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  • Armenia and Azerbaijan are the closest they've been to all-out war in a while

    At least 23 are killed in the heaviest clashes in years over long-disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.

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    • Some woman broke into Joe Montana’s house and was trying to kidnap his grandchild. Just wow.

      "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

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      • He’s first team All-Grandpa!

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        • In 2016 and 2017 Trump paid only $750 each year in income tax. In the preceding 15 years, he paid no taxes at all in 10 of them. In 2018 his financial disclosures indicated that he had made $435M but in his taxes he reported a $47M loss. Someone leaked a huge amount of info to the TImes

          President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times. Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years. The details of the tax filings complicate Trump’s description of himself as a shrewd and patriotic businessman, revealing instead a series of financial losses and income from abroad that could come into conflict with his responsibilities as president.

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          • Originally posted by Dr. Strangelove View Post
            There's been an uptick in cases since the first week of September, probably a combination of back-to-school and Labor Day weekend. Not as steep as the previous two rises. There hasn't been an uptick in hospitalizations yet but notice the decline of those has flattened out.
            Forbes quoted a University of Indian study that used a snap shot of cases and deaths in Indiana to predict national CFR and IFR. Those data points are arguably a reasonable, if not perfect, metric to assess COVID disease burden. The article was also very complete in noting that CFR and IFR as a proxy of COVID burden is one of the most hotly contested data points. They are full of risk for being "twisted like a Twizzler" to fit the agenda of the various authors.

            https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucele.../#561305ae5c46

            Anyway, for the overall non-institutionalized population in Indiana, the IFR came out to be 0.26 percent. In other words, for every 1000 people in the community who had gotten infected, an estimated 2.6 ended up dying. The average age at death was 76.9 years.

            The calculated IFR increased with age. It was 0.01 percent for those 12 to 40 years old, 0.12 percent for those 40 to 59 years old, and 1.71 percent for those 60 years and older. Men had a higher IFR than women (0.28 percent versus 0.21 percent). The WHO has said that their data suggests COVID CFR between 0.5 and 1. The Forbes article was also clear that COVID produces nasty conditions short of death that we still don't know the extent of them or how log lasting they are. Right now one story of suffering in a 30yo from this or that symptoms secondary to COVID tends to be extended to and entire population of young people supposedly at low risk when that is not at all the case. Anecdotal evidence is not science but the press would have you think it is.

            You know where I stand on this so, no surprise that I will post counter data in response to DSL's woke COVID hand-wringing.

            Seriously though, there are undeniable increases in new case #s. It is too early to tell what the actual impact of that is because those increases are almost solely in low risk age groups. It remains to be seen if at risk groups are getting infected at increasing rates and being admitted for care. So far, they aren't from what I can tell in FL. There is a ton of hand-wringing over this though that involves complaining about college students acting badly, increasing new case #s in college communities and colleges not doing enough to contain spread among their student body.

            In FL, I think that after Governor Desantis' surprise announcement on Friday, we're going to see if easing mitigation measures to save FL's economy - highly dependent on the travel and leisure sector - was a calculation that produces social and economic benefits that outweigh the public health costs.
            Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.

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            • One of the lead stories on ABC's GMA this morning was "rising case numbers." Anthony Fauci was interviewed and asked about it. He continues to be very measured in everything he says and I've noted this about him in the past ..... very careful about positions he is willing to stake out. He wouldn't fall into the trap that the ABC interviewer, Amy Roebock, set for him. Her script writers wanted a pronouncement of "dire consequences." Nope. My take was that he didn't say anything new. He said continue to take the simple measures that have been recommended. He did say there is a risk for increased case numbers as the weather gets colder and people move indoors. Nothing new there.

              He was asked about FL's lifting of restrictions on bars. Never mind that FL is not alone in opening bars. It's actually hard to flesh that out because states have various restrictions on serving alcohol only v. serving it where food is also served. In FL, establishments that rely on more than 50% of their sales from alcohol were closed state wide until last weekend when they opened. Of course, FL was unfairly targeted for beaches being open for spring breakers in March. That story was junk. This one is just like it .... much ado about nothing. Fauci's response, without singling FL out, was that any unrestricted reopening in settings where people congregate is "asking for trouble." He then reemphasized masking and distancing as measures proprietors and patrons should be taking. During his comments, ABC ran one picture of the Elbow Room bar on Fort Lauderdale Beach that was that tight shot intended to create a particular bad impression of patrons. The wider shot that I've seen that wasn't shown, shows patrons masked and distanced.
              Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.

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              • One campaign manager in prison, another possibly heading there, and a third involuntarily committed to a hospital after threatening suicide.

                President Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale, was taken into custody Sunday evening by Fort Lauderdale Police after allegedly threatening to harm himself.


                Redfield overheard on a plane bashing Scott Atlas, Trump's new favorite doctor. "Everything he says is false". Atlas is a big proponent of herd immunity and has cast doubt that masks have any value. He is a radiologist by trade but more recently more of a conservative think tank guy who appeared on Fox a LOT.

                CDC Director Robert Redfield took aim at Covid-19 task force member Scott Atlas, telling a colleague in an overheard call that "everything he says is false."

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                • Happy Yom Kippur to my lawyer and my physician.
                  "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Dr. Strangelove View Post
                    In 2016 and 2017 Trump paid only $750 each year in income tax. In the preceding 15 years, he paid no taxes at all in 10 of them. In 2018 his financial disclosures indicated that he had made $435M but in his taxes he reported a $47M loss. Someone leaked a huge amount of info to the TImes

                    https://www.yahoo.com/news/ny-times-...214154920.html
                    I was going to vote for Trump until I found out that he doesn't voluntarily pay more taxes than he is legally required to pay.

                    Also -- weren't these tax returns supposed to show a bunch of payments from Putin?
                    Last edited by Hannibal; September 28, 2020, 08:32 AM.

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                    • Originally posted by Hannibal View Post

                      I was going to vote for Trump until I found out that he doesn't voluntarily pay more taxes than he is legally required to pay.

                      Also -- weren't these tax returns supposed to show a bunch of payments from Putin?
                      He may take a few more tax breaks than he is legally entitled to take. I believe he's under investigation for tax fraud and/or bank fraud and needs to turn all this stuff over to the Manhattan DA soon.

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                      • Biden's current lead in the RCP average is +6.9. On this date in 2016 Clinton led by +3.2

                        Either the polls are going to be much, much more wrong than 2016 or Biden's lead is real and it's been an extremely stable race. I think tomorrow night could be one of Trump's last chances to shake the race up. He needs Biden to have an aneurysm on stage. I imagine they have some sort of Ukraine-connected thing involving Hunter ready to go in October but I expect that to fall flat.



                        For historical perspective Nate Silver says this is the biggest lead by a candidate on this date since 1996. Also, the candidate who was winning the polls on this date has won the popular vote every single time since 1976, although they have lost the Electoral College twice (Gore & Hillary). Some people have pointed out that Dukakis blew a big lead and while true, that had happened by the end of August.

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                        • Originally posted by Dr. Strangelove View Post
                          In 2016 and 2017 Trump paid only $750 each year in income tax. In the preceding 15 years, he paid no taxes at all in 10 of them. In 2018 his financial disclosures indicated that he had made $435M but in his taxes he reported a $47M loss. Someone leaked a huge amount of info to the TImes
                          https://www.yahoo.com/news/ny-times-...214154920.html

                          Trump should release his tax returns. Every US President has since Nixon.
                          Sure he "doesn't have to" (FREEDOM), but this is one of those things where it's better to be transparent. Especially if you have illegal allegations against you... and you know, considering you have the most important job position in the world.

                          I honestly don't care about the legal stuff that Ds are bitching at as scummy. That's on the politicians.
                          AAL 2023 - Alim McNeill

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                          • I'd rather see Presidents release their tax returns after they leave office. How did Barack Obama become filthy rich on "Community Organizer" income and his White House salary?

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                            • Maybe *all* politicians should release their tax statements on April 15th every year.

                              This way the finger pointers could show how clean they are as opposed to the filthy cheaters they are trying to indict.
                              "in order to lead America you must love America"

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                              • Originally posted by lineygoblue View Post

                                This way the finger pointers could show how clean they are as opposed to the filthy cheaters they are trying to indict.
                                What does Jim Tressel have to do with any of this?

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