***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[blastercombo]

“What is you name mr president?”

“I don’t know what a name is”

“We’ve brought pictures and everything to show you”

“I don’t know what pictures are. Define pictures”

“We brought slideshows for that.”


“Define slide shows. I’m the best at slide shows, believe me”


“..........”

“Can I use the bathroom?”

 

[deleted]

PetSmart offers a wide variety of training clickers that they could use to help our president pay attention

Successfully pay attention and remain silent for 2 minutes of a briefing and he gets a snack

 

[rexanglorum]

What kind of inheritance taxes are y'all looking at?
This is what I had to pay on mine for a straight line succession.
3% on the bracket of €0,01 to €50k
9% on the bracket of €50.000,01 to €250k
27% on the bracket of higher than €250.000,01

If the inheritance is between brothers/sisters you can be subject to a tax rate of 55% in the third bracket.
25% on the bracket of €0,01 to €35k
30% on the bracket of €35.000,01 to €75k
55% on the bracket of higher than €75.000,01 I'd be heated if I was subject to this

Why do you think lateral inheritance is taxed so much more heavily?

 

[jape]

PetSmart offers a wide variety of training clickers that they could use to help our president pay attention

Successfully pay attention and remain silent for 2 minutes of a briefing and he gets a snack

fax

but petsmart is a ripoff
amazon >

 

[rexanglorum]

So Democratic centrists/Donut Twitter are now Stacey Abrams fans now? It’s odd because centrists in Georgia voted for the white, more business friendly Stacey in the primary last spring.

Moderates voted against AOC and Ayanna Presley and Rashida Thalaib and Cynthia Nixon in favor white and male candidates who were more conservatives.

In the general election in Maryland, moderate Dems voted for the white Republican!

So spare me this half stepping anti Bernie argument. Don’t tell me you love Bernie’s policies but you won’t vote for him because “it’s time to have more women and WoC in power.” You pulled that in 2016 with Hillary and you’re doing with Kamala in 2020. We know that argument is disingenuous because there’s a whole pile of receipts from 2018 that shows that low taxes and maintenance of the status quo is real priority and representational politics is just a fig leaf.

 

[RustyShackleford]

So Democratic centrists/Donut Twitter are now Stacey Abrams fans now? It’s odd because centrists in Georgia voted for the white, more business friendly Stacey in the primary last spring.

Moderates voted against AOC and Ayanna Presley and Rashida Thalaib and Cynthia Nixon in favor white and male candidates who were more conservatives.

In the general election in Maryland, moderate Dems voted for the white Republican!

So spare me this half stepping anti Bernie argument. Don’t tell me you love Bernie’s policies but you won’t vote for him because “it’s time to have more women and WoC in power.” You pulled that in 2016 with Hillary and you’re doing with Kamala in 2020. We know that argument is disingenuous because there’s a whole pile of receipts from 2018 that shows that low taxes and maintenance of the status quo is real priority and representational politics is just a fig leaf.

Famb, Bernie should let Abrams have the spotlight. There are people outside of the circles you mentioned that are making that argument.

Especially given the circumstances surrounding her lost. The main reason Abrams lost is voter suppression, not moderate Dems.

Furthermore, while many progressives and people of color we're calling this out, Bernie found it the appropriate time to absolve the white people that could not bring themselves to vote for a black person of their racism.

Bernie should just let Aunty Stacy have her moment. Sheesh

Ya mans needs to stop acting like a **** boi

 

[aepps20]

Bernard is a SELF CENTERED CLOWN. If it ain't the Bernie show he doesn't care.

 

[whywesteppin]

looking like a desperate 40-something 2-bit *****.

 

[Nike Jordan]

How long will it take for Scam Jones to say that "this is the day he became president" after the SOTU?

 

[rexanglorum]

Famb, Bernie should let Abrams have the spotlight. There are people outside of the circles you mentioned that are making that argument.

Especially given the circumstances surrounding her lost. The main reason Abrams lost is voter suppression, not moderate Dems.

Furthermore, while many progressives and people of color we're calling this out, Bernie found it the appropriate time to absolve the white people that could not bring themselves to vote for a black person of their racism.

Let Aunty Stacy have her moment. Sheesh

Ya mans needs to stop acting like a **** boi

You’re mixing up the primary and general election.

In the Georgia gubernatorial primary, why didn’t the more moderate wing of the party support Stacey Abrams? Why did they support the white women instead?

I ask the same question of moderate Dems who supported the primary opponents of AOC, Ayanna Presley and Rashida Thalaib.

I mentioned the Maryland general election to show that the moderates’ commitment to diversity in public office as well as Democratic unity is situational and goes out the window when faced with even the prospect higher taxes.

I know you’re deliberately being obtuse on this point, you know that there is a portion of the Democratic Party that wants to maintain the status quo, maintain their privileged position and their priority is nominating the more economically conservative primary candidate. In 2016 and in 2020 the economic left candidate was and will be a white man and the more economically conservative will not be a white man.

However, in a slew of 2018 primary contests, the more economically left candidates were women of color and those very same moderate voters backed the more economically conservative white and/or male candidates.

The most extreme case was the behavior of moderate voters in Maryland who backed the white make candidate over the black Democratic candidate. Maryland was an extreme case and yes, in most other cases, Democratic moderates did support nominees whom they hadn’t supported in the primary and yes, Stacey Abrams absolutely had the election stolen from her.

Look, I’ll criticize Bernie when he isn’t doing his part to build the coalitions that we need to build. He shouldn’t have talked about voters who base their vote on the identity of the candidate because, as 2018 showed, those voters don’t exist.

As far the rebuttal is concerned: I honestly don’t know how extra, unofficial responses to the SOTU will diminish Stacey Abrams’ official address. If Bernie were counter programing, then FOH, Bernie. But my understanding is ge’ll Go on after Stacey have her rebuttal.

 

[whywesteppin]

Bernard is a SELF CENTERED CLOWN. If it ain't the Bernie show he doesn't care.

Prime Time Neon Deion Beenard Sanders is the show. Adam Levine better be happy he took Sunday off. Otherwise NO ONE would have watched the halftime show.

He will get the attention he so desperately craves because he is old and lovable and white and talks like a grandpa. And he has an explosive first step, world class closing speed, and a knack for the ball.

Dems are TOAST.

 

[aepps20]

Prime Time Neon Deion Beenard Sanders is the show. Adam Levine better be happy he took Sunday off. Otherwise NO ONE would have watched the halftime show.

He will get the attention he so desperately craves because he is old and lovable and white and talks like a grandpa. And he has an explosive first step, world class closing speed, and a knack for the ball.

Dems are TOAST.

Bernard intercepting the pass intended for Stacey.

 

[Belgium]

Why do you think lateral inheritance is taxed so much more heavily?

Good question. I don't really know why there's such a big difference. It does make the government a huge amount of money in comparison with straight line inheritance.
I think this is perhaps a bit far-fetched but brothers and sisters seem less likely to me to engage in the "gifting" tactic, whereas a parent is more likely to gift substantial amounts of money to their children to avoid later taxation. Same with marriage partners I assume.

It's clearly a money grab so I guess there must be some sort of increased incentive for them to impose such a disparity in inheritance tax rates.

 

[gry60]

i disagree
folks need to suck it up
and start pulling themselves up by the bootstraps
instead of wanting a handout from the rich
they got their money
let them keep it

Yeah, maybe Walmart and Amazon need to start paying for those roads their trucks use so much and the policemen who patrol them and the paramedics and firefighters who keep them accident and fire-free.

Maybe they also need to pay for their use of the postal service, hire their postal employees, and delivery trucks.

Maybe they need to support the infrastructure (water, electricity, and internet) that allows their business to grow and grow and grow. Maybe they need to buy their own utility poles, hire their own tree cutters and linemen and transmission lines and generators and transformers and rivers and hydroelectric dams and ****.

These are the rich we are talking about (Bezos), not your low six-figure dude who's happy in his Corvette.

 

[rexanglorum]

Also, we know what would happen if Bernie said nothing tonight.

 

[RustyShackleford]

You’re mixing up the primary and general election.

In the Georgia gubernatorial primary, why didn’t the more moderate wing of the party support Stacey Abrams? Why did they support the white women instead?

I ask the same question of moderate Dems who supported the primary opponents of AOC, Ayanna Presley and Rashida Thalaib.

I mentioned the Maryland general election to show that the moderates’ commitment to diversity in public office as well as Democratic unity is situational and goes out the window when faced with even the prospect higher taxes.

I know you’re deliberately being obtuse on this point, you know that there is a portion of the Democratic Party that wants to maintain the status quo, maintain their privileged position and their priority is nominating the more economically conservative primary candidate. In 2016 and in 2020 the economic left candidate was and will be a white man and the more economically conservative will not be a white man.

However, in a slew of 2018 primary contests, the more economically left candidates were women of color and those very same moderate voters backed the more economically conservative white and/or male candidates.

The most extreme case was the behavior of moderate voters in Maryland who backed the white make candidate over the black Democratic candidate. Maryland was an extreme case and yes, in most other cases, Democratic moderates did support nominees whom they hadn’t supported in the primary and yes, Stacey Abrams absolutely had the election stolen from her.

Look, I’ll criticize Bernie when he isn’t doing his part to build the coalitions that we need to build. He shouldn’t have talked about voters who base their vote on the identity of the candidate because, as 2018 showed, those voters don’t exist.

As far the rebuttal is concerned: I honestly don’t know how extra, unofficial responses to the SOTU will diminish Stacey Abrams’ official address. If Bernie were counter programing, then FOH, Bernie. But my understanding is ge’ll Go on after Stacey have her rebuttal.

You wanna call me obtuse, ok famb, ok.

I will respond in kind when I get home and have a keyboard in front of me.

 

[d nice]

 

[RustyShackleford]

 

[rexanglorum]

You wanna call me obtuse, ok famb, ok.

I will respond in kind when I get home and have a keyboard in front of me.

I wouldn’t expect anything less but you got your work cut out for you to convince me that supporting WoC only applies in quadrennial years.

Derivatives of derivatives will be needed finesse this one.

 

[nawghtyhare]

Yeah, maybe Walmart and Amazon need to start paying for those roads their trucks use so much and the policemen who patrol them and the paramedics and firefighters who keep them accident and fire-free.

Maybe they also need to pay for their use of the postal service, hire their postal employees, and delivery trucks.

Maybe they need to support the infrastructure (water, electricity, and internet) that allows their business to grow and grow and grow. Maybe they need to buy their own utility poles, hire their own tree cutters and linemen and transmission lines and generators and transformers and rivers and hydroelectric dams and ****.

These are the rich we are talking about (Bezos), not your low six-figure dude who's happy in his Corvette.

u know i wasnt serious right

 

[Belgium]

God I hate this politician, her resignation has been long overdue. She actually grew up not that far from me but I think I've yet to meet someone in the area with a favorable view of her, or anything she does.
Amongst other things I just think she's incompetent. I think it was either last year or the year before that she published a map of designated hunting grounds in Flanders (northern region) and it included locations like our major airports. Damn near my whole town was turned into a hunting ground, meaning it was legal for someone with a permit to casually stroll through most of the town with a firearm during hunting season. Ironically my home was one of the few exceptions in my street. Even the entire domain of my local church was designated as a hunting ground.
So was our football pitch.

She was quickly ordered to redraw the map but it was still a fantastic ****show of incompetence. At least it was hilarious as people found more and more ridiculous locations on the map. An absolute trainwreck.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ge-claimed-children-climate-protests-a-set-up
Belgian minister resigns over school-strike conspiracy claims
Joke Schauvliege falsely claimed state agencies had evidence that children’s climate change protests were a ‘set-up’

A Belgian environment minister has been forced to resign after falsely claiming the country’s intelligence services held evidence that children skipping school to demonstrate over climate change were being directed by unnamed powers.

Joke Schauvliege, a minister in Flanders, where the school-strikes movementfirst emerged, provoked a wave of criticism of the wider political class after suggesting the protests were a “set-up” and “more than spontaneous actions of solidarity”.

“I know who is behind this movement, both of the Sunday demonstrations and the truants,” Schauvliege had told an audience of farmers. “I have also been told that from state security. I can guarantee that I do not see ghosts alone and that climate demonstrations are more than spontaneous actions of solidarity with our climate.”

The comments prompted a rare denial by the Belgian state security services. “We have not reported anything about this to Schauvliege,” they said. “Neither verbally nor in writing.”

The minister initially sought to hold on to her position insisting that she had not lied, but merely gone “too far”. “In recent weeks, I have slept little and I was overwhelmed by frustration, I am a human being and I could be wrong,” she told the Flemish channel Radio 1.

But during an emotional press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Schauvliege announced that she could not continue in her post given the growing controversy. “It is difficult to continue to function as climate minister in these circumstances,” she said, between tears.

Tens of thousands of Belgian children, inspired by the lone protest launched last year by Greta Thunberg, then 15, outside the Swedish parliament, have played truant from school in recent weeks to march on the streets of Brussels, Liège, Namur and Leuven. School strikes have been also been held in Germany, Switzerland and Australia and a global School Strikes 4 Climate Action march is set for 15 March.

Belgium has four environment ministers – one for each region and at the national level – but it has no national policy to reach the 2030 goal set by the UN of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2C, and strive for 1.5C.

Anuna De Wever, the 18-year-old Flemish student who first sparked the demonstrations in Belgium, had described the claims by Schauvliege, a member of the Flemish Christian Democrats, as “manifestly not true” and an “insult to the youth”.

“It is very strange that a minister can lie about such a thing,” she said. “That’s just not the case. Can we stop doubting the movement?”

The largest march so far in Belgium, two weeks ago in Brussels, saw 35,000 children demonstrate.

A spokesman for Youth for Climate, the organisation set up by De Wever to organise the protests by schoolchildren, said the comments were in keeping with the Belgian authorities’ failure to commit to international climate change goals.

“The minister’s allegation is an insult to the authentic engagement of so many young people,” they said in a statement before the announcement of Schauvliege’s resignation.

The Flemish minister-president, Geert Bourgeois, had described the environment minister’s comments as “unfortunate”.

The response of Flemish politicians to the climate change demonstrations has come under heavy criticism.

The chairman of the Flemish nationalist party the New Flemish Alliance, which was until recently in government, last month urged the young protesters “not to believe in the apocalypse” but to go back to their books and have “confidence in the future and in the power of innovation”.

 

[RustyShackleford]

I wouldn’t expect anything less but you got your work cut out for you to convince me that supporting WoC only applies in quadrennial years.

Derivatives of derivatives will be needed finesse this one.

Or maybe I plan to point out how I never made such and argument, and that you are so in feelings about **** you read on Twitter that you went off and someone just saying Bernie needs to fall back for one night, given the stuff he has done before

And maybe I'll point out that you seem to not keep that anger for ****** leftist, and you are playing a lil fast and lose jumping between primaries and general to make your point. (That one I do no really care about because like I stated before, I didn't attempt to defend the voting behaviors of moderate Dems)

But I dunno, I'll see where the night takes me.

 

[Belgium]

SDNY putting in work. The FBI and DOJ National Security division are assisting as well.


Brussels non-profit I think its name was mentioned in a filing or report on Manafort's foreign lobbying somewhere. Had Ukraine in its name if I recall correctly.

 

[rexanglorum]

Or maybe I plan to point out how I never made such and argument, and that you are so in feelings about **** you read on Twitter that you went off and someone just saying Bernie needs to fall back for one night, given the stuff he has done before

And maybe I'll point out that you seem to not keep that anger for ****ty leftist, and you are playing a lil fast and lose jumping between primaries and general to make your point. (That one I do no really care about because like I stated before, I didn't attempt to defend the voting behaviors of moderate Dems)

But I dunno, I'll see where the night takes me.

There aren’t many leftists in this space. Believe me, I hammer class reductionists and Bernie supporters who dismiss intersectional and internationalist politics.

And no, my critiques of moderate hypocrisy happened in real time, it doesn’t take Twitter posters to tell me that the moderate’s support for diversity is laughably inconsistent.

I quoted a tweet because it was a good encapsulation of what would happen if Sanders didn’t respond to Trump tonight.

 

[boris]