Today, April 15, 2024, is the final day where many Americans file their federal income tax returns, waiving their constitutional right under the Fourth Amendment to be secure in their papers and effects, and their Fifth Amendment right not to be compelled to be a witness against themselves. To add insult-to-injury, those that timely filed their returns signed them under penalties of perjury, i.e., if they made a mistake or interpreted the tax laws differently from the IRS, they could end up in prison for 5 years.

According to Guest Essayists for The New York Times, Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix, “These days, we often hear that democracy is on the ballot. And there’s a truth to that: Winning elections is critical, especially as liberal and progressive forces try to fend off radical right-wing movements. But the democratic crisis that our society faces will not be solved by voting alone. We need to do more than defeat Donald Trump and his allies – we need to make cultivating solidarity a national priority. . . Though we rarely speak about it as such, solidarity is a concept as fundamental to democracy as its better-known cousins: equality, freedom and justice.”

April 15th is fast-approaching. The first two things you can do to avoid, or at least minimize, an IRS Audit is (1) extend your tax return, filing it as late as possible on October 15, 2024, and (2) file a paper return. The IRS schedules audits a year in advance, so returns extended and filed later receive less scrutiny. In addition, by filing a paper return, it sits on someone’s desk before it is inputted into the archaic computer system—this may change soon when they can scan paper tax returns—which means your tax return may be given an even lower priority.

Albert Einstein—famous for his equation E=MC2 and the 1921 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, along with being widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists of all time— stated, “compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… he who doesn’t… pays it.”

Judge Arthur F. Engoron’s decision— ordering President Trump and his two sons to pay more than $450 million and denying them the right to conduct business in New York for several years—is unconstitutional on so many levels. And, to make matters worse, to appeal Engoron’s decision, Trump must deposit the $450 million in escrow or post a bond within 30-days?!   

If, say, 35%-to-40% of Americans understood their rights, we would have a “wise and frugal government” and it would not matter who was elected to office, since they would not have the power to interfere in our day-to-day lives. 

Growing up in Chicago, I regularly listened to Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story.” His typical radio program started with the setup in which he began with an intriguing tidbit, often an historical event, a famous person, or an everyday object, problem, or opportunity.

Beginning January 1, 2024, most small business owners—e.g., corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), and business trusts—must report the beneficial owners to FinCEN to include their names, date of birth, address, and a unique identifier number from a recognized issuing jurisdiction (e.g., Passport or Driver’s License), with a photo of that document. Failure to timely comply, timely update, and/or NOT provide the correct information, will result in fines, per violation, of $500 to $10,000 and imprisonment for up to two years. By the time you are notified by FinCEN of your noncompliance, the aggregated penalties may be significantly higher.

“There is a Chinese curse that says, [we] live in interesting times,” which really means that “life is [much] better in uninteresting times.” In less than 3-years, the Biden Administration reversed course on all the progress made by former President Trump resulting in no less than the following…

With all the pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas protests against the Jews throughout our major cities and college campuses, calling for the destruction of Israel and ALL Jews, and, with radicals and ignorant Americans shouting such phrases as “from the river to the sea,” “Intifada,” and “gas the Jews,” it’s time we revisit the real meaning of the First Amendment.

The average American works 40 years before retirement, depending upon profession and career choices; college graduates work about 42 years and non-college graduates starting work at age 18, work about 46 years before retiring. Most Americans work to earn enough money to pay for their lifestyles, and hopefully, to save and invest enough to make their retirement years comfortable without running out of money during their lifetimes.

Believe what you want but, if you don’t have all the facts… if you don’t look at the issue from all angles… if you only hear or have access to one side of an argument, you cannot make a rational decision. Please bear with me for an informed rebuttal our government has previously suppressed.

We are living in interesting times… not so different from the 1970’s… we had inflation and the mortgage interest rate on our first home was 9 ¾ % … things changed as they always do … now is the time to stay flexible… do NOT buy a house or a new automobile right now … don’t get sucked into buying Gold!