But There’s Too Many!

 
Article in Wall Street Journal

(Not All But Much of the First Part of the Article & I Restructured It With Bullet Points)

Retirement-Savings Changes You Should Know About for 2023-24

The Secure 2.0 Act has all sorts of provisions that take effect between now and 2027. Here’s when they kick in.

By Leonard Sloane

June 2, 2023

The Secure 2.0 Act, passed in December, contains more than 90 provisions affecting retirement-savings plans, such as individual retirement accounts and 401(k) workplace plans.  

Ø Only some changes are effective this year.

Ø Others will take effect in years 2024 through 2027.

Ø In 2025, for example, limits on catch-up contributions to 401(k)s and Simple IRAs will be increased. 

Ø In 2026, ABLE plans, a tax-advantaged plan for disabled people, will raise the age of disability onset to 46 from 26. 

Ø In 2027, a new program for low-income individuals called Saver’s Match, will offer a match by the Federal government of 50% of contributions to an IRA or 401(k) up to $2,000 a year.

Ø Still other changes won’t apply for as long as a decade.

It’s actually worse than the article warns us about. Notice at the top of the article it says, “Provisions that take effect between now and 2027” however the last bullet about says, “Other changes won’t apply for as long as a decade”. It sounds to Fella that the confusing changes are designed to go on until 2033 and the confusion is designed to go on forever.

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I have blogged in the past about the sheer number of laws passed by our rulers. I contended there is no way we can comply with all of them because...There’s Too Many.

In the greatest western ever made Joey says to Shane, “But Shane, there’s too many!” Little did we know at the time that Joey was not talking about Bad Guys but he was alarmed about Future Tax Provisions?

In the future (as in the past) these kinds of conversations will be taking place between Confused Tax Payers and Know It All IRS Agents...

Ø Know It All IRS Agent: “Because you have not complied with the Secure 2.0 Act, passed in December of 2022, you are here by fined $52,522 Tax Penalty plus Back Taxes”.

Ø Confused Tax Payer: “But I had no idea I was not paying what I rightfully owe to my rulers as their justifiable reward for passing all these taxes on my behalf”.

Ø Know It All IRS Agent: “Ignorance of the law is no excuse beside we gave you 10 years notice to get your tax house in order”.

Ø Confused Tax Payer: “But, Shane, there’s too many!...Pardon me but I just love Shane the greatest western ever made...I tried to comply. I spent many nights reading all about tax law when I could have been watching Shane but I can’t keep up with all the changing provisions of the Tax Laws!”

Ø Know It All IRS Agent: “You should have had a CPA doing your taxes.”

Ø Confused Tax Payer: “I did have a CPA but he committed suicide a year ago by slitting his wrist and writing in his own blood on the floor, “I can’t keep up. There’s too many...”

My Dear Readers, you are thinking I made this up but I contend, even though I did make it up, it is actually an almost certain prediction of many such awful scenes that will take place in the years to come.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: In my bullet points above I said “Know It All IRS Agent”. Actually this conversation happened between the Know It All IRS Agent and his Know It All Supervisor before the Know It All IRS Agent left the safety of IRS Headquarters...

Ø Know It All Supervisor: Where are you packing up to go?

Ø Know It All IRS Agent: I’m going to see a dummy tax payer in Toledo about Secure 2.0 Act, passed in December of 2022. I’m going to nail him for sure!

Ø Know It All Supervisor: Have you read up on Secure 2.0 Act, passed in December of 2022?

Ø Know It All IRS Agent: No.

Ø Know It All Supervisor: What’sAMatterFaYou? Don’t you know you never head out to nail a dummy tax payer without memorizing the tax laws you are going out to nail him with?

Ø Know It All Supervisor: Change you flight and rebook it for 2 days from now. It will take you that long for certain to become a Know It All IRS Agent.

Yea, I made up this Lagniappe too...Or did I?

Mosquitoes Are Not All Bad

Back on May 30^th I fed you a lot of information about Mosquitoes. I’ve now decided I did not feed you enough, so open your mind wide because here comes more info you may not want to see. 

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There is not much Foolishness in this Foolishness...Or Is It? but I hope you will find it kind of Interesting...Or is it?

Mosquitoes may not be all bad but you could have fooled me.

Yes, I have read what I wrote below (I must have because I wrote it) but I still don’t like Misquotes so much because they like me too much.

They will attack me within 30 seconds of going outside near dusk but pay no never mind to my wife.

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Females Bite Humans While Males Feed on Nectar

Ø Mosquitoes mean nothing personal when they take your blood.

Ø Female mosquitoes need protein for their eggs and must take a blood meal in order to reproduce.

Ø Because males don't bear the burden of producing young, they'll avoid you completely and head for the flowers instead.
When not trying to produce eggs, females are happy to stick to nectar, too.

Mosquitoes Have Benefitted Science

Ø The design of the Mosquito’s Proboscis (the long or tubular mouthparts of some insects, worms, and spiders, used for feeding, sucking, and other purposes) has inspired scientists to design less-painful hypodermic needles.

Ø Scientists have also used the Mosquito’s Proboscis to make needle insertion easier.

Ø They have been used to create insertion guides to better place tiny electrodes into the brain.

If You Are Told You Are As Tough As A Mosquito, Consider It A Compliment

Ø The mosquito is nothing if not resilient.

Ø Based on fossil evidence, scientists say the current mosquito we have today is practically unchanged from 46 million years ago.

Ø That means it lived through the ice age of 2.5 million years ago — unscathed.

What Happens To The Mosquito During The Winter?

Ø The lifespan of a male mosquito is up to 10 days, and then it dies after mating.

Ø The males never make it past the fall.

Ø The female mosquitoes spend the colder months inactive in protected places, such as hollow logs or animal burrows.

Ø It is fair to say the female mosquito enters a period of dormancy, similar to a bear or squirrel hibernating for the winter.

Ø She can hibernate for up to six months.

Mosquitoes Always Bite Me but Never Bother My Wife

Ø Some of the most common attractive smells to mosquitoes are Type O blood, pregnant women and individuals drinking beer.

Ø This chemical mix is created by the bacteria that lives on our skin and is made potent by our sweat. Each person has a different bacteria compound so we all smell different to mosquitoes.

Ø Darker clothes tend to attract mosquitoes, since they are drawn in by the smell of our sweat. In the summer, individuals that are wearing dark clothes retain their heat more which ends up making them sweat more than a person wearing lighter colors.

This One Is Hard To Believe

Ø Male mosquitoes are able to locate females by the sound of their wings. The average female mosquito beats her wings up to five hundred times per second (that’s the hard to believe part).

Ø The males are able to hear and pick out the higher flapping frequencies when they are out and about choosing a mate.

Don’t Worry About Running Out Of Blood

Ø While a mosquito can drink up to three times its body weight, it would take over a million bites for your body to be drained.

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Well that’s about all for tying to give you information you might not have wanted to be given.

I know I emphasized this bit of info above but I’m going to do it again...

Females beat their wings, not 500 times a Minute or a Hour, but 500 times A Second!

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

Crazy Defense

 

In italics below are the actual court proceedings as they were published on the Internet. I did not materially change the basic Court Record. I only tinkered with it to protect the guilty and add in a bit of Silly...

According to court records, the defendant threw open the door to his girlfriend’s apartment, tossed gasoline on her and another man who was in the home at the time and set the two of them ablaze with a lighter.

"I told you I was gonna get you," he said to his burning girlfriend and her friend, according to a court summary of the case.

After turning himself in to the police, the defendant said the incident was a prank and that he had not intended to kill his ex-girlfriend, said the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

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Did not mean to kill her? It was a prank?

Can’t you just hear his defense attorney making his impassioned defense plea in court, “Your honor, I respectfully ask the court to thrown this case out for obvious reasons. My client was just kidding. It is not his fault that his deceased friend and her friend could not take a joke”.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

Ten Modern Fun Things To See While You Watch

When I get an idea for a Blog Posting I put it into a computer folder entitled New In Process. It present there are 202 idea files waiting for me to get back to them. 

Ideas pop up in front of me all the time. Some ideas get completely forgotten because I tend to work on the newer ones. Some are completely done and some are just targets of opportunity waiting to be finalized.

Today’s Blog Posting was the oldest in my list of 202 potential blogs. It did not take long to finalize it. I hope you enjoy what I over looked 10 years ago...

Ø  The Amusement and Surprise in the eyes of a teenager of today when you demonstrated how an ole fashioned Crank Pencil Sharpener Sharpened a Pencil.

Ø The Look of Disgust on the faces of young people when we explain how We Used To Lick The Back of Dirty Backs Of Postage Stamps With Our Naked Tongues.

Ø The question that is sure to come after I explain how I used to have to reach up and pull down the back hatch on my SUV with my hand, “Why did you not just press the button?”

Ø This one I actually witnessed. My wife had a car with Crank Roll Up (& Down) Windows and how our 3 Granddaughters got a kick out of Rolling Those Windows Up (& Down) Over & Over.

Ø The complete frustration on the face of the a check-out clerk as he tried to figure out what to do after you handed him a $20 Bill to pay for the $17.28 worth of groceries and he explained that his Cash Register Computer was down and he Did Not Know How Much Change He Should Give To Me.

Ø The Shock and Surprise on the check-out face after I told him, “The change is $2 Dollars and 72 Cents” as he said to me, “You figured that out in your head!?”

Ø The look of wonderment on the face of a young person as you started to explain why we say, “Dial A Telephone”.

Ø Another one I actually witnessed. My Grandchildren trying to figure out what one would ever do with a DVD Disk.

Ø The look of Whatever-Are-You­-Talking-About when one of today’s young people was told how Superman Used to Change Out of His Street Clothes in a Phone Booth. They might not say anything but you can just hear them thinking, “Those phone booths must have been all over the place if you were required to go into one of them to make a phone call”.

Ø This one has not happened yet but it won’t be long. Someone will say, “Yea, I heard about that a long time ago when I read about it in the Newspaper”. To which the response will came back, “What’s a Newspaper?”

I usually limit my bullet point examples of darn near anything to 3 in my Blog Postings. You may be thinking it was hard to come up with these 10 examples. It was a piece of cake. (In case you forgot Piece Of Cake means Something That Is Easy To Do.)

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

Defending the Indefensible

San Francisco Mayor London Breed defended her city during a tense interview following criticism that the city has become too dangerous because of progressive policies after a tech executive was stabbed to death and a former fire commissioner was brutally attacked. 

This Blog Posting is not the entire interview. It you want to read all of it, click this link FOX San Francisco.

Mayor Breed said reports surrounding the death of Cash App founder Bob Lee were "inaccurate". "I think that oftentimes because of social media, because of cameras and how people are able to publicize things that are happening in a moment, it is taken completely out of context in terms of highlighting the entire city as being unsafe," she said. "That's not entirely true."

"How do you answer the critics who say the state that San Francisco is turning to state and federal authorities because, in some part, it's the doing of its own politicians and city leaders," the interviewer asked. "Essentially, they're saying the progressive policies are what got us here. Now we're turning to others for help."

"You know, it's sad because I think it's just San Francisco has been a target for so long and used as an example because we're innovative, we creative, we come up with out-of-the-box ideas and a number of other things to push forward change in our communities," Breed responded. "And I think that sadly, you know, with the previous president, it was a target."

"Some of our policies have been problematic, and we will do what we can to roll those back. But in the meantime, we've got to keep moving forward," she added. "It's going to take us some time to get to a better place where public safety. But we are not letting up."

San Francisco has come under fire from critics following Lee's death. Days after, former San Francisco Fire Commissioner Don Carmignani was attacked in his own front yard, slashed with a knife and his skull fractured by a pipe.

Elon Musk, who ditched Silicon Valley for Texas weighed in on San Francisco's crime woes in a tweet last week. "Many people I know have been severely assaulted. Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately," Musk wrote. 

Some critics have blamed the Defund the Police Movement. 

According to city data, the San Francisco Police Department is understaffed by a whopping 541 officers. 

An audit of state records even revealed the Police Department hired dozens of either unqualified or undocumented officers to tackle the surmounting shortage, according to a report published in March.

And although some city crime statistics indicate most major crimes have declined since last year, some violent crimes have trended in the other direction. 

Murders have spiked 20% and robbery has surged more than 13% so far this year, in comparison to last year, according to data from the San Francisco Police Department. 

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Alfred A. Montapert said, "Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress."

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: This quote has nothing to do with this Blog Posting. It’s just fun. Fun is OK. Do you remember Groucho? There ought to be a Federal Law that we never forget Groucho... “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”
― Groucho Marx, The Essential Groucho: Writings For By And About

If They Stopped the Stealing Maybe They Will Lower Taxes

You are a Naive Person if you think all of the Stolen Money has been uncovered. You are a Stupid Person if you think it won’t happen again. You would be a Shocked Person if there were some way for you to know the Oh My Gosh Amount of Money That Was Being Stolen in the Time It Will Take for You to Read This Blog Posting.

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Los Angeles Times

OCT. 25, 2021

SACRAMENTO...

Ø California has given away at least $20 billion to criminals in the form of fraudulent unemployment benefits. (This is Fella...That’s Billion with a “B”. That’s 20 Thousand Million Dollars.)

Ø This accounts for more than 11% of all benefits paid since the start of the pandemic. (This is Fella...That’s stolen from the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic to only October 25, 2021.)

Ø State officials blamed nearly all of that fraud on a hastily approved expansion of unemployment benefits by Congress that let people who were self-employed get weekly checks from the government with few safeguards to stop people who were not eligible to receive them. (This is Fella...Whose fault is it State or Federal? We don’t know. They like it that way.)

Ø The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in widespread fraud at unemployment agencies across the country, with at least $87 billion in fraudulent payments approved by states, according to a June 2021 report (This is Fella...You ain’t gonna read this report because it contains 12,557 words, is 50 pages long and contains 69 footnotes.) from the inspector general’s office at the U.S. Department of Labor. (This is Fella...Whose fault is it State or Federal? We don’t know. They like it that way.)

Ø In Arizona alone, state officials said scammers pocketed nearly 30% of all its unemployment benefit payments.

😀You Are Going To Think I Made The Next 3 Bullets Up😀

Ø In California, the fraud was so widespread that state officials approved at least $810 million in benefits in the names of people who were in prison, including dozens of infamous killers on death row.

Ø State officials even sent $21,000 in benefits to an address in Roseville under the name and Social Security number of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Ø $2 million in total fraudulent payments were sent to the Roseville address.

Some lawmakers said they were worried people were losing faith in their government ... (This is Fella...No Chit, Sherlock!)

Would I kid u?

Smartfella  

Lagniappe: A State official said...All this Money Stealing is bad but it could be worse. If the thieves started stealing our excuses for why we can’t stop and/or don’t even know about the Thievery we would really be in trouble ... Yea, I made this Lagniappe up...Or did I?

In The Army I Was Told Never To Volunteer but a Society Without Volunteers Would Be Catastrophic

Mankind should always seek out knowledge. Much of the important stuff we know about important stuff we would not know about if it were not for volunteers.

I could go on and on about the amount of Volunteer Gained Knowledge we have benefitted from but I won’t. My Dear Readers, I know you. I know if I give you too much information you will turn me off and seek out other forms of entertainment like Football or CSPAN or Police Chases using your well-worn phone app Police Chases r Us.

I will get right to the meat of this Blog Posting and lay out for you one of the most significant bits of Knowledge we have gained as a result of the Dedication of a Volunteer Who Volunteered...

The Wood Frog Can Hold Its Pee For Up To Eight Months

We might never have known this Important Frog Knowledge if it were not for Peter Fernirk a volunteer who volunteered to be a Frog Watcher Volunteer. Not only did he step up when he saw the need to step up but his stepping up was very time consuming and very uncomfortable. For 8 months his entire existence was watching a frog to see the outcome of its pee...

For 8 Months...

Ø He watched that frog 24 hours a day.

Ø He himself did not go to the bathroom.

Ø He watched that frog’s butt so intently that his eyes became fixed in place and he was unable to get them back out of place at the end of his watching.

Ø A Swat Team had to be called in to hit him in the back of his head with a croquet mallet to get his eyes moving again.

My Dear Readers, I just saw one of you Paying No Never Mind to the above Foolishness. Well I never! I’ll remember this affront to my Foolishness and I promise you when next you give me some Untrue, Made Up and Useless Bit of Waste of Time I’m going to pay you No Never Mind Right Back At You!

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

The Star Spangled Banner Is Offensive!...Or is it?

The link below is hard to believe but believe it because it happened.

A Children’s Choir was stopped from a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangles Banner in the Capitol Rotunda by the intrepid Capitol Police.

As soon as the singing was stopped the excuses, confusion and back peddling started...

Ø It was a misunderstanding.

Ø It was a protest and protests are not allowed in the Rotunda.

Ø It was a mistake to stop the singing in the Rotunda.

Ø It was unacceptable to have started the singing in the Rotunda.

Ø A miscommunication stopped the singing in the Rotunda.

Ø It was offensive and offensiveness is not allowed in the Rotunda.

Ø It was unacceptable to stop the singing in the Rotunda.

Ø Singing is not authorized in the Rotunda unless it is authorized.

Ø The Choir Director said the female officer who told him to stop the singing insisted the singing was a demonstration and demonstrations are never authorized no matter who authorizes them in the Rotunda.

Ø The Choir Director said the female officer who told him to stop the singing told him “some people were offended” by the singing in the Rotunda.

Of all the Bullet Points above fella knows which one is the real reason why the singing was stopped...It’s the last one. People that are Offended are the Tail and the Tail is Wagging our Dog. The Dog is the whole of the Good Ole USofA and the velocity at which we are being wagged is making all of us dizzy and confused.

What we need to do is to start saying, "We don't care if you are Offended. You being Offended is your problem. Get over it."

Below is the link to the article about all of this. It’s not long. Take the time to watch it before you move onto Fella’s Sure-To-Work Fix.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2023/06/04/did-capitol-police-really-try-to-stop-a-childrens-choir-from-singing-the-national-anthem-n2624033 

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The real problem is this country’s obsession with and fear of any of us ever being Offended.

Fella’s Sure-To-Work Fix is simple...

The Federal Government should assign a Counter Offender to Every About To Be Offended Person in the Good Ole USofA. Whenever an Offended Person expresses his Offendedness, the Counter Offender should immediately step in and say that he is Offended by the Offended Person bothering us by telling us he is Offended.

Everyone knows that a second Offended Person takes Precedence over a First Offended Person and the first Offended Person’s Offendedness is automatically declared Null and Void.

This is a sure to work plan. The only drawback I see is the Federal Government is certain to say that the need to hire thousands of Federal Counter Offenders is certain to cause the Federal Government to apply for an Extraordinary Exemption to the constraints imposed on it by the recently passed Debt Ceiling Bill which is going to result in an increase in Federal Income Taxes.

I bet you could see this Federal Income Tax increase coming as soon as I started to lay out my Sure-To-Work Fix.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Oh My Gosh! This Is Awful! Spaghetti and Meatball Is Not An Italian Dish!

This is from the Internet (so you know it is true)...”Spaghetti and meatballs is a dish with both opponents and admirers. Some Italians find spaghetti and meatballs so outrageous that it’s insulting, while others, such as Italian Americans, regard it as an important part of their culture.” Source: https://www.escoffieronline.com/a-history-of-spaghetti-and-meatballs/ .

Is not “Insulting” essentially the same as “Offending”? Are we about to find Spaghetti and Meatballs against Federal Law so as not to Offend Anybody?

USDA Is On the Verge of Banning Chocolate Milk In Our Schools

If you want to read the entire May 17, 2023 article, click below...

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Food/usda-ban-chocolate-milk-school-cafeterias/story?id=99389800&ref=upstract.com

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If chocolate milk were banned in my schools, I would have been deprived of milk’s 13 essential nutrients because, as a child (and as an adult), I would not (and do not) drink White Milk!

In today’s schools, children are about to be Deprived of Milk BUT they can have their Puberty Blocked...WITHOUT THEIR PARENTS BEING TOLD!

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School Nurse Suspended... 

In case you do not read the full article below here is a Fella Bottom Line...A School Nurse was suspended, not for putting a child on Puberty Blockers, but for revealing that the School Administration Had Put A Child On Puberty Blockers.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/04/01/school-nurse-was-suspended-for-revealing-pre-teens-secretly-being-given-puberty-b-n2605363

Her suspension was for letting everyone (“everyone” including the child’s parents) know about the Puberty Block.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: You might have noticed that the article about the Nurse's Suspension was dated April 1, 2022 (Might it have been an April Fool's Joke on All of Us?). I tried to find an update on what happened to the Offending Nurse (Kathleen Cataford) but I did not find anything. If any of My Dear Readers finds an update, put it into Comments or send me an email about what you found (zooombuggy-forii@yahoo.com).

I Have Nothing Else To Do

 

I am retired. That means I am often looking for something to do. When I get that way I often will pull out my Book of Unusual Knowledge and read about Unusual Knowledge. Today you are going to benefit from my boredom...Or are you?

The World’s Most Dangerous Animals

Before I start, write down on a piece of paper which animal you think is the most Dangerous. There is a very good chance that you will not write down the one that is the Champion Killer...Or will you?

I’m going to list them by How Dangerous they are (number of humans killed) from Least Killed to Most Killed...

Ø Leopards...30 deaths per year.

Ø Cape Buffalo...40 deaths per year.

Ø My book disappoints me with these 4 because it does not quantify the number killed very well:

o   Box Jellyfish...nearly a hundred deaths per year.

o   Hippopotamus...approximately 150 deaths per year.

o   Nile Crocodiles...hundreds of deaths per year.

o   Lions...several hundred deaths per year.

Ø Elephants...500 deaths per year.

Ø Scorpions...1,500 deaths per year.

Ø Venomous Snakes...125,000 deaths per year.

Ø The Champion Killer that you did not guess correctly on your piece of paper is The Mosquito which kill as many as 2 Million Human Beings Each Year.

If this were a Killing Contest, it would be declared No Contest.

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Isn’t it interesting how so many listings come out to even numbers. There must be some form of Worldwide Killer Animal Communication System that puts out a Cease Killing Order when the year is nearing an end and the computer determines that a new bigger even number is not within reach and we would become confused if we saw a death total that was not easy to remember and quote to others so they will be impressed with our Unusual Knowledge.

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I’m reading your mind again. What I’m reading is your mind saying to itself, Why did God make Mosquitoes to start with? I’m thinking God said to Himself, “I did not know I could make mistakes but I sure did when I gave Man such a high opinion of himself”.

Just about the time when man was climbing onto his High Horse a Mosquito is sure to come along and take him down a few notches.

Alexander the Great is as good an example of this as any. It is well documented that he was known to go into panic mode when he heard a Mosquito buzzing his way. Once he detected a Mosquito he would pick up his skirt and run as fast as he could 101 yards from where he did his detecting.   

He did this because of his Incomplete Mosquito Knowledge. He had Googled enough to know that some species of Mosquito can only fly 100 yards away from where they were born. His knowledge was incomplete because he did not take into account that some other Mosquitoes were born 100 yards away from other Mosquitoes and they were waiting for him and his exposed hairy legs to come running his way.

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Is A Mosquito An Animal Or An Insect?

They are considered both. A mosquito is under the class Insecta, which is the largest class under phylum Arthropoda. This means that this organism has an exoskeleton, a slim segmented body, as well as a pair of appendages. Mosquitoes also have no capacity to produce food on their own. These characteristics make this notoriously dangerous and pesky insect an animal, too. 

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

I Don’t Know What I Am Talking About

I admit I don’t know what I am talking about when I talk about Supreme Court Decisions because I am not a lawyer and lawyers always know what they are talking about...Or do they?

Below are the first 3 paragraphs of an article about a recent Supreme Court Ruling. While you are reading them see if you can find the 18 Words that caught my attention. I will give my own not-lawyer-like-opinion about what you have read after you have finished your reading...

Supreme Court Reins in EPA Overreach

Thanks to Sackett v. EPA, the feds can no longer treat a backyard puddle like it's a lake.

RONALD BAILEY | 5.25.2023

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5–4 decision reined in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) effort to impose extensive federal land use regulation through its broad interpretation of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The decision in the case of Sackett v. EPA turns on the question of the proper definition of the term "the waters of the United States" (WOTUS). Interestingly, all the justices concurred in the judgment that plaintiffs Michael and Chantell Sackett's property and actions were not covered by the CWA.

In the case, the Sacketts had purchased property near Priest Lake, Idaho, and began backfilling the lot with dirt to prepare for building a home. The EPA claimed that the property contained wetlands over which the agency exercised authority under the Clean Water Act which prohibits discharging pollutants into "the waters of the United States." The EPA threatened to impose a fine of $40,000 per day if the Sacketts did not desist.

The majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito noted that EPA bureaucrats had "classified the wetlands on the Sacketts' lot as 'waters of the United States' because they were near a ditch that fed into a creek, which fed into Priest Lake, a navigable, intrastate lake." The EPA's ruling against the Sacketts was upheld in federal district court and the 9th Circuit Appeals Court.

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Did you figure out which 18 Words caught my attention? Of course you did...Or did you?

They were the last 18 words, “The EPA's ruling against the Sacketts was upheld in federal district court and the 9th Circuit Appeals Court.”

How could 2 Lower Courts have ruled against the defendants by looking at a puddle and saying it was essentially part of a lake?

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It reminds me of the time my daughter and I were trying to watch a late night movie that was constantly being interrupted by Weather Reports about the “bad weather” moving through our area that night.

After many interruptions that tried to make us fear for our lives, the weatherman said something like this (single quotes because it is not an exact quote), ‘You should understand that we are not warning you about tornados or other such really serious weather. This is heavy rain but it is resulting in Significant Puddleing on some of our roadways.’

It was at this point that we gave up and went to bed secure in the knowledge that the puddles were locked outside and could not come in and get us.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Here is the link to the article that set me off onto this trek into what I don’t know about. If want to Read all About It , have at it...

https://reason.com/2023/05/25/supreme-court-reins-in-epa-overreach

Lagniappe Another: From my For What It’s Worth Department... There are no explicit requirements in the U.S. Constitution for a person to be nominated to become a Supreme Court justice. No age, education, job experience, or citizenship rules exist. In fact, according to the Constitution, a Supreme Court justice does not need to even have a law degree.