American Politics

[QUOTE=ChrisP;2778797]And I'll ask again, as you typically avoided the question last time: do you think Donald Trump is richer now than he would have been if he had never entered politics in 2015 and had instead continued to focus on his TV show, his businesses, and his many positive media appearances?[/QUOTE]Really? And just pretend that you didn't say the dumbest thing I've seen on this forum in a long time -- that people who come from money don't care about money.

First, admit that it was dumb as fuck. Then we'll address your next "concern."

[QUOTE=ChrisP;2778815]More turgid wordsludge from PVMonger. Some things never change.

Is the Hunter Biden laptop a "conspiracy theory"? Even worse, was the coverup of the Hunter Biden laptop, in which alphabet agencies made noises about "RUSSIA!" and we now know, thanks to Elon Musk, that Big Tech worked with govt operatives to prevent the information from being transmitted, all a "conspiracy theory"?

Nope. It was fact. All happened.

Our side actually wants to get information out for people to see it. That's why LibsofTikTok is so popular with normal people, yet so unhingedly hated by the left: all she does is repost leftists saying openly what they plan to do (usually with regard to sexualising and / or mutilating children, which is a troubling obsession of theirs).

The censorship, as we are seeing from the Twitter Files, all comes from the left. Why do you think it is that your side is the one that wants to silence people and restrict information?[/QUOTE]Some things never change.

Like your contention that Repubs want to "get information out for people to see it" but Dems / the media / the deep state / et cetera are "preventing them from getting the information out". What utter bullshit. You obviously have no idea how many thousands of people would have to be involved in such a massive coverup. People who, by your own admission, are stupid and greedy and incapable of keeping things to themselves have somehow managed to all band together to keep that information quiet. Talk about wordsludge!

What an absolutely ludicrous thought that there is a massive coverup involved. Yet you believe it. And you have the gall to call [B]me[/B] an idiot?

But we all know how this is going to end in two years. The Repubs in Congress will spend two years wasting money in endless angertainment investigations only to find nothing (or close to it). Their base will expect some results and when none are forthcoming (like the Durham report), Repubs will quietly slink away to try to come up with the next big conspiracy theory. And, of course, beg for re-election by saying "Hey, we only had two years to investigate. The Dems stymied us by responding to our subpoenas and answering our questions. Don't fault us for not governing, except for passing another massive tax cut for the rich. Remember that those riches will 'trickle down' to you this time. But re-elect us and we promise to govern this time."

[QUOTE=Paulie97;2778945]It's been that way for ages and will only get worse as our entitled younger generations can't get their noses out of their smartphones long enough to flip a burger, mow a lawn, pick fruit, or install a roof on a hot day. Yes we have long needed unskilled labor from abroad and need more. Your idea about only allowing in doctors and nurses and the like is preposterous. Get out of your computer chair and typing essays here long enough to get out and have a look around and maybe you'll begin to get it. Wink.

P.S. It's equally silly to blame Biden for multi-causal economic woes that are consistent and worldwide. That notion has already been refuted here many times, but that seldom stops one from repeating the same talking points ad nauseam. That's probably the most popular logical fallacy employed in internet debates and politics generally, though in this hooker forum the entire list is employed, and daily. LOL.

[URL]https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Argument-by-Repetition[/URL]

[URL]https://www.grammarly.com/blog/logical-fallacies/[/URL][/QUOTE]You've badly mischaracterized what I believe. In fact, you've got it completely backwards. Immigration's our hold card, in the battle to remain the preeminent world power. And we should compete for the best and the brightest, instead of telling them to take a hike. There should be more citizenship path visas for skilled people. A company trying to get an H1 B visa for an Indian engineer historically has had an uphill challenge. We also should provide a lot more visas for refugees. It's a travesty that some of the people who helped us most in Afghanistan and Syria are now persecuted. And I believe many who've suffered under totalitarian regimes like Cuba's and Venezuela's are refugees.

With regard to the unskilled and those who aren't refugees, I favor a guest worker program. Meaning you can't bring your kids, you don't get citizenship, and at some point you return to your country of origin.

The system we've got now, where you've got a lot of people entering illegally and a great burden placed on border communities, is not ideal.

As to the "Biden Recession", that was a dig at Tooms, who sounds like he believes recessions don't happen when a Democrat is president.

[QUOTE=Tiny12;2774855]There's a good chance we'll go into a recession next year as a result of higher interest rates, to control inflation. Despite my beliefs about the American Rescue Plan I will not ascribe most, or even the majority of the blame for the recession to Biden.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Tiny12;2749483] And blaming recessions on the president is downright naive. To the extent that government has any control over the economic cycle, it's mostly in the hands of the Fed. What control does the chief executive, or the central bank (Fed) for that matter, have over whether there's a pandemic? Or whether OPEC decides to jack up oil prices? The timing of a dot com boom? Or, as an explanation of recessions in European countries, and a partial explanation of the upcoming Biden recession, a Russian invasion of Ukraine? Well, not a hell of a lot.[/QUOTE]For a more detailed explanation of why Biden shouldn't own the recession see.

[URL]http://www.internationalsexguide.nl/forum/showthread.php?2467-American-Politics&p=2775139&viewfull=1#post2775139[/URL].

As to the "wink" thing after the condescending comments, it doesn't really work. But I thank you for that anyway. I've been saying similar things to Tooms from time to time. And that's not befitting for the founder of the Free Markets Church of Tiny, who is trying to convert Democrats with a message of love and redemption. I resolve to post something today where I agree with Tooms.

[QUOTE=Xpartan;2778889]Tiny's right. No other misplaced Repub policy is as idiotic as their crusade against immigration. To Cubans and Nicaraguans I can add Russians, Ukrainians, and pretty much all other post-Soviet ethnic groups, plus Vietnamese, Chinese, and many others who come to the States to escape from communist or leftist regimes. For better or worse (worse!) the majority of these people are predisposed to conservativism, since they are trying to move as far from the left as humanly possible.

Funnily, a lot of Mexicans and other Latin America immigrants are natural conservatives as well, but that probably has more to do with their Catholic values than politics.

This dumb belief that every immigrant must be a catch for the Democratic party (probably because they're poor when they get here, LOL) is truly remarkable.[/QUOTE]Good post, and I'm not saying that just because you said I'm right. Trump made a big mistake calling Mexican immigrants murderers and rapists. Stephen Miller, the mastermind of the Xenophobe branch of the Republican Party, always struck me as a slime ball.

[QUOTE=Tiny12;2778857]Well, we have his tax returns from the time he started his campaign up through his last full year in office. Here's his income or loss by year. Losses are in parentheses.

2015: (31,700,000)
2016: (32,200,000)
2017: (12,800,000)
2018: 24,400,000
2019: 4,440,000
2020: (4,690,000)

Net loss for 2015 to 2020: (52,550,000)

[URL]https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/21/trump-income-tax-returns-detailed-in-new-report-.html[/URL][/QUOTE]Trump made $430 m from The Apprentice over the 11 years (2004-15) he was involved with it, until he stepped away to run for president. That's $40 m a year right there.

It's so hilarious to see the dem douches claiming on the one hand that Trump only entered politics for money, and then when you show them he actually lost money as a result, they start shrieking about how he's a terrible businessman. The cognitive dissonance is as strong with them as ever.

[QUOTE=Tiny12;2778859]I don't think illegal immigrants are necessarily stupid. But it seems to me that it would make a lot more sense to give priority to people with skills who will contribute the most to America, like engineers, doctors,[/QUOTE]Any illegal immigrant stopped at the border who is found to be a verifiable, qualified and experienced doctor or engineer and can speak English: sure, let them in. How many do you think that will be? Statistically zero.

Intelligent, qualified people don't need to leave their country, with the exception of Cuba which is a genuine communist tyranny. Qualified doctors and engineers are doing fine in their own countries.

The illegals pouring across Biden's open border are the low IQ dregs who can't make ends meet in their own third world shitholes which don't have a welfare state. So, they are heading north, supporting by Soros-funded NGOs, to get to a country which does have a welfare state, and where they can do menial labor off the books for ten times the rate they get back home.

I agree that there should be a points-based system of legal immigration, and the points required should be exceedingly high. Truly exceptional and / or wealthy people who will benefit America and the American people. We're talking in the thousands per year or less. And no chain migration. If you want to see your extended family, use Skype or book a plane ticket.

Also, you are right about guest worker programs rather than citizenship. One of the biggest weaknesses of the West is the ease with which we hand out passports like confetti. Try getting citizenship anywhere else in the world. The United Arab Emirates. Thailand. China. You can live and work there legally for 30 years but you ain't from there so you ain't getting a passport. Eminently sensible.

[QUOTE=Xpartan;2778889]
Funnily, a lot of Mexicans and other Latin America immigrants are natural conservatives as well[/QUOTE]Then why do they all vote for leftist democrats? Or at least the large majority of them, which is all that matters.

[QUOTE=Xpartan;2778972]Really? And just pretend that you didn't say the dumbest thing I've seen on this forum in a long time -- that people who come from money don't care about money.
[/QUOTE]I didn't say that. Find the quote or shut up.

Now, for the third time, do you think Donald Trump is richer now than he would have been if he had never entered politics in 2015 and had instead continued to focus on his TV show, his businesses, and his many positive media appearances?

[QUOTE=PVMonger;2779046]your contention that Repubs want to "get information out for people to see it" but Dems / the media / the deep state / et cetera are "preventing them from getting the information out". What utter bullshit. You obviously have no idea how many thousands of people would have to be involved in such a massive coverup. [/QUOTE]Elon Musk, who bought Twitter and looked under the hood, said the other day that "every conspiracy theory that people had about Twitter turned out to be true" [URL]https://twitter.com/drelidavid/status/1607049015199424512[/URL].

A huge team of FBI agents were working with Twitter's previous management to ban, block and shadowban people and stories that didn't fit the Washington agenda, such as the true Hunter Biden laptop story.

Why do you think the media / social media / alphabet agencies sop aggressively censored and silenced the true Hunter Biden laptop story so close to the election?

Why do you think they banned so many rightwing figures from social media, but so few leftists (including antifa / BLM accounts openly calling for violence)?

Meanwhile, Musk also uncovered a shocking large amount of ch1 ld porn on Twitter, and made it his priority to remove it (much of it has now moved with the leftists to their new social media site, Mastodon). While the alphabet agencies and Twitter bosses were working overtime to censor the right politically, they turned a blind eye to this.

Yet again we see leftists targeting children, from drag queen story touching, to attempted tranny / faggot indoctrination of elementary school kids, to this. Really makes you shudder.

[QUOTE=Tiny12;2779073] we should compete for the best and the brightest, instead of telling them to take a hike. There should be more citizenship path visas for skilled people. A company trying to get an H1 B visa for an Indian engineer historically has had an uphill challenge. We also should provide a lot more visas for refugees. It's a travesty that some of the people who helped us most in Afghanistan and Syria are now persecuted. And I believe many who've suffered under totalitarian regimes like Cuba's and Venezuela's are refugees.
[/QUOTE]I broadly agree, except on the definition of "the best and brightest". H1 BS are ten a penny, and are usually used by companies to replace American engineers with some Indian who will do the job worse for half the price. There have been many cases where the American was forced to train his replacement in order to receive his severance package. Sick and totally damaging to the country.

The "best and brightest" should be the top 0. 01% of geniuses and innovators who will actually bring real and significant added value to the country. Not some pajeet who knows Linux.

I agree strongly about the guestworker program. People come to work, they don't bring their families, they don't get citizenship, and when the job is gone, so are they.

Finally, with respect, Venezuela is not a totalitarian regime. There are lots of TV channels, newspapers, political organisations and parties openly and strongly critical of Chavez / Maduro.

It is incomparable with Castro's Cuba, a genuine totalitarian communist tyranny, in which the entire media and wealth of the country was controlled by the ruling family and its apparatchiks; there was little or no opportunity for anyone outside that group; and anyone who spoke up about it was disappeared to some torture gulag.

[QUOTE=EihTooms;2778870]And that one big income year of 2018 was mostly due to his sale of the last of his daddy's properties he inherited:

[B]Tax returns show Trump made millions from fathers legacy while his own properties flopped[/B]

[URL]https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tax-returns-show-trump-made-224054562.html[/URL]

After he sold the last of his daddy's properties and some of his own failed properties, even as dumb as he is he knew the jig was up for him being tagged one of the worst businessmen of all time, should anyone take a gander at his tax returns.

That must have been around the time he decided to set the foundation for him leading an America-hating, Cop-killing Insurrection if he gets his ass kicked in 2020, which he did, and whip up his Big Lie about the election being stolen from him, a ploy he likely felt confident would easily con Repub hillbillies he had been "disgusted" by at his MAGA rallies into sending him large chunks of their entitlement checks.

The dude needed money. Badly.[/QUOTE]If you took the taxable income or loss on all of Trump's tax returns and adjusted for inflation, I bet it wouldn't total up to a lot of money, in billionaire terms. It might be a loss. He reported $916 million of net operating losses on his 1995 tax return. Adjust for inflation and that might double.

So how did he generate those losses? By borrowing tons of money, losing it in his businesses, and then not paying it back. A lot of that $916 million loss was from casinos in Atlantic City. Trump supposedly profited from Atlantic City though through management fees and the like. He came out OK. It was his banks and bondholders who got screwed. Still, through the quirks of the tax code, Trump ended up being able to use that $916 million as a tax deduction on his future years tax returns!

In 2016 Trump actually bragged about the Atlantic City bankruptcies. He said the fact that he used bankruptcy laws to his advantage showed he was smart. They were a badge of honor, a reason to vote for him, because he understood the system. I wonder how those bondholders and bankers felt about that. And the shareholders in Trump Hotels and Casinos. And all the service companies and suppliers that Trump refused to pay or underpaid.

I think you're right, a large part of the Trump's "fortune" came from Daddy. That and the Apprentice.

[QUOTE=ChrisP;2778797]And I'll ask again, as you typically avoided the question last time: do you think Donald Trump is richer now than he would have been if he had never entered politics in 2015 and had instead continued to focus on his TV show, his businesses, and his many positive media appearances?[/QUOTE]You're spot on in what you're implying. This is what Tooms' link has to say about it.

"The explanation for the losses Mr Trump suffered at properties directly tied to his name could be a result of the overall effect that his presidency had on the Trump Organization; while some properties (such as, mainly, the Trump International Hotel in DC) saw a flurry of activity from people eager to meet the president or his inner circle, others suffered a financial malaise brought on by a hesitance of some to appear at Trump-branded properties out of a desire to preserve their public images.

This phenomenon was documented by NBC News in 2017, months after Mr Trump took office. At the time, the news outlet noted a surge in financial losses at a number of Trump Organization properties such as the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland amid the 2016 election.

The downward trend of interest in and acceptance of the Trump brand has followed the ex-president through his post-White House journey; NPR reported in the fall of last year that shops and other amenities at Trump's Fifth Avenue property have dried up as business has receded. ".

[QUOTE=ChrisP;2779130]Elon Musk, who bought Twitter and looked under the hood, said the other day that "every conspiracy theory that people had about Twitter turned out to be true" [URL]https://twitter.com/drelidavid/status/1607049015199424512[/URL].

A huge team of FBI agents were working with Twitter's previous management to ban, block and shadowban people and stories that didn't fit the Washington agenda, such as the true Hunter Biden laptop story.

Why do you think the media / social media / alphabet agencies sop aggressively censored and silenced the true Hunter Biden laptop story so close to the election?

Why do you think they banned so many rightwing figures from social media, but so few leftists (including antifa / BLM accounts openly calling for violence)?

Meanwhile, Musk also uncovered a shocking large amount of ch1 ld porn on Twitter, and made it his priority to remove it (much of it has now moved with the leftists to their new social media site, Mastodon). While the alphabet agencies and Twitter bosses were working overtime to censor the right politically, they turned a blind eye to this.

Yet again we see leftists targeting children, from drag queen story touching, to attempted tranny / faggot indoctrination of elementary school kids, to this. Really makes you shudder.[/QUOTE]It's undeniable that main stream social media censored and banned the right more than the left. Now yes both sides pollute social media with bull shit. But if I worked at or owned a place like Facebook or Twitter, I wouldn't want to engage in censorship.

But do we do anything about it? I dislike government telling business owners like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk what they can and can't do, without good reason, as much or more than censorship.

[QUOTE=Tiny12;2779284]It's undeniable that main stream social media censored and banned the right more than the left. Now yes both sides pollute social media with bull shit. But if I worked at or owned a place like Facebook or Twitter, I wouldn't want to engage in censorship.

But do we do anything about it? I dislike government telling business owners like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk what they can and can't do, without good reason, as much or more than censorship.[/QUOTE]Tiny,

I was talking to someone who has been following the news like never before, and this very issue was brought up. He told me that the Republicans are going to ask for documents and if they do not get them, they are going to cut off funding to the agencies that refuse them.

One of the most ridiculous aspects of this is the CIA refusing to hand over 4000 documents associated with the JFK assassination even though Congress ordered them to do so. [URL]https://www.rawstory.com/jfk-assassination-document-cia-hiding/[/URL].

This is ridiculous and the CIA should have their funding cut off for defying Congress. For all their smug self importance, I think we would all be surprised at how little we really need the CIA. Given all the shit they have pulled, we may even be better off without them.

So we saw the January 6 recommendations for Trump being prosecuted fizzle out. And Tucker Carlson was pushing that the whole of the 1-6 commission report be something that the Republican rebels push for with Kevin McCarthy. I did not understand the legal difference between riot and insurrection and it's significance until Glenn Greenwald stated that the executive branch has unlimited power to put down an insurrection, but an insurrection involves violence and death, and the only deaths were Trump supporters except for the one police officer who was bludgeoned to death with a fire extinguisher. You remember all that? Yeah, well if you are a "never mind" Democratic douche, it sparked outrage until it was learned that officer died of a stroke and was not killed by the "rioters."

It seemed to me if Trump was charged with a crime, he would get everything in discovery including how the fire extinguisher story was originated and why. Of course, if you are a "never mind" Democrat, it was an innocent mistake but pardon the rest of us with the bad taste of Ukrainegate and Russiagate in our mouths of not being so forgiving.

And now the Biden administration has egg all over its face with the finding of classified documents in, and this is too funny, his garage next to his Corvette. And Biden said, "My Corvette's in a locked garage, okay? So it's not like they're sitting out on the street."

OMG.

Johnathan Turley is usually pro-Trump but he said this as one difference between the cases. "There is no accusation of false statements or obstruction in this instance, both of which are being investigated in Trump's Mar-a-Lago matter."

Yeah, no shit. That is because the FBI questioned people with regards to Trump and blew off speaking with people associated with Hiliary and Biden.

But the really big difference is Trump can declassify whatever he wants and Hiliary and Biden could not.

The difference between me and the Dems is that I know how stupid most classified material is. Glenn Greenwald said 90% of the USA documents that he saw classified were for political not security purposes. We just saw the World War one recipe for invisible ink, well known by all now, declassified. Among the other critical things classified was how to get a parking pass for the FBI parking lot and apply for a leave of absence. GG got all these top secret documents from Snowden and said the vast majority of them were flat out boring.

When Trump said he wanted to release all the documents, that told me the documents were the ones making the FBI look badly probably with regards to Russiagate and Ukrainegate. And if you did not know how biased the FBI was against Trump and Republicans, the Twitter files proved it beyond a doubt.

So here we go again. The FBI is sticking its fucking nose into another election. This Biden story is leaked right before the Republicans control the House. Is this the FBI and DOJ trying to pretend they are bipartisan again? OMG. Do not cut our funding Republicans please. We can fuck over Biden too, donchaknow.

The truth is that when you take on all these documents sometimes the classified and unclassified ones get intermingled. The key is to determine whether these documents really are of importance from a security perspective, if a breech of said material has gotten into enemy hands, and if the party who did not secure the documents intended for that to happen. The navy guy who took a few pics of his work station in a sub did not share them with anyone and got a year in jail which was stupid. But the real issue is that Hiliary Clinton, Trump, and Biden have more in their brains that could be damaging to USA security than any of these few documents and it is stupid to charge any of them unless they shared damaging material with our enemies with malicious intent.

What gets me about Democratic douches is how arrogant they are. They do not one law that applies to all of us. I do not want Biden, Clinton, or Trump charged with any of this petty bullshit, but they will insist that Trump gets charged while Hiliary and Biden go free. They want one law for Republicans and a different one for Democrats. They want one for bankers who support the Democratic party and broke the law and a different one for Martha Stewart.

You remember Stewart going to jail for lying to the Feds? Or how about George Papadopoulos? Yeah, I knew I slept better with those two hoodlums in jail / sarc. These people did not go to jail because they were a threat to society. They went to jail because the FBI was in essence saying how dare you lie to bad asses like us. And did that asshole FBI agent Kevin Clinesmith go to jail for lying to the FISA court? Of course not.

When it comes to federal law, I think we all are breaking it. I guess I should say this was part of a dream, but I flew a Colombian to Mexico. She loved the trip and even said it was life changing for her.

In its original form the federal Mann act made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose". Its primary stated intent was to address prostitution, immorality, and human trafficking, particularly where trafficking was for the purposes of prostitution.

But as so often is the case the law was expanded by the courts. [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caminetti_v._United_States[/URL].

The Court decided that the Mann Act applied not only to purposes of prostitution but also to other noncommercial consensual sexual liaisons. Thus, consensual extramarital sex falls within the definition of "immoral sex."

So you are now left with the absurd notion of when and where you fucked someone and your marital status. So if I fucked said woman when I was single and in Colombia, that was fine. But if I was married or fucked this woman when we were in Mexico, then I should be behind bars. Thank God that trip was just a dream.

It is the same kind of gotcha bullshit the Democratic douches have tried to get Trump from running for a candidate. The notion that maybe the Dems should try running a better candidate, maybe someone not as crooked as Hiliary or as demented as Biden is blasphemy to them. These want Trump in jail for anything and they do not give a fuck how or why that happens.

[QUOTE=Tiny12;2779284]It's undeniable that main stream social media censored and banned the right more than the left. Now yes both sides pollute social media with bull shit. But if I worked at or owned a place like Facebook or Twitter, I wouldn't want to engage in censorship.

But do we do anything about it? I dislike government telling business owners like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk what they can and can't do, without good reason, as much or more than censorship.[/QUOTE]Government tells business owners what to do all the time when it suits the woke globohomo deep state agenda. Forcing them to bake cakes glorifying homosexual sodomy, for instance, which is compelled speech.

Nobody should be compelled to say anything. However the First Amendment gives us the right to say anything in public. Social media is the new public square in American society, so the First Amendment must be enforced in order for it to be meaningful.

Anyone who does not wish to hear any particular view is able to block the speaker or the word (s) from their personal account.

That is the situation that conservatives and right-wingers want. Leftists cannot agree to that, because their ideas are so wacky and obviously retarded and disgusting (child trannies; pe-dos; open borders; handouts for illegals; anti-white agenda; lunatic feminism; BLM and antifa riots, looting and burning; 'reparations' for slavery which white people fought to end 160 years ago, etc) that they will be rejected when put up against right wing ideals on an even footing.

Hence their need to silence, censor and lie.

This can be seen by the apoplectic leftist meltdown over the Twitter account LibsofTikTok, which simply reposts what leftists are doing for the wider world to see.

Leftists should be proud and happy for their ideas, such as indoctrinating small children into homosexuality and encouraging them to mutilate themselves, to be promoted. But they know that the vast majority rightly view them as horrific, and so they demand yet more censorship.