General Discussion, Monday, December 11, 2017

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Stella

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123 Responses to General Discussion, Monday, December 11, 2017

  2. lovely says:
    December 11, 2017 at 12:12 am

    Good morning Stellars 🙂 !

    Liked by 7 people

    Reply
  3. Lucille says:
    December 11, 2017 at 12:26 am

    Dramatic Footage Shows Man Risking His Life To Help Horses Escape From Wildfires
    December 9, 2017
    https://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/2531/Dramatic-Footage-Shows-Man-Risking-His-Life-To-Help-Horses-Escape-From-Wildfires

    Liked by 2 people

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  5. ImpeachEmAll says:
    December 11, 2017 at 2:28 am

    Twelve Days of Christmas… 😉

    Liked by 5 people

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  6. nyetneetot says:
    December 11, 2017 at 6:11 am

    Mornin’ stella! (Smiter of those that ought to be smote) 😎 🍸 (Long Island Iced Tea)
    Mornin’ WeeWeed! (Master Mixologist Extrodinare) 😎 🍸 (Old Fashioned)
    Mornin’ Menagerie! 😎 |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| (Jack Daniels – Single Barrel )
    Mornin’ Ad rem! (Queen Felis catus) 🐱 🍸 (Flaming Lamborghini)
    Mornin’ Sharon! 😎 🍸 🍸 (earthquake)
    Mornin’ ytz4mee! 😎 🍸 (cosmopolitan)
    Mornin’ waltzingmtilda! 🙂 🍸 (white wine and perrier)
    Mornin’ partyzantski! 🙂 |_| (Tom Collins)
    Mornin’ texan59! 🙂 |_| (Black & Tan)
    Mornin’ ZurichMike! 🙂 🍸 (fuzzy navel)
    Mornin’ Col.(R) Ken! (hand salute) 🙂 |_| (Boilermaker)
    Mornin’ czarina33! (aka czarina) 🙂 🍸 (Lynchburg Lemonade)
    Mornin’ czarowniczy! 🙂 |_| (Wild Turkey Rare Breed)
    Mornin’ letjusticeprevail2014! 🙂 |_| (Irish Car Bomb)
    Mornin’ Patriot1783-ctdar! (aka “ctdar”) 🙂 🍸 (grasshopper)
    Mornin’ tessa50! 🙂 🍸 (flaming volcano)
    Mornin’ waltzingmtilda! 🙂 🍸 (sidecar)
    Mornin’ varsityward! 🙂 |_| (Godfather)
    Mornin’ MaryfromMarin! 😀 |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| (Mortlach)
    Mornin’ Wooly Covfefe! (aka “Wooly Phlox” aka “taqiyyologist”) 🙂 |_| (Roy Rogers)
    Mornin’ Howie! (aka “doodahdaze”) 🙂 |_| (Classic Daiquiri)
    Mornin’ TwoLaine! 🙂 |_| (Gin & Tonic)
    Mornin’ Sha! 🙂 🍸 (Lemon Drop)
    Mornin’ BigMamaTEA! 🙂 🍸 (Harvey Wallbanger)
    Mornin’ cetera5! (aka “Cetera”) 🙂 |_| (Blackberry wine)
    Mornin’ The Tundra PA! 🙂 🍸 (Gentleman Jack Whiskey Sling)
    Mornin’ lovely! 🙂 |_| (Backdraft)
    Mornin’ michellc! 🙂 🍸 (Salty dog)
    Mornin’ auscitizenmom! 🙂 🍸 (Kiss on the Lips)
    Mornin’ Margaret-Ann! 🙂 🍸 (White Russian)
    Mornin’ Auntie Lib! 🙂 🍸 (Tom and Jerry)
    Mornin’ holly100! 🙂 🍸 (Jack & Coke)
    Mornin’ Pam! 🙂 (Not even water)
    Mornin’ Ms.Tee! 🙂 🍸 (Mojito)
    Mornin’ koolkosherkitchen! 🙂 🍸 🍸 (Cuba Libre)
    Mornin’ ImpeachEmAll 🙂 |_| (Flaming Dr. Pepper)
    Mornin’ Monroe! 🙂 |_| (Stinger)
    Mornin’ Les! 🙂 |_| (Rusty Nail)
    Mornin’ shiloh1973! 🙂 |_| (Jack Daniels)
    Mornin’ TexasRanger! 🙂 |_| (Whiskey Smash)
    Mornin’ Ziiggii! 🙂 |_| (B52)
    Mornin’ oldiadguy! 🙂 |_| (Rum & Coke)
    Mornin’ smiley! (“stuck in spambucket”) 🙂 🍸 (Spanish coffee)
    Mornin’ derk! (“Stellars”) 🙂 🍸 (Kamikaze)
    Mornin’ Jacqueline Taylor Robson 🙂 🍸 (Shirley Temple)
    Mornin’ facebkwallflower! 🙂 |_| (Night Train Express)
    Mornin’ Ms. Cindy! (aka “Ms Cynlynn” aka “ms cynlynn”) 🙂 🍸 (1970 ducru beaucaillou)
    Mornin’ sandandsea2015! 🙂 🍸 (1961 Château Montrose)
    Mornin’ amwick! 🙂 🍸 (Blue motorcycle)
    Mornin’ hocuspocus13! 🙂 🍸 (1970 Chateau Latour)
    Mornin’ Sloth1963! 🙂 🍸 (1971 Moulin Touchais)
    Mornin’ MTeresa! (Ex-lurker) 🙂 |_| (Albanian Raki Moskat)
    Mornin’ Rhea Salacia Volans! 🙂 |_| (Hot Buttered Rum)
    Mornin’ joshua! 🙂 |_| (Mudslide)
    Mornin’ John Denney! 🙂 |_| (RumChata)
    Mornin’ litenmaus! 🙂 |_| (Stolichnaya elit, no ice)
    Mornin’ kinthenorthwest! 🙂 🍸 (A Lonely Island Lost in the Middle of a Foggy Sea)
    Mornin’ TwoLaine! 🙂 |_| (Smoking Bishop)
    Mornin’ patternpuzzler! 🙂 🍸 (Old Lady)
    Mornin’ Senatssekretär FREISTAAT DANZIG! 🙂 |_| (Red Russian)
    Mornin’ G-d&Country! 🙂 🍸 (Blind Russian)
    Mornin’ Gary! 🙂 |_| (Yuengling)
    Mornin’ valeriecurren! 🙂 🍸 (Flaming Sambuca)
    Mornin’ Lucille! 🙂 🍸 (Peach Schnapps)
    Mornin’ Lburg! 🙂 🍸 (Lburg lemonade)
    Mornin’ davidhuntpe! 🙂 |_| (Baileys Irish Cream on the rocks)
    Mornin’ skipper1961! 🙂 |_| (Brompton’s Cocktail – No cherry, no umbrella, no plastic monkey)
    Mornin’ mightyconservative! 🙂 |_| (Benjamin Franklin’s clarified milk punch)
    Mornin’ whiners and complainers! 😛 (No drink for you!)
    Mornin’ to people posting that I missed. 😳
    Mornin’ to all you lurkers! 😕

    Also just in case someday; mornin’ to Elvis Chupacabra, F.D.R. in Hell and sundance! :mrgreen:

    Breakfast!

    NEW and IMPROVED breakfast with extra bacon for ZurichMike!

    Nutella Hot Chocolate With Wild Turkey Spiced Bourbon

    Liked by 7 people

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  7. Rhea Salacia Volans says:
    December 11, 2017 at 7:05 am

    stella, I love the picture of the tree. Christmas lights are one of the best parts of the season.

    Liked by 6 people

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  9. joshua says:
    December 11, 2017 at 9:17 am

    going to be 75 degrees and sunny in Dallas today.
    But…it is STILL a Monday!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  10. The Tundra PA says:
    December 11, 2017 at 11:09 am

    I have never heard of Funeral Potatoes before…but I haven’t been to Utah in about 40 years. MOTUS has a great-sounding recipe today. Pure comfort food.

    http://www.michellesmirror.com/2017/12/funeral-potatoes-green-jell-o-and.html#.Wi6rLohrzIU

    Happy Monday, all. 3 more weeks and I join the ranks of the retired. To say I’m counting the days would be an understatement.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
  11. lovely says:
    December 11, 2017 at 12:30 pm

    I’ve been busy and just remembered that Franken didn’t resign but said he will resign in the coming weeks 🙄. IOW when Roy Moore wins Franken is going to say he will resign after Moore resigns.

    Liked by 3 people

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  12. czarowniczy says:
    December 11, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    Can’t get a straight…any, actually…answer from either Senator’s office on where they are on the elimination of the local tax deductions in the tax overhaul bill. I can’t believe Trump’s not spoken out about that, thought the House bill has capped deductions at $10K the Senate is trying to do away with the deduction all together. Come election time that should be a death knell for many Senators’ careers, can they be that stupid?
    I’m also curious about local taxes like property taxes on businesses, will the deductions be done away with or will the bill allow them, if they are, to be slid under operating expenses and deducted? Letting out-of-touch Congressjerks overhaul taxes for the common person’s sorta like letting Jeff Dahmer plan your Christmas dinner menu…not the best idea.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • stella says:
      December 11, 2017 at 12:41 pm

      A compromise I have heard about is eliminating the state and local tax deductions, they will drop the tax rates a bit. If you want to read the House and Senate bills, they are available on line.

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      • czarowniczy says:
        December 11, 2017 at 12:54 pm

        I know they’re on line but those are proposals, what finally emerges from the good ol’ boys smoker meeting will most likely be a totally different animal. What makes me itch is the Senator’s not being willing to state they have positions.
        Let’s face it, we’re in a hole due to their profligate spending and the only way they have to fill in that hole is by filling it with taxpayers’ bodies. And you know they ain’t gonna put the screws to the big guys who fund their campaigns soooooooooooo…..

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        • stella says:
          December 11, 2017 at 1:08 pm

          To be accurate, they are not just proposals, but legislation voted on and passed by the two houses of Congress. Yes, they are now going through reconciliation.

          If there is overall improvement, it is a good thing. President Trump has stated repeatedly that he has a few bullet points for tax reform.

          By the way, neither plan eliminates the home mortgage interest deduction, or property tax deductions, but cap that deduction at $10,000.

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          • czarowniczy says:
            December 11, 2017 at 1:33 pm

            I’m seeing the Senate bill eliminating the deduction completely with the House capping it at $10K. So both go into reconciliation but just to have that proposal in the Senate bill is a huge red light. We all thought that deducting credit card interest was an untouchable to, Congress and the states have dug us into a fiscal hole and the only way out is to fill it with us.
            Semantics to me, anything that isn’t on the President’s desk with his signature on it is a proposal.

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            • stella says:
              December 11, 2017 at 1:36 pm

              There’s a $10,000 cap on property tax deductions in both houses, I believe, but could be wrong.

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              • czarowniczy says:
                December 11, 2017 at 1:45 pm

                OK, Senate had a last minute change of heart faced with the blowback and agreed with the House version, I missed that. We’ve yet to see what will come out of reconciliation though if the Senate came around it looks good to have a $10K cap. Now let’s see what other areas are fudged to make up for the loss of the SALT elimination.

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                • stella says:
                  December 11, 2017 at 1:48 pm

                  There is a net increase in the standard deduction, minus personal exemptions that have been eliminated. That means that you, as a married couple, will have roughly a $24,000 standard deduction instead of $12,000, but lose your personal exemptions ($8,000 or so).

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            • stella says:
              December 11, 2017 at 1:44 pm

              If they were just “proposals”, we might as well eliminate Congress, and just let the President decide.

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              • czarowniczy says:
                December 11, 2017 at 1:49 pm

                Checks and balances, allows the POTUS to voice his objections and send the bill back to Congress for revision. Chances of both Houses overriding a POTUS veto are slim so until they all agree I consider it a proposal because it ain’t a law. Semantics again.

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    • stella says:
      December 11, 2017 at 12:45 pm

      Actually, I think they should eliminate SALT deductions. Why should people in low tax states (like Texas and Florida) subsidize those in high tax states? Only about 30% of taxpayers itemize, and most of those are people with higher incomes.

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      • stella says:
        December 11, 2017 at 12:57 pm

        http://www.factcheck.org/2017/11/facts-salt-deduction/

        Thirty percent of tax filers itemize, rather than claiming the standard tax deduction, and 95 percent of them claimed a state and local tax deduction in 2014, according to the Tax Foundation. The same figures held for 2015, when 44.7 million tax filers claimed itemized deductions on their returns, according to IRS data. Higher-income households are more likely to itemize, so they are more likely to claim the deduction. “About 10 percent of tax filers with incomes less than $50,000 claimed the SALT deduction in 2014, compared with about 81 percent of tax filers with incomes exceeding $100,000,” the Tax Policy Center says in a brief on the topic.

        Some high-income households, however — about 5 million — are required to pay the alternative minimum tax, which reduces or eliminates the SALT deduction. The AMT, as the Tax Policy Center explains, “requires many taxpayers to calculate their liability twice—once under the rules for the regular income tax and once under the AMT rules—and then pay the higher amount.”

        Taxpayers in certain states are more likely to take the deduction because they live in high-income and high-tax states. “Six states—California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, and Pennsylvania—claim more than half of the value of the deduction,” the Tax Foundation says. Some of those states are also among the most populous.

        The Pew Charitable Trusts has created interactive maps that show the percentage of filers in each state claiming the deduction and the average amount claimed by those who take it. For instance, 45.7 percent of tax filers in Maryland in 2015 took the state and local tax deduction, with an average claim of $12,931, while at the opposite end of the spectrum, 16.9 percent of filers in South Dakota claimed an average deduction of $6,098. The maps also show breakdowns for only income, sales or real estate tax deductions.

        The average claim nationwide in 2015 was $12,471.

        How would it change under the GOP plans?

        The House tax bill would eliminate the deduction for state and local income or sales taxes, and it would limit the property tax deduction to $10,000. The Senate bill fully repeals the deductions.

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      • czarowniczy says:
        December 11, 2017 at 1:23 pm

        Problem is, to me, that we’re taxed twice on one income.
        The state/local taxes jes keeps on agrowin’, tain’t no way to stop the pols from deficit spending and raising taxes to cover the bills. Reducing or eliminating the deductions is not going to put the brakes on state and local governments reaching into our pockets.
        We have a house in NOLA that we could rent out but it presents a problem. The city’s planning on establishing a department to set standards for open rental units and regular inspections as they do for Section 8. The rental unit owner will pay the fee/tax as we do higher property taxes than residents. We’ll also pay taxes on the income from the rental and those would knock us into a higher state and federal tax bracket. Without the ability to deduct our state and city taxes from our Fed taxes we’d be losing money so why rent?
        Yes, we have a higher income but we spent decades working multiple jobs each and paying for continuing education. Now we’re looked on by local, state and Federal leeches as ripe for being fed on. Here we’re blocked from renting our house while being bled to pay for allllllll of those new projects the State and Feds built in NOLA after Katrina to cater to the perpetually needy. At some point it’s going to devolve to the point where we just give all of our money to various governments and they’ll send us back what they don’t need.

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        • stella says:
          December 11, 2017 at 1:30 pm

          It isn’t double taxation. That’s Nancy Pelosi’s argument, and it’s incorrect. If that were the case, then state income tax would be double taxation. Estate tax is double taxation.

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        • stella says:
          December 11, 2017 at 1:34 pm

          The problem is at the state level, and that is where it must be corrected. Whether or not it is in your state is neither my responsibility or fault. I can’t vote in your state, so why should your Federal tax deductions be greater than mine?

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          • czarowniczy says:
            December 11, 2017 at 1:39 pm

            The problem to me is at all levels, the insatiable need to feed their greed off of my wallet. Why should my Federal taxes, paid on my income earned in my state, go to your or anyone else’s state?
            The distribution of tax dollars is almost impossible to deal with, it’s become ingrained in our fiscal culture, best we can do is stem the bleeding to whatever extent we can.

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            • stella says:
              December 11, 2017 at 1:46 pm

              Don’t try to muddy the waters. State taxes are state taxes and Federal taxes pertain to the country. Distribution of Federal dollars is a separate matter. If your state sends more money to Washington than it receives, that has to do with the income of taxpayers in your state. I doubt that your state is a donor state anyway.

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              • czarowniczy says:
                December 11, 2017 at 2:00 pm

                State and local taxes care tied at the hip. States and Feds look at the amounts they can take from payers to keep from killing the golden goose. If the Feds finally cap SALT deductions at $10K there are states and local taxing authorities who’ll see that as an open invitation to use that as a goal. Feds eliminate a deduction and it reverberates through the entire chain. Last chart I saw showed only 14 states received less money from the Feds than they paid in so maybe we should be cutting Fed pork to the states?

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  13. Lucille says:
    December 11, 2017 at 3:26 pm

    I love this picture…

    Liked by 3 people

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  14. Lucille says:
    December 11, 2017 at 4:31 pm

    From The white House FB page…
    Take a look inside the White House during the Christmas season!

    I love these decorations…so thrilling and mysterious leading up to the Christmas tree celebrating Our Lord’s birth.

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Wooly Covfefe says:
      December 11, 2017 at 11:34 pm

      I think it’s absolutely gorgeous. The Left went nuts and called it hideous and dark and stark and scary, but I think it’s reminiscent of Narnia when it was still Eternal Winter.

      Guess what, Lefties? You know nothing about Christmas, or the Word.

      The whole world WAS hideous and dark and stark and scary, before Jesus was born, before the light of hope was brought into the world.

      Lefties hate the light, though.

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  16. auscitizenmom says:
    December 11, 2017 at 9:00 pm

    lilbirdee12’s prayer:

    Our Heavenly Father, Your children come to you tonight to ask for healing and peace throughout our country so that we may return to being One Nation Under God. Guide us to be leaders in Your Kingdom, spreading Your Love and Salvation to all. Forgive us our sins and deliver us from evil.

    Lord, we ask for a blanket of protection over all our troops and law enforcement who serve to defend and protect us. Bless our representatives with the strength and wisdom they need to achieve the path You have chosen for us.

    Please place Your Guardian Angels of Protection around Donald Trump and Mike Pence and their families as they seek to lead America back to You.

    Grant us patience, Lord, as the evil ones try to anger us and cause us to fall.
    Spread blessings over Israel and Netanyahu.

    We humbly ask that You please comfort those who are grieving and in pain.
    Thank you Father, for Your Love and the gift of Life.

    And, Lord, if it is your will, we pray that Judge Roy Moore will win his bid for the Senate.

    In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

    Liked by 3 people

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  17. Wooly Covfefe says:
    December 11, 2017 at 11:51 pm

    I have to share this, perhaps the best Windows “mod” ever made, called DesktopOK.

    It runs in the background and saves all your icon positions, size, and spacing once a day. It has options to completely make your icons disappear in X number of seconds (I use 30), so your monitor is just your gorgeous background picture. Options to make your mouse cursor disappear in X number of seconds, or as soon as you start typing. An option (which is wonderful) to let you resize the window, or move the window, without having to take your cursor to the edges or to the title bar, just by holding ALT and RMB or LMB and dragging, from anywhere within the window.

    These folks make many other wonderful apps. Easy-to-use multiple-slot Clipboard, for example.

    http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Download

    DesktopOK is the second one on the list. It’s the best thing ever, and fixes a lot that’s wrong with Windows.

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