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I THANK YOU

joseryder ๐Ÿšซ

To all of you who stepped up to let your voices
be heard, not just on my behalf, but on behalf
of all writers/authors/storytellers โ€“ I THANK YOU.

I have apologized to Lazeez for causing such a
firestorm. He told me that it was good to hear
from me. That was good enough for me.

Honestly... believe me when I tell you, I never
meant to cause this much uproar. But โ€“ now that
it's out in the open, we can look forward to the
changes Lazeez is putting into place to help us
control some of the abuse to us and others like
us.

As for me, I am still here and I am humbled by
the support of this amazing group of authors/
writers/readers โ€“ and all members of the SOL
community.

I don't know anything about you, but I know
myself well. When I spend weeks and months
researching and putting into words an idea I
had in my head, to make a story out of that
garbled mess, it becomes personal to me.

It grows on me and I try to make it the best I
can. When someone attacks me or that tale,
they have insulted me. Not just my work, but
me personally. After a while, I get tired of
turning the other cheek, and this is what happens.

Though I'm not ready to post anything just yet,
I do have stories in progress. Maybe by the time
I'm ready to start posting, my stories will ready.

Thank you again, each and every one of you...
for your support of SOL, me, and others like me.

JRyter

Replies:   Switch Blayde
awnlee jawking ๐Ÿšซ

No, thank YOU. 'Yondering Trails' is the best western I've read for some time. Thank you for the privilege of being allowed to read it.

AJ

Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@joseryder

Bullies thrive off their victim's reactions. Ignore them and they lose.

Take some time off and then "get back in the saddle."

Replies:   Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

Take some time off and then "get back in the saddle."

Special meaning for a writer of westerns.

bb

Replies:   Switch Blayde
Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@Bondi Beach

Special meaning for a writer of westerns.

That was my intention. :)

Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

I can relate. I'd said I'd begin posting my next story by now, however, I've been wrestling with my medications (adjusting the dosages the doctor specified until I can return and tell him which dosage works best under my new circumstances (following my heart surgery).

Unfortunately, the end result is that 1) my writing has been impacted, and 2) I'm more likely to fly off the handle (which is why I'm adjusting my medication in the first place).

In cases where you overreact, it's always better to step back, seek your own source of inspiration, and then reevaluate your position, considering the best options for going forwards. It's not always easy advice to follow, but it beats making decision in anger you regret later (like swearing you'll never post another story on a particular site again!). ;)

Fix-M ๐Ÿšซ

JR - I was always taught that if you didn't have something nice or constructive to say you were far better off saying nothing. That way those that suspect you're an ignorant asshole still only suspect instead of having absolute knowledge of what you are. I personally think that you and too many other writers to list here are excellent storytellers and as far as the critics are concerned - FUCK'M. Let the misplaced criticisms and insults roll like water off a duck's back because they mean nothing. Fix-M

Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@Fix-M

I was always taught that if you didn't have something nice or constructive to say you were far better off saying nothing.

The presidential debates would be 2 hours of silence.

Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

The presidential debates would be 2 hours of silence.

or 2 hours of master-debates

Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

The presidential debates would be 2 hours of silence.

Here is what I think they should be:

Each candidate gets two minutes to apologize for wasting our oxygen. :)

Replies:   Ernest Bywater  REP
Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

@Dominions Son

Here is what I think they should be:

Each political party should make donations to welfare organisations equivalent to what they spend on the campaigns.

Another idea is to make political donations non-deductible, so they come out of the company profits after tax.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ

@Ernest Bywater

Another idea is to make political donations non-deductible, so they come out of the company profits after tax.

Campaign donations have never been tax deductible in the US.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

@Dominions Son

Campaign donations have never been tax deductible in the US.

Not being in a business in the US I never looked up the laws, but I was told they count as an operating expense and are taken out of the books prior to calculating the taxable profits, thus they reduce the tax burden by cutting back the amount you pay tax on.

Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ

@Ernest Bywater

Not being in a business in the US I never looked up the laws, but I was told they count as an operating expense and are taken out of the books prior to calculating the taxable profits

I don't know about the expense thing, but operating expenses are not the same thing as a tax deduction. Corporate income tax is based on profits, not revenue. Profits = revenue - expenses.

Corporate income taxes work completely differently than personal income taxes.

Replies:   Switch Blayde
Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Dominions Son

Corporate income tax is based on profits, not revenue. Profits = revenue - expenses.

Corporate income taxes work completely differently than personal income taxes.

Actually, they're basically the same.

Corp: Profit = revenue - expenses

Pers: Taxable Income = income - deductions

Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

Actually, they're basically the same.

They are very different.

Utility bills are expenses for both corporations and individuals. They are not however, deductible on personal income taxes.

Expenses are just about everything a company spends money on with a few exceptions defined by either GAAP accounting rules or tax law.

Personal tax deductions are available only for items explicitly defined in the tax law.

Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

Actually, they're basically the same.

Most tax laws cover the same basics in you can legitimately remove the special costs of earning the income, but not personal living expenses. Which is why you can deduct the cost of using your private car for a business trip, but not the day to day task of getting to work. Normal clothes aren't can't be deducted, while special work clothing usually can.

Replies:   Ross at Play
Ross at Play ๐Ÿšซ

@Ernest Bywater

Most tax laws cover the same basics in you can legitimately remove the special costs of earning the income, but not personal living expenses. Which is why you can deduct the cost of using your private car for a business trip, but not the day to day task of getting to work. Normal clothes aren't can't be deducted, while special work clothing usually can.

You're correct that is how it is done in Australia, and all other advanced economies apply similar principles.
Having worked in the Australian Tax Office, I can tell you that probably over half of all legal cases and "rulings" (explanatory directions issued by the Tax Office) concern the interpretation of six words: "expenses necessarily incurred in earning income".
For the discussion above of political donations, it would be extremely difficult for an individual earning income from a business to justify a political donation was a "necessary expense" in earning their income. OTOH, I expect corporations will find ways to justify that if they really want to.

REP ๐Ÿšซ

@Ernest Bywater

they count as an operating expense

I doubt, the IRS would consider such a contribution to be an operating expense. If found, it would be disallowed.

Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Ernest Bywater

Not being in a business in the US I never looked up the laws, but I was told they count as an operating expense and are taken out of the books prior to calculating the taxable profits, thus they reduce the tax burden by cutting back the amount you pay tax on.

I did some quick Google searches.

https://www.propublica.org/article/could-corporations-be-taking-tax-breaks-on-political-dark-money

Corporations can not expense direct contributions to campaigns.

However, US law has a number of different types of non-profit organizations with different requirements/limits.

Most non-profit groups are prohibited from political spending of any kind.

Political Action Committees can donate to campaigns and make independent expenditures.

Donations to PACs are not deductible.

Corporations are not allowed to count donations to PACs as expenses for corporate taxes.

PACs are required by law to publicly disclose their donors.

501-4C non-profits can not make campaign contributions, but they can do their own campaign advertising, called independent expenditures.

Donations to 501-4Cs are not deductible on individual income taxes, but can be counted as expenses for corporate taxes.

Unlike political action committees, 501-4Cs are not required to disclose their donors.

There is suspicion, but little to no evidence, that corporations are expensing political donations by funneling them through 501-4Cs.

Replies:   Lugh
Lugh ๐Ÿšซ

@Dominions Son

Not to go too far afield, but there's one huge loophole. Many kinds of committees cannot act for a candidate, but they are not restricted from negative advertising against the candidate.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ

@Lugh

Not to go too far afield, but there's one huge loophole. Many kinds of committees cannot act for a candidate, but they are not restricted from negative advertising against the candidate.

Again, PACs can do just about anything political.

501-4Cs can make independent expenditures either for or against candidates.

Most other types of non-profits can do issue advocacy, but are generally prohibited from even mentioning an actual candidate in any adds they run.

REP ๐Ÿšซ

@Dominions Son

Each candidate gets two minutes to apologize for wasting our oxygen. :)

I personally would prefer that all career politicians would just go away at election time. Get new blood in.

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@REP

I personally would prefer that all career politicians would just go away at election time. Get new blood in.

I prefer a limited campaign, like that used in other countries. I can put up with only two weeks of pointless bluster, but three and a half years of it? That's excessive in anyone's book. Once the election is over, I'd prefer if the talking heads all took a long vacation together, where they could shout at each other all they want, just as long as the leave the rest of us alone.

Replies:   REP
REP ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

I'd prefer if the talking heads all took a long vacation together

Perhaps both groups, politicians and media reps, should take a permanent vacation to the same location. We could give each of them a dull spoon and the rest of us could sit back and watch the bloodletting begin.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ

@REP

Perhaps both groups, politicians and media reps, should take a permanent vacation to the same location.

I can think of a few good locations:

The sun
Mars
The bottom of Challenger Deep

Replies:   awnlee jawking  REP
awnlee jawking ๐Ÿšซ

@Dominions Son

I suspect a black hole would spit them out in disgust.

AJ

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@awnlee jawking

I suspect a black hole would spit them out in disgust.

Black holes are notoriously sloppy. They spit out dense particles when they swallow other objects (burping), and when they eventually die, they radiate the same dense particles throughout the galaxy. That's where most of our denser, non-renewable elements come from (gold, uranium, cobalt, etc.).

If we cast our politicians into random black holes, we'd only be infecting future planets with their vile essences!

Replies:   awnlee jawking
awnlee jawking ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

dense particles

Does Dense Partycles imply politicians have already been spat out by black holes?

AJ

REP ๐Ÿšซ

@Dominions Son

I can think of a few good locations:

How about the Coliseum in Rome. We could sit in the stands with snacks and cool drinks while we cheer them on.

Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ

@REP

How about the Coliseum in Rome. We could sit in the stands with snacks and cool drinks while we cheer them on.

Why would you be so cruel as to feed politicians to unsuspecting lions. :)

Replies:   REP
REP ๐Ÿšซ

@Dominions Son

Why would you be so cruel as to feed politicians to unsuspecting lions. :)

Not sure which I would prefer. Feed the politicians to the media, or the media to the politicians. Either way someone will have an upset stomach. Break out the Alka-Seltzer.

Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@REP

How about the Coliseum in Rome. We could sit in the stands with snacks and cool drinks while we cheer them on.

What do you think we're doing now? And we're currently wrecking perfectly good countries doing it, while spending billions we could otherwise be wasting on useless technology that blow up in our pockets. ;D

Replies:   REP
REP ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Vincent Berg

while spending billions we could otherwise be wasting on useless technology that blow up in our pockets.

It isn't wasted. It gives lawyers something to do. :)

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@REP

It isn't wasted. It gives lawyers something to do.

Oh, no. I don't think the exploding smartphones are wasted. After all, it's very entertaining when some idiots pants catch on fire. What IS worthless is everyone's preoccupation with smartphones, and their inability to do ANYTHING without checking their phone every 5 minutes.

By the way, with all the restrictions against traveling with Samsung phones (the U.S. Navy just restricted carrying Samsung phones on their ships and/or planes), could we pass a law limiting their transportation, except in the case where one transports them under the seat of a lawyer driving? Hopefully with a large magnetic charge in their automotive carpeting?

Note: One of my stories focuses on a young girl deciding to shoot a lawyer to shut him up before he can poison all the good people are trying to accomplish.

Replies:   REP
REP ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

large magnetic charge in their automotive carpeting

Is the result anything like James Bond's passenger seat ejection system. :)

Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@Fix-M

Let the misplaced criticisms and insults roll like water off a duck's back because they mean nothing.

That's nice, in theory, but often it feels like acid, scalding the duck's back. Just sayin'.

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