Ultra-rich tax cheets

 

https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1707357036244070662?t=ZCmukmlcBp9XqPYJKYzDTg&s=19

Senate Dems have obtained extraordinary new data from the IRS on tax avoidance by the super-rich.

Nearly 1,000 people who earn over $1 million per year didn't file tax returns at all for at least one year from 2017 to 2020, the data shows.

Also: The 2,000 people who represent the highest-income non-filers in at least one year from 2017 to 2020 owe a total of more than $900 million in taxes.

@RonWyden obtained the data from the IRS. I got a look at it.

GOP wants to gut IRS enforcement.

The GOP House voted to repeal IRS funding for expanded enforcement against rich tax cheats. Most of the 2024 GOP candidates have attacked that funding.

But it's already bringing in more revenues from wealthy tax avoiders. Rs want to roll that back.

Here again, the "working class GOP" makeover is mostly baloney. Republicans claim expanded IRS enforcement will hurt workers and small businesses. 

The reality is enforcement makes it more likely that elites and workers will be treated *equivalently.*

Biden's $15 minimum wage for federal contractors blocked by US judge

 

https://www.reuters.com/legal/bidens-15-minimum-wage-federal-contractors-blocked-by-us-judge-2023-09-27/

Daniel Wiessner

September 27, 202311:49 AM EDT

- A federal judge in Texas has ruled that President Joe Biden lacked the power to order U.S. government contractors to pay workers a minimum wage of $15 an hour, and blocked the plan from being enforced in three states.

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Tipton, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, blocked the Biden administration from enforcing the $15 minimum wage in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, states that last year filed a lawsuit challenging the executive order. State agencies often receive federal contracts.

The judge paused his decision for seven days to allow the Biden administration to file an appeal.

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Truth

 / Plato /

.

"No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth."

Hyundai and Kia recall nearly 3.4 million vehicles due to fire risk and urge owners to park outdoors

 

https://apnews.com/article/hyundai-kia-engine-fire-recall-park-outside-93d012a52e7b884889cdaf2e6c22a458 

By TOM KRISHER

Sept. 27, 2023

Hyundai and Kia are recalling nearly 3.4 million vehicles in the U.S. and telling owners to park them outside due to the risk of engine compartment fires.

The recalls cover multiple car and SUV models from the 2010 through 2019 model years including Hyundai's Santa Fe SUV and Kia's Sorrento SUV.

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Antarctic winter sea ice hits 'extreme' record low

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/antarctic-winter-sea-ice-hits-record-low-sparking-climate-worries-2023-09-25/

Sea ice that packs the ocean around Antarctica hit record low levels this winter, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said on Monday, adding to scientists' fears that the impact of climate change at the southern pole is ramping up.

Researchers warn the shift can have dire consequences for animals like penguins who breed and rear their young on the sea ice, while also hastening global warming by reducing how much sunlight is reflected by white ice back into space.

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By Jake Spring

September 26, 20231:09 AM EDTUpdated

What republicans are demanding

 

Sept. 23, 2023

 

 

 

Free covid tests Sept. 25

 

https://www.covid.gov/tests

Beginning September 25, every U.S. household can again place an order to receive four more free COVID-19 rapid tests delivered directly to their home. Before You Throw Out "Expired" Tests: Check to see if your COVID-19 tests' expiration dates have been extended.

Auto workers pay

 Sept. 20, 2023

Robert Reich

The Big 3 Automakers have spent $66 billion on stock buybacks and dividends over the decade.

That amounts to roughly $440k for each of the ~150,000 workers covered by UAW collective bargaining agreements.

And we’re supposed to believe they can’t afford to pay workers more?

https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1704536597239144514?t=_0PyPCf2bM6mixgD1yHOIA&s=19

Global warming is causing increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat and heavy rainfall events

 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05256-8

Coumou, D., Di Capua, G., Vavrus, S. et al. The influence of Arctic amplification on mid-latitude summer circulation. Nat Commun 9, 2959 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05256-8

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We show that interactions between Arctic teleconnections and other remote and regional feedback processes could lead to more persistent hot-dry extremes in the mid-latitudes

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The observed increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat and heavy rainfall events since the late 1980s, especially in mid-latitude regions, have been linked to anthropogenic global warming.

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recent studies that indicate that summer weather has become more persistent in several regions in the mid-latitudes23,24,25. In summer, the hot tail of the distribution is associated with persistent, blocking weather systems, and an increase in their persistence leads to more extreme temperatures.

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Love Lights the Way

I'm posting this for all the victims of violence and other tragedies, such as earthquakes,  wildfires, hurricanes, around the world, and their loved ones who grieve for them.

I started writing it a few days after 9/11.
It was recorded  by David Leonard

Love Lights the Way
copyright 2011 Patricia M. Shannon
performed and produced by David Leonard
http://www.revealaudio.com/

Hold me close, let me know that you love me,
in this world full of darkness, I need to know you are near.
We don't know where we'll be tomorrow;
let us gather good memories while we are here.

(chorus)
Thru the years you've been right by my side,
my dearest friend, I always can depend -
that when I despair, 'cause hate seems everywhere
our love lights the way to a brighter day.

Hold me close, let us help one another
remember the gladness that we once had.
Hold me close, let us be for each other
a haven of comfort in a world going mad.

(chorus)

Hold me close, let me know that you love me,
I need to know you are near.

Hold me close.
Hold me close.
Hold me close.

..

That ’70s Show’ Star Danny Masterson Found Guilty of Rape 20 Years Later

 

https://apnews.com/article/danny-masterson-sentencing-rape-trial-fd7a10eda44d0e3ddde582d4c7053eb6

By ANDREW DALTON

Sept. 7, 2023

A judge sentenced “That ’70s Show” show star Danny Masterson to 30 years to life in prison Thursday for raping two women, giving them some relief after they spoke in court about the decades of damage he inflicted.

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Musk Secretly Used Starlink to Foil Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Ships:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/musk-secretly-used-starlink-to-foil-ukrainian-drone-attack-on-russian-ships-report

Dan Ladden-Hall

News Correspondent

Published Sep. 07, 2023 9:10AM EDT 

Elon Musk secretly ordered SpaceX engineers to switch off the Starlink satellite communications network near the coast of occupied Crimea in order to thwart a Ukrainian surprise attack on Russia’s naval fleet, according to a report. The incident last year is reported in Walter Isaacson’s upcoming biography of the billionaire titled Elon Musk. With the comms down, the Ukrainian submarine drones packed with explosives “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” Isaacson writes, according to CNN. Musk was reportedly motivated to foil the attack out of concern that a strike on Crimea would constitute a “mini-Pearl Harbor” and lead to Russia retaliating with nuclear weapons..
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What Kind of Job Is Important

The relevance is really obvious in the wake of the several recent very destructive natural disasters. Obviously, not a comprehensive list of important jobs.

Lyrics

What Kind of Job Is Important
© copyright 2017 Patricia M. Shannon

What kind of jobs are important? What do we really need?
What is it we cannot live without, not just an expression of greed?
We need food and water, shelter from the cold.
The farmer, the plumber, the carpenter are far more important than gold.

(chorus)
Those who have been thru the tunnel/valley, seen the light then returned to our shores,
tell us helping each other, and always be learning, that is what we are here for.
And no one returns from the other side to say that our value is shown
by the size of our stock portfolio, or the number of cars that we own.

Some people think they're important, because they sit at their desks all day
making money by moving money around in a circular way.
But what use is money if there's no one who can buy,
and no one to fix the power lines, or the pipes when the water runs dry.

(chorus)

Texas paid bitcoin miner Riot $31.7 million to shut down during heat wave in August

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/06/texas-paid-bitcoin-miner-riot-31point7-million-to-shut-down-in-august.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar

PUBLISHED WED, SEP 6 20235:08 PM EDT

MacKenzie Sigalos@KENZIESIGALOS

Jordan Smith@JORDANCNBC

During the crypto boom of 2021, Riot Platforms was raking in cash from bitcoin mining. Now the company is losing so much money that it’s counting on energy credits from selling power back to the Texas grid to keep its costs under control.

Riot said on Wednesday that it earned $31.7 million in energy credits last month from Texas power grid operator ERCOT. The company generated the credits by voluntarily curtailing its energy consumption during a record-breaking heatwave.

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Wisconsin GOP entertains a constitutional crisis. Again.

Wisconsin republicans are talking about impeaching a newly elected Democratic judge, whose election changed the state supreme Court from majority republican to majority Democratic, before she has heard a single case!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/07/wisconsin-impeachment-supreme-court-protasiewicz/

Jennifer Rubin

September 7, 2023

Trump campaign paid pollster hired by Wall Street Journal $600,000 just in 2023

 https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/trump-pollster-wall-street-journal/

Sarah K. BurrisSeptember 5, 2023

A polling firm working with the Wall Street Journal has also been on the payroll of former President Donald Trump and his 2024 campaign and received more than $600,000 from his campaign, legal analyst Allison Gill first reported.

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Cuba says it uncovered a human trafficking ring that sends Cubans to fight with Russia against Ukraine

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/cuba-uncovers-trafficking-ring-sending-cubans-fight-russia-ukraine-rcna103461military operations in Ukraine.”

Sept. 5, 2023, 2:08 PM EDT

By Carmen Sesin

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Cuba’s foreign ministry said it “has detected and it is working to neutralize and dismantle a human trafficking network that operates from Russia in order to incorporate Cuban citizens living there and even some living in Cuba, into the military forces that participate in military operations in Ukraine.”

“Attempts of this nature have been neutralized and criminal proceedings have been initiated against those involved I these activities,” the press release also stated.

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Pollworkers needed

 

We need more pollworkers so people can vote. At one busy election last year, their were three, and the other two have full time jobs and took a day off work. One a dellow D, the leader R, and we worked together as a team.