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rkbenjamin.bsky.social
Husband, Father, Tax Professional, #YNWA
18 posts 180 followers 346 following
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Agreed with Gillian here. If you called your Senator (or didn't) to tell them to vote against a trans sports ban, it's important that you also call them and thank them for their vote. NO Democrat broke on this. myreps.datamade.us

old Soviet joke for our times: Guy stops by the newsstand every day, scans the front page, doesn’t buy the paper. One day the vendor asks what he’s up to. Guy says: “looking for an obituary.” Vendor says “those are towards the back of the paper, comrade.” Guy says: “not the one I’m looking for.”

Dolly Parton is a god damn National treasure.

Hot damn.

Imagine George Soros at a Biden cabinet meeting saying "We accidentally stopped funding the Army but we fixed it."

After 3 surgeries, a blood clot, infection & being hospitalized for over a week, the moment I was discharged I rushed to the airport so I could get on a plane to DC & vote NO on Republicans’ disastrous budget plan. Rep. Pettersen traveled from Colorado with her newborn son so she could vote NO. 🧵

Some “moderate” Republicans flipped & ended up supporting this evil budget resolution. They voted to cut Medicaid & services their constituents depend on. The budget fight isn’t over. But if you are represented by any of these people that voted yes.. make sure they hear from you.

I don't know who made this, but they did a great job!

🚨BREAKING: Federal Court issues TRO blocking the Department of Education and OPM from disclosing personal information to DOGE. Visit www.democracydocket.com for breaking democracy news.

If any of our former NATO or Five Eyes allies have intelligence data and assessments, which surely they must, about the background of the leader of their new strategic adversary, the United States, now is as good a time as any to release them, subject to protection of methods and sources, of course.

The Joint Chiefs don't change with a new president. Supposed to be impartial, nonpartisan. Until now. Trump fired the Chair, Gen. Charles Brown (because he's Black), Navy chief Lisa Franchetti (for being a woman), and the 3 top Army, Navy, and Air Force lawyers (because they say follow the law).

We have fought so hard for 21 years, I’m not giving up. #DontCutMyMedicaid

This is a great blog post/article on how the IRS workforce reduction could affect us all, taxpayers and preparers alike. Written by @atlantatax.bsky.social #TaxBS agatecpa.com/how-irs-work...

It’s a cult.

drop a pin, I can get to Brooklyn in 2 hours

People are fleeing Florida and Texas. As of Jan. 2025, those states collectively accounted for over 30% of ALL homes for sale in the US. Florida had 157,221 active listings—the highest in the country—followed by Texas with 102,552. Repressive state governments and rising insurance are to blame.

#TaxSky www.freep.com/story/money/...

Scoop: The IRS is preparing to conduct mass firings of 6,700 employees beginning Thursday. www.govexec.com/workforce/20...

Could someone place an order for 100 more Jasmine Crocketts for overnight delivery to the Democratic Party thx in advance

This is a frightening analysis of the current attempt to transform the U.S. civil service from a system that follows the laws into a system that is based on patronage. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

WaPo: Musk's DOGE seeking access to the IRS's IDRS system containing all taxpayer data. Gift link: archive.ph/6Mf1g A five-alarm warning!? Us tax nerds know IDRS access is the 'keys to the kingdom'; should be tightly controlled by law for TP privacy (IRC 6103(a); see IRM 2.9.1.) #TaxBS #TaxSky

History buffs will know that every authoritarian leader eventually converges on some version of: "I *am* the state. I can not break the law, I am the law, the law is instantiated in me." Our march to authoritarianism so far has been excruciatingly by-the-book. Hitting every beat. No surprises.

#taxbs #taxsky Still no updates on IRS.gov re: refunds for those affected by PATH Act. Typically there would be an update by now. Multiple client accounts show returns were received but haven't moved to "Processed" stage yet, though it's been a couple weeks. Anyone else seeing different?

As a tax accountant, I sometimes feel like I have my ear to the ground, economically speaking. A client just mentioned that Lowe's is empty, no one is buying, so he's having his hours cut. Between tariffs and layoffs, this is what a recession looks like when it's new. FYI @kairyssdal.bsky.social

Seems futile to point this stuff out anymore, but Musk and Trump holding a photo op to tout all the “corruption” DOGE has found on the same day Trump’s DOJ announced it would no longer investigate foreign governments who try to bribe U.S. officials was some real Orwell-level messaging.

To put a finer point on it, the Trump administration is mass firing federal employees and telling them if they dispute their termination that they can take it up with a board that will (I just learned) lack a quorum to function as of March 1 when another of the current board member’s term expires.

Another plane crash www.azfamily.com/2025/02/10/s...

NEW: 93 Republican members of Congress ask the Supreme Court to let states kick Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid programs for providing services like birth control. Arguments are on April 2. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23...

Someone at the American Bar Association ate their Wheaties this morning.

Working on an asset deal. Seller is a C Corp. Prior CPA told them no gross up needed, the NOLs will offset the gain. Um no. Apparently he forgot there is an 80% limit on using NOLs for federal? Not to mention the 382 limit when they had a down round a few years ago. 😭 #TaxSky

My new one is up. open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...

It could mean that the world financial system melts down when investors realize that Elon Musk may selectively default on US debt. Just saying.

Lists of all the life-saving stuff they're cutting need to be everywhere in every form of media to contrast the ridiculously misleading lists that will be blasted from Elon, possibly in Super Bowl commercials.

As an adult I have watched Bush then Trump just do stuff and also heard for 12 years from Obama then Biden how they “can’t just” do 10 million things

Yeah a really simple thing all media could do is stop repeating this lie

The Atlantic: "Elon Musk’s unceasing attempts to access the data and information systems of the federal government range so widely, and are so unprecedented and unpredictable, that government computing experts believe the effort has spun out of control." www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Senator Murphy lays out exactly what is on the line. "  There was a promise made to finance this tax cut with two trillion dollars of cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. Medicaid, poor kids, poor families, Medicare, seniors in this country." Hands Off Our Medicaid!

It’s time to start wrapping our heads around the real possibility that collective action and even a general strike are required. Musk is working fast to solidify control, do as much damage as possible, and party “opposition” is not up to the fight. jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/collective...

“Christians” like Vance are why I stopped believing in God.

Bondi shuttered the FBI task force on foreign election interference and gutted enforcement of FARA, ensuring foreign operatives can work in the US without disclosure or consequence, green lighting covert foreign influence on lawmakers and political campaigns. Scary read, @olgalautman.bsky.social.

The MAGA fanbase thinks all this chaos and uncertainty being created by Musk and DOGE is just terrific… they probably have no clue about the economic damage that’s on the way. It’s coming, and it will impact many of them, too.

The apparent lies and attempted cover ups of Musk operatives raiding US agencies, stealing Americans’ personal data, changing base code at Treasury, and more, indicates they know it’s a political liability. The public (and business community) really don’t like it. With reason. Keep shining a light.

Rep Raskin making sense on Musk’s attempted coup. More of this please. newrepublic.com/article/1911...