New Zealand acts decisively to save citizens’ lives. Is that CRAZY?

Cartoonist Toles at the Washington Post is usually brilliant, but this panel is outstanding.

I see a Pulitzer nomination for this one.

This is why we must support print media, especially daily newspapers like the Washington Post.

(c) Toles WashPost

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Paying the Trump Tax Hike

OK, I am not rich, I make under 90K a year… and I used to get a tax rebate, every year.

I have just calculated my taxes, and I now owe almost $3,000 to the IRS.

I was going to use my rebate to buy a new car, but now it is leaving me without a good down payment.

OK, so I’ve been through bad economic times before (Reagan and Bush), so I’ll swallow the loss and buy a new car anyway… right?

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Wrong!  The price of a new car is now 20 percent higher than last year.

So I asked several car and truck dealers why.  They all said the same thing:  Trump’s tariffs are driving up prices for things made of metal.

Things like air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers and most of all, cars.

So, Trump gave his rich buddies all millions of dollars in tax rebates, and took three thousand from me (and probably you too).  Then, because of ignorant trade policy, I now have to pay a quarter more for a new car.

I guess the old car will do for a few more years.  If millions of consumers all make the same decision, will that make Trump’s supporters happy?

I guess its good to be in the top one percent of elite billionaires.

money finance bills bank notes

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

But it sucks to be a taxpayer who actually pays taxes!

No wonder American car industry is headed for a slump.

Earth Temperature Timeline

From xkcd.com

A Timeline of the Earth’s Average Temperature Since the Last Ice Age Glaciation

When people say “the climate has changed before,” these are the kinds of changes they’re talking about.

Thank you, Randall Munroe!!!

From: https://xkcd.com/1732/

Stranger in a strange land: Jesus asks, “Are ye goats or are ye lambs?

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

 

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

For I was hungry, and you gave me no food: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink:

I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and you visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we you hungry, or thirsty or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto you?

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Since you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.
Strangers

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

(Matthew 25:31-46)

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE TRUMPUBLICAN

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised. All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because some liberal lazy-ass union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with good pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression. Joe pays his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration, created by some fascist liberal because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on the radio. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that Joe’s beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”

T-Rump shows the world his posterior, reveals the true “Ugly American”

T-rump shows the world his backside — again.  He keeps on proving himself to be a thin-skinned mean-spirited narcissist of the first order.
=== Exactly the kind of person who should never be given power. ===
If his party wants my vote next year, they will have to come up with someone who has the wisdom and temperament to run the world’s most powerful country. A lot of us will vote against him, regardless of the opponent, just because of the cruel assaults he has made on scores of victims, from Senator McCain to, most recently,  a disabled reporter.
How can anyone support what amounts to a school-yard bully? It’s not like he has every legislated, or ever governed, or held public office. He has zero diplomatic skill and is likely to start World War Three if given the chance.
Hey T-rump: if you want popular support, you have to have humility and kindness, not slogans and bluster. T-rump has no plan for the economy, no plan for the world situation, no plan for global warming, no plan for social security or health care.
All he has are slogans and attitude.
Attacking citizens who question his competence, honor and honesty is the hallmark of a dictator.  Let’s not elect a dictator.

Legislators score cheap victory by making citizens suffer. IS there a legislator who you want to read this??? Then Pass it on!

cropped-we_the_people_american_map.jpgDear Legislator:

My wife was in a traffic accident in 2003 and has lived with terrible pain every day.  She is on painkillers and she is careful to just take as few as possible to get through the day.  I have often seen her hold back tears because the painkillers are not strong enough.  She is strong-willed and she is very careful to not take as much as she could, because she fears becoming dependent on the painkillers.

Leg Brace II

She has been taking synthetic codeine at a relatively high dose for eleven years now, and has managed to not fall prey to overuse.  She has terrible leg pain, and the doctors know her case well, and her use of the painkillers is well monitored by her doctors.  It is very difficult to get her and the wheelchair out of the house.  We try to schedule medical and dental visits to minimize the number of times we have to get her into the car to go out.The+Dead+KIA+2

Now, you have passed a bill preventing out normal physicians from prescribing her medicine.  Now, she has to go see a doctor far away so he can validate her need for her medicine.  This is painful and very inconvenient.  I do not understand why legitimate patients like my wife are being punished for the behavior of others.

Yes, we understand that the Legislature is trying to save the kids who abuse medicine.  We understand that you want to minimize the deaths of the few hundred people who overdose each year in our state.Leg Brace IIa

But in saving those few hundred, you have punished hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens.  In your haste to save a few dozen drug abusers, you have inflicted needless pain and suffering on many thousands Illinoisans.

Please rewrite the law so that innocent people who need their medicine are not punished in your attempt to modify the behavior of the fools who abuse drugs.

Leg Brace IIv

The measure that was passed that went into effect this month is simplistic and will never achieve your goal of ridding our state of drug users.  What you have done is make these patients many who are senior citizens more depressed by making them suffer more pain.  I fear there are thousands, who are crying in pain every morning, every night.

Every time you eat please remember the many thousands of innocent people who are crying for pain, at that very moment.  Before your law, these people has a level of control over their pain.  You have taken their hope away.

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Please use your power to ease the pain of your constituents, not increase it.  The measure probably looked good for you legislators, so you can posture that you are hard on crime and drug use.  But, despite your good intent, you have imposed a painful sentence on the people who elected you to protect them.

Please fix this law.

My wife, and the thousands of others who depend on pain killers deserve better from you.  I have been pricing drugs on the black market and to mi great surprise, street heroin is cheaper than buying medicine from the hospitals and pharmacies.  The downside, is you never know what strength the next does will be, or what other substances have been added to stretch the drug for more sales.

Pamela%27s+view

So don’t make Grandma and Grandpa criminals for wanting to not live their final years in pain.  Allow people with self control who take their medicine properly to have the drugs they need. Drugs they had legally before your meddling legislation.

In Memory of Life on Earth

A large spinning object in space has very little friction, but is affected by gravity. The sun and moon both play a role in sapping off a tiny bit of the Earth’s rotational inertia every year. Still, it will be many millennia before that braking mechanism will affect the climate in any significant way.

So, a potential “uneven melting” should have very little result. The landmasses of Earth are like the weights on an automobile tire. The Earth has found a balance between tidal forces from space and gravity. Inertia has squeezed the planet into a slightly fat sphere, flattened at the poles by the rotational forces.

Now, if the Arctic or Antarctic completely melts, the resulting water weight will be evenly distributed around the equator. However, Antarctica and Greenland are weights pulling the center of gravity a slight bit.

When that ice completely melts (or finds its way to the ocean) the water level goes up all over the planet but the ice depth in those two location is removed from the land masses which lightens their load, and at that point, that land should rise slightly.

Now, who can really say which of these never-before-observed phenomena will be the most detrimental to life on Earth? What matters is the tiny bit that mankind’s industrial activity is causing. That is the part that a) nature never had to deal with before and b)it is the only part that we can control at all.

We can not change gravity or objects in space or the heat rate of the sun or the relative activity of volcanoes. All we can do is generate more or less greenhouse gases.

So, regardless of who or what is to blame, the fact remains that modifying human industrial activity is our best (and only) option. Once you take politics out of it, it becomes an equation of how wealthy is this generation going to be versus how many generations there ever will be.

American Fossils

Avoid Extinction! Fossil Fuels, Just Say No!

I suspect our grandchildren will be very unhappy at our current choices. Burning fossil fuels is speeding up the end of life on planet Earth.

All we can do is speed up or slow down the process by how much more fossil fuels we put into our air.