Wars Expanding in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon

Hamas invaded Israel killing over 1,200 and taking ~250 hostages on October 7^th, 2003. Hamas declared war on Israel. Israel responded much more aggressively than Hamas expected, and Palestinians have suffered along with the Israels, while Hamas leaders and fighter were attacked in Gaza.

Hezbollah and occasionally the Houthis have shot missiles into Israel daily since Israel responded to Hamas invasion. In effect Hezbollah declared war on Israel leading up to this week’s response. Many Hezbollah members and leaders were killed and maimed by exploding pagers and walkie talkies. Israel then bombed Lebanon further north towards Beirut where Hezbollah leaders were planning Hezbollah’s 'Conquer the Galilee' attack plan intended to infiltrate Israeli communities and murder innocent civilians. One of Hezbollah senior commanders killed was Ibrahim Aqil, who planned the 1983 bombing on US Embassy in Beirut and Marine Barracks. There was a US $7 million reward on Ibrahim Aqil.

 

Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and Islamic Resistance in Iraq are armed militias sponsored by Iran sending money, weapons and missiles to destroy Israel. Israel declaring war on Hezbollah this weekend by attacking their military assets and leaders. Expect Israel to follow up by entering Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah missile sites and men.

 

What should we do? The only thing terrorist respect is being overpowered and dying as martyrs. They are not looking to negotiate a two state solution. They are planning their next attacks. No one other than terrorist wants to see more civilian deaths. They leave countries no choice.

 

Support Israel by selling and sending weapons. If not, you will have more Putin’s attempting to invade nearby countries. If Europe and US had not created fiscal penalties and sent weapons to Ukraine, we would be looking at the next country to be invaded by Russia. Israel and Ukraine need to be supported militarily with No Limits on usage.

Moral Collapse. Don’t We Recognize Evil?

Israel was attacked by Hamas terrorists. ~1,400 deaths, ~3,500 wounded and ~200 taken as hostages. Thousands of rockets were sent as armed attackers entered Israel. Civilian men, women, and children killed in their neighborhoods and homes. Hostages face more indignities like torture and rape.

Where are the protests supporting the victims? 

Instead we see protests supporting attackers. We see fake news stories like ‘500 Gazans killed in hospital bombing’ repeated in a race to be first to report stories. Everyone jumping to the conclusion Israel committed a war crime.

A bomb hit a parking lot outside hospital (not the hospital), est. deaths ~50 to low 100s, damage was too small to be Israel air strikes, and likely a misfired rocket from Palestinian Islamic Jihad shooting at Israel. (Have you seen any retraction or corrections?)

Ukraine was invaded by Russian military forces from all directions. Indiscriminate bombing killing men, women and children. Captured women raped and men castrated. Children kidnapped and taken away from families to foreign country. 

The war is less than 2 years old and people want to cut off aid to Ukraine. “Negotiate a settlement. Give them Crimea.” We gave Putin Moldova in 1992, Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014. Did that stop Putin from invading the whole country? Prevent other terrorist attacks or invasions with the knowledge victims will be supported and wrongs will be righted despite the cost. You can’t negotiate with killers.

Influenced by Douglas Murray in The Telegram article “The aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel exposes the West’s moral collapse” which I found on MSN (google it). He points out Europe, Australia and US have more pro-Palestine protests. Some even saying ‘Gas the Jews”. 

Anti-Semitism is alive and well. Not recognized as a moral failing. We need to stop it.

I don’t blame the average Gaza or Russian citizen for their leader’s decisions. Often the knowledge is kept from them. My faith tells me to love everyone. Matthew 5:43-44

I Stand with the Jews. I Stand with Ukraine. 

 

Time to Vote for Moderates

Primary season here and a hellish news all week. Hamas terrorizing Israel. Republican House of Representatives self destructing with no majority leader.  And little opportunity of electing one soon.

 

The extremes of both parties are damaging democracy. Left wing extremes are supporting killing, hostage taking, rape and torture of children, women and seniors. 

 

Right wing extremes are supporting shutting down the US government despite the difficulties will create for disabled, employees, and seniors. Why? Because they aren’t getting their way. (they sound like children)

 

Enemies of the US are considering they can ignore US threats. Putin is convinced the west will withdraw from Ukraine before they can win the war. He is playing the long game of war.

 

How do we end this nonsense? Vote for the most moderate candidates running locally and nationally. Doesn’t matter if they lose. Eventually the word will get out we won’t accept people who can’t govern across the aisle.

 

Government is here to support the public. Not the other way around. 

Tax Preparation Software Review 2022

Tax time is here and if you had withholdings on your pay or made over $12,950 you have to file taxes. The easiest way is online with tax website and you have a lot of choices. You can file taxes easily without any upgrades offered to you. If your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is under $73,000 and you use the standard deduction, filing your federal taxes are free. 

 Reviewed tax programs based on ~20 years of filing tax returns online while running businesses or an employee. Prepared tax returns for family members and friends since 1978. Encountered several challenging situations was able to solve and file using different programs. Finished my taxes in 2.5 hours despite state filing and complexity of situation. Takes time to look up all the forms required.

 

Don’t overpay to have taxes done. Approximately 90% of filers only need standard 1040A. Discounts for filing are everywhere from banks, credit cards, credit unions, financial websites, group and employee discounts. Saved $50 this year alone on federal and state filing taxes.

 

AGI is your gross income less 401K/HSA deductions plus interest & investment income. If your income is over $73,000 you can shop several programs below. Standard deductions of $12,950 for singles and $25,900 for married couples are what most people need. Itemizing is possible if you have higher expenses for business, medical, mortgages and charitable deductions.

 

On the IRS.GOV home page click the box “Do Your Taxes for Free”. Click the box “Choose a Free File Online Product”. Then you can read which programs you qualify for. IRS.GOV provides “Lookup Tool” to prequalify you showing which programs work for you.

https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free

 

Tax terminology is confusing. Publication 17 “Your Federal Income Tax (for Individuals)” provides a Free reference (PDF) explaining in plain language more detail what you to do in each tax section and box no if you have questions. Is my bible from preparing my taxes on paper. Between Publication 17 and Google have figured out several complicated situations correctly.

 

Recommend all these programs:

 

FreeTaxUSA.com - did my sister’s taxes in about half hour. One year she needed to cash in a savings bond requiring filing Schedule B Interest form. FreeTaxUSA has simple navigation between sections and help explanations were short and easy to read. Comfortable to use. If you have any experience with a 1040A, provides basic support. State return costs $14.99.

 

CreditKarma.com - expanded into tax preparation. Federal and state returns are free provided you sign up for an account. May not be able to use if you need a few special forms. No personal support like more expensive programs. A good choice if you made over $73,000.

 

TaxSlayer.com - Not used but gets great reviews. $0 Simple tax return including state tax return. If you don’t qualify for free starts at $17 plus additional for state return. Premium is $37 and Self Employed is $47. Works for most people comfortable filling out forms with basic support.

 

TaxACT.com - used for sister’s returns many years. Program for those who are comfortable filling out forms with basic support. Highly recommend. Lot of discounts available.

 

TurboTax.com Online & Phone App - Using almost 20 years now and is my favorite. Software suggests deductions you may have missed. Excellent online and community support if you have questions. Professional support is available too. eFile is painless. If you have business, investments, side hustles and itemize worth the money. Upsell offers get annoying! Highly recommend TurboTax. Lots of discounts available.

 

H&R Block Online & Phone App - One of the largest nationwide tax preparer organizations. Their training is the standard CPAs take annually to know tax law updates. Have not used myself, but Dad and Mom worked for H&R Block after retiring. Reviews are good too. Online provides Free, Deluxe, Premium and Self Employed levels that are higher priced. If your situation is more complicated well worth the money.

 

CPA/Tax Preparers - If you have multiple businesses, investments or rental properties well worth the investment for advice, professional contacts and guidance. Recommend my former CPA in CA any day. Wish had income and those investments to use one.

 

Online tax programs are updated daily, very accurate, and catch errors or typos. E-filing and direct deposit is the way to go to get your refund in weeks. Most of us a simple process of 1 to 2 hours. Start with all your forms to fill out data. Know you can do your taxes easily at minimal cost.

Facing Truth in Europe about the Ukraine War

 Finally seeing articles clarifying truths about war in Europe this weekend. The Guardian and FT had opinion pieces bringing clarity to the situation in Europe. Rolling Stone had a tremendous article by an in-country reporter. 

Putin is not at war only for Ukraine. The goal is to conquer Europe to take back most USSR territory and own the Black Sea. “He has weaponised food, energy and refugees.” The only option is to defeat him militarily per The Guardian. 

Belgium and eastern EU have a fantasy they can negotiate peace for land. Putin thinks he is winning. Looking at maps where Russia controls an eighth of Ukraine, would agree. Why else would he terrorize randomly shelling residential areas. Wants to scare people to surrender.

Putin warned on July 7 that “we haven’t even yet started anything in earnest” in Ukraine. Russia is not on war footing yet. In the Rolling Stone article Edward Lucas, of the Center for European Policy Analysis, “I think Putin’s aim is 1) to render Ukraine non-viable — crippled, uninvestable, in political social and economic torment, and 2) to show that the West doesn’t have the willpower to resist him.” 

FT points out the concentration of spending has been on expensive weapon systems and Europe’s confidence no one would attack NATO led to minimal stockpiles of artillery and other ground force weapons and little manufacturing to produce replacement quickly. Know from working on M-16 and M-203 production lines, the army paid to maintain production capability. We may have lost that knowledge. How quick can we ramp up production in Europe and USA? 

We have many issues to solve beyond providing weapons, and more are needed to stop the war. Feeding the world without Ukraine and Russian production. Europe may have low-income and pensioners freeze to death if we can’t get more natural gas there and find ways to generate more electricity this winter. 

Likely we will be in this war after Putin passes away. He set this up as his legacy. We also need to watch other dictators who want their legacy.

This is War

Ukraine was invaded. By a Tyrant who has done this repeatedly. Georgia. Crimea. Now planning to take over Ukraine. 

People believe negotiations will work? Every cease fire has been broken. Listen to his terms. Putin’s offers are not serious. He is only negotiating to get time to resupply his troops. The plan is to keep attacking. Russia is wants to cut off Ukraine from the Black Sea.

Hitler and other tyrants negotiated and then conquered the countries negotiated deals with. The WW2 veterans I worked with would recognize this situation.

The West has to provide Ukraine with offensive weapons, artillery, drones, bombs and more. Ukraine needs to attack Russian troops and supply lines in Russia. Ships have to be attacked off shore. The fight has to be taken to the aggressor. Crimea and occupied lands need to be taken back.

Do not say this lightly. War is a horrible experience for everyone involved, military, civilians and innocents. Fighting back will take years. 

This is not going to be resolved quickly. The world needs to be saved again.

Tyrants have to be defeated. Or next Putin invades Europe.

Changing Situation and Financial Investments

The high inflation numbers. Fed is going to start raising interest level. Stock market has been volatile changing daily. Worse market is down today. Loud screamers advising sell everything or buy everything. What to do? 

First don’t panic. It is a change in the market. Making drastic or daily moves are not the best idea. No one really knows what the market will do. I have concerns and made changes to my 401K yesterday. Will explain what and why below. (Not a financial adviser. My knowledge is reading a lot of financial articles and subscribing to an advisor)

 

Interest rates were lowered or held low by the Federal Reserve since 2008. Now that inflation has shot up to 7.5% in January the Fed will reacted by raising rates.  An increase from 0-0.25% is way overdue. 3-4 raises to 1-1.25% will not trash the economy this year. Long term the Fed historically overshoots, but may take quite a while.

 

However rate increases will affect bonds, the stock market and possibly slow real estate down. Existing bonds lose value as new bonds with higher interest rates are issued.  Bond market is much larger than the stock market with more transacted daily. The stock market grew ~21% in 2021 as the Fed injected liquidity and low rates. Now the stimulus is being withdrawn and rates going up may affect parts of the stock market more.

 

All I did is move 15% of bond funds into a stable value fund. I moved 30% of stock index funds into actively managed funds. 20% to 2 international investment funds and 10% added to Target year fund.  Closed index fund and Russell 2000 fund. More fees, but experienced management should perform better for the next few years than growth or index investing. Now have 7 different funds in 401K. Am working and contributing. Expecting savings growth despite stock market corrects. Next year will evaluate again.

 

Making investment changes is not an all or nothing approach. No one should be 100% in stocks this year. Nor go to 0% stocks. Be diversified. You could invest in short term bonds up to a year or high interest rate savings instead of stable value funds, but I did not have those options in my 401K. You need to evaluate what you hold and make small changes to balance things out.

 

Think about your retirement funds and make small changes to lower your risk this year. If you are concerned about your situation, get a fee based Fiduciary. For retirees recommend Mauldin Economics Strategic Portfolio (Jared Dillian). Investments are typically 20% stocks, 20% bonds, 20% real estate, 20% commodities/precious metals, and 20% cash for a resilient portfolio. Minimize risk while earning money on your savings.

 

Hope our investments grow this year, but preparing for different times.

Don’t Expect Perfection

Too many ruin their holidays and weeks by expecting perfection. 

Did you get everything you wanted? Of course not.
Were your family and friends annoying? Of course, they are human. Love them anyway.
Were your kids perfect? If so, bottle it and sell for millions.
Were you annoying? Forgive yourself and move on.
Your health or fitness perfect? Please getting over Covid here and stuck with age.
Was work perfect? Please get up off the floor and laugh up here with us.

"Life is what happens to us when we are making other plans" - Thomas la Mance

Be human. Laugh, love, learn and carry on.

What Will Change Your Mind?

Political Anti Vax hard core in denial need not read this. Focused on reasonable people who think for themselves. People who have based their identity on political talking points aren’t listening or thinking facts and results. 

Covid is not going away. The other coronavirus known as the common cold has been with us over 100 years and finds ways to mutate around human defenses. Same with flus which breakout worldwide every year. Humans are too good of hosts not to spread diseases.

 

If you haven’t had Covid or a vaccine, you will catch it. If you catch Covid, you will spread it to loved ones.

 

Coronaviruses are transmitted by breathing them in. The viral load primarily attacks your nose and lungs. All it takes is walking by someone contagious, who may not feel it yet. My car is stuck in the garage over a week so far because everyone in the garage and the owner’s wife caught Covid the week before. One exposure spread to nine coworkers and their families. The latest variants affect all ages. My grandnieces and grandnephew ages 5 to 14 have had it.

 

We resist changing for fear. Look at all the unknowns. None of us lived in a pandemic before. No one wants to make a mistake.

 

The 5^th wave in WA state where the breakout started, and 4^th wave in LA where now working are proving how well vaccines work. ~99% of hospitalizations and deaths are the unvaccinated. Vaccinated and people who had Covid before can still be reinfected, but viral loads are less and they recover much faster. Over 1 billion people have safely been vaccinated. Another 1 billion have their first shots.

 

~10% of unvaccinated people who have caught Covid are hospitalized. ~1% die either from Covid or combined with existing conditions. Side effects of catching Covid may include reduced oxygen to body and brain, loss of physical abilities, not being to exercise, brain fog, impotence and incontinence. Some Long Termers may have these conditions permanently.  

 

Quarantining, masks and contact tracing are somewhat effective in limiting breakouts in countries that applied them. However they have not stopped the disease from returning. The only working solution is vaccines.

 

There are side effects to vaccines. Most of us feel our immune systems working similar to being sick. You likely will have a fever and be tired 12-36 hours afterwards. A rare number have permanent burning or hot metal smells/tastes afterwards. However you can’t catch Covid from a vaccine. The long term effects of vaccines have been studied and will finish approval cycle.

 

We need to spread vaccines worldwide. Is the only way to contain this disease. Too many people are dying until we can lower costs and ramp up production and distribution. Only 14.5% of the world’s population is fully vaccinated and another 13.7% have received one dose. Three quarters of the world’s population will likely catch Covid and breed new variants. Recommend British, Indian, Soviet and US vaccines. Some Chinese vaccines have been much less effective or had manufacturing quality problems. Would take what vaccine is available now, and look into better ones later.

 

"Superior leaders are willing to admit a mistake and cut their losses. Be willing to admit that you've changed your mind. Don't persist when the original decision turns out to be a poor one."  - Brian Tracy

Vaccines are Seat Belts and Airbags of Medicine

 Accidents happen every day. Small dings, fender benders, rear enders, and the major accidents with hospital trips or death. Seat belts and air bags are ready to save your body and life, and reduced travel deaths extensively since being mandated in 1968. 

 

Vaccines get your body ready for an attack by known diseases. Exposing your immune system to a deactivated / weakened bacteria or viruses, your body trains to fight these diseases. You create antibodies to fight the disease in the future.

 

Vaccines are very effective. Smallpox has been eliminated by vaccines. Old enough to remember classmates who had polio and measles permanently affecting them. My father almost died at 13 from whooping cough. CDC lists 14 diseases people forget about because success of vaccines. You are likely alive today because you were vaccinated as a child.

 

Airbags were invented because people were resistant to wearing seat belts, being crippled or dying. Before being required by law in most states, compliance was about 14% in 1983. Now see ~90% compliance. Airbags work more effectively with seat belt usage. Millions of people are alive and not crippled because of seat belts and air bags.

 

SARS Covid 19 causes blood clots, and attacking organs including brain, circulatory, heart, lungs, digestive and reproductive systems. Highly contagious, you can catch from anyone. Kills ~1-2% of infected people. ~10% have long term affects to their organs lasting for months or permanently. Not just a serious flu like originally thought. 3,291,489 deaths to date are likely under reported due to lack of testing. You are more likely to catch Covid than be in a car accident.

 

Was in ‘wait and see’ category to see if there are any problems with new vaccines. January switched to encouraging everyone to get vaccinated because of the data proves safe and effective. What is the alternative? More disabilities and deaths.

 

Encourage everyone to get vaccinated. Copy or share. We want to save lives.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/diseases/forgot-14-diseases.html