The Netherlands is set to implement a 36% tax on realized and unrealized capital gains, effective January 1, 2028. This change targets liquid assets like stocks and crypto, while real estate and start-ups are excluded. They will get killed upon sale. Investors should prepare for new cash-flow requirements and stricter reporting standards driven by the […] The post Dutch Left-Wing Government Will Tax Unrealized Gains 36% appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

San Francisco residents are suing the city over a Reparations Fund established solely for black residents, two months after the fund’s initial creation sparked controversy. One plaintiff, Richie Greenberg, said the fund is “dividing the city rather than trying to unite.” “What we really need is to be focusing on how to uplift everybody rather than focusing on one group giving everything to that one group,” Greenberg told Fox News Digital. The original bill, signed right before Christmas, established a dedicated reparations fund, creating a legal framework to address what the city deems to be historical systemic harms against its black community, The Daily Wire previously reported. It included a proposal that could eventually grant eligible residents lump-sum payments of $5 million. “San Francisco is engaged in a sordid and unconstitutional enterprise — it is administering funding and wielding public authority to distribute government benefits explicitly based on race and ancestry,” the lawsuit says. The plaintiffs argue San Francisco is violating the Constitution by distributing money on the basis of race, through the city’s Human Rights Commission. “By directing an agency funded almost entirely by taxpayer dollars to administer funding solely dedicated to implement race-exclusive benefits, the City is using public money, public employees, and public authority to carry out an unconstitutional racial spoils system that allocates benefits and opportunities based on race and ancestry,” the lawsuit says. The Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER) is one of the plaintiffs in the case. Greenberg and fellow plaintiff Arthur Ritchie are members of CFER. In 2023, CFER sued San Francisco over allegedly racially discriminatory guaranteed income programs, The Daily Wire previously reported. Additional benefits for eligible black residents include debt forgiveness for a variety of loans, exemption of property taxes, and priority status for employment opportunities, according to the lawsuit. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in December that the plan would not require taxpayer dollars, instead setting up a “structure” for future city or private funding. The city’s $1 billion budget deficit prevents immediate funding, but the plan signals a shift in city policy. “We need to stop this because it is a tremendous, tremendous amount of funding that would, eventually, basically kill the city,” Greenberg said. “It would destroy the city of San Francisco, and it would set up an unworkable situation of who within the city gets preference as opposed to everyone else that would not.”

'Republicans should stop using him'

A spray-on powder that instantly seals life-threatening wounds could save thousands of lives, say scientists. The new substance can help prevent excessive bleeding which is the leading cause of death due to injuries in war, according to a study. The fast-acting powder that stops bleeding in just one second was developed by South Korean scientists […] The post New Spray-on Powder Instantly Seals Life-Threatening Wounds in Battle or During Disasters appeared first on Good News Network.

Ro Khanna Faceplants Again

You may remember that one day prior to the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, the city's Mayor Jacob Frey was on CNN's OutFront with Erin Burnett accusing ICE of being racist and "sowing chaos" on the streets of his city, with no push-back. Thursday night, CNN hosted Frey on The Source with Kaitlan Collins, and he was allowed to go off unchecked once again. Collins began the sit-down by asking Frey about the announcement that Operation Metro Surge will be ending in Minnesota, and the Mayor responded in part, by trashing ICE. "This has been an operation that has been devastating, even catastrophic, to families, to our immigrant community, to small and local businesses throughout our city." Of course Collins failed to mention what ICE has accomplished in Minnesota, with the arrests of more than 4,000 illegal immigrants, including murderers and rapists. Every illegal immigrant is celebrated as a "neighbor," as "family," as part of "our community." None of them should ever be deported. That's the message, both obvious and subliminal.  She even referenced one of his more disgraceful moments, where Frey commanded ICE to "get the F*** out of Minneapolis." It was "famous," Collins said. "I mean, you famously told ICE to get the 'F' out of your city." She also expressed her admiration for the protesters standing in the cold: "And they were protesting, I mean, in subzero temperatures, some days."  So it should come as no surprise that Collins did not follow-up with even one question challenging any of Frey's claims during the entire interview. FREY: ..What I think everybody found so exceedingly objectionable is both the scope of what we saw in 3,000 to 4,000 ICE agents and Border Patrol, versus 600 police officers, and also the conduct that we were seeing on our streets, which was these roving gangs of agents, picking Somali people and Latino people off the street, not based, not on the basis of them having been a criminal, but on the basis of the way that they looked. That's not okay in Minneapolis. That is not okay in any city in America. Collins then played a clip of Tom Homan, addressing what had been accomplished. HOMAN: There were some issues here and we addressed those issues. But I'm not going to sit here and say anybody did anything wrong and that they were unprofessional. I'm going to say, there's some issues here. We fixed those issues. We've had great success with this operation, and we're leaving Minnesota safer. The idea that Minnesota might be safer is banished from the mind. Time for the big fat softball. COLLINS: When you hear that, and you think about Renee Good and Alex Pretti, I mean, do you view that as issues? FREY: Issues would be certainly the understatement of the century. These are people that should be alive today. Alex and Renee were standing up for their neighbors. They were practicing First Amendment, and Second Amendment, and 10th Amendment, and probably Fourth Amendment... Bottom line is constitutionally-protected activity was taking place...These were not domestic terrorists. These were part of our Minneapolis collective family. These were neighbors. They were family members. We loved them, and they deserved better. Of course neither the Mayor nor Collins mentioned that days before his shooting, Pretti had spit on and damaged an ICE vehicle, in a confrontation with agents. More from Frey. FREY: ..It was this practice of hunting down people that had done nothing wrong. It was the detention of United States citizens. It was the dragging of a pregnant woman through the street. It was having these massive and traumatic impacts on children...  Of course Collins failed to mention DHS's claim that the "dragged"  woman had tried to damage a squad car and attempts to arrest her were abandoned after protesters throw ice and rocks at agents. Collins then brought up Governor Walz's demand for federal compensation for "what they broke" in Minnesota, again, tossing that softball. COLLINS: ..He said, You don't get to break things and then just leave without doing something about it. Do you agree with that, that there should be federal compensation? FREY: I do.    Shocking! Now if Collins had confronted Frey with some of the inflammatory things that both he and the Governor have said that many believe had fueled the chaos, that would have been shocking in the true sense of the word. A horrible interview.

If you’re of a certain age, you probably remember Captain and Tennille — a married duo with a ridiculously catchy hit that topped the charts and won a Grammy. "Love Will Keep Us Together" made forever feel effortless. For the younger crowd, click the link for a glimpse of how music used to sound — and how optimism used to look.They don’t make songs like that anymore.There is a forever love — and it really does hold us together. And it’s summed up in three simple words.And as it turns out, they don’t make love like that either. Love didn’t actually keep Captain and Tennille together. They divorced in 2014 after almost four decades, reminding us that the world’s idea of lasting love is fragile, conditional, and almost always temporary.So ... happy Valentine’s?Well, scripture offers something entirely different. There is a forever love — and it really does hold us together. And it’s summed up in three simple words:Love one another.That’s it. It sounds easy. But it isn’t — because we are saints who still sin. And when we turn inward, even subtly, we fail to love one another the way Christ commands. So let’s unpack what He actually meant.Love your neighbor vs. love one anotherSo how does “love one another” differ from “love your neighbor”?We tend to think of a neighbor as someone who lives nearby. But Jesus was asked that exact question and answered it with the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). From His explanation, we learn that a neighbor is anyone in need who crosses our path. Loving our neighbor, then, is about how we treat those who are not yet part of God’s family.But “one another” means something more specific.Throughout the New Testament, “one another” almost always refers to fellow believers — our brothers and sisters in Christ. Practically speaking, one another is your church family. Which is one of many reasons you need a church family.What 'love one another' actually looks likeThe New Testament gives us roughly 50 instructions for how we are to treat one another — commands that spell out what love looks like in real life. Someone helpfully compiled them all in one place, and it’s worth reading through carefully.Not surprisingly, the most frequently repeated command in that list is this one: love one another.And when we wonder how to do that — especially when some people are genuinely hard to love — the answer is found in the rest of the list. Things like:Serve one anotherForgive one anotherEncourage one anotherPray for one anotherThese aren’t abstract ideals. They’re concrete actions. And as we prayerfully consider them, the Holy Spirit may well bring specific people to mind.Or consider this, from Romans 12:“Let love be without hypocrisy — by abhorring what is evil, clinging to what is good, being devoted to one another in brotherly love, giving preference to one another in honor ... contributing to the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality” (Romans 12:9-13).That’s a lot of practical instruction packed into a few verses. And hospitality, in particular, is an area where most of us fall woefully short.This kind of love doesn’t stay theoretical. It shows up in schedules, homes, meals, and patience.Why Jesus called this command 'new'In John 13:34, Jesus says something that can sound puzzling at first:“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.”After all, the people of the Old Testament had always been called to love. The Law itself was built on loving God and loving others. So what was different?“... even as I have loved you.”That’s the new part.Jesus didn’t just tell the disciples what to do — He showed them how to do it. For three years, He walked with them, served them, corrected them, bore with them, and loved them patiently.And then — immediately after washing their feet, including Judas’ — He issued this new command, on the eve of His betrayal and death.Love like I do.The cost — and the witnessThis is a staggering standard. And we can only love this way to the extent that we understand how deeply we ourselves are loved.When we daily enter His presence, absorb His Word, and receive His love, something changes. Only then are we able to love one another in a way that looks unmistakably different to the world.Which is exactly the point.“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).Before the world sees our love for our neighbors, it must see our love for one another.The hard realityLet’s be honest: Some believers are hard to love. Annoying. Irritating. The kind of people you quietly hope won’t sit next to you.And sometimes, we are those people.None of us are easy to love all the time. So we depend on the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit that makes us both more loving and more lovable. As Hannah Williamson has observed, the exercise of working out how to love one another is a “gritty training ground for loving the wider world.”In other words, loving one another helps train us to love our neighbors. But first — the lost must witness our love for one another.So in obedience to our Lord, let’s draw closer to Him so we can fulfill this beautiful task He’s given us — to love one another better.A love that will, in fact, keep us all together.Saint Valentine would be proud.