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User: LynnwoodRooster

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Comments · 10,294

  1. Re:Maybe I am an asshole but on Honolulu Targets 'Smartphone Zombies' With Crosswalk Ban (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    Because getting hit by a bicycle never killed anyone. I ride motorcycles; I ride defensively. I assume that cars cannot see me, and I plan accordingly. I see 99% of the bicyclists around me ignoring everything and just going where they want - and cars regularly braking hard or altering their direction of travel to react to an oblivious biker...

  2. Re:Not being used any more on US Voting Machines Cracked In 90 Minutes At DEFCON (thehill.com) · · Score: 1

    Voter suppression? Really? Gerrymandering is used by both sides to benefit incumbents. The most egregious case are Democrat districts. But as far as other voter suppression - I keep hearing claims about it, but never any evidence is ever put forward other than generic claims. Certainly nothing like armed men, associated with a militant left-wing group, standing right in front of a polling place.

  3. Re:Isolation on Should The Government Fix Slow Internet Access? (fivethirtyeight.com) · · Score: 3, Informative

    You are spot on. The biggest country in Western Europe is France, and it falls between the size of California and Texas. Most people simply haven't a clue of the scale of the United States of America, how it is absolutely huge compared to just about everywhere else (Russia and Canada being the only ones bigger than us), and how sparsely populated most of it is. For example, this county in question (Saguache) is nearly 3.5 times the size of Luxembourg. The county has 6300 people, Luxembourg has nearly 10 times that, at 590,000. South Korea is 10 times the size of the county, but has learly 10,000 times (yes, 4 orders of magnitude) the population. Makes construction and deployment of utiities rather difficult!

  4. Re:Not being used any more on US Voting Machines Cracked In 90 Minutes At DEFCON (thehill.com) · · Score: 1

    Sure, you can always THINK of ways to make free ID impossible to get - but right now, it's not. And the claims by those opposed to voter ID (such as used in your own country, all of Europe, Asia, etc) is that requiring ID TODAY is racist and exclusionary. Not what might happen in the future, but today. I personally think it's because many on the left (those who claim there is no voter fraud despite thousands of convictions for just such activities) love to keep getting those 83 fake absentee ballots, and love those greater than 100% voter turnouts...

  5. Re:Maybe I am an asshole but on Honolulu Targets 'Smartphone Zombies' With Crosswalk Ban (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    Thank you for confirming your lack of reading comprehension!

  6. Re:Not being used any more on US Voting Machines Cracked In 90 Minutes At DEFCON (thehill.com) · · Score: 1

    Down here in the US you can almost always get an official, Government issued ID for free, and there are places all over to do so (post offices, DMVs, etc). But we still don't require ID when it's time to vote. You can walk up, claim you are your neighbor - and vote. Then do it again and again and again, moving from voting location to voting location...

  7. Re:Maybe I am an asshole but on Honolulu Targets 'Smartphone Zombies' With Crosswalk Ban (reuters.com) · · Score: 0

    But I would be willing to gamble that 90% or more of cyclists who are killed by cars are actually in the wrong, per traffic laws

    Reading comprehension needed.

  8. Re:US parent here on Unpaid Internships Lead To Lower-Paying Jobs, Study Finds (theguardian.com) · · Score: 2

    Budget cuts for universities... For the last 20 years, tuition at universities has greatly outstripped the inflation rate. Assuming costs of running the university don't grow more than 1.4 times inflation, then there should be plenty of money to serve students. Of course, the growth in the cost of a college degree has doubled that of inflation, so...

  9. Re:"shock finding"? on Unpaid Internships Lead To Lower-Paying Jobs, Study Finds (theguardian.com) · · Score: 2

    I would assume that having an unpaid internship would improve your chances of landing a job; a little seasoning, a little experience is a great thing! Of course, it will probably also depress your market value simply because you've already proven you are willing to work for free... So the question becomes working for free - and depressing future earnings potential, but at least working in your chosen industry OR working in a different industry and running the risk of being excluded because you are already "out of the mainstream" with your talents and skills.

  10. Re:Maybe I am an asshole but on Honolulu Targets 'Smartphone Zombies' With Crosswalk Ban (reuters.com) · · Score: 0, Redundant

    How many of those accidents were caused by bikers not following the rules of the road? I ride a motorcycle daily (it's my only transport). Including riding up from Ventura to San Francisco 2-3 times a month; I average 3500 miles a month on my motorcycle - 65% of that in urban situations, in LA, SF, and Ventura. I see dozens of near-collisions monthly, and 90% of them are the biker not following the rules of the road. And they regularly blast through crosswalks (illegally - when peds are still in the crosswalk) all the time.

    Maybe because I'm on something nearly as small as a bicycle, but am licensed with plates to be on the roads, I pay more attention. But I would be willing to gamble that 90% or more of cyclists who are killed by cars are actually in the wrong, per traffic laws. You want to ride on the road? Obey the rules of the road.

  11. Re:Maybe I am an asshole but on Honolulu Targets 'Smartphone Zombies' With Crosswalk Ban (reuters.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We also need to aggressively prosecute bikers and peds who violate traffic laws. Crossing against lights, holding up traffic, changing lanes without signalling, etc... Right?

  12. Re:Iâ(TM)ve Got An Idea on Bad News If You Make $150,000 to $300,000: Higher Taxes for Many (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    Not dodging anything - dodging is illegal, sheltering is not. Legally sheltering income and splits of salary and bonus income. Earn enough, and have a "complicated" enough 1040 (several K-1s and quite a few holdings) and you draw their attention. Most people with more complicated financial situations and corporate ownerships tend to get audited quite often.

  13. I know, I know, Trump Trump Trump on US Voting Machines Cracked In 90 Minutes At DEFCON (thehill.com) · · Score: 1

    But these machines were used prior to the 2016 election, they were bought on eBay. They were used for the previous elections, so...

  14. Re:Same pattern everywhere on US Voting Machines Cracked In 90 Minutes At DEFCON (thehill.com) · · Score: 1

    What country are you from? Does it require proof of identification when you vote? That would be a great first step for the US...

  15. Re:Oregon Vote By Mail - Hands Down The Best Syste on US Voting Machines Cracked In 90 Minutes At DEFCON (thehill.com) · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Until you get that one house with 83 ballots - all with different names - mailed to it. Or you get those Democratic elected officials "finding" more votes after the election and you count them anyway, overturning a Gubernatorial election... And of course - no way to prove who actually cast the ballot because there is ZERO identification required (you know, like Canada , Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and most of the rest of the world requires).

  16. Re:Not being used any more on US Voting Machines Cracked In 90 Minutes At DEFCON (thehill.com) · · Score: 1

    Well, the sealed ballot from a booth AND having to prove your identity. Here in the US it's supposedly "racist" to ask for for proof of identification and it "targets the poor" to not mail ballots to everyone...

  17. Re:Iâ(TM)ve Got An Idea on Bad News If You Make $150,000 to $300,000: Higher Taxes for Many (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    No I read it. And having used LEGAL means of sheltering income, and being audited nearly yearly because of it, your supposition about not getting caught is wrong. You will get caught. Then it's a matter of dealing with the results...

  18. Re: Short-sighted view on New Diesel and Petrol Vehicles To Be Banned From 2040 In UK (bbc.com) · · Score: 1

    Study this graph. Then realize you're an idiot. The reason the US didn't access shale reserves is because other reserves are cheaper. And it's cheaper to use existing setups rather than pay the initial ramp and 10 years it takes to start harvesting. Of course, in your fairy tale world, it's better to spend 10 years to ramp up production and pay to build the infrastructure for what everyone pretty much knew was a temporary (2 year max) spike, rather than just go with existing sources for most of the imports...

  19. Re:Death to middle class on Bad News If You Make $150,000 to $300,000: Higher Taxes for Many (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    The top 5% are breeched once you make $188,000. That's not too far above $150,000. So this tax will really hit those at the top end of "middle class" and those who - according to your definition - are the rich.

  20. Re:Draining the middle class, nothing new. on Bad News If You Make $150,000 to $300,000: Higher Taxes for Many (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    Marginal tax rate on income above $418,000 is 39.6%. All income before that is taxed at lower rates. Take a look at the actual tax return summary data for the US and you'll see the top 5% earn above $188,000 and average 23.6% income taxes. The top 1% pay about a 27% income tax rate - far below the marginal 39.6%. That's because the income tax rate is progressive, and the top marginal tax rate only kicks in for the portion of income that is above $418,000.

    And this is only for long-term capital gains (meaning the asset was held for a minimum of 1 year); for short term capital gains, it is treated strictly as regular income. That's why, when you exercise your stock options and sell on the same day, they are considered short term capital gains. Even if you were granted the options years ago, you did not actually own the asset (the stock) until you exercised the option - and if you sell that within 1 year of exercising, then it's short-term capital gains. Meaning: it's plain, ordinary income.

  21. Re:Iâ(TM)ve Got An Idea on Bad News If You Make $150,000 to $300,000: Higher Taxes for Many (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    Go ahead. Give it a shot. See what happens. You'll get slapped with back taxes and plenty of penalties. Enjoy!

  22. Re: Short-sighted view on New Diesel and Petrol Vehicles To Be Banned From 2040 In UK (bbc.com) · · Score: 1

    You sir, are an idiot. I will spell this out ONE MORE TIME.

    Cost of production of oil in the US has always been less than $30/barrel. Even when cost of oil skyrocketed, that was from DEMAND outpacing supply, not because of cost of supply. And cost of production in CANADA has zero impact on cost of production in the US. Just like cost of production in the US has zero impact on the cost of production in Saudi Arabia.

    We never worked on the oil shale reserves because they are still more expensive than our other reserves. Now, if Canada had the shale oil, they would probably use it because it is cheaper than tar sands. But they don't.

    If you don't get it this time, then you truly are somewhere near a borderline, drooling moron...

  23. Re:Iâ(TM)ve Got An Idea on Bad News If You Make $150,000 to $300,000: Higher Taxes for Many (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    Actually, capital gains tax reaches 20%, which is close to the average tax rate paid by the top 5% on all their income.

    And the GP AC is also pimping a way that will DEFINITELY draw the attention of the IRS (a house from your corporation will be considered as material payment, and should be considered income - even if your corporation owns it, unless you can prove that it is used strictly for business purposes by anyone associated with the business) and land you in "Federal PMITA Prison".

  24. Re:Draining the middle class, nothing new. on Bad News If You Make $150,000 to $300,000: Higher Taxes for Many (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    The rich do pay capital gains taxes. Short term capital gains are taxed as regular income. Long term capital gains are still taxed once you make more than $40K per year. And the long term capital gains tax rate starts at a rate equivalent to the average tax rate of the top 50% - surprisingly close to where that $40K income would put you...

    The rich do pay taxes on capital gains, but I understand it makes GREAT political theater to claim otherwise! It's great to ignore $716 billion in capital gains taxes paid in 2014 alone, considering it is about 25% of all tax revenues to the Federal Government. But keep on ranting against "the man" and his zero tax capital gains!

  25. Re:Fake high salaries on Bad News If You Make $150,000 to $300,000: Higher Taxes for Many (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    If you want to fix something, don't eliminate the mortgage interest deduction (that actually encourages people to invest in their own assets), or increase the property tax rates (which are, effectively, land taxes). Rather, eliminate the capital gains exemption on primary properties. Right now, single filers get their first $250,000 in capital gains on sold primary properties ($500K for married filers) exempted from tax. We pay income tax on other forms of earnings from "savings" - but not on this. Make gains on sales of properties fully taxable like sales of stock, 401K gains (at time of withdrawal), etc. and you'll not only see additional revenue, you'll probably see quite a bit of cooling in the real estate speculation market.

    I know more than 1 person who buys and sells homes - and lives in them for 2 years at a shot - as a full-time gig. Find a neighborhood that is starting to gentrify, buy a decent home, put some paint on it (literally - that is all - no other remodeling), live in it for 2 years, then sell for a $150,000 increase in price. Tax-free way to make $75K/year - and you get to write off most of your housing expense as well since early in a mortgage 95% (or more) of the payment is interest, not principal.