The liberal union that controls the IRS.
Connecting some dots: The liberal union that controls the IRS.
On the air
Tonight I will be appearing once again on Coast to Coast with George Noory, from 10 to 11 pm (Pacific), to talk about the end of the Kepler space mission as well as what the space telescope accomplished and will yet still accomplish. We should also touch upon some other space topics as well.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Did the IRS audit the conservative Leadership Institute in 2011 as part of its effort to target conservatives for harassment?
Working for the Democratic Party: Did the IRS audit the conservative Leadership Institute in 2011 as part of its effort to target conservatives for harassment?
Venezuela has run out of toilet paper.
Socialism does it again! Venezuela has run out of toilet paper.
Why is it that socialist- and communist-ruled nations always have shortages of toilet paper? The Soviet bloc was famous for its lack of toilet paper. Now Venezuela has joined the party!
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
A second appeals court has ruled that Obama’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional.
The law is such an inconvenient thing: A second appeals court has ruled that Obama’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional.
Earth under fire from the Sun!
Earth under fire from the Sun!
The Sun’s sunspot production might be down, but we are still in the solar maximum, weak as it is, and this last week the Sun has been producing the strongest flares in years. The sunspot producing these flares is now rotating into a position where any further flares will be aimed at the Earth. Should be interesting.
Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
Winner of the 2003 Eugene M. Emme Award of the American Astronautical Society.
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke
The nine lies of Lois Lerner.
And if you don’t yet know who Lois Lerner is, you might want to find out.
In order to enforce Obamacare, the IRS and HHS are creating the largest federal database ever of the personal tax, income, and health records of American citizens.
What could go wrong? In order to enforce Obamacare, the federal government, led by the IRS, is creating the largest federal database ever of the personal tax, income, and health records of American citizens.
Known as the Federal Data Services Hub, the project is taking the IRS’s own records (for income and employment status) and centralizing them with information from Social Security (identity), Homeland Security (citizenship), Justice (criminal history), HHS (enrollment in entitlement programs and certain medical claims data) and state governments (residency).
The data hub will be used as the verification system for ObamaCare’s complex subsidy formula. All insurers, self-insured businesses and government health programs must submit reports to the IRS about the individuals they cover, which the IRS will cross-check against tax returns.
Two pro-life groups were told by the IRS that they had to change their position on abortion in order to get their tax exemption request approved.
Working for the Democratic Party: Two pro-life groups were told by the IRS that they had to change their position on abortion in order to get their tax exemption request approved.
In one case, the IRS specifically told them they had to guarantee in writing that their organization would not protest against Planned Parenthood.
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education today demanded that every college and university in the United States establish strict speech codes that would violate the First Amendment and decades of legal precedent.
In other news: The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education today demanded that every college and university in the United States establish strict speech codes that would violate the First Amendment and decades of legal precedent.
“They simply did what their bosses ordered.”
“They simply did what their bosses ordered.”
Remember this story when the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress try to pin the IRS scandal on a handful of low level IRS employees.
The IRS is deeply political — and very Democratic
The IRS is deeply political — and very Democratic.
The analysis explains how President Obama doesn’t have to give an order to get what he wants. Instead, the partisan nature of the people who gravitate to these government jobs gives the Democrats an advantage, naturally.
In other words, you want freedom you don’t give power to the government, for it will eventually abuse that power, no matter what.
Eden MacAdam-Somer & Larry Unger – River Falls Waltz
An evening pause: Some nice folk music, written by Eden MacAdam Somer and Larry Unger and performed by them live in 2010.
Did the IRS audit two long-established well-known Christian ministries because of their opposition to Democratic policies?
Did the IRS audit two long-established well-known Christian ministries because of their opposition to Democratic policies?
The timing of both audits is quite intriguing, especially considering that both organizations have existed for many decades without ever getting an audit. Note too that while the audits cost the organizations money, neither found anything wrong.
Sounds like harassment to me.
After waiting fifteen months for IRS approval of its tax-exempt status and getting to response, a conservative group reapplied using a liberal-sounding name and got its approval in three weeks.
Working for the Democratic Party: After waiting fifteen months for IRS approval of its tax-exempt status and getting no response, a conservative group reapplied using a liberal-sounding name and got its approval in three weeks.
There are certainly a lot of caveats to this story, but the circumstances are quite interesting, considering all we now know about the IRS’s efforts to harass conservatives.
The Kepler mission has lost its second gyroscope, ending the ability of the telescope to aim precisely.
The Kepler mission has lost its second gyroscope, ending the ability of the telescope to aim precisely. More details here.
The telescope’s primary mission, to stare continuously at one section of sky, looking for exoplanet transits, is over, though it might still be re-purposed for other astronomical research.
It appears that a number of Senate Democrats have been demanding, in writing, that the IRS harass conservative organizations since 2010.
Not in a vacuum: It appears that a number of Senate Democrats have been demanding, in writing, that the IRS harass conservative organizations since 2010. More details here.
The same Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee who this week is calling for hearings into IRS activities, specifically called on the IRS to engage in that very conduct back in 2010. And he wasn’t the only one. Just last year, a group of seven Senate Democrats sent another letter to the IRS urging them to similarly investigate these outside political organizations.
I mean, really, what’s the IRS for if not to harass your political opponents?
A small business owner explains the hard facts of Obamacare to his employees.
A small business owner explains the hard facts of Obamacare to his employees.
And it ain’t pretty.
Did the writings of a prominent Catholic professor, critical of Obama and Democratic Party policies, cause the IRS to audit her?
Did the writings of a prominent Catholic professor, critical of Obama and Democratic Party policies, cause the IRS to audit her? Key quote:
Her writings for the Catholic Advocate soon ceased because, Hendershott admits, the IRS audit silenced her. If her suspicions are true, this may have been its chilling intention. “I haven’t written for them since the audit, because I was so scared,” she said (records show her last article for the organization was on July 10, 2010 — the same month the IRS audit unfolded).
So far, she has only shared her story with friends and those close to her, but in light of the recent IRS scandal, she has decided to speak out. “It was clear they didn’t like me criticizing the people who helped pass Obamacare,” she said of the audit,” later adding, ”The IRS is very frightening.”
New estimates of the 2013 federal deficit show it will be the lowest deficit since 2008.
Good news? New estimates of the 2013 federal deficit show it will be the lowest deficit since 2008.
The CBO claims that much of the reduction comes from new revenue, but I suspect that the real cause was sequestration, which actually forced real cuts in federal programs for the first time since Obama took office.
I put a question mark on the “good news” above in that the deficit will still be higher than $600 billion, and that spending is still out of control. This drop is merely the tiniest glimmer of hope in a black storm of disaster.