A couple making $31,900 who file with the standard deduction would pay $750 in federal e tax. That amount – $750 – is also how much Donald Trump paid in federal taxes in 2016 and 2017. The New York Times released a summary of his tax returns that sheds light on the state of his finances. Most striking is the $750 tax bill, which many find ludicrous on its face. The core of Trump’s strategy to achieve such low taxes...

Much of our national debate around the COVID-19 pandemic and the appropriate government response to it has been framed as opposition between those who say they follow “science” and those who do not. This framing is one which is used to devalue and dismiss critics of ever-shifting state responses to the pandemic, as well as to insulate politicians from any sort of accountability for their own prudential judgements. In this context Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, has written a...

The untimely death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in February of 2016 amplified questions about the Supreme Court in the 2016 election to new highs. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s high wire act in denying a hearing and vote on President Barack Obama’s nominee to fill that seat, Judge Merrick Garland, ultimately paid off for him: President Donald Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch, who was then confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. A year later, the political world was...

COVID-19 has caused thousands to lose their jobs and other regular sources of e. As a result, many have had to cut any extra or unnecessary spending to make ends meet. Some of these “extra costs” included donating money to their local church, house of worship, or favorite charity. Whereas many businesses could generate e by moving online during the pandemic, most churches do not have the luxury of pletely “virtual.” In terms of donations, the faithful could certainly wire...

President Donald Trump has nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 48-year-old will fill the seat left vacant by the death of 87-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18. President Trump called Barrett “a woman of unparalleled achievement, towering intellect, sterling credentials and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution,” as he introduced hthe nominee in a ceremony in the White House’s Rose Garden at 5 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. He reminded the nation of the impact a...

President Donald Trump has decided to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just weeks before the 2020 election. Does he have the legal and constitutional power to do so? What if he loses the election? What have other presidents done? And what about the “Biden” or “Thurmond” Rule? Here are the facts you need to know. Does the president have the power to appoint a Supreme Court justice in his final...

In their attempt to forestall the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, a growing number mentators point to her membership in a Christian group that once used the term “handmaid.” This “controversy” shows, among other things, how the works of Margaret Atwood have displaced the traditional Western canon. However, it also adds a thin veneer of respectability over rehashed anti-Catholic prejudice, camouflages anti-Christian bigotry, and conceals a noxious and unconstitutional religious test for office. It takes little...

Amy Coney Barrett’s record of judicial rulings and legal writings shows that she holds an originalist view of the Constitution, and it provides a glimpse into her opinions on such diverse issues as religious liberty, national healthcare, environmental regulations, the right to life, and the Second Amendment. Here are the facts about the woman who could replace replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. Biography Amy Coney Barrett was born to Michael and Linda Coney on January 28,...

The coronavirus bailout is the largest in U.S. history. While the bill will create a drag on the economy for years, an additional problem is that the massive influx of cash is ripe to e a sheer waste of taxpayer dollars. Fraud was widespread in the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Paycheck Protection Program grants, and it continues to be a problem for the extra payments within unemployment insurance. Because the bailout is larger than any other in history,...

The first presidential debate of 2020 reached an historic low in its the very first segment – not from Joe Biden calling the president a “clown” or telling him to “shut up,” nor from Donald Trump choosing to imitate Biden’s interruption-laden 2012 vice presidential debate performance on steroids. The debate descended into disaster when Joe Biden refused to answer whether he would pack the Supreme Court and alter the foundations of American justice. Sadly, most viewers will remember the style...