Monday, March 4, 2019

Brain Drained


Don't worry, you're not failing to get the "joke" above because there basically isn't one. We just needed to fill some space today, liked the picture, and added what amounts to a non sequitur of a word balloon.

Oh, we THOUGHT about trying to make it vaguely relevant by calling the critter "Alpaca Ocasio-Cortez" who wants everything to take a hard turn to the left, but once we've called the beast an Alpaca, it screws up the double-l Llama joke. Who knew that comedy was both art and science?

All of which is way too much explanation (and an implied apology) for not having anything more substantive today. The "news" is just stupid and unsubstantial, as is pretty much always the case these days, and leaves us frustrated.

Meanwhile, it sounds like the Dems are going to have a supersized subpoena party, dragging in for questioning everyone Donald Trump has ever interacted with in hopes of building a case for impeachment. To which we say "fie upon them!" And we're not talking about fresh fie, either - but rotten, maggot-infested fie, mixed with sharp bits of gravel and thrown with considerable force.

Meanwhile, President Trump remains unbowed and just gave a two-hour barn burner of a speech which we didn't technically listen to, but in principle we're glad that he's still hugging the American flag and giving the Leftists hell. Which is what they so richly deserve.


Another reason we're not being very productive today (unless you count the phlegm still spraying about the room from our ongoing bronchial cough) is that we just finished doing our taxes, which always leaves us brain dead for several days.

Thanks to Trump's tax reductions (especially the increased standard deduction this year), there was no need for us to itemize every infinitesimal little transaction we made all year. Which, of course, we didn't know for sure until we'd fed every freaking receipt into Turbotax, and gotten a cheery computer message saying "Wow! You could have skipped all of this!"

Interestingly, our total net business income for the year came out to about $1200, yet at the same time, our Medicare payments have tripled because the government believes us to be members of the Evil Rich (based on returns from a couple years ago).

We choose to find this mildly amusing, especially after about three shots of Clan MacGregor. Which, by the way, is not the top choice of Scotch among the Evil Rich.

And with that, we'll shut up and throw the comments section open for YOUR observations about the news, the world, the weekend, or anything else you want to talk about. Someone throw us a lifeline here...!

54 comments:

  1. Thanks to Trump's tax reductions (especially the increased standard deduction this year), there was no need for us to itemize every infinitesimal little transaction we made all year. Which, of course, we didn't know for sure until we'd fed every freaking receipt into Turbotax, and gotten a cheery computer message saying "Wow! You could have skipped all of this!"

    I've held off on that; maybe start in the next day or so. Been wondering if I should itemize as usual, or just blow it off and shred the receipts. Good perspective, thanks.

    Personally, I got a kick out of America's Official Crackpot, as seen here:
    https://maxredline.typepad.com/maxredline/2019/03/-eee-aw-eee-aw-eee-aw.html

    Hope your bronchial thing clears up soon!

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  2. Just had to verify my ID and mortgage balance with TurboTax to PAY the IRS maybe next month. Thanks Mr President I enjoyed that tax break all year!

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  3. Careful with the Clan McGregor - it will take the paint off your furniture!
    As for the news - both your side of the pond and mine - it has taken on a "Through the Looking Glass" quality.

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  4. Who the hell is foolish enough to still do their own taxes? There are lots of out-of-work accountants out there who look forward to this seasonal work, much like national park employees!

    With AOC claiming to be the boss, this brings back memories of that old sitcom "Who's the Boss?" It wasn't funny then, either.

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  5. So, as DJT was such a buddy with so many folks, we get to see Bill, Hillary, Jesse, Al Sharpton etc all testify? should be mildly amusing . . . much like a root canal

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  6. I was thinking along the same lines as JP, above. All those Libs who couldn't wait to be seen (and photographed) with Donald Trump over the years, to be invited to his parties, to get a seat at his table, to join his four-some at one of his golf resorts, You know, the same ones who were elbowing each other out of the way to be right next to Harvey Weinstein, they all wanted to be part of the inner circle, to get a piece of the deals that were going down. How many of THEM knew what was going on and wanted some of the crumbs that fell from the Emperor's table?

    How many of THEM will be in the Monday Morning List of the Condemned?

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  7. I like a glass half full approach once in a while. Sort of my Clan MacMoonshine glass half full approach.

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  8. Hate to say this, but with us too now not able to itemize we too find ourselves on the wrong side of the IRS ledger this year (but not for our state taxes). Asked my preparer what the tax picture would look like for our last tax year under the rules for this year's tax filing.

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  9. I knew that former governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown had blown a major brain artery when he announced that he would tax us Kalifornians $20 BILLION for a Bullet Train from northern Taxifornia to L.A. The problem was that it was never designed to pay for itself, yet Moonbeam shoved the bill through the state legislature and....Bingo!...we
    would have a means to take auto traffic off of potholed Hwy 5.

    Scene II: Newly-elected governor Twosome Newsom has just announced that the construction of the Bullet-Train-to-Nowhere has been cancelled, "saving" taxpayers $15 Billion. The kicker: We have spent $5 Billion for N-O-T-H-I-N-G! The outrage doesn't seem to have reached the middle class who---according to reports about the fleeing "rich," will now be saddled with the bill.

    As for me and my wife: We have thrown in the towel, having placed an offer on a beautiful house on 2.2 acres in Prescott, Arizona in order to escape from the certain bankruptcy of what used to be an affordable place to live and from a state government that has succumbed to mob rule by far-left lunatics. Arizona is even friendly to us "evil" gun-owners.

    Our "mini-problem" now is trying to round up enough cardboard packing boxes in which to
    move our "stuff."

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  10. @Alfonso.
    Glad for you that you can flee sodom&fornia. Just remember that little looking back thingie. Too much salt is bad for your health. And some other items I could mention.

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  11. I have always hated paying taxes, not because I don't think I should, but because of the way they are wasted and because they support a huge and malevolent bureaucracy.

    I also REALLY hate the process of filling out the forms. I made simple mistakes two years in a row in the early part of the century, and of course the IRS caught them. That was the last straw. A CPA down the hall at work took over this task, and it is the best money I spend each year. On top of it all, I have a terrible procrastination streak, and March was a month of nightmares and guilt until I farmed this task out. I'm with Jim Irre on this one.

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  12. Good ole taxes. I am still waiting for a 1099-R. I can't get into the retirement site to get a copy, their phone is continual busy and will be forever. I can usually file my taxes in January but this year, I will probably have to get an extension to cover this SNAFU. Yea, there was a note that they had been mailed but not for me.
    Anyways, that was a really funny on the IRS. I use to sell one of my inventions online but the benevolent IRS charged me, I think, it was $300 bucks for working out of my garage so I gave it up and gave it away to a responsible person that would build them to my specs.
    Now, on the new congressional proctology exams, we can expect that well into the next century. You can bet your sweet bippy that each and every subpoena will carry an indictment which means Mueller will be in business until he dies. Our new AG had better get a handle on this BS start Grand Juries on these crooked Dems.

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  13. Alfonso, We fled crappyfornia 30+ years ago and moved to hillybillyland. (South western Virginia but I can see West Virginia from my front porch). As for boxes to put stuff in; start buying all your stuff from Amazon. We do and besides it being a savings, it gets delivered free to our door and we have more boxes than we know what to do with. Of course we had to sign up for Prime and that averages to about 30 cents per delivery, big or small. Or, you can do wht one of our kids did, sell everything in Cacafornia and drive out with the cash and re buy it all out here.

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  14. Thanks for the tip, Fred. We have been saving our Amazon boxes and found that the local Costco has plenty of boxes to give away. I will be a relief to escape the exhorbitant fuel taxes that have plagued Kalifornia for quite some time. We found that diesel fuel, for instance, is about a dollar less per gallon in AZ than in CA, and gas prices are also far lower. We hope to close escrow on April 2 and are very excited.

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  15. @ Alfonso: Prescott is a great town! I go there often as it is only a couple hours from Flagstaff. One tip though, so as not to sound like a foreigner, realize that the locals pronounce it Pres"skit" - not Pres"scott".

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  16. Well Stilt - this is my first year on Medicare and my rates are going to be that of the "Evil Rich" all because of some last minute financial genius on my part 2 years ago. But low and behold the following years have revealed that we're actually living just above the DEMs "so called" poverty level. But on the bright side retirement is soooooooooooooooooo much better than working that I'm willing to put up with one year of fiscal pain.

    Geoff King - I'll be driving to Pres skit this weekend for a wrestling tournament. Can't wait 1200 wrestlers and their unappreciative coaches and parents.

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  17. @Alfonso. My husband and I were both raised in Califoreignia and we have made the same decision. We are going to move to Camp Verde, AZ and get away from all the left turns required on our own little cul-de-sac in the desert of SW Kali. We are both retired and the cost of living is just absolutely over the top. I can't even afford to buy the house I grew up in. My parents purchased it for $16,000 and yes, that leaves hint of my age. We are tired of all the changes that have taken place over these last decades in our once beautiful state. We will be proud to call AZ home very soon. Congratulations on your decision to take the leap. Funny, around here lately when we tell people we are moving, they don't ask where they ask which state. Says it in a nutshell.

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  18. @ Geoff King. Thanks for the tip, Geoff. We learned the pronunciation the hard way, and don't want to make the mistake again of advertising our Taxifornia refugee status but then again, I understand that Prescott already has a large population of CA "refugees." Being a once-avid target/varmint shooter, I plan to check out the rifle ranges in the "Pres-kitt" area; I will be like a kid in a candy store, after having suffered the loss of or local gun stores and Rod & Gun club range close to home.

    I was born and raised in lovely Sonoma County...redwoods, ample oak trees, not far from the Pacific ocean.....but it's time for a change, and it will be only a day's drive from our children and grandchildren who live in Silicon Valley. Besides...they can visit us, since the house we hope to buy is far larger than the one we live in now.

    If any of you have a preference for Movers, such as Bekins, Allied, etc., please sound off. I have never used one before and have heard some horror stories. I hope my digression from the original topic is okay with Stilton.

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  19. Alhonso and family, Welcome to Prescott. I fled California 22 years ago, moved here and been happy as a clam since. Good choice, just try hard to NOT bring Kalifornia with you.

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  20. Sorry Alphonso, it was a typo.

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  21. Not a problem, Kay. Say, didn't you work with a guy named Ralph several years ago in Southern California? And don't you know a great guy named Barry?

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  22. Trump investigation: Year two, and still nothing. That right there tells you all you need to know. That's why I'm fine with this investigation continuing right on through 2020, and 2024 for that matter. The longer this lingers and the more money they waste on it renders it more meaningless by the minute.

    Trump's speech: Didn't listen to it, but I understand that it Trump at his best, which is off-script. This is one of the aspects of Trump that the rest of the political establishment still doesn't understand. Everyone else is so focus-group scripted that they're less life-like than those animatronic Presidents that showed up at Disneyland in the '60s. The left can justifiably fault Trump for playing fast and loose with the facts, but they can't fault him for letting people know what's on his mind. Your average Democrat can't do a two-hour speech (that anyone would stay awake through, anyway) because everything about their agenda today has to be carefully moderated before it sounds too much like the worst of the communists.

    Tax Season: Congratulations @Stilton at getting that miserable annual task out of the way. (I haven't seriously started yet) I love the cartoon, because the technology they're using today is far closer to what is in the picture than it is to the technology surrounding me in my modest office right now.

    Speaking of Taxes: Has anyone else noted that the Democrats latest talking point on taxes is that the Trump tax reforms are just awful because people are getting smaller refunds?

    Yes, that's right. They are trying to convince people that even though their take-home pay went up substantially because of lower withholding and federal income taxes, they are actually worse off because they failed to give the government enough of an interest-free loan for the better part of a year.

    Never mind that your withholding is something totally under you control. Heck, if you want a really huge refund, you can make your own deposits to the Federal government any time you like. (In fact, I'm required to do so quarterly) The ideal refund is zero. Smart people try to make the amount the pre-pay on their taxes as small as possible.

    The rest are Democrats.

    Since Stilton asked for additional topics of interest:

    Occasional-Cortex continues to let her inner-totalitarian leak out:

    “So people are like, ‘Oh it’s unrealistic. Oh it’s vague. Oh it doesn’t address this little minute thing.’ And I’m like, ‘You try. You do it. ‘Cuz you’re not. ‘Cuz you’re not. So, until you do it, I’m the boss.’ How ’bout that?’”

    A couple of points: First, if you have to tell people you are the boss, you aren't.

    Second, I say, "Thanks AOC, for illustrating why letting people like you have power is a grave mistake, not just because you're an idiot, but because you're a totalitarian idiot." Fortunately, she's just one out of 435.

    Filed under "Color me surprised":

    92% of left-wing activists live with their parents and one in three is unemployed, study of Berlin protesters finds

    The vast majority of left-wing protesters arrested on suspicion of politically-fuelled offences in Berlin are young men who live with their parents, a new report found. A third of them were unemployed, and 92 per cent still live with their parents.

    Does anyone doubt that the same goes for your typical Antifa activist here?

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  23. Alphonso, Why YES, you are 100% correct. hahaha what a small world spyderman (?).

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  24. @Alphonso: Did the same thing 15 years ago, but in my case it was escaping Philthydelphia for the Ozarks. What a breath of fresh air! :)

    I'm going into the hospital Thursday to have a couple of cysts removed from my innards. I'm thinking of naming them "Nancy" and "Dianne"...

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  25. @ Alfonso (again): you will find that Az gun laws are among the most lax in the nation. No permits necessary for any gun, and not even one required to concealed carry. However, you can get a CCW permit if you desire, just so you can carry in other states that allow concealed weapons. You just can't be packin' in any bank or federal building.

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  26. @Alfonso Bedoya, congratulations on your escape plan. I saw the writing on the wall in California over 30 years ago, and executed my escape about 10 years later and didn't look back. I like to think that I didn't leave California, but California left me. California has become a perfect example of what I call the Progressive War against the Middle Class. If you're rich, you can insulate yourself against most of the downsides and live a great life. If you're poor, they'll make your poverty comfortable. The middle class gets both the bill and a deteriorating standard of living.

    High-Speed Fail: Just think that if they had just spent a fraction of the money wasted on that was never going to be finished boondoggle on rehabbing Highway 99 and I-5. Instead, Californians will have massive monuments dedicated to Progressive wet dreams to look at as they pass through Bakersfield. I've been suggesting a Go-Fund-Me campaign to erect plaques on these unfinished monuments to Progressive waste.

    Fleeing: After fleeing California, a little over a decade later we fled another urban area in a state that is slowly turning blue. We now live in a small city is a sparsely populated state. 20 years ago, our life here would have been limited and not possible. But as @Fred Ciampi points out, thanks to the Internet and Amazon and Costco, anything not available here is only a couple of days away.

    The only downside to that is that it also makes life possible for people fleeing blue states with blue-state mentalities to move here as well.

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  27. All this talk of escaping California makes me smile a bit when I imagine the moonbats that are left trying to continue their tax and spend programs without anybody paying, you know, taxes. They might have to get (gasp!) JOBS! Never happen.... they'll just move somewhere else that still has productive people to support them. Heads up Arizona, Texas and Wyoming!

    But hey, when the California economy totally collapses and all the moonbats move out, it might end up being a great place to live again.

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  28. In regard to all the NEW Congressional investigations.

    How about if all Trump associates & family not employed by Government tell the Congress to "eat cake" "I'm taking the fifth" ? Keeping my language clean today. ☺

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  29. Interesting the conversation about Az and escaping CA. Had a cousin, born and raised in San Diego, fled to CO, only to find the California she thought she had escaped from had followed her there.

    With son unit gone and the 2 of us in a now too large house with an annual property tax of over 8K, flight from at least Northern Va is on the mind.

    As to the end game in CA. Wouldn't be at all surprised if it is to revert to the Spanish colonial period with landed gentry controlling large swaths of property and means of production and the rest, miserable peons.

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  30. @Colby Muenster, I was still in school as an economics student in the latter half of the '80s when I started noting the phenomenon. At the time, most of my clients were in small manufacturing who were feeling pressured by largely unnecessary environmental regulations, taxation, and other issues. Many were pulling up roots and fleeing for Nevada and Arizona. In Arizona, they could meet a state representative who would personally escort them to the various agencies to get whatever approval or permits they needed in days to mere hours. In California, you were on your own and it could take 6 months or more of navigating numerous state and local agencies without any assurance of getting approval at the end of your efforts.

    I then started to observe the large number of middle class people I knew leaving. (Including ALL of my immediate family) By the end of the '80s, it was becoming clear to me that living a nominal middle class existence in California was going to get harder and harder, and eventually impossible as the cost of living (largely housing and taxes) continued to escalate at a rate that few incomes could compete with.

    And yet, the population of the state was sill increasing at an amazing rate. While highly educated and skilled middle class people who represented household incomes in the mid-5 to low-6 figures left, they were being replaced by uneducated to illiterate low-to-no skilled immigrants mostly from the south. This was great for employers of low-skilled labor. But not so much for the state's economics as the people who paid the bulk of the taxes and made little-to-no demand upon state social services were being replaced by people who paid little to no income taxes and consumed state services by default. This left a dwindling middle class to pick up an even greater tab. This was not sustainable.

    When I'd mention this phenomenon to the various academics and other Progressives I still associated with, they'd dismiss this. After all, "diversity" was so valued that it would certainly compensate for any economic shortcomings of the replacement population. More often or not, I'd be branded a "racist" for even bringing up the point.

    The situation was hopeless. Unfortunately, I can't see California being a worthwhile place to live again, even after the existing Progressive paradigm collapses. My concern now is containing the Progressive disease that California is now exporting nationwide. Progressive Californians destroyed Colorado. Arizona is now infected. Even Texas, that almost elected Beto will eventually swing. My small city where people used to mock Californians now votes just like them more often than not.

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  31. @All Above- I understand how convenient Amazon is. However, please remember that Bezos hates those of us who frequent this forum, and uses his massive bullhorn, the Washington Compost, to denigrate us and hasten the collapse of our country.

    Just Sayin'

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  32. Yeah, I have personally noted the Californication of my beloved Arizona. Besides cost of living increases and higher taxes, I now deal with hearing things like "I heard a gun going off in the woods yesterday!!!". To which I am forced to reply "it's National Forest, shooting guns is totally legal". Or,"I saw a dog running loose down the road!!!". To which I am forced to reply "dogs outnumber people by at least two to one here, sometimes they go visiting".
    It is time to lose your big city mentality and realize that you are not in (Kansas) Los Angeles anymore.

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  33. Here's the latest news from our family on what government is doing for us:

    My aged father, who served well and is an honorably discharged veteran from WW2... 75 years later and now a widower could use some financial assistance from VA to help cover costs in-home care or eventually assisted living residence or nursing home which now run over $5,000/month. But he still has some assets from a decades of hard work, A modest life and savings but HE is clearly not wealthy. I've learned he has way too much property & income to bother even applying to VA. Were he poor he could get ~ $9000/year after doing a pile of paperwork and a long wait. BFD, and to which I say to well with them all; we have money and everyone should have such problems. We don't need their fucking red tape and rules. With private pay, we'll use OUR rules. And meanwhile don't even bother asking us for money for your Cause or Campaign We'e keeping ours be-CAUSE it will be needed.

    In my own case and regarding the modern healthcare system in small town America: In the last 10 years I've had 3 good Personal Care Physicians in a row either quite practicing or move out of town for more secure positions with larger organizations. This week I learned of #4 doing the same thing. And I also tell you who IS staying in: The out of touch, phoning it in, old quacks who will not retire. They remain active in the "charge code" practice.

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  34. @Fish Out of Water, I, too was raised in San Diego but it isn't the same town anymore. It drives me nuts to have to drive in it. And now we deal with distracted drivers in addition to all other driving hazards, let alone the crumbling roads and other infrastructure due to misallocation of state and county funds to fix them. Whenever I have to go there for medical or other services not available where I live, I can hardly wait to drop down the summit to my little tiny desert town. But alas, it is still CA. The motto in CA appears to be: Build, build, build. More people, more houses, more traffic, blah, blah, blah. I am grateful there is the wide expanse of land that is Camp Pendleton or there would be houses stretching every square mile from SD county all the way to Orange county. I am ready for country life. I promise to leave any CA crap behind in CA where it belongs.

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  35. @Max Redline- Unless you've got a LOT of itemized deductions, you're probably just as well off taking the standard deduction. And I like your take on the AOC idiocy. She's lecturing us about being "green" while she avoids public transportation and chows down on farting cow burgers.

    @Crazy World- It honked me off that I had to enter driver's license info for my wife and myself into Turbotax in order to file my return. I suppose it makes sense, to keep someone else from claiming my refund - but whatever happened to picture ID cards being a tool of racism and repression?

    @Brie Camembert- "Though the Looking Glass" is right. When I look at the Dems' plan to pursue obstruction of justice charges against Trump, I just want to turn off the news for a year or so.

    @Jim Irre- The one year I used an accountant to do my taxes, they screwed everything up. Granted, the errors they made were about $20k in my favor, but I'm averse to going to jail.

    @JP- Now THAT is a fun idea! Let's get testimony from all the Dems who flat out loved Trump (and benefitted from their relationships with him) until he became President!

    @Colby Muenster- Suddenly I want to start a Llama ranch, just so I can use that name!

    @Murphy(AZ)- Exactly! Let's bring in Spike Lee, the Reverend Al, Jesse Jackson and scads of others who used to praise him. I'm actually starting to look forward to this!

    @Fred Ciampi- And remember, there's nothing wrong with a glass being only half full if it's a big enough damn glass.

    @Fish Out of Water- Sorry about your tax situation, though can't quite figure out the problem. If the standard deduction saves you more than the itemized deductions, don't you still come out ahead? As far as state taxes go, we don't have them here in Texas (though we have significant sales tax and property tax).

    @Gpa J- That's a beautiful thought.

    @Alfonso Bedoya- The outward migration from California is sad, but inevitable. I hear Arizona is pretty nice!

    @Sortahwitte- Being a "pillar of the community" wasn't such a great thing in Sodom...

    @TrickyRicky- I'd feel a lot better about paying taxes if I didn't think the gummint would be wasting my money. And at this point, it makes sense for me to do my own taxes because I'm largely retired and the taxes aren't too complicated (especially now, with the bigger standard deduction).

    @James Daily- Yeah, the gummint isn't keen on people working out of their homes or garages (or showing independence and initiative). Not only did I have to pay double (or apparently pay double, per John the Econ) for my own unemployment insurance, but when I finally decided once to try to collect some of it, I was told "you're not worth anything." Not really the bang for the buck I was hoping for.

    @Fred Ciampi- I run through a LOT of Amazon boxes too. I'd say I get at least 4 deliveries a week - sometimes more. I'll start saving them up for Alfonso!

    @Alfonso Bedoya- That all sounds great!

    @Geoff King- Also, to avoid sounding like a foreigner, remember that California is pronounced "f*cking California."

    @Anthony Arrigo- Sounds like you're in the same boat I am. I scrimped and saved for years, so I'm fine financially - but my "income" is low enough to be on food stamps. Still, because I sold some stocks a few years ago (and immediately put the money into a CD) the government has tripled our Medicare rates because, in the words of AOC, "we hate you and want you to die." And cool about the wrestling tournament. A good friend of mine has a son who's a very impressive young wrestler!

    @Sandy Link- Like I said, sad but inevitable. Hope you enjoy Camp Verde!

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  36. @Alfonso Bedoya- I posted a freaking picture of a llama sticking its head out of a car, and you apologize for your "digression from the original topic?" Ha!

    @Kay Ash- THAT'S the problem...people who flee from liberal, high tax states but then continue to vote Democrat in their new havens.

    @John the Econ- I believe that Trump is guilty at this point because of "consensus journalism." It's like climate change "science" only even less credible.

    Trump's speech: I wince at the man's words frequently, but I also enjoy his political incorrectness and patriotism. He's a weird guy, but he's the only one for the job at this strange juncture in history.

    Tax season: Yeah, I understand that the IRS computers are decades out of date, with code written in Pascal or Cobol or Sanskrit. And yes, it drives me nuts that the media is pounding on the idea that peoples' refunds may be smaller when the government grabs less of your money overall.

    AOC: This tyrannical little nincompoop wants my household to pay $600,000 for her "Green New Deal," then declares that she's the boss and I'm in "the cheap seats" that cost over half a million bucks?! And frankly, I'm surprised that SHE isn't living in her parents' basement...

    @Kay Ash- Okay, you two are obviously connected somehow. I mean, besides being followers of this evil, cult-like blog (grin).

    @M. Mitchell Marmel- If you're calling them Nancy and Dianne, does that mean they're cysters? Seriously, good luck with the surgery and hope you have a speedy and complete recovery. Let me know if you need someone to feed Fortescue or walk him around the block till you're up and around again!

    @Geoff King- Sounds like a nice, secure state!

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  37. @Stilton: Cysters under the skin! Unfortunately, it's MY skin. ;) Thanks for the well wishes!

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  38. "@M. Mitchell Marmel- If you're calling them Nancy and Dianne, does that mean they're cysters? Seriously, good luck with the surgery and hope you have a speedy and complete recovery. Let me know if you need someone to feed Fortescue or walk him around the block till you're up and around again!"

    "Cysters!" Stilton, you are THE master of wit, and there will never be anyone to take your place....Thank God!

    @ Mitchell: cyst removal is usually uneventful. Make sure you have the pathologist filet and properly dispose of "Nancy" and "Dianne." From my experience here in Kalifornia, they have a habit of constantly recurring.

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  39. @John the Econ- Good points, all.

    @Colby Muenster- Yeah, Texas is already getting more blue state invaders than we want. I think my state needs a 360ยบ wall just to keep liberals out.

    @Joseph ET- The media would, of course, point out that "taking the fifth" is invariably an admission of guilt. Unless when done by a Democrat.

    @Fish Out of Water- As the saying goes, "you can run, but you can't hide." It's getting increasingly difficult to flee from these morons.

    @John the Econ- Excellent summary of the situation. Sigh...

    @TrickyRicky- Politically, there's plenty I don't like about Amazon and Bezos. But dang, I do love my Amazon Prime shipping, music, and movies. I still buy my liquor locally, though, and that's no small thing (grin).

    @Geoff King- Newcomers need a period of adjustment. If they still don't learn, they should be escorted to the state line.

    @Rod- Sorry to hear about your father's situation, but glad that you're able to fight the good fight. And yes, good physicians are being run out of business (or forced to radically change their practices) by Progressive design and intent.

    @Sandy Link- I had family in San Diego and visited about half a century ago (sigh) when it was still quite nice out there. I flirted with the idea of moving to California way back when, but remain eternally glad that I didn't.

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  40. Same thing (tax thing) happened to us. After hours of sweat and labor..."Hey! Looks like the Standard Deduction is right up your alley!" Popup occurred...yarghh.

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  41. @Alfonso Bedoya ,

    The last time I moved, I realized that a well-timed house fire could be a good thing. I realized that after I moved...

    The Californicators fleeing California have definitely ruined Colorado. They started showing up en masse in '92, and now the Demo_Rats are in total control of the state legislature and the governor's office. I have simply never understood how anyone could vote for every idiotic liberal idea that came down the pike until they made California unlivable, then they fled there and came here and...voted for every idiotic liberal idea that came down the pike again. How can they not see that those idiotic liberal ideas were what made California unlivable? Where are they gonna go after they have ruined every state that isn't quite yet ruined?

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  42. BTW, I moved from Ohio to Colorado for the 3rd time in 1991 and I have never voted for a Demo_Rat for any office in over 30 years.

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  43. Ya'll goota see this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbIo_K7UGwY

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  44. Justin - Ok, cute snow pix, but SNOW... MEH..
    Was in Traverse City some years back, for an Uncle's funeral, middle of the winter... locals all had bike flags on the front bumper so people could see them approaching intersections. Right of way at a 4 ay stop goes to the one who's coming through sideways....
    Had a co-worker move to Syracuse, NY, to take care of his dad... sent me a pic of his Jeep w/ like 4-6 FEET of snow on the roof...
    yeah, no, thanks... Grew up here, and TX summers can be pretty brutal (especially the closer you get to Houston, where every day the temp and humids have a race to 100.. ) but she'ite, I'm DONE with winter.

    Stilt - "Cysters" you win.

    Libs from Kali (or elsewhere) who ruin everything - getting close to time for box 4, I fear... (Soap, Ballot, Jury, Ammo...)
    And Stilt, if that's too close to calling for violence, feel free to delete it, I own that I'm walking that line... (not ACTUALLY calling for violence, but ...)

    Wholly Carp! People are apparently scamming Girl Scout Cookie tables to 'convert' counterfeit bills...
    Assholes.
    NOT that I have ANY favor for THAT scamtastick BS pumping crap (serioiusly, $.50 per cookie, and local get $.50 / BOX? and THAT supports progressive SJW programming? Eff GS Cookies. Except thin mints. Roomie brought home a box, I ate half...)
    But still, ripping off the GS????
    Shame, Shame, SHAME!

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  45. I am firmly convinced that leftism (I won't call it liberalism or progressivism, as it is neither) is a mental disorder. There is no other way to explain it.

    I have a relative that's on that side of the fence. He moved from Kalifornia to Hawaii many years ago. Now that he's retired, he suddenly wants to move to a midwestern state to save money and be near family. I'm very concerned about him bringing his politics with him...

    @ M. Mitchell Marmel: I too have a place in the Ozarks. Not living there yet, but hope to rectify that within the next couple of years. Maybe we'll run into each other sometime...

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  46. @JustaJeepGuy, I was under the impression that Colorado was being ruined by Californicators as far back as the '80s. Blame John Denver. And you're right. Once they're finished ruining Colorado, they'll move on. They've already destroyed Oregon and Seattle. Idaho is now on its way. They now have Montana & Wyoming in their sights.

    I'd like to remind those people that for most of February, it's been near zero degrees out. It takes a lot of carbon-spew to remain comfortable in the winter.

    @Laura D said "I am firmly convinced that leftism (I won't call it liberalism or progressivism, as it is neither) is a mental disorder. There is no other way to explain it."

    I largely agree, but there is another reason. It's profitable:

    AOC’s chief of staff ran $1M slush fund by diverting campaign cash to his own companies

    Two political action committees founded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s top aide funneled over $1 million in political donations into two of his own private companies, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday.

    The cash transfers from the PACs — overseen by Saikat Chakrabarti, the freshman socialist Democrat's chief of staff — run counter to her pledges to increase transparency and reduce the influence of "dark money" in politics.

    Chakrabarti's companies appear to have been set up for the sole purpose of obscuring how the political donations were used.


    It's also interesting, amusing really, to note that Chakrabarti's "consulting" operation is registered as a "for profit" company.

    I saw an interview with Chakrabarti yesterday on Bloomberg. He's clearly the brains of the operation. He's capable of articulating his points and actually answering questions (not that he had to) unlike AOC, who is only capable of spewing half-formed Marxist soundbites.

    As for the campaign finance complaint, don't get too excited. AOC & company will probably just have to pay a fine and this will disappear. What this really is is the Democratic leadership finally putting a leash on their out-of-control pet who has unwittingly and transparently exposed the bulk of the Democrat's long-term objectives to subjugate the entire country. They love that she's brought millions of millennials into the fold, but aren't about to tolerate her being "the boss". On the other hand, they know that her transparent totalitarianism will push at least as many voters back into Trump's camp.

    It will be interesting to see if she tones down her rhetoric in the coming weeks.

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  47. Check out Alexandria Hypocrisyo Cortez. Uberish Uber spending. Planes instead of trains.

    https://youtu.be/3QtJuGRBucI


    And...consuming cow farts.

    https://www.americanthinker.com/images/bucket/2019-02/212287.png

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/02/ocasiocortez_freaks_out_when_photographed_with_chief_of_staff_eating_forbidden_hamburger.html

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    Replies
    1. @Jason: As Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, 'All animals are equal, but some more equal than others. '

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  48. Am I missing something? Assume for a moment that the Left & Media do prevent Trump from completing his first term. It's not likely to happen but let's assume.

    Then they get President Pence before 2020 elections; the sooner it happens the longer Pence has to establish his position. He'll have more Republican support, fewer haters, a great record with Trump and the office. How the Hell is that supposed to help the Left?

    I agree the leftist zealots (and that a nice word for them) are out of their minds; and they have proven themselves totally unqualified to lead this nation.

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  49. @Rod: Could very well be this is what Trump has in mind. He gets notoriety, Pence gets 2 terms and change, the Supreme Court goes 6-3... ;-)

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  50. I don't think we mentioned here the interesting dustup between Dianne Feinstein and a bunch of programmed kidbots regarding "climate change".

    Well, it seems that there are still at least a few people left at SNL who found it ripe for parody:

    https://youtu.be/kP_iVlEyp5M

    Except their lost their nerve and pulled it from the live show at the last minute, "for time". (They always seem to have enough time for Baldwin's now-tiresome Trump impressions)

    As for the actual incident, if I were DiFi I would have asked those children "Other than making signs and marching around demanding that other people do something, what have you personally done to eliminate your own carbon footprint? Have you cut your electrical use by 90%? Have you forsaken auto travel? Are you still heating and cooling your home? Have you demanded that they cut the heating and cooling at your school? I bet not"

    @Jason Anyone, if there is one consistency about Progressives, it's the notion that it's always up to someone else to make the sacrifices. Even the Progressive proletariat thinks this, as I just pointed out above. They think they can force somebody else they don't know to build a bunch of windmills and solar panels far away and they can go on with their comfortable lives as they always have. They are not only ignorant, but greedy and selfish.

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  51. I have decided that I am all for the Green New Deal. Those eagle-chopping wind turbines that cost far more to construct and maintain than the value of electricity produced will put a lot of people to work, including psychologists that will have to treat the many cases of acrophobia that will spring up from erecting those tall monstrosities. Plus, the solar panel arrays, which super heat the surrounding environment with all the extra solar radiation absorbed, will keep the global warming prophets, like Al Gore, employed for all time, and one must think of all the people that will be needed to mine all the toxic waste minerals needed to produce solar panels in the first place.
    Of course, the government could just release Nikola Tesla's sealed free energy technology, but the power companies, that bought off congress long ago, would never allow that to happen.

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  52. To all of you touting Prescott, we here in Chino Valley graciously allow you to use our water. Make sure you look at the water issues of this lovely area before you move here and make sure to leave your biases at the front door. We like this area and this state the way it is.

    MAGA

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