Master-Debater131

Thats just devastating. I started hearing rumors last night, but believed they were fake and just some idiot on twitter starting drama. Absolutely heartbroken for the family.

Theres a lot here so Ill try and get it all, but I may miss something. Not doing that intentionally. Walmart - you aren't going to hear me argue against your points. Walmart is close to a monopoly in a lot of regards, and trust busting is absolutely a proper role for the government. The feds going after Google, Amazon, Walmart and any of those other mega corporations would be great. Walmart absolutely has a great business model, but that business model also comes at the expense of wherever it goes. For all the crap South Park gets, that Walmart episode was damn near perfect at capturing the entire Walmart debate. Texas - what they are doing with their power is freaking dumb. I think what that shows more than anything though is the inevitable problem when one party controls a state by itself for extended periods of time. The stupidest ideas start to win, and then they become law. Ive become a big fan of divided government in recent years because it prevents the worst ideas and impulses from winning out. Im also not inclined to give Texas much help when their grid collapses and they bitch and moan about not getting help. Thats kinda your own fault there bud. Same with California though. Thats been a 1 party state for a long time, and they can deal with their own mess at this point. Thats also one of my biggest splits from the modern GOP. I do think regulations are important, its just a question of how many and how intrusive. Your point on the environmental regulations has me wondering why there were so many in the first place. I work in the environmental industry, and I cant tell you how many public works projects go horribly over budget, behind schedule, or are outright canceled because of environmental regulations. Should we have environmental protections? Absolutely. I like clean water and air. Should we care if a roadway impacts a field mouse or if people collect their own rainwater? Ehhhhh, Im not as inclined to say yes there. Frankly I dont see Trump nor Harris doing anything to bring the country together and fix problems. Both are horrible candidates, and both will make things worse. its just a question of in which way will they decided to fuck us. LGBT stuff- The one thing that sticks out the most on this, and so many other cultural issues, is when it starts to involves kids. Im in a lesbian relationship, have been for a while. No one cares that Im fucking a girl. What they care about is if we try to push that on kids, or try to otherwise expose them to things like sexuality that should be up to parents and not schools and institutions. No one (who isnt a complete asshole) cares about adults, they care about when adults start to involve kids. After the SCOTUS ruling there was this amazing golden age where no one really cared about LGBT issues. People were just kinda like "yea, ok, thats cool and all, did you see the game?" But in recent years there has been this continued creep to bring this kind of stuff into classrooms. People can say its not happening all they want, but it is. There are countless images of classrooms that look like a Pride parade went on a bender, got sick, and threw up the rainbow all over the room. And they can be for it all they want, but at no time has an adult saying "Its OK, this can be our secret" to a kid ever turned out OK. We still make Catholic priest jokes, and that was decades ago (holy crap I feel old now). Neither of us even feel comfortable going to Pride events anymore because of how extreme things are recently. We just want to be left alone. Even on cultural issues theres likely a whole lot that we could agree on. Part of the problem though is that, recently, either you are 100% with an ideology or you are considered an enemy. That goes for both sides. The LGBT issue above is a great example of that. Im all for LGBT issues, but I dont think its appropriate for that to be brought up in the classroom. And because of that Im considered an enemy even though Im in a lesbian relationship. On the Right because im not some MAGA diehard Im considered a liberal bitch. The ability to have any nuance or disagreement on issues that you might have 80% in common with is just gone. I will continue to argue and believe that the biggest hindrance to anyones prosperity is the federal government. They consistently get in the way of people living their life because some bureaucrat somewhere thinks that they know better than the person living their own life. Is there a role for the government? Yes, but it should be limited, targeted, and actually effective. None of this huge sweeping bureaucracy thats making rules no one has any say on. Did I get everything? I think I did. But its also been a long day.

I mean, if your going to give someone your balls you may as well have them diamond encrusted first.

Name one tax that started as only for high income people and didnt make its way to everyone. You cant, because thats how this works. Even the initial selling argument for the income tax was only for rich people to "pay their fair share", now it hits everyone. The second that tax is implemented, they will look at ways of expanding who its hitting.

And Harris wants to implement an unrealized gains tax. So we can all kiss our retirements, investment, and wealth building goodbye.

The whale looks concerned

You are kidding yourself if you think they only take $10K on a $100K income. Thats not even including state income taxes. Sure, you can live a bit better, but you do not see those big returns until you are in the very very top of the income bracket. Below that you still get crushed by taxes. The greatest stimulus any individual can receive is a reduction in their taxes, and its not even close.

I give it 5 weeks before I forget to do this and miss out on this yet again. Its a yearly tradition.

If you are trying to sell me a cabin, you are doing a good job of it. Also, that was a criminally underrated movie.

If you get paid more you have a large amount of your income taxed.

Regarding Wal-mart, I 100% agree with you. There was an idea floated for a while about a corporate welfare tax where if a company over a specific size had a percentage of people on welfare they would be taxed to make up for essentially using welfare to make up for their wages. never went anywhere, but thats an idea I do agree with. I would also argue that the single biggest hurdle people have for living a better life is the theft of their income through taxes. Its not just income tax people pay. You are taxed at every single step of your life. You have a paycheck that is taxed. Then you go to the store, which is taxed. Own a house or rent something, which is taxed. Utilities, also taxed. Have a phone, taxed. Participate in the economy by going to a movie, taxed. Sports event, taxed. Ever single thing we do is taxed. Its insidious how much we truly pay in taxes. If we truly wanted people to get ahead we would simplify taxes by eliminating huge chunks of them, crack down on companies like wal-mart, and reign in government spending. We wont because its way more convenient for the ruling class to have everyone bickering all the time, but thats the simply way to get people ahead in life.

I did say further in that post that I understand the point of taxes. You dont have those things without taxes, unless you go back to lotteries paying for everything like we used to. Just because I understand how it works and the point of them doesnt mean I have to like it or think its OK that other people think they are entitled to the fruits of my labor.

It should be well established by now that I think taxes are just the legalized theft of my labor. I do understand the point of taxes, I just will never not believe they are anything but the theft of my labor.

I do get bonuses. Its written into our company policy, and its a clear performance bonus for individuals, teams, and the company as a whole. We hit a profit goal, we get profit shares. Ive had entire an entire month worth of paychecks in a single profit share before. So yea, I do get bonuses. And if those are not taxed? Ohhhhh boy, that would make me so happy.

Really? Well damn, I like his position more then. We get bonuses on work if we hit targets or have profit. Would be awesome if that wasnt taxed.

Great moment when Netanyhu called the recently rescued hostage in the hospital. He was rescued a few days ago in an underground raid. Israel isnt going to stop until they get all the hostages back.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Ohhhhhh man is this hilarious. After spending years saying the wall was racist and a waste of money shes now on board with the idea of a wall. She even still has her tweet up saying its stupid and she will block it. Its just amazing how bad at this she is. No wonder Tulsi Gabbard took her out before she was able to collect a single vote in the 2020 primary. First she tole Trumps no tax on tips, then the child tax credit, now the border wall, give it a week and shes going to dye her hair blonde and talk about real estate deals shes made while in DC. Oh, and JD Vance called it.

Well, shes finally going to do an interview, and in the process of setting it up she confirms, yet again, just how fucking stupid she is. First off she is going to go with Dana Bash, the single easiest interview she possibly could have. Its the cupcake of cupcake interviewers, and even with that she isnt capable of doing it alone and has to bring her dad along so he can help when she gets in trouble. Bringing Waltz along is a clear sign that she is incapable of doing an interview on her own. Throw this in with her insane demands for the debate and its beyond clear at this point that shes an absolute moron who is incapable of doing even the most basic activities required to campaign.

This is just an amazing piece of journalisming. Trying to tie Harris to Biden? Bitch, she is the VP. Its the Biden-Harris administration. Community Notes hit this one with an amazing note with just how absurd this piece of propaganda is. Politico is outright campaigning for Harris at this point.

Damn those greedy grocery stores and their *checks notes* 1.6% profit margins https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/15/kamala-harris-price-gouging-groceries/ If only they would refuse to have any profit at all! Then things would be better. Ya know, as long as it goes different than literally every single other time price controls and communism are implemented.

"Were going full communist!" Komrad Kamabla "The fuck we are" - Sane Democrats https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/25/harris-grocery-price-gouging-backlash-00176266 "Under pressure to defend Kamala Harris’ grocery price gouging plan, some Democratic lawmakers are delivering a quiet message to anxious allies: Don’t worry about the details. It’s never going to pass Congress. The Harris campaign’s proposal, unveiled as part of her first big economic policy speech, has become a focal point for her presidential rival, Donald Trump, and fellow Republicans, who claim she’s pushing “communist price controls.” It has also alarmed food industry officials and even some left-of-center economists, who’ve warned such policies can hurt more than they help." Some Democrats are smart enough to realize just how disastrous of an idea that is and are running from it. Price controls never work, and they always lead to rationing and scarcity. Economists across the country panned the idea as the exact opposite of what we need to do to bring prices down, but that wont stop Komrad Kamabla. Shes just going to charge right ahead with the dumbest possible policy positions, you know, when she actually gives us one.

Not surprisingly at all, Komrad Kamabla is trying to back out of the debates by forcing the already agreed upon rules to change. This really shouldnt be a surprise. Shes a fucking moron, and will do absolutely anything she can to avoid a live microphone. Shes trying to change the rules to allow notes and other fundamental changes to the already agreed upon rules. Give it a week and if they dont agree to the rules she will come up with some other excuse to not debate. She already runs scared from even marginal questioning, so it really isnt a surprise that shes going to do the same here. Shes a coward and to stupid to hold up to a live debate without the use of notes. I guess on the plus side she shows just enough mental ability to learn from her disastrous 2020 run where Tulsi Gabbard ended her before any voting started. Thats a looooowwwwww bar, but at least its a bar.

From the beginning the "quiet part" has been that there may not be any hostage deal. Publicly there has always been talk, and effort, to have some sort of hostage deal. They even had the one earlier where there was a pause and release of some hostages. Now that he is openly saying that there may not be a deal it represents a shift in tone, and a clear shift in public expectations for this war.

Netanyahu: Israel won't pay any price for hostage deal, won’t give up Philadelphi "Israel won’t make a hostage deal at any price Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday in advance of high-level negotiations slated for later this week. He made his comments to victims groups, just after the IDF was able to retrieve six bodies of Israelis killed in captivity in the enclave. "I am not sure that there will be a [hostage] deal," Netanyahu said according to a statement put out by both groups he met with. These were the Valor Forum representing victims of the Israel-Hamas war and the Tikva Forum composed of relatives of hostages in Gaza. "If there is a deal, it will be one that safeguards those [Israeli] interests which I have repeatedly stressed, which is preserving Israel's strategic assets," Netanyahu told the two groups, both of whom support a firm stand with regard to a deal. He met with them a day after speaking for three hours with US Secretary Antony Blinken who is in the region in an attempt to finalize a deal." Netanyhu is saying the quiet part out loud now. The odds of a hostage deal are pretty small at this point. Israel cant afford to allow Hamas to continue to exist, so they will do what is needed to end the war. They also are not going to give up the Philadelphi corridor anytime soon, which is a non starter for Hamas who needs that corridor to smuggle in more supplies for their terrorism. October 7th fundamentally changed the calculus in the region. Israel can no longer allow Hamas to exist, and they are now publicly stating so.