Politics

[8 x 60]

the problem is you are convuluting arguments and also misstating what has actually occured..

Trump filed a lawsuit (a civil case, not criminal) against the IRS for illegally leaking his tax returns (past tense) without his consent and was provided with a settlement in that case this week..

The DoJ, recognizing that the Biden Administration weaponized the IRS and that the courts were leaning in favor of Trump in this case, in preparation for numerous lawsuits, has rolled out a $1.77B fund in preparation of paying claims against the federal government for the misuse of power that the IRS and other government agencies exhibited in the prior administration..

As part of Trumps settlement he agreed to drop some additional charges against the FBI and other government agencies that he claims were also weaponized against him (again, past tense)..

In exchange, part of what the IRS put on the table was an agreement to not pursue anything further related to Trump's personal taxes or any of his companys taxes, again, past tense..

So.. If Trump settles, and doesnt completely kick the crap out of them in court and take the full $10B he sued them for.. the IRS will drop anything/everything remotely related to any tax filings that have been completed in the past..

Nowhere does it say Trump, his family, or his companies wont be investigated for any future possible crimes..

They are simply agreeing that the past matter is now dead.. the Biden Administration was wrong.. the IRS is settling the case because they dont want the issue to end up in front of a judge... and as part of the settlement theyre agreeing not to re-open the case later or open new cases on past taxes.. the specific language used was that the agreement encompasses “tax returns filed before the effective date” of the agreement..

Seems like a pretty good deal to me... they now dont pay $10B and multiple IRS officials dont face potential criminal charges after they lose a major civil case..

So why exactly should US Citizen take up arms against a tyrinous government, when the reality is the tyrinous government is no longer in place and the IRS just got its ass handed to it for weaponizing itselt against an individual and all parties involved have agreed to settle the civil suit?

Your clarification is appreciated. Thank you

 

[Rocked and Loaded]

Noted and thank you.

No personal reason, I do wonder if that point will ever be reached and what that will take to get there but I pray it never does

It’s a tricky question. I suppose we won’t know until it’s happened and when it’s over.

I think it would largely depend on which side won as well. If the government wins, the uprising will have been illegal, if the uprising wins, then it was justified.

Ideally, simply having the second amendment would make a government second guess its position enough that they won’t go so far as to necessitate an uprising.

 

[Foxi]

A delicate flower?

Insults are foundational to American humor.. its certainly not a criminal offense.. and they can be directed at anyone...

https://www.reddit.com/r/comedy/comments/1cuw2hk/nikki_glasers_full_set_at_tom_brady_roast

insults are a core part of both military and police culture as well here... if your brothers in arms arent intentionally screwing with you, it means they dont like you...

Insults: the subtle difference.

I have to share a story that happened to my friend in court:
My friend converts vehicles into fire trucks and ambulances for a living.
He had a customer who was interested in a high-end fire truck costing a few hundred thousand euros.
Plans were drawn up, quotes were pored over, delivery times were negotiated with suppliers, etc., etc.
In short, it was worse than a Bible exegesis.
Just before signing the contract, this customer stood up and, after having wasted an endless amount of the company’s time, said he wasn’t interested anymore and left.
As he left the office, my friend called after him in frustration:

“You’re a real Grattler.”

That’s a typical Bavarian swear word that’s almost impossible to translate into English, and on top of that, he addressed him informally.
In English, there’s no difference between “you” and “you” in terms of formality.
For us, these are two completely different worlds when it comes to how we speak to one another.
It can be a form of politeness, or social distance, or a sign of disrespect—depending on who you’re dealing with. I use “du/you” with my friends and family not "you /Sie," but with a police officer, it’s already a sign of disrespect—a familiarity that could land you in court if you simply address him
with "Du/you".
Here, a “Grattler” is basically a mixture for a lowlife from the gutter and a “motherf***er”

In any case, the judge fined him € 500.- for defamation.
After the verdict was handed down, he said he would pay the fine, but would stand by his opinion of the person who had wasted so much of the company’s time.

The judge told him he shouldn’t say that, because otherwise the case would go to the next round with a higher fine.

“Your Honor, what would you have said in my place?”

The judge smiled and said:
"Well,if you were to say, “You’re acting like a Grattler, you’ll get off scot-free,”

 

[mdwest]

Your clarification is appreciated. Thank you

I should add that of course liberal news outlets and far left politicians are screaming bloody murder over the settlement... they always do when they lose.. and the fact is.. they lost.. and lost big on this one..

so, if only reading the information from known left outlets, its going to be pretty easy to not fully understand what occured and why..

at the end of the day the IRS leaked information that they had no legal right to leak... and they got sued for it.. if they didnt want to pay $10B and have the former POTUS, the former head of the IRS, and several other IRS officials paraded out in front of the world painted as vilians and criminals a couple of months before the mid terms, they had a decision to make...

go to court and take their chances (knowing full well the court they were going into was not leaning in their favor)...

or... settle the case...

which gives Trump quite a bit of leverage (something we all know Trump loves and will fully take advantage of..)...

they chose to settle.. because their lawyers knew that the other option had the potential to end very, very badly for them..

 

[mdwest]

Insults: the subtle difference.

I have to share a story that happened to my friend in court:
My friend converts vehicles into fire trucks and ambulances for a living.
He had a customer who was interested in a high-end fire truck costing a few hundred thousand euros.
Plans were drawn up, quotes were pored over, delivery times were negotiated with suppliers, etc., etc.
In short, it was worse than a Bible exegesis.
Just before signing the contract, this customer stood up and, after having wasted an endless amount of the company’s time, said he wasn’t interested anymore and left.
As he left the office, my friend called after him in frustration:

“You’re a real Grattler.”

That’s a typical Bavarian swear word that’s almost impossible to translate into English, and on top of that, he addressed him informally.
In English, there’s no difference between “you” and “you” in terms of formality.
For us, these are two completely different worlds when it comes to how we speak to one another.
It can be a form of politeness, or social distance, or a sign of disrespect—depending on who you’re dealing with. I use “du/you” with my friends and family not "you /Sie," but with a police officer, it’s already a sign of disrespect—a familiarity that could land you in court if you simply address him
with "Du/you".
Here, a “Grattler” is basically a mixture for a lowlife from the gutter and a “motherf***er”

In any case, the judge fined him € 500.- for defamation.
After the verdict was handed down, he said he would pay the fine, but would stand by his opinion of the person who had wasted so much of the company’s time.

The judge told him he shouldn’t say that, because otherwise the case would go to the next round with a higher fine.

“Your Honor, what would you have said in my place?”

The judge smiled and said:
"Well,if you were to say, “You’re acting like a Grattler, you’ll get off scot-free,”

love that story!

here insults can be used to insult people (happens all the time).. but most of the time we (Americans) blow off insulting language and dont really care about it...

the best way I know to describe the attitude is from the old Patrick Swayze movie Roadhouse where he is briefing the bouncers on being nice...

One of the bouncers asks "what if he calls your mother a whore?!?!?!"... and Swayze responds to him by asking "is she?"....

meaning.. if someone is just slinging insults, why do you care? if its not true, its meaningless... and if it is true, then maybe you should do something about it rather than being insulted..

as often as not, when people are close in the US (more common with men, but also happens with women), they will intentionally insult each other as a way of joking with each other... people will often insult themselves or talk in a self depreciating manner as well when joking with their friends..

as an example, I have a close friend that is half asian.. he constantly makes jokes about himself being great at taking pictures, or good at math, that he eats too much rice, etc.. (asian steriotypes)..

and I constantly screw with him about having a tiny "rice dick".. call him my token asian friend that I only keep around because he is good with computers, etc...

and he is constantly screwing with me making jokes about me looking like a sasquatch (6'4" and built like big foot), being his token hillbilly friend because it helps him pick up white chicks, etc..etc..

if you didnt know us both, and just heard us talking you'd assume we're both being racist and assholes..

the truth is he is my absolute closest friend in the world.. our families spend a lot of time together.. we vacation together.. we eat lunch together at least once a month.. he serves in an advisory role at my fim.. we hunt together at least 6-8 times a year and maintain a deer lease together.. about the only person on the planet I spend more time with than him is my wife... Im literally closer to him than I am most of my own family, to include my own sister..

 

[steve white]

Insults: the subtle difference.

I have to share a story that happened to my friend in court:
My friend converts vehicles into fire trucks and ambulances for a living.
He had a customer who was interested in a high-end fire truck costing a few hundred thousand euros.
Plans were drawn up, quotes were pored over, delivery times were negotiated with suppliers, etc., etc.
In short, it was worse than a Bible exegesis.
Just before signing the contract, this customer stood up and, after having wasted an endless amount of the company’s time, said he wasn’t interested anymore and left.
As he left the office, my friend called after him in frustration:

“You’re a real Grattler.”

That’s a typical Bavarian swear word that’s almost impossible to translate into English, and on top of that, he addressed him informally.
In English, there’s no difference between “you” and “you” in terms of formality.
For us, these are two completely different worlds when it comes to how we speak to one another.
It can be a form of politeness, or social distance, or a sign of disrespect—depending on who you’re dealing with. I use “du/you” with my friends and family not "you /Sie," but with a police officer, it’s already a sign of disrespect—a familiarity that could land you in court if you simply address him
with "Du/you".
Here, a “Grattler” is basically a mixture for a lowlife from the gutter and a “motherf***er”

In any case, the judge fined him € 500.- for defamation.
After the verdict was handed down, he said he would pay the fine, but would stand by his opinion of the person who had wasted so much of the company’s time.

The judge told him he shouldn’t say that, because otherwise the case would go to the next round with a higher fine.

“Your Honor, what would you have said in my place?”

The judge smiled and said:
"Well,if you were to say, “You’re acting like a Grattler, you’ll get off scot-free,”

Relax, Foxi, we all like you--you are a legend status member. We just don't translate humor the same way! (which is why my wife cautioned me to limit my joking around when we go to Salzburg--that will be hard for me) Stay well.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

As a wage earner under 100k a year I need to figure out how not pay the taxes people are saying I don’t pay. Had no idea it was optional. Flat tax would be excellent imo

 

[Killingtime]

2nd Amendment is pointless

We learn today that the Attorney General has ruled that not only Trump but also his sons will never again have to have their tax returns audited by the IRS for past, present and future tax returns (and you thought the "autopen" was wrong !) Which means they can return zero income etc on a tax return.

Whilst this is not in any way an incitement, surely if there was ever a reason to invoke the 2nd amendment this is it?

Of course nothing will happen as the supporters of the constitution (and this part - 2nd ammendment specifically) will never really use their "God given rights" other than to justify their collections.


(Stood by for incoming lol)

are any former presidents tax returns looked at.. I’m sure no one on this forum can accurately answer that but with the money they all make after and during I doubt it.

All I know for sure is you can start a business and have a low success rate of becoming a millionaire but if you make it into any meaningful public office your odds go way up.

 

[Red Leg]

I hope Texas republicans are motivated to vote in November - or can be made to be motivated. I despise everything I know about Paxton. I don't believe I can think of a Texas politician who is more repulsive unless it was Tom Delay (aka the Bug Man). That said, I will drag myself to the booth, hold my nose tightly, and vote for him. But, I suspect there are a lot of good republicans who will simply be busy doing something else. A good democrat turnout, and I am confident there will be one, could easily send Talarico to Washington.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2057132693058461704

 

[AJ Peacock]

2nd Amendment is pointless

We learn today that the Attorney General has ruled that not only Trump but also his sons will never again have to have their tax returns audited by the IRS for past, present and future tax returns (and you thought the "autopen" was wrong !) Which means they can return zero income etc on a tax return.

Whilst this is not in any way an incitement, surely if there was ever a reason to invoke the 2nd amendment this is it?

Of course nothing will happen as the supporters of the constitution (and this part - 2nd ammendment specifically) will never really use their "God given rights" other than to justify their collections.


(Stood by for incoming lol)

This is specifically to rectify the wrongs done by the public release of Trump's tax records in the past. It has nothing to do with future wrongs.

Are you seriously this ignorant?

AJ

 

[Tundra Tiger]

I hope Texas republicans are motivated to vote in November - or can be made to be motivated. I despise everything I know about Paxton. I don't believe I can think of a Texas politician who is more repulsive unless it was Tom Delay (aka the Bug Man). That said, I will drag myself to the booth, hold my nose tightly, and vote for him. But, I suspect there are a lot of good republicans who will simply be busy doing something else. A good democrat turnout, and I am confident there will be one, could easily send Talarico to Washington.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2057132693058461704

Any chance Cornyn eeks it out?

 

[WAB]

Im amazed at how high Alaska's fuel prices are considering that it produces so much oil..

I get that there is incredibly limited refining capacity (Im assuming due to weather), so most AK oil gets sent to west coast refineries.. then you have huge transportation costs to get the fuel to remote areas.. low population density.. and therefore very limited competition... all of which drives prices up..

but you'd think the state politicians would negotiate some sort of deal with the O&G industry to bring some economic relief to their constituents..

or... in both 2024 and 2025 AK ended up with a budget surplus... you'd think some of that might get used to subsidize fuel prices or to do something to benefit the population..

I ran one of the refineries in Alaska and served on the board of the Alaska Oil & Gas Association, so I have some knowledge in the area. Fuels are global commodities priced off of trading hubs. London, NYH, Houston, LA, Singapore…. Fuel at any location on the globe is priced at hub plus transportation to get it there. In most of North America that is pipeline tariff based, other than some anomalies like the Columbia River barge system. Alaska prices off the west coast via waterborne freight. TT has the added disadvantage of an additional barge transit cost, which is high. The worst are the villages that can only be fueled by plane, and yes that does happen!

Bottom line, there is nothing the politicians can do about it. You cannot force a business to operate at a loss. Alaska lost its biggest refinery due to issues too complex to go into here. They will always be an importer of fuels and priced off waterborne freight.

 

[Corey0372]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2057069290637889876

 

[Tundra Tiger]

I ran one of the refineries in Alaska and served on the board of the Alaska Oil & Gas Association, so I have some knowledge in the area. Fuels are global commodities priced off of trading hubs. London, NYH, Houston, LA, Singapore…. Fuel at any location on the globe is priced at hub plus transportation to get it there. In most of North America that is pipeline tariff based, other than some anomalies like the Columbia River barge system. Alaska prices off the west coast via waterborne freight. TT has the added disadvantage of an additional barge transit cost, which is high. The worst are the villages that can only be fueled by plane, and yes that does happen!

Bottom line, there is nothing the politicians can do about it. You cannot force a business to operate at a loss. Alaska lost its biggest refinery due to issues too complex to go into here. They will always be an importer of fuels and priced off waterborne freight.

One of our air cargo carriers raised their fuel surcharge a few weeks ago from 17% to 82%. Food has been off the charts in 2026. Again, we are a tiny minority but the economy is not getting better here; it is getting far worse.

 

[Flipper Dude]

Any chance Cornyn eeks it out?

My gut says not a chance in hell.

 

[Brent in Az]

Trump endorsed candidates for the primary went 31 of 31, which can be the kiss of death for some of them in the general election.
Depending on state and districts. I'm hoping people are waking up to the Democrat disaster, and vote accordingly.
I'll say it again, that this war with Iran was a huge mistake in an election year. Should have waited.
2 weeks to end the war, 2 weeks to flatten the curve......yeah right.

 

[skydiver386]

Trump endorsed candidates for the primary went 31 of 31, which can be the kiss of death for some of them in the general election.
Depending on state and districts. I'm hoping people are waking up to the Democrat disaster, and vote accordingly.
I'll say it again, that this war with Iran was a huge mistake in an election year. Should have waited.
2 weeks to end the war, 2 weeks to flatten the curve......yeah right.

I agree, but it was only a mistake because the War failed. It didn't just fail in my opinion, the outcome weakened our President politically and reduced support among our allies around the World.

 

[AJ Peacock]

I agree, but it was only a mistake because the War failed. It didn't just fail in my opinion, the outcome weakened our President politically and reduced support among our allies around the World.

I've not given up yet. China needs the strait open and now some alliegences are out in the open (Israel/UAE and Pakistan/Saudi Arabia). These situations may lead to a safer and more prosperous outcome if we just allow a bit of time.

AJ

 

[skydiver386]

Something may come of the negotiations, but I seriously doubt there is any public support for a renewed bombing campaign. Besides, it was clear to many of us that they were running out of high value targets.

 

[Big_Easy]

Question...... How blatantly misguided and criminal do the actions of a federal institution like the IRS have to be before they get hit with something so drastic as a ban on investigating the people who they violated the rights of?

In the same time period as the IRS misdeeds, the VP Joe Biden ordered the FBI to go looking for his daughters stolen diary to prevent sensitive writings from being made public.

The FBI is not the stolen diary police, but that didn't stop them from being used inappropriately by the same administration.

But then again with the UK & Oman being the gauge you are using, it's no wonder you have such a low opinion of rights.......

Considering Trump is both the plaintiff and defendant in this case its no wonder that the settlement is vary favorable to him.

You don't think that using federal law enforcement resources is appropriate to locate stolen property from a family member of a sitting president?