Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Could Taxing the Rich Solve Income Inequality? / Politics / Taxes
By: Harry_Dent
Tax Day Monday. Have you filed yet?A tax professional friend of mine told me recently that he’s surprised every year to see how many people leave their tax filing to the last minute.
Maybe they’re too busy. Maybe they live under a rock…
Regardless, they can’t escape it. As U.S. citizens, we wear the IRS ankle brace wherever we go.
So, when I moved to Puerto Rico in May 2016, the tax implications didn’t cross my mind. I packed up and shipped out to be closer to my vacation home on Culebra, not only to expedite its completion, but to enjoy it more freely. In hindsight, the move brought with it some much welcomed tax benefits…
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Sunday, April 21, 2019
Taxes and Government Waste, Is There a Better Way? / Politics / Taxes
By: Rodney_Johnson
This is an expensive week for me. Our wedding anniversary is the 14th, Tax Day is the 15th, and my youngest child’s birthday falls on the 16th.Only two of those days make me happy.
This year I’m getting a bit of a refund, but I’ll never see it. Because my income varies, it’s hard to know how much to pay every quarter, so I usually overpay. But then my accountant just applies the refund to next year’s tax bill.
One day I want to get the check in my hand. I send so much to Uncle Sam, for once I want him to send some cash to me!
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Saturday, April 20, 2019
Is Political Partisanship Killing America? / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Mills
Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights was reportedly made “after getting a quick history lesson during a conversation on a different subject,” states a news story that has been making the social media rounds lately. It showed up on my Facebook feed.
Curious, I clicked on the link. The Reuters article went on to explain how ‘The Donald’ made the snap decision at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas. The referenced conversation was between himself, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Both men are Jewish. No bias there.
“I said, ‘Fellows, do me a favor. Give me a little history, quick. Want to go fast. I got a lot of things I’m working on: China, North Korea. Give me a quickie.” Trump recounted to the amiable crowd.
Was the history lesson objective, giving a fair account of both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict, leading the listener – Trump - to draw his own conclusion? Not a chance.
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Saturday, April 20, 2019
Trump - They Were All Lying / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
A dear friend the other day accused me of defending Trump. I don’t, and never have, but it made me think that if she says it, probably others say and think the same; I’ve written a lot about him. So let me explain once again. Though I think perhaps this has reached a “you’re either with us or against us’ level.
What I noticed, and have written a lot about, during and since the 2016 US presidential campaign, is that the media, both in the US and abroad, started making up accusations against Trump from scratch. This included the collusion with Russia accusation that led to the Mueller probe.
There was never any proof of the accusation, which is why the conclusion of the probe was No Collusion. I started writing this yesterday while awaiting the presentation of the Mueller report, but it wouldn’t have mattered one way or the other: the accusation was clear, and so was the conclusion.
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Wednesday, April 17, 2019
The Public Banking Revolution Is Upon Us / Politics / Banksters
By: Ellen_Brown
As public banking gains momentum across the country, policymakers in California and Washington state are vying to form the nation’s second state-owned bank, following in the footsteps of the highly successful Bank of North Dakota, founded in 1919. The race is extremely close, with state bank bills now passing their first round of committee hearings in both states’ senates.
In California, the story begins in 2011, when then-Assemblyman Ben Hueso filed his first bill to explore the creation of a state bank. The bill, which was for a blue-ribbon committee to do a feasibility study, sailed through both legislative houses and seemed to be a go. That is, until Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it, not on grounds that he disapproved of the concept, but because he said we did not need another blue-ribbon committee. The state had a banking committee that could review the matter in-house. Needless to say, nothing was heard of the proposal after that.
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Wednesday, April 17, 2019
America Dancing On The Crumbling Precipice / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Dancing on the crumbling precipice The rocks are coming loose just at the edge Are we laughing? Are we crying? Are we drowning? Are we dead? Or is it all a dream?
The bombs are getting closer everyday “That can never happen here” we used to say Have these wars come to our doorstep? Has this moment finally come? Or is it all a dream?
Rise Against – The Violence
This recent song by Rise Against, inspired by the turmoil since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, captures the feeling of angst and uncertainty engulfing the world today. This Fourth Turning is entering its most violent stage, where blood will be spilled in vast quantities as an epic conflict between good and evil plays out across the globe. Eighty years ago, the bloodiest conflict in human history began, as the social mood turned dark and compromise was no longer a viable option.
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Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Trump May Regret His Fed Takeover Attempt / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Patrick_Watson
Some things are too important to leave to politicians.
One such thing: the money supply. That’s why the Federal Reserve is an independent agency, at least in theory.
Presidents like this arrangement because it lets them disclaim responsibility when the Fed does something unpopular. But that only works if the president doesn’t even try to assert control.
Trying to influence the Fed, as Trump is doing, has three possible outcomes—and two of them are bad for Trump. Either…
Sunday, April 07, 2019
Fake News War After Mueller / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Allow me to start with a question: Has anyone seen any of the main newspapers and networks who went after Donald Trump for 3 years accusing him of colluding with “the Russians”, apologize to either Trump, or to their readers and viewers, for spreading all that fake news now that Robert Mueller said none of that stuff was real, that they all just made it up?
I’ve seen only one such apology, albeit a very good and thorough one, from Sharyl Attkisson for The Hill. But one is a very meager harvest of course. With over 500,000 articles on collusion published on the topic, as Axios said -leading to 245 million social media ‘interactions’, shouldn’t there be more apologies, if only so people can hold on to their faith in US media for a while longer?
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Friday, April 05, 2019
Warning Mr. Trump - Know Your Enemies / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
President Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500.
Mr. President,
I write to you because I’m seeing something unfold that concerns you, and I have no way of knowing if you’re aware of it, nor have I seen anyone else mention it. That is, sir, you are being set up, a trap is being set for you, and unless you are aware of it, you may well walk into that trap eyes wide open.
It may not be in your briefing this morning, but the WikiLeaks organization has reported that high-ranking Ecuadorean state officials have told them Julian Assange will be expelled from their London embassy in a matter of “hours to days”. Now, I don’t know what your personal opinion is of Mr. Assange, maybe you think he deserves punishment for leaking secret files to the public.
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Tuesday, April 02, 2019
Progressives in Denial as Mueller Clears Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
All the fanfare with the release of the Mueller Report three page summaries has the corporatist and defiance media in a tizzy. The deranged progressive zombies that follow every word that Rachel 'MAD' Maddow, bleeds out are wiping their own tears that the preordained narrative to bury the Trump movement is premature. Sorry, no celebration for the duped, delusional dregs in search of the most dangerous obstacle to their Marxist redistribution wonderland. The hate machine that trashes all things Trump has perfected the 'Big Lie'. Accepting all the news that is unfit to print or the social media trolls which reinforce the 'Fake News' propaganda that the enlightened leftist cable toadies read off their Teleprompters, is like overdosing on a feel good drug before the inevitable crash.
Friday, March 29, 2019
UK INDEPENDENCE DAY CANCELLED! As Westminster SUBVERTS BREXIT! / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
For the past 2 years Prime Minister May and her cabinet have repeatedly uttered that the UK WILL LEAVE the EU on the 29th of March 2019 in accordance with the outcome of the June 2016 EU Referendum result that has now been SUBVERTED as Britain IS NOT leaving today, nor will it on the so called 1st extension of 12th April and nor again on the 22nd of May and likely be extended by a further 2 years with many EU conditions attached such as to hold a "Peoples Vote". Which has been my expectation for some time that the British establishment would SUBVERT BREXIT and PREVENT the UK from LEAVING the EU on the 29th of March as illustrated by my following video of 4 months ago.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
What if We Threw a Cold War and Nobody Came? / Politics / New Cold War
By: Richard_Mills
Russia just can’t seem to keep itself from stepping on America’s toes - the foot belonging to Latin American countries that are within the American sphere of influence known historically as the Monroe Doctrine.
On Sunday two Russian military planes reportedly landed in Caracas carrying a Russian defense official and nearly 100 troops - in another demonstration of the close ties between Russia and Venezuela.
Three months earlier, the two nations held joint military exercises, in an apparent nose-thumbing directed at opponents of embattled President Nicolas Maduro, particularly the United States.
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Thursday, March 28, 2019
The Failure Of Party Politics / Politics / BrExit
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Bit unusual, but why not. I was reading British press earlier, trying to figure out what the fcuk is going on in London two days before March 29, and in an article in the Guardian I saw this comment, and thought it should be saved for posterity.
Since the article is/was one of those live updates ones, which tend to get very long, and moreover at the point I read it it already had well over 11,000 other comments, posting it here seemed to be the way to go to achieve that.
It was posted by someone who named themselves Tintenfische (German for squid, octopus?!), and that’s all I know about this person(s), who imagines a speech someone should stand up and deliver in the house. I think it says exactly what needs to be said, what politicians should say, in Britain where civil unrest is much closer than anyone wants to see, in the US where very similar scenarios are playing out, and in many other countries.
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Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Golan Heights Oil all about the Shekels / Politics / Israel
By: BATR
When the Zionists absorbed the Syrian Golan Heights during the Six-Day War of 1967, most of the postmortems proclaimed that Israel was establishing a defensive barrier that would prevent future assaults. Well, guarding the territory on high may discourage artillery attacks might resonate with proponents of a Jewish state, most of the rest of the world condemns the illegal occupation. Now that President Trump has capitulated to the Neocon Israel-First State Department by recognizing the integration of the Golan Heights as part of the imperial Israeli dynasty, the dooms day clock approaches rapidly towards Armageddon.
After losing the annihilation of the Syrian Bashar al-Assad regime, the eternal Shylock motivations shift to exploit the oil and gas reserves that have been handed out to several of their supporters and loyal operatives. Do not hold your breath for objective reporting on the financial inside dealings to line the pockets by exploiting the natural resources of Syria.
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Monday, March 25, 2019
Can We Lock Up Rachel Maddow Now? / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Message to Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Kemala Harris, Tulsi Gabbard and the rest of the crew: you can stop asking for campaign donations, because you no longer stand a chance in the 2020 elections. Your own party, and the media who support you, made sure of that. Or rather, the only chance you would have is if you guys start another smear campaign against your president, and I wouldn’t recommend that.
I don’t want to start another Lock Her Up sequence, that’s too ugly for my taste. But three parties in this No Collusion disaster must be held accountable: US intelligence, the Democratic party, and the media. You can’t just let it go, too much water under the bridge. No can do. “The Democrats need to move on”, a recent ‘soft line’, is not good enough. They must be held to account.
Bill Barr can investigate the FBI and DOJ, but the obstacles there are obvious: investigating the investigators. The Democratic party would mean going after individuals, but sure, let’s see what Loretta Lynch, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Maxine Waters have to say for themselves and take it from there, before you get to Hillary. The media, though, is something else altogether.
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Thursday, March 21, 2019
Green New Physics / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
You could probably say I’m sympathetic to the schoolchildren protesting against climate change, and I’m sympathetic to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her call for a Green New Deal. Young people are the future, and they deserve a voice about that future. At the same time, I’m also deeply skeptical about their understanding of the issues they talk about.
In fact, I don’t see much understanding at all. I think that’s because they base their comprehension of the world they’ve been born into on information provided by the very people they’re now protesting against. Look kids, your education system sucks, it was designed by those destroying your planet, you need to shake it off and get something better.
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Thursday, March 21, 2019
UKIP No Longer About BrExit, Becomes BNP 2.0, Muslim Hate Party / Politics / BrExit
By: John_York
UKIP's embrace of Tommy Robinson has fuelled one of Britain's foremost hate preacher to reach a broad audience many of whom are increasingly being radicalised into committing acts of violence, though thank fully given Britain's tough gun laws nothing on the scale of last weeks New Zealand terror attack. One such attack that is being widely reported on by the mainstream media was in London on Saturday near Heathrow airport where a white male after an near hour of hurling racist and white supremacist abuse on the street at passers by including "death to all muslims","I want to kill muslims", and "this is for Tommy Robinson" as reported on by witnesses, eventually went and stabbed an asian teenager in a nearby Tesco car park.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
The Secret to Funding a Green New Deal / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Ellen_Brown
As alarm bells sound over the advancing destruction of the environment, a variety of Green New Deal proposals have appeared in the U.S. and Europe, along with some interesting academic debates about how to fund them. Monetary policy, normally relegated to obscure academic tomes and bureaucratic meetings behind closed doors, has suddenly taken center stage.
The 14-page proposal for a Green New Deal submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., does not actually mention Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), but that is the approach currently capturing the attention of the media—and taking most of the heat. The concept is good: Abundance can be ours without worrying about taxes or debt, at least until we hit full productive capacity. But, as with most theories, the devil is in the details.
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Wednesday, March 20, 2019
A Tide In The Affairs Of Men / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Sometimes we find ourselves merely pondering, not so much solving big problems. Is there playing out, in the world at large, or at least the world of men, something akin to the Kondratieff cycle in economics, a larger cycle, a force, a tide, an energy, that we mostly ignore, but which drives our ‘affairs’? Dr. D. thinks there may well be. But if so, what happens to free will?
Dr. D.:
Dr. D.: I seem to have taken a dark and grumpy turn lately. Probably the winter, but as I get older, I find the present state of the world more and more frustrating.
I fear with the present madness it’s just de rigor to 1) label people as something they’re not, even the OPPOSITE of what they are, 2) furiously fight that strawman and 3) not care. I have no explanation for it, but there are times and tides in the affairs of men (as Shakespeare would say) which flood you out and cost a fortune. …Or something like that.
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Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Vietnam, Part I: Colonialism and National Liberation / Politics / US Politics
By: Raymond_Matison
By late 1960’s America’s involvement in the Vietnam War had become the most divisive issue in the nation’s history since the Civil War of the1860s. This involvement extended over the terms of six Presidents making it America’s longest war. President Truman and his Secretary of State Dean Acheson believed that if Southeast Asia is swept up by Communism, as had China, and if Vietnam was allowed to fall, other countries in a domino fashion would follow suit.
The American people, born of anti-colonial revolution, were hostile to colonialists by tradition. President Roosevelt in his early years in public life had been a proponent of imperial control. Echoing very much the French mission civilisatrice (civilizing mission), FDR thought it justifiable and necessary for the United States to impose the blessings of her civilization on the more backward and less fortunate peoples, by force if necessary. But by the time of Pearl Harbor he had become a committed anti-colonialist. European colonialism had helped bring on both the First World War and the current one, he was convinced, and the continued existence of empires would in all likelihood result in future conflagrations. He went so far as to say that Western sway over much of Asia and Africa was no less threatening to world stability than German expansionism. Therefore, all colonies should be given their independence. FDR never retreated from his belief that the continued existence of European colonial empires undermined the peace of the world.
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