Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 3 of 11 (Year 2016)

2,818 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 3 of 11 (Year 2016)”

1. But taxing Ex Pats TAX FREE pensions

   Senator Sherrod Brown

   Keeping the Promise of a Secure Retirement

   Last week, I met with Rita Lewis of West Chester, in Butler County. Rita was in Washington to testify in front of the Senate Finance Committee in honor of her late husband, Butch. Butch worked as a trucker for 40 years with the promise that the pension he earned would be there to care for his family after he retired. But for Butch and Rita and thousands more Ohio retirees, that promise is under threat. A law Congress passed two years ago allows pension trustees to propose massive cuts to the earned benefits of retirees when a plan is running low on funds.

   This is disgraceful. If a pension fund is in bad shape, it’s our job to fix it — not to break our promises to Ohioans who have worked their whole lives to earn that pension. I believed that two years ago when I voted against the law that allowed these proposed cuts, and I believe it now.

   That’s why I have introduced two bills — the Miners Protection Act and the Keep Our Pension Promises Act — that would protect the benefits Ohio workers earned over a lifetime of work. And it’s why I am calling on the Treasury to immediately reject the proposed cuts to the Central States Teamsters pension.

   Sen. Brown with Rita Lewis of West Chester, Ohio
   Ohio retirees whose pensions are under threat are part of so-called multi-employer pensions, including retired coalminers and truckers. The United Mine Workers of America’s 1974 pension plan was almost completely funded before the financial collapse in 2008, but the plan is now in bad shape, putting the health care and benefits of retirees in jeopardy. The 1974 plan covers more than 100,000 mineworkers, including thousands of Ohioans. Another 47,000 Ohioans, who are Teamsters, are also part of the the Central States Pension Fund and facing a similar crisis.

   Miners worked underground their entire lives to put food on the table, send their kids to college, and help power this country. Truckers crisscrossed the state and the country to pay the bills, support their families, and drive our economy forward. They deserve the full pension and health benefits they were promised, and that they worked a lifetime to earn.

   Butch Lewis led the Southwest Retirees Pension Committee’s fight against cuts to their earned benefits. He passed away on New Year’s Eve due to a stroke, which doctors have attributed, at least in part, to the stress he faced over the proposed pension cuts. Rita’s widow benefits have already been cut and she faces an additional 40 percent reduction because of the proposed cuts put forth by Central States.

   Butch said the cuts being forced on retirees amount to a war against the middle class and the American Dream — and he’s right. Ohio’s retired workers have earned their pensions and retirement savings over a lifetime of hard work — whether it’s behind a desk, on the factory floor, down in coalmines or behind the wheel.

   We should honor Butch’s memory by continuing his work. That means coming together to support a bipartisan solution to protect Rita’s benefits and the pensions of tens of thousands of Ohio retirees.

2. From:
   Laura Wilson Mr. Yue, seeing none of our questions were addressed on tonight’s debate as promised will you PLEASE obtain Mr. Trump’s position on the morally bankrupt practice of CBT.

   https://www.facebook.com/Republicansoverseasdebatequestions/?fref=photo

   Solomon Yue
   date: Sat, Mar 12, 2016 at 12:17 PM

   to me

   The only promise on my part was to forward FATCA and CBT related questions to the Washington Times for consideration. I have never promised that debate moderators will ask those questions. That is a fine line which I will never across. It would be a major political scandal if it is known that we are planting debate questions. The Washington Times, CNN, and Salem Radio would decide what questions to ask, not RO or the RNC.

   I was told the reason FATCA and CBT related questions were not asked was that they decided to ask questions which most GOP primary voters would be interested. The cold reality is that FATCA and CBT are not those questions. They reviewed absentee ballots returned from overseas in 2012: 389,000 returned out of 7.6 million overseas Americans. Only 5% of expats voted in the general election in 2012. How many of them voted in the primary election in 2012? I can’t fix this kind of statistics.

   Regarding Mr. Trump, his campaign received my talking points on FATCA and CBT.

   Thank you.

   Solomon Yue

   Republican National Committeeman for Oregon

   Vice Chairman and CEO

   Republicans Overseas, Inc. and Republicans Overseas Action, Inc.

   https://www.facebook.com/republicansoverseas

   twitter: @SolomonYue

   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/solomon-yue/8b/97b/97b

3. Watch what financial information you put into your digital devices because Obama thinks you have a Swiss bank account hiding in there and he wants unlimited access in order to enforce US tax laws. Of course WE know that he actually wants to know what you’ve got and where it is so his government thugs can steal it.
   https://www.rt.com/usa/335325-obama-makes-case-government-access/

   Without mentioning the government’s case against Apple directly, President Barack Obama told a Texas audience that mobile devices should be built such a way that the government can access them in order to prevent a terrorist attack or enforce tax laws.

   “The question we now have to ask is: If technologically it is possible to make an impenetrable device or system where the encryption is so strong that there is no key, there’s no door at all, then how do we apprehend the child pornographer, how do we solve or disrupt a terrorist plot?” Obama said during a question and answer session at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas on Friday, according to Reuters.

   “What mechanisms do we have available to even do simple things like tax enforcement because if in fact you can’t crack that at all, government can’t get in, then everybody is walking around with a Swiss bank account in their pocket,” he added.

4. Thanks will get the word out there
   Will we ever be free ?

   Solomon Yue
   Yes. Do not give up. This is a long fight. Nothing is easy. But we will not stop to try…

   Thank you.

   Solomon Yue

   Republican National Committeeman for Oregon

   Vice Chairman and CEO

   Republicans Overseas, Inc. and Republicans Overseas Action, Inc.

   https://www.facebook.com/republicansoverseas

5. Jamie Golombek:

   Relief may be on the way for people who pay tax on both sides of the border

   http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/taxes/relief-may-be-on-the-way-for-people-who-pay-tax-on-both-sides-of-the-border

6. Please don’t hold your breath.

7. @Bubblebustin

   I just left the following comment at the FP article:

   It is time to quit tinkering with the symptoms and deal with the disease! It’s called Citizenship-Based Taxation (CBT) and it is America’s utterly immoral system of financial slavery that it imposes on ANYONE with the slightest American taint, no matter where they live in the world. Born in the U.S. and moved to Canada as a baby or young child? Born in Canada and have one parent who was born in the U.S.? Ever stick an expired Green Card in a drawer and forget about it? Well guess what – the U.S. Government OWNS you, and hasn’t forgotten. You’ve been very naughty since you ran away from the plantation, so now you must be found and punished, along with your spouse and children. Yes, it is exactly like that.

   FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, is the enforcement and sanctions tool for CBT and it is an abomination that the Government of Canada signed-up for in 2014 under the Conservatives and which the new Liberal government supports. Under FATCA, Canada’s privacy laws and Charter of Rights and Freedoms have been completely subverted to force Canadian financial institutions and the CRA to become unpaid bounty hunters for the IRS. They are now searching high and low for CANADIAN CITIZENS whose only “crime” is to have had the misfortune of an American connection. In the process, they are incurring hundreds of millions of dollars in costs which they are now stealthily passing-on to ALL Canadians in the form of higher banking fees.

   We keep hearing ad nauseum from this new Liberal government how “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”, yet they have sided with the former Conservative government in branding us as “American citizens abiding in Canada”. We have become second-class citizens in our own country with the stroke of a pen. If only other Canadians understood just how painful it was for us to watch Justin Trudeau’s and Barack Obama’s hollow platitudes of mutual admiration and respect last week, knowing that at least one-million Canadians have been bartered between their respective governments. It is astonishing that the Liberals have advocated so forcefully for the rights of other immigrants to retain the protections of their precious Canadian citizenship, yet they are not only allowing the United States to now claim us as their chattel but are actively aiding and abetting their efforts to hunt us down.

   Our only possible recourse is to continue our Charter challenge in the Federal and Supreme Courts, for we are clearly being discriminated against on the basis of our national origin. We have raised over half a million dollars in an international grassroots campaign to fight for the restitution of our basic Charter and human rights, and we will ultimately prevail. Please visit adcs-adsc.ca and isaacbrocksociety.ca for more information.

   In the meantime, I have no idea how members of the rapidly-metastasizing FATCA compliance industry, like the author of this article, can possibly sleep at night. They do nothing to advocate for the repeal of these indefensible laws, but they gladly profit from them. They should hang their heads in shame.

8. @Deckard
   Well said. Right to the point.

9. Thank you, Deckard. You state it just right. I wish the Canadian media would report the same. And, of course, the media of other countries as well.

10. Deckard: Perfect comment!

    Like you, I was very upset watching the Trudeau/Obama spectacle, as well as the accompanying interviews such as the one Peter Mansbridge did with Susan Rice, the U.S. National Security Advisor. She described the Canada/U.S. relationship as one of inseparability. Well, I’ve been “separated” quite efficiently … by the actions of both countries.

    It was like a knife in my heart to hear how both countries are going to try to make the passage of people and goods across the border a little easier when their laws have made it *impossible* for me and others in my position.

11. @MuzzledNoMore, I can’t even read or watch the coverage and listen to the BS without gagging. It is theatre, and I want bread NOT CIRCUSES.

    What a bitter taste in my mouth, since I gave up my US birthright, and yet, Canada, who I swore allegiance to, is with such apparent ease betraying Canadian citizens and residents with a US birthplace, parentage, or any other association – as well as ALL CANADIAN TAXPAYERS and accountholders by imposing costs on us and abusing our own Canadian taxpayer revenues in order to defend and service the US.

    Both sides have agreed to pretend that > 1 million Canadians do not exist and have no rights. And the Liberal government spends our own local taxpayer funds to defend that betrayal. While participating in the charade that the US is our BFF.

    What of this:
    ‘Trudeau quietly agrees to share info on Canadians with U.S.: Walkom
    For cross-border travelers, the odds of getting on one of those impossible-to-escape American security lists have just increased.’

    “When the hyperbole is cleared away, Justin Trudeau’s pilgrimage to Washington has produced one clear result.

    Canada’s new Liberal government says it will push through a long-delayed plan to share with Washington biographic and other information on Canadian citizens travelling overland to the U.S.
    …..”…

    “….For those Canadians still willing to travel to the U.S., the result promises to be the worst of both worlds — a greater chance of being mistakenly added to one of those impossible-to-escape American security lists, and a still difficult border.”
    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/03/13/trudeau-quietly-agrees-to-share-info-on-canadians-with-us-walkom.html

12. @Deckard1138

    Would you mind if I sent your comment to my MP, crediting you?

13. @Bubblebustin

    I don’t mind at all – please go right ahead.

14. @Deckard – This is a SUPERB comment (tho when I clicked on the article site I unfortunately saw no comments – – maybe soon?).
    A copy of your comments (with a link to the original article) should be sent to all MPs as well as all privacy, civil rights and anti-slavery groups in Canada (see http://allianceagainstmodernslavery.org/organizations_against_modern_slavery) and the Chamber of Commerce.

15. @LM

    Thanks for the suggestions. I have sent an introductory letter and links to the Alliance Against Modern Slavery.

    I would also encourage Brockers to voice their own opinions at the FP article. There aren’t that many comments there yet and the article will likely soon disappear beneath the waves, so it would be great to see some more action there. These kinds of blatant propaganda pieces in national Canadian media shouldn’t go unchallenged.

16. @badger

    I didn’t even notice the border info… I was trying to keep my lunch down when I saw them… Jr is different from the previous snake… he just slides things through without the notice of his citizens. Why doesn’t he save the work of our gov’t… just turn over everything to the US… become an official state…. Jr can then take off with his family on expensive trips to spread the goodwill of the US on the dime of his citizens… Yep… new gov’t… new ways of doing things… everything under the table until its a done deal… No wonder the US was happy with this PM… new friend will do anything the US says… no matter if it violates every law or charter…

17. ‘Lopsided’ FATCA

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/78644/-lopsided-fatca

18. @Deckard1138

    Fantastic comment!

19. LM to see the comments at the FP article, you first have to click on ‘more’ This assures that hardly anyone will see the comments except the author and he has a bridge to sell you.

20. @Deckerd, bravo……

    And thanks for calling the compliance industry what it is….

21. @Deckard1138, re;
    “…If only other Canadians understood just how painful it was for us to watch Justin Trudeau’s and Barack Obama’s hollow platitudes of mutual admiration and respect last week, knowing that at least one-million Canadians have been bartered between their respective governments. It is astonishing that the Liberals have advocated so forcefully for the rights of other immigrants to retain the protections of their precious Canadian citizenship, yet they are not only allowing the United States to now claim us as their chattel but are actively aiding and abetting their efforts to hunt us down…..”

    Exactly! Every story was another stab in the heart.

    @US_Foreign_Person, re; “No wonder the US was happy with this PM… new friend will do anything the US says… no matter if it violates every law or charter…”
    Not an auspicious start. Where will it go from here? What won’t he give away to the US?

    Even before I became Canadian only, I could see that the US wasn’t really a ‘friend’ to be trusted – and would warn Canadians about giving Canada away. Often unheeded warning.
    Very depressing.

22. @JacDac
    Thank you for following this up. It all comes down to primary voting (again), so people who really are Americans abroad need to vote in the primaries. I think that there may have been a lot more voting on the Democrat side than normal. I had to resend my e-mail ballot into the global primary on the next day because daily limit for the address had been exceeded, even though it could accommodate about 40,000 ballots of my file size. The finally tally will not be done until next Sunday; however, it appears that Hillary Clinton supporters in London had planned a victory party for the evening of the ballot and were inviting voters to it. ( see http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/12/tim-dowling-vote-democratic-primary-expats ). Hillary hasn’t learned anything and is still campaigning the way she did in 2008.

23. @ Deckard1138
    Your FP comment is on its way to MP Dusseault’s office too. It’s precisely what our politicians need to hear.

24. @EmBee

    Thanks for forwarding my comment to MP Dusseault. I hope it helps.

    Thanks as well for the nice feedback from others here – I really appreciate it!

25. Obama wants to spy on your phone to enforce CBT. In explaining why the government needs to break your phone’s encryption:

    “What mechanisms do we have available to do even simple things like tax enforcement? If, in fact, you can’t crack that all, if the government can’t get in, then everybody is walking around with a Swiss bank account in their pocket.”

    https://theintercept.com/2016/03/11/obama-wants-nonexistent-middle-ground-on-encryption-warns-against-fetishizing-our-phones/

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