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I know that ambassadors are mostly figureheads and diplomacy is done by State officials, but seems like at least the first 3 of these guys would be useful to have right now... https://x.com/RobbieGramer/status/1711128961550270673?s=20
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Oct 9, 2023 00:12
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Digamma-F-Wau posted:I feel like people making Biden out as a boogeyman during the primaries has ironically helped his image (at least in places like this), because most of the time he's exceeding those expectations (even if exceeding said expectations isn't actually helpful enough), and when he legit does something lovely it doesn't feel like a betrayal because it doesn't run counter to the biden people have in their heads It's a bit of a reverse of how when Obama campaigned then governed as a centrist, people who somehow saw Lenin on his poster and expected a leftist firebrand felt they'd been swindled.
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Oct 9, 2023 00:17
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NomNomNom posted:If they lost money wouldn't they deduct those losses from their income? Depends how you structure the 25% minimum. If you do it as 25% gross revenue that's bad, but the closer to net you put taxes the more stuff rich people can exempt that they really shouldn't because one of the ways rich people currently achieve near zero tax is by being able to write down 'losses'(like depreciation on their building) against income and bank those losses year to year for windfalls. The classic ways are to donate to a pocket charitable foundation you corruptly control(Like say, donating your portrait to them and writing off its cost, then renting it for a dollar a year), or ironically, running a 'farm' that mostly exists to speculate on agricultural land, where to plant a crop of suburban housing in 5 years and run lots of purchases through the currently very generous farm exemptions that give you big tax rebates. US farms have massive tax advantages, especially as a way to hold land vacant for speculative purposes because nearly all vacant land is farm zoned(but much of it isn't actually viable for farming, its a historical artifact from the westward expansion). You need to be very careful not to make farms go broke trying to make 'farms' not viable as a tax shelters.
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Oct 9, 2023 00:53
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Killer robot posted:It's a bit of a reverse of how when Obama campaigned then governed as a centrist, people who somehow saw Lenin on his poster and expected a leftist firebrand felt they'd been swindled. It's almost like people are used to creating their own headcanon and become irrationally upset when reality doesn't go the way they've scripted it.
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Oct 9, 2023 01:12
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Re: The attack on Israel. Let's be honest, as much as some folks here would like us to do nothing more with Israel over the Palestinian issue, what's happened this week will mean it's at LEAST a decade before any folks not already convinced that Israel are in the wrong will budge even an inch towards separating the two. The goal of the Palestinians to actually fight Israel's encroachment got set back years, if not decades. I'm sure Hamas feel like they've "Struck a gigantic blow against the opressors", but really, it's the equivalent of seeing a land mine, and determining it's a great idea to jump and down on it, then wondering why it exploded. So, if you were looking towards pushing the BDS of Israel into the more-mainstream parts of society, well, I wouldn't hold my breath. And as for Biden's statement on taxes, we really need to just scrap the tax code entirely. There's just too many exemptions (capital gains, death taxes), loopholes (moving funds overseas to avoid being taxed), and just plain shenanigans. How about a new law that states you can't pay less then the minimum tax rate on ALL reported profit. So, some business reports 2.5 Billion in profit to stockholders? Fine, we''ll take that 2.5 billion as a MINIMUM to figure out a corp's tax burden (so if it's a 22% tax rate, then 22% of 2.5 billion, or what, $500million roughly?) They need to burn it all down root and tree and rebuild it
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Oct 9, 2023 01:15
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Killer robot posted:It's a bit of a reverse of how when Obama campaigned then governed as a centrist, people who somehow saw Lenin on his poster and expected a leftist firebrand felt they'd been swindled. Considering that one of his main campaign platform positions was the creation of a public health care option, I think pretty much everyone was qualified to feel swindled when he dropped that almost instantly after winning.
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Oct 9, 2023 01:21
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SirFozzie posted:Re: The attack on Israel. I don't agree that the attack is counterproductive for Hamas. They've geopolitically re-centered Israel-Palestine, probably indefinitely halting Israeli normalization with Saudi Arabia. And they've caused the worst disaster in the history of Israeli intelligence & military at a time when they needed to show credibility to disillusioned Palestinians. Just like Bibi benefits from launching campaigns into enemy territory, so does Hamas, even though in both cases the net result is just profound misery for everyone.
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Oct 9, 2023 01:24
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They've embarrassed the Israeli military and intelligence services. The reaction will be to be crush more apartment buildings than ever. It's kind of silly to prognosticate on the big winner here, because nothing will be accomplished but suffering. The Israeli center and center-right is already siding with Bibi again. Now I realize "believe in the peace process" is also near meaningless when unemployment is 50% and 10% of people in Gaza have access to clean water. But this comes at a moment where Bibi was historically weak. That's now down the drain, he can happily play Big Strong Wartime Leader, despite the incompetence and extremism of his regime being a root cause of this.
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Oct 9, 2023 01:41
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I mean you have to separate Hamas and Palestinians, the attack can be good for Hamas and bad for the population of Gaza.
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Oct 9, 2023 01:47
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James Garfield posted:I mean you have to separate Hamas and Palestinians, the attack can be good for Hamas and bad for the population of Gaza. Also Hamas as it is now doesn’t exist without the complete blockade of Gaza
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Oct 9, 2023 02:05
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The entire dynamic both major current political centers in the conflict benefit from is the conflict, Hamas dies if a reasonable solution exists (that is, if Israel engages in the peace process in good faith) and Likud is propped up by the worst kind of hardliners and has historically acted provocative to stir up violence whenever it needs political support (this one just looks to be robbing their actual security needs to prop up settlements in the west bank). Hamas are terrorists with an ideal that cant be achieved, their ideal is incompatible with peace. The US keeps international intervention from working to defuse the situation, and everyone in power has a reason to fuel the fire. Something like this was inevitable, and as always its the civilians who end up burned.
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Oct 9, 2023 03:43
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:They want gentle backdoor negotiations, 
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Oct 9, 2023 04:58
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National Security Council spokesman just announced that Hamas attacked a music festival in Israel last night and gunned down at least 260 people. 9 Americans who were attending are confirmed dead, several more injured, and several more missing. No confirmation if the missing Americans were part of the group that was kidnapped or just unaccounted for. https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1711355401982050609 Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 13:52 on Oct 9, 2023 |
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Oct 9, 2023 13:49
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Uh, what about non Americans?
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Oct 9, 2023 14:00
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Tiny Timbs posted:Uh, what about non Americans? 260 - 9 = 251. The NSC is just announcing missing/dead Americans from the music festival because they are a U.S. government agency and are warning people who had friends and family there.
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Oct 9, 2023 14:05
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Sorry I took “gunned down” as injured and dead, not dead
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Oct 9, 2023 14:06
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Efb
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Oct 9, 2023 14:07
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ummel posted:Efb Again, not clear if the 251 were fatalities or fatalities and wounded.
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Oct 9, 2023 14:07
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Tiny Timbs posted:Sorry I took “gunned down” as injured and dead, not dead - 260 people total killed at the music festival. - "At least" 9 Americans dead (i.e. 9 confirmed dead) - Roughly 100 additional people were taken hostage/are missing. - About a dozen Americans injured and some unknown amount missing/unaccounted/possibly kidnapped. - Some of the missing or critically injured people might be dead as well, so that is why they are saying "at least" 9 Americans dead. So far, all the known American deaths/missing people/injured were at this music festival. The NSC is warning Americans that if they had friends or family attending the music festival, then they might be dead/kidnapped. There are no confirmed American deaths/injuries/kidnappings outside of the festival as of yet. https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1711091011982623125 Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 14:17 on Oct 9, 2023 |
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Oct 9, 2023 14:12
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Tiny Timbs posted:Again, not clear if the 251 were fatalities or fatalities and wounded.
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Oct 9, 2023 16:28
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Whelp. Gaza won't exist in a year. That's disheartening.
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Oct 9, 2023 16:29
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AlternateNu posted:Whelp. Gaza won't exist in a year. That's disheartening. It will still exist. There will most likely be a few hundred to a few thousand fewer people. Israel has launched multiple official invasions into Gaza and could have bombed it to the ground multiple times. There isn't a strategic military reason to do so and there isn't even political support for doing so among the right-wing parties in Israel. People are forgetting the second intifada and Gaza wars in the late 2000's and early 2010's.
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Oct 9, 2023 16:33
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https://twitter.com/burgessev/status/1711402158766067744 Haha they frankensteined RFK. The mob has gathered up their pitchforks and torches and are.....agreeing with the monster! WaPo had an article on this last week  Also, McCarthy's comms director seems to think that McCarthy is going to be in the speakers race https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1711406636860871134 And his people are getting that out there https://twitter.com/CraigCaplan/status/1711414989368467964 zoux fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Oct 9, 2023 |
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Oct 9, 2023 17:27
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Holy poo poo 260 deaths is a lot and I think implies multiple shooters and a plan.
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Oct 9, 2023 18:00
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FLIPADELPHIA posted:Holy poo poo 260 deaths is a lot and I think implies multiple shooters and a plan. There were over 1,000 members of Hamas involved in the attacks and they simultaneously attacked several towns, military bases, and large civilian gatherings across southern and northern Israel. So, I think it is safe to say there were multiple shooters and a plan. Either that or there was one very busy shooter, roughly 999 people supplying him with ammo, and several long road trips up north and then back down.
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Oct 9, 2023 18:08
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FLIPADELPHIA posted:Holy poo poo 260 deaths is a lot and I think implies multiple shooters and a plan. The festival grounds were three miles from the Gaza strips wall. Some of the paraglider attackers and other assailants accosted the festival first before encroaching further into Israel. Wapo article described trucks pulling into the grounds and herding hostages, other festival attendees were executed on spot. The reports are harrowing. Unclear if target of opportunity or to what degree it was a pre planned target, mostly because they were walking distance from Gaza either is plausible.
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Oct 9, 2023 18:09
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Dube's among the more widely respected economists for minimum wage and more general labor economics as a whole. He's posted similar a few times before, his general take on Hot Labor Summer: https://twitter.com/arindube/status/1711405644450803853 https://twitter.com/arindube/status/1711427550436589971
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Oct 9, 2023 19:30
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The Washington Post has confirmation that at least five Americans have been taken hostage by Hamas. There are likely more, but the five confirmed hostages are all from the same family and consist of: - An 80-year old woman. - Her three grandchildren (ages 12,13, and 14). - Her son-in-law (age 50). quote:American says 5 family members, including 80-year-old, kidnapped in Israel https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...DPMAWU7VWYVK7IA Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Oct 9, 2023 |
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Oct 9, 2023 19:38
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zoux posted:
How would this work? Don't they need the same number of votes to get McCarthy back into the position that they needed to kick him out? So they'd have to flip some D's or the crazy 8(8) Republicans?
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Oct 9, 2023 21:19
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PoopShipDestroyer posted:How would this work? Don't they need the same number of votes to get McCarthy back into the position that they needed to kick him out? So they'd have to flip some D's or the crazy 8(8) Republicans? Oh it wouldn't work at all. Scalise and Jordan were already going to struggle to get the votes, with McCarthy in the mix, no one is getting elected speaker. I hope it never ends.
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Oct 9, 2023 21:26
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zoux posted:Oh it wouldn't work at all. Scalise and Jordan were already going to struggle to get the votes, with McCarthy in the mix, no one is getting elected speaker. I hope it never ends. Wait, McCarthy's back in the mix? I thought he did a "a pox on both your houses" to his conference and refused to run to get the speakership back again.
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Oct 9, 2023 21:45
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Captain_Maclaine posted:Wait, McCarthy's back in the mix? I thought he did a "a pox on both your houses" to his conference and refused to run to get the speakership back again. https://twitter.com/SusanPage/status/1711478628737802514 Jake Sherman, who lives inside of McCarthy's inside jacket pocket, also seems to think that he's eventually going to announce as a candidate. https://twitter.com/MollyBeck/status/1711475104595460116 Sounds like the WI Lege has given up their pipe dream of impeachment
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Oct 9, 2023 21:51
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Captain_Maclaine posted:Wait, McCarthy's back in the mix? I thought he did a "a pox on both your houses" to his conference and refused to run to get the speakership back again. It seems like maybe he just did that to get the focus off him for a few days so there'd be a few days to work out where everyone stands. The only candidates right now are ultra-conservatives, neither of them is emerging as a clear frontrunner over the other, and the GOP moderates are still making lots of loud and discontented noises about McCarthy's ouster and the new Speaker candidates. So while McCarthy hasn't officially put his name back in the hat yet, he's pretty openly dropping hints that he'd be happy to take the position back.
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Oct 9, 2023 21:54
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Captain_Maclaine posted:Wait, McCarthy's back in the mix? I thought he did a "a pox on both your houses" to his conference and refused to run to get the speakership back again. He did, so I'm not entirely sure what's going on? I guess some Rs are trying to draft him regardless of his wishes (and to try and soothe his wounded pride by saying "Look we won't accept a 'no' here we NEED you, nobody else could do what you do") but an infinitely funnier option is that the Ds are doing it behind the scenes because Chaos
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Oct 9, 2023 21:55
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My completely uninformed opinion is that McCarthy probably had the same basic human instinct Boehner and Ryan had of “gently caress those guys” but then the part of him that wanted to be Speaker bad enough to willingly create this mess that everyone predicated kicked in and he’ll run. Spites gotta play a role too. Even if you don’t think you can or want to Speaker again gently caress letting someone else have it easy.
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Oct 9, 2023 21:57
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STAC Goat posted:My completely uninformed opinion is that McCarthy probably had the same basic human instinct Boehner and Ryan had of “gently caress those guys” but then the part of him that wanted to be Speaker bad enough to willingly create this mess that everyone predicated kicked in and he’ll run. There's something kind of incredible about someone witnessing the last two speakers from his party get absolutely poo poo on by his own side, seeing no positive change in the party to the contrary, and then saying "Yeah, that's the job I want to have."
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Oct 9, 2023 22:03
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Sundae posted:There's something kind of incredible about someone witnessing the last two speakers from his party get absolutely poo poo on by his own side, seeing no positive change in the party to the contrary, and then saying "Yeah, that's the job I want to have." Absolute stupid power corrupts absolutely
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Oct 9, 2023 22:11
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Sundae posted:There's something kind of incredible about someone witnessing the last two speakers from his party get absolutely poo poo on by his own side, seeing no positive change in the party to the contrary, and then saying "Yeah, that's the job I want to have." I don't think any human could be a Republican house speaker . At this point its not herding cats, its herding arsonists who have no interest in governing.
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Oct 9, 2023 23:06
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Captain_Maclaine posted:Wait, McCarthy's back in the mix? I thought he did a "a pox on both your houses" to his conference and refused to run to get the speakership back again. He's not getting off that easy.
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Oct 9, 2023 23:12
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https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1711404032768594207 It could also be that Jake Sherman is trying to work the narrative to get him in the race so that he wouldn't have hitched his wagon to the Chicxulub meteor that is McCarthy's political career right now
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Oct 9, 2023 23:18
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