It's going to be really embarrassing for him when he finds out it's paid with taxes

lmfao

Imagine thinking that would work and also not even courting Joe Manchin, the flimsiest Democrat of the bunch

I don't even know what he did but based on that non-apology alone I can tell it's going to be dumb as hell

...I see. We literally just did this with the racist professor! What the hell dude

Very unfortunate that that @JillianTurner is not who he meant :|

But also he'll turn on everyone eventually

@TimStone howard we're going to take all of your money so that nobody else has to die deciding whether they can afford to go to the doctor or not

Not if his independent centrist candidacy has anything to say about that!

chuckles It's going to get so much worse before the election

I can't wait for third party joe biden who's I guess probably less of a sex creep to come in and get 3%

Or, alternatively, maybe the 25% of Clinton 08 people that voted for Clinton then McCain in 08

> "Well, you need to go slow on that, that could be problematic," Graham recalls him saying to Trump, according to Axios. Trump reportedly replied, "well, I'm surprised, you want to invade everybody.

lmao

Our favorite egg headed man had a take about that earlier

Love 2 support democracy

@Unionhawk lol

> Germany to close all 84 of its coal-fired power plants, will rely primarily on renewable energy

I have several questions

@TimStone yeah I mean I know Online is not a great metric but

There was a quote from the interview where he said knowing he wasn't the smartest person in the room was an asset and sips tea buddy

I don't know what constituency is asking "hey, what if joe biden but not even within the capital I Institution of the Democratic Party"

A disappointed frown on every face and a coffee in every hand™

raises brow

@TimStone asdfkfjfornfbrotrf

@TimStone I regret to inform you that, uh, our resident egg-headed friend has A Take here.

I just, excuse me

Ah, well,,,whom amongst us could have foreseen this

But I thought trickle down economics was supposed to save us

(I'm going to get asked what I mean by "medicare extra is misleading": it's what if everyone could buy medicare advantage plans, fwiu)

(not even a public option)

I just can't get past how dumb the name is

At least your version is the Serious™ version of "Better things aren't possible"

It's like a satirical example of an anti-big government argument

ah,

@Unionhawk How about "no". No Schultz, no Bloomberg, heck, no Bernie, IMO

> choke: zuckerberg for prime minister

kasich/clinton 2020

Giuliani / Ivanka 2024

🤔

Okay one he's never read the Bible or any other book

@Unionhawk Apparently including Steve Schmidt?

I mean, since we're posting about dumb stuff:

> Stone might have gotten away with much of this had he been a bit more keen about operational security. He believed that WhatsApp, which he used as a "secure" phone line and for messaging, would protect his communications from the eyes of investigators—forgetting that the people he was talking to could just show the messages to Mueller's team and a grand jury.

Who you might remember from such hits as Picking Sarah Palin

When you're just incredibly dumb.

> Stone's self-paved highway to arraignment

heh

@puzzlepiece87 Yeah, we're so unbelievably lucky these people are just the most incompetent folks on the planet

Really hit the jackpot on mediocrity here

It's not like you can protect against the threatmodel of "someone you trust flips and just shows everything"

I mean presumably you'd have to meet face to face and do mutual pat downs to check for recording devices

But also not brazenly admitting to crimes in written form helps

It's certainly not an easily solvable issue but there's definitely a way not to do it and this is probably case in point

@Kevin Send self-destructing messages like a Bond villain.

Since you're already trying to be a Bond villain, you might as well do the other stuff.

@Yuuki Wrong spy universe, shame. Wait, did Bond do this too?

I realized it when I said it (the trope is usually that the agency the spy works for sends self-destructing messages, not the villains) but I had to commit.

I'm not up on my Bond movies to say definitively but I can at least say off-the-cuff that Bond is not the spy universe most associated with self-destructing messages.

@Yuuki Like IMF (Mission: Impossible) mission briefings.

mild applause for committing

Yuuki tends to commit to horrible things like making puns

Or weird sandwiches

@TimStone yep

Project Veritas possibly up to it again vs a Canadian university's cyber security group - same inept impersonations and questions - this time trying to get them to say anti-semitic things

@TimStone Thanks for bringing this childhood classic into the room :)

@TimStone True, but some of their boldness really is working for them instead of against them. For example, if we got a behind-the-scenes report of Trump doing or saying some of the things that he says openly on Twitter, it'd be a much worse scandal than it is currently being treated.

@Kevin I have not made a weird sandwich in the longest time. I should fix that.

@BradC We get those all the time and nothing happens. You've been here for the past two years, yeah?

Its like media doesn't know what to do with someone openly, publicly obstructing justice, or openly, publicly colluding with Russia

@BradC Its like media doesn't know what to do with It's like a controlling minority of the American public is deeply invested in someone openly, publicly obstructing justice, or openly, publicly colluding with Russia

"he just... tweeted it" - the media

Fixed that for you

There's approximately -17% mystery here, with a margin of error of +/- 17%

@Yuuki yep. "I've been working on this story for a year. And he... just tweeted it out"

Incidentally, that was a hilarious moment but incredibly depressing in how little fallout resulted.

It reduces my hope that whatever Mueller produces will actually have an effect. The goalposts have been moved SO FAR from where we were 3 years ago

> Then he stood up, bumped into a chair and walked off, saying "Ciao" and waving his hand, before returning because he had neglected to pay the bill.

The man's a regular James Bond

Glad the AP got em the same way Washington Post did, assuming it was Project Veritas again.

By flipping the questions and recording on them.

@BradC Keep your hopes next to zero and you won't be disappointed.

Mueller has already been publishing his results in public via the indictments and other documents as he goes along.

The needle hasn't been moved.

LOL Buzzfeed Quiz: Do You Still Have A Job At BuzzFeed?

I should make that chicken-hummus-peanut butter-banana-bacon pita sandwich that I had once.

It was pretty good from what I remember.

@Yuuki I... except for the hummus, that sounds ok

I ordered blueberry sauce on mint chocolate chip ice cream once. 2/10, would not recommend.

I also have access to a wider variety of ingredients now, so I should incorporate some new things into my sandwiches.

Maybe incorporate some good combinations of ingredients

Sashimi, steak sauce, spinach, and hard-boiled eggs sounds like a good combination.

They don't

@Unionhawk Your favorite Bush speechwriter does also.

@TimStone So the discussion on this is continuing - here's data showing that effective tax rate in the US is actually fairly high, historically, due to loopholes and exemptions back when marginal rates for the top bracket were 70% etc.

"name a country where that's worked" is just shorthand for smashing the "VENEZUELA" button

Well, THAT's not good (nor entirely unexpected):

Who knew that trump would appoint a dude that wouldn’t share the full report

Also, farther down you see that the bottom 50% of people by income in the US actually do effectively pay taxes rather than getting it all back according to the above article. Here's a further explainer of that

Also jokes on them, mueller is effectively sharing the contents of the report through court filings

I'm aware of Mueller's strategy in that respect, but I'm not sure that entirely resolves the concern. The problem is that there are likely to be significant portions of his findings that don't constitute a crime (by Trump, or by anyone), but would (if known by the general public) amount to good reason for impeachment.

The other aspect of the Bill Barr quote above is that it could be interpreted to mean that:

1. Both Mueller and Barr will follow the DOJ guidelines and not (directly) indict Trump

@puzzlepiece87 To pile on: Let's imagine that you somehow manage to make $2 million annually. Somehow. Probably through exploiting multiple third-world countries. With the 70% marginal rate, you would still make more than $964,000 in income. Which is likely still higher than 99% of Americans.

2. Barr will use his discretion to suppress details about "unindicted parties" (ie, Trump)

(no matter how inculpatory)

$964,000 in yearly income is still absolutely bonkers.

@Yuuki I thought the 70% top rate is only on income over $10 mil; so it wouldn't even come into play at $2m?

Oh, $10M?

I thought it was $1M.

Indeed 10.

There's no good reason for it not to be 1m but yes

@Unionhawk Agreed.

remember this is income

Incidentally, if the marginal rate bracket is at $1M and you make $1,000,001 a year, you still make it out at the end of the year with $664,311.7.

To finish my Barr thoughts above: The bottom line is that I don't trust Bill Barr to be the person who decides what Congress and the Public should see from Mueller's report.

WHICH IS STILL ABSOLUTE MADNESS.

@Yuuki I'm with you on the pile. I am fiercely anti-poverty. I have very few qualms about a 70% rate.

@Yuuki Still not sure that's right. if you make $1,000,001 a year, only that last $1 is taxed at the "over $1m rate", the other money is taxed at different, lower rates

I'd basically want to try to test it for economic competitiveness but I have zero time for "the rich deserve their money" arguments.

@BradC I have my math written down so gimme a sec to transfer it over to a table or something.

The link above is just adding some additional context since top marginal rate is one tiny piece of the historical picture. I thought that effective rate graph did a great job of making the actual situation more understandable.

my math is 335690.2 assuming nothing changes except 70% >1m

assuming a single filer with an after-deductions income of 1m and $1

so... yes

give or take a couple dollars

Because I don't want to share the actual sheet because I have no idea how workplace stuff works and I don't want to risk it:

Incidentally, it's amusing to me that the 32% tax bracket bucks the trend in having a smaller taxable income than the previous bracket.

the math guide I see says "$150,689.50 plus 37% of the amount over $500,000" so close enough and probably explains the give or take a couple dollars

Maybe it should go form $157,701 to $250,000.

I mean, also give and take a few fractions due to actual fractions (what about income at $9,525.50?).

But again, literally fractions.

the IRS rounds everything at the end so idk

or at least my tax software does

and the only time the IRS has complained is when I (correctly) told them they owed me eight thousand dollars

On top of all of this is that is just raw income. IIRC, most people who make these comical amounts of money do so through stock options and stuff. Bezos, for example, had his net worth grow by $40 billion in the past year but that's mostly tied to his Amazon stock, it's not his actual income (he makes roughly $82,000 a year from his job so he won't even fall into the 32% bracket, let alone the marginal rate).

@Unionhawk $8000 exactly? Seems suspicious to me.

I know the IRS treats capital gains (stock) differently, although I don't know how differently.

@MBraedley it was some weird number over 8k

Long term capital gains are taxed at 20% for the highest bracket

@Yuuki Your math looks good, Yuuki.

@Yuuki I think capital gains gets taxed first (at a mostly flat rate), then your regular income (for which the capital gains go under for tax bracket purposes).

and my broker withheld like $5k

(I got all of that back because the gain wasn't nearly that high)

I had a $79 tax bill on gains one year due to a college fund and the IRS came after me for not filing and then made me pay a $90 late penalty

My parents are helping pay for my college a bit, so they're using a mechanic that allows large stock gifts once per year and all it ends up being tax wise is the IRS pretends I always had it

Atlantic headline is "Trump Is Destroying His Own Case for a National Emergency"

@Unionhawk In Canada there's a tax burden transfer mechanism for dependents, particularly the reduced tax burden from paying a dependent's tuition.

(My dad was annoyed with me one year because I claimed my tuition on a withholding form for a co-op job, even though he was paying my tuition.)

raise the 1098-E adjustment tbh

(tearing down the 700 foot tall building to build a 1400 foot tall one)

The Onion's take on Schultz:

yeah like, my assumption is he's a "cultural liberalism up to but excluding my kid's school district, and also with steep cuts to medicare and social security" guy which is maybe a 5-10% position in this country

the only reason I make this assumption is "come on, just look at his face and how he talks about being somewhere between doing nothing and actively hurting people", and because he's also a "I don't want to talk about policy" guy

mmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmm

@TimStone (John Bolton has separately confirmed that a goal was to make it belong to US companies)

That makes more sense to me, coming from them, than Rubio just being like "Oh yeah the Venezuelan people together own it and I am supportive of this"

marco does not give a fuck about people who live in central and south america

I guarantee that

Definitely

lol speak of the devil

he was on fox biz earlier

They're about to announce the sanctions Rubio jumped the gun on

It's really impressive how she's perfected being as disingenuous as possible

We're apparently allowing oil en route to be offloaded but then that's it, which I'm sure won't be dumb at all

Kudlow has just said there's been no permanent damage on the economy from the shutdown

checks calendar

k

His response to the CBO estimate was "I disagree"

@BradC just curious, how much of that could have went to their debt?

@BradC Not according to Trump and his team of super best invisible friends people

@Memor-X who's debt? You mean the US national debt? None. (From the linked NY Times article):

> The nonpartisan C.B.O. said that the shutdown, which started in late December and ended last Friday, delayed $18 billion in spending by federal workers. That is expected to reduce 2018 fourth quarter gross domestic product by $3 billion and cut first quarter growth this year by $8 billion, or 0.2 percent.

> The most direct hit to the economy came from the loss of spending by furloughed workers, as well as the delay in federal spending on goods and services and reduced aggregate demand, C.B.O. said.

@BradC yeh that one

So its more of a "reduction of expected economic activity" in the nation as a whole

So its a bit abstract, not a direct "this cost the government $11 billion dollars" or anything like that

This does not fill me with confidence, coming from John "Boy I'd really love to Nuke Someone" Bolton:

I mean he definitely is willing to do a war but he also says that about every country so

Just a dangerously warmongering man

@BradC lol, this is almost as if Pelosi is controlling what Trump does

@Unionhawk cough donor base cough cough

My word, I know those lights can put off some heat when you're standing up there but that...that is a look (referring to the video)

@TimStone That's a real photo?

Yeah, from the press briefing earlier

that's so stupid it has to be intentional

@TimStone it's the lie shadow

Remember Bannon's whiteboard of dastardly goals?

@MadScientist That seems likely and/or he just really doesn't care because you know he loves him some war

Anyway I'm sure all the troops sent to the border will be happy to know they'll now be sent South-er

@TimStone Trump doesn't like to pay for wars, not that this is any guarantee, but at least there is a bit of a general disagreement there that might help to avoid new wars

Yeah but Venezuela has the most oil and if you'll recall he thinks we can just take things like that

@TimStone Still blows my mind that he still thinks that way - its a literal WAR CRIME to march in and take someone else's resources

I'm not entirely sure he also doesn't think that you can like, literally take the oil, from there, and move it all over here, in one go. I mean, hopefully, but I'm not placing a bet

@TimStone lol. "Well, can't you just... pump it into a tanker truck? Maybe 2?"

@TimStone this admin loves leaking things in photos

DO NOT CONGRATULATE

i hear you

@TimStone w bush 2.0

@TimStone MBS told him it could be done

@GodEmperorDune I don't know if they love it, but they're definitely really good at it.

Or bad at it, depending on how you define things.

@GodEmperorDune oh, God. so much insanity in this administration that I'm always forgetting stuff. DO NOT CONGRATULATE. "Hey, Puti! Congrats on crushing your opponents!!"

@Yuuki fair

i mean opsec falls under competence and we know they haven't put any points into that tree this build

Later y'all. Keep warm in the arctic blast!

@TimStone This seems to becoming a big story but he also clearly looks like he's talking out his ass so 🤷‍♂️

@TimStone Those are some expensive notepads jfc

(it's a 12-pack, but still pricey by those standards)

@TimStone uhhh wtf why are they so expensive?

Docket Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooold

But no I actually have no idea

The paper isn't like extra weighty and there's only 50 sheets

So I'm unclear what makes it different aside from the purported "attractive stitching"

lol

> Senate Republicans reintroduce bill to repeal the estate tax

@TimStone wut

@TimStone do they think this will pass the house?

You'd think they'd at least wait until everyone got to reap the benefits of the previous tax bi... breaks down laughing Yeah I dunno

> But by introducing the bill, Senate Republicans are able to highlight one of their longstanding tax priorities

@TimStone lol why not just abolish all taxes

Uhhhh yeah so about that time when y'all ran the entire-ass government for a while

But also I would not highlight "give gifts to the rich" so blatantly but y'all do y'all I guess

> “Oftentimes, family-owned farms and ranches bear the brunt of this tax, which threatens families’ agricultural legacies and makes it difficult and costly to pass these businesses down to future generations," Thune said in a news release

Narrator: They actually did not, oftentimes

> “Who is this guy? Why is he writing this book? He wasn’t even in meetings,” Trump reportedly said Monday.

@TimStone yeah this has been proven false every time they bring it up

I hadn't been paying attention to the Sims stuff that closely because obviously he's out to make money but lol @ that

i mean he also said he didn't know paul manafort iirc

Like maybe we should be slightly more concerned about the President not remembering anybody

Does he brush his teeth?

melania does it

@TimStone This is about the only justification they can make that doesn't involve, "We're rich, and we don't want to pay taxes on it".

@TimStone that name sounds familiar, did she do something nationally?

@TimStone Absolutely Not

@GodEmperorDune Her father was indicted for illegal donations to her campaign

Also Grimes

@TimStone #resistance grift

ah she ran for senate, that's where i remembered her from

couldn't beat cocaine mitch

Ah, yeah, that's what the indictment stemmed from