Month: January 2021

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

A Texas University suggested in a series of tweets that students should wear face masks during masturbation, even quipping that they should ‘mask-urbate’.

The University of North Texas’s Student Health and Wellness Center fired out the tweets, which have since been deleted because they offered advice contrary to that of the school’s guidelines on coronavirus, according to Campus Reform.

One of the tweets declared “Mask-urbate?! Read below to learn more,” with an accompanying image suggesting that any students with COVID symptoms should “skip sex and stay in.”

An infographic emblazoned with the university logo read “Mask-urbate! Use face coverings during mutual masturbation to reduce your risk,” while also suggesting students “be creative with physical barriers & sexual positions to prevent close face-to-face contact.” 

UNT gives ‘mask-urbate’ guidelines for sex during COVID
via @abbyystreetman for @campusreform https://t.co/FExoT1zAug

— Celine D. Ryan (@celinedryan) January 28, 2021

A further tweet declared that students should wear masks during sex, “pick a large, well-ventilated space” for getting it on, “avoid kissing” and “wash your hands before and after.”

The tweets were reportedly removed because the University doesn’t even want students to go near each other.

“Face coverings are not a substitute for appropriate social distancing,” the school guidelines state.

As we previously reported, The University of Georgia published a similar guide on its health website that advised students to consider “wearing a face mask during sex.”

This madness isn’t just being touted around universities, with the BBC in the UK advising the public to wear masks if they want to have sex with each other.

“Your best sexual partner during the Covid-19 pandemic is yourself,” the article further notes, encouraging people to engage in “masturbation, sex toys or having phone or online sex,” rather than the real thing.

Several US universities have threatened to completely cut off basic services, including internet access for students if they do not fully comply with all COVID restrictions on campus.

As we have previously reported, colleges are being used as testing grounds for technology to enforce draconian distancing, mask and lockdown measures:

Universities are also threatening to suspend students who dare to leave pre-determined ‘bubble’ areas around campuses, or visit non “approved businesses” without permission.

It was all fun and games for Robinhood traders during 2020 – the gains seemed to be unlimited after the market crash in March, anyone could trade stock options, FinTwit was abuzz. Many new traders cut their teeth and learned how to trade for the first time in 2020.

But now, as tax day 2021 rolls around, newbie traders are learning another lesson: how capital gains taxes work, and why “what you make” isn’t always “what you make”. 

And the due diligence traders are interested in doing on paying taxes seems to be far less than the due diligence many are doing by reading r/WallStreetBets. One 19 year old trader, who made $5,000 last year, told Bloomberg: “I read up on it and everything that I saw didn’t lead me to believe that I had to pay, however I was at the grocery store or something so I didn’t dive into it as much as I needed to.”

Retail traders now account for 20% of all stock volume in the U.S., according to Bloomberg. Many of those traders simply don’t yet understand the tax implications of trading.

20 year old trader Mac Coughlin said: “That’s a whole other process that I need to learn. Quite honestly I have no idea about any of it. I took a small loss over the whole course of the year so in terms of filing and tax returns I do not really understand the process.”

Ryan Marshall, a financial planner and partner at ELA Financial Group, said: “The biggest misconception most investors have is that they won’t be taxed as long as they don’t withdraw the money.”

Most traders are learning for the first time that short-term capital gains are taxed at higher rates than long-term capital gains, which take affect after a year and a day. As Bloomberg points out, married couples who earn up to $80,000 pay nothing on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends. Most other middle class income groups pay 15% and the top rate is 23.8% for long term gains. 

Matthew Savello, a certified public accountant, said: “Now that it’s actually coming time to file, people are starting to scramble a little bit. One of the key things is you have to budget it. Probably most of the people I talked with actually have losses, there’s not many who can actually pull this off successfully. And for the ones who do, budgeting has become quite an issue.”

Jordan Kendall, a partner at Marcum LLP, said: “It’s to your benefit to pay it off as quickly as you can. Many taxpayers don’t realize that if you’re delinquent in tax filings and you owe the government money, they could withhold your passport and stop you from traveling internationally. They could make your life difficult.”

For reference, here is a look at what 2020 short term capital gains taxes look like:

And 2020 long term capital gains taxes:

Authored by Janita Kan via The Epoch Times,

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is demanding answers after a new report revealed New York state health officials underreported COVID-19-related nursing home deaths by as much as 50 percent in some places.

The New York House member characterized the revelations as “a massive corruption and coverup scandal at the highest level of New York State Government.” She blamed the Governor, the Secretary to the Governor, the New York State Health Commissioner, and the Governor’s staff for the worrisome findings, which also revealed that some nursing homes did not comply with infection control protocols and had placed residents at increased risk of harm.

“Every New Yorker deserves transparency, accountability, and answers regarding the orchestration of this illegal coverup,” Stefanik said in a statement.

Stefanik is now urging New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Justice Department to issue subpoenas to the administration of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, for documentation and communications related to his handling of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

The 76-page report (pdf) was released on Jan. 28 following an investigation into nursing homes’ responses during the pandemic over allegations of patient neglect and other conduct. Preliminary data from the investigation suggests that many nursing home residents had died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP Virus, in the hospital after they were transferred from their nursing homes.

These cases were not reflected in the state’s Department of Health’s (DOH) published total nursing home death data. The attorney general office compared data from 62 nursing homes, which represents 10 percent of the total facilities in New York, reported to its office, to data reported to DOH.

The investigation also found that some nursing homes underreported their resident deaths occurring in nursing homes to DOH.

“The OAG found that nursing home resident deaths appear to be undercounted by DOH by approximately 50 percent,” the attorney general’s office release stated.

The COVID-related nursing home deaths have been a focal point for Cuomo’s handling of the pandemic. He has repeatedly pushed back against assertions that his policy played any role in the deaths. The report is expected to trigger more scrutiny over Cuomo’s policies and handling of nursing homes amid new cases of the virus across the state and country.

“While we cannot bring back the individuals we lost to this crisis, this report seeks to offer transparency that the public deserves and to spur increased action to protect our most vulnerable residents,” James said in a statement on Thursday.

Many critics have pointed to Cuomo’s decision to order recovering nursing home patients to be returned to the facilities to free up hospital bed space for the increased number of nursing home deaths. Cuomo—who has touted his administration’s response to the pandemic—has often rejected the suggestions that his policy led to an increase in deaths.

His office did not respond to an earlier request for comment by The Epoch Times about the report.

Earlier this month, Cuomo and the state were accused of “illegally hiding basic information about a public health crisis,” by not disclosing the total of coronavirus deaths in New York nursing homes for another two months, until March 22.

The DOH had postponed Empire Center’s August request for information under the Freedom of Information Law three times. This prompted a lawsuit, with the organization arguing the department had “no valid reason for withholding the requested data.”

The department had told the organization that it could not immediately turn over the documents because “a diligent search for responsive documents is still being conducted.”

According to state data as of this week, approximately 70 percent of New York state’s roughly 35,000 deaths from the CCP virus were among people aged 70 or older.

Perhaps as expected, it didn’t take long for the Biden administration to begin putting the brakes on Trump’s previously ordered troop draw downs which occurred in the last two months of his presidency, particularly in Germany, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

The defense analysis and news site Military.com is reporting that new defense secretary under the Biden administration Lloyd Austin is reviewing the withdrawal of 12,000 US troops from Germany:

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has voiced his commitment to shoring up close ties with NATO ally Germany that were strained under the Trump administration, and suggested that the plan to withdraw 12,000 U.S. troops from the country is open to discussion.

The prior Trump plan for to cut nearly one-third of total American military personnel from the country was predictably fought from Congressional corners known for being hawkish on Russia, with even some American and European security officials having called the move a “gift to Putin”.

Later in December the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act attempted to override the draw down order, and according to German officials early this year there’s yet to be significant movement of troops from the country.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this week held phone calls with NATO allied officials in Europe. The Military.com report continues:

In a phone call to his German counterpart, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Austin “expressed his gratitude to Germany for continuing to serve as a great host for U.S. forces, and expressed his desire for a continued dialogue on U.S. force posture in Germany,” according to a Pentagon readout of the call released Wednesday.

He also sought “to reinforce the value the United States places on the bilateral defense relationship with one of our closest NATO Allies,” the readout from Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby states.

By all appearances the some 36,000 total American troops in Germany have gone nowhere despite the plan initiated under Esper. 

Recent polling of the German public also suggests half or more want to see US troops gone, after being there since World War II.

Two things appear true:

1. A good chunk of Germans are in favor of U.S. troop draw-down.
2. They keep electing parties that don’t want the U.S. troop draw-down.

— Casey Michel 🇰🇿 (@cjcmichel) August 4, 2020

As the report concludes of Defense Secretary Austin’s phone call, it is “the latest sign of the Biden administration’s intent to reverse or water down the policies of former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly questioned NATO’s worth to the U.S. and rattled allies with demands for more defense spending.”

Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

Mitch McConnell really wanted to convict Donald Trump and ban him from ever running for office again, but he was forced to back off.  In fact, he just voted for a motion that declared that convicting Trump at this point would be unconstitutional.  That represents a stunning reversal by McConnell, because earlier this month he was telling other Republicans that he wanted Trump gone.  Putting the pieces together, it appears that McConnell really did try to get to 67 votes so that Trump would be convicted, but political reality forced him to back down in a major way.  Now a weakened McConnell will try to move forward as the minority leader in the Senate, and the future of his political career is very much in doubt.

Once the riot at the U.S. Capitol happened on January 6th, McConnell decided that he was done with Trump and never wanted to speak to him again…

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he never wants to speak to President Donald Trump again following a violent insurrection at the US Capitol on Wednesday, The Washington Post reported.

But of course at that point they had already not spoken for quite some time.

According to McConnell, the last time the two spoke was all the way back on December 15th…

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that he hasn’t spoken to former President Trump since the middle of December, confirming news reports that the Senate GOP leader has cut off personal contact with the former president.

“The last time I spoke with him was the day after I declared that Biden had obviously won the election after the Electoral College [voted on] Dec. 14. It would have been Dec. 15,” McConnell told reporters.

Not content to keep his feud with Trump private, McConnell took it to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

When McConnell delivered a speech in which he directly blamed the chaos at the Capitol on Trump, it made headlines all over the nation…

“The mob was fed lies,” McConnell told the chamber, which two weeks earlier had been evacuated as rioters invaded the building.

“They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”

Once it became clear that the House was going to impeach Trump, rumors were running rampant that McConnell was going to back a move to convict Trump in the Senate.

For example, the following comes from a New York Times article entitled “McConnell Privately Backs Impeachment as House Moves to Charge Trump”…

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, has told associates that he believes President Trump committed impeachable offenses and that he is pleased that Democrats are moving to impeach him, believing that it will make it easier to purge him from the party, according to people familiar with his thinking.

And CNN reported that a Republican member of Congress actually told them that “Mitch said to me he wants Trump gone”…

The lobbying started in the House after the January 6 attack on the Capitol and in the days leading up to impeachment. But it’s now more focused on Sen. Mitch McConnell, the powerful minority leader who has signaled he may support convicting Trump.

“Mitch said to me he wants Trump gone,” one Republican member of Congress told CNN. “It is in his political interest to have him gone. It is in the GOP interest to have him gone. The question is, do we get there?”

So why did Mitch McConnell change his mind so dramatically?

There are three main reasons.

First of all, it became clear that there wouldn’t be a way to get to 67 votes.  As I warned yesterday, that would probably be enough to force McConnell and his allies to back down.

Voting to convict Trump without succeeding would be political suicide for McConnell and his allies and they know it.

Secondly, Trump was threatening to start his own political party if he was convicted.

The “Patriot Party” would have split the votes of conservatives in every state, and it would have made it absolutely impossible for Republicans to take back control of the House or the Senate in 2022.

In fact, splitting conservatives between the Republican Party and the Patriot Party would have ensured one party rule in Washington for the foreseeable future.

As much as McConnell would like to get rid of Trump permanently, regaining the majority in the Senate is much more important to him.

Thirdly, other Republicans in the Senate were threatening to boot McConnell from his position as minority leader if he voted to convict Trump…

“No, no, no,” Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican and Trump ally, told CNN when asked if he could support McConnell if he voted to convict Trump, calling such a vote a “dangerous precedent” and adding: “I don’t even think we should be having a trial.”

“If you’re wanting to erase Donald Trump from the party, you’re going to get erased,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said on Fox News Wednesday. “This idea of moving forward without Donald Trump in the Republican Party is a disaster for the Republican Party.”

McConnell is a political survivor, and he could see the writing on the wall.

So he backed off.

But if he could figure out a way to get rid of Trump without any consequences, he would pull the trigger in a nanosecond.

Unfortunately for McConnell, now that everyone knows what he tried to do, he has been greatly weakened politically.

He may survive for a while, but the days remaining in his political career are definitely numbered.

If the Republicans are not able to regain control of the Senate in 2022, I have a feeling that Senate Republicans may decide that it is time for a new standard bearer.

Of course a lot could still happen between now and then, and my regular readers already know that I am not optimistic about America’s future at all.

The rot and decay in Washington is simply a reflection of the rot and decay that is growing throughout our society as a whole.

Our country is literally falling apart all around us, and decades of incredibly foolish decisions by our leaders are now catching up with us in a major way.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

President Jair Bolsonaro warned this week that COVID-19 is going nowhere and urged local leaders to abandon strict social distancing measures and lockdowns, arguing that Brazil’s people need to start learning how to live with the virus, according to Bloomberg. 

“This issue of Covid will continue for life,” Bolsonaro said during a weekly webcast on social media, adding that social distancing measures will “lead nowhere.”

Bolsonaro, 65, has already been infected with the virus and has held a pretty tough stance against social distancing. 

When it comes to vaccines, the Brazilian president, a longtime China skeptic, thanked Beijing earlier this week for approving Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine for export. Bolsonaro said he would not take any COVID-19 shot. 

Critics have said Bolsonaro’s laissez-faire approach to managing the crisis has resulted in a massive death toll, second to the US. Hospitals are overrun with virus patients, which has pressured the president’s popularity in recent months. 

A slow rollout has also pressured Bolsonaro’s popularity, with the country only receiving two million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines. 

Meanwhile, Brazil’s massive fiscal stimulus to support the economy from cratering even further has reached its limits, hence why Bolsonaro is calling for some sense of normalcy. At the same time, people learn to live with the virus. 

At this point, who knows how long the virus will be sticking around, but in Bolsonaro’s defense, there’s mounting evidence that continues to how mandatory stay-at-home orders issued by the government don’t work. 

However, maybe Bolsonaro is right by telling his fellow compatriots to go out there and live their lives. After all, a total implosion of the. Brazilian economy wouldn’t exactly be great for the people’s health. 

President Jair Bolsonaro warned this week that COVID-19 is going nowhere and urged local leaders to abandon strict social distancing measures and lockdowns, arguing that Brazil’s people need to start learning how to live with the virus, according to Bloomberg. 

“This issue of Covid will continue for life,” Bolsonaro said during a weekly webcast on social media, adding that social distancing measures will “lead nowhere.”

Bolsonaro, 65, has already been infected with the virus and has held a pretty tough stance against social distancing. 

When it comes to vaccines, the Brazilian president, a longtime China skeptic, thanked Beijing earlier this week for approving Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine for export. Bolsonaro said he would not take any COVID-19 shot. 

Critics have said Bolsonaro’s laissez-faire approach to managing the crisis has resulted in a massive death toll, second to the US. Hospitals are overrun with virus patients, which has pressured the president’s popularity in recent months. 

A slow rollout has also pressured Bolsonaro’s popularity, with the country only receiving two million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines. 

Meanwhile, Brazil’s massive fiscal stimulus to support the economy from cratering even further has reached its limits, hence why Bolsonaro is calling for some sense of normalcy. At the same time, people learn to live with the virus. 

At this point, who knows how long the virus will be sticking around, but in Bolsonaro’s defense, there’s mounting evidence that continues to how mandatory stay-at-home orders issued by the government don’t work. 

However, maybe Bolsonaro is right by telling his fellow compatriots to go out there and live their lives. After all, a total implosion of the. Brazilian economy wouldn’t exactly be great for the people’s health. 

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

New York’s Governor says bail him out or he’ll be forced to punish New Yorkers with tax hikes.

Biden Elected, Begging Starts

It did not take long for the begging to start. 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo launched the effort with a Tax Hike Ultimatum. 

“If the federal government doesn’t fund state and local governments, it’s going to hurt all New Yorkers,” Mr. Cuomo warned Tuesday while proposing to raise the state’s top income tax rate in New York City to 14.7%. This would be the highest rate in the country, at least until New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy makes a competing bid.

Mr. Cuomo’s ultimatum goes like this: Democrats in Washington must deliver $15 billion in budget relief pronto or he will raise the state’s top tax rate to 10.82% from 8.82% on income over $100 million and create four new tax brackets on income of more than $5 million. New York City has a top rate of 3.88%, though Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to raise it too.

The Governor says the higher rates would be temporary, but New Yorkers know better than to believe him after he broke his promise to let the millionaire’s tax that Albany imposed during the 2009 recession expire. Mr. Cuomo is also begging Democrats in Congress to lift the $10,000 state-and-local tax (SALT) deduction limit to mitigate his tax hike.

Add these tax increases to Medicare taxes, and some New Yorkers would pay a marginal tax rate as high as 64% under Mr. Cuomo’s plan. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may need to set up temporary asylum camps in Palm Beach for the waves of New York tax refugees.

Pitiful, Just Pitiful

Gratefully, I expect Cuomo’s pitiful plea to go straight to the ash pile of requests not delivered where it belongs.

Why?

There is not a single Republican senator who will vote to bail out New York, New, Jersey, Illinois or other corrupt states with union pension woes of their own making.

In Search of a Senator

Given the 50-50 Senate split, it only takes one Democrat to stand up to such fiscally mad proposals.

The most likely candidate is West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. 

Politico notes Manchin emphatic he ‘will not vote’ to kill the filibuster

Also note that Manchin is in a Bipartisan group of senators pushes back on Biden Covid plan.

The bipartisan group of 16 senators held a call with Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, Jeff Zients, Biden’s coronavirus coordinator, and Louisa Terrell, head of White House legislative affairs on Sunday afternoon — the first of what’s sure to be many conversations between centrists and the Biden administration.

The 75-minute call, set up by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), is one of the first big calls the Biden administration has held as it works to build cross-party support for the $1.9 trillion plan. Senators asked for more data on how the White House filled out its plan.

Susan Collins (R-Maine) pressed the Biden officials on why families making $300,000 would be eligible and urged a focus on lower-income workers.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) also questioned the price tag: “This isn’t monopoly money,” as he put it.

Manchin is a Democrat senator in the most trump-friendly state. His statements suggest that he will not stray too far fiscally. 

King caucuses with the Democrats and if either one of them says “no” to state bailouts, they won’t happen.

There might be others. In general, Biden will have a difficult time.  

Go Ahead Cuomo, Go Ahead

So, governor Cuomo go ahead. Raise those taxes. 

I am curious to see how big the New York exodus will be.  And I always need some new things to write about.