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The focus on how NIL is hurting non-revenue generating teams is off the mark. Nick Saban makes 11 million a year and is the highest paid state employee in Alabama by far. The University can't blame Bryce Young because their girls swim team is running in the red. Colleges allocate money in all sorts of questionable directions -- to assign blame to the athletes for getting a bigger slice of the booster pie feels like cherry picking.
| yes | 5,682 |
I started taking this class of drugs over 24 years ago. At the time Enbrel cost 1200/month, about $2100 today. But it now costs about 5000. There have been no significant changes to the drug, and costs should have come down as production and distribution became more efficient.All the similar drugs have been priced the same. It’s always been obvious to me that there has been collusion among the manufacturers to keep prices obscenely high.
| yes | 9,468 |
I'm sorry, I know this is serious stuff.... but by the end of this article I was laughing so hard there were tears.This all falls under the heading "You can't make this stuff up"... diamond dusted Trump trading cards, thousand dollar bills, kids guides to all the important things kids are interested in... immigration, socialism, cancel culture.But, by far, my favorite has to be the Trump $2 bill, now on sale for 85% off... which, if I did the math right, means it costs 30 cents. Has there ever been anything that more accurately describes the Donald Trump phenomenon than a phony $2 bill selling for 30 cents, and people buying it?And just when I thought it couldn't possibly get funnier, here comes Maxwell Finn, spending more than $150,000 a month advertising on Truth Social and... wait for it... complaining that it's frustrating because the platform lacks basic functionality and forces him to track his ad performance manually. Kind of like trying to use that 30 cent $2 bill at Starbucks would force you to come up with... another 2 dollars. Could the irony of a scam artist getting screwed by Trump be any richer?Anyway, I've wiped away my tears and calmed down from my laughing fit, so now I can go back to reading the serious news in the Times.... WAIT!! There's something that fixes toenail fungus?!?!
| yes | 5,618 |
Bee Line There's a smaller version opening on the UES. The old one was too big. It just screamed "corporate behemoth." They likely made more off the in-house Starbucks than from book sales. Cheers to the new strategy; they might have to hire actual readers😊
| no | 2,789 |
Can we please stop going to bat for Biden and making excuses for him? Trump has nothing to do with this. JB’s pickle is in ways worse and “better” than DT’s but I swear the comments about Trump are making me queasy.-JB took these docs when he was VP, nearly a decade ago. He never had powers to declassify.- They covered this up until after midterms- They didn’t reveal all the other locations of the docs when the news broke earlier this week. They tried to get away with it- Bidens press lady did a horrible job yesterday. She kept claiming how the administration was pillared on transparency and integrity. Well there’s a big difference between cooperating with an FBI investigation (what they’re doing) and being transparent (what they’re not doing)- We haven’t been told why a group of high powered DC lawyers were doing a clean up of Biden closetsLastly, we need to start examining the sketchy nature of these presidential and vice presidential centers. They’re cesspools of dark money. Biden got paid 900k to just lend his name and show up to the office a few times. Jeff Bezos gave Obamaa $100 million check for his Chicago thing. The surrounding neighborhood is gangland, but the money went…. Where? Certainly not to anyone but Obama and his shrine. Yes we should discuss this issue and understand if the docs are indeed sensitive or simply over classified. But at the end of the day, this is just another example of different rules for the elite. JB should’ve known better
| yes | 5,726 |
$331 million? This is the absolute obscenity of professional sports (and entertainment in general) which our society is obsessed with.
| no | 2,166 |
As someone who previously lived in Nashville, I feel for Ms. Renkl. However, were she to move to the likes of California or parts of deep "Blue" New England, she may be astonished to learn there is a human nature component at work - and that, yes, believe it or not, "Blue" States do exactly the same thing - silencing "Red" regions within their boundaries. Simply put, beginning around the 2016 campaign forward, and only accelerating since the summer of 2020, extremist illiberal intolerance is the name of the game, and that is just as applicable in super-majority "Blue" areas as it sadly is in Tennessee. It is an odd phenomenon because the "Blue" regions used to be models of tolerance and openness, and even as recently as 2014. Perhaps one could even say "live and let live." What happened with the rise and fall of Trump, however, is that "Blue" areas, have chosen to embrace the fanatical spirit of religious intolerance that long marked the far right and have been not just silencing "Red" regions within them but even "Purple" and even what once was considered "True Blue" less than a decade ago. Jamming fanatical intolerant ideologies down the throats of every citizen, taxpayer, public school student, etc., reflecting in a mirror the very human fragility, insecurity, fear and loathing and lack of compassion and tolerance embodied by Trump himself.
| no | 1,067 |
Kevin Cahill Exactly. The US has already spent or pledged to spend $110Billion for Ukraine. And President Biden has stated, "whatever it takes." So maybe, $1Trillion? Could be. And this is on top of the $2Trillion already wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is long gone.It would be great if US politicians, be they Democrat or Republican would look to their US constituents first. That doesn't seem to much, to ask.
| yes | 7,285 |
DG YET Congress ADDS over 50 billion dollars each year to the Pentagon budget! Money the Pentagon nor Trump's or Biden's WH asked for, wanted or needed! But that never is an issue for some reason and NEVER questioned. And 9.7 is "insane"?? Really??
| yes | 7,094 |
In today's America, a "political extremist" is someone who would take on the biggest, richest, most powerful concentration of oligarchs the world has every seen –– the American Corporate Establishment.• A political extremist would heavily tax net profits on a progressive scale, forcing corporations to provide better products and services, pay higher wages, and invest more into R&D.• A political extremist would tightly regulate corporations to make sure they respect the environment, do not monopolize resources and the markets, and are accountable for the damage they do to others.• A political extremist would have publicly-funded and publicly-run elections to make sure that all candidates get equal exposure for their ideas and true vetting.• A political extremist would make all election officials available and accountable to the media.• A political extremist would favor the 99% vs. the 0.001% and would never take the side of the powerful against the helpless.There are no "political extremists," by these definitions, in Congress. Of either party.
| no | 2,569 |
Robbing Peter (native people/salmon) to pay Paul (mining company), only sounds good to Paul. How could anyone with a heart threaten a native people and species just for money.Open Rebuttal: There is a commercial fishing group that would like to talk about THEIR economic interests.
| no | 714 |
Bruce I've heard this before. So you are saying that the nearly $600 billions that we will soon have to pay each year in interest on past military spending debt will not be missed by other needs of the country? People will not have to work to pay this? It can go on indefinitely like an eternal-motion machine? Didn't Greenspan say that the market was self-correcting in 2008 and that all stock prices were justified?
| yes | 5,285 |
Mikes547 It is more than highly unlikely that the private ownership of firearms will ever be relinquished in this country. Our history, myths, and culture are all based on the conquering of a wilderness with firearms. Our laws have written firearms into them at the highest level (2nd amendment) such that they will never be changed. But all of that is beside the point of this article which was talking about making the country safer and not gun free. As long as the political arguments are over banning firearms there will be no movement on this issue. We can continue to waste our breath and go nowhere, or we can try something else that has a chance to work. Everyone is for safety and that is the place to start. Healthcare and safety can generate small incremental improvements that taken together can save tens of thousands of lives and change our entire culture. And this approach is not hitting a brick wall. The road is open in front of this approach.
| yes | 6,299 |
Wolfgang Roberts This doesn't mean anything without context. A minimum wage earner who is $20,000 in debt is not the same thing as a millionaire who is $20,000 in debt. The raw number is not really relevant compared to the overall size of the economy.
| yes | 8,974 |
Josh The American Healthcare system is designed to maximize profits for corporations. Take ObamacareThe Economist UKObamacare greatly benefiteda) the private US Insurance Industry andb) the US Pharma IndustryClick on the link below, to see for yourself the data ofThe Economist on how the pretax profitsof the US five largest insurance companiesincreased after the ACA was passedImage Link<a href="https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/309/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20151205_FNC666_0.png" target="_blank">https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/309/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20151205_FNC666_0.png</a>From $ 15 Billion in 2009 to $ 25 Billion in 2015Profits increased by 10 Billion in 6 yearAnd insurance companies pocketed $ 25 Billion. Thatis $ 25 Billion not going to patientsNext read the NY TimesThe NY TimesObama Was Pushed by Drug Industry, E-Mails SuggestBy Peter Baker June 8, 2012"After weeks of talks, drug industry lobbyists were growing nervous. To cut a deal with the White House on overhauling health care, they needed to be sure that President Obama would stop a proposal intended to bring down medicine prices.”"On June 3, 2009, one of the lobbyists e-mailed Nancy-Ann DeParle, the president’s health care adviser.”"Just like that, Mr. Obama’s staff signaled a willingness to put aside support for the reimportation of prescription medicines at lower prices and by doing so solidified a compact with an industry the president had vilified on the campaign trail. “I will leave at this
| yes | 9,733 |
Marianne P. What a beautiful act of kindness, that you would place a $10 bill in handbags you've donated. Just a thought, it might be nice for the recipient to see a note from you along with the bill, to show that you performed a random act of kindness. That could inspire the recipient to likewise do something to help others.
| yes | 9,677 |
I am a Humira user and have an Wharton MBA -- and I can only describe the pricing strategy of AbbieVie as rapacious. But it is not just AbbieVie. It is virtually the entire patented drugs market. It is not a market in any sense but is instead an untrammeled monopoly. Which can only be broken by given the government the right to regulate both drug prices and investor returns, similar to the era of price and return regulation that prevailed in US utilities.
| no | 508 |
Sarah "Also, anyone assuming a 7% real return on the stock market will be reliable over a 40-year period [not that it ever happened...."But it did happen...that is why it is the factual long-term historical average.Will you see 7% annualized over 5, 10, 15...years? Probably not.But the longer you play the game (40 + years is a long time)...it is very likely that the long-term historical average will play out over the next half century.
| yes | 8,962 |
The assumption with providing more ammo and weapons is that this is all Ukraine needs to prevail over Russia. There's really no good reason or evidence to believe this. Ukraine already had a formidable military with 260K+ active army, 200 combat aircraft air force and thousands of artillery, tanks, APC/IFVs, etc. Before Russia's invasion, Ukraine had more artillery and tanks than Germany, France and Britain combined. Since start of the war, Ukraine got hundreds more artillery pieces (mainly 155mm type), hundreds of Soviet block tanks (modernized T-72s from Poland and others) and over a 1.5M rounds of just 155mm artillery shells not to mention ammo for MLRS and old Soviet block artillery systems and other types military equipment. NATO/US spy planes are flying around Ukraine 24/7 providing intel and targeting information. The US alone committed $113B in aid to Ukraine in just 10 months. And CSIS explained back in November, this number is likely to go up as the latest aid approval ($45B) will run out by end of Spring or early Summer 2023. And yet Ukraine needs more. There's no end in sight for this war. Even worse, Ukraine is now on the backfoot losing territory after we were incessantly told Russia is on its last legs and about to collapse, the newly mobilized troops would not fight but desert en masse, Russia is running out of missiles, etc. This war has shades of Afghanistan/Vietnam where there's doubling down on clearly unwinnable war.
| yes | 5,695 |
Rima Regas Wholeheartedly agree! I think that increasing the corporate (business) marginal tax rates (assuming we have the political will to close the associated loopholes) makes sense for a number of reasons.First, remember that businesses are taxed on profits, and that we're talking about marginal rates. So inevitable screams that raising the highest marginal rates will hurt mom-and-pop small business who are struggling to survive are pure bunk. It would be highly profitable businesses that would be impacted. Second, remember that business are taxed on profits after all expenses have been paid. Including every dollar owed to every employee.Third, the higher the marginal tax rate, the less it costs on an after tax basis, to hire additional workers and otherwise invest in increased capacity. This is because employee wages and other non-capital expenses are deductible. At a 60% marginal rate every dollar paid to employee costs them only 40 cents. Fourth, the converse is also true about cost cutting. The lower the marginal tax rate the greater the reward for cutting expenses or laying off employees on an after tax basis. That might explain why businesses have been obsessed with cost cutting since the 80's.
| yes | 8,367 |
I really hope NJ Governor Murphy changes his mind. It's crazy to add lanes to a highway in a dense, transit-oriented urban area like Jersey City. There are plenty of ways to serve port expansion, such as investing in freight rail, or repurposing existing roadway and making truck-only, rather than mindlessly expanding highway capacity, which just induces more traffic, worsens air quality, encourages sprawl and harms communities.
| no | 4,217 |
We have solutions, but don’t use them. So instead we’re going to make things more painful?To reduce emissions, increase the gas tax and apply a carbon tax, with the funds dedicated to mitigating and preventing damage due to pollution and global warming. That’s fairest and most efficient. For urban planning, we need… urban planning. Actual solutions people use. Transportation planners can’t just build electric or high-speed rail and hope for high-density centers to spring up. San Jose and Sacramento tried light rail, and California is still pouring billions into high-speed rail to no where. They are more political favor than actual solution. If California, with all its wealth and Democratic super-majorities, can’t produce an exemplar, perhaps the ideas are flawed, no?Meanwhile people suffer, in traffic. Worse, any new lanes are allocated for the wealthy who pay for toll lanes. As far as I can see, the main problem with widening freeways is the amount of political payback it takes to deliver. Rich people can sit at home conduct business over their $50/month internet. The rest of us have to spend hundreds of dollars and almost a hundred hours a month commuting; and you want to use our pain as your leverage?Long-term, nothing works on its own and we’re all going to die. What are you doing to help others right now?
| yes | 6,968 |
Audits for anyone who lives in $2m property and has less than $200k in income
| yes | 6,788 |
"From 1972 to 2021, the government, on average, spent about 20.8 percent of gross domestic product while collecting about 17.3 percent of G.D.P. in revenue. It covered the gap with $31.4 trillion in I.O.U.s — the federal debt"The solution seems obvious, roll back the Trump tax cuts to balance and do a wealth surtax of 5% per annum on the top 1% until the debt is paid!
| no | 3,951 |
My husband and I tried a planner years ago. He put us in high commission funds that benefited him.So I joined an investment club and used the Better Investing tools to evaluate individual stocks. Now retired, we own a basket of individual quality stocks and some Vanguard mutual funds in our retirement accounts.Stick with these over time and you will do well. Set your own asset allocation based on your risk tolerance, age and when you need the $$. Do not pay high fees. It really is not that hard.
| yes | 7,219 |
When I transfer funds from the US to Nigeria for my work it can take weeks to months for my colleagues in Nigeria to have the funds deposited into their accounts. The funds go to the UK, then to the Central Bank of Nigeria, where it sits often for weeks while the Nigerian government authorities try to find the funds. Occasionally the same delays happen in the UK. Oh, and there are big bank fees for this horrible process.If I change US dollars to bitcoin, transfer the bitcoin to a wallet in Nigeria, and then immediately change the bitcoin to Naira, the entire process takes no more than a few seconds. People get their money instantly. Does the professor believe that I am engaging in magical thinking? Does the professor believe that having people have immediate access to funds for almost zero cost have no value? Professor Desai is not dealing with the reality of currency exchange horrors that are helping to make the crypto world spin. I am not investing anything I cannot afford to lose, but I am betting against Professor Desai on blockchain. This technology will outlive all of us, and will do good for people around the world.
| no | 3,716 |
The claim and this article has basic flaws in antitrust analysis.The "consumer" of advertising services are the advertisers, not the end-user of google products. Those consumers choose Google because it has the scale to provide a good product at a good price, just like Toyota. Others offering advertising - the NY Times for its pages, or various groups -- do not have the same scale, and cannot offer the same value to the consumer. This is not an abuse of market dominance any more than buying from Toyota who makes millions of cars and benefits from economies of scale. Nor does "buying up crucial tools" make a difference, particularly in search and ad, where there are many, many technologies available. Nor does Google "taking a cut" make a difference, since Google was always undercutting the alternative because it had lower costs.Others can get the same scale by having their own worldwide search, serving those consumers.In the search market Microsoft Bing and others are free to compete; indeed, search is probably the largest market that virtually any company can compete with since it is a digital service. On any browser in the world, any user can change the default search, so there is no barrier to entry.If advertising consumers want leverage against Google, they are in fact free to create a company which buys Google ads on behalf of company participants. But they've been unwilling to give up their independent goals and seek instead to coordinate illegally.
| no | 141 |
The iconic Gorby, lauded by friend and foe alike turning over in his grave. The ender of the Cold War, freer of Eastern Europe, ender of the Warsaw Pact did not want the USSR to implode, SSRs freed including the Ukraine, ending communism and unbridled capitalism.He knew it was too fast, too soon or outright wrong.Then everybody from the west, USA, western Europe, Nato, Yselin and Putin perverted the great work he did, starting a new Cold War with new east west alignments, trillions of dollars in defense spending and untold millions killed or wounded and mass destruction. As Yogi taught us, it's deja vu all over again.
| no | 1,670 |
This article, at best, mentioned ‘training’ in passing even though the headline screamed “training treadmill” Edwards Deming said, “A bad system will beat a good person every time.” Having spent 25 years in corporate training (I’m a gray beard), this article fail to discuss setting up a successful training program that supports employee onboarding, retention and advancement. If training’s role is to support the employee, why then is it so shorted? Because businesses fail to see training as a job support ecosystem and therefore fail to integrate training into the business plan. Training is not a cost but rather it is an employee/company investment. Use Six Sigma to define the business case for onboarding an employee correctly vs. incorrectly. What is a reasonable timeline for a new employee to approach full job competency? How does an employee know if they’ve reached competency? Hint: Do a Job Task AnalysisNFL teams script their first 10 to 20 plays. Why not script the new employees’ job for the first 90 days. Support the new hire with a scaffolded onboarding approach so they are not thrown into the pit of despair. Nor is it fair to current employees who have to support a newbie if they don’t know what tasks are supposed to be learned and in what sequence. Hint: Do a Job Task Analysis. Successful employee onboarding and training can be done. But it has to be done intentionally… or it will fail the employee, the company, and the customer. Nobody wins
| no | 2,264 |
On January 5, 2023, Secretary Mayorkas said "At the outset, let me be clear: Title 42 or not, the border is not open."<a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/01/05/secretary-mayorkas-delivers-remarks-dhss-continued-preparation-end-title-42-and#:~:text=I" target="_blank">https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/01/05/secretary-mayorkas-delivers-remarks-dhss-continued-preparation-end-title-42-and#:~:text=I</a>%20have%20been%20to%20the,processes%20under%20extremely%20difficult%20conditions. said,
| no | 4,462 |
Now that Iran is actively funneling missiles, warheads and drones to Russia for use in Ukraine, and Russia is funneling technical expertise and supplies to Iran to make more weapons, things are quickly heating up and the clock is approaching midnight as Iran get closer and closer to weaponizing a nuclear MIRV ICBM.The no so cold war between Iran and Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE is about to get very hot and Israel's efforts to avoid aligning against Russia in Syrian airspace (thank you President Obama) is about to fail as the Russo-Nato proxy war in Ukraine spills into the Middle East and a heavily armed and nuclear Israel gets drawn into a very open conflict with Iran and Russia. The bombing of an Iranian plant inside Iran is major escalation and I doubt that the CIA and DIA were blindsided by the IDF operation as such a strike was likely meant to cripple Iranian efforts to resupply Russia as much as Iranian efforts to resupply Hizbollah in Lebanon. With the Turks waging war in Syria, the air space over Syria is clearly going to become very crowded and very dangerous very quickly as Russia is stumbling into a second war with Israel through its Iranian proxy and Israel unlike Ukraine can take out both Russian and Iranian offensive capabilities. We just witnessed the opening salvo of a hot war which is why the DIA, CIA have been in Tel Aviv and Cairo recently - it is not really about the Palestinian territories.
| no | 687 |
This would all be really funny were it not so sad - even tragic. Santos (or whatever his name is) bamboozled his constituents into voting for him. He refuses to acknowledge this.And he revised his campaign finance disclosure to indicate that the $700,000 loan was NOT a "personal" one - which is a campaign finance violation, since only a candidate can make such a large donation to his/her own campaign.Now, he has had the revised campaign finance disclosure signed fraudulently, thus committing a second campaign finance violation.It seems to me that this pathological (used in its true clinical meaning) liar WANTS to get caught, is almost begging to. That is not unheard of among serial criminals, whether simply liars or those who commit more serious crimes.
| no | 2,085 |
The NY FBI field office is precisely the same office that was obsessed with finding dirt against Hillary and was notoriously staffed with pro-Trump agents. Mr. McGonigal's involvement with Albanian intelligence service for a payment of $225K while he was still an FBI agent, before retiring, should result in additional changes predicated on the Espionage Act. The Albanian charge is the most serious one: it is ultimate Espionage, if not Treason as well. Mr. McGonigal should spend the rest of his life in a federal maximum security facility: we do not pay traitors.
| yes | 7,101 |
We have a looming fiscal disaster NYC: a $3 billion disaster caused by deBlasio's completely irresponsible budgets, including frittering away about $1 billion on his wife's failed mental health improvement office (or whatever it was). The City Council can easily restore library funding and make walk the city off the fiscal precipice by reducing the size of the bloated city bureaucracy. Maybe each councillor can set a good example by eliminating 2 of their own staff and maybe working a bit harder -- just like everybody not in government has to do.
| no | 4,423 |
Is $250K+ worth selling out your country? I hope he serves aife sentence if convicted.
| no | 613 |
Probably nothing the average Times reader needs to hear, but the national budget isn’t like anyone’s household budget, the latter of which typically has to balance out year-to-year. Obviously, living within one’s means is important, but countries need to invest in their people - infrastructure, climate change mitigation through energy infrastructure, education and training, etc. Saving 20 million people from going under during the first year of the pandemic was critical, and the numbers show that Biden’s ARPA was also necessary, due to the amount of time it takes to restart an economy, as opposed to keeping one alive. Of course, the GOP never seems to get many of the points noted here..Also, it bears mentioning that the GOP has run up FAR more debt than the Democrats over the past 20 years, especially if you include the disastrous Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as the Bush and Trump tax cuts for the wealthy. Yet they do little to expand the country’s capabilities (remember their infrastructure week, and the killing of Obama’s bill on that optic). Now they have entitlements in their sights, but without the Biden initiatives on infrastructure and renewable energy (which met with incredible GOP resistance), we’d have wasted another two years due to the GOP.I’m glad Biden called them out for wanting to erase the IRS budget increases. By the way, the intent of these increases is to have the wealthy not fudge their taxes, not people making under $200K a year.
| yes | 9,312 |
Mike A. Your focused on cave shadows…Medicare/Medicaid, social security & defense = 87% of federal spending.
| yes | 8,288 |
Now though, in rare cases car rental chaos works for the customer.We had booked a one-way rental for 3 weeks from ORD to BOS for 1,500 USD. At ORD at the rental counter it took them forever to locate a car. In the lot they switched us to yet another car. We were assured they would tie this other car to our paperwork which had a different car (license plate etc.) in it. We drove away.Something seemed off when there was a minor e-toll charge on our CC a few days later that we didn‘t know of. Then a 250 USD charge for a car rental.When we returned the car after the 3 weeks, the reps couldn‘t find the contract in the system but assured us it would be sorted out.Got home and found an invoice from the rental company for the 250 USD with details of a three day car rental for ‚not our‘ car. Never got the invoice for the 1,500 USD.We were pretty sure they would never figure this one out and so far, one year later, they haven‘t…
| no | 4,728 |
I work with wealthy high school students, and they have been using tutors to write papers and complete problem sets for decades. It’s a widely known (but little discussed) issue in prep schools. Now there is a bot that is free and open to all—it’s time to bring back the in-class, handwritten work to create a more equitable learning environment for everyone.
| no | 1,238 |
Phyliss Dalmatian Word of caution regarding Krugman's prognostications. His economic and political predictions over the past 6+ years is spotty at best. Remember 2021, his call that inflation would be transitory and no significant problem?? - which he had to retract. Inflation does indeed increase debt especially over an extended period of time. US debt payments will exceed $400 billion in 2023 with projections reaching $800 billion by 2026. Ironically, Simpson-Bowles predictions as to the accumulation of future US debt was understated.The challenge with this type of prediction is that if the Economist is wrong, it is really really hard to correct the situation unlike inflation control which is painful but short-term.Tax increases and containing expenses is prudent fiscal management considering $31+ trillion in debt and debt to GDP ratio exceeding 120%+.His ideological fervor sometimes gets in the way of looking at the big picture.
| no | 2,740 |
Vestigial One San Francisco (and most other major CA cities) have dramatically increased the amount of money spent on the homeless over the past decade. Billions of dollars. Maybe it’s time to ask what has changed by throwing money at the problem. Seems to me that most of that money goes towards small non profits (with a well paid executives) that offer small services the homeless to feel better - but very little is spent on long term solutions. And we continue to fight housing density required to drive down housing costs. Nor do we look for cheaper solutions to move many of the homeless to residential programs outside of cities. Republicans aren’t to blame - our ultra progressive Democratic policy makers have done a very effective job of spending tons of money without making much of a material difference to the problem.
| yes | 5,554 |
brandon America isn't spending beyond its means. It's the richest country in the world. It could easily spend many times more than it currently does. It just needs to pay for it. And who has that money? The richest 1%, and more specifically, the richest 0.1%. They pay less now in taxes than they have in a century. It's long past time to reverse that con. They need to start paying what they did from FDR thru Kennedy, or at least from LBJ thru Carter. That's the way to pay down the Debt. If it's done through spending cuts, instead of tax increases on the rich, you get recession, or depression, and extended misery for most Americans.
| yes | 7,642 |
So you're saying $45k/year isn't actually affordable in Manhattan? How out of touch can you be? And housing for 70 low income families is less important than having a parking lot? People like you, who prize their narrow aesthetic concerns over other people's lives, and clothe them in a fig leaf of concern for "true affordability" are why people like me can no longer afford to live in the cities where we love.
| yes | 6,023 |
CWS Yes, there is blame on both sides, but Democrats did not initiate the slash and burn politics of Newt Gingrich; Democrats supported the attempts at immigration reform stonewalled by Republicans; Democrats were against the Citizens United decision that opened the floodgates for even more corporate money to distort the will of the people; Democrats opposed the tax cuts that allowed income inequality to explode and the 1% to control Washington, etc. etc. Surveys consistently show a majority of Americans supporting Democratic priorities - as long as money holds outside sway in American politics, and greed rules, no third party could solve our divided politics.
| yes | 7,933 |
Are the members of the Republican Party the only people who didn’t see this lunacy coming? Trump and his policies really are the unwanted gift that keeps on giving. You especially have three do-nothing House representatives – Gaetz, Boebert, and Perry – who contribute nothing to the American people and American society. They are simply cashing a $174,000 per year paycheck. What all of this chaos tells us is that Republicans are mindless idealogues first and irresponsible citizens second. I hope Trump does run in 2024. It will guarantee what the United States needs: continued sane, responsible, and adult Democratic leadership. Honestly, I think I could beat Trump.
| no | 3,821 |
SeekingTruth there are articles that look at of those $74 million, how many are willing to vote for him again. The consensus is $10 million. Can you imagine the ads against voting for him? The fact that he wanted to stage a coup? Really? When you lay it all out, he’s not fit to serve. Never was. The GOP needs an electable candidate. They need to come up with someone who people will vote for, not against.
| yes | 9,110 |
In 1973 Moosewood opened in Ithaca. It’s a mostly vegetarian restaurant. Named after a dog (some say a tree, but I like dogs better) it’s always “maintained a structure where those who worked there also collectively owned and managed the place.” Meals are not expensive. It’s long maintained a system of benefits to support the Ithaca Shakespeare Society, Akila Leadership Institute of Rwanda, Council on U.S.-Latin American Relations, Planned Parenthood etc.Perhaps most importantly, Crosby and Nash drank at the bar, poet Allen Ginsberg ate a brownie with his black coffee, and the Grateful Dead went unrecognized during by the members of the collective while dining there.Maybe this is a model for restaurants today? Probably not, but just a thought.
| yes | 7,518 |
P When you talk about "corporate subsidies", you are generally talking about tax deductions which lower a company's taxes, not actual cash transfers from the government to companies. I believe the biggest deduction companies get is investment expense, which reflects our collective desire to incentivize companies to invest in things that allow them to increase productivity and deliver goods and services better and cheaper.So your numbers 2 and 3 are actually in conflict.Your list also omits "spend less." Sounds like you had your spending under control and were able to fund the lifestyle you wanted by taking the other steps you listed. That's great. But if you were living well beyond your means with no possibility of increasing your revenues enough to fund your expenses, you could never get out of debt without cutting expenses. And so it is with our country. Despite the 2017 tax cuts, we are right at the post-WWII average for tax revenues as a percentage of GDP (~17.5%). You can maybe get that number to 20%, but we'll still be running unsustainably high deficits.
| yes | 6,219 |
Jon struggling how to parse this comment…Yes, I assume the employees fired by Microsoft are highly skilled. They’re most likely computer programmers. Sorry to disappoint you. That does not in any way whatsoever diminish the work of Amazon employees. Who are heroes honestly with what they’re forced to put up with (and also highly skilled) and deserve fair pay and reasonable hours and not to have to work around the bodies of their coworkers (true story I think). Hope these people are competing for your job, whatever it is. I would hire them over you. Your language leaves much to be desired.
| yes | 7,896 |
This one transaction between them reeks volumes about both his lack of any solid belief and his priorities that certainly aren't "pro-life": She tells him vaccines are immoral and that's what it takes for him to "fight like hell" to make sure that our military gets free choice as to whether they will get vaccines to keep from exposing each other to fatal disease. What a perverse priority to be "pro-choice" about - and also illuminating as to just how incoherent MTG's tactics vs. professed ideology are. That incoherence does make her a mascot for the Q-Anon end of the GOP continuum where they decided in lockstep that the thing to be pro-choice about, defiantly, was mask-wearing. And the results are in - their choice killed vast numbers who would have survived with vaccines and masks, putting Republican's death rates well beyond Democrats'. And this was the "free choice" that McCarthy let sweet-nothing words from MTG convince him to extend into the military too? She may have taken herself out of Q-Anon but not the Q-Anonillogic out of her reactivity. Beware the new Rasputin behind the throne with the oversized gavel.
| no | 4,704 |
A number of comments such as Livonian advocate the same old "shut up and dribble" mentality often used to subvert political statements at events - whether public or private. By punishing Dr. Abramoff, Oak Ridge and the American Geophysical Union are also making a strong political statement themselves; specifically, they are stating that their peers should shut up and pretend that the status quo is just fine. Unfortunately, the status quo is not fine and has created a climate crisis with significant deleterious effects. Kudos to Dr. Abramoff and others who engage in public actions to highlight the crisis we are facing - a strong tradition in the US which gave rise to many movements including the US Revolution, Abolition and Reconstruction, Labor, Civil/Voting Rights, women and the environmental movements. And shame on Livonian and allies who won't admit that their own silence - and the silencing of others - reveals a political statement as strong as the one made by Dr. Abramoff. At least, Dr. Abramoff is ready to take the consequences for her actions - while Livonian and others hide behind a facade and a false sense of apolitical superiority. I do not know the agenda of the AUF meeting but it seems that a much better response to the concerns of Dr. Abramoff and millions of other people would have been to schedule a plenary session addressing the issue of what the AUF and its members should do to address the climate crisis. Open debate is much better than stifling debate.
| yes | 8,785 |
I am a Brit and am astonished at how many open minded, liberal people around the world are prepared to defend these two exceptionally privileged and narcissistic individuals. The documentary raised some important issues about press intrusion and manipulation but they manage to make the story all about them. I think there is also an issue about how unrepresentative the Royal household is vis-a-vis the general British population. Not only are ethnic minorities under represented within its staff, but people from classes other than the privately educated are thin on the ground. I don't believe the Royal Family is overtly racist - but I do feel their own internal policies suggest they select the people they are most comfortable working with to join their staff. That ought to change and perhaps it will as a result of the whole Meghan and Harry fiasco. But the two of them are hardly innocent victims – Meghan Markle was so warmly welcomed initially. Hypocrisy and entitled behaviour was her undoing, not racism. People in the UK are truly sick of them whinging on from the comfort of their $14 million mansion, trashing the Royal Family and insulting the country when there is a severe cost of living crisis happening. Why can they not direct their considerable resources to actually doing some good in the world rather than bleating on about how they have been wronged? The whole issue has become one of their own hurt feelings and revenge.
| no | 408 |
N. Cunningham Well I'm sorry you didn't try one made by my friend Noke!A tasty melange of fresh cilantro, mint and basil, crisp carrot, Napa cabbage, glass noodles, chopped peanuts and chicken, adeptly swaddled in a neat package of rice wrapper. And oh her dipping sauces! Thai chili sauce with aged balsamic vinegar. Before eating you cut them in half with kitchen shears to open them up to dip. It's important too to enjoy them immediately, because if they sit around exposed to air they will become gummy. So wrap them tightly until you can eat. I did a handstand when I saw the wrapper soaker. It's genius!
| no | 1,620 |
When we have Congressman Gaetz of FL who is allegedly accused of having sex with a minor, we have Santos who lied and somehow lent $700,000 to his campaign on a salary of $55,000, and 147 members of GOP congress members voted to throw out the election results, is anything going to happen to oust their own party members?Only Dems do and they never learn from criminal GOP. Wake up Dems - put up or shut up…
| yes | 5,426 |
kazolar This is in the nature of a response to all the lovely people who replied to me: I live in NYC, I've no car; I was in my 60s back then; I had to take subways and buses to New Jersey where the huge and once beautiful corner Tudor house was located, to fix the cracked sidewalk, take down a dead tree ($900), repair a house full of old clothes from the 1960s, plus newspapers, yellowed newspapers, my grandparents' furniture, broken toys from our childhood, etc., cobwebs (think Miss Havisham from Dickens' "Great Expectations") & pay to have someone clean up and take care of and then give away a filth-encrusted poodle, pay to have the house inspected and then read things like: "...evidence of rodent nesting in the oven" (which haunts me to this day; my sister said a big rat jumped out of the closet when she'd opened the door...). My mother was a sick woman and above all, in that fraught time, I was trying to keep my head above water while also doing the right thing as much as I could, as an executor... my original note was a response to the notes describing well-ordered actions of sifting through and separating out the possessions of loved ones who'd passed on; I was trying to say that in the best of all possible worlds those are admirable actions to take... but that this was not that world.Thank you again for all your thoughtful, supportive and lovely responses to my story, I was quite moved by reading them.
| no | 3,862 |
How about asking the top 10 global businesses, for example, Amazon, Royal Dutch Shell, Volkswagen, Walmart, Unilever, Roche,Apple, Johnson &Johnson etc to charge just 1 cent extra for their products and to deposit that 1 cent from each product into a GLOBAL RESPONSE UNIT or GLOBAL CHARITY to respond to impending disaters such as these? 'He ain't heavy, he's my brother '. Just 1 cent could save a life. Come on Jeff et al! You can do this!
| no | 2,536 |
Dr. Stanford is a truth-telling superstar revealing that over-weight individuals have little opportunity to treatment as even her waiting list is 5,000 long. The point of 200 comorbid conditions associated with obesity should be the Clarion Call to science and medicine. However, the mathematics overwhelms, and Medicare must pay for therapy but $1,000 a month for even 1 million patients is a $12 billion and obesity disease is 40% of the USA population notwithstanding billions of others elsewhere on earth. The scientific surface on obesity is barely scratched and a moon shot of efforts are required and sadly opine that for this generation little pharmaceutical or professional help is on the horizon.
| yes | 8,226 |
There's an expectation in the media and amongst religious groups that well-known people must be perfect and all-knowing (of the future in particular). I understand the reasoning, their actions are public statements, readers/listeners may imitate them. But find me a perfect person... In the case of Dahl, if he had been perfect to today's standards, we would not have any of the anti-authoritarian twist, wildly inventive language, or dark creativity that has made his writing so self-empowering, and mind-opening to young and old around the world, especially the odd ones of us who were pushed to the side for one reason or another. I'm not validating criminal or harmful acts at all, but what Jacobs brings up against Dahl seems quite minor and typical of human beings. We would have to look into wider context to know if Dahl was indeed an anti-semite and anti-Pygmy and if he caused harm to these identities. From his writings, it appears he wasn't. And if he was, to what extent should that affect the good effects of his writing on children and others?When I was 9 or so years old I remember thinking "Roald Dahl is a good artist because he's one of the few people who can attract readers from many walks of life."PS- I wonder if any self-identifying Romani person will have been hurt by his beloved writing spot, named the Gipsy House. Or, you know, if this is just... privileged, distant speculation?
| yes | 5,966 |
SR Nobody should be rich enough to pay $24 million for a concert while millions of people literally starve.
| yes | 6,893 |
George,You are absolutely correct, many drugs are developed by the government, at taxpayers expense. Since the government isn't in the business of pressing pills, or making pharmaceutical drugs, they sell the formulation to pharmaceutical companies that then gouge us. What the government can and should do, when taxpayers have developed a drug, the government sound license that formulation and get a cut of the billions pharmaceutical companies make from our investments. Just like Bezos and Eloon Musk and their space program, exists BECAUSE of taxpayers initial investments in space BECAUSE Kennedy saw the value in it. Remember none of the technology that took the Apollo Astronauts into space existed, none. Rocketry was in its infacy it was because of taxpayers investment in that project that got us where we are today. All the technology we use, flows directly from NASA.
| no | 2,903 |
“Take them white peoples money” That’s where we are now. Wow. I agree, if the Globes were foolish enough to try to buy diversity for 500k then by all means take it! What’s interesting is that anyplace that has had more white then black it needs to diversify but if it happens to be all black dominated it’s just how it is and doesn’t need diversity.
| yes | 6,422 |
Paraphrasing - "A house that received an appraisal of $472k in early 2021 appraised for $750k later that year". There was an explosion in real estate values in 2021 and there were many suburban homes that saw this level of appreciation, mine included. Seems like a pretty weak example with a number of variables that are being ignored. Given that both owners are respected professionals I'm going to assume that it's a fairly nice home. I have a hard time believing that an appraiser wrote an estimate that was 40% lower than fair market value just because.
| no | 558 |
PaulN the problem with GOP vs illegal immigration was that Reagan signed IRCA then sabotaged the enforcement piece of the law. Reagan was the true Open Border president and proud of it. IRCA was our last hope. After that, Congress gave up.
| yes | 9,010 |
How many billions of dollars is Biden going to waste on this endless endeavor? As with all our foreign escapades there is no exit strategy or formulation as to what victory will look like. Next year we'll be asking the same questions while Biden and the rest of our politicians throw more of our money at the military industrial complex.
| yes | 6,598 |
Dont overlook the fact that Erin Mattson, who i think is a great kid received one of the best educations in the country. Out of state tuition, room and board is $50k +, I know, my out of state son attends UNC. NIL is going to kill women's sports at the Division 1 level. As a local business owner the decision for me is easy, im giving the money to the kid, not the sports department. The only leverage big name football schools have is season tickets. you want them, better pay up! Its the law of unintended consequences. With UNC's mens basketball team I have said its hard to get up at 5am and run 5 miles when your now sleeping in silk sheets!
| yes | 8,004 |
Rich man's justice?The FBI estimates that white-collar crimes cost the US economy more than $300bn a year, and can have serious impacts on people's lives. However, studies report that the majority of federal judges in white-collar cases frequently sentence well below the fraud guideline. Evidence suggests that white-collar crimes, committed by well-off white men, are not punished as harshly as others.Judges and many in the legal system tend to see white-collar criminals - especially Caucasian white-collar criminals - as being good people who made a mistake, while the poor and minorities are more likely to have their crimes seen as a reflection of their bad character.
| yes | 7,425 |
Marlowe I understand. I was actually uneducated and unsophisticated about almost all things financial/retirement related until I turned 60 and realized I'd better get cracking. My Morgan Stanley advisor, while certainly a trusted fiduciary, would never commit to the level of actual retirement planning detail I felt I needed. While I still use MS for investments only, I now use Right Capital to monitor everything else, since that directly impacts my financial future. For example, a recent change of employment income can easily be entered, which, if large enough (in either direction, up or down), can have a huge impact on the future if you look at that in RC (easy to do). Essentially, RC lets you track your entire worth in one robust platform. No spreadsheets, no manual calculations, even no guesswork - it's all there in once place. Well worth the effort to learn, but I agree it is very time consuming to become your own retirement/financial planner, especially if you are working full time and/or raising children.
| yes | 7,649 |
So I'm lost here. Age 74 and on 5 prescription medications. I have an Advantage plan that costs $78.00 per month with an added dental plan that costs $38.00 per month ($116. per month + the SS monthly Medicare deduction). According to simple math my costs for the "same" coverages under "traditional" Medicare with a Medigap plan and a Part D plan would be an additional $120. per month more with less actual coverage and that does not include the dental. Also, Eliquis is one of my prescriptions which is a big additional Part D out of pocket cost in all of the plans available in MA. So explain to me how "traditional" medicare would be better for me????
| no | 3,052 |
It’s just incredible. FTX kept dumping client funds into Alameda to staunch bigger and bigger trading losses. There’s nothing “crypto” or “democratisation of finance” in any of this nonsense- except the new twist of inventing a totally fictitious “coin”’and claiming it was the guarantee that clients would eventually get made whole.Honest to Betsy, this story has been done a thousand times before - nothing here is new.Retail crypto investors falling for this I understand. It’s unfortunate but sheep will be sheep.On the other hand, big private investment houses really should be looking at the quality of their hiring and decision making process - no oversight, no board representation and totally blinded by the “genius” of someone who plays video games while in a meeting.It’s really all kind of pathetic.
| yes | 8,359 |
Mr. Adams //We know for a fact that every dollar spent on the IRS will generate several dollars of revenueNo, actually we don't know that.What we do know, because the IRS freely admits this is that their goal is not to extract the legal maximum dollars owed. Their goal is to go after every taxpayer, regardless of how much they owe. This is an extremely distorted evaluation metric for IRS agents because it creates the incentive to target the largest number of *people*, i.e. the vulnerable poor who they know will not argue or sue the IRS. Shaking people down for $600 Venmo payments is the latest in this perverse incentive that's sold as bridging the gap of *billions* owed. As if there were really millions of people dodging taxes through $600 Venmo payments. It's as absurd as going after waitresses from cheap greasy spoons who don't declare all their tips. Because that's where the real money is, right? If the evaluation metric was instead to target the largest number of *dollars*, then indeed IRS agents would target the rich who owe lots of taxes.But they don't do that, and have no plans to do that.
| no | 4,666 |
Meanwhile, Microsoft acquires the company that created the chat program, meaning the entity that controls our computers is merging with one that learning to translate our thoughts (shudder). I think Rod Serling would find it a source of much material were he still around today. And come to think of it, he saw all this coming. It's just a matter of time before the bots replace all human jobs, then creative endeavors, and then begin to wonder why they keep us around at all.
| yes | 7,555 |
SG Banning agriculture exports is treating the symptom, not the cause, and would have massive unintended consequences. How about regulating groundwater, instituting rational pricing that captures the true social costs, and then letting things settle from there? I guarantee you if we slapped a $1500/acre ft price on groundwater pumping, exports of alfalfa to Saudi Arabia would end. Immediately. There are some districts in the west doing this to themselves, crazily enough- look up the San Luis Valley in Colorado.
| yes | 5,369 |
Since Republicans appear to be so flippant about the debt ceiling, and convinced that no harm will be done to the US economy, why not use Kevin McCarthy's Congressional District as an emergency test case. Starting February 1st all federal activity would cease. For a period of one month no federal dollar would flow into the District. The FDIC would stop bank deposits, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would stop buying mortgages, the SBA would stop making loans, the Department of Agriculture would stop providing farm subsidies and stop funding 4H clubs and the farm extension service, student loans would be curtailed, there would be no food stamps, Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security checks would be terminated, and the federal contribution to roads and bridges would be shut down. In addition, the offices of then FBI, the IRS, FDA, Customs, and Homeland Security would cease to function. The FAA would cease to operate traffic control, the Veterans Administration would cease to operate, the list goes on. If after a month, Kevin McCarthy's Congressional District continues to function smoothly and operate normally, then there should be a discussion about cutting back on federal government services. Of course, this is all a fantasy, but the point is that the Biden Administration needs to be proactive and show the American people how important the federal government is to their lives and their well being.
| yes | 7,319 |
Every high school student who didn’t skip classes knows the word tartaric, gimme a break. Yesterday’s Spanish “some kind of open-sided house” makes the list? C'mon now. Too arbitrary. And todays country names? Not proper nouns (or adjectives)? Defies belief in the “rules”. Just sayin'.
| no | 1,660 |
What you seem to be proposing is that we herd everyone living in New York City into school auditoriums and in about 50 or more different languages teach them fire safety. I am good with that. Time to round up volunteers. Landlords have a lot to answer for, but so do people who seem to have no more common sense than children and endanger everyone around them.People who smoke in bed, who place space heaters near curtains, who use gas stoves for extra heat and leave potholders near open flames, who light candles and leave them burning when they leave the room or even the apartment, who leave electric pots on all night on wooden countertops and under low shelving, who use charcoal grills indoors . . . .
| yes | 6,236 |
If you want to be an emergency medicine physician for children you do a pediatrics residency and then a fellowship for the ED. They thank you by paying the peds ER docs with less pay than straight up ED docs. Pediatric hematologist pay in Boston $90,000. Years tied up with debt and postponement of pay hoping to help kids with leukemia and thats the reward. Stop talking about the do tors greed and focus on private equity in medicine and insurance companies
| no | 1,253 |
He even stole $3,000 donated for a dog with cancer for surgery.Santos is some piece of work.
| yes | 9,384 |
Balance the budget by cutting the DoD by $250 billion.Is there ever a line item review of its budget? Just take a look at how much the latest bomber development cost.However, there’s not even bipartisan support for such a thing.Yes, this is comment comes from a military veteran. So much waste in weapons and associated equipment development. See, a starting place for review.
| no | 45 |
I'm committed to hybrids not battery cars because of the added cost to charge them at home (adds another 30%-40% to your electric bill). I have a hybrid vehicle that is 9 years old-and am betting that hybrids will be a great buy for at least another 10-15 years.
| yes | 8,563 |
The inequality that is often created by privileged lawyers, corporate executives, community leaders and conservative legislators, working behind closed doors, can be mitigated to a degree by liberal legislators working in public to claw back a bit of what has been accrued in private. If we’ll spent it is an investment in our most important resource; our people. This is actually a far more “conservative” investment than the rat hole of unnecessary war.
| no | 1,564 |
Dont worry, Yellen will figure a way to mess everything up. Unless she is still flying around the world for what reason who knows. Like backing Bernanke and his successors wishes to keep real interest rates negative for 14 years, growing the amount of U.S. debt held by the Fed to almost $9 trillion, stealing trillions in interest from savers and depositors with a de facto tax to bail out banks while enriching corporations wall street and wealthy investors and inflating asset prices sky high. Then there was transitory inflation. Funny how inflation has increased 14% in the last two years but the Fed and Yellen seem to think its great inflation went down this month. How's that? A long way to go to erase 14%.Dont wonder why we have severe inflation now going back two years. The Fed exploded the money supply.Debtors and deadbeats win while deposit holders and workers lose. The Fed way, always. The Fed loves inflation. It allows corporations to raise prices and pay off debt with cheaper $$. Then its time to go after labor gains. When will Americans ever wake up?
| no | 4,267 |
Do you realize that Germany is the second largest supporter of Ukraine after the USA? In terms of both military and financial support. Between the end of February and January 16, 2023, 1,047,176 refugees from Ukraine were registered in Germany. In addition, the Federal Republic of Germany supports Ukrainian civil society with both non-cash benefits (electricity generators) and financial Help. German people have donate a record sum for Ukraine aid. The emergency aid for Ukraine has attracted more donations than ever before. According to an evaluation, people in Germany gave 862 million euros for those affected by the Russian war of aggression by mid-October 2022. maybe it makes sense for the constant critics of Germany to take a look at the list of the federal government <a href="https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en/news/military-support-ukraine-2054992" target="_blank">https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en/news/military-support-ukraine-2054992</a>. There the weapons are listed which Germany gives to the Ukrainian government. Can Germany do more (supply tanks)? Yes, for sure and I think that will come too, but I wish you just find out what the Germans are doing for Ukraine.
| yes | 8,397 |
Most restaurants bring one problem on themselves. Even when taking over a fully furnished restaurant, they "must" redo the entire decor, sometimes costing millions. New table, new art, new lighting, etc.Why?Just spruce things up, save money and open earlier.I remember the original Dallas BBQ on 72nd St. took over a "Continental" restaurant, and left all the furniture. It didn't look like a Texas ranch, but So What? The food was great and cheap, and it was always packed.
| yes | 7,209 |
This is like comparing sesame seeds to coconuts. Not even close to the same. But then we went through the Clinton email daily blabbering, and this will be the same. Only this time, no James Comey to open up a case two weeks before any election makes it harder for the tinfoil hat guys to get anywhere.
| yes | 9,068 |
Society needs to find some way to pull more students from underprivileged backgrounds to four year colleges and universities. Right now the sticker price of a private out of state school is usurious when you throw in a 6-8% student loan interest rate. Who can afford that if you're not from a family that earns over $250k/year or doesn't have access to a 529 savings plan?Admissions along the lines of race, gender, ethnicity, etc should be done away with but it's the income inequality gap that is being perpetuated by the have's vs. the have not's.
| no | 1,773 |
Ever had a Tesla pull up next to you on the freeway and look over to find the driver dead asleep? I have. Did someone with the same make a model deemed asleep in their Tesla a mile from where you saw them die a few weeks later? Yes. Ever been to those road/intersections in Laguna, Fresno, and the 91 where the freeway signs that say end freeway run across the entire freeway? Oddly, I have. Ever met or know people who work for EM and find none of this article out of character? Tell, me, those of you who think this is a hit piece, what is your relationship or personal knowledge of EM? I am appalled. This product is far worse than I thought. The tw statement of funding at $420 a share was straight up SEC illegal. However, I had no idea the product was this bad. All auto driving should be disabled immediately until an independent oversight can deem it safe.
| no | 3,346 |
Last night, I commented that I was surprised an experienced constructor with 108 published NYT xwords would think this could run on a Wed or Thurs. Reading today's comments, some agree it could have been a Wed, as it stood, and some thought it is fine as a Monday, again as it stood.Bob T replied to me with the comment "in fairness, we don't know what changes the editors made in the clueing...but with different clueing I could easily see it on a Wednesday"Very fair point. So I am posting to ask a community question, what makes a puzzle a Mon vs a Sat? Let's ignore the theme/themeless aspect of those days. I am going with 75% clueing / 10% entries / 10% grid design. Sure Sat might have some archaic 7th old French term, but in general, I think what makes the Saturday hard is the wordplay of the clueing, and the fact that many Sat grids don't give you many entry points into a corner (sure, there are those stacked 3x15 super open designs as well). Does anyone know of an article/video of a constructor that has (for fun?) made a puzzle, and adjusted the clueing for Mon->Sat, while keeping the same entries and grid design? I think that would be very neat to see, and so instructive (especially for newer solvers).
| yes | 6,439 |
If taxes are to be raised, the increase needs to be perceived as fair. Dems define fair as limiting tax increases to those making more than $400,000, with all the benefits they going to those making less than $400,000. That is essentially a welfare system, with the rich paying for the middle class. But the middle class doesn’t need welfare. Instead, more benefits should go to the poor and the working class. The middle class wants free college, parental leave, health care subsidies, subsidized childcare and on and on. But why I would you give such welfare benefits to the middle class when the poor and the working class send their kids to substandard schools, need pay day loans, lack healthcare or have substandard health care coverage, live in high crime neighborhoods and are far more in need than the middle class.
| yes | 9,502 |
I bought my first Amazon Echo in January 2015. The price was an astounding $199! But, I was a Prime member and got $100 off! And my fun began! I used it a lot for music, heard, never heard before, by genre, by artist. And all by voice! Sound quality was pretty good but the access to all of this weighed more. And, I could haul it outside to my front steps and have music when I washed my car! I've added 6 Echo devices since (one is a clock). Two are stereo paired. I've slept with white, pink, but mostly brown noise every night for the past 7 years! That could be the best thing. Keep in mind, I have 2 Dots that I've added better auxiliary speakers.I had hoped that it would become a better communication device but that relies upon others use. In other words, it didn't replace the telephone.But in the shower? I can listen to NPR (get my daily briefing via Up First) or listen to Avicii or Yo Yo Ma or any radio station I know the call letters for! All hands free! Jean-Pierre Rampal and Claude Bolling! Jazz by EST, or faves from the Beatles! It's all there!And the daily function of dealing with Amazon, of course! But I chose this! So I'm happy to deal with the notifications. The website currently isn't as good as the app, but it's still good. I would HATE to be without this!
| yes | 5,719 |
John You could throw the woman who scammed JP Morgan Chase out of $175 million with a phony college aid company in with them.
| no | 2,591 |
I support very strong immigration control,far, far stronger than the absurdly weak levelto which Biden has lowered it.But, trying to cast it as a matter of criminal lawis a a big distraction and a big mistake.What's needed is very strong border control,including very strong border barriers,strongly patrolled and monitored,and very strong apprehension and deportation actionsfor those who cross without authorization,and strong interior apprehension and deportation actions,including strong workplace enforcement,and mandatory detention for all those apprehended,including women and children,unless and until they prove their right to be here.But detention is not jail.They have the jailhouse keys in their pockets:they are free to leave any time they want,straight back across the border.The world outside the USA might not be as good as the USA,but it is not jail.The world has 8 billion humans.It is absolute claptrap to mouth the mantra,as do Biden and Mayorkas,and the rest of the pro-open-borders crowd,that humane treatmentrequires letting as many of the world's 8 billion humanscome here and stay here as want to come.
| no | 3,671 |
Bret We are already sending over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine. Then there are all the dead people, ruined lives, displaced families...If as you claim there are Trump supporters who want peace and cooperation with Russia. Then I would think that this peace and cooperation would be beneficial to Ukraine, Russia, The US and the world.Russia is a democracy. If US democracy means we have a bunch of misinformed, blood thirsty, misery loving socialists looking for their next government handout then we need to rethink how we implement that "democracy"
| yes | 8,926 |
MidtownATL - Well, let's take "Medicare for All" as an example. Currently, the US government spends about $1 trillion on medical care, while the private sector spends $2 trillion. So we'd need about $2 trillion in additional taxes, or about 25% of everyone's salary.Or we could drastically cut the income of doctors, hospitals, drug companies, etc. This is 20% of the GDP, and 12% of the work force relies on medical care to make a living. They would not be happy if their income was cut.This is the why of social justice warriors. Actual reform would involve engaging tens of millions of people organized in powerful interest groups - hi, Mr Voter, would you mind paying another 25% of you income in tax to get "free" medical care? Or you, Mr Doctor, how about earning $150K instead of $450K? It's obviously much easier to pontificate about evil white racists controlling the power structure.
| no | 781 |
Kevin,As it happens, I have "Embodied, Situated, and Grounded Intelligence: Implications for AI (Workshop Report),"<a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2210.13589.pdf" target="_blank">https://arxiv.org/pdf/2210.13589.pdf</a> ,open in another tab, precisely because ChatGPT has got me thinking about the grounding problem. The overview begins:"All intelligent systems, whether natural or artificial, are realized in the physical world. This entails that all intelligent systems will, in a minimal sense, have a physical body, be situated in a particular environmental context, and have concepts that are at least in part grounded in the physical world. The deeper question is whether these aspects of intelligent systems play a substantive role in intelligence itself. For example, how important is the ability of human children to explore their environment, manipulate objects, and observe the consequences of their behavior? Can we realistically expect systems without these capabilities (e.g., deep neural networks that learn passively from large data sets) to achieve robust, generalizable competence?"Indeed, every system has some sort of environment. But there is an obvious sense in which the symbols that ChatGPT manipulates are ungrounded.What fascinates me is that the underlying LLM, trained only to predict the next token ("word"), has somehow acquired vast knowledge of semantic *relations*. Clearly, there are major aspects of meaning that are detachable from grounding. I'm shocked by what I've seen, and I'm trying to make sense of it now.
| no | 3,513 |
I find many comments on this site to be knee jerk and unnuanced in spite of the supposed literacy and sophistication of the audience. DeSantis purely as a governor is very good. His Covid response was informed by science and resulted in a death rate not significantly above average in spite of an elderly population while keeping schools open (as did most European countries). His response to the hurricane was excellent (or the NYT and WaPo would still be ragging on it) and a majority of parents (of both parties) approve of the law prohibiting teaching little kids about sexual orientation or gender identity. As for foreign policy, we'll find out his views when he runs. The author offers suppositions on very little evidence. Oh yes, I almost forgot to add his educational pedigree, so important to so many, Yale and Harvard.
| yes | 9,639 |
I’m English and have never witnessed a decline in standards for just about everything over the last decade or so. The latest government prank is to add another year (from 67 to 68) before those who are 54 or below can claim their state pension, which, incidentally, is among the lowest in Europe. Oafish Brexit opened the floodgates to decline across the board as we experience a steady stream of mediocre premiers, including some real stinkers, like Johnson and Truss, who should never have been allowed anywhere near the levers of power. The latest execrable example, married to a billionaires, is currently running our NHS health care system into the ground. No doubt there’ll be money in this strategy for some Conservative crony or other. Anyone in the US requiring an English butler, do drop me a line. You can have your very own Jeeves. And I’ll be very cheap, much like how my country has become.
| no | 3,555 |
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.
| yes | 8,526 |
c.a. matthews The EPA nor do most gov't agencies hire 'entry level' positions anymore (GS-2 to GS-6). They have internships and their regular hiring starts at GS-7 which is around $47K per year. In addition, many of their GS-7/8/9 jobs allow people to substitute education for experience and make even more. So it's simply not true what you are claiming...but I will agree that the fed govt pay sucks and they have not been great at hiring entry level staff in almost 20 years. If you want to use your environmental experience, I'd suggest (as a retired recruiter in both private and public sector) looking at energy efficiency firms and utilities who run the efficiency programs if you want to be out in the field.
| yes | 7,557 |
I'm past paid-work life, never made more than $50 K a year, in spite of my advanced degrees. My hubbie, fortunately, was a more mainstream academic and earned over 120,000 K in his later years working. So, we're just fine, financially, as I've invested wisely, but this was a fascinating look into salaries in NYC. How do they manage to afford rent, I thought?
| yes | 9,137 |
cglymour As to how wealth created by robots will be distributed, look to Alaska. If you lived in Alaska last year and had a pulse you received $3,284 just for living there. Where does the state get money for this? Oil.Oil is not the only source of wealth. AI & robots will generate wealth at unprecedented scale. Governments will tax this wealth and distribute it to citizens as UBI (Universal Basic Income) in the Alaska model. All citizens will receive the same amount.
| no | 3,488 |
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