American Politics

[QUOTE=Tiny12;3070264]That's ridiculous. Marcos created a world class kleptocracy. Trump isn't in the same league. If you look at their entire political careers, Trump isn't even close to Lyndon Baines Johnson, the man who's responsible for some of Toom's beloved legislation that's going to bankrupt America. Trump tried to steal an election. LBJ actually did. And practically all of LBJ's sizeable fortune came from corruption.

From my standpoint he is just like Marcos. The only difference is there are some restraints against the wannabe dictator Trump.To say that LBJ was a corrupt president and to say that Trump is not is ludicrous.

Trump's pretty brazen, but he'd never attempt to use Qatar's Air Force One after he leaves office. He looks at it like his name on the Kennedy Center, his face on Mount Rushmore, and the Big Beautiful Ballroom. It will sit in the Trump presidential museum, and serve as a tribute to his greatness. Yes I suspect outfitting it is a waste of taxpayer money. And no, accepting a $400 million gift from Qatar on behalf of the USA was not wise.[/QUOTE]No, it wasn't a gift to America. That's pretext Trump used to have it for himself. He intends to have Dept of Defense gift him the plane when he leaves office. He only cares about himself. BTW his name has been removed from the Kennedy Center. How disgusting and despicable one would have to be place your name over an assassinated president. All of these "things" Trump has festooned his funky name on will be moved after he is gone.

The MAGA Fuhrer (aka. Trump) is as dumbass president, as dumb as they come. Zero business skills, with zero business savvy or wherewithal. But I will say, his business grifting skills (if you can call it a business skill) is impeccable.

The way I see it, beyond slapping his name on stuff, other people have built and created, and perhaps the odd golf coarse, [B]he's nothing more than a glorified nepo-baby,[/B] who's turned losing in business, into an art form. Any "real wealth", has only recently developed whilst pick-pocketing MAGA suckers, American taxpayers and federal coffers, during both of his shit-show administrations in office.

Nothing more than a narcissist, racist, misogynist, playing on historical confederate racist troops, and deep south white separatist ideology, designed to drive a wedge between Americans and divide America. The dude cares nothing for the plight of Americans.

[NOPARSE]In short...once again, he turns everything he touches to [/NOPARSE]shit!

Along with Ethiopia, the country of Laos is now the 2nd country to ban new sales of petrol and diesel vehicles. Why spend billions annually in transportation fossil fuel, when you can make your own fuel?

Surprising it took this long for Laos to come to such a smart decision, but better late than never, as many Global South countries are finally realizing, that the dumbass MAGA / Israeli war against Iran, leaves them in limbo, depending on unreliable fossil fuel supplies.

Laos is known as the battery of Southeast Asia. It is rich in hydro power and exports high quantities of electricity to its neighbors. So for a country that has 70-80% of the electrical grid is running on hydro, makes moving to EVs imports only, is clearly a no-brainer.

The sweet smell of success. I was wrong. Hormuz will open (apparently). America has won! Yes, yes, I know that it basically puts us back to where we were earlier (aside from the hundreds of billions of dollars spent, humiliation and loss of global influence, deaths of many innocent civilians) and yes, I know that the final deal is likely to be weaker than that from Obama that Trump tore up, and I also know that the deal is tenuous and likely to be strained in the future by our lord and master, Israel, and I also know that Iran now knows it holds the world to ransom and can shut Hormuz at its whim and will use that as leverage meaning its strategically in a better position than previously. But the point is that we have got back to square one. If that's not worth celebrating, what is? It's the same as going into bankruptcy and than emerging from it. Isn't that an incredible achievement also? Oh BTW, that reminds me. The other day I crashed my car. But I had it repaired! I too am a winner.

Let's raise the bubbles and hail to our Caesar. Ignore the world's sniggering. They are just jealous.

I do wish he would stop winning though. It's exhausting to be so successful in life.

[QUOTE=HotDog666;3069221]Nachos = Not A Chance Hormuz Opens.

For the last 6 weeks, we've been hearing from the Great Genius (GG) that war is over, Hormuz opening is imminent, America has won; only to be rebuffed by Israel (who really are the ones who call the shots, and to whom America is subservient).

Consider how far America has fallen under this GG. Consider the fact that America is condescended to by China which admonishes it about falling into the Thucydides trap (to which the GG probably wondered "Thu who? Sounds Oriental, no wonder you guys side with him" Consider how America's status in the world has fallen, where many ridicule the fact that it couldn't even face up to a third rate, worn out nation like Iran; where others condemn America's unjust assault on specious cassus bellus, where many others regard with disgust its subservience to Israel. A superpower's status is derived from its military and economic status as well as the respect that others confer upon it..[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=KeviKev68;3070352]What "facts" do I need to get "right?" You act like I just insulted your girlfriend.[/QUOTE]Just the truth. I know it is difficult for you to handle that.

[QUOTE=Canada;3070457]Just the truth. I know it is difficult for you to handle that.[/QUOTE]A Trumper lecturing me about telling the truth. Does Donald Trump tell the truth most of time?

[QUOTE=SubCmdr;3070368]The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a settlement addendum that forever bars the IRS from auditing or investigating Donald Trump, his family, and his businesses regarding any tax returns filed before the agreement's effective date. Signed on May 19, 2026, by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the order explicitly states the government is "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing examinations into unpaid taxes or other claims related to past filings for the President and his affiliates.

Scope and Terms The one-page document expands a broader settlement in which Trump dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over alleged tax return leaks. In exchange, the administration established a nearly $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to compensate individuals claiming government persecution, though Trump and his sons are ineligible to receive payouts from this fund. The tax investigation ban applies to all "presently known or unknown" claims but reportedly does not prevent future audits of tax returns filed after the settlement date.[/QUOTE]The case in question has been re-opened as the judge will determine if a fraud was committed on the court. You can't be the defendant and plaintiff on the same case. Having filed a meritless junk lawsuit against the government that he is heading, the court will examine if it was a pretext to give away taxpayers money and create a scam "settlement " that would let Trump off the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.

If Trump wants to pay these clowns who ransacked the Capital then he should pay them out of his own pocket. Listening to people drone on here about how much money Trump has but doesn't want to pay for anything. There's nothing worse than a penny pinching billionaire.

[QUOTE=SubCmdr;3070368]The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a settlement addendum that forever bars the IRS from auditing or investigating Donald Trump, his family, and his businesses regarding any tax returns filed before the agreement's effective date. Signed on May 19, 2026, by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the order explicitly states the government is "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing examinations into unpaid taxes or other claims related to past filings for the President and his affiliates.

Scope and Terms The one-page document expands a broader settlement in which Trump dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over alleged tax return leaks. In exchange, the administration established a nearly $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to compensate individuals claiming government persecution, though Trump and his sons are ineligible to receive payouts from this fund. The tax investigation ban applies to all "presently known or unknown" claims but reportedly does not prevent future audits of tax returns filed after the settlement date.

Controversy and Criticism Legal experts and Democratic lawmakers have condemned the move as an unprecedented abuse of power, noting there is no prior precedent for the IRS agreeing to permanently forgo examinations of a specific person's past returns. Critics argue the arrangement violates federal statutes prohibiting presidential interference in audits, while the Justice Department defends the clause as a customary waiver standard in legal settlements to prevent re-litigation of resolved claims.

[B]Please point out exactly in the post above is not factual.[/B][/QUOTE]Canada probably was referring to KevKev's second paragraph, "His daddy left him a business that went bankrupt 6 times and you consider him a smart businessman? You must have really been drinking the Trump Kool-Aide. Name someone else who ran their daddy's business into ground that you consider smart?"

That's just not true, by any stretch of the imagination.

Donald did get loans and gifts from Fred, but not the family business, until 1995. That's when Fred Trump gifted the bulk of his real estate holdings to Donald and his siblings. The total value at the time for gift tax purposes was $41.4 million. Fred died in 1999. In 2004, the Trump siblings sold most of those properties for $738 million. Donald individually pocketed $177.3 million.

Trump never filed for personal bankruptcy, but five of his businesses filed for bankruptcy between 1991 and 2004, and a sixth, Trump Entertainment Resorts, in 2009.

Some things to note:

Five of the six bankruptcies occurred before the Trump siblings sold Fred's properties. Was that coincidence? Maybe not. They were held in trusts and entities. Creditors going after Donald Trump's assets wouldn't have been able to touch them, or at least it would have been difficult.

Fred's real estate empire was valued at $41.4 million in 1995 and most of it sold for $738 million in 2004. Donald according to press reports was instrumental in coming up with the $41.4 million value.

So between 1995 and 2004, there was a huge real estate boom in Brooklyn. Or huge inflation. Or the Trump children did a much better job of running the family business than Fred did. Or the $41.4 million was low. My money's on the last one, the low valuation, which would have saved Fred a bundle on gift taxes.

I tried to lead Tooms and KevKev to the fountain of knowledge, but like stubborn horses they refused to drink. So I must enlighten you. Trump and his accountants played the tax system brilliantly. During the course of his bankruptcies and restructurings, Donald lost a lot of his investors and bankers' money. And, on the back of their losses, Donald ended up with huge tax deductions, which in one instance he was able to carry forward for a couple of decades. For a project in Chicago, he actually was able to deduct losses twice! I can guaran-damn-tee you that there are board members who paid a lot more income tax than Trump during 2015 to 2020 (tax returns for those years are public) than Trump, and they're nowhere close to billionaires.

Does this make him a tax cheat? Well, no. Does it mean he's stupid because he lost other people's money? Not necessarily. Does it mean he's a genius with a high IQ? Well, you could argue that.

Anyway, as to KevKev's first paragraph, I'd classify it as exaggerated. Todd Blanche is Trump's [B]ex[/B] defense attorney. And the IRS or DOJ wasn't going to go back decades and uncover past sins. Normally the IRS goes back 3 to 6 years. My guess is that they might go back as far as 2010 though, to the Chicago restructuring I described above. Trump and his accountants definitely took an aggressive position on that one. If the IRS were aware of tax fraud, the Biden Administration probably would have prosecuted Trump during 2021 to 2024. They were going to prosecute him for being a good host, for leaving classified documents in the bathroom at Mar a Lago so people would have something entertaining to read while taking a dump. So you'd definitely think they would have gone after him for tax fraud if the evidence were there.

While the United States struggles, under the current MAGA "drill-baby-drill" fossil fuel only focused gov't, it still remains to be seen, if MAGA fossil fuels and MAGA "reliable" gas, will scale up nicely and rise to meet the ten's to hundred's of gigawatt scale power that [I]U.S.[/I] AI and data centers need.

But it maybe highly doubtful, since a very fossil fuel myopic MAGA government, can barely make robust plans past tomorrow, let alone 5-years from now. The faux pas of the current MAGA administration, is thinking, that under it's lack of leadership and draconian tariffs and policies, that American can "[B]Manufacture [B]Anything great again", after Republicans gutted labour and outsourced most everything, while also being long dethroned by China's 31% of world's manufacturing.

As the United States looks primarily at "reliable" gas to generated electricity for powering AI and data centers, it is troubled by a 3 to 5 year backlog of gas-turbines, utility grade transformers, high-Voltage circuit breakers & switchgear (assuming a MAGA United States can still remember how make or manufacture stuff) and easily jumping to five or more years for and gas-fired combined-cycle plants. [URL]https://corporateknights.com/energy/gas-turbine-delays-are-giving-renewables-an-edge/[/URL], March 24,2025.

Even if MAGA moves past the rising price of gas or the "elephant in the room", that is the supply shortage and backlog of gas turbines and utility grade power equipment,[NOPARSE] will the U.S. move beyond the growing NIMBYism and backlash against data centers.

So then...will China far any better with [/NOPARSE]renewables?

[QUOTE=HotDog666;3070442] It's the same as going into bankruptcy and than emerging from it. Isn't that an incredible achievement also?[/QUOTE]Yes, for the MAGA Fuhrer, I'm sure going into bankruptcy is quite the "business achievement". But don't forget, going into bankruptcy, is a business acumen and comfort zone the MAGA Fuhrer, who wallowed in it and knows and all to well, before landing the criminal, but lucrative grift at the WH, earning him billions, taken out of taxpayers pockets.

[QUOTE=Tiny12;3070490]Canada probably was referring to KevKev's second paragraph, "His daddy left him a business that went bankrupt 6 times and you consider him a smart businessman? You must have really been drinking the Trump Kool-Aide. Name someone else who ran their daddy's business into ground that you consider smart?"

That's just not true, by any stretch of the imagination.

Donald did get loans and gifts from Fred, but not the family business, until 1995. That's when Fred Trump gifted the bulk of his real estate holdings to Donald and his siblings. The total value at the time for gift tax purposes was $41.4 million. Fred died in 1999. In 2004, the Trump siblings sold most of those properties for $738 million. Donald individually pocketed $177.3 million.

Trump never filed for personal bankruptcy, but five of his businesses filed for bankruptcy between 1991 and 2004, and a sixth, Trump Entertainment Resorts, in 2009..[/QUOTE]Of course Todd Blanche is Trump's personal attorney not acting like an Attorney General. The AG represents the United States not the president. But, here this so called "settlement" will unravel because the junk lawsuit itself is fraud created to personally benefit Trump. The lawsuit had no merit. A contractor releases parts of Trump's tax returns does not merit a 10 billion dollar claim or relief from past tax issues that were unresolved.

Here's what's going to happen: Blanche will not get confirmed as AG and the job will void this bogus 'settlement" rendered by his defense attorney.

[QUOTE=HotDog666;3070442]The sweet smell of success. I was wrong. Hormuz will open (apparently). America has won! Yes, yes, I know that it basically puts us back to where we were earlier (aside from the hundreds of billions of dollars spent, humiliation and loss of global influence, deaths of many innocent civilians) and yes, I know that the final deal is likely to be weaker than that from Obama that Trump tore up, and I also know that the deal is tenuous and likely to be strained in the future by our lord and master, Israel, and I also know that Iran now knows it holds the world to ransom and can shut Hormuz at its whim and will use that as leverage meaning its strategically in a better position than previously. But the point is that we have got back to square one. If that's not worth celebrating, what is? It's the same as going into bankruptcy and than emerging from it. Isn't that an incredible achievement also? Oh BTW, that reminds me. The other day I crashed my car. But I had it repaired! I too am a winner.

Let's raise the bubbles and hail to our Caesar. Ignore the world's sniggering. They are just jealous.

I do wish he would stop winning though. It's exhausting to be so successful in life.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=HotDog666;3070442]The sweet smell of success. I was wrong. Hormuz will open (apparently). America has won! Yes, yes, I know that it basically puts us back to where we were earlier (aside from the hundreds of billions of dollars spent, humiliation and loss of global influence, deaths of many innocent civilians) and yes, I know that the final deal is likely to be weaker than that from Obama that Trump tore up, and I also know that the deal is tenuous and likely to be strained in the future by our lord and master, Israel, and I also know that Iran now knows it holds the world to ransom and can shut Hormuz at its whim and will use that as leverage meaning its strategically in a better position than previously. But the point is that we have got back to square one.[/QUOTE]LOL. Was there any scenario that you dumb Dems were going to post anything other than this? You have been screaming Iran won before anything happened. Now you are posting nothing has changed which tells me you suffer from TDS and have your head completely up your ass because to you, this war was only about Trump.

Since the 1970's, American military has been held hostage to the notion that the SOH could be closed and the economy and our way of life would be threatened, and we had to spend bigly to not have that outcome. Well, it was closed and although there was a short term blip in the price of oil, the world did not come to an end. Even before the war ended, the futures market was predicting $50 oil five years from now. Hell, the market was so tame that there were those who swore the market was being manipulated. So here is a news flash: the great horror that the SOH could be closed is nothing now, and we can get the fuck out of the region. That is huge!

Second, Iran attacked its neighbors and regretted it. Oh, they had been doing it for years. It just was not covered much in the media. Iran was slamming drones into Saudi refineries years before and lying about it. A finance guy was detailing how so much money that was flowing to Dubai is now headed to Hong Kong and Singapore. Now gulf states like the UAE and Qatar are going to have design ways around the Iran problem if they want money flowing back into them, and they have incentive to do so. Are you going to fly Air Emirates into Dubai now? I won't at least not for a while. I would be looking at Oman or Turkey over UAE, Qatar, and Saudi airlines. Iran even admitted regretting hitting their neighbors which long term probably does more damage to them that any bomb we dropped could have.

Third, Israel and the Jewish lobby's clout is now the lowest in my lifetime and thank God for that. I have heard about how Israel is America's only stable friend in the Middle East for decades. Well, with friends like them, who needs enemies? Many of those poor Jewish people, the peace lovers who had endured the Holocaust, have had their blood lust exposed. Israel is not stable, and I am tired of the Zionists claiming they would be so peace loving if not for how terrible the Arabs are. Europe puts aside its differences and has been living in peace. It is Israel's turn. The bloom is off the rose. Israel is no longer the good guys. Like is so often the case, the Arabs and Jews are both in the wrong and need to work to fix things versus just pointing fingers. Maybe that will happen now that most Americans see Israel for what it is.

Speaking of which, the political slobbering over Israel and Jews on the part of some politicans has been exposed. When Ted Cruz said to Tucker Carlson that he wanted to be the most pro-Israel senator in the USA senate, I was shocked. Our governor banned anti-zionist signs as hate speech, a luxury he afforded to no other minority group. The record of these two in particular with regards to Israel and Jews are going to be exposed, and my question will be, who are you putting first, Texas or Israel? If it is the latter, you are not getting my vote.

And similarly, the pro-war part of the Republican party along with the neocons are done controlling the party. Of all the movements of the MAGA campaign, the one that was the most hated and hardest to kill were the forever wars like in Afghanistan and Iraq. Russia is mired in one of its own, and we thought we would be joining them. Yeah, that is over. Trump gave the neocons and hard line Jews what they wanted and it was a disaster. These groups who were itching for so war so badly could not define what a victory was and everyone knows that now. Was this really about an Iran threat or just having defense firms be shoveled billions once again and satisfying Israel's blood lust?

And a corollary to that is the American military looked pathetic. Using million dollar missiles to shoot down $5000 drones? Lying about a F-15 being shot down? Having to keep our ships far away from Iranian shores? The American military has gotten fat and lazy with their forever wars. I have heard ad nauseam about how powerful they are, and their arrogance prevented them from learning what was going to in Ukraine. They were held at bay by a third rate power, and that was a lesson that needed to be learned. In fact, the changes in how the USA fights future wars because of the failures in this little skirmish may prevent our asses from getting kicked in the next conflict.

And the last and possibly most important changes are shifts in the energy world. We will see production move away from the unstable Middle East / Asian countries to the Americas. With enough investment, Venezuela can replace all the oil flowing out of the Persian Gulf. If the PM in Canada actually follows through with the needed pipelines, China will be buying sizeable amounts of Canadian crude. USA production will continue higher and other nations like Argentina and Brazil will add to the demand. Argentina has a field called Vaca Muerta that has the potential to be another Permian Basin. Offshore oil in Brazil and Guyana have billions in proven reserves.

As for the last energy change, that is not as much related to the war but gasoline cars with ICE are on their way out, and we are not going to need as much oil. ICE cars have thousands of moving parts compared to 20 in an EV. EVs require no oil change and much less maintenance. In the nations where there were fuel shortages, the trend towards EVs has been accelerated.

I went out shopping for cars in Mexico. The BYD SUV PHEV or plug in hybrid cost $40,000 and was nicer than a Cadillac Escalade at triple the price. I was with women swooning over the vehicle. Then came the Geely E5. Fuck me. The women dumped the BYD SUV as fast as a guy with herpes and were swooning over this even better looking car. Top of the line leather seats, sound that you have in a movie theater, voice control everything. I pried my women away from the car and said we had to check out Tesla with their FSD (full service driving) feature. The Geely has FSD in China but not in Mexico.

The FSD on the Tesla was incredible and both women felt way more comfortable in control of that vehicle and that is what we are going with, but it is notwhere close to the luxury of the cheaper Chinse vehicles. It is just a matter of time before China bring FSD to the rest of the world or Tesla does plug in hybrids. Sure, 90% of the driving I do would be covered by Teslas but the Geely has 600 miles of range and some PHEVs are up to 1500 miles. Why would I not want to have both range and cheap fuel?

The Republican notion that we need to rewire everything was bullshit. You just plug in EVs when usage is lowest. Spidy has done zilch to convince me that this flurry of windmills and solar panels are a good thing for grids, but if you want to have them for yourself and give the Middle East petronations the bird, you can do so.

Musk has also been accelerating the demise of the diesel truck with electric trucks with FSD. I have been shocked at how many are already on the road.

So yeah, this war acclerated the demise of the importance of the Middle East and the crude that flows from there big time. Those who say things are the same have terminal TDS. Whether you want to give Trump credit for that or say it was just dumb luck is up for opinion, but this war has changed a lot.

[QUOTE=Tiny12;3070490]Canada probably was referring to KevKev's second paragraph, "His daddy left him a business that went bankrupt 6 times and you consider him a smart businessman? You must have really been drinking the Trump Kool-Aide. Name someone else who ran their daddy's business into ground that you consider smart?"

That's just not true, by any stretch of the imagination.

Donald did get loans and gifts from Fred, but not the family business, until 1995. That's when Fred Trump gifted the bulk of his real estate holdings to Donald and his siblings. The total value at the time for gift tax purposes was $41.4 million. Fred died in 1999. In 2004, the Trump siblings sold most of those properties for $738 million. Donald individually pocketed $177.3 million.

Trump never filed for personal bankruptcy, but five of his businesses filed for bankruptcy between 1991 and 2004, and a sixth, Trump Entertainment Resorts, in 2009..[/QUOTE]Yes, yes, we know all of that already. In fact, so far I am the only one here who has provided links to Real News reports and overviews of it about deadbeat Repub Trump.

Is Trump the Greatest Welfare Queen and King of Government Bailouts? Absolutely!

Is he a "smart businessman" and "self-made billionaire"? Not without daddy handing him millions and millions over the years, generous American tax-payers bailing him out and carrying the load for his huge, consistent losses and deadbeat loser ass.

More to the point, when Trump brings that kind of "business success" experience to any elected office much less the presidency, loses everyone else's money but no worries because the system will bail him out, who benefits from that other than him and at the great expense of everyone else paying for his bailout?

[B]As a Businessman, Trump Was the Biggest Loser of All.
May 8, 2019[/B]

[URL]https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/as-a-businessman-trump-was-the-biggest-loser-of-all[/URL]

[URL]https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueReddit/comments/bmi6rk/as_a_businessman_trump_was_the_biggest_loser_of/[/URL]

[QUOTE]As a Businessman, Trump Was the Biggest Loser of All: Many Americans still believe he is a savvy businessman who knows what he is doing. But the actual record suggests the opposite; he is a reckless conman who burned money and relied on his father, even as he was fashioning a myth.[/QUOTE]Even more to the point here; it takes a very special kind of self-loathing Stupid and hatred for America to know that about Trump or at least to have easy access to that knowledge and yet willingly choose not to vote for the only nominees that had a chance to prevent him from doing to America his only claim to fame in business.

[QUOTE=KeviKev68;3070488]A Trumper lecturing me about telling the truth. Does Donald Trump tell the truth most of time?[/QUOTE]Lies about peace, but making wars: Venezuela and Iran, and threatening everybody. Who can trust?

[QUOTE=EihTooms;3070506]

Even more to the point here; it takes a very special kind of self-loathing Stupid and hatred for America to know that about Trump or at least to have easy access to that knowledge and yet willingly choose not to vote for the only nominees that had a chance to prevent him from doing to America his only claim to fame in business.[/QUOTE]Not when the "only nominees" are bigger fuckups than Trump. Your party got rid of the Good Old Time Democrats like Larry Summers, Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin and Bill Clinton and now we’ll all pay the price