His mouth runneth over

Donald Trump clearly enjoyed his press event announcing that U.S. Special Forces personnel raided the location where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hiding.  He got to refer to al-Baghdadi as a coward more than once.  "He died after running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way."

The man who earned the hashtag #CadetBoneSpurs by dodging the draft in 1968; thanks to a letter from a pair of podiatrists, has no business calling anyone else a coward.  According to his former personal attorney Michael Cohen, Trump said "...you think I'm stupid?  I wasn't going to Vietnam."  Trump is the epitome of a chickenhawk.

That was not the only thing that was wrong with his remarks and responses to questions.  The full transcript is available here.  He revealed too much specific information about how the raid was conducted.  That the helicopters took the identical route in and out of the area.

He thanked Russia, Turkey, Syria and the Syrian Kurds before thanking the special forces operators and U.S. intelligence services without whom this raid could not have happened.  That is just wrong.

Traditionally, when this type of operation is being carried out, the president has always notified the Gang of 8.  When asked if he had notified Speaker Pelosi, Trump has this to say:

"We notified some, others are being notified as we speak.  We were going to notify them last night, but we decided not to do that because Washington leaks like I'd never seen before."

He implied that Nancy Pelosi is a security risk.  A moron who sat in the Oval Office and put intelligence operatives at risk by disclosing highly classified information to the leader of a foreign nation called someone else a security risk.

The New York Times reports that the raid succeeded in spite of Trump rather than because of him.

Trump also engaged in a "my terrorist was bigger" slight to President Obama.  Just wrong.

* * *

Thursday Night Thoughts

Sometimes you can't tell the players without a scorecard.  Representative Katie Hill has admitted to having a sexual relationship with a campaign staffer, while continuing to deny that she had a separate relationship with her legislative director.

Every seat in the House matters.  Her choice to engage in an affair with a member of her campaign staff puts her seat in more jeopardy than it was in before the revelation.  In the #MeToo era, even a consensual relationship with a subordinate cannot be tolerated or easily forgiven.

This was stupid.  I thought she was smarter than that.

* * *

Actor's Hour is a monthly event held at a bar in New York City, for "artists."  The problem arose when Harvey Weinstein showed up, seated at a table with other "industry types."

A female comedian named Kelly Bachman called him the "elephant in the room" and hurled an f-bomb at him.

An actor who identifies as non-binary named Zoe Stuckless was forced to leave the event after getting in Weinstein's face.

Harvey Weinstein has every right to attend an event at a public place.  The question is, how did he get an invite to this one, which was supposedly by invitation only?  As to his presence in public, people have a right to express their disgust at his presence...to a point.

* * *

Did the $100,000 fine levied against Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos do any good?  Even if she was forced to pay the fine personally, it would represent only 0.00222% of her earnings last year.

Continuing to collect from people who owe students loans because they were defrauded by Corinthian College is reprehensible.  Doing so after being order by a judge to stop is criminal.

* * *

Does anyone care that a decline in the value of Amazon stock might push Jeff Bezos out of his slot as the world's richest man, giving Bill Gates back that title?

* * *

Tulsi Gabbard's decision not to seek reelection to her seat in the House means she won't be in elective office after Jan 1, 2020.

The "other" tax season

Tuesday is October 15th.  The fourth and final "big" tax return filing deadline of the year.

The second actually comes in April.  April 15th is the statutory deadline but the actual deadline is often a day or two later.  Here is a list of the recent "tax return deadline" dates:

2016 - April 18th
2017 - April 18th
2018 - April 17th

The deadline is extended more often since 2005.  That's because that the District of Columbia passed a law making April 15th Emancipation Day, to commemorate President Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation on that day in 1862.  Because any D.C. holiday is a federal holiday, this has pushed the deadline for filing of tax returns fairly frequently.

The first filing deadline occurs on March 15th.  That is the date that returns of what are known as pass-through entities are due (or as often occurs, an extension of six months is filed).  Those are partnership and S-corporation returns.

The IRS grants automatic extensions of six months by filing a simple form.  As I frequently remind my clients, an extension of the time to file is not an extension of the time to pay what is owed.  That creates two additional filing deadlines.  Pass-through entities granted extensions must be filed by September 15th (9/16/19 this year).  Individual and other returns must be filed by October 15th.

That is why I've been extraordinarily busy for the past week.  That is why I have 10 clients coming in tomorrow and am working on at least a dozen other returns in my "free" time.  Why I'm utterly exhausted.  But once I get through these next two days, and then a week or so of catching up on other stuff, live will return to some semblance of normality.

* * *

Some random ponderings on a Sunday evening:

Just finished watching And The Children Shall Lead, an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series from the third season.  Part of the plot involved the villain (played by famed lawyer Melvin Belli) trying to get the Enterprise to journey to Marcus XII.  It finally dawned on me that the idea of the 12th planet in a solar system being able to sustain human life makes no sense.  Not unless they live in artificial structures around the clock.

Neptune is the 8th planet in our solar system.  Its average temperature is minus 392 degrees Fahrenheit, although the planet's South Pole is apparently a much warmer 18 degrees Fahrenheit.  Imagine what it would be like on a planet so much further from its sun.

* * *

It is apparently big news that the Los Angeles Kings hockey team has decided to cover up a banner hung at Staples Center that honors singer Taylor Swift for selling out 16 straight shows there.

Why is that a big story when the Los Angeles Clippers have been covering up the banner for four years?

* * *

Did you know Pope Francis was a fan of the New Orleans Saints?

Today we give thanks to the Lord for our new #Saints. They walked by faith and now we invoke their intercession.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) October 13, 2019

* * *

A group of Trump's supporters held a three day conference at Trump's National Doral golf resort in Miami.  The Trump Campaign is attempting to distance itself from a very violent video shown at the conference.  If you want to see it, go here.

But if you've seen the movie Kingsman: The Secret Service, you've already seen this particular piece of violence.  The creator of this macabre massacre took the scene where Colin Firth (under the influence of mind-altering transmissions from cell phones in the area) kills the entire congregation at a church.  The faces of Trump opponents and the logos of media outlets are cut and pasted onto the victims, while Trump's face replaces that of Mr. Firth.

It is a disgusting depiction of violence against the media and political opponents.

This is what #DishonestDon is encouraging his sycophants to do.

* * *

As I was in my car driving to the office early this morning, on the radio someone was talking about today's NFL schedule.  They mentioned that the Dolphins and Redskins were playing in a meeting of previously winless teams.  "One team will come out of today with a victory."

Am I a horrible person for wishing that their game ended in a tie?  Just to prove that statement wrong?

* * *

How did Donald Trump react to being referred to as "...really feckless, impotent, cowardly..." by San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Popovich?  I wonder if he said "I have plenty of feckle."

* * *

Would you pay $4.99 for one tortilla chip?  You might if you are a serious chili-head.  Sadly, these are sold out already.  The #OneChipChallenge involved trying to eat this spicy chip.  How spicy?
The "hotness" of food is measured on the Scoville Scale.  This chip comes in at 1.9 million Scoville units.  For comparison, a jalapeno comes in at only 10,000 Scoville units.

Yes, that means that this chip is 190 times hotter than a jalapeno.  Since I'm allergic to pepper, I won't go near that kind of food.

* * *

Monday morning update.  Yet more people have sent me emails asking for tax returns to be filed by tomorrow's deadline.