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~ Featuring ~
It's the Cronyism, Stupid
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Wednesday Top Headlines by Political Editors: Gary Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser, resigns amid differences on trade policy (The Washington Post) .
How the U.S. squandered its steel superiority — unfair trade practices of foreign nations had nothing to do with it (Bloomberg) .
DOJ sues California over “interference” with immigration enforcement (Fox News) .
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Stanford rejects College Republicans logo — because it includes an American flag (College Fix) .
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Hero student of Parkland massacre files suit against Sheriff’s office and school (The Daily Wire) .
Baltimore mayor pledges to send 3,000 students to anti-gun violence march (The Hill) .
Study: Women leaving STEM fields to pursue “social justice” degrees (PJ Media) .
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Intel Chairman Nunes Updates on Brennan,
Clapper, Dossier-FISA Investigation
{ rickwells.us } ~ Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes gives America an update on his investigation into Democrat Deep State corruption and subversion... He begins with the dozen high profile Democrat officials he sent a list of ten questions to regarding the ill-gotten FISA warrants to spy on liar-Clinton and Democrat Party’s opponent, Donald Trump. Nunes says most of the twelve who have already been sent the letter have responded, “there are a few people who have asked for an additional week,” which was granted. He says, “There are a few people, though, that are not responding.” Nunes says, “They seem to have went dark. However, if they do not respond here shortly, they will be getting subpoenaed to appear before Congress to be treated with a deposition.” Martha MacCallum asks, “And did John Brennan and James Clapper respond to your questions?” Nunes replies that they did... https://rickwells.us/nunes-brennan-clapper-fisa/.
SOUTHCOM Tidd: China Making Aggressive
Investments in South, Central America
by John Grady
{ news.usni.org } ~ Chinese businesses are exploring land development deals near the Panama Canal and offering their skills in building the region’s information technology infrastructure... These are prime examples of Beijing’s stepped-up economic involvement in the Western Hemisphere, the senior American military official for Central and South America told reporters Monday. Speaking at a Pentagon press session, Adm. Kurt Tidd said the “economic competition” with the United States in Central and South America and the Caribbean is a demonstration of how other nations, including Russia and Iran, seek openings and influence in countries historically and physically close to the United States. Their goal, “is to undermine our partnerships,” he said. As an example, last summer, Panama broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan under pressure from China and established them with Beijing. Since then, one project the Chinese started, with a Belgian firm, is building a port and terminal for cruise ships near the entrance to the Panama Canal... https://news.usni.org/2018/03/05/southcom-tidd-china-making-aggressive-investments-south-central-america?utm_source=USNI+News&utm_campaign=cef426ed44-USNI_NEWS_DAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0dd4a1450b-cef426ed44-231491269&mc_cid=cef426ed44&mc_eid=3999f18767 .
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It's the Cronyism, Stupid
by Nate Jackson: A funny thing happened on the way to Delta Air Lines showcasing its “woke” political activism — it lost $40 million to the state of Georgia, where its Atlanta hub is. Delta was one of the numerous companies that, in knee-jerk response to the Florida massacre, dumped partnerships with the NRA. The shooting had nothing to do with the NRA, but grandstanding trumped common sense. As we noted at the time, Georgia Republicans responded almost immediately by refusing to restore Delta’s tax break. Erick Erickson explains, “Up until a couple of years ago, Delta had a special perk in the Georgia tax code. It was exempt from paying sales tax on aviation fuel. Other airlines had to pay the tax. Delta did not. When the state reassessed how it calculates and collects transportation taxes during the recession, Delta lost its perk. Delta has lobbied for it ever since.” And the air line won’t get it back.
Now for the even funnier thing — because criteria for the NRA discount was so specific, just 13 Delta passengers ever bought tickets with it. Losing $40 million for 13 people works out to about $3 million per discounted ticket. In other words, these corporate do-gooders just made one really expensive virtue signal.
Still, as much fun as schadenfreude can be, this leads us to the larger point that cronyist tax breaks are a fundamentally bad idea. Unfortunately, every state and governor, as well as every city and mayor and every elected official of either party anywhere in between, offers sweetheart tax deals to corporations for locating in that city or state. Bipartisanship! And this corrupt income redistribution leads to all kinds of ugly stuff. For one thing, Delta lobbies in Georgia for all sorts of leftist causes and against conservative ones — like the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which Republican Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed in 2016. In this case, however, Delta probably has a case that Georgia Republicans are violating its “freedom of association” rights by using the tax code as retribution for a political stance. Neither would be an issue if it weren’t for such anti-free-market favoritism in the tax code.
What Delta did was inexcusable political opportunism, but the greater fault lies with Georgia and every other state that favors big, leftist corporations at the expense of small businesses and American taxpayers. ~The Patriot Post
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DxXHh-p-O4
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54532-its-the-cronyism-stupid
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