Grover Norquist, who heads the conservative Americans for Tax Reform, said the IRS’ plan to pursue high wealth individuals does not preclude the IRS from eventually pursuing middle-income Americans for audits down the road.
Lol love the complete lack of evidence with just a big ol dose of non sequiter fear-mongering, they MIGHT come for you next!!
how is it any different from now, when they come after us and NOT the rich? Like we never stopped getting policed that was rich privilege only, and only because of the complicated tax structures that open up to you once you start a business that has some cash throughput
Yeah the tax structure already favors the wealthy in many ways, so the idea that more enforcement of existing laws on the higher end is somehow hurting the middle class is just laughable.
They were coming for middle class people because we can’t afford audit defense, or massive bullshit campaigns like “omg they’re targeting conservatives!!”
They targeted the poorest of us, because they are severely underfunded, the IRS cant afford extended litigation. They poor can’t afford to fight back, you’re 100% right
The vast majority of people do not have tax returns complicated enough to be worried about an audit. If you’re going through the process of itemizing your deductions, keep your receipts and have stuff saved and backed up. It’s not hard.
If you’re lying on your taxes hoping you don’t get audited, that’s your problem. The same way if you’re driving 20 over the speed limit and get a ticket. You knew the risk and did it anyways.
The speeding analogy is my go-to example. Many people go a little bit over and it’s not a huge deal. Some people go 20mph under and they’re just weird. Sometimes jerks get away with going 100mph and then you get a ticket for rolling a stop sign. Is what it is, most reasonable people are fine, or you can roll the dice and see what happens.
I love that Republicans seem to have fully embraced a fear campaign based in the idea that if the rich can be forced to obey the law that yOu mIghT bE nExT as though they aren’t also the people who gave police broad, sweeping powers to kick in our doors for any or no reason, to seize our money and then make us prove that we didn’t commit crimes to get it, to engage in warrantless mass surveillance, to establish huge swaths of America where the 4th amendment just doesn’t count if you “look like an illegal immigrant”, to establish fetus checkpoints at state borders, to make a dog’s opinion legally admissible in court if and only if that dog thinks you’ve committed a crime, and they’re trying to let the police into your bedroom to make sure you’re fucking correctly (in a cishet christian way).
We who have been overpoliced our entire lives know what they mean when they say “they might come for you next”. They mean that the police might overstep their bounds as thieftakers and thugs to keep the minorities in line and start coming for Real Americans (cishet white men) just because of a few little felonies.
100% agree, these are the same people who said about the patriot act that if you don’t have anything hide you’ve nothing to be afraid of. Or, he should have just complied or he wouldn’t have been murdered by the cops. Etc
Love the fear mongering for something that A) already happens, B) shouldn’t be an issue for people that are in the up and up and C) should be music to the ears of members of the “law and order” party.
Both? He’s been trying to meddle and play “peacekeeper” this entire time. Except his version of peace is. Let the Russians keep everything they’ve taken, take the L and deal with it so I can continue to sell products and services there.
As a fan of some of Musk’s technical vision and how he’s revolutionizing society, I stringly believe he’s an effing idiot. People have given him so much praise, adulation, money, that he thinks he’s right and is easy to manipulate.
He’s a sucker who should go back to what he’s good at. Step back from the war and attempts at diplomacy, put Twitter on fire sale to someone who can fix it, and go back to your core. Let’s get cyber truck and semi out in force. Let’s deliver Roadster v2 and get to work on that rumored $25k cybercar. Let’s continue the revolution. Let’s get Starship/Superheavy flying, and continue through to Mars. Let’s continue the revolution of humans stepping out into the solar system. While he’s at it, it’s time to bail on some of the less successful sideshows. Stop wasting time and money trying to make a go of residential solar: great idea but if you can’t deliver something people can adfird, it’ll never work
SpaceX literally has somebody whose job it is to wrangle Musk, and keep him from fucking things up. They get great things done in spite of him, not because of him.
I think this headline sounds sensationalist. It’s not untrue, but transiting the Taiwan Strait is something the US, Canada, and several other countries do pretty regularly to ensure they are still treated as international waters.
This headline makes it sound like an escalation when actually it’s pretty normal operating procedure.
Canada made the journey along with the USS Ralph Johnson, a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, in what both countries describe as a freedom of navigation exercise.
Also they literally went together lol
EDIT: Top comment was not actually confused, but is really being dragged through the mud for a slightly ambiguous three emoji combo haha, sorry top comment.
The people there are Canadians. It should either be called Canadia or they should be called Canadans. They want it both ways. I don’t accept that. Hail Canadia!
Starlink is a great system. The problem is its idiot owner, Musk, who is more worried how the use of Starlink in the Ukraine is going to affect his company stock. You’re in the big leagues now, Elmo. You cant “sort of” commit to a war unless you’re a rich Saudi dilettante, who wants to try his hand at international shiat-stirring.
Musk didn’t allow it. Full stop. It’s not so,e government sanction thing.
Even quotes you reference are from Musk, himself, sharing why he decided so. Musk said he chose not to activate it because he’d be apart of escalating the war…
What against US policy? Escalating the war? We already are sending tons of military equipment, some used in counter offensives.
Post the link and full article you got that from, I’d like to read but many of the links are pay walled.
Here’s what I read from one of the links you referenced, I would think Musk would say it’s against US policy if that’s the reason he chose not to activate Starlink
“There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol,” Musk wrote on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.
“The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation,” Musk wrote.
An excerpt about the raid from American author and journalist Walter Isaacson’s upcoming biography on Musk, titled “Elon Musk,” was published by CNN. Ukrainian submarine drones loaded with explosives were approaching a Russian naval fleet in the Crimean city of Sevastopol when they lost connection and “washed ashore harmlessly,” according to Isaacson.
Musk was concerned about Russia responding to the naval attack with a nuclear weapon, Isaacson wrote in the book, according to CNN. Ukrainian officials
You can check the list of sanctions imposed on Ukraine/Russia, which regions, types of activity and subjects, along with the exceptions and licenses at:
You may notice that US citizens have been forbidden from providing telecommunications services, including via satellite, in the conflict areas since early 2022, requiring a special license to operate.
Starlink didn’t have such license, and only got a DoD agreement in mid 2023.
In late 2022, Musk would’ve had to break that policy in order to allow the drones to be controlled into the conflict zone.
As for him saying so… I don’t think he’s the type to paint himself as subservient to the government, even if he is; more like the megalomaniac type claiming to have stopped WW3 barehanded, even if he literally did nothing.
It is a little incredulous that somehow only you have figured out the real reason Musk didn’t activate Starlink.
With so many articles coming out, no officials making a statement, hell even a biographer shadowing Musk at the time. Even Musk gives alternate reasons and doesn’t say it, even if it would save him from a lot of bad press.
Great example of people downvoting the truth away. The spectacle of American politics can no longer address material truths, outside of merely referencing good or bad actors.
Elon’s negative image is proof because he used to be widely considered as someone solving the climate crisis through free market capitalism, but the truth is he never changed and has always been this way, and the system he operates in where people need cars is the problem.
It’s also a given that Americans are blind or refuse to acknowledge the effects of their government’s sanctions on the world, the private business interests that benefit, and the way they exploit people like themselves in other countries and use them as pawns.
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