Following is a slightly updated list of professional firms I keep on hand for those occasions when I am asked for a referral.
Previously posted on April 1, 2013. Updated with two new legal firms on April 1, 2024.
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I frequently get requests from colleagues for names of other professionals who could assist with particular client needs.
As a public service to the wider CPA community, I thought it would be helpful to publish a list of the firms I mention most often.
Attorneys:
The IRS has issued mileage rates for 2024.
Starting January 1, 2024, the standard mileage rates will be:
Rates were published in Notice 2024-08, 2024 Standard Mileage Rates[JU1] .
It was not until about a decade ago that I finally understood the song “The Little Drummer Boy,” which is a fictional story of a little boy who could bring no gift to the newborn baby Jesus than playing on his drum.
Took me decades of listening to the song before I realized that every talent, offering, service, activity, positive action, and good deed I could ever bring to Jesus as an offering is nothing more to the creator of the universe than a little boy playing a drum.
I can give nothing, absolutely nothing, to Jesus other than my heart.
Strangely as it seems, that is all He ever wants from me.
That little thing is all He wants from you. Give Jesus your heart. He will give you riches unimaginable.
“The Little Drummer Boy” as you have not heard it before:
for KING + COUNTRY – Little Drummer Boy | LIVE from Phoenix
Not quite sure why this variation of O Come All Ye Faithful and O Holy Night moves my heart so much. I wish it could be heard by the entire world after the gospel good news is explained and the lyrics of the songs described.
If you have heard the good news of Jesus being born so he could then die on the cross, this will bring tears to your eyes.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra – O’ Come All Ye Faithful / O’ Holy Night
Joy to the World (2017) – Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble & The Tabernacle Choir
Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let Earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing
Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns
Let all their songs employ
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy
Another joy filled Christmas song which brings peace as we ponder and reflect in preparation of celebrating Christ’s birth in the morning.
Bravely Gray
The video will make you weep in joy. Watch the visible poverty of Mary & Joseph, reactions of the shepherds, and especially the wise man when he finds the object of his long search.
Lyrics:
Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heav’nly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born!
Melvin Crispell III & Mav City Gospel Choir / Maverick City Music
Lyrics:
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth;
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Chorus
Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born.
O night, O holy night, O night divine.
Santa Clara County in California has been putting pressure on Calvary Chapel San Jose for daring to hold worship services during the pandemic.
We now know the efforts to suppress Christian worship were a flagrant violation of the First Amendment, as determined by the Supreme Court in multiple rulings. See end of this discussion for list of posts describing the rebukes from the Supreme Court. (If you want to see the results when ideologues write feeble legal briefs, I heartily encourage you to read the dissents from the Supreme Court’s rulings.)
The county levied plenty of fines and a temporary injunction against the church. Previous article describing Calvary Chapel San Jose’s efforts to exercise their first amendment right to free expression of religion:
Since my post back in November 2020, we have learned the county was allegedly conducting surreptitious surveillance on the church during the pandemic. A neighboring church allegedly assisted with the surveillance. Fines issued by the county have been dismissed at the appellate level.
Now the church has filed suit against the county for their surveillance. They are standing up for the rights of all Christians to gather in worship.
This discussion is posted here on Nonprofit Update blog, as well as Outrun Change, because this affects the freedom of many in this audience.
By the way, if you see an above average amount of ridicule and sarcasm in this post, it is here in the hope that out-loud, belly laughter directed at officials will encourage said officials to reconsider their foolish ways. Supreme Court rulings don’t seem to have had that effect yet.
3/16/23 – The Christian Post – California church denies working with gov’t officials to surveil lockdown-defying Calvary Chapel
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For my remembrance of the 9/11 attacks during which 2,996 Americans were slaughtered by 19 terrorists, my family watched 9/11: The Filmmakers’ Commemorative Edition.
The movie started as a documentary following one rookie New York firefighter through training and his nine months of probation. In doing so, the two filmmakers were following an engine company on a call when the first hijacked airplane hit. The strike was on camera.
(Cross-post from my other blog, Outrun Change. Christians, the primary audience for this blog, do not need to be reminded of the reality of evil. Still, it is good to look at it closely once in a while to refresh our memory of the depths of evil. Thus, this post.)
(more…)The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) The spelling and punctuation reflects the original. Courtesy of the National Archives.
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
So many of my posts during the pandemic pointed out the elite in political, public health, entertainment, and media worlds flagrantly ignored the Covid restrictions they demanded we little people follow.
In a moment I will describe conclusions by the British Parliament that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was lying through his teeth when he spoke to them trying to rationalize away the weekly social events he held for his staff.
I’ve been wondering for two years why so many elitists were so flagrant in their covid violations. I have developed several hypothesis with increasing level of severe implications.
First possibility, all these folks are flaming hypocrites who believe they are above having to comply with the rules everyone else is forced to follow. They speak soberly of the dangers and risks of Covid along with the steps everyone must absolutely take to protect loved ones and neighbors. Yet they won’t lower themselves to follow those rules.
More seriously:
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There are many things you could not say in public two or three years ago, all of which are now safe to say. Here is a starting point of the list of things you can now talk about in the open:
As I find articles to further develop the issues now say to say, I will have further discussion.
The virus came from a lab leak.
This was crazy talk three years ago but is slowly becoming accepted: the most likely place the COVID-19 virus came from was a Chinese research laboratory. Oh, by the way, said lab was funded in part by Dr. Fauci’s department.
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There are many things you could not say in public two or three years ago, all of which are now safe to say. Here is a starting point of the list of things you can now talk about in the open:
A slow trickle of news reports are showing that lots of the crazy, coo-coo bird, nutzo, conspiracy theory wackiness you heard from your friends two or three years ago were actually correct. My friends deemed nuts by society who were saying these things were right.
Natural immunity works.
2/27/23 – Wall Street Journal – Three Years Late, the Lancet Recognizes Natural Immunity
Research report by Lancet has one surprise and two not-at-all-surprises.
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There are many things you could not say in public two or three years ago, all of which are now safe to say. Here is a starting point of the list of things you can now talk about in the open:
There is a disturbing pattern emerging, which further corrodes credibility of the entire public health sector.
A slow trickle of news reports are showing that lots of the crazy, coo-coo bird, nutzo, conspiracy theory wackiness from two or three years ago was actually correct. Turns out my wacko friends who were saying these things were right.
Masks don’t work.
Previously discussed this study as covered by a couple of other reports:
From the New York Times (!), an opinion piece from Brett Stevens:
2/21/23 – Brett Stevens opinion in The New York Times – The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?
Article cites a study which analyzed 78 research reports, all of which were randomized control trials. Researchers say those little paper masks we were wearing for so long made little or no difference. They can find no evidence for positive impact.
How about those expensive N-95 masks? Same thing. No impact.
What about those studies which did show masks made a difference which were cited as proof positive that anyone who disagreed mask efficacy was a Neanderthal?
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Before leaving California I provided several illustrations of the actual price increases at a specific restaurant for the identical meal. Since moving to Williston, North Dakota I don’t have a lot of good data points yet. We’re still going to different restaurants and ordering different items so I don’t have a useful point-to-point comparison.
Yesterday my son gave me a painful example.
Last March he ordered one foot-long sub sandwich, a 6 inch sandwich, and one soda.
The price?
$13.26.
Yesterday he ordered the exact same items from the same restaurant.
The price?
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The IRS has issued mileage rates for 2023.
Starting January 1, 2023, the standard mileage rates will be:
Rates were published in Notice 2022- 234 – Optional Standard Mileage Rates.
IR2022-234 also states:
“These rates apply to electric and hybrid-electric automobiles, as well as gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles.
“The standard mileage rate for business use is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. The rate for medical and moving purposes is based on the variable costs.
“It is important to note that under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, taxpayers cannot claim a miscellaneous itemized deduction for unreimbursed employee travel expenses. Taxpayers also cannot claim a deduction for moving expenses, unless they are members of the Armed Forces on active duty moving under orders to a permanent change of station. For more details see Moving Expenses for Members of the Armed Forces.
“Taxpayers always have the option of calculating the actual costs of using their vehicle rather than using the standard mileage rates.”