At what point is it no longer Black Friday and just that stores are open on Thanksgiving now?
So, I'm conflicted about the Black Friday riot videos; it's Status Shaming, there's no one from the 1% fighting over a crappy cell phone at a Walmart in the middle of the night on Thanksgiving.
On the other hand, it seems like this has become our version of running with the bulls in Pamplona, some weird combination of adrenaline seeking and cultural signifying. Black Friday isn't just sales, going to Walmart on Black Friday is like an amusement park - it's a panto riot, it's easier to do than actually rioting, which would probably be a more appropriate response from the very people in the clips.
On the third hand, they're funny. Both from this weekend.
Here's 144. This is Tendown 145. Pretty much just a hit and run tendown. I have shopping to do.
1. Question - When's the Last Time We Had a Colder than Average Month?
Answer - February..1985.
2. Question - Should Anyone Try To Beat a Tax Hike By Keeping Their Income Below a Quarter Million?
3. Question Can a Lawyer Be Fined $300,000 for an Exhibit He Shows in a Child Pornography Case?
(Note, no picture accompanies this story.)
Answer - You bet.
The attorney photoshopped an exhibit, taking children who weren't engaged in sex acts and making it appear as if they were, to demonstrate the ease with which one could do that - if you weren't aware that was against the law, it is; and to avoid prosecution, attorney Dean Boland took a plea deal that required a $300,000 fine. I join, I assume, my Tea Party brothers in condemning this act of big government overreach.
4. Question - Can You Go To Jail For Not Professing Belief In God?
Answer - If you're tasked with putting up the required plaque in Kentucky, apparently so.
Oh, another Question - If You Kill Someone in a DUI Manslaughter, Can You go to Church Instead of Jail?
Answer - If it's the right Baptist Church in Oklahoma, yes.
I watch MTV's new show Catfish, based on the documentary - it's not a complicated conceit, they take someone who has been in an online relationship to meet the person for the first time that they've been talking to. The person they think they've been talking to, of course, isn't real - they've been duped, or, as I like to say, they've been "Catfished". I talk back to the screen. Girl, you gonna get Catfished.
Sometimes, I leave my establishment clause enforcement frustration limited to just the need to keep the theocrats out of power; but I have to admit, I think God's the biggest Catfish of all. That might become part of my lingo.
5. Question - What Should I Read This Week?
You could also watch it here:
6. A Bit I've Never Seen, And Will Find a Way to Use Someplace, Probably the Wrestling Counterfactual.
A guy looking to get a psychological advantage over someone gets a tattoo of that guy's mother.
I got your mom on my chest. I'm rubbing your mom. That kinda thing.
7. Question - What's the Greatest Wrestling T-Shirt Ever?
Near the top of my resume is (obnoxiously, I know, but when you're looking for work in this economy, as fortunately I no longer am, you don't have time to be timid):
LAWYER. PROFESSOR. PLAYWRIGHT. GAME SHOW WINNER.
I'd like to add PAUL HEYMAN GUY.
I watched some 4 star matches since last we spoke:
Richards v Lethal ROH Oct 4
Steen v Elgin ROH Oct 4 1/2
Aries v Jeff TNA Nov 4
Tozawa v Del sol DGUSA Nov 4 1/4
Fox v Ricochet DGUSA Nov 4 1/4
Gargano v Ricochet v Tozawa v Fox DGUSA Nov 4 1/4
8. Question - Who Decided that Demi Lovato Should Look Like Frida Kahlo?
X Factor, by the way, is virtually unwatchable. They're an inch away from cutting out the singing altogether and just have the kids compete on the basis of who has the worst backstory. My mother killed my father and I was raised by Todd Marinovich. I have 6 months to live. I will sing The Wind Beneath My Wings for the Troops and Baby Catfish Jesus.
9. Question - 'Member When The Fans in San Francisco Chanted Bar-ry During Game One of the Series and McCarver Joked, I Guess, That Chant Hadn't Been Heard in The Bay Area Since Barry Manilow Played There?
Know who else was in the park during game one of the World Series and somehow avoided the Fox cameras who were too busy showing Dave Dombrowski?
That guy. The greatest baseball player in the 130+ year history of the National League.
10. Meanwhile - in Kenya...Bird Steals the Ball.
That's all for this time. I'll be back next time. If there is a next time...
Your pal,
Jim
5 comments
Um, yes, tax rates DO work like that.
A federal tax increase on income over 250K is only an increase on the dollars earned over 250K. Not on every dollar up to 250.
If I make 251K, my net is greater than if I make 249K.
I, incidentally, make nowhere near any of those figures.
The Alternative Minimum Tax is parallel tax system with a flat tax rate (currently 26% or 28%) that generally affects people in the 200-500k income range. Any change to the AMT flat tax rate would impact these people's entire earnings.
A federal tax on income over 250k is whatever it is written into law as being. As a recovering lawyer, you should already know that.
My discussion was a reference to the Obama proposal (and the erroneous understanding of it discussed in the linked post) to raise the marginal tax rate on income over 250K. It could have been a longer treatise on the AMT, it could have been a lot of things - but what it wasn't was incorrect.
Show me the details of a completed Obama tax proposal that is ready to go for a vote and I will admit that what you are saying is correct. Otherwise, you are just as guilty of running off of assumptions.
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