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Secret Service Investigating Romney Tax Hack Claim
A federal investigation has been launched after hackers claimed to have stolen Mitt Romney’s tax returns. The hackers have given Romney until September 28th to pay $1 million in bitcoins or they say they will release the returns. From the article: "The claim was made in a post on the Pastebin site on Sunday that alleged that Romney's federal tax returns were taken from the offices of PriceWaterhouse Coopers in Frankin, Tenn., on August 25 by someone who snuck into the building and made copies of the document. The message author threatened to release the files publicly on September 28 and said copies of the files had been given to Democratic and Republican leaders in that county. Democrats have made Romney's refusal to release his tax returns a key point in their criticism that he is not in touch with working class voters."
If there's one thing you can all agree on, it's that leakers must be punished harshly!
xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
Your conspiracy theory seems like another example of the well-recognized cognitive dissonance that Democrats have about Republicans: We're all really stupid, except when we're able to hatch these amazingly sophisticated conspiracies to steal elections. Move on, indeed!
No one is saying that Republicans are stupid in terms of playing politics. They have stupid policies such as force-feeding creationism in science class, but they are geniuses at fear-mongering, name-calling, and just flat-out lying in order to get what they want. You want to talk about leaving Iraq? Well, you're a cut-and-run coward who hates America. You want to help the poor and middle class? You're engaging in class warfare, and you hate success. These guys are freaking geniuses at political gamesmanship. Look at ObamaCare. They were able to stop even a single Republican representative from voting in favor of the bill. Are you telling me that not one of them thought the bill was a good idea or was the leadership that absolute? Hint: it's the latter.
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
I'm not sure how you can call that cognitive dissonance in this era. The Republicans have a very massive public front that is filled with idiots and a very smart back room that is using those idiots to their advantage.
Secondly, the "conspiracies" that are affecting voter turnout and possible mis-counting of votes aren't that sophisticated at all. It doesn't take much to come up with a rule that affects how the poor can get to polls (plus it wouldn't be a conspiracy because it's done right out in the open in the legislatures. Conspiracies are secret.)
It also it doesn't take much to get something nefarious into computer code when you're going to make it closed source and unavailable for neutral experts to examine it.
Broke in? Unlikely. It was probably an inside job.
Or for that matter, his college records. As much as I'd like to see those from Obama, he's under no obligation to release them, and it would be just as wrong to release them illegally as it would be to release Romney's tax returns.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
It isn't so much about keeping things secret as it is about keeping the other side on the defensive. If Romney releases his tax returns the Democrats will demand something else, and something else, ad nauseum. The more you distract from the other party's message the better so Romney put a hard stop on their first silly request.
If the tax returns are released they won't show anything we don't already know, very much like when Obama finally released his birth certificate. Now if Obama would release his transcripts from college and law school, that would be interesting. He must really be hiding something there...
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
I'm hosed for karma now.
". Are you telling me that not one of them thought the bill was a good idea "
yes. And one apparently even agreed with all of it. (Senate was zero)
I don't know anyone that has read all 2801 pages that agrees with all of that bill. There are lots of good things in the bill, but there is also a ton of crap and just horrible things in that bill.
Had that bill been broken into say 28 different items, (100 pages per. I know it wouldn't really work out that easy) then the people voting on it would have maybe read each of them before the vote and then decided to vote for some of the good, and punt some of the bad.
I have also spoken with several representatives that said "We didn't have time to read all of it, so we just voted the party line" (Both Ds and Rs)
There was entirely too much in that one bill to not have issues with and there was entirely too much in there for there to not be good in it.
health care in this country does have serious issues and needs a lot of fixes. BUT there was too much crap in this bill for it to be the "fix" we need. Including "savings" by "keeping benefits the same" they are going to pay doc's less for the same procedures, because they have become common. So for procedure A in 2014, a Dr will make less than he did in 2008. It's still the same procedure, and inflation has occurred, soooo.
I am 31337 or something.
proving once more that bitcoins are the currency of thieves, drug dealers, pedophiles and gun runners
As are dollars. There are about 8 million bitcoins at about $11 a piece. That's 88 million dollars worth of bitcoins. That doesn't even come close to the money stolen by ONE GUY at MF Global.
If you despise thieves, aim your hatred at the finance industry and the politicians that protect them. Bitcoin is negligible compared to these crooks.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Bullshit! You don't think the Democrat politicians games the same IRS rules like the Republicans in office? Here's a clue for you Micky, every rich man, women, and child does. BECAUSE THEY DO **NOT** DO THEIR OWN TAXES!!! Some other firm does it for them whom specializes in US tax code.
Both the players and the game suck. But lets start with the common denominator here. Overhaul the US tax system. Go flat tax if we have to. But absolutely nothing will change in behavior with those with disposable income to obfuscate.
Life is not for the lazy.
Slashdot logic: Something i like: is being associated with something bad? It must be a false flag attack.
China is actively working to subvert government it systems? Irrelevant. Cyber-Command will be built on the crumbling remains of bit coin. Srsly?
I agree mostly with the parent, but not entirely.
To the extent Romney legally made a lot of money, and legally paid his taxes the actual amounts are pretty nearly irrelevant.
However, there is some interesting speculation out there that what's in his returns is in fact he was a tax cheat. You see, in 2009 the IRS had an amnesty program for people with money stashed overseas. We already know Romney had a bunch of money stashed in overseas accounts. The amnesty was because a high percentage of folks with overseas accounts (upwards of 80%, by some estimates) had failed to report their assets in the required way. Since they are the 1%, the Congress passed a "one time out" program, admit breaking the law, but rather than get thrown in jail or pay a penalty simply pay the tax you would have owed.
We don't know if Romney took advantage of the program, but the odds are quite high he did. If so, what he did by participating was admit he had cheated the tax code for some number of years. That would absolutely be relevant for a political candidate.
wrong. Many of them where favorably to the idea until 2010. When there number one priority wasn't trying to do whats best, or run a government, it was defeat Obama, even if they have to burn the country to the ground.
You might want to actual read up on the republican in office history before answering for all of them, you only look more stupid. Don't have time to read up on that? fine, but don't act like you know what the fuck you are talking about.
"I don't know anyone that has read all 2801 pages"
I have. Twice. I also have a section by section break down. I know many other people who have read it.
" So for procedure A in 2014, a Dr will make less than he did in 2008. It's still the same procedure, and inflation has occurred, soooo."
OK, you haven't read it, but you are willing to make statements about it? you're a fucking idiot.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It's a gimmick. It's right up there with having a Philly cheesesteak in Gino's versus Pat's. American politics is filled with those kinds of traps.
All the issue is there to serve is to suggest Romney is "not one of you" and fits the stereotype of "rich white republican."
Truth is, Obama is rich, too. You can't really do federal politics without being quite wealthy.
Time wasted talking about tax returns, or birth certificates, or whatever is time spent not talking about the facts. And when you look at FACTS, both Republicans AND Democrats have each done massive harm to this country over the past 80 years.
More Twoson than Cupertino
A fine example of whataboutery. The issue is not that Romney is wealthy - it's a matter of public record that his wealth is double that of the last eight presidents combined - but that he may have been illegally evading taxes through the use of off-shore banks, and took advantage of the 2009 amnesty.
My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush