Politics

[Doubleplay]

If I were still playing the market, I would short it by a considerable amount just before the Manhattan trial verdict. Just look at the P/E ratio. Easy money.

Short of the century, No doubt.
I really feel for the clueless Trumpers who are buying this stock.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Fascinating cut from an interview of a Polish volunteer fighting in the Ukrainian Army. They are discussing Russian tactics. Russia has burned through most of its modern armor, and are deep into their reserve stocks of more antiquated materiel. New production can not begin to make up the deficit. The tactics the Polish soldier describes take advantage of Russia's untrained mobilized troops and their relatively few remaining experienced troops to empower their revitalized superiority in artillery - a revitalization almost solely due to Ukrainian shortages of 155mm artillery munitions for its NATO howitzers. For that Russia can give thanks to its loyal allies in the Freedom Caucus and their astute grasp of American national interests.

Hopefully, Mike Johnson has enough strength of character to ignore MTG and ilk and bring the package for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel to a vote as he has promised.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1brqvb9

Well, right NOW, Brandon and the EU could appropriate the $6 BILLION+ in seized Iranian funds and who knows how many BILLIONS in seized Russian funds to provide Ukraine with munitions and F16s (remember those, promised over a year ago?) and whatever else until that runs dry. It would bide some time until the imbeciles and their parliaments running many of the EU countries along with our own imbecile Brandon and our Congress can figure out that the recent threats from Russia, China and Iran are NOT going away. I would have included North Korea but they've been threatening everyone for decades. But NOBODY will do it. The EU, NATO and us are going to fu** around until it's too late and then spend HUNDREDS of BILLIONS (maybe a few TRILLION) trying to rectify their current incompetence and EXTREME risk adverse policies. And then it will be too late IMO because most of our modern technologically advanced weapons take MONTHS if not years to manufacture. We're certainly not prepared and haven't been able to even replace just our weapons stocks we've given to Ukraine! What are we going to do when China invades Taiwan SOON? This isn't WW2 when at the end of the war with Japan, our factories were producing a new but relatively "primitive" B-24 Liberator bomber off the assembly line EVERY 63 MINUTES! How many months does it take an F16, Stinger, Javelin, Patriot, HIMARS, etc., to roll off the assembly line? Oh I know, the argument from the "experts" is that we wouldn't lose near as many modern jets in a war with the Chinese as we did with aircraft in WW2. It's the same "expert" mentality that got us to where we are today in Ukraine. "Putin has no intention of invading Ukraine". That coming from the EU buffoons and our own resident moron Brandon. We continue to believe in the good of mankind and are woefully unprepared for the evil that lurks in the shadows.

 

[Red Leg]

Well, right NOW, Brandon and the EU could appropriate the $6 BILLION+ in seized Iranian funds and who knows how many BILLIONS in seized Russian funds to provide Ukraine with munitions and F16s (remember those, promised over a year ago?) and whatever else until that runs dry. It would bide some time until the imbeciles and their parliaments running many of the EU countries along with our own imbecile Brandon and our Congress can figure out that the recent threats from Russia, China and Iran are NOT going away. I would have included North Korea but they've been threatening everyone for decades. But NOBODY will do it. The EU, NATO and us are going to fu** around until it's too late and then spend HUNDREDS of BILLIONS (maybe a few TRILLION) trying to rectify their current incompetence and EXTREME risk adverse policies. And then it will be too late IMO because most of our modern technologically advanced weapons take MONTHS if not years to manufacture. We're certainly not prepared and haven't been able to even replace just our weapons stocks we've given to Ukraine! What are we going to do when China invades Taiwan SOON? This isn't WW2 when at the end of the war with Japan, our factories were producing a new but relatively "primitive" B-24 Liberator bomber off the assembly line EVERY 63 MINUTES! How many months does it take an F16 to roll off the assembly line? Oh I know, the argument from the "experts" is that we wouldn't lose near as many modern jets in a war with the Chinese as we did with aircraft in WW2. It's the same "expert" mentality that got us to where we are today in Ukraine. "Putin has no intention of invading Ukraine". That coming from the EU buffoons and our own resident moron Brandon. Rant over for now.

The frozen Russian asset issue ($260 billion not $6 billion) and sovereign immunity are complicated issues and the US and EU are concerned because of the precedent it would set - a precedent that could affect the US and/or the EU in some future confrontation.

This is a good explanation from The Financial Times and is worth reading.

The pitfalls of seizing Russian assets to fund Ukraine

Moscow must be made to pay, but without risking harm to global financial stability

www.ft.com

 

[CoElkHunter]

The frozen Russian asset issue ($260 billion not $6 billion) and sovereign immunity are complicated issues and the US and EU are concerned because of the precedent it would set - a precedent that could affect the US and/or the EU in a future confrontation.

This is a good explanation from The Financial Times and is worth reading.

The pitfalls of seizing Russian assets to fund Ukraine

Moscow must be made to pay, but without risking harm to global financial stability

www.ft.com

Sorry, I thought it was $6 billion in Iranian assets? Well, the more the merrier. I'm sorry, but I personally don't believe there are any enforceable International rules anymore including sovereign immunity when it comes to the actions of our enemies. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have been abiding by NO International rules and they're laughing at the Free World floundering in our own indecision and risk adverse incompetency while we read and interpret the increasingly irrelevant International "rulebook". IMO opinion, the UN has become absolutely useless in resolving disputes and recently they've seemed to have gravitated more towards the terrorist states, actors and dictatorships throughout the world. The UN Secretary General's comments about Israel after Hamas slaughtered Israeli citizens is a perfect example. Another example is Russia continuing as a member of the UN Security Council after its War Criminal leader Putin has committed TENS of THOUSANDS and counting, acts of War Crimes by intentionally targeting and killing Ukranian civilians. Where's the UN? IMO, time to cut most of our funding to the UN. We'll contribute what Palau and Liechtenstein give to the UN. We're doing the same thing over and over and getting NO results that favor us and the Free World. That IS the definition of insanity.

 

[freefall]

Sorry, I thought it was $6 billion in Iranian assets? Well, the more the merrier. I'm sorry, but I personally don't believe there are any enforceable International rules anymore including sovereign immunity when it comes to the actions of our enemies. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have been abiding by NO International rules and they're laughing at the Free World floundering in our own indecision and risk adverse incompetency while we read and interpret the increasingly irrelevant International "rulebook". IMO opinion, the UN has become absolutely useless in resolving disputes and recently they've seemed to have gravitated more towards the terrorist states, actors and dictatorships throughout the world. The UN Secretary General's comments about Israel after Hamas slaughtered Israeli citizens is a perfect example. Another example is Russia continuing as a member of the UN Security Council after its War Criminal leader Putin has committed TENS of THOUSANDS and counting, acts of War Crimes by intentionally targeting and killing Ukranian civilians. Where's the UN? IMO, time to cut most of our funding to the UN. We'll contribute what Palau and Liechtenstein give to the UN. We're doing the same thing over and over and getting NO results that favor us and the Free World. That IS the definition of insanity.

Yeah, what he said!

 

[CoElkHunter]

The frozen Russian asset issue ($260 billion not $6 billion) and sovereign immunity are complicated issues and the US and EU are concerned because of the precedent it would set - a precedent that could affect the US and/or the EU in some future confrontation.

This is a good explanation from The Financial Times and is worth reading.

The pitfalls of seizing Russian assets to fund Ukraine

Moscow must be made to pay, but without risking harm to global financial stability

www.ft.com

The Financial Times requires a subscription to read their articles. AH hasn't paid for mine yet. LOL

 

[Tanks]

... Putin has committed TENS of THOUSANDS and counting, acts of War Crimes by intentionally targeting and killing Ukranian civilians. Where's the UN? ...

UN is focused on their hatred and accusations towards Israel.

To be honest, at this point I really do not see any point to UN.

 

[WAB]

UN is focused on their hatred and accusations towards Israel.

To be honest, at this point I really do not see any point to UN.

I felt that way for a long time now. I have difficulty seeing what value there is in our membership, or allowing them to HQ on our soil.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

 

[Brent in Az]

I read something the other day that is a very sobering reality.
If the Democrat's treat us so badly now, and blatantly ignore the laws , when we are armed to the teeth. Just think what they would do if they managed to take away our guns.

 

[ActionBob]

On the Republicans raising the issue of Social Security insolvency

12 million new US citizens that came over the border. (Make no mistake. They will never leave, they are now new dependents )
They get free healthcare. So that cost is taken from the same wallet. As SS and Medicare. It’s all from the entitlements expense.

You would think even liberals would be a little interested in losing their SS to millions of new citizens the democrats are bringing in.

I feel sorry for those relying on SS and Medicare in thier retirement years.

I can’t predict the year it will happen, but there will be a collapse of wealth as the Europeans suffered.
The three legs are being cut out now.

Eventually, the tax burden will be so great. Land owners will start having to sell property to pay taxes. Or Property will be confiscated to pay taxes, and people will be driven into the cities to live in apartments.

Some castles and estates are being re-inhabited now in Northern Europe but for decades they were vacant from tax confiscation or abandonment.

Prepare your children for this collapse. It won’t matter if everything is paid off if you cannot afford the exorbitant taxes every year.

Forgive me if this has already been addressed but I'm this far behind on this thread....

Having extensive experience paying taxes in the USA, I do not recall ever paying a Federal tax towards SS nor Medicare based on Real Estate. Maybe I'm wrong somewhere and I admit I don't read every tax statement in detail myself.

But aren't those programs funded exclusively by payroll taxes? Seems logical that perhaps the Congress would raise the max payroll that one is required to pay SS withholding on? In fact I believe it is indexed currently so effectively goes up with inflation.

From Google..."Social Security is financed through a dedicated payroll tax. Employers and employees each pay 6.2 percent of wages up to the taxable maximum of $168,600 (in 2024), while the self-employed pay 12.4 percent. The payroll tax rates are set by law, and for OASI and DI, apply to earnings up to a certain amount."

One way to help those programs would be to pay them back all the money over the decades that has been "borrowed" from the fund. Didn't Reagan basically bankrupt the old Soviet Union by borrowing money from the SS fund to pay for building missiles and other military expenses? I'm not saying he shouldn't have brought down the USSR.... But how about being honest about it.

Are there any CPA's serving in Congress? The government systems of accounting would never pass an Audit. No way are they GAAP compliant.

Now I do not disagree that taxes will go up and to unsustainable levels. However I cannot see the Federal Government taxing Real Estate. The States and local governments will hold onto that authority tightly.

The situation you talk about where people lose property because of Real Estate taxes does happen. I have seen it in two opposite situations. Low value, low or no income producing land that people simply stop paying the taxes on and let it go to the County in a tax forfeiture. That type often gets turned into public land and is probably a net positive for hunting. The other is rapid appreciation of Real Estate. A prime example is lakeshore. I have personally seen that. A school teacher bought a lake property back in the 1970's for $6500. Over time they remodeled and expanded the seasonal cabin into a year round cottage. Taxes kept going up until in their 70's and unwilling to physically keep the property up... They sold it in 2005 for $625,000. Spent a portion of that building a new patio home in town and continued living happily in retirement.

Was the increase in their taxes nessasarily a bad thing? Well yes because of course a large portion was spent on County Welfare programs. They probably were suffering to pay the taxes but they also never dreamed they would receive a check for the amount they sold for. I'm quite positive they felt very fortunate cashing that check and as they had lived there full time for enough years, their sale was exempt from capital gains. Now has they stubbornly held on until they died, I'm sure the RE taxes would have been a burden but so would hiring help to maintain the property. They made good decisions...

Now back to bitching about taxes! I'm with you 100%. But dammit let's do it from the correct perspective.

 

[Newboomer]

I don't agree with everyone here--but I do need my daily fix, apparently.

Yeah. My daily comic strip.

 

[ActionBob]

Sorry, I thought it was $6 billion in Iranian assets? Well, the more the merrier. I'm sorry, but I personally don't believe there are any enforceable International rules anymore including sovereign immunity when it comes to the actions of our enemies. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have been abiding by NO International rules and they're laughing at the Free World floundering in our own indecision and risk adverse incompetency while we read and interpret the increasingly irrelevant International "rulebook". IMO opinion, the UN has become absolutely useless in resolving disputes and recently they've seemed to have gravitated more towards the terrorist states, actors and dictatorships throughout the world. The UN Secretary General's comments about Israel after Hamas slaughtered Israeli citizens is a perfect example. Another example is Russia continuing as a member of the UN Security Council after its War Criminal leader Putin has committed TENS of THOUSANDS and counting, acts of War Crimes by intentionally targeting and killing Ukranian civilians. Where's the UN? IMO, time to cut most of our funding to the UN. We'll contribute what Palau and Liechtenstein give to the UN. We're doing the same thing over and over and getting NO results that favor us and the Free World. That IS the definition of insanity.

Just why is Russia a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council? The Soviet Union was a Founding and Permanent member... But that doesn't exist any longer.

 

[ActionBob]

What an ignorant, anti-Republican thing to say.

If my beliefs in low taxes, personal responsibility, Capitalism, fighting Communism, supporting democratic republics, property rights, Second Amendment rights, zero illegal immigration, term limits, freedom of religion, pursuit of happiness, parental rights, merit pay for teachers/government employees, right to work, the North American Wildlife Conservation Model, wise use of resources, conservation not preservation, anti-Obamacare, the Bill of Rights, support of the US Constitution, the rule of law, support for the US Armed Forces, professionalism, etc… aren’t Conservative values and beliefs, I don’t know what to tell you. These are my beliefs. I’ve never received or taken a dime from this country that I didn’t pay in to begin with. Didn’t receive any of the $1200 COVID checks or any PPP funds. I’ve been working since the 8th grade, put myself through college and I’ve been a member of the NRA since I was 16 years old. You don’t know me so let’s not pretend that you do.

Just because I don’t love your Trump God, but will vote for him if I have to, has nothing to do with being a libtard. It has to do with having a brain and THINKING for myself. I don’t have to like Trump’s unprofessional behavior to be a REAL Republican. I am a Republican and have voted for every Republican presidential nominee since Reagan. So KMA.

Amen!

 

[Just Gina]

I wanted to take a break from our differing opinions on some topics to wish all of you and your families a blessed and happy Easter Sunday!

Gina

 

[ActionBob]

Three big news items @Just Gina and I missed while gone on one of our road trips....

RFK Jr picking an obvious Liberal as his Running Mate... I certainly hope this works to pull Democrat votes to them and helps the Republican ticket get elected. I'm curious if this VP pick changes the minds of Conservative trending voters who don't want to vote for Trump and may have been eying RFK Jr as an alternative for them?

The NY Appellate Court reducing Trump's bond requirement to $175 million. Still a complete sham of a case against him. This HAS to be thrown out in appeal or i don't see how NY ever recovers from the impending financial withdrawal by investors and developers. It is an absolute disgrace that this victimlless case ever saw the light of day. I've not been a fan of Donald Trump but the day I learned of this case against him is the day I became a supporter. I dearly hope others can see how important it is to stand together against such injustice, even if you cannot stand the sight or sound of the victim of this persecution, the actions against him are so utterly despicable that I cannot understand how a reasoning person can stand by and watch it happen.

The stark difference between the Republican candidate attending the wake and funeral of the officer who was killed in NY. And the unholy alliance of Biden, Obama, and Clinton getting together at the same time to raise money at an elite bean feed in NY.

Trump was sincere and personable and showed genuine concern. Stood beside the coffin praying with the widow. Talked of the need for law and order and how things need to be done to stop the madness surrounding such incidents. He took valuable time out and flew up from Florida in spite of being tangled up in courts and trying to campaign. The man has his moments, good and bad, but this was a good one

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Three big news items @Just Gina and I missed while gone on one of our road trips....

RFK Jr picking an obvious Liberal as his Running Mate... I certainly hope this works to pull Democrat votes to them and helps the Republican ticket get elected. I'm curious if this VP pick changes the minds of Conservative trending voters who don't want to vote for Trump and may have been eying RFK Jr as an alternative for them?

The NY Appellate Court reducing Trump's bond requirement to $175 million. Still a complete sham of a case against him. This HAS to be thrown out in appeal or i don't see how NY ever recovers from the impending financial withdrawal by investors and developers. It is an absolute disgrace that this victimlless case ever saw the light of day. I've not been a fan of Donald Trump but the day I learned of this case against him is the day I became a supporter. I dearly hope others can see how important it is to stand together against such injustice, even if you cannot stand the sight or sound of the victim of this persecution, the actions against him are so utterly despicable that I cannot understand how a reasoning person can stand by and watch it happen.

The stark difference between the Republican candidate attending the wake and funeral of the officer who was killed in NY. And the unholy alliance of Biden, Obama, and Clinton getting together at the same time to raise money at an elite bean feed in NY.

Trump was sincere and personable and showed genuine concern. Stood beside the coffin praying with the widow. Talked of the need for law and order and how things need to be done to stop the madness surrounding such incidents. He took valuable time out and flew up from Florida in spite of being tangled up in courts and trying to campaign. The man has his moments, good and bad, but this was a good one

A man has two directors, the head and the heart. The Democrats and liberals do not yet realise that by piling hardships upon him they are strengthening his heart. I am seeing it more and more. He is no saint, he is not greatly wise, but neither are any of us, and even if we were it is still not enough to deal with this chaotic world. Greater wisdom is called for.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I felt that way for a long time now. I have difficulty seeing what value there is in our membership, or allowing them to HQ on our soil.

It is redundant.

 

[Altitude sickness]

ActionBob, on the Trump over valuation of real estate case. The bank that Lititia James was “protecting” and filed charges for. Should now ask for their damages. Hold their hand out for the $175 million.

Isn’t it amazing how corrupt politicians in our judiciary system ignore how a person can be in politics for 45 years earning an average of $60k per year. And can afford 3 luxury homes. One on the Delaware shore. No curiosity on where that money came from.

But a guy scratching and clawing out a living in the rough and tumble, New York real estate market, and in the private sector tells the bank what he thinks his assets are worth. And is more than a AG thinks they are worth. (Not the loaning institution) but a corrupt lawyer and judge. and he gets the largest fine in NY history.


Like Trump or not. He is actually out producing something. Not confiscating private property as NY is

Even the Truth Social is under attack. Since everyone is shorting I am holding. And gambling he doesn’t sell all of his shares. The shorting is overplayed already.

Who knows perhaps X will absorb it, to give trump capital against what Musk views as tyrannical persecution.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Just why is Russia a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council? The Soviet Union was a Founding and Permanent member... But that doesn't exist any longer.

Great point! Russia is no longer the USSR when they were part of the founding UN countries.