The net result is that we now have a tax system that – according to the IRS website – requires more than 2,700 separate forms, instructions, or publications (a huge increase over the past two decades).
Instead of 2,700-plus forms, we would have one simple postcard-sized tax return for households and another simple postcard-sized tax form for businesses.
Seems like a win-win approach, but the Washington Post has a different perspective, editorializing instead in favor of simply giving the IRS more money and power.
For the past three years, the IRS has failed to do its most basic job: processing tax returns in a timely manner. There are many reasons. The pandemic upended almost everything for a while. …Ancient computer systems hampered operations. And Congress kept asking the IRS to do more: implement the sweeping 2017 GOP tax code overhaul, then send stimulus checks — three times — to the vast majority of Americans during the pandemic. …Yet House Republicans made it their first priority this year to pass legislation slashing IRS funding, which would worsen the agency’s problems — and the service it provides Americans. …Congress’s priority should be modernizing the IRS and getting it back to full functionality. That’s why Democrats passed $80 billion in extra funding for the agency… This isn’t the time to cut. It’s the time to resuscitate.
But we should expect misleading analysis from the Washington Post.
So let’s conclude by instead asking a fundamental question: Is it better to continue on the current path (an ever-more-complex tax system requiring ever-more-money for the IRS) or is it better to have a clean tax system?
P.S. I’m sure that not every additional form on the IRS website represents additional complexity. But I’m also sure that the tax code is far worse than it was in the past. Perhaps the most compelling evidence is the huge increase in the number of pages needed for the instruction manual for the 1040 tax form.
So let’s celebrate (or commiserate) this awful day by wading into the debate about whether the Internal Revenue Service should have a bigger budget.
Proponents usually claim the IRS is under-funded by comparing today’s budget to how much the bureaucracy received in 2011.
But that was a one-year spike because of all the money in Obama’s failed stimulus package. If you review long-run data, you can see that the IRS’s budget has increased significantly.
And these numbers are adjusted for inflation.
But perhaps proponents are right, even if they use deceptive numbers.
The Washington Post has a new editorial on this topic, arguing that the bureaucracy needs more money.
The IRS is currently limping along without enough staff or funding. Congress, especially Republicans, needs to face up to reality. …It’s not a mystery how the IRS deteriorated. …the core problem is that Republicans slashed the IRS budget about 18 percent in the past decade. That’s not belt-tightening, it’s gutting an agency. …The Biden administration is rightly asking for a big increase for 2023 (a request of $14.1 billion). This isn’t some Democratic wish list item; it’s about restoring the basic functions of America’s tax collection agency.
When this topic was being debated last year, Ryan Ellis explained that the IRS will target small businesses if it gets a bigger budget.
Here are some excerpts from his piece in National Review.
…the idea is that if taxpayers fund the IRS to the tune of $40 billion over the next decade, the IRS will step up audits and collect an additional $100 billion in tax revenue, penalties, and interest. This is lauded as a good because of the supposed “tax gap,”… Apparently, it doesn’t occur to anyone that the IRS, which is seeking this extra $40 billion in taxpayer funding, has every incentive in the world to exaggerate this “tax gap” and to make wild promises about the new money that additional enforcement will yield for the Treasury. …Giving money to IRS bureaucrats to conduct fishing expedition audits on millions of honest self-employed people? The same IRS behind the Lois Lerner scandal a decade ago, when the IRS inappropriately targeted conservative political groups during the 2012 election season, when Obama was running for reelection?
Ryan is right to point out that the IRS is undeserving because of bad behavior.
Advocates of more funding will argue that the bureaucracy’s malfeasance is a separate issue and that more employees and more audits are needed regardless of whether criminals at the IRS are caught and punished.
But this brings us to another important topic, which is whether it would be best to fix the underlying tax laws instead of throwing more money at the IRS.
In a column for the Louisville Courier-Times, we get this point of view from Richard Williams of George Mason University’s Mercatus Center.
…money won’t fix this problem. …Another approach would be drastically reducing the complexity of federal taxes. …The Tax Foundation estimates that we give up 3.24 billion hours and $37 billion to comply with federal taxes each year. Given the headaches and anxiety that come with this, Americans don’t need more IRS workers. We need a leaner agency…individual filers and small businesses represent a huge proportion of the public who would gain from simplification. …There is no need to hire more people to oversee a reformed system. What’s not to like?
And that’s just a brief list of the things that the IRS now does in addition to generating revenue.
Get rid of these added roles, ideally as part of a total replacement of the tax code with a flat tax, and the discussion would be about how much money could be saved by reducing the IRS’s budget.
But that means less power for politicians, so don’t hold your breath waiting for genuine tax reform.
That being said, supporters of good policy should feel no obligation to help prop up the current system by shoveling more money to the IRS.
An underfunded corrupt IRS administering a bad tax code is better than a well-funded corrupt IRS administering a bad tax code.
*April 15 may be the worst day of the year, but there’s an argument to be made that October 3 is the worst day in history.
P.S. From my archives, here are some examples of the bureaucrats who will benefit from a bigger IRS budget.
It is now well known that the IRS targeted tea party organizations. What is less well known, but perhaps even more scandalous, is that the IRS also targeted those who would educate their fellow citizens about the United States Constitution.
According to the inspector general’s report (pp. 30 & 38), this particular IRS targeting commenced on Jan. 25, 2012 — the beginning of the election year for President Obama’s second campaign. On that date: “the BOLO [‘be on the lookout’] criteria were again updated.” The revised criteria included “political action type organizations involved in … educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.”
Grass-roots organizations around the country, such as the Linchpins of Liberty (Tennessee), the Spirit of Freedom Institute (Wyoming), and the Constitutional Organization of Liberty (Pennsylvania), allege that they were singled out for special scrutiny at least in part for their work in constitutional education. There may have been many more.
The tea party is viewed with general suspicion in some quarters, and it is not difficult, alas, to imagine the mindset of the officials who decided to target tea party organizations for special scrutiny. But federal officers swear an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” It is chilling to think that these same officials who are suspicious of the tea party are equally suspicious of the Constitution itself.
What is most corrosive about this IRS tripwire is that it is triggered by a particular point of view; it is not, as First Amendment scholars say, viewpoint-neutral. It does not includeobfuscating or denigrating the Constitution; only those “involved in … educating on the Constitution” are captured by this criterion. This viewpoint targeting potentially skews every national debate about politics or government. And the skew in not strictly liberal; indeed, it should trouble liberals as much as conservatives. The ultimate checks on executive power are to be found in the United States Constitution. Insidiously, then, suppressing those “involved in … educating on the Constitution” actually skews national debate in favor of unchecked executive power.
For example, this IRS tripwire would not be triggered by arguing that the NSA should collect the phone records of every American citizen. But it would be triggered by teaching that the Fourth Amendment forbids “unreasonable searches and seizures.” This tripwire would not be triggered by arguing that the president should unilaterally suspend politically inconvenient provisions of federal law, like ObamaCare. But it would be triggered by teaching that, under Article II, section 3, the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” This tripwire would not be triggered by arguing that the president should appoint NLRB members unilaterally. But it would be triggered by teaching that, under Article II, section 2, such appointments require “the Advice and Consent of the Senate.” This tripwire would not be triggered by arguing that the president should target and kill U.S. citizens abroad. But it would be triggered by teaching that, per the Fifth Amendment, no person shall “be deprived of life … without due process of law.” This tripwire would not be triggered by arguing that the president should declare war unilaterally. But it would be triggered by teaching that, under Article I, section 8, “Congress shall have Power … To declare War.” In short, the IRS was “on the lookout,” not for those who preach unlimited executive power, but for those who would teach about constitutional constraints.
Even more to the point, perhaps, this IRS tripwire would not be triggered by arguing that the IRS should discriminate against the tea party. But it would be triggered by teaching that such discrimination constitutes unfaithful execution of the tax laws. And thus, alas, there is a perverse logic to targeting constitutional educators alongside tea party organizations. Political discrimination in the administration of the tax laws is not merely “outrageous,” as President Obama has said; it is an assault on our constitutional structure itself. For an official who has chosen to go down this road and target the tea party, there is an Orwellian logic to targeting constitutional educators as well. After all, they are the ones who might shed light on this very point.
This is a new low for American government — targeting those who would teach others about its founding document. Forty years ago, President Richard Nixon went to great lengths to try to conceal the facts of his constitutional violations, but it never occurred to him to conceal the meaning of the Constitution itself, by targeting its teachers. Politicians have always been tempted to try to censor their political adversaries; but none has been so bold as to try to suppress constitutional education directly. Presidents have always sought to push against the constitutional limits of their power; but never have they targeted those who merely teach about such limits. In short, never before has the federal government singled out for special scrutiny those who would teach their fellow citizens about our magnificent Constitution. This is the new innovation of Obama’s IRS.
“We the People” do not yet know who first decided to target “political action type organizations involved in … educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.” But there is at least one person who does know. Ironically, though, Lois Lerner, former director of the Exempt Organizations Division of the IRS, is making full use of her own constitutional education: “I have been advised by my counsel to assert my constitutional right not to testify …. One of the basic functions of the Fifth Amendment is to protect innocent individuals, and that is the protection I’m invoking today.”
Five years ago, President Obama, our constitutional law professor-in-chief, presented his first, ringing Constitution Day proclamation: “To succeed, the democracy established in our Constitution requires the active participation of its citizenry. Each of us has a responsibility to learn about our Constitution and teach younger generations about its contents and history.” Quite so. Perhaps this year, Obama could explain why his IRS would target those who answered this call.
(Emailed to White House on 3-15-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is […]
(Emailed to White House on 3-15-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is […]
(Emailed to White House on 3-15-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is […]
(Emailed to White House on 3-15-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is […]
(Emailed to White House on 3-15-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is […]
(Emailed to White House on 3-15-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is […]
_ Dear Senator Pryor, here are some spending cut suggestions (“Thirsty Thursday”, Open letter to Senator Pryor) __________________ Senator Pryor pictured below: Why do I keep writing and emailing Senator Pryor suggestions on how to cut our budget? I gave him hundreds of ideas about how to cut spending and as far as I can […]
Open letter to President Obama (Part 644) (Emailed to White House on 6-10-13.) President Obama c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get […]
___________________ Senator Pryor pictured below: Why do I keep writing and emailing Senator Pryor suggestions on how to cut our budget? I gave him hundreds of ideas about how to cut spending and as far as I can tell he has taken none of my suggestions. You can find some of my suggestions here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, and […]
________ ________________ Pres Obama talking to a youngster outside Arthur Bryant’s BBQ tonight in KC on July 29, 2013. What It’s Like To Get Invited By Obama For Dinner President Obama spends the night in downtown Kansas City Kansas City is ready to host President Obama President Obama has dinner at Arthur Bryant’s Raw: Obama […]
McCarthy Renews Calls for Spending Cuts to Raise Debt Ceiling
White House insists on raising limit without conditions, teeing up possible standoff in Washington
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday didn’t commit to specific cuts, nor did he rule out any parts of the budget for reductions.PHOTO: SARAH SILBIGER/REUTERS
WASHINGTON—House Speaker Kevin McCarthy(R., Calif.) said Sunday he would seek to negotiate with President Biden over raising the federal debt ceiling but renewed his calls for cuts in spending, days after the Treasury Department said the government may not be able to pay its bills by early summer.
“Let’s sit down together. Let’s look at the places that we can change our behavior,” Mr. McCarthy said in an interview on Fox News. “Why would we sit back and be so arrogant to say, ‘No, there’s no waste in government?’”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday called on Congress to raise the debt ceiling as quickly as possible. She said the government would hit the roughly $31.4 trillion borrowing limit on Jan. 19, when Treasury will begin implementing so-called extraordinary measures to manage the government’s cash flow that are expected to last at least until early June.
Republicans, who recently took control of the House, have insisted that any increase of the debt limit include cuts in spending, a demand that many Democrats reject. The White House has called on Congress to raise the debt ceiling without conditions.
“There’s going to be no negotiation over it. This is something that must get done,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday, noting that lawmakers have previously increased the debt ceiling on a bipartisan basis.
“It is one of the basic items that Congress has to deal with, and it should be done without condition,” she said. The White House declined to comment Sunday.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday called on Congress to raise the debt ceiling as quickly as possible.PHOTO: KEVIN DIETSCH/GETTY IMAGES
Mr. McCarthy on Sunday didn’t commit to specific cuts, nor did he rule out any parts of the budget for reductions. Republicans are split over whether to seek cuts to Pentagon spending as the U.S. is providing extensive military support to Ukraine. Mr. McCarthy pointed to potential reductions in funding to the military for policies he labeled as “wokism.”
“Eliminate all the money spent on wokism. Eliminate all the money that they’re trying to find different fuels, and they’re worried about the environment to go through,” Mr. McCarthy said.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that he finds the accusation of the military being “woke” offensive. The Biden administration has said it remains committed to providing Ukraine with the military support it needs to repel Russia’s invasion.
Mr. McCarthy is under pressure from within the ranks of the House GOP to cut federal spending following commitments he made to secure the support of conservative hard-liners in his bid to be speaker. Under the agreement, the House Budget Committee, which is responsible for a budget blueprint, must produce a resolution that balances the budget in no more than 10 years and that would work from fiscal 2022 spending levels, roughly $130 billion in discretionary spending below current fiscal 2023 levels.
Rep. Chip Roy (R., Texas), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who negotiated with Mr. McCarthy, has said “there ought to be specific concrete limits on spendingattached to a debt-ceiling increase.”
I have written my Congressmen and Senators over and over about the debt ceiling increase requests by President Obama and I have urged them to turn them down. This video below shows why I wanted them turned down.
Congress’s dance with the debt limit can be confusing and, frankly, the details can be a real snooze fest for many Americans. Sometimes a little humor clarifies the absurdities of Washington antics better than flow charts and talk of trillions.
The 31-second video and accompanying infographic “The Debt Ceiling Explained” by Bankrupting America offers the facts, leavened with a dose of levity. The conclusion is serious, however: The country’s debt threatens economic growth, and spending cuts are the answer.
_________________________
Senator John Boozman, 320 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371
It is obvious to me that if President Obama gets his hands on more money then he will continue to spend away our children’s future. He has already taken the national debt from 11 trillion to 16 trillion in just 4 years. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over and over I have written Speaker Boehner and written every Republican that represents Arkansans in Arkansas before (Griffin, Womack, Crawford, and only Senator Boozman got a chance to respond) concerning this. I am hoping they will stand up against this reckless spending that our federal government has done and will continue to do if given the chance.
What would happen if the debt ceiling was not increased? Yes President Obama would probably cancel White House tours and he would try to stop mail service or something else to get on our nerves but that is what the Republicans need to do.
TRY BORROWING AT A BANK WITH A FINANCIAL CONDITION LIKE THE USA HAS:
The problem in Washington is not lack of revenue but our lack of spending restraint. This video below makes that point. WASHINGTON IS A SPENDING ADDICT!!!
Please take the time to read Mo Brooks’ words and respond to me and tell me if you will vote against the debt ceiling increase. It is the only leverage we have on President Obama. Others have responded to me in the past including you and for that I am very grateful.
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 49) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 48) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 47) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 46) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 45) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 44) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 43) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 42) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 41) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 40) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 39) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 38) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 37) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
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Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 33) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 32) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
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Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 30) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 29) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, but […]
The Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 28) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, […]
The Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 27) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, […]
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Uploaded by RepJoeWalsh on Jun 14, 2011 Our country’s debt continues to grow — it’s eating away at the American Dream. We need to make real cuts now. We need Cut, Cap, and Balance. The Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 25) This post today is a part of a series […]
The Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 23) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, […]
The Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 22) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, […]
The Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 21) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, […]
The Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 20) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, […]
The Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 19) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, […]
The Sixty Six who resisted “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal (Part 18) This post today is a part of a series I am doing on the 66 Republican Tea Party favorites that resisted eating the “Sugar-coated Satan Sandwich” Debt Deal. Actually that name did not originate from a representative who agrees with the Tea Party, […]
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Super Bowl champion quarterback Joe Theismann (left) discussed many topics with host David Bazzel during the Little Rock Touchdown Club annual awards banquet Friday at the DoubleTree hotel in downtown Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
Hundreds filed into the DoubleTree Hilton banquet hall in downtown Little Rock on Friday morning for the 16th and final meeting of the Little Rock Touchdown Club for the 2022-23 season.
The Touchdown Club welcomed Super Bowl champion quarterback Joe Theismann as its guest speaker. It was also the first in-person end-of-year awards ceremony since 2019 as covid-19 forced their cancellation in 2020 and 2021.
Theismann touched on many topics during his half-hour discussion with host David Bazzel, including having his leg broken by NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor, his record-setting career as an NFL punter and how he related to the recent health scare of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
One of the first stories went back to his collegiate playing days at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish fell to Texas 21-17 on New Year’s Day in the 1970 Cotton Bowl.
As the following season came to a close, Theismann and his fellow members of a select committee at Notre Dame decided they wanted a rematch with Texas exactly one year after the first meeting. The Irish halted the then-No. 1 Longhorns in their tracks, winning the rematch 24-11 to finish No. 2 in the nation.
Theismann mentioned the heightened scrutiny on the modern athlete, something he wanted to emphasize to those in attendance.
“The college and high school experience is something that is valued and appreciated,” Theismann said. “Life is moving so fast, and for so many of us in this room, we did not have to deal with what these young men and women are dealing with today in athletics. We have to understand that the pressure is so much greater for them.”
On top of winning the 1983 Super Bowl and being named the league MVP the same year, Theismann’s career is often remembered by his career-ending broken leg in a 1985 game against the New York Giants.
After all these years, Theismann had one simple clarification to the story: “People always come up to me and say, ‘Ah Joe, I’m so sorry you broke your leg’. I didn’t break my leg, Lawrence Taylor broke my leg. Keep the facts straight.”
For all of Theismann’s accolades and skill as a quarterback, he’s never forgotten his once chance to double as a punter.
In a 1985 game against the Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs called Theismann over and told him he’d be the team’s punter for the rest of the day, as starter Jeff Hayes hurt his thigh earlier in the contest.
Theismann had one punt attempt that day, and it was one that still stands in the NFL’s record books. With the ball on the 15-yard line, Theismann stood on his own goal line. He took the snap, let the ball drop and kicked it to his 16, all for a net punt of a single yard.
“That’s right, you’re being addressed today by a record holder in the NFL, I hold the record for the shortest net punt in the history of the National Football League,” Theismann joked.
The Willie Roaf Award for best in-state offensive linemen, the Paul Eells Award, the Darren McFadden Award for best in-state running backs, the Dan Hampton Award for best high school defensive lineman, the Sully Award for best high school call and team MVPs from all 12 in-state schools were awarded at Friday’s banquet.
The final two awards handed out Friday were the Harlon Hill Award, regarded as the Heisman Trophy for Division II football, which was given to John Matocha of Colorado School of Mines, and the Cliff Harris Award for the Division II Defensive Player of the Year, which went to Caleb Murphy of Ferris State.
LR Touchdown Club award winners
Harlon Hill Award — John Matocha, Colorado School of Mines
Cliff Harris Award — Caleb Murphy, Ferris State
Paul Eells Award — Bumper Pool, Arkansas
Willie Roaf Award — Ricky Stromberg, Arkansas; Joey Su’a, Bentonville
Darren McFadden Award — TJ Cole, Ouachita Baptist; Dennis Gaines, East Poinsett County
Dan Hampton Award — Quincy Rhodes, North Little Rock
Sully Award — Kevin Pearce, Newport
Team MVPS
Arkansas — KJ Jefferson
Arkansas-Monticello — Damrous White
Arkansas-Pine Bluff — Mark Evans III
Arkansas State — Johnnie Lang
Arkansas Tech — Jesus Zizumbo
Central Arkansas — TaMuarion Wilson
Harding — Cade Pugh
Henderson State — Xavier Malone
Hendrix — Tajae White
Lyon — Isaiah Bradford
Ouachita Baptist — Payton Stafford
Southern Arkansas — Jariq Scales
John Robinson Guest Speaker at Little Rock Touchdown Club 08 /27/12 (at the 36:20 mark I ask him about the halftime speech that John McKay gave)
I have read over and over that John McKay gave a big pep talk at halftime of this game while trailing 24-6 to the Fighting Irish and he predicted that Anthony Davis would return the kickoff for a touchdown and then USC would score over and over and over!!!! However, that is not what McKay said at halftime according to John Robinson. First, let me give one of the incorrect reports of McKay’s speech and then I will share where Robinson corrects the record. Here is one of the websites I came across:
1974
USC vs. Notre Dame, Nov. 30, 1974
Notre Dame had a 24-0 lead just a minute before the end of the first
half. USC scored just before halftime (and missed the conversion) to
make the score 24-6 at the half. Coach McKay is quoted as having said
during halftime something like “Gentlemen, if you block like you should, Anothony Davis will carry the second-half kickoff back for a score, and we’ll go on from there. Let’s go!!” USC’s Anthony Davis took the second half kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown, and the comeback was on. The Trojans scored 55 unanswered points in only 17 minutes!!! The Trojans
won the game 55-24. Father Theodore Hesburgh, the Notre Dame president,
congratulated Coach John McKay after the game, then added, “That wasn’t a
very nice thing for a Catholic to do.” Replied McKay: “Father, that
serves you right for hiring a Presbyterian (Coach Ara Parseghian).”
Neither team was a “cream puff”. USC went on to win the Rose Bowl and
the UPI and MacArthur Bowl National Championships, and Notre Dame went on to ruin Alabama’s National Championship hopes in the Orange Bowl.
hptaylor@gps.caltech.edu (Hugh Taylor)
woodylives69@earthlink.net (Billy Mccloud)
________________
If you want to know really happened then check out the video clip above and start at 36.21 mark. The quote of the day came from Johnny McKay, coach John McKay’s son, a wideout for the Trojans: “I can’t understand it. I’m gonna sit down tonight and have a beer and think about it. Against Notre Dame? Maybe against Kent State . . . but Notre Dame?”
Here is what really happened according to John Robinson who was the offensive coordinator on that 74 USC team:
It was the most shocking first half results. We score right before halftime and we are down 24-7 to Notre Dame. Now John McKay could go around the bend pretty good, but he comes in there at halftime and gets all the guys to come in together kind of like the cubscouts coming around a fireside. He gets in the middle and he says, “Fellows”. I thought oh no, but he talks to them in a soothing voice. “I am prouder of this team than any team I have ever coached. We are jittery somehow playing for the national championship has gotten to us.”
During this whole halftime we did not talk any football at all and when it time for us to go out and we run the second half opening kickoff and Anthony Davis runs it back for a touchdown, and we score 55 straight points and beat those dirty rotten Catholics (joking since Robinson was raised Catholic).
1972 USC Football Highlights vs. Notre Dame Uploaded by 63utuber on Jun 14, 2011 No description available. I got to hear Coach Robinson speak in Little Rock on August 27, 2012. Little Rock Touchdown Club Week 2: Hall Of Fame Coach John Robinson by Zack Veddern on Aug 28, 2012 9:07 AM CDT robinson […]
1972 USC Football Highlights vs. Notre Dame Uploaded by 63utuber on Jun 14, 2011 No description available. ________- Hearing John Robinson at the Little Rock Touchdown Club was very enjoyable. Earlier I posted about asking him the question: “Do you remember John McKay’s halftime speech at the 1974 Notre Dame at USC game?” Did you know that […]
USC vs. Tennessee 1980 Uploaded by yankeefanintenn on Jan 5, 2011 Hate that we lost, but I love watching games from this era. Fans were really into the games and it was a great game. All video footage is copyright of the University of Tennessee, but legally reproduced here in conjunction with Fair Use laws. […]
2005 USC Trojans vs Arkansas Part 1 (Rewind) Uploaded by NHBI007 on Oct 13, 2008 2005 USC Trojans vs Arkansas __________ I really enjoyed Robinson talk on 8-27-12. Robinson talks past UA, USC matchups JEFF HALPERN Former football coach John Robinson was 3-2 in his career at Southern California and UNLV against the Arkansas Razorbacks. […]
On August 27, 2012 I got to hear John Robinson speak at the the Little Rock Touchdown Club and he was a great speaker. Jim Harris: Former Southern Cal Coach John Robinson Wins In Little Rock <!– 23 –> by Jim Harris 8/27/2012 at 1:59pm College Football Hall of Fame coach John Robinson recalled some […]
2006 USC Trojans vs Arkansas Part 1 Uploaded by NHBI007 on Mar 29, 2009 2006 USC Trojans vs Arkansas Today John Robinson told some funny stories at the Little Rock Touchdown Club and some interesting trivia facts. Did you know that USC won several national titles under John McKay with Frank Broyles defensive […]
USC-ND ’74 – The Anthony Davis Game Uploaded by sckego on Aug 6, 2006 Notre Dame was killing USC 24-0 with a minute left in first half of the 1974 game in Los Angeles. Anthony Davis caught a TD pass to close out the half, then returned the 2nd half kickoff for a touchdown, and […]
John Robinson Guest Speaker at Little Rock Touchdown Club 08 /27/12 I have read over and over that John McKay gave a big pep talk at halftime of this game while trailing 24-6 to the Fighting Irish and he predicted that Anthony Davis would return the kickoff for a touchdown and then USC would score […]
Weeks after splitting from Keough, Lisa Marie shocked the world when she married Michael Jackson in the Dominican Republic in 1994.
“I am very much in love with Michael, I dedicate my life to being his wife,” the bride said in a statement at the time. “I understand and support him. We both look forward to raising a family.”
A Jackson friend told PEOPLE that with Lisa Marie, there was a shared comfort level: ”Michael always said that he never knew if a girl was going to like him for himself or his money. She’s not after him for money.”
In 1996, following endless headlines about the marriage, Lisa Marie filed for divorce from Jackson.
08of 12
Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage
Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage.L. BUSACCA/WIREIMAGE
In 2001, Lisa Marie struck up a relationship withNicolas Cage, and the two wed in 2002 in a small wedding in Hawaii on the 25th anniversary of her father’s death. “It was a lovely wedding,” Priscilla told PEOPLE.
“They are madly in love,” said a friend, who also noted that the relationship was “complicated. Both have very big lives already. The challenge is to see if they can get them to mix.”
Just 108 days later, the pair went their separate ways.
“I did not talk about the marriage, and I am not going to talk about the divorce,” Cage said in a statement. “But I loved her.”
09of 12
Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Lockwood
JEFFREY MAYER/WIREIMAGE
Lisa Marie married producer Michael Lockwood in Kyoto, Japan, in January of 2006.
“They seemed very happy,” the groom’s dad told PEOPLE.
In 2008, the couple welcomed twin daughters Harper and Finley.
“It’s different having babies in your 20s than when you’re 40—which I cannot even get that out to say,” Lisa Marie told PEOPLE when the girls were 3 months old. “Blow embracing it! But in my 40s, I don’t feel pulled anywhere else. We are 100 percent focused on the twins. I don’t want to miss a milestone, so I’m always here.”
In 2017, she claimed that Lockwood was the subject of criminal investigations involving hundreds of inappropriate photos of children that authorities found on his electronic devices. Meanwhile, he expressed concerns she would face drug addiction again and asked a judge to strip her primary custody of their daughters. Priscilla had custody of the girls for a time as the exes sorted their affairs
Lisa Marie with Kids Riley and Benjamin Keough
CHRIS DELMAS/AFP VIA GETTY
“Riley and Ben are my favorite people in the world,” Lisa Marie told PEOPLE in 2008. “We love to travel together.” Riely, now 33, has followed in her family footsteps with a modeling and acting career. Benjamin tragically died by suicide in 2020 at the age of 27.
Lisa Marie with Kids Harper and Finley
AXELLE/BAUER-GRIFFIN/FILMMAGIC
Lisa Marie kept her twins out of the spotlight, though brought them to special family events including a 2022 handprint ceremony honoring the Presleys at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
2of 12
Lisa Marie’s Last Outing
TODD WILLIAMSON/NBC/NBC VIA GETTY
Before her death on Jan. 12, 2023, Lisa Marie was busy, appearing at Graceland in honor of her father’s would-be birthday and at the Jan. 10 Golden Globe Awards in support of the film Elvis, for which Austin Butler won best actor in a drama, motion picture, for his portrayal of her dad.
“She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known,” mom Priscilla, 77, said in a statement. “We ask for privacy as we try to deal with this profound loss. Thank you for the love and prayers.”
Lisa Marie Presley remembered: Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and John Travolta mourn death of Elvis’ daughter
Elvis Presley’s only child Lisa Marie Presley died Thursday at the age of 54
Lisa Marie Presley was mourned on social media Thursday following her death in Los Angeles. She was 54.
The songwriter, who was blessed by her father Elvis Presley’s musical genes, was remembered by Hollywood stars, including John Travolta, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, and Octavia Spencer.
“Our hearts are broken with the sudden and shocking passing of Lisa Marie Presley tonight. Tom and I had spent some time with the family during the Elvis movie promotional tour. Lisa Marie was so honest and direct, vulnerable, in a state of anticipation about the movie,” Rita shared on Instagram. “She spoke so eloquently about her father, what the movie meant to her, that it was a celebration of her dad.”
Wilson detailed how Lisa Marie graciously invited them to Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, and encouraged everyone to listen to Presley’s music.
“She had a sultry voice, a power and tenderness, that I have always loved. Our hearts and our prayers go out to Riley, Harper, Finley, Danny and Priscilla,” Wilson added. “A mother should never have to lose a child. Lisa Marie lost her precious son Benjamin, Priscilla loses her only daughter. It’s too much. Sending love to the family, prayers for peace and strength.”
A family representative confirmed her death in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “Priscilla Presley and the Presley family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Lisa Marie. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”
Lisa Marie Presley remembered by John Travolta, Tom Hanks, and Leann Rimes. Elvis’ daughter died at age of 54. (Christopher Polk)
John Travolta shared a photo of Lisa on Instagram and wrote, “Lisa baby girl, I’m so sorry. I’ll miss you but I know I’ll see you again. My love and heart goes out to Riley, Priscilla, Harper and Finley.”
“I’m heartbroken over the passing of Lisa Marie Presley,” Remini tweeted. “Lisa did not have an easy life, as some might think. May she be at peace, resting with her son and father now. Her mom Priscilla and her three daughters, Riley, Finley, and Harper, are in my prayers.”
Octavia Spencer wrote, “So sad that we’ve lost another bright star in Lisa Marie Presley. My condolences to her loved ones and multitude of fans.”
Leann Rimes tweeted, “Lisa Marie Presley… how heartbreaking. I hope she is at peace in her dad’s arms. My heart goes out to her family. Too much grief in just a couple of years.”
Jennifer Tilly was recently touring the Memphis home of Elvis Presley.
“So sad about Lisa Marie Presley. Oddly I was just at Graceland yesterday and took this picture,” she wrote. “The guide was telling us that sometimes she would have dinners in the dining room, and once she had a party for her friends in the plane named after her. Rip sweet soul.”
Elvis Presley’s ex, Linda Thompson, shared an image of Elvis with Lisa Marie and wrote, “My heart is too heavy for words…”
Cary Elwes wrote, “Rest In Peace, Lisa Marie. A sweet and gentle soul. We send our deepest, heartfelt condolences to Priscilla, Riley and her family and friends. Heartbreakingly sad.”
Elvis sold over 500 million records worldwide in his decades-long career and is recognized by Guinness World Records as the best-selling solo artist of all time.
Marlee Matlin wrote, “I had the chance to know @Cilla_Presley when I was on Dancing With the Stars and as a mother, I can’t imagine the pain she must be going through with the untimely passing of Lisa Marie. I have the image of little Lisa Marie growing up. RIP Lisa Marie Presley.”
Lisa Marie and her mother, Priscilla, were on hand at the Golden Globes Tuesday to witness Austin Butler win a Globe for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s biopic of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, “Elvis.”
Presley was “transported” to a hospital Thursday morning after sheriff’s deputies responded to a “not breathing call,” authorities confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Lisa Marie was the only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla, and had a half brother, Navarone Garibaldi, from Priscilla’s 20-year relationship with Marco Garibaldi.
Riley Keough and Lisa Marie Presley attend event in Los Angeles with twins Harper and Finley. (Jon Kopaloff)
She is survived by daughter, Riley Keough, from her first marriage to Danny Keough. She also has twins Harper and Finley with ex-husband Michael Lockwood.
“He had prayed for a different result,” Lockwood’s attorney Joe Yanny told Fox News Digital. “At this point he just wants everyone to pray for the girls, Lisa’s mother and for him.”
Her son, Benjamin Keough, died by suicide in July 2020 at the age of 27.
Elvis Presley – Scene from “Viva Las Vegas” (MGM 1964)
Elvis & Ann Margret
Elvis Presley, Ann Margret – The Lady Loves Me – Viva Las Vegas
Girl next door and sex kitten – these starkly contrasting qualities have captivated us for decades. Ann-Margret became a star when she was barely out of high school. Her career has been stellar. But her personal life has taken some tough turns.
700 Club producer Scott Ross recently visited with Ann-Margret, singer, entertainer and movie star.
Scott Ross: You don’t do many of these interviews, do you?
Ann-Margret: No. I just love my privacy.
Scott: Well, we’ll leave now.
Ann-Margret: I love our home. We’ve been here since 1968.
Scott: You’re really an introspective person. You’re not a show business person. You don’t run around and go to the parties. I don’t see you on the red carpet. And you like to be at home with Roger, the dog and your motorcycle and the kitties.
Scott: Let me run something by you… your life. Every one of these is going to bring back a memory. This is mind blowing to me, George Burns, who discovered you.
Ann-Margret: Yes, he discovered me. And he said, ‘You wanna come to Vegas with me?’
Scott: Did you have any inkling at that time what that was opening up to you?
Ann-Margret: Everything came from that performance – those ten days and ten nights in Las Vegas.
Scott: Jack Benny, Bobby Darin, whom I love, Pat Boone – and you were the first person to kiss him onscreen? Is that true?
Ann-Margret: I was the first person. I kissed him on his shoulder – wooooooooo. Oh, at that time, I sort of nibbled on his shoulder.
Scott: And of course, Elvis, Steve McQueen, Lucille Ball, Jack Nicholson, The Duke (John Wayne), Bette Davis, Dean Martin, Gene Hackman, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and we don’t have time for the rest. That’s unbelievable!
Ann-Margret: I am so blessed. I have been so very blessed in my life.
Scott: For a little girl from Sweden, five years of age, to move to this pantheon of
artists and stars…
Ann Margret: Ever since I was four years old, I loved making people smile, making them think, making them feel good, feel some kind of emotion.
Scott: But it was like a rocket. The thing took off, one thing after another, after another and you were out there.
Ann-Margret: So blessed.
Scott: Is that how you view it? As a blessing?
Ann-Margret: “So blessed, oh my goodness.”
Hollywood magazines predicted a wedding between Ann-Margret and Elvis. But, it was another handsome actor, Roger Smith, who captured her heart.
Ann-Margret: I knew on the third date that we were going to be married.
Scott: Did you let him know that?
Ann-Margret: No. No, it just felt right.
Scott: And he himself quite a successful actor, 77 Sunset Strip… He was quite the man at the time.
Ann-Margret: He still is.
Scott: I don’t question it.
Ann-Margret: He had more faith in me than I did. One of the main things about my view of him was that he would protect me.
Scott: He gave you a safe place.
Ann-Margret: Yes, he did.
In 1980 Roger was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, a neuromuscular disease that causes extreme weakness.
Ann-Margret: It affects people differently, but he has been in remission now for a long time.
Scott: But you’ve stuck it out, too. There are people who leave marriages today because they don’t like the same restaurant.
Ann-Margret: Both of you have to want it to work, and we do. And, we still like each other, and we still laugh. How ‘bout that?
In 1994, Ann-Margret talked candidly about her life and career in her autobiography, Ann-Margret, My Story.
Scott: And it caused you to have to really examine yourself, too.
Ann-Margret: You have to go through a lot of things.
Scott: You did? And again, you wrote about it. And the size of that drove you to drinking?
Ann-Margret: That’s something I dealt with. I dealt with it.
Scott: …and you overcame it?
Ann-Margret: I dealt with it. You never really overcome it. But I dealt with it.
Scott: How did you deal with it?
Ann-Margret: And I have constantly been dealing with it.
Scott: It’s still a battle today?
Ann-Margret: You always have to be aware of it. But, I have been without it now for 32 years. All my life I’ve had this feeling, deep, deep, deep inside of me… my faith and my feelings.
Scott: How would you identify the something that was inside you?
Ann-Margret: I mean you go outside and you see flowers. You see the trees. You see all your loved ones, you see… and then you think of Who created it all.
In her first six years in Sweden, and later in the U.S., Ann-Margret and her family attended the Lutheran Church. She says she prays and looks for the good in people.
Scott: Your relationship with God, with Jesus Christ, that part of it. Is that a reality to you?
Ann-Margret: Oh yes. I want to say something which is really important to me. If I thought that I would never see my mother and father again, I couldn’t make it. I could not go a step further. Okay?
Scott: So knowing that, you know the Lord and that your parents did. That assures you of that.
Ann-Margret: Yes.
Scott: So after all the accolades, awards and everything else, I think there was a point when you said, ‘None of that really counts.’
Ann-Margret: Friends and family. That’s what it is. That’s what it’s all about.
George Harrison – ”All Things Must Pass” [Full Album] All Things Must Pass From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the album. For other uses, see All Things Must Pass (disambiguation). “Apple Jam” redirects here. For jam made from apples, see apple jam and apple sauce. All Things Must Pass Studio album […]
Religious Songs That Secular People Can Love: Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Sam Cooke, Johnny Cash & Your Favorites in Music, Religion| December 15th, 2015 7 Comments There are good reasons to find the onslaught of religious music this time of year objectionable. And yet—though I want to do my part in the War on Christmas—I […]
Harry Nilsson – Everybody’s Talkin’ (1969) Harry Nilsson – Without You 1972 (HD) Harry Nilsson From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For the Swedish footballer, see Harry Nilsson (footballer). Harry Nilsson Nilsson in 1974 Background information Birth name Harry Edward Nilsson III Also known as Nilsson Born June 15, 1941 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Died January […]
__ George Harrison – The Last Performance (John Fugelsang) Published on Aug 3, 2012 Due to the relentless spamming of the comment section by religious marketers, I’ve had to disable the comments. I asked nicely – repeatedly – for them to stop posting their crass sales garbage but they refused. Sorry to those who posted […]
______ Paul McCartney – Silly Love Songs Silly Love Songs From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For the Glee episode, see Silly Love Songs (Glee). “Silly Love Songs” German single sleeve Single by Wings from the album Wings at the Speed of Sound B-side “Cook of the House“ Released 1 April 1976 (US) 30 April 1976 (UK) […]
__ Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven Live (HD) _____________ _________ Inductees: John “Bonzo” Bonham (drums; born May 31, 1948, died September 25, 1980), John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards; born January 3, 1946), Jimmy Page (guitar; born January 9, 1944), Robert Plant (vocals; born August 20, 1948) Combining the visceral power and intensity of […]
Cheap Trick – The Flame Cheap Trick – If You Want My Love I Want You To Want Me – Cheap Trick – Houston 1989 Cheap Trick From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cheap Trick L–R: Rick Nielsen, Bun E. Carlos and Robin Zander (2009) Background information Origin Rockford, Illinois, United States Genres Rock, hard […]
Cole Porter’s songs “De-Lovely” and “Let’s misbehave” ‘At Long Last Love’: Let’s Misbehave/De-Lovely Uploaded on Apr 1, 2009 Burt Reynolds and Cybil Shepherd give an extraordinarily charming performance of Cole Porter’s songs in Peter Bogdanovich’s absolutely wonderful tribute to the golden age of film musicals, ‘At Long Last Love’. _____________________ De-Lovely From Wikipedia, […]
______________ Love For Sale (De-Lovely) Love for Sale (song) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008) “Love for Sale“ Written by Cole Porter Published 1930 Form […]
Cole Porter’s song “True Love” in the movie HIGH SOCIETY sung by Bing Crosby True Love .. Grace and Bing .. Full scene. ____________ True Love (song) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see True love (disambiguation). “True Love” Single by Richard Chamberlain from the album Richard Chamberlain Sings B-side […]
A Texas father at the center of a bitter, years-long gender transition case claims his ex-wife had moved to California planning to “chemically castrate” their 9-year-old son, James, who identifies as a girl named “Luna.”
Jeff Younger, a dad of two who unsuccessfully ran for the Texas statehouse campaigning on an anti-trans platform, appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Thursday and shared a video that purports to show his son identifying himself as a girl.
In the recording, 9-year-old James is asked if he is a boy, to which he replies, “No, I’m a girl.”
The grade-schooler says his mother, pediatrician Dr. Anne Georgulas, told him he was a girl and she also put him in dresses.
“My blood ran cold when I realized what she had planned for that boy,” Younger told Carlson.
Younger claimed that his ex-wife had deliberately relocated his son and the boy’s twin brother to California just days before the state’s “trans refuge” law went into effect on New Year’s Day.
The law is designed to protect transgender children and their families “if they’re being criminalized in their home states,” Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who sponsored the bill, tweeted after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it.
According to Younger, his ex began “transitioning” James when he was just 2 years old and tried to enroll him in a gender clinic in Dallas at age 5.
“Pediatrician records show that she intended to chemically castrate him at age 8 or 9, his current age,” Younger alleged. “And then he magically moves to California? I don’t think this is an accident.”
Younger did not provide the pediatrician records.
Chemical castration refers to the use of chemicals or drugs to stop sex hormone production. Unlike surgical castration, chemical castration does not remove organs and it is not a form of sterilization. It is also reversible.
Georgulas, meanwhile, has maintained that James is transgender, prefers to wear dresses and likes to be addressed as “Luna.”
A gender therapist who evaluated James recommended that he begin transitioning by wearing dresses and going by “Luna” after his mom said the child requested a “girl’s toy” and wanted to be one of the female characters from the Disney film “Frozen.”
The parents have been locked in a custody battle for years, with the dad claiming that his ex-wife is determined to have their son, pictured in a dress, transition to a girl.Family Handout
But Younger claims that those tendencies have been imposed on his son by his mother.
Younger also alleged that personnel at his son’s former school in California were in cahoots with his ex-wife and helped secretly transition the boy.
“I’d bring my son to school in boy’s clothes and they’d give him a dress and make him use the girls restroom,” he told Carlson.
It is unclear what school his son attended or if the school provided a statement about the allegations.
In 2019, a Dallas judge ruled that James Younger and his twin brother, Jude, will remain under joint custody of both their parents, but in August 2021, another judge granted Georgulas full custody of the children.
Younger (right) petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to order Georgulas to return their children to Texas, but the panel rejected his request.Family Handout
A subsequent court order, however, specified that “neither parent may treat a child with hormonal suppression therapy, puberty blockers, and/or transgender reassignment surgery (if any) without the consent of the parents or court order,” reported The Texan.
NEWS
Texas dad fears ex-wife plans to ‘chemically castrate’ 9-year-old son
By Snejana Farberov
January 6, 2023 | 11:59am
A Texas father at the center of a bitter, years-long gender transition case claims his ex-wife had moved to California planning to “chemically castrate” their 9-year-old son, James, who identifies as a girl named “Luna.”
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Jeff Younger, a dad of two who unsuccessfully ran for the Texas statehouse campaigning on an anti-trans platform, appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Thursday and shared a video that purports to show his son identifying himself as a girl.
In the recording, 9-year-old James is asked if he is a boy, to which he replies, “No, I’m a girl.”
The grade-schooler says his mother, pediatrician Dr. Anne Georgulas, told him he was a girl and she also put him in dresses.
“My blood ran cold when I realized what she had planned for that boy,” Younger told Carlson.
Jeff Younger, left, says he’s afraid his ex-wife plans to chemically castrate his 9-year-old son, James, who identifies as a girl.
Jeff Younger (left) says he’s afraid his ex-wife plans to chemically castrate his 9-year-old son, James, who identifies as a girl.
Family Handout
According to the Texas dad, his former spouse, Dr. Anne Georgulas, right, has moved with their children to California to take advantage of the state’s new “trans refuge” law.
According to the Texas dad, his former spouse, Dr. Anne Georgulas (right), has moved with their children to California to take advantage of the state’s new “trans refuge” law.
Younger claimed that his ex-wife had deliberately relocated his son and the boy’s twin brother to California just days before the state’s “trans refuge” law went into effect on New Year’s Day.
The law is designed to protect transgender children and their families “if they’re being criminalized in their home states,” Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who sponsored the bill, tweeted after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it.
According to Younger, his ex began “transitioning” James when he was just 2 years old and tried to enroll him in a gender clinic in Dallas at age 5.
“Pediatrician records show that she intended to chemically castrate him at age 8 or 9, his current age,” Younger alleged. “And then he magically moves to California? I don’t think this is an accident.”
Younger did not provide the pediatrician records.
Chemical castration refers to the use of chemicals or drugs to stop sex hormone production. Unlike surgical castration, chemical castration does not remove organs and it is not a form of sterilization. It is also reversible.
Georgulas, meanwhile, has maintained that James is transgender, prefers to wear dresses and likes to be addressed as “Luna.”
A gender therapist who evaluated James recommended that he begin transitioning by wearing dresses and going by “Luna” after his mom said the child requested a “girl’s toy” and wanted to be one of the female characters from the Disney film “Frozen.”
The parents have been locked in a custody battle for years, with the dad claiming that his ex-wife is determined to have their son, pictured in a dress, transition to a girl.
The parents have been locked in a custody battle for years, with the dad claiming that his ex-wife is determined to have their son, pictured in a dress, transition to a girl.
Family Handout
But Younger claims that those tendencies have been imposed on his son by his mother.
Younger also alleged that personnel at his son’s former school in California were in cahoots with his ex-wife and helped secretly transition the boy.
“I’d bring my son to school in boy’s clothes and they’d give him a dress and make him use the girls restroom,” he told Carlson.
It is unclear what school his son attended or if the school provided a statement about the allegations.
In 2019, a Dallas judge ruled that James Younger and his twin brother, Jude, will remain under joint custody of both their parents, but in August 2021, another judge granted Georgulas full custody of the children.
Younger (right) petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to order Georgulas to return their children to Texas, but the panel rejected his request.
Family Handout
A subsequent court order, however, specified that “neither parent may treat a child with hormonal suppression therapy, puberty blockers, and/or transgender reassignment surgery (if any) without the consent of the parents or court order,” reported The Texan.
But Younger is convinced that his ex-wife had uprooted their children and moved to California to circumvent that court order.
The Golden State’s Senate Bill 107 “prohibit[s] the enforcement of an order based on another state’s law authorizing a child to be removed from their parent or guardian based on that parent or guardian allowing their child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care.”
Younger had petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to order Georgulas to return their sons to Texas before California’s new “trans sanctuary” law takes effect, but on New Year’s Eve, his request was denied.
Georgulas is a pediatrician and is convinced James is transgender.
The panel ruled 8-1 that Younger’s appeal was unnecessary.
“Father misreads California’s new law,” the opinion reads.
“A court order allocating the parental rights of divorced parents based on case-specific judicial findings about the best interests of their children is in no way ‘a law of another state,’” the opinion reads.
The justices then go on to say Younger’s appeal was “speculative.”
“Concern that any of this will happen would be entirely speculative in any case,” they wrote.
“In this case, given that Mother has now represented to both this Court and the district court that she has no intention of trying to make it happen, it is not merely speculative but potentially prohibited by principles of estoppel.”
However, the justices wrote that if Georgulas tries to have their son undergo gender transition without her ex-husband’s consent, Younger “could seek immediate appellate relief.”
Younger reacted by tweeting that the state supreme court effectively terminated his parental rights and paved the way for his child’s chemical castration in California.
“Texas is an empire of child abuse, led by Texas judges,” the dad fumed.
During his sit-down with Carlson, the father further criticized the justices for siding with his ex-wife.
“They determine, absurdly, that my wife is no more likely to transition my son in California under the sanctuary laws than she would in Texas, and absurdly … claims that we can enforce an injunction against her in California,” he said.
The acrimonious custody saga has drawn the attention of several conservatives leaders, including Texas Attorney General Bill Paxton and US Sen. Ted Cruz, who both supported Younger.
“A 7-year-old child doesn’t have the maturity to make profound decisions like this,” Cruz tweeted in 2019.
“The state of Texas should protect this child’s right to choose — as an informed, mature person — and not be used as a pawn in a left-wing political agenda.”
These 3 Women Tried Transgenderism, and Then Stopped
Jennifer Lahl’s documentary “The Detransition Diaries,” released Monday, tracks the stories of three female detransitioners, including Helena Kerschner. (Photo: The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network)
A documentary, released Monday, unveils the stories of three women who previously identified as transgender in a futile attempt to escape depression and suicidal thoughts.
Jennifer Lahl, a former pediatric nurse and current president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, produced her most recent documentary, “The Detransition Diaries,” after a series of films highlighting bioethical issues.
Her film tracks the stories of Helena Kerschner, Grace Lidinsky-Smith, and Cat Cattinson, three women who believed their mental and emotional trauma would be solved by transitioning to the opposite sex. Each woman underwent hormone treatment and one had her breasts removed as well.
“We are following the news and the studies, and the evidence that shows this uptick in rapid-onset gender dysphoria [is something] young girls are particularly prone to,” Lahl told The Daily Signal in a phone call. Gender dysphoria refers to the condition of persistently and painfully identifying as the gender opposite one’s biological sex. “Young girls are getting sucked into this.”
Rapid-onset gender dysphoria is a recent phenomenon in which children and adolescents are suddenly, and without prior indication, identifying as the opposite sex.
Lahl found that her previous documentary “Trans Mission: What’s the Rush to Reassign Gender?” struck a chord with a broad audience. Firsthand accounts of men and women who “believed they were born in the wrong body” and thought gender transition “was the solution to all their problems” resonated with thousands of people, Lahl explained.
“As documentary filmmakers, we made the editorial decision that we are going to focus on women, realizing that this applies to men too,” she remarked on her most recent film.
“The Detransition Diaries” cover. (Photo: The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network)
Helena Kerschner, one of the detransitioners featured in Lahl’s film, says she struggled with depression, isolation, self-harm, an eating disorder, and suicidal thoughts as an early teen. She was introduced to the transgender belief system through Tumblr culture at 13.
Tumblr’s message was: “If you don’t like your body, that’s a sign you’re trans,” she notes.
After she came out as transgender, teachers and adults who never noticed her struggles before suddenly “bent over backward” to accommodate her new-found identity.
She did everything to make herself appear masculine. Eventually, Kerschner was prescribed testosterone at 18 after a single consultation at Planned Parenthood.
After a few weeks, she noticed how irritable she had become. “I couldn’t control myself,” Kerschner recalls in the documentary. When she got angry, she felt she needed to hurt someone—so she hurt herself. She eventually resorted to the emergency room, where staff directed her to the psych unit. Doctors diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder and psychosis, and sent her home with prescriptions for four different medications. She wound up in the hospital a few weeks later.
“My life became a total disaster,” she says. “I wasn’t functioning, I couldn’t hold a job, I wasn’t going to school—I felt like a monster.”
Seventeen months later, she stopped taking testosterone. Her negative symptoms vanished. During this time, not a single medical professional suggested that her hormone treatment was causing these symptoms, she remarks in the film.
Grace Lidinsky-Smith, another detransitioner featured in the film, noted that she felt a rush of energy when she first started testosterone treatment. Though she had some underlying anxiety, she told herself this was “internalized transphobia,” she says to the filmmakers.
Grace Lidinsky-Smith in “The Detransition Diaries.” (Photo: The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network)
Cat Cattinson describes a similar euphoric feeling when she first went on testosterone. It was “one of the better antidepressants I had taken,” she recalls.
Cat Cattinson in “The Detransition Diaries.” (Photo: The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network)
Lidinsky-Smith, unlike the other two women, went forward with a double mastectomy. Looking back, she believed she would feel better “because she’d be in a body that fit her better.” After her breasts were removed, she recalls, she looked down at the gashes on her chest. “I had the most awful feeling.”
She found others online also had an “intense, suicidal despair after surgery … and then got over it and felt better.” But the experience planted a seed of doubt, she explains. She found a testimony of another person who had transitioned from female to male. As the person described, a desire for “a small amount of masculinization” led to full-out body dysphoria.
At that point, Lidinsky-Smith stopped testosterone and slowly reversed course, eventually growing comfortable enough to use her birth name. “It became important to just accept myself as myself,” she explains.
Kershner and Cattinson described similar breaking points. Kershner realized: “This is not what I thought it would be,” adding that she believed “once I’m a boy, my confidence is gonna come out.” Instead, as she describes, she became dysfunctional.
As Cattinson explains, three months into her testosterone treatment, she found a dramatic drop in her voice. “Nothing was coming out except air and squeaks,” she describes. She stopped going to social events and performing live.
Like the other women, she found an online community of detransitioners and doctors who revealed the hidden underbelly of the trans movement.
She began questioning the basis of transgender ideology: the “idea that we should define a woman based on what’s in a person’s head,” as she describes it. Does “what you believe in your head … really trump the biological reality of being an adult female?” she wondered.
As the documentary concludes, Lidinsky-Smith notes that she is worried about those who continue to get sucked into gender transition treatment, when they can find the answer to their problems elsewhere.
All three women interviewed suffered from suicidal ideation and depression. Each believed that changing her name, pronouns, appearance, and hormones would solve her problems, yet each found her emotional state dramatically worsened as a result.
“I think the fallout will be severe,” Lidinsky-Smith notes. Remarking on the growing community of detransitioners, she adds, “Our voices can no longer be denied.”
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The Woke Zone Trilogy
John Stossel takes up for Babylon Bee and notes “Even a few left-leaning comedians like Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle are mocking the intolerant left!”
Late night hosts like Stephen Colbert, seen speaking during the Montclair Film Festival on Oct. 23, passionately defend leftists to the point of lecturing, rather than providing comedic relief. (Photo: Manny Carabel/Getty Images)
A woman tells the cop who stopped her in a carpool lane she’s allowed to drive there because her pronouns are “they” and “them.”
That’s from a video by a conservative Christian satire site called the Babylon Bee. Their humor gets millions of views.
“Christian conservatives used to … be very dour and self-serious,” says Bee editor-in-chief Kyle Mann in my new video.
Today, he says, it’s the left who are self-serious. “They’re the ones that have trouble laughing at themselves.”
For example, late night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert passionately defend COVID-19 vaccines.
“It is a lecture,” complains Mann.
“The left used to be anti-establishment,” adds Bee actress Chandler Juliet. Now, she says, ‘They’ve become the blob. … We’re super happy to be leading the comedic conversation on the right.”
One Babylon Bee video, “The Woke Zone,” makes fun of the way the media ignored violence and arson during the George Floyd protests.
“Do you ever feel gratitude to the left that they give you so much material?” I ask.
“We have to write things that are funnier than things they’re actually doing,” Mann responds. “That makes our job very difficult.”
One Bee sketch portrays its writers struggling to find new material.
“John Kerry warns that the war in Ukraine might distract from climate change!” suggests one.
Can’t do it, explains another. “It actually happened.” Yes, Kerry really did say that.
“Cosmo magazine features a morbidly obese woman on the cover as the picture of health” and, “Math professor says ‘two plus two equals four’ is racist!” are among other ideas that can’t be used as jokes.
“A math professor really said two plus two equals four is racist?” I ask.
It’s “a colonialist, white supremacist idea,” explains Mann.
Today the Bee reaches more people than The Onion. The establishment doesn’t like that, so some people actually sic so-called fact checkers on the Bee.
One article fact-checked by Snopes was titled, “Bernie Sanders Vows To Round Up Remaining ISIS Members, Allow Them To Vote.”
“Does Snopes not understand that you’re making jokes?” I ask.
“I think that they know what our intention is,” answers Juliet. “They just don’t like us.”
Recently, Twitter banned the Bee. Their offense was tweeting an article that named Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine “Babylon Bee’s Man of the Year.”
Levine is a transgender woman. Calling her the man of the year is a joke I wouldn’t make. But it doesn’t need to be censored.
Twitter says they’ll allow the Bee back on the platform only if they delete the tweet. Mann says he won’t.
“Twitter has the capability to just delete the tweet themselves. They want us to bend the knee and be the ones to click, ‘Yes, we acknowledge hateful conduct.’ We’re not going to do that.”
Today, a lot of comedians attract sizable audiences by mocking the left. Some I found funny are JP Sears, Ryan Long and FreedomToons.
The culture is changing.
The highest rating late-night comic these days is often not Colbert, Kimmel or Fallon, but Greg Gutfeld of Fox.
Even a few left-leaning comedians like Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle are mocking the intolerant left.
“I talk about AIDS, famine, cancer, the Holocaust, rape, pedophilia … the one thing you mustn’t joke about is identity politics,” says Gervais in his recent Netflix special.
Professional media critics trashed him for that. But the special was hugely popular with the public.
The Rotten Tomatoes ratings are revealing. Critics gave Gervais’ special a 29% rating, calling it “terribly unfunny” and “a detestable combination of smug and obtuse.”
Viewers gave it a 92% rating.
The same is true of Chapelle’s latest special, “The Closer.” Critics give it just 40%. The audience gives it 95%.
Clearly, many people are tired of smug, condescending humor.
I’m glad the Babylon Bee, and others, give us an alternative.
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After Life 2 – Man identifies as an 8 year old girl
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Before I get into the fine article by Brendan O’Neill which I present in its entirety, I wanted to quote Francis Schaeffer who spent his life examining the humanism that now Ricky Gervais embraces!
All humans have moral motions and that is why Ricky Gervais knows it is wrong to let biological men use ladies’ bathrooms!!!!!!
“[in Christianity] there is a sufficient basis for morals. Nobody has ever discovered a way of having real “morals” without a moral absolute. If there is no moral absolute, we are left with hedonism (doing what I like) or some form of the social contract theory (what is best for society as a a hole is right). However, neither of these alternative corresponds to the moral motions that men have. Talk to people long enough and deeply enough, and you will find that they consider some things are really right and something are really wrong. Without absolutes, morals as morals cease to exist, and humanistic mean starting from himself is unable to find the absolute he needs. But because the God of the Bible is there, real morals exist. Within this framework I can say one action is right and another wrong, without talking nonsense.” 117
Francis Schaeffer in the film WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE?
He has mocked identity politics – the god of our times
I have long thought that if Life of Brian came out today, it wouldn’t be Christians kicking up a fuss about it — it would be trans activists.
When Monty Python’s classic tale of a man mistaken for a Messiah came to cinemas in 1979, people of faith weren’t happy. They saw it as taking the mick out of Christ and they aired their displeasure noisily. Nuns in New York picketed cinemas. In Ireland the film was banned for eight years.
In 2022 I reckon it would be a very different story. It wouldn’t be Monty Python’s ribbing of the gospels that would outrage the chattering classes — it would be their mockery of trans people.
Life of Brian was way ahead of time. It was Terf before Terf was even a thing. There is a brilliantly observed scene in which Stan of the People’s Front of Judea — or is it the Judean People’s Front? — says he wants to become Loretta.
‘I want to be a woman. From now on, I want you all to call me Loretta’, says Stan, played by Eric Idle. When the others push back and say he can’t just become a woman, he says: ‘It’s my right as a man.’ Which was remarkably perspicacious.
‘I want to have babies’, says Stan / Loretta. ‘You can’t have babies! You haven’t got a womb!’, barks John Cleese’s Reg. Transphobic or what? To calm things down, Francis (Michael Palin) says they should accept Stan’s desire to be Loretta as being ‘symbolic of our struggle against oppression’. ‘Symbolic of his struggle against reality…’ Reg mutters.
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Imagine if a film or TV show did something like that today. Showed an aspiring ‘trans woman’ being mocked for not having the right body parts to be a woman. Showed a man who wants to be a woman being told — for laughs, remember — that the only thing he’s struggling against is reality.
The cancel-culture mob would kick into action. There’d be a Change.org petition, maybe even a physical protest outside the offices of the production company or streaming service that was foolish enough to broadcast such trans-poking humour. ‘Jokes kill!’, we would be told, day and night.
Hell, JK Rowling can’t even very politely say ‘men aren’t women’ without being subjected to weeks of hatred and violent threats — so heaven help the film company that tried to air a Stan / Loretta skit in these febrile times.
This week, my theory about Life of Brianin 2022 was kind of proven right. For we had the pretty extraordinary sight of Ricky Gervais getting a very free ride for his God-mocking while being dragged into the Twitter stocks for his gags about trans issues.
In his new Netflix special SuperNature, Gervais vents his atheistic spleen. The Christian God is cruel and perverted, he says. Those Christian fundamentalists who believe Aids is the Almighty’s way of punishing gay sex clearly believe in a God who’s up in heaven thinking, ‘I’m sick of all this bumming’. And so just as God once said ‘Let there be light’, according to Gervais in the 1980s He said, ‘Let there be Aids’. What a rotter.
This isn’t the first time Gervais has made fun of God and those who believe in him. He’s famously an atheist. He talks about it all the time. (Rather too much, in my view.) But God-bashing is fine these days. Cool, even. Christians tend to take it in their stride. Believers have mostly kept their counsel following Gervais’s latest mockery of their wicked, ridiculous God.
The same cannot be said of trans activists and their allies. Not even remotely. They have responded with fury to Gervais’s blasphemy against the new god of genderfluidity.
He’s been called all the usual names. Transphobe, Terf, bigot. His crime? Choosing not to adhere to the ideology of transgenderism, daring to dissent from that pseudo-religious mantra we are all now pressured into saying: ‘Trans women are women.’
What’s funny about this spittle-flecked response to Gervais’s trans jokes is that he was really only saying what trans activists themselves have said. He had a bit on ‘old-fashioned women’ — ‘you know, the ones with wombs’ — complaining about born males using their bathrooms. ‘What if he rapes me?’, these women say. To which Gervais, playing the trans activist, responds: ‘What if she rapes you, you… Terf whore.’
Cutting, yes. But also incredibly accurate. Some police forces and courts do indeed refer to rapists as ‘she’ and ‘her’, if that’s how they identify. And, as feminists have pointed out, this results in rape victims being pressured to refer to their rapist with female pronouns. As for the language, anyone who has spent more than five minutes online in recent years will know that that kind of thing is said to gender-critical women all the time.
Like all great blasphemous comics, Gervais is merely shining a light on things that really are said, and things which really do happen, and inviting us, his audience, to laugh and say: ‘Yeah, that is kind of ridiculous.’ Much as Monty Python did with the Bible, in fact.
But, say Gervais’s humourless critics, while the likes of Monty Python were punching up — against God, no less — Gervais is punching down, against vulnerable, marginalised trans people. I don’t buy this at all. Gervais has made it clear that he fully supports rights for trans people. His issue is with the excesses of trans activism and the authoritarianism of identity politics more broadly.
‘I talk about Aids, famine, cancer, the Holocaust, rape, paedophilia’, he says in SuperNature. ‘But no, the one thing you mustn’t joke about is identity politics.’
Absolutely. And that’s because identitarianism is the god of our times. It’s the new religion of the elites, their means of controlling and reprimanding the masses. Ridiculing identity politics is to the 21st century what questioning the authority of God was to the 15th. The woke rage against Gervais really does echo earlier outbursts of intolerant religious fury against anyone who dared to dissent from the Word of God.
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I was referred this subject by a tweet by Daniel Dennett which referenced a fine article by Robyn E. Blumner in defense of her boss at the RICHARD DAWKINS FOUNDATION and you can read my response at this link.
Ricky Gervais is a secular humanist just like his good friend Richard Dawkins and it is the humanists who have bought into this trans-identity politics and as a result the AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION has stripped Dawkins of his 1996 HUMANIST OF THE YEAR award.
As an evangelical I have had the opportunity to correspond with more more secular humanists that have signed the Humanist Manifestos than any other evangelical alive (at least that has been one of my goals since reading Francis Schaeffer’s books and watching his films since 1979).
Let me make a few points about Ricky personally and then a few about this comedy routine by the secular humanist Ricky Gervais.
Notice below in AFTER LIFE how he suspects Anne of being a Christian when she tells him “We are not just here for us. We are here for others,“
Ricky Gervais and Penelope Wilton in ‘After Life’ (CREDIT: Netflix)
(Above) Tony (played by Ricky) and Anne on the bench at the graveyard where their spouses are buried.
In the fourth episode of season 1 of AFTER LIFE is the following discussion between Anne and Tony:
Tony: My brother-in-law wants me to try dating again.
Anne: Oh excellent! You need some tips.
Tony: why would I need some tips?
Anne: I imagine you are awful with women…Well all men are awful with women but grumpy selfish ones are the worst.
Tony: Let me take notes. This is dynamite.
Tony: I would just be honest. Tell them my situation and tell them what I am going through. Be honest up front.
Anne: So it is all about you then?
Tony: I can’t win can I? I don’t want to date again. I don’t want to live without Lisa.
Anne: But is not just about you is it? That is what I am saying. What if a nice date made her feel good? That might feel nice right? We are just here for us. We are here for others.
Tony: I don’t do the whole God thing I am afraid.
Anne: Neither do I. It is a load of rubbish. All we got is each other. We have to help each other struggle until we die then we are done. No point in felling sorry for ourselves and making everyone else unhappy too. Might as [kill] yourself if you feel that bad.
Tony: Are you sure you want to work for the Samaritans?
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Christ came to this world and his followers have changed this world for the better more than any other group that ever existed. When Anne makes the assertions, “But is not just about you is it? That is what I am saying. What if a nice date made her feel good? That might feel nice right? We are not just here for us. We are here for others,” Tony assumes she is a Christian.
If you found yourself in a dark alley late at night, with a group of rough-looking, burly young men walking swiftly toward you, would you feel better knowing they were coming from a Bible study?
If we are only cosmic accidents, how can there be any meaning in our lives? If this is true, which it is in an atheistic world view, our lives are for nothing. It would not matter in the slightest bit if I ever existed. This is why the atheist, if honest and consistent, must face death with despair. Their life is for nothing. Once they are gone, they are gone forever.
I highly recommend Ricky Gervais series AFTER LIFE which is running on NETFLIX because it reminds me of King Solomon trying to find meaning in life UNDER THE SUN without God in the picture!!!
God put Solomon’s story in Ecclesiastes in the Bible with the sole purpose of telling people like Ricky that without God in the picture you will find out the emptiness one feels when possessions are trying to fill the void that God can only fill.
‘I want to have babies’, says Stan / Loretta. ‘You can’t have babies! You haven’t got a womb!’, barks John Cleese’s Reg. Transphobic or what? To calm things down, Francis (Michael Palin) says they should accept Stan’s desire to be Loretta as being ‘symbolic of our struggle against oppression’. ‘Symbolic of his struggle against reality…’ Reg mutters….
He’s been called all the usual names. Transphobe, Terf, bigot. His crime? Choosing not to adhere to the ideology of transgenderism, daring to dissent from that pseudo-religious mantra we are all now pressured into saying: ‘Trans women are women.’
What’s funny about this spittle-flecked response to Gervais’s trans jokes is that he was really only saying what trans activists themselves have said. He had a bit on ‘old-fashioned women’ — ‘you know, the ones with wombs’ — complaining about born males using their bathrooms. ‘What if he rapes me?’, these women say. To which Gervais, playing the trans activist, responds: ‘What if she rapes you, you… Terf whore.’
Ricky is trying to use common sense (through sarcasm) on people that “GOD GAVE…OVER to depraved [minds]. Romans 1 states:
26 For this reason (M)GOD GAVE THEM OVER to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural…
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are…inventors of evil,
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Francis Schaeffer later in this blog post discusses what the unbelievers in Romans 1 were rejecting, but first John MacArthur discusses what the unbelievers in the Democratic Party today are affirming and how these same activities were condemned 2000 years ago in Romans 1.
Christians Cannot And MUST Not Vote Democrat – John MacArthur
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A Democrat witness testifying before the HouseJudiciary Committee on abortion rights Thursday declared that men can get pregnant and have abortions. This reminds of Romans chapter 1 and also John MacArthur’s commentary on the 2022 Agenda of the Democratic Party:
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…26 For this reason (M)GOD GAVE THEM OVER to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are…inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Now, all of a sudden, not only is this characteristic of our nation, but we now promote it. One of the parties, the Democratic Party, has now made Romans 1, the sins of Romans 1, their agenda. What God condemns, they affirm.
I know from last week’s message that there was some response from people who said, “Why are you getting political?”
Romans 1 is not politics. This has to do with speaking the Word of God through the culture in which we live….it’s about iniquity and judgment. And why do we say this? Because this must be recognized for what it is–sin, serious sin, damning sin, destructive sin.
Dem witness tells House committee men can get pregnant, have abortions
‘I believe that everyone can identify for themselves,’ Aimee Arrambide tells House Judiciary Committee
A Democrat witness testifying before the HouseJudiciary Committee on abortion rights Thursday declared that men can get pregnant and have abortions.
Aimee Arrambide, the executive director of the abortion rights nonprofit Avow Texas, was asked by Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., to define what “a woman is,” to which she responded, “I believe that everyone can identify for themselves.”
“Do you believe that men can become pregnant and have abortions?” Bishop asked.
“Yes,” Arrambide replied.
The remarks from Arrambide followed a tense exchange between Bishop and Dr. Yashica Robinson, another Democrat witness, after he similarly asked her to define “woman.”
Aimee Arrambide testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on May 11, 2020. (YouTube screenshot) (Screenshot/ House Committee on the Judiciary)
“Dr. Robinson, I noticed in your written testimony you said that you use she/her pronouns. You’re a medical doctor – what is a woman?” Bishop asked Robinson, an OBGYN and board member with Physicians for Reproductive Health.
“I think it’s important that we educate people like you about why we’re doing the things that we do,” Robinson responded. “And so the reason that I use she and her pronouns is because I understand that there are people who become pregnant that may not identify that way. And I think it is discriminatory to speak to people or to call them in such a way as they desire not to be called.”
“Are you going to answer my question? Can you answer the question, what’s a woman?” Bishop asked.
Donna Howard and Aimee Arrambide speaks at Making Virtual Storytelling and Activism Personal during the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 14, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Hubert Vestil/Getty Images for SXSW)
“I’m a woman, and I will ask you which pronouns do you use?” Robinson replied. “If you tell me that you use she and her pronouns … I’m going to respect you for how you want me to address you.”
“So you gave me an example of a woman, you say that you are a woman, can you tell me otherwise what a woman is?” Bishop asked.
“Yes, I’m telling you, I’m a woman,” Robinson responded.
“Is that as comprehensive a definition as you can give me?” Bishop asked.
“That’s as comprehensive a definition as I will give you today,” Robinson said. “Because I think that it’s important that we focus on what we’re here for, and it’s to talk about access to abortion.”
“So you’re not interested in answering the question that I asked unless it’s part of a message you want to deliver…” Bishop fired back.
Wednesday’s hearing, titled, “Revoking your Rights,” addressed the threat to abortion rights after the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion signaled the high court is poised to soon strike down Roe v. Wade.
John MacArthur explains God’s Wrath on unrighteousness from Romans Chapt…
18 For (A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who (B)suppress the truth [a]in unrighteousness, 19 because (C)that which is known about God is evident [b]within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For (D)since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, (E)being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not [c]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became (F)futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 (G)Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and (H)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and [d]crawling creatures.
24 Therefore (I)God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be (J)dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for [e]a (K)lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, (L)who is blessed [f]forever. Amen.
26 For this reason (M)God gave them over to (N)degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [g]unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, (O)men with men committing [h]indecent acts and receiving in [i]their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit [j]to acknowledge God any longer, (P)God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are(Q)gossips, 30 slanderers, [k](R)haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, (S)disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, (T)unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of (U)death, they not only do the same, but also (V)give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Now, all of a sudden, not only is this characteristic of our nation, but we now promote it. One of the parties, the Democratic Party, has now made Romans 1, the sins of Romans 1, their agenda. What God condemns, they affirm. What God punishes, they exalt. Shocking, really. The Democratic Party has become the anti-God party, the sin-promoting party. By the way, there are seventy-two million registered Democrats in this country who have identified themselves with that party and maybe they need to rethink that identification.
I know from last week’s message that there was some response from people who said, “Why are you getting political?”
Romans 1 is not politics. The Bible is not politics. This has nothing to do with politics. This has to do with speaking the Word of God through the culture in which we live. It has nothing to do with politics. It’s not about personalities; it’s about iniquity and judgment. And why do we say this? Because this must be recognized for what it is–sin, serious sin, damning sin, destructive sin.
WHAT HAS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY REJECTED? THE ANSWER IS THE GOD WHO HAS REVEALED HIM SELF THROUGH THE BOOK OF NATURE AND THE BOOK OF SCRIPTURE!
God Is There And He Is Not Silent
Psalm 19
Intro. 1) Francis Schaeffer lived from 1912-1984. He was one of the Christian
intellectual giants of the 20th century. He taught us that you could be a Christian and not abandon the mind. One of the books he wrote was entitled He Is There And He Is Not Silent. In that work he makes a crucial and thought provoking statement, “The infinite- personal God is there, but also he is not silent; that changes the whole world…He is there and is not a silent, nor far-off God.” (Works of F.S., Vol 1, 276).
2) God is there and He is not silent. In fact He has revealed Himself to us in 2 books: the book of nature and the book of Scripture. Francis Bacon, a 15th century scientist who is credited by many with developing the scientific method said it this way: “There are 2 books laid before us to study, to prevent us from falling into error: first the volume to the Scriptures, which reveal the will of God; then the volume of the creation, which expresses His power.”
3) Psalm 19 addresses both of God’s books, the book of nature in vs 1-6 and the book of Scripture in vs. 7-14. Described as a wisdom Psalm, its beauty, poetry and splendor led C.S. Lewis to say, “I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world” (Reflections on the Psalms, 63).
Trans. God is there and He is not silent. How should we hear and listen to the God who talks?
I. Listen To God Speak Through Nature 19:1-6
God has revealed himself to ever rational human on the earth in two ways: 1) nature and 2) conscience. We call this natural or general revelation. In vs. 1-6 David addresses the wonder of nature and creation.
Whatever Happened To The Human Race? | Episode 5 | Truth and History
First is what Romans says: Romans 1:18-32 New American Standard Bible (NASB) Unbelief and Its Consequences 18 For (A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who (B)suppress the truth [a]in unrighteousness, 19 because (C)that which is known about God is evident [b]within them; for God made it evident to […]
Abortion and the Campaign for Immorality (Selected Scriptures) John MacArthur Published on Sep 30, 2012 by JohnMacArthurGTY http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-448 What a privilege and joy it is to worship the Lord here at Grace Church. Patricia and I miss it when we’re not here. There’s no place like this. Our hearts are full to overflowing to be […]
Prophecy–The Biblical Prophesy About Tyre.mp4 Uploaded by TruthIsLife7 on Dec 5, 2010 A short summary of the prophecy about Tyre and it’s precise fulfillment. Go to this link and watch the whole series for the amazing fulfillment from secular sources. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvt4mDZUefo ________________ John MacArthur on the amazing fulfilled prophecy on Tyre and how it was fulfilled […]
1 John 5:14-17 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 14 This is (A)the confidence which we have [a]before Him, that, (B)if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, (C)we know that we have the requests which we have asked from […]
Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar & Mbappe pay tribute to Pele, the ‘king of football’: Who said what
Brazilian football star Pele, who changed the game of soccer, died on Thursday at the age of 82. Pele died of cancer in Brazil. The football legend had been in increasingly fragile health, battling kidney problems and colon cancer.
In September 2021, he also underwent surgery for colon cancer, followed by chemotherapy.
The demise of the legend, who is widely acknowledged as the greatest player in the history of football, triggered a wave of tributes from the sports world.
Reactions poured in from around the world to the death of Brazilian soccer legend. Argentina’s soccer star Lionel Messi remembered Pele, while Brazil football star Neymar paid tribute to Pele and said he “transformed football into an art.”
France’s Kylian Mbappe condoled Pele’s death and said that his legacy “will never be forgotten.” Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldocalled Pele an “inspiration to millions.”
“My deep condolences to all of Brazil, and in particular to the family of Edson Arantes do Nascimento. A mere “goodbye” to the eternal King Pelé will never be enough to express the pain that the entire football world is currently embracing. An inspiration to so many millions, a reference yesterday, today and forever,” Ronaldo said.
The 37-year-old said the love Pele showed to him was reciprocated in every moment they shared, even those they shared from a distance.
“The love you always showed me was reciprocated in every moment we shared even from a distance. He will never be forgotten and his memory will live forever in each and every one of us football lovers. Rest in peace King Pelé,” he added.
“Rest in peace, @pele,” said Lionel Messi who recently led Argentina to the FIFA World Cup 2022 victory.
Athletics legend Usain Bolt also took the photo-sharing platform to pay tribute to Pele.
“A Sporting Legend. Rest in Peace King Pele,” Bolt wrote.
Apart from footballer, Pele appeared in the 1981 film ‘Escape to Victory’ about Allied prisoners of war during World War II along with the likes of Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone and Moore.
Between 1995 and 1998, Pele was even Brazil’s Extraordinary Minister for Sport, while he also regularly appeared in public as an ambassador for numerous commercial brands.
Later in life, he suffered a series of health problems that led to surgery on his hips, kidney stones and on a colon tumor. But that did not stop Pele from living life to the full. In 2016, Pele married for the third time as he tied the knot with Marcia Aoki.
Remembering the life and legacy of football legend Pelé | ESPN FC
My grandfather, Everette Hatcher Sr., told me that he attended a soccer match in Brazil with 140,000 other fans and there was a moat around the field. Today I verified that such a stadium has existed in Brazil since 1950 with a moat around the field!!!!
The playing field is 110m long by 75m wide. It is surrounded by a moat 3m wide and deep. Access to the field is through four underground tunnels.
1950 World Cup
Where Is The Maracana Stadium
Inaugurated for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, the colossal stadium has seen some of the most incredible moments in Brazilian and world soccer history.
Italy Four Time World Cup Winner 1934 – 1938 – 1982 – 2006
AP Photo
With Europe on the brink of war, Mussolini’s Italian team, defending champions, reveled in their role as tournament heel. Their fixtures in France drew boisterous mobs of exiled Italian anti-fascists, up to 10,000 strong, who came to jeer their country’s every move. These protests only appeared to raise the Italians’ game. Led by the cunning play of Giuseppe Meazza, the team strolled to a second consecutive world championship.
Controversy came in the quarterfinals against the hosts. As both teams sported blue jerseys, Italy was asked to bring its alternate shirts which were traditionally white. Instead, on Mussolini’s orders, the team took to the field in black shirts, the Maglia Nera, a symbol of the feared and despised Italian fascist paramilitary. It was a gesture purposefully designed to goad the thousands of French and Italian protestors in the crowd. As an additional flourish, Il Duce ordered his players to hold the fascist salutes they effected before kickoff until the howling protestors had run out of energy. The team kept the title for the next 12 years as even the World Cup was trumped by the swirling conflict which consumed the Continent.
They had won just 4 years earlier too as you can see in video clip below:
This salute above by the Italian team reminds me of what happened just a few years later in 1936 in Berlin. Take a look at this clip below narrated by Jesse Owens:
Narrated by Jesse Owens, with the orginal music.
The Nazis went to great lengths to pretend that they were the ‘master race’, but in the end the only ones they fooled were themselves. They looked cool, but little else. Their movement was self-destructive and doomed from the start. Even if WWII had not occurred the Nazi regime would have disintegrated upon Hitler’s death.
Nixon may have summed it up the best, with a similar self realization, in a final speech as he departed the White House in disgrace: “others may hate you, but they don’t win until you hate them, and then you destroy yourself”.
Wilson Hatcher picks:
Brazil’s 1950 World Cup Team
To say Brazil were confident about winning the 1950 World Cup would be an understatement. Instead of a final match, there was a final group, and to win the World Cup, Brazil only needed a draw against Uruguay. A special song was composed for the expected occasion of Brazil’s victory, and the Brazilian FA had 22 gold medals engraved with the players’ names. FIFA President Jules Rimet had prepared his victory speech in Portuguese, so sure was he, too, of a Brazilian win. But as they say, pride goes before a fall, and Uruguay overturned a one-goal Brazilian lead to win the match, and thus, the World Cup. Brazil were shocked, and their team was disgraced, many never playing for the national team again. Even the white shirts used in the match were too closely associated with the failure of 1950 to ever be used again, and to this day, Brazil have never again worn a white shirt.
The World Cup is played on a razor’s edge. In every tournament, national pride, personal emotion, and competitive instinct are all at a fever pitch. Perceived slights can boil over and become international disputes. Legends can become villains, and ordinary men can attain infamous immortality. Sometimes the catalyst can be simple as failing to live up to hype, others are audacious moments replayed for eternity. Whatever the reason, here in no particular order are the 4 Most Controversial Moments in World Cup History:The Battle of Santiago
The BBC’s David Coleman introduced Chile and Italy’s group match at the 1962 World Cup as “the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game.” Referee Ken Alston, later to become famous for his invention of the yellow and red cards remarked, “I wasn’t reffing a football match, I was acting as an umpire in military maneuvers.” It was, by all accounts, one of the most violent crimes ever perpetrated upon the game of football. The first foul occurred just 12 seconds after kickoff, setting the tone for the match. Several minutes later, Italian midfielder Giorgio Ferrini had to be physically removed by policemen, kicking and screaming, for refusing to leave after being sent off. In response to repeated fouling by Italy’s Mario David, Leonel Sanchez, son of a prizefighter, knocked him to the ground. David was then sent off for retaliating, kicking Sanchez in the head. Sanchez later broke Italian forward Humberto Maschio’s nose with a left hook. The police were needed to intervene three more times before Chile won, putting two late goals past nine-man Italy.
Zidane’s Headbutt
He was one of the greatest players the game had ever known, enjoying the unlikeliest of fairytale swansongs before he retired, leading his team to the World Cup Final. At the age of 34, his retirement imminent, Zinedine Zidane looked like he might turn back the clock and help France to its second World Cup title. He had scored two goals so far in the tournament, and already been named recipient of the Golden Ball as the competition’s best player when he led his French side out against Italy. He even scored the first goal of the match, an audacious chipped penalty in the seventh minute, and everything seemed set for Zidane to ride off into the sunset, hero of his nation. But Italy had other ideas. Marco Materazzi scored in the 19th minute, and as the game dragged on into extra time, the two goalscorers exchanged words before Zidane stopped, turned around, and headbutted Materazzi in the chest. He is immediately sent off. Without their captain, talisman, and penalty taker, France lose in the shootout, and the World’s lasting impression of one of the game’s legends is that of a moment of anger and petulance.
Brazil’s 1950 World Cup Team
To say Brazil were confident about winning the 1950 World Cup would be an understatement. Instead of a final match, there was a final group, and to win the World Cup, Brazil only needed a draw against Uruguay. A special song was composed for the expected occasion of Brazil’s victory, and the Brazilian FA had 22 gold medals engraved with the players’ names. FIFA President Jules Rimet had prepared his victory speech in Portuguese, so sure was he, too, of a Brazilian win. But as they say, pride goes before a fall, and Uruguay overturned a one-goal Brazilian lead to win the match, and thus, the World Cup. Brazil were shocked, and their team was disgraced, many never playing for the national team again. Even the white shirts used in the match were too closely associated with the failure of 1950 to ever be used again, and to this day, Brazil have never again worn a white shirt.
Maradona’s Hand of God
There could only ever be one Maradona. The embodiment of flawed genius, the collision of the breathtaking and the sublime with the low, petty and petulant, The 1986 World Cup was his defining moment. Having just fought a war four years earlier, more over national pride than over a bit of cold and scrubby rock in the South Atlantic, and having been on unfriendly footballing terms since the 1966 World Cup, the quarterfinal between England and Argentina was never likely to be clean or quiet. Nobody, however, could have expected what Diego Armando Maradona would do. His two goals, dubbed the “Hand of God” and the “Goal of the Century” give an insight into the two competing facets of his personality. The Hand of God was the recklessly competitive slum kid, willing to do anything to win. The Goal of the Century was the brilliant footballer, sure of his abilities and lethal in their application. Yet Maradona’s genius was flawed, and it’s the Hand of God for which he is remembered, and by many in the English public, reviled.
The Kansas City Star reported: The Kansas City Star reported: Less than 24 hours after a history-making loss, the United States men’s national soccer team landed in Kansas City bloody, but unbowed. Not only did a 2-1 defeat against Panama on Saturday night mark the Americans’ first group-play loss in the 20-year history of the […]
LA Galaxy reported: Gold Cup: USA at loss for answers after historic loss No explanation for lackadaisical start, says Donovan after loss Simon Borg MLSsoccer.com June 11, 2011 (Getty Images) TAMPA, Fla. – It’s a script the US national team has seen play out plenty of times over the last year or so: Slow start. […]
Yahoo Sports reported: The rivalry between the Seattle Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps goes back to their days in the old NASL in the 1970s, but the final 10 minutes of their first MLS match against each other on Saturday night might have been the best yet. The Sounders’ Mauro Rosales pulled the score even […]
Today we are discussing the 7th most controversial game. Everette Hatcher’s choice: I have chosen this game partly because it was a game that the USA won. Sadly Escobar was killed in a bar back in Columbia when he got home. Two of my sons were learning soccer at the time and they were 7 […]
Today we are discussing the 8th most controversial game. Everette Hatcher picks the Germany v. USA game in 2002. 2002 World Cup Quarter Finals: Germany vs United States Close call on hand-ball: In the 49th minute of Friday’s Germany-United States World Cup quarterfinal, a shot by American Gregg Berhalter bounced off German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and […]
Today is a discussion of the 9th most controversial game in World Cup History. Wilson Hatcher: I believe the game between Slovenia and the USA is my choice for number 10. Bradley revisits controversial call in World Cup The day after a controversial call annulled an apparent goal and left the United States in a […]
Uploaded by TubeCentary on Jun 7, 2011 Goals from the GOLD CUP match. Dempsey and Altidore with the goals. Hilarious American commentary to go with it. The Associated Press reported: Five Mexican players fail test Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Five players on Mexico’s soccer team, including goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and defender Francisco Rodriguez, have […]
Today is a discussion of the 10th most controversial game in World Cup History. Everette Hatcher: I believe the game between Slovenia and the USA is my choice for number 10. Bradley revisits controversial call in World Cup The day after a controversial call annulled an apparent goal and left the United States in a […]
Today we are discussing the best player of all time. Everette Hatcher picks Pele. Pele The Great videosport.jumptv.com – A tribute to history’s greatest soccer player of all time. Wilson Hatcher’s pick: Lionel Messi Lionel Messi 2009 – Top 10 Goals *NEW* This list is based on talent not influence. For Pele would easily be […]
I was saddened to learn of the passing of Sir John Sulston on March 6, 2018 and I wanted to spend time on several posts concentrating on him. Probably the best video tribute to him I have found is this video below, but the best interview of Dr. Sulston ever done was by Alan Macfarlane and it is below too.
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Interview of Sir John Sulston – part one
Uploaded on Jun 24, 2010
An Interview on the life and work of Sir John Sulston, Nobel Prize winner, who organized the team which sequenced the human genome for the first time. For a higher quality, downloadable, version, with a detailed summary please see http://www.alanmacfarlane.com
Interview of Sir John Sulston – part two
Uploaded on Jun 24, 2010
An Interview on the life and work of Sir John Sulston, Nobel Prize winner, who organized the team which sequenced the human genome for the first time. For a higher quality, downloadable, version, with a detailed summary please see http://www.alanmacfarlane.com
_________
QUOTE from Dr. Sulston:
I see that we have enormous amounts to discover as a strategy for going forward as human beings; I believe atheism makes coherent sense; all the religions are in conflict with each other; they have different stories, based on insubstantial records, but justify them with saying that there was some direct communication with a deity in the past which has led them to this belief; I find those unconvincing, particularly because of the conflict; this was my main argument in discussions with my father and he found it hard to answer that.
CRAIG VENTER, JOHN SULSTON, FRANCIS COLLINS, HAMILTON SMITH AND JEAN WEISSENBACH
XXXXXXXXXXX
Francis Schaeffer above
Charles Darwin
Adrian Rogers
Hamilton Smith above, and Craig Venter with Smith below
__
July 6, 2017
Professor John Sulston, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Dear Dr. John Sulston,
I have also really enjoyed reading about you in others’ books. For instance, I just read the book A LIFE DECODED BY J. Craig Venter and he talks a lot about you. I noticed in the beginning of that book he started off with a quote from someone you like to talk about a lot and that is Charles Darwin:
We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with
all his noble qualities . . . still bears in his bodily frame the indelible
stamp of his lowly origin. —Charles Darwin
Did you know that Charles Darwin struggled his whole life attempting to get to a place where he was at peace with the idea that all this was a result of just time and chance, but he never was satisfied on that point.
Another person mentioned in that book is Ham Smith and I actually had the opportunity to correspond with him back in 1994 when I sent him a recorded message. Did you know that Ham Smith’s son is an evangelical? On the tenth anniversary of Francis Schaeffer’s passing, May 15, 1994, I sent out to several hundred prominent skeptics an evangelistic letter that told about Schaeffer’s life. This same letter included the audio recording entitled “Dust, Darwin, and Disbelief,” by Adrian Rogers and Bill Elliff. That recording started off with the song DUST IN THE WIND by the group KANSAS for the simple reason that if we accept that we are the result of chance then all we are is DUST IN THE WIND.
Let start off by quoting Francis Schaeffer from his talk In the spring of 1968 which centered on the Autobiography of Charles Darwin:
Darwin in his autobiography Darwin, Francis ed. 1892. Charles Darwin: his life told in an autobiographical chapter, and in a selected series of his published letters [abridged edition]. London: John Murray, and in his letters showed that all through his life he NEVER really came to a QUIETNESS concerning the possibility that chance really explained the situation of the biological world. You will find there is much material on this [from Darwin] extended over many many years that constantly he was wrestling with this problem. Darwin never came to a place of satisfaction. You have philosophically ONLY TWO possible beginnings. The first would be a PERSONAL beginning and the other would be an IMPERSONEL beginning plus time plus CHANCE. There is no other possible alternative except the alternative that everything comes out of nothing and that has to be a total nothing and that has to be a total nothing without mass, energy or motion existing. No one holds this last view because it is unthinkable. Darwin understood this and therefore until his death he was uncomfortable with the idea of CHANCE producing the biological variation.
Darwin, C. R.to Graham, William3 July 1881 (letter written less than a year before Darwin’s death and less than 40 years before your birth, Dr Barlow):
Nevertheless you have EXPRESSED MY INWARD CONVICTION, though far more vividly and clearly than I could have done, that the Universe is NOT THE RESULT OF CHANCE.* But THEN with me the HORRID DOUBT ALWAYS ARISES whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?
Francis Schaeffer comments:
Can you feel this man? He is in real agony. You can feel the whole of modern man in this tension with Darwin. My mind can’t accept that ultimate of chance, that the universe is a result of chance. He has said 3 or 4 times now that he can’t accept that it all happened by chance and then he will write someone else and say something different. How does he say this (about the mind of a monkey) and then put forth this grand theory? Wrong theory I feel but great just the same. Grand in the same way as when I look at many of the paintings today and I differ with their message but you must say the mark of the mannishness of man are one those paintings titanic-ally even though the message is wrong and this is the same with Darwin. But how can he say you can’t think, you come from a monkey’s mind, and you can’t trust a monkey’s mind, and you can’t trust a monkey’s conviction, so how can you trust me? Trust me here, but not there is what Darwin is saying. In other words it is very selective.
Evidently Darwin was telling his friends that he was an agnostic and that he did not think that God had anything to do with it but it was all left to the hands of chance. Is that the way you are reading this?
The answer to find meaning in life is found in putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Bible is true from cover to cover and can be trusted. The world is not a result of blind chance, but we all were put here for a purpose by God. If you want to investigate the evidence concerning the accuracy of the Bible then I suggest you read Psalms 22 which was written about a thousand years before the crucifixion events it described. Furthermore, when King David wrote those words the practice of stoning was the primary way of executing someone in Israel.
and you will hear what far smarter people than I have to say on this matter. I agree with them.
Harry Kroto
Nick Gathergood, David-Birkett, Harry-Kroto
I have attempted to respond to all of Dr. Kroto’s friends arguments and I have posted my responses one per week for over a year now. Here are some of my earlier posts:
The John Lennon and the Beatles really were on a long search for meaning and fulfillment in their lives just like King Solomon did in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon looked into learning (1:12-18, 2:12-17), laughter, ladies, luxuries, and liquor (2:1-2, 8, 10, 11), and labor (2:4-6, 18-20). He fount that without God in the picture all […]
______________ George Harrison Swears & Insults Paul and Yoko Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds- The Beatles The Beatles: I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis Schaeffer spent a lot of time listening to the Beatles and talking […]
The Beatles in a press conference after their Return from the USA Uploaded on Nov 29, 2010 The Beatles in a press conference after their Return from the USA. The Beatles: I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis […]
__________________ Beatles 1966 Last interview I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis Schaeffer spent a lot of time listening to the Beatles and talking and writing about them and their impact on the culture of the 1960’s. In this […]
_______________ The Beatles documentary || A Long and Winding Road || Episode 5 (This video discusses Stg. Pepper’s creation I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis Schaeffer spent a lot of time listening to the Beatles and talking and writing about […]
_______________ Francis Schaeffer pictured below: _____________________ I have included the 27 minute episode THE AGE OF NONREASON by Francis Schaeffer. In that video Schaeffer noted, ” Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band…for a time it became the rallying cry for young people throughout the world. It expressed the essence of their lives, thoughts and their feelings.” How Should […]
Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 1 ___________________________________ Today I will answer the simple question: IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE AN OPTIMISTIC SECULAR HUMANIST THAT DOES NOT BELIEVE IN GOD OR AN AFTERLIFE? This question has been around for a long time and you can go back to the 19th century and read this same […]
____________________________________ Francis Schaeffer pictured below: __________ Francis Schaeffer has written extensively on art and culture spanning the last 2000years and here are some posts I have done on this subject before : Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 10 “Final Choices” , episode 9 “The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence”, episode 8 […]
Love and Death [Woody Allen] – What if there is no God? [PL] ___________ _______________ How Should We then Live Episode 7 small (Age of Nonreason) #02 How Should We Then Live? (Promo Clip) Dr. Francis Schaeffer 10 Worldview and Truth Two Minute Warning: How Then Should We Live?: Francis Schaeffer at 100 Francis Schaeffer […]
___________________________________ Francis Schaeffer pictured below: ____________________________ Francis Schaeffer “BASIS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY” Whatever…HTTHR Dr. Francis schaeffer – The flow of Materialism(from Part 4 of Whatever happened to human race?) Dr. Francis Schaeffer – The Biblical flow of Truth & History (intro) Francis Schaeffer – The Biblical Flow of History & Truth (1) Dr. Francis Schaeffer […]
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, is urging his Senate counterparts to reject the $1.85 trillion omnibus spending bill in order to strengthen GOP’s oversight authority for the next Congress.
Comer will ascend to chairman of the powerful House committee Jan. 3 with a range of investigations planned. Before he’s even able to get started, however, Senate Republicans who support the omnibus spending bill could strip Comer of important leverage—the power of the purse.
With 20 Republican senators already votingTuesday on a procedural motion to advance the bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., appears to have enough GOP support to get the bill done this week.
That hasn’t stopped Comer and other House Republicans from warning about the consequences.
“It’s imperative that we stop the massive omnibusso that Republicans can use our majority power next Congress to conduct oversight of the federal government, hold the Biden Administration accountable, and enact good government reforms,” Comer told The Daily Signal in a statement.
Withholding money from the Biden administration is one tool House Republicans can use to exercise effective oversight—particularly if federal agencies and government officials are uncooperative or not forthcoming with information in the new year.
“The primary method that Congress can use to hold federal agencies accountable is via appropriations,” said Paul Winfree, former budget policy director for President Donald Trump and a distinguished fellow at The Heritage Foundation. “They should not be appropriating until they’ve figured out just how to use their oversight powers.” (The Daily Signal is the multimedia news organization of The Heritage Foundation.)
Passage of the omnibus spending bill would insulate the Biden administration from a spending fight for the next year. The bill making its way through the Senate funds the president’s agenda from through Sept. 30, 2023.
Comer was first elected to Congress in 2016 and served as ranking member on the House Oversight and Reform Committee while Democrats had the majority. He’ll ascend to the top spot once the 118th Congress starts in less than two weeks.
He’s among a vocal group of House Republicans who are warning about implications of passing the massive spending bill during the current lame-duck Congress rather than waiting until next year when Republicans have control of the House.
“It’s no surprise that Democrats are racing to use their waning days of power to force through trillions of dollars in new spending and a host of bad policies that will weaken our country,” Comer told The Daily Signal. “Democrats’ unhinged, inflation-inducing spending binge over the last two years caused 40-year high inflation that’s harming the pocketbooks of Americans and has allowed rampant government waste.”
In addition to Comer, 13 House Republicans are promising to oppose and stymie the legislative priorities of any Republican senator who votes in favor of the omnibus spending bill this week. They have the support of likely incoming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as well.
Schumer already has the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. They were among the 20 Senate Republicans who voted to move forward on the bill Tuesday.
Earlier this year, House Republicans outlined an ambitious oversight agenda. It includes an investigation of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas’ failures leading to the border crisis, the government’s collusion with Big Tech to censor speech, the origins of COVID-19, Hunter Biden’s corrupt business dealings, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, politicization of the FBI, the administration’s promotion of critical race theory, and many other topics.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.
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Incoming House Oversight Chairman: ‘Imperative’ to Stop Omnibus Spending Bill
“It’s imperative that we stop the massive omnibus so that Republicans can use our majority power next Congress to conduct oversight of the federal government, hold the Biden Administration accountable, and enact good government reforms,” Rep. James Comer, incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said in a statement. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, is urging his Senate counterparts to reject the $1.85 trillion omnibus spending bill in order to strengthen GOP’s oversight authority for the next Congress.
Comer will ascend to chairman of the powerful House committee Jan. 3 with a range of investigations planned. Before he’s even able to get started, however, Senate Republicans who support the omnibus spending bill could strip Comer of important leverage—the power of the purse.
With 20 Republican senators already votingTuesday on a procedural motion to advance the bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., appears to have enough GOP support to get the bill done this week.
That hasn’t stopped Comer and other House Republicans from warning about the consequences.
“It’s imperative that we stop the massive omnibusso that Republicans can use our majority power next Congress to conduct oversight of the federal government, hold the Biden Administration accountable, and enact good government reforms,” Comer told The Daily Signal in a statement.
Withholding money from the Biden administration is one tool House Republicans can use to exercise effective oversight—particularly if federal agencies and government officials are uncooperative or not forthcoming with information in the new year.
“The primary method that Congress can use to hold federal agencies accountable is via appropriations,” said Paul Winfree, former budget policy director for President Donald Trump and a distinguished fellow at The Heritage Foundation. “They should not be appropriating until they’ve figured out just how to use their oversight powers.” (The Daily Signal is the multimedia news organization of The Heritage Foundation.)
Passage of the omnibus spending bill would insulate the Biden administration from a spending fight for the next year. The bill making its way through the Senate funds the president’s agenda from through Sept. 30, 2023.
Comer was first elected to Congress in 2016 and served as ranking member on the House Oversight and Reform Committee while Democrats had the majority. He’ll ascend to the top spot once the 118th Congress starts in less than two weeks.
He’s among a vocal group of House Republicans who are warning about implications of passing the massive spending bill during the current lame-duck Congress rather than waiting until next year when Republicans have control of the House.
“It’s no surprise that Democrats are racing to use their waning days of power to force through trillions of dollars in new spending and a host of bad policies that will weaken our country,” Comer told The Daily Signal. “Democrats’ unhinged, inflation-inducing spending binge over the last two years caused 40-year high inflation that’s harming the pocketbooks of Americans and has allowed rampant government waste.”
In addition to Comer, 13 House Republicans are promising to oppose and stymie the legislative priorities of any Republican senator who votes in favor of the omnibus spending bill this week. They have the support of likely incoming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as well.
Schumer already has the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. They were among the 20 Senate Republicans who voted to move forward on the bill Tuesday.
Earlier this year, House Republicans outlined an ambitious oversight agenda. It includes an investigation of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas’ failures leading to the border crisis, the government’s collusion with Big Tech to censor speech, the origins of COVID-19, Hunter Biden’s corrupt business dealings, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, politicization of the FBI, the administration’s promotion of critical race theory, and many other topics.
By voting for the $1.7 trillion spending bill, Senate Republicans would strip their House counterparts of the leverage they need on all those investigations and more by giving Biden and Democrats exactly what they want—money to continue on, unaffected, for another year.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.
March 31, 2021
President Biden c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
Please explain to me if you ever do plan to balance the budget while you are President? I have written these things below about you and I really do think that you don’t want to cut spending in order to balance the budget. It seems you ever are daring the Congress to stop you from spending more.
“The credit of the United States ‘is not a bargaining chip,’ Obama said on 1-14-13. However, President Obama keeps getting our country’s credit rating downgraded as he raises the debt ceiling higher and higher!!!!
Washington Could Learn a Lot from a Drug Addict
Just spend more, don’t know how to cut!!! Really!!! That is not living in the real world is it?
Making more dependent on government is not the way to go!!
Why is our government in over 16 trillion dollars in debt? There are many reasons for this but the biggest reason is people say “Let’s spend someone else’s money to solve our problems.” Liberals like Max Brantley have talked this way for years. Brantley will say that conservatives are being harsh when they don’t want the government out encouraging people to be dependent on the government. The Obama adminstration has even promoted a plan for young people to follow like Julia the Moocher.
Imagine standing a baby carrot up next to the 25-story Stephens building in Little Rock. That gives you a picture of the impact on the national debt that federal spending in Arkansas on Medicaid expansion would have, while here at home expansion would give coverage to more than 200,000 of our neediest citizens, create jobs, and save money for the state.
Here’s the thing: while more than a billion dollars a year in federal spending would represent a big-time stimulus for Arkansas, it’s not even a drop in the bucket when it comes to the national debt.
Currently, the national debt is around $16.4 trillion. In fiscal year 2015, the federal government would spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.2 billion to fund Medicaid expansion in Arkansas if we say yes. That’s about 1/13,700th of the debt.
It’s hard to get a handle on numbers that big, so to put that in perspective, let’s get back to the baby carrot. Imagine that the height of the Stephens building (365 feet) is the $16 trillion national debt. That $1.2 billion would be the length of a ladybug. Of course, we’re not just talking about one year if we expand. Between now and 2021, the federal government projects to contribute around $10 billion. The federal debt is projected to be around $25 trillion by then, so we’re talking about 1/2,500th of the debt. Compared to the Stephens building? That’s a baby carrot.
______________
Here is how it will all end if everyone feels they should be allowed to have their “baby carrot.”
How sad it is that liberals just don’t get this reality.
While living in Europe in the 1760s, Franklin observed: “in different countries … the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee(15 October 1747 – 5 January 1813) was a Scottish lawyer, writer, and professor. Tytler was also a historian, and he noted, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.”
[Jefferson affirms that the main purpose of society is to enable human beings to keep the fruits of their labor.— TGW]
To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, “the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, and the fruits acquired by it.” If the overgrown wealth of an individual be deemed dangerous to the State, the best corrective is the law of equal inheritance to all in equal degree; and the better, as this enforces a law of nature, while extra taxation violates it.
[From Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Albert E. Bergh (Washington: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), 14:466.]
_______
Jefferson pointed out that to take from the rich and give to the poor through government is just wrong. Franklin knew the poor would have a better path upward without government welfare coming their way. Milton Friedman’s negative income tax is the best method for doing that and by taking away all welfare programs and letting them go to the churches for charity.
_____________
_________
Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your commitment as a father and a husband.
Sincerely,
Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733
We got to act fast and get off this path of socialism. Morning Bell: Welfare Spending Shattering All-Time Highs Robert Rector and Amy Payne October 18, 2012 at 9:03 am It’s been a pretty big year for welfare—and a new report shows welfare is bigger than ever. The Obama Administration turned a giant spotlight […]
We need to cut Food Stamp program and not extend it. However, it seems that people tell the taxpayers back home they are going to Washington and cut government spending but once they get up there they just fall in line with everyone else that keeps spending our money. I am glad that at least […]
Government Must Cut Spending Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Dec 2, 2010 The government can cut roughly $343 billion from the federal budget and they can do so immediately. __________ Liberals argue that the poor need more welfare programs, but I have always argued that these programs enslave the poor to the government. Food Stamps Growth […]
Milton Friedman – The Negative Income Tax Published on May 11, 2012 by LibertyPen In this 1968 interview, Milton Friedman explained the negative income tax, a proposal that at minimum would save taxpayers the 72 percent of our current welfare budget spent on administration. http://www.LibertyPen.com Source: Firing Line with William F Buckley Jr. ________________ Milton […]
Dan Mitchell Commenting on Obama’s Failure to Propose a Fiscal Plan Published on Aug 16, 2012 by danmitchellcato No description available. ___________ After the Welfare State Posted by David Boaz Cato senior fellow Tom G. Palmer, who is lecturing about freedom in Slovenia and Tbilisi this week, asked me to post this announcement of his […]
Is President Obama gutting the welfare reform that Bill Clinton signed into law? Morning Bell: Obama Denies Gutting Welfare Reform Amy Payne August 8, 2012 at 9:15 am The Obama Administration came out swinging against its critics on welfare reform yesterday, with Press Secretary Jay Carney saying the charge that the Administration gutted the successful […]
Thomas Sowell – Welfare Welfare reform was working so good. Why did we have to abandon it? Look at this article from 2003. The Continuing Good News About Welfare Reform By Robert Rector and Patrick Fagan, Ph.D. February 6, 2003 Six years ago, President Bill Clinton signed legislation overhauling part of the nation’s welfare system. […]
Uploaded by ForaTv on May 29, 2009 Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/05/18/James_Bartholomew_The_Welfare_State_Were_In Author James Bartholomew argues that welfare benefits actually increase government handouts by ‘ruining’ ambition. He compares welfare to a humane mousetrap. —– Welfare reform was working so good. Why did we have to abandon it? Look at this article from 2003. In the controversial […]
Thomas Sowell If the welfare reform law was successful then why change it? Wasn’t Bill Clinton the president that signed into law? Obama Guts Welfare Reform Robert Rector and Kiki Bradley July 12, 2012 at 4:10 pm Today, the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an official policy directive rewriting the welfare […]
I have been writing President Obama letters and have not received a personal response yet. (He reads 10 letters a day personally and responds to each of them.) However, I did receive a form letter in the form of an email on July 10, 2012. I don’t know which letter of mine generated this response so I have […]
Good evening and welcome to Tucker Carlson Tonight. This past summer, with just a few months to go before the midterm elections, the Biden administration faced a huge problem called the economy. Most voters vote on the basis of the economy and how they feel they’re doing and how they feel their country is doing. And their country at the time was not doing well.
The US economy had just recorded two consecutive quarters of declining GDP. That’s not just an academic observation. That’s a technical definition of a recession. Two quarters. Declining GDP. Recession. We’re not making that up. You’ll find it in every economics textbook ever written. Go look up the one you used in college. But the Biden administration could not admit that. If they admitted that the US was in a recession, they would lose the Senate. They would lose control of both chambers of the Congress. So they had to lie about it.
But how do you lie about something that’s so easily defined, that everyone can see? Well, you just change the definition. And that’s what they did. They came up with a new definition of recession. So don’t look at GDP. That’s the old way, the racist way of assessing the economy. Look at holistic factors. Let’s look at the labor market, for example. The labor market.
Well, then, in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics gave them ammunition for their case. The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a report that showed the labor market was strong. They determined that the US economy had added more than a million jobs in the second quarter of this year, from March to June. A million jobs. That’s a big deal. It’s a big story. And of course, Joe Biden wasted no time in touting it. Watch.
[VIDEO]
JOE BIDEN: Our job market remains historically strong. Our economy created more than 9 million jobs since I came to office, in no small part because of the people on this stage. Our economy created more than 1 million jobs in the second quarter.
A million new jobs in the second quarter despite negative growth. Wait a second. How do you get a million new jobs with negative growth? That seems like magic. How is that possible? But no one in the media asked questions. Instead, they repeated the White House line, which was the BLS report — the Bureau of Labor Statistics report — showing a million new jobs proves we can’t be in a recession. They all said it, quote, “The jobs report suggests the Biden economy is not in a recession,” wrote The New York Times. And then, of course, there were other stories like that, too. So on the basis of that and other factors, they won. They now have control of the Senate.
And now we get to learn the truth. A million new jobs, really? The Philadelphia Fed decided to check those numbers and they found the US economy did not add more than a million jobs in the second quarter of this year. Instead, the net additional jobs was about 10,000. So that’s less than 1% of the job growth the administration claimed. That’s not a rounding error. That’s not a minor math mistake. This is a country that supposedly sent a man to the moon. We can do math, right? This isn’t like thinking you had 100 bucks in your pocket and finding out you had 85. This is like claiming you had $1,000,000 in your pocket and finding out you had $10,000. This is like claiming you were rich when you were actually bankrupt. This is a lie.
So how’d they get it wrong by more than a million jobs? How did they construct this lie? Well, as of tonight, we’re not really sure. We now know the BLS numbers didn’t just help Joe Biden, though. There was another purpose. These fake numbers also gave the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, a justification to continue raising interest rates. On the basis of that report, they can raise rates. Here was Powell just a few days ago.
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the House Oversight And Government Reform Committee hearings on oversight of the Treasury Department’s and Federal Reserve’s Pandemic Response, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, September 30, 2021. (Photo by Al Drago / various sources / AFP) (Photo by AL DRAGO/AFP via Getty Images) (Photo by AL DRAGO/AFP via Getty Images)
[VIDEO]
JEROME POWELL: Today, the FOMC raised our policy interest rate by a half percentage point. We continue to anticipate that ongoing increases will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive, to return inflation to 2% over time. Despite the slowdown in growth, the labor market remains extremely tight, with the unemployment rate near a 50-year low. Job vacancy is still very high and wage growth elevated. Job gains have been robust.
Ooh. Every word of that a lie. The justification is a lie. And in fact, as Powell well knows, there are 7 million American men of working age who are not working. They’re watching the Internet all day. So why are they lying to us about this? Well, the effects are very obvious. Go try and take out a car loan or a home loan or any kind of loan. Or if you have a loan, it’s got an adjustable rate, watch how much more you’re paying per month. So why are they doing this? Well, the administration wants Powell to raise rates because they think it’ll offset the inflation that Joe Biden’s policies have caused.
But this is a huge problem for everyone else. Raising rates when the economy is faltering and people don’t have jobs. If you keep doing that, you could cause an actual collapse. That seems like the course they put us on. The Biden administration got the interest rate hike it wanted even when the labor market has been flatlining. William Beach runs the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marty Walsh runs the Department of Labor. They need to explain why anyone should ever trust the most basic economic numbers the government issues ever again. And it’s one thing to get the numbers wrong, but then to base future policies on numbers you know are wrong, what is that? That’s what they’re doing. Jerome Powell should probably answer that question fairly soon. He won’t join us tonight either.
Tucker Carlson currently serves as the host of FOX News Channel’s (FNC) Tucker Carlson Tonight (weekdays 8PM/ET). He joined the network in 2009 as a contributor.
Government over-reported job growth numbers by 99% this year
Dwight Widaman
The government has been caught spiking job growth numbers. In investigative research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, job numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) were inflatedby over 1,000,000 when growth should have been just over 10,000 jobs.
That is an unmistakable departure from the true numbers according to the Federal Reserve. The grossly-inflated numbers were touted by the Biden administration ahead of the November mid-term elections.
“In the aggregate, 10,500 net new jobs were added during the period rather than the 1,121,500 jobs estimated by the sum of the states; the U.S. CES [Current Employment Survey] estimated net growth of 1,047,000 jobs for the period,” the report stated.
The discrepancy was reported in the Federal Reserve’s quarterly report and raises serious concerns about the politicization of job numbers by the BLS and the Biden administration. The discrepancies were not a one-off report but, rather, wrong in 33 states.
According to the regional central bank’s second-quarter “Early Benchmark Revisions of State Payroll Employment” report (pdf), researchers’ estimated employment changes that occurred between March and June were different in 33 states and the District of Columbia from data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
During this period, Philadelphia Fed researchers found that there were higher adjustments in four states, lower changes in 29 states and the nation’s capital, and lesser revisions in the remaining 17 states. This included a 4.1 percent drop in payroll employment in Delaware and a 1.2 percent decrease in jobs in New Jersey.
As a result, employment gains might have been overcounted by more than 1.1 million.
This also means that payroll jobs were little changed in the March-to-June span. In addition, current estimates indicate that employment growth was 2.8 percent in the four months since June.
E.J. Antoni, a research fellow for Regional Economics in the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation, says the government pushed “job growth” early on without actual facts to back it up.
“The Philly Fed data aligns well with the household survey that shows a flat job market since March, contra the robust growth from the establishment survey,” he said. “The seasonal adjustments to the monthly headline jobs numbers this year from BLS have been abnormally large to the upside. December’s number will have to be revised down 30% more than normal to essentially balance out the earlier large upward revisions. Job growth was technically ‘front loaded’ in 2022.”
Will this force the BLS to revise its figures lower in the coming months?
Government fudging the numbers
Critics say that there’s something wrong with the monthly jobs report.
The BLS report is comprised of two chief surveys: establishment (businesses) and household. The former has recorded stronger-than-expected growth for most of 2022, while the latter has been roughly flat. Since March, the divergence has skyrocketed to 2.7 million workers.
The main explanation for this gap is that the BLS allows double counting. This means it will count every extra job a person possesses as another payroll. The household component doesn’t permit this feature.
Because the number of people holding two or more jobs has risen by more than 8 percent since November 2021—to roughly 7.8 million—double counting has increased significantly over the last year.
Despite overcounting issues, federal government data in November suggest that the U.S. labor market is slowing. Full-time employment decreased from October to November, part-time job growth was flat, and the Department of Labor’s diffusion index—a metric that calculates the percentage of 256 industries adding jobs—slumped to 63.5, down from 74.8 last year.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, pictured July 28 at a press conference, writes: “I direct that any additional resources—including any new personnel or auditors that are hired—shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels.” (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The Biden administration has promised not to raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000 a year. And despite estimates from official congressional scorekeepers that the Schumer-Manchin-Biden tax increase indeed would raise taxes on those Americans, the administration has doubled down on the claim as a final vote nears on Democrats’ bill.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a letterWednesday to IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig that includes this statement:
Specifically, I direct that any additional resources—including any new personnel or auditors that are hired—shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels.
Yellen’s directive follows Rettig’s Aug. 4 letter to U.S. senators declaring the same objective:
These resources are absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans. As we’ve been planning, our investment of these enforcement resources is designed around the Department of the Treasury’s directive that audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000.
But considering the sheer magnitude of 87,000 new IRS agents and an estimated $204 billion in new revenues from enforcement, is it possible for all those new audits and revenues to involve only taxpayers making over $400,000?
—Returning to 2010 audit rates for all individuals making over $400,000 would generate only 28%, or $9.9 billion, out of the estimated $35.3 billion in new IRS enforcement revenues in 2031.
—Even increasing recent audit rates thirtyfold for taxpayers making over $400,000—including 100% audit rates on taxpayers with incomes over $10 million—still would fall more than 20% short of raising the estimated $35.3 billion in new revenues in 2031.
Note: This assumes a 98% increase in the number of tax filers making over $400,000 between 2019 and 2031, based on annual growth rates between 2014 and 2019. Audit rates from 2010 to 2019 by income group and additional tax per individual tax return audited for 2021 is available here from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office.
Estimated revenues from a thirtyfold increase in audits almost certainly is overstated, since 30% to 40% of audits in these income groups result in no additional tax being owed, and audits already target returns with higher likelihoods of underpayments.
—Auditing every single taxpayer with annual income over $1 million would require only 25,000 new IRS enforcement agents, but Democrats’ bill calls for 87,000 new agents. What will all those extra agents be doing?
Calculations also assume that 8.9% of IRS enforcement agents would be assigned to corporate audits, based on the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that corporations account for 8.9% of the tax gap. Enforcement agents are assumed to spend 75% of their paid time auditing tax returns.
Despite the Biden administration’s claims, it’s almost certain that households making less than $400,000 a year would face increased audits under Democrats’ bill.
And that seems to be the true intent of the IRS. According to a 2021 report from the Government Accountability Office, “From fiscal years 2010 to 2021, the majority of the additional taxes IRS recommended from audits came from taxpayers with incomes below $200,000.”
That recommendation is based on audits of lower-income tax returns producing more bang for the buck, as the report noted:
Audits of the lowest-income taxpayers, particularly those claiming the EITC [earned income tax credit], resulted in higher amounts of recommended additional tax per audit hour compared to all income groups except for the highest-income taxpayers.
The Treasury Department’s report on the proposed new funding includes a footnote highlighting the already-high prevalence of IRS audits among low-income households:
“Work by former IRS economist Kim Bloomquist points out that the five counties with the highest audit rates are predominantly African-American, rural counties in the South,” the report says.
High rates of return from auditing low-income households alongside the average large corporate tax filing totaling nearly 6,000 pages says that our current tax code is far too complex.
Instead of increasing taxpayer audits, policymakers should simplify taxes across the board. That way, it would be easier for everyone to pay the correct amount to the government.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.
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Several scholars have pointed out that Lois Lerner waived her right to invoke the 5th!!!! The Heritage Foundation, The Washington Post, and The Week, all have articles on this issue. Here is one below I found on Townhall.com:
There was no way Lois Lerner’s part in the IRS saga would end quietly, even as she invoked her right to remain silent.
Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, boldly asserted this afternoon that Lerner “waived” her right to plead the Fifth Amendment when she made an opening statement at this morning’s hearing. From POLITICO:
The California Republican said Lerner’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination was voided when she gave an opening statement this morning denying any wrongdoing and professing pride in her government service.
“When I asked her her questions from the very beginning, I did so so she could assert her rights prior to any statement,” Issa told POLITICO. “She chose not to do so — so she waived.” …
“The precedents are clear that this is not something you can turn on and turn off,” he told POLITICO. “She made testimony after she was sworn in, asserted her innocence in a number of areas, even answered questions asserting that a document was true … So she gave partial testimony and then tried to revoke that.” …
“I understand from her counsel that there was a plan to assert her Fifth Amendment rights,” he continued. “She went ahead and made a statement, so counsel let her effectively under the precedent, waive — so we now have someone who no longer has that ability.”
Essentially, he argues, her opening statement, in which she proclaimed her innocence, constituted a forfeiture of Fifth Amendment protection because she spoke on her own behalf about her involvement in the matter. Issa intends to invite Lerner before the committee again in the hopes of conducting a proper grilling, and others–including Rep. Trey Gowdy–agree that she must now give testimony.
“Mr. Cummings just said we should run this hearing like a courtroom, and I agree with him,” Gowdy thundered. “[Lerner] just testified. She just waived her Fifth Amendment right. You don’t get to tell your side of the story and then not be subjected to cross examination — that’s not the way it works. She waived her right to Fifth Amendment privilege by issuing an opening statement. She ought to stand here and answer our questions.”
However, it’s not so simple as that. Legal scholars say that the Fifth Amendment works differently in Congressional fact-finding hearings than in a court of law–one cannot simply conflate the two, as they exist for different purposes. Fifth Amendment expert James Duane gave the following explanation (h/t to Allahpundit for the link):
First, unlike in a trial, where she could choose to take the stand or not, Lerner had no choice but to appear before the committee. Second, in a trial there would be a justifiable concern about compromising a judge or jury by providing them with “selective, partial presentation of the facts.” But Congress is merely pursuing information as part of an investigation, not making a definitive ruling on Lerner’s guilt or innocence.
“When somebody is in this situation,” says Duane, a Harvard Law graduate whose 2008 lecture on invoking the Fifth Amendment with police has been viewed on YouTube nearly 2.5 million times, “when they are involuntarily summoned before grand jury or before legislative body, it is well settled that they have a right to make a ‘selective invocation,’ as it’s called, with respect to questions that they think might raise a meaningful risk of incriminating themselves.”
In fact, Duane says, “even if Ms. Lerner had given answers to a few questions — five, ten, twenty questions — before she decided, ‘That’s where I draw the line, I’m not answering any more questions,’ she would be able to do that as well.” Such uses of selective invocation “happen all the time.”
Unfortunately for Issa and company, it seems Lerner was within her rights to make a statement and then clam up. Of course, drawing greater attention to her silence could, ultimately, help in the investigation of the IRS; if they ask her back and she stonewalls, the public might want to know why. Hopefully, in any event, someone–anyone–will bear some legitimate responsibility for the whole affair, and lose the job they clearly never should have had in the first place.
We got to lower the size of government so we don’t have these abuses like this in the IRS. Cartoonists v. the IRS May 23, 2013 by Dan Mitchell Call me perverse, but I’m enjoying this IRS scandal. It’s good to see them suffer a tiny fraction of the agony they impose on the American people. I’ve already […]
Dear Senator Pryor, Why not pass the Balanced Budget Amendment? As you know that federal deficit is at all time high (1.6 trillion deficit with revenues of 2.2 trillion and spending at 3.8 trillion). On my blog http://www.HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com I took you at your word and sent you over 100 emails with specific spending cut ideas. However, […]
Is the irs out of control? Here is the link from cato: MAY 22, 2013 8:47AM Can You Vague That Up for Me? By TREVOR BURRUS SHARE As the IRS scandal thickens, targeted groups are coming out to describe their ordeals in dealing with that most-reviled of government agencies. The Ohio Liberty Coalition was one of […]
Get Ready to Be Reamed May 17, 2013 by Dan Mitchell With so many scandals percolating, there are lots of good cartoons being produced. But I think this Chip Bok gem deserves special praise. It manages to weave together both the costly Obamacare boondoggle with the reprehensible politicization of the IRS. So BOHICA, my friends. If […]
You want to talk about irony then look at President Obama’s speech a few days ago when he joked about a potential audit of Ohio St by the IRS then a few days later the IRS scandal breaks!!!! The I.R.S. Abusing Americans Is Nothing New Published on May 15, 2013 The I.R.S. targeting of tea party […]
Dear Senator Pryor, Why not pass the Balanced Budget Amendment? As you know that federal deficit is at all time high (1.6 trillion deficit with revenues of 2.2 trillion and spending at 3.8 trillion). On my blog http://www.HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com I took you at your word and sent you over 100 emails with specific spending cut ideas. However, […]
We could put in a flat tax and it would enable us to cut billions out of the IRS budget!!!! May 14, 2013 2:34PM IRS Budget Soars By Chris Edwards Share The revelations of IRS officials targeting conservative and libertarian groups suggest that now is a good time for lawmakers to review a broad range […]
The IRS has thuggish employees and the President was right to condemn their latest actions. Let’s Thank President Obama for Reminding Americans that They Should Distrust the IRS May 14, 2013 by Dan Mitchell Last week, while writing about the latest IRS scandal, I noted that the IRS has a long record of abusive actions. It has thieving employees. […]
Government over-reported job growth numbers by 99% this year
Dwight Widaman
The government has been caught spiking job growth numbers. In investigative research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, job numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) were inflatedby over 1,000,000 when growth should have been just over 10,000 jobs.
That is an unmistakable departure from the true numbers according to the Federal Reserve. The grossly-inflated numbers were touted by the Biden administration ahead of the November mid-term elections.
“In the aggregate, 10,500 net new jobs were added during the period rather than the 1,121,500 jobs estimated by the sum of the states; the U.S. CES [Current Employment Survey] estimated net growth of 1,047,000 jobs for the period,” the report stated.
The discrepancy was reported in the Federal Reserve’s quarterly report and raises serious concerns about the politicization of job numbers by the BLS and the Biden administration. The discrepancies were not a one-off report but, rather, wrong in 33 states.
According to the regional central bank’s second-quarter “Early Benchmark Revisions of State Payroll Employment” report (pdf), researchers’ estimated employment changes that occurred between March and June were different in 33 states and the District of Columbia from data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
During this period, Philadelphia Fed researchers found that there were higher adjustments in four states, lower changes in 29 states and the nation’s capital, and lesser revisions in the remaining 17 states. This included a 4.1 percent drop in payroll employment in Delaware and a 1.2 percent decrease in jobs in New Jersey.
As a result, employment gains might have been overcounted by more than 1.1 million.
This also means that payroll jobs were little changed in the March-to-June span. In addition, current estimates indicate that employment growth was 2.8 percent in the four months since June.
E.J. Antoni, a research fellow for Regional Economics in the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation, says the government pushed “job growth” early on without actual facts to back it up.
“The Philly Fed data aligns well with the household survey that shows a flat job market since March, contra the robust growth from the establishment survey,” he said. “The seasonal adjustments to the monthly headline jobs numbers this year from BLS have been abnormally large to the upside. December’s number will have to be revised down 30% more than normal to essentially balance out the earlier large upward revisions. Job growth was technically ‘front loaded’ in 2022.”
Will this force the BLS to revise its figures lower in the coming months?
Government fudging the numbers
Critics say that there’s something wrong with the monthly jobs report.
The BLS report is comprised of two chief surveys: establishment (businesses) and household. The former has recorded stronger-than-expected growth for most of 2022, while the latter has been roughly flat. Since March, the divergence has skyrocketed to 2.7 million workers.
The main explanation for this gap is that the BLS allows double counting. This means it will count every extra job a person possesses as another payroll. The household component doesn’t permit this feature.
Because the number of people holding two or more jobs has risen by more than 8 percent since November 2021—to roughly 7.8 million—double counting has increased significantly over the last year.
Despite overcounting issues, federal government data in November suggest that the U.S. labor market is slowing. Full-time employment decreased from October to November, part-time job growth was flat, and the Department of Labor’s diffusion index—a metric that calculates the percentage of 256 industries adding jobs—slumped to 63.5, down from 74.8 last year.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, pictured July 28 at a press conference, writes: “I direct that any additional resources—including any new personnel or auditors that are hired—shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels.” (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The Biden administration has promised not to raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000 a year. And despite estimates from official congressional scorekeepers that the Schumer-Manchin-Biden tax increase indeed would raise taxes on those Americans, the administration has doubled down on the claim as a final vote nears on Democrats’ bill.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a letterWednesday to IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig that includes this statement:
Specifically, I direct that any additional resources—including any new personnel or auditors that are hired—shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels.
Yellen’s directive follows Rettig’s Aug. 4 letter to U.S. senators declaring the same objective:
These resources are absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans. As we’ve been planning, our investment of these enforcement resources is designed around the Department of the Treasury’s directive that audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000.
But considering the sheer magnitude of 87,000 new IRS agents and an estimated $204 billion in new revenues from enforcement, is it possible for all those new audits and revenues to involve only taxpayers making over $400,000?
—Returning to 2010 audit rates for all individuals making over $400,000 would generate only 28%, or $9.9 billion, out of the estimated $35.3 billion in new IRS enforcement revenues in 2031.
—Even increasing recent audit rates thirtyfold for taxpayers making over $400,000—including 100% audit rates on taxpayers with incomes over $10 million—still would fall more than 20% short of raising the estimated $35.3 billion in new revenues in 2031.
Note: This assumes a 98% increase in the number of tax filers making over $400,000 between 2019 and 2031, based on annual growth rates between 2014 and 2019. Audit rates from 2010 to 2019 by income group and additional tax per individual tax return audited for 2021 is available here from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office.
Estimated revenues from a thirtyfold increase in audits almost certainly is overstated, since 30% to 40% of audits in these income groups result in no additional tax being owed, and audits already target returns with higher likelihoods of underpayments.
—Auditing every single taxpayer with annual income over $1 million would require only 25,000 new IRS enforcement agents, but Democrats’ bill calls for 87,000 new agents. What will all those extra agents be doing?
Calculations also assume that 8.9% of IRS enforcement agents would be assigned to corporate audits, based on the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that corporations account for 8.9% of the tax gap. Enforcement agents are assumed to spend 75% of their paid time auditing tax returns.
Despite the Biden administration’s claims, it’s almost certain that households making less than $400,000 a year would face increased audits under Democrats’ bill.
And that seems to be the true intent of the IRS. According to a 2021 report from the Government Accountability Office, “From fiscal years 2010 to 2021, the majority of the additional taxes IRS recommended from audits came from taxpayers with incomes below $200,000.”
That recommendation is based on audits of lower-income tax returns producing more bang for the buck, as the report noted:
Audits of the lowest-income taxpayers, particularly those claiming the EITC [earned income tax credit], resulted in higher amounts of recommended additional tax per audit hour compared to all income groups except for the highest-income taxpayers.
The Treasury Department’s report on the proposed new funding includes a footnote highlighting the already-high prevalence of IRS audits among low-income households:
“Work by former IRS economist Kim Bloomquist points out that the five counties with the highest audit rates are predominantly African-American, rural counties in the South,” the report says.
High rates of return from auditing low-income households alongside the average large corporate tax filing totaling nearly 6,000 pages says that our current tax code is far too complex.
Instead of increasing taxpayer audits, policymakers should simplify taxes across the board. That way, it would be easier for everyone to pay the correct amount to the government.
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Several scholars have pointed out that Lois Lerner waived her right to invoke the 5th!!!! The Heritage Foundation, The Washington Post, and The Week, all have articles on this issue. Here is one below I found on Townhall.com:
There was no way Lois Lerner’s part in the IRS saga would end quietly, even as she invoked her right to remain silent.
Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, boldly asserted this afternoon that Lerner “waived” her right to plead the Fifth Amendment when she made an opening statement at this morning’s hearing. From POLITICO:
The California Republican said Lerner’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination was voided when she gave an opening statement this morning denying any wrongdoing and professing pride in her government service.
“When I asked her her questions from the very beginning, I did so so she could assert her rights prior to any statement,” Issa told POLITICO. “She chose not to do so — so she waived.” …
“The precedents are clear that this is not something you can turn on and turn off,” he told POLITICO. “She made testimony after she was sworn in, asserted her innocence in a number of areas, even answered questions asserting that a document was true … So she gave partial testimony and then tried to revoke that.” …
“I understand from her counsel that there was a plan to assert her Fifth Amendment rights,” he continued. “She went ahead and made a statement, so counsel let her effectively under the precedent, waive — so we now have someone who no longer has that ability.”
Essentially, he argues, her opening statement, in which she proclaimed her innocence, constituted a forfeiture of Fifth Amendment protection because she spoke on her own behalf about her involvement in the matter. Issa intends to invite Lerner before the committee again in the hopes of conducting a proper grilling, and others–including Rep. Trey Gowdy–agree that she must now give testimony.
“Mr. Cummings just said we should run this hearing like a courtroom, and I agree with him,” Gowdy thundered. “[Lerner] just testified. She just waived her Fifth Amendment right. You don’t get to tell your side of the story and then not be subjected to cross examination — that’s not the way it works. She waived her right to Fifth Amendment privilege by issuing an opening statement. She ought to stand here and answer our questions.”
However, it’s not so simple as that. Legal scholars say that the Fifth Amendment works differently in Congressional fact-finding hearings than in a court of law–one cannot simply conflate the two, as they exist for different purposes. Fifth Amendment expert James Duane gave the following explanation (h/t to Allahpundit for the link):
First, unlike in a trial, where she could choose to take the stand or not, Lerner had no choice but to appear before the committee. Second, in a trial there would be a justifiable concern about compromising a judge or jury by providing them with “selective, partial presentation of the facts.” But Congress is merely pursuing information as part of an investigation, not making a definitive ruling on Lerner’s guilt or innocence.
“When somebody is in this situation,” says Duane, a Harvard Law graduate whose 2008 lecture on invoking the Fifth Amendment with police has been viewed on YouTube nearly 2.5 million times, “when they are involuntarily summoned before grand jury or before legislative body, it is well settled that they have a right to make a ‘selective invocation,’ as it’s called, with respect to questions that they think might raise a meaningful risk of incriminating themselves.”
In fact, Duane says, “even if Ms. Lerner had given answers to a few questions — five, ten, twenty questions — before she decided, ‘That’s where I draw the line, I’m not answering any more questions,’ she would be able to do that as well.” Such uses of selective invocation “happen all the time.”
Unfortunately for Issa and company, it seems Lerner was within her rights to make a statement and then clam up. Of course, drawing greater attention to her silence could, ultimately, help in the investigation of the IRS; if they ask her back and she stonewalls, the public might want to know why. Hopefully, in any event, someone–anyone–will bear some legitimate responsibility for the whole affair, and lose the job they clearly never should have had in the first place.
We got to lower the size of government so we don’t have these abuses like this in the IRS. Cartoonists v. the IRS May 23, 2013 by Dan Mitchell Call me perverse, but I’m enjoying this IRS scandal. It’s good to see them suffer a tiny fraction of the agony they impose on the American people. I’ve already […]
Dear Senator Pryor, Why not pass the Balanced Budget Amendment? As you know that federal deficit is at all time high (1.6 trillion deficit with revenues of 2.2 trillion and spending at 3.8 trillion). On my blog http://www.HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com I took you at your word and sent you over 100 emails with specific spending cut ideas. However, […]
Is the irs out of control? Here is the link from cato: MAY 22, 2013 8:47AM Can You Vague That Up for Me? By TREVOR BURRUS SHARE As the IRS scandal thickens, targeted groups are coming out to describe their ordeals in dealing with that most-reviled of government agencies. The Ohio Liberty Coalition was one of […]
Get Ready to Be Reamed May 17, 2013 by Dan Mitchell With so many scandals percolating, there are lots of good cartoons being produced. But I think this Chip Bok gem deserves special praise. It manages to weave together both the costly Obamacare boondoggle with the reprehensible politicization of the IRS. So BOHICA, my friends. If […]
You want to talk about irony then look at President Obama’s speech a few days ago when he joked about a potential audit of Ohio St by the IRS then a few days later the IRS scandal breaks!!!! The I.R.S. Abusing Americans Is Nothing New Published on May 15, 2013 The I.R.S. targeting of tea party […]
Dear Senator Pryor, Why not pass the Balanced Budget Amendment? As you know that federal deficit is at all time high (1.6 trillion deficit with revenues of 2.2 trillion and spending at 3.8 trillion). On my blog http://www.HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com I took you at your word and sent you over 100 emails with specific spending cut ideas. However, […]
We could put in a flat tax and it would enable us to cut billions out of the IRS budget!!!! May 14, 2013 2:34PM IRS Budget Soars By Chris Edwards Share The revelations of IRS officials targeting conservative and libertarian groups suggest that now is a good time for lawmakers to review a broad range […]
The IRS has thuggish employees and the President was right to condemn their latest actions. Let’s Thank President Obama for Reminding Americans that They Should Distrust the IRS May 14, 2013 by Dan Mitchell Last week, while writing about the latest IRS scandal, I noted that the IRS has a long record of abusive actions. It has thieving employees. […]
And Congress kept asking the IRS to do more: implement the sweeping 2017 GOP tax code overhaul, then send stimulus checks — three times — to the vast majority of Americans during the pandemic. …Yet House Republicans made it their first priority this year to pass legislation slashing IRS funding, which would worsen the agency’s problems — and the service it provides Americans. …Congress’s priority should be modernizing the IRS and getting it back to full functionality. That’s why Democrats passed $80 billion in extra funding for the agency… This isn’t the time to cut. It’s the time to resuscitate.
So let’s celebrate (or commiserate) this awful day by wading into the debate about whether the Internal Revenue Service should have a bigger budget.…the core problem is that Republicans slashed the IRS budget about 18 percent in the past decade. That’s not belt-tightening, it’s gutting an agency. …The Biden administration is rightly asking for a big increase for 2023 (a request of $14.1 billion). This isn’t some Democratic wish list item; it’s about restoring the basic functions of America’s tax collection agency.
Apparently, it doesn’t occur to anyone that the IRS, which is seeking this extra $40 billion in taxpayer funding, has every incentive in the world to exaggerate this “tax gap” and to make wild promises about the new money that additional enforcement will yield for the Treasury. …Giving money to IRS bureaucrats to conduct fishing expedition audits on millions of honest self-employed people? The same IRS behind the Lois Lerner scandal a decade ago, when the IRS inappropriately targeted conservative political groups during the 2012 election season, when Obama was running for reelection?
…The Tax Foundation estimates that we give up 3.24 billion hours and $37 billion to comply with federal taxes each year. Given the headaches and anxiety that come with this, Americans don’t need more IRS workers. We need a leaner agency…individual filers and small businesses represent a huge proportion of the public who would gain from simplification. …There is no need to hire more people to oversee a reformed system. What’s not to like?
It has thieving employees.
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Ricky Gervais and Penelope Wilton in ‘After Life’ (CREDIT: Netflix)
AP Photo
The Daily Hatch 