Romney comes out admits what most people with two brain cells knew, TikTok was banned at the behest of Israel. Other members of Congress stated this in recordings with No Labels as well. Imagine that helps any 1st Amendment challenges.

“Why has the PR been so awful?… typically the Israelis are good at PR—what’s happened here, how have they and we been so ineffective at communicating the realities and our POV?… some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok.” pic.twitter.com/vBzuahukfs

— austerity is theft ���� (@wideofthepost) May 5, 2024

There is no doubt that taking $6,666 from every tax payer in the U.S. (assuming $1 trillion dollars in debt default multiplied by 150 million U.S. taxpayers) would allow for at least a few of those students to buy a house or a car.

There's a lot of different types of student loan forgiveness, but one angle of it that's not mentioned a lot is that the PSLF public service forgiveness was a Bush-era program that seemed simple - make qualifying payments for 10 years while working in public service and the rest is forgiven.

But the implementation was so botched under Obama and Trump that very few people actually got the benefit of the deal they signed up for - the private loan servicers kept changing and then lost documentation of payments, borrowers were encouraged to go into non-qualifying payment plans, applications submitted would just never be reviewed, it was an administrative mess. Biden's administration basically put the onus on government to "count" more months in more circumstances, particularly when the loan servicers dropped the ball in doing so.

It took me 16 years to get forgiveness when they promised 10, but, I was sure happy to get that email.

Or start businesses. Or have families. Or the other million or so things that having some financial freedom provides not just to them, but the eco ony as a whole.. It's a far better solution than just accumulating interest which is devastating for a strong economy.

If you're concerned about the amount, I would say stop spending trillions on endless wars in the Middle East or propping up defense contractors funding unwinnable wars on the other side of the globe.

Loan Forgiveness basically falls under Education, The $1 trillion dollars in estimate loan forgiveness equates to about 10 years of total funding of the Department of Education.

I'm not thinking shutting down the DoE for 10 years is a great idea...but maybe it is?

The DoD, as you eluded to, could be shut down for about 14 or 15 months to achieve the $1 trillion dollars. I'm not thinking that's a great idea either.

But eventually, we're going to have to make those hard decisions. I'm more and more convinced that overspending our income tax revenue by 130% every year (or whatever we're doing these last 5 years) is more bad than good.

That's an incredibly rudimentary way of looking at the expense. As the study posted and many others show, there are immense benefits to our economy by paying for college educations and providing loan forgiveness.

If people are not in massive debt, they're able to buy a home, cars, and other things. They can start a family and pay for all the expenses that come with that. They pay taxes on those things, their purchases create jobs for people who in turn also pay taxes. The economy flourishes when most of the middle class' income isn't earmarked for interest on a decades old debt. You have to factor that into your figures.

Not to mention the societal benefits. More education leads to less crime. So you'd actually be safer and can spend less on prisons and other things in the criminal justice system.


It's weird how the "we need to make tough decisions" folks always pop up when it's something like food assistance or education. Didn't see you comment on the $100 billion we just gave out for a deadend war. Something that provides Americans with next to no actual measurable benefit. Or the trillions spent in Iraq and Afghanistan. How about the $2 trillion on a plane that can't fly in the rain?

Agree we need to be concerned about our debt. There's about a million things I'd cut before student aid which have immense tangible benefits to this country. Or I'd just have wealthy people actually pay taxes. Here's another $150 billion just by enforcing existing laws.

I feel like you go off the rails in the trump vs biden thread but I agree with everything in this post.

Republican-speak for "Why should others have it better than me?"

That’s not what I’m saying at all.

https://www.politico.com/interactive...nding-tracker/

Biden’s big bet hits reality
By JESSIE BLAESER, BENJAMIN STORROW, KELSEY TAMBORRINO, ZACK COLMAN and DAVID FERRIS
05/08/2024 05:00 AM EDT
Joe Biden hung a portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt above the Oval Office fireplace when he entered the White House — the first time in nearly 60 years that the place of honor has gone to the architect of the New Deal.

Then Biden launched a spending spree whose impact would rival that of any president since.

But Biden’s attempt to secure an FDR-style legacy is running short on time.

A POLITICO analysis shows that hundreds of billions of dollars that Congress approved at Biden’s urging remain unspent heading into his November rematch with former President Donald Trump. If Trump wins, he could take a wrecking ball to Biden’s greatest legislative achievements: four laws containing $1.6 trillion in loans, grants and tax credits meant to green the economy, revive the country’s manufacturing base, repair its roads and bridges and challenge China for technological supremacy.

It's clear that Democrats have a messaging problem because Republicans hate Democrats.

The country mouth breathers mistake culture war achievements for actual achievements.

While some on this board hate Biden because of his Israeli support, or just that he's a Democrat, the real truth is that Democrats provide legislation to actually make the country better; Republicans cannot platform on that because they have no achievements other to carpetbag on Biden legislation (that they predominantly didn't vote for).

Truth is: I'd vote Republican if they took an interest in reducing the deficit by proper taxation methods (not just cutting programs like welfare, and social security).

They were taken over by Jesus freaks in the 80s and now they have Trump and I'll never vote for such idelologies. So I'm backing the blue because morally it's better and if they actually were to gain a super majority in the House, Senate and White House, they could blow past the racist, backwards, white trash mouth breathers (who really are the cudgel for the ultra rich to use) and get this country back on track for the future rather than looking at the Boomer past and saying that was when we had it best.

Meanwhile, in an act that will appease no one:
The U.S. paused a weapons shipment to Israel, Washington’s first formal rebuke of its ally’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza https://t.co/DAUBarZ8px https://t.co/DAUBarZ8px— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 8, 2024

yes yes Speaker Johnson even though we have no way of knowing how many (or even if there are any), we all know that its happening so we need this law to make something that is already illegal, against the law:


https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1788231185174311165

We can't find any. Instead we keep finding things like this.

Kim Taylor sentenced to eight months for voter fraud

We all know Bigfoot exists, but we have absolutely no evidence to prove it. But we all know it, intuitively, otherwise how/why does Discovery Channel exist?

Oh and i forgot they are all voting for Democrats too somehow...

Bigfoots vote Democrats?

We all know, intuitively, that Speaker Mike Johnson rapes children. He wedges a Bible into their jaws and holds them down while they wordlessly scream—their terror finally fully arousing him. But it's not something that's easily provable. https://t.co/JH2eIjwGy4

— man it’s a hot zone, (@Mobute) May 8, 2024

They're illegal aliens, aren't they?

It's no fun, being an illegal alien...

That seems like an incredibly light sentence. We know why but still, that's crazy.

Don't blame me. I voted for Kang!

So remember that big Foxcomm plant and investment into Wisconsin that Trump heralded and it never really happened. on the same land today, Biden announced a plant and investment by Microsoft.



https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/1788208027243302966

and they will do nothing to message this in the state the election likely hinges on.

They are so bad at messaging.

Kind of why running an 82 year old who has trouble with public speaking is not a great strategy.

Compared to a 77 year old fucking moron who is racist and wants to be a dictator or the one with a worm in his brain...I'll be picking Biden.

The brain worm is dead. Come on!

Just saying you can't complain about your message not getting out there if your messenger is too old and mentally shot to do it. Someone like Obama would win this election by 100+ electoral votes with the same policies.

Seriously, there was not anybody that could have ran as a third party candidate that wasn't this level of crazy?

Okay, so it happened.

A buildup over 3+ weeks but pretty anti-climatic.

Can someone explain the synthetic meat thing that some states are banning? Is it meant to just ban competition for the meat industry? Does Impossible Burgers or veggie burgers fall in that category or is it just the cell-cultured stuff?

Cell cultured stuff is my understanding. It's 100% about protecting the meat industry.

wow brutal

To run as a third party candidate requires crazy. To run for public office now probably requires crazy.

Which G-7 leader has the highest approval rating?

Hint: It rhymes with low ridin'.

Bad news for EVs and free markets.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbc...amp/rcna151748

When the communists beat you in capitalism. And so much for that whole climate change thing.






It's silly to say that China beats the US in capitalism. The tweet doesn't support that statement either.

It's odd to me that I've been signed up for so many far right mailing lists. Every couple months a new one pops in. I would wager a guess that's it's because I send emails to my congressmen, and since all of them are republicans, someone is selling email addresses to political operatives.



I generally don't unsub them either, they just show up a few times a day, and it's not regular R's either, it's the super far right, like Epoch and others. I've learned that the vaccinated are really in for it. So much bad news for them. I've thought about creating a spreadsheet, just to see in one spot, the nature of the information the spew.

China is kicking our ass in EVs which is why we're having to put large tariffs on them to protect American companies, despite the devastating effects it'll have on climate change.

Not sure what stage of capitalism we're in when we just continuously ban foreign companies because they do things better than us.

You can be added to right-wing mailing lists in a number of ways. Some of these groups are incredibly aggressive at buying lists (even using date from breaches). It's been a problem for years. Companies like Google tried to put the political spam into spam folders and got hauled in front of Congress for their troubles.

So there's not much you can do to avoid it. Unsubscribing won't do anything and might actually get you spammed more since they now know it's an active e-mail address. They'll continue breaking the law and there is really no one that can stop them.

Just checked my inbox and there's an e-mail from Kristi Noem and Lara Trump today. This is a personal e-mail account I've never used for anything political.

You can't yell at a cat because it's not a dog. So now you're advocating for State run capitalism? There's no comparison because it's not capitalism. If you want the US to swap to China's style of state run capitalism then advocate for that. But whining about one thing not being the other isn't an argument.



Also, complaining about the US not being totally committed to capitalism doesn't make it a failure either. There's a long history of government protections as well as advocating and advancing industries to it's own benefit. Again, it's a silly comparison.

I get Trump and MAGA texts recently. It sucks.

What form of capitalism bans businesses at the behest of inferior businesses in return for political donations? What type of capitalism uses tax dollars for credits to make a company's product cheaper? And what form of capitalism spends billions to build up a company's infrastructure for them at taxpayer expense?


Abandoning the semblance of a free market isn't the issue here (we know American doesn't really care about that), it's turning our back on fighting climate change which was a key part of someone's Presidential campaign.

The goal of the Biden administration has been to get a $25k EV to market. It's central to their plan to see widespread adoption of EVs to combat climate change. They've offered subsidies and credits to help achieve that. It's a huge part of his landmark infrastructure bill.

But Detroit failed miserably to make it happen. China has succeeded at that and builds an EV that can meet that price point. Banning that shows he doesn't care about climate change. It was all about handouts to automakers. And this is just another bailout in a long line of bailouts for that industry. And consumers suffer the consequences having to pay more money for an inferior product.

Ajit Pai really did a number on the FCC and is largely responsible for all the spam text messages and robocalls we receive.

Why do you think China succeeded? Why is Temu successful? The state subsidizes the product to grab the market. It doesn't need to make a profit if it's getting market share. State owned capitalism isn't the same as the state offering incentives to private companies to bring a product to market. Protectionist behavior has its place. What makes you think that only automakers benefit? I know I don't know everything about the auto industry, but I know enough to know that there are gains made across the board that aren't just handouts to businesses. I have a hard time believing the reasons for such actions are as simple as you say.

What are you talking about? BYD is a public company. You can go buy shares in it tomorrow if you'd like. A huge chunk of the company is owned by American investors like Warren Buffett. They raised their money through an IPO and they're profitable on their own without the state's help.

Their crime is making a cheap EV that people like. Something American companies have been unable to replicate and don't want on the market (margins aren't as big as those giant ass trucks or luxury sedans). Plus a product that threatens to hurt the oil and gas industry.

And even if this was some secret plot by the Chinese to subsidize cars for Americans, who cares? If China wants to cover the costs for us to get cheap cars that are better for the planet, I'm all for it. Saves us taxpayers a ton of money and gets us off oil.

And Temu is sort of successful because they cut out the middle man. They found a more efficient way to sell the cheap Chinese crap that Amazon has been overpricing for years. Kind of how capitalism is supposed to work.

They're also based in Boston and publicly traded on the NASDAQ. You can own a piece of the company too. I get that people are upset that another Chinese company is doing things better than American companies, but maybe American companies should do better.

Not sure where this belongs

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/s...hot-rcna152348

You can't be this naive, RainMaker. There are plenty of ways for a state to advantage a private company that don't necessarily show up on the company's books.

I'm aware. The government banning competitors is an example of a state giving an advantage to a private company.

Still don't know why you as a consumer would want to pay more for an inferior product. Or why we are making decisions that exacerbate climate change.

And if those cheap Chinese EVs are in part cheap because of the use of what is basically slave labor, you're ok with that? You're OK with rewarding an administration who has been executing a genocidal plan on at least two ethnic groups?

You are only allowed to care about one genocide at a time.

Well, to be fair, you can’t blame Biden for those genocides.

They literally make the battery cells for GM and Ford. The cars are going to be made at their new Mexico plant.

So are you in favor of tariffs on all the car companies or just this specific one that happens to make a better, cheaper EV than anyone in this country? Or if you want to put tariffs on China for their cheap goods, we can likely wipe Walmart and Amazon off the map in a few weeks.

Sure is interesting to see liberals come around on all of Trump's policies. Seems his policies weren't the issue, it was the optics.

Yeah, I don't think he's giving tens of billions of our tax dollars to the Chinese.

You didn't answer my question. So, it would appear you're ok with some genocides, but not others.

What's your question? I am opposed to genocide and don't want my tax dollars funding it.

You're really stretching although I get it's impossible to defend Biden at this point.

This Red Lobster bankruptcy is everything wrong with hedge fund capitalism. Those fuckers should have to forfeit all of their profits from the jacked up rents.

It feels like a weird loophole to just legally embezzle funds from a company.

Biden will confirm his 200th judge today, which has him ahead of Trump's pace and he has an additional 20-25 lined up for votes.

Here's an absolutely surreal moment from the past. 52 years ago, President Richard Nixon called Senator Joe Biden to offer his condolences for the tragic loss of Biden's wife and daughter in an automobile accident.

SCOTUS basically killed the whole idea of racial gerrymandering today. We'll see a lot of red state redistricting after the election to further disenfranchise minority voters.

24 years later, Karl Rove's dream of a permanent GOP majority comes closer to fruition. Of course these days both he and Bush wouldn't even get a GOP nomination for dog catcher due to a lack of purity.

Thomas wrote a concurrence to the racial gerrymandering decision and made it clear that Brown v Board of Education was an abuse of the power of the court.

These fuckwits may not be exactly for segregation but there really are a lot of folks who believe people should have the right to segregate if they choose.

He's going to get around to making his own marriage illegal soon.

Like most authoritarians I would imagine Thomas thinks that marriages like his should not, in fact, be legal, but at the same time believes he should/would be given an exception because of how responsible and right-thinking he is. Rules apply to other people, people to whom rules need to apply.

See also: lack of ethics rules for SCOTUS.

See also: abortion

Rules set by my part are meant for the other party.

Democrats can't be trusted to have abortions for the right reasons, basically.

You mean Clarence Thomas. Of all the people, this man is nothing but a pawn of rich white men. I'm pretty sure that SLJ was channeling him in Django.

I think that's a simplistic and slightly racist view of Thomas. He knows precisely what he's doing and precisely what power and leverage he has. He's not a pawn, just selling a valuable service.

Senator blasts federal parks officials for reportedly barring American flags in beloved national park

National Park Service denies ordering removal of American flag at Denali National Park

So can we say that this was a "false flag" story?

He's a very bitter and angry old man out to get revenge on parts of society he feels have wronged him, and that just happens to align with the interests of rich right-wingers.

Tell me again that Trump is better for Palestine than Biden. Please.

Trump tells donors he will crush pro-Palestinian protests if re-elected | Israel-Gaza war | The Guardian

There isn't a dem with a realistic path to the White House any time soon that would have handled the Gaza situation any differently.

Trump, on the other hand, has been adamant about Israel being thorough and finishing the job while nearly the entire GOP has disdain for Muslims. Trump has also talked about deporting anyone protesting on Palestine's behalf. But yeah, same.

He's willing to carry the water of white men on behalf of black men everywhere. He is who he is.

Biden is actively doing this.

I didn't realize Biden was calling in the national guard, deporting protestors, and setting the movement back 25-30 years.

Not really. He probably has the most realistic view of America out of any of the folks on the court. He knows it's all a sham. It's why he doesn't even bother to ask questions or even listen. The decisions were decided before anyone stepped into court and this is all a show. He's the only one willing to not go along with the charade.

Thomas is a strange guy though. He's actually hugely influenced by Malcolm X and other black nationalists during the Civil Rights Era. He believes in all the BLM stuff and white supremacy. He is an afro-pessimist in a a way. He grew up in Jim Crow south where people were outright racist to him because of his skin color. He went to school up north and found a different type of racism (liberal racism) similar to what you see from people like PilotMan. In the end, he believes that it's a country built around white supremacy and there is nothing you can really do to change that.

I don't think he's doing anyone's "bidding". He's a sort of libertarian and believes that the government can't legislate away white supremacy. That the best hope for black people is through capitalism (and in some cases segregation). And he understands SCOTUS and all this crap is a sham and uses it to enrich himself. It's no different than what Kavanaugh, Alito, or others are doing. He's just more open about it and being black, it upsets certain white liberals who feel his skin color should make him subservient to them.

The Enigma of Clarence Thomas is a really good book if anyone cares to learn about the guy. He's a horrible person but his beliefs are more than some racist stereotype. He's wrote extensively on black nationalism when he was younger and you can see how that makes him who he is today.

They hold the same positions and will do whatever Israel tells them to do. You don't have an issue with Trump's stance (which is nearly identical to Biden's), you just don't like his optics.

This is a peak example of how you refuse to see the differences between to people because you dislike Biden so much.

Biden isn't actively doing what Trump has said he would do. Their stances aren't the same on a fundamental or any other level. One wants to send the national guard in to crush protests, deport protestors, has encouraged Israel to flatten Gaza to finish the job quickly and has said they need to be thorough about it. He also wants Israel to destroy Palestine and absorb it.

The other has done none of those things and has pushed for a 2 state solution.

But they're the same because you don't agree with either.

They hold the same position on Israel. Biden fully supports the destruction of Gaza. He is fine with the deaths of innocent women and children. Heck, there's a speech he made in the Senate in the 80's where he said it was acceptable for Israel to kill women and children. It was so demented that Begin, who was a psychopath, was like "chill out Joe".

Sorry, but they're both hardcore zionists with a long track record of hating Muslims. The idea that one of them will "genocide harder" or whatever you're implying is silly. They'll both let Israel do whatever the fuck they want.

The biggest difference is that if Trump wins, a bunch of you can now pretend you are opposed to genocide.

Equating Trump to Biden on Israel, again, shows you are unable to separate two things you don't agree with it. Name a realistic presidential candidate that would do anything differently than what Bidens done.

I guess understanding nuance puts me in the pro genocide group. It must be a wonderful existence to see everything so clearly and be morally righteous.

RM makes me understand why so many people hate the far left.

RM wants the total destruction of Israel "from river to the sea" and anything short of that makes you evil. So any leader that doesn't call for Israel's complete surrender is a Nazi.

He doesn't want that. This is just his new thing. This is the same guy who accused me once of "white knighting" Muslims for arguing they shouldn't all be painted with the same brush after a terrorist attack.

They literally have the same stance on Israel. Biden has been a proud zionist for decades. Like I said, you can go back and find where he gave a speech talking about how Israel should kill women and children. This is not a new thing.

And plenty of Presidents have stood up. Reagan refused to send fighter jets and withheld aid when Israel started massacring civilians in Beirut. HW withheld loan guarantees when settlers were killing and stealing land. Clinton pressured Israel into a peace plan by withholding investments. Obama and Israel probably had the worst relationship of any US President in some time.


Just because Biden is incredibly weak, doesn't mean other Presidents were too.

When did opposing genocide become a "far left" position? If you look at polls, most people oppose it. It's you who is taking the extremist position.


No, I just want them to stop committing genocide and other war crimes. I want them to stop keeping people in concentration camps.

The fact you have to distort that position because you are too cowardly to just say you support the genocide is pathetic. Grow a pair.

I think maybe a lot of people aren't into your schtick anymore, RM.

I think you've run out of ways to defend a genocide without sounding like a sociopath. Just pretend it's not happening and all the polls are wrong too.

Complete and utter incompetence.

US pier constructed off Gaza has broken apart | CNN Politics

He has completely taken over the board and it's a bummer.

I stopped engaging with him years ago, I think more should try it. There's zero point in engaging with him.

The Biden Presidency - 2020
 

I can’t imagine what an energy suck it would’ve been in my life if I’d have allowed he and the other guy to continue to suck the energy from me.

While fofc is far less enjoyable or even visited by me anymore

My life is better

And that’s a shame that mods let it get that way


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Anyone following what's going on in Texas politics?

Ken Paxton and company were trying to oust the state house speaker for supporting Paxton's impeachment. David Covey had endorsements from Trump, Abbott, Paxton, and Patrick. He unexpectedly lost by 400 votes and Paxton is claiming Phelan, the house speaker, blatantly stole the election by getting dem votes.

Additionally, the state will considering a bill that would require anyone running for statewide office to win the majority of the counties in their district, not just the overal majority, in order to win an election. A blatant attempt at blocking all dems from ever winning a statewide race in Texas.

That last part clearly violates Baker v. Carr/Reynolds v. Sims. While Alito/Thomas would love to rid of those decisions, I don't think the rest of the court will go along with that.

Why does a district matter if it's for a statewide office?

Are you saying someone has to win the overall vote AND the majority of the counties? What happens if no one does that?

This, two posters have basically ruined the board.

My crazy theory is actually these two posters are the same person trolling FOFC for fun, maybe even a permabanned user from the distant past?

Run off till the Republican wins. A Democrat could conceivably win a majority of votes, but there is zero chance they could win a majority of counties in Texas.


Edit: Just as a for instance, Beto won 19 counties out 254 for Governor in the last election. He won the most populated counties, but many counties that have fewer people than the average subdivision in Houston went 80-90% Republican.

One poster does not initiate attacks, only respond in kind, and can be ignored quite easily

heh Joe Manchin is no longer a Democrat. He is now an Independent as he might run for Governor of West Virginia.


https://wvmetronews.com/2024/05/31/m...n-independent/