FAFO

1A, 2A and fiercely adoring mother. USA retired. 🇺🇸 DMs will be ignored.

[FAFO @ClevengerAn]

Save Stargate with Martin Gero! - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/OtOQc0FLA2 via @Change

[Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 @KarluskaP]

Dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmn

[redpillbot @redpillb0t]

Pay attention now!

Joe legal works in construction, has a Social Security number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.

Jose illegal also works in construction has no Social Security number and makes $15.00 per hour cash, under the table.

Ready?... now pay attention....

Joe legal: $25.00 per hour × 40 hours = $1,000.00 per week or $52,000.00 per year. Now, take 31% away for State and Federal taxes. Joe legal now has $31,231.00.

Jose illegal: $15.00 an hour × 40 hours = $600.00 per week or $31,200.00 per year. Jose illegal pays no taxes. Jose illegal now has $31,200.00.

Joe legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe legal now has $24,031.00.

Jose illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the State and local clinics and emergency hospitals at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. Joe legal spends $500.00 per month for food or $6,000.00 per year. Joe legal now has $18,031.00.

Jose illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps, WIC and welfare. Jose illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe legal pays rent of 1,200.00 per month or $14,400.00 per year. Joe legal now has $9,631.00.

Jose illegal receives $500.00 per month Federal rent subsidy. Jose illegal pays out that $500.00 per month or $6,000.00 per year. Jose illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe legal pays $200.00 per month or $2,400.00 per year for car insurance. Some of that is uninsured motorist insurance. Joe legal now has $7,231.00.

Jose illegal says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance."... and still has $31,000.00.

Joe legal has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline.. etc.

Jose illegal has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline and what he sends out of the country every month....

Joe legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work.

Jose illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.

Joe legal's and Jose illegal's children both attend the same elementary school.

Joe legal pays for his children's lunches while...

Jose illegal's children get a government-sponsored lunch.

Jose illegal's children have an after school ESL program.

Joe legal's children go home.

Now, when they reach college age...

Joe legal's kids may not get into a State school and may not qualify for scholarships, grants or other tuition help, even though Joe has been paying for State schools through his taxes, while...

Jose illegal's kids go to the, 'head of the class' because they are a minority.

Joe legal and Jose illegal both benefit from the same police and fire services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not.

Do you get it, now?

[Rare 🇺🇸 @RareImagery]

If democrats found out about fire first.

[Science Magazine @ScienceExpand]

The Crazy physics of launching at 80 km/h from a truck already moving 80km/h

[Antidepressant Content @depressionlesss]

"We apologize. There has been a delay in your delivery"

[I am Ken @Ikennect]

Barbara Walters writes:
Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during the Vietnam War.
The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat. In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho LoPrison, the "Hanoi Hilton."
Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American "peace activist" the "lenient and humane treatment" he'd received.
He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward onto the camp commandant 's feet, which sent that officer berserk.
In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton.
From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the "Hanoi Hilton". . . The first three of which his family only knew he was "missing in action." His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a "peace delegation" visit.
They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand. When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: "Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?" and "Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?" Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.
She took them all without missing a beat. . . At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper...
Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.
I was a civilian economic development adviser in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.
I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia; and one year in a 'black box' in Hanoi. My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Banme Thuot, South Vietnam, whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs.)
We were Jane Fonda's "war criminals."
When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received. . . and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as "humane and lenient."
Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weight placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.
I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.
These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of "100 Years of Great Women." Lest we forget. . . "100 Years of Great Women" should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.
There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer, and she needs to know that we will never forget. See less

[GRANDPA’s FREE ADVICE @GOP_is_Gutless]

Quit trashing Obama's accomplishments.

He has done more than any other President before him. Here is a list of his impressive accomplishments:

1. First President to be photographed smoking a joint.

2. First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner.

3. First President to have a social security number from a state he has never lived in.

4. First President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the United States.

5. First President to violate the War Powers Act.

6. First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

7. First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third party.

8. First President to spend a trillion dollars on "shovel-ready" jobs when there was no such thing as "shovel-ready" jobs.

9. First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters.

10. First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat.

11. First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S., including those with criminal convictions.

12. First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.

13. First President to tell a CEO of a major corporation (Chrysler) to resign.

14. First President to terminate America’s ability to put a man in space.

15. First President to cancel the National Day of Prayer and to say that America is no longer a Christian nation.

16. First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.

17. First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.

18. First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly spoke out on the reasons for their rate increases.

19. First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state it is allowed to locate a factory.

20. First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN).

21. First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly issued years ago.

22. First President to actively try to bankrupt an American industry (coal).

23. First President to fire an inspector general of AmeriCorps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case.

24. First President to appoint 45 czars to replace elected officials in his office.

25. First President to surround himself with radical left wing anarchists.

26. First President to golf more than 150 separate times in his five years in office.

27. First President to hide his birth, medical, educational and travel records.

28. First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it.

29. First President to go on multiple "global apology tours" and concurrent "insult our friends" tours.

30. First President to go on over 17 lavish vacations, in addition to date nights and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends paid for by the taxpayers.

31. First President to have personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his wife.

32. First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000 a year at taxpayer expense.

33. First President to fly in a personal trainer from Chicago at least once a week at taxpayer expense.

34. First President to repeat the Quran and tell us the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth.

35. First President to side with a foreign nation over one of the American 50 states (Mexico vs Arizona).

36. First President to tell the military men and women that they should pay for their own private insurance because they "volunteered to go to war and knew the consequences."

37. Then he was the First President to tell the members of the military that THEY were UNPATRIOTIC for balking at the last suggestion.

THERE I FEEL BETTER NOW!

[Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes]

Muhammad Ali called for black personal accountability and moral reform in America

“Let's quit worrying white people, plaguing white people's neighborhood, forcing ourselves on white people, and we don't clean up and do for ourselves. The slum is not in the neighborhood. The slum is not in the ghetto. The slum is in the people. The people make the slum.

And the condition our people are in now, if you gave them a $93 million project, they'll make a slum out of it in 24 hours”

“Then you can take a nation of people who are intelligent and they can make a slum a paradise”

This is a real quote from Muhammad Ali is authentic and comes from a 1967 interview

He also urged black people to stop relying on external aid and take accountability for sustaining their own lives

This too me is the most important thing Ali preached

Ali argued that true improvement starts with internal transformation such as mindset, behavior, family structure, education, and community standards rather than just pouring money into housing projects or blaming external conditions

This is just as true today as it was back then. Nothings changed

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

Never underestimate the ability of men to come up with ridiculous and hysterical games

[Natalie F Danelishen @Chesschick01]

I always think of this quote on memorial weekend.

[Dr. Jebra Faushay @JebraFaushay]

This is parenting in the 80s, summed up in fifteen seconds. It explains why some of us are the way we are today.

[Dudes Posting Their W’s @DudespostingWs]

When they were just 19 years old, they fought at Iwo Jima. Now Billy Byrd (100) and Don Graves (101) are serving as Honorary Grand Marshals for the National Memorial Day Parade and started cracking jokes with each other when they arrived at the airport

[Dralone&_DR145 @draloneboy]

One of Marco Rubio’s finest moments:

PAUL: “We violated the Constitution, removed an elected official.”

RUBIO: “We did not remove an elected official. We removed an unelected, indicted drug trafficker.”🔥

[Seen on the Internet @FunnySight]

When the information from your eyes doesnt match your brain

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

True

[hunter @hxxntrr]

Elon Musk hasn't sold a Tesla share in years and lives off $1 billion in personal loans

His Tesla stock keeps appreciating
The loans charge him 2-3% interest
The IRS never sees a single dollar of capital gains tax

This is exactly how the wealthiest people in America accumulate wealth without paying taxes and it's available to anyone with $100K+ in assets

The strategy is called "borrow against appreciated assets" or sometimes "buy borrow die." It's the single most powerful tax-minimization strategy used by ultra-wealthy individuals in America

Mechanics:

When you SELL an asset that has appreciated, you owe capital gains tax. Federal long-term capital gains rates: 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on income. Plus state capital gains in most states (CA: 13.3%; NY: 8.82%). Plus net investment income tax of 3.8% for higher earners (IRC Section 1411)

For someone like Elon Musk selling $1B in Tesla stock, the total tax bill would be approximately:

Federal capital gains at 20%: $200M
Net investment income tax at 3.8%: $38M
Texas state tax: $0 (Texas has no state income tax, this is why Elon moved there)

Total tax bill on selling $1B: $238M

When you BORROW against appreciated assets, you owe ZERO tax. Loan proceeds are not income under IRC Section 61. They never appear on your tax return. They never trigger a tax event

For Elon to access $1B in cash for spending purposes, the math is:

Sell $1B in Tesla stock: $762M in net proceeds after tax
OR
Borrow $1B against $1B in Tesla collateral at 2-3% interest: $1B in net proceeds tax-free

Selling costs him $238M in taxes
Borrowing costs him $20-30M/year in interest (or roughly $200-300M over a decade if held that long)

But the borrowing strategy has additional benefits:

Tesla stock continues to appreciate. Over 10 years, $1B in Tesla stock has historically appreciated to multiples of that. Selling locks in the gain at today's value. Borrowing keeps the upside

The interest paid on the loan is potentially tax-deductible if structured as an investment loan (IRC Section 163(d)). Effective after-tax cost can be reduced to 1-2%

The loan never has to be repaid during his lifetime. He can refinance it indefinitely. When he dies, his heirs inherit the stock at a "stepped-up basis" (IRC Section 1014). The accumulated capital gains die with him. The heirs sell the stock at the stepped-up basis, pay off the loan, and keep the entire upside tax-free

The wealth transfers from Elon to his heirs entirely tax-free if structured correctly. Estate tax is a separate question but is largely avoidable through proper trust structures

The ultra-wealthy version of this strategy:

Borrow against appreciated stock
Use the loan proceeds for consumption (homes, cars, art, business operations)
Never sell the underlying stock
Refinance the loan at maturity to extract more cash if the underlying has appreciated
Pass everything to heirs at death with stepped-up basis
Heirs sell with $0 in accumulated capital gains tax owed

This strategy is sometimes called "buy, borrow, die" by tax planners. It's the foundation of how billionaire wealth perpetuates across generations without significant taxation

Available products for this strategy:

Pledged Asset Line (Schwab): borrow up to 50-70% of portfolio value at SOFR + 1-2%
Securities Backed Line of Credit (Morgan Stanley, Goldman): similar terms, $1M+ minimum
Custom Lending Solutions (private banking): for $10M+ portfolios, rates can drop to 1-2%

The accessibility tier:

If you have $100K+ in investment assets at Schwab/Fidelity/Vanguard, you can open a Pledged Asset Line. Typical terms: borrow up to 50% of your portfolio value at SOFR + 1.5-3% (current rates roughly 6-8% all-in). No fixed monthly principal payments. Interest only or pay nothing as long as the loan stays below the maintenance threshold

For someone with $200K in stocks/ETFs:
Borrow $100K at 6.5%
Use the $100K for any purpose (real estate down payment, business operations, etc.)
Annual interest cost: $6,500
Tax savings vs selling stocks: roughly $20,000-$30,000 in deferred capital gains
Net benefit: $13,500-$23,500/year in tax savings during the borrowing period

For someone with $1M in stocks/ETFs:
Borrow $500K at 6.5%
Use the $500K for real estate purchases, business equity, etc
Annual interest cost: $32,500
Tax savings vs selling stocks: roughly $100,000-$150,000 in deferred capital gains
Net benefit: $67,500-$117,500/year

Comparison to the alternative:

If you sell $500K in long-term appreciated stock to access cash:
Federal capital gains at 15%: $75,000 owed
State capital gains (varies): $20,000-$40,000 owed
Net cash to you: $385,000-$405,000

If you borrow $500K against the same stock:
Net cash to you: $500,000
Tax owed: $0
Annual interest cost: $32,500

Even paying $32,500/year in interest, you're $90K-$110K ahead in year 1 and the gap grows because your stock keeps appreciating while you hold it

The compounding effect over 20 years:

Person A sells $100K of Tesla stock at 15% capital gains, takes $85K. Spends it
Person B borrows $100K against $100K of Tesla stock, takes $100K, spends it. Stock keeps growing at historical rate (let's say 20%/yr conservatively)

20 years later:
Person A: stock is gone. Whatever they bought with $85K is whatever it is
Person B: still owns the original $100K in Tesla, now worth $3.8M. Refinanced the loan multiple times. Currently owes maybe $200K against $3.8M in collateral. Net wealth on this position: $3.6M

Same starting position. Different decision. $3.5M+ difference in 20 years

Important caveats:

The strategy works only when underlying asset is appreciating
Margin call risk if asset value drops below maintenance threshold
Interest costs accumulate over time and eventually reduce the net benefit if rates rise enough
Some borrowing limits apply (typically max 50-70% of portfolio value)

The strategy is most powerful for:

Concentrated stock holdings in publicly traded companies (especially employee stock from tech companies, founder stock, ESOP grants)
Large diversified portfolios held in taxable brokerage accounts
Real estate equity (similar strategy via cash-out refinances)
Business equity (some forms of borrowing available against ownership stakes)

The strategy is least useful for:

Small portfolios under $50K (interest costs eat any benefit)
Retirement accounts (can't borrow against IRAs/401(k)s; some 401(k)s allow loans but limited to $50K)
Assets without an established lending market (collectibles, private real estate that's hard to finance)

The reason this isn't standard financial advice:

Most financial advisors are compensated based on assets under management. They make more money when you keep assets invested. They don't necessarily make money when you optimize for cash extraction. The strategy is genuinely good for sophisticated clients but doesn't fit the standard advisor compensation model

Banks DO know about this strategy. They actively market it to wealthy clients. The Pledged Asset Line and securities-backed line of credit products are billion-dollar businesses at every major brokerage. They're just not marketed to ordinary retail clients because the minimums and complexity make them inappropriate for mass market

The threshold for accessing this strategy:

$100K+ in liquid investment assets = entry-level access via Schwab/Fidelity
$1M+ = full access to most products and competitive rates
$10M+ = access to private banking rates of 1-2%
$100M+ = Elon-level rates of essentially 0% real cost after tax deduction and stock appreciation

At each tier, the math becomes more favorable. The richest Americans access this strategy at rates that mean borrowing $1B is essentially free relative to their portfolio appreciation

Most middle-class Americans never use this strategy because:

They don't know it exists
They don't have $100K+ in taxable investment accounts
They follow standard advice that says "live within your means and don't borrow"

The wealthiest Americans use it constantly because:

They have the assets
They understand the math
They follow advice from advisors who are sophisticated about tax optimization

The gap between the two groups isn't talent. It's understanding that the tax code is written to reward holding assets indefinitely and penalize selling them. Selling = taxable event. Holding + borrowing = no taxable event. The system rewards never realizing gains

Elon never sells Tesla. He never pays capital gains tax. The IRS doesn't collect a dollar from his accumulated wealth. The strategy is legal. It's mathematically optimal. And it's been written into the tax code since before any of us were born

You don't need to be Elon to use this strategy. You need $100K and a Schwab account

(we get business owners up to 250k in 0% interest business funding, link in bio)

[Catturd ™ @catturd2]

LOL.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

That water clarity is an engineering decision, and the math behind it is wilder than the video.

Roman aqueducts ran on gravity alone. No pumps, no pressure systems. Engineers carved channels with a gradient so shallow it borders on absurd. The Pont du Gard in southern France drops 2.5 centimeters over 275 meters. That's roughly the thickness of a coin over the length of three football fields. They surveyed that accuracy with plumb lines and wooden leveling instruments.

The clarity you're seeing is a direct product of flow velocity. Too steep and the water erodes the channel walls, picks up sediment, turns brown. Too flat and it stagnates. Roman engineers targeted a slope of about 20 centimeters per kilometer, which kept the water moving fast enough to stay fresh but slow enough to stay clear. Before the water reached the city, it passed through multi-chamber settling tanks where velocity dropped near zero. Suspended particles sank. Clean water flowed out the top into the next chamber. Repeat three or four times.

Pliny specified the minimum slope in writing. Vitruvius published the exact mortar ratio for hydraulic cement: one part lime to two parts volcanic ash for underwater work. The pozzolana from Pozzuoli reacted with water to form a calcium-aluminum-silicate compound that actually gets stronger the longer it sits submerged. Modern concrete degrades in water. Roman concrete bonds with it.

Scale the whole system and it gets harder to process. Eleven aqueducts fed Rome at its peak. Combined output: roughly 1 million cubic meters of water per day. That works out to about 250 gallons per person for a city of one million. Modern New York delivers about 125 gallons per person per day. Ancient Rome had access to double the per capita water supply of the largest city in the United States, running entirely on slope and stone.

The Trevi Fountain in Rome is still fed by one of them. Two thousand years, same source, same gravity, same water.

[Johnny Midnight ⚡️ @its_The_Dr]

Lolol! You know I wouldn’t doubt that they might do something like that! 🤣😂