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Tax Revolution Institute – by Guillermo Jimenez

When will central-economic planners ever learn? In yet another attempt to influence the economic behavior of a given population through taxation, the state of Massachusetts has decided to subsidize their fledging taxi industry with new fees on ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft.

These new taxes were signed into law by Governor Charlie Baker (R-MA) in early August and levy a 20-cent fee on each trip consumers take with a ride-sharing app. Ten cents will go to the municipalities while the other 10 are split between a state-transportation fund and the taxi industry.   Continue reading “Massachusetts “Uber Tax” Takes Tax Neutrality to a New Low”

Reuters

A suspected U.S. drone strike killed six al Qaeda fighters in Yemen’s central Marib province on Sunday, residents said, as Washington continues its years-long campaign against militants who have exploited an 18 month civil war in the country.

The men were killed in the bombing of a house in the Wadi Obeida tribal area east of the capital Sanaa.   Continue reading “Suspected U.S. drone strike kills six Qaeda militants in Yemen”

AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite formidable opposition across the political spectrum, President Barack Obama is using his final months in office to fight for congressional approval of a 12-nation free trade pact called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Obama plugged the trade agreement Monday in China, saying it is “indisputable that it would create a better deal for us than the status quo.” He said he doesn’t have to sell the deal to Asian leaders who were part of the negotiations because “they see this as the right thing to do for their own countries.”   Continue reading “Obama makes TPP top priority in remaining months”

ABC News

President Obama sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in China on Monday, in a meeting that covered a laundry list of hot-button issues, from cyber attacks on the U.S. to the civil war in Syria and ongoing hostilities in Ukraine.

Addressing core issues on Syria and Ukraine, the two heads of state had a lengthy exchange of views, a senior administration official told ABC News. The official described the talks during the 90-minute sit-down as constructive.   Continue reading “Obama and Putin Meet at G-20 Summit, Agree to Keep Working on Syria Pact”

FBI-documents-from-investigation-into-Hillary

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Antonius Aquinas

To the economic and political detriment of the Western world and those economies beyond which have adopted its precepts, 2016 marks the eightieth anniversary of the publication of one of, if not, the most influential economics books ever penned, John Maynard Keynes’ The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.  Sadly, even to this day, despite its thorough refutation by lights such as Henry Hazlitt and other eminent scholars, The General Theory, which spawned “Keynesianism” and its later variants, remains supreme in academics, financial markets, and public policy.   Continue reading “John Maynard Keynes’ “General Theory” Eighty Years Later”

The Daily Caller – by Richard Pollock

A federal judge ordered the Department of State Wednesday to produce for The Daily Caller News Foundation the security training records of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin within two weeks, or face direct deposition of multiple government officials.

“I’m sure you can appreciate Mr. Lee, there is a certain time sensitivity on this issue,” U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon told Department of Justice Attorney Jason Lee, representing the State Department. “We’re looking down the barrel of a presidential election from now in two months.”   Continue reading “Judge Orders State Dept To Release Hillary’s Security Training Records, Or Be Deposed”

Bloomberg – by Laurel Brubaker Calkins

Lawyers for the federal government have been squirming for more than a year under the threat of punishment from a Texas judge who’s convinced they lied to him about President Obama’s immigration program. They may be uncomfortable a while longer.

When U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen in Brownsville blocked administration plans to shield more than 4 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and give them work permits, he extracted a promise from Justice Department attorneys — in person and in writing — that “nothing would happen” before his order took effect.   Continue reading “Angry Texas Judge Confronts U.S. on Immigration Plan ‘Lies’”

Politico – by Kenneth P Vogel

Bill Clinton’s staff used a decades-old federal government program, originally created to keep former presidents out of the poorhouse, to subsidize his family’s foundation and an associated business, and to support his wife’s private email server, a POLITICO investigation has found.

Taxpayer cash was used to buy IT equipment — including servers — housed at the Clinton Foundation, and also to supplement the pay and benefits of several aides now at the center of the email and cash-for-access scandals dogging Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.   Continue reading “Bill Clinton used tax dollars to subsidize foundation, private email server”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

After years of relentless decline in the Baltic Dry index…   Continue reading “Global Supply Chains Paralyzed After World’s 7th Largest Container Shipper Files Bankruptcy, Assets Frozen”

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Tri Valley Central – by Katie Campbell

FLORENCE — A known drug trafficker has been named as the prime suspect in the “brutal” murders of two men whose dismembered remains were found in the Casa Grande area, including body parts discovered in a septic tank two years ago.

During a press conference Monday morning, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said 43-year-old Fausto Negrete-Olivas is believed to have lured Baltazar Lopez, also believed to have been involved in illicit cartel activity, to Casa Grande with the promise of about $10,000. Instead of turning over the money, however, the suspect is believed to have murdered Lopez, and another man identified as Azaren Cordova, and dismembered their bodies with a sharp object such as an axe or machete before disposing of them.   Continue reading “Drug trafficker linked to bodies”

The Guardian

President Peña Nieto:

“We may not agree on certain topics,” Peña Nieto said, according to a live CNN translation of his remarks, but on the issue of trade, “I shared with Mr. Trump my conviction that the free trade of North America has done a lot of good to both the United States andMexico.”

“With the next administration, we must accelerate these efforts so that the Mexico-US border is more efficient and safe,” Peña Nieto said, pointing out that “undocumented immigration from Mexico to the US had its highest point ten years ago and it has slowed down consistently even to the point of being a net negative at this point.”   Continue reading “Press conference with Peña Nieto and Donald Trump in Mexico”

Washington Post – by Joe Davidson

Obama administration officials are preparing to implement a controversial two-year-old executive order that will give agencies greater ability to deny federal contracts to companies with labor-law violations.

Once the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order is fully implemented, potential contractors must report violations covering 14 workplace protections from the previous three years.   Continue reading “Obama order on contractor workplace violations takes effect soon, despite objections”

Politico – by Louis Nelson

The State Department must hand over before Election Day any “non-exempt” documents related to a freedom of information act lawsuit concerning longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s employment at the State Department, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the State Department has until Sept. 30 to complete its own review of documents that the department received from the FBI. The State Department then has another two weeks, until Oct. 14, to hand over all “non-exempt” documents to the conservative group Judicial Watch, which filed the freedom of information suit.   Continue reading “Judge orders State to review, turn over Abedin-related documents”

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Jim Stone Freelance

I want to be perfectly clear with something: The people have the right to enforce the law when the state fails to. The state would like to have a monopoly on enforcement, because it allows those in power to commit crimes without consequence. It also allows “friends of the state” to commit crimes without consequence. And when this goes to an extreme, we end up with what we have now.   Continue reading “It is time for the people to think seriously about law enforcement”