You Got Me With That Uppercut! That Was Good, Man!

getty dot com and feel free anytime. All sorts of people with different theories and or psychoanalyses of Trump and Is saying that Ukraine started the war and Zelensky couldn't could have ended it, and he's a dictator and unpopular and the rest of it. If you think of it from the goal of stopping the war, does it really matter how he gets to the goal. He'll play the villain or pithesides against against each other, whatever it takes to get the win. The rest is just noise. He

reigns in chaos during the pot and unexpected ways. It forces everyone out of their comfort zone, breaks down paralysis. That's you know, that's a pretty good thought or two from Ron. Thanks Ron, uh Paolo, Oh, whoops, it's a different topic. This is Steve from Washington State. I fear you've both forgotten the number one maximum concerning Trump. Take him seriously, not literally. I believe Trump is appalled at

the human carnage you see. Zelenski is having to leverage or utility in the upcoming negotiation with Putin being dismissive of a Zelenski is useful in persuading Putin to come to the table. It's not personal, it's business. Okay, that could be. Please tell me this is seven dimensional chess, writes Christine. Been listening daily for twenty five years. Thank you, Christine. You must be a patient woman. I'm highly alarmed by Trump's foreign policy right now. It really appears to be

pro Putin, anti Europe. He seems to have an unnatural admiration for Putin some strange way.

Thirty two and thirty three, Ukraine was not digging Stalin's brutal totalitarian leadership of the Soviet Union, and the good people in Ukraine were demanding reform and bristling under Stalin. Stalin responded by starving at least three point.

disorienting week in an international diplomacy mentions the situation. Trump is absolutely right in wanting to end the bloodshed in Ukraine. The suffering has been appalling in the stalemate, brutal, But in the furious mix of wild opinions this week from the White House down, there are at least ten truths that every American voter must hang on to and Trump's

rush down the bloodshed. These are also the truths against which any deal will be judged and which will define him when the history books are written.

launched a war in the dnbas in eastern Ukraine. That doesn't include the other wars he started, like against the tiny nation of Georgia in two thousand and eight. Trump is absolutely right that the war never had to start. Murray writes, I believe it is true that it wouldn't have started if he had been in the Oval office. I would agree, But it was Putin, not Zelenski, who

started the war. You know, I would add on if there were there some missteps or could NATO have handled this, that or the other better through the years, Yes, but that doesn't justify a full scale invasion of Ukraine. And there's just absolutely no question that truth number two is true. Russia is fighting for conquest. The Russian Federation invaded Ukraine in twenty twenty two. Whatever you think of the country or it's leader, Ukraine is an internationally recognized sovereign nation.

Putin invaded in the hopes of devouring the country wholesale. By contrast, Ukraine has absolutely no territorial ambitions in Russia. And remember the brutality of Russia's actions. Among the multitude of depravities and war crimes committed by Putin's army has been the abduction of some twenty thousand Ukrainian children. Who wants to live in a world where the strong can simply devour the weak and kidnap little children by the thousands, Why hasn't the US put their release at the top

of the list of negotiating demands. Truth number three, Ukraine is fighting for its independence. Most Ukrainians do not want to be part of Russia. They do not want to be gardened from Moscow. The vast majority want to live in an independent, sovereign country in control of its own future. Truth number four, Ukrainians are not Russians. Ukrainians and Russians are not one people, a single whole. As Putin wrote

in a twenty twenty one essay. He is also simply lying in his assertion that modern Ukra is entirely the product of the Soviet era. Ukrainians and Russians are two separate ethnic groups. They speak different languages and have distinct histories. Truth number five. Putin is a dictator. He has ruled Russia with an iron KGB fist since coming to power in nineteen ninety nine. He has ruthlessly quashed independent media, ended free in fair elections, crushed civil society, and killed

his political opponents. And not just inside Russia but around the world. People who live inside Russia and express any opposition of the war are imprisoned. Truth number six Zelensky is not a dictator, a political outsider. Zelensky won the twenty nineteen presidential election, which was relatively free and fair. As I've said many times, the transition from Soviet republic to Western style democracy is a bumpy one. In every single case, it's unavoidable. It takes a while to root

out the Soviet style garbage and corruption. Anyway, Douglas Murray, the Great Douglas Murray rites. He has a fifty seven percent approval rating, not the four percent Trump claim. Unlike in Russia, Ukraine has vibrant, independent media. Mostly there are some flaws there, but it is wartime too anyway. Despite claims to the contrary by Internet swamp creatures and Russian bots, many Ukrainians freely criticize the government's conduct of the war

in spite of the imperfections of Ukrainian media. This is me talking about Douglas Murray. Yeah, you're absolutely allowed to criticize the conduct of the war. You get put in jail in Russia for doing the same thing. When Britain was fighting for its survival against the Nazis in the forties, it too did not hold elections. The Russian ambassador to the UK spent yesterday crowing that he's not sure Zelenski

would be reelected if there are elections today. But we all know one thing for sure, whether or not Zelensky would be re elected in Ukraine. Putin will always be re elected in Russia because his elections are conjobs. Pageant shows Putin has not won a free and fair election in his life because he doesn't hold them. Or we'll squeeze in one more here and then finish up on the other side of the break truth Number seven, Russia

is not a friend of the US. It is a hostile, nuclear armed state that resents American power in the world that the US has built. It has ever closer relations with China, Iran, and North Korea. In fact, all of its main friends are countries that are the biggest foes of America. Now, you could argue that if we altered our policy toward the war or toward Moscow, we might pull them back somehow or to some extent from their friendship with the access of a holes. It's a thought

worth exploring. But for now, there's just no question Russia is not our friend or anything close to it.

I'm strong and getting on demand. Right now, though, we're working our way through the list of ten truths from Douglas Murray's excellent column about the situation in Ukraine, and he gives Trump credit for wanting to end the conflict, which has been so horrifically bloody and is stalemated right now, but is highly troubled by some of the untruths that have been uttered by Trump and others, because going forward, even if some of the wild rhetoric were to lead

somehow toward quote unquote solution, it's dangerous to run around internalizing false pretenses, if you know what I mean, Because the world's going to keep spinning and the challenges will continue in that part of the world, guaranteed, and you really ought to know what's what anyway. So truth number eight from Murray, Ukraine is a friend of the US. Ukraine wants to be part of the American led order.

Its people in government are deeply pro American. Since the start of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian men and women I have seen fighting at the front lines are fighting the Russian military to protect their loved ones in their country. They also do it in the knowledge that if they fail, other countries will be next. Truth number nine, Putin cannot be trusted. This isn't just a statement of fact, it is also something that eighty one percent of American voters

agree on. Keep that in mind next time you know, Russian bots and Internet trolls on the Internet. Trolls on the Internet. Great sentence, Joe, convince you that, well, lots of people think Putin is really a good guy.

and hadn't yet. Just this week he carried out a massive Missilan drone strike against multiple energy facilities in Ukraine. It is almost as though Putin's word doesn't count for very much and he doesn't care if you know it. That's true truth number ten American to Ukraine. American aid to Ukraine, I should say, is not being wasted. No one would argue that Ukraine is a country without corruption, but that does not mean its people and sovereignty should

not be protected. We should also remember which country in this war is truly corrupt. Russia is one vast kleptocratic state led by Putin In, a small cartel of oligarchs who have made themselves among the richest people on earth, all while keeping most of the Russian population in a state of poverty that would not be believed by most of us in the West. Putting us this is me now, putting aside that humiliating video Tucker Carlson made the lovely grocery stores in Moscow.

been spent in America. It's money that has benefited American workers and facilities.

tragic tale is, well, said Douglas Murray. Next, as I said, we're going to talk about taxes, tax tips, waste, save you money, ways to reduce your headaches and stress with our longtime friend Stephen Moskowitz, among other things, also a very funny hockey story. After the big tournament wrapped up, stay with us Armstrong and Getty. Let's talk taxes, enough

global conflict something we can all use. A conversation with longtime friend of the Armstrong and Getty show, Stephen Moskowitz, who has advised us on tax Stuff Forever, founder and tax attorney for Moskowitz l LP.

the money the stranger gives you is tax free. How would you like that?

explain that separately, but the bottom line is supposed. For example, he said, okay, I'm going to rent my place out for one thousand dollars a day, and now everything is so many people like renting a home instead of a hotel. So the bottom line is you go ahead, and let's assume that you rented your house four one thousand dollars a day, so it's fourteen thousand dollars. You go off to Hawaii, you spend ten thousand on your trip. That fourteen grand that you got is tax free. It doesn't

even go on your tax return. It's excluded from income. That's just an example of one of the many, many, many hidden gems in our tax law. And glad people say, well, why should there be such things because our legislators and their infinite wisdom thinks this is good for the economy or the business, or there's some special interest that pushed them. But the bottom line is this law is for everybody. All the laws are for everybody. We're all equal under the law. And the bottom line is you just have

to know where these gems are hidden. Because there's two reasons for the tax code wants to get money from us. But the other one if you give us all kinds of incentives like this, mister Will, what a deal, I mean, think about it. You're off on vacation anyway. The Airbnb's is so popular and you get fourteen days tax free. So you can see why I get so excited over these things.

it's exempt from lawsuits, so take a level. But I hate to mention his name. Suppose you take a look at OJ Simpson who had a multimillion dollar judgment against him for many, many years, and he never lost a penny off his pension. So that's good when you're in business, so you don't have to worries to take it away from you. And most tax planning you have to write to check by December thirty first twenty four to deduct

it in twenty four. But with most of the pensions, not all of them, but most of them, you have up to the time of filing your returns, including extension, which in English means depending on your business entity, you could have as late as October fifteenth, twenty five to set up the plan, fund it and still deduct it from the previous year. Twenty four and that there's all

kinds of things in here. So for example, if you're in a pension, there's no okay, everybody knows about four one ks and Irish and all that, but there's all kinds of additional plans. Is what I call the fancy plans, which you can put in much much more money, and they're based on your age, your earnings. There's an actuarial evaluation ticket. But people can put away a tremendous way more than this. But when we talk about putting things away,

everybody should have a pension plan. Everybody should put that away.

Only those ages you have a super catchup plan this beginning this year. In twenty twenty five, you put it even more. The bottom line is there's so much here, And then what about taking money out of plans? He said, well, okay, you know I need the money, but I don't want to get hit with that penalty. There's all kinds of exceptions to that. If you're a victim of domestic abuse, you can take money out without the penalties. If you need it for emergency purposes, you can take it out

without penalties. If you take it out because of federally declared disasters, think about O the wildfires in California, let's mention Hawaii and other places, you can take it out without penalty. If someone's terminally ill. And also a not to are firefighters. If they're age fifty or with twenty five years of service, they can take it out without penalty.

I should go on and on and on, but there's just so much here for everybody, and whether you know, with being a small business owner, this is just the troumendous say. I get so excited over this, but if you're in business. There are so many benefits to you just it's incredible, and it's all kinds of things. For example, supposed to me says, you know, I'd like to have an electric vehicle. Well, guess what, you know the government will give you seventy five hundred bucks. And you say, well,

that's nice. I can go ahead and take seventy five hundred dollars off my tax return, right you can. But even better, when you're at the dealer, you say, you know what, there's a special program where I can say to the dealer, I'll give the credit to you. You knock seventy five hundred bucks off the price, so I never have to give you the money and ask for it back. You get the seventy five hundred from the government. There's so much, so much there. Then there's another thing

that gets me really excited, something called opportunity zones. Suppose you have this situation. You sell something anything, some gold coins, some stop, real property, anything, and you have capital gain and you say, well, all right, you know, I realize that there's three capital gains rates zero. It's a nice one, but you have to be making less than forty seven grand for that or fifteen percent, which is between forty

seven grand and over just half a mil. You know, most people are making under half of MIIL fifteen percent bad, and it goes to twenty percent if you're over five hundred and eighteen thousand. But the bottom line is you say, you know, I don't want to pay that either. So you can go into an opportunity zone and you can defer the taxes until twenty six. As you say, when somebody gives you something nice, what do you say thank you?

You've made a gain of ninety nine million. You know, I can calculate the tax on that right now in my head, you know, the taxes zero. What Steve Wait talking about there's a special provision that if you hold this property for more than ten years, when you sell it, there's zero capital game. There's no cap one. So in my example, you made a profit of ninety nine million bucks,

you paid zero taxes. Talk about an incentive. So you see, that's why I get get so excited about this and our laws filled with these things.

the things. And also so a lot of things that have changed or the numbers, like the standard deduction went up a little bit for twenty twenty four and a little bit of numbers. You know, for example, the art didn't come credit. So we talked about the other end of the scale. For example, suppose you have three kids and you're making under sixty six eight nineteen. The government will give you seven eight hundred and thirty dollars, but is give them will give you the money, so you

have those things. There's also change to the kitty tax. It's a small change for kids that are under age nineteen. The first thirteen hundred bucks is tax free. The next thirteen hundred bucks is taxed at the child's right. So if it's a little something. Then the amounts for the flexible spending accounts and the health savings accounts have gone up.

So what are those things? Basically, there are two different types of accounts where you can put some pre tax money and I don't get a tax, and then you use it for healthcare. Now there's differences between them, so with an exception, you can't have both. There's an exception, but we won't get into that right now on the show.

But for the most part, you say, well, what's more important to me, and you look at these and basically the best way to do it is there are charts and you say, okay, well, a flexible spending account, here's the advantages. With the health savings account, here's the advantages. But basically the idea here is you get a tax deduction, you use the money for medical and isn't that nice? You don't have to pay tax on that amount of your earnings. And the bottom line, for example, with a

health savings account, you can triple benefits. There's no taxes on the money you put it in, it grows tax free, and there's no taxes when you use it for medical bills. So again, I mean, you look at this stuff and you say, well, okay, why shouldn't I have it? There's so much in tax complaints about their taxes. My taxes are too much, they're that, but people overlook all these benefits. And again I'm just throwing out a few samples and teasers.

There's so much there. If you're interested in this. To me, this has fascinated me my whole life, and it's here. It's available for everybody.

play your first five dollars lineup. It's as simple as picking at least two player stat projections and saying nah, I think you'll do more or less than that.

Democrats are out there saying that we can and should spend tens of billions of dollars on radical left programs all over the world, in Bosnia, in Croatia, all throughout the Confident of Africa, and everywhere else, but not here in America.

we have a story about a seal. Sorry, I was reading and talking at the same time, Katie, Is there anything we need to know about the seals story?

The only reason we're talking about hockey. Is the NHL had this brilliant idea that instead of their stupid All Star game that nobody watches or cares about, they would hold a fourteen tournament with players from four of the major nations that supply players to the NHL, the US, Canada, Finland, and Sweden.