Politics

[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.