Ugh

A Reminder: The United States is a low-taxed nation

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by Ugh Since this is the issue I know best and as we head further into the darkness that started on Friday, I thought I would post this helpful reminder when it comes to the debate regarding "tax reform" this year:  the U.S. is a low taxed nation among developed economies, our supposed competitors. This may … Read more

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran

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by Ugh A fun front page above the fold WaPo story on Mad Dog Mattis' time as commander of Cent Comm under Obama and, well, things are going to get exciting in a Trump administration it seems!  E.g.: [Mattis'] proposal, crafted with the support of the ambassador and the senior American commander in Iraq, was … Read more

Whither Ivanka?

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by Ugh Trump seems determined to appoint a murderer's row of Breitbart Illuminati and assorted crazy persons to his cabinet and other associated high level senior positions.  The latest being noted free market loon Larry Kudlow to head the council of economic advisers, whose chief qualification seems to be talking loudly on the TeeVee.  Based … Read more

Where is he going with this?

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by Ugh One would think with a 15+ month Presidential campaign we should know Where They Stand on the IssuesTM, especially the winner.  But alas, it seems heartfelt policy positions are not really part of GOP President-Elect Trump's id nor were they of much interest to the MSM in the lead up to November 8th. … Read more

Post-election Neopostmortems Open Thread

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by Ugh Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition.   I just….wow.  Are we relying on Ivanka to be the adult in the room?  Did they give him his twitter keys back yet? Since signing every bill Ryan/McConnell put in front of him and Alito-esque Justices are high probabilities right now….  Jeepers.   And as bad as … Read more

Election Day – Get Ur Democracy On!

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by Ugh It's here!  God it's like Christmas morning only without the presents, joy, holiday cheer, tree, decorations, and your crabby Uncle that nobody likes.  Okay maybe not so much.  Perhaps more like Lady Macbeth and the damn spot, at least with respect to the campaign.   My prediction – Hillary wins with 300+ electoral … Read more

Final Pre-Election Day Tidbits

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by Ugh Someone will throw up an open thread tomorrow for so-called "Election Day" (3:10 mark), including possibly me, in the meantime: Kudos (do people say kudos anymore or is it like "swell" which has been uncool since at least Superman the Movie?) to the IRS – if ever there were an election where a … Read more

One week out, Don’t Panic….?

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by Ugh Grab your towel it's one week to go and per the radio this morning Trump leads by 1% in at least one poll among likely voters post-James Comey's stupidity (I'm being generous, but, please resign, thx).   In the latest news, unsurprisingly, Trump's tax losses may not be kosher for tax purposes.  Will he … Read more

Terroristic Threats Closing Schools on Election Day

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by Ugh OMG, you mean people are taking you srsly? Many of the schools across America that house polling booths will not be open on Election Day for the first time after parents raised fears over violence. And what's a little harmless hanging in effigy and heads on pikes between friends, no? An effigy depicting … Read more

Are our National Security State learnin’?

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by Ugh It seems the NSA has another leaky contractor on its hands, as the WaPo reports.  This may be the person responsible for the hacking tools that appeared online in August getting there.  Like Snowden, this person works for contractor Booz Allen, Hamilton, which one would think might cause the NSA to ask who these … Read more

Trump’s Taxes

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by Ugh

Like the mythical MSM, I am all Trump all the time here at ObWiNews.  

As I'm sure everyone's seen, the NYTimes was mailed a piece of one of Trump's state income tax returns, which in 1995 showed negative adjusted gross income of $915M for federal income tax purposes.  This is quite an accomplishment even for a "highly -skilled businessman" (as described by his own campaign) such as Mr. Trump.  Could this be legit?

Well yes, especially since according to reports his business empire was collapsing at the time, his skills notwithstanding.  One question though is whether Trump actually suffered an economic loss of such magnitude, as opposed to paper losses or losses recognized for tax purposes that might not necessarily have resulted in a net decrease in Trump's wealth by that amount. The tax code is highly favorable to the real estate business, including the ability to defer gains through a like-kind exchange under section 1031, but at the same time to recognize losses by selling the real estate and then (I believe) buying it back a short time later (there is a "wash sale" rule for stocks that prevents someone from doing this in a short period of time).  

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Your Skittles and Blitz Open Thread

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by Ugh Well.  Great week America, great week.  Is it really too much to ask that police body cam footage in shootings be released as a matter of course?  You're not inspiring a lot of confidence there Charlotte. Also, too.  And three. Separately, I'm beginning to wonder if we will have a permanent 8 member … Read more

We shall deplore them on the beaches….

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by Ugh I don't know, I keep seeing the NYTimes home page "% chance of winning the election" graphic ticking up for Trump.  A few weeks ago it was a 91% chance that Hillary would win, now it's down to 74% at last look, and recent polls show Trump tied!  I keep thinking at some … Read more

We are all Andrew Breitbarts now

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by Ugh The ongoing dumpster fire of sh1t dark fascist comedy (with a heart) that is 2016 Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump (emphasis added) continues beyond all expectations.  It really is quite something, he says.  At this rate I half expect Trump, upon the advice of new campaign "chief executive" Stephen CBannon (replacing, uh, Donald Trump?) of … Read more

Your Tacitly Corrupt Open Thread

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by Ugh Corruption is the new black!   Is it corrupt to profit from your public office if all the profit comes after you held the office?  In my professional circles, you can go work for the government for a few years and then leave and go make a bunch of $$ working for an … Read more

DC Dictator Dictates Dicks in the Damesroom

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by Ugh

Or "how the federal government came to 'meddle' in who can pee where in our public schools."

So it seems people might have heard about the Obama Administrations saying schools receiving federal funds that wish to continue to receive them* must treat transgender students in accordance with their gender identity.  Thus, a child born with male genitalia but who identifies as a girl must be allowed to participate on girls sports teams and, pertinent for purposes of this post, use the girl's restroom.  This has caused a little bit of consternation in some quarters, including such statements as Obama is "allowing men to have open access to girls in bathrooms" and that "the Obama administration just destroyed the traditional American public school."  Golly, what a meanie that Obama is.

Setting aside what appears to be certain high-level GOPers not having that high of an opinion of half the population (and in a twist, not the usual half; it also smacks of campus feminists publishing in the campus newspaper all the names of male undergraduates under the heading "Potential Rapists" – strange bedfellows**), you might ask yourself why the federal government is in the business of saying who can use what bathroom in, say, a Des Moines Elementary School.  The simple answer is, of course, Title IX (20 U.S.C. §§ 1681–1688).  Signed into law by raging leftist Dick Nixon (he says, just for fun).  More below.

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Trump!

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by Ugh Well, there we have it.  Barring something completely unforeseen and unprecedented – or at least more so than to date - Donald Freaking Trump will be the GOP nominee for the 2016 United States of America Presidential Election/Leader of the Free World Rumpus.  The frowny faces on journalists this morning is due to having their … Read more

Hillary v. Trump, Dawn of….Something!

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by Ugh So now it seems pretty clear that we will have a Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump Presidential election in the United States this November.  I suppose there could be an extremely messy fight at the GOP convention this summer that eventually wrests the nomination from Trump, but given that he is either going … Read more

Your WTF? Weekend Open Thread

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by Ugh Maybe we could use one of these.   McTx asks what marginal tax rates I would set.  Eh, probably would require a little more thought than I'm up for right now.  I will say that I don't think the theory that higher marginal tax rates cause more consumption of leisure to hold other than in … Read more

Not ending any time soon

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by Ugh By now I'm sure everyone has heard of the bombings in the Brussels subway and airport (an airport I spent several hours in last month).  There is much talk in the U.S. about how security wasn't ratcheted up high enough and perhaps there needs to be more border controls, etc. etc. etc.  But… I'm … Read more

Your Weekend Thread of Openness

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by Ugh So the GOP Presidential candidates spent last night pretending they're not all scary monsters. YMMV. The Trump or Cruz question is quite something.   Meanwhile, the SCOTUS rumpus continues, with the Republican led Senate Judiciary Committee looking more and more ridiculous.  That the press treats this as anything other than a naked partisan … Read more

Your Superduper Tuesday Open Thread of Intrigue

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by Ugh Well.  This primary season is turning out to be a touch different than those prior.  Polls close in all but Alaska/Wyoming by 9pm Eastern, at which point we may find out if the voters have given us the perfect gift for this Presidential election year:  8 months of Trump vs. Hillary!  It's almost to … Read more

Trump vs. The Pope!

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by Ugh The top headline in the dead recycled tree version of the WSJ:  Pope, Trump Spar on Immigration.  Ahem. As Josh Marshall says, maybe it's time to call it a wrap as a country. More broadly, it's amazing to me how the Pope has become a kind of persona non-grata among political U.S. evangelicals … Read more

I survived the blizzard of 2016…open thread!

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by Ugh And all I got was this lousy T-shirt, and snow shoveling back soreness, and 6 straight snow days for the elementary school student.  Whee! In other news, best medical system in the world, baby!  Death panels!  This seems to kind of be a problem.   If Trump wins the GOP nomination, does he … Read more

Your End of DC Snowstorm Open Thread

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by Ugh The national weather service says the city of Washington DC (better known as "home of Ugh") can expect 24 inches of snow Friday afternoon through Sunday morning.  Golly, that seems to be a smidge more than a dusting.  Considering one inch of snow last night led to this and worse, this ought to … Read more

Your Post-Antibiotic Era Open Thread of DOOM Open Thread!

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by Ugh This is discouraging.   The world is on the cusp of a "post-antibiotic era", scientists have warned after finding bacteria resistant to drugs used when all other treatments have failed. Eek.  Also, too, it seems ISIS understands what al Qaeda generally doesn't – or probably, now, didn't – which is that it doesn't take … Read more