-
Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Apr 15, 2015
April 15, 2015
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
Sucking Up:
NJ GOP Gov. CHRIS CHRISTIE --still contemplating a White House run-- touched the "third rail" of politics yesterday, proposing a cut in Social Security retirement benefits for the wealthy. In an appearance in New Hampshire, he proposed Social Security "means-testing" that would reduce the size of benefits for people earning more than $80-thousand dollars annually and phase them out entirely for those earning $200-thousand dollars or more.
Defending his idea, he said, "Do we really believe that the wealthiest Americans need to take from younger, hard working Americans to receive what, for most of them, is a modest monthly Social Security check?" (Pacelli)Tax day 2015 freebies:
That's right --free food for you on tax day! These are only available April 15, and there are some odd strings attached in some cases...
--Beef O' Brady's: get 15% off your entire bill.
--Boston Market: BOGO --buy one, get one free; two meals for the price of one.
--California Tortilla is handing out free chips and queso or salsa to anyone who makes a purchase and says the secret password: "Taxes Shmaxes" when you check out.
--Great American Cookies: one free sugar cookie per customer in stores, no purchase necessary.
--Hard Rock Cafe: sing live with the Hard Rock band to earn a free meal.
--IHOP: Get a short stack of pancakes on April 15th at participating IHOP locations for just $1.
--McDonald's: buy one Big Mac or Quarter Pounder, get another for a penny. Participating McDonalds locations only.
--Schlotzsky's: one free small original sandwich per customer with the purchase of a 32-ounce drink and a bag of chips.
--Sonic: half-price cheeseburgers all day.
--Sonny's BBQ: The restaurant's IRS --Irresistible Ribs Special-- rib dinners for half price. (usually $12.50).Coupon crap (In case you're posting on your website):
--Bonefish Grill: $10 off your purchase
https://www.bonefishgrill.com/specials/10-off-spring-gift
--Burger King: BOGO (buy one, get one free) on Whoppers through April 19.
http://www.retailmenot.com/view/bk.com
--Olive Garden: $6 off a dinner for two
http://www.olivegarden.com/coupons/coupon-personalization/dinner-for-two-for-less
--Outback Steakhouse: Celebrate the end of taxes with a steak dinner, and usethis coupon to get 15 percent off at checkout through May 3.
http://www.couponsherpa.com/printable-coupons/coupon/4099299/Some Tax Day Trivia:
--Of the roughly 133 million individual tax returns being filed this year, only about half were filed before April 1st; the rest of us got busy after that. And some 35 million returns get done on the weekend before deadline, so you weren't alone this past weekend.
--Common mistakes: not signing the return (that's the biggest), bad math (that's the second biggest), forgetting to include a check (if you owe money), and including enough postage. Last thing you want is to get your forms back with insufficient postage, and then get penalized for filing late.
--If you owe, don't make your check out to the initials "IRS." That's because if the check falls into the wrong hands, they can change the "IRS" to "MRS" followed by someone's name. Instead you should write out the entire three words "Internal Revenue Service." Or blood-sucking weasels.Today's police blotter:
Police in Fairbanks, Alaska were able to link a man to several break-ins, thanks to his shoes.
The owner of a building where multiple burglaries occurred handed security video over to police. Between the video and footprints left at the scene, cops determined the suspect had been wearing Crocs plastic shoes. Police were interviewing potential suspects when they spotted 22-year-old ROLAND HUNTINGTON GRACE's choice of footwear: Crocs. On top of that, the shoes ended up matching the tread marks found at the crime scene. Grace is charged with burglary, theft, and criminal mischief.
Editor's note: He's also charged with making terrible footwear choices. (Still)Air Rage:
TSA agents in Denver were changing readings on their screening machine so one of the agents could pat down the genitals of male passengers that he found attractive. According to authorities, a male TSA agent would alert the one behind the machine to change the reading to "female" when it was a male. The machine would read an anomaly in the genital area and therefore the other TSA agent has to search the male passenger there.
The TSA allegedly learned of this in November from one of the other employees but did nothing for three months. (Myers) -
-