Trump Good At Wrecking Finances

If Trump proved anything over the years it's he is really good at wrecking finances (not just his own). So far he has taken a whack at the finances of Cuba, Venezuela, China, North Korea, Iran (and any country importing their oil), Zimbabwe, Turkey, even the European Union and now Mexico. The New York Times (05/31/2019)-- Mexico, China, Japan, Europe, Canada: The White House’s various conflicts add up to a broad assault on a postwar effort to build economic ties around the world.

When he's not sanctioning some country's economy he's imposing nearly crippling federal sales taxes on their goods through tariffs American consumers will be forced to pay. The worse part is nearly everyone of these we have trade deals with. Trump is now breaking our word and reputation right along with it. Even if he were to leave office in 2020 these other countries can see how mightily things can change when a United States president doesn't respect our country's prior commitments. This is damage that can not be undone.

I agree it's not entirely a bad idea to enact a national sales tax on imported goods at some level. However this should be done carefully in concert with congress, the state department and within the confines of carefully crafted trade agreements. That's not what is happening here. Trump has gone rambo without a thought or care as to the long term consequences. The United States can't simply slap the rest of the world around and not expect a price to be paid.

If these tariffs are allowed to continue willy-nilly our economy will likely tank as products become a lot more expensive and harder to find. We're already $20+ trillion in debt. Who do you think would loan us more money to bail ourselves out after we stuck it to them?

Somehow somebody better reign in this bully pretty damn quick or we're headed for a world of hurt. In the past we've been able to bounce back because of our hard work and other countries willingness and desire to buy our products. Not this time if they're too broke or unite against us carving out deals among themselves leaving us the odd man out.

Trump time after time exhibits the kind of behavior which he believes greatness can only be achieved at the expense of others. Now he's trying to do it with the United States. Wait till you see how that works out if his BS is allowed to continue unchecked. As far as I'm concerned the captain is taking down the ship and other nations may be less then willing to rescue us when he does. If I had to put a time frame on this it would be before the end of the year (probably sooner).

Farmer Bailouts Starting To Roll In

This Iowa corn farmer donated his entire Trump bailout to Cory Booker — all $25 of it pic.twitter.com/jTtRHYYByI

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 30, 2019

Des Moines Register (11/25/2018)
Dozens of Iowa farmers get less than $25 from Trump tariff assistance, data showTwenty-four Iowa farmers snagged less than $10, with 11 getting $5 or less. Overall, the average payment to farmers is $7,236, based on the Washington, D.C., group's data. Most of the small checks are headed to corn growers, who are getting a penny a bushel in assistance under President Donald Trump's $12 billion emergency farm aid package.


Des Moines Register (12/08/2017)Sen. Chuck Grassley and six other congressional leaders have benefited from farm policies they've helped draft, netting themselves and about two dozen other legislators $15 million in federal assistance over two decades, a Washington, D.C., environmental group says.

Creepy Joe Biden Puts Hands On 10 Year Old Girl

This is Joe Biden earlier today at a campaign event. Even after severe backlash, he still can’t stop himself from being really creepy. He also told this 10 year old girl “I bet you’re as bright as you are good looking”
He has learned absolutely nothing. #JoeBiden #2020Elections pic.twitter.com/o4r37BMCls

— Michael (@Michael_kings_) May 29, 2019

Google it yourself. There are tons of conservative websites blasting Joe with this same faux outrage This is the kind of stuff that pisses me off. Nothing could be further from "THE TRUTH".

Here's what really happened

There are evil people who exist solely to destroy any twinkle of goodness in this world. They'll try to make others look as dark and foul as their own diseased souls.

Water Bottle Can Become Fire Hazard

Da Vinci Center In Easton Cancelled

Da Vinci terminates plans to build science center in Easton https://t.co/Rw1zDMO5QY

— Emily Opilo (@emilyopilo) May 22, 2019

Gee, who would have seen this coming :-)

Reason Why Game Of Thrones Is Shoved Down Our Throats

The over hype of this piece of crap is driving me crazy. I'm sure I'm not the only one. It's sexually and otherwise too violent for me. Pardon me if rape, torture, burning down occupied villages and slicing people till they bleed to death doesn't bring me pleasure. Yet nearly everywhere I look it's wall-to-wall free publicity for the damn thing. Just today I eliminated over 35 RSS feeds pertaining to it. When I turned on the TV at lunchtime MSNBC, FOX News and CNN all were featuring a piece at the same time. Much like last night's evening network news did.

Whenever I'm confounded about something my instincts kick in wondering if I should check the money trail behind the hype. Wow, is there ever! BGR.com:
Here’s everything AT&T now owns, apart from your soulHBO (Also owns the Cinemax)
CNN
Turner Broadcasting System (Boomerang, TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, and Cartoon Network. Websites Bleacher Report, NBA.com, PGA.com, NCAA.com, and NBA TV)
Warner Bros.
DC Entertainment (A subdivision of Warner Bros.)
New Line Cinema
"AT&T Wireless is the cell carrier everyone loves to hate, U-verse is its cable TV offering, DirecTV is a satellite broadcaster it also owns, as well as dozens of regional cable and phone companies — almost anything with the name “Bell” in it. Bizarrely, the list also includes the Yellow Pages and yellowpages.com."If anyone thinks any movie or series takes off on it's own, I got a bridge to sell ya. It takes a lot of money to turn the gears. Which makes me wonder where does ATT&T spend it's advertisement money for all it's other things? Could it be on a lot of those now helping to hype the series for them? Kinda like, "you be good to mama and mamma will be good to you".

Somebody no doubt will say if I don't like it don't watch it. Believe I'm trying hard not to. This 'Games Of Thrones' hype has become like a bunch of made for TV 'robo calls'. The harder you try to ignore them, the worse they annoy.

Fox News Surprising Poll Results

Daily News 05/18/2019
Mueller is more trusted than Trump and BarrBetween Mueller and Barr, 40% said they trusted the special counsel, 22% said the attorney general, 8% said both, 16% said neither, and 14% didn’t know.

Now Even Donald Duck Has Been PC'd

I remember when he was nothing like he is today

Nor can we have 'goofy' acting goofy as he once did. 'Pluto' is behaving himself a lot better too these days. After all we don't want of offend anyone do we?

Why if it weren't for these geniuses I may never have learned my vowels and ABC's
\

Nor my slick dance moves...


I even got home school'd in math before entering 1st grade


This is how I've become today what I am.
And still smarter then half of em' in government!

Ever Have This Pennsyltucky Delicacy?

This meat cake is made from pork head, liver, snout, and heart pic.twitter.com/d9R6W2gNJn

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 17, 2019

As a kid I had this many times for dinner and sometimes breakfast with syrup. Course that was before I knew what was in it. Gee I wonder why my parents never told me?

This also reminds me of the time my step sister's husband gave us a wabbit to eat for dinner. He blasted it with a shotgun. Yeah I guess ya kinda know how that meal went down. It was like doing surgery before every bite.:-)



Yeah and eating 'pike' ain't no treat either!

Today I Have A Few Thoughts

Never seen such a big fuss about the Martin Tower implosion in Bethlehem. Many are carrying on about the health affects. Others making a party out of it. You'd think this was the first implosion that ever happened. My issue is why we're so eager to destroy buildings preferring to fill up the dumps needlessly?

Why the world are conservatives so eager to ignite the firestorm once again over abortions? Aren't there enough divisions within our country already? Shouldn't we be more focused on the out of hand pay day loan interest rates, drug prices, surprise hospital bills, income inequalities, the growing debts our governments can't pay for, infrastructure repairs, deterioration of our environment and about a zillion other things government hasn't dealt with?

Should we be starting shit with Venezuela and Iran when we still haven't wrapped up our involvements in Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and some of these other places?

If there was a actual coup against Donald Trump shouldn't he be relishing his victory over it? Like someone said-- there were two people disappointed in 2016. Hillary who lost and Trump who won. Neither seem very happy.

If Allentown, Pennsylvania's NIZ revitalization is so successful why are both the city and school district so deep in debt?

Irony in Allentown, Pennsylvania: One side says we need more low income housing. Meanwhile the city is strapped with too much of it not bringing in the property valued taxes it needs. Which is it?

There's an outcry from some for much needed public transportation yet bus companies have gone out of business (or require supplemental tax dollars) for the lack of customers.

We're converting tons of former manufacturing locations into apartments and museums people are now paying into. I remember I time when it was the other way around.

Challenges of the day:
Find how many items in your home or what you buy aren't made outside the United States. How many are repairable? if so, are there any shops left who can repair them? For example do you repair or replace your TV, refrigerator, microwave, coffee pot, electronics or furniture when they need fixing?

Has anyone spoken directly one on one to their political representative?

Trump Is FOS.... AGAIN!

It now seems the General Flynn was under investigation long before was common knowledge. It would have been impossible for me to know this but, if that was the case, and with me being one of two people who would become president, why was I not told so that I could make a change?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2019

Problem is Obama Did Warn Trump about Flynn. You can Google it for yourself.

In other Trump news... Trump is sending ‘500 migrants a month’ to Florida Democratic strongholds.

What we have here is a pattern. Anyone who doesn't fully backup Donald's shenanigans will be dealt with harshly by every means possible in his position as president of the United States. This ever growing list for retribution of his perceived enemies is alarming. It's one thing for a president to pursue their ideas. Entirely another to try and destroy anything or anyone who he disagrees with. As mom use to say.. "you're not the only tin can on the dump". Apparently Trump was never raised that way. It's his way or the highway... the hell with what any one else thinks.

Obama had this to say in September 2018


ANY COMMENTS?

Wonder Why Healthcare Cost Out Of Control?

Because our government is in on the scam. There can be no other explanation.

.@AOC asked this pharma exec why a life-saving HIV drug costs nearly $2,000 in the U.S. and $8 in Australia pic.twitter.com/A7wTv92CCF

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 16, 2019

.@GileadSciences paid its former CEO $180 mil, while making billions in profit from lifesaving HIV drugs that are unaffordable for people who need them. The kicker: those drugs were developed using tens of millions of TAXPAYER dollars.

And someone needed to call 'em out. 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/r3rBBrFAVO

— Rep. Katie Hill (@RepKatieHill) May 16, 2019

.@RepAOC @AOC: "I blame us. I blame this body because every single developed country in the world guarantees health care as a right except us, except the United States, because we can't get it together." pic.twitter.com/9adUIKQlIb

— CSPAN (@cspan) May 16, 2019

Social Security Robocall Scam Alert

Although they've been around for months I finally got one of these scam robocalls claiming to be from Social Security.

In addition I'd also advise never ever returning a unknown caller. Some of these return calls could cost $25 or more directly billed to your telephone account.



So far I had a bunch of calls for cleaning my chimney from Philadelphia. Dozens of calls threatening the IRS was coming to arrest me. Plus a whole bunch more for free Medicare paid back braces, hearing aides along with a slew of other devices.

Guess Who Predicted War With Iran

Mediate.com: Guess Who Said This: ‘Our President Will Start a War with Iran… Sometime Prior to the Election’ (VIDEO)


Was he right?

Hannity Claims This About Cities Controlled By Democrats

**REPORT: Nation’s largest cities ‘drowning in debt.’ NYC tax burden $85K per person, Chicago $119K+.** https://t.co/lPYAk2qwZz

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 15, 2019

Here's the rest of the story.


Hannity is inferring these big cities managed by Democrats are dragging us down. Imagine if each state could no longer receive more then they paid in. It would blow his whole theory out of the water wouldn't it?

This constant bickering between who's the better political party to manage things is bull crap. New York needs the Midwest farmers and the farmers need New York. Each for their own reasons. Same goes for the pockets of poverty in Kentucky as it does in Chicago. We are suppose to be the "UNITED" states. Not the "DIVIDED" states as some, like Hannity, constantly perpetuating their false ideas seeks us to be.

It's MAYcember

With the Holderness Family

TV Season Is Wrapping Up

This year's fall-winter TV season is winding down. Once again so many of the shows we watched this year won't be coming back. They will be added to our ever growing list of...

shows we once watched over the last few years.Cedar Cove, Instinct, The Librarians, Galavant, Downton Abbey, Mr. Selfridge, The Good Wife, The Mentalist, Major Crimes, Lucifer, Rizzoli & Isles, Forever, King & Maxwell, Castle, Perception, LA To Vegas, The Middle, Royal Pains, Person Of Interest, Forever, Dead Like Me, Mysteries of Laura, Franklin & Bash, Mr. Robinson, Hot In Cleveland, Salvation, Extant, Bones, Haven, Stargate, Atlantis White Collar Unforgettable, Fairly Legal, Common Law and Plain Sight.

Did you watch any of those?
Which shows were cancelled you watched?

It Could Be Said...

Trump has involuntarily drafted farmers for his war on trade.

Tariffs are federal sales taxes on certain goods.

The DOJ is investigating investigators it was in charge of... huh?

Politicians from both sides claim they're fulfilling the wishes of the people. So did the confederacy and union at one time. Look how that worked out.

There are only two natures of people The reasonable. The unreasonable. It doesn't matter where they come from. The government they have. What religion they may or may not believe in. Their economic or family background. All are the same.. either reasonable or unreasonable.

Family & I Having Trouble Coping With The Rain

Watch these gorillas skillfully avoid heavy rainfall at this zoo pic.twitter.com/YqXAgaNeKJ

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 13, 2019

I wonder what wet gorilla fur smells like?

Things On My Mind

Just saying. Not that it matters much to me but I observed on Facebook some of the very same articles I posted subject matter on got 40 or more comments with none on mine. I guess that's a good thing since I'm not much into those with so much misinformation in them. It would drive me crazy responding.. And no-- I refuse going to Facebook just to become popular and having to deal with it.

Hypocrisy 101. Rudy is going over the Ukraine to get dirt on Biden. The same guy and his BFF who bitched when the official intelligence services did it to them. Speaking of Rudy's BFF. I'm having trouble keeping up with Trump's enemy list. The guy seems pissed with everybody.

The internet is getting more cumbersome everyday. The wife paid for a book reader that no longer works. She's been trying to sort the problem out for three days. I deleted over a half a dozen sites that have now discontinued their RSS feeds replacing them with "apps'. No thanks. About half of the sites I now visit block my views without a paid subscription. Others want me to remove my ad blocker. No thanks I've read a number of these off site ads contained malware these sites weren't screening for. Still others sometimes had two or three popups and up to 3 videos automatically playing at the same time. Talk about f'k'd up!

Hats off to Service Electric Cable (SECTV). I had problems and the service guy spent three hours on the pole and inside the house thoroughly explaining a whole bunch of issues to me. I highly recommend them. Plus they have many exclusive programs no others have.

I'd almost bet Microsoft has screwed up Internet Explorer deliberately It's slow as hell and video stop playing after a few seconds on most sites other then YouTube. I really like it's interface but have been using Google Chrome because it's twice as fast and without the glitches. The Firefox browser works well too. I'll be damned if I'm going to upgrade because of it. I have over 70 apps in this PC and 6 security camera that I'm not going to mess up just because of them!

It's almost funny at this point how people comment on other sites. If it's conservative the trolls trash them. If liberal they get trashed. It doesn't matter what anyone says someone always will attack. Comments at this point seem to only serve to try and make somebody else feel like shit. You know--- the way Trump does on his Twitter account :-)

Streaming TV is a joke. It doesn't matter which browser I use or what network. They all seem to lock up in the middle of a commercial at some point. I have to refresh the page to continue. Think I'll stick with cable and my DVR.

People might have noticed I post less then before. We've been enjoying a whole bunch of musical performers and other stuff on YouTube a lot more then TV these days. I've also greatly reduced my time dealing with the BS coming out of Washington. It's getting harder to see which are worse then the other. One thing is almost certain, they're more focused on beating each other up then us. The only thing I'd add to this is-- if people can't see Trump is a grade A bullshitter-- there's no amount of facts that will ever change anyone's mind. This no longer is about whether someone agrees with his policies or not. Light a candle. Trump has become like a religious figure. Either you believe in him or you don't.

Inspiration For The Day

Take a mental health break with Jeanine Pirro pic.twitter.com/M2d2vHyNdo

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) May 9, 2019

BTWWe're still getting four or five robocalls a day. I highly doubt they'll ever wise up to us not answering them.

Smarter Way For Government To Distribute Free Money

I've just read an article where Camden is going to give away nearly $2b in tax breaks for business structure. This follows one of many I've come across.

When developers and businesses get their hands on this money it usably results in each moving from one area to the next handout. It also allows them to shed employees from their old location so they can hire lower cost new employees to the next place they are going. This allows them to further enhance their profits rather then grow their business. This also impacts the area where they came from. All this does is favor one area over another doing little to increase the economy overall. In other words, simply rearranging the deck chairs.

The side effect is while they are making one area poorer they're gentrifying the other. Thus making it less affordable for longtime citizens who live there. I think these tax grants should be given directly to lower income people instead. Here a few examples of how it could be done. (1) Presently government owned senior housing is causing taxpayers to struggle paying for them. Most seniors end up in these because they are forced out of their homes due to being no longer be able to afford them. It sure would be nice to give the lower income seniors property tax breaks. I'm certain another three of four thousand a year would make all the difference. Plus without a doubt every nickel would be spent rather then saved. Thus stimulating the local economy directly. I'd suggest offering similar property tax breaks to low wage earners struggling to make ends meet.

This benefits in two ways. (a) If government wants to truly help local business grow it needs to increase their customer base. Face it a company (no matter how many tax breaks) won't hire one single employee more then it needs. The greater customer demand-- the more employees they will hire. (b) This doesn't contribute to gentrification causing people to abandon their neighborhoods causing further decay to nearby areas.

(2) I'd also suggest using a part of these grants to help struggling school districts. This would benefit in three ways. (a) This would help keep property taxes competitive for those shopping around for a new home not wanting to pay higher tax rates then elsewhere. (b) Parents with decent incomes whether renting or buying are looking at the schools their kids would attend. The better the schools, the better chance we have of attracting middle income families. (c) People who have decent incomes will spend money improving their home. Which raises it's value. In turn generating higher tax revenues in itself.

(3) Far as I'm concerned taxpayers grants should never be used for commercial investment interests-- PERIOD. Most importantly these federal, state and local commercial grants and tax breaks come when nearly everyone of them are showing record deficit spending. It's totally irresponsible to hand out money to commercial interests when various governments can't even afford their own bills.

Music Break With 'Puddles Pity Party'

Believer - Imagine Dragon

Come see me on tour http://www.puddlespityparty.com/dates/

It's Apparent What Our Tax Problems Are

It can be argued government is over spending however here's the real problem. Not enough are paying in. Last year (2019) sixty of the largest companies paid no taxes at all in the United States. Countless of so-called nonprofits raked in billion of dollars paying no taxes either. There's a whole alphabet of government programs offering tax free incentives to developers. Then there's IRS rules allowing for all kinds of breaks mostly available to only the wealthy.

Anyone taking a look around here in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania can easily see this for themselves. The Allentown School district is going down the toilet because approximately 30% of the properties are not taxed for one reason or another. Seniors are hit the hardest. Many paid taxes on their properties for decades long after their kids (in some cases grandkids) graduated. Even though there may be only two of them, based on their home's value, are billed the same as a one that houses apartments in which a half a dozen kids or more attend school.

Currently the 128 acre NIZ zone contributes nothing to help pay for the Allentown School District. Neither do those in the KOZ zone for 10 years. In 2011 there were over 560 of these parcels in the Lehigh Valley. Toss in the CRIZ, KIZ LERTA, TIF and RACP programs and it's no wonder the school district and the city finds itself in dire straits.

There's not a damn thing us peons can do about it. I am convinced there will come a time, not in the too distant future, all of this will hit the fan. A time when there's no more money to be squeezed from so few forced to pay others share of the tax burden of those who get to circumvent the financial needs of our society even though it's legal....

CNN October 10, 2016

Face it, taxes are for us suckers.
Not rich people

Beto O'Rourke On Gun Laws

This student tearfully asked @BetoORourke how he would protect her and other kids from school shootings pic.twitter.com/9G2OKqmfJA

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 7, 2019

Agree?
Disagree?

Trump Is Lying About China Paying Tariffs

FACT: China doesn’t pay any tariffs to the U.S. — so stop listening to Trump’s nonsense pic.twitter.com/kg0MNfaNXR

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 7, 2019

I'd be inclined to say, any moron should be able to understand this, but I'd be wrong. Apparently the one featured in the video doesn't.

Speaking of tariffs...
FOX BUSINESS reports, Mexico says tariffs will send tomato prices soaring in US-- (05/07/2019) Mexico's Economy Department says U.S. consumers could pay 38% to 70% more for tomatoes after the U.S. Commerce Department announced it would re-impose anti-dumping duties on Mexican imports. The Mexican agency says the country exports about $2 billion in tomatoes to the United States and supplies about half the tomatoes the U.S. consumes annually.

At the time of this posting here's where the DOW JONES stands upon hearing this news

Jeanine Pirro- Investigate The Investigators

REMINDS ME OF...

Trump's Massive Tax Increase

WRONG!! - everyday Americans foot the bill. Worked for a building supply wholesaler and we upped the price on metal screws & nails the DAY the tariffs rolled out. They supply Lowe’s/Home Depot and trust me, those companies rolled the increase straight to the consumer!

— Sara (@boomerwood) May 5, 2019

Interesting you say “little impact”, as an American small business manufacturer, we feel it. Many of our circuit board parts are now charged tariff’s. OH and our government is our biggest customer. So we have to raise prices for the US to pay more. Doesn’t make sense. #itcostUS

— Kelly Taylor-Miner 🇺🇸🐾🏳️🌈 (@dogsx6) May 5, 2019

Once more for the people in the back:
Who pays the tariffs?
We do!!

— Jaynie's Got a Bun (@FreeGirlNowNYC) May 5, 2019



I WONDER ONCE THESE TARIFFS GO INTO EFFECT
IF THE TRUMP'S WILL IMPORT FROM SOMEPLACE ELSE?


2012

Massachusetts Going Green

VOA News
Winners Outnumber Losers as Massachusetts Goes GreenIn 2008, Massachusetts was among the first U.S. states to set a greenhouse gas reduction target. By mid-century, the state aims to have cut emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels.



NIMBY
Yea good luck with that. Our energy needs require ever increasing growth. Producers are forced to put their equipment someplace. I for one would much rather have turbines or solar panels then vast amounts of water consumed, contaminated then sent to the underground water table by fracking and the associated gas pipelines.

I'm not enamored with nuclear either. Beyond the fact these also require huge amounts of water, most store their spent rods on site.

Coal generators require trainload after trainload of coal to be transported in. This along with the associated problem of what to do with the contaminated spent coal ash.

If people think turbines and panels are a negative envision those others which could end up in the area instead!

Afghan Pilots Now You See Them Now You Don't

Daily Mail.com

Only one class graduated from the US-based program. The students that did not go AWOL were pulled back to Afghanistan to complete their training.


Obviously we needed a bigger fence.

Trump Canoodling With Russia?

Daily Mail.com- Trump and Putin discussed end of the Mueller investigation and election meddling in first phone call since probe ended saying they both knew 'there was no collusion'. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says Presidents Trump and Putin discussed election meddling and the Mueller report in an early morning call.

Nothing to see here folks. Just a coupla of good ol' boys getting together to chew the fat.



I wonder if anyone else was in the room?
Usually when past presidents spoke they had their advisors in the room to help advise them. Of course there's nothing "usual" in anything this guy does.

Speaker Pelosi On The War Path

The Speaker's Weekly Briefing (05/02/2019)




What would Republicans say and do if the party situations were reversed?

House Representative Defending The Post Office

Gotta watch for these newly elected women. It's not gonna be the same old business as usual with them.

The U.S. Postal Service is in a tailspin — and @RepKatieHill is calling BS on this ‘expert’ who might make things even worse pic.twitter.com/bPGmoAttMA

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 2, 2019

This is why the Democrats (who now control the 'House' committees after waiting a long eight years) need to hold as many hearings as possible. A lot has been swept under the rug. Some previously even by their own male counterparts within their party. These fresh new women entering congress aren't going-along-to-get along. Voters of either party should welcome this kind of change. One which exposes prior shenanigans not in the best interest of the people.