Trump's Taxes

[Jolly]

@Catseye3 said in Trump's Taxes:

@Horace For purposes of discourse, I don't see why it's necessary to be dogmatic about applying such an incendiary word, that's all. Some of the people, yes, could be haters, some not. When you slap "hate" on as all-encompassing, you slam closed the gates to any open-minded consideration within yourself (not you necessarily) or any hope for meeting of minds. "Hate" signifies "Talk to the hand!" Where does that get anybody?

Sorry, I didn't rightly intend to go off on that flight.

You watch Bernie's CNN interview today? The one where he said Biden would be the most progressive President since FDR?

As soon as they remake the country into a socialist paradise, I'm sure they will be happy.

[Catseye3]

Fine, fine, fine. I got in at this point to pass a thought on to TG and then made a small observation on the power of words. Got no interest in expanding that to a whole big thing.

I should have known better.

Good night. Gonna go eat a ham sandwich and go to bed.

[Jolly]

Don't forget the cheese!

[Rainman]

One perspective that Larry always implies in his arguments, and of course so delicately presents, is "what next."
So often, everyone finds a word such as "hate" and proceed to turn it on and off like a switch. That's not the way things go in reality.

Tear down a statue of a slave holder? OK. But, "what's next?" Well next is what we have seen, all the way to toppling a statue of Washington, draping a flag across his face, and lighting it on fire. That was here in Portland, in case anyone thinks I'm making it up.
There were several "what's next" in-between the slave holder statue, and the George Washington toppling.

That's where in my opinion, the rub comes with Taiwan Girl. She is so kind, and so willing to give the benefit of the doubt, that she uses the on/off of "hate" as an argument, instead of the "what if" and thinking through the consequences as if a chess game.

What if Hong Kong is absorbed into the mainland. Certainly, Xi loves China, as well as Hong Kong. But "what's next" will be Taiwan. If Hong Kong feels the love of extradition to Mainland China for even past efforts of people supporting autonomy, then "what's next" will be a cavalcade of bureaucrat Party Members, regulations, laws, and propaganda.

What's Next moves to Taiwan. But, too late. The die is cast, so to speak. The process in place. The "love" of communism will overwhelm those that fill the streets in protest, and untold numbers will be extradited to the Mainland and love their new lives in prison camps somewhere near Mongolia.

The end is when "what's next" ends up in Check Mate. I would not be surprised to find out that many kind and warm people such as Taiwan Girl (except living there, and protesting instead of typing views into a piano forum) will end up in an awful place.

Oh, and by the way. Trump sux for not doing more to support Hong Kong. Just so nobody thinks this is a veiled Trump support rant.

But, it was a rant, I'll concede that fact.

[Jolly]

It was a good rant. Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

[Horace]

Good post Rainman.

[Renauda]

@Catseye3 said in Trump's Taxes:

@taiwan_girl TG, As always, your comments are reasonable and rational, and I enjoyed reading them.

As do I. TG recognizes that the institutions which give the USA its strength continue to remain strong despite the outward polarization of populist sentiment. In the short term at least, I would agree with her. That institutional strength will however begin to weaken in a decade or so should the present day split continue to grow and fester.

[Rainman]

Renauda, where I would disagree is in your timeframe. Everything nowadays seems to move in some sort of hyper-speed. 10 years would be a long, long time.

[Doctor Phibes]

People always get very over-excited in election years. I find it rather tiresome, to be honest.

[Larry]

@Renauda said in Trump's Taxes:

@Catseye3 said in Trump's Taxes:

@taiwan_girl TG, As always, your comments are reasonable and rational, and I enjoyed reading them.

As do I. TG recognizes that the institutions which give the USA its strength continue to remain strong despite the outward polarization of populist sentiment. In the short term at least, I would agree with her. That institutional strength will however begin to weaken in a decade or so should the present day split continue to grow and fester.

Those institutional strengths have already been chipped away at for at lest 2 decades. And now we have one party that has, in order to pander for votes and put themselves back in power, aligned itself squarely with a far Left bunch or radicals who have openly declared war on every single one of these institutions, and have made it clear that should they win the presidency they fully intend to implement the full list of changes this radical Left is pushing. If they win it won't take 10 years, and it won't be a gradual change. They will instantly begin putting their policies in place. Our economy will collapse within a year. Once that happens, it will only be a matter of days or weeks before they will achieve their goal of "radically transforming America". We will be another Venezuela.

You don't have to listen if you don't want to, and you don't have to agree with me. But don't piss down my leg and tell me it's raining, and don't ask me for food when yours (the generic yours) runs out.

[Catseye3]

@Renauda said in Trump's Taxes:

That institutional strength will however begin to weaken in a decade or so should the present day split continue to grow and fester.

I'm curious as to how you settled on ten years, Renauda.

And Rainman, can it not be that short overt events (like CHOP and the statues) give an erroneous impression of the time flying by? Maybe they don't, maybe they're accurate indicators. But especially with events like these, short, sharp, shocking, mightn't it take the ordinary, non-statue tossing citizen time to assimilate his outrage, or what passes for it, and react?

I don't know. Just speculating.

[Mik]

@Catseye3 said in Trump's Taxes:

@Horace Why can't they be stupid and pissed? Why drag hate into it?

Actually we didn’t drag hate into it. They did by labeling anything that does not toe their line as hate and/or racism. This has been going on a long time.

[Catseye3]

But it's useful for the grownups in the room to remember that "hate" is a pretty loosy-goosey word. It has power, but only if there is common understanding as to what it means. Otherwise it's mostly just flapping your lips. I hate oatmeal. Do I hate it as much as child molesting? Well, no.

But boy, is it a handy pointer when you need it!

[Larry]

The grownups in the room aren't the ones having trouble understanding this.

[Renauda]

@Catseye3 said in Trump's Taxes:

@Renauda said in Trump's Taxes:

That institutional strength will however begin to weaken in a decade or so should the present day split continue to grow and fester.

I'm curious as to how you settled on ten years, Renauda.

Could even be a dozen or so. Just won't be any time soon, despite the domestic restlessness and current federal inept leadership at both executive and legislature levels. Contrary to what some people say, US institutions remain firm.

[Catseye3]

@Renauda said in Trump's Taxes:

Could be twelve or so. Just won't be any time soon, despite the domestic restlessness. Contrary to what some people say, the US institutions remain firm.

Thanks, Renauda. You have made my morning. This message redd by me whilst eating a French bread pizza, so the credit might have to be split.

[Larry]

@Renauda said in Trump's Taxes:

@Catseye3 said in Trump's Taxes:

@Renauda said in Trump's Taxes:

That institutional strength will however begin to weaken in a decade or so should the present day split continue to grow and fester.

I'm curious as to how you settled on ten years, Renauda.

Could even be a dozen or so. Just won't be any time soon, despite the domestic restlessness and current federal inept leadership at both executive and legislature levels. Contrary to what some people say, US institutions remain firm.

Of course theyre fine right now. Wait 12 months into a Biden presidency and you'll have to sing a different tune.

[Renauda]

I doubt that Biden will win the November election.

[Catseye3]

@Renauda Right after I posted the above, I was reading about The Compassion Book, a compendium of Buddhist sayings intended to cultivate compassion and fearlessness. One of the sayings was, "Don't be swayed by external circumstances".

[Horace]

@Renauda said in Trump's Taxes:

I doubt that Biden will win the November election.

I would bet that Biden wins.

For those who think Trump will win, there are betting markets paying better than even money for that bet, as jon has noted.