Nearly half of Americans believer the U.S. should arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his actions in Israel’s war in Gaza, according to a new poll from The Economist/YouGov. When asked if the U.S. should enforce an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Netanyahu, 49 percent of respondents in the poll said “yes,”…
A recent Freedom of Information Act request for Pentagon records revealed the department never disclosed that 70 American troops were wounded in a single day during Trump's Iran war.The War Horse filed the request and published its findings, revealing over 400 casualties in the first six weeks of conflict. The data was logged between Feb. 28 and April 8, with head trauma being the most common among 170 cases. Troops also suffered shrapnel wounds, broken bones, and smoke inhalation, according to the data. Army soldiers comprised most casualties, with over 270 troops, including roughly one-third reservists. The largest casualty day occurred on March 18, following a U.S.-Israeli airstrike killing senior Iranian official Ali Larijani. The Pentagon subsequently reorganized its Defense Casualty Analysis System, Task & Purpose found. Additionally, the Washington Examiner reported the Pentagon split the war into separate operational lists to circumvent the 60-day War Powers Act requirement for congressional authorization. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) condemned the situation on social media, "Let me explain this absurd ruse: The Pentagon is pretending there have been two Iran wars separated by a brief cease-fire," he added, "The reality: By going more than 90 days without congressional authorization, War Secretary Pete Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable."Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
Friends,I want to start today with a warning about “charitable giving” and end with a primer on wealth inequality. The two are closely related, as I’ll explain.We’re on the cusp of the biggest gusher of “charitable giving” in history. Beware.We tend to think of “charitable giving” as unambiguously good because we equate “charities” with organizations that help the poor and equate “giving” with generosity. But both assumptions are wrong.In fact, the “giving” is actually a giant tax loophole that provides the super-rich a means of dramatically cutting their tax bills while quietly funding their own priorities.And “charities” under the tax code include elite universities, fancy opera houses, cultural palaces frequented only by the richest of the rich, and nonprofit “think tanks” devoted to right-wing causes.The problem is that every dollar of “charitable giving” means substantially fewer dollars paid in taxes, because donors deduct their “charitable giving” from their taxable incomes. This tax loophole is especially big and lucrative for the super-rich.According to the Institute for Policy Studies, up to 74 cents of every dollar donated to charity would have been paid as taxes. In 2022 alone, charitable giving resulted in $73 billion in lost tax revenue.Here’s the thing. Taxes finance public goods such as public education, scientific research, roads and bridges, nutrition and healthcare for lower-income Americans, and clean water and clean air.But the “charitable” tax deduction taken by the super-rich finances things that the super-rich want, such as Ivy League universities and culture palaces.This means a lot of “charitable giving” results in more money for organizations that cater to or do the bidding of the rich, and less for things we all need. Behind the facade of “charitable giving” is a profoundly anti-democratic tax loophole that allows the super-wealthy to effectively substitute their priorities for what would otherwise be public priorities.Which brings me to the upcoming gusher of “charitable giving” — the consequence of the AI boom and the largest IPOs in history.Thousands of people with shares of Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceX, and other AI-related companies have seen, or soon will see, the value of their shares soar into the stratosphere. That means gigantic capital gains.You don’t need a degree in high finance to understand that these capital gains could also result in big tax payments. If you sell, say, $10 million worth of stock, you could easily face a tax bill exceeding $3.5 million.Unless you reduce that tax bill through your “charitable giving.”Hence, the upcoming gusher in charitable giving. According to some estimates, it could be more than $100 billion a year.Consider: The seven founders of Anthropic, which is expected to have an enormous IPO as soon as this fall, have each pledged to give away 80 percent of their wealth, which is estimated to be about $90 billion. Anthropic also has a philanthropic matching program, which would mean another $60 billion in funds earmarked for giving. Nan Ransohoff, who heads public goods at the payment processor Stripe, estimates that these will generate between $37 billion and $100 billion to charities annually.Add in the newly rich created by SpaceX, whose IPO has spawned an estimated 4,400 millionaires (and some 400 employees now worth more than $100 million), as well as OpenAI’s IPO, which is likely to create as many more millionaires and multimillionaires, and you’re talking really big money — and huge incentives for making tax-deductible “charitable contributions.”Don’t get me wrong. I consider the nonprofit sector of the economy enormously important. I just don’t want the nation’s priorities to be set by the moneyed interests. Their massive political donations already give them extraordinary power.One reform would be to limit the definition of “charities” — that is, the sort of contributions that warrant tax deductions — to places and institutions that actually serve the poor.Another reform would be to reduce the tax deduction for “charitable contributions” and increase the capital gains tax rate on very high incomes. (At the very least, raise the capital gains tax rate to match the tax rate on ordinary income.)And by all means let’s get rid of the “stepped-up-basis-at-death” tax rule, which now allows families to escape all capital gains by leaving appreciated assets to their heirs. For example, consider someone who got OpenAI stock for almost nothing and watched its value explode, and then contributed enough of it to charity to allow her to make a nice living off it without paying any capital gains taxes. She gave the remaining shares to her children when she died. The kids can then sell those shares for what they’re worth at the time of her death — say, hundreds of millions of dollars — yet pay zero capital gains on it.These three reforms are, or should be, no-brainers.
President Trump delivered the eulogy for friend and ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died unexpectedly just a short time after visiting Ukraine earlier this month.
Vice President JD Vance joined his former congressional colleagues to remember the life and legacy of the late North Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham during a memorial service at the Capitol. Vance, who offered his condolences to Graham’s family and staff, recalled the late senator’s “world-class sense of humor,” which he said once left him […]
Washington Examiner executive editor Bob Cusack said Republicans must effectively counter Democrats’ argument that President Donald Trump and his family have financially benefited while ordinary Americans continue to struggle with high costs. Cusack’s comments come after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) argued that Republicans have failed to deliver on campaign promises to lower costs, […]
WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance eulogized the late Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) from the United States Capitol on Tuesday, describing Graham as a “true American original” and a great statesman who deeply loved his fellow Americans. Vance spoke in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday morning as he and his fellow Republicans honored the life ...
I am so done with this whole Mitch McConnell thing.We’re now past six weeks of this ridiculous crap, and the silence surrounding the Kentucky senator’s condition long ago eclipsed the point of disturbing to become completely absurd and intolerable. But that just seems to be the Republican way. All we get are vague justifications and likely manipulated “proof of life” photos rather than actual explanations.Has McConnell been struck mute? Is he in a fugue state? Is he deceased? If the answers to all three are “No,” then there is zero reason why he shouldn’t be able to appear in a video to explain what the hell is actually going on with him.Yet not even the disempowered Democratic Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, has been able to communicate with or receive a genuine update on McConnell’s condition.This thing all began on June 14, when paramedics reportedly responded to a brief loss of consciousness from a fall at McConnell’s home. His office issued a fuzzy statement that day about a subsequent hospitalization, without explaining more.And there hasn’t been a whole lot that’s made sense since. A couple of people independently reported phantom 20-minute conversations with the senator during which he was supposedly sentient and alert, but evidently not so much that he could actually communicate with the outside world.Then on July 12 came The Photo That Launched a Million Memes. The one with a smiling McConnell sitting up in a hospital bed dressed in a red-checkered shirt, a copy of that morning’s Washington Post in his lap, his sometimes-devoted wife Elaine Chao by his side. The photo’s authenticity was purportedly confirmed, but who among us really believes that?Somehow, a clarifying statement from McConnell’s office on Monday, designed to update us on the senator’s condition, managed to clarify nothing at all. It noted that he wouldn’t be returning to work this week, while quoting him as saying, “I’m still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with my intense physical therapy per my doctors’ orders. Unfortunately, that means I won’t be able to make it to Fancy Farm, Kentucky this Saturday.”An accompanying statement noted that McConnell was “not yet medically cleared” to leave the mysterious rehab facility where he was being treated. It also featured the obligatory smiling photo of him being comforted by his wife. If we don’t trust the legitimacy of anything going on here, of course, it’s their own damn fault. The Republicans have shown themselves to be lying sacks of garbage, and this McConnell mystery fiasco pours more fuel atop that.We’ve since heard that McConnell is now mostly afflicted only with a mild case of pneumonia. But if that’s all it is, I’ve never heard of a case of pneumonia that prevents you from going on camera.You know who would never allow this insanity to move forward were the situation reversed and it was a Democrat pulling this disappearing act? Mitch McConnell, that’s who. Say what you will about the man being (having been?) a duplicitous, cheating scoundrel who plays (played?) by no one’s rules but his own; he doesn’t (didn’t?) take any of this kind of crap from anyone.Meanwhile, Governor Beshear has been neutered by his Republican-controlled state legislature into oblivion. We’ve all heard about how the party is stalling any announcement or info about McConnell until August 3, the date after which an immediate special election can’t be called to fill the seat. But who knows what the real motive here is?Some people obviously know what’s going on, and they aren’t saying a word. It’s just unbelievable. How can this be legal? It’s obviously not moral or ethical – further evidence that this rogue cult does whatever it wants and always seems to get away with it.Like so much that’s happened during the Trump years, this is completely unacceptable. And yet the Democrats, even as they scream and shout to try to change up the narrative, accept it.We’re all being institutionally gaslit with outrageous political theater. Every carefully worded statement about the health of a man who has vanished from view seems engineered to answer every question except the one everyone is asking. It’s as if the Republicans have invented a new medical specialty: strategic ambiguity.Imagine applying a similar standard of non-information in other areas of lifeYour airline pilot pauses on the runway for 15 minutes without saying a word. A flight attendant gets on the PA and calmly says, “Our pilot has consulted with experts and remains fully committed to today’s flight.”The surgeon who is about to perform your colonoscopy freezes during pre-op for half an hour before you’re put under anesthesia. No one bothers to tell you what’s going on.“Everything OK?” you finally ask.A hospital publicist enters the room to assure you, “The doctor appreciates your concern and looks forward to continuing a distinguished career.”Your Uber driver steers your car into a lake.
