bostonangler

No I just think "Q" is a joke... JMHO B/A

Yes it was posted on DV by someone trying to pass it off as truth... Twitter idiots. B/A

Are you guys still following the clown show Q? Talk about fake... Someone said "Hopium" and that about sums it up'' B/A

Former Vice President Joe Biden uttered an odd line during a question and answer session in New Hampshire over the weekend, calling a voter a “lying dog-face pony soldier.” At an event in Hampton, 21-year-old student Madison Moore asked Biden why he fared so poorly in the Iowa caucuses, where he came in fourth place. “Iowa’s a Democratic caucus,” Biden said. “You ever been to a caucus?” Moore nodded yes, but Biden wasn’t buying it. “No, you haven’t,” he said. “You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier.” Biden has had some tense moments on the campaign trail, including calling a voter in Iowa a “damn liar.” Last month, he told someone to “go vote for somebody else.” In this case, the line was a joke and many in the room laughed, including the woman who questioned him. However, she later issued a statement saying that while she had never been to a caucus, she didn’t appreciate the comment. “It is totally irrelevant whether I’ve been to a caucus or not,” Moore told The Washington Post. “Joe Biden has been performing incredibly poorly in this race. His inability to answer a simple question from a nobody college student like me only exacerbates that reality.” Biden has used the line before. Reuters reported that he has said it’s a reference to the 1953 John Wayne movie “Hondo.” A search of the script revealed a few references to pony soldiers and lying, but not together nor with the dog-faced portion. Some on social media suggested Biden may have been referencing “Pony Soldier,” a 1952 film that starred Tyrone Power and not John Wayne. However, according to Slate, the line as Biden used it never appeared in that film, either. https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/joe-biden-lying-dog-faced-pony-soldier-065425461.html Joe is losing it... I think his run is coming to an end. B/A

I never liked Starbucks coffee, I find it to be very bitter... But seeing their average employee makes less per hour than the price of 3 coffees, I like it even less... B/A

Great response and especially this line.... We are now in our second generation of people who spend more time taking "selfies" then doing anything else. This whole me thing is really very sad. When I speak to young they don't seem to care about very much except how they look on social media and how much their inheritance is worth. B/A

Great article... Too bad most don't get this and understand what is coming... Thanks for the post/ B/A

We all knew there would be an acquittal before it ever started. That was pretty clear. As for the next election, I don't know about most of them but yes Alabama will vote Doug out. It was a shock he won in the first place. I live in the south and it is almost completely republican. B/A

While it's not surprising that CEOs make a lot more money than their employees, the massive extent of that pay gap can sometimes be overlooked. US companies are required to publish their chief executives' annual compensation, as well as the ratio of that compensation to the annual pay of the company's median employee. Using those ratios, we calculated how long it took CEOs at 19 of the biggest companies in the US to make what at typical employee earned in a year. Several CEOs, including Disney CEO Bob Iger and Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, took less than a day to make a typical employee's annual salary. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. CEOs make a lot more than the workers they oversee. We took a look at just how big that gap is at some of America's biggest corporations. One of the provisions of the post-financial-crisis Dodd-Frank reform bill requires corporations to disclose the ratio of their CEO's pay to that of the median employee at the company. Using those pay ratios, we calculated how long it would take the CEOs of big US companies to make what the median employee earned in a year. So far, 19 of the 100 largest corporations in the S&P 500 as measured by their market capitalizations have filed their CEO compensation figures and pay ratios for the 2019 fiscal year. More companies will follow over the next several months. The gap between what a CEO makes and what a typical employee makes varies widely from company to company. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang had a total compensation 88 times larger than the typical employee at his company, meaning it took him a little over four days to earn the median employee's annual salary. Meanwhile, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon made 1,076 times what the typical Walmart worker made, and thus earned a median Walmart employee's annual salary in just eight hours. As with any discussion of executive compensation, it's worth noting that pay for people at the top is a bit more complicated than just getting a biweekly direct deposit. Many CEOs receive the bulk of their compensation in the form of equity in the companies they run, and so they may not realize the full value of their pay as reported to the SEC for years. Here's the full list, along with the CEOs' fiscal year 2019 compensation, median employee pay, and the CEO to median worker pay ratio: 19. Oracle co-CEO Safra Katz took 30 days and 10 hours to earn what a typical employee did in a year. Safra Catz Business Insider/Julie Bort CEO compensation: $965,981 Typical employee salary: $83,813 Ratio: 12:1 Oracle's other co-CEO Mark Hurd died in October 2019. 18. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang took 4 days and 4 hours to earn what a typical employee made in a year. nvidia jen-hsun huang ceo AP Photo / Paul Sakuma CEO compensation: $13,642,838 Typical employee salary: $155,035 Ratio: 88:1 17. Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi took 3 days and 5 hours to earn what a typical employee made in a year. intuit ceo sasan goodarzi Courtesy of Intuit CEO compensation: $17,933,345 Typical employee salary: $157,232 Ratio: 114:1 Intuit noted in their proxy statement that Goodarzi's compensation reflects annualized pay. 16. Costco CEO W. Craig Jelinek took 2 days and 4 hours to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Costco CEO W. Craig Jelinek AP Photo/Nati Harnik CEO compensation: $8,016,200 Typical employee salary: $47,312 Ratio: 169:1 15. Visa CEO Alfred F. Kelly Jr. took 2 days and 4 hours to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Visa CEO Alfred F. Kelly Jr AP Photo/Mark Lennihan CEO compensation: $24,265,771 Typical employee salary: $142,494 Ratio: 170:1 14. Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins took 2 days to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins AP Images CEO compensation: $25,829,833 Typical employee salary: $142,593 Ratio: 181:1 13. Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff took 1 day and 23 hours to earn what a typical employee made in a year. marc benioff REUTERS/Noah Berger CEO compensation: $28,391,846 Typical employee salary: $151,955 Ratio: 187:1 Salesforce's other co-CEO Keith Block made $16,961,156 in 2019, meaning it took him 3 days, 6 hours to make what a typical employee did in a year. 12. Apple CEO Tim Cook took 1 day and 20 hours to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Tim cook Getty CEO compensation: $11,555,466 Typical employee salary: $57,596 Ratio: 201:1 11. Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak took 1 day and 13 hours to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak Reuters/Steve Marcus CEO compensation: $17,796,325 Typical employee salary: $74,206 Ratio: 240:1 10. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took 1 day and 11 hours to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Satya Nadella Microsoft AP Photo/Mark Lennihan AP Photo/Mark Lennihan CEO compensation: $42,910,215 Typical employee salary: $172,512 Ratio: 249:1 9. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf took 1 day and 10 hours to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf Reuters/Rick Wilking CEO compensation: $23,065,052 Typical employee salary: $90,259 Ratio: 256:1 8. ADP CEO Carlos Rodriguez took 1 day and 5 hours to earn what a typical employee made in a year. ADP's Carlos Rodriguez CNBC Video CEO compensation: $19,000,187 Typical employee salary: $63,225 Ratio: 301:1 7. Former Nike CEO Mark G. Parker took 15 hours and 56 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Mark Parker AP/Rick Bowmer CEO compensation: $13,968,022 Typical employee salary: $25,386 Ratio: 550:1 Note: Parker stepped down as Nike CEO in January 2020 and was succeeded by John Donahoe. 6. Estée Lauder CEO Fabrizio Freda took 12 hours and 34 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Fabrizio Freda Patrick McMullan/Getty Images CEO compensation: $21,435,428 Typical employee salary: $30,733 Ratio: 697:1 5. Former Accenture Interim CEO David P. Rowland took 10 hours and 43 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year. FILE PHOTO: Visitors look at devices at Accenture stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 26, 2013. REUTERS/Albert Gea Reuters CEO compensation: $15,031,875 Typical employee salary: $18,392 Ratio: 817:1 Note: Rowland stepped down as CEO in September 2019 and was succeeded by Julie Sweet. Accenture also provided an alternate estimate of the CEO pay ratio based on a cost-of-living adjustment, as their median employee was based in India. Using that estimate, the ratio was 298:1, and Rowland would have made what the median employee did in 1 day, 5 hours. 4. Disney CEO Bob Iger took 9 hours and 37 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Bob Iger Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Vanity Fair CEO compensation: $47,517,762 Typical employee salary: $52,184 Ratio: 911:1 3. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon took 8 hours and 8 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Doug McMillon Reuters/Ray Stubblebine CEO compensation: $23,618,233 Typical employee salary: $21,952 Ratio: 1,076:1 2. TJX CEO Ernie Herrman took 5 hours and 29 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Ernie Herrman Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images CEO compensation: $18,822,770 Typical employee salary: $11,791 Ratio: 1,596:1 1. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson took 5 hours and 14 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year. Kevin Johnson Joshua Trujillo, Starbucks CEO compensation: $19,241,950 Typical employee salary: $11,489 Ratio: 1,675:1 Read the original article on Business Insider How much money does one person need? Geez B/A

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Ann Lovell had never owned a passport before last year. Now, the 62-year-old teacher is a frequent flier, traveling every few months to Tijuana, Mexico, to buy medication for rheumatoid arthritis — with tickets paid for by the state of Utah’s public insurer. Lovell is one of about 10 state workers participating in a year-old program to lower prescription drug costs by having public employees buy their medication in Mexico at a steep discount compared to U.S. prices. The program appears to be the first of its kind, and is a dramatic example of steps states are taking to alleviate the high cost of prescription drugs. In one long, exhausting day, Lovell flies from Salt Lake City to San Diego. There, an escort picks her up and takes her across the border to a Tijuana hospital, where she gets a refill on her prescription. After that, she’s shuttled back to the airport and heads home. Lovell had been paying $450 in co-pays every few months for her medication, though she said it would have increased to some $2,400 if she had not started traveling to Mexico. Without the program, she would not be able to afford the medicine she needs. “This is the drug that keeps me functioning, working,” said Lovell, who works at an early-intervention program for deaf students that's part of the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind. “I think if I wasn’t on this drug ... I’d be on disability rather than living my normal life.” The cost difference is so large that the state's insurance program for public employees can pay for each patient’s flight, give them a $500-per-trip bonus and still save tens of thousands of dollars. Other states have taken new approaches to addressing the high costs of prescription drugs. California is looking at launching its own generic-drug label. Louisiana has a Netflix-style program for hepatitis C drugs, where the state negotiated a deal to pay a flat fee rather than for each prescription. Several states are looking at creating boards aimed at keeping prices affordable, and four have started what’s expected to be a lengthy process to begin importing drugs from Canada under a new Trump administration plan. The Utah program was created under a 2018 state law dubbed “right to shop,” by Republican Rep. Norm Thurston. The Public Employees Health Program offers it only for people who use a drug on a list of about a dozen medications where the state can get significant savings. Of the 160,000 state and local public employees covered by the insurer, fewer than 400 are eligible, according to Managing Director Chet Loftis. Officials have tracked the medications from the manufacturer to the pharmacy to the patient, to make sure people are getting the same drugs they would at home, he said. They contract with a specialty pharmacy that works with one of the region's largest private hospital systems. A representative from a company, Provide Rx, escorts patients from the San Diego airport to Hospital Angeles in Tijuana and back across the border. Lovell has a prescription from her doctor in Utah, and each time she travels to Mexico she sees a doctor at the hospital as well. She updates the doctor on her condition, gets her prescription, and takes it to the pharmacist, who gives her the medication. Provide Rx also works with a dozen or so private companies, some of whom offer similar bonus programs to their staffers, said general manager Javier Ojeda. Just over a year after the program began, the state has saved about $225,000, Loftis said. Though the number of people participating is relatively small, the savings add up quickly. The annual U.S. list price for the drug Lovell takes, Enbrel, is over $62,000 per patient. With the Mexico program, after the cost of the flight and the bonus, the state still cuts its expenses in half. “It makes sense for us to do this,” Loftis said. Thurston had hoped more people would sign up, saving the state $1 million by now. But officials are optimistic more people will sign on now that they see the program is working. They have expanded to offering flights to Canada, where there’s a clinic in the Vancouver airport and the travel costs are about the same. While importation of prescription drugs is illegal because drugs sold in other countries haven’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. allows people to bring in a three-month supply for personal use. There have been long been more informal trips across the border elsewhere; Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has taken bus trips with patients from border states into Canada to highlight the cost of prescription drugs. But the Utah program appears to be the only formal state program of its kind, said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of the advocacy group Patients For Affordable Drugs. “It is unfortunate and, in fact, wrong that the citizens of this great country have to travel to other countries to get drugs they need at affordable prices,” he said. Others say the “pharmaceutical tourism” approach has risks and doesn’t solve the issue of high prescription drug prices in the United States. Peter Maybarduk with the nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen said people can come across unsafe medications in other countries, and it’s important not to undercut the importance of U.S. regulators. “It is a Band-Aid for people who really need it,” he said. “We need reform of the system as whole.” In most other countries, national health programs negotiate lower drug prices at large scale, and sometimes refuse to cover the most expensive ones. Meanwhile, patents generally run much longer in the U.S. than other countries, allowing for monopolies. Drug makers also often point to the high cost of creating a drug to bring to market. Utah truck driver Jason Pierce has been grateful to find the drug Stelara, the only effective treatment for his psoriasis. It’s also expensive, so he and his wife, a Utah health department employee, started traveling to Mexico to get his shots. Their insurance through her state job covers it completely, so the trips don’t save them any money. But with both flights covered through the state program and the $500 bonuses, they can make a short vacation. “It’s pretty easy,” he said. The drug is “exactly the same.” And the travel means the drug saves their public insurer thousands, helping save taxpayer money and bring down premiums, his wife, Robbin Williams, said. “I just think it's the moral and right thing to do,” she said https://www.yahoo.com/news/utah-sends-employees-mexico-lower-154841040.html WTH??? B/A

Thanks Sage... Everything on your list is in step with our current way of life. Are we not living the same way? How can anyone not see the parallels? B/A

Seriously? You don't see any common ground in the Roman Empire and America? I think there are many things in common. A complacent public. Cronyism. War between elites and common folks. Lack of morality. A shrinking dominance on global stage. Government in debt with military spending... Those just a few things our empire shares with the Roman empire... I'm sure there are many more. B/A

Thank God... Now we can get back to the people's business... B/A

I'm watching Face the Nation right now with Lindsey Graham and he is saying live on television, don't believe anything coming out of Ukraine, because it is the Russians... B/A

I simply said that GOP senators said what he did was wrong, and you refused to hear the truth... I know we don't agree on Trump, but at least except honest statements... Those senators admitted what he did was wrong and gave him a pass... In the next senate elections, their decision will cost some them their jobs... B/A

Sorry to hear that nstoolman.... That is very difficult for any family. If you have never had to deal with dementia or Alzheimer in your family you are very lucky. This is one of the hardest things for a family to try and manage... Good luck nstoolman. Give your wife a hug, she needs it. B/A

Very interesting article.. Thanks Ron... B/A

The U.S. Senate has made its judgment in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, acquitting the president. Fifty two of 53 senators in the Republican majority voted to acquit the president on the abuse of power charge and all 53 Republican senators voted to acquit on the obstruction of Congress charge. All 47 Democratic senators voted to convict the president on both charges. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah was the only Republican voting to convict for abuse of power. The Republican senators’ speedy exoneration of Trump marks perhaps the most dramatic step in their capitulation to the president over the past three years. That process, as I wrote in The Conversation last fall, recalls the ancient Roman senate’s compliance with the autocratic rule of the emperors and its transformation into a body largely reliant on the emperors’ whims. Along with the senatorial fealty that was again on display, there was another development that links the era of the Roman Republic’s transformation into an autocratic state with the ongoing political developments in the United States. It’s a development that may point to where the country is headed. Leader is the state Trump’s lawyers argued that the president’s personal position is inseparable from that of the nation itself. This is similar to the notion that took hold during the ascendancy of the man known as Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, who was in power from 31 B.C. to A.D. 14. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who led the GOP response in the impeachment trial, leaves the Senate floor on Feb. 4, 2020. Alex Edelman/Getty Images Trump defense attorney Alan Dershowitz asserted that “abuse of power” by the president is not an impeachable offense. A central part of Dershowitz’s argument was that “every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest” and that “if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.” This inability to separate the personal interests of a leader from the interests of the country he or she leads has powerful echoes in ancient Rome. There, no formal change from a republican system to an autocratic system ever occurred. Rather, there was an erosion of the republican institutions, a steady creep over decades of authoritarian decision-making, and the consolidation of power within one individual – all with the name “Republic” preserved. Oversight becomes harassment Much of Rome’s decline into one-man rule can be observed in a series of developments during the time of Augustus, who held no formal monarchical title but only the vague designation “princeps,” or “first among equals.” But in fact the senate had ceded him both power (“imperium” in Latin) over Rome’s military and the traditional tribune’s power to veto legislation. Each of these powers also granted him immunity from prosecution. He was above the law. Augustus’ position thus gave him exactly the freedom from oversight – or what Trump calls “presidential harassment” – that the president demands. Such immunity is also the sort that Richard Nixon seemed to long for, most famously in his post-presidency declaration that “when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” In Augustus’ time the idea also emerged that the “princeps” and the Roman state were to a great extent one and the same. The identity of the one was growing to become inseparable from the identity of the other. So, for example, under Augustus and then his successor Tiberius, insults against the emperor could be considered acts of treason against the state, or, more officially, against “the majesty of the Roman people.” A critic of the “princeps” – be it in unflattering words or in the improper treatment of his image – was subject to prosecution as an “enemy of the people.” A physical demonstration of the emerging union of the “princeps” and the state came in the construction of a Temple of Roma and Augustus in cities across the Mediterranean region. Here the personification of the state as a goddess, Roma, and the “princeps” Augustus were closely aligned and, what is more, deified together. The message communicated by such a pairing was clear: If not quite one and the same, the “princeps” and the state were intimately identified, possessing a special, abiding authority through their union. Many higher-ups in the Trump administration, from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to former Secretary of Energy Rick Perry to former Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have spoken publicly of Trump as a divinely chosen figure. And Trump himself declared earlier this year, “I do really believe we have God on our side.” To this point, however, a Temple of Lady Liberty and Trump along the lines of the Temple of Roma and Augustus has not yet been constructed. But the Senate impeachment trial has shown us how far along the identification of leader and state has moved in the Trump era. A central part of the president’s impeachment defense is, as we have seen, that the personal will of the president is indistinguishable from the will of the state and the good of the people. Will the GOP-led Senate’s endorsement of this defense clear a path for more of the manifestations – and consequences – of authoritarianism? The case of the Roman Republic’s rapid slippage into an autocratic regime masquerading as a republic shows how easily that transformation can occur. https://theconversation.com/this-is-how-ancient-romes-republic-died-a-classicist-sees-troubling-parallels-at-trumps-impeachment-trial-131121 Does history repeat itself? Is he above the law? Chosen by God? His best interest is the nations best interest? Hard to believe, but I see people here calling for an end to our founding father's vision of Rule of Law. I see people agreeing with Trump he should be president for life. I see people here who support the end of our democratic process and a return to a one ruler system. B/A

He was an awesome entertainer and will be missed... RIP B/A

Markinsa and Karsten... Below are quotes from GOP senators. They did indeed say what he did was wrong and voted to save the party anyway.... So as much as you might like to put out statements that I have a different perspective or need to verify. I just state truth. Perhaps you should open you eyes to the fact our system is corrupt and republicans are no better than democrats... Americans need to wake up to the fact our government is like watching all-star wrestling... It's a show. Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio), a prominent Republican moderate, criticized President Trump on Friday for actions “including asking a foreign country to investigate a potential political opponent” that he called “wrong and inappropriate.” Portman’s statement reflected a similar argument made by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Thursday, when he criticized Trump for “inappropriate” conduct but said the offense fell short of a high crime or misdemeanor, the constitutional standard for impeachment. The Tennessee senator said “it was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation.” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), emerging from a Senate GOP lunch meeting Friday, told reporters: “Lamar speaks for lots and lots of us.” Sen. Susan Collins said President Trump’s efforts to press Ukraine to open an investigation into a Democratic presidential candidate were “improper and demonstrated poor judgment” “The president’s actions were not ‘perfect.’ Some were inappropriate,” said Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) in an opinion article published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday. He said the actions didn’t rise to an impeachable offense. “The president’s behavior was shameful and wrong,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) in her own speech on Monday night. “His personal interests do not take precedence over those of this great nation.” B/A

Obviously you didn't hear the GOP senators saying they know what he did was wrong.... But they made their deal and history will not be kind. B/A

LOL LOL LOL B/A

They're not Christians... They're politicians. B/A

The Republicans are no better than the Democrats... I find it hard to believe anyone could support either party with their eyes open. JMHO I pledge my allegiance to America, not some party. B/A

Hey let's not get into morality... You're backing a guy who was doing porn stars while his wife was pregnant... I don't know anyone in my life who could sink that low. Not even you. B/A