• The_Caretaker@lemm.ee
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    13 hours ago

    They should get rid of tax exemptions for churches too. The first amendment says the state can’t mandate a specific religion or prohibit people from having their religion of choice. It doesn’t say anything about taxing the billions that churches take in.

    • Anomalocaris@lemm.ee
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      13 hours ago

      aren’t their exemption because it’s “non profit”?

      (without a doubt the IRS need to go after megachurches though)

      if a church or any religious establishment is working properly with no profit, then no need for taxes anyways.

      • Sludgeyy@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        You have to understand what profit is.

        If I make a church, collect 1 million from my congregation. Then, I pay myself 1 million for the job of being the pastor.

        My business, the church, is non-profit. It had 1 million in revenue and 1 million in expenses. No profit.

        Now, I would be dumb to pay myself the million as a salary because then that million gets income taxed. I’d “buy” 1 million dollars worth of bibles for Uzbekistan and never fulfill the order or something. Launder it.

        The idea of why the church doesn’t get taxed is sound. People pay income tax, church collects taxed income, church spends taxed income to better community.

        They are essentially supposed to be a middle man. If i took my taxed income and donated it directly to buy bibles for Uzbekistan. Then it doesn’t make sense for my money to be taxed again. So if i give my money to the church and they give it to Uzbekistan, then why tax it?

        Problem is our tax code has loop holes

        A church was never supposed to buy a private jet. Yet it has become a business expense.

      • The_Caretaker@lemm.ee
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        12 hours ago

        In order to maintain tax exempt status, churches may not engage in politics. That means no supporting a political party or political candidates. Most churches are in violation of that rule which makes them taxable just like the Democratic or Republican parties.

  • Hikuro-93@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    You could elect a cabinet composed exclusively of orange cats united by a single and solitary shared braincell, and they wouldn’t be as idiotic.

    They’d be idiotic, for sure. They’d be entertaining as well. But at least they wouldn’t be malignantly idiotic.

  • Libra00@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Man… come 2028 I don’t want to hear shit from Democratic candidates that doesn’t involve an exhaustive list of all the awful shit Trump did and what steps they will take to undo all of it. Sorry chum, you picked a bad time to run so you don’t get to have an agenda that isn’t ‘pulling Trump’s dick out of this country’s ass because it’s fucked enough already.’ Cause if you’re not willing to undo this shit I really don’t care what else you have to say.

    (Yeah, bring on the downvotes, I can take the heat.)

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      Prepare to be disappointed.

      “Preventing Trump from doing exactly what he’s now doing” was somehow not a good enough reason for Americans to vote for the brown lady. Or the white lady, for that matter.

      • drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Hillary won the popular vote that time it was the electoral system that fucked her. And the fact that she did not understand what she was up against. I think Harris and Biden both had that issue too. The biggest problem in dealing with trump is that there is no way to outthink something that doesn’t think. The dems can talk all the strategy, all the policy and reach out to anyone they want, but it doesn’t mater because the people on the other side have already made up their minds years ago.

      • Libra00@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        It’s the Democratic Party, if you don’t go into it already prepared to be disappointed you haven’t been paying attention. :P

        And I’m not talking about whether not they win, I’m saying their campaigns should consist solely of ‘here’s a list of things Trump fucked and that I am going to unfuck.’

    • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      Look, I’m going to be honest, if a Progressive or Democrat on the campaign trail says they would use all of the powers granted to trump against all Republicans in a goose and gander situation, they’d have my vote.

      • mriguy@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        “All billionaires will be summarily executed and their assets will be distributed to the citizenry, and the Heritage Foundation will be declared a terrorist organization, and all current and past leaders, funders, employees, and judges endorsed by them will be immediately sent to a prison camp in El Salvador” seems like a winning message.

        And anything the president wants only needs an executive order, it seems, so it should be pretty easy to implement.

      • Libra00@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        I’m not about revenge, I’m about making the world a better place for everyone, even the people who want to make it a worse place.

        • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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          20 hours ago

          Good for you. I am and I also think using the powers Trump has been given effectively would make the entire world a better place.

          • Libra00@lemmy.world
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            17 hours ago

            Do you think that will make it better or worse? Cause you know it’s going to swing back the other way at some point, and as aggro as they already are toward the left, can you imagine how they will react when they have legitimate reasons to think they’re being targeted?

            • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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              12 hours ago

              Well I suppose between using the DOJ to prosecute “criminals”, prevent Republican firms from practicing law in federal courts, arresting Republican judges including the SC, and following through with Trump’s “homegrows” plan, I guess I’m not seeing a problem.

              But I’d settle for taxing the living fuck out of conservative churches and other non-profits that violate not staying out of politics.

              For now.

              • Libra00@lemmy.world
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                11 hours ago

                It smacks of accelerationism. ‘Fuck with those who fucked with us’ just results in a whole lot of people getting fucked, only substitute targeted, arrested, renditioned, etc for ‘fucked’.

                But I’d settle for taxing the living fuck out of conservative churches and other non-profits that violate not staying out of politics.

                Fuckin’ same.

    • Thrashy@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      Well then I hope I can have your vote, because my platform will be to use the sweeping new executive powers carved out by the current administration to throw every member of said administration along with every employee of ICE ERO into the “unextraditable foreign gulag detention” black hole, and only then work with Congress and the courts to make that impossible again.

      • Libra00@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        Nah I’m not down with that. Prosecute them with proper due process, remove everyone’s ability to do what you suggest, and unfuck all the things Trump fucked and you’ll have my vote.

  • Ledericas@lemm.ee
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    11 hours ago

    harvard is a pipeline for wealthy elitists politicians and graduates. wonder if something will shift

  • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    If there are ever free elections again and Democrats win, there must not be a “return to normal” like Biden tried.

    Democrats must do everything that Trump did. Republicans must be taught about consequences. Being respectful of the office didn’t work. It only emboldened Republicans to be more deplorable.

    Republicans can then campaign on the “return to normal” platform. If they want reason, they need to become the honorable party.

    • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I heard something recently that really resonated. For fascists, the government is just a tool they can use to reach their goal.

      They don’t recognize the rights outlined in the Constitution, the duty inmate to holding office, or the importance of the rule of law. It is just a weapon to wield against their enemies and can be discarded when no longer useful.

      • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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        24 hours ago

        the frustrating thing is this is well known if you know who to listen to. abolitionists, union organizers, civil rights activists, hippies, punks, hip-hop artists, academics. they all been saying it

    • HubertManne@piefed.social
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      22 hours ago

      no. absolutely not. democratics bypassing law is not acceptable. a good trump is not what I or many want. That being said democrats need to get rid of things like citizens united and the patriot act and shore up civil rights.

      • mierdabird@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        21 hours ago

        The unfortunate reality is in our system that is not possible unless democrats can achieve decades of overwhelming wins. We can’t get rid of the things you mentioned without a majority in the house, and a 60% majority in the senate considering how often republicans filibuster. Even then, we need to claw back the 3-6 disadvantage in the supreme court for any changes to stick long term.

    • SpaceShort@feddit.uk
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      21 hours ago

      And until we have free elections, we have mass protests. Shut down the economy. Shut down the roads. Form unions and have a general strike.

  • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    It shall be unlawful for [the President] to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.

    […]

    Any person who willfully violates subsection (a) or fails to report under subsection (b) shall be punished upon conviction by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

    26 U.S. Code § 7217

    • krashmo@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Everything this man is allowed to do sets a dangerous precedent. Good thing we didn’t appear too political by prosecuting him when we had the chance. That would have been awful.

      • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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        23 hours ago

        To do so effectively would have meant digging into his financial crimes. You know who also commits egregious financial crimes? Congress critters.

        These ancient corrupt fools need to be replaced at all costs if there is any hope of righting this ship without resorting to violence.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      The bigger battle is the war of the law firms. The big law firms, clearly, handle a lot of government cases. Many of which require security clearance. If you cross the orange man, the White House has full discretion over who has security clearances and who doesn’t.

      About a dozen law firms have bent the knee. Orange Hitler is planning to require them to provide pro-bono representation for police, after he grants the police new powers.

      Because that’s what we needed in this country, police with less accountability.

  • Sciaphobia@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    Trump deserves a short drop and a sudden stop but we don’t always get what we deserve.

  • RejZoR@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    When billionaires have tax exemption and actual academia doesn’t. America really is a clown country.

  • wirebeads@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    I bet the newly reinstated Trump University would get all the tax exemptions they need.

  • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    Even after they caved to what the fascists want lol.

    For all those smahts they sure are stupid enough to capitulate to fascists.

    • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      Did they cave? I thought Harvard was the one that didn’t cave. Columbia and others caved.

      • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        They did. They quietly ended programs that helped LGBTQ and minorities and ended DEI required statements for tenure positions.

        They also handed over students school records to DHS.

        • Ledericas@lemm.ee
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          11 hours ago

          im not surprised with harvard, they have express in the past that there are too many asians in the university and said they need to bring whiteness back to the school.

        • Laurel Raven@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 day ago

          Last I heard was a couple weeks ago them stating clearly that they would not comply, and doing a bit of searching I can’t find anything more recent that contradicts that stance… Where did you see that they’d reversed that decision?

        • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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          1 day ago

          Why does no one ever learn that capitulating doesn’t get the fascists off your back?