Hodad

The First Step Act? You mean the bipartisan (and veto-proof) bill that Trump vocally opposed before his son-in-law persuaded him that it would be advantageous? Opportunity Zones? You mean the opportunity for wealthy people to avoid capital gains by buying up rental properties in poor areas? (This could have worked better if the incentive were for business investment. Alas there's the rub. It's almost all real estate.) And the wealth gap is basically static since the 80s. Small peaks and valleys if you zoom in enough, but it really hasn't budged. That little peak there? It's housing prices. Black wealth is disproportionately in housing, so it got a nudge upward. But it's not new wealth, jobs, income or anything else to signal meaningful gains. Those gaps are largely consistent as well. You're looking at a mirage. Trump is actively destroying DEI efforts, repealing anti-discrimination measures, removing Black history from museums and schools, lionizing confederate generals--and so much more. The idea that he's any kind of friend to minorities in America is downright laughable.

I believe he's referring to the woman who was part of a howling mob that was threatening to kill Pelosi and Pence, who smashed their way into the capital and chased our legislators until they were cornered -- and then broke through the windows of the final barricade and started climbing through. Or as Trump called them, his people. They were probably joking about the killing stuff and were just smashing through the barricade because they were so eager to shake the hands of the legislators and thank them for their dedication to public service.

I do still have a vote, for the time being. And while half of American voters are comfortable with moral bankruptcy, they are not comfortable with financial bankruptcy. What a coincidence...

Yes, if someone were to concoct a recipe for recession--or more likely stagflation--this is it. Trump is doing literally everything he can do drive us there, and there's nothing to do but watch the car crash from the back seat. The routes to avoid that outcome are dwindling quicky. We're going to lose 5 years of prosperity and our international standing all in one fell swoop.

Sure, you get it.🙄 Reagan, Bush, GW Bush, and an endless string of Republican legislative leadership from Dole McConnell--literal decades of Republican identity--weren't "real" Republicans. It's the populist movement that only appeared this decade who were secretly the "real" Republicans all along. Just nobody knew it! That theory is next-level stupid. Even for you folks in the velcro shoes club. Jeebus. And the stupidity blended with alt-reality fiction is just too much to take seriously.

Let's be clear, there are people who legitimately believe that this tariff strategy is a viable tactic--not many, and not very bright, but those true believers exist. They think the US will endure a painful transition and emerge from it to something "better." However, NO ONE actually believes that the current economic shitstorm is Biden's fault rather than a direct product of Trump's schizophrenic trade war tariff bullshit. They all know. Every single one. They are just lying, gutless simps. If you think tanking the economy is a long term strategic play (it isn't, but whatever) then just farking own it. It's still tanking the economy, and it's still expressly, explicitly and exclusively Trump's doing.

You're not getting it, dummy. Do you not know what RINO means? Republican in Name Only. If, from the leadership to the rank-and-file Republicans were characterized by common values and a shared platform, that's what membership means. They weren't Republicans in Name Only. They were Republicans. -- The radical takeover that's happened over the last 10 years is what's new, and assuming the Republican name. And those people are not "real patriots." They are actively trading away everything that America has stood for in exchange for expedient execution of a hateful agenda. They prefer a fast-moving dictatorship to democracy. That's simply where they're at, and why they don't object to the lawlessness and the constitutional crisis unfolding.

This is a bright spot in the political landscape. Canadians are generally very decent people and it's great to see them reject MAGA/MCGA in favor of decency. It's unfortunate that it takes watching the US fall apart to remind other democracies to protect what they have.

That's wildly stupid. Just made-up nonsense. The "Council of Presidents" is some random crap you read on Twitter. And no, nobody opened the border. And no, reverting to non-COVID status quo of border law is, by definition, not radical. No, they didn't fund Hamas. Nor were parents persecuted, etc. And holding people accountable for breaking the law is not lawfare. You're just a full-on raging loon. Like you've been mainlining Newsmax concentrate or something. It's weird to see people enter another reality entirely. This again? Can you identify any employment or income programs that Trump put in place for Black and Hispanic Americans? Oh, wait. No. He just happened to inherit a robust economy approaching full employment. And in which Black employment and wages lagged behind the rest of the economy just as much as they always have. If he had closed that gap you'd have a story, but what you are actually trying to do is give him credit for something he didn't prioritize or cause in the least. MAGA clearly isn't about any America we've had before. Rather, it's about hate of the other--marginalization of the already marginalized. A reclamation of power by white men who are (probably rightly) scared that many of them can't compete without the benefit of privilege.

As with most things, I don't think you've thought this through. We didn't have RINOs. We just had Republicans. That's just what Republicans were for many decades. The right wing radicals taking over that party are the ones who are outliers adopting a new name. Right now it sucks to be any American who believes in American values. People who believe in the virtue of the constitution, in checks and balances, in the rule of law, civil rights and democracy in general are not having a very good time, watching 250 years of idealism unravel does indeed suck.

^^Exhibit A. Joe Biden didn't do anything to the system. His administration was a return to normalcy and a successful economic recovery. That's it. No one is buying "Sleepy Joe" as a radical reformer. That's asinine. You probably thought you had conservative values. Turns out you didn't love America as much as you hated the idea of "the other" thriving in America. "If I can't have it to myself, no one can. Burn it down."

We used to have a large population of conservatives in this country, a group that clung, perhaps too tightly, to tradition. A group who would have sounded every alarm and fought tooth and nail against such radical rapid change, particularly driven by an unchecked executive. It seems they've vanished. Replaced almost overnight by radicals. Turns out they never really believed in America after all.

I understand exactly what the order meant. It means that for lack of alternative, the person is legally allowed to remain and work in the US indefinitely. That IS his legal status. Such a person is not hiding. They are checking in with a case manager the same way a parolee does. They get jobs. They pay taxes. They have families. All done legally. Above board. He wasn't a fugitive. He was living and behaving legally, remaining here with the full knowledge of the legal system. That is the goddamn status he was granted. The Trump administration broke the law by unlawfully renditioning him to El Salvador. A district judge said it was unlawful and ordered his return. The farking SCOTUS said that it was unlawful and that the administration had to facilitate his return--unanimously, 9-0. And you're in here pretending that it wasn't illegal because the cult must over the Orange Overlord in all things. It's embarrassing.

You've "shown" me a lot of shit you don't understand. Withholding of removal is a legal status to remain here indefinitely. That's why the let him go. That's why they let him stay. That's why they gave him a work permit. You think that they are giving work permits to those who are here illegally? They want people to work if they are going to stay. They didn't make him a citizen. They didn't grant him asylum (because he missed the application deadline). But they DID give him a legal status to remain in the US indefinitely. Even if the administration had deported him to a different country (which is pretty bizarre) there is no cause to send him to a supermax nightmare prison. Again, no crime, no trial, no conviction. Just a dude driving with his kid--> straight to CECOT.

Back to Hegseth the clown. Good thing he's here to root out all the softness from the military. Tough as nails! (Well manicured and painted nails.)🤭 Hegseth orders makeup studio installed at Pentagon

WTF? You just tried to argue that there is only one component to the legal system: trials. Give yourself a well deserved and vigorous facepalm. He was living here legally. He was deported illegally. And the government authority to scoop people off the street and imprison them in foreign gulags without trial is exactly what you've been arguing this entire farking time. That's what happened. You say it's right. You support it. Jeebus.

You're just getting more vapid as you repeat this crap. Yes, the first immigration judge did indeed say that. As acknowledged multiple times. That does NOT make something proven nor it it conviction of a crime. Jeebus. It was not a trial. There is no explicit standard of evidence. The judge just decides if someone can stay or go. That's it. Yes, someone with a withholding of removal status is here legally. The legal system, legally and explicitly, said that they can remain in the country. They are issued a work permit. And you end with some epic bullshit there. He's not a proven gang member, but rather accused of being in a gang with very thin evidence. And there's no evidence whatsoever of him being involved in raping or killing women or girls, you asshat. He was just a guy with a job and a family, legally living in the US. -- Despite the accusations of being in a gang, in all the years he's been in the US (and on the planet) he's never been accused, tried or convicted of a crime. Even with all the scrutiny and regular check-ins (never missed) for his immigration status, never a whiff of him doing anything criminal. And again, whether he's the world's most super secret gang member when he's not at work or with his family, is irrelevant. Even people who ARE in gangs get a trial. They are not scooped up off the street and sent to prison in farking El Salvador. You are arguing that it's fine to scoop people off the street and just send them to a foreign prison. No need for a trial even! That's pretty goddamn monstrous--and about as unAmerican as it gets--but there you are.

Jeebus. You are just full to the brim with crap. He has never had a criminal trial, let alone a conviction. 1. He was interviewed for loitering (day labor line at Home Depot) in 2019. He was not charged with any crime whatsoever and was instead referred to immigration because he was in the country illegally. 2. He was accused of being in a gang, but denied it. The evidence of him being in a gang is pretty thin, but Judge 1 --at hearing, not trial--found it plausible and was willing to deport him. He was then granted an order of withholding and was released with a work permit. At that point he is legally in the country and able to work. No "proven" gang membership because there was no trial. A judge simply found it believable at a hearing--which is a WILDLY different standard of evidence than a criminal trial. So, for five years he's fine, legally living and working in the US with a good job and a family. No trouble. No crime. No trial. No conviction. And then one day he gets pulled over, detained, put on a plane and shipped to a prison in El Salvador. AGAIN, without any trial or conviction. Just plucked out of a normal life and shipped to a gulag in another country. It's beyond farked up. It's insane that you people think this is justice or is a precedent we should set. I don't care if you believe deep down in your shriveled heart that someone has gang ties, in America we don't just grab that person off the street and send them to prison. Due farking process.

Of course I read it, weirdo. That's why I'm asking you to dust of your rotten old brain and think for a moment about what's actually happening. Hence the questions. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. Tariffs are taxes that raise prices on targeted goods to shift demand elsewhere. Does that apply to a pharmaceutical market in which consumers have a) no earthly idea of prices, b) unabating need, c)little alternative? Oh, and meanwhile generics from China and India are targeted for even heavier tariffs. This is not about tariffs shifting demand. It's about Trump's deal to repeal the negotiated drug prices in the IRA. Trump continues to throw Americans under the bus to create a smoother ride for his rich buddies.

Jeebus. El Slavador has imprisoned the people we sent there because we paid them to imprison the people we sent there. It's not like they showed up in El Salvador and had a trial. The Trump administration literally just renditioned people to a third-world gulag and then is pretending it's out of their hands. No criminal record. No cause or evidence for being detained. No trial here. No trial there. Just pulled over while driving with his kid, detained, put on a plane and sent to prison. It's insane.

I didn't change anyything. I said the government broke the law, as adjudicated in court. You said they didn't, because Bondi could "overrule an immigration judge WRT withholding. But a) she didn't do that, and b) it's not an immigration judge that ruled that the administration broke the law, it's a district court judge. This is not hard. They broke the law. The district court said they broke the law and had to bring him back. The SCOTUS affirmed that they broke the law and had to facilitate his return. You now want to argue that he's safer in some El Salvadoran nightmare prison than he was living a regular life with his wife and 3 kids? GTFO. This is just next-level dishonesty. -- A man who was legally in this country, working a steady union job to support his family, without any criminal record in this country or any other was suddenly snatched up, put on a plane, flown to a foreign country and put in prison. Think about how farking insane that is. That's nothing remotely resembling justice. That's third-world dictator shit. And you're loving it. You're disgusting.

Has been addressed. Not my fault you can't follow a conversation. The vast bulk pharma revenue is from drugs that are protected, and in many cases don't have 1:1 replacements. The US pays about 3x as much for the same drugs as they do in other countries. And it's NOT because they are being manufactured less expensively elsewhere. So who is Trump trying to help by threatening to tax our already overpriced meds and offering to repeal drug price negotiation provisions? Big Pharma has Americans over a barrel because people like Trump protect their Big Pharma buddies. If he really wanted to help the middle class he'd fight to get us the same prices that they pay in other countries instead of making a deal to protect their lucrative situation.

To understand the world, you'd have to actually stop and THINK for a moment. 1. Your "champion of the middle class" threatened to add a 25% tax on people's medication 2. Do you think a 25% price increase has any meaningful impact on demand for medicine? Do you imagine these are recreational drugs? 3. Do you have any idea how much your medication actually costs? Do you know anyone who is paying for medication out-of-pocket? There aren't many markets less likely to be affected by tariffs. So what are the Big Pharma companies actually negotiating for? Oh, that's right, Trump has promised them to repeal drug price negotiation provisions in the IRA. To, again, raise the price of medicine and protect Big Pharma profits. Something like 90% of the generic medication is made in India and China. The price for generics will go up, while Big Pharma can continue to set exorbitant prices for brand name medication. Quite the windfall for Big Pharma. They also need Trump to protect the patents of their money factory. You sure have a funny idea of "helping the middle class."🤪

As much as you despise data, the numbers are the numbers. Trump is helping the middle class by whimsically multiplying the costs of the goods they consume while tanking their 401Ks? Soooo helpful. Your fantasy that investment is up based on tariffs that keep being put "on hold" is laughable. Investment has been up based on IRA and CHIPS incentives. The on-again-off-again tariffs haven't had any impact on real investment. Nobody is investing based on schizophrenic policy. The only things tariffs have accomplished is to scare the shit out of the markets, alienate allies, devalue the dollar, and drive trade to other companies. Pure destruction. There is no upside.

Gaffes or no gaffes, we successfully rebuilt the economy under Biden, going from Trumpster fire to the envy of the world. And now Trump is back in office, mashing buttons and yanking levers he CLEARLY does not understand, and we're tanking.