transcript and video of Jack Smith's sworn testimony before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on December 17, 2025, and released on New Years Eve, December 31, 2025

Sources

Transcript: https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/2025-12/Smith-Depo-Transcript_Redacted-w-Errata.pdf

Video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR-bhPzQYUE

And here's the Republican House Judiciary Committee Facebook page link to the video: https://www.facebook.com/JudiciaryGOP/posts/news-jack-smith-deposition-transcript-released-read-it-here-httpsjudiciaryhouseg/1300124778825602/

Notes

• The transcript is redacted — particularly the identification of some participants in the deposition and, possibly, classified information — and there may be uncorrected typographical and transcription errors. 

• The video appears to be unedited; but that has not been certified by the Judiciary Committee or independently verified.

    Using the page numbers in the transcript:

• The first 16 pages are housekeeping, more or less (not unimportant to establish the context of the process; but not the heart of the matter). 

• Mr. Smith's opening remarks begin at the top of page 17.

• The examination begins with questions from the Committee at the top of page 19.

• Mr. Smith sought to testify before the Judiciary Committee in public but the Republican-led committee insisted on a closed-door deposition. 

• Mr. Smith was further restricted from testifying to the Judiciary Committee about his investigation into  classified documents transferred and retained by then Former-President Trump at Mar-a-Lago by a comprehensive injunction issued by Judge Aileen Cannon barring disclosure of nonpublic information from that investigation. 

• Volume I of Smith's final report into the investigation of election interference that crescendoed at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 has been released publicly and is the only part of his investigation he was permitted to address in the December 17, 2025 deposition. 

• Volume II, examining the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, is embargoed by Judge Cannon on the grounds of ensuring a fair trial for two co-defendants of then former president Trump. But those cases have been closed and are no longer in play. In November, 2025, the Eleventh Circuit directed Judge Cannon to end her ‘undue delay’ in ruling on motions to unseal Volume II, but they have not at this date compelled her to lift or narrow the injunction.