StrangeSox

Sure, because they'll use the enormous hole in the budget they're trying to create to justify harsh austerity measures a few years down the road, and Third Way centrists and weak democrats (looking at you Lipinski) will go along with them. "starve the beast" is intentional

Not only are mortgage interest deductions capped for all new loans going forward, but property tax deductions are also capped at $10k. Student loan interest deductions eliminated. State income tax deductions eliminated. Looks like the upper middle class (let's call this low-six figure household income range, 100-250k maybe) would be hosed hard by this.

Soxtalk lawyers: Does the President of the United States screaming for DEATH PENALTY as quickly as possible on twitter hamstring the legal case against the NYC truck terrorist?

They're trying to same tactics they did with the healthcare fiasco--secret bill, bunch of really bad compromises and changes that their ideology demands, no way to actually get to a politically acceptable and passable final bill. I still think the most likely outcome of "tax reform"/upper class tax cuts is what we got with the Bush tax cuts--a $300 check for most people, hundreds of thousands or millions for the wealthy, and it all sunsets in 10 years.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 2, 2017 -> 08:35 AM) By the way, I saw that the Slidefire company resumed taking orders yesterday after finishing the backlog of orders they received thanks to the free marketing in Las Vegas. A Month After Las Vegas, Rapid-Fire Bump Stocks Are Untouched Congress hasn't even held a hearing on the issue. Nothing will ever get done, and anyone who expected something to change when the response to two dozen murdered children was to loosen gun laws is delusional.

Republicans Stick With Big Corporate Tax Cuts in House Bill The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act seeks the biggest transformation of tax code in more than 30 years; leaves top individual tax rate at 39.6% Will be interesting to see how Tax Policy Center etc. analyze the bill and what the overall impact will be. Expect massive cuts at the top end.

Recognizing that US foreign policy is a major factor in why the middle East is what it is today and then saying we shouldn't offer refuge to the people that are suffering from our country's actions send pretty cruel.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/the...ear-impeachment “YOU CAN’T GO ANY LOWER”: INSIDE THE WEST WING, TRUMP IS APOPLECTIC AS ALLIES FEAR IMPEACHMENT

That's not what a strawman is

McCain is also now avocating that the attacker be thrown into gitmo and that he doesn't have Miranda rights.

Here is a hint: Nazis and white supremacists don't actually care about "free speech" beyond exploiting liberal democratic institutions and norms to gain power. There is no reason to buy into the thin rhetorical veneer of "free speech" rallies that are 100% about white supremacy. Which the Charlottesville rally didn't even do. It was billed as "unite the right" and was ostensibly about protecting monuments to treasonous slavers. It was organized and promoted by explicitly White supremacist groups.

Lol no, it wasn't a "free speech" rally it was a white supremacists gathering full of people chanting Nazi slogans. If you come to a white supremacist gathering and stick around while they're chanting blood and soil while carrying torches, youre not a fine person. And why would you link everyone who showed up to oppose the Nazis as 'terrorist' antifa? This is the Dem thread, not the appropriate place to be making excuses for Nazis.

Antifa isn't a terrorist group and it's actually extremely easy to pick sides in Nazis vs. anti Nazis especially when the Nazis murdered an innocent person. But Trump did take sides, he said the Nazi rally with Nazi flags and Nazi slogans was full of very fine people.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 31, 2017 -> 04:27 PM) NPR’s top editor accused of sexual harassment by two women https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/st...m=.d025bfc89588 He's resigned

What happens when he says that the family of the attacker could be a threat, as Trump just did?

White dude murders 5 dozen with guns, injures hundreds more: DON'T POLITICIZE THIS!!!! Brown dude murders 8 with a rental truck: BAN MUSLIMS!!!!

NPR’s top editor accused of sexual harassment by two women https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/st...m=.d025bfc89588

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Oct 31, 2017 -> 03:40 PM) The alt-right fell for a Twitter joke and now it's total chaos Really funny, but also these people do not live in reality. Krang's got a piece up on his side of the story https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evbpkn/t...te-supremacists This isn't the first time that the alt-right and sovcit movement has been trolled by "antifa" posters into going to non-existent antifa rallies. These guys don't seem to get that antifa shows up as a reaction force to fascist gatherings, not the other way around.

Trying to set the highly partisan nature of how these ads were targeted aside, it's really troubling how low-cost and easy it is for foreign governments to influence so many Americans. Facebook admitted yesterday that the fake Russian accounts and stories reached 127 Million Americans during 2016. I have no idea what you do to combat that other than a generational project of instilling critical thinking and media literacy so that such tactics can't be as effective.

Part of the Russian government's efforts on social media last year included time-worn voter suppression tactics of telling Democratic voters intentionally incorrect voting times, places and requirements. https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac/status/925458159015211008? You can also see some of the pro-Trump ads they bought/rallies they organized here: https://twitter.com/donie/status/925456668481253384

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 31, 2017 -> 03:51 PM) Browns and Bengals agreed upon AJ McCarron trade. After the deadline, so no deal. Oh Browns. this is perfection

Unfortunately, the "there were many causes/it wasn't really about slavery" version is what a majority of Americans are taught. Some of what Kelly was saying was more or less paraphrasing Shelby Foote from Ken Burns' The Civil War. Technically, it's true, in the sense that nearly all wars could be avoided if "some individuals were willing to come to some compromises on different things." But we should laud the 1860's Republicans for finally saying "enough is enough" on compromises with chattel slavery. Even then, Lincoln didn't pursue abolitionist policies and offered compensated emancipation for slave owners along with some half-baked "ship 'em all to Liberia/South America" schemes. Everything leading up to the Civil War since the start of the country was a series of compromises over slavery that reached an inevitable breaking point. There was nothing noble or honorable about committing treason in the name of the eternal preservation and expansion of slavery. Robert E. Lee wasn't an honorable man; he was a traitor to the country whose army killed tens of thousands of US soldiers and enslaved free black people in the pursuit of a horrific cause. He personally owned and beat slaves. We should not be celebrating these men or their cause. edit: another good article by Civil War historian James McPherson: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2001/04/12/southern-comfort/

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 18, 2017 -> 09:13 AM) Pruitt: Scientists receiving federal grants will be cut from EPA advising roles Pruitt is going to kick out all of the real scientists and replace them with "independent" industry funded hacks. Finalized this action today. Hope everyone who votes R loves turning over a blasted, toxic wasteland to their children and grandchildren.

Now the White House Press Secretary is peddling Lost Cause propaganda

The drug charges against Rose McGowan are really weird. http://deadline.com/2017/10/rose-mcgowan-a...ein-1202198239/