Andy1

Party platforms are developed ahead of presidential elections. In 2020, the Republican party chose not to develop an official platform. Their simple platform statement was basically: whatever Trump wants for America First. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/resolution-regarding-the-republican-party-platform

This country needs political marriage therapy.

Lindsey Graham is collecting donations for the orange guy in his time of great need. It’s time for all you fanboys to open up your wallets and give him your credit card number for your recurring monthly donations. It’s up to you.

Another Trump speech full of lies. Just remember, if you say it enough times, it becomes true. Michael Cohen had an interesting take… said Trump can’t get competent lawyers because good attorneys know he won’t follow their advice and in the end they all know they won’t get paid.

Michael Cohen went to prison for tax fraud and campaign finance fraud. He has stated that he was coordinating with, acting at the direction of and for the benefit of Trump through his actions. It would seem logical that Trump would then be charged for violations of the law in the same matter.

I don’t know how the trans issue relates to guns. I don’t know anything about trans issues other than people who identify as such should be free to live without harassment or discrimination. I also don’t understand the desire by some to flaunt their sexuality. Drag queens and weekend GI Joe with his AR meet at the parade. Welcome to America today!

I’ve always viewed guns as tools to harvest food, protect your home or use at the range for target shooting. I have no issue with responsible ownership. Lock them up so kids can’t get them. However, I do not understand the gun culture in this country. People posing their kids with assault weapons is sick. Politicians posing with military weapons like they are some pretend tough guy are morons. Weekend warriors pretending to be GI Joe are stupid and need a life. The glorification of Kyle Rittenhouse is sick. There is nothing worse in this world than killing another human. It is not something to be celebrated. A political party embracing guns at all costs is bizarre.

That’s great to hear that the problem is all solved in FL. May your kids be safe.

Ok, I may be a little dense but I’m just trying to imagine how this school good guy with a gun works. Schools now have a resource officer (which is great) but that seems inadequate to deal with the threat we are talking about. So I assume our good guy(s)/gals will be armed with AR-15s, I mean they need to fight fire with fire and shouldn’t be outgunned when their service is called for. Bullet proof vests and combat helmets, Glock on the hip too with plenty of ammo on them. Maybe the ARs can have Hello Kitty stickers on them to not scare the kids. They would train urban assault tactics with the local SWAT team. Frequent training is critical, we want them in shape and sharp when they are needed. This isn’t a job for fat retired mall cops. The high school I went to had 2,000 kids with four wings on the building, 2 floors. Since an 18 yr old screwed up kid with an AR can kill 20 people in 30 seconds, reaction time is critical. My school would need at minimum 8 trained guards, one per building wing and floor to watch over the students each and every day. We will need protection at the school during classes and school events like plays, concerts, club activities, volleyball, baseball, etc. Since these events are during off hours or weekends, we’ll need more good guys trained to cover the time slots. School nurses will need annual combat medic training in tourniquets, battlefield wound care, etc. to be prepared for that fateful day. Now it would be stupid for the school to not have adequate insurance to cover the chance of accidental death as a result of the armed good guy who is a school employee. So I would assume their insurance premiums will rise to cover the increased risk. I think that about covers it, but that just keeps the kids safe at school. Or we can do something to limit who gets guns.

I still believe Trump loves all this. He loves playing the role of the billionaire victim. He is once again relevant and in the news. His greatest fear is becoming mute and irrelevant. Good news or bad news doesn’t matter to him. The time elapsed since the alleged crime is irrelevant provided the charge is within the scope of the law. Remember Barr and everyone else claiming a sitting President can’t be charged. As far as it never happened before, well Trump intentionally wanted to be unlike prior Presidents. A first is what he is in many ways. It’s the path he has chosen.

Eventually we will be spending more on training security guards and hardening schools than paying the teachers who can only teach and say the words the politicians allow them. Since we have to cut taxes too, schools will end up cutting teachers but keep the guards. It’s no wonder teachers are leaving the profession.

You may be right, but I think “conservative” 20 yrs from now will be different than what is conservative today. Just as todays Trump brand is different from the Bush brand.I could see a version of conservatism that is somewhat more restrictive on guns. Ideologies of both parties evolve over time.

Eventually, as the demographics change, as more horrendous slaughters occur, the politics will change. At some point in the future , Gen Z will vote in change if politicians don’t act. People in other developed and less developed nations think we are absolutely nuts tolerating this in our society. The problem with these guns is their killing power far outlives the lives of, or the desire of, their owner to possess them. They sit in homes for decades, waiting for some tragic event of human error to occur. Taxes on guns and ammo should be used for aggressive gun buy-back programs to get unneeded guns out of society. A lot of other changes can be done too regarding safe storage, background checks, etc too.

No one will say it, but I guarantee there are a lot of Republicans who hope he is convicted and just goes away.

Trumps whole persona is about someone who breaks norms, ethics, rules and laws. It’s how he has lived his life. No one, including him should be surprised by todays news.

I think it’s low for mass protest. After J6, I don’t think many rational people want to sacrifice their lives for the orange king. But then there are the irrational true believers. One lone wolf can cause tragedy for many. Unfortunately Trump has and will continue to use incendiary speech to encourage violence. He thrives on this crap.

Not too excited. Let the process play out. I’m sure he will maximize the victim role from it. He’s the only person whose attorneys go to prison yet he walks unscathed. Perhaps the law is catching up to him.

This reasoning ignores the probability of one dying due to the actions of another. Butter knifes are not used in mass killings. Knife laws are stupid and outdated. Why kill with a knife when anyone can get a gun? The discussion is about high powered assault weapons, where if you get shot, your probability of dying is much much greater than from other guns. They are designed for easy carrying and mass killing. We as a society need to decide if we are fine with losing our brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews to preserve the rights of assault weapon owners. Cops don’t want to face off a nut job with assault weapons either. You can’t harden everywhere. Psychos will find a crowd to kill. At minimum, there should be waiting periods and mental checks on buyers. Until then… thoughts and prayers and hope a nut doesn’t find you.

It’s interesting that since the D Hop rumors have been circulating, Diggs has been silent. No more ambiguous stay or go tweets.

Legislation can protect those who are truly disabled. With todays economy though, there are many more opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. Lots of people work at home. The goal should be to move people into employment, consistent with their abilities, rather than providing lifetime checks.

I think the actual number is about 60% of households pay taxes. The point is still valid though. It’s not just the bottom income brackets that aren’t paying too. I also think if you’re not paying into SS or Medicare, you shouldn’t be eligible for benefits.

We can complain about the pay and benefits of politicians or some stupid obscure expense but that is not a serious solution to the problem. Solving the deficit will require years of sacrifice by some segment of society. Proposals that don’t include cutting or changing eligibility for social security/Medicare, cutting military budget or raising taxes won’t put a dent in the debt. Failure to do anything and we just pass a worse problem down to our children.

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58984 For anyone who cares about the deficit, the Congressional Budget Office recently released a report analyzing proposals to balance the budget over 10 years. See link above. If the Trump tax cuts are allowed to expire, and no reductions are made to defense, social security, Medicare and veterans programs, then all other non-interest spending would need to be cut by 86%. If the Trump tax cuts are extended, with no cuts to defense, veterans programs, Medicare or social security, and 100% of all other non interest spending were cut, there would still be a small deficit.

You also have to consider the offenses Singletary and Harris played in. It’s safe to say that defenses were much more concerned about the pass vs the Bills resulting in more light boxes to run against for Singletary compared to Harris.

He’s the kind of back we need for our playoff games in the snow.