Phil1111

President Putin doesn't need his fingertips to press the button.

The flacid thinking of the GOP is not solely limited to one body part. For other GOP members their thinking is entirely within that same organ. Matt Gaetz for one.

Thats sharp thinking. Some have their heads so far up the A$$ of the oil industry.

So you're surrounded by intelligent, independent thinking people...... yet!

Completely true and well stated. But children(under 18) have not been vaccinated. Then there are the immune compromised and those who have reduced vaccine effectiveness. But along your thought. No matter what you do you can't control those who either don't care, remain ignorant, or see antivaxerism with pride. Allowing the un-vaccinated into indoor common areas will have the effects of your post and mine. With contact and spread of newer variants.

"When federal health officials said on Thursday that fully vaccinated Americans no longer needed to wear masks in most places, it came as a surprise to many people in public health. It also was a stark contrast with the views of a large majority of epidemiologists surveyed in the last two weeks by The New York Times. In the informal survey, 80 percent said they thought Americans would need to wear masks in public indoor places for at least another year. Just 5 percent said people would no longer need to wear masks indoors by this summer. In large crowds outdoors, like at a concert or protest, 88 percent of the epidemiologists said it was necessary even for fully vaccinated people to wear masks." One day earlier: CDC director grilled over mask guidance in heated Capitol Hill hearing "Republicans told Dr. Rochelle Walensky her agency's guidance was unreasonable." Sure makes it sound like a political decision.

Perhaps Ron and Brent have a point about SHTF type stuff. Here was a short term blockage of one pipeline and look at what happened. Imagine all the pipelines shut down. Then all the toilet paper mills shut down. It would be anarchy in a day.

So found by US officials, in the US, four of which reported stolen. Presumably from US owners. Why, why? Can you not speak the truth Brent? These are weapons most likely going south into Mexico. Stop swallowing Wayne LaPierre's b.s.

Medical science will have advanced the average lifespan by 30 years. With excellent quality of life BC of robotic servants and AI. With the exception of war zones and increased desertification zones. Poverty is eliminated. Absolute despots have vanished but populists still resurface occasionally. You're being too pessimistic has the good bourbon run out on the sailing yacht "saltydog"? After all the brief wine war ended after more intelligent thinking prevailed.

This is the new independent report on the world response to covid. Likely something politicians all over the world would like to conceal. The world had a chance to avoid the pandemic—but blew it, finds report "The covid-19 pandemic is a catastrophe that could have been averted, say a panel of 13 independent experts tasked with assessing the global response to the crisis. Their report, released May 12 and commissioned by the WHO, lambasts global leaders who failed to heed repeated warnings, wasted time, hoarded information and desperately needed supplies, and failed to take the crisis seriously. While some countries took aggressive steps to curb the spread of the virus, “many countries, including some of the wealthiest, devalued the emerging science, denied the disease's severity, delayed responding, and ended up sowing distrust among citizens with literally deadly consequences,” said Helen Clark, co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response and former prime minister of New Zealand, on Wednesday."

Without trying to derail the thread too much and with deference to Mr. Sun. A country, a tribe and a general needs to know his own forces first. With the corruption of the Xi government, Hong Kong, three million Uyghurs detained and the coverup of the Covid start. Xi and China is a bit of a paper tiger. A empire build on a swamp of oppression. Democracies will always triumph over any form of strong centralized non-democracy. Because corruption always spreads when power is unchecked. Only by tossing out a government can rot be corrected. Covid, trump, the upheavals of the 2020 worldwide recession are upheavals. Give the US voter credit, trump was thrown out. Modi in India may get the boot next for his failures.

1. The war on drugs. 2. Lawmakers and politicians getting "tough on crime". The first place to examine is the rule of law. i.e. fairness in the justice system The Netherlands now has just 61 prisoners per 100,000 people in the general population, ranking among the lowest in Europe. In comparison, the United States has more than 10 times that figure (655 per 100,000)

I think you mean underestimating it. At first I thought the pictures of gas in plastic garbage bags was fake. But after reviewing all the images of hoarders ...perhaps not.

Mon dieu, sanity has returned and just in time for the summer!

Colonial pipeline is restarting. "Colonial Pipeline initiated the restart of pipeline operations today at approximately 5 p.m. ET," the company said in a statement on its website. "Following this restart, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal." As far as variants of the covid are concerned. To date the Pfizer and Moderna have shown full efficacy against all the variants. They also have new versions in the pipeline(pardon pun) with the target parts of the virus which have never mutated. So zombie mutations are out. Gas will be flowing again. Perhaps your prayers worked Ron?

Dumb? How about the calculations of the GOP? About the mindset of Mitch McConnell? About "As McConnell gears up for obstruction, 43 percent of Republican voters say they prefer bipartisanship" The current GOP understands its all about feeding red meat to the shrinking base. Gerrymandering and all the voting law amendments are necessary. If the ageing base wants to maintain control of the senate. Wants to hold back the hordes of new demographics coming from both coasts. Partisanship has worked on gun issues, on everything else. Obstruct, lie, feed the base. For the GOP its lasted a long time. Its all about war and using whatever tools are necessary to win.

trump would parrot his usual line. Its not Russia because they mainly target western countries and their help line is in English not Russian.

It seems as if fraudsters, scammers and other ne'er do well. Are attracted to trump like moths to a flame. I'm somewhat surprised that trump hasn't gone to Russia to visit his ole buddy. A heads up on the pipeline hack could have been very rewarding for insiders.

Clearly the NRA doesn't know about this information. They think guns save lives. In other gun news "the N.R.A.’s spending. The organization has set aside $5 million for bankruptcy-related expenses thus far, and has paid its lead outside lawyer, William A. Brewer III, $72.6 million over three years" "Bill Brewer promised to rescue the National Rifle Association from perilous legal straits, but he’s won only one of the 10 expensive suits he’s filed. Insiders say he’s inappropriately prioritizing the protection of chief executive Wayne LaPierre. ...Josh Powell, who served as LaPierre’s chief of staff, published a book in September called Inside the NRA: A Tell-All Account of Corruption, Greed and Paranoia Within the Most Powerful Political Group in America" in that book he said "and accusing the NRA of fueling “a toxic debate by appealing to the paranoia and darkest side of our members, in a way that has torn at the very fabric of America.”

I thought the last four years of US government were as low as you could go. Certainly Jan 6th was low. Nah the worst is yet to come. Sooner or later and it looks like later. The GOP will have to kick trump to the curb. That should be the basement. "The National Republican Congressional Committee did not disclose internal polling that found dismal numbers for former President Donald Trump in key swing districts during the House GOP retreat in April, according to two sources who spoke with The Washington Post. During a presentation at the Florida retreat, NRCC staffers reportedly withheld the information even when pressed by a member of Congress regarding Trump's support. The polling data showed Trump's favorability ratings underwater, with his unfavorable ratings 15 points higher than his favorable numbers, according to The Post."

Aside from Brent's concerns for US corporations. His Boo-hooing for protecting the little guy. Lets step back to the day the US reputation died in the rest of the world. i.e. the day trump was elected. The Dow Jones index was at 18,250 and today its at 34,777. So almost doubled. Thats not enough for the GOP. Of course Biden has beaten trump in index returns:" Using the returns from the time the election was called in Biden’s favor to mid-April vs. when Trump was called the winner to mid-April 2017 the Dow, S&P 500 and the NASDAQ have risen by 9.2%, 10.4% and 6.4% more under Biden, respectively. " Still not enough for the GOP and Brent. The market cap of US corporations went from $25T to $49 trillion dollars now. Yet instead of a fair tax system taking 20-30% of that market gain. US debt went up $8 trillion. Still not something Brent will accept. Of course the markets are signalling that Brent is wrong, as usual. Since the Honorable President Biden was elected and announced his tax increases. The markets are up 10%

A Chinese rocket landing back on earth. An American rocket landing back on earth. But China is not resting on its laurels: China's State-Owned Rocket Company Allegedly Cloned a 4-Year-Old SpaceX Render

Deduction will always have to be a part of the equation. Otherwise some business could not exist. For some corporations profits are not realized for years. Others operate on very seasonal basis. But simplification is necessary. YES, as per my suggestion above. Tax codes typically arise because some genius politician has an idea on how to "incentivize" a corporations, or individuals actions. Human behavior as its always worked. In sports, taxation, life, etc. writing on the wall is interpreted in different ways. The statutes around taxation need to be more agile. So unintended consequences can be quickly addressed. The code simplified. To raise more money the slope of the marginal rate increased. More enforcement is needed. The US is 1/2 way between Greece and the Nordic countries. Concerning outright cheating and the citizens who think the tax systems are fair and just. As a part of this equation is the entire idea that government supplies needed services. That government is efficient. When government is painted as "evil" and "enemy", a swamp of waste, corruption, etc. Its citizens are more likely to cheat and go to extreme lengths to avoid paying taxes.

"Switzerland is among very few countries left with a recurring annual wealth tax. The number of OECD countries imposing it dropped to four in 2017 from 12 in 1990....The measure forces residents in one of the world’s richest nations to tally the value of their investments, real estate, cars, fine art, Bitcoin, and even beehives and cows....Switzerland’s cantonal wealth tax just isn’t as emotive a matter as elsewhere. In January, a bid to cut the levy in Zug, the jurisdiction near Zurich known as a low-tax home for hedge funds and commodity giant Glencore Plc, was defeated by lawmakers. “A lot of European countries have tried wealth taxes, certainly wealth taxes on an annual basis, and they’ve almost inevitably retreated from it because it’s highly complicated,” I don't disagree that inequality in the amounts north of hundreds of millions of dollars needs to be addressed. IMO VAT-GST consumption type taxes are easier to administer than a wealth tax.

We all agree:“The distance between top and bottom incomes in the United States is much greater than it was 50 years ago,” Gates wrote in a blog post reflecting on 2019 published Tuesday. (Indeed, American income inequality is at its highest level in decades, according to U.S. Census Bureau’s Gini index.) “A few people end up with a great deal—I’ve been disproportionately rewarded for the work I’ve done—while many others who work just as hard struggle to get by,” he wrote.... To solve the problem, Gates said the U.S. government should raise taxes that affect the wealthy. “I’m for a tax system in which, if you have more money, you pay a higher percentage in taxes. I think the rich should pay more than they currently do, and that includes Melinda and me,” Gates wrote, referring to his wife." But Brent will be along shortly to put you, me, Melinda, Bill, MacKenzie Scott, Steve Forbes, et al, straight.