"As Judge Katherine Forrest explained at the time, Ulbricht's life sentence was intended also to send a message to other would-be dark web drug kingpins. Her strategy appears to have backfired, at least in the short term: Sales on Silk Road successor sites doubled in the immediate wake of Ulbricht's sentence, as news of the trial's outcome raised awareness of the dark web drug market." Continue reading →
401(k) deductions are under attack and tax advantages of inherited IRAs are being eliminated, while retirees move to Ecuador to escape outrageous expenses. Continue reading →
The tax-haven U.S. states of Montana and New Hampshire fired first this week ahead of an ominous House hearing. Continue reading →
"You need food, so you grow some vegetables. If you have extra you sell them on a street corner to your neighbors, and if you live in California you get arrested for it." Continue reading →
"A unanimous Court declared that police should not be held liable for recklessly firing 15 times into a shack where a homeless couple—Angel and Jennifer Mendez—was sleeping." Continue reading →
"Steve Cook is a prime example of a mid-twentieth century mindset trapped in an era of evolving understanding of human nature and criminal justice. The AP continues by reporting that, at the behest of Cook, the 'DOJ’s new policy encouraging harsher punishments for criminals is now turning his attention to hate crimes, marijuana and the ways law enforcement seizes suspects’ cash and property'." Continue reading →
"The GOP's dreams have collided with interest-group lobbying and the tax system's reality. Politicians all profess to hate the tax code, but they don't agree on exactly what they hate. Voters gripe about complexity but are wary of losing cherished breaks that are woven into the economy." Continue reading →
"Trump has said he wants to encourage international weapons sales as a way to create jobs in the United States. Saudi Arabia agreed to buy $110 billion of U.S. arms, with options running as high as $350 billion over 10 years. The lawmakers aim to block about $500 million of the sale, the portion including precision-guided munitions and other offensive weapons. 'Given Saudi Arabia's past support of terror, poor human rights record, and questionable tactics in its war in Yemen, Congress must carefully consider and thoroughly debate if selling them billions of dollars of arms is in our best national security interest at this time,' Paul said in a statement." Continue reading →
"Greg Gianforte has won a special election for Montana’s sole seat in the House of Representatives, just one day after he was charged with misdemeanor assault for 'body-slamming' a Guardian reporter. Speaking at the G7 meeting in Sicily on Friday, Donald Trump called the victory a 'great win in Montana'." Continue reading →
"The president vowed to block German car exports to the U.S. during a meeting with top EU leaders on Thursday, according to German news magazine Der Spiegel. 'The Germans are bad, very bad,' Trump said, according to participants in the room who spoke to Der Spiegel. 'See the millions of cars they sell in the U.S., terrible. We will stop this.' The comments were said to have been made in a meeting with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the European Council President Donald Tusk, who both showed support for Germany." Continue reading →