Waves

 

Tax Evasion by Millionaires

A version of this article appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.

The nation’s millionaires and billionaires are evading more than $150 billion a year in taxes, adding to growing government deficits and creating a “lack of fairness” in the tax system, according to the head of the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS, with billions of dollars in new funding from Congress, has launched a sweeping crackdown on wealthy individuals, partnerships and large companies. In an exclusive interview with CNBC, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said the agency has launched several programs targeting taxpayers with the most complex returns to root out tax evasion and make sure every taxpayer contributes their fair share.     READ MORE...

The Sound of Silence

 

Dog and Child

 

Materialism Matters

A short disclaimer before we read further: I’m a materialist. Materialism is a branch of philosophy to which the sciences, particularly the physical and life sciences, owe a lot. Materialism posits that the material world — matter — exists, and everything in the Universe, including consciousness, is made from or is a product of matter. An objective reality exists and we can understand it. Without materialism, physics, chemistry, and biology as we know it wouldn’t exist.

Another branch of philosophy, idealism, is in direct contradiction to materialism. Idealism states that, instead of matter, the mind and consciousness are fundamental to reality; that they are immaterial and therefore independent of the material world.

A lot of scientists and researchers don’t necessarily have a conscious philosophy, or else don’t consider philosophy to be particularly relevant to their day-to-day work. But by not having a conscious philosophy, scientists – like anyone else – can unconsciously pick up other philosophies and outlooks in the society around them.   READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

WE, The People...

Giving everyone the feeling that this country revolves around them is a nice statement to make, but it has been a lie from the GETGO...

In other U.S. elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote. But the president and vice president are not elected directly by citizens. Instead, they are chosen by "electors" through a process called the Electoral College. The process of using electors comes from the Constitution.

So, when you think you are voting for the President, you are not really...  even though there is a lot of hoopla around presidential elections.

It is possible and has happened that the Electoral College does not elect the President who was elected by the popular vote.

If you did not pay attention to your civics lessons in high school, you do not know this.

Our founding fathers did not TRUST the general public as they are easily motivated and do not take the time to properly research political candidates.  The Founding Fathers knew that WE THE PEOPLE would never really work when it came to Presidential elections.

Look at what has happened in this country leading up to the 2020 election...  the Democrats created a FALSE NARRATIVE about Trump's collusion with Russia.  IT WAS A LIE...  but a majority of the people believed it to be true.

Our Founding Fathers knew that the general public was basically stupid and naive...  the Electoral College was designed to compensate for that ignorance.

WE THE PEOPLE were just words on paper to make the naive people believe that they really had a say so in the US government...

GUESS WHAT?   We have been fooled all these years and continue to be fooled.

The EV Movement is Over

 

Global Debt Hits New High

LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Global debt levels hit a new record high of $313 trillion in 2023, with developing economies scaling a fresh peak for the ratio of debt to their gross domestic product, a study showed.

The Institute of International Finance (IIF), a financial services trade group, said on Wednesday that global debt surged by over $15 trillion in the last quarter of 2023 year-on-year. The figure stood at around $210 trillion almost a decade ago, according to the data.  READ MORE...

Rockin' Robin

 

Long Time Gone

 

US Coast Sinking Fast

Parts of the East Coast of the United States are sinking so fast it could threaten infrastructure, farmland and wetlands, according to NASA.

Some areas have seen a drop of more than 2 millimeters per year from 2007 to 2020.

Satellite data shows the two biggest changes are from Savannah to Myrtle Beach and off the coasts of Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Charleston is one of the fastest-sinking cities. It is more than 2 inches lower than it was in 2007, and that’s a big deal for a city that’s just 10 feet above sea level.

Because of that, the city is considering building an 8-mile seawall.   READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Copy Dog

 

Illegal Immigration

 ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION has affected all states in the contiguous United States to some degree or another, even those states and cities that wanted to have SANCTUARY STATUS...  

Most ever state is asking the Federal Government to give them more money to deal with the illegal immigrant crisis...

Some states and cities want to treat illegal immigrants better than they treat their own residents, especially those that are poor and/or homeless...

Does this make any sense to you???

NOW...  Biden, who blames the illegal immigrant crisis on TRUMP, wants to implement several Trump policies that he did away with immediately after he became president....

GO FIGURE???

• Illegal Immigrants are committing crimes
• Illegal Immigrants are draining resources
• Illegal Immigrants are trashing wherever they live
• Illegal Immigrants don't speak English
• Illegal Immigrants don't have skills
• Illegal Immigrants are lowering our quality of life

Yet, our federal government does nothing to stop them from coming across the border...

If you continue to vote Democratic this will continue to happen...

Playing

 

Microplastics Detected in Human Placenta Samples

A flurry of recent studies has found that microplastics are present in virtually everything we consume, from bottled water to meat and plant-based food. Now, University of New Mexico Health Sciences researchers have used a new analytical tool to measure the microplastics present in human placentas.

In a study published February 17 in the journal Toxicological Sciences, a team led by Matthew Campen, PhD, Regents' Professor in the UNM Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, reported finding microplastics in all 62 of the placenta samples tested, with concentrations ranging from 6.5 to 790 micrograms per gram of tissue.  READ MORE...

Blowing in the Wind

 

In The News

Science & Technology
> AT&T network experiences hours long outage across the US, cause remains unclear as of this writing; an estimated 70,000 people affected, less than 1% of the network's estimated 100 million people serviced (More)

> Researchers discover antibody capable of neutralizing venom from a wide variety of snake species across the globe; discovery may lead to universal antidote for snakebites (More)

> New advanced CRISPR tool edits strands of short-lived RNA instead of DNA, allowing gene editing without the risk of causing permanent errors in a cell's genetic code (More) | CRISPR 101 (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +2.1%, Dow +1.2%, Nasdaq +3.0%), S&P 500 hits another high after Nvidia's blockbuster earnings report Wednesday; Nvidia rises 16% (More) | Japan's Nikkei stock index breaks 1989 record, closing at all-time high of over 39,000 (More) | Europe's benchmark Stoxx 600 index closes at all-time high (More)

> Reddit files to list initial public offering on New York Stock Exchange, invites power users to invest; company's market debut is expected in March and will mark the first major tech IPO of the year (More) | Reddit strikes $60M deal allowing Google to train AI models on the online discussion site (More)

> Vaccine-maker Moderna shares rise 15% after company reports better-than-expected quarterly profit despite decline in sales of its COVID-19 vaccine (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Israel agrees to resend negotiators to participate in Qatar-mediated cease-fire talks to pause fighting in the Gaza Strip; meeting comes ahead of a multilateral weekend summit in Paris (More) | Gaza death toll nears 30,000 according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry; see updates on the war here (More)

> State appeals court rules New York law allowing green card-holding noncitizens to vote in local elections unconstitutional (More) | Texas judge finds Houston-area high school dress code, which resulted in a student's suspension over the length of his dreadlocks, did not violate state law; case gained national attention beginning in August (More)

> Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador publicly releases address of local New York Times bureau, following report by the paper US officials had investigated his potential ties with drug cartels (More) | Read report (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Quest for Youth and Beauty

Americans are FAT, DUMB, and UGLY in their older years and now that trend is reaching down into the younger generation who only seem to think about BOOZE and ILLEGAL DRUGS...

Advertisers take advantage, mainly of females but also males, convincing them both that they need to lose weight, whiten their teeth, dye their hair, eliminate wrinkles, and dress like they are YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL rather than admitting that age has gotten the best of them.

These males and females may have an outward appearance of being youthful and beautiful but inside their bodies are old, aging, and having problems.

Millions of dollars, perhaps billions of dollars are spent each year on these items to look young and beautiful when that money could be used for something more constructive and beneficial.

If you drink coffee all your life, your teeth are going to be stained and the images of white teeth these advertisers are using of young people and there are no guarantees that they ever drank coffee in the first place.

• Americans are being deceived because they want to be deceived.
• Americans drink alcohol because they want to drink alcohol.
• Americans use illegal drugs because they want to use illegal drugs.
• Americans are obese because they want to be obese...

What is the point of a white-haired female dying her hair so that she will look younger?

Is she that vain that she needs that kind of attention from other females and males?

Does she have a self-esteem problem?

• I will never dye my hair.
• I will never whiten my teeth.
• I will never pay for a diet to lose weight.
• I will never wear young looking clothes.
• I will never get a hair transplant.
• I will never try to eliminate my wrinkles.

My money will be spent on things I enjoy and want to do and if people think I look old and old fashioned...  well, that is exactly who I am.