Not Lion

My Liberal friends are very afraid.

Cowards need everyone else to be cowardly.

My Liberal friends are afraid of all the things that are little real danger.
My Liberal friends embrace all the actors who would kill them.

Example 1 (murder):
Wesley Cook who took the name Mumia Abu-Jamal murdered Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Mr. Cook was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982. End of story, right?

The black nationalist and member of the Black Panther Party became the cause célèbre of activists and actors and liberal groups so our Liberal friends invited this murderer to give the commencement addresses at Antioch College and Goddard College.

“Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated.”
— George Bernard Shaw

Example 2 (mayhem):
Payton Head grew up on Chicago’s South Side where black murderers killed 282 other blacks by mid-year. Mr. Head enrolled in the University of Missouri where someone called him the n-word. They didn’t shoot him dead. They didn’t beat him senseless. They called him names. He ran for and won election as class president.

Our Liberal friends were so afraid of the n-word that they forced Mizzou’s president to resign.

“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

Examples 3 (murder):
The four coordinated September 11 attacks were committed by Islamic terrorists. A homegrown Islamic jihadist fatally shot a Canadian soldier on ceremonial sentry duty at Parliament Hill in Ottawa in 2014. 20 died in the mass Islamic terrorist murders at Charlie Hebdo. At least 129 people have died at six separate sites in the Islamic terrorist massacre Paris last week.

“Canadians know acts such as these committed in the name of Islam are an aberration of your faith…” Justin Trudeau said in an address to Parliament just after the Ottawa attack.

“I just hope that people realize that once again this was not the action of innocent Muslims who want peace in the world as much as we do,” a Liberal friend wrote immediately after the Paris murders.

“Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.”
–Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Example 4 (control):
The Independence USA PAC targets politicians with millions in television ads to scare you.

“Joe Baca sided with polluters voting for a dirty water bill…” Michael “I’m a bully and proud of it” Bloomberg proclaimed in his Independence USA ad aired days before the 2012 elections. He took aim at two candidates in Illinois because the NRA gave them each an “A.” He calls Florida’s Pam Bondi “an attorney general for polluters, not for us” because she joined a majority of U.S. states to sue the EPA for their overreaching new regulation.

“The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.”
— Thucydides

Mr. Baca called the ad “gutter politics at its worst” but it’s more. It’s a fear campaign.

We’re made to fear “pollution.” When that loses its edge, we’re made to fear “guns.” When that loses its edge, we’re made to fear “global warming.”

“Carbon will fucking kill you,” Mr. Bloomberg would have you believe in these latest ads. So where is the Independence USA ad showing the EPA as polluters, Mr. Bloomberg?

Liberals take control by making the rest of us fearful, not by giving us the facts.


Note: My very Liberal editor requires the following caveat — This rant applies only to those Liberal politicians who bend over for terrorists and the fellow travelers who elect and support and nurture them. My other Liberal friends are no more cowardly than the rest of us. Other than in their choice of politics. And, yes, I know that Audie Murphy was probably a Democrat.

 

We’re from the Government. We’re Here to Help

Last month, I talked about the best technique to handle spam/scam/sham calls. I.Don’t.Answer.The.Phone.

Unfortunately, my friend Missy answered the phone.

She Skyped me in tears.

Missy wears bling which dangles and jangles when she dips her minnows out of the bait tank so she’s always fun to watch. She usually prefers to talk about fishing and motorcycles and her job so I clicked out of my Facebook news stream and paid attention.

Sample Form 1040“The IRS called me,” she said. “They said I owed $3,841.60 from 2010 plus interest and penalties. The agent said he had the local cops on their way to my house arrest me for not paying.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“I called you.”

The FTC announced it will “crack down” on bill collectors. In fact, they announced 30 new law enforcement actions last week as part of a joint effort among federal, state and local authorities to crack down on troubling practices such as false threats that people would be arrested or have their wages garnished, and harassing phone calls. It even shut down a dozen “rogue” debt collectors who will spring up tomorrow under a new name. The 30 brings the total number of actions the group has taken against debt collectors up to 115 so far this year.

Meanwhile, Congress just gave bill collectors free rein. Nestled in the “emergency” budget bill (that would be emergency budget bill #8,752) were a few paragraphs that amended the Communications Act to exempt debt collection robo calls. This change will open the door to millions of Americans being targeted with automated debt-collection calls on everything from back taxes to student loans to mortgages.

On top of that, the IRS will go back to using outside collection agencies, despite the fact that previous programs failed twice. Plenty of people in and out of Congress oppose the use of outside bill collectors, but not Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (Motto: “We’re from the Government. We’re Here to Help YOU!”). Also thinking they are “Your Voice at the IRS,” Sens. Grassley and Schumer snuck that one into the Highway Funding Bill.

And we think Congress can’t get stuff done.

Side note: According to data from the Council of Better Business Bureaus debt collectors have dropped to fifth place — out of 3,959 industries listed — among the most complained-about service providers by consumers. That places these collection agencies one step above used car dealers and two steps below cable companies and the U.S. Congress.
The FTC receives more complaints about debt collection companies than any other industry. Apparently the FTC doesn’t accept complaints about the U.S. Congress.

Go Chucks!

There is good news for Missy.

The IRS will never call you without first sending a letter. Usually several increasingly intimidating letters. At least not until now.

A collection agency will never call on behalf of the IRS. At least not until now.

Missy’s “IRS caller” was definitely a scammer.

If you get one of these calls and you do, in fact, owe taxes or think you might, call the IRS direct (800.829.1040). An IRS agent really will help you figure it out

If you get one of these calls and you know you don’t owe taxes, report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration who goes by the cool acronym “TIGTA” (800.366.4484) or visit tigta.gov.

Sadly, thanks to the U.S. Congress, it will be harder now to tell the bad guys from the scammers.

 

News, Part II

I guess we don’t have my cuz to kick around any more, eh.

The Canadian federal election was held on October 19. A huge plurality of Canadians (OK, 39.5%) gave Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party the boot after nine years and elected Justin Trudeau to head a new Liberal government. Mr. Trudeau takes office on Wednesday.

Canada has 25 different political parties, all contending for seats in Parliament. From the Alliance of the North to the United (neither of which won a single seat) plus the Animal Alliance, Bloc Québécois, Bridge, Canada Party, Canadian Action, Christian Heritage, Communist, Conservative, Democratic Advancement, Green, Independent and no affiliation, Liberal, Libertarian, Marijuana, Marxist-Leninist, New Democratic, PACT, Pirate, Progressive Canadian, Rhinoceros, Seniors, and Strength in Democracy, There were almost as many Parliamentary candidates as Republicans running for U.S. President.

Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Trudeau campaigned on “Real Change” and “Hope and Hard Work.”

Voters could make up pretty much anything they wanted to match those slogans and the press did the same. Mr. Trudeau has promised to raise taxes and spending, run a deficit, oppose the oil industry, and plans to embark on a vast program of public works spending. Pretty similar to his father. And Mr. Obama. Except he supports international trade deals and the Keystone pipeline project.

Last week, we looked at the quantity of non-news behind the Twitter or Facebook “headlines.” This week, we’ll pay attention to the quality of the news and commentary you get from any source.

Justin TrudeauAmericanthinkerdotcom says of the Canadian election, “the disasters have already begun. Fasten your seat belts, Canucks, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

The Canadian online conservative political and social commentary platform Rebel Media reported “The Canadian dollar dropped nearly two percentage points after Justin Trudeau’s Liberals swept to a majority in the federal election.

“That’s almost two cents in four days.”

Two whole cents!

Almost!

The pundits used the bumpy road to mean way more failures than successes ahead for our northern neighbors. I agree that Canada has more troubles ahead.

But these pundits want to stir you up about it by cherry picking a fact and spinning it. (And, yes, this column has picked just one reported fact for discussion out of the Americanthinker article.)

Rebel Media was founded in February by former Sun News Network host Ezra Levant.

Mr. Levant noted that the “precipitous drop” has a profound effect on Canadians. What Mr. Levant didn’t note is that the Canadian Dollar has fallen pretty steadily since 2011 and is now back down to about where it was from the 70s on.

“It’s like every Canadian just got a pay cut.”

               Famous Fakery
• Faked peer reviews prompted 64 retractions at Nature.
• 60 Minutes aired a story in 2004 that showed memos that showed then-1st Lieutenant George Bush had gone AWOL. Except the documents were obvious forgeries.
• Both New York Magazine and the New York Post reported on a Stuyvesant High School senior who made $72 million on stocks. Except that alluring story was, well, fake.
• The Rebel Media claim that the Canadian dollar dropped two points after Mr. Trudeau’s election. Except the election had little to do with it.

CBS rightfully fired Dan Rather over the Bush-National Guard story.

The Globe and Mail noted back in August that the Canadian dollar is under attack on several fronts, from the collapse in oil prices to the different paths being taken by central banks. “The loonie lost about 4% in July, sank to below 76 cents U.S. at one point [August 3] and again [August 4], and won’t stop there, according to analysts who expect it to tumble further to about 73 or 74 cents. It’s at 76 cents today.”

The loonie has been weakening for several years.

Editorial note: as a consumer of Canadian dentistry, I’m quite pleased in the return of the “weak” loonie. An exam and cleaning cost me $68 U.S. last month. The same service cost $95 U.S. in 2014.

So, the Canadian dollar did indeed drop a couple of percentage points after Mr. Trudeau’s Liberals won a majority in the Canadian elections but that’s probably not Mr. Trudeau’s fault. The two very real questions Canadian Conservatives should ask are
1. Why should we trust any media that cherry picks a few facts to lie to us?
2. What will Mr. T do to strengthen the loonie?

The rest of us have just one very real question to ask of the Twitter or Facebook or even our traditional news feeds:
Why should we trust any media that cherry picks a few facts to lie to us?