Travis

My name is... wait for it.... Travis. Here is a picture of me dramatically running away from a giant bear statue.

Gendry approaches Theon in his row boat, and he be all like "what's up, buddy?"

I know this is really super lame and braggy, and probably completely violates the "interesting" requirement set forth in the title of this thread, but fuck it. I'm really psyched:

Speaking of random stuff, I was looking at my "on this day" thing on Facebook and was reminded of the most ridiculous museum display that I ever saw. This was in a car museum in Los Angeles. I get that this dude is "trying to fix the car" but I think something very different is conveyed...


Also a part of the same exhibit, I love how the other dude just looks really confused and not-approving.

Ha! I hadn't seen that. That's funny. 

Also, can someone explain this asinine notion of his "calendar" to me? Are we meant to believe that he, as a teenager, kept a detailed calendar which would include honest details of his life and that he still has it? Not to mention, is his personal calendar going to contain things like "went to a party, got drunk?" First off, unless he didn't go to a single party in high school (which would certainly fly completely contrary to his mega-douche yearbook page), they still haven't honed in on what party it was so what does that even add up to? I literally almost spat my coffee out yesterday when they said he would provide his "calendar." What the fuck is that? How stupid are we supposed to be?

Also, I think sexual assault or no, after reading that guy's yearbook page I don't want him deciding anything on a Supreme Court level. Like all of us, I went to high school with THAT guy. Even if none of this had come out, all I need is that page. Fuck that guy. 

Also, to this Trump "why'd it take 30+ years? Where's the police report?" shit. I was touched inappropriately when I was a child and it really didn't resurface to my mind until my early 20s. I just repressed it, and even after that I only told my immediate family (it was my cousin and there was a lot of baggage). Anyways, it just laid dormant in my system until one night it flooded out. I suppose I was aware that he was a creep who had been creepy to me. It wasn't TOTAL repression, but it floated around in my consciousness like unconnected dots. Even after that realization, I still didn't know what to do with the knowledge (aside from a fair amount of drinking, crying, and getting really angry). So many years had gone by. His character was already known by then because of other incidents and adding my story wasn't going to change anything, particularly all those years later. I was almost 3 times the age that I was at the time. The relevant part though is that this notion of a timeline problem is false. Sometimes (more accurately "quite often" according to my understanding) these things take time to process. Sometimes after all that time you just want to move on with your life, but it doesn't change what happened. When my cousin was on trial (this happened in my 30s. Apparently he hadn't changed as everyone had been promised. He is in prison now.) I spoke to the police and told them what I could, but even then, knowing that he had been inappropriate with me, I kept telling them "this is what happened, but I would be a terrible witness" still doubting that there was no blame to be placed on a 7 or 8 year old kid having trouble in the bathroom. These are complicated stories and difficult things to put out in the world. Filled with emotion and doubt and fear. Is it completely outside the realm of possibility that Kavanaugh is innocent? No. I wasn't there. I don't know these people, but they have nothing to gain but a world of shit and to hear these various Republicans in the Senate or the White House speaking as they are is so fucking disgusting I can't stand it. From "where's the police report" to "this little hiccup" to a just out and out dismissal of these women. Accusations true or false, these people are entirely soulless. Seeing President Trump's comments on this yesterday (I'm not sure if they were from yesterday or the day before, but the "it's been 30 years, where's the police report" line he's been towing) sickened me.

It's funny (well not "funny" funny, but... well you know), I've always seen "political correctness" as just basic "don't be a dick." You know who gets annoyed by "the oppression of political correctness?" Dicks! Just be cool and try not to step on people's feelings. I think that's a pretty reasonable standard for society, right? Also, it's not like people are being hauled off to jail for simply being assholes, so really it's just people fabricating outrage (or perhaps getting outraged) at the fact that people don't want to hang out with assholes who either just don't care about people's feelings or do so selectively (I suppose you can be sued for creating a hostile work environment and what not, but then you actually are stepping on the rights of others, and you like shouldn't do that and stuff). It's the exact same thing as the bogus "war on Christmas" and all of that nonsense. People just want to feel aggrieved about stuff so they whine on and on about how they used to have to care so much less about the impact of what they said on other people, and honestly that is probably just because the world of communication used to be smaller, or people weren't nearly as empowered as they are now to speak up so the world has become a bit more enlightened on the effects of what they say. In essence, you've always been a dick but you're just figuring it out now. 

Carrying it to the famous example: I'm sorry that we all took it for granted for so long, but it's a dick move to call your football team The Redskins. Now, obviously they have exercised their right to do so but by doing so they invite controversy and public awareness that it's a dick thing to do. So they are left with a choice, carry that baggage or change the name. They totally control their destiny, but they can't have it both ways. Political correctness simply comes down to how you want the world to see you, and with the fast spread of information and ability for people to gather and spread messages it creates more intense pressure now. If you don't want people to call you out for being a jerk, don't be a jerk, man. I've never got what all of the fuss is about.

Sorry it that was a little over-caffeinated, but it's been a stressful and very caffeinated type of day. I feel good now though. Yeah!

So, I have the perfect example of how our tax system is completely fucked. I just did what is my least favorite return of the year. It's a simple enough return and it isn't about the client. He's a perfectly nice guy. The thing that drives me absolutely nuts about this return is that the guy made about $110k and generated $0 in tax.

ZERO!

Sure he has a couple of kids and he itemizes, but dude has a "taxable income" of almost $70k and $0 tax. Look, he's a good dude and I wish him no ill. I actually just got off of the phone with him and he is a very pleasant and nice guy and I'm happy for him that he gets to pay no tax. I'm mad at the people who made these batshit rules. If he had W-2 wages in the same amount he would be generating around $9,300 in taxes (yes, busy as I am I'm so annoyed that I ran a quick model). It's messed up, man. Basically you get punished for working and rewarded for sitting back and letting your money grow on top of itself. I already know this to be true, but every year this return just punches me in the face with that reality. Makes me so goddamn mad.

EDIT: Dude has a $13k stock sale where the broker couldn't come up with the basis for it so for the statement he marked it as $0 and where I need to try to track some information down just to do my job, I mean what's the fuckin point? $13k dollars of income and not one penny of difference! He's got no tax! So this extra $13k of income may as well just stand. What difference does it make? Literally none! Our system is broken! All these rich investor types whining on and on about social programs and people mooching off the system. What a joke! 

Baby Kevin with chili is a revelation! Thank you so much for bringing this into my life.

Just for shits and giggles, I said what if I just added $30,000 of qualified dividend income to the return. He did finally generate tax, but only $3,500 of it. He would have a tax rate of 3.6% on $99,000 of income (remember from before 0.0% on $70k). Sorry I'm ranting, but I feel like people don't know this and they should. This is real and it affects everybody and it's super messed up.