Politics

PHOENIX PHIL said:

I believe at this point I will be voting for the loser of the POTUS election.

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I stopped even contemplating this. My wife and I decided we will go, vote, and call it a day. At this point, with 2 young kids, a business I own, and seeing the world crumble around us, I can't afford anymore anxiety in my life. That's why I won't watch anymore debates, either. It just makes me anxious and angry, and like I said...I'm not "obsessed" with Trump either. He's my candidate. I own it, and we are backing our guy. He's not perfect, but he's what this country and the world needs.

Red Leg said:

This is a purely subjective observation, but there is relatively little public display of Harris support in deepest bluest Austin. When Hillary ran, every other house, car, or boutique seemed to have one of her signs or stickers. I doubt the anti-Trump bias is any less, but enthusiasm for Harris seems somewhat muted.

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Thanks for these observations! Gives me more hope that we may have a 2016 type presidential election, and I'm even holding some hope that Republicans really do have a Red Wave this time.

I avoid Austin as much as possible and have so far succeeded in never getting off the freeway anywhere near it

I was wondering where Trump got the idea that pushing migrants eating pets was a good idea when there were many more examples of issues with migrants like draining of resources, crime etc.
She helped him with debate prep and is part of his entourage now. Even MTG thinks she is a far right loon. Trump is really working hard to lose this election.

Closest I ever get to Austin is Buda, and then maybe once a year.

Tanks said:

I was wondering where Trump got the idea that pushing migrants eating pets was a good idea when there were many more examples of issues with migrants like draining of resources, crime etc.
She helped him with debate prep and is part of his entourage now. Even MTG thinks she is a far right loon. Trump is really working hard to lose this election.

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Where are you getting information that Lara Loomer was part of debate prep?

Everything I read and have seen is he pulled in Matt Geatz, Tulsi Gabbard, and Phillipe Reines (he played Harris in all practice debates).. and that those 3 people were who were leaned on.. No one else played any material role to speak of..

Trump was very public about saying he actually didnt need to do a whole lot of prep and didnt intend on it...

Chris Christie, who helped Trump prep for debates in 2016 after he dropped out, and in 2020, volunteered his services to Trump for this debate.. Trump politely declined.. and Christie has gone on the record saying that Trump advised him that he didnt need to prep much for the debate or need many people involved, because he had already gone through the process during the previous 2 cycles..

She did arrive, on his plane, in Philly prior to the debate along with a couple of dozen other supporters.. most of whom were there to support him, and had nothing to do with debate prep..

On the 11th (2 days ago) she was directly asked by a reporter if she was part of the campaign or on Trump payroll, and she definitively stated she was not.. she was simply invited to the event and chose to attend...

Naturally the Washington Post, CNN, etc are trying to have a field day with her appearing at the same place at the same time as Trump... but who on this forum actually trusts the MSM and thinks they arent intentionally trying to forward an agenda that is left leaning?

I think Loomer is a loony tune myself... and I personally wouldnt want her leaching onto my presence if I were running for public office...

But.. If people on the lunatic fringes are a concern.. why isnt the MSM talking about Harris relationships with countless members of the extreme far left?

is it because she was deemed the most liberal person in congress when she was a sitting senator? and its just expected that all of her friends are extremists?

wouldnt the same apply to Trump and the MAGA camp? (a known hard right wing leader hanging around extreme hard right people is a problem? but an extreme leftist hanging out with extreme leftists isnt?)..

its pretty clear that this is much ado about nothing, and the MSM trying whatever they can to continue to play the Orange Man Bad game.. while they conveniently ignore the exact same behaviors and activities on the other side of the aisle..

I guess that sells clicks and viewership... so.. thats what they'll continue to do..

mdwest said:

its pretty clear that this is much ado about nothing, and the MSM trying whatever they can to continue to play the Orange Man Bad game.. while they conveniently ignore the exact same behaviors and activities on the other side of the aisle..

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There is not much time left until the election. So, no reason to give MSM more ammo to focus on trivial stuff. I wonder how many news cycles have been wasted on frivolous stuff like cat ladies, migrants eating pets etc., etc..

Of course, the biggest time sink of all, the "stolen" 2020 election.

Tanks said:

There is not much time left until the election. So, no reason to give MSM more ammo to focus on trivial stuff. I wonder how many news cycles have been wasted on frivolous stuff like cat ladies, migrants eating pets etc., etc..

Of course, the biggest time sink of all, the "stolen" 2020 election.

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I dont disagree...

Im just saying theyre going to make ammunition out of anything... Trump being Trump is all they need...

Its people responding to the MSM's BS rather than recognizing it for the BS it is that is the problem...

Harris could spend a weekend smoking weed with Bill Ayers and Bernie Sanders.. then sign a decree the next morning saying she is going to make possession of a single pot seed a felony.. and you couldnt get MSNBC to talk about it..

But Laura Loomer shows up at the debate.. and thats what MSNBC thinks is the most important story to run for the day?

Tanks said:

There is not much time left until the election. So, no reason to give MSM more ammo to focus on trivial stuff. I wonder how many news cycles have been wasted on frivolous stuff like cat ladies, migrants eating pets etc., etc..

Of course, the biggest time sink of all, the "stolen" 2020 election.

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It really doesn't matter a whole lot.

Trump was heavily criticized early in 2020 just for wanting to block air traffic from China. Then he was heavily criticized for not shutting stuff down when it looked like the epidemic was going to be way worse than it turned out to be.

Same with the vaccine. It was terrible until the dems took control, then all of a sudden it was going to be mandatory.

Trump does X...he gets criticized for doing. But when dems do X, they're roundly praised.

Trump does !X...he gets criticized for not doing. But when dems do !X, they're praised.

Tanks said:

There is not much time left until the election. So, no reason to give MSM more ammo to focus on trivial stuff. I wonder how many news cycles have been wasted on frivolous stuff like cat ladies, migrants eating pets etc., etc..

Of course, the biggest time sink of all, the "stolen" 2020 election.

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If it’s trivial (which it of course is) then stop talking about it. Not all clickbait is on the borders of the webpage.

I usually don’t chime in on this tread, but this election scares the hell out of me. I’m not a Trump fan but thought he did a decent job during his first term and would be a heck of a lot better than Cackling Kamala.
During the debate, Trump made a lot of mistakes but IMO his biggest was on the first question to Harris: Are people better off now than they were 4 yrs ago?”. She spouted some memorized plan. I also noticed some nervousness in her voice. When Trump rebutted, he said things that were true, but he didn’t nail her to the wall.
He should have said something to the effect of: You didn’t answer the question. Why? Because you can’t answer in the affirmative. Grocery prices are up over 20%. Fuel over 30%. Housing, insurance and everything else thru the roof. Interest rates are high. Credit card debt is at an all time high. Our number one ally in the Middle East was attacked and one of our top adversaries invaded Ukraine. We have a President, whom you and your party said is up to the job, obviously isn’t. You say your administration has everything under control, yet you state you need to change things. You and Joe have screwed things up and I’m going to fix them.
That would have slammed the door on her for the rest of the night.

Inline6 said:

I can't argue that point. The 3 cuts he wants to make are cuts that will make a big difference to alot of people.

I remember my first epiphany when it comes to taxes. Was working a service job out of school. Was paid every two weeks, this particular pay period I had 80 regular hours and 84 OT hours. My take home pay was within a dollar of what my regular 80 hours of pay (no taxes). I was a kick in the gut to know I worked 84 hours of OT to pay taxes.

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What I really love about Trump's recent proposals are that they reward and encourage high quality hard work. It is the first time I can remember a politician offering to reward rather than punish ambitious work ethics!

No tax on tips rewards further the extra effort put in to provide quality service. No tax on overtime rewards strong work ethics and extra ambition. No tax on Social Security benefits rewards are lifetime of being an earner.

I am curious how the details of no tax on overtime works? Is that on FICA tax or both FICA and Income tax withholding? Federal only I assume? So employers located in States with income tax need to do even more paperwork? Although I'm assuming it will all be worked out and software programmed to handle it.

Is it no income nor FICA tax on hours over 40 or is it only on the extra .5 part of the 1.5x payed on overtime hours?

There are lots of details missing to this proposal and I'm sure Congress will complicate it.

And what about salaried employees who put in extra hours as part of their job?

And how will self employed people paying self employment taxes be treated when they put in long hours but don't punch a time clock?

Partners in LLC's and LLP's who don't receive wages but rather a Gauranteed payment and also pay self employment tax on that?

FICA and Self Employment taxes are capped once those incomes reach $168,600.00 so this really would be working middle and working lower class tax break!

I certainly would have appreciated it during the couple weeks when I was 20 years old that I actually had a job I did work lots of overtime those two weeks

And even though it will mean extra book work and accounting expenses, I will appreciate my employees getting the tax breaks now! They all work very hard and I don't believe any of them do not put in overtime.

meigsbucks said:

I usually don’t chime in on this tread, but this election scares the hell out of me. I’m not a Trump fan but thought he did a decent job during his first term and would be a heck of a lot better than Cackling Kamala.
During the debate, Trump made a lot of mistakes but IMO his biggest was on the first question to Harris: Are people better off now than they were 4 yrs ago?”. She spouted some memorized plan. I also noticed some nervousness in her voice. When Trump rebutted, he said things that were true, but he didn’t nail her to the wall.
He should have said something to the effect of: You didn’t answer the question. Why? Because you can’t answer in the affirmative. Grocery prices are up over 20%. Fuel over 30%. Housing, insurance and everything else thru the roof. Interest rates are high. Credit card debt is at an all time high. Our number one ally in the Middle East was attacked and one of our top adversaries invaded Ukraine. We have a President, whom you and your party said is up to the job, obviously isn’t. You say your administration has everything under control, yet you state you need to change things. You and Joe have screwed things up and I’m going to fix them.
That would have slammed the door on her for the rest of the night.

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I agree. And to your point, he didn't hammer home the fact as much as he should have: The economic resurgence after his term was because the economy reopened. An economy that the DEMOCRATS PUSHED TO HAVE SHUTDOWN IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Breaking: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that, undated, or misdated mail in ballots, can not be counted in the upcoming election.

A big victory for election integrity.

Wow, guess Trump’s peace plan is what most have suspected, exactly what Putin wants. Evil wins. I wonder what kind of message this would send to China vis-à-vis Taiwan.

From the article:

Under the proposal mapped out by the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Trump would force Kyiv to concede vast swathes of its territory including Crimea, seized by the Kremlin in 2014, and the land occupied by Russian forces in the south and east of the country after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukraine would retain its independence in return for a guarantee that it could not join Nato or other “allied institutions”, Vance said.

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Tanks said:

JD Vance reveals Trump’s Ukraine plan: let Russia have what it’s taken — The Times and The Sunday Times

Donald Trump could impose a “demilitarised zone” on Ukraine as part of a deal to end the war with Russia if he takes back the White House, his running-mate JD Vance has said. Under the proposal mapped out by the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Trump would force Kyiv to concede vast swathes...

apple.news

Wow, guess Trump’s peace plan is what most have suspected, exactly what Putin wants. Evil wins. I wonder what kind of message this would send to China vis-à-vis Taiwan.

From the article:

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I think most people have foreseen this from the beginning. Do you actually believe Crimea was going to be returned to Ukraine? Also, those areas in the south and east have been a problem for quite some time. I think it’s naive to believe that things were going to return to normal after this is over. The way things are escalating I think it’s best to negotiate and end it. If we and others had been willing to give more support at the beginning it might’ve ended with a complete Russian withdrawal while retaining Crimea but that time has passed.

Taiwan is obviously an all or nothing situation unlike Ukraine. It’s plain to see for everyone at this point that Russia will most likely not be taking Ukraine in its entirety. The US and Europe are going to go for that. Now that Ukraine has invaded Russia proper they have some leverage for the negotiations that are increasingly likely and have been hinted at by both parties.

I’m curious what you thought the current or possible Harris administration was going to get accomplished?

Of course everyone in the world knows if Trump was in office the invasion wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Period.

Wishfulthinker580 said:

I think most people have foreseen this from the beginning. Do you actually believe Crimea was going to be returned to Ukraine? Also, those areas in the south and east have been a problem for quite some time. I think it’s naive to believe that things were going to return to normal after this is over.

Taiwan is obviously an all or nothing situation unlike Ukraine. It’s plain to see for everyone at this point that Russia will most likely not be taking Ukraine in its entirety. Now that Ukraine has invaded Russia proper they have some leverage for the negotiations that are increasingly likely and have been hinted at by both parties.

I’m curious what you thought the current or possible Harris administration was going to get accomplished?

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I don’t expect to see Crimea returned to Ukraine, but I will not be at all surprised if they take it back. Ukraine has effectively taken the Black Sea fleet off the water. They have come very close to severing the bridge connection leaving only a tenuous connection overland. With their recent strikes they have displayed a capability that very well may make resupply of Crimea impossible for Russia.

WAB said:

I don’t expect to see Crimea returned to Ukraine, but I will not be at all surprised if they take it back. Ukraine has effectively taken the Black Sea fleet off the water. They have come very close to severing the bridge connection leaving only a tenuous connection overland. With their recent strikes they have displayed a capability that very well may make resupply of Crimea impossible for Russia.

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It will be a huge bargaining chip if they do

Tanks said:

JD Vance reveals Trump’s Ukraine plan: let Russia have what it’s taken — The Times and The Sunday Times

Donald Trump could impose a “demilitarised zone” on Ukraine as part of a deal to end the war with Russia if he takes back the White House, his running-mate JD Vance has said. Under the proposal mapped out by the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Trump would force Kyiv to concede vast swathes...

apple.news

Wow, guess Trump’s peace plan is what most have suspected, exactly what Putin wants. Evil wins. I wonder what kind of message this would send to China vis-à-vis Taiwan.

From the article:

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This, and the likers are the guys obsessed with Trump.
Any chance to throw a rock or pitch a bitch...

Wishfulthinker580 said:

Of course everyone in the world knows if Trump was in office the invasion wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Period.

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I don’t think it’s an accurate assessment.
Invasion of this scale doesn’t happen overnight.
This was in the plan during his presidency and would have been executed even if he was elected.
Besides what could he do to prevent it?
Start a war?
He couldn’t prevent it and he can’t stop it as easily as Vance told the press.