Search found 364 matches

by jacksonM
Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:08 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

Things could get a lot uglier. Given the current climate I would almost predict that they will...... https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/partisan-warfare-will-shatter-our-constitution/ Article III does not prescribe the size of the Supreme Court; Congress does. For decades, the number o...
by jacksonM
Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:51 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Trump as tragicomedy
Replies: 958
Views: 379915

Re: Trump as tragicomedy

Disguising taxable gifts as deductible salary income is fraud. He had a $200k "salary" as a child. $1 Million salary as a college student. And that didn't trigger any IRS audits at the time? It would appear not, wouldn't it. I'm not exactly sure what the IRS' audit lottery matrix looked like back t...
by jacksonM
Sun Oct 07, 2018 4:43 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Trump as tragicomedy
Replies: 958
Views: 379915

Re: Trump as tragicomedy

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html Absolutely insane how much Trump is NOT self-made in his fortunes... oh and appears to be downright a tax-fraud. I'm sure the "rule-of-law" crowd is downright incensed at this... Can you be more spec...
by jacksonM
Sun Oct 07, 2018 4:41 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

Now that it's all over I'm thinking of the ending of the movie "The Truman Show". In the final scene a couple of guys in a bar said it was time to turn the channel to see what else they could find to watch. I think that movie was a great metaphor for modern times. Sometimes you just have to stop and...
by jacksonM
Sun Oct 07, 2018 4:08 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Trump as tragicomedy
Replies: 958
Views: 379915

Re: Trump as tragicomedy

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html The president has long sold himself as a self-made billionaire, but a Times investigation found that he received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate empire, much of...
by jacksonM
Sun Oct 07, 2018 9:41 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

No matter what happens, I think we can all come together as Americans and agree that everything is shitty and people who don't agree with my side are dumbasses. I don't remember where I saw it but some article I was reading talked about how Americans no longer agree on a "shared version of reality"...
by jacksonM
Sat Oct 06, 2018 10:01 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

She's not asking anyone to believe her wholeheartedly without evidence. She's just asking that her testimony be given as evidence to his character. If he did what she claims, I think she has every right to come forward whenever she pleases. Nobody's questioning her right to come forward. Nor has an...
by jacksonM
Sat Oct 06, 2018 9:44 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

No matter where you fall on the spectrum of Kavanaugh opinions, you owe it to yourself to take the time to listen to Susan Collins' full speech where she outlines all of the reasons she is voting for his confirmation. Her tone, reasoning, and genuine sense of professional responsibility are a welco...
by jacksonM
Fri Oct 05, 2018 5:45 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

Well that's generally out the window lately with Twitter (Trump, Musk, ??) and other platforms! Comments sections of most blogs are from people whose opinions are way far left and right and a lot of times are just comments no normal socially adjusted human would ever say in public. And I'll swing b...
by jacksonM
Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:02 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

When you're under a spotlight and in a powerful position, you really need to be careful of what you say. Well that's generally out the window lately with Twitter (Trump, Musk, ??) and other platforms! Comments sections of most blogs are from people whose opinions are way far left and right and a lo...
by jacksonM
Fri Oct 05, 2018 9:11 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

http://www.unz.com/imercer/christine-blah-blah-ford-her-hippocampus/ A good article on Ms. Ford's claims about the repressed memory stored indelibly on her hippocampus for future retrieval 30 years later. Update: I think the "hippocampus" thing is probably a half truth. With all the craziness going...
by jacksonM
Fri Oct 05, 2018 9:06 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kids: Then and Now
Replies: 105
Views: 56270

Re: Kids: Then and Now

4: If you are over 15 minutes late for a class, that is considered an unexcused absence. In my freshman year of high school I had a homeroom teacher whose policy was that if you were not inside the room when the tardy bell rang you got your ass beat in front of the whole class - and this meant "boy...
by jacksonM
Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:12 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

All this being said and the past few days, I have moved my needle to where I am not at all sure how much of what Ford is saying is true vs. mis-remembered anymore. In the same breath, though, I'd have to say that given Kavanaugh's comments, he definitely is a Republican conservative, and I still do...
by jacksonM
Wed Oct 03, 2018 3:50 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

"Playing hard to get" is simply evolutionary biology at work, don't you think? I mean it's like, "okay guys, who is the fittest among you who would like your genes to survive with me - show me what you got". Rape is when someone takes away the woman's power of natural selection that she already has...
by jacksonM
Wed Oct 03, 2018 3:26 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Figuring Out Religion
Replies: 4052
Views: 1385282

Re: Figuring Out Religion

I am an Orthodox Christian, so by no means do I dismiss the possibility of things existing that we cannot fully comprehend or that do not conform to our accepted laws of nature and science. That said, my first response to claims of hauntings, spiritual obsession or possession is deep skepticism. A ...
by jacksonM
Wed Oct 03, 2018 2:02 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Figuring Out Religion
Replies: 4052
Views: 1385282

Re: Figuring Out Religion

My wife and I tend to avoid discussions about religion but we just had one today. It had to do with the fact that her elderly father and her sister are desperately trying to move out of the house they grew up in because it is haunted with spirits and is making them sick. They live in a third world c...
by jacksonM
Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:14 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

"Playing hard to get" is simply evolutionary biology at work, don't you think? I mean it's like, "okay guys, who is the fittest among you who would like your genes to survive with me - show me what you got". Rape is when someone takes away the woman's power of natural selection that she already has....
by jacksonM
Wed Oct 03, 2018 12:47 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: The Bond Dream Room
Replies: 554
Views: 359700

Re: The Bond Dream Room

Some of my original 30 year LTT's will be hitting the 20 years to maturity mark soon so I'll have to decide whether to sell and repurchase. Seems to me that it would be an easier thing to do in a rising interest rate environment than the opposite. I wonder how PP'er's dealt with it when they were ho...
by jacksonM
Wed Oct 03, 2018 12:38 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: 2 PP Portfolios, 6 months performance
Replies: 39
Views: 19887

Re: 2 PP Portfolios, 6 months performance

I adopted the PP in 2008 after the meltdown of the meager savings I had with what would probably be less than 10 years to go until retirement. I found it by googling "safe portfolio" or something like that. It helped me hit my number at almost exactly the same time I was forced into retirement a cou...
by jacksonM
Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:12 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

As all of these women's testimony unravels, the response of the "true believers" has become even more shrill and even hysterical. I was the unfortunate attendee of an agricultural seminar last weekend in which the topic turned, without warning, to the Kavanaugh hearings. Several of the women in att...
by jacksonM
Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:43 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: 2 PP Portfolios, 6 months performance
Replies: 39
Views: 19887

Re: 2 PP Portfolios, 6 months performance

Cortopassi wrote:
Mon Oct 01, 2018 9:10 am
Don wrote:
Mon Oct 01, 2018 8:04 am
So all of you have real returns for the past 6 months of around -2%. Is that good?
No >:(
Actually, I think it's neither good, nor bad, but irrelevant.

It's called the Permanent Portfolio for a reason and a 6 month snapshot doesn't tell you much in the grand scheme of things.
by jacksonM
Mon Oct 01, 2018 8:59 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

I saw a hint of what it might be in news reports that Maryland police said they would investigate the matter if a complaint was filed. I can't see where Ms. Ford would have anything to lose by filing such a report with the help of her lawyers so this wouldn't surprise me at all. Without any verifia...
by jacksonM
Sat Sep 29, 2018 4:22 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

Ok, so the Dems, with the help of Jeff Flake, bought themselves another week to plot their next move. I have no idea what it will be but I suspect it will be very entertaining. I saw a hint of what it might be in news reports that Maryland police said they would investigate the matter if a complaint...
by jacksonM
Fri Sep 28, 2018 11:53 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Health Care Reform
Replies: 33
Views: 15373

Re: Health Care Reform

Interesting article with some good suggestions but I would have to disagree with the basic premise that the fault for out of controls costs lies with the patient. Just like doctors we're just cogs in a wheel we have very little control over. The next time your doctor tells you that you need test X, ...
by jacksonM
Fri Sep 28, 2018 11:06 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Kavanaugh
Replies: 208
Views: 93705

Re: Kavanaugh

A few more observations... 1.) On a positive/non-partisan note, I can remember a lot of these senators going all the way to back to the Bork and Thomas hearings and at my age it's nice to see octogenarians Grassley(85),Hatch(83),Feinstein(85) doing so well. I'll be joining them in about 10 more year...