30% would most likely be sufficient, and I'd be supportive of that.

How do you figure poor people wouldn't pay anything? It would be a regressive tax.

We make this shit way more complicated than it needs to be. Set an income tax and abide by it. None of these dumb loopholes or different rates for different types of income.

Yup. Greatly increase standard deductions, and eliminate all other deduction.

Everything has to be a fucking slippery slope with some of you people.

Is it really different than the percentage of our income we pay in taxes? It's just a different method of collecting it.

Overall, yes, but it will fall much more heavily on the middle class and the price changes will initially be a major shock with a lot of unknown consequences. What happens when everything costs 40% more?

Yeah, that's why I'm mostly opposed to the VAT is the hit to the middle class.

As for what happens when everything costs 40% more? Maybe people would start to ask more questions government spending and whether or not tax dollars are being spent wisely.

Some potential good news in Israel as the coalition government says it has enough votes to oust Netanyahu

Kinda. Neftali Bennett gets the first term as PM and he's to the right of Netanyahu.

Yeah seems that way from what I read. :( But getting rid of a corrupt Netanyahu who maybe finally can go to jail for his corruption charges has to be a plus?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...cial-security/

Serious conservatives continue to remind us that the debt really matters until the GOP is in charge again.

From the group of people that whines about their 1st amendment right being muted...

Just like in Forest Gump.

caNcEL CulTuRe

Opinion writers are so weird. Imagine being this wrong and still being taken serious by anyone.

Should Greenspan have stopped the housing bubble? - The Atlantic

With McArdle, I think it is sheer force of will.

In an industry filled with big egos, she stands out with her quiet insistence that she, personally, is smarter than everyone else.

She's also rich and got in on the right-wing welfare train early. She knows her job is to trumpet talking points even if they are comically wrong in retrospect.

I do feel like if you were one of those people who said "everything looks good" back in 2007, you should not be given a major platform to write about economics. Or Director of the National Economic Council. But that's the world we live in.

I think that if you voted for the Iraq War then you shouldn't be president. But we don't always get what we want.

I agree on that too.

What's the statue of limitations on doing things we disagree with being disqualifying? To my mind, if it didn't happen in the last 10 years I'm not particularly concerned about it. Everyone evolves over time. What's important is who our leaders are today, not who they were.

Veteran’s microphone was turned down during Memorial Day speech

Some talk of holding people responsible. I'll believe it when I see it.

Doesn't it depend on what it is? "He hasn't murdered prostitutes for at least the last ten years, cut him some slack."

I have a theory on why we went into Iraq and then Afghanistan. Look at a map and look at what country those 2 border on each side.
Seems like we wanted military bases close, just in case.

I think that's using hindsight and doesn't really take into account what was going on. We have presence in SA and Kuwait. We have access via the water, and air access a multitude of ways. I don't think that 20 years ago we needed a plan to put military bases in place to deal with Iran. That would be such a colossal waste of a couple dozen trillion dollars someone should be shot.

I feel like the President 20 years ago looked at how quickly his Daddy kicked ass in Iraq and thought he would do the same. I dont think that his admin thought it would be a 20 year quagmire.
We have all those other bases, we have sea and air covered as you say, but Iraq would not have let ground troops move through their country to attack Iran and no way we can get anything from the East. Having bases with easy access for ground troops would be optimal. Logistics would be so much easier.

I don't think you need to overcomplicate things. Both now and at the time, it was pretty clear the objective was to install a friendly regime like the Saudis and then have more access to/control of the world's oil supply.

To a degree, yes. I think a conviction for a major felony is a lifetime 'not gonna vote for you' kind of issue. But we also need to leave room for people to grow and adapt.

Yeah, people still give me shit about that.

Sure. But add Irans oil into the mix. You control 75% (?0 of the worlds oil if Iran does something stupid and you kick their ass.

We went into Afghanistan because the Al Qaeda training grounds that spawned the 9/11 hijackers and other terrorist attacks were operating unabated with complicit support from the Taliban.

We went into Iraq (a country with a secular dictator, Saddam Hussein, who was despised by Osama Bin Laden) based on manufactured intelligence promoted by Cheney and Rumsfeld. There was no terrorist presence in Iraq when Saddam was in power, but after the U.S. invasion the country went into anarchy, spawning the Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists, and later the Isis terrorists who poured over the border from Syria.

On the other hand, especially when the "role" is at least largely about know how, a country of 330 mio should be able to find qualified individuals elsewhere without that 'history' ? Just as there are countless other avenues for them to pursue. There's a lot between "they can never say anything again" and "they need to be given some of the biggest, most influential roles".

Speaking generally though, not going to pretend to know the details of how the 2007/08 predictions came about and how much was negligence or incompetence or worse.

Totally agree with the last sentence, but I think it's a little more complicated than the first one indicates. 29 of 50 Democratic Senators voted for the AUMF in Iraq. If you say, based on that alone, they are disqualified, that means you are taking over half of the most qualified people off the table. The remaining 42% will generally have issues of their own. How many are electable? How many have committed other similar acts we disagree with? (we being whatever the perspective of the person in question is)

You don't have to go very far with this before there aren't many left who are both experienced and qualified.

There's truth in everyone's responses, there are multiple reasons with different degrees.

Afghanistan was pretty clear cut. We went to take revenge (call it what you want) on AQ, the Taliban was complicit in sheltering them so they went also.

Iraq was faulty intelligence (I won't go as far as saying "manufactured" but there was some confirmation bias in believing Saddam had WMD, his un-cooperation etc. and of course it was personal. But really don't think oil was a top 5 factor). He was a threat to SA, Kuwait etc. but he was also a buffer to Iran.

Interesting question, is Iraq better off in present day than with Saddam (comparison is with Saddam rule, not the mess it is today)? We can talk about human lives lost etc. but interested to see a poll broken down with the Kurds, Sunnis, Shiites etc. My guess is Kurds will say better off, the Sunnis will say no. US will be a no. Unsure about the Shiites but guess they'll say yes.

I heard that Biden wanting a floor of 15% but didn't realize it was a G7 thing also. A good sign that we are working with traditional allies again.

However, don't know if this really helps. Don't understand all the implications but wouldn't surprise me if multi-nationals incorporate in a more receptive country or they find loopholes. But guess its a good start

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/05/busin...gbr/index.html

Dick Cheney knew it would be a quagmire.

Watching a GOP politician give a sober, thoughtful, knowledgeable answer to a question feels so strange.

That's a huge part of what MAGA and its enablers took from us. That kind of knowledge being valued on the right is just gone now. And that's really bad.

Too bad the Dick Cheney of 1994 gave way to the Dick Cheney of 2003, when he and Rummy brainwashed GWB into thinking that the U.S. troops would be welcomed with "roses in the streets" after invading Iraq.

I wonder what changed in the 9 years.

And yes, I miss mature adults running this country.

A right-wing parade in Israel is being cancelled by the government because of security threats. It looks like Bibi is itching for his own Jan 6.

Politicians are, with all the caveats included (chief among them the 2 party system), elected and everybody can (again, with all the caveats) directly influence that. The way you pose the question makes it seem like it's happening too easily, but at least looking from afar the opposite seems true. Would it be a (different type of) issue if nobody got any 'forgivenes' ? Sure. But is that really the prevalent dynamic/bigger issue, even today ?

I'm not sure that's an alltogether Apples to Apples comparison either with regard to the examples given ?

A little scary but do think its not a matter of if but when there will be a major attack. Oil pipelines are a precursor of stuff to come. Only hope our hackers are better than their (Russia, China, Nigeria etc.) hackers.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/06/polit...ntv/index.html

I'm feeling especially bitter at the moment, but it's super comforting to see that aside from immediately abandoning any fight over living wages, healthcare, student loan debt, voting rights & the filibuster were actually going to move backwards in regards to gun control.

The FBI recovered a huge chunk of the Colonial Pipeline ransom by secretly gaining access to Darkside's bitcoin wallet password

Good for the FBI.

Colonial CEO today said that the company only used single-factor authentication. There should be stricter regulations for critical industries.

No, I don't think it is the case that nobody gets forgiveness. I was responding originally though to a couple of posters who thought it was evident that there shouldn't be any such forgiveness.

I used exactly the example they did intentionally, so there wasn't even any need for a comparison period, much less an apples-to-apples one :).

Vaccines cause magnetism?

We should show this clip to aliens who invade our planet. Prove to them we're the dumbest species in the solar system.pic.twitter.com/OpnpLSyN0v

— Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) June 9, 2021

When a guy stole millions from our condo association years ago, the FBI mostly just laughed and told us we were on our own.

When you are a petrochemical company in the United States, the government pretty much works for you.

Not a lot of details in the bipartisan 10 senator infrastructure bill. No new taxes, about $1.2T (although Wapo is saying $1T). Nice middle ground number. Looking forward to what's in the bill, guessing some of the more pseudo infrastructure stuff has been dropped.

I appreciate the effort and this will give Biden a relatively out for bipartisanship.

It is disappointing that they couldn't agree on at least a small bump in corporate tax, not sure Biden is going to be too keen on that.

When the aliens activate the tractor beams, all of us vaccinated "magnetized" people will float into the sky and never be seen again, leaving the unvaccinated people to catch COVID and pass away uncontested, bringing the earth back to it's original form and solving global warming.

That's the Democrats for you.

The woman in the blue T-shirt is hilarious in the background :D

If the rapture had been presented like this in Sunday school I might still go to church.

And she's apparently a supporter of the proposed bill judging by the writing on her shirt.

Also, Dr. Tenpenny could not be more perfectly named if one tried. And of course she's monetizing hedr patriotic resistance to tyranee:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ehananoki...83062439407617

My wife's doctor is also a bit crazy like that, maybe not quite as much. That COVID is taking a much higher toll on mental health than physical, since none of her patients have actually gotten COVID. (spoiler alert: people don't make an appointment 3 weeks out to see their family doctor if they can't breathe and have COVID). And she's going to stop wearing a mask because she's done with it. I can't believe that doctors think like that.

Netanyahu officially gone as Israel's leader. Who knows how long that will last as crazy as Israeli politics seems. I'm also concerned that the guy replacing him for 2 years decides he's going to stay longer and put the guy who is supposed to replace him in jail.

There's only one endorsement that matters, Trump.

NEW NC Senate GOP primary poll (Ted Budd internal)

Pat McCrory - 45%
Ted Budd - 19%
Mark Walker - 12%

That changes to

McCrory - 27%
Bud - 46%
Walker - 8%

after being told Budd was endorsed by Trump.

McCrory is the former governor, so you figure a lot of that 45% was soft and based on nothing more than name recognition.

But that's still a pretty stark change.

With the whole G7 conference and the Russia Summit. One thing I hope Biden really goes after is ransomware and the people behind it. We really need extradition treaties or something to help bring these guys to justice. Any country knowingly sheltering them should be boycotted.

My company has had several of our customers hacked and even one of our suppliers. Our operations have not been affected but it feels like a matter of when and not if.

Dems pass HR1 in the House, GOP and Manchin say no.

Manchin releases a plan that cuts some of HR1 and adds nationwide voter ID.

Stacey Abrams says, sounds good.

GOP says no because it's a Stacey Abrams plan.

Can't wait for these dumbasses to blame the AOC or whoever for losing the Senate and House in a couple years.

BUDGET: moderate Dems @MarkWarner and @SenatorTester say they cannot support Sanders $6 trillion budget framework

— Erik Wasson (@elwasson) June 17, 2021

Joe Manchin is going to bring back bipartisan politics. You just have to be patient.

Those "don't legislate from the bench" folks sure never bring up Alito.

My God, Alito and Gorsuch. pic.twitter.com/7wJ3fUxFO9

— Robert VerBruggen (@RAVerBruggen) June 17, 2021

Three day weekend!!!

(This didn't occur to me until we got the email late this afternoon).

As a CISO at a large global industrial manufacturer I would love that to happen. But am not holding my breath.

I didn't realize Netanyahu is still living in the PM's residence and has refused to leave.

In Ohio they can now take away your SNAP benefits if you have more than $2,250 in checking and savings or if you drive a vehicle worth more than $4,650.

The cost in people & resources necessary to constantly track that kind of minutiae can not possibly be worth the 'savings', right? Practically goes without saying that those efforts would obviously be spent on regulations & oversight for corporations and/or the super wealthy, rather than the super poor.

I guess I spoke too soon. The lack of supplies has caught up with us and our production is at a trickle. Biden really needs to go after these guys.

I've been listening to Vice President Harris and other key Democrats' talking points the past few days. It appears that "migration" is the new PC term for "illegal immigration."

I like the idea of Harris focusing on the "root cause" vs just reacting to border situations. It was pretty stupid how she just didn't go to the border which gave the Trumpster's months of ammo. Just go and say you are getting a personal report from whoever is responsible for the border situation and be done with it.

With that said, not much has happened other than a trip down south. It honestly doesn't seem to be much of a priority to her. I get Biden focusing on the infrastructure, job, family bills and pandemic, but Harris should be more active here IMO.

I like there was bi-partisanship in the infrastructure bill. If it passes, it sets the tone going forward of compromise. There was some obvious non-infrastructure stuff. Then Biden had snafu (or was it intentional?) with the tandem remark. Beats me how this will turn out but I (and the stock market) want that $1.2T bi-partisanship infrastructure bill.

Because nothing this administration does will be good enough. If they jump through 1 hoop they're going to have 3 more in front of them and they'll claim they didn't actually jump through the first hoop well enough.

And if something either dies down or doesn't take hold, invent another "crisis."

"TAXPAYERS PAY BILLIONS FOR HARRIS' JUNKET TO THE BORDER."

Of course, the compromise ditches the tax increases for the wealthy and the loopholes for corporations. God forbid they pay taxes.

It seems kind of dumb to appease a group of people who are bring up an issue in bad faith who would never vote for you. Another example of Democrats thinking whatever is happening on Fox News matters to voters.

The last two election saw the GOP make the border their central issue and they got roasted each time.

Today is day 17 of Netenyahu's continuing occupation of the PM residence.

I'm really glad this happened after our election, or Trump might have got ideas...I've not been following this story too much-why haven't they dealt with him yet?

They don't have a defined protocol for turning the building over. Good thing we wrote crap down in the Constitution like when to GTFO.

So a billionaire from TN is funding SD National Guard deployment to the TX border.

I think they call these people warlords.

What the hell? You have a link?

Every time I explain that Mexico is the end result when states have all the 'rights' and 'authority' and when money is allowed to have influence over governmental figures and people just stare at me like they don't get it.

Government doesn't have amazing success of efficiency when it's bottom up. Why should states have all the say? I really feel like counties are getting the shaft! COUNTIES ARE AUTHORITARIAN AND OUT OF TOUCH!! Cities should be the basis for governance! Down with cities! It's the HOA's that have the real power!!!

It just fucking never ends.

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden...749a92608d2287

This is Noem effectively announcing she's running for President in 2024 if Trump isn't.


EDIT: I'm also very curious on the legality of this. I don't see how this could possibly be legal, but I'm not sure this is something that was ever even considered.

I can't imagine it's legal either

I would call this one part one-sided and one part naive. The naive part is that money will *always* have influence over governmental figures in a free society. It's part of what goes with that freedom. Either people have a voice or they don't, and money is part and parcel of that voice.

On the other part, I think Mexico being the end result of states right etc. is quite an exaggeration. I'm with you that states shouldn't have all the say etc., but there's virtually nobody who actually thinks they should *all* of it. That's a strawman. By the same token, I think almost everyone here would agree they should have *some*. I don't hear many calls for abolishing all governorships and state legislatures.

The track record of top-down government isn't so hot either, to put it mildly. I think it all comes back to the idea that in every condition government is a necessary evil. Both extremes are flawed, and it's very difficult to strike an appropriate balance.

I'd like to rent the National Guard to harass my asshole neighbor. What's the going rate for that?

It's a conversation over what happens without a strong central government, not a non existent one. The balance isn't all or nothing, it's enough that it tips to the state. That's all it takes. Gtfo with "top down governments are bad" shit too. It's the only way large governments have success. If the central government doesn't carry authority over the states, then there is no real value in a central government. States just do whateverthefuck they want every state is different and yes, individual cartels, and warlords end up controlling certain areas with the blessing of the state and yes, that would happen here. And again, yes, there are still plenty of groups that don't want the central government to be able to contravene a state.

95% off if you happen to live next to Rand Paul.

Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but here goes.

So starting in July, they will be putting out payments of the child tax credit on a monthly basis. Basically, calculated on 2019 or 2021 numbers, they will determine your credit, pay half of it from July - Dec in monthly payments, then the other half at tax time.

Will this continue in 2022, meaning you will get 1/12th of the expected credit each month and then none at tax time or will things go back to normal? I can't find that answer anywhere.

I'm pretty sure it just goes through the end of 2021, but the 2021 credit has risen from 2k to 3k.

Gotcha thanks

I most certainly will not gtfo out with that, inasmuch as too much centralized power has caused great damage throughout history. Certainly the 20th century has *massive* evidence of that. They do need a certain amount of power to succeed in their mandate, but just as the complete extreme on the state side would be worse than Mexico, the extreme on the other side is pretty much Stalin. Power corrupts, and all that. I don't know what you mean by 'enough that that it tips to the state'. There are different levels of division of authority on different issues. States having power in certain arenas doesn't mean they are inherently stronger than the fed ...


Agreed for the most part, but on the last sentence as i mentioned, there simply is not a significant movement that *never* wants the fed to be able to override states. There is no significant support behind abolishing the US Army, or federal enforcement agencies en masse (i.e. people who want ICE gone generally don't also want the ATF, FBI, etc. gone as well), or giving all the land in national parks back to the state, etc. The question as ever is where you draw the line. What I'm reading is you basically painting anyone who wants significantly more state power than we currently have to be effectively the same as an absolutist, which just isn't the nature of where people are at on this.

Arguing against my point by saying that the other side can be just a isn't a valid argument.

Also, you should really spend more time in the south. It will certainly change your perspective on the 'nature of where people are at on this.'

Pretty crazy that the GOP justices on SCOTUS have now all but invalidated the entire Voting Rights Act.