CardinalBacker

I haven’t heard that yet... the last that I sat the County was agreeing to a tax abatement for them. If the EPA won’t permit the thing, it does kinda go back to the guy who appoints the head of the EPA.

Well, some people did dislike him over race and religion. Not all, not even a majority, but some did. I had lunch in a cafe on the square in Newton the day after Obama was elected. People were openly discussing it and it disintegrated into people telling n-word jokes. Openly, back-and-forth, table to table. The kind of “jokes” I hadn’t heard since I was a kid. I didn’t join in, but I didn’t say anything and I didn’t stand up and leave, either. There are a few things in life I’d like a chance to do over, and that’s on the short list. My company matches my contributions with another 25%. That 25%in year one is hard to leave on the table. Schwab handles our accounts and they have tons of options for the employee to choose from in regards to the actual stock and securities. It’s been good to me, lol.

I'd disagree.... The only color business cares about is green. The only thing he did to make them mad was be anti-business, lol. If I had to guess, President Obama didn't have a hand in a lot of the things that were going on while he was in office. Obama was the most progressive president that we've had so far. The people who were appointed to positions throughout his administration were exceptionally liberal/progressive, and what you saw were regs and policies that negatively affected business and the economy. I'll be curious to see if that proposed new Chevron plant in Orange comes to exist if we elect a new president who's promising to end fossil fuel use and turn us onto new green energy sources. The Department of Energy and the EPA can absolutely hamstring that deal if the president lets them. When a candidate runs on promises of new programs that will help everybody, and the question of "how will we pay for it" always comes back to "we're gonna make Wall Street pay their fair share!" I don't know how you're situated financially, but it really helps if every time that a politician says "Wall Street," change that wording to "your 401k" and you'll get a lot more conservative, lol. You should have seen a boost in your pay after the tax cuts in 2017. It was small, but it happened. The tax plan actually hurt me a little bit because a lot of the business-related deductions that I was taking advantage of disappeared. And I say "hurt" but it really didn't. It used to be a no-brainer for me to file long form, and now that the standard deduction is bumped, standard vs itemized is really no difference for me-it's a wash, now. As far as affecting me personally? Not so much. But then again, I'm not really expecting anything from the government. I just kinda want to be left alone. Probably the most important part of the presidency is the appointment of federal judges and the selection of Supreme Court Justices. Those nine wise souls play a bigger part in public policy than I think anyone ever imagined. If you stop and think about it, most of the hot-button issues that we see today are ones that the Supreme Court decided, not Congress. Roe vs. Wade on abortion, the legalization of same-sex marriage, and even the results of the 2000 Presidential Election are the first ones that pop into my mind.

Good point.

These stories float around. I personally know a young lady who was bad sick during late February. She hasn't been since..... but she does have the antibodies. She wasn't tested at the time and everybody just assumed "flu." Who knows?

The only time that I really felt like there was a legitimate drag on the economy was during Obama's terms, and I think it was just the full-court press that was being used on businesses across the board. You had businesses being forced to pick up a big tab with Obamacare, piles of new regulations from the EPA, banking regs, the attempt to switch to green energy at the expense of fossil fuels, etc.... I think that when you fill the different departments with people who really want to transform the country in every conceivable direction, businesses just freeze. That's why I lose my crap every time Elizabeth Warren opens her mouth, lol.

Yup. I think a lot Trump votes are just that... Trump votes. They'll be gone when he's no longer on the ticket. Kind like the Obama votes that never turned out for Hillary. The cult of personality is real. You might not argue that Trump about whether or not Trump has been a conservative president, but I will. He's not a conservative personally, politically, or socially. He just got elected by a bunch of conservatives and the hardcore Trump votes. Debt and spending were up before COVID, and now it's off the charts. About the only thing that I can see conservative-ish is the push to rebuild the military. *I though you were close to my age, PamFam. I take back some of the mean things I've said. I ain't mad at you... you're just a kid, lol.

If there's one thing this has taught us, we can survive without sports. We can survive without movies and concerts. Isn't it crazy that we idolize, follow, and imitate athletes and celebrities who have been proven to be non-essential by Covid?

You can almost instantly tell if a person's living is "guaranteed" or not based on their answer to that question of whether or not to stay home. My guess is that if the governor said "we'll start teacher pay back up when in-class school resumes, teachers would instantly lose their objections to returning to class. The sad thing is that most people with "guaranteed" money don't realize that it's only slightly more "guaranteed." When people can't pay their school taxes because we shut down schools "just in case" it's gonna be sad times in teacher land. Other than the bars and sports, all other industries are back in business. Except education. Kids can't go to school, but they can dang sure bag your groceries and fry up your McChicken.

That's a good point. I can remember a little bit about Carter's era and everything that's come since. I've also got a degree in business, so people tend to overplay the role of the presidency over the fact that a lot of what happens is just cyclical. It goes up, it comes down... it's more about how those swings are regulated. I worked for a guy right out of high school in 1992 and he said "Y'all just wait... now that we've got a democrat (Clinton) back in office, the economy is gonna roar!." The funny thing is that he wasn't wrong. We had a good period under Reagan 81-88, but then a mild recession in the Bush (89-92) and Clinton was in the right place at the right time. He also wasn't anti-business. But by '00 it was time for another slowdown, Bush just happened to be in the right place for another decent run up until the bubble burst in the collapse of '07. The only time that I've noticed that trend not really holding true was during the Obama admin. In the aftermath of the '07 collapse, we were set for a big bounce back. It was strange that it never happened. It was just slow, stagnant growth. I blame the anti-business attitudes that were prevalent throughout his administration. Trump didn't do anything special except give the sign that he wasn't opposed to business.... and everybody that wanted job had one. Everybody that wanted a house bought one. These last few months have been a harsh reminder that the economy will do what it wants... we're just trying to manage the effects. People can talk all that they want about whose backs the country was built upon, but we've built the most fantastic civilization that the world has ever known, and business was the engine that got us here. When every policy that the left puts forth is funded by siphoning funds off of business and business owners under the guise of "paying their fair share," business will pull back and wait on the next guy to come along who isn't anti-business. As we come out of this Covid mess, you'd expect another period of big growth. About the only thing that can mess that up is an administration that thinks businesses shouldn't make profits. I'm scared when I see what the kids today think of landlords being immoral and parasitic for making a profit off of peoples' needs. It's craziness.

Just curious.... How many kids have died from this disease since it started? [Hidden Content] and CHA - Children and COVID-19 State Data Report 7.9.20 FINAL.pdf As of 7/9.... a grand total of 69 kids in the US have been reported as dying from COVID. Keep in mind that some states are counting people aged 0-24 years as "children." Who knows how accurate that this is. And I agree that "even one life lost is one life too many." But i'm going to go out on a limb and say that we're losing more kids to bicycle crashes and drownings. It's time to get back to school and make adjustments when (because they will happen) outbreaks occur.

I don’t know if it relates, but the latest out of the TEA today was calling for 8 weeks online to start the year instead of three. I think it’s time to call the whole thing off.

The citizens of Portland have rights, too, and theirs are equally important as the protestors. When local government refuses to administer the law and citizens are suffering, it’s right for the federal government to move in and protect the citizens that local government will not. The local government in Portland is a joke and anybody that’s been paying attention for the last few years is well aware of that fact. The feds don’t want to be there. The inaction on the part of locals is what is bringing this on. It’s not surprising.

Here’s the deal.... people always want to find “reasons” or “causes” at which to point blame. More crime does happen in more densely populated areas of the US. There are plenty of densely populated areas around the globe without the crime problems. There are high crime rates where ever lots of people commit lots of crimes. There are TONS of crimes committed inside of our prisons where there is no wealth or poverty. Maybe it’s just because that’s where the criminals hang out? Its a vicious circle of blame. I’m a little overweight. I can blame Coke for using so much sugar. I can blame restaurants for the large portion sizes and lack of healthy choices. I can blame the food industry for pricing healthy foods higher than junk food. I can point at racism as an underlying cause if I’m black. I can blame the healthcare system for not doing more to address wellness and prevention. But at the end of the day, we all know that I need to eat less and move around more. At the end of the day, my condition is a product of my choices. We’d all be a lot better off if we’d accept that.

I’m sorry if you thought I was being critical of you. It’s just silly to pay a teacher to educate your kids, except they “can’t” because of Covid, so parents are forced to HIRE the same teachers they’re already paying to come out and educate their kids. It’s like having a yard guy under contract, except he won’t come cut your grass, but there’s this whole thing of the contract so you’re stuck paying him, and now you’re stuck hiring a new lawn guy while you’re still paying the old one, except the new one shows up and it’s the first yard guy in the same truck using the same mower, but with a different name. And you pay him twice to mow your yard once. I cancelled my housekeeper for two months while we were doing stay at home. For starters, I didn’t want to break quarantine, and I also was sitting around the house anyways. I still paid her, though, because I was the one calling her off. Now, if she had told me that she wasn’t coming, but I still demanded that I her because of our agreement, we’d have had a problem. Even if she did offer to FaceTime me and tell me how to clean my toilets.

No joke? You voted for Trump?

Ummmmm....If you’re part of the TSTA, then your leader called for the same thing yesterday.

So you’re gonna sit there and hand to God say your job is equally demanding even though you don’t have to go, don’t have to deal with behavioral issues, and instead of presenting lessons you’re available for a video conference for an hour or so each day.? If video teaching works so well, we need to fire every teacher out there except one and just pay him to log on for an hour a day. Hell, I’d give that one teacher a raise.

The NYC mayor announced that the city will be providing childcare for 100k NYC children this fall. It will use community centers and organizations, libraries and other space to set up care. The number could increase in the fall. It’s too dangerous for the TEACHERS to go back to school, so they’ll be opening these big childcare facilities (like schools) for the kids to attend while school is cancelled. You can’t make this insanity up. [Hidden Content]

Ok... so why are the teachers demanding payment when they’re already being paid a full time salary? One that got a 5g raise last year? If you ain’t scared to work your side hustle, you ain’t to scared to go to class. period.

Is anybody claiming that an hour or two of online instruction is a suitable replacement for in-classroom instruction?

Nobody else is still sitting home drawing full pay and demanding that their employer stay shut down indefinitely. Bars are begging for the chance to reopen. A couple of months ago it was beauticians, barbers, gyms, and tattoo parlors. But not teachers. Teachers aren’t special. If you don’t want to go back to work, I’m good with that. You just can’t expect to keep cashing our checks.

Just read where the head of the TSTA (Texas State Teachers Association) is saying “We demand that the governor issue a statewide order that all school buildings must remain closed and all instruction be provided remotely until the pandemic has clearly begun to subside and it is safe to reopen school buildings under strict safety standards. The state and school districts must work with educators to decide when that time is here. In the meantime, school districts must continue to receive full state funding. So basically schools need to stay close (but continue to pay teachers) until the teachers decide it’s safe to go back to class. I had an employee crying in my office this morning. She was able to “work from home” during the initial quarantine, but she was largely ineffective with two little ones underfoot. She returned to work as soon as daycares reopened in May. She has two kids in daycare... one is young and the other is elementary aged. She’s going to have to quit her job if they push the online thing. There’s no way that she can work for us, pick the kids up from daycare, and then try to teach her own in the evening. The daycare COULD try to help with instruction, but who knows how that would work. And if it’s safe enough for daycares to be open, why not schools? Let teach pay end on 7/31 and the whole problem will fix itself.

Do you blame them? Biden just needs to keep saying “good morning” and he’ll get there. There’s doing a good job, doing a decent job, and doing a bad job.... In regards to leadership during this time of crisis, well..... I never expected the media to praise him. I’m just disappointed that I can’t point to anything positive that he’s done recently, either.

Are you offended by the flags of African countries, or even seeing the shape of Africa posted with all of the violence and genocide that occurred there and is still ongoing today? It blows my mind that someone who prefers to be called "African-American" would even examine other peoples' history... I mean I really, really don't get it. I'm not talking about you specifically... but think about it. You have people who proudly claim African heritage in spite of all of the atrocities committed there.... but they are offended by people who claim Southern Heritage. Why would anybody who is so soundly opposed to any references to slavery still identify themselves as "african american," the birthplace of the African slave trade and one of the few continents where slavery still exists today? I'm not knocking your heritage, your choice of labels, or anything like that.... you need to do what makes you happy and proud.... as you should be. My opinion isn't needed. But.... that's kinda how I feel when people who aren't like me start talking about who I am and where I come from. It's really not their concern.