For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
Luke 8:17
For those of you that think you have privacy any more, here’s yet more proof it’s an illusion.
According to a new report, Google “unintentionally forgot” to mention the existence of a microphone on the Next Guard. The report mentioned that Nest users were unaware that the Nest Guard comes with a microphone as it was not mentioned anywhere including the website and the spec sheet.
Oh, Google’s justification was:
The spokesperson also mentioned that the on-device microphone was never on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option. Moreover, Google stated that they added the microphone as a way to allow for future developments and to add more security features to the device through software updates.
In early February, Google announced that its home security and alarm system Nest Secure would be getting an update — users could now enable its virtual assistant technology, Google Assistant. The problem: Nest users didn’t know a microphone even existed on their security device to begin with. The existence of a microphone on the Nest Guard (which is the alarm, keypad, and motion sensor component in the Nest Secure offering) was never disclosed in any of the product material for the device. On Tuesday, a Google spokesperson told Business Insider the company had made an “error.”
OK folks, pop quiz, what else has Google or someone else put a microphone in without telling you? Your “Smart TV” or gaming console? You mesh network gizmo?
Isn’t there enough microphones in your house already?
Cell phone
Smart watch
Laptop
Children’s toys
Plus any speaker not in use can also act as a microphone. Think stereo, clock radio, television, sound bar, etc.
Please note that Google only needed a software update to turn on the microphone and that means others with ill intent could access it too.
Somehow when Jesus spoke those words in Luke, I don’t think he had Google in mind however, I guess we don’t have to wait until judgement day any more for our private deeds to be made public, just get the wrong organization or nation state to pay attention to you and the future can be now. Jesus tells us that we will be condemned by what comes to light and I’m sure that would be true in this life as well.
Apple is such a target rich environment of bad news that it’s no wonder that they have fallen in value and deservedly so. Apple’s Store is full of spyware and security flaws, they have legal troubles that are concerning, they have quit innovating. Below I will give you a brief summary of each article and a link to read it for yourself but be ready to be shocked. I don’t own any stock in FAANG companies but if you do, now would be a good time to sell.
FAANG is Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google
Apple App Makers Spying on You
Many major companies, like Air Canada, Hollister and Expedia, are recording every tap and swipe you make on their iPhone apps. In most cases you won’t even realize it. And they don’t need to ask for permission.
Apps like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hotels.com and Singapore Airlines also use Glassbox, a customer experience analytics firm, one of a handful of companies that allows developers to embed “session replay” technology into their apps. These session replays let app developers record the screen and play them back to see how its users interacted with the app to figure out if something didn’t work or if there was an error. Every tap, button push and keyboard entry is recorded — effectively screenshotted — and sent back to the app developers. Or, as Glassbox said in a recent tweet: “Imagine if your website or mobile app could see exactly what your customers do in real time, and why they did it?”
Apps that are submitted to Apple’s App Store must have a privacy policy, but none of the apps we reviewed make it clear in their policies that they record a user’s screen. Glassbox doesn’t require any special permission from Apple or from the user, so there’s no way a user would know.
Glassbox is one of many session replay services on the market. Appsee actively markets its “user recording” technology that lets developers “see your app through your user’s eyes,” while UXCam says it lets developers “watch recordings of your users’ sessions, including all their gestures and triggered events.”
Apple has released an iPhone update to fix a software flaw that allowed people to eavesdrop on others while using FaceTime. The bug enabled interlopers to turn an iPhone into a live microphone while using Group FaceTime. Callers were able to activate another person’s microphone remotely even before the person has accepted or rejected the call. Apple turned off the group-chat feature last week, after a 14-year-old boy in Tucson, Arizona, discovered the flaw. The teenager, Grant Thompson, and his mother said they unsuccessfully tried to contact the company about the problem for more than a week.
FYI: Apple will never admit fault or flaws with any product or service until it has been made public and the publicity has embarrassed the crap out of them. This and the fact that their PC market share is so small has allowed them to falsely claim that they are more secure than Windows. Their iPhone apps are a mess despite their claims.
Turns out is not just Facebook and Google who are misusing Apple’s Enterprise Certificate Program to distribute apps which would not pass Apple’s App Store approval process. Techcrunch has discovered that hundreds of companies are distributing pornography and gambling apps to members of the public using the certificate system designed for only internal use.
The news, however, underlines that the supposedly safe and secure iPhone ecosystem has a rather seedy underbelly…
As previously reported on this blog, Apple iPhones have been banned for sale in China and Germany due to patent infringement. Here is an update on the story from a German Court.
Apple and Qualcomm have been at loggerheads for a while now, with the firm suing Apple over its alleged patent infringement. Qualcomm won a victory against Apple in Germany, acquiring an injunction which would stop Apple from selling iPhone models that used Intel chips in their retail stores, forcing Apple to pull their devices from sale both in-store and online.
Apple as of now has resumed sales of its iPhone 7 and 8 family of devices with Qualcomm chips in Germany.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has brought suit against Gene Daniel Levoff, who was Apple’s senior director of corporate law until September 2018. Levoff is accused of using his position to make illegal trades of Apple shares. Levoff was part of Apple’s Disclosure Committee—one of the people who could review the company’s quarterly financial reports ahead of their publication. The SEC maintains that he used nonpublic information obtained as part of the committee to inform trades he made of Apple shares. For example, in July 2015 he learned that Apple was going to miss analyst estimates for iPhone unit sales. Between July 17 and July 21, when Apple published its quarterly earnings report, he sold nearly his entire holding of Apple stock, totaling nearly $10 million. When the news became public, Apple’s share price dropped by more than 4 percent—selling early avoided losses of approximately $345,000.
Considering what they did to Martha Stewart for $50K, they better throw the book at this guy.
Apple Stops Innovating iPhone
Apple’s cash cow—the iPhone—for the last decade is running out of steam and new ideas. As reported here previously, they have no plans to release a true 5G phone in 2019, they are reportedly going to shift to USB-C connector in 2020 (more on this in a minute), they have announced no R & D for a foldable tablet or phone, and they are shifting to an Android style display. But still no micro USB memory slot.
As per the report, Apple is also planning to shift its display technology to OLED for the 2019 iPhone family of devices. OLED displays are more visually appealing than LCDs subjectively speaking and show deeper blacks and greater contrast. In other words, they ‘pop’ more and look prettier in stores. They also tend to feature on higher-end Android smartphones, something Apple may be reacting to as sales fall in China and India as consumers prefer their own homegrown, full-featured Android smartphones.
Apple has stopped reporting sales numbers for any devices on their quarterly stock reports due to declining sales but since they have fallen into the 90 Calendar trap, they are trying a new way to improve their cash flow. The new idea is to fleece their flock by offering subscription services. As such they are rolling out two new services, a subscription news service and a streaming service.
Apple, is expected to have a March 25 event at its Cupertino campus, where it could introduce the entertainment service, a new magazine subscription app and an update to its popular AirPods wireless earbuds. Apple, coming off declining iPhone sales, is looking to make up the difference.
…Apple will offer the service for free for the first three months, as an app, like iTunes, available on iPhones, iPads, computers and via the Apple TV set-top box and then begin charging. His prediction: $3 monthly if bundled with Apple’s current $9.99 Apple Music offering, or $6.99 as a stand-alone product. That’s a good deal cheaper than industry leader Netflix, which charges $11.99 for its most popular rate, but then Apple will have a tiny library in comparison. CBS, which also debuted with a smaller library for its All Access offering of originals (new Star Trek, and a sequel to the Good Wife) and library titles like Perry Mason and Cheers, charges $5.99 monthly, with ads, or $9.99 ad-free. Apple’s track record in entertainment isn’t stellar. It debuted two new series in 2017, the widely panned Planet of the Apps reality show in 2017 and an extended version of the CBS late night comedy bit Carpool Karaoke. It also debuted in 2017 with five episodes, but hasn’t been heard from since. Apple reported falling iPhone sales in its most recent earnings report, down 15 percent for the holiday quarter, but a booming business for its Services, which includes iCloud online storage, Apple Music and iTunes movie rentals. The company said Services revenue rose $10.9 billion, or 19 percent, over the previous year.
Are people really willing to pay $7 or more to watch shows they can only view on their phones? Color me skeptical. At lest with USB-C phones, you can hook them up to a computer monitor or television and view the content but a phone only person? You already have Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, CBS All Access plus Disney and Warner are starting their own streaming services; all of which you can watch on any device that you own. Apple is late to the party and they only plan to let you watch on their devices. Lastly, as mentioned above, content is going to be a problem. Heck Netflix is suffering due to the content pulled already for services that aren’t even live yet.
Apple is planning to launch an all-you-can-read news subscription service, but is running into resistance from The New York Times Co. and Washington Post, both of which want better terms, the Wall Street Journal reports. Apple’s negotiators are reportedly floating an all-in-one news subscription plan that would cost consumers $10 per month, with Apple keeping half, and the remaining money getting split among all the other publishers on the platform, based on how much time people spend reading stories from each outlet.
Apple keeps half and gives crumbs to everyone else. Also please note that they are the ones that decide how much to pay all the news contributors based on how many hits each story gets.
Conclusion
I keep saying Tim Cook is just a caretaker and I think I’ve been vindicated in spades on that claim. Apple is no longer a leader in next generation technology, instead, they are just interested in making the current generation more comfortable in their old age.
Finally, several weeks later and after two different articles written by me on this blog, the Wall Street Journal and CNBC are catching up to the fact that many people are either not getting a tax refund at all this year or a smaller one based on changes stemming from Trump’s tax cuts.
First the WSJ article.
FYI, I found that saving said articles from WSJ as PDF files is important because after their first day on the web, they are embargoed behind a pay firewall. As usual, I quote extensively to prove my comments and analysis art in context, something the Main Stream Media will not do.
WASHINGTON—The first tax-filing season under the new tax law got off to a slower start than last year and filers so far are seeing smaller average refunds, according to early Internal Revenue Service data released Friday. With about 10% of households filing their returns, the percentage of households getting tax refunds is similar to last year, but average refund size is down 8%, to $1,865. The number of returns filed so far—16 million—is down 12% from the similar point a year ago.
The article points out that early filers are typically the ones expecting a refund and those numbers are down. Yep, no kidding.
Please note the next section carefully, overall you may have gotten a tax cut but that is not the same as a large refund because you had less withheld over the year and thus had more spendable money through-out the year.
About two-thirds of households are getting tax cuts for 2018 under the law, and just 6% are paying more, according to the Tax Policy Center. But the size of those tax cuts may not be reflected in refunds, which are just the end-of-year reconciliation of what a taxpayer owes and what was withheld or paid during the year. Many taxpayers received much of the benefit through reduced paycheck-withholding throughout 2018. On average, refunds should be larger than usual according to estimates from Evercore ISI and Morgan Stanley . Still, tax experts and preparers expect many households to be surprised by the size of their refunds—in both directions—and, on balance, millions of people may shift from getting refunds to owing taxes.
Though the 2018 filing season only started on Jan. 28, some early filers are discovering that they either owe the IRS or they’ll be getting a smaller-than-expected refund from the taxman.
About 30 million people, or 21 percent of U.S. taxpayers, are expected to owe money to the IRS this tax season, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office, a legislative agency that provides data to Congress. “The people who are most likely to be surprised this year are the ones who lost some deductions they had last year and who didn’t make changes to their withholding,” said Nathan Rigney, lead tax research analyst at the Tax Institute at H&R Block.
If you owe this season, consider it a lesson learned and do what you can to head off the same troubles in 2019. It’s generally a good practice to review your withholding, especially if you’ve been through major life changes, including getting married or having children.
If you do owe Federal taxes, TurboTax will let you eFile now and schedule payment anytime until April 15th.
Occasionally here, our posts do beat the Drudge Report, Wall Street Journal, local television stations and others by hours or even days. For a guy that runs this blog in my spare time, I think that’s kinda cool. Oh, and in fairness I do have a little help.
Folks this action should disturb you greatly. We are told backing up our personal information to “the cloud” is smart, secure and safe; except for Google which admits that it scans your personal data so they can target you with advertisements but then assures us that nobody human really reads your stuff.
Anyway, this news story surfaces today that Apple is giving away private iCloud passwords just to be nice to people that Tim Cook agrees with politically.
Three years after Apple refused to give the federal government access to the devices used by the San Bernadino terrorists who killed and injured dozens in a mass shooting event, the company has given the office of the Special Counsel complete access to Trump advisor Roger Stone’s iCloud account, reports Apple Insider. According to the Washington Post, Apple objected to giving the federal government backdoor access to the shooters iPhones, claiming it would “set a dangerous precedent.”
Fast forward to present, and we see that Apple no longer seems to have the same privacy concerns it once did in 2015. Without any fight, they simply turned over Roger Stone’s iCloud passwords and God knows what else, because Orange Man Bad. The fact that Apple views a political persecution less of a hill to die on than protecting the rights of terrorists who killed and maimed dozens of Americans is quite telling.
You may not like Roger Stone and you may not agree with him. However, he has been charged with non-violent process crimes…
Folks, our Republic is in trouble. On one hand Apple is willing to turn your data over to the government because your political party is different than their CEO but simultaneously they defend the privacy rights of terrorists and murderers that killed American citizens in cold blood. What’s going on?
If you thought Facebook and Google were the only tech companies that didn’t care about your privacy you might want to re-evaluate that idea.
Apple is living off the legacy of Steve Jobs, Steve is dead and whatever goodwill he may have had died with him. The company that he created is emerging from his shadow and it a quite a different and inferior thing.
Final Thought
If Mr. Stone is using iCloud then presumably he is using Apple’s iPhone. Did Apple give Mueller all their tracking data and telephone logs on him as well? FYI — phone manufacturers and app developers can use the GPS of your smartphone to track all your movements and use algorithms to develop information about your daily routine. This data is frequently monetized.
FAANG is Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google
Tim Cook and the boys in Silicon Valley know way more about American citizens than J. Edgar Hoover ever did and on an unimaginable scale. Liberals are OK with Cook et al. but not Hoover? Makes you wonder…
Elon Musk is great at separating Liberals from their money. He flits around like a butterfly from one pipedream to another. Electric cars, solar power, batteries, space flights to Mars, and mag-lift travel at the speed of sound. Whatever crazy thing he can get other people to invest in. He will make prototypes or other devices to get others to invest, but please note, its other people’s money at risk not his. Musk takes a cut for himself off the top and then piles more investors into the bottom of the pyramid.
He bought Solar City, and it was financially unsustainable so what does he do? Why he folds the debt into his Tesla car scheme. Tesla isn’t panning out financially so what then? Oh, I know, why doesn’t he act like a crazy guy and get kicked off the board. Then when the bills come due and it collapses Musk won’t be on the board. Then he can blame the Musk-less board for not having the vision, passion, and dedication that he had to make it succeed. If only he had been there…
Look back to last summer. Remember Musk having a Twitter tantrum about the rescuer of the kids in the cave. He called the guy a pedophile or something like that. Then he smokes marijuana on that pod cast and then pulls the stunt of taking the Tesla private. Net result, Musk gets kicked off the board of his own company.
Is he nuts of crazy like a fox? He has access to information investors and other don’t plus he can read the handwriting on the wall. Get out before the stuff hits the fan that way he can save face and blame others. This allows him to go fleece his next group of Liberals with his reputation still intact.
Elon Musk with the look that says, “It’s not personal, it’s business”
Here’s more proof the Ponzi scheme is in trouble.
Tesla has lowered the price of its Model 3 by $1,100 amid reports that U.S. sales fell precipitously in January despite a $2,000 reduction that went into effect at the beginning of the month. InsideEVs estimates that Tesla sold 6,500 Model 3s in the U.S. in January, which would represent a more than70 percent drop from the prior month.
Cutting prices and a 70 percent drop in sales in one month is bad enough but the other shoe is about to drop.
Tesla has a billion dollar debt coming due, and it could wipe out nearly a third of the company’s cash if the stock price doesn’t improve. About $920 million in convertible senior notes expires on March 1 at a conversion price of $359.87 per share. But Tesla’s stock hasn’t traded above $359 for weeks. If the shares are about $359.87, then Tesla’s debt converts into Tesla shares. If not, Tesla will have to pay the debt in cash. Tesla reported cash and cash equivalents of $3 billion at the end of its September quarter. The company continues to reveal pressure to maintain profitability, and announced Friday it would cut 7 percent of its full-time workforce.
Please note that the 3 billion cash and equivalents was in September. They are burning thru cash at a crazy rate and to pony-up one billion in cash in three weeks is a tall order.
Below is a chart of Tesla stock for the last six months. Do you really think that the stock price will be above $359.87 by March first when January sales are off 70 percent? No way Jose. Stock opened trading today at $316.50
Tesla Stock for last six months
Tesla is in deep trouble but never worry because Musk got in the lifeboat months ago to distance himself from the dumpster fire that’s coming.
Ok so Apple lying in and of itself this is nothing new. Let’s look at their track record over the last few years.
Apple throttles performance and battery life of their old phones to get people to buy new iPhones.
Their top selling antivirus app for several years was in reality a spyware program.
They trick gullible people into paying double or triple for inferior technology and their slick marketing affirms that their stuff is better when it is often obsolete or old tech.
They steal tech from other people without attribution or proper payment of patented technology.
Apple fails to offer features on their phones that have been available from other manufacturers for over a decade—can you say “SD Card”?
Given the above, why is it any wonder that they plan to lie to their customers yet again? We all know that Apple is the only cell phone manufacturer on the planet, and yes I do mean anywhere on planet Earth, that has publically stated they will NOT offer a 5G phone in 2019. But now this little gem shows up on tech websites today:
AT&T is planning to sell its updated 4G network as “5G Evolution” in the US. Even though your phone will be connected to an updated 4G network, you will see a “5G E” indicator on your phone. In the recently released iOS 12.2 beta release, Apple has added support for this fake 5G network.
If you are running iOS 12.2 beta on the latest iPhones (XR, XS, and XS Max), you will be seeing this new 5G E network indicator in over 400 markets. When AT&T launches real 5G network later this year, it will be indicated as “5G+”.
So Apple is just going to call 4G connectivity 5G just so they and AT&T can market a lie. Apple lies in hopes that their shareholders won’t continue to cry.
Folks by the international standards that have been set, what we call 4G in the United States is really not 4G speed. The designation 4GLTE is “4G light”. This is their way of saying it’s not really 4G but faster than what we sold as 3G. Looks like a similar scheme is being rolled-out by Tim Cook and Ma Bell. AT&T and Apple are going to call something closer to a real 4G standard network as “5G Evolution”. Clearly this 5GE designation only exists in the minds of the marketing department.
Bottom line, if it’s an Apple product, it can’t run on a true 5G network, period. Any claim to the contrary is a lie. One I’m sure that will be used to separate people from their money at a $1,000 or more per phone. Apple’s iPhone, it’s not 5G, and still can’t use an SD Card.
Given: Leftists believe that Evolution is true; therefore, the world is governed by “survival of the fittest.” Corollary: Some humans are superior to others.
Thus, those that think they are fit (Leftist Elites) have the right to decide what is best for everyone else.
Three news stories in the last week indicate the stronghold that Eugenics has in the United States.
Before getting into the stories, it would be worthwhile to define eugenics for those of you with public school or inferior private school educations.
Eugenics is“The science of improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics.”
Given Darwin’s belief is almost universally accepted as true—except for those of us that are Orthodox Christians—it should be no surprise that folks believe that some men are superior to others. The sad part is that people that should know better have fallen for this anti-biblical lie from hell. This has been a purposeful deception.
Topic #1 Black Folks Support Genocide Of Their Own Race
A new Barna Group poll commissioned by the pro-life movie “Unplanned” found that blacks support tax subsidies for abortion giant Planned Parenthood more than any other group. The irony, the survey sponsor said, is that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was an advocate of eugenics and promoted birth control among black communities. Overall, 41 percent favored tax subsidies, and 39 percent oppose them. But among blacks, 53 percent favor the subsidies, and only 20 percent oppose them.
The history of Sanger and her advocacy for birth control in black communities is well-documented. HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson has charged Sanger “was trying to eliminate black people. … That was the whole purpose of it.” Arina Grossu of the Center for Human Dignity in Washington, said Sanger “shaped the eugenics movement in America and beyond in the 1930s and 1940s.” “Her views and those of her peers in the movement contributed to compulsory sterilization laws in 30 U.S. states that resulted in more than 60,000 sterilizations of vulnerable people, including people she considered ‘feeble-minded,’ ‘idiots’ and ‘morons,’” Grossu found. “She even presented at a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1926 in Silver Lake, N.J. She recounted this event in her autobiography: ‘I accepted an invitation to talk to the women’s branch of the Ku Klux Klan. … I saw through the door dim figures parading with banners and illuminated crosses. … I was escorted to the platform, was introduced, and began to speak. … In the end, through simple illustrations I believed I had accomplished my purpose.’” Sanger once said, “The main objects of the Population Congress would be to apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring[;] to give certain dysgenic groups in our population their choice of segregation or sterilization.” Grossu noted that even now, nearly 80 percent of Planned Parenthood’s surgical abortion facilities are located within walking distance of black or Hispanic communities. And she pointed to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2007 to 2010 showing that more than one third of all abortions destroyed unborn black babies. That’s even though black Americans make up only 13 percent of the population.
In early January 2018, along some of the main thoroughfares in Greater Cleveland, billboards that espoused the “benefits” of abortion began popping up. The signs, placed by Ohio’s largest abortion business, Preterm, carried messages such as “Abortion is sacred,” “Abortion is a family value,” “Abortion is safer than childbirth” and “Abortion is a blessing.” It was all part of the group’s “Abortion is” campaign to reduce abortion stigma. The billboards stood in some of Cleveland’s poorest neighborhoods, their bold and ironic claims plainly contradicting Scriptural teaching about the inherent value of human beings made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27; Psalm 139:13-15). These billboards caught the attention of Franklin Graham. He posted on Facebook, Jan. 4, 2018: “God says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.’ That’s exactly what an abortion business in Ohio is doing. … These are all lies. Here’s a billboard for them—‘Abortion is evil, because it’s murder.’ Pray that America will wake up to the tragedy of children being killed through abortion every day in this nation.” Long before the campaign launched, black pro-life groups and civil rights leaders had been exposing the chilling aspect of such morbid propaganda efforts: The abortion industry disproportionately targets African-Americans. In fact, many black pro-life leaders have a bold term for it: black genocide.
Nationally, some 36 percent of abortions are performed on African-American women, CDC figures show, while the female population is only 13 percent black. In New York City, the abortion rate is 3.7 times higher among black mothers than white mothers. Bomberger’s first billboard campaign featured 60 signs in the Atlanta area in 2012 bearing the message “Black Children Are an Endangered Species.” He says he told a New York Times reporter who questioned use of the term genocide, that by United Nations definitions, the practice of abortion in the black community meets four of the U.N.’s five conditions for genocide. Those conditions are: “Killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” Of those, only the last isn’t applicable, Bomberger says. “I don’t know how else to describe it,” he says. “How do you describe it when in New York City, more black babies are aborted than are born?”
Topic #2 New York Makes Abortion Legal Until Moment of Birth
What I believe with little empirical doubt is that the New York Legislature has just legalized conscious fetal murder on a potentially very large scale, WITHOUT competent medical supervision. The latter point strongly suggests that they don’t want to hear the truth from highly qualified MD’s. This is no longer a theoretical debate. This is legalized genocide.
The measure, which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo quickly signed into law Tuesday night, was pushed through by Democrats who now control both legislative houses. The Senate passed it 38-24. In the Assembly, it passed by a 92-47 margin. In the face of calls at the federal level to weaken abortion rights, the bill maintains abortions as legal within 24 weeks of the start of a pregnancy – “or at any time when necessary to protect a woman’s life or health.’’ Late-term abortions had previously been authorized under state law if they meant saving the life of a woman.
Please note the weasel word “health” in this quote: “or at any time when necessary to protect a woman’s life or health.’’
Per US Supreme Court case Doe v Bolton, health of mother was defined as mental health which has been interpreted as convenience. If mother doesn’t want baby then she doesn’t have to give birth to the child because this could cause undue mental and/or physical strain on her. This case was released same day as Roe v Wade in 1973 and was coupled with Roe to allow abortion on demand.
The New York bill expands abortion availability.
Physician assistants will be permitted to also carry out surgical abortions and licensed midwives and nurse practitioners can do nonsurgical procedures using medications if they are “acting within his or her lawful scope of practice,” according to the legislation.
Topic #3 Infanticide Is What We Want Now
Virginia Democrat Kathy Tran’s bill would allow abortion even when mother is about to give birth for mental health reasons.
Todd Gilbert, the Republican House majority leader, questioned Tran about the bill during a hearing Monday. He asked Tran if a woman who has physical signs she is about to give birth could request an abortion if a physician said it could impair her “mental health.” “Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth. She has physical signs that she is about to give birth. Would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so-certified — she’s dilating,” he asked. “Mr. Chairman, that would be … a decision that the doctor, the physician and the woman would make at that point,” Tran replied. “I understand that,” Gilbert replied. “I’m asking if your bill allows that.” Tran replied: “My bill would allow that, yes.”
Going ever further, Virginia Governor, Ralph Northam, while defending Tran’s bill, advocated killing the baby even after birth.
“So in this particular example if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he said. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
Those familiar with so called bioethicist, Peter Singer, would not be surprised at such comments. For decades, Singer has advocated subjecting newborn children to a battery of tests to decide if a child should be declared “human’ otherwise they can be killed up to age two years without any repercussions.
Conclusion
Eugenics is an integral part of the ideology of the Democrat Party. Sadly, many that are the targets of extermination are happy to support those that want to exterminate them. Democrats act on the basis of your skin color not the content of your character. This is the reason they use identity politics. They want to limit and control people. Their promise of security in exchange for yielding liberty is false.
In case you needed a reminder that Jesus isn’t welcome in the Democrat Party besides the fact they want to eliminate God from the oath how is abortion compatible with His words:
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Matthew 25:40
A Belarusian model, who said she had proof that President Trump’s campaign colluded with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election, has now backtracked and says she made up the claims. Anastasia Vashukevich, who spent months in a Thai jail last year for organizing sex training seminars, grabbed headlines after saying she has evidence that Russia worked with Trump’s campaign. She asked the U.S. government to secure her freedom from the Thai lockup and grant her political asylum in exchange for recordings in which she said Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is heard talking about interfering in the U.S. presidential elections. She reportedly worked as an escort, with Deripaska being one of her clients.
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska
But the model now claims her story was just an effort to attract media attention and save her life while she was detained in Thailand. “I think it saved my life, how can I regret it? If journalists had not come at that time and that story had not come to the newspapers, maybe I would die [be dead by] now,” she told CNN.
This sounds like she heard about Hillary’s fake “Steel Dossier” and just piled-on to save her skin. Is it any surprise that CNN gets mentioned in this story?
Does anybody wonder why this babe was in Thailand? And what is the meaning of “organizing sex training seminars?” Last I heard, Thailand was a prosperous place for human trafficking and prostitution without any help from her. What does this babe with an Instagram account think she has to contribute to “the oldest profession?” How crazy did she have to get to be arrested in Thailand?
Frankly, I think she has the right temperament to be a member of the House of Representatives from the great state of New York. She would have a bright future in the Democrat Party, when the going gets tough blame Trump and Russia. Yeah, she would fit right in.
The bad news is you won’t get a tax refund from the IRS this year. The worse news is you will be writing Uncle Sam a large check.
But why? Didn’t we get a tax cut this year?
I will get to that in a moment but first let’s talk about a financial planner’s view of tax withholding.
Zero Due—In Theory
If you always get a tax refund, you are not having the correct amount withheld from your paycheck each month. Really you are making an interest free loan to the government in order to get a large refund.
On the other hand, if you always write a check on April 15th then you are not setting aside enough throughout the year for your taxes.
A financial planner would advise you to try to owe zero each year; not too much either way. Like you, I tended to ignore this advice and enjoyed a large refund. Sadly, those days are gone.
Trump Tax Cut
Trump did two things that will rock your fiscal world.
First, he reduced the amount withheld for Federal Taxes each month. This resulted in you having more take-home pay in 2018. Tax rates were cut; in addition, however, some deductions were also limited or abolished. This leads to the second point.
Second, a cap was placed on the deductibility of local taxes. This cap is $10,000. If you live in states that voted for Hillary, then you are likely in trouble. If you live on either Coast: California, Oregon, Washington, New York, New Jersey, etc. then buckle-up. If you are employed and own a home, you will hit the $10K limit. Here’s how it works.
Above is a portion of 2018 Schedule A
Line 5a
Supposed you had $6,500 withheld from your wages for California Payroll Tax and State Disability
Line 5b
You paid $4,578 in property taxes on your house in 2018
Line 5c
Remember the portion of your DMV bill that is deductible?
Line 5d
Congratulations, you are above the $10K limit
You now owe Federal Income Taxes on anything above the $10K limit. In the past all this was deductible. This was viewed as a subsidy to people living in high tax states. Why? Because the state could tax the snot out of you and the Feds allowed this taxation to be deductible. Thus, it awarded high local taxation.
The only other items on the Schedule A are Mortgage Interest and Charitable Giving. Unless these two are more than $14,000, you and the wife will get the standard deduction of $24K.
Also missing from the new Schedule A is Unreimbursed employee expenses—job travel, union dues, job education.
Also gone from the Form 1040 is the Individual Deduction.
If you are married, you can claim the Standard Deduction $24K plus a tax credit of $2K per child and that’s about it.
Impact
Last year between itemized and the individual deductions, a client was able to deduct $42K off their gross income. This year for the same client deductions total only $26K ( Standard Deduction plus one child). The one-year difference on the Schedule A is $18K. The net result of all tax changes is that their taxable income increase $22K over last year. Thus on April 15th, their refund is gone, and instead they get to write a large check to Uncle Sam.
Sample above was created using TurboTax–some numbers rounded for simplification
In 2018, you did enjoy more take home pay with the new and lower tax withholding. Under the new tax tables, the couple in the example above got about $250 more in their paychecks each month; but clearly, they need to visit their HR department and have more withheld in 2019 if they don’t want to write another large check next year.
Did Trump fail? I’m not so sure. He gets to do the State of the Union speech and once again make his case. He also has the emergency option that he can play. However, I don’t think any of this was his first choice.
Everyone thinks Trump can’t keep anything to himself and he just reacts and throws tantrums on Twitter, but I think that is not the case. I think there is more in play than appears at first glance.
First, he is not being public with the fact that his real problem is the Republicans in the Senate. I think the usual suspects (Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, etc.) were ready to unilaterally surrender to the Democrats. This forced Trump to do a midcourse correction. He can’t throw them under the bus because he needs them to get judicial appointments confirmed.
Second, I think the ball is in Pelosi’s court and if she doesn’t make a counteroffer in the next few weeks, many Democrats will be peeled away to join Republicans and make a deal.
I expect Trump’s SOTU speech will be a Reagan-like address to ask people to call Congress and pressure their representatives to fix the border/immigration issue. I also think we will hear about his extensive list of accomplishments during his first two years. I also expect to hear about rebuilding infrastructure and other campaign promises; expect many proposals that should appeal to people in both parties.
Trump meant what he said when campaigning and the fact that he meant to say it and really believes it mystifies the crap out of the political class because they can’t imagine anybody that is honest with voters ever being elected. Politicians operate by telling voters at home what is they want to hear and then behaving as they will in Washington without ever being accountable for their actions.
Trump wants to unite us, but Washington is ruled by division and that is usually the purpose of the media coverage because controversy—ever if it is contrived— increases viewership and generates more advertising revenue.
Trump is still testing and prodding the new Congress to see what it takes to break the gridlock that everyone assumes will exist for the new two years. He didn’t run for office to preside over a “do nothing” Congress. He has experience working with Democrats in New York City and will eventually be able to work with some in the Congress to further his agenda.
Trump is playing the long game not just taking it one day at a time. What if Trump is playing chess with the Democrats and they are expecting him to play Republican checkers? They may greatly underestimate Trump to their detriment. I really hope so, it would be nice to see us turn this country away from the socialist iceberg.
