We did our taxes yesterday, and the most wonder-full thing about it was the question of how much time the IRS had to waste making the form almost (but not quite) the size of a postcard, in order to meet the Republican promise? As an aside, I'm also wondering if the person tasked with making the form tiny was an essential employee during the #Trumpshutdown?
Staying on taxes for a second, our tax prep package takes care of both federal and state, including picking up rocks and stuff looking for potential income-grabbing requirements and taxable income-reducing requirements. One of those caught my eye for a fleeting moment -- the one related to organized militias. I hadn't seen that one before, so hit the 'learn more' button, as I wondered if there would be any benefit to running out and getting a gun so we'd be able to take the reduction next year.
Sadly, in New York an 'organized militia' is not the same as the 'well regulated militia' we read about in the Second Amendment; New York actually wants you to be in the Guard or Reserves or similar, to get a benefit here. So no - no guns for us.
What else is on tap tonight?
If you saw yesterday's post, you know that I'm changing my voter registration from Democrat to no party, when it was announced that Bernie Sanders (Independent Democratic Socialist - VT) was running for president again, as a Democrat. He's not one, he's never been one, and he would have nowhere NEAR the platform he has today if the Dems hadn't let him in - the fox in the hen house, as it were - in the 2016 race.
I know that lots of people thought he was good for the race in '16, and that he's been good for the party, but I'm clearly not one of them, and I'm wondering what you all think. If you're a Republican, would you have let him in to your primary if he was a right-leaning independent, or if he were a registered Libertarian or something, or would you have told him to go it alone? And if you're a Dem, what do you really think about all of this?
Rumor has it, from one of the president's favorite fake news stations, that the Mueller report could be out as soon as next week; the timing may or may not be tied to the Senate's approval of William Barr as the new Attorney General. Barr will receive the confidential report and then decide what to do with it, including whether any part of it gets made public. (As I look at this I'm wondering if anyone, anyone at all, is missing former AG Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III?)
Like many people, I wonder what we're going to learn from the report, when it finally lands. Was there collusion? Does it matter? Is there something impeachable in the report? And does that matter? And will we finally learn what the heck Rudy Giuliani has been talking about?
I think the only thing we know for sure is that the president will have something to say, and that we can expect that his response WILL INCLUDE SOME CAPITAL LETTERS AND SEVERAL EXCLAMATION POINTS, if nothing else.
And speaking of the Justice Department, former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe has joined the list of people who have written books about their interaction with the president and/or his administration. I've often wondered if these folks know that their books help Trump more than hurt him, and probably help Trump more than they help themselves?
For every interview they do, there will be multiple attack tweets from the president and his minions, using all of his keywords: lying, leaking, witch hunt, deep state, conspiracy, coup, liar, treason and so on -- and each one of those deepens the connection between Trump and his base. Talk about a 'deep state'...
I also wonder if any of the books that have come out in just the first two years - two years? it seems like a lifetime! - of this administration will stand the test of time, or will be substantiated by any independent source, and so on. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
What are you wondering about?
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!