American Politics

[trystan]

54 minutes ago, wonton55912 said:

It's hidden behind a paywall for me, tldr?

link from the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/27/new-york-times-publishes-donald-trumps-tax-returns-election

 

 

Quote

Donald Trump, a self-proclaimed billionaire, paid only $750 in federal income taxes in the year he was elected US president, according to a stunning New York Times investigation that could shake up the presidential election.

“Trump taxes show chronic losses and years of tax avoidance,” was the banner headline on the paper’s website on Sunday. The president’s tax returns have long been the holy grail of American political reporting.

The president “paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency”, the paper reported, adding that “in his first year in the White House, he paid another $750.

“He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years – largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.”

In all, the paper said, Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years its reporters examined. Many of his businesses, including his golf courses, report significant financial losses – which have helped him to lower his taxes.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2020 by trystan

[Lagie]

Need a reason to vote Biden? Here are a few:

Spoiler

"I have heard from people that they want a reason to vote FOR Biden beyond that he's not Trump. Okay, I respect that, so I went on his website, pored through his policies, and came up with 100 reasons to vote for #JoeBiden that don't mention Trump.

1.) $15.00 federal minimum wage

2.) Reinstate DACA – allowing new applicants to apply

3.) 12 Weeks federal paid family leave

4.) Universal Pre-Kindergarten/Childcare for ages 3 and 4

5.) Tuition free college for those with household income less than $125,000.00

6.) Allow student loans to be relieved in bankruptcy

7.) LGBTQ+ Equality Act in the first 100 days in office

8.) Rejoin the Paris Climate Accords

9.) Decriminalize cannabis use and expunge convictions

10.) Eliminate cash bail system

11.) Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences

12.) Outlaw all online firearm and munition sales

13.) Restore the voting rights act

14.) Create a new $20 billion competitive grant program to spur states to shift from incarceration to prevention.

15.) He’ll triple funding for Title I Programs

16.) Appoint the first Black Woman to the Supreme Court of the United States

17.) Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

18.) Ensure the US achieves a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050

19.) Protecting biodiversity, slowing extinction rates and helping leverage natural climate solutions

20.) Develop a plan to ensure that America has the cleanest, safest and fastest rail system in the world, for both passengers and freight

21.) Expand the safety net for abuse survivors

22.) Confront online harassment, abuse and stalking

23.) End the rape kit backlog

24.) Address the deadly combination of guns and domestic violence

25.) Change the culture that enables domestic violence

26.) Support the diverse needs of survivors of violence against women

27.) Protect and empower immigrant women

28.) Lead the global effort to end gender-based violence

29.) End capital punishment

30.) End federal private prisons

31.) End all incarceration for drug use alone and divert individuals to drug courts and treatment

32.) Invest in public defenders’ offices to ensure defendants’ access to quality counsel

33.) Expand and use the power of the US Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors’ offices

34.) Reform qualified immunity for officers

35.) Ban choke-holds/neck restraints by police

36.) Launch a national police oversight commission

37.) Stop transferring weapons of war to police forces

38.) Free access to COVID testing for all with national testing board

39.) Double drive through COVID testing sites

40.) 100,000-strong COVID contact tracing workforce

41.) Guarantee first responders have priority access to PPE

42.) Emergency paid leave for anyone who gets COVID or needs to take care of a loved one

43.) Free housing for health care workers to quarantine

44.) Ramp up large scale manufacturing of as many vaccine candidates as necessary

45.) Nationwide vaccination campaign to guarantee fair distribution

46.) Ask every American to wear a mask

47.) End the mismanagement of the asylum system, which fuels violence and chaos at the border

48.) Surge humanitarian resources to the border and foster public-private initiatives

49.) End prolonged detention and reinvest in a case management program

50.) Rescind the un-American travel and refugee bans, also referred to as 'Muslim bans.'

51.) Order an immediate review of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for vulnerable populations who cannot find safety in their countries ripped apart by violence or disaster

52.) Ensure that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel abide by professional standards and are held accountable for inhumane treatment.

53.) Revitalize the Task Force on New Americans and boost our economy by prioritizing integration, promoting immigrant entrepreneurship, increasing access to language instruction, and promoting civil engagement.

54.) Convene a regional meeting of leaders, including from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Canada, to address the factors driving migration and to propose a regional resettlement solution

55.) Raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent.

56.) Requiring a true minimum tax on ALL foreign earnings of United States companies located overseas so that we do our part to put an end to the global race to the bottom that rewards global tax havens. This will be 21% — TWICE the rate of the Trump offshoring tax rate and will apply to all income.

57.) Imposing a tax penalty on corporations that ship jobs overseas in order to sell products back to America.

58.) Imposing a 15% minimum tax on book income so that no corporation gets away with paying no taxes.

59.) Raising the top individual income rate back to 39.6 percent.

60.) Asking those making more than $1 million to pay the same rate on investment income that they do on their wages.

61.) Tackle the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

62.) Ensure tribal nations will have a strong voice and role in the federal government

63.) Restore Tribal lands and safeguard natural and cultural resources

64.) Joe will dramatically increase funding for both public schools and Bureau of Indian Education schools.

65.) Invest $70 billion in Tribal Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions.

66.) Ensure full inclusion of people with disabilities in policy development and aggressively enforce the civil rights of people with disabilities.

67.) Guarantee access to high-quality, affordable health care, including mental health care, and expand access to home and community-based services and long-term services and supports in the most integrated setting appropriate to each person’s needs and based on self-determination.

68.) Expand competitive, integrated employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

69.) Protect and strengthen economic security for people with disabilities.

70.) Ensure that students with disabilities have access to educational programs and support they need to succeed, from early interventions to post-secondary education.

71.) Expand access to accessible, integrated, and affordable housing, transportation, and assistive technologies and protect people with disabilities in emergencies.

72.) Advance global disability rights

73.) Double the number of psychologists, guidance counselors, nurses, social workers, and other health professionals in our schools so our kids get the mental health care they need

74.) Invest in our schools to eliminate the funding gap between white and non-white districts, and rich and poor districts

75.) Improve teacher diversity

76.) Support our educators by giving them the pay and dignity they deserve.

77.) Invest in resources for our schools so students grow into physically and emotionally healthy adults, and educators can focus on teaching.

78.) Ensure that no child’s future is determined by their zip code, parents’ income, race, or disability.

79.) Provide every middle and high school student a path to a successful career.

80.) Start investing in our children at birth.

81.) Double funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative.

82.) Expand the New Markets Tax Credit, make the program permanent, and double Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) funding

83.) Improve and expand the Small Business Administration programs that most effectively support African American-owned businesses.

84.) Increase funding for the Minority Business Development Agency budget.
85.) Make sure economic relief because of COVID-19 reaches the African American businesses that need it most

86.) Reserve half of all the new PPP funds for small businesses with 50 employees or less

87.) Help families buy their first homes and build wealth by creating a new refundable, advanceable tax credit of up to $15,000

88.) Protect homeowners and renters from abusive lenders and landlords through a new Homeowner and Renter Bill of Rights.

89.) Establishing a $100 billion Affordable Housing Fund to construct and upgrade affordable housing

90.) Fully implement Congressman Clyburn’s 10-20-30 Plan to help all individuals living in persistently impoverished communities

91.) Expand access to $100 billion in low-interest business loans by funding state, local, tribal, and non-profit lending programs in Latino communities and other communities of color and strengthening Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)

92.) Expand broadband access to every American.

93.) Protect and build on the Affordable Care Act to improve access to quality health care in rural communities.

94.) Expand access to high-quality education in rural schools.

95.) Transform our crumbling transportation infrastructure – including roads and bridges, rail, aviation, ports, and inland waterways.

96.) Expand bio-based manufacturing to bring cutting-edge manufacturing jobs back to rural America.

97.) Strengthen antitrust enforcement

98.) Introduce a constitutional amendment to entirely eliminate private dollars from our federal elections

99.) End dark money groups

100.) Ban corporate PAC contributions to candidates, and prohibit lobbyist contributions to those who they lobby"

- David Ferree via Sterling Powers

 

[trystan]

that's quite a few!

 

(can i share this on facebook?)

[Lagie]

Just now, trystan said:

that's quite a few!

 

(can i share this on facebook?)

Yes, it came from a friend's FB page.

Edit - sent it to you there!

Edited September 28, 2020 by Lagie

[trystan]

heh, thanks!

[Confused Cat]

That list looks like Biden is a good guy. Those are not (all) things he actually can achieve, though, are they? Realistically? I mean it would be great if he could...

 

(And of course it would still be infinity times better to have a person who at least wants to do good things than a person who is you-know-who.)

[olympe]

49 minutes ago, Confused Cat said:

(And of course it would still be infinity times better to have a person who at least wants to do good things than a person who is you-know-who.)

You mean He Who Must Not Be Named? Let's call him Riddle. Tom Riddle.  

[KrazyKarp]

Does anyone have a list of things Biden is for/against vs Trump that's completely unbias toward either side? I keep becoming tempted to do research but I'm not too excited on trusting anything that pops up in a Google search.

 

Also something about general differences between Democrats and Republicans, too, would be nice. From an unbias source, of course.

[Feathers]

1 hour ago, KrazyKarp said:

Does anyone have a list of things Biden is for/against vs Trump that's completely unbias toward either side? I keep becoming tempted to do research but I'm not too excited on trusting anything that pops up in a Google search.

 

Also something about general differences between Democrats and Republicans, too, would be nice. From an unbias source, of course.

Speaking as an English professor, there's no such thing as a piece of media produced by a human that is unbiased.

 

I recommend using incognito mode in your web browser and reading several different sources, from all over the political spectrum, on an issue -- see what commonalities you find, what evidence they use, and facts that are communicated across the board.

 

If you find 99 articles saying one thing and 1 saying the opposite, you'll want to take that one with a healthy grain of salt.

[trystan]

1 minute ago, Feathers said:

I recommend using incognito mode in your web browser and reading several different sources, from all over the political spectrum, on an issue -- see what commonalities you find, what evidence they use, and facts that are communicated across the board.

^this.

 

also, https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news give you headlines on stories in the news from the right, left, and center, with a L L C R R scale.  it's really interesting.

[AngelsSin]

Even if he (Trump) claims to be for this or that how could you ever trust a compulsive liar. 

No such thing IMO as unbiased info unless It is a simple fact.

 

It is baffling how people (Trump supporters) dont care that he has likely committed tax fraud. He and they claim he is a business man  but don't they realize that his job as president is essentially him running one of the largest businesses in the world and if he can't even properly run his own businesses and runs his businesses corruptly how can they trust him to run this country.

 

One thing that should be brought up is when was the last time you can remember being able to get gas for under a dollar? For me the last time was when Bill Clinton was president. 

I saw the Trump ad where that business lady in the ad was saying that under Trump we have had the best economy ever, but that isn't even close to true once again I feel for me the best economy was under Bill Clinton. (I'm not saying everything Clinton did was great but overall it was generally better for most people, obviously there were some policies that I believe had consequences that he didn't intend.)

How about every time the Democrats are in power we end with the country with a surplus while every time Republicans are in power we end things with a deficit. But somehow the Republican some how manage to get the people to forget such important details.

Edited September 29, 2020 by AngelsSin

[Astreya]

From what I gathered, the Deutsche Bank lent Mr.Trump around 2 billion Dollars since 1998, and there are currently still around 300 million Dollars he owes them. I think it might be interesting, if the Deutsche Bank would demand from him to repay his debts in full, but I fear they won't as then they would probably have to depreciate the money...

 

More interesting info (in German) - you might need a German proxy as the program is geo-blocked: https://www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/dokus/sendung/trumps-deutsche-bank-100.html

[purplehaze]

And the Trump administration again shows its utter contempt for the court system by defying the order of a federal judge.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/28/trump-administration-census-end-early-october

The Trump administration has said the 2020 census will end early on 5 October, defying a federal judge’s ruling that the count should continue through the end of October.

The US secretary of commerce, Wilbur Ross, made the announcement in a tweet posted on the US Census Bureau’s website on Monday.

Ross said the “target date” for ending all counting efforts for the 2020 census is now 5 October, despite a judge ordering the Trump administration to extend counting through 31 October.

[Astreya]

@purplehaze

Is there nothing they can do against such open contempt of a judgement?

[trystan]

18 minutes ago, Astreya said:

Is there nothing they can do against such open contempt of a judgement?

why would they republicons want to?  trump wants to undercount the people who are underprivileged... and he sees them as not important because they're (more than likely) people who are immigrants and minorities, maybe they're liberal leaning, and all his rhetoric says these are people very unlike him, so why should they count (quite literally).  if the wealthier, maybe more white and republicon areas report more people - they'll get better representation, better funding - these people are more like trump.  so that's trump's plan, and why would all the Mitch McConnells want to stop trump from openly defying a judgement?

[Astreya]

@trystan

Can't they put Mr.Ross into prison for contempt of the court or something?

[trystan]

@Astreya - he's a trumpist too. they all think they're above the law

[Astreya]

@trystan

The more interesting it should be if he'd be put to jail, don't you think?

[Lagie]

7 minutes ago, Astreya said:

@trystan

The more interesting it should be if he'd be put to jail, don't you think?

The orange dude would likely pardon him if that happened.

[Astreya]

@Lagie

True, but it would at least appear as if the court would act to punish an unlawful act. A pardon by Mr.Trump would just showcase his own unlawfulness even more.

[trystan]

@Lagie, @Astreya - yes, yes, and yes.

 

tonight's debate will be interesting.....

[Lagie]

1 hour ago, trystan said:

@Lagie, @Astreya - yes, yes, and yes.

 

tonight's debate will be interesting.....

CNN.com! I have my Bingo card ready...

[AngelsSin]

So far so good. Biden IMO is on fire. And is it just me or is Trump more orange than normal?

[trystan]

1 hour ago, Lagie said:

CNN.com! I have my Bingo card ready...

we have it on ABC

 

1 hour ago, AngelsSin said:

is it just me or is Trump more orange than normal?

it's not just you..... he looks very orange to me

 

@Astreya - this was an item in one of my emails i get, in reference to the census:

Quote

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will end the 2020 Census on Oct. 5, despite a federal judge’s ruling that allows the count to continue until Oct. 31. U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh said she was “disturbed” that “despite the court’s order,” Census supervisors have told field workers to wrap up data collection early. Judge Koh set a Tuesday deadline for the Commerce Department to produce the administrative record of the decision-making behind Ross’ announcement. She also threatened to hold government lawyers in contempt of court if the deadline isn’t met. (Bloomberg / CNN / NBC News)

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by trystan

[Lagie]

Very orange.

That was painful.

 

"Hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck" said the announcer just now.

Edited September 30, 2020 by Lagie