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bostonangler
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Posts posted by bostonangler
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1 minute ago, coorslite21 said:
Pretty hard to really own property.....even if it's paid off.....if the government wants it.....numerous ways to take it....I've even seen them condemn the property to get it.....
And of course those property taxes......if you can't pay them....even if that payment is minute by comparison to the value of the property.....it's gone....
Pretty strange system....
CL
The system is fixed against ordinary people... I understand if you don't pay your property taxes that eventually you have to forfeit it, but people should have time to catch up. I don't understand how they can say we are taking your property because we think we have a better use for it.
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1 minute ago, coorslite21 said:
I took your advice and have not watched it....
A point well taken is that "stats" can be manipulated to illustrate most any desired result.....guess the same can be said about polling as well..... JMO. CL
Too true... When I posted this I knew people on all sides would find something they didn't like and things they did like, but of course in today's world the reactions are to the negative side... For the right, there is some great stuff bashing Biden, the democrats and the impeachment. But I hear crickets. On the left there is great stuff bashing republicans, tax cuts, the impeachment, but again crickets. I guess people are programmed to react to what they don't like... Like voting, people mostly vote for what they are against instead of what they are for. Maybe that's why they are so loyal to Trump. His supporters believe they are voting for what they stand for. He has done a good job of promising what they want to hear. And that's what a good politician does.
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Just now, coorslite21 said:
Kind of like Cher in LA......pro illegal immigration......but...we already have 50,000 homeless here in LA......send them some where else....
CL
Exactly... And I don't know if was a case of eminent domain. It does suck when the government just comes in and makes you sell your property.
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12 hours ago, nstoolman1 said:
Once he sells the property it is not his to say or to do with. You can't have it both ways.
I don't know if he had a choice to sell it.... That is a good question. But don't you find it funny? He is saying not in my backyard.. You have to admit that is the classic response of people when they get what they ask for, but it's too close to home... I've seen it locally when people demand sidewalks until it takes part of their yard... It just made me laugh.
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For over 100 consecutive months, the United States government has reported that the economy has produced 50-year highs in employment and record lows in unemployment.
The data from the Department of Labor (DOL) suggests that we are in a Utopian period of economic prosperity due to the historic low rate of unemployment. By many metrics, the job market is doing well and, in some spots, it's blazing hot.
There is a big disconnect. The reality for most people is inconsistent with the employment figures. Stories of job seekers spending an exceedingly long period of time searching for a suitable job, lackluster salary offers, relatively small wage increases for employees and the rapid growth of gig-economy jobs—such as Uber and Lyft drivers, Instacart shoppers and DoorDashers—repudiate the “best job market ever” narrative.
There have been some new reports that back up the claims of people who say that the job market is not as hot as advertised. A study by the Brookings Institute, a nonprofit public policy organization that conducts research to solve problems facing society, found that a large amount of the newly created positions are “low-wage” jobs. According to the report, low-wage workers make up a huge part of the workforce. A staggering amount of people—over 53 million; 44% of all workers ages 18 to 64 in the U.S.—earn low hourly wages.
A new job-measuring metric, the U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index (JQI), tracks the quality and pay of jobs is gaining attention. The researchers, which include Cornell University, plan to report their findings each month along with government’s DOL data.
The JQI tracks the weekly income a job generates for an employee. Similar to the Brookings Institute study, it reflects sluggish hourly wage growth, flat or declining hours worked and low labor participation (the amount of people actively looking for work). Since 1990, the jobs available have significantly declined in quality, as measured by the income earned by workers. Less hours worked with less pay and little room for growth is becoming the norm. The increase in low quality jobs is a byproduct of the growth in the service sector, including healthcare, leisure, hospitality and restaurants, which pays lower wages. This trend coincides with the decreased needs in the once-flourishing manufacturing sector.
The low-quality jobs offer an average of 24.6 hours of work per week at $14.65 an hour, which is $360 per week. These roles are also the 13.5 million retail jobs offering 30.3 hours a week at $16.73 an hour, which is $506 in weekly pay. About 83% of all private sector jobs—105 million workers—are in nonsupervisory jobs. More than half of those positions—58 million—pay less than the average weekly U.S. wage of $793. A good deal of these jobs don’t afford proper healthcare or benefits. Unfortunately, for many Americans, these are the best jobs they could get.
Bloomberg asserts, “If quality is more important than quantity, the U.S. labor market isn’t as good as the headline numbers indicate,” as it relates to the index. Daniel Alpert, an adjunct professor at Cornell Law School said, “This will be the grain of salt to take with the rest of the jobs data.” Alpert, who also works on Wall Street and is a managing partner of Westwood Capital added, “This is talking about the erosion of the middle class: the more people you have in low-wage, low-hour jobs, the worst inequality is.”
While this is happening, certain sectors, such as technology, can’t find sufficient enough people to staff their open headcounts. It looks like a bifurcated job market. On one end of the spectrum, there is a strong demand for certain skilled professionals that offers high salaries, advancement, solid benefits and equity in the company. The other side of the employment spectrum consists of workers just getting by with low-wage, no-growth jobs.
As long as the government only reports the quantity of jobs (as opposed to the quality), it sends a false picture to the public about the real state of the overall job market.
I told you not to watch it
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WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is seeking to divert $3.8 billion, largely from its fiscal 2020 weapons procurement budget, in order to fund President Donald Trump’s border wall, according to a reprogramming request to congress obtained by Defense News.
Among the victims of the cuts: a mass of aircraft purchases including F-35 joint strike fighters, C-130J cargo aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones and P-8 maritime surveillance planes, as well as ground vehicles and naval priorities — choices that drew quick, bipartisan condemnation from key defense lawmakers as reports of the plan filtered out Thursday.
Overall, the plan would shift $2.202 billion in FY20 defense appropriations and $1.629 billion in FY20 overseas contingency operations funding towards the wall, a key priority from president Donald Trump ahead of the November presidential elections.
Air Force and Navy aviation spending takes the brunt of the cuts proposed by the Pentagon, with aircraft procurement going down by $558 million for Navy and Marine Corps and $861 million for the Air Force. Importantly, all of the funding decreases target items that were specifically added by Congress during the budgeting process, which could incur rancor from lawmakers.
For the Navy, the Pentagon would cut two of the six F-35B short takeoff and landing aircraft added to the FY20 budget by Congress and two MV-22 Ospreys, stating that “current funding is more than sufficient to keep the production line open.” It also seeks to eliminate funding for one of the nine P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft funded in FY20, stating that the additional aircraft is “[in] excess to the 117 aircraft required.”
In the Air Force’s budget, the Pentagon slashed funding for four of the eight C-130Js added by Congress for the Reserve and Air National Guard. The department stated that funding for those planes can be rescheduled to fiscal year 2021, when the period of performance for the associated contract starts.
The request would eliminate eight MQ-9 Reaper drones, culling most of the funding added by Congress for an increase of 12 MQ-9s. “The program is currently undergoing a strategic review,” the department stated in written justification, referring to an ongoing debate within the Air Force about how many Reapers to buy and retain over the next decade. “Procurement, if necessary, can be rescheduled to a later fiscal year.” Combatant commanders have consistently said they need more surveillance assets around the globe.
It also strips $156 million for advanced procurement for the F-35A and removes $180 million for light attack aircraft for the Air Force, which the service has decided against procuring but has been widely supported by lawmakers as a low-cost alternative for the counter-terrorism fight.
The Army would stand to lose $100 million in funding for National Guard Humvee modernization and $194.5 million in Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck funding. However, with the Humvee set to be replaced by JLTV, the Army is unlikely to be heavily impacted by these funds being shifted around.
The reprogramming request also cuts $650 million in advanced procurement funding for an America-class Amphibious Assault Ship, LHA-9, which is being built in Mississippi at Ingalls Shipbuilding. On its website, Huntington Ingalls Industries says the advanced funding provided by Congress, “enables a hot production line and a supplier base of 457 companies in 39 states to build this powerful warship.”
The reprogramming also cuts funding one expeditionary fast transport ship, which is built in Alabama at Austal USA, which has been an area of interest for the powerful Republican chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby. The ship was deemed “excess to current programmatic need,” the reprogramming document says.
“The procurement exceeds the program-of-record requirement,” the document reads. “This is a congressional special interest item.”
In addition, the National Guard and reserves would lose about $1.3 billion in what the reprogramming request describes as unnecessary funding, given historic underexecution of prior year funds.
Trump drains US spending in Europe to pay for wall with Mexico
Congressional reaction
Last year, the Defense Department had budgets, largely for military construction projects, diverted into funding a stretch of the wall project. Those project cuts included the rebuilding of several DoD schools both in the U.S. and abroad, special operations training centers in Europe and Hurricane Maria relief for Puerto Rico National Guard facilities. Overall, more than 100 projects had funding delayed.
Asked on Tuesday about a potential reprogramming of defense funds to pay for the wall, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said: “We did receive the request from DHS, that’s all I’ll say right now. We’re working our way through the process, we’re doing all those things we need to do. So when we’re ready to make an announcement, we’ll make an announcement.”
Pentagon seeks to cut F-35s, other equipment to pay for Trump’s border wall
Both Democrat and Republican leaders immediately criticized the move as an attempt to usurp Congress’ power of the purse that would endanger national security.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey, D-N.Y., and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., said in a joint statement that Trump was, “once again disrespecting the separation of powers and endangering our security by raiding military resources to pay for his wasteful border wall,” and “orchestrating this backdoor mechanism to prop up a political vanity project.”
In a separate statement, Texas Rep. Mac Thornberry, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said he supports building a border wall, but slammed the Pentagon for going against congressional direction for spending defense dollars, saying the unilateral movement of already approved spending by Congress “undermines the principle of civilian control of the military and is in violation of the separation of powers within the Constitution.”
“The re-programming announced today is contrary to Congress’s constitutional authority, and I believe that it requires Congress to take action," Thornberry said. "I will be working with my colleagues to determine the appropriate steps to take.”
In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell "The Department of Defense is committed to supporting the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to secure the southern border by constructing fences and roads and installing lighting to block drug smuggling corridors.
“Last month we received a new request from the Department of Homeland Security asking for assistance in blocking drug-smuggling corridors on Federal land along the southern border of the United States," Mitchell said. "In response, the Secretary of Defense authorized support of $3.8B to build approximately 177 miles of fencing that will help to protect our borders. We will continue to support DHS and other agencies as needed to keep our homeland is secure.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-seeks-cut-f-35s-180549310.html
Well at least there's always a silver lining.... We'll be buying less death machines... I'm sure the lobbyist won't like it.
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A supporter of Donald Trump is frustrated that the president’s border wall is going to “ruin his lifestyle.”
Richard Drawe has lived and worked on a farm south of Welasco, Texas for his entire life. Now, he’s worried his tranquil country living will be disrupted by Mr Trump’s border wall.
“I’m 70 years old and it’s gonna ruin my lifestyle here of living in the country,” he said. “To have that wall there is just going to really disturb me.”
Mr Drawe told NPR that he reluctantly sold a piece of his land to the federal government so that it could erect a wall across his property. He said while he is supportive of immigration crackdowns, that support does not include the erection of a wall on his property.
“I told them that this stupid wall is going to have lights on it. It’s going to be like being behind a prison wall, lights and everything,” Mr Drawe said. “And I said, ‘You put them lights up on me and my house, I’m going to shoot them out.’ Of course, I had time to calm down.”
Mr Drawe is concerned that the land between the border wall and the Rio Grande will no longer be patrolled. He said that similar land left isolated during President George W Bush’s administration was “ceded to Mexico”.
“Like I told the Border Patrol, I said ‘Look, you know good and well that once you build this wall all the agents will be doing is patrolling up and down the wall,” he said. “They’re never going to go on down to the river anymore.’ And he yelled back at me, ‘Oh, the Rio Grande is the first line of defence.’ Baloney. You just wait a few years.”
Customs and Border Patrol responded to the concerns of Mr Drawe and other border residents, assuring them they would continue to patrol the area.
“The Border Patrol will continue to operate on both sides of the barrier, to include the riverine environment,” a spokesman said.
While Mr Trump’s border wall has drawn criticism from the left since its inception, it has recently come under fire from the right for eating up funds intended for defence and sidestepping Congressional approval.
The Pentagon announced on Thursday that US Defence Secretary Mark Esper was diverting $3.8 billion in defence funds towards Mr Trump’s border wall. The money originally was to be used for the F-35 fighter jet and other military programmes.
The Associated Press reported that Representative Mac Thornberry said final decisions on how tax dollars are used is determined by Congress and the Department of Defence can’t simply change how the money is used.
“Once those choices have been made, the Department of Defence cannot change them in pursuit of their own priorities without the approval of Congress,” Mr Thornberry said.
“Attempts to do so undermines the principle of civilian control of the military and is in violation of the separation of powers within the constitution. The re-programming announced today is contrary to the Congress’ constitutional authority and I believe that it requires Congress to take action.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gonna-ruin-lifestyle-trump-supporter-204413742.html
He's like "Not in my backyard"... Now that's funny...
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2 minutes ago, umbertino said:
I happen to agree with some of the things angry guy is stating.....Some I said
I think we can all agree with some of what he says... LOL
The funny thing is, some will hear him bash Trump and never hear anything after that. Some will hear him bash the democrats and Biden, and they won't hear anything else... With this guy there are no sacred cows.
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21 minutes ago, Shelley said:
The Jobs being created aren’t good jobs ?
$10 to $15 an hour..... You can't live on that. In my town to rent in the slums averages about $750 a month... Can you live on $2500 a month? Heck, at the local Volkswagen plant they pay $18 an hour... The lowest paid auto workers in America.
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Do not watch this if you are easily offended. Do not watch if you are a Democrat or Republican. Do not watch if you believe anything you see in the media. Any media. Do not watch this if you don't want to hear facts and truth. Do not watch this if you back the EU, the IMF, South American countries. And definitely do not watch this at work or in front of any under age. Caution this will make you angry, laugh, shake your head and question everything you think you know...... Enjoy
Seriously, don't watch this.... You have been warned!
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13 minutes ago, coorslite21 said:
.who got screwed by the Russians...
American voters who believed the fake conspiracy theories.
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3 minutes ago, coorslite21 said:
His redlining comments.....google it....
I will get a get a break
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1 hour ago, coorslite21 said:
Wonder where Bloombergs "redlining" comments fit into all of this.....
CL
Which comments?
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Very interesting. And as I always say which is in agreement with this guy, is I don't know why but it is warming. At 9:00 he show a graph from 1900 until today. Very clearly you can see that it goes up and down, but you can also see from 1900 until today there is a clear upward trend. What happened in 1900? The industrial age. At 9:44 he shoes a graph of the last 18 years. However on the graph it ends at 2015. So his graph is five years old. Again his graph on Antarctic Ice is from 2014. His drought graph is from 2000. I love the ending. He show how oil and mining destroyed the area, then he shows how it's been restored and in the very end gives credit to Canada's government for having such strong environmental laws.
So he has proven that earth changes and like me can't say we do not have some effect, but the end point is still the same. The earth is changing and whether or not we are to blame, we can all do our best to help.
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8 minutes ago, coorslite21 said:
I see your point......so what about Putin......he has more wealth than Bezos and Bloomberg combined.....yet we're told Trump loves him....
CL
Personally I believe Trump loves Trump... Nothing more or nothing less. Putin just happens to help Trump be Trump. Like everyone in his life, the day will come when bashes Putin... It's kind of a common thread through his life.
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3 minutes ago, umbertino said:
Yep......but as we know...There's no worse type of deaf than the one who refuses to hear ( for a lot of reasons...including pride...)
Very well put...
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The new decade is off to a hot start.
The Earth just had its warmest January on record, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. Global temperature records go back to 1880.
The January 2020 global land and ocean surface temperature was 2.05 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average of 53.6 degrees, NOAA said. This broke the previous record set in January 2016.
The most notable warmer-than-average areas included much of Russia and parts of Scandinavia and eastern Canada, where temperatures were as much as 9 degrees above average or higher.
Here in the U.S., all 48 contiguous states were warmer than average in January, NOAA said last week.
Globally, January 2020 marked the 44th consecutive January and the 421st consecutive month that the planet saw above-average temperatures.
The planet's four warmest Januaries have occurred since 2016, and the 10 warmest Januaries have all occurred since 2002, NOAA said.
Warmer temperatures mean melting snow and ice. The extent of Arctic sea ice was 5.3 percent below the average from 1981-2010, and Antarctic sea ice was 9.8 percent below the average.
The warmth from January continued the unusual warmth from 2019, which was the second-hottest year on record.
The hottest January after the second-hottest year on record “is one of those indications that things are warming dramatically,” said University of Illinois climate scientist Don Wuebbles.
What’s more impressive than the margin of warmth itself is that it occurred without any assistance from an official El Niño event, Weather Underground meteorologist Robert Henson said. El Niño, a natural warming of Pacific Ocean water temperatures, also tends to produce warmer global temperatures.
Looking ahead, NOAA scientists said that 2020 is also "very likely to rank among the five warmest years on record."
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Global warming: Earth just had its hottest January on record
I know my heating has been great!!!
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Just now, umbertino said:
In Brazil ( now more racist than before due to Pres.Bolsonaro) it so happens that the so-called minority of black and mulatto People is instead already a ( slight) majority in the Country.....
Yup people seem to think everything stays the same, but as they say "The only thing constant.... Is change.
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2 minutes ago, coorslite21 said:
The Forrest for the trees.....
Most important is to get to the bottom of who's involved in the Ukrainian corruption.....the rest is just symantec's .... CL
Either he did or didn't... One is a lie. It's pretty simple...
Have you ever known a habitual liar? People who constantly lie can't remember their lies and get caught...
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Umbertino, you are a softy!!! LOL
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1 minute ago, Indraman said:
I have also seen what you have described and acknowledge that it still happens.
But I have seen the opposite happen as well, as a result of so-called "diversity" programs, - the lesser qualified candidate gets promoted solely because of skin color, sex, or sexual preference. This is where I draw the line and say that Government Policy has overstepped its usefulness. We live in a society where in general, people want to do the right thing. We don't need BIG Government telling us how to live our lives.
Indy
I completely agree, people abuse the system that is designed to help... I guess our grand kids and their kids will be the ones taking advantage when the time comes... Like I said, I'm glad I'm old and will not be here when everything changes... Be it the minority thing, or when Atlanta becomes beachfront property, or there are no polar bears, or the dollar is no longer the reserve currency. I am grateful to have lived in the greatest of times... The best Rock N Roll. Personal freedoms. Neighbors who knew one another. The right to smoke in a bar. There so many things our kids and grand kids will never have the joy of experiencing, that we old folks got to enjoy.
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1 minute ago, Indraman said:
QUOTE: "It is interesting how people are against equality and diversity. And those people are usually white."
Why the above statement is racist?
ANSWER: To imply motive for why someone might be opposed to the proposed legislation based solely on skin color is the definition of a 'Racist'! Sorry, but this just is!
To not allow other reasons as to why someone might oppose this CRAPPY legislation, like say, "we don't need the Government running every aspect of our lives", might be a good reason.
But instead, assuming and jumping to skin color...makes me think we might have a closet racist among the bunch.
Indy
I wasn't speaking about that specific piece of legislation... I was speaking in terms of humanity... Things change and the effects change with them. My point is in the future, white people who don't understand the struggles of being in the minority are going to find out what it is like. Surely you have known people who didn't get the job or didn't get recognition because their race, color or ethnic background. In my professional life I have seen the better person not promoted or be recognized because of someone judging them on their skin color, religious belief, etc... I was simply pointing out that the time will come when the roles are reversed and perhaps those people will understand their ignorance. That's all.
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'It’s gonna ruin my lifestyle': Trump supporter upset border wall being built on his property
in Politics, 2nd Amendment (Gun Control)
Posted
Yup 1913 was the year America was sold to the bankers.
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