https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqOLfSRrlqA&ab_channel=HardLensMedia
Saturday, October 31, 2020
We May Have Found a New Organ, Thanks to Cancer Therapy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fVDyPdhj3U&ab_channel=SciShow
Under Trump, Households Making $30 Million Nine Times Less Likely to Face IRS Audit Than Working Poor Making Less Than $25,000
If U.S. police detected murders at the same .03% rate that America's richest families are audited, writes journalist David Cay Johnson, "they would become aware of just five of the 16,214 reported homicides."
Brett Wilkins, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/30/under-trump-households-making-30-million-nine-times-less-likely-face-irs-audit
How exactly does President Donald Trump get away with paying such low—or no—taxes?
It's a question many people are asking in the wake of bombshell New York Times reporting showing the president paid just $750 in annual federal income tax in two recent years, and in a stunning new report published Friday, DCReport editor-in-chief David Cay Johnston examined Internal Revenue Service audits of the very richest Americans to find out how people like Trump manage to keep tax collectors at bay.
Johnston looked at 2018 IRS audits of the wealthiest 23,400 U.S. households—their average income was about $30 million—and found that the administration audited just seven of them. Not 7%, but seven households. That's an audit rate of 0.03%.
In contrast, in 2015 under President Barack Obama, the wealthiest Americans were 270 times more likely to be audited than they were in 2018 under Trump. "If American police detected murders at the same rate it would mean that they would become aware of just five of the 16,214 reported homicides that year," writes Johnston.
It doesn't bode well for tax enforcement when the president himself is a known tax cheat, according to Johnston. He writes:
There's no question Trump is a tax cheat because he has done it again and again. He cheated on New York City sales taxes in 1983, for which Mayor Ed Koch said Trump should have served 15 days in jail. He went to extreme, even farcical lengths to evade $3 million of payments he owed in lieu of taxes to New York City.
Trump has been tried twice for civil tax fraud. He lost both times, a story I broke four years ago but you may not know about because America's major news organizations have not reported it except for one passing mention in the wedding announcement section of The New York Times. Two years ago, however, that newspaper did an exhaustive report showing years of calculated gift tax cheating by two generations of Trumps. In recent weeks income tax information that newspaper reported revealed many badges of tax fraud.
So why hasn't Trump been held accountable for his expansive tax cheating? It has to do with who the IRS audits, says Johnston. He notes that the working poor—defined as people earning less than $25,000 annually—were the target of one-third of all IRS audits in 2018, even thought their average income was just $12,600. The audit rate for poor households was 0.28%, or nine times that of the richest households.
"Now add to all this Trump's powers as president," writes Johnston, which include being able to appoint—and fire—the heads of the Treasury Department, IRS, Justice Department, and other important posts."The cold hard truth," writes Johnston, "is that the richest Americans today face a teensy-weensy risk of being detected if they cheat," mostly due to the dizzying complexity and intricacies of their business operations and property holdings.
Over the past 13 months of the Trump administration, the IRS has referred just 231 cases for prosecution. In 2016, Obama's final year in office, there were 2,744 referrals for prosecution—over 1,100% more than Trump during a similar period. Additionally, around 70% of those cases under Trump were dismissed due to "insufficient evidence."
In the end, "the costs of these favor-the-rich policies even when they cheat are borne by the other 99% of taxpayers," writes Johnston.
'This Is Trump's Failure': US Reports Record 90,400+ Covid Cases in Just 24 Hours—Equivalent to One New Infection Every Second
"Another record day of Covid cases. Not because of testing—but because President Trump has given up on controlling the virus and his administration has failed the American people."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/30/trumps-failure-us-reports-record-90400-covid-cases-just-24-hours-equivalent-one-new
As President Donald Trump stuck to his falsehood-riddled closing message in the final stretch of the 2020 campaign—the U.S. is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic, the economy is roaring back, and public health measures are politically motivated ploys to harm his reelection chances—the U.S. on Thursday reported a daily record of 90,400-plus new coronavirus infections, the equivalent of more than one case every second.
Coronvirus cases are on the rise in nearly every U.S. state including Florida, where Trump on Thursday held an in-person campaign rally during which he paid lip service to basic precautions, such as wearing a mask and social distancing, as a crowd of his largely maskless supporters stood inches apart from each other.
"You know the bottom line, though? You're going to get better. You're going to get better. If I can get better, anybody can get better. And I got better fast," Trump said, neglecting to mention that he had access to a level of high-quality government healthcare that is unavailable to most Americans after he contracted Covid-19.
The president's remarks came hours before the U.S. reported 90,446 new coronavirus cases and around 1,000 deaths Thursday, bringing the nation's infection total to more than nine million as the death toll surpassed 228,700. Hospitalizations are also trending upward at an alarming rate.
"This is Trump's failure," tweeted Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, in response to the staggering new figures.
In its weekly update on the pandemic published Thursday, the Covid Tracking Project pointed out that "unlike the spring and summer outbreaks, the third surge is geographically dispersed, and counts are up in every region of the country. An increase in testing is not sufficient to explain the numbers."
"The country reported a record number of tests at 8.2 million, but case growth (24 percent) far outpaced test growth (9 percent), as we explained earlier this week," the organization noted. "That's also true for the entire month of October: Forty-seven of the 50 states, along with the District of Columbia, have seen cases rise faster than reported tests since October 1."
As the Washington Post reported late Thursday, "coronavirus cases are surging in every competitive state before Election Day, offering irrefutable evidence against President Trump's closing argument that the pandemic is nearly over and restrictions are no longer necessary."
"In the 13 states deemed competitive by the Cook Political Report," the Post noted, "the weekly average of new cases reported daily has jumped 45 percent over the past two weeks, from fewer than 21,000 on October 14 to more than 30,000 on October 28."
With the president and members of his administration continuing to publicly downplay the pandemic and indicate the White House has given up trying to control the spread, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers—whose state has been hit hard by the coronavirus in recent days with more than 200 deaths reported over the past week—said Thursday that "there is no way to sugarcoat it: We are facing an urgent crisis."
"There is an imminent risk to you, your family members, your friends, your neighbors," Evers warned.
Minnesota Democrats Implore Voters to 'Drop Off Your Ballot' in Person After Last-Minute Court Ruling
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon called the court's decision a "tremendous and unnecessary disruption to Minnesota's election, just days before Election Day."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/30/minnesota-democrats-implore-voters-drop-your-ballot-person-after-last-minute-court
Minnesota lawmakers and election officials urged voters in their state to avoid the mail and drop off their absentee ballots in person if possible after a panel of federal judges on Thursday issued a last-minute ruling ordering the separation of absentee ballots that arrive after 8:00 pm on November 3 from those received earlier, leaving open the possibility that late-arriving ballots could be invalidated.
"DROP OFF YOUR BALLOT IF YOU HAVEN'T MAILED IT YET," Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted late Thursday, linking to a website designed to help voters find nearby ballot drop-off locations.
In its 2-1 decision just days out from the election, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon's mandate that ballots postmarked by November 3 and received within seven days of Election Day must be counted stands "in direct contradiction to Minnesota election law governing presidential elections."
Simon, a Democrat, said state officials are considering appealing the ruling to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court and implored Minnesota voters to drop their ballots off in person at their local county election office instead of mailing them."There is no pandemic exception to the Constitution," wrote Judges L. Steven Grasz and Bobby Shepherd, respectively appointed by President Donald Trump and former President George W. Bush.
While ruling in favor of the pair of Trump Electoral College electors who brought the case, the appellate judges acknowledged their decision would likely cause "voter confusion" and "election administration issues" and potentially further undermine "public confidence in the election."
"With that said," the judges added, "we conclude the challenges that will stem from this ruling are preferable to a postelection scenario where mail-in votes, received after the statutory deadline, are either intermingled with ballots received on time or invalidated without prior warning."
In her lone dissent, Judge Jane Kelly warned that the court's decision "has the effect of telling voters—who, until now, had been under the impression that they had until November 3 to mail their ballots—that they should have mailed their ballots yesterday (or, more accurately, several days ago)."
"With the court's injunction in place," Kelly wrote, "fewer eligible Minnesotans will be able to exercise their fundamental right to vote. That, in and of itself, should give us significant pause before granting injunctive relief."
As Reuters explained, "the 8th Circuit sent the case back to a lower court and instructed it to require Minnesota election officials to identify and 'segregate' absentee ballots received after November 3. The litigation is in a preliminarily stage and those ballots would not be counted if a final judgment is entered in the Republicans' favor."
Following the court's ruling, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said voters should "NOT put ballots in the mail any more" and instead drop them off in person to ensure they're received on time.
In a statement late Thursday, Simon denounced the court's dismissal of his deadline extension as "a tremendous and unnecessary disruption to Minnesota's election, just days before Election Day."
"This last-minute change could disenfranchise Minnesotans who were relying on settled rules for the 2020 election—rules that were in place before the August 11 primary and were accepted by all political parties," Simon added. "I won't let any Minnesota voter be silenced. My mission is now to make sure all voters know that a federal court has suddenly changed the rules, and that their ballot needs to be received by Election Day."
The secretary of state's office provided a list of steps voters should take to ensure their ballots are counted:
Voters who have already put their ballot in the mail can track their ballot at http://www.mnvotes.org/track. If their ballot has not yet been received the voter can vote in-person either by absentee, or at their polling place on Election Day.
Voters can deliver their ballots to their county election office by hand (or have someone they trust hand-deliver it for them).
Voters can cast their vote in person with an absentee ballot at their local election office up until November 2, 2020.
Voters can cast their votes in person on Election Day. Use our Pollfinder Tool to find out where to vote.
"The right to vote is fundamental," said Simon. "The court's decision is a step in the direction of restricting the exercise of that right, during a pandemic that has altered everything about our daily lives. But Minnesotans always find a way to vote, and they'll do so again this year. The spirit that has fueled Minnesota's nation-leading voter turnout will continue."
Tillis Pushed Deregulation That Helps His Top Donor, Blackstone Group, Bilk Small Investors
Besides being Tillis’ top campaign donor, Blackstone’s CEO has given $20 million to a super PAC attacking Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham.
Donald Shaw
@donnydonny
https://readsludge.com/2020/10/30/tillis-pushed-deregulation-that-helps-his-top-donor-blackstone-group-bilk-small-investors/
The private equity industry has spent more money on the 2020 elections than ever before, and no politician has benefitted more than North Carolina’s Republican senator Thom Tillis, whose race against Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham, a dead heat, could determine which party controls the upper chamber.
Keeping Republicans in control of the Senate would benefit the industry in many ways, including helping their billionaire executives hold onto lucrative tax breaks, but they also have reason to try and keep Tillis around in particular. Tillis has been a leader in helping to deliver regulatory benefits for the industry, including his repeated efforts to secure a new rule that weakens the position of smaller American investors to the benefit of big corporations and private equity firms.
In 2018, Tillis introduced legislation to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to expand the definition of accredited investors so that private funds can raise money from less-wealthy investors. The accredited investor definition is used to determine who is allowed to participate in investments that are not available to the general public, including offers by private equity firms, hedge funds, and venture funds. For years, accredited investors were required to have a net worth of at least $1 million, but Tillis wanted to expand that to include people with certain educational backgrounds, job experience, and a lower net worth.
The SEC kicked off a rulemaking to expand the definition in December 2019 and finalized it earlier this year after Tillis and a few of his Republican colleagues filed a comment to the agency’s chair, Jay Clayton, asking him to be even more expansive with their changes to the definition. When the SEC voted to change the definition, Tillis put out a statement applauding the effort and saying that he “has led Congressional efforts to amend the definition of accredited investor.”
The definition now allows for holders of entry-level stockbroker’s licenses, “knowledgeable employees” of nonpublic firms, and other new categories of investors to participate in financial offerings like leveraged buyouts and angel funds that are far less transparent than those offered to the general public.
In his letter, Tillis calls the change “a win for the American people,” but financial reform advocates see the SEC’s move as an industry victory that helps giant firms exploit small investors.
“The SEC did the bidding of private equity in particular by enlarging the pool of money from which this industry, which already has trillions on hand, can draw,” said Carter Dougherty, communications director with consumer group Americans for Financial Reform. “The result will surely be that private equity firms will prey on less-informed investors, who will not have the benefit of information available in public securities markets, and will pay higher fees for mediocre returns on their money.”
These investments and fees will benefit billionaire fund managers, several of whom have spent tens of millions of dollars this election cycle to support Tillis and other vulnerable Republicans.
The CEO of private equity behemoth Blackstone Group, Stephen Schwarzman, who is worth $18.1 billion, has donated $20 million since January 2019 to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.).
Tillis has been the biggest beneficiary of Senate Leadership Fund support this election cycle. The super PAC has spent $47 million on television ads and other communications opposing his opponent Cal Cunningham as of Oct. 30. The group’s ads have attacked Cunningham over flirtatious texts he sent to a woman who is not his wife.
Another top donor to Senate Leadership Fund is Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of investment firm Citadel, which could benefit from an expanded pool of potential investors. Griffin gave the super PAC $25 million this cycle.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Blackstone sent letters to the SEC praising their proposal to expand the accredited investor definition and urging it to go further.
Blackstone Group is also Tillis’ top campaign donor this election cycle, according to a tally by the Center for Responsive Politics, with many of the firm’s executives and employees chipping in the legal maximum of $5,600 for a combined total of $67,611, including Schwarzman, Global Head of Private Equity Joseph Baratta, and Senior Managing Director Prakash Melwani. Securities and investments is Tillis’ top donor industry, with investment firms like Elliot Management, Apollo Global Management, and Capital Group all among his top 20 donors.
The North Carolina Senate race is one of a handful that will determine which party controls the Senate, along with races in Maine, Colorado, and Arizona. Most polls have Tillis trailing his Democratic opponent by a few percentage points, with the race having tightened dramatically in the past two weeks.
Unions Representing Hundreds of Thousands of Workers Prepare for General Strike If Trump Subverts Election Results
"Paired with people in the streets, a strike could help stop a GOP coup."
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/30/unions-representing-hundreds-thousands-workers-prepare-general-strike-if-trump
Dozens of labor unions have resolved to consider a general strike after Nov. 3 should President Donald Trump refuse to accept the results of the election or sabotage the counting of ballots, with organizers calling a work stoppage "the most powerful tool the movement has" to protect democracy.
The 100,000-member Rochester-Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation in New York was the first union federation to adopt a resolution this month stating that it would prepare for and hold “a general strike of all working people, if necessary, to ensure a constitutionally mandated peaceful transition of power as a result of the 2020 presidential elections."
The resolution also stated the federation would lobby other labor organizations including the AFL-CIO, which represents 12.5 million workers, to consider a general strike if the president attempts to subvert the election results.
MLK Labor in Seattle, which represents 150 unions and 100,000 members, approved a resolution last week stating it "will take whatever nonviolent actions are necessary up to and including a general strike to protect our democracy, the Constitution, the law, and our nation’s democratic traditions," and Western Mass Area Labor Federation in Western Massachusetts voted on a similar resolution last Monday. The group passed the resolution as Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to accepting the election results if he loses and after several federal court decisions have sparked fears that hundreds of thousands of voters could be disenfranchised.
"We joined a growing number of labor organizations around the country and passed a resolution making clear that should Donald Trump and his administration attempt to obstruct, subvert, sabotage, overturn or reject a fair and complete count of presidential ballots (essentially a coup against democracy), that the labor movements must respond with nonviolent action to defend the democratic process, the Constitution and an orderly transfer of power that is one of the historic hallmarks of American democracy," the federation wrote on its Facebook page last week.
"The labor movement must be ready to defend our democracy and use our collective power to ensure that every vote is counted," the group added.
The AFL-CIO's executive council has so far only committed to "defend our democratic republic," and President Richard Trumka told labor leaders on Oct. 22 that the labor movement's focus up until Election Day is to get out the vote for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. After the election, Trumka said, the AFL-CIO will determine how it will fight back if Trump or the judicial system moves to stop the counting of votes or otherwise stands in the way of a peaceful transition of power.
Even a work stoppage in certain parts of the country would be historic; the last time a general strike took place in the U.S. was in 1946 when workers in Oakland, Calif. staged a walkout over low wages, forcing all businesses except for grocery stores and pharmacies to shut down for one month.
"What we've seen is people going about our business during the day and conducting mass protests at night, and that's not going to be enough to make this president move," Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, told The Guardian on Friday. "[Trump] will use those protests to further divide the country. We will have to do the one thing that takes all power and control from the government or anyone with corporate interests in keeping this person in office, and that is withholding our labor."
As labor leaders across the country are considering a work stoppage, advocacy groups are preparing a growing number of direct actions to demand that election officials protect the results of the election. Led by Indivisible and Stand Up America, the Protect the Results coalition is so far planning at least 435 demonstrations across the country, up from 375 on Tuesday.
"If Trump declares victory prematurely or tries to undermine the results of the election, the American people must be ready to rise up and protect the results," wrote Leah Greenberg of Indivisible and Sean Eldridge of Stand Up America at Talking Points Memo on Friday.
"With a combined membership in the tens of millions, the Protect the Results coalition continues to build a national activist network that could mobilize quickly to demand that election officials, the Electoral College and Congress honor the accurate, final vote count," they added. "By mobilizing across the country, our groups hope to ensure that any corrupt political pressure from Trump is met with far greater pressure from the American people to follow the rules and preserve our democracy."
A work stoppage combined with rallies at government buildings and other public places starting on Nov. 4, should the president sabotage a free and fair election, "could help stop a GOP coup," said organizers.
"Spread the word. Contact your union," tweeted Protect the Results NYC. "And if you haven't, commit to taking the streets."
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