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Years of right-wing propaganda about how taxes are out of control.

You're not alone. Almost half the country doesn't pay federal income tax, though, so you might not have any reason to know shit about taxes yet. I know I didn't until I hit 30 and had a mortgage and most of my income wasn't active duty pay anymore.

Damn that looks nice. I've always loved the XJs, such an honest SUV.

How deep into the 33% bracket were you? If not much of your income was taxes at that rate then the decreases at the other levels may not be enough to make up for the changes to the deduction rules. I was expecting bigger savings than I actually saw but I wasn't that deep into the 28% bracket last year. If you were right at 315 then maybe it will make a bigger difference for you.

But I already spent that money! Old me has screwed present me once again.

If you're saying I shouldn't be the type of person who remains intentionally ignorant of my tax burden until it all comes slapping me in the face sometime in late January, my only response is: I know my foibles, leave me alone.

I've been struggling to get my withholding right since my wife went back to work, we owe big again this year and we're actually getting hit with a small penalty for not withholding enough. Nowhere close to being able to itemize this year with the change to the standard deduction and the reduced mortgage deduction. It looks like my effective federal tax rate did go down, though, from 12.8% last year to 12.3% this year. Unfortunately we earned more this year so our overall tax payments went up 2 grand. Thanks Trump! How'd everyone else make out under the new tax rules?

As general rules, 1) whatever small savings you get from an open face helmet aren't worth the lack of face protection (if you value your teeth), even in an HPDE environment shit flies in through the window and smacks me in the helmet on a regular basis; 2) all SA2015 helmets are going to meet the same safety standards, the price difference is in weight and materials. Both of those primarily affect comfort versus safety, however, 2a) a heavier helmet is going to put more strain on your neck without a HANS device, so keep that in mind, and 2b) you want to be comfortable when you're doing something dangerous. But again, doing a 1 day HPDE just to see what it's about is different from jumping both feet first into an expensive hobby, so I'd look at borrowing or renting until you really know what you plan on doing.

I'll definitely say, the helmet situation sucks. SA helmets don't make great motorcycle helmets, partly because of lack of features but also because they lack a DOT stamp, if you're inclined to care about that sort of thing (guessing that's not an issue in Ohio outside of military). So I've got a proper touring motorcycle helmet for if and when I buy a bike again, a smaller helmet for the Vespa, and two SA helmets, one for HANS and one for not. If I ever get my dirt bike back that's going to be a 5th helmet, because surprise surprise, SA and touring helmets make shitty dirt bike helmets. A lot of clubs do offer helmet rentals or loaners, though, so that's worth looking into, especially for a first-time HPDE. I know the PCA and Auto Interests do at least, not sure about NASA.

Don't quote me on drag strips but for autocross you should be fine with an M. Anything at Mid-Ohio will likely require an SA.

Yeah, you can always ask around. I have a couple different brands of mediums you could try on. 7 1/8 hat size.

You're not getting an SA2015 helmet for $100, the bargain basement is $180 and that's a G-Force open face that I wouldn't really recommend. Plan on spending $250-400 for an entry level helmet. Jegs is your best bet for local to Columbus but I don't know what their stock would be down on 11th. Only thing I've managed to do is call them and pick up stuff from their warehouse in Delaware, but that's really more of a warehouse/shipping facility than a showroom. Otherwise, you're looking at a trip up to Akron to go to Track-First, or hit up Mid-Ohio at a day they have their pro-shop open. If you're actually looking for an M2015, then none of the above applies and you probably can go to Iron Pony or something.

Someone asked upthread what people 50+ thought of Supras when they came out, we're not that old but when I was a kid mk2 and mk3 Supras were just kind of around, they were mullet turds that competed with IROCs, Fox bodies and every Indian immigrant driving around in a rusty 280Z. The mk4 was a better car, yes, but only in Turbo form and then it was still only "fast" until the LS1 Camaro came out in 98. I'd say nobody really cared about them until F&F and people started making 1000hp 2JZs all the time, but in 1994 it was an overpriced Toyota and sales suffered for it. The NSX might not have been much faster but it at least looked the part, all aluminum mid-engine, crazy price tag. I don't think you can point to one aspect and say that's what makes a supercar, I think it's just "I know it when I see it." I think the industry term is "supercar performance for real world prices" or something. People are hesitant to call a Corvette a supercar when they build so many of them, although at this point it's got so much damn tech in it there's really nothing separating a Z06 from something like a 458 except prestige.

GPK, I've since started preferring to go to Buckeye because it's closer for me, less drafty, and all they have is karts

I put one together a couple of years ago, I think we had about 8-10 turn out. It was a good time.

Explain. And remember that a funding bill passed 100-0 in the senate.

OK, let's try this then. Two pages ago you said you didn't agree with the shutdown. This is good, because it means (hopefully) that you realize (unlike Trump) that we don't actually "save" any money during a shutdown -- it's just flushing taxpayer money down the drain. But worse, "billionaire" Trump has shut down the government because he wants to spend more taxpayer money than congress will let him. I don't get it, this should be an issue that we can agree on, but you're still making snarky comments, trying to catch us in some kind of liberal hypocrisy (I saw your post before you edited it), and making "orange man bad" jokes. Why can't we call a spade a spade on this one?

What's that in reference to Brandon?

The other day he took credit for the low gas prices. That's his spin.

I genuinely have no idea what will happen in the senate and it's pretty exciting, as far as politics goes. If I HAD to bet I'd say Trump takes his 1.3B in "security updates," claims victory, and signs it, but we'll probably looking at another week of shutdown until he breaks. But who knows!? It's crazytown.

And in "trade wars are good, and easy to win" news: oof.

So the new house today is likely going to pass a spending bill to end the shutdown without funding the wall. I assume this is going to be essentially the same spending packaged that passed 100-0 in the senate last month, the one that Trump said he would sign and then at the 11th hour said he wouldn't sign after Sean Hannity called him a cuck. On Monday Mitch McConnell said he wouldn't send anything to the president that the president wouldn't sign, even though he already passed this exact spending bill, again, 100-0. Any bets on whether or not this spending package will get a vote in the senate?

Yes, I can see how you'd get that impression about liberals when your primary news sources are the daily wire and 4chan. So as a libertarian, tell us why you're for open borders.

nm

He said liberal not libertarian. What issues are you talking about?