[GET] PRO President Donald Trump 2020 Books

***GordonShumway*** · 12-19-2021, 09:26 PM

Not going to write an essay, so in the keeping it brief mode:

Abortion: Don't like it, but not my choice or the Gov. It's a woman's body and I believe it is her choice.

Education (as in Critical Race theory): Not sure on exactly what that is, but I do believe we should be teaching ALL history. Indians were here before us and we pushed them out of the way. We brought people from Africa and sold them in to Slavery. Traded them like cows and other farm animals. Not good.

Defunding the police: Nope. Don't like it... But do think we should have better training and better weapons for the Police. And if you beat on one at the Capital or lead an attempted insurrection, you should go to prison.

BLM: Yep, they do, ALL Lives Matter. Don't care what race, gender, or religion you are. All equal under the same law.

Antifa: Lived in Dallas, Northern NJ, NY State, Seattle, Phoenix. Never heard of it till Trump came along.

Man Made Global Warming: Yep, I do believe we have an impact on the environment. Even if I am wrong about that, I don't see any downside to going green anyway. If we can keep our air cleaner because we are not burning fossil fuels like Gas, Natural gas or coal, and our water clean with not toxic chemicals in it. I think that is a good thing. The sun beats on us every day, pumps out a huge amount of energy, why not harness that? Too many times on the news we have seen major oil spills. The impact on fishing, seafood, and tourism as the beaches are covered in oil... When was the last time you heard of a Sun spill? The sun shines and the wind blows, lets harness it.

I am white, and 60 years old. I have been fortunate to live all around the world. Growing up my Dad was a heavy equipment operator and the company built pipelines everywhere. Oil, gas, water, sewage. Anything you could shove through a pipe, they did it.

My Dad was also instrumental in building the first breakwater for the major shipping port in Abu Dhabi.

I finished High School in NJ. Went to Uni in Canada. Have lived in Canada, All over the US including Alaska, Philippines, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong (before the English left and China once again took control), India, parts of the Middle East, England, parts of Europe, and North Africa. Been to Mexico and Panama a number of times.

I have sort of been retired for about 15 years. I do work because I like to, not because I have to.

While I do read a lot ( and I am talking a couple of hours every day M-S), a lot of my "education" comes from the travels and the streets. Living on the move, speaking to people, sampling life.

I have run a number of my own business. Built them from nothing with zero financial help from anyone or the banks. Blood, sweat, and tears is how I did it.

Democracies around the world are currently the best system we have. They got a lot of problems, but the still much better than the alternatives.

I love Canada in the summer. Wide open spaces, beautiful forests, and the West Coast is just awesome... But as I am older now, I just don't like the cold. Did years of plugging my car/truck in during the -40 winters.

I love Australia. Best beaches, super safe, great seafood, and the people are very open. It's a great country.

I love the US, but right now it is just a bit too crazy. The Right hates the Left and vice versa. The current Republicans are not the Republicans I remember. I like Liz Cheney a lot more than Matt Gaetz or Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG). MTG was running around and saying the Italians used space lasers to change the results of the election. Ah, what????

Trump is just a fool. All the Republicans said the same thing until he won. I mean come on. After the huge wildfires in California he said that if we did what Norway did, go in to the forest and rake up the leaves, we wouldn't have this problem.

Nothing in my life was handed to me. I worked for everything. My parents never finished High School. I have 2 older brothers, but I was the the first to go to Uni. Got a degree in Computer Science and the day I graduated, my education was obsolete. The only reason I am where I am today is I have committed myself to self education. Taught myself, programming, website design, marketing, copywriting, video production, etc 40 plus years of reading and doing helps to build up a pretty solid foundation if you don't sit around on your backside complaining about how life ain't fair.

So yea, I lean more Republican than Democrat. But most of the jokers we have in the Republican party today and NOT the republicans I want to be around. We have idiots on both sides, I just feel that many of the current batch of Republicans I see will say and do anything to stay in power and I just don't respect them. I will NEVER vote for anyone that supported the Insurrection. And sadly, Trump was the head of that and is still pushing the BS that the election was stolen. Nope, sorry, he lost.

You may not like that, I may not like that, half of American may not like it... But that is the fact and we need to move on.

***mthomas*** · (This post was last modified: 12-21-2021 02:29 AM by mthomas.)

Thanks for responding, I appreciate the dialog.

Although I agree that a person doesn't have to follow lockstep with their party platform, (usually because of life experiences or ardent personal opinions on certain emotional topics ie. abortion, guns, etc.) I find it interesting that most of your positions would be considered left-leaning (Democrat) yet you still continue to call yourself a Republican? Is it just because of habit or tradition? I mean, why don't you just switch parties if the majority of your positions are leaning left and you agree with the positions that the Democrats are currently pushing? (which by the way are largely Socialist/Communist/Progressive and present the greatest threat to America, far greater than anything Trump had done or was advocating to do. For instance their massive socialist spending bill, immigration policy or lack of any, sky-high inflation fueled by the massive spending and the shut down of the oil pipeline so we are once again [remember the 1970's] dependent on foreign oil, riots and burning down of our cities (defund the police BS), massive crime and murder spikes, lawlessness in both cities and with our corrupt politicians (ie Swalwell smashing a Chinese Spy and he still has his job? Hillary? Pelosi? Schiff? etc. ), rise of BLM (communist front), rise of Antifa (another communist and ironically fascist run org), inept US foreign policy, idiotic, unscientific and wasteful spending on anything related to "man-made" global warming, deadly policies regarding Covid shutdowns/masks/mandatory shots/boosters (this will go down in history as one of the major crimes against humanity based on the number of people being needlessly killed in order to further their unscientific, criminal agenda.....watch the Joe Rogan interview with Dr. Peter McCullough if you want to learn more) and numberous other examples of Joe's and the Democratic Parties incomptence, lies, ineffective management, propaganda, unconstitutional power grabs regarding Covid Mandates, illegal immigrant voter fraud, Supreme Court packing (not done yet), no bail and empty the jails policies, no arrest laws for shoplifters/looters/smash and grab/drug addicts/homeless and other criminals, and of course giving away free money to everyone at the expense of the American middle class tax payer, etc.

I would agree (as I'm around your age) that years ago, although there were still contentious and lively debates between Dems and Reps, it was based on America being great and everyone working towards an even better America for all. Unfortunately, I absolutely disagree with you about this still being the case today and it's the main reason why there is so much hatred between people and the two parties at this time (and NO it has nothing to do with Trump, although they left/Dems did hate him).

It has everything to do with the Socialists/Communists/Progressives trying to take over power from what I would call Classical Liberal Democrats (the ones from our youth). These are the people I would argue issues and political talking points with (in the past) because I disagreed with them, but I still had respect for them because although I didn't agree with their way of reasoning, I still believed they had America's best interests at heart. They believed (like me) in the American ideal, what it represents, it's freedom and it's opportunity for all if you put in the time and effort to make it.

Today however this is no longer the case. The Democratic Party is turning into the Socialist/Communist/Progressive party (even the old timers that cling to power like Pelosi, Schumer, etc. now kowtow to the far Leftists) and trying to bring down America. This is their narrative in everything they do (see above for examples) and unfortunately, if you know past history of these people/groups their modus operandi is the 'end justifies the means', so that leaves very little room for discussion or compromise.

At least that's my two cents on this matter...

PS - I've also traveled the world extensively and have seen poverty first hand (in Africa) and other area's of the world which just reinforces how really outstanding America is among the other countries with regard to opportunity, freedom, wealth and a melting pot for all with very little bigotry/racism when compared to other more homogenious countries. Not to say there aren't other countries that have their own unique pluses and charms, there are, and I fully encourage people to visit even live in them too, it's just America has been unique in the world (which is why so many people are trying to come here) with regard to unfettered opportunities for ANYONE regardless of race/color/class, etc.

***GordonShumway*** · 12-21-2021, 01:39 PM

Maybe you are right and I lean Left vs Right... I guess over time, I have grown and seen things differently.

Example 1. I have been in hospitals for some major stuff in 3 countries. Canada, Australia, and the US. I would say that the Doctors and Nurses in all 3 of those countries are good. Skilled, have access to the latest tech and really know what they are doing (generally).

In Canada and Australia, my visits cost near to zero. In the US, my bill was near 30K. And I have heard the BS about long lines, but for me, that was just not the case. In fact, in the US I sat in the emergency room waiting area a lot longer than in the other two locations.

I had pretty good health insurance in the US that cost a fortune and still it cost a boatload of cash.

You say I lean left. Maybe, but to me it is a logical thing. Why do we spend a huge amount of money to an Insurance company that does ZERO? Why not have all of that money go directly in to the medical system and cut those donkeys out of the picture?

I have a good friend in the US. He is married and has 3 kids. He is an Electrician. His wife works part time as she is forced to as they can't keep up with the costs of life. I don't know the exact number, but I do know that his monthly medical for the family is north of 2K per month. Closer to 3K than 2K.

Example 2: Capitalism is better than the current versions around the world of Communism... But it has some major issues that are just stupid.

Like, pretty much all manufacturing in the US has moved out of the country. Why? It is cheaper and that is what drives Capitalism. Go to Walmart, Target, K-Mart. These are the stores that many American's shop at. Look at anything that is man made. IE, clothing, white goods (Microwaves, TVs, Washing Machines, etc), towels, curtains, etc... Nothing is made in the US.

people love cheap stuff as that is only what they can afford to buy. And our entire system is based on buy, buy more, buy it again....

So, what does this mean? We buy cheap stuff from China because they have cheap labor. China takes a large chunk of that cash and build war ships, planes, and now has the largest army in the world.

China is the manufacturing hub of the world and all western Democracies are dependent on them (Communists - well sort of, but not really).

China:
#1 in the world for Drywall.
#1 in the world for Steel production.
#1 in the world for Consumer Electronics - Apple phone, your computer, your TV, hell, even your bathroom scale.
#1 in the world for clothing.
#1 in the world for other textiles - Towels, bathmats, curtains, etc.
#1 in the world for pet food.

And the list goes on and on....

Every single day, we buy, they get stronger.

Next: Taxes.

Trump gave a huge tax cut to people that make a lot of money, but did zero to help the average American.

Did it help my friend the Electrician. Nope. Did it help me... Yep. I didn't need help, but I got it.

Why? Because anyone with wealth knows how to shield your wealth from the taxman. It is easy to do it legally. I paid less tax than my friend. Hell, Warren Buffet is famous for saying he paid less tax than his secretary.

So, I am a Republican, but I am an old school one. I like less Gevernment. This means that for Abortion, the Government should leave it up to the person and not be telling them what they should be doing with their bodies.

Do I think vaccines work? Yep... The numbers are in and they are working. But I do not think people should be forced to take it. If you want to run around, party, wear no mask and not get vaccinated. That is your choice. Do I think you are stupid and going to get Covid... Yep. It's a hard topic... Because you being stupid puts others at risk and is crushing our hospital workers... Not sure where your personal freedom is more valuable than the rights of others.

You mentioned that the Constitution said the Right To bare Arms, but nothing about Licenses... You are right on that... But you got to admit that was written a long time ago and our forefathers could not foresee a lot of the stuff tech would bring to us.

Their is nothing in the Constitution about Fishing Licensees, Driving Licenses, Pilot Licensees, Seat belts, Speed limits, or a long list of other stuff. If I have the right to buy ANY weapon, why can't I Stinger Missile? Maybe those nasty politicians you are so worried about will be coming in planes and I need to protect my apartment... How about Uranium Depleted Armour Piercing shells? We use those all the time to punch holes in enemy armour... I want some...

The argument that we need these to protect ourselves from the Government just doesn't hold water. If it is the Politicians, just he handguns and hunting rifles in Texas would wipe them out... If it is the Military, even you have an AK 47, I don't think you stand a chance against tanks and Apache helicopters, Reaper Drones, etc.

BUT, I am NOT saying take them away. I am say Register them. If you obey the law, own them. If you are a criminal, sorry, no legal guns for you and if you get caught with one, back to prison you go.

But all of this is just smoke... The big issue right now is that as much as we love Democracy, Trump and what is starting to look like a number of Republicans in Congress tried to overturn the Election results. That is against the law and as a Republican or a Democrat, that can NOT stand.

We can debate everything under the sun, yell at each other, change or minds and do whatever. BUT, if we let our votes NOT count and let someone stay in power that was voted out. Then those words you like to use, Communist/Fascist will be who is in charge.

I said it above and I'll say it again, and keep on saying it. Trump LOST. And I am waiting for all the facts to come out, but what I have seen so far is NOT looking good. If he and his cohorts were behind Jan 6 and were doing all these other things to crash Democracy, he deserves to go to prison... For a long time.

G.S.

***mthomas*** · (This post was last modified: 12-23-2021 03:14 AM by mthomas.)

(12-21-2021 01:39 PM)GordonShumway Wrote:
Why do we spend a huge amount of money to an Insurance company that does ZERO? Why not have all of that money go directly in to the medical system and cut those donkeys out of the picture?
Because Insurance Companies are there to help spread out the cost and keep people from losing their money due to catastrophic unforeseen circumstances (be it, medical, fire, natural disaster, etc.). They provide a valuable service and cutting them out would create much more problems and loss of investment money for required services.

I have a good friend in the US. He is married and has 3 kids. He is an Electrician. His wife works part time as she is forced to as they can't keep up with the costs of life. I don't know the exact number, but I do know that his monthly medical for the family is north of 2K per month. Closer to 3K than 2K.
In my opinion, it's the huge medical lawsuits that is driving up medical costs (just ask any doctor what they pay for malpractice insurance to protect them from multi-million dollar lawsuits) and should be curtailed or better yet capped per person (along with jail for doctor's making grossly incompetent mistakes....hey, they just sentenced a truck driver to 110 years for causing a highway accident that killed several people, why not hold doctor's to the same professionalism?).
I also believe that without the runaway lawsuits (making the law firms rich at our expense) people would be able to go back to having personal doctor's on retainer as the doctor's would be able to serve this core group of families each paying the doctor personally and they would be able to provide medical services to these concierge doctor's. The doctor's can buy in or "rent" time on costly medical devices (MRI machines) as their patients really need them and would pay extra or something like that....again, I'm not an expert but a system like this (without the threat of bankrupting lawsuits) would possibly work and LOWER costs since doctor's would need to be competitive to get patients. Better doctor's could charge more, new doctor's would charge less, etc....CAPITALISM at it's best and we would still get what America does best, innovative medical enhancements, the best in the world.

Like, pretty much all manufacturing in the US has moved out of the country. Why? It is cheaper and that is what drives Capitalism. Go to Walmart, Target, K-Mart. These are the stores that many American's shop at. Look at anything that is man made. IE, clothing, white goods (Microwaves, TVs, Washing Machines, etc), towels, curtains, etc... Nothing is made in the US.
This can be easily solved with trade tariffs and NOT because of nationalistic reasons but to LEVEL the playing field. We REQUIRE by LAW our US companies to abide by OSHA, Union, and other rules/laws to help and protect our workers that drive up the cost of OUR products while we don't hold other countries imports into America to the same standard. That isn't fair to American companies. And before you say, that's Capitalism, it's not, or we would be using slave and/or child "cheap" labor to make our products just to get the lowest cost products. I'm all for Capitalism and beating your competitor through the use of technology, better work environment, idea's, best practices but you still have to have that level playing field along with SOME government enforced rules and regulations or you would just have huge monopolies, price fixing/gouging, illegal dumping/environmental damage, and other illegal trade practices.

So, what does this mean? We buy cheap stuff from China because they have cheap labor. China takes a large chunk of that cash and build war ships, planes, and now has the largest army in the world.
That is true ONLY in numbers of military personnel (China 2.2 million vs USA 1.4 million). In everything else, ships, planes, aircraft carriers, tanks, etc. AMERICA is still #1 in the world in military power. And spends more every year to keep it that way. Thank GOD!

China is the manufacturing hub of the world and all western Democracies are dependent on them (Communists - well sort of, but not really).
They aren't doing that well anymore, this year they have had several very large financial collapses. Not saying it's all over for them, but their growth rates have plunged even before the covid thing reared it's head (by them with an assist from Dr. Death Fauci, I might add)

Trump gave a huge tax cut to people that make a lot of money, but did zero to help the average American.
I don't know where you get your information from but according to IRS tax records, the tax cut lowered taxes for all income groups, provided the greatest benefits for middle-income households, and spurred economic growth that helped reduce poverty and improve prosperity....(taken from http://www.thehill.com article)

So, I am a Republican, but I am an old school one. I like less Gevernment. This means that for Abortion, the Government should leave it up to the person and not be telling them what they should be doing with their bodies.
I can 100% agree with you here, LESS Government is a GOOD thing...(Unlike, long bread lines, that Bernie Sanders said was a "good thing"). I'd start with abolishing the Dept. of Education (what the hell do they even do? Student grades have been decreasing for years now not increasing, so why do we pay these people?).
I am not a big anti-abortion advocate; however the issue isn't about the woman's body it's about killing another human being that is living inside a woman's body. She was the one that had sex and took the chance of creating another life, therefore she should be held responsible to delivering that human being whether she wants it or not, as she can always give the baby up for adoption. There are many people on waiting lists to get a new born baby and today there is NO excuse for getting pregnant if you don't want to, birth control, abstinence, multi-year implants, pills, condoms, etc.

Do I think vaccines work? Yep... The numbers are in and they are working. But I do not think people should be forced to take it. If you want to run around, party, wear no mask and not get vaccinated. That is your choice. Do I think you are stupid and going to get Covid... Yep. It's a hard topic... Because you being stupid puts others at risk and is crushing our hospital workers... Not sure where your personal freedom is more valuable than the rights of others.
I sort of agree with you here as I am NOT against vaccines, although I do NOT see the Covid vaccines as working all that much. They do NOT protect you against getting or spreading the virus AT ALL. Again, that is the science. They claim for those most at risk of death to help them, great, but so do drugs like monoclonal anti-bodies and other's. There is a definite risk with these vaccines/boosters and they are NOT communicating this to the public as they are required to do. These drugs have NOT been FDA approved (they have been emergency approved, that's different than the FDA approval which requires long term testing to take place) and we have no data on long term side effects. I also agree that these vaccines should only be made available to those that want to assume the risk of taking them. (and people should be made aware of ALL the associated risks they might have when getting them, just like you hear in any other drug that is marketed on TV) Making them mandatory is, given the data, unscientific, dangerous, not statistically supported (for those in the low risk age groups) and in my opinion unconstitutional (an over reach of Government authority). One more point, if you haven't listened to Dr. Peter McCullough's interview with Joe Rogan you might want to check that out. Just one point from him, he claims with the proper administration of available drugs, Ivermectin, Monoclonal Anti-bodies, Iodine wash, etc., up to 85% of the people who died from Covid would still be alive today, if that turns out to be correct, then Dr. Death Fauci and all the other's that restricted these drugs to hospital patients should be brought up on charges against humanity!!!!

You mentioned that the Constitution said the Right To bare Arms, but nothing about Licenses... You are right on that... But you got to admit that was written a long time ago and our forefathers could not foresee a lot of the stuff tech would bring to us.
So I guess using that logic we should also throw out the First Amendment for things like TV, Radio, Internet, blogs, videos, etc because all they had in 1787 were public criers and newspapers, right? The 2nd Amendment was written to protect us from both foreign and domestic tyrannical government threats and is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written by the founding fathers.

Their is nothing in the Constitution about Fishing Licensees, Driving Licenses, Pilot Licensees, Seat belts, Speed limits, or a long list of other stuff. If I have the right to buy ANY weapon, why can't I Stinger Missile? Maybe those nasty politicians you are so worried about will be coming in planes and I need to protect my apartment... How about Uranium Depleted Armour Piercing shells? We use those all the time to punch holes in enemy armour... I want some...ME TOO! LOL

The argument that we need these to protect ourselves from the Government just doesn't hold water. If it is the Politicians, just he handguns and hunting rifles in Texas would wipe them out... If it is the Military, even you have an AK 47, I don't think you stand a chance against tanks and Apache helicopters, Reaper Drones, etc.
Hmmmm, I guess you never heard of the Vietnam War? We kinda lost that one against a bunch of rice pickers using AK-47's. And don't forget much of the US Military is from places like Texas, and I doubt they will be the ones shooting citizens on orders from the DC Socialists/Communists should anything go that way...just saying.

BUT, I am NOT saying take them away. I am say Register them. If you obey the law, own them. If you are a criminal, sorry, no legal guns for you and if you get caught with one, back to prison you go.
I already covered this, you claim to be a student of history and HISTORY tells us that
Gun Registration is the first step in confiscating guns by a tyrannical government....NO THANKS. I choose to learn from history, and NOT repeat it!
Most crimes in the US are done with handguns and not AK-47's or M16's so it's not even a real issue, just a BS propaganda one put on by the corrupt media whose agenda is to confiscate all guns (like in Australia). Again, NO THANKS!

I said it above and I'll say it again, and keep on saying it. Trump LOST. And I am waiting for all the facts to come out, but what I have seen so far is NOT looking good. If he and his cohorts were behind Jan 6 and were doing all these other things to crash Democracy, he deserves to go to prison... For a long time.

Just like with the zero evidence and made up Russian collusion BS "investigation" against Trump, this also is a big NOTHING. Trump had NOTHING to do with this and will proven true once the Trump haters run out of lies and hot air. They FEAR him returning to the White House in 2024 and will know he is the one person that can ruin their entire Socialist/Communist agenda. You might not like the guy and even think he was rude/crude and vulgar but he put America first and was/is a true patriot. Can you say the same thing about Pelosi, Hillary, Obama, Biden, Schumer, Schiff, Swalwell, AOC, Waters, etc.???????????? Many of them despise America through both their words and actions and some of them are outright Socialists and/or Communists. And if you think that is good for America or our Democracy then you really need to read more history!!!!!

***GordonShumway*** · 12-23-2021, 01:14 PM

(12-23-2021 03:00 AM)mthomas Wrote:
(12-21-2021 01:39 PM)GordonShumway Wrote:
Why do we spend a huge amount of money to an Insurance company that does ZERO? Why not have all of that money go directly in to the medical system and cut those donkeys out of the picture?
Because Insurance Companies are there to help spread out the cost and keep people from losing their money due to catastrophic unforeseen circumstances (be it, medical, fire, natural disaster, etc.). They provide a valuable service and cutting them out would create much more problems and loss of investment money for required services.

Sorry, but that is crap. I got no Health Insurance in Australia and the cost was spread out to ZERO. I have gone to my GP more here in Australia than I ever have in the US and the cost is ZERO.

I have a good friend in the US. He is married and has 3 kids. He is an Electrician. His wife works part time as she is forced to as they can't keep up with the costs of life. I don't know the exact number, but I do know that his monthly medical for the family is north of 2K per month. Closer to 3K than 2K.
In my opinion, it's the huge medical lawsuits that is driving up medical costs (just ask any doctor what they pay for malpractice insurance to protect them from multi-million dollar lawsuits) and should be curtailed or better yet capped per person (along with jail for doctor's making grossly incompetent mistakes....hey, they just sentenced a truck driver to 110 years for causing a highway accident that killed several people, why not hold doctor's to the same professionalism?).
I also believe that without the runaway lawsuits (making the law firms rich at our expense) people would be able to go back to having personal doctor's on retainer as the doctor's would be able to serve this core group of families each paying the doctor personally and they would be able to provide medical services to these concierge doctor's. The doctor's can buy in or "rent" time on costly medical devices (MRI machines) as their patients really need them and would pay extra or something like that....again, I'm not an expert but a system like this (without the threat of bankrupting lawsuits) would possibly work and LOWER costs since doctor's would need to be competitive to get patients. Better doctor's could charge more, new doctor's would charge less, etc....CAPITALISM at it's best and we would still get what America does best, innovative medical enhancements, the best in the world.

You are right that people need to be held accountable for their actions, but no matter who or what you do, people make mistakes. But that doesn't explain why I can buy a pill in Canada for 1/2 the price I can buy the same pill in USA. Made by the same people... It's call collective bargaining or economies of scale. Canada does it, Australia does it... But not the US and that is one of the main reasons that the costs are so high. Not to mention the paper moving around. You go to the Doc for something, fill in all the paperwork, Pay your copay. The Doc files with someplace to collect some money from Insurance, You do the same. Maybe the insurance pays you, maybe not... The plans today are so complex, just like the tax code... it's ridiculous.

Like, pretty much all manufacturing in the US has moved out of the country. Why? It is cheaper and that is what drives Capitalism. Go to Walmart, Target, K-Mart. These are the stores that many American's shop at. Look at anything that is man made. IE, clothing, white goods (Microwaves, TVs, Washing Machines, etc), towels, curtains, etc... Nothing is made in the US.
This can be easily solved with trade tariffs and NOT because of nationalistic reasons but to LEVEL the playing field. We REQUIRE by LAW our US companies to abide by OSHA, Union, and other rules/laws to help and protect our workers that drive up the cost of OUR products while we don't hold other countries imports into America to the same standard. That isn't fair to American companies. And before you say, that's Capitalism, it's not, or we would be using slave and/or child "cheap" labor to make our products just to get the lowest cost products. I'm all for Capitalism and beating your competitor through the use of technology, better work environment, idea's, best practices but you still have to have that level playing field along with SOME government enforced rules and regulations or you would just have huge monopolies, price fixing/gouging, illegal dumping/environmental damage, and other illegal trade practices.

If it was easy to solve, they would have done it ages ago. As for tariffs, those are paid for by you. They still make the same product and sell it for the same price, it gets the added kick in price once it reaches our shores. So our Gov adds a tarrif to make it less attractive to you to buy it.... But you still do as nobody else is making it. And this is a part of the inflation thing that is going on. Not all of it as we are seeing around the world prices rising. It is a super complex issue tied in to a bunch of moving parts. Raw materials, energy consumption to manufacture and ship, distribution at the end of the chain.

So, what does this mean? We buy cheap stuff from China because they have cheap labor. China takes a large chunk of that cash and build war ships, planes, and now has the largest army in the world.
That is true ONLY in numbers of military personnel (China 2.2 million vs USA 1.4 million). In everything else, ships, planes, aircraft carriers, tanks, etc. AMERICA is still #1 in the world in military power. And spends more every year to keep it that way. Thank GOD!

China is the manufacturing hub of the world and all western Democracies are dependent on them (Communists - well sort of, but not really).
They aren't doing that well anymore, this year they have had several very large financial collapses. Not saying it's all over for them, but their growth rates have plunged even before the covid thing reared it's head (by them with an assist from Dr. Death Fauci, I might add)

A huge amount of China's GDP is in Real Estate. Chinese don't like the Stock Market and see RE as a tangible asset, so they do stuff that most of the rest of the world would not do... Like buying a Unit (Apartment/Condo) as a place to invest, but never live in it or rent it out...

The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) shot it's self in the foot when they decided to have a Trade War with Australia. And YOU and the rest of the world is feeling the effects of this. You may think Australia is a tiny player as their are more people in Metro LA than all of Australia, but natural resources are huge here. China put a ban of Aussie Coal... But Aussie has some of the best Thermal Value coal in the world and China was using Millions of tons per month. This coal was used for steal production AND power generation as most of the power in China is coal fired... Even most homes burn coal to stay warm in the winter.

This ban (and a long list of other stuff like Iron Ore, seafood, wine, etc) was put in place whne the Aussie Premiere said we should investigate the origins of COVID in the early days.

Aussie coal is super important to the Chines as many of the Electric plants on the East Coast require the high quality coal that they can only get in Australia. It is so critical for them that when they buy and use the low quality coal from other sources, the more they burn to produce electricity, the more money they loose.

So, power shortages have lead to manufacturing cuts... Combined with the CCP cracking down on a wide range of industries across the board as their leader wants to head back to the more Communistic way of doing stuff like they used to do... On top of all of that, all of the big RE Developers were crazy in debt. They sell stuff "Off the block"... Meaning that the RE craze in China was so hot for some long that people would buy property that was not built yet and would not start construction for a year or so... So stuff that was being sold now and not being built until sometime in the future was paying for stuff under construction now. Worked fine for them as long as RE prices continued to climb, but as soon as people started to worry about future prices and sales slowed down, the entire system starts to crash in on it's self... That is what we are seeing now... And it's just the early days. (If you think inflation is bad now... Mark my words, things are going to get much, much worse, IE more expensive)

China has a very different dynamic on the way things work compared to the way we are used to in the West. I know many Chinese here in Australia and they approach things very different than the way we (Westerners) do.

Trump gave a huge tax cut to people that make a lot of money, but did zero to help the average American.
I don't know where you get your information from but according to IRS tax records, the tax cut lowered taxes for all income groups, provided the greatest benefits for middle-income households, and spurred economic growth that helped reduce poverty and improve prosperity....(taken from http://www.thehill.com article)

I prefer to read: https://www.investopedia.com/taxes/trump...explained/

Early in the article they talk about people paying more and getting less back while Corporate tax dropped to 21% flat....

I am "retired" but I own nothing. All of my assets have legally been moved in to trusts and companies. Bottom line, my assets went up and having been going up over the last 15 years while my taxes are going down and reached zero a few years ago.

I own nothing, but control everything.

It's not hard to do once you have a bit of wealth to set some of this stuff up and once you have it in place, it just grows and grows if you are not stupid. Really, I am not mad Trump did what he did. Was great for me and screwed 95% of Americans. I grew up poor, worked my ass of of may years, paid huge amount of tax until I started doing what the wealthy are doing and once that kicked in, I went from hard working to retired in less than 5 years. And my lifestyle has gotten better every year since as all of my stuff grows pretty much tax free.

The prosperity gap is increasing, not decreasing and during the pandemic it has accelerated even more. The Trump tax cuts are permanent for the wealthy and fixed term for the average Joe. Each year they get smaller and smaller for Joe...

So, I am a Republican, but I am an old school one. I like less Government. This means that for Abortion, the Government should leave it up to the person and not be telling them what they should be doing with their bodies.
I can 100% agree with you here, LESS Government is a GOOD thing...(Unlike, long bread lines, that Bernie Sanders said was a "good thing"). I'd start with abolishing the Dept. of Education (what the hell do they even do? Student grades have been decreasing for years now not increasing, so why do we pay these people?).
I am not a big anti-abortion advocate; however the issue isn't about the woman's body it's about killing another human being that is living inside a woman's body. She was the one that had sex and took the chance of creating another life, therefore she should be held responsible to delivering that human being whether she wants it or not, as she can always give the baby up for adoption. There are many people on waiting lists to get a new born baby and today there is NO excuse for getting pregnant if you don't want to, birth control, abstinence, multi-year implants, pills, condoms, etc.

That is funny. First Republicans want to ban sex ed in schools. Then we have people that are having trouble putting food on the table, but they should buy health insurance so they can go to see a GP and get a prescription to buy overpriced birth control. WOW, that is some great argument.

I have sat around the dinner table and had this same discussion. See Republicans want to "Save the life", but once the baby is born, you are on your own. No help with school, food programs, buy your expensive insurance, day care so you can get a job... But as soon as the kid is old enough, you then are happy to have them join the Military. Fight for the country. Be Honorable... But get hurt or leave and once again, you are on your own... Then when you are old, No medicare, why fund that? And Social Security, nope. When you were barely able to feed your family, you should have been putting enough away to fund your retirement AND pay for the nursing home as you get older... LOL

Most people don't have enough assets to retire when they want to. Things are just getting more and more expensive during the working years and in to retirement. Average savings are way down and continue to fall.

Do I think vaccines work? Yep... The numbers are in and they are working. But I do not think people should be forced to take it. If you want to run around, party, wear no mask and not get vaccinated. That is your choice. Do I think you are stupid and going to get Covid... Yep. It's a hard topic... Because you being stupid puts others at risk and is crushing our hospital workers... Not sure where your personal freedom is more valuable than the rights of others.
I sort of agree with you here as I am NOT against vaccines, although I do NOT see the Covid vaccines as working all that much. They do NOT protect you against getting or spreading the virus AT ALL. Again, that is the science. They claim for those most at risk of death to help them, great, but so do drugs like monoclonal anti-bodies and other's. There is a definite risk with these vaccines/boosters and they are NOT communicating this to the public as they are required to do. These drugs have NOT been FDA approved (they have been emergency approved, that's different than the FDA approval which requires long term testing to take place) and we have no data on long term side effects. I also agree that these vaccines should only be made available to those that want to assume the risk of taking them. (and people should be made aware of ALL the associated risks they might have when getting them, just like you hear in any other drug that is marketed on TV) Making them mandatory is, given the data, unscientific, dangerous, not statistically supported (for those in the low risk age groups) and in my opinion unconstitutional (an over reach of Government authority). One more point, if you haven't listened to Dr. Peter McCullough's interview with Joe Rogan you might want to check that out. Just one point from him, he claims with the proper administration of available drugs, Ivermectin, Monoclonal Anti-bodies, Iodine wash, etc., up to 85% of the people who died from Covid would still be alive today, if that turns out to be correct, then Dr. Death Fauci and all the other's that restricted these drugs to hospital patients should be brought up on charges against humanity!!!!

Yep, the vaccines may not protect you from Getting or Spreading Covid, but they sure help you from Dying from it or ending up in the hospital. Global numbers show that. Many people refuse to get the shot or wear a mask... It is just a matter of time before we get a version that is so deadly that it wipes out a huge percentage of the population.

You mentioned that the Constitution said the Right To bare Arms, but nothing about Licenses... You are right on that... But you got to admit that was written a long time ago and our forefathers could not foresee a lot of the stuff tech would bring to us.
So I guess using that logic we should also throw out the First Amendment for things like TV, Radio, Internet, blogs, videos, etc because all they had in 1787 were public criers and newspapers, right? The 2nd Amendment was written to protect us from both foreign and domestic tyrannical government threats and is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written by the founding fathers.

Again, funny you say that. Trump is the only person in American history that tried to be a Tyrant and stay in power. Hell, he is still trying to do it today. If he was successful, would you be storming the Capital with your AK 47 to stop him and the rest of the people that worked to overthrow our system?

Their is nothing in the Constitution about Fishing Licensees, Driving Licenses, Pilot Licensees, Seat belts, Speed limits, or a long list of other stuff. If I have the right to buy ANY weapon, why can't I Stinger Missile? Maybe those nasty politicians you are so worried about will be coming in planes and I need to protect my apartment... How about Uranium Depleted Armour Piercing shells? We use those all the time to punch holes in enemy armour... I want some...ME TOO! LOL

The argument that we need these to protect ourselves from the Government just doesn't hold water. If it is the Politicians, just the handguns and hunting rifles in Texas would wipe them out... If it is the Military, even you have an AK 47, I don't think you stand a chance against tanks and Apache helicopters, Reaper Drones, etc.
Hmmmm, I guess you never heard of the Vietnam War? We kinda lost that one against a bunch of rice pickers using AK-47's. And don't forget much of the US Military is from places like Texas, and I doubt they will be the ones shooting citizens on orders from the DC Socialists/Communists should anything go that way...just saying.

First off, I don't like the term "rice pickers"... But, when you country is being invaded from the outside, you tend to fight like hell as the only option is that or death. What you are talking about is us fighting us. Our Government (us) fighting against the people (us). Hard for me to really believe that some President (Democratic or Republican) is going to order the Military to take over Texas, or Florida, or California and the Military is going to say, "sure, you are the President and we (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines - the people of the USA) think you are right and we should go stomp on them"... Really, that is what you are worried about and think you need your AK-47 to stop it?

BUT, I am NOT saying take them away. I am say Register them. If you obey the law, own them. If you are a criminal, sorry, no legal guns for you and if you get caught with one, back to prison you go.
I already covered this, you claim to be a student of history and HISTORY tells us that
Gun Registration is the first step in confiscating guns by a tyrannical government....NO THANKS. I choose to learn from history, and NOT repeat it!
Most crimes in the US are done with handguns and not AK-47's or M16's so it's not even a real issue, just a BS propaganda one put on by the corrupt media whose agenda is to confiscate all guns (like in Australia). Again, NO THANKS!

Yep, most crimes are... But look at the school shootings. Most are done with Assault weapons. As for those "tyrannical governments". You are right in that the Australian Government asked people to give up most of their guns (you can still get a gun here if you need one)... But nothing changed in the Government. They didn't take over and start implementing draconian measures... And guess what. Violent crime is way less than the USA. How about England? Guns are restricted and most Cops don't carry... But again, how many mass shootings do you see on the nightly news. Most of Europe, Canada, India, hell, almost every democracy on the planet has some type of restriction on weapons except the USA and guess what. The highest kill rate from those types of weapons is the USA.

You are right... Guns don't kill people. People with the rights to carry any type of gun unrestricted kill people.

I said it above and I'll say it again, and keep on saying it. Trump LOST. And I am waiting for all the facts to come out, but what I have seen so far is NOT looking good. If he and his cohorts were behind Jan 6 and were doing all these other things to crash Democracy, he deserves to go to prison... For a long time.

Just like with the zero evidence and made up Russian collusion BS "investigation" against Trump, this also is a big NOTHING. Trump had NOTHING to do with this and will proven true once the Trump haters run out of lies and hot air. They FEAR him returning to the White House in 2024 and will know he is the one person that can ruin their entire Socialist/Communist agenda. You might not like the guy and even think he was rude/crude and vulgar but he put America first and was/is a true patriot. Can you say the same thing about Pelosi, Hillary, Obama, Biden, Schumer, Schiff, Swalwell, AOC, Waters, etc.???????????? Many of them despise America through both their words and actions and some of them are outright Socialists and/or Communists. And if you think that is good for America or our Democracy then you really need to read more history!!!!!

Lots of Text messages, Powerpoint plans on how to subjugate the results, phone calls to pressure State Level Secretaries to "Find the votes" or "Change the Electors". Now if it was a big nothing, why plead the 5th? I know you think those evil Democrats will use your own words against you. Yep... And your documents and your text messages. Why is Trump fighting so hard to keep the White House archived documents secret and away from Congress? Why is he still not allowing access to his Taxes just like every other President has since the mid 70s? His own words, "I will show them when the audit is over"... 5 years, no taxes.

I am not really worried about Trump running in 2024. I think he will be either in court or jail by then.

As for the Socialist system you are so worried about. It is coming whether you like it or not. Self driving vehicles, robots, and AI are going to put 95% of us out of work. Then what?

My girlfriend is the Principle Engineer that designs most of the Mobile Phone towers here in Australia. Free standing and also the ones that are on the top of buildings. Just in the last 5 years, what used to take 9 full time people in her office is now done by 1 person. Less mistakes, faster work, and better designs as software and hardware if constructed right don't make mistakes.

Every air plane, ship, truck, and car is not that far away from not needing people to operate. Soon the manufacturing, loading, shipping, unloading, delivery will all be done by machines.

I could go on and on just about this topic, but we are on the cusp of a huge change in the way people work (or not work) and the way society functions. When you have 95% plus of the population without work, then those social programs that you dislike will be the standard thing that all people will be using. Like it or not, it is coming, and faster than you think.

***mthomas*** · 12-24-2021, 03:02 AM

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Sorry, but that is crap. I got no Health Insurance in Australia and the cost was spread out to ZERO. I have gone to my GP more here in Australia than I ever have in the US and the cost is ZERO.
Again the issue here isn't Insurance Companies, it's the lawyers that are suing doctor's and hospitals for 10's of millions for a single person, that is not logical and should be capped. Once that happens the costs would fall and doctor's can open their own small shops (which if you ask any doctor working for a large Corp HMO, they would gladly do as it would be less work, less paperwork and they would get to actually know their patients. It would NOT be free but it would be very affordable. As for the poor, as I stated before, there should be free medical care for them by having doctor's and nurses provide time each year (*as they do for military reservists) in order to renew their medical licenses. It can be easily done and still be Capitalist structure rather than Socialist. One thing you are overlooking and that is in a Capitalist country (like the USA) there is incentive to innovate and develop new medical devices, drugs and methods that are seldom done in Socialist countries as there is little to no incentives to do so.

You are right that people need to be held accountable for their actions, but no matter who or what you do, people make mistakes. But that doesn't explain why I can buy a pill in Canada for 1/2 the price I can buy the same pill in USA. Made by the same people... It's call collective bargaining or economies of scale. Canada does it, Australia does it... But not the US and that is one of the main reasons that the costs are so high. Not to mention the paper moving around. You go to the Doc for something, fill in all the paperwork, Pay your copay. The Doc files with someplace to collect some money from Insurance, You do the same. Maybe the insurance pays you, maybe not... The plans today are so complex, just like the tax code... it's ridiculous.
Actually, American's are footing the bill for the research and development because of our wealth. That is unfair but it's how the companies are setup in a worldwide economy so they can make money in ALL economies. Would you recommend charging the same for drugs in poor countries that make less than half what the average American family makes? That is what the left is always screaming about, income inequities and then want idiotic schemes like carbon credits, green new deal BS and other transfer of wealth Socialist/Communist fraudulent conspiracies.

If it was easy to solve, they would have done it ages ago. As for tariffs, those are paid for by you. They still make the same product and sell it for the same price, it gets the added kick in price once it reaches our shores. So our Gov adds a tarrif to make it less attractive to you to buy it.... But you still do as nobody else is making it. And this is a part of the inflation thing that is going on. Not all of it as we are seeing around the world prices rising. It is a super complex issue tied in to a bunch of moving parts. Raw materials, energy consumption to manufacture and ship, distribution at the end of the chain.
Don't agree at all. Tarriffs work to level the business playing field. Businesses start and fail based on profits and if the labor costs were equal (due to the tarriffs) US companies would once again start producing the products that were not profitable due to the unfair labor cost advantages by foreign companies. US inflation is pretty much SOLELY based on the open Fed spigot of cash flooding into the economy along with the added FU of Biden shutting down the oil pipelines (that would allow us to be energy independent and not have to kiss the asses of Arab sheiks and others once again as we did during the also failed Carter Admin). Trump had the economy humming along and it would have continued to do so (Covid or not) but now we have a mentally deficient, career politician (that hasn't done anything in his long useless 30+ year "career") that doesn't know his ass from his elbow and can't remember what he had for breakfast (probably chocolate chocolate chip ice cream!)

A huge amount of China's GDP is in Real Estate. Chinese don't like the Stock Market and see RE as a tangible asset, so they do stuff that most of the rest of the world would not do... Like buying a Unit (Apartment/Condo) as a place to invest, but never live in it or rent it out...

The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) shot it's self in the foot when they decided to have a Trade War with Australia. And YOU and the rest of the world is feeling the effects of this. You may think Australia is a tiny player as their are more people in Metro LA than all of Australia, but natural resources are huge here. China put a ban of Aussie Coal... But Aussie has some of the best Thermal Value coal in the world and China was using Millions of tons per month. This coal was used for steal production AND power generation as most of the power in China is coal fired... Even most homes burn coal to stay warm in the winter.

This ban (and a long list of other stuff like Iron Ore, seafood, wine, etc) was put in place whne the Aussie Premiere said we should investigate the origins of COVID in the early days.

Aussie coal is super important to the Chines as many of the Electric plants on the East Coast require the high quality coal that they can only get in Australia. It is so critical for them that when they buy and use the low quality coal from other sources, the more they burn to produce electricity, the more money they loose.

So, power shortages have lead to manufacturing cuts... Combined with the CCP cracking down on a wide range of industries across the board as their leader wants to head back to the more Communistic way of doing stuff like they used to do... On top of all of that, all of the big RE Developers were crazy in debt. They sell stuff "Off the block"... Meaning that the RE craze in China was so hot for some long that people would buy property that was not built yet and would not start construction for a year or so... So stuff that was being sold now and not being built until sometime in the future was paying for stuff under construction now. Worked fine for them as long as RE prices continued to climb, but as soon as people started to worry about future prices and sales slowed down, the entire system starts to crash in on it's self... That is what we are seeing now... And it's just the early days. (If you think inflation is bad now... Mark my words, things are going to get much, much worse, IE more expensive)

China has a very different dynamic on the way things work compared to the way we are used to in the West. I know many Chinese here in Australia and they approach things very different than the way we (Westerners) do.

Yes, I heard about the coal ships not being allowed to unload in Chinese ports, I hope they can sell this coal to other countries (I know they have done this I believe to India, etc,). China is a Communist country, which means they are a dictatorship that does whatever the Fu#$ they want to do without any checks or balances. In my opinion, they are freaking evil and we will one day have to deal with these as#holes.
The only thing good about China is that we can see the future of America and the rest of the world if we continue to allow these Socialist/Communist/Progressive politicians and activists in the US to put there idiotic, totalitarian, subversive, propagandistic, evil (yes, EVIL!) idea's into practice. We have seen the results of Socialist/Communist/Fascist/Progressive, etc. societies and it ALWAYS ends badly, usually with MILLIONS of dead people in their wake. I just wish more people (especially young people) would open a history book to see for themselves what happens and not think it's just "my opinion".

I prefer to read: https://www.investopedia.com/taxes/trump...explained/

Early in the article they talk about people paying more and getting less back while Corporate tax dropped to 21% flat....

I am "retired" but I own nothing. All of my assets have legally been moved in to trusts and companies. Bottom line, my assets went up and having been going up over the last 15 years while my taxes are going down and reached zero a few years ago.

I own nothing, but control everything.

It's not hard to do once you have a bit of wealth to set some of this stuff up and once you have it in place, it just grows and grows if you are not stupid. Really, I am not mad Trump did what he did. Was great for me and screwed 95% of Americans. I grew up poor, worked my ass of of may years, paid huge amount of tax until I started doing what the wealthy are doing and once that kicked in, I went from hard working to retired in less than 5 years. And my lifestyle has gotten better every year since as all of my stuff grows pretty much tax free.

That's great, glad to hear you took advantage of the tax rules and regulations that allow certain types of investments, etc. to be taxed differently. As long as it's legal it's tax mitigation and not tax evasion (illegal), so I'm all for it.
However, the REAL issue is having the government spend LESS rather than trying to tax as much as possible. BTW, there is only a certain point that a Gov't can tax, at which time the people leave or move there money elsewhere (gold, foreign investments, etc.) as have been proven in several economic studies/papers.

The prosperity gap is increasing, not decreasing and during the pandemic it has accelerated even more. The Trump tax cuts are permanent for the wealthy and fixed term for the average Joe. Each year they get smaller and smaller for Joe...

Luckily in 2024, Trump can reup the tax cuts for all Americans once again!
Go Trump, 2024!

That is funny. First Republicans want to ban sex ed in schools. Then we have people that are having trouble putting food on the table, but they should buy health insurance so they can go to see a GP and get a prescription to buy overpriced birth control. WOW, that is some great argument.

I have sat around the dinner table and had this same discussion. See Republicans want to "Save the life", but once the baby is born, you are on your own. No help with school, food programs, buy your expensive insurance, day care so you can get a job... But as soon as the kid is old enough, you then are happy to have them join the Military. Fight for the country. Be Honorable... But get hurt or leave and once again, you are on your own... Then when you are old, No medicare, why fund that? And Social Security, nope. When you were barely able to feed your family, you should have been putting enough away to fund your retirement AND pay for the nursing home as you get older... LOL

Most people don't have enough assets to retire when they want to. Things are just getting more and more expensive during the working years and in to retirement. Average savings are way down and continue to fall.

Condoms are overpriced? Really?
Abstinence is free and so is adoption ((I believe you can even get paid to give up your baby...not sure though, as I'm not in the market)
Although, this can get to be a long discussion, the main thing the Government can do is revise the welfare codes and keep poor families together (easy, instead of giving More money to single mother's with multiple kids, give MORE money to two parent families with kids, not exactly rocket science and it would take care of most of the ills of society, crime, school drop outs, suicides, teen mom's, etc. as statistics PROOVE that children without fathers top (by a huge margin) all of the above listed issues.
Also, I though the churches (synagogues, mosques, etc.) were supposed to be there to help the poor, orphans, etc., where are they?
I am not for big government, but I am for level playing fields and that does require some Gov't intervention through laws and business rules (anti-trust, banking, etc.) and I think we need to have an indepth talk especially with regard to the tech monopolies that are restricting free speech and censoring the Internet.

Do I think vaccines work? Yep... The numbers are in and they are working. But I do not think people should be forced to take it. If you want to run around, party, wear no mask and not get vaccinated. That is your choice. Do I think you are stupid and going to get Covid... Yep. It's a hard topic... Because you being stupid puts others at risk and is crushing our hospital workers... Not sure where your personal freedom is more valuable than the rights of others.
NOT TRUE!!!! Whether you are or are not vaccinated has NOTHING to do with virus transmissibility and that is the science! "crushing hospital workers" is also BS as in some European countries they have stated that the bulk of new ICU patients have ALL been vaccinated. "Not sure where your personal freedom is more valuable than the rights of others." - That is the single most dangerous statement you have made in all your writings here as with that you can literally do anything you want and say you are doing it for the general good (whatever that means by the people in power at the time and again as we have seen in history it is a VERY dangerous path to walk once you decide to go down it).

Yep, the vaccines may not protect you from Getting or Spreading Covid, but they sure help you from Dying from it or ending up in the hospital. Global numbers show that. Many people refuse to get the shot or wear a mask... It is just a matter of time before we get a version that is so deadly that it wipes out a huge percentage of the population.
That is just your opinion and not based on any science.
As I heard someone else say on here, if this was the black death with a 50% death rate, people would be climbing over each other to get a vaccine (that actually works like past vaccines). But this pandemic, with a death rate of under 3% and for like 90% of the public more like >0.01% it's just an awful power grab by those in charge.
I just hope when we find out the real science and it's proven that lives could have actually been saved by preventative medicines (Ivermectin, etc.) those in charge (Dr. Death Fauci) will be sent to prison for a very long time.

Again, funny you say that. Trump is the only person in American history that tried to be a Tyrant and stay in power. Hell, he is still trying to do it today. If he was successful, would you be storming the Capital with your AK 47 to stop him and the rest of the people that worked to overthrow our system?
Once again, Trump had nothing to do with it and compared to what the Democrats and Left is trying to do to our Constitution/Bill of Rights/Supreme Court is irelevant.

First off, I don't like the term "rice pickers"... But, when you country is being invaded from the outside, you tend to fight like hell as the only option is that or death. What you are talking about is us fighting us. Our Government (us) fighting against the people (us). Hard for me to really believe that some President (Democratic or Republican) is going to order the Military to take over Texas, or Florida, or California and the Military is going to say, "sure, you are the President and we (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines - the people of the USA) think you are right and we should go stomp on them"... Really, that is what you are worried about and think you need your AK-47 to stop it?

Fine, change it to "rice farmers" if that makes you happier.
You can bet your ass that is the likes of AOC and her band of Socialist/Communist Fascists tries to take over the Constitution (specifically the 1st and 2nd Amendments) and have the cities burn like they did these past 2 summer's then you can bet your as# there WILL be patriots in the cities defending them.

Yep, most crimes are... But look at the school shootings. Most are done with Assault weapons. As for those "tyrannical governments". You are right in that the Australian Government asked people to give up most of their guns (you can still get a gun here if you need one)... But nothing changed in the Government. They didn't take over and start implementing draconian measures... And guess what. Violent crime is way less than the USA. How about England? Guns are restricted and most Cops don't carry... But again, how many mass shootings do you see on the nightly news. Most of Europe, Canada, India, hell, almost every democracy on the planet has some type of restriction on weapons except the USA and guess what. The highest kill rate from those types of weapons is the USA.

You are right... Guns don't kill people. People with the rights to carry any type of gun unrestricted kill people.

First of all once again, there is no such thing as an "assault rifle". AR15 stands for "ArmaLite Rifle". So you are just talking about how a rifle looks compared to another rifle, the reason that matters is that there are hunting rifles that out perform in distance, marksmanship and lethality than the so called "assault rifles" you keep disparaging as some type of "evil" gun.
Guns are a tool, nothing more. If you have issues with crime and criminals maybe you should focus on them and not law abiding citizens that seldom use their guns for nefarious or criminal reasons.
Also, civilized and progressive Europe was also the catalyst for two World Wars that killed give or take 80+ million people. Who knows if that could have been prevented had the populace been armed and could have faught back against the dictator's early in the lead up to the wars? Also, Britian had to get simple firearms from America at the start of the war as they had practically NONE themselves in order to defend England from a German invasion. And Japan said an invasion of the United States would be difficult as there would be an American with a gun behind every tree.
An armed population keeps the dictator's in check and criminals think twice before doing their evil deeds. In some homogenous low crime countries it might work (to keep guns from citizens) but in America a large heterogenous melting pop of peoples country with crime problems it would not. (as our largest crime plagued cities with restrictive gun control measures has already proved)

Lots of Text messages, Powerpoint plans on how to subjugate the results, phone calls to pressure State Level Secretaries to "Find the votes" or "Change the Electors". Now if it was a big nothing, why plead the 5th? I know you think those evil Democrats will use your own words against you. Yep... And your documents and your text messages. Why is Trump fighting so hard to keep the White House archived documents secret and away from Congress? Why is he still not allowing access to his Taxes just like every other President has since the mid 70s? His own words, "I will show them when the audit is over"... 5 years, no taxes.

I am not really worried about Trump running in 2024. I think he will be either in court or jail by then.

As for the Socialist system you are so worried about. It is coming whether you like it or not. Self driving vehicles, robots, and AI are going to put 95% of us out of work. Then what?

My girlfriend is the Principle Engineer that designs most of the Mobile Phone towers here in Australia. Free standing and also the ones that are on the top of buildings. Just in the last 5 years, what used to take 9 full time people in her office is now done by 1 person. Less mistakes, faster work, and better designs as software and hardware if constructed right don't make mistakes.

Every air plane, ship, truck, and car is not that far away from not needing people to operate. Soon the manufacturing, loading, shipping, unloading, delivery will all be done by machines.

I could go on and on just about this topic, but we are on the cusp of a huge change in the way people work (or not work) and the way society functions. When you have 95% plus of the population without work, then those social programs that you dislike will be the standard thing that all people will be using. Like it or not, it is coming, and faster than you think.

Trump has been unduly harassed throughout HIS legal time as President and you question why he would be hesitant against giving these criminals what they want?
Yeah, I don't think so.

If Socialism as you say is inevitable for America than the world is doomed. You can kiss any and all of your freedom away and look at China as the model for your servitude. I personally don't believe that but hey, you are free to believe anything you want (at least for now, up until if you are right, you will no longer have any free thoughts). Might want to give the book "1984" a read if you haven't already as that would be your Socialist "utopia" that you foresee coming.

No thanks. I'll put on a grey uniform this time and go out fighting.

***Vivekananda*** · 12-27-2021, 10:01 AM

(12-15-2021 05:13 AM)California Kid Wrote: don't forget that trump was impeached for the january 6th incident and found innocent of everything. no crime on his part. to say he was involved with what illegal activities other people did or even incited them is going against the intensive investigations to impeach a president.

Living far away from the US, I ignore most of what's really going on in "America's" politics. But reading something like "Appeals court rejects Trump's bid to keep January 6 documents from House committee," I can't shake the suspicion that the guy IS involved in what happened on January 6th.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/09/polit...index.html

***jconstantine*** · 12-28-2021, 10:48 AM

@Vivekananda
If you keep watching and reading CNN, that suspicion will never go away. LOL.

***mthomas*** · 12-29-2021, 10:55 PM

CNN = Cable News Network = Cartoon News Network!
Fake news, government propaganda, Democrat/Socialist/Communist "news" arm, Reporters = Activists, Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment....

If you want to find the facts and what actually happened, you might want to seek out actual news information from a varied assortment of sources. Another Hint: MSNBC News is even further Left-ist than CNN (I know, how is that even possible...but it's true).

***Vivekananda*** · 01-07-2022, 05:26 AM

jconstantine, I'm not watching and reading CNN - except when the news from this source are replicated in Brazil.
And the problem is not the suspicion, but the fact that Trump is trying to hide the truth.

mthomas, I think that the problem is not a lack of "varied assortment of sources", buf a lack of realibility of lots of these sources.