foxbat

I'd consider it much less of a risk economically and more of a concern politically. All kinds of jokes about AOC and Sanders turning the country into Venezuela, but these kinds of actions, tied to national emergencies, potentially take us closer and closer to state-owned oil, state-owned manufacturing, etc. Historically, we looked back at Truman's failure to have the government take control of the steel mills with a sign of relief and an assurance that the balance of power works. I'm feeling a bit less confidence nowadays with Congress seemingly willing to abdicate many of its powers and a potential for weakened confidence in the judiciary.

??? This kind of stuff has been happening quite often. Two or three years ago, two kids were skipping elementary school in South Carolina and blamed it on a Black man who tried to kidnap them on the way to school to throw police off of the fact that they skipped. The man of course didn't exist. Remember Susan Smith drowned her own two sons and then blamed it on a Black man who she said carjacked her car with her kids in it. Remember the Pitmans who were shot to death in their house and then their house was burned down? Their grandson said that he'd escaped from the Black attacker ... except that he'd killed his grandparents himself. Remember during Obama's first election campaign against McCain when one of McCain's campaign volunteers claimed that she'd been assaulted by a Black man who carved a "B" in her face and told her that she was now going to be a "Barack supporter." Of course, there was no attacker. There was also the guy with the pregnant wife that claimed that a Black man jumped in the car and shot his wife to death while he was driving the car. Turned out that the husband killed his own pregnant wife for the insurance money. The lady who claimed that she and her kid were kidnapped by two Black men turned out to have taken her kid to Disneyworld having swindled her company out of over half a million dollars. These are just the quick ones that I recalled, but there are lot more that happen like this, but I just don't recall the details off the top of my head. This kind of thing is pretty much cliche' at this point.

Most may, but unfortunately it's folks like this guy that don't ... https://www.yahoo.com/news/coast-guard-lieutenant-accused-murder-plot-scale-rarely-seen-country-223900168.html FTA: In a motion filed Tuesday, U.S. attorneys said Christopher Hasson, a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard who has served at the service’s headquarters in Washington since 2016, had a hit list of targets, a cache of guns and a series of communications with white supremacists. The first sentence in the motion imploring the court to detain Hasson pending trial: “The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.” ... On Jan. 17, Hasson allegedly compiled a list of targets including a number of Democratic politicians and left-leaning political commentators. The names on the list include “Sen blumen jew” (presumably Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.,) and “poca warren” (presumably Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.). There are also references to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a long list of additional Democratic senators, including Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Tim Kaine, D-Va. The list also includes likely references to a number of House members (Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.), television hosts (Joe Scarborough and Chris Hayes of MSNBC, Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo of CNN), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas and the Democratic Socialists of America. On the same day he finished the list, the court filing says, Hasson completed the following Google searches over the course of three hours: “what if trump illegally impeached,” “best place in dc to see congress people,” “where in dc to congress live,” “civil war if trump impeached” and “social democrats usa.” Hasson’s alleged online searches for pro-Russian, neo-fascist and neo-Nazi literature, along with draft emails recovered from his email offer insight into what prosecutors describe as extremist views. “I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth,” Hasson allegedly wrote in a draft email to “acquaintances” last June; in the email, he appears to outline a stream of possible ways — ranging from biological attacks to bombing/sniper campaign” — to violently fight back against “Liberalist/Globalist ideology is destroying traditional peoples esp white.” “It seems inevitable that we are doomed,” the email continues, with Hasson soliciting ideas for how he might “enlist the help of another power/country,” such as Russia “or any land that despises the west’s liberalism. Excluding of course the muslim scum,” conceding, “I don’t think I can cause complete destruction on my own.”

As I stated before "does he [speak for others]?"

Don't know about large volumes, but I'm sure that it probably speaks for some on the left. My question wasn't about large volumes, but simply a response to a question that asked "Must he speak for anyone?" My question was "does he speak for anyone." Just like in A Night At The Garden, if you heard Fritz Kuhn without seeing the accompanying footage, you might be lulled into acting like he's an outlier and even ask "Does anyone believe the same" or "Seriously, he's off his rocker and an outlier" until you see his speech along with the imagery. As the documentary's director said, " But while the vast majority of Americans were appalled by the Nazis, there was also a significant group of Americans who were sympathetic to their white supremacist, anti-Semitic message. When you see 20,000 Americans gathering in Madison Square Garden, you can be sure that many times that were passively supportive." My question about, "does he" speak for others is merely suggesting that I doubt this is a single lone voice and that there are perhaps "many times that are passively/actively supportive."

When I worked out in industry, we had a dual system for time entry and billing entry. The developers, who were paid salary, would submit the standard timecard which basically amounted to signing their name, but it was like pulling teeth to get them to enter their time in the system that tracked projects and billing time ... as well as non-billed time. They would always eventually get around to putting in their time, but it might be 3-4 weeks before they'd update the billing system. One day in late November, a memo came out from the CEO that stated that on-time entry in the billing system would now be tied to end-of-year bonuses ... didn't fill it in on time, forget the bonus. Entry rates went to near perfect within the week.

NFHS says deaths are down compared to just recently. Whether it's a couple of blips or not remains to be seen, but the points compared to the past seem lower. https://www.nfhs.org/articles/injury-risk-lowest-in-history-of-high-school-football/ FTA: The NFHS has been writing and publishing its own rules in football since 1932, and the organization has had an unwavering focus on risk minimization. However, by the late 1960s and early 1970s, the number of deaths in high school football had accelerated, with a high of 35 in 1970. In 1975, spearing was outlawed and several other equipment and safety-related changes were put in place and the number of fatalities dropped significantly. In 2016 and 2017, there were only two direct deaths each year compared to an average of 20 annually in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Moreover, as opposed to 50 years ago, today playing rules are in place at the high school level to manage a student who exhibits signs and symptoms of a concussion. Thanks to these guidelines and state laws in place, the incidence of high school players incurring a repeat concussion has been greatly reduced. In addition, practice restrictions and contact limits have been adopted by all member state associations.

But a lot less than this one ... and not as hot.

Not a question of must, but does he?

I don't wear cufflinks, but I have a pair that were passed to me by my dad and I believe that they were passed to him from his dad. I know that we weren't rich growing up ... I didn't realize that chuck steak wasn't a fancy cut of meat until I went off to college. My dad just made it taste great with this "wine sauce" that he used to make it with. I thought that certainly you didn't waste wine cooking a cheap cut of meat ... until I realized that the wine came in a gallon jug with a screw top. As for shooting shotguns in the air, I recall one New Year's eve we were over at a neighbor's celebrating. My dad had a glass of scotch, and had put it down on the stoop to help us light some fireworks as midnight struck. Along with the fireworks, you could hear gunfire too. My dad picked up his glass, took a sip, and noticed buckshot in the bottom of his glass. I'd contend that Average Joe's are more likely to fire shotguns in the air ... it's the elite conservatives that tend to just shoot their hunting buddies in the face. 😄

So is anyone actually buying what Roger's selling? From the article, "Stone’s lawyers on Monday apologized for the post in a public letter to the court, saying "Mr. Stone recognizes the impropriety and had it removed." Seriously, Roger's inner voice didn't recognize the impropriety before posting it? Stone got his picture from CosmicConvergence, http://cosmicconvergence.org/?p=30951, a wacko conspiracy site which tends to put judges, lawyers, and politicians with cross-hairs and a skull and crossbones on their pictures. Here's the original image from the conspiracy site: Stone spent some time editing the picture from the original, so he had a little bit of time to think about it before posting ... especially given the source. Then again, if he was "just posting a picture" he could have used the original BEFORE it was photoshopped by the conspiracy site and before he photoshopped it again. I'd love to be a fly on the wall during his hearing tomorrow.

On this we agree.

I'm not sure on Joe's reasons for not capitalizing on politics the way that others have. I know that, back when he was VP, and Senator, he was known for taking Amtrak back and forth between DC and Delaware. I saw an article somewhere that Amtrak conductors had estimated that Biden had made some 8,000+ roundtrips on Amtrak during his political career. Part of that was due to the death of his first wife and child in an automobile accident just after he was elected to his first term in the Senate, but when you hear him talk about what he did on that train day in and day out, staring out the windows and looking at the lights and wondering what the folks in those houses were thinking about and what was weighing on their minds, you get a feel for him as an Average Joe. He's lived a comfortable life, but he has seemed more interested in doing what we envision our politicians should be doing as opposed to what a lot of them end up doing.

Rick Scott oversaw one of the biggest Medicare fraud schemes in the history of the country and he was elected governor, twice, and US Senator. O'Rourke's DWI will be two decades plus in the past by the election and he and his campaign have completely owned his culpability in public statements when running for office since at least 2012. In Indiana, with the Moped Brigade, it might even get him votes. The burglary was more of a trespass and was dismissed by UTEP police as a college kids being college kids. I doubt it would have any major implications on the ticket. Between GOP candidates with pregnant, unwed kids, Moral Majority candidates with adultery, guys like Menendez being indicted and still winning re-election, and a President who tweets like a petulant teenager, I can't imagine O'Rourke "poisoning" a ticket.

This is what Stone posted ... and then quickly took down and apologized. Crosshairs on the picture of a federal judge is a bonehead move.

Biden/O'Rourke. Biden appeals to the Midwest and is nice to counter Trump's nastiness. Also appeals to blue-collar guys and, given that he's one of the poorer politicians out there, can fend off the "elitist" part of the ironic GOP attack line. Family has military background which will allow for a dignified, but potentially biting attack on lack thereof. O'Rourke, plus recent issues in Arizona, potentially put Arizona in play at the presidential level as well as at the Senatorial level two as McCain's old seat will be up again. O'Rourke, while probably unable to deliver Texas as a presidential state, would help with getting votes down-ballot. Cornyn's seat is up too and the Democrat's expect to challenge it although it's probably a longer shot than it was going after Cruz. Appeals to younger Democrat's, so helps to get out the young vote there. Florida would also be a target state using O'Rourke as well. Trump's gone from a positive 22 net rating in Florida in January 2017 to a negative 3. Nelson ran a horrible, almost non-existent, Hispanic outreach in the recent Senate election. O'Rourke would not let that opportunity slide. Toss in the money side of the house and O'Rourke almost becomes a printing press ... especially with small donor. O'Rourke picked with Biden would also cushion potential blow-back for lack of a female candidate on the ticket.

Yes, but he used sing-song when he stated it.

As an accountant, the only thing that her signature means on the form is that she verifies, to the best of her ability, that the content has been handled accurately and truthfully. This is nothing but a tax issue ... not a religious issue. Didn't Jesus already address this a couple thousand years ago when he said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's?" He didn't say, "Render unto Caesar unless you don't believe in world conquest."

Kind of reminds me of that unawareness vibe that Tommy gave off when he was being taken to be made. Completely unaware ... right up until he realized that he wasn't getting made. Hopefully, these guys aren't visiting with folks like Jong-un, al-Assad, Putin, Bin Salman, Xi, etc. with that unawareness.

I had not seen this documentary before. It's pretty short ... about 7-8 minutes. No commentary from me at this point so as to not sway/dissuade/encourage/discourage. https://anightatthegarden.com/

Wonder how long it will take before Trump stops visiting Manafort in jail. https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/13/politics/paul-manafort-robert-mueller/index.html FTA: Paul Manafort "intentionally" lied to special counsel Robert Mueller's office, breaking the plea agreement that made him the star cooperator in the Russia probe, a federal judge found on Wednesday. Manafort "made multiple false statements to the FBI, the OSC and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation," including his contacts with his Russian associate during the campaign and later, Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote on Wednesday. ... Manafort is still bound by what he agreed to in the plea, so he will not be able to retract his guilty pleas. But the finding frees Mueller's office from its contractual obligations in the plea, like asking for a reduced sentence for him because of his cooperation. Word on the street, is that Manafort's looking at 19-24 years and that prosecutors have indicated to the judge that they see no reasons for special consideration in sentencing including issues of Manafort's age or health. In other words, prosecutors are not likely to be going to bat for a reduced sentence. You have to wonder if these folks are just mentally-impaired or plain old arrogant. AMI's Pecker is also going to possibly be facing a situation where he cut a deal with the feds and then violated the terms. With guys like Stone still in the wings, I have to imagine this may not be the last time we see something like this. Assuming Trump gets out of it all with no jailtime, he's going to be spending an awfully long time visiting a lot of his buddies in jail.

I've said it before, but I'm not sure Corporate America really needed much help with that Tax Act. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/amazon-taxes-zero-180337770.html FTA: While some people have received some surprise tax bills when filing their returns, corporations continue to avoid paying tax — thanks to a cocktail of tax credits, loopholes, and exemptions. According to a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), Amazon (AMZN) will pay nothing in federal income taxes for the second year in a row. Thanks to the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), Amazon’s federal tax responsibility is 21% (down from 35% in previous years). But with the help of tax breaks, Amazon won’t be paying a dime to Uncle Sam despite posting more than $11 billion in profits in 2018. Gotta imagine Bezos is contemplating sending Trump a thank you card just to rub it in. Waiting to see what the revenue generation/shortfall numbers for the government looks like this year. This is an election commercial in the making with a side-by-side of a middle-class family writing that "surprise" check at tax time and Bezos with the below picture while flashing the revenue shortfall number coupled with the deficit/debt numbers:

Between stuff like this, cutting polling stations in some states, etc., I wouldn't be surprised if they start charging you for parking your car in the lot where you vote. You'd think for something that is considered a cornerstone of American society, we'd find ways to get a lot more folks involved in it from all angles.