It appears that honesty and transparency continue not to be virtues among scoundrels.

Congressional financing?

Check for evidence of pet rabbits visiting US military bases in desirable vacation spots.

(also, how’s this fool getting a ten large IRA payout? Isn’t he like, 50?)

I've been taking required distributions from an inherited IRA since I was 53. (Fortunately no 10% penalty for being under 59 1/2 in the first 7 years. After that, I was over 59 1/2, so no penalty in the years after either). Edited to add: its an annual thing, so taking a withdrawal in just one year doesn't fit the pattern. EndEdit

Also, even if it's a regular IRA, one can withdraw from it at any age, although one would pay a 10% penalty if under 59 1/2, but if one has expenses that exceed what's available in regular taxable accounts, well, it's just something one may have to do sometimes.

Shouldn't some agency be flagging suspicious things like this?

Just wherever he direct deposits his congressional paycheck would apply.

Maybe, just maybe, we will get mandatory tax return releases for Congress critters and president and vice president candidates out of this.

There has to be some reporter in Louisiana who would want to make a name and could have found this. Lots of local investigative reporters make a name on finding corruption.

It's been half a decade and not one filing that's legit?

Why is there not some oversight group for this, it seems like a flashing neon sign for being on the take.

But I'll bet he claims he cashes his checks into currency so he doesn't need a bank account, he keeps it all under his mattress or in his gun safe. (Or wrapped in cling film stuffed in a freezer)

Since he's vanilla colored, he never has to worry about being pulled over and his money seized because he's carrying drug dealer amounts of money on him.

Haele

No need for opposition research if there’s no opposition.

and it's doubtful anybody checked him out when he ran for Congress in his totally MAGA district.

is he picking up a check every two weeks and cashing it at the 7-11?

He has to be doing something with his money.

I make a good salary, and do get my paychecks DP. But over the last couple of years, I had one disaster after another and racked up a pretty massive amount of debt.

I'm on the recovery side of all that now, and income exceeds absolute minimum of expenses, but almost all the extra goes to paying down that massive dept. I hope to be out of that hole finally in the new year. My ADB is probably more like $2000, so I wouldn;t have to report that. But I DO have retirement accounts which would require reporting.

I believe he probably does have a checking account...

Obviously.

Somewhere, somehow this grifter is living off an LLC, likely his wife’s conversion business. And it’s probably registered as a church. Something about him just feels right for this one.

I should have read comments before posting about gold stacking, lol.

I'll revise a little with new info...lol

About turning all charity work over to a church. These sorts are all about “vouchers” for everything. That’s what they want to do with Social Security and Medicare. It makes it easier to misappropriate the funds and rob the elderly and infirm.

He is apparently making the same mistake with his reporting that most of the arrogant christofascists make in thinking that they are above taxes and reporting because… Church.

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

These modern day Christofascists are all about keeping it for themselves.

I thought that yesterday when I saw her website was .org not .com. I was kind of thinking her Christian Taliban conversion clinic was some kind of "church".

n/t

If his wife was counseling him would she select Melancholy, Choleric, Sanguine, Supine, or Phlegmatic?

https://www.joemygod.com/2023/10/johnsons-wife-practices-temperament-counseling/

Sounds to me like he needs 2 leeches applied to each armpit followed by another bucket of Boar's vomit. (hat tip to Steve Martin's SNL skit about Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber)

he's a Dominionist. They have their own "church" ways of avoiding anything and everything that's mandatory for all "common" Americans. And it's all legal as far as they're concerned, because they're doing it in the name of "God." They have their own banking, government, etc. We are facing the end of Democracy and going headlong into Theocracy if we don't get these people out of the government. They've already captured so many of their "hills... mountains"... and now 1/3 of the government. Don't like the Dominionist view? Too bad... you will be forced to convert. Many of us have been screaming about this for years... but just like abortion rights, we were told we were hysterical and nonsensical in our fervor of trying to get people to see. What do they say? Hindsight is always 20/20...!

...even the Daily Beast takes the journalistic position of assuming and exploring only above-board, legitimate reasons for why this guy has a virtually impossible financial structure, and never once considers that THIS IS A REPUBLICAN, HE IS DOING SOMETHING ILLEGAL AND/OR UNETHICAL.

Which is the very first assumption that should be made after the phrase 'This Is A Republican'.

Don't laugh. Various religious sects in US history have used some type of barter bucks, coupons for daily life.

But this is the gold standard. Guy hiding a US House salary. Prob doesn't consider it his duty to report because he answers only to God. Recall he's got a personal account with the guy. Sorry, the Guy!

Last edited Wed Nov 1, 2023, 01:41 PM - Edit history (1)

"Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's."

He's just another grifting religious charlatan.

It's a disclosure form for members of Congress.

More restrictions on regular and poor folks' healthcare, but rich, greedy assholes get away with shit like this.


It's like God blesses the wealthy and ordains the poweful...

Although, he still probably stacks some gold as well...

A lot of the religious zealots are preppers and most of them call for putting assets in something other than cash or banks.

I always get a kick outta prepers hoarding gold. If the world turns to chit so much so that the global banking system totally collapses…gold bars will only help if you can digest them like termites eat wood.

He's probably heavily invested in BitCoin or JesusCoin. Yes, there is such a thing. Hard-core evangelicals are all in on Christian Crypto.

https://www.coinbase.com/price/jesus-coin#:~:text=Jesus%20Coin%20is%20the%20official,as%20per%20the%20token's%20whitepaper.

The cheaters think they can fumble their way into power without scrutiny. He just undid himself, he won't last as speaker for very long. I watched a video of a Tarot card reader inquiring about his career as speaker... the reading indicated that he would not last long and that there would be much ado about some major lie in his past, any part of it, that would be his undoing. This could be it.

Was it Maryanne from Revealing Light? I just adore her!

And she was right on.

I only watch what gets posted here but I like her, her readings are pretty accurate. On some readings, I get a little different take on one or two points but otherwise, her speculations usually come around to manifest.

a Republican, and she would not have even had to crack open a new deck of cards

Who doesn't want to see pictures?

I like her.
Some other readers are getting the same reads too.
Manifest. Manifest.

Very interesting.

Although, by law, you have to claim them, too.

I mean, did the Russians wire him money, or did they just show up in his office with a suitcase full of cash, a la Spiro Agnew?

I remember something when Mitt Romney was running for President. There was some deal with him not releasing a tax return. I seem to recall the general suspicion was that he had taken advantage of some tax amnesty deal involving foreign accounts. It was suspected he had money overseas he didn't claim but during the amnesty was able to "come clean".

https://slate.com/business/2012/07/romney-s-tax-returns-is-the-2009-swiss-bank-account-amnesty-what-he-doesn-t-want-us-to-see.html

Why not? That‘s a fair question these days. I‘m sure he doesn‘t take his paycheck to a check-cashing kiosk twice a month.

It‘s not the kind of thing you can set up retroactively for appearance‘s sake, either. Either his funds are hidden somewhere, or the activity on his account is so totally off the wall that he rightly fears public scrutiny of it. If a public disclosure of his bank activity would disclose something so embarrassing as to warrant his immediate resignation as Speaker, the House Republicans will have to resume their bottom feeding for a replacement Speaker AGAIN.

I never agreed to direct deposit until I had to for my federal positions. If you have a job that's paid by the treasury, you pretty much have to have a bank account with, at least, a savings account to receive the payments.

Good catch.

That's $4,298.08 per week. You just TRY hiding that kind of cash flow.

He could cash the checks but then there should be a trail of suspicious activity reports required for any cash transaction over 10k.

A guy receiving a regular paycheck from the federal government who doesn‘t have a bank is like a history scholar who never visits a library: theoretically conceivable, I suppose, but not a practical reality.

I know there is a limit on electronic deposits via phone so he would have to go to a bank. Congress has a bank but there still has to be an electronic trail or routing. His check would been over 6000, bi-weeekly.

This just screams of someone not wanting public scrutiny of what he's up to.

I've been having direct deposit for decades, since I'm paid into an American bank account by my American employer, though I live in Europe. If it had involved some kind of exotic machinations, I would have heard of it long before now. Ergo, this has to be SOP to the point where many people probably have to make an exception if they do NOT want their paycheck deposited this way.

Even back in the 80's, he was required to have direct deposit. He received his retirement benefits that way as well.

Because that's the manner in which I receive my SSI every month. I haven't received a check other than those from inheritance that I got from the passing of family members in well over a decade now. I function off a debit card that I guard with my life.

My dad died in 2011 and that wasn't a thing back then.

That the recipients who were already receiving their money by check continued to do so. Newcomers to the system were on mandatory DD. I know I was required to use that "option" when I hired on with the Census Bureau in 2009. I just knew that it was required when I hired on at the other two agencies.

not have DD. Something isn’t right here…

There's something really fishy here. Bet there's a big lie in there somewhere!

I listened to her reading while I was packing up my Halloween decorations in my snowy, slushy front yard. May her take on things be true.

IRS!

MAYBE there is a perfectly legitimate explanation. but if there is, he doesn't seem to be in any big hurry to let the public in on his secret.

Something isn't right with this. If this hits the public sphere and people start to ask questions, I figured he would just set up direct deposit...I didn't know he couldn't retroactively set it up. Very interesting.

And even that would take some doing on its own--but retroactively making three years worth of direct deposits from the US Treasury into such an account--even a Republican can't do THAT.

Physical banks near me will not even cash a check without being an account holder.

apparently

How I wished Trump would live to regret that ride down the escalator. Now I find myself wishing this clown will live to regret becoming speaker.

Probably in Paul Singer's laundromat, NML.

If anyone ever hacked that outfit, the names they'd find.

One doesn't keep a bank account when one trades only with sheep and goats.

MAGA Mike lives the dream!

..It's "Render to Caesar, not Caesar's Palace!"

I mean ... Louisiana.

Hmmm

Inquiring minds want to know.

At least not that can be proven. Just look at the Bible! If you want to know anything about him, look at the Bible.

oops.here: "manna is, according to the Bible, an edible substance which God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert during the 40-year period following the Exodus and prior to the conquest of Canaan. It is also mentioned in the Quran three times."

So it would all fit nicely with his world view, wouldn't it? (don't mention the part about the Quran).

...after he looks it up in the Book of Justifications.

He hasn't disclosed his accounts because he doesn't want to, and he is special enough to avoid it. Following the rules is for the little people.

Russians gotta have a secret place to stash cash, or whoever is paying him off.

Every news agency should dedicate a staffer to each potential representative and just dig the hell out of their past. Maybe if voters got this kind of information ahead of primary and general elections, there'd be less dross rising to the top. It's not ok if they are a republican. It is not okay to have half the representatives and God knows how many appointed or hired government employees on the take. It is not only wrong, but it creates a climate of acquiescence: "If Mike does it, so can I." Not a good role model, not a good lifestyle.

Unless there is some kind of public outcry brought on by media investigations. I mean literally 1 or 2 FBI agents could do this job. How long did it take for them to investigate George Santos? Literally months of non-stop media coverage.

That is the IRS's jurisdiction. Unless it involves corruption, money laundering, or corporate tax fraud of some kind, the fbi won't get involved.

The IRS isn't going to want to appear political. Not that they have the will or resources to look at congress anyway.

we are to believe that he and his family have no ownership/lease on a home, no ownership/lease on any vehicles? People wondering about whether he is running money through the church need to know that the IRS is not going to allow a scheme where you donate your income to the "church" and then the "church" provides everything for you. Those things will still be required to be stated as income. Also any legal claims to the money are considered to be assets.

Even if you claim that others are paying for your lifestyle it must be declared as income according to IRS rules. Any income, regardless of taxable or non-taxable, must be accounted for under accounting rules. If you try to declare that the money in to you from the "church" equaled the money spent for your lifestyle you still have a taxable income situation. So in addition to tax fraud, abuse of non-profit status etc. there may also be fraudulent filings of required forms based on fraudulent accounting practices. Some people think that they could avoid taxes by being a minister but they would be wrong. Here is a link to a little more info about that.

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc417

Wouldn't investments in crypto currency still have to be included in his financial disclosure statements?

Shitting a brick over the finances of the Biden's? Here's one more, this one more "local." I'm sure that Speaker Johnson will be (unlike "those" people) more than happy to come clean. s/

I also dislike ATM fees, and by having multiple accounts, I make sure that I can withdraw money at an ATM without paying a $3 or so "fee" for using a non-network/bank card.

It is a little more work for me, but I can actually keep a better accounting on my finances by separating it out.

There are still lots of paper trail though, and I'm pretty sure the IRS and state FTB know all about my finances.

Yes, it is very strange that someone who gets hundreds of thousands per year in federal salary and such would not have an account to put it in.

The only thing that I can think of is that because he is SO religious, that his religious affiliation may take that money as a large tithe.

required to work in finance, banking, insurance, or any other sector sensitive to handling money.

Looking kind of fishy.

It's all in stacks of bills of various denominations. He doles it out in envelopes.

He's a rotten apple.

he should've stayed in the closet where he could freely grift undetected. But since this cockroach decided to step into the light, the consequences of that decision are coming to fruition.

Why is this only coming to light now?

an offshore money laundry is in the air.

And no one ever looked until now?

Not sure who polices the required reporting - but there's probably zero penalties.

that he gave sermons at, so he can avoid paying taxes.

Everything would be "owned" by the church, so he's free and clear.

I sometimes wonder if that is why Bobo is giving sermons every other week.

I wonder if there are secretive evangelical money-stashing mechanisms.

Time to try to save your own income, folks!

It's called "retribution" for a good cause... Yours!

They want to continue cheating on their taxes,
forcing honest Americans to make up the difference $$$

Putin pays in cash.

That would explain a lot.

That he and his wife are directors of. It's no uncommon for lots of people with even small amounts of decent income or assets to do that for the tax breaks.

Gets his monthly check cashed and divvies it up in his Dave Ramsey envelopes for his family’s expenses. /s/

Now that he’s in the spotlight, more and more dirt is being revealed.

Seems totally legit.

Maybe he's so poor... (how poor is he?) he's so poor, he's been forced to share a billionaire with Clarence Thomas or Sam Alito

it is ultimately owned by some LLC under his Wife as Director. The whole shootin' match is hiding under some kind of tax free, charitable network of organizations with a grandiose religious sounding title, and no record of payment to anyone other than certain nominal board members. Most likely modeled on something like Samaritan's Purse with advice from Franklin Graham, himself

don't want the spotlight, because they are all doing something similar.

Release the hounds!