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#2713

I just posted the whole NYT article over at the Weekend thread.

Also:

image

Also, we now know Trump was working with totalitarian regimes to make much of his money.

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#2714

Ooooh:

Six key findings from the New York Times’ Trump taxes bombshell

The president pays little, faces hefty audit costs as well as loans coming due soon, and Ivanka is not in the clear

The publication of Donald Trump’s records by the New York Times is one of the biggest bombshells to hit an unprecedented 2020 election campaign already been hit by a litany of scandals, a bitter fight over a supreme court nomination and a pandemic in which 7m Americans have been infected and more than 200,000 have died, during a bungled federal response.


Trump says overturning Roe v Wade ‘possible’ with Barrett on supreme court


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The president’s taxes have long been the great white whale of political reporters in America as well as prosecutors keen to find evidence of wrongdoing. Democrats too were eager to seize on them as a potentially game-changing stick with which to beat the Trump campaign.

The Times, with its shock report published on Sunday evening, appears to have won the race. Its publication of details from the documents could send shock waves through the campaign as the key first debate between Trump and challenger Joe Biden looms, in Ohio on Tuesday night.

Here are some of its key findings:

Trump pays little tax

The Times reported that Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years the newspaper looked at. In 2017, after he became president, his tax bill was only $750. This is despite Trump often railing against taxes in America and ushering through a series of tax cuts that critics say mostly helps the rich and big business.

The Times said of Trump’s immediate predecessors: “Barack Obama and George W Bush each regularly paid more than $100,000 a year.”

A long audit – with potentially hefty costs

Trump is involved in a decade-long audit with the Internal Revenue Service over a $72.9m tax refund he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses. A ruling against him could cost him more than $100m, the Times reported.

It added: “In 2011, the IRS began an audit reviewing the legitimacy of the refund. Almost a decade later, the case remains unresolved, for unknown reasons, and could ultimately end up in federal court, where it could become a matter of public record.”

Ivanka helps reduce Trump’s tax burden

The president’s oldest daughter, while working as an employee of the Trump Organization, appears to have received “consulting fees” that helped reduce the family’s tax bill, the Times said. Such a revelation might further tarnish the reputation of Ivanka, a senior White House adviser married to another, Jared Kushner, who often tries to distance herself from some of the biggest scandals of her father’s administration. She is widely believed to harbor political ambitions of her own after Trump leaves office.

The Times reported: “Trump’s private records show that his company once paid $747,622 in fees to an unnamed consultant for hotel projects in Hawaii and Vancouver, British Columbia. Ivanka Trump’s public disclosure forms – which she filed when joining the White House staff in 2017 – show that she had received an identical amount through a consulting company she co-owned.”

Trump businesses lose money

The Times was brutal in its assessment of Trump’s businesses, about which he often boasts and on the back of which he sought to promote a carefully curated image as a master businessman. “Trump’s core enterprises – from his constellation of golf courses to his conservative-magnet hotel in Washington – report losing millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars year after year,” the newspaper said.

It detailed how since 2000, Trump has reported losing more than $315m at his golf courses, with much of that coming from Trump National Doral in Florida. His Washington hotel, which opened in 2016 and has been the subject of much speculation regarding federal ethics laws, has lost more than $55m.

Trump has a big bill to pay

The newspaper also reported that Trump is facing a major financial bill, as within the next four years, hundreds of millions of dollars in loans will come due. The paper said Trump is personally responsible for many of those obligations.

The paper reported: “In the 1990s, Mr Trump nearly ruined himself by personally guaranteeing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, and he has since said that he regretted doing so. But he has taken the same step again, his tax records show. He appears to be responsible for loans totaling $421m, most of which is coming due within four years.”

In a blunt summary of the problem, the Times speculated: “Should he win re-election, his lenders could be placed in the unprecedented position of weighing whether to foreclose on a sitting president.”

Trump businesses profit from his presidency

The issue of whether Trump’s businesses benefit from his position in the White House has been one of the long-running themes of reporting on the Trump presidency. The global nature of the Trump Organization and its portfolio of hotels, resorts and other interests has left Trump open to speculation that lobbyists, business leaders and foreign powers could spend money in them to try and peddle influence in the US.

The Times report on his tax returns is clear that Trump’s businesses have indeed benefited from his political career.

“Since he became a leading presidential candidate, he has received large amounts of money from lobbyists, politicians and foreign officials who pay to stay at his properties or join his clubs,” the newspaper reported, before detailing monies paid at his Mar-a-Largo resort in Florida, his Washington hotel and other locations.

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#2715



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#2716

Donald Trump has dismissed the New York Times revelation of his tax information as “fake news”.

“It’s fake news,” he says. “It’s totally fake news. Made up, fake. We went through the same stories, you could have asked me the same questions four years ago, I had to litigate this and had to talk about it. Totally fake news. Actually, I paid tax. And you’ll see that as soon as my tax returns – it’s under audit, they’ve been under audit for a long time, the IRS does not treat me well, they treat me like the Tea Party, like they treated the Tea Party, and they don’t treat me well. They treat me very badly. You have people in the IRS that treat me very, very badly. But they’re under audit. And when they’re not, I would be proud to show you. But that’s just fake news.”

:roll_eyes:

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#2717

image
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#2718

i LOVE effin birds! literally wearing my Futuendi Gratia shirt​:joy_cat: anything aaron reynolds does is just :raised_hands:t3:

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#2719

Video roundup time.

Meidas Touch

Really American

Don Winslow

Lincoln Project

Brave New Films

Republican Voters Against Trump

Indivisible Team

ACT TV

Renew Democracy Initiative

VoteVets

NowThis

PACRONYM

Democratic Coalition

And none of these are loading as videos, for some reason.

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#2720

Maybe the latest update no longer supports YouTube video previews? At least Tweets preview again.

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#2721

And we know this is not true because of how hard he fought not to release them.

It would be interesting to see if someone could get him to try to abolish the IRS in a fit of rage.

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#2722

Biden campaign says VEEP has been prepping by watching 2008 and 2016 debates, so I thought I would be funny to dig up the old SNL versions

2008 with special guest Sarah Palin, remember her?

2016

.

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#2723

Wow parts of those debates did not age well. Somehow I completely forgot about the whole “maverick” thing, wow.

I adore the woman who played Warren, I completely forgot she did Clinton too.

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#2724

Kate McKinnon played RGB too

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#2725

Kate McKinnon can play anybody.

ANYBODY.

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#2726

Yes! She was Jeff Sessions and still is Giuliani. She is worth every Emmy

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#2727

Is there a really great buffoon-cartoon you could conjure up here @Windthin?

It is so loaded with self puffery…

As sung to the tune, “Doesn’t anyone ever notice me anymore?” :hugs:

Could we hurl him off the earth with that Nobel Peace Prize, made of plastic?

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#2728

I am pretty sure being nominated thrice for the same award doesn’t make it any better than one. Wow.

Also, I’ve had these for a while:

Medal Donald Ignoble 4
Medal Donald Ignoble 41089×613 501 KB

Tiny Arms Trump Nobel 2

Tiny Arms Trump Nobel 3

Obama Razzie vs Oscar
Obama Razzie vs Oscar1418×798 542 KB

Meme DV - Razzie 2

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#2729

Fox News won a court case by ‘persuasively’ arguing that no ‘reasonable viewer’ takes Tucker Carlson seriously

  • A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit against Fox News after lawyers for the network argued that no “reasonable viewer” would take the network’s primetime star Tucker Carlson seriously.
  • The former Playboy model Karen McDougal filed a defamation suit against Fox alleging that Carlson slandered her during a December 2018 episode of his show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
  • The network asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that “Carlson’s statements were not statements of fact and that she failed adequately to allege actual malice.”
  • The judge agreed with Fox’s premise, adding that the network “persuasively argues” that “given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer ‘arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism’ about the statements he makes.”
  • Carlson has long made racist and controversial statements as a primetime host on Fox News and has lost several advertisers because of it.

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit against Fox News after lawyers for the network argued that no “reasonable viewer” takes the primetime host Tucker Carlson seriously, a new court filing said.

The case was brought by the former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said Carlson defamed her on his show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” by saying she extorted President Donald Trump “out of approximately $150,000 in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair,” the filing said.

Fox News asked the judge to toss out McDougal’s case by arguing that “Carlson’s statements were not statements of fact and that she failed adequately to allege actual malice.”

McDougal said two of Carlson’s statements during the episode on December 10, 2018, were defamatory:

  • Carlson’s claim that McDougal “approached Donald Trump and threatened to ruin his career and humiliate his family if he doesn’t give them money.”
  • Carlson’s claim that McDougal’s actions amounted to “a classic case of extortion.”

But Fox News argued that Carlson “cannot be understood to have been stating facts, but instead that he was delivering an opinion using hyperbole for effect,” the ruling said.

It added that Fox News “submits that the use of that word or an accusation of extortion, absent more, is simply ‘loose, figurative, or hyperbolic language’ that does not give rise to a defamation claim.”

US District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil agreed with Fox’s premise, adding that the network “persuasively argues” that “given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer ‘arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism’ about the statements he makes.”

“This ‘general tenor’ of the show should then inform a viewer that he is not ‘stating actual facts’ about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in ‘exaggeration’ and ‘non-literal commentary,’” the ruling said.

McDougal made headlines in 2018 when it surfaced that Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer, had arranged for American Media Inc., the owner of the tabloid the National Enquirer, to pay her $150,000 for her story that she had an affair with Trump in 2006. AMI purchased but never published McDougal’s story to shield Trump in the weeks before the 2016 election, a practice known as “catch and kill.”

Carlson has made several racist and controversial statements during his tenure as one of Fox News’ primetime stars.

Last year, after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, in which the suspect wrote a manifesto about a “Hispanic invasion of Texas,” Carlson argued that white supremacy was a “hoax” and “not a real problem.”

In December 2018, Carlson claimed that immigrants would make the US “poorer and dirtier.” Nearly three dozen advertisers then cut ties with Carlson’s show.

Three months later, the host again found himself in hot water when tapes surfaced featuring him describing women as “primitive” and saying they “just need to be quiet,” comparing them to dogs, and defending the convicted pedophile Warren Jeffs. Carlson refused to apologize and invited those who disagreed with him to appear on his show.

In June, as protests erupted across the US following the police killing of George Floyd, the host said the demonstrations were “definitely not about Black lives” and told viewers to “remember that when they come for you.”

Carlson saw another exodus of advertisers following his remarks about the protests.

“Karen McDougal’s lawsuit attempted to silence spirited opinion commentary on matters of public concern,” Fox News Media said in a statement after Thursday’s ruling. “The court today held that the First Amendment plainly prohibits such efforts to stifle free speech. The decision is a victory not just for FOX News Media, but for all defenders of the First Amendment.”

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#2730

Good homage to buffoonery. Thank you!!!

:clap: :clap: :clap:

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#2731

!! I’ve really never been a fan of SNL, and that hasn’t really changed, but she has been a bright light in the skits I’ve seen and made me think maybe I should. It was really her as Warren that tipped the scales.

This will never not make me a little happier:

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#2732

got these fixed, fyi. lmk if there’s another post w/ busted YT vids

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