Just got a letter saying they are reducing everyone's coverage and raising rates by a minimum of 20%. Smh

Yeah, people just don't realize how great the economy is right? Yeah right. iT wEnT uP 4o% iN OtHeR cOuNtRiEs!

Interesting, and heartwarming story, but I have questions. Michael Black left his home in Wyoming, and somehow made it several hundred miles to Salt Lake City. Police believe he went up into Idaho, then down to SLC by hitchhiking. Black suffers from dementia, so wouldn't someone have called the police after encountering him? He must have been in distress. The final person he interacted with at least got him to the homeless shelter. Also, it's quoted by the local PD that this isn't the first time he's gone wandering. Is his wife capable of handling him, and wha are the larger implications about how we handle our elderly and vulnerable citizens?
https://people.com/missing-man-with...e-spots-him-on-tv-over-200-miles-away-8756519

Recorded it. Just now am finishing it. Mahomes will play against Pittsburgh is my guess and then shut him down for the last regular season game.

Tank Dell injury was horrific. I hope the best for him and the Texans.

Hollywood, Hopkins, and Worthy are enough to worry about. Expect Kelce to be more open down the stretch or long TDs

The road to the SuperBowl goes through KC AFC fans.

The party of "science" literally doesn't understand addition. ROTFLMAO

With his announcement late Wednesday that he’ll appoint former Republican congressman Billy Long of Missouri to lead the Internal Revenue Service, President-elect Donald Trump is bucking the tradition of allowing IRS commissioners to serve out their full five-year appointments.

Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend.

Danny Werfel, nominated for the position by President Joe Biden in 2022, had said that he intends to stay on until 2027 at the tax collection agency, where he has overseen a cash infusion that has increased the size and reach of the agency’s staff while drawing Republican ire.

But now, Werfel’s term may end prematurely.
Long “is an extremely hard worker, and respected by all, especially by those who know him in Congress. Taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm,” Trump posted on Truth Social, without mentioning that the role of IRS commissioner is currently filled.




As is the case at the FBI — where Trump says he will appoint loyalist Kash Patel as director despite the fact that the director he appointed during his first presidency is still midway through his 10-year term — Trump signaled his intent to choose his own appointee for a job that usually spans administrations.
🏛️
Follow Politics
The law does give the president authority to remove an IRS commissioner at will. But no president has removed an IRS commissioner approved by the Senate since the law creating five-year terms passed in 1998.
Long, 69, did not serve on the tax-writing committee during his six terms in Congress. Since leaving the House to run unsuccessfully for Senate, however, he has focused on taxes, including advising businesses on applying for the Employee Retention Credit. That tax credit, created by Congress to prop up businesses struggling in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, has created a morass of fraudulent claims by ineligible businesses that the IRS is still sorting out.

Change of leadership​

Biden appointed Werfel to serve as IRS commissioner shortly after Congress approved a historic infusion of funding to transform the troubled tax-collection agency. Werfel supervised the use of tens of billions of dollars of money from the Inflation Reduction Act and repeatedly testified on Capitol Hill in defense of keeping the money as Republicans tried to claw it back.



He turned the agency’s focus first to improving customer service, which has resulted in a far smaller backlog of unprocessed returns and shorter wait times for callers, and then to enforcement. He has boasted about collecting billions in taxes owed by wealthy individuals and businesses that had not been aggressively audited in recent years and has presided over the hiring of hundreds of auditors.
He also oversaw the creation and launch of Direct File, the agency’s new website for certain qualifying taxpayers to complete their tax returns free — another target of Republicans who believed the IRS shouldn’t have the authority to compete with private tax prep companies.
“It’s not a surprise by any means that President Trump is choosing to put in his own man. Trump has made that clear for a long time — he’s no fan of the agency,” said Mark Everson, who served as IRS commissioner under President George W. Bush.



Long’s tenure in Congress will be an asset in the job, he added, as the IRS needs to work closely with lawmakers during the next administration, when tax cuts and tax administration will be major issues.
Trump didn’t criticize Werfel or the IRS in his announcement, and he didn’t mention any of his own goals for the IRS.
Nina Olson, who served as national taxpayer advocate from 2001 to 2019, said Trump’s move undermines Congress’s goal when it created five-year terms to ensure “continuity at the head of the revenue-raising function of government, which has had management problems in the past.”
Congress “decided it was probably a good thing for certain agencies like the FBI and the IRS that need to be apolitical to have a director … that lasts long enough for some continuity,” said T. Keith Fogg, an emeritus professor at Harvard Law School.



“There’s a lot of law enforcement in these two agencies,” Fogg said.
Democrats criticized the move, with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon calling Long “a bizarre choice for this role,” especially given his recent work with Employee Retention Credit applicants. But Republicans emphasized that Trump would be within the rules of the 1998 law to remove an IRS commissioner at will.
“That’s a decision the president gets to make,” said Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, the Republican in line to take over the Finance Committee chairmanship in January.
Trump’s move will increase scrutiny of whether he is interfering in the operations of the IRS for political purposes, said John Koskinen, who was appointed commissioner of the IRS by President Barack Obama. Koskinen came under political fire over the IRS’s handling of conservative organizations and eventually faced an impeachment effort by Republicans — but Trump allowed him to serve out his term when he took office in 2017.
“There’s no Republican or Democratic way to run the tax system and administer it fairly,” Koskinen said. “So this is a change. … You just don’t want people to feel that the IRS is a political entity, and it’s picking and choosing who to go after and who not to go after.”

Login to view embedded media
Seems his confirmation is all but assured at this point.

Men lead most of game and shit their pants are the end. Women trailing most of game, but hang around and pull away at end.

As you know, I made the trip to Ida Grove over the weekend, mostly to connect with Jaxx DeJean and watch him play on Friday night.

I spoke with Jaxx and his head coach about his recruitment, how he's developed as a football player thus far, the Cooper comparison, and more.

STORY:

Elton John Says Legalizing Marijuana in America and Canada Is "One of the Greatest Mistakes of All Time"​

Elton John has thoughts on the legalization of marijuana in America and Canada.

The singer-songwriter was chosen as Time magazine's Icon of the Year for 2024. While speaking with the publication, he spoke about his struggles with drug addiction and why he thinks weed isn't as blasé as people treat it.

"I maintain that it's addictive. It leads to other drugs. And when you're stoned - and I've been stoned - you don't think normally," he said. "Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time."

He explained that his thoughts on legal marijuana stem from his experiences with other drugs. Since overcoming his addiction, he has helped people others overcome addiction and offered to help many more. According to the magazine, he is Eminem's sponsor, orchestrated Robbie Williams' first sting in rehab and tried to help George Michael (without success).

"It's tough to tell someone that they're being an asshole, and it's tough to hear," John continued. "Eventually I made the choice to admit that I'm being an asshole."

Elsewhere in the profile, he recalled being introduced to cocaine by his ex-lover and then-manager, John Reid. At first, he found it was freeing for him and helped him overcome his crippling shyness, but eventually, it took over.

"You make terrible decisions on drugs," the "Hold Me Closer" artist said. "I wanted love so badly, I'd just take hostages. I'd see someone I liked and spend three or four months together, and then they would resent me because they had nothing in their life apart from me. It really upsets me, thinking back on how many people I probably hurt."

Looking back on his life, John cited three things that helped him decide to get sober: Watford FC, a local soccer club near where he grew up; Alcoholics Anonymous; and a teenager named Ryan White, who died in 1990, after contracting HIV from a tainted blood transfusion at the start of the AIDS crisis.

"It all came to a climax, really, at the Ryan White funeral in Indianapolis - a really sad and emotional week - and I came back to the hotel thinking I'm just so out of line," he said. "It was a shock to see how far down the scale of humanity I'd fallen."

It would be nice if the Vikings could stop trying to keep Indianapolis in the game for the NFL's gambling purposes. F*** what NFL/Vegas wants.

Meanwhile, the Lions prove they're the best team in the NFC with a cathartic beatdown in Green Bay, and the Bears lose to their long-time rivals, the Cardinals............