James L. Paris's Blog, page 66

University of Chicago Makes It Clear to Incoming Freshmen: No Safe Spaces Here

With ���safe spaces��� and ���trigger warnings��� all the rage on college campuses, it���s difficult to imagine any school of note putting its foot down to say that such things are unwanted on their grounds.

But one has���and it���s located in a city that many think would be the last place to find a school taking an ���anti-snowflake��� stance.

It turns out that Campus Reform has obtained a welcome letter from Dean Jay Ellison, addressed to incoming freshmen at the University of Chicago, wherein he makes it clear that free expression and enthusiastic debate is not only welcome on campus���it���s basically a requirement.

���At the University of Chicago, we insist that all faculty and students are free to debate, disagree, and argue, without fear of being silenced,��� wrote Ellison.

Continuing, Ellison proclaimed, ���From its founding in 1890 the university has been a place of intense and productive debate and discussion, undertaken with the conviction that full freedom of expression and analysis is crucial to the cultural identity and scholarly mission of a real university. Because our campus is a place that respects unique perspectives and powerful ideas, it is also a place where opinions and even core beliefs will be tested, sharpened, and subjected to rigorous academic analysis.���

Free expression, and beliefs tested and subjected to academic rigor���at an American institution of higher learning?

What a novel concept.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor at Large

Defector Says Christianity Growing in North Korea As Citizens ���No Longer Respect��� Kim Jong-Un

According to a report posted at The Telegraph, the influence of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un over his own people may, in fact, be waning, according to an anonymous defector with whom the news outlet has had contact.

What���s more, it appears that the growing number of NK citizens who are forsaking Kim as their ���god��� are doing so in favor of another god: God Himself.

���In the past, the people were told to worship the Kim family as their god, but many North Koreans no longer respect Kim Jong-Un,��� the defector, who is now part of the group Worldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea, told The Telegraph. ���That means they are looking for something else to sustain their faith.���

Continuing, the defector said, ���In some places, that has led to the emergence of shamans, but the Christian church is also growing and deepening its roots there. Even though people know they could be sent to prison���or worse���they are still choosing to worship, and that means that more cracks are appearing in the regime and the system.���

According to figures cultivated by the U.S. State Department, the number of practicing Christians in North Korea has grown significantly in recent years, from roughly 37,000 in 2012 to as many as 400,000 today.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Rush Limbaugh: America ���on Cusp of Second Civil War���

The king of radio talkers, Rush Limbaugh, does not mince words when it comes to what he thinks is going on in the United States right now. 

And if you happened to hear him this past Friday, you know just how dire he believes America���s circumstances to be.

���We haven���t seen anything like this,��� Limbaugh said. ���You might even get away with saying that we are on the cusp of a second civil war.���

Proclaiming that ���America is under attack from within,��� the broadcast legend said that ���our culture, our history, our founding are under the most direct assault I have seen in my life.���

Limbaugh pointedly called out ���international financiers,��� mentioning George Soros by name, and saying that their ���objective is to take the United States ���out and down as a superpower, to literally erase the United States as a powerful or super powerful nation.���

Noting the attack (literally) on Confederate monuments occurring all across the country, Limbaugh charged the citizens with defending them in the interest of preserving the nation���s national historical culture, saying, ���If you're gonna defend the United States of America, you have to know our history. You have to know the purpose of the United States of America. You have to know unequivocally and proudly the United States��� place in history. And that is why erasing and distorting our history is crucial for the left to succeed.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Jason Stapleton On Business, Bitcoin, Politics, Charlottesville, and Life

On this episode, podcaster Jason Stapleton discusses business, politics, and life. As a former Marine special operator, Forex trader, and now hugely popular podcaster, he has carved out his own niche and has an incredible following among Millennials. Stapleton shares his Libertarian views on Bitcoin, business, politics, Trump, the media, and Charlottesville. He also discusses the importance of building a life around your passions and interests.

 

Is The Lottery Rigged? Computer Programmer Admits To Rigging The Lottery

On this episode, Jim discusses the shocking story of a lottery employee that created a software program to rig the lottery numbers in several states. How to get started with Bitcoin and receive a $10 bonus extra when opening a new account. Jerry Lewis dead at age 91. Robocall settlement to pay victims $300 to $900 each. Students of defunct Corinthian College to have loans forgiven, and Liberty University graduates are returning their diplomas as a protest against the college president's support for Trump.

 

Proposed CA Law Would Imprison Those Who Use Wrong Transgender Pronoun

If you don���t think America is rapidly becoming a bizarre, groupthink police state, well, you���re just not paying attention.

As reported by a variety of outlets, including CBN News, there���s a bill actually under consideration by the California State Senate that would make it a crime for those who work in long-term care facilities to ���willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident���s preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns.��� The legislation is known officially as SB 219, or the ���Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Resident���s Bill of Rights.���

The upshot of the bill is that those employees of long-term care facilities who don���t play ball on the matter of using transgender pronouns could face fines of up to $1,000, and jail time for as long as a year.

While the bill was being vetted by the California Assembly Judiciary Committee, Greg Burt of the California Family Council passionately spoke against it.

���How can you believe in free speech, but think the government can compel people to use certain pronouns when talking to others?" he asked.

���Compelled speech is not free speech,��� Burt went on to say. ���Can the government compel a newspaper to use certain pronouns that aren���t even in the dictionary? Of course not, or is that coming next?���

Probably.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

As You Become More Involved in Gig Economy, Don���t Forget the Taxman

The gig economy has proved empowering for a lot of people. But its advent has prompted lots of folks embarking on this new form of self-employment to chafe against the demands of the IRS.

A new survey of enrolled agents reveals the number one reason for why taxpayers are receiving CP2000 forms, or notices of underreported income, is because those who are self-employed are doing a less-than-stellar job of accurately reporting their earnings at tax time.

A related problem is that the IRS is seeing a spike in the number of taxpayers being hit with penalties related to non-payment, or underpayment, of quarterly estimated taxes. According to an article over at CNBC.com, the number of taxpayers nailed penalized for getting their estimated taxes wrong is going up significantly; in 2010, the number was 7.2 million, and by 2010, the figure had climbed to 10 million.

Good news, though: It���s not difficult to get up to speed with your tax obligations as a self-employed, gig economy go-getter. Maybe the biggest challenge is simply developing the discipline, as soon as possible, for dealing with them.

For starters, the best thing to do is to get yourself a bookkeeper, assuming you���re regularly working and making more than just a few dollars at your labors. An accountant will keep you on the straight and narrow, and make sure you���re not only paying your federal and state taxes, as appropriate, but that you���re meeting your obligations to Social Security and Medicare through the self-employment tax.

Something else: If you���re managing all of this through your personal bank account, it may be time to set up a separate account for the business. Your accountant can best advise you on how to proceed with this.

As for recordkeeping, working in the gig economy means you���re genuinely self-employed, so keep close track of who you���re working for, how much you���re being paid, and all of that.

When it comes to reporting income, remember that even if one of your employers doesn���t issue a 1099, you���re still responsible for declaring the income you earned, regardless. The point is, keep your own, good records on what you���ve earned, and double-check the figures against whatever 1099s you���ve been issued before you file your taxes. If you find discrepancies, contact the company to see if they made an error, and have them issue an amended 1099, if necessary. Regardless, be sure to report all your earnings to the government.

If you do receive a notice from the IRS about underreported income, and know you���ve been earnest about filing and reporting, there���s no reason to panic. In a case like that, the issue is likely a minor discrepancy. That said, this is why it���s good to establish a relationship with a bookkeeper as soon as you know you���re serious about working for yourself; it greatly reduces the likelihood that you���ll have any problems at all.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Actress Patricia Heaton Crushes Notion that Iceland is ���Eliminating Down Syndrome���

As detailed in an article over at LifeNews.com, Patricia Heaton, the well-liked actress known for her role as Debra Barone on the CBC sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, as well as for her part as Frances ���Frankie��� Heck on the ABC sitcom The Middle, isn���t buying what her former network is selling when it comes to the subject of the near-eradication of children with Down syndrome in Iceland.

CBS News recently did a story on the subject, one detailing that the number of kids born in that country with the genetic disorder is, indeed, nearly at zero now.

But it���s how that number is almost at zero that has raised eyebrows.

As you���ve likely guessed by this time, Iceland has taken care of the Down syndrome problem by making it plenty acceptable to abort the babies who have it.

Tweeting on its own story, CBS News declared, ���Iceland is on pace to virtually eliminate Down syndrome through abortion.���

To which Heaton shot back, through her own Twitter account, ���Iceland isn't actually eliminating Down Syndrome. They're just killing everybody that has it. Big difference.���

Yup.

Chiming in on the news report, Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, said, ���Iceland sounds like they are proud of the fact that they���ve killed nearly all unborn babies that had an in-utero diagnosis of Down syndrome. This is not a medical advancement. This is eugenics and barbarianism at best.���

Yup, again.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

NC Gov: Remove Confederate Statues So Protesters Aren���t Hurt Toppling Them

In the midst of the current frenzy over removing Confederate statues, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has asked the legislature to go back on a law passed in 2015 and allow the state, as well as local counties and municipalities, to remove the offending statues located there.

Two years ago, then-Governor Pat McCrory signed Senate Bill 22, or the ���Historic Artifact Management and Patriotism Act.��� The essence of the law is that it forbids the removal of historical statues.

Cooper now wants the law reversed. And here���s one of the reasons: The governor is afraid that protesters might get hurt pulling the statues down on their own.

In other words, the statues must come down because this is now a public safety issue, apparently.

Here is Cooper, in his own words, speaking on a video posted at his Facebook page:

���My first responsibility as Governor is to protect North Carolinians and keep them safe. The likelihood of protesters being injured or worse as they may try to topple any one of the hundreds of monuments in our state, concerns me.���

Because it would be terrible shame if anything happens to vandals who are hurt in the course of���vandalizing.

Doubling down on his concern for the lawless, Cooper also said that he was concerned harm may come to the statue-destroyers at the hands of ���white supremacists��� who might ���swarm the site��� in response to the statue being torn down.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Pundit: Google Should Be Regulated Like a Public Utility

Tucker Carlson, the host of Fox News Channel���s highly-rated Tucker Carlson Tonight, had some rather interesting things to say on Monday about social media giant Google.

While never entirely out of the news in these days, Google has been a topic of heightened interest lately because of the recent dustup concerning employee ��� now former employee ��� James Damore. As you likely heard, Damore, a software engineer, decided to publish a memo in which he partly made the case that there���s a dearth of women in the technology field because, as a gender, females tend to reflect traits that make them inherently less likely to be as successful as men in certain areas, like technology.

Shortly thereafter, Damore was fired from Google for violating its code of conduct and promoting negative gender stereotypes.

Well, Carlson has a compelling take on Google in light of the furor. He thinks that the size and scope of Google���namely, that it essentially controls the flow of not just America���s, but the world���s, information���means it should be regulated by the government in the way a public utility is regulated.

Carlson, making his case, said, ���Google is the most powerful company in the history of the world. It���s the portal through which the bulk of our information flows. That means that if Google isn���t on the level, neither is our understanding of the world. To an unprecedented extend, Google controls reality.

Now Google has already shown a disturbing willingness to distort reality for ideological ends.���
Carlson later added, ���Why should a company that shuts down free speech for political reasons have the power to dictate what the world knows and thinks? Well, of course it shouldn���t have that power. Google���s long time motto was, don���t be evil. Today it uses do the right thing. We should have seen this coming. Those are super villain slogans if there was ever such a thing. None of this can continue.

���In Europe, Google has already been hit with a nearly $3 billion fine for violating antitrust law. Congress here and the Trump administration should go further than that. Since it has the power to censor the internet, Google should be regulated like the public utility it is to make sure it doesn���t further distort the free flow of information.���

Hmmm���

by Robert G. Yetman, Jr.