3137

The Black Iron Prison has never left our reality. Sounds right.

3138
3139

More on the tax scheme thing.

When buying a vessel or cruising in U.S. waters, American yacht owners like the DeVoses could face state sales or use taxes. However, registering a yacht in a locale like the Caymans — under what has come to be known as a “flag of convenience” — allows those American yacht owners to effectively characterize themselves as foreigners for tax purposes, thereby avoiding the obligation of paying the standard sales and use levies, while enjoying police and Coast Guard services during times their vessels are untied.

“If you want to come in and use the waters of a given state of the United States, the question is, how can you insulate yourself from getting hit for the use tax?” maritime attorney Michael T. Moore told Capital & Main. “The answer is close and register offshore. If you close and register offshore, you aren’t subject to either a sales or a use tax. You are simply visiting the United States, and you are visiting under a privilege that is granted to certain countries in the world under what is called a cruising permit. Those countries grant the privilege to U.S. flagged vessels, and the United States offers that reciprocal right to vessels flagged by those countries. In practice, it means the permit allows you to go from port to port in different states without having to officially make entry and pay taxes to the states of the ports you visit.”

3140

It’s simply unreal how this isn’t an annual issue for “conservatives” that also whine about “welfare queens”, etc. Or you know, par for the course. Only the rich are allowed to take advantage of crap like this, otherwise Something Must Be Done!

3141

When Reagan started talking about “welfare queens,” nobody thought he meant white people. This isn’t hypocrisy – just racism and greed.

3142

Omarosa Manigault Newman was offered a $15,000-a-month contract from President Trump’s campaign to stay silent after being fired from her job as a White House aide by Chief of Staff John F. Kelly last December, according to a forthcoming book by Manigault Newman and people familiar with the proposal.

But she refused, according to the incendiary new book, “Unhinged: An Insider Account of the Trump White House,” which also depicts Trump as unqualified, narcissistic and racist. Excerpts of the book were obtained by The Washington Post.

For months while in the White House, Manigault Newman said she spent time searching for a rumored tape of Trump saying the n-word on tape as host of “The Apprentice.” She writes in the book without providing evidence that such a tape exists. Manigault Newman also says that other aides in the White House kept tabs on rumors of the tape.

“By that point, three sources in three separate conversations had described the contents of this tape,” she writes. “They all told me that President Trump hadn’t just dropped a single n-word bomb. He’d said it multiple times throughout the show’s taping during off-camera outtakes, particularly during the first season of the Apprentice.”

3143

They offered her $180k/ year? As bribes go, that seems pretty trivial. If her book really contains anything explosive, she’ll make quite a lot more than that.

Also, she may feel morally bound to expos… HAHAHAHA. It’s the money.

3144

That’s the going rate for a hush money sinecure, isn’t it?

3145

I think they use $15,000 because it’s sort of similar to the proposed minimum wage. They figure $15k/mo is like a poor man’s wage for this sort of thing.

3146

I mean, so do Trump’s tweets.

3147

Please let this be a joke…

3148

You know what’s funny?* That we have to question if this is a joke.
(*not the right word)

3149

I’m pretty sure that’s from the same universe that Trump’s favorite cable network, the one with the fighting chimpanzee documentaries, is from. That universe is very nearly congruent with ours.

3150

3151

Jeez, how do I get in on that sweet action? Oh right, I’d have to work for Trump first. Naaah…

3152


3153

Doesn’t even have to be honest so much as competent.

3154

True, but if they did in this case, I’d question their motives (despite it being completely appropriate).

3155

Well I guess my point is this whole we don’t care about security except when we run around whining about moles… well that lack of security can be a problem for everyone, assuming, of course, anyone in there actually cares if foreign entities interfere, maybe they don’t.

3156

Doesn’t seem like most of them care in the slightest, other than in a pearl-clutching sort of way.