James L. Paris's Blog, page 106

Even the ATF Thinks It���s Stupid that You Can���t Easily Buy a Silencer for Your Gun

It may just be that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has decided it is just too tired to keep running around enforcing laws that provide zero benefit to public safety.

In a recent white paper, Ronald Turk, Associate Deputy Director of the agency, made the case for dropping the regulation of firearms suppressors, better known to the public as ���silencers.���

While silencers have a history in lore of being a tool preferred by murderers, Turk took issue with that perception in his paper, writing:

���In the past several years, opinions about silencers have changed across the United States. Their use to reduce noise at shooting ranges and applications within the sporting and hunting industry are now well recognized. At present, 42 states generally allow silencers to be used for sporting purposes. The wide acceptance of silencers and corresponding changes in state laws have created substantial demand across the country. This surge in demand has caused ATF to have a significant backlog on silencer applications. ATF���s processing time is now approximately 8 months.���

Turk wrote, as well, that ���silencers are very rarely used in criminal shootings. Given the lack of criminality associated with silencers, it is reasonable to conclude that they should not be viewed as a threat to public safety.���

Translation: Special regulations for silencers are stupid, unnecessary, and costly; get rid of them now.

Currently, gun suppressors are subject to the National Firearms Act, which imposes specific and extra firearms regulations on such things as machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and silencers. In order to own any of these, a private citizen must go through an onerous application process and pay significant taxes on the purchases and transfers.    

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Report: Most IRS Employees Caught Cheating on Taxes Allowed to Keep Their Jobs

Have you ever wondered what happens to IRS employees who cheat on their taxes?

According to numbers released by the inspector general���s office, and reported on by The Washington Times, most simply get to keep their jobs.

While privacy rules prevent the agency from providing specifics, it is known that in the reporting period April 2016 ��� September 2016, nine employees who were caught cheating saw their penalties subject to ���mitigation��� by IRS Commissioner John Koskinen ��� ���mitigation��� means that the offenders received punishments in the range of suspension to reprimand. Additionally, during the same period, one to three employees were allowed to resign, and another one to three were overtly terminated. Based on these numbers, it can be concluded that anywhere from 60 to as many as 82 percent of IRS employees caught intentionally cheating were allowed to stay on.

The Washington Times disclosed in their piece that when the inspector general released a report in 2015 on the specific issue of tax cheating by IRS employees, the ���leniency rate��� at that time was 61 percent.

In a statement, the IRS said, ���The vast majority of IRS employees, nearly 99 percent, file and pay their taxes timely ��� one of the highest tax compliance rates across government agencies and higher than general taxpayer population estimates.���

That doesn���t cut it with a lot of folks, including Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.).

���The privileged and well-connected should not get to live and work by another standard,��� said Walker. ���Just like with Commissioner John Koskinen, these IRS employees have failed in performing their duties and have neglected the laws they are supposed to uphold.���

Walker���s shot at Koskinen is a reference to the way he gave Congress the run-around during that body���s investigation into the harassment of Tea Party groups by the IRS. He and other congressional Republicans fired off a letter to President Trump last week that requested John Koskinen be removed from his position as IRS Commissioner.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Pro-Life Advocate: Planned Parenthood Losing Both Funds and ���Narrative��� in Iowa

While it appears that so-called progressivism has thrived throughout much of these United States in recent years, abortion, interestingly, is one issue that has not proved to be a beneficiary of the lurch leftward of many of America���s citizens. While statistics show that those who favor liberal access to abortions are more strident than ever in their beliefs, they also show that more people, overall, now view abortion with increased disfavor���and that���s opening the door to attempts by state legislatures to defund abortion providers.

Take Iowa, for example, which is on its way to becoming the next state to try to successfully defund Planned Parenthood (PP). Last week, the Iowa state senate voted 30-20 to defund groups that provide abortions and apply the money to those women���s health clinics and other similar facilities that do not provide abortion services.

According to The Christian Post, however, just as big as the votes that are leading to these cut-offs of money to groups like Planned Parenthood is the reality that PP itself is ���losing control of their narrative.���

In a phone interview with the Post, Iowa Right to Life spokeswoman Jenifer Bowen explained just what the PP narrative is and what is happening to it:

���What's interesting about this is that for years and years and even still they are trying to tell everybody, ���Well, abortion is only two or three percent of our services.��� Or they deny sometimes that they do abortions altogether.

���They've got a lot of willing media friends that will run the narrative for them. And that is that Planned Parenthood is really the only trustworthy [place], they are the only ones that can absorb all of this ... that they are superior care to true health care centers and federally qualified health care centers.���

However, said Bowen, because of the current defunding bill at issue, ���they have stepped up and owned that they are the largest abortion provider in the state of Iowa.���

In other words, PP���s staunch, very-vocal opposition to a bill that seeks to defund abortion providers basically proves that abortions are what PP is all about, despite their public declarations to the contrary.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Trump Says He May Defund California If It Becomes a Sanctuary State

���Sanctuary cities? We���ll see your sanctuary cities and raise you a sanctuary state!���

This is, apparently, what California is now saying to the rest of the country, including the federal government.

California is already home to some of the nation���s largest formally-declared sanctuary cities, like Los Angeles and San Francisco, and now there is a bill, SB 54, making its way through the state legislature that would effectively prohibit police throughout California from cooperating with federal immigration officials or make any arrests based on someone���s immigration status.

Needless to say, President Trump is not pleased.

���If we have to, we���ll defund,��� Trump said in a recent interview with Fox News��� Bill O���Reilly reported by Townhall���s Leah Barkoukis. ���We give tremendous amounts of money to California, California in many ways is out of control, as you know.���

���I think it���s ridiculous. Sanctuary cities, as you know, I���m very much opposed to sanctuary cities. They breed crime, there���s a lot of problems,��� the president said.

���I don't want to defund anybody. I want to give them the money they need to properly operate as a city or a state. If they're going to have sanctuary cities, we may have to do that. Certainly that would be a weapon.���

SB 54 made it out of the Senate Public Safety Committee last week, and is now in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Michigan Lawmakers Begin Move Toward Replacing Pensions with Self-Funded Retirement Plans

Turns out 2+2 really does equal 4, after all.

Lawmakers in Michigan have finally decided to recognize math for the immutable truth it is.

A number of news outlets, including The Seattle Times, are reporting on Michigan���s efforts to move away from pension plans for public employees, and toward self-funded retirement plans like 401(k)s, in an effort to realize meaningful economic relief. Like so many other states, Michigan is dealing with massive financial pressures, including trying to determine how in the world it���s going to address the problem of unfunded liabilities that presently total $14 billion.   

Although Michigan has previously toyed with the idea of reshaping the retirement mechanisms there, and other states have made rather modest changes in their own public employee retirement plan structures, the Wolverine State is weighing more significant revisions that can be genuinely impactful in alleviating the tremendous burdens presently faced by the state in the form of pension and health care obligations.

Michigan actually brought an end to pension availability for new state employees back in the late 1990���s, but that change has not been enough to bring stability to the overall retirement fund structure of Michigan. Now, Republican legislators in Michigan plan to go one step further and figure out how they can move all new teacher hires, as well as local government employees, to self-funded, 401(k)-type retirement plans.

The actions being considered at the state level are supported by many local leaders within Michigan, as well.

���This is essentially a mortgage crisis. We can���t afford our payments, and they���re ballooning,��� said James Freed, City Manager of Port Huron.

���We���ve already gone through 10 years of budget cuts,��� Freed said. ���At this point we���re not talking about cutting services. We���re talking about eliminating services.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Pepperdine University Caves to Pressure, Will Remove Christopher Columbus Statue from Campus

Unable to hold his own against social justice warriors, Christopher Columbus is being kicked out of Southern California���s Pepperdine University, according to reporting by The College Fix.

A statue of the Italian explorer and legendary discoverer of America has been a part of Pepperdine since 1992, when it was donated to the school by a group called the Columbus 500 Congress. However, the school has decided that it���s time for Columbus to go, and so he is being removed from the ���flagship��� Malibu-area campus and relocated to the school���s campus in Italy.

Christopher Columbus has, of late, found himself to be increasingly persona non grata throughout much of America. As the distant past is re-examined through the lens of present-day political correctness, the actions of many historical figures���particularly those of Western European descent���do not pass muster in the current climate, even as there was hardly anything unusual about them in the time at which they actually occurred.

Pepperdine has seen the statue variously protested in recent years. Most recently, an organized protest took place at the statute���s location, the university amphitheater, this past Columbus Day by a couple of dozen students.  According to The College Fix, the protest group ���Waves Against Columbus��� issued a written statement at the time that referred to the statue as ���a celebration of genocide and racial oppression.���

Pepperdine president Andrew Benton announced the decision to relocate the statue in a letter to students, saying, in part:

���For years the story of Columbus and the fascinating exploration that brought him to the new world was taught in schools across America. It was heroic and exciting.  Later, as the impact of the arrival of explorers was assessed more fully, especially as those impacts related to indigenous people, a different view formed. Today, for many, including those within our campus community, stories of conquest and the art associated therewith are painful reminders of loss and human tragedy.���

Benton said, as well, of those who donated the statue that ���they did not mean to offend.���

That���s, apparently, the best we can now say about a group that donates to an American university a statue of the legendary discoverer of America:

���They did not mean to offend.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

The Definitive Guide To Finding Lost Money And Unclaimed Funds

After living in Florida for about ten years, I moved with my family to Dallas, TX.  We lived in Dallas for about four years. A few years after returning to Florida I decided it would be smart to check the lost money website for the state of Texas.  I was shocked that I initially found several hundred dollars I was owed.  Every few weeks I checked the site again, and over about a two year period I uncovered more than $3,000.  I also found more than $1,000 that was at the State of Florida website that I guess became 'lost' when I moved to Texas.

When I mention this to friends, many of them assure me that they know they would not have any lost money due them. After showing them how to do an online search at least a third report back finding some money. Where people get hung up on this whole concept is the myth that it is going to cost them something to do a search. This may stem from the fact that there are so called 'money finders' that contact people offering to share with them the details of their lost money for a fee.  

Update On This Video (Recorded In 2012) - Jim Ultimately Found More Than $7,000 For His Relative.  Also, The Amount Of Unclaimed Funds In The United States Is More Than $60 Billion Today.

 

I am not against paying one of these services, but only after you have checked all of the free search portals online to see if you can find the money yourself.  People can be very stubborn about this.  I know an individual that refuses to pay a 25% finders fee on what is apparently a five figure amount of money.  This has been going on for about three years and she has been unable to locate the money on her own.  Of course, you should never pay someone anything in advance in such an arrangement.  Generally, you would sign a consent form agreeing to the percentage only after you receive the money.  In some cases, the transaction may be processed through an escrow service or other such middleman.

Time may be an issue in claiming  your lost money

Some jurisdictions do not have a time limit, you can claim money that is legitimately yours for years into the future.  In other cases, there may be a time limit such as seven years.  This will vary based on the government agency involved.  The bottom line is to not put this off and do a thorough search as soon as possible.

Now, back to our search for lost money.  Most people are somewhat familiar with this concept but may only be scratching the surface in their lost money search.

Where you may find lost money

1. Your State Or A State You Have Lived In Previously

The very best site that links to the various states is The National Association Of Unclaimed Property Adminstrators - Lost Money Search. This site will allow you to search by state, which is the best way to be sure you don't miss anything. Another way to search the entire country at once (less thorough) is to use Missing Money.

2.    Local Governments

In some states, local government are required to turn over lost money to the state and it gets deposited in the overall unclaimed funds account.  In other cases, the local municipality holds on to the money and has its own procedure for finding the money and making a claim.  If you search for the name of the city and include the words 'unclaimed money' you will find either information on how to proceed or an online search mechanism.  For example, 'Dallas unclaimed funds.'

3.  The Federal Goverment (Treasury Department)

You may have lost a savings bond and you can find it doing a search at Treasury Hunt.  Remember, if you received the bond as a gift when you were a child it may have been registered with one of your parent's Social Security numbers.  This is important as the search is based on the Social Security number of the registered owner of the bond.

4.  Your Bank Or Credit Union

Money you are entitled to from a failed bank or credit union may have been sent on your behalf to the appropriate state unclaimed funds account or may be held at either of the following -

The Credit Union National Association

FDIC

 Other places to look for lost money -

5.  The IRS

IRS Tax Refund Search

6.  Federal Housing Administration

If you have ever had an FHA loan, this is one you will want to be sure and check.  This money is the result of an overpayment of mortgage insurance and is commonly 'lost' when a homeowner sells a home and moves.

FHA Unclaimed Refunds

 7.  The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

If a former employer has gone out of business and you had earned pension benefits, this money would be held by the PBGC.   PBGC Search.

8.  United States Department Of Labor

Department Of Labor Search

 9.  National Registry Of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits

Search The National Registry

10.  The MIB (for lost life insurance policies)

This one is not free, but will cost $75 to do a nationwide life insurance search.  I would definitely recommend this if you are the beneficiary of an estate to be sure there is not a lost life insurance benefit floating out there.

Search The MIB

I would love to read your success stories.  Please use the comments section below to share your results and any tips that you would like to pass along to our readers on how to hunt for lost money.

Helping you make the most of God���s money!

James L. Paris
Editor-In-Chief ChristianMoney.com 
Follow Me on Twitter Twitter.com/jameslparis
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Suicide Rate Among Chicago Cops Is MUCH Higher than at Other Departments Across U.S.

Here���s an alarming bit of news from the Chicago Sun-Times.

It turns out that Chicago Police officers have a suicide rate that is 60 percent higher than those of other departments across the United States, with an average of three CPD cops ��� of a 10,000-person patrol force - taking their own lives each year.

Chicago is constantly making news about how violent it is, but little, if any, public attention has been paid to what sort of toll that madness takes on those charged with the monstrously daunting responsibility of trying to keep it all in check. Now we have some idea, and it is a terrible look for the city and its political leadership.

Even Alexa James, a social worker who served on Mayor Rahm Emanuel���s Police Accountability Task Force, a panel that found all sorts of problems with the way the city���s police have been doing their jobs, admitted that ���it is a hard, hard job, and police officers get very little support.���

Really? In the present social climate?

No kidding.

���When you have 760 homicides in the city in a year, that���s a war zone ��� and that���s where [police] are working every day,��� said James.

As it turns out, the number of murders in Chicago for the year 2016 was more than the number of murders in Los Angeles and New York, combined.

Exacerbating the problem is Illinois unfortunate gun laws, one of which says that any state resident with mental health issues is permanently prohibited from obtaining a Firearm Owners Identification Card. The fear of losing the right to carry a gun for seeking mental health treatment is something that leaves at-risk officers in the shadows.

���This is a real problem,��� says psychologist Marla Friedman. ���Police officers are the only class of citizen in the U.S. who is going to lose their job for seeking mental health care.���

And, of all places, in Illinois, where the cops that tend to the unbridled violence in its biggest city are hanging on by a thread.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large 

Sierra Club: Abortion Helps Keep the Environment Safe

Remember the Sierra Club?

Well, they���re still out there.

And they no longer appear to be worried about just trees and birds.

On Thursday, Michael Brune, director of the Sierra Club, appeared on Fox News��� Tucker Carlson Tonight, and shared some interesting thoughts about just how to protect the environment.

���We believe in empowering women���s rights,��� Brune said. ���We believe that women who have rights and who have the ability to have choice about their reproductive���make their own reproductive choices���will help to produce strong families and will help to protect the environment at the same time. Sierra Club is pro-choice.���

Wait, what? Abortion is an environmental issue?

According to Brune, it very much is, and he went on to finish the dot-connecting:

���Abortion helps to address the number of the people that we have on this planet. We feel that one of the ways in which we can get to a sustainable population is to empower women to make choices about their own families.���

And there it is.

Maybe this will be the left���s newest catchphrase: ���Abortion: Good for the Environment.���

Leaving no doubt as to where he and the Sierra Club, as a whole, stands on the issues of the day, Brune issued a statement earlier last week when Neil Gorsuch was nominated to the Supreme Court, saying, ���Gorsuch has proven himself hostile to environmental protection, women���s rights, and the rights of workers and cannot be trusted to protect our air, our water, or our communities.���

Women���s rights? The rights of workers?

It���s clearly not all about the water, trees, and birdies over at the Sierra Club any longer.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Spanish Nun Sparks Outrage for Saying Mary Was Not a Virgin

Well, THIS is awkward.

Sister Lucia Caram, a Roman Catholic nun who lives in a convent in Catalonia, Spain says she thinks that the Virgin Mary was not celibate, and that she likely had sex with Joseph in the way that any married couple would engage in intimate relations with one another.

So the Virgin Mary was NOT a virgin, according to Sister Lucia; gotcha.

Caram made her remarks about the purity - or, rather, lack thereof - of Mary during an appearance on a television show in Spain earlier in the week.

In remarks that appeared at Fox News by way of The Guardian, Sister Lucia said, ���I think Mary was in love with Joseph and that they were a normal couple ��� and having sex is a normal thing. It���s hard to believe and hard to take in. We���ve ended up with the rules we���ve invented without getting to the true message.���

About sex, in general, Caram said, ���I think the church has had a poor attitude to it for a long time and has swept it a bit under the carpet. It wasn���t a taboo subject; it was more something that was considered dirty or hidden. It was the denial of what I believe to be a blessing.���

That may be true, but that stuff about Mary���wow!

As you might imagine, Sister Lucia���s comments about the Madonna were not well-received in her homeland, where Roman Catholicism remains the overwhelmingly-favored religion. Since voicing her opinion on the subject, Caram has been on the receiving end of a great deal of vitriol, including death threats, and the Bishop of Vic disavowed her comments, saying, ���We remind people that these remarks do not conform to the faith of the church and regret the confusion they may have caused to the faithful.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large