CURRENT EVENTS - TAX DAY - April 20

The Trump White House is axing the wire service spot from the coverage pool, the latest salvo in its battle with the AP​



“… Instead of restoring access to The Associated Press newswire, as required by a federal judge, the Trump administration is removing the wire position in the daily press corps rotation altogether.

The change appears designed to withstand legal scrutiny while still disadvantaging The AP, which was singled out by President Donald Trump earlier this year for still using the name Gulf of Mexico.

Ultimately the impacts will be felt by newswire customers, including local news outlets that rely on The AP for just-the-facts coverage because they don’t have White House correspondents of their own.…”
 


“… The American was abducted from his Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell Township, outside the coastal city of Gqeberha, and was rescued from a safehouse being used by his captors in that city.

… "The operation followed verified intelligence wherein a coordinated team (of several police units) moved swiftly to the identified location," police said. "As officers approached the house, they observed a vehicle on the premises. The suspects inside the vehicle upon seeing law enforcement allegedly attempted to flee and opened fire on the team. The officers responded with tactical precision, leading to a high-intensity shootout in which three unidentified suspects were fatally wounded."

Police said Sullivan was discovered in the same vehicle and "miraculously unharmed, he was immediately assessed by medical personnel and is currently in an excellent condition."

Police have said that four armed, masked male suspects entered the church on Thursday, stole two cellphones and then abducted Sullivan, in his car, a Toyota Fortuner, which was found a short time later in Motherwell.

Rev. Jeremy Hall, a local pastor, told French news agency AFP that Sullivan's abduction was likely "financially related." [ransom was demanded]

… Sullivan arrived in South Africa with his family from Tennessee in November 2018, according to his personal website. …”

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Very glad this guy was saved from kidnappers but this being South Africa, I am dubious of the miraculous nature that he was the only survivor in the same vehicle in which his kidnappers were killed during the rescue. Not offering any sympathy to the criminals, mind you, just unions of the government description of the rescue.
 

This isn’t an effort to bully or isolate transgender people, nor even an attempt to punish blue states. This is a political gambit to force Democratic politicians to defend trans rights so it can be used against them in future campaigns. The destructive effect on the transgender population is just a side benefit for these sick assholes.
 

U.K. Supreme Court Rules Trans Women Can’t Be Defined as Women​

Decision follows a yearslong legal battle over protections for women and female-only spaces​



“…
“The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological women and biological sex,” said the court’s deputy president, Lord Hodge.

The move marks a defeat for the Scottish government in its long-running battle with a women’s campaign group over the definition and legal protections for women as well as access rights to women-only spaces. The campaign group that brought the case, For Women Scotland, argued that such access should only apply to people who are born female….”
 

One of the clear and major (and frightening) differences between Trump's first term and this one is that in his first term Trump - while certainly employing his share of loons and incompetents and right-wing fanatics - did still have some capable people around him who were at least privately willing to argue with him and try to convince him not to f*** things up too much, like Kelly and Mnuchin. That's NOT to say that these people were ethical or decent or not corrupt as hell or whatever, but at least they did have enough sense to try to keep things on the rails and they were willing to either argue with Trump or just ignore his orders and go around him.

Trump clearly resented and hated these people, and so in Trump 2.0 he has deliberately stacked his cabinet and government agency heads with flat-out sycophants and ass-kissers who will do whatever he orders them to with little to no hesitation, no matter how much chaos and destruction it causes. Rubio, Hegseth, RFK, Jr., McMahon, Bondi, Holman - the list goes on and on - are nothing more than creatures of Donald Trump's whims. And between their incompetence and willingness to do whatever Dear Leader wants lies the fear that many people now have about the future of the country.
 
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“…
In new campaign finance filings, Long disclosed an outstanding personal loan of $130,000 that he had made to his failed 2022 U.S. Senate campaign. The dormant Senate campaign committee had raised less than $36,000 in the last two years, which could have forced Long to absorb the losses on the loan.

But after Trump named Long to head the IRS, the committee suddenly raked in nearly $137,000 in less than three weeks in January — money that Long then used to remunerate himself, according to disclosure documents filed this week.

“Making political contributions to aid Billy Long seems like a surefire way to ingratiate yourself with the man poised to lead the IRS, especially when we’re talking about contributions to help repay campaign debt that is just loans to the candidate himself and contributions to his leadership PAC,” said Michael Beckel, the senior research director of the campaign-finance reform organization Issue One, who first spotlightedthe donations. “People often criticize campaign contributions for being legalized bribery, but in this case, we’re truly talking about money being given to Long to repay himself.”

In all, more than two-thirds of the contributions that flowed to Long’s committee in January were for $2,900, the maximum allowed for the 2022 election cycle.

At least one-third of the money came from donors working at firms in the tax consultancy industry or involved in major tax-related legal battles. …”
 
Yeah, dummies Clinton and Carter. What kind of idiot would put an agency designed to help people where the people live? We need outlet malls of government agencies. Put it 30 minutes away from anything and it's practically free -- throw an IRS field office, a SSA office in there, hell why not a military base?

Also, the reason to ask agencies to occupy historic buildings is efficiency. The historic buildings have to be preserved, which makes them less attractive for developers, so if we put agencies there, that frees up a different parcel for development.

God, I hate this man so much. It's just amazing how he can be wrong about everything, and in the stupidest possible way.
 

“… Trump’s latest directive comes a day after the administration’s April 14 deadline for agencies to submit potential plans to move office space outside of the Washington, DC area. A number of states are lobbying to land various agencies, The Washington Post recently reported.

… Already, some agencies have hinted at big changes in the works to their office locations: The Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to relocate outside of the DC metro area, according to Bloomberg News. Meanwhile, the Agriculture Department is expected to dismantle its DC presence and relocate workers to various locations around the country. …”
 

Yeah, that was baked in once Trump won in November. That said, the California Highspeed Rail project is one of the absolute worst government programs in the country -- and is exactly what Ezra Klein is writing about in Abundance. So, this will delay the project some more and it may be 2040 before people are finally able to make the coveted trip from Bakersfield to Modesto at 180 mph.
 
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