grayhair

And then we thought the testicular-challenged Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader would, oh, never mind. It's all been said.

Glad somebody knows how to do this!

Not true David. You cannot have a laborer carry the wood. That needs to be done by a Material Handling Specialist.

The union was not willing for the Taj workers to have to pay more for their health insurance that what workers at other Atlantic City casino pay for theirs. So a strike at peak summertime season is the final straw for owners. Besides the 3000 jobs the union is effectively cancelling, there is also the various contractor jobs. HVAC is contracted out. Boiler operating is contracted out to another company. Restaurants that operate within the hotel but owned by others. The really sad part is that persons working there that would like to be able to keep their jobs had no say in the matter. The decision was made for them by the union. I don't see anyone benefiting from the union's decision. Those workers that lost their jobs have mortgages, kids to raise, etc. Now, the job isn't there for them even if the benefits were going to be skinny. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/03/trump-taj-mahal-casino-shutting-down.html

And yet we still subsidize ethanol...

http://www.infowars.com/czech-president-calls-for-arming-citizens-to-defend-against-terrorism/

Except we will still have to pay for the "slacks." If we allow people to opt out of Social Security then some fraction of the population will fail to put away anything for retirement, will end up broke, and the government will end up picking up the tab for their support anyway. I imagine anything one saves by not having to pay social security taxes will be lost to increased income taxes. I've paid Social Security taxes for 50 years. Now, I expect the program to continue along to help support me for the next 20 years just the way I supported those that have gone before. The real issue is the slackers who are a huge drain on the system and also the Democrats insistence on paying benefits to illegals. Oh, and by the way, I pay income tax on my Social Security benefit.

And above all you gotta watch out for yourself. My advise, no matter how difficult, try to stash some funds in case hard times fall upon us. Social Security will probably change and not for the better. None of these pensions and annuities are really guaranteed. Read the fine print (including Social Security) and you will be shocked. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-the-teamsters-pension-disappeared-more-quickly-under-wall-street-than-the-mob-2016-04-04

Different strokes for different folks I guess. Here I sit at 67 enjoying my first year of retirement, do what I want, get up when I want, etc... All thanks to my hard work in non-union jobs. If everyone in the U.S. was in a union, productivity would soon drop to near zero, and our economy would cease to function. I counseled my children on careers to 1) do what you enjoy and feel good about and feel productive, 2. find a career job that requires you to be physically on-site so your job doesn't get off-shored, and 3. make sure your compensation is fair and don't agree to be underpaid for long because you can't recover the lost years.

Interesting, but the people that will vote for Hilary just don't care.

I'm no farmer but that was my understanding of the farming business. If weather is bad and therefore a bad harvest, you are lucky to break even. If the weather is good and you have a great harvest, then so do all the other farmers and you are (again) lucky to break even.

These guys are being sarcastic. Post a couple of photos if you can and I'm sure you'll get some helpful replies...

Ha, thinking about unions in the '70s, several other real-life stories come to mind... I recall an electrician who worked for Roblin Steel, Tonawanda, NY, during the daytime, 1st shift. When his shift was over, he'd grab a sandwich and go to his second job working for the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Union rules at the time required an electrician on every train. The train he was assigned to went from Buffalo, NY to Erie, PA and back to Buffalo every night. For his 20 years on the job, he slept in the caboose for the entire night, every night, and no one ever woke him up. Rules at the time required a caboose so he had a nice warm place to sleep. Roblin Steel mill and Erie Lackawanna are both defunct/gone. No shocker there. Not saying the unions killed them, but they sure were part of the financial picture. And here's another beauty since I'm in a story telling mode... As a young guy just out of school, I'm working at an electronics distribution company as an inside salesman. A guy from the Ford Stamping plant (Buffalo, NY) calls me to place an order. He orders a pallet of Rayovac D-cells and a 1000 PR2 bulbs. (A pallet is a shit-load of batteries.) I ask him what in the world is he going to do with all those batteries. He says the union electricians, every one, all three shifts, upon arrival claim they can't do any work because their flashlight batteries are dead or the bulb is burned out. Solution to the problem: New procedure, each electrician draws 2 new batteries and a new bulb when he punches in at the time clock. You gotta love it!

There is a long and fascinating history of unions here in the U.S. Early on they helped remedy things like child labor in factories, dangerous work environments, etc. In modern times one could argue that weak management push-back allowed unions to bring "feather-bedding" to an art form. An example: My dad ran a large plastics plant back in the early '70s. His complaint about unions was this extreme feather-bedding. In one instance, a steam-jacketed pipe developed a small leak at a coupling. What was needed was one man with two pipe wrenches to tighten the joint. Union rules required this work be done by a team, including a pipe-fitter, a steam-fitter, a maintenance man, an instrument man, a safety man, and one other whose position I don't recall. 6 guys to do the job of one. All at Sunday call-in triple time, 8 hours minimum pay x3, x6 guys. Add in womb-to-tomb medical, dental, vision benefits for the workers entire family and anybody the worker ever met in his lifetime. So, no wonder the plant eventually closed what with labor costs so totally out of control. Production moved out of the country. 500 U.S. jobs lost. A story repeated a 1000 times over in the U.S. manufacturing history.

Left-wing asshole and complicit reporter just can't help themselves, had to insert the standard liberal talking points. I have followed Trump pretty closely and didn't hear any of this "inflammatory rhetoric, racial resentment and xenophobia." If you are an ISIS recruit then maybe you are inflamed. Otherwise, I call bs on this numb nuts "reporter and on Williams." If he was a real reporter he would have challenged Williams on this bs rather than printing it. My humble opinion.

Interesting video... http://www.infowars.com/video-hillary-delegate-admits-goal-behind-common-sense-gun-measures-is-outright-gun-ban/

Ebay auction ended today and somebody bought this baby. A little over $30K. No connection.

Here an example of soft on crime. This piece of excrement brutally murdered a family and now dodges execution. And wow, his defense lawyer is so relieved. Encourage you to read the article. The people of Connecticut get to pay his medical, dental, room and board and for the next 50 years. Your tax dollars at work... https://www.yahoo.com/news/home-invader-murdered-petit-family-195000928.html?nhp=1

Soft on crime. Political correctness. For starters, consider the legal profession's long-standing objections to three strikes and you're out legislation. Things won't get better until the punishment truly serves the public good. Forget about rehabilitating these scumbags. If we summarily execute heroin dealers it may not be a deterrent, but they won't be able to hook anyone else. Bring it home... Do you know where your kids are right now? Is there a heroine dealer lurking nearby looking to hook new customers? I think we need to pay more attention to who we elect for judges in the future. If your judges are appointed, pay attention to electing the individual who will be appointing your regional judges. Until there is real public involvement and outcry, nothing will change.

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If you want direct International flights, that knocks it down to DFW or IAH (Houston.) There are people that love Houston but I don't recommend it. More traffic, more crime too. If you were to relocate to DFW suburbs of Grapevine, South Lake, Flower Mound, area you'd be 10 or 15 minutes from DFW. Lots of non-stops to Europe, S. America, and Asia plus of course nearly anywhere in U.S. and Mexico and Canada. Some of my buddies don't even bother to drive to the airport, just take a cab for $15. Zip through TSA Pre and away you go. And crime in those suburbs is extremely low to almost nonexistent. C'mon down!

Wow, that's a tough question. The population is exploding down here. Major companies are relocating their HQ to TX every day and the complexion of all of the major cities is changing. That said, all the major cities have a variety of suburbs, truly something for everyone in every price range. Dallas is different from Ft. Worth is different than Houston is different than Austin is different than San Antonio. And the E. TX piney-woods cities like Nacogdoches and Lufkin are different still. And then there is "the Valley," Brownsville, Harlingen, McAllen, etc. All that with no disrespect to Lubbock, San Angelo, Amarillo and El Paso. Personally I like the various Dallas suburbs because of proximity to DFW airport where you can fly direct to almost anywhere in the Americas. Austin is more upscale than San Antonio. I've been to all these cities many times and still can't answer your question. Sorry, I thought I could answer but just too many possibilities. Oh yeah, and Corpus Christi is very nice, on the Gulf with beaches, marinas, etc.

Yes, except in this great country you are allowed to move to a different state if you don't like the way things are done where you live. After 6 years in upstate NY I had enough so I moved to Texas where a citizens personal rights seem to get at least some consideration. I can drink a 32 oz. soda if I choose to, and I can purchase a firearm without arbitrary approval of the local sheriff. And I can legally drive 85 mph on some interstates if I choose to do so. Just sayin'. I you don't like the local regs, you can always move...

I don't know what to say to all the above. Downright discouraging. We have a long history of developing stuff in the U.S. and then letting it go. Brilliant inventors develop amazing technologies and we let them go away from us. (Google Chester Carlson and read about his 20 year effort to make and perfect the first photocopier, Haloid Corp., Xerox.) Not to mention Bell, George Eastman, Shockley. It's sad to see it all go away, perhaps more so since I grew up with it. I watched HP struggle to make the first LEDs that were any color other than orange. Blue was initially thought to be impossible. Bill Hewlett must be spinning in his grave for what has become of his company. I was there watching when AMD pulled their first silicon slug. And I watched women at Motorola working with stereo microscopes, assembling transistors one at a time by hand. And CCDs, charge coupled devices, that made possible portable video cameras. A few tech companies like Intel live on in the U.S. but the numbers have dwindled rapidly. Aagh, sorry to reminisce, but looking back, gotta admit, we did this to ourselves.