The scammers are targeting potential applicants and offering to register them for the FEMA funeral assistance program in an effort to steal personal data.
Read more at WZZM13
Pres. Biden has floated the idea of getting rid of something called "stepped-up basis". What is this and how does this affect you?
When your parents pass and leave you the family house (or any asset), for instance, normally you would inherit that property at what it is worth today, regardless of the cost that your parents acquired it.
So, for instance, if your parents purchased their home for $40,000.00 thirty years ago (the "basis"), and if, at their death (the last parent to die) the house is worth $200,000, and then, after inheriting it, you were to sell that house today (for, say, $205,000), you would only pay taxes on the gain from what it is worth at the time your last surviving parent died and what it sells for (gain=$5,000.00 in this example - see outline below). This is because the "stepped-up basis" automatically increases the "basis" from the original purchase price ($40,000.00) to what it is valued at upon the last owner to die ($200,000.00).
If Biden does away with a "stepped-up basis," a policy/law that has been in place for many, many decades, you will inherit the property at the value your parents paid for the property (this is called the "basis" - $40,000.00). If you decide to sell (at $205,000.00) you will pay taxes on the difference between the original purchase price (the "basis" = $40,000.00) and what it sells for today ($205,000.00 = taxable value: $165,000.00). If you choose to try to keep the property, the IRS could still determine a value as of the date of the last to die and tax you on the gain (depending upon how the law and IRS regulation might be effected by such legislation).
Current Policy with a step-ups in basis:
Biden proposed Policy:
If your parent were to have sold this property prior to passing they would have paid no taxes because it was their primary residence. This will be, if Biden goes forward with this plan, a massively huge tax on the middle and lower classes, as well as forcing people to incur additional cost and time expenditures attempting to determine the original purchase price of the asset (houses are easier to track down this information than, say, stocks).
Paul A. Ledford, Esq.
Ledford & Associates
There's a lot going on in just a few sentences, and it's important to know when and how it applies to common situations -- and, equally as important, when it doesn't
Read more at CNN
"While the four corners of the lease may not provide an out for not paying rent, experts say tenants may be able to make the argument that they don't need to pay rent if a co-tenancy portion of the lease is not fulfilled. Co-tenancy provisions are designed to help a tenant have some sort of a guarantee of the amount of foot traffic going by the store by requiring other stores to remain open. Mall owners routinely juggle hundreds of such provisions, but the forced closure of many malls and stores may trigger co-tenancy agreements, and could give tenants an argument as to why they are not required to pay rent. "If every other store [in a mall] is shut down, that provides a defense," Weiner said."
Read more at Law360
In the United States, the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting most forms of speech. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which was passed in 1996, protects websites from lawsuits if a user posts something illegal, although there are exceptions for copyright violations, sex work-related material, and violations of federal criminal law.
Read more at The Verge
"Real ID is a part of the federal government’s response to 9/11," said Jake Rollow, Director of Communications for the Michigan Department of State.
Rollow says the Real ID Act's requirements have been delayed for years.
"It’s a law that’s been in place for a long time,” Rollow said. “And it’s now coming into the final phase which is full enforcement.'
Read more at WNEM5.com
"In 2014, James King was a law-abiding college student who was brutally beaten and choked unconscious by members of a joint state/federal police task force after they misidentified him as a suspect sought in connection with a non-violent petty crime. Ever since that day, the government has used every tool at its disposal to ensure those officers are not held accountable to the Constitution.
As IJ Attorney Patrick Jaicomo explained, “The Fourth Amendment prevents the government from undertaking unreasonable searches and seizures. Here, at every step of the way, the officers were unreasonable in searching and seizing James, including when they beat him. We filed this lawsuit in 2016. It’s now 2020 and the government still hasn’t even filed an answer addressing all the claims that we’ve raised. Instead, they’ve spent the past four years filing different motions with courts, arguing under technicalities why they shouldn’t be held accountable rather than explaining why what they did actually wasn’t wrong.”
One of those technicalities is called “qualified immunity,” a special legal protection the Supreme Court created in the 1980s to protect government officials. Under qualified immunity, officers can violate the Constitution unless previous court rulings have explicitly prohibited that exact action by the police—a standard that has become nearly impossible to meet."
Read more at the Institute For Justice
...and with the swipe of a pen, you are hereby declared a felon.... Even though 20 minutes ago, we were perfectly okay with what you have been doing for years (even with our approval). We've now changed our minds and you must comply. We are the Bureaucracy.
"Any short rifle built with one of these stabilizing braces is now considered an “any other weapon,” a category of weapon that is supposed to encompass all weapons that can’t be classified as rifles, shotguns, or handguns.
“Any other weapons” (AOWs) are subject to the registration and fee requirements of the NFA. Weapons regulated by the NFA include “a weapon made from a rifle if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length,” according to the ATF."
ATF’s gun measurement change now forcing federal registration of popular guns.
Read more at American Military News
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled to drastically curb the powers that states and cities have to levy fines and seize property.
The high court’s ruling could now limit the ability for states and cities to carry out what critics – on both sides of the political divide – say is an increasingly common practice of imposing steep fines and seizing property.
Read More at Fox News
