Here Is the Mitt Romney Tax Scandal You Requested

Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant — which, by the way, is also the name of my old electroclash band — is reporting that Mitt Romney and Bain Capital subverted around $100 million in taxes by diverting money through the Netherlands in a delicious-sounding tax dodge called the Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich…

The alleged tax route went as follows: Bain bought Irish pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott in 2004, which was originally registered in Bermuda but had moved to Ireland in 2009 to avoid Barack Obama's tax crackdown. Two years ago, Bain registered its interest in Warner Chilcott with the private Dutch company Alter Domus. Under Dutch laws if a Dutch-registered company owns more than 5 percent of a company it is exempt from paying capital gains tax.

Read More »

Tags: Mitt Romney, Netherlands, Taxes

Amsterdam to Stop Selling Pot to Tourists

Oh, man! Terrible, terrible news. The entire city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands has completely vanished into thin air. It's gone! Totally gone! Where there once was a beautiful bustling European city, there is now just a big empty hole full of nothing.

Or, well, there might as well be…

The Dutch government on Friday said it would start banning tourists from buying cannabis from "coffee shops" and impose restrictions on Dutch customers by the end of the year.

The Netherlands is well known for having one of Europe's most liberal soft drug policies that has made its cannabis shops a popular tourist attraction, particularly in Amsterdam.

Backed by the far-right party of anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders, the coalition government that came into power last year announced plans to curb drug tourism as part of a nationwide programme to promote health and fight crime.

This makes no sense to me. It'd be like Las Vegas making it illegal for non-residents to gamble. Or for New York to ban non-New Yorkers from buying $150 Broadway tickets. Or for Bogota to make it illegal for non-Colombians to get kidnapped. It's the whole reason to go there.

Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images News /Getty Images

Tags: Drugs, Marijuana, Netherlands

World Cup Fever: Don't Worry, It's Almost Over

By now, you've probably heard that Germany's controversial cephalopoid goalkeeper let a crucial Spanish goal through, and ruined the Fatherland's dream of ruining La Madre Patria's dream of finally going to the World Cup finals finally for once.

So, on Sunday, we'll get to see Spain go up against the Nertherlands for all of la canicas, which is Spanish for "the marbles." (I could have said, "de knikkers," but I don't speak Dutch so goed.)

Finally, Spain will have satisfaction for that whole Eighty Years War thing. And this should only feel about half as long.

Tags: Animals, Germany, Netherlands, Soccer, Spain, Sports

World Cup Fever: The Only Vaccine for It Might Maybe Cause Autism

Just as I predicted last week, European teams swept the World Cup quarterfinals, beating the South American team in every match in which they played. The Uruguayans were lucky enough to squeak into the semifinals by playing Ghana instead of a team from Europe, but the Dutch quickly dispatched them 3-2 earlier today. So, now it's all Europe, all the way, which is very exciting for nobody except Europeans.

So, tomorrow, Germany will be playing Spain, and based upon the fact that a European team has not lost a match in more than a week, I'm predicting that both teams will win and advance to the finals, and FIFA will real quick devise a cube-shaped playing field so that the Netherlands, Spain and Germany can all play simultaneously in the finals on Sunday.

Failing that, I'm predicting Germany, because they're slightly more Europeany. (You know what I mean.)

Tags: Europe, Germany, Netherlands, Soccer, Spain, Sports, Uruguay

World Cup Fever: Rappity Rap Rapping "The Soccer (a.k.a. Football) Shuffle"

And, thus, tomorrow begins the World Cup quarterfinals, otherwise known as South America vs. The World…

Brazil v. Netherlands
Uruguay v. Ghana
Argentina v. Germany
Paraguay v. Spain

These games begin tomorrow, and by the end of the day Saturday, the World Cup will effectively be The South-Western Hemisphere Cup, and then the entire Eastern Hemisphere can rejoin us in having better things to think about.

Or, maybe I spoke too soon. It appears as though there actually are some people here in the North-Western Hemisphere who are still paying attention to this. Last night, The Daily Show — in the absence of any real news — dedicated its entire episode to this Cup of the World thing. Here's Jon Hodgman explains how FIFA can make Non-American Football more appealing to Non-Non-Americans…

The CC Insider has the complete episode in its complete completesity right over GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Ghana, John Hodgman, Jon Stewart, Netherlands, Paraguay, Soccer, Spain, Sports, The Daily Show, Uruguay