One way the really wealthy avoid taxes is not to sell their holdings, like stock. Then, per Robert Reich: Many borrow against their wealth for living expenses (banks are delighted to lend to them), enabling them to claim little or no taxable income. It is also handy when they pass great wealth on to their heirs, like they inherit stock but do not sell it, avoiding taxes again.
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From MSNOW: FBI Director Kash Patel last week fired a senior intelligence analyst who played a role in the FBI’s 2017 assessment of the motives of the gunman who attacked a House Republican baseball practice, a report that drew the ire of the GOP because it did not label the incident as domestic terrorism.
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From The Atlantic, re: Iran War: “But as this war stumbles to a close, it is clear that the president, too, is lost: He didn’t know what he was doing when he began it, and now he doesn’t know how to get out of it.”
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Some troops will be invited to the White House for the big fight event, but only if they are in “good shape.” Remember when Trump did not want any handicapped troops in his parade? No need to remind the public what can happen. And this from our 300-pound, orange blob Thief-in-Chief, the one who does not exercise because he thinks he will live longer (really).
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Baseball: A new contract between owners and players will be discussed this year. There have never been real restrictions on what teams can spend. The league’s proposal would codify a hard top and bottom (team salary), narrowing the maximum chasm between the highest and lowest spenders to less than $75 million. The player’s union does not want a hard salary cap, which every other major sport has. The last time this was tried there was a strike and a cancelled World Series. I think it is time, from a fan’s perspective, but we’ll see.
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I don’t pay much attention, any more, to those “what the Dems did wrong” blurbs. Anyone who voted for Trump more than once is to blame, period. I want to say, “dumb enough to vote for,” but I won’t.
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I don’t watch all sports, but I will watch a Game 7 in almost any sport.
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Trump doesn’t even hide it anymore: Dell Technologies has secured a multi-billion-dollar deal with the Pentagon after Dell’s founder pledged $6.25 billion to fund a program known as “Trump accounts”, which creates special investment accounts for children. Trump himself has purchased between one and five million dollars’ worth of Dell stock.
Also: Trump bought stock in the company that is holding that fight at the White House.
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For all Trump’s posturing (and that is all it is), know this:
He does not salute properly.
He does not know how to properly make a fist (he does it like a 6-year-old, which is his behavior level anyway).
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They don’t hide it either:
A moment of silence the Republican in Minnesota held for Derek Chauvin over the weekend — that is, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd — underscores a uniquely sadistic strain of racial bigotry within the state Republican Party.
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I still say that if the head of the Capitol police had issued orders to use deadly force, if necessary, J6 would not still be much of a discussion today. A few bodies on the capitol steps would have ended it right then. No? How come then when a plainclothes officer protecting representatives in their chamber shot one person, the rest ran away?
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There is no racism in our military, right?
This: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly blocked the promotions of at least seven officers, including two female and two Black officers, to the Navy’s one-star admirals list, according to multiple reports.
Women account for 21% of active-duty Navy, and people of color account for 38%. However, of the 22 nominees up for promotion, just two non-white officers made the list, and none were women, The New York Times reported on Monday.
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As a former officer in the merchant marine, who relied on weather info, you can imagine what I think of this news:
The Trump administration is dismantling a $368 million deep-ocean observation system that was put in place a decade ago to monitor coastal environments, marine ecosystems and powerful currents that affect the global climate. – NY Times Does this make sense to Republicans?
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Online news June 4: Washington — The Senate on Thursday rejected a Democratic effort aimed at permanently blocking the Justice Department’s “anti-weaponization” fund, defeating an amendment at the start of a marathon vote series on funding for immigration enforcement.
Gotta just love how corrupt our Congress is.
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And, the energy of the future, according to Trump is:
During an event on Thursday, Mr. Trump announced that his administration would commit $700 million in funding for coal plants and a new export terminal. For COAL.
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No surprise, but: Donors of Trump’s politically toxic White House ballroom have reportedly received federal contracts worth billions of dollars.
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June 5th: Anniversary of my graduation from the Merchant Marine Academy. Also, memorable because RFK was shot that night. I stayed up late, watching the news with my brother.
June 6th: D-day anniversary. I have sailed the English Channel many times and often looked at the sea and tried to imagine what it was like on the transports on the way over . . .
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A recipe for “German Sweet Chocolate Cake” appeared in The Dallas Morning News in 1957. German’s Sweet Chocolate was (and is) a specific kind of chocolate manufactured by Baker’s Chocolate and named for its inventor, Samuel German.
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Trump and the pro-gun Republicans have:
But the Trump administration, driven both by gun-lobby advocacy and its own political priorities, quickly set about undoing much of its predecessor’s moves to combat gun violence. It repealed the zero-tolerance policy, going so far as to invite revoked dealers to reapply for new licenses. It shifted hundreds of ATF agents to immigration work. And it scaled back on prosecutions for gun trafficking. The White House declined to comment, referring questions to the ATF and the Department of Justice.
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Note: This was a black, female journalist doing the interview:
In an explosive interview with NBC aired on Sunday, President Donald Trump cut the grilling short and left the set after peppering “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker with insults.
“You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” Trump told Welker, who kept a cool demeanor despite the president’s barrage of disparaging slurs.
Moments before he attacked her, Trump — without providing any evidence — said he believes elections in the U.S. are rigged. Then he lambasted television news networks, singling out NBC, CBS and ABC.
“They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked,” Trump said.
Of course, Trump has disparaged female reporters many times before this, but . . .
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So, the insurrectionists from J6 can still get federal money – with claims, hundreds of which have already been filed, with the Federal Tort Claims Act. Check it out if you want to feel ill.
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Robert Reich keeps sending out emails full of hope for the future. I hope he is right.
Take care,
Kevin
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