The full effect of those tax "cuts" are yet to be realized. This year is going to be the biggest tax return I get, followed by 4 years of returning to previous levels.

Then every year after that for the next 5 years most Americans will have a tax increase. Maybe after that, you can accurately judge the numbers. Not to mention the trade war and government shut down hurdling us towards a recession.


Spare me and the rest of us the "fend for myself" bullshit unless you plan on living off of the land up in the woods somewhere.

Did you attend a public school?
Do you pave the street you live on?
Do you call the police or the fire department during emergencies?
Do you follow food safety recalls issued by the FDA?
Do you chemically test any Western medicine you take for chemical purity?
Orrrr
Or do you rely on the government to do that stuff for you?

I can give you the locations of some abandoned mining towns if you'd like to go actually fend for yourself. The property there is cheap. I doubt anyone's done soil tests for pollution but that's okay, I know you can take care of yourself so you'll know what to do.

I grew up in Amish country in PA and I know for a fact that all of those pesticides that the Amish aren't using (they use them) ended up polluting the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. General manure runoff is a problem as well.

Regardless, of organic or not - many problems crop up out here in the West in the form of water consumption. Obviously, we don't have much water to spare - but CA is always taking more and more water to grow crops that require enormous amounts of water, like avocados. One avocado takes about 18.5 gallons of water to grow - that said, an average american shower costs about as much a day if it's 8 minutes long (17.5); which I also see as a problem. Not to mention that CA also produces a shit ton of America's beef (#4). 80% of all of CA (which is like a country) water use is agricultural. I just think that CA (it might all burn to the ground anyway) needs to stop supporting the grocery needs of america (spread it out!) and stop wasting so much water that a lot of other states in the west need. It's a whole other Chinatown film that should be created to represent what is going on.

You replied to yourself here....likely because this wasn't meant for me, as your terrible English, impossibly bad for an American, would tip us off that you're not an American and are nothing but another Russian troll stumping for Trump, willing to spout any nonsense no matter how it contradicts reality. Really, Bobski, if you want to be taken seriously, you need to learn English better than the Nigerian princes who need your help with international banking.
*facepalm

You must be completely insane if you think protecting a targeted group of American citizens from clear attacks against their constitutional rights is the racist move, but trying to remove their constitutional rights, that's not.

You are apparently willfully ignorant, so you have zero idea what poor people, who are mostly minorities, face. I have been one, living in East Palo Alto in the late 80's. When you work 16 hour days +3 hours on the bus getting there just to scrape by with zero savings, asking them to spend a full day at the dmv and a voting tax of $50+ (the cost of a license), you make the right to vote conditional on having a day off, the required documentation for a license/ID, and $50 to spare. Make getting a license/ID free and under 5 min online, you might have a point. As it stands, you're just being intentionally dense and trying to hide from the obvious, clear, unambiguous racist nature of ALL voter tests. There's a reason the states implementing these laws were precluded from making voter laws before 2011.....they had been found to be unconstitutionally and blatantly racist by the supreme court.

Republicans want id laws to disenfranchise minorities because they don't represent minorities and don't expect their votes, they're clear and open about it behind closed doors, have been since the Southern Strategy, and it's 100% obvious when you look at their implementation, they ALL effect minorities at a rate 4+ times over whites in areas where whites are 3/4 the population....that's by design, they have been repeatedly caught testing to ensure those results when crafting the laws.

Illegals don't vote, that's nonsense you got from the liar in Chief with not a shred of evidence that a single one successfully voted after his 2 year red herring investigation that wasted (tens of?) millions of dollars over something he made up to excuse his losing the election by 3000000+- votes. It's pure bullshit, you and we know it, that's why you never heard the results of his investigation.

Today, Trump declared publicly he's a proud nationalist.....another word for neo Nazi. There goes Republican's humanity.
He's also added more to the deficit than anyone ever, during a period of growth! Obama did better, consistently reducing the deficit, during a recession! So much for fiscal responsibility.
Now Republicans have organized and paid central Americans to march towards America to rile up their base and blame democrats without evidence, knowing under 100 will even be allowed to apply for asylum and none allowed entry. Any semblance of honesty gone, fear and hatred of anyone "different", that's all the right has left.
I'm guessing you're still on board, because nothing but tribe matters to you, not truth, not rationality, not even supporting a proud Nazi.

Merrimack Garland was often right leaning and above reproach, and in your words, "his entire life was ruined" by dickheaded obstructionist republicans that wouldn't allow the unAmerican Muslim black activist to impact the supreme court if they could obstruct it, only they get to do that in their favor by any underhanded means necessary. Recall, they were proud of their pure obstructionist position from day one of Obama, pretty infantile to complain now that Trump doesn't get cooperation with his disastrous hyper partisan divisive plans and nominations.

Really, no republican argued against them? Sotomayor 68-31, Kagen 63-37, barely confirmed with 3 votes to spare, that's not no republican argument, and not confirmed with ease. You are such a blatant revisionist or so authoritatively ignorant it's astonishing and makes any discussion a chore, requiring I teach you actual history before replying to your always incorrect claims. Try googling before spouting more easily debunked nonsense, have some pride. Only trolls don't care that 98% of their claims are dead wrong and easily proven so.

Your video, Baby Whale Shark Spared from the Chopping Block, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

So this is what John Oliver does in his spare time.

Thanks for the reply. There's a part of me that wishes I had that much time to waste, but unfortunately not.

You're probably not interested in the details, but for what it's worth I first signed in during a time of heavy crunch at work. After that never really stuck around to become a member of the community, or any community for that matter. Work was taking its toll.

At the moment I'm getting ready to move country, again, so on the odd day I can spare some time. For whatever reason I ended up at an old site I used to visit (bluesnews) which lead me back here.

Now, back into hiding for X amount of years as work continues to beat me into submission

I am a millipede I am amazing, I command you to gaze upon my FACE
You'll never find someone charming as I am, I'm the swankiest bug out in space
I'm a star, I'm a God, I'm a thing to behold, there is none as resplendent as I
With my sleek little legs and my three hundred eggs, my majesty none can deny
Because I am a millipede I am mysterious, when I vanish I never leave a trace
You will not find a bug with such illusions, I'm the creature of fathomless grace
{Break}
I am a millipede I am a champion, no one else in the universe keeps pace
You'll never find someone quite as enchanting, while I'm here there's just no second place I'm an idol, a king, an object of awe, there's none such as gleaming as I
I've got glamour to spare, right when you stare
I'm the who what when where and they why
JOIN ME!
I am a millipede I am astounding, wisdom flows from my personas like lace
You'll never find someone darling as I am
I'm the swankiest, tutelary pest, certainly the best bug out in space!

used to be good at tracking down replacements for dead vids before i lost my account. like to do so again on my spare time

Only what they mentioned in the news.
20 ish guns.
2 ar15s, 1 with a bump stock.
1 ak pattern rifle (47 claimed, but the news is clueless. Could be a 74, could be an odd variant), possibly with a bump stock.
Then a bunch of other guns, not described.

Yes, full auto varies. I erred on the higher rate side.
A more realistic rate would be 12hz auto, 6hz bump, and 3hz semi.

Only other non-NFA non-bump rapid fire mechanism that I know of is a binary trigger (fires on pull, and on release). Effectively doubles your semi fire rate.

In any case, he only needed 1 gun and spare magazines.
I assume he brought everything not because it was necessary, but because he was planning to die and he had the stuff, so why not use it one last time (not like he'll get another chance).

To be fair, so far, mass shooters have stuck around for the long haul. Escape hasn't been an issue. But sure, in the future it could be.

True, you don't have to be 100% squeaky clean, but the vegas guy so far does look like he was.

As an aside, our felony code is incredibly expansive. People get disqualified from gun ownership over things that most normal people wouldn't even think would be illegal.

There's a stat that some lawyer published : a person typically commits 3 [obscure] felonies per day just going about normal daily activities. You can basically put anyone in jail if you choose to monitor them.

IMO, felonies should be divided into major and minor, with anything non violent being minor, and not disqualifying of gun ownership or right to vote.

Eg. I don't care if someone is running a pot farm. It isn't bothering anyone, it shouldn't even be a crime. But if it's gonna be a felony, at least it should be some lesser felony than it is now.

-scheherazade

Earthquake early warning system

The seismic warning system in place during the most recent magnitude-7.1 quake on Sept. 19, which had its epicenter about 75 miles from the country’s capital, successfully gave people crucial time to flee vulnerable buildings, and prepare for the worst. In video from Mexico City, early warning sirens blare for at least 20 seconds before the shaking begins.
https://qz.com/1082191/an-earthquake-early-warning-system-helped-spare-mexico-city-trumps-budget-would-kill-it-in-the-us/

21. if you're a teleworker and I'm trying to help you over the phone don't give me vague descriptions like "I can't get to my stuff. I clicked on the thing and I can't get in now." I'm not in the room looking over your shoulder for the past 5 minutes, you need to describe the steps you took to get to where you are now. And don't give me this exasperated tone when I ask you to do something the Help Desk already asked you to do, like reboot your computer. You got a cab waiting?

22. Don't present a problem like "My FAX123 program won't connect" as if was working yesterday and stopped connecting today. When more likely you have been told many times your supervisor needs to request an account for you and you haven't bothered to start the process. And you think somehow I have the magic touch and can circumvent that whole process on the spot. And even if I could do it you would appreciate it for all of 3 seconds, then come to expect it every time. And so would your colleagues sitting within earshot.

23. Don't ask me to work on something without telling me another tech is already working on it and you just haven't heard back from them in a timely manner and thought you would start over with me.

24. Not everyone in IT knows each other and can do each others' jobs and are cross-trained on account creation, purchasing, application support, etc. So the guy at the home office in Virginia hasn't created your account after a week, you want me to drive there and stand over him? There are MBA's who get paid buckets to manage this mess, you want bottom-rung techs to somehow make it all better?

25. Make sure to follow the last instructions I gave you with troubleshooting an issue, like try it on a spare computer, or reboot, or try printing from a different app, etc. Because when you don't, and a week later when I get a high priority email from your manager saying "why is nobody helping them with this issue?" I will provide a record of our last contact where the ball was in your court.

26. You wonder why it's hard to get a hold me by IM, email or voice mail now? You no doubt wasted my time with one of the previous entries above, or sounded annoyed and impatient that I can't do everyone's job or escalate your issue instantly.

27. If you see me in the building don't ask me IT questions any more, I have moved on to SQL development.

The story has always been that the trucks were just support vehicles, carrying parts, fuel, and the team...then someone decided to race them too. Some still operate as support vehicles, with parts for their team car, but now many often only carry some spare parts and fuel for themselves (but aren't stuffed full) and do their best to keep the weight down, but still come out around 10 tons! These days the trucks can have support trucks.