Monthly Archives: December 2016

The EU Strikes Again

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In a 130-page decision from August that was made public on Monday, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, asserted that two Apple units registered in Ireland brought in $130 billion in profit over an 11-year period that should have been taxed at Ireland’s 12.5% corporate tax rate, but instead remained largely untaxed anywhere.

As the WSJ noted, this is an early volley in the struggle by European Union authorities to impose their tax will on scofflaw sovereign nations who are so impertinent as to apply to multinational corporations doing business within them national tax schemes and such emoluments as these nations deem useful rather than acceding to their EU Know Betters.

Never mind that the members of the EU still are sovereign nations.

Never mind that, in the present case, Ireland simply applied its domestic law to that subset of an international corporation doing business from within Ireland.

Never mind that Ireland has an unacceptably low (to the EU Know Betters) corporate tax rate, and so it’s winning the competition with continental Europe to attract business.

Maybe Ireland should reevaluate its relationship with the European Union.

Who Does She Think We Are?

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Attorney General Loretta Lynch…regrets…her private meeting with Hillary Clinton’s husband right before her FBI Director whitewashed the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s classified email transmittals via unsecured means.

I wish I had seen around that corner and not had that discussion with the former president, as innocuous as it was, because it did give people concern.  It did make people wonder, “Is it going to affect the investigation that’s going on?” and that’s not something that was an unreasonable question for anyone to ask.

Lynch is a highly experienced and talented Federal prosecutor.  That’s part of why she was nominated to the Attorney General post by President Barack Obama (D).

However, Lynch is a politically malleable lawyer, too, which is another part of why Obama wanted her for his AG.

Lynch knew what she was doing when she agreed to meet with Clinton’s husband.  All she regrets is the hoo-raw over her misbehavior; she doesn’t regret her misbehavior.  Her assumption that we’re dumb enough to buy this nonsense is offensive.

Counting Coup

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China on Tuesday handed back to the United States an underwater drone whose seizure raised tensions in a relationship that has been tested by President-elect Donald Trump’s signals of a tougher policy toward Beijing.

And

The Chinese navy vessel that seized the drone returned it near where it had been taken, and it was received by the USS Mustin about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines[.]

The PRC just did.

A Disingenuous EPA

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Talk about cost shifting.

The EPA is proposing a rule that will shift the cost of complying with its diktats—Superfund cleanups this time—onto private enterprise.  The rule

would cost the [mining industry] industry $171 million a year and save the EPA $527 million over 34 years

were the rule to be finalized.  Notice that: The EPA would save $527 million dollars over the 34 years–$15.5 million per year—while those $171 million per year inflicted on the industry works out to more than $5.8 billion over the 34 years.  And that’s per the EPA’s own Regulatory Impact Analysis.

Never mind that the EPA already has cost shifted at one environmental disaster that it caused, when it’s people blew out a closed mine in Colorado through their own idle carelessness and have yet to pay for the damage done and the cleanup.

Merry Christmas from the EPA.

The Debil Made Me Do It

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At least Flip Wilson’s routine was funny.  The Democrats’ and their Party’s comedy, though, is just sad.

In no particular order, it’s been low-information voters who didn’t get the message that caused Democrats to lose seats in Congress and ultimately caused Hillary Clinton to lose the Presidential election.  Or it was that we’re just too dumb to understand their message.  Or it was FBI Director Comey who spiked her campaign.  Or it was the Russians who rigged our election.  Or it was President-Elect Donald Trump who’s in cahoots with the Russians.  Or it became Republican Electors who need to do their moral duty and not vote for Trump.  Or it was a mendacious press that had it in for Clinton.  And the latest: Bill Clinton’s racist and sexist rant: it was all those angry, white men who didn’t vote for Hillary.

Now it’s Huma Abedin’s fault.  She was an enabler of Clinton’s decision to isolate herself from the public and from the nature of her campaign.

“The real anger is toward Hillary’s inner circle,” a Clinton insider told Vanity Fair for a Wednesday feature on Abedin. “They reinforced all the bad habits.”

Because her role—created by her boss (that would be Hillary Clinton for those of you following along at home)—as personal advisor and Deputy Campaign Chief meant her advising should have been taken seriously.  But it was only advice: the decisions were always those of the MFWIC (Clinton again).  And it was Clinton’s bad habits, no one else’s.

And she was too enamored of her role.

“She was enjoying the red carpet and enjoying the photo spreads much too much in my opinion,” one Clinton insider told Vanity Fair. “She enjoyed being a celebrity too much.”

Yeah, she enjoyed the spotlight on her caused by Anthony Weiner’s behavior.  Gotta be it.

It couldn’t possibly be that Clinton had no message on policy, no coherent argument on why her plan to continue, even extend, President Barack Obama’s (D) policies that have been a failure these last eight years was a good idea.  It couldn’t possibly be that in conjunction with that, Clinton simply has been a terrible campaigner.  And that she’s entirely untrustworthy in the eyes of too many Americans.  No, all of that would be Clinton doing something with her personal responsibility more concrete than just talking about taking it.

No, it’s never Democrats’ fault, and it’s never Clinton’s, either.