Do you need an attorney?

BY SAM FIELDS

For years I referred to Libertarians as “Republicans who like to smoke pot”.

I was wrong.

They like to snort cocaine.

On November 18, Florida Republican Congressman Trey Radel, a self proclaimed libertarian, was arrested after buying cocaine from an undercover cop in D.C.

He used what I call the Rob Ford Defense:

Taking a cue from Mayor Ford of Toronto, Radel blamed it on his alcoholism.

If they ever arrest Radel for heroin, will he blame the “smack” on the “crack”?

Florida Real Estate Cheers On The Chavistas

In a pathetic, wrongheaded bid to revive a collapsing economy, the Venezuelan National Assembly latest attempt to “repeal the laws of economics” involves giving President Nicholas Maduro the power to rule by decree.

Think dictator with a license.

Maduro believes he will “decree” his way out of 54% inflation and all the corruption that has gone with it.

His first step: Decreeing to drastically drop the price of  TVs and other high end electronics.

They may not be able to afford to eat in Venezuela, but they will be able to watch Maduro on their new flat screens.

Venezuela’s misery is South Florida’s boon.

Venezuelans with money are moving it into the U.S. any way they can…legally or illegally.

They are South Florida’s biggest Latin American investors with 69% of their real estate purchases being all cash.  Weston is filled with Venezuelans sick of the economic ruin in their country.

Another prime example is Miami’s Brickell House.  With prices beginning at $200,000 for a studio, 40% of the 374 units were presold to Venezuelans.

Thank you Messers Hugo Chavez and Maduro.

Adios To The Tax Cheats

As the IRS steps up its efforts to uncover Americans illegally using foreign banks to cheat on their taxes, the number of Americans giving up their citizenship has jumped.

Like your money more than your country?  Fine. Planes leave every hour and you are welcome to take one.

The number of those leaving the United States was up 33 percent in the third quarter of 2013 over 2012.  It is still a minuscule number — 2,369 for the first nine months of the year.

Not all of them are escaping taxes.  But there are some high profile tax evaders.

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin left for Singapore — that bastion of freedom — with his Facebook stock option riches.  Saverin’s departure to cut his tax bill prompted such outrage that Democratic U. S. Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Bob Casey of  Pennsylvania filed a bill to double the exit tax to 30% for anyone leaving the U.S. for tax reasons. The bill has gotten nowhere in the morass that is Washington.

Even that mild bill doesn’t go far enough. Congress needs to pass a law prohibiting these folks from re-entering the United States unless they prepay all back taxes up front and plead guilty to any criminal charges.

Singer Tina Turner, who has lived in Switzerland for two decades and may avoid some taxes by recently renouncing her citizenship,  should forget about a U. S. concert tour until she pays up!

If that means they miss mom’s funeral, their kid’s wedding or lifesaving medical care, too goddamn bad.

Elian Gonzalez:  He’s Baaaack 

Fourteen years after his 15 minutes of fame, Elian Gonzalez is blaming American policy for the death of his mother and others aboard the overcrowded boat that left him stranded at sea.

Now 19 and a Fidel Castro favorite, Gonzalez is particularly peeved at the Cuban Adjustment Act.

He insists that the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which instantly confers Green Cards and welfare to Cuban refugees, makes coming to America too attractive to Cubans.

While I am not a fan of the law, it’s the miserable life under the Castro brothers that makes folks want to flee the island to anywhere else.

The Real Havana 

Want to know what life in Cuba is like?  Check out the film “Una Noche (One Night)” which was made in Havana with the initial approval of the Cuban government.

Disclosure: My daughter worked on editing the movie which makes clear that despair, corruption and poverty are the capstones of 50 years of the “socialist paradise”.

After the movie was completed, the Cuban government took one look at the final cut and banned it from being shown in Cuba.

Closed.