Muny_Tex

1.) Those of you decrying the irredeemable nature of machismo culture should take a look at the final candidate pool (and religious affiliation of the winner) for the Mexican Presidential election that just concluded. You then might want to take look at the stated platform + policy stances of the Morena Party that now has a stranglehold on that entire country before you carry on any further with your abject stupidity about political realities. 2.) American voters of all races/colors/creeds will enthusiastically elect a female POTUS (in the same manner they elected a black man by big margins, twice) the moment a female emerges with genuine personal appeal and sincere regard for issues that matter to them. The "gender part" of the Clinton and Harris debacles is far less relevant than the fact they were both hand-picked via coronation from a universally-despised establishment machine....and then doubled-down by running tone-deaf "I know better than you!" campaigns right into the blade of a populist buzzsaw.

Maybe positioning AOC, Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Obama, and Taylor Swift as the face of the party does not resonate with young (non gay) men.

I think less than a week after I typed this the rates began surging upward again, so this definitely ain't happenin' anymore. I also was pretty excited about my $200 Astros WS/Longhorns CFP combo parlay that would've paid out $30k....until it was reduced to rubble. See yall in 2025....

Need help understanding the "If Trump loses PA he cannot win the election" narrative... Assuming GA (16), NC (16), NV (6), and NE (5) all go for GOP, and Harris takes both PA (19) and Wisconsin (10)....then doesn't Michigan (15) ultimately determine the winner? And based on that presumption....Arizona doesn't really matter since neither candidate can get to 270 without winning Michigan? What am I missing? Why does PA get so much more hyper-focus and media attention than Michigan?

Anything Helinox....Pricey, but light years beyond competition in terms of weight/portability/comfort/durability. I kept a "Chair One" in my ruck through a deployment plus another 100+ nights of field training and still use it for camping to this day. Just an absolutely awesome product.

Didn't read the thread, but never seen a pressure issue that the Commando 450 shower head could not easily solve.

Yeah man totally agree those Westlake white boys with their Sugar Bowl MVP (as a 17 pt underdog), multiple Super Bowl MVPs, and greatest kicking record in the history of the sport definitely not bout it bout it. Just no heart at all. If you can't spot the culture difference between WHS and pussy factories like LT/SLC then I dunno what to tell you. ANd for the record I know how outrageously lame/pathetic it is to bring "high school smack" into a discussion like this, but we all have our limits on what we can tolerate.

Yeah no...as said above at least Simms had arm strength. Quinn's ability to amble around like a wounded fawn and heave floating ducks all the way out of the camera screen probably makes Case McCoy blush.

Really remarkable Case McCoy impersonation tonight....all the way down to this signature achievement being the miraculous duck heave that his receiver had to backtrack 5+ yards to catch.

Who could've ever guessed a rosey-cheeked guy named Quinn from fucking Southlake would lack a killer instinct against elite hyper-physical opponents. Almost as shocking as a dork named Garrett (or Hudson) from Lake Travis being equally soft and uncompetitive in critical play-making situations.

I guess the Santa Maria was a more appealing name for a ship than the "Same As Cash for 6 Months, then 39.99% APR thereafter" EDIT: Sorry saw Chief already claimed that joke idea

Also holy shit Ryan Day is a fucking dumbass...Just hand the ball off three times and kick the game winner from 40 yards or whatever. That final playcalling sequence was unfathomable for trailing by only 1 point

If that "12 men on field" is not a dead ball / clock reset penalty....then what is to stop an enterprising DC from literally putting ~20 dudes into the secondary right at the snap if opposition has a "XX and Long", dwindling clock, and an obvious deep passing situation.....seems like the 5-6 seconds of elapsed clock is well worth the benign 5 yard (meaningless) penalty.....what am I missing here?

^^^That was one of the most "fun" games of the whole dynasty in terms of stadium atmosphere. It was a Saturday night, and unusually late start (8pm IIRC?) and lot of people (myself included) were unusually hammered...even in the typically chill lower level sections. Game began almost immediately with a brilliant 10/10 play by Correa from deep in the hole and the crowd volume never calmed down after that. Cole was absolutely masterful, and it seemed like he was pumping the K's with even higher frequency as he emptied the tank in the 8th....felt to me like 8/9 of his last ten pitches were all gas right near 100. It will always remain amazing to me how completely unbeatable the 2019 team was....until they weren't.

Ibanez had no chance against a well-placed slider given how keyed up he was to catch up with heat. Too bad Hader was too afraid to throw it; I guess he was scared of another wild pitch. Instead he just Farnsworth'd it middle-middle right into the kill zone. Pathetic showing all around.

^^Good advice about RE: keeping horse in front of the cart. Any newfound career success will eventually be canceled out if your home/relationship status is not on solid footing. Certainly wise to begin researching/networking + exploring new credentials or certifications that may assist in your transition, but I would not take any bold leaps until you reach finality with your business partner and the old lady. Not to derail the dialogue, but do YOU still want to be married? If the answer is yes (and your wife hasn't already checked out), then you might try and see if there are elements of this career rebuild + personal reset that may be conducive to a similarly fresh start/new chapter in your marriage that yall can partner on building together.

Hader's tattoos look like a cat swallowed the ink then vomited all over his arm. That said, it still reflects better judgment than the decisions made by Brennan Miller this evening.

^^^Really good points RE: counter-party risk...That is key reason why I'm no longer interested in the $GLD spot ETF...Seems like the moment the global price truly erupts is when it becomes revealed that they don't actually possess the physical inventory they claim and the whole fund falls apart in a matter of minutes/hours. But I guess owning a basket of miners/juniors via GDX/GDXJ contains the same systemic risk it's just spread out across a larger pool of actors. That said, if SHTF and we have the sovereign debt crisis / currency collapse that puts gold into orbit, my personal cache of physical bullion (or lack thereof) will be least of my worries. I'd rather just stock up on canned food, batteries, shitter paper, bullets, antibiotics etc and barter that shit than dig through trying to exchange coins/bars just to acquire the same stuff on black market.

^^Nice deal...Best I could find was $1200 uncovered and $2k for covered from ATL-AUS, but this was also in early 2021 when the supply/transpo chains were still all fucked up....so I guess lot more competitive options now.

I also don't think this is a realistic benchmark. More like $2K for a timely, reputable service that is going to have the vehicle properly covered/secured at all stages of transport. I think places like Carvana/CarMax advertises flat-fee somewhere in vicinity of $500-$750 only based on their scale and willingness to absorb some of the cost to generate higher markup on the sale side.

Lotta bait and switch still going on with the "XXX off MSRP!!" offers....Many of those promos are accompanied by mandatory dealer add-ons (tints, floormats, trucoat, etc) that they mark up 15x and add-back $2k or so back onto their price. Inflated "Dealer doc fee" is another one I encountered recently that ranged anywhere from $250-$1k depending on the outfit. There's also a TON of "killer deals" on Autotrader for cars that don't actually exist (and/or already sold) that dealers just keep posted to try to drive people to call-in or visit their lot. Bottom line, there's definitely deals to be had, but it's very difficult to "online shop" given how opaque (and purposefully misleading) the advertised prices are. If you're a "time is money" guy prepare to be sorely disappointed, as you typically have to talk to a lot of morons and wade through wasted conversations (and outright lies) to finally achieve peak discount value. What ultimately worked for me was physically calling the assholes and making them send me an itemized, no-shit quote sheet with everything listed. I then told them they could win the business now by doing X, Y, or Z (to achieve my target price) which they typically would decline and/or send a new offer still short of my desired terms. I would then take that "best and final" and shopped it around to competing dealers to see who wanted to match/beat; with the expectation that nothing verbal would fly and they had to send me a signed quote sheet of their own to solidify those terms. This was a little easier for me to do as a cash buyer since I was able to bypass a whole separate layer of wasted time with the whole "just tell me where you're trying to get on your monthlies" that they usually peddle to poor/over-extended people. However, once final price was set I did offer to finance (and pay off balance ASAP) if they were willing to provide additional incentive, but they didn't have any lending promos available...but I think that varies quite a bit by manufacturer especially GM.

How do the local bugs feel about the mining stocks...specifically ETFs like the $GDX & $GDXJ ? I personally got out of the physical metals (for varied reasons), but have enjoyed a nice run-up recently leveraging (e.g. gambling) some Roth funds to ride the wave with the miners. Schiff claims there's a huge variance between the current ATH of spot in relation to where the miners "should be", but I don't know enough about the nature/costs/geopolitics of those companies to have an intelligent opinion.

On personal front, my plan for end of year is to continue tradition of only having kids born in Q4 so we can optimize the full year Child Tax Credit before all the bullshit comes due. I will also create a new 529 in new baby's name and drop a fat contribution before 12/31 to realize the immediate state income tax benefits (note: user name does not remotely check-out). I also am planning a mortgage re-finance within next 1-2 months (bought in Spring 2023 and expecting substantial rate improvement), and will leverage the incremental cash flow from the two "skipped payments" toward some end-of-year retirement plan targets.

@StassneyHorn Experts may disagree, but I think you're wise RE: delaying (but NOT foregoing) Roth contributions in favor of tax deferred (401k) or tax deductible (HSA) prior to 12/31...espec if you are in that sweet-spot of being high enough income to meaningfully benefit from the short-term tax savings while still being eligible for the full Roth direct contribution limit of $7k. My reasoning is based on the fact you can still contribute to "this year's" Roth (prior to the 4/15 deadline you mentioned) even after the clock runs out on 401k/HSA deadline and you file your completed year-end IRS return. Therefore, if you anticipate a tax refund, filing taxes right away early in Jan/Feb is a slick way to parlay those credited funds toward your 2024 Roth limit (or get a head-start on 2025, since you have the either/or option between Jan 1 - April 15. That said, I wouldn't go balls-out for 401k max limit if it comes at the expense of eventually topping off your entire Roth $7k limit before 4/15. A healthy portfolio should possess a solid combination of tax-deferred and tax-free accounts, since they will both serve their own unique purposes as your income trajectory grows and/or eventually prep for retirement. Also, I would not have guessed you were anywhere near 35....I pegged you at like 53 so take that for what you will.