Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Wild Hoss]

Interesting side note on the tiny county of Nauru...They're pretty close to a failed state. They used to be one of the biggest sources of phosphate in the world but when the mines ran dry, their economy became almost entirely dependent on serving as a detention center for Australia. The unemployment rate is high and they are the most obese nation in the world.

Fat, low on resources, survives on the incarceration industry...its the Oklahoma of the South Pacific.

[hack]

IIRC Nauru doesn't have a central bank, or any banks at all, for that matter. National accounts were operated out of a commercial Aussie bank. This was a problem when they had to prove they were in compliance with global money-laundering standards.

[hack]

Fat, low on resources, survives on the incarceration industry...its the Oklahoma of the South Pacific.

[Wild Hoss]

LOL

[The Oracle]

This fits here....

http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/stephen-henderson/2016/12/03/betsy-devos-education-donald-trump/94728574/

[Wild Hoss]

Many of my Facebook friends back in Nebraska are losing their shit over the DeVos nomination, and are raging in particular over the fact that Sen. Fischer has announced her support for DeVos.

I don't know what to tell them...Trump won the state running away. This is what they voted for.

[froot loops]

There isn't much they can do but call the local office and voice their displeasure and ask them when the next townhall is. It won't stop it, but it will make them pause on the next battle.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Reports suggesting Eastern Ukraine exploding with shellfire tonight.

[Da Geezer]

Churches would be freed to use their budgets to support campaigning ? and citizens would get a tax deduction for contributing to the church, which would still be a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Also, Herzig pointed out, nonprofits like churches aren?t required to make the same public disclosures as PACs, so political funding could theoretically become much less transparent if campaign funding were funneled through churches.

To which the proper response should be to eliminate the tax deductibility of any "donation" to a 501(c)(3) or (c)(4). Without a governmental subsidy, let the various groups behave as they wish.

Remember, Trump said he would do away with the IRS, and would develop a system in which our taxes could be filed on a postcard. He will never keep those promises.

[entropy]

I'd like to see a simplification of the tax code... both corporate and personal

[froot loops]

Hoss - Deb Fischer has two town halls on 2/13 for your Facebook friends to attend. It's on the schedule at least.

[Da Geezer]

I'd like to see a simplification of the tax code... both corporate and personal

Me too. But the powers that be are even howling that a $ 200,000 cap on Schedule A deductions is too low. I doubt if actual reform will happen if they just try to adjust the current, massively confusing, system.

I say, tax everything at a flat rate of about 17%, individual and corporate, no deductions, and see what happens. At least then a tax increase or decrease could be argued on the need for funds to run the government, and the tax code would not be used for social engineering.

[AlabamAlum]

Nauru has what? 50 people on it?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Nauru has what? 50 people on it?

Only about 10,000

[Wild Hoss]

The fact that Lindsay Graham is talking sense and John McCain has become the foreign-policy grownup in the room is some scary shit.