Tuesday, April 03, 2018

TaxProf Blog-Classic Lesson From The Tax Court: Twitty Burgers!

TaxProf Blog:
"...The Jenkins case deserves your attention not only because of its lesson about the difference between business and personal deductions but also because of the poetry (?) it inspired both from Tax Court Judge Leo H. Irwin and from the IRS Office  of Chief Counsel 
All that, and more, below the fold.
TwittyBurgerMenuThe Lyrics (Facts):
Harold Jenkins, of course, was the birth name of the man better known as Conway Twitty
He was best known as a country music singer, less known as a baseball player and fan, and almost unknown as a chef. 
Still, he thought it would be a great idea to start a restaurant business that featured his favorite hamburger, involving canned pineapple rings deep-fried in graham cracker crumbs....
Twitty Burger went belly up
But Conway remained true.
He repaid his investors, one and all.
It was the moral thing to do.
His fans would not have liked it, 
It could have hurt his fame,
Had any investors sued him 
Like Merle Haggard or Sonny James.
When it was time to file taxes 
Conway thought what he would do 
Was deduct those payments as a business expense 
Under section one-sixty-two.
In order to allow these deductions 
Goes the argument of the Commissioner. 
The payments must be ordinary and necessary 
To a business of the petitioner.
Had Conway not repaid the investors 
His career would have been under cloud, 
Under the unique facts of this case Held: 
The deductions are allowed...."
Must read it all to understand.
worth it!

History for April 3

Image result for Edward Everett Hale Quotes
History for April 3 - On-This-Day.com:
John Harrison 1693 - Carpenter, clockmaker, inventor of the marine chronometer, Edward Everett Hale 1822, Doris Day (Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff) 1924 - Singer, actress
Image result for John Harrison ChronometerImage result for Edward Everett Hale QuotesImage result for Doris Day

Marlon Brando 1924 - Actor ("The Godfather", "Apocalypse Now"), Wayne Newton 1942 - Singer, Eddie Murphy 1961 - Comedian ("Saturday Night Live"), actor ("48 Hrs.", "Beverly Hills Cop", "Doctor Doolittle")
Image result for Marlon BrandoImage result for Wayne Newton YoungImage result for Eddie Murphy

1860 - The first Pony Express riders left St. Joseph, MO and Sacramento, CA. The trip across country took about 10 days. The Pony Express only lasted about a year and a half.
Image result for 1860 - The first Pony Express riders

1882 - The American outlaw Jesse James was shot in the back and killed by Robert Ford for a $5,000 reward. There was later controversy over whether it was actually Jesse James that had been killed.
Image result for Jesse James was shot in the back

1910 - Alaska's Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America was climbed.
Image result for Alaska's Mt. McKinley,

1936 - Richard Bruno Hauptmann was executed for the kidnapping and death of the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh.
Image result for Richard Bruno Hauptmann was executed

1948 - U.S. President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan to revive war-torn Europe. It was $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
Image result for President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan

1953 - "TV Guide" was published for the first time.
Image result for 1953 - "TV Guide"

1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech just 24 hours before he was assassinated.
Image result for Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech

1996 - Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski was arrested. He pled guilty in January 1998 to five Unabomber attacks in exchange for a life sentence without chance for parole.
Image result for Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski was arrested.

Monday, April 02, 2018

Clinton campaign app may have harvested Facebook data of millions | Fox News

Clinton campaign app may have harvested Facebook data of millions | Fox News:

Image result for flickr commons images hillary clinton"Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign may have harvested the Facebook data of millions of people using an app that asked them to pair their Facebook friends list with their smartphone's contacts list – in a bid to reach those people and persuade them to vote for Clinton.
In the midst of the election, the Clinton campaign launched a mobile application called “Hillary 2016” that worked its way around the banned practice of gathering information from users’ friends without their consent."


The way we were-----Alice Cooper - Poison

Boob-tube-----24 NEW SHOWS OF FALL TV 1987

Women might get raped if they debate men, so this college debate tournament banned men - The College Fix

Women might get raped if they debate men, so this college debate tournament banned men - The College Fix:
"It’s unfair. It’s sexist. And women might get raped.
That’s why a “special [debate] tournament” held at the University of Vermont this past weekend banned men from competing, organizers and participants in the North American Women’s and Gender Minorities Debate Championship told the Associated Press.
Rather than admit the deep sexism inherent to their view, they claim that women “have to be that much better than men to overcome bias on the part of many judges” and “point to statistics that show they are less likely to reach the top echelons of the activity”:
Image result for no men“There is also a lot of sexual predation that happens in the debate community,” said UVM debate director Helen Morgan-Parmett. “The tournament, I think, provides a safe space where people feel they are debating other women, and their bodies aren’t necessarily on display.”
Intercollegiate debates have been gender-integrated for six decades but women still lag in participation. Sarah Sahagian, program director for Speech and Debate Canada, said women simply can’t measure up yet:
I think even when I was a participant there were women who did well, there were women who won things, but on average, the average female debater did not do as well. Disproportionately, male debaters did better.

Murder in America - Murder map: Deadliest U.S. cities - Pictures - CBS News

Murder in America - Murder map: Deadliest U.S. cities - Pictures - CBS News
"In America's urban centers, 3,081 people were murdered in the first half of 2017, according to the Major Cities Chiefs Association Violent Crimes Survey. 
That's up from 2,994 people for the same period in 2016.

Here are murder rates in 61 cities and major urban centers across the U.S. for the first half of 2017. The rates are calculated per 100,000 residents, based on the most recent population data for each city. 
1. St. Louis, Missouri-The murder rate in St. Louis is 29.1 per 100,000 -- the highest of all the cities included in the police chiefs' data. 
Ninety-two people were murdered in that city in the first half of 2017..."
Read on!

The Solemn Duty of Government and the Military | The Heritage Foundation

The Solemn Duty of Government and the Military | The Heritage Foundation:

Image result for flickr commons images U.S. Constitution"For over 225 years, the U.S. Constitution has served us well, but some federal judges seem to have misplaced their copies. How else to explain recent 18th-century-type edicts from four federal district judges who are presuming to run the military without any authority under Article III of the U.S. Constitution?
Articles I and II, respectively, assign to Congress and the Executive Branch shared power to establish and implement military policies. In the waning months of his administration, President Barack Obama unilaterally decided that individuals identifying as transgender or having gender dysphoria could serve openly in the military."


Lawmaker: Michigan no-fault insurance hike is 'a farce' - Story | WJBK

Lawmaker: Michigan no-fault insurance hike is 'a farce' - Story | WJBK
photo
 - To say State Rep. Pete Lucido (R-Shelby Township) is upset about the latest insurance rate hike, would be an understatement.
On Thursday the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association announced starting July 1st - you will pay $22 more a year -- bringing the total to $192 a year for each insured vehicle.
Lucido wants to know why since the catastrophic claims fund currently has $21 billion.
"This is a farce, this is un-American and uncivilized in today's society," Lucido said. "We shouldn't be paying for this; we need to have them under oath. We need to have those books open. We need to know how much people are making and where that money goes."

Lucido says the only people who do know is the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association because years ago it became a private fund.
The organization claims the mandatory fee to cover unlimited medical benefits for injured drivers are going up because of higher than expected claims..."
Read on!

Facebook Eyes the Midterms | Power Line

Facebook Eyes the Midterms | Power Line:
"...I think it remarkable that Facebook intends to take on “false narratives,” i.e., “intentionally divisive headlines and language.” 
Is it surprising that people disagree about “what an appropriate narrative is”? 
How Facebook intends to referee competing narratives, I can’t imagine. 
Well, no, actually I can.
How about “false facts”? 
Here, Facebook must rely on fact-checkers:
Today, I want to talk about one part of our strategy: our partnership with third-party fact-checking organizations. We’re seeing progress in our ability to limit the spread of articles rated false by fact-checkers, and we’re scaling our efforts.
Here’s how it works:
* We use signals, including feedback from people on Facebook, to predict potentially false stories for fact-checkers to review.
* When fact-checkers rate a story as false, we significantly reduce its distribution in News Feed — dropping future views on average by more than 80%.
See the source image* We notify people who’ve shared the story in the past and warn people who try to share it going forward.
* For those who still come across the story in their News Feed, we show more information from fact-checkers in a Related Articles unit.
* We use the information from fact-checkers to train our machine learning model, so that we can catch more potentially false news stories and do so faster.
So it all comes down to, who are the fact-checkers? 
A Facebook employee stated at the press conference that approved fact checkers will be those who have signed on to Poynter’s international fact checking network principles
You can see the list of signatories at the link; the only one that I recognize as more or less conservative is the Weekly Standard. 
Facebook has already said that it will use Politifact and Snopes, both left-leaning, as fact checkers. 
At the press conference, it got even worse:
In the US, we recently announced a partnership with The Associated Press to use their reporters in all 50 states to identify and debunk false and misleading stories related to the federal, state and local US midterm elections.
The Associated Press is the number one source of left-wing bias in the American press. 
Image result for 1984 big brotherIts “fact checks” are directed almost exclusively against President Trump and his administration, rarely against Democrats. 
I have written about them a number of times. 
In my judgment, the AP’s anti-Trump “fact checks” are wrong as often as they are right. 
Most often, they just assert Democratic Party talking points. 
If the AP is to be Facebook’s principal fact-checker for the midterm elections, Facebook may as well outsource the function to the Democratic National Committee..."
Read all!

Lunch video-----Dana Loesch: Left Using Parkland Kids to Silence Pro-Gun Americans

Noon-toon


Studio CEO: 'Very Powerful People' Pressured Us Not To Release 'Chappaquiddick' | Daily Wire

Studio CEO: 'Very Powerful People' Pressured Us Not To Release 'Chappaquiddick' | Daily Wire:
Image result for flickr commons images Ted Kennedy Young
"Finally, Americans will be given the full truth and nothing but the truth about what happened the night Sen. Ted Kennedy left an innocent woman to drown in a car as he fled from the scene of an accident.
The film "Chappaquiddick," starring Jason Clarke as the Kennedy golden boy and Kate Mara as his fateful victim, comes out next weekend, but according to the film's executive producer, powerful players have tried to prevent that from happening."

GE tests a new engine on a 747 and boy does it look weird - CNET

GE tests a new engine on a 747 and boy does it look weird - CNET:
"Commentary: When GE tests a new engine, it mounts it on an old plane. The GE9X is a lot bigger than a 747's existing engines.
...Here, for example, is a video of a Boeing 747-400 taking off.
But something doesn't look quite right. 
One engine looks far bigger than the others.
Is this someone's idea of humor?
Not at all.
For one, the video was released two weeks ago...
Instead, this celebrates GE Aviation's March 13 maiden test of its new GE9X engine, one that is set to power Boeing's new 777X planes.


#1 Movie this week 2005-----Guess Who - Trailer

Coffee cancer warning: What science says about cancer risk, coffee and acrylamide - CBS News

Coffee cancer warning: What science says about c
"...The California law
Image result for Coffee cancer warning:Since 1986, businesses have been required to post warnings about chemicals known to cause cancer or other health risks - more than 900 substances are on the state's list today - but what's a "significant" risk is arguable.
Coffee sellers and other defendants in the lawsuit that spurred Thursday's ruling have a couple weeks to challenge it or appeal.
The law "has potential to do much more harm than good to public health," by confusing people into thinking risks from something like coffee are similar to those from smoking, Giovannucci said.
The International Food Information Council and Foundation, an organization funded mostly by the food and beverage industry, says the law is confusing the public because it doesn't note levels of risk, and adds that U.S. dietary guidelines say up to five cups of coffee a day can be part of a healthy diet..."
Read all!

#1 This day in 1982-----Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - I Love Rock N Roll

Social media firms like Facebook want us addicted to popularity & status

Social media firms like Facebook want us addicted to popularity & status:
"...When humans evolved in small bands of 20 to 100 people, standing within the tribe was vitally important.
Image result for Dopamine LabsYour reproductive success, access to resources, and even your children’s future, depended a lot on your popularity.
It’s not surprising, then, that people who experienced a rush of pleasure when they received social validation — a “dopamine hit,” in today’s popular language of neurochemistry — were more likely to survive, leaving a strong evolutionary bias toward people with a desire to receive social approval. (And a fear of social disapproval, which is why speaking in public is one of the greatest phobias.)
Social media companies know this, and take advantage of it.
There’s even a company called Dopamine Labs that specializes in making apps more addictive.
(And “more addictive” is a fair way of putting it, given that “dopamine hits” in the brain are also a key mechanism for addictions to alcohol, drugs, gambling and the like.)
...Regulation is a blunt instrument, and I don’t like it.
But if the tech industry is seen as being in the business of addiction, regulation is likely to take place."

You ought to know!


3 Out of 4 Convicted Terrorists Came to U.S. Legally Via Current Immigration System - Judicial Watch

3 Out of 4 Convicted Terrorists Came to U.S. Legally Via Current Immigration System - Judicial Watch:

Image result for flickr commons images Department of HOmeland Security"Illustrating the national security threats created by the nation’s immigration system, the overwhelming majority of individuals convicted of terrorism are foreigners who entered the United States legally through various federal programs. Three out of every four convicted terrorists between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2016 are foreign born and came to the United States through our immigration system, according to a new report issued jointly by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
At least 549 individuals were convicted of terrorism-related charges in American federal courts since 2001 and 402 of them—approximately 73%–were foreign-born, the report says."


Chinese Tiangong-1 space station burns up over Pacific Ocean - CNET

Image result for Tiangong-1Chinese Tiangong-1 space station burns up over Pacific Ocean - CNET:
"China's out-of-control Tiangong-1 space station is no more, or at least it is no longer what it once was. Whatever bits of the spacecraft didn't burn up on its long descent through the atmosphere are now likely headed to their final resting place on the floor of the south Pacific.
The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California reports that Tiangong-1 re-entered Earth's atmosphere over the ocean near Tahiti at approximately 5:16 p.m. PT on Sunday..."

AM Fruitcake


AM Fruitcake