I dunno, my non-drinking finnish acquaintance and former gaming buddy (Stupid RL getting in the way all the time) regularly rants about the idiocy of his countrymen during hockey season. :P

they could really tell the IRS to audit 501(c) and remove their status from the churches and bullshit Republican charities

That would be juuuuuust about the dumbest thing they could possibly do. It would mobilize gigantic swaths of voters who are heavily invested in rhetoric over fact-checking.

Doing away with Roe mobilized many of those voters who could be considered to be fence sitters towards the left. Removing church tax exemptions would move them right back and it would do NOTHING to solve the problem, because while the actual big offenders are happily USING the hell out of that tax exemption, they're rich enough that they'll get along fine without it.

It WOULD hurt a whole lot of TINY churches that employ 1-50 people per church and actually do community work, though. All of those would go away. That's a LOT of rural food shelves.

I'm largely against the religious tax exemption, but that's a problem we should worry about AFTER we can replace the nationwide infrastructure we'd be dismantling by doing so with something at least as effective as what's there now.

Conspicuous punk or Conspicupunk

Do they?

I don't even know what an "ultra processed food" •IS•.

How is it different than the "processed cheese product" that passes for most individually wrapped "American cheese" cheese slices? Or is that ultra processed?

Are Doritos ultra processed or just the regular kind of processed?

Which kind of ground beef qualifies for "ultra"? Only the pink slime or anything that's been chemically treated?

I'm not being a pedantic contrary asshat, I legitimately do not know what qualifies something to be in this category and why it's worse than normal processing.

Bpa from plastic tubing used in the processing of Annie's organic leeched into the food. Is that considered contamination or a side effect of processing?

And while it hurts now, it's REALLY going to hurt when large swaths of useful answers that don't exist anywhere else are gone and there's nothing replacing them.

Noone writes hundreds of pages of documentation for their stuff anymore. Without the collected knowledge learned from experience there, what do we have?

Unless we have source code to read, very little.

I'm still feeling the pain of google search results sucking combined with most of the large coding forums being gone and reddit slowly going to garbage. Stack Overflow was the last bastion of collected knowledge of it's type... and it's not like it was 25 years ago where we still had phonebook-sized manuals for almost all major software because agile has killed the concept of exhaustive definitive documentation for a given version of something.

I used to sorta roll my eyes at people shouting about federating everything, but at this point I'm scared and agreeing with them.

Again, no court would uphold that Texas is being invaded.

Which is good because if we classify border-crossing migrants as "invaders" then not only does that mean really bad things for them, it means Abbott was funneling invaders further inside our borders by paying to bus them to denver or fly them to chicago or whatever else.

It's pretty clear he didn't think the treasonous implications of this particular initiative through very well.

Charles Littlejohn is an Internal Revenue Service consultant who is accused of “disclosing tax return information without authorization,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Details in the indictment match the New York Times’ reporting on former President Donald Trump’s tax returns, and ProPublica’s reporting on the tax returns of the nation’s billionaires, ProPublica reported.

According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Littlejohn, while working at the IRS as a government contractor, “stole tax return information associated with a high-ranking government official (Public Official A) and disclosed it to a news organization (News Organization 1).”

The DOJ accuses Littlejohn of also stealing “tax return information for thousands of the nation’s wealthiest individuals, and disclosed this tax return information to another news organization (News Organization 2).

Littlejohn, 38, is from Washington D.C., according to Pro Publica. His full name is Charles Edward Littlejohn, the indictment says.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Charles Littlejohn Is Accused of Releasing Donald Trump’s Tax Returns to The New York Times, Reports Say

ProPublica reported that the DOJ’s description of the second leak “appears to match The New York Times’ reporting on the taxes of Donald Trump.”

The DOJ statement does not name Trump. As Trump battled against release of his tax records, The New York Times reported that he did not pay income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years.

“Long-Concealed Records Show Trump’s Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance,” The Times’ headline says.

Littlejohn “is charged with one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison,” the DOJ said.

“Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Trevor Nelson of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) made the announcement,” the DOJ’s news release said, adding that TIGTA “is investigating the case.”

The complaint says that, from in or about 2018 until in or about 2020, “while Defendant was working on an IRS contract, he stole tax returns and return information associated with Public Official A and thousands of the nation’s wealthiest people, including returns and return information dating back more than 15 years.”

It adds: “He thereafter disclosed the tax information associated with Public Official A to News Organization 1 and the other tax information to News Organization 2. Both news organizations published numerous articles describing the tax information they obtained from the Defendant.” 2. ProPublica Says the Charles Littlejohn Charges Appear Related to a ‘Trove of IRS data’ the News Organization Used in a ‘Secret IRA Files’ Series

One of the news organizations, ProPublica, reported that the DOJ’s description “of one of those leaks appears to refer to the trove of IRS data that ProPublica used to report its ‘Secret IRS Files’ series. The vast dataset contained details on thousands of wealthy Americans, and ProPublica reported dozens of stories based on an analysis of it.”

“As we have said from the beginning, we do not know the identity of the source, so we have nothing further to say about the charges filed today,” Stephen Engelberg, ProPublica’s editor in chief, said in the story.

ProPublica’s series announced, “A massive trove of tax information obtained by ProPublica, covering thousands of America’s wealthiest individuals, reveals what’s inside the billionaires’ bag of tricks for minimizing their personal tax bills — sometimes to nothing.”

The taxes returns covered in that series included information relating to Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett, all billionaires, according to Pro Publica. “The tax data was provided to ProPublica after we published a series of articles scrutinizing the IRS,” the article says, not naming its source.

The series reported:

ProPublica has obtained a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation’s wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years. The data provides an unprecedented look inside the financial lives of America’s titans, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg. It shows not just their income and taxes, but also their investments, stock trades, gambling winnings and even the results of audits.

3. Charles Littlejohn Has Served as a Contractor to a Consulting Firm that Worked for the IRS, the Indictment Says

The indictment says “from in or about 2017 until in or about 2021, Defendant CHARLES EDWARD LITTLEJOHN served as a contractor to Company A, a consulting firm that serviced public and private clients.” The firm is not named.

“During the relevant period, Defendant primarily worked on contracts Company A had obtained with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). Pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6103(n), returns and return information were disclosed to Defendant for purposes of tax administration,” the indictment says.

According to Fox News, reported that “a guilty plea is in the works” and that Littlejohn was a contractor for the IRS when he is accused of stealing Trump’s tax returns and giving them to the New York Times. 4. Former President Donald Trump Accused the ‘Fake News Media’ of Publishing ‘Illegally Obtained Information’

The Fake News Media, just like Election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information & only bad intent. I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 28, 2020

Trump railed at the news media after the publication of his tax returns. “The Fake News Media, just like Election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information & only bad intent. I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits…..” he wrote on X.

He added, “Also, if you look at the extraordinary assets owned by me, which the Fake News hasn’t, I am extremely under leveraged – I have very little debt compared to the value of assets. Much of this information is already on file, but I have long said that I may release.

“Financial Statements, from the time I announced I was going to run for President, showing all properties, assets and debts. It is a very IMPRESSIVE Statement, and also shows that I am the only President on record to give up my yearly $400,000 plus Presidential Salary!” Trump wrote. 5. The IRS Has ‘Tightened Security,” Reports Say

🚨BREAKING: An IRS contractor has been charged with STEALING President Trump's tax returns and providing them to a "news organization" Charles Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, DC is facing up to FIVE YEARS in prison on this charge. https://t.co/BLiHKfOAGX pic.twitter.com/hZq5TCQQWz

— Will Goren (@RealWillGoren) September 29, 2023

According to the Associated Press, the IRS declined to comment specifically on the Littlejohn indictment.

However, Commissioner Danny Werfel said “any disclosure of taxpayer information is unacceptable,” the AP reported, adding that “the agency has since tightened security.”

According to Politico, Ken Griffin, “a prominent hedge fund manager,” sued the IRS “for failing to protect his tax filings,” and the government argued in court that “there was no evidence that leak came from a government employee.”

“The government has a fundamental obligation to protect the confidentiality of Americans’ sensitive information, whether it be tax records or healthcare records,” Griffin told Politico.

I was actually impressed when I took a bus across state lines in the U.S. recently.

Someone was complaining about the charger on their seat not working.

Turns out that the driver has full control of the power to the USB ports on the bus and can turn them off and on at will... and they apparently they turn them off BY DEFAULT.

If someone WERE to figure out a way to get from the USB port in the seats to the CAN Bus on the vehicle itself, having a hard-wired physical switch that cuts power/signal to the ports is potentially a fairly effective security measure as long as there's not a memory buffer you can compromise and run stuff from.

If they make one of them look and speak like Morbo the Annihilator, I might actually watch.

Like, with the anti-human sentiment and everything.

First Anchor: And today, a local law firm files the first lawsuit in a series over a deadly salmonella outbreak linked to cantaloupe.

Morbo: Next time, we will put the salmonella in more than just the canteloupe.

or maybe:

Morbo: Canteloupe tonight, Bridegroom has the runs!

One day the headline will actually explain something instead of being a vague proclamation of doom

Yeah, wouldn't that be great?

Ugh. I hate yellow journalism.

One of the cases involving "more of our rights being targeted" is this one:

The arguments in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America set for Tuesday...

...That's October 3rd of this year, based on what I'm reading...

...so, like, two days ago. I'll have to go see if anything has come of it yet a bit later on.

...will focus on whether the CFPB’s funding through the Federal Reserve violates the Constitution’s appropriations clause.

The blockbuster case threatens to subject the agency to Congress’s annual spending fights, which could in turn upend the funding process for the Federal Reserve and other key financial regulators. Created in the Dodd-Frank Act following the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB regulates larger banks, mortgage and student loan companies, and payday lenders, among others, and has been a frequent target of challenges from Republicans and industry trade groups.

So...this one is going to be the supreme court saying banks, lenders for student loans, and the for-profit shitholes that prey on the poor known as payday lenders can do whatever they want so long as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and no federal regulatory board or agency should be (edit for clarity -- ) able to stop them, in this case due to lack of funding if this passes.

Just your typical "deregulate everything because all regulations that are bad for us rich folks are 'government over-reach', obvs" claptrap.

Then there's:

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The outcome could overturn the landmark 1984 Chevron vs. National Resources Defense Council, which compels federal courts to defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous or unclear statute.

The goal of Loper is to severely limit or strip the authority of federal agencies like the EPA, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Federal Elections Commission to issue regulations in areas ranging from the environment, labor, and consumer protection and transfer their authority to the courts.

and let's not forget:

Moore vs. U.S. -- This case centers on the 16th Amendment and the right of the federal government to tax foreign earnings that corporations don’t distribute to U.S. investors but instead reinvest into the foreign company.

Both Roberts and Alito have investments in companies that stand to benefit from a ruling. Corporate and judicial financial disclosures show Roberts and Alito own individual shares in 19 corporations that could see combined tax relief of $30 billion

There's a whole bunch more reeaaallly interesting information in the article about who benefits from which cases and why a bunch of the supreme court justices should be recusing themselves from these things.

Good find, OP.

(edit again -- All in all an EXCELLENT article. Very well written, informative, and engaging. I'm just not a fan of the headline. Not sure I could do better though, so my apologies to the journalist who wrote it for critiquing a vague headline with a vague stance.)

When you do this as a passenger to get a cheaper fare the airliner will ban you for life.

Wait, are you saying if you buy a ticket from Orlando to Las Vegas and the flight stops for a planned plane change in Atlanta, if you get off in Atlanta because that was your actual destination and DON'T continue on to Vegas you can get in trouble?

Okay, so I hit rotten tomatoes, checked movies that were both critics rotten AND audience rotten, and started perusing titles for stuff I thought rocked.

abraham lincoln: vampire hunter

waterworld

hellboy (how is this in here? I thought this was universally loved)

mars attacks! (56 and 53, I also feel like this shouldn't be on the list. It's too good, and not in a bad way)

x-men origins: wolverine (again, is this not considered awesome? I thought it was great)

daredevil/elektra (I enjoyed both movies)

and now for stuff I've watched at least five times:

the ninth gate

planet of the apes (2001)

avp

prince of persia

green lantern

van helsing

I'm dead serious, I was looking forward to MORE green lantern movies along the lines of that first one. I bought it on amazon having heard nothing about it (I was in a societal black hole for a few years there), watched it, loved it, and was like "sweet, when's the sequel coming out? I wanna see sinestro do his thing...wow, this did not do well. Fuck."

I wasn't super happy with ALL of the writing, but that's comic stuff in general and I thought the whole thing was still quite enjoyable. Like, multiple rewatches enjoyable. Seeing Hal Jordan on screen and having Ryan Reynolds do it was great.