Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread

[bluetick]

Sunday... one minute to go, we have a one point lead and the ball, UNC presses and our best ball handler is on the bench and we throw the ball away (thanks coach). A tough 3 from the visitors followed by a parade of FTs in the last 25 seconds... ah well.
No cigar.

[hedge]

I always love beating Rick Barnes...

[Professor Tiger]

1) If the economy really is booming under Trump as you say, then why the need for this trickle-down deficit-ballooning tax bill farce?

Answer: To give the Plutocrat class, that owns both parties, what they want - even more billions.

2) What specifically has Trump done for the middle class in his 11 months, especially the blue collar low-mids in the Rust Belt - the ones that basically got him elected? I'm thinking not much, if anything at all. A 24k Dow means nothing to them.

Answers:

-Trump's respectful rhetoric towards them, which replaces Democrats' overt hostility towards them simply because of their sex, race, orientation, education, religion, and income level. Blue collars are also VERY aware that, since Trump's election, the Democrats have been calling them racists, sexists, bigots, homophobes, transphobes, yokels, religious nutjobs, etc. with more ferocity, not less.
-Trump's siding with the police and against rioters, which is a reverse of Obama's and the Democrats.
-Trump's stopping Obama's war on the blue collars' guns.
-Trump's ending Obama's and the Democrats' war on the energy industry and cutting way back on absurd environmental regulations (which they rightly regard as dangerous to their own jobs).
-Trump's scrapping of international trade deals and environmental deals which have been extremely harmful to them for a long time.
-Trump's reversal of Obama's policy and calling Islamic terrorism Islamic terrorism, which it clearly is
-Trump's taking away ISIS' "caliphate" in less than a year, which Obama most certainly did not do in eight.
-Trump's stopping the federal effort to force men-who-think-they-are women into their daughters' locker rooms at their local junior high school.
-Trump's attempts to stop Obama's and the Democrats war on Christian bakers and florists.
-Trump's vigorous opposition to the NFL's campaign to politicize and propagandize the blue collar's favorite sport.
-Trump's vigorous attempt to stop the constant flow of illegal immigrants into the US which have made the blue collars' attempts to get a job, keep a job, and get a raise much more difficult for a very long time and needed to stop.

So, other than that, yeah, the Rust Belt blue collars are just itching to rejoin the utopia of their betters in 2020.

[Toemeesleather]

As I'm sure you know, the best predictor of a POTUS election is the state of the economy. If the economy keeps booming like it has so far under Trump - like it NEVER did under Obama- then Trump has a pretty good shot at reelection. If not, then he doesn't. He may not even run for reelection; he's getting pretty old.

The Dow under oprama went from 7800 to 20000 -up 170%- and his bull market lasted 92 months. Trump numbers are 'up 20%' and 11 months, respectively. oprama's job numbers...75 consecutive months of job growth whereby the UE rate dropped from 10.5% to 4.9%. It fell to 4.3% this July but is now back up to 5.0%.

Answer two questions if you can:

1) If the economy really is booming under Trump as you say, then why the need for this trickle-down deficit-ballooning tax bill farce?

2) What specifically has Trump done for the middle class in his 11 months, especially the blue collar low-mids in the Rust Belt - the ones that basically got him elected? I'm thinking not much, if anything at all. A 24k Dow means nothing to them.

Yes, under the guise of quantitative easing the gubment printing presses hummed into overtime, the rest of country took part time jobs.

[bluetick]

So all that business about the NFL and bakers and bathrooms means you have no clue as to any help trump has given to his blue collar base economically. That's a good indicator of why The Donald enjoys historically low approval numbers that barely hover above 30%, as his base support continues to wane. It's like that famous saying - "it's the economy, dumbshit."

His approval numbers were under water in Alabama ffs. And to think he won the state a year ago by almost 30 points. That's a long fall in a short period of time, right?

[Professor Tiger]

Yes, all those Rust Belt blue collars are now ready to become disarmed, vegan, atheist, anti-American, unemployed castrates responding to the finger-snapped beckonings of their gated community dwelling betters.

All the polls say so. Just like they were saying on November 5, 2016.

[bluetick]

You're fos as usual. 2 days before election polls had Clinton with a 1pt to 5pt lead with MOE +-3. Clinton got 48.2%, Trump got 46.1. Some polls nailed it.

http://www.newsweek.com/presidential-el ... 016-517617

[Professor Tiger]

You're fos as usual. 2 days before election polls had Clinton with a 1pt to 5pt lead with MOE +-3. Clinton got 48.2%, Trump got 46.1. Some polls nailed it.

http://www.newsweek.com/presidential-el ... 016-517617

Incorrect. Remember that "Blue Wall" of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, that all the smart people and most accurate polls said would seal the deal for Hillary? Let me refresh your memory:



How did that work out for ya?

The Donald enjoys historically low approval numbers that barely hover above 30%, as his base support continues to wane.

And before you get all excited about Trump's 30-something approval rating, which of course dooms him, let me refresh your memory again:

[youtube]MOghpu6GLcU[/youtube]

How did that work out for ya?

If CNN says it, then it must be true.

[Professor Tiger]

THIS IS IT!!!

McCabe draws blank on Democrats’ funding of Trump dossier, new subpoenas planned

EXCLUSIVE: Congressional investigators tell Fox News that Tuesday’s seven-hour interrogation of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe contained numerous conflicts with the testimony of previous witnesses, prompting the Republican majority staff of the House Intelligence Committee to decide to issue fresh subpoenas next week on Justice Department and FBI personnel.

While HPSCI staff would not confirm who will be summoned for testimony, all indications point to demoted DOJ official Bruce G. Ohr and FBI General Counsel James A. Baker, who accompanied McCabe, along with other lawyers, to Tuesday’s HPSCI session.

The issuance of a subpoena against the Justice Department’s top lawyer could provoke a new constitutional clash between the two branches, even worse than the months-long tug of war over documents and witnesses that has already led House Speaker Paul Ryan to accuse DOJ and FBI of “stonewalling” and HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., to threaten contempt-of-Congress citations against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Investigators say McCabe recounted to the panel how hard the FBI had worked to verify the contents of the anti-Trump “dossier” and stood by its credibility. But when pressed to identify what in the salacious document the bureau had actually corroborated, the sources said, McCabe cited only the fact that Trump campaign adviser Carter Page had traveled to Moscow. Beyond that, investigators said, McCabe could not even say that the bureau had verified the dossier’s allegations about the specific meetings Page supposedly held in Moscow.

The sources said that when asked when he learned that the dossier had been funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, McCabe claimed he could not recall – despite the reported existence of documents with McCabe’s own signature on them establishing his knowledge of the dossier’s financing and provenance.

Department officials confirmed that Ohr had withheld from superiors his secret meetings in 2016 with Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored the dossier with input from Russian sources; and with Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that hired Steele with funds supplied by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Subsequently, Fox News disclosed that Ohr’s wife Nellie, an academic expert on Russia, had worked for Fusion GPS through the summer and fall of 2016.

Somebody in this whole criminal conspiracy has a story to tell, and they are going to tell it. Wray, McKay and Ohr will be indicted any day now. Ohr's wife is up to her eyeballs in this, and Ohr will flip to save her from 30 years in prison. Baker will have his doors kicked in by goon squads in the middle of the night, frightening his children in their jammies, and he'll start singing like a canary too. It's all about to come out: that Obama ordered the Pee Pee Dossier knowing it was fake, Lynch ordered the fake FISA warrants, the illegal wiretapping Trump's personal cell phone, the secret meetings to coordinate the coverup, the lies about those secret meetings, the subpeona'd documents that got bleach bit'd, everything.

It's right there in front of your eyes. Just connect the dots, people. All it takes is one conspirator to flip, and this whole house of cards will come crashing down. Any day now. You just watch. Mark my words. Obama, Lynch, Comey, Hillary, Rosenstein, are all going to jail. Jail I tell you!

Fox News says so, therefore it must be true.

[Jungle Rat]

I wish you all would die.

[Toemeesleather]

The Europeans are worried about the advantage US will have w/tax cuts....looks like good news for the whole world...well, except for dims....


German firms are increasingly worried the reforms could put the country’s vaunted export economy at a disadvantage.

“The sharp reduction in the corporate tax rate will give the US a massive competitive advantage,” said Christoph Spengel, the corporate tax expert at the Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim. “Tax competition will get a new dimension with Europeans forced to compete among themselves.”

[Toemeesleather]

Once tax reform is signed into law, AT&T* plans to invest an additional $1 billion in the United States in 2018 and pay a special $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 AT&T U.S. employees — all union-represented, non-management and front-line managers. If the President signs the bill before Christmas, employees will receive the bonus over the holidays.

“Congress, working closely with the President, took a monumental step to bring taxes paid by U.S. businesses in line with the rest of the industrialized world,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. “This tax reform will drive economic growth and create good-paying jobs. In fact, we will increase our U.S. investment and pay a special bonus to our U.S. employees.”

[Professor Tiger]

As I have said before, I didn’t really care whether this tax passed or not. I believe it may, at best, put another $10 a month in my pocket. Yipee.

But I do like one provision in this bill. People in high tax states will no longer be allowed to write off their state and city taxes from their federal income tax bill. If people in CA or NY or NY insist on electing leaders that keep raising their state and city taxes, that’s their business. But if they are going to keep doing that, then they can damn well pay their own taxes. There is no reason why Texans or Montanans should be forced to subsidize the fiscal irresponsibility of New Yorkers, Californians and Illinoisans.

[SnoodGator]

There is no reason why Texans or Montanans should be forced to subsidize the fiscal irresponsibility of New Yorkers, Californians and Illinoisans.

Do you not understand the concept of a Union? The premise of our country? Do you know what percentage of tax dollars goes where from those states that you find irresponsible? Is there a functioning brain inside your "professorial" head somewhere?

[Professor Tiger]

So, in the name of “the Union,” can I mail you my state income tax bill, and you agree to pay it?

You have to, really. It’s right there in the Gettysburg Address and everything.

Just PM me your home address, and I’ll get that bill off to you ASAP. Thanks in advance.

[aTm]

I agree 100% that state and local government should not be able to tax its citizens knowing that some of it will be offset by them paying less to the federal government. We in the "Union" should all be treated the same by the federal government regardless of where we live. Seems like the most equitable solution is to give everybody a deduction, the same deduction, one might say a "standard deduction" that covers what we all might have to reasonably pay to our local goverments and if we want tax and spend local governments that tax beyond the reasonable deduction granted by the federal government then we can still elect them ourselves and pay for it ourselves.

[Professor Tiger]

Hey Snood, while you’re writing a check to the IRS to cover my state income taxes for me, could you also pay my property tax bills? The property tax on my house isn’t all that high, so I’ll be generous and pay that myself. But the property taxes on my 150 acre farm? Whew...it’s a whopper.

But I know you’ll do the right thing and take care of that tax bill for me. After all, we’re all in this “Union” thing together, right? Again, thanks in advance. You’re the best!

[SnoodGator]

You are really not very bright.

[Professor Tiger]

Does this mean you’re not going to pay my state and property taxes for me?

But what about “the Union” that you so eloquently spoke of, that says you are supposed to?

[Cletus]

You are really not very bright.

It’s been going on too long to be a bit. This is real and it’s alarming.