Politics/Religion Consolidated Megathread Extravaganza

[DKG]

What does another new year in Canada with Trudeau as pm always mean? Tax increases, of course.



This was written by Lorne Gunter of Sun News Media.



Trudeau's tax increases are coming



Remember during the 2015 federal election that swept the Harper Conservatives out of office and the Trudeau Liberals in, Justin Trudeau insisted his party could finance its entire, expensive platform (including middle-class tax relief) "by asking the wealthiest Canadians — those who earn more than $200,000 a year — to do a little bit more."



As I (and others) warned at the time, there just weren't enough "one percenters" to finance the Liberals' spending plans.



No more than about 380,000 Canadians earn over $200,000 a year — the cutoff for the top one per cent.



As I wrote before that election, "If you intend to expand government by the extent to which the Liberals have promised, at some point you have to stick your hands into the pockets of the middle class."



Craig Alexander, then the chief economist with the Conference Board of Canada, told the Commons finance committee, "There are so few people in the top one per cent that, even if you put in a tax rate that took away 80 percent of all their income and spread it across all the rest of the 99 percent, you actually really wouldn't move the needle."



In a ministerial briefing released in the Commons before the Christmas recess this year, the Canada Revenue Agency reported that the higher tax on the "one percenters" raises around $1 billion a year, less than a third of what the Liberals claimed it would raise.



So let's say that in the seven years the Liberals' higher tax bracket has been in place, it has raised $7 billion extra dollars. Heck, let's be generous and say it's raised $8 billion. Or nine, even!



Contrast that with the fact that when the Liberals took over in 2015, Ottawa was spending just under $296 billion a year, while in November's fall fiscal update, the Liberals estimated in the current fiscal year they would blow through $448 billion.



That's a 50% increase in just seven years. And, no, it isn't mostly COVID. It's more or less permanent growth in the size of the federal government.



Do you still believe the Trudeau government when it claims it can finance all its fanciful schemes without taxing the middle class?



According to the Fraser Institute, there has been some middle-class tax relief since the Trudeau-ites came to power, but those reductions have been more than made up for by increases in other taxes, such as the carbon tax, pension and employment insurance premiums, and so on.



If you feel you've been spinning your wheels, income-wise, under the Liberals, you have been. At least 90 per cent of middle-class families pay more federal tax now than in 2015. And the increase has been substantial. For every new dollar you've earned, Ottawa has dipped into your wallet for about 75 cents.



Of course, that doesn't include provincial or municipal tax increases. Adding those in, too, most middle-class families have fallen behind.



The Canadian Taxpayers Federation recently explained the Trudeau government intends to increase five major taxes in the coming year.



The increase in the carbon tax on April 1 will add between $400 and $800 to the average family's tax burden, even after Liberal rebates.



A second carbon tax, known as the clean fuel regulation, will add perhaps another $300.



Already, around 70% of the cost of liquor is federal and provincial tax. That's going up over six per cent.



And payroll taxes for pensions and employment insurance will rise as much as $300 next year; plus $320 more from the employers' contribution.



Governments simply cannot spend money the way the federal Liberals do without a crushing tax burden on the middle-class, no matter what the PM says.

[DKG]

Trudeau has decreed that 20% of all new cars, SUVs and trucks sold in Canada, beginning in 2026, must be all-electric or hybrid, which run on a combination of electricity and gas.



Car manufacturers who fail to meet these quotas could face financial penalties of up to $20,000 per vehicle.



EV sales were 5.2% of the total Canadian auto market last year.



In the real world, Canada's electricity grid — run by the provinces, not the federal government — is nowhere near ready to accommodate the increase in electricity generation needed to power EVs, nor is the necessary charging infrastructure needed to refuel them in place across the country.



EV sales today are hampered by the fact they are more expensive than comparable internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles with less range, especially in cold weather.



That's why it currently takes massive federal and provincial government subsidies and sales mandates — in those provinces that have them — to get people to buy EVs.



That means lower income Canadians are subsidizing the sale of EVs to wealthier Canadians.



By mandating EV sales in Canada before the technology and infrastructure needed to make them economically viable for most Canadians are available, the Trudeau government is once again increasing the cost of living for ordinary Canadians, ostensibly to fight climate change.

[Thiel]

Israel's new government was sworn in on Thursday, returning Benjamin Netanyahu to power for the sixth at the head of a right-wing and religiously conservative administration that represents a significant challenge for the country on the world stage.



The makeup of Netanyahu's government and the policies it has pledged to pursue have raised concerns about increased tensions with Palestinians, the undermining of the country's judicial independence and the rolling back of protections for the gay community and other sectors of society.

[Blazor]

With so many "conspiracy theories" coming true, it makes me wonder about the rest of them.



For instance, Joan Rivers. I remember this shit.......





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[Blazor]

Poor Aryan gonna have to learn to speak like a Muslim. They replacing the Whites, AND the language.





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[Blazor]

These fucks get away with WAY too much.





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[Blazor]

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[Herman]

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[DKG]

China claims their GDP grew 4.4 percent last year. If true, it beat analysts expectations of three percent.



Economists see an increasing possibility for a faster and stronger rebound later in 2023. After the likely slow start in the January-to-March period, growth is projected to pick up to 4.8% for the year, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

[Blazor]

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[Blazor]

Y'all gettin' it yet?







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[DKG]

Radio broadcaster Gary Hahn has been indefinitely suspended after mentioning "illegal aliens" during a broadcast.



While covering Duke's Mayo Bowl on Friday, Hahn gave the score of the Sun Bowl, saying that "amongst all the illegal aliens" in El Paso, the game stood at UCLA with 14 and Pittsburgh with 6.

https://twitter.com/KeenanWRAL/status/1608944961533378560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1608956066955685888%7Ctwgr%5E9444e1058735e195b460f39980e08dcb86872178%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theblaze.com%2Fnews%2Fsports-broadcaster-suspended-illegal-aliens">https://twitter.com/KeenanWRAL/status/1 ... gal-aliens">https://twitter.com/KeenanWRAL/status/1608944961533378560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1608956066955685888%7Ctwgr%5E9444e1058735e195b460f39980e08dcb86872178%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theblaze.com%2Fnews%2Fsports-broadcaster-suspended-illegal-aliens

[Herman]

A man attacked three NYPD police officers with a machete on New Years Eve in New York City near Times Square celebrations, injuring two, officials said in an early Sunday morning news conference.



One of the officers discharged his firearm, striking the assailant in the shoulder. One officer received a skull fracture and a large cut while another officer received a laceration to the head.



There were reports, citing unnamed police sources, that said the suspect was a radical Islamic extremist. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating, an official said at the news conference.

[Herman]

Incoming House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) revealed a list of legislation that he will bring up for Republicans to consider on the House floor when they assume control of the lower chamber in mere days and loosen the Democrats' grip on power in Washington.



In a letter to his GOP colleagues, Scalise listed eight bills and three resolutions that he will be scheduling for Republicans to take up in their first two weeks of work after the 118th Congress begins at noon on Jan. 3.



The first bill, dubbed the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act (pdf), aims to revoke some of the additional IRS funding that Democrats passed as part of their Inflation Reduction Act that the agency plans to use for tax enforcement.



With the bill, Republicans are targeting what Scalise said was "tens of billions of dollars allocated to the IRS for 87,000 new IRS agents."



Another bill Scalise put forward is the Strategic Production Response Act (pdf), which would prohibit non-emergency drawdowns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve without a parallel plan to boost energy production on federal lands.



Republicans have been highly critical of President Joe Biden for ordering the release of oil from the strategic reserve, arguing that it was a ploy to win votes ahead of the midterms by trying to lower pump prices.



Scalise has scheduled another related bill, called Protecting America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act (pdf), which would restrict the energy secretary from selling oil from the strategic reserve to China.



Another bill is the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act (pdf), which would allow the public to see how many cases prosecutors are declining to prosecute, along with the number of criminals released onto the streets and the number of offenses committed by career criminals.



A related tough-on-crime resolution (pdf) seeks to express support for police while condemning efforts to defund or dismantle law enforcement agencies.



On border security, Scalise put forward a bill called the Border Safety and Security Act (pdf), which would give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the power to turn away people crossing the border illegally in order to gain "operational control" of the border.



Republicans have accused DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of failing to ensure "operational control" of the border as illegal border crossings have surged.



Another related bill, called the Illegal Alien NICS Alert Act (pdf) would require the National Instant Criminal Background Check system (NICS) to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and relevant local law enforcement if someone trying to buy a firearm is an illegal immigrant.

[Herman]

The Justice Department is protecting the Biden criminal cartel.



Justice Department is concealing 400 pages of 'sensitive documents' laying bare payoffs and gifts to Hunter and Jim Biden from China, Russia and Ukraine - after acknowledging the records exist - lawyer claims in suit

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11585719/DoJ-concealing-documents-lay-bare-Hunter-Jim-Bidens-payoffs-China-Russia.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ussia.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11585719/DoJ-concealing-documents-lay-bare-Hunter-Jim-Bidens-payoffs-China-Russia.html



Colorado lawyer Kevin Evans sued the Department of Justice in March after it failed to comply with his request for records on the Bidens' business dealings

Evans asked for documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

He requested information regarding 'any relationship, communication, gift(s), and/or remuneration in any form' between Bidens and China, Russia or Ukraine

He said government lawyers first admitted in court to having at least 400 pages of 'potentially relevant' documents

Evans claims the DoJ are now trying to get away with saying they can 'neither confirm nor deny' the existence of any records that match his request





The Department of Justice is trying to prevent disclosure of 400 pages of sensitive documents on Hunter and Jim Biden's dealings with China, Russia and Ukraine – by pretending they don't exist.



Colorado lawyer Kevin Evans sued the department in March after it failed to comply with his request for records on the Bidens' dealings under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).



Evans, a FOIA expert, asked for documents pertaining to 'any relationship, communication, gift(s), and/or remuneration in any form' between the president's son Hunter or brother Jim, and China, Russia or Ukraine.