Mail Fraud, attacks on postal employees, theft, etc

The Trump middle class tax cuts expire...and the ones for businesses and the rich do not...

SO tell me again how "progressive" those tax cuts really were....

US Courts have said that filming of police officers while they are on duty, as long as it does not interfere in their ability to perform those duties (ie getting in the way of an arrest, etc), is legal. Police hate it, especially now, when their actions are now subject to scrutiny by the public at large and captured for any potential legal actions down the road (such as civil suits for racist behaviour, use of excessive force, etc). The ones that don't have an issue tend to be the ones who aren't doing anything wrong....

No...they want the government to stop imposing things they don't like, but happy to have them impose things they like on others. ie Anti-Abortionists who happily don't want birth control being allowed. Or making it easier to vote if you are likely to vote for the other side. Make healthcare or education easier for most people? Not a big priority for Trump supporters...until they realize it impacts them. And so on.

Well, only congress has the authority to declare war...not the President. A Constitutional thing. Use of nukes is a de facto declaration of war...so asking the military what they would do if someone who has demonstrated behavior which is not focused on what is good for the nation, but only themselves is a not a bad idea.

Once war is declared, then the President is granted the power to make decisions regarding use of nukes, etc.

The issue is congress abdicated their power by allowing the president to send US troops to "police actions" throughout the world without maintaining strict oversight. If they had not done so for the past few decades, this wouldn't be as such an issue.

This....I have also seen a lot of homeless who manage to make it to Hawaii as they can survive there with minimal shelter and blend into the crowd (shorts, t-shirts, "camping" on a beach, etc.

I have seen homeless in many countries around the world. The US does poorly with addressing the issue despite being a 1st world nation. In fact, we have created a society where being homeless is a potential for most people in this country....one bad illness or a bad natural disaster (or man-made one) can put most people in a situation where their home and financial security fails. And that leads to homelessness.

While in the military, I remember a few conversations on what we would do if we found ourselves homeless or the potential to be homeless. Think about this...a bunch of people with guaranteed paychecks, housing allowances or barracks rooms, healthcare, etc making plans "just in case." All because we had seen and understood, even with a paycheck, training, etc, it could all go away with one bad situation that doesn't even have to be your fault or a result of you making a bad decision.

Even today...with a passive income that isn't bad (over $50k pa) plus my 6 figure salary, my spouse and I have discussed what we would do if I lost my job and couldn't find work. Where would we move to, etc. We would have to move from our current higher cost of living location (which drives my pay check), and thanks to being a military retiree, we have healthcare covered without one of us working...and we could be comfortable. But the location may not be one we would want be, but one we could afford. I know I am lucky, and this is often just a philosophical "what if?" exercise, but for many people, this is their reality and they would love to have just my passive income level for working 40+ hours a week. (even at $15 an hour, they only get to a little over $30k a year).

Actually, no federal employee has to join a union even if their position falls within the bargaining unit. And they get the benefit of union support even they don't join.

I'm not in the bargaining unit, but was involved in assisting unions in bargaining with their federal agency at a couple of positions I have been in.

I'm retired military and a civil servant these days. I worked for DoD for about 7 years (moving to a DHS military sub-agency, and then to the best large agency to work for in the federal government).

You can deal with poor performers in the Fed gov (google "The Uncivil Servant" by Bill Wiley for a start), but most military leaders have no clue on how to deal with civilians so either treat them like military (bad move...leads to grievances, etc) or ignore the issues until they PCS.

My agency was very telework friendly prior to Covid, and more so since. My location isn't considering having folks come back to the building until next spring at the earliest (and talk is it is more likely to be summer if that early). Only people who are in are the security and those who can only do their work in the facility (think command post, SCIFs, labs, launch sites, etc) and even then, they have it set up for max protection of the people who have to be there.

We have timelines on our projects and programs, and leadership just expects to see results and be given feedback if those expectations are unrealistic so things can be adjusted as needed.

And those who don't perform are removed...may take a few weeks to document, etc, but it can be done!

Of course, here in the US, we don't need to import psychos, as we have our own home-grown varieties. People running their cars into crowds, mass-shootings, cops killing people of color at a higher rate than white males who actually killed people, etc.

The reason such events make the news in Europe is they are rare occurrences. Shootings only really make the news if it is connected to another news event (such as a protest) or multiple victims are involved.

And Trump hasn't raised any issues....he attacks any he thinks are not supporting him until he gets compliance. He is a thief (admitted to committing fraud with a charity, he and most of his children cannot be involved with running charities in NY any more), a racist (was found guilty of racist actions in renting decades ago, along with his actions regarding the Central Park 5, Obama's birth certificate, etc), and is an accused rapist (and is fighting providing a DNA sample which would exonerate him if his denial is correct!) who hung out with a convicted pedophile for years, and allegedly had a falling out over who got to rape a young child first.

So...if he cured cancer, he would still be a POS individual.

The taxes Trump is trying to have a holiday on is the Payroll taxes (Social Security, etc) NOT income taxes. The odds of you the employee getting any extra in your check are slim as the business will also need to pay their share if the deferment on paying those is not made permanent and if they are writing one check for their share, may as well keep your part as well making them some money while waiting to pay the whole thing.

I've heard this claim regarding CA since the mid-1980s when I arrived there for my first assignment in the military. Seems to be an extremely long implosion if it is really happening. I've seen some folks/companies move out, and seen plenty move to CA over the years (I was stationed there 3 times in my career, and lived there for a while once I retired from the military...only moved due to a promotion in my second career).

Its economy seems to be doing fine, despite their regulations, etc large enough to be in the top 10 in the world, ahead of most countries, let along the majority of states in the US.

Right...nobody thought Trump was racist until he stood for election....except for being found guilty of race discrimination in renting, race discrimination complaints at his casinos and other properties (most were settled when he realized he couldn't win or outspend the complainant), his published ad wanting the Central Park 5 arrested and jailed, etc (despite their being found not guilty due to actual evidence establishing their innocence), his comments over the years...all long before he he stood for election.

Yeah...no-one thought he was racist except those who ever heard of him or heard him. Most people in NYC considered him to be a racist long before he ran for offer. Heck even Leona Helmsley thought he was!

one individual....maybe. In a home with 2 parents and a few kids (some perhaps in the teenage/college age range), easily done with streaming (everyone streaming in their own rooms), gaming, work/school, etc. The older kids may be doing their thing at night as they get better speed while the parents sleep, and during the day, while the kids sleep, the parents are working, etc.

Pre-pandemic maybe a few things (such as a torrent farm), but if I pay for a speed and use it, and it was advertised as unlimited, expect me to make use of it.

If there is a cap or even a "at this point, we will throttle your bandwidth", you need to tell me what those points are before I sign up for service.

Really? CA is in the top 10 economies of the world, exceeding most countries. Facebook is not that big a piece of it in the overall scheme of things. And, they show that you don't have to cut taxes every minute for the top earners to maintain that economy.

Now lets compare that to KY, MS, KS, and those "business friendly" states often harped on about...whose governments kowtow to business to the detriment of the population (health, safety, and so on).

Except, when a business is closed and the employees are laid off or furloughed, they can file for unemployment. If the restrictions are lifted (regardless of safety concerns and whether the pandemic is under control), if those employees refuse to return due to concerns about their safety (see the meat processing issues with Covid19 running rampant through the employees), then they are deemed to have quit, and so no longer eligible for unemployment. This therefore puts individuals in the support industries (typically the lowest paid folks), in the position of go to work, potentially get sick and hope their insurance covers them completely...or lose their insurance and unemployment payments and so starve and become homeless. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

I'm lucky that I have a good paying job I can do from home..but I know plenty are not in that position and so would end up going back to work and risking getting sick...and so increase the spread of this pandemic.