Tag Archives: Ron Paul
Congressman Ron Paul Urges Afghanistan Withdrawal July 18 2012
Ron Paul: An Important Message to All Supporters
Ron Paul Supporters Are Taking Over the Republican Party
Walter Block — Jews for Ron Paul
Reality Check: Did Mitt Romney Really Secure GOP Nomination With Texas Win?
US House Stealthily Passes Extreme Pro-Israel Legislation. Ron Paul lone dissenter.
The House bill basically provides Israel with a blank check drawn on the U.S. taxpayer to maintain its “qualitative military edge” over all of its neighbors combined.
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Go to Google and type in “H.R. 4133.” You will discover that, apart from a handful of blogs and alternative news sites, not a single mainstream medium has reported the story of a congressional bill that might well have major impact on the conduct of United States foreign policy.
H.R. 4133, the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012, was introduced into the House of Representatives of the 112th Congress on March 5 “to express the sense of Congress regarding the United States-Israel strategic relationship, to direct the president to submit to Congress reports on United States actions to enhance this relationship and to assist in the defense of Israel, and for other purposes.” The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) reportedly helped draft the bill, and its co-sponsors include Republicans Eric Cantor and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democrats Howard Berman and Steny Hoyer. Hoyer is the Democratic whip in the House of Representatives, where Cantor is majority leader. Ros-Lehtinen heads the Foreign Affairs Committee.
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A number of congressmen spoke on the bill, affirming their undying dedication to the cause of Israel. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was the only one who spoke out against it, describing it as “one-sided and counterproductive foreign policy legislation. This bill’s real intent seems to be more saber-rattling against Iran and Syria.” Paul also observed that “this bill states that it is the policy of the United States to ‘reaffirm the enduring commitment of the United States to the security of the State of Israel as a Jewish state.’ However, according to our Constitution, the policy of the United States government should be to protect the security of the United States, not to guarantee the religious, ethnic, or cultural composition of a foreign country.”
(Read more)
U.S. erects prison walls as Facebook entrepreneur gives us citizenship
I really liked Steffen Molynieux’s observation that these actions totally blow away all that bullshit about a social contract. Leftists like to say, if you don’t like it, leave. But now the government says, you can’t!
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Internet message boards bristled with denunciations of Saverin’s “treachery” and promises to renounce Facebook. “Way to defriend America, [expletive deleted],” one annoyed American taxpayer tweeted. Another Twitterer, who happened to be outspoken rich guy Marc Cuban, told his followers that “if i could realistically stop using facebook, … I would. Just wrong.”
(MORE: This is your Life (According to Your New Timeline))
The story behind Saverin’s move is a little more complicated than the headlines suggest. The Brazilian-born, Singapore-based investor with the cherub face was one of Mark Zuckerberg’s original backers during Facebook’s Harvard days; while no longer involved in the company as an executive, he retains a 4% stake, which could be worth as much as $4 billion after Facebook goes public.
There’s no question that by giving up his American citizenship and settling down in Singapore, an investor-friendly tax haven with no capital gains taxes, he’ll spare himself a hefty bill from Uncle Sam. He’s not going to escape the IRS entirely, though; the US charges citizenship-renouncers an “exit tax” which could add up to as much as $150 million in his case, one tax expert contacted by the Los Angeles Times estimates.
Saverin maintains that his renunciation of American citizenship, which actually took place last September, wasn’t a ploy to skip out on American taxes, but rather an attempt to free himself from burdensome restrictions on American investors abroad. “U.S. citizens are severely restricted as to what they can invest in and where they can maintain accounts,” the Wall Street Journal quotes a spokesman for Saverin saying. “Many foreign funds and banks won’t accept Americans. This was a financial rather than a tax motive.” (Read more)
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Ilyse Hogue of The Nation is incensed:
In making this decision, the Brazilian native did more than expose his blind disregard for all that his adopted country has done for him. He has made himself the poster child for the callous class of 1 percenters who are all too happy to use national resources to enrich themselves, and then skate, or cry foul, when asked to pay their fair share. The story evokes the image of the marauding aliens from the movie Independence Day, who come to Earth to take what they can get before moving on to another planet.
Wait a second! Did Eduardo Saverin plunder us? Are we now a desolate husk of a country, sucked dry by Eduardo Saverin’s rapine? Well, no. Facebook created wealth. Mr Saverin is leaving having deployed his capital in a manner that made America better off than it was when he arrived. But will he escape without rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s? Well, no. Both Mr Manjoo and Ms Hogue mumble in passing under their breath while coughing that Mr Saverin will have to pony up an “exit tax”. So what’s this woefully insufficient tribute come to, such that Mr Saverin may be so bitterly denounced for exploitation and despoilment? According to Danielle Kucera, Sanat Vallikappen and Christine Harper of Bloomberg:
Saverin won’t escape all U.S. taxes. Americans who give up their citizenship owe what is effectively an exit tax on the capital gains from their stock holdings, even if they don’t sell the shares, said Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, director of the international tax program at the University of Michigan’s law school. For tax purposes, the IRS treats the stock as if it has been sold.
Got that? Mr Saverin’s on the hook for the amount his capital-gains tax would have come to had he sold all his American stock holdings. Tim Worstall sketches it out on his napkin:
[T]he net effect of his citizenship renunciation on his immediate tax bill is to increase it, hugely. For it will, at minimum, start with the idea that he’s just made a $3.5 billion or so profit (adjusted downwards for the difference between the private market value of Facebook last fall and the IPO price) on his Facebook stock which he got originally for minimal amounts of money. At the standard 15% long term capital gains rate that’s near $500 million right there.
Half a billion dollars! That is not scot-free. Did the marauding aliens in “Independence Day” leave behind a half billion American dollars after having successfully invested in Earth? They did not! One wonders how many pounds of flesh Mr Manjoo and Ms Hogue think Mr Saverin owes for the privilege of having Uncle Sam’s hooks out once and for all.
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Senator Charles Schumer: Eduardo Saverin Can Never Set Foot in U.S.
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Ron Paul: The Egregious Ex-Patriot Act Has No Place in a Free Society
Ron Paul Rising — and the establishment is desperate!
Mitt Romney campaign gets busted handing out fraudulent voting slates at the State Republican convention in Reno, Nevada.
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Privately, sources close to the Ron Paul campaign say they believe Republicans will continue to ramp up his efforts to block Paul delegates at state conventions, particularly after Romney’s embarrassing delegate losses in Massachusetts. But state organizers tell Business Insider that Paul supporters are significantly more organized than Romney’s delegate team, and are ready to put up a tough fight in states like Idaho and Washington.
At this point, it is difficult to gage the actual delegate count, but even his closest campaign advisors admit it would be virtually impossible for Paul to deny Romney the nomination in Tampa.
So why are Establishment Republicans so concerned?
Even if the nomination is not in play, an army of Paul delegates could cause significant problems for the presumptive nominee, who needs a smooth convention to assuage concerns about his ability to unite and energize the Republican base.
While some of Paul’s delegates will be bound to vote for Romney on the first ballot, they will not answer to Romney’s campaign. That means that the presumptive nominee will have little control over how those delegates vote on the other issues at the convention, including the party platform, the convention chair, and even the vice-presidential nominee. If Paul winds up with the majority of delegates in six states — and it looks like he might — they will have the power to stop the convention proceedings, and make a motion on anything from electing a new convention chair, to changing the rules, to introducing new platform positions.
(Read more)
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In Oklahoma, GOP defies vote to adjourn & appeals, walls off part of convention hall.
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60 Minutes censors Paypal co-founder’s endorsement of Ron Paul.
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Fox (as usual) attacks Ron Paul on foreign policy and Israel. Ron Paul (as usual) knocks it out of the park.
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In Maine, GOP invalidates Ron Paul ballots:
Romney Camp Circulates Fake List of Paul Delegate Nominees at Maine GOP
Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman on Bloomberg TV – April 30, 2012
Ron Paul Has Not Suspended His Campaign
Which Republican Candidates was in the Military vs. foreign policy?
