Has this man found a way out of the income tax system?
It is almost impossible to beat the King in his own court. That's why so many who try and fight the income tax system end up owing hefty fines and in prison. The deck is stacked. The CPAs, attorneys and judges all benefit from the system. They are the system. The judges are employees of the state. Withtomorrow being Tax Day, it is all-important that we understand the system for what it really is and what it is not. First off, put the notion from your head that taxes are about funding government. Nothing could be further from the truth. Secondly, put the notion from your head that income tax is a constitutional issue. It is not. Constitutional arguments have never won in the King's court.
We wish Mr. Bowman the best in his quest to "beat" the system. And as an added bonus, if he succeeds, the anti-abortion movement will grow exponentially.
Georgia Passes Bill That Stings Delta Over N.R.A. Position
ATLANTA
— Georgia lawmakers approved a bill on Thursday that stripped out a tax
break proposal highly coveted by Delta Air Lines — the most stinging
punishment that America’s pro-gun forces have leveled so far on one of
the many corporations recalibrating their positions on firearms after
the Florida high school massacre.
The
$50 million sales tax exemption on jet fuel that was sought by Delta,
one of Georgia’s biggest employers, had been included in a broader
tax-relief bill. But this week, a number of Georgia Republicans,
including Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, sought to remove the perk as retribution
for Delta’s decision to end a promotional discount for members of the
National Rifle Association.
Delta,
in announcing the policy change, said it was trying to remain “neutral”
in a national gun debate that has been rekindled by a gunman’s attack
at a school in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead. A number of
other major American companies, including the car rental company Hertz
and MetLife insurance, have also ended relationships with the N.R.A. since the shooting on Feb. 14.
On
Thursday, the Georgia Senate overwhelmingly approved a version of the
bill without the jet-fuel tax break. The House, which had already
approved a version of the bill, also approved the change. Both houses
are controlled by Republicans.
The
legislation now goes to the desk of the Republican governor, Nathan
Deal, who has pledged to sign it into law. But Mr. Deal is a supporter
of the jet-fuel tax break, and he said he would sign the bill only
because it also included a significant reduction in personal and
corporate tax rates.
In
a sign of the gulf that has opened between gun-rights purists and
Republicans with a more pro-business bent, Mr. Deal this week appeared
to chastise fellow Republicans who sought to punish Delta, and thus
potentially harm Georgia’s business-friendly reputation.
“Ours
is a welcoming state — the epitome of ‘Southern Hospitality,’” said Mr.
Deal, who will leave office because of term limits early next year. “We
were not elected to give the late-night talk show hosts fodder for
their monologues or to act with the type of immaturity that has caused
so many in our society to have a cynical view of politics.”
In
addition to being one of Georgia’s biggest employers, Delta is the
economic engine of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the busiest
airport in the world and a bragging point in the city’s claim to
national and even international stature.
The
divisions over gun control are stark in Georgia, where Mr. Cagle is
among a handful of Republicans who are seeking to be the next governor.
They are particularly eager to make an impression among the hard-right
conservatives who will have a big voice in the Republican primary in
May.
Mr.
Cagle, the presumptive front-runner in the governor’s race, presides
over the State Senate, and his threat on Monday to kill the tax break
was interpreted here as a way to protect his right flank from his
Republican rivals.
“I think that obviously Delta is free to make any decision that they want to,” Mr. Cagle said during an appearance
on “Fox and Friends” this week. He added that Delta “chose to single
out the N.R.A. and their membership, law-abiding gun owners, and I don’t
think that’s right.” Delta announced on Saturday that it was ending a
discount for N.R.A. members traveling to the association’s annual
convention.
Other
Republican candidates for governor were also eager to weigh in in favor
of rescinding the tax break. Secretary of State Brian Kemp said
lawmakers should reject the perk to airlines and instead focus on creating a sales tax holiday for buyers of guns, ammunition, holsters and safes where guns can be stored.
On
the floor of the Senate on Thursday, Senator Michael Williams, another
Republican candidate for governor, praised his fellow lawmakers for
stripping the tax exemption, saying they “stood strong” in the face of
pressure from liberals, the media and big business.
Mr.
Deal has said he was “committed to finding a pathway forward for the
elimination of sales tax on jet fuel, which is nonnegotiable.” But the
political reality seems to leave him with few options.
Democrats
have argued that the attack on Delta, which did not comment Thursday,
could harm the ability to attract new businesses, chief among them
Amazon. The online retailer named metropolitan Atlanta as one possible
location for its new headquarters.
“Unfortunately,
we’re looking at political gamesmanship, and trying to send
ultraconservative messages for the Republican primary,” said Senator
Steve Henson, the minority leader. “I think it does not enhance our
chances to get Amazon.”
The only way to stop this is to have a speedy trial and bring back
public executions, hang them on the courthouse square. When others see
this bastard kicking, pissing and shitting himself it will bring this
to a stop!
By Tom Howell Jr. -
The Washington Times -
Sunday, February 4, 2018
The House’s top investigator on Sunday said the FBI failed to notify a surveillance court that it was relying on material backed by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign when it asked to snoop on a former adviser to the Trump campaign. Rep. Trey Gowdy,
South Carolina Republican, also said judges wouldn’t have authorized
and repeatedly renewed a warrant to spy on the former campaign aide, Carter Page, if it hadn’t been for the material in that very dossier, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.
The
revelations shouldn’t upend investigations into Russian meddling in the
2016 election, the congressman said, but he thinks the FBI erred by failing to disclose their sources’ anti-Trump agenda in a footnote on their evidence.
“They could have easily said it was the DNC and Hillary Clinton. That would have been really easy,” Mr. Gowdy told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “It took longer to explain it the way they did than if they just came right out and said, ‘Hillary Clinton for America and DNC paid for it.’ But they didn’t do that.” Mr. Gowdy was involved in drafting a bombshell memo that details the FBI’s decision to use the Clinton-backed material to try to spy on Mr. Page in October 2016. It also explores the role of top FBI and Justice Department officials in seeking and renewing those snooping powers.
President Trump said the memo “totally vindicates” him as he is dogged by claims that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.
SEE ALSO: Memo on FBI surveillance of Trump campaign turns up heat on Deputy A.G. Rod Rosenstein
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, and Mr. Gowdy
say that wasn’t the point of the memo. Yet it has kicked up a political
firestorm, with Democrats chastising its lead author — Rep. Devin
Nunes, California Republican and chairman of the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence — for pulling back the curtain on the
secretive U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and its sensitive
processes.
They say the four-page memo amounts to an incomplete
“hit job” designed to sow doubt about investigations into the Trump
campaign’s interactions with Russians.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, told Mr. Trump
on Sunday to support the release of a paper by Rep. Adam B. Schiff of
California that serves as a Democratic rebuttal to Mr. Nunes’ memo,
which was released Friday with White House approval. Republicans on the House intelligence committee voted to reject Mr. Schiff’s memo, even as they green-lighted their own.
“I
believe it is a matter of fundamental fairness that the American people
be allowed to see both sides of the argument and make their own
judgments,” Mr. Schumer said.
He said the Schiff memo sheds new light on why the FBI felt it needed to watch Mr. Page and his interactions with Russians. Mr. Gowdy said Democrats are the ones being one-sided.
“I
get that Adam Schiff and others are worried about what’s not in my
memo. I wish that they were equally concerned about what’s not in the
FISA application, which is a lot of really important information about
the source, and its subsources, and the fact that he was hired by the DNC and the Clinton campaign, and the fact that he was biased against President Trump,” said Mr. Gowdy, who last week said he will return to the legal field instead of seeking re-election.
“I
would argue it’s also somewhat unprecedented to rely on political
opposition research to instruct and inform an application. And it’s
really bad precedent and unprecedented to not tell a court that a source
has this level of bias,” he said. Mr. Gowdy said he hopes the revealing memo is a “one-off,” but he also thinks it’s important to detail how the FBI sought its snooping powers because FISA judges don’t perform independent research.
He is among the top Republicans preaching caution, even as Mr. Trump’s conservative allies say heads should roll at the FBI and Justice Department.
After the memo was released Friday, Mr. Trump told reporters that the FBI’s
conduct was a disgrace. He refused to say whether he had confidence in
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who signed at least one of the
surveillance applications and later appointed Robert Mueller as special
counsel to investigate the Russia accusations.
Senate Democrats
say any move to upend the Russia investigations would cross a red line
akin the 1973 “Saturday Night Massacre,” in which President Nixon’s
attorney general and his deputy opted to resign rather than carry out
the president’s order to fire Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox.
“To say that that’s the end of the investigation, that this is all that Donald Trump
needs to fire Rosenstein or to fire Bob Mueller, I’ll just tell you,
this could precipitate a constitutional crisis,” Senate Minority Whip
Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The New York Times recently reported that Mr. Trump ordered Mr. Mueller’s firing in June, only to back off when the White House counsel threatened to resign.
Former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who was ousted in July, said he never got the sense that Mr. Trump wanted to or tried to get rid of Mr. Mueller.
“I
never heard the idea or the concept that this person needed to be
fired. I never felt that it was relayed to me that way either,” Mr.
Priebus told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And I would know the difference
between a level-10 situation, as reported in that story, and what was
reality. And it just, to me, it wasn’t reality.” Mr. Gowdy
took pains to divorce his work on the Nunes memo from the Mueller
investigation, which he said goes far beyond the Steele dossier.
“There
is a Russia investigation without a dossier,” he said, rattling off a
list of other events, such as a mysterious meeting between a Russian
lawyer and Trump officials at Trump Tower.
The Republican memo says the FBI
dug into the Trump campaign after another one of its aides, George
Papadopoulos, reportedly boasted in mid-2016 that Russia had dirt on
Mrs. Clinton.
Furthermore, Mr. Gowdy
said the Republican memo “doesn’t have anything to do with obstruction
of justice,” something Mr. Mueller is reportedly exploring after Mr. Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey last year.
Democrats have warned Mr. Trump not to use the memo to terminate Mr. Rosenstein, too, saying it would cross a red line.
Richard
Painter, the chief ethics attorney for President George W. Bush, said
the public outcry over Mr. Rosenstein’s firing might be enough to stop
the president from pulling the trigger.
“If he wants to fire
Rosenstein, it will get ugly,” Mr. Painter said. “He’ll just dig himself
into a bigger hole with obstruction accusations because it will seem
like he’s firing Rosenstein to get at Mueller. The advice I would give
him is to leave it alone. If the president just stops, that could
minimize his exposure to possible obstruction of justice.”
The Nunes memo largely focuses on Mr. Steele’s role and conflicts of interest that pointed to a pattern of bias against Mr. Trump. Mr. Steele said he obtained information about Mr. Trump
from unidentified officials at the Kremlin in Moscow. His dossier was
eventually given to Fusion GPS, a liberal research firm funded by the
Clinton campaign and DNC.
Then-deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the House intelligence committee in December that a surveillance warrant for Mr. Page would not have been sought without the information from Mr. Steele.
Mr. McCabe retired earlier than expected on Jan. 29, one day after FBI Director Christopher Wray saw the memo.
The document also details a partisan conflict of then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, who was in contact with Mr. Steele while Mr. Ohr’s wife was employed by Fusion GPS “to assist in the cultivation of opposition research on Trump” for Mrs. Clinton.
“Ohr later provided the FBI with all of his wife’s opposition research, paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign via Fusion GPS,” the memo stated. “The Ohrs’ relationship with Steele and Fusion GPS was inexplicably concealed from the [court].”
In September 2016, Mr. Steele acknowledged to Mr. Ohr his dislike for then-candidate Trump, saying he was “desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president,” the memo said.
“This clear evidence of Steele’s bias was recorded by Ohr at the time and subsequently in official FBI files but not reflected in any of the Page FISA applications,” the Nunes memo said.
Mr. Ohr was demoted at Justice late last year.