DL Open Thread: Tues., Dec. 17, 2019

Filed in Featured by on December 17, 2019

Mormon Church Just Another Corrupt Tax-Avoiding Corporation?  A well-connected whistleblower alleges just that.

A former investment manager alleges in a whistleblower complaint to the Internal Revenue Service that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has amassed about $100 billion in accounts intended for charitable purposes, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Washington Post.

The confidential document, received by the IRS on Nov. 21, accuses church leaders of misleading members — and possibly breaching federal tax rules — by stockpiling their surplus donations instead of using them for charitable works. It also accuses church leaders of using the tax-exempt donations to prop up a pair of businesses.

Supposedly the funds are to be spent upon ‘the second coming of Christ’.  Gotta admit, that’s pretty creative.

How The Sackler Family Took Steps To Avoid Purdue Pharma Liability.  Speaking of corrupt corporations:

As scrutiny of Purdue Pharma’s role in the opioid epidemic intensified during the past dozen years, its owners, members of the Sackler family, withdrew more than $10 billion from the company, distributing it among trusts and overseas holding companies, according to a new audit commissioned by Purdue.

The amount is more than eight times what the family took out of the company in the 13 years after OxyContin, its signature product, was approved in 1995. The audit is likely to renew questions about how much the Sacklers should pay to resolve more than 2,800 lawsuits that seek to hold Purdue accountable for the opioid crisis.

How much should they pay? Every penny they have and ever will have. Which is still not enough.

Elections Matter: Kentucky Governor Issues Executive Order Protecting Those At Risk Of Losing Health Insurance.  We’re talking 480,000 people who could have lost their health insurance. 

Giuliani Admits Need To Get US Ambassador To Ukraine ‘Out Of The Way’.  So he did. I continue to be amazed that Rudy doesn’t even try to hide his in-plain-sight corruption.  Must be a New York thing. De Niro’s right: These guys are more corrupt than any gangster he’s ever played.

McKinsey Lied About Its ICE Contract. ProPublica Is Having None Of It.  ProPublica is the best. Contribute to its ongoing journalism efforts here.

Boeing Stops Production On Its Flawed 737 MAX.  Could have a ripple effect on the economy.

DuPont To Exit Plant Burger Business.  Kids, see if you reach the same conclusion that I have. Let’s first hear from our ‘leaders’:

“I remain cautiously optimistic that this will bring good things to the company and its presence in Delaware,” Carper said.

In a statement, Delaware Gov. John Carney said he was “optimistic” the $7.3 billion cash payout “will lead to additional investment in Delaware.”

He said he has worked for “several years” along with Delaware’s members of Congress “to keep DuPont’s business units and thousands of good-paying jobs in Delaware.”

My conclusion?: DuPont and FFI will soon be meeting behind closed doors with that FOIA-exempt economic development group to extort yet more money from the state. Does anybody see it differently?

What do you want to talk about?

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  1. Dana says:
    December 17, 2019 at 11:15 am

    I’d be interested in seeing a new sidebar poll.

    One of the things that I have noted on my own site is that, in the Democrats’ push for all new cars to be ’emissions free’ by 2030, not all that many people have places at home to park their vehicles in which they could reasonably install an electric car charging station.

    I’d like to suggest a poll of readers asking: who has a heated garage in which they could install such a system, who has an unheated garage (because colder temperatures lower electric car ranges) in which such could be installed, who has a secure, outdoor parking area in which a charging station could be installed, and how many readers are stuck parking on the street or wherever they can, and cannot reasonably install a charging station.

    Me? I have an unheated garage with its own power, and could easily install such a station; I happen to have the tools, knowledge and ability to install such myself without having to call an electrician. I have 200 amp service and could also install electric heat if I wished.

    • ben says:
      December 17, 2019 at 11:24 am

      as we all know, we must fuel our gas cars in our own personal garages, and no place exists to do this outside of our home.

      • RE Vanella says:
        December 17, 2019 at 11:29 am

        How many gas stations existed in 1905?

        The absolute bankruptcy of imagination is really striking sometimes. It would be funny if it wasn’t going to get us all killed.

      • Dana says:
        December 17, 2019 at 4:47 pm

        You can refuel your automobile with gasoline in five minutes; to recharge a Tesla takes over an hour. It doesn’t seem like much to stop and get 18 gallons of gasoline on your way home from work; if you’ve got to recharge your electric car, it’s an extra hour or more.

        And then there was this.

        • Alby says:
          December 17, 2019 at 5:09 pm

          I suppose workplaces, which pay lower rates for electricity, would never agree to wire their lots as a perk.

          I agree gasoline vehicles will have to be phased out rather than banned in exurban/rural areas. But if we change things like tax policy those areas won’t be so ripe for development (I’m speaking of the kind of tax breaks people like Trump get), and people in citiies — there are lots of those, you know — don’t need cars with a lot of range.

          You probably won’t live to see it, but your grandkids will probably live in a country with fewer than half the number of vehicles as today.

          Anecdotally, I see a lot of Teslas on the road, more than I expected to.

    • Alby says:
      December 17, 2019 at 11:55 am

      In North Dakota, everyone plugs in their gasoline-engine cars in winter, because the temperatures get so low the oil won’t flow if they don’t. Even parking lots have electric outlets. If those mooks could figure it out, I’m sure we can.

      • Dana says:
        December 17, 2019 at 4:57 pm

        That’s right . . . and they are 110 volt, drawing about 10 amps.

        Conversely, to charge your Tesla:

        Tesla says the 60-kwh battery provides a range of up to 232 miles (the EPA pegs it at 208 miles), and the 85-kwh battery (a $10,000 option) provides up to 300 miles (the EPA puts it at 265 miles). Here are some examples for recharging times: With a single onboard charger plugged into a standard 110-volt outlet, Tesla says you will get 5 miles of range for every hour of charging. From zero to 300 miles would take about 52 hours at that rate. With a single onboard charger connected to a 240-volt outlet, which Tesla recommends, the pace can reach speeds up to 31 miles of range for each hour of charging, meaning a full 300-mile charge takes less than 9.5 hours.

        This maximum charge rate from an outlet requires a 240-volt circuit with 40 amps of current. (Adapters allow the supplied charging cord, called a Mobile Connector, to be used with multiple 240-volt outlets [as well as 120 volts], but the charge rate is slower with lower-amp circuits at this voltage.)

        Step up to twin chargers in the car and connect to a 240-volt, 90-amp high-power wall charger (an extra-cost charging unit called a Wall Connector, not just a 240-volt line) and the charging speed zooms to 62 miles of range per hour, and the total charging time drops to less than 4 hours, 45 minutes.

        A 240 volt, 40 amp circuit — and normally, this would be installed on a 50 amp circuit — requires 6 gauge wire.

        • Alby says:
          December 17, 2019 at 5:11 pm

          You’re right, America is full of bumbling idiots who could never wire it right…

          Piss on it all you want, Dana, it’s not gonna stop it all from happening unless we live in a fascist state in which the government props up failing fossil fuel industries against the laws of the market … oh, wait.

          • jason330 says:
            December 17, 2019 at 5:15 pm

            A person close to the family who is Dana’s match in terms of being a Fox New Zombie Dumbfuck is getting a Tesla due to a very long commute and what he is paying for gas.

            So, give Dana a year or so. Some Fox New Zombie Dumbfucks are more dense than others.

        • meatball says:
          December 18, 2019 at 7:12 am

          So it is nearly as complicated as hooking up a hot tub, lol.

  2. El Somnambulo says:
    December 17, 2019 at 11:21 am

    Moscow Mitch shoots down the calling of Trump fact witnesses at impeachment trial:

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mcconnell-shoots-down-schumers-push-for-key-witnesses-at-senate-impeachment-trial

  3. RE Vanella says:
    December 17, 2019 at 11:29 am

    https://theintercept.com/2019/12/16/evo-morales-interview-glenn-greenwald/

  4. RE Vanella says:
    December 17, 2019 at 1:45 pm

    “I love the anarchist slogan: Demand the impossible. This could sound self-contradictory and obviously stupid. But as I’ve grown up and begun to look at the world, I can’t help recognizing that we have no idea what is or isn’t possible.” —Nathan J Robinson, Why You Should Be A Socialist.

  5. mouse says:
    December 17, 2019 at 4:01 pm

    Another cult, what is it with people being so drawn to authoritarianism

  6. John Kowalko says:
    December 17, 2019 at 4:13 pm

    In a statement, Delaware Gov. John Carney said he was “optimistic” the $7.3 billion cash payout “will lead to additional investment in Delaware.”
    He said he has worked for “several years” along with Delaware’s members of Congress “to keep DuPont’s business units and thousands of good-paying jobs in Delaware.”
    Yeah, Uncle DuPont (the perverted uncle who sits Delaware on its knee and fondles away) can be trusted once again. History lesson time. 1700 jobs dissolved a few years ago followed by $13 million taxpayer giveaway to DuPont. Breen said company didn’t need the cash but shareholders would eviscerate him if he turned it down. He also assured that those jobs weren’t coming back or being replaced with new ones even with the newly passed Markell “Delaware Competes Act” corporate giveaway. In addition the Dow/DuPont merger (incestuous???) and spinoff contest sent thousands of Delaware jobs to Iowa with the Pioneer Seeds creation. So yeah, Delaware taxpayers and the economy will surely benefit from any action DuPont takes supported by our federal delegation just grab your ankles Delawareans and look behind you for those “good-paying jobs”. Maybe those jobs can be created to manually shovel that Dioxin mountain, (gifted by DuPont to the willing Chemours) into one of those incinerators proposed by Heffernan and her friends at the American Chemical Policy group.
    Representative John Kowalko

  7. Keeping it Real says:
    December 17, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    “Mouse. I think you are confused”. No kidding. One messed up lady on all levels.

  8. mouse says:
    December 18, 2019 at 3:40 pm

    That reminds me, I have to figure out how to get a hot tub from the road to the deck through woods behind my house

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