Did My Nose Grow?

 

SJWs always lieVox Day’s SJWs Always Lie, released today, is at this writing the #1 Amazon Best Seller in two categories.

Though why should you believe me? You know what SJWs always do.

The book is named after the First Law of SJW: SJWs always lie. SJWS ALWAYS LIE is a useful guide to understanding, anticipating, and surviving SJW attacks from the perspective of a man who has not only survived, but thrived, after experiencing multiple attempts by Social Justice Warriors to disqualify, discredit, and disemploy him in the same manner they have successfully attacked Nobel Laureates, technology CEOs, broadcasters, sports commentators, school principals, and policemen. It analyzes well-known SJW attacks as well as the two most successful examples of resistance to the SJW Narrative, #GamerGate and Sad Puppies.

I have a copy and will read it and report back.

202 thoughts on “Did My Nose Grow?

  1. Over at the Dread Scalzoni’s blog, stretch goals have been suggested: One, that Scalzi do an additional reading of Pratt’s book under the influence of helium, and two, that Scalzi do an additional reading under the influence of sulfur hexaflouride. No word yet on whether these suggestions are in any danger of being implemented.

  2. You know he’s going to make s fortune from this. Wing nut welfare at its finest.
    There’s a reason Sarah Palin is now multimillionaire.

    Sarah Palin was on a national political ticket. She got YUUUUUUGE exposure.

    Beale is “…who?” by any reasonable comparison. Even in the SF world, I bet few people have a clue who he is.

  3. Donated. Lovely idea for a lovely cause; Con or Bust are Good People.

    I suggested that Scalzi should mispronounce “Scalzi” throughout.

    He should pronounce it “Scaleezi”, as in, mother of CHORFS. Or maybe, Mother of gamma males.

  4. @ Kurt Busiek
    Beale?!? Wasn’t Beale in the movie Flashdance?

    he’s a maniac maniac that’s for sure (honestly, that’s the song lyric- I’m just quoting the lyrics from the movie)

  5. @Chronos: Con or Bust is administered by Kate Nepveu, whom I know for a fact to be of impeccable character. So I’m not worried that the administrators are pocketing the money. It does seem like the parent organization has been slipshod with the paperwork and this may endanger my ability to claim a tax deduction. I don’t make my charitable contributions for tax reasons, so this isn’t a big deal to me, but it certainly seems like something the CBS should straighten out.

  6. Ann Somerville:

    It’s not registered as a charity. So what? Does it need to be?

    The receipts it issues advises donors they are a 501(c)(3) organization, indicating contributions are tax deductible for US income tax purposes. If an organization has lost its tax exemption status, then they should not be making that statement.

    There would be nothing to prevent people from making donations, just the tax treatment would be affected.

  7. A search of information at IRS.gov returned the following:

    The federal tax exemption of this organization was automatically revoked for its failure to file a Form 990-series return or notice for three consecutive years. The information listed below for each organization is historical; it is current as of the organization’s effective date of automatic revocation. The information is not necessarily current as of today’s date. Nor does this automatic revocation necessarily reflect the organization’s tax-exempt or non-exempt status. The organization may have applied to the IRS for recognition of exemption and been recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt after its effective date of automatic revocation. To check whether an organization is currently recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt, call Customer Account Services at (877) 829-5500 (toll-free number).

    ——————————————————————————–

    Revocation Date (effective date on which organization’s tax exemption was automatically revoked):
    15-May-2013
    Employer Identification Number (EIN):
    27-0140141
    Legal Name:
    THE CARL BRANDON SOCIETY

    Doing Business As:

    Mailing Address:
    5016 S GENESEE ST
    SEATTLE, WA 98118-1446
    United States
    Exemption Type:
    501(c)(3)
    Revocation Posting Date (date on which IRS posted notice of automatic revocation on IRS.gov):
    12-Aug-2013
    Exemption Reinstatement Date (effective date of tax exemption, determined by the IRS
    after the organization’s exemption was automatically revoked and the organization applied for reinstatement of exemption.):

  8. From John Scalzi’s blog Whatever, “Dorien” comments:

    “I just spoke to the IRS. According to them, the Carl Brandon Society’s 501(c) was revoked as of May 15, 2013 and NO contributions to the Carl Brandon Society made AFTER August 12, 2013 are tax deductible.

    The IRS official also stated that there is no record of the Carl Brandon Society acting as an “umbrella” for ANY organization. He didn’t even know what that meant.

    Call them yourself if you want. 877-829-5500.

    You are being had.”

  9. @Chronos: “You are being had” is not supported by the evidence you’ve provided. I define being had as, “My donation does not, in fact, go to send a minority-group fan to a con.” That issue is orthogonal to whether the organization’s IRS paperwork is up to date.

    Now, there is clearly a problem of misrepresentation here, since the CBS is not a valid 501(c)(3) currently but is claiming to be. That’s a genuine problem. Someone ought to deal with that. I’d do it myself, but I’m more of an ideas man.

  10. No getting around this, folks:

    If you have claimed a tax deduction for a contribution to Con or Bust or the Carl Brandon Society after August 12, 2013, it is not valid, at the least. Check with your tax attorney for any responsibility and/or penalties.

  11. Chronos: I’m not being had. I made a donation to Con or Bust because I want Scalzi to do this audiobook. I’m going to get what was promised.

    They can resolve everything by correcting their statement about tax deductibility.

  12. Chronos:

    Check with your tax attorney for any responsibility and/or penalties.

    People who claimed a contribution to the CBS in good faith are not at risk of penalties.

    Stop playing faux tax lawyer or you will disappear faster than you arrived.

  13. @Chronos: Thank you for pointing out a genuine problem with the tax status of donations to Con Or Bust. It appears that Kate Nepveu needs to update the website PDQ.

    Everything else you’ve posted is way in advance of what the evidence shows, and contrary to the testimony of people – also in the Whatever thread where Dorien is posting the same info – that they know people who have definitely been helped by Con or Bust. Starting with Alexandra Erin. So, no thank you for everything else.

    Finally, and let me be clear that this does not excuse the tax-deduction misinformation on C-O-B’s website: It is hilarious that an obvious follower of Ted Beale is concerned about somebody else’s good standing with the United States taxing authorities. I really have seen everything now.

  14. So, Jim, you really think the citing of the 501(c) status on the Con or Bust website is a mistake that needs to be “updated”? After the “umbrella” Carl Brandon Society’s certification has been revoked for over two years? Wow.

    Mike cautions me not to play tax lawyer, but I merely suggested consulting a tax professional. Mike is the one who pronounces:

    “People who claimed a contribution to the CBS in good faith are not at risk of penalties.”

    Really, Mike. Are YOU a tax lawyer?

    Actually, the IRS’s position is that a penalty for claiming a deduction to a non 501(c) organization made in good faith MAY not apply IF the taxpayer exercised due diligence. Get it, Mike, “may not” not “does not.” Tax stuff is complicated, which is why my advice to talk with a tax lawyer is prudent and your non-licensed lawyering is not.

  15. @Chronos:

    So, Jim, you really think the citing of the 501(c) status on the Con or Bust website is a mistake that needs to be “updated”? After the “umbrella” Carl Brandon Society’s certification has been revoked for over two years? Wow.

    Of course I think that. For reasons I’ve already given. If you think the organization is turning donor funds to personal account, and that bothers you, launch an investigation! Or pester them on Twitter. Or volunteer to do their tax reporting. But in this forum you’ve pretty much said what there is to say. I personally don’t regret the $100 bucks I donated, or the $33 (at marginal rates) by which I won’t be able to reduce my tax bill.

    If you want to really get my goat, provide evidence of actual fraud. Or if you want to talk books you like, this is a great place for it. Otherwise, you’re running out of gas.

  16. @Chronos:
    My knowledge of Mike is that he’s quite familiar with IRS rules and regulations.

  17. AAAAHHHHHH!!!! My US tax returns!!!! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!
    …oh I don’t pay tax in the USA…well, um never mind then.

    Could we not have a donation drive? Each time ‘Chronos’ or ‘Dorien’ turn up we make an extra donation to Con or Bust?

  18. @Camestros: It’s actually pretty effed up in the US context and it is a potential red flag. I would be more concerned if I didn’t know the administrator’s reputation and we didn’t have personal testimony from Erin and others about fans who have definitely been helped. We do have those things, but the state of the CBS and C-O-B websites in combination with their actual IRS status is slipshod at best. It’s because I know what I know about the people involved that I am content that slipshod is indeed the likeliest descriptor. But while Dorien and Chronos have the smell of Dead Elk about them and surely foreshadow their master’s next cause célebre, an attempt to paint Scalzi and Erin as grifters in league with (minority) “hustlers”, there is a genuine problem here.

  19. For what it’s worth, though I’m not a tax attorney, I’ve done accounting and tax preparation for quite some time. In a situation like this, absent a strong indication of fraud overall in a specific return, the worst which is likely to happen if someone were to itemize deductions and claim a donation to Con Or Bust under these circumstances is that the IRS would just disallow the deduction.

    Frankly, the numbers involved would make this small potatoes, hardly worth the IRS’s attention in most instances. You certainly don’t need to consult a tax attorney on this. Any halfway capable tax preparer could advise someone on this.

    This is a peewee.

  20. I am confident my qualifications for predicting the outcome of a mistaken deduction taken in good faith are better than yours.

    thinks to self: eh?

    starts reading document, still doesn’t understand

    thinks to self: NOOOOOO!

    does quick search, reads page 7, wakes sleeping wife by laughing too loudly, gets told off for reading at 2am

    Gee, thanks Mike…

  21. Statement from Kate Nepveu on Scalzi’s blog:

    In addition: I would like to assure everyone that I had no idea that there was any question about the Carl Brandon Society’s IRS status, that I am looking into it, and that in any event, 100% of all donations to Con or Bust are spent directly and fully on grants to fans of color to attend SFF cons. I donate all of my expenses, such postage and web hosting, and the Carl Brandon Society donates PayPal fees and other administrative costs.

    I used to follow Kate on Livejournal when that was a thing. I have met her husband, the physicist, blogger and science-writer Chad Orzel in person. I have zero doubts about her probity. Obviously, I could end up surprised, because who among us really knows another etc. But that’s not the way I’m betting.

    Meanwhile, I got a personal email from someone I suspect is really “Dorien” from the Whatever thread. It didn’t contain any new information, and wasn’t attempting to open a discussion on the topic; attempts to open discussion don’t feature exclusively leading questions and jibes. Also, like Dorien, my emailer implied that I falsely believed Alexandra Erin to be a PoC, or perhaps to have represented herself as a PoC, and that Erin claimed that Con Or Bust had financially helped Erin herself attend cons. If they are not the same person, then we know what line the Decomposing Cervids have been instructed to take.

  22. These direct links to comments usually don’t work for me, but I am including them for purposes of documentation. Kate Nepveu of Con or Bust gave a fundraiser update on Whatever, and responded to the tax exemption question:

    Kate Nepveu – http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/08/27/charity-drive-for-con-or-bust-an-audio-version-of-john-scalzi-is-not-a-very-popular-author-and-i-myself-am-quite-popular-read-by-me/#comment-795792

    As of 8:39 p.m., the donation total stands at $8,967.17, with 287 people donating.

    Kate Nepveu – http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/08/27/charity-drive-for-con-or-bust-an-audio-version-of-john-scalzi-is-not-a-very-popular-author-and-i-myself-am-quite-popular-read-by-me/#comment-795793

    In addition: I would like to assure everyone that I had no idea that there was any question about the Carl Brandon Society’s IRS status, that I am looking into it, and that in any event, 100% of all donations to Con or Bust are spent directly and fully on grants to fans of color to attend SFF cons. I donate all of my expenses, such postage and web hosting, and the Carl Brandon Society donates PayPal fees and other administrative costs.

  23. Jim Henley:

    @Mike: Yeah, but nobody can take your contributing editor of the day award from you.

    I just checked with myself and verified that.

  24. Bought the book, tried to donate to Con or Bust (and remembered that for some reason their site will not take my debit/credit card, so I’ll have to dig up one of my credit cards to donate–I’ve run into this before, and at one point checked with my bank about why and it’s some weird thing about the fact we have a post office box because we live in the boonies and don’t want a rural route mailbox on an isolated road, all because of the Homeland Security or Patriot act or whatever the fuck it was–clearly anyone with a po box is a terrorist).

  25. Posted in the wrong thread, so forgive the repost. Donated; looking forward to audiobook and filk!

  26. Oops. Looks like the puppies aren’t the only ones who trip over rakes and shoot themselves in the both feet.

    Not filing since 2010 is pretty crappy behavior from the admins of the non-profit. Not noticing is a lack of due diligence from John Scalzi, it only takes 2 seconds on Guidestar to show their not up to date (I’d recommend everyone goes to Guidestar before making donations, it shows which charities are con jobs (i.e. ridiculous admin cost ratios and so on)

  27. Not noticing is a lack of due diligence

    Why should checking that be his business, when they aren’t getting the money?

  28. @Jim Henley:

    I used to follow Kate [Nepveu] on Livejournal when that was a thing. I have met her husband, the physicist, blogger and science-writer Chad Orzel in person. I have zero doubts about her probity.

    Heh, the small world becomes yet smaller: Kate, Chad, and I hung out together for years on Usenet back in mumbledy-mumble, and I finally met Kate recently at LonCon 3 (IIRC) where she was on panels, but I had absolutely no idea Kate and Chad had married.

    Kate occasionally posts clear thinking about Hugo ruckuses.

  29. Chris S.

    Not filing since 2010 is pretty crappy behavior from the admins of the non-profit.

    While it’s definitely a problem, it’s not as rare as one would hope. A few years ago I illustrated some examples of sf nonprofits that were at risk of losing their exemptions according to an IRS list. Over the years I have also provided advice to a couple of other sf nonprofits about how to get their house back in order after these kinds of problems surfaced.

    Typically this is caused by one or both of the following situations. First, the organization may not have kept its books current, so the information needed to report isn’t available. Or, second, the person responsible for preparing the state and federal paperwork procrastinates or forgets and literally years go by til the problem is discovered.

    As one who has seen a wide range of compliance issues, these oversights seem to me merely regrettable, potentially (though not always) expensive, not suspicious.

  30. I would be more concerned if Con or Bust wasn’t sending fans to conventions right up to now. If there’d been a mysterious drop since 2010, that would be a problem, but there hasn’t been. Paperwork may have gone astray, but the management of the charitable work has not.

    I assume the reason no-one checked is because people have been working with them since before the paperwork wasn’t filed, so they had prior trust, and most people aren’t big enough assholes to try and derail a charitable drive for point scoring purposes.

  31. While it’s definitely a problem, it’s not as rare as one would hope.

    Just in the short time I’ve been a reporter, I’ve seen at least three cases where this has happened. Two of them were clearly by accident and the third was… well, let’s just say that one is much more complicated.

    From my limited experience, once the non-profit status is attained, it’s generally neglect, not malfeasance, that leads to the status being revoked.

  32. From my limited experience, once the non-profit status is attained, it’s generally neglect, not malfeasance, that leads to the status being revoked.

    The key here is that the tax exempt status of the organization doesn’t change whether it is an actual charitable organization or not.

  33. Chris S:

    Not filing since 2010 is pretty crappy behavior from the admins of the non-profit.

    You might be surprised at this, but small nonprofits do this very frequently. For about twelve years, I was on the Board of Directors of a small non-profit corporation, BayLISA, tax-exempt as a 501(c)(6) organisation. (Subchapter 6 is business leagues. This particular one is a local guild for system administrators in California.) If memory serves, it was about a year into my first two-year term, around 2000, that I suddenly thought to check our corporate status, and found the corporation listed at the California Secretary of State’s Web site as ‘Suspended’.

    I reported this to the Board. Panic. Clueless suggestions. Attempts to offload the problem a second time to the friendly CPA who had agreed to do the group’s regulatory filings on a volunteer basis but, it turns out, had silently dropped the ball.

    Those filings? In California, for our class of small non-profit, there’s: 1. A simple ‘Statement of Information’, form SI-100, that must be filed biannually during a five-month filing window with a $20 filing fee. One’s form furnishes the names of the principal officers and ‘street address of principal office in California’ (essentially, for service of process). 2. Form FTB-199N must be filed during a five-month window at the beginning of each year with the Franchise Tax Board (state income tax board) stating ‘annual gross revenues’ for the calendar year just ended. This can be filed online. 3. In the last few years, IRS has also required annually e-filing a 990-N ‘ePostcard’ declaring the same stuff FTB-199N does.

    If you forget to file these things, your state may suspend your corporate status. IRS may suspend the recognition of tax-exemption you got in your IRS determination letter. And, here’s the thing: It often takes years for the groups to realise this has happened.

    My group, BayLISA, had been utterly clueless about the corporate suspension, which happened several years before. They had had utterly no idea. After they tried and failed for six months to re-delegate the problem to the CPA, they agreed that I should fix it, as I was offering. This required fiing form FTB-3557E (Application for Certificate of Revivor) and required $50 fee with the state tax people, and a form FTB-199N and P&L sheets for the current and three prior years, then waiting six months for FTB and the Secretary of State to take us off the naughty kids list.

    Irony: After this misadventure, the Board decided to re-delegate future filings to the same CPA. With the result that in 2010, I checked the Secretary of State’s Web site, and it said ‘Suspended’ again. Same probable reason. Same remedy by yr. present correspondent — and this time I documented the filing process with specific deadline dates on the group’s internal wiki for officers. And so far, they haven’t screwed it up again.

    But my point is, this problem is way, way more common than you probably assume.

  34. The thought of a little nonprofit getting rich off sending people to cons for nefarious purposes is pretty funny if you’ve ever worked for a nonprofit.

  35. @jim The only real way to go these days as a nonprofit if getting rich is your goal is to be of the too-big-to-fail variety.

  36. It is currently #1 on the “Political Philosophy” Amazon list. #2 is Alexandra Erin’s satire of same, John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular. #3 is Machiavelli’s The Prince…and #12 is Mein Kampf.

    I don’t think that list is a reliable measure of, well, much of anything.

  37. @The Raven

    I understand that Amazon rankings are basically terrible for measuring anything. Shame, really, because it ends up a trap for the unwary in debates.

  38. The main thing they measure is what is selling *right now*. It isn’t an all-time bestsellers list. As for beating Machiavelli and Plato… public domain books have to compete with every other edition of the same book. The free versions grab up most of the “sales”, and they have their own charts.

  39. I see that John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular has a higher star rating on Amazon than SJWs Always Lie (4.5 vs 4.4).

    Therefore, according to Mr. Beale, John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular is a better book.

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