I have a question about whether covid relief stimulus funds should only be sent to people who need them.

Are Stimulus funds considered to be income? If so, on next year's federal taxes, for those people with higher incomes, does the higher tax rate basically recoup the $2000 which was sent to them? Hence, in the long run the people who need the stimulus get it and those who don't need it, pay it back in their federal taxes?

This question came up at a recent dinner party.

Trump thought the words of his swearing-in was, "I will faithfully execute the United States...."

He tried, but didn't work.

asking for a friend since I have asthma and don't partake.


1) Emergency federal legalizing of pot, especially in states with insurgency hot spots.

2) Install smudge pots around the Capitol and burn 'hemp' during protests.

If the states are now really not purple but clusters of red and blue. I was wondering how many US cities are larger than the state of Wyoming, which turns out to be 32. What if any city which fits that category is allowed a (one or two) Senators of its own? The rest of the state still keeps its own 2.

The numbers can be adjusted but that's the basic premise, to give cities and rural areas their distinctive voice. ( I'll bet in some states, it would turn out that the one big city will have a population greater than the rest of the state, so therefore why should the city only have one Senator while the rest of the state has 2?)

Turns out Texas has several cities which fit this category. I'm sure the 'Texas republic' would not care to have its cities with multiple Senators and the rest of the state with only the traditional two.

Anyway, just thinking about this on a Friday morning. No chance this will happen.

I'm no professional baker, just a recent retiree who loves freshly home baked bread.

Weigh ingredients. My go-to proportion is 4 parts flour: 3 parts liquid. For a smaller loaf, 400g flour with 300g water (or total of water, milk, egg and olive oil). This will result in a relatively wet dough.

Add a little butter or olive oil because I feel it keeps the bread from drying out to quickly.

Use good yeast, like Platinum yeast, available online.

Warm the flour in a microwave for 30 seconds. If you have a powerful microwave, cut back on the timer because you don't want to cook the flour. This warm flour speeds up the first rise.

If you use regular all purpose flour, add a 1-2 Tablespoons of Vital Wheat Gluten.
If you skip this step, I'm sure you will still have a nice loaf of bread

For the first rise, place the bowl in the trivet in an Instant Pot and press the Yogurt function.
I also use the IP for the second rise.

Consider withholding olive oil or butter until the 1st rise and dribble some over the surface of the dough so the dough doesn't dry out.

Between the 1st and 2nd rise, sprinkle some flour on the dough such that you can knead the dough. Try to stretch & fold the dough on itself at least 10 times- it results in a rise which won't collapse. (This secret I learned from a chef on YouTube.)

Just before 2nd rise, insert an oven temperature probe in the dough. I use a tall sided silicone veggie strainer with holes, so the probe goes in one hole and out the opposite side.
Silicone can be placed in the oven and after the finish bread cools down, the silicone peels away from the bread without ripping the crust.

I read cautions about using too much salt in the dough because it may interfere with the action of the yeast. So, I use no more than 1 ½ t. in the dough but after I place the dough in the IP for the second rise, I crack some coarse pink Himalayan salt on the surface of the dough.

Forget trying to time the length of time in the oven, base your results for removing the bread on the temperature probe reaching 200ºF. Sometimes I wait until the temperature reaches 205ºF.

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Please add your own tricks because I am constantly searching for the ultimate recipe and techniques

Can we as a country make a conscience effort to move away from using 'war' rhetoric?

I just saw on MSNBC the rerun of Tom Brokaw's contribution, saying that the Democratic party is 'at war among itself'. The USA has a war mentality even in the simplest terms or phrases.

I recall someone (Joe Scarborough?) inviting two men onto this show with clearly opposing views, but he introduced the segment and a "shoot-out". Yes, it's literary.
Is it so wrong to say 'we are inviting guests with totally different outlooks'?

It's time to bite our collective tongues using such phrases.

if a President is convicted of crimes, and if those given pardons by the President are directly related to those crimes, would the pardons become null and void? (in the sense that the pardons were used as cover-up devices)

This is my annual posting about November 11. I refer to it as the former name, Armistice Day.

It is the day of Celebration of restored Peace in the world.

those friends of mine who support keeping the Electoral College, state that their areas will not be represented if New York and California elect a new President if there is no Electoral College.

My sarcastic reply is, 'that's what your gerrymandered districts are for. How much representation do you need?'