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Apple reaps $47bn of its own money deemed 'windfall' profit by Trump's tax reform


RT
Fri, 08 Dec 2017 13:00 UTC
Apple windfall
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
There is growing opposition to the GOP and US President Donald Trump's impending tax overhaul, as a new analysis finds Apple is reaping tens of billions in "extra profits" from the plan. Apple earned that money under the current tax law.

When it comes to taxes, Apple is unique among giant multinational corporations. It stands alone in its practice of setting aside funds specifically in anticipation of potential taxes to be paid. Aside from the tech giant being the most valuable company in the world, that is why the Financial Times focused on the iPhone maker in a specific analysis of the impact of the Senate's and House's tax-reform proposals.

The Financial Times found Apple would benefit from a $47 billion "windfall" under the new tax regime, and as the report ripped through social media this week, it provoked outcry from critics of the Republicans' tax reform agenda.

However, windfall profits occur when unexpected income is gained, and the $47 billion figure is already in Apple's coffers. A lower tax rate than the company initially planned for years ago may be unexpected, but simply not paying more in taxes can't be considered a profit in the same sense that profits are made by producing goods consumers want to buy. MSNBC's Chris Hayes goes even further, tweeting that the US government is giving, he adds a parenthetical "essentially" $47 billion to Apple.

Comment: "Trump has said he hopes to sign the final product into law as a "Christmas present" for the American people."

More like a "Christmas present" for Apple and big corporations.

See also: Corporate Power and the death of Democracy

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Books

Texas prison system's banned and permissible books list sometimes defies logic


RT
Fri, 08 Dec 2017 14:22 UTC
prison library
© Adrees Latif / ReutersThe Texas Department of Criminal Justice men's prison in Rosharon, Texas.
Thousands of books are considered prohibited reading for inmates doing time in Texas prisons. The list of banned and permissible material, however, has raised some eyebrows.

The Texas prison system has banned more than 10,000 selections from the shelves of their on-site libraries, yet it is sometimes difficult to find the logic behind the decision-making process.

For example, Alice Walker's 'The Color Purple,' which was awarded the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, will not be found in Texas prisons. Yet inmates may cuddle up at night with a copy of Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf,' the notoriously anti-Semitic tract that Hitler began writing, ironically, while behind bars.

'The Color Purple' is forbidden because it describes a rape scene.

Other selections with completely innocuous titles - including 'Hello Kitty,' 'Harry Potter Film Wizardry' and 'The Amazing Spider Man' - are prohibited not because of their content, but because they may contain pop-up sections or multilayer pages with which it may be possible to conceal contraband.
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Fire

California wildfires kill dozens of horses

Haroon Siddique
The Guardian
Fri, 08 Dec 2017 14:06 UTC
wildfires california horses die
© David McNew/Getty ImagesStalls where some of the 29 horses and numerous other animals died in the Creek fire.
Owners of ranch in path of Creek blaze find charred remains of 29 horses, as authorities warn fires could rage for another fortnight

Wildfires that continue to leave a trail of destruction in southern California could last for another fortnight, authorities have warned, as the corpses of dozens of horses were discovered.

The owners of a ranch in Sylmar, in the San Fernando valley region of Los Angeles, said they had counted the charred remains of 29 horses that had perished in the Creek fire.

Another blaze, which broke out north of San Diego on Thursday, tore through a training centre for hundreds of elite thoroughbred racehorses in San Diego, forcing them to run for their lives. However, it is feared many did not make it.
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Palette

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman leading anti-corruption crackdown revealed as buyer of $450mn da Vinci painting


RT
Fri, 08 Dec 2017 14:01 UTC
Mohammed bin Salman
© Global Look PressSaudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
A painting by the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, sold by Christie's auction house last month, was bought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to US government intelligence sources, as quoted by WSJ.

The masterpiece was sold at more than $450 million, setting a world record and creating one of the biggest mysteries at the same time. The auction was carried out by telephone, and the buyer was not disclosed. The former owner of the painting is Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who bought it in 2013 for $127.5 million in a private sale.

Comment:

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Attention

'Notice to Move' alert for US troops in Afghanistan after Jerusalem move - report


RT
Fri, 08 Dec 2017 13:10 UTC
US troops
© Andrew Burton / Reuters
US troops in Afghanistan are on a special 'Notice to Move' alert following the US' Jerusalem decision, according to the Military Times. Donald Trump's announcement has been met with anger across the Middle East, stoking fears of US troops being targeted.

"We're all in a 'one hour notice to move' status right now," an unnamed military official told the paper. "Notice to Move is the third-rate QRF [Quick Reaction Force] they run here with the Theater Reserve Force. We're supposedly able to move anywhere in Afghanistan or CENTCOM [US Central Command] if necessary, wherever air can take us."

Alerts can be given for "any sort of contingency," and the troops are typically trained for rescuing downed pilots, according to the official. The notice in question was allegedly a result of heightened threats in the region after the White House announcement, he said.

It is not surprising that troops would be put on alert in Afghanistan because these forces are always ready to react to threats and events in the region, according to Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Andrews, a Pentagon spokesperson.

Comment: See also:

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Heart

State Duma adopts amendments on cruelty to animals


TASS
Fri, 08 Dec 2017 13:25 UTC
The State Duma has adopted amendments to the Russian Criminal and Criminal Procedural Codes that stiffens penalties for cruelty to animals

animal cruelty
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS
The State Duma has adopted amendments to the Russian Criminal and Criminal Procedural Codes that stiffens penalties for cruelty to animals at Friday's second reading. United Russia and Just Russia MPs headed by Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Ecology and Environmental Protection Vladimir Burmatov put forward the initiative.

Comment:

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Heart - Black

Christmas poverty: 130,000 homeless children, empty food banks predicted


RT
Fri, 08 Dec 2017 12:11 UTC
child walking
© Christopher Furlong / Getty
Around 130,000 children will wake up homeless this Christmas the highest number in a decade, new figures reveal. It comes amid warnings that much-needed food banks may also run dry because of the staggering demand.

According to a report by housing charity Shelter, the number of homeless children has jumped by two-thirds in the past decade, in what has been branded a "national scandal." The number of youngsters spending their holidays in temporary accommodation such as B&Bs and hostels has gone up by 8,000 this year.
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Snowflake

Missouri: Student suspended for debating Islamic extremism with Muslim peer in debate club

Kayla Schierbecker
The College Fix
Thu, 07 Dec 2017 12:45 UTC
letter student debate Muslim


Officials allegedly said it could be 'harassing,' told him to observe 'social cues'

A Missouri high school that suspended a student for making critical comments about Islamic extremism says he's not allowed to appeal the finding of wrongdoing.

Senior Alex Lonsdale, a member of Liberty High's nationally ranked debate club, says he was just trying to have a friendly debate.

During his free period Oct. 17 at the public school near Kansas City, Lonsdale joined a spontaneous conversation among acquaintances about the nature of Islam.

He told The College Fix in a phone call Monday that he pointed to pro-terrorist sentiment among British Muslims, as indicated in polls by ICM Research for the 2016 Channel 4 documentary "What British Muslims Really Think." The program was presented by the former chair of Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips.

Comment: Schools are teaching young adults that it is wrong to put religions on the table for discussion - or anything that might hurt anyone's feelings, for the matter. If religions are exempt from critical analysis, then we, as a society, are heading for disaster. Religions also need to evolve, and how are they going to do it if they are not open to criticism? Yet, if the debate had not been about Islam, but about Christianism being 'patriarchal', the guy doing the criticism would have probably been given a medal.

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Briefcase

St. Petersburg court turns properties of banned Jehovah's Witnesses over to government


TASS
Fri, 08 Dec 2017 11:59 UTC
According to the court findings, the Jehovah's Witnesses administrative center in Russia transferred an estate on the shore of the Gulf of Finland to the Society as a donation in 2000

Jehovas Witness in Russia
© Alexander Demyanchuk/TASS
A district court in St. Petersburg passed a resolution on Thursday to confiscate 16 items of real estate in St. Petersburg worth more than 880 million rubles [$14.9 mln], which belong to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania registered in the U.S., and to turn them over to the government, the united press service of city courts said on Thursday.

The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania received the immovable property from the Jehovah's Witnesses administrative center in Russia that has been banned by the Russian authorities.

Comment: More on Jehovah's Witnesses:

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Cross

Pope Francis calls to adjust line in 'The Lord's Prayer'


RT
Fri, 08 Dec 2017 11:51 UTC
Pope Francis
© Global Look PressPope Francis
Pope Francis has called upon the Roman Catholic Church to adjust the translation of phrase on temptation in the most famous Christian prayer, 'Our Father', also known as 'The Lord's Prayer'.

The Italian and English translations of the prayer, better known as 'Our Father' among Catholics, ask God to "lead us not into temptation." "That is not a good translation," the pontiff said in a television interview on Wednesday evening, as cited by the Vatican Radio.

Comment:

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