Tag: taxes

Biden Admin. Sending Ukraine Another $400M

Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) announces the authorization of a Presidential Drawdown of security assistance valued at up to $400 million to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs. This authorization is the Biden Administration’s twenty-sixth drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.

Capabilities in this package include:

•    Additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS);

•    150 heavy machine guns with thermal imagery sights to counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);

•    Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);

•    200 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds;

•    10,000 120mm mortar rounds;

•    High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs);

•    150 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs);

•    Over 100 light tactical vehicles;

•    Over 20,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition;

•    Over 200 generators;

•    Spare parts for 105mm Howitzers and other equipment.

With Russia’s unrelenting and brutal missile and UAS attacks on Ukrainian critical energy infrastructure, additional air defense capabilities remain an urgent priority. The additional munitions for NASAMS and heavy machine guns will help Ukraine counter these urgent threats.

In total, the United States has committed more than $19.7 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $21.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine and more than $19 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24.

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Massachusetts Taxpayers Asked to Pay $139M to House More Illegal Aliens

Massachusetts taxpayers are being asked to foot a $139 million bill that would “expand emergency shelter capacity” for border crossers and illegal aliens arriving in the state.

Just as Massachusetts residents are starting to see housing prices cool off, Gov. Charlie Baker (R) is asking for $139 million to hugely increase shelter space for border crossers and illegal aliens increasingly arriving in the state with little-to-no means.

“Massachusetts’ emergency shelter system provides support for thousands of families each year, but a recent uptick in new migrant arrivals, coupled with a strained housing market have led to a need for greater capacity across the system,” Baker said in a statement:

These expanded resources will help us quickly and effectively address this humanitarian crisis, especially as we enter the winter months. We look forward to working with our partners in the legislature, the nonprofit community and local government as we all address this unprecedented challenge, which is unfortunately driven by the federal government’s inability to address our country’s immigration challenges. [Emphasis added]

The millions in new taxpayer funds would go to expand the capacity of the state’s shelter system, where many border crossers and illegal aliens are ending up, by adding 1,300 additional units and an initial intake center.

Nearly $40 million of the total amount would fund resources needed to place newly arrived foreign students in Massachusetts public schools.

For months, officials in a number of Massachusetts towns said they have been blindsided by the arrival of hundreds of border crossers and illegal aliens who have been subsequently placed in hotel rooms.

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FBI Paid Out $42 Million a Year to Confidential Human Sources – Including Thugs Who Set Up Trump, Whitmer Kidnap Hoaxers, and Others

A 2021 report by Open the Books revealed that the federal government paid over $548 million to informants in recent years. That’s over half a billion taxpayer dollars.

And the FBI paid out $42 million a year to its confidential human sources.

We know a few of the more famous FBI operatives.

Stephan Halper, a crack cocaine addict, was paid over $1.05 million to spy on Trump associates and help set up the Trump-Russia hoax.

The FBI used at least 12 informants out of 15 individuals to plot, plan, pay for, and execute the Whitmer kidnap hoax.

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San Francisco Launches Guaranteed Income Program for People Who Are Transgender — Using Taxpayer Money

San Francisco has launched a guaranteed income program for people who are transgender, and taxpayers are stuck footing the bill.

The Guaranteed Income for Trans People program (GIFT) will provide low-income transgender people with a $1,200 monthly check for up to 18 months.

Unlike other welfare programs, the checks will be handed over to be spent on anything the person wants, without rules or limitations.

In addition to the free money, people approved for the program will also be offered services, including “gender-affirming medical and mental health care” and financial coaching.

“Our Guaranteed Income Programs allow us to help our residents when they need it most as part of our city’s economic recovery and our commitment to creating a more just city for all,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a statement obtained by KTLA. “We know that our trans communities experience much higher rates of poverty and discrimination, so this program will target support to lift individuals in this community up.”

The report explains that “Lyon-Martin Community Health Services and The Transgender District are leading the program’s design and implementation, with support from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, the Office of Transgender Initiatives, and the Treasurer & Tax Collector.”

The program, which ironically discriminates based on “gender identity” is necessary because trans people are poor more often, according to activists.

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US Gov’t Funding ‘Disinformation’ Video Game ‘Cat Park,’ Leaked State Dept Memo Reveals

“With the Internet, only two things are certain: the global appeal of cat videos and the pervasiveness of disinformation.”

So begins a government memorandum recently circulated by the US State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) titled: “Cat Park – A New Online Game to Inoculate Youth Against Disinformation,” recently obtained by America First Legal and reviewed by Foundation for Freedom Online.

The memo, dated Oct. 31, 2022, details a government plan to roll out a new taxpayer-funded online game called Cat Park. The game is billed as a product that “inoculates players against real world disinformation by showing how sensational headlines, memes, and manipulated media can be used to advance conspiracy theories and incite real-world violence.”

However, there is more going on here than a simple cat-themed video game.

As this report will explain, the GEC appears to be using taxpayer dollars to fund “behavioral modification” propaganda games intended to make young people around the world view populist content online as being de facto “disinformation.”

To understand the full story, we will explore the Cat Park game itself, break down the GEC memo, and then reveal the bigger picture of where this all came from and what’s behind it.

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Watch As Cops Attack Man For Filming Them Break The Law, Steal His Camera — Taxpayers Held Liable

For years now, the Free Thought Project has been reporting on and participating in the act of filming the police. Many of these folks don’t just film arrests and police stops, but they take to filming police departments to see how they react to legal behavior. These folks take to public spaces and legally begin filming to see what the police response will be. The practice of legally filming public spaces to report on the police response is known as a “First Amendment Audit.”

While TFTP has reported on multiple instances in which good cops actually uphold their oaths to the Constitution and protect the citizens’ right to film in public, the majority of them react by showing their ignorance of the law.

As the co-founder of TFTP, Jason Bassler pointed out years ago,

More often than not the officers demonstrate they are more concerned with intimidation, dominance and subservience than knowing or upholding the law. Because many of them react so poorly while highlighting the lack of understanding they have for their job, the videos go mega viral garnering millions of views. The virility in turn creates incentive for more people to pick up the camera and “audit” police in their city and in the slightest way helps push back against the ever-increasing police state.

One particularly egregious case of police failing to uphold their oaths to the Constitution came out of Des Moines, Iowa, and was shared with TFTP in 2019. Now, 3 years later, it is finally getting settled as the taxpayers of Des Moines get held responsible for the actions of several bullies with badges.

Daniel Robbins – the gentleman in the video – had committed no crime, was polite, and was acting entirely within the constraints of the Constitution, yet he was bullied, detained, harassed, his rights violated, and had his equipment stolen.

The taxpayers of Des Moines are now being forced to pay $125,000 for the actions of their officers.

Adding to the disgusting nature of this rights’ violation, when Robbins originally attempted to seek civil action against the department for their most shameful treatment of this innocent man, a judge sided with the cops. The judge claimed that Robbins’ completely legal activity — protected by the Constitution of the United States — was probable cause for cops to detain him, harass him, and confiscate his equipment.

Not only were the cops completely ignorant of the Constitution they swore an oath to uphold, but the judge appears to be equally incompetent. The court has changed it tune, however, and as the case was set to go to court next week, the city settled.

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Cities Are Teaching Drug Users How to Shoot Up Properly

As drug users grapple with an increasingly toxic drug supply, some are receiving training on how to shoot up properly and achieve the high they’re seeking.  

“What we learned really quickly when we started working with people who use drugs is that everything they learn about drug use generally comes from their peers, the Internet, TV, movies, and it’s all wrong,” said Kailin See, senior director of OnPoint NYC, which runs New York’s safe injection sites, also known as drug consumption sites. 

“You can’t go to your medical doctor and say, ‘I’m really trying to achieve X, Y, and Z physical feeling or X, Y, and Z emotional feeling through my drug use’.” 

While people generally think of drug consumption sites as places that people go to use drugs and have their overdoses reversed if needed, these facilities often offer a range of services, including checking drugs for contaminants, wound care, and injection tutorials. 

And injecting drugs properly has only become more important as overdoses reach record highs and drugs like tranq, a combination of fentanyl and the animal sedative xylazine that’s been linked to skin ulcers and amputations, continue to spread across the U.S. Knowing what to do can also help empower younger drug users, women and queer people, who might find themselves particularly vulnerable in certain situations. 

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White House asks Congress for $37.7B in new Ukraine aid

The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to approve $37.7 billion in additional aid for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, a request that comes ahead of both a government funding deadline and the expected flipping of the House to Republican control.

The Biden administration is requesting that Congress authorize $21.7 billion in defense aid to continue providing equipment to Ukraine and to replenish Department of Defense stocks. It is also asking for $14.5 billion for direct budget support to Ukraine, critical wartime investments and security assistance as well as to strengthen global food security and provide humanitarian assistance.

Additionally, $626 million would go to providing nuclear security support for Ukraine and to modernizing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to reduce domestic energy costs and ensure sustainable access to energy resources. And $900 million would go to help with health care and support services to Ukrainians.

The new funding would be “to ensure that Ukraine has the funding, weapons, and support it needs to defend itself,” an administration official told reporters when previewing the request on Tuesday.

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LA Turns To A “Mansion Tax” To Try And Solve Its Homelessness Problem

Believe it or not, California thinks it has a solution to the homelessness problem that can be solved with additional taxation! Go figure.

A new measure in Los Angeles, called Measure ULA, is set to generate $900 million in taxes that will then be used for housing subsidies and tenant protections. The tax is essentially a levy on all property sales of more than $5 million, according to Bloomberg.

This “mansion tax”, if it passes, will look to “speed new construction and deliver a way out of the city’s spiraling homelessness crisis”, according to Bloomberg. It could generate some $900 million per year to provide infrastructure like affordable homes and tools like counsel for tenants in eviction courts. 

Laura Raymond, director of the nonprofit Alliance for Community Transit–Los Angeles, told Bloomberg: “This would be the biggest investment in tenant protections in the history of LA.”

Yes, and it would be another reason on a long list of reasons for Californians to continue their exodus from the state to greener tax pastures like Florida and Texas. 

She continued: ““We want to make sure that once this has passed, the housing experts, community organizations, community leaders and people who’ve been doing this work for many years are at the forefront of implementation.”

Meanwhile critics of the bill say it could ultimately wind up causing costs for developers and, subsequently rents, to rise. The city had tried to issue a bond in 2016 to provide the same type of relief, but that measure was “lackluster” in its success, the report says. 

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