Category: National Issues

New Study Reveals Massive Tax Evasion By Wealthiest Americans

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A new study has found that the wealthiest one percent of Americans are dodging payment of taxes at a much higher rate than prior research had revealed.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the study, conducted by a team of Internal Revenue Service and academic researchers and economists for a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that the richest one percent of households fail to disclose to the IRS a full 21 percent of their income.

The researchers concluded that the amount of unreported income for the top 0.1% might be as much as twice as high as earlier research had indicated. Continue reading.

People gave up on flu pandemic measures a century ago when they tired of them – and paid a price

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Picture the United States struggling to deal with a deadly pandemic.

State and local officials enact a slate of social-distancing measures, gathering bans, closure orders and mask mandates in an effort to stem the tide of cases and deaths.

The public responds with widespread compliance mixed with more than a hint of grumbling, pushback and even outright defiance. As the days turn into weeks turn into months, the strictures become harder to tolerate. Continue reading.

Trump supporters hope to remove Biden from office in a ‘writ of quo warranto’: report

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Far-right activist Josh Bernstein revealed how Republicans are seeking to remove Joe Biden from office during an appearance on the Charles Moscowtiz podcast.

“I am part of the audit team where I’m at,” Bernstein revealed. “And we are also working with patriots in New Hampshire to get their audits done. And in Pennsylvania and in Georgia and in Michigan, okay?”

“We want a constitutional crisis,” Bernstein admitted. Continue reading.

Trump officials hindered at least nine key oversight probes, watchdogs said. Some may finally be released in coming months.

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Almost as soon as she opened a politically charged investigation in 2019 into whether the Trump White House blocked hurricane relief to a devastated Puerto Rico, the internal watchdog at the Department of Housing and Urban Development ran into obstacles.

HUD demanded that their attorneys sit in on witness interviews, a tactic inspectors general said was unusual and could shape witness testimony. White House officials told top agency appointees to withhold their communications, documents and interviews show. Other records took months to obtain.

Four months after Donald Trump’s defeat, Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis still hasn’t announced whether her investigators found that Trump inappropriately held up federal disaster aid from an island reeling from a brutal hurricane. Continue reading.

AstraZeneca accused of cherry-picking vaccine study data

WASHINGTON — AstraZeneca may have included “outdated information” in touting the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine in a U.S. study, federal health officials said Tuesday in an unusual public rift that could further erode confidence in the shot.

In response, AstraZeneca said that it is working on more up-to-date information and that the more recent findings are consistent with its initial announcement that the vaccine offered strong protection. It promised an update within 48 hours.

In an extraordinary rebuke, just hours after AstraZeneca on Monday announced its vaccine worked well in the U.S. study, an independent panel that oversees the study scolded the company for cherry-picking data, according to a senior administration official. Continue reading.

The Fossil Fuel Industry Would Be Screwed Without the U.S. Government Propping It Up

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Conservatives have long argued against regulating fossil fuel production for the climate’s sake, claiming that doing so would interfere with the holy free market. A new study shows that’s a total fairy tale because the invisible hand isn’t responsible for dirty fuels’ market dominance—implicit government subsidies are. The findings show those subsidies total in the billions each year.

We often talk about the direct subsidies fossil fuel companies get from the government. Estimates range anywhere from $10 billion to $52 billion per year. But more insidious indirect subsidies also help keep fossil fuel companies in business, allowing companies to avoid paying the true price for their pollution and the other dangers they pose to society. 

“We’re in a state of the world now where we have we call, in economics, inefficient pricing because the price that we pay for fossil fuels does not reflect all those costs,” Matthew Kotchen, an economist at Yale University and author of the study, said. Continue reading.

Sidney Powell moves to dismiss Dominion lawsuit

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Sidney Powell, the pro-Trump lawyer who spread baseless claims of election fraud, moved Monday to dismiss Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against her.

What she’s saying: Powell argues in her motion that “no reasonable person” would conclude that her accusations of Dominion’s election-rigging scheme “were truly statements of fact.” 

  • She claims that Dominion conducted a “well-orchestrated public relations campaign to save their business” and that allegations against her are “sparse.”
  • Her legal team also requested that the case be moved from D.C. to Texas if it isn’t tossed out. Continue reading.

White House prepares massive infrastructure bill with universal pre-K, free community college, climate measures

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White House officials are preparing to present President Biden with a roughly $3 trillion infrastructure and jobs package that includes high-profile domestic policy priorities such as free community college and universal prekindergarten, according to three people familiar with internal discussions.

After completing the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package this month, Biden administration officials are piecing together the next major legislative priority. Although no final announcement has been made, the White House is expected to push a multitrillion-dollar jobs and infrastructure plan as the centerpiece of the president’s “Build Back Better” agenda.

That effort is expected to be broken into two parts — one focused on infrastructure, and the other focused on other domestic priorities such as growing the newly expanded child tax credit for several years. The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, stressed that planning was preliminary and subject to change. Some aides said that the package’s final price tag remains unclear. Continue reading.

Trump ramps up activities, asserts power within GOP

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Former President Trump is reemerging on the political scene after a months-long hiatus, and Trump World insiders expect him to ramp up his activity even more as the midterm elections get closer.

Trump on Monday called into Fox News and a new podcast hosted by conservative commentator Lisa Boothe for the kind of freewheeling interviews that were commonplace over the past five years.

The ex-president blasted President Biden for the border surge and railed against Republicans who have criticized him. Trump also reiterated his claims about election fraud — a topic that many Republicans are eager to move on from. Continue reading.

Senate confirms Vivek H. Murthy as surgeon general

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Biden adviser returns to role he held during the Obama administration

The Senate on Tuesday voted 57 to 43 to confirm Vivek H. Murthy as United States surgeon general, ensuring that a top ally of President Biden will play a visible role in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

All 50 Senate Democrats and Independents voted to support Murthy, joined by seven Republicans.

“Glad he was confirmed today — and I’m looking forward to working with him to address this pandemic and the underlying health inequities it has made way worse,” tweeted Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, calling Murthy a “highly experienced, crisis-tested leader.” Continue reading.