mspart

https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/hunter-biden-faces-up-to-17-years-in-prison-if-convicted-201777733504 Hunter Biden faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted I would be concerned but I'm not Hunter. He's brave enough to arrive at the Capitol and rail on and on about the deposition he is there not to give on the day he is to give it. That takes some chutzpah. And so far, nothing has happened to him so well played I guess. Except he also crammed it down their throats in the contempt hearing he attended unnanounced. Major chutzpah there I might add. I hope he gets held accountable for these behaviors. His lawyer should but he has otherwise been just defending him telling him these would be good ideas. mspart

Vak - it is really hard to make a coherent argument on this point. You're statement is just sour grapes. Since when has Dimon been political? I have never seen it. He advocates in front of Congress for Wall Street and to be left alone. And his statement seems to say that the Ds should listen or they will lose this election because of their obtuseness. If anything, he is trying to tell the Ds what to do to not screw this up. mspart

So the laptop was not Russia Disinformation. The peddlers of disinformation disinformed the public on this front. Not only that, but the laptop that everyone knew about is corroborated by the i-cloud data that the DOJ received some time ago. So DOJ has known all along about all this and have slow walked it all. 1. They have Hunter dead to rights on tax evasion and slow walk that one until the statute of limitations happened and they did nothing to keep the case going which they easily could have done. 2. They dropped all of the gun charges on Hunter that are now pending due to the plea deal being blown up. 3. They dropped most of the tax charges except the weak ones that he pled guilty to originally in the plea deal that blew up. Now all of the sudden he is not guilty of those as his new plea. So now that this is out there, what is the DOJ to do? This will determine how corrupt the DOJ is in my mind. They have Hunter dead to rights for a long prison sentence. Will they pull the trigger? We shall see. mspart

Well Nikki is certainly more centrist than the other two that are still in the running. And I remember both Rs and Ds playing games in the primaries to get desired results for the main election. Just last time in 2022, numerous Ds voted for Trump candidates in the Primary so they could beat them in the general because some were felt to be weak candidates. This happened, and the Ds got the R candidates they wanted so they could be beaten. Trumps candidates did well in the primaries but not the general election. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/11/15/democrats-boosted-trump-gop-primaries-helping-midterms/10670042002/ mspart

https://thehill.com/business/4413609-dimon-democrats-should-grow-up-listen-to-trump-supporters/ Dimon: Democrats should ‘grow up,’ listen to Trump supporters JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon slammed Democratic messaging about MAGA, or “Make America Great Again,” Republicans on Wednesday, telling Democrats to “grow up” and “listen” to supporters of former President Trump. “When people say MAGA, they’re actually looking at people voting for Trump and … they’re basically scapegoating them,” Dimon told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “I don’t like how [Trump] said things about Mexico … but he wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues, and that’s why they’re voting for him,” Dimon continued. “And I think people should be a little more respectful of our fellow citizens.” “I mean, really, can we just stop that stuff and actually grow up and treat other people with respect and listen to them a little bit,” he said, adding, “I think this negative talk about MAGA is going to hurt Biden’s election campaign.” Dimon has stayed out of politics but I think what he is saying here is true. People who support Trump are concerned about things. People who support Biden are concerned about things. Best to listen to all of them and deal with all the concerns. This is a nice fresh take and I hope the nation gets it. mspart

Yep, its rough. The government should not be making things rough on their citizens. There is no reason for it. But that is what is happening all over. We need budgets cut and spending cut so that the government is not so onerous on it's own people. Remember, we do this to ourselves because we are the government and have voted in these nut jobs that want ever more power. That's what the tax code enables. More power over the governed. Not supposed to be that way. mspart

That should make her feel better. mspart

Glad he is gone. mspart

I thought I'd get it. mspart

Fences don't stop illegal immigration. Wait! mspart

It won't get her anywhere and allows DeSantis free reign to discuss his policy objectives unfettered ( my new word of the day!!). mspart

Did not research it because it sounded extremely plausible. CA would do something like that. mspart

You would not want to see anything I chisel. Which is why I find renaissance sculptors so fascinating. mspart

I feel very fortunate to be a US citizen. You have stated yourself you don't want an open spigot but you have not detailed why. When you do so, then we can discuss who is worthy and who is not to come across the border. Do you think as a US citizen you can just go park yourself in any other country, claim asylum and you get to stay indefinitely? It does not work that way in any other country. Why does it work that way here? For what intrinsic national reason would we have unfettered immigration? I can tell you there is an intrinsic reason to have fettered immigration and that is spelled out in the law Biden is ignoring to the tune of millions of undocumented, and unknown people have come. Does a country not have a right to regulate that? Of course it does. That's why we have immigration laws that are being ignored. mspart

According to my dad, his dad was very inventive on the farm and invented tools to do the job he needed done. I don't know what these would be, and they are gone now. My grandpa died about 20 years before I was born. I only have stories about him. The tools I have of his is a notebook with his writing, a shoulder drill, old style drill bits, hand planers, and measuring tools. My dad kept his old shovel and I have it now. Still works. mspart

I can tell you that there is no income tax in the state of Washington due to the fact that they will not enact anything that is not progressive. The State Constitution prohibits the taxing of property (tangible or intangible) with anything other than a flat tax rate. ARTICLE VII - REVENUE AND TAXATION SECTION 1 TAXATION. The power of taxation shall never be suspended, surrendered or contracted away. All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax and shall be levied and collected for public purposes only. The word "property" as used herein shall mean and include everything, whether tangible or intangible, subject to ownership. All real estate shall constitute one class: So the legislature passed a tax on capital gains. The State Supreme Court upheld it saying capital gains is not income. Yet every other state that has an income tax and the federal government define capital gains as income. If capital gains is income, then it cannot be taxed without taxing everyone's income at the same rate. When this passed the legislature, one legislator was heard to say that this is the first step to a state income tax. This was long in the making as I mentioned about the CA wealth tax. The WASC is full of progressives who decided to read the constitution in a different way that past SC decisions have. There is an initiative that will go on the ballot this year to repeal this tax, and there will be another initiative to prohibit the state, county, or city from imposing an income tax. NOTE: Seattle enacted such a tax some years ago and it was eliminated by the courts. Just a little relevant history that is happening right now for y'all to consider. Now to the question: 1. Now a flat tax has benefits because you know right away the tax you will pay. There is at least some concreteness to that, something you can plan for easily. Even a personal or couple exemption, you know pretty much how much you will pay. 2. A Progressive tax depends on your income and that can fluctuate so maybe not as much will you know how much your tax will be. Does anyone know what their fed income tax liability will be before doing the taxes on April 14th? I don't. So that is a problem. I don't have a huge philosophical reason to hate graduated income tax. But I think it needs to be relevant and meaningful. Having the top rate be 90% is ridiculous in my opinion. That is legal robbery. But no one would pay that because of all the tax loopholes that protect them. So it is not relevant or meaningful. There should never be a case where more than 50% of a person's income at any level should be required. That again is legal robbery at the point of a gun or prison. Not right in any sphere. But I think there is an equitable way to do the progressive taxation so not a hard no on this form. But I prefer something simpler. mspart

The longer I'm around, the more I feel this way. Those folks back in the day were not stupid. Not at all. mspart

I'll have to ask my wife if she wants to go. Probably not. Better seats at home really. Plus she is not that into sports. I watched wrestling last time almost exclusively and thought that I missed out on other events that I enjoy watching. No, marathon is not one of them! But I do like the track, field, swimming, gymnastics as well. Track bike racing is fun to watch as well. mspart

The point here is that the discussion is part of the legislative agenda. It is shelved for now. But there have been a lot of ideas that were shelved that we now are afflicted with. Mark my words, this is not the end of this idea. It will come back. mspart

There you go. I have a few cans and boxes of bolts and nuts and nails etc. My dad kept his dad's tool box with some really old tools from depression era Idaho. I have those now. My dad suggested donating them to a museum but I haven't gotten around to that. My dad made a table saw in college. Cast it out of aluminum. I have that, but it is extremely dangerous to use. We used it to finish the basement when I was a kid. I have a much more up to date table saw that works well. Tough to get rid of the old stuff I have to say. But my wife keeps pushing for stuff to go so I'm thinking it might be time. But dang, there's history there. mspart

Perhaps this can be answered with some more specifics. 1. How much money is wealth? Is this income or total net worth? Includes 401K? 2. How much is the tax rate? 3. When will it begin to be enforced? 2024 tax year, 2025 or 2026 tax year? If for 2024, that might be expost facto as the year has already started and that would be backdating a law and that is kind of out of bounds. Easily challenged. 4. How many people will this affect? mspart

That's a lot of rotten bubble gum to gnaw on!!! mspart

True that. It's them doo dads that make it all worthwhile. mspart

It's looking like it will stay that way for him. mspart

I can do that. I have a fairly large chain saw. Oh shoot, that will go the way of the dinosaur if they get their small motor law passed this year. I live in the woods with a lot of Cedar and Maple trees everywhere. They fall down on their own fairly regularly. mspart