Like Your Taxes Low? Trump and Republicans Want to Keep It That Way.

/2 Comments/in , /by

Sunday is the seven-year anniversary of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a landmark piece of legislation that contributed to historic economic prosperity under the first Trump administration.

In December 2017, a Republican Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed this package of sweeping reforms into the U.S. tax code, both for individual filers and corporations. Next year, Congress and Trump are poised to renew the expiring provisions of the law as well as add additional reforms.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut income tax rates for workers at every level and nearly doubled the standard deduction, shielding more income from taxation. It expanded the child tax credit and preserved other popular tax benefits like the deductions for mortgage interest and charitable deductions, among others.

Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason University, reported in July—some 6 1/2 years after the legislation took effect—that as a result of the law, “total tangible corporate investment went up by about 11%” and “there has been a long-run increase in GDP [gross domestic product] of 0.9%—a substantial sum in an economy of more than $27 trillion.”

Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, American corporations faced one of the world’s highest statutory corporate income tax rates at 35%. The tax law lowered this rate to 21%, putting the U.S. rate near the global average. Many small businesses known as “pass-through entities” (because income “passes through” to the owner and is taxed as the owner’s personal income) benefited from tax reform because the law provides them with a 20% deduction on business profits. (Read more from “Like Your Taxes Low? Trump and Republicans Want to Keep It That Way.” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Joe Biden Met With Hunter’s Business Associates More Times Than With His Cabinet

/5 Comments/in , /by

They say the U.S. presidency is the loneliest job in the world. Maybe the second-loneliest gig is that of Cabinet secretary in President Joe Biden’s administration.

A piece published Thursday in the Wall Street Journal pulls from dozens of sources who say Biden’s inner circle of trusted aides increasingly kept contact with the president at a minimum, including the people he should have depended on most to consult and advise for the good of the nation.

The president who has spent a good chunk of his term out of the office apparently was not all that keen on meetings with his Cabinet secretaries. In fact, Biden may have met more often with his criminal son’s sketchy clients than he has with his administration’s top managers.

Joe Biden was such a political liability that his handlers hid him away during the 2020 presidential campaign. The man campaigned from his Delaware basement through the brunt of the election year. The cloistered strategy wasn’t as much about protecting the feeble geezer from Covid as it was designed to prevent American voters from seeing what a physical and mental mess Biden really was.

Even the Pravda Press, which was openly rooting for — and covering for — the Democrat gaffe machine, was forced to report on Biden’s bunker campaign. (Read more from “Joe Biden Met With Hunter’s Business Associates More Times Than With His Cabinet” HERE)

Trump Picks Fight With Pope With Pick for New Vatican Ambassador

/1 Comment/in , /by

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday nominated Brian Burch, a ring-wing Catholic who has often criticized Pope Francis, as his ambassador to the Holy See.

Trump announced Burch, a father of nine and president of the non-profit CatholicVote.org (which he described as “one of the largest Catholic advocacy groups in the Country”) as his nominee in a Truth Social post, which was followed by a message selling “God Bless the USA” Bibles.

Burch is also the author of the independently-published book A New Catholic Moment: Donald Trump and the Politics of the Common Good, which touts Trump’s impact on US politics “to make sure that Americans from all walks of life can live the American Dream.”

“He represented me well during the last Election, having garnered more Catholic votes than any Presidential Candidate in History,” wrote Trump of Burch and, of course, his recent re-election. “Brian loves his Church and the United States – He will make us all proud.”

Burch, however, may not have a lot of love for Pope Francis specifically. He strongly opposed the pontiff’s decision to allow the blessing of same-sex couples; in a post on X last year, he derided the “progressive Catholic cheerleading” that he associated with Francis’ leadership—as well as what he charged as a crackdown on conservative critics. (Read more from “Trump Picks Fight With Pope With Pick for New Vatican Ambassador” HERE)

Official Transcript Directly Contradicts J6 Committee Messaging

/4 Comments/in , /by

One of the more salacious messaging tidbits that came out of ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s partisan J6 committee which was set up to investigate the Capitol riot, but actually tried to rearrange evidence to blame President Donald Trump for the events, was that Trump tried to commandeer the presidential limousine.

That claim came from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who has come under scrutiny for not just the content of her testimony to Pelosi’s committee, but changing it, and then allegedly working at the behest of former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., to orchestra her statements.

Hutchinson had claimed at the time Pelosi’s committee was holding hearings that Trump had insisted that his Secret Service driver take him to the Capitol that day. . .

Now a report in the Federalist documents how newly released testimony from the Secret Service pushed back on the wild claim.

It was House Administration’s subcommittee on Oversight that released the transcripts of a Secret Service driver for President Donald Trump, the report said.

“I did not see him reach. He never grabbed the steering wheel,” the driver told Cheney at the time. “I didn’t see him, you know, lunge to try to get into the front seat at all.” (Read more from “Official Transcript Directly Contradicts J6 Committee Messaging” HERE)

Nobody In The Biden Admin Wants To Explain How 1,100 More US Troops Appeared In Syria — Or If The President Knew

/0 Comments/in , /by

The increased force presence has “been going on for a while,” with Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder estimating that the troops have been there “at a minimum, months.” But he stressed the extra troops are supporting the counter-ISIS mission and were unrelated to the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime two weeks ago.

The new figures are particularly notable as the Pentagon in recent days and weeks has been asked repeatedly about its troop presence in Syria, with the stark increase never disclosed.

A “core 900” U.S. service members are in the country as part of an official nine to 12 month deployment, with another 1,100 troops there on a temporary basis for 30 to 90 days “to address shifting mission requirements,” Ryder told reporters. He added that Army conventional and special operations troops make up most of the extra forces.

Pressed on why the Pentagon did not reveal the updated numbers until now, Ryder said he had only learned of the new figure earlier Thursday and cited “sensitivity from a diplomatic and operational security standpoint.” . . .

It’s also unclear as to whether President Biden was aware of the extra forces, as Ryder said he would not speak for the White House. (Read more from “Nobody In The Biden Admin Wants To Explain How 1,100 More US Troops Appeared In Syria — Or If The President Knew” HERE)

Congress Passes Bill to Stop Partial Government Shutdown After Missing Midnight Deadline

/2 Comments/in , /by

Senators voted to pass a new version of a stopgap spending bill early Saturday morning after the midnight deadline for a partial government shutdown came and went.

The Senate advanced the third version of a short-term spending bill by 85 to 11, and it will now head to President Biden’s desk, who has already signaled that he will sign it.

An original agreement on a short-term spending bill was released earlier in the week, totaling 1,547-pages and including a number of policy provisions and disaster aid.

But soon after its release, billionaire Elon Musk and other conservative critics publicly blasted the measure, ultimately resulting in it being condemned by President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief,” Trump and Vance said in a lengthy statement opposing the bill on Wednesday afternoon. (Read more from “Congress Passes Bill to Stop Partial Government Shutdown After Missing Midnight Deadline” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Biden Reportedly Considers Commuting Sentences for Most Prisoners on Federal Death Row

/0 Comments/in , /by

As President Biden’s term comes to an end, he is reportedly considering commuting the sentences of most, if not all, of the 40 men on the federal government’s death row.

The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that the move would frustrate President-elect Trump’s plan to streamline executions as he takes office in January.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, who oversees federal prisons, recommended that Biden commute all but a handful of egregious sentences, the sources said.

The outlet reported that possible exceptions could include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber who killed three and wounded more than 250; Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people in the 2018 attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; and Dylann Roof, who in 2015 killed nine at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. (Read more from “Biden Reportedly Considers Commuting Sentences for Most Prisoners on Federal Death Row” HERE)

Woke Medical Association Scrubs DEI Info From Website After Brutal Report

/2 Comments/in , /by

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) moved to restrict and remove information from its website after a report revealed its full-throated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

Last week, Do No Harm, an organization committed to de-politicizing medicine, published an exhaustive report detailing how the AAMC wielded its influence and prestige to push DEI and other leftist policies. The AAMC facilitates much of medical education in the United States and administers the MCAT, the test students take to get into medical school.

After the Do No Harm report dropped, the AAMC this week pulled information from its website on grants it had received, and restricted access to information about a database that tracked the race and sex of medical personnel.

Do No Harm Senior Director of Programs Laura Morgan, who authored the report on the AAMC, told The Daily Wire that it was strange for the organization to remove the information.

“Considering their laser focus on all things DEI, it’s curious that the AAMC would take down a web page that described the federal and private grants it receives, especially when it contains information on programs that are DEI-focused,” Morgan said. (Read more from “Woke Medical Association Scrubs DEI Info From Website After Brutal Report” HERE)

Johnson Attempts Plan C to Avert Government Shutdown

/2 Comments/in , /by

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Friday announced yet another plan to avert a government shutdown.

“Yeah, yeah, we have a plan. We’re expecting votes this morning, so you all stay tuned. We’ve got a plan,” Johnson said Friday morning as he entered the Capitol building.

The government will shut down if Congress fails to pass a spending bill by the end of Friday.

The House rejected a short-term spending bill after Republican leadership scrapped a compromise plan with Democrats that was riddled with Democrat carveouts, and benefits to Big Pharma, among other controversial issues. (Read more from “Johnson Attempts Plan C to Avert Government Shutdown” HERE)

‘They Want to Groom Your Children’: University of Minnesota Fronted Cash to Get 5-Year-Olds to Play With Sex-Change Dolls

/1 Comment/in , , /by

The University of Minnesota is facing criticism over attempts to pay to have little kids play with sex-change dolls.

The National Center for Gender Spectrum Health is a radical initiative of the taxpayer-funded University of Minnesota’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Health. The stated goal of the center, which is run by World Professional Association for Transgender Health members Katherine Spencer and Dianne Berg, is to “promote the well-being of all people across the gender spectrum (including those who are cisgender, transgender, and gender diverse).”

The NCGSH — which boasts of having secured over $87,000 in grant funding — put out a call in February for “transgender and gender diverse children between the ages of 5 and 10 years old and their parents,” asking them to participate in a “hands-on activity to help talk about gender and bodies!”

The flyer noted further that “children and parents will meet a few times in groups with others to play with and give us ideas about the activities” and promised compensation between $20 and $60 per group.

The corresponding UM project page indicated that “MyGender Dolls” are “therapeutic tools intended for licensed therapists to use with patients and their parents or caregivers to help children who find it difficult to express themselves.” (Read more from “‘They Want to Groom Your Children’: University of Minnesota Fronted Cash to Get 5-Year-Olds to Play With Sex-Change Dolls” HERE)