Jessica 'Elle' Smith Ⓥ

"Without taxes, how will we get [whatever you want taxes for]?" is the same as: "Without slavery, who will pick the cotton?" "Without rape, how will we have kids?" "Without carjacking, how will we get cars?" "Without kidnapping, how will we get friends?" Consent matters.

Public service announcement for homeowners who get upset when they call a business and receive a quote that is not commensurate with DIY project costs: go buy your own materials, have them ready and waiting at your house, and call someone off Craigslist for the install. Stop calling pros with overhead to cover and wasting our time crying that you're being exploited because we won't take a loss on your problem for you.

I agree, save for one caveat: It isn't damning anyone. Without showing the underlying cause (and thus who is damned/incriminated by what his chart shows), it's just collective lamenting into the void. Point people at the actual disease that led to this symptom.

Tax burden in cents on a gallon of gas, by state: California 92.0 Illinois 88.8 Indiana 81.5* Washington 78.6 Pennsylvania 77.1 Michigan 71.8 New Jersey 67.6 Maryland 65.2 Virginia 60.8 North Carolina 59.7 Rhode Island 59.5 Florida 58.5 Oregon 58.4 Ohio 56.9 West Virginia 54.1 D.C. 54.1 Vermont 53.3 Georgia 52.5 Montana 52.2 Idaho 51.4 Wisconsin 51.3 Minnesota 51.1 Nebraska 51.1 Utah 51.0 Maine 49.9 Alabama 49.4 Colorado 48.6 Iowa 48.4 South Dakota 48.4 Missouri 48.4 South Carolina 47.2 Massachusetts 46.0 Tennessee 45.8 Kentucky 44.8 Kansas 43.4 Arkansas 43.4 Connecticut 43.4 Nevada 43.2 Mississippi 42.8 New York 42.6 Wyoming 42.4 New Hampshire 42.2 North Dakota 41.4 Delaware 41.4 Louisiana 39.3 Oklahoma 38.4 Texas 38.4 Arizona 37.4 New Mexico 37.3 Hawaii 36.9 Alaska 27.4 *statutory; currently only 18.4 while state tax is suspended

How would it work to no longer spend billions yearly on busywork that hasn't stopped a single terrorist, constantly fails audits, and whose estimated economic opportunity cost is in the trillions? Pretty well, I'd wager.

"humbled by the trust"...?? In what universe is "fear of retaliation so we miserably tolerate what you're doing" trust, exactly? The first flock protest I ever saw was right here in st johns county. We don't trust you. Take them ALL down.

Now that's a win. Hope surrounding counties (and everywhere really) do the same

In 1920, 6 100oz gold bars would get you the median home. It was ~1,000 sq ft. In 1980, the same 6 100oz gold bars would get you the median home... 3.75 times over. It was ~1550 sq ft. In 2025, those exact same 6 100oz gold bars would get you the median home... 6.15 times over. It was about 2150 sq ft. They've done this so long and so hard that most people today don't even get the chance to recognize the mind bending gains in productivity this illustration proves: that housing, food, all of it have gotten dramatically cheaper, thanks to capitalism managing to do what it does despite unrelenting govt interference. Because of competition, the same amount of value in 1920 that got you 1000 sq ft would get you 13,000 sq ft in 2025. That's an incredible 92.5% price decrease, on a product that has VASTLY improved in ways I'm not even accounting for in this math (a/c, plumbing, fire rating, and more). But that's nearly impossible to see and appreciate because our overlords have so heavily obscured it with breathtaking expansion and overspending.

I see people taking the sound bites from the Sermon on the Mount completely out of context a lot, thanks (presumably) to a long history of bad teaching in the church. We've all heard these watered down, contextless, admonishments: "Turn the other cheek." "If someone asks you to go a mile, go two." "If someone asks for your coat, give them your shirt too." Jesus was not teaching submission to abuse or self-harming generosity; he was teaching a brilliant, subversive form of nonviolent resistance. Here is the actual history and context that you've been deprived of: 1. Turning the other cheek is about social dignity. A strike to the right cheek meant the attacker used a backhand. This was a specific cultural gesture used by a social superior to discipline an inferior. An open-handed slap (or a punch) was reserved for equals. The attacker could not switch to their left hand, because the left hand was strictly reserved for unclean tasks and bathroom hygiene. Using the left hand in public was a massive cultural taboo. By turning the left cheek, the victim physically traps the aggressor. To strike again with the right hand, the oppressor is forced to use an open palm, legally and socially recognizing the victim as an equal. It strips the abuser of their power to humiliate. 2. Walking the second mile is about turning the tables and exposing your abuser to legal vulnerability. Under Roman military law, a soldier could legally force a subject civilian to carry his heavy pack. However, to prevent rebellions, military law strictly capped this at one mile. Forcing a civilian to go further carried severe military penalties. By insisting on carrying the pack further than a mile, the dynamic flips. The soldier goes from an intimidating oppressor to a panicked lawbreaker begging the peasant for his gear back before a superior officer catches him. 3. Giving the cloak off your back is about publicly calling out and shaming greed and economic oppression. Poor debtors were routinely taken to court by wealthy creditors who demanded the debtor's outer garment as collateral. Jesus tells the debtor to hand over their inner tunic as well, leaving them completely naked in court. In ancient Jewish culture, public nudity did not shame the naked person; it brought intense religious and social shame onto the person viewing it. Walking out naked turned the courtroom into a public stage that completely shamed the creditor for their greed and made them think twice before coming after the already-economically vulnerable. Jesus was speaking to an occupied, oppressed population and giving them a better way than just violence or compliance: assert your humanity, break the system, and turn the tables on those who would abuse you.

This is the last text exchange my brother and I will ever have. 6 weeks later and he's gone. Don't wait. Hug a little longer, a little harder. Take the road trip. Pick up the phone. You never know when you just won't get to anymore. 💔

My dad traveled every week for work. He would buy a novel before each trip, read it with a black felt tip pen in hand, and censor adult content and cuss words as he read. Then he would give us the books to read upon his return. I constantly had the books taken away from me in elementary school until the adult confiscating my book saw that it was edited. By the time I finished 5th grade, I'd read hundreds of books that weren't written for children. Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton, Stephen King, Clive Cussler, and more. And that was over and above the classics. Kids are entirely capable of handling rich worlds and complex ideas. We need to stop treating childhood like an intellectual waiting room.

went to pull a walmart order to make a warranty claim on my ice maker that is going haywire and realized i'm going to look way more bougie than i actually am with this receipt. DON'T JUDGE ME BRO IT WAS FOR A FAMILY BBQ.

Well that's just great. Nearly stepped on him barefoot while watering the squash. 😬