Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojkt
Here’s a bit of good news for consumers. Looks like the banks are backing off.
Joining an industry’s retreat in the face of customer protests, Wells Fargo has abandoned the idea of charging debit card fees — the third major bank to back away from such plans in a day.
The San Francisco banking giant had planned to test a monthly $3 fee for users of its debit cards in five states. It said in a statement Friday that it had called off that pilot program “as a response to customer feedback the bank has received.”
“We will continue to stay attuned to what our customers want,” said Ed Kadletz, head of Wells Fargo’s debit card division.
A host of critics including President Obama have attacked Bank of America’s plan to charge account holders $5 a month if they use their debit cards to make purchases. The populist outrage, highlighted by protests staged by the Occupy Wall Street movement, has caused other major U.S. banks to hold off on imposing similar fees.
Earlier Friday, Bank of America backpedaled, saying it would make it easier for its customers to avoid the fee by waiving the charge if they also used BofA credit cards, maintained minimum account balances or made certain direct deposits. Details of the revised plan had not been finalized, a person familiar with the changes said.
Also Friday, JPMorgan Chase said that after its own eight-month testing of $3 monthly debit card fees it had decided against imposing them on its customers.
Citibank, US Bank and Union Bank are among other major institutions that have now taken the no-debit-fee pledge. However, certain regional banks, such as SunTrust and Regions, already have implemented fees similar to those at Bank of America.
Filed under: Uncategorized |
All Things in Moderation 
Looks like Brent and Scott's predictions about the storm were pretty accurate. I hope they both have power, as well as everyone else on the East Coast.STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — A snowstorm with a ferocity more familiar in February than October socked the Northeast over the weekend, knocking out power to 2.7 million, snarling air and highway travel and dumping more than 2 feet of snow in a few spots as it slowly moved north out of New England. Officials warned it could be days before many see electricity restored.The combination of heavy, wet snow, leaf-laden trees and frigid, gusting winds brought down limbs and power lines. At least three deaths were blamed on the weather, and states of emergency were declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York.The 750,000 who lost power in Connecticut broke a record for the state that was set when the remnants of Hurricane Irene hit the state in August. People could be without electricity for as long as a week, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Sunday."If you are without power, you should expect to be without power for a prolonged period of time," he said Saturday night.The storm worsened as it moved north, and communities in western Massachusetts were among the hardest hit. Snowfall totals topped 27 inches in Plainfield, and nearby Windsor had gotten 26 inches by early Sunday.
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Women's work: having been married 18 years, and with my wife for 21, I feel qualified to observe that, while women do indeed work all the time, a great deal of that work is voluntary or OCD. Every trash can does not need to be emptied every hour on the hour. On the other hand, lots of stuff that needs to be done would probably never get done without my wife asking me "what about the yard", etc.
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BTW, I'm hoping for a big snow storm this season. We haven't had a big snow storm for years and years. We've had an ice storm, in 1993, that took out power all over the city. But we don't usually get huge snow storms. I remember a few as a kid, none as an adult. It would be different if we got them a lot ( it would never snow here in November) but we don't, so the novelty would trump the negatives, at least the first time out.
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At the risk of rehashing old Plum Line arguments that have little redeeming value, I would note that Greg's continuing bewilderment at the drop off in blog traffic is amusing and ironic given his validation of the primary cause.Are people on strike again?
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I saw that jnc. I just can't worry about it anymore. I'm having fun here and I think we have some pretty interesting discussions and links so they're on their own AFAIC.Kevin, I asked my husband to go up in the attic this morning and he was sooooooo grumpy about it. I wanted a few Halloween decorations since we're going to be home this year for a change. He found my box but it took some rummaging and guess what? While up there he found another box of coins and rare $1 bills that he'd forgotten about. That should keep him busy on the computer for awhile this morning, looking shit up. He's a happy camper all of a sudden.
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jnc, I was just over at PL. Apoc is insulting everything in sight. Amazing.
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It ain't me, I'm always on strike on the weekends. I make an effort to come here, I almost never showed up on Plum Line. "He found my box but it took some rummaging and guess what? While up there he found another box of coins and rare $1 bills that he'd forgotten about."Heh! I spent about three days cataloging coins for the estate auction of my wife's father–what a waste of time. It barely sold for face value of the coins, and, in total, it should have been at minimum 3 times and more like 8 times face value. Don't go the auction route. Sell silver coins for their metal value.
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Greg's asking about content again? MsJS is over there now trying to explain it to him but naturally apoc/cao is much happier now that so many of us are gone. I don't think some of the posters over there realize that Greg would probably prefer they don't chase people off or that it really started with the tech issues.
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Hi MsJS, I think Greg misses some of us but he just can't seem to put his finger on what's going on. I know for a fact that both Scott and I and maybe Keven sent him an email last time this came up but he still doesn't seem to be able to grasp that it's not his content that chased us off.
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Kevin,We're hoping to be able to save the coins etc. for the kids when we're dead and gone and hopefully they'll sell them for silver value. My husband worked at a dairy for about four years before he went to Vietnam and was always swapping out new coins for old ones, and there were a lot of them. I always want to make him put a pirate hat on when he gets them out.
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I actually do have a problem with recent PL content, but that may be just me.Greg asked me what I thought, so I sent him an email.Meanwhile, Apoc is still going full throttle.
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How was the party last night, lms?And, Kevin, next spring when I'm getting mightily tired of shoveling it I'll try to send a major snow storm your way!
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MsJS, just out of curiosity what content do you have problems with? I remember he made that tactless remark re Tourettes, which pissed a lot of us off and I think he relies too heavily on polls, but what else? I'm not trying to put you on the spot, just wondering from your perspective. Everyone at both sites values your opinion.
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michi, it was great fun, about 50 or 60 people in costumes plus the kids. Unfortunately, about 12:30 pm our youngest who's in New Orleans for her birthday weekend called and said she tripped over a cord and chipped one of her front teeth. She was in tears and we were up for hours after wards, so we're a little tired today. I feel bad because today's actually her birthday (30th) and they're all dressing up tonight etc. I'm sure the dentist will be able to fix it with very little problem but she really values that smile.
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O.M.G.Greg specifically asked me on PL about content. I sent him an email. The first sentence of his response:"I'm a bit surprised by this. It strikes me as a pretty bad misreading of the content that's been up of late."
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lms: bummer about the tooth, although as one of Ghaddafi's body guards she should be doing a lot of scowling at people tonight, anyway. I've never actually chipped a tooth badly enough to need a dentist, but the two times I've done a teeny bit of damage it hurt like hell. Hopefully she's able to find some way to numb it. And I think you're right about the dentist being able to fix it without much problem.Is it just me, or does Greg not seem quite himself lately (and by lately I mean the last few months). I read PL and skim the comments, but it's not as "must read" as it used to be, which actually doesn't have anything to do with ATiM.
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Michi, that's how I feel and that's what I told him. And he responds by saying I'm badly misreading the content.Owie on the tooth. Uggh.
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"I'm a bit surprised by this. It strikes me as a pretty bad misreading of the content that's been up of late."Wow MsJS, Greg seems a touch defensive. He shouldn't have asked if he didn't want an honest opinion. Oh and jnc, apoc just said you're one of the ones worthy of skipping as well as sbj. You know when I first showed up a the PL, sbj, scott, liam, bernie and qb were already there and Greg actually invited some of them (sbj for sure) over from TPM to comment at his new site. Ironic no?
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"Ironic no?"That was my original point. I try to eschew personal commentary about other posters, but I would note that the main issue with apoc is that in addition to the vitriol in his own posts, his interaction with other commentators tends to degrade the quality of their commentary as well when they respond to him. I have a mental "ignore" button set up for him, except in certain rare cases. The best thing Greg could do to improve Plum Line would be to get the Washington Post to implement an ignore option, ala TrollBlocker. That would address 99% of the problems.
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"I know for a fact that both Scott and I and maybe Keven sent him an email last time this came up but he still doesn't seem to be able to grasp that it's not his content that chased us off."I pretty much said it was Apoc (also tech stuff) and that there's really only one answer if Greg doesn't want drift: an ignore button. It solves lots of folks issues with Apoc, other folks issues with Battleground, other folks issues with Jake. If I were writing the code for this blog from scratch, I'd have an ignore button! I don't always must-read Plum Line because we've got this, and it consumes enough of my time as it is. But it seems pretty good (not as big a fan of his assistant bloggers, but Greg seems fine, understanding that's an opinion blogger).
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jncp4: "his interaction with other commentators tends to degrade the quality of their commentary as well when they respond to him. "I resemble that remark. Alas, could not help myself this morning. Another reason, alas, for keeping my distant (at least, until there's an "Ignore" button. I'm still beating that drum).
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Ah, but Kevin, you are awkward, facetious, and commonly distasteful, so what do you know???:-)Thanks for liking the boots last night, BTW.
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MsJS: did you critique the content of his blog? Or the quality of some of the commentary?
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"Ah, but Kevin, you are awkward, facetious, and commonly distasteful"All true, but that just adds to my charm. 😉
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FWIW, it was ddawd and the capricious blog nanny, followed shortly by the arrival of beach, that finally drove me away from PL comments, not apoc. The pile-on attitude of some of the left leaners got to be a bit much. I do still read Greg's posts always and sometimes Jonathan's, but not so much the comments. More likely to just scan those for links.
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You know I like Chris, but I found that set of insults particularly funny.
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Kevin: He specifically asked for my feedback on content. I said basically what Michi and lms said. Content of late not as compelling, too many polls for my taste and I'm not a Bernstein fan.I also provided my opinion of how Apoc and beach detract from the quality of the commentary and Methode's seemingly intractable problems, to which he did not respond.
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FYI, Greg has apologized for his remark I quoted.
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Quick question: how many years back should I keep income tax returns? I'm having an exciting day of shredding documents going back 22 years and I'm sure I don't have to keep all of them! 🙂
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Before I forget, Michgoose, "Boots & Pieces"? Extra double-plus good, comrade! Extra double-plus good.
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I don't keep income tax stuff over 10 years. I think 7 years is the maximum audit window.
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"and I'm not a Bernstein fan."So that's not just me. 😉
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My accountant says 8 years. If you've ever been audited for filing a fraudulent return, keep everything forever.IRS publication 552 has more.
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Thanks, Kev (for both) and MsJS. I'll keep 8; never been audited and 8 seems reasonable.Twenty-two not so much (I wonder if I had a little OCD going on????)!
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I never really cared, one way or another, for Greg's content. For me, it was the comment section that drew me. With the new software, it's just a nightmare. This blog is now my first stop on the inter web.As for pols, they've always been a way for the media to generate content and drive opinion in an age of "objective" media, when it's considered bad to be upfront with your bias. Another reason to eschew the deceitful "objective journalism" model.
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Pols= polls.
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The only reason I've ever accumulated up to and past ten is keeping it in the attic, or the back of a file cabinet. It just doesn't occur to me to purge. No statute of limitations on future audits if you've been audited for a fraudulent return? Interesting.
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I actually got sucked in to Plum Line by Ethan2010's going ballistic (and lunatistic) on me. It was so bizarre, and I was in a mood to try responding to lunacy with ever-increasing levels of placidity. I apparently actually drove Ethan off for a short period of time. So, on the one hand, I complain about hostile conversationalists. On the other, I am often drawn to them. Oh, the heart is a lonely hunter.
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Well, that was loads of fun. . . two boxes of documents that had been squirreled away (not in an attic, Kevin, but in the back of a closet) are now shredded. On the plus side, I found my PADI Divemaster certificate and card which I thought had gone missing–yea!It is an absolutely beautiful day here in SLC, so I'm going to go for a hike now. Catch you guys later!
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Just for fun, I've started a new thread.
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