Adept

"I did not pass through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm."

[Adept @CostaRichR]

We need to start an honest conversation about Social Security.

The trust fund runs out around 2034 I think. After that, benefits drop to about 80% unless Congress acts. But the uncomfortable truth is: the math doesn’t work long-term.

We need to level with young workers. Social Security, as we know it, won’t be there for you at current levels.

If you’re 20, start saving now. Put 15% into your 401(k) or IRA. With an employer match, that’s 18%. Do that from age 20 to 67 and you retire with roughly $4-5 million - about 9X what Social Security would provide.

Start at 15% and shape your lifestyle around it. You won’t miss what you never had, and you’ll thank yourself later. Plus, less stuff = more freedom.

For current retirees, we keep our promises - no one should have the rug pulled out. But we need a realistic phase-down for future benefits while ramping up mandatory retirement savings.

Yes, that means some people will pay in and get less out. That’s painful. But pretending the system is sustainable is worse. With enforced retirement saving, they’ll actually retire with more.

The real question is:

How do we honor commitments to today’s retirees while transitioning to something that actually works?

Raising the retirement age or tweaking tax caps just kicks the can down the road. At some point, we need to face the arithmetic - and build a system fit for the next century, not the last one.

SS was a mistake when it was invented and implemented poorly. I find it hard to believe they didn't run the numbers and see it would eventually fail.

ACA is a whole other issue that sounded good to a bunch of voters and just hammered the hell out of everybody else. That's another boondoggle that needs to be addressed.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@VividProwess Nah, he's great. Can't wait to vote for him in 2028 if he chooses to run.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

I was watching this tv show called "The Pitt" and the waiting room is always just insane. And then ICE comes into the ER with an injured woman. Nurses and some other staff are slipping away quietly so they aren't seen by ICE. Obviously it's being played as "Look how disruptive and terrible ICE is. People can't even go to the ER in peace."

But half the people LEFT the waiting room.

I don't think they intentionally communicated the message I received from that.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@Kristinartz Both, obviously.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@BillboardChris @theisabelb One of mine would go with me, the other refused because of the smell. You don't want to escalate with a screeching 3 year old that has to pee.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

Yes and I made my daughters help me every time I changed one, if they were around. Where and how to place the jack. How to operate it. How to get the lug nuts off. When and why there are dangers to consider.

Now if you mean actually repair the tire itself, I have a kit for emergencies but I prefer to let the pros do that.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@KarluskaP This is some multiculturalism I can get behind. Nice.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@BasilTheGreat CHILDREN CANNOT CONSENT!

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@SonyaDouglas Center of mass is a bitch.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

When my children were of the age I had to take them to the restroom, one would go with me to the men's room. I'd put my baseball hat on her and say "Come on, boy" and she'd giggle and go in like it was a stealth mission.

I've never seen another man's genitals while I have been in a public restroom. I did not worry they'd see anything.

However, my youngest daughter was absolutely revolted by the pervasive smell of urine in the men's room. She would not go in.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@ChadKing97 @Anc_Aesthetics OMG, this is a real paper.

https://t.co/fEMR1xabiW

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@HistorianUSA1 Remember back in the day when parents would threaten their children with military or boarding school? Good times.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@LazaroRubio2 @9thDistNeighbor @Chicago_Goofies Yeah I don't think that's what this is. This is a mile or so to the north-east of downtown Tulsa. Not a particularly safe neighborhood. I doubt that little building in the back (904 N Peoria) has a chef, a bartender and a host, much less a liquor license.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@WhiteGirl1776 Stores should be allowed to tase customers like this.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

A big percentage of liberal talking points is that you have to accept or believe their point of view and then continue from there. If you challenge them to explain their talking points, they often cannot. That's why they can claim some generic problem but not be able to name any specific examples of it.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@SarahisCensored It's astonishing to me that there's a real belief that you can murder someone for something they say. As if that provocation is enough to justify murder.

If you can't control violent, impulsive behavior, you should not be where you put the rest of society at risk.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@FireBarbaraLee @BarbaraLee_CA It's astonishing these people can't do even a little bit of 'but what happens then' analysis.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@WesternLensman Believe them when they tell you who they are.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

My eldest daughter I could put my baseball hat on and say "Come on, son" loudly and she'd giggle and act like we were on a secret mission in the mens room. I'd go with her into the stall, flush, wipe down the seat, put down the paper liner, hoist her up and then turn my back while she did her business.

My youngest daughter absolutely refused to go into the mens room even from a very young age because of the pervasive smell of piss.

For her, I would ask at the door of the ladies if anyone minded me coming in to help her. If I was in the stall and heard someone come in I would politely announce my presence so I did not startle anyone. In several years of me having to do this, I received nothing but supportive and understanding responses.

This was 20+ years ago and things have changed. But in my experience, in real life women were more than happy to be accommodating to my daughters' situation.

This seemed like the obvious solution.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

@RightSide_Uk Children cannot consent.

[Adept @CostaRichR]

Personally, I don't know a SINGLE human I could call or invite to sexually abuse a child that would not immediately, and with good reason, call the police on me.

It is unconscionable that so many men in that culture have the blatant audacity to perpetrate atrocities on children while openly inviting others to participate in their evil.

It's almost like they believe they have permission from God to do these barbaric things.