Sound familiar?

Value of Loeffler’s Mansion Dropped $6M Overnight—and Nobody Can Explain Why

“The estate went from a $10.5 million appraisal to $4.1 million, resulting in a much lower tax bill for the senator and her husband.”

By Sam Brodey and William Bredderman Dec. 16, 2020

https://www.thedailybeast.com/value-of-sen-kelly-loefflers-georgia-mansion-dropped-dollar6m-overnightand-nobody-can-explain-why?ref=home

“When Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, bought a 15,000-square-foot Atlanta mansion known as “Descante” for $10.5 million in 2009, it was the most expensive private home purchase in the city’s history.

The value of the estate, as appraised by Fulton County government officials for the purpose of calculating annual property tax dues, remained the same, $10.5 million, for the next seven years. Then, in 2016, the appraised value suddenly plunged to $4.15 million—a whopping 60 percent decline.

The result was a dramatic cut to the couple’s property tax bill.

Originally, they were paying $200,000 annually to the city and county governments. In 2016, after their home’s value dropped, they paid $90,000.

Since then, the appraised value of the home has risen to roughly $5 million, but they are still paying about $80,000 less a year than they did when they first bought. In 2018, the home was valued at $5.5 million, and the couple paid $115,000 in property taxes for that year. In 2020, the home was valued at $5 million, with a tax bill of $112,000.

The devaluation of the Loeffler-Sprecher estate, and lower tax bill, came after the couple invested significantly in improvements to the property. In 2015, they spent nearly $90,000 to renovate the kitchen, $150,000 to construct a new greenhouse, and $125,000 on various outdoor improvements, records filed with the city show.

And it’s especially striking given that Atlanta was undergoing a real-estate boom at that time. Home prices in the metro area surged by 81 percent from 2012 to 2020, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.”

Steve Thomas

Editorial: Shame on Nebraska officials for joining foolish Texas election lawsuit

• Editorial staff Dec 15, 2020

Omaha World-Herald

https://omaha.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-shame-on-nebraska-officials-for-joining-foolish-texas-election-lawsuit/article_294a76e0-3e2d-11eb-adf1-679e649b82c1.html

“Yet, presented with that scenario at a news conference before the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case — would Nebraska have been involved were Joe Biden not the winner? — Gov. Pete Ricketts insisted our interest wasn’t political and he just wants other states to follow their laws.”

“Bull.”

“As Republicans who supported the Texas lawsuit go forward in their political careers, voters must remember what they did in December 2020 in hopes of denying 20 million Americans their most fundamental right, and what they did to erode confidence in the very elections in which their ambitions drive them to compete.”

“It was shameful.”

Steve Thomas

Smartmatic Demands Justice for Defamation

https://www.smartmatic.com/us/media/article/smartmatic-demands-justice-for-defamation/

Senators Fail To Reach Deal On Compromise Version Of COVID-19 Lawsuit Ban

"Democrats disagree with a watered-down version of Mitch McConnell’s proposal to stifle lawsuits over coronavirus exposure at work and elsewhere."

By Arthur Delaney and Dave Jamieson 12/15/20

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-relief-liability-shield_n_5fd7d150c5b689a6230d0b28

“Worker safety advocates said they are alarmed at how the McConnell-Cornyn proposal would weaken the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is charged with protecting workers on the job. To avoid citations and fines due to infections and deaths, employers would only have to demonstrate that they were aware of the relevant safety guidelines and “exploring options to comply” with them ― regardless of whether they actually did. 

Under the Trump administration, OSHA has doled out relatively small fines for coronavirus hazards, even in cases where multiple workers died from COVID-19. The McConnell-Cornyn language would make it all but impossible for OSHA to do even that, said Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA official under Obama now with the National Employment Law Project. It would also hinder OSHA from enforcing critical whistleblower protections for workers who speak up about coronavirus dangers.

But the proposal goes well beyond safety. It would also protect employers from coronavirus-related claims stemming from discrimination law as well as minimum wage and overtime laws. Jennifer Mathis, deputy legal director at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, said it was troubling to see the Americans with Disabilities Act included among the laws from which employers would gain some immunity.”

Steve Thomas

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump 12/15/20

“This Fake Election can no longer stand.”

Fake, fake, fake.

Everything around Donald Trump is fake.

Fake News. Fake Elections. Fake pandemic.

I wonder what it’s like to go through life knowing that everything around you is unreal.

Must be weird.

I wonder if he feels like Alice in Wonderland.

Steve Thomas

Trump fires Chris Krebs, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Two weeks later, the U.S suffers what has been described as the most consequential Russian cyberhacks in U.S. history.

I don't believe in coincidences.

Steve Thomas

Don't be so quick to celebrate Bill Barr's departure

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, December 14, 2020

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/14/politics/bill-barr-donald-trump-ag/index.html

"Consider:

* According to The Wall Street Journal, Barr went out of his way this past fall to ensure that the federal investigation into Hunter Biden's financial dealings never went public in the course of a presidential campaign in which Trump sought to make the son of his Democratic opponent a major issue.

* Earlier this month, Barr directly contradicted Trump's repeated claims that there was widespread voter fraud in the presidential election. "To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election," Barr told the Associated Press in an interview.

Trump has previously expressed his preference for "acting" officials in key roles. "I like acting because I can move so quickly," he said in 2019. "it gives me more flexibility."

It also gives him more control over the broader government apparatus as he can place unquestioning loyalists in posts without having to worry about those people being confirmed by the Senate.

What that means for the DOJ is that Trump is very likely to enjoy something close to unfettered control over the department between now and January 20.

That could mean the appointment of a special counsel to ensure the Hunter Biden investigation continues beyond the Trump presidency.

It could mean increased pressure on special counsel John Durham, who is investigating the origins of the Russia counter-intelligence probe in 2016, to announce his findings and/or bring charges.

Or 1,001 other things that Trump has unsuccessfully pushed the Justice Department to look into -- virtually every one of them involving his political enemies -- over his four years in office.

Most presidents before Trump understood that while the attorney general -- and the wider Justice Department -- work for him, that it was important for the rule of law to ensure that the AG had significant autonomy. Trump never seemed to understand that need for independence. And now, with Barr gone, the last major obstacle to him doing (or at least trying to do) whatever he wants is now gone."

Steve Thomas

Trump just fired Bill Barr (12/14/20) effective 2/23/20..

It was nice and polite and everything. He's leaving to spend more time with his family.

I wonder if John Durham's investigation was starting to turn up things Trump wants to keep hidden.

Steve Thomas

9 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

    The truth is that American history from the early 17th century to the 20th witnessed a continuous process of annihilation and displacement of indigenous Native Americans from the East Coast to the Pacific, terminating in Arizona's Apache Wars of the 1870s.

 

W.,

For me, the Indian Wars ended with the surrender of Chief Joseph in northern Montana in October, 1877.

Steve Thomas

"CCP & 1000’s of US citizens worked together to try to steal 2020 election at top of ticket & selected down ballot races. Serbia, Canada, Venezuela, Cuba, CIA, George Soros, Bill Gates, Biden, Clinton Foundation & many national state & local officials from both parties involved."

— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) December 13, 2020

I wonder if they all got together over lunch.

I say we invade Canada, but let's wait until summer when it's warmer; or maybe send the Proud Boys up there now...

Steve Thomas

Trump unleashes an army of sore losers

By DAVID SIDERS 12/13/2020

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/13/trump-2020-election-gop-444682

“In California, a Republican congressional candidate trounced in Democratic-heavy Los Angeles is still refusing to concede — while simultaneously announcing he’s running for governor. In Maryland, a congressional candidate beaten by more than 40 percentage points is still complaining about “irregularities” in her election. And in Tennessee, a House candidate defeated by more than 57 percentage points has reached out to the ubiquitous pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell to air her grievances about an election that no Republican had any chance of winning — but that she’s convinced she did.

The down-ballot parroting of Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud began right after the election. But in the weeks since, it has evolved into a self-sustaining phenomenon of its own. Republican candidates for House, legislative and gubernatorial races in more than half a dozen states are still refusing to concede.

Echoing the president, these candidates are an early sign of what Republicans say will be a sustained, post-Trump effort to tighten voting restrictions and to reverse measures implemented in many states to make voting easier. They also may mark the beginning of a Trump-inspired trend of candidates who never fold — they just fade away after weeks and months of unsubstantiated allegations of fraud.

In the pre-Trump era, the campaign season grew longer on the front end, as candidates started campaigning earlier and earlier each year. In the post-Trump era, the opposite may be true: campaigns may never truly die.”

Steve Thomas

Oh good. They're bringing Sarah Palin out of mothballs.

Isn't that special?

Steve Thomas

If you secessionists are counting on the military to come in and rescue you, you are in for a very, very rude awakening.

Steve Thomas

7 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

If nothing else, those legislators from Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia who joined this lawsuit should be not be seated, as they tried to nullify their own elections.

Steve Thomas

 

These legislators swore oaths to protect and serve their citizens. They just tried to take away those very citizens' right to vote.

They don't deserve to serve in Congress and should be denied the right to take a seat.

Steve Thomas

8 hours ago, Douglas Caddy said:

Democrat wants to use Civil War law about traitors to ban 126 Republicans from being seated in Congress

 

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/12/democrat-wants-to-use-civil-war-law-about-traitors-to-ban-126-republicans-from-being-seated-in-congress/

If nothing else, those legislators from Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia who joined this lawsuit should be not be seated, as they tried to nullify their own elections.

Steve Thomas

Donald Trump can rest easy.

If he goes to jail, he'll finally get his wall.

Four of them.

Steve Thomas

1 hour ago, Andrej Stancak said:

Joseph:

thanks for pointing to this interesting book that also addresses Jack Ruby's role in the assassination. It is a rare collector item and prohibitively expensive on Amazon. However, I managed to find a link to a PDF of this book:

https://ia800204.us.archive.org/8/items/OglesbyCarlTheYankeeAndCowboyWar/Oglesby, Carl - The Yankee and Cowboy War.pdf

 

Andrej,

Thanks for the tip.

Steve Thomas

Is this why Trump is so keen to veto the Defense Bill?

US poised to overhaul the country’s anti-money laundering legislation

"Congress has released the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes reforms that would effectively end fully anonymous shell companies."

By Hamish Boland-Rudder December 4, 2020

ICIJ: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2020/12/us-poised-to-overhaul-the-countrys-anti-money-laundering-legislation/

“The United States looks set to overhaul the country’s anti-money-laundering legislation, after widely-supported provisions were officially included in a must-pass annual defense spending bill on Thursday.

The reforms, based on proposals by bipartisan groups of lawmakers from both the Senate and the House of Representatives, would mandate that companies in the U.S. report their ultimate owners to the Treasury Department, effectively ending fully anonymous shell companies.

The provisions will also see the U.S. strengthen its financial intelligence work, including bulking up the data collection of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, and increasing international cooperation between financial crime units. The ownership data would not be made public.”

The legislation was officially included in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021, a giant spending bill that usually passes with bipartisan support to ensure continued funding for national defense.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, said the inclusion of the anti-money-laundering legislation in the defense spending bill would help close “holes in our financial system [that] pose a serious threat to national security.”

“It is past time to put an end to the secrecy that allows drug cartels, human traffickers, arms dealers, terrorists and kleptocrats to exploit the United States’ banking system in order to carry out anti-American activities,” Warner said in a statement issued alongside fellow Democrat Doug Jones and Republican Mike Rounds, who co-authored the ILLICIT CASH Act that was used as the basis for some of the provisions.

The legislation was officially included in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021, a giant spending bill that usually passes with bipartisan support to ensure continued funding for national defense.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, said the inclusion of the anti-money-laundering legislation in the defense spending bill would help close “holes in our financial system [that] pose a serious threat to national security.”

“It is past time to put an end to the secrecy that allows drug cartels, human traffickers, arms dealers, terrorists and kleptocrats to exploit the United States’ banking system in order to carry out anti-American activities,” Warner said in a statement issued alongside fellow Democrat Doug Jones and Republican Mike Rounds, who co-authored the ILLICIT CASH Act that was used as the basis for some of the provisions.

The final legislation brings together numerous reforms of the financial system that have been proposed in recent years, and that have referenced a number of investigations into financial secrecy by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/12/heres-the-real-reason-trump-may-veto-the-defense-funding-bill-ex-irs-investigator/

“Currently, the U.S. is at the bottom of the pack with respect to corporate transparency,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who has been pushing for the act since 2007. “In many states, more personal information is needed to obtain a library card than to establish a legal entity that can be used to facilitate tax evasion, money laundering, fraud, and corruption. The U.S has been identified in several studies as one of the easiest jurisdictions in which to open an anonymous company.”

“That legislation would have prevented the Trump family from setting up shell companies that allowed the president’s father Fred Trump from making large cash gifts to his children disguised as legitimate business transactions to evade taxes, and could expose possible wrongdoing in his real estate empire.”

“’Beyond the impacts for law enforcement,’” Maloney has noted, the Illicit Cash Act, ‘will directly affect us here at home by lowering housing costs in New York City,’ where shell companies parking money in high-end real estate have cut into housing supply and pushed up real estate costs for everyone else,” Sheil wrote. “That includes many of the 1,300 Trump condominiums that were purchased with all cash by anonymous shell companies, according to a Buzzfeed investigation.”

Steve Thomas

Donald Trump's legal "elite strike force"

No, wait. That's yesterday's landing of the SpaceX test flight of ‘the Starship’ prototype.

Sorry for the confusion.

Steve Thomas

You see, if we make it easier for people to vote, it opens the door for the possibility of more undetectable voter fraud.

The key is not to let people vote. We'll just appoint the leaders.

It's simple.

I'm just not sure whosa gonna be doin the appointen tho.

Steve Thomas

18 States are suing 4 other States (Georgia included) seeking to invalidate their elections.

On Tuesday, President Trump ordered the Attorney General of Georgia not to defend his own State in this lawsuit. How's that for a kick in the pants?

On Monday, December 14th, the Electors to the Electoral College meet in their respective State Capitols to cast their votes for President. I hope and pray that they have adequate police protection.

Steve Thomas

When Donald Trump leaves the White House, he's going to have to go live with his in-laws.

Melania Trump 'just wants to go home'

By Kate Bennett, CNN December 9, 2020

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/09/politics/melania-trump-future/index.html

“The Mar-a-Lago abode encapsulates approximately 3,000 square feet of the property's main building, a generous proportion for many families, but a relative studio apartment after living in the 55,000 square foot White House mansion.”

“Melania Trump views Mar-a-Lago as a peaceful respite of sun, solitude and self-care.

"Her parents have a suite of rooms there as well, not far from the family quarters," said Leamer, who has spent ample time at Mar-a-Lago as a guest of several members. Viktor and Amalija Knavs, (Melania) Trump's parents, stay at Mar-a-Lago often, and have done so for much of the two decades their daughter has been with Donald Trump.”

Steve Thomas

This is just a general question.

If we do away with the Electoral College, does that mean that all presidential elections in the future will be administered by the Federal Government? And who would handle that? The Party currently in power?

Steve Thomas

5 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

I saw this article just one hour ago.

The man's bonafides are very hard to dismiss out of hand.

I would think if most people can get through the shock/trauma of Donald Trump they could handle of the reality of ETs.

Joe,

Don't you find it sort of convenient that they've only contacted to Israelis and the Americans?

I sort of like the message from the Galactic Federation that asked Earthlings to stop sending them nude pictures with directions to their house. The Federation finds it kind of creepy.

Steve Thomas