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- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: US Politics Thread
mitchejw wrote:I’d also like to point out that RF is the only person in this country who writes a check to the government for 40 percent of his income. RF willingly pays European levels of taxation by choice. Maybe he’s a socialist at heart.
So maybe he’s right...maybe RF does deserve a tax cut.
lol, hey Flagg, it's called a 'Graduated Income Tax" and has been in place since Taft. Might wanna check with an accountant on that one.
I don’t know what to tell you. When you add up all my taxes and health insurance, it’s just shy of 40%. I don’t do itemized deductions and don’t have children. My base salary is 95k a year. I clear $2300 or so a paycheck every 2 weeks. Granted that’s after a 7% contribution to my 401k and $50 taken out pretax for public transit, but the math is right there for you. Sorry if that’s hard for you to understand.
You live in Philly as did I for 2 years. Maybe you avoid paying the 4% income tax or other fees or maybe you can claim deductions i don’t. But you should be paying roughly the same percent of taxes as I do in Pittsburgh.
Really, you guys should be thanking me for paying into my private insurance. I have free healthcare for life from the VA for my disability from Iraq. I’m the healthy guy who goes to the doctor for an annual checkup (at the VA) and still pays for a 90/10 gold plan that I never use.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: US Politics Thread
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles … j-jaqegooo
I think this is folly. While idiots on the left screaming collusion and wielding a hard on for impeachment are certainly politically motivated, it’s healthy for our democracy to validate whether Trump colluded with Russia. The 9/11 conspiracy types won’t accept Mueller’s eventual conclusion, but just because an agent thinks Trump is a doofus doesn’t mean he couldn’t be part of the investigation. If an agent thought Clinton was a poor candidate, does that preclude him? If this is the new standard, any investigation that has members of the opposing party is compromised, and I find that idea to be bullshit.
If there’s evidence of wrong doing that’s one thing, but I hold the FBI in high regard. Texting a friend that a candidate is an idiot doesn’t compromise the investigation in my opinion.
Re: US Politics Thread
Yes, I’m aware Hillary payed a foreign intelligence agent to work with Russian intelligence. Do you care about that or are you content to make up stories about Trump. That’s what I find so laughable.
The private investigator? Opposition research? Didn't know there's a law against that. Divorcing husbands & wives hire them quite often.
(True story OT a guy I was talking to a guy I knew from high school was in the midst of a divorce. He said he left the house, made a left. Noticed a car following him, made a right the car followed him, so he made an odd turn down a road he'd have no reason to take, the car followed him lol. I would guess a good PI would know to kill it at a certain point, but this guy must've been the worst PI in the world. He stopped at the stop sign, got out, and called the guys bluff. I think he called or texted his wife to let her know he busted him, and might wanna ask for her money back).
Re: US Politics Thread
Granted that’s after a 7% contribution to my 401k and $50 taken out pretax for public transit, but the math is right there for you. Sorry if that’s hard for you to understand.
You live in Philly as did I for 2 years. Maybe you avoid paying the 4% income tax or other fees or maybe you can claim deductions i don’t. But you should be paying roughly the same percent of taxes as I do in Pittsburgh.
The 4% city wage tax I agree is a waste (its a bit closer to 3.5% now), but alot of 'smaller towns' in the suburbs now have a 1% tax, so its more like 2.5% but I get what you're saying.
Your math it a bit fuzzy. Because you admit you deduct 7% for 401k, so you can minus that out of your take home pay percentage (you didn't). Does your employer actually match that as well? Thats actually a good earnings, to make an additional 7% from your employer, more like 14% your not paying taxes on. Lastly, Health Insurance is a product, in which you get something of value in return. Sure, its a gamble, you may not need it, until you want it. However use the 'Obamacare' arguement all you want, you'd likely have health insurance anyway even if McCain won in 2008, so it's a moot arguement.
Is your car insurance/electric/phone a tax too?
Re: US Politics Thread
Brian Ross from ABC News suspended for 4 weeks. Apparently he claimed on air that a source told him that "Trump directed Flynn to contact the Russians during the campaign". Then the source later changed their story or clarified that "Trump directed Flynn to contact the Russians regarding how they should work to fight ISIS when they were in office."
TBH he should just be fired for good. I agree that's having a boner to report what you inevitably want to break first, without having sufficient credible sources. I read where he reported that the "Colorado movie shooter (Batman) might be associated with the Tea Party" on air. His source being that an online signature also had the name James Holmes on it?! WTF. That alone was a fireable offense for its stupidity.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: US Politics Thread
Randall Flagg wrote:Yes, I’m aware Hillary payed a foreign intelligence agent to work with Russian intelligence. Do you care about that or are you content to make up stories about Trump. That’s what I find so laughable.
The private investigator? Opposition research? Didn't know there's a law against that. Divorcing husbands & wives hire them quite often.
(True story OT a guy I was talking to a guy I knew from high school was in the midst of a divorce. He said he left the house, made a left. Noticed a car following him, made a right the car followed him, so he made an odd turn down a road he'd have no reason to take, the car followed him lol. I would guess a good PI would know to kill it at a certain point, but this guy must've been the worst PI in the world. He stopped at the stop sign, got out, and called the guys bluff. I think he called or texted his wife to let her know he busted him, and might wanna ask for her money back).
He was MI6, a foreign spy. And then he went directly to Russian Intel to get dirt on Trump. I don't give a hoot, nor do I consider this treason. But I fail to see how Trump's team having a meeting with someone for 5 minutes after being approached by them is worse. That's all there is to this. Manafort, Flynn and the Greek dude all did other shit years before the election and completely unrelated that may have been illegal. I'll let Mueller decide that and couldn't care less what MSNBC or CNN get someone to say on air for ratings.
If they did something else, I want to know. But I'm not going to pretend that having a meeting is worse than paying a foreign spy to go to Russia and work with Russian intelligence to get dirt. One candidate paid for intel and was successful in doing so. The others had a meeting that they paid nothing for nor did they receive anything. I just have a hard time reconciling the anger at Trump and the absolute silence if not open support for what Clinton's team did.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: US Politics Thread
Randall Flagg wrote:Granted that’s after a 7% contribution to my 401k and $50 taken out pretax for public transit, but the math is right there for you. Sorry if that’s hard for you to understand.
You live in Philly as did I for 2 years. Maybe you avoid paying the 4% income tax or other fees or maybe you can claim deductions i don’t. But you should be paying roughly the same percent of taxes as I do in Pittsburgh.
The 4% city wage tax I agree is a waste (its a bit closer to 3.5% now), but alot of 'smaller towns' in the suburbs now have a 1% tax, so its more like 2.5% but I get what you're saying.
Your math it a bit fuzzy. Because you admit you deduct 7% for 401k, so you can minus that out of your take home pay percentage (you didn't). Does your employer actually match that as well? Thats actually a good earnings, to make an additional 7% from your employer, more like 14% your not paying taxes on. Lastly, Health Insurance is a product, in which you get something of value in return. Sure, its a gamble, you may not need it, until you want it. However use the 'Obamacare' arguement all you want, you'd likely have health insurance anyway even if McCain won in 2008, so it's a moot arguement.
Is your car insurance/electric/phone a tax too?
I made it clear a month ago when Mitch disputed my figure that I misspoke because I counted my health insurance in that figure. But yes, Obama only got the ACA through SCOTUS because they claimed it was a tax (something he repeatedly denied while campaigning for it). I'd be perfectly fine with a medicare for all so long as I and everyone else who gets quality insurance from their employer can use that as a deduction for the care. But I also believe I should be able to pay more to get access to better doctors. You can disagree with me, but that's my personal opinion. Until we have computers that perform every diagnosis and surgery, some humans are going to be better as physicians than others, and they deserve to be compensated based on their skill set. I shouldn't have to wait in line with the junkie gang banger to get care. I'm objectively worth more and am more valuable to this nation than they are.
Re: US Politics Thread
Bill Clinton was pretty dirty in a lot of respects, and he's my favorite president, but I overlook those issues because he was a great president who I trusted with our security. I cannot overlook anything that Trump does and I'm looking for even the smallest offense to get him tossed. I'm biased in that respect but also feel validated in it. Every president has had impeachable offenses in the modern climate, but we didn't do it. Do we overlook moral flaws because the man is good for the country? It's always been yes until Republicans broke this understanding, the JFK rule, to impeach Bill. Well, the chickens have come home to roost. There's nothing defensible or redeemable about Trump. There's no reason to ignore his moral flaws because he offers nothing to justify that.
We can play the "yeah, but what about" all day. He has lost all his goodwill capital and I will not give him the leeway I have for every other president. He needs to go. And he only has himself to blame.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: US Politics Thread
Brilliant article from an outlet against Trump from the start. I recommend the read even if you’re not open to opinions that don’t originate from comedians or pundits.
Re: US Politics Thread
Brilliant article from an outlet against Trump from the start. I recommend the read even if you’re not open to opinions that don’t originate from comedians or pundits.
This is quite contrary to how the Nixon thing went down. Sure...circumstances were different but there are many parallels. The whole thing started out as one thing and ended as another...successfully removing Nixon for meddling with the CIA and FBI much the same way fuckhead Trump has done.
See...all you ever do is look for the thing that assures you Trump will stay right where he is...
People turned on other people to help the investigator move up the chain until he got to Nixon.
Why was Nixon (who i might remind you won an overwhelming election victory) eventually taken down for obstructing but Trump can’t be?
It feels quite possibly this article could be filed under the misinformation file itself.
