u.s. politics: now guaranteed to contain no less than 35% u.s. political content

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Fez said:

Supposedly Republicans are gonna start pushing their tax cut plan today. The supposed topline rates (though not set in stone) would be a corporate tax rate of 20%, a pass-through rate of 25%, and only three individual rates (12%, 25%, and 35%).

The bottom rate of 12% is actually a tax increase, from a current rate of 10%. But the plan would double the standard deduction from $6,000 to $12,000, which probably would cover the increase for most people.

One of the big problems though is that the plan has almost no details of how this cut would be paid for; except that the deduction for state/local taxes would be eliminated. The estimate I saw is that change alone would raise Federal revenue by $1.5 trillion over 10 years (the cuts would cost about $6 trillion though); but that really screws over a lot of people, especially in high tax states. And there are enough House Republicans left in California, New York, and New Jersey (and its not just them, other high tax states with plenty of House Republicans include Wisconsin, Iowa, and South Carolina) to probably sink that plan.

How are they going to get this through? I thought the only way to slash taxes to this degree was to make deep cuts to healthcare this year through reconciliation. Policy man, explain this to the communications guy so I can spin this to the plebs!!!

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I honestly wonder if he’s starting to have a full blown mental break down. Also, check out some of the other stuff he’s been tweeting this morning. It’s bizarre.

[James Arryn]

More and more the US is making me side with John Gray.

[Morpheus]

The people were for him even though he lost the popular vote.

And what has he accomplished exactly, I don't even give him the SC pick, that was down to McConnel's deviousness?

Multiple reports that he is privately raging about the Strange debacle. Probably going to be a lot of erratic behavior this week as the faux alpha seeks to reassert dominance.

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

I honestly wonder if he’s starting to have a full blown mental break down. Also, check out some of the other stuff he’s been tweeting this morning. It’s bizarre.

Roy Moore seems to have essentially beat Trump's man by playing Trump's own game. That can't be good for his ego.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

14 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Roy Moore seems to have essentially beat Trump's man by playing Trump's own game. That can't be good for his ego.

Yes it seems to have really pissed him off. Here’s a good article by CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/27/politics/donald-trump-alabama-race-roy-moore/index.html

I’d encourage you and everyone to read it cause there’s a lot to chew on, but this line specifically jumped out at me:

Quote

He went to bed "embarrassed and pissed" following the election loss, according to a person familiar with his mindset. Trump, multiple sources said, is furious with McConnell, and feels outdone by his former aide Bannon.

That said, it’s more than just that loss. Trump got embarrassed by the NFL and more importantly it’s owners, and if you know anything about Trump’s history with the NFL, you know that wounds him deeply. Plus most rich guys only care about what other rich guys think about them, and a lot of people who he thought were his friends told him to go to hell.

And on top of that, he’s officially lost on an Obamacare repeal that would have led to massive tax cuts for him, and that too wounds him deeply because I’m guessing the only two reasons Trump ran in the first place were a massive pay day and to erase Obama’s legacy. Now he’s fail at that too.

Maybe a stronger person could have survived all of this. But Trump isn’t strong. In fact, he’s one of the weakest people I’ve ever seen.

[TheKitttenGuard]

I still see Trump happily at a Moore Rally within six weeks.

 

[Zorral]

The only political space now open in the Republican party is to be even more extreme than romperman and his ilks. This is a terrible thing for the nation, since that party has a strangle hold on offices from the federal level all the way down.

In the meantime concerning dissent and censorship and violence and policing that is the staple of our discussions, this discussion of a series of histories of the US and WWI, and what happened to many of us, particularly if we were of German descent, should be of interest:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/09/28/world-war-i-when-dissent-became-treason/

I recall as a young person getting my first inklings that people used to admire and imitate Germans and felt the German language was essential for well educated people, particularly people who practiced history and medicine and music, instead of what it was like when I was growing up -- hatred and disdain of all things German.  I'd thought it was due to WII and nazis, but it happened earlier, with the first World War.  But reading writers who worked before the first world war, I saw it was really different in the US in the 19th century-- and disdain for England and France was common.  Historic attention already at work!

 

[HoodedCrow]

Trump was also complaining about anti concussion rules in the NFL as being sissy. It takes a great man to encourage rules that will cause other people to develop brain damage.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

26 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

That said, it’s more than just that loss. Trump got embarrassed by the NFL and more importantly it’s owners, and if you know anything about Trump’s history with the NFL, you know that wounds him deeply. Plus most rich guys only care about what other rich guys think about them, and a lot of people who he thought were his friends told him to go to hell.

I had forgotten much of his personal history with the NFL, but this whole thing makes a lot of sense when you go back and recount the many negative interactions he had with them back in the 80's.

http://www.newsweek.com/trumps-nfl-fight-dates-back-failed-usfl-experiment-80s-jeff-pearlman-670843?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

 

At one point he had a private meeting with Pete Rozelle (the then commish of the league) in an attempt to get a franchise and Rozelle told him he'd enter the league over his dead body.  

[Morpheus]

He is talking about  an executive order to allow people to purchase healthcare across state lines. He also says they have the votes for HC but it will wait until early 2018.

[James Arryn]

23 minutes ago, HoodedCrow said:

Trump was also complaining about anti concussion rules in the NFL as being sissy. It takes a great man to encourage rules that will cause other people to develop brain damage.

So, Making America Great Again translates to Further Brain Damage? 

I buy it.

[Kalbear]

8 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

So, Making America Great Again translates to Further Brain Damage? 

I buy it.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

[Morpheus]

11 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

So, Making America Great Again translates to Further Brain Damage? 

I buy it.

Gotta expand that base by any means

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

10 minutes ago, Morpheus said:

He is talking about  an executive order to allow people to purchase healthcare across state lines. He also says they have the votes for HC but it will wait until early 2018.

So stupid. This is a worthless proposal. Multiple states have already made allowances for insurance providers to do this, but none of them are interested. You have to know the rules and regulations regarding each individual state, and it's an expensive process.  

[Fez]

3 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

How are they going to get this through? I thought the only way to slash taxes to this degree was to make deep cuts to healthcare this year through reconciliation. Policy man, explain this to the communications guy so I can spin this to the plebs!!!

They probably can't. There isn't an agreed set of reconciliation instructions for FY2018 yet, but the Byrd rules will limit the extent to how much tax cuts can grow the deficit. The only way cuts this large happen is if they end up eliminating nearly every tax break; and even then the numbers might not add up. This is more a wish list that lacks any of the important details needed to pass it.

There's also going to end up being a lot more political opposition once it becomes there are some very clear, very large losers in this proposal (unlike the Bush tax cuts, where everyone benefited at least a little bit).

[James Arryn]

Waitwaitwait.

I know I'm behind on this (travelling, again) but I just found out that Trump seriously thinks NFL ratings are down because people prefer watching him. 

I mean...I...he...there are no...this is all some kind of huge practical joke, right? He's not really in charge of nuclear codes, any minute now they're going to tell us we're all prank'd. Got us good, whoever. Ha ha. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

45 minutes ago, Fez said:

They probably can't. There isn't an agreed set of reconciliation instructions for FY2018 yet, but the Byrd rules will limit the extent to how much tax cuts can grow the deficit. The only way cuts this large happen is if they end up eliminating nearly every tax break; and even then the numbers might not add up. This is more a wish list that lacks any of the important details needed to pass it.

There's also going to end up being a lot more political opposition once it becomes there are some very clear, very large losers in this proposal (unlike the Bush tax cuts, where everyone benefited at least a little bit).

Ok that’s along the lines of what I thought. It was my understand that without the repeal of the ACA, the only way to achieve sweeping tax reform was to pursue a bipartisan  bill that would looked nothing like what Republicans and Trump wanted. And to be clear I think that could be a very good thing, though I doubt it will happen. I’ve seen a lot of opinion articles that argue that Trump regrets working with Chuck and Nancy and that a lot of what he’s been doing since then has been motivated by his desire to pivot away from them.

[Morpheus]

Trump is right now again promising that Hcare will happen with the next reconcilliation, "we have the votes just not in two days." He alludes to one senator who is recuperating from an illness and I assume he thinks Paul and Collins can be flipped.

 

[Bonnot OG]

A fake Boston Antifa twitter forgot to turn it's location off before posting. The location is in Russia.