Free Republic

In a daily feature it calls “California Today,” the New York Times expresses concern over the impact of stock market declines on California’s wealthy. It is not out of concern that risk-takers will be disincentivized from making future investments, however. Matt Stevens and Julie Turkewitz write: California has one of the highest top tax brackets in the country, and the state relies heavily on those top earners to fill its coffers. (In 2014, the top 1 percent of earners paid 48 percent of all state income taxes in California, according to a 2016 article in the Economist.) “Since the top...

Just before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 passed last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told us what she thought of the bill in the proverbial "no uncertain terms." In this holy time, the moral obscenity and unrepentant greed of the GOP tax scam stands out even more clearly... This GOP tax scam is simply theft, monumental, brazen theft from the American middle class and from every person who aspires to reach it. The GOP tax scam is not a vote for an investment in growth or jobs. It is a vote to install a permanent plutocracy...

Maybe size doesn’t matter. And perhaps bigger isn’t always better? MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough is selling his multi-million dollar, Colonial-style, 7,826 square-foot house in New Canaan, Conn., where he resides with his son and daughter. The daughter will soon be going off to school, leaving the large home for just him and his son. Presumably his fiancé Mika Brzezinski spends time there, too.

“Let’s say you’re a super-wealthy single dude who just sold your company,” said Nile Niami. “You’ve just moved to L.A. and you don’t know anybody, so you hire someone to fill your house with partyers. You want everyone to know who you are, but you don’t want to talk to anybody. So you go sit in your V.I.P. room.” Mr. Niami was giving a tour, and, unlike most home tours, this one started in the nightclub. It will have multiple bars, its own coat room and LED ceilings playing images of moving clouds. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass walls there is...

Connecticut continues to be dogged by messy finances. The budget legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy adopted in late October for fiscal year 2017-18 is in deficit. Gov. Malloy’s Office of Policy and Management estimated a $202.8 million hole Nov. 20, while state Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo concluded Dec. 1 that the hole is $207.8 million. Before these forecasts were issued, the state was expected to contend with a $4 billion deficit in the 2019-21 biennium. ... “between 2015 and 2016, Connecticut saw a net loss of 2,050 tax filers who earn more than $200,000 per year.” This amounted to...

More than 40 per cent of the breadwinners for recent millionaire migrant households in Canada appear to have exited the country, although many left families behind there, according to new census data that illustrate the extent of a widespread phenomenon among rich Hong Kong and mainland Chinese immigrants. Overall, only 52.6 per cent of the 52,507 investor migrant households that moved to Canada between 1986 and the May 2016 census still had their original breadwinner, or “principal applicant”, living in Canada, according to the South China Morning Post’s analysis of the data. Some of those have likely died – since...

The president of the University of Southern California is the highest paid college president in California and among the best paid in the country. In 2015, C.L. Max Nikias made nearly $3.2 million to lead the Los Angeles-based private school, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s recently updated roundup of executive pay. The publication analyzed data from more than 600 private universities and nearly 250 public colleges.

Hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs said he hopes to buy the Carolina Panthers so he can sign Colin Kaepernick after the team’s current owner announced he will sell the franchise amid sexual misconduct allegations.

Americans should have the courage to ignore their written laws, to amnesty DACA illegals and accept an open-borders world, says an op-ed by two wealthy CEOs who stand to gain more wealth in a labor market flooded by low-wage migrants. The op-ed by Tim Cook (CEO of Apple, wealth $800 million and growing) and Charles Koch (Koch Industries, $49 billion and growing) was posted in the Washington Post newspaper owned by Jeff Bezos (owner of Amazon, $98 billion and growing). Under the headline “Congress must act on the ‘dreamers,’” it declared: We must do better. The United States is at...

Roger Goodell has signed a five-year contract extension to remain the commissioner of the NFL, according to a letter obtained by ESPN. A source told ESPN's Adam Schefter that the new contract would be worth $200 million over the life of the contract -- about $40 million annually -- if owners approve all the bonuses and all the incentives are met.

Looking for a gorgeous vacation home? Well, former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are selling their Martha Vineyard beach house, so if you've got a spare $17.5 million, it could be yours. Once dubbed the 2013 summer White House, the stunning oceanfront property, which Sotheby's describes as a "trophy property," is located on Martha's Vineyard's South Shore, and is chock-full of incredible outdoor amenities. It has its own private beach and dock, as well as a heated infinity pool, half-basketball court, and a large screened porch. Not only is the outdoor space pretty incredible, the house itself...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Democratic mega-donor Steve Mostyn, a powerful Texas trial lawyer who was among the nation's largest backers of liberal causes and candidates, died after what his wife says was "a sudden onset and battle with a mental health issue." He was 46. Amber Mostyn said Thursday that her husband died the previous day, calling him "a devoted father who adored his children and never missed any of their sporting activities." She did not confirm a cause of death but said, "If you or a loved one are thinking about suicide, or experiencing a health crisis, call the National...

Civil War black soldiers in the 54th Massachusetts could distinguish between individual bigots and the flag of the nation that was fighting to free the slaves. I wonder why football players, their enablers in politics, media can't do the same? Oppression certainly isn’t what it used to be. Instead of vicious police dogs, water cannon, billy clubs and Bull Connor, America is greeted with the sight of millionaires and billionaires kneeling in football stadiums trying to make white America feel guilty without so much as a Chihuahua yapping in the background. And they aren’t alone. The Opposition Media, celebrity culture,...

[2014 article]Bill and Hillary Clinton have rented a five-bed property in Amangansett.... Neighbors will include movie mogul - and longtime Clintons pal - Harvey Weinstein

Full title.....................Who is Stephen Paddock? Multimillionaire Las Vegas shooter, 64, was a hunting enthusiast, licensed pilot and gambler with no criminal record who owned a $400,000 home in Nevada retirement community........................The man suspected of opening fire at concertgoers attending a country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday night was a local resident with no prior criminal convictions in the state of Nevada. Stephen Paddock, 64, lived just 90 minutes outside Las Vegas in the city of Mesquite, where he purchased a home in a retirement community for just over $369,000 in 2015 according to public records. He lived there...

Freepers.... Jeff Kuhner's video of Liz Warren has gone Viral, Drudge link on the left side of the page about 1/2 way down: http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/21/watch-elizabeth-warren-get-frazzled-trying-to-prove-shes-not-part-of-the-one-percent/ http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/09/epic-elizabeth-warren-frazzled-radio-host-confronts-part-one-percent-video/ http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/09/22/democrat-warren-confronted-over-her-one-percent-status.html

It's no secret that former President Barack Obama and his family love Martha's Vineyard, having vacationed on the idyllic Massachusetts island seven out of the eight summers they were in the White House, as well as this August. And rumors are now flying that they're looking to purchase property in the area.

A football-mad lottery millionaire has splashed out on his own pitch complete with a dugout on the touchline. Former postman Matt Evans 37, turned his back garden into a mini soccer stadium so his mates can come for a kickabout. The super-rich bachelor is blowing his fortune on his love for the beautiful game. He said: “I’m living the dream by having my own pitch with lifesize goals and all the white markings. “I invite my old workmates around for a game and we sit in the dugout to talk about football. “My dad sometimes comes along for a game...

Clinton Hamptons ‘Summer Vacation Rental’ Sells For $29 Million BY: Cameron Cawthorne August 29, 2017 4:59 pm Bill and Hillary Clinton's summer vacation rental home in the Hamptons sold for $29 million after sitting under contract for nearly two years. Apolonia Baptiste, the assistant to the seller Elie Hirschfeld, said that the former first family vacationed at the mansion for part of August in 2011 and 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported. "The President toured the Hirschfelds through the home and showed the rooms where the President used to complete his book, ‘Back to Work,'" said Baptiste. While Baptiste declined...

President Trump has his first Democratic challenger in the 2020 presidential election: Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, who announced his bid Friday. "The current administration is making us less prosperous and less secure," Delaney wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Post on Friday. "I'm running because I have an original approach to governing and economic policy that can put us on a different course