NC Renegades

You are now paying a medical excise tax of 2.3% on the following items:

From IRS.gov:

The following discussion of manufacturers taxes applies to the tax on:

Manufacturer: The term “manufacturer” includes a producer or importer. A manufacturer is any person who produces a taxable article from new or raw material, or from scrap, salvage, or junk material, by processing or changing the form of an article or by combining or assembling two or more articles. If you furnish the materials and keep title to those materials and to the finished article, you are considered the manufacturer even though another person actually manufactures the taxable article.  A manufacturer who sells a taxable article in knockdown (unassembled) condition is liable for the tax. The person who buys these component parts and assembles a taxable article may also be liable for tax as a further manufacturer depending on the labor, material, and overhead required to assemble the completed article if the article is assembled for business use.

The following legislation should be a model for all states. I wonder how long it will take for the government to call this racist hate legislation?

David DeGerolamo

h/t Ann Corcoran

Taxpayer group supports Muslim refugee bill

A bill introduced in the Legislature would make resettlement groups more financially responsible for Muslim refugees that they sponsor.

The bill would specify that a refugee resettlement agency is liable to the state or any political subdivision for the cost of prosecution and damages or injuries to victims proximately caused by criminal acts committed by refugee accepted by the agency within the state of Nebraska.

The liability for each refugee would continue for five years after the refugee is relocated within the state.

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This vote was on a resolution proposed by the Democrats who hoped to prevent President Eisenhower from using recess appointments to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court. The full title of the resolution was Expressing the Sense of the Senate That The President Should Not Make Recess Appointments to the Supreme Court, Except to Prevent or End a Breakdown in the Administration of the Court’s Business.

Although the vote occurred in an election year, there is no indication that this vote was about election year appointments specifically. Eisenhower had used the recess appointment power to make previous appointments to the Supreme Court, and Democrats objected to further use of the recess appointment power. No President has used the recess appointment power to appoint a justice of the Supreme Court since then.

A recess appointment is made while the Senate is in recess, and while such appointments do not require Senate approval they instead expire at the end of the subsequent legislative session (these days, a calendar year). The Washington Post explained:

Each of President Eisenhower’s SCOTUS appointments had initially been a recess appointment who was later confirmed by the Senate, and the Democrats were apparently concerned that Ike would try to fill any last-minute vacancy that might arise with a recess appointment. Not surprisingly, the Republicans objected, insisting that the Court should have a full complement of Justices at all times.

These days, the Senate often holds pro forma sessions, by gaveling-in for one minute each day, rather than go on recess in a time when the President is expected to use the recess appointment or pocket veto power, thus typically preventing recess appointments. On Feb. 14, 2016, President Obama stated that he would not use the recess appointment power to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Scalia, which occurred during a Senate recess.

Source

h/t Cousin John

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Although the vote occurred in an election year, there is no indication that this vote was about election year appointments specifically.

It amazes me to see people who support the Constitution but are willing to subvert it when it suits their political or personal goals.

David DeGerolamo

So, what do you do when you want to change an ordinance that you know is illegal and won’t pass through the normal channels?  You hold a closed door meeting and not invite the public.  That’s what the Orange County commissioners just tried to pull.
Over the weekend, Grass Roots NC received word that the board of commissioners in Orange County was going to hold a closed door meeting that is NOT open to the public this Tuesday evening, 2/16/2016.  The ordinance they wanted to change?  From their action agenda item, it states:

“The proposed amendments establish new regulations governing the discharge of firearms on private property…restricts the discharge of firearms to 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily, prohibits the discharge of firearms within designated distances of property lines and dwelling structures, requires discharge projectiles to remain on property upon which they are discharged, and requires most firearms discharges to be directed into a projectile-proof backstop.”

Clearly, the commission knew that these changes would not be popular, but they didn’t want to be bothered with the opinions of the people who elect them, so they’ve decided to meet in secret. This is not acceptable. Below, see how you can send a quick message to the commission to let them know what you think about this sneaky move. Also below, get details so you can attend Tuesday’s meeting and let your voice be heard In response to their attempt at deception, GRNC President, Paul Valone wrote the following letter to the chairman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, Earl McKee:

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If the global economy is in fine shape, then why does all of the hard data tell us that global trade is absolutely collapsing?  The Baltic Dry Index has fallen below 300 for the first time ever, and export numbers are way down for almost every major exporting nation on the entire planet.  As you will see below, this includes China.  The Chinese account for more global trade than anyone else, and so the fact that their imports and their exports are both collapsing precipitously is a huge red flag.  When less stuff is being bought and sold and shipped around the world, that tells us that the “real economy” is contracting.  Tremendous efforts are being made to try to prop up financial markets all over the globe right now, but in the end those efforts are going to prove to be rather futile.  The global economy is clearly plunging into recession, and at this point it is becoming exceedingly difficult for even the most optimistic economic analysts to deny this reality.

When the trade numbers for China for the month of January were released, they were an extreme disappointment.  The following comes from CNBC…

China‘s exports fell 11.2 percent on-year in January, while imports declined 18.8 percent, clocking far bigger slides than expected by analysts.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 1.9 percent drop in January exports, and a 0.8 percent drop in imports, after China’s exports fell 1.4 percent in December from a year earlier and imports slid 7.6 percent .

We never see numbers like this outside of a recession.

Never.

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According to financial research firm ICI, total retirement assets in the Land of the Free now exceed $23 trillion.

$7.3 trillion of that is held in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).

That’s an appetizing figure, especially for a government that just passed $19 trillion in debt and is in pressing need of new funding sources.

Even when you account for all federal assets (like national parks and aircraft carriers), the government’s “net financial position” according to its own accounting is negative $17.7 trillion.

And that number doesn’t include unfunded Social Security entitlements, which the government estimates is another $42 trillion.

The US national debt has increased by roughly $1 trillion annually over the past several years.

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Even if you were able to withdraw your money, the government would take their “fair” share. My fair share to close out my IRAs was 53% with taxes and penalties. It was one of the best decisions in my life.

David DeGerolamo

Where we left off in part 6 was from when Lavoy exits the truck and proceeds 7 steps up the hillside while taking a turn to the left part way through to then angle across the hill in the direction the truck came from.

In this section we will exam from Lavoy’s next footstep to the point a few seconds after he is dropped by gunfire and dies.

There are  many strange things in this segment of video that are literally impossible to happen in reality.

Lavoy’s first two steps are at the same resolution and zoom as the previous clips. There is then another gratuitous long blurred zoom. The result is that the rest of this sequence is zoomed in about 20% but much blurrier. I suspect the added blurriness was the reason for introducing the zoom as it makes it far easier to fake Lavoy’s actions as they did pretty well all the way throughout this sequence.

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In an oil sector first, the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE) has offered free oil to India in return for a storage deal at India’s planned underground facility as the supply glut worsens and some analysts predict that ‘’peak storage” could sending prices crashing further.

The UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has agreed to store crude oil in India’s maiden strategic storage facility, sweetening the deal by saying India could take two-thirds of the oil for free.

It’s a great deal for India, which is almost fully reliant on imports to meet its crude oil needs.

India has lured Abu Dhabi in with the building of a massive underground storage facility system that will be able to take on 5.33 million tons of crude as a bulwark against global price shocks and supply disruptions.

ADNOC is eyeing half the storage capacity at one of the new underground facilities, Mangalore, which has a 1.5-million-ton capacity on its own. Abu Dhabi plans to stock 0.75 million tons, or 6 million barrels of oil, here, and 0.5 million tons will belong to India.

The deal is reflective of a wider, global storage panic and talk of what could happen when we reach ‘’peak storage’’. A number of analysts have suggested that oil prices might crash to $20, or even $10 a barrel, if storage tanks become full.

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Next up: NIRP for oil. Why is no one asking the question why no one is buying oil? I suppose the real question is why no one is talking about the global economic collapse.

David DeGerolamo

Islamic State terrorists recently captured several Syrian air defense missiles, raising concerns the weapons could be used against U.S. and allied aircraft, according to defense officials.

Several SA-6 mobile anti-aircraft missiles were captured near the northeastern Syrian city of Dayr Az Zawr, where in recent weeks U.S. and allied aircraft have conducted airstrikes against oil and gas facilities controlled by ISIS, Pentagon officials told the Washington Free Beacon.

Four missiles and two tracked, mobile SA-6 launchers were captured by the group, the officials said, adding that it is uncertain whether the associated fire control radar and other equipment needed to fire the missiles were captured.

Russian military forces, concerned that ISIS would use the anti-aircraft missiles against its warplanes, conducted airstrikes to try and destroy the SA-6s. But the Russians missed and the missiles were moved from the Dayr Az Zawr area and hidden, officials said.

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