United States Biden administration policies and actions - megathread
- Thread starter Tyzuris
- Start date
Can I rent a dozer to pick up and toss their vehicles into the water?
strunkenwhite
Well-known member
Yes, I'm all for simplification, but that has little to do with the basic form of the tax (sale vs. income, flat vs. progressive, et cetera).
Oh my god here we go. The complexity of the tax code is not due to the basic structure of the form of the tax. You could write a progressive income tax on one page. I see no reason to believe a sales tax would be immune to the carveouts that bedevil our tax system. And high sales taxes are especially tempting pinch points for fraud, which the FairTax would not be exempt from.
So, instead of an estate tax, an inheritance tax? (Basing it on how the deceased chose to "spend" their wealth at the point of death distribution-wise.)
In our case, the complexity of our tax system is a direct result of our many various taxes and the corporate efforts to ensure ways to 'game the system' as well as political efforts to buy votes. It needs to go away, all of it.
No system will be free from abuse. However, it's a million times easier to FIND the abusers when there's only 1 technique for gathering taxes. So your contention that abuse might happen is not a relevant criticism.
Nope, no estate tax and NO inheritance tax. That money is not being spent to purchase anything. It's being given. So no gift tax either.
You might recall that Captain Crozier was let off the hook after the massive backlash their attempt to punish him generated in the public.
Yep.
Public outcry is the only reason the brass ever pardoned Capt. McViegh of the Indianapolis after his death, and frankly public outcry is the only reason the military doesn't sweep any issues under the rug to save careers, pride, and budgets.
DarthOne
☦️
Okay, who are they and why should we care about it?
bintananth
behind a desk
He shouldn't have been court martialed in the first place.
"A lone heavy cruiser without sonar or hydrophones got torpedoed by an enemy submarine using wakeless torpedoes 15 minutes after midnight and capsized 12 minutes later."
The only way Indianapolis was avoiding that fate is if the sub's periscope was spotted by radar or a lucky lookout.
If anyone deserved to be court martialed for her sinking it would be the flag officer who sent her out without an ASW escort.
Ah, but that's not how it works; flag ranks are political positions more than military ranks and always have been.
The lower ranks have no real way to hold their superiors accountable when they fuck up, except via public outcry and going outside military channels to people like the media and Congresscritters.
It was the same story with Agent Orange, and with many, many other military fuck-ups or misdeeds that would have been swept under the rug if soldiers didn't get people outside the military involved.
A soldiers superior's can always file complaints away, or bury misdeeds under 'OpSec' headings, and IG's do not have the power to bring charges. However when things get out to the media and public, then the brass cannot hide things, and have to face the music; we can never let the US military get to the point it feels it answers to itself and DC, and not the public of the nation it serves.
strunkenwhite
Well-known member
The senior (2018) Democratic senator from AZ, who along with Manchin (D-WV) is credited with holding up the reconciliation bill Democrats (other than them) want to pass alongside the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
As for what the significance is, my best guess offhand is "if she's not in DC, she's probably not negotiating with the rest of the Democrats and this might be bad for attempts to pass the bills."
I've been hearing that House progressives are willing to torpedo the bipartisan bill if they can't get the reconciliation bill, assuming that House Republicans are a solid no (otherwise Pelosi could use their votes to counteract the progressive rebellion).
Because the people above him won't charge him with anything.
He can be investigated by IG, but unless someone above him or enough high ranking generals come together.
Milley is there until next year. Then he is a lot less free to not get court martialed. Because you can get court martialed for something years and years ago.
The thing you seem to think is "Public outcry helps".
When in fact, it hurts. Because, you can help get someone who demands accountability, be considered for treason if enough back him, as ir would seem like a coup.
The thing is, IG in the military is separate from IG outside. Military IG will work with JAG to charge if what the investigation shows is in violation if the UCMJ.
Almost like we are not in the civilian world.
The thing is, charges have to be from someone equal or above. Which isn't really possible with Milley.
Though, once he is no long CJCS, he is free game as any 4 star ir equivalent position (rank doesn't always denote higher position) could push for it if there is enough of a reason.
Stop thinking the military is doomed because all you see if the military working through misguided lenses.
bintananth
behind a desk
The Navy needed a scapegoat for screwing the pooch after she sank because the search-and-rescue was botched too.
Indianapolis was halfway between Leyte Gulf and Guam when she went down in a part of the Pacific Japanese surface ships weren't going to be in and Japanese aircraft couldn't get to at that time, so there would have been no reason for her radar to be turned on. If the Japanese sub had been spotted it would have been perfectly reasonable for the watch officer to think it was a US sub transiting to/from a pair of somewheres.
Note: Capt. McViegh was the only USN officer to be court-martialed for losing a ship during WWII. The CO of the Japanese sub which sank his ship testified in his defense at his trial and basically said that the Indianapolis was doomed the moment he spotted it.
Arch Dornan
Oh, lovely. They've sent me a mo-ron.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"; Biden ERUPTS After Reporter Says Democrats Aren't United [VIDEO]
As everyone knows, Joe Biden hates taking questions from the press. You can’t really blame the guy, he has an incredibly hard time forming full-fledged sentences unless there is a teleprompter staring him dead in the face. And after ignoring questions all week, one final question before the...
trendingpolitics.com
It's not going so well for their pork.
Arch Dornan
Oh, lovely. They've sent me a mo-ron.
Leakers for thee but not for us.
We'rw totally unified, just ignore the videos that show otherwise!