So I was walking up to my office entrance this morning at the street level and was delighted to see a cleaner taking care of the welcome mat by doing some sweeping. She was sweeping the top of the mat while also ensuring to sweep up underneath and other debris surrounding. I kept my distance deliberately because I didn’t want to disturb her given the brevity of such a short task. However; the next person on her cell phone wasn’t quite so aware. She walked right up to the individual expecting to be granted immediate access to the door. The cleaner naturally accommodated and given the interruption I followed along. Inside the door was another woman peering through the glass quite intrigued. We exchanged glances as if in agreement of how the encounter should have unfolded.
Thursday Morning Trump In Trouble
So…..a couple of more Republicans have figured out that the “Big Beautiful Bill” isn’t so beautiful. In the back of my mind upon learning that that Senate needed amendments in order to pass it, I pontificated that this could be just the opportunity for particular conscience driven House members to step up. The one name being floated as a flipper is Thomas Massie from Kentucky. The Republican hold outs stand at five into the very early hours of Thurs July 3rd. The interesting context is the timing in which Elon Musk has made a dramatic post indicating the establishment of a new party if this thing passes. Moreover, if these Republicans stand their ground in principle on subsequent legislative efforts, there would be a substantive mark finally driven on the idiot’s grip on power. Some fluttering from nightmare’s REM state tonight. Massie has an interesting background and doesn’t appear to be the quivering sort. A quote of from him tonight “There’s no reason to bankrupt the country because you want to go shoot off some fireworks.” An amusing adjunct…..I guess during the Senate’s negotiated amendments, a provision was included to restrict poker player losses at 90 per cent and ironically the World Series of Poker’s “Main Event” just got underway.
The Pathetic Sadness Of Fraud – Magliocca Story
You have to dig real deep to find the root of why someone would attempt to defraud his neighbour (fellow city tax payers) of five grand by padding expense reports for reimbursement. This is the Joe Magliocca story – a municipal councillor in Calgary. He was convicted today.
As a tax accountant, it’s very rare that I encounter any individual who proactively engages in deceit in order to gain an advantage via the tax system. Whenever in doubt, folks will present a transaction in order to determine its treatment. Whenever I witness something questionable, in the vast majority of the time it has to do with an individual’s inattentiveness or carelessness. Some folks do not exhibit the requisite patience to record keep meticulous and accountants / bookkeepers become adept at sensing these personalities. If you are one of these personalities who believe that your time is too valuable to spend with the minutiae particular to your own personal finance and decide to delegate the tasks then ensure to deploy a control mechanism in order to ensure a quality output. Examples of such controls would be spot check and reports.
It’s hard to conceive what a person would be thinking when purposefully conducting an act of fraud. Any perceived benefit far outweighs the penalties and loss of reputation. Here is one hard reality that every taxpayer should come to learn. If you habitually file late or if you draw money from a corporation and fail to file or if you represent a claim in which you are not eligible….you may be perceived no differently than Mr. Magliocca in the eyes of the law. Income tax regulations deal with terms such as tax avoidance and tax evasion and penalties are applied in accordance with how you appear absent of a judge or jury.
Convictions failed to surface during the “Panama Papers” investigation but these off shore corporate directors likely have much deeper pockets for paying lawyers than you. I know of one class action tax case still unresolved some fifteen plus years on whereby you would have thought that a Statue of Limitations would apply.
Mr. Joe Magliocca looks to appeal his conviction.
Never be anyone who wrongly accuses, gaslights someone in despair, purposely or accidentally commits a fraud. However; do hold people to account and look to build trusted warm relationships because we all need more of those.
Missteps At Retailer Target
The business model is fairly simple. Buy in bulk, leverage up with volume, and provide pricing at a discount to the market. When Target came to Canada, I was aghast at what they were asking of me at the checkout. They wanted more than what I was willing to provide for the transaction and I suspect I wasn’t the only one. I believe this one and only service related policy was central to the public backlash of Target here in Canada thereby prompting discomfort between consumers and management. The Americans seemed to have thought they could assume things of Canadians for which American discount shoppers were more easily complicit.
More recently, we see that there has been perception growing that Target through its silence may have changed course in regard to it policy around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Sales are off and the stock is down some thirty plus percent since the start of 2025. Certainly, there are other attributions causing the price to fall but I’m reminded tonight that you cannot treat people poorly and expect their loyalty. Big box shoppers will be particularly acute to any change in DEI policy whether perceived or otherwise.
After my Target shopping experience in years back, I was little surprised that the company determined that they were mistaken in their quest to expand north. Indifferent management deaf to the culture of the customer will lose. This year, shareholders of Target unbeknownst to the inner dynamics of their company’s corporate culture have taken losses and have every good reason to be asking tough questions.
Uncivil Civil Society Canada Vs U.S.A.
In Canada, we do not execute people. It’s a barbaric act in contradiction to the essence of our human soul. We protect our citizens from such heinous individuals and we pay a price in treasure to ensure no future acts by such perpetrators unfold. This system of protection absent of execution not only protects our person physically but also our collective consciousness as a civil being of higher order.
Canada is not perfect. Aberrant beings arise and are not always managed in ways to perfectly protect from their deeds. There are occasions where offenders repeat when they should never have been given an opportunity. Work needs to be done during stages of growth and development. We need to not turn away but to engage when witnessing conduct unbecoming of healthy contributing citizens. Teachers need empowerment. Households require two parent families. Social service agencies require funding and programming. Citizens should be incentivized to help given that there has been failure and indifference.
Turning a blind eye to deviance is indifferent and akin to sanctioning the “firing squad”. If we want to make better citizens and prevent heinous crime and murder, we must fixate on the earliest signs of distress expressed by a young person and show them love and belongingness and paths forward for fulfilling lives. A society needs a mechanism for this in a digital world absent of from emotional connectedness.
On April 11th, 2025 the State of South Carolina put to death a man named Mikal Mahdi by firing squad. Global News has reported the execution as botched despite what was estimated to be the method with the least probability of producing a problem with protocol. Witnesses watched a man with a bag over his head scream out, flex his arms and gasp intensely for 80 seconds before expiring limp. A legal system had determined his fate 19 years prior yet had kept him waiting in a jail cell whereby he apparently without rehabilitative resources had attempted yet another murder but this time of a penitentiary employee. The legal system sought clemency up until the last remaining minutes (not hours) of gunfire.
Was Mikal Mahdi possessed with the devil from birth or was there a cause and effect element to an erratic childhood, a family afflicted with alcoholism, a depressive disorder, and a self-esteem problem which had been identified but not necessarily addressed? His father had struggled with work so Mikal was sent to live with his Aunt at one point. While incarcerated he had spent 75 days in solitary confinement from the ages 14 to 17 and another 8 months of solitary confinement at the age of 21.
The death of Mikal Mahdi was the fifth execution by firing squad in the United States since 1976. On January 25, 1996 Billie Bailey died of hanging sanctioned by the State of Delaware. Gas chambers, electrocution, lethal injection, and nitrogen hypoxia remain as alternatives for States still implementing this form of “justice”. Although not referenced as a feature whereby Canadian society distinguishes itself from the U.S. during the tumultuous first 100 days of the Trump Presidency, this one goes without saying.