Tag: wiretap

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Day 57: March 17, 2017

Earlier this week, Rachel Maddow tweeted  that she had Donald Trump’s tax returns.

4 million viewers tuned in to watch. She spent the first 20 minutes of the show speaking very excitedly about why it was important to look at Trump’s tax returns, and what they could tell the American people about where his money came from, and with whom he was doing business. She alluded to a property that he bought and sold at a ridiculously high price to a Russian oligarch, and how tax returns might shed some light on who may or may not be pulling the president’s strings.

That’s where the “sense” ended. She then pulled out 2 pages – the 1040  – of Trump’s tax return from 2005.  Only 2 pages. Showing he paid 24% in tax on over $100m in reported earnings, after taking a higher amount in depreciation. And, yeah, that’s still low for a billionaire, but two pages doesn’t really tell us much, and probably helped his supporters more, as they can now say that we’ve seen that he pays taxes. Well, not really, but, yeah.

Turns out the pages “showed up” in the mailbox of David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winner and tax expert. Even he didn’t know where they came from. Did he check to see if they were real? Yes. He contacted the White House and they more or less confirmed they were real. He even admitted they may have come from Trump, himself. If you look at images of the tax returns, they are stamped “Client Copy,” which means they are Trump’s copy.

So, yeah, probably sent by Trump. Tax year probably selected by Trump. Probably Trump controlling the narrative.

Another perspective of what the tax returns tell us from Kevin Drum (Mother Jones)

Summary – Trump’s primary income comes from:

  • Interest: $9 million
  • Business: $42 million
  • Capital gains: $32 million
  • Rental: $67 million
  • Miscellaneous: $2 million
  • Total: $152 million

After a $103 million depreciation write off, his adjusted gross income comes to $49 million.

This makes his taxable income  $31 million.

His tax bill for this was $5 million, or 3 percent.

However, this is where the Alternative Minimum Tax applies, and he actually had to pay $38 million in taxes (25%). That’s still low for a billionaire, who should be paying closer to 45%.

Guess what? Trump is planning to get rid of the Alternative Minimum Tax. Wonder why?

In 2005, Forbes estimated Trump’s net worth at $2.6 billion.

This means that in 2005, Trump earned 5.8% of his net worth. During the housing bubble. While that’s not bad for the average Joe, this is a man people have elected because they view him as a shrewd businessman. I have to say… not really impressed.  My financial advisor earns me higher returns than Donald Trump. I mean, Trump earned $67 million in rental income, but took $103 million in depreciation. That just doesn’t sound like good business to me.

In other news, Trump basically “made up” the story about Obama wiretapping Trump Towers during the election because he read the word “wiretap” in the New York Times and because Fox’s Bret Baier mentioned the word “wiretap.” Ergo, “Obama – wiretap – Trump Towers.”

Yes, that’s essentially what he said. To Fox’s Tucker Carlson. Here you go:

ON Fox, Donald Trump cites Fox Anchor Bret Baier To Justify His Wiretapping Conspiracy

 

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Day 48: March 8, 2017

Crazy.

Today is International Women’s Day. Women everywhere are planning to stop working for a day, shop from women-owned businesses, support important issues, and generally work to bring attention to the importance of women in our society. Those who cannot take a day off from work have been asked to wear red in support.

Twitter hashtag: #BeBoldForChange

That’s not what’s crazy.

In the past week:

March 2nd: The Department of Justice claims that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met twice last year with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. This is important, given the ongoing questions about the current president’s ties to Russia. (See previous mention of the resignation of Mike Flynn for not being transparent about his interactions with the Russian Ambassador.) Democrats are calling for an investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign team and their interactions with Russian diplomats. Republicans, unsurprisingly, are deflecting and downplaying the story. Why is Jeff Sessions’ meetings an issue? Because he was specifically asked, under oath, about meeting with Russian Diplomats, and claimed he did not. The suggestion is that Sessions has committed Perjury, which – considering he’s the Attorney General – is a serious offense. At best, Sessions has agreed to recuse himself from any investigations regarding Russia. At worse, there are many people calling for his resignation.

So… to deflect the story from Russia…

March 4th: The current sitting president accused the previous president of wiretapping his phones before the election. He made the accusation at 6:35 in the morning. He has submitted no evidence. It is suspected that he read an article suggesting that Obama might have done so, and then decided it was real, and made the accusation.

 

If that’s not enough crazy for you, the Republican Congress has called for an investigation. Now, my understanding is that wiretapping requires some pretty serious “probable cause,” and a federal warrant. Seems to me that the president could easily ask someone to locate that warrant. Unless he’s suggesting that Obama did so covertly and outside of the legal process. Which is, again, a pretty serious accusation. Now, if there IS a warrant, then it follows that there was some serious probable cause. In which case, the current president needs one of these:

Oh, but right in the middle of all of that, he had time to worry about his old show, The Apprentice. Turns out the new host is leaving. Here’s what was so important only an hour after accusing Obama of wiretapping:

And, while we’re busy freaking about about that

March 6th: The president released a new executive order to replace his previous “Travel Ban” (which we all know was a Muslim ban). The order changed changed from banning travelers from 7 countries to 6 countries. Apparently IRAQ was able to lobby their way off of the list by ‘splaining how they vet their visitors. The new EO details the reasoning behind the order, and even provides a brief history, including the court-ordered delay of the previous EO. It also specifically lists exceptions, which include lawful permanent residents of the United States. Apparently, holding a visa is not enough, so those here with visas should probably not leave without first obtaining a waiver – which might be dangerous, because it might get them deported. Hmmmm

Tired yet? No? Okay.

Also on March 6th, the Republicans — well, specifically Paul Ryan — released the American Health Care Act (you can download a copy of the bill here), the proposed solution to the republican promise to “Repeal and Replace Obamacare” (which was actually titled the “Affordable Care Act”). Twitter is calling it #republicare, to ensure that the entire Republican Congress receives credit.

I read it.

On page 3, they defund Planned Parenthood. In fact, the word “abortion” appears 32 times in the 123 page document. Basically, the goal is to ensure that not one red cent of federal dollars will fund an abortion that is not for a pregnancy as a result of rape or incest, or a threat to the woman’s health. If you want to have insurance pay for abortion services, you’ll have to get a separate policy for that (page 74). Same goes for small companies providing insurance – if the insurance covers abortion services, no tax breaks will be allowed (page 81). On page 100, they require married couples to file jointly, or receive no tax credit. Oh, and on page 10 they make sure that they include the ability to dis-enroll lottery winners from Medicaid – oh, and it ends the Medicaid expansion in 2020. And if you lose your job and therefore your health coverage, you’d better jump on board, because if you lack coverage for more than 63 days, insurance companies will charge you 130% of the standard premium to penalize you for having a gap in coverage. But, not everyone is required to buy coverage.

Anything good?

Okay — yes, kids can stay on their parents’ plans until they are 26. The bill allows us to put more money in our HSAs (this is a wealthy person benefit, since people who are poor can’t afford high deductible plans, much less contribute to an HSA). And insurance companies are still required to cover our pre-existing conditions.

Most of the analysis shows that the bill is great for people who are young and healthy, and very expensive for those who are old and/or sick.

When asked how much it would cost, and how many people they thought would be covered, Republicans were unable to answer the questions. Yet, they want to push it through as part of the budget so that Democrats can’t filibuster it. (Yes, this administration has been all about bullying and taking shortcuts.)

I call for some actual RESEARCH. Do the homework. Run the numbers. I’m not against a plan that works. I’m against a plan that discriminates against women, the elderly, and doesn’t solve the problems it proposes to solve.

My favorite meme of the week – Obama spying on 45: