Tag: taxes

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Says People Charged With Violent Crimes Are Guilty Because Prosecutors Say So

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has repeatedly blamed bail reforms and local judges for exacerbating gun violence by releasing defendants back onto the streets, but on Monday she took her rhetoric a step further, saying that people charged with violent crime should be kept in jail because only guilty people get charged with violent crimes.

The comments, first reported by the Chicago Tribune, were part of a longer harangue against the Cook County courts and bail reform efforts.

“We shouldn’t be locking up nonviolent individuals just because they can’t afford to pay bail. But, given the exacting standards that the state’s attorney has for charging a case, which is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, when those charges are brought, these people are guilty,” Lightfoot said. “Of course they’re entitled to a presumption of innocence. Of course they’re entitled to their day in court. But residents in our community are also entitled to safety from dangerous people, so we need to keep pressing the criminal courts to lock up violent dangerous people and not put them out on bail or electronic monitoring back into the very same communities where brave souls are mustering the courage to come forward and say, ‘this is the person who is responsible.'”

The comments outraged civil liberties advocates and public defenders in Chicago, and rightly so. They should offend anyone familiar with the American criminal justice system and why it places such an emphasis on the presumption of innocence: to force the government to prove its case and shield defendants from prejudice and demagoguery. Lightfoot’s statements are particularly absurd, given the enormous amount of taxpayer money Chicago has spent settling wrongful conviction lawsuits.

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House Democrat Floats 1,000% Tax on AR-15-Style Rifles

A key House Democrat is floating a 1,000% tax on AR-15s and similar rifles as part of his party’s latest bid to push gun control in the wake of recent mass shootings.

Rep. Donald Beyer of Virginia, who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, told Business Insider that increasing the cost of the rifles ten-fold could be a deterrent to mass shootings. The tax could raise the price of the rifles to anywhere from $5,000 to as much as $20,000.

“What it’s intended to do is provide another creative pathway to actually make some sensible gun control happen,” Beyer said. “We think that a 1,000% fee on assault weapons is just the kind of restrictive measure that creates enough fiscal impact to qualify for reconciliation.”

A final draft of Beyer’s bill is not yet complete, and it is still unclear when the tax would take effect and what the added revenue would fund, although one possibility is a restitution program for family members of victims killed in shootings. Beyer said that law enforcement agencies and the U.S. military wouldn’t be subject to the tax. The lawmaker added that he believes his bill can clear the House, where Democrats hold a clear majority, and bypass the filibuster in the Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris could cast the deciding vote.

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Biden Plans To Cancel $10,000 In Student Debt Per Borrower Ahead Of Midterms 

As soon as this weekend, President Biden could announce a plan to cancel $10k in student debt per borrower, according to WaPo, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. 

Biden could make the announcement at the University of Delaware’s commencement ceremony on Saturday. The plan would apply to Americans who earned less than $150k in the previous year or less than 300k for married couples filing jointly. 

On April 6, the White House announced it would extend the pause of federal student loan repayments through August 31. It wasn’t clear if the administration would extend the moratorium beyond this. 

The decision to wipe out $10k of student debt per borrow who meets requirements comes as President Biden’s approval ratings collapse. 

Notice how the number of stories in the news of “student debt loan forgiveness” is soaring ahead of the midterms, but Biden’s polling numbers remain cratered. 

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank, said canceling $10k of student debt per borrower would cost a whopping $230bln. 

WaPo said, “most of the nation’s 41 million student borrowers stand to benefit.” Though, who exactly benefits? 

Goldman Sachs’ Jan Hatzius found canceling the debt would mainly benefit middle- and upper-income households, contrary to the administration’s claims it would help the working poor. 

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NIH To Spend $2 Million in Taxpayer Funds on ‘Unnecessary’ Puppy Experiments

The National Institutes of Health division led by Dr. Anthony Fauci is slated to spend nearly $2 million to force feed puppies with experimental allergy drugs, according to a government watchdog group.

NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is helmed by Fauci, allocated $1,836,453 in taxpayer dollars for a contractor to test an experimental hay fever drug on mice, rats, and dogs, including puppies, according to the funding documents, which were obtained by the White Coat Waste Project and provided to the Washington Free Beacon. The most severe symptoms of hay fever, also known as seasonal allergies, are a runny nose and sneezing.

The documents, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and are highly redacted, show that the division requested at least five separate experiments on dogs that are likely to include force-feeding them experimental drugs for several months. While the contractor conducting the tests, Inimmune Corp., said guinea pigs could be used in place of dogs for some testing, purchasing “six-month old puppies” that would be exposed to allergens and then used for testing was also proposed.

NIH’s animal experiments have become a flashpoint in Congress after it emerged earlier this year that the government spent $2.5 million injecting beagle puppies with cocaine, sparking a bipartisan investigation, which was first reported by the Free Beacon. The NIH also funds labs in Russia, even as it invades Ukraine, including one lab that conducted “horrific and barbaric experiments on 18 cats.” The disclosure of the latest funding tranche is likely to build momentum for legislation called the Preventing Animal Abuse and Waste Act that would bar NIAID from conducting these types of dog experiments.

“Fauci’s white coats at NIAID have forced taxpayers to pay millions to de-bark and poison puppies, infest beagles with ticks and flies, and, now, needlessly torture puppies to test a new drug to treat a runny nose,” Devin Murphy, White Coat Waste Project’s public policy and communications manager, told the Free Beacon. “Even NIAID’s own contractor acknowledges that the dog testing demanded by Fauci’s agency is unnecessary because alternative animal models are available.”

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$60 Million From U.S. Taxpayers so WEF Can Fund ‘Playground’ for World’s Billionaires?

Davos. It’s a “playground” for the world’s billionaire business elite.

Every year, like swans, the rich, pretty and powerful people descend upon a picturesque ski town in Switzerland to mix with world leaders. They discuss shaping our future into a utopian global society.

For the first time since 2019, the 2022 Davos meeting will be in-person beginning Sunday, May 22.

The host organization, World Economic Forum (WEF), founded by German economist Klaus Schwab, says it provides a platform for high-powered leaders to “shape global, regional and industry agendas.”

It’s all pretty gauche, with heady thoughts about the world order. Much of this runs contrary to American values.

Attendees cough up $28,000 just for a ticket, with a coveted all-access badge fetching more like $50,000 — and that’s before attendees spend tens or hundreds of thousands on private air travel, ski chalets and entertainment.

Then, the event devolves into brazen networking among tycoons and public officials.

You probably didn’t even realize it, but you – the American taxpayer – helped fund the sponsoring organization with tens of millions of dollars in federal grants.

Since 2013, WEF received nearly $60 million from U.S. taxpayers.

Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found that under the Trump Administration, the WEF received $33 million, which outpaced the $26 million in second-term Obama-era funding.

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World Bank to Receive $450 Million to Start Pandemic Preparedness Fund

Joe Biden announced that the US would give the World Bank $450 million to start a pandemic preparedness fund, which will be run in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).

“We’re increasing our support for [a] new pandemic preparedness and global health security fund that will be established at the World Bank this summer with $450 million in seed funding,” Joe Biden announced at the second Global COVID Summit.

Vice President Kamala Harris also said that the US would work to “shape new international norms” on pandemic-related issues.

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Biden Admin Places $119 Million Order for Vaccines After Single Case of Monkeypox Reported in US

The Biden administration has placed an order for millions of doses of a vaccine intended to protect against smallpox and monkeypox, after the first case of monkeypox in the United States this year was confirmed in Massachusetts on May 18.

Monkeypox, a viral disease typically limited to Africa, has been reported in several countries with more than 25 confirmed cases since the beginning of May.

Denmark-based biotech group Bavarian Nordic announced the order on May 18, which prompts the company to convert its bulk liquid smallpox vaccine into freeze-dried versions, which have an improved shelf life. The bulk vaccine has already been manufactured and invoiced under previous contracts with the U.S. government, the Bavarian Nordic stated. The vaccine is approved under the name “JYNNEOS” in the United States.

The order represents $119 million worth of the Jynneos vaccines, which would be manufactured and invoiced in 2023 and 2024.

Under the contract, the Biden administration has the option to place another order worth $180 million. That would allow for about 13 million freeze-dried doses of the Jynneos smallpox vaccine to be manufactured by around 2024 and 2025. The majority of the bulk vaccine for those doses has already been manufactured and invoiced, according to the company.

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Biden admin adds $100 million in arms for Ukraine on top of $40 billion aid package

The Biden administration has announced $100 million in arms funding to Ukraine on top of the newly approved $40 billion aid package.

On Thursday, the Senate approved $40 billion in aid for Ukraine as the nation continues to fight back against Russia’s invasion.

Just hours later, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the United States would be sending an additional $100 million in arms.

In a statement, Blinken explained that Ukrainian forces have “remained firmly in the fight” against Russia, but are in need of assistance, namely arms and other equipment.

“Pursuant to a delegation from the President,” Blinken said, “I am authorizing our tenth drawdown of additional arms and equipment for Ukraine’s defense from US Department of Defense inventories, valued at up to $100 million.”

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