Tag: taxes

Did Trump Halt Aid to Ukraine?

Yesterday, there were a number of “headlines” in the US media claiming all foreign aid was stopped—except for Israel and Egypt. But the Pentagon weighed in today denying that it affects Ukraine:

“A Pentagon official confirmed that Trump’s executive order freezing foreign aid applies only to development programs, not security assistance to Ukraine.” -VOA

When I spoke with Judge Napolitano and Nima today, I had not seen these reports. However, while Trump’s order does not curtail security assistance (i.e., weapons, vehicles and ammunition) already in the pipeline, it does freeze the assistance funds that flow through State Department channels:

The Trump administration has reportedly frozen USAID projects as part of its foreign assistance audit

The Trump administration has frozen projects in Ukraine that were funded through the US Agency for International Development, Reuter reported on Friday, citing a USAID official.

The official told the news agency that USAID officers responsible for projects in Ukraine were told to stop all work. The projects that were frozen reportedly include support for schools and healthcare, including maternal care and the vaccination of children.

So part of the Ukrainian grift machine is shut down for the next three months. That is a start in the right direction.

Keep reading

NY coffers hit new high from marijuana tax receipts: ‘It’s extraordinary’

New York’s coffers are starting to get a financial high from marijuana sales after a slow start.

The Empire State is expected to generate $161.8 million in tax revenues from its legal weed business for the fiscal year ending March 31 — or four times what it raked in last year.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget released last week also projects generating $248 million in revenue from the state-licensed cannabis industry for the next fiscal year running from April 1 to March 31, 2026.

That’s a lot of green — up from $43.3 million raised in 2022-2023 amid a fitful rollout of the program.

State budget officials predict the revenues will then grow to $339 million in FY 2027, $363 million in 2028 and $374 million by 2029, based on expansion of the legal market.

Keep reading

Fury as transgender killer is allowed out of prison for surgery to reduce the size of Adam’s apple

A transgender killer was allowed out of jail to have surgery to make him look more feminine.

Alan Baker – now known as Alex Stewart – is serving life for the ‘wicked and brutal’ stabbing of a man he met on an online dating site.

But it has now emerged the 36-year-old – who is behind bars at HMP Greenock, Renfrewshire – has had an operation to reduce the size of his Adam’s apple.

Last night, critics demanded to know whether the taxpayer picked up the bill for the work.

Susan Smith, of campaign group For Women Scotland, said: ‘We are disturbed to learn a dangerous prisoner was allowed out to seek unnecessary cosmetic surgery.

‘We doubt that a female murderer would be allowed day release for Botox or a nose-job.

‘How was this funded and at what cost to the taxpayer? At a time when resources are stretched both for prison and health services, this looks like a profligate indulgence of a manipulative man.’

Baker, of Bonhill, Dunbartonshire, was jailed for a minimum of 19 years for the murder of father-of-two John Weir in 2013.

Keep reading

Pfizer Agrees to $60 Million Settlement in Kickback Scandal for Allegedly ‘Bribing’ Doctors to Promote Migraine Drug — Defrauding Medicare and Other Federal Health Programs

Big Pharma Pfizer has agreed to a hefty $59.7 million settlement to resolve allegations of a kickback scandal that has defrauded Medicare and other federal healthcare programs.

The scandal revolves around Biohaven Pharmaceutical, a company acquired by Pfizer in October 2022, which engaged in unethical practices to push prescriptions of its migraine medication, Nurtec ODT, also known as Rimegepant.

Whistleblower Patricia Frattasio, a former sales representative at Biohaven, played a crucial role in bringing these malpractices to light, leading to a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act in 2021.

The U.S. Department of Justice disclosed that from March 2020 through September 2022, Biohaven manipulated the healthcare system by offering kickbacks—including speaker honoraria and lavish meals at upscale restaurants—to healthcare professionals.

Allegations include that Biohaven paid some healthcare providers over $100,000 to boost prescriptions of their migraine medication, Nurtec ODT, resulting in fraudulent claims to federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

This egregious scheme involved not just ordinary incentives, but also repeated, unnecessary educational programs that offered no real benefit to attendees, turning these events into mere facades for bribery.

This practice, aimed at increasing Nurtec ODT prescriptions, breached anti-kickback statutes designed to keep medical decisions free from financial influence.

Keep reading

Trump Vows To Deliver ‘No Tax On Tips’ Campaign Promise

President Donald Trump has stressed a “no tax on tips” policy during his Las Vegas visit. 

On Saturday, Trump spoke at the Circa Resort and Casino and discussed his agenda for American workers, stressing a “no tax on tips” policy. 

“Any worker who relies on tips [as] income, your tips will be 100% yours,” Trump said.

Trump went on to address Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo (R-Nev.) . 

“You think that had an impact on the election?” Trump asked. “What, a half a point? It’s pretty big….nationwide over four million workers depend on tip income, including an estimated 700,000 single moms.”

“And here in Nevada…think of it, a quarter of the typical restaurant workers’ pay comes from tips. I didn’t know that,” Trump continued. “Impacted workers are some of the very citizens who were hit hard and very hard by the ravages of the Biden economy, which was inflation.”

“When I think of Biden, I think of incompetence and inflation,” Trump said

Given that Nevada tends to vote blue, Trump earlier this week said that he would travel there to “thank” people for choosing him in the November election.

Keep reading

Trump Halts Ukraine Aid As State Dept “Totally Went Nuclear” On Foreign Assistance

The Trump State Department on Friday halted spending on almost all foreign aid grants for 90 days, which also appears to apply to funding for military assistance to Ukraine, Politico reports.

The guidance, issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was sent to all diplomatic and consular posts, and orders all department staffers to issue “stop-work orders” on nearly all “existing foreign assistance awards.”

It appears to go further than President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, which instructed the department to pause foreign aid grants for 90 days pending review by the secretary. It had not been clear from the president’s order if it would affect already appropriated funds or Ukraine aid.

The new guidance means no further actions will be taken to disperse aid funding to programs already approved by the U.S. government, according to three current and two former officials familiar with the new guidance. -Politico

Rubio also outlined the Trump administration’s stance on spending, saying “Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions,” Rubio wrote. The questions: Does the action make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous?

The new order reportedly shocked State Department officials.

“State just totally went nuclear on foreign assistance,” a State Department official told Politico.

Keep reading

Trump Freezes NIH Approvals for Research Grants

Every year, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issues over $31 billion in scientific research grants to Universities, private research organizations, (such as EcoHealth Alliance), and scientists and physicians with minimal oversight. This lack of oversight is the excuse that Dr. Tony Fauci and other NIH employees can use when being ‘unaware’ that EcoHealth Alliance was funding gain-of-function research in collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

It appears that Trump is shutting down the minimal oversight of the $31 billion NIH grant approval machine. According to STAT News, “Trump administration’s abruptly cancelled this week of NIH study sections, meetings in which expert scientists consider whether the agency should bankroll a research project, as well as advisory council meetings, an additional review that culminates in a final funding recommendation.”

Per STAT News “‘Everything appears to have just ground to a halt,’ said Kiran Musunuru, a cardiologist and gene-editing expert at the University of Pennsylvania who works on several NIH-backed projects to develop CRISPR therapies for inherited diseases.”

Keep reading

When Israeli Warplanes Rain Death on Gaza, the Co-Pilot Is Uncle Sam

In recent weeks, political soothsayers have speculated about a wide variety of odious new policies the incoming Trump administration and its allies in Congress may or may not pursue. No one can predict with certainty which of those measures they will inflict on us and which they’ll forget about.  But we can make one prediction with utter confidence. The White House and large bipartisan majorities in Congress will continue their lavish support for Israel’s war on Gaza, however catastrophic the results.

Washington has supplied a large share of the armaments that have allowed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to rain death and destruction on Gaza (not to speak of Lebanon) over the past year and a quarter. Before October 7, 2023, when Hamas and other groups attacked southern Israel, that country was receiving $3.8 billion worth of American military aid annually. Since then, the floodgates have opened and $18 billion worth of arms have flowed out. The ghastly results have shocked people and governments across the globe.

In early 2024, the United Nations General Assembly and International Court of Justice condemned the war being waged on the people of Gaza and, in November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, and Médecins Sans Frontières all followed with determinations that Israel was indeed committing genocide.

Keep reading

How is Stargate’s $500B getting funded?

OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and the UAE’s MGX on unveiled a company on Tuesday that plans to invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the U.S.

Why it matters: SoftBank is doubling down on its OpenAI bet, and it reduces OpenAI’s reliance on the infrastructure of Microsoft, its largest investor.

Context: The Stargate project will invest an initial $100 billion, with another $400 billion over the next four years.

Between the lines: A portion of the $100 billion is expected to be funded via third-party debt rather than equity, Axios has learned.

  • SoftBank will be responsible for raising the debt.
  • SoftBank and OpenAI are the largest equity investors in the first $100 billion in stargate yes, with Oracle and MGX also having contributed.
  • Similarly, the additional $400 billion is expected to be a mix of current investors, new investors, and debt providers.

OpenAI will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business.

The big picture: SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son previously promised President Donald Trump that he would invest $100 billion in U.S. firms over the next four years. This is part of that promise.

Keep reading

NASA ends DEI programs that ‘wasted taxpayers dollars and resulted in shameful discrimination’

NASA has ended its diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEI) programs after all federal agencies were directed to ‘terminate’ the initiatives.

Staff received an email Wednesday from acting administrator Janet Petro, which said the space agency is ‘taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders.’

The order is titled ‘Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions.’ 

NASA’s email admitted that ‘these programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.’

The space agency has spent at least $22.4 million annually on such programs.

DailyMail.com had uncovered millions of taxpayer dollars were dished out for DEI data analytics and to help the agency ’embark on a venture to incorporate and deeply engrain diversity, inclusion, equity and accessibility in the culture and business.’

Petro, who is the first woman to lead NASA as its acting administrator, also urged staff to report colleagues who have attempted to disguise DEI programs with coded language.

‘There will be no adverse consequences for timely reporting this information,’ the email reads. ‘However, failure to report this information within 10 days may result in adverse consequences.’

Keep reading