Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Friday, June 21, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, and welcome to the first News Brief of the summer.
We’ve got a lot of ground to cover today, and here’s what’s going on. The Supreme Court rules on overseas investments, an alarming story regarding the Chinese Communist Party—they’re responsible for many brutal deaths—and a convicted mass shooter will never see the light of day. Also, the ACLU plans to sue the state of Louisiana over the 10 Commandments, and squatters are targeting AirBnbs.
Supreme Court Upholds Trump-Era Tax on Overseas Investments
The high court, by a vote of 7–2, is upholding a 2017 tax called the Mandatory Repatriation Tax (MRT) on unrealized income from certain investments.Essentially, unrealized income is only profit on paper, because the investment hasn’t been sold or cashed in. So, theoretically, you wouldn’t have to pay taxes on your investment until you cash it out. In this particular case, Congress targeted foreign investments by imposing a one-time tax on the share of profits that investors haven’t received.
This case was brought by a married couple from Washington state, who argued that the MRT violates the Constitution’s requirement that direct federal taxes must be split among the states and also that the law violates the Constitution’s prohibition against retroactive taxation. That’s because the law taxes U.S. corporate earnings abroad going back 30 years.
The MRT stems from a 2017 law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which completely changed the way foreign income from U.S. corporations was taxed. Lawmakers created the tax because, in their view, too much money was being invested abroad and not here in the United States.
In their 7–2 vote, the justices ruled that the tax does not violate the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which allows the federal government to levy an income tax.
CCP Makes Nearly $9 Billion in Profits Annually From Medical Genocide, Lawyer Estimates
International human rights lawyer David Matas is sounding the alarm over what he calls the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) medical genocide. He’s estimating that the regime may be earning nearly $9 billion a year from forced organ harvesting.The CCP’s official figures were reported at 10,000 organ transplants a year, but Mr. Matas calculated a figure 10 times larger, simply by going to hospital websites and adding them up.
He addressed a Q&A session following a screening of the new documentary “State Organs,” which exposes these covert crimes by the communist regime. The award-winning documentary is about the search for two young people who mysteriously disappeared in China. In their search, the families uncovered a state-sponsored industry targeting innocent, healthy citizens for their organs, which are then sold for transplantation to a global clientele.
Raymond Zhang, director of the “State Organs” documentary, says that he spent six years making the film. He also says he overcame many difficulties to find witnesses of forced organ harvesting who were brave enough to be interviewed, including family members of victims, as well as doctors who at one time were involved in live organ harvesting.
Mr. Matas has dedicated nearly two decades to exposing the Chinese regime’s systematic organ harvesting practice, and he discovered that the main source of organs came from practitioners of Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa).
You should know that Falun Dafa is an ancient, spiritual practice rooted in traditional Chinese culture that teaches its adherents to live by the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
Federal Judge Hands Down 55 Concurrent Life Sentences to Colorado Mass Shooter
A U.S. district judge just ordered a Colorado mass shooter to serve 55 concurrent life sentences, plus 190 additional years in prison, for killing five people and injuring 19 others at a nightclub in Colorado Springs. That crime occurred back in November of 2022.Anderson Lee Aldrich pleaded guilty to dozens of felony crimes as well as felony hate crime charges in federal court this week. Separately, just last year, Mr. Aldrich was sentenced to more than 2,000 years in prison on state charges in connection with the attack.
We don’t know why Mr. Aldrich committed this crime, but prosecutors described the shooting as a hate crime. His attorney, David Kraut, stated that there was no singular explanation for why Mr. Aldrich did what he did, but Mr. Kraut blamed childhood trauma, Mr. Aldrich’s mother, and drug problems as some of the reasons.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland released a statement saying the Justice Department will never stop working to defend the safety and civil rights of all people in our country. FBI Director Christopher Wray says the bureau worked tirelessly toward this sentencing.
Illegal Squatters Have Found a New Target: AirBnbs
Squatters are targeting a new type of home to take over. AirBnb owners say it’s just as difficult to kick them out of these short-term rentals as it is to kick them out of regular rental properties.A number of cases in Nebraska, California, and North Carolina have put these squatter cases in the national spotlight. In fact, it’s become prevalent enough for AirBnb to post a page on their website titled, “Things to consider before hosting monthly stays.”
So you know, the technical definition of “squatting” is when someone moves into a dwelling without any legal claim or title to that property. Now, while it’s not illegal to remove a squatter from a short-term rental property, waiting too long could result in a long and very expensive fight over ownership depending on the state and county that the property is located in.
These difficult situations have created some unique business opportunities. A company called Squatter Hunters, owned by Flash Shelton, helps homeowners deal with squatter situations nationwide, and in fact, several insurance companies have even developed squatter insurance plans.
ACLU to Sue Louisiana for Requiring Ten Commandments in Public Schools
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups are planning to sue the state of Louisiana over a new law that requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.Louisiana House Bill 71, which just became law this week, requires that school districts feature the Ten Commandments in each classroom in each school under its jurisdiction, by January 2025.
The ACLU, along with the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, claims that the law “violates the separation of church and state and is blatantly unconstitutional.”
They point out that no other states require public schools to display the Ten Commandments and highlighted a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found that a Kentucky law—requiring the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom—violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The ACLU and the other groups said they’re confident they will prevail, while Louisiana officials said they were expecting legal challenges and look forward to defending the law.
I don’t recall the Ten Commandments in my classroom when I was a kid, but there was a flag and we pledged our allegiance each and every morning.
Looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Friday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief—and the weekend is almost here.
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And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap things up with a very “notable” quote.
Author H. Jackson Brown Jr. said, “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, thank you for spending even a small portion of your day with us.
The News Brief program is written by Sharon Reardon with production assistance from Clare, Faye, and a number of behind-the-scenes associates. I’m Bill Thomas, enjoy the rest of your day, and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow for the Saturday edition (the weekend edition) of The Epoch Times News Brief! Have an awesome day today, and bye for now.
