$40 billion to Ukraine? More like $6 billion, so where's the rest? The abortion bill was the one from 2021, word for word, giving unlimited access in all states.
If you're looking for another fun messaging bill, Missouri's Josh Hawley is attempting a Trifecta of violating the Berne Convention that the Western world uses to harmonize copyrights, the Takings Clause of the Constution, and the Constitution's explicit prohibition of Bills of Attainder in joining Ron DeSantis' crusade against Disney by trying to strip them of their copyright protections for anything older than a decade, and rewinding US copyright law back to 1908[1]:
"In a press release, Hawley said that 'The age of Republican handouts to Big Business is over. Thanks to special copyright protections from Congress, woke corporations like Disney have earned billions while increasingly pandering to woke activists. It’s time to take away Disney’s special privileges and open up a new era of creativity and innovation.'"
"The legislation would apply only to entertainment and theme park companies with a market capitalization of more than $150 billion. The bill does include a provision to delay implementation for up to 10 years."
"Current copyright law gives corporations copyright protections for 95 years from publication. The length of copyrights has been extended a couple of times, most recently when 20 years were added in 1998 as part of the Sony Bono Copyright Term Extension Act."
I miss the days when legislators actually legislated as opposed to using their seats to pander to their patrons and invent increasingly stupid stunts to raise their public profile (without doing anything meaningful).
Note that Disney doesn't enjoy any "special" copyright protections - they just kept lobbying to extend the term of protection for everyone each time Mickey Mouse was about to step into the Public Domain.
Then again, as we established on this very site some weeks back, the Missouri Senator is a moron when it actually comes to copyright laws.
The final irony in all of this (and I'll cease and desist) is that before Hawley adopted Trump as his patron and jumped 100% aboard the Insurrection Express, his only real claim to have done anything meaningful at all prior to public office was that he was peripherally part of the Hobby Lobby case[1] that argued for that firm's own First Amendment rights against the ACA.
And let's also not forget Hawley's coup collaborator Rafael Edward Cruz's book "One Vote Away", where the Texas Senator argued that gov't limitations on companies' lobbying activities were an existential threat to the freedom of speech, and we were One Vote Away(tm) away from the SCOTUS doing away with the First Amendment had the Citizens United case not been decided in favor of viewing unlimited soft money political contributions as speech.[2]
If Disney were a phone company or a bank it would have been dismantled long ago. Disney probably has more cultural influence these days than practically and other single company yet it is left alone to gobble up media unchecked. The Mouse rarely loses.
Our antitrust laws (even when they are rarely enforced) are outdated and need an overhaul and new commitment to enforcement.
While I'm skeptical that Disney would be broken up under any new scheme (it's hardly a monopoly or exerts market control the same way like an Amazon does), I do think you raise a good point about what "cultural antitrust" might look like and under what grounds intellectual properties must be kept from one another, either through disallowing acquisitions like how Disney purchased most of FOX or through a forced divestment once a homegrown IP becomes too "large" or "culturally influential". I don't have any useful thoughts on that other than to agree that cultural power concentration may need attention, especially how it functions outside the normal market mechanisms that antitrust typically concerns itself with.
If you're looking for another fun messaging bill, Missouri's Josh Hawley is attempting a Trifecta of violating the Berne Convention that the Western world uses to harmonize copyrights, the Takings Clause of the Constution, and the Constitution's explicit prohibition of Bills of Attainder in joining Ron DeSantis' crusade against Disney by trying to strip them of their copyright protections for anything older than a decade, and rewinding US copyright law back to 1908[1]:
"In a press release, Hawley said that 'The age of Republican handouts to Big Business is over. Thanks to special copyright protections from Congress, woke corporations like Disney have earned billions while increasingly pandering to woke activists. It’s time to take away Disney’s special privileges and open up a new era of creativity and innovation.'"
"The legislation would apply only to entertainment and theme park companies with a market capitalization of more than $150 billion. The bill does include a provision to delay implementation for up to 10 years."
"Current copyright law gives corporations copyright protections for 95 years from publication. The length of copyrights has been extended a couple of times, most recently when 20 years were added in 1998 as part of the Sony Bono Copyright Term Extension Act."
I miss the days when legislators actually legislated as opposed to using their seats to pander to their patrons and invent increasingly stupid stunts to raise their public profile (without doing anything meaningful).
[1] https://deadline.com/2022/05/disney-copyright-josh-hawley-copyright-1235020896/
Note that Disney doesn't enjoy any "special" copyright protections - they just kept lobbying to extend the term of protection for everyone each time Mickey Mouse was about to step into the Public Domain.
Then again, as we established on this very site some weeks back, the Missouri Senator is a moron when it actually comes to copyright laws.
The final irony in all of this (and I'll cease and desist) is that before Hawley adopted Trump as his patron and jumped 100% aboard the Insurrection Express, his only real claim to have done anything meaningful at all prior to public office was that he was peripherally part of the Hobby Lobby case[1] that argued for that firm's own First Amendment rights against the ACA.
And let's also not forget Hawley's coup collaborator Rafael Edward Cruz's book "One Vote Away", where the Texas Senator argued that gov't limitations on companies' lobbying activities were an existential threat to the freedom of speech, and we were One Vote Away(tm) away from the SCOTUS doing away with the First Amendment had the Citizens United case not been decided in favor of viewing unlimited soft money political contributions as speech.[2]
[1] https://themissouritimes.com/questions-raised-over-hawleys-arguing-of-hobby-lobby-case/
[2] https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/30/opinions/republicans-right-to-fill-scotus-seat-historical-precedent-ted-cruz/index.html
Congress does need to get its priorities in order. There are far more important issues.
If Disney were a phone company or a bank it would have been dismantled long ago. Disney probably has more cultural influence these days than practically and other single company yet it is left alone to gobble up media unchecked. The Mouse rarely loses.
Our antitrust laws (even when they are rarely enforced) are outdated and need an overhaul and new commitment to enforcement.
While I'm skeptical that Disney would be broken up under any new scheme (it's hardly a monopoly or exerts market control the same way like an Amazon does), I do think you raise a good point about what "cultural antitrust" might look like and under what grounds intellectual properties must be kept from one another, either through disallowing acquisitions like how Disney purchased most of FOX or through a forced divestment once a homegrown IP becomes too "large" or "culturally influential". I don't have any useful thoughts on that other than to agree that cultural power concentration may need attention, especially how it functions outside the normal market mechanisms that antitrust typically concerns itself with.
Media is a luxury I suppose, while phones/banks are vital needs.