Friday, August 12, 2022

Anita Dunn, $48 million special, takes 8 months to disclose her financial holdings: One law for me, another for thee

Biden senior advisor Anita Dunn has to divest investment portfolio worth between $16.8 million and $48.2 million to avoid conflicts :

Dunn’s newly released financial disclosures, which are 93 pages long, show extensive stock, options, bond and private equity holdings . . ..

Dunn worked for the president as one of his senior advisors from January 2021 through that August before returning for a brief stint this March.

She was considered a special government employee for both posts who was exempt from disclosing her assets publicly.

She wasn’t required to file a public disclosure form until her most recent appointment in May. ...  

also made tens of thousands of dollars exercising put options in the iShares Core S&P 500 Index, which could create conflicts of interest with “every single company” in the S&P 500, according to Walter Shaub, who used to run the Office of Government Ethics under the Obama administration and briefly served in the Trump administration.

“Options are not exempt from the conflict of interest statute under any circumstance. That means that she came into government with a conflict of interest with every company whose stock she wrote an option for and with every company in the referenced indexes,” Shaub said after reviewing Dunn’s financial disclosure.

Thursday, August 11, 2022

AP Obama: In all, nearly 180 Trump-endorsed candidates up and down the ballot have won their primaries since May while fewer than 20 have lost

 


Only two of the 10 House Republicans who supported Trump’s impeachment after the Jan. 6 insurrection are expected back in Congress next year. Rep. Jaime Herrera-Beutler, R-Wash., who conceded defeat after her Tuesday primary, was the latest to fall. Leading Trump antagonist Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is at risk of joining her next week. 

More.



Phony Democrat SALT Caucus is out there today boasting it is going to vote for the Manchin bill anyway, which doesn't undo the Trump tax increases on the wealthy they promised to get rid of


  a group of House Democrats say they will still vote for the party’s spending package without SALT reform . . . members of the SALT Caucus ... have vowed to oppose a bill without SALT relief

 

From their website:

SUOZZI,  GOTTHEIMER, YOUNG,  GARBARINO  ANNOUNCE  NEW  BIPARTISAN  SALT  CAUCUS  TO  FIGHT  FOR  TAX  RELIEF  FOR  MIDDLE  CLASS  FAMILIES

April 15, 2021  
Press Release 
32 Democrats and Republicans join

Today, April 15, 2021, Tom Suozzi (NY-3), U.S. Representatives Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5),  Young Kim (CA-39), and Andrew Garbarino (NY-2) announced the formation of the new bipartisan SALT Caucus to advocate for new tax relief from Congress. 

  

“Our effort to restore the SALT deduction is gaining momentum. Together, Democrats and Republicans alike, we will advocate for the restoration of the SALT deduction and highlight the middle class families who have been unfairly hurt by the cap,” said Rep. Tom Suozzi, SALT Caucus Co-Chair. “The cap on the SALT deduction has been a body blow to New York and middle-class families throughout the country. At the end of the day, we must fix this injustice.”

 

“We’re formally launching a new bipartisan group — the SALT Caucus — because, for all our Members, and for the tens of thousands of middle class families we represent, it is high time that Congress reinstates the State and Local Tax deduction, so we can get more dollars back in to the pockets of so many struggling families — especially as we recover from this pandemic,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, SALT Caucus Co-Chair. “This bipartisan group we’re founding today, with members from coast to coast and across the political spectrum, are all banding together to reinstate the State and Local Tax deduction, to find a way to get this done in Congress, and to actually get tax relief for the hard working middle class families we represent.”

 

“Hardworking Californians in the 39th District and across my home state have been burdened enough by high state and local taxes. It is estimated that in the 2022 tax year, California’s 39th District will pay on average more than $640 million due to the SALT cap,” said Rep. Young Kim, SALT Caucus Co-Chair. “I am proud to fight for lower taxes for my constituents as Co-Chair of the SALT Caucus and am looking forward to working together to ensure California workers and families can keep more of their hard-earned money.” 

 

“The SALT cap penalizes working class Long Islanders. From firefighters to police officers, to teachers, to nurses, and small business owners, I hear from people every day about what a crushing blow the SALT cap has delivered them. I’m proud to be a Co-Chair of the bipartisan SALT Caucus to fully restore the deduction once and for all,” said Rep. Andrew Garbarino, SALT Caucus Co-Chair.

 

“A critical component of our overall economic recovery must be the repeal of the state and local tax deduction cap that was imposed by the 2017 tax law,” said Rep. Mikie Sherrill, SALT Caucus Vice Chair. “There is a misconception that the SALT deduction doesn’t help middle class families. But in high cost of living areas like my district, SALT does in fact make a critical difference in helping make ends meet for our middle class residents like teachers and law enforcement officers, who depend on this deduction to afford the high cost of living in our area. To be clear, the 2017 tax bill specifically targeted states and communities like mine that have prioritized key investments in our public schools, living wages for workers, environmental protections, the list goes on. I’m proud to be launching this bipartisan caucus to ensure we deliver a win on this issue for families in New Jersey and across the country.”

 

“The cap on the state and local tax deduction hurts middle class California families,” said Rep. Katie Porter, SALT Caucus Vice Chair. “During the coronavirus pandemic, our state and local governments have led public health efforts on testing and vaccines—a potent reminder of the important work they do. Restoring the state and local tax deduction, which has been in our tax code since its inception, gives taxpayers and communities the ability to invest in their priorities and levels the playing field across states for federal taxation.”

 

“Counties are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting nearly 1,000 hospitals, more than 1,900 public health authorities and other services essential to residents’ safety and well-being. The human and financial impacts of addressing this health and economic emergency are staggering,” said National Association of Counties Executive Director Matthew Chase. “We applaud the formation of this bipartisan caucus committed to repealing the state and local tax deduction cap, which would reinstate our local control of our tax systems and strengthen the ability of our counties and local communities to deliver essential public services, such as emergency response, public health and infrastructure.”

 

The SALT Caucus leadership consists of: 

 

Co-Chair Tom Suozzi (NY-3)

Co-Chair Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5)

Co-Chair Andrew Garbarino (NY-2)

Co-Chair Young Kim (CA-39)

Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-9), SALT Caucus Vice Chair  

Katie Porter (CA-45), SALT Caucus Vice Chair

Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), SALT Caucus Vice Chair

Jamie Raskin (MD-08), SALT Caucus Vice Chair

Chris Smith (NJ-04), SALT Caucus Vice Chair

Lauren Underwood (IL-14), SALT Caucus Vice Chair

 

The other founding members of the SALT Caucus include: Reps. Danny Davis, Nicole Malliotakis, Julia Brownley, Judy Chu, Lee Zeldin, Michelle Steel, Mike Levin, Jimmy Panetta, Jimmy Gomez, Brian Higgins, Jerry Nadler, Tom Malinowski, Jeff Van Drew, Alan Lowenthal, Anna Eshoo, Andy Kim, Ted Lieu, Brad Schneider, John Larson, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mike Garcia, and Gregory Meeks.

 



Rush Limbaugh, MD, was only off about coronavirus vs. flu deaths in 2020 by about 6.5 times

 "The coronavirus is the common cold. 2% [who] get the coronavirus die. That’s less than the flu. That is a far lower death statistic than any form of influenza. There’s nothing unusual about the coronavirus".

-- Rush Limbaugh, 2/24/20, here

Rush's coronavirus death statistic ended up being off by about only 6.5 times, per the CDC leading causes of death data for 2020 below.

Rush died in 2021 of the second leading cause of death in 2020.

There were approximately 20.024 million cases of COVID-19 in 2020, so 1.75% died according to the CDC data.

CDC estimates an average of 29.6 million cases of influenza annually 2010-2020. Deaths from influenza and pneumonia of 53,417 in 2020, below, is 0.18% of that, a far lower rate of death than for any form of COVID-19, heh heh.

The rate of death for COVID-19 was thus far, far worse than for influenza . . . by about 9.7 times in 2020. 




Republicans hate it when the Consumer Price Index declines, as it just did from June to July 2022

 It causes cognitive dissonance. Zero increase to the index, zero percent inflation!

See how easy that is?

Shouldn't they be able to understand Rush Limbaugh style math by now when they hear it from the president himself? Or was the Rush Limbaugh Show all for nothing?

Sad!





Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Everybody's making fun of Biden's claim that there was zero percent inflation last month, but they're all morons

 


Rich people pay rooms full of tax attorneys, the rest of us pay the IRS

The IRS advertises for agents with these qualifications because auditing rich people can be really, really dangerous

 


It's odd how this guy never mentions the post-election shenanigans which DEFINE the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would REQUIRE faithless votes in the Electoral College

Time To Eliminate the Possibility of Faithless Electors :

In spite of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Chiafalo v. Washington that states can bind electors to the popular vote, only 14 states have laws in place to do so. This leaves open the possibility that as many as 420 electors across the country could still cast faithless votes with the only remedy being whether or not Congress would choose to count those votes in their Jan. 6 joint session. This is the type of scenario the ECRA is trying to avoid.  

He doesn't say anything about the National Popular Vote Compact here, either, which would potentially nullify the will of the people of a state who voted for one candidate but whose electors were forced to vote for another under the compact. That would be done legally by state signatories, but it would still be wrong.

As of June 2022, [the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact] has been adopted by fifteen states and the District of Columbia. These states have 195 electoral votes, which is 36% of the Electoral College and 72% of the 270 votes needed to give the compact legal force

More.

 

All 50 states certified their results in Election 2020, making Joe Biden the winner. Rogue electors weren't recognized by Vice President Pence, correctly, under already existing laws.

Electors would be no less rogue under the NPV.

It would be less ambiguous to these people if the Supreme Court had ruled "shall" instead of "may", but the whole opinion is clear:

A State may enforce an elector’s pledge to support his party’s nominee—and the state voters’ choice—for President.

The Supreme Court on July 6, 2020 concluded by saying that

electors are not free agents; they are to vote for the candidate whom the State’s voters have chosen

which ought to settle the matter, but apparently can't in some minds.

Odd.


 

 

FBI run amok seizes cell phone of five term Pennsylvania Congressman Republican Scott Perry, head of House Freedom Caucus since January

  "My phone contains info about my legislative and political activities, and personal/private discussions with my wife, family, constituents, and friends. None of this is the government’s business."

More.

Labor productivity hits record low in the post-war under Joe Biden, even worse than 1974

 THEY PRETEND TO PAY US . . . WE PRETEND TO WORK.




Present inflation is much worse than the Fed graph indicates, according even to Larry Summers

 COMPARING PAST AND PRESENT INFLATION

 BIANCO RESEARCH

This is 1974 all over again, not 1951.

 

 

.

.

Markets cheer 8.5% inflation because of all the money they're making off of you because of it

 

 
 

 

Planting "evidence": Dirty rotten FBI spent 9 hours "searching" Trump's residence on Monday after fruitless hours-long May recon mission

 

A source close to the former president expressed concern that FBI agents or DOJ lawyers conducting the search could have “planted stuff” because they would not allow Trump’s attorneys inside the 128-room building to observe the operation, which lasted more than nine hours. ...

In May, Corcoran granted access into Mar-a-Lago’s windowless storage room to FBI agents who spent several hours searching through the boxes. Trump stopped by the basement to say hello at one point, says someone who was there.

More.



Monday, August 8, 2022

I thought they didn't have any money in Mississippi, and now I know why: The IRS torments black folks the most

 


Little Marco gets it right

 

'Using government power to persecute political opponents is something we have seen many times from 3rd world Marxist dictatorships But never before in America,' wrote Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida on Twitter.  

Oh look, the FBI finds a way to make EVEN ME vote for that SOB again

 FBI RAIDS TRUMP

MAR-A-LAGO 'UNDER SIEGE, OCCUPIED'

MORE HEAT ON THE DON

AGENTS CRACK SAFE 


The Federal Government has been collecting record taxes for months, but that's not good enough for The Beast: The Manchin inflation bill gives the IRS $80 billion to collect even more, $204 billion extra in the next ten years

Meanwhile Sean Hannity on the radio is talking about anything but.

FEDS COLLECT RECORD TAXES... ^

FEDS COLLECT RECORD TAXES... ^ 

FEDS COLLECT RECORD TAXES... ^  

FEDS COLLECT RECORD TAXES... ^  

FEDS COLLECT RECORD TAXES... ^ 
 

Reconciliation bill includes nearly $80 billion for IRS including enforcement, audits: What that means for taxpayers :

Collectively, those improvements are projected to bring in $203.7 billion in revenue from 2022 to 2031, according to recent estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.

 

Gee, I guess it didn't work so well

 The singer has credited her husband, who founded Amazon Herb Company, purveyors of botanical supplements, with helping turn her on to medical marijuana as a treatment for cancer.

Meanwhile the rich get a $14 billion gift in the Manchin "inflation" bill because the carried interest loophole fix was dropped to please Senator Sinema

 Story:

Democrats estimated that the proposed changes to the carried interest rules would have raised $14 billion over 10 years.

 

Joe Manchin's gift to America: IRS gets a whopping 58% funding increase each and every year for ten years over fiscal 2021

 They're coming for YOU.

 

The IRS spent $13.7 billion last year.

The Manchin bill gives the IRS an additional $79.6 billion over ten years:

. . . it will take time to phase in the added IRS funding . . .

CNBC says you WANTED this:

More than two-thirds of registered voters support boosting the IRS budget . . .

LOL, are YOU ever going to get it, good and hard.

 



Yeah, well, we wouldn't have the Manchin reconciliation bill in the first place if Trump hadn't screwed Perdue and Loeffler in Georgia

 Trump: Dems Played McConnell "Like a Fiddle" on Reconciliation Bill

Trump should just shut his yap already and GO AWAY!


 

LOL, watch for dozens of phony House Democrats who ran on repeal of Trump's 2017 SALT caps vote once again come Friday for a bill (Joe Manchin's) which doesn't remove them and adds more taxes on most Americans

Trump raising taxes on rich coastal elites and Democrats never doing anything about it after running on a promise to do so will never not be funny.

 House Dems Drop SALT Pledges To Back Manchin Bill

Democrats and Republicans have forcefully disputed whether the Inflation Reduction Act would raise taxes on middle-class households making less than $400,000, which would violate a core Biden pledge. The non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation, found that the measure would raise $16.7 billion on taxpayers making less than $200,000 in 2023.

Josh Gottheimer NJ-5

Mikie Sherrill NJ-11

Tom Suozzi NY-3

Katie Porter CA-45


Mike Levin CA
Tom Malinowski NJ-7


Josh Harder CA-10


Julia Brownley CA-26

Sunday, August 7, 2022

But the San Francisco Gay Men's Choir said they were just joking

 



US COVID-19: The Big Picture through July 2022

Total cases monthly in 2022:

Jan 20.3 million

Feb 3.95m

Mar 1.07m

Apr 1.25m

May 2.89m

Jun 3.33m

Jul 3.65m.

 

We averaged 1.68 million cases monthly in 2020 and 2.88 million monthly in 2021.

Monthly cases in 2022 through July now average 5.20 million, down from 5.46 million last month. 

Because of home tests and generally milder cases both going unreported, the case data is not very predictive.

The encouraging news is in the deaths per day data, which shows that the pandemic is clearly less severe in the United States two months in a row. Both June and July deaths were low enough to make 2022 as a whole look better than either 2020 or 2021 in each of them.

Deaths per day are still approximately 10x higher, however, through July, and 4x higher in July, than for the average annual rate for influenza.

 



Deaths per day from COVID-19 in the US ticked up slightly in July 2022 to 383, higher than in May, as was expected

July 2022: 383

June 2022: 363

May 2022: 373

Apr 2022: 426

Mar 2022: 980

Feb 2022: 2,247

Jan 2022: 1,987

 

Deaths per day overall, however, are still down in 2022 compared with both 2021 and 2020 after hitting 1,050 per day at the end of June:

2020: 1,131

2021: 1,310

2022 through 7/31: 953 

 



Saturday, August 6, 2022

Yeah, that Big Bang thingy was pretty modest when you really look back at it

When you try to say something profound and end up proving only that you are a nitwit:

 



She's very very naughty

 

  

 

Schumer says Sinema left ‘no choice’ but to cut carried interest from key bill

Ann Coulter's going to be furious.