Three More Silly Stories

James Hickman
James Hickman (aka Simon Black) is an international investor, entrepreneur, and founder of Sovereign Man.

Western civilization is starting to feel like one big satire. And at some point you have to stop and remind yourself – none of this is normal. And you’re not crazy for thinking so.

Here are a few of last week’s most absurd stories in case you missed them.

In New York City: Voter fraud is OK. But snow shovel fraud must be stopped.

As a major snowstorm hit New York City recently, Comrade Mayor Zohran Mamdani asked his fellow New Yorkers to pitch in and help shovel snow.

But… there was a catch. Those who turned up to do the work were asked to provide valid paperwork, including two forms of ID and a Social Security card.

Bear in mind, no one in New York had to present ID in order to vote for Mamdani. But they had to present ID in order to shovel snow for him.

The mayor’s office cited federal labor regulations requiring proper ID in order to employ people.

But wait a minute – if requiring ID to vote is “racist”, then isn’t it also racist to require ID to work?

The left claims that voter ID requirements are burdensome barriers which will disenfranchise minority communities: the implication, of course, is that only white people are competent enough to obtain valid ID… which strikes me as an incredibly racist assertion.

But even if true, that same woke logic suggests that labor ID requirements also prevent minority communities from being able to work.

So why don’t we see the left championing the right to work without ID? For some reason, they just want people to be able to vote without ID.

$750,000 for having the wrong opinion on Facebook

Canada can’t seem to find the resources to provide wheelchair ramps for its mangled and disabled veterans. But they’ve found plenty of resources to spend years prosecuting a school board trustee for his Facebook posts.

Over a five-year period, an elected school board trustee in British Columbia named Barry Neufeld made social media posts and public statements criticizing the province’s sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum.

In his posts, he called gender ideology an “absurd theory” and a “weapon of propaganda,” and he argued that pushing these ideas in school was tantamount to “child abuse.”

Obviously such wrongthink must be stopped. So, the same government that debanked the freedom convoy protesters set its sights on prosecuting Mr Neufeld.

And so the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Neufeld’s statements constituted hate speech and workplace discrimination against LGBTQ teachers.

His punishment will be a $750,000 fine… all for expressing ‘opinions’ that were, for 99.999 per cent of human history, biological facts.

The Netherlands wants to tax unrealized gains

I recently ran into a Dutch guy who’s shopping around for a new country to live in. Not for the weather. Not for a job opportunity.

He’s leaving because the Netherlands is on the verge of taxing money he hasn’t even made yet.

Last month, the lower chamber of the Dutch parliament passed a new tax that would levy a 36 per cent rate on unrealized capital gains – meaning the annual change in value of your stocks, bonds, crypto, and mutual funds – even if you never sold a single share. It passed with 93 out of 150 votes.

Under the new system, the Dutch government would assess the value of your investments on January 1, then again on December 31, and send you a tax bill based on the difference. They’ll generously let you keep the first €1,800 in gains tax-free each year. After that, the government takes 36 per cent – on money you haven’t even received.

And if you don’t have the cash to pay a 36 per cent tax bill on gains that only exist on paper? You’d have to sell – liquidating assets to cover a tax on wealth you never chose to realize.

Real estate and qualifying startup shares were exempt, taxed only upon actual sale. How generous.

The bill still needs Senate approval to become law. And on February 25, the finance minister conceded it would need amendments because it likely can’t survive the Senate in its current form.

But even if they water it down, the fact that it sailed through the lower chamber of parliament is extraordinary. And there’s a good chance the final version is still some form of unrealized capital gains tax, just less severe.

It’s a classic anchoring tactic: propose something outrageous, then ‘compromise’ to something merely bad, and everyone feels relieved.

There is truly no end to the creativity of politicians when it comes to inventing ways to take your money.

And raising taxes is always their only approach: they never spend responsibly, never manage resources effectively. They waste and squander everything they’re given, and rather than reflect on their own poor decisions, they simply demand more.

This article was originally published by Sovereign Man.