Another fool who has convinced himself he is operating under divine sanction and thus cannot be wrong about anything. What's the point of having this law if we're never going to enforce it? Mixing religion and government is the same terrible idea it has always been. If churches want to get involved in politics, then they need to pay the price of admission. TAXES!
Honestly, my friend, I wouldn't hold my breath. I'm not even certain that I remember the last time the Johnson Amendment was enforced in any serious form, though it's possible that the kerfuffle about the LDS church and their (mis)treatment of African-Americans might have been it.
In any case, it's laid dormant for at least 30 years that I know of, and I don't see that status changing any time soon.
It speaks to the depths the evangelicals have penetrated government. Republicans pander to the preachers while viewing human decency as a character flaw.
I know it's been mentioned, but Trump is finally getting that ridiculously-priced military parade for his birthday this June.
A military parade for a 5-deferment draft dodger who called all those who served and even sacrificed their lives "suckers and losers." A bloated, 4-mile military parade while VA services are being cut and homeless veterans are starving in the streets. A military parade at a time when Social Security, Medicare and so much else is being cut because (GOP says) "We don't have the money!!!"
The streets of DC are ill-equipped to deal with tanks but Trump and the GQP don't give a flying fig about the damage the parade will do to the infrastructure.
Indeed. I was in DC for a conference a long time ago (I was wearing a suit, that’s how long ago it was) and it was so hot the heels of my shoes sunk into the street pavement.
DOGE knows enough to look the other way. As for the $100 million tab for the parade, that's likely peanuts compared to totaling up all of Donnie's golfing trips every weekend.
Question - and it's a serious one: Does anyone know how these kind of cost estimates are calculated?
The same with his weekend trips to Florida, they say that it costs approx $3m for each trip. If this is true, how is this cost calculated and why is it so expensive? Does anyone have an idea?
Three million dollars sounds like an underestimate to me. Consider, Air Force One, out and back, PLUS the backup plane with "The Beast" and all the other support equipment, support staff, and SECURITY for all of that, plus shit I don't even know about.
The tab for all of the above is likely to be CONSIDERABLE.
I doubt Donnie even cares, since any such trip will see the entire entourage staying at a TRUMP facility, which means the government pays HIM out of their pocket. And yeah, that's part of the expenses, too.
The line they'll go with is that it's to celebrate the birthday of the US Army (which 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 to coincide with Dear Leader's, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦!)- but I'll bet my last penny right now that we'll not be seeing similar pageantry for the US Coast Guard (August 4th), the Air Force (September 18th), Navy (October 13th), Marine Corps (November 10th), National Guard (December 13th), or even Space Force (December 20th).
Or, for that matter, Memorial Day, Veterans' Day, Constitution Day...
Bloody fucking hell. If he comes out for it wearing some kind of pseudo-military outfit, then you might as well turn out the lights, 'cuz the party is OVER.
Your whataboutism is showing. And it’s ragged and dirty.
As to the “our rights don’t disappear when we stand on the platform” nonsense. This has nothing to do with your first amendment rights, it is about the rules you agreed to when you accepted the tax exempt status under your 501(c) 3. You have every right to endorse whatever candidate you want, even the candidates that will burn our society to the ground, but you do not have a right to the tax exemption. You can have church that pays taxes. You can even have a church that endorses candidates, files taxes and is able to avoid paying, but you cannot have a church that endorses candidates with blanket exemption of taxes. If your church really does service for the community that covers enough of what your tax burden should be, then you don’t pay the taxes. But you know and I know that you don’t provide any actual service tot he community, your church is just a resource sucker out for power and money.
It’s a disappointment that the IRS dropped this, though it’s no surprise. Right now, I’m expecting the worst of everyone in government. Even if there are good people in positions in these departments, they are looking at being fired for not going along with the despot in charge, or they’ve already been replaced, or the organization being completely defunded. The IRS was always at the forefront of the republican corruption, being chronically underfunded and understaffed intentionally. When the previous administration finally invested in the department, the GOP fought it with everything they had and now that they are in charge, with the pinnacle of tax fraud at the top, the first thing they did was roll back the investment. While the funds were there, the IRS actually raised more tax money that was being cheated, than ever before. But the Department of Government Efficiency (aka Douche) decided that that type of fraud was acceptable, but the lowly peon worker in departments that provide services to the actual taxpayers is not working hard enough to earn a paycheck. They’re lazy. They’re creating the deficit with their $40,000 salaries and not the corporations and billionaires paying zero taxes or having a negative tax burden while polluting our environment and getting bailouts every decade or so.
I’m beyond cynical lately, let’s burn it all to the ground.
They're drilling for oil in the Tree Museums and I wouldn't be surprised if the price of admission (already more than an order of magnitude greater than Joni sang) quadruples.
So much concern for the (non-existent) souls of children. Wish they had the same concern in protecting school children from gun violence that surged after Parkland. Or insuring that those children have enough to eat. Or that they're being vaccinated against diseases. Or that they're even getting an education that is based on reality.
They don't want an education based in reality. They don't want to protect children from real world violence, hunger, or disease. Their rank and file have been indoctrinated for so long into science denial that many of them truly believe that the best way to fix all of our societal problems is to save everyone's soul by mandating conformity to their narrow little boxes of Deity-approved behaviors. I pity them. I am enraged by their leaders pushing them away from basic human decency.
Well, an highly educated and informed public would think critically and ask questions about what their government is doing. Plus it would be harder for the republicans to manipulate and control the public as well as being a direct threat to their power and socioeconomic status.
Ramses II mummy “A significant hole in the pharaoh's https:/en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandible was detected. Researchers observed "an https:/en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscess by his teeth (which) was serious enough to have caused death by infection, although this cannot be determined with certainty".”
They only even start caring about a fetus when it lands in the medical waste bin; they're perfectly happy to cut pre-natal care right along with every other sort of healthcare.
They’ve turned the word “liberty” into a George Orwell 1984 type name. When I hear it now I immediately assume there’s somebody whose goal is to take away other people’s liberty.
Yes. The minority is a threat to our children, so we must take away their rights even from their children. Endanger other people's children to "protect" our children from our fantasies.
That is the visceral response that phrase is designed to engender, so people don't think about what they're being asked to condone.
They are Free Exercise clause absolutists when applied to white evangelical Christianity. They want to ignore the Establishment clause as it applies to them. They even reject reasonable time, place, and mannner restrictions on the Free Speech clause if it interferes with their Free Exercise absolutism. I cannot believe that practicing attorneys who would have had at least one class in constitutional law when they went to school and do not know that the inquiry does indeed have basis in law. As far as basis in fact, what the fuck is this gaslighting bullshit? The facts in question are that the chrch hosted political candidates, thos cadidates made campaign speeches, and the church officially endorsed them. As was later said in the article, they would have been calling for prison time for any non-profit they hate who did the same things.
By shutting down the inquiry, the IRS is not just elevating Christian Fucking Privilege, they are officially stating that anyone who is not white evangelical Christian is not a full citizen. There are those for whom the law protects but does not bind, and those for whom the law binds but does not protect. It is obvious from this action who belongs in which category in Trump's reich.
And because of that election, the IRS is going to lose or is losing many employees. They have lost three leaders in the last month. The most recent one resigned instead of turning over personal data of undocumented taxpayers to Homeland Security, so you can guess where the regime is putting the IRS' focus these days instead of enforcing tax laws.
No, Alex, "𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢!" is not a valid excuse for not paying the $1.4 billion you owe to the people whose murdered children you lied about. Shut up and start writing checks, you whiny little doucheguzzler.
I'm actually a little surprised he can enact such broad, high tariffs without Congressional approval. If we ever get a sane Congress and Court again we really should take care of that.
That's the very question that has been bothering me since this whole tariff shitshow started...I thought tariffs HAD TO BE APPROVED BY CONGRESS. Then I wondered if I was misremembering all my civics classes. (?)
Shenanigans like this are the reason churches can't keep butts in the pews anymore. The bottom line here is that this sort of article shows exactly how unwilling Christian churches are to obey the government and police themselves when it comes to laws written specifically to keep them in line. Rule of law isn't a concern for them now, despite years of claiming to be the 'moral majority' and 'the party of law and order' and other such titles.
It seems to me these days that too many Christians are happy to disregard, remove, or break the social contract if they think they might benefit from doing so, regardless of the damage it might do to others. These Christians are following their leaders and don't care about anyone outside their bubble; as a group, they're acting more like corporate sharks than the advertised charitable group they're pretending to be. Rather than protecting the vulnerable, they're going out of their way to make as many as possibly more vulnerable and to take advantage of said vulnerability. I don't know these people, and honestly, I don't want to; they aren't good people and it's pretty clear that's the point.
Here's hoping we all survive the coming storm of fallout from this behavior.
I once investigated how many churches the IRS and the US had deprived of their tax-free status for political activity. I can't remember the exact figure but it was close to 2 – in maybe 100 years. So either churches were being remarkably well behaved – which I knew wasn't true – or they weren't enforcing their rules anyway. And it seems to have sort of slipped between the cracks, given how little it was ever mentioned, even in atheist publications. I'm wondering if there's any legal means that can be used to force them to uphold their rules and regulations? It is the US after all. Litigation rules!
Rules? LOLOLOL!!!!! If I hacked your laptop and stole your Social Security number and bank details, cops would slap cuffs on me before I finished typing. But when Elon and his crew do it, people call it “patriotism”? Explain that.
Another fool who has convinced himself he is operating under divine sanction and thus cannot be wrong about anything. What's the point of having this law if we're never going to enforce it? Mixing religion and government is the same terrible idea it has always been. If churches want to get involved in politics, then they need to pay the price of admission. TAXES!
Honestly, my friend, I wouldn't hold my breath. I'm not even certain that I remember the last time the Johnson Amendment was enforced in any serious form, though it's possible that the kerfuffle about the LDS church and their (mis)treatment of African-Americans might have been it.
In any case, it's laid dormant for at least 30 years that I know of, and I don't see that status changing any time soon.
It speaks to the depths the evangelicals have penetrated government. Republicans pander to the preachers while viewing human decency as a character flaw.
As regards that, I think it was on MSNBC where I saw two books which were dedicated to castigating the concept of EMPATHY.
Yet one more disturbing thing that I didn't need.
Elon Musk described empathy as western civilization's greatest weakness. In my view, he pretty well defined himself as a sociopath.
Almost immediately after that he publicly whine that people were being mean to hiiiiim!
Oh don’t worry. The very second they advocate for a Democrat, you can bet it’ll fall on them faster than an anvil on Wile E’s head.
OT
I know it's been mentioned, but Trump is finally getting that ridiculously-priced military parade for his birthday this June.
A military parade for a 5-deferment draft dodger who called all those who served and even sacrificed their lives "suckers and losers." A bloated, 4-mile military parade while VA services are being cut and homeless veterans are starving in the streets. A military parade at a time when Social Security, Medicare and so much else is being cut because (GOP says) "We don't have the money!!!"
I think I shall now retch.
It's only going to cost $100 million. We don't need that money for anything else.
( Does the Department of Government Efficiency know about this? )
The streets of DC are ill-equipped to deal with tanks but Trump and the GQP don't give a flying fig about the damage the parade will do to the infrastructure.
Last I was there, the streets of DC are ill-equipped to deal with normal traffic.
Last time I was there, Nixon was President. I don't recall the traffic situation, I wasn't driving.
Indeed. I was in DC for a conference a long time ago (I was wearing a suit, that’s how long ago it was) and it was so hot the heels of my shoes sunk into the street pavement.
He really actually deserves a reenactment of JFK’s parade.
Anwar Sadat's
DOGE knows enough to look the other way. As for the $100 million tab for the parade, that's likely peanuts compared to totaling up all of Donnie's golfing trips every weekend.
Question - and it's a serious one: Does anyone know how these kind of cost estimates are calculated?
The same with his weekend trips to Florida, they say that it costs approx $3m for each trip. If this is true, how is this cost calculated and why is it so expensive? Does anyone have an idea?
Three million dollars sounds like an underestimate to me. Consider, Air Force One, out and back, PLUS the backup plane with "The Beast" and all the other support equipment, support staff, and SECURITY for all of that, plus shit I don't even know about.
The tab for all of the above is likely to be CONSIDERABLE.
Maybe the overpriced rooms, food, and drinks are in separate bill.
I doubt Donnie even cares, since any such trip will see the entire entourage staying at a TRUMP facility, which means the government pays HIM out of their pocket. And yeah, that's part of the expenses, too.
I don't know for sure, but I think the parade number comes from the Pentagon.
Trump's secret service detail is about 300 agents.
Only 300 ? WOW, he really wants to spare the tax-payers money from going into his pockets.
Part of the cost is the orange sphincter billing taxpayers for his own secret service detail to stay in his cockroach infested resorts.
The line they'll go with is that it's to celebrate the birthday of the US Army (which 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 to coincide with Dear Leader's, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦!)- but I'll bet my last penny right now that we'll not be seeing similar pageantry for the US Coast Guard (August 4th), the Air Force (September 18th), Navy (October 13th), Marine Corps (November 10th), National Guard (December 13th), or even Space Force (December 20th).
Or, for that matter, Memorial Day, Veterans' Day, Constitution Day...
Veterans' Day? A day for suckers and losers? Besides I hope our veterans would rather see their brethren get housing and healthcare than a parade.
Better to give them a day, rather than anything of actual value.
A military parade for a draft dodger who thinks veterans are "suckers and losers">
Bloody fucking hell. If he comes out for it wearing some kind of pseudo-military outfit, then you might as well turn out the lights, 'cuz the party is OVER.
He claims his parade is based on the French model, but he lies (as usual). He wants it based on North Korea's military parade.
Of course. Donnie and Kim are an ITEM, don'tchaknow!
He would tell his fans that National Day is June 14th, and they would gobble the lie and cheer him for it 🙄
By the way, I am willing to bet most French don't know the birthday date of any President because we don't give a fuck.
French July 14th military parade is to honor vets' and armed forces. Even sarkonzy didn't try to make it about him.
PS : it's a vet' who made the trip from Avignon to Paris to bring me Rhapsodie.
After I got a sample of 1 Canadian, they couldn't remember the birthday of any Prime Minister and they don't give a fuck about it.
I do not remember any political figure's birthday.
Lincoln and Washington. Used to be separate holidays, now they're combined (President's Day).
Cannot have something that costs corporations money and helps the little people have some minor enjoyment.
Maybe one of the tanks can lob a 120mm shell at the reviewing stand.
May he get the parade Sadat got.
From the title song, Dictator for a Day(c), A MAGA Musical for the Masses comedy coming soon to streaming:
"Dictator for a Year
A triumph of dread and fear.
Dictator for a Decade
A daily military parade.
Dictator for a Generation,
A yearly inauguration.
Dictator Forever,
With blood coming out from wherever."
Dictatorforadayshow.com
To First Liberty,
Your whataboutism is showing. And it’s ragged and dirty.
As to the “our rights don’t disappear when we stand on the platform” nonsense. This has nothing to do with your first amendment rights, it is about the rules you agreed to when you accepted the tax exempt status under your 501(c) 3. You have every right to endorse whatever candidate you want, even the candidates that will burn our society to the ground, but you do not have a right to the tax exemption. You can have church that pays taxes. You can even have a church that endorses candidates, files taxes and is able to avoid paying, but you cannot have a church that endorses candidates with blanket exemption of taxes. If your church really does service for the community that covers enough of what your tax burden should be, then you don’t pay the taxes. But you know and I know that you don’t provide any actual service tot he community, your church is just a resource sucker out for power and money.
It’s a disappointment that the IRS dropped this, though it’s no surprise. Right now, I’m expecting the worst of everyone in government. Even if there are good people in positions in these departments, they are looking at being fired for not going along with the despot in charge, or they’ve already been replaced, or the organization being completely defunded. The IRS was always at the forefront of the republican corruption, being chronically underfunded and understaffed intentionally. When the previous administration finally invested in the department, the GOP fought it with everything they had and now that they are in charge, with the pinnacle of tax fraud at the top, the first thing they did was roll back the investment. While the funds were there, the IRS actually raised more tax money that was being cheated, than ever before. But the Department of Government Efficiency (aka Douche) decided that that type of fraud was acceptable, but the lowly peon worker in departments that provide services to the actual taxpayers is not working hard enough to earn a paycheck. They’re lazy. They’re creating the deficit with their $40,000 salaries and not the corporations and billionaires paying zero taxes or having a negative tax burden while polluting our environment and getting bailouts every decade or so.
I’m beyond cynical lately, let’s burn it all to the ground.
♫♪ Don't it always seem to go / That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone / They paved Paradise, put up a parking lot! ♪♫
-- Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi
They're drilling for oil in the Tree Museums and I wouldn't be surprised if the price of admission (already more than an order of magnitude greater than Joni sang) quadruples.
FDR must be spinning so fast in his grave, he will make a tunnel through the whole planet.
He was spinning his wheels when he was alive.
Too soon? : )
Billionaires are the only minority that threatens America.
So much concern for the (non-existent) souls of children. Wish they had the same concern in protecting school children from gun violence that surged after Parkland. Or insuring that those children have enough to eat. Or that they're being vaccinated against diseases. Or that they're even getting an education that is based on reality.
They don't want an education based in reality. They don't want to protect children from real world violence, hunger, or disease. Their rank and file have been indoctrinated for so long into science denial that many of them truly believe that the best way to fix all of our societal problems is to save everyone's soul by mandating conformity to their narrow little boxes of Deity-approved behaviors. I pity them. I am enraged by their leaders pushing them away from basic human decency.
Well, an highly educated and informed public would think critically and ask questions about what their government is doing. Plus it would be harder for the republicans to manipulate and control the public as well as being a direct threat to their power and socioeconomic status.
Shall we also mention that RFKJr wants to pull the fluorine out of our drinking water? Seems I just did.
Utah recently did:
https://apnews.com/article/fluoride-ban-drinking-water-utah-559d92736f1958ff5d109071fa85f5b5
School yearbook photos will show everyone smiling with their mouths closed. 🙄
I knew about Utah pulling fluorine out of their water systems, despite dentists statewide saying that such an action is STUPID.
Now watch the rate of cavities skyrocket.
If not worse, untreated cavities leads to infections.
And infections like those can be deadly, because of proximity to the brain.
Ramses II mummy “A significant hole in the pharaoh's https:/en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandible was detected. Researchers observed "an https:/en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscess by his teeth (which) was serious enough to have caused death by infection, although this cannot be determined with certainty".”
So many forces working against children these days.
And they call themselves "pro-life".
They are!
...just not human life.
...or the lives of endangered species.
...or plants essential to the oxygen cycle.
...or lab animals.
...or farm animals.
...or pets.
If you're a parasite, virus, or bacteria, though, they'll fight 'til their dying breath for you!
Don’t forget that republicans care about fetuses (really it is a tool to take away rights from people the republicans hate).
If the republicans couldn’t use fetuses as a weapon against people they hate; the republicans would drop their opposition to abortion in a heartbeat.
They only even start caring about a fetus when it lands in the medical waste bin; they're perfectly happy to cut pre-natal care right along with every other sort of healthcare.
"And so today, I've asked Jill Woolbright, Will 𝙁𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙮, and Christy Chong to come and be a part of our service"
They want a 𝙁𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙮 on the school board? Does he get a litter box?
I had the exact same thought! Lol. Could have been a golden opportunity for an opposing candidate.
Lewis Black on measles...
https://scontent-ord5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/490215733_601264039607965_3468507106925981498_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p180x540_tt6&_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=Cn8AbkfKBkgQ7kNvwF_R5Fx&_nc_oc=Adnk4oVqHhZtTG3WGoagka_IhYsLPXZ__ZwsQUQAKJBl1w-QaEPb8SKJ8Tbcvve0Xy8&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-2.xx&_nc_gid=PjGeSLAUC4fuYnS6zq-hVA&oh=00_AfGtQeBZEOlD1HGwpOBvVld1lY4HzguQSF7Q8pky9stVVw&oe=67FCE595
And now, the full video of Lewis Black on measles
youtu.be/PQpQOLnzQ6E
They’ve turned the word “liberty” into a George Orwell 1984 type name. When I hear it now I immediately assume there’s somebody whose goal is to take away other people’s liberty.
With "freedom" and "patriot" following right behind.
Don't forget "family".
"THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!" 🤦♂️
Yes. The minority is a threat to our children, so we must take away their rights even from their children. Endanger other people's children to "protect" our children from our fantasies.
That is the visceral response that phrase is designed to engender, so people don't think about what they're being asked to condone.
Hmmm .... cook book title?
𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒, 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟, 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 “𝑤𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑎𝑤 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡.” 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑖𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 “𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛-𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑠 𝐴𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛” 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 “𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦.”
They are Free Exercise clause absolutists when applied to white evangelical Christianity. They want to ignore the Establishment clause as it applies to them. They even reject reasonable time, place, and mannner restrictions on the Free Speech clause if it interferes with their Free Exercise absolutism. I cannot believe that practicing attorneys who would have had at least one class in constitutional law when they went to school and do not know that the inquiry does indeed have basis in law. As far as basis in fact, what the fuck is this gaslighting bullshit? The facts in question are that the chrch hosted political candidates, thos cadidates made campaign speeches, and the church officially endorsed them. As was later said in the article, they would have been calling for prison time for any non-profit they hate who did the same things.
By shutting down the inquiry, the IRS is not just elevating Christian Fucking Privilege, they are officially stating that anyone who is not white evangelical Christian is not a full citizen. There are those for whom the law protects but does not bind, and those for whom the law binds but does not protect. It is obvious from this action who belongs in which category in Trump's reich.
Elections have consequences.
And because of that election, the IRS is going to lose or is losing many employees. They have lost three leaders in the last month. The most recent one resigned instead of turning over personal data of undocumented taxpayers to Homeland Security, so you can guess where the regime is putting the IRS' focus these days instead of enforcing tax laws.
OT- Connecticut Supreme Court tells Alex Jones to get fucked: https://apnews.com/article/alex-jones-sandy-hook-shooting-infowars-60d5e76f5f9da99397667f6f7f03626e
No, Alex, "𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢!" is not a valid excuse for not paying the $1.4 billion you owe to the people whose murdered children you lied about. Shut up and start writing checks, you whiny little doucheguzzler.
He should count himself lucky that writing checks was the ONLY thing he was sentenced to do. He should have gotten that, and far, far, far worse.
https://scontent-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/489956521_601271039607265_2877407188636733352_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=WM0wqfWEZHYQ7kNvwHfyy6q&_nc_oc=AdklkqeqwT6Ejo6cWXD0pRtFMk2YfCIgLqb062L1XaRxa2rxZpkH5fAuoM-mt5wlaGs&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-1.xx&_nc_gid=lnULVBhMdEsAJix2bYn_MQ&oh=00_AfEwrk-2LFPA7WQt5hDzjFbq9MlLQZQ2jzd6byA9Lc0i2g&oe=67FCE2CA
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The grift has been laid bare: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0d188e387cc2d0b954e3dfc015d9f0fca1e59b78741b7df8350aac31ce52d035.jpg
I'm actually a little surprised he can enact such broad, high tariffs without Congressional approval. If we ever get a sane Congress and Court again we really should take care of that.
Get rid of the Republicans, and it will.
That's the very question that has been bothering me since this whole tariff shitshow started...I thought tariffs HAD TO BE APPROVED BY CONGRESS. Then I wondered if I was misremembering all my civics classes. (?)
very scary.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/trump-executive-order-fox-news-law-firm
What's scary is the lily-livered cowards who are backing down preemptively.
A demented madman drunk with power and delusions of godhood.
One can also wonder if he contacted these firms to represent him at one time or another and they refused.
Another temper tantrum from the toddler in chief.
Did you mean demented? Although dented also works.
Damn! I swear it read 'demented.' What happened to the the m and e? Fixed.
Das trumpy's dictatorship is here.
Yeah, nothing like the government punishing law firms for giving legal assistance to private businesses who were defamed!
Shenanigans like this are the reason churches can't keep butts in the pews anymore. The bottom line here is that this sort of article shows exactly how unwilling Christian churches are to obey the government and police themselves when it comes to laws written specifically to keep them in line. Rule of law isn't a concern for them now, despite years of claiming to be the 'moral majority' and 'the party of law and order' and other such titles.
It seems to me these days that too many Christians are happy to disregard, remove, or break the social contract if they think they might benefit from doing so, regardless of the damage it might do to others. These Christians are following their leaders and don't care about anyone outside their bubble; as a group, they're acting more like corporate sharks than the advertised charitable group they're pretending to be. Rather than protecting the vulnerable, they're going out of their way to make as many as possibly more vulnerable and to take advantage of said vulnerability. I don't know these people, and honestly, I don't want to; they aren't good people and it's pretty clear that's the point.
Here's hoping we all survive the coming storm of fallout from this behavior.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6bcb06905f5597d0ae16b1e8349bab7162ec9ccf5c7fd5260701d70f045db729.jpg
It's also the only Rocky movie featuring a sweet transvestite from transexual Transylvania.
Oh, I don't know...
"The blackness would hit me and the void would be calling" sounds like a boxer who knows he's been knocked out and will be kissing the canvas. :)
"Doing the Time Warp" kind of a sounds like a fancy boxing move.
I once investigated how many churches the IRS and the US had deprived of their tax-free status for political activity. I can't remember the exact figure but it was close to 2 – in maybe 100 years. So either churches were being remarkably well behaved – which I knew wasn't true – or they weren't enforcing their rules anyway. And it seems to have sort of slipped between the cracks, given how little it was ever mentioned, even in atheist publications. I'm wondering if there's any legal means that can be used to force them to uphold their rules and regulations? It is the US after all. Litigation rules!
Rules? LOLOLOL!!!!! If I hacked your laptop and stole your Social Security number and bank details, cops would slap cuffs on me before I finished typing. But when Elon and his crew do it, people call it “patriotism”? Explain that.
The challenge is "standing". The courts will almost certainly dismiss any litigation on the grounds that the person/org suing isn't eligible to do so.
Ah, I'd forgotten about that – it's an American concept only perhaps.