Free Republic

Secretary-General Saeb Erekat of the Palestine Liberation Organization has called Israel's offsetting of half a billion shekels from the tax revenues it transfers to the Palestinian Authority "pure piracy". Writing on Twitter, the PA's chief negotiator explained, "This is not Israeli money to start with but our own funds. Once again Israeli politicians are campaigning based on who inflicts more suffering to our people. Once again the Israeli government, with the full support of the Trump administration, takes a step to further destabilize our region, strengthening extremists, collectively punishing..."

Estelle Busch may have been a loser at the slot machines, but she won when she took on the Minnesota state tax system. The Minneapolis woman did it by claiming to work more than full time — 60 hours a week, in fact — at gambling. She said she won $1.5 million and lost $1.7 million over three years. The state said she couldn't deduct her gambling losses — $200,000 — under applicable Minnesota tax law. Instead, the Department of Revenue audited her returns and demanded $102,000 in back taxes. But Busch argued hers weren't gambling losses; she was running...