Tag: taxes

Global Mail Disruption Deepens As U.S. Tariffs Trigger International Postal Shutdowns

International mail to the United States has plunged by more than 80% in one week after the Trump administration ended a long-abused tax exemption on small packages, prompting widespread suspensions of postal services around the world, according to the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

In late July, the U.S. government announced it would revoke duty-free treatment for low-value parcels entering the country. The change, which took effect Aug. 29, has rattled global logistics networks and forced dozens of national postal operators to halt or scale back shipments to the U.S.

The UPU, a United Nations agency that oversees global postal cooperation, said 88 postal operators have either fully or partially suspended service to the U.S. Among them are major national carriers, including Germany’s Deutsche Post, Britain’s Royal Mail, and postal authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Postal services in India, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K. are no longer accepting most U.S.-bound parcels, citing logistical disruptions and uncertainty over customs processing under the new tariff regime.

According to UPU data, postal traffic to the U.S. on Aug. 29 fell 81% compared with the previous week. “Furthermore, 88 postal operators informed the UPU they have suspended some or all postal services to the US until a solution is implemented,” the agency said in a statement.

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Kamala Just Got a Humiliating Reality Check About Her Irrelevance

Kamala Harris just suffered a major humiliation in Los Angeles, and it’s one that speaks volumes about her diminished political stature… assuming she even had any political stature.

On Saturday, the LAPD quietly withdrew its officers from guarding the former vice president’s Brentwood home, ending a weeklong arrangement that had drawn fierce criticism for pulling cops away from fighting real crime in the city. For Kamala the optics couldn’t be worse. A once untouchable figure who enjoyed the trappings of high office is now struggling to find anyone willing, or obligated, to protect her.  

The saga began when President Trump revoked Harris’s Secret Service protection, which Joe Biden had ordered to be extended far beyond the customary six-month window after a vice presidency. Kamala’s aides had pushed for that unusual extension, claiming safety concerns, and Biden obliged—granting cover for another two years. Trump, upon retaking office, terminated that special privilege. That ought to have settled things, but California’s Democratic leadership wasn’t about to let the embarrassment linger unaddressed. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass jumped in, directing the LAPD’s elite Metropolitan Division to step in alongside the California Highway Patrol so Harris wouldn’t appear abandoned.  

Of course, those officers didn’t appear out of nowhere. The LAPD diverted those officers from crime suppression duties in the San Fernando Valley—a part of Los Angeles already ravaged by spikes in theft, gangs, and violent crime. Los Angeles residents know that officers are stretched dangerously thin, yet Bass thought it appropriate to reroute them to stand guard outside a multimillion-dollar Brentwood mansion. 

To say this landed poorly with rank-and-file cops is an understatement.  

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents front-line officers, blasted the arrangement as inappropriate and unfair. Taxpayers, they said, shouldn’t be footing the bill for a partisan security favor, not when ordinary residents endure slow response times and skyrocketing crime. 

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Secret Service Spent $11 Million on Hunter Biden’s Security Detail – Including Luxury Travel, Golf Carts and Expensive Hotels

The US Secret Service spent $11 million of taxpayer money on Hunter Biden’s security detail, including on luxury travel, hotels, golf carts, and real estate.

Hunter received a robust security detail while RFK Jr. and others were denied Secret Service protection.

“Due to reports that Hunter Biden was playing a senior role in advising his father within the White House in 2024, CASA filed a FOIA request for information related to the taxpayer resources being spent to protect him,” CASA Director James Fitzpatrick told The Center Square in an exclusive interview, according to Just The News. “What we found is that while the Secret Service denied protection to [then presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.], and failed to properly protect President Trump resulting in two assassination attempts, Hunter Biden was enjoying a robust detail wherever he traveled, including trips to Nantucket, South Africa, and the Virgin Islands.”

Just The News reported:

The Biden administration spent more than $10 million over three years on a security detail and related expenses for former First Son Hunter Biden after denying similar protections to other high-profile political figures, documents obtained by the Center to Advance Security in America and shared exclusively with The Center Square show.

The security detail for former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, cost nearly $11 million, including on travel, real estate and expensive hotels, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request CASA filed.

The documents from Jan. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2024, indicate that the Biden administration spent nearly $9.3 million on hotels, $1.1 million on air and rail travel, and nearly $600,000 on car transportation and rentals for Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail.

Nearly all costs – 95% – were incurred in California, where Hunter Biden often resided, but also were incurred on expensive trips to the Virgin Islands, Nantucket, and Santa Ynez, California.

Hunter Biden lived a life of luxury in Malibu, California, on the taxpayers’ dime.

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Ed Dept ends ‘abusive’ Biden policy that funded left-wing work-study election jobs

Conservative election integrity advocates praised the Trump administration for rescinding a Biden-era guidance that allowed Federal Work-Study funds to be used to employ students to perform election jobs. 

The announcement came after The College Fix reported on multiple incidents of the work-study program being used to fund left-wing get-out-the-vote efforts.

Hans von Spakovsky, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese Center, called the Biden-era work-study guidance an “abusive misuse” of tax dollars, intent on ensuring “liberal organizations supporting the Biden reelection effort and the Democrat Party were provided with interns … to enhance the party’s prospects of winning elections.”

The Trump administration rescinded Biden’s guidance on Aug. 19, according to a press release by the Department of Education.

The new guidance prohibits work-study jobs that involve “any partisan or nonpartisan political activity.”

The department told higher education institutions that they “must have proper controls in place to avoid employing students in FWS jobs where they engage in any political activity or in work that serves the interests of a particular group.”

Additionally, while institutions under the Higher Education Act are required to make a “good faith effort” to distribute voter registration forms to students, they also have a duty to ensure said students are “eligible voters,” the department stated in its guidance.

von Spakovsky, a former Federal Election Commission member, told The Fix in a recent email that the government shouldn’t engage in “any type of voter registration activity” because it’s “inevitable” that any such activity will eventually be aimed at aiding “the political party in power.”

“There is too much danger of individuals who depend on government benefits and resources being intimidated and thinking that they must support the political party in power or risk losing such benefits and resources,” Spakovsky said.

When asked what this decision could signal about the direction the Trump administration is taking the Education Department, he told The Fix that it is trying to “rid” the department of “partisan politics and bring it back within its legal statutory authority.”

The work-study program should focus on “furthering educational opportunities” rather than “help[ing] the election prospects of the political party in power,” he said.

The federal, taxpayer-funded program provides paid jobs to low-income students as a way to help pay for their college tuition.

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Wealthy Liberal Enclave of Santa Monica to Declare ‘Fiscal Emergency’ over Sexual Abuse Payouts

The city council of Santa Monica, California, will be asked to declare a “fiscal emergency” this week over hundreds of millions of dollars that it has paid in ongoing sexual abuse litigation.

The city by the beach, which has been hit by homelessness, crime, and an ongoing retail collapse, now faces fiscal catastrophe.

The Santa Monica Daily Press reported: “The dire financial situation is a result of a shortfall in revenue relative to forecasts combined with ongoing litigation, most notably the Uller sexual abuse case.”

The publication reported in 2023 that the city had reached a $229.8 million settlement over the claims: “Eric Uller was accused of abusing young boys between the late 1980s and early 2000s while he was employed by the City and volunteered in the Police Activities League (PALs), a city owned nonprofit. He committed suicide before his criminal trial in 2018.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that the case has crashed the city:

Services in Santa Monica are also suffering, according to the [city’s] report. During the COVID-19 pandemic, city leaders slashed the city’s budget and eliminated hundreds of positions. City services haven’t been restored to pre-pandemic levels, and several capital projects remain unfunded.

…

The report also cites recent and proposed changes by the federal government, including tariffs and mass deportations, that could affect the local and national economies.

…

In April, Santa Monica ended negotiations with Olympics organizers to host beach volleyball during the 2028 Games.

Santa Monica is often referred to as the “People’s Republic of Santa Monica,” due to its left-wing policies. It is one of the wealthiest towns in America, and diverts public resources to ideological policies as climate change, criminal justice reform, and resisting immigration enforcement (though it is not officially a “sanctuary city”).

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Politico Is Doing Insurance Companies’ Bidding, And It’s Obvious Why

n February, I analyzed how Politico functions as a glorified patronage racket, whereby “reporters serve as a publicity rag for K Street and get paid handsomely for doing so.” Six months later, another such article serves as Example No. 8,579 (or thereabouts) of this swamp machine in action.

In this particular case, Politico published an advertisement — I mean, article — about a potential extension of Obamacare’s enhanced insurance subsidies, which expire at the end of the year. That story ignored sizable evidence of fraud associated with the subsidies, while including not a single quote from a critic or skeptic of such an extension. It looks like a not-too-subtle attempt from Politico to cheerlead for the insurance industry — i.e., its corporate subscribers.

Big Signs of Fraud

The article focused largely on Florida and highlighted that state’s sizable enrollment in Exchange coverage, particularly for households claiming very low incomes, which qualify for the biggest subsidies: 

Florida is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid, so it’s more difficult for some low-income residents to qualify for the government health insurance program. The enhanced subsidies ensure that people who would be eligible under an expansion — those making just above the federal poverty level, with incomes between about $15,600 and $21,600 — can get Obamacare coverage, typically with no premiums. Two-thirds of the 4.6 million Floridians on Obamacare plans are in this gap…

But there’s one big fact Politico omitted: According to one study, while there are nearly 3.1 million Obamacare enrollees claiming income just above poverty in Florida, estimates derived from the Census Bureau suggest that only about 630,000 households actually have incomes in that range. (Disclosure: While I have done work for the Paragon Health Institute, which published the study in question, I had no involvement with this particular report and am writing this article on my own behalf.)

In other words, by one organization’s estimate, more than 2.4 million enrollees — over half of Florida’s total Exchange enrollment — are potentially fraudulent. These individuals may have overstated their income because households with income below the poverty level don’t qualify for subsidies at all, or conversely, they may have understated their income if they make two or three times the poverty level, so they can qualify for bigger subsidies. Alternatively, people could have been enrolled in “free” coverage without their knowledge by insurance brokers seeking commissions, an offense one Florida-based insurance executive pleaded guilty to this April.

Yet Politico mentioned none of this. It advertised the total enrollment in the Florida Exchange, and the billions of dollars in enhanced subsidies that went to Florida, without noting either the significant questions about enrollment discrepancies in Florida’s Exchange population or the fraud — totaling $133.9 million, according to the Justice Department — that one Florida-based individual has already admitted to.

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Trump Punishes India with 50 Percent Tariffs for Buying Russian Oil

President Donald Trump imposed a crushing 50% tariff on Indian goods to punish the country for buying Russian oil, upending a decades-long push by Washington to forge closer ties with New Delhi.

The new tariffs, the highest in Asia, took effect at 12:01 a.m. in Washington on Wednesday, doubling the existing 25% duty on Indian exports. The levies will hit more than 55% of goods shipped to the US — India’s biggest market — and hurt labor-intensive industries like textiles and jewelry the most. Key exports like electronics and pharmaceuticals are exempt, sparing Apple Inc.’s massive new factory investments in India for now.

“This is going to be a very big impact on Indian exporters because 50% tariffs are not workable for the clients,” said Israr Ahmed, managing director of Farida Shoes Pvt. Ltd., which depends on the US for 60% of its business. 

New Delhi has argued the purchases stabilize energy markets, and has said it will keep buying Russian oil “depending on the financial benefit.”

China, Russia Ties

The fraying relationship has pushed India to edge away from the US and forge deeper ties with fellow members of the BRICS bloc.

At the same time, India and Russia have pledged to increase their annual trade by 50% to $100 billion over the next five years. India has ramped up oil imports from Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, and now accounts for about 37% of Russia’s oil exports, according to Moscow-based Kasatkin Consulting.

Citigroup Inc. estimates that the combined 50% tariff poses a 0.6-0.8 percentage point downside risk to annual gross domestic product growth.

The economic impact may be cushioned by the fact that India’s economy is largely driven by domestic demand, rather than exports, so shoring up consumer and business sentiment is key to faster growth. Private consumption makes up about 60% of India’s GDP — and although the US is India’s biggest export market, with shipments of $87.4 billion in 2024, that still amounts to only 2% of India’s total GDP.

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Report: LAPD ends Harris’ police protection 

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has reportedly ended former Vice President Kamla Harris’ protection. 

According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, Harris will no longer receive special protection from the LAPD, which had been temporarily arranged by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D-Calif.).

“Pulling police officers from protecting everyday Angelenos to protect a failed presidential candidate who also happens to be a multi-millionaire … and who can easily afford to pay for her own security, is nuts,” the Los Angeles Police Protective League’s board said to the outlet.

Bass had directed LAPD to assist the California Highway Patrol in the wake of President Donald Trump’s move to remove Harris’ Secret Service protection, which she called an act of “political retaliation.”

Following Trump’s move, a senior White House official verified the reports, noting that a vice president’s security detail typically only continues for six months after leaving office. That period would have ended July 21st, when Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, lost his personal detail under the standard provisions.

Trump’s office issued a note titled “Memorandum for the Secretary of Homeland Security” notifying the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the removal of Harris’ detail.

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Judge Orders Trump Admin To Release Billions In Frozen Foreign Aid Funding

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration cannot withhold billions of dollars in foreign assistance approved by Congress, including aid that the White House recently said it would not spend.

The Trump administration must release $11.5 billion in foreign aid that is set to expire at the end of the month, said U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in a Sept. 3 decision.

“There is not a plausible interpretation of the statutes that would justify the billions of dollars they plan to withhold,” Ali wrote in his ruling.

“To be clear, no one disputes that Defendants have significant discretion in how to spend the funds at issue, and the Court is not directing Defendants to make payments to any particular recipients. But Defendants do not have any discretion as to whether to spend the funds.”

The Trump administration last week requested that Congress rescind $4.9 billion in foreign aid. The $11.5 billion figure includes the $4.9 billion.

In accordance with the Impoundment Control Act, a rescission is when the White House requests Congress to reverse government funding that has been appropriated by Congress. Typically, it must be approved within 45 days of the request being sent to Congress, or else the money must be spent.

Given that this request was made within 45 days of the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, the cancellation could take effect without Congress approving it. This maneuver is known as a pocket rescission.

Ali wrote that the funding is to be spent since Congress appropriated it.

“It is undisputed the relevant appropriations acts have been valid law from the time they were enacted to today. For almost all that period, Defendants did not even dispute that the laws were mandatory and required them to spend the funds,” he wrote. “The President never asked Congress to rescind the funds at issue even though he successfully sought rescission of analogous funds in May 2025.”

The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal on Sept. 4.

“President Trump has the executive authority to ensure that all foreign aid is accountable to taxpayers and aligns with the America First priorities people voted for,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.

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‘Coalition of the Willing’ Ready to Deliver Long-Range Missiles to Ukraine — What Could Go Wrong?

Members of the “Coalition of the Willing” have expressed their readiness to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles, the Downing Street said on Thursday.

The meeting took place in Paris earlier on Thursday in a hybrid format, chaired by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

“The Prime Minister also welcomed announcements from Coalition of the Willing partners to supply long range missiles to Ukraine to further bolster the country’s supplies,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously stated that Ukrainian forces could only carry out such operations with NATO personnel involved, signaling direct Western participation in the conflict. This could fundamentally change the nature of the confrontation, with NATO members effectively fighting against Russia.

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