What will be the result of the 2024 presidential election?
Trump wins by more than 5 points
Trump wins by fewer than 5 points
The race is basically a tie, gets messy and goes to the courts
Harris wins by more than 5 points
Harris wins by fewer than 5 points
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On this day, December 12, 2003 Keiko the Killer Whale and star of the movie Free Willy, and one-time Oregon resident, died in Taknes Bay, Iceland. Part of his training there included swimming in the ocean outside the bay. Keiko disappeared on one of these excursions. He eventually turned up 870 miles away off the Norwegian coast. Again, he became an attraction as boatloads of sightseers came out to see him. Keiko appeared to enjoy the attention. He accepted food from the visitors and even allowed some to climb on his back, defeating the whole purpose of bringing him from Oregon. Keiko's handlers eventually herded him to Taknes Bay, hoping he might join a passing orca pod. These hopes never materialized. Keiko remained in Taknes Bay as his health deteriorated. On the morning of December 12, 2003, Keiko beached himself. He died of pneumonia.

Also on this day, December 12, 2008, a bomb exploded inside a branch of the West Coast Bank in Woodburn, killing a police officer and a state bomb disposal technician. Police arrested 32-year-old Joshua A. Turnidge, a steelworker, in Salem on December 14. Joshua's father, 57-year-old Bruce Turnidge, was also soon arrested and charged with the bombing. In 2010 Bruce Turnidge and his son were convicted on 18 counts related to the bank bombing.




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Oregon People’s Rebate on Track to be on the Ballot
Is IP 17 utopia or a dystopia?

Self-proclaimed organizer, Antonio Gisbert, moved to Oregon and organized a team to turn Oregon into a socialist utopia. He founded Oregon People’s Rebate and filed initiative petition 17 for the 2024 ballot. IP 17 will rebate about $750 to every Oregonian, every year. This would mean putting about $3,000 in the pockets of a family of four, funded by increasing the minimum tax rate to 3% on gross receipts for big corporations over $25 million of Oregon revenue. This is on sales, and not profit, which means it would tax companies that are not making a profit.

Gisbert initially attempted his idea in 2016 as measure 97, which aimed to increase taxes on certain businesses with annual sales exceeding $25 million. That tax rate was 2.5% of the businesses’ gross receipts, used to fund education, healthcare and senior services. It was defeated by voters 59% to 41%, but it didn’t go unnoticed by the 2019 legislature.

The legislature passed House Bill 3427 adopting the corporate activity tax (CAT), also based on sales at 0.57 percent in excess of $1 million sales. Restaurants and pharmacies, particularly, have closed siting the CAT tax as the reason. Every time Oregon threatens such concepts, Nike and Intel threaten to leave the state until the Governor gives them a special deal.

Gisbert took the failure of measure 97 as a base. He found that everyone agreed that big corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes, that people don’t feel government would use millions of new dollars effectively, and that voters bought into the argument that businesses would leave the state. Gisbert set out to capitalize on his findings. He argues that there is no reason businesses would raise prices if taxes were increase and directed back to citizens to purchase more. He also argues that businesses will come to Oregon if families have more to spend.

Gisbert claims that giving people money reduces poverty by 15%, but admits that it is an untested number. The inspiration was the Alaska oil dividend that is paid into a fund and interest is paid to residence, which is around $1200 annually. He points out that when Portland gets their rebate, it will become $1.4 billion wealthier and it will have the same effect on smaller communities.

Gisbert says “It is us investing in ourselves… Money in a capitalistic society will help you make all other problems less big.” But, whose money is it really? Redistribution of wealth has failed where this was tried as Universal Basic Income. Universal Basic Income was tried in very progressive nations such as Canada and Finland, it failed, and it was repealed.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Under IP 17, virtually anyone living in Oregon for 200 days can claim the rebate, even a dead person. Some measure features: Is this measure a continuation of Governor Kotek doling out cash as a pilot program that gives out free $1,000 to homeless young people on a monthly basis? Liberals and the media define handing out money as a measure of success, but handing out doesn't measure results. Oregon needs growth, but handing out benefits to attract growth isn’t the best practice standards Oregonians want. The more free money that is handled out, the more homeless people there will be, forcing taxpayers to fund subsidies.

Initiative Petition 17 and Gisbert are counting on voter desperation and greed to sell their Marxist concept. They have turned in 130,000 signatures to verify 117,173 needed to could qualify for the November ballot.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2024-06-20 22:58:23Last Update: 2024-06-20 23:27:45



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