The Daily Dose/July 5, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
USA! USA!: Last week the Trump Organization – the umbrella organization for a variety of businesses owned by Donald Trump – was indicted on 15 charges associated with helping executives evade taxes by hiding benefits that should have been reported as taxable income.
Senior executive Allen Weisselberg was also charged on avoiding taxes on these perks, valued at $1.7 million over a 15-year period. Weisselberg is the only executive specifically named in the indictment and Trump himself was not charged.
Dry, Technical Matter: The benefits – automobile lease payments, apartment rental payments and the like – were not reported as income by either Weissleberg or the company, but were entered on internal company records.
And You Wonder Why You Don’t Get Invited To Many Parties: Like you probably did, we read the indictment and were struck by a few things.
Oh, What The Hell: One, obviously, this does not happen unless there was an overall culture in the company that said go ahead and do this. It is the type of culture you’d expect for a company led by a man who is a lying sexual predator who believes the moon is part of Mars.
More Dry, Technical Matter: Two, the amounts – at least when taken in the context of big business and government finances – seem relatively small. The indictment states that Weisselberg made a bit less than a million dollars a year. Of course, this is a sizeable sum, but it struck us as relatively low for a senior executive in a company that size. The indictment alleges Weisselberg of avoiding taxes on $1.7 million over 15 years, which comes out to about $113,000 a year and if the Trump Organization had just forked that over in salary, maybe this doesn’t happen.
Thank You, Dr Freud: Or maybe it does. Greed is greed, after all.
The Bottom Line: We don’t approve of tax evasion anymore than you do, but if this country had a tax code that wasn’t nine million words long – and a corresponding one-page tax return – perhaps this never happens.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – The hotel is sold out, and some callers Sparrow deals with aren’t too pleased. Today’s Diary.
A dumb broad who called me was in a state of shock over the matter, too, trying to make it seem like it was my fault:
“How come there are no rooms in your state???”
Her tone was accusatory, as if yours truly were a suspect in a major crime…I wanted to tell her gee ma’am, I dunno, maybe it’s the holiday weekend or something, but hotels don’t earn hospitality awards by being sarcastic to guests, so ol’ Sparrow was typically gracious.
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On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1687 – Isaac Newton’s seminal work The Principia – also known as Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy – is published in England. Among other things, The Principia states Newton’s laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation, though there is no truth to the legend an apple fell on Newton’s head while he was sitting under a tree. Updated editions would be published in 1713 and 1726 and The Principia was originally published in New Latin, with the first English edition appearing in 1728.
In 1985 – Garry Templeton of the San Diego Padres establishes a new National League record and ties the major league record for most intentional walks in a game in a 5-4, 12-inning loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Templeton was intentionally walked four times, matching the record established by Roger Maris of the New York Yankees in a 1962, 12 inning game. The record is now held by Andre Dawson of the Chicago Cubs (five, 1990, 16 innings) and the record for a nine-inning game is four, done twice, both by Barry Bonds in 2004.
In 1969 – Henry Mancini is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the second and final consecutive week with Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet. The song was also in its fifth of eight consecutive weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. It was the sixth of seven Top 40 hits for Mancini and remains his only Top 10 hit. The song was written by Nino Rota and was rearranged by Mancini.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
…it is not possible to rebel against the fact of nature…There is nothing but the always-so.
Gore Vidal
Creation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
The record for most consecutive Wimbledon championships by a man is seven, done by Great Britain’s William Renshaw from 1881-86. The modern record is five, done twice, by Bjorn Borg (1976-80) and Roger Federer (2003-07).
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
Who holds the major league record for most walks in a game by a batter? – Answer next time!
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