Now what?

[Demoted]

54 minutes ago, Hank said:

I'd call it equivalent to your constant use of "MAGA scum" every time you get triggered. 

I guess someone got banned in the other forums. 🤣 Has still yet to do anything but get angry.

Edited June 28 by Demoted

[Hank]

2 minutes ago, LTS said:

Thank you for the pro tip.  I clearly did not see that, my mistake.  Feel free to call it out but I wouldn't assume I am "perfectly fine" with it. Indeed, I would not be.

This still does not mean your response is acceptable. This is the equivalent of "the other guy is doing it". So what. Do you complain to the police officer when he pulls you over for speeding but missed the 3 people in front of you?

Bottom line, I'll watch for more comments like this as best I can but it doesn't mean you get to do it.

You are a member of this "club" with rules clearly stated. If you are insisting others "Do Better" then I suggest you heed your advice.

I don't dispute anything you say here. But, it's a pattern. I say something that doesn't align with someone else's view/feelings, they attack me, i respond in kind, you feel the need to admonished me. You give a strong impression of selective moderation based on who the poster is with no regard to what's actually being said. Opposing views are not welcomed here, that's why it's become an echo chamber with three posters. I've made it clear I'm no fan Trump, but I should be able to acknowledge the rare occasion he appears to do something right. Apologies for the previous snark. Moving on...

[Hank]

https://amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/06/27/investing/stock-market-record-dow-sandp?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From %1%24s&aoh=17512105622785&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2025%2F06%2F27%2Finvesting%2Fstock-market-record-dow-sandp

I hope some of you were smart enough to buy the dip when I recommended

[LTS]

On 6/28/2025 at 2:59 PM, Hank said:

I don't dispute anything you say here. But, it's a pattern. I say something that doesn't align with someone else's view/feelings, they attack me, i respond in kind, you feel the need to admonished me. You give a strong impression of selective moderation based on who the poster is with no regard to what's actually being said. Opposing views are not welcomed here, that's why it's become an echo chamber with three posters. I've made it clear I'm no fan Trump, but I should be able to acknowledge the rare occasion he appears to do something right. Apologies for the previous snark. Moving on...

I work, a lot.  I don't always read every post thoroughly.  Feel free to quote it and tag me.  That's all I am saying.

And things that get buried in paragraphs stand out less than things in a single line.  I'm not infallible. If you call it out I will take a look.

I've seen you criticize Trump. I'm not a fan of either party so it doesn't matter to me when people critique their members. 

[Hank]

Yes, I know, Charlie Kirk. The relevant part of the link is the CNN clip. That man has a lot to say, not much viewed as good. 

[LTS]

20 hours ago, Hank said:

Yes, I know, Charlie Kirk. The relevant part of the link is the CNN clip. That man has a lot to say, not much viewed as good. 

I suppose having a good week is better than having a bad week just like climbing 1 foot up the wall of a 500 foot hole you dug is better than making the hole 501 feet deep.

I can kind of appreciate him saying they don't know what the **** they are doing. Sometimes it's nice to be blunt.  

I think it's hard for people to accept that there has been financial improvements and most of that comes from a rejection from how he handles himself and his views on other things more socially aligned.

The question, I think, is whether people put more value in an improving economy or social progression. Personally I would love to find a way to improve both but it seems we continue, as a country, to put those things into diametrically opposing camps so they have to play against each other.

[Demoted]

What I love about Trump is his mouth always screws him over. Imagine voting for this guy and having to live through what is going on right now. 🤣

[Demoted]

These are mindful republicans which there still are plenty out there.

[Hank]

55 minutes ago, LTS said:

I suppose having a good week is better than having a bad week just like climbing 1 foot up the wall of a 500 foot hole you dug is better than making the hole 501 feet deep.

I can kind of appreciate him saying they don't know what the **** they are doing. Sometimes it's nice to be blunt.  

I think it's hard for people to accept that there has been financial improvements and most of that comes from a rejection from how he handles himself and his views on other things more socially aligned.

The question, I think, is whether people put more value in an improving economy or social progression. Personally I would love to find a way to improve both but it seems we continue, as a country, to put those things into diametrically opposing camps so they have to play against each other.

I've been saying forever, the reasons may vary, but both sides equally suck. 

To the bolded, I agree, but I doubt I'll see it my lifetime. 

[Demoted]

2017 individual tax rate cutsPermanent

2017 corporate tax cutsPermanent

Pass-through/business-income breakPermanent

Estate/gift tax increasesPermanent

Exemptions on tips & overtimeTemporary (expires ~2028)

Enhanced child & senior tax creditsTemporary (through 2028)

I love how they make the working class tax breaks temporary so they can use the decrease as a way to scare people into being happy about the SMALLEST increases. Meanwhile at the top of the evil chain...

[Demoted]

Trump destroys Obama's Iran deal and now is trying to make the same exact deal that was in place before. 

 

Trump was a very jealous man of Obama b.c people loved Obama. He would destroy things Obama did just b.c he wants to and now the American people are paying for it. 

Edited Tuesday at 09:46 AM by Demoted

[Hank]

Alligator Alcatraz opening for business. 

[Demoted]

2 hours ago, Hank said:

Alligator Alcatraz opening for business. 

Trumps greatest achievement will be bringing back concentration camps 🤣🤣🤣

[LTS]

20 hours ago, Demoted said:

What I love about Trump is his mouth always screws him over. Imagine voting for this guy and having to live through what is going on right now. 🤣

But what's your point here?

 

[Hank]

2 hours ago, LTS said:

But what's your point here?

 

I believe his point was to post something Trump said about Obama 12, 13 & 14 years ago 😇

In other news, the Senate passed Trumps "Big Beautiful Bill" with some tweaks to it, now it's going back to the house for a final vote. Looks like it'll be finished by the 4th like Trump wanted. 

[Demoted]

2 hours ago, LTS said:

But what's your point here?

 

He says one thing about Obama yet does it years later and acts like it's good when he was saying it was bad all those years ago.

 

That's just typical Trump saying it's bad unless he is the one to do it.

Edited Tuesday at 06:23 PM by Demoted

[Demoted]

42 minutes ago, Hank said:

I believe his point was to post something Trump said about Obama 12, 13 & 14 years ago 😇

In other news, the Senate passed Trumps "Big Beautiful Bill" with some tweaks to it, now it's going back to the house for a final vote. Looks like it'll be finished by the 4th like Trump wanted. 

Wondering why you want this Bill to be passed?

[Hank]

1 minute ago, Demoted said:

Wondering why you want this Bill to be passed?

Where did i say that, or even imply that?

[Demoted]

2 minutes ago, Hank said:

Where did i say that, or even imply that?

That's good at least then.

[LTS]

2 hours ago, Demoted said:

He says one thing about Obama yet does it years later and acts like it's good when he was saying it was bad all those years ago.

 

That's just typical Trump saying it's bad unless he is the one to do it.

So.. like every politician ever?

Then again, Trump is already elected whereas he was inferring that Obama would do it for re-election.  Granted, Trump might be doing it for his hope of everlasting re-election...

[Hank]

I'm surprised to see the ceasefire has held this long, very curious to see how this plays out. 

[LGR4GM]

When you vote to steal healthcare and food from Children, you are morally bankrupt and anti-American, regardless of what religion you claim or what symbols you wear around your neck. Millions of children will go hungry and people will die, but at least Billionaires get more money. If you voted for Donald Trump, this is on you. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0eqpz23l9jo

Quote

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would add $3.3tn to federal deficits over the next 10 years and leave millions without health coverage.

 

[Hank]

Written by John Hinderaker:

 

What an America First Foreign Policy Looks Like

Marco Rubio is doing a brilliant job as Secretary of State. A prime example of his implementation of an America First foreign policy is the abolition of USAID and relocation of aid programs inside the State Department. On the State Department’s Substack, Rubio lays out the rationale for this change, putting to shame the Democrats’ absurd “millions will die” mantra:

 

Every public servant has an obligation to American citizens to ensure any programs they fund advance our nation’s interests. During the Trump Administration’s thorough review of thousands of programs, and over $715 billion in inflation-adjusted spending over the decades, it became apparent the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) fell well below this standard.

 

USAID had decades and a near-infinite taxpayer budget to advance American influence, promote economic development worldwide, and allow billions to stand on their own two feet.

 

Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War. Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown. On the global stage, the countries that benefit the most from our generosity usually fail to reciprocate. For example, in 2023, sub-Saharan African nations voted with the United States only 29 percent of the time on essential resolutions at the UN despite receiving $165 billion in outlays since 1991. That’s the lowest rate in the world. Over the same period, more than $89 billion invested in the Middle East and North Africa left the U.S. with lower favorability ratings than China in every nation but Morocco. The agency’s expenditure of $9.3 billion in Gaza and the West Bank since 1991, whose beneficiaries included allies of Hamas, has produced grievances rather than gratitude towards the United States. The only ones living well were the executives of the countless NGOs, who often enjoyed five-star lifestyles funded by American taxpayers, while those they purported to help fell further behind.

 

This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end. Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests. As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance. Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies—and which advance American interests—will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency.

 

We will not apologize for recognizing America’s longstanding commitment to life-saving humanitarian aid and promotion of economic development abroad must be in furtherance of an America First foreign policy.

 

USAID viewed its constituency as the United Nations, multinational NGOs, and the broader global community—not the U.S. taxpayers who funded its budget or the President they elected to represent their interests on the world stage. USAID marketed its programs as a charity, rather than instruments of American foreign policy intended to advance our national interests. Too often, these programs promoted anti-American ideals and groups, from global “DEI,” censorship and regime change operations, to NGOs and international organizations in league with Communist China and other geopolitical adversaries.

 

That ends today, and where there was once a rainbow of unidentifiable logos on life-saving aid, there will now be one recognizable symbol: the American flag. Recipients deserve to know the assistance provided to them is not a handout from an unknown NGO, but an investment from the American people.

 

Equally importantly, the charity-based model failed because the leadership of these developing nations developed an addiction. State Department research finds the overwhelming sentiment in countries formerly receiving USAID funding is for trade, not aid. After engaging with nations across Latin America and Africa, we have consistently heard that developing countries want investment that empowers them to sustainably grow—not decades of patronizing UN or USAID managed support. The Department has consistently heard the same from people in these nations: a Zambian man told American diplomats it would be more helpful for his countrymen to learn how to fish than to be supplied with fish by the U.S. Government, an Ethiopian woman said she viewed the mutual benefits of investment as superior to the one-sided nature of aid, and too many other examples to recount.

 

Americans should not pay taxes to fund failed governments in faraway lands. Moving forward, our assistance will be targeted and time limited. We will favor those nations that have demonstrated both the ability and willingness to help themselves and will target our resources to areas where they can have a multiplier effect and catalyze durable private sector, including American companies, and global investment.

 

This work is well underway. We are already seeing tremendous progress in making the UN, other allies, and private funds pay a greater share of projects around the world, a process matched by the President’s success in convincing our NATO allies to meet their spending commitments. We are consolidating fragmented appropriations accounts to build more flexible and dynamic pools of funds, eliminating bureaucratic processes to move faster and respond to crises in real time, and implementing new efficiency criteria to measure impact quantitatively. By empowering diplomats on the ground through regional bureaus, we are creating a fast feedback loop to ensure programs align with American interests and the needs of partner nations.

 

This model will also place us in a stronger position to counter China’s exploitative aid model and further our strategic interests in key regions around the world.

 

We will do so by prioritizing trade over aid, opportunity over dependency, and investment over assistance. For Americans and many around the world, July 1st will mark the beginning of a new era of global partnership, peace, investment, and prosperity.

 

This change is so appropriate, and so long overdue, that we can only wonder why it didn’t happen a long time ago.

[K-9]

Well, if we are gonna read the editorial opinion of John Hinderaker’s The Center of the American Experiment, then in an effort to provide a balanced editorial response, I submit this article from The Center for American Progress (much like our long-repealed Fairness Doctrine demanded):

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/fact-sheet-trumps-rescission-request-would-slash-spending-on-foreign-assistance-programs-that-benefit-american-interests/

 

Edited 18 minutes ago by K-9