Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/16/feds-subpoena-manafort.html
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Don’t governments usually wait until their second term before getting mired in graft? Obviously the Trump Administration are real go getters.
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Those stupid tax returns might have been a tipoff.
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“payback-free loan.” --I do not think that word means what you think it means…
Edited to add: The IRS tends to look askance at this sort of thing…If somebody gives you money and expects to paid back, than than your newfound cash is balanced by debt, so it isn’t taxable income. If they don’t want to be paid back, that money IS regarded as taxable income. That’s why normally debt forgiveness is taxed as income. You got the money, if you don’t have to pay it back, THAT money is income, even if the security for the loan is not worth what it once was…
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Apparently being a traitorous scumbag has its monetary benefits.
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Man that was some sloppy money laundering.
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What is a “tax-free” loan? If I borrow a billion dollars from you, I don’t have to pay a nickel in taxes on the receipt of that money. If, however, the loan is forgiven – either formally or in non-enforcement – it turns into ordinary income and is taxable. The receipt of lent funds is never taxable.
These people can’t even do corruption competently.
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Could someone tell me about that lapel Pin??
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I’m telling you, by Jan of next year somebody will be releasing a “Trump Admin Crime a Day” calendar.
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These days it’s more like some sort of twisted Advent calendar of corruption.
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But it’s certainly entertaining, and sort of perpetual Christmas for journalists.
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This is the logical conclusion of Citizens United and other such graft enabling legal decisions and policies.
Once you have a system in which money becomes the prime motivator of politicians and their handlers, then who they work for eventually becomes less important than how much they get paid. Price is the main consideration once ethics are removed from the equation.
It starts with lobbyists giving money to support their particular policy or favor a particular industry. Once the moral and ethical compass is sold, it is only a matter of time before the buyers come from further afield.
GROUCHO (to woman seated next to him at an elegant dinner party): Would you sleep with me for ten million dollars?
WOMAN (giggles and responds): Oh, Groucho, of course I would.
GROUCHO; How about doing it for fifteen dollars?
WOMAN (indignant): Why, what do you think I am?
GROUCHO: That’s already been established. Now we’re just haggling about the price.
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Make America Graft Again!
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Yeah, but the health plan sucks.
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Extreme sociopathy is a very efficient lubricant to such behavior. That, and the belief that with enough accumulated wealth/power, you can’t be touched no matter how much that wealth/power was questionably/illegally accumulated and exercised.
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Don’t worry. If Manafort ends up in jail and Trump hangs on long enough, Trump will commute his sentence.
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i’m all for seeing the president’s tax returns. that said, i can’t imagine they would be anything like a complete and honest accounting of his finances.
donny boy has no problem lying about the most inane things just to prove he can. why would his taxes be any different?
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Tax-free loan: “here’s a million dollars. It’s a loan, not a gift. But, hey, pay it back whenever you feel like it.”
Re: price-haggling “joke”.
It would probably be worthwhile finding a less problematic cultural reference to illustrate that point.
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