Author Archives: eehines

Kasparov Screwed the Pooch

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Garry Kasparov, Renew Democracy Initiative Chairman and Russian Action Committee Co-Founder has suggested, in his Friday Wall Street Journal op-ed, that Progressive-Democrat President Joe Biden move to decisively defeat[] Russia and Iran and their terrorist proxies, and then step out of the Presidential campaign. So far, so good.

Then, however, he suggested this—and he was dead serious:

[R]ather than proceed with an unpredictable rematch with Mr. Trump, the president could endorse a younger leader up to the challenge: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Lloyd Austin, the Woke SecDef who’s severely damaging our military with his push for Woke Reeducation Programs in lieu of pushing for more weapons, ammunition, and combat training?

Wow.

Kasparov usually is better informed than this.

False Choices

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The Wall Street Journal‘s Editors are correct that, as their subheadline says,

Helping Kyiv won’t rob weapons to fight Hamas or Hezbollah.

This is in response to some otherwise reasonably intelligent politicians insist on that false choice—that it’s either Ukraine or Israel. Senator Josh Hawley (R, MO), for instance:

Israel is facing existential threat. Any funding for Ukraine should be redirected to Israel immediately[.]

This is a foolishly false dichotomy, for all that, in Hawley’s case, it centers on his disdain for Ukraine and his lack of understanding of the threat the Russian barbarian hordes present.

The false choice representation is broader than that, though.

It’s also a false choice between either Israel or Ukraine, and our southern border, and it’s a false choice between any of those and supporting the Republic of China in deterring the People’s Republic of China or in fighting the PRC if they go ahead and invade.

What’s necessary—and more generally beneficial—is a reallocation of existing expenditures. That requires the Progressive-Democratic Party Representatives and Senators to either get out of the way or work with Republicans in a serious manner to do the reallocations.

It also requires timid Republican Senators to get out of the way or work seriously within their party and for the Republican House caucus to deal, with finality, with the Chaos Gang led by Florida’s Matt Gaetz and Texas’ Chip Roy and get serious about leading the House.

Because Of Course

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The State Department, finally, is beginning to work on arranging charter flights for those Americans and their families currently trapped in Israel by American airlines’ timidity in flying into that nation.

But. But, but, but.

US law requires billing Americans for evacuations.

One of the first duties of government is to protect the citizens for whom it is responsible. But our government will send a bill to those for whom its exercising that responsibility. I’ll come back to this in a bit.

Meanwhile, illegal immigrants collect free assistance.

That’s actually illegal aliens; it’s disappointing that Just the News still acts like it doesn’t understand that. Anyway….

[T]he Biden administration’s generous financial support for the accommodation and relocation of illegal [aliens] to the United States.

Bill Americans, but pay the illegal aliens.

The law mandating requiring Americans to pay for their own evacuation needs to be changed. Americans who traveled in good faith—e.g., to Israel—should not have to pay to be saved from the dire circumstances that get inflicted on them by exogenous forces; that should be on the governments (yes, on us taxpayers’) nickel. Only those who foolishly, willfully travel to known danger zones—e.g., to Gaza, or Iran, or (today) the People’s Republic of China—should be required to pay for their ride out of the trouble they got themselves into. That’s long-term, though.

In the near-term, the Biden administration needs to stop flying—or transporting by any means—or providing any other form of financial support to illegal aliens. The only thing they should get at no further cost (they’ve already paid a high price to enter our nation illegally) is a ride back to their North American home countries or simply back into Mexico for non-New World illegal aliens. And that free ride should occur immediately on apprehension.

Full stop.

DoJ Wrist-Slaps Again

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And again, with the light tap the Biden-Garland DoJ favors one of their own, a man who leaked the tax returns of Progressive-Democrats’ Enemy No. 1, Donald Trump, and those of a multiplicity of the Evil Rich.

According to the Justice Department, Charles Littlejohn, 38, disclosed the tax returns of “thousands of the nation’s wealthiest individuals” to news organizations and tax information associated with a “high-ranking government official” to a second news outlet.

Garland’s idea of non-tiered justice in his DoJ:

He [Littlejohn] pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax return and return information.

All one count out of the plethora of instances. The price he faces? A max of 5 years. For leaking thousands of returns. He’s let off with a single count and a light sentence. Even if the judge gives him the max, he’ll be out much sooner, for time served (if any) and for “good behavior.”

This is Garland’s definition of non-tiered.

Racing to the Bottom

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So far, Ireland is winning, and that’s paying off big for the Irish.

In the past eight years, the country of five million has watched its corporate tax income triple to the tune of 22.6 billion euros last year, equivalent to almost $24 billion—giving it a budget surplus last year of a comfortable €8 billion euros when many governments are suffering from a postpandemic debt hangover.

And

Ireland became a hot spot for US companies by slashing its corporate tax rate from 40% to 12.5% starting in the late 90s, and offering a well-educated workforce and a tariff-free way into the European Union.

That’s a lower rate than the European Union wants, and it’s lower than the 15% tax, globally applied and agreed among some 136 countries, and that Yellen is so desperate to get the US trapped into.

The Irish, though, are raking in the tax revenues because of—not despite—their lower tax rate regime: they’re leaving business’ profits increasingly in the hands of those businesses for business use, they’re attracting foreign businesses, and all that lower tax-induced increasing economic activity produces, on net, more revenue for the Irish government.

This is the wealth and prosperity that Progressive-Democrat President Joe Biden, his Progressive-Democrat Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and the rest of the Progressive-Democratic Party cronies want to deny us ordinary Americans as they demand United States’ participation in a global tax cabal that lets the cabal avoid economic competition in favor of power.

One more thing: the Irish are considering throwing all of their prosperity into a cocked hat in favor of joining the high-tax cabal; they’ll do that at their own severe economic peril.