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  • Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
    It means that Trump has a bogeyman to blame for his failures. Not that he ever lacked in either category, but this one is actually believable.

    It also means that the House can start subpoenaing his records and his lawyers can start billing him for some truly insane hours.
    I meant whether it signals a trend towards the Dems. A thumbs down by the electorate on the Repubs.

    The Vox article does not think Dems winning the house is a big deal at all, the implication is made that's all they will ever win in the near term.

    Comment


    • Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
      I meant whether it signals a trend towards the Dems. A thumbs down by the electorate on the Repubs.

      The Vox article does not think Dems winning the house is a big deal at all, the implication is made that's all they will ever win in the near term.
      Eh, it usually what happens historically, so in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big a deal, true.
      “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

      Comment


      • Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
        I meant whether it signals a trend towards the Dems. A thumbs down by the electorate on the Repubs.

        The Vox article does not think Dems winning the house is a big deal at all, the implication is made that's all they will ever win in the near term.
        Incumbent parties often lose seats in mid-terms. There are a lot of reasons for this. The opposition party tends to be more motivated, and more of their talent is in campaigning and less in government bureaucracy. Democrats got a ton of votes and performed really well in their House elections, probably about the level that they did in 2006 when Bush was smack dab in Iraq. Trump is insanely unpopular in a lot of segments, and is doing down-ballot damage in a lot of areas like suburbs that were competitive or Republican strengths until relatively recently. For instance, IL-6 has voted (R) in practically every recent Presidential election, and even despite going to Hillary, the sitting rep won handily in 2016.

        Last night, Roskam, the sitting R rep, got shellacked, and is going to lose by almost 5 points.

        Trump is doing major electoral viability damage to the GOP in at least some areas.

        However, Trump is really popular in other areas. His approval ratings are still strong in a lot of swing states. He drives a lot of turnout. It's possible that he motivated Red-Staters to dump Dem Senators in places like North Dakota, Missouri, Montana and Indiana. And his base votes, without requiring a ton of money. Dems raised a ridiculous amount of cash and it hasn't really bought them all that much. He will still be competitive in 2020 unless there is a recession, which means there is probably not going to be any sort of repudiation of Trumpism.

        We will continue to muddle through until at least 2020.
        "The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood"-Otto Von Bismarck

        Comment


        • Incoming House Ways and Means Committee chairman will seek Trump tax returns

          The battle over President Trump’s tax returns, which was fought through most of the 2016 campaign and periodically since then, is about to resume.

          Hours after Democrats retook control of the House of Representatives, the man in line to chair the House Ways and Means Committee said in an interview that the committee would seek to obtain the president’s tax returns.

          “Yes, I think we will,” Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., told MassLive on Wednesday. The chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee is one of a few members of Congress with the power to request an individual tax return from the Internal Revenue Service.

          Neal said he hoped that Trump would voluntarily release his tax documents before the committee is compelled to file a request for them.

          “I think it’s is a reminder that it has to be done so that legally it meets the law. I think that there are some precedents for this,” Neal said. “But, I hope that the president would do this on his own, largely because every president since Gerald R. Ford has voluntarily done this.”

          Neal is likely to be disappointed.

          At a contentious White House news conference Wednesday, Trump made it clear that he had no intention of voluntarily disclosing his returns to members of the House.

          “They’re under audit. They have been for a long time. They’re extremely complex, people wouldn’t understand them,” Trump said when asked if he might simply make the returns available to lawmakers. “They’re done by among the biggest and best law firms in the country, the same thing with the accounting firms. The accountants are a very large, powerful firm from the standpoint of respect. They’re highly respected. Big firm, a great law firm.”

          Trump is the first president in decades to withhold his tax returns from public view and Democrats believe that they could answer questions about his ties to the Russian government in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, as well as illuminate ways in which he and his family avoided enormous tax bills, as detailed in an explosive New York Times investigation.

          As he has since the presidential campaign, Trump said Wednesday that an audit of his taxes by the Internal Revenue Service prevents him from releasing his returns. He acknowledged that there is no legal impediment to making them public, but insisted that his lawyers and accountants have advised him against it.

          “When you’re under audit, and I’m under a very continuous audit, because there are so many companies and it is a big company, far bigger than you would even understand, but it’s a great company,” Trump said, adding, “But if I were finished with the audit, I would have an open mind to it, I would say that, but I don’t want to do it during the audit.”

          Trump has not released any documents, such as a letter from the IRS, that would back up his claims to be under audit. It would not be unusual for the agency to examine the returns of someone of Trump’s wealth, although audits are usually closed after a period of years.

          Neal predicted that a congressional request for the president’s tax returns would likely result in a court case.

          Writing in Yale University’s Notice & Comment, Andy Grewal summed up the legal justification that Democrats in the House may use to support their request for Trump’s tax documents.

          “The statutory authority for any congressional requests would probably come from Sections 6103(f)(1) & (2) of the tax code. Under (f)(1), some committees of Congress can request disclosure of Trump’s returns and can examine those returns privately. Under (f)(2), a non-partisan career official, the Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), may also request and privately examine those returns,” Grewal wrote.

          He noted, though, that courts have ruled that a request to see returns must serve a public, not just a political, purpose.

          When the new members of Congress are sworn in next January, Neal will likely assume his new role on the Ways and Means Committee.
          ______________
          Painfully obvious how much this shit-for-brains wants to keep his returns secret...that diarrhea of the lying mouth thing gets worse and worse.

          My favorite lie: "I’m under a very continuous audit"

          Sure you are asshole. And your Kool-Aid drinking supporters will probably believe you...but nobody else will. Certainly not the law.
          “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

          Comment


          • Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
            Eh, it usually what happens historically, so in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big a deal, true.
            The Democrats won the popular vote by almost 7% which is close to the margin in the so called 'wave' elections like 2006 or 2010. I don't think the Electoral College is as gerrymandered as the House, so there is no way that Trump will be able to repeat his electoral college win in 2020 if the popular vote is as much against him.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by InExile View Post
              so there is no way that Trump will be able to repeat his electoral college win in 2020 if the popular vote is as much against him.
              Oh too true. Trump's greatest liability is that he's been in office and it's obvious what he is and what he isn't.
              Same thing happened with Obama. People were desperate for a Messiah, only to find out they'd been sold a bill of goods by a snake oil salesman.
              “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

              Comment


              • Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
                Oh too true. Trump's greatest liability is that he's been in office and it's obvious what he is and what he isn't.
                Same thing happened with Obama. People were desperate for a Messiah, only to find out they'd been sold a bill of goods by a snake oil salesman.
                He he he.

                Btw, I was getting "Internal Server Error" for the last couple of days. Couldn't post anything.
                Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

                Comment


                • Originally posted by Versus View Post
                  I had a client once, we were working on a airplane models, Shelton or something. He said, that an American during the WW2 could build a house. American during the Vietnam war could fix a car and today's Americans, well he didn't knew anything about them and wasn't sure if they could fix/build anything.

                  The thing is that "low paid jobs" are much more than a low paid jobs, they are an entry level jobs, where a kid from a very young age learns that he must work, contribute to the society. That is why "outsourcing" the low paid jobs is a devastating thing for the society.
                  Typical ignorant/ arrogant baby boomer mentality on display by your client.

                  Today's Americans, especially fancy coast people, have built and are maintaining the computers, networks, Cloud and IOT systems on which today's world works. The cars designed and built by them kick other cars in the teeth. And yeah, many of them also build houses. The future is in AI, Data systms, analytics, smart mfg. and green tech, not just in building houses and cars.

                  And those "low paid jobs"? We are working hard to eliminate many of them completely.

                  Reality has moved on, the huge population between the coasts (that presumably still builds cars and houses by hand) needs to catch up. If they don't, well, no one cares.
                  "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" ~ Epicurus

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by WABs_OOE View Post
                    Such migrations are usually the products of war. I cannot think of one example when a big migration happened peacefully. Even for Kosovo, the Albanian muslims only moved in when the Ottomans conquered the area.

                    Sir,agreed,as a rule.Thing with war is that's continuation of politics by other means.Clausewitz also said war never starts because of the agressor,who wants to impose his will without risk and cost to himself.It starts when the attacked side takes up arms to defend its interest.
                    Also there are wars and wars.Only military historians remember some wars between medieval lords.Their consequences were as limited in time and space as their stakes.Wars that led to massive movements of peoples also led to either extinction (i.e one group completely won and imposed its will).Or caused wars that had the same outcome.
                    Mass migration today simply means ethnic cleansing and/or genocidal wars 10-20-200 years in the future.
                    Those who know don't speak
                    He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by antimony View Post
                      Typical ignorant/ arrogant baby boomer mentality on display by your client.

                      Today's Americans, especially fancy coast people, have built and are maintaining the computers, networks, Cloud and IOT systems on which today's world works. The cars designed and built by them kick other cars in the teeth. And yeah, many of them also build houses. The future is in AI, Data systms, analytics, smart mfg. and green tech, not just in building houses and cars.

                      And those "low paid jobs"? We are working hard to eliminate many of them completely.

                      Reality has moved on, the huge population between the coasts (that presumably still builds cars and houses by hand) needs to catch up. If they don't, well, no one cares.
                      Generally agree.But then,why do you need mass migration?I mean,the left side.I understand,Kato wants Eritreans to pay his pension.But you want to eliminate all menial jobs,so that Salvadorans won't even have burgers to flip.
                      Those who know don't speak
                      He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by antimony View Post
                        Typical ignorant/ arrogant baby boomer mentality on display by your client.

                        Today's Americans, especially fancy coast people, have built and are maintaining the computers, networks, Cloud and IOT systems on which today's world works. The cars designed and built by them kick other cars in the teeth. And yeah, many of them also build houses. The future is in AI, Data systms, analytics, smart mfg. and green tech, not just in building houses and cars.

                        And those "low paid jobs"? We are working hard to eliminate many of them completely.

                        Reality has moved on, the huge population between the coasts (that presumably still builds cars and houses by hand) needs to catch up. If they don't, well, no one cares.
                        No one cares for the US mainland? Well...Good luck with that. Been there, seen that.

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
                          Incoming House Ways and Means Committee chairman will seek Trump tax returns

                          The battle over President Trump’s tax returns, which was fought through most of the 2016 campaign and periodically since then, is about to resume.

                          ..
                          Painfully obvious how much this shit-for-brains wants to keep his returns secret...that diarrhea of the lying mouth thing gets worse and worse.

                          My favorite lie: "I’m under a very continuous audit"

                          Sure you are asshole. And your Kool-Aid drinking supporters will probably believe you...but nobody else will. Certainly not the law.
                          They want his tax returns so they can get him for something. Any thing!

                          When i hear the questions asked in some of these enquiries they are so sweeping that even if your're innocent you will still appear guilty.

                          Every time i hear this tax returns line it reminds of Colin Powell shaking that vial of anthrax at the UN.

                          There can be only one verdict.

                          But i'm saying red herring
                          Last edited by Double Edge; 08 Nov 18,, 13:51.

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by antimony View Post
                            And those "low paid jobs"? We are working hard to eliminate many of them completely.
                            Right. And get charged an arm and a leg to change a battery. You want to know how much TESLA is charging to replace a wheel bearing? Or APPLE deliberately slowing their IPHONES down through their iOS when the phone gets old?

                            The bread that you eat? Farmers got a week at the most to get the crop in and hay got to be cut before first mud. No one has time to spend $5000 to rent a tractor trailer to haul a tractor to JOHN DEER just to update the software when all it needed was a new oil line that the farmer changed within 5 minutes.

                            The basics have not changed and will not changed no matter what technological innovations you want to tout. Food, water, shelter. Those things have been and always will be low paying jobs. Don't think so? See an earthquake and how much tech can help you.

                            Originally posted by antimony View Post
                            Reality has moved on, the huge population between the coasts (that presumably still builds cars and houses by hand) needs to catch up. If they don't, well, no one cares.
                            If that means I have to buy a new car just because TESLA deemed the software to be obsolete, no thank you. I rather fix my own car, do my own plumbing, and repair my electrical panel than pay someone $1000s for 20 minutes worth of work.
                            Last edited by Officer of Engineers; 08 Nov 18,, 16:40.
                            Chimo

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by WABs_OOE View Post
                              Right. And get charged an arm and a leg to change a battery. You want to know how much TESLA is charging to replace a wheel bearing?

                              If that means I have to buy a new car just because TESLA deemed the software to be obsolete, no thank you. I rather fix my own car, do my own plumbing, and repair my electrical panel than pay someone $1000s for 20 minutes worth of work.
                              Why does it have to be just Tesla? You think other manufacturers will not catch up?
                              "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" ~ Epicurus

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
                                They want his tax returns so they can get him for something. Any thing!

                                When i hear the questions asked in some of these enquiries they are so sweeping that even if your're innocent you will still appear guilty.

                                Every time i hear this tax returns line it reminds of Colin Powell shaking that vial of anthrax at the UN.

                                There can be only one verdict.

                                But i'm saying red herring
                                You obviously don't know Donald Trump very well.

                                He could've shown the IRS notification proving he's under audit by the IRS. To date, nothing but deflection and lies. (This is of course the same fucktard that didn't accept Obama's birth certificates)

                                Not that that matters, because his claim that he can't release his returns while being audited is yet another blatant lie.

                                He doesn't need sweeping enquiries to appear guilty. His lying mouth and constant obfuscation have accomplished that perfectly well.
                                “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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