RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/revolution-by-shenanigan/

EXCERPTS

Democrats propose to do away with the Constitution and impose a new one that none of us has agreed to live under.

Today’s shenanigan is tomorrow’s precedent.

The American constitutional order is a blend of democratic and undemocratic institutions, a result of the compromises that were necessary to create one nation out of 13 very different colonies, with different economic and political interests, different cultures, different religious habits — the genuine diversity of 18th-century American life. We have a federal system in which the states and U.S. government exercise a kind of dual sovereignty, with the states remaining powers in their own right rather than mere administrative subdivisions of the national state. The status of the states is reflected in the Senate, where each state enjoys equal representation regardless of population, and in institutions such as the Electoral College. Other antidemocratic measures in our constitutional order include judicial review and, most important, the Bill of Rights, which are constraints on the powers of temporary democratic majorities.

The Democrats currently are at war with the American Constitution. They believe that it is unjust that on two recent occasions their party has lost presidential elections, which happen in the Electoral College, in spite of winning a greater number of total votes across all the states. They dislike that the Senate gives power to less populated, rural, and largely Western states that are more conservative than are the big, densely populated urban areas in which Democrats thrive. And they are irritated that the First Amendment prevents them from imposing a federal censorship regime on political speech.

The Democrats’ approach to the Senate has been politically incompetent. When they were in power, they resented the effective maneuvering of the minority party, and so eliminated the filibuster in the matter of most federal judicial appointments, an innovation that they are regretting in the worst way right about now. Republicans extended the filibuster-free process to nominations for the highest court.

Now, some Democrats propose to simply create new Senate seats for their party by declaring the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to be states, which would be illegal in the former case and unwise in the latter. But in the matter of Puerto Rico, they have the Texas-annexation shenanigans of the 19th century as precedent.

https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2020/09/28/nyt-bombshell-trump-paid-millions-in-taxes-owes-no-debt-to-russia-wait-what-n974892

“Trump Paid Millions in Taxes” isn’t nearly as scandalous a headline as “Trump Paid Only $750 in Taxes,” although, to be fair, it does have the advantage of being true.

“Trump Paid Millions in Taxes” isn’t nearly as scandalous a headline as “Trump Paid Only $750 in Taxes,” although, to be fair, it does have the advantage of being true.

Alexandria Brown dug deep into the New York Times‘ story to see if there was any truth to the shrieking headlines:

As Brown further noted, “Trump PAID, as in transferred to the US Treasury, $1 million in 2016 and $4.2 million in 2017. Note also that most of the overpayment was rolled forward, not refunded.”

People who own and run businesses take losses in some years, and pay little or nothing in taxes, and make great sums in other years and pay much more in taxes.

They also take advantage of tax breaks, tax credits, and tax incentives — just like you and I do.

Here’s a screencap from the actual NYT report:

The Treasury was millions of dollars richer in 2016 and 2017, thanks to checks signed “Donald J. Trump.” But thanks to our overly complicated tax code, the line-item amount Trump technically paid for those years was $750.

Fact Check: Are you kidding us with this nonsense, NYT?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-unhappy-returns-11601333853?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

The New York Times has spun out 10,000 words claiming that Donald Trump paid little or no income tax for many years. The Times says it can’t release the actual tax documents lest this compromise its sources, and Mr. Trump denies paying so little but won’t release his returns.

Voters can decide whom to believe, but one fact to note is that the story doesn’t assert illegal behavior. The IRS presumably signed off on the Trump returns, except in one case in which it is disputing a $72.9 million deduction claimed by Mr. Trump. This is a fight rich people have with the IRS all the time, often ending in Tax Court.

The report makes much of a deduction Mr. Trump took for business consulting fees that match payments his daughter Ivanka reported in separate filings. There may be legitimate reasons for those fee payments, and Ms. Trump ought to clear the matter up.

Is it a scandal if Mr. Trump legally exploited the tax code’s treatment of chronic business losses to pay little tax? Hardly. Mr. Trump admitted this himself in a 2016 debate. Congress littered the code with loopholes aimed at assisting real-estate businesses, among others. Democrats write a tax code to please their corporate donors and then selectively attack CEOs or businesses that use the loopholes.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/09/theres_a_gamechanger_out_there_that_should_end_the_wuhan_virus_paranoia.html

The 15-day lockdown that Americans agreed to in March to prepare hospitals for a possible influx of Wuhan virus patients has lasted for over half a year in some places. It’s disrupted businesses, education, and family life while harming people’s mental and physical well-being. On Monday, though, a game-changer hit the scene when President Trump announced an affordable rapid test for the Wuhan virus. The new test can be self-administered and will produce a result in around 15 minutes.

The Epoch Times reports:

President Donald Trump announced on Sept. 28 that the U.S. government will start distributing 150 million rapid COVID-19 tests to states this week in a bid to help governors safely reopen K–12 schools and economies.

Of the total, the administration is dedicating 100 million tests for schools and measures to help reopen economies. An additional 50 million tests will target the most vulnerable elderly population in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and home health and hospice sites.

[snip]

There are no restrictions on how the 100 million tests meant for schools and economies can be used, but the Trump administration will urge governors to prioritize for settings that need rapid, low-tech methods of testing, such as schools, first-responder facilities, and areas where outbreaks are detected, [Admiral Brett] Giroir [M.D., assistant secretary for Health, in the HHS] said. The administration plans to ship 6.5 million tests from the school allotment this week.