You thought I was being paranoid? You thought I was going off the deep end, being concerned about being treated the same way Yusuf, aka Cat Stevens, was?
Steve
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I only give to charities that I am personally involved in, i.e., giving my time as much as cash. That keeps it local and makes it easier to see how things are run.
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I used to volunteer, as well as donate cash to, a local aviation museum, until they became so cavalier about wasting their supporter’s money. When they flushed over $10M of their supporter’s money by abandoning a project, then. immediately start crying for money for their next bright idea, I was done with them. Their latest bright idea was selling their B-17 and putting the proceeds of the sale into investments, that would yield a steady cash flow. I figure, given their track record, they will fritter that pot of money away, and have no investment income, no B-17, and no revenue stream from selling rides on the B-17. That 17 was a beauty. One of their annual events was the “bomber buffing”, in the spring. On a Saturday, they would invite volunteers into the hangar to shine up their planes for the air show season.
This is me, around 2019, shining up the nose of their B-25. The 17 is in the background.
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I do donate to charities.
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The local food bank. DH says I shouldn’t because he passed by and saw a lot of expensive vehicles lined up. But I still think people in need should have a food bank despite this.
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I donate my time as an AARP Tax Aide counselor. I think it’s a shame that elderly and working class people have to pay a tax preparer because of the tax prep company lobbyists. Even the poor need to do taxes if they are to receive “refundable” tax credits.
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I am thinking of donating a Required Minimum Distribution to a charitable IRA annuity. This avoids the tax on the RMD while producing a lifelong income stream.
The IRA Charitable Rollover Gift Annuity Plan | American Red Cross | Help Those Affected by Disasters
Wendy
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Me, at the green arrow, as a “Rosie Wrangler” at their “Rosie The Riveter” world record, several years ago.
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The 2017 Rosie event was in a sports arena. This is the 2015 Rosie event, where they are all wrangled into an enclosure and held for a few minutes, to qualify for the Guinness record.
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Tax deductions are an incentive to donate to charities. Trumps tax cut caused most of us to take standard deduction. So no benefit for many charitable donations. Maybe the new tax law (Trump law expires Dec 31 unless renewed) will correct that.
I continue to make the same donations to worthy causes each year while taking standard deduction. No incentive to do more unless you make a large donation.
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I haven’t been able to itemize since I paid off my mortgage in 99. Donated to MSF and American Red Cross for years, anyway, because I recognize how staggeringly lucky I have been. But then Yusuf was banned from the US because, supposedly, a humanitarian charity he supported, somehow, “supports terrorism”, in spite of the government never showing any evidence to back their claim. What are the chances something, a bandaid, or an MRE, with an MSF or Red Cross logo on it, is found in the possession of an Islamic boogyman?
Now, the US has gone orders of magnitude nuttier. The White House has established a committee for the protection of Christians, headed by an advocate of 'prosperity theology", and the DoJ has established a department to prosecute crimes of discrimination against Christians. “Prosperity theology” holds that rich people are rich, because they are favored by God, and poor people are poor, because God doesn’t like them. So, will programs to help the poor be deemed “against God’s will”?
There is a major event in metro Detroit each year, centered on raising funds for breast cancer research. Because breast cancer is overwhelmingly associated with women, will that event be deemed guilty of the thought crimes of “woke” and “DEI”?
Steve
3 Likes
If lots of “Christian” women get breast cancer, are they then NOT “Christian” (per the alleged “theology”) and thus are deemed to have had their marriages immediately annulled as a legal consequence?
The event does not benefit straight, white, Christian, men, equally. Therefore, according to some, it must be “DEI”
DEI now appears to be a crime in some states too.
Steve
1 Like
Starbucks no longer accepts orders from the Missouri govt.
At times I go into MCD for an ice cream or a decaf.
The register kiosks ask if you would like to donate your change and then give you five different options for that donation.
If MCD is so giving the company needs to use ONLY its only money. Asking MCD shoppers for spare change is low. Do it yourself big shots.
Don’t insist on a tax cut where $230 billion in food aid for Americans is cut.