#4
Joe is feeble, deranged and evil. What is formidable is the entire media, tech infrastructure and cabal of federal functionaries that are aligned behind him at this point. If the amphetamines wear him out totally, that Leviathan will align behind the next person.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2024 13:38 Comments ||
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#7
I'm reminded of the story of the Iraqi guy who emigrated to Sweden and was returning to Iraq because he was tired of waiting for his free apartment and stipend.
Even the Swedish welfare authorities had no idea what he was talking about.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/07/2024 14:21 Comments ||
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#8
He thought he was in England.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2024 14:55 Comments ||
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[Sovereign Man] Hunter Biden most likely isn’t going to jail any time soon despite an obvious track record of fraud and criminality. But if you happen to be a small business owner in the Land of the Free, you are looking at potentially two years in prison if you don’t comply with a new law that just took effect yesterday.
It started nearly five years ago, in the spring of 2019.
Back then, a member of Congress from the state of New York— a career politician with five decades of experience named Carolyn Maloney— introduced a new bill to the House of Representatives called the Corporate Transparency Act, or CTA.
At first her bill didn’t go anywhere.
But the following summer, during the peak Covid insanity of 2020, the CTA was jammed into the nearly 1,500-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), i.e. the military budget that Congress is required to pass each year.
The NDAA (and hence the CTA along with it) were passed on January 1, 2021. And now, three years later, the CTA has formally taken effect.
Now, the whole premise behind the Corporate Transparency Act is the classic boogeyman premise that evil criminals and terrorists use US corporations and LLCs to conduct their illicit activities, so therefore the government wants more rules, regulations, and reporting for US companies.
This is the same simple-minded hysteria that we always hear about cryptocurrency, i.e. criminals and terrorists use Bitcoin, therefore it should be tightly regulated by hapless government bureaucrats.
To be fair, Hamas got lots of donations via Bitcoin until Israel figured out how to take away the accounts.
Obviously, it’s true that criminals can and do use crypto— or US business entities like Delaware LLCs— to commit their crimes.
Criminals also use iPhones, Facebook, Gmail, Dell laptops, JP Morgan Chase bank accounts, Ford F-150 pickup trucks, Amazon gift cards, and Verizon Wireless to commit their crimes.
But in this case, in the infinite wisdom of Congress, it’s business entities that are being singled out for additional scrutiny.
So, because criminals sometimes use US business entities to launder money, every law-abiding US citizen with a completely legitimate business now must jump through all sorts of hoops and reporting requirements.
And if you fail to report, you’re looking at two years in prison.
There are so many things about this that are completely stupid.
First off, the United States legal code already has dozens of anti-money laundering laws and regulations on the books. Seriously, dozens.
Yet clearly if Congress saw the need to pass a NEW anti-money laundering law (the CTA), then it stands to reason that those existing laws are ineffective... and hence should be repealed.
But that’s not how the government operates. They don’t strike off ineffective laws. They just keep piling more laws and rules on top of the old ones, creating a mountain of regulation for small businesses to navigate.
And I’m saying "small business" on purpose because that’s who is specifically targeted by the CTA.
Large, publicly traded companies are specifically exempt from reporting under the CTA. So are hedge funds, banks, and other large financial entities. Curiously, tax-exempt charities are also exempt.
So the Corporate Transparency Act deliberately goes after the little guy. Goldman Sachs, Black Lives Matter, and Facebook/Meta are exempt. Bob’s Hot Dog Stand is not.
And this is where it gets really ridiculous. One of the big requirements of the CTA is that small business owners must file a new report to the federal government each year to disclose the company’s shareholders.
But current federal law already requires LLCs to provide this information to the IRS each year. So, the CTA has essentially created a double-burden to send the exact same information— but in a different format— to multiple agencies within the Treasury Department.
You can’t make this stuff up.
And exactly what agency does Bob’s Hot Dog Stand have to report to? It’s called FinCEN, which stands for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Think about the message they’re sending here; it’s as if owning a business in the United States of America is now some sort of f*ck!ng crime that needs to be reported.
For its part, FinCEN issued nearly ONE HUNDRED PAGES of regulations about how to comply with the CTA. Yes, I’m serious. The Corporate Transparency Act itself was ’only’ about 20 pages. FinCEN’s rules are five times as long.
And, once again, failure to comply carries steep monetary and criminal penalties, including up to two years in prison.
Even this penalty is idiotic. Think about it— is some guy who launders money for some criminal gang or drug cartel really going to be deterred by the prospect of a two-year prison sentence? Probably not.
It’s far more likely that some completely innocent small business owner has his/her life turned upside down for non-compliance... because, as they always say, "ignorance of the law is not an excuse."
Look, no one is arguing that criminals don’t often rely on US-registered businesses to conduct illegal activities.
The point is— what is the priority here?
The United States government is in an extremely precarious financial condition; calendar year 2023 saw the national debt increase by a whopping $2.5 trillion, totaling roughly $34 trillion as of today.
The debt is so large that annual gross interest payments are about to reach $1 trillion, which takes up a huge chunk of federal tax revenue. And this interest expense keeps growing at an alarming rate.
Forecasts from both the White House and the Congressional Budget Office show that, by 2031, interest expense, along with mandatory entitlement spending like Social Security, will consume the entirety of federal tax revenue.
Everything else we think of as the US federal government— from military spending to non-existent border security— will have to be funded by more debt... which just makes the problem worse.
That fiscal cliff is just seven years away. Then, two years later in 2033, Social Security’s primary trust fund will run out of money and require a multi-trillion-dollar bailout.
The ONLY way out of this mess is to have an economic renaissance in the United States which prioritizes productivity and growth.
It’s simple math; if real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) GDP grows by 3% instead of 2%, all of these problems will melt away over time. The federal government will be swimming in tax revenue, Social Security will be properly funded, and the US could re-assert itself as the global economic leader.
The solution is straightforward, and the US private sector has the capability to do it.
But then the government passes bonehead legislation like this that makes it more difficult, more cumbersome to own a business in America.
Hunter Biden will likely never see the inside of a prison cell. But if you’re one of the millions of small business owners that are critical to US economic growth, you’re now officially at risk if you do not comply.
#1
during the peak Covid insanity of 2020, the CTA was jammed into the nearly 1,500-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
I think Stretch Pelosi put in the bit about a Central Bank Digital Currency into this 1,500-page Act as well, IIRC. I believe Mitch McConnell's Kentucky race horses are fine as well.
#4
Always remember the battle cry of the "there's no such thing as a slippery slope" crowd: "If you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear from this law..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/07/2024 9:54 Comments ||
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[GEO.TV] President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Sleazy Dem machine politician, paterfamilias of the Biden Crime Family... delivered a searing and impassioned speech just miles from historic Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, decimating Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... and condemning his attacks on American democracy, Raw Story reported.
The address is being hailed as one of Biden's most powerful, with politics editor Marty Kady noting, "This may be the most powerful speech — just a few minutes in — Biden has ever given."
Former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh praised Biden for directly confronting Trump, stating, "Republicans cannot defend what Joe Biden is forcefully calling out. They just can’t."
The President, displaying a mix of anger and passion, tore into his likely 2024 opponent, with The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... describing it as a "ferocious condemnation."
Biden explicitly addressed Trump's reluctance to denounce political violence, declaring, "Political violence is never ever acceptable in the United States. Never, never, never. It has no place in a democracy. None." He sharply criticised Trump and his supporters for embracing political violence and making light of it.
Referring to Trump's jokes at rallies, Biden exclaimed, "What a sick —" before stopping himself from name-calling. He expressed his disdain, stating, "I think it's despicable. Seriously. Not just for a president but for any person to say that, say it to the whole world listening."
Biden emphasized that Trump's assault on democracy is not just in the past but is a promise for the future. He asserted, "Trump's assault on democracy isn't just part of his past. It's what he's promising for the future. He's being straightforward."
The President's forceful condemnation underscores his commitment to defending democratic values against any threat, leaving a lasting impact on the political landscape, according to political observers.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[22 views]
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#1
My theory is that they want Trump to win Pub primaries.
#2
"Our Democracy" = Our Power
This country was founded by 'insurrectionists'. What the Declaration of Independence articulated in 1776 is applicable today.
#10
The electoral college should screw Joe and anyone they replace him with. His policies are unpopular in all the swing states where Joe barely squeaked by before anyone had evidence of his harmfully policies and incompetence. Newsflash - they also cheated. They will eventually try to swap candidates to divorce the ticket from the wreckage of the Biden policy. It will be somebody like Whitmer. None of them will be electable by conventional ballots cast by living legal voters so the Dems may still win. The swap will just make things sort of believable.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2024 13:56 Comments ||
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#11
The Dems are not just keeping Trump off the Rep ballot but they are also manipulating Dem primaries to keep others, e.g. Dean Phillips, off the ballot. And of course Biden hasn't had to debate which is what made RFK Jr. turn into an independent.
Biden is actually the one assaulting democracy
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/07/2024 18:17 Comments ||
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[NYPOST] The left-wing advocacy group Media Matters for America is being bankrolled by some of the biggest Democratic megadonors in the country, according to a new report.
The Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday that Media Matters, a liberal nonprofit often cited by legacy news organizations as a media watchdog, might have “mistakenly” identified some of its biggest donors in a November filing to the New Mexico attorney general’s office.
According to the filing obtained by the Free Beacon, Media Matters’ biggest donor was Deborah Simon of the shopping mall giant Simon Property Group, who gave $4 million to the nonprofit.
As the Free Beacon noted, Simon had been outspoken in her pledge to defeat former President Trump ahead of the 2020 presidential election and has collectively given $53 million to various Democratic campaigns and causes since 2018.
The next highest donation to Media Matters came from the Gill Foundation, which contributed nearly $3 million, according to the form.
The foundation is run by tech entrepreneur and gay rights activist Tim Gill, a major power player in Colorado Democratic politics.
Other top donors include the Stephen Silberstein Foundation, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and Bain Capital co-chairman Joshua Bekenstein and his wife Anita, all giving between $1.75–1.9 million, according to the Free Beacon.
Media Matters was founded in 2004 by Democratic activist and staunch Clinton ally David Brock.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...46th president of the U.S. Sleazy Dem machine politician, paterfamilias of the Biden Crime Family...
Further reading on the topic found here. 
