(from John Adams, by David McCullough)
". . . All that part of Creation that lies within our observation is liable to change. . . Even mighty states and kingdoms are not exempted. If we look into history, we shall find some nations rising from contemptible beginnings and spreading their influence, until the whole globe is subjected to their ways. When they have reached the summit of grandeur, some minute and unsuspected cause commonly affects their ruin, and the empire of the world is transferred to some other place. Immortal Rome was at first but an insignificant village, inhabited only by a few abandoned ruffians, but by degrees it rose to a stupendous height, and excelled in arts and arms all the nations that preceded it. But the demolition of Carthage (what one should think should have established it in supreme dominion) by removing all danger, suffered it to sink into debauchery, and made it at length an easy prey to Barbarians. . . England immediately upon this began to increase (the particular and minute cause of which I am not historian enough to trace) in power and magnificence, and is now the greatest nation upon the globe. . ."
(Source: Prince George's Co. Executive Calls for Trump to Resign - NBC4 Washington http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Prince-Georges-Co-Executive-Calls-for-Trump-to-Resign-440629033.html#ixzz4puawjVsJ )
". . . Prince George’s County (Maryland) executive Rushern Baker is calling for President Donald Trump to resign after remarks the president made about the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. On Tuesday, Trump declared again "there is blame on both sides" for the deadly violence last weekend in Charlottesville, appearing to once again equate the actions of white supremacist groups and those protesting them. . . Baker issued a statement, calling Trump’s comment doubling down on refusing to directly criticize the hate groups involved in Charlottesville. . . "President of The United States Donald J. Trump is unfit to serve the people of our country and should resign, effective immediately. His equivocation on the incidents which transpired this past weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia is an affront to the promise of this nation, our World War II Veterans, the families of the Charlottesville victims, and every citizen past and present, and his actions have no place in the Oval Office. . . During these times of unnerving, regressive, divisive, heightened rhetoric, Americans of all creeds and colors have traditionally looked to the Presidency as a moral compass to guide our way through the morass and right the ship. Empathizing with the message and mission of organizations linked to a bloody legacy of domestic terrorism, racist attacks, and anti-Semitic violence leaves too many citizens of this great nation with no confidence that their President honors or understands the responsibility of the office, or can assure application of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. . . Regretfully, as a citizen, and as an elected representative of over 900,000 Marylanders who come from all over the world, who are veterans of foreign wars, who have struggled for civil rights, who have participated in suffrage movements, and who love peace and prosperity, I contend we have gone far enough under President Trump and that he should resign for the good of the nation.". . ."
. . . conjures up images of jungles, exotic animals, dense forests, aarid plains, living off the land hunting, foraging etc. The notion of 'wild' evokes a certain romanticism; a state of inaccessible, remote disconnection from a conventional, acceptable behavior which is somehow closer to our natural state. Wildness is a desirable, admirable condition for which the common man frequently strives yet rarely attains. Paraphrasing a great prophet, many are drawn but few are authentically WILD. . .
It's time for everybody to write to their representatives in Washington DC to encourage initiation of:
Amendment XXV
Section 4. to the U.S. Constitution
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
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If you think your voice doesn't matter, or if you think (and I've heard a multitude of rationalizations) that this cannot be done, then of course, nothing will be done. I know Congress has a majority of Republicans, but let us NOT generalize. We all agree that generalization is not applicable to races, colors, creeds, national original, profession, sex or tribe in this, the year 2017. Rest assured that there are members of the Republican party or or rational, reasonable people. Further, if your rationalization originates from places other than the political makeup of Congress, remember that if we do not try to do what is right, and refrain from making even the slightest effort to stop this nonsense, we will in the end, receive exactly what we deserve.
(http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-politicians-condemn-white-nationalist-rally-charlottesville-virginia-n792096)
". . . President Donald Trump sparked a backlash Saturday when he suggested "many sides" were to blame for the deadly violence at a white nationalist rally in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia. . . several Republicans issued statements mentioning white nationalism or white supremacists (as the cause). Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch said on Twitter: "We should call evil by its name." . . . "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.". . He added that hate and division in the country must stop, but that it is not linked to his presidency because it has "been going on for a long, long time." . . . "No matter our color, creed, religion, our political party, we are all Americans first," he said, adding that he'd like for his administration to "study" why such violence is occurring. . . "
It really is time to stop being polite about this. This moron thinks he is enlightening us by saying this has "been going on for a long, long time" but he's such a fucking idiot that he doesn't even know that
HE IS THE ONE WHO HAS MADE IT (polarization) W-O-R-S-E among the population. This jackass has got to go! Save the taxpayers some money - DO NOT "STUDY" something, the answer to which we ALL (except for the orange clown) already know!!!
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. " -John Adams
(http://www.factcheck.org/2014/04/false-tax-claims/)
". . . Q: Did Democrats increase federal income tax rates in 2014 under Obamacare?
A: No. Tax increases mentioned in a viral email went into effect a year earlier, as part of a budget
"Is this information correct? I have tried to check it out but get terribly confused.
It came as an email from a friend in Colorado.
Viral email: THE FIRST THREE MONTHS!
Happy New Year America
Here is what happened on January 1st 2014:
Top Income Tax bracket went from 35% to 39.6%
Top Income Payroll Tax went from 37.4% to 52.2%
Capital Gains Tax went from 15% to 28%
Dividend Tax went from 15% to 39.6%
Estate Tax went from 0% to 55%
Remember this ‘fact;’ if you have any money, the Democrats want it! All these taxes were passed with only Democrat votes. Not one Republican voted to do these taxes. Remember this come election time. And make sure your friends and neighbors know this info too!
These taxes were all passed under the affordable care act, otherwise known as Obama care."
FULL ANSWER
We started getting dozens of queries about this one about three weeks before tax filing day. It’s nonsense. Some of these figures aren’t accurate, and none of these increases took effect on Jan. 1, 2014, or had anything to do with the Affordable Care Act. And the claim that “not one Republican voted to do these” is false.
Here’s what really happened, and when:
The top income tax rate went back up to 39.6 percent over a year ago — for singles making more than $400,000 a year or couples making more than $450,000. The increase was part of the “fiscal cliff” package that Congress passed on New Year’s Day of 2013.
Capital gains rates also increased in 2013 under the same “fiscal cliff” deal — but not nearly as much as this email claims. For long-term gains (on assets held more than one year) the top rate went from 15 percent to 20 percent (not 28 percent), and also applied to individuals making more than $400,000 and couples earning more than $450,000.
The top rate for dividends also went up to 20 percent (not 39.6 percent) in 2013 as part of the same fiscal cliff package, and also only for those with more than $400,000 individual or $450,000 joint taxable income.
It’s true that the estate tax was once effectively zero percent — but only for people who died in 2010, not last year. The top rate went back up to 35 percent for those who died the following year, and (under the fiscal cliff deal) to 40 percent for those who died in 2012 and thereafter. Furthermore, the rate is still zero percent for any individual who dies this year and whose estate is valued at less than $5,340,000. The threshold for filing an estate-tax return was set at $5 million in 2011, and is indexed for inflation each year.
The claim that the fiscal-cliff tax increases were “passed with only Democratic votes” is false. The deal passed by a vote of 89-8 in the Senate (including 40 Republican votes in favor) and by a vote of 257-167 in the House (with 85 Republican votes in favor). The package made permanent the 2001 Bush tax cuts for all but very high-income earners, avoiding tax increases that otherwise would have taken effect Jan. 1, 2013, when the “temporary” Bush tax cuts were scheduled to expire.
The email’s claim about “income payroll tax” is a head-scratcher, since no tax expert we know of uses such a term. Our best guess is that the anonymous author meant to refer to the combined effect of the federal income tax and the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, and did not understand how these taxes work. No combination of payroll and federal income taxes would produce a top marginal rate of 52.2 percent, so far as we can figure.
Back in 2008, when Obama was first running for president, conservative commentator Larry Kudlow claimed that Obama’s tax proposals would amount to “a 52.2 percent combined income and payroll tax.” But even that claim was wrong, because of the simple fact that the top marginal income-tax rate applied at that time only to income above $349,701 and Social Security taxes applied only to wage or salary income below $97,500. Any income taxed at the top income-tax rate would incur zero Social Security tax.
And the same is true today: Taxable Social Security wages now stop at $117,000, and the top marginal income-tax bracket doesn’t kick in until $406,751 for singles and $457,601 for joint filers. All of these levels are adjusted for inflation each year.
Having said all that, we’ll note that taxes have gone up for some as a result of Obamacare. The law imposes a 3.8 percent tax on net investment income that applies to people who earn more than $200,000 a year for singles, or $250,000 for joint filers. It also levies an additional Medicare tax of 0.9 percent on wages, salaries and self-employment income for people in those income groups. However, these changes also took effect in 2013, not 2014.
— Brooks Jackson
Sources
Tax Foundation. “U.S. Federal Individual Income Tax Rates History, 1862-2013 (Nominal and Inflation-Adjusted Brackets).” 17 Oct 2013.
Hollander, Catherine. “Here’s What’s in the Fiscal-Cliff Deal.” National Journal. 1 Jan 2013.
Fidelity Brokerage Services. “A taxpayer’s guide to 2013.” 27 Feb 2013.
Ruffenach, Glenn. “Navigating the Dividend Storm; Tax rates on corporate payouts are heading higher for some. Don’t just sit there.” Wall Street Journal. 10 Jan 2013.
Cook, Douglas C. “Current & Historical Federal Estate Tax Structure, Exemptions & Rates.” Cook & Cook law firm website. 17 Dec 2012.
U.S. Internal Revenue Service. “Estate Tax” Web page. 9 Apr 2014.
U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 112th Congress – 2nd Session. “On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 8, As Amended ).” 1 Jan 2013.
U.S. House of Representatives. “Final Vote Results for Roll Call 659.” 1 Jan 2013.
Kudlow, Larry. “Obama’s Big-Government Vision.” National Review Online. 14 Feb 2008.
Social Security Administration. “Contribution and benefit bases, 1937-2014.” Undated Web page accessed 15 Apr 2014.
Internal Revenue Service. “Questions and Answers on the Net Investment Income Tax.” 5 Mar 2014.
Internal Revenue Service. “Affordable Care Act Tax Provisions.”
Internal Revenue Service. “Questions and Answers for the Additional Medicare Tax.”. . . "
Yes, I've left all the sources intact in case you want to read further. Scott Biao (and others) obviously have not burning desire to read much further at all.
