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Letters: Don’t tax Social Security until benefits surpass what we paid in

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:40 GMT

Don’t tax some of itWorkers contribute a portion of their gross income to Social Security throughout their working lives. If the worker lives long enough, the worker will begin receiving portions of that contribution back as a Social Security benefit.  A person should not be taxed on the benefit until the total of the benefits equals the total of the contributions. Once that threshold is reached, any further benefits would be taxable income.The Social Security Administration already knows what each person’s lifetime contributions are and it knows what each person’s benefits are. The taxable portion of the annual benefit and the non-taxable portion of the remaining lifetime contribution could be reported on the SSA-1099 statement that social security recipients already receive.It should be noted that only the worker’s contribution would be a non-taxable benefit. It should also be noted that when a worker dies, the worker’s undistributed lifetime contribution, if any, would rema...

Parmy Olson: There’s no such thing as artificial intelligence

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:40 GMT

No one sells the future more masterfully than the tech industry. According to its proponents, we will all live in the “metaverse,” build our financial infrastructure on “web3” and power our lives with “artificial intelligence.” All three of these terms are mirages that have raked in billions of dollars, despite bite-back by reality.Artificial intelligence in particular conjures the notion of thinking machines. But no machine can think, and no software is truly intelligent. The phrase alone may be one of the most successful marketing terms of all time.This month OpenAI announced GPT-4, a major upgrade to the technology underpinning ChatGPT. The system sounds even more humanlike than its predecessor, naturally reinforcing notions of its intelligence. But GPT-4 and other large language models like it are simply mirroring databases of text — close to a trillion words for the previous model — whose scale is difficult to contemplate. Helped ...

George Skelton: High-income earners have joined the exodus from California

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:40 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It turns out high-income people are also fleeing the Golden State — a new twist in the California exit.That should worry ruling liberal Democrats who love to tax wealthy people and spend their money, especially on social programs.Some golden geese are taking flight.For years, once-burgeoning California has been hemorrhaging population. This has been happening on several fronts.More people are leaving for other states than are moving here.The inward flow of foreign immigrants has slowed substantially.Fewer babies are being born. More people are dying.It’s the flow of Californians to other states that’s so unusual. Throughout the 20th century, people from the Midwest and South — from all over America — flocked here for jobs, opportunities, sunshine and a better life.My dad left his family’s depressed Tennessee farm in the 1920s to work in the Southern California oil fields. My quarter-Cherokee mom vacated Oklahoma at the s...

A Twin Cities pizza crawl: Six friends, five stops, many delicious pies

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:40 GMT

I have long said I would not do a story about pizza.There are too many different styles, too many versions of each style and pizza is so … personal. You like what you like. I like what I like. And I don’t really feel like arguing about it.But a few weeks ago, my husband and I were watching the New York episode of “Somebody Feed Phil” on Netflix, and host Phil Rosenthal took friends to a few different pizza places in one day. It looked fun, and my husband said, “I know you don’t want to write a big pizza story, but what if we did that, and you wrote about it? Do you think you could find four or five standout pizza places to visit?”Could I? Does he know me at all? Narrowing it down would be the problem.Still, he was right about one thing — it sounded fun! I texted friends who were immediately on board and started making my list. In the end, we visited five places* that I think fairly represent the breadth and depth of delicious pizza in the Twin Cities. I know there are many mor...

98.3 TRY Social Dilemma: Is It Okay to Wear the Same Dress to 3 Different Weddings?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:40 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Today's TRY Social Dilemma is about what to wear to a wedding...or several weddings. Here's the email: Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Hi Jaime. I have a clothing dilemma. In the next month, I have three different weddings that I’m attending. I found the perfect dress to wear, but I don’t know if I should wear it to all three of them. It took me forever to find this dress and it wasn't cheap.  There are probably only a couple of other people who are likely to be at more than one of these weddings. Can I wear this dress to all three weddings or do I need to spend more money to find another dress (or two) to wear? Do you think anyone would notice if I wore it to all three? Thanks for your help!CassieWell Cassie, I'm probably the last person to ask about fashion, so if it was me, I say definitely wear the same dress to all three weddings. Why spend more money? But like I said, this is coming from a jea...

Injured eagle in Schoharie County flies again after recovery

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:40 GMT

GILBOA, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A 3-year-old bald eagle that was found nearly lifeless in Gilboa in January has been released back into the wild after a months-long recovery. Department of Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) report the bald eagle was found on Wednesday, January 25. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! ECOs say town workers plowing the roads found the eagle severely injured in a snowbank on Flat Creek Road. It was brought to the Broome Center Town Maintenance Facility.Image via Department of Environmental ConservationFrom the Town's Maintenance Facility, the eagle was taken to Friends of the Feathered and Furry Wildlife Center for rehabilitation. Just after one day, the eagle was showing signs of improvement.The eagle after one day of treatment at Friends of the Feathered and Furry Wildlife Center. Image via Department of Environmental Conservation. Crash Course: a run-through of the new MLB rule changes After ...

Ask Amy: Husband’s secret Twitter account violates bond

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:40 GMT

Dear Amy: My husband of nine years has a secret Twitter account where he’s been sexting other people, complete with exchanged pictures and videos.I confronted him about it, explained that it crossed boundaries I’m not comfortable with, and he promised he’d delete the account.A few months later, I noticed he’d been avoiding intimacy with me (again) and learned that he was back at it.I confronted him again and he apologized profusely, promising that he really would stop. But he still hasn’t deleted the profile.I feel betrayed and cheated on.It turns out that he wasn’t just messaging other women, but also men.I asked him if that was something he wanted to explore. He’s been very accepting about my own previous involvement with women (I’m bisexual), but he assured me that wasn’t it.I’m wondering if he’s possibly in denial about being bi-curious, due to his conservative family.I know he wouldn’t be comfortable with me doin...

Finland needs welfare cuts, opposition leader says ahead of election

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:40 GMT

Finland needs to reduce spending on unemployment benefits and other welfare programs in order to prevent public debt from rising, Petteri Orpo, an opposition leader, said. This was ahead of a tightly fought election that took place at the weekend.Orpo, 53-year-old chief of the National Coalition, stated that cuts to housing benefits, subsidies to businesses, and other support were necessary to ensure services are viable for the nation's rapidly aging population.Orpo, a career politician, has accused Sanna Marin's government, aged 37, of spending too much in areas such as education and pensions. He has made economic management a key theme of his campaign before Sunday's election."The most significant difference between Sanna Marin’s government and a potential government of mine is what kind of economic policy will we pursue." Orpo stated that her policy was to fix all the debt problems and increase taxes in a March 14 interview.Marin also said she would run a balanced economy. Howeve...

Presale Codes for The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 20th Anniversary Tour Third Release

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:40 GMT

Do you realize? That you have… the ability to still see The Flaming Lips in concert? The band again announced new stops on their Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 20th Anniversary Tour. The epic band will be dotting across the country in honor of their landmark album. The new dates include August 2 in Detroit, MI, August 6 in Philadelphia, PA, August 7 in New Haven, CT and August 26 in Ogden, UT — see below for all dates. Passwords and presale codes for The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 20th Anniversary Tour tickets are as follows:Presale codes for The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 20th Anniversary TourPresale tickets for The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 20th Anniversary Tour go on sale today, March 30 and we’ve been told the following presale codes and passwords may work. Details are subject to change, and vary by event date:Citi card presale code or password: 412800 (you will need a Citi card to make the purchase)Live Nation websit...

Inman: 49ers’ loyalty to Shanahan must pay off like Raiders’ to Madden

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:40 GMT

As Al Davis sat down to reflect on John Madden’s coaching legacy, 30 years had passed since the Raiders’ first Super Bowl victory.“For a while, there were words that we and he couldn’t win the big one, because we had lost so many championship games,” Davis told me in 2006 during an exclusive interview.Fast forward to the modern-day 49ers. They’ve lost in the NFC Championship Game in consecutive years, and they’re three seasons removed from a Super Bowl collapse.Can coach Kyle Shanahan win the big one?Jed York, the 49ers’ CEO, still very much thinks so. He calls Shanahan “special,” and he’s banking on that justified loyalty to pay off for the 49ers just as it did Davis’ Raiders.“We’ve been in three NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl in the last four years. That’s a pretty good run,” York told reporters Tuesday in Phoenix at the NFL’s annual meeting. “It’s not ultimately where we want to be but it’s a pretty good run.”San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanah...