Tag: taxes

Trump Sets Saturday Deadline for 25% Tariffs on Mexico and Canada to Force Action on Illegal Migration and Fentanyl Crisis

President Donald Trump has set a Saturday deadline to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and Canada.

The administration asserts that these tariffs will remain until both neighboring countries take substantial measures to curb the flow of unauthorized migrants and illicit drugs into the United States.

This announcement follows a recent agreement with Colombia, where the threat of similar tariffs led the Marxist president to fold like a cheap suit and begin accepting deported migrants.

In a statement from the Oval Office Thursday, President Trump emphasized the urgency of the situation.

“Mexico and Canada have never been good to us on trade. They’ve treated us very unfairly on trade,” Trump said.

“We’ll be announcing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a number of reasons. Number one is the people that have poured into our country so horribly and so much.

“Number two are the drugs, fentanyl and everything else that have come into the country. Number three are the massive subsidies that we’re giving to Canada and to Mexico in the form of deficits.

“I’ll be putting the tariff of 25% on Canada and separately 25% on Mexico. We will really have to do that because we have very big deficits with those countries. Those tariffs may or may not rise with time,” Trump said.

When asked about whether he would impose tariffs on Canadian and Mexican oil, Trump said, “We may or may not. We’re going to make that determination probably tonight.”

Keep reading

NATO: The Case To Get Out Now

The case for getting out of NATO now encompasses four fundamental propositions:

  • First, the Federal budget has become a self-fueling fiscal doomsday machine, even as the Fed has run out of capacity to monetize the skyrocketing public debt.
  • Second, the only viable starting point for fiscal salvation is slashing the nation’s elephantine Warfare State by at least $500 billion per year.
  • Third, the route to that end is a return to the “no entangling alliance” wisdom of the Founders, which means bringing the Empire Home, closing the 750 US bases abroad, scuttling much of the US Navy and Army and withdrawing from NATO and similar lesser treaties and commitments in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere.
  • Fourthly, canceling NATO and its clones requires debunking its Origins Story and the false claim that it brought peace and security to post-war America when what it actually did was transform Washington into a planetary War Capital dominated by a panoptic complex of arms merchants, paladins of foreign intervention, neocon warmongers and a vast Warfare State nomenklatura.

As to the impending fiscal calamity, just recall this sequence. When Ronald Reagan campaigned against the soaring Federal deficits in 1980 the public debt was $930 billion and about 30% of GDP. But it had erupted to $20 trillion by Donald Trump’s first election, now stands at $36 trillion and 125% of GDP and will be hitting $62 trillion by the mid-2030s.

Keep reading

Biden Regime Reportedly Set to Send $50 Million in Taxpayer Money to Fund Condom Distribution in Gaza, White House Says

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have identified a planned $50 million allocation by the previous Biden administration intended for condom distribution in Gaza.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized this expenditure as a “preposterous waste of taxpayer money.”

“DOGE and OMB have actually found that there was $37 million that was about to go out the door to the World Health Organization, which is an organization, as you all know, that President Trump, with the swipe of his pen in that executive order, no longer wants the United States to be a part of. So that wouldn’t be in line with the President’s agenda,” Leavitt said during her first press conference.

“DOGE and OMB also found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza. That is a preposterous way taxpayer money. So that’s what this pause is focused on, being good stewards of tax dollars,” she added.

This comes after the Trump administration stated that a new memo from the Office of Management and Budget will temporarily halt grants and loans while reviewing whether the funding aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

Keep reading

America’s worst mayor frantically tried to cover up how much money she blew on glam sessions and parties, report finds

An independent investigation detailed how Tiffany Henyard allegedly mismanaged millions of dollars worth of taxpayer funds during her controversial tenure as the mayor of Dolton, Illinois. 

On Monday, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot finally revealed the findings of her independent investigation into the alleged wrongdoings of Henyard, who also serves as the supervisor of nearby Thornton Township.

Lightfoot narrated her findings during a town meeting that was packed with aggrieved residents, though there was no sign of the so-called ‘Super Mayor’, FOX32 reported.

‘At least as early as late 2021, there was a concerted, systematic effort on behalf of Mayor Henyard and others in her administration to hide the true financial condition of the Village of Dolton from the trustees and from members of the public,’ Lightfoot said at the meeting.

Lightfoot’s 73-page report explained that there was a whopping $779,638 charged to town credit cards in 2023, with little to no tracking of the actual expenses.

More than $50,000 spent on artificial ice tiles, which could have been used to build the town ice skating rink Henyard promoted on Instagram in February 2023.

At least six government credit cards were also used to pay for glamorous getaways Henyard took to Las Vegas in May 2022 and May 2023, according to the report.

‘Financial records from the village and Thornton Township reflect that a number of people traveled to Las Vegas on both of these trips,’ Lightfoot said. ‘And the expense of their travel, their lodging, their meals and entertainment were paid for on village and township credit cards.’

Keep reading

Roger Ver’s Pardon Plea: ‘Lawfare’-Victim Or Tax-Evader?

Early Bitcoin adopter Roger Ver has launched a social media campaign pleading with US President Donald Trump to pardon his tax evasion and mail fraud charges, claiming he is the victim of “lawfare” — just like recently pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and Trump himself.

Currently awaiting extradition to the US, Ver says he faces “109 years” behind bars for crimes he did not commit. In his view, US authorities unjustly pursued him.

However, crypto proponents appear divided over whether Ver deserves a pardon.

Some argue he did commit these crimes and that his character is what makes him worthy of the sheer size of the punishment.

“No one deserves to spend life in prison for tax evasion,” one X user wrote. “But Roger has definitely earned it.”

Tesla founder Elon Musk feels that Ver’s denouncement of his US citizenship makes him unworthy of a pardon.

“Roger Ver gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver,” he posted on Jan. 26.

In the moments that followed, the Bitcoin Cash founder’s odds of a pardon plummeted on prediction market Polymarket.

Keep reading

Climate change fanatics want to bankrupt the entire world for little to no reward

These urgent priorities could easily require an additional 3%-6% of GDP. Yet green campaigners are loudly calling for governments to spend up to 25% of our GDP, choking growth in the name of climate change.

If climate Armageddon were imminent, they would have a point. The truth is far more prosaic.

Two major new scientific estimates of the total global cost of climate change have been published recently.

These are not individual studies, which can vary greatly (with the costliest studies getting copious press coverage). Instead, they are meta-studies based on the entirety of the peer-reviewed literature.

One is authored by one of the most cited climate economists, Richard Tol; the other is by the only climate economist to win the Nobel prize, William Nordhaus.

The studies suggest that a 3 degree Celsius temperature increase by the end of the century — slightly pessimistic based on current trends — will have a global cost equivalent to between 1.9% and 3.1% of global GDP.

To put this into context, the United Nations estimates that by the end of the century, the average person will be 450% as rich as he or she is today. Because of climate change, they will feel “only” 435%-440% as rich as today.

Why is this so different from the impression we have been given by the media?

Alarmist campaigners and credulous journalists fail to account for the simple fact that people are remarkably adaptable and tackle most climate problems at low cost.

Take food: Climate campaigners warn we’ll starve, but research shows that instead of a 51% increase in food availability by 2100 if there were no climate change, we are on-track for “only” a 49% increase.

Or weather disasters: They killed half a million people annually in the 1920s, whereas the last decade saw fewer than 9,000 fatalities each year.

The 97.5% reduction in mortality is because people are more resilient because they’re richer and can access better technology.

Extremist climate campaigners and far-left politicians reveal their true colors when they push for “de-growth” to cut emissions.

Making people worse off and reversing gains against extreme poverty would be a tragic mistake, making it harder to address all our other problems.

Keep reading

Federal Agencies Made Over $161 Billion In Improper Payments Last Year: Watchdog

The U.S. government made billions of dollars worth of improper payments in the most recent fiscal year, with several agencies found to be non-compliant with regulations on the matter, according to a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

“Since fiscal year 2003, executive branch agencies have reported cumulative improper payment estimates of about $2.8 trillion, including $161.5 billion for fiscal year 2024,” the Jan. 23 report from the agency read.

An improper payment is one made by the government that “should not have been made or was made in an incorrect amount,” including duplicate payments, money sent to ineligible recipients, and payments made for goods or services not received.

The $161 billion is enough to buy over 380,000 homes in the United States, according to median home sales price data tracked by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It is lower than the $236 billion in improper payments estimated to have been made by federal agencies in fiscal year 2023. Annual improper payments have remained above the $150 billion level since 2019.

The Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) mandates that agencies identify risks related to improper payments and take corrective actions, while also reporting improper payments within the programs they administer.

GAO found that 10 agencies under the Chief Financial Officers Act were “noncompliant with PIIA criteria for fiscal year 2022.”

The 10 agencies are the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Small Business Administration.

Out of the 10, nine were found to be noncompliant with the PIIA criteria for one or more programs or activities for two consecutive years—fiscal years 2021 and 2022. The only exemption was the Department of Homeland Security.

Keep reading

Thermonuclear Crack: The Death Wish of the ‘Elites’

Isn’t it high time we “augment” our nuclear force “posture”? Shouldn’t we fight to achieve peace through nuclear “strength” and “deterrence”? Isn’t it smart to “refurbish, rebuild, and modernize” the nuclear triad? What a great “investment” that is! And a “job-creator” too!

These are some of the buzz words thrown about by the nuclear “elites” in America. They want to sell us on new ICBMs (the Sentinel), a new stealth bomber (the B-21 Raider), and new nuclear SLBMs (on Columbia-class submarines). All this thermonuclear stupidity is projected to cost roughly $2 trillion over the next 30 years. Quite the “investment,” right?

What the “experts” don’t talk about is the genocidal and exterminatory nature of these thermonuclear bombs and missiles. They don’t talk about the destruction of most life forms on our planet due to thermonuclear winter. They don’t talk about the enormous and rapidly mushrooming cost of these weapons. (For example, the B-21 has already climbed from $550 million per plane to $750 million; much like a missile, Sentinel costs have rocketed upward even more rapidly.) And they sure as hell don’t talk about the immorality of mass murder.

Keep reading

In 2024, 11 states surpassed $1 billion in legal marijuana sales.

Collectively, these states accounted for a large majority of the $23.2 billion sold across the 21 states with operational recreational markets.

California led the pack with $4.2 billion in sales, followed by Michigan, which brought in $3.1 billion. Illinois ($1.8 billion) and Massachusetts ($1.75 billion) also contributed significantly to the billion-dollar club. Other high-performing states included Colorado ($1.35 billion), Missouri ($1.36 billion), and Arizona ($1.21 billion).

Maryland, Washington, and New Jersey each reported $1.1 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, New York, in its first full year of sales, reached $1 billion, demonstrating its potential to eventually become one of the largest marijuana markets in the nation.

Keep reading

Biden Admin Quietly Spent $15 Mil To Distribute ‘Contraceptives and Condoms’ in Afghanistan—and Said Doing So Would Take ‘Some Coordination’ With Taliban

The Biden administration quietly awarded $15 million in taxpayer funds to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to help distribute “oral contraceptives and condoms,” a non-public congressional funding notice reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon shows. In doing so, the administration acknowledged that “some coordination” with the Taliban would be “necessary for programmatic purposes.”

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) earmarked the cash infusion, which has not been previously reported, last July. It transmitted the funds to Afghanistan in August, according to the funding notice and congressional sources familiar with the matter.

The $15 million USAID and its partner groups spent to “procure contraceptives,” including “oral contraceptives and condoms” in the Middle Eastern nation was part of a $100 million package meant to support “basic rights and freedoms” and empower “women and girls” living under Taliban rule. The terrorist organization, the USAID funding notice states, does not allow “young women and girls” to go to school or work in most professional fields.

It was the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan three years prior that led to those restrictions. The Taliban took over Kabul even before the final U.S. military planes left the city, and they quickly banned girls from school beyond sixth grade, making Afghanistan the only country in the world with such restrictions.

Keep reading