COMMON SENSE ALONE MAKES IT OBVIOUS that Second Amendment conservatives make it up as they go—praising guns out one side of their mouth . . . then deploring them with totally untrue innuendo …
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COMMON SENSE ALONE MAKES IT OBVIOUS that Second Amendment conservatives make it up as they go — praising guns out one side of their mouth . . . then deploring them with totally untrue innuendo out the other. Keep the old gang intact while scaring up some new members. Anything for a vote on Nov. 8.
GOP members of Congress already have falsely claimed that many of the IRS’s 87,000 new hires under Biden’s climate and tax bill will be armed and that new enforcement steps will be aimed at low- and middle-incomes and small businesses. That’s just plain silly. Makes us wonder what some of these people are doing in Congress the rest of their time as they worry about the comfort of special interests.
We know pretty much what GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is doing now and then, attacking both the IRS and the FBI in defense of the well-to-do. It was shortly after the FBI’s paperwork search last month at Mar-a-Lago that he told the House, “with this new power, the IRS will snoop around in your bank account . . . your small business. Then the government will shake you down for every last cent.” He added that in light of the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search, “Do you really trust this administration’s IRS to be fair, to not use their power?”
Pause here to read the bit in my Aug. 24 blog about the new Climate and Tax Bill beefing up the IRS and increasing its going after tax cheats. And the coincidence of veteran bookkeeper Wesselberg of the Donald Trump company pleading guilty to avoiding payment of $l.76 million in taxes over the past 15 years.
That’s not exactly the same as armed IRS agents banging in on the Mom and Pop candy store on the corner and hauling off the proprietors for some minor mistake they perhaps innocently made in filling out forms themselves to save the cost of a professional auditor. As if IRS computer-users had even gotten down to that income level. Rest easy, Mom and Pop.
I doubt that new IRS workers will be strapping on 9-mm handguns as they head off to work in the morning. But there may be an up-tick in the purchase of computers — as they take a closer look at more high-income tax returns.
I wonder if we’ll ever see the day when power-hungry Republicans aren’t under estimating the intelligence of the general public.
Meanwhile . . . racism, white supremacy and Donald Trump have played a major role at the root of things for about the past seven years or so — since about 2015. “Before Trump, Republicans were considered the camp of the conservative Christian. Many still had their racist beliefs, but they were shrouded in policy and toned-down hatespeech. Those who openly held such prejudiced racial views were considered outliers to the upstanding fiscally responsible right.
“But there came a time when everything changed, and the party of ‘less federal government involvement’ became the party of ‘big racism.’ Veteran GOP strategist Stuart Stevens believes the tipping point was in 2015, ‘when Trump, then the leading Republican presidential candidate, called for a ban on Muslim travelers to the United States,’ according to a 2020 interview with Mother Jones."
This comment is pursued effectively (at considerably more length than is available here) in an Aug. 30 HuffPost article, “Opinion: The Not-So-Hidden Reason For Republicans’ Student Loan Anger,” by Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
“Stevens argues that if the intrinsic, core values of the Republican Party weren’t racist, then how could they succumb so quickly to the racist values of Trump in just three or four years? What was once a taboo position to hold in the Grand Ole Party had now become the way.
“I know what you’re thinking: What does any of this have to do with student loan forgiveness. Well, one of the tenets of racism is that the white race ― simply based on skin color alone ― is the dominant race. Conveniently tied into racism is the idea of white supremacy, which also argues that the white race is the dominant race because of its fairer skin tone.”
Etc. Google the headline above for enlightening comment.
I see there is room here for a comment by Senator Bernie Sanders on the president’s student loan forgiveness "I don't hear any of these Republicans squawking when we give massive tax breaks to billionaires," Sanders, I-Vt., told ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos. "Suddenly when we do something for working people, it is a terrible idea," he said.
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MargeS
The student relief bill will cost about $330 billion to $390 billion.
GOP tax cut led to record $1 trillion in stock buybacks that do little for working Americans — The GOP tax cut delivered huge benefits to rich investors and CEOs through a record-setting $1 trillion in stock buybacks in 2018 – while average workers struggle to pay for rising health care and living costs.
"The rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Wednesday, September 7, 2022 Report this
Justin Hale
There shouldn't be a student relief bill. More big government giveaways, free money right?
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Can we have a discussion on how many millions the Pelosi's have made from insider trading and insider info?
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Typical Democrat thinking, spend Billions/Trillions, Say they're going after the rich to pay for it which they never do because the rich have ways to avoid excessive taxes, so it all defaults to the average middle-class taxpayer to cover the excessive spending.
Thursday, September 8, 2022 Report this
MargeS
Where do you get your "facts." what a crock.
Thursday, September 8, 2022 Report this
Justin Hale
I make them up like you do.
Thursday, September 8, 2022 Report this
MargeS
Really?
The new poll, published Wednesday, found that 51 percent of respondents support student loan debt cancellation, while 39 percent oppose the initiative
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3623055-majority-backs-student-loan-debt-relief-poll/
The president promised a return to shared prosperity, but the benefits of his economic policies only bubbled up to the richest. Trump. Rolling Stone, October 26, 2020
Get your head out of Trumps **** your so wrong about everything.
Friday, September 9, 2022 Report this
Justin Hale
I was giving my opinion, just like you and Tom do.
If my opinion is not in line with a majority so what? I do not think the message sent of allowing people to not live up to their obligations is a healthy one. After all, it's free money, right? I guess you think that's a good message.
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"The president promised a return to shared prosperity, but the benefits of his economic policies only bubbled up to the richest. Trump. Rolling Stone, October 26, 2020"..... What? Were the American people more or less prosperous during the Trump years than they are now?
Friday, September 9, 2022 Report this
Justin Hale
And notice that that "news" item from a very left-wing magazine, put out that story just before the Nov. elections. And the story was typical Trump-hating BS.
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"The IRS has released 2018 Statistics of Income (SOI) data.
This data shows that middle-income American families saw the biggest tax cut – measured as the percentage decrease in "total tax liability" between 2017 and 2018 – from the Trump-Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
Total tax liability includes federal income taxes as well as taxes listed on IRS form 1040 such as social security taxes on self-employment income and tax applicable to individual retirement arrangements (IRAs).
As the data notes, Americans with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 saw their tax liability drop by twice as much as Americans with income above $1 million:"(https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/icymi-irs-data-middle-class-americans-saw-biggest-tax-reduction-trump-tax-cuts)
Congressional Democrats have argued that one of the best ways to pay for the legislation is to raise taxes on wealthy households, which, according to many on the left, have benefited disproportionately and unfairly from the 2017 tax reform law passed by Republicans and signed by former President Trump. The latest data, however, proves that this claim is pure mythology.(https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/584190-irs-data-prove-trump-tax-cuts-benefited-middle-working-class-americans-most/)
Does anyone in their right mind really believe that middle-class Americans are financially better off today than they were 4 years ago?
Saturday, September 10, 2022 Report this
Thomas Camfield
". . . a year ago.'" A year is pretty instantaneous from the political standpoint.'
I prefer to look back to the four-year span during which 'Trump was making such a mess of things. Take the manner in which 'Donald, Senators McConnell and Graham, et al. were hurriedly stacking the court system. Not only giving us the current Supreme Court, but also district court judges and appeals court judges.
So we have a district judge stalling the Mar-a-Lago records search progress until after the mid-term election. This judge involved was appointed by 'Trump. One possible appeals court has 11 active members, 6 of whom were appointed by Trump . . .
Trump . .. . when he can't lie effectively, he stalls.
trumpOne possible
Saturday, September 10, 2022 Report this
Thomas Camfield
(The last few words of the foregoing comment were an error that didn't'get removed.)
Saturday, September 10, 2022 Report this
MargeS
You are so wrong Just in Hale as usual. Trump made the rich richer by giving them tax cuts they didn't need. He panders to the likes of the Proud Boys, white nationalists, and any other group he thinks will send him money. His treasure chest is full "I'm rich" he declared. Of course we don't know if he is rich, I just know he is a narcissist, who only loves himself. Anytime a democratic president does something beneficial for low and middle income people the Republicans complain. Glad when the man is gone, however he disappears, hopefully to jail where insurrectionists and traitors belong.
Saturday, September 10, 2022 Report this
Justin Hale
"I prefer to look back to the four-year span during which 'Trump was making such a mess of things.".....What the hel are you talking about Tom?
What was the average American cost of living during the Trump years compared to today? Was our southern border more or less secure during the Trump years?
So Trump appointed Supreme court judges as he is lawfully allowed to, Democrats do the same dam thing.
"President Joe Biden has appointed more judges to the federal courts at this stage in his tenure than any president since John F. Kennedy, and his appointees include a record number of women and racial and ethnic minorities, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Federal Judicial Center."(https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/08/09/biden-has-appointed-more-federal-judges-than-any-president-since-jfk-at-this-point-in-his-tenure/)
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"(The last few words of the foregoing comment were an error that didn't'get removed.)" The entire comment was in error.
Saturday, September 10, 2022 Report this
MargeS
JOHNSON: Yeah, so Biden has had a record first year. But Trump did extremely well. But he had, you know, four years to do that. And Biden didn't enter the presidency with as many vacancies as Trump had. But as the presidency continues, you have more and more vacancies arise. So you're going to have more emerge, and you know, the administration wants to take advantage of them as quickly as possible. NPR January 2, 2022
"Scholars have referred to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's actions during this time as a blockade of judicial appointments," said Michigan State political scientist Ian Ostrander. "Very few judicial nominations were successful during the 114th Congress,"
Republicans won control of the Senate in 2014. From that point on, the numbers show how hard it was for Obama to seat the people he put forward.
A key part of understanding judicial confirmations lies in the Senate. The Senate is the gatekeeper and, without its nod, no nomination goes through. The party that holds the Senate wields final control.
During the two years before Republicans took the Senate, Obama had a confirmation success rate of nearly 90%.
Afterward, the confirmation rate fell to 28%. PolitiFact
Give us a democratic house and he will appoint judges.
Sunday, September 11, 2022 Report this
Thomas Camfield
Remember the opening years of the COVID pandemic? . . . Trump would have us forget what a mess he made of all things scientific. Like it would go away if totally ignored or cured with bright lights, etc.
Monday, September 12, 2022 Report this
Justin Hale
Tom says, once again without citation, that Trump "made a mess of all things scientific"
The Trump administration began Operation Warp Speed to develop the vaccine, which was accomplished in the last year of his administration.
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"Does ultraviolet light kill the coronavirus that causes COVID-19?
TRUE. Specifically, UVC light has been shown to quickly inactivate the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. It can be an effective disinfectant but needs to be used correctly to avoid damage to the skin and eyes." Do a Google search.
Tuesday, September 13, 2022 Report this
MargeS
To quote Just in hale: " what a load"
Tuesday, September 13, 2022 Report this