Gilead
Donald Trump
Finances
Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
We’re seeing it again: Donald Trump’s strategy is to stall, stall, stall, until, he hopes, he can get back in the White House.
“No Congress has ever wielded its legislative powers to demand a President’s tax returns,” [Donald] Trump argued to the Supreme Court, as he warned of the “far-reaching implications” implications of the DC Circuit’s ruling.[1]
I’m not a lawyer but it looks to me like Trump still doesn’t understand that he’s a private citizen now.
Tierney Sneed, “Trump asks Supreme Court to stop IRS from turning over his tax returns to the House,” CNN, October 31, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/31/politics/trump-supreme-court-appeal/index.html
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Annexations
Fig. 2. Photograph by author, November 25, 2020.
The ruling by Common Pleas Judge Joseph James suggests that the 1903 law on which those in favor of annexation to the city of Pittsburgh have hung their argument was essentially repealed decades ago.
That means the only path forward would be through a ballot initiative in both Wilkinsburg and Pittsburgh.[2]
The sense I’m getting here is that a ballot initiative would likely fail in both municipalities.
Judge James wrote Friday in his ruling that that law was basically repealed by a constitutional amendment passed in 1968. The amendment, which went into effect in 1970, directed the state legislature to come up with a uniform procedure for municipality mergers and consolidation.
The legislature, though, never did that. A 1994 law further limited options by setting forth three avenues for merger or consolidation — except for Pittsburgh.
That, Judge James wrote, means “the only procedure for annexation is set forth in Article IX Section 8.”
That part of the state constitution dictates that a consolidation or merger must be voted upon by constituents in both municipalities. To move forward, the ballot initiative would have to receive a majority of votes in both communities.[3]
Pittsburgh residents will surely say that Pittsburgh has enough problems already. And I think the only folks in Wilkinsburg who favor it are property owners, whose property taxes would drop;[4] they’ll be outvoted by renters, whose income taxes would go up.[5] And the thing is, there is still no compelling argument, no clear plan, at least that I’ve seen, for how a merger with Pittsburgh would help Wilkinsburg. It’s still just neoliberal bullshit.[6]
Megan Guza, “Wilkinsburg annexation process halted after judge rules current avenue invalid,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 31, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2022/10/31/wilkinsburg-merger-petition-judge-ruling-procedure-annexation-with-pittsburgh-1903-law-ballot-initiative/stories/202210310062
Fig. 3. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[7] fair use.
Dean Seal, “Elon Musk Ousts Twitter Board, Named Sole Director,” Wall Street Journal, October 31, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/musk-ousts-twitter-board-named-sole-director-11667234297
- [1]Tierney Sneed, “Trump asks Supreme Court to stop IRS from turning over his tax returns to the House,” CNN, October 31, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/31/politics/trump-supreme-court-appeal/index.html↩
- [2]Megan Guza, “Wilkinsburg annexation process halted after judge rules current avenue invalid,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 31, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2022/10/31/wilkinsburg-merger-petition-judge-ruling-procedure-annexation-with-pittsburgh-1903-law-ballot-initiative/stories/202210310062↩
- [3]Megan Guza, “Wilkinsburg annexation process halted after judge rules current avenue invalid,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 31, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2022/10/31/wilkinsburg-merger-petition-judge-ruling-procedure-annexation-with-pittsburgh-1903-law-ballot-initiative/stories/202210310062↩
- [4]Charlie Wolfson, “If Wilkinsburg is annexed into Pittsburgh, what would happen to its residents’ taxes?” Public Source, November 16, 2021, https://www.publicsource.org/wilkinsburg-pittsburgh-annexation-merger-property-taxes-school-pennsylvania/↩
- [5]Charlie Wolfson, “Pittsburgh City Council hears public comment on divisive Wilkinsburg annexation issue,” Public Source, December 4, 2021, https://www.publicsource.org/civic-briefs-wilkinsburg-pittsburgh-annexation-council-hearing/↩
- [6]David Benfell, “Wilkinsburg voters should insist on a better argument than ‘trickle-down’ for a merger into Pittsburgh,” Not Housebroken, September 30, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/01/06/wilkinsburg-voters-should-insist-on-a-better-argument-than-trickle-down-for-a-merger-into-pittsburgh/↩
- [7]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩