text:
A short white flash, then darkness. When the room started to become visible again the walls were close, too close to be comfortable. But this was not the first time. Seb knew what to do.

"Get up." He said it slowly, commanding himself to expand, just the way he had trained it. But even after so many times it still didn't work.
"Get up! Get up! Get up!"

Finally his body began to expand, legs protruded from his limb round torso, fingertips slowly pushed through the rubbery sides, reshaping the ball in an incomplete star. Finally his eyes began to move upwards and with them the room began to expand. Not just upwards, as it always did, this time it also expanded to the sides, the way Subject 3 had described it.

Seb would have had a smile on his lips, if he had had a face, but it was still beginning to form. His body was still just an egg-shape with spikes at the bottom and sides.

While suppressing the pain that his tearing skin signaled to his brain he thought to himself that this must be what giving birth feels like. Maybe he should stop making jokes about women after all.

After an hour of effort he had shaped all of his hands and the stumps of his arms nearly up to the elbows. The right hand protruded further than the left, and it also felt bigger. But was that really the right? He wasn't sure on which side his eyes would end up.

The team had warned him against trying too much at once, but all went smoothly and so Anton decided to try his luck. Exerting pressure on what felt like his stomach or lungs, he slowly pressed downwards and ignored the feeling of ripping tissue that accompanied the push.

His legs formed quicker than his arms. He already had his knees completely shaped before he refocused on his arms, bit his unformed lip and pushed to painfully protrude the bigger part of his right biceps. Through trial and error - getting the angle right was still not easy - he finally managed to shape his right shoulder. That was a first.

The left shoulder formed quickly and he barely felt the torn skin. There was a disturbing feeling - a sound, or maybe a smell - but that was maybe just a normal event at this level, after all he was one of the first to reach this state.

Shifting his focus again to his legs he pushed harder on his stomach and was surprised that his legs seemed to be surrounded by a slimy and warm texture. Despite, or maybe beause of the gentle lubrication, his legs kept forming with relative ease. Muscles and bones smoothly moved into place, even the pain seemed to fade away.

He felt a slight pressure on his shoulder and there was distinct chattering in the background, but he was too far to stop. His legs were nearly complete, his hips clicking into place for the first time and it was time to push harder to form his head. But a white flash interrupted him.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!"

The sudden scream scared Seb and made him scream even louder. It took him a few moments to be back in the world, to remember that breathing was normal and that the water he could hear rushing through his ears was just the blood his heart was pumping around his body. Then the stench hit him, sour with a note of curry and bile.

The lab assistant, Mark, stood smiling at his side. He didn't seem to mind the vomit.

"You got far this time, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I was nearly complete!" Anton was proud of his accomplishment. "Why did you pull me out?"

Mark hesitated. "Do you have any idea how long you were in there?" Anton responded with a frown. "It was six hours, and you threw up on yourself a while ago. We had to get you out."

After cleaning the largest pieces off with dry tissues Seb stood up on his shaking legs and signed the registration sheet. The young female researcher whose name he just never seemed to be able to remember handed him €120. She smiled at him. "Well done." He looked at her nametag. 'Sarah'.

"Thanks, Sarah." Seb turned and walked out.

"Well done." He repeated to himself on the way out into the cold autumn day.

***
*Critique welcome*

title: Subject 4 [Chapter/short short]

question: Why does the team pull Anton out?

answer: Anton had thrown up on himself while being hooked to the virtual reality machine. He notices this but keeps going. He also had been in the chamber for six hours, which was a very long time. However he had gotten very far in generating his own body.


split: test

text:
_May 15, 2018 update: Newly released documents obtained by Democracy Now suggest that former for-profit college official Robert Eitel -- now senior advisor to Education Department Secretary Betsy DeVos -- played a direct role in rolling back a rule designed to protect students defrauded by Eitel's former institution and other for-profit colleges. Eitel formerly worked for Bridgepoint Education, which in 2016 had to pay back tens of millions of dollars to students who were victims of deceptive loan practices. The documents appear to contradictthe Education Department's assertion that former for-profit college officials hired by DeVos for top positions have not influenced department policy._

The Department of Education “has effectively killed investigations” into possible fraud at several prominent for-profit colleges, according to the _New York Times_.

These for-profit colleges, the paper reported, are places where the leading hires of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos used to work.

Investigators at a special team at the Education Department have been reassigned, sidelined or told to concentrate on other work, current and former employees told the _Times._ The department has been whittled down from more than a dozen to just three people, who have been assigned to paperwork regarding student loan forgiveness.

“Betsy DeVos' decision to gut investigation into for-profit colleges is a disgrace,” said Cody Hounanian of StudentDebtCrisis.org. “Years of work at the Department of Education uncovered fraud and abuse at all levels of the for-profit college industry. Yet the Education Secretary wants to hamstring this vital work.

“What does Betsy DeVos have to say to tens of thousands of Americans who attended these sham schools, only to be given a useless degree and an impossible mountain of student loan debt?” he asked.

If dismantling investigations into student loan abuses sounds familiar, it’s probably because this report follows on the heels of news that Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, shuttered the CFPB office responsible for investigating fraudulent lending involving student loans.

That same day, Trump appointee Mulvaney quietly suspended a federal plan to write new rules for student loan collection companies, many of which have abused and defrauded students.

Among the investigations abandoned early last year by Education Department is one into the DeVry Education Group, which was sued in 2013 for allegedly bribing students and violating federal rules for for-profit colleges.

Several months later, DeVos hired Julian Schmoke, a former dean at DeVry, as the investigative team’s new supervisor, according to news reports. In 2016 DeVry paid $100 million to settle a federal lawsuit charging the school lied or misled authorities about its graduates’ employment rates and status –  charges covering activities that took place while Schmoke worked for DeVry.

Other hires include former employees of Bridgepoint Education and Career Education Corporation – two for-profit colleges accused of fraud whose education department investigations have somehow fallen off the radar. These hires include Robert S. Eitel, DeVos’s senior counselor, and Diane Auer Jones, who advises the department on postsecondary education.

DeVos herself is a billionaire with ties to a major for-profit college operator and firms that own for-profit colleges, as well as investments in a debt collection giant that pursues students who have defaulted on their loans, according to the Center for American Progress. A CAP report noted that senators did not get a chance to grill DeVos on her ties to the for-profit college industry during her confirmation hearings because – in an unprecedented move – the administration did not require the paperwork from the Office of Government Ethics to be finished before the hearing.

Education Department Spokesperson Elizabeth Hill told the _Times_ that DeVos’s hires from for-profit colleges have not influenced department policy and that the team’s new assignments won’t affect it.

Representatives from consumer, student and public interest groups aren't buying it.

“At every turn, the Department of Education under Betsy DeVos has made decisions that benefit colleges at the expense of students and taxpayers,” said Antoinette Flores, associate director of postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress. “The decision to shut down the enforcement unit basically signals that the federal government will not just fail to act to rectify past harms to students, but will shut its eyes to preventing future abuses.”

Joe Ridout of Consumer Action had strong criticism for DeVos' decision “to take the cops off their beat.”

“This ensures not only that predatory for-profit schools will get away with fraud, it also means that fraud may become more rampant than ever, since the Department of Education has made it clear that it bears no responsibility for protecting veterans and low-income students who are harmed by the dishonest marketing of for-profit schools,” Ridout said. “It’s particularly disturbing that DeVos shut down the ongoing investigation of Bridgeport, one of the worst scam schools in the country that preys disproportionally on veterans and which already has been penalized $31.5 million for lying about the cost of their student loans.”

For his part, Hounanian of StudentDebtCrisis.org said that the unit has historically fought for relief for million of victims “taken advantage of by dishonest education companies like DeVry, ITT Tech and Corinthian Colleges. It is no coincidence that the decision to curtail investigations into these companies follows Betsy DeVos’s hiring of former for-profit college employees at high level positions in the Department of Education.”

question: What does the text say about DeVos' status?

answer: In 2018, Betsy DeVos was an Education Department Secretary under President Trump. She is a billionaire with ties to a major for-profit college operator and firms that own for-profit colleges. She also has investments in a debt collection giant that pursues students have defaulted on their loans. This has allowed her to hire these former for-profit college employees at high level positions in the Department of Education.

question: What does the text say about how the Education Department has gone from a dozen to three people?

answer: Betsy DeVos had seemingly killed investigations looking into possible fraud at several prominent for-profit colleges, places where leading hires of DeVos used to work. Investigators looking into this at the Education Department had been reassigned, sidelined, or told to focus on other work. This has caused the department to go from twelve to just three people. These three people are only now focusing on paperwork regarding loan forgiveness.

question: Summarize the main news event.

answer: The main news event surrounds documents released in 2018 about former for-profit college official Robert Eitel, who is now senior advisor to Education Department Secretary Betsy DeVos. The documents suggest that he played a direct role in rolling back a rule designed to protect students defrauded by Eitel's former institution and other for-profit colleges. This causes the article to take a deep dive into the Department of Education killing investigations into possible fraud at several prominent for-profit colleges. These colleges are places where the leading hires of Devos used to work, which seems to be no coincidence.

question: Summarize some critiques of Betsy DeVos.

answer: Cody Hounanian of StudentDebtCrisis.org called Devos' decision to gut investigation into for-profit colleges a disgrace. He sees this action as an attempt to hamstring the vital work in uncovering fraud and abuse in this industry. Antoinette Flores, an associate director of postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress, says that the decisions made by the Department of Education under Devos have made decisions that benefit colleges at the expense of students and taxpayers. Joe Ridout of Consumer Action said that Devos' decision was intentional to take the cops of the Education Department's beat.

question: What does the text say about canceling student loan debt?


text:
-   THE DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION AND JUDICIAL WATCH FILED A FEDERAL LAWSUIT WEDNESDAY
-   THE LAWSUIT IS SEEKING RECORDS RELATED TO MEETINGS BETWEEN FORMER FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY AND FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
-   COMEY’S STATEMENTS REGARDING TIMES HE MET WITH THE PRESIDENT CONFLICT WITH OTHER STATEMENTS AND RECORDS

The Daily Caller News Foundation and the watchdog group Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday seeking records to determine the actual number of times and reasons former FBI Director James Comey met with then-President Barack Obama.

The request by the two organizations was filed because the former FBI director claimed he rarely met with Obama, and he was an independent and nonpartisan leader of the nation’s top law enforcement agency. The parties filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Comey’s impartiality about his relationship with Obama was sharply called into question by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary when its chairman, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, uncovered a private, undisclosed meeting Comey held with Obama on Jan. 5, 2017, two weeks before Trump’s inauguration.

TheDCNF requested, “records that identify and describe all meetings between former FBI Director James Comey and President Barack Obama,” in its Freedom of Information Act request before the FBI, which it filed Feb. 19.

On May 22, the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch sought records for a broader set of Comey meetings including Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and top political figures. Its request included records “written or ordered written by FBI Director James Comey summarizing his conversations with any of the following individuals: Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Senator Chuck Schumer, Representative Nancy Pelosi, and Senator John McCain.” Their timeframe for its request was between Sept. 4, 2013 and May 9, 2017.

Comey has carefully parsed his words about his interactions with Obama. In his June 8, 2017, testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence he suggested his firsthand meetings with the Democratic president were rare. He claimed he only spoke with Obama twice, once in 2015 and another “to say goodbye in late 2016,” according the former FBI director’s testimony.

“As FBI director, I interacted with President Obama. I spoke only twice in three years,” he said. “I spoke alone with President Obama twice in person (and never on the phone) – once in 2015 to discuss law enforcement policy issues and a second time, briefly, for him to say goodbye in late 2016,” Comey’s opening statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee read.

Grassley along with South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is a Judiciary subcommittee chairman, discoveredthrough the National Archives that Obama met with Comey on Jan. 5, 2017, two weeks before Trump’s inauguration.

Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, recorded the meeting in an email around 12 p.m on Inauguration Day. She addressed the email to herself.

“President Obama had a brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office,” Rice stated.

In a Feb. 8, 2017, letter to Rice, Grassley and Graham wrote, “It strikes us as odd that, among your activities in the final moments on the final day of the Obama administration, you would feel the need to send yourself such an unusual email purporting to document a conversation involving President Obama and his interactions with the FBI regarding the Trump/Russia investigation.”

Biden and Yates joined Rice and Obama in the meeting.

By failing to inform the Congress about the Jan. 5 meeting, Comey may have deliberately misled Congress about his interactions with the former president.

Comey has carefully groomed his image as a nonpolitical arbiter, but his reputation for fairness came under heated attack during the 2016 presidential election when he recommended no charges against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server for official government business, in a July 5, 2016, press conference. Comey called it “extremely careless” but not a crime.  He later infuriated Democrats when he reopened the investigation 11 days before the election.

Comey also wrote the public statement exonerating Clinton in May 2016, well before the FBI ended its investigation, causing an uproar in Congress. FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who edited the early drafts of Comey’s July speech, replaced  the original phrase “grossly negligent” — a term that has criminal implications — with the phrase “extremely careless,” which is not a violation of law.

Strzok later joined special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Mueller removed from him from the team after uncovering texts that showed he and FBI attorney Lisa Page carried on an extramarital affair, held viciously anti-Trump attitudes and favored Clinton.

Moreover, Comey permitted Cheryl Mills, a long-time Clinton confidant who herself was a witness or subject of the FBI email investigation, to sit in on the FBI’s formal interview of the presidential candidate.

Comey also agreed with Strzok’s recommendation not to charge Mills and Clinton aide Huma Abedin with providing false statements under oath to FBI agents. The two claimed they did not know Clinton was using a private server while she was secretary of state but emails later showed they were aware of Clinton’s arrangement.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommended Trump fire Comey for usurping the role normally left to prosecutors at the Department of Justice, in a July 5 press conference. He accused Comey of attempting to “usurp the attorney general’s authority” by publicly announcing why the FBI’s case should be closed.

“Compounding the error, the director ignored another longstanding principle: We do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation,” Rosenstein argued in his memo.

“We should reject the departure and return to the traditions (of the bureau),” Rosenstein wrote. “The way the director handled the conclusion of the email investigation was wrong. As a result, the FBI is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them.”

“It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission,” Trump told Comey in a letter firing him.

The FBI has not produced any records of Comey’s meetings, well beyond the 20-day deadline for FOIA responses. Both groups are asking the court to produce the records by a certain date and enjoin the FBI from “continuing to withhold any and all non-exempt records responsive to Plaintiffs’ FOIA requests.”

In filing the lawsuit, Neil Patel, TheDCNF co-founder and president said, “The growing evidence of a ‘protect our own’ mindset at DOJ is beyond troubling. That’s not how America is supposed to work. The information we have requested is fully in line with the terms of the freedom of information statute, and we are thankful that Judicial Watch is helping us force the release of these basic facts.”

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said, “Judicial Watch and The Daily Caller News Foundation are being stonewalled on key documents that could break open this scandal, which is why we are now in federal court to try to get the truth and accountability.”

_Follow Richard on Twitter_

_Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org._

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

question: Why does the Judicial Watch want to know about James Comey's visits to Barack Obama?

answer: Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday seeking records to determine the actual number of times and reasons former FBI Director James Comey met with then-President Barack Obama. He claimed he rarely met with Obama, and he was an independent and nonpartisan leader of the nation’s top law enforcement agency. Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley uncovered a private, undisclosed meeting Comey held with Obama on Jan. 5, 2017, two weeks before Trump’s inauguration.

question: What does the article say about Comey and Hilary Clinton?

answer: Comey has carefully groomed his image as a nonpolitical arbiter, but his reputation for fairness came under heated attack during the 2016 presidential election when he recommended no charges against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server for official government business, in a July 5, 2016, press conference. Comey called it “extremely careless” but not a crime. Comey also wrote the public statement exonerating Clinton in May 2016, well before the FBI ended its investigation,


text:
  Executive Summary

  Social Security benefits first became partially taxable in 1983, and the rule was expanded in 1993 to its current form. As the rules stand now, rising income can subject 50% or even 85% of Social Security benefits to taxation, until a maximum of 85% of all Social Security benefits are included in income for tax purposes.

  The reason the taxability of Social Security matters is not just that it raises a client’s tax burden in the aggregate, but that it can boost a client’s marginal tax rate far above the tax bracket alone; those in the 15% tax bracket may actually face marginal rates of 22.5% to 27.75%, and those in the 25% tax bracket can see marginal tax rates spike as high as 46.25%!

  Fortunately, this rate eventually reaches a cap – when the maximum amount of Social Security benefits are being taxed – and the client’s tax rate returns to normal. Nonetheless, while clients are going through the income levels where Social Security phases in – which can begin with as little as $25,000 of income for individuals – tax rates rise high enough that more proactive tax planning, from Roth conversions to the use of annuities and asset location strategies, becomes crucial to manage a client’s overall tax exposure!

[Michael Kitces]

Michael Kitces is Head of Planning Strategy at Buckingham Wealth Partners, a turnkey wealth management services provider supporting thousands of independent financial advisors.

In addition, he is a co-founder of the XY Planning Network, AdvicePay, fpPathfinder, and New Planner Recruiting, the former Practitioner Editor of the Journal of Financial Planning, the host of the _Financial Advisor Success_ podcast, and the publisher of the popular financial planning industry blog _Nerd’s Eye View_ through his website Kitces.com, dedicated to advancing knowledge in financial planning. In 2010, Michael was recognized with one of the FPA’s “Heart of Financial Planning” awards for his dedication and work in advancing the profession.

How Social Security Benefits Are Taxed – Calculating Provisional Income

In order to determine the taxability of Social Security benefits, it’s first necessary to calculate “provisional income” – a measurement of income used specifically for these purposes. Provisional income is calculated as your total income from taxable sources (essentially the net amounts included on the front page of your tax return in calculating Adjusted Gross Income), _plus_ any tax-exempt interest (i.e., from municipal bonds) and excluded foreign income, _plus_ one half of your Social Security benefits. If this total exceeds $25,000 for individuals ($32,000 for married couples), then 50% of the excess is the amount of Social Security benefits that must be included in income. If provisional income exceeds $34,000 for individuals ($44,000 for married couples), then 85% of the excess amount is included in income. (Notably, if provisional income exceeds the 85% threshold amount, it must have already surpassed the 50% threshold amount, and there are some additional calculations to coordinate between the two, until a maximum of 85% of all Social Security benefits become taxable.) Some examples may help to illustrate:

  _Example 1._ Jeremy and Martha have an AGI of $28,000 (and no tax-exempt or foreign income), and receive combined Social Security benefits of $14,000. As a result, their provisional income is $28,000 + $7,000 (half of Social Security benefits) = $35,000, which is $3,000 above the $32,000 threshold. This means that 50% x $3,000 = $1,500 of their Social Security benefits are subject to taxation, which ultimately increases their AGI to $28,000 + $1,500 = $29,500.

  _Example 2._ Donald and Sarah have an AGI of $44,000 and receive combined Social Security benefits of $24,000. As a result, their provisional income is $44,000 + $12,000 = $56,000, which is $12,000 above the upper $44,000 threshold. This means that $16,200 of benefits are subject to taxation (which is technically 50% of the amount from $32,000 to $44,000 plus 85% of the excess above $44,000), which ultimately increases their AGI to $44,000 + $16,200 = $60,200.

  _Example 3._ Paul and Megan have an AGI of $58,000 and receive combined Social Security benefits of $24,000. As a result, their provisional income is $58,000 + $12,000 = $70,000, which is $26,000 above the upper $44,000 threshold. This means that $20,400 of benefits are subject to taxation (which is the maximum 85% of the $26,000 excess above the upper threshold, capped out at 85% of their total Social Security benefits), which ultimately increases their AGI to $58,000 + $20,400 = $78,400.

The bottom line: as income rises, more Social Security benefits are subject to taxation, until eventually a maximum of 85% of all benefits are included in income for tax purposes!

How Social Security Taxation Boosts The Marginal Tax Rate

Because the formulas to determine the amount of Social Security benefits to include in income are themselves based on income, the net result is that the inclusion of Social Security functions like a surtax on income while it is phasing in. And because of the high percentage of Social Security benefits that become taxable as income rises, the effect can be significant.

  _Example 1b._ Continuing the earlier example of Jeremy and Martha, if the couple decides to take another $1,000 out of their IRA, this will increase their AGI by $1,000 to $29,000. As a result, it will also increase their provisional income by $1,000, which leaves them $4,000 above the threshold, resulting in $2,000 of their Social Security benefits being taxable. In the end, this means Jeremy and Martha end out with a total AGI of $31,000… their AGI increased by $1,500 even though they only took out a $1,000 IRA withdrawal due to the taxation of Social Security benefits! If the couple is subject to the 15% tax bracket, their additional tax liability on $1,500 of income is $225, which equates to a marginal tax rate of $225 (additional taxes) / $1,000 (additional income) = 22.5%. In other words, even though the couple is in the 15% tax bracket, their $1,000 IRA withdrawal is subject to a 22.5% marginal tax rate due to the formulas triggering taxation of Social Security benefits!

  _Example 2b._ Continuing the earlier example of Donald and Sarah, if they decide to take out another $1,000 from their IRA, their provisional income will rise to $57,000, and another $1,000 x 85% = $850 of Social Security benefits will be subject to taxation. This increases their AGI by $1,850, which leads to $277.50 of additional taxes. The end result: Donald and Sarah face a $277.50 / $1,000 = 27.75% marginal tax rate even though they’re in “just” the 15% tax bracket, due to their greater income triggering taxation of additional Social Security benefits at 85 cents on the dollar!

  _Example 3b._ Continuing the earlier example of Paul and Megan, if they decide to take out another $1,000 from their IRA, their provisional income will increase to $71,000. However, since they are already capped at 85% of their maximum Social Security benefits being subject to taxation, their AGI simply increases to $59,000 + $20,400 = $79,400. In other words, because the maximum amount of Social Security benefits were already subject to taxation, another $1,000 of income simply increases their AGI by… $1,000! Assuming the couple is subject to the 15% tax bracket (which they should be after personal exemptions and itemized deductions), the additional taxes on $1,000 of income will be $150, which means their 15% tax bracket really _does_ mean a 15% marginal tax rate!

Notably, the net result of these formulas is that while 50% of Social Security benefits are being phased in, the marginal tax rate is essentially boosted by 50%, from 15% to 22.5%. For those whose income exceeds the upper threshold, the marginal tax rate is boosted by extra 85%, from 15% to 27.75%! This essentially results in a tax bracket “bubble” that occurs as Social Security benefits are being phased in, until the maximum phase-in is reached and the client’s tax rate returns his/her normal tax bracket again.
For individual clients, the effect can be even more severe, because the taxation of Social Security benefits potentially overlaps not just the 15% tax bracket, but the 25% tax bracket (which starts at “only” $36,250 for individuals). As a result, individual clients face a potential tax rate boost from 25% to 46.25%!

  Harry is an individual with $36,000 of income but a hefty $22,000/year of Social Security benefits. His Social Security provisional income is $36,000 + $11,000 = $47,000, which is $13,000 over the upper threshold for individuals. As a result, $15,550 of his Social Security benefits are subject to taxation (which is 50% of the amount from $25,000 to $34,000, plus 85% of the excess of provisional income above the $34,000 threshold), which puts his AGI at $51,550. Even after a standard deduction and one personal exemption, Harry’s taxable income would be $51,550 – $6,100 – $3,900 = $41,550, which places him in the 25% tax bracket.

  If Harry now takes an additional $1,000 from his IRA, his provisional income increases to $48,000, his taxable Social Security benefits increase to $16,400, and his AGI rises to $53,400. The net result: Harry’s AGI increased by $1,850 for “just” a $1,000 IRA withdrawal, and with a 25% tax bracket his liability will be $1,850 x 25% = $462.50, which equates to a whopping $462.50 / $1,000 = 46.25% marginal tax rate!

In practice, it takes a unique combination of income and Social Security benefits to face this 46.25% marginal tax rate, although it is possible; due to how the tax brackets line up with the Social Security taxability thresholds, it’s more common for individuals than married couples (the latter generally don’t see this 46.25% marginal tax rate unless they are slowly phasing in a very large pool of combined Social Security benefits). And because the tax brackets are indexed for inflation while Social Security benefits are not, the overlap of 85% Social Security benefits inclusion and the 25% tax bracket is actually declining over time (as the 10% and 15% brackets widen slightly each year). Nonetheless, the fact remains that the phase-in of Social Security benefits can result in surprisingly high marginal tax rates for clients with relatively “modest” income levels – as even a 15% tax bracket can be boosted up to 27.75%!

Planning Around The Taxability Of Social Security Benefits

Planning strategies should be done based on marginal tax rates, which means the leaps in marginal tax rates from including Social Security benefits can and should be a material factor in planning – especially since the rates have the greatest impact on those whose income is relatively modest and may not realize they are exposed to 27.75% (or even 46.25%!) marginal tax rates when they “thought” they were in just the 15% or 25% tax brackets.

For many clients, though, the rates are at least partially unavoidable. In many situations, there simply is not enough income flexibility to spread income out to stay below the thresholds. Although notably, for some clients, the best thing to do is to actually accelerate income and lump it together; after all, additional income _beyond_ the point that the maximum 85% of Social Security benefits are taxable is subject to only a 15% (or 25%) tax bracket, which is far better than leaving the income until next year when it may be taxed at 27.75% (or 46.25%) due to the phase-in of Social Security benefits. In fact, in some cases it might even be worthwhile to trigger a bit of additional Social Security benefits taxation just to _reach_ the cap and then add _more_ income beyond it at a current tax bracket!

In other situations, the best thing to do may be managing income earlier to avoid exposure in the later years. For instance, Roth conversions before a client starts Social Security benefits can leave a more flexible pool of money to draw upon in the later years – not to mention avoiding RMDs – allowing the client to avoid 22.5%, 27.75%, or 46.25% marginal tax rates down the road. Of course, the caveat for Roth conversions is still not to do too much at once, driving up the current tax rate to an untenable level, as the primary benefit of Roth conversions is still to do them when current rates are lower than future rates! Nonetheless, if the reality is that future tax rates will be 22.5%, 27.75%, or greater, then doing partial Roth conversions to fill the lower tax brackets now to avoid those higher marginal rates in the future is certainly a good deal. And alternatively, some clients who currently face these rates might still do partial Roth conversions getting through the taxability of Social Security benefits, so they can do additional Roth conversions that year above the Social Security taxability cap at favorable tax rates to further reduce exposure down the road.

Tax deferral strategies can also be appealing to manage Social-Security-triggered higher marginal tax rates. This might not only include just continuing to maintain and stretch tax-deferred IRAs (to the extent they’re not converted), but also the use of non-qualified fixed or variable annuities to defer income; while tax-deferral doesn’t eliminate exposure to the effect entirely, it’s nonetheless true that tax deferral itself is worth a whole lot more when the client’s marginal tax rate is so high! Similarly, effective asset location strategies to shelter the most high-income tax-inefficient assets also become more important where client marginal tax rates are so high.
On the other hand, it’s notable that strategies like investing in tax-free income to avoid high Social-Security-taxation marginal rates does not work, since municipal bond income is itself included in provisional income! The end result is that while the bonds themselves still wouldn’t be taxable, they would still face a 7.5% – 12.75% marginal tax rate (for those in the 15% tax bracket) as 50% or 85% of Social Security benefits become subject to taxation. Similarly, the impact can also boost the marginal tax rate for capital gains, which may enjoy a 0% tax rate for those in the bottom tax brackets, but nonetheless increase AGI and provisional income and therefore indirectly trigger the taxation of Social Security benefits.

Unfortunately, the reality is that no two clients will be exactly the same for their exposure to higher marginal tax rates from the taxability of Social Security benefits, because the exact scope varies depending on both the nature of their taxable income and the total amount of their Social Security benefits that may be subject to taxation in the first place. For some clients with smaller benefit payments, the impact is fairly limited; for others with a very large pool of payments, the effect can continue over a much wider range of income and spanning across not just the 15% tax bracket (with 27.75% marginal rates) but the 25% bracket (with 46.25% marginal rates). Ultimately, all clients will cap their exposure when the maximum 85% of Social Security benefits are being taxed, but the exact level of this cap itself will vary depending on the amount of Social Security being received. Which means in the end, the analysis must be done on a client by client basis… but with potential 46.25% marginal tax rates, it’s worth the effort!

question: What does the text say about Michael Kitces?

answer: Michael Kitces is Head of Planning Strategy at Buckingham Wealth Partners, a turnkey wealth management services provider supporting thousands of independent financial advisors.  He is also a co-founder of the XY Planning Network, AdvicePay, fpPathfinder, and New Planner Recruiting, the former Practitioner Editor of the Journal of Financial Planning, the host of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, and the publisher of the popular financial planning industry blog Nerd’s Eye View through his website Kitces.com, dedicated to advancing knowledge in financial planning. In 2010, Michael was recognized with one of the FPA’s “Heart of Financial Planning” awards for his dedication and work in advancing the profession.

question: What does the text say about Social Security?

answer: Social Security benefits first became partially taxable in 1983. As the rules stand now, rising income can subject 50% or even 85% of Social Security benefits to taxation, until a maximum of 85% of all Social Security benefits are included in income for tax purposes.


text:
Most of my stories here on Table Talk are about my experiences as a player. I've been pretty fortunate in my gaming career that most of my time spent behind the DM screen has been positive. However, there is a particular story that I think holds a lot of lessons in it. Names have been changed to protect people whom I feel are overall good gamers, but happened to walk into a perfect storm of the blind leading the blind in the following situation.

_Werewolves and White Elephants_

This story begins around Christmas many years ago. I'd been invited to a white elephant party, and had hemmed and hawed over whether or not I was going to attend. I decided to come at the last minute, and since I had neither the spare cash for a gift, or the time to pick something up, I put an I.O.U. for a one-shot game in an envelope. Any system the recipient wanted a one-shot in that I had access to, and could reasonably run, I would do.

  ---------------------------------------------------------
  []
  _The rabbit hole went pretty far down on that request._
  ---------------------------------------------------------

The guy who wound up with my white elephant gift (let's call him Geoff) _really_ wanted to play a Werewolf: The Forsaken game. I was pretty solid on my new World of Darkness lore, even though werewolf wasn't one I'd delved too deeply into. I asked him if he was sure, and told him all right, I'd have something ready to run in a month. He got a handful of players together, and I started the conversation rolling on who they were, and what was befalling them.

_The Setup_

It bears mentioning that I tend to emphasize the dark parts of the World of Darkness when I run a game. Not that awful, heinous things are always happening to PCs or their close friends (because graphic depictions of torture, sexual assault, etc. are not something I would inflict on my players, and they're crass from a storytelling perspective), but rather that the world is threadbare and desperate. The greedy are greedier, the needy are needier, and you should take nothing at face value. There are mysteries within conspiracies, and you should keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

  -----------------------------------------
  []
  _Starting off on a positive note here!_
  -----------------------------------------

With that said, the handful of players put together their characters. They had most of the moon signs, and a pretty solid smattering of the tribes. No one had requested any crazy magic items or out-there gifts or merits, so I didn't have to have any debates with anyone. And, as I requested, everyone put themselves in a pack. And Geoff was the alpha. mostly because he was the one who'd requested the game, and because he was the one with the most system mastery.

I did something else, as well. I gave the players free dots in Allies and Mentor, attaching them all to important NPCs and working those connections into their backstories. Part of this was for my convenience as a storyteller, but another part of it was more insidious. More on that later.

So, this pack received a call from a highly-placed ally in New York City. An Iron Master alpha, he's known as the Iron Wolf. Partly for his refusal to back down, but also because he's the head of a major firearms company who does custom work for supernatural clients. Heavily involved in the city's politics, there is a small crisis going on at the moment. A crisis he wants the PCs to come and help with, since they owe him a favor for setting them up on their own plot of land upstate. As hooks go, it was pretty standard.

_Into The Belly of The Beast_

The pack got their gear, and headed into the big city. Geoff, who had taken a merit that let him see the spirit world with one eye and the material world with the other, chose to leave this ability active at all times. I asked him if he was sure. When he said yes, I described the decaying nature of the spirits as they headed into the city. The way everything became hard-edged, and feral, made dirty and harsh by its proximity to the pounding heart of the Big Apple. And then, as they got into the city proper, Geoff saw there was a colossal hole rent in the spiritual realm over the island of Manhattan. A swirling vortex where something terrible had torn the fabric of reality, leaving a gaping wound in the sky.

That's enough to leave anyone a little shook up. He decided to turn the merit off at that point... at least for a bit.

The pack parked at the Iron Wolf's HQ, and were met by one of his lieutenants. A warmaster who'd trained one of the pack's hitters, Ivan Ivanovich was known to most simply as the Black Russian. He ushered the pack up, and they were given the task they were being asked to complete.

  ----------------------------------------------
  []
  _All right yuse mugs, it's exposition time!_
  ----------------------------------------------

About a week ago, there had been a meeting arranged between some of the Iron Wolf's pack, and one of the local vampires; an old Dark Ages warlord named Michael Thorsson who held relentless grip on parts of the city. There was an uneasy peace, and the goal of the meeting was to make sure that peace held. As a show of good faith, they'd even met on the vampire's turf. No one who went to the meeting had come back, though. Thorsson said they'd never showed, and that he had no idea what had happened to them.

The party's job was to go, and independently investigate the incident. To find what had happened to the missing werewolves, and to get the facts without bias. Major players were dealing with the incident that led to the spiritual tear in the fabric of the world next door, so what would usually be a matter of great importance was a little lower on the priority ladder right then. The Iron Wolf gave the pack encrypted phones to contact him with, should they find something, and he sent another of his betas with them to act as a guide to the city should they need someone to show them around.

_So... What Do?_

When I'd been asked to run a werewolf game, I made sure to open up the world as much as possible. If the pack started running data searches on key figures in the city, I had dossiers prepared. If they wanted to go to Thorsson's nightclub where he held court and arrange a meeting, I had the stats for his ghouls, and the man himself, fully prepped. If they wanted to reach out to their Allies or Mentors for aid, I knew what would happen. If they tried to contact other werewolves in New York, I had them drawn up. If they went off the tracks entirely and tried to contact other vampires, changelings, or the mage community, I had that prepped, too.

In short, I had a huge mental map with all the major players, creatures, potential encounters, and everything in it. I had prepared for everything... except what actually happened.

  -------------------------
  []
  _So... what do you do?_
  -------------------------

I asked the pack what they did. The players looked at Geoff. Because while he may have had the most knowledge of the game mechanics, it didn't seem he really had any idea how to go about investigating such an open-ended plot. After several, long moments of silence he suggested they go to the warehouse where the meeting was supposed to happen, and sniff around?

A logical course of action. I said sure, they could find it no problem. So the pack headed out to the waterfront, took on their wolf shape, and did a walk around the block. They found a chain link fence with razor wire, half a dozen guards inside, and two or three trying and failing to be inconspicuous around the block. Geoff even turned his merit back on to glance into the spirit world. Because his initial plan was to simply phase out of one world, sneak in, and then push back into the material realm.

What he saw was that the fence, on the spirit side, was a series of pikes with bloody, moaning heads atop them. They felt potent, and wrong, but not dangerous. The sight of opposition on the other side (especially opposition that wasn't from the werewolf purview and which was an unknown factor) stopped the initial plan cold. Even though the heads did nothing but act as a spiritual alarm, and they could have been avoided through the proper use of gifts, or through properly applied violence.

Instead, the pack decided to bluff its way in. A task that was awkward, stilted, and which resulted in them totally blowing their cover. The guard, knowing something was up, agreed to let them in with a smile. As soon as the pack was inside the warehouse, though, they heard a huge bar being thrown over it, trapping them inside. The clock's ticking, and someone doesn't want them to get out. Of course, they were where they wanted to be.

_Blood and Secret Tunnels_

Figuring that they may as well do what they came there to do, the pack puts its wolf skins back on, and starts sniffing around. They smelled blood right away, and it definitely belonged to other werewolves. Some high successes later, and they found a secret tunnel that looks like it goes down into an old Prohibition smuggling run. Just as they open it up, they heard several SUVs pull up outside. They smell sweat, fear, and a lot of gun oil. Nothing they couldn't actually have dealt with (it seemed the players continually forgot they were werewolves, and thus top of the food chain in most circumstances), but they decided to scamper down the hole into darkness below.

  ----------------------------------------
  []
  _It's okay... I have a plan for this!_
  ----------------------------------------

Once they're down the hole, the pack hears the nervous voices of a dozen gunmen up above. No one was willing to go down after them, so they closed the door, locked it from above, and muttered that they'll catch them on the other side. Again, this is a full pack of werewolves... a wooden door with a deadbolt wouldn't stop them from waiting a while, and then busting up through the floor if they chose to. But they decided, instead, to follow the blood trail that continued on in the tunnel. Not only that, but they find the tunnel was stamped with Thorsson's sigil, marking it as his territory. So far, so expected.

At least until the blood trail goes off one way, and the vampire ganglord's mark goes off another way. The pack decided to follow their noses, and they found a bizarre scene. A dozen piles of ash and charred bone, some with scraps of cloth in them, filled the hallway. The ash smells corrupt, and rotten, but there's also a strong smell of ozone in the area. It is quite unnatural, and unpleasant. They also found a misshapen skull with elongated fangs. And, in the middle of it all, a severed arm that definitely belonged to one of the missing werewolves. On the arm is a watch, which Geoff correctly identified as an item that captures a scene in time for future study. Not only that, but the watch currently _has_ a scene in it. A scene that could be replayed by any of them to get some insight into what, exactly, this dead werewolf had seen. Was it evidence that Thorsson had betrayed them? A shot of the murderers? A final message for those who eventually found him?

Well, they never knew. Because upon finding this clue they nodded, said, "Yep, that's a clue all right," then put it in their pocket and never looked at it.

_Giving Some Direction_

It was around this point that I realized the pack was looking for more in the way of direction from me. So I decided to pull a lever I'd put in place for just such a situation, and had one of their phones ring. While underground. From an unrecognized number. Something that I'd made very clear when I handed the devices out wasn't possible. Geoff answered, and a voice his character has never heard before told him specifically that the pack is in danger. Down the tunnel is a vault door. Go through it, and run for the stairs. Do not linger, and do not go back the way they came. Do not trust the Iron Wolf, he is telling you lies.

  ------------------------------------------
  []
  _Maybe that will get things going, yes?_
  ------------------------------------------

The pack found the vault door, sure enough, and went through it into an abandoned train station. It's clearly been turned into someone's living space. It reeked with an unnatural aroma, which was very similar to what was in the tunnel near all the dead vampires. Rather than bolting for the stairs, as the mysterious called suggested they do, everyone took their time. They weren't being stealthy, mind you, they were just walking slowly. So, since they chose to ignore the warning they were given, that was when the lights go out. Except for a figure walking toward them. A hulking man, with the unkempt beard and matted hair of a hobo. Geoff, who still had his merit on from the fence, also sees the burning fire within him. A white, unnatural light that sparks and snaps from his steel teeth, down through mismatched limbs that each carry a unique corruption all their own.

When presented with such a terror, what does the pack do? Make occult checks to understand what the hell they're looking at? Transform and fight their way past him? Tuck tail and book it for the stairs, which are clearly in sight? Parley, and hope that the creature is more civilized than it looks?

Well, mostly they just sat and stared. Finally the NPC tried to talk to the thing, and rolled just well enough that it decided to leave them be. Then the spook house got rolling again, and they ran up the stairs to street level. Anticlimactic, but hey, I could be more specific if that was what it took.

_The Conspiracy Explained_

Geoff's phone rang again, and the same mysterious voice told him he was being followed. The pack was given confusing directions that had them double-back several times, until finally they found themselves in front of a steel-reinforced door in a blind back alley. The door opened, and a figure stood in the arch. Skinny, red-eyed, and more than a little mad, he stared at them and gave them a small flash of his fangs. He smelled like the other things, and there was no mistaking the vampire. He hung up the phone, and shuffled back inside, beckoning the pack to follow him.

  ---------------------------------------------------------
  []
  _Which they do... with neither question, nor violence._
  ---------------------------------------------------------

Anathema is the creature's name, and he's been nursing one of the werewolves who escaped the slaughter in the tunnel. She was alive, mostly insensate, and hadn't so much as been pricked by the nosferatu's fangs. He went back to organizing his red web of conspiracies, speaking all the while. He told Geoff again not to trust the Iron Wolf. He's been engaged in some kind of shady deals, and likely set up the members of his pack who went to the meeting. The goal was to kill them, but Anathema isn't sure why. To start a war with Thorsson? To garner sympathy from the other packs in the city who have had tense relationships with him? Or perhaps it's related to the mage sanctum that was defiled, and the wound it left behind. He doesn't know, but his final warnings to the pack were not to trust their benefactor, and to not come back to this place again.

Then he shut the door in their face.

_So What Did They Do?_

After being told repeatedly not to trust the Iron Wolf, and with the surviving werewolf mewling and moaning not to take her back to him (and clearly looking distrustful of the beta who was sent with as the party's "guide"), the first thing they do is call him up, and tell them they found a survivor.

  ---------------------------------------------------------
  []
  _I planned for every eventuality... except this one..._
  ---------------------------------------------------------

They call him up, and he sends a car to come get them. In the interim they don't question the surviving witness (the only one who has first-hand knowledge of what went down). They just wait patiently, get in the car, and ride back to the headquarters they were at earlier. They hand off the survivor, and never asked where she's being taken, or what they're planning on doing for or to her. Nor does anyone question why, as soon as they hand her over, she goes limp, as if she's resigned to her fate.

At that point they take the elevator upstairs, walk straight up to the Iron Wolf's desk, and give him a full run down of everything they saw and did. That's when Geoff took out the mystical watch he found, and clicks the button to review what was saved in it.

The watch held a scene of its owner spying on the Iron Wolf, and his beta, as they made a deal with a creature from the deepest, darkest parts of the spirit realm. Evidence that they gave their allegiance and aid to the sort of things they're supposed to be fighting against. Because this entity promised to give their children physical bodies (for those who don't know, werewolves are forbidden from mating in this setting because they give birth to ravenous spirit monsters... and these two essentially made a deal with a literal devil to keep having inbred werewolf babies).

Now getting the plot development they'd been given hours ago out of game, and revealing it right in front of what turns out to be the villain, no one knows what to do. Of course, the first thing the Iron Wolf does is pull a huge hand cannon out of his desk drawer, and start blasting away with silver rounds.

Then, finally, something happened.

Unfortunately, what happened was that the assassin who'd literally been following them the whole time (until they lost him by following the vampire's instructions, only to pick him back up again when they called the villain and told him where they were), burst in through the window behind them. While there were a lot of pack members, there weren't enough of them to deal with a gunslinger with silver hollow points before he took one of them down. They managed to destroy his body, only to realize that this was one of the spiritual abominations the Iron Wolf had created. And while they'd been distracted, the alpha was now opening the secret door to the shrine that anchored his wicked master in this place.

Wisely, they took to their heels.

In the elevator, the handful of remaining pack members find the Black Russian. He seems completely unfazed by the carnage, and the raw aura of evil emanating from his alpha's back room. When the pack demands he help them escape, he shrugs, and hits the button for the garage level. He plucks a set of car keys off the wall, and leads them to a van. Geoff demands to know why he's helping them. Ivan only shrugs and asks why he wouldn't help them. Despite being one of the lieutenants of this whole operation, and showing no surprise at anything he saw in his alpha's office, the pack just accepts that.

Then they ask Ivan to drive them back to Anathema's lair. A place he specifically told them not to return to.

They manage to remember the directions to get back, and they find the door unlocked. Bizarrely, though, the interior is empty except for a scrap of paper on the floor. All the filing cabinets, the webs of newspaper clippings, and banks of computers are completely gone. Instead of carefully sniffing around, Geoff walks in, and picks up the note. He has enough time to read the phrase, "I told you not to come back here," before the shaped charges go off, detonating the place.

Wounded and burned, the pack piles back into the van while Ivan leans on the hood smoking a cigarette and texting on his phone. They shout for him to drive. He nods, and hits the car lock button, before detonating the C-4 inside the van, and killing everyone inside.

_The Lessons_

There are several lessons to learn here. First, from a DMing perspective. Make absolutely sure that your players want (and are prepared for) the kind of game you're presenting to them. Later review made it clear to me that, though the players had asked for a Forsaken game, that didn't necessarily mean they wanted a game that was an open-world sandbox, that involved tracking down and solving conspiracies, or which was filled with darkness and betrayal. Those were things I assumed were part-and-parcel to being a World of Darkness game, and that assumption was likely what led to so many player freezes when they were presented with choices, and warnings. What I should have done was conduct a survey asking them what sorts of plots, themes, and roles they would most like to see in the game, and the kind of feel they wanted.

With that said, when NPCs expressly tell you that you're walking into a trap, don't be surprised when it blows up in your face.

That's all for this week's Table Talk. Hopefully the mistakes I made as a DM, and the mistakes my players made in this scenario, illuminate what not to do for some folks. If you're interested in more content from yours truly, check out my Vocal archive, or head over to the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio where I work with other gamers to put together fun skits, advice, and world building videos. If you want to stay on top of my latest releases, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you want to help support me, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, or click the following like to Buy Me A Coffee.

question: Who did the narrator's gift go to?

answer: A guy named Geoff.

question: What is the World of Darkness?

answer: A game the narrator has developed.

question: Why is the Iron Master alpha known as the Iron Wolf?

answer: Because of his refusal to back down and also because he is the head of a major firearms company that does custom work for supernatural clients.

question: Why did he give the players free dots in Allies and Mentor?

answer: He did this for his convenience as a storyteller.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator goes to a white elephant party and is asked to create a game by the guy who received his white elephant gift. He puts together a handful of characters for the game and they play the game.


text:
The St. Louis Park City Council has decided to drop recital of the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag at its meetings, citing a desire to accommodate the city’s newest and more diverse residents.

“I hope it’s not too controversial,” Council Member Tim Brausen said. “Our community tends to be a very welcoming and increasingly diverse community, and we believe our citizens will understand. I don’t think we’re going to be any less welcoming by not starting our meeting out with the standard ritual.”

The measure, which will take effect July 15, was sponsored by Council Member Anne Mavity, who said that about half the cities in Minnesota do not require the Pledge of Allegiance to be said at council meetings.

However, a spot check of metro and outstate cities found that most of them — Blaine, Brooklyn Center, Burnsville, Duluth, Eden Prairie, Mankato, Maplewood, Rochester, St. Cloud, St. Paul, Stillwater and Wayzata — include the pledge as part of the council meeting agenda. The pledge is not said at council meetings in Minneapolis and Edina.

The St. Louis Park council voted 5-0 at the June 17 meeting to drop the pledge with little discussion. Mayor Jake Spano and Council Member Thom Miller were absent and did not vote.

“We all love our country dearly, and we demonstrate that by our service as elected officials all the time,” Mavity said.

“I want to make sure that we are welcoming to everyone in our community, and so I just felt that was an unnecessary component to include every single week in our work.”

Brausen said in an interview there was concern that saying the pledge intimidates some newer residents, owing to increasing political polarization and the national controversy over federal immigration policies.

“We’ve had some racial equity initiatives going on in the city of St. Louis Park for awhile where we’re trying to get more diverse communities and historically less engaged communities to come and participate in our public process,” he said. “Given the current Washington politics that are going on now, there’s a lot of people that are afraid of our government, and we worry about that.”

Some surprise

According to U.S. Census data from 2018, St. Louis Park has a population of just over 49,000 residents. Of that total, 83% are white, 7.7% are black, 3.8% are Latino, 3.7% are Asian and 3.3% cite two or more races. In Minnesota as a whole, 83.7% are white, 5.9% are black, 4.7% are Asian, 2.8% claim two or more races and 1% are American Indian, according to the most recent American Community Survey.

Though Spano was not present for the decision, he said he would have voted to keep the pledge. He said there were more substantive things the council could do to make the city more welcoming.

“While I’ve never been a fan of doing things just because that’s the way things have always been done, I’ve always used the last six words [of the pledge] — ‘With liberty and justice for all’ — as a reminder to me that we need to make our community more open and welcoming for all our neighbors, not just a select few,” Spano said.

St. Louis Park resident Dennis Moran said he and his neighbors were surprised by the council’s decision. Moran, who described himself as an old-school DFLer, said the council didn’t specify whether any complaints had been received about the pledge.

“It’s always been tradition here since I’ve been watching the City Council meetings back in the late ’80s. They’ve always done the Pledge of Allegiance. It’s kind of automatic, or traditional,” he said.

Patti Carlson, another resident, said her grandparents wanted to be American when they immigrated to the United States. She said she didn’t understand how the council could eliminate this part of their history, calling it “obnoxious.”

“My fear for this council is that it’s all about image and not substance,” Carlson said.

The measure was on the consent agenda, with other items to be approved without debate, before Brausen pulled it off the consent agenda, he said, to ensure transparency.

He said he didn’t recall receiving any complaints about the pledge, but added that the meaning behind the tradition had changed since 1980, when city officials began saying the pledge during the Iran hostage crisis.

“Unfortunately, some of us feel like patriotism has been so politicized that it’s almost used as a weapon against people,” he said.

Brausen said the pledge may still be used in some circumstances.

“If we have an appropriate opportunity, if we have Boy Scout color guards or others in attendance, or if it’s a special occasion, we will consider using the Pledge of Allegiance before the meetings,” he said.

CORRECTION: An early version of this story incorrectly said that the Pledge of Allegiance is not recited before council meetings in St. Paul. It is recited in St. Paul.

question: What has the St. Louis Park City Council decided to drop?

answer: Recital of the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag at its meetings.

question: When will the measure take effect?

answer: July 15.

question: How many residents does St. Louis have?

answer: 49,000.

question: What percentage of the St. Louis Park population are white?

answer: 83%.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The article is about how the St. Louis Park City Council has decided to drop the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance from their meetings. Community members respond with their opinions.


text:
I’m a liar. I’m really good at lying. I never understood why I feel the need to constantly tell stories, but it has become something of  habit. I want to say that it is my general insecurity about my weight, and my poor personal choices, but I know that there has to be more to it than that. I’ve let so many people down, and it’s a shame really. I’ve missed out on some serious friendships because of the way I am. I’m a handful, and I know that. I sincerely wish I could just be myself, but I’m ashamed of who I am. I’ve been lying for as long as I can remember. I used to tell kids in middle school that I was actually a ninja, or a wizard, or a vampire— whatever was trendy at the time. But I wouldn’t just say it once and move on, oh no, I would push it and elaborate into the story until it was like a wild fire blowing through a forest. Thing is, once it got to that point, there was no way for me to stop it, and it would burn out of control until it fizzled out into smoke. Smoke, just like the stories I was sharing.

I make myself sick sometimes thinking about the things that I say and why I say them. It’s maddening. I thought that before it was to impress people, and while, sure that is a reason some of the times now I can’t help but think it is more or less just a part of who I am now. I lie about everything. There isn’t a story i’ve shared that I haven’t embellished even a little for no reason. I’m a sucker for the reactions, and the attention, i’ll admit. One of the worst things though, is how my lying has gotten me in trouble, and I don’t seem to learn. I believe this is the reason behind my severe anxiety. I feel guilty all of the time! I am always looking over my shoulder and pretending that everything is okay but deep down I know I am doing something that is not okay.

How do I fix this? What can I do to change? It seems like any time I try to improve and do better I fall back like an old dog doing the same tricks. I feel like this is something that, if I don’t get past, will hinder me for the rest of my life. It scares me how much I buy into my own bullshit, and I want nothing more than to be free from this. I have people who love and care about me and don’t even know the real me because of how masqueraded i’ve let myself become in my lies. It’s maddening.

I feel like I have become a monster, uncontrollable. Vile, and self-loathing because I have built up such a facade. I lead two lives, and sometimes I wonder which one is really in control. There is so much people don’t know about me, that I don’t know about myself. It’s terrifying. I look in the mirror and I can see it, and I wonder if anyone else can. So many people believe that I am truly a decent person and it’s hard for me to swallow. I don’t feel that way, I feel toxic. I am a venom, venom that sneaks its way into your drink and burns you from the inside out. I will watch you let your guard down for me, and rely on me while I keep myself jaded. I will watch you believe in me, trust me, love me — all the while filling your heads with myths. I will convince you that you love this false me, knowing full well I can’t deliver what i’ve sold you. Then, when I have gotten you in your most fragile state, I will strike — like a python and blindside you. Leaving you in shock, confused, and hurt. I will cut and run, and I won’t think twice about it. I know I do this because i’ve done this so many times. Poor Meghan, poor Lorelei, poor Maggie, poor Nicole, Poor Mikayla. I am the worst, and I want more than anything to stop. It has become me, and I have become it. I am a downward spiral.

At work, I lie. I lie about everything I do outside of work. After I clock out I punch out and I go home and sit in the dark and I write this, or I watch television, or I sleep. I make up stories about anything.. women, adventures, anything. I want to spice up my life, and in some twisted sociopathic way I believe that this is the only way to do it. It’s grotesque. My best friends, friends I have had for years have no idea who I am, but neither do I. I want to get help, I want to better myself and be honest, but I am uncertain how I can do this anymore.

I sometimes honestly believe I might be a sociopath, and it used to scare the shit out of me, but it doesn’t anymore. Now, I feel empty. I don’t feel anything about this assumption, and I believe that is more terrifying than being afraid of it. Am I wired differently? Am I different? How can I change? I don’t know what I am doing writing all this down.. but it seems somewhat therapeutic. My therapist told me to write, and I started to. I’m trying to be honest with him, and it’s only been one visit and I believe I truly was sincere. I could pin-point when I wanted to lie though, and I stopped myself. Maybe I want to be fixed and because of that I put in the effort with him. But if I can do it with him can I do it with anyone else? Time will tell.

title: [NF] Compulsive

question: What is the writer's problem?

answer: They lie compulsively.

question: Why do they lie?

answer: They think that insecurity and the wish to be accepted is one part of it, but they also think there is something deeper there that they can't control.

question: Why do they describe themselves as venom?

answer: Because they hurt people. They lie to them to get close to them, and once people let down their guard, they attack them and hurt them.

question: What is the writer doing to fix this?

answer: They have started therapy.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The text is a person's account of their compulsive lying problem.


text:
From the long lush valley below, Miranda hears footsteps steadily increasing in volume and intensity. Her many travels over the years has taught Miranda a great deal, and the perils in them has heightened her senses and awareness enough to hear the stranger from a great distance. His distance has been steadily decreasing for the last few days though, despite Mirandas efforts and long runs throughout the nights.

His old wooden staff is buzzing with increasing intensity for each step he takes, and he doesn't seem to tire or pause for even a moment. The only wielders of such magic, are either bounty hunters, assassins from the mage guild or great mages said to have lived a long time ago. He must be sent from the mage guild, for why else would any wielder of magic seek her out with such ferociousness?

The tracking has been going on for days, forcing Miranda to cover her tracks and flee up into the great peaks of mount Mazra. Any time she covers her tracks, the stranger halts and starts chanting in an unknown language, then continues directly towards Miranda with an increased vigor and speed. It is as though the wind whispers into his ear her every move.

Miranda has observed him from a distance, as she's trying to catch her breath in the cold winds of Mazra. All these years of running about has given her great stamina, and the ability to track and hunt any animal for days without resting. This has proven invaluable to her these last few days, as without these skills the stranger would have caught up with her days ago and no doubt rendered her into a pile of ash steadily disappearing from the strong winds of the mountain.

The rumors of the wielding of fire from the mages in the mage guild has not been exaggerated, as she has seen the effects of this up close. Not a single body remains of the rebels that fought the mage guild, they've all been rendered to ash and smoke an scattered throughout the kingdom.

Her outspoken nature and short temper has brought her into trouble before, but never into anything she couldn't fight or talk her way out of. Maybe she shouldn't have interfered with the guilds actions of killing all the black crows and black cats in the kingdom, but her empathy for animals had made this impossible at that time. And the apprentice mage that tried to kill these innocent animals deserved any single one of the arrows impaling him she thought.

She could hear his chanting now, the air is vibrating from the sound of his voice, and the dust is unsettling behind her in a great cloud. How could he have gotten so close so fast?, why is he after her?, and would her friends ever know what happened here?

The mountains seems to quiver by the sound of his chants, small pebbles seems to loosen from above and rain down in increasing amounts. Even the bigger boulders seem to come loose and threaten her safe passage. Suddenly a great chunk of the mountain comes loose and makes her passage way a dead end forcing her to turn around and face her tracker.

She could hear him around the corner, the chants becoming ever more powerful and the air around her vibrating with an incredible force. Instinctively she draws her trusty bow aiming for the sound of his voice, as the dust renders it impossible for her to see beyond the tip of her arrow.

Any second now any of the rocks above could come crashing down on her, rendering her unconscious and defenseless. And there is not a thing she can do to prevent this from happening, as she is trapped here in this dead end with the stranger right around the corner.

"SHOW YOURSELF!, COME CLOSER SO I CAN PUT AN ARROW IN HER SKULL", she heard herself yell furiously with a great tremble in her voice. Her hearth is pumping out adrenaline through her system, and she could feel her temper coming into play.

Suddenly the dust blows away as the loud chanting stops and there's a figure but 20 feet directly in front of her, staring at her from beneath his worn hood. She lets loose the readied arrow on her bow which hurls towards the cloaked figure at an incredible velocity.

The arrow splits in to two pieces right down the middle only feet away from the strangers chest, without him moving as much as a muscle or chanting a single word. He seems to be able to wield powerful defensive magic with the use of his mere thoughts.

Miranda quickly draws another arrow and fires it at the stranger, only for it to stop in the middle of the air, then slowly descent to the ground.

"Congratulations", the stranger voiced. "Congratulations on your 15th winter among the living". "I see you have improved your archery since last time I saw you"

Miranda looked perplexed, she didn't expect these words from a strangers mouth.
Who was this stranger? Was he not there for the sole purpose of ending her?

"You may not recognize me, but I recognize you. I've followed you for days trying to keep up with your speed, and tracking you where no tracks can be found.
It's not been easy, but with the right kind of persuasion and the power of magic, I've finally caught up with you", the stranger uttered.

"Who, who are you?", Miranda asked still breathless from the pursuit.

"I am Prodigiosus, the heir of your uncle, the force from the south, I command the winds and earth to do my bidding" the stranger pronounced. "I've been observing your progress since you were a child, forever keeping a watchful eye on you and those who have sworn to destroy you"

"I'm here to join my forces with you in your fight against the mage guild, You'll need the powers of a mage by your side to be able to fight them", Prodigiosus said.

"I have no fight with the mage guild, it's all just a misunderstanding", Miranda uttered.

"What they are doing goes against your very nature, and they have been gaining power for these last years, soon beyond their own control. They're slaughtering the black cats and crows because of the fear that they might be spies from the witches of the south. Cruelty of this sort because of such a primitive emotion is unworthy of any wizard, it goes to show that the mages have lost control of themselves and their emotions." Prodigiosus said.

Prodigiosus and Miranda spent the night talking about the mage guild in front of a campfire that seemed to appear from thin air.
Before Prodigiosus stood up and said:

"My presence is required elsewhere Miranda, I've been absent for too long. But know that my powers will always be by your side, the wind will always be in your back and guiding your arrows towards your enemies. It will always reveal their scent while cloaking yours, and it will always whisper the right words in your ear when you need them the most."

Suddenly the winds started to pick up, and created a wall of dust between Miranda and the stranger, as soon as he disappeared from sight the winds quieted down and the dust wall vanished from sight. He was nowhere to be found despite Mirandas best efforts.

After some hours rest and warmth near the campfire, she thought about the great journey that lie ahead of her, and realized that it had just started.

title: My cousin turns 15 today, thought I'd write her a story about her roleplay character and post it on her wall. :)

question: Identify Miranda's primary motivation for fighting against the mages guild.

answer: Miranda's strong empathy for animals has made her unable to ignore the slaying of the black cats and crows. The mages are cruelly killing the animals out of fear that they are spies for witches.


text:
KENEDY COUNTY is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 416.[1] It is the third-least populous county in Texas and fourth-least populous in the United States. Its county seat is Sarita.[2] The county was created in 1921 from parts of Hidalgo and Willacy counties and is named for Mifflin Kenedy, an early area rancher and steamboat operator.[3]

Kenedy County is included in the Kingsville, TX Kingsville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Corpus Christi-Kingsville-Alice, TX Combined Statistical Area. There are no incorporated municipalities in Kenedy County.

In 1999, Hurricane Bret struck the county, but damage was minimal due to the sparse population. The Peñascal Wind Power Project was built near Sarita in the early 21st Century and is expected to slightly raise the population of the area.

The King Ranch, of which Mifflin Kenedy had been a partner prior to 1868, covers a large part of the county.[4]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (25%) is water.[5] In total area, Kenedy is the 13th largest county in Texas.[6] In land area only, it is the 25th-largest county in Texas. It borders the Gulf of Mexico. Baffin Bay makes up much of the border with Kleberg County.

Major highways

US 77 is the only highway (federal or state) in Kenedy County.

-   [] U.S. Highway 77
    -   [] Interstate 69E is currently under construction and will follow the current route of U.S. 77 in most places.

Adjacent counties

-   Kleberg County (north)
-   Willacy County (south)
-   Hidalgo County (southwest)
-   Brooks County (west)

National protected area

-   Padre Island National Seashore (part)

Demographics

As of the census[7] in 2000, there were 414 people, 138 households, and 110 families residing in the county. The population density was 0.28 people per square mile (0.11/km²). There were 281 housing units at an average density of 0.19 per square mile (0.07/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 64.49% White, 0.72% Black or African American, 0.72% Native American, 0.48% Asian, 31.88% from other races, and 1.69% from two or more races. 78.99% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 138 households, out of which 35.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.70% were married couples living together, 10.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.60% were non-families. 18.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.97 and the average family size was 3.26.

In the county, the population had widespread age groups including 29.20% under the age of 18, 9.70% from 18 to 24, 26.30% from 25 to 44, 24.20% from 45 to 64, and 10.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years old. For every 100 females, there were 110.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $25,000, and the median income for a family was $26,719. Males had a median income of $18,125 versus $12,188 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,959. 15.30% of the population and 9.90% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 15.60% are under the age of 18 and 18.80% are 65 or older.

Kenedy County, the third least populous county in Texas, had 108 times more cattle than people in 1999.[8]

Education

Almost all of Kenedy County is served by Sarita Elementary School (PreK-6) of the Kenedy County Wide Common School District. Of the nine Texas counties having only one school apiece, the population of Sarita Elementary School was the smallest.[9]

A small portion of Kenedy County is served by the Riviera Independent School District.

Communities

Census-designated place

-   Sarita (county seat)

Unincorporated community

-   Armstrong

Politics

Like the rest of South Texas, Kenedy County regularly supports candidates from the Democratic Party. The Republican Party has carried the county only six times since the 1928 presidential election. Despite its Democratic-leaning, the county has become competitive in recent years due to the Hispanic voters becoming more open to voting Republican. In 2020, Donald Trump carried the county with over 65 percent of the vote and the strongest Republican margin since 1956, and Kenedy was one of only a handful of counties to flip from supporting Clinton in 2016 to Trump in 2020.

  Year                               Republican                                Democratic                                Third Parties
  ---------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- ----------------------------
  style=“text-align:center;” |2020   style=“text-align:center;” |65.5% _127_   style=“text-align:center;” |33.5% _65_    1.0% _2_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2016   style=“text-align:center;” |45.2% _84_    style=“text-align:center;” |53.2% _99_    1.6% _3_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2012   style=“text-align:center;” |50.3% _84_    style=“text-align:center;” |49.1% _82_    0.6% _1_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2008   style=“text-align:center;” |46.5% _94_    style=“text-align:center;” |53.5% _108_   style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |2004   style=“text-align:center;” |48.5% _82_    style=“text-align:center;” |50.3% _85_    1.2% _2_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2000   style=“text-align:center;” |46.5% _106_   style=“text-align:center;” |52.2% _119_   1.3% _3_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1996   style=“text-align:center;” |34.1% _71_    style=“text-align:center;” |63.9% _133_   1.9% _4_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1992   style=“text-align:center;” |39.7% _69_    style=“text-align:center;” |50.0% _87_    10.3% _18_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1988   style=“text-align:center;” |38.8% _76_    style=“text-align:center;” |60.7% _119_   0.5% _1_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1984   style=“text-align:center;” |46.4% _96_    style=“text-align:center;” |53.1% _110_   0.5% _1_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1980   style=“text-align:center;” |40.6% _76_    style=“text-align:center;” |56.7% _106_   2.7% _5_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1976   style=“text-align:center;” |31.7% _65_    style=“text-align:center;” |67.8% _139_   0.5% _1_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1972   style=“text-align:center;” |58.2% _124_   style=“text-align:center;” |41.3% _88_    0.5% _1_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1968   style=“text-align:center;” |41.5% _76_    style=“text-align:center;” |54.6% _100_   3.8% _7_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1964   style=“text-align:center;” |20.6% _30_    style=“text-align:center;” |78.8% _115_   0.7% _1_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1960   style=“text-align:center;” |48.7% _74_    style=“text-align:center;” |51.3% _78_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1956   style=“text-align:center;” |92.6% _125_   style=“text-align:center;” |7.4% _10_     style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1952   style=“text-align:center;” |88.5% _108_   style=“text-align:center;” |11.5% _14_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1948   style=“text-align:center;” |38.3% _31_    style=“text-align:center;” |55.6% _45_    6.2% _5_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1944   style=“text-align:center;” |73.2% _60_    style=“text-align:center;” |19.5% _16_    7.3% _6_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1940   style=“text-align:center;” |64.2% _68_    style=“text-align:center;” |35.9% _38_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1936   style=“text-align:center;” |23.8% _30_    style=“text-align:center;” |76.2% _96_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1932   style=“text-align:center;” |3.9% _5_      style=“text-align:center;” |95.4% _123_   0.8% _1_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1928   style=“text-align:center;” |9.2% _12_     style=“text-align:center;” |90.8% _118_   style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1924   style=“text-align:center;” |9.3% _7_      style=“text-align:center;” |89.3% _67_    1.3% _1_

  : PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS RESULTS[10]

In statewide races for governor and the U.S. Senate, the county has slowly trended Republican. The last Democrat to carry the county in a gubernatorial race was Tony Sanchez in 2002, while Rick Noriega in 2008 is the last Democrat to carry it in a senatorial race.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4] 1

[5]

[6] “[www.youtube.com What is Rural?],” _Rural Texas in Transition._ _Window on State Government_.

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

title: Kenedy County, Texas

question: What does the article say about the county's connection to President Kennedy?

question: Summarize everything relating to named individuals.

answer: The county is named after Mifflin Kenedy, an early area rancher and steamboat operator. Mifflin Kenedy was also a partner of The King Ranch. In 2020, Donald Trump carried the county with over 65 percent of the vote. Kenedy was one of only a handful of counties to flip from supporting Clinton in 2016 to Trump in 2020.

question: What does the article say about the 1990s?

answer: In 1999, Hurricane Bret struck the county, but damage was minimal. Kenedy County had 108 times more cattle than people in 1999.


text:
Bourdain, who died in early June, attended a Buddhist death ritual on the final day of shooting the last episode of the show.

[]

Anthony Bourdain. Screenshot from the “Bhutan” episode of “Parts Unknown.”

The final episode of late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s travel show “Parts Unknown” aired on CNN on Sunday. In it, Bourdain and his friend, director Darren Aronofsky, travel the country of Bhutan, discussing food, Buddhism, and death.

“It is considered enlightening and therapeutic to think about death for a few minutes a day,” says Bourdain in conversation with a Bhutanese man.

“Yes,” responds the man. “You are reminded time and again not to take things too seriously. This is, in fact, an illusion, isn’t it?”

“Life is but a dream,” says Bourdain.

CNN aired the episode on Sunday, which features a meal in the capital of Thimphu, a visit with traditional yak herders in the Himalayas, and a Bhutanese death ritual. Throughout the episode, the two discuss the state of the world, Buddhism, and changes in Bhutanese society. The episode opens with an exchange between Bourdain and Aronofsky as they sit in the backseat of a car:

“Do you think animals are sentient?” Aronofsky asks.

“I think pain is pain,” says Bourdain. “If you don’t respond to that, there’s something wrong with you.”

“That’s very Buddhist of you.”

The Bhutan episode was the last episode of the show’s eleventh season. In an article on CNN, Aronofsky wrote, “It seems ironic that on our last day of shooting we performed a Bhutanese death ritual. We debated the fate of the country, the fate of the world. He was perplexed as to how mankind’s endless hunger to consume could be curtailed.”

Bourdain was found unresponsive on June 8 in his hotel room in France while filming season 12 of “Parts Unknown.” He died of suicide at the age of 61.

_If you are in need of help, you can call the NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to access free, 24/7 confidential service for people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, or those around them. The Lifeline provides support, information, and local resources. You can also text the CRISIS TEXT LINE at 741-741 for free 24/7 support with a trained crisis counselor right away._

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[]

question: What does this article say about death?

answer: Celebrity chef, Anthony Bourdain, was filming his last episode of "Parts Unknown". The episode starts with a discussion about death. Bourdain is speaking to a Buddhist. He asks whether Buhddists find daily thoughts about death to be therapeutic. The Buddhist replies that it reminds them not to take things too seriously. Bourdain took part in a Bhutanese death ritual on the last day of filming. He subsequently committed suicide.

question: Why did Bourdain commit suicide?