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EdamAnchorman

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Posts posted by EdamAnchorman

    I am now convinced that capitalism is evil

    in General Banter

    Posted · Edited by randomsummer

    2 hours ago, chenGOD said:

    The definition of income needs to include capital gains, taxes on property acquired through loans where the collateral comes from above the billy, etc. etc. Luxury goods such as super yachts should have substantial taxes on them, vacant property taxes. Corporations with assets/gross revenue above a certain amount need to be taxed more heavily as well.

    Rent needs to be capped with strictly enforced regulations on maintenance and upkeep requirements. And there needs to be a limit on how much a house's value can appreciate in a year (something like 1% would be appropriate) - and I say this as a homeowner. Houses aren't investments - but we do have to respect that rental stock is necessary (some people move to places for a year or two due to work, life circumstances, etc.) and sometimes people will wish to sell their houses and purchase elsewhere for whatever number of reasons.

     

    And corporate taxes should depend on what the company produces. Companies that produce physical goods (manufacturing) should be taxed lower, then service industries a little higher, then companies like banks and hedge funds that just make money with money and don't produce anything should be taxed to the maximum extent.

    • Like 3

    I am now convinced that capitalism is evil

    in General Banter

    Posted

    10 hours ago, zlemflolia said:

    1 million seems a bit low for some places, you can be a working class plumber and bought a house back in 1990 that is now worth over 1 million, and you should be able to give it to your kids via inheritance (houses are personal property not private property)

    inheritance tax is liberal reformism.  whats more relevant is preventing excess accumulation, not preventing inheritance across generations, which doesn't even matter if nobody can accumulate 10m+ or whatever

    the monetary value of personal property is not relevant.  only the ownership of the means of production matters, such as factories and mines.  not a house or a carefully maintained working class 401k

    Yes, thank you, I should've specified that I meant 1 million in cash, unrealized gains, etc.  Not personal property.  But again it would be too easy to get around.  Kids don't need more than $1 million in cash inheritance.

    How does the World view America these days?

    in General Banter

    Posted

    7 hours ago, trying to be less rude said:

     

    capitol police were a bit fucked by brain poison, in places. they put some bike racks on some paths as defense against a fully anticipated militia attack.

     

    there was, strangely, hours of melee combat. it's a miracle there wasn't more gunfire. it was like an ancient battlefield, with two masses colliding across an extended front, engaged in combat. it went on for hours. there were guns in the crowd. and many cops had guns.

     

    this video piece by the NYT gives a good overview.

     

    the crowd came within eye shot of where mike pence was. if a violent crowd came in contact with his secret service detail, they would have engaged.

     

    officer goodman saved the senate from coming in contact with the crowd by leading them astray, facing them down, on his own, with his hand on his gun, as they continually approached him, forcing him to back further into the capitol. they walked right past the open door to the senate chamber with senators inside. 

     

    it's important to understand how remarkable it is that the congress reconvened later that night, including with mike pence, who refused to leave, despite the demands of his secret service. this was the whole plan, they just needed congress to go home without certifying. they needed the disruption, to get to the next day, with no certification. that's why, after being attacked, with 14 days until inauguration day, all those congress members stayed into the night to get the certification done. 

     

    over a hundred cops were hospitalized. chemical weapons were used. one cop had a heart attack while being attacked with a stun gun repeatedly. 4 cops who fought on january 6th later killed themselves. 

    ya whatevs imma reserve judgement

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1

    What's wrong with Florida?

    in General Banter

    Posted · Edited by randomsummer

    7 hours ago, Rubin Farr said:

    Quality Mom, she stopped shoplifting long enough to see her car on fire with her kids inside.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna87572

    IMG_9713.jpeg

    The fact that the flames are coming from the passenger compartment (especially the rear-seat area) and that the car had been off for around an hour, means I'm gonna go ahead and speculate that her (probably bored-as-fuck) kids found a lighter in the car and started playing with it...

    What’s up with Nebraska

    in General Banter

    Posted

    1 hour ago, beerwolf said:

    Obviously somethings going on here that I know nothing about…

    Just the typical "I don't like this person's beliefs so I have to start a thread about it and let everyone know so I can bask in the attention of my narcissistic bullshit thread" bullshit that seems to be rampant these days.

    • Like 2
    • Big Brain 1

    2020 US Election

    in General Banter

    Posted

    4 hours ago, trying to be less rude said:

    once again, this bothsidesism is not supported by the facts. GOP gerrymandering is much worse, and the dems actually went all out trying to fix the situation with major federal legislation, and they came close.

     

    i think you would be happy if i told you everything is hopeless? unfortunately that is not the case, there is work to be done. you're correct that it won't be easy. the public servants out there need the support of voters. that includes keeping one's self informed.

    I agree with your second paragraph.  Wrt the first, I am a realist and a cynic by nature, and I wonder if the Ds are trying this legislation primarily because the Rs fucked the situation beyond repair and just drew ridiculous maps (going ape shit crazy IS their M.O., as you well know).

    If what they're doing actually fixes the problem, then I'm all for it. I just wonder about their motivations. Would the Ds be pushing for this legislation if they were the ones with the advantage?  I'd like to think so (more than Rs who just fuck everyone over for their own ends), but I'm just not sure.

    To be clear, I'm not staying that both sides are just as bad, I do realize that the Rs are basically beyond repair, while the Ds do seem to try to occasionally do some good (when they can manage to get out of their own way and when we're not involved in any major conflicts).

    • Like 1

    2020 US Election

    in General Banter

    Posted

    10 hours ago, trying to be less rude said:

    i just cited legislation that establishes unbiased redistricting commissions

     

    the legislation, the freedom to vote act, would establish non-biased redistricting commissions. they actually attached a provision to the bill that would allow it to bypass the filibuster! they can do that! manchin and sinema tanked it. 2 more dem senators and we could pass the Freedom to Vote Act and have neutral districts.

     

    OK cool, I haven't read the legislation but my point is that these D-bag politicians (Rs definitely, Ds less likely but nonzero on average) are incentivized to find ways around this legislation.  Take the Ohio case as the first shot.  A fair map stipulation was in the Ohio constitution.  It did not work, the voters went to the polls with unconstitutional maps.

    I guess I'm saying that I believe it will be really fucking hard to force these assholes to do something they really really don't want to do (on either side), draw fair maps.

    I would have to really read the legislation to know how serious the Ds are about this and how likely it is to work, so take what I am saying with the caveat that I am ignorant on that.

    2020 US Election

    in General Banter

    Posted

    4 hours ago, zero said:

    you're right. it's almost as if we need a completely neutral, non-political take on how to best determine this.

    half joking/half serious - feed the American voting district map into chatGPT, let it come up with the best solution...then let it tell us how dumb the whole 2 party system is lol.

    To be fair, in the Ohio case the Ohio supreme court struck down the many bullshit maps that the Rs submitted, correctly saying that they were unconstitutional (unfair).  The courts are supposed to be the neutral party here, but the Rs strategy of stall until the last minute forced the Ohio voters to go to the polls with the same unconstitutional districting maps, with no real consequences for the politicians failing to do their job.

    I know that at my job, if I just refused to do what I was told 4 times in a row, I'd kinda get fired.

    There's a pretty good podcast about that recent situation in Ohio.

    2020 US Election

    in General Banter

    Posted · Edited by randomsummer

    15 hours ago, trying to be less rude said:

    yeah man. why do you think 48 dems/independents voted for the Freedom to Vote Act in the Senate but the republicans uniformly voted against it? That would have established unbiased redistricting commissions. 

    OK, but the Rs in Ohio appeared to play nice and play along all the while introducing language that would let them ignore the will of the people by determining themselves what "fair" metrics to use for redistricting.

    Of course they voted for it, it's good PR, that's what the Ds' base wanted.  All I'm saying is, that I have a hard time seeing either party when, in control, striving to draw truly fair districting maps.  That being said, I do think Ds in power would be less damaging than Rs in power.  And I'm also open to being surprised if some politicians actually follow through with attempting to end gerrymandering.  From what I've heard and read, the Ds attempt in Ohio did seem to be in good faith, but was that only because they knew they were getting screwed by the current maps?

    2020 US Election

    in General Banter

    Posted · Edited by randomsummer

    2 hours ago, trying to be less rude said:

    there are some "centrist" GOPs but the party seems unable to do the smart thing and get behind them. trump brings goons out of the woodwork who don't vote otherwise, so the party is in a weird position where trump is really hurting them in some ways but in other ways they see it as unwise to break with him. the republican party may be on track for a really sad showing in 2024, as no republican candidates seem capable of really criticizing him (except for christie who will mildly criticize him for almost killing him), and trump is likely to be prosecuted as the greatest traitor in american history, right in prime campaign season. 

     

    with any luck there will be a good blue wave, which is needed, such as to address the gerrymandering problem. the REDMAP project, using AI to gerrymander districts, has locked up state legislatures in swing states, such that dems get a clear majority of the popular vote but repubs get a large majority of seats. fixing gerrymandering is exceptionally difficult, this is one of the ways the country is maimed. we nearly addressed it with the Freedom To Vote Act but it failed by 2 votes in the Senate

    If there is a blue wave, do we trust the Ds to actually fix the gerrymandering problem in that they'll make it as fair as possible or will they "fix" it meaning they'll just gerrymander it back to slanting more blue?

    I'm thinking of the recent case in the Ohio state legislature where the people overwhelmingly voted for a resolution to force a fair redrawing of the districts, but the shithole Rs refused to do it on the back of some sneaky language they put in that allowed them to loosely define a "fair" redrawing any way they wanted.  Not saying they wouldn't have done this anyway, but it seems they were empowered by the Ds previously gerrymandering the fuck out of the state to lean blue.

    My point is, that for this issue to really be fixed, it seems that one party is going to have to stand up and be the adult in the room (which is what the majority of Americans want, it seems), and I just don't see either party doing that right now, thinking it will hurt them at the ballot box in the short term.  Nobody's willing to give an inch.

    2020 US Election

    in General Banter

    Posted · Edited by randomsummer

    9 hours ago, exitonly said:

    still going with the make america great again, again. was the capitol riot part of the greatness or what.  we’re we great for 4 years and now not great or do we still need to get great again. i’m very confused by all of this. sounds like trump is pro ukraine though

    I've come to think that "Make America Great Again" is code for "Make it OK to Be Openly Racist in America Again".

    But that doesn't fit so nicely on a lil' red hat.

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