• CALIFORNIA THANKSGIVING COVID RESTRICTIONS –The ‘rules’ announced by Governor Newnut: “(1) All gatherings limited to three households, including hosts & guests, outdoors, lasting two hours or less; (2) Attendees may go inside to use restrooms, as long as they’re frequently sanitized; (3) Face coverings required, but may be remove briefly to eat or drink, as long as 6 feet away from everyone outside their household, and back on as soon as done with the activity; (4) Singing, chanting, shouting, physical exertion, or playing wind instruments are strongly discouraged; (5) Other musicians are allowed but must be from one of the three households…. One of the dumbest, most anti-science responses in the nation… Never about science, it’s about politics and control.”
  • 64% OF COLLEGE KIDS THINK “RIOTING AND LOOTING IS OK,” they responded to a national survey involving Yale University. “They answered a loaded ‘due to systemic racism…’ question, but most college students are constantly bombarded with leftist messaging, truly believe that our political discourse is a question of good vs. evil, and are led to believe that rioting & looting are akin to a victimless crime because (as they’ve been told) insurance will cover damages and big corporations can just absorb the cost anyway… They’re also suffering from pure ignorance due to inexperience – very few ever having built a business or had to sustain one. Moreover, they don’t know when they’re being served a heaping load of B.S., lied to by the media, professors and/or adults they trust… These kids are not evil, just ignorant.” [RED STATE 10/20/20]
  • MOST RANSOMWARE ATTACKS – WHICH LOCKOUT USERS FROM THEIR COMPUTERS until ransom is paid – target small businesses, but hospitals, government agencies and industrial conglomerates have also been hit with multi-million dollar “Ransomware remains a profitable & desirable monetization model for cybercriminals.  Little information is available on how many private companies fall victim and choose to pay because there are no regulatory obligations to report incidents, but indirect evidence is that payoffs are common (in amounts varying between hundreds and millions of dollars per victim)… and insurers often advise to pay because it’s less expensive than rebuilding all systems and recovery from backups, which includes costs associated with prolonged operational downtime.” This month however the U.S. Treasury issued an Advisory, “warning victims, insurers and incident response providers that payments to ‘sanctioned entities (e.g. Iranian, North Korean, Russian organizations) are illegal and subject to civil liability – even if the victim did not know or have reason to know it was engaging with a person prohibited under sanction laws & regulations.”   [CSO – 10/22/20]
  • ‘PATENT TROLLS’ ACQUIRE AND AGGREGATE PATENTS for the sole purpose of asserting and filing later litigation. One company has filed over 130 ‘infringement’ lawsuits in a two-year period, many against Apple for usurping earlier technology. “Because of a Supreme Court ruling, small companies rarely get infringing products off the market since big companies (like Apple & Google) routinely infringe, knowing the worst that’s likely to happen is having to pay damages” many many years later – standard operating policy known as ‘Efficient Infringement.’ [BLOOMBERG – 10/26/20]
  • IRS has announced 2021 ESTATE & GIFT TAX EXCLUSIONS: Basic estate exemption = $11,700,000 per person; Gift tax exclusion remains at $15,000 per gift. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provides application until 2026, and then reversion to $5 million (increased for inflation), unless modified by congress & President after the election.
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

      “Do you remember before the internet that the cause of collective ignorance was the lack of access to information?  Well, it wasn’t that.”

       Los Angeles came in second in Orkin Pest Controls annual naming of the ‘most rat-infested city in America.’ Winner for the 6th consecutive year was Chicago and New York came in third.