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Post by Kimby on Sept 9, 2023 22:04:50 GMT
Nikki Haley seems to talk through clenched teeth. Like maybe she’s spent so much on dental work that she feels the need to show off her choppers every syllable she speaks. Four years of that would drive me whacko.
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Post by htmb on Sept 10, 2023 0:42:00 GMT
I agree, but I haven’t comfortably listened to a president speak since Obama.
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Post by whatagain on Sept 20, 2023 17:53:32 GMT
Thé US debt has jumped by 3 trillions USD over the last 3 months bringing it to 33 trillions. Meaning each US guy has a debt of nearly 100 k$. Or 130pc of GDP. According to GOP : stupid democrats gave a lot of benefits they cannot finance. Democrats blame Republican for tax cuts for the riches . Even worse than Belgium which is at 108pc. (Russia is at less than 20pc - but maybe because nobody wants their money there).
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 21, 2023 3:53:31 GMT
Countries sort of run on debt, so in one sense it doesn't really matter. Republicans are evil snakes who want no "give away" programs, never mind that those are funded by tax money & are for the greater good. Republicans should be blamed for tax cuts for the rich & other crap ushered in by Reagan. The great orange liar is monstrously responsible for the current debt: www.propublica.org/article/national-debt-trump
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Post by whatagain on Sept 21, 2023 6:01:53 GMT
I can’t agree more about your description of the Rep. I would add they are not concerned if you die of illness because you are too poor to go to the hospital. I guess that is in the Bible.
In Belgium I like the tax principle of the more tou earn the more tou pay. You pay different rates of tax per layer of revenue. The last layer is taxed at about 50 pc.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 21, 2023 14:43:00 GMT
Marginal tax rates are not understood by too many people. The first x number of dollars is taxed at x rate. The next y number of dollars at a higher rate and subsequent tiers of income are taxed at progressively higher rates. So a 50% marginal tax rate mean you pay 50% of the “last dollar” but your first dollars are taxed at much lower rate, the rate paid by everyone else with smaller amounts of taxable income. At one point, the US had a marginal rate over 90%, and we were building the infrastructure that made America (once) great. www.wolterskluwer.com/en/expert-insights/whole-ball-of-tax-historical-income-tax-ratesThe current favorable tax “policy” on the really wealthy is forcing government to make choices that are allowing our infrastructure to fall into ruin. (And giving the “conservatives” cover for their efforts to reduce or eliminate social “safety nets” for the less fortunate regular people.) But who needs roads when you have a private helicopter and jet at your disposal? And a “personal relationship” with your representatives in Congress and the state houses?
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 21, 2023 23:50:04 GMT
Hear, hear, Kimby!!!
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 23, 2023 16:39:31 GMT
"...Donald Trump presented the shutdown—which he has been lobbying for—as a way to halt the federal felony prosecutions he faces. “As the world witnesses this American freak show, the worries grow,” Andreas Kluth writes in Bloomberg Opinion. “The biggest threat to American hegemony emanates not from Moscow or Beijing but from domestic polarization and dysfunction.”
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 29, 2023 13:39:21 GMT
I'm sure it was time for Dianne Feinstein to go. I can think of a few others who could join her.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 2, 2023 17:24:24 GMT
This might help to explain why a lot of Americans vote the way they do.
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Post by onlyMark on Oct 2, 2023 18:35:51 GMT
What's your impression of if you stopped random people in France and asked them France related historical questions? Like when was the French Revolution? What is not shown is if questions were asked and someone got the right answer. Nice video but......... The maker has also done one on asking young British people where certain countries are. They didn't do too bad but there were some glaring mistakes. I will give them a bit of a pass though when asked where Uzebekistan and other Stans were.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 2, 2023 18:56:07 GMT
I know that a lot of my classmates were not paying attention in school, but I don't think it was to this extent. Hearing some of this stuff 50 years later leaves me aghast. I don't think that the curriculum of history and geography has changed all that much, but clearly the kids just don't think it is of any importance anymore, nor is keeping abreast of "real" news. Ask them about the Kardashians or the Marvel Universe, and they have all of the answers.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 2, 2023 21:40:02 GMT
I couldn't watch much of the video because of the irritating graphics & repetitive "music", but got the gist of how stupid the answers were.
Kerouac, I can't help but wonder if maybe the curriculum has been eviscerated so that the students don't have to strain their brains. I know more than one US teacher who left teaching because of the teach-to-the-test "standards" in place in their respective states. They bemoaned the fact that they were no longer really teaching anything, nor were the students learning. I'm talking about 25 years ago or more, meaning many people have been born, gone all the way through school, & reached voting age in that time. It must still be going on, as I met a teacher recently who left public school teaching for that very reason. She is 40.
When we were in school, no one expected to be entertained by learning. If a subject interested you, of course that made it nicer, but almost no one felt that opting out because of lack of interest was an option. In fact, figuring out that all your life you'd have to do stuff you didn't feel like doing was part of the learning process, even before beginning school.
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Post by mossie on Oct 3, 2023 7:07:20 GMT
Thick as shit
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Post by whatagain on Oct 3, 2023 18:41:48 GMT
I know 2 people who did a second last year of high school in the Ys at age 18. They were appalled at the level of ‘teaching’. But they both learned how to fold an American flag.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 4, 2023 4:53:42 GMT
With the ouster of McCarthy American politics just keeps getting better and better. It is clearly time to end the two party system and let all of these people split into groups according to their various affinities once and for all.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 9, 2023 15:00:29 GMT
I don't want Donald Trump to go to prison. I want him to be sent to a mental health facility.
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Post by bjd on Oct 9, 2023 18:19:16 GMT
Aren't there psychiatric hospitals where they could find a place for him?
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Post by htmb on Oct 9, 2023 19:50:14 GMT
You’d have to commit half the nation along with him.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 25, 2023 20:59:21 GMT
The US House of Representatives finally elected a speaker today. So I guess their paid holiday has ended.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 26, 2023 1:35:56 GMT
God, I hate them so! And isn't Louisiana just covering itself with glory by unleashing another effing fascist into the halls of government.
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Post by htmb on Oct 26, 2023 1:41:23 GMT
Well, the little twerp only got the speaker vote because he’s hardly been in office long enough to make any enemies. Plus, he got the endorsement of the asshole thug who was lobbying, straight from the courtroom, against any of the almost sane republicans. Sickening.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 26, 2023 2:59:00 GMT
Reminding us that Bluto is still the puppeteer of all the Mr. Loopners in the GOP does not make me feel better.
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Post by mich64 on Oct 26, 2023 16:25:40 GMT
The US House of Representatives finally elected a speaker today. So I guess their paid holiday has ended. I think I heard this morning that they are going to take another week off!
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 26, 2023 17:05:30 GMT
After such emotions, that is the bare minimum!
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 31, 2023 9:18:45 GMT
Apparently he’s a christian fundamentalist whose worldview is that the bible can solve all problems. He thinks humans had dinosaurs as pets.
Good luck with that.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 31, 2023 11:04:09 GMT
I already heard him saying that prayer will solve everything, especially mass killings.
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 31, 2023 11:42:54 GMT
Actually what does a Speaker do? They seem very important.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 31, 2023 12:19:41 GMT
I believe the Speaker sets the agenda of the legislature. That is why they couldn't do anything when there was no Speaker. He is also second in line after the vice president, so if Biden and Harris suddenly die, he will be president until the next election in November 2024.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 31, 2023 16:26:37 GMT
I already heard him saying that prayer will solve everything, especially mass killings. He also repeated a favorite Republican line, that of "it's not the time to talk about gun control".
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