Thursday, September 28, 2017

Talking about corruption...and I understand the proposed Trump Tax Bill cuts Social Security. Excuse me?

Donald Trump’s new tax plan would slash his family’s estate-tax bill by up to $2.8 billion — yes, billion — at a time when the federal budget is in deficit and Social Security and Medicare are hurtling toward financial crisis.
If that doesn’t tell you what’s really going on here, you’re not paying attention.
Trump’s proposed reforms would eliminate the 40% estate tax on those who inherit massive estates, along with the associated gift and generation-skipping taxes.
The president has claimed that his net worth — not counting the intangible “value” of his personal brand — is about $7 billion, meaning that under current law his five kids would have to share about $2.8 billion with the rest of the country upon his death assuming they are named the inheritors in his will.
Less heroic calculations by Forbes and Bloomberg put Trump’s net worth around $2.9 billion to $3.5 billion. But that still means his kids would have to hand over between $1.5 billion to $1.4 billion....

Hey, Ryan, you sure you don't work for the Russians?

...If his new tax plan goes through, they wouldn’t have to hand over a nickel. This doesn’t include any other tax savings they might get from the tax reforms, which include cuts to corporate and individual income taxes.

Trump said on Wednesday that he wouldn’t benefit personally from the reforms. It’s possible he was just being clever: It would be his kids, rather than him, who would save the estate taxes. There again, it’s possible he was just lying.

Right now the top rate of estate tax on very big estates is about the same as the 39.6% top rate on incomes. So someone who inherits $100 million gets taxed about the same as someone who earns $100 million through their own hard work and ingenuity.

But not under the new Republican tax plan. They want the schmucks who actually work for a living to pay much higher tax rates than people who inherit it. The proposals would cut the top rate of income tax from around 40% to 35%, but the top rate of inheritance tax from 40% to 0%....

The great honor for the average American is that we get to pay for the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Let me guess, this so called "Tax Reform" was engineered by the many Goldman Sachs brokers now working for Trump's White House.

Do tell. Who was the rich and famous that wrote this paycheck for the wealthy? 

September 26, 2017
By Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Rejane Frederick, Angela Hanks, Rachel West, and Michela Zonta 

Despite vowing to support America’s veterans, (click here) President Donald Trump and congressional Republican leaders have put forth budget proposals that are poised to do great damage to the economic security of veterans and their families—all to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and corporations. In fact, new analysis by the Center for American Progress reveals that the tax cuts Trump wants to give corporations and businesses, which will cost $4.3 trillion over 10 years, amount to 28 times as much as the deep cuts he is proposing to services and benefits for veterans.

And these cuts are just the tip of the iceberg....

The wealthy absolutely hate Americans. I know it now. We have FOX News and Talk Radio for the rhetoric of hate. The CEOs don't show up for interviews to participate in the paradigm of hate, but, they are revered as icons of immense power and the way to happiness as a capitalist.

...Additionally, CAP estimates that over the next decade, 400,000 veterans on average could lose access to critical nutrition assistance each year if the cut proposed in President Trump’s budget were applied directly to participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). If instead the cuts proposed in the House of Representatives Republican budget were applied, more than 554,000 veterans could lose SNAP each year between 2023 and 2027. Previous congressional Republican attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would have cost close to half a million veterans their Medicaid benefits by 2026. And the most recent repeal effort, which makes devastating changes to Medicaid, would be even worse, costing an estimated 579,000 veterans their Medicaid coverage within a decade....

Right now, the FBI is attempting to scour the NCAA of corruption and some of the worst issues a coach has to contend with is what brand sneaker the players are wearing this year. The lust of money is pervasive in the USA and this tax plan shows the worst side of this country.

The false sense of entitlement.

September 26, 2017
By Lauren Thomas

The FBI has arrested 10 people, (click here) including four NCAA basketball coaches and an Adidas manager, in a bribery investigation involving recruitment efforts.
The probe has revealed numerous instances of bribes paid to assistant and associate basketball coaches to exert influence over student athletes, according to documents filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The papers were unsealed on Tuesday.
Among those arrested were Lamont Evans, an associate coach of Oklahoma State University, Chuck Person, an associate coach of Auburn University, Emanuel "Book" Richardson, an assistant coach of the University of Arizona, and Tony Bland, an associate coach of the University of Southern California.
NCAA President Mark Emmert called the nature of the charges "deeply disturbing" in a statement released later Tuesday.
"We have no tolerance whatsoever for this alleged behavior," Emmert said. "Coaches hold a unique position of trust with student-athletes and their families and these bribery allegations, if true, suggest an extraordinary and despicable breach of that trust. We learned of these charges this morning and of course will support the ongoing criminal federal investigation."...

There is wide spread concern about how this is going to effect the organization and financial liability for existing contracts. There will be economic impacts to these issues. The law is the law and it needs to be respected. Money does not talk as loud in the USA today. That is important. If only our elections and politics were able to be cleansed of corruption and money.


September 27, 2017
By Mark Cooper

At the end of the day Wednesday, (click here) Lamont Evans’ status at Oklahoma State remained the same as it did Tuesday afternoon.


Suspended, with pay.


Evans’ salary for the upcoming season is $600,000. He signed a three-year, $1.875-million deal that includes a $25,000 raise after each season.


But if Oklahoma State does terminate Evans -- for what would be just cause -- it may not matter whether it occurred immediately or later this week.


According to Evans’ contract, which the Tulsa World received through an open records request, the university’s obligations for payment cease at the end of the month in which he is terminated for just cause. The last day of September is Saturday....


There is a bigger picture to this as well. Young people take example from sports figures. What kind of example is it to have bribery be a part of the REALITY of the NCAA? What does it say about the sport and it's place in the ambitions of young people?

September 28, 2017
By Jap Bilas

...Right now, (click here) as the sky seems to be falling in college basketball, some are suggesting that things will really change going forward. Grassroots basketball is dead. Agents will no longer be able to get their hooks into players. Coaches will not be able to pay players. Now, thanks to federal law enforcement officials, college sports will be clean and moral.

While this is horribly unpleasant and far from over, I don't see meaningful change coming to college sports. The reason? Money.

The same things were said about Wall Street after the 2008 financial crisis. Things were going to change, and no longer would the big banks be allowed to do whatever they wanted and put the world economy at risk with collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. Yet, years later, it is back to business as usual on Wall Street.

While this ugly scandal seems to be the NCAA's worst ever, it is not. We have seen big scandals before, and as long as we maintain the current corrupt system and rules, we will be here again. We have implemented rules after each scandal to make ourselves feel better, but they don't do any good. They can't do any good. The reason? Money....

Corruption. When will it ever stop in all aspects of American life? The real question is why does it exist?

Leave "Facebook" alone, you lousy bully!

Whoever expected Russia to be investing in "Trump for President." Then to realize Facebook did what it could to alert officials in the FBI is enough to realize it had no policy to follow and whoever thought it would need one.

The FBI was completely flat-footed to this reality and the final outcome to the elections of 2016 proves it. Not only was the FBI flat-footed in it's response to issues of foreign government interference in US elections, it was openly hostile to woman candidate in the race for the White House.

September 27, 2017
By Mike Isaac and Melissa Eddy

San Francisco — President Trump (click here) took aim at Facebook on Wednesday, calling the social network “anti-Trump.” But the social network insists it is pro-democracy and pro-truth — and the German election shows it.

The president’s post on Twitter added to the pressure that Facebook has been under, facing accusations of partisanship from both sides of the political aisle. The social network has been accused of spreading fake news that influenced the outcome of the presidential election last year, and more recently, it acknowledged that Russians used fake accounts and Facebook ads to push divisive issues during the campaign....

What is even more alarming is that if it weren't for Special Council Mueller, the issue with Facebook would be swept under the carpet. Where would we be even in awareness to these events if Robert Mueller hadn't come forward to investigate this mess. It is outrageous in every sense of the word.

The information is not enough. There needs to be policy by Congress and the investigative agencies to handle these realities. I believe it was then National Security Director Hayden that did in fact alert the public to tampering, but, the message was drowned out.

WHY?

Maybe the USA intelligence services should have a Facebook account of it's own if that is what it takes to counter such a Russian invasion. One that is legitimate and alerts the public to specific entries that are invasive and illegitimate in American elections. The USA intelligence agencies need to realize the depth commercial and social media has become in American elections and have an equal response to such measures.

Oddly, though, Mr. Comey's message about former Secretary Clinton had plenty of media penetration. I think there needs to be a strong contrast and compare to realize the ability of the FBI to deliver an important message to the country.

Russia, on the other hand, is very adept at manipulating information and opinion. There should be no mistake this attack on the elections of 2016 is an issue of the relationship the USA has with Russia now and in the future.

September 20, 2017
By Levi Maxey

...But, (click here) much like the Panama Papers leaks in the spring of 2016 – which revealed the shadowy financial dealings of Putin’s inner circle – the Russian state-owned media was able to spin it to minimize their impact. “The security organs of an autocratic society can clearly identify when non-traditional information starts to exist in their society,” says Wise. “This is a lot easier for them than democracies because they already tightly control their information.”

What’s more, retaliation in kind – propagating false or one-sided narratives through digital media – could fall for the bait set by autocratic regimes, causing freedom of speech and democracy to be lost in the process.

“We are moving into an area where we would allow all types of content to be considered potential weapons, and therefore there can actually effectively be no free speech,” says Alexander Klimburg, the Director of the Cyber Policy and Resilience Program at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. “We cannot conserve information warfare as the new normal by engaging in it or sanctioning this type of approach. If we go down that road, we have no room for democracy anymore.

Alternatively, General Michael Hayden, the former director of the NSA and CIA, said at the same Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that given that Russia attacked American foundations of democracy – its elections – the U.S. could respond by using “tools to attack their foundations of autocracy.” This could involve, according to Hayden, introducing anonymizing technology and encryption that make it more difficult for the Russian government to track their own citizens and allow the public to speak freely and anonymously without fear of government reprisal.

Unfortunately, more and more former government officials are leaving because of the lack of respect, by Trump, to law. Ah, sweet loyalty. But, the facts are obvious, the USA is highly vulnerable to attack by such entities as Russia and now with personnel leaving may very well remain so. 

Assisting the populations of autocratic regimes in determining their own truth perhaps is the appropriate response to disinformation campaigns seeking to obscure truth in democracies. Engaging in a full-on propaganda war over the internet, however, could bring the end of collective truth as we know it.

I strongly suggest it is time for Speaker Paul Ryan to act on impeachment given all the problems, both ethical and legal, of the Trump White House before it is too late! Unless, of course, Ryan is in Russia's pocket, too.

Coward!

Maria and Lee are still a team.

September 28, 2017
1230.18z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Maria beat up the Outer Banks of North Carolina with a house or two being lost to the ocean.

Maria has been oscillating between a Cat. 1 and Tropical Storm. On the other hand Hurricane Lee has sustained as a Cat. 2 in the open ocean.

Maria

34.90 -72.90 09/27/00Z 60 975 TROPICAL STORM
35.10 -72.90 09/27/06Z 60 976 TROPICAL STORM
35.60 -72.60 09/27/12Z 65 978 HURRICANE-1
36.20 -72.10 09/27/18Z 65 979 HURRICANE-1
36.80 -71.50 09/28/00Z 65 979 HURRICANE-1
36.80 -71.00 09/28/06Z 60 982 TROPICAL STORM

Lee

30.00 -55.50 09/27/00Z 95 971 HURRICANE-2
30.20 -56.30 09/27/06Z 95 971 HURRICANE-2
30.60 -56.80 09/27/12Z 100 963 HURRICANE-3
31.20 -57.10 09/27/18Z 100 962 HURRICANE-3
31.70 -57.30 09/28/00Z 95 966 HURRICANE-2
32.50 -57.20 09/28/06Z 95 966 HURRICANE-2

The Virgin Islands have been devastated this year. After Irma destroyed infrastructure, along came Maria and completely flooded the islands. The human tragedy of Americans is unmatched to any other year. Between the Gulf storms and those from the Atlantic there are significant numbers of Americans left homeless and many believing life right now is hopeless.


September 27, 2017
By Jeremy W. Peters

The Caneel Bay resort on St. John was heavily damaged.

Cruz Bay, V.I. — Even before two Category 5 hurricanes (click here) struck the United States Virgin Islands with punishing fury this month, the notion of paradise here was already about as brittle as a sand dollar.

The local treasury had barely enough cash to keep the government funded for three days. Its debt had grown so large that Wall Street stopped lending it money. The unemployment rate was more than twice the national average.

The one-two punch of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria 14 days later was especially cruel. In many places across the three major islands of this American territory, the second storm drowned what the first couldn’t destroy, ravaging what was once one of the Caribbean’s most idyllic landscapes....

The American mainland has vastly neglected it's territories and it shows. The commercial investment was the primary income for the territories and it simply is not enough. The people don't have sustainable incomes, thus the governments do not have sustainable taxes or treasuries.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the U.S. Territories (click here)

There has been no recuperation since 2008 across the spectrum of USA Territories. That is true for Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa. There is no way the USA Congress or any other entity can hold these islands responsible for debt. It is not possible. The USA has to study and work the problem faced by these Americans.

Washington, D.C. (May 5, 2010) -- The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) (click here) released its first set of estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI).1

Objectively gauging changes in economic activity is difficult in the absence of comprehensive economic metrics, such as GDP. Until now, a framework did not exist to estimate the GDP of these four U.S. territories. The Statistical Improvement Program, funded by the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) of the U.S. Department of the Interior, has made it possible for BEA to develop formal methodologies for measuring the GDP of the territories.

The estimates released today for the four territories cover the period 2002 to 2007. The estimates show that real GDP -- GDP adjusted to remove price changes -- grew over this period in each of the territories except the CNMI. From 2002 to 2007, American Samoa’s GDP grew at an average annual rate of 0.4 percent, Guam’s GDP grew at an average annual rate of 1.8 percent, and the USVI’s GDP grew at an average annual rate of 2.9 percent; in contrast, the CNMI’s GDP decreased at an average annual rate of 4.2 percent. (For comparison, the average annual growth rate for the United States (excluding the territories) was 2.8 percent over this period.) More detailed information for each territory is presented on the following pages.

In constructing the estimates for the territories, BEA used methodologies consistent with the methods used to estimate U.S. GDP. Information from the Economic Census of Island Areas was used to establish levels of GDP for each territory for the years 2002 and 2007. Annual series were then developed and used to estimate GDP for the intervening years. Because the territories are not included in most of the major surveys used by BEA to estimate U.S. GDP, the support of government leaders in the territories and the assistance provided by the territorial statistical offices were critical to the successful production of these estimates.

Until President Obama came into office there was complete negligence of the economic VIABILITY or economic STABILITY of these territories. How can Congress ever hold the territories responsible for any type of GDP if they never held an interest in the quality of life of these people at all.

Now, with the climate crisis causing complete devastation of infrastructure of the Caribbean territories there needs to be a task force implemented to decide the viability at all of living on these islands. The Pacific territories could be as open to the same devastation as those in the Caribbean.

September 27, 2017
By Ed O'Keefe

The Trump administration (click here) is restricting lawmakers in both parties from visiting storm-ravaged Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands aboard military aircraft this weekend in order to keep focused on recovery missions there, according to multiple congressional aides.

The decision comes as the Pentagon is intensifying its relief efforts on the islands as the U.S. government struggles to respond to devastation caused last week by Hurricane Maria and earlier by Hurricane Irma.

Multiple attempts have been underway in recent days for members of both parties to travel to Puerto Rico aboard military aircraft. Once there, they would have met with officials with the military and Federal Emergency Management Agency responsible for ongoing missions on the ground....

The Congress members need to assess the damage and return with real plans for the future of the islands hit by two major hurricanes within two weeks. The plans have to include ways to return viability to these Americans and a timeline to have it happen. 

I don't see tax cuts for anyone for some time actually. I see increases in taxes to Americans in the upper 10 percent of income earners in the country. I think Congress has a great deal of work ahead with these territories. The territories should be the focus of this Congress and the political agenda of rhetoric needs to be abandoned. There is real work to be done here.