Phil1111

Do you want to ban guns, too? Care to compare how many people are accidentally killed by guns vs killed by pitbulls? I'm not quite sure of the point,or analogy you're trying to make. Certainly Ms. Stephens, 22 years old, didn't deserve the somewhat disrespective title of this thread. Pitbulls have the title today that dobermans did in the 1960's. While I agree most all dogs can be rehabilitated given the proper training, time and a owner/trainer who knows animal psychology. Just saying it can be done. Dosn't mean every combination of animal and trainer/owner can make it happen. Pitbulls, German shepherds, etc. have been bred for certain characteristic over the last 500 years or so. People have raised lions, cougars, grizzly bears, etc. as pets and circus performers. For just as long. Just as trained elephants occasionally "go berzerk" and for no logical reason kill their trainers. Certain breeds of dogs can get aggressive and attack. Just as cross breeds can. In India cobras are incorporated into snake charming acts to put food on the table. Dosn't mean they should be pets. To date there has been no logical motivation put forward as to why a millionaire, white, 64 year old man,no history of abuse, no criminal history and a concealed weapons license. Would act worse than this pitbull. But one did in Las Vegas. Thats another thread.

I see so many owners of pitbull pups dragging their dogs on leashes. Or having the dogs pulling on the leashes such that the owner is leaning back against the leash with all their force. I feel bad for the dogs but what can you do against stupidity. The owners don't have a clue. Not to say that there are not other stupid dog owners. But as mentioned already. Too many stupid people get pitbulls because of their reputation. Then the prophecy gets fulfilled. Because the owners can't be bothered to train, teach obedience, or even love their pets. They are merely a macho tool to show off how tough they are.

I rate things for danger based on how quickly people start yelling "it could happen with any (insert thing that's killing people left and right) at any time". You can tell they've had a lot of practice defending whatever it is. One of the first stories I saw today was a woman killed by a pitbull and I assumed it was the same story but no, a woman was killed and her husband chewed up by one in Kentucky last night. I think Joe hit the nail on the head. trashy people seem drawn to pitbulls. Montreal just went through a big pitbull affair. "Leader Lionel Perez said the city's own data suggests the number of dog bites related to pit bulls accounted for 40 per cent of the total bites reported in 2016 and 2017, even though they represent just three per cent of canines in the city." So they were banned then the ban just rescinded. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-pit-bull-ban-1.4458038 The license should be required for all the owners of that breed.

Belgium is not the Netherlands. Thats like saying the US is the same as Mexico. I am sure you wouldn't want to have anything to do with them? For the record, nothing this ambassador said is even remotely true. Sure, we have some problems, but nothing like this idiot was claiming he never said. You must be wrong or a "spreader of Fake News". 1. November 2, 2017 FOX news reported: "BRUSSELS – A Belgian mayor is banning Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders and Belgian anti-immigrant politician Filip Dewinter from holding a rally in the Molenbeek, a Muslim-majority Brussels neighborhood. Francoise Schepmans said the two men had described their planned visit on Friday to Molenbeek as an "Islam Safari" in the "Jihadi capital of Europe." http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/11/02/belgian-mayor-bans-far-right-rally-in-flashpoint-quarter.html and FOX news uses the current "Fair and Balanced" slogan together with “Most Watched. Most Trusted.” 2. President drumph of the United States of America has stated that "Brussels as a "living hellhole". http://www.dw.com/en/brussels-district-molenbeek-fights-terrorist-label/a-19048396 After all America has a. 16% more crime. b. 2.5 times the murder rate. c. 3 times the violent crime rate. d. 72 times more violent murders. e. 40% less physicians per 1000 people. http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Belgium/United-States f. 1-2% shorter life expectancy. g. 50% greater health care costs. h. 13% worse health care results. http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Belgium/United-States/Health

In a world where lying has become normalized, what is the future of honesty? We are told from childhood that it is wrong to lie, but every day we see evidence that not telling the truth is the way to achieve power and success. For examples, you only have to look at America’s current state of political affairs. “Many Politicians Lie. But Trump Has Elevated the Art of Fabrication,” reads a recent New York Times headline. Russian lies may have not only influenced the 2016 US presidential election, but also international events from Brexit to this week’s Catalonian referendum. Most recently, fake news proliferated in the aftermath of the Las Vegas massacre “as people looking for information read and shared bogus reports and hoaxes without even realizing it.” The political, financial, and personal havoc and pain created by these lies is immeasurable, yet nothing seems to stop them—and, ultimately, no one seems to care terribly much. As Politifact writes, Trump takes “a bold approach to truthfulness—essentially saying: Catch me if you can—and even if you do, it doesn’t matter.” https://qz.com/1096562/donald-trumps-lies-in-a-world-where-lying-has-become-normalized-what-is-the-future-of-honesty/ Why Is Donald Trump Still So Horribly Witless About the World? Max Boot, a lifelong conservative who advised three Republican Presidential candidates on foreign policy, keeps a folder labelled “Trump Stupidity File” on his computer. It’s next to his “Trump Lies” file. “Not sure which is larger at this point,” he told me this week. “It’s neck-and-neck.”... “The sheer scale of his lack of knowledge is what has astounded me—and I had low expectations to begin with,” David Gordon, the director of the State Department’s policy-planning staff under Condoleezza Rice, during the Bush Administration, told me.... Trump’s policy mistakes, large and small, are taking a toll. “American leadership in the world—how do I phrase this, it’s so obvious, but apparently not to him—is critical to our success, and it depends eighty per cent on the credibility of the President’s word,” John McLaughlin, who worked at the C.I.A. under seven Presidents, from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush, and ended up as the intelligence agency’s acting director, told me. “Trump thinks having a piece of chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago bought him a relationship with Xi Jinping. He came in as the least prepared President we’ve had on foreign policy," McLaughlin added. “Our leadership in the world is slipping away. It’s slipping through our hands.”... https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-is-donald-trump-still-so-horribly-witless-about-the-world

Are you kidding? To equate the statement above about Molenbeek with the statement from the idiot: is a hell of a stretch. To claim that there are "no-go zones" where even the police won't enter is ridiculous. The fact that there are "ghettos" where minorities are clustered, where crime is elevated, where unemployment is high, where there are disaffected youth who are ripe for recruitment by terrorists is very true. But to equate the two is utterly false. All part of the racist, misogynist, bigoted trump administration. "Trump suggested Haitian immigrants to US 'all have AIDS ...Nigerians who gained entrance to the U.S. would never "go back to their huts" in Africa, and that Afghan immigrants came from a terrorist haven." http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/366304-report-trump-suggested-haitian-immigrants-to-us-all-have-aids Of course there is "Trump called Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists in a 2015 speech announcing his candidacy." http://thehill.com/homenews/news/328200-trump-organization-settles-restaurant-lawsuit-with-second-celebrity-chef

Fox News website beefs up and ‘goes a little Breitbart’ As competition surges on the right, Fox’s website increasingly follows the path of its prime-time hosts. A sleeping media giant may be about to wake up: Fox News’ website — known for its high traffic, but not strong identity —is staffing up and sharpening its voice in hopes of equaling the impact of its increasingly pro-Trump television partner. A website that had been more closely identified with Shepard Smith’s brand of reporting has now moved closer to the mold of Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, according to former staff members. “The approach has gone much more the way the prime-time programming works,” said one, “where it feels more agenda or opinion driven, or combative.”... Yochai Benkler, a Harvard Law School professor, was part of the group with MIT that studied how readers consumed news online during the 2016 election, and said that Fox News has an incentive to move to the right. Analyzing linking and sharing patterns of 1.25 million stories, his group found that Fox News and Breitbart formed the heart of “a relatively insular and self-referential” online news ecosystem. In other words, people reading, sharing and linking to Fox News and Breitbart were, for the most part interacting only with other right-wing news sites, and not mainstream outlets like The New York Times, Washington Post, or even Wall Street Journal. That means, Benkler said, that conservatives are Fox News’ only potential audience. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/23/fox-news-website-breitbart-312326 Welcome to 2018 America. Take no prisoners. Accept no dissent and forget any middle ground.

Dude the numbers are there in black and white. The average Joe is going to get a small tax reprieve for a few years and then their taxes will go up. The wealthy will get a BIG tax cut that doesn't expire. And it's going to cost over a trillion taxpayer dollars. How on earth can you consider that a win, are you mental??? Yes. The numbers are very clear. You need to find the real numbers. No tax cut in history lowered the dollars received by the treasury. That is fact. Spending is the issue. I have quoted your post but you need not reply directly as the quote reference was made solely for reference purposes. What we learned from Reagan’s tax cuts David Wessel Friday, December 8, 2017 Q. Did the 1981 Reagan tax cut spur enough economic growth that it paid for itself? A. When Ronald Reagan arrived in Washington in 1981, circumstances were very different than they are today. Inflation was nearly 10 percent. The Federal Reserve had pushed interest rates into double digits. The federal debt was about half what it is today, measured as a share of the economy. The Reagan tax cut was huge. The top rate fell from 70 percent to 50 percent. The tax cut didn’t pay for itself. According to later Treasury estimates, it reduced federal revenues by about 9 percent in the first couple of years. In fact, most of the top Reagan administration officials didn’t think the tax cut would pay for itself. They were counting on spending cuts to avoid blowing up the deficit. But they never materialized. Q. So the spending cuts never materialized, the deficit increased, and then what? A. As projections for the deficit worsened, it became clear that the 1981 tax cut was too big. So with Reagan’s signature, Congress undid a good chunk of the 1981 tax cut by raising taxes a lot in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1987. George H.W. Bush signed another tax increase in 1990 and Bill Clinton did the same in 1993. One lesson from that history: When tax cuts are really too big to be sustainable, they’re often followed by tax increases." https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2017/12/08/what-we-learned-from-reagans-tax-cuts/ "The Brookings Institution is a century-old American research group on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C.[1] It conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and global economy and development.[2][3] Its stated mission is to "provide innovative and practical recommendations that advance three broad goals: strengthen American democracy; foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans; and secure a more open, safe, prosperous, and cooperative international system."[1]... Brookings states that its staff "represent diverse points of view" and describes itself as non-partisan,[1][15] and the media sometimes describes Brookings as either "conservative",[16] "centrist"[17] or "liberal."[18] An academic analysis of Congressional records from 1993 to 2002 found that Brookings was referenced by conservative politicians almost as frequently as liberal politicians, earning a score of 53 on a 1–100 scale with 100 representing the most liberal score.[19] The same study found Brookings to be the most frequently cited think tank by the U.S. media and politicians.[19]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookings_Institution

While under a trump administration they certainly don't. 1. President Trump's Budget Proposal Calls For Deep Cuts To Education https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/05/22/529534031/president-trumps-budget-proposal-calls-for-deep-cuts-to-education 2. Final Tax Bill Cuts State and Local Deductions http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2017/12/gop_tax_bill_teacher_deduction_deductions_state_local_deductions.html Reducing the amount of state and local taxes people can deduct could exert significant pressure on some states and communities to reduce their own taxes, and therefore reduce revenue available for funding for schools. We discussed this on a recent episode of Education Writers Association radio. "We lost a policy fight. Our schools and students lose more," said Noelle Ellerson Ng, the associate executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association, which along with other state and local groups sought to keep the current deductibility of state and local taxes. 3.Unqualified and Dangerous Betsy DeVos is uniquely unprepared to run the U.S. Education Department. https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2017-02-07/5-reasons-to-reject-donald-trumps-education-pick-betsy-devos 4. The Significance of Betsy DeVos's Speech in Baltimore The education secretary, who’s been accused of wanting to privatize public education, gave a university commencement speech in a city whose district schools are struggling to stay afloat. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/12/betsy-devos-goes-to-baltimore/548963/ 5.Betsy DeVos limits debt relief for defrauded students Some students who were defrauded by their colleges will no longer be granted full debt relief. Instead they will receive partial debt relief based on their income, the Department of Education said Wednesday http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/21/pf/college/devos-borrower-defense-debt-relief/index.html 6.First by For-Profit College, Now 'Screwed' by DeVos as Trump's DOE Rolls Back Debt Relief for Defrauded Students While saying "no fraud is acceptable" in one breath, DeVos announces government will continue demanding debt payments from defrauded students... The Corinthian Colleges chain was shut down in 2015, weeks after Obama's Education Department slapped the business with a $30 million fine for inflating students' job placement rates. An estimated 20,000 former Corinthian students with pending claims against the school will be affected by DeVos's deicsion. DeVos's proposals for changing student loan forgiveness programs have come under attack this year, with critics noting that the secretary has held investments in a student loan collection ageny and hired the CEO of a private student loan company to head the Office of Federal Student Aid. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/21/first-profit-college-now-screwed-devos-trumps-doe-rolls-back-debt-relief-defrauded The above is of particular interest. because it was trump himself that defrauded students in his infamous "trump university". Judge approves $25 million settlement of Trump University lawsuit https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-university-lawsuit-settlement-233772 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-university-lawsuit-must-pay-approved-payment-a7661026.html No Sir, you are the bible thumper. Hobbling children with someone so unqualified, politically biased and devoted to republicans, as DeVos. Rather than education. Cutting the states ability to fund schools in order to prepare them for future jobs. That will require good fundamentals in quality education. Is short sighted. Beyond that the Ivanka has never, never and not once. Voiced dissent with her father on the aforementioned education issues. Finally it will be the uneducated and poorly educated children that will be forced to pay off the Chinese Billions in debt. That the latest trump tax bill will dump in their laps.

Kick ass and take names.

This is by far the best analysis of the new tax legislation. It should be required reading. Two days before Congress gave final approval, a group of 13 tax law experts released the most incisive critique of the tax bill to date, a 30-page document called “The Games They Will Play: An Update on the Conference Committee Tax Bill.” News Posted on December 15, 2017 Professor Shanske’s Tax Reform Paper Draws Massive Downloads, Coverage in Forbes, New Republic, Wall Street Journal A research paper co-authored by Professor Darien Shanske and other leading tax law scholars has been downloaded more than 29,000 times since being published online on December 7 and drawn extensive media coverage including articles in Forbes, New Republic, McClatchy News Service, Slate, Bloomberg BNA, Politico, CALmatters, the Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times, among many others. https://law.ucdavis.edu/news/news.aspx?id=8769 ^^^^^^^^^ This link will take you to a review of this 30 page report which in turn has links to about a dozen news analysis of the tax reports. With all kinds of tips on how to avoid tax and prepare for the new legislation. The paper, “The Games They Will Play: Tax Games, Roadblocks, and Glitches Under the New Legislation” is already among the most downloaded of any paper published during 2017 on the Social Sciences Resource Network (SSRN), an online repository for scholarly works. In the paper, Shanske and his co-authors criticize the bill as the product of a “rushed and closed process, without adequate regard for the intricacies of the tax law and the risk of unintended consequences.” They point out potential loopholes that are likely to result in reduced revenues and increased deficits. The primary authors of the report — Ari Glogower, David Kamin, Rebecca Kysar, and Darien Shanske — describe the legislation as “a substantial blow to the basic integrity of the income tax” that will “advantage the well-advised in ways that are both deliberate and inadvertent.” This is the abbreviated NYT story link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/21/opinion/republican-tax-bill-trump-corker.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region This is the whole 30 page report link: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3089423

You understand the concept of prepping the political battlefield. trump JR. is busy: "Donald Trump Jr., the oldest son of President Trump, on Tuesday reportedly argued that the Russia investigation shows there are individuals “at the highest levels of government that don’t want to let America be America.” In comments reported by CNN, Trump Jr. slammed what he perceives as a bias within the FBI and the special counsel's office, which is conducting a probe into Russia’s election meddling and any potential ties between Trump campaign staff members and Moscow." http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/365761-trump-jr-people-at-the-highest-levels-of-government-conspiring All the while regular news agencies look onto the story and wonder? Savannah Guthrie to Paul Ryan: ‘Are you living in a fantasy world?’ http://thehill.com/homenews/house/365745-savannah-guthrie-to-paul-ryan-are-you-living-in-a-fantasy-world All part of how trump and his GOP allies are preparing for 2018 while regular America looks on is bewilderment.

That would be kinda hypocritical though, since it why they put him on the show in the first place. They know he's a nut, but he's their kinda nut. FOX knows their shrinking audience, stupid white bigoted men. This is the feature story on FOX news, TODAY: Hillary Clinton popularity hits all-time low, poll shows Hillary Clinton’s approval ratings have hit an all-time low, reflecting the sustained scrutiny the former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee continues to face even after her election loss. According to a new Gallup Poll measuring Clinton’s favorability from Dec. 4 through Dec. 11, Clinton’s rating is down 5 points since June -- to just 36 percent. Her unfavorable rating is at 61 percent, a new high. President Trump's numbers are in about the same place. The survey show Trump's favorability at 35 percent during the same time period. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/20/hillary-clinton-popularity-hits-all-time-low-poll-shows.html On other news: Trump’s Popularity Is Plummeting—Even Among Fox News Viewers President Donald Trump loves Fox News, but fans of the conservative-leaning network are starting to like him a lot less. In June, 90 percent of respondents in a Suffolk University poll who said they trust Fox over other news networks viewed Trump favorably, but by October, approval had fallen to 74 percent, The Washington Post reported Thursday. It then plummeted to 58 percent in December. That’s a 32-point drop in six months. http://www.newsweek.com/trumps-popularity-plummeting-even-among-fox-news-viewers-748765

What exactly does the term "pitch a baby bitch" mean? And where did you get it from? A Breitbart source no doubt. The right wing sure does get creative in finding words to denigrate people. Too bad they have so much trouble with honesty and decency. The phrase pitch a bitch has been around way longer than Breitbart. So I'll just let you wallow in your ignorance Here is one for you and your friends. Just a little x-mas spirit. The Mooch rips ‘loser’ Steve Bannon at Hanukkah party "Mooch also described the “kill or be killed” atmosphere in the White House: “The first pill you take is the ‘anti-friendship’ pill. You can be my friend for 30 years, but I’m gonna stab your eyeball out with an ice pick if it gets me more power. The second pill you take is the ‘power is aphrodisiac’ pill. Students of history know that power corrupts and it corrupts absolutely.” https://pagesix.com/2017/12/19/the-mooch-rips-loser-steve-bannon-at-hanukkah-party/?_ga=2.194070061.1827498190.1513778311-1715498884.1513778311

Nope, I got it right. By removing the state tax deductions from the federal income tax those in the Democratic states such as California and New York will now have to pay their fair share of federal taxes. About time So you're saying that: "New York sent nearly $41 billion more to Washington than it received back in federal spending — more than double the gap four years ago, according to a report released on Tuesday." https://nypost.com/2017/10/03/new-york-gives-billions-more-than-it-gets-in-federal-spending/ "That same year, California paid about $369 billion in total federal tax -- or about $13 billion more than it received -- according to the Internal Revenue Service Data Book, 2014. Another widely-cited study from 2007 says California received only 78 cents for every dollar it paid in federal taxes. http://www.politifact.com/california/article/2017/feb/14/does-california-give-more-it-gets-dc/ Just 14% of CEOs surveyed by Yale University said their companies plan to make large, immediate capital investments in the United States if the tax overhaul passes. Capital investments, like building plants and upgrading equipment, can lead to hiring... Only a slim majority of the CEOs, 55%, said the Republican tax package should be signed into law.... Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who leads the Yale CEO Summit, said in an interview that it's "astounding" how few companies plan to reinvest their tax savings. He called the idea of a jobs boom from the tax plan "a lot of smoke and mirrors," especially because the unemployment rate is just 4.1% and companies already have plenty of cash to make investments. Sonnenfeld declined to name the CEOs who participated in the poll. He said it included "Trump supporters" and former members of the president's now-defunct advisory councils of business leaders." http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/19/investing/tax-plan-jobs-trump-ceo-yale-survey/index.html What is most interesting about the above story. Is that 45% of CEO's that took place in the aforementioned survey. Took the position of US national interests are more important than their own companies. That their own stock bonuses, options and corporate profits are less important than the US national interest. In rejecting this tax "relief" bill. Since fact matters so little to you, FOX and Breitbart. Perhaps you could work part time for them as a fact checker?

Merry Christmas to you Ron and your family. Best wishes in the new year. And the same to everyone else!

So? It's not like they can't deduct all their expenses (and knowing a lot of small business owners, I'm pretty sure they deduct a lot of personal expenses too). It's way past time for the federal government to stop subsidizing Democratic states High tax rates Sure, that makes perfect sense. Money spent on education, roads,LE and other infrastructure. Is better spent on deductible breaks for billionaire property developers. While borrowing billions more from China to pay for it. Then passing the debt onto American children. Americans should be stupid,afraid of crime, in the dark, digging coal and hiding behind walls.

A recent report in The Washington Post, quoting intelligence sources, said Putin may have spent less than $500,000 to hack our last election and help Donald Trump become president. And Putin’s payoff is Trump’s first year: a president who is simultaneously eroding some of our most basic norms, undermining some of our most cherished institutions and enacting a mammoth tax bill that will not make America great again.... On norms, we’ve grown numb to a president who misleads or outright lies every day. Different newspapers measure this differently. The Washington Post says Trump has averaged 5.5 false or misleading claims every day in office, putting him on pace for 1,999 in his first year. According to The Times, Barack Obama told 18 “distinct falsehoods” over his entire eight-year presidency, while Trump, in his first 10 months in office, “has told 103 separate untruths, many of them repeatedly.”... Given the power of the president to shape our public discourse, it’s chilling to imagine what four years and 8,000 lies or misleading statements from Trump will do to trust in government in America — and how deeply that will filter into society, giving permission to anyone and everyone to lie with impunity. In terms of institutions, Trump has personally disparaged the F.B.I., the C.I.A. and the Justice Department. His head of the Environmental Protection Agency has turned the E.P.A. over to the fossil fuel industry. Ditto at Interior. His I.R.S. is being starved of funding to do its job. And his secretary of state is gutting the State Department, shedding our most experienced diplomats and replacing them with … no one.... Instead, this bill will spend money preserving unfair tax breaks for hedge fund billionaires and shrinking the inheritance tax on their heirs. Second, we invested in the best infrastructure — roads, rail, ports, airports, telecom. This tax bill not only makes no provision for that, it actually erodes such investments in many states. With a limitation on the deduction for state and local taxes, and the deficit’s ballooning by $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, many cities and the federal government will have fewer resources for new schools and bridges. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/opinion/merry-christmas-vladimir-your-friend-donald.html?mabReward=TS2&recid=0xyKl35fVkFyEkvG1TJ6Q8J4VQr&recp=1&action=click&pgtype=Homepage®ion=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine

Opps http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/wapo-report-anonymous-source-claims-trump-banning-words-forgot-obama-actually-did Removing terms and words from a strategy document. "Literally banned" , I assume you understand Literally and directing an entire department of the government. That if they want money, want funding they better not use banned words. Do have different meanings and contexts. Hopefully someday, a sharper interpretation of fact, arises of your viewing of FOX news. Your searching of alternative news sources. To reinforce your preconceived ideas and thinking. Will help your understanding of government, politics and life. To refresh your memory. trump released a strategy document today. It was the printed version, different, from his speech today.

How Trump’s Tax Plan Could Hose Working-Class Parents By Jordan Weissmann Dec. 15, 2017, 2:13 PM As per revised, current tax proposal in the combined house and senate bill. Consider a married couple with two children earning $50,000. Today, they’d be allowed to take the standard deduction, worth $12,700, plus four personal exemptions, worth $16,200—bringing their tax-exempt income all the way up to $28,900. Under the Trump plan, they’d only have a single $24,000 deduction. As a result, they’d end up paying $888 more in taxes, as University of Chicago Law School’s Daniel Hemel and Kyle Rozema noted in a blog post Thursday. ... “The key takeaway is that all working-class couples with children whose adjusted gross incomes fall between $24,000 and $60,000 will pay more in taxes under the Trump plan than under the current tax system,” they write. https://slate.com/business/2017/12/the-gop-tax-plan-could-raise-taxes-on-single-moms-and-working-class-couples.html Family Credits and Deductions These changes would expire in 2025.... Beginning in 2019, the inflation gauge used to index the standard deduction will change in a way that is likely to accelerate bracket creep (see below).... The bill would retain the current structure of seven individual income tax brackets, The changes would be temporary, going into effect in 2018 and expiring after 2025, as would be the case with most personal tax breaks included in the bill. Corporate Tax Rate The bill would set the corporate tax rate at 21%, beginning in 2018, and repeal the corporate alternative minimum tax. Unlike tax breaks for individuals, these provisions would not expire. https://www.investopedia.com/news/trumps-tax-reform-what-can-be-done/ As a frequent poster here likes to say: "The Government shouldn't pick winners and losers". Uh yeah. Favorable provisions for families and those earning under 100K ALL EXPIRE! For corporations, no expiration. A majority of Americans say that President Trump’s policies have not helped middle-class families, according to a new Monmouth University poll. Though Trump has touted the GOP tax plan as a “gift” to middle class families, 53 percent of respondents said that middle class families have benefited “not at all” from his policies. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/365422-poll-majority-says-trump-policies-have-not-helped-middle-class Cost of GOP tax plan could exceed $2 trillion By Naomi Jagoda - 12/18/17 01:32 PM EST The GOP tax bill would cost significantly more if tax cuts that are temporary in the legislation are eventually made permanent, according to two new reports. Most of the bill's changes for individuals sunsets in 2025, even as a cut to the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent is made permanent. If future Congresses decide to extend the lower tax rates for individuals and families rather than allow them to expire, and also extends other temporary provisions, the bill will end up costing $2 trillion to $2.2 trillion, according to a report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan deficit hawk group. Even accounting for economic growth, it predicts the bill would add $1.5 trillion to $1.7 trillion to the debt — bringing debt levels close to 100 percent of the nation's GDP. http://thehill.com/policy/finance/365446-analyses-cost-of-gop-tax-plan-could-exceed-2-trillion-if-made-permanent

2017 Lie of the Year: Russian election interference is a 'made-up story' When the nation’s commander-in-chief refuses to acknowledge a threat to U.S. democracy, it makes it all the more difficult to address the problem. For this reason, we name Trump’s claim that the Russia interference is a hoax as our Lie of the Year for 2017. Readers of PolitiFact also chose the claim as the year's most significant falsehood by an overwhelming margin. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/dec/12/2017-lie-year-russian-election-interference-made-s/ 2016 Lie of the Year Readers’ Poll results The entire 2016 election has won this year’s reader competition for most significant falsehood. President-elect Donald Trump, 2015 Lie of the Year winner and defending champion of last year’s reader poll, finished in second place with his Pants on Fire claim of "large scale election fraud happening on and before election day." The trend of fake news, made-up stories that go viral, nabbed third place. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/dec/12/2016-lie-year-readers-poll-results/ That makes trump as the outright winner or leading participant in winner in three years in a row!!. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/dec/12/2016-lie-year-readers-poll-results/

trump privately calling Rosenstein a threat to his presidency: report President Trump has referred to deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Robert Mueller as the special counsel for the Russia probe, as “a threat to his presidency,” according to a report in The Washington Post. The report, published Sunday, said Trump has referred to Rosenstein as “weak” and made fun of the deputy attorney general’s testimony last week in front of the House Judiciary Committee... Rosenstein last week testified that he sees no cause to fire Mueller, who has for months lead the investigation into Russia’s attempts to meddle in the 2016 U.S. election and any potential ties between Trump campaign staff members and Moscow. Mueller has secured guilty pleas from two Trump associates, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Mueller has also charged other two Trump campaign figures, including former Trump campaign CEO Paul Manafort. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/365406-trump-privately-calling-rosenstein-a-threat-to-his-presidency-report Rosenstein, 52, has kept a relatively low profile throughout his decades working inside the Justice Department, a fact that likely helped him win bipartisan approval weeks ago when 94 senators voted to confirm his appointment to deputy attorney general. Only six lawmakers voted no. His memo criticizing Comey -- issued amid the former FBI director's investigation into Russia's 2016 actions -- has cast doubt over his objectivity in the eyes of many Democrats. ... The Bush administration nominated Rosenstein to the federal appeals court in Richmond in 2007... "He is a man of extraordinary independence and integrity ... and great character," Vice President Mike Pence told reporters on Wednesday, noting that the longtime Justice Department official "came to work, sat down and made his recommendation" to fire Comey. "He brought that recommendation to the President" and Trump agreed, Pence concluded. http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/10/politics/who-is-rod-rosenstein/index.html So while the investigation gets closer to trump. The Dep. AG that was above reproach. Now becomes a FOX talking point “a threat to his presidency,” because he won't put limits on Mueller. Meanwhile trump's talking points are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqJRo1xgFHY As for the thinking of Americans: Nearly six in ten Americans believe the US became more corrupt in 2017 New survey shows the White House is now considered the most corrupt institution in the US The results of a survey released today by Transparency International show that compared to early 2016 more Americans now believe corruption is on the rise in the US and that the White House is the most corrupt of nine key institutions. The levels of perceived corruption in government institutions were already high in 2016. Citizens are now more critical of their government’s performance in tackling corruption, and expressed concern in a number of areas. The results of the US Corruption Barometer 2017 show: -44 per cent of Americans believe that corruption is pervasive in the White House, up from 36 per cent in 2016. - 58 per cent of people say the level of corruption has risen in the past twelve months, up from 34 per cent who said the same in January 2016. - Almost 7 out of 10 people believe the government is failing to fight corruption, up from half in 2016. -55 per cent gave fear of retaliation as the main reason not to report corruption, up from 31 per cent in 2016. -Close to a third of African-Americans surveyed see the police as highly corrupt, compared to a fifth across the survey overall. -74 per cent said ordinary people can make a difference in the fight against corruption, up 4 percentage points from 2016. https://www.transparency.org/news/pressrelease/nearly_six_in_ten_americans_believe_the_us_became_more_corrupt_in_2017

Its a long read but gives an idea of Putin's current hold on the Russian spying and one perspective on how "Russiagate" came about. As always, follow the money. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/putins-game/546548/ The story leads you to believe that Russia, Iran and N. Korea have all turned hackers loose on the west.

Sorry you're wrong. The meaning is for everyone including non Christians. Is to buy, buy and buy some more. To turn excess consumption into a competitive sport. Endlessly discuss the best apps to utilize Amazon Prime, etc. and get crap you and your loved ones don't really need. Instead of donating to a animal shelter or a charity. Its: An alarming number of shoppers are still paying off debt from last Christmas https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/budget-and-spending/2017/11/20/alarming-number-shoppers-still-paying-off-debt-last-christmas/874304001/ Bah humbug,pass the rum and eggnog. Oh hold-on. I see a popup add on this page. Its from Chutingstar, Holiday Deals..MMMMM... need to check it out!

Trump administration 'forbids health agency officials from using words like fetus and transgender' in official documents List covers terms used in preparation for next year's budget Trump administration officials are forbidding officials at the nation's top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases - including "fetus" and "transgender" - in any official documents being prepared for next year's budget. Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden words are: "vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based" and "science-based." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-administration-forbid-words-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-fetus-transgender-a8113996.html How Unprecedented Is President Trump’s Politicization of Science? Political interference in science is nothing new, but experts agree that what is happening to scientific integrity under Trump is unusual. Barring Government-Funded Scientists from Serving on Panels — Unprecedented On 31 October 2017, Scott Pruitt, the Trump-appointed head of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced a new policy barring anyone who receives federal funding from advising the agency on funding decisions. As reported in Science: Scientists receiving grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C., many of them leading university researchers, are being purged from the agency’s advisory boards. The move, announced today by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, bars scientists from serving on these boards if they are now receiving money through an agency grant. It marks a major change in who can serve on the committees, which help steer EPA research and regulations by providing input on scientific questions.... During the president’s first sixty days in office, legislators rescinded a number of environmental, health, and safety regulations without the required scientific review. Usually, in order to pass new regulations or repeal old ones, Tai told us, “agencies have to justify it, and that’s where some of the scientific analysis comes from.” With Trump’s blessing, Congress has circumvented the required review through what had been (until 2017) an obscure and almost never-used law known as the Congressional Review Act (CRA). This act provides a fast track to overturn recently-approved regulations through a joint statement of disapproval by both chambers of Congress. In both the House and the Senate, such a statement requires only a majority vote. Halpern told us that this legal maneuver “absolutely [substitutes] political judgment for scientific and technical analysis.”... Halpern warned that agencies devoted to science could take a long time to recover from the damage done by the Trump administration: We have invested as a country in independent scientific research because it benefits public health and safety. If that enterprise is deteriorated, it takes very little time to destroy the culture of science at an agency and a couple decades to rebuild it. https://www.snopes.com/2017/11/15/trump-science-politicization/