In 2013, 2,596,993 Americans died, but there were only 4,687 taxable estate returns filed, reports the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. That’s 0.18 percent of deaths. The number is so low because much wealth is exempted from the tax. In 2015, the exemption is $5.43 million for individuals and $10.86 million for married couples.
Month: April 2015
Wolf scrapping controversial assets test for food stamps
Few people were disqualified, but all applicants and the state Department of Human Services were burdened by onerous verification paperwork…
If Greece Falls, No One Wants Their Prints on the Murder Weapon
NEWSMAX / REUTERS: “We’re going bust.” “No, you’re not.” “You’re strangling us.” “No we’re not.” “You owe us for World War Two.” “We gave already.” The game of chicken between Greece and its international creditors is turning into a vicious blame game as Athens lurches closer to bankruptcy with no cash-for-reform agreement in sight… Eurozone […]
GOP, Pentagon tussle over East Coast shield
POLITICO: The Pentagon has repeatedly said it doesn’t need — nor can it afford — a third anti-missile battery on American territory to defend against a possible attack from North Korea or Iran. But that hasn’t stopped congressional Republicans, ideologically predisposed to a more comprehensive missile shield than Democrats, from pushing for one on the […]
In Rare Remarks, George W. Bush Argues Against the Lifting of Iran Sanctions
NEW YORK TIMES: …[Former president George W.] Bush told the 700 donors attending a closed-door Republican Jewish Coalition spring meeting that he would not criticize President Obama, whose aim to degrade and ultimately destroy the Islamic State he applauded. But the former president nevertheless offered comments that many in the audience viewed as a tacit […]
‘Grass roots’ likely reason Comcast-Time Warner merger appears off
The decision to abort was not made because these electronic powers did not control enough politicians at the states and Federal levels.
Government of today’s Ukraine is not what it used to be
But the main thrust of the new reforms is due to the President Poroshenko’s decision to give most of the top government positions to foreign specialists, who have experience in solving unique problems.
Michael Botticelli Is a Drug Czar Who Knows Addiction Firsthand
He wants police officers nationwide to be trained to use naloxone, a nasal spray or injection that can almost instantly resuscitate people who overdose on opiates; better education for prescribers of painkillers and other drugs so that they can recognize signs of abuse or addiction; and the distributionof clean syringes for intravenous drug users to stem the spread of infectious diseases like H.I.V. and hepatitis C.
Washington State Revisits Rules on Use of Marijuana as Medicine
NEW YORK TIMES: Nearly two decades after voters passed a medical marijuana law that often left the police, prosecutors and even patients confused about what was allowed, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill on Friday that attempts to clean up that largely unregulated system and to bring it in line with Washington’s new recreational marijuana […]
21st Century Lancaster: The Public be damned
Anyone who reads “A City Transformed; Redevelopment, Race, and Suburbanization in Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1940 – 1980” by David Schuyler will be impressed with the openness of governing bodies to third party expertise and public debate.
Holding Motorists on Highway to Await Drug Dog Searches Not OK, Supreme Court Rules
By Phil Smith DRUG WAR CHORNICLE: In a 6-3 decision today, the US Supreme Court held that detaining motorists on the side of the highway to await the arrival of a drug dog violates the Fourth Amendment’s proscription against unlawful searches and seizures. In the decade since the Supreme Court held in Illinois v. Cabellas […]
Most States List Deadly Methadone as a ‘Preferred Drug’
STATELINE: …Methadone overdoses kill about 5,000 people every year, six times as many as in the late 1990s, when it was prescribed almost exclusively for use in hospitals and addiction clinics where it is tightly controlled. It is four times as likely to cause an overdose death as oxycodone, and more than twice as likely […]
Team Hillary: We Won’t ‘Chase Our Own Tail’ Amid Media Storm
NEWSMAX: What began as a slow drip of information has turned into a deluge of reports about alleged conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency concerning the Clinton Foundation’s acceptance of foreign money. But Politico reports Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s camp isn’t panicking. “If we try to chase every media story, we chase […]
Don’t Blame Drones
SLATE COLUMN: on Thursday, President Obama confessed to a terrible mistake. An American drone strike on al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan, carried out in January, accidentally killed two hostages—Warren Weinstein of the United States and Giovanni Lo Porto of Italy—who were concealed at the site… But these two deaths, tragic as they are, don’t change the […]