https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:jYjQjJRQTHUJ:https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/06/hunter-biden-tax-gun-charges/&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Federal agents see chargeable tax, gun-purchase case against Hunter Biden
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee, must decide whether to charge the son of the current president
By Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein
October 6, 2022
Federal agents investigating President Biden’s son Hunter have gathered what they believe is sufficient evidence to charge him with tax crimes and a false statement related to a gun purchase, according to people familiar with the case. The next step is for the U.S. Attorney in Delaware, a Trump administration holdover, to decide on whether to file such charges, these people said.
The investigation into Hunter Biden began in 2018, and became a central focus for then-president Donald Trump during his unsuccessful 2020 reelection effort. Initially, the investigation centered around Hunter Biden’s finances related to overseas business ties and consulting work. Over time, investigators with multiple agencies focused closely on whether he did not report all of his income, and whether he lied on gun purchase paperwork in 2018, according to the people familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing case.
Agents determined months ago they had assembled a viable criminal case against the younger Biden. But it is ultimately up to prosecutors at the Justice Department, not agents, to decide whether to file charges in cases where prosecutors believe the evidence is strong enough to lead to a likely conviction at trial.
Given the intense political interest in a criminal probe involving the son of a sitting president, Attorney General Merrick Garland has made clear that the U.S. Attorney in Delaware, David C. Weiss, who was nominated by Trump in late 2017, is supervising the case.
Garland has vowed there will be no political or otherwise improper interference in the Hunter Biden case, and has not moved to push Weiss to make a decision, the people familiar with the matter said. It is not uncommon for Justice Department investigations to take years to finish. Justice Department policy would require any criminal tax charges to be approved by the department’s tax division.
A spokeswoman for Weiss declined to comment, as did spokespeople for the Justice Department, and the FBI and the IRS, the two primary investigative agencies.
Asked about the case, Chris Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, accused investigators of leaking information. “It is a federal felony for a federal agent to leak information about a Grand Jury investigation such as this one,” Clark said in a written statement. “Any agent you cite as a source in your article apparently has committed such a felony. We expect the Department of Justice will diligently investigate and prosecute such bad actors. As is proper and legally required, we believe the prosecutors in this case are diligently and thoroughly weighing not just evidence provided by agents, but also all the other witnesses in this case, including witnesses for the defense. That is the job of the prosecutors. They should not be pressured, rushed, or criticized for doing their job.”
Any charging decision involving the Biden case is especially fraught because Trump and his allies have made accusations of corruption in Hunter Biden’s business dealings a key line of attack against Democrats, both before and after the 2020 presidential race. At the height of the election campaign, Trump allies revealed that a Delaware computer shop owner had turned over to the FBI a laptop that had apparently belonged to Hunter Biden. Trump and others argued the data on the laptop showed evidence of unethical and possible illegal business deals; Joe Biden and his supporters denounced the efforts as a smear.
In March, The Washington Post reported that two computer security experts had reviewed thousands of the emails purportedly from Hunter Biden’s computer and found they were authentic communications, based on cryptographic signatures from Google and other technology companies. It could not be determined for this article whether the laptop and its contents were useful in the Justice Department investigation.
The Biden probe has proceeded with relatively little fanfare in recent months amid the much larger and more public Justice Department and FBI investigation into whether Trump mishandled classified material at Mar-a-Lago — and a separate federal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump and his allies have sharply criticized federal law enforcement over both those cases.
Questions about the younger Biden’s foreign business ventures have long dogged his father’s political life. Trump and his GOP allies specifically cite as ethical conflicts Hunter Biden’s past work for a Ukrainian gas company while his father was vice president, as well as his China-related business affairs. In a July 2019 phone call, Trump urged Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate both Joe and Hunter Biden — part of a pressure campaign that led to the first of Trump’s two impeachment trials in Congress.
In December 2020 federal agents sought to interview the younger Biden, leading him to publicly acknowledge that he was under investigation. “I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors,” Hunter Biden said in a statement at that time.
Clark, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, said in his statement Thursday that he has “had no contact whatsoever with any federal investigative agent. Therefore, a rendition of the case from such an ‘agent’ is inherently biased, one-sided, and inaccurate. It is regrettable that law enforcement agents appear to be violating the law to prejudice a case against a person who is a target simply because of his family name.”
Republicans have pressed the Biden administration to appoint a special counsel to take over the investigation into the president’s son, arguing the step was needed to ensure public confidence in the probe’s outcome. Under Justice Department regulations, any special counsel would still answer to the attorney general, however. Garland chose not to make such an appointment, instead keeping the case with Weiss, whose previous career as a federal prosecutor stretches back decades and includes violent crime and white-collar cases.
In the early days of the Biden administration, a Justice Department official said removing Weiss as U.S. Attorney as he was overseeing the Hunter Biden case would likely spark significant political backlash.
In April, after White House chief of staff Ron Klain said Biden “is confident that his son didn’t break the law,” Garland was asked at a Senate hearing about how the Justice Department is handling the case.
Weiss “is in charge of that investigation. There will not be interference of any political or improper kind,” Garland answered. “We put the investigation in the hands of a Trump appointee from the previous administration.”
The primary focus of the tax investigation has been whether Hunter Biden did not declare income related to his various business ventures, including overseas. The gun paperwork part of the investigation stems from 2018, a time period in which Hunter Biden, by his own account, was smoking crack cocaine.
In October of that year, Biden purchased a handgun, filling out a federal form in which he allegedly answered “no” to the question whether he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
According to a book Hunter Biden later wrote about his struggles with substance abuse, he was using drugs heavily that year.
Prosecutions for false statements on gun-purchase forms are relatively rare, but they do happen. In the fiscal year that Hunter Biden purchased that handgun, Justice Department records show prosecutors received 478 referrals for lying on the forms. Of those, charges were filed in 298 cases, or about 60 percent of the time.
Federal agents refer to such cases as “lying and buying.” Historically, prosecutors have significant discretion to decide which ones are worth federal resources.
“A prosecutor can say they have bigger fish to catch, or they can decide to seek a deal,” said Joseph G. Green, a retired agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “As agents, we would always include as many charges as we could, but it’s ultimately up to the prosecutor to decide which ones they will bring.”
October 6, 2022. Tags: crack cocaine, Guns, hunter biden, Joe Biden, Taxes, War on drugs. Guns, Joe Biden, War on drugs. .
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bernie-sanders-assails-democratic-hypocrisy-162124034.html
Bernie Sanders assails Democratic ‘hypocrisy’ as the party edges closer to handing the rich a massive tax cut in Biden’s spending bill
By Joseph Zeballos-Roig
November 18, 2021
Sanders says Dems risk charges of “hypocrisy” as they edge closer to handing the rich a tax break.
It’s bad policy, bad politics,” the Vermont senator told Politico.
Democrats are uneasy with efforts to provide a bigger state and local tax deduction for people in high-tax blue states.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is raising alarms that Democrats will be exposed to charges of hypocrisy due to a tax cut provision benefiting the wealthy in President Joe Biden’s spending bill.
“You can’t be a political party that talks about demanding the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes and then end up with a bill that gives large tax breaks to many millionaires,” Sanders told Politico. “You can’t do that. It’s bad policy, it’s bad politics.”
Sanders’ warning comes as Democrats become increasingly anxious with the largest slice of Biden’s social spending bill: a tax cut for rich Americans residing in high-tax, predominantly blue states.
The House is poised to approve a $1.75 trillion social spending bill that includes a measure lifting the amount of state and local taxes (SALT) that people can deduct from their federal tax bills to $80,000 from $10,000 through 2026. The $10,000 limit was imposed under President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law.
Experts say lifting the SALT cap would overwhelmingly benefit richer Americans. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center projects most millionaires would be in line for a tax cut under the House Democratic proposal.
“This is giving them a better deal than they had even before 2017,” Brian Riedl, a budget expert at the right-leaning Manhattan Institute, told Insider. “They will have more benefits under Democrats than even Republicans gave them under President Trump.”
Other Democrats are uneasy with the SALT provision. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana told NBC News he wasn’t “a big fan” of the idea because “it gives tax breaks to the wrong people.”
“It would be preposterous if this legislation ends up cutting taxes for the wealthiest people in America,” Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado recently told Insider.
It’s also generating frustration in the House. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, a vulnerable Democrat in next year’s midterms, wrote on Twitter that SALT relief appeared like something Republicans would do instead.
https://twitter.com/RepGolden/status/1461099112603041792
“The fact that more people and orgs on the Democratic side aren’t up in arms about this is wild,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet.
Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means panel, told Insider it “absolutely” becomes more difficult for Democrats to tout the legislation to the public if it delivers a hefty tax cut to the rich.
“When you just do the math and you find out that most of it’s going to the very, very wealthy, it makes it harder to support,” Beyer said.
Sanders is spearheading negotiations design an alternate plan alongside Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey that would cut the level of tax benefits for the wealthy. They’re eyeing an income cap ranging between $500,000 and $550,000.
November 18, 2021. Tags: Bernie Sanders, Taxes. Bernie Sanders. .
https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrats-preparing-roll-back-trump-202742046.html
Democrats are preparing to reverse a Trump-era tax move – and it could cut taxes for America’s wealthiest residents
By Juliana Kaplan
November 2, 2021
Democrats are ready to repeal a Trump-era policy that cut tax breaks for residents of wealthy states.
Democrats have previously argued that capping the deduction for local taxes impacts wealthier blue states more.
However, one budget expert calls it a “gigantic expensive tax cut for the rich.”
Democrats are about to include a tax break in their $1.75 trillion social spending plan that will overwhelmingly benefit higher-earning Americans.
On Tuesday, Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey wrote on Twitter that the provision had been added into the plan. A Democratic aide familiar with negotiations told Insider that Democrats were eyeing a five-year tax break that runs through 2025, a development first reported by Punchbowl News.
The break would also be retroactive to this year.
The SALT deduction allows taxpayers to deduct their state and local tax totals from their federal obligation. Under Trump’s 2017 tax plan, the previously unlimited deduction was capped at $10,000. That primarily impacts taxpayers in areas with high local taxes, which tend to be in wealthier blue states like New Jersey.
Trump’s tax plan especially hit people with properties in multiple states, who were able to deduct their state property-tax totals in, for instance, New York City, if they had a property there as well as a nearby state like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or Connecticut.
Revenge of the SALT Caucus
A repeal does have bipartisan support: 32 legislators from both sides of the aisle formed a “SALT Caucus” in April. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said that the Trump cap was “mean-spirited” and “politically targeted” by taking aim at wealthy residents of blue states. It also had support from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
Marc Goldwein, a budget expert at the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, projects that the five-year SALT deduction would amount to a $500 billion tax cut – with $400 billion flowing to the top 5% of households.
“It’s a very good question about priorities when they’re willing to put two and a half times as much into tax cuts for the rich as they are into child tax credit and the EITC expansion that mainly go to the poor and middle class,” Goldwein said.
Jason Furman, a former top economist to President Barack Obama, wrote on Twitter that he guesses most Americans with a net worth of $50 to $300 million would actually get a tax cut.
“The bill would do more for the super-rich than it does for climate change, childcare or preschool,” Furman wrote. “That’s obscene.”
Some Democrats defended the effort to repeal the cap. “This is about punishing blue state voters,” Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, told Insider.
When asked about the SALT deduction as a tax for the wealthy, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told Insider, “You clearly have not come to New Jersey.”
“I live in a low income neighborhood,” Booker added. “People are paying more than $10,000 in taxes. So what are you talking about?”
“This is a middle-class issue and it’s something that’s really a concern for people,” he told Insider.
Not all Democrats are onboard with a repeal. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont came out against it, saying it would effectively provide a tax cut to the very rich.
“At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, the last thing we should be doing is giving more tax breaks to the very rich,” he wrote on Twitter. “Democrats campaigned and won on an agenda that demands that the very wealthy finally pay their fair share, not one that gives them more tax breaks.”
Sanders added he was open to a compromise approach on the issue, but “won’t support more tax breaks for billionaires.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that she thinks “it’s just a giveaway to the rich,” breaking from some of her fellow New York representatives. She wrote on Twitter that Congress shouldn’t endorse a “100% repeal.”
Democrats are using the party-line reconciliation process to approve the plan over united Republican opposition. Its afforded them very little room to maneuver given they can only spare three votes in the House and zero in the Senate to mold President Joe Biden’s economic plans into law.
November 2, 2021. Tags: Economics, Taxes. Economics. .
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-6019bbf1969016cbd2749b213ba47a08
As tax changes loom, farmers worry about the next generation
By Tim Grant
SHARPSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Michael Kovach got into the farming business 13 years ago with the purchase of a 107-acre farm in Mercer County after retiring from the oil and gas industry at 39.
“I’ve worked too hard on this piece of ground to really even consider the thought of it turning into anything other than what it is and getting better than what it is,” said Mr. Kovach, 52, owner of Walnut Hill Farm in Sharpsville.
He has two full-time employees who help him raise grass-fed livestock such as Angus cattle, lambs and chickens, which are sold direct to consumers at the farm. His wife, Karen, runs the farm stand.
Mr. Kovach bought the farm hoping to one day pass the mantle of ownership to his daughter, who is 17. Now he and and other family farmers across the state worry how changes in the tax law could impact their plans to transfer their farms from one generation to the next.
President Joe Biden has proposed tax changes in order to pay for the American Families Plan, which provides government benefits and tax breaks for middle- and lower-income people.
The proposal that’s garnered the highest profile in the business community has been Mr. Biden’s plan to raise the 21% corporate tax rate that has been in place since 2018. He’s proposed changing it to 28%, which is targeted at the largest corporations, some of which effectively pay no income tax on billions in revenue.
Small-business owners are most concerned about increased taxes on capital gains — profits on the sale of assets — and on inherited wealth. Mr. Biden’s plan calls for nearly doubling the top tax rate on capital gains and eliminating a significant tax benefit on appreciated assets known as the “step-up in basis.” The combined tax rate increase could add up to 61% on inherited wealth.
For example, if someone dies after starting a business decades ago that’s now worth $100 million, under the current tax law, the business would pass to family members with no capital gains tax because the cost basis of the business is stepped-up to its current value at death.
Under Mr. Biden’s plan, the heirs would immediately owe a capital gains tax of $42.96 million based on the capital gains rate of 39.6%, plus the net investment income tax of 3.8%, minus the $1 million estate tax exemption. The proposal would reduce the estate tax exemption from $11.7 million to $1 million.
If the estate tax remains unchanged, the family would also pay an estate tax of 40% on $57.04 million of the remaining assets. Including exemptions, the estate tax would amount to $18.13 million.
The combined federal estate tax and capital gains tax liability would total $61.1 million on the heirs’ original $100 million inheritance. That’s without including state capital gains and estate taxes.
“That’s a really important thing if I’m the daughter of a business owner and I want to inherit stock in my family’s company,” said Elizabeth “Li” Connolly, a partner at the Connolly Steel accounting firm in Avalon. “Me, as a regular person, could be theoretically not targeted by this, but it’s going to affect everyone in a negative way.”
Dividend payouts and stock buybacks
The tax proposal most closely tied to the larger economic recovery is the corporate tax hike that could go from 21% to as much as 28%, although negotiations are ongoing, and media sources have reported Mr. Biden floating the idea of a minimum corporate tax of 15%.
Prior to the corporate rate being reduced in 2018 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, corporations paid a tax rate as high as 35%.
Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity said she has met with small-business leaders across the state who are interested in expanding their companies but are holding back due to the uncertainty of tax changes.
Pennsylvania has 1.1 million small businesses, which Ms. Garrity said make up 99.6% of all businesses in the state.
She said owners of farms in rural Pennsylvania are particularly worried about a capital gains tax hike.
More than 8% of U.S. adults have at least $1 million in assets, according to the Global Wealth Report 2020 by Credit Suisse. That comes out to slightly more than 20 million Americans.
The Pennsylvania Farmers Union has 300 members, all of whom are owners of family farms. The national farmers organization has 200,000 members.
“Some of these farmers have had these farms in their families for generations, and now, if they go to pass on the farm to the next generation, anything over $1 million they would have to pay that capital gains tax on it,” Ms. Garrity said.
Farm operator households usually have more wealth than the average U.S. household because they own significant capital assets, such as farmland and equipment necessary to run a farm. In 2019, the average farm household had $1,042,855 in wealth, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Gus Faucher, chief economist at Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group, said the bank is waiting to have a better sense of what’s likely to get through Congress before incorporating the tax increases into its forecast.
But on the surface, he said, it’s not likely to have a significant impact on economic growth.
“We saw very little change in growth when the corporate income tax cuts were passed under the Trump administration in 2017,” Mr. Faucher said. “There was a modest growth pickup in business fixed investment following passage of the tax cuts, but that faded in 2019.
“Mostly the impact of the corporate income tax cut was to increase dividend payouts to shareholders and boost stock prices, with little impact on the real economy. Therefore, I would expect a very small negative economic impact from the proposed Biden tax cuts.”
‘Tax is a price’
A tax increase of a few percentage points can be absorbed by most profitable companies.
“If they know what the tax rate is, over a period of months they will adjust to it,” said Robert Fragasso, chairman and CEO of Fragasso Financial Advisors, Downtown. “They will adjust just like we do in our homes and our personal finances. We adjust to changes in pricing. Tax is a price. It’s part of what corporations pay to do business.
“You could argue that corporations spend too much money on this or that or pay people too much at the top,” he said. “That’s just financial management. But taxes in and of themselves is neither good nor bad. It’s how they are applied to the business. I’m not advocating for higher taxes. But we do have to pay for what we’re spending.”
Mr. Fragasso, whose company manages nearly $2 billion for clients, said lawmakers could get a false impression of how much corporations are making without taking into consideration that profitability varies from year to year, and responsible company managers put money aside for unforeseen events that will impact their future.
“That’s what we do,” he said. “A legislator could look at us and say, ‘Tax them more because they are a rich company’ when in fact we set it aside for the future to hedge the unexpected or to use to grow the company and create more employment.”
Ms. Connolly noted that nothing is carved in stone yet.
“Over the years, I don’t get worked up about anything until I see it signed into law because there’s going to be a lot of changes,” she said.
“Everything right now is still speculation because there’s going to be a lot of negotiation as part of this.”
June 19, 2021. Tags: capital gains tax, Democrats, Economics, Farmers, Inheritance tax, Small businesses, Taxes. Economics. .
https://www.rollcall.com/2021/06/02/house-agriculture-chairman-opposes-key-plank-of-biden-tax-plan/
House Agriculture chairman objects to Biden inheritance tax plan
Scott says capital gains change would increase obstacles for young, beginning and disadvantaged farmers
June 2, 2021
House Agriculture Chairman David Scott objected Wednesday to President Joe Biden’s proposal to change the capital gains taxation on inherited property, signaling growing opposition among farm-state Democrats to a change Biden hoped would help to fund sweeping domestic spending proposals.
Scott, D-Ga., in a statement called the proposal to tax capital gains at the time of a person’s death “untenable” and said exemptions that would allow farmers and ranchers to delay tax payments on intergenerational land transfers are inadequate.
“Any increase in inheritance tax for those taking over farm land is untenable and will further strain a farm economy that is just now beginning to recover from the strain of the pandemic,” Scott said.
In a letter to Biden Wednesday, Scott said he supported the president’s goals, but said the tax proposal could impose significant tax increases on farmers, ranchers and small businesses in rural America.
“The potential for capital gains to be imposed on heirs at death of the landowner would impose a significant financial burden on these operations,” Scott wrote.
“Additionally, my understanding of the exemptions is that they would just delay the tax liability for those continuing the farming operation until time of sale, which could result in further consolidation in farmland ownership. This would make it more difficult for young, beginning, and socially disadvantaged farmers to get into farming,” he said.
Biden would pay for part of his $1.8 trillion paid leave, child care and education proposal by nearly doubling the top capital gains rate on millionaires and eliminating stepped-up basis, which resets the value of inherited property to market value at the time of the original owner’s death.
Under Biden’s proposal, heirs who inherit assets of more than $1 million per person would have to pay capital gains taxes on the full appreciation in value from the time the original owner purchased the assets, in some cases many decades earlier.
The proposal, which was detailed further in the president’s fiscal 2022 budget request released May 28, would allow family-owned and -operated businesses, like farms, to defer payment of the tax until they sell the business or no longer operate it. And taxes owed on non-liquid assets could be paid off over time under a 15-year fixed-rate payment plan.
Treasury estimates that Biden’s capital gains tax increases would raise $322.5 billion over 10 years.
Scott’s letter comes nearly a month after 13 farm district Democrats in May wrote Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., and Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., to warn that changing the stepped-up basis for capital gains could lead to taxes that long-time family farms couldn’t afford.
The lawmakers, led by House Agriculture Committee members Jim Costa, D-Calif., and Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, called for “full exemptions for these family farms and small businesses that are critical to our communities.”
The Democrats also drew a distinction between the “administrative difficulties” of taxing farm assets and taxing other inheritances that are easier to value, such as shares of stock. The stocks have a clear price for valuation and capital gains are simple to administer, they said, adding that farms, machinery and some small businesses may be illiquid and hard to value.
Selling stock to pay a tax bill also has less far-reaching consequences than breaking up land holdings in families that use that land to earn a living, they said. Farm operations could be left less viable by those changes, the lawmakers said.
Biden’s proposal seeks to address some of the concerns about administrative difficulties in valuing inheritances. He proposes a deduction for the full cost of appraising the assets and allowing Treasury to issue safe harbor rules in cases where complete records needed to conduct an appraisal are unavailable.
The American Farm Bureau Federation and agricultural financial advisers raised red flags in March as Democratic members of Congress floated tax changes similar to the ones Biden eventually called for. Republican lawmakers also have argued against the proposed changes.
June 3, 2021. Tags: Economics, Farmers, Joe Biden, Small businesses, Taxes. Economics, Joe Biden. .
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
September 28, 2020
As a Libertarian, I’m against tax loopholes. I want the tax code to be as simple as possible, and with marginal tax rates as low as possible.
Democrats prefer higher marginal tax rates, so they can claim that they want to “soak the rich.”
But at the same time, these Democrats also favor giving rich people all sorts of loopholes, writeoffs, and deductions, so they don’t actually have to pay those taxes.
And now, liberals are angry at Trump for using a tax loophole that was signed into law by Obama.
The New York Times just reported:
Mr. Trump harvested that refund bonanza by declaring huge business losses — a total of $1.4 billion from his core businesses for 2008 and 2009 — that tax laws had prevented him from using in prior years.
But to turn that long arc of failure into a giant refund check, he relied on some deft accounting footwork and an unwitting gift from an unlikely source — Mr. Obama.
Business losses can work like a tax-avoidance coupon: A dollar lost on one business reduces a dollar of taxable income from elsewhere. The types and amounts of income that can be used in a given year vary, depending on an owner’s tax status. But some losses can be saved for later use, or even used to request a refund on taxes paid in a prior year.
Until 2009, those coupons could be used to wipe away taxes going back only two years. But that November, the window was more than doubled by a little-noticed provision in a bill Mr. Obama signed as part of the Great Recession recovery effort. Now business owners could request full refunds of taxes paid in the prior four years, and 50 percent of those from the year before that.
Mr. Trump had paid no income taxes in 2008. But the change meant that when he filed his taxes for 2009, he could seek a refund of not just the $13.3 million he had paid in 2007, but also the combined $56.9 million paid in 2005 and 2006, when “The Apprentice” created what was likely the biggest income tax bite of his life.
The records reviewed by The Times indicate that Mr. Trump filed for the first of several tranches of his refund several weeks later, in January 2010. That set off what tax professionals refer to as a “quickie refund,” a check processed in 90 days on a tentative basis, pending an audit by the I.R.S.
His total federal income tax refund would eventually grow to $70.1 million, plus $2,733,184 in interest. He also received $21.2 million in state and local refunds, which often piggyback on federal filings.
September 28, 2020. Tags: Donald Trump, IRS, Politics, Taxes. Donald Trump, IRS. .
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tariffs-wiped-most-families-080000425.html
Trump’s Tariffs Have Already Wiped Out Tax Bill Savings for Average Americans
June 7, 2019
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump’s trade wars have already wiped out all but $100 of the average American household’s windfall from Trump’s 2017 tax law. And that’s just the beginning.
That last $100 in tax-cut gains could soon completely disappear — and then some — because of additional tariffs Trump has announced. If the president makes good on his threats to impose levies on virtually all imports from China and Mexico, those middle-earning households could pay nearly $4,000 more.
Subtract the tax cut, and the average household will effectively be paying about $3,000 more in taxes through additional levies on the products they consume.
“It’s giving with one hand and taking with the other,” said Kim Clausing, an economics professor at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, who has written a book promoting free trade.
Here’s how the math works. Middle earners got an average tax cut of $930, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. The tariffs already in effect cost the average household about $831, according to research from the New York Federal Reserve.
China Goods
Add in the additional tariffs on another $300 billion in Chinese goods that Trump proposed in May and that increases the cost for the average family of four to about $2,294 annually, according to research from Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, a coalition of business groups that oppose tariffs.
Trump has also threatened to levy tariffs on all imports from Mexico, starting with a 5% tax beginning as soon as Monday that would increase monthly to 25% by October. If the tariffs reach their highest level, that would increase costs for households by $1,700 annually, according to Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the centrist Peterson Institute for International Economics.
The full force of the Chinese and Mexican tariffs and subsequent retaliation would mean that consumers are paying an additional $3,994 because of tariffs, more than four times the $930 tax cut for middle earners that the Republican Party touts as its signature legislative achievement.
The tariffs are “clearly demolishing” the benefits of the tax cuts for both businesses and consumers, said Daniel Ikenson, who directs trade policy at the libertarian Cato Institute. “Many households and consumers have been spared so far, but the next round of tariffs will be more problematic.”
In the beginning of the trade dispute, Trump and his advisers sought to put tariffs on imports that consumers don’t directly buy, such as steel and aluminum. But as the trade feud with China has escalated, they ran out of non-consumer goods on which to put levies. The most recent round of announced tariffs includes consumer products, such as apparel, sporting goods and kitchen ware.
Trump’s most recent threat on all imports from Mexico would increase prices on cars and auto parts, televisions, phones and air conditioners, as well as produce, such as avocados, citrus and pineapples.
Only the top 5% of earners would continue to see a net tax cut of more than 1%, according to the right-leaning Tax Foundation. Tariffs would also depress wages by about 0.5% and result in the loss of nearly 610,000 full-time jobs, according to the foundation.
That creates political problems for Republicans in Congress who have continued to back Trump even as they disagreed with his trade policies. Republicans have cited the passage of the tax-cut law, low unemployment rates and wage increases as signs that Trump’s policies have buoyed the economy. But there are signs that support is beginning to fracture.
The tax cuts “vaulted America back into the most competitive economy,” said Representative Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican who led the passage of the tax cut legislation in the House. “Higher tariffs and the uncertainty that comes with trade disputes” hurt the economy, he said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged the administration this week to delay imposing the tariffs until Republicans in Congress could plead their case to Trump. Most Senate Republicans have objected to Trump’s use of tariffs to force tougher border enforcement by Mexico. Lawmakers are weighing moves to block the levies.
“This is a man-made disaster, because Donald Trump is not focused in any way on advancing a well-thought-out doctrine,” said Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a top Democrat from New York. “He seems to be carrying out at times personal vendettas, at other times political objectives and sometimes an effort to distract from the news of the day.”
Little Noticed
The effects of tariffs have yet to become noticeable to average consumers. That could soon change. The tariffs on goods from Mexico are slated to go into effect Monday, barring a last-minute deal between Mexican and U.S. negotiators. The Chinese tariffs hitting consumer goods could go into effect in the coming months.
Negotiators met for a second day Thursday to try to come to some agreement that would avert the tariffs. Mexico pushed for more time, but Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. plans to impose tariffs on Monday.
“It’s not like all of sudden prices will jump 25%, but they could increase 10% or 11%,” said Brian Yarbrough, a senior equity analyst at Edward Jones, said of tariffs of 25% or more. “At some point, price increases will choke off demand, resulting in fewer sales.”
Republicans are hoping to campaign in 2020 on the message of a strong economy buoyed by their tax reductions and deregulation, which began two years ago. But the fresh sting of tariffs risk erasing any economic goodwill those policies generated.
“For the average household it will be a net loss, no doubt,” the Peterson Institutes’s Hufbauer said. “It will be painful.”
June 7, 2019. Tags: Donald Trump, Economics, free trade, Politics, tariffs, Taxes, trade barriers. Donald Trump, Economics. .
https://nypost.com/2019/03/04/ocasio-cortezs-mom-moved-to-florida-to-escape-nycs-property-taxes/
Ocasio-Cortez’s mom moved to Florida to escape NYC’s property taxes
March 4, 2019
The mother of soak-the-rich Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she was forced to flee the Big Apple and move to Florida because the property taxes were so high.
“I was paying $10,000 a year in real estate taxes up north. I’m paying $600 a year in Florida. It’s stress-free down here,” Blanca Ocasio-Cortez told the Daily Mail from her home in Eustis, a town of less than 20,000 in central Florida north of Orlando.
The mother of two — who calls herself BOC — said she picked Eustis because a relative already lived there, and right before Christmas 2016, she paid $87,000 for an 860-square-foot home on a quiet street that dead-ends at a cemetery.
Her daughter raised eyebrows with her pitch to hike the top marginal tax rate on income earned above $10 million to 70 percent.
She has also gotten behind the so-called Green New Deal, which would see a massive and costly government effort to address climate change the way Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the New Deal to rescue the US economy during the Depression.
March 5, 2019. Tags: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Florida, New York City, Ocasio-Cortez’s mom moved to Florida to escape NYC’s property taxes, Politics, property taxes, Taxes. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. .
This is what the Washington Post wrote about France’s wealth tax:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/15/AR2006071501010.html
Old Money, New Money Flee France and Its Wealth Tax
July 16, 2006
Eric Pinchet, author of a French tax guide, estimates the wealth tax earns the government about $2.6 billion a year but has cost the country more than $125 billion in capital flight since 1998.
Anyone who looks at the above numbers would know that all of that capital flight means less income tax, less capital gains tax, less sales tax, less social security tax, and less of many other taxes too. Whatever tax revenue France gets from its wealth tax is more than dwarfed by the reductions in other taxes.
And Warren’s proposed wealth tax rate is actually higher than France’s, so its potential for harm is actually bigger as well.
That doesn’t sound like a good idea for anyone who wants to increase the amount of tax revenue that gets collected by the government.
On the other hand, if Warren’s real goal is to appeal to Democratic primary voters who feel envy and jealousy, and who don’t understand math or the concept of capital flight, then her proposal is a brilliant strategy. Her horrible proposal could very well get her elected President in 2020.
January 28, 2019. Tags: Class warfare, Communism, economic policy, Economics, Elizabeth Warren, envy, Income inequality, jealousy, Politics, Socialism, tax policy, Taxes, wealth inequality, wealth tax. Economics. .
Liberals are criticizing Trump’s “tax cuts for the rich.” But this is how these liberals actually behave. The following rich liberals have all used legal tax shelters to legally lower their own taxes. I am not criticizing their legal use of these legal tax shelters. I am criticizing their hypocrisy:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
The Weekly Standard reports:
Disclosure forms reveal that Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a member of Congress from Florida, previously held funds with investments in Swiss banks, foreign drug companies, and the state bank of India. This revelation comes mere days after the Democratic chair attacked presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for holding money in Swiss bank accounts in the past.
Nancy Pelosi
The Daily Caller reports:
According to Pelosi’s 2011 financial disclosure statement, the Democratic House Minority Leader received between $1 million and $5 million in partnership income from ”Matthews International Capital Management LLC,” a group that emphasizes that it has a “A Singular Focus on Investing in Asia.”A quick trip to the company website reveals a featured post extolling the virtues of outsourcing.
Valerie Jarrett
fireandreamitchell.com reports:
Top Obama adviser and BFF Valerie Jarrett has a line of credit from a Bermuda insurance company valued between $100,000 and a quarter of a million dollars.
Barack Obama
Fox News reports:
President Obama and his wife, Michele, gave a total of $48,000 in tax-free gifts to their daughters, according to tax records made public on Friday.The president and his wife separately gave each daughter a $12,000 gift under a section of the federal tax code that exempts such donations from federal taxes.There is nothing illegal about the president’s taking advantage of this tax shelter, but it does raise eyebrows given that he has lamented the myriad tax exemptions used by the wealthy—“millionaires and billionaires” like himself—to pay less in taxes.
Noam Chomsky
The Hoover Institution reports:
One of the most persistent themes in Noam Chomsky’s work has been class warfare. He has frequently lashed out against the “massive use of tax havens to shift the burden to the general population and away from the rich” and criticized the concentration of wealth in “trusts” by the wealthiest 1 percent. The American tax code is rigged with “complicated devices for ensuring that the poor—like 80 percent of the population—pay off the rich.”
But trusts can’t be all bad. After all, Chomsky, with a net worth north of $2,000,000, decided to create one for himself. A few years back he went to Boston’s venerable white-shoe law firm, Palmer and Dodge, and, with the help of a tax attorney specializing in “income-tax planning,” set up an irrevocable trust to protect his assets from Uncle Sam. He named his tax attorney (every socialist radical needs one!) and a daughter as trustees. To the Diane Chomsky Irrevocable Trust (named for another daughter) he has assigned the copyright of several of his books, including multiple international editions.
Chomsky favors the estate tax and massive income redistribution—just not the redistribution of his income. No reason to let radical politics get in the way of sound estate planning.
When I challenged Chomsky about his trust, he suddenly started to sound very bourgeois: “I don’t apologize for putting aside money for my children and grandchildren,” he wrote in one e-mail. Chomsky offered no explanation for why he condemns others who are equally proud of their provision for their children and who try to protect their assets from Uncle Sam.
John Kerry
The Boston Globe reports:
Documents obtained by the Globe detail John Kerry’s 1983 investment of between $25,000 and $30,000 in offshore companies registered in the Cayman Islands. The document below, signed by Kerry, shows his pledge to purchase 2,470 shares of Peabody Commodities Trading Corp. through Sytel Traders, registered in the Caymans.
Barney Frank
National Review reports:
When Massachusetts cut its top tax rate to 5.3 percent in 2001, it let guilty liberals pay the old 5.85 percent rate if they wished… Pro-tax U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) spurned the higher rate. “No, I won’t” pay some $800 extra, Frank told Boston radio host Howie Carr in April 2003.
Michael Moore
ihatethemedia.com reports:
Moore’s most recent effort, Capitalism: A Love Story, took aim at businesses that used shelters to avoid paying taxes and took government bailouts during the market crash.
The thing is, Moore used similar tactics, taking advantage of a Michigan tax break to fund the making of his film–which raked in millions, by the way. Michigan taxpayers–already hit hard with the collapsing auto industry–were left holding the funny money bag for that one.
Bill Clinton
USA Today reports:
Former president Bill Clinton once made public a tax return on which he deducted $2 apiece for donated underwear.
December 27, 2017. Tags: Barack Obama, Barney Frank, Bill Clinton, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Donald Trump, Donald Trump tax cut, John Kerry, Michael Moore, Nancy Pelosi, Noam Chomsky, Obama, Politics, tax cuts, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, tax cuts for the rich, tax loopholes, tax shelters, Taxes, Trump tax cut, Valerie Jarrett. Donald Trump. .
This idiot has just proven that he knows absolutely nothing about economics or how to run a business:
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/01/10/retailers-blame-soda-tax-mayor-kenney-responds-with-harsh-words/
Retailers Blame Soda Tax; Mayor Kenney Responds With Harsh Words
January 10, 2017
Philadelphia shoppers have been finding steep surcharges on grocery bills since the sweetened beverage tax kicked in, but Mayor Jim Kenney describes some of it as “gouging” by retailers who want to make customers angry about the tax.
Signs went up in stores and on vending machines telling customers price hikes were part of the beverage tax, receipts were programmed to charge the tax as a separate line item, it was applied to items that weren’t taxed and retailers blamed the complex process of passing the tax along.
All of it, said Mayor Kenney, is “wrong” and “misleading.”
“This is what they do. They spent 10 1/2 Million dollars in an advertising campaign to beat the tax, they lost,” he said. “They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and they lost. And they’ll continue to lose because their legal case is not sound and their public case is not sound.”
Kenney said he believes most customers understand the reason for the tax and he believes it doesn’t need to impact them as much as it has.
“They’re gouging their own customers.”
Among retailers, only Shop Rite has responded, saying they are passing the tax along because it greatly increases sweetened beverage prices and it wants customers to know.
January 13, 2017. Tags: Dumb people, Economics, Idiots, Jim Kenney, Philadelphia, Politics, soda tax, Stupid people, Taxes. Economics. .
(more…)
December 24, 2016. Tags: 2016 election, Barack Obama, Benghazi, Economics, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Liberals, Medical marijuana, News, Obama, Politics, Taxes. Barack Obama, Politics. .
Items 1 through 500 can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/obama-252/
Items 501 through 1,000 can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/obama-part-2/
Items 1,001 through 1,304 can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/obama-part-3/
Here are the 55 new entries:
1,250) A spokesperson for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton contradicted Clinton’s own statement about the 30,000 emails that Clinton had deleted from her private server
In March 2015, ABC News reported the following about the 30,000 emails that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had deleted from her private server:
“We went through a thorough process to identify all of my work-related emails and deliver them to the State Department,” she said, adding that all other emails were personal and pertained to matters such as “yoga routines,” “family vacations,” and “planning Chelsea’s wedding.”
In July 2016, Donald Trump said:
“I will tell you this — Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let’s see if that happens. That’ll be next. Yes, sir.”
Hillary for America senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan responded by saying:
“This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent… That’s not hyperbole, those are just the facts. This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue.”
So, which is it?
Are all of the emails private and not related to work?
Or, are they a matter of national security?
They can’t be both.
So which is it?
1,251) The “most transparent administration in history” illegally ignored a Freedom of Information request regarding Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s schedule
In 2015, Associated Press sued the Obama administration for illegally ignoring a Freedom of Information request regarding Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s schedule.
1,252) “Emails reveal how foundation donors got access to Clinton and her close aides at State Dept.”
In August 2016, the Washington Post reported:
Emails reveal how foundation donors got access to Clinton and her close aides at State Dept.
A sports executive who was a major donor to the Clinton Foundation and whose firm paid Bill Clinton millions of dollars in consulting fees wanted help getting a visa for a British soccer player with a criminal past.
The crown prince of Bahrain, whose government gave more than $50,000 to the Clintons’ charity and who participated in its glitzy annual conference, wanted a last-minute meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
U2 rocker and philanthropist Bono, also a regular at foundation events, wanted high-level help broadcasting a live link to the International Space Station during concerts.
In each case, according to emails released Monday from Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state, the requests were directed to Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and confidante, Huma Abedin, who engaged with other top aides and sometimes Clinton herself about how to respond.
1,253) The “most transparent administration in history” said it would not release the rest of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s schedule until after the November 2016 election
In August 2016, the Obama administration said that it would not release the rest of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s schedule until after the November 2016 election.
1,254) The “most transparent administration in history” waited seven months to tell the public that it had airlifted $400 million in cash to Iran
In August 2016, it was reported that seven months earlier, the Obama administration had secretly airlifted $400 million in cash to Iran.
1,255) The Obama administration lied about whether or not its payment of $400 million in cash to Iran was a ransom for releasing four American hostages
On August 2, 2016, the Obama administration said that the $400 million in cash that it had given to Iran in January 2016 had nothing to do with Iran releasing four American hostages.
However, on August 18, 2016, the Obama administration said that the payment was contingent on the hostages being released.
One of these two statements by the Obama administration must be a lie. I don’t even have to know which of the two statements is true, and which one is false, to know that one of them is a lie.
1,256) The “most transparent administration in history” refused to answer questions from Congress about how it paid an additional $1.3 billion to Iran
In August 2016, it twas reported that the Obama administration had paid $1.7 billion to Iran. Of that amount, $400 million was paid in cash as ransom for four U.S. hostages. However, the Obama administration refused to answer questions from Congress about how it paid the other $1.3 billion.
1,257) Commander-in-Chief Obama “killed entire families instead of ISIS fighters”
Obama is the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. military. In July 2016, the Washington Post reported:
An airstrike in Syria killed entire families instead of ISIS fighters
The airstrikes at dawn on Tuesday pulverized entire families, including young children — families that were fleeing Islamic State militants but were instead mistaken for being those very fighters. Depending on whom you ask, the number of bodies found in the rubble is 56, 85, 160 or 212. Pictures of the mangled bodies, covered in dust, are a testament to the carnage.
People who live near where the bombs fell — about 10 miles north of Manbij in northern Syria — said the only planes they’d seen since June were from a U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State.
At least 56 civilians were killed in this incident.
1,258) Obama engaged in the same kind of “unconscionable ineptitude” that he had previously accused Bush of engaging in
After Hurricane Katrina, Bush flew over Louisiana. Obama accused Bush of “unconscionable ineptitude.”
However, in August 2016, after another hurricane in Louisiana, Obama played golf at Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
1,259) After Secretary of State John Kerry said that air conditioning was just as big a threat as ISIS, the Obama administration ignored a petition to remove air conditioning from State Department buildings and vehicles
In July 2016, Secretary of State John Kerry said that air conditioning was just as big a treat as ISIS. In response, people signed a petition for the State Department to remove air conditioning from all of its buildings and vehicles. However, the State Department ignored the petition, and continued to use air conditioning in its buildings and vehicles, despite Kerry’s claim that air conditioning was as dangerous as ISIS.
1,260) After a Swedish telecom company called Ericsson paid Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s husband $750,000 for giving a speech, the Obama administration gave the company an exemption from U.S. sanctions
In November 2011, a Swedish telecom company called Ericsson paid Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s husband, Bill Clinton, $750,000 for giving a speech. In April 2012, Obama signed an executive order which placed sanctions on telecom sales to Iran and Syria. However, Ericsson was given an exemption from these sanctions.
1,261) Obama continued Bush’s policy of having the Veterans Administration spend millions of dollars on artwork while veterans were dying form lack of medical care
In July 2016, it was reported that Obama had continued Bush’s policy of having the Veterans Administration spend millions of dollars on artwork while veterans were dying form lack of medical care. Between 2004 and 2014, the agency had spent $20 million on artwork. Of this amount, $16 million happened during Obama’s presidency. A list of these artworks, including their prices, can be read here. 12 of these pieces of artwork had individual price tags of $250,000 or more, and of these 12, nine were purchased during Obama’s presidency.
1,262) Although patients at the Veterans’ Administration were dying due to lack of medical care, out of the 39,454 new jobs that it added between 2012 and 2015, fewer than 10% were doctors
In May 2016, on page 3 of this PDF, Open the Books reported:
While long wait times persisted the VA added 39,454 new positions to their payroll between 2012-2015. Fewer than ten percent of these new positions (3,591) were ‘Medical Officers,’ i.e. doctors.
1,263) Regarding the Obama administration’s $400 million dollar cash payment that was airlifted to Iran, White House press secretary Josh Earnest falsely said “There’s actually not anything particularly unusual about the mechanism for this transaction”
In August 2016, it was reported that seven months earlier, the Obama administration had secretly airlifted $400 million in cash to Iran.
In August 2016, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said of this payment:
“There’s actually not anything particularly unusual about the mechanism for this transaction.”
However, Associated Press responded to Earnest’s comment with the following:
But diplomatic historians and lawyers with expertise in international arbitration struggled to find similar examples.
Asked to recall a similar payment from the United States using cash to settle an international dispute, the office of the State Department historian could not provide an example.
1,264) 17 of the 28 U.S., European, and Russian companies that participated in Skolkovo had either donated to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s foundation, or paid her husband to give speeches
The term “Skolkovo” refers to the U.S. government sharing biomed, space, nuclear, and IT technologies with other parties. In July 2016, it was reported that 17 of the 28 U.S., European, and Russian companies that participated in Skolkovo had either donated to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s foundation, or paid her husband to give speeches.
1,265) Gave illegal aliens advice on how to illegally stay in the U.S. without getting arrested
In August 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had given illegal aliens advice on how to illegally stay in the U.S. without getting arrested.
1,266) Illegally kept private information about law abiding U.S. citizens who had legally purchased guns
When law abiding U.S. citizens legally purchase guns, a background check is conducted. Federal law requires the U.S. government to get rid of this private information after the sale has been completed. However, in August 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had illegally held on to this information.
1,267) State Department spent $185,000 of taxpayers’ money on a piece of artwork that was made from balls of thread, and was displayed in Islamabad, Pakistan
In August 2016, it was reported that the State Department had spent $185,000 of taxpayers’ money on a piece of artwork that was made from balls of thread, and was displayed in Islamabad, Pakistan.
1,268) Gave Somali Muslims a special tour of U.S. airport security where they were allowed to see areas that most U.S. citizens are not allowed to see
In August 2016, it was reported that the Department of Homeland Security had given Somali Muslims a special tour of U.S. airport security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where they were allowed to see areas that most U.S. citizens are not allowed to see.
1,269) While Veterans were dying due to lack of medical care, the Veterans Administration spent millions of dollars to install solar panels that were never used because they were incompatible with the local electric grid
In 2013, while veterans were dying due to lack of medical care, the Veterans Administration spent millions of dollars to install solar panels at its facility in Little Rock, Arkansas. Two years later, the panels were removed and reinstalled to accommodate a new parking garage. However, the panels were never turned on in either of these installations, because they were incompatible with the local electric grid.
1,270) Although Obama supports tougher gun control laws for law abiding gun owners, he either pardoned or commuted the sentences of 107 federal inmates who had been convicted of gun crimes
Obama supports tougher gun control laws for law abiding gun owners. However, as of August 2016, he had either pardoned or commuted the sentences of 107 federal inmates who had been convicted of gun crimes.
1,271) Obama gave his own daughter an exemption from the federal laws against marijuana which he had prosecuted so many other people for
Item #7 on this list contains a huge number of examples of people who were prosecuted by Obama for smoking medial marijuana, despite the fact that it was legal in the states where they lived.
On the other hand, Obama refused to prosecute his own daughter, Malia Obama, for smoking recreational marijuana, which was reported here, including video evidence, on August 10, 2016.
Furthermore, on August 11, 2016 – the very next day – the Obama administration announced that it would continue to classify marijuana as an illegal and dangerous Schedule 1 drug.
For the record, I think that marijuana, both recreational and medical, should be legal. I don’t have any problem with Obama’s daughter smoking marijuana. It’s President Obama’s hypocrisy that I have a problem with.
1,272) The “most transparent administration in history” “altered intelligence reports to portray a more optimistic picture of the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria”
In August 2016, the New York Times reported:
Military Officials Distorted ISIS Intelligence, Congressional Panel Says
Officials from the United States Central Command altered intelligence reports to portray a more optimistic picture of the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria than events on the ground warranted, a congressional panel said in a report issued Thursday.
The interim report, from a task force established by the Republican chairmen of the House Armed Services Committee, Intelligence Committee and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, found “widespread dissatisfaction” among Central Command intelligence analysts, who said superiors were doctoring their assessments of American efforts to defeat the Islamic State. Central Command, known as Centcom, is the military headquarters in Tampa, Fla., that oversees American military operations across the Middle East and Central Asia.
“Intelligence products approved by senior Centcom leaders typically provided a more positive depiction of U.S. antiterrorism efforts than was warranted by facts on the ground and were consistently more positive than analysis produced by other elements of the intelligence community,” a news release about the report said.
“What happened at Centcom is unacceptable — our war fighters suffer when bad analysis is presented to senior policy makers,” said Representative Ken Calvert, Republican of California. “The leadership failures at Centcom reach to the very top of the organization.”
“Throughout the first half of 2015, many Central Command press releases, statements and congressional testimonies were significantly more positive than actual events,” the report said.
1,273) After Congress approved $500 million to fight the Zika virus, Obama illegally gave the money to the United Nations to spend on green energy projects in foreign countries
After Congress approved $500 million to fight the Zika virus, Obama illegally gave the money to the United Nations to spend on green energy projects in foreign countries.
1,274) After a company manufactured defective combat helmets for members of the U.S. military, the Obama administration rewarded it with another contract
In 2010, the U.S. Army recalled 44,000 defective combat helmets that had been manufactured by a company called ArmorSource.
However, in May 2016, the U.S. Marine Corps signed a contract with the company to manufacture 10,000 helmets.
1,275) Spent taxpayers’ money to try to convince lesbians to become farmers
In August 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had spent taxpayers’ money to try to convince lesbians to become farmers.
1,276) Obama refused to prosecute Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for illegally sharing top secret information with people who had not been cleared to receive such information
In July 2016, it was reported that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had shared 22 emails that were marked “top secret” with three of her aides. These aides had not been cleared to receive such information, which means that it was illegal for Clinton to share the information with them. However, Obama refused to prosecute her.
1,277) “Sailor Denied ‘Clinton Deal’, Gets 1 Year in Prison for 6 Photos of Sub”
In August 2016, U.S. News & World Report reported:
Sailor Denied ‘Clinton Deal’, Gets 1 Year in Prison for 6 Photos of Sub
A former Navy machinist mate who admitted taking photos inside a nuclear submarine was sentenced to a year in prison Friday, with a federal judge rebuffing a request for probation in light of authorities deciding not to prosecute Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information on a private email server as secretary of state.
Kristian Saucier’s attorneys argued in a court filing last week that Clinton had been “engaging in acts similar to Mr. Saucier” with information of much higher classification. It would be “unjust and unfair for Mr. Saucier to receive any sentence other than probation for a crime those more powerful than him will likely avoid,” attorney Derrick Hogan wrote.
U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill sentenced Saucier to one year in prison and a $100 fine, along with six months home confinement, 100 hours of community service and a ban on owning guns, his legal team says.
1,278) “U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, auditor finds”
Obama is the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. military. In August 2016, Reuters reported:
U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, auditor finds
The United States Army’s finances are so jumbled it had to make trillions of dollars of improper accounting adjustments to create an illusion that its books are balanced.
The Defense Department’s Inspector General, in a June report, said the Army made $2.8 trillion in wrongful adjustments to accounting entries in one quarter alone in 2015, and $6.5 trillion for the year. Yet the Army lacked receipts and invoices to support those numbers or simply made them up.
1,279) After Huma Abedin spent 12 years working as the assistant editor of a radical Muslim journal that opposed women’s rights and supported the death penalty for all non-Muslims, Obama hired her to be the top aide for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
From 1996 to 2008, Huma Abedin worked as the assistant editor of a radical Muslim journal that opposed women’s rights and supported the death penalty for all non-Muslims. In 2009, Obama hired her to be the top aide for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
1,280) “… email exchanges show that Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman had to go through the Clinton Foundation in order to set up a meeting with Clinton after the former Secretary of State declined to meet after official requests were made…”
In August 2016, the Daily Caller reported:
Bahrain’s Prince Got Audience With Clinton After Donating $32 Million To Her Foundation
Newly released Department of State documents reveal that the Crown Prince of Bahrain was given an audience with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after he donated $32 million to her foundation.
The documents, released Monday by Judicial Watch, included emails between Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band and former Clinton State Department aide Huma Abedin, which appear to show that Abedin acted as a middleman between Clinton and her foundation’s donors.
Band and Abedin’s email exchanges show that Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman had to go through the Clinton Foundation in order to set up a meeting with Clinton after the former Secretary of State declined to meet after official requests were made.
1,281) As part of the “most transparent administration in history,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton illegally ignored 237 of the 240 Freedom of Information requests that she had received
In August 2016, it was reported that during the time that Hillary Clinton was Obama’s Secretary of State (i.e. from 2009 to 2013), she had illegally ignored 237 of the 240 Freedom of Information requests that she had received.
1,282) “Hillary State Dept. Helped Jailed Clinton Foundation Donor Get $10 Mil from U.S. for Failed Haiti Project”
In August 2016, Judicial Watch reported:
Hillary State Dept. Helped Jailed Clinton Foundation Donor Get $10 Mil from U.S. for Failed Haiti Project
The new batch of emails showing that the State Department gave special access to top Clinton Foundation donors while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state brings to mind the case of a shady Miami businessman serving a 12-year prison sentence after scamming the government out of millions. His name is Claudio Osorio, a Clinton Foundation donor who got $10 million from the government after the Clinton State Department reportedly pulled some strings.
Osorio got the money from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a federal agency that operates under the guidance of the State Department, to build houses in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. The OPIC supposedly promotes U.S. government investments abroad to foster the development and growth of free markets. Osorio’s “Haiti project” was supposed to build 500 homes for displaced families in the aftermath of the earthquake. The project never broke ground and Osorio used the money to finance his lavish lifestyle and fund his illicit business ventures. He also ran a fraudulent international company with facilities in the U.S., United Arab Emirates, Germany, Angola and Tanzania that stole millions from investors. Some of the OPIC Haiti money was used to repay investors of his fraudulent company (Innovida), according to federal prosecutors. In September 2013, Osorio was sentenced to 150 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release.
1,283) Benghazi-related documents were part of the emails that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had illegally deleted and had falsely claimed were not work related
In August 2016, it was reported that Benghazi-related documents were part of the emails that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had illegally deleted and had falsely claimed were not work related.
1,284) Statistics from Obama’s own administration showed that Obama was lying when he said that blacks were better off in 2016 than in 2009
In August 2016, Obama said that blacks were better off in 2016 than in 2009.
However, statistics from Obama’s own administration showed that the following harmful changes had happened to blacks during that time period:
* The black labor force participation rate fell from 63.2% to 61.2%.
* The black home ownership rate fell from 46.1% to 41.7%.
* The number of blacks on food stamps increased from 7.3 million to 11.7 million.
* The black poverty rate increased from 25.8% in 2009 to 26.2% in 2014 (data from 2015 and 2016 was not yet available at the time).
1,285) Falsely said it was “discrimination” for employers to fire immigrants after their employment authorization had expired
In August 2016, the Obama administration falsely said that it was “discrimination” for employers to fire immigrants after their employment authorization had expired.
1,286) In August 2016, Obama’s Syrian refugee program was still discriminating against Christians, even though Christians in that country were being specifically targeted for persecution
Christians made up 10% of Syria’s population, and they were being specifically targeted by ISIS.
However, from early to mid August 2016, the Obama administration admitted 1,575 Muslim refugees from Syria into the U.S., but only 12 Christian refugees from that same country.
1,287) The “most transparent administration in history” illegally ignored a Freedom of Information request regarding what, if anything, it was doing regarding the genocide that ISIS was carrying out against Christians in the areas that ISIS controlled
In August 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had illegally ignored a Freedom of Information request regarding what, if anything, it was doing regarding the genocide that ISIS was carrying out against Christians in the areas that ISIS controlled.
1,288) After Hillary Clinton quit her job as Secretary of State, she illegally continued to keep classified information, and illegally continued to email that classified information
In August 2016, it was reported that after Hillary Clinton had quit her job as Secretary of State, she illegally continued to keep classified information, and illegally continued to email that classified information. However, as always. Obama refused to prosecute her.
1,289) The “most transparent administration in history” agreed to secret exemptions which let Iran ignore some of the restrictions that had been placed upon it in the nuclear deal that the U.S. had signed with Iran
In September 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had agreed to secret exemptions which let Iran ignore some of the restrictions that had been placed upon it in the nuclear deal that the U.S. had signed with Iran.
1,290) Instead of following the proper government procedures for destroying electronic devices that contained classified material, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had her aides hit them with a hammer
In September 2016, it was reported that when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton switched from older phones to newer phones, instead of following the proper government procedures for destroying electronic devices that contained classified material, she had her aides hit them with a hammer.
1,291) Although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed a document which stated that she had received training on how to handle classified material, she later said that she could not remember receiving such training
In September 2016, it was reported that although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had signed a document which stated that she had received training on how to handle classified material, she later said that she could not remember receiving such training.
1,292) Secretary of State Hilary Clinton illegally ignored a subpoena which had ordered her not to erase the emails on her private server
On March 4, 2015, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a subpoena from the House Select Committee on Benghazi which ordered her not to destroy any of the emails on her private server. However, three weeks later, one of her staff members used software called “BleachBit” to erase the emails, and the staff member later admitted that he had been aware of the subpoena at the time that he erased the emails.
1,293) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her private server for email which contained information about the whereabouts and plans of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was one of four U.S. citizens who were murdered by Islamic militants in the Benghazi attacks on September 11, 2012
In March 2016, it was reported that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had used her private server for email which contained information about the whereabouts and plans of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was one of four U.S. citizens who were murdered by Islamic militants in the Benghazi attacks on September 11, 2012.
1,294) 80% of illegal aliens captured at the U.S.-Mexico border were released back into the U.S. instead of being deported
In September 2016, it was reported that 80% of illegal aliens captured at the U.S.-Mexico border were released back into the U.S. instead of being deported.
1,295) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton falsely said that she did not know that the designation of “(C)” in emails stood for “classified”
On July 2, 2016, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that she did not know that the designation of “(C)” in emails stood for “classified.” However, it was later discovered that Clinton had previously used the designation in thousands of emails.
1,296) Illegally gave the personal information of tens of thousands of farmers and ranchers to three environmental groups
In September 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled that in 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency had acted illegally when it gave the personal information of tens of thousands of farmers and ranchers to three environmental groups.
1,297) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed 194 of her foundation and/or campaign donors to State Department advisory boards
In September 2016, it was reported that 194 of the people whom Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had appointed to State Department advisory boards had donated money to Clinton’s foundation, her political campaigns, or both.
1,298) Obama prevented a woman in labor from crossing the street to get to the hospital so he could have a fundraiser
In July 2014 in Los Angeles, Obama prevented a woman in labor from crossing the street to get to the hospital so he could have a fundraiser.
1,299) After builders of the Dakota Access Pipeline had obtained all of the necessary construction permits, the Obama administration illegally tried to block the construction
In September 2016, it was reported that after builders of the Dakota Access Pipeline had obtained all of the necessary construction permits, the Obama administration had illegally tried to block the construction.
1,300) Spent taxpayers’ money to try to unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
In September 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had spent taxpayers’ money to try to unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
1,301) Obama refused to prosecute Imaad Zuberi, a fundraiser for Obama’s campaign, for illegally waiting months to register his work on behalf of a foreign government
In September 2016, it was reported that Obama had refused to prosecute Imaad Zuberi, a fundraiser for Obama’s campaign, for illegally waiting months to register his work on behalf of a foreign government.
1,302) The “most transparent administration in history” refused to release its report on the number of illegal aliens who entered the U.S.
In September 2016, it was reported that the Department of Homeland Security had refused to release its report on the number of illegal aliens who entered the U.S.
1,303) Falsely said the U.S. could not wire money to Iran
On August 4, 2016, when Obama was talking about how the U.S. had given $400 million in cash to Iran, he said:
“The reason that we had to give them cash is precisely because we are so strict in maintaining sanctions and we do not have a banking relationship with Iran that we couldn’t send them a check and we could not wire the money.”
However, on September 18, 2016, it was reported that the U.S. had made two wire payments to Iran during the previous 14 months.
1,304) “Mistakenly” gave U.S. citizenship to 1,800 illegal aliens who were supposed to have been deported
In September 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had “mistakenly” given U.S. citizenship to 1,800 illegal aliens who were supposed to have been deported.
September 24, 2016. Tags: 2016 election, Barack Obama, Benghazi, Economics, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Liberals, Medical marijuana, News, Obama, Politics, Taxes. Barack Obama, Politics. .
Items 1 through 500 can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/obama-252/
Items 501 through 1,000 can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/obama-part-2/
Items 1,001 through 1,249 can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/obama-part-3/
Here are the new entries:
1,203) Although Obama said he opposed building the Keystone oil pipeline in the U.S. because it would contribute to climate change, he supported building an oil pipeline in Kenya
In November 2015, Obama said he opposed building the Keystone oil pipeline in the U.S. because it would contribute to climate change. However, in January 2016, he supported building an oil pipeline in Kenya.
1,204) Video shows a Common Core textbook sales executive saying “I hate kids. I’m in it to sell books.”
In January 2016, it was reported that a video showed a Common Core textbook sales executive saying:
“I hate kids. I’m in it to sell books.”
You can see her saying it at 1:13 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8tZGl1SVs0
1,205) After a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay threatend to kill Americans, Obama sent him back to his home country of Saudi Arabia
In October 2007, Muhammad al Rahman al-Shumrani, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, said:
“When I get out of here, I will go to Iraq and Afghanistan and kill as many Americans as I can. Then I will come here and kill more Americans.”
However, in January 2016, Obama sent him back to his home country of Saudi Arabia.
1,206) In January 2016, Obama made yet another attempt to get banks to give mortgages to people who could not afford to pay them back
In January 2016, it was reported that Obama was making yet another attempt to convince banks to give mortgages to people who could not afford to pay them back.
1,207) Refused to prosecute Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for illegally storing top secret information on her private email server
In January 2016, it was reported that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had illegally stored top secret information on her private email server. However, Obama refused to prosecute her.
1,208) The EPA knew about the dangerous levels of lead in the water in Flint, Michigan for months without warning the people not to drink it
In 2016, CNN reported the following about the high levels of lead in the water in Flint, Michigan:
The EPA says anything over 15 ppb is unsafe, and Walters’ home tested at more than 13,000 ppb.
Emails show that it was 11 months from the time that an EPA official first expressed concern over high levels of lead in Walters’ home — and seven months from when Del Toral wrote his draft memo — until the EPA issued an emergency order in Flint.
1,209) A statement by Obama on the use of guns for self defense contradicted a previous study which had been funded by his own administration
In January 2016, Obama said:
“And so if you look at the statistics, there’s no doubt that there are times where somebody who has a weapon has been able to protect themselves and scare off an intruder or an assailant. But what is more often the case is that they may not have been able to protect themselves but they end up the victim of the weapon that they purchased themselves.”
However, a 2013 study which had been funded by the Obama administration stated:
“Studies that directly assessed the effect of actual defensive uses of guns (i.e., incidents in which a gun was ‘used’ by the crime victim in the sense of attacking or threatening an offender) have found consistently lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared with victims who used other self-protective strategies.”
1,210) Illegally ignored a judge’s order to release the rest of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails before the first primary elections of 2016
In January 2016, it was reported that the State Department had said it would ignore a judge’s order to release the rest of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails before the first primary elections of 2016.
1,211) Obama asked Christians, but not Muslims, to cover up their religious symbols when he visited them to give speeches
In 2012, when Obama gave a speech at Georgetown University, a Catholic school, he asked the school to cover up its religious symbols. However, in 2016, when he gave a speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, he did not make the same request.
1,212) Pressured Ally Bank to pay a settlement for racial discrimination even though there was no evidence that the bank had actually engaged in racial discrimination
In February 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had pressured Ally Bank to pay a settlement for racial discrimination even though there was no evidence that the bank had actually engaged in racial discrimination.
1,213) Continued Bush’s policy of spending $5.7 billion of taxpayers’ money on a cyber defense system that did not work
In February 2016, it was reported that the administrations of Bush and Obama had spent a combined total of $5.7 billion of taxpayers’ money on a cyber defense system that did not work.
1,214) After Obama signed the Dodd-Frank bank regulation bill, the number of new banks that opened up each year in the U.S. fell by more than 99%
Before Obama signed the Dodd-Frank bank regulation bill in 2010, more than 100 new banks had opened up each year in the U.S. However, during the combined five years after Obama signed the bill, a total of only three new banks had opened up in the U.S.
1,215) Spent $412,930 of taxpayers’ money to study the “relationship between gender and glaciers”
In March 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had spent $412,930 of taxpayers’ money to study the “relationship between gender and glaciers.”
1,216) The “most transparent administration in history” illegally ignored a court order to turn over certain Fast and Furious documents
In April 2016, it was reported that the Department of Justice had illegally ignored a court order to turn over certain Fast and Furious documents.
1,217) After Obamacare caused Obama supporting graduate students at the University of Missouri to lose their insurance, they falsely blamed it on the school
In August 2015, the University of Missouri issued the following message to its graduate students:
“The Affordable Care Act prevents employers from giving employees money specifically so they can buy health insurance on the individual market. Graduate teaching and research assistants are classified as employees by the IRS, so they fall under this ruling.”
However, in November 2015, left wing graduate students who had voted for Obama, falsely blamed their loss of insurance on the school, instead of on Obamacare.
1,218) Falsely said it was “racist” for landlords to do criminal background checks on prospective tenants
In April 2016, the Department of Housing and Urban Development falsely said that it was “racist” for landlords to do criminal background checks on prospective tenants.
1,219) Continued Bush’s policy of refusing to fire the State Department official who had approved visas for 11 of the September 11, 2001 terrorists
In April 2016, it was reported that the State Department official who had approved visas for 11 of the September 11, 2001 terrorists was still employed by the federal government.
1,220) Ben Rhodes, the person whom Obama chose to be his lead foreign policy advisor, has a master’s degree in fiction, and has no experience or training in foreign policy
In May 2016, the New York Times reported:
The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama’s Foreign-Policy Guru
How Ben Rhodes rewrote the rules of diplomacy for the digital age
Rhodes writes the president’s speeches, plans his trips abroad and runs communications strategy across the White House, tasks that, taken individually, give little sense of the importance of his role. He is, according to the consensus of the two dozen current and former White House insiders I talked to, the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from Potus himself.
His lack of conventional real-world experience of the kind that normally precedes responsibility for the fate of nations — like military or diplomatic service, or even a master’s degree in international relations, rather than creative writing — is still startling.
Having recently spent time working in Hollywood, I realize during our conversations that the role Rhodes plays in the White House bears less resemblance to any specific character on Beltway-insider TV shows like “The West Wing” or “House of Cards” than it does to the people who create those shows. And like most TV writers, Rhodes clearly prefers to imagine himself in the company of novelists.
Jon Favreau, then the campaign’s lead speechwriter, felt as if he could use a foreign-affairs expert who could write… “The idea of someone with a masters in fiction… seemed perfect for a candidate who put so much emphasis on storytelling.”
1,221) Ben Rhodes, Obama’s lead foreign policy advisor, said the Obama administration had lied in order to make its nuclear inspection deal with Iran
In May 2016, Ben Rhodes, Obama’s lead foreign policy advisor, said the Obama administration had lied in order to make its nuclear inspection deal with Iran.
1,222) Gun control hypocrite Obama allowed the Secret Service to shoot an armed man outside the White House
When Obama was an Illinois state Senator, he voted against allowing people in their own homes to use guns to protect themselves and their families from rapists and murderers.
However, in May 2016, as President, Obama allowed one of his Secret Service agents to shoot an armed man who was outside the White House.
1,223) “U.S.-funded Somali intelligence agency has been using kids as spies”
In May 2016, the Washington Post reported:
U.S.-funded Somali intelligence agency has been using kids as spies
MOGADISHU, Somalia — For years they were children at war, boys given rifles and training by al-Qaeda-backed militants and sent to the front lines of this country’s bloody conflict. Many had been kidnapped from schools and soccer fields and forced to fight.
The United Nations pleaded for them to be removed from the battlefield. The United States denounced the Islamist militants for using children to plant bombs and carry out assassinations.
But when the boys were finally disarmed — some defecting and others apprehended — what awaited them was yet another dangerous role in the war. This time, the children say, they were forced to work for the Somali government.
The boys were used for years as informants by the country’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), according to interviews with the children and Somali and U.N. officials. They were marched through neighborhoods where al-Shabab insurgents were hiding and told to point out their former comrades. The faces of intelligence agents were covered, but the boys — some as young as 10 — were rarely concealed, according to the children. Several of them were killed. One tried to hang himself while in custody.
The Somali agency’s widespread use of child informants, which has not been previously documented, appears to be a flagrant violation of international law. It raises difficult questions for the U.S. government, which for years has provided substantial funding and training to the Somali agency through the CIA, according to current and former U.S. officials.
The child informants were used to collect intelligence or identify suspects in some of the world’s most dangerous neighborhoods, according to their accounts.
“They took me sometimes in a car and sometimes on foot and said, ‘Tell us who is al-Shabab,’ ” recalled one 15-year-old who said he was held by the intelligence agency. “It’s scary because you know everyone can see you working with them.”
The teenager was one of eight boys interviewed by The Washington Post who described being forced to work as informants after leaving al-Shabab. The boys each spoke alone, through an interpreter, but their accounts were nearly identical. They said they spent years in the custody of intelligence agents and were dragged along on missions, sometimes several times a week. Occasionally, they were told to wear NISA uniforms. They were threatened with violence if they didn’t cooperate, several boys said. Their parents didn’t know where they were.
1,224) Illegally used taxpayers’ money to bail out Puerto Rico
In May 2016, it was reported that Obama had used taxpayer’s money to bail out Puerto Rico. Because Obama did this without approval from Congress, his action was illegal.
1,225) Former Obama speechwriters laughed at Obama’s promise that people could keep their health insurance
In May 2016, on “Charlie Rose: The Week,” former Obama speechwriters laughed at Obama’s promise that people could keep their health insurance. Video of this can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkqn6wsrUfs
1,226) A federal judge ruled that some of the funding for Obamacare was unconstitutional
In May 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that some of the funding for Obamacare was unconstitutional, because it had not been approved by Congress.
1,227) “Hidden Microphones Exposed As Part of Government Surveillance Program In The Bay Area”
In May 2016, the San Francisco affiliate of CBS News reported:
Hidden Microphones Exposed As Part of Government Surveillance Program In The Bay Area
OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Hidden microphones that are part of a clandestine government surveillance program that has been operating around the Bay Area has been exposed.
Imagine standing at a bus stop, talking to your friend and having your conversation recorded without you knowing. It happens all the time, and the FBI doesn’t even need a warrant to do it.
Federal agents are planting microphones to secretly record conversations.
Jeff Harp, a KPIX 5 security analyst and former FBI special agent said, “They put microphones under rocks, they put microphones in trees, they plant microphones in equipment. I mean, there’s microphones that are planted in places that people don’t think about, because that’s the intent!”
FBI agents hid microphones inside light fixtures and at a bus stop outside the Oakland Courthouse without a warrant to record conversations, between March 2010 and January 2011.
1,228) A federal judge ordered lawyers from the Department of Justice to take ethics classes because they had lied to him in order to get Obama’s immigration program approved
In May 2016, Judge Andrew Hanen of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered lawyers from the Department of Justice to take ethics classes because they had lied to him in order to get Obama’s immigration program approved.
1,229) Reports from the Department of Justice suggested that guns from Obama’s Fast And Furious program had been linked to at least 69 killings by Mexican drug cartels
In May 2016, it was reported that newly released documents from the Department of Justice suggested that guns from Obama’s Fast And Furious program had been linked to at least 69 killings by Mexican drug cartels.
1,230) Falsely declared more than 4,000 veterans dead, and wrongly cut off their benefits
In May 2016, it was reported that between between 2011 and 2015, the Veterans Administration had falsely declared more than 4,000 veterans dead, and had wrongly cut off their benefits.
1,231) Falsely said it was “racist” for colleges and universities to conduct criminal background checks on prospective students
In May 2016, the U.S Department of Education falsely said it was “racist” for colleges and universities to conduct criminal background checks on prospective students
1,232) The “most transparent administration in history” deleted online conflict of interest disclosures for top federal officials
In May 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had deleted online conflict of interest disclosures for top federal officials.
The Daily Caller reported that before these online reports were deleted by the Obama administration, they had been:
… the primary tool that watchdog journalists, political activists and interested voters can use to guard against presidential appointees using their positions to enrich themselves or others….
… website featured a sortable, searchable list of over 1,000 government appointees, including their names, agencies and titles, and flagging new ones. By clicking on a name, users could easily access multiple disclosures for the appointee, including yearly financial accounting, stock ownership and a letter detailing any agreements surrounding conflicts, such as issues when the individual promises to recuse himself….
1,233) Obama extorted banks into making “donations” to some of his favorite left wing community organizing groups
In May 2016, it was reported that after Obama sued Citigroup and Bank of America over their actions regarding the collapse of the housing bubble, Obama told these banks that they would only have to pay 50 cents on the dollar if, instead of paying the settlement money to the actual victims, they “donated” the settlement money to some of Obama’s favorite left wing community organizing groups, including NeighborWorks and La Raza.
1,234) Obama’s refugee program continued to discriminate against Christian refugees from Syria, even though Christians in that country were being specifically targeted for persecution
Christians made up 10% of Syria’s population, and they were being specifically targeted by ISIS.
However, in May 2016, the Obama administration admitted 1,035 Muslim refugees from Syria into the U.S., but only two Christian refugees from that same country.
1,235) The “most transparent administration in history” edited a video of a press briefing to remove a question from Fox News correspondent James Rosen
In June 2016, it was reported that the State Department had edited a video of a press briefing to remove a question from Fox News correspondent James Rosen.
1,236) After the State Department edited a video of a press briefing to remove a question from Fox News correspondent James Rosen, the State Department falsely blamed in on a “glitch”
In June 2016, it was reported that after the State Department had edited a video of a press briefing to remove a question from Fox News correspondent James Rosen, the State Department falsely blamed in on a “glitch.”
1,237) The “most transparent administration in history” refused to answer questions about 86,000 illegal aliens that it had released, who had committed 231,000 crimes in two and a half years
In June 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had refused to answer questions about 86,000 illegal aliens that it had released, who had committed 231,000 crimes in two and a half years.
1,238) Falsely said it would take “75 years” to release all of the emails from top aides to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
In June 2016, the State Department falsely said that it would take “75 years” to release all of the emails from top aides to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
1,239) Obama allowed a major donor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Foundation – who had no intelligence experience – to be on a sensitive government intelligence advisory board
In June 2016, it was reported that Obama had allowed a major donor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Foundation – who had no intelligence experience – to be on a sensitive government intelligence advisory board
1,240) While endorsing Hillary Clinton for President, Obama falsely said, “… there has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton.”
In July 2016, while endorsing Hillary Clinton for President, Obama falsely said
“… there has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton.”
1,241) Tried to illegally access the electronic medical records of law abiding patients without a warrant
In June 2016, it was reported that the Obama administration had tried to illegally access the electronic medical records of law abiding patients without a warrant.
1,242) The Obama administration knowingly allowed Omar Mateen to murder 49 people because it didn’t want to offend Muslims
In June 2016, an Islamic terrorist named Omar Mateen murdered 49 people in Orlando, Florida.
Multiple people had warned the federal government that they thought Omar Mateen was going to commit a terrorist attack, but the government dismissed these complaints because, in the hierarchy of political correctness, not wanting to offend Muslims takes precedence over saving the lives of innocent U.S. citizens.
In 2013, Mateen’s coworkers reported to the FBI that Mateen had made terroristic threats, had told them that he had family connections to Al Qaeda, had told them that he was a member of a Shi’a terrorism organization, and had told them that he hoped to be a martyr (which wikipedia defines as “a man or woman who dies while conducting jihad”).
In response to all of these things, the FBI conducted a 10 month investigation into Mateen.
The FBI closed this 10 month investigation by falsely concluding that Mateen’s coworkers were “racist.”
Also in 2013, St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara’s office reported to the FBI that Mateen had said that he could have al-Qaida kill one of Mascara’s employees and the employee’s family, and had also said that the Fort Hood shooter (an Islamic terrorist who murdered 13 people in Texas in 2009) was justified in what he had done.
The FBI investigated this, and falsely concluded that Mateen was “not a threat.”
1,243) Planned to removed references to Islamic terrorism from the transcripts of 911 calls made by Omar Mateen
In June 2016, an Islamic terrorist named Omar Mateen murdered 49 people in Orlando, Florida.
During his attack, Mateen called 911 three times, and made references to ISIS and al-Baghadadi.
Afterward, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that the FBI would remove references to ISIS and al-Baghadadi from the transcripts of these 911 calls before releasing them to the public.
However, after people complained about this, the FBI changed its mind and released transcripts with those references included.
1,244) Told federal employees who were investigating Islamic terrorism not to use words such as “jihad,” “sharia,” and “takfir”
In June 2016, the Department of Homeland Security told its employees who were investigating Islamic terrorism not to use words such as “jihad,” “sharia,” and “takfir.”
1,245) The Obama administration lied to Congress about the number of crimes committed by criminal illegal aliens after they had been released by the Obama administration
In July 2015, Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Congress that in 2014, criminal illegal aliens who had been released by the Obama administration had committed 1,423 additional crimes after they had been released.
However, in June 2016, a Freedom of Information request showed that the actual number was 13,288.
1,246) A federal judge ruled that the Obama administration’s fracking rules were illegal
In June 2016, Judge Scott Skavdahl of the District Court of Wyoming ruled that the Obama administration’s fracking rules were illegal because they had not been approved by Congress.
1,247) The “most transparent administration in history” allowed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to omit meetings with political donors, foundation contributors, and corporate interests from her official calendar
In June 2016, Associated Press reported:
An Associated Press review of the official calendar Hillary Clinton kept as secretary of state identified at least 75 meetings with longtime political donors, Clinton Foundation contributors and corporate and other outside interests that were not recorded or omitted the names of those she met.
The fuller details of those meetings were included in files the State Department turned over to the AP after it sued the government in federal court.
1,248) A federal judge said the Obama administration had acted illegally when it used a “stingray” to find a suspect’s apartment without a warrant
According to the Huffington Post, a “stingray” is “a surveillance device that can trick suspects’ cell phones into revealing their locations.”
In July 2016, U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan said that the Obama administration had acted illegally when it used one of these devices to find a suspect’s apartment without a warrant.
1,249) The “most transparent administration in history” continued Bush’s policy of allowing Hillary Clinton to use third parties to hide the true identities of many of the parties who paid her husband to give speeches
Hillary Clinton was a U.S. Senator during the Bush administration, and Secretary of State during Obama’s administration. While holding both jobs, it was often the case that instead of naming the true source of funding for paid speeches that were given by her husband, Bill Clinton, she listed middleman companies, such as “World Management Limited.”
July 22, 2016. Tags: 2016 election, Barack Obama, Benghazi, Economics, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Liberals, Medical marijuana, News, Obama, Politics, Taxes. Barack Obama, Politics. .
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April 10, 2016. Tags: 2016 election, Barack Obama, Benghazi, Economics, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Liberals, Medical marijuana, News, Obama, Politics, Taxes. Barack Obama, Politics. .
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March 27, 2016. Tags: 2016 election, Barack Obama, Benghazi, Economics, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Liberals, Medical marijuana, News, Obama, Politics, Taxes. Barack Obama, Politics. .
The tech support people at wordpress said my blog post had become too long for a single entry, and suggested that I break it up into multiple entries. So I did exactly that.
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January 7, 2016. Tags: 2016 election, Barack Obama, Benghazi, Economics, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Liberals, Medical marijuana, News, Obama, Politics, Taxes. Barack Obama, Politics. .
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/nyregion/poor-smokers-in-new-york-state-spend-25-of-income-on-cigarettes-study-says.html
Poor Smokers in New York State Spend 25% of Income on Cigarettes, Study Finds
September 19, 2012
ALBANY — Low-income smokers in New York spend 25 percent of their income on cigarettes, according to a new study, which led advocates for smokers’ rights to say it proved high taxes were regressive and ineffective.
The American Cancer Society said that the study, using state data, showed a need to help more poor New Yorkers quit smoking or never start. The study was conducted by the Public Health and Policy Research program of RTI, a nonprofit institute.
In New York, which has the nation’s highest cigarette taxes, a pack of cigarettes can cost $12, though many smokers have turned to buying cheaper cigarettes online or to using roll-your-own devices.
Wealthier smokers — those earning $60,000 or more — spend 2 percent on cigarettes, according to the study.
“The poor pay $600 million in cigarette taxes and get little help in quitting,” Russ Sciandra of the American Cancer Society said.
Mr. Sciandra said state statistics showed that smokers earning less than $30,000 a year paid 39 percent of state and city taxes on cigarettes. He added that more of the cigarette tax revenue should be used to finance smoking-cessation programs.
Mr. Sciandra said other studies showed that lower-income smokers had less success at quitting. He said low-income smokers trying to quit were hampered by being around many smokers and having less cash to buy smoking-cessation aids.
Audrey Silk of Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, an advocacy group, said the study showed that cigarette taxes were punitive and “undeniably regressive.”
“It busts their theory that high taxes equal submission to their coercive measure,” Ms. Silk said. She criticized those in government who opposed smoking and increased related taxes.
Peter Constantakes of the State Health Department argued that tax increases and other programs were helping more people to quit. “New York is promoting a number of antismoking initiatives, including targeted media campaigns, that are designed to reduce the smoking rate among lower-income groups and prevent young people from becoming smokers,” he said.
January 4, 2016. Tags: addiction, Cancer, cigarette taxes, Cigarettes, heart attacks, poor people, Poverty, Smoking, stroke, Taxes. Smoking. .
Items 1 through 500 can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/obama-252/
Items 501 through 1,000 can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/obama-part-2/
Items 1,001 through 1,172 can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/obama-part-3/
Here are the new entries:
(more…)
December 15, 2015. Tags: 2016 election, Barack Obama, Benghazi, Economics, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Liberals, Medical marijuana, News, Obama, Politics, Taxes. Barack Obama, Politics. .
The tech support people at wordpress said my blog post had become too long for a single entry, and suggested that I break it up into multiple entries. So I did exactly that.
(more…)
December 14, 2015. Tags: 2016 election, Barack Obama, Benghazi, Economics, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Liberals, Medical marijuana, News, Obama, Politics, Taxes. Barack Obama, Politics. .
The Washington Times recently reported:
Obama’s State of the Union speech to include $320B tax hike proposal
President wants capital gains rate, bank fees raised
President Obama will propose $320 billion in higher taxes in his State of the Union address, mostly by raising the rate on capital gains and closing tax loopholes for wealthier families, senior administration officials said Saturday.
Previewing Mr. Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night, aides said the president will propose raising the top tax rate on capital gains to 28 percent, from the current 23.8 percent (20 percent, plus a 3.8 percent tax on unearned income to fund Obamacare) for individual taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $200,000 or more.
Obama is ignoring the fact that in the real world, raising the capital gains tax in the past has resulted in lower tax revenues.
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January 24, 2015. Tags: Barack Obama, capital gains tax, Class warfare, Communism, Economics, Income inequality, News, Obama, Occupy, Occupy movement, Occupy Wall St., occupy-wall-street, Politics, Redistribution of wealth, Soak the rich, Socialism, Taxes. Barack Obama, Economics, Politics. .
The Hill recently reported:
… the president is proposing a new $500 second-earner credit to help cover the additional costs, such as commuting, of families with two working spouses. That plan is expected to benefit 24 million couples, the White House said.
Another proposal would streamline and expand childcare tax benefits, providing up to $3,000 per child under age 5, helping 5.1 million families that make up to $210,000 a year and cover costs for 6.7 million children.
A real tax cut means that marginal tax rates are cut, and people can spend that money however they want.
But that’s not what Obama wants.
Instead, Obama wants to use the tax code to reward people who put their children into day care, and to punish families with a stay-at-home parent.
If you want this tax cut, you will have to behave in the specific way that Obama wants you to behave.
If your lifestyle is different than the way that Obama wants you to live, then you will not get a tax cut.
January 18, 2015. Tags: Barack Obama, Child care, Childcare, Conservative, Day care, Daycare, Economics, Families, Family values, Feminism, Home schooling, Homeschooling, Libertarian, Marriage, Obama, Police state, Politics, Sexism, Stay at home mom, Stay at home parent, Taxes, War against women, Women's rights. Barack Obama, Economics, Police state, Sexism. .
On November 8, 2012, it was reported that in response to the medical device tax that is part of Obamacare, some medical device manufacturers had announced plans to layoff employees, including Welch Allyn (275 planned layoffs), Stryker (1,170 planned layoffs), and Medtronic (1,000 planned layoffs).
On December 4, 2012, Elizabeth Warren joined Al Franken, John Kerry, and 15 other Democratic U.S. Senators in signing a letter to Harry Reid, asking him to delay the tax on medical devices, claiming that the tax would hurt job creation in their districts. The letter can be read here.
I think it’s great that Warren has come out in favor of trickle down economics, and I am glad that several of her Democratic colleagues have also embraced the position.
Unfortunately, the medical device tax is still in existence, and continues to wreak havoc. On February 18, 2014, it was reported that the medical device tax had destroyed 14,000 jobs, and had prevented an additional 19,000 new jobs from being created.
July 24, 2014. Tags: Economics, Elizabeth Warren, Health care, Liberals, Medical Device tax, Obamacare, Politics, Progressives, Taxes, Trickle down economics. Economics, Health care, Politics. .
Reuters reports:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate panel hearing on President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Internal Revenue Service was set to resume Wednesday after it was abruptly halted on Tuesday at a Republican senator’s request, committee aides said.
John Koskinen, a 74-year-old lawyer with little tax experience chosen by Obama to take over the beleaguered IRS, traveled up to Capitol Hill to face the Senate Finance Committee, but the session did not last long.
Well hey – it’s just the IRS. Why should the person who heads it have significant tax experience? What does the IRS have to do with taxes anyway? Why should its leader need to know anything about taxes?
December 11, 2013. Tags: Barack Obama, IRS, Obama, Politics, Taxes. Barack Obama, Politics. .
In front of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Obama administration argued that Obamacare is a tax.
According to the Obamacare calulator, Obamacare places an annual tax on married couples for being married instead of single. The amount of this tax depends upon the ages, incomes, and parental status of the married couple.
According to the Obamacare calculator, the extreme case of this tax occurs with a 60-year-old married couple with no children, where the two spouses have identical incomes totaling $62,041 per year. Under this scenario, according to the Obamacare calculator, Obamacare gives them an annual tax of $11,028 for being married instead of single.
Why did Democrats give Obamacare this marriage tax?
Everyone knows that whatever you tax, you get less of. For example, after the Democrats increased the cigarette tax by 61 cents per pack in 2009, John Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, said:
“Raising the price of tobacco products is one of the most effective approaches to encouraging people to quit and preventing kids from picking up the deadly habit in the first place.”
Mr. Seffrin’s comment makes perfect sense. Everyone knows that whatever you tax, you get less of, which is why Democrats have never, and will never, create an abortion tax.
So, why did Democrats give Obamacare an annual marriage tax of up to $11,028 per couple?
I am not a Democrat, so I cannot answer that question with 100% certainly. However, I can take my best, educated guess.
The only explanation that I can think of is that Democrats want to discourage people from being married. They want to discourage single people from getting married, and they want to encourage married people to get divorced.
If that’s not their reason, then what else could their reason possibly be?
November 13, 2013. Tags: Barack Obama, Democrats, Divorce, Economics, Health care, Marriage, Obama, Obamacare, Politics, Taxes. Economics, Health care, Politics. .
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Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 