The Kitchen Table

Still doing research for Kingdoms or whatever it will be titled but in the meantime,  I think we should sit down at the kitchen table and talk. Coffee? Maybe a beer? I'll stick with my glass or two of wine. I know you can tell when it starts to hit me by the way my writing style changes. Lines get blurred in my brain. Tonight, I'm coherent and almost intellectual.
I married Sveta almost 10 years ago. She complains, sometimes, about the radio show I join in on (SaltyTalkRadio.com Wednesdays and Fridays 4pm EST) and I understand why. Its 3 hours of talking, listening, and drinking. The last bit makes it more fun most days, not that I am a proponent for alcohol induced behavioral changes in men, under the current climate of things, but we have fun sitting around and talking.
My wife and I do the same thing. Most days we could broadcast our own show from our own kitchen table. Getting caught up on our day, my son at school, stories that we read in the news, our past and how it melds together with the world around us. Sometimes its drivel, sometimes life changing. The important thing...we talk. More importantly, we listen.
This isn't about my wife or the show. It is about the habits that I have developed of sitting down, ceremonially, at the kitchen table.
Tonight we talk about taxes. Why? Because the FBI investigation is closing up shop on the Kavanaugh thing and now the headlines are about...taxes.
Can I warm your coffee? There's cookies in the jar next to you and Little Debbie's from my private stash. Relax.
"The New York Times said God is dead and the wars begun. Alvin Tostig has a son today. And he shall be Levon".
The Times shifted focus from Ford to taxes today. And new outrage is sweeping social media. This is why we need to sit down.
I won't go into the 'voluntary compliance' of the income tax law but I do want to address a couple issues with the story from the Times and I hope you are not just waiting your turn to talk. You can, if you want, comment on the blog or wherever i post it. I'm cool with that.
Times. Taxes.
Just because most presidents turn over their tax returns, doesn't mean they have to. It's not a law. Just because you would like to see them doesn't mean you Have The Right to.
Not to mention,  if there is an inconsistency,  you do have the right not to incriminate yourself. That's the legal side of it. More importantly,  when people can look at photos of Mars and see humanoids sitting on the planet, what do you think they would do with a tax return?
Ready for a glass of wine?
The IRS is arguably the most powerful and ruthless organization when it comes to getting what they feel is theirs and you think that for one second that they didn't go over an inheritance return in the hundreds of millions of dollars with a fine tooth comb? Listen to what you are saying. Do you really think that a family that will inherit over a billion dollars didn't seek legal and expert tax advice?
He didn't pay enough! That's the retort. Remember, we're at my kitchen table and I've been listening for the last couple hours. He didn't create the loopholes that allowed the family to keep more of the money. Andy Dufresne told the guard on the prison rooftop how to avoid paying taxes on 50 grand. Fictional, yes. Same theory.
What gets me is why this guy? It can't be over a fair share of taxes. Look at GE if you want to be outraged over that.
You're at a bar. A cutie next to you and you're buying drinks. A man walks in and takes the empty seat next to her. He chats her up for a couple of minutes right in front of you. Your face is flushed but you feel you have enough invested in her that she'll laugh him off.
He leaves. She suddenly remembers a test, a headache, or sick mother that needs attention. A quick peck on the cheek and she is gone. You watch her head, not to her car but to him.
And think to yourself " he didn't shave, he smelled and look at that piece of crap of a car...that she is getting into after the drinks I bought.
I fill your coffee and you realize the only reason you hate him is because of jealousy. She wanted a man and you were not it, today.
I'll be here tomorrow, the coffee will be hot, the wine plentiful. We can chat again if you like. I will tell you the truth and you probably won't like it but I promise to listen too and maybe we can agree on something.