Is it still too soon to call this race for Harris?

[The Outsider]

Bottom post of the previous page:

https://www.irs.gov/filing/federal-inco ... d-brackets

Tax rate on taxable income from . . . up to . . .
10% $0 $11,000
12% $11,001 $44,725
22% $44,726 $95,375
24% $95,376 $182,100
32% $182,101 $231,250
35% $231,251 $578,125
37% $578,126 And up

You think we're all pulling in almost 200k a year? I'm in the 22% bracket, no state income tax, and I take the deductions that I can. What I don't do is use creative accounting (or just straight up not claiming) to hide money I've made.

The only time I did that was when I worked tipped positions because if I claimed my tips I wouldn't have been able to afford to live.

I don't blame people for taking all the legal deductions possible. It would be stupid not to.

Also agree with you that I don't like those with way more than most using creative accounting to not pay taxes.

On the flip side, the tax code is completely too complex. Moreover, why I am telling the State what I owe. Only to be penalized if that number is "wrong" according to the IRS.

But as the saying goes; the US doesn't have a tax problem. The US has a spending problem. I wish we would explore a fair tax or consumption tax as that makes the most sense to me. But we all know that's never going to happen.

Edit: And no one should be paying >15%-20% in Federal Income taxes. Don't know how people in California, Jersey, NY, etc... do it when you add in state & local taxes. Was eye opening moving from FL to NC. Paying property taxes on vehicles every year? Someone didn't do all of his research prior to moving.

I don't disagree about the tax code being too complex. As for the part about figuring it out yourself at least next year the IRS has their own app coming out that is free so that's something.

As for our spending problem, that's largely on the military end of things. My golden goose would be slashing military spending by around 33% all in the area of black projects so no service members would be outright affected aside from possibly being reassigned. That alone would be enough to fund government funded health care and fund the public education system to the level where teachers would actually get paid livable wages and get material support from the school district.

My sister has a Master's in Education and she's teaching in Pasco. She's been a teacher for roughly 12 years if I recall correctly. I started my first official IT job 10 months ago making 55k a year. I make more than 10k more than she does. That's where our priorities are fucked up and no wonder kids younger than the millennial generation are borderline retarded.

[PetePierson]

I don't disagree about the tax code being too complex. As for the part about figuring it out yourself at least next year the IRS has their own app coming out that is free so that's something.

As for our spending problem, that's largely on the military end of things. My golden goose would be slashing military spending by around 33% all in the area of black projects so no service members would be outright affected aside from possibly being reassigned. That alone would be enough to fund government funded health care and fund the public education system to the level where teachers would actually get paid livable wages and get material support from the school district.

My sister has a Master's in Education and she's teaching in Pasco. She's been a teacher for roughly 12 years if I recall correctly. I started my first official IT job 10 months ago making 55k a year. I make more than 10k more than she does. That's where our priorities are fucked up and no wonder kids younger than the millennial generation are borderline retarded.

No argument from me regarding slashing the military budget and the 930 or whatever the crazy number of American bases is around the world.

Foreign Aid needs to be looked at as well.

Some real legislation on lobbyists & campaign finance reform would be next on my list. Finally, Term Limits: 5 terms for Reps and 2 terms for the Senate. 10-12 years is mote than enough time in Federal Government. Maybe even encourage real people to run for office and make it at least possible. Millions of dollars required to run in most districts is completely out of hand.

Teachers get screwed, Man. I mean, they do get a shit ton of time off but the salaries are too low. Public Education is a mess and is failing this country. The best chance for anyone to be successful is a good, loving & supportive home and a strong education.

But I am digging this little bump we are seeing on kids moving back to the trades. Definitely am a believer that one doesn't need a college education to have a good career that allows you to provide for a family.

[The Outsider]

I don't disagree about the tax code being too complex. As for the part about figuring it out yourself at least next year the IRS has their own app coming out that is free so that's something.

As for our spending problem, that's largely on the military end of things. My golden goose would be slashing military spending by around 33% all in the area of black projects so no service members would be outright affected aside from possibly being reassigned. That alone would be enough to fund government funded health care and fund the public education system to the level where teachers would actually get paid livable wages and get material support from the school district.

My sister has a Master's in Education and she's teaching in Pasco. She's been a teacher for roughly 12 years if I recall correctly. I started my first official IT job 10 months ago making 55k a year. I make more than 10k more than she does. That's where our priorities are fucked up and no wonder kids younger than the millennial generation are borderline retarded.

No argument from me regarding slashing the military budget and the 930 or whatever the crazy number of American bases is around the world.

Foreign Aid needs to be looked at as well.

Some real legislation on lobbyists & campaign finance reform would be next on my list. Finally, Term Limits: 5 terms for Reps and 2 terms for the Senate. 10-12 years is mote than enough time in Federal Government. Maybe even encourage real people to run for office and make it at least possible. Millions of dollars required to run in most districts is completely out of hand.

Teachers get screwed, Man. I mean, they do get a shit ton of time off but the salaries are too low. Public Education is a mess and is failing this country. The best chance for anyone to be successful is a good, loving & supportive home and a strong education.

But I am digging this little bump we are seeing on kids moving back to the trades. Definitely am a believer that one doesn't need a college education to have a good career that allows you to provide for a family.

The fact that teachers get that time off is misleading when they're often working 60-80 hours a week considering grading, lesson planning, and other various things that are done 'on their own time'. Are they paid overtime for this shit? Hell naw son.

And yeah, you don't need a college education to be successful. I had plenty of success before I got my degree. But the trades fuck your body up for one. And on top of that the country needs doctors, teachers, veterinarians, psychologists and psychiatrists, etc. so college needs to be something that is accessible to anyone. I bet there are a ton of kids out there working as line cooks or general laborers who would be kick ass doctors if medical school was a feasible future for them.

[PetePierson]

The fact that teachers get that time off is misleading when they're often working 60-80 hours a week considering grading, lesson planning, and other various things that are done 'on their own time'. Are they paid overtime for this shit? Hell naw son.

And yeah, you don't need a college education to be successful. I had plenty of success before I got my degree. But the trades fuck your body up for one. And on top of that the country needs doctors, teachers, veterinarians, psychologists and psychiatrists, etc. so college needs to be something that is accessible to anyone. I bet there are a ton of kids out there working as line cooks or general laborers who would be kick ass doctors if medical school was a feasible future for them.

Dude, I'm not shitting on teachers. My guess is that all of us who engage in these discussions had at least one teacher who went above & beyond, really cared about engaging with his / her students. For me, it was Mr. Richard Sarbone. Was lucky enough to have him teaching government, history or civics all four years of high school. Poor bastard died jogging of all things at a fairly young age. I graduated high school over 30 years ago, and still think & remember him.

Teaching is a necessary & noble profession which definitely deserves a better wage. Unions are another thing but don't want to get sidetracked.

I'm not totally obtuse. The all or nothing approach rarely works long term (in general).
Nothing wrong with a good balance of trade school and higher education

[emby]

This guy thinks the answer is for white kids to become plumbers.

There's going to be no unions, no health care, no job safety standards, no worker's comp, no overtime, no unemployment benefits, no paid days off, and no retirement.

But at least they won't have student loans or the audacity to think they'll have an opportunity to pursue their own dreams.

[The Outsider]

The fact that teachers get that time off is misleading when they're often working 60-80 hours a week considering grading, lesson planning, and other various things that are done 'on their own time'. Are they paid overtime for this shit? Hell naw son.

And yeah, you don't need a college education to be successful. I had plenty of success before I got my degree. But the trades fuck your body up for one. And on top of that the country needs doctors, teachers, veterinarians, psychologists and psychiatrists, etc. so college needs to be something that is accessible to anyone. I bet there are a ton of kids out there working as line cooks or general laborers who would be kick ass doctors if medical school was a feasible future for them.

Dude, I'm not shitting on teachers. My guess is that all of us who engage in these discussions had at least one teacher who went above & beyond, really cared about engaging with his / her students. For me, it was Mr. Richard Sarbone. Was lucky enough to have him teaching government, history or civics all four years of high school. Poor bastard died jogging of all things at a fairly young age. I graduated high school over 30 years ago, and still think & remember him.

Teaching is a necessary & noble profession which definitely deserves a better wage. Unions are another thing but don't want to get sidetracked.

I'm not totally obtuse. The all or nothing approach rarely works long term (in general).
Nothing wrong with a good balance of trade school and higher education

Oh I wasn't attacking you with that post, I was just pointing out that their vacations are kind of balanced out by the fact that they're overworked during the school year. And due to the low pay many of them work during the summer as well.

[The Outsider]

This guy thinks the answer is for white kids to become plumbers.

There's going to be no unions, no health care, no job safety standards, no worker's comp, no overtime, no unemployment benefits, no paid days off, and no retirement.

But at least they won't have student loans or the audacity to think they'll have an opportunity to pursue their own dreams.

Something, something, black jobs.

[emby]

Does it reek of desperation to mention that trump raped a kid?

Kinda buried in the news cycle, but anyway, Trump raped a 13 year old kid with Epstein.

Joe Biden is really old

[The Outsider]

Does it reek of desperation to mention that trump raped a kid?

Kinda buried in the news cycle, but anyway, Trump raped a 13 year old kid with Epstein.

Joe Biden is really old

Trump raped a kid and was filmed by Epstein (this is all documented) and then Epstein died in federal prison when cameras were conveniently disabled and the guards weren't paying attention.

Interesting.

Joe Biden is really old.

[PetePierson]

This is not being discussed enough IMO. All the talk is about beating Trump. There is not one person on this planet the believes Joey would serve out a full 2nd term.

George Stephanopoulos gets blunt after Biden interview: ‘I don’t think he can serve four more years’

New York
CNN
—
George Stephanopoulos, sporting a T-shirt, shorts, and over-the-ear headphones, was traversing the New York City streets by foot on Tuesday when he was approached by a stranger who asked for his thoughts on President Joe Biden’s fitness for office.

“I don’t think he can serve four more years,” candidly replied the ABC News anchor, who had just sat down with Biden a few days earlier for his first on-camera television interview following the CNN presidential debate.


The blunt remark from Stephanopoulos — video of which made its way to TMZ — served as the latest example of the news media turning on Biden, expressing strong concerns about whether he has the fortitude to defeat Donald Trump in November and then serve an additional term in office.

On Tuesday night, Stephanopoulos expressed regret for his frank remark, saying through a spokesperson, “Earlier today I responded to a question from a passerby. I shouldn’t have.” (Notably, Stephanopoulos did not withdraw the viewpoint he articulated, but simply said he shouldn’t have expressed it.) ABC News separately said that Stephanopoulos “expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News.” Regardless, any damage inflicted by the comment was already done.

It goes without saying that Stephanopoulos is far from alone amongst his peers in the news media in sharing that opinion. Whether fair or unfair (and I do believe you can argue some of the coverage over the past two weeks has been over the top and irresponsible), the reality is that Biden has, at this juncture, lost much of the press corps. Many journalists simply do not buy the narrative that Biden, his campaign, and the White House are selling.


That loss of trust poses a significant challenge for Biden as he tries to convince the American public that he is up for the difficult task before him. Every move Biden makes, every sentence he utters, has now fallen under a microscope, never a good sign for a political candidate. Worse for Biden, he is no longer being given the benefit of the doubt. In fact, just the opposite.

The president said this week that he does not care about what “the elites” think about his candidacy. But, given his decades in politics, he surely knows that alienating and going to war with the news media is not a winning strategy. Whether he likes it or not, how the news media covers his campaign influences how millions of Americans view his fitness for office. And given how close the 2024 race already was before the CNN debate, the recent coverage battering Biden’s campaign poses a grave threat to its livelihood.

How Biden might manage to pull himself out of this media storm threatening to consume his candidacy remains to be seen. Can he? Thus far, the steps Biden has taken to win back trust have failed to deliver the desired outcome. The Stephanopoulos interview is the perfect example of that. Instead of helping him move forward, granting the interview has effectively backfired, with Biden failing to even convince Stephanopoulos with his message.

The fact that the president could not convince the interviewer his campaign hand-picked for his first post-debate sit-down of his ability to lead the nation for the next four years does not bode well for his campaign.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/10/media/ge ... index.html

[The Outsider]

Le sigh. People like George Stephanopolous aren't journalists and shouldn't be considered as such. He interviews people. All of the actual work, from researching the interviewee, constructing the pace and format of the interview, and even coming up with the questions to ask are all done by people whose names we'll never hear of.

I wish we'd stop taking the opinions of people like Georgie seriously. There's only four celebrities who have political opinions I trust. The first two are Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert. Stewart needs no explanation and Colbert understands American politics so well that he was able to parody a far right talk show so flawlessly that a lot of morons missed the satire. The other two are John Oliver and Bill Burr. John Oliver has started to take the mantle from Jon Stewart as the driven, relatable, comedic political pundit who actually brings receipts and isn't afraid to shit on people he's interviewing or covering. Bill Burr is just basically the most human celebrity on the planet right now. Dude is literally just some jagoff from Southie who happened to also be a really talented actor.

His podcasts and interviews on other shows are fucking great. I've never related more with a celebrity than Bill Burr.



And this one where he shits all over Rogan's primate brain about the Pandemic should be required material in school on how to verbally eviscerate someone.