Tag: taxes

If Joe Biden is so concerned about massive storms caused by climate change, then why is he diverting funds from FEMA for open border policies?

Joe Biden continues to say that climate change is the biggest existential threat to the world. It seems that every year we are told that warming waters will bring a disastrous Atlantic hurricane season and this year is no exception—which is why FEMA is begging for more money?

Why this summer’s forecast is bad news for the US after an exceptionally disastrous start to the year

Now heading into what forecasters say will be an extreme summer – from punishing heat waves to severe weather and hurricanes – the nation’s disaster relief agency is expected to run out of money before it’s even over. 

The US has been thrashed with 11 extreme weather disasters with costs exceeding $1 billion so far this year, with a total price tag of $25.1 billion, according to an updated tally from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s tied for the second-most such disasters on record and doesn’t even include the extreme weather in the second half of May, said Adam Smith, an applied climatologist with NOAA. 

That is worrying news for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, whose major disaster relief fund could slip into the red by the end of summer – a more than $1.3 billion shortfall in August, according to a May report.

So why has FEMA, which is part of DHS, diverted $641 million to cover illegal immigration caused by Biden’s open border policies? From the federal government’s own numbers:

For Fiscal Year 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will provide $640.9 million of available funds to enable non-federal entities to off-set allowable costs incurred for services associated with noncitizen migrant arrivals in their communities. 

From where do they get all the money for illegal immigrants? Why don’t we see budget requests? We see requests for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan—but not the funds for illegals? Why?

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California introduces tax-by-the-mile plan as state revenue from fuel tax drops due to electric vehicle usage

Buyers of electric cars in California may not have been aware of the new tax-by-the-mile plan before they decided to purchase their vehicles.Had they known about the potential added cost, they may have made a different decision.But regardless of personal choice, California law mandates that all new car sales be electric by 2035.

“This pay-to-drive scheme essentially turns your car into a rental,” Patrick Wood said.  After quoting from a course on technocracy in 1934, he added, “Don’t tell me that Technocracy is not in play here.”

We would add, do you remember the World Economic Forum’s threat “you will own nothing”?

California has the highest income tax rate in the USA (top tier of 14.4 per cent), the highest statewide sales tax rate (7.25 per cent, plus local sales taxes), and the highest fuel tax rate ($0.78 per gallon).   The old joke is that California would tax the air we breathe if it could. Well, California’s latest tax proposal comes close. The state is recruiting drivers for a pilot program to track and tax the miles they drive.

The plan is borne from the fact that Californians have switched to electric and hybrid vehicles at a faster rate than other US states because of the state’s green initiative which has convinced Californians to switch to hybrid or electric vehicles from combustion engine vehicles.

While electric vehicles are more expensive, Californians were enticed to buy them because of the subsidies and savings they would enjoy by no longer having to buy gas. But like most government programmes, this was not well thought out. California has lost millions in tax revenue because of this scheme and now needs to make up for that. From the many options available to it, it has chosen a plan to begin tracking drivers with GPS monitors.

Under the new plan, according to Caltrans, mileage could be tracked by plugging an electronic device into a vehicle or using the vehicle’s tracking system.

There’s no telling what the government may use this new information for. The main page of the Caltrans website for the program, entitled “California Road Charge,” presents the tagline “Funding transportation in an equitable way.” There’s that word again. Government-imposed “equity” can take any number of forms. On the next page, it states that the charge is “Fair. Transparent. Sustainable.”

By charging an exorbitant fee per mile, it could effectively reduce the number of cars on the road to reduce climate change. It could also easily charge varying fees based on driver income to impose “equity.”

It could also charge varying fees based on miles driven, penalising those who the government determines drive too much.

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We Spent a Billion Dollars Fighting the Houthis… and Lost

Why does it seem the Pentagon is far better at spending money than actually putting together a successful operation? The failed “Operation Prosperity Guardian” and the disastrous floating Gaza pier are but two recent examples of enormously expensive initiatives that, though they no-doubt enriched military contractors, were incapable of meeting their stated goals.

To great fanfare, last December the Pentagon announced the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a joint US/UK military operation to halt the Yemeni Houthi disruption of Israel-linked commercial shipping through the Red Sea. The Houthis announced their policy in response to civilian deaths in Israel’s war on Gaza, but when the US and UK military became involved they announced they would target US and UK shipping as well.

The operation was supposed to be quick and easy. After all, the rag-tag Houthi militia was no match for the mighty US and UK navies. But it didn’t work out that way at all. Over the weekend the Wall Street Journal published a devastating article revealing that after spending more than one billion dollars on munitions alone, the operation had failed to deter the Houthis and failed to re-open commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

The Journal reported that Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, recently told Congress that “the U.S.-led effort has been insufficient to deter the militant group’s targeting of ships and that the threat will ‘remain active for some time.’”

Meanwhile, the article informed us that a continued US effort to fight the Houthis over Red Sea shipping was “not sustainable.” Perhaps the most revealing part of the article comes from a Washington military expert, Emily Harding of CSIS: “Their supply of weapons from Iran is cheap and highly sustainable, but ours is expensive, our supply chains are crunched, and our logistics tails are long.”

It is reminiscent of a recollection by Col. Harry G. Summers of a discussion he had with North Vietnamese Col. Tu: “You know, you never defeated us on the battlefield,” said Summers. Tu paused for a moment, then replied, “That may be so. But it is also irrelevant.”

Similarly, the US military spent a quarter of a billion dollars building a temporary floating pier to deliver aid to the starving Palestinians even though a land route already existed and would have been far cheaper to use. The project was doomed from the beginning, as days after opening stormy weather broke up the pier and washed part of it up on Israel’s shore. The US military managed to gather the pieces together again, but in total only a few aid trucks managed to use it before, over the weekend, the pier was again disassembled for fear of another weather-related break-up.

The only thing the pier was good for, it seems, was assisting the Israeli military in a Gaza raid on June 8th that killed 270 Palestinian civilians.

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Government Accountability Office identifies tens of billions of dollars of government waste

Arecent federal report shows areas of waste and duplication among federal agencies costing taxpayers big time.

The annual Government Accountability Office report on “fragmentation, overlap and duplication” has regularly highlighted major areas of federal waste. This time around, the report found 42 areas where waste could be cleaned up and billions saved.

The findings and recommendations vary widely, such as $2 billion in savings over ten years if the feds verified income data for income-driven student loan repayment plans. Another recommendation says $141 billion could be saved over ten years if “the Secretary of Health and Human Services to equalize payment rates between settings for evaluation and management office visits,” another of dozens of recommendations.

“Our oversight this Congress has uncovered different ways federal programs have fallen short in efforts to achieve their missions on behalf of the American taxpayer,” Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said at a committee hearing Thursday

Sessions also said that since the Congress began requiring the report, which GAO says has saved $667 billion since its inception.

GAO recommended 112 measures this year to improve efficiency and save tax dollars. So far, GAO says Congress has only fully addressed about two thirds of its recommendations since 2011.

“The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency should ensure its working capital fund cash balance is within its operating range, potentially saving its federal customers hundreds of millions of dollars through reduced prices,” GAO said. “Congress and the Internal Revenue Service should take action to improve sole proprietor tax compliance, which could increase revenue by hundreds of millions of dollars per year.”

From building maintenance to staff overlap and more, GAO found a litany of government waste.

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How the US government uses NGOs to corrupt ‘civil society’ around the world

In the West, and beyond, pressure groups operating under the banner of “human rights non-governmental organizations” (NGOs) have become key actors in disseminating war propaganda, intimidating academics, and corrupting civil society. These outfits act as gatekeepers determining which voices should be elevated and which should be censored and canceled.

Civil society is imperative to balance the power of the state, but governments are increasingly seeking to hijack it through NGOs they fund. They can enable a loud minority to override a silent majority.

In the 1980s, the Reagan doctrine exacerbated the problem as these “human rights NGOs” were financed by the government and staffed by people with ties to intelligence agencies, to ensure civil society won’t deviate significantly from government policies.

The ability of academics to speak openly and honestly is restricted by these gatekeepers. In a case in pointtoday, NGOs limit dissent in academic debates about the great power rivalry in Ukraine. Well-documented and proven facts that are imperative to understanding the conflict are simply not reported in the media, and any efforts to address these facts are confronted with vague accusations of being “controversial” or “pro-Russian,” a transgression that must be punished with intimidation, censorship, and cancellation.

I will outline here first my personal experiences with one of these NGOs, and how they are hijacking civil society.

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Gov-funded Maine non-profit gives kits to addicts to allow them to take drugs anally

A taxpayer-funded nonprofit in Maine, Maine Access Points (MAP), along with the city of Portland’s needle distribution center, is offering how-to guides and kits for “boofing,” a method where drug users squirt drugs up their rectum.

According to a report by the Maine Wire, Portland, Maine is providing drug users with a “Portland Public Health Boofing Kit” which includes a needleless syringe and an informational flyer explaining the technique for boofing. The method can be used for drugs such as heroin, fentanyl, and meth. 

The instructions advise users to find a safe spot, mix the drugs with saline in a provided tin, clean their hands and rectum, and use the provided lubricant to ease the syringe’s insertion. It also recommended those interested in using this method to empty their bowels beforehand.

The flyer instructs users to lay on their side in a fetal position or any comfortable position, insert the syringe tip into the rectum, release the mixture, and keep the syringe in place for a minute to prevent leakage. 

“Stay on your side laying down for a few minutes to let [the drugs] absorb in the membrane,” the guide said. “Then… You’re good to go!”

This method is recommended for users who experience issues with other forms of drug consumption, such as lung problems from smoking. The flyer also notes that this method may cause drugs to hit “harder or faster” compared to smoking or sniffing.

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House Passes $883 Billion Annual Defense Bill With Culture War Amendments

The House of Representatives on June 14 passed its annual defense policy bill with GOP-approved culture war amendments that are certain to put the House on a collision course with the Democrat-controlled Senate.

The final tally on the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) vote was 217–199, with six Democrats voting in favor and three Republicans voting against.

The $883.7 billion bill, which has more than 1,000 pages, provides continued funding for military aircraft, ships, vehicles, and weapons programs. It also includes a 4.5 percent pay raise for U.S. service members and about 15 percent in additional pay for some junior enlisted service members, bringing their overall pay boost to nearly 20 percent under this year’s budget.

The NDAA includes culture war provisions such as eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) positions within the Department of Defense (DoD) and imposing a hiring freeze on DEI positions in the DoD. There is a measure to block DoD funding for abortion-related expenses, another that bars the DoD from funding or providing gender transition surgeries and hormone treatments, as well as measures to prohibit the DoD’s education arm from purchasing or displaying material that “promotes radical gender ideology or pornographic content.”

The House version also includes an amendment, introduced by Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), that prohibits the Pentagon from contracting with entities that have engaged in boycotts of Israel and would bar the department from selling products made by entities that boycott Israel at any of its commissary stores or military exchanges.

Another amendment, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), would block the DoD from allocating funds for various climate-action-related executive orders issued by President Joe Biden.

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California’s Leftist Committee Approves Bill for Reparations that Could Cost $800 Billion

A California State Legislature committee has approved a bill that could allocate a staggering $800 billion for slavery reparations—a sum that is more than 2.5 times the state’s annual budget.

This decision comes from a state that historically never practiced slavery and will be paying individuals who themselves were never enslaved.

The reparations initiative stems from the recommendations of California’s Reparations Task Force, which convened for the first time in 2020. The task force, made up of eight black members and one Asian member, was established through Assembly Bill 3121.

According to the California Attorney General’s website, the committee’s purpose is threefold: “(1) to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans; (2) to recommend appropriate ways to educate the California public of the task force’s findings; and (3) to recommend appropriate remedies in consideration of the Task Force’s findings.”

The task force ultimately voted in favor of recommendations that could include payments of a minimum of 360,000 to each eligible black resident in the state. As reported by the New York Post, this reparations proposal could potentially cost the state up to 800 billion — more than 2.5 times its annual budget.

On May 21, 2024, following a motion for reconsideration and a series of procedural votes, the bill was passed in the California State Senate, securing a vote of 30-7.

On Tuesday, the Assembly Judiciary Committee heard the bill. State Rep. Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez, the only member to raise concerns, voiced her alarm.

“Economists, consultants from the task force reported the total amount could be as much as 800 billion. That’s two and a half times the size of our entire state budget. To pay for that, you’d need a major tax hike unlike anything this state has ever seen before,” Sanchez said.

“The majority of our state is Latino and Asian, making up 55% of our population. Most of them, like me, are second, first, or third generation immigrants who had nothing to do with slavery or Jim Crow laws. It is fundamentally unfair to force these people to pay for this, and because of that, I will be opposing today,” she continued.

In an X post, Sanchez wrote, “A key committee just approved a [California] bill to help distribute reparations that could total $800 billion. I was the ONLY member to raise concerns.   Why should CA taxpayers foot the bill when none of us had anything to do with this? Ridiculous!” 

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US ‘flirting with neo-Nazis’ – Kremlin

Washington will stop at nothing, including the use of neo-Nazis, to damage Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, following a US decision to lift a ban on supplying weapons to Ukraine’s Azov Brigade.

The unit has notoriously welcomed into its ranks people who espouse ultranationalist and neo-Nazi ideologies, and has been described by the Western press as a magnet for such individuals from across the world.

On Monday, the US Department of State cleared the brigade to receive American military assistance, stating that it found no evidence of human rights violations by the group.

“This sudden change of stance by Washington proves that [US officials] would stoop to anything in their attempts to suppress Russia, using the Ukrainian people as a tool. They are even fine with flirting with neo-Nazis,” Peskov told journalists during a media briefing.

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US defence industry struggles to manufacture basic artillery for Ukraine

The United States arms industry is not producing the basic ammunition required to sustain support for Ukraine and Israel, Bloomberg reported on June 8. This is an extraordinary situation since Russia’s armed industry is booming despite facing major Western sanctions.

According to the outlet, the US defence industry gave priority to the manufacture of high-tech ammunition and halted the production of basic artillery such as 155-millimetre ammunition, the most used in the wars that are being fought today. The US is also facing a shortage of basic products, such as gunpowder or trinitrotoluene (TNT), to produce these munitions and have had to turn to other countries, such as Poland and Turkey, to obtain supplies.

At some point an attempt was made to replace the 155-millimetre ammunition with higher-tech projectiles on the battlefront in Ukraine, but the effort failed because the new weaponry was neutralised by the Russian military.

“Higher-tech shells that were intended to replace the traditional 155mm munitions failed an early test in Ukraine, when their targeting systems were thwarted by Russia,” Bloomberg reported. “The prospect that future wars could resemble the grinding combat taking place there has stirred fears that the US arsenal could someday be stretched to the breaking point.”

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