mike@mikelilley.com

Florida must stop selling cats, dogs at pet stores | Commentary

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No one walks into a retail store motivated by a wish to support cruelty to animals. However, that is the impact of purchasing a puppy mill-bred dog at a pet store. We need legislation to halt such sales in Florida for the good of animals and the protection of consumers.

Imagine being lured into an Orlando pet store by an adorable, tiny, eight-week-old puppy. The sales associate assures you the puppy came from a wonderful breeder and is healthy as can be. If the price tag of several thousand dollars makes you balk, they are quick to sell you on “low interest” financing.

You end up buying the puppy and your whole family instantly falls in love. But this fairy tale quickly turns into a nightmare when you discover the puppy is sick, requires expensive veterinary care and your financing deal carries an extremely high interest rate.

Only then do you realize you have unknowingly bought a puppy from a mill.

Florida State Rep. Sam Killebrew

It should not be that way, and Florida State Rep. Sam Killebrew (R-District 41) wants to put an end to such cruel and demoralizing outcomes. House Bill 45 would prohibit Florida pet stores from selling puppies and kittens. Rep. Killebrew’s measure would codify into state law an approach already enacted by nearly 80 cities and counties in Florida.

Anyone who doubts the need for H.B. 45 in our state need only look at the situation in Orange County. Earlier this year, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office filed a lawsuit against a Petland location in Waterford Lakes following 19 complaints from customers. According to complaints, the pet store allegedly led consumers to believe the puppies were healthy, high-quality animals and fit for sale. “In some instances, puppies died soon after being purchased or suffered from congenital or other hereditary disorders,” said Moody in a press release.

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I’ve been working at home during the pandemic — do I qualify for home office tax deductions?

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Say you’ve had to work from home during the COVID-19 crisis. Join the club. Like many others who are lucky enough to be able to do their jobs from home, you might now be wondering if you can claim a federal income tax deduction for home office expenses. As things currently stand, the answer is no unless you’re self-employed.

But the answer could change if Congress grants additional COVID-19-related tax relief. Here’s what you need to know about home office write-offs as things stand right now.

No home office deductions for employees
Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), an employee could potentially claim itemized deductions for unreimbursed employee business expenses —including home office expenses —if you used a home office for the convenience of your employer. In that case, you could lump the home office expenses together with other miscellaneous expenses — such as fees for investment advice, tax advice, tax preparation, and union dues.

If your total miscellaneous expenses exceeded 2% of your adjusted gross income (AGI), you could write off the excess — as long as you itemized deductions.

Unfortunately, that was then and this is now.

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33 million Californians face COVID-19 stay-at-home order that will restrict movements and business

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A new stay-at-home order will be imposed on Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley Sunday night, as the coronavirus crisis spirals out of control with a speed that has exceeded health officials’ most dire projections.

Some 33 million Californians will be subject to the new order, representing 84% of the state’s population. The state mandated the restrictions in the Southland and Central Valley as capacity at hospitals’ intensive care units hit dangerously low levels. Five Bay Area counties will also begin lockdown restrictions in the coming days despite not yet reaching the threshold at which such action is mandated by the state.

The rules are less sweeping than California’s pioneering stay-at-home order in the spring, which is credited with slowing the first COVID-19 wave. But the new order will change daily life for many, especially in suburban Southern California counties like Orange and Ventura, which so far have enjoyed more open economies than hard-hit Los Angeles County.

Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley will implement the order Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Restaurants must halt in-person dining and can offer food only for delivery and takeout. Gatherings of people from different households will be prohibited, except for outdoor church services and political demonstrations. Affected communities will be required to close hair and nail salons, playgrounds, zoos, museums, card rooms, aquariums and wineries. Nonessential travel and use of hotels for leisure will be banned, as will overnight, short-term stays at campgrounds. All retail can remain open, but at 20% capacity.

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‘America’s greatest Pilot’ Chuck Yeager, first person to break sound barrier, dies at 97

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Chuck Yeager, the first person to break the sound barrier and one of the U.S. Air Force’s most decorated test pilots, died Monday. He was 97.

Yeager’s death was announced on his official Twitter account in a tweet attributed to his wife Victoria Scott D’Angelo.

“It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET,” the tweet said. “An incredible life well lived, America’s greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever.”

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called Yeager’s death “a tremendous loss to our nation.”

“Gen. Yeager’s pioneering and innovative spirit advanced America’s abilities in the sky and set our nation’s dreams soaring into the jet age and the space age. He said, ‘You don’t concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done,’” Bridenstine said in a statement.

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Disney’s theme park division loses $2.4 billion

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The coronavirus cost Disney’s theme park division $2.4 billion as Disneyland remains closed, cruise ships are docked and Disney World is open at a limited capacity, the company disclosed Thursday in its quarterly earnings report.

But looking ahead, executives expect the next few months to be busy in Orlando since about 77% of the park reservations are booked for the next quarter, including an almost completely full Thanksgiving holiday.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the reopening is going well enough for Disney World to raise occupancy from 25% to 35%, adding he believes it is still possible to maintain 6 feet of social distancing among visitors with the higher number of people allowed inside.

For the company, it’s a hopeful sign as Disney theme parks try to rebound from the global pandemic.

“We’re very pleased by how we have become adapt at operating under these constraints,” Chapek said during Thursday’s earnings call. He said Disney has a proven track record of running theme parks with new strict safety rules several months into the pandemic reopening.

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Sweeteners and Glycemic Index

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Glycemic Index:

The Glycemic Index is an indication of how quickly a specified amount of food will cause a rise in blood sugar level. The amount of food is the portion that contains 50 grams of carbohydrate (200 calories from carbs). So it is really an indication of how one carb compares to another.

Certain foods cause a spike, or rapid rise, in blood sugar level. This spike causes an insulin response and may over time lead to health problems such as diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and other issues. Maintaining a more even blood sugar level appears to be beneficial in many ways.

Only foods that contain carbs cause this spike, proteins and fats do not. They provide calories but do not cause an immediate rise in blood sugar levels. Meat and eggs contain no carbs at all, they can be considered to have a zero glycemic index. However this is not strictly true as the test cannot be carried out on them: no amount of eggs will give the required 50 gm of carbs.

The test is carried out on volunteers who have been fasting for a period of time. They are fed a portion of food containing 50 gm of carbohydrate and their blood sugar level monitored over a 2 hour period. This data is drawn on a graph and the area under the curve measured, the larger the area, the higher the glycemic index (GI). Glucose is used as the standard with a value of 100 and all other foods are compared to this.

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