IRS Reminder: Declare Your Stolen Goods In 2022

This is Logan Sekulow with a friendly reminder from the IRS.

Time to declare your stolen goods and your 2021 tax filing, keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever, this is Sekulow. We want to hear from you.

Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow. That's right. This is Logan Sekulow coming to you. We are live right now. I know a lot of people right now are prerecorded, but nope, we're here.

We are live. Joining me in studio, Will Haynes. We've got a packed hour coming up, including guests, Mike Pompeo and Rick Grinnell. Joining us in the next segment will be Mike Pompeo.

Later in the show, Rick Grinnell. We've got a lot to cover, but maybe the first thing, and I want to hear from you about this. I know you're listening.

I know you're ready to call. Maybe you haven't gotten it yet, but your 2021 tax guide for individuals just came out and look, it's new. It's refreshed.

It's under the Biden administration, if you will. And there's an interesting, there's an interesting portion of it. That's right.

When you're trying to decide what you need to declare, how you need to make sure everything is listed, Will, there is a new section that has been added and it is under stolen property. That's right. Yeah. So if you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it, unless you return it to its rightful owner in the same year. Yes. Yeah.

I'll repeat that for you. Stolen property. This is from the IRS. This is their actual words. You can find it on their website right now. We didn't doctor it.

We didn't edit it. It's in between sharing gig economy and transporting school children is the logical place to place this. And as you know, there's scholarships, sale of personal items, sale of home, all those normal standard ones, but then stolen property. If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it, unless you return it to its rightful owner in the same year. So make sure whatever you stole this year that you're going on to Google, you're looking up the fair market value of everything you stole and make sure you report it on your income taxes this year.

Unbelievable. Again, it feels like you failed as a country when this stuff starts happening. I want to hear from you about this because I'm sure you've had your dealings with the IRS. What are you sitting there thinking about how, how insane it is in having to file your taxes and the complicated mess that it is already for so many people then add onto it. The fact that they are making sure that if you did illegal activity, if you stole property, that means stole anything that you still are declaring and paying your taxes. They will make sure that you are at least doing your part for the U S economy, making sure that we're making sure you, they get their, their cut of this to hold the property.

The same agency that was targeting conservatives with a bolo list is giving you guidance on how to report the income from your stolen property. So just think of it in those terms. Yeah. It's absurd. It's insane. It doesn't feel like it could possibly be real. And when will you send me late last night, the articles that started to come out, I was like, well, this has got to be from some, we talked about media trust. This has to be coming from some, you know, overly, you know, hyper right wing, you know, conspiracy type website.

You look now it's coming for like NBC news. And then you look at like, well, let's look at them. Then you send me a screenshot. And then I looked at the actual website for myself.

I pulled it up, found that quick guide, went through it and there it is. One of not that many bullet points you can at least give it to the IRS for this voter easy voter guide or not voter guide. Sorry. That's a slip. You know, IRS tax guide is that under the maybe dozen things listed stolen property is one of them.

I want to hear from you. You're dealing with the IRS. Maybe you are actually one of those people who pays your taxes and doesn't steal. And if you do steal and you do declare it, well, I'm not so sure these are the smartest thieves, but like you said, they're different agencies.

They maybe not interact. So it could be like, Hey, yeah, I got this new TV. It's awesome. You know, it was, I mean, it was black Friday pricing. Is that fair market value? See what the comps are. Yeah.

Cause I stole it at 400, but really it goes for seven 50. Right. I don't know. Give us a call. One 800-684-3110. Hey, I know we're having fun here, but in the serious world where we joined by Mike Pompeo in the next segment to talk about a lot of, a lot of deeper, a lot more interesting discussion coming up. But I do want to hear from you.

We'll get some phones calls screened during this next segment with Mike Pompeo at one 800-684-3110. And again, I appreciate all of you supported the work of the ACLJ this year, as we wrap up the year. Thank you so much. And you can still do that into the end of the month, into the year giving at ACLJ.org. At the American center for law and justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad, whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith. I'm covering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support for that.

We are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way for a limited time. You can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge for every dollar you donate.

It will be matched a $10 gift becomes $20 a $50 gift becomes 100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

Take part in our matching challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected, is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American center for law and justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Secula. We are joined by senior counsel for global affairs and you know him and you've heard from him the whole year 2021 and part of 2020.

But that is Mike Pompeo who is joining us. Secretary Pompeo and senior counsel, I appreciate you joining us again. Merry Christmas.

I haven't talked to you since then. Also happy new year coming up. So I appreciate you coming on here to talk about a lot of issues that are very important. You have a new blog that is up that came up during the Christmas season called This Christmas Season. Remember those still struggling to celebrate. As we know, there are a lot of places around the world where just the simple act of celebrating Christmas and celebrating the holiday season is no easy task. Boy, that is certainly the case.

Merry Christmas to you and to everyone at ACLJ and all your listeners as well. We know that even in pockets, places inside the United States we watch this year where bars were open but churches were closed. We suffer that risk at home as well. But in places like China in the West or in parts of the Middle East, there are people who simply can't practice their faith. They can't raise their families the way they want to. If they talked about Jesus Christ as their savior in the way that we are free to do here in the United States, they would run real risk. We should all keep in mind and pray for these people and wish that the United States will do all that it can to continue to lead and guarantee and proffer religious freedom and opportunities for these people all across the world as well.

For sure. And you discussed in this blog specifically Nigeria and it's something that we've brought up from time to time here at the ACLJ and you fought to bring attention to the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. And you even placed Nigeria on the countries of particular concern list. Why do you feel that was the right move and what happens when a country is placed on this list?

Well, the answer to the second question is an important one. It heightens American attention to it, the world's attention to it. It makes it more difficult for that country to engage in activities across the world without this blemish where the United States has made clear that we are watching how they treat religious minorities inside of the country. The decision with respect to Nigeria was the right one. For an awfully long time, administrations had just turned their gaze away from what was taking place in Nigeria. And we want good things for all the Nigerian people. We want the Nigerian government who does some great things in certain places. We want the Nigerian coming to recognize that their country too can be better by protecting religious minorities, not just Christian minorities, but all minority religions.

And if they do that, they'll be safer. Those people will be safer and their government will be stronger and their place in the international world will be more secure as well. This is a big country, as you well know, a huge population, an important anchor in Africa, and we want good things for the Nigerian people.

So placing them on the State Department's list of countries of particular concern was an attempt also to bolster the capacity for the people that are fighting for religious freedom to know that the United States would support them in their efforts. Now, Will, though, there seems to be a change coming when it comes to Nigeria. That's right, Secretary Pompeo, the Biden administration has removed Nigeria from the list. So has the situation in Nigeria gotten better for the persecuted, or is this more of the Biden administration just trying to eviscerate any policy put in place by the previous administration? I actually think it's worse than that.

I wish it was just anti-Pompeo or anti-Trump. I think this administration has placed religious freedom everywhere in the world, and Nigeria is a good example. They've placed religious freedom behind the other things that they care about, climate change being foremost among them, right?

They're willing to sacrifice an awful lot of individual freedom, liberty, and religious freedom around the world on the altar of their faith, what's become an article of faith, climate change. So what they did in Nigeria doesn't represent the factual situation on the ground. Sadly, the situation has not improved.

If anything, it's become even more difficult, and the removal of Nigeria from the country of particular concern list will make it even more difficult for those simply wanting to practice their faith inside of Nigeria. Yeah, in relation to Nigeria and really the ACLJ in general, we're kind of uniquely situated to advocate for the persecuted in places like the UN. I know you've seen this firsthand, but as we are heading into the end of the year, just a day away from 2022 beginning, obviously it's a time of year. People are donating, are giving back, are wrapping up their year, and there's people in organizations and people work with organizations like the ACLJ that are there, and you've been there. And when you're there and you see administrations turn their back on promises or things like this happening in Nigeria, I'd love to hear from your point of view and to just share with the audience why it's important for organizations like the ACLJ to exist in these uncertain times. Oh goodness, it's incredibly important. Perhaps even more important in times when the administration is not supporting these things that we care about, right? Protection of human life, religious freedom, the relationship between the United States and Israel, all the things that the ACLJ has stood for for all of these years. Perhaps it's even more important in these times because that continuity, that continued voice, the capacity for leaders, not just American leaders, but certainly American leaders, to hear from people in America who talk about this issue in ways that are important to them. It may not be the story of the day, it may not be some trial that's going on, it may not be some big scandal that took place, but this is at the center of civilization. This is at the center of humanity, and I think the ACLJ's supporters understand that.

And in these times when the administration may not be as prepared to defend the things that we all care so much about, it's even more important that an organization like the ACLJ is out there fighting, raising its voice, litigating, doing whatever it can to defend these freedoms across the world in the face of an administration that if not hostile, is at least passive with respect to protecting these rights. Secretary Pompeo, you mentioned in that article at ACLJ.org that we're seeing much more religious persecution around the globe. You mentioned the Uyghurs in China, you mentioned North Korea and Iran, even a rise in Haiti. When the U.S. fails to lead on the world stage, is this just a natural progression?

Of course. It has always been the case that the United States has been this beacon of freedom. Religious freedom in particular is enshrined in our Constitution, where we talk about the capacity for people to practice their faith in the very founding document that we turn to every day. Not every country has the benefit of that in its founding documents. And when the United States is on the global stage, as we were for four years, myself and Senator Ambassador Brownback, the Vice President Pence, all of us working, talking about this openly wherever we travel in the world. And while we are here at home, if the United States will simply make the case around the world, there's a chance that things will get better. And if we don't, it makes it all too easy for these terrible regimes, the Ayatollah in Iran, Chairman Kim in North Korea, Xi Jinping in China.

It makes it all too easy for these leaders to say no one's watching. Let's tighten the screws. Let's clamp down.

Let's not allow for any political voices that might somehow overthrow our regime. And Secretary Pompeo, we are looking ahead at this new year in 2022. What are some of the major national security concerns you see that are going to be facing us that we'll be talking with you about on this broadcast? Well, we always are surprised in this space, but we can certainly see that Xi Jinping is going to host this Olympics and make himself look like a noble patriotic leader. What his intentions are for Taiwan can't be good.

I think we'll be talking about that. I know the President spoke with Vladimir Putin last evening about what's going on between Russia and Ukraine. I pray that that situation will resolve itself and America will be strong and defend its friends and allies in the way that we have committed to. I also suspect that we will continue to see lots of security issues, national security issues around our southern border. It always gets kind of pushed to the side in the immigration debate, but when we have open borders, when our sovereign border on the south is not strong, you can be sure that the bad guys take notice of that. And the risk, our national security risk associated with that is significant.

And I suspect in 2022 that will continue to be the case. Well, Secretary Pompeo, we have a couple minutes here left, and it's a couple minutes for this year. And I wanted to first thank you for being part of the ACLJ team and family and coming on this show multiple times a week, contributing incredible blogs. And by the way, if you haven't seen or read any of Secretary Pompeo's amazing pieces, pretty much every week there's been a new one for the last year.

So go back. We're right now highlighting some of the best pieces and the most traffic pieces in the last year. Go take a look at what we did at ACLJ.org. There's great, great information that came straight from him. And without people like you supporting the work of the ACLJ, we wouldn't be able to have people like Secretary Pompeo on this show continually.

And it's really been great. Also, we did a 10 part, four hour plus series on Afghanistan called Revenge of the Taliban. It's just about the last six months or so of what's happened in Afghanistan. Secretary Pompeo was one of those guests. So you really get a deep dive on what we're doing here.

And right now, only two days left, the remainder of the month. If you give any donation at ACLJ.org, if you go to ACLJ.org and make a donation today, check your receipt because in that receipt, your email receipt, there will be a link. And it says, watch our brand new series, Revenge of the Taliban, something like that.

You click it, it'll take you straight to it. You can watch this 10 part series. Again, it's over four hours. You can binge watch it all the way through or go back at any time and watch these incredible episodes. And I'm not saying incredible because I host them are incredible because the information that you get is something you're going to find nowhere else.

Not in length. You have Mike Pompeo on this show. We had him on for eight minutes, whatever it is.

These are 25, 35 minute interviews. But people like Mike Pompeo, people like Rick Grenell is joining us later. People like Secretary, like I said, we had Nikki Haley on, we had on who else? Well, John Ashcroft, an incredible list of people who have been involved in the war on terror since the very beginning. And people who are currently, again, if you want to think who could be your next big Presidential candidates in pretty much the rest of your lifetime, potentially. A lot of those people are on this great new series, Revenge of the Taliban, that is available right now, again, with any donation in the month of December.

So just a day left to do that and get that link. We'll be right back with more on secular taking your calls. We're offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases. How we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists. The ramifications of Roe v Wade 40 years later.

Play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry. And what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad, whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith. Uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress. The ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. If this is a critical time for the ACLJ, the work we do simply would not occur without your generous support. Take part in our matching challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. I want to thank Mike Pompeo for joining us, but I do want to go back to the topic that we started with today, which is, well, if you haven't, we're listening.

The IRS put out their quick guide to make sure you know how to file your taxes this year, whether it's called Tax Guide 2021 for individuals that came out. Of course, there's normal things like sale of personal items, how you're going to account for that. And sale of home, let's see some other ones, payment for services, prizes even.

Okay, you understand? Maybe one on Wheel of Fortune. You're on Wheel of Fortune, yeah.

We both thought Wheel of Fortune. Why is that, do you think? I think because they always, when we were kids, they're like, you got to pay taxes on that car.

That's right. It's like your parents always like almost shunning you from being on Wheel of Fortune because they're like, what are you going to do with that? It's not as good of a deal as you think that you're getting the free car. You still got to pay taxes on it. Yeah, pay taxes on that Suburban. So, of course, keep going down the list. Gig economy, I understand that can get a little confusing.

Transporting school children. And then you get to stolen property. That's right. This is again from your IRS. Let's read about stolen property. Maybe it's going to say don't steal. How about you're going to go to jail? No, it says, if you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it.

I love you for not wording. The year you steal it unless you return it to its rightful owner in the same year. So you won't, you guys, if you're listening out here, baby, and you, you stole some property, you got to go, you got one day left to return it. Right.

You got one day. The tax bill. Yeah. I mean, if you're like six and you're listening right now and you stole a Snickers bar, you better go buy one, return it. I don't know how that works. I don't either.

I assume it's been used. You're not giving legal advice. No.

All in good fun. I don't think they're giving legal advice. They're giving illegal advice. Right.

That's very fair. So we got a lot of calls on this because guess what? I think a lot of you have had some interesting experiences with the IRS over the last, I don't know, your whole life. So let's go ahead and take some of those.

Maybe there's some, maybe there's some logic here. Let's go to Ben in California on line four. Ben, welcome. Ben, let's put him back on hold. Let's put Ben back on hold.

He's having some difficulties there. Let's move to, are we still got Ben? All right, let's move to, let's go to Jerry in Rhode Island. Online too. Jerry's reliable. Jerry, you there? Happy new year.

Logan will produces everybody all working. There you go. Everyone.

Everyone take a bow. Thank you for it. Nice segment with the secretary. Love to hear a discussion on how the vaccine mandates are affecting the rank and file between Colonel Smith and his secretary. But how much taxpayer money was used to update that list? You just read all these new age Al Capone's will suddenly decide to declare their taxes.

Yeah, I think a lot of people are relaying the Al Capone. They've got some other calls about that specifically. But yes, you do wonder how much tax money is being spent on adding ridiculous parts to this tax guide, including the stolen property guide. Well, it is one of those things that you do know.

I mean, the billable hours has got to be pretty good. Well, and this is something your dad says about the IRS on the show often is that they are institutionally incapable of self-correcting. But it is interesting that we're reading this about the stolen property because the National Retail Federation put out a study that said that about 69% of retailers have seen an increase in organized retail crimes. So these are kind of like these flash mobs that go in and group steal so they can't be stopped as just an individual and then they end up also in some of these locations like California where they said we're not going to prosecute over a certain dollar amount. But we've seen this. We see it in the news.

There was a big one over a holiday weekend where Nordstrom got attacked by like 80 people that went in and just stole things and left and it was very organized. So you have to wonder, is the IRS sitting around thinking like, huh, we're missing out on some revenue here because those people need to be paying their taxes on that. But at the same turn, this is the organization within the government that the Democrats are trying to give 80 billion more dollars and 80,000 more agents through the Build Back Better bill.

Fortunately, it was defeated, but Senator Schumer is saying that he's still going to bring it up the first week of January, so they're going to beef up the IRS at the same time we're reading absurd things like how to appropriately report your illegal activity. Meanwhile, this is the same organization that this year we saw send a letter to a group saying that your Christian beliefs are associated with a certain party, therefore you're not tax-exempt. It's just absurd when they're going to give more preferential treatment and explanation on how to steal better and more in line with their organizational code. We're not saying don't steal. We're saying if you steal, make sure we get our cut.

And that's just the truth. All right, let's go ahead and take some more calls. Also give us a call, 1-800-684-3110. We're wrapping up the first half hour. If you don't get us the second half hour on your local radio station or broadcasting live right now on YouTube, on Facebook, and if you're watching right there, Facebook, Rumble, any of those live sources, make sure you're sharing, telling people about it, clicking that thumbs up, clicking the like.

It really helps out more than you could possibly imagine. Make sure more people get to see this broadcast. So again, share, like, comment, do all those things. But give us a call at 1-800-684-3110. We'll be here for another half hour. Rick Grinnell joining us in a couple segments. So let's go ahead and take, well, he was brought up. Let's go to John in New York on line one. John, you're on the air. Hi.

Good afternoon. First time caller, long time listener, but yeah, I was working on the Al Capone thing also. You know, the government didn't have lawyers or enough proof to put him away on the criminal side, so they used the tax code against him. And now when you have the tax code, you know, working with you on this, I understood that it could possibly handle, it could possibly cover bribes also.

So if you take, from what I understood, if you take a bribe and you don't report that on your taxes, then you know, you could get trouble there. You know, John, what it shows is that our system is fundamentally broken. I mean, that just shows the IRS is fundamentally broken when you're having to pull these kind of strings to potentially get what they want out of this, which is like you said, you know, sort of the funny, shocking side of the title.

But if that is the true reason, then we need a complete restructuring of the system. Well, and to John's point about they did end up getting Al Capone because of all his illegal activity that he was not paying taxes on. This is actually giving Al Capones of the world the way to avoid the charges Al Capone got because they ended up getting one of the most notorious gangsters in American history that wreaked havoc across this country. They ended up getting him on tax evasion because he wasn't paying taxes on the bootlegging and the criminal activities that he was doing. So yeah, it is absurd to think that they're giving you the guidelines right here in this document, publication 17 for 2021.

How Al Capone could have, Oh man, if only in the, in the tax year I had just filed, would have been fine. Listen, we got a minute and a half come large till the last half hour or first half hours over here. If you don't get us on your local station, as I said, we're broadcasting live right now on social media.

If we are going to lose you here, some of you got to go. I understand. But what I want to do first is encourage you to go to aclj.org support the work we're doing here. It doesn't just keep this show going, keeps lawyers employed, keeps us actively engaged in your communities and working for you. And for those people who do need the services of the ACLJ, the legal services, they get it at zero cost to them.

It is just how it works. You go your quest, legal help. If it's something that's within our scope and we take on your case, we do it for you.

And that's only because of people like you who support the work. So I want to encourage you all to go to aclj.org. Sure.

You get the perk of being able to watch this new 10 part series, but beyond that, it helps more than you possibly can imagine. And that's at aclj.org. I do want to also let you know tomorrow night, a little more fun on social media, you'll be able to watch the J-Sekulow band live New Year's Eve concert special. We'll get you the time. What time? We know the time? Yeah, right there. It's 8 p.m. Eastern. It's right in front of me.

They made a little sticky note for me. 8 p.m. Eastern tomorrow night on all social media platforms, Facebook, at least on Facebook, possibly on YouTube. Someone tell us.

Yes. YouTube. Going to wait.

Go to Facebook. The J-Sekulow band concert is always a lot of fun and obviously support the work of the ACLJ. Got a second half hour coming up. Give us a call.

1-800-684-3110 and Rick Parnell coming up in just a few minutes. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow. This is Logan Sekulow, wrapping up the year in fashion with the IRS, you know, your favorite people. A lot of you guys called in with your comments and your thoughts on the IRS because the new tax guy came out. And that's right, right in the smack dab middle of all the different things you need to report. A couple of things have come to light. One is stolen property.

That's right. Between sharing a gig economy and transporting school children, you have stolen property. If you steal property, this is exact words coming from the IRS, unaltered, unedited.

Stolen property, if you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it, unless you return it to its rightful owner in the same year. So there you go. You got your friend's lawnmower, you haven't returned it yet, better go do that real quick.

You had a date. Yeah. What's the definition of stolen here as well? Like if you're borrowing from a friend, is that included as income? They got to pay taxes on that, but if you're loaning it and they don't know you acquired it, you know, it's a gray area. There's also bribes, Will, in here, you said?

That's right. So bribes, it's very short, it says bribes must be included on your income. There's a section on kickbacks. You must include kickbacks, side commissions, push money, or similar payments you receive in your income on schedule one, line eight Z or schedule C. What's push money?

I don't know, but it doesn't sound good. Push money is like when your wife has a baby and you just, you're like, I forgot to get a present. Yeah. Here's some cash.

You know, if you want to learn, if you want to learn how to anger your pregnant wife, just give her a wad of cash and then tell her she has to report it on, you got to make sure it's not on mine. We got to make sure we remember the count count for this. So I know we're being silly here, but it's just, it feels silly.

It feels insane. Let's go ahead and take a quick call. If you want to call in 1-800-684-3110, let's got Judy who's calling in South Carolina on line three. Judy, you're on the air.

Hi, Logan. Thank you. What y'all do for informing and defending us for our freedom and our rights. We thank you. I support you and I really think highly of you. Several things here.

First of all, I love the calls you've had earlier. I've been laughing about them and you know, the government's just teaching us so we can steal and, but just be sure to return it before the end of the year, she likes reported on income tax. So they're teaching you to steal, borrow, as they said, um, and get away with at least for a year because you think about the illegal aliens that are coming in the old country, they're borrowing their homestead until they can find another one. Judy, I mean, it's not even saying borrowing, I mean, it's saying stolen property.

It's saying if you just straight up, you know, you're one of those people who go up and steal Amazon packages off of people's front porches. Guess what? Not that hasn't happened.

That has happened to many of our production staff, obviously this year. Guess what? You got to make sure you got to open that thing first and make sure what you're, you're accounting for. You got to look it up fair market values, which I mean, like we said, secondary market market.

Definitely keep a good ledger because if you, as a thief get audited and you're like, well, you only reported that toy train as $30, but we are seeing it on Amazon as a $60 value. It is a collector's item. It's a collector's item. It's gone up in value. It's hard to get.

It's like the magical pixie things that were this Christmas with like the big present. It's the same as we're going for like 200 bucks. It's the same deal.

You got to look for that fair market value. Look, we're going up to a break here in the next segment. Next segment, right?

Yes. We're going to be joined by Rick Grinnell and Rick obviously has a lot to say and has for the last year with us. Here's a tweet he put out just to set you up, but if you want to give us a call, really we're taking calls on the tax situation, but if you want to call this too, after Rick will take as many calls as we can. Here's a tweet he put out and I'll restate it again. A career foreign service officer at the state department tells me that the US policy on Russia and Ukraine is to not have any distance from the Europeans. Whatever the Europeans want is the Biden policy. This is scary. They control him and Putin knows it.

Look, I'm going to ask him to explain, to dive a little bit deeper into what he's talking about because I think people see some of those words, they freak them out a little bit and maybe they should be freaking you out a little bit and we're going to be taking your calls and questions on air as well. 1-800-684-3110. Again, final, uh, final days of our December challenge. Be a part of it.

ACLJ.org. It's the biggest month for the organization. Tomorrow night. We'll be doing our final push with a little bit of fun with the Jay Sekulow Band's new year spectacular running live on Facebook and YouTube on 8 PM Eastern time. So make sure you join us live for that.

It's going to be a lot of fun. We'll be right back at the American center for law and justice. We're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad, whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support for that.

We are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way for a limited time. You can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge for every dollar you donate.

It will be matched a $10 gift becomes $20 a $50 gift becomes 100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

Take part in our matching challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American center for law and justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v Wade 40 years later, play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Secula. We are joined by Rick Grenell for, hey, the last time of the year, Rick, happy new year. And this tweet came out from you just a little bit ago yesterday, yesterday evening, and I wanted to get your thoughts on it and maybe you can break it down for our audience. And you said as a career, a career foreign service officer and the state department tells me that the U S policy on Russia and Ukraine is to not have any distance from the Europeans.

Whatever the Europeans want is the Biden policy. This is scary. They control him and Putin knows it. I think a lot of people read that Rick, they get concerned because you hear a lot of words, buzz words, sort of boogeyman words. You don't want to be, uh, you know, freaking everyone out, but this is a real topic of concern when it comes to the way we will be treating, uh, the situation, which many people don't even know about.

That's really going on currently with Russia and Ukraine. Hold on. I think we actually recall in one second, we don't think have your audio, so we'll get you back in just a second.

Look, we think we had a year where this did not happen. So you know what? Give up your final segment, we decided to, maybe it's a prank, it's like an end of the year prank. Gotcha. Gotcha.

Rick. It's fine. Give him a second. We'll get back to it. Is it possible if we can take a phone call while we wait? Let's take a quick phone call. A lot of people are waiting. Rick, give us just a minute.

You wouldn't go to, let's go to John in New Mexico, New Mexico. You're on the air. You locked down.

There was a technical difficulty. You got on early. Okay.

That's good. I'm actually a tax lawyer. I'm normally a conservative, but I'm very liberal when it comes to getting pre-tax planning advice. So stealing a lawnmower or a bicycle is basically inconsequential tax wise.

My thinking is go big or go home. I mean, if we're just going to like, just say it's just one of the line items now, stolen property, maybe you're right, John. This is a low income tax year for many folks. It may be advantageous to steal something big, like a motor home before the years ends and then claim it as income this year while you're in a low tax bracket, enjoy it for the weekend.

And I'm thinking red river, New Mexico is beautiful. This time of the year, we turn the motor home the first week in January, assuming that your income will be higher in 2022 and you're all clear. There you go. First of all, make sure we all know we're being, know that I'm not a tax lawyer and don't depreciate, don't depreciate the asset very much. Okay. All right, John, I appreciate your call. That's a great call. Obviously a little bit of sarcasm, a little bit just to make sure no one thinks here we're advocating for you actually to steal property, but it does feel that way.

It does feel like will that the government is telling you to do it. That's right. Yeah.

And that's kind of the absurdity of the whole thing. And we actually have ambassador Grinnell now on by phone. So thank you for joining us.

Yeah, sorry about that technical problem. You looked great, but unfortunately we couldn't hear you, but now we got you on the phone, so you're going to sound even better. We read that tweet from you and I think people need to kind of, especially as we head into the end of the year, really know why this is an area of concern when it comes to how the Biden administration is treating the situation with Russia and Ukraine and why it's important to us. Well, it's a concern because it's now official US policy. And what that means is that the state department has instructed through cable a mandate that all embassies in Europe have as their US policy, communicate to the countries where they are in, that our US policy is to do whatever the Europeans want so that we all stay united. Now look, the reality is that there is power in being united with the Europeans so that we have one voice.

There's no question about that, but that shouldn't be the goal. The United States and Europe have fundamentally different threat assessments about Iran, about Putin. I mean, look no further than the Germans who are clamoring and wanting to have this Nordstream 2 pipeline from Russia. They don't fear a retaliation from Russia. They don't fear the influence of Russia through that pipeline through having too much energy coming from one country like Russia. We the United States have a fundamentally different viewpoint when it comes to Russia. If Germany really feared Russia, like sometimes they say they do, they would be paying their NATO bill because NATO exists to make sure that Russia doesn't go into central Europe and the rest of Europe.

But the Germans who have a surplus are not paying their NATO bill. It's because they don't share the same threat assessment. They don't fear Russia like the rest of us do. By the way, the same is with Iran. The Europeans feel like if the Iranians are going to attack, they're not going to attack Europe and so they want to trade with Iran. So the idea that we have different priorities, different criteria for our threat assessment is a very real foreign policy issue. And so therefore, when Joe Biden says stay close to the Europeans and do whatever the Europeans want as our US policy when it comes to Ukraine, that's a disaster for the American people.

It's not an America first doctrine, it's a Europe first. And by the way, I'll just finish with this, is that no European leader is surprised by this because they for 40 years have watched Joe Biden as a senator, as the vice President of the United States. They know that his Achilles heel, the thing that he values, the thing that he wants from the Europeans is applause and awards. He wants to be liked by the Europeans.

And so therefore, when they say something, they scare him into thinking, well, I don't want to be a pariah. I don't want bad press in Europe. And so I'm going to do what the Europeans want, which is why as Chancellor Merkel was walking out the door, she went to Joe Biden and said, can you just stop punishing us for Nord Stream 2?

Can you allow us to have this gas pipeline? Joe Biden said yes. And he said, okay, Chancellor Merkel, so that you'll like me, so that as you're leaving, we can be better friends and good friends, and you think that I'm a good partner, I will do that. So to be honest, it's a personal selfish move by Joe Biden. Well, and we know today that at Putin's request that President Biden will be speaking with him by phone.

And this is just one day before the end of the year. And there's also supposed to be bilateral Russia-U.S. talks the first week of January. But it's being reported that U.S. officials are saying that President Biden will tell Putin a pathway exists to avoid conflict. I think Vladimir Putin has been pretty clear what that pathway, he believes, is. After the disaster we saw back in December between the two leaders, do you have much hope for this phone call that a pathway will exist to avoid conflict?

No. You know what Putin hears when Joe Biden says there's a pathway that exists to avoid a conflict? What Putin hears is blah, blah, blah. And he remembers Crimea, and he remembers all those threats from Barack Obama and Joe Biden as vice President that really bad things would happen. You'd have really bad sanctions and the finger wagging and all of that. The idea that Putin is afraid of Joe Biden or thinks that Joe Biden has a credible threat of military action, he's already taken military action off the table. And of course, no one wants military action. But the beauty of Donald Trump was that leaders would constantly tell me, and they would say this in a very concerning way, they would, you know, Chancellor Merkel or other leaders in Europe would say to me, we just don't know what Donald Trump might do.

And I would smile and I would think inside my head, that's exactly where we want to be. We want them to be nervous about what Donald Trump is going to do, and we want to make sure that they don't know what Donald Trump or the President of the United States is going to do. Unfortunately, they know exactly what Joe Biden is going to do, which has come down on the European side because he's instructed our embassies that our policy is to stay close to the Europeans. The Europeans love it. They're now in the driver's seat.

Putin loves it because he can control Europe. Right. I mean, like you look at something like the Abraham Accords, you think that would have happened under someone other than a President Trump, someone who genuinely could maybe concern them enough to go, you know, we need to get our stuff together. Finally, that happened, at least to partially go ahead. I want to add one point to that, Jordan, because it's such a good point. I can tell you unequivocally that the Abraham Accords would not have happened under Joe Biden for one reason alone. Chancellor Merkel was against it and she voiced her concern and she voiced her concern to Jared Kushner and to me and to Donald Trump. And we listened and we pushed back and we continued with the policy.

But the reality is, is if we would have been maximizing an applause or good news or a welcoming atmosphere from the Europeans, we never would have done it. Yeah, absolutely. Rick, we only have a minute left. I appreciate you joining us for this whole year. It's really been excellent to have your opinions, your advice and your thoughts. And thank you for supporting the work and for telling people to go support the work of the ACLJ. It has meant more than you know, and I wanted to make sure you know that as well as our audience knows that I really do appreciate all of you who are listening, supporting the work of the ACLJ. If you want to do that right now, there is an easy way to do it.

We are at the end of the year. It means a lot. Go to ACLJ.org to make your donation, but not only just to make your donation, look around at the site. There's amazing content for people like Rick Grinnell, Mike Pompeo, for so many others.

Everyone you've heard on this show and beyond our amazing legal staff, our amazing writers who are on their video production. Great series. And of course, our brand new series Revenge of the Taliban available right now with any donation. Check the receipt after you make your donation. There'll be a link to watch it.

Rick's in it because maybe the most popular episode, I'm not going to say one way or the other, is a pretty popular episode of Revenge of the Taliban. We'll be right back with your calls at 1-800-684-3110. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched.

A $10 gift becomes $20, a $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support. Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Sekulow, final segment of the day. For those watching online, final segment of the year before you watch the J-band special tomorrow night at 8 p.m., broadcasting live on Facebook and YouTube.

For those who want to get your calls in before the end of the year, give us a call, 1-800-684-3110. I'm sorry, what else are you saying there? He's saying another word. I'm not sure what. He's just telling me another word. He just keeps saying it. I can't hear it. 1-800-684-3110. That's right. 1-800-684-3110 to get your calls in. Okay. As many as possible.

Let's start up. Rumble as well. It'll be on rumble as well. Rumble was the word he was saying. That's a hard word to lip read. It is.

Rumble. There's a lot of different syllables. Yeah. Yeah.

Not that many syllables. Well. Two. Okay. Fine. Sounds.

All right. Let's go to Art who's calling in Nevada on line one. Art, we're going to kick it back to what we were talking about originally.

Let's reset a little bit. The IRS put out their new tax guide and, of course, what was in it. Make sure you're reporting your taxes for all the goods you stole over the last year.

Art, you're on the air. Yeah, Logan. My question would be wouldn't this in some way make the IRS guilty by association at some point? I don't know anything about law. Yeah. They're admitting because they have documentation.

Accessory to the crime. Yeah. They have documentation admitting, people admitting that they stole items.

Yeah, you think that, you never know. Anything to maybe abolish the IRS, of course. It's a good idea. Give that to our lawyers.

See if they can do anything with it. It seems like a very odd thing as well, like we're going to take our cut from your illegal activity. Yeah. I mean, when you think of it as a crime syndicate, it's like the mob boss is like, okay, you're out there doing all your larceny, but you got to pay for protection. Yeah. It feels very mobish. Yeah.

Like if you just watch the brand new Boba Fett series, it feels very much like something straight out of Boba Fett. So you can watch that on Disney Plus. Just an ad there. Free push there. Free ad.

Hashtag not ad. Let's go give us a call. 1-800-684-3110. Bill's calling in North Carolina. Bill you're on the air. Awesome guys.

Happy new year to everybody. I'd just like to add that, make a comment that the RS has been broken for a long time when it comes to criminal activity. Years ago my, uh, we were foster parents and moved into being an adoptive parent. Well, one of our children actually was claimed by a, uh, a biological family member prior to us filing our taxes like two years after we adopted him. And the IRS put the burden of proof on us to prove that this child was even in our home for the duration that he was.

And we proved that he was and, and this other family, uh, was not even prosecuted. No charges. No. Yeah.

Yeah. Bill, you hear about that kind of thing all the time. And on top of that, that they, the IRS actually targets adoptive parents because there's the adoption tax credit and it's been reported that 70% of individuals that claim the adoption tax credit. So someone who has out of the goodness of their heart or what they felt called to do, uh, adopted a child, given a child a home and a family, and that's an expensive thing to do in this country.

It is very expensive. A lot of things go into adoption. So there is something, uh, where you can file for a tax credit for these expenses you incur. But what does the IRS do to reward the families that file for this credit and for taking a child into their home to love and raise? They slapped them with an audit, 70% audit rate of people that accept that. We know someone personally who did this, got audited and actually they found out they overpaid the IRS in with taxes.

They were entitled to more money back from it, but they make the families that just expanded their family, taken into a child to love, trying to get to, they go through the stress of an IRS audit. Meanwhile, as long as you're taking the fair market value of your stolen goods and reporting it in the same year, you should be good in the eyes of the IRS. No, your other criminal activity is fine to gloss over as long as you're reporting it to us so we can take our cut. Yep. All right. Hey, if you have a call last time, this is the last call to get your call in 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. Keep it short. We'll do our best to get to you.

Randy in Texas on line two. You're on the air. Uh, yes. Can you hear me?

I can hear you. Okay. Uh, the question I had is the enforceability of the IRS. Are they going to require the people or the victims that were stolen from the issue of 1099? Yeah. You're going to get that.

You're going to get that. Over a $600 threshold, you're going to send a 1099 to the person who stole your very nice mountain bike. You can prove they stole it, but you just have to make sure they have the invoice because if not, it could be a problem. Because if you don't do the 1099, you don't get the deduction.

Yeah, that's true. You deduct your stolen property. It sets up so many absurd possibilities.

I want to know how many people do it. Like this year, look, some thieves, I'm sure are not the smartest. They may get this document and go, well, we got to do it. Or they're more smart because then they're not going to get other charges. That's true. Maybe that is the question for thieves who are listening. Is it smarter to actually fulfill this and to do what you're supposed to do here so you'll get caught or are you admitting to it's a such a, it's such a complex.

People say that the IRS is a complicated system. They've made it even more. So I look, we're wrapping up today's show. I know we've had some fun, but this is real and then we need to understand this is real. Now what can we do about this? There are a lot of different things and we're going to work on it because we see it as ridiculous. Hopefully you see it as ridiculous as well. When we have called for the IRS to be abolished and we have called for a restructuring of the IRS, it is because of real serious, deep problems that are within it. This is just face value. The silliest. I mean, that's all that is.

Any thoughts? Well, it's why the first week of 2022, we will be fighting against the Democrats in the Senate, trying to bring up a different version and then trying to convince Senator Manchin to change his mind on Build Back Better, which has 80 billion more dollars for the IRS to hire 80,000 more agents. We want to push back against that because we, as has been said on this show many times, the IRS is institutionally incapable of self-correcting.

You see things like this, which add fuel to the fire of saying that. And I think that's why it will be another fight in the new year. All right, we're wrapping up today. Look, if you're, you join us live, a lot of you do every day on social media, Facebook, YouTube, rumble, and so on. The next time you'll hear from us is tomorrow night, 8 PM Eastern for the Jay Sekulow Band New Year's concert. It's going to be a lot of fun. Last second fundraising effort we do every year really helps out support the work of the ACLJ now.

And then if you want to do it during the live show as well, if not, just go and enjoy it and have a good time. I want to thank everyone who listened. I also want to thank all of our crew who is here right now and has been working hard throughout the holiday season as they always do. We have an amazing team beyond even just this production staff, but the production staff that's here, those that are out right now, all the people who work in our digital department, all of our lawyers, everyone who works throughout the ACLJ, because we couldn't do it without them. It is a major operation and now we could not do it without them. We certainly could not do it without you, the listener, you, the supporter, and you who watch on social media and share our content. Look, sharing the content is incredible, needs to be done whenever possible, but also as it is the end of the year, we don't do heavy fundraising pushes like this all the time, but specifically when it's the end of the year, we know this with a lot of people decide to make their charitable donations because of sometimes because of tax reasons will. That's right.

Yeah. So don't be one of those people just stealing property, go out there, support organizations like ours. There's other great organizations as well.

Do that at ACLJ.org today, and again, thank you. I just want to say our heartfelt thank you to all of you who listen to all of the amazing crew who work on this show. It has been a rough yet incredible year for the American Center for Law and Justice for the ACLJ.

We've all been through a lot and here's to better things next year. Join us tomorrow for a lot of fun on the J-Sec Yellow Band concert at 8 PM Eastern. That'll be a great fun way to wrap up your year and on to 2022 because the fight continues on and the battles continue on and we couldn't do it without you at ACLJ.org.

See you tomorrow night. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20, a $50 gift becomes 100. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org.