#U.S. tax code

[wausaupilot]

Dan Bauer: The fair share

"More government programs we have learned simply means more taxes—and not just for the wealthy." - Dan Bauer

Death and taxes. Two painful certainties in life. Like a leaky faucet, the monotony of the current presidential race continues to irritate all of us. The democrats proudly reached the billion-dollar plateau in their campaign fundraising and Trump is apparently selling overpriced Bibles made in China. Meanwhile the people left in the wake of back-to-back hurricanes in the south are painstakingly…

[citizenshipsolutions]

All U.S. citizens relinquishing U.S. citizenship are required to be reported in the Federal Register "Name And Shame" list

Purpose of this post: The "Name And Shame List". The Federal Register publishes a list of some but not all of the names of individuals who renounced U.S. citizenship. What does if mean when someone is on the list? Is inclusion on the list a sign of wealth? Check it yourself! https://t.co/D8QOwzPzrZ pic.twitter.com/rFgz6ACtXx — John Richardson – Counsellor for US persons abroad (@ExpatriationLaw)…

[cannabisbusinessexecutive]

Stock Market Explodes After Biden Administration Urges Reclassifying Cannabis

By Steve Schain Causing a day-long, double-digit Cannabis stock surge peaking at 40.56%, on August 30, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recommended that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) reschedule Marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, 21 U.S.C. §§ 801, Et. Seq (1970) (“Controlled…

[usmetube]

Entries for Purchases Transactions Accounting Entries Used to Record the Purchase And Payment of Goods

Entries for Purchases Transactions Accounting Entries Used to Record Entries for Purchases Transactions Accounting Entries Used to Record the Purchase And Payment of Goods Wallaalan bishaan keessatti dheebota!

[sayruq]

A bipartisan bill would give the secretary of the treasury unilateral power to classify any charity as a terrorist-supporting organization, automatically stripping away its nonprofit status. The bill, H.R. 6408, already passed the House of Representatives in November, and a companion bill, S. 4136, was introduced to the Senate by Sens. John Cornyn (R–Texas) and Angus King (I–Maine) last week. In theory, the bill is a measure to fight terrorism financing. At least, that's what sponsor Rep. David Kustoff (R–Tenn.) claimed. "I urge the swift passage of this legislation that will significantly diminish the ability of Hamas and other terrorist groups to finance their operations and carry out future attacks," he said in a November statement. Financing terrorism is already very illegal. Anyone who gives money, goods, or services to a U.S.-designated terrorist organization can be charged with a felony under the Antiterrorism Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. And those terrorist organizations are already banned from claiming tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code. Nine charities have been shut down since 2001 under the law. The new bill would allow the feds to shut down a charity without an official terrorism designation. It creates a new label called "terrorist-supporting organization" that the secretary of the treasury could slap onto nonprofits, removing their tax exempt status within 90 days. Only the secretary of the treasury could cancel that designation.

[robertreich]

Socialism Fear-mongering is Bananas 

Don't get scared. I'm going to talk about something that’s caused a lot of fear mongering.

You see, advanced countries, like the United States, pool resources for the common good. How? Well, governments enact taxes and then spend that money on things that benefit everyone. Think of national defense, schools, highways, healthcare, unemployment insurance — basically government spending that protects the well-being of the people.

But since some folk, like your conservative Uncle Bob, think ANY pooling of resources for the common good is…socialism.

And since socialism is apparently so terrifying…

I'm going to use a different word to describe this taxing of individuals for the common good.  Let’s use.. I don't know.. How about…Banana! That's not scary, right? 

Great. So, there are essentially three purposes for which governments banana.

First, social insurance against the possibilities of misfortune and neediness, such as unemployment, poor health, disability, and so on.

Second, public goods that we all benefit from, such as parks, highways, public health, and national defense.

Third, public investment in our future, such as basic research, education, and efforts to address pollution and the climate crisis.

Whether we’re talking about Sweden, Spain, or Slovenia or the United States — all countries in capitalist economies banana to benefit the common good.

And bananing is how societies grow their economies, become more prosperous, and ensure a better life for their people.

It’s also how countries aid people in hard times — or when emergencies arise, like a global pandemic.

To simply call any government banana’ing “socialism...”  Oops, sorry I used the word.…Well it distorts our ability to think through how we banana and what we banana on.

And, it ignores the fact that the United States bananas LESS than most developed nations.

We’re among the worst when it comes to bananaing to reduce poverty, especially child poverty.

And pandemic aside, we banana less on unemployment insurance than nearly every other country.

Of course these countries generally have higher taxes than the United States to support all their bananing.

But they get more in return — better jobless benefits, better health care outcomes, debt-free education, more support for child care and elder care, and more generous retirement benefits.

And we could banana a lot more without having to raise taxes on middle or low-income Americans if the rich paid their fair share. Unfortunately, the tax code in the U.S. has been rigged so that the rich and powerful often skirt what they owe and get away with lower tax rates than regular people.

And the rich have done such a good job convincing people that any increase in banana’ing would be… you know, that S word ... that we just accept things as they are.

The only banana’ing they don’t seem to mind is on the military, where we banana more than the countries with the next 10 biggest militaries combined. That’s bananas!

All of this is a major reason why America has such staggering levels of inequality and poverty.

Whether bananing is “socialism” or not is a useless argument. Every country bananas. Capitalism requires banana’ing to ensure a degree of fairness and stability.  

So the next time your Uncle Bob decries any pooling of private resources for the common good — or bananaing — as “socialism”... share this video with him.  

And give him a banana.

[palestinegenocide]

Zionism will never be viewed the same after the Gaza genocide

How do you wrap your head around genocide? As one numb week follows another, our leaders blind themselves to massacre and famine.

Joe Biden can see no “compelling alternative to how Israel [wages] a war in these circumstances without doing grievous harm to civilians,” Aaron David Miller writes in the New York Times, excusing the president’s support for genocide. So, Israel isn’t being deliberately cruel and sadistic. The Times coverage would just have you believe they just have no choice– as Donald Johnson wrote in a letter to the paper. “There is no middle ground between what Israel is doing and Gandhian pacifism: They just had to use 2000 lb bombs in urban settings. They have to torture captives and cut off food.”

Miller and other liberal Zionists have adopted that stance, but they are having little influence on Democrats. Polls show that the American people favor giving humanitarian aid to Gaza in far greater numbers than they do giving military aid to Israel, and the progressive base of the Democratic Party has started a political “firestorm” over U.S. support for genocide. The Zionist group J Street postponed its 2024 conference, surely because its own rank and file are enraged by Israel.

James Carville said on MSNBC this week that if Biden loses, it’s Israel’s fault, because the catastrophe in Gaza is an issue “all across the country.”

“This Gaza stuff, this is not just a problem with some snot-nosed Ivy League people…This is a problem all across the country. And I hope the president and Blinken can get this thing calmed down because if it doesn’t get calmed down before the Democratic convention, it’s going to be a very ugly time in Chicago. I promise you that. No matter what happens, I know it’s a huge problem.”

Last week, Brad Sherman, the Israel-loving Congress member from Los Angeles, fought back, accusing “anti-Israel forces” of an “attempt to penetrate and muddy our national discourse.”

Protesters affiliated with the antiwar group Code Pink seek to ask Rep. Brad Sherman about his support for the massacres of Palestinians in Gaza, in a video posted March 20, 2024. The congressman from Los Angeles/Malibu ran away from the protesters and accused them of seeking the genocide of Jews. Screenshot.

Sherman accused them of antisemitism. “There’s blood on your hands for the genocide—you’re trying to kill every Jew.”

That is the chief refuge for Democrats who excuse Israel’s actions. To say that critics of genocide are motivated by antisemitism.

But even liberal media are giving a platform to progressive critics. “The United States is complicit in genocide,” Mehdi Hasan said this week on New York public radio, and when the host pushed back and said Hasan was not blaming Hamas, Hasan said of course he denounces Hamas, but his tax dollars are not going to support Hamas. He also pointed out the inevitable consequences of military occupation. “The oppressed will always rise against the oppressor.”

And in wonderful media news this week, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg withdrew from a speaking engagement in Kentucky after students questioned his record in the Israeli military nearly 40 years ago.

Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, withdrew from a scheduled speaking event at the University of Kentucky (UK) Wednesday, citing a last-minute schedule change, amidst concerns from students about his past as a former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) prison guard and his views on Zionism…. “We were informed that students expressed concern as to why a former IDF prison guard would be speaking on democracy and journalism at an event celebrating the integration of UK. Students were told he withdrew to not cause harm on campus,” the representative [of a Palestinian solidarity group] stated.

The event was billed as “The Future of Journalism and the Health of Our Democracy.” That’s a little bit of accountability. The editor of the Atlantic is finally being called out for his service for Israel. The writer Yakov Hirsch repeatedly explained on our site that Netanyahu could not have maintained his faultless reputation in the U.S. mainstream without Goldberg fostering “hasbara culture.”

And bear in mind, that Goldberg used to brag about his military service. He wrote a whole memoir about it. Now, times are changing. And other editors who carried water for Israel will surely be called on to defend that work.

This process is just beginning. Zionists still have esteem in the U.S. discourse. The view that Israel supporters promote bigotry against Palestinians is still off-limits. Even as mainstream Jewish organizations assert that those who support Palestinian rights are bigoted against Jews.

“Israel supporters should be seen as on the same moral level as supporters of Bull Connor, but in the U.S. and Western mainstream you can only point to antisemitism— you can never point to anti-Palestinian racism on the Israel side,” Donald Johnson has written on our site.

“We cannot make progress on this issue if the extreme racism of the pro-genocide side is never discussed. People have to be able to say that any group, whether white southerners or South Africans or Nation of Islam members or Christian evangelical Zionists or Germans or, yes, Jewish supporters of Israel, can be racists. They can make racism central to their ideology. But Zionist racism is still a taboo subject, automatically branded as antisemitic, because fundamentally Palestinians are seen as lesser.”

[magz]

The basics of how we got a U.S. phone number and SIM card with a budget phone plan to prepare for immigration.

A lot of things of immigration, services, and moving preparations can require having an active U.S. phone number. This also applies to people that moved away from the U.S. but still need a point of contact with U.S. institutions without being flagged. This is not a universal method! It is just one way.

Things used in our method:

A phone service that ships SIM cards and allows for Wi-Fi calling / texting (alternatively, an e-sim)

Compatible phone (For physical SIM cards: phone carrier unlocked, with VoLTE capability. For e-sims: phones with e-sim capability)

Proxy Shipping service if you live somewhere with shipping customs issues or that the SIM card doesn't directly ship to ( - can also use someone willing to bring the SIM card to you if they come to your country)

A U.S. (residential) address you can write down, even if don't live there (example: can use the address of family, friends, future address, previous address, proxy carrier address if it has residential option, or people willing to help lend you / suggest an address. Some might consider just making one up.)

Debit card, Credit card, or PayPal to use to pay.

Explanation:

If your phone is compatible with e-sims, you actually have a lot more options than we did.

E-sims makes using a proxy shipping address, and maybe even having a residential address - unnecessary. You can basically skip the rest of this. Opens up options a lot more, as long as they're compatible with Wi-Fi calling (Example list of e-sims for "travelers") (Check if phone is compatible with e-sim)

Because our phone isn't compatible with e-sim, though...

We used Tello Mobile and it's $5usd + taxes a month custom plan (unlimited text, 100 minutes of calling). The sim card itself costs $3 from official seller on Amazon, but $3.99 to $6 from resellers. (optional: here's our Tello Mobile referral link, so you can get $10 of credit. You have to manually set it as a payment method whenever you want to use it, before autopay goes thru though.)

Alternatively, there's Ultramobile PayGo which have seen others vouch for wrt Wi-Fi calling outside the U.S., but have not used ourself. It is $3 a month, but the physical SIM kit is $13.

There are more "cheap U.S. sim cards" but we cannot claim familiarity nor experience with them, so any risks from using a lesser known phone service has to be considered.

If you're getting the physical sim of Tello Mobile, check that your phone is compatible first in the official site's compatibility check page.

What we did after, was to buy the Tello SIM card from an eBay reseller with decent reviews *instead* of buying a plan and SIM directly on Tello all at once.

The reason for this decision is that:

1. if buy from Amazon then the shipping cost is not transparent for items as low as $3usd (and also Amazon hates us).

2. Tello is more likely to deny the purchase and not ship the SIM card if the shipping location vs residential location is different or suspicious to them. (the residential location you put will affect the area code you get btw)

Consider if proxy shipping or asking someone to give the SIM card to you is the answer, if default shipping method isn't an option for your country. For proxy shipping options, please search the options available for your country and location, as it is varies a LOT. Be sure that the method of delivery works for you, and check how much it costs to receive things or if it requires a membership fee or what. (our proxy shipper costs money to receive things, based on weight and category of product, but no membership fee)

When you get the Tello physical SIM card, it comes with an activation code. You can use this code to conect a purchase of a Tello plan to be specifically for your SIM card.

Then you add the U.S. residential address that will affect the area code you get, and add the payment method. If it goes through, it's supposed to activate your phone number soon after.

To receive texts and phone calls outside of U.S. territories using that U.S. phone number, enabling Wi-Fi calling or VoIP whenever you need it may be necessary.

So, that's basically the main deal!

[darkeagleruins]

BREAKING: California will raise gas tax by 50 cents a gallon.

Over the next two years, as determined by the California Air Resources Board, gas prices will rise by 47 to 52 cents a gallon. This is all part of their environmental agenda, yet the media is dead silent on this.

This board is of course appointed by Gavin Newsom, who is now being pushed by Democrats to be POTUS in 2028. Imagine all the levers he would pull to increase taxes at the federal level.

He’s doing it using unelected bureaucrats in California. The current federal gas tax sits at eighteen cents a gallon and has been that since 1993. Congress first established this tax in 1932 to help pay for highways and it was only one cent at the time. I don’t think he’d use the funds for that, just like he’s refused to in California.

Just imagine, if Chevron was never struck down by SCOTUS, Newsom, as well as Biden, would be able to use the bureaucracy to fulfill their complete will. I believe they are both in violation of 18 U.S. Code § 242. We cannot even let Gavin close to the White House.

[mariacallous]

Researchers have shown how the tax system can reinforce disparities between households of different races or ethnicities, even though the Internal Revenue Code does not explicitly favor any racial group. These disparities arise because the tax code favors certain types of income, expenses, and family characteristics—factors that often vary by race and ethnicity.

Despite being the fastest-growing racial group in the country, Asian American households remain an understudied population in tax policy research. Around 24 million Americans, or 7% of the U.S. population, identify either as Asian or Asian in combination with another race. Using newly available data, we find that among American households in the top 20% of the income distribution, Asian American households pay a higher average individual tax rate than white households, in large part because they earn more of their income from labor earnings, while white households are more likely to own tax-favored assets.

How do we know? Previously, the triennial Survey of Consumer Finance (SCF) had assigned information on all Asian American households to the “Other” racial category. The 2022 SCF oversamples minorities and is the first wave to present specific data for households in three separate categories: Asian American, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

Researchers can now explore the impact of the tax code on Asian American taxpayers relative to white taxpayers. Our analysis uses the 2022 SCF data, an established methodology to convert households into tax filing units, and the NBER’s TAXSIM microsimulation model. Still, the small number of Asian Americans in the 2022 SCF sample, limit the level of detail in our statistical analysis. But that limit highlights the need for more specific data and research.

Differences in income distribution

Figure 1 compares the expanded income (EI) distribution of Asian American and white households. EI includes adjusted gross income, cash and near-cash benefits, and untaxed sources of capital income such as unrealized capital gains and imputed rent from owning a home.

Asian American taxpayers have a bimodal distribution; that is, they largely fall into two main areas of this distribution, and their incomes vary more widely compared to white taxpayers. While a large proportion of Asian Americans are in the top 20% of the distribution, a sizable share is in the lowest 20 to 40% of the distribution, revealing diversity within the Asian American community. This finding challenges the “model minority” stereotype that all Asian American families are financially well-off.

Differences in average tax rate

Figure 2 shows the average tax rate (ATR, or the ratio of income tax liability to EI) for Asian American and white households.

The ATR generally rises with income for both groups, reflecting the progressive nature of the federal income tax. Among those in the top 60% of the income distribution, Asian American households pay higher ATRs than white households. Subsequent regression analysis (not shown), however, indicates this difference is statistically significant only for the top quintile (at the 10% level, a criterion we chose based on the limited sample size). The higher ATR arises because, relative to white households, Asian American households earn a greater share of their income from fully-taxed labor income (earned from working) rather than tax-favored capital income (earned from sources including realized or unrealized capital gains, unreported business income, or imputed rent on owner-occupied housing).

Contributing factors to tax disparities

While differences in the composition and level of income matter when assessing the tax treatment of Asian American households, other factors may also contribute these differences.

For example, the tax code generally favors single-earner married couples, but the labor force participation of Asian American women is higher than that of white women. That raises the possibility of a higher occurrence of marriage penalties among Asian households. The younger age distribution of Asian Americans compared to white Americans may drive other differences. Asian American households are less likely to own homes but owe more when they do, possibly because a large share of Asian American people live in high-cost areas like San Francisco. This suggests potential differences in the use of the mortgage interest deduction.

Asian American households are also less likely to hold tax-preferred retirement accounts, and their households are more likely to be multigenerational, which may cause confusion about which adults are eligible for benefits. In fact, a recent Treasury study found that low-income Asian Americans are less likely to receive the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit than any other low-income racial group.

There’s much more to learn

While these preliminary findings show how the tax code affects Asian American and white households differently, researchers need more data to conduct deeper analyses. There may be disparities in income tax liabilities within the broadly diverse Asian American population. Cultural norms, socioeconomic statuses, and lived experiences vary widely among Asian American families from different countries and regions.  

In March 2024, the Biden administration updated Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 to require federal data to subdivide the “Asian American” category into subgroups, including Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese. With these detailed data, researchers can perform more nuanced analyses that further debunk the “model minority” myth.

Policymakers should use this research to better understand the economic needs of low-income Asian American families, particularly the most vulnerable among them. That includes the uncertainty faced by undocumented immigrants and the high poverty rates among Burmese (19%) and Hmong (17%) Americans.

Examining differences in tax treatments between Asian American subgroups will allow researchers to capture the diverse experiences and needs of these communities, enabling the development of responsive policies.

[old-school-butch]

I was quite clearly being facetious, but you're so hell bent on being a smug dickhead, I guess. How about reports that Hamas accepted a deal that was brokered that included a return of all hostages, and Israel rejected it? Weren't you saying they just needed to return the hostages? Weren't you using that as a justification that it's okay for children to be murdered because those children should just get Hamas to return the hostages?

Riiiiiiight. You totally knew you were ingesting Qatari state propaganda, probably from those 'reports' you read about that big bad Israel waging war against a place entirely populated by children something something... and that's how Jews murder babies. Blood libel never ends, huh.

You're really skipping over the fact that taking civilian hostages is a war crime in the first place and that most countries, including the U.S., wouldn't negotiate with terrorists who did this at all. Israel is not only negotiating with terrorists, it's being asked to enter talks to establish them as governing a state on its borders which, again, is not something I see most countries ever being asked to contemplate.

I don't think this entire war was a good idea exactly because of this problem - you really, really shouldn't negotiate with terrorists because doing so allows them to stay in power, and terrorists are just gonna terror. Israel is already under pressure to rebuild Gaza, because no one expects Hamas to rebuild anything for some reason, but it opens up a world of problems. It would be better for Israel to cut its losses and just stop getting involved in Gaza at all - no rebuilding, don't hire Gazans in Israel, just set up a Palestinian state under the PA and make them actually do the work of governing. Everyone's a revolutionary until they have to write up a tax code and manage a health care and education system and actually try to care for their civilians. If UNWRA didn't take care of all that, Hamas or the PA might actually start thinking about their own people as more than a rich source of future martyrs. In fairness, Israel knows this and has asked the UN, US as well as several Arab states to take over governance of Gaza but no one wants the job, and now if Israel gets saddled with it, they will just get blamed for everything yet again. And is Israel is tasked with rebuilding Gaza while Hamas retains power? ...the countdown to the next war starts all over again. But unfortunately we're on this path now and there are limited ways out of it. I definitely think Israel is making mistakes here, but Hamas is acting exactly as terrorists should be expected to act, and when you dance with the devil all roads lead to war.

The problem with taking hostages is that they die in captivity over time, and although Hamas has never confirmed who they took, how many they have and how many are still alive, they are still trying to use hostages as leverage to stay in power and have their own fighters released. Israel is increasingly unwilling to let Hamas stay in power for what at this point? The return of a pile of dead bodies? Israel's government is under pressure by both the right wingers who want to continue and expand the war and the hostages' families who want their loved ones released. Bibi is focused on security, which makes sense, but is roadblocking any path to a Palestinian state which, as I said, I think is a huge mistake.

By the same token, Hamas only wants to exist so it can keep terrorizing Israel, and is indifferent to the cost of this war to its own population. They are still trying to win this war despite losing it in every technical measure you can think of. But if you don't mind thousands of your own people dying, or your soldiers all dying as martyrs and you certainly don't mind enemy civilians dying... well, its suddenly hard to lose the war. Seriously, what do you think would have to happen for Hamas to say 'oh wow, we've lost this. We should unconditionally surrender and work towards peace?' This is why negotiating with terrorists is a bad idea, they really have no motivation to ever stop using violence to achieve their political goals, but if they achieve their political goals... well the dying just keeps spreading. So, they still are ready to fight to win, and Israel will keep fighting to remove Hamas because it wants territorial security. And so, there will be more war, which is sad thing indeed.

Oh and while all you useful idiots are setting up your pro-terrorist encampments and protesting as if the U.S. is actually in a war and not pulling every diplomatic string is has to negotiate a peace, you should welcome your new dictator Trump before he's elected because once he gains power I am not convinced he will ever let it go and he keeps a detailed list of his political enemies. New opportunities will emerge for terrorists and other totalitarian regimes to build their empires, wars will rage and you will think longingly of these days when your biggest concern was a small, conventional war half the world away.

[sunshinesmebdy]

The United States’ Mercury in Cancer Retrograde (8th House) and Pluto in Capricorn Retrograde (2nd House): The Cycles of Communication and Transformation

Astrology offers a unique lens through which we can understand the patterns shaping nations, their systems, and their values. Two retrograde placements — Mercury in Cancer (8th house) and Pluto in Capricorn (2nd house) — reveal profound insights into the United States’ recurring themes of communication breakdowns, financial upheavals, and transformative cycles.

Mercury Retrograde in Cancer (8th House): Emotion, Transparency, and Shared Wealth

Mercury in Cancer symbolizes a communication style deeply tied to emotion, history, and shared legacy. In the 8th house, themes of secrecy, transformation, and collective resources dominate the national discourse. When retrograde, Mercury amplifies struggles with transparency and honest narratives, particularly in times of crisis or debates over shared wealth, such as national debt and taxation.

Key themes include:

Emotional debates over war, inheritance, and national crises.

Mismanagement or breakdowns in foreign relations.

Challenges in shared financial responsibilities, reflecting emotional attachment to power and legacy.

Pluto Retrograde in Capricorn (2nd House): Power, Wealth, and Transformation

Pluto in Capricorn represents deep transformation within systems of power and authority. Positioned in the 2nd house, this energy focuses on the U.S.’s material assets, values, and financial security. Retrograde motion signals cycles of upheaval, revealing hidden forces that necessitate reform.

Key manifestations:

Structural overhauls in financial systems (e.g., tax codes, Wall Street regulations).

Power struggles over wealth distribution and monopolies.

Exposure of corruption and unseen forces shaping the economy.

The Interplay Between Mercury and Pluto Retrograde

These placements are karmically intertwined, linking communication crises (Mercury) with economic transformation (Pluto). The U.S. repeatedly faces challenges of financial transparency, often catalyzing deep reforms and rebirth in its systems.

Recurring themes:

Emotional attachment to wealth (Cancer vs. Capricorn tension).

Balancing empathy and ambition in shaping national identity.

Learning through crisis: Communication failures and economic missteps prompt evolution.

Astrological Energy in Action

Historical examples reflect this dynamic at work:

Heated debates over taxation, debt ceilings, and economic policy.

Recessions sparking systemic reform in financial sectors.

National crises provoking emotional discourse around values and shared wealth.

Moving Forward: Embracing Balance and Evolution

As a nation, the U.S. is in a constant cycle of introspection, navigating the tension between emotional narratives (Mercury in Cancer) and material power (Pluto in Capricorn). The path forward lies in evolving outdated systems, balancing empathy with pragmatism, and embracing transformation for collective growth.

Want more insights into how astrology shapes nations, businesses, and financial systems? 🌟 Follow along for deeper dives into planetary placements and their influence on the modern world!

[darkmaga-returns]

The Tides Foundation, a left-wing dark money giant backed by George Soros and other progressive billionaires, bankrolled the fiscal sponsor of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, an anti-Semitic group sanctioned in the United States for providing financial support to terrorists, according to newly released tax forms.

The foundation reported in its latest Form 990 tax return that it granted $286,000 to the Alliance for Global Justice in 2023, a group best known for serving as the fiscal sponsor of Samidoun. The Treasury Department in October sanctioned Samidoun as a "sham charity" that provided material support to a Palestinian terrorist organization that participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist rampage in Israel. Canada levied its own sanctions against Samidoun as well in October, labeling the group a "terrorist entity" under its criminal code.

Founded in 1998, the Alliance for Global Justice let Samidoun borrow its charitable tax privileges to operate and raise funds in the United States without obtaining its own organizational credentials. In other words, the Alliance for Global Justice and Samidoun are legally indistinguishable. It’s unclear if the group continued to serve as Samidoun’s fiscal sponsor after the Treasury Department sanctioned the terrorism financier in October.

The Tides Foundation said the purpose of its grant to the Alliance for Global Justice in 2023 was to support a "sustainable environment." It’s unclear if the Tides grant went to support Samidoun or one of the several dozen other fiscally sponsored organizations operating under the Alliance for Global Justice’s tax ID.

The Treasury Department in October described Samidoun as a "sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization." The PFLP cut its teeth in the late 1960s by hijacking and opening fire on commercial airplanes, and later participated in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. It leverages Samidoun as a front organization in both Europe and North America to bankroll its terrorist activities, the Treasury Department said in October. Samidoun is also banned in Germany for its overt support of Hamas terrorism.

Samidoun’s U.S. leaders don’t shy away from their terroristic tendencies. Its leaders, Charlotte Kates and her husband, Khaled Barakat, explicitly endorsed terrorism against Jews during a lecture in March before the anti-Israel student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the Washington Free Beacon reported. The Treasury Department sanctioned Barakat in October for his "fundraising and recruitment" efforts for the PFLP’s "terrorist activity against Israel," adding that he has publicly acknowledged Samidoun’s affiliation with the terrorist network.

Tides and the Alliance for Global Justice did not return requests for comment.

Major donors to the Tides network include liberal billionaire financier George Soros, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Ford Foundation. In 2023, the Tides network raked in nearly $800 million, according to its audited financial statements.

The Tides network is hardly the only liberal dark money giant to bankroll the Alliance for Global Justice. In 2021, Tides and the New Venture Fund, the largest branch of the Arabella Advisors dark money behemoth, donated more than $9 million to the Alliance for Global Justice. The Arabella Advisors network donated an additional $1 million to the Alliance for Global Justice in 2022, the Free Beacon reported.

The Arabella Advisors network distanced itself from Samidoun after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, telling the Free Beacon that Samidoun "is not and has never been a client of Arabella Advisors" and that it "unequivocally condemn[s] terrorism and violence against civilians."

The Tides network has offered no such denunciation of the terrorism financier.

[brightlotusmoon]

Moving marijuana to Schedule III, as recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), also carries major implications for state-legal cannabis businesses. If it's ultimately implemented, it will mean that marijuana firms can officially take federal tax deductions that they've been barred from under an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E.

The proposed rescheduling determination, first reported by the Associated Press, would also free up research barriers that are currently imposed on scientists who wish to study Schedule I substances.

The next step in the rescheduling process is for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to review the rule. If approved, it would go to public comment before potentially being finalized.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Julie Tsirkin and Monica Alba at NBC News:

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will take a historic step toward easing federal restrictions on cannabis, with plans to announce an interim rule soon reclassifying the drug for the first time since the Controlled Substances Act was enacted more than 50 years ago, four sources with knowledge of the decision tell NBC News. The Drug Enforcement Administration is expected to approve an opinion by the Department of Health and Human Services that marijuana should be reclassified from the most strict Schedule I to the less stringent Schedule III, marking the first time that the U.S. government would acknowledge its potential medical benefits and begin studying them in earnest. Attorney General Merrick Garland will submit the rescheduling proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget as early as Tuesday afternoon, a source familiar with the timeline told NBC News. The Justice Department "continues to work on this rule," a Biden administration official said. "We have no further comment at this time."

What rescheduling means

Since 1971, marijuana has been in the same category as heroin, methamphetamines and LSD. Each substance under the Schedule I classification is defined as a drug with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule III substances include Tylenol with codeine, steroids and testosterone. By rescheduling cannabis, the drug would now be studied and researched to identify concrete medical benefits, opening the door for pharmaceutical companies to get involved with the sale and distribution of medical marijuana in states where it is legal.  For the $34 billion cannabis industry, the move would also eliminate significant tax burdens for businesses in states where the drug is legal, notably getting rid of the Internal Revenue Services code Section 280E which currently prohibits legal cannabis companies from deducting what would otherwise be ordinary business expenses. The Department of Justice’s rescheduling decision could also help shrink the black market which has thrived despite legalization in states like New York and California and has undercut legal markets that are fiercely regulated and highly taxed.

The Biden Administration announces its plans to reclassify marijuana from the stringent Schedule I to the much more lenient Schedule III, following recommendations from the HHS and the DEA.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

U.S. court to rule on Gol’s deal with Brazilian government

New York court to assess details of the agreement renegotiating the airline’s tax debts in Brazil on December 20

The New York court is set to evaluate on December 20th the agreement between Gol and the Brazilian government regarding the airline’s tax debt, which could amount to $1.1 billion. This information is detailed in documents related to Gol’s restructuring process under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

The agreement, which will be put to a vote, proposes a 75% reduction of outstanding debts, bringing the total down to $250 million. However, this agreement needs the approval of Judge Martin Glenn before it can be finalized.

On Friday (29), Gol announced in a notice of material fact that it would seek court authorization to enter into an individual transaction agreement with the Attorney General’s Office of the National Treasury (PGFN) and the Special Secretariat of the Federal Revenue of Brazil (RFB). The statement indicated that the agreement aims to settle the company’s tax liabilities and those of its subsidiaries, covering social security, non-social security taxes, and other tax obligations. However, the specific figures were not disclosed in this announcement.

According to documents presented to the U.S. court, the airline began negotiations with the government regarding the outstanding amounts in April 2023. The current debt is approximately $1.1 billion.

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