A Sinking Story

 So this is a little history story....which was pretty solid on facts, until recently, and now....maybe the facts aren't facts.

There was this ship built at a German shipyard in 1980....as a ferry.  The original name was Viking Salley.  For ten years, it remained with the original company, then went through several different operations/names.  Things like this occur all the time.  

In 1993, it was renamed 'Estonia', and was a regular ferry between Estonia and Stockholm, Sweden.

On 28 September 1994, it left port in Estonia around 6:30 PM.  Around six hours would pass, and then it'd starting sinking....real fast.  Out of 989 people onboard....852 did not survive.  A lot of the deaths were simply because of the temperature in the waters, and the rapid sinking.  

An investigation was held (by Swedish authorities).  The blame? It goes to two chief factors....the load onboard (trucks and cars) was not evenly balanced, and the entry door on the vessel was not completely closed....allowing water in. 

Then the Swedes did something interesting....they declared it a vessel to not be explored or reviewed.  Then they arranged a contract with a company to dump rocks over the vessel.  

Yeah, it is a bit odd.  This might be occasionally done in harbors or lakes, but not in the middle of the sea. 

The contracted company?  They went and did the rock dumping and then kinda said it was insufficient. Whoever did the estimate for the government....drastically under-estimated the amount of rocks required.   The company said this to Sweden, but no one wanted to fund a second or third dumping of rocks....so this whole thing just wrapped up.  It's not covered.  

Now, there is this one curious thing that was said by a diver who arrived on the scene around the day or two after the episode.  He said, without any doubt....there's this 4-meter hole on the side of the vessel.  He doesn't say if it's bent inward or outward....just that there is a hole where it should not be.

So in the past couple of months (2020, roughly 25 years after the event), an Estonia film crew went down.  They've got video.  There is this four-meter hole there. 

In the past week, the Estonian PM met with the Swedish and Finnish PM.  The Swedes say the ship discussion didn't come up.  The Estonian and Finns say absolutely nothing.

The question here is....is this hole inward, or outward? 

If it's outward, then an explosion took place on the Estonia of a major  type.  

If it's inward, then a torpedo of some type hit the Estonia.

Who would want to sink the vessel?  Unknown.  

The problem I have with the original story of the door on the vessel not closed....some crew-members would have noticed this an hour into the trip, with water flowing in.  No emergency is called for six hours.  So I'm kinda disbelieving the door being open story.

If the Swedes knew of the hole, and they basically wrote a whole fake report over the sinking....pretending the open door explanation is the end-all solution?  Well....I'd have to bring in the entire government (party in charge) at the time, and basically fire each single guy.

But it all begs questions.....why blowing up the ship or hitting it with a torpedo?  

Just something to make you wonder.

Added note:  I chatted with a Brit who is familiar with the region, and his suggest is that a fishing trawler hit the ferry in the darkness, and simply moved on in the night (remember, this was after midnight).  It's an interesting scenario, but trawler would have suffered damage and had to pull into some port later....to explain the damage done.  

Sarge as a Garbage Guy in NY City?

 Because of manpower cuts in NY City (remember, everything is marginally functioning, so tax revenue isn't there)....the city has cut back on garbage collection.

So yesterday, the Governor (Cuomo) said that he's open to the idea of bringing in NY state National Guardsmen....to collect garbage.

I sat and pondered over this.

Having spent 22 years in the Air Force, and known a number of Guardsmen over the years, I'd generally say that 10-percent might go along with this order, but the rest would be like....if you got money to pay us as Guardsmen to collect garbage....you ought to have money to pay real garbagemen to do the work.

But here's the honest truth....the normal average salary for a NY City garbage guy is $59k a year.  If you count in over-time?  Some might admit that they clear around $5k to $8k a year on extra over-time.  

Your average Army E4?  $30.6k a year.  Your average Army E2? $22.6k a year. 

So the reality is that by dumping the 22-year old 'kid' onto this job....you are saving $29k. 

Putting Sarge in as the driver and having 'Private Snuffy' and 'Private Marvin' as his crew?  You just saved in the range of $100k on salary requirements for one truck.

Managing Sarge, with his two privates?  If you figure ten trucks....there's probably one Guard Captain.  Course, in his case....he was probably a manager of some concrete plant....making $100k a year, and this is a huge disappointment being forced to work three or four months as some Guardsman, and taking a huge pay-cut.  Course, I'd say the same for Sarge and his two privates as well.

But here's the potential comedy brewing.  Out of a thousand real garbage guys laid off...you have to figure that at least ten of them probably were National Guardsmen and this order to potentially report for duty....to do your garbage job for 30-percent less pay....is going to frustrate you to a massive extent.

Could this whole thing turn into a major mess....with Guardsmen doing the job not just for three months, but maybe for an entire year?  That's the scenario that I'd worry about.  And frankly, Sarge....Snuffy and Marvin....ought to be standing there and asking for some bonus deal in the mix.  

What ought to happen here....some TV production company should pick out a Sarge/Snuffy/Marvin crew and just accompany them in a Seinfeld-type way, and run a regular series on Guardsmen as garbage guys.  It might be fairly entertaining. 

The 'Extended Eye' Thing

 Besides big-government bans for Covid-19, there are city bans as well, and today....it came out that a pub by itself....made up a ban rule.

This occurred in London, at a regular pub.  'Extended eye contact' is forbidden by the operators of this pub.

I sat and reviewed the term.    

Generally, at least on the handful of occasions that I've sipped ale in England at a authentic pub....along about 10 PM....folks had a fair amount of ale, and full eye contact was more or less the situation going on.  I wouldn't say we were all drunk at the stand or table....but we had enough to focus entirely upon the guy telling the story, or the episode of 'woe' that he was endearing.

So you sit and ponder upon this....how will you ensure you aren't conducting full-up 5000-percent eye contact?

What if this were a London damsel....with a weird dragon tattoo on her neck, and telling some great Shakespearian story over love-found and love-lost?  Could you cut the extended eye contact and just stare at the wall while listening to her?  Could you pretend she didn't exist?  

What if this damsel had a big long tattoo running up her leg and you were gazing for an extended time at the leg?  Would that be enough to get you in trouble with the barkeeper?  

Would there be some 'bouncer' at the bar....gazing around the room, looking for you rough guys who are conducting 'extended eye contact'?  Would he come over and give you a one-time warning?  Would he tap you on the back of the head and tell you to wise-up and cease the eye contact, or leave the pub?

All of this....because of Covid-19?  

How I Would Resolve The Tax Mess

Since the NY Times wants to talk about taxes.....why not talk tax reform?

1.  Dump the 80k page federal tax code.  Reform it to no more than forty pages.  A 7th-grader should be able to read it and comprehend it.

2.  Yearly tax code pieces added by Congressmen and Senators to be published every December, with the name of the Senator or House member.  

3.  All personal federal tax rates will be set to one of four formulas: (A) you make less than $25k a year and pay 2-percent federal tax. (B) you make between $25k and $50k, and pay a 5-percent.  (C) you make $50k to $100k, and pay 8-percent.  (D) everyone with over $100k, you pay 11-percent.

4.  You shrink the government to the size of the budget.

5. You limit each Congressman and Senator to only 8 staff members, and the travel budget should be reduced down to less than $10k per year.  

6.  All businesses pay a tax unless you can prove you ran at a loss.  Those making less than $250k a year, pay 5-percent.  Those making between $250k and $999k would pay 9-percent.  And those making over one-million would pay 11-percent.

7.  The only credits for people?  If you lived in a disaster area, or suffered from some drought-like situation, you'd get a credit.  Otherwise, we dump all these credits entirely.

8.  Every Congressman/Senator would have to publish their full tax return on a yearly basis.  Failure to publish it?  You get a one-month suspension from the job, and the Governor is allowed to send a temp up while you settle up your personal mess. If it hasn't cleared by the 2nd month, give the temp the job for the next six months.

9.  State taxes would be limited to a max of 3-percent of your total income.  If a state can't make it with that budget, the governor will be given 12 months to produce a new budget or be suspended from his job.

10.  The yearly tax form should be developed and simple enough....that a 7th-grade drop-out should be able to fill it out.  

Real Hype Versus Fake Hype

 With all this hype by the NY Times on Trump debt....I just sat there looking at the landscape.

According to factual data....$1.6-trillion is now owed on college debt in America.  The average is around $37k for each college-debt holder.  Some folks will grin and remarkably admit....they owe near $90k at age 22, and their degree in animal husbandry won't ever gain them more than $40k a year in earned income.

How about debt on credit cards?  I worked with a ex-Marine who had near $80k in credit card debt.  Her end-result?  She ended up doing two years of Iraqi-contractor duty to erase that down to zero.  

How about the idiots who buy a $300k house, with only a $25k down-payment?

What about the couple who goes out to buy a $17k speed-boat, and $180 monthly for the next five years....to pay off the boat?

What about the idiot guy who buys a $140k RV and two-thirds of this is financed as a long-term loan?

While stationed at Bitburg Air Base, I worked around a young airman who financed a brand new Ford Mustang, and for a two-year period, 60-percent of his take-home pay was going to the car loan.

While stationed in Tucson, AZ....I worked in a unit that a young lady went to the bank and financed a $30k wedding 'experience', and was saddled with this debt on day one of couple-status....not telling the guy until three months later.

The problem here with the NY Times trying to get people hyped-up on Trump's debt....they have missed the bigger picture of the entire nation.  

Trump and Taxes

 If you owned a motel (say 60 rooms) and successfully ran it....you might have an profit situation of $100k a year (meaning you and wife managed it, and hired cheap help for maintenance and room-care).  Then you go and hire up a fancy-pants accountant.

He would go to the depreciation tables, renovation projects (that you had bills for), and go to every 'credit' possible.  Normally, you would figure the guy would pay around 30-percent of his income for federal taxes, and probably 6 to 8 percent on state taxes (depending on the state).

Well....with everything figured up.....you might be able to pay less than $10k a year on federal taxes, and probably near half that amount on state taxes (depending on the state).  

(Don't get excited....the property tax bill will come, and that's probably in the $5k range for your local town)

Who writes the 80k pages of tax code and depreciation tables?  Well.....your Senators and House members.  Who writes the likely 4k pages of state tax code and depreciation tables?  Well....state Senators and state House members.

Farmers do it.  Shrimp fishermen do it.  Ranchers do it.  Grocery operations do it.  Nightclubs do it.  Casinos do it.  

Trump doing something wrong?  No.  His accountant read the tax code, and put Trump in the best position possible.  

If Nancy and Chuck are angry?  Well....why not talk about tax-reform?  

I'm pretty sure they will avoid that topic, and once you start making a big mess out of this....over 100k big-name folks (some Hollywood types) will present their tax paperwork, and be in the same situation.  

My take on the Trump accountant?  He's probably paid at least a million a year....to make sure no audit can occur on Trump's paperwork.  

Meanwhile....all that Ukraine and Russian-whore money that Hunter made.....did he declare it on his taxes?  Just curious.  

The Dead Guy in the Trunk Story

 One curious aspect of the Breonna Taylor episode in Kentucky stands out.

In 2016, Taylor went out and rented a car.  No one ever asks why, and maybe that part of the story doesn't really matter.  As a EMT at the time, she had income and a credit card.  

Somewhere in the days of this rental....the car trunk ends up with a dead body in the back. 

The body?  It's a 'friend' or 'associate' (depending on who tells the story) of her then old-boyfriend, who was a dope-dealer. 

Curiously, the guy is shot eight times.

Typically....if it was an accidental discharge....there's usually just one round in a guy.  Eight rounds?  There was some anger or upset feelings involved.

So the police of the town come around and ask questions of Taylor (she is on the rental contract).  She more or less....knows nothing.  She had to know the dead guy, because of the relationship to the then-boyfriend.  She had to even be on a first-name basis with the dead guy.  

At this point, in a normal family situation.....relatives should have come into the picture and said in a clear voice....dead bodies in a rental car under your name...are a sign of seriously bad path for life. The same relatives would have told you to pack up a bag, and get you moved to some other state....away from these circumstances.

The police are left with no real evidence....no one admitting anything, and just write the dead guy with eight bullet entries as unsolvable. 

By the grace of God, you were given a blank check, and logic would dictate walking away completely.  She did nothing.

She stayed on the same path.