Dissident Politics: News: DJT evades taxes; Greedflation; GOP liars, bigots & haters

The Daily Beast reports about an apparent example of tax evasion by DJT that has gone on for years:

Trump’s $50 Million Mystery Debt Looks Like ‘Tax Evasion’

Former federal judge Barbara Jones, the court-appointed special monitor in Donald Trump’s New York business fraud case, just planted a financial bombshell that legal experts say suggests Trump lied knowingly and repeatedly on his federal financial disclosures about a major loan that never existed—and may have evaded taxes on $48 million in income.

But Jones tucked a major revelation into footnote 6, writing that a massive chunk of debt Trump has claimed to owe one of his own companies for years apparently does not exist, and never did.

“When I inquired about this loan, I was informed that there are no loan agreements that memorialize the loan, but that it was a loan that was believed to be between Donald J. Trump, individually, and Chicago Unit Acquisition for $48 million,” Jones wrote, referencing the name of Trump’s LLC that held his debt.

The Trump Organization denies this and says the loan is real. But two different experts who looked at the facts conclude DJT intentionally and knowingly committed tax evasion because he had chances to correct his tax filings but never did.

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Truthout reports about an analysis of sources of inflation:

The progressive organization Groundwork Collaborative, found that, in the past two economic quarters alone, 53 cents out of every dollar of inflationary price increases were due to corporate profits.

Since the start of the pandemic, corporate greed and profits accounted for close to one-third of all inflation, the group discovered — resulting in a phenomenon that is oftentimes called “greedflation.”

“Corporate profits as a share of national income have skyrocketed by 29% since the start of the pandemic,” the report says. “While our economy has returned to or surpassed its pre-pandemic levels on many indicators, workers’ share of corporate income has still not recovered.”

“Costs have come down substantially, and while corporations were quick to pass on their increased costs to consumers, they are surprisingly less quick to pass on their savings to consumers,” said Liz Pancotti, strategic adviser for Groundwork Collaborative and a co-author of the report.

Assuming the analysis is accurate, this should be a major talking point for Dems. Whether it will be is an open question. Given the low quality of Dem messaging, it probably won’t be used much by Dems. Repubs will never use it, but they will blame inflation all on Biden and the Dems. Such is the way of incompetent vs competent messaging.

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The Sacramento Bee reports about more garden variety, easily debunked Republican lies:

Some conservatives say transgender people regret surgery.
A new study says otherwise

A common refrain among anti-transgender activists and politicians, including in California, is that many trans and gender-diverse people experience regret after obtaining gender-affirming surgery.

Last spring, self-described “de-transitioner” Chloe Cole came to Sacramento and told rally-goers at the Capitol that there are too many “bodies and minds falling apart in the aftermath of transition.”

However, that argument is not supported by the science, according to a new article published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association by three researchers from Johns Hopkins University. The researchers conducted a retrospective look at all available evidence and found that the “regret rate” for gender-affirming surgery is less than 1%. “This rate of surgical regret among (transgender and gender diverse) patients appears to be substantially lower than rates of surgical regret following similar procedures among the broader population, including cisgender individuals,” the report summary said, in part.

The Los Angeles Blade reports about garden variety, public, bigoted Republican hate of, and attacks on, LGBQT people:

GOP in audio: “Endgame” is to ban trans care “for everyone”

In audio released Friday evening, GOP lawmakers from Ohio and Michigan revealed the “endgame” is to ban transgender care “for everyone”

Towards the end of the Twitter Space [post], the conversation shifts to a plan for the “endgame,” where Republican legislators and anti-trans activist Prisha Mosley discuss various plans aimed at “banning this for everyone,” referring to gender-affirming care.

LGBQT Nation reports about radical authoritarian Republican support for hate:

Angry Republicans are going to protest against a “Hate has no
home here” flag in a classroom

A Republican organization in Florida is demanding a school teacher take down a flag that says, “Hate has no home here.”

“The issue at hand is that the district needs to get out of having any type of political influence on our children,” said Lee County Republican Executive Committee chair Michael Thompson as his group announced that they would be protesting an upcoming Lee County School Board meeting.