jimmybcool

This is a reality. It is a problem developed over decades by both parties and the bill is coming due. It might be insurmountable and the US might ge headed into a forced change in how it taxes and spends. But what really killed me about this headline was - already great economy? Bwahahahaha. It is for the rich in stock markets (thank you) but working people have far less financial security and spending power than they did 4 years ago and it isn't headed the right way. Perhaps Trump's changes will energize the US economy. Perhaps not. But it is a flat out LIE that this is a great economy. I have no degree in economics but I have less confidence in the DEM ideas than the GOP ideas regarding how an economy works. I think we have over-regulated and frightened some major components of the economy into pulling back. The fossil fuel industry for example. We shall see.

Apologize? We are still waiting for an apology for hooking us on maple syrup and hockey. That bastages. 🤣

You seem to be an angry man. Why the hate and vitriol? People can see the same thing and reach different conclusions.

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Apparently a jury of 12 of Neeley's peers believe it was not murder. I mean if you believe that Trump actually did something wrong in the Letitia James prosecution of fraud (and conviction) then you have to accept the not guilty result for Penny right?

It would be an interesting result if we had a "poll" feature in this forum. Was Derek Chauvin really guilty of anything other than callous disregard? Does the forum have this feature?

Well yeah unless you protest your government out loud like Tiananmen Square. But I agree certain areas of USA are not safe. Mostly because we are so stupid when it comes to enforcing laws against crime. China would jail you for stealing a jar of pickles. Some parts of USA won't even stop you stealing $900 worth of merchandise walking out the door. I believe where I live is probably safer than most areas in China.

I was thinking the same thing. I can't believe they have a warning before viewing the video. 🤣

China is safer than the USA?

It is weird. I had a medical incident 6 years ago that racked up $300,000. Before anyone thinks that is outrageous I was in the hospital with extensive care (part of the time in ER and on the operating table). 3 months in a private room. Near death and lots of specialists. I had/have Blue Shield/Blue Cross of California insurance. There are several levels of insurance one can choose and I wisely chose to buy a higher level than basic coverage BEFORE I had this incident. My cost out of pocket was $0. I have also had 2 knee replacements and a hip replacement. Hip was in 2023. In all cases my cost was zero. Also of note was the care I got in all cases was excellent. Plus the knees and hip replacements were scheduled within a few weeks of me deciding that was the only solution for me. No waiting list and I chose who I thought would do a better job. In my case excellent service and coverage. Of course I paid a higher premium and can afford to pay that. So yes advantage to having accumulated some wealth. I have a relative that is broke. She has had multiple surgeries and needs to be fed via a tube which is provided to them. He is so weak he can barely walk. He didn't work in America and doesn't qualify for some of the retirement benefits most Americans get. And she isn't a US citizen. They keep racking up bills which will never be paid but keep getting service when in need. Ambulances arrive and hospitals help them. Yes, on paper they have been made bankrupt for medical bills. In reality they will die with that debt and the hospital will eat that loss as they do for all the indigents and illegals that use the ERs. They pass those loses on to paying customers with higher costs that insurance companies pick up. Which covers it by charging me and like me higher premiums. I am reading tons of hate towards the insurance industry in this thread and claims they make huge profits. I honestly do not know if that is true and of course my experience is better than most. I'm not an accountant so perhaps someone savvy could provide the numbers for their profit margins. Keep in mind they take risks that a pandemic will make them lose money one year or like housing insurance a series of hurricanes can destroy their profits for years. So a reasonable profit for the shareholders doesn't seem unreasonable. Looking forward to hearing how they rank in large corporate profit levels. BTW I am not a 100% apologist for insurance companies. My wife was in a serious accident years back. She was rear ended while stopped by a pickup truck moving at 65 miles per hour (105 KPH). Car was destroyed and she suffered injury to her back which is still an issue. The state I live in has a mandatory minimum insirance level which is what the person who hit her had. Largest layout was $30,000 which they handed over since they totaled a near new Mercedes worth more. No other coverage. Fortunately I had purchase uninsured/underinsured coverage for us. Problem is my insurance company (same as above) tried to low ball me. Offered like another $25K on top of the other drivers coverage. Way low. I contacted a lawyer and he told me they should pay at least $125K for future problems she will experience. Told my insurance company I spoke with a lawyer and would make them pay $125K but if they pay me $110K and it's over. Nope. They play this game because too many people need the money NOW (I didn't) and will accept the low ball. End of the day I had to pay the lawyer to get the $125K. But of course it cost me a chunk of that to the lawyer. I lost and insurance company lost but they play the odds we will give up and take the low ball.

Also missing in Thailand is this thing called slip free surfaces. For a nation that gets lots of rain they use a lot of slippery flooring materials.

I'm fairly cash free in the USA. In Thailand 100% cash and always have 10-20,000 baht on me and an ATM card to a thai bank to get more.

I hope none of the people responding ever experience a psychotic break. Having been there I know how terrifying it can be. And VERY real to the person experiencing it. Lucky for me the reason behind it also prevented me from doing harm or damage. Mine was caused by massive personal injury from septic shock. They opened up my midsection and inserted a tube to drain out infection and I was laid up in that condition with no food for 3 months. The combination of sleep loss, drugs, body coming back from near death caused me hallucinations. I was convinced the nurses were planning to murder me. But was too weak to do anything about it. I have never had issues before or since this experience so I have no long term mental issues thank God. But that experience gives me empathy for those suffering a mental break. I hope he gets the help he needs.

Robert Hunter Biden (Hunter Biden) pleaded guilty in federal court in Los Angeles this afternoon to all counts in a nine-count indictment, including three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses. There was no plea agreement. Judge Scarsi accepted the defendant’s guilty plea and scheduled sentencing for December 16, 2024. According to the indictment, Hunter Biden engaged in a four-year scheme in which he chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019 and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns. As alleged in the indictment, to further this scheme, Hunter Biden: subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company by withdrawing millions outside of the payroll and tax withholding process; spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills; in 2018, stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015; willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes; willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns, on time; and when he did finally file his 2018 returns, included false business deductions in order to reduce the very substantial tax liability he faced as of February 2020. At sentencing, Hunter Biden faces a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Court documents and information for this case is located on the website of the District Court for the Central District of California or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:23-cr-00599.

I guess the only part of Biden pardoning his son that concerns me is it is precedent for an outgoing POTUS pardoning a family member involved in influence peddling and accepting money from foreign countries. Some of whom are truly not friends of the USA. By doing this he closes the door on legitimate investigation into how the Biden family accumulated money during his political career. Feels like he is covering his own ass as well as Hunter. Whatever. Corruption is rampant and I as a lowly citizen have no power to change anything.

True. I "assumed" he was leaving since he was at the airport and they saw his passport.

Based on the fact this thread now has two of us who did so it makes your comment look pretty stupid.

Way back i the dark ages when I first began visiting I accidentally overstayed like 15 days. I was so ignorant I didn't even know there was a limit on my entry. Duh. Went to go thru immigration and got directed to the side. Paid a fine and said sorry and left. My guess is perhaps this guy mouthed off or tried to argue the fine. Maybe he didn't think they could do anything but make him leave. But there has to be more to this.

A lot to unpack on this. First, the gun convictions are a crock of <deleted>. Here is what got him: Yes No f. Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance? Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside. Basically it is demanding you criminalize yourself. The only question should be do you have any felony convictions? And pretty much no one has ever been convicted of this before so yeah this was a political action. Second - please you can pretend the tax evasion was as Joe Biden said "late payment" or the like but several years and over $1.4 mil in evasion is serious and felony. He deserved that conviction and was probably headed for several years behind bars. What is worse is the entire package of offshore bank accounts and WHY were foreign entities giving him money? No evidence of any services or products. It reeks of influence peddling and money laundering so he earned the conviction. The source of the money should be explained but won't. Last the issue of Jan 6 is being discussed here. No idea why they connect but regardless of how you view that event the law has a lot of explaining why many of them were kept in jail for extended time without trial or bail. This reeks of political persecution which is baffling. Which is it? Does the DOJ persecute DEMs like Hunter or GOPs like Jan 6? Both parties pardon people that probably should not get one. Hunter goes free. My bet is Trump does a blanket pardon of Jan 6 and himself. It is what it is. I lose no sleep either way.

Really? This wasn't just a fine and stamp in his passport? Has to be more to the story.

I don't know anything about paying for a wall but Mexico should step up and be a good neighbor. And that means stopping the flood of migrants passing thru Mexico on their way to the USA. Mexico has a very small southern border and could easily control the inflow. But they don't because they WANT this flood of migrants as the cartels have some control over their government and the massive movement makes it easier to mask the flow of drugs and human smuggling. And some of you are missing the point of the wall. It was partly real lets make it harder physically to evade legal entry but also partly symbolic in that it means NO we don't take just anyone. There are legal paths to entry and immigration but you can't just jump the border. Sadly this was undermined by the DEM governors and mayors who pandered to the pretend empathy and claimed sanctuary status which essentially invited illegal immigration. Funny how when border state governors started shipping the massive inflow to these cities they cried for federal aid to cover the costs. And now some are pretending sanctuary status didn't mean unlimited migration since they are going broke and their citizens are complaining.

Amd you would be wrong. But thanks for the funny comment. 🤣

True. I think the idea many American's have that the USA is the greatest nation on earth is the result of the period between 1940 and 1970. In that era the USA was the worlds leader in so many ways that we began to believe nothing else was close. While I don't fall into the jingoistic path of the USA is the greatest in everything now it still does offer much to it's citizens. And is a better than average place to live. But some are insular and don't recognize there are lots of other places that offer wonderful lives as well. What does sadden me is because we yanks have a bit of a chin up we are great attitude and because in fact we HAVE done so much in the last 80 years many people cop an attitude and want to knock us down a peg or two for no reason. This forum for example has many members that clearly have issues with America. Whatever. I am not ashamed of being a yank and feel my nation has given the world much. We might be nearing the end of greatness now but we had a hell of a run.

OOps. I meant 20 pounds.

Shhhhhh. let them keep thinking that for the next election. If the leftists are stupid enough to fail to recognize how flawed their own candidates/positions are so be it.