Category: General

Are contributions to your own charity tax deductible?

OK – let’s see if I have this right…

According to the Clinton’s 2015 tax return, they gave a cool million to their own charity, the Clinton Family Foundation. Note that the charity watchdog organization Charity Navigator had placed the Clinton foundation on their “watchlist” of problem charities, according to a 2015 NY Post article (although this no longer appears to be the case). I wonder if the Clintons can be employed by their own charitable organization after they retire from politics? That would make their foundation a lot more like a retirement plan than a charity….

Desert Classic Charities was the other recipient of the Clinton’s generosity, receiving (by comparison, a paltry) $42,000. That very same charity is reported to have then in turn given a donation of $700,000 to the Clinton Foundation.

I’m not kidding. You can’t make this stuff up….

For all you recreational drug users…

… you might want to review this ruling:

Crose v. Humana Insurance Company

The plaintiff’s insurance policy contained the following clause:

 “Causation Exclusions . . . Loss due to being intoxicated or under the influence of any narcotic unless administered on the advice of a health care practitioner.”

In other words, if you’re high on drugs and injured as a result, your medical insurance company may be off the hook. I wonder how many people will be frantically updating their “medical marijuana” prescriptions tomorrow…

Texas voting laws vs. the World

The Texas voter ID law is once again in the news. In July, a sharply divided 5th circuit Court of Appeals ruled that while the law was not intentionally discriminatory, it could have that effect for some voters. Following this ruling, a lower court outlined additional options available for voters who might not have one of the defined acceptable identifications.

But are voter ID laws really such a burden? In the rest of the world, the requirement for presenting voter ID is widely accepted. Why, then, does the U.S. have such a problem with this concept?

Hurray for the Chicago Police Superintendent

This is the kind of action that restores the public trust:

Chicago police recommend firing of 7 cops for false reports

Lots of people go to jail when they lie to the police; when the police lie, they should go to prison. Removing their ability to wield police power, though, is a good start.

Now, let’s see how long it takes for the police union to get them reinstated (with back pay).

Ok, ok… let’s see if I’ve got this right…

The State Department now admits that a video concerning disclosures by the department’s own Jen Psaki regarding the Iran nuclear deal was altered to delete her comments. They admit that this was done by a technician, based on a phone call the technician received requesting the edit. But they don’t know who made the phone call?

State Department says review into deleted briefing footage ‘inconclusive’

Seems like we’ve got a propaganda machine operating within our government, which concerns me greatly. What ever happened to the government transparency Obama promised us?

Freedom rankings among the 50 states

From the Cato Institute, a study ranking the level of freedom available in the 50 United States. Read about their methodology and results here.

Very interesting. The low-freedom  states were as expected (New York and California came in at 50th and 49th respectively), but the high-freedom states were a surprise – at least to me. Well worth your time to review.

International gun control?

Michael Bloomberg named World Health Organization ambassador

Note that Bloomberg will be responsible for non-communicable diseases, which includes cancer, diabetes, heart and lung disease, and  – listed later in the article – “combat injuries”. Based on Bloomberg’s long history of opposing the 2nd amendment, how long do you think it will be before all gun-related deaths fall into the category of “non-communicable disease” – like “combat injuries” – and thus fall within his domain? I predict that Bloomberg will use his new post to push for international gun control.

Remember, you heard it here first.

 

A dartboard and a blindfold….

… would have worked out better:

CalPERS earned less than 1% in fiscal year

CalPERS is the defined benefit retirement system for California’s public sector employees. The problem: any shortfalls in the retirement fund is paid by – you guessed it – the citizens (remaining) in California. Doesn’t exactly help that the unions hold a substantial sway over investments. The $300B CalPERS system is currently only 68% funded (that’s an almost $100B shortfall already).

The big problem with these defined benefit systems, particularly when they are heavily union-controlled, is two-fold: 1) there is no incentive to control costs associated with pensions, such as “pension spiking“, and 2) there is substantial potential for undue influence over investments.

It is time for legislation that eliminates these public-sector defined benefit systems altogether. They should be changed into defined contribution systems where retirement funds are paid into individual retirement accounts. Or, if the union still wants to influence investments, defined contributions can be made into a union-controlled fund managed for the benefit of their members. At least then there will be incentive to invest wisely and limit pension costs…

The financial cost of refugees

$900 per refugee is paid for someone to meet them at the airport and assist them in getting settled. The administration is requesting $2.2B for 213k refugees over the coming years, amounting to more than $10K each. Total costs for a refugee family, including housing and stipends, are estimated at almost $250,000 per household over the first five years – and that’s not counting ongoing federal welfare benefits to which the refugees are entitled.

Critics leery as aid groups clamor for federal refugee funds

Is this really the best, most cost-effective way to help these people? And should we be accepting these refugees at all, or should we instead be helping them improve their own countries?