Summations Only

Hi Taq When people walk across our borders without authorization we do not have borders. We just have a line we call a border. Why do you feel the taxpayers of the United State should be responsible for someone who has entered our country without our permission?We can not fix the worlds problems. We have spent over 10 trillion dollars in the middle east proving that point. Would you care to quote me the words where he solicitated foreign governments to interfere in our elections, and point me to the source. He is the chief law enforcement officer in the U.S. So if he needs to call out blatant misuse of power by people like Comey and Brennen and many others in the FBI and the CIA just how is he supposed to do that, without making a lot of waves?Then again you probably think they did nothing wrong or illegal. Where do you get such an idea as that?He appointed two supreme court judges that believe in the Constitution as it was written not as a living changing document.The law is what is passed by congress and signed into law by the President.You fuss about the laws that have been signed into law by Clinton and other Presidents when Trump tries to enforce them. If you and other don't like the laws that are on the books then get congress and the President to change them. Get off that hobby horse and present you evidence that support such accusations. I did not say anything about foreign investment. The investment I was talking about was the companies that returned that Bush and Obama had got rid of. The interest on the IOU's in the lock box pays for current benefits plus the collected SS receipts collected now.But be not deceived if the bunch of thieves in Washington had not stolen the funds from the SS and used it for other things there would be over 3 trillion dollars in the SS fund today.Just be aware that those guys will not use your money as carefully as you will. That is the reason there is so much waste fraud and corruption in Washington. No gas automobiles.
No diesel trucks hauling supplies.
No cows to produce milk.
No coal to produce electricity.
Nuclear power to generate electricity is too dangerous.
No airplanes to fly in. They burn aviation fuel.
All of our factories would have to close down.These are just a few of the problems we would face.
Where would the food we eat come from?
The huge tractors that till the land and are used to cultivate and harvest the crops burn diesel fuel.So if the plans of some of our presidential hopefuls were carried out we would in my opinion not even stop with the 1800's.What would you suggest to fix the flying problem?
What would you suggest to fix the hauling problem?A tractor and trailer can have a total weight of 80,000 lbs. Anything over that requires special equipment and a special permit. Width has a limit without a permit.To move 80,000 lbs down the road requires a lot of energy just like the tractors on the farms require a lot of energy.If you wanted to use batteries and operate them on electricity the batteries required would probably exceed the 80,000 lb weight restriction for an 8 hr. trip. Tractors in the fields would meet the same problems.So the only thing left would be to go back to horses and buggies as it was not mentioned about doing away with horses yet. Oxen would be out as they are cows.Can you see how stupid some of the ideas that have been proposed are?As far as I know there is no research into how to replace all the energy needed to keep our cell phones, AC"s and the rest of our lifestyle as it is today.If you got any ideas I would like to hear about them.Remember energy can not be created. It has to be changed from matter into energyGod Bless

Hi JonFDoes anyone here doubt that Russia tried to interfere with the 2016 elections.Anyone doubt they tried in 2012?Anyone doubt they tried in 2008?Anyone doubt they tried in 2004?Anyone doubt they tried in 2000?They despise our type of republic government. They have been trying to mess up our system since shortly after WWII, and will continue to do so in the future.BTW our government is not a democracy as everybody hollers about. It is a republic that is based on the Constitution.God Bless

Hi Jon Were the Kurds there fighting before we got there?
If they were we offered our help not ask for theirs.Question: what would have happened if the Kurds had moved outside of the 20 mile deep buffer zone?They were aware of the talks and agreement to establish such a buffer.God Bless

Hi dwise I am not sure there are bonds that the trustees have.We are in bad shape now with a total debt including unfunded liabilities of over 230 to 300 trillion dollars. Using the number of 20 trillion dollars GDP per year that would consume 15 years of GDP without spending a penny on anything else.We started on this slide when we left the gold standard and went to fiat money. Since then the presses can't print money fast enough.In the very near future that bubble is going to burst and then reality will set in. I hope everyone is prepared.God Bless

Ask a Public Affairs Specialist from the Social Security Administration.My local OLLI (Oster Lifelong Learning Institutes) at Cal-State Fullerton has its Transitions In Retirement (TIR) series of presentations open to the public every Saturday morning. At least once a year that includes presentations on Medicare from HICAP counselor (called SHIP in most states) and on Social Security by a public affairs specialist from the Social Security Administration. That is where the administration of the Social Security trust fund was described to us and which I had just passed on to this forum.There are OLLI programs at about 300 college and university campuses throughout the USA, so look for the one nearest to you for similar information. Or just contact your local Social Security Administration office.

Several of the years you mention are before social media and electronic voting machines. There wasn't much Interference then. But they have been trying for a few election cycles,And they are getting better all the time. Exponentially better. While we've done almost nothing. Moscow Mitch ensures that no serious election security bills are even considered. They (and probably others) are likely to have a significant effect in 2020.

I see you consider yourself an expert on batteries. Could you show us some more detail on the problems? With some reference to today's actual technology and research projects.BTW pretty soon there won't be any coal plants to generate electricity. Even with Trump’s pro-pollution stance coal just doesn't make economic sense.

We asked them to fight in our stead and gave them arms to do it. Irrelevant to what we did and what actually happened. Yep. And so were we. They and we knew what that entailed. Been following what's happening?

We have Trump's confession in the form of that "transcript" of that "perfect" phone call. He admitted that he did it.

That's basically true, but not the complete story.Benefits are paid from your FICA payroll deductions and by your employer. I asked an accountant about it and he said that employers match their employees' FICA deductions, so what SSA gets is twice what you pay -- this might be one of the reasons why corporations want to see Social Security and Medicare to go away. Also, your pay statement might list Social Security and Medicare deductions separately as my last job did, or lump them together as "FICA" as I had seen everywhere else I worked.For most of Social Security's history, payroll taxes coming in would be more than enough to cover benefit payments, resulting in a surplus. That surplus would go into a special trust fund which may only be used for benefit payments should payroll taxes not be enough to cover it. The current problem we're having is that, because of the baby-boom cohort the payroll taxes coming in from the non-baby-boomers still working is not enough to cover benefits -- there's more of us than them and we're living longer than our predecessors did.
Therefore, we now need to draw money from the trust fund and, since the situation isn't going to change, that will eventually deplete the trust fund.There are a number of possible solutions to this problem with Republicans only looking at the first one without even mentioning the others:

1. Reduce benefits. This can be done in a few different ways; eg:
   1. Change how cost of living adjustments are calculated in order to reduce those increases. The GOP has already done this.
   2. Change how new beneficiaries' benefit amount, the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) is calculated. This would be done by playing with the bendpoints (follow the link for an explanation) which are used to define the graph that is used to calculate the PIA. Such bendpoint tweaking is done routinely, but mainly for the purpose of adjusting for inflation.
   3. Enact a across-the-board slashing of benefits.
   4. Change the requirements for qualifying for benefits. For example, as the primary beneficiary you need to have worked for 40 quarters (equivalent to 10 years) in which you earned at least a minimum amount. Changing the number of quarters and/or raising that minimum amount could reduce the number of beneficiaries. BTW, the same requirements are used to qualify for Medicare.
2. Raise the full retirement age, which would delay retirees' drawing of benefits. This is already being done.
3. Increase payroll taxes. That would not be popular since it would affect all workers paying into Social Security and have a disproportionate effect on the poorest.
4. Raise the cap. Currently, you pay FICA on your earnings up to about $125,000 and not for any earnings above that. That's the cap. If we increase the cap, then that would increase payroll deductions for the highest wage earners. Not by much, but it would bring in more contributions with minimal impact.

Chris Wallace Grills Trump's Defense Secretary: Syria Withdrawal Is 'The Definition Of Abandoning The Kurds'

quote:

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In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Wallace pointed out that Syrian fighters had committed apparent war crimes after Trump's decision to withdraw.

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"What are you going to do about it?" Wallace asked Esper. "What are you going to do to stop this?"

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"This is part of the terrible situation that Turkey has put us in," Esper replied. "Despite our protestations, the Turks now intend to go further south than expected and to go both west and east."

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{emphasis added} Edited by JonF, : No reason given.

It's beginning to look a lot like Watergate,
Everywhere you go.
Take a look at the anchormen, they're chiding him once again,
With harsh declaims and evidence chains that grow.It's beginning to look a lot like Watergate,
Facts in every drawer.
But the prettiest sight to see is the charges that will be
Nailed to his front door.Some lobbying loot and a lawyer that hoots
Is the wish of Adam and Ben.
Folks who will talk and and have eyes like a hawk
Is the hope of Jerry and Jim.
And Joe and Liz can hardly wait for probes to start again.It's beginning to look a lot like Watergate,
Everywhere you go.
There's a writ in the Congress well, that comes with a lot to tell,
The sturdy kind that sets your heart aglow.It's beginning--Percy

But remember, Pence is a far bigger threat to democracy than Trump.

True, but the question is whether Pence would get re-elected as easily? We know that Trump appeals to his base. But how would Pence play out?

As even stronger fundy christian and bigot.