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Some Republicans’ comments cite insufficient fund-raising as a major reason for the woes of their out-of-touch party. Their conservative Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” ruling underscores the party’s emphasis on unregulated, out-of-control fund-raising that apparently is not, and never will be enough to forestall the decline of their Party. In its infinite wisdom, this Supreme Court’s ruling that is ironically premised on the protection of free speech has resulted in enormous damage to the democratic process. Instead of developing any policies that support the American people (in fact, instead of establishing a coherent platform, like sheep they go along with Trump’s “No Platform“ at all), they blame their dangerously close failures on lack of sufficient fund-raising while drowning in and being subservient to the money and influence of far right mega donors and media. In spite of so many Republican-dominated state legislatures that have mastered the art of gerrymandering and ever-expanding and creative voting restrictions, Republicans’ influence is (too slowly) diminishing.They squander huge sums of unregulated donations with increasingly unpopular far right messaging (no, beliefs) while rapidly losing the fight against inevitable cultural and demographic (no, racial) shifts that will ultimately result in the death of their “In Name Only” Republican Party. As so aptly stated by Einstein: “Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
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"content": "Some Republicans’ comments cite insufficient fund-raising as a major reason for the woes of their out-of-touch party. Their conservative Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” ruling underscores the party’s emphasis on unregulated, out-of-control fund-raising that apparently is not, and never will be enough to forestall the decline of their Party. In its infinite wisdom, this Supreme Court’s ruling that is ironically premised on the protection of free speech has resulted in enormous damage to the democratic process. Instead of developing any policies that support the American people (in fact, instead of establishing a coherent platform, like sheep they go along with Trump’s “No Platform“ at all), they blame their dangerously close failures on lack of sufficient fund-raising while drowning in and being subservient to the money and influence of far right mega donors and media. In spite of so many Republican-dominated state legislatures that have mastered the art of gerrymandering and ever-expanding and creative voting restrictions, Republicans’ influence is (too slowly) diminishing.They squander huge sums of unregulated donations with increasingly unpopular far right messaging (no, beliefs) while rapidly losing the fight against inevitable cultural and demographic (no, racial) shifts that will ultimately result in the death of their “In Name Only” Republican Party. As so aptly stated by Einstein: “Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,277 |
cs "these involve so much time"Newsflash: there is no free lunch.If you're not interested in reaping economies on your grocery bill (up to 50%, depending upon the item/sale), then why read, much less take the time to comment on an article whose headline is "17 Food You Should Buy When They're on Sale"? True, time is money. But these tips offer a significant ROI (return on investment). I'm sure there are other articles on cheaper delivery services.
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"content": "cs \"these involve so much time\"Newsflash: there is no free lunch.If you're not interested in reaping economies on your grocery bill (up to 50%, depending upon the item/sale), then why read, much less take the time to comment on an article whose headline is \"17 Food You Should Buy When They're on Sale\"? True, time is money. But these tips offer a significant ROI (return on investment). I'm sure there are other articles on cheaper delivery services.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 8,239 |
I settled for being a lesser person when in college I refused to read past the opening page of "The Making of Americans." Gertrude Stein is an even bigger fraud than Ayn Rand--Rand writes horrible but at least understandable prose. As Ms. Stein might say about this opinion piece: There is a book for everyone but not everyone for one book.
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"content": "I settled for being a lesser person when in college I refused to read past the opening page of \"The Making of Americans.\" Gertrude Stein is an even bigger fraud than Ayn Rand--Rand writes horrible but at least understandable prose. As Ms. Stein might say about this opinion piece: There is a book for everyone but not everyone for one book.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,617 |
It is no surprise that Georgians and Chechens and other victims of Russian aggression are joining in this fight. However, this war will be won by diplomacy and weaponry.The diplomacy will work when all of western Europe coalesces in opposition to Russia, and NATO begins to mobilize for its sister applicant nation. Tanks, fighter planes and their ilk will make the difference on the ground. The investment is a great bargain compared with letting this war drag on and even encourage Putin in fresh aggression. Should we wait until we are fighting at the border of Poland?
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"content": "It is no surprise that Georgians and Chechens and other victims of Russian aggression are joining in this fight. However, this war will be won by diplomacy and weaponry.The diplomacy will work when all of western Europe coalesces in opposition to Russia, and NATO begins to mobilize for its sister applicant nation. Tanks, fighter planes and their ilk will make the difference on the ground. The investment is a great bargain compared with letting this war drag on and even encourage Putin in fresh aggression. Should we wait until we are fighting at the border of Poland?\n",
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| no | Classification | 1,655 |
All of what you have said is true, but the point of this article is precisely to focus on the relationship between two individuals, not their organizations. The implication here is that organizational and social change can start with connections between people, even people who may seem to oppose each other.You don't have to like the gentleman in the article or give his organization or his advocacy work a free pass just because he has a liberal friend. The purpose of this piece was to make us think about what kind of incremental shifts can occur when we don't lose our openness to seeing other people as humans. And if we want "them" to do it, then"we" have to be willing, as well.
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"content": "All of what you have said is true, but the point of this article is precisely to focus on the relationship between two individuals, not their organizations. The implication here is that organizational and social change can start with connections between people, even people who may seem to oppose each other.You don't have to like the gentleman in the article or give his organization or his advocacy work a free pass just because he has a liberal friend. The purpose of this piece was to make us think about what kind of incremental shifts can occur when we don't lose our openness to seeing other people as humans. And if we want \"them\" to do it, then\"we\" have to be willing, as well.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 8,526 |
Nicholas writes “…. If Gobanga can raise the money, she would like to expand the safe house and open a similar home for abused boys.” If a link where donations can be sent we’re provided I think that those of us who read, with horror, of this tragedy would be moved to donate.
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"content": "Nicholas writes “…. If Gobanga can raise the money, she would like to expand the safe house and open a similar home for abused boys.” If a link where donations can be sent we’re provided I think that those of us who read, with horror, of this tragedy would be moved to donate.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 8,914 |
I’m “old” and I loved Everything Everywhere all at once. In fact, I’ve seen it twice. I’ve also seen The Banshees of Inisherin twice: beautiful, heartbreaking performances by everyone, and Colin Ferrell ascended to new heights in my eyes. He’s always been good, but his understanding of character keeps growing. And McDonough’s script and direction allowed for maximum impact with minimal means. Another guy whose artistic growth knocked my socks off is Bill Nighy in Living. And he’s also supported by a splendid cast in an unusual remake.Women Talking had it all, as well: a deeply philosophical script packed with profound humanity and emotion, performed by actors working well together in close quarters in a way that is rarely seen. And Sarah Polley pulled off the impossible: she turned pages of dialogue into a thoroughly entertaining and moving cinematic experience. Tár was also great, an intensely nuanced exploration of an extremely controversial subject, again addressed in a perceptive and challenging script, and masterfully acted by Cate Blanchett, who was supported by a large, strong cast without a weak link. The Fabelmans is my favorite Spielberg. I’ve always found his characters to be rather lacking in depth, but his collaboration with Tony Kushner is paying off. Combine this new dimension with Spielberg’s eye and camera work, and I think this is his best film. So many good films this year—I’d have a hard time voting, if I were an Academy member!
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"content": "I’m “old” and I loved Everything Everywhere all at once. In fact, I’ve seen it twice. I’ve also seen The Banshees of Inisherin twice: beautiful, heartbreaking performances by everyone, and Colin Ferrell ascended to new heights in my eyes. He’s always been good, but his understanding of character keeps growing. And McDonough’s script and direction allowed for maximum impact with minimal means. Another guy whose artistic growth knocked my socks off is Bill Nighy in Living. And he’s also supported by a splendid cast in an unusual remake.Women Talking had it all, as well: a deeply philosophical script packed with profound humanity and emotion, performed by actors working well together in close quarters in a way that is rarely seen. And Sarah Polley pulled off the impossible: she turned pages of dialogue into a thoroughly entertaining and moving cinematic experience. Tár was also great, an intensely nuanced exploration of an extremely controversial subject, again addressed in a perceptive and challenging script, and masterfully acted by Cate Blanchett, who was supported by a large, strong cast without a weak link. The Fabelmans is my favorite Spielberg. I’ve always found his characters to be rather lacking in depth, but his collaboration with Tony Kushner is paying off. Combine this new dimension with Spielberg’s eye and camera work, and I think this is his best film. So many good films this year—I’d have a hard time voting, if I were an Academy member!\n",
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| yes | Classification | 8,875 |
Our first of many visits to the mountain village of Chenini occurred when I was a Peace Corps volunteer architect in 1964. I was intrigued with the vaulted (ghorfa) fortress like construction of the Kalaa or Ksar that acted as a grain storage facility above the village. It was also used for habitation during periods of war between neighboring villages. This contrasted with the troglodytic houses dug below between layers of hard and soft stone that traditionally resulted in relatively flat ceilings. I was joined by a French Cultural Anthropologist and priest Père André Louis. The result of years of visits to Chenini and other villages in the Matmata region was finally published in Èvolution d’un habitat: le monde berbère du Sud Tunisian. Filled with diagrammatic drawings and photographs, it is considered a treasure for its documentation of life that is all but vanishing today. Even during those early years, the men often worked as newspaper deliverymen in Tunis sending a portion of their salaries back to Chenini. I still remember Père Andre Louis introducing me in Chenini to a young woman in traditional clothing, standing in the doorway to her underground house, his most recent graduate student in anthropological studies. The President at the time was Habib Bourguiba and he opened the door to education for so many women of the period. To learn more go to <a href="https://www.blurb.com/my/ebooks/56014-volution-d-un-habitat-le-monde-berb-re-du-sud-tunisien" target="_blank">https://www.blurb.com/my/ebooks/56014-volution-d-un-habitat-le-monde-berb-re-du-sud-tunisien</a>.
| 216844ae6fdd76adb5391ef2b0a2eee76d371b8e7eb94b68c8ffecda1ffac4ea | [
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"content": "Our first of many visits to the mountain village of Chenini occurred when I was a Peace Corps volunteer architect in 1964. I was intrigued with the vaulted (ghorfa) fortress like construction of the Kalaa or Ksar that acted as a grain storage facility above the village. It was also used for habitation during periods of war between neighboring villages. This contrasted with the troglodytic houses dug below between layers of hard and soft stone that traditionally resulted in relatively flat ceilings. I was joined by a French Cultural Anthropologist and priest Père André Louis. The result of years of visits to Chenini and other villages in the Matmata region was finally published in Èvolution d’un habitat: le monde berbère du Sud Tunisian. Filled with diagrammatic drawings and photographs, it is considered a treasure for its documentation of life that is all but vanishing today. Even during those early years, the men often worked as newspaper deliverymen in Tunis sending a portion of their salaries back to Chenini. I still remember Père Andre Louis introducing me in Chenini to a young woman in traditional clothing, standing in the doorway to her underground house, his most recent graduate student in anthropological studies. The President at the time was Habib Bourguiba and he opened the door to education for so many women of the period. To learn more go to <a href=\"https://www.blurb.com/my/ebooks/56014-volution-d-un-habitat-le-monde-berb-re-du-sud-tunisien\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.blurb.com/my/ebooks/56014-volution-d-un-habitat-le-monde-berb-re-du-sud-tunisien</a>.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,405 |
JohnFred Of course you should remain in the Catholic Church if that is what you believe, and I hope it serves you well. But as a member of a Protestant, “open and affirming” congregation that welcomes everyone, I would wish you would visit us, and see that there is more than one true church. The proof of that is not in some textual validation, but rather in the actualization of the teachings of Jesus Christ, who never excluded or judged people who didn’t conform to a certain set of teachings. The worst religious experience of my life was when I attended a wedding at a Catholic Church and was denied Communion because, though I was a confirmed Christian, I was not a member of the Catholic Church. Where is that in the Last Supper?
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"content": "JohnFred Of course you should remain in the Catholic Church if that is what you believe, and I hope it serves you well. But as a member of a Protestant, “open and affirming” congregation that welcomes everyone, I would wish you would visit us, and see that there is more than one true church. The proof of that is not in some textual validation, but rather in the actualization of the teachings of Jesus Christ, who never excluded or judged people who didn’t conform to a certain set of teachings. The worst religious experience of my life was when I attended a wedding at a Catholic Church and was denied Communion because, though I was a confirmed Christian, I was not a member of the Catholic Church. Where is that in the Last Supper?\n",
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| no | Classification | 2,254 |
Peter Kalmus Simply put, you are a hero. Furthermore, I want to share that I may have met you at a JPL Open House which I’ve been attending, off and on, since the 1990s when visitors were free to roam the campus and visit the 25-Foot Space Simulator which is now off-limits. What a wonderful event JPL has offered to taxpayers for years now! It’s been fascinating and deeply satisfying to watch the Jet Propulsion Laboratory evolve over my nearly 60-year lifetime from simply launching rockets and satellites to other space bodies and beyond (Boldly go, Voyagers!) to turning its powers of observation back onto our own planet. Without JPL’s broadening vision and expanding scientific action, climate science would have been decades behind where we are now. I also find it interesting that Oak Ridge National Laboratory fired Rose yet you seem to still be employed at JPL (did a quick check and your bio is still up at JPL.org as a current scientist). What a testament to not only the yawning cultural chasm between California and Tennessee but also the scientific cultures within the two laboratories. It seems Tennessee’s widespread religious fundamentalism has infected Oak Ridge’s administration.Ignore the haters and finger-waggers and keep speaking out for planet Earth. And hopefully I’ll see you and/or your Earth Science colleagues later this year at JPL!
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"content": "Peter Kalmus Simply put, you are a hero. Furthermore, I want to share that I may have met you at a JPL Open House which I’ve been attending, off and on, since the 1990s when visitors were free to roam the campus and visit the 25-Foot Space Simulator which is now off-limits. What a wonderful event JPL has offered to taxpayers for years now! It’s been fascinating and deeply satisfying to watch the Jet Propulsion Laboratory evolve over my nearly 60-year lifetime from simply launching rockets and satellites to other space bodies and beyond (Boldly go, Voyagers!) to turning its powers of observation back onto our own planet. Without JPL’s broadening vision and expanding scientific action, climate science would have been decades behind where we are now. I also find it interesting that Oak Ridge National Laboratory fired Rose yet you seem to still be employed at JPL (did a quick check and your bio is still up at JPL.org as a current scientist). What a testament to not only the yawning cultural chasm between California and Tennessee but also the scientific cultures within the two laboratories. It seems Tennessee’s widespread religious fundamentalism has infected Oak Ridge’s administration.Ignore the haters and finger-waggers and keep speaking out for planet Earth. And hopefully I’ll see you and/or your Earth Science colleagues later this year at JPL!\n",
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| no | Classification | 2,665 |
USA needs to do:reinvigorate K-!2 in ALL areas, not just STEPencourage , respect and reward teachers properlyWithout these first steps in investing in education , not much will improve in ANY endeavor.We must not depend on the rest of the world to supply what we need because we have a very mediocre service economy and an industrial base that lacks vigor, efficiency, and creativity.All this has been self-inflicted over the past decades.We have grown lazy, over confident, dependent, and expect others to take care and supply of us.
| 40eca4f06b8c49ade4aba80645c952ed176cb9588d65f8c79e5ee6ef2e536adf | [
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"content": "USA needs to do:reinvigorate K-!2 in ALL areas, not just STEPencourage , respect and reward teachers properlyWithout these first steps in investing in education , not much will improve in ANY endeavor.We must not depend on the rest of the world to supply what we need because we have a very mediocre service economy and an industrial base that lacks vigor, efficiency, and creativity.All this has been self-inflicted over the past decades.We have grown lazy, over confident, dependent, and expect others to take care and supply of us.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,496 |
Ho hum, cue the usual hot takes from the commentariat about how fewer humans on the planet is a good thing. Meanwhile, anyone who's ever traveled or lived in a depopulated former population center knows it actually isn't so great being surrounded by olds. Open borders could potentially solve both problems!
| 0e7070f73a1ff7483d5f1905096c66413f7a05e78eb8974dad1f497ecdf5dba9 | [
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"content": "Ho hum, cue the usual hot takes from the commentariat about how fewer humans on the planet is a good thing. Meanwhile, anyone who's ever traveled or lived in a depopulated former population center knows it actually isn't so great being surrounded by olds. Open borders could potentially solve both problems!\n",
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| no | Classification | 1,613 |
Frankly, the reason ballot initiatives are needed on the 2024 ballot is not because passage of any of these initiatives will expand access to abortion in those states; it is because that issue will drive votes up and down the ballot and ensure that the GOP gets the whitewashing it deserves. Especially in the Red and Purple states.
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"content": "Frankly, the reason ballot initiatives are needed on the 2024 ballot is not because passage of any of these initiatives will expand access to abortion in those states; it is because that issue will drive votes up and down the ballot and ensure that the GOP gets the whitewashing it deserves. Especially in the Red and Purple states.\n",
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| no | Classification | 4,343 |
2017 tax cut give away to the ultra wealthy and corporations was (and continues to be) financed by debt.Our current government investment program is fully paid for without debt (ie no printing of money required).
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"content": "2017 tax cut give away to the ultra wealthy and corporations was (and continues to be) financed by debt.Our current government investment program is fully paid for without debt (ie no printing of money required).\n",
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| no | Classification | 2,562 |
Christine If you can afford a $4.5M property, you can afford those taxes. They are also essentially frozen due to Prop 13.
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"content": "Christine If you can afford a $4.5M property, you can afford those taxes. They are also essentially frozen due to Prop 13.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 5,805 |
Sue - I agree to a point. I was laid off in March 2020, 4 days after I bought a new car! I bought new health insurance for myself and my wife through the NY State Marketplace (ObamaCare). COBRA is a joke. I bought Empire Blue Cross/Shield, PPO. The monthly bill was $180 for both of us. It was excellent coverage. I paid $25 co-payments to visit doctors, referrals were a breeze and my prescriptions never exceeded $15-20 per script. I see you are in Philly (great town BTW). I would strongly suggest taking a deep dive into the Marketplace and see what is offered for your personal situation. All the best.
| d9a82345e9afa116e50d457a66f7d47124ae8b19a65ef805f358345e8ea01257 | [
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"content": "Sue - I agree to a point. I was laid off in March 2020, 4 days after I bought a new car! I bought new health insurance for myself and my wife through the NY State Marketplace (ObamaCare). COBRA is a joke. I bought Empire Blue Cross/Shield, PPO. The monthly bill was $180 for both of us. It was excellent coverage. I paid $25 co-payments to visit doctors, referrals were a breeze and my prescriptions never exceeded $15-20 per script. I see you are in Philly (great town BTW). I would strongly suggest taking a deep dive into the Marketplace and see what is offered for your personal situation. All the best.\n",
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| no | Classification | 2,661 |
I've added rice and beans and green pea soup as staples in my diet.I make a 5 qt Dutch Oven full and store left overs which becomes a large part of my diet for a week.I do this for several reasons:1: I am not ready to go totally vegan, but I am trying to significantly reduce meat in my diet because we need that for the planet. Perhaps 100 years from now kids will be asking their parents whether people really ate animals 100 years ago. (At some point in the not too distant future they will also be asking if people really had guns). 2: Rice and Beans are pretty healthy for your diet. Complete protein, lots of fiber. Just avoid adding too much cheese, but a little cheddar makes it particularly yummy. Also, rinse the rice because of arsenic. 3: By cutting back my purchases of meat I am contributing a very little bit to reducing the price for others who still rely on meat in their diets and don't have a good income.4: Pea Soup and Rice and Beans are pretty tasty and satisfying if you add spices and seasonings to your taste. 5) A Dutch oven full of rice and beans costs less than $10 and makes at least 10 servings. Mine contains a pound each of brown rice and black beans, a little over a pound each of onions and carrots, and a little olive oil. 6) It is very sustainable.
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"content": "I've added rice and beans and green pea soup as staples in my diet.I make a 5 qt Dutch Oven full and store left overs which becomes a large part of my diet for a week.I do this for several reasons:1: I am not ready to go totally vegan, but I am trying to significantly reduce meat in my diet because we need that for the planet. Perhaps 100 years from now kids will be asking their parents whether people really ate animals 100 years ago. (At some point in the not too distant future they will also be asking if people really had guns). 2: Rice and Beans are pretty healthy for your diet. Complete protein, lots of fiber. Just avoid adding too much cheese, but a little cheddar makes it particularly yummy. Also, rinse the rice because of arsenic. 3: By cutting back my purchases of meat I am contributing a very little bit to reducing the price for others who still rely on meat in their diets and don't have a good income.4: Pea Soup and Rice and Beans are pretty tasty and satisfying if you add spices and seasonings to your taste. 5) A Dutch oven full of rice and beans costs less than $10 and makes at least 10 servings. Mine contains a pound each of brown rice and black beans, a little over a pound each of onions and carrots, and a little olive oil. 6) It is very sustainable.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,531 |
Theo All about the dollar and the cushy salary and retirement pay for the admins. The people on the floor facing the public get short shrift. From what I have heard and read. Isnt every Great Depression ushered in by the people makig the most money? Last time it was the Fords and Firestones, etc. This time the manuacturers and finance whizzes. Important to invest in both the most stable older companies and the most popuar new ones with a solid focus on raking in profits.
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"content": "Theo All about the dollar and the cushy salary and retirement pay for the admins. The people on the floor facing the public get short shrift. From what I have heard and read. Isnt every Great Depression ushered in by the people makig the most money? Last time it was the Fords and Firestones, etc. This time the manuacturers and finance whizzes. Important to invest in both the most stable older companies and the most popuar new ones with a solid focus on raking in profits.\n",
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| no | Classification | 1,676 |
BW the .01% are 14,000 families worth over $660m each. They have over half of the country's wealth, and their income has more than trippled since 1980 Reaganomics, while all other's wages are mostly flat; they have captured most all of the GDP increase since 1980 too; the US is an oligarchy, and there is general impunity for the rich making the claim of kleptocracy credible.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4" target="_blank">https://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4</a>
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"content": "BW the .01% are 14,000 families worth over $660m each. They have over half of the country's wealth, and their income has more than trippled since 1980 Reaganomics, while all other's wages are mostly flat; they have captured most all of the GDP increase since 1980 too; the US is an oligarchy, and there is general impunity for the rich making the claim of kleptocracy credible.<a href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4</a>\n",
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| yes | Classification | 9,847 |
I used to hit the wine heavily every night. Down a bottle easily and of course with alcohol the more you have the more you want. Did this for about ten years. An otherwise healthy man, always young for my age — you’re HOW old? And those are your KIDS, I thought they were your siblings! Then shock of shocks — open heart surgery, for coronary artery disease, I honestly thought the doc was just kidding. No question in my mind that booze was the cause. Healthy now, though with the lifetime after-effects of a double bypass, the constant musculoskeletal pain, not a pleasant experience. Silver lining? Can’t drink anymore, detest the way it makes me feel, result of the surgery or complications of Covid who knows. But I feel better — diametrically better — my mind is sharper than it’s ever been, and in all humility that’s saying something. Moral of the story — lay off the drinks. Your body and your mind — innocent players in life’s game, subservient to your whims and wills — will thank you.
| 2456bd667d9f4c4c61f6188cab860bb78d5467e72fef61cddeb758a2efd9e010 | [
{
"content": "I used to hit the wine heavily every night. Down a bottle easily and of course with alcohol the more you have the more you want. Did this for about ten years. An otherwise healthy man, always young for my age — you’re HOW old? And those are your KIDS, I thought they were your siblings! Then shock of shocks — open heart surgery, for coronary artery disease, I honestly thought the doc was just kidding. No question in my mind that booze was the cause. Healthy now, though with the lifetime after-effects of a double bypass, the constant musculoskeletal pain, not a pleasant experience. Silver lining? Can’t drink anymore, detest the way it makes me feel, result of the surgery or complications of Covid who knows. But I feel better — diametrically better — my mind is sharper than it’s ever been, and in all humility that’s saying something. Moral of the story — lay off the drinks. Your body and your mind — innocent players in life’s game, subservient to your whims and wills — will thank you.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 5,038 |
Raising the debt limit would be akin to raising my credit limit in order to pay off my mortgage and child support with a credit card & a continuous utilization rate of over 100%. In the long run, that doesn't go well... And it would become harder to find future creditors/lenders willing to trust me enough to buy my debt.One thing most somehow don't understand is that the FED doesn't print money. They issue treasuries that are being bought by investors - mostly other countries. They use US treasuries as high quality collateral to borrow money themselves from other lenders (credit bubble much?). Currently Japan and China hold most of the US debt/US treasuries. If we do not pay the interest to these bond holders- then the credibility of the US and consequently the desirability of the US Dollar will diminish greatly. With higher prices of goods and energy, plus the inability to raise credit to ensure liquidity- the US and the world economy will be in for a fun ride. Fact is: the US cannot default. Both Democrats and Republicans know that. 2023 here we come baby!
| 09eaf8a0f8f873f6db69a09916f98f03d7c60dfd31d837a1320753e46d805211 | [
{
"content": "Raising the debt limit would be akin to raising my credit limit in order to pay off my mortgage and child support with a credit card & a continuous utilization rate of over 100%. In the long run, that doesn't go well... And it would become harder to find future creditors/lenders willing to trust me enough to buy my debt.One thing most somehow don't understand is that the FED doesn't print money. They issue treasuries that are being bought by investors - mostly other countries. They use US treasuries as high quality collateral to borrow money themselves from other lenders (credit bubble much?). Currently Japan and China hold most of the US debt/US treasuries. If we do not pay the interest to these bond holders- then the credibility of the US and consequently the desirability of the US Dollar will diminish greatly. With higher prices of goods and energy, plus the inability to raise credit to ensure liquidity- the US and the world economy will be in for a fun ride. Fact is: the US cannot default. Both Democrats and Republicans know that. 2023 here we come baby!\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 8,774 |
joshbarnes But I understand jeepCK's point: Why not draft and process the reversal legislation? That would draw more attention to Trump/GOP impact on the debt and on income inequality. Why didn't they try to do it and talk about it? Let the GOP vote against what's right...at least attempt to do the right thing. Might open a few more eyes to the priorities of the GOP!
| 137fd69d35033b957662b13fe6a3024b85d1b1f76a7dccc594352f37bc09482e | [
{
"content": "joshbarnes But I understand jeepCK's point: Why not draft and process the reversal legislation? That would draw more attention to Trump/GOP impact on the debt and on income inequality. Why didn't they try to do it and talk about it? Let the GOP vote against what's right...at least attempt to do the right thing. Might open a few more eyes to the priorities of the GOP!\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 2,381 |
Mike T. I've looked up medicine costs, Europe vs USA. USA -- 10X more expensive across the board.The thing that gets me is you, the taxpayer, funded Covid Vaccs, and the companies take the profit. GSK sold it at cost and made not a lot.
| b95555a396dfd2a42fbc0882b1dc7fad0a001773a6b87d20b0b8553a5b2e3cde | [
{
"content": "Mike T. I've looked up medicine costs, Europe vs USA. USA -- 10X more expensive across the board.The thing that gets me is you, the taxpayer, funded Covid Vaccs, and the companies take the profit. GSK sold it at cost and made not a lot.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 4,738 |
Allowing Santos to serve is yet another new low for the Republicans. And I thought it would have been allowing the likes of Trump to be nominated in 2016. I’ve decided the party has become Entertainment Central for its supporters. Yes, this borders on warped and ghoulish, but it does not appear its leadership has legislating on its agenda. Well, other than to muck up Social Security and Medicare for millions of people.I fear Santos may be just an opening act for a party that has most assuredly lost its way. Santos is just one more example of this.
| ca5d95db2808dedbadbbb87b2f45163c39fc28b8c2a8ffa0d764e39ab6108aa2 | [
{
"content": "Allowing Santos to serve is yet another new low for the Republicans. And I thought it would have been allowing the likes of Trump to be nominated in 2016. I’ve decided the party has become Entertainment Central for its supporters. Yes, this borders on warped and ghoulish, but it does not appear its leadership has legislating on its agenda. Well, other than to muck up Social Security and Medicare for millions of people.I fear Santos may be just an opening act for a party that has most assuredly lost its way. Santos is just one more example of this.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 3,336 |
Steve 20 x $174,000 = $3,480,000 Per year, plus health insurance and pension, for do-nothing performance artistes, is just the beginning of what these bad-faith electeds cost the country.
| 9a21f55529b6e7b1e4cc30c9fa92cf8a997f00a745af3cb443d1b6e8ca114767 | [
{
"content": "Steve 20 x $174,000 = $3,480,000 Per year, plus health insurance and pension, for do-nothing performance artistes, is just the beginning of what these bad-faith electeds cost the country.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 2,656 |
Perhaps the $472,000 appraisal report was correct? Easy way to find out - have the $472,000 appraisal and the $750,000 appraisal be reviewed by other appraisals. But to the best of my knowledge, all the appraisals in these anecdotal articles were not reviewed by other appraisers. Yet without these reviews, the appraiser who interacted with the black homeowner is guilt as charged.
| d0d75f0d50071a678574647bda91050e91774f02f751658a47b207f85dea7d36 | [
{
"content": "Perhaps the $472,000 appraisal report was correct? Easy way to find out - have the $472,000 appraisal and the $750,000 appraisal be reviewed by other appraisals. But to the best of my knowledge, all the appraisals in these anecdotal articles were not reviewed by other appraisers. Yet without these reviews, the appraiser who interacted with the black homeowner is guilt as charged.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
"role": "assistant"
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]
| yes | Classification | 7,806 |
Ok, so many Americans who live in rural areas are less interested in voting for Democratic candidates, despite Democrats' continual efforts to lower the cost of healthcare, make it easier to participate in the national economy with investments in transportation, electrical, education, and Internet infrastructure, and protect these lands from the damaging impact of Climate Change and industrial pollution. What are Republicans doing to help improve these voters' economic well-being and quality of life that would earn their vote?
| ad64bd7b0719ddb90a6ab28fc742917cc3b98386ed07f29899df9032fc1658e3 | [
{
"content": "Ok, so many Americans who live in rural areas are less interested in voting for Democratic candidates, despite Democrats' continual efforts to lower the cost of healthcare, make it easier to participate in the national economy with investments in transportation, electrical, education, and Internet infrastructure, and protect these lands from the damaging impact of Climate Change and industrial pollution. What are Republicans doing to help improve these voters' economic well-being and quality of life that would earn their vote?\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
"role": "assistant"
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]
| yes | Classification | 5,802 |
At the Davos World Economic Forum this month, the wealthiest and most powerful leaders/influencers in the world insisted on significant COVID *airborne* transmission precautions:-PCR testing-Masking-HEPA air cleaners in every room-Amped up ventilation-UVGI/Far-UVC <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/01/20/world-economic-forum-is-taking-all-these-covid-19-precautions-at-davos/?sh=62b27cbb6304" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/01/20/world-economic-forum-is-taking-all-these-covid-19-precautions-at-davos/?sh=62b27cbb6304</a>Why so many precautions if COVID is not a public health emergency?These are the same global elite leaders trying to convince us, the hoi polloi, that COVID is over, yet they still seem VERY focused on preventing its transmission. Because they are following the science and understand the threat. Do as they do not as they say.And Trish, serious heart problems are unfortunately one of the most common post-COVID-infection outcomes, along with very serious brain fog.<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2" target="_blank">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2</a>This is especially the case for people in high risk groups, although it needs to be said that high risk includes age and BMI, which means that literally a majority of Americans are high risk for the most serious Long COVID complications. We need to invest massively in Long COVID treatment, while also doing WEF-style prevention measures for this airborne illness like much better ventilation and air filtration in public places, as well as (yes I'm going to say it) masking indoors for anyone in a high risk group (which, again, is more than half the US).
| dc08f02f19a07a154a5b5a0288b697a18e4a196ca0bad4d060957783fc885431 | [
{
"content": "At the Davos World Economic Forum this month, the wealthiest and most powerful leaders/influencers in the world insisted on significant COVID *airborne* transmission precautions:-PCR testing-Masking-HEPA air cleaners in every room-Amped up ventilation-UVGI/Far-UVC <a href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/01/20/world-economic-forum-is-taking-all-these-covid-19-precautions-at-davos/?sh=62b27cbb6304\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/01/20/world-economic-forum-is-taking-all-these-covid-19-precautions-at-davos/?sh=62b27cbb6304</a>Why so many precautions if COVID is not a public health emergency?These are the same global elite leaders trying to convince us, the hoi polloi, that COVID is over, yet they still seem VERY focused on preventing its transmission. Because they are following the science and understand the threat. Do as they do not as they say.And Trish, serious heart problems are unfortunately one of the most common post-COVID-infection outcomes, along with very serious brain fog.<a href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2</a>This is especially the case for people in high risk groups, although it needs to be said that high risk includes age and BMI, which means that literally a majority of Americans are high risk for the most serious Long COVID complications. We need to invest massively in Long COVID treatment, while also doing WEF-style prevention measures for this airborne illness like much better ventilation and air filtration in public places, as well as (yes I'm going to say it) masking indoors for anyone in a high risk group (which, again, is more than half the US).\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 9,349 |
"Millennials and Generation Z, born between 1981 and 2012, started tech careers during a decade-long expansion when jobs multiplied as fast as iPhone sales."Um, that is a time span of 31 years....can reporters please stop conflating Millennials and Gen-Z'ers as being the same thing!? Our lived experiences are way more different than boomers or Gen X'ers appear to assume. At 35, I'm pretty sure well over a decade ago my old millennial peers and I all graduated during the hellacious Great Recession, where we often worked for free or paltry wages to get experience for what felt like YEARS, not to mention had a near impossible time finding entry level full-time jobs that didn't require mom and dad to help contribute to rent (if you didn't have to stay at home). The struggle was real well through 2013. I know for a fact that I would be much further along financially and career-wise had I not graduated when I did. I have friends who are aged 23-25 who got to have white collar starting salaries $20k higher than I did, and overall had a much easier starting point which accelerated their career trajectory.
| 06f145900345949d0f9c68e07dd843bba0122445973f3b53ac5d58cf777b33d5 | [
{
"content": "\"Millennials and Generation Z, born between 1981 and 2012, started tech careers during a decade-long expansion when jobs multiplied as fast as iPhone sales.\"Um, that is a time span of 31 years....can reporters please stop conflating Millennials and Gen-Z'ers as being the same thing!? Our lived experiences are way more different than boomers or Gen X'ers appear to assume. At 35, I'm pretty sure well over a decade ago my old millennial peers and I all graduated during the hellacious Great Recession, where we often worked for free or paltry wages to get experience for what felt like YEARS, not to mention had a near impossible time finding entry level full-time jobs that didn't require mom and dad to help contribute to rent (if you didn't have to stay at home). The struggle was real well through 2013. I know for a fact that I would be much further along financially and career-wise had I not graduated when I did. I have friends who are aged 23-25 who got to have white collar starting salaries $20k higher than I did, and overall had a much easier starting point which accelerated their career trajectory.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 6,446 |
Those of us whose incomes can't keep up with the prices just have to eat more simply and make our own. Bread machines, crock pots and canning supplies are great investments, and most of us are already using less expensive meat, or just less of it. Somebody's eating the meat and fish that costs $20-30 a pound, but nobody I know!
| b2714f44a11530fde8c28b235d284d12e85048c005c42ce36d29a55e1441916e | [
{
"content": "Those of us whose incomes can't keep up with the prices just have to eat more simply and make our own. Bread machines, crock pots and canning supplies are great investments, and most of us are already using less expensive meat, or just less of it. Somebody's eating the meat and fish that costs $20-30 a pound, but nobody I know!\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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]
| yes | Classification | 7,773 |
Zeke My library opened it's own cafe with, of course, coffee! And on weekdays it's often open late. A member of the Westchester Library system- a group of independent libraries in Westchester that allow for free interlibrary loan-it has tons of books/DVDs/CDs and other things available. <a href="https://whiteplainslibrary.org" target="_blank">https://whiteplainslibrary.org</a>/
| f5cd9852fc0971d71092ecc356164a9d5c516777f50471bdbf56bc16a999b040 | [
{
"content": "Zeke My library opened it's own cafe with, of course, coffee! And on weekdays it's often open late. A member of the Westchester Library system- a group of independent libraries in Westchester that allow for free interlibrary loan-it has tons of books/DVDs/CDs and other things available. <a href=\"https://whiteplainslibrary.org\" target=\"_blank\">https://whiteplainslibrary.org</a>/\n",
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 1,751 |
Michael Tyndall Exactly. And they want to burn the place down even as they collect their paychecks to the tune of at least $174,000 a year.
| edef68f1b3c79c12be9a0a47eeb03977462cca55711276cca2d425a5cdecd821 | [
{
"content": "Michael Tyndall Exactly. And they want to burn the place down even as they collect their paychecks to the tune of at least $174,000 a year.\n",
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 3,520 |
My favorite story is the one about the 12 billion dollar investment in a new microchip plant. In Arizona. The single biggest requirement for production? Water. Did I mention the Arizona part? And what about all those high end techies moving in? Talk about a needy bunch.
| edcd781d454d38fd5cf4786c69dcb0ce97eb0984e8ce7cb570cb26bb417f2830 | [
{
"content": "My favorite story is the one about the 12 billion dollar investment in a new microchip plant. In Arizona. The single biggest requirement for production? Water. Did I mention the Arizona part? And what about all those high end techies moving in? Talk about a needy bunch.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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]
| no | Classification | 1,947 |
The first book to open (but not the last) is "Guns, Germs, and Steel".For some reason, left-wing academia hates this book's thesis, despite it being a straightforward NONracist way of explaining European global dominance after 1500 AD.
| c61b74791d10d3a39fe614f2e837b6b2e9f383e77087e082e2f0d8de27575bcb | [
{
"content": "The first book to open (but not the last) is \"Guns, Germs, and Steel\".For some reason, left-wing academia hates this book's thesis, despite it being a straightforward NONracist way of explaining European global dominance after 1500 AD.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 3,362 |
Send Santos back to Brazil NOW! Whatever else he’s done or is suspected of doing, he’s got an actual open criminal case facing him there. Let’s get him out if the country and away from the levers of power here, along as keeping him away from his criminal associates in the U.S. We can continue the investigations while he’s cooling his heels in some Brazilian detention facility. As for Kevin McCarthy, he KNOWINGLY swore in Santos when everyone in the entire country knew that his constitutional qualifications to serve are in doubt. That is criminal malfeasance and abuse of his office by Kevin. It’s also bribery: Kevin swore in Santos in return for his vote for Kevin’s Speakership. Talk about your classic quid-quo-pro corrupt deal! Kevin needs to be under arrest, too! RIGHT NOW! Why, in God’s name, do we tolerate this? No wonder the Republic is on its last kegs!
| 9c8d546949befff25a3c0f39f8f6217c0c92d8766069996a60e2874b1759e07a | [
{
"content": "Send Santos back to Brazil NOW! Whatever else he’s done or is suspected of doing, he’s got an actual open criminal case facing him there. Let’s get him out if the country and away from the levers of power here, along as keeping him away from his criminal associates in the U.S. We can continue the investigations while he’s cooling his heels in some Brazilian detention facility. As for Kevin McCarthy, he KNOWINGLY swore in Santos when everyone in the entire country knew that his constitutional qualifications to serve are in doubt. That is criminal malfeasance and abuse of his office by Kevin. It’s also bribery: Kevin swore in Santos in return for his vote for Kevin’s Speakership. Talk about your classic quid-quo-pro corrupt deal! Kevin needs to be under arrest, too! RIGHT NOW! Why, in God’s name, do we tolerate this? No wonder the Republic is on its last kegs!\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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]
| no | Classification | 2,118 |
Confidence in the nation's currency is of extreme importance. The US dollar is no longer collateralized by gold so individuals and countries who buy our treasury bills must be confident that the US can repay its debt. If confidence is lost because recalcitrant republicans refuse to cooperate, the consequences will be dire. The US Dollar serves as the world's reserve currency meaning most transactions across the world are based on the dollar. China is challenging the US for this envious position.But not to worry. Rep Boebert (who never graduated high school) sits on the budget committee and Republican George Santos is now in congress so Boebert is joined by a world class liar. What could possibly go wrong?
| de15b2920074f957e0a6a0a53528e20a7561c5e8facf51fe9e8972d8c00e5f19 | [
{
"content": "Confidence in the nation's currency is of extreme importance. The US dollar is no longer collateralized by gold so individuals and countries who buy our treasury bills must be confident that the US can repay its debt. If confidence is lost because recalcitrant republicans refuse to cooperate, the consequences will be dire. The US Dollar serves as the world's reserve currency meaning most transactions across the world are based on the dollar. China is challenging the US for this envious position.But not to worry. Rep Boebert (who never graduated high school) sits on the budget committee and Republican George Santos is now in congress so Boebert is joined by a world class liar. What could possibly go wrong?\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
"role": "assistant"
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]
| yes | Classification | 8,670 |
Me We don't have an open border, as evidenced by record detentions and drug seizures. One could argue that the Biden admin is doing a better job. They don't have to send POTUS or VP there for a useless photo op.
| b0903ded274ec8f66bcfd69c0f56f2f7a549de3913c05428109e7a378ffdebd7 | [
{
"content": "Me We don't have an open border, as evidenced by record detentions and drug seizures. One could argue that the Biden admin is doing a better job. They don't have to send POTUS or VP there for a useless photo op.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 3,880 |
bubba Luckily, the US does not have "an open southern border." Border apprehensions, ICE arrests and deportations are way up. Early on in Biden's presidency, ICE had prioritized arresting and deporting people with criminal histories but now most deported illegal immigrants have no known criminal convictions.Smart, effective border security is needed but so is immigration reform which really should to include something like the old Bracero program which permitted Mexican workers to come into the country on 6 month visas, mostly to do agricultural work. It worked well for 20 years. Biden can't do that on his own. He needs mature, competent bipartisan help from Congress, so you know this will never happen.
| 4fa5e1fbffa5832f8aa8c3341f7c17c58b9ab255ee5532b70817e4401fb1233d | [
{
"content": "bubba Luckily, the US does not have \"an open southern border.\" Border apprehensions, ICE arrests and deportations are way up. Early on in Biden's presidency, ICE had prioritized arresting and deporting people with criminal histories but now most deported illegal immigrants have no known criminal convictions.Smart, effective border security is needed but so is immigration reform which really should to include something like the old Bracero program which permitted Mexican workers to come into the country on 6 month visas, mostly to do agricultural work. It worked well for 20 years. Biden can't do that on his own. He needs mature, competent bipartisan help from Congress, so you know this will never happen.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 2,130 |
I purchased my first sets of Thinx on Tuesday 1/17/23, and in light of reading this article, I have attempted to return the unopened box that was delivered on 1/20. Thinx has not responded to my numerous attempts to contact them over the course of the weekend through their online portal and phone calls (despite me calling during what the recorded message says are their "normal business hours of 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern"), and Visa, my card servicer, refuses to formalize my disputed claim despite presenting the evidence of the situation and citing this article as a result of Thinx's return policy; some of the items were marked as "final sale" and are thus nonrefundable in ordinary circumstances. I submitted a dispute via PayPal and hopefully they will have the moral compass to assist me in being reimbursed. I will not be opening the box regardless of the outcome of the situation.I didn't know that this was a problem until I saw this article, and they've essentially swindled me out of close to $200 and saddled me with poisoned underwear. I've sent this article to all of my friends who use Thinx, and we feel utterly helpless. Thank you for your journalistic integrity and advocacy on behalf of all of us who menstruate.
| 70598fb15f1690939de63be0e787000547458ae05ee09f3a52d842eee5bfdda1 | [
{
"content": "I purchased my first sets of Thinx on Tuesday 1/17/23, and in light of reading this article, I have attempted to return the unopened box that was delivered on 1/20. Thinx has not responded to my numerous attempts to contact them over the course of the weekend through their online portal and phone calls (despite me calling during what the recorded message says are their \"normal business hours of 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern\"), and Visa, my card servicer, refuses to formalize my disputed claim despite presenting the evidence of the situation and citing this article as a result of Thinx's return policy; some of the items were marked as \"final sale\" and are thus nonrefundable in ordinary circumstances. I submitted a dispute via PayPal and hopefully they will have the moral compass to assist me in being reimbursed. I will not be opening the box regardless of the outcome of the situation.I didn't know that this was a problem until I saw this article, and they've essentially swindled me out of close to $200 and saddled me with poisoned underwear. I've sent this article to all of my friends who use Thinx, and we feel utterly helpless. Thank you for your journalistic integrity and advocacy on behalf of all of us who menstruate.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
"role": "assistant"
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]
| yes | Classification | 7,603 |
I absolutely feel like it should not be kept away from me if my child chooses to go by a different name in school. I do not think my child needs my permission to do so, but since I am solely responsible for my kid until they are adults school should NOT keep any info away from me. (Like, do they need to call me and tell me that this is what my child is doing - no, but if I bring it up, they should be completely open about what is going on.)I also want to comment on some commentors' lack of distinction between "socially transitioning in one setting only" vs. medical and surgical transitioning. Schools being open to calling your kid by a different name is NOT the same issue as minors being exposed to direct advertising of double mastectomy. Oh, and I also totally agree that legal name should be used on all "official" documents until legal petition for name change goes through!
| 6058430844355b13f4c62ef28874d1720978940ee4bba5860b9938fe3b56affa | [
{
"content": "I absolutely feel like it should not be kept away from me if my child chooses to go by a different name in school. I do not think my child needs my permission to do so, but since I am solely responsible for my kid until they are adults school should NOT keep any info away from me. (Like, do they need to call me and tell me that this is what my child is doing - no, but if I bring it up, they should be completely open about what is going on.)I also want to comment on some commentors' lack of distinction between \"socially transitioning in one setting only\" vs. medical and surgical transitioning. Schools being open to calling your kid by a different name is NOT the same issue as minors being exposed to direct advertising of double mastectomy. Oh, and I also totally agree that legal name should be used on all \"official\" documents until legal petition for name change goes through!\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "yes",
"role": "assistant"
}
]
| yes | Classification | 8,099 |
Patrick M ...we just bought Apple Air Tags to place in all of our luggage so we can track it in case it gets lost or delayed. Yes they cost $29 each, but to us, it's worth it. There are other brands of trackers on the market, but before you buy, I suggest you watch Joanna Stern's humorous video review that compares them with a drug sniffing dog: <a href="https://www.wsj.com/video/series/joanna-stern-personal-technology/apple-airtag-vs-drug-detection-dog-best-way-to-find-your-lost-stuff" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/video/series/joanna-stern-personal-technology/apple-airtag-vs-drug-detection-dog-best-way-to-find-your-lost-stuff</a>/
| e9603ef066a2a2e264dc41fd7bfda964a5271d4426ed69075c01249b03a2b3a8 | [
{
"content": "Patrick M ...we just bought Apple Air Tags to place in all of our luggage so we can track it in case it gets lost or delayed. Yes they cost $29 each, but to us, it's worth it. There are other brands of trackers on the market, but before you buy, I suggest you watch Joanna Stern's humorous video review that compares them with a drug sniffing dog: <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/video/series/joanna-stern-personal-technology/apple-airtag-vs-drug-detection-dog-best-way-to-find-your-lost-stuff\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.wsj.com/video/series/joanna-stern-personal-technology/apple-airtag-vs-drug-detection-dog-best-way-to-find-your-lost-stuff</a>/\n",
"role": "user"
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| yes | Classification | 8,712 |
AWESOME PUZZLE, PUZZLEMAKERS! Not only are the rebuses clever as HECK, they're symmetrical! Just wow. I am in awe of your talent. As it was for many others, Roswell was the lynchpin for me. SW was the last to fall. Like I do most brilliant puzzles, I went through the seven stages of CWing: (1) fear, (2) doubt, (3) despair, (4) twinges of hope, (5) progress, (6) stalemate, (7) invigorating relief. ALL THIS FUN for $5 a month?? Who NEEDS Paramount+??
| 00a332dc1ad03d210758fc8adc33f984e5a637d7f225de62d5e8e8e1f62c3b47 | [
{
"content": "AWESOME PUZZLE, PUZZLEMAKERS! Not only are the rebuses clever as HECK, they're symmetrical! Just wow. I am in awe of your talent. As it was for many others, Roswell was the lynchpin for me. SW was the last to fall. Like I do most brilliant puzzles, I went through the seven stages of CWing: (1) fear, (2) doubt, (3) despair, (4) twinges of hope, (5) progress, (6) stalemate, (7) invigorating relief. ALL THIS FUN for $5 a month?? Who NEEDS Paramount+??\n",
"role": "user"
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| no | Classification | 4,610 |
I direct a law project to protect homeowners from these kinds of scams and predatory investment. It's terrifying to see how prevalent these practices are in NYC and how they successfully target the most vulnerable homeowners, usually seniors and communities of color. Every time we think we identify and address a new scam, another creative trick pops up. The perdators use the court system, existing laws, notarial laws and shielding of identities by setting up limited liability companies, to carry out these schemes. These cases are very hard to prosecute because of the burden of proof and insufficient resources, both civilly and criminally. There's often a whole group of actors involved in addition to the primary predator - the appraiser, title company, potted plant lawyer who is supposedly representing the homeowner, brokers. These should be prosecuted as conspiracy or criminal enterprise because this guy is not a lone actor. These crimes are astonishing in the amount of value involved - often multimillion dollar brownstones. NY gives much more attention to petty crimes like fare evasion and purse snatching that are nothing in comparison. I appreciate this article because it raises public awareness of the extent of these practices.
| dc62f0b562bbed6efb32c01d145c7898d671136d6aa9d861b7cc90e6817a7a59 | [
{
"content": "I direct a law project to protect homeowners from these kinds of scams and predatory investment. It's terrifying to see how prevalent these practices are in NYC and how they successfully target the most vulnerable homeowners, usually seniors and communities of color. Every time we think we identify and address a new scam, another creative trick pops up. The perdators use the court system, existing laws, notarial laws and shielding of identities by setting up limited liability companies, to carry out these schemes. These cases are very hard to prosecute because of the burden of proof and insufficient resources, both civilly and criminally. There's often a whole group of actors involved in addition to the primary predator - the appraiser, title company, potted plant lawyer who is supposedly representing the homeowner, brokers. These should be prosecuted as conspiracy or criminal enterprise because this guy is not a lone actor. These crimes are astonishing in the amount of value involved - often multimillion dollar brownstones. NY gives much more attention to petty crimes like fare evasion and purse snatching that are nothing in comparison. I appreciate this article because it raises public awareness of the extent of these practices.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
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| yes | Classification | 6,671 |
I'm astonished that either of you would consider Ron DeSantis "Trumpy without Trump." As David says, to paraphrase, DeSantis has zero social skills and thinks the media is his enemy. He is responsible for preventable deaths from Covid because of his open-for-business policies and his surgeon general, who doesn't believe in vaccines or masks. I lived in Florida during lockdown and when my mayor instituted a mask mandate, DeSantis revoked it (as well as for all municipalities). His stunt transporting asylum seekers to Martha's Vineyard was cruel, and his authoritarian rule over educational institutions ("Don't Say Gay" law, etc.) is even more so. The next time you write a column together please remove him from your discussion.
| f30f334fa125ce6f08d20938e5650ffbea48c2abaff3e7f9f47e6b0810dab92e | [
{
"content": "I'm astonished that either of you would consider Ron DeSantis \"Trumpy without Trump.\" As David says, to paraphrase, DeSantis has zero social skills and thinks the media is his enemy. He is responsible for preventable deaths from Covid because of his open-for-business policies and his surgeon general, who doesn't believe in vaccines or masks. I lived in Florida during lockdown and when my mayor instituted a mask mandate, DeSantis revoked it (as well as for all municipalities). His stunt transporting asylum seekers to Martha's Vineyard was cruel, and his authoritarian rule over educational institutions (\"Don't Say Gay\" law, etc.) is even more so. The next time you write a column together please remove him from your discussion.\n",
"role": "user"
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| no | Classification | 4,269 |
Eric B Wordle 571 3/6*🟩⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩🟨🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩No deuce for me today, but this three is just fine. Word two pointed out the places for both opening yellows, and then a three was there for the taking.Yesterday's words:STARE 133 words leftGRIND 2 words leftGRIMY — words leftGRIND substituted for GOURD, my usual word in a lonely-R situation. The sub got me three greens where GOURD would have gotten only one. I saw GRILL as a possible for word three, but thought that it had been used already (I haven't checked) so I moved on and landed the solution.rayincleve, I too am suspicious of the bot's landing a deuce in two recent puzzles with not many letters known to it. We humans would be rewarded with low skill scores for going for the quick kill, but it went for it with reckless abandon. It sounds like a double-standard to me. Or does it know something we don't know? Maybe the bot made nice with the random-number generator and got a few hints on the sly.Great Lakes, Interesting statistics, and more than I might spend time doing (says he who cranked out a list of anagram solution pairs by hand in the dead of night and clearly is not one to talk). If you start turning in a lot of short solves then I'll know you've found something.I too found the purge of our thread annoying. I didn't see that it had happened twice again. I don't get out here as often later in the day.Eric B, lots of short-solves in the early A.M. today.Stay dry, Cali-bees.
| 46ac22a7ee16ed366e4aaca973c5f46677cd40ded1d338a09cf4bb39c998b2a4 | [
{
"content": "Eric B Wordle 571 3/6*🟩⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩🟨🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩No deuce for me today, but this three is just fine. Word two pointed out the places for both opening yellows, and then a three was there for the taking.Yesterday's words:STARE 133 words leftGRIND 2 words leftGRIMY — words leftGRIND substituted for GOURD, my usual word in a lonely-R situation. The sub got me three greens where GOURD would have gotten only one. I saw GRILL as a possible for word three, but thought that it had been used already (I haven't checked) so I moved on and landed the solution.rayincleve, I too am suspicious of the bot's landing a deuce in two recent puzzles with not many letters known to it. We humans would be rewarded with low skill scores for going for the quick kill, but it went for it with reckless abandon. It sounds like a double-standard to me. Or does it know something we don't know? Maybe the bot made nice with the random-number generator and got a few hints on the sly.Great Lakes, Interesting statistics, and more than I might spend time doing (says he who cranked out a list of anagram solution pairs by hand in the dead of night and clearly is not one to talk). If you start turning in a lot of short solves then I'll know you've found something.I too found the purge of our thread annoying. I didn't see that it had happened twice again. I don't get out here as often later in the day.Eric B, lots of short-solves in the early A.M. today.Stay dry, Cali-bees.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,221 |
Your essay, Ms. Renkl, brought back a mortifying memory. Summer of '19, when my wife and I visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Where we paused for a snapshot. And facing the tower (stooped as if it'd dropped a penny)--taking my wife's picture, had an inspiration. "How about you lean over to one side? In the same direction, at the same angle as the tower behind you?" So she did. And as I snapped my photo----I looked up and noticed that virtually every human being posing for a picture was doing the same thing. Oh why can't we be original? We try so hard. I agree with you, Ms. Renkl, about selfies. And turning away our eyes--fixing them upon the natural wonders around us. But I would humbly suggest----even the most spectacular backdrop! Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon--is made more personal, more intimate by having a human being in front of it. We respond to pictures of our own kind. But I share your distaste--if distaste it is! for selfies. I've never taken one in my life. I never will. One last thing. Those immense wings of a vulture "extended in benediction"?I'd rather not be blessed by a vulture. Scanning me from a great height--and wondering what he'd like to have with me.I'm not dead yet, Mr. Vulture. Thanks anyway.
| b366312372c8df88280d7caf66b51d17d5b5263ae65e1ddec33ac19f5c116a27 | [
{
"content": "Your essay, Ms. Renkl, brought back a mortifying memory. Summer of '19, when my wife and I visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Where we paused for a snapshot. And facing the tower (stooped as if it'd dropped a penny)--taking my wife's picture, had an inspiration. \"How about you lean over to one side? In the same direction, at the same angle as the tower behind you?\" So she did. And as I snapped my photo----I looked up and noticed that virtually every human being posing for a picture was doing the same thing. Oh why can't we be original? We try so hard. I agree with you, Ms. Renkl, about selfies. And turning away our eyes--fixing them upon the natural wonders around us. But I would humbly suggest----even the most spectacular backdrop! Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon--is made more personal, more intimate by having a human being in front of it. We respond to pictures of our own kind. But I share your distaste--if distaste it is! for selfies. I've never taken one in my life. I never will. One last thing. Those immense wings of a vulture \"extended in benediction\"?I'd rather not be blessed by a vulture. Scanning me from a great height--and wondering what he'd like to have with me.I'm not dead yet, Mr. Vulture. Thanks anyway.\n",
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| no | Classification | 1,412 |
They can spend, what, $60 billion to produce a money-losing half-baked SecondLife knockoff, which is so bad that even their own employees don't use it... but can't bankroll something that would actually help people get around in the real world?
| 8b6b7aa077a57725c778ed6ad8e963d613ff86c15f37e35c850ed9ece5b0553f | [
{
"content": "They can spend, what, $60 billion to produce a money-losing half-baked SecondLife knockoff, which is so bad that even their own employees don't use it... but can't bankroll something that would actually help people get around in the real world?\n",
"role": "user"
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{
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| no | Classification | 2,692 |
Paul Krugman Yep... He and Jimmy Carter are neck and for greatest President ever . Lets see ,he spent us into inflation . He really messed up the Afghanistan withdrawal . He ended remain in Mexico and told illegals to surge the border in his run for office giving us a border that no longer is .. He has been trying to kill fossil fuels while asking Iran and Venezuela to produce more .His weakness has now given US a war in the Ukraine . Oh and now he has clessified DOCS locked in his garage . A huge success
| 103a5d5dd2158ecc85de4bb231f4a6ec1ddf9eb7e54ed678a401e707c3859da8 | [
{
"content": "Paul Krugman Yep... He and Jimmy Carter are neck and for greatest President ever . Lets see ,he spent us into inflation . He really messed up the Afghanistan withdrawal . He ended remain in Mexico and told illegals to surge the border in his run for office giving us a border that no longer is .. He has been trying to kill fossil fuels while asking Iran and Venezuela to produce more .His weakness has now given US a war in the Ukraine . Oh and now he has clessified DOCS locked in his garage . A huge success\n",
"role": "user"
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| yes | Classification | 6,747 |
This is very good, as far as it goes. But to me the question isn't "What's going on with the Republican Party?" (who cares), but rather: "What on earth is wrong with Republican voters??"Biden famously said their "fever will break." Wrong. Even as Trump recedes in power and influence, other spotlight-seeking bomb throwers emerge (Gaetz and Boebert and Greene and the others who will happily push the global economy off the debt cliff if it gains them some tv time). Who wants these crazies? Why? Of course the answer will have a lot, but not everything, to do with the right-wing media system (a.k.a. "Fox News Extended Cinematic Universe," so named because it deals almost entirely in existential "battles" against imaginary villains). Many white wing voters spend so much time in the vortex of these fictive blood-and-guts dramas ("woke M&Ms," litter boxes in classrooms, pizza store sex rings, etc.) that they literally don't know what is actually happening. Ignorance leads to easy manipulation, obviously.How can we have participatory democracy when a third of the country willingly wallows in goo-goo conspiracy theories? We all want to know when these people are going to "wake up," but it seems clear they will not. Why?
| 1fb72905dc2c5818f3dceea5c4cda9f205b44233ab829de5f068d7b22fba7040 | [
{
"content": "This is very good, as far as it goes. But to me the question isn't \"What's going on with the Republican Party?\" (who cares), but rather: \"What on earth is wrong with Republican voters??\"Biden famously said their \"fever will break.\" Wrong. Even as Trump recedes in power and influence, other spotlight-seeking bomb throwers emerge (Gaetz and Boebert and Greene and the others who will happily push the global economy off the debt cliff if it gains them some tv time). Who wants these crazies? Why? Of course the answer will have a lot, but not everything, to do with the right-wing media system (a.k.a. \"Fox News Extended Cinematic Universe,\" so named because it deals almost entirely in existential \"battles\" against imaginary villains). Many white wing voters spend so much time in the vortex of these fictive blood-and-guts dramas (\"woke M&Ms,\" litter boxes in classrooms, pizza store sex rings, etc.) that they literally don't know what is actually happening. Ignorance leads to easy manipulation, obviously.How can we have participatory democracy when a third of the country willingly wallows in goo-goo conspiracy theories? We all want to know when these people are going to \"wake up,\" but it seems clear they will not. Why?\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,776 |
L4: Ouch. That is one expensive lesson. You're out $400 bucks and you've lost a friend (although clearly not a great one). Moral being, get reimbursed Before the event.
| 11025f2916c28a0d5ecb1495f422284493ab945f2bc74d877b7146f1985354ed | [
{
"content": "L4: Ouch. That is one expensive lesson. You're out $400 bucks and you've lost a friend (although clearly not a great one). Moral being, get reimbursed Before the event.\n",
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| no | Classification | 4,059 |
I'll still go with Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel who has pointed out that medicine has not really extended the life span or even "healthy life" over the past 100 years so much as decreased child mortality, thus increasing the average life span. Most uman bodies begin to decline in the 70s, something that was true eons ago and still is. Dr. Emanuel's famous 2014 essay (with a misleading title) in the Atlantic is worth reading: <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329" target="_blank">https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329</a>/By the way I turn 75 next month and have begun to face the music, including asking for less elaborate and intrusive medical care. I see this as getting off the stage to make space for my beloved great-nephews and great-nieces (ages 1-10). Life has been a great gift. Though I do not wish a painful death, the end of life will not be tragic.
| b56a3e368850465fdb00ba3447354b8e370d92783d336bee8deea844564bccbf | [
{
"content": "I'll still go with Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel who has pointed out that medicine has not really extended the life span or even \"healthy life\" over the past 100 years so much as decreased child mortality, thus increasing the average life span. Most uman bodies begin to decline in the 70s, something that was true eons ago and still is. Dr. Emanuel's famous 2014 essay (with a misleading title) in the Atlantic is worth reading: <a href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329</a>/By the way I turn 75 next month and have begun to face the music, including asking for less elaborate and intrusive medical care. I see this as getting off the stage to make space for my beloved great-nephews and great-nieces (ages 1-10). Life has been a great gift. Though I do not wish a painful death, the end of life will not be tragic.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 9,144 |
jprfrog We never made more than $135,000 between the two of us and we moved out of the city in 2002 after selling our co-op in Hudson Heights which we purchased in 1988. $1,000,000 in savings and investments and a current home. We owned a car and also a home outside the city where we travelled pretty much every weekend, paid our city taxes, car insurance, home owners insurance, groceries and recreational drugs, home owners insurance on the 2nd home, taxes, utilities, gas to drive back and forth. It can be done. And to think a sibling who brought in more income with the spouse actually borrowed money from us and took forever to pay it back.
| e7e119d6a5be64646cb4343fd3cd381ae47c3596bdfe1d6a583bbb61416dd7ab | [
{
"content": "jprfrog We never made more than $135,000 between the two of us and we moved out of the city in 2002 after selling our co-op in Hudson Heights which we purchased in 1988. $1,000,000 in savings and investments and a current home. We owned a car and also a home outside the city where we travelled pretty much every weekend, paid our city taxes, car insurance, home owners insurance, groceries and recreational drugs, home owners insurance on the 2nd home, taxes, utilities, gas to drive back and forth. It can be done. And to think a sibling who brought in more income with the spouse actually borrowed money from us and took forever to pay it back.\n",
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| no | Classification | 4,066 |
Heartfelt and honest words. Still the one question that looms above all else is who paid 700,000USD to have this puppet run for Congress? Who's behind him? Might it be a foreign power? 700,000USD to have an agent in the Capitol isn't much. Is the FBI looking into this? Who is George Santos? Who does he work for? Who is he working for now, right now?Everything else, while important, is secondary.
| 8af7e435bb39484d00abe28f95a46474bbdfa93852a7b4bd933087bf07f44123 | [
{
"content": "Heartfelt and honest words. Still the one question that looms above all else is who paid 700,000USD to have this puppet run for Congress? Who's behind him? Might it be a foreign power? 700,000USD to have an agent in the Capitol isn't much. Is the FBI looking into this? Who is George Santos? Who does he work for? Who is he working for now, right now?Everything else, while important, is secondary.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 4,599 |
Hunter Biden has a lot of baggage to handle. Get it out in the open and clean up what can be cleaned up. Those that wish to assist in the effort should resist making comparisons to the transgressions of the Trump Family, their time will come. Of critical concern, Hunter Biden needs to be forthcoming and make sure the public hears his story from him. Undoubtedly his detractors will do everything in their power to make out his story to be much worse than it is in actuality. It will be embarrassing; however by getting it out in the open on his terms he will be able to cope much better going forward.
| c7578c81658aa9303e3a25ff1777b95d7ca6ffe55b37883f2a9203d866478496 | [
{
"content": "Hunter Biden has a lot of baggage to handle. Get it out in the open and clean up what can be cleaned up. Those that wish to assist in the effort should resist making comparisons to the transgressions of the Trump Family, their time will come. Of critical concern, Hunter Biden needs to be forthcoming and make sure the public hears his story from him. Undoubtedly his detractors will do everything in their power to make out his story to be much worse than it is in actuality. It will be embarrassing; however by getting it out in the open on his terms he will be able to cope much better going forward.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
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| no | Classification | 4,688 |
All public employees’ salaries are open to everyone to examine. It has not satisfied either the public nor enabled public employees to gain parity with people in the private sector who perform the same work. This proposal is intended to force employers to pay all the same by discouraging more generous pay to retain some who are perceived to offer more than the rest. What it will do is incentivize the better performers to leave. Since they likely are more productive, the productivity be affected.
| aafe6d2223f11691f7f3a3425fc65863b46fa2b41de865a68be36af76bb6bb73 | [
{
"content": "All public employees’ salaries are open to everyone to examine. It has not satisfied either the public nor enabled public employees to gain parity with people in the private sector who perform the same work. This proposal is intended to force employers to pay all the same by discouraging more generous pay to retain some who are perceived to offer more than the rest. What it will do is incentivize the better performers to leave. Since they likely are more productive, the productivity be affected.\n",
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| no | Classification | 3,673 |
The size of debt is important, but without substantial debt, our life will be near miserable.An average 30 year-old, middleclass American who has a job like that of teacher, which is stable with a salary of around $60,000 annually, who is married with two children aged five and three; spouse also has a (part-time) job, bringing around $30,000. If they own a house, with a mortgage debt of $200,000 and cars with $40,000-debt, we may see this substantial debt "acceptable." If this couple waits until they have saved up enough money to own a house or cars, they are putting themselves in close to unbearable strain and discomfort. There is a significant risk in incurring $240,000 debt when their income is only $90,000 a year. But if they are careful, as most people are, they can manage.And the size of our national debt is not that much different.A good way to tackle the $31 trillion debt is by taxing the very-well-off a "tiny bit" more, not as they would be paying in the Eisenhower-presidency, but a lot more than in the Reagan presidency, even a bit more than in the Clinton presidency:Those who make over $10 million annually ought to pay at 50% rate on their earnings over $10 million, with two more rates between 37% and 50%. Then a few other taxations on financial transactions, wealth tax but much lower than Elizabeth Warren recommended.
| 2d1a1b74645aae2fad29e909bbbe6a69641e57a5b126c1dddd7da2ce4c211fef | [
{
"content": "The size of debt is important, but without substantial debt, our life will be near miserable.An average 30 year-old, middleclass American who has a job like that of teacher, which is stable with a salary of around $60,000 annually, who is married with two children aged five and three; spouse also has a (part-time) job, bringing around $30,000. If they own a house, with a mortgage debt of $200,000 and cars with $40,000-debt, we may see this substantial debt \"acceptable.\" If this couple waits until they have saved up enough money to own a house or cars, they are putting themselves in close to unbearable strain and discomfort. There is a significant risk in incurring $240,000 debt when their income is only $90,000 a year. But if they are careful, as most people are, they can manage.And the size of our national debt is not that much different.A good way to tackle the $31 trillion debt is by taxing the very-well-off a \"tiny bit\" more, not as they would be paying in the Eisenhower-presidency, but a lot more than in the Reagan presidency, even a bit more than in the Clinton presidency:Those who make over $10 million annually ought to pay at 50% rate on their earnings over $10 million, with two more rates between 37% and 50%. Then a few other taxations on financial transactions, wealth tax but much lower than Elizabeth Warren recommended.\n",
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 5,957 |
Lew Bryson I guess we won’t be deficit spending...rich pay more taxes, government spends less. Less military, less oil and ag giveaways, price controls on medical procedures, fully staffed IRS. Plenty to do.
| d54bfa6adea85adfc32a1f879c85bc1a14e4359ac96123cd748d61c1b2005a09 | [
{
"content": "Lew Bryson I guess we won’t be deficit spending...rich pay more taxes, government spends less. Less military, less oil and ag giveaways, price controls on medical procedures, fully staffed IRS. Plenty to do.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 7,318 |
With patents costing around $20,000, the system is meant to be gamed by the rich to the detriment of the poor.
| a5d41b6ab5da86b9f2013bd0b02485189c7df2cdf2669f25c3448eba682ba853 | [
{
"content": "With patents costing around $20,000, the system is meant to be gamed by the rich to the detriment of the poor.\n",
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 9,633 |
Great article. Every player should have a right to earn whatever they can. While it's disappointing that college athletic departments may lose some funding, I think we need to take a step back and remember what the purpose of college is. It's to prepare students for a job after college. Frankly, the fact that colleges spend significant amounts of money on sports that cost money (rather than bring in $$) is absurd in an environment where the cost of tuition is often about $75k/year. Especially at public institutions this seems like a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money.
| df4b8172481b86400640404aa3cd58b9b2996ba660e41d41d317d39bf533785b | [
{
"content": "Great article. Every player should have a right to earn whatever they can. While it's disappointing that college athletic departments may lose some funding, I think we need to take a step back and remember what the purpose of college is. It's to prepare students for a job after college. Frankly, the fact that colleges spend significant amounts of money on sports that cost money (rather than bring in $$) is absurd in an environment where the cost of tuition is often about $75k/year. Especially at public institutions this seems like a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money.\n",
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| no | Classification | 3,082 |
US funding to bring chip production home is very crucial, necessary and good. But it's too little, too late.Xi Jinping's ambition to absorb Taiwan into communist rule is palpably impatient and on a collision course with Joe Biden's commitment to arm and defend Taiwan. Such a war could easily cause the worst economic calamity in a century by destroying our trade relationship with China. I'd be all too happy to see our dependency on China for manufacturing end but not via the massive economic depression that war could bring.Unfortunately, many nations are engaged in a China-related arms race. It's been widely publicized that China, Japan, Australia and the USA are all ramping up arms in a contingency plans for war, all hoping war won't be needed. But looking at Xi Jinping's actions, it's foolish to assume that Taiwan's destiny will be peacefully resolved.Taiwan is the leading center of high end chip manufacturing in the world. That alone explains most of Biden's selective commitment to Taiwan's independence.Bringing chip factories home may worsen wage inflation that could allow the Fed to justify additional punitive rate hikes. The Fed has "deflated" trillions of dollars from equities markets and severely punished longtime tech investors like myself.With 58% of Americans normally invested in equities, this isn't about rich folks. US leaders simply don't have a clue that blowing billions on home tech is impotent while the Fed aggressively destroys tech investors.
| beec44d157f29e3edd214052b0d1d402c659c8d98bd0b1c28617e2f9c9285f4f | [
{
"content": "US funding to bring chip production home is very crucial, necessary and good. But it's too little, too late.Xi Jinping's ambition to absorb Taiwan into communist rule is palpably impatient and on a collision course with Joe Biden's commitment to arm and defend Taiwan. Such a war could easily cause the worst economic calamity in a century by destroying our trade relationship with China. I'd be all too happy to see our dependency on China for manufacturing end but not via the massive economic depression that war could bring.Unfortunately, many nations are engaged in a China-related arms race. It's been widely publicized that China, Japan, Australia and the USA are all ramping up arms in a contingency plans for war, all hoping war won't be needed. But looking at Xi Jinping's actions, it's foolish to assume that Taiwan's destiny will be peacefully resolved.Taiwan is the leading center of high end chip manufacturing in the world. That alone explains most of Biden's selective commitment to Taiwan's independence.Bringing chip factories home may worsen wage inflation that could allow the Fed to justify additional punitive rate hikes. The Fed has \"deflated\" trillions of dollars from equities markets and severely punished longtime tech investors like myself.With 58% of Americans normally invested in equities, this isn't about rich folks. US leaders simply don't have a clue that blowing billions on home tech is impotent while the Fed aggressively destroys tech investors.\n",
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| no | Classification | 678 |
I live in a suburb of Minneapolis that is dotted with wetlands and home to a lot of different creatures. It is also almost fully developed, with very few empty lots. We recently had a farmer move into our neighborhood who noted that he sees a lot more wildlife in our neighborhood than he did on his farm. The sad truth is that so many farmers have destroyed habitat for wildlife in their quest to farm as many acres as possible. Wildlife now find the suburbs more hospitable than open farmland. We see turkeys, geese, ducks, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and even bald eagles on a regular basis and listen to coyotes howling in the night.
| b75acf76fe68cd5756ea7b775afd43081da71f9461d0ba36719c68994eef9244 | [
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"content": "I live in a suburb of Minneapolis that is dotted with wetlands and home to a lot of different creatures. It is also almost fully developed, with very few empty lots. We recently had a farmer move into our neighborhood who noted that he sees a lot more wildlife in our neighborhood than he did on his farm. The sad truth is that so many farmers have destroyed habitat for wildlife in their quest to farm as many acres as possible. Wildlife now find the suburbs more hospitable than open farmland. We see turkeys, geese, ducks, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and even bald eagles on a regular basis and listen to coyotes howling in the night.\n",
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| no | Classification | 4,815 |
Another extremely high-priced drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb is causing financial difficulties for AFib victims. There are less expensive anticoagulant drugs, but eliquis is the drug being prescribed by doctors. Generics were supposed to be available this year but the US patent and trademark office has now extended the eliquis patent to November 2026. There seems to be very little control over drug companies in the United States.
| 1287c179d2a9c20e19ae8891942c61a86b359c8bda7c772a80daa90076e2c311 | [
{
"content": "Another extremely high-priced drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb is causing financial difficulties for AFib victims. There are less expensive anticoagulant drugs, but eliquis is the drug being prescribed by doctors. Generics were supposed to be available this year but the US patent and trademark office has now extended the eliquis patent to November 2026. There seems to be very little control over drug companies in the United States.\n",
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| no | Classification | 1,357 |
Steve True that. Seems this is more a ‘not my fault’ piece and not a true introspection. With a few trial balloons thrown in to boot. Little realization that the Party of Business has morphed into the Party of Money that has been co-opted and paid for by billionaire financed hordes and think tank rationalizers. The Kochs and copycats have spent billions since the 90s to influence laws not just through K-street, which was bad enough, but by actually installing their minions ala George Santos into our Democracy to do their bidding (if they want to keep their seats.) McCain was right... Cherchez le money.and those who ignore that are just blowing smoke.
| 361ceac0b7c141367394a17dd0e97099a8542116e0b62a47c5568fba522dd785 | [
{
"content": "Steve True that. Seems this is more a ‘not my fault’ piece and not a true introspection. With a few trial balloons thrown in to boot. Little realization that the Party of Business has morphed into the Party of Money that has been co-opted and paid for by billionaire financed hordes and think tank rationalizers. The Kochs and copycats have spent billions since the 90s to influence laws not just through K-street, which was bad enough, but by actually installing their minions ala George Santos into our Democracy to do their bidding (if they want to keep their seats.) McCain was right... Cherchez le money.and those who ignore that are just blowing smoke.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 8,004 |
From the article: “With the seniority-based pay systems that are prevalent across East Asia, companies want to push older employees off the payroll, not extend their time on the job.”Seniority isn’t exactly the same in the US, it’s just that annual reviews push experienced worker salaries higher than entry level salaries. In the US many of us get pushed out the door in our 50s. I’m an example and I’m not alone, there are a lot of us struggling to put food on the table and make Medicare without depleting our retirement savings before retiring. I doubt the post-pandemic economy will change that.
| de5b81d09f4949412f6d754033bda4a78112fc41eecfaa97d88fdefd88c76ae9 | [
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"content": "From the article: “With the seniority-based pay systems that are prevalent across East Asia, companies want to push older employees off the payroll, not extend their time on the job.”Seniority isn’t exactly the same in the US, it’s just that annual reviews push experienced worker salaries higher than entry level salaries. In the US many of us get pushed out the door in our 50s. I’m an example and I’m not alone, there are a lot of us struggling to put food on the table and make Medicare without depleting our retirement savings before retiring. I doubt the post-pandemic economy will change that.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 5,504 |
My FP charges about $200 for each time we meet, usually once a year.
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"content": "My FP charges about $200 for each time we meet, usually once a year.\n",
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| no | Classification | 1,294 |
Amanda Possibly. But it seems to me that would make it difficult to fill openings. And I think US government contractors, and possibly state, may be legally required to advertise openings.
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"content": "Amanda Possibly. But it seems to me that would make it difficult to fill openings. And I think US government contractors, and possibly state, may be legally required to advertise openings.\n",
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| no | Classification | 2,305 |
I don’t see a problem with Harry writing a book. After all, his father Prince Charles wrote one many years ago to set the record straight. Then there was Diana who worked with Andrew Morton to write a book. Charles wanted Harry to be financially independent well now he will be based on the record sales of the book. I was most surprised that William never mentored Harry at all after his mothers death and seemed to encourage bad behavior from Harry. This has been a real eye opener. Soar high Harry. You’ve earned it.
| 7afff77851704e74ed7666f7a44d6bd0bbf9ef8883fc83a24f0a1c86b5de4ec7 | [
{
"content": "I don’t see a problem with Harry writing a book. After all, his father Prince Charles wrote one many years ago to set the record straight. Then there was Diana who worked with Andrew Morton to write a book. Charles wanted Harry to be financially independent well now he will be based on the record sales of the book. I was most surprised that William never mentored Harry at all after his mothers death and seemed to encourage bad behavior from Harry. This has been a real eye opener. Soar high Harry. You’ve earned it.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,667 |
Jason W after all these years, I still can't copy a ranges of cells from an Excel spreadsheet and paste it into an Outlook email without all the currency amounts receiving seven extra spaces that cause the figures to wrap. If Microsoft engineers can't fix that, they deserve to be laid off,
| 458ea161411492a234c14eb74f08d318da933dc624cbd7846308efc93cb65676 | [
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"content": "Jason W after all these years, I still can't copy a ranges of cells from an Excel spreadsheet and paste it into an Outlook email without all the currency amounts receiving seven extra spaces that cause the figures to wrap. If Microsoft engineers can't fix that, they deserve to be laid off,\n",
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| yes | Classification | 5,086 |
There is no will in this city to build any housing that is remotely affordable for people who actually work for a living. Housing has become a real life hunger game. The only way anything gets built is with massive taxpayer subsidies to vulture capitalist developers who deign to designate 10% of what they build affordable. But have you ever seen what "affordable" is? A one bedroom for $2500 with an income limit of $48,000 and no substantial assets like retirement savings. The lucky tenant who wins that lottery will never be able to save for retirement or even for a $400 unexpected emergency.
| ae9990ada93e348f3d763cd4466ecbb806a03c96ca9fc1382e5a5a85506eff10 | [
{
"content": "There is no will in this city to build any housing that is remotely affordable for people who actually work for a living. Housing has become a real life hunger game. The only way anything gets built is with massive taxpayer subsidies to vulture capitalist developers who deign to designate 10% of what they build affordable. But have you ever seen what \"affordable\" is? A one bedroom for $2500 with an income limit of $48,000 and no substantial assets like retirement savings. The lucky tenant who wins that lottery will never be able to save for retirement or even for a $400 unexpected emergency.\n",
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| no | Classification | 4,418 |
Look Ahead , AbbVie's follow on patent filing, litigation and "pay to delay" settlement tactics have been a common strategy for pharma and biotech for a long time. The strategy leverages initially legal monopoly power and extends and broadens that power. It's what corporations do to maximize profits and increase their stock price, and AbbVie is correct when it says that it is acting within the parameters of the law. But, from the perspective of the greater public good, the law, or rather laws, is the problem. The fix not only requires changes in Medicare/ Medicaid ability to negotiate prices, either legislative or court decision changes in antitrust law, but also changes in the patent regime and specific laws applying to drug patents and generic competition.
| fdd59cc50de52f7dd8f2f862efb65580b3a1068d590eec1891d0821ee8b7e64c | [
{
"content": "Look Ahead , AbbVie's follow on patent filing, litigation and \"pay to delay\" settlement tactics have been a common strategy for pharma and biotech for a long time. The strategy leverages initially legal monopoly power and extends and broadens that power. It's what corporations do to maximize profits and increase their stock price, and AbbVie is correct when it says that it is acting within the parameters of the law. But, from the perspective of the greater public good, the law, or rather laws, is the problem. The fix not only requires changes in Medicare/ Medicaid ability to negotiate prices, either legislative or court decision changes in antitrust law, but also changes in the patent regime and specific laws applying to drug patents and generic competition.\n",
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| no | Classification | 172 |
Of course it’s not a slush fund. The discretionary funds I was referring to are the budget appropriations which are spending limits for government programs. For example, Biden requested and received a defense appropriation for $817 billion. That doesn’t mean he is obligated to spend that much on defense. It’s an upper limit. There is nothing to prevent him from spending only $700 billion thereby reducing the deficit by $117 billion. By reducing spending in other budgetary appropriations Biden could eliminate much if not all of the deficit which would eliminate the debt ceiling problem.
| 3dd7de4113bd8827a5bcb6a8fac9c22efb3c5dd7a9ac1015230f5930ed996731 | [
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"content": "Of course it’s not a slush fund. The discretionary funds I was referring to are the budget appropriations which are spending limits for government programs. For example, Biden requested and received a defense appropriation for $817 billion. That doesn’t mean he is obligated to spend that much on defense. It’s an upper limit. There is nothing to prevent him from spending only $700 billion thereby reducing the deficit by $117 billion. By reducing spending in other budgetary appropriations Biden could eliminate much if not all of the deficit which would eliminate the debt ceiling problem.\n",
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"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 8,545 |
$1.6B would send a message. $1.6M also sends a completely different message. I know it's the "maximum" allowed in this particluar case, but the message is: "Tax fraud... Meh. We forgive you. Have a nice day."
| d4a17d746f53ca99ba2685f65b8fc7f46483fb7c666913d516eb6101c79ed8de | [
{
"content": "$1.6B would send a message. $1.6M also sends a completely different message. I know it's the \"maximum\" allowed in this particluar case, but the message is: \"Tax fraud... Meh. We forgive you. Have a nice day.\"\n",
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 5,975 |
When it came to foreign policy, Mr. Trump was actually quite successful. He encouraged India, Japan and Australia to join the Quad to be a check on China. He pushed through Abrams accord to advance peace in middle east. He started imposing tariffs on China to punish them for anti competitive practices. He pulled out of Iran deal. He encouraged our NATO partners to spend more on defense ( atleast 2% of GDP according to treaty). Our NATO allies like Italy, Germany, Slovenia etc spend less than 1% of defense while we spend 3%. Mr. Biden has not reversed any of Trump's foreign policy which shows Mr. Biden and his team understands the success of Trump's foreign policy. I hope Mr. DeSantis can take that lead. There needs to more sanctions on Iran as they threaten our ally Israel. Israel needs more support to ward off Palestinian threat and threat from Iran. We also need to spend more on military as China is challenging liberal world order. We need more ships and planes to patrol south china sea. DeSantis's record in congress and his speeches now point to this. Hopefully he can win and implement these policies. Our competition with China would be similar to our cold war with Soviets. We need more military spending to counter China, because as Raegan said Peace can be achieved only through strength.
| 9a64f9f5d6a61ba9bc0735c6864fd63df989b363c3ab2fc72d852ff06c2ca4ab | [
{
"content": "When it came to foreign policy, Mr. Trump was actually quite successful. He encouraged India, Japan and Australia to join the Quad to be a check on China. He pushed through Abrams accord to advance peace in middle east. He started imposing tariffs on China to punish them for anti competitive practices. He pulled out of Iran deal. He encouraged our NATO partners to spend more on defense ( atleast 2% of GDP according to treaty). Our NATO allies like Italy, Germany, Slovenia etc spend less than 1% of defense while we spend 3%. Mr. Biden has not reversed any of Trump's foreign policy which shows Mr. Biden and his team understands the success of Trump's foreign policy. I hope Mr. DeSantis can take that lead. There needs to more sanctions on Iran as they threaten our ally Israel. Israel needs more support to ward off Palestinian threat and threat from Iran. We also need to spend more on military as China is challenging liberal world order. We need more ships and planes to patrol south china sea. DeSantis's record in congress and his speeches now point to this. Hopefully he can win and implement these policies. Our competition with China would be similar to our cold war with Soviets. We need more military spending to counter China, because as Raegan said Peace can be achieved only through strength.\n",
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"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 3,799 |
There are not enough GOP millionaire voters to elect anyone to even town dogcatcher let alone Congress or state houses or the White House. So who are the millions of GOP voters who would rather commit financial suicide as they age rather than let people they don't know, and possibly some they do know, not benefit from a properly funded national government. Why do they support under-taxing the wealthy by not funding the IRS to audit people who pay millions to accounts to not pay their fair share of taxes. And that results in the rest of the working and middle-class population paying higher taxes to keep the government running. Is it really possible that other members of their church, synagogue or mosque are not being punished by there willfulness to hurt themselves? Raise the amount that can be deducted from people making over $200K or $300K and the SS and Medicare issues will be resolved. And do these voters not understand that every GOP politician has a generous pension so when they vote to limit SS payments so that the elderly struggling to live out their lives without going bankrupt it really may not be an issue for well-funded politicians.Why are GOP policies focused on cutting taxes for the wealthy not an issue for the majority of GOP voters? Finally, tax the corporations that are making windfall profits while they destroy our planet so that the young of today can have a home on earth on which to grow old. Vote for Democrats to get a government that works.
| fec96a20cde10cdec71887ecab94f1e763e387f1317ce8b604877acc4c0abf9e | [
{
"content": "There are not enough GOP millionaire voters to elect anyone to even town dogcatcher let alone Congress or state houses or the White House. So who are the millions of GOP voters who would rather commit financial suicide as they age rather than let people they don't know, and possibly some they do know, not benefit from a properly funded national government. Why do they support under-taxing the wealthy by not funding the IRS to audit people who pay millions to accounts to not pay their fair share of taxes. And that results in the rest of the working and middle-class population paying higher taxes to keep the government running. Is it really possible that other members of their church, synagogue or mosque are not being punished by there willfulness to hurt themselves? Raise the amount that can be deducted from people making over $200K or $300K and the SS and Medicare issues will be resolved. And do these voters not understand that every GOP politician has a generous pension so when they vote to limit SS payments so that the elderly struggling to live out their lives without going bankrupt it really may not be an issue for well-funded politicians.Why are GOP policies focused on cutting taxes for the wealthy not an issue for the majority of GOP voters? Finally, tax the corporations that are making windfall profits while they destroy our planet so that the young of today can have a home on earth on which to grow old. Vote for Democrats to get a government that works.\n",
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"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 4,550 |
James,But trump and the republics are responsible for fully 30% of this nations current debt and we're the spenders?And we're really only talking about raising taxes on people like musk and bezos.Your side cuts taxes for billionaires and rings up massive debt.So, I'll say it again, 'tax and spend' has got to be better than 'cut taxes and spend'.Has to be.
| 16ae31a4210387af6342515782ef6ac7d96b1a75932815d6635924934423afb5 | [
{
"content": "James,But trump and the republics are responsible for fully 30% of this nations current debt and we're the spenders?And we're really only talking about raising taxes on people like musk and bezos.Your side cuts taxes for billionaires and rings up massive debt.So, I'll say it again, 'tax and spend' has got to be better than 'cut taxes and spend'.Has to be.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 6,385 |
This liberal Democrat agrees wholeheartedly with Dr. Sweet. We have to have the courage to speak our truths, but academic freedom and freedom of expression is becoming more and more victim to voices that cry racism and discomfort when they are exposed to opinions and yes, even facts, that do not mesh with their own. History must be told from many perspectives, but we mustn't quash the voices of past historians who obviously could not/did not share our wokeness. How can students be so sure of their stances when they are too PC/woke to even listen to people who disagree with them? We need honest open debate and true freedom of expression. If we do not study the past, we are doomed to repeat it.
| 9043967678564905fa1e60941527d3e22fa321b14a0a94d48a627c59643c2c92 | [
{
"content": "This liberal Democrat agrees wholeheartedly with Dr. Sweet. We have to have the courage to speak our truths, but academic freedom and freedom of expression is becoming more and more victim to voices that cry racism and discomfort when they are exposed to opinions and yes, even facts, that do not mesh with their own. History must be told from many perspectives, but we mustn't quash the voices of past historians who obviously could not/did not share our wokeness. How can students be so sure of their stances when they are too PC/woke to even listen to people who disagree with them? We need honest open debate and true freedom of expression. If we do not study the past, we are doomed to repeat it.\n",
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"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 6,553 |
Stephanie Wood That's right, there is no free lunch.We have to pay for our K-12 school somehow.There is also no free lunch for healthcare.The other countries pay taxes and spend about $5,500 per person and all have some form of universal coverage.A lot of our healthcare is through private insurance and we spend an average of $11,000 per person.We have medical bankruptcies and parts of the US with infant mortality rates of a second world country.Same for university. We don't pay taxes but student loan debt makes up the 2nd largest amount of debt in the nation behind mortgages.
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{
"content": "Stephanie Wood That's right, there is no free lunch.We have to pay for our K-12 school somehow.There is also no free lunch for healthcare.The other countries pay taxes and spend about $5,500 per person and all have some form of universal coverage.A lot of our healthcare is through private insurance and we spend an average of $11,000 per person.We have medical bankruptcies and parts of the US with infant mortality rates of a second world country.Same for university. We don't pay taxes but student loan debt makes up the 2nd largest amount of debt in the nation behind mortgages.\n",
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| no | Classification | 3,260 |
Re: So should we start trying to pay this debt down now?We ARE paying down rate now. Via financial repressionThat IS the way Governments do pay down debtsHE LIQUIDATION OF GOVERNMENT DEBTCarmen M. Reinhart M. Belen SbranciaWorking Paper 16893 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCHThis paper analyzes how 70 Government paid off the debt of WW II “For the advanced economies in our sample,real interest rates were negative roughly ½ of the time during 1945-1980. For the United States andthe United Kingdom our estimates of the annual liquidation of debt via negative real interest ratesamounted on average from 3 to 4 percent of GDP a year. For Australia and Italy, which recorded higherinflation rates, the liquidation effect was larger (around 5 percent per annum). “That is: Governments engineered negative real interest rates to be negative (which requires inflation) to pay off the debtCurrently, the real negative interest rate is 3.52% (rate of 10 yr T ) minus 6.5% (inflation) = (-) -2.98 %A negative real interest rate “eats up” the US debt at 3% annuallyThat is how Governments around the world paid off the debt of WW I and WW IIAnd that is , how the US , right now, is paying off the debtVia inflation. Inflation is a tax. A tax that is paid by savers and pension funds, and that falls most heavily on lower paid peopleThose are paying off the debt. Now. And will, for the coming decade(s) , see Carmen's paper
| d47ca5d778686c9541652a56c76d84edca278546d38eb0e673feaf6f01047ef9 | [
{
"content": "Re: So should we start trying to pay this debt down now?We ARE paying down rate now. Via financial repressionThat IS the way Governments do pay down debtsHE LIQUIDATION OF GOVERNMENT DEBTCarmen M. Reinhart M. Belen SbranciaWorking Paper 16893 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCHThis paper analyzes how 70 Government paid off the debt of WW II “For the advanced economies in our sample,real interest rates were negative roughly ½ of the time during 1945-1980. For the United States andthe United Kingdom our estimates of the annual liquidation of debt via negative real interest ratesamounted on average from 3 to 4 percent of GDP a year. For Australia and Italy, which recorded higherinflation rates, the liquidation effect was larger (around 5 percent per annum). “That is: Governments engineered negative real interest rates to be negative (which requires inflation) to pay off the debtCurrently, the real negative interest rate is 3.52% (rate of 10 yr T ) minus 6.5% (inflation) = (-) -2.98 %A negative real interest rate “eats up” the US debt at 3% annuallyThat is how Governments around the world paid off the debt of WW I and WW IIAnd that is , how the US , right now, is paying off the debtVia inflation. Inflation is a tax. A tax that is paid by savers and pension funds, and that falls most heavily on lower paid peopleThose are paying off the debt. Now. And will, for the coming decade(s) , see Carmen's paper\n",
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| no | Classification | 2,406 |
Arenas are usually named for the Big Dollar benefactors who kick in a few $million for construction.
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"content": "Arenas are usually named for the Big Dollar benefactors who kick in a few $million for construction.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 9,447 |
I saw asking prices of $5-6K for 17+ year old minivans with 200K+ miles. Yes, I know it's a Toyota or a Honda but it's still 17+ years old.Perhaps that's why they were calling it an "asking" price?Also, used going for more than new? Anyone thinking that's going to keep up indefinitely is seriously deranged.
| 4a60c8142fe7652e7655bf92658542758e90fec09742705c80eeb02ca295e5c9 | [
{
"content": "I saw asking prices of $5-6K for 17+ year old minivans with 200K+ miles. Yes, I know it's a Toyota or a Honda but it's still 17+ years old.Perhaps that's why they were calling it an \"asking\" price?Also, used going for more than new? Anyone thinking that's going to keep up indefinitely is seriously deranged.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "no",
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]
| no | Classification | 4,698 |
FxQ As usual. Who or what person or corporation invested huge sums of money, without the certainty of short term profits? None. The US taxpayer, in funding the space program, the creation of the main basic elements of the Internet, mapping human DNA, and medical research that once "given for free" to the private sector, use them to make huge profits. The basic tax payer funded medical sciences should have made the Covid vaccines almost costless. But in an unregulated capitalistic economy the private corporations made outrageous profits on many things that were invented not by them, but from US tax payers. Us, the declining middle class which began in the early 1980's thanks to you know who (RR).
| ffd64ef11e0599d3006c78308ff7ccd74a9dabec147784ab88a108b74c108589 | [
{
"content": "FxQ As usual. Who or what person or corporation invested huge sums of money, without the certainty of short term profits? None. The US taxpayer, in funding the space program, the creation of the main basic elements of the Internet, mapping human DNA, and medical research that once \"given for free\" to the private sector, use them to make huge profits. The basic tax payer funded medical sciences should have made the Covid vaccines almost costless. But in an unregulated capitalistic economy the private corporations made outrageous profits on many things that were invented not by them, but from US tax payers. Us, the declining middle class which began in the early 1980's thanks to you know who (RR).\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,112 |
EB It is completely false and unsubstantiated by any reasonable assessment of climate science, demographics, energy use, and political economy that only massive declines in human population would prevent warming the planet to the extent most parts are uninhabitable. Not to be uncivil, but this is nonsense. I realize perhaps you're being overly dramatic to make a point. But I think it hurts the cause of those who battle against reckless policies to overstate the case. Now the only place that the population is truly growing is in the Middle East and Africa. China is declining, India is projected to peak mid century 20% larger and then decline towards it's current level by early next. So if overpopulation is you deal, then I suggest you study up on Middle Eastern culture, and then especially the many different cultures and nations of Africa. But again, your premise is false. Conservation, investment in renewables, ending the waste of resources, these all matter much more. Before I go, Krugman wrote: "For China has long had a wildly unbalanced economy. For reasons I admit I don’t fully understand, policymakers there have been reluctant to allow the full benefits of past economic growth to pass through to households, and that has led to relatively low consumer demand."What? Why would China's ruling class do what American, European and enlightened societies refuse to do? We do not pass economic growth/productivity gains through to households, haven't since the mid 1970s.
| 63f4de6c13818d1af2e4fc7a124ed7b817cf36cb90e9872a6b8efd8d9e2a64f9 | [
{
"content": "EB It is completely false and unsubstantiated by any reasonable assessment of climate science, demographics, energy use, and political economy that only massive declines in human population would prevent warming the planet to the extent most parts are uninhabitable. Not to be uncivil, but this is nonsense. I realize perhaps you're being overly dramatic to make a point. But I think it hurts the cause of those who battle against reckless policies to overstate the case. Now the only place that the population is truly growing is in the Middle East and Africa. China is declining, India is projected to peak mid century 20% larger and then decline towards it's current level by early next. So if overpopulation is you deal, then I suggest you study up on Middle Eastern culture, and then especially the many different cultures and nations of Africa. But again, your premise is false. Conservation, investment in renewables, ending the waste of resources, these all matter much more. Before I go, Krugman wrote: \"For China has long had a wildly unbalanced economy. For reasons I admit I don’t fully understand, policymakers there have been reluctant to allow the full benefits of past economic growth to pass through to households, and that has led to relatively low consumer demand.\"What? Why would China's ruling class do what American, European and enlightened societies refuse to do? We do not pass economic growth/productivity gains through to households, haven't since the mid 1970s.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 5,903 |
Jeff Paved roads are not 'gaudy.'Dirt roads are, simply, horrible. They are rarely kept maintained in a timely manner. Unless the road is continually hosed down, the dust gets everywhere. People who live in these stupendous open vista areas have to keep their windows closed or there will be dirt all over the house....I suspect dirt all over the house is a perk to you? Personally, I don't care for the dirt all over the house thing. Finally, make sure you nail down that 'zoned agricultural' designation you so crave. Get involved with your local politics, yes, government, and make sure your zoning regs are sufficient to keep out the suburban riffraff you apparently despise.
| 60dbcb12f65f26ee1d4c59716edd16bd274124eea251f72ac4c38d93e8e56e30 | [
{
"content": "Jeff Paved roads are not 'gaudy.'Dirt roads are, simply, horrible. They are rarely kept maintained in a timely manner. Unless the road is continually hosed down, the dust gets everywhere. People who live in these stupendous open vista areas have to keep their windows closed or there will be dirt all over the house....I suspect dirt all over the house is a perk to you? Personally, I don't care for the dirt all over the house thing. Finally, make sure you nail down that 'zoned agricultural' designation you so crave. Get involved with your local politics, yes, government, and make sure your zoning regs are sufficient to keep out the suburban riffraff you apparently despise.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 1,398 |
FunkyIrishman Privatizing medicaid has already happened. Most states and counties take their medicaid funds and channel it to for profit companies like Optum, who in turn restricts access to care to improve their profit margins for their investors.
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"content": "FunkyIrishman Privatizing medicaid has already happened. Most states and counties take their medicaid funds and channel it to for profit companies like Optum, who in turn restricts access to care to improve their profit margins for their investors.\n",
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| no | Classification | 937 |
I am surprised by how short-sighted this editorial is. The decision to employ the college educated is not out of some misguided allegiance to the degree, as this article suggests, it is out of recognition of what that degree has provided to its recipient. In many (though not all) jobs, employers value communication skills, time management skills, collaboration skills, and critical thinking skills, not to mention the more diverse solutions to problems that come from exposure to diverse ways of thinking. These are all "soft" skills that are the greatest benefit of a college education and difficult to match with narrow, technical skills based employment experience. This is not to say that all technical trades need these skills, but it seems doubtful that such trades are where states are opening job opportunities to non-college graduates. A less educated workforce is not the answer--renewed commitment by states to investment in the education of their workforce is.
| cd8a75c6f4db1b45f8c00bcad2a8fba776935bc6507230faaaf616a133e6a55a | [
{
"content": "I am surprised by how short-sighted this editorial is. The decision to employ the college educated is not out of some misguided allegiance to the degree, as this article suggests, it is out of recognition of what that degree has provided to its recipient. In many (though not all) jobs, employers value communication skills, time management skills, collaboration skills, and critical thinking skills, not to mention the more diverse solutions to problems that come from exposure to diverse ways of thinking. These are all \"soft\" skills that are the greatest benefit of a college education and difficult to match with narrow, technical skills based employment experience. This is not to say that all technical trades need these skills, but it seems doubtful that such trades are where states are opening job opportunities to non-college graduates. A less educated workforce is not the answer--renewed commitment by states to investment in the education of their workforce is.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
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| no | Classification | 2,622 |
Empowering a Communist Chinese dictatorship was never a good idea unless you were a member of the <1% that wanted to destroy America's working class & make huge profits doing so.We could have had better relations w/ China w/out giving them most favored trading status or entry into the WTO. Life would have still improved in China, just slower & our working class wouldn't be so disenfranchised that they hang their hopes upon rogues like Trump, Steve Bannon & Qanon conspiracies.But the genie is out of the bottle & we have to deal w/ that.Chinese expansion, like Japan in the 1940s, has a choice of two directions: outward into the pacific & a blue water navy or north & west into Asia.Making Japan, S.Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Phillipines & the U.S. Navy stronger vis-a-vis China is the best way to deter them taking an east/south strategy as Japan took in 1941.The collapse of the integrity of Russia's security forces make an Asian strategy more likely.China could easily invade Mongolia using the exact same pretext Russia used in Ukraine. Russia clearly anemic now, would do nothing. The Tran-Siberian rail runs thousands of miles along Mongolia & Manchurian borders.China could then invade Kazakhstan, its west-most province is west of the Ural river, technically putting it in Europe. Russia would have to confront this but China would surely crush the now anemic Russians. China could then take nearly all of Siberia.Prediction: Russia applies for NATO membership w/in 10yrs.
| c9dc3bb0bb97111626940fc0111a3a2bf7bfb05ff47f77c838dfb111c2329ed5 | [
{
"content": "Empowering a Communist Chinese dictatorship was never a good idea unless you were a member of the <1% that wanted to destroy America's working class & make huge profits doing so.We could have had better relations w/ China w/out giving them most favored trading status or entry into the WTO. Life would have still improved in China, just slower & our working class wouldn't be so disenfranchised that they hang their hopes upon rogues like Trump, Steve Bannon & Qanon conspiracies.But the genie is out of the bottle & we have to deal w/ that.Chinese expansion, like Japan in the 1940s, has a choice of two directions: outward into the pacific & a blue water navy or north & west into Asia.Making Japan, S.Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Phillipines & the U.S. Navy stronger vis-a-vis China is the best way to deter them taking an east/south strategy as Japan took in 1941.The collapse of the integrity of Russia's security forces make an Asian strategy more likely.China could easily invade Mongolia using the exact same pretext Russia used in Ukraine. Russia clearly anemic now, would do nothing. The Tran-Siberian rail runs thousands of miles along Mongolia & Manchurian borders.China could then invade Kazakhstan, its west-most province is west of the Ural river, technically putting it in Europe. Russia would have to confront this but China would surely crush the now anemic Russians. China could then take nearly all of Siberia.Prediction: Russia applies for NATO membership w/in 10yrs.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,954 |
A Voice of Reason A couple of 'thumbnail' observations. First, if government spending in total (salaries for employees, purchases of goods and services, transfers like social security, etc.) are roughly 1/3 of our GNP, then it stands to reason that taxes rate to collectively support that would be about 33%. Which should not be a problem because collectively about 1/3 of our collective incomes are derived in one way or another from government spending. Same thing about medical expenses. If health care is about 1/6th of our economy, then collectively, it stand to reason we all are likely spending 1/6 of our income on healthcare. The issue then is how to make it more efficient which is where single-payer solution or even just make it part of the government would be an improvement. We are already paying (out the nose) for it, either by way of premiums and deductibles or also money our employers spend on our behalf that could otherwise be going to employees. Don't kid yourself... what your employer spends on healthcare they consider part of your compensation. So... lets just get the for-profit completely out of the system, get rid of a large part of the bureaucracy and just pay the 15% to the government in taxes and if you're sick, you just go to doctor and get treated. Like in other modern economies.
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{
"content": "A Voice of Reason A couple of 'thumbnail' observations. First, if government spending in total (salaries for employees, purchases of goods and services, transfers like social security, etc.) are roughly 1/3 of our GNP, then it stands to reason that taxes rate to collectively support that would be about 33%. Which should not be a problem because collectively about 1/3 of our collective incomes are derived in one way or another from government spending. Same thing about medical expenses. If health care is about 1/6th of our economy, then collectively, it stand to reason we all are likely spending 1/6 of our income on healthcare. The issue then is how to make it more efficient which is where single-payer solution or even just make it part of the government would be an improvement. We are already paying (out the nose) for it, either by way of premiums and deductibles or also money our employers spend on our behalf that could otherwise be going to employees. Don't kid yourself... what your employer spends on healthcare they consider part of your compensation. So... lets just get the for-profit completely out of the system, get rid of a large part of the bureaucracy and just pay the 15% to the government in taxes and if you're sick, you just go to doctor and get treated. Like in other modern economies.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 5,028 |
Yeah well Ive taken a UA every month ($150 a time) for the last 10 years because Im on suboxone. Dangerous addictive drugs SHOULD be hard to get. Im on subs because I was a pill addict back when chronic pain sufferers could get 10 doctors giving them 1,000 oxys a month with no regs. Theyd sell them to us to pay rent and not work, just basically become drug dealers who got their supply from Walgreens.
| 20703770d153a2142d1fb30f56f202be4034c5b91cd6ab1b14b72525caefe10d | [
{
"content": "Yeah well Ive taken a UA every month ($150 a time) for the last 10 years because Im on suboxone. Dangerous addictive drugs SHOULD be hard to get. Im on subs because I was a pill addict back when chronic pain sufferers could get 10 doctors giving them 1,000 oxys a month with no regs. Theyd sell them to us to pay rent and not work, just basically become drug dealers who got their supply from Walgreens.\n",
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| no | Classification | 3,438 |
$1.2 trillion. The third highest deficit in history, exceeded on,y be the deficits of the pandemic years. It is certainly nothing to be proud of. And the deficit would be much higher if Manchin had agreed to his BBB boondoggle. We went from one president (Trump) who juiced the deficit by pushing through an excessive tax cut, to another president (Biden) who is juicing the deficit through excessive spending.and a different half of the elec5orate liked each one. Sad!!!
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{
"content": "$1.2 trillion. The third highest deficit in history, exceeded on,y be the deficits of the pandemic years. It is certainly nothing to be proud of. And the deficit would be much higher if Manchin had agreed to his BBB boondoggle. We went from one president (Trump) who juiced the deficit by pushing through an excessive tax cut, to another president (Biden) who is juicing the deficit through excessive spending.and a different half of the elec5orate liked each one. Sad!!!\n",
"role": "user"
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| yes | Classification | 6,384 |
Dan Thoma Yours is the best response here. The author could have written this same piece, verbatim, in 2014 when Bitcoin crashed to $150.Same in 2018 when Bitcoin crashed to $3200.Now he's doing it after Bitcoin crashed to $16000.In another 4 years, we'll be reading the same tired pablum when it crashes back to $50000.There's a site called "Bitcoin Obituaries" that lists literally hundreds of similar pronouncements over the past 14 years. At what point do nay-sayers start wondering if it is they who are engaged in magical thinking? Rhetorical question here, but why are infinitely-printable pieces of paper in my wallet worth anything?
| e050e8176ec2978c2d522cb4d1aa8deccf02c9d505273e19ead95b1c6f81f513 | [
{
"content": "Dan Thoma Yours is the best response here. The author could have written this same piece, verbatim, in 2014 when Bitcoin crashed to $150.Same in 2018 when Bitcoin crashed to $3200.Now he's doing it after Bitcoin crashed to $16000.In another 4 years, we'll be reading the same tired pablum when it crashes back to $50000.There's a site called \"Bitcoin Obituaries\" that lists literally hundreds of similar pronouncements over the past 14 years. At what point do nay-sayers start wondering if it is they who are engaged in magical thinking? Rhetorical question here, but why are infinitely-printable pieces of paper in my wallet worth anything?\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 8,928 |
Laura I could not agree more with your analysis of Ms. Gay’s advice. My biggest critique of her columns is she has zero experience in the business sectors she’s asked to advise about. After 25 years with a company, you know how it operates and treats people. Business decisions are just that, business decisions and sometimes people pay a price. If that isn’t for you, go into education where almost no one is fired. I advise managers, once you have made the decision to lay someone off or fire them, move fast but fair. No lingering, it just confuses everyone. As for the person in employment limbo - get moving on the next job and negotiate a severance package. The forced socializer better attend those functions. I hated the, too. When I became the CEO, i vowed to myself I’d never hold functions like but I did. I guarantee your colleagues will notice you opted out.
| e9f13261a5d161f8069533838176951b8c07362cf66b21b840388f2a58031a8d | [
{
"content": "Laura I could not agree more with your analysis of Ms. Gay’s advice. My biggest critique of her columns is she has zero experience in the business sectors she’s asked to advise about. After 25 years with a company, you know how it operates and treats people. Business decisions are just that, business decisions and sometimes people pay a price. If that isn’t for you, go into education where almost no one is fired. I advise managers, once you have made the decision to lay someone off or fire them, move fast but fair. No lingering, it just confuses everyone. As for the person in employment limbo - get moving on the next job and negotiate a severance package. The forced socializer better attend those functions. I hated the, too. When I became the CEO, i vowed to myself I’d never hold functions like but I did. I guarantee your colleagues will notice you opted out.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 9,539 |
Like Greenspan, Kashkari learned from the 2007-08 meltdown that market health isn't ensured by the "self-correcting powers of capitalism." A reformed Reaganite or a campfollower of the new woke movement? OK, usher him to the front row, but don't let him lead the choir.The big difference between the Volcker and Powell eras is the Fed's balance sheet--i.e., holdings of agency bonds and mortgage backed securities (bonds). Until the 2007-08 debacle, the Fed's balance sheet was $1T. The balance increased to $4.5T after Bernanke's crucial rescue of the economy by buying bonds.Five yrs ago, Powell sensibly tried to reduce the balance sheet, but central banks had been displaced by hedge funds. No longer would creditworthiness drive US bond pricing. Hedge funds own bonds for profit, not to implement monetary policy. Faced with an oversupply of bonds in the market, the hedge funds bailed, and the Fed quickly quit selling bonds to restore calm.At the start of Covid, Powell added another $4.5T to the balance sheet for a total balance of $9T. Bond buying was now a powerful tool in making monetary policy. The Fed makes monetary policy by changing the fed fund rates, selling bonds to raise rates and buying bonds to lower rates. If the current effort ($90B/mo) to nonrenew bonds fails, the Fed may have lost a vital tool to save the economy from inadequate regulation, esp of hedge funds. The Fed can lower rates to zero, but can't keep doubling its holdings without cornering the market.
| 0eee70f22dadd92f922e45fe662279fae275b438609ea6a80c1e14de3aaafaf1 | [
{
"content": "Like Greenspan, Kashkari learned from the 2007-08 meltdown that market health isn't ensured by the \"self-correcting powers of capitalism.\" A reformed Reaganite or a campfollower of the new woke movement? OK, usher him to the front row, but don't let him lead the choir.The big difference between the Volcker and Powell eras is the Fed's balance sheet--i.e., holdings of agency bonds and mortgage backed securities (bonds). Until the 2007-08 debacle, the Fed's balance sheet was $1T. The balance increased to $4.5T after Bernanke's crucial rescue of the economy by buying bonds.Five yrs ago, Powell sensibly tried to reduce the balance sheet, but central banks had been displaced by hedge funds. No longer would creditworthiness drive US bond pricing. Hedge funds own bonds for profit, not to implement monetary policy. Faced with an oversupply of bonds in the market, the hedge funds bailed, and the Fed quickly quit selling bonds to restore calm.At the start of Covid, Powell added another $4.5T to the balance sheet for a total balance of $9T. Bond buying was now a powerful tool in making monetary policy. The Fed makes monetary policy by changing the fed fund rates, selling bonds to raise rates and buying bonds to lower rates. If the current effort ($90B/mo) to nonrenew bonds fails, the Fed may have lost a vital tool to save the economy from inadequate regulation, esp of hedge funds. The Fed can lower rates to zero, but can't keep doubling its holdings without cornering the market.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 8,287 |
EC Christopher"10 Trillion in wealth has officially been wiped out in the markets at the moment."Ditto"...If an investor projects the next five(5) years of ROI / ROE for the global equity markets to be zero ? This will not be a normal biz cycle since awaiting the Fed Chair Powell PUT before the next Presidential election cycle... Many reference "the pain trade" instead of increasing allocation to cash equivalents & rebalance each diversified portfolio periodically... Simple estate planning advice for the middle class, tho... Just sayin'
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{
"content": "EC Christopher\"10 Trillion in wealth has officially been wiped out in the markets at the moment.\"Ditto\"...If an investor projects the next five(5) years of ROI / ROE for the global equity markets to be zero ? This will not be a normal biz cycle since awaiting the Fed Chair Powell PUT before the next Presidential election cycle... Many reference \"the pain trade\" instead of increasing allocation to cash equivalents & rebalance each diversified portfolio periodically... Simple estate planning advice for the middle class, tho... Just sayin'\n",
"role": "user"
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| yes | Classification | 6,163 |
As I write this, the 10-yr treasury bond, "the bellwether of US bonds" trades at a still nearly historic low of 3.54%. It started 2022 at 1.5% and worked its way up to the still low 4.3% some ten weeks or so ago. To put this in perspective, keeping in mind the US debt is at $31 trillion and counting, bond buyers are still out there and seemingly aren't too concerned at the moment of a US default come June or July. Perhaps rates will rise by then if a settlement appears to be unachievable, but one would think that with the Fed raising short term rates to upwards of 5% by the spring, that the bond market would take into account the fear of a default. Then again, who would have predicted the Fed's actions over the past year?
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"content": "As I write this, the 10-yr treasury bond, \"the bellwether of US bonds\" trades at a still nearly historic low of 3.54%. It started 2022 at 1.5% and worked its way up to the still low 4.3% some ten weeks or so ago. To put this in perspective, keeping in mind the US debt is at $31 trillion and counting, bond buyers are still out there and seemingly aren't too concerned at the moment of a US default come June or July. Perhaps rates will rise by then if a settlement appears to be unachievable, but one would think that with the Fed raising short term rates to upwards of 5% by the spring, that the bond market would take into account the fear of a default. Then again, who would have predicted the Fed's actions over the past year?\n",
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| yes | Classification | 5,306 |
Neo Fernandez Why? Because Apple, Google, and Microsoft don't make any profit on their chips. Facebook doesn't even have any. The reason we want to do this is because you didn't list Intel, AMD, NVidia, HP or IBM. It'd be like a big spending bill for electric cars comes up and we say doesn't Heinz ketchup make enough money? Different industries. More related than cars and ketchup, but not by a lot.
| 9da023d0bbba45831da765009f0f8d909103b67f62c8ddc631bcff63475c6c82 | [
{
"content": "Neo Fernandez Why? Because Apple, Google, and Microsoft don't make any profit on their chips. Facebook doesn't even have any. The reason we want to do this is because you didn't list Intel, AMD, NVidia, HP or IBM. It'd be like a big spending bill for electric cars comes up and we say doesn't Heinz ketchup make enough money? Different industries. More related than cars and ketchup, but not by a lot.\n",
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| yes | Classification | 7,536 |
I'm a longtime lover of Crosby's music. He's written and performed so many great songs, and I think much of his latest work is outstanding -- rare for someone who had tremendous hits in his early career. I had the good fortune of actually sharing a meal with him (complete happenstance) about eight years ago. I was visiting the area near his home in Santa Ynez on business, and I decided to check out the Hitching Post restaurant. I sat at the bar. After about ten minutes, a scruffy, older gentleman in a knit cap sat down next to me and ordered a Margarita. Didn't get a good look at him at first. The barkeep delivered his drink and said, "Here you go Mr. Crosby."Once I realized who he was, I wanted so much to talk with him, but I also didn't want to invade his private time. Eventually, I took out my iPhone, opened Spotify to one of his albums, set it on the bar between us and said, "You're not by any chance this 'Mr. Crosby?'" As it turned out, he was very engaging, and we had a terrific conversation about music, guitar playing, and the history of folk/rock music. He asked what I do for a living, with a judgmental point of view about "legitimate" and "illegitimate" occupations. He said mine (architect) could be respectable. When I told him the most influential musician for me is Paul Simon, he said, "Paul is like Neil. Geniuses who never stop pioneering." I was disappointed when he left without a word, but he ambled to the door, stopped, & came back to say "Enjoyed our chat."
| b1c67a28c49098bb9fad63115d7c54e6abb436c23749721a9d5b088ab1f9e915 | [
{
"content": "I'm a longtime lover of Crosby's music. He's written and performed so many great songs, and I think much of his latest work is outstanding -- rare for someone who had tremendous hits in his early career. I had the good fortune of actually sharing a meal with him (complete happenstance) about eight years ago. I was visiting the area near his home in Santa Ynez on business, and I decided to check out the Hitching Post restaurant. I sat at the bar. After about ten minutes, a scruffy, older gentleman in a knit cap sat down next to me and ordered a Margarita. Didn't get a good look at him at first. The barkeep delivered his drink and said, \"Here you go Mr. Crosby.\"Once I realized who he was, I wanted so much to talk with him, but I also didn't want to invade his private time. Eventually, I took out my iPhone, opened Spotify to one of his albums, set it on the bar between us and said, \"You're not by any chance this 'Mr. Crosby?'\" As it turned out, he was very engaging, and we had a terrific conversation about music, guitar playing, and the history of folk/rock music. He asked what I do for a living, with a judgmental point of view about \"legitimate\" and \"illegitimate\" occupations. He said mine (architect) could be respectable. When I told him the most influential musician for me is Paul Simon, he said, \"Paul is like Neil. Geniuses who never stop pioneering.\" I was disappointed when he left without a word, but he ambled to the door, stopped, & came back to say \"Enjoyed our chat.\"\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 5,024 |
Let's try this thought experiment. Andrew Jackson wiped out the US national debt in 1835--the last time it was zero. But now suppose the gov't has balanced its budget every year since then. What would life look like? Let's say the federal gov't started spending on Jan. 1 and clawed back all of that money in taxes by Dec. 31 during each and every year. On New Year's Eve the entire country would be broke! Everyone would be penniless, unless they held gold doubloons or foreign currency. They couldn't have any US dollars in their checking or savings accounts, because the gov't collected it all.But wait a minute, you'll argue. The private banking system creates most of the money that circulates in our economy. True, but that money is created via the issuance of loans. And each loan is simultaneously an asset and a liability of both the bank and the borrower. The bank's liability is its promise to allow the borrower to write checks up to, say, $100,000, and its asset is the borrower's promise to repay that money. The borrower's asset is the $100,000 in their checking account, and their liability is the promise to repay it. It all sums to zero.Under this system, can anyone ever truly save US dollars? If you have $50,000 free and clear, either you robbed a bank or another bank if getting stiffed on a loan. New loans can raise the funds to cover this discrepancy, but new loans covering old ones sounds like a Ponzi scheme.Deficit spending makes the economy work.
| 12e7aa06d9e09176b5c835619ba17b33fe805323f0901dc3ddb5a666317438af | [
{
"content": "Let's try this thought experiment. Andrew Jackson wiped out the US national debt in 1835--the last time it was zero. But now suppose the gov't has balanced its budget every year since then. What would life look like? Let's say the federal gov't started spending on Jan. 1 and clawed back all of that money in taxes by Dec. 31 during each and every year. On New Year's Eve the entire country would be broke! Everyone would be penniless, unless they held gold doubloons or foreign currency. They couldn't have any US dollars in their checking or savings accounts, because the gov't collected it all.But wait a minute, you'll argue. The private banking system creates most of the money that circulates in our economy. True, but that money is created via the issuance of loans. And each loan is simultaneously an asset and a liability of both the bank and the borrower. The bank's liability is its promise to allow the borrower to write checks up to, say, $100,000, and its asset is the borrower's promise to repay that money. The borrower's asset is the $100,000 in their checking account, and their liability is the promise to repay it. It all sums to zero.Under this system, can anyone ever truly save US dollars? If you have $50,000 free and clear, either you robbed a bank or another bank if getting stiffed on a loan. New loans can raise the funds to cover this discrepancy, but new loans covering old ones sounds like a Ponzi scheme.Deficit spending makes the economy work.\n",
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| no | Classification | 76 |
I'd love to hear more about how Hochul and her team plan to "compel" state-licensed hospitals to re-open inpatient psych beds. Relatedly, as this is published, thousands of nurses in NYC are striking.As a social worker employed on an outpatient treatment team for people cycling between the homelessness system, criminal justice system, and mental health system in NYC, I can't even begin to express the ways in which politicized decisions/taskforces/policies such as these serve to support optics but not the people in need of services. Just today I was informed that it is unlikely that a client of mine, currently psychiatrically hospitalized at an HHC after our team intervened in her decompensation who has a history of violence when symptomatic, would be accepted in to one of the long term psychiatric hospital beds that Mayor Adams recently announced funding for because she lacks the homelessness chronicity that the program feels the immense pressure to cater to. Sadly, I'm not sure I see a change coming as along as health care is a commodity to be had and not a human right untethered from capitalism.
| a87d76c5bd28c17cf3566dc7b32100c801b55e20d9d8330ba448dbfeb4ead379 | [
{
"content": "I'd love to hear more about how Hochul and her team plan to \"compel\" state-licensed hospitals to re-open inpatient psych beds. Relatedly, as this is published, thousands of nurses in NYC are striking.As a social worker employed on an outpatient treatment team for people cycling between the homelessness system, criminal justice system, and mental health system in NYC, I can't even begin to express the ways in which politicized decisions/taskforces/policies such as these serve to support optics but not the people in need of services. Just today I was informed that it is unlikely that a client of mine, currently psychiatrically hospitalized at an HHC after our team intervened in her decompensation who has a history of violence when symptomatic, would be accepted in to one of the long term psychiatric hospital beds that Mayor Adams recently announced funding for because she lacks the homelessness chronicity that the program feels the immense pressure to cater to. Sadly, I'm not sure I see a change coming as along as health care is a commodity to be had and not a human right untethered from capitalism.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
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| yes | Classification | 8,693 |
I have read that the average credit card debt in the U.S. is now more than six thousand dollars. My point here is simply that personal and even corporate debt is a way of life in America, it is part of the paving stones that lead people forward on the road to the American dream and all too often personal disaster. To chide the government from spending and borrowing too much to help the American way of life, an activity that is often born out of the neccessity for survival as Mr. Krugman points out, is to willfully deny an element of risk taking that has always been inherent in the American version of capitalism.Do I support living above one's means? Absolutely not. I am aghast at personal debt and moreover live in a country where bank-generated credit cards are basically against the law. But for the GOP to wag their finger sanctimoniously at what they ideologically rather than economically consider much too much spending while foisting more and more of the burden of paying for government programs on the less than wealthy is much more than mere garden-variety hypocrisy. And what's more they always act as if it is their own money they are talking about rather than the will of the voters who also happen to be taxpayers. It reminds me incessantly of the old revolutionary slogan concerning taxation without representation.
| ce67a00cd102e0f8b3e4a422ed9c3ee841202bd7578377f5cdcd0ed82fa7a496 | [
{
"content": "I have read that the average credit card debt in the U.S. is now more than six thousand dollars. My point here is simply that personal and even corporate debt is a way of life in America, it is part of the paving stones that lead people forward on the road to the American dream and all too often personal disaster. To chide the government from spending and borrowing too much to help the American way of life, an activity that is often born out of the neccessity for survival as Mr. Krugman points out, is to willfully deny an element of risk taking that has always been inherent in the American version of capitalism.Do I support living above one's means? Absolutely not. I am aghast at personal debt and moreover live in a country where bank-generated credit cards are basically against the law. But for the GOP to wag their finger sanctimoniously at what they ideologically rather than economically consider much too much spending while foisting more and more of the burden of paying for government programs on the less than wealthy is much more than mere garden-variety hypocrisy. And what's more they always act as if it is their own money they are talking about rather than the will of the voters who also happen to be taxpayers. It reminds me incessantly of the old revolutionary slogan concerning taxation without representation.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "yes",
"role": "assistant"
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]
| yes | Classification | 6,687 |
Baba of course the sister cannot control her brother's behaviour - where does she say that she *wants* to do this? However the situation involves her family environment and her relationship with her future sister in law. You personally would prefer to remain blissfully ignorant if your spouse was cheating on you, and for members of spouse's family to say nothing to you despite being aware of the cheating out of respect for an assumed but likely non-existent open relationship?
| 48555f95fba95731e8d2460299e7ea70865567ac8088a41fcc9ff3f05cf825b9 | [
{
"content": "Baba of course the sister cannot control her brother's behaviour - where does she say that she *wants* to do this? However the situation involves her family environment and her relationship with her future sister in law. You personally would prefer to remain blissfully ignorant if your spouse was cheating on you, and for members of spouse's family to say nothing to you despite being aware of the cheating out of respect for an assumed but likely non-existent open relationship?\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "no",
"role": "assistant"
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| no | Classification | 3,467 |
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