Welcome to Americans for Tax Fairness! We’re leading the national effort to demand millionaires, billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of taxes. While corporations have thousands of lobbyists on Capitol Hill, you have us, fighting for a tax system―and an economy―that works for all of us, not the wealthy few.

Please read the email below and then take action today!

Friend,

As the investigation into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia grows, the lynchpin to understanding potential conflicts of interest could be in his tax returns.

That’s why we’re working with our champions in Congress to build support for the “Presidential Tax Transparency Act,” which would require all sitting presidents and major party nominees for president to release the last three years of their tax returns.

Become a co-signer of the “Presidential Tax Transparency Act” today and force Donald Trump to release his tax returns.

By signing this petition, you will help build pressure to force a vote in Congress on this critical legislation.

Resistance to the Trump administration is growing. Across the country people are pushing back at town hall meetings, marches and at the polls. One critical component to the resistance effort is obtaining Donald Trump’s tax returns.

For the past 40 years, presidential nominees of both major parties have released their tax returns in part to assure the public that, if elected, there will be no conflicts of interest.

Yet, Donald Trump continues to own hundreds of businesses that are being run by his sons. The potential conflicts of interest are widespread.

The American people deserve to know:

Whether Donald Trump has financial ties with Russia?
How will Donald Trump’s businesses benefit from his actions as president, bills he signs into law and the general operations of the federal government?
How does Donald Trump personally benefit from his own tax scam that slashes the taxes owed by the richest Americans and wealthy corporations?
What tax loopholes Donald Trump benefits from now, and whether he even pays federal income taxes?

Stand with Americans for Tax Fairness. Become a co-signer of the “Presidential Tax Transparency Act” today.

Ending a rigged system starts at the top. Let’s force Donald Trump to release his tax returns.

Sincerely,

Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Consolidation eats another local touchstone ~2013~ TV &Progressive Radio in Seattle – etc.

06/14/2018 Nativegrl77

So, had to go back and find info on Sinclair…

Posted by Jon Talton

April 11, 2013 at 10:55 AM

The acquisition of Fisher Broadcasting by Sinclair Broadcast Group is bad news for Seattle and the Northwest. Seattle will lose a small but important corporate headquarters. Sinclair, which is based in suburban Baltimore, will no doubt get rid of many Fisher corporate jobs that are made “redundant” by the merger. The Northwest will lose a distinct local voice.

Sinclair says it “owns and operates, programs or provides sales services to 112 television stations in 61 markets” in some 26 states. With the Fisher acquisition, it will gain KOMO TV and 19 other television stations, along with KOMO Newsradio, KPLZ STAR 101.5, and KVI 570. (The reader should know that I have appeared on KOMO radio from time to time as an unpaid pundit on economic issues, as I do on several other local stations).

Broadcasting, which uses the public airways, has become one of the most consolidated industries in our era of monopolies, duopolies and cartels. All across the country, formerly proud local stations have been absorbed by the Borg of a few big players. The Federal Communications Commissionhas done nothing to stop the trend, so don’t expect it to stop the sale of Fisher. But the result is not just lost jobs, but the loss in communities of some of their most important, and influential, touchstones. There’s less competition and innovation, fewer choices and distinctive local stations.

This is especially true in the news operations, which should be serving the public trust and are made better by local ownership and competition. Instead, in a consolidated, cartelized environment, they get their marching orders from elsewhere and a news agenda narrowed down to a one-size-fits-all, often with little emphasis on, or curiosity about, the community. These are just “markets.”

The other curious thing about the latest move is that in 2009 Sinclair said in a regulatory filing that it was considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Obviously the company was able to step back from the brink, but it will be interesting to know if Sinclair took on more debt to make the Fisher deal. As for Fisher, it’s too bad the company ever went public, putting its fate in the hands of investors who care nothing for Seattle. A short-term payoff for a few, a long-term loss for the community.

Information about the sale of Fisher Communications to Sinclair

Fisher Communications, owner of Seattle’s KOMO-TV and 19 other television stations, will be acquired for $373 million by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the country’s largest Fox affiliate. Sinclair said it plans to keep Fisher’s three Seattle radio stations — KOMO Newsradio, KPLZ STAR 101.5 and KVI 570 — even though its focus is TV. (Seattle Times, April 11, 2013: http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2020756564_fisherbroadcastingxml.html)

In a recent conversation with someone who knows the Fisher family, I learned that the family only owns 30% of the stock in what is now a publicly traded company. So, the decision to go ahead with this sale to a highly conservative media group is in the hands of the Fisher stockholders. The Fisher family does have a long-time reputation as liberal (Dan Evans) Republicans, a species that may no longer exist, but there may be some hope that the family will want to purchase a station that could become a new progressive broadcasting station in the Seattle Area. We can hope.

Come to the Meaningful Movie Night in Wallingford this Friday, showing “Corporate FM…the killing of local commercial radio”

Here is another story about the demise of the public airways. The film shows at 7:30 PM at the Keystone Congregational United Church of Christ, 5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle. For more information, check the website: http://meaningfulmovies.org/

You can hear your favorite progressive talkers for free using IHeart Radio

You can register for free and access several live progressive radio stations! http://www.iheart.com/mobile/

If you know anyone who hasn’t signed our petition, please send them the link:

http://signon.org/sign/dont-let-seattle-lose-1?mailing_id=12129&source=s.em.cr&r_by=4666192

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

NO OIL DRILLING IN THE ARCTIC WILDLIFE REFUGE!

06/14/2018 Nativegrl77

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most beautiful and unspoiled places on our planet – home to iconic wilderness and wildlife and the indigenous Gwich’in people.

But right now, the Trump Administration is racing to open this untouched wilderness to oil drilling.

Before that happens, the Department of Interior has to review environmental impacts and listen to the public.

democraticconservationalliance.com

**********

“We are caribou people. Caribou are not just what we eat; they are who we are. They are in our stories and songs and the whole way we see the world. Caribou are our life. Without caribou we wouldn’t exist”. ~Sarah James

About the Gwich’in

The Gwich’in are the northernmost Indian Nation living in fifteen small villages scattered across a vast area extending from northeast Alaska in the U.S. to the northern Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada.

The word “Gwich’in” means “people of the land,” and it refers to a people who have lived in the region since before the U.S. and Canada existed. Today, the Gwich’in homelands span both countries. Oral tradition indicates the Gwich’in have occupied this area since time immemorial, or, according to conventional belief, as long as 20,000 years.

ourarcticrefuge.org