Month: September 2016

Ethan Explains Trump Paying Taxes

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Ethan Explains Trump Paying Taxes

There is a big to-do this week speculating about Donald Trump’s level of taxation based on his non-release of his tax forms. Even Mark Cuban the billionaire, who was front and center at the debate on Monday night, is jumping into the fray, with this quote:

“And I tell my tax lawyers and everybody, you know, take advantage of — do what the law recommends. But I’m not against paying taxes. And I’ll give you a perfect example. When the Dallas Mavericks were building a new practice facility, which we’re just opening, I had the opportunity to go to Dallas and and play different cities against each other to get different rebates and everything. I didn’t do it.”

Mr. Cuban realizes that was a choice, right?

We don’t have to pay any more than the minimum necessary under the tax code. If you don’t like the tax code, then blame your elected officials in Washington, D.C. They control how much we pay and are responsible for the 74,000+ page tax code.

Famously, Judge Learned Hand stated in Commissioner v. Newman in 1947 – “Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.”

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays from noon to 2pm Pacific Time on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

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Fox News Happening Now 9/28/2016

Posted in Media, PoliticsTagged , , , ,

I had the pleasure of joining Jenna Lee on Fox News Channel’s Happening Now on 9/28/2016. I was on the panel along with Joe Carraro a retired New Mexico State Senator, and Dr. Costas Panagopoulos from Fordham University.

We discussed how Independents (No Party Preference/NPP here in California) are viewing the presidential race after the first debate.

I share how I thought neither candidate moved independent voters, why I am an independent, how I think the system is broken, and why I am optimistic for the future!

Please tell me your thoughts below and share with your friends!

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Ethan Explains First Presidential Debate

Posted in Media, PoliticsTagged , , , , , ,

The first presidential “debate” is tonight! Donald J. Trump will “debate” Sec. Hillary R. Clinton with Lester Holt moderating.

I use quotes around the word debate, because these aren’t really debates with rules that are followed. No microphone gets turned off when someone goes over time, for example.

Will anything about the “debate” change your mind? Or are these just publicity stunts now where each side will cherry pick what their candidate said while viciously attacking the opposing candidate? And they will all claim poor Lester Holt didn’t do a good enough job?

BTW, where is Governor Gary Johnson and why isn’t he going to be on stage? I think any candidate polling higher than 5% should be included in the debates. That’s the only way we’ll get viable third parties in this country. We really do need more than the broken duopoly which provides us what I think of as a false dichotomy of D versus R.

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays from noon to 2pm Pacific Time on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains Police Shooting Videos

Posted in Crime & Punishment, Media, PoliticsTagged , , , ,

Ethan Explains Police Shooting Videos

The question of police body cameras continues to grow in importance. They are an important tool for both the police and the public in getting the record straight in ALL interactions between us.

Now with the shootings in Tulsa and Charlotte, the failure of our government to ensure openness and accountability is in focus. In Tulsa, they released the videos and while we may disagree on what exactly they tell us, we have a much better idea. And guess what? No riots.

In Charlotte the North Carolina state legislature passed a law limiting the video release only by court order. So, we have two totally different accounts of what transpired. And riots have ensued alongside the peaceful, legal, protests.

We must demand that all police body cam video be escrowed by a third-party so nobody can delete what they don’t want us to see. Body cams shouldn’t be able to be deactivated when on-duty. And there needs to be rules and regulations in place when we fund body cameras to ensure their proper release to We The People.

Listen to The Ethan Bearman Show Monday through Friday from noon to 2 p.m. Pacific Time on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains Antibiotic Health Crisis

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Ethan Explains Antibiotic Health Crisis

Popping pills whenever you don’t feel well, having unprotected sex, and eating antibiotic laced foods have become a health crisis. No really, doctors are running out of antibiotic drugs for addressing multiple bacterial infections with potentially dire outcomes for you and me. We are in the midst of an antibiotic health crisis.

First of all, taking antibiotics went you don’t feel well without knowing if it is a bacterial infection is leading to significant antibiotic resistance as the bacteria rapidly develop immunity.

Second, your hedonistic unprotected sex with multiple partners has now created an antibiotic resistant gonorrhea. Gross.

Third, our food supply is being jammed with antibiotics which passes through to us, creating more antibiotic resistance.

Stop popping pills, or expecting your doctor to prescribe antibiotic pills without knowing why you are sick. Stop having unprotected sex, period. And start buying organic and demanding that your food not be flooded with antibiotics.

We can make a difference in this health crisis. Only use antibiotics when necessary.

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays from noon to 2pm Pacific Time on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains Antibiotic Health Crisis

Ethan Explains Heroin Epidemic Week

Posted in Life, MediaTagged , , , , 1 Comment

The President has called this week Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week. This is a national scourge that needs to end.

It begins by never doing it in the first place. There is nothing cool, sexy, or interesting about shoving a needle full of heroin into your arm. It ruins your body, your relationships, and your life.
And, if you share your needle with another person, you risk getting Hepatitis C and HIV. Diseases that should be gone, but because of unprotected sex and needle sharing, they continues to hospitalize and kill far too many people.

And on top of it all, there is a serious problem in places like Santa Cruz, California where not only is heroin killing people, the heroin addicts are leaving their used needles around town. In parks, on the beach, and elsewhere, unsuspecting people including children are getting stuck by the used needles, requiring expensive medical procedures because of the potential for contracting the aforementioned diseases.

Please stop glamorizing the opium poppy based drugs. Lets end the opioid and heroin epidemic.

Listen to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays noon to 2pm on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

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Ethan Explains Trump Birtherism

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Ethan Explains Trump Birtherism

Birtherism is back in the news. Yesterday the Trump campaign stated that Donald Trump accepts that President Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen, born in Hawaii. And today we learn from The Washington Post that Trump himself denies that.

Here is the key part:

Trump refused to say whether he believes Obama was born in Hawaii. “I’ll answer that question at the right time,” Trump said. “I just don’t want to answer it yet.” When asked whether his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was accurate when she said recently that he now believes Obama was born in this country, Trump responded: “It’s okay. She’s allowed to speak what she thinks. I want to focus on jobs. I want to focus on other things.”

Ugh.

The birthplace of a presidential candidate is a valid question. Because the qualifications for President are in The Constitution. Specifically U.S. Const. art. II, § 1, cl. 5.

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

We have the birth certificate, move on, acknowledge it, but instead Mr. Trump is feeding the bottom-feeders. This is a non-issue, even if Trump believes it, give it up.

Listen to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays from noon to 2pm Pacific time on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

EDIT: About two hours after I recorded the video, Mr. Trump gave a speech and announced, “President Barack Obama was born in the United States.”

Ethan Explains Tangled Trump

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Ethan Explains Tangled Trump

The polls show a dead heat between Sec. Hillary Clinton and businessman Donald J. Trump, and I’ve spent plenty of time picking apart Clinton. Now we find out that the Trump Foundation, while not ethically challenged regarding our government, is deeply problematic.

The Washington Post editorial board goes as far as calling Trump a “scam artist” because of the problems with the Trump Foundation. From the article:

Mr. Trump does not appear to have given his own money to the Trump Foundation since 2008, and by then Trump funds had become a tiny slice of the organization’s revenue. Since then, the available records suggest, a charitable group that bears the billionaire’s name has been funded by others. That has not stopped Mr. Trump from claiming credit for doling out other people’s cash. He happily accepted an award from the Palm Beach Police Foundation in 2010 — then he cut the group off once the real source of the money, a New Jersey charity, stopped contributing to the Trump Foundation. Donations he promised on “The Celebrity Apprentice” would come out of his “own wallet” instead came from his foundation or a television production company. The story is the same with a 2009 TV contest called “Trump pays your bills!”, in which the Trump Foundation, not Mr. Trump, paid the winner’s bills.

Further, Newsweek‘s Kurt Eichenwald wrote a well researched piece documenting all of the conflicts of interest a President Trump will have due to his international business dealings. From his piece:

A close examination by Newsweek of the Trump Organization, including confidential interviews with business executives and some of its international partners, reveals an enterprise with deep ties to global financiers, foreign politicians and even criminals, although there is no evidence the Trump Organization has engaged in any illegal activities. It also reveals a web of contractual entanglements that could not be just canceled. If Trump moves into the White House and his family continues to receive any benefit from the company, during or even after his presidency, almost every foreign policy decision he makes will raise serious conflicts of interest and ethical quagmires.

Done with the broken duopoly yet? I suggest we need Governor Gary Johnson on the presidential debate stage to provide a third approach to running the United States of America.

You’ll want to listen to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays noon to 2pm on KGO 810 and grab the podcasts at www.kgoradio.com

Ethan Explains Bayer Buys Monsanto

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Ethan Explains Bayer Buys Monsanto

Who owns your food? Well, with Bayer AG buying Monsanto for $66 billion, one giant company is about to own nearly every aspect of the food chain.

Yes, that’s right, they’ll own it. Because Monsanto produces Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) seed and Bayer makes the farm chemicals, they will own it. They own it because each of those components the farmer relies on is patented. They’re able to patent that seed because they’ve modified it through genetic engineering. Then they own what you eat and have the financial clout to “own” members of Congress and the Senate in those farm states.

The agricultural policy of the United States is skewed in favor of these big companies because of their financial clout. It is not in favor of the farmers or the consumer (you and me,)  I had a Midwestern farmer/rancher friend explain to me how the giant ag companies pay for crops right below the subsidized price so the farmer makes little and the agri-giant makes money from the federal subsidies and own the supply chain marking up the food to the food manufacturing companies. Our tax dollars make Monsanto and Bayer AG their profits.

Do you think a giant, German based, multi-national, mega-corporation should own a huge chunk of the food supply?

Listen to The Ethan Bearman Show weekdays from 12-2pm Pacific Time on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com

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Ethan Explains Sugar Lies

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Ethan Explains Sugar Lies

We do love our sugar. It’s in everything on the grocery store shelf now. Time to dial that back!

Now we find out that the sugar industry paid two Harvard researchers back in the 1960s. These payments caused them to change their findings from sugar causes cardiovascular disease to fat causes cardiovascular disease.

That’s right! Researchers at the UCSF School of Medicine published their findings yesterday in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). We’ve been lied to for decades harming our health and likely killing many Americans.

It’s time to cut way back on your sugar consumption. Follow some of my recipes for a healthy way to make delicious sweets and start reading labels looking out for sugar, corn sugar, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup. There is no need to completely eliminate sugar, but there is a definite need to cut way back. Now.

Tune in to The Ethan Bearman Show Monday through Friday from noon to 2pm Pacific time on KGO 810 – www.kgoradio.com