The Value of Work and Nonwork

postscript: Some of those football coaches retire to the U.S. Senate and make $174,000 for doing nothing and even less than nothing.

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46 thoughts on “The Value of Work and Nonwork”

  1. as of July 19, 2023:

    Tommy Tuberville pledged to ‘donate every dime’ to veterans. He hasn’t. – The Washington Post

    “I stand with our veterans and I’m going to donate every dime I make when I’m in Washington, D.C., to the veterans of the state of Alabama. Folks, they deserve it. They deserve it a lot more than most of us.”
    — Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), in a Facebook campaign video, March 9, 2020
    As senator, Tuberville has made veterans one of his key issues. The former football coach serves on both the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and the Armed Services Committee. He is now in a high-profile battle with the Biden administration over abortion policy affecting veterans. He has stalled the confirmation of more than 250 senior military officers over his objection to a Defense Department policy allowing military personnel and their families to recoup travel expenses incurred while seeking an abortion if they are stationed in a state that bans or restricts the procedure.
    Yet there is no evidence that Tuberville has kept a key pledge he made when he ran for Senate three years ago — that he would “donate every dime” he made in Washington to Alabama veterans.
    A U.S. senator earns $174,000 a year. We’re assuming that Tuberville was proposing to donate only his salary, not the substantial earnings he makes from his investments. (He has an estimated net worth of $20 million.) With Tuberville now having served 2½ years as senator, that would amount to a total of $437,000 in potential donations.
    In the past decade, Tuberville has made contributions to veterans via a charitable organization, the Tommy Tuberville Foundation, that he established in 2014 after he was hired as football coach at the University of Cincinnati. His employment contract, which paid him a minimum of $1.6 million a year, stipulated that he donate at least $5,000 a month as a gift to the athletics department. For instance, in 2016 he paid for 150 season tickets for veterans in a section of the stadium dubbed Tubby’s Troops. The transaction was billed to the Tommy Tuberville Foundation, whose primary mission is “assisting our military and veterans.”
    The Internal Revenue Service certified the Tommy Tuberville Foundation as a public charity in 2015, making donations to the organization tax-deductible. But a review of IRS filings made by the foundation show that very little has been spent on charitable causes — especially since he became a senator. Tuberville moved the charity to Alabama in 2018 after he left the coaching position in Cincinnati in 2016.
    […]
    “With respect to the $174k per year specifically, the 2021 990 Schedule A reflects that the charity didn’t report receiving contributions even close to this amount in any of the past 5 years,” Styron said in an email. “In fact, the charity reports receiving only $218k in contributions for the past 5 years combined. If he promised to donate his salary to vets, he certainly isn’t fulfilling this promise by donating to this particular charity.”
    […]
    The Fact Checker contacted nine veterans’ organizations represented on the Alabama State Board of Veterans Affairs. Three state affiliates — Vietnam Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars — responded and said they have received no donations from either Tuberville or the Tommy Tuberville Foundation.
    We also contacted other veterans’ organizations that the Tommy Tuberville Foundation Facebook page has indicated it has supported in the past. For instance, Still Serving Veterans is a Huntsville charity that helps veterans transition to civilian employment. “Still Serving Veterans received a small donation from the Tommy Tuberville Foundation in 2019 as the nonprofit beneficiary of a golf tournament he hosted, but we have not received any contributions since then,” said Debbie Joyner, chief development officer of the organization. Jamie Popwell, president of Flags for Vets, said the organization has received $500 in 2018, $1,000 in 2019 and $2,500 in 2020, but has not received any donation since then.
    Tuberville’s staff indicated that thus far the senator had not lived up to his pledge.
    […]
    Asked whether Tuberville has failed to donate more than $400,000 to veterans, as promised, and whether he is still committed to do so, Stafford responded: “Coach is in the process of reforming the Foundation. He has already completely replaced the Board of Directors; he is resuming activities with the Foundation, and he will keep his promise to the veterans of Alabama.”
    Six years of a senatorial salary would mean Tuberville would be on the hook for more than $1 million in donations.

  2. lest we forget the value of House work

    An ethics probe into Rep. George Santos reported that he committed fraud, but he won’t be expelled from Congress. Elsewhere, the GOP-led House is the least productive in a century and President Biden explained his cautious approach to trusting China’s leader.

  5. the guy is a genuine religious fanatic…

    lol, he squints hard when he prays, that’s how God knows you really mean it!

  8. https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/16/world/starship-spacex-launch-scn/index.html

    “…following the April explosion of the Starship system’s first test flight, SpaceX is set for its next attempt.”

    “The megarocket — the most powerful launch vehicle ever built — was expected to lift off on Friday, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a social media post Thursday that the company would hold off until Saturday to allow for time to replace a small rocket part.”

    “The company is targeting a 20-minute launch window that opens Saturday at 7 a.m. CT (8 a.m. ET)…”

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/17/business/elon-musk-reveals-his-actual-truth/index.html

    “Elon Musk has publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory popular among White supremacists: that Jewish communities push “hatred against Whites.”

    ***
    He should be on that rocket.
    ps ~Thanks, in advance, for the extra pollution on Saturday~

  9. Bible Schmible.     

    The things that you’re liable
    To read in the Bible
    It ain’t necessarily so.
    -George

  10. The latest @CookPolitical 2024 House race ratings show GOP majority in jeopardy–

    D held seats that are toss ups or worse:

    10 Democrats

    R held seats that are toss ups or worse:

    17 Republicans

  12. GOTV

    Biden Admin. has been doing an incredible job across the board, but the diplomacy is especially masterful in an extremely challenging geopolitical environment

    We can’t go backwards

  13. While the eyes of the world are on Gaza and other places, Russia is soft-colonizing Africa, opening up markets for it to evade western sanctions
     
    Slava Ukraine ✌️ 

  15. Say I had a little over 6 billion dollars.   If I were to just give away 1 billion would that cause me to somehow go broke or suffer lasting damage?   I think billions must make people crazy and stupid.

  16. it’s not they have billions, it’s that they are worth billions
     
    They’re really good at evading taxes that way

    You just get financing based on your value, get everything you want, and guess what? Technically, you’re in debt!

    Neat trick. Trump and Elon are practitioners

    That’s all from me, gonna rest and watch Markwayne Mullin’s mental breakdown in real-time. i’d feel bad for him if he wasn’t worth $33-71 million dollars, he can afford therapy

  17. The second they get someone to feel bad for them their being an asshole is re-activated, assuming their being an asshole was the least bit in abeyance from some jerking around they may have experienced.

  18. Sturg – I like that guy’s YouTube channel because he’s an academic and calls BS on stuff that folks like MAGAt Mike want to use to manipulate folks.   

  19. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/16/texas-house-school-vouchers/

    “An amendment filed by Rep. John Raney has the support of more than a dozen Republicans, enough to effectively kill the push for vouchers in the lower chamber.”

    Woo-hoo for now.

    “A coalition of Democrats and rural Republicans has historically blocked attempts to create a voucher system in Texas, which would allow parents to use tax dollars to send their children to private schools.”

    “That alliance appears to have held, despite efforts by Gov. Greg Abbott and his negotiating team to woo about two dozen Republican holdouts who signaled disapproval of vouchers during the regular legislative session this spring.”

    “The bill would create education savings accounts, a voucher-like program that would allow about 40,000 students who exit the state’s public education system to receive $10,500 annually to attend the private or religious school selected by their parents.”

    * aka a discount coupon for rich folks.

    “Abbott has said he will not sign an education bill that does not include vouchers, his top legislative priority this year

    For now, woo-hoo.

  20. So you’re sayin Mullin ain’t no king Fu plumber.    I’m going to have to revers a few paradigms 

  21. Hypnos is trying hard to visit me this afternoon. I need a cold slap in the face.  And it looks outside like the storm on the Doppler is getting ready to unleash its wrath on us. Luckily I just saw a stupid motion by a stupid lawyer who I love to annoy hit the queue, so it’s off to being annoying for me.  That should keep me awake for a while. 

  22. The Economist declares Donald Trump “the biggest global threat” in 2024

    “A second Trump term would be a watershed in a way the first was not. Victory would confirm his most destructive instincts about power. His plans would encounter less resistance. And because America will have voted him in while knowing the worst, its moral authority would decline. The election will be decided by tens of thousands of voters in just a handful of states. In 2024 the fate of the world will depend on their ballots.”

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2024-fate-of-the-world/

  25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roll,_Alabama,_Roll

    When the Alabama’s keel was laid
    Roll, Alabama, Roll
    Twas laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird
    O Roll, Alabama, Roll

    Twas laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird
    Roll, Alabama, Roll
    Twas laid in the town of Birkenhead
    O Roll, Alabama, Roll

    Down the Mersey way she rolled then
    Roll, Alabama, Roll
    Liverpool fitted her with guns and men
    O Roll, Alabama, Roll

    From the Western Isle she sailed forth
    Roll, Alabama, Roll
    To destroy the commerce of the North
    O Roll, Alabama, Roll

    To Cherbourg port she sailed one day
    Roll, Alabama, Roll
    To take her count of prize money
    O Roll, Alabama, Roll

    Many a sailor lad he met his doom
    Roll, Alabama, Roll
    When the Kearsarge it hove in view
    O Roll, Alabama, Roll

    Til a ball from the forward pivot that day
    Roll, Alabama, Roll
    Shot the Alabama’s stern away
    O Roll, Alabama, Roll

    Off the three mile limit in sixty-five*
    Roll, Alabama, Roll
    The Alabama went to her grave
    O Roll, Alabama, Roll

  28. Gov. Greg Abbott & Lt. Turd Dan Patrick are holding public school funding & teacher pay raises hostage.  They insist on giving vouchers for private/religious institutions, which does further harm to public schools and helps folks with enough money for the private tuition already.  

  30. The only way i am able to post a youtube here on my phone is by submitting a text comment with the “post comment” button below, then i “edit” it, then i copy/paste the link i got from the “share” button underneath the youtube video on its original page
     

  32. Praying for Rosalynn. Read her memoir years ago. Most eloquent description ever of the joy of a rainy day to farm families. 

    “First Lady from Plains, first published in 1984, is Rosalynn’s Carter’s autobiography, covering her life from her childhood in Plains, Georgia, through her time as First Lady. It is “a readable, lively and revealing account of the Carters and their remarkable journey from rural Georgia to the White House in a span of ten years” (The New York Times).”

    https://www.amazon.com/First-Lady-Plains-Rosalynn-Carter/dp/1557283559

  34. if you see a period between the ‘u’ and the ‘b’ of the word “youtube” in the link you’re using, you have the right one

  37. Another method:

    Go to YouTube.
    Play YouTube video
    Copy link
    Go to Trailmix comment box. 
    Paste link as comment
    When Link is pasted a box will pop up with some stuff in it.  Click on figure located at far right and pop-up box will disappear.  
    Click on Post Comment and stand back.  Video will appear.

  46. lone skum was getting billions of dollars in govt contracts for ev chargers and rockets, FROM THE BIDEN ADMIN, of which he’s very critical, but still got the contracts… well, that’s all over, now.  You can’t use taxpayer money to knowingly fund a self-professed virulent, addled racist
     

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