Politics

[mdwest]

I get what you are saying about defence costs. One of the things we do better in Canada is we have a loser pays system. If you bring a BS lawsuit and lose the judge will normally order the losing side to pay the winning side's costs or at least a portion of them. In some cases if the case smells bad out of the gate the court will force the plaintiff to pay security for costs into court or post a bond to even allow the case to go forward. It helps reduce bogus cases. You need some sort of filter to cut that down.

Germany has a similar system...

I'd love to see something like that implemented in the US..

Im all about people being able to sue when they truly feel like they have been wronged... even when it gets proven that the law doesnt support their case, Im still ok with it..

but the US courts have a very bad habit of removing common sense from its proceedings and allowing clearly frivolous law suits and shakedown lawsuits to occur.. which costs defendants anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars when everyone from the defendant, plaintiff, counsel on both sides, and the court itself know the defendant did nothing wrong..

I had a meeting with one of our insurance providers earlier this week.. I was questioning whether or not we needed to keep some riders that have been on one of our corporate policies for the last several years when we renewed, or whether they brought any real protection or value...

as part of the guys sales pitch to try to convince me to keep the additional coverage he told me about an attorney that makes his living by finding employee owned companies (ESOP), finding employees of those companies, and then questioning them about whether or not they are happy with the companys performance (he has no connection to the company and the employees do not know him otherwise).. he convinces them that whether they are happy or not, he can open a class action law suit against management if they can get at least 3 people to say they are not happy and everyone can get paid... as soon as he puts together a case, he then sells it to a large firm that specializes in suing ESOPs, that know its cheaper to simply settle rather than defend even when the case is completely made up and BS...

The guy basically makes a living screwing over companies that have done no wrong.. and ultimately screwing over the people that he convinces to sue (because they are employee owners, they ultimately damage the firm that holds their ESOP retirement accounts.. and the only people that walk away with any substantial amount of money in the process are the attorneys)...

We need a system where bad actors, whether individuals, or the attorneys that intentionally represent them knowing they are bad actors with no real case, get penalized when they pull crap like that...

You might never convince the bad actor to stop trying to sue his way into wealth.. but.. you might make the law firm think twice about representing them when they know the case is bullshit if they had to come up with all of the money associated with the other side fighting them if/when the judge rules the case frivolous..

 

[Brent in Az]

One should always care when the government uses an unethical process to distribute over a billion dollars. It is literally the definition of corruption.

His case was unlikely to survive, let along succeed, let alone get an award of over $1,000,000 (the fact he was running for President at the time is irrelevant to damages - he won! It's like arguing a bad driver might have made you miss a deadline and then you make the deadline and still claim missed deadline damages.)

If your firm was sued in this way and your lawyer negotiated a deal for 1.8 billion on that claim you would be suing that lawyer for incompetance.

One should care when the government uses an unethical process and DOJ weaponization, to harass, jail, intimidate, and bankrupt, MAGA and Trump supporters, or send FBI tactical teams to Mar-a Lago, and spy on everything Trump

Fixed it for you.

 

[RLD]

One should care when the government uses an unethical process and DOJ weaponization, to harass, jail, intimidate, and bankrupt, MAGA and Trump supporters, or send FBI tactical teams to Mar-a Lago, and spy on everything Trump

Fixed it for you.

I will go one up on you.

One should care about both (or all, if you prefer). But the solution to alleged government misdeeds is not more government misdeeds.

 

[mdwest]

But the solution to alleged government misdeeds is not more government misdeeds.

This we agree on..

Im about as tired of lawfare, and government malfesence as anyone...

Im equally tired though of everytime Trump farts in public that PBS, MSNBC, and every liberal that cant be bothered to think for themselves spouting off nonsense..

Anyone that reads what I post here knows Im not a particular fan of Trump.. I think he lacks decorum, lacks cooth, and is often an intentional asshole even when being an asshole isnt necessary... I disagree with some of his policy (as an example, Im not nearly as much of an isolationist as he is).. and I think he lacks some public speaking skills that would make him a much better communicator (and he doesnt seem to be bothered by the fact that he isnt a very good communicator)... I'd much prefer to have Rubio or Desantis, or a couple of other people sitting behind the Resolute Desk...

All of that said.. I also acknowledge that there are a substantial number of things he has done that I 100% support.. and there are a number of things hes done that the left has screamed are going to be the end of the world, that absolutely havent been.. in fact the outcome has been quite the opposite so far..

And.. I also acknowledge that he has been put in some very difficult positions by radical judges stepping way past their authority as members of the judicial branch.. been put in difficult positions by members of his own party.. been put in difficult positions by the past administration and by subordinate governments, often unlawfully.. and that politicians and the courts and the media are at the point where they are now about the only thing left in the world that is less trusted than Trump..

So.. is he going to get his responses right to all of the buffonery and bullshit every single time? of course not..

If there wasnt a mountain of buffornery and bullshit to deal with (like an IRS employee willfulling and intentionally committing a crime and going to the media who then tries to capitalize on it)... then the opportunity to make those mistakes wouldnt exist nearly as often..

 

[Altitude sickness]

"when Trump and the DOJ jointly agreed to drop the case."...Once again, Trump is in charge of the DOJ.

You're right, it was a civil lawsuit in which the two "parties" came to an agreement, one that did not have to be approved or blessed by a judge. Thank you for proving my point and admitting that I was right. Trump is ultimately in charge of the DOJ and the IRS via the Treasury Dept. He is also the plaintiff in this case. @WAB take note of @mdwest response here, they are in fact the same branch of government. Trump was negotiating with himself and admitted as much last October to us all.

“It looks bad...I’m suing myself, right? It’s interesting because I’m the one that makes a decision, and that decision would have to go across my desk. It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.” - President Trump, October 2025.

Trump should not have settled. The IRS was already hampered and could never use any of that illegally gained information and he could’ve got a big payday.

But he settled knowing it would cause Democrats more pain to know that they couldn’t come after him on that one subject after he leaves office.

 

[RLD]

Trump should not have settled. The IRS was already hampered and could never use any of that illegally gained information and he could’ve got a big payday.

But he settled knowing it would cause Democrats more pain to know that they couldn’t come after him on that one subject after he leaves office.

I would be willing to bet that his payday would not have exceeded $5,000,000.

 

[RLD]

Im about as tired of lawfare, and government malfesence as anyone...

Im equally tired though of everytime Trump farts in public that PBS, MSNBC, and every liberal that cant be bothered to think for themselves spouting off nonsense..

I would agree with you on that. But the first one is abuse of a sacred trust, the other one is just stupid people saying stupid things which is part of the human condition and never going away...

And perhaps if Trump ate less beans or learned to fart in private there would be less noise. But when he starts babbling on about stuff like suing Trevor Noah or other silliness, he degrades the status of the office as well as his personal brand.

The President is always under a microscope but at least Biden's people worked hard to hide his cognitive decline, Trump keeps acting out in public. Nixon apparently had a brutal temper and was very foul mouthed but you would never have known that from his public appearances. Somebody should take away his ability to post on social media and it would save a ton of time and trouble for all of us.

 

[mdwest]

I would be willing to bet that his payday would not have exceeded $5,000,000.

I dont have a clue what the payday would have been.. but I absolutely agree that it would have never reached anything close to even the $1B mark, much less $10B..

I dont think money was where the IRS's greatest exposure was..

It was reputation..

They are already a hated agency (what tax agency isnt?).. and they are already incredibly untrusted... AND they prove routinely that they are largely incompetent...

Let this thing go on much further and heads were going to roll... once questions start getting answered about exactly how this happened, why it happened, who was in charge, why they lacked the ability to perform in their job and prevent this from happening, etc..etc.. more than a couple of senior GS and SES were going to find themselves testifying and then potentially later testifying before congress.. and if things really went sideways, theres the potential that a few of them end up brought up on additional criminal charges...

And then as someone else brought up earlier.. the door gets opened wide for everyone else in a position of power that thinks the IRS has abused its power for political reasons to come after them...

This needed to be put to bed quickly and as quietly as possible..

The IRS's reputation already sucks and has been getting worse for the last couple of decades..

Let this play out for 6 more months in the courts and let a couple of senior IRS officials become household names for all the wrong reasons and it would take decades for the IRS to recover..

Through the 80's the FBI was one of, if not the most trusted law enforcement agencies on the planet.. The 90's did a lot of damage to them between Ruby Ridge, Waco, and other poorly executed incidents.. They recovered a bit in the early 2000's... but look at where they are now...

It only takes 1 James Comey (almost equally hated and distructed by both the left and the right) to destroy an agency for years..

 

[mdwest]

Somebody should take away his ability to post on social media and it would save a ton of time and trouble for all of us.

The single best thing that could happen to Trump, the R's, and the American people as a whole would be for Trump to lose his phone and forget his login information to Truth Social for the next 2.5 years..

 

[Wheels]

The Republican Senators who are speaking against the 1.8b settlement for citizens harmed by the government seem to be the same Senators who voted for the 500k reimbursement to themselves when Jack Smith spied on them during operation Arctic Frost.

The disconnect between some Senators and their constituents is mind numbing.

 

[Brent in Az]

I will go one up on you.

One should care about both (or all, if you prefer). But the solution to alleged government misdeeds is not more government misdeeds.

I will see your one up up, and raise you the fact that none of you TDS'ers ever seem to care or bloviate about the misdeeds and quite serious corruption of the (D) side of things as you do Trump or the Republican side.
Instead you cling to every fart that Trump makes.

 

[Brent in Az]

Tulsi Gabbards resigns as DNI

 

[LivingTheDream]

Tulsi Gabbards resigns as DNI

Yeah her husband as a rare form of cancer.

For all of our debating on Politics, we all need to realize how lucky we all are. You never know what people are going through.

 

[Brent in Az]

Cancer is an ugly disease.

 

[RLD]

I will see your one up up, and raise you the fact that none of you TDS'ers ever seem to care or bloviate about the misdeeds and quite serious corruption of the (D) side of things as you do Trump or the Republican side.
Instead you cling to every fart that Trump makes.

At the moment, the Dems are out of power. Had we been chatting at the time it was relevant you would have known all about the policies of Biden and his team that I thought sucked. But alas poor Yorrick I did not know you then.

I also have been heavily critical of the last Canadian PM (a Liberal) but IIRC you didn't know enough about him to be interested because there is only 'Merica right?

If you care to put my politics into context (sorry about using the big word professor) I would be known as a Bill Davis conservative. Since I know you don't know anything about Bill Davis, I can tell you I think the the three most effective leaders the democratic west has seen in my lifetime are Thatcher, Reagan and Merkel. I hate to break it to you I even think both Bushes were pretty darned good.

But Trump sucks. And since he is the President, and he sucks, he is going to come in for some pretty heavy criticism. And since he concerns himself on many days with childish trivialities (like obsessing over comedians for some reason) he is going to draw a lot of childish trivialities back. Something about "sowing the wind" seems appropriate here.

 

[Brent in Az]

At the moment, the Dems are out of power. Had we been chatting at the time it was relevant you would have known all about the policies of Biden and his team that I thought sucked. But alas poor Yorrick I did not know you then.

I also have been heavily critical of the last Canadian PM (a Liberal) but IIRC you didn't know enough about him to be interested because there is only 'Merica right?

If you care to put my politics into context (sorry about using the big word professor) I would be known as a Bill Davis conservative. Since I know you don't know anything about Bill Davis, I can tell you I think the the three most effective leaders the democratic west has seen in my lifetime are Thatcher, Reagan and Merkel. I hate to break it to you I even think both Bushes were pretty darned good.

But Trump sucks. And since he is the President, and he sucks, he is going to come in for some pretty heavy criticism. And since he concerns himself on many days with childish trivialities (like obsessing over comedians for some reason) he is going to draw a lot of childish trivialities back. Something about "sowing the wind" seems appropriate here.

If you call yourself a conservative, conservatism must have a different meaning up north.....lol......but then an ambulance chasing fraud like yourself probably struggles with that concept anyway, professor , as you would be considered pretty liberal by "Merica" standards.
But ....at the end of the day, nobody down here in "Merica" cares about your unhinged and bloviating b.s anyway, even if it does provide laughable entertainment. endorsing someone like Merkel ?.....lol. Good Gawd

 

[RLD]

If you call yourself a conservative, conservatism must have a different meaning up north.....lol......but then an ambulance chasing fraud like yourself probably struggles with that concept anyway, professor , as you would be considered pretty liberal by "Merica" standards.
But ....at the end of the day, nobody down here in "Merica" cares about your unhinged and bloviating b.s anyway, even if it does provide laughable entertainment. endorsing someone like Merkel ?.....lol. Good Gawd

Yes Homer different places articulate conservatism differently. But no matter how you cut it, Trump is no conservative.

It's particularly cute to see you say nobody cares about my opinion and then get all steamed up about it.

And Merkel was wonderful at putting Putin in his place, unlike the current U.S. President who seems to have a fetish around sociopathic authoritarians. Perhaps that is why you cling to him so.

 

[AJ Peacock]

I think that this part is the problem, ie whats perhaps is creating the image of a possible conflict of interest for the public: nor can the IRS ever pursue any of them for anything related to past taxes ever again

You can't have it both ways, Trump is NOT getting any money for the damages he obviously incurred but is getting an agreement that they won't pursue him again for past taxes. So basically they can't pursue him illegally AGAIN!

Seems a reasonable settlement that doesn't cost us tax payers a big bill. But if our government did go after others (Church goers etc.) illegally, those citizens should receive recompense for those damages as well. It seems like this settlement allows that to happen (with judicial involvement I assume).

Is there NOTHING that goes on with Trump that the left doesn't hate and has to claim is biased/unfair/illegal and never done before?

TDS abounds.

AJ

 

[Altitude sickness]

I would be willing to bet that his payday would not have exceeded $5,000,000.

Well, that’s enough to cover 18 holes at Turnberry

 

[Brent in Az]

Yes Homer different places articulate conservatism differently. But no matter how you cut it, Trump is no conservative.

It's particularly cute to see you say nobody cares about my opinion and then get all steamed up about it.

And Merkel was wonderful at putting Putin in his place, unlike the current U.S. President who seems to have a fetish around sociopathic authoritarians. Perhaps that is why you cling to him so.

LOL....sure thing Bart. Angela Merkel is the mother of German decline. She created deep economic ties with Russia, and was one of those that lobbied hard for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as well as blocking the Ukraine and Georgia from entering the NATO alliance. She's a Putin Puppet.
Not to mention her immigration/Refugee failures which ignited the rotting from within the country.
Merkel is the globalist cabal, and new world order type of politician.

If you idolize her, that tells me all I need to know about your ideology.
.