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Who really pays federal income taxes, and who doesn’t?

Mitt Romney got in trouble for saying that 47% of the country doesn’t pay income taxes. He was right, but that didn’t seem to matter. And when the Left tries to “debunk” this, they have to start out by saying that Romney was basically right!

Universities, once the bastions of free speech, are now having to be told to respect free speech. It’s as though the Leftists that make up the majority of academia never really wanted that.

Assisted suicide for a bad case of ringing in the ears? Yes, that’s what it’s come to over in the Netherlands.

Mentioned links:

New poll shows what Americans really think about taxes: the rich should pay more

Is it true that 47 percent of Americans don’t pay taxes?

Universities told they must protect freedom of speech

Netherlands Now Euthanizes Alcoholics and the Mentally Ill

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:57 — 9.7MB)

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Can you refuse to provide services?

This episode isn’t so much about entrepreneurs as it is about how the government or double-standards can take freedoms away from people; freedoms that you might think aren’t in jeopardy.

The first example is about whether a business owner can refuse business based on the owner’s deeply-held beliefs. There are two different sets of ideas on this, but many times their held by the same people.

The second example asks; can you make a product in your kitchen that is non-narcotic, perfectly legal, and that other people want to buy? Maybe, maybe not. The government may have something to say about that. What do you have to say about it?

Mentioned links:

Designer Sophie Theallet Vows Never To Work With Melania Trump

University Students Stumble over Who Has Freedom to Live and Work According to Beliefs

Amish Farmer Sam Girod is in Jail… His Enemies Want Him there for Life

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Trump nominates Neil Gorsuch

President Trump has made his choice for Supreme Court, and I think it’s a fantastic one.  Neil Gorsuch is an Originalist, meaning he believes the Constitution says what it means, and not what 9 Justices think it means this week. If the government can redefine the law on a whim, how are we, the people, supposed to know what the law really is?

And conservatives have talked about cutting red tape and getting rid of useless regulations for a long time. It looks like that idea’s time has come. In fact, it’s been tried on a smaller scale and it’s worked incredibly well. Listen in for who did it, how it’s helped, and how it’s getting done here.

Mentioned links:

The Red Tape Reduction Act

Doug Black [Wikipedia]

Cutting Red Tape in Canada: A Regulatory Reform Model for the United States?

Canada Cuts Down On Red Tape. Could It Work In The U.S.?

Trump signs executive order requiring that for every one new regulation, two must be revoked

Trump Nominates Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court

Partisan Standoff Leaves Supreme Court Seat Empty for More Than 350 Days

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Is this the future of marriage?

There’s a new take on the whole marriage, “Love Wins” debate, and it’s taken quite a technological turn. Who are you to pass judgement on it? Well, if you have stood up for the traditional definition of marriage, you can.

And I have some questions to keep in your hip pocket in case someone suggests that socialism is a better system.

Mentioned links:

‘We don’t hurt anybody, we are just happy’: Woman reveals she has fallen in love with a ROBOT and wants to marry it

Employees again receive wage increase

Episode 82: The Supreme Court “Hobby Lobby” Case

Jon Bon Jovi’s charity restaurant opens in NJ

The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation [Wikipedia]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:57 — 8.8MB)

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Costs? What costs?

So, how’s that fantastic government program, ObamaCare, doing? You know, that program that would let you keep your doctor or your plan if you liked it, or reduce your costs by $2,500 dollars per year? The program that, overall, would save us all money? Well, the Washington  Post has  an update, and it seems that the “Affordable” Care Act isn’t very affordable, even for the government that created it. In fact, it’s having to use a 1950s-era law to come up with the money to pay insurers.

And someone you know was trashing ObamaCare recently. See who you can figure out who it was in Name That Quote!

Mentioned links:

Obama administration may use obscure fund to pay billions to ACA insurers

Bill Clinton bashes Obamacare as ‘crazy system’ on campaign trail

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:14 — 9.0MB)

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The Clinton / Trump debate

I took some notes during the September 26th debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. It was the first time to have a good “compare and contrast” between their policies. I took so many notes that I had to split this into 2 episodes!

It may seem like a lot of time to spend on one debate performance, but we finally got to compare and contrast policy issues directly between the two candidates. For the most part. So I think this is worth the time.

Mentioned links:

The first Trump-Clinton presidential debate transcript, annotated

Why Hillary never makes Equal Pay Day pay off

Top 1% pay nearly half of federal income taxes

Hey, Barney Frank: The Government Did Cause the Housing Crisis

The successful Clinton economy was based on tax cuts. No, really…

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:41 — 9.4MB)

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Who could have predicted this? Well, someone did.

The city of Chicago hit something of a record in May of 2016, but it’s not one they’re proud of. If we’re really concerned about what’s going on there, we need to have all the facts at our disposal, and we need to consider that perhaps doing more of the same will only get us more of the same.

A “prophet” made a prediction back in the 1990s, and now we’re here seeing that, yes, he was right. But will people listen to his advice (which, to be honest, wasn’t original with him), or are we too set in our ways to change?

Mentioned links:

Fatal shooting of boy, 15, closes deadliest May in Chicago in 21 years

20 years later, it turns out Dan Quayle was right about Murphy Brown and unmarried moms (Note this is from 2012. I did not mention the year in the podcast, making it seem more recent than it was. However, the issue is the same today.)

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Can we get out from under our debt?

Sure, the US has a lot of debt, but if we really worked at it, paying it off a little at a time, couldn’t we pay it off and be debt-free, avoiding a Dave Ramsey intervention? Actually, the answer is, “No”. It is mathematically impossible, given the size of the debt, how much money there is in the country, and how we can’t possibly get the budget under control. Confused? You won’t be after listening to this episode.

And charter school; we know what the political parties think of them, but what do parents think? Actually, they love them, or they want them. And if you’re Hispanic, Black, or poor, you really want them. Find out in this episode just how badly they want them.

Mentioned links:

It Is Mathematically Impossible To Pay Off All Of Our Debt

What are parents thinking about charter schools?

Charters Score in Cities

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:14 — 9.0MB)

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What causes the high cost of college?

In a new segment called “Reconsider This”, I’m revisiting the Flint, Michigan water crisis. There have been some good developments regarding accountability over this. While journalists are obsessing over the sole Republican in the chain of command (the governor), others are getting charged or at least looked at, including the Obama administration EPA.

Why is college tuition so high? The colleges would say that funding for grants and loans have been “cut” (even though government spending on education grants have skyrocketed). No, they real reason has more to do with colleges gaming the government-money system.

Mentioned links:

Criminal charges today in Flint water crisis

‘There will be more to come,’ attorney general vows after criminal charges filed in Flint water crisis

Lawyers file $220 million damage claim against EPA in Flint water crisis

The Real Reason College Tuition Costs So Much

Evan Sayet

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:39 — 9.4MB)

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It’s your right to avoid NC. Baby, you were born to run.

Listener Brandon Klenzendorf asked me in the “Consider This!” Facebook group if the North Carolina so-called “bathroom law” was a similar situation to Georgia, and from the looks of it, and the reaction to it, yup, it’s pretty much the same thing. The only difference is that North Carolina got the law passed. And of course, there are those using their right to choose how to run their business to protest the idea that N. Carolina business should be allowed to … choose how to run their businesses.

Do the rich pay their fair share of taxes? Since we’ve passed April 15th — the day that Americans settle up with the Federal government for their 2015 taxes — now’s a good time to find out who pays what. How much do the top 1% really pay of our federal tax revenues?

The 2016 Podcast Awards are taking nominations, so here’s what you can do. Go to PodcastAwards.com and put this show in the News & Politics category. The show name is Consider This, of course, and the URL is considerthis.ctpodcasting.com. You can only submit the nomination form once, so if you have other shows you’d like to nominate, fill them in as well before submitting it. Nominations close Saturday, April 30th at midnight, so do it this week.

Mentioned links:

The True ‘Trauma Trigger’ That the North Carolina Bathroom Bill Is Designed to Prevent

Petition: Springsteen Cancelling Concert is Like Bakers Refusing to Make Gay Wedding Cakes

Michael Moore’s NC boycott hypocrisy DESTROYED with a single tweet

No, Gays and ‘Transgenders’ Are Not Being Bullied. They Are The Bullies.

Americans Earning Six Figures or More Pay Nearly 80% of Individual Income Taxes

45% of Americans pay no federal income tax

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