Below is my column in The Hill on a second Biden Administration and what it might entail in policy priorities. With one year before the next presidential election, the Hill asked me to project what such a second term might look like for President Joe Biden.
Here is the column:
Popular culture has curses that range from the charming (the Billy Goat Curse) to the chilling (King Tut). No curse, however, has more objective validity than the “second-term curse” of American presidents.
Only 21 presidents have stuck around for a second round. For those, the additional four years have proven the downfall of many a good president. While some have actually died in successive terms (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lincoln, McKinley), others have politically died from debilitating scandals, from Grant to Nixon to Clinton.
Some second-term presidents become far too comfortable in their second terms, allowing others to dictate decisions. For others, it is not laziness but legacy that gets them into trouble. Some feel a certain liberty and license that comes with being a lame duck president — pursuing a legacy with reckless abandon.
A second term for Joe Biden could easily repeat these common failings, particularly if the U.S. House remains in Republican hands. During the election, Biden pledged to follow a strategy that served him well over decades of politics: to pursue a moderate government that unites a divided country. He then immediately abandoned that strategy and moved sharply to the left. The general view was that Biden handed over much of governing to far-left aides, who proceeded to populate his administration with similar far-left appointees.
The decision to lead from the left will likely make this election more challenging for Biden, who could well join the other 10 presidents who lost bids for a second term. To succeed, he will have to defend those policies in this election.
It is less likely that Biden will break from his Cabinet and staff in a second term. To the contrary, second terms tend to be more ideologically aggressive, since they free presidents from the need to face voters again. Second terms are when presidents are most likely to yield to temptation.
Second-term presidents tend to have little patience for negotiations as they watch their final years in politics ticking away. If one or both houses of Congress remain under Republican control, Biden is likely to dramatically increase his controversial use of unilateral action in areas like the environment and immigration. He has already lost a number of major legal cases finding that he exceeded his constitutional authority. That is not likely to deter a second-term Biden.
On specific issues, Biden is likely to become more extreme. For example, Biden has already been criticized by industry for fulfilling his pledge to hamper domestic fossil fuel production and prioritize green technologies in the name of climate change. Even as hostile countries like Iran, Russia and Venezuela have raked in billions from oil sales, Biden has pushed for greater production by such countries rather than production in the U.S. Despite activists’ superficial complaints, he showed a remarkable level of commitment to this issue in his first term, and is likely to become more aggressive in a second term.
Specifically, climate czar John Kerry is likely to be given the ultimate “green light” in pursuing new international agreements, as the administration tries to bolster flagging sales of electric vehicles by putting pressure on increasingly jittery auto companies.
Biden has often called for gun bans and other measures to combat gun violence in the U.S. His claims have often been historically or technically challenged. The range of movement for Congress and the president is limited by the Second Amendment and the individual right to bear arms.
However, Biden has made gun control a major part of his legacy. He is expected to pursue new legislation in Congress or, if the Democrats do not control the legislative branch, unilateral action through federal agencies. We saw the latter type of measures recently when the administration imposed a moratorium on gun exports to much of the world, pending further review about where such guns would be used.
Biden has faced withering criticism over his immediate moves after taking office to dismantle Trump measures along the border and to stop any additional building of segments of the wall, despite the rusting border material left at the border. Rather than build the wall, the administration sold the wall material for scrap, at a fraction of its value. As with the fossil fuel policies, the commitment has been impressive, given the public backlash with an election looming.
It is not clear whether a second term will make Biden more or less likely to crack down on the southern border. The good money says that he will be more likely to yield to his party’s far-left in pursuing paths to employment, citizenship and other measures for undocumented persons.
Across the country, Democrats are running on abortion rights. Biden has rallied his supporters to the pro-choice cause. With a sizable number of Democratic members making this a priority, it is likely that Biden will double down on unilateral actions to target states that have passed limits on abortion, while continuing an equally aggressive effort in the courts to reverse or curtail current precedent.
The other issue that concerns me most, as someone associated with the free speech community, is the impact that a second Biden term would have on the First Amendment. Biden in his first term has proven the most hostile president toward free speech since John Adams. His administration has maintained a massive system committed to the monitoring and censorship of social media.
This elaborate system recently led to a court finding an unprecedented, “Orwellian” attack on free speech. Free of the pressure of a new election, Biden is likely to double down on such efforts to limit what his administration views as “disinformation, malinformation, and misinformation” in areas ranging from climate change to election fraud to transgender policy.
For a second-term president, what is past is prelude. Biden is likely to move even more boldly to the left, where he has laid the foundation for his presidency. In his first term, Biden had every reason to fulfill his pledge to lead from the center, yet chose not to do so despite dismal popularity levels.
A shift now to the center would muddle his legacy and make him appear opportunistic in his prior appeal to the far-left. The odds favor more of the same, as Biden seeks to seal a legacy as the greenest, most anti-gun and most pro-abortion-rights president in history.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University.
Jonathan: No one has mentioned Ivanka Trump’s testimony on Tuesday in the NY civil fraud case. Ivanka was poised and calm–unlike the theatrics of her dad. But it didn’t go any better for her. Ivanka testified she was not involved in preparing financial statements for her dad. It was a “gotcha” moment in the trial. The prosecutor showed her emails between her and one of DJT’s attorneys that showed she was deeply involved in preparing statements of financial conditions in connection with the purchase of the Dural property.
Ivanka was the last witness for AG James. Now it’s up to DJT to put on his defense which now appears to be a slam dunk for AG James. He wants to drag out the case as long as possible. His lawyers say they have “up to 100 witnesses”. That’s an exaggeration. Whoever they put up will have to offer relevant evidence. If not Judge Ergonon will probably dismiss them.
Everyone knows how this saga will end. The line in Las Vegas puts DJT’s chance of prevailing at less than 1%–even on appeal. This means DJT’s real estate empire in NY is going to be slowly dismantled–including Mar-a-Lago and the golf resort in Scotland. Not a pretty picture. Business Insider says DJT still has about $425 million in liquid assets. But his days of real estate investing are over. No bank will now touch him. At age 77 what is DJT going to do? DJT claims his “brand” is worth billions. We’ll see how that works out.
You are one sick dude.
Anonymous: Yeah, I am “sick”. Sick and tired of having to write about DJT. Only when he is safely behind bars will I rest easy–knowing he is no longer a threat to our Democracy. The “sick” people are those who believe an insurrectionist, who tried to overthrow the government to stay in power, should be the next president!
An insurrectionist.
Who tried to overthrow the government.
A threat to our Democracy.
The Democrat Party is saving our Democracy I tell ya!
Saving us from Hitler himself!
No, Dennis. The Democrats are DESTROYING democracy.
Whipping idiots like you into a frenzy.
Destroying your brain by filling it with their reckless propaganda and dangerous lies.
The MSDNC brainwashing is thorough and complete in this one.
Terminal Trump Derangement.
There is no cure.
You wrongly assume Dennis is a human being. In fact, he is a bot, programmed to print “Jonathan: ” followed by the DNC talking points of the day.
“[Trump is] a threat to our Democracy.”
Yet again, the Left doing what it accuses others of doing.
Nothing says “democracy” like criminalizing the leading opposition candidate. Nothing says “democracy” like telling tens of millions of voters: Sorry. We won’t allow you to vote for the candidate of your choice.
Sam: no matter how many times DJT claims Biden is directing the DOJ to go after him, it is a lie. There’s no evidence of Biden being anything but hands-off with the DOJ. On the other hand, DJT promises to use the DOJ to go after his perceived enemies–THAT’S the story here. So, you have it exactly backwards–DJT. the wannabe dictator, is the one who doesn’t understand or respect separation of powers. The NYC and Georgia cases are NOT federal cases–they are state cases, so the DOJ is not involved. Jack Smith is prosecuting DJT in Florida for stealing classified documents after being told he couldn’t take them, for lying about returning them, for disclosing the contents and forcing the government to seize them. And, there is NO doubt that he did these things–HE ADMITTED IT. So, according to you, DJT should just get away with this? Why not ask Israel, one of our allies, how they feel about Trump’s handling of classified information–According to Newsweek, 10/9/23:
“Donald Trump’s sharing of alleged classified intelligence to Russian officials in the White House has come under scrutiny amid a large-scale attack by the Hamas Islamist military group against Israel.In May 2017, the former president defended his actions after he was found to have discussed sensitive details about an alleged Islamic State (ISIS) plot with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office. Trump said he had an absolute right to do so. The intel was said to have been provided to the U.S. from Israel.” Russia is an ally of Syria, and Israel believes that the classified information Trump leaked was shared with Hamas. Why on earth anyone could believe DJT could be trusted anywhere near classified documents is a mystery to me. His arrogant narcissism requires him to show off, and he doesn’t care that information that is classified bears this distinction because of the potential for damage it could cause to the US and its allies. DJT’s disclosure of this information may well have helped Hamas successfully attack Israel. Does DJT apologize? No–he claims an “absolute right” to disclose secrets from our allies.
DJT is also being prosecuted in Washington DC for: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights in his relentless pursuit to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election and remain in office. Again, there’s NO doubt about the facts of this case, either, because we’ve all seen what he did–the planning for Jan 6th, the “Stop the Steal” tours calculated to whip up support for the insurrection, the “fight like hell or you’re not going to have a country any more” speech, with the promise to join the disciples at the Capitol, attempts to bully Pence into refusing certified votes–it’s all out there. Should he just get away with this too?
One sick, anti-American communist (liberal, progressive, socialist, democrat, RINO, AINO) bound and determined to impose the “dictatorship of the hired help” and destroy private property, American freedom and American free enterprise.
One sick, direct and mortal enemy of the American thesis of freedom and self-reliance, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, actual Americans and America.
“DJT’s real estate empire in NY is going to be slowly dismantled . . .” (the Left says, with glee)
The Left has a fetish for dismantling things created and valued by others: Statues, wealth, reputation, peace and safety, Western jurisprudence, education, journalism, free speech, civilized countries (Israel), business (Covid lockdowns and riots) . . .
It is both a fascist and a nihilistic movement.
Equally concerning is how many on their own side refuse to see how *they* will be affected by their ‘leaders’ crass cravings to destroy other’s success.
“No one has mentioned Ivanka Trump’s testimony on Tuesday in the NY civil fraud case.”
That should have been your first clue, numbnuts. Only you care about the little orange man in your head.
LMAO at the stupidity.
Ya Know, when you have a ‘problematic employee’ (in this case, the POTUS), you can’t fire them because of the EEOC conundrum, you can’t demote them, ditto. So your left with promoting them Up-N-Out, to get rid of them. That’s Joe Biden, sad but true, were stuck with him until High-Noon January 20, 2025 Inauguration Day. Where upon Promoted Up-N-Out and on to Retired President Status, and all the carte blanche sweetheart deals, that he and Hunter can cook up.
It is what it Is, because He is what he Is.
January 20, 2025 – Can’t come soon enough.
EEOC is unconstitutional.
A second term of Biden would be the last of any president of the UNITED States, I fear. Of course, the alternative doesn’t look so rosy either. Our enemies, as we clearly see, are licking their chops.
Lies and Damned Lies
To peddle the fiction that “Bidenomics” (read “command economy”) is working, the Left deceives you into focusing on one thing, and one thing only, about inflation: That it’s down to only some 4%.
That rate of inflation is at best deceptive, on at least two counts: 1) That number *excludes* food and energy prices. Both of which are skyrocketing some 20% and 40%, respectively. 2) That rate *excludes* “inflation shrink,” e.g., a 12 oz. package that costs X, is now a 10 oz. package that costs X.
The Lies Continued:
The Left wishes for you to ignore the astronomically high interest rates, on everything from car and home loans to credit cards. When Trump left office, mortgage rates were about 3.1%. Today, they’re about 7.5%. In practical terms, that means that the person buying a typical, single-family home pays about *$800 more per month*.
The Damned Lies:
The Left wishes for you to ignore the only economic factor that ultimately counts: Standard of living and purchasing power. Because of Biden’s statist policies, both are plummeting.
If you like deprivation, vote for more Bidenomics.
The Left crowing about bringing down the inflation they brought about is like pushing your grandmother down the stairs and asking her why she’s running. Create a problem, solve it, and use it for a campaign point.
From FactCheck.Org, 10/8/2021:
“The statistics for the entirety of Donald Trump’s time in office are nearly all compiled. As we did for his predecessor four years ago, we present a final look at the numbers.
The economy lost 2.9 million jobs. The unemployment rate increased by 1.6 percentage points to 6.3%.
Paychecks grew faster than inflation. Average weekly earnings for all workers were up 8.7% after inflation.
After-tax corporate profits went up, and the stock market set new records. The S&P 500 index rose 67.8%.
The international trade deficit Trump promised to reduce went up. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services in 2020 was the highest since 2008 and increased 40.5% from 2016.
The number of people lacking health insurance rose by 3 million.
The federal debt held by the public went up, from $14.4 trillion to $21.6 trillion.
Home prices rose 27.5%, and the homeownership rate increased 2.1 percentage points to 65.8%.
Illegal immigration increased. Apprehensions at the Southwest border rose 14.7% last year compared with 2016.
Coal production declined 26.5%, and coal-mining jobs dropped by 16.7%. Carbon emissions from energy consumption dropped 11.5%.
Handgun production rose 12.5% last year compared with 2016, setting a new record.
The murder rate last year rose to the highest level since 1997.
Trump filled one-third of the Supreme Court, nearly 30% of the appellate court seats and a quarter of District Court seats.”
From TYT, 5/11/22 “How Trump Caused Inflation”–excerpt referring to the effect his deregulation had on the Commodities Futures Trading Commission
Enter Trump
The day Trump took office, CFTC member Chris Giancarlo took over as head of the CFTC. Giancarlo, a long-time veteran of the industry he was charged with regulating, had joined the CFTC under Obama.
It’s not that Obama chose Giancarlo for the job. But presidents can only appoint so many members of their own party to the CFTC. According to Eleanor Eagan of the Revolving Door Project, which tracks federal nominations, to appoint members of the opposite party, presidents traditionally defer to that party’s ranking senator. In Obama’s case, that was Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Giancarlo would do McConnell proud. And he took Trump’s campaign promise seriously.
It wasn’t Trump’s fault (yet), but by February 2017, there was “massive… [swaps trading] misconduct” going undetected, former CFTC enforcement chief Aitan Goelman told Reuters. But Giancarlo wanted less regulation, not more. In March 2017, Giancarlo told the International Futures Industry Conference, “The American people have entrusted the Trump Administration to turn the tide of over-regulation.”
Giancarlo told his Boca Raton audience that the CFTC’s job was to help Wall Street, not restrain it. The CFTC, he said, had to “foster open, transparent, competitive and financially sound markets in ways that best foster American economic growth and prosperity.” At that point in Giancarlo’s prepared remarks, a footnote explains that, “The President’s executive orders… require elimination of two regulations for every new one issued.”
Meaning: No way in hell would Trump’s CFTC close the footnote 563 loophole. And that fall, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made it clear he wanted the footnote 563 loophole not only to stick around, but to take off its shoes and get comfortable.
An October 2017 Treasury Department report to Trump by Mnuchin and his counselor, Craig Phillips, refers to the then-still-pending CFTC rule that would close the loophole. Mnuchin and Phillips write that the CFTC should “reconsider” trying to regulate swaps between foreign U.S. affiliates “merely on the basis that U.S.-located personnel arrange, negotiate, or execute the swap.”
Mnuchin was explicitly telling Trump that the CFTC shouldn’t regulate ostensibly non-U.S. swaps merely because of the tiny, nitpicky fact that the swaps were actually done by U.S. traders for U.S. firms on U.S. soil.
By this time, footnote 563 had totally upended commodities trading. It wasn’t yet driving wild price fluctuations, but it was Hoovering swaps trades overseas and out of regulated territory.
By as early as August 2014, the volume of U.S. swap trades in regulated markets “had plummeted,” Levinson reported. By the spring of 2015, it was enough to shift the center of gravity. Levinson writes:
“This spring, traders and analysts working deep in the global swaps markets began picking up peculiar readings: Hundreds of billions of dollars of trades by U.S. banks had seemingly vanished.”
The trades were still happening, it turned out, but “the major banks had tweaked a few key words in swaps contracts and shifted some other trades to affiliates in London, where regulations are far more lenient.”
The shift, Levinson says, “reflected an effort by some of the largest U.S. banks – including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley – to get around new regulations on derivatives…”
By December 2014, Levinson reported, some swaps markets had lost 95 percent of their trading volume in less than two years.
In June 2018, Greenberger’s paper came out, connecting the dots. It reads like a detective novel, albeit one written for Wall Street nerds. Spoiler alert: Footnote 563 did it.
In the latter half of 2019, the CFTC got a new chair: Trump appointee Heath Tarbert. An industry attorney, Tarbert wasn’t just a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, his most recent gig had been as an acting undersecretary at the Treasury Department — working for Mnuchin. (Bloomberg later wrote that Tarbert had a “pared-back approach to policing overseas swaps trades.”)
Not surprisingly, by the end of 2019, Tarbert had made progress on Mnuchin’s earlier recommendation. Tarbert came up with a new rule correctly interpreting what Mnuchin meant by “reconsider”: Kill the 2016 proposal to close the footnote loophole. The now-Republican-run CFTC wrote:
“The Commission is today withdrawing the 2016 Proposal. …the Commission’s current views on the matters addressed in the 2016 Proposal [have] evolved since the 2016 Proposal as a result of market and regulatory developments in the swap markets and in the interest of international comity…”
That last line about “international comity” alludes to European nations threatening a swaps trade war if the CFTC asserted international jurisdiction. (Never mind how much of the European swaps market was actually U.S. shell companies.)
The two Democrats on the CFTC dissented against withdrawing the rule. One of them, Rostin Behnam, wrote that Tarbert’s new rule was coming “seemingly in response” to Mnuchin’s recommendations, which, in turn, explicitly arose from Trump’s deregulatory executive order.
What About Inflation?
Greenberger’s 2018 paper was called “Too Big to Fail” because the concern was (and still is) that these commodity swaps could cause another crash a la 2008.
Without regulators checking that U.S. firms have the money to back up their bets, and with no transparency about who’s betting how much with whom, another global economic crisis is just one domino away. But a crash is just one peril of deregulating swaps.
If a global crash is the planet-destroying meteor of swaps, inflation is the global warming of swaps. And just as you can’t quantify how much of any given storm is caused by global warming, there’s no way to tease out the exact inflationary impact of swaps on any given commodity.
But in any industry, the pros can tell when the supply-and-demand fundamentals are out of whack with the market’s price-setting. That could mean price-gouging…but in that case, how come there’s no oil company hunting for market share by undercutting their price-gouging competitors? Those undercutters don’t exist, because everyone who actually sells real, black, gooey oil is outnumbered ten-to-one by traders who’ve never seen unrefined oil, let alone sold it.
“You can’t do it,” Greenberger says, referring to undercutting. “If somebody came to the market today and said, ‘I’m going to sell my oil at $80, it won’t work because of the futures/swaps price.”
So Wall Street dominates the swaps markets, which drive the futures markets (where Wall Street also bets), which drive the spot prices (ditto). Oil companies reap a benefit, for sure, but they couldn’t buck Wall Street if they wanted to.
But if Wall Street sets the price, why run it up? Because the bigger the bet, the more money they make.
If a Wall Street trader bets that oil will hit $80 a barrel, that bet influences how other traders bet. Someone’s likely to up the ante, even if it’s just by a dollar. “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, so I win the bet,” Greenberger says. Left unchecked, it’s a one-way ratchet. “The prices are always going up until they’re finally caught.”
(As TYT reported at the start of the pandemic, those Wall Street firms secretly wanted to help oil-company clients by goosing the price of oil. How? By getting people back in offices – pre-vaccine, in the middle of a pandemic – so they’d have to buy gas to get to work.)
Greenberger told me that he was approached early this year by a Senate staffer who wanted to know whether Wall Street could be responsible for rising gas prices. Greenberger didn’t think so. After all, people were commuting and traveling again. The fundamentals of supply and demand lined up.
But by the time I spoke with Greenberger, with the same question the staffer had asked, prices had soared. And by then, Greenberger had changed his mind.
“We’ve got a war in Ukraine, but it doesn’t justify oil being at $100 [per barrel],” Greenberger says. And it’s not just oil. I ask him whether this dynamic applies to other commodities. He says, “Absolutely.”
According to Greenberger, “There is a question about how unmoored the [commodity] markets are from supply and demand,” but we can’t quantify it, because no one’s even investigating the possibility that it’s happening.
Why did I and a Senate staffer both turn to Greenberger on this question? Because he’s the one who figured it out the last time Wall Street did this.”
So, you can try to blame Biden for “creating the problem” all you want, but Trump’s de-regulation of the commodities market is a major driver of inflation, especially as to gas prices.
Sam, you are correct!
They can apply all the new math they want. One need only go to the grocery store or do any shopping. It is bad. Housing affordability is the worst in 4 decades. Investment accounts are down and those with any growth are anemic. It is rough out there. People are getting hammered. The government now pays a trillion dollars is interest alone per year. This administration has cut nothing. Instead, it is spend spend spend.
The border is wide open and at least 8 million illegals have flowed through, many with their hand out without working. Crime is rampant and thugs are emboldened.
What did Biden have on his schedule yesterday? Nothing. It is rarely more than a couple of items. A typical first grader does more than Biden.
The bus is speeding toward the cliff and the driver is asleep.
Understanding how commodities deregulation by Trump has caused inflation, especially as to gas prices, is not “new math”–it’s basic economics. Investopedia defines “commodities”: A commodity is a basic good used in commerce that is interchangeable with other commodities of the same type.
Commodities are most often used as inputs in the production of other goods or services.
Investors and traders can buy and sell commodities directly in the spot (cash) market or via derivatives such as futures and options.
Hard commodities refer to energy and metals products, while soft commodities are often agricultural goods.
Many investors view allocating commodities in a portfolio as a hedge against inflation.” Trump refused to close a loophole in commodities trading designed to stabilize prices on things like agricultural items and petroleum, and that’s how his incompetence is responsible for the inflation Republicans are trying to blame on Biden.
The border is NOT “wide open”–why won’t Republicans agree to work with Democrats to pass laws limiting those seeking asylum? Because they can try to blame migrants on Biden, but US law allows migrants to come here to seek asylum. Yesterday, Biden got Israel to agree to a 4-hour per day ceasefire. That will save lives. What alt-right media outlet lied to you about Biden “doing nothing”?
LIAR
EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE THAT WE KNOW OF SO FAR
LIAR
Trump is now responsible for the high gas prices…LMAO You are a sick, reprehensible, and demented being.
LIAR
In case you missed it on your alt-left news or Rachel Maddow didn’t mention it…Netenyahu said they didn’t agree to jack sh!t.
LIAR
As for you previous rant…show of hands for anyone who read it…bwahahahahahaha what a waste of time.
Instead of resorting to name-calling, why don’t you cite some credible source of contrary argument or facts, if you can find any? You can’t. Trump is responsible for high prices for gas and food due to chucking regulations on commodities dealing. Read the admittedly lengthy piece above–it names those experts who explain how and why Trump is responsible for the inflation we are experiencing, and how and why it’s not Biden’s fault. I merely cited their opinions and explanations–just HOW does that make me a liar?
Hear, hear, Gigi!
Repeating lies makes you a liar. It has already been explained to you how inflation works and what causes it. Print more money, money worth less, takes more money to buy the same thing. Inflation. Print more money, more money available to chase fewer goods (the latter a global problem created by covid, not trump). Inflation.
Naming names and puking up 800 lines of unadulterated bullcrap doesnt change or mitigate these facts.
Oil prices went down under Trumps policies. period. Oil prices rose under Bidens policies. Period. Biden dumped Trumps policies on day one and predictably fuel prices rose. Manipulating obscure statistics to bolster a viewpoint is lying. Repeating lies makes you a liar.
You can try to make it complicated to confuse and conflate but its not. And those who wont take responsibility for the repercussions of their failed policies are the worst, because they will never change.
What happened to “gas prices are Putins fault??? Or its because “Texas makes electricity from crude oil???” Two more lies you spread and refused to own when shown the contra proof. Every time you are shown to be wrong you just say “i am just posting what other people say”. Exactly the problem. You’ve never had an independent thought that demonstrated a smidgen of intelligence. You just regurge alt-left nonsense and then belittle other peoples sources. LMAO
You people are pathetic. You’ll believe anything that worships at the alter of orange man bad.
Only you dont really believe it. You just repeat it because it makes u feel good. Which makes you what?
A LIAR
“Yesterday, Biden got Israel to agree to a 4-hour per day ceasefire.”
Liar
Yesterday, Biden took a nap.
And Netanyahu said he didnt agree to any such thing.
“So, you can try to blame Biden for “creating the problem” all you want, but Trump’s de-regulation of the commodities market is a major driver of inflation, especially as to gas prices.”
This is you making a brain dead assertion, not just “posting their views and opinions”.
And demonstrating your stupidity again. “…of inflation. Especially as to gas prices.” Gas prices are NOT part of the inflation metric. So not “especially”. So you pick the name that best describes you, stupid, idiot, ignorant, or liar? Its one of them if not all.
“Trump is responsible for high prices for gas and food due to chucking regulations on commodities dealing.”
More lies. You said the commodities bs caused inflation. Gas and food are NOT included in the inflation numbers.
More lies. Trump didnt “chuck” anything. Earlier you claimed he “failed to close the loopholes”. Which one is the lie?
Even this Greenbooger idiot that you quoted said he could not “quantify” the effects. But any idiot can tell you the effect of printing and dumping $6T into a $20T economy.
LIAR
“The border is NOT “wide open”–why won’t Republicans agree to work with Democrats to pass laws limiting those seeking asylum? Because they can try to blame migrants on Biden, but US law allows migrants to come here to seek asylum.”
Then why are the numbers under Biden staggeringly higher? The asylum laws didnt change on Jan 25, 2021.
I will tell you. Policy. Period.
In his first 100 days, Biden signed 94 executive actions on immigration. None designed to stop the illegal immigration.
It took a little longer to eliminate remain in mexico, but he did that too.
Also, what US law allows is for people who cross between ports of entry to be a)jailed b)fined c)immediately deported upon release from jail.
You’ve been schooled on this before too. Yet you keep repeating the lies. That makes you a
LIAR
Abortion seems to trump fuel prices, inflation, and the general malaise coursing through America. But the good news is they are the ones who will suffer the worse if Bidenomics is allowed to continue.
It will drive reluctant voters to the polls but i doubt it will change Trumps support for 2024. “Then vs now” is a powerful argument.
I don’t agree that President Grant had “Second Term Curse”. I opi8ne that he did quite well during his 8 years in olffice.
Tuesday’s Elections:
Dobbs Backlash Still Potent
Abortion rights advocates won major victories Tuesday as voters in conservative-leaning Ohio decisively passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing access to abortion, while those in ruby-red Kentucky reelected a Democratic governor who aggressively attacked his opponent for supporting the state’s near-total ban on the procedure.
In Virginia, Democrats were projected to take control of the state legislature after campaigning heavily on preserving abortion access.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/07/abortion-ohio-kentucky-virginia-elecitons/
…………………………………………………………………..
These results come right on top of polls showing Biden losing to Trump. Pollsters have to now wonder what those polls missed. Because yesterday was ‘not’ encouraging to Republicans.
Ohio’s GOP legislature had voted to ban abortion at 6 weeks. That ban was put on hold by a judge. In the meantime, a ballot initiative to guarantee abortion rights became a runaway train that rolled right over Republicans.
In Virginia, Republican Governor Glenn Younkin was feeling sufficiently sure of himself to propose a 15 week abortion ban. So-called ‘moderate’ Republicans have been bandying that ban as a ‘centrist compromise’. Virginians weren’t having it!
Kentucky’s proximity to the south has to be alarming to anti-abortion forces. Red states aren’t supposed to preserve abortion rights.
In the days to come, anti-abortion leaders will be telling their troops to ‘reframe the message’. The idea seems to be that the public actually wants abortion restrictions, but Republicans are somehow using the wrong language.
The 15 week ban, in fact, was supposed to splinter pro-choice forces. Yet if Virginia is any indication, 15 weeks is not the wedge issue it was hoped to be.
How many abortions have you had? When was the last time you had carnal knowledge with a woman? Gigi doesnt count
REGARDING ABOVE:
Tom Nash is Estovir, our resident puppeteer. Estovir is the gay-obsessed creep who write most of the comments on these threads.
Estovir is Thinkthrough, James, Upstate Farmer, Iowa 2, Old Man From Kansas, Guy Ventner, Ralph DeMimus, Ralph Chappell, N.N., dogsnowden, Mistress Ballhere and many, many more.
Estovir has always had more interest in gays than political issues.
I am not Estovir, Thinkthrough, James, Upstate Farmer, Iowa 2, Old Man From Kansas, Guy Ventner, Ralph DeMimus, Ralph Chappell, N.N., dogsnowden, Mistress Ballhere. I am Tom Nash, son of Gigi, kissing cousin of Wally, daughter of Concerned Citizen and niece of Bob. I am you. You are me. We are embracing this moment as an act of unity, one-ness and spreading love. Or herpes. Or whatever flips your pecker. By the way, what kind of boys you into?
Estovir must have a subscription to some gay video service. Where else would he get this stuff?
Nice to see you back yoga!
I do not care if you are on the left or the right.
This X is the same as Y nonsense is just a reflection of your own cluelessness.
I doubt that these names you list all refer tot he same poster. But even if they did SO WHAT ?
Is your real name “anonymous” ?
My real name is not John B Say.
I have only posted here rarely as anonymous – usually accidentally or when I can not login to WP.
And under my real name – again accidentally when I login using the wrong method.
If as you claim others frequently post under multiple names – SO WHAT ?
Personally I think using multiple names is a mistake.
I try to consistently use jbsay specifically to establish a reputation for accuracy and trust.
I have been attacked and insulted. But very rarely has someone demostrated a factual (or logic error) on my part and in those instances I have corrected the error.
Making the effort to get facts and logic correct means that others can trust my posts.
I doubt you do. But Christ could descend from heaven and you would still not beleive.
John Say — I have pointed out your mistakes in physics and mathematics but you didn’t acknowledge those. So I now just skip over your screed…
I did not acknowledge error because there was no error.
You completely lust that debate.
That you are stupid enough to bring it up again is a reflection of your own cluelessness.
You tried to pretend that a general term was incorrect – because there was a more precise mathematical definition – if that were true – you would still have been wrong – the general term was correct as used.
But you were not ever correct with respect to a more precise narrower context definition.
As to Physics – you were literally trying to argue that Plank and Stephan Boltzmann are incorrect.
Finally – while you are entitled to read or not read whatever you wish – CLEARLY you read what I wrote, you did NOT skip over it,
Your not even capable of being honest about your own obvious conduct.
Only by requiring people to post under their own names will solve the issue. WSJ did that. I’m growing weary of these posts. Used to like them, but increasingly it seems the same persons are many different screen names.
ROTFLMAO! NUTCHACHACHA absolutely does not count!
Why do you think the polls “missed” something? Biden is highly unpopular. Also he’s a fed, whereas the abortion measures that won were at the state level. That is consistent with what Dobbs did: kick the issue back to the states where it always belonged.
The left wing nut logic goes like this – when polls correctly note outcomes that favor them, that means that all polls in the same time frame on other issues that they do not like must be wrong.
Personally I found the fact that Tuesdays results tracked the pools as evidence that the Trump polls are likely correct.
The results of yesterdays elections closely reflect the pre-election polls.
You seem to wish to believe that only those polls that you like are correct.
Separately there is ZERO chance that “pro-life” leaders reframe their message.
That claim shows your poor ability to comprehend others.
pro-Life leaders beleive they are fighting for human lives.
Politics is just the battlefield.
Your argument is like saying – that Jews will reframe their position and accept that some genocide is acceptable.
As to Virginia – it is a blue state and has been for some time.
The FACT that it elected republicans accross the board in the executive and that it is even close in the VA house and senate collapses your entire argument.
I would further note that pre-dobbs the abortion restrictions you write about are the consequence of pro-life forces weilding enormous political clout.
I will personally predict that the supreme court will not touch the issue of abortion again. While I beleive Dobbs is error – so was Roe.
Regardless the supreme court will be happy to let states do as they please in the future.
As to the long term political consequences – outside of purple states the consequences will fade to inconsequential.
In most of the country nothing has changed regarding abortion. In a few states it has gotten slightly more difficult.
But Gutmacher – and arm of Planned Parenthood has data over the decades that demonstrates that restrictions on abortion have had the sole effect of getting women to make choices earlier. And that is a good thing.
Despite idiotic ranting from the left – we are not going to see an end to birth control or the return of back alley abortions – whcih again according to gutmacher data – resulted in about the same number of deaths from botched abortions as post rowe.
The fundimental shift as a result of Dobbs is symbolic not meaningful.
Finally I would ask if state constitutional ammendments have so much teeth – why do we still have mailin elections ?
38 states have constitutional provisions requiring secret ballot elections and there is no way that a mailin election can ever meet the requirements of a secret ballot.
I will consider left wing nuts mangling state constitutions to be consequential when left wing nuts actually follow their state constitutions.
So election results that pretty closely tracked the pre-election polls are somehow proof that the polls that show Trump obliterating Biden are wrong ?
It’s going to be hard for Biden’s second term curse to be worse than his first term curse.
And the first term curse isn’t over yet. God help us all.
There, he said it.
“First Term Curse!”
God help us all!
During the election, Biden pledged to follow a strategy that served him well over decades of politics: to pursue a moderate government that unites a divided country. He then immediately abandoned that strategy and moved sharply to the left. The general view was that Biden handed over much of governing to far-left aides, who proceeded to populate his administration with similar far-left appointees.
Left wing politics is killing America, from womb to the nursing home (Biden’s COVID mandates). Now children are collapsing psychiatrically like never before. This from a first world nation with first world problems. Adults have abandoned their responsibilities as parents, and prioritized other activities over their kids. More proof that Left wing politics are killing the innocent, most defenseless: from the womb to the aged with euthanasia.
This wasn’t a problem when Judeo-Christian religious principles were followed by Americans for 200+ years as the Founding Fathers envisioned.
res ipsa loquitur
Children in Mental-Health Crisis Surge Into Hospital E.R.s
According to data gathered from 38 children’s hospitals by the Children’s Hospital Association, trips to emergency departments for mental-health treatment were 20% higher in 2022 compared with 2019. Children seeking help in E.R.s for suicide or self-harm soared 50% at those hospitals during the same period.
Wall Street Journal
“He then immediately abandoned that strategy and moved sharply to the left.” hahahahah
hahahahah
hahahahahahaha
Oh wait, you mean the $ Billions sent out to business and individuals in “one time” stimulus? That would certainly be a far left policy. Oh wait, that was trump.
UHhhh, there has to be something.
What a crock of sh–.
Like any administration, there is good and bad. The news media picks whatever point they want and then shapes the “news” to fit that slot. You JT, are no different, and it is getting mighty old when you quickly spout nonsense from trump, that is then proven to be a lie, but never retract the lies you spout.
On abortion, perhaps you missed it JT but there was an election in Ohio yesterday. You should look it up.
It’s getting old JT, trump is not your friend.
Absolutely Trumps Covid spending bears some responsibility for the current inflation.
It was a mistake.
But Biden trippled down on that mistake.
Inflation at 2% is bad, inflation at 9% is lethal.
Since Jan 2021 the cost of living has gone up 20%, While wages ALWAYS lag inflation and have gone up very little.
All of us – and particularly the poor are worse off.
You are correct – most administrations are a collection of good and bad.
There are a few things Biden has done that I agree with.
There are many things Trump did I disagree with.
That does not alter the FACT that Trump was the best president in the 21st century – a century with a relentless list of bad presidents.
While Biden is working hard to depose James Buchannon as the worst president in US history.
Jonathan: Another bit of news caught my eye this morning. No doubt you missed it so here it is. “She Knows” has an article entitled “Ivana Trump’s $22.5 million NYC Townhouse Has No Buyers & Donald Trump Might Be the Problem”. After Ivana’s death last year her kids, Ivanka, Eric and Don Jr. put the 8,800 sq. ft. residence on the market. Even after discounting the price by $4 million they still can’t find a buyer.
If you look at the photos of the interior you can see why. “Garish” doesn’t begin to describe the townhouse. Ivana described her residence as one “Louis the 16th would have lived in if he had the money”. The “She Knows” article describes the residence this way: “It’s dripping with gold fixtures, leopard-print furniture, and photos of the Trump family on the walls…” Kind of reminds you of Trump’s old Trump Tower apartment–that DJT claimed was 30,000 sq. ft when it is only about 10,00 sq. ft.
DJT and Ivana liked the “Roccoco” style of decoration–ornamental, flamboyant and lots of gold–I mean lots of gold! Fitting for a King and Queen. That’s probably why there are no buyers for Ivana’s townhouse. Too many bad vibes from the Trump era!
Or the problem might be the Roccoco design.
Or the problem might be the very soft real estate market in NYC.
I would further note that your post is in error.
There are not “no buyers”.
There are no buyers at the current price.
The laws of supply and demand dictate that there is a price at which everything can be sold.
WE even literally sell $hit.
What should cause you to face reality is that AG James seems to think that Mar-A-Lago in some of the most expensive real estate int he country, is worth less than Ivana’s home.
Bad news for Democrats. Expect Dem supporters to try to cancel this event while screaming anti-Semitic phrases like the Nazis they are
Film of Hamas atrocities to be screened for Hollywood executives
There will be two screenings: one in Los Angeles and one in New York.
The film prepared by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, which documents in a graphic and hard-to-digest manner the atrocities inflicted by Hamas terrorists on the residents of the communities near the Gaza border, will be screened for several Hollywood executives on Wednesday at an event initiated by several Hollywood Jews, led by Israeli-American Oscar-winning director Guy Nattiv (“Golda”). The actress Gal Gadot and her husband Jaron Varsano are also assisting with the matter.
In the invitation sent to Hollywood executives, Nattiv wrote that the video, which is about 40 minutes long, includes violent and very difficult graphic images, including documentation of murders committed by Hamas terrorists and filmed by them.
🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱
Judge Chutkan has ordered Trump to notify the court of his intent to use an advice of counsel defense AND turn over all evidence he would intend to use by 1/15/2024. (DoJ had wanted it by 12/18/23.)
Judge Chutkan has already been shot down once for constitutional violations by a unanimous 3 judge pannel – 2 obama judges and one biden appointee.
Not specific to Trump – Why exactly must ANY defendant tell the court or the prosecutor what their case will be ?
Once upon a time those on the left would join me in opposing this kind of nonsense.
I find it odd the left today are very illiberal.
They share an enormous amount of bad political positions with the right of a century ago.
They are fascists.
“ Judge Chutkan has already been shot down once for constitutional violations by a unanimous 3 judge pannel – 2 obama judges and one biden appointee.”
No, they didn’t “shoot down judge Chutkan for constitutional violations” (paraphrase). They haven’t had a hearing yet. All they did was temporarily stay her gag order until they can determine if it’s merited. They haven’t determined constitutionality.
Yes, they did – her “gag order” was reversed as it violates the constitution and federal law dating to 1828 and Supreme court opinions dating to 1831, reaffirmed in 1874, and expanded in 1941 and again in the 60’s.
They stayed her gag order because it is unconstitutional – that is the standard that must be met for a stay.
The burden of proof to obtain a stay is on the appellant and the standard is highly likely to prevail.
You can try to spin this all you want.
You, democrats, the left seem to think you get to make up the rules as you go.
One set of rules for Trump or those on the right, another for yourselves.
We have seen a 400% increase in hate crimes against jews – these are not being committed by the “far right”.
These are being committed by left wing nuts. You know those like you who are constantly ranting that everyone but you is a hateful, hating hater.
It is absolutely hilarious that left wing nuts are championing the cause of the most hateful, homophobic, sexists, racist groups on earth.
We got to listen to over a year of lies from jokers like you about J6 protestors smearing feces in the capitol. When the video is finally released we see peaceful protestors walking respectfully through the capitol – guided by capitol police.
A few days ago pro-Hamas left wing nuts stormed the capital. Disrupting proceedings and votes – so actually disrespectful, violent hateful racist bigots get a slap on the wrist, while peaceful protestors spend years in jail.
That speaks volumes for the garbage that is your ideology and politics.
Elsewhere – you or another left wing nut is posting that god forbid Trump is elected he will prosecute his enemies and destroy democracy. Too late – YOU have already done that.
I would note that one way or the other – your ideology is doomed. Not because the right will take you out – though they may.
But because even if nothing else gets in your way, you will self destruct and eat yourselves.
John B. Say,
“Yes, they did – her “gag order” was reversed as it violates the constitution and federal law dating to 1828 and Supreme court opinions dating to 1831, reaffirmed in 1874, and expanded in 1941 and again in the 60’s.”
No they didn’t. You’re clearly making stuff up. No court has stated gag orders violate the constitution or are unconstitutional. The act of 1831 does not determine gag orders as unconstitutional. Your examples of case law don’t support your assertions.
Then you contracidct yourself when you admit they didn’t reverse the gag order,
“They stayed her gag order because it is unconstitutional – that is the standard that must be met for a stay.”
Reverse and stay are two very different motions.
The court did not determine the gag order is unconstitutional. The stay is procedural.
“The ruling administratively and temporarily stays Judge Tanya Chutkan’s decision to bar Trump from publicly targeting court staff, potential witnesses and members of special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutorial team, a ruling Trump asked the higher court to put on hold. Friday’s order is not a decision on the merits of the gag order Chutkan issued last month, but is meant to give the appeals court more time to consider the arguments in the case. ”.
You are clearly wrong. “The order is not a decision on the merits of the gag order Chutkan issued last month, but is meant to give the appeals court more time to consider the arguments in this case.”
It’s not because the gag order is unconstitutional.
Svelaz: Very well put!
OT
NEWSFLASH!
_______________
“It’s the [baby killing], stupid!”
– James Carville
__________________
ABORTION, aka baby killing, wins big in Virginia.
In Israel and most other locations, baby killing is bad; in America, baby killing dominates all elections.
The 19th Amendment, the National Suicide Amendment, killed America.
The ridiculous 19th Amendment must be killed.
The 21st Amendment killed the ridiculous 18th.
America is completely invaded, conquered and insane.
The future of the brilliant intellectuals turned out to be a disaster in which actual Americans killed off their own population – who does that?
America needs a complete reset back to the intent of the American Founders and Framers.
Lincoln, Marx, Margaret Sanger et al. didn’t kill America by a vote, they killed it by stealing “political power [that grew] out of the barrel of a gun,” said Mao Tse-Tung.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RE-SET
UNPLUG UNIT, WAIT TWO OR THREE MINUTES, PLUG UNIT BACK IN
PC reset:
Right click shut down and sign out – press and (hold-lshift) – click on power button/restart – click troubleshoot – press on remove everything – reset PC – click on just remove my files – done.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Great American Re-Set
The next actual American conservative president (i.e. now impossible) must pull a “Lincoln,” present a weak, lame, and convenient pretext, declare martial law, as Lincoln did, seize power, arbitrarily conduct “total war” on and utterly erase hysterical, incoherent, redistributionist, socially engineered, and baby-murderous liberalism, and completely reset and “fundamentally transform the United States of America” back to 1789, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the innate restricted vote of a republic, all of which was the intent of the American Founders.
George hates women. Unless they’re broodmares.
says the groomer
you said, looking in the mirror
Wait, Aninny! I like women just fine. I have three in my house. They’re very nice.
I like procreation and a fertility rate sufficient to grow and defend the nation.
If women are now men, however, who will make Americans?
Oh, it’s OK if there are no Americans, you say.
Look at Japan; Japan is imploding; it’s OK if there’s no Japan, right.
The American fertility rate is in a “death spiral”; more Americans die than are born.
Where’s the future in that, I ask oh, Brrrrainiac?
Oh, it’s OK if there is no America, right?
Yes, that’s right, AI is going to eliminate this species anyway so a desire to perpetuate American existence is moot in the end, right, and this is the end because American women aren’t making anymore Americans.
Thank you so much, Ladies.
That’s all, folks!
Jonathan: It looks like you have given up trying to impeach Joe Biden. Otherwise, why are you writing about the policies Biden would pursue in a second term? You claim Biden will pursue a “far-left” agenda in a second term and “seeks to seal a legacy as the greenest, most anti-gun and most pro-abortion rights president in history”. Like all of that is bad! So let’s go through each of your claims and see if are really “far-left” or reflect the priorities of most Americans.
Biden has made “green” technology a top priority. Polls show two-thirds of Americans support prioritizing the development of renewable energy sources over gas and oil. They believe climate change is a threat to the planet and support carbon neutrality by 2050. It’s not a “left/right” issue.
As to gun control Biden continues to lose in the courts–especially with the conservative Supremes. And while gun control remains a controversial issue, a recent Gallop poll shows 57% of Americans believe the sale of firearms should be strictly controlled–especially assault-style weapons frequently used in all the recent mass shootings.
On abortion Biden clearly supports the right of a woman to make her own reproductive decisions. After the Dobbs SC decision many states passed anti-abortion laws. But since then there has been pushback against Dobbs in many states. A great majority of Americans support the right to abortion. That was evident in yesterday’s off-year elections. Despite efforts by Republicans to keep the measure off the ballot, voters in Ohio overwhelmingly passed the measure to preserve abortion rights. In Missouri, where the GOP was the first state to abolish abortion after the Dobbs decision, there is now voter pushback. Through mass organizing voters are proposing a ballot measure next year to retore abortion rights. As in Ohio the GOP controlled legislature in Missouri is trying to keep the measure off the ballot because they know it will probably pass.
Abortion rights were front and center in other elections yesterday. In Kentucky, Dem Gov. Andy Beshear was reelected by 26%. His opponent, AG Daniel Cameran was a big supporter of banning abortion. That was a big issue in the election yesterday. In Pennsylvania Dan McCaffery won a seat on the state SC on a platform of defending abortion rights. Abortion is going to be a big issue in the 2024 elections. When given a choice voters support the right to reproductive freedom. That’s bad news for the GOP and why Biden’s position is not “far-left”.
That said, what you apparently don’t want to talk about is DJT’s agenda if he is re-elected next year. With all his legal troubles that’s not assured. He might not be on the ballot in some states. DJT and his think-tank loyalists have already set forth the agenda for a DJT second term. It’s a blueprint for authoritarian rule and revenge. From day one DJT plans to invoke the Insurrection Act to use the military to go after those who would oppose his policies. DJT wants to turbo-politicize the DOJ to prosecute his former aides and officials who turned against him over the 2020 election–like John Kelly, Bill Barr, Ty Cobb and Mark Milley. DJT thinks Milley should be prosecuted for “treason”. DJT has told his supporters he would go after Joe Biden and his family. In March DJT addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference. He promised his supporters who had been “wronged and betrayed” he would be their “justice” and “retribution”.
DJT’s plans are for political prosecutions, imposition of military rule and dismantling of our democratic system of governance. That is a “far-right” authoritarian agenda. The Q for you is this: Would you be comfortable if DJT prosecuted your good friend Bill Barr for saying the emperor had no clothes–that the 2020 election was not “stolen”?
Thanks Dennis……+100
Biden has made “green” technology a top priority. Polls show two-thirds of Americans support prioritizing the development of renewable energy sources over gas and oil. They believe climate change is a threat to the planet and support carbon neutrality by 2050. It’s not a “left/right” issue.
Except for the fact the math does not work.
European countries are abandoning the phony climate change Long Con. Not having unlimited money other nations are forced to follow the science and call BS on green energy.
Iowan2,
2 major off shore wind projects have been canceled as they have shown not to be economically viable. The Biden admin is considering a bailout for some of these wind companies.
Remind you of a certain solar company during the Obama admin?
Also within the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which has nearly nothing to do with inflation even Biden admits he wished he never called it that, actually has a multi-billion dollar slush fund for green energy companies.
You can read about it here: https://realclearwire.com/articles/2023/11/06/too_favored_to_fail_taxpayers_bailout_bidens_green_friends_990550.html
Honda and GM recently canceled a joint venture for EVs as consumers are not buying it. Former Toyota CEO also has stated EVs are not economically viable. The real cost of a EV, from base metals and rare earth elements to the cost of disposal at end of life is $120k to $170k.
A recent study says the US grid would need an 50 million miles of transmission lines to get to the green economy. That is enough to go around the earth at the equator 2,000 times.
You are right. The math does not add up.
The debate over “green energy” is irrelevant.
The core problem is government.
Get government out of this. No subsidies, no bailouts and let the chips fall where they may.
Maybe most of us will have solar panels on our roofs. Maybe not. Whoever makes the wisest choices will benefit.
If you are right about electric cars, wind turbines, solar panels, …. – you reap the rewards.
And being right is then determined by making the choice that ultimately proves to work the best – not the choice that your ideology pushes.
No they are not. They are way ahead of their goals.
Not in the real world they are not.
There has been no successful large scale green energy program anywhere in the world.
Absolutely everyone has hit a number of significant walls.
There is no form of green energy that reliabily delivers 24×7. That dictates that either you must have some other form of actually reliable energy as a backup, or you must have massive amounts of energy storage.
We are several orders of magnitude short on the production of energy storage. The only form of energy storage that is mature. cost effective and could be readily available now is Hydro electric pump and store. And the greenies will not allow anyone to construct more of that.
“There has been no successful large scale green energy program anywhere in the world.”
Yes there has been. Wind energy is now more competitive than coal.
“Coal in the US is now being economically outmatched by renewables to such an extent that it’s more expensive for 99% of the country’s coal-fired power plants to keep running than it is to build an entirely new solar or wind energy operation nearby, a new analysis has found.”
BP is developing and investing in large wind power infrastructure which is already successful in other parts of the world.
“There is no form of green energy that reliabily delivers 24×7. That dictates that either you must have some other form of actually reliable energy as a backup, or you must have massive amounts of energy storage.‘
Actually there is now more reliability thanks to widespread use and interconnectivity. Nobody has claimed that green energy is supposed to deliver energy 24/7. Texas couldn’t deliver on that a couple of years ago with non-renewables, remember that? It wasn’t…reliable.
Energy storage has always been an issue. But the increasing use of renewables like solar and wind allows for more reliability as more regions and sources become interconnected.
“Wind energy is now more competitive than coal.”
And Tanya Harding was more competitive than Nancy Kerrigan, after she kneecapped her.
Typical statist destruction and deflection. Use government controls and regulations to destroy an industry. Then declare: See! That industry can’t produce.
Svelaz in one comment, demonstrates his ignorance across all subjects. As accurate about green energy as he is about Trump.
Its simple. If it works, it wouldn’t require subsidies.
Iowan2, all energy industries have benefitted from subsidies. All of them. Oil and gas for decades enjoyed government subsidies until renewables were included. Rather than accuse me of ignorance why not prove me wrong by supplying a rebuttal with facts?
“Rather than accuse me of ignorance why not prove me wrong by supplying a rebuttal with facts?”
Correct. The proper term is idiot, not ignorant.
“Everybody has gotten susbsidies” does not refute the Tonya Harding analogy on wind vs coal. Get a grip Gigi.
Dennis – this kind of fear-mongering is not going to work. You people tried this before the 2016 election and it was not accepted. Now your fantasies are refuted by an entire four years in office, in which Trump ruled sensibly and moderately. But it does show your desperation and the willingness to say anything to stay in power.
Fear mongering is all Leftist Dems know. They propagate Anti-Semites, Nazis, bodily mutilation of children’s genitals, stock pornographic books in children’s public school curriculums, etc
White House denounces lawmaker Tlaib’s use of pro-Palentinian cry ‘from the river to the sea’
By REUTERS
NOVEMBER 8, 2023 21:28
The White House on Wednesday denounced US lawmaker Rashida Tlaib’s use of a pro-Palestinian rallying cry “from the river to the sea,” which is viewed by many Jews as antisemitic and calling for Israel’s eradication. “As it relates to that term, we’ve been very clear we strongly disagree,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. The US House voted on Tuesday to censure Tlaib, Congress’s lone Palestinian-American lawmaker, for comments she made regarding Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
@ Dennis +100
DJT has policy ambitions? News to me. The 2020 Republican platform under trump was…, oh wait there wasn’t one.
You’re correct in what DJT has said he will do. I hesitate to call them actual policy positions. It is simply hate. And there are an awful lot of hateful people in this country right now. Hypnotized by an orange man in a red tie. Hopefully they will wake up some day.
Bob – The haters are the people who are using the legal system to put their opponents in jail. They hate democracy, fair play, honest elections, Western civilization ,and, most of all, the American people. They have hypnotized themselves by creating one conspiracy theory after another, until reality has been lost in a haze of self-righteous hysteria.
Bob, what was the worst about Trump? The Peace??, Energy independence? The Abrahm accords spreading peace across the Middle East, Jews and Arabs engaging, but not fighting. Or maybe its the prosparity that has your panties all in a twist.
It is unlikely that Biden will be impeached in this term. The purpose of the impeachment inquiries is to publicly expose his malfeasance.
There is no chance of getting enough democratic votes in the senate.
“DJT’s plans are for political prosecutions”
Likely – turn about is fair play.
If you do not want political prosecutions by republicans do not engage in them as democrats.
” imposition of military rule”
Do you think before you post ? The US military leadership is heavily Woke. Trump has ZERO intention of giving the military any political power.
I am constantly flabbergasted by the incredibly stupid claims left wing nuts make.
“and dismantling of our democratic system of governance.”
Correct, we are not a democracy. Trump will attempt to return as best as possible to constitutional government.
“That is a “far-right” authoritarian agenda.”
Trump is not “far right” – most of his policy positions are shared by super majorities of americans.
He is a centrist and a populist. You do understand that populist means someone who reflects the will of the majority ?
“The Q for you is this: Would you be comfortable if DJT prosecuted your good friend Bill Barr for saying the emperor had no clothes–that the 2020 election was not “stolen”?”
Trump is not going to prosecute Barr. He is not going to prosecute anyone for what they have said.
They will be prosecuted for what they have DONE.
It is democrats that prosecute people for what they say.
As to Barr specifically – Ultimately though I respect his efforts Barr was a failure as AG.
He took the job to clean up the DOJ and FBI.
He failed.
Further he was wrong about the 2020 election – people in his own department were using the power of government to compell social media to engage in censorship.
If he did not know what was happening in FBI and DOJ – why should he be trusted about the rest of the country.
“. . . Andy Beshear was reelected by 26%.”
5%, not “26%.”
But I suppose that in the Leftist universe, 26 is close to 5.
You say Trump is the one “dismantling” our democratic system?
Who rigged the 2016 Democrat primary election for Hillary and screwed Bernie voters? Democrats.
Who bombed in the 2020 primaries until Clyburn threw him a lifeline? Biden.
Who is rigging the 2024 Democrat primaries and screwing their voters? Democrats.
Who is using lawfare to interfere in the 2024 election? Democrats.
Who is trying to arrest their opponents? Democrats.
Who is weaponizing government against its political enemies? Democrats.
Which party has actual communists and terrorist sympathizers sitting in Congress? Democrats.
Which party cheats, lies, and steals elections? Democrats.
You have Terminal Trump Derangement.
One of Trump’s biggest mistakes was campaigning on Locking Her Up and then once he got into office essentially told his voters, ‘aw shucks, folks, we don’t do that, she’s a good person, let’s move on.”
At least NY AG, Tish James campaigned on going after Trump and finding something to pin on him and by God, she’s following through on her campaign promise.
Trump should have done the same. When he is reelected in 2024 he will not make the same mistake. Retribution is coming and it is necessary for the good of the country.
We are witnessing a passing of the torch. The old mindset was that votes were based on the pocketbook and comments like “it’s the economy, stupid” had the ring of truth. No longer, More and more, young voters vote on their “feelings” without any apparent rational thought as to how the results affect their pocketbooks, the pocketbooks of others, or the nation as a whole.
The Dems, this cycle, appealed to that mindset by pounding on the abortion issue. I suspect that an analysis of the results will show a discordant number of younger than 35 voters and a significant number of young female voters in the turnout.
KenB5602,
Well, when you have nearly half of Gen-Z still living at home with mom and dad, or the parents are paying some of their bills, a lot of young people the “it’s the economy, stupid” does not apply.
But their feelings sure do.
There was a move called “Failure To Launch.” Used to be seen as an embarrassment. Now it is an entitlement.
OT: October 7 Video midway down.
https://danielgordis.substack.com/p/exactly-a-century-after-he-wrote?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#media-d169ecc0-81dc-46d9-a406-bec0ddabab64
That is unbelievable!
A second Brandon term assumes Brandon is renominated.
That’s not in evidence.
Yesterday’s election in Virginia made clear there truly is a deep state full of numskull democrats who are employed by the Federal government. They vote blindly for the party of more government, debt and control of the masses. They see no risk in an ever-expanding government and its costs. They enjoy a guaranteed income regardless of what the economy does. They and all their cohorts throughout the United States will be the demise of this great country, government employees voting for democrats’ who will award them the largess of the taxpayers.
The question is at what point will the United States economy fail to meet its financial obligations and start eating its own to survive. The continuing expansion of the national debt is the greatest risk we face today, not some nebulous idea of climate change, terrorists or another unknown yet to descend and become headlines for the day. Reckoning will be harsh once there is not enough to go around, and those at the trough of government are bound to suffer greatly.
I wonder how you will spin this comment a few years from now when it becomes obvious that you are a failure at predictions?
Your handlers need to hire trolls who hold STEM degrees. Their current crop of Gender-BIPOC-LGBTQEIEIO are ROFLMAO
Randy: Allow me to pose a question? ‘Who do you think would survive a funding debacle: social security or over staffed government employees?’ There are so many departments within all levels of government agencies that would be subject to the same dilemma, social services or their continued employment if budgets need to be reduced to meet debt obligations. The United States and all its municipalities have budgets and projections that could well be described to be ‘Like a Drunken Sailor’ on shore leave, with not a care in the world, living for the day. Eventually there’s not enough taxable support to service the debt and books must be reconciled.
George W,
Oh, I do not think they are voting blindly.
They are voting for their own job security.
That is one reason why I find it so much fun to watch them squeal when the government shuts down.
I never thought I would see it in my life time but the day the US economy fails to meet it financial obligations is coming soon. It was only with the failed Biden foreign policy, outlandish spending and starting another forever war, albeit proxy, that has lead to de-dollarization, the expansion of the BRICS, and the pivot away from the US/West unipolar world to a multi-polar world where the US/West are left behind.
Upstate
Proverbs 21:20 my interpretation: it’s inanity to waste money or be cheated. Or said another way ‘a fool and his money are soon parted’.
Or from “The Man That Got Away” tune from a Judy Garland movie “A Star is Born”;
In part;
‘The tax man’s coming
He’s whistling and humming
In fear you shiver
He’ll send you up the river
It always happens
When the taxman comes along.
No more that savior faire…”
If the out-of-control spending by government is not wrangled, we will eventually fail to be a functioning republic society.
Will there be a second Biden term? It’s way too early to tell and those touting the “alarming” poll numbers are panicking too soon. Mitt Romney was a head in the polls against Obama by the same margins a year out.
A lot will be happening before we get to Election Day next year. Trump could be convicted, and either sent to jail or house arrest. Biden could die, yep. Or an unknown candidate will emerge that will appeal to those how don’t want either Biden or Trump. Lots of things could happen. So that’s why it’s kind of silly to be making predictions right now.
What is more important are the results of last night’s elections. Democrats did well and it is a glimmer of what may happen next year but that is still way too early to assume.
Republicans are certainly going to have to rethink their approach to abortion since it’s clear the majority of Americans don’t support the extreme bans on abortion, even in red states.
I suspect also that the clown show that is the Republican dominated house has favored into voter’s decisions about the reality that republicans just don’t know how to govern or are just incompetent at their jobs. They want to rule, not represent and that is becoming obvious as time goes on.
The Biden Impeachment “inquiry” will start to focus on pushing more allegations and insinuations to try to distract from the disappointing results in last night’s election. Fox News is already trying to spin the results despite the ample evidence that a majority of Americans aren’t completely onboard with republican ideas or goals.
Wishful thinking.
The Trump cases will drag on through the election. It is highly likely that the supreme court will pusde them during the election season.
Bragg seems to be stalled entirely.
The FL proceeding is moving slowly and constitutionally. Though Cannon should have ruled that she is bound by JW v. NARA and that the administration must return everything taken from Trump.
You left wing nuts do not seem to grasp this is a decided issue. Presidents on exiting, can take whatever WH documents they wich. Classified or not. The entire Classified Doc nonsense was just an effort to Game the that ruling in the specific case of Trump.
No one doubts that eventually Smith will likely win at trial in DC – assuming that he is not stopped by the apeals court.
He has already lost on his Gag order – a 3 judge Pannel – including 2 Obama appointees and a Biden apointee ruled unanimously against him.
Funny how a Long history of law on gag orders vs. free speech going all the way back to 1828 mattered.
It is also likely that Trump will lose the James civil Case in NYC – but James will lose on appeal. Ths is an open and shut violation of the takings clause of the 5th amendment. The only quesion is which apellate court tosses this pile of schiff.
Regardless, these cases are embarrassing for democrats. WE have James and Engreon claiming that MAL is only worth $18M when 20 acres down the road are on the market for $1B.
Bragg apears to have gone away.
Regardless all these cases have the same problem – they are efforts to manufacture crimes.
Those of you on the left seem to think that if you can just convict Trump you will turn public oppinion.
Not only hasn’t that worked so far – it has backfired. Trump has gained about 1% in the polls with each case.
Most people are not stupid. They fully grasp that the Biden Crime syndicate is a REAL problem.
That REAL crimes are involved.
While at the same time – the lawfare against Trump is BS.
Regardless you have given Trump precisely what he needs, a free public forum to appeal to the center.
Your legal attacks WILL get carried on the news and people have near zero trust of YOUR talking heads.
But Trump, and his lawyers are getting the oportunity – even if constrained to speak on the MSM.
Speaking of wishful thinking, Trump’s cases are not likely to drag on till after the election. The Supreme Court has already shown little appetite in dealing with Trump’s cases and appeals. Judge Cannon is obviously slow walking his case and she’s already been admonished by the appeals court for her bias towards Trump. It’s more likely judge Cannon will be removed from the case.
“Presidents on exiting, can take whatever WH documents they wich. Classified or not. ”
No, they cannot. The PRA prevents presidents from doing what you claim they can do. Especially classified documents that have not been proven to be classified. Your argument relying on the misinterpretation of JW vs. NARA does not lend relevance to Trump’s claim or yours. The distinction lies in the fact that Clinton was engaging a personal project that was not part of his official duties or that of the White House. The records he created were personal and the judge ruling on the case pointed out exactly that distinction. Those records were not official White House records which the PRA clearly states were not required to be under the custody of NARA. The records stolen by Trump were official White House records and documents created as part of Trump’s official duties. Which do not belong to Trump but that of the government. The PRA is very clear on that.
The classified documents don’t fall under the jurisdiction to the PRA. They are separate from the PRA’s requirements because they were not created by the White House. They were created by the agencies under Trump. He has no legal authority to take them and declare them his personal documents even as president. Claiming to have declassified all of them without proof of having done so does not automatically render them declassified. There are requirements in law and statute that declassification must be recorded and such documents be marked as declassified. Trump has never provided any evidence of having declassified those documents. He’s even on tape bragging that he still has classified documents that he can’t declassify because he’s not longer president.
“He has already lost on his Gag order – a 3 judge Pannel – including 2 Obama appointees and a Biden apointee ruled unanimously against him.”
Wrong. That’s not what the panel determined. They didn’t rule against Smith. They temporarily stayed the order pending a hearing on the appeal. It’s a procedural motion, not a ruling. At least understand the process better.
“Funny how a Long history of law on gag orders vs. free speech going all the way back to 1828 mattered.”
Those laws were not on gag orders vs. free speech. You’re clearly referring to the Act of 1831 which is not about gag orders. Gag orders have not been ruled unconstitutional or constitutional.
There’s plenty of case law supporting the permissive nature of gag orders.
Cox vs. Louisiana,
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/379/559/
Or,
https://www.sog.unc.edu/sites/default/files/additional_files/Free%20speech%20rights%20in%20courthouses%20Nov%2012.pdf
“WE have James and Engreon claiming that MAL is only worth $18M when 20 acres down the road are on the market for $1B.”
Wrong again. The judge isn’t claiming that MAL is worth only $18 million. Many have been twisting the judge’s words in order to justify the falsehood. Judge Engoron was stating the Florida state property assessment which was between $18-$27 million. You also neglected the fact that MAL has deed restrictions which keep the value low. It’s by design because it’s what allows MAL to have a lower property tax. That a property has a market value of a $1 billion is irrelevant. That property may not have the same deed restrictions as MAL. So that argument is already useless.
The PRA prevents presidents from doing what you claim they can do.
The case law is there, using the constitution to make the decision.
On a dispute between the President and the NARA, on a document the NARA wants, the President wins. The executive branch is the final arbiter on executive branch papers. The President of the United States, is the Executive. No other power has jurisdiction to offer an opinion.
Separation of powers is a real thing.
“On a dispute between the President and the NARA, on a document the NARA wants, the President wins. The executive branch is the final arbiter on executive branch papers. ”
Nope. The PRA is pretty clear on the issue.
“Specifically, the PRA:
Establishes public ownership of all Presidential records and defines the term Presidential records.
Requires that Vice-Presidential records be treated in the same way as Presidential records.”
https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/laws/1978-act.html
Ҥ2202. Ownership of Presidential records
The United States shall reserve and retain complete ownership, possession, and control of Presidential records; and such records shall be administered in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.”
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title44/chapter22&edition=prelim
Svelaz, stay on topic.
There are Presidential records. AND Personal papers. ONLY the President has the power to determine which is which
Separation of powers is the controlling constitutional doctrine. That is the controlling judicial rulings
Svelaz is correct that Federal Records – covered by the FRA are different from Presidential records and the PRA.
He is incorrect on what constituttes a presidential record and what is a federal record.
He is incorrect on the standard of proof in a criminal case.
He is incorrect on the separation of powers and the powers specifically designated to the president.
He is incorrect on the case law on both the PRA and the FRA.
SVelaz is correct that Trump can not merely Think a classified document declassified.
But he is pretty much incorrect by the numbers on everything else regarding classified documents and the power of the president.
I would further note – not widely reported by the National Archives in response to FOIA requests have provided approcimately 80,000 pages of Biden emails that were trnasmitted and received on non-government systems and accounts.
This is MORE than Hillary had on her basement bathroom email server. This is a violation of the FRA – which is NOT a criminal statute – so Biden’s conduct was illegal but not criminal.
What has not been addressed is what in those 80,000 pages of emails is classified. Apparently Biden was sending 30 pages of emails over non-government servers each day.
“He is incorrect on what constituttes a presidential record and what is a federal record.”
You just said I was correct.
“Svelaz is correct that Federal Records – covered by the FRA are different from Presidential records and the PRA.”
Clearly you are contradicting yourself quite a bit.
“He is incorrect on the case law on both the PRA and the FRA.”
No. You’re incorrect in the interpretation of case law. That is the issue.
$426.5 million to $612.1 for MAL
The judge called those numbers “an overvaluation of at least 2,300 percent.” That is the same as saying the value is between $18 Million and $27 Million.
Your problem is you have no education, leaving you unable to do the math. All you know is spinning. Can I accuse you of lying here? Maybe not because your ability to do more than paste and copy left-wing media attempts at lying is non-existent.
The rest of your claims are bogus as well.
Fortunately, Trump’s opinion of what his property is worth is his opinion, not judge Engoron’s, who should be known as EngMoron.
S. Meyer,
“The judge called those numbers “an overvaluation of at least 2,300 percent.” That is the same as saying the value is between $18 Million and $27 Million.
Your problem is you have no education, leaving you unable to do the math. All you know is spinning. Can I accuse you of lying here? Maybe not because your ability to do more than paste and copy left-wing media attempts at lying is non-existent.”
Oh how I missed the incoherence of your replies. First of all the judge based those numbers from the state’s own property valuation. The state, Florida, valued MAL at $18-$27 million. That’s what the judge was saying. What is funny is that Trump didn’t seem to dispute that when it came to paying property taxes based on that valuation because it would have been far less than paying taxes on property valued at $400-600 million. You still haven’t learned to read properly or make sense.
“The state, Florida, valued MAL at $18-$27 million. That’s what the judge was saying.”
You are either stupid or lying. The judge said Trump’s numbers were “an overvaluation of at least 2,300 percent.” Trump did not overvalue his MAL by 2,300 percent.
“What is funny is that Trump didn’t seem to dispute that when it came to paying property taxes based on that valuation “
In Palm Beach Town, most are not paying taxes on the valuation. They pay taxes on the appraisal,which can be hundreds of thousands less. You speak from ignorance and don’t know how to Google the tax code. That is why your responses are almost always wrong.
Go to school.
S, Mayer, you’re not paying attention. The judge is using the state of Florida’s appraised value. Trump’s numbers are indeed an overvaluation when compared to the state of Florida’s appraised value. States determine property taxes on appraised value.
Trump did overvalue the property when comparing it to the appraised value from the state. Trump thinks the property is more valuable, ok, sure, but the state appraised it at $18-$27 milllon. Trump, who loves to save money didn’t dispute the appraisal because he would be paying property taxes on THAT appraised value. That’s why the judge used that number. Now if Trump claims the property is more valuable than that then the state can increase his property taxes accordingly. We both know Trump doesn’t want to do that so he won’t contest that appraised value and since it IS an official state appraised value the judge can use that to determine whether Trump overvalued it or not. It seems he did. By 2,300%.
“In Palm Beach Town, most are not paying taxes on the valuation. ”
No they are paying property taxes based on the state’s appraisal. Trump didn’t dispute the state’s appraisal of the property when it determined it was $18-$27 million. Because it helps him pay less in property taxes. Pay attention man.
“Trump did overvalue the property when comparing it to the appraised value from the state.”
Svelaz, Your brain is a concrete mess where the stupidity emanating from it is unmoveable.
Trump provided his opinion of the property value, which differs from the appraised value because they differ, and have two different definitions. The state doesn’t tax based on property value to a prospective purchaser. Its appraisal value is based on other factors. What someone would be willing to pay for the property doesn’t alter the taxes until the deed changes hands.
You are slow, but I didn’t realize how slow you are.
S. Meyer,
“ Trump provided his opinion of the property value, which differs from the appraised value because they differ, and have two different definitions. ”
LOL!! You’re dancing around the obvious and you don’t want it admit it. It’s ok. We all know how disingenuous you are.
They differ, duh. That’s what the judge is pointing out as over valuation. They differ by a huge margin which is what the judge is correctly pointing out.
“ The state doesn’t tax based on property value to a prospective purchaser.”
No dum, dum. The state taxes property based on the state’s appraised value of the property. Not just when there’s a prospective purchaser. Good grief man. You’re not all there are you?
“LOL!! You’re dancing around “
No, I deal with these things in the business world, where I meet many stupid people but seldom find one that can compete with your level of ignorance.
The numbers under discussion are two different numbers. If Trump sells the place, the price will be hundreds of millions, not tens of millions. Banks look at the value of the property, not the tax appraisal. The judge screwed up big time and didn’t correct himself. For those reasons, another judge should take his place, and he should lose his seat on the bench.
No one can help you Svelaz. Your degenerative brain disease is too far gone.
“S, Mayer, you’re not paying attention. The judge is using the state of Florida’s appraised value. Trump’s numbers are indeed an overvaluation when compared to the state of Florida’s appraised value. States determine property taxes on appraised value.”
Every last word of this is a lie. Every word.
1. The State of Florida doesnt appraise jack
2. Property taxes are based on “assessed value” not “appraised value”.
3. Assessed values and appraised value are never the same.
4. The state of florida doesnt and didnt assess the value of mar-a-lago. The county of palm beach did.
5. The assessed value was based on whatever the county of palm beach wanted to base it on. This clearly involved a tax break based on its intended use. The appraised value of mar-a-lago is much higher than the palm beach county tax assessment. Period.
6. Appraisers do not use the tax rate or assessment as a basis for valuating a property.
7. ANY lender loaning millions of dollars on a piece of real estate and not obtaining at least 3 INDEPENDENT appraisals to determine the property’s value, particularly a unique property like mar-a-lago, is committing a fiduciary fraud against its shareholders and the government backing of any portion of the loan.
Funny Laticia isnt prosecuting the lenders.
8. No one uses the county assessment to get a loan. NO ONE. NO ONE
9. NO ONE tells the county where they own a home that their assessed value is too low and should be raised. NO ONE. NO ONE
Many people have their property taxes paid from escrow and included in their house payment and have no idea what their assessed value is.
10. The stupid argument here is that Trump underpayed property tax AND overvalued his home. Dennis tried this before. It CANT be both, and it was neither.
My second home in rural Alabama is assessed a value of $202k by the county. The last appraisal for the purpose of obtaining a mortgage was $448k. Should i or would anyone call the county and tell them their assessment is too low??? F-ing ridiculous argument. Should i have told the mortgage company that the county assessed it at $202k??? F-ing ridiculous argument. Beyond stupid.
It is not unusual for property tax apprasials to be radically different from the actual value of a property.
I own 3 properties. The property tax apraisals of reach are an order of magnitude lower than the actual value.
This entire case is absurd. There are so many problems with it.
Aside from the fact that Trump’s valuation of his properties is in line with the market.
That Trump’s values have no legal meaning even if they were wrong – because anyone loaning Trump money or insuring a property is required by centuries of case law to do their own due dilligence.
If you need that in latin “Caveat Emptor”
Further fraud requires Harm. There is no victim.
This case is so bad there are a large number of constitutional violations.
The only question is how far up the appelate chain Trump must go to overturn this.
“Further fraud requires Harm. There is no victim.”
There is a victim. The banks. When Trump manipulates the values and and lies to the banks about his net worth in order to obtain large bank loans it is indeed cause for financial harm. The banks lose money based on the fraudulent claims. The judge already determined Trump was making fraudulent claims. This trial is just to determine the extent of the punishment based on the merits.
Such ignorant rubbish. If a bank relies on the opinion of the person they are loaning money to their charter should be revoked.
Banks made a lot of money off of Trump.
“You also neglected the fact that MAL has deed restrictions which keep the value low. It’s by design because it’s what allows MAL to have a lower property tax.”
Your response is another one of your entrances into the world of stupidity. Restrictions on that property existed long before Trump tried to buy the property. The restrictions later placed on the property changed its classifications since it is a private club. Property taxes in Palm Beach County are set based on factors that residents have no control over except through elections where laws are changed.
Trump does not influence the property appraiser’s valuation. One of the factors that I believe strongly impacts the property’s assessment is the purchase price. The property was purchased for $10 million. If MAL is sold again for $1Billion that will be seen in a new appraisal based on a purchase price of $1Billion.
Engoron is a fool because he based his ruling on his personal opinion of how property values should be determined. He demonstrates ignorance in such knowledge.
You are a fool because you say things without knowing the details.
S. Meyer.
“Restrictions on that property existed long before Trump tried to buy the property. The restrictions later placed on the property changed its classifications since it is a private club.”
No, the restrictions on the property were a condition required before Trump built the place. In order to qualify for lower property taxes MAL could not be designated as a residence. It was a private club and it put a lot of restrictions on what could be done with the place and what could be built on it. That lowers the value and keeps it low. Trump made sure that it was categorized as such so that he wouldn’t have to pay higher property taxes.
“Engoron is a fool because he based his ruling on his personal opinion of how property values should be determined. He demonstrates ignorance in such knowledge.”
Huh, no. Engoron based his ruling on data supplied this by the state of Florida. It’s all there in evidence.
“You are a fool because you say things without knowing the details.”
Obviously you didn’t know those details. Who’s the fool now?
You are wrong on the restrictions placed by the Town, by Post, and your rationale. You need to check what the restrictions were and why. I am very familiar with MAL and its history. I have been there many times, before Trump owned it, afterward, and while he was President. I also deal with real estate, so I am familiar with pricing and many of the building and tax codes.
“Huh, no. Engoron based his ruling on data supplied this by the state of Florida. It’s all there in evidence.”
You prove Engoron acted foolishly. He based his ruling on the wrong metrics. He should be removed from the bench.
“Obviously you didn’t know those details.”
The details are well known and agree with my opinion. You didn’t do your homework. You are a dolt.
If the town placed a restriction on a property that devalues the property that restriction is unconstitutional.
The US supreme court has ruled that withing the past decade – it violates the 5th amendment takings clause.
“If the town placed a restriction on a property that devalues the property that restriction is unconstitutional.”
The claim you are making is too generalized.
Assume the town wishes to change the setback rules so the lot loses five linear feet on each side. Such a change in zoning is taken into account by the purchaser, reducing the property’s value.
That type of ruling is litigated, but there is a balance in the decision between community and individual needs.
One can fight zoning changes, but most of the time, the community will prevail in court, or the owner will get a variance based on need.
If we are dealing with a new purchaser intending to tear down the old and build a new home, he faces the problem of the new setback rules. If he doesn’t get a variance, in many instances, he can leave the old walls up where they infringe on the setback and incorporate them into the new structure. That is not an unusual solution. When building becomes an impossible situation, there is litigation.
But, generally, the city cannot force the present owner to destroy that portion of his home, so an old home remains as is despite the new setback.
The problem will more frequently occur when there isn’t enough space to construct a home using front-to-back dimensions. Needs create different rulings in different cases.
I provided this example so one can envision the intricacies and recognize things are more complex than your statement suggests because the problems are more fluid than one might think on first examination.
Palm Beach property values close to the water are crazy. The buyers have tremendous amounts of money so ten million or even one-hundred million might mean little to them. That is why people like Svelaz and Judge Engoron should stay out of such consideration and recognize the value of a property is based on what one is willing to pay for it.
Sbelaz says
“No, the restrictions on the property were a condition required before Trump built the place.”
Lmao who’s the fool now???
Trump didnt build Mar-a-Lago you moron. This proves that you are just arguing for the sake of it and have no idea what you are talking about.
Mar-a-Lago was built 20 years before Trump was born. Idiot.
All these people are fools – because there are centuries old processes and standards regarding property and property valuations that James and Engron are on the wrong side of.
Svelaz – who is doing your legal research? Fishwings?
You say: “There’s plenty of case law supporting the permissive nature of gag orders. Cox vs. Louisiana, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/379/559/” That case does not involve a gag order but rather a statute forbidding picketing “near” courthouses. The syllabus of the opinion clearly states that “The statute is narrowly drawn, furthers the State’s legitimate interest of protecting its judicial system from pressures which picketing near a courthouse might create, is a valid regulation of conduct, as distinguished from pure speech, and does not infringe rights of free speech and assembly.”
Further, in that case, the conviction was overturned! I’m not even going to bother looking at your other citation.
BTW, your phrase “permissive use of gag orders” should be a warning to all of us if Biden is re-elected and allowed to nominate future S Ct justices.
Edward, you should re-read the case and figure it out. It’s about courts being able to limit speech outside the court.
“furthers the State’s legitimate interest of protecting its judicial system from pressures which picketing near a courthouse might create, is a valid regulation of conduct, as distinguished from pure speech, and does not infringe rights of free speech and assembly.”
A gag order is a valid regulation meant to protect the judicial system from the pressures of picketing and speech near courthouses. Such as Trump attacking the judge’s clerk. Courts can restrict speech near the courthouse.
Svelaz – you must be kidding. Restriction on physical conduct is not the same as restriction on speech. Goldberg’s opinion expressly distinguishes the two types of expression, as your snippet of a quote shows. I don’t know how much you are paid as a troll. but it should not be enough to deny reality.
Edward, read it again,
“is a valid regulation of conduct, as distinguished from pure speech, and does not infringe rights of free speech and assembly.”
I reiterate what it said. “…and does not infringe rights of free speech and assembly”.
don’t get pissy, Missy. You Queens are all the same
“Regulation of conduct AS DISTINGUISHED FROM pure speech.” Do you understand what “distinguish” means?
Edward, you didn’t finish reading. Keep going.
“…and does not infringe rights of free speech and assembly”.
Correct – because it is regulating CONDUCT not speech.
Frankly the case was wrongly decided – that is a separate issue. But that does not matter because it is not even close to applicable.
There are actual supreme court cases on this. Universally contempt citations for speech do not pass constitutional muster
“Edward, you should re-read the case and figure it out. It’s about courts being able to limit speech outside the court.”
Litterally WRONG, and there is not one – but atleast 5 supreme court cases on point.
Judges may not even restrict the parties from making disparaging comments about the court or the courthouse staff.
A judges power to restrict speech is SOLELY with regard to speech inside the court room and solely in a content neutral way such as to preserver order.
A judge can cite you with contempt for speaking out of turn. He can not cite you for WHAT you say.
The only exception is speech that would be illegal outside of the court. As an example Trump can not explicitly threaten to kill someone in court – just as he can not outside of court.
Svelaz – we have been through all of this nonsense before.
JW v NARA is Judge ABJ’s decision based on the PRA, the constitution and preceding caselaw.
Eitehr the PRA means what she claims – or the PRA is itself unconstitutional.
No Trump does not have to prove anything – no criminal defendant in any case has to prove anything.
It is the prosecution that MUST prove their case.
Specifically with respect to classified documents – which is a subset of national security – that is constitutionally the EXCLUSIVE domain of the president. Not congress. Nor does it matter the slighest where a classified document is created.
Article. II.
Section. 1.
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
Also Navy V eagan
Actual federal records are not covered by the PRA – that is correct. But any record produced by any agency for the WH is a Presidential record, not a Federal record. There is a whole series of cases distinguishing what is covered by the FRA and what is covered by the PRA and you are on the wrong side of that.
I do not expect the Supreme court to act anytime soon – unless they are forced to. But if lower courts actually try to F#$K up the election – SCOTUS will step in.
Absent a crisis SCOTUS generally tries to avoid deciding cases until they have to. But ultimately I fully expect the supreme court to throw a monkey wrench not only into the Trump cases – but the whole J6 prosecutions.
You pissed all over every single part of the first amendment except freedom of religion. This stuff is all dead bang losers
And you should pray to your gods that SCOTUS agrees with that – or you WILL likely face political revenge by Trump and his ilk.
Those like you make it really hard for me to stand up for YOUR free speech – when you are pissing all over everyone else’s rights.
You deserve to suffer exactly what you have done to others.
Fortunately for you – a right is something that you have whether you deserve it or not.
“But if lower courts actually try to F#$K up the election – SCOTUS will step in.” SCOTUS refused to ‘hear’ Texas +(19?) arguments vs Pennsylvania in 2020 regarding the latter not following their own election laws for a federal election – effectively nullifying lawful votes cast in the states that did. Presuming the part of the 2024 election will have similar challenges as 2020, what leads you to believe SCOTUS will ‘hear’ a similar case this time?
“There are requirements in law and statute that declassification must be recorded and such documents be marked as declassified.”
This statement alone proves that you have no idea what you are talking about, and have a Gigi-like propensity to just make sh!t up. There is NO SUCH THING as a “declassified” marking, you idiot. Or would you prefer to be called a lair? Its one or the other.
You do not seem to understand the fundimental difference between the Biden inquiry and the Trump cases.
There MIGHT be more guilty please in Trump cases with not even slap on the wrist sentences.
But there will be no damning revalations. We all know what occured – much of it played out in public.
Further all these Trump cases are complete through the investigative phase. They are DONE digging for more.
What has been found is known.
And what is known does not make a crime.
Conversely the digging into the Bidens is barely started. It is likely to be tediously slow. With constant new revalations.
We have 2 checks to Joe so far and they have barely started trying to process the detailed transactions in each bank account.
There will be many more checks and transfers.
The Biden business is influence pedaling. That is disturbing in and of itself – though in some cases it is legal.
But at the very least Joe, Hunter and Jim have violated FARA. A weapon YOU wielded successfully against Manafort.
Manafort’s conduct was miniscule compared to Biden, Inc.
Next the house is going to go searching for loan docs regarding these alleged loan repaments.
Do you actually expect loan docs to be found ?
Next the house is going to look at Joe’s taxes. If there were no loans – this is tax fraud.
YOU have made a huge deal about Trump’s records of his legal fees and his property valuations.
YOU have made disagreements over how something should be documented into crimes – even where there is no underlying crime.
Loan repayments where there are no loans is called TAX FRAUD – and it is not even a close call. It is not stretching the law.
I expect that the Tax Fraud charge will be the biggie that is coming – because it is trivial to prove, and trivial to understand.
And because the left is so incredibly hypocritical regarding taxes.
Regardless the house has over a decade of bank records from atleast 20 shell companies to dig into.
There will be a relentless drip drip drip from now to the election.
Nor is the world cooperating.
The Israel Hamas war has put Biden between a rock and a hard place.
There were no new conflicts under Trump. Biden now has TWO.
Further these are BOTH arguably of his own making. Biden’s energy policies emboldened Putin. His loose talk about Ukraine joining NATO cross a clear red line for Russia. And his disastrous handling of the withdraw from Afghanistan make him look weak.
Worse the war in Ukraine is not going well. It is rapidly turning into the WWI Western front – a grinding bloody trench war of attrition.
One that Ukraine can not win, and one that it can not even stay in without massive US assistance.
Purportedly the Biden administration is now – after thwarting peace efforts in the past. finally twisting Ukraines arm to sue for peace.
Regardless, the prosepect of regime change in Russia is zero – though I would note that destabalising Russia IS causing more and more regional conflicts elsewhere. The Azerbijan/Armenia conflict is heating up, and that is because Armenia can no longer count on Russian help.
The Obama and Biden administrations handling of Iran have been ludicrously stupid. Obama and Biden have been PLAYED by Iran.
Worse both administrations have Pissed off the Saudis and other quasi alies in the mideast.
It is obvious to everyone that Iran will cause trouble everywhere it can for so long as the Mullah’s rule.
Further Biden dissed Israel (and the Saudi’s) repeatedly prior to the current conflict and now has to back pedal.
And he has a political disaster. Of those under 30 – support for Hamas is near 50:50. But nationwide support for Israel is 84:14
There is nothing Biden can do that does not piss off some voting block. Biden has lost 11% of under 30 democrat vote in the past few weeks.
I would note that Biden’s low approval ratings also make those who disapprove more inclined to beleive all the other bad stuff that is out there.
The economy continues to be a mess. There are structural problems in several significant sections of commercial real estate that have yet to shake out and be felt.
The Fed is playing a game with interest rates and inflation – trying to reign in inflation without triggeringa recession.
Arguably there was already a mild recession. Regardless, in avoiding a recession we also avoid a recovery and we prolong the pain.
We have had 20% total inflation since 2021 – that is as much as the entire 20 prior years. Inflation is nothing more than a massive tax on the poor.
While I do not personally think that Xi is going to invade Taiwan – this is the moment to do so. He has serious problems at home, and China historically hides from internal conflict by engaging in external conflict. China is as strong relative the to the US as it likely will ever be.
US energy weapons are starting to come online and that will completely alter the balance of naval power.
US Naval power is more powerful that that of all other navies int eh world combined. It has one achilles heel. A CBG can not carry enough ammunition to fight continuously.
Regardless, Biden must face the prospect of aggression by China to complicate things further.
Biden’s handling of the Southern boarder has been a disaster on so many levels.
He is now reversing course – but even that merely makes him look weak and pisses off that under 30 voting block that Democrats can not afford to lose.
There have been many rants about the infighting in the GOP. But the conflicts int he GOP are for the most part not existential – it is possible that neo-cons may return to the democratic party. All other GOP conflicts are about who controls the GOP.
The split in the Democratic party is much deeper.
Starting with Obama and worsening into the present – Democrats are completely dependent on the under 30 vote.
This is a block of voters democrats can no longer win without.
It is also a block that historically has sat out elections.
And that goes home if they do nto get everything they want.
And what that block wants is at odds with what most of the country including most democrats want.
Worse still – as should not surprise people – idealistic and indoctrinated young people are abysmally bad at making good choices.
That is nothing new, it has been true for all human existance.
It is why things go to hell when they have power.
“Further all these Trump cases are complete through the investigative phase. They are DONE digging for more.
What has been found is known.
And what is known does not make a crime.”
You don’t know that. What has been found is not known. Not everything since we have not even gotten to the trials yet. What is known is only what is publicly known and not what will still be revealed at trial. Don’t make declarations where you have no idea what the outcome will be.
“Conversely the digging into the Bidens is barely started. It is likely to be tediously slow. With constant new revalations.
We have 2 checks to Joe so far and they have barely started trying to process the detailed transactions in each bank account.”
They have been “digging” for months without any clear and convincing evidence. All that has been produced are allegations and insinuations that are not backed by evidence that would fly in court. Those two checks don’t prove that a crime was committed. The committee already has the records showing they were indeed loans between two family members.
“The Biden business is influence pedaling. That is disturbing in and of itself – though in some cases it is legal.
But at the very least Joe, Hunter and Jim have violated FARA. A weapon YOU wielded successfully against Manafort.”
Here you fail to make important distinctions. FARA doesn’t apply to Hunter Biden because he was not representing the company to the government. He was there as a consultant and as a private individual. That Burisma or whatever Chinese company wanted to pay Hunter money to arrange a meeting or a phone all is not illegal or criminal. Manafort was literally promoting foreign goverments wishes while being Trump’s campaign manager. Notice that Burisma or the Chinese company were NOT government agencies. That is the problem with trying to charge Hunter Biden for violating FARA which he was nor required to register with according to FARA’s requirements. That’s why the DOJ has a hard time trying to justify charges under FARA. Manafort had direct and clear and convincing evidence including the fact that Manafort has a long history of representing foreign government interests to the US. Hunter Biden did not.
“Loan repayments where there are no loans is called TAX FRAUD – and it is not even a close call. It is not stretching the law.”
The committee has the records proving they were loans. They don’t want to release them because they know they don’t have the evidence they want. If they have copies of the checks for those transactions it means they also have the documents that show what those checks were for and the statements backing them up. Those copies of the checks are not recorded on their own. I get that you want there to be tax fraud so that you finally have something to pin on Biden, but there’s still…no evidence.
“We have had 20% total inflation since 2021 – that is as much as the entire 20 prior years. Inflation is nothing more than a massive tax on the poor.”
We HAD high inflation. That’s no longer the case. It’s actually much lower now and we continue to have a stable economy. I believe inflation is now at 3% it’s not really high, but it is still on a downward trajectory which is good for anyone.
The rest of the chaff you’re posting about is just that a lot of chaff and venting your frustraation about the current situation. It’s not as bad as you think it is. It seem that you want it to be as bad so you have a reason to complain and justify your animosity towards “leftists”.
By the way good to see you are still posting and sticking to your arguments. Even if they are still flawed or misinformed.
Yes, I do KNOW that. It is litterally a fact. The cases are in court right now – if there was more to dig up – the prosecutors would have done so.
These are incredibly weak cases. Like the collusion delusion – there is nothing more to learn.
But you are entitled to beleive that something new will be discovered.
Read The assorted guilty please so far. Not one actually allocates to conduct that is criminal.
Not one of them provides any new revalations.
With respect to the existing evidence against Biden – it is more than sufficient to impeach and remove – if there was an honest democrat in congress. it is more than sufficient to get a criminal conviction in 90% of the US. It is far more than Smith had against MacDonald.
It has reached the standard needed for bribery and public corruption long ago. There is a clear quid pro quo and clear evidence of one. Right now Republicans are piling on. And the pile is likely to get really large.
Comer has just subpeonaed the whole Biden family plus associates. All these people are going to have to testify under oath.
They are going to be expected to produce documents to back up their testimony. James and Hunter are going to be asked under oath whether these are actual loans. and in the unlikely event they say yes, they will be asked to document them.
This is just going to get worse.
Regardless as I mentioned – year – clear and convincing evidence has already been provided.
There are documents already establishing that Burisma paid Hunter Biden to get Shokin Fired. That is no longer in any doubt.
There is a clear quid pro quo. Whether you like it or not – bribery does NOT require that the public official is paid. Payment to family meets the requirements of the law on bribery. So the critical parts of a criminal case for bribery and public corruption have already been met. This is much stronger than Mendez or McDonald.
But it will with certainty get worse ad we proceed.
While not dispositive criminally – Joe Biden has been REPEATEDLY caught publicly lying about this.
The laptop was russian disinformation.
Hunter’s actions were all legal and above board.
Joe was not involved in hunter’s business.
Joe did not receive any money.
All of these have proven to be lies.
“Arguably there was already a mild recession. Regardless, in avoiding a recession we also avoid a recovery and we prolong the pain.”
There’s always a mild recession after a large spike in inflation. What made it mild is the fact that the stimulus pushed during the pandemic helped a lot. We have already recovered the majority of jobs lost during the pandemic and economic growth is still ongoing.
Real GDP is at 4.9% which is pretty good. Inflation is currently at 3.7% it’s still better than the 7% in 2021.
The unemployment rate is at 3.9%.
Jobs? Job growth under Biden has been steadily rising and all the jobs lost during the Trump term have been recovered.
This is why Republicans don’t talk about the economy. Under Biden it’s been doing pretty good. In fact, better than it has been under Trump. This is why the focus is on the “influence peddling scandal” rather than the economy which is not helping republicans.
“There have been many rants about the infighting in the GOP. But the conflicts int he GOP are for the most part not existential – it is possible that neo-cons may return to the democratic party. All other GOP conflicts are about who controls the GOP.”
It’s total dysfunction and incompetence. It was pretty evident during the last few weeks in the search for a new speaker. Neo-cons don’t exists anymore. It’s all MAGA republicans who are in control.
“The split in the Democratic party is much deeper.
Starting with Obama and worsening into the present – Democrats are completely dependent on the under 30 vote.
This is a block of voters democrats can no longer win without.
It is also a block that historically has sat out elections.”
No, the democratic party is far more unified than the republicans. All the evidence is in the house and the constant dysfunction.
Democrats have always reached out to younger voters because Republicans are always denigrating them and ignoring them. They are not attracted to the ideas and views of conservatives. Conservatives are reliant on a dwindling and aging base that is essentially dying out. That is their biggest problem. They don’t know how to appeal to younger voters without alienating them.
“Worse still – as should not surprise people – idealistic and indoctrinated young people are abysmally bad at making good choices.”
No, younger voters are more politically active and exercising their right to vote like everyone else. They are not “indoctrinated” or are making bad choices. They are exercising their freedom of choice and republicans don’t like that. Rather than try to appeal to them and gain their vote they are trying to prevent them from voting by proposing raising the voting age. Which is much easier than doing the hard work of appealing to new voters. Republicans are stuck with their old ideals and constant need to denigrate others because of their choices. They are driving younger voters into choosing democrats. Because at least democrats are making an effort to appeal to their needs.
It shouldn’t matter whether that make bad choices or not there are plenty of older voters who do the same. They all have the right to make whatever choice they want. You of all people should understand that.
The truth is republicans are stuck with a shrinking base and all that is left to appeal to are the kooks and nutties and the gullible. It’s a sad fact.
And yet Republicans ARE talking about the economy and democrats are advising Biden to quit talking about the economy.
Why ? Because your claims are either wrong., cherry picked or not reflective of reality.
Total inflation since 2021 is over 20% that is near as much as the entire two decades before.
Whether you like it or not – we have NEVER cleared significant inflation without a recession.
This administration has been trying to game the numbers and game the economy – and they have quasi successfully kicked the can down the road, but they have done so at significant cost. Significant portions of the economy are and have been in recession for some time. The commerical real estate market – is not in recession – it is practically in a depression and is deparately treading water hoping for a bailout or a miracle.
You are free to dream if you wish. With respect to the alleged growth and other figures.
There are two issues – First the Biden admin has already been caught in very large lies with its numbers. But more importantly – as one would expect the Biden economy is a mirror of sorts to the Obama economy. Up one quarter down the next. YoYo
Trump posted solid growth with more than 3 straight years of close to 3% growth each and every quarter. Biden’s economy like Obama’s fluctuates wildly. Obama averaged 1.68% growth over 8 years – and worse still that was coming out of a recession when growth should be high. Biden got a FREE boost because the economy had started recovering from covid in July 2020,
Biden could have coasted into being a successful president – by doing nothing. He BLEW IT.
You think the economy is good ? Tell that to the 10 people I have had to lay off over the past two years.
No one said young people are not idealistic – that is not new.
Nor is the FACT that the choices people make tend to imporve with age – atleast until their 60’s
Only left wing nuts think that 4 year olds who beleive in magic can make choices about their gender.
Only left wing nuts think teenagers who we do not allow to vote, to drink, to marry. to buy cigarettes or pornography are able to make elective surgery or drug choices that will have life long consequences.
I am not a big proponent of the republican notion that we should lock criminals up forever.
We have lots of data that the overwhelming majority of crime is committed by those under 35. That with few exceptions people released from prison after the age of 35 do not continue to commit violent crimes. There are exceptions – and those people do need to be locked up forever.
Regard;less, the POINT which you are oblivious too is that humans do not reach intellectual maturity by age 16 or 18, but closer to 35. This is not some right wing thing. It is just the nature of human development.
We never should have lowered the voting age. That was a mistake. We are not going to go back.
But it is just a fact that one average people make poorer choices when they are younger.
Most suicides are by people in their teens.
Most automobile accidents are by people in their teens.
Most drug about is by teens and young adults.
Most crime is by teens and young adults.
Most abortions are teens and young adults.
Svelaz – we are in the midst of a major political realingment unlike anything that has happened in my entire lifetime.
In the US these are less than once a generation events. The republican party is changing. The democratic party is changing.
Democrats have ALWAYS dominated the under 30 vote. But in the past they have had enormous problems getting those under 30 to vote. They have been more successful recently through a combination of ballot harvesting and mailin voting.
It remains to be seen whether the increased turnout of young voters is sustainable. Though it is not likely.
Regression to the norm is the norm.
Democrats are taking ownership of college educated voters – and that absolutely is because of the political indoctrination that is our education system.
We are at the leading stages of a looming disaster. We have a geneartion of abysmally educated youth.
I noted that young people in general make poor decisions.
Modern young people are worse than past norms as a consequence of absymal education.
We can rant about CRT and other left wing nonsense. But more important than how stupid and anti-reality it all is, is how unproductive it is.
Standard of living rests entirely on the value that we produce.
The nonsense of the left is a luxury good. If we do not produce cars, and bridges, and food, and the necescities of life – an XXX studies degree has no value. Frankly it appears to have no value regardless.
I do not beleive the young today are less intelligent than those of the past – but they are far more poorly educated and that makes them less able to produce anything of value.
We have the early symptoms of systemic failure already.
In the past decade we have seen rates of anxiety and depression double.
They are twice as high in the left as the right.
Women as men.
Young as old.
Such that the average under 30 democratic woman has a 76% chance of suffering from anxiety and depression.
Compared to about 16% for an over 50 conservative.
Increases in anxiety and depression result in higher crime, higher suicide, higher drug use.
just a long long list of bad things.
Regardless, democrats are doing well with college educated, and particularly young college educated white women.
But they are losing ground rapidly amoung minorities.
Republicans have doubled their small share of the black vote – even more so among black men.
They are approaching parity with democrats among hispanic voters.
They are making huge gains amoung blue collar workers – though democrats are starting to put up a fight.
Republicans are making gains amoung other minorities. Asians, jews. Though these are all smaller blocks.
The very same demographers who claimed more than a decade ago that democrats were headed towards a permanent majority are now warning democrats that they are on the wrong side of all long term trends.
Peter Theil beleives that we hit peak woke in 2020. You are free to disagree. But I think he is correct.
Your busy trying to tell us all that Bidenomics is working. Tell that to all the democrats telling Biden to shutup about the economy.
Regardless, universally leftism FAILS. A good education would have taught younger people that.
All the postive attributes of youth you cite – can be channeled towards a better future or a worse one.
John Say,
Well said.
I will only add that the problem with inflation is cumulative. While some news pundits and the WH press sec spout that “inflation is down!” that is on top of the highs we have already experienced. Those poor people, to them it does feel like we are in a recession. The USDA released a report that due to Bidenflation, an additional 10 million Americans will face food insecurity: https://justthenews.com/nation/economy/bidenomics-boomerang-hunger-explodes-joes-watch-10-million-more-fall-food-insecurity
The jobs that were supposed lost during the Trump admin had nothing to do with Trump. It was the lockdowns that caused the economic down turn. That is what happens when you close your economies. The the recovery had nothing to do with Biden. The economic recovery was lead by Red States re-opening their economies. Those jobs that Biden claims to have created were not created at all, but jobs there that were closed during the lockdowns. Blue States lagged in their economic recoveries, namely CA and NY, as they held on to the lockdown policies the longest.
The Home Household Survey shows more and more Americans working second or even third jobs. That is not an indicator of low employment. That is an indicator of more Americans working harder with two jobs to make ends meet.
And I just read credit card balances hit a record 1.08 Trillion as savings have reach record lows and Americans are using credit cards to make ends meet.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which has nothing to do with inflation, even Biden admitted he wished he did not call it that, was actually a green energy deal. It allowed Biden admin to create a slush fund for green companies. You can read about it here: https://realclearwire.com/articles/2023/11/06/too_favored_to_fail_taxpayers_bailout_bidens_green_friends_990550.html
Lastly, while the US Navy is the greatest at sea, the Navy is having a bit of a problem recruiting military aged men to man them. So is the Army, Air Force and US Coast Guard.
A recent study found 68% of US Army soliders were overweight or obese.
It has been a on going problem for a number of years, but seems no one wants to join the Biden admins all woke military. Families that have long history of military service aka conservatives, young men are not enlisting in Biden’s all woke military. Ironically, leftist pundits are blaming them for the recruitment shortages.
Joe Biden should thank Trump’s policies for the economy holding up as poorly as it has. The middle class has lost a lot of their take-home dollars. Inflation numbers, though not as bad as one would think, represent bad things for the future, as inflation has many factors involved.
High interest rates to combat inflation hurt growth. Impoverishing the people which is happening, causes inflation to fall because people reduce purchases.
Biden’s economics has fundamentally weakened America to a point that will take years to correct if that is possible. We have ensured a decreased standard of living for future generations.
“Obama and Biden have been PLAYED by Iran.” Not sure either of them has been ‘played’ since neither seem bothered by the results of their actions. You might say they’re ‘pleased’ with what has happened each time they gave Iran cash.
I saw nothing in the election I did not expect.
If you think things are hopeful for D’s you are engaged in wishful thinking.
VA is a blue state and has been for some time. Youngkin and several others getting elected there is a big deal.
That the legislature is barely blue is not surprising.
While abortion does not belong enshrined as a right anywhere – it clearly is not a right. States working out the abortion issue post Dobbs is to the expected. And that will fizzle for democrats as a new status quo is established.
Results in my state were pretty normal for my state. Democrats won in democrat regions and republicans won in republic regions.
Often with bad results – regardless of party.
As best as I can tell the same was true elsewhere.
Regardless, Biden was not on the ballot, Trump was not on the ballot. The economy was not on the ballot.
Foreign policy was not on the ballot. With few exceptions national issues were not on the ballot.
“While abortion does not belong enshrined as a right anywhere – it clearly is not a right. States working out the abortion issue post Dobbs is to the expected. And that will fizzle for democrats as a new status quo is established.”
Abortion is a right according to the voters. They chose to make it a right under their constitution and it’s not different than the rights guaranteed by the US constitution.
Clearly you’re disappointed in the outcome, but the whole point of the Dobbs ruling is letting the states decide and Ohio decided last night that it is indeed a right in their state. You can disagree. But ultimately Ohio voters chose to make it a right and make it part of their constitution which protects that right. Ohio legislators didn’t want voters to decide because they knew they would be overridden by the people as it should be. Democrats have the edge when it comes to abortion rights. Because at the end of the day. Even republican women want to have the option and they don’t want that to be dictated by men in their party. The proof is in the outcome.
“If you think things are hopeful for D’s you are engaged in wishful thinking.”
Hey, the outcomes speak for themselves. It’s notable that you haven’t said the same about republicans.
“While abortion does not belong enshrined as a right anywhere – it clearly is not a right.” Says the oracle of BS
Clearly? if it was “clearly” not a right then why is there such a disagreement about it. Many states have gone way too far with banning abortion such that women have died or lost the ability to have further children. Further, Doctors are leaving some of the more extreme states (AKA Idaho) because Doctors don’t want to be imprisoned if they perform an abortion on a woman in severe medical stress.
Since 2018 trump and his supporters have lost far more elections than won. Polls are BS. Elections count. Oh wait, saying that to a trump supporter is meaningless because they have proven themselves to be election deniers and anti democratic.
How about listening to what people actually say and do?
What is it you expect to improve for Biden in the next year ?
What is it that you expect to get worse for Trump or Republicans ?
If you actually managed to convict Trump of something – that would likely INCREASE his polls – as has everything you have done so far.
I voted yesterday – I voted for many democrats. I voted for the least bad choice for each office – sometimes that was a democrat, sometimes a republican.
I explicitly voted against several republican and democrat incumbents. I live in a deep red country that long ago had real republican limited government leaders. Today’s local republican party leadership is as lawless as democrats nationally. Yet they continue to hold power.
interestingly my city has poor democratic leadership, and my county has abysmal republican leadership.
None of that has anything to do with the 2024 election.
“What is it you expect to improve for Biden in the next year ?”
It depends on the outcome of wins control of the house. If democrats win the house and retain control of the senate I expect there would be meaningful movement on issues that are important. Such as budget issues, taxes, etc. I expect democrats to have issues with the extreme left and their demands for action on their pet issues and I also expect they will cause some gridlock and argument. So I wouldn’t be surprised if things turned out that way.
“What is it that you expect to get worse for Trump or Republicans ?”
Trump is already going to be convicted. That’s not surprising. It would be really bad if he loses the election because that would mean he has no chance to avoid accountability if he’s elected. Republicans already demonstrate that they can’t govern much less do the most basic functions in congress. They would still be mired in dysfunction and finger pointing. MAGA republicans will start to fade into oblivion just like the Tea party did. Of course this is all speculation at this point.
“If you actually managed to convict Trump of something – that would likely INCREASE his polls – as has everything you have done so far.”
Eh, I don’t think so. His poll numbers may be up, but that would be primarily among his fans which are not that big of an electoral block. Polls are not very reliable and that has always been the case in the last couple of elections. Especially this early.
Trump getting convicted could temporarily increase his numbers, but that would depend on the evidence that emerges from his trials. It’s already a given that his strongest supporters don’t care if he is convicted or not. They will still vote for him. The problem is as I just pointed out. That is not a large enough group of people to put him in office again. He still has to rely on a majority of independents and that is a huge question mark.
Democrats are not winning the house in 2023. I asked about the next year – not 2025. You have to get through to ther election in 2024 without things getting worse.
With respect to polls and convicted Trump – you can think whatever you wish but we rarely lose when we use the past as a predictor of the future – each of the political attacks on Trump have BOOSTED his polls.
We have a complex swirl of things going on. I do not think the war in israel had sufficient time to impact the 2023 election. Further it was mostly a local election and that is less effected by things a world away.
But almost all of the country – supermajorities are unified in support of Israel.
But Democrats are DEEPLY split and at war with themselves. 20 democrats voted to censure Rashida Tlaib.
Pres. Biden is engaged in an impossible dance. 84% of the country supports israel, but half of those under 30 support Hamas
This has cost Biden 11% of the democratic vote in the past month.
And there is no fix for this. If Biden tacks towards students – he will alienate the rest of the country.
There are many other similar issues – such as the border. But this has the most extreme polarization.
Biden has semi-reversed himself on immigration – building more wall, because the polls show that as a major political -problem.
At the same time – AGAIN – he faces a revolt among the younger part of the democratic base.
You say republicans are divided, dysfunctional and can not govern. They did fine in 2017 and 2018. They created the best economy of the 21st century. And oddly you desparately want to reverse all of that.
You talk about taxes. Christina Romer – Obama’s Cheif Economic advisor calculated the revenue optimizing maximum income tax rate at about 33%. Raising marginal taxes higher than that does not increase tax revenue.
But the revenue optimizing tax rate is significantly higher than the economy optimizing tax rate.
Lots and lots and lots and lots of data over the course of the past century places the optimal size of government at BELOW 19% of GDP. In the US government is double that size.
And you want to raise taxes.
As to budgets. Republicans claim to favor spending limits – but they lie. When in power they spend too much.
But no matter how bad republicans are on spending – democrats are and have always been far worse.
No serious person beleives that democrats will EVER get spending under control.
Further democrats will not produce a budget when in power – they have not does so in the past 20_ years.
They do not want a budget.
Again history is the best predictor of the future.
We can expect republicans and democrats to behave in the future as they have in the past.
The only choice worse than Republicans, is democrats.
As to dysfunction – I noted previously we are in a massive political realignment in this country.
That is impacting both parties. Mostly the shifts and conflicts are playing out more visibly among republicans. But the rifts among the republicans are not fatal.
The Tea Party gained vast power int he GOP – before Trump and was later adopted by Trump, because they were prepared to not vote at all and see republicans lose if they did not get candidates they wanted.
Ultimately about 70% of the current GOP is to some extent aligned with Trump/MAGA/TP -= probably more so among the people than among politicians. It is likely that NeoCons will leave the GOP and join democrats.
But that will be far more than made up by gains among minorities, and blue collar workers.
Conversely the split among democrats is by age. Radical Young Democrat voters are following the same pattern as the TP – threatening to not vote if they do not get their way.
That gives them extraordinary political power.
But there are several differences between the TP/MAGA/Trump republican faction and the democrat woke faction.
The dominant republican faction is cloose to politically aligned with the values of much of the country.
The Woke faction among democrats is not even aligned with much of the democratic party.
Why criticize the Prof for making predictions when he was asked to do so.