DELEITURAS

Donald Trump the Republican candidate for President made a restrained and knowledgeable interview on 60 Minutes which aired Sunday night. Trump was interviewed by Scott Pelley where Trump shared his ideas on the Presidency, what needs to be done and what as President Trump would work on. Trump dropped a bombshell when he announced his new tax plan would raise taxes on the very rich and for the very poor, there would not even be a tax. In keeping with his plan to assist the very poor in this country, health insurance would also be free and it would be done without what is called Obamacare which Trump would repeal.

The interview, showed Trump as more restrained but still animated in his responses to Pelley’s questions as to how Trump expects to get work done. For instance when questioned about Trumps tax plan, Trump said that,” If you look at actually raise, some very wealthy are going to be raised. Some people that are getting unfair deductions are going to be raised. But overall it’s going to be a tremendous incentive to grow the economy and we’re going to take in the same or more money. And I think we’re going to have something that’s going to be spectacular.” When Pelley remarked that Republicans don’t raise taxes, Trump replied that it isn’t a tax hike as much as it is a fair tax amount for those who can afford it. Continuing Trump stated, “We’re talking about people in the low-income brackets that are supposed to be paying taxes, many of them don’t anyway,” to which Pelley replied, “You’re talking about making part of the population exempt from income tax?” then Trump answered, “That is correct.”

The interview with Trump came on the heels of his fifth place straw vote at the Values Voter Summit. Republican presidential candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Saturday won the straw poll at the annual event that is held for social conservatives. Ben Carson finished in second, followed by Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee finished third. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio finished fourth. If Trump was all worried it didn’t show at all. Trump did make an appearance at the convention stressing that if he were made president he would stop the political correctness of using the phrase Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas stating that “You’re going to see it if I get elected, I can tell you right now.”

Trump’s tax plan though is what has people’s attention. According to tax plan for an overhaul of the U.S. tax code would eliminate federal income taxes on individuals earning less than $25,000 and married couples earning less than $50,000. Trumps plan would benefit wealthy earners by lowering the highest income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 25 percent. Businesses would see their rate cut from major corporations to mom-and-pop shops to no more than 15 percent. What this plan would mean for the deficit that already faces the United States has yet been calculated.

• Former FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky called for an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her top aide.
• “There seems to be enough evidence here to justify opening a criminal investigation,” von Spakovsky wrote in a Fox News op-ed Sunday.
• Ocasio-Cortez and her top aide Saikat Chakrabarti have since December 2017 controlled the outside PAC credited with being the central force behind her June 2018 primary victory.

A former member of the Federal Election Commission called for an investigation Sunday into alleged campaign finance violations by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her top aide Saikat Chakrabarti.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reported last week that Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti have since December 2017 held legal authority over Justice Democrats, the outside PAC that has been credited with manufacturing her upset primary victory over incumbent Democrat Joe Crowley in June 2018.

The conservative National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) also filed an FEC complaint last week, first reported by the Washington Examiner, alleging that Justice Democrats and another PAC controlled by Chakrabarti, Brand New Congress, funneled $1 million into two private companies under his control during the 2018 midterms.

“As a former FEC commissioner who has studied the complaint against Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti, I have concluded that there is unquestionably more than enough evidence to justify the FEC opening a civil investigation,” Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Hans von Spakovsky wrote in a Fox News op-ed Sunday.

“There seems to be enough evidence here to justify opening a criminal investigation,” he said, adding that Ocasio-Cortez “could get up to five years in prison for each violation” if convicted of criminal conduct.

Ocasio-Cortez never disclosed to the FEC that she and Chakrabarti, who served as her campaign chair, controlled Justice Democrats while it was simultaneously supporting her primary campaign. If the FEC finds that her campaign and the political action committee were operating in affiliation, it could result in her campaign receiving excessive contributions.

“If someone gave Ocasio-Cortez a $2,700 contribution and then gave another contribution to either of the other two PACS that Ocasio-Cortez and/or Chakrabarti were running, her campaign violated federal law by receiving and keeping a contribution above the legal limit,” von Spakovsky explained.

Ocasio-Cortez called the NLPC’s complaint a “conspiracy theory” propagated by conservative groups looking to receive airtime on Fox News. However, she hasn’t addressed TheDCNF’s reporting surrounding her and Chakrabarti’s “legal control over” Justice Democrats starting in December 2017.

The two continue to serve as “governors” of Justice Democrats, according to the PAC’s business filings in Washington D.C.

CNN, ABC News, NBC News and The Washington Post also didn’t disclose the facts surrounding Ocasio-Cortez’s control over Justice Democrats in stories about the freshman Democrat’s mounting campaign finance scandals.

Von Spakovsky said Chakrabarti’s use of two LLCs under his control to fund “campaign infrastructure and fundraising” services for his PACs and 12 political candidates, including Ocasio-Cortez, runs counter to Ocasio-Cortez’s call for more transparency in government.

“Is the New York congresswoman – who claims to be an honest and upstanding crusader for good government and transparency – really a hypocrite who improperly hid her own campaign spending in a complex maze of fundraising groups?” von Spakovsky asked.

Von Spakovsky said he expects the four active FEC commissioners — two Republicans, one Democrat and one independent — will vote in favor of opening an investigation into Ocasio-Cortez “given all the evidence of possible violations of the law that has already been made public.”

“We don’t know what further investigation will find,” he said. “But it is clear an investigation is needed to determine if Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti broke the law.”

February 14, 2013: Iowa’s Democrat Sen. Tom Harkin says we don’t have a spending problem in this country. Maybe someone should show him the debt clock:

February 14, 2013 1:00 pm (EST)

HT Weasel Zippers

The Department of Defense announced Monday that it will continue to support DHS along the U.S. – Mexico border until late 2019.
In response to the December 27, 2018 request from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Acting Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan approved Department of Defense assistance to DHS through Sept. 30, 2019. DOD is transitioning its support at the southwestern border from hardening ports of entry to mobile surveillance and detection, as well as concertina wire emplacement between ports of entry.

The Defense Department will continue to provide aviation support, but the announcement was unclear on whether or not members of the DoD would be available to build new sections of border barrier should the president declare a national emergency and request unused DoD funding to do so.

At last report, there were 5,900 active duty military along the border and another 2,100 National Guard troops providing assistance to Homeland Security.

The support comes just in time as another Migrant Mob, this one with a reported 15,000 migrants, has formed in Honduras and is expected to begin its march north towards Southern Mexico on Tuesday. This group isn’t pushing towards the U.S. at this point after learning the fate of the previous migrant group.

Thousands of migrants from the previous wave have been deserted by the coordinators who talked them into taking the 2,000-mile journey only to get left in camps in Tijuana, Mexico while they await the long asylum process. Most won’t be granted asylum once the process is complete.

With this mob hoping to get work and/or benefits in Mexico, Mexicans aren’t as supportive as they were when the mobs were destined for America.

“That work is for Mexicans that need it,” said Anna Pérez from Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico on Facebook. “Opportunistic people who just want to take advantage of the Mexicans.”

And the long treck north may not have made those families any safer than they would have been at home. Tijuana, where many are stuck, is a city with more than 2,000 homicides this year, leaving the Central American migrants almost as vulnerable as they were grappling with the gang violence that caused them to flee their homeland.

This week, the best of American athletes, who’ve spent years putting hard work and effort into training for their respective sports, are in London for the Olympics.

It’s a wonderfully capitalistic competition- the best, the most talented, the hardest working from around the world competing to see who is the best. Excellence is rewarded with medals, international recognition and the personal satisfaction of knowing that your dedication has propelled you to victory.

Yet, how does America, the supposed bastion of the free market, reward the excellence of their athletes upon their return home?

By taxing them of course.

United States tax law states that U.S. athletes, who face a top tax rate of 35%, must add their Olympic medals and prizes to their taxable income.

Americans for Tax Reform notes that a gold medal is worth $675, a silver medal is worth $385 and a bronze medal’s worth is under $5.

Their is also a cash prize that accompanies each medal won- $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.

The following chart, from Americans for Tax Reform, shows the tax burden, graduated by medal type, that athletes pay on each individual medal they receive:

	Medal Tax	Prize Tax	Total Tax Burden
Gold	$236	$8,750	$8,986
Silver	$135	$5,250	$5,385
Bronze	$2	$3,500	$3,502

This astounding tax on excellence is made even worse by the fact that U.S. athletes are virtually the only competitors who are taxed for their winnings, because the U.S. is one of the only countries that taxes worldwide income- income earned overseas by taxpayers.

However, Tea Party favored Florida Senator Marco Rubio is making an attempt to end the tax. Calling the American tax code a “complicated and burdensome mess that too often punishes success”, Rubio introduced a bill that would end the tax on Olympic medals.

The Department of the Interior is offering up to $1,000 to people willing to adopt a wild horse or burro, according to a press release.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which runs the federal government’s wild horse and burro adoption program, launched the new incentive program March 12.

“The goal of the program is to reduce BLM’s recurring costs to care for unadopted and untrained wild horses and burros while helping to enable the BLM to confront a growing over-population of wild horses and burros on fragile public rangelands,” the press release says.

The number of wild horses and burros on federal lands passed most areas’ holding capacity years ago. The BLM currently manages roughly 82,000 animals in pastures that cannot sustainably support more than about 27,000, according to BLM data.

The federal government is required by law to remove animals over the limit that the land can support, but federally controlled corrals and private partners are at or nearing their limits. The cash incentive for adoption is aimed at taking away excess animals currently held in the corrals.

The BLM adoption and sales programs have declined over recent decades. In 1995, the government placed, either through adoption or sales, about 9,700 wild horses and burros into private homes. In 2005, the number had dropped to 5,700, and in 2017, just 4,099 animals were removed from federal holding corrals to private homes.

Federal law prevents BLM officials from selling the animals for slaughter or giving or selling animals to individuals who intend on killing them. To control the burgeoning population, BLM officials rely on PZP, a drug used to prevent contraception. Officials must administer the drug to each mare at least once a year for four years before the affects begin to become permanent.

An amendment proposed in Congress last year would have lifted the restriction on horse and burro euthanasia. The BLM issued a statement in support of the amendment, though the amendment was later dropped.

“With few natural predators and limited tools for controlling herd growth, our nation’s wild horse and burro herds are chronically overpopulated and increasing exponentially,” the BLM said. “Given the extensive overpopulation, wild horses and burros routinely face starvation and death from lack of water. The high number of excess wild horses and burros causes habitat damage that forces animals to leave public lands and travel onto private property or even highways in search of food and water.”

I’ll keep it brief, but Rep. Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill (HR 459) garnered significant bi-partisan co-sponsorship showing that his legislation truly crosses party lines. According to Rep. Paul’s government website, this is the list:

 

Audit the Fed Cosponsors – 112thCongress   Bold=Original Cosponsor	Italics = Democrat
1	Mike Coffman	21	Cathy McMorris Rodgers	41	David McKinley
2	Glenn Thompson	22	Mike Simpson	42	Frank LoBiondo
3	Rodney Alexander	23	Adrian Smith	43	Gary Miller
4	Tom McClintock	24	Doug Lamborn	44	Jeff Miller
5	Gus Bilirakis	25	Lamar Smith	45	C. W. Bill Young
6	Spencer Bachus	26	Denny Rehberg	46	Randy Forbes
7	Jason Chaffetz	27	Sue Myrick	47	Scott Garrett
8	Jeff Fortenberry	28	Buck McKeon	48	Jim Gerlach
9	Steven LaTourette	29	Robert Wittman	49	Louie Gohmert
10	Dan Burton	30	Marsha Blackburn	50	Bill Huizenga
11	Bill Posey	31	Kenny Marchant	51	Blaine Luetkemeyer
12	Walter Jones	32	Elton Gallegly	52	Dennis Kucinich
13	Tom Reed	33	Marcy Kaptur	53	Don Young
14	Paul Broun	34	Lynn Woolsey	54	John Campbell
15	Dean Heller	35	Aaron Schock	55	Tom Petri
16	Joe Barton	36	Michael Burgess	56	Roscoe Bartlett
17	Rob Woodall	37	Dennis Ross	57	Lynn Westmoreland
18	Michael McCaul	38	Ken Calvert	58	David Schweikert
19	Dana Rohrabacher	39	Bill Flores	59	James Lankford
20	Leonard Lance	40	Tom Graves	60	Vern Buchanan
61	Justin Amash	81	Thaddeus McCotter	101	Donald Manzullo
62	John Duncan	82	Joe Wilson	102	Michael Michaud
63	Francisco Canseco	83	Tammy Baldwin	103	Mike Rogers (MI)
64	Scott Rigell	84	Tim Johnson	104	Todd Young
65	Rich Nugent	85	Bob Goodlatte	105	Jared Polis
66	Mick Mulvaney	86	Chris Gibson	106	Joseph Heck
67	John Carter	87	Tom Latham	107	Jaime Herrera Beutler
68	Geoff Davis	88	Tom Marino	108	Virginia Foxx
69	Mike Ross	89	Lee Terry	109	Steve Austria
70	David Dreier	90	Lynn Jenkins	110	Cliff Stearns
71	Stephen Lee Fincher	91	Reid Ribble	111	Judy Biggert
72	Tim Walberg	92	Marlin Stutzman	112	Cynthia Lummis
73	Sandy Adams	93	Kurt Schrader	113	Jeff Flake
74	F. James Sensenbrenner	94	Sam Johnson	114	Blake Farenthold
75	Lou Barletta	95	Andy Harris	115	John Conyers
76	Kay Granger	96	Trey Gowdy	116	Tim Murphy
77	Connie Mack	97	Ander Crenshaw	117	Pete Visclosky
78	Mack Thornberry	98	Peter DeFazio	118	Scott Tipton
79	Jason Altmire	99	Morgan Griffith	119	Robert Schilling
80	Joe Walsh	100	Jack Kingston	120	John Kline
121	Sam Graves	141	Raul Labrador	161	Tom Price
122	Tim Griffin	142	Larry Kissell	162	Jim McGovern
123	Michele Bachmann	143	Mike Rogers (AL)	163	Frank Wolf
124	Steve Austria	144	Tom Cole	164	Zoe Lofgren
125	Randy Neugebauer	145	Todd Rokita	165	Maurice Hinchey
126	John Shimkus	146	Dan Benishek	166	Patrick Meehan
127	Rodney Frelinghuysen	147	Mike Kelly	167	Mike Pompeo
128	Wally Herger	148	Kevin McCarthy	168	Peter Roskam
129	Jeff Duncan	149	Charles Boustany	169	Paul Gosar
130	Todd Platts	150	Bill Shuster	170	Kevin Yoder
131	Frank Guinta	151	Michael Turner	171	Candice Miller
132	John Culberson	152	Steven Rothman	172	Phil Roe
133	Jon Runyan	153	Robert Hurt	173	Sean Duffy
134	Cory Gardner	154	Patrick Tiberi	174	Phil Gingrey
135	John Tierney	155	Randy Hultgren	175	Austin Scott
136	John Yarmuth	156	John Sullivan	176	Steve Womack
137	Pete Stark	157	Todd Akin	177	Tom Rooney
138	Tim Huelskamp	158	Peter Welch	178	Dave Camp
139	Robert Latta	159	Jo Bonner	179	Brett Guthrie
140	David Wu	160	Brian Bilbray	180	Tim Scott
181	Vicky Hartzler	201	Ben Quayle	221	Adam Kinzinger
182	Mike Fitzpatrick	202	Jean Schmidt	222	Howard Coble
183	Kristi Noem	203	Mo Brooks	223	Ralph Hall
184	John Barrow	204	Diane Black	224	Collin Peterson
185	Steve Scalise	205	Rob Bishop	225	Daniel Lungren
186	David Loebsack	206	Fred Upton	226	Daniel Webster
187	Allen West	207	Rick Crawford	227	Bill Johnson
188	Michael Grimm	208	Sanford Bishop	228	Mike Pence
189	Frank Lucas	209	Bill Cassidy	229	Paul Tonko
190	Gene Green	210	Steve Pearce	230	Harold Rogers
191	Greg Walden	211	Dan Lipinski	231	Jo Ann Emerson
192	Chip Cravaak	212	Michael Conoway	232	Charles Fleischmann
193	Jeff Landry	213	Ruben Hinojosa	233	Gregg Harper
194	Jackie Speier	214	Alan Nunnelee	234	Shelley Moore Capito
195	Erik Paulsen	215	John Mica	235	Steve King
196	Mark Amodei	216	Bob Gibbs	236	Leonard Boswell
197	Mary Bono Mack	217	Steve Stivers	237	Charles Dent
198	Rick Berg	218	Charles Bass	238	Ben Chandler
199	Jerry Lewis	219	Jim McDermott	239	Jim Jordan
200	Ted Poe	220	Chris Smith	240	Mario Diaz-Balart
241	John Fleming	261	Ann Marie Buerkle
242	Billy Long	262	Pete Olson
243	Scott DesJarlais	263	Brad Sherman
244	Renee Ellmers	264	Hansen Clarke
245	Ed Whitfield	265	Raul Grijalva
246	Duncan Hunter	266	Larry Bucshon
247	Patrick McHenry	267	Doc Hastings
248	Jeff Dunham	268	Chellie Pengree
249	Trent Franks	269	Shelley Berkley
250	Steven Chabot	270	Adam Schiff
251	Richard Hanna	271	Nan Hayworth
252	Ileana Ros-Lehtinen	272	Ed Royce
253	Jeb Hensarling	273	Steven Palazzo
254	Pete Sessions	274	William Owens
255	Robert Aderholt
256	Jim Renacci
257	Bruce Braley
258	Silvestre Reyes
259	Joe Pitts
260	Lloyd Doggett

*sourced site is a government property making this information public domain

And who were in the small minority (1/3 of House members) that voted no?

Ackerman
Andrews
Bass (CA)
Becerra
Blumenauer
Bonamici
Brady (PA)
Brown (FL)
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carney
Carson (IN)
Castor (FL)
Chu
Cleaver
Clyburn
Conyers
Cooper
Crowley
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
DeGette
DeLauro
Deutch
Dicks
Dingell
Edwards
Ellison
Engel
Eshoo
Fattah
Frank (MA)
Fudge
Gonzalez
Gutierrez
Hanabusa
Hastings (FL)
Himes
Hinchey
Holt
Hoyer
Israel
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Kaptur
Keating
Kind
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lowey
Maloney
Markey
Matsui
McCollum
McDermott
Meeks
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Moore
Napolitano
Neal
Olver
Pallone
Pelosi
Peters
Price (NC)
Rangel
Reyes
Rothman (NJ)
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schwartz
Serrano
Sewell
Shuler
Sires
Slaughter
Stark
Thompson (MS)
Towns
Turner (NY)
Van Hollen
Velázquez
Wasserman Schultz
Watt
Waxman
Wilson (FL)
Woolsey

The majority of Americans support congressional Democrats’ calls to investigate President Donald Trump’s past communication and financial ties with Russia, but half of them lack confidence that special counsel Robert Mueller’s report will be fair and even-handed.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday showed that 50 percent of Americans surveyed don’t believe Mueller’s probe, which is currently investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, will result in an unbiased, fair report.

A random sample of 1,001 U.S. adults were asked between Jan. 21-24 how much confidence they have that Mueller’s report will be even-handed, to which 28 percent responded “Just some” and another 22 percent responded “None at all.”

Just 24 percent said they have “A great deal” of confidence in the report, which stands in contrast to the large public support for such investigations.

The poll, which had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, showed that 57 percent of respondents support a Democratic investigation into potential collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia; 61 percent support investigations of suspected financial ties between Trump and foreign governments; and 59 percent support investigations into Trump’s relationship and communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At the same time, a plurality of respondents, 46 percent, also said they think Democrats will go “too far” in investigating Trump.

A majority of Americans, 55 percent, said they don’t think Congress should begin impeachment proceedings either, which could create a potential disconnect between elected officials and the country as a whole as lawmakers continue to call for impeachment.

Over the course of Trump’s presidency, several members of Congress have unveiled articles of impeachment and called to remove the president from office, including Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Brad Sherman of California, Marcia Fudge of Ohio and Al Green of Texas.

Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib made headlines hours after being sworn into Congress earlier in January when she told a group of left-wing supporters that she would help Democrats “impeach the motherf****r.”

Presidential hopefuls so far, including Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, have stopped short of calling for the president’s impeachment, but progressive billionaire Tom Steyer told Politico Sunday that he plans to spend $40 million in 2019 on the impeachment cause. “Unless you support impeachment, we’re not supporting you,” he said.

No need to test the longevity of your Twinkies purchased pre company breakup, your favorite snack may be back on the shelves as soon as July!

A Columbus, Georgia Dolly Madison plant is scheduled to be up and running by July. The reformulated Hostess Brands expects the most popular products to be back on the shelves this summer.

In a bankruptcy forced liquidation Hostess due in part to a lengthy impasse by striking workers, the brand and five of the bakeries were bought in a joint venture by two private equity companies.

The Dolly Madison plant in Columbus, Ga., will be the first to reopen. The ‘new’ bakery is inviting former workers to apply for positions. There has been no talk of unions in the new company.

In its new iteration, the company will hire 200 workers for jobs starting this summer. Another 100 jobs will follow. Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson said her town is better off with the opportunities — whether they’re union or not.

“I think we’re very happy to have the jobs back; 300 jobs is better than zero jobs,” she said.

Read more at CNN Money.

This week I talked to my friend “Dee”.

Dee has been through some trials due to the continued poor economy.

Three years ago Dee was working in the career she loves. She was teaching young children at a private school. Unfortunately, the economy caused her school to make a tough choice. They closed. It was no one’s fault (well, you could blame the Obama administration but…) Parents were losing their jobs, had hours reduced or took pay cuts; homes were upside down and there just wasn’t enough money to send kids to school when there were charter and neighborhood schools available at no cost.

Dee, like so many others, had been living on a shoestring. Everything was very finely balanced; the paycheck just matched the bills. So when the school told Dee they would be closing the end of May and that there would be no unemployment available well, you can imagine. Suddenly, expenses were more than income.

Of Hispanic descent, raised in Texas, Dee was familiar with being poor. After her mother died her father took over both roles. A landscaper, who often worked two jobs, he taught the children the importance of education carefully monitoring their school work and pushing them to go further than he. This desire that the children lived a better life meant Dad often had to make very tough choices.

The teacher cuts were statewide that year. My friend had to swallow her pride and accept assistance from the Salvation Army and the Catholic food bank. She cut her cable television and then the internet and then the phone. Finally, she found a new position. Unfortunately, the pay was less.  When her young adult daughter lost her part time job due to the economy they made one more tough choice. They had to give up their car.

For Dee the past two years have been a challenge. But things are improving. She found a coworker nearby who would give her a ride to work. Her daughter eventually found a job at a discount store close enough that she could ride her bike.

Going back to her roots, Dee began cooking from scratch and found her crock pot to be invaluable once she returned to work. They also decided that eating out would be reserved for special treats. The family decided they could continue to live without cable television and now weekly visits the local library for free movies and books.

This week when we talked Dee said the family no longer needs to use the food bank to help with their groceries. And she is starting to save money so she can buy a car with cash. She doesn’t want to worry again about making payments.

Some people might choose to run up the credit cards during challenging times. Dee instead chose to make some tough choices. As this family gets back on its feet I know they are glad that they’ve got their bills in check.

If you have suggestions to stretch your shopping dollar or questions please let me know.