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  • Can Mueller, a federal special prosecutor, bring charges in a state court (where the alleged crime was committed)? If he can, then a presidential pardon is essentially useless, unless Trump strong arms the governor.
    “Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

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    • Mueller has referred Tony Podesta, Vin Webber, and former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig to the SDNY to determine if they failed to register as foreign agents.

      It's a partisan witch hunt!!!!

      EDIT: Craig was a partner at the same law firm that Alex Van der Zwaan worked at (the Dutch lawyer who was already convicted and deported)


      https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/31/polit...ork/index.html

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      • The government says it will daily release all exhibits ("evidence" for you Trump gobblers) used in the Manafort trial at the link below.

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        • Originally posted by Ghengis Jon View Post
          Can Mueller, a federal special prosecutor, bring charges in a state court (where the alleged crime was committed)? If he can, then a presidential pardon is essentially useless, unless Trump strong arms the governor.
          No. He cannot. But he can send information to state prosecutors to bring charges if they want.
          To be a professional means that you don't die. - Takeru "the Tsunami" Kobayashi

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          • Originally posted by Dr. Strangelove View Post

            You're way behind. You now totally own the libs by arguing there's nothing wrong with collusion. Denying the existence of collusion is very 2017!!

            Kapture- There's been some reporting that Manafort thinks he can earn a pardon through non-cooperation. His defense strategy his defense unrolled today is essentially "Rick Gates is responsible for everything!".
            He's not gonna pardon Manafort. Truth of the matter, Trump wasn't very popular during the primaries for high level and establishment connected campaign managers. So he went with the RNC suggested, the guy that no one else hired. He worked for Mr Trump for a few months, Trump fired him and moved on. Absolutely none of the charges have a thing to do with 2016 or Trump.

            so why do i give a shit? You throw Manafort at me like it's proof of anything.

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            • Trump Admin set to escalate tariffs on China from 10% to 25%



              Periodic reminder that the Republicans in Congress are allowing him to do this because it is Congress, not the President, that ultimately controls trade policy, no matter what national security BS reasoning he attempts to invoke.

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              • Well had a birthday on Monday and today (and tomorrow) I work. Where I work from there is not much chance to use a comp and I am wary of tracking software which the company says they can legally put on the comps. Not a chance in hell, going keep any passwords on that comp and I tend to stay away from even these sites (unless there is exceptional downtime)

                As to myself....let me clear up some things....

                1) I have never been a teacher (though I have a tremendous amount of respect to those that are in the profession) as far as a career though at times have thought about it.

                2) I am a guy

                Talent-

                Yep, I made an error doing in financing UBI and free college I was looking at ten years instead of one. But I did find some numbers....

                The Costs of War Project is a team of 35 scholars, legal experts, human rights practitioners, and physicians, which began its work in 2011. We use research and a public website to facilitate debate about the costs of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.


                If you don't have all these wars going on you can put that money to better use. I will even grant that some OCO makes sense even if we ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan say 20 billion. That is 50 billion right there saved. Likewise, you could cut into the DoD and State base spending by the same percentage (saves 24 billion) and that would cut 3.3 billion off the FY 2018 interest payment on OCO. Right there is 77.3 billion. Get rid of the 1.9 trillion tax cut and there is another 190 billion (yes I know it is less at the beginning and higher later on down the road).

                So right now I have 267.3 billion. That is enough to give the 44 million Americans that are working FT AND have another gig on the side $500/mo. (cost would be 264 Billion for the year). This would be in addition to what they are currently making.

                2012 Detroit Lions Draft: 1) Cordy Glenn G , 2) Brandon Taylor S, 3) Sean Spence olb, 4) Joe Adams WR/KR, 5) Matt McCants OT, 7a) B.J. Coleman QB 7b) Kewshan Martin WR

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                • 33 trillion for your healthcare plan. Congrats, you just bankrupted the world's richest nation. Then again no one ever accused a socialist of understanding basic economics.

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                  • Worst. Idea. EVER.

                    Dont.JPG
                    “Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

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                    • If Trump pardons Manafort then he loses his right to refuse to testify under the 5th amendment. (he faces no criminal consequences). He can be held in contempt if he refuses to cooperate and be jailed until he purges the contempt

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                      • If you don't have all these wars going on you can put that money to better use. I will even grant that some OCO makes sense even if we ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan say 20 billion. That is 50 billion right there saved. Likewise, you could cut into the DoD and State base spending by the same percentage (saves 24 billion) and that would cut 3.3 billion off the FY 2018 interest payment on OCO. Right there is 77.3 billion. Get rid of the 1.9 trillion tax cut and there is another 190 billion (yes I know it is less at the beginning and higher later on down the road).
                        I'm not against cutting that spending, Whitley. There are also a number of other agencies you get dollars from, too. But, in any event I think that exercise highlights how hard it is to fund the Sanders Platform (which is going to the Democrat [Socialist] Platform in 2020). Getting rid of the tax cuts and then doubling every federal tax in America gets you something like halfway there.

                        As an aside, the UBI thing is really big -- $6000/yr. As a mechanism, I prefer the earned income tax credit. They're already going to get almost all of their federal tax dollars backs (and probably state) and have the potential for $2500 (I think a little higher) through that avenue. I'm fine with increasing amounts for folks without dependents and making the phase out more gradual. I'm also fine with paying it out in monthly installments. So,they get their refund, which will be significant and then can claim their EIC either in a lump sum or dispersed over 12 monthly payments.

                        The points being that (1) your UBI program is on top of this already existing program; and (2) a majority of Rs are open to expanding the program. It's exactly that type of targeted benefit that Americans like.
                        Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
                        Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.

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                        • I'm not that sold on UBI, Anne Lowery just came out with a book on it that I want to read. I think you have to really buy into the idea that automation and AI is going to eliminate vast numbers of jobs. I'm skeptical on that idea.

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                          • I completely missed this (where's Puterbac when you need him?) -- Kamala Harris proposes Rent Relief Act -- https://www.harris.senate.gov/news/p...de-rent-relief

                            The gist of it is this:

                            Rent Relief Act, the refundable tax credit will be available to individuals who live in rental housing and pay more than 30% of their gross income for the taxable year on their rent including utilities.
                            So, obviously, this is a California-based act. It's not at all income-qualified -- it's only "rent poor" qualified. So, someone making $120,000 and paying $45,000 in rent qualifies and someone making $35,000 and paying $8000 in rent does not. Super.

                            Setting that aside, this is a really interesting issue that lays out two fundamentally different ways of going about things and where to incentivize. The Harris proposal attempts to ease renter woe by assuming some of their rental burden. The problem, of course, is that they're already willing to pay X% of their income to rent. Why wouldn't they just take the government subsidy and put it back into rent? And that's expecially the case where virtually everyone in a market (say, oh, I don't know...Bay Area or LA) gets the same credit. In a hyper-competitive housing market what's the natural end of providing renters "free" money to rent? Higher rents. Duh. This is arguably borne out in the financial aid/college tuition model.

                            The alternative approach is, of course, increasing supply. California, heh, has a long history of making it very difficult to build rental units. Shocking they have a huge shortage. There are a number of steps government can take to increase supply in the form of being less of hinderance. You can also incentivize building as well. And, for truly lower income housing, you can use Govt regulation/incentives. From this side, it seems like the govt can both incentivize building and cap cost for lower income units.

                            So, I mean -- I'm not even sure the govt should be involved, but if it is, I obviously lean toward the latter. I certainly have zero interest in seeing my tax dollars subsidize Bay Area or LA renters making six figures.
                            Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
                            Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.

                            Comment


                            • We should all be very skeptical of UBI, I agree. Free tuition is a no-brainer though, for any tertiary education. It's an incremental cost that pays for itself in economic activity later. One thing that justifies American exceptionalism was the democratization of education. It was in this country that people figured out that education should be for all and not just for elites. Is not the only factor that made America great, but a significant one.

                              Beyond that, ultimately the Sanders platform is essentially a rollback to the Reagan years. It's beyond me why the supporters of this want to call it socialism. Nothing would be nationalized, there's no regulated prices for goods, there's no command economy. It's silly to focus on the labels anyways.

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                              • I think you have to really buy into the idea that automation and AI is going to eliminate vast numbers of jobs. I'm skeptical on that idea.
                                Yeah, my mother and father are entirely sold on this conclusion almost to the point of ruing technological advances and yearning for the good ol' days of the 1950s. It drives me fucking insane. First, the circumstances that led to the 1950s ain't ever coming back. Move on. It's done. Second, we are, as a country, WAY wealthier than we were in the halcyon days of the 1950s. Jesus fucking christ.

                                As to the primary issue -- I guess it's possible, but the American economy has convulsed and evolved for 200 years. Technology has consistently displaced workers while creating new jobs. The coming of the automobile surely spelled the doom for all those who worked on horseback, but someone had to make those cars. The advent of air travel doomed most train workers, but someone has to work at airports and on airplanes. AI and automation have and will displace workers, but someone has to build that technology (my brother is an engineer for a huge firm dedicated to building automation equipment). The requirements for the transitioning job market aren't as transferably fungible (unskilled to unskilled) as they were in my examples, so that may create a dead space in a generation -- a cohort that is "left behind" because they can't transfer skills and weren't market motivated early enough to obtain those skills. But future-wise it's hard not to see a prepared workforce.

                                Even with those "left behind" folks, I'm skeptical. Anecdotally, when I speak with manufacturing firms and groups dedicated to attracting such firms, a huge complaint is lack of adequate workforce. And that involves no training or minimal training jobs. To the extent there is a problem, it strikes me that it's more the loss of or lack of jobs in very specific areas and people who are unmotivated (for a host of reasons), to go to the work. But, that's anecdotal.

                                So, I'm way dubious of the "disappearing jobs" theory. Not saying it won't happen, but I'd really bet against it.
                                Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
                                Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.

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