POLITICAL: The prettiest horse at the glue factory in terms of foreign policy

Monday, March 7, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/03/thomas-woods/can-laugh-2/

Moderators and Candidates Make Direct Hits on Trump: Lew and Tom Discuss Another Debate
By Thomas E. Woods Jr.
Tom Woods Show
March 5, 2016

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In last night’s debate (March 3, 2016), Trump suffered blows at the hands of moderators and candidates alike, and didn’t respond well. 

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Good point by Tom Woods about the “open letter” hit on Trump by all the “experts” (ex spurts) and where their advice and expenditures have delivered us. Hell in a handbasket with all that “great” advice. Argh!

If life was fair, then the politicians, bureaucrats, and experts that give us these massive failures would slink silently into the shadows and be quiet. But like certain economists, weather forecasters, and groundhogs, that have no shame when they are obviously WRONG, these same losers prattle even louder about what should be done.

While I am not a fan of any politician or political party, I do think, that Trump’s modest statements on “foreign policy” (i.e., leave Putin alone; the USA should not be in foreign wars; let’s take care of our vets), makes him, like the US dollar, the “prettiest horse at the glue factory”.

While all these dictators around the world are very bad people, who’s to say that getting rid of them will make things better. We have classic examples in Iraq, Libya, and Egypt. And, now the warmongers of both parties — HRC and the Republican New-Cons — want to try again in Syria. What a mess!

And, let’s not forget our crazy old man the “democratic socialist” who is advocating for the system that exterminated millions under Stalin, Mao, and many other examples. How he has any support at all is a testament to the lure of “free cheese”.

Argh!

The whole system is INSANE. 

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GUNS: Guns and selfies don’t mix

Sunday, March 6, 2016

http://www.cnet.com/news/man-taking-selfies-with-gun-fatally-shoots-himself-police-say/

Man taking selfies with gun fatally shoots himself, police say

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In Concrete, Washington, a 43-year-old man and his girlfriend were taking selfies while holding a gun.
Chief Chad Clark of the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to me that the couple had been taking the photos periodically throughout Sunday.

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Stupidity abounds.

Add in a gun and the results are obvious.

First rule of firearms safety is that “every gun is loaded”. Even if you just “cleared” it, then you still ALWAYS keep it pointed in a safe direction.

It’s a tool. 

And, for the same reason one doesn’t juggle running chainsaws, you don’t do stupid things with a gun!

Argh!

Make life hard for responsible gun owners.

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POLITICAL: Corporations do not pay taxes

Friday, March 4, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/03/walter-e-williams/every-dime-youve-got/

What Is the Fair Share of Taxes?
By Walter E. Williams
March 1, 2016

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Our demagogues also claim that corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes. The fact of the matter, which even leftist economists understand but might not publicly admit, is corporations do not pay taxes. An important subject area in economics, called tax incidence, says the entity upon whom a tax is levied does not necessarily bear the full burden of the tax. Some of the tax burdens can be shifted to another party. If a tax is levied on a corporation, and if the corporation hopes to survive, it will have one of three responses to that tax or some combination thereof. It will raise the price of its product, lower dividends or lay off workers. In each case, a flesh-and-blood person is made worse off. The important point is that a corporation is a legal fiction and as such does not pay taxes. As it turns out, corporations are merely tax collectors for the government.

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I have known this ever since I took my first class in Corporate Finance. And heard it repeated over and over.

“Corporations are merely tax collectors; not taxpayers. They merely pass their costs along.” Lawrence Alan “Larry” Kudlow is an American economist, television personality, and newspaper columnist. August 26, 2014 0830 on WMAL Mornings on the Mall Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

But for some reason, “We, The Sheeple” don’t seem to understand.

Burger King goes to Canada. Drug Companies and Banks got to the Grand Caymans. Google and Apple store their cash in Ireland.

See a pattern here.

Like the beer trucks with signs on them “This vehicle pay $11,985 in taxes.” NONSENSE! The poor bloke who drinks the beer is paying those taxes.

Every can on beans you buy in the supermarket has hidden taxes build right into the purchase price. And, don’t get me started on “gas taxes for the roads”! Another fiction. Seen the roads lately? Where did all that money go? So every product delivered by a gas powered engine (i.e., plane; train; boat; truck) has a hidden gas tax that’s being paid for by “We, The Sheeple”.

So the correct corporate tax rate is ZERO, because only REAL people pay taxes. 

Ask you favorite politician about that concept!

I’m sure you’ll be told “it’s more complicated that that.” It ain’t! Argh!

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VETERANS: Senior VA execs get off scott free

Thursday, March 3, 2016

FROM Mike Berger’s March Bugle Blasts

Appeals judges reverse punishment for senior VA execs – source Military Times

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VA officials’ attempt to punish a pair of high-ranking executives over mismanagement issues has been knocked down by appeals judges who ruled the department’s other disciplinary moves have been too inconsistent to justify punishing those two. The news comes a month after Justice Department officials announced they would not charge the two women with any criminal activity, despite accusations from the IG the executives manipulated the hiring practice and unjustly pocketed about $400,000 in federal funds.

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Argh!

The corruption in Gooferment and its inability to “police” itself is demonstration that it’s immoral, ineffective, and inefficient. As well as untrustworthy.

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INVESTING: Evaluate “tuition” as an ROI

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

http://www.edelmanfinancial.com/radio

Episode 02.20.16

Topic: How to Handle Student Loans Later in Life

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No secret that I like Ric Edelman and I am a “client”.

He made what I thought was an interesting off-the-cuff observation with respect to “education” expense.

The caller was an older 50-ish woman who had a 20K$ student loan at less than 5% and wanted to pay it off. In delving into her circumstances, he found out that she was earning 45k per year after incurring that debt. And, he raved over the ROI.

Not sure that it’s that cut and dry, but I think it was an astute observation.

While she may have paid more than 20K$ for the “educational investment”, the decade, that she will be earning 45k annually, will earn 450K$. 450k/20k = ROI 22½. Roughly. Ignores the time value of money and that it was probably more than a 20k total investment. Ignore the opportunity cost of the time spent. Etc. Etc. Etc. But not bad for a radio show podcast.

And, also, importantly, that 20k$ loan NOT paid off should earn at least a ten year market average while preserving liquidity (i.e., the lady still has her twenty k if she needs it).

Many of the education “horror stories” reported in the media are from some very poor decisions. Picking some obscure specialties with no real market value and spending a few hundred thousand dollars that results in 100k to 200k of student loan debt is a recipe for disaster.

On 101.5 D&D show the other day, http://nj1015.com/tuition-and-wedding-costs-on-the-rise-stolen-bank-info-and-more-on-dd-today/ chatted about the cost of tuition and invited callers to tell their stories. Some of the tales were pretty interesting. The divided into two types — medical doctors with ½ million of debt and then “regular people”. Argh! Worst case: 200k$ debt for an ART DEGREE!

So this “national problem” is all about bad decisions amplified by poor Gooferment policy (i.e., cheap government insured loans at artificially low rates). 

What to do?

Make “good decisions” about education ROI and the financing of that education.

Hold the politicians and bureaucrats accountable for the stupidity of these policies.

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  • How to Handle Student Loans Later in Life

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HARDWARE: Maybe a fix for WiFi’s poor performance?

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

http://fortune.com/2016/02/23/eero-home-networking-review/

Struggle with Wi-Fi speeds and coverage in your home? Eero has the answer.

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A year ago, startup Eero surfaced with a bold claim: It had developed a product that would fix Wi-Fi in our homes. Using a series of small white boxes, Eero would create a smart network capable of providing a consistent connection to Wi-Fi hungry devices throughout your home.

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Steep price for a better experience.

One thing is for sure the current crop of wireless routers provided by ISPs are all no bargain.

I have FIOS, Optimum, and TWC. Gal pal has another optimum setup.

Performance is AT BEST less than perfect; in Gal Pal’s case almost unusable.

She is much less demanding and much more tolerant of the flaws than I am.

My standard is I pay to use it; not work around it, debug it, and reset things.

Argh!

Maybe I should go back to IT leadership as a career. At least, I might be able to fix the Customer experience?

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POLITICAL: Dig into the CIA connection to the Bushes and Clintons!

Sunday, February 28, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/roger-stone-endorses-trump/

Roger Stone Endorses Trump
Tells Lew Rockwell about how he will wreck the Hillary and Jeb crime families.
October 30, 2015

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24 minutes

In the beginning of the podcast, he destroys Jeb and Bill.

Roger Stone really excoriates the Bush / Clinton CIA connection.

He sticks the fork in these “politicians”.

Argh!

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GOLDBUG: The Banksters are going attempt a robbery of “We, The Sheeple”

Sunday, February 28, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/02/clive-maund/curb-enthusiasm-just-little/

Gold Market Update
By Clive Maund
CliveMaund.com
February 22, 2016

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The big banks have plans to seriously mine their customer’s accounts, and we are not talking about charging half a percent a year here, we are talking about 2 or 3 percent of your account money being siphoned off into their coffers every year for the privilege of you being able to hold an account with them. Of course, any rational person knowing this was coming would withdraw their money and stuff it under a mattress or buy gold, so they are going to be prevented from doing so, by the introduction of the “cashless society”. 

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This situation is shaping up to be a robbery of “We, The Sheeple”.

Not sure how the average Joe Sixpack can avoid this theft.

Maybe save some nickels?

Argh!

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INSPIRATIONAL: Peyton Manning — hero or villain

Saturday, February 27, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/02/william-l-anderson/media-driven-character-assassination/

Narratives, Nonsense, and Media-Driven Character Assassination: The Manning Saga Continues
By William L. Anderson
February 22, 2016

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Let us step back and look at the big picture. Two weeks ago, Peyton Manning achieved what no one believed was possible just a few months ago. He was badly injured and was benched for backup Brock Osweiler, and most observers had concluded that Manning was finished.

When Manning’s injuries had healed enough for him to return to practice, he took snaps with the scout team, which also is known as a “practice squad” or the “taxi squad.” (These are players who are not on the roster and do not play in games. Their purpose is to help the players on the regular team get ready for games.

Many quarterbacks, and especially future hall-of-famers, would have refused such duty and would have wreaked havoc with the coaching staff. Manning quietly did what was needed, even though such a demotion would have been truly humiliating. However, in the last regular-season game against the San Diego Chargers, Osweiler faltered and Manning came in and led his team to victory.

He then played all the snaps for the two playoff games and the Super Bowl. Manning, who at 39 is the oldest quarterback ever to have won a Super Bowl, was not spectacular and he certainly was not the Peyton Manning of even two years ago, but the Denver Broncos won and that was all that mattered. At least then.

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I’m not sure I’ve seen or heard enough to convict the man of anything other than some bad commercials.

The “media” certainly doesn’t have as much credibility as he does.

So, until there’s some “evidence”, it’s innocent until PROVEN guilty. 

And, not by some witch hunt in the media.

Although, the National Enquirer did unmask John Edwards and TMZ did the same for Ray Rice and some other woman beaters.

So there is an investigative media out there; it’s just not in the mainstream newspapers or TV.

Argh!

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QUOTE: Don’t allow sadness to dwell in your soul, for sadness prevents the Holy Spirit from acting freely. #‎StPadrePio

Friday, February 26, 2016

2016-Feb-26

Don’t allow sadness to dwell in your soul, for sadness prevents the Holy Spirit from acting freely. ‪#‎StPadrePio‬

What else can be said.

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Don’t allow sadness to dwell in your soul, for sadness prevents the Holy Spirit from acting freely. ‪#‎StPadrePio‬

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