It seems like more and more people out there are questioning people’s motives, claiming that they are up to no good. Many believe the wealthy and the powerful are doing things dishonestly to make themselves wealthier. Maybe there is some cheating around the edges but I think most people act professionally and while incumbent players may benefit from the established rules, and as such I find most conspiracy theories hard to believe. Folks like to talk and there are always investigative reporters and whistle blowers willing to leak out any conspiracy. As such, most conspiracy theories are unlikely to exist.
China said Friday it will impose new tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. goods and resume duties on American autos.
The Chinese State Council said it decided to slap tariffs ranging from 5% to 10% on $75 billion U.S. goods in two batches effective on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15. That happens to be when President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs on Chinese goods are to take effect.
It also said a 25% tariff will be imposed on U.S. cars and a 5% on auto parts and components, which will go into effect on Dec.15. China had paused these tariffs in April.
Real Property Tax Law 1590 requires that municipalities post their tax rolls, within 10 days of the proposed and final rolls being approved. The rolls are generally searchable PDF files, but that isn't that helpful if you are trying to search and compare multiple properties or want to use the North-East Coordinate data to make a map.
This script -- which uses the Linux program pdfttext and other common Linux commands to convert the PDF to a text file, then processes it into a .CSV file that can be opened with a GIS program such as Quantum GIS or a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc.
Real Property Tax Law 1590 requires that municipalities post their tax rolls, within 10 days of the proposed and final rolls being approved. Below is an PHP script that will extract the reports into a CSV file for importing into Microsoft Excel or a GIS program. It extracts the text from the PDF using pdftotext from the poppler-util.
Whether it is the roster of the Board of Governors of the Smithsonian Institution or the benefit committee of a typical Washington charity gala, there are always a number of names preceded by "Honorable,'' instead of the usual Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. How this came about in a country whose Constitution expressly forbids the granting of titles amuses some and irritates others. At the very least its widespread usage raises some eyebrows.
Traditionally the British use the "Hon.'' (originally abbreviated from "The Right Honorable Magnificence of Nobles''), to identify certain family members of hereditary barons and earls, i.e., their daughters, younger sons and the younger sons' wives. In America, however, such inherited titles were rare among the early colonists, and after independence there was no king to grant new ones.
That did not mean this country developed along totally egalitarian lines. Even in a democracy it was only natural that ways had to be found to distinguish the elite from the hoi polloi, the rulers from the ruled. The conferment of titles, although prevented by the Constitution, was effectively achieved by political success.
Notice that I did not say I am anti-cop (though many people will likely assume that anyway). I am not anti-cop because I recognize that some police officers are truly doing their jobs. They believe in justice, and follow the motto to “protect and serve.” That being said, I do not support the police. I am anti-police. Not on an individual level, but on an institutional level. Because the institution of the police, whether you look at a single department or entire states, has proven to be persecutory and ruthless.
Local governments regularly express the need for increased sources of revenue. I have a suggestion to raise revenue — allow local police departments to sell heroin to addicts.👮💉
Heroin is an addictive substance, which would mean it’s a dependable source of revenue. 💰Chemical addiction means that addicts will keep coming back to the local police department with large amounts of cash, and transactions can occur.💸 Existing police facilities can be used, so the cost of staffing such dispensaries would be low cost.🚨
Some people saying that the government shouldn’t be feeding the addictions of drug users. Most local governments would disagree.🏯 They would note that 3% of all gross revenue from heroin sales is being put away to fund the needs of addicts to get treatment, should they have an addiction problem with heroin🚬. In contrast, the sales of heroin is only intended for recreational users, NOT addicts, and those suffering from temporary pain.
Government is increasingly addicted to increased revenue so selling hard drugs like every other addict makes a lot of sense. 🚧Sure it’s a deprived activity for government to exploit addicted individuals but it’s no different than government schemes to encourage commercial development of wild spaces to increaserevenue. 🐸
