"Will you shut up, man?" US Politics October 2020

One believable analysis of the abortion issue is that our conservative overlords have no desire for a speedy resolution of the issue by overturning Roe v. Wade (which, at this point, would swiftly reduce the number of states where abortion is legal, but would not render it illegal altogether, much to the amazement of most anti-abortion voters). The abortion issue has been the primary driver of the conservatives' grip on power and once they 'win' they can't replace it with anything quite so viscerally powerful. They much prefer to crawl slowly to the point where the issue is politically exhausted.

hey one unrelated thought. during the last debate Trump said over and over that the reason why he paid $750 in taxes is because he prepaid "tens of millions" in years prior. has anyone followed up on this? clearly this is false, right?

how do you 'prepay' taxes years in advance? I know you can prepay during the same calendar year, but I've not heard of prepaying years in advance.

they just...give you refunds.

https://abc7ny.com/politics/can-americans-prepay-their-taxes/7258554/

I suspect there are a few intermediate steps between Barrett's confirmation and The Handmaid's Tale

Look out Oxford English Dictionary, new sample text incoming for "cold comfort"

To be honest, and I'm actually being really sincere, I feel for parents and kids right now. The future is ever more grim.

"Happy to be corrected but I suspect there are a few intermediate steps between Barrett's confirmation and The Handmaid's Tale"

yes, but it's close enough to be creepy

my best friend is 25 and was talking about how much more she should have accomplished by now and I pointed out how pointless it would be to define oneself by that anymore considering how rigged the game is.

she's had two historically major recessions since she was a teen - the ones I lived through prior to 2008 were relatively minor. I really wonder if 'long careers' will even be a thing anymore.

Our generations have been fucked by 2008 and 2020, no question

some people have asked me why I've been so paranoid about my savings despite doing fairly well and it's mostly cos I'm waiting for the day when my luck runs out.

I read that if he had prepaid his taxes that would still show up on the documents the NYT reviewed

Also smacks of BS because 1st response was NYT story was fake news. Took him, what, 2 weeks to come up with the prepaid taxes excuse?

he thinks taxes are Layaway at Wal-Mart

Perhaps it means he was claiming deductions for money he spent years before

The NYT report was v detailed on how he paid taxes for the first time in over a decade after getting on The Apprentice, and (presumably deliberately) found all sorts of bullshit deductions like his upstate "park" after that, in order to claim back the amount that he'd had to pay. Presumably this has translated in his poison brain into pre-paying taxes and receiving a refund.

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S09E20/258591/m/IE5PLiBCRUNBVVNFLCBZT1UgU0VFLCBJCiBXRU5UIEFIRUFEIEFORC4uLgogWUVBUi1XSVNFLCBJIFdBUyBDT1VOVElORwogRk9SV0FSRA==

Whoops.
https://frinkiac.com/meme/S09E20/258591.jpg?b64lines=IE5PLiBCRUNBVVNFLCBZT1UgU0VFLCBJCiBXRU5UIEFIRUFEIEFORC4uLgogWUVBUi1XSVNFLCBJIFdBUyBDT1VOVElORwogRk9SV0FSRA==

Yes, they will, at lots of places.

I doubt the civil service and the military will end up being the only organizations that recognize the value of retaining and rewarding experienced, devoted staff over time.

Lol so many xp. Whatever.

xps:
how do you 'prepay' taxes years in advance?

That's how capital gains/losses works. For individuals, if you lose X amount of value in a closed transaction, eg, a loss in a stock transaction, or an ownership stake in a casino becoming worthless, then that loss gets noted on schedule D. That amount X can offset capital gains (of the same class, like long term) in the same year, and if X is much larger than the gains, the balance of X is carried forward to future years. Invest $1000 M in 1990, they go bankrupt and all value is lost in 2000, and there's $1000 M in tax-loss carry forwards. If you still make $ 50 M a year in capital gains (of the same class), no taxes would need to be payed on capital gains (of the same class) for 20 years. The tax loss carryforward would just drop $950 M, $900 M, $850 M... In this example, the premise is that Trump paid taxes on the income and realized gains that produced the original $1000 M.

What bugs me about this, as someone who has never dealt with more than my own schedule Ds, is that tax loss carryforwards can't be applied against "ordinary" income, such as salaries for Apprentice appearances or license fees from Turkish Trump branded hotels. My suspicion is that Trump's lawyers structured those contracts so that ordinary income was realized as capital gains, and that's both fishy and beyond my ken.

This is a good piece; 16 reasons why the electoral environment is completely different in 2020 than it was in 2016, and none of them are good for Trump.

FYI jaymc and other Cook Co. voters, my gf and I received the emails last night confirming our ballots were received after using the dropbox last Tuesday, so it looks like there's a turnaround of about a week. Hopefully they recognize that picking up the gd pace is kinda crucial wrt this particular election.

I got my confirmation at 12:47am this morning.

Imagine what it must be like to have your elected officials fighting tooth and nail for your beliefs, however shitty and reprehensible they may be. Voting Democrat means watching your elected officials wither in the face of discomfort and immediately caving in for fear of being considered "divisive". I've got to swallow the bitter pill once again for this election, but I don't know for how many more elections I can in good conscience vote for spineless chickenshits that focus their efforts on memes and tweeting threats that have no bite because they are never, ever followed up on. Barrett's confirmation was inevitable, but I'm furious that the Dems couldn't get their shit together to drag their feet even a little bit.

Early vote total now 66.2 million this morning. If it’s 72 million or so first thing tomorrow then the average of at least six million a day is looking more in play; at the least it’s likely we hit 70 million by late this evening. What that also means is at some point today we pass 50% of the total 2016 vote.

Some more states starting to pass the 50% mark already, like California. Others of course further blowing past them — Florida at 67%, Texas at 86%, etc.

Barrett's confirmation was inevitable, but I'm furious that the Dems couldn't get their shit together to drag their feet even a little bit.

serious question: what could the Dems have done? they're in the minority.

I was sort of hoping McConnell would drop over dead before the vote could happen

all the shit that the dems could have done involve quorum rules which would still involve getting mitt romney and susan collins to get lost in Arches somewhere. it wasn't happening

Probably nothing, but when the perception of a lot of your base is that you didn't try hard enough, that's a problem. In a reversed situation, the GOP would have dug deep and figured out more ways to drag things out. Watching the Dems continue to play a polite game of bridge while the GOP is playing a rigged game of Monopoly where they cheat at every turn is infuriating.

In a reversed situation, the GOP would have dug deep and figured out more ways to drag things out.

How? Are Republicans magic?

No, but they bend the rules, break the rules, cheat where necessary. They fight dirty.

wHen tHEy gO lOw

And that only works because they have a majority.

I think it's totally fine to be frustrated, angry and disheartened after her confirmation. Is my anger misplaced, maybe. But I can only shake my fist at McConnell for so long without recognizing the systemic failures of the party I support.

Procedurally speaking, his is like complaining that someone didn't try hard enough to stop a hurricane.

the perception of the Dem base is always that Dems are cowards and didn't do anything, whether or not it squares with reality.

often time it does, but in this particular instance, Chuck Schumer did initiate a closed door session to gum up the works, and Lindsay violated the rules of the committee in advancing the vote out of committee.

if Democrats refused to show up, there'd still be a quorum, so that wouldn't have achieved anything. can't filibuster anymore.

short of bringing the Symbionese Liberation Army into the chamber, this particular instance, there's not much else they could have done. (I am not commenting on other times, before anybody calls me Captain Save a Chuck)

Probably nothing, but when the perception of a lot of your base is that you didn't try hard enough, that's a problem.

It's a problem that these people are absolute morons who are fooling themselves that there was anything to be done short of planting an IED in the Senate offices.

If the Dems win the WH and Senate and don't pack the court, then we can make this argument.

I mean, it would have been viscerally pleasing had the Democrats murdered several Republicans to reduce their majority and delay the vote until after special elections/appointments but it also would have been a bad idea.

The dems have their issues but McConnell is an evil fuck who has been playing the long game and was ready to strike the second the stars aligned in his favor. And the stars were most definitely aligned in the GOP's favor here.

and even had they boycotted the vote AND a quorum had been short, the Sergeant at Arms could have legally 'arrested' missing Senators and carried them into the Senate, which did happen once in 1988 (to a GOP Senator).

I'm kind of amused at the idea of Chuck Schumer being carried in

This is all correct. I'm just angry and hopeless after another night of lost sleep, which is not helped at all by the construction site behind m house vibrating everything for the last two hours straight.

I mean, it would have been viscerally pleasing had the Democrats murdered several Republicans to reduce their majority and delay the vote until after special elections/appointments but it also would have been a bad idea.

― shout-out to his family (DJP), Tuesday, October 27, 2020 8:43 AM (twenty-five seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol, yes, I just about posted this very thing. Like the only recourse the dems had in this instance was extralegal in nature.

A major problem with the Democratic Party right now is that they think they have to take the concerns of the Republican Party seriously when they don't get the same consideration in return, so they make unnecessary and stupid concessions when they are in power that are never reciprocated. Few people here, if any, are going to disagree with that criticism but there are only so many times you can beat someone up for a past mistake when they aren't in a position to correct it.

FWIW I feel the anger and hopelessness, jon. The day RBG died felt like election night 2016 part 2. Just gotta clench and look ahead and hope this election night doesn't result in me literally tearing my own face off and then proceed from there.

Trump is so beyond the pale and so dangerous (tbf slightly mitigated by also being lazy and incompetent) that just electing a Democrat is not corrective enough. They need to hammer in safeguards and laws that have been pried loose over the past several years, and ideally make a strong case for it so that they don't lose the house the next cycle. (Assuming they get the WH and Senate, or even just the WH, which, if they don't ... I don't even know anymore).

btw, once again filed under "nobody knows anything, but maybe they do," it's somewhat telling, or at least worth noticing, that in their final pushes Biden has scheduled a stop in Georgia (and Harris is Texas), and Trump has scheduled a stop in ... Nebraska.

Nebraska probably didn’t put gathering restrictions on him

I mean, it's perfectly in character for him to campaign in Nebraska literally just because he can and no one else will let him. But it does seems a poor use of his time and resources (which is also in character).